Author's note: I don't own the Lion King, Disney does. However, my characters are mine.

My two reviewers said they wanted more and I also enjoy doing this, so here we go, with

Chapter 2: The quest

The last rays of the sun painted everything orange as the red giant hovered just above the horizon, spreading its warmth in the last minutes of its daily reign. A cool breeze swept across the lands as the messenger of the nightfall, and the first stars were already visible. In that moment it seemed as if the time froze, leaving the world trapped between day and night, light and darkness. Kimo always admired this wonderful sight, but today, he found no pleasure in it. His blue eyes were fixed in the distance as he slowly walked away from the place he used to call 'home'. He stopped on the top of a hill to have a last glance of the lands that he was about to leave behind. As he surveyed the environment, memories suddenly flooded his mind, forcing him to shut his eyes tight in an attempt to make the images of his cubhood disappear. He shook his head, then turned around and resumed his journey, always following the setting sun. Kimo no longer felt pain in his shoulder, his wounds were healed, but only on the outside. Inside his head he could still hear the last words of his mother. … forgive me … I never wanted to leave him, but I had to … He didn't understand why she acted so strange every time he asked her about him, but he was desperate to find the truth. And along with it, find his father. Without a home, without a family, without friends, this was the only thing left for him. It became his mission, his quest.

Kimo walked for hours before he decided to find some shelter where he could sleep. There were no caves in sight so he decided to spend the night under a tree. He laid down and curled up as cubs do, trying to keep himself warm. Still haunted by visions of the past, it took him a long time to go to sleep.

After a restless night Kimo awoke to the familiar sensation of hunger. Having eaten nothing in days made his stomach demand some fresh and tasty meat and ignite the instincts of a predator. Quickly forgetting about everything, he set out to find something for breakfast. In the distance he spotted a herd of antelope. They weren't his favourite but at the moment, anything would have satisfied his desire to feast. He turned all his attention to the grazing animals, he crouched low, silently stalking his prey. Kimo focused on the closest antelope and waited for the right moment. He unsheathed his claws and readied himself to jump…

'Ahhhhhhhhh Help!'

Upon hearing the cry the antelope herd broke into a run leaving a surprised Kimo where he was. He raised his head up, trying to find the source of the distress call, but apparently it found him sooner. Something was coming his way in the tall grass and before he could move away, a running cub head-bumped into his side sending both of them rolling on the ground. When the world was no longer moving with him, Kimo stood up and rubbed a paw against his aching side, where he received a blow just moments ago. Lying next to him was a young male cub made up of pale fur, a black tail tip and hair tuft, green eyes and a frightened expression. In a flash the cub was clinging to Kimo's paw.

'Please save me! She wants to hurt me! Please!'

'Whoa kid, slow down! What's this all about? Who's after you?'

The cub didn't say a word, he only looked at Kimo with begging eyes.

'I guess that would be me.'

Kimo's heart skipped a beat when he heard that voice. Without having to turn his head and look at the cub's pursuer he knew who she was. When he finally gathered his strength to make a move he spotted the same sandy lioness from before. At first Kimo was shocked, then he felt himself weaken. But this feeling soon left him and gave its place to rising anger.

'So we meet again browny-boy.' The lioness began to circle them. 'And I see you found a little protégé too.' she said pointing towards the cub, who was meanwhile trying to hide behind Kimo's paws - with little success.

Kimo fought the temptation to leap at the lioness, his voice remained calm. 'What are you doing here? Who are you?'

'I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? Oh my, how impolite of me! My name is Sharin. And you, my friend, are again in my way. You see, before you showed up, I was kind of … busy with something.'

'I am NOT your friend!' Kimo growled and showed his fangs.

'Temper, temper! I don't want anything from you. But I have some unfinished business with the furball, so I advise you to step aside.'

'No. What did he do to you anyway? … What did I do to you?' He stared silently at Sharin while she burst out laughing.

'You took it personally, didn't you? I was forced to move on and you and your mother were at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all.'

'Not for me.' Kimo snarled.

'That is your problem. Mine is that cub right now. As I told you, step…

'No!' Kimo's answer came before she could finish. For a moment his blue eyes, filled with anger, met her cold yellowish ones, then she spoke.

'If you insist browny-boy.' Her claws slid out.

'My name is Kimo.'

Without further hesitation he jumped forward. But Sharin was waiting and she placed a powerful blow on Kimo's chin. He fell to the ground but quickly stood up growling fiercely at his opponent. She leapt at him and they began rolling left and right wrestling each other. They didn't even notice that the cub has fled nor did they know where he went.

