Thanks for the reviews. Yes, Kiara and Kopa have finally been reunited. Here's the next chapter, enjoy.

Kiara's orange eyes widened as confusion swept across her face as she stopped snarling before backing away. The sound of rustling caused Kiara to look to see Ororo appear through some bushes. Kiara turned back to the male and looked him over, mostly to check for weak points in case another fight break out. So she would know what she's going against. The young male had pale golden fur, he was pretty muscular. His head was crowned with a handsomely dark brown mane. His mane was in a gentleman bad-boy style. The tuff was combed out, where bangs falling nicely above his dark green eyes. There are some string of bangs falling on the sides. Kiara looked at the pale golden lion with a unreadable expression as she asked,

"Who are you?"

The pale golden lion took a step forward with a small smile. "It's me...Kopa."

The golden orange lioness was tooken back. Kopa? But as Kiara looked into the lion's dark green eyes her own eyes widen before a smile formed.

"Kopa!"

The pale golden lion smiled brightly before running over and head bump his long lost friend. Kopa realized with a smile that this was the lioness he was in love with. The two jumped around, laughing and asking questions.

"What are you doing here?"

"Me? What are you doing here?"

"HEY! WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE!?"

Kiara and Kopa looked down at the pale brown meerkat. Kiara rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Timon, this Kopa. He's my best friend."

Timon looked thoroughly confused. "Friends?!"

Ororo chuckled while Kiara nodded before looking at the red warthog stuck under the tree root. "Yeah. Hey, Pumbaa, come over here."

Pumbaa gets himself unstuck and walks over to the group, by Timon.

"Guys, this is Kopa. Kopa, Ororo and Pumbaa."

Kopa dipped his head with a smile. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Ororo and Pumbaa smiled before nodding their heads. "The pleasure's all ours."

Timon shook his head and raised his paws. "How do you do.. Whoa! Whoa. Time out.. Lemme get this straight. You know him. He knows you. But he wants to eat him. And everybody's... okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?!"

Kiara shook her head with a small smile. "Relax, Timon."

Kopa looked from the meerkat and smiled at Kiara. "Wait till everybody finds out you've been here all this time! And your mother and brothers... what will they think?"

Kiara shook her head misunderstanding what Kopa said as fear shined in her eyes. "They don't have to know. Nobody has to know."

Kopa frowned, "Well, of course they do. Everyone thinks you're dead."

Kiara looked at her friend with wide eyes. "They do?"

Kopa nodded before looking up. "Yeah. Akan told us about the stampede."

"He did? Well..." Kiara was starting to get concern. "...what else did he tell you?"

Kopa shook his head with a small laugh. "What else matters? You're alive. And that means... you're the queen."

Timon laughed with the wave of his paws. "Queen? Pbbb. Lion, have you got your lionesses crossed."

Pumbaa looked at Kiara in awe before noisily kissing Kiara's paw. "Your Majesty! I gravel at your feet."

Kiara snatched her paw away with a glare. "Stop it."

Timon shook his head before pushing the warthog away. "It's not 'gravel'. It's 'grovel'. And DON'T- she's not the queen." the meerkat looked over his shoulder with a raised eye brow. "Are ya?"

"No."

Kopa frowned, "Kiara?"

Kiara shook her head before walking off a bit. "No, I'm not the queen. Maybe I was gonna be, but... that was a long time ago."

Timon looked at Kiara liked she gained two more heads. "Let me get this straight. You're the queen? And you never told us?"

Kiara turned and looked at Timon. "Look, I'm still the same cub you found."

Timon raised a balled paw. "But with power!"

Kopa cleared his throat before looking at Timon, Pumbaa and Ororo. "Could you guys... excuse us for a few minutes?"

"Hey," Timon taps Pumbaa before glaring at Kopa. "Whatever he has to say, he can say in front of us. Right, Kiara?"

Kiara looked at Ororo with a pleadful look. "Please?"

Ororo chuckled before standing and walked over. "We should give them their space."

Timon sighed before walking off with Pumbaa and Ororo following.

Kiara chuckled lightly. "Timon and Pumbaa. You learn to love 'em."

Kopa turned and bowed his head down sadly.

Kiara frowned as she apporched her friend. "What? ...What is it?"

Kopa sighs, "It's like you're back from the dead. You don't know how much this will mean to everyone." a pained expression swept across his face. "...What it means to me."

Kiara looked concerned as she walked over with her ears back. "Hey, it's okay."

Kopa bumps his head against Kiara's, while purring. "I've really missed you."

Kiara was shocked by Kopa's boldness for an instant, then reciprocating. "I've missed you too."

Further in the Oasis

Kiara and Kopa smiled as they walked through the oasis. As they apporched a waterfall they walked around each other, taking in each other's movements, as they walked down a slope. They gazed at each other. When Kopa lowered his head to drink, Kiara sighed.

