The next morning most of the lionesses have already woken up and made their way out of pride rock as some stay inside like Sarafina, Tina, Sarabi and several other lionesses lying next to one another to admire Simba and Nala, on how close they are and what Sarafina told them from last night. Mufasa already left to patrol but told Sarabi about what happened with Simba last night which she spread the word to Sarafina, Tina and soon the whole pride knows about last night so they'll know what's going on.
Usually Simba is the first and always the first one to wake but he knows who he's with and he doesn't want to leave where he is right now so leaves him one of the last two to wake. Nala is the first to wake out of the two as she sees her sleeping loving companion Simba still asleep next to her; she's a little surprised to see him still there but then remembers he's injured and hurt. She also remembers him cleaning her wound which gives her an idea to pay the favor, as she sits up facing Simba seeing what seems like his entire body is filled with cuts, deep scratches, and bites which all seems pretty nasty.
Nala started at Simba's rear and made her way to halfway up his body cleaning and licking every bloodly, dirty wound that she can find as Simba wakes up to the same feeling Nala had. Simba opens his eyes and looks to find Nala cleaning his wounds with her tongue, Simba opened his mouth to say something but just like Nala he doesn't say anything because he doesn't want her to stop so he lays his head back down without Nala noticing as she cleans the biggest wound on his back making Simba moan in pain. Nala heard so she starts to lick gently using the tip of her tongue to clean the big wound.
While that's going on the lionesses, Sarafina, Sarabi, and Tina all watch Nala take care of Simba's wounds trying everything in their power to not say something and ruin the moment. All eyes and proud smiles point towards Simba and Nala knowing quite well how much they care and love each other can't wait for the day that they marry and become king and queen once Simba and Nala are old enough and Mufasa steps down.
After several minutes Nala finished with the biggest wound and moves up to where she's at his neck making Simba feel satisfied chills trying his every might to not make a noise and ruin the surprise he has in store because Nala still thinks Simba is asleep. She starts to clean another wound on the back of his neck sending more chills down his spine making it harder to not make a noise, with his eyes still closed to hide his cover he takes a deep breath and puffs through his nose. Nala stops to make sure Simba is still asleep and from her knowledge he is from the sight of his eyes still closed but with a wide smile liking what he feels as she moves to the top of his head which has several small scratches which cleaned almost right away.
Nala then moved to his cheeks which has several scratches on it. After several licks on his cheeks Simba's eyes pops open and rolls over grabbing Nala and pinning her to the ground with Simba on top of her, Nala with a surprised expression doesn't know what to say Simba gets closer where their noses are touching
" looks like I pinned you this time" he says in a soft playful tone. After that they hear giggles behind them, Simba peeks an eye behind him to see most of the lionesses including his mother, Sarafina, Tina and most of the other lionesses with all eyes on them. Simba blushes but Nala doesn't care if they watch or not as she leaned in a licked Simba's cheek, Simba looks back at Nala and repays the favor by giving her a lick to the very front of her muzzle under her nose and above her mouth.
Nala then moved her head and leaned in for a kiss on the lips locking muzzles while doing so. The sound of 'awes' slowly fills the cave from the other lionesses making Simba blush slightly redder, they break away from kissing and Nala sees how red Simba's cheeks are and giggles.
Simba:" what?" he giggles
Nala: "oh nothing if you could be any redder you'll look likes the setting sun" she giggles with Simba giggling back. Nala rolls over having her the one pinning Simba,
Nala: "I thought it'll be your turn to be on the ground" she says playfully as she rubs her nose on Simba's,
Simba:" it's fine as long as I can see the beauty of you" he says smiling at her as her ears flat smiling ear to ear wider as she nuzzles him.
Over at the lionesses they start to get ready to go hunting with Sarafina and Tina's turn to go, before they decide to head out Sarafina looks over at her daughter,
Sarafina:" hey Tina" she calls for her friend who's stretching next to her,
Tina:" what is it Sarafina?" she responds standing straight
Sarafina: "do you think Nala is old enough to hunt with us" she speaks to Tina with her head slightly turned towards her but keeps her eyes on the couple,
Tina looks at Nala "oh yeah, she's more than old enough" she says looking from Nala to Sarafina.
