aaaannnndddd.. I'm back. I'm keeping this a/n short 'cause I want to get to writing.

A low lion growl stretched across the African grasslands around Pride Rock just before daybreak, signaling a gather. Again, animals crossed the grasslands; some by air, some by land. Thunderous footsteps of elephants covered up the squabbles and singing of the large array of exotic birds. The rolling red sun never did rise in the background. Instead, large thunder clouds formed and crashes of lightning could be seen, but not heard-yet. A light sprinkle began to spread across the land, bringing a relief to the animals from the unearthly long dry season.

As animals began crowding in their places around Pride Rock, a familiar baboon climbed his way up the path of Pride Rock. Rafiki bowed when he reached the top of Pride Rock and spotted his King and Queen. Kiara smiled up to Rafiki and Kovu, holding a light chocolate brown cub in her paws. Behind Kiara and Kovu stood Simba and Nala, taking in the site of their grandson's ceremony. Kiara nuzzled the young cub awake, causing the little ball of fluff to let out a whining growl, if it could be called that.

Rafiki reached his hand out at the cub, who swiped extended claws clumsily at him, causing Rafiki to chuckled a bit. Rafiki then rattled his cane over the unnamed cub, who's green eyes stared blankly at the baboon. Kovu placed his chin on Kiara's head as Rafiki continues and broke a large red fruit in his hands and dabbing the cub with the red juices. Though the dirt that laid on Pride Rock was slowly turning into mud, Rafiki cuffed a tiny bit in his hands and laid it over the red marks on the cub's head. Almost in disgust, the cub shook his head, trying to rid the sticky mixture from his head.

Kiara and Kovu chuckled, their heads both shaking at their rebellious young cub. After the young cub calmed down, Rafiki lifted him up and began walking towards the edge of Pride Rock and the animals raised their heads in awe of the light brown heir. With a thrust of his long arms, Rafiki displayed the cub to the animals. Monkeys chattered, elephants trumpeted, and so on. A break in the clouds, identical to Simba and Kiara's ceremonies, shone a ray of light at the cub. As if a late cheering, a rumble of thunder signaled more rain and the hole in the clouds soon closed as Rafiki laid the cub back in Kiara's arms. Kovu kneeled and licked his son's head, then nuzzled Kiara as the animals departed.

Looking around at the clouds, then to Simba, Nala, Kovu, and Kiara, Rafiki warned, "You all had best take shelter in your cave. This marks the beginning of our raining season after that long drought so you should watch for the gorge to overflow."

Kovu nodded his head towards Rafiki, "You should go home before the storm gets worse. Be safe, old man."

"Don't call this baboon old!" Rafiki laughed, heading down the path, "I can still hit Simba with a stick!"

All of the lions laughed except for Simba, who tried not to smile as he rubbed his head with a paw. They all quickly entered the cave in Pride Rock and they all went to sleep, excluding Kovu and Kiara. After a long silence, Kiara looked to Kovu and whispered, "What should we name him? I can't believe we haven't talked about that."

Kovu thought for a moment and looked at the cub, "My grandfather's name was Gunab ... and from what I remember of him, they look very similar."

"Your grandfather?!" Kiara hissed in a whisper, "Zira's father?!"

"There wasn't anything bad about him. It was Zira who let our pride, along with Scar, to be evil and malicious. Grandfather Gunab was shamed by Zira, then murdered by her."

Kiara chuckled, calming down, "In memory of your grandfather, who was looking down on him today, we'll name him Gunab." She licked Gunab's head, purring. Kovu smiled proudly and laid down by Kiara and Gunab and they all fell asleep as thunder rolled lightly outside.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"An heir to the throne already!" Obassi gasped at Azia's news. The Liba Pride, as they now called themselves, had traveled into the desert to escape the flooding rains. Azazsi padded up to Obassi with a sly grin and nuzzled her nose under his chin. Her belly hung down towards the ground, showing her pregnancy. Obassi smiled proudly at Azazsi as Azia rolled her eyes and flew away.

