How's it going my sweet and innocent children? I hope you all got a little love from your lovers, or parents, or siblings, or pets, or friends, or whoever you love in your life. Okay, so Kovu just jumped off a cliff and plunged to his doom. Now let's see how Kiara's taking it. I know, it's cruel. Anyway, thank everyone who has been following this story from the beginning and I hope you keep enjoying and reviewing it.

-X-

Kopa titled his head upwards, stopping for a few moments as rain started falling. He looked back at the morose group of creatures with him, their original team of lions, the survivors of the two prides that had been attacked, and the newly freed prisoners. "Let's take a break over at that cave" the prince suggested. "I think we could all use some rest and some shelter from this oncoming downpour."

No one argued, they all simply followed as he said. He let everyone else head into the cave first and noticed that Kiara was the only one standing outside. Her eyes were downcast and her tail just kept swishing from left to right in some perpetual loop.

Vitani paused just outside the cave and looked back at her mate and sister-in-law. "You go on inside, I'll talk to her."

Kopa looked back at her. "You sure? She is my sister…Maybe I should…"

"Trust me" Vitani said softly. "This is probably something a lioness can only talk to her about anyway."

"Then we're going to need one."

"Ha ha…We'll talk later." Vitani walked past Kopa but not before giving him a warm nuzzle. "Go and get some rest."

"Good luck…"

Vitani nodded and continued on towards the light-furred lioness. "Hey…Kiara, you think we could talk about things?" she asked. "If you don't want to then I understand but I think it might be best for you to confide in someone." Kiara didn't reply but she seemed to have acknowledged the tawny feline at least. "…Your brother is worried about you, you know."

Kiara opened her mouth but shut it again. She sniffed and a couple tears dropped to the ground in between her paws. "I just can't believe that happened. I can't believe he just did that!"

"…I know" Vitani muttered. "Almost a year ago, he wouldn't even have thought of risking his life for anyone, even if it was for me. You really changed him you know."

The princess was almost frightened to ask, afraid of knowing what the answer may be. Even if there were only two answers to it, she just feared it too much. "Do you…Do you think that he's still alive?"

Vitani avoided eye contact with her sister-in-law."To be honest, I'm not completely sure. I mean, yesterday, we searched all day for any signs of him and absolutely nothing. If we couldn't find his body then he's either drifted away too far and into the ocean or he got away. I'm hoping with all my heart that it's the second but…I just don't know. I'm…I'm scared of what the answer may be too."

"…Vitani…Can you leave me alone?"

"Then come on, let's get into the cave or else we might catch a cold."

"Vitani…Please. I just want to be left alone."

Vitani frowned and refused to a budge an inch from where she stood. She stared at Kiara who was just pleading her to leave. "Listen to me Kiara, I may not know if my own brother is still alive but I do know that he wouldn't want us moping around" Vitani told her firmly. "Do you see me crying like a mewling? No, I plan on living to the fullest in Kovu's place. As long as he is not here and we are, we have a mission to make sure we win this war so that if he returns, we can rejoice without any reason to be depressed. Do you hear me?"

"I know" Kiara muttered. "But I'm not strong like you Vitani, I can't help that I'm weak. So please just leave me alone."

"Of all the lionesses my brother could have chosen" Vitani sighed. Kiara momentarily glared at her sister-in-law to show that she was offended. "You didn't even let me finish, of all the lionesses my brother could've chosen, you were the one I'm most proud to call my sister. But if you keep acting this way then I will soon regret it."

Kiara was surprised by this statement, she knew that got along fairly well with Vitani but hse hadn't known that Vitani thought that highly of her. "What do you mean?" Kiara asked. "When I first met you, I always thought that a tough lioness such as yourself would've thought of me as a spoiled cub or something."

"I may be strong in your eyes but inside, I want more than anything to cry like you are right now" Vitani stated. "I don't know if my brother is out there alive or dead and I am worried sick about him. Even when we were living through hell for so long, we continually looked to each other for comfort. Even after everything we went through; we share so many happy memories. And the reason for why I respect you so much is because you stood by my brother's side to stop the conflict between the Outsiders and the Pride Landers. I was amazed, with every word you said, the more I believed you. The more I wanted to get away from Zira and just stand by your side, the sister of the lion I held dear to me."

Kiara was speechless. "But…If you want to cry, then why don't you? I know it must be hard on you as well, I was just being selfish thinking that this was only affecting me. So why don't you cry?"

