Chapter 2-Bedtime Story

Jahzara paced anxiously around the cave, waiting for her mother to arrive with her grandfather, wondering what on earth was taking them so long. They should have been back hours ago. The light was already beginning to fade from the bright African sun, which was beginning to sink behind the mountains way off in the distance. Her twin brother Razi sat on his haunches, waiting patiently for their mother's return. She was so annoyed with how calm he acted when their own family members could be in danger somewhere!

"Zara, relax," Kovu said, catching his daughter with a large paw as she tried lunging out the cave door. She immediately went limp across his paw and he chuckled as he dropped her onto her stomach. "Your mother will be back soon, stop worrying."

Although Kovu put on a brave front around his children, he was as worried as Zara that Kiara wasn't back yet, if not more, for he knew the real danger in the Pridelands that day. He knew that if she had a run-in with the hyenas, she would be able to handle herself, but against man, she stood no chance. Suddenly, Kovu had an idea of how to distract both himself and his children; both of them, as he knew Razi was concerned as well, though he did not show it like his sister did.

"Jahzara, would you like to hear the story of how your mother and I met?" Kovu asked, lying down on the floor and tapping his tail against the ground.

"Okay," Zara sighed, not really in the mood for a story. But she went to curl up next to her father just to humor him. "C'mon, Razi."

Razi came over from where he sat patiently and copied his sister, curling up at Kovu's side, waiting for the story to begin. They had never really heard Kovu and Kiara's story, and Kovu decided that there would be no better time for them to listen. It would at least give them something to do until Kiara returned with Simba.

"Scar chose me to follow in his footsteps and to become King of the Pridelands when he was gone-"

"Who's Scar?" Zara interrupted, perking her ears in interest. Kovu chuckled and bopped her head gently.

"Scar was your grandfather's uncle-"

"Where is he?" Zara asked, now very intrigued with the story. She had never heard of this Scar, which was surprising because he was Simba's uncle.

"He…died-"

"Who died?" a new voice entered the conversation, causing all three of those lying down to hop to their feet in relief, including Razi. He immediately ran to Kiara and nuzzled her leg, running around her and underneath her as she continued to walk toward Zara and Kovu.

"Mummy!" Zara cried, overjoyed.

"Hello, darlings," Kiara greeted. "Who died, Kovu?"

"I was telling them about how we met-"

"Were you talking about Zira?"

"No. I hadn't gotten that far. I was talking about Scar."

"I see." Kiara turned toward the cave entrance to make sure Simba, who had followed her more slowly into their home, had gotten inside safely. There was no longer any Sarabi to make sure her son was okay, as she had died a few years before Kiara's birth. Nala hurried to her mate, and Kiara turned back to her own mate, who licked her cheek lovingly. "Kids, it's time for bed."

"Aw, but Mummy-" Zara instantly began complaining, but Kiara cut her off with a shake of her head.

"No buts, Z. If you go lie down right now, I'll let Daddy tell you some of the story," Kiara said, motioning with her head for the cubs to curl up with the rest of the pride, something Zara absolutely detested. She didn't like sleeping with the lionesses or the other cubs, as the cubs would always be talking late into the night, long after the adults had drifted off. It always kept Zara up, and then she was usually cranky in the morning.

"Fine, Mummy," Zara pouted, but she did as her mother told her to, Razi trailing along behind her like always. Kovu and Kiara walked after them and made sure that the cubs were comfortable before lying down themselves.

"Daddy, are you going to tell us the story now?" Razi asked, and his sister looked over at him in shock. He didn't usually ask their parents for anything, preferring to let Zara handle it. Kovu smiled at his son and nodded his head.

"As long as you promise to go to sleep right after," Kiara said sternly, staring straight at Zara. She was the one who had trouble sleeping at night, though Kiara did not know why.

Some of the other cubs who were also ordered by their mothers to go to sleep hurried over to where the small family was so that they could listen as well. Zara resisted the urge to growl, wanting them to go away and leave them alone; they weren't part of the family, and they didn't deserve to hear the story. But she kept her mouth shut for once, and rested her head on her paws as Kovu started the story, seemingly unaware of his growing audience.

"I was chosen, as a young cub, to follow in Scar's footsteps and to become King of Pride Rock. My mother was Zira, and she trained me to seek vengeance on Simba because according to her, he was the reason Scar died."

"Kovu," Kiara warned, glaring at him. She didn't want the cubs to know too much about what had happened with Zira, or why Kovu had come into Simba's pride in the first place. The story was coming dangerously close to that point, and Kiara would do anything to keep that from happening.

"Sorry, Ki. Now where was I? Oh yeah…well one day I decided to sneak away from where I lived with my mother and her pride. Nuka, my brother, was supposed to be watching after me while Zira went hunting, but he resented all the attention everyone gave me, so he didn't really care what happened to me. We lived in the Outlands and were banished from the Pridelands, but that's where I ended up. I was only there for a little bit before your mother Kiara rolled off a fallen tree branch and crashed into me. She had stolen away from Timon and Pumbaa, who Simba had left in charge of her.

"We ended up having to outwit several alligators hiding in the swamp we fell into-long story, we'll save that for another time-and when we were back on solid ground, we introduced ourselves. Little did we know, however, that we were being watched by none other than Zira, who was crouching low in the grass so as not to be seen. She heard Kiara tell me her name, and instantly knew that she was the princess and the daughter of Simba, my greatest enemy. I, of course, didn't know, and Kiara tried to engage me in a game of tag. I had never played it before, and she soon realized it, so she hunkered down and began to growl playfully.

