Forgive the absence. Things in life have become hectic. Between my mental health among other things. I been trying to work on my photography as of late. Which sadly I am ashamed because of my depression and anxiety getting in the way of many things I forgot to practice a lot and because of that I became ashamed of myself and then just made my depression worst.
Trying to get my life on track despite feeling that I am closing in on 30 and feel because I haven't done much with my life I am failing. So I find myself not in the mood to write because my mind gets distracted. Despite my trying. So I try and try. Guess that is all I can do really. Try.
As for all the hate reviews lately. I know I am not the only one they been harassing. So no they aren't what has kept me from writing. I just find them a headache because people got nothing better to do with their lives it seens then sit behind a screen and harass people they don't know. Oh well no need to listen to losers.
Chapter 27
"Shh, she won't find us here..."
"But..."
"Quiet."
"But Kiaraaa...why we hide from Grandma?"
Kiara gave a small grunt as she looked down at the small cub sitting between her paws staring up at her with his wide eyes. His paws twitching as he continued to shift his weight from one paw to another while he awaited the lioness' answer for why they were hiding from his the cubs mother.
"Because Imamu...it's a game. Remember what I explained about games?" Kiara watched the cubs head bob up and down. "This is a game where we hide from others...like Sarafina." She smiled at the cub then let it drop when the cub asked a simple...
"Why?" Imamu stared at Kiara. Confusion on his face. Like he was trying to understand the concept of the game. He had been enjoying a nice bath. He often enjoyed his baths. Which often made a few males snicker at a cub who liked to be clean. But Nala seemed grateful for a cub who did not like getting overly dirty.
He been enjoying his bath. When Kiara had come up and asked if he wanted to play with her. Well she asked Nala if he could. Which the lioness agree with seeing she had to go and join the hunting party. And Nala felt better whenever she had someone to watch Imamu whenever the boys father Onani was busy on border patrol duty.
The first few games like tag. The young cub was capable of getting the grasp of. Chasing one another was fun he claimed. This game on the other hand...the small cub could not grasp why he would want to hide from is mother. Whom he could hear calling for him.
"Wouldn't Grandma be concerned?" He asked looking up at the Princess.
Another small grunt resonated from Kiara's throat. But a soft smile came to her face as she was trying her best not to laugh at the memory that popped its way into her mind. Of yet another male cub in her past that had shared similar confusions when it came to games that Kiara knew from birth.
Only it had been tag, which Imamu, appeared to understand, why the game of hide and go seek appeared to be another thing in general to the young cub. It had been half way through their game of tag in fact that Sarafina had come across the Princess and her grandson playing together. And asked to join in. Claiming playing with cubs again made the old lioness feel as though she was young again.
Kiara felt it was just an excuse to want to play with her grandson. Not that she thought Sarafina ever needed that excuse. Imamu seemed to have a feel for enjoying the attention all the older females in the pride would lay upon him. As the boy had been the only cub born to the pride since the...
The young Princess' mind went adrift as her mind went to the reason why she had grown up as the only cub in her pride until Imamu had come along. And even then, she was grown enough to no longer be considered a cub when Nala had given birth. But the thought as to why still remained the same.
"Kiara!" The Princess looked down when she felt a tiny head bump against her leg and found herself looking into the face of an irritated male cub. "Why we gotta hide from Grandma!?" The cub stomped his paw this time still waiting for an answer.
"Shhh already" Kiara tried to put her paw over the cubs snout. "I told you the concept already...not be quiet or she will hear you..."
"Or smell you." A soft chuckle came from outside of their hiding spot.
Biting back a groan. Kiara poked her head out only to come face to face directly with Sarafina. "That is cheating." She scolded the older lioness who only smiled at her.
"You been saying that since you were little." Sarafina looked down as she heard her grandson squeal at the sound of her voice. Bolting out of their hiding place, he latched himself onto is grandmother's leg beaming up at her with his typical toothy smile which seemed to be missing a tooth as the cub had had a tripping accident a week prior and lost one of his milk teeth.
