Chapter 35: New Life

Some time had passed peacefully in the Pride Lands. Vitani's training continued as usual, but by this time all lions had become fit. You could tell just by looking at the Pride that they had undergone a serious transformation. Some questioned the need to continue the training since no one had seen or heard from the Black Pride lioness again. Because of this, the training had become more lax and turned into more of a daily exercise to keep the Pride in shape.

Even Koru, who now sported a small patch of fur on his chest, Jayden and Dayya, who were now slightly taller and longer, had joined the daily exercise. Kovu had to get some convincing from Vitani of course, but it wasn't long before he gave in.

Dark had also grown. He had gotten taller and was the size of a healthy cub. Dark had come out of his shell a little and was talking more than he used to. He talked most around the ones he was closest to. He spent most of his time with Sanu or Jayden and Dayya. Dark had been allowed to join a little of the daily exercise due to Dayya's begging. Sanu made him come home whenever he started to get tired.

Kivu and the other adolescents had grown too. Tali and Mani were now full sized adults. Mani's mane had grown all the way around his neck and under his chin. It was small and thin, but still looked very adult. Mani's head was usually held high to show it off. He was rather large for being a young adult. Tali had already been nearly full size, so she hadn't appeared to have grown much on the outside. Instead, Tali gained more beauty and appreciation for those around her. She had begun to spend more time with her mother and a few other friends she had grown close to during the many hunts she participated in. Tali even spent time with the medicine lioness, Mairu. Tali was beginning to take a great interest in the ways of medicine and healing.

Ciara—since she had passed her huntress test—had joined the hunting parties as well. She felt she wasn't as good as Tali yet, but she tried not to let it bother her. She chocked it up to the fact that Ciara's legs remained short even though the rest of her body grew to near adult size, while Tali's legs only seemed to get longer.

Kivu and Jai's manes had grown too. Before, the two had a medium tuft growing on their chests, and had a small amount of fur on their necks, but now they each had large tufts on their chests and unruly hair on their necks, reaching their shoulder blades. Kivu and Jai still argued over who's mane was bigger. Kivu's black ear-rims hadn't faded as he had gotten older like Simba's had. But Kivu didn't feel bad about it since Mani and Tali's ear spots hadn't faded either.

Tempest had grown inside more than out. She remained small for her age, but gained maturity in her mind and heart. She felt even more in love with Mani than ever, and secretly yearned to be a mother even though she wasn't an adult yet. She took great interest in caring for her younger siblings. Tempest's own huntress test would be coming up soon. She hoped she would be a little taller and longer by that time.

This was a time for growth as it was a time for cubs. Sanu, Sanai and even Queen Kiara each had their cub—or in Sanu's case: Cubs! Sanu had two girls who appeared to be identical. She named them Zuna and Zula. On closer inspection, the twins had one main difference. Zuna's fur around her ears, muzzle and cheeks was slightly scruffier than Zuna's. Both girls were medium gray with a black pointed nose. Their eyes were red-orange. They had 3 dark gray spots each under their left eye. Some lionesses joked that they could at least have the markings under different eyes so that they could be easily told apart. Sanu simply replied that she didn't need the spots to tell them apart.

Sanai's cub came easily; she barely had to push at all. It was almost as if the cub was just dying to come into the world. She had a strong active boy who was named Malowa. Even as a baby, Malowa loved to squeak and mew as if he were speaking. His fur color was similar to his mothers, but slightly darker. While Sanai was a creamy peach color, Malowa was a light shade of creamy brown. His nose was just like his mother's: salmon colored and rather large. His eyes were bright teal. He had a small tuft of brown hair on his head and some growing from his elbows.

In contrast, Kiara's cub was very difficult. Kiara went through a lot of pain in the delivery, and lost a lot of blood. She survived the birthing process, but had been very tired over the following days. She had a boy that she named Clous. She had heard the foreign name from the old mandrill Rafiki who had heard it from another mandrill who had been known for traveling. The name had stuck with Kiara; she had always liked it. Clous was dark orange with a bright red tuft. Just like Kivu, Clous had a stray curl on top of his head that pointed back at his ears. And also like Kivu, he had black rimmed ears. His nose was pointed like his father's but pink instead of black. His eyes were like his grandmother Nala's: a shade between green and blue, but very bright.

Since Kiara had been instructed by Mairu to spend most of her time resting, Kivu got to be the one to watch over his new brother. Kiara hadn't even had been fit enough to be able to give Clous milk, so whenever the cub was hungry, Kivu had to take him to Sanu or Sanai. The other cubs seemed reluctant to share their mothers, but eventually they got used to it. Sanu and Sanai never seemed to mind.