"Because this isn't the time to cry" Vitani told her simply. "Kovu may still be alive, a part of me is sure of that and I know he will return to us. If you want to waste time crying then go ahead, but I don't plan on it. Kiara, I know you are strong, you're stronger than you think you are at least, so don't just cry about it, if you feel something, do something."

By now, the rain was pouring down heavily around them and they were drenched to the bone.

Kiara's voice cracked as she tried in vain to keep it level. "Well what am I supposed to do? Vitani…How can you put up such a strong front if your breaking inside? I don't understand…"

"…It's because I know that there are others counting on me and there are those I have to count on too" Vitani told her. "Your great grandmother is also what keeps me going, I aspire to become a little more like her. A great warrior queen who wasn't afraid to get her paws dirty once in a while. To some extent, she made you one of my inspirations as well. I've seen it in you, Kiara, you're just like Queen Uru . You're strong, brave, and you can put a smile on anyone. So if you keep crying this way, you're going to bring tears to my own eyes."

Kiara blinked the tears away as she gave off a little laugh. "Thank you Vitani…You've really helped me out. Thank you…"

"Well…That was what I was trying to do."

-X-

Nyota panicked inside her buzzard head as she soared towards their base inside the side of Mount Kilimanjaro, she was just hoping that Hasani was already in a foul mood so that it wouldn't make things all that bad. Usually she'd be happy if two lions plunged to their deaths but this was a special case, if they were really dead then Hasani would not be happy about it. The worst thing about this situation was that she was the one who was forced to tell him.

"Hey, Nyota, you're back sooner than I thought."

The buzzard stopped midflight and landed next to the cheetah that had called out to her. "Jet, I don't have much time, I've got report some urgent news to Hasani. It's about Thimba!"

Seeing the panic in her eyes made it clear to Jet that Hasani wouldn't like the news she bore. "Ooh, let me guess, he betrayed us! No, he was captured wasn't he? Well, as long as the old bloke isn't dead, you should be fine."

Nyota gulped. "Heh heh, right, about that."

"Wait, seriously?! He's dead?! Well then…Good luck!" Jet immediately made a run for it with the speed of his species, except it was multiplied tenfold.

"Wait; don't leave me alone with him!"

Just then, a certain pair approached the bird, one was a black leopardess while the other was a male cheetah, like Jet except less skinny and bony. "Nyota, what's wrong?" the leopardess asked. "It's not like you to talk to a trail of dust, have you finally snapped or something?"

Nyota slowly turned to them. "Kivuli, Majari, hey…Look, I know you two don't like me very much and I've made it clear that I reciprocate such feelings but I seriously need a favor from you two. Hasani will go easier on you two or at least react less strongly."

This didn't sound very appealing to the two felines but they were willing to hear her out. "What is it?"

"Well…"

The two of them ran as quickly as they could until they made it to the den where they could see that largest of the three felines talking to an elephant. One their conversation was over, which didn't take long, the large mammal walked out of the cave and allowed both Kivuli and Majari to enter. Hasani was rather surprised to see the two of them there, for one thing, he had almost never seen them together unless he was sending them out or they were returning from a mission.

Hasani exhaled to get some of his excess energy out of his system. "What is it? This better be important because I was just about to check on the training camps." He then remembered something. "Oh that's right, did Nyota come back from that base yet? I still can't believe Thimba ran off without telling me upfront first."

Majari and Kivuli traded a nervous glance and Hasani seemed to notice.

"Sir, I'm afraid you're not going to like this" Majari started off. "But Nyota did return and she came back carrying a rather dreadful message." The spotted creature took a deep breath as he let Hasani brace for his next words. "I'm afraid that Thimba may be dead."

Hasani's eyes widened in horror and fright as he began breathing heavily and his whole body shook uncontrollably. "What?! That can't be right, Thimba can't be dead! Well, what happened to him?! Don't keep me waiting!"

Kivuli took over this time. "Well, according to Nyota, she saw Thimba fall from a cliff and fall into the river. Right after, Prince Kovu of the Eastern Kingdom fell with him. She followed from above in attempts to get some of our comrades to help him but she didn't want to go too far from where Thimba was. She saw him submerge and then Kovu did too and neither of them came back up afterwards."

Hasani shook his head in denial. "No, that can't be, that's impossible! He must've resurfaced!"

Thimba flinched backwards when a cold spray of water hit him but laughed either way. He had never seen Hasani so playful and carefree. "Hey stop that! That's cold!" Hasani laughed as well as she swam around in the lake.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. If you join me in here then it won't be as cold. You're body temperature will easily adjust" Hasani said.

