*A/N: I haven't updated in like forever. I'M SORRY! …But there wasn't wifi in China…Anyway I hope this double-chapter-update-squished-into-one-chapter makes up for it, and I pinky-swear promise I will try and update more often. By the way, I'm also starting another fanfiction on the "Shatter Me" series. It's gonna be a set of random one-shots. Check it out! And please, I take any suggestions on this plot too! Enjoy, and review, as always! Please read A/N at bottom of chapter.*
Rafiki's POV
Although King Simba had cleaned up most of the mess that Scar had left behind, I still had to visit Kopa and Nala everyday.
He insisted.
I, too gladly, complied. Pride Rock became my home away from home, and the young prince was progressing and growing very rapidly.
I told Simba that it should be very soon that Kopa be presented to the animals, otherwise other rogues would try and start to usurp his kingship.
Simba's POV
I agreed that Kopa should be presented to the kingdom, but only until there was 100% chance that he was going to survive. After all, he already had been through what no cub should experience: child abuse, kidnapping, starvation, and had to face the world without a mother in the first few hours of his life.
Poor him. I'm such a terrible father.
Nala, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content even though she had been hurt repeatedly in the last five hours. She stroked him absentmindedly, purring whenever he let out a mewl. I, restless from the tension in the air, guarded the entrance of our den even though it was way inside Pride Rock.
The lionesses scoffed at me.
"Simba! Look!" Nala cried.
I whipped around so fast I practically slapped Nomalanga in the face with my tail.
"What? What is it?" I panted, bracing myself for the worst.
She laughed. "Kopa's moving toward you. Kopa, that's Daddy! Daddy's the king of the Pride Lands. He's a very powerful lion, Kopa. One day, you will be too. Oh, Simba, he looks just like you," she gazed with pride at him.
I puffed out my chest, equally proud. "Hey, Kopa. How're you doing? Rafiki tells me you're doing very well, buddy. As soon as you get well, we're going to have a presentation for you, alright? All the animals will know you. You are the heir to all of this. You have a wonderful home, Kopa. You are very lucky, you know that?" I asked him fondly.
Nala purred loudly. "Good boy! Keep going, you're almost there!" Kopa had, by now, crawled slowly to my paw. I grinned.
"Who's the strongest boy in the world? Yes, you are! You are!" I practically cooed, and Zazu flew in. I immediately cleared my throat, not taking my eyes off my son.
"Yes, Zazu?"
"Sire! I just want to formally congratulate you on the birth of your son," he bowed.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, completely caught off guard. "Oh, thank you Zazu."
Zazu landed next to Kopa, smiling. "He looks exactly like you, Sire. May I ask, what is his name?"
"His name is Kopa," Nala interrupted, sitting down next to me.
"Your Queenliness! (A/N: IDK, I wanted to make Zazu kind of funny and exasperating in this fanfic…) Ah, I did not see you there! You and King Simba have a beautiful young master, madam! I cannot wait to help guide him on his way to greatness. I am, after all, a very experience major domo," he mused.
Nala and I exchanged a glance. "Of course, of course, Zazu. And thank you, you can have tomorrow off," I said.
He brightened considerably. "Oh, thank you Sire! I cannot wait to tell my children! Well, by your leave!" and he flew out.
"He hasn't changed, has he?" Nala murmured, eyes twinkling. "Or has he gotten more arrogant?"
"He's not that bad," I soothed. "Very useful when you want him to fetch something. Or someone. Like you," my eyes softened as I landed on her and Kopa. "When I do my morning things, I miss you. And I will miss Kopa, too."
Nala rubbed her snout against mine. "I miss you when you're doing your 'kingly' things too, Simba. You will take a short break to take care of Kopa, right?" her eyes shined hopefully, and Kopa pawed my tail, as if in agreement.
I hesitated. After all that had happened with Nala, Kopa, Sarafina, and Scar, the kingdom was virtually falling apart. I had neglected my duties for so long that the animals were starting to get restless.
But this was Nala asking.
