***Chapter 3***

"Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast. Of course, slowness is bad. Really skillful people never get out of time, and are always deliberate, and never appear busy."

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After they got their drink from the small oasis, the pair walked along the border between the desert and the wilderness. It was a truly bizarre place; desert to their right, and thick brush to their left. In the morning a strong wind blew from the desert, throwing hot sand and dust in their faces, while in the evening wind came from the opposite way, carrying with it the smell of dry and desolate vegetation. The two lions moved in silence, albeit a tense silence. Kiota was trying to forget the whole event with the crazy lion while Kya was doing the opposite and trying to figure it all out.

She was just baffled by it all; the lion's insanity, how she froze up when he attacked, how Kiota had killed him, and how he seemed to be actually upset by it all. It was weird for him to be so… she didn't even know what it was, but whatever it was, he was acting strangely.

"Kiota?" she asked softly, barely perceptible over the desert wind.

"I thought we agreed that we weren't going to talk."

"I know… but this will be short."

"Fine."He sighed exasperatedly. "What is it?"

"It's just…" she stammered unsurely. "When the lion lunged at me…"

"I told you, Kya," he hissed. "I don't want to talk about tha-"

"Why did you stop him?" she cut him off.

Kiota blinked. "What?"

"Why did you stop him from attacking me?"

What a stupid question! He thought to himself. He wanted to fight the lion, if she thought that this had some deeper meaning, she was going be disappointed.

"You thought that I would pass up a fight?"

She shook her head slowly. "That's what I thought at first, but then I realized that you never tried to fight him until he lunged at me."

He snorted. "Trust me, it wasn't because of you."

"Then why didn't you try to fight him before he attacked? You seemed like you were almost trying to calm him down."

Kiota was about to snap back at her with a nasty remark, but stopped himself suddenly as he the memory of the event came back to him. Had he really wanted to fight him, or had he just convinced himself that he wanted to? He stopped walking and stared straight ahead in an unfocused gaze. Why HAD he fought the unnamed lion? He knew that he had killed him in a vain attempt to stop the dreams, but why had he fought him initially? Why had he stopped him before he reached Kya? Why didn't he let her get hurt?

The questions swarmed his mind in a flood of thoughts. His mind raced, pausing for only an instant on each question which gave him almost no time to figure out any of them. He suddenly refocused back into reality to see Kya eyeing him curiously.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine… I'm fine." He muttered before pushing past her. After a few steps he whirled around upon the realization that he had never really answered her question. "And I fought the lion because I wanted to!" he declared as strongly as he could, trying to hide his immense doubt.

"Fine." She said, somewhat dejectedly.

To Kiota's relief, she stayed silent for a while. He needed time to think, this was getting out of hand! For whatever reason, he couldn't hurt Kya, nor could he even let her get hurt! On top of that, fighting no longer gave him the same fulfillment that it used to. Somehow and to his displeasure, something inside him had changed for the worse.

They followed the border for a long time until the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. As they prepared to stop for the night, they suddenly realized that the desolate savannah to their left had become a lush jungle while the desert on their right had remained the same.

"Well that kinda came up out of nowhere…" Kya remarked, more to herself than to anyone else.

Kiota just nodded slowly and found a small clearing not too deep into the jungle. The large leaves of the dense foliage protected them from the desert wind, and the simple calmness found in the lush greenery was refreshing compared to the harsh and stressful environment they had come from.

"I take it that we're just going to stay here for tonight?" Kya asked him.

"Yes. Go to sleep." He said as he collapsed to the ground underneath a tree.

She rolled her eyes at the authority that he seemed to think he had. She watched him for a moment before setting herself down on the opposite end of the clearing. Before long, she was sound asleep.

