~Chapter 1~
Kiara lay awake in the middle of Pride Rock's den, resting on her back as she squirmed around in her spot in futile attempts to drift off into a calm sleep for the night. Her eyes were aching; her body felt wary of moving around in different positions so much, and her mouth was feeling rather dry. Kiara groaned quietly. She looked around the dark den, hearing the faint sounds of crickets and other insects in the distance from the outside. But she noticed that these calm sounds were being drowned out by the resonance of Timon and Pumbaa's obnoxious snoring from behind. The young cub rolled her eyes as she watched Pumbaa twitch his hooves while talking in his sleep about eating bugs like he usually did. Timon was murmuring in his sleep as well, but she couldn't make out exactly what it was about. The only things Kiara could make out from him were "No Pumbaa" and "Roth was better".
"Whatever that means." Kiara muttered to herself, trying to rest her head in every position and every angle possible to try and go to sleep. But her attempts were futile.
However, Timon and Pumbaa's snoring and murmuring weren't the only things keeping her up. The day that the cub had ventured into the Outlands without her father's consent was still fresh in her mind, having happened only a few days prior. Ever since that incident, Kiara still hadn't heard the end of it from Simba, and his constant lectures about how she needs to be kept safe and how she shouldn't disobey him like that. It was the same thing every time. Kiara had grown almost completely numb to it at this point. But out of everything that transpired in the days before, there was one thing that Kiara thought about consistently: The Outsider cub that she met when she went off. She didn't know what it was, but something about him seemed intriguing to her. They were only together for a short time, but Kiara was fascinated by the idea that Kovu was able to take care of himself without needing anybody to tell him what to do. (Or so he claimed.) After going through Simba's increased overprotectiveness ever since the day they met, the prospect seemed extremely attractive to Kiara. For this reason, Kovu was still on her mind.
'I'll probably never see him again, though,' the young princess thought to herself as she let out a sad sigh. And she was probably right because not only was Kovu an Outsider, but he was also the son of the Outsiders' queen, Zira.
He was hand chosen by Scar to follow in his paw prints, and become king.
Scar. The very thought of his name sent chills down Kiara's spine. She had heard stories of him, her father's uncle, and how he had taken over the Pride Lands and nearly destroyed them and how he had driven her father out of his home in fear. No one told Kiara why Simba left the Pride Lands, but she knew that if it hadn't been for her mother, Nala, finding him in the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa, things would've been very different and Kiara probably wouldn't have been born.
But even with Scar gone, there was still Zira.
Her mouth felt dry and dehydrated, so she got up, stretching out her claws a bit before heading out the opening of the den. The water hole was nearby and she raced toward it to quench her thirst. As the young princess cub laps up several big gulps, her eyes look up at the distance horizon before her. The Outlands. An eerie looking place, but also one that filled her mind with all the curiosities a cub could imagine. She wanted to know more.
Maybe if it's night this time...she thought.
This time would be her chance, Kiara goes forth through the grass, being more careful in her approach this time. She closely watches where she steps, careful of every pawprint she made. She comes to the spot where she last saw Kovu, a new friend whom she wanted to keep secret. Kiara moves ever closer to the borders of the Outlands now, pushing away the grass to find anyone she can.
"Hello? Anyone?" She whispered
She glances around receiving no reply other than the fleeting sound of a few crickets.
"Anyone?… Kovu?" She called out again.
There was still no reply. So, she moved closer along the side of the river wandering around to see if she could catch the scent of anything different or unusual. Ready to give up for the night yawning resigned to return to the den, her ears perked up to the rustling of tall grass just ahead of her. She takes in a short, panicked breath with her ears falling down.
"Hello?" She mutters trying to sound brave.
"Who's there?" A voice replied from the dark thicket of bush.
Kiara's ears perked up in sudden recognition.
"Kovu? Is that you?"
She heard most rustling, but eventually, another lion cub made his presence known popping out from the bushes. His eyes widened as he looked upon the other cub.