"Of course," I forced out, smiling and pulling Kopa toward me so as to change the topic. Nala purred and snuggled against me and as we gazed at our beloved son, it seemed as though life couldn't get better than this.
TIME LAPSE OF HALF A YEAR
RAFIKI'S POV
The prince had grown into a very healthy and handsome young cub. He was almost the spitting image of Simba with his orange-ish fur, red eyes, and brown tufts of hair. King Simba had restored the kingdom and all was well. Until one day, the Queen announced to the pride some very unexpected news…
SIMBA'S POV
I had worked my butt off trying to get the kingdom back in order after all that chaos with Scar and Sarafina. The animals rejoiced whenever Kopa came out to play, and the pride itself was healthy and well fed. Kula, Nala's best friend, mated with Tojo (A/N: Yes, this might not be the same as other fanfictions but this is my fanfiction so HA! JK keep reading). and had given birth to a beautiful girl cub, Diyana, or Yana for short and she was quite taken with our own Kopa.
Tojo and I had discussed an engagement between the two, but Kula disagreed, saying that she mated with Tojo for love, and that they should be able to make their own choices.
I, obviously, had no experience with these kind of things, for Nala and I had fallen in love anyway. 3
Anyway, I was walking back to Pride Rock, looking forward to a nice, peaceful night, when Nala came bounding up to me.
"Simba, darling, do you fancy a walk?" she asked. I was a little startled—partly because of her use of language, and partly because it was already close to dusk.
"Oh—all right," I shrugged, "where do you want to go?"
"Oh, I don't know," she replied, almost dreamily. I glanced at her questioningly, then shrugged it off. My Nala was usually much more logical and well…less dreamy.
She walked a few paces in front of me, and I realized we had stopped in front of the waterhole. She bent down and licked it, almost absentmindedly.
NALA'S POV
I was trying to figure out how to break the news to Simba. How had I told Simba about Kopa? (A/N: Lol I just gave it away didn't I?)
"Nala," Simba broke into my thoughts, "are you okay?" I looked up to see that he was staring at me with concern in his eyes.
"Is it Kopa? What's wrong with him?" he immediately started pacing.
I took the cue. "Well, no…not exactly…nothing's wrong with him, Simba, calm down!" For Simba indeed had started pulling out his mane.
"Okay, well, this concerns all of us…" I began, "…and, uh—"
"Are you pregnant, Nala?" Simba interrupted, plopping down onto me and sticking his head where my belly was, as though he could hear a heartbeat.
I sighed. "How did you know?"
"Darling, that's exactly what you said when you were pregnant with Kopa," he mused.
Oh.
I give him a sheepish grin. "Yes, I'm pregnant, again," I said. He purred loudly and pressed against me.
"Let's make sure this one is…er…less eventful, eh? I'm so happy, Nala," he smiled and licked my head. We stayed like that for a while until Nomalanga came running toward us, saying that Kopa was missing us.
We obliged and followed her. "Have you told Kopa yet? Have you told anyone else yet, for that matter?" Simba questioned, while Nomalanga looked on, curious. He spotted me looking at her and gave a loud, hearty laugh. "I guess not!"
I managed a weak laugh. Truthfully, I had not wanted to mention to anyone so that nobody would try and harm Kopa again…after all, we could have had some spies in our herd, or some animal eavesdroppers could have proclaimed it loudly to their family, and Zira just happened to overhear.
KULA'S POV
I was so anxious about Nala…she and Simba had mysteriously disappeared and come back with Nomalanga in the dead of night. Who knew what could have happened? Oh, sure, she was with Simba, but that didn't mean anything. Some people didn't necessarily respect the king of the Pride Lands, and might be rash if he happened to "intrude" on their territory.
So, naturally, when the three showed up at the entrance to the cave, I freaked and broke down in tears that resulted in a full session of condolences from dear Tojo.
Nala was tight-lipped and wouldn't tell anyone where she'd been with Simba and Nomalanga, obviously, either out of loyalty or out of truth wouldn't tell anyone either. Simba, interestingly enough, seemed overly happy and perky for the next week.
