Chapter 7

Vitani

Vitani stood silently, watching. Was this really what the pride had become? It felt like here all the lions had become even more horrible. She wanted to believe that inside they were really good, but how was that possible when she watched them mercilessly tear apart some of the pride landers apart? Vitani, as crazy as it sounded, almost wanted to return to the outlands. At least there everyone had agreed on one thing, their hatred for Simba. She didn't even know how bad Simba was anymore, though. When he was running the pride lands, there weren't shortages of food, or meaninglessly mass killings.

Two lions she knew pretty well fought each other. Maybe it was their greediness that caused all the fights. They were fighting over a whole antelope that could easily be shared between the two. There were probably too many unnecessary hunts going on as well. Whole antelopes were going to waste just because the pride was so overwhelmed with all this food! And what was worse, her mother just sat by and let everything happen. She didn't care what-so ever what her pride was doing. Zira was just power crazy. Revenge crazy. Vitani had concluded that Zira's only reason for letting Nala go was so the pride could hunt her down and kill her.

The pride lands were so pretty, much prettier then where she grew up in. The way the grass softly rippled under the hot savannah sun was really relaxing. Vitani arched her back and then stretched her long legs. Her eyes felt heavy. She lied her head on her paws and was about to close her eyes when she spotted something in the distance. Three animals were making their way towards her pride. She rose at once and narrowed her eyes. They were too small to be lions; in fact they looked similar to hyenas. Ugh, hyenas are gross.

"What do they want?" She wondered out-loud.

"Who?" Kivuli snuck up behind me.

She almost jumped off the ground. Vitani glanced behind her. Kivuli had snuck up behind her and just about made her pee herself. Kivuli had large gray eyes, and a nose similar to Kovu's. His fur was slightly darker then hers, almost a light brown. His majestic mane hung loosely around his head, Kivuli's two torn ears stuck out of his head. He had a strong build. Kivuli had been talking to Vitani a lot lately. It made her suspicious that he maybe had a crush on her.

"See those shapes?" She raised her paw and pointed out towards the hyenas.

He made a face and then nodded. She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Kivuli shot me a small smile.

"Do you want to go check it out?" He offered.

I shrugged, "Sure, why not,"

They set off towards the shape. Each one held their head high, trying to intimidate the hyenas. Vitani knew her father, Scar, had connections with the animals, but her mother had wanted nothing to do with them. Rumor had it they were the ones that had really finished off him. She could now see that two were male and one female. One of the hyenas looked a little….off, and wouldn't stop laughing.

"Why hello..." The female one lead off.

"Vitani. What do you want?" She growled, showing hostility.

"We've learned the whereabouts of Nala's pride," The non-crazy male spoke up.

She cocked her head slightly to the side. Well that was unexpected. Questions filled Vitani's mind, but she knew better than to ask them. Zira would ask them anyways, so they should just hurry up and get back. She quickly exchanged a look with Kivuli. They soon were back at pride rock. A few lions greeted them, but gave nasty looks to the hyenas. Vitani didn't have a problem with that though.

"What do you want?" Zira growled, emerging from her den.

"We're here to talk about Nala," They explained.

This sparked her interest. Zira approached them, she was hostile of course. The hyenas tried to look brave, but I could tell something was up with them.

"We know where their pride is," Shenzi continued.

"What?! How do you know this?" She demanded.

"Well… we kind of stumbled upon their uh, pride while we were, um, traveling," Banzia explained taking a step back.

Zira thought for a moment. She seemed more on edge than usual today. Vitani decided she should also have a voice in this.

"Why would you want to help us anyways?" She questioned.

"You seriously think we like Nala more then you? We'd like to see them go down as much as you would. They banished us too, remember?" Shenzi informed the pride.

Whispers and hushed voices spread throughout the pride. Zira pondered the idea. She absolutely hated Nala, enough to work with the hyenas. Vitani wasn't so sure. They were always so… sneaky. Zira now stood in front of the hyenas.

"Mom, we can't trust them," She muttered.

"Shut up Vitani," Zira snapped.

She toke a step back. Why was her mother so angry? Anger boiled inside her. Fine. Have it her way. Vitani huffed away. Kivuli followed after her.

"You okay?" Kivuli asked.

"No, my err!" Vitani growled, pacing in a circle.

"You want to talk about it?" He offered helpfully.

"It's just that she so caught up in revenge. It's all she ever talks about, thinks about! Zira even sent a patrol to kill her own son. I don't know if she'll ever be the same," She felt her voice crack at the end.

Kivuli comfortingly leaned against her. She put her head on his shoulder. The stood there like that for a few minutes before Vitani lifted her head. She bit the inside of her check. She probably shouldn't have said that much. Her mom wasn't above banishing her.

"Thanks," She whispered.

"Yeah, no problem. I'm there whenever you need me," He smiled.

They both walked back towards Zira. Her and the hyenas were talking intently. Vitani picked up some of their conversation.

"So how large is the pride?"

"About 4 or five lions, not really much of a pride at all. And they are all female. So I'd send about 6 or 7 lions with a few males to take them down,"

Vitani rolled her eyes. Stupid sexist hyena. She could fight just as good as any male, probably better.

"Hmm, what about how far away?"

"About a day's walk away."

"So are you going to fight?"

"Well…no, we weren't planning on it."

"Don't think that just because of this that we are buddies,"

"Oh no,"

Vitani's mind wandered to other thing. What would happen after Zira killed Nala? Would she go back to being the normal Zira that Vitani had grown up with, or had she always just been like this and Vitani hadn't noticed? Kivuli nudged her shoulder. She glanced up at him. His grey eyes were focused on Zira. She glanced up to see Zira staring right at them.

"Well are you coming?" Zira growled.

"Uh yeah," Kivuli trotted towards her, leaving Vitani alone once more.

A small group of lions had formed around Zira. Her eyes seemed crazed. Vitani watched uneasily. She suddenly felt overwhelmed. She couldn't watch. If only Nuka or Kovu were here, that one of them could comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be just fine.

"When you demolish their pack, kill them all besides Nala. I want you to take her back here alive. I am going to be the one that kills her," She seemed excited, on edge.

A shudder ran up Vitani's spine. She turned away. Everything was so messed up here, if only things could go back to the way they were, even as bad as they were.


Sorry this chapter is so short, I just really wanted to pu up how life back in the pridelands are. As you can see Vitani is starting to doubt her mother. Thanks for the reviews.