Chapter 2 – Past Events
A light brown pelted cub crouched in the grass. He slowly followed behind a grayish-tan pelted lioness cub. He pounced on the lioness cub and began to choke her.
"You never heard me coming! Haha!" the cub cheered. The lioness cub continued to choke. "What was that, huh? Could you speak up please?" the cub giggled maliciously.
"Kifo!" The lion cub jerked his head to the left, and saw his father looking down at him. "Let her go, Kifo." The lion said plainly. Kifo hopped off of the lioness cub, looking down on her from the side.
"You're weak, Zira." The adult lion spoke. Zira looked up at the lion, frowning sadly. "I'm sorry, father. I can't help it!" she cried. The lion shook his head in dissapointment at his daughter.
"Come, cubs. Mufasa's coronation is about to begin." The lion turned and started to walk towards Pride Rock, with Kifo and Zira following closely. "Why do you always have to be so rough, Kifo?" Zira asked sadly." Kifo turned to his sister and winced at her. "You're weak, like I already said. Maybe it might make you stronger." The cub's father stopped and turned to look at his offspring. "Your brother is right. Perhaps if he kept getting rougher with you, you might be able to defend yourself from male lions when you're older."
They arrived at Pride Rock just in time for the coronation. Ahadi stood at the tip of Pride Rock, with Rafiki by his side. "Good morning everyone, I hope you all are well. As you know, it is the day of my son's coronation, and I couldn't be any happier." Ahadi spoke. "I have ruled these lands for many years, and I want you all to know that I have passed all of my knowledge of leadership, down to Mufasa. I can promise you this: nothing will change. He will follow the same path as I took during my time as king." He continued. He then turned to Rafiki and nodded. "Please welcome, Mufasa and Sarabi!" Rafiki cheered.
The two lions emerged from the cave and walked up to Ahadi and Rafiki. They bowed down to both who stood in front of them. Rafiki lifted up a cracked piece of baobab fruit, and rubbed it's juices onto Mufasa's forehead, and then doing the same to Sarabi.
"Mufasa, do you pledge to keep de Circle of Life in balance during your time as king?" The mandrill asked. "I do." Mufasa replied. "Do you swear to keep de Pridelands a safe place, and to keep it free from any trespassers?" "I do."
Rafiki smiled and turned to Sarabi. "Sarabi, do you swear to organise the roles of de huntresses and participate in de hunts when possible?" "I do."
Rafiki then turned to face the crowd of animals that watched the coronation from below. "It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to your new king and queen of de Pridelands! Long live King Mufasa. Long live Queen Sarabi!" Rafiki cheered, with the animals repeating him.
A few hours had passed. Kifo lay in the den with his father. "Why don't you go outside for a bit before it gets dark?" Kifo's father asked. "If I do then I'll have to look after Zira. You know what she's like." Kifo replied in frustration. "I know, son, I know. Perhaps you could get some more of your combat practice, you know. That is unless you still want to be a brave warrior and all." Kifo blushed in embarrassment. "Wait, how did you find out-" Kifo asked, but was interrupted. "Just go." His father said.
Kifo ran out of the den and headed for the Pridelands. He was heading towards the Waterhole, where he was hoping one of his friends would be there. After running for a few minutes, Kifo arrived at the Waterhole, where a golden pelted lion cub, with a jet black tuft was having a drink.
"Tandi!" Kifo called. Tandi turned and smiled when he saw his friend run towards him. "Kifo! How are you?" Tandi greeted as the bumped heads. "I'm good. How do you feel about Mufasa being king now?" Kifo asked. "I dunno. I don't really like him. He seems kinda bossy to me." Tandi replied. "That's true, I guess." Kifo replied. "Where's the weakling, anyway?" Tandi joked. Kifo laughed. "Probably after getting lost or falling over somewhere!" Kifo joked back.
Meanwhile, Zira was sitting in one of the bushes listening to Kifo and Tandi make fun of her. "I'll show them." She said to herself. She slowly and quietly got up and then pounced on Kifo, who was unaware that Zira was nearby.
"Hah! I finally got you, Kifo!" Zira cheered. Kifo kicked her off of him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well done. One hundred to one. That's the score now." Kifo replied. Zira didn't care at all. She boasted in her brother's face. "I finally got you. I finally got you." She jeered repeatedly.
Kifo began to growl in annoyance. "Zira, shut up." "Never." She replied. Kifo huffed and began to walk back to Pride Rock. Unfortunately for him, Zira followed him the whole way back while jeering.
"You getting angry that I pounced on you, Kifo?" Zira asked annoyingly. The two siblings were at Pride Rock now, and were about to begin their ascent to the den. All of a sudden, Kifo broke, and began to lash out.
Kifo turned and pushed Zira down the rocks. She landed on the ground with a thump and screamed in pain. Kifo jumped onto her back and began to scrawl her neck and legs. Mufasa saw this and ran down to stop Kifo before it was too late.
"Kifo! Let her go!" Mufasa roared. Mufasa pushed the violent cub off of Zira. "What's wrong with you, Kifo?! That's your sister! Your flesh and blood, are you crazy?!" Mufasa cried. "She's been jeering at me for 10 minutes straight and wouldn't shut up! So I was going to do something about it!" Kifo roared back. "You could've killed her!" Mufasa replied angrily. "I suggest you leave, before things get out of hand, Kifo." He added. Kifo grunted in rage. He turned around and ran away from Pride Rock. "Kifo! I didn't mean leave the Pridelands!" Mufasa roared. He sighed in defeat before looking down at a shaking Zira. "It's alright dear. Let's get you to your father."
Many years later…
Kifo lay in the grass, gasping for air. He had been shot in the chest by a human and was beginning to bleed out. The human that had shot Kifo lay a few feet away from him in a pool of his own blood. The bleeding lion began to crawl away from the bloody scene. He spotted a lioness carrying a zebra in her mouth. "Please, help me.." Kifo called weakly. The lioness turned and saw the badly injured lion. She dropped the zebra and ran towards Kifo.
Kifo and the lioness sat in a small cave. The lioness had wrapped some grass and leaves around Kifo's wounds to help stop his bleeding. "I'd suggest having something to eat, incase you do want to live." The lioness said. Kifo nodded and began to eat some of the zebra that the lioness was carrying. The lioness stared at Kifo.
"What were you doing anyway?" she asked. Kifo swallowed the flesh before speaking. "Humans shouldn't be allowed to hunt animals, so I tried to get rid of him. It went right, and wrong at the same time." Kifo said while looking down at the gunshot. "You got a name?" He asked. The lioness stood up. "Zira. And you?" Kifo froze. "I think.. I'm your brother.." Kifo replied in shock. Zira tilted her head, and pulled a small smile. "Still rough with others as ever, eh?" Zira asked. Kifo chuckled. "I'm uh, sorry about what I did to you on that day." Kifo said in a low voice. Zira nodded in response. "Why are you so far away from the Pridelands anyway?" Kifo asked. "You've got to come home and help. You remember Mufasa don't you?" Zira asked, in which Kifo nodded in reply. "His son, Simba, killed Scar and has taken his place as king. I need you to come home and help me get rid of him." She added. Kifo sighed. "I can't at the moment. One day I will. I'll help you take this Simba guy down. In fact, we could take his whole family down."