I soon became very suspicious. Was something going on between the two of them?
SIMBA'S POV
Time passed and as Nala's stomach got ever bigger…some lions (and lionesses) began to notice.
First, obviously, was her mother, Sarafina, and mine, Sarabi.
They completely cornered us. It wasn't fair. They literally cornered us in the cave where everyone slept, where everyone was awake and listening.
"Nala, dear, and Simba?" my mother started out. We padded over to her.
"Yes, mom?"
She glared at me. "I want to know why you haven't told us that you were expecting another child with her!"
The cave fell silent and the whole pride turned to look at us, as one. Yana and Kopa, bless them, were already sleeping blissfully. Hopefully, they would not wake up for the news, for if one of the cubs fancied an adventure to the Outlands, Zira might hear about them.
Nala, meanwhile, had other ideas. She went ahead and had a shouting match with my mother, while Sarafina and I looked helplessly at them.
When it finally got loud enough so that their argument could probably carry on to the Outlands, I decided I should probably step in, since Sarafina had long ago given up and just sat there, watching Kopa and Yana.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mom, Nala, calm down, alright? We just wanted it to be a surprise, calm down!" Yet they completely ignored me and kept yelling at each other until I forced my way in between them.
"As King of the Pride Lands, I command you to stop this instant! Get ahold of yourselves!" I thundered. Nala glared at me, looking like she wanted to say more, and opened her mouth again.
"That is an order!" I snapped. Nala glared at me, closed her mouth, and burst into tears. I stared at her, utterly bemused. Dafudge….
"Your cub could have been injured! Deformed! Sick! This was completely irresponsible on your part as parents! What were you thinking?!" my mom burst out.
"We wanted to keep it a surprise!" Nala shouted, tears running down her face. "Don't you remember what happened last time?"
My mother and Nala looked at each other, my mom staring, Nala crying, and before any of us knew it, the two lionesses were onto each other—no, not viciously fighting—crying and sobbing and laughing and exchanging memories. Soon, Sarafina joined in, and gradually the racket woke up Kopa and Yana, who at once, being the pampered little cubs they were, demanded food and wailed loudly.
The rest of the pride then broke into a loud chorus of congratulations, gossiping, and (especially for the lionesses) cooing over Nala's stomach.
Welcome to my life as king.
SARABI'S POV
I was so happy…honestly, after what happened when Nala was carrying Kopa, I had highly doubted whether either of them would want another cub.
Okay, I guess I overreacted a bit.
But I was honestly concerned for her safety—and the cub! Rafiki had told us that he could sense it would be a girl the next morning, when I escorted her to his tree. After returning to the pride with the news, we all rejoiced.
"As King of the Pridelands," Simba began, "I command you to keep this news within our pride and territory only. This applies to you two," he narrowed his eyes at the cubs, "and should I hear that someone had told someone else not in the tribe, counting rogues, I will have that lion or lioness punished severely."
Pin-drop silence. I gazed at my son, trying to gauge how he had transformed in the past years. Mufasa would be so proud.
? ? ?
NALA'S POV
I was out hunting when I felt a small twinge in my stomach. I ignored it. Simba would go nuts if he knew I was hunting, especially when the cub was going to be born any day now.
I was going in for the killing bite when a flash of red stopped me.
Ugh. It was Simba.
He was mad. Like, really mad. His eyes blazed, his tail was erect, and he drew himself up to the tallest height.
He had grown tall.
Anyway. He growled at me.
"What the hell are you doing, Nala?" he snapped.
"Hunting," I replied innocently.
"I can do that for you. Get back to the cave. Now," he commanded. I rolled my eyes. Typical over-protective Simba.
"Simba, I'm not crippled, and I'm not injured in anyway. I can hunt," I told him as patiently as possible.
"Exactly. You are pregnant, which is worse! You are responsible for another life. If you were injured, you'd be responsible for yours. Now get back to the cave."