"K- Kiara? Princess? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you again. What are you doing out here, Kovu? You know what'll happen if my father catches you in the Pride Lands again."
"I came here to try and find some food. I woke up hungry, and there's not much to go around back home, so I just though…ya know…"
"Oh I see."
"What are you doing here?" He accused, "My mother could still be around and see you!"
"I couldn't sleep either." She reasoned, "Besides, I wanted to see you again."
"You wanted to see, me? But what about what happened the other day? My mother could've…"
"I'm not that scared of her! I wanted to know if you were all right."
"Oh. Well, yeah, I'm okay. What about you? Your dad seemed pretty mad when you guys left."
"Nah, he wasn't too mad. He was just worried about me is all." Kiara shrugged.
"Consider that lucky."
"Why?" She asked curiously.
"My mother says she wants me to be in this plan of hers, and I don't like it at all."
Kiara noticed a change in Kovu's tone. He was nervous.
"What plan?"
"I don't know the whole thing yet. But it sounds bad."
"Oh... I hope she doesn't make you do anything like that."
"Neither do I." He nodded.
Cautiously, Kovu popped his head up with his ears attuned to the area around them looking around the area scanning for anything suspicious.
"You'd better head home before your parents wake up." Kovu urged.
"Yeah, I know. But I'd like to see you again sometime.
"I... guess I can see you too, Kiara. You're a lot nicer than mother said you were."
Kiara playfully raised a curious brow.
"What'd she say about me?"
"Uh... n-nothing. I have to get home too."
As Kovu turned to leave for home, he stopped suddenly taking a quick look back at her.
"Same place tomorrow?"
"Sure." Kiara nods with a smile.
With their plans in motion, the two cubs part ways. Kovu heads back to the Outlands crossing over a fallen tree near the border. Once safely on the other side, he glances back toward his friend.
"She's prettier than mother said too." He thinks to himself.
Kovu quickly takes off in a sprint running home hoping nobody in his family noticed his absence. As the two cubs head in opposite directions, a frowning mandril lurking in a tree overhead saw the whole exchange. The cubs' secret rendezvous was not so secret after all.
Kovu crossed into the borders of the Outlands as fast as his paws could carry him. There would be no mercy from his mother if she caught him. Kovu knew he was near home when the dirt began to feel more dry and grainy. In the Pride Lands, there was more moisture in the soil, which meant there was more mud to get caked on between his paw pads. Scattered dead trees plagued the landscape and skeletal remains of animal carcasses were not hard to find. A small stream ran through the land, but the majority of the water was found across the border in the Pride Lands. He returned to one of the largest landmarks in the Outlands found within a termite mound, his home. Nobody noticed his absence as he breathed a sigh of relief pretending to wake around the same time as the rest of his family did.
The following morning, Kovu sleeping soundly before his sister Vitani gave a rude awakening by biting and tugging on his ear.
"Get up, lazy cub!" Vitani urged.
"Leave me alone," Kovu groaned trying to push her off him.
"Mother has an exercise waiting for you. You don't want to keep her waiting, do you?"
Kovu scanned the sky through the small peepholes within the mound of their home and rolled off his sleeping perch with a tired yawn.
"This early?" He replied mid-yawn.
"I'm not wanted for this mission." Vitani scoffed, clearly jealous.
With no further delay, Kovu met up with Zira just outside their mound.
"Morning mother." He greeted.
"What kept you?" She growled scrutinizing him from head to tail.
"It won't happen again." Kovu nodded.
"See that it doesn't." Zira replied coldly, "Now, about your training this morning, Kovu, the path I want you to take weaves in and out of the Pride Lands. Your main task is to be stealthy. You ready?"
Kovu nodded proudly as his mother gave him the go-ahead to begin. It might have been an early morning training session, but at least he had his mother's permission to venture there this time. Not that lack of permission kept him from going there before. It was where he met Kiara and he could only hope to maintain their secret meetings. Keeping such a secret gave the young cub a huge thrill.