The sun rose and set on the Pride lands and its inhabitants a great number of times, leading to the young ones of the inhabitants to grow older and in turn take their place in the circle of life. And it was none more obvious than on the young prince, Kopa, who was no longer the small, indifferent to his surroundings, cub. Now he had grown into twice the size that he was when he was the cub that was presented all those days ago. His pelt remained the pale gold color that he had when he was a newborn, but, strangely, his head was topped off with a tuft of reddish-brown fur that hung down nearly to his red eyes. He was also surprisingly stocky for a cub his age, but this didn't bother anyone in particular, as this would mean that he would be a strong king. He also always had a kind smile on his face, leaving some to try and remember when he wasn't smiling in the moments that he was awake.
No lioness on Pride Rock could say one single, solitary negative thing about him, which was not to say he was never in trouble, but such transgressions on his part were extremely miniscule, and no lioness could ever stay mad at him for long. This fact led to him having a great many supporters in the pride, but, much to his displeasure, this didn't translate to him playing with any of the lionesses, as they all had their own duties to attend to in the pride. His parents also didn't have much time to spend with him, as they would put it as "royal business" that needed to be attended to right away. This led to Kopa being a rather lonely cub, who, in secret, would sulk quietly in the cave that they all slept in. This side no one knew about Kopa. No one ever figured that he was lonely, he was simply too good-natured and happy looking to appear to be lonely, but, nonetheless, he was.
There were three other cubs in the pride, but Kopa felt unsafe on going to talk to them, as their mother always seemed to be glaring at him whenever he saw them, or happened to pass by her. Her blood red eyes would follow him until he moved out sight, or, on the last time he noticed her staring, turned his head and glancing over at her, which made her switch her gaze quickly to her cubs that played in front of her. However, when he had removed his eyes from her, he could feel her gaze back on him.
He liked to think about this lioness and her cubs when he was sulking alone in the cave, trying to make sense of the mother's unrelenting glare and how much fun it would be to actually know the cubs, two of which were roughly his age. However, this seemed very impossible to him, as the mother's staring left him feeling strangely scared, though he couldn't understand why. It was like an ancient instinct in the back of his brain was telling him that she was danger, and should be avoided by all costs. And since he was too frightened to go and talk to the cubs, he couldn't get to know them and potentially become friends with them. The only potential way of knowing them was if they came up to him and talked to him, but they never noticed him no matter how many times he passed by them. They were always play-fighting when he walked by, something that looked very fun, but he couldn't ask to join for fear of their mother.
He had given up hope of ever getting to know the pair, but then one day while he was silently sulking in the cave: they came.
Kopa was lying with his forelimbs stretched out in front of him and his head lying on the ground, trying to stop any tears from coming out in his loneliness, when he heard a voice call out behind him: "What are you doing?" It said, a tint of confusion permeating from it.
Kopa didn't even have to get up and see who was talking, before the voice's owner came up into his full-view. It was the female of the pair that he saw every day; a female cub with light tan fur, blue eyes that seemed to command respect from others, and a large tuft of fur on her eyes that was slightly larger than the one that Kopa had on his head. She sat down in front of him, "It seemed rather boring to be cooped up in here all day, isn't it?" She said, tilting her head slightly to her right. "I mean, it would be better to be outside exploring than staying in here all day, right?"
Kopa rose quickly to his paws, astonished at the unexpected arrival of the cub. He had been hoping for such an occurrence for a long time, but now that it is happening he couldn't get any form of communication out of him; instead he continued to stare at her, his eyes widen to their brim, and his jaw was left a gap.
The other cub shuffled her paws nervously in front of her, "Is there something wrong with me or something?"
The spell broken, Kopa shook his head quickly from side-to-side, "No!" He said, almost shouting it out, "It's just I'm kind of surprised, is all."
"Why?"
"It's just that I see you every day, and this is the first time that you've ever came up to me." Kopa replied, settling down.
She smiled at him, "Yeah, exactly, you see us every day, but you never came up to me. My brother and I would let you join in whatever we were doing, but you always walk by and stare nervously at us for a moment, then walk off. Why is that?"
"Oh, ummm," He said unintelligently, now shuffling his paws nervously. He knew he couldn't tell her the truth: that her mother scares him for reason that would surely lead to her to take an instant disliking in him. He didn't want to waste this one opportunity to get to know her and possibly actually become friends with her. "It's because I…I." He fell silent.
She tilted her head quizzically, "'because I' what?"
"Because I… because I'm shy, I guess." He lied, darting his between her and the ceiling of the cave, trying to mask his deceit by averting his eyes as much as possible.
