Here is the newest chapter but before I continue on, let me just tell you all that the prince is from the Western kingdom. In other words, he is the lion prince of Tamina's homeland if you remember from Tale of Two Kings. Anyway, here it is and I hope you all like it. Leave reviews! (Why this story not as popular as the first?)

-X-

"Father, this is a bad idea, what if mother finds out? She'll have your head on a stick!" said Sauda worriedly when she saw the injured prince in front of her.

"Please, Sauda, I need you to do this for me. I know he's a lion and he's the enemy but what we're doing to his pride is wrong. And if things turn out how I hope they will then your mother will see as well. Just trust me" pleaded Banzai.

"If you keep this up then it won't matter, I'll bleed to death before you even get your healing started" the prince scoffed. He was clearly annoyed at this constant back and forth between father and daughter. "And this is the help you went out to get? She's a hyena, just like the rest of your stupid species, how can she help?"

Before Banzai could respond, his daughter cut in with an irritated expression. "What's that supposed to mean? For your information, I happen to be a highly intelligent hyena with the skills to rival the best of shaman!" she said defensively.

"Then prove it" the prince smirked.

"Fine!"

Sauda went off to look for medicinal herbs to treat the prince's wounds. When she was far away from them, the prince broke out in snickers. Despite his bloody condition, he was still able to make light of such a situation.

"I really don't appreciate you manipulating my daughter like that" Banzai sighed.

"Hey, she wasn't willing to help me out so I had to resort to puppetry" smiled the prince.

"I never actually caught your name" commented Banzai.

"It's Jelani, prince Jelani…Why did you help me? You're the matriarch's mate so why would you go against her?"

Banzai hesitated but then decided to confide in this lion. "…A long time ago we had a friend, he was a prince just like you only he had an older brother. For the longest time he had a darkness inside him but it was left untouched for the most part. But then a lioness joined the pride one day and she finds a way to open that darkness to all. Thus with every little thing the darkness grew stronger until he was barely recognizable anymore. He lost his mind and killed his brother for the throne as well as drove away his nephew. His nephew came back one day and overthrew him. Then we were banished but we vowed to become more like the good lion our old friend once was."

The two of them were silent for a long time. Jelani was a bit unsure of what to make of this story. He felt a strong distrust toward Banzai but he also felt a certain sympathy for him. Banzai definitely sounded and looked sincere to him.

"Then what about your mate? Why's she doing all of this?" asked Jelani.

"She feels she's doing the right thing because it was your lions that broke the peace treaty in the first place" replied Banzai although not venomously.

"We didn't break the treaty, it was your hyenas that ambushed us" countered Jelani with an edge of threat.

"Watch it! You're already in the process of dying, don't make me speed it up" Banzai snapped back.

"Look I'm just lost. We never broke the treaty."

"Well we found a couple of our hyenas dead and we were told that it was your lions that killed them."

"My lions would never do such a thing!"

"If there's one thing I learned it's to never trust your clan mates. You never know when one could turn on you."

Before this argument could continue, Sauda returned with a seemingly random assortment of plants. She silently padded next to the prince's bleeding body and began doing her shaman work. When she was done she took some of the foul smelling goop into her paw and hopped closer to the lion.

"This may sting a little" she said as she rubbed it onto the afflicted areas.

Jelani growled in slight pain at the touch but eased as it began to quickly set in. He was a little surprised that Sauda was capable of doing the same work as Kamaria, their previous shaman. After all of the medicine had been rubbed onto him, he sat up so that he could speak to them eye to eye.

"There, I hope it gets better soon. Just don't move around so much or else the wounds will reopen" instructed Sauda.

"Thanks…And sorry for saying you were incapable of doing this" said Jelani reluctantly. He turned to leave when Banzai stopped him.

"Where do you think you're heading off to?" asked Banzai.

"I'm going back to my father. I need to tell him what happened" said Jelani.

"That's not a good idea. My mate probably plans on placing extra security around the borders. If you get caught then it won't just mean trouble for me, it would mean trouble for you and the rest of your pride" Banzai warned him.

Although most of Jelani's land was captured, there was still one spot left untouched that belonged to his father. So the remainder of Western Kingdom's pride was living there for the time being. It wasn't much better than being a prisoner to the hyenas though.

"Then what do you expect me to do?" snarled Jelani. "Do you want me to abandon them? A prince would never turn his back on his pride!"

"Then I guess Taka never got the memo" muttered Banzai before saying at a louder volume. "Don't you think it's best to wait until actual help arrives? And if you go back you'll be taken prisoner or even killed. They'll know that help is coming and prepare a counterattack for them. Right now it's best you lie low around here until help comes."

Jelani growled lowly at him but he knew he was right. It wasn't much of a choice, if they found out he was alive then they would prepare themselves for the help that would come. The prince reluctantly nodded in agreement and looked off towards the east. "I just hope they arrive soon" he muttered.

-X-

"Okay, you know what I want to know is how did you two happen?" asked Vitani to Afua and Sierra.

"You're going to need to clarify" said Afua with a fake confused grin.