Kovu had to continue his kingly duties after a few days of staying by Kiara's side. Naturally, he was worried about her. She only woke to eat and barely had the energy to get to up to go to the bathroom. Mairu told Kovu that she was fatigued since she had lost so much blood and it would take some time for her to regenerate it.

Since Kovu could no longer spend all his time with Kiara, Simba and Nala took over the duty, and watched over Kiara. They made sure she ate and brought her water. Kivu had been worried about his mother as well, but decided to do all he could to take care of his new brother while his mother was ill. One day, when he was babysitting Clous, Kivu made one of the most important vows of his life.

"Brother, one day you and I will be so close that no one could separate us. I promise to always watch out for you and protect you. I would trade my future title—no—my life for you."

Little golden-orange Cloud slept on in Kivu's arms, too young to understand his older brother's words. He wouldn't know it yet, but one day Clous would know how special he was to Kivu.

"Kivu…"

"Huh…?"

"Kivu are you awake?" A small voice was calling. Kivu wanted to answer, no I am not awake, but his mouth was too tired to form the words.

"KIVU!"

Kivu's eyes snapped open. In front of him was a very alert and excited young cub. He bounced about.

"Yay, Brother, you're awake!" Clous announced.

Kivu groaned loudly, "And you're annoying." He muttered.

Clous was a young cub now, as were Malowa and the twins, Zuna and Zula. Clous had proven to be a rambunctious cub. Others thought he fit right in with the rest of the family. Kivu could hardly believe it when Kiara told him that he had been exactly the same at that age.

Kiara had gotten better. Most of her energy had returned but some sort of internal injury remained. The Queen found it hard to run very far before a deep pain in her abdomen arose. The pain came when she attempted any strenuous activity like dragging food or even carrying her new son. She could no longer lead the hunting parties, or even go on a hunt. Nala remained on the job as the permanent lead huntress.

Mairu had done her best to treat Kiara, but she could do nothing about the re-occurring inner pains the queen had. Kiara could get around better than before, but still spent a majority of her time resting. She felt distressed to be stationary for so much of the day, but her friends Toni and Kanai often kept her company.

Now, Kivu tiredly rose to his feet. From inside the cave, he could tell it was light outside by the way the light bounced off the walls.

"Why are you waking me?" Kivu said. The fur on his chest was ruffled up every-which-way.

"Mom said its time for you to take me out to play!" Clous responded simply.

"Again!" Kivu complained. He rolled his eyes and sighed. He didn't like the idea of spending his morning babysitting, but he knew not to go tell his mother that. She might not be as active as she once was, but Kiara could still be sharp if she wanted.

"Well come on then." The young prince said to his brother.

"Yay!" Clous cheered again. Kivu walked out of the cave.

"Stop bouncing about like that, you're just like Dayya." Kivu said. Clous stopped at once.

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are. You're related to her, you know. That means you share genes. Bouncing about like a girl must be genetic."

"I am not related to Dayya!" Clous protested.

"Yes you are. Her mom is our dad's sister. You're her cousin, so there."

"That means you're related to her too because you're my brother!"

"Nuh uh." Even though Kivu was almost an adult, he was always brought back to childhood when he was with Clous. "I'm older so that means I'm related to Tempest since she's closer to my age. You're a cub, so Dayya is closer to your age, so you're related to her."

Clous digested this false information and decided it sounded plausible.

"Aw man. I wanted to be related to Tempest. She's cool!" Clous complained.

Kivu smirked. "See, coolness runs in me and Tempest's genes. Oh look, it's Zuna and Zula and Dark. Go play with them."

Kivu had lead Clous to the large field a short distance away from Pride Rock. Clous immediately ran over to Sanu's kids. Sanu, who had been lying on the grass, stood when Kivu came over.

"Oh thank goodness you are here, Kivu," Sanu said. Kivu thought to himself that was probably the nicest thing he had heard Sanu say. "Could you watch my cubs for a while? I need to take a stroll and run; my legs have been hurting me."

Kivu knew not to say no to Sanu, so there was no hesitation, "Sure." He said, and then sat.

"Thank you, I'll be back soon." Sanu stood and quickly nuzzled her cubs, then began to trot off. "Looks like you'll have some company."

Kivu looked after the older lioness to see what she meant. The meaning became evident when Kivu saw Ciara padding over.

"Good morning…" Ciara said with a smirk.

"Morning…" Kivu said, then noticed what Ciara was smirking at. His chest fur was still poking out in strange bed-caused angles. Kivu angrily ran a paw over his chest, grumbling to himself.

"And your hair too…" Ciara said. "Here, let me." The young lioness closed the space between the two and quickly ran her paw over his head in the correct direction. Kivu stood very still, a little surprised.

Ciara suddenly seemed to realize what she was doing and stopped. She backed up and cleared her throat, quickly thinking of something to say to chase away the awkward moment.