It was a rather bad lie, as the cub immediately laughed it off, "Shy! Sure," She said, rolling her eyes. "Next thing you'll tell me that antelopes actually have wings!" She laughed; "I've seen you talk to every lioness in this pride, even if you don't know them very well! You talk up a storm when talking to them, too! Tell me the real reason why you've never came up to us in the past?" She inquired, glaring intently at him.
Kopa grinded his teeth, "I'm serious, that's why I've never talked to you two! I'm shy." He replied as confidently as he could, "For adults it's different," He added. "They're easier to talk to, I guess."
"I don't believe it one bit!"
"It's the truth−honest!" He quickly replied, holding his paws in front of him. She still continue glaring, obviously not believing it not matter how many times he tried to defend himself. Feeling defeated, he added one last thing in a last-ditch attempt to convince her, "As prince, I couldn't possibly lie. I have to uphold some sort of good… umm, moral standard, don't I?"
To Kopa, it sounded weak and would almost certainly be shot down by her, but, much to his amazement, she agreed with him. "Yeah, that does make sense, doesn't it?" she said, nodding her head, making the tuft of fur on her head wave up and down.
"It does? Oh yeah, it does." He said, quickly recovering from his little mental mishap, "Kings and princes can never lie, it would reflect badly on us!"
She laughed, "It sure would, wouldn't it?"
Her laughing was infectious, as Kopa began to laugh along with her. Beginning to feel more confident, Kopa began to exchange several jokes with her that he had heard from his uncle Timon and uncle Pumbaa (Some of which his parents would greatly disapprove of!) However, these jokes made the cub laugh even more uproariously.
"You're actually pretty cool," She said, after she was able to stop laughing, "I don't know why Nuka always insults you."
"Nuka"? Kopa said, cocking his head to his right in confusion.
"Oh, sorry," the cub replied apologetically, "Nuka's my older brother, you know, the one with the unkempt grayish-black fur?"
Kopa nodded his head in reply, knowing clearly who she was talking about. He always saw him by himself near the back of Pride Rock. Kopa always thought of him as a little off, but entirely harmless, but his unheard of attacks on his character drove Kopa a little crazy. "What does he say about me?" He inquired his hurt pride palpable in his voice.
The cub seemed slight taken aback, but replied nonetheless, "He always saying that you're the weakest prince he's ever seen and that your father is the worst king that's ever ruled the Pride Lands, and…" She trailed off, not sure if she should complete the rest of what she was going to say.
"And what?" Kopa said angrily, not at just the insult Nuka said about him, but the one that states his own dad is a horrible king. He gritted his teeth at the thought of this mangy; no good lion was insulting both him and his father behind their backs. He unconsciously unsheathed his claws and began to drag them across the stone floor of the cave, sending up a sickening screeching sound that echoed in the cave.
The cub stared unflinchingly at Kopa, "You might want to put your claws away," She said, "I don't think that's good for them, and if you ask nicer this time, then maybe I might tell you the rest of what my brother said."
Kopa opened his mouth to retort, but quickly shut it without saying anything. Taking a deep breath, he slid his claws back into their slots, "Can you please tell me what your brother said about my father."
She nodded her head, "Thank you," She said happily, "now my brother told me and my other brother Kovu, the reddish-brown cub you always see me with," Kopa nodded his head to show he knew who she meant. "That your father is a murderer."
"That isn't true;" He growled angrily, "My father has never murdered anyone!"
The cub shrugged her shoulders indifferently, "I never really believe it either," She said, "He's always saying stupid things, so my brother and I really just ignore everything he says."
"At least, you and your brother are smart enough to realize that. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!"
"I know that's why we never listen to him." She yawned, showing her small white teeth, "Anyway, this is getting boring, so you want to go play with my brother and me?" She asked eagerly.
"Rea-Really?" Kopa asked, instantly forgetting about the horrible things her other brother said about him and his father.
"Of course, why not? It might be fun."
Kopa was surprised at how fast strangers suddenly became what he could only describe as friends, or at least acquaintances. He could feel his loneliness instantly evaporated at her words, and giving a friendly smile, he accepted. However, one thing protruded his thoughts as they made their way towards the exit to the cave.
"Wait," He said, stopping just of the cave's exit which had strong sunlight coming from it.
The cub turned her head and looked at him confusingly, "What?"
"You never told me your name." He replied.
She smiled at him, "Silly me," She said, "My name's Vitani."
Kopa smiled right back at her, "Nice to meet you, Vitani. My name's Kopa."
"Nice to meet you as well, Kopa." She replied, her grin expanding wider across her face, "Now if there's no more problems, I would really like to go and play now. You coming?"
Nodding his head, Kopa quickly moved back up to his place besides her, and together made their way through the cave and out into the bright sunlight, now leaving only the cave to sulk it its own loneliness without anyone there to sulk with it.