"And it is as true now as it was then." The Pride Lander Princess stomped her paw upon the ground. A pout lining her muzzle. A pout that only made the older lioness chuckle and turn the pout into a full fledge frown. Not that it detered Sarafina in the slightest. It was hard not to sniff out someone during a game of hide and seek. More so for a predator such as a lion and when Sarafina knew there scents very well.
That and she wouldn't say her grandson was squeaking awfully loud. That she would not be surprised if all those who remained at Pride Rock that day while the rest had gone hunting had heard him.
With a paw she stroked her gransons back. Earning a purr from the little cub in response to the attention she was giving him. He was such a sweet boy she thought. Just like his mother at his age. Well he seemed to not have that spike for mischief like Nala would get when she was little. Not that he did not have time to achieve that.
It was however something that Sarafina hoped would skip a generation. With everything that was going on with the Out Landers...Sarafina did not wish for her grandson to want to go looking for trouble. With a father like Onani. Sarafina nor Nala worried too much about the boys safety.
Onani was adamant when it came to his sons safety. The lion was still adjusting to being apart of a pride. And partaking in what it meant to be apart of a pride by protecting it. Not that it was much of a difference in that department. Since Onani had come into their lives he had helped with patrol in the Eastern pride when he first stayed with them. And he now did the same with helping out with the patrol of the Pride Lands.
Making the pride feel a bit more safer with two males now protecting the pride full time. Even with the alliance of the Eastern Pride. Onani was now officially apart of the Pride Lands and so like Simba acted as a fellow protector along side his new King.
"It is not proper for a Princess to stomp her paws." Sarafina gave Kiara a little scolding. Her smile however still lingered. "And it is a good thing I found you too. For the hunting party has returned." Without anoter word. Sarafina bent and picked her grandson up by the neck and carried him along to where she could hear the pride gathering to divid that days meals.
Kiara too followed along not far behind her. The sound of the hunting party being back told her that there were not going to be many of the pride out in the grasslands now. No after a long hunt and their stomachs full from what they caught. And would be lounging about resting at Pride Rock no doubt the rest of the day.
All that would be out there would be her Father. Whom Kiara had come to recognize the schedules of his patrol routes. And where he would be at what time. Something she had learned over the months. What's more not just his but the males from the Eastern pride as well who patrols the southern lands in which the two pride's shared.
All of this for the sake of the trouble of sneaking out past them to see a certain lion.
A smile came to her face as she thought about Kovu. The last couple of months she had sneaked out time and time again to see him. And during the times they had spent together. Kiara truly felt he had turned to a side of good and truly was no longer a follower of his deviant mother.
A couple of times Kiara proposed to Kovu that she could talk to her Father. That she could get him to listen to her and believe her when it came to Kovu. Unfortunately each time Kovu shot her down. Claiming to fear that Kiara had too high of hopes that her Father would believe her seeing that he was simply the son of someone who he claimed had murdered his family.
Kiara had tried to reassure him that Kovu had proven to her that he was nothing like his mother. So her Father would see that too. It disappointed her when he just continued to turn down her offer. Telling her that he simply enjoyed the rogue life.
So with that Kiara was making herself content to just sneak out there and see him. Her own personal secret. Something she had enjoyed at first. Now it was becoming a burden because she felt he was lonely and just needed some friends. And she had plenty. Ones she thought she could convince as much as her father. But like with her Father, Kovu refused to meet them.
Perhaps he was just afraid...that was what she told herself. What she made herself believe.
Lifting her head and staring from behind Sarafina. A smile crossed her face and she padded making her way to where the hunting party had displayed their latest catch of two zebra's they had brought down and back to fill the pride for the next coming days. Nearly there then a streaking caramel blur darted on past her with a cry of "Mama!"
Smiling, Nala bent to receive her cub who latched himself onto her snout. "Mama!" He cried again with a giggle to his tone. His tiny nose rubbing against her own.