Kiota, however, remained wide awake. Besides the fact that he didn't want to re-experience his dream for the thousandth time, his head was swimming with thoughts. He tried for what seemed like hours to figure out why he had protected Kya, but he simply couldn't remember what he had been thinking at the moment. All he could guess was that it had been instinct, but he didn't HAVE instincts to protect others! The last time he had protected another had been when he had fought with Shinmen and the Vita mercenaries, and that was only because they were on the same side; he wanted to get rid of Kya, and for some reason he was subconsciously trying to save her! He groaned inwardly at the craziness of it all and buried his head into his paws in a vain attempt to shut out his thoughts. By then it was almost midnight and the moon was rising amidst a sea of vibrant stars. Kiota was about to give up on his thoughts and go to sleep when a rustling from the other side of the clearing caught his attention. He rolled to his side just in time to see a pale body disappear from into the foliage towards the desert.

"Kya." He whispered to himself and rose to follow her. Truthfully, he didn't really know why he was going after her; after all he would prefer her to leave. But lately he had been doing a lot of stuff without knowing why.

He pushed silently through leaves and branches, soon arriving on the edge of the jungle. Not far away, he could make out the image of Kya sitting upon a large rock about ten feet into the sand. Her fur was bathed in the silvery light of the moon that had risen from the horizon. Despite the moon's intensity, the stars still shone brilliantly like a glimmers of the sun's reflection on a sunny day. Some of the sky was so populated with the tiny balls of light that it seemed to be more of a smoky glow rather than the individual sparkles.

"Hey…" Kya said softly.

Kiota froze. How had she been able to hear him?

"I know that I haven't really talked to you in a while… but I am now."

What was she talking about? Kiota was about to respond, but she spoke again.

"I'm just really confused, daddy…"

He blinked. She was talking to her father?

"I just can't beat him!" she said with a flash of anger. "He's unstoppable, and I don't know how I can make things right."

At least she knew her place.

"I miss you…" she said softly. "…and everyone else."

Everyone else?

"I'm sorry… for everything that happened after you died. I will make sure that Kiota is held responsible for what he caused."

Kiota stared at her with vague confusion while she sat there on the stone in silence. A soft breeze blew past them, carrying with it some sweet and lush scent from distant lands across the desert.

"Whatever happens, Daddy…" she said after a long while. "I just hope that y-you know that I love y-you."

He watched in amazement as tears began to fall down her face and stained the dry stone below her. She was crying. It was the first time he had seen her cry outside of his dreams…

She sobbed loudly before continuing. "I love you, and I h-hope that you're p-proud of me."

Kiota watched her for several more minutes, but she just sat there in silence, crying silent tears that ran through her fur and blurred her vision. Eventually, he turned away from her grief and headed back to the clearing, his thoughts stunned by the image he had just seen. She had been crying! Suddenly, his dreams seemed infinitely more… real. The sight of Kya's grieving fit the image in his sleep so perfectly; he began to question the rest of it as well. Was it more than a dream?

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He awoke early the next morning, even before the sun due to his dreams. As usual, he had watched as his reflection transformed into Ojiro, Kya, the crazy lion, and to his surprise, he saw Kya's father, King Nario in the water. Just like the others, Nario had begun as Kiota's reflection, then blurred into his true form.

It was all very confusing and frustrating to Kiota, but he maintained his calmness. He glanced over to see Kya sleeping in the same place that she had laid down at originally. She looked somewhat distressed… uncomfortable even. As Kiota slowly became more awake, he realized why. It was freezing! They had clearly not gone deep enough into the jungle to escape the frigid winds of the cold desert night. He shivered involuntarily and pulled his arms and legs closer into his body. Before he walked off to try to warm himself up, he glanced back at Kya who was whimpering quietly in her sleep. She looked so cold. It reminded him of the countless nights he had spent alone and awake in the wilderness. The cold was a difficult thing to escape, especially in the rainy season.

He growled irritably at the sight and begrudgingly snapped off a large and leafy branch from a nearby tree. He carried in his mouth over to where she lay and gently pulled it over her body. It probably wouldn't help much, but it would at least shield her from the occasional icy breeze that slipped through the foliage. She stirred slightly as the branch mover across her fur, but to Kiota's relief, didn't wake. Once the leafy branch was in place, Kya grunted softly and buried her muzzle under her arm. Her whimpering stopped and her breathing calmed slightly.

Kiota scowled at himself as he walked away. First he couldn't hurt her, then he couldn't let her get hurt, and now he couldn't even bear to see her uncomfortable! He had to do something to fix this, but what it was, he had no idea. He had tried everything! What more was there to do? His subconscious was changing, and he couldn't stop it!