"Stuck with babysitting again, I see?" she said, gesturing at the four cubs, who were huddled closely together, probably plotting something.

Kivu sighed irritably, not letting the closeness with Ciara ruffle his fur like it used to. "Yes… I hope they will be good while I have to watch them. Right, cubs?" Kivu called to them. Clous, Zuna, Zula and Dark raised their heads at once.

"Uh yeah, of course." Clous said.

Kivu and Ciara moved closer to the group of cubs.

"What were you all planning just now?" Kivu asked. Before Clous could answer, Kivu continued. "Don't answer, Clous, how about Dark answers? He doesn't lie."

The older cub's blue-gray eyes blinked when Kivu put him on the spot.

"Uhh…" Dark's eyes shifted back and forth. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to betray his younger friends.

"Zuna was just telling us a dream she had last night, weren't you?" Clous said, turning to the gray cub to his left.

"I'm not Zuna, I'm Zula!" Zula said.

Clous growled. "Ugh! I can't tell you two apart! You're identical."

"We are not!" the two said in unison.

"Really?" Clous said sarcastically. "Because you look the same. You're both gray with three spots under your eye and you both have orange eyes."

"No…" Zuna responded and Zula rolled her eyes.

"Let me explain this to you for the last time." Zuna started, " My sister, Zula has orange-red eyes."

"Yes," Zula said, "And Zuna has red- orange eyes."

"That certainly straightens it out." Clous said. Dark laughed.

"It's simple." Zuna red-orange eyes said, "That means my eyes are more red than orange, and her's are more orange than red. Get it? So just look at our eyes to tell us apart if you really can't tell."

"Who has time for that!" Clous said in frustration.

"Alright, now that we have that settled," Kivu said, lying down. "Why don't you all go play something, or do your dumb cub things."

"We're not dumb!" Clous said. "Ciara? Can you tell Kivu we're not dumb? He listens to you."

Ciara smiled. "I'll tell him. You all go play."

"Come on!" Zuna called, trotting away. "Let's play hide and seek!"

"Stay in sight this time! I mean it." Kivu said as they trotted away. Clous jumped in front to lead the way. As Ciara watched them, she was reminded of when she and her friends were that age. She looked at Kivu wondering if he was thinking the same thing. Ciara didn't mention it, however.

"Why are you so mean to your brother?" she asked, sitting next to Kivu's laying form. "I thought you were glad to have a sibling."

"I was… I thought it was going to be cool to have a little brother. But he's just been annoying and gets me in trouble."

"It's just the age difference. I'm sure once he's a little older you'll get along better." Ciara said. Kivu made a sound as if to say 'yeah right.' "Or maybe," She continued, "If you just gave him a chance and just stopped being mean, you could bond."

Kivu looked at her. Although she used a firm voice, her face did not reveal any anger. In fact, she seemed almost about to smile. Kivu wished she would.

"Are you going to stay a while and watch the cubs with me?" he asked her.

Ciara turned her head away, breaking eye-contact. "I can't. I'm going to join the hunt with Tali. I need to get as good as her. Anyway, I see Jai walking over here now, so you'll have someone to watch the cubs with."

Ciara stood, waving her tail at Kivu. "I better go. See you later." She trotted away as Kivu said bye. He couldn't help but feel sad when she walked away.

Within moments, Jai had joined the young prince.

"Hey, Smaller Mane." Jai greeted.

"Woah, woah don't start that." Kivu playfully warned.

"Haha," Jai laughed. "Are we getting too old for that?" he settled beside his friend.

No." Kivu replied, although he felt they were. He stretched his neck up to see what the four cubs were up to some distance away. They were dashing around behind rocks, stumps and trees. Kivu realized he and his friends had all gotten older and didn't have as much fun as they used to. He had begun to feel different on the inside as well. He was worried about his mom's inactivity and health, although he never spoke of it. Kivu's training to become king had intensified some since he was becoming of age. Kovu decided to include him on most of his Kingly duties. And there was still the daily exercise that he was expected to attend to every other day. At least the mindless exercise gave him time to think about things. His new brother only added to the stress. It had begun to become overwhelming.

Even though Kivu had all these things in his life, he felt something was missing.

"Are you thinking about becoming King again?" Jai said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Kind of. Just thinking about everything. It's stressful. Jai, you can be King instead."

"Hah! Yeah right, Kivu." Jai said, putting his head in his paws. Jai didn't mention how often he thought how fine it would be to be King of such a well-known and powerful pride. He changed the subject. "Look, the hunting party is setting out."

A small group of lionesses dashed away from Pride Rock, heading out to the fields in the center of the lands. Nala was at the lead. Jai's eyes followed the lean light brown shape of Tali who was trailing right behind Nala. Kivu's eyes followed Ciara who was just beside Tali.

Kivu then realized what was missing in his life.