Sarafina: "I'd hate to interrupt their special time together though, but she's gonna need to hunt for this pride anyways right?" she asks looking at Tina,
Tina:" right, because if she's going to be the queen of the pride lands she'll have to learn how to hunt for Simba and his pride whenever the time comes" she says friendly smiling as Sarafina walks towards the couple.
Sarafina:" hey Nala" she calls for her daughter as she gets off of Simba to look at her mother to see what she needs
Sarafina:" sorry to interrupt you two's time together but want to go with us and hunt? Since you're gonna have to learn how to hunt anyways?" Nala sits up and looks back and forth from her mother to Simba unsure, wanting to stay with Simba but knows she'll have to learn how to hunt for the pride.
Simba:" go on and hunt I'll be here when you get back" he says sitting up with his injured paw lifted.
Nala: "are sure you won't need me?" she says concerned about him and his well being since he's still hurt
Simba:" yeah, I'll be ok, if I do need something I'll ask for moms help or another lionesses help, plus your gonna have to learn to hunt sooner or later"
Nala smiles at him: "ok, I'll go mom" she turns and smiles at her mother who was waiting patiently for an answer.
Sarafina:" ok great, we'll be leaving shortly so meet us outside the cave" she says turning around towards the exit of the cave where most of the hunting party is already at waiting patiently for their hunting leader of the group which happens to be Sarafina. Since of Sarafina's previous performances her, and Sarabi are the hunting leaders of any group Sarafina because of her performance and Sarabi because she's the queen.
Nala:" I'll be back as soon as I can" she tells Simba,
Simba:" take your time, no hurry, I'm not going anywhere" he smiles walking while limping with her to the exit before nuzzling bye. Sarafina, Nala, Tina and the rest of the party start to head out towards the savannah to find something to hunt, Simba limps up the slanted rock of pride rock and watches them leave until they disappear into the distance. After several minutes of walking and searching they come across some cape buffalos up ahead, Sarafina think on whether to hunting them or not considering its Nala's first hunt.
Nala:" what wrong mom" she whispers next to her with the hunting party waiting for orders Sarafina:" I don't think you're ready for cape buffaloes yet" she whispers back looking at her while they're low to the ground so they won't get spotted or alert them,
Nala:" I can probably handle it"
Sarafina:" are you sure because I told you what they can-"
Nala:" mom, I can handle it, trust me" she interrupts, knowing that cape buffaloes are well known to kill lions with their sharp horns to defend itself but it will only do it when there's a perfect opportunity like on the ground under it or being alone while far away from assistance, Sarafina sighs in defeat and smiles at her daughter
Sarafina:" alright, let's get us a cape buffalo" she says as she nuzzles her daughter before they separate into two groups one group to chase the buffaloes and another to pounce at them from in front. Nala is with the chasing group with Tina and another lioness while her mother and few other lionesses are going to jump in front of the herd as they make they're to their positions .
Nala already knows the basics of hunting since when she was about to turn teenage her mother would teach her how to get low to the ground without falling, pounce, and stay quiet while doing so. Nala gets low to the ground with her fur camouflaged with the grass making her and the rest look invisible as they get closer and closer. Nala was getting ready to pounce until they must've gotten too close as one of the buffaloes makes a noise to alert the others as they start run trying to flee. Nala along with her group quickly starts to run after them as they start to gain on one of them. The buffaloes runs directly towards Sarafina group as Sarafina and her group jump out of savannah grass in front of the stampede of buffaloes as the buffaloes don't turn as Sarafina attempts to jump on one but get head butted by it as it goes by while the rest of her group quickly steps out of the way and starts chasing the stampede behind Nala's group. She falls to the ground but recovers with stinging pain but she ignores it as she quickly gets back up and runs to catch up.