The disturbing thoughts filled his mind as he walked in a small circle around the clearing. He warmed up quickly, but continued to pace until golden beams of light filtered through the lush canopy and caught the small dust particles in the air like flakes of gold.

When he realized how late the morning had become, he turned back towards the clearing. He emerged through the brush to see Kya with a freshly killed animal. It was some sort of herd animal, but she had chewed it up pretty good already, making its exact species undeterminable.

"Where did you get that?" he asked with surprise.

She swallowed a mouthful of meat before answering. "Not too far away… It was kind of sick, so it was easy to take down."

Kiota nodded and watched her eat in silence, not taking a step forward.

"Aren't you going to have any?" she asked almost as if he had offended her somehow.

He sighed and shrugged. "Fine…" The meat was quite good, if a little gamey. Out of the corner of his eye, Kiota watched Kya to see if she had taken notice of the branch he had given her. He was sure that she was aware of it, but to his relief she did not mention it. The last thing he wanted was to try to explain his brief moment of… whatever it was.

"Come on…" he said softly when only scraps remained of the kill. "Let's go."

Kya nodded and followed him away from the clearing in silence. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was different today. He didn't have his usual distaste for his unwanted company, and she didn't seem to hate him as much as usual.

"Kya?" he asked.

"Usually I'm the one with the questions." She remarked with slight amusement.

"Let me try it once…"

"Fine… shoot."

"Your father was King Nario, wasn't he?"

Her expression instantly darkened. "Yes."

"So you were the princess."

"What's your point?" she snapped.

He shrugged, not really sure himself. "I didn't see any other… heirs when I passed through your pride…"

"Are you going to actually ask a question or not?" she demanded frustratedly.

He nodded. "If you were Nario's only child and heir, then who is ruling your pride now?"

She growled angrily. "I'm not just going to tell my life's story to you!" she hissed. "There are some things that I'd like to keep private if you don't mind!"

This was more like their usual relationship, he thought to himself.

A quiet rustling from a nearby brush caught Kiota's attention. "Kya…" he said quietly, his eyes not leaving the spot.

"No!" she cried. "You started this, and I'm going to finish it!"

More movement from a different bush made Kiota increasingly nervous. There was something watching them. "Kya, shut up!"

"No, you shut up!" she declared furiously. "You thin-"

He slapped a paw over her muzzle and pulled her to the ground aggressively.

She struggled furiously against his grip, but he held her fast. "Shhhh…" he whispered urgently. "There's something watching us."

At this, Kya's eyes widened and she stopped struggling. Kiota allowed her out of his tight old and she crouched down next to him in nervous silence.

Soft footsteps padded not too far away.

Kiota growled and leapt from their improvised hiding place and into the middle of the jungle, ready for a fight. At first, nothing happened; the bugs still hummed and the plants didn't move. Then, slowly, a lion emerged from behind a nearby tree. Then another from a bush and a lioness from behind a small boulder. Soon, a small unit of lions stood before the two travelers. They were clearly a combat unit of sorts, but they were different than what Kiota was used to. These fighters were disciplined; the way they stood, how they looked, it was all very clear that these were no mercenaries. He growled his nervousness increasing. If these lions were as highly trained as they appeared, he probably wouldn't be able to take them all on if they wanted to fight.

Kya stood behind a growling Kiota as a sandy colored lion with many scars approached them slowly from the ranks of lions. He was younger than most of the other fighters that seemed to be subordinate to him, but his eyes seemed wiser than most.

"Who are you?" he asked them.

Kya stepped out from behind Kiota. "My name is Kya." She said quietly.

Kiota growled and pushed her back, irritated at her readiness to give information. The damage, however, was done. "My name is Kiota." He said reluctantly. "Who are you?"

"Are you one of Toyo's troops?"

Kiota blinked at the mention of the familiar king. "No..." he said unsurely. "I knew him, but I don't follow him." Whether this was to be in his favor or against him, Kiota couldn't tell. "You never told me who you were."

The lion nodded. "My name is Tanai… this is my unit."