"Hello my little one." Nala smiled pulling away just enough so that she could lay a lick on the boys head. Mussing the fur atop his head a second but only for a second for another lick smoothed it once more. "Did you have fun?"
The cub nodded with a grin. "Yeah we played tag and hide and seek...I did not like having to hide from grandma...it felt rude!"
A soft chuckle came from the lioness who gave her son a nuzzle and looked over at Kiara who only rolled her eyes making Nala give another chortle. "Thank you for watching him." She gave the young Princess a nuzzle who was happy to return it with one of her own.
"It was nothing." Kiara responded. "Even if it was frustrating to try and explain a came of hide and seek repeatedly only to get a 'why?' every time" She chuckled along with Nala.
"All cubs go through the why stage my dear." Sarabi mentioned making her way to them. Standing along side her granddaughter. The old lioness offered a soft smile. "You did...your brother did...your father did...even your grandfather did if my memory serves me well." Sarabi smiled thinking about her past memories. Something she found she did the older she got.
Thinking about the past used to make her sad. Now it did both. Sad for those she loved were now gone and there were sometimes she could never get back. Like the chance at raising her son all over again. Raising her grandchildren served to fill that void. Not all the way. But enough that the pain dulled over time. Only to be replaced with the ache of losing other little ones she would not have in her life anymore. Kiara however made it easier. For at least this time around. Sarabi had not lost everything in one night.
Kiara was as much a comforting and shining light as she was for her Father.
"Doesn't make it anyless annoying..."
"Now you know how we felt." Nala offered the Princess a smirk at the look that Kiara shot her and then later Sarafina and Sarabi who chuckled along with Nala and Imamu who not understanding why they were laughing joined in for the sake of just wanting to laugh.
Giving the Princess a pat. Nala then bent and nudged her cub toward the zebra carcass. Followed shortly by Sarafina.
Sarabi remaining by her granddaughters side. Nudged her gently. "You were not such a bad cub." She smiled at the look the girl gave her. "That is just how cubs are my dear." She told her. "Something you will have to grow used too for the time when you become a mother."
Kiara made a face at those words. "And how...exactly will I become a Mother?"
Another laugh came from her grandmother. "Why the same way all lionesses do my dear." She smiled at her. "And some day your father will find you a good match and perhaps if things go well then we can combine two prides and become one." She smiled placing her paw on Kiara's. Only to frown at the look that came over her granddaughters face. "What is wrong?"
"If you mean Father and the Eastern King will have me and Kiev become mates through arrangement...it won't work out...he and my friend Dinka already like one another...no matter how stubborn they are about telling one another." Kiara rolled her eyes. Shaking her head, she rubbed the back of her neck with her paw letting out a small sigh.
"That does complicate matters." Sarabi nodded. Reaching across she laid her paw on her granddaughters. "But even if that is the case. The Eastern Pride does have one other prince...what was his name again?" The old lioness paused while she thought about the other prince she knew lived beyond the borders when the two eastern prides became one once more. For the same reasons that the Pride Landers and Eastern Pride had unified themselves together against the enemy that lurked beyond both their common borders.
"Tambo?" Kiara made a face as she thought of him. While Kiev could be cocky sometimes. Tambo had arrogance that did not work in his favour. Not that he wasn't nice. And he could be considerate at times. But over all...
"Oh don't have that tone dear. I know you are friends with him all the same. So there is something you like about him." Sarabi gave her granddaughter a look. Knowing full well that deep down within her granddaughter that the girl always saw the better in each and every individual she met. Which was both an admirable trait of hers but also a worrying one.
People with such hearts often let the naive that resided in them to rule in situations where such things were not needed. There just were some individuals who were not worth the trouble.
For Sarabi that individual was Zira.
They had thought once that said lioness could be redeemed. Even the Princess's own mother had thought that. And while Sarabi could not known that Zuri had thought during her dying moments. If she had been here, Sarabi perhaps would have thought that she should have cast Zira out when they had the chance when Scar had been defeated.
