Suddenly, their game was interrupted by a surprised squeak at the entrance. "Jasiri!" Fuli shouted, pouncing towards the pair. "I didn't think we'd see you here so soon! What's going on?"

Jasiri approached the confused, but happy-looking cheetah and explained: "Well, the two of us promised to keep in touch..."

"and it turns out that hyenas are very literal creatures." Kion finished, standing up on the rocky floor and shaking himself free of the dust.

Fuli blinked. "Right." Shaking her head, she turned to Kion with a condescending look. "Anyway, everyone's wondering what you're up to and why you've essentially taken a day off."

Before a reddening Kion could answer, Jasiri piped up. "Totally my fault! I talked him into showing me around. Of course, it's not my fault that the lion prince swoons after a pretty hyena and I definitely had no idea this cave existed... but I'm getting off topic again, right?" she finished quietly as Kion and Fuli both threatened to explode for vastly different reasons.

Hoping to escape from the embarrassing situation, she walked back to Kion. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you. Sisi ni sawa, right?"

"Right." Kion mumbled as Jasiri gave him a quick hug and bounced away up to the small hole that served as the entrance at the far end of the chamber, kicking up dust in the process. "Bye, Fuli! Um... don't tell the whole herd I was here, okay?"

Fuli waved goodbye. "You're safe with us!" she said. Jasiri crawled back into the tunnel and quickly made her way out of the room. As soon as she was out of earshot, Fuli's piercing gaze turned onto Kion. "As for you..."

"Fuli, relax! She just showed up, what was I supposed to do?"

"Kion, that's not the problem! You had Zazu hide the truth from us. You, our leader of all people, lied to us."

Kion sighed, unwilling to look Fuli in the eyes. "I just didn't want the news to spread. You know the Guard isn't exactly waterproof."

"How? You haven't given us a chance to prove ourselves. Bunga, Beshte, Ono... they're not exactly conventional, sure. But I don't think you would've picked them and me unless you trusted them."

"I do trust them!" Kion insisted indignantly. "I just want Jasiri safe."


The sky was already filled with splashes of beautiful pink and red as Kion miserably walked home, having squeezed out a promise from Fuli not to share any part of their conversation with the other team members for at least tonight. In the end, she was more of a friend than team member and honored his request, even if she strongly disagreed with it.

But she was right, actually. Kion did not trust someone like Bunga or Beshte with the secret that Jasiri had visited and will likely continue to visit the Pride Lands, thus directly contradicting his father's laws. Sure, he'd managed to convince Zazu that he would take care of the problem, but that excuse would only work that once. Contrary to the speeches Simba often gave out to the animals on events such as the Kupatana Celebration, the Pride Lands had not recovered from Scar's reign. Not even close.
Jasiri saw it and now he saw it, because they were closely connected to those involved, but at the same time, born afterwards. They were in the perfect position to understand the mindsets of those who suffered from the hyenas. But to someone like Bunga, Scar was as distant as the Great Kings in the sky. He just couldn't grasp the problem. And of course, people like his father, mother and Zazu, not to mention the elders of the herd would grasp it only too well.

Kion climbed up the steps leading to the den, his mother and sister already asleep, after a long day of school, no doubt. How many rules had Zazu invented for the royal cubs to learn at this point? At least the formation of the Guard had excused him from that ridiculous burden...
as he set down to rest next to his family, he found that he could not rest his eyes and mind until he had arrived at some kind of conclusion. There was no way he was facing next morning without at least a short-term answer. Bitterly, he stood up again and went back out to Pride Rock, where a whiff of cold wind refreshed him. Hoping to avoid any conversations, he decided to trek all the way to the mountaintop, where one could look upon the Pride Lands and see the whole of the kingdom...

There, he saw his father, sitting motionlessly, gazing down at the darkening land below.
"Dad?" Kion asked. "I thought you were off on king business?"

Simba didn't turn. "I'm done today. Why aren't you with the rest of the Pride?"

Kion walked over to the Lion King and set down next to him. The sun had gone. The first stars began to twinkle in the sky.

"Couldn't sleep. I wanted to think." he said.

They sat there together, simply taking comfort from each other's company for several minutes, until Simba broke the silence. "You know how I taught you... that everything the light touches is our kingdom?"

"Yeah?"

"Look."

Kion looked. It was so dark now that he couldn't see anything, except maybe the vague figure of the lions' den below.

"Our family may own the Pride Lands, but we will never really rule it. We're not Kings or Queens, we're custodians and that's a mucky job. We have to make everybody happy and we have to make ourselves happy."

"How do we do that?"

Simba smiled, barely visible in the darkness. "I have no idea."

Kion cringed, the thought of Jasiri still weighing heavily on his mind. "But... what if something big happened? Something, that a lot of people would worry about, but wasn't really a problem? What would you do to make them happy about it?"

"You don't make anyone happy, Kion. Appeal to their hearts and their conscience. Prove to them somehow that your cause is worth fighting for. And if you can't, then fight for it."

Suddenly feeling dizzy, Kion almost collapsed into his father and blinked. "Thanks, dad." Before a minute had passed, he was asleep and Simba had to carry him down to the den as if he was a newborn.


Author's Note: Holy mother of... you know, I was happy with the nice pile of reviews I got for last chapter, but now it just kept coming! And coming! And coming! You guys are the best, seriously.

In this chapter, what I wanted to show was all the hard work that Kion has ahead. Scar's long reign practically ravaged the Pride Lands and I feel it makes sense that it's still somewhat disturbed after that, at least where tolerance is concerned. So bringing Jasiri into the fold isn't going to down very well with many people, at least for now.

*DragoonSensei - Yes, I think it makes sense to consider the more bloodthirsty side of the Circle Of Life. The TV show, being for kids, of course actively ignores it. Which, given that it's tried to be educational in a hamfisted sort of way, actually kind of annoys me now that I think about it.

*Flower99Upendi - Aww, thank you so much! And may I just say, I love your username. The second movie is my favourite!

*Ghost - Well, I'll try. But I'm not making any promises. So if it goes to hell, I can always say "I told you so!"(I'm kidding, thanks for the kind words :D)

*Juria - Time is always an issue, but I will simply not let myself abandon this story. Great suggestions, btw. Especially the Fuli one... there may be a spark there...

*Carmen738 - Phew. It's like I'm in front of a firing squad...

*v.t.7 - Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad I awoke your imagination, that's the best thing. What's up with the name thing, though? Why does it do that? That's really weird... does it interpret it like a URL or something?

*Guest - And all I had to do was rewatch the Sisi Ni Sawa song online... heh. But yeah, we've had a surprising lack of stories about them. Where are all the shippers, I wonder?

*I'm A Jesus Freak - We're on the same wavelength, Freak(sorry, couldn't resist). I just see ships everywhere. And thank you, I will continue writing.

*pinksakura271 - It's unfortunate that masses dislike change so much, unless it's something that directly benefits them... I'm glad you caught the pinning, that was intentional! (You are now my favourite, but don't tell anyone!)

*Kion the Lion - Aren't you technically Lion the Lion lol? Thank you for the kind words, I couldn't ask for more.

*SennaFan4ever - Asante for reviewing! By the way, I had a look at your profile page after you sent me that message and I'm really sorry to hear about your eyes. I hope that isn't too hard to handle. It's great that you too found God to help you. You've reminded me never to neglect his influence. :D Super excited for Jasiri's return in the show as well, yes.