Kiara:So many things to tell him

But how to make him see

The truth about my past? Impossible!

He'd turn away from me.

Kopa looked up and frowned at the look on Kiara's face and the emotions swirling in her eyes.

Kopa:She's holding back, she's hiding

But what? I can't decide

Why won't she be the queen I know she is?

The queen I see inside?

Kiara looks at Kopa, who smiles before running off. Kopa runs back with a vine in his muzzle and splashes into the middle of the pond. Kiara looks out over the still water. Suddenly Kopa lunges up under her and pulls her in the pond playfully. Kiara immediately comes out dripping and miffed. When Kopa comes out, she pushes him back in before running off. Which end with the two chasing one another. They end up play fighting. After tumbling down a hillside, Kopa ends up pinning Kiara for a first. She smiles before giving him a lick across the cheek. Kopa looked a bit startled and stares at Kiara. Kiara stares back with a seductive smile. Kopa smiles back as his expression change from a surprised one to a comprehending one.. The two rub heads, nuzzling and embracing. Before they decided move things forward.

TLKTLKTLKTLK

Kiara and Kopa walked on a long after a very intense night.

"Isn't this a great place?"

Kopa looked around before sighing. "It is beautiful. But I don't understand something. You've been alive all this time. Why didn't you come back to the Pridelands?"

Kiara climbs into a 'hammock' of hanging vines. "Well, I just needed to... get out on my own. Live my own life. And I did. And it's great."

Kopa noticed that Kiara sounds almost as if trying to convince herself as well as him. Kopa's voice brakes, as though barely under control. "We've really needed you at home."

Kiara looks away and says quietly but Kopa hears, "No one needs me."

Kopa shook his head, shocked that Kiara would say that. "Yes, we do! You're the queen."

Kiara sighed and closed her eyes "Kopa, we've been through this. I'm not the queen. Akan is the king now."

Kopa took a deep breath, "Kiara, he let the hyenas take over the Pridelands."

Kiara's eyes shot open, "What?"

Kopa nodded a bit. "Everything's destroyed. There's no food. No water. Kiara, if you don't do something soon, everyone will starve."

Kiara sighed heavily before getting off the vine hammock. "I can't go back."

Kopa looks at Kiara as his voice gets a bit louder. "Why?"

Kiara sighed before continuing along the log. "You wouldn't understand."

Kopa frowned, he was getting pretty agitated. "What wouldn't I understand?"

Kiara thinks for a moment before shaking her head. "No, no, no. It doesn't matter. Hakuna Matata."

Kopa looked confused as he looked at Kiara with wide eyes. "What?"

Kiara smiled lightly, remembering the memories. "Hakuna Matata. It's something I learned out here. Look, sometimes bad things happen..."

Kopa glared, "Kiara!"

Kiara groaned. "...And there's nothing you can do about it. So why worry?

Kiara started to walk away from Kopa, walking on the log. Kopa shook his head before trotting up to Kiara on the ground.

"Because it's your responsibility!"

Kiara stopped walking and narrowed her eyes at the pale golden lion. "Well, what about you? You left."

Kopa glared at Kiara. "I left to find help! And I found you. Don't you understand? You're our only hope."

Kiara wanted to help but she couldn't. She sighed deeply, "Sorry."

Unbelievable, Kopa thought before shaking his head. "What's happened to you? You're not the Kiara I remember."

Kiara looked at Kopa before on a hard to read face. "You're right. I'm not. Now are you satisfied?"

Kopa scoffed. "No, just disappointed."

Kiara rolled her eyes before leaping down from the log. "You know, you're starting to sound like my father." she then started to walk away again.

"Good. At least one of us does."

Kiara stops and is obviously cut by the comment about her father; she lunges out on Kopa with her words.

"Listen, you think you can just show up and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through!"

Kopa was tooken back but made way to try to understand. "I would if you would just tell me!"

Kiara growled as she turned and stormed off. "Forget it!"

Kopa shook his head after breathing through his nose. "Fine!"

Out in the plains

Kiara walks off until she came to nothing but a wide plain before she started pacing in the field.

"He's wrong. I can't go back. What would it prove, anyway? It won't change anything. You can't change the past." Kiara looks up at the stars. "You said you'd always be there for me! But you're not. And it's because of me. It's my fault. It's my fault."

She bows her head, choking back tears. Kiara's ears twitched at the sound of a African chant. Kiara moved her orange eyes towards the direction of the chant to see a baboon, lost in a faded memory that the baboon is Rafiki who presented her to the kingdom in a nearby tree. Kiara raised a eye brow before walking away and lying down on a log over a pond. The chanting has finally gotten to the golden orange lioness. Causing her to growl in annoyance.

