Oh jeez, I have totally forgotten about this! Sounds mean I know, but with school and other things in life, this wasn't up on my 'important to do list'. Again I apologize for the, how long has it been now? Ten months? Yea, ten month wait. God that's almost a year D: SORRY!

But appreciate that I didn't completely abandon my story!

Oh you guys have to thank KShara Khan for reviewing my story, and reminding me that I haven't updated since last May. THANKS AGAIN :D

The next morning Nicole was awoken by soft padding. She cracked a tired eye open to see Simba walking out of the cave. With a stretch Nicole got up to greet her father figure.

"Morning Simba, off for your rounds?" Nicole said as she approached him.

Simba turned and smiled "Yep, but I won't be long today. I just have to check the eastern border."

Eastern border huh? Nicole thought The border we share with the outlands. "Alright then, so I'll see you later tonight then." Nicole replied. Simba nodded and turned to walk down Pride Rock. Damn, Simba really doesn't trust Kovu. Nicole shook her head and sighed.

"Hey Nicole!"

Nicole turned to see Kiara bounding towards her.

"Hey Kiara, ready for today?" Nicole said.

"You bet! Now I'll really become a hunter!"

"Speaking about becoming a good hunter" Nicole said "where's the teacher?"

Kiara peered around Nicole to see that Kovu was indeed missing. She shrugged her shoulders and said "He's probably out getting a drink or something. We'll find him" Kiara replied as both began to walk toward the water hole.

On their way there, Kiara spotted Kovu crouched in the grass ahead of them.

"I bet he won't even notice me!" She whispered to Nicole she crept closer.

Nicole rolled her eyes; you'd think she was still a cub!

Kiara crept closer to the dark lion, then finally jumped in front of him, and surprisingly, spooked him. He looked a little reluctant to fallow the girls, but trudged after them anyways.

Once they found a good spot, Kovu instructed Kiara to out into the grasslands and find a good spot to start stalking. Nodding quickly, she turned and ran to find a spot. Kovu then plopped down on the ground, telling Nicole to join.

"But why are we lying down?" Nicole quickly said.

"Kiara is not an experienced hunter, at all." Kovu replied bored, "So we need to start from level one, which just focuses on how to stalk upon prey without being detected."

Nicole leaned back and laughed. Kovu looked at her confused, "What's so funny?"

Once she regained her composure she said "Well, I've known Kiara since she was young. So, knowing her, she will create the new 'level zero' today"

"That's impossible! There's no such thing as level zero!"

Both were interrupted from the snapping of twigs and the occasional 'ouch' from the distance. They looked at each other and in unison counted down.

3…2…1…

"GOTCHA!"

There was a loud thump as Kiara flew over their heads and hit the ground. Both Kovu and Nicole stood over Kiara and peered down at her.

"You could hear me…oh…" Kiara said meekly.

"Only a lot" Kovu said as he turned to face Nicole. "Well you were right…Kiara, today you've just created a level zero."

Kiara got up and looked down at her paws in shame. Kovu's normal gruff demeanor softened for an instant before returning to normal.

"You're still breathing too hard" he said "Relax, feel the earth under your paws so it doesn't shift and make noise." Kiara watched Kovu and copied exactly what he was doing.

Just then a flock of birds flew overhead to the top of a hill. Kovu crouched low and hushed the girls. Glancing over his shoulder he said "Now watch the master, and learn."

He rushed up the hill and jumped out of sight. The girls quickly fallowed to see that Kovu had nearly taken Timon as his prey. Once seeing the pair of 'baby-sitters' Kiara was instantly angered.

"Timon, what are you doing here?" She snapped.

Timon explained that for once he wasn't fallowing her, but he was in fact enjoying the feast of bugs. He then asked Kovu to roar and scare the birds away. Kovu looked confused on what he meant, but luckily Kiara was there to help.

"Like this" she said, and showed him by giving out a mighty roar. He too roared and sent the birds flying. Soon, all of them began to race down the hill chasing what birds still remained. Both Kiara and Nicole were laughing the whole time. Kovu turned to them and asked "Why are we doing this? What's the point of this training?"

Laughing Kiara said "Training? This is isn't training, this is for fun!"

For the hundredth time that day he looked at the girls confused. "What? You don't know what fun is?"

The group kept running and running until the came to an abrupt stop. In front of them was a herd of rhinos, and on them were unhappy, angry birds.

"Uh oh…"

The group screamed and ran as fast as they could away from the angry herd. All managed to squeeze into a small crevice and hide. Once the heard was gone, all of them burst out laughing.

Nicole was the first person to squeeze out first, and right as she turned she caught a glimpse of Kovu and Kiara "kissing". She smiled to herself and yelled at them to hurry up.

Once all out, they continued to enjoy the day.