Okay, this is getting ridiculous! For the fifth time, stop using the comments to tell me to update other stories! In any case, use the comments of THAT story in question, not of other stories I want to see FEEDBACK of. I will not update when YOU want, I will update when I can and when I have time to. I have OTHER stories that I need to focus on too, plus my real life is more important than any fanfiction I work on.

The hill she had told Kitwana about was not far from Lake Matope or the waterhole where her flock nested, so she hoped Makuu wouldn't have any trouble with Kitwana coming despite being grounded. Besides, almost everyone was still asleep, so even if he said no, maybe Kitwana could sneak away before they woke up... right?

Dalila waited for about twenty minutes, but just when it looked like he wouldn't come, soon she spotted a speck of black and white running closer towards her.

"Hey, Dalila!" Kitwana cried out.

"Kitwana, you made it!" Dalila said with a happy flap of her wings. "Did you ask him?"

"He said yes! I still can't believe he let me!" he looked at the ground. "Though he said this is the only time he allows it, and now will definitely not go to Kupatana."

"You gave up going to Kupatana for me?"

Kitwana smiled at her, shrugging. "Well, there's still next year."

At that moment, the sun finally started to rise. The once inky-black sky started lighting up in a passionate red as the golden orb started emerging from the line where the plains met the sky, bathing the Pride Lands in its golden light.

"Wow..." Kitwana gasped in awe at the scenery. He had seen the sunrise various times, but never like this.

"Rafiki once told the Pride Landers a story about the sun." Dalila said. "He said that many years ago the sun and water were great friends, and both lived on the earth together. The sun often visited the water, but the water never visited him back."

"When the sun finally asked her why she never came to see him, the water said the sun's house wasn't big enough, so the sun promised to make a large compound so she could visit. When said compound was finished, the water visited, flowing in with fish and water animals, but this eventually forced the sun and his wife, the moon, to go up into the sky, where they have remained ever since."

"Cool!" Kitwana said. "Rafiki knows lots of stories?"

"Yeah. Perhaps we can ask him to tell us a story sometime, he's really nice!"

"Dalila, can I ask you something?"

Dalila turned to him. "What is it?"

"Why are you so nice to me? I mean, I'm a crocodile, and you're an egret. My kind eats yours, and I wouldn't want to... you know..."

Dalila didn't answer immediately. Sometimes she forgot Kitwana really thought of himself as a crocodile, but frankly she didn't care; he was fun to be around, and he liked her for herself, not because of her being the 'prettiest in the flock'.

"Because you're my friend, Kitwana." She said, smiling. "It's what friends do."

Kitwana blushed deeply, smiling sheepishly. "Dalila... Thank you."

"It was nice on your part, you know."

Makuu stirred awake again, this time not by Kitwana, but by his mate. Groaning in annoyance, he half-opened his eyes and saw Akina staring at him from her sleeping spot.

"What?" he asked, letting out a yawn.

"Letting Kitwana go see that girl even though he was grounded."

"I just wanted him to let me sleep." Makuu said simply, laying his head on the ground again, and trying to go back to his slumber. "Now could you be so kind as to let me sleep too?"

"Right, let you sleep." Akina said with a small smile, guessing the actual reason he let him go meet her. "Good night, sleepy head."

Makuu merely grunted in response and went back to sleep.

Unfortunately, this only lasted for about a few minutes.

"Makuu!" Ghubari approached his leader, only to stop when the latter lifted his head to look at him with a growl and an irritated expression.

"What?!" Makuu snarled. "This better be good, Ghubari!"

Ghubari gulped, but knowing he didn't have any patience when still drowsy, he went straight to the point. "King Simba's majordomo wishes to have a word with you."

The majordomo? That brought Makuu out of his sleepy state. "What for?"

"He won't say, he said it's a matter he can only speak with you, but if you ask me I think it has to do with... Kitwana."

He had that feeling too, but he made sure not to show his subordinate the uncertainty. A crocodile never lost his composure, especially if he's the leader of the float. With his best serious expression, Makuu walked away from Ghubari and the float's sleeping spot, feeling both Ghubari and Akina's gazes on him.

He found Zazu perched on a branch from one of the bushes. Well, the sooner he dealt with his, the sooner he could go back to sleep.

"Good day, Makuu." Zazu greeted respectfully.

"Oh, it would certainly have been a good day if you had come when I was actually awake." Makuu growled, irritated. "What is it you wanted to tell me?"

"It's about your... charge."

"What about Kitwana?"

"Well, as I'm sure you have noticed, he's growing up quite fast. King Simba believes it's time for him to be put with his own kind."

It took the crocodile a few seconds to process what he just heard. "Excuse me? With his own kind?"