"Come on, will you cut it out?"

Rafiki starts laughing, is doing random acrobatics in the trees nearby. "Can't cut it out. It'll grow right back!"

Kiara rolls her eyes and starts walking away. Rafiki smiles and follows.

"Creepy little monkey. Will you stop following me? Who are you?"

Rafiki jumps in front of Kiara, then right in her face. "The question is: Whooo... are you?"

Kiara was startled before sighing. "I thought I knew. Now I'm not so sure."

"Well, I know who you are. Shh. Come here. It's a secret. Asante sana! Squash banana! We we nugu! Mi mi apana!"

Kiara shook her head with a low growl. "Enough already. what's that supposed to mean, anyway?"

"It means you are a baboon - and I'm not."

Kiara rolls her eyes before walking away. "I think... you're a little confused."

Rafiki magically in front of Kiara again. "Wrong. I'm not the one who's confused; you don't even know who you are."

Kiara chuckled in a unassuming way before she speaks in a irritated, sarcastic tone. "Oh, and I suppose you know?"

"Sure do; you're Simba's girl. ... Bye!"

Kiara is surprised by this revelation. The golden orange lioness shook her head before she ran after the baboon. When she caught up. Rafiki is in a meditative lotus position on a rock.

"You knew my father?"

"Correction- I know your father."

Kiara sighed heavily. "I hate to tell you this, but... he died. A long time ago."

Rafiki leaps off the rock over to a dense jungle-like area. "Nope. Wrong again! Ha ha hah! He's alive! And I'll show him to you. You follow old Rafiki, he knows the way. Come on!"

Kiara had confused look before running into the bush that Rafiki went into. Kiara has trouble keeping up due to her size.

"Don't dawdle. Hurry up!"

Rafiki is flitting through the canopy ahead of Kiara, laughing hollowly and whooping. Kiara struggles to keep up. Suddenly, Rafiki appears with his hand held up right into lioness' face.

"STOP!"

Rafiki motions to Kiara near some reeds. He parts the reeds and points past them with his staff.

"Look down there."

Kiara inhaled and exhaled before quietly and carefully works her way out. She looks over the edge and sees her reflection in a pool of water. Kiara at first seems a bit startled, perhaps at her own mature appearance, but then realizes what she's looking at.

Kiara sighs in disappointment. "That's not my father. That's just my reflection."

Rafiki shook his head. "Noo. Look harder." he motions over the pool. Ripples form, distorting Kiara's reflection; they resolve into Simba's face. A deep rumbling noise is heard.

"You see, he lives in you."

Kiara is awestruck. The wind picks up. In the air the huge image of Simba is forming from the clouds. He appears to be walking from the stars. The image is ghostly at first, but steadily gains color and coherence.

Ghostly Simba speaks quietly at first. "Kiara . . ."

"Papa?" Kiara asked with wide eyes.

"Kiara, you have forgotten me."

Kiara shook her head in disagreement. "No. How could I?"

"You have forgotten who you are, and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Kiara. You are more than what you have must take your place in the Circle of Life."

"How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be."

Simba's voice gravely roared across the sky. "Remember who you are. You are my daughter, and the one true queen. Remember who you are."

Simba is disappearing rapidly into clouds. Kiara runs into the fields trying to keep up with the image.

Kiara pleads while she runs. "No. Please! Don't leave me."

"Remember..."

Kiara is left out in the fields. There is just a cloud left where her father's image was. The wind tosses the grass restlessly as Rafiki approaches.

"What was THAT?" the baboon laughs. "The weather- Pbbbah! Very peculiar. Don't you think?"

"Yeah. Looks like the winds are changing."

Kiara looked up at the stars as Rafiki spoke. "Ahhh. Change is good."

Kiara sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, but it's not easy. I know what I have to do. But, going back means I'll have to face my past. I've been running from it for so long."

Rafiki nodded before he whacks Kiara on the head with his staff.

"Oww! Jeez- What was that for?"

Rafiki laughs. "It doesn't matter; it's in the past!"

Kiara groaned as she rubbed her head. "Yeah, but it still hurts."

Rafiki nodded. "Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it." He swings at Kiara with his staff again. This time Kiara ducks. "Hah, you see! So what are you going to do?"

Kiara glared at the baboon. "First, I'm gonna take your stick." she grabs and tosses Rafiki's staff to the side.

Kiara couldn't help but grin a little as Rafiki runs after his staff. "No, no, no, no! Not the stick!"

As Rafiki picks up his staff, Kiara starts running off.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Kiara yelled over her shoulder as a breeze blew through her fur. "I'm going back!"

"Good! Go on! Get out of here!"

Rafiki laughs, hoots, n' hollers. As he holds his staff above his head, and a few shooting stars zing across the sky.