A/N I'm back with another chapter everyone for everyone whose reading this. And thank you to my reviewers. I appreciate any reviews because they make me feel like people are actually enjoying my story. Anyways here's ch 5 for you. Enjoy

Ch 5 Getting to the Bottom of Things

Kiara, Kion and Kopa ran back to the Outlands where they were met by Safara. "Your Mom is looking for you," the dark tan cub said. "And boy is she mad."

"Oh great," Kiara muttered, pinning her ears to her head. "Guess that means another beating for me."

"Yeah or me," Kopa chimed in with a shudder.

"Or both of us," Kiara said with a grunt.

"Lets get this over with," Kopa said with a groan. Kion and Kiara nodded and together the three siblings walked silently towards their mother, who was waiting by the termite mound with Sarafina right beside her.

"You...you wanted to see us Mother?" Kion stammered, trying not to let how scared he was show.

"No Kion I didn't want to see you," Nala responded, her voice being eerily monotoned. "I wanted to see them," Nala's voice had become a growl at this point as she whipped her head towards her daughter and oldest son. Kopa and Kiara gulped in fear and took a step back. But Nala let out a snarl and yanked them both by their tail and pulled them hard towards her and raised her paw to hit them.

"Nala please," Sarafina began. "They're just cubs. Please don't..." But she was interrupted by Nala's furious roar.

"Do NOT tell me what to do with my cubs!" the creamy lioness snarled, baring her teeth at her mother.

"Nala don't start this with me," Sarafina began, taking a step backk "You may scare your cubs but you certainly don't scare me. Now stop this nonsense right now!"

"I will not stop!" Nala thundered, causing her children to shake with fear. "I'm doing what's best for my children! They need to be taught what happens when they defy me! They need to learn that I am in charge! I won't have weaklings for children!"

"But have they really defied you Nala?" Sarafina asked. "I mean you never said they couldn't go play. All you told them was to get you and Kion food. And they did. You never really said they had to do anything after that."

"We're sorry Mother," Kopa stammered, his blue eyes wide with terror.

"Yeah we really didn't know you didn't want us to leave," Kiara chimed. "Honest we didn't."

"We would never defy you Mother," Kopa insisted. "Please believe us." Nala lowered her paw and stared at Kiara and Kopa, who were shaking with fear. Then she looked over at Sarafina, who was giving her a pleading look.

"If I may give my opinion," Tama said, lowering her head to Nala. "I think they're telling the truth."

"Perhaps you're right," Nala said, releasing Kiara and Kopa's tails. The two siblings quickly got to their feet and ran to Sarafina, who pulled them close. "But let me tell you both this," Nala hissed. "The next time either one of you leave without my permission I'll give you such a beating that you'll rue the day you were born! Am I clear?!"

"Y...yes Mother," Kiara and Kopa stammered. "We understand."

"Good," Nala growled. Then she turned back to Kion, who was staring at her with wide green eyes. "How did it go with Simba's brats?" the crazed lioness asked.

"Pretty good," Kion said. "I think they trust us."

"Yeah," Safara chimed in. "I even got Nuka to go with me all by himself. We were having a great time until King Simba showed up."

"Yeah that's why we're back so early," Kion informed his mother. "We didn't want to risk him seeing us."

"Very good Kion," Nala said, pulling her youngest son close and roughly rubbing his head. "Now go and do your training. I won't have you falling behind."

"Yes Mother," Kion said with a tired sigh as he walked towards his training area. Training was the last thing the brown coated cub wanted to do. He was tired from playing all day and his little four month old body was aching. But he knew better than to argue with Nala. He didn't want to end up with some nasty scars like his brother and sister already had. So he just did as he was told no matter how much he didn't want to.

TLKTLKTLK

Kovu heard muffled voices all around him. Then he felt someone wrap their paws around him and lick the top of his head and softly call his name. Kovu recognized the voice and opened his eyes to see the concerned face of Asha staring down at him. "Mom?" came Kovu's soft voice.

"Oh honey than the Kings you're alright!" Asha cried out, licking her son over and over. "I was so scared I lost you! You nearly died!"

"What," Kovu began, taking in a deep breath. "What happened? Is Vitani alright?"

"Vitani will be just fine," a voice said. Kovu and Asha looked over and saw Simba standing there along with Zira. Zira ran over to Kovu and pulled him close.

"You brave boy," the tan coated Queen said, nuzzling Kovu. "You saved our baby girl's life. Thank you."

"Now Zira lets not smother the boy," Simba said with a laugh. Zira pulled away and gave Kovu a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to..."

"Its alright Queen Zira," Kovu said with a smile. "I'm alright. Really I am. And I'm really glad Vitani's gonna be alright."

"Kovu honey what happened?" Asha asked. "How did Vitani fall in the river?"

"She didn't tell you?" Kovu asked, looking at Simba and Zira.

"She's to weak to really talk right now," Simba explained. "But when she's stronger I'm going to ask her the same thing. But I would like to hear it from you first."

"It was an accident," Kovu declared. "Me and 'Tani were playing with another cub and we got really hot so we went to the river to get a drink. Then these others two cubs came popping out of the bushes and scared us. Vitani got bumped and fell into the river."

"What other cub?" Simba asked. "There was no other cubs there when we got there."

"He was a little older than Nuka and Vitani," Kovu explained. "He and Safara bumped into us when we were walking. Not really sure where they came from actually."

"That's strange," Simba said, wrinkling his brown. "I don't recall any rogues asking permission to be in the Pride Lands. Did they say where they lived?"

"No," Kovu said, shaking his head. "They didn't say. But we never asked though."

"And what about those other two cubs?" Zira asked. "Who were they?"

"No idea," Kovu said with a shrug. "I didn't really get a good look at them because I was so worried about Vitani."

"I know who they are," Nuka said, coming onto the scene with Jasiri right behind them. "Me and 'Siri ran into two cubs also. One was a girl and she was older than Kovu the other way a boy and he was a little older than us. They were the ones that jumped out of the bushes and scared me earlier. But they were really nice."

"Yeah," Jasiri chimed in. "But boy did they get freaked out when they saw you coming King Simba."

"Really?" Simba asked. "How so?"

"Well for one thing they ran away so you wouldn't see them," Jasiri explained. "Don't really know why though."

"Did you happen to catch their names?" Simba asked.

"Yeah," Kovu said. "The one that was playing with me and Vitani was Kion."

"And the other two were his brother and sister," Nuka chimed in. "I think their names were Kopa and Kiara." When Simba heard these names his amber eyes went wide. Then he let out a furious roar that shook the ground.

A/N well folks ch 5 is done. I hope you all have enjoyed it. Please review.