Now there was no going back she feared for Zira. Those with Zira on the other hand...Sarabi did not know what to think when it came down to them. They had been so innocent when they had first come to the pride. It had been understandable why they had stood by Zira's side. As she had been the one to speak for them when they had first arrived all those years ago.
There were moments when the old lioness wondered what they thought of their decision to remain loyal to one as Zira had gotten them.
But were they truly innocent now? That was the question. Sarabi did not know just how much of a part they may or may not have had in the killing of her family. Did they do any of the killing themselves? Or had it only been Zira? That night was clear but also fuzzy in her mind. There were so many things about that night that Sarabi just wished to banish from her mind.
Unfortunately that would never be. It was something she would have to live with for the rest of her days. Whatever that happened to be. Sarabi still felt life in her old bones. But this life had been so weary on her soul. And the weight of the soul often weighed on the mind which then weighed on the body.
First the death of her mate. Then her only cub, yes he had come back to her, but for years she had lived with the knowledge that he might be dead. Then the loss of her daughter in law and grandchildren...part of her wanted to believe with no evidence of Eshe or Kopa's bodies. That they might still be alive. Like she had done with Simba in the beginning.
This time however Sarabi just let that belief go. For it was far more painful to hold onto it than accept the truth.
Looking at her granddaughter. She smiled at the girls innocence. Something she wished was never stolen from her. So that she always had that pure heart. But again she feared for it all the same.
Kiara gave a small snort. "All the same Grandma...I don't want father to go arranging something..."
Lifting a paw to cup the side of the young lioness's face. Sarabi smiled tenderly. "I know my dear. But you are a Princess...and sometimes that comes with a lot of responsibilities. And there isn't like there are many young lions to go around my dear." Sarabi chuckled. "So think about it...would you rather mate a stranger or someone you know?"
The Princess went to say something. Pausing halfway in doing so to consider what her grandmother had said. Knowing her words rang truth. However there was perhaps one other young lion out there that her family was not considering. And no doubt never would.
Unless Kovu was to let her approach her Father about him...
Her train of thought trailed at her thoughts. Wondering why her mind had gone there. Of course she wanted to talk to her Father about him. To show him that not all Out Landers were lost causes. Kovu showed her that he had truly turned his life around. He shouldn't have to live the life of a rogue. Onani was proof of that. The lion appeared to enjoy living now as part of a pride.
There was greater strength in numbers and in friendship and family.
As that was what a true pride represented. At least in Kiara's mind it did. And she was certain it had to be the same for many others who knew pride life compare to that of a lone rogue.
Onani told her some rogues traveled together. But much of the time it was siblings or a mated pair. Which still seemed lonely in Kiara's mind. Who could not imagine living such a life. It may be that she was born and grew up in a pride. Who knew. That was only her way of thinking.
She thought Kovu should experience that. Seeing he grew up in such a bad place and with bad individuals. He had told her of the times he had lived in the Pride Lands. He told her tales of her mother and of Kopa. He had experienced it once so she could not understand why he wouldn't want to experience it again...
But why would he come to her mind when it came to mates?
Kiara felt the skin beneath her fur begin to heat. And her heart flutter a bit. Did that mean that she?
No...Kiara shook her head. No that was not the case, she told herself.
Speaking of Kovu. Kiara glanced upwards to check where the sun was positions to tell her what time of day it was. If she played her cards right she could still get out to see him.
Her Father still did not like it if she stayed out after dark. Even at her current age. Claimed it was too dangerous and no one was refuting him on that. Well all but Kiara that is.
But if she played it right. She thought she could get out to meet with Kovu and then have time to get back home too before it got too dark out and her Father ended out ending out the search party for her.
Kiara resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that thought.
Looking at the kill she figured to grab a bite to eat before she headed out. Doing so, Kiara talked a bit with those around her. Listening to Imamu who was talking about learning the games he did with Kiara. And the pride was hanging onto the cubs every word. Making Kiara wonder if it had been like that when she was a cub?