"He will grown into an adult soon, and he needs to start learning the proper behavior for his species. King Simba asked me to tell you he will soon make arrangements to have your charge join a flock."

He realized what Zazu was saying: they were going to take Kitwana away and put him with a bunch of stranger birds who would ostracize him.

The selfish part of him internally sighed in relief at finally being rid of his charge, but the part of him that had gotten attached to Kitwana was angry. How would Akina take the news? And Hodari? Heck, how would the float react? They were all fond of the little chick.

The worst part: it would mean he'd have to tell him the truth.

"You and your float have taken good care of young Kitwana, but unfortunately he seems to be learning certain... habits from you."

"I guess you're talking about the fight..."

"Precisely." Zazu said seriously. "Birds are not naturally violent like your species, what kind of damage could that to do him?"

"While I agree with you in that sense, let me remind you that I hatched him. And since you're a bird yourself, you'll understand that taking him away won't be easy." Makuu said with a frown.

"Ah, yes. The imprinting process. The poor chick never knew his real mother, and was instead hatched by your kind, so it's normal he'd think he's one of you."

"I will also remind you that I made a promise to his mother, and if you know the ways of crocodiles, we keep our promises."

"I've only come to deliver the message, I'm afraid. If there's something you don't agree with, you should speak with King Simba on the matter."

Though the idea of his... 'foster son' being taken did bother him, perhaps it would be for the best. However, it didn't mean he couldn't at least ask Simba to wait a little more, if only until he found a way to tell Kitwana the truth without crushing him. "Very well."

Zazu nodded. "If you do wish to speak with King Simba, please come to Pride Rock when the sun its at its highest."

With that, the bird took off and flew away, leaving the distraught crocodile behind. When he found himself alone, he had mixed feelings about the matter. He made his way back to the float, thoughtful.

Akina lifted her head when she saw her mate approaching. "Makuu? What happened?"

He didn't reply; he lay down next to her with his gaze downwards.

That let her know something was wrong with him. "What did Zazu tell you?"

After a few more seconds of silence, Makuu responded. "King Simba thinks its time to put Kitwana in a flock."

"What?"

"Apparently he did find out about what Kitwana did, and is worried about the things he is learning from us. And honestly, I partly agree with him."

"But you promised his mother you'd-!"

"I know that, I was there, in case you forgot. But it's Simba we're talking about, his authority overrules mine. Even if I wanted to do something about it, I can't make him change his mind."

"He has no real authority over Kitwana, Makuu." Akina said firmly. "He might be his King, but he's not his father."

"Neither am I." Makuu said bitterly.

"Maybe not through blood, but he sees you as his father. That's all what matters."

Before he could reply, Kitwana returned, looking happy. Akina smiled at him. "How did it go, sweetie?"

"It was pretty cool! We saw the sunrise, and Dalila told me a legend about the sun and the moon!"

"That's... great." Makuu said simply, not in the mood to even pretend to find it interesting.

Hopefully, Kitwana didn't notice; instead he let out a yawn, considering he hadn't properly slept that night, and climbed on top of Makuu's head to curl up.

"Thank you, Makuu. I love you..." He said, before falling asleep.

He and Akina looked up at his charge in surprise, but thankfully he was already sleeping and didn't notice.

Those three words stirred something in the crocodile's heart.

"I w-will always l-love you, son... never forget..."

"I love you, big brother!"

"Me too!"

"Makuu?" Akina got worried when her mate remained unresponsive with a blank expression. She gently nudged against his snout.

This seemed to snap him out of it. After blinking a few times, he responded. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

He laid his head back on the ground and shifted to accommodate himself, careful not to wake Kitwana up. If he was doubtful about letting Simba proceed with taking him away before, now he wasn't sure anymore if he wanted him to go at all. He really liked him, and he might say he felt a small bit of... affection? Nah, that wasn't the appropriate word.

He didn't manage to go to sleep again.

When Kitwana woke up, the sun had long risen to its cenit. However, he instantly noticed he was not on top of Makuu's head, but on his sleeping spot. He was momentarily alarmed until he noted Akina and the float were a few feet away, fighting... amongst each other?

Just then, Hodari approached with a fish. "Good morning, Kitwana!" he placed the fish in front of him. "Akina fished something for you a while ago."

Kitwana ate the fish in one gulp, and looked down at the gecko. "Where is Makuu?" he inquired curiously.

"He went to see King Simba, though he wouldn't say why." Hodari explained, not mentioning why he had actually gone. "Meanwhile, the rest of the float are sparring to better their techniques."

"Sparring?" Kitwana tilted his head, and then glanced at the fighting crocs. "Why didn't they spar back at the river?"

"There wasn't much space to do so..." Hodari said, a bit embarrassed. "Besides, at that time crocs had just awoken from hibernation, so they had to save energy until they fed again."