Meanwhile Nala catches up with one of the buffaloes as she pounces landing on the back of it as it tries to shake her off while running but Nala has her claws stabbed in the back of it keeping her on the buffalo as she tries to crawl towards the neck of it. Tina who is also close to one attempts to pounce on one but misses and falls but gets back up quickly while Sarafina caught up quickly already as she attempts to jump on one and does successfully as the buffalo she gets on also tries to shake her off but fails to do so.
Nala made it to the front side of the buffalo and tries to claw the throat of the buffalo but while trying the buffalo jerks it's head forward making Nala almost go flying off but grabs hold of the curved forwards horns of the buffalo to keep her from going off as the buffalo attempts to slam her on the ground by jerking it's head rapidly towards the ground but it fails to get her off but does manages to make her back legs slip off as she still hangs on to the horns as the rest of her body goes wherever the buffalo makes it go. The buffalo slows down for a second to attempt to slam Nala down which this time it does slamming her to the ground hard as pain shoots through her body but like daughter like mother she hangs on with no sign of letting go as the buffalo runs again.
Sarafina seen it happen as she looked to make sure Nala is ok, when she did the buffalo she's on jerked his body forward with Sarafina not prepared for it as she goes flying forward off the buffalo and lands in front as the buffalo starts to stomp on Sarafina. While it was stomping Sarafina moved as fast as she could to prevent getting hit by its hooves and horns but Sarafina gets stomped everywhere, luckily nowhere life threatening but it stomped her legs, side, and upper legs as it gives one more stomp before running away from the lionesses gaining on it.
Sarafina stays on the ground with heavy pain going through her body as she passes out from the amount of it. Meanwhile Nala hangs on despite being slammed to the ground, as she attempts to claw its throat. She eventually cuts its throat but when she did the buffalo slams Nala one more time but this time its horn actually stabs into Nala's sides lightly where it only stabbed her flesh and a muscle under the flesh. Nala screams in agony but manages to kill the buffalo that did the harm as it falls to the ground on it's back slamming Nala in the process with the horn still stuck in Nala while the rest of the buffaloes flee unharmed.
Nala attempts to push the buffalo to at least get the two ends of the horn out but is too painful to even touch as she lays her head down to catch her breath. Tina and several other lionesses comes running to help Nala unaware of her condition while the rest help with Sarafina who is still passed out.
Tina:" Nala are you ok?!" she says then seeing the horn of the Cape buffalo stabbed in the side of Nala, as Nala lifts her head to look at her
Tina:" Oh Nala" she says shocked at what she sees as the other lionesses sees it and gasps at the sight but tries not to sound to worried so that Nala don't get worried herself.
Nala:" where's mom and the rest of the hunting party?" she says seeing only half of the hunting party with her mother included
Tina:" She got stomped and hit hard but she's ok she's just unconscious the rest of the hunting party are helping her" Nala has a face of worry for her mother not even thinking about her own well being.
Tina:" ok first things first we're going to pull the horn out of you, it's probably going to hurt so roar if you need to" she says as her and several lionesses help her while some other lionesses sit next to Nala's face to keep her calm and still if they have to.
Tina and the lionesses pull on the buffalo's horns as Nala closes her eyes and clinches her teeth feeling unbelievable pain to her side. Nala slowly starts to growl in pain in her breath as they manage to pull the horn out leaving two small holes on her side as Tina examines it to make sure it didn't puncture anything important but all she sees is flesh as blood starts to slowly drip from the two holes.
Tina:" ok I need two to carry her to pride rock quickly but carefully" she orders as two lionesses nods and quickly picking Nala up with one half of Nala on one lioness and the other half one the other lioness as they start to fast walk to pride rock while Tina and several other lionesses wait for the other lionesses with rest of the hunting party arrive shortly behind them with passed out Sarafina on their backs,
Tina:" take her to pride rock, we'll be right behind you guys with the cape buffalo" she tells them as they continue to walk with Sarafina on their backs towards pride rock as Tina and the remaining lioness carry the cape buffalo.
End of part 10