"Simba—" I pleaded.
"Now!" he snapped. I glared at him but delivered a swift killing bite to the poor injured zebra. Sorry, but I'm gonna eat you.
His eyes blazed at me angrily while I gulped some meat down.
"Nala, get back, now. There's something I've got to take care of. I don't want you getting hurt," he muttered quietly, his eyes softening as they met mine.
"I know," I sighed, but suddenly, a sharp pain swept through my lower abdomen. I tried to hide it, but Simba knew me too well.
"Is it time?" he asked sharply. I drew breath and nodded.
"Shit!" he practically yelled.
"Simba, help me," I groaned, about to collapse on the floor.
"Er, right," he said and let me lean on him as we limped our way back to the Pride Rock.
For some reason he was very tense and kept looking back over our shoulder.
"Nala, please, darling, come on," he moaned, trying to pick up the pace and alternately licking my ear in an attempt to soothe the pain. Much like last time, it didn't work.
"I'm trying!" I snapped, moving my feet a bit faster. Suddenly the hardest contraction yet made me collapse as I yelled in agony.
"Nala!" Simba cried and bent over me. "Come on, sweetheart, it's only a bit further…"
He was right. The rock loomed over us.
I was laying down, groaning, on the ground.
"Simba—she's—coming—now!" I gasped, starting to push.
"Hold on!" he snapped. "Wait for, like, two seconds!" and he grabbed my scruff and hauled me over his back.
"Augh!" I cried in pain.
He practically flew over to the Rock, deposited me on the floor, whispered, "I'll be right back. Don't worry now, you'll do great," and left.
My mother came flitting over to me, gasping. "is it time?"
"Mom," I groaned, "help me!"
"Is Mommy alright?" it was Kopa. His little voice gave me strength. I pushed and out came a little bundle.
"Ew, what's that?"
"That's your sister, darling," said Sarabi, who evidently was in the cave, too. I grasped the bundle and licked it fiercely, revealing a small cub no bigger than my paw.
"Well done, Nala," my mother purred and licked my head tenderly.
All of a sudden, as my cub was suckling, I realized the pride was gone.
"Where is everyone?" I asked. My mother(s) looked at each other uneasily.
"What?" I snapped. "Well?"
"I knew he wouldn't tell her," Sarabi whispered, almost to herself.
"He? Who's he? Where's Simba? What did he not tell me?" I asked, making a move to rise, until my mom pushed me down.
"Nothing, darling. Don't worry. They're all fine. Kula's here, just napping. And Kopa and Yana are here. And Fatima. See? Everyone's here!" she whispered, trying to calm me, but her eyes were panicking.
"Mom, don't give me that crap. I know that's not everyone in the pride. Where's Alex and Tojo? And Nomalanga? And everyone else? Where's Simba?"
"Nala, dear, please don't talk about it now," Sarabi whispered, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"As queen, I demand that you tell me this instant!" I snapped.
They looked at each other as Kopa cowered in the corner, confused as to what was going on.
"Darling, there's—there's been a border skirmish at the Outlands, and Zira—"
I cut my mom off with a loud roar. "Zira again! Always Zira! I'm going to kill her if any of them comes back with a scratch on their heads!"
Kopa whimpered. I softened immediately. "Come here, darling," I cooed. He obeyed and curled up by my side, right next to his sister.
I, in turn, curled up around them, but keeping an alert, vigilant stare at the opening of the cave, hoping for sounds of the pride.
"Nala," Sarabi whispered tentatively, "I know this isn't the best time, but…have you a name?"
I stared at her incredulously, but realized she was right.
What would Simba like?
I thought for a minute.
"Kiara," I said with finality. "Her name is Kiara."
*A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter! I'm really, really sorry—like honestly sorry—for keeping you all waiting for like three months. The next chapter will be out maybe in a couple of days, as long as you guys keep posting reviews and suggestions. Please, suggestions! I'm running out! Thank you so much for keeping with me, and be sure to check out my other stories! And I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Peace out!*