As they got closer to the sparring crocs, Kitwana stared in awe at their movements. "How come Makuu hasn't taught me any moves yet?"

"The other crocodiles are too big to spar with you, he included. But don't worry, I'm about your same size! I could teach you some moves while he's gone!"

Kitwana's eyes lit up. "Would you?"

Hodari nodded eagerly. "Of course! I've been dying to have a sparring partner too!" Of course, he'd have to figure out first how to adapt the moves to Kitwana's bird physiology. It couldn't be that hard, the only thing Kitwana lacked was a tail, so he'd have to omit those moves... or Kitwana could use another part of his body.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Well, the most basic one is the tackle. You gain speed, you lunge at your opponent and put your whole body weight into pushing him to the ground." Hodari stood on his hind legs, and demonstrated the move, then he went back on his legs again. "Okay, try it out on me!"

"What if you get hurt?"

"Don't worry, I might be small, but I'm tougher than I look!"

Kitwana mentally repeated the instruction, and proceeded to tackle Hodari. Both fell to the ground, but somehow Hodari was on top of Kitwana, instead of the other way around.

"This is the countermove. You take advantage of the tackling opponent putting all his weight into the tackle; you let him think he has you, then dodge it at the last moment. Your opponent will fall to the ground with a rather painful thud, and you can pin them to the ground." Hodari explained, before stepping off Kitwana. "Okay, let's try again."

Akina heard a small scuffle a few paws away, and turned to see what was going on. She was surprised to see Hodari and Kitwana wrestling with each other. Soon the rest of the wrestling males noticed what was going on, and momentarily stopped to watch.

"Would you look at that?" Ghubari said. "Who would have said Kitwana had it in him?"

"After spending so much time with us, it's natural." Balozi added.

Another young male added. "Wow, who knew little Hodari was such a good wrestler?"

Akina realized the others had stopped, she turned to them. "Okay, show's over! Go back to your sparring positions!" she said with a stern look.

She might not be the official leader, but when Makuu was absent he always left his mate in charge, in part because he knew the float wouldn't dare disobeying her either. The crocs went back to their own sparring, while Akina divided her attention between them, and the two smaller members of the float.

On more than one occasion, though, she glanced in the direction of Pride Rock, wondering what her mate would say to Simba.

Simba knew Makuu would probably disagree in one way or another with his decision, but he didn't imagine he'd come so soon to complain. In fact, he was the first animal of the day who wished for an audience.

The crocodile walked up to the rock, where Simba was waiting. "Makuu."

The latter bowed his head in respect. "Your Majesty."

"I suppose you're here because of my decision."

"Indeed. Your majordomo informed me you would have Kitwana join a flock."

"Yes, and considering you came all the way here, I have the feeling you don't agree."

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, I don't think Kitwana is ready to... know the truth yet."

"He's nearing adulthood, Makuu. When do you plan on telling him, when he's fully mature?"

"Of course not, but as some birds have pointed out, when he does find out he will not take it lightly."

"Maybe, but the behavior he shows is unacceptable for a bird, as some flock leaders have pointed out. Has that poor chick has ever opened his wings, or preened his feathers?"

Makuu narrowed his eyes at the bird. "What are you insinuating?"

"Makuu, he attacked a chick." Simba pointed out seriously.

"Majesty, in case that egret didn't clarify, it was her chick who provoked him into attacking."

"The point here is not who started, the point is the way Kitwana reacted. It's not proper for a bird, it will be best that he is taught the Bird Way now that he's still young. If we wait any longer, it might be too late for him to learn."

"I understand that, but I gave my word to his mother that I would look after her child-"

Although Simba was genuinely impressed he had started taking his word seriously, he noted there was another, unmentioned reason he didn't agree with this. "I'm not cutting you off from Kitwana, if that's what worries you."

The crocodile blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You may still see him if you wish, but the responsibility for his care and wellbeing will be passed to the flock leader. As for your promise regarding his flight, you may watch the lessons if you wish, but I'll assume you were aware from the beginning that you wouldn't have been able to teach him how to fly, even if you actually wished to."

Incensed, he responded. "If you knew this all along, then why did you let me hatch the egg and get attached to the kid in the first place if you were going to take him away anyway?!"

Before Simba could respond, suddenly Zazu flew towards them, panting heavily, and looking scared out of his wits.

"Your H-Highness! Something t-terrible has happened...!"

"Calm yourself, Zazu!" Simba ordered the bird, but he was worried about the state he was in. "What happened?"

"It's the elephants! They were attacked!"

"Who attacked them?" Makuu asked in genuine surprise; he didn't imagine any animals being foolish enough to attach the largest beasts in the Pride Lands.

"Was it the Outlanders?" Simba asked.

Zazu shook his head. "N-No! It was the two-legs!"