Thimba looked at the water and then back at the soaking wet lion across from him. "I can't! I don't know how to swim."

"What? You're honestly telling me that you can't swim?" Thimba shook his head in response. "Why not?"

"It didn't really seem like something all that important to learn to be honest" Thimba admitted sheepishly. "Although now that I think about it, I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to learn how to swim…You think you could teach me?"

Hasani slowly got out of the water and shook of the excess to get himself dry, spraying Thimba with it. "I suppose so, if we can find the time anyway. Just be sure to be prepared to get a little more than wet."

"Yeah, sure" Thimba laughed. His laugh died down quickly when Hasani came over and bumped the top of his head under his chin. Thimba quickly pulled away and felt the blood rushing to his cheeks. The scarred lion wanted to say something but shut his mouth quickly and turned away.

Hasani blinked but seemed to be sorry for what he did for some reason. "Sorry, I didn't mean to put you in an awkward situation or anything."

"Um, no, that's not a problem" Thimba muttered. "So, um, when can we start with my swimming lessons?"

Hasani shrugged as he took a step towards the younger lion. "I'm not sure, I guess we'll have to wait and see when our schedule clears up. But how about we do it here tomorrow at sunset, I've got work to do in the morning and afternoon but I'm free at night."

Thimba smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan, I'll be there."

"Great."

"But Hasani, Nyota saw it with her own eyes!" Majari argued.

"Well since when could we trust her?!" Hasani shouted. "I mean, we all know that she doesn't even like Thimba, why would she tell us the truth about him?"

Kivuli had to restrain herself from slapping him to get it through his skull. "She may not like him but what reason is there for her to lie?! She has nothing to gain unless she wants our leader to be after her for her feathers."

"I don't care, we need to send a search party or he might be gone forever."

He was just about to walk out of the den but Kivuli jumped in his way. "What are you seeing that we're not?" the leopardess yelled at him. "He's not a cub that you have to take care of twenty-four seven. Besides, even if he still alive out there then he's going to get back here on his own, it's hard to miss Mount Kilimanjaro. Not only that, if Nyota is right then we're just going to be wasting our time with sending our comrades on some wild lion chase."

"A waste a time?!" Hasani snarled. "Do you not care about Thimba the way I do?!"

"And how do you care about Thimba?" Majari suddenly asked. This question stopped Hasani right in his tracks and he turned to the cheetah, speechless. "Hasani, Thimba is our friend too and we want more than anything right now for him to be right here with us. Just knowing that he's alive would even give us solace. But you're behaving differently; this isn't the rational Hasani we all know."

Kivuli nodded in agreement. "I hope you realize that there were other animals down there that died and are for certain to be dead. So why are you so focused on Thimba when you could be mourning for all of our fallen comrades? So I'll repeat the question, what is Thimba to you?"

Hasani slowly took a step back, his mane covering his eyes. "…What does he mean to me? I…I'm not that sure…"

"Hey, Hasani, can I ask you a rather personal question?"

Hasani looked up from where he was sunbathing and walked over to the younger lion after stretching his sore limbs. He had just finished a sparring session with two other lionesses and he was tired but he could give a minute for Thimba. "Sure, go ahead."

Thimba hesitated for a moment but took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Well, Kivuli made this joke to me that you saw me as your little brother. So that sort of got me thinking, what exactly do I mean to you?"

Hasani was confused by this question which was evident from his puzzled expression and slight head tilt. "I'm not quite sure I follow."

"Well…It's just. You always seem to be hanging around me, not literally of course, but usually. You always want to know more about me and you allow me to sleep in your den with you but I don't exactly see you giving the same treatment to other animals in our group. So why is it only me? Is there something special about me or something?"

The larger lion took a moment to think about it. "Not in particular but I guess I give you special treatment because I feel you deserve it. You've been through a lot and I guess, I don't really like seeing you by your lonesome. It kind of reminds me of how I would be if Melele never decided to take care of me at that time. And I let you sleep in my den because you're a lion from the Pride Lands."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Most creatures have a disdain for lions from the Pride Lands, they feel that they're all the same as Scar once was since he was king at one point. Not a good one but he was a king no less."

"But that's ridiculous."

"Try telling that to them."

Thimba sighed and turned around. "All right, that's all I really needed. Sorry for disturbing your relaxation time."

"No need to apologize" Hasani shrugged. Just then, a thought struck him. "Wait, Thimba, can I ask you…What exactly do I mean to you? I mean, if this was on your mind, then why didn't you even question it before? You could've found your own place to sleep if you wanted to, I wouldn't have stopped you or anything."