"I heard about Kiara and Kovu." She purred, "She is only a few weeks ahead of me, that means your cubs are due anytime."

Obassi rolled his eyes but chuckled, "But it was six weeks ago, and Azia just now tells me?"

Boniko and Umaimai came strolling by the two. "Well, well, well, Umaimai. Look what we have here, our proud King and pregnant Queen." He sounded sarcastically high-class.

"Yes, Boniko, but they hardly seem fit to lead us." The shimmery black and green lioness circled around Obassi, flipping her tail up under his nose, trying not to laugh, as Azazsi's jaw dropped at them, playing along.

"Umaimai, you she-hyena! How dare you lay a... tail on Obassi!" And with that, the four lions were sent into a laughing fit.

Boniko falsely gasped at Umaimai, "How dare you! Have you been with Obassi the whole time we've been together?!"

"Yes, she has.." Obassi licked the top of Umaimai's head, "and she's mine. You can NEVER have her back!"

"But, Obassi," Azazsi weakly managed, "I though you loved me?"

Umaimai threw her head back and laughed, "That was a long time ago, sweetly." They all laughed again. Obassi laughed and playfully shoved Umaimai back to Boniko and took his place by Azazsi again.

"We really need to stop doing that, other lions might wonder.." Obassi chuckled.

"THEY ALREADY DO!" Dekala shouted from her resting point on the top of a large boulder.

Umaimai shouted back to her little sister, "Shut up, runt! Nobody listens to you!"

Boniko nipped at Umaimai's ear and tugged on it, "Be nice you your little sister." Umaimai chuckled pulled away after Boniko let go of her ear and gave him a smirk. Boniko just rolled his eyes and laid down.

Laying down on the rock ground, Azazsi rolled her eyes up to meet Obassi's, who had calmed down and was sitting, thinking deeply. "What are you thinking about that would make you look like that?" She smiled at her King and quickly licked one of her front paws clean.

Obassi smiled down at Azazsi and glanced at her large stomach, "I'm thinking of names and how much longer I have to wait to see my cubs." He chuckled and laid down by Azazsi.

"I was thinking," Azazsi began and nipped at Obassi, "for a boy's name, we could have something like 'Boteshu' or 'Qua'." She smiled and Obassi thought for a moment and nodded with a smile.

"Those are good, but if it's a girl, I like the name 'Ibzimai'." He nipped back at Azazsi and then laid his head on his paws, his dark mane draped over his eyes.

Azazsi chuckled and clawed the ground, "Anytime, the monkey said."

Boniko stretched out and looked over to Obassi and Azazsi talking, then looked to Umaimai, "They already have cubs on the way. Can you believe that?"

Umaimai chuckled and jumped on Boniko, tackling him to the ground and pinning him, "Yes, because they've known each other longer than you and I have known each other." The white lion struggled free of Umaimai and stood up as she smiled playfully.

"But still, we're all still young..." He tilted his head.

"Boniko!" Umaimai laughed and shook dust off her body, "We're all older than Kovu, except for Dekala!" She smirked and yawned, stretching her body out with extended claws. "So Obassi and Azazsi should have had cubs before Kovu did."

With a sigh, Boniko slumped down, "You're right. But we're older than him too..."

"Don't even try it, Boniko." She gave Boniko a flat faced glare, warning him that if he ever tried something, he'd be in trouble. Boniko chuckled and closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly. Umaimai rolled her eyes and swatted at Boniko, purposely missing him, then laid down to nap in the warm sun.

Short chapter, I know, but the inspiration I had was mainly for Gunab's ceremony. Sorry. Oh well, you guys needed a short chapter to live and thrive on. And if I do the scene change I want to, it'll make this chapter be longer than I wanted, probably. But, you should've figured out that the main focus in this chapter was Gunab's ceremony and Azazsi's pregnancy. Did you notice those? If not, go see a shrink.