"In a hurry dear?"
Kiara turned her head to see one of the lionesses watching her. "Just thought I head out to see if I could find any one of my friends." She lied. Feeling bad for doing so. But it always made it easier for her to go out when the pride thought that she wasn't going alone. Well it was half of a lie at least.
Kiara did consider Kovu her friend.
"Be careful dear." Sarabi looked her granddaughters way. Offering the younger one a smile and nuzzled her briefly.
"Can I come?" Imamu poked his head out from behind his mothers legs.
Kiara wanted to out right say no. However having a hard time not wanting to hurt the young cubs feelings. Was relieved when Nala answered the cubs question for her. "You are still too young to go venturing out my sweet boy." Nala rolled her eyes when her son attempted to pout at her. "Now none of that. Your Father ought to be home soon. You want to be home to greet him do you not?" That stole the pout from the cubs face.
Reaching out, Kiara placed her paw on the cubs head. "One day we can explore the Pride Lands together." She grinned at Imamu who returned it with one of his own and a eager nod to follow.
Pulling her paw back. Kiara took another look at the sky noting the time of by the placement of the sun. Then giving her grandmother a nuzzle, the Princess took off at a run. Heading in the direction of the South Lands. Which thankfully being the place she and her friends were most likely to meet up in. No one thought the wiser of where the young lioness was going and with whom she truly meant to meet up with.
Green eyes watched the horizon. Taking in the majesty that was Pride Rock. Even from such a distance the kopje was was majestic as it was up close. The place held both good and bad memories for young Kovu.
Memories that Kovu did not know which to focus on the most. The good or the bad. He had been far too young to remember what life had been like during Scar's reign. So the good was all that he truly ever known there. Growing up with his friends. Food in his belly. A proper shelter to sleep in.
Better than what he had become accustomed too in the Out Lands for the longest of time. Termite mounds were not the best of places to sleep. On the other hand shelter was shelter in the Out Lands. As long as it got you out of the blazing sun or shielded you from the sand storms that would hit that area.
It truly was an cursed place. And those who lived there were cursed. Or so that was what many said about the Out Landers. Kovu heard the words whispered by many birds, and animals he had passed paths with.
Not that they ever saw him.
Kovu was careful that his appearance was not known in these parts. With the exception of the Pride Lander Princess. His presence being known would not turn out good in his favour. Not in the slightest. More so if Simba and the other lions he had seen on patrol were to spot him, and decide they would want to take him out.
There were times that he regretted coming up with this plan. More so now that his mother approved of it and was demanding that he continue to go through with it. Until such a time came that Zira could put her true plans into affect.
Whenever that was.
Kovu was beginning to think his Mother was waiting far too long to strike. The longer they waited. He thought the stronger the Pride Landers appeared to become as well as the Eastern Pride. Now that the two had struck the alliance that they had.
His mother thought by gaining more to their own little pride that it would even the odds. He thought she was blind in that regard. Kovu of course had returned to the Out lands a few times during the months he had been playing rogue to fool Kiara into gaining her trust. He had seen the ones that his siblings and Zawadi had brought back with them.
This was where he truly thought his mother must be blind.
It did not take a fool to notice that those who returned with his siblings and Zawadi seemed to have a favoured leader in mind.
A certain brown lioness who had given him trouble when he had failed to return with help of his own. Not that he was not doing his own part for the pride now or that was what his mother had said when his plan had been explained to those who had returned. He hadn't been surprised to see how irritated that had made Zawadi. Something that pleased him.
Still he could see the way the lionesses that had returned with them reacted to Zawadi compared to that of his mother. Their new "leader". Even the one that had returned with Vitani. Seemed to follow Zawadi's opinion above his mothers. Not that they seemed to openly show it.
Which might be why his mother was blind to it.