"You know what I mean; just a few months back you two were just friends. And now Sierra's due two weeks after me" said Vitani.

"Yeah how did that happen?" asked Kopa.

Sierra rolled her eyes but decided to have some fun. "Really Kopa, you're a grown lion and you still don't know? Well I guess I'll tell you. You see, when two creatures fall in love with each other they experience certain feelings and one day-."

"I don't need a mental image of that" Kovu chuckled.

"You knew what I meant. I want to know how the two of you became mates, not how you got pregnant. Besides if I didn't know then I'd be wondering whose cub it was inside my mate and how it happened" said Kopa.

"Well you sort of walked into that" pointed out Kiara.

The six friends were all relaxing in the sun while enjoying their day off from duties. It was a good time for them to catch up and bond since they barely have time for each other these days. It was especially a good idea since Kopa and Kovu will one day be even busier than they were now. The cubs, Kito and Kioni, were being managed by Nala.

"It's simple, we both already had feelings for each other, so all it took was one little push to get us moving in the right direction" smiled Sierra.

"Oh, and what was this little push?" pressed Vitani.

"Pumbaa actually gave me some advice" admitted Afua sheepishly. "I wanted to ask Sierra to be my mate but I was just too nervous to. I ran into Pumbaa later and he insisted on me telling him what was wrong. After telling him, he encouraged me to just go for it. And here we are now."

"And we couldn't be happier" said Sierra.

"Hey there's something that's been bothering me for a while" cut in Kopa after a few seconds of comfortable silence.

"What's been bothering you?" asked Vitani as her brow furrowed in worry.

"It's just…Why would the former outsiders side with Zira in killing me? I mean, it seems to be going a bit too far with killing a defenseless cub" pointed out Kopa.

"As unreasonable as it may seem, those lionesses that sided with her all knew Taka or Scar in some way. Now that I think about it, I think they all knew Taka and they believed that he was a good lion. They wanted to believe that he was right and I think they thought that Simba was unfit to rule. Even if he was better than Scar, they probably felt he wasn't ready because he was gone for so long and he let Timon and Pumbaa do what they want. They just didn't think he was capable" explained Vitani.

"I suppose that makes sense in some twisted way" nodded Kopa.

Just then, Pumbaa arrived and walked over to them. He didn't seem as cheerful as usual and something about him just told them that he had something extremely serious on his mind. He walked over to Kiara and Kovu and whispered something only they could hear. After that, he ran off to a secluded area away from them.

"What's gotten into him, he didn't even say hello" scoffed Afua.

"We'll be right back" said Kovu as he stood up along with his mate.

"Where are you going?" asked Sierra.

"He says there's something urgent we should know but he wants to tell us in private" Kiara told them before following Kovu's lead towards the hiding warthog.

When the prince and princess had reached their friend's location, they were surprised to see him pacing back and forth with a serious expression plastered on his face. Pumbaa looked as if he was contemplating on something very important and it all depended on whether or not he told them what this something was.

"Pumbaa, are you all right?" asked Kiara worriedly.

Pumbaa gave a start at the sound of her voice as if he had just noticed their presence. "Yeah…I'm fine…Just didn't get enough sleep, that's all" he replied. This was true for the most part, every time he fell asleep, he dreamt of some way Kito could possibly die, whether it was by drowning, murder, stampede, or even choking on a bone. It scared the poor warthog to no end.

"Well how's shaman training? Did you finally agree to be Rafiki's pupil?" asked Kovu.

"Yes…But…I learned something that I have to tell the two of you. But you have to promise not to utter a word of this to anyone. I made a promise to Rafiki that I wouldn't tell anyone but I just have to" blurted Pumbaa before he could reconsider his decision. "Or at least to you two."

"It's okay Pumbaa, just breathe and tell us what's wrong, slowly" instructed Kiara gently.

Pumbaa inhaled deeply and looked up at the two predators in the eye. For a moment he saw a flash of the bloodthirsty pride of lions that had once tried to hunt him down. He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. That's when he noticed that he was trembling, he just couldn't stand it, what happened to Kopa, and he couldn't stand what might happen to Kito.

"You're shaking, are you sure you're all right?" asked Kiara.

"I-I'm f-fine…I just n-need some t-time to gather m-my thoughts" the warthog stammered.

"Maybe you should tell us some other time" suggested Kovu.

"It's Kito!" said Pumbaa abruptly. 'No turning back now.'

"What's Kito?" asked Kiara now getting nervous by Pumbaa's tone.

"You shouldn't ever leave him alone. The leonine prophecy speaks of the next great king after Kovu and Kopa and it doesn't seem to describe Kito. We believe that it might either be Kopa and Vitani's cub or Kioni's mate. Either way it doesn't prophesize that Kito will be king" said Pumbaa as calmly as he could.

The future rulers just stared back in shock. It was difficult for them to process what they were just told and even more so to believe it. Kiara gave a worried glance over to her cubs that were currently chasing after a butterfly under Nala's watch.

"You mean something could happen to Kito?" inquired Kovu.

