I don't own any canon characters.
The Outlanders watched, and occasionally cheered or jeered, as the battle progressed. At one point it looked as though Simba might win, but Kovu managed to level it out before it came to anything.
After a few minutes, Zira, and a few of the smarter Outlanders began to frown at how long the fight was going on, surely one of them should have been weakening before now. The problem was put aside however, when Nuka, who'd been almost the most vocal, shouted, "lemme at 'im," and charged in.
Kovu was getting worried at the length of the fight, wondering just how long they could make the charade last. When Nuka charged in, he saw his chance, and gave Simba a push, which unbalanced the older lion, and caused him to stumble and drop.
The trick worked, as when Simba dropped, Kovu came forward and down, and collided with the approaching Nuka. The resulting confusion drew in some of the Outlander lionesses, who came both to subdue Simba, and to check if Kovu and Nuka were alright.
This gave simba the break he needed, as he quickly shed Kovu and Nuka, gave a pair of Outlander lionesses stunning blows, and raced off.
"Good one Nuka," Kovu growled as they untangled themselves.
"Well, if you'd just..." Nuka began to retort.
"Nu-ka," Zira roared. She made her way over to Kovu and asked, "are you okay?" when he nodded, she turned her attention to the older, scruffier lion, and said, "and as for you..."
Nuka cringed submissively, and whined, terrified as Zira began to approach, glaring furiously. However, everyone stopped, when Kovu said, "no."
"What," Zira hissed, turning, "what did you say?"
"I said, no, mother," Kovu replied, his impassive stare somewhat calming Zira, "it was bad timing that lost us victory, even though Nuka somewhat caused it."
"Well, yes, but..." Zira said, a little stunned that anyone would stand up to her.
"And think about it," Kovu went on, smiling grimly, "Simba's injured."
Zira looked perplexed a moment, then looked thoughtful, then grinned, and chuckled, and said, "yes he is." She turned and surveyed her pride, then announced, "Simba is injured, now we can take his kingdom by force."
"Now, or later," Vitani asked.
Zira though a bit, then said, "tomorrow, at dawn." She then headed for the Outlands, and said, "but for now, come on." As the Outlanders followed, she turned to Kovu, and said, "and I want to talk to you, now."
Kovu moved to the head of the pack, beside Zira, and asked, "yes?"
"Yesterday, Vitani saw you go into the cavern with Simba," Zira said, her tone neutral, but cold.
"He'd called me in," Kovu replied, "if I hadn't gone with him, it might have aroused his suspicions."
"Well, that's okay then," Zira said, "for a while though, I thought you'd betrayed us, betrayed the memory of Scar."
"Simba still wasn't very trusting then," Kovu said, "I felt I needed to gain his confidence a bit more."
"Good," Zira said, "at least you're intelligent, unlike others I could name." She turned to look back at Nuka.
Kovu followed her gaze, and took a little pity on Nuka. "He tries," he said, "he may not be very good, but he tries."
Kovu glanced back at Zira, but refused to meet her intense gaze, and instead, dropped back into the main pack, and drew up alongside Nuka. "Bad luck," he said, "thanks for trying, but bad luck."
"Thanks," Nuka said, surprised.
"You feeling okay Kovu," Vitani asked, from the other side of Nuka.
"Sure," Kovu replied, "why?"
"You normally ignore Nuka," Vitani replied.
"Hm, maybe," Kovu replied. Vitani didn't reply, but raised an eyebrow for a moment, though, no-one else saw it, since she was looking at Kovu's position on the far side of Nuka's gangly body
As he made his way back to Pride Rock, Simba wondered anew what Kovu's loyalties were. Certainly, the push must have been deliberate, and ended up being the key to his escape, but how would the young lion react now that he was back with his own pack?
Well, he, and the rest of the pride could now only wait, Simba thought, and hope, that Kovu stuck to his word. Not that seemed likely to stray from it though, considering that he'd had the chance to kill him before, and hadn't taken it.
Simba thought for a moment, then glanced around, to make sure that he hadn't been followed by one of the Outlanders. When he was satisfied that he was alone, he continued towards Pride Rock.
As Simba ascended Pride Rock, Nala rushed up to him, and asked, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Simba replied, "it's not bad."
"Father," Kiara said, coming over, "Are you okay, what about Kovu?"
"I'm fine," Simba replied for the second time, "and I'm sure Kovu is doing fine as well."
"So you trust him now," Nala asked.
"I think so," Simba replied.
"What," Kiara asked, "what did mother mean, you didn't trust Kovu before?"
"I wasn't sure how Kovu would react to being back amongst the Outlanders," Simba replied, not caring to meet Kiara's accusatory glare, "but I trust him now."
"So now what," Nala asked.
"Now we wait," Simba replied, "wait, and hope Kovu can do what he said he would."
"And if he can't," Nala asked.
"Then we get on as best we can," Simba replied, "but right now, I think everything is going to go as it should."
"I'm home again," Kovu said, when they finally reached the Outlands.
"Yep," Vitani replied, still wondering if Kovu had picked up his attitude difference from the Pridelanders, or whether he'd had it all along, and being with the Pridelanders had just brought it out.
Kovu looked around, and sighed, a touch sadly. "It's barren," he said, "it's so barren in comparison to the Pridelands."
"Of course it's barren," Zira said, coming up behind them, "and no decent king would ever send anybody here." She then smirked, and said, "of course, that just proves that Simba is far from a decent king."
Kovu didn't reply to this. If the stories he'd heard from the Pridelanders had been right, this place could be a lot better if it was decently managed. Not that that was likely to happen, of course, at least, not until the Pridelanders and the Outlanders faced off.
Come to think of it, how was he going to get away from the Outlanders tomorrow, and even if he did, would there be enough time left for the Pridelanders to get organised. Wondering at this, Kovu lay down to think.