"As soon as I growled back, Simba jumped in front of her, letting loose a mighty roar, and Zira leaped out of her hiding place to mimic Simba's action in front of me. As Zira and Simba began arguing, I stood trembling behind my mother's front legs, staring straight at the King and the lioness, Nala, who had joined him. The only ones I was not afraid of were Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a pig, neither of which were very intimidating."

"Hey!" Timon interrupted, scurrying over to sit in between Kovu's ears.

"You weren't. You called me a fuzzy maraca. That's not scary, that's pathetic," Kovu replied, grinning. "Besides, I'm telling a story here. Now, if you don't mind…

"Simba ordered Zira to get out of the Pridelands, and she did, with the last words: 'This has barely begun.' Zira took me back to the Outlands, while Simba brought Kiara to Pride Rock. From that moment on, the minute we returned to the Outlands, Zira trained me to be Simba's enemy. But this was her plan: that, in a disaster Nuka and my sister Vitani caused, I would win my way into the lives of Kiara and, eventually, Simba.

"The plan was set. I grew up hating all the Pridelanders, especially the King of Pride Rock. When Kiara was finally going on the hunt all lionesses and lions go through before coming of age, Nuka and Vitani, who had been spying on her, set fire to the land. I was to rescue Kiara from the raging fire; my job was made a whole lot easier by the fact that she had run away to hunt in the Outlands after she had caught Timon and Pumbaa spying on her on Simba's orders. He didn't trust her to remain safe by herself.

"I worked my way into Kiara's heart after she realized that it was me, but Simba was a bit more difficult. He didn't trust me automatically, like Kiara did, and even Nala seemed to. Neither did Zazu. The plan was still in motion, but I wanted Simba to trust me before I took him out." Kovu paused here, and drew a paw across his throat, making a slicing noise as he did so.

"Kovu…" Kiara said, once more a warning. He glanced at her and smirked mischievously at her as she glared. "Okay, kids, time for bed," the princess ordered calmly without making it sound like a command. The other cubs immediately stood and headed to their mothers, while Jahzara and Razi remained curled into Kovu's side.

"Mummy, aren't you going to bed?" Zara asked as Kiara stepped silently around the sleeping pride. She was trying to catch her mother in doing something wrong, like staying up while the cubs had to sleep.

"I'll be there in a bit, Z. I'm just going to check on Grandpa. Now go to sleep, sweetheart," Kiara said soothingly, and Zara nodded wearily, finally allowing herself to give into the exhaustion of the day. Her eyes began to close and her breathing eased as she fell into the black oblivion of restful sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Razi awoke the next morning surprisingly early; he found himself up before his sister Zara had even stirred, something he had thought was impossible. Zara was always awake and already playing tag with their father, who also was an early riser, by the time Kiara roused her son. He guesstimated that it was barely time to start the day by the fact that no sun shone inside the cave yet, and it was always bright by the time he woke up.

He stretched and yawned widely, wishing he had that pleasant roar his father and grandfather had when they yawned, but he wasn't old enough yet. Kovu was always telling him to work on his roar, but he was too shy to do it when he was with someone, which was all the time. He refused to go anywhere without being accompanied by Kiara or Nala, at the very least.

Razi tiptoed across the cave on silent paws and made it to the mouth without waking anyone else, which was again surprising. It was Zara who was the best at everything, especially at being quiet; Razi managed to always make loud noises and get the both of them caught. He didn't much like sneaking out of the cave, but on a few occasions Zara had convinced him to with her, and every time they were caught because of the noise he tended to make. Today, however, he felt as if he wanted to take a risk by wandering away from Pride Rock by himself instead of with his mother or grandmother.

He raced down the rock formation until he found himself on solid ground. Dust stirred up under his paws as he ran along the dirt path, determined to overcome his fear of being alone in the wilderness without someone to accompany him. He decided that if he was going to become King of Pride Rock some day, he couldn't be fearful of everything that came his way.

It was still dark, and Razi found himself jumping at every little noise he heard coming from each direction. He crouched down and continued walking that way, his tiny claws out and his teeth bared as menacingly as he could make it seem. His eyes, mirror images of Kovu's, flickered every which way and grew wider with every unidentified noise he heard. "I wish the sun would come up soon," he said to himself, about to turn back toward Pride Rock. But he couldn't tell where he was, or even if he was on the right path, the one he traveled on with Kiara.

"Mama?" he asked pitifully into the darkness, finally settling down onto his haunches and crouching down over his front paws, trembling. He closed his eyes so that he would not see what was going on around him.

The next sound he heard was the crunch of someone or something stomping through the dried grass of the African savannah. "Que faites-vous ici de vous-même, le petit gars? Où votre mère est?" a voice asked in a language Razi couldn't identify. He looked up from the ground, still shaking in terror, only to be faced with the greatest threat ever to come across the Pridelands: man.

Que faites-vous ici de vous-même, le petit gars? Où votre mère est? What are you doing here by yourself, little guy? Where is your mother?

A/N: I tend to use different languages when I write certain things, and since this story obviously takes place in Africa, I'm using French because over twenty countries in Africa speak French. Plus, I don't have a translator for Swahili at the moment; so if any of you reading do have a Swahili dictionary translator, please let me know because that would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, by the way, I didn't put a disclaimer on the first chapter: I own nothing but the characters I created with my own mind; which only consists of Razi and Jahzara at the moment. Oh, and the humans. But everything else belongs to the creators of "The Lion King". Thank you, and please review!