The signs of Sharin's experience were showing again, Kimo received a good number of hits and cuts. He was weak but as she paused for a moment he raised his paw and swiped with it at the lioness. Sharin cried out in pain as Kimo's claws left three long scars running down her cheek. But she was quick to recover and soon Kimo received another blow, which sent him flying in the air. His whole body was aching and he could do nothing but watch as she made step after step closing on him. He wasn't strong enough to stand up and fight.

'You'll pay for this!' Sharin's eyes glowed with hatred.

In that moment a distant roar echoed in the air. Sharin quickly turned her head and saw several lionesses running towards them. She looked back at Kimo.

'This is your lucky day but remember, we shall meet again. And then nothing will disturb me.' In a flash she was gone.

Kimo groaned as he pushed himself up. He saw the approaching lionesses led by the cub and he wanted to make a step but his limbs didn't obey his orders. The hunger, the depression and now the fight drained all his energy, his trembling paws were no longer able to support his weight and his vision became blurry. He fell back to the ground and the sounds of the world faded away. His eyes closed and before the group would have reached him, Kimo was unconscious.

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Warmth flowed around Kimo that made him feel relaxed and calm. His senses were still dim but he could feel that he was lying. Faint noises were coming from somewhere. It sounded like a steady rhythm, just like breathing. Slowly he opened his eyes. At first he was out of focus but he could make out a pair of green eyes staring directly at him. He remembered the face of the cub who he met before and blinked a few times to make his vision more and more clean until he could see… suddenly Kimo gasped. He was expecting the green-eyed cub but instead, he spotted a young lioness sitting next him. His eyes widened as he observed her. She was about his age and had the same pale fur as the cub with a slightly lighter belly, but her tail tip was brown much like his own colour. Her eyes were light green and they were fixed on him just like his were fixed on her. It seemed as if both of them couldn't look away. Kimo tried to say something but no words came out of his mouth. He could only think of one thing. The lioness made a big smile and leant a little closer.

'Hello Kimo!'

He was amazed by her soft voice but also surprised that she knew his name.

'Where am I? How do you know my name? Am I… Am I dead?'

'What do you think?'

'I don't know. I might be. It's just that you know my name. And…' Kimo contemplated whether to say the thing he wanted to or not. 'And you're so beautiful that you must be an angel.'

Upon hearing the compliment the lioness blushed terribly.

'No silly, you're alive. And thanks to you Ahi is safe too.'

'Ahi? Who's Ahi?'

'He's my little brother. You saved him, don't you remember? By the way, my name is Malaika.'

'Nice to meet you Malaika, I'm Kimo. Oh, but I guess you already know that.'

'Yes, Ahi told us everything. We found you passed out and took you back here, to our cave. You've been asleep since then. We cleaned your wounds and I stayed here by your side in case you woke up.'

'Thank you.'

'No, I thank you. Without you Ahi would be… no, I don't even want to think about that.' She shook her head. 'Sometimes he is really annoying, but I don't know what I'd do if we lost him. But let's not talk about that, you must be hungry.'

She stood up and walked outside of the cave. Kimo looked around checking everything, seeing that he was indeed in a cave and all alone. He looked outside the entrance and saw that the sun was just setting. He haven't had much time to submerge in his thoughts because Malaika came in dragging a zebra leg and placed it in front of him. Ten minutes later only the bones were lying on the floor and Kimo and Malaika were sitting silently next to each other.

'Tell me Kimo, what were you doing out there? Weren't you supposed to be with your pride?'

'I don't belong to a pride, I'm a rouge now.' Kimo's voice trembled a little.

'Really, how come?'

'It's that … you know … erm … I …' He tried to think of a good excuse, the last thing he wanted to do was speaking about Minzi. As he wanted to say something a small paw poked him from behind. He turned around. Ahi was standing there with his and Malaika's mother. After the proper introduction Jamala pushed his son forward a little.

'Okay mum, I know!' Ahi turned to Kimo and cleared his throat. 'Thank you for saving me mister lion, you must be very brave.'

'Hey, that was really nothing. And I should thank you too. You went for help, didn't you? You see you were brave too.'

'Yep!'

'And I'm so proud of my little fuzzball.' Jamala nuzzled her son gently.

'Mum, stop calling me that!'

'Sure my beloved little cubby-wubby.' She liked Ahi on his cheek who made an upset grin but returned the kiss.

For a moment Malaika watched her family lovingly, but then she glanced at Kimo. And in doing so she was the only one to see that he shut his eyes and turned away as a single tear ran down his muzzle.

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Look! It's another chapter! Would you let me know what you think about it? Please review! Thanks!