It was after another dinner that Kiara ate way too much that she retreated to her room to unwind before bedtime. Her mother always prepared too much food. Back when her mother was younger, food had been scarce until Simba saved the lionesses from overhunting. Because of that time, Nala made sure her daughter did not have to suffer such a fate.
Kiara kicked off her shoes, walked across the fluffy carpet with bare feet tickled by the fluffy carpet, and showered. After the shower she dried off and dressed in her warmest pajamas. Stretching until her bones and muscles popped as she stretched her arms and legs. Kiara plonked her backside down on a chair in front of her dresser. She pushed aside the bottles of cosmetics, feeling for a small, clear bottle with one hand. Kiara found it, hooking one leg over the other. She leaned forward and brushed on a coat of the putrid liquid to properly remove any of the nail polish left behind after her shower.
The young lioness wrinkled her nose and screwed the cap back on the nail polish remover. She reached over and balled up some tissue to pat her toenails dry. Tonight she decided to paint each nail a different colour rather than her usual matching set.
Kiara wriggled her toes while she lined up her favorite colours along the front of the dresser. Kiara liked passing the time painting her nails. Spoiling herself with the little things. Her parents could afford anything she wanted or needed. She hummed to herself as she applied thick layers of polish, blowing on her toes to dry the polish faster.
She was snapped out of her meandering thoughts by the soft rustle of the door being inched open. Kiara got up to close the door. She saw no one when she looked out into the hallway. Kiara shrugged and sat down on her bed. She screamed when a pair of hands grabbed her ankles from beneath the bed. She kicked free, tripping over. She scrambled away and noticed that it was her mother who snuck in and hid under the bed. Kiara knew that look. It meant no good.
"Stay back!" Kiara raised her voice as she backed into the corner of the room, a pillow grasped firmly between her claws. "I mean it!" Her sides were already in stitches from laughing.
"What are you going to do if I don't?"
"I...um...I...uh-" Kiara struggled to think of something intimidating.
"Hmmn, let me think about that." The lioness strode towards her daughter with a pillow poised over one shoulder. She stopped and rubbed her chin as she pretended to think.
"Please?"
"No, I don't think I will." Nala grinned, flashing her teeth.
She did slow her stalking down to a leisurely walk. Taunting the smaller lioness.
"Come on. Don't, mother."
"Don't, what?"
"Tickle me!" Kiara looked around for directions to run to escape the impending pillow to the face, ribs or backside.
"Tickle you? Why didn't you say so? All you have to do is ask, my dear daughter."
"Hey! Nonononono. Wait." Kiara held up both hands. "That's not what I-"
Nala lunged. Having superior experience from years of hunting, she easily pinned her daughter to the floor. Nala had flashes back to all the fights she won against Simba.
"Muuuum!" She whined, kicking her legs and laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.
"Your father can't beat me. What chance do you have?" Nala smirked playfully.
"You're going to smudge the polish I just finished putting on my nails." Kiara frowned.
Nala's gaze drifted down to her daughter's humanoid feet. The wet nail polish glistened.
"Okay, mum. Let's make this interesting. If I can beat you, I will paint your nails too."
"If." Nala rolled her eyes.
"No letting me win because I am your daughter. You have to try. You promise?"
"I promise." Nala nodded, trying to decide where Kiara got that attitude from.
It took Nala no effort to keep her daughter pinned down by her own weight, leaving her soft hands free to inflict tickles anywhere upon her daughter that she pleased. Her sweater rode up to expose her midsection. A lightbulb illuminated in Kiara's mind. The younger lioness saw it. Kiara tried not to give away her next move with a gasp.
"GO!" Kiara caught Nala off guard by tickling her mother's exposed underside.
Nala rolled off, scrambling to her hands and knees, but she was struck in the face with a well-placed pillow. Feathers rained down as the pillows were thrown into the air. Nala and Kiara laughed as the two of them exchanged tickles on their sides, soles of their feet and between their toes as they rolled around on the fluffy carpet like kittens.
Maybe she broke her promise, or maybe Kiara had bested Nala on her own merits? Whatever the case, Nala pinned beneath her daughter. Her daughter was preparing her feet for the victory polish. Kiara was taking her sweet time doing so. Occasionally tickling the soles of her mother's large humanoid feet to remind Nala of her defeat. Nala kicked her legs, laughing the hardest she had in a long time. Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. There was never a dull day in this family. Even in simple tickle fights. Their fur smeared rainbow by the nail polish that rubbed off during the bouts of tickles.
"How long do I have to stay like this?" Nala yawned.
"Until they dry. Hold still. I am trying to make our nails match." Kiara grunted, locking her arm around her mother's leg in a stranglehold. She painted the toe nails to match her own. Checking them against her own. Working deliberately slowly.
When Simba came in later to see where Nala was, he saw Nala and Kiara asleep side by side like they used to when Kiara was a baby. He turned off the light and closed the door softly while smiling to himself, walking back to his room. He could ask all about it in the morning.