Pumbaa hesitated but then nodded.

"But that can't be! Maybe he's going to be king, just not a great king" pointed out Kiara.

"We can't know for certain but one thing I do know is that we need to be extra careful of Kito. We need to make sure he's safe" resolved Kovu.

Kiara began shaking her head and looked up to her mate. "I promised myself that I wouldn't deprive our cubs the same freedom I was deprived of. I don't want them to feel as if they're being locked away without ever getting a chance to taste fresh air."

"Don't worry Kiara, they won't. we just need to be a little more cautious, that's all" assured her mate.

Kiara nodded and then turned to face Pumbaa. "Thank you for telling us, I know how hard it must be difficult for you to betray someone to protect another."

"No problem but is this really okay? I mean, the prophecy doesn't say he will be king so if things turn out the way it does, won't things possibly turn out badly in the future?" asked Pumbaa with worry.

"You're right about that…Well we're already planning on going against one tradition, why not go against another? We can establish law saying that the most capable heir will become the new ruler despite age" said Kiara.

"I don't know…I don't want to deprive Kito what's rightfully his but I also don't want to endanger the safety of the Pride Lands" sighed Kovu before adding with a firm tone. "And don't give me any of that 'greater good' stuff!"

"You make a valid point but I think that's what's best" said Kiara.

Kovu reluctantly agreed and they both dismissed Pumbaa afterwards. Once Pumbaa was gone, they returned to their friends with grim expressions and laid down beside their respective siblings.

"So what did you guys find out?" asked Sierra curious to know what they had been talking about.

Kovu stayed silent before looking over at Kopa and the fading scars given to him by his mother, to Kito who did not know what was going to come to him, to where Simba was returning from his patrol, who had ran away from home at a very young age. "All I know is that being a prince is harder than I thought" Kovu sighed.

-X-

A nearly full grown lion and the adolescent walked alongside the river. It was sometime after midday and everything around them was quiet except for the sound of rushing water. The two of them seemed to be talking animatedly with each other.

"It must be so cool to be a prince. Life must be pretty easy having all those lions wait on your every order" the adolescent mused.

"Not really, it's actually pretty tough. I have to learn how to rule, wake up really early to check on my pride and my lands, and I have to make sure everyone's happy. It's especially hard for me in these conditions" said the older lion.

"What do you mean Kanu?" asked the adolescent.

"My father's been irrational lately. And you are aware of his paranoia as well. He's been thinking that everyone is against him and I'm just worried. He's not the best father or the best king but he's the only one I've got, know what I mean?"

The younger lion nodded. "Yeah, it was just like when I was still part of the Moon Pride. I never was part of any other pride and most of those other lions weren't exactly friendly towards outsiders like me but it was the only pride I had."

"It must've been rough for you."

"It certainly wasn't easy…But your father…Why did he order the complete elimination of the Moon Pride?"

"Like I said, he's paranoid, even back then. He felt that the Moon Pride was getting too strong and that they might've wanted to overthrow him."

"But they didn't! And why would anyone willingly go destroy a pride just because their king felt threatened?"

"They didn't. He made up a lie, he said there was a disease going around killing off members of the Moon Pride and he was afraid it might spread to our kingdom. The only way to destroy an epidemic like that was to eliminate the pride so that there would be no more bearers of the disease."

The adolescent stopped in his tracks and turned to face the water. His older companion did the same but looked over at him in worry. It was clear that the prince was worried that he had said too much to the young lion.

"…That's just a terrible thing to do…" whispered the adolescent, partially to himself.

"I know…That's why I believe that lions in the same power as my father are corrupted. Every single one of the great kingdom rulers…They just have too much power. So I've resolved to change that. I'll be different and I'll make sure that everyone is treated fairly and equally" said Kanu.

"That's really noble…Maybe one day I can help you create a world of peace" the adolescent sighed.

"That world of peace will be a true utopia. And I know you'll be able to help me accomplish that."

"Really, you think so?"

"I know so Hasani."

Hasani blinked when he heard his name being called. He turned to face his accomplice, Thimba, the lion formerly known as Jua. Night had already fallen over the horizon and everything seemed to have been put into place.

"I just told Nyota her job" reported Thimba. "Although I'm still a bit unsure if we can trust hyenas. You do know what they are capable of, right?"

"You don't have to trust them. I don't myself. But they're necessary to complete a world void of corruption" said Hasani. "Besides, there are a few we can trust."

"You mean the ones with the mark of unity on them, right?" said Thimba touching his own.

Hasani nodded and walked out of the den. He turned to face the north and thought back to the flashback he had just moments before. "Tomorrow at first light, we will be heading out again. There is no need for us to stay in the Western Kingdom."

"Where are we going to next?"

"The Northern Kingdom to see my old friend Kanu."

-X-

I'm actually quite surprised I got this done. This chapter was originally going to be shorter but I decided to lengthen it. I'd like to remind everyone that I'm making most of this up as I go along although I do have some of it already planned out. Leave a review! Hope this chapter was satisfactory to your tastes and I'd like to wish all of you a Happy New Year!