However Kovu seemed to pick it up only perhaps because he was paying attention to it? Who knows. Not that he could blame them. There had been worry about what they might think of his mother should they meet her. Even the lionesses he grew up around in the pride seemed to have mixed opinions of his mother. More now than they had in the past.
So what was his opinion of his mother?
Kovu's thoughts trailed off at that question. What did he think of his mother?
That was a hard thing to ask even of himself. As a cub his mother's madness was not as present as it was now. Well not while they were living in the Pride Lands or had it been there but he only just never saw it? Or that he CHOSE not to see it?
It was hard to say. And it was not something that Kovu wanted to think about.
Reflecting on the past was never helpful for anyone.
Heaving a sigh. Kovu shook his head then raised a paw to brush the mane back from his face. Deciding it was better to not answer that question about his mother. It did not matter how blind she seemed to be with her vengence. A vengence that even Kovu was wondering was going to far. Everything was for Scar...
A lion that Kovu had no memories of other than the stories told to him.
It did not matter...she was his mother. No matter what. She was his mother...he felt it would be wrong to betray her in any shape or form...even in his thoughts...
His mind went back to Zawadi. There was also something else he thought his mother hadn't noticed. That he did not think many did. Well he was not sure about that. Seeing he never asked.
But he felt as if she was hiding something...whatever it was. He could not tell. He thought to his brother. The two of them he noticed had become closer than they had previously been. Not that the two had never been close before. But in the past it was purely friendship. Now he thought there was something more to it.
He had to wonder exactly what happened out there in the desert after he had left them and their return home. It wasn't that he had nothing against it. While he and Nuka did not often get along since their time in the Out Lands.
Kovu was never one to wish ill upon his brother. And he always frowned with the way that his mother would treat him. He could never understand it. He knew deep down his mother had to love Nuka. He was her son after all. Everyone said that Zira loved her offspring no matter how she may act.
But her mistreatment of his brother...Kovu never felt was right. Though he would shamefully admit that he felt a bit of pride whenever she would praise him over his brother. He never did like the way his mother was always ill tempered towards Nuka.
So whatever was going on between Nuka and Zawadi. Whether they wanted anyone to know or not. Kovu was happy for them.
But that was not all that Kovu was suspicious that Zawadi was hiding. Whatever it was he could not put his paw on it...nor was it his to figure out? Whatever it was he felt that Zawadi had a reason for it...whatever that reason was he could not decide if it was right or wrong...
Taking his mind from his thoughts. Returning to the present. He reminded himself of why he was sitting there in the first place. Kiara was late. Not that it mattered to him. There were days when she did not even show up. Seeing that she had friends that also occupied her time.
While he had no one...well that was how he had to make it seem. But he really did not have no in these parts of the Southern Lands. To see up the ruse that he had left the Out Landers and had begun living the life of a rogue. None of the others ventured that far to the southern lands to avoid their scents from being detected.
Even he had to thoroughly wash himself of their familiar scents whenever he returned from visiting the Out Lands. There were times that he wondered why he ever bothered returning? He had to admit he had enjoyed his times away from the barren land he had called home for far too long.
He supposed it was like the same reasons all the others returned...
Shaking his head causing his mane to yet again fall into his eyes. Kovu forced it back with his paw reminding himself of what he was doing there. And yet again who he was waiting for. Sitting there among the tall grass, his head barely skimming the top of it so he had a good view of Pride Rock in the distance. His eyes scanning for any sight of the Pride Lander Princess.
Who again was late...not that he cared.
Kovu grunted as he told himself that. The young male did not want to believe it. How could he become to care for the daughter of the enemy?
So what if she was nice to him?
So what if it felt nice to have a...friend. Something he hadn't felt like he had for a long time. Sure he had his siblings. Whom he hadn't been close too for the longest time. At least with Nuka. They hadn't been close since the time they lived in the Pride Lands.
He supposed it was welcoming having a friend that wasn't blood related.