Thimba stopped and seemed to wonder about that. After a few moments of thinking, it didn't seem like he could find an answer. "I'm not quite sure, I mean, it's just hard to say. Maybe I could get back to you on that."

"…Okay."

"We'll leave you alone" Majari finally stated after a few more moments of silence. "Come on Kivuli, we should leave him to his thoughts."

Kivuli nodded and followed the male out of the cave. She looked back to see the distressed lion go deeper into his den. "Looks like his trip to the training camps have been cancelled" she muttered before turning her attention back to her companion. "Hey, Majari, you've been around longer, have you ever seen Hasani get this way?"

Majari shook his head without even having to think about it. "No, he's always been calm and collected. It kind of worried me to see someone so focused on their goal actually so I was happy when Thimba came around, Hasani seemed to have let his walls down after meeting him. It was a surprise for me to see him display so many honest emotions other than exhaustion and frustration."

"I see…Sometimes I wonder about those two?"

"How so?"

Kivuli stopped and looked back at the cave a couple yards away. "Nothing." 'I don't care whether I'm wrong or right but if I am…Then how long do they plan on hiding it from each other?' "Come on, we've got some news to bring to the training camps."

'…Please let this be some sort of sick joke…'

Hasani stared into the darkness from deep inside the cave. He knew that Kivuli was right, he just didn't want to be wrong. He was sure that Thimba was alive and he possibly needed them as of right now. But with the plan already set into motion, Hasani knew that he couldn't just throw everything away for this. This group, this revolution that he had started was counting on him and he couldn't just let them down, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Please be safe…" he croaked weakly.

"I see…Somehow, I suspected as much" Kanu muttered.

The just out of adolescence Hasani looked up from the floor and gave the prince and unconvincing smile. "I guess it must come as a shock to you. Don't worry, it's not like it's still going on now, it was just a phase of mine. But…I understand if you don't want to be around me anymore."

"What are you talking about?!" Kanu laughed wholeheartedly. "I believe I told you already, I'm not like my father, it's not like I'm going to execute you for telling me something like this. All we have to do is keep it from my father and we're good. Oh, and we should probably tell Melele too."

"But won't she be mad?"

"About what?" Kanu grinned. "Besides, if she has anyone to blame, it would be herself for bringing you in her, not that either of us regret that decision. You've got nothing to worry about so should you?"

Hasani looked away and outside to where other adolescents from the Northern Kingdom were playing and gossiping. "It's just…Those other lions…What they said was true even if it was from a while ago. I don't want you or your reputation to suffer because of me. If they find out that their little rumors were actually true then won't we have a problem on our paws?"

"Only if father gets involved" Kanu mused. "Besides I can deal with him."

"I still don't understand how you can be so happy-go-lucky about something like this. I'm pretty sure anyone else I told would react rather strongly and aggressively towards me."

The prince raised an eyebrow at the notion. "Is that why you haven't told me sooner, or anyone for that matter?"

"It's not exactly a common or widely accepted thing" Hasani told him. "A lot of the lions even said that it was disgusting."

"Oh come on, like it's such a big deal. Well, I guess that does add more reason to how unfair creatures can be" Kanu sighed. "It's apparently not just limited to where they are on the food chain. But listen, even if no one else will accept you, Melele and I will. We'll take the place of every creature in the entire world if we have to."

"…Thank you…But…I'm still afraid."

"Of what? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, it's not like what you decide to do will affect my life too much. I just choose to get involved with your problems."

"No, it's not that. I'm just afraid that I won't ever find a love like what you and Melele have."

Kanu blinked again, he never would've guessed that this was on the adolescent's mind. "I didn't either at one point but trust me, one day you'll find the perfect mate for you, and when you do, you'll feel like you're the happiest lion in the world. You got that?"

Hasani subconsciously nodded in his sleep as the rain pelted the ground outside. "Yeah, I got it…"

-X-

Wow, I am most certainly tired but I'm glad I got through that. As some of you may have noticed, I stupidly started a new series and now I have three works I have to keep tabs on. What can I say? When inspiration hits me, I just can't possibly let it go. But don't worry, I plan on finishing this soon so don't even think that I will leave this alone for even a day. I have this system you see, an update per week and a half for this one and a whole month for the other two. Let's see how long that'll last. Also, I am very emotional lately because I just completed reading the One Piece manga, Good Luck Charlie, and Durara, now my life feels empty…Don't forget to review!"