There was Zawadi of course. But the two always seemed at odds with each other from time to time. Sure they were friends...but..."Ugh!" Kovu stomped on his paw against the ground. Kicking dirt up in the process.
Now feeling like he was only trying to come up with some excuse to these feelings he been feeling for Kiara the last few months they had spent together. Something that still confused even him. Given when their little meetings began as when it came to his plan to work his way into favour with his mother's plan. To make up for the fact that he never followed through with her original one that had the others bringing back more to join the pride.
She was a mission. Nothing more. Gaining her trust was his only goal.
Nothing more.
Giving another grunt. He kicked the ground again with his paw. Coughing as this time it kicked up enough dirt that it sprayed up into his face and the smell of it entering his nose and mouth.
"Maybe I should start coming sooner if you are this impatient."
The lion tensed when he heard the voice to his right. Grumbling under his breath that he hadn't been paying too much attention to what was going on around him. Cursing his own stupidity. For had it been anyone else that had come up on him. He may have been in trouble.
Turning he found himself looking into the blue eyes of the Princess. Who was also grinning ear to ear to having caught him off guard. Kovu found himself unable to resist returning a grin of his own. Then shook it away when he realized what he was doing.
Climbing to his paws, he proceeded to make his way around her. "I was not impatient."
Rolling her eyes, Kiara jumped turn on the spot and trotted until she was walking along side him. Her grin still evident on her face. "Don't have to be embarrased to admit it." She teased bumping his shoulder with her own.
Looking her way. Kovu gave her a roll of his own eyes. "I am not embarrassed to admit it. Because there is nothing to admit." He stuck his chin in the air while he walked. Only to drop it when Kiara burst out into fits of laughter along side him.
"Were you ever told it was rude to laugh at others?" Kovu poked at her with his paw.
"Certainly." Kiara smiled. "But what fun is there in not laughing at something that is clearly obvious." Pouncing forward she turned mid pounce and landed right in front of him. That infectious grin ever present on her face.
Kovu let out a small grunt and mumbled a few choice words until his breath. Sitting himself back on his haunches. He eyed the lioness before him. "You're annoying, you know that right?"
His words did not do nothing to chase the grin from her face. He had to wonder if there was anything that ever upset Kiara. Part of him though cringed at the thought of trying to find that out. Much to his chagrin. Because it only lead to confuse him why he cared so much? Because caring for her feelings was a part of getting her to trust him? Was it not?
"I was however wondering if you would indeed show up this time..."
"Hence impatient!" Kiara let out a giggle.
The corner of Kovu's eye twitch. But he fought back the urge to retort her assumption. "So where were you?" He asked all the same.
"I was having a day playing with Imamu." Kiara explained as she stepped back and then back to his side so the two of them could continue walking side by side.
Kovu flashed her a confused look. "Imamu?" The name rang a bell but at the same time didn't. He could have sworn he heard Kiara say that name before. But it wasn't a name she mentioned often. Not like she did her other friends.
He still found it odd that a lion and a cheetah were friends.
"Nala's cub." Kiara pointed out to him. "I mentioned him before."
"Ah." Nodding his head, it now came back to him. Kiara had mentioned something about Nala having a cub with some rogue. One of such that was now living with the Pride Landers. Which concerned Kovu given his mother's plan. While the Pride Lands were allianced with the Eastern Pride these days. The Pride Lands still only had the one made that they would have to fight off. Should they manage to fight them before they could call for aide.
A second grown male, Kovu thought would make things more difficult.
The only good thing was their own pride had two males of their own. And Nuka was no longer the scrawny looking lion he had once been. Rather he was now something that seemed to make their mother proud with the way he demonstrated that he had survived and come out of the wilderness intact and improved than when he left.
Something that had first surprised Kovu and he had seen had surprised the others as well. But many of those who had known Nuka since he was a sickly little cub was happy to see him well and thriving once more. Like he appeared to have been in the Pride Lands before they had been casted out.
But while they evened the odds...that was only if they attacked during a time that the Eastern Pride could not get to the Pride Landers aide in time. For the Eastern Pride had far more adult lions that should it come to blows.
Kovu did not believe that they would fair in such a fight.
"Why would you want to play with a tail biter?" Kovu turned his head to glance sideways at the Princess who trotted along side him. Her tail swishing back and forth as she tilted her head from side to side like she was listening to some imaginaive tune that only she could hear.
It was cute...he stopped his thoughts right there and cursed himself pushing the thought to the very back of his mind with all the other confusing thoughts that been plaguing him about Kiara.
"Because he's a little cutie." Kiara answered and looked his way. "And he's innocent and sweet. Plus he has no cubs his age to play with. I was lucky to have Kodi when my Father brought his mother to help nurse me as a cub. If not I would have had no friends my age at least not until my father struck the alliance with the East." She shook her head like the answer should be the obvious thing.
"Are there not cubs in the Eastern Pride?" Kovu was certain there was cubs there or at least there was. They may be all grown now for all he knew. Not that he ever paid all that much attention to all of that.
"There are a few around his age. But Nala feels he is still too young to venture far from Pride Rock yet." Explained Kiara.
"Yeah...I remember those days." Kovu mumbled beneath his breath. Remembering the days he hadn't been allowed to venture too far from the den. However that said he also had friends, like his siblings and...Kopa.
Kovu stopped in his tracked when the thought of his friend crossed his mind. A sad look coming over his face. Kiara who caught it looked at him concerned and leaned over to him so that her face came close to his. "Are you all right?" She inquired.
"Just thinking of an old friend..."
"Who?"
"...Kopa."
Kiara blinked her eyes a few times when she heard her brother's name slip out of his mouth. Thinking this was the first time she heard his name from Kovu. It wasn't that she was not aware that Kovu hadn't known her brother. She knew that much from the lionesses who told her stories about her brother and the other cubs in which he would play with and were friends with.
And she wondered why it never crossed her mind to ask about her brother, a one she had never known, like her other two siblings and her own mother. Certainly Kovu may have his own stories about Kopa that none of the others knew and told her about.
"Do you...do you want to speak about it?" There was a little bit of hope in her voice.
Glancing her way, Kovu studied her for a moment. Wondering what he should say. It been so long since he talked about Kopa. No one spoke about him back in the Outlands. If Nuka and Vitani thought about the deceased Pride Lander Prince. He didn't know. All he knew was no one spoke about him out loud to one another. Not since they were first cast out of their old home and into their barren new one.
Their mother never allowed it.
And would get angry whenever someone spoke of him or the old Queen.
They were in the past she told them. And were not worth thinking about for they had been wrongly accused of their murders.
Something Kovu on more than one occason wondered if his mother was lying about that...a thought he had to cast away when he felt the guilt rise that told him he should never think of his mother that way. But the doubt still nagged him deep in the recesses of his mind.
"I...I don't know." Was the answer that eventually came from him. Kovu truly was not certain if he wanted to bring up the past. It wasn't like he could change anything. Nor could or would he ever be able to chase away the guilt he felt about the night Kopa was said to have been killed. For he could not help but hold blame for they had lured Kopa from the cave that day.
Maybe they should have walked with him back to the cave first. Made certain he was safe before they ran to find their mother and return to Pride Rock.
But seeing how moody their mother could be if they were late whenever they were summoned. They had just left Kopa to return on his own...
There were moments when Kovu wondered what happened...how did Kopa and the Queen and her cubs die? He remembered Vitani claiming she knew where their mother had disappeared to that night. About how she had to have gone to help Queen Zuri with the threat that Kopa said they were hiding from out in the Eastern caves.
They had no other explanation. The lionesses that had put them in the cave to watch over them hadn't given them any answers. Not even when Sarafina and them came to collect them to bring them to their mother and find out that Simba accused her and the others of attacking Zuri and Kopa. Along with the other two royal cubs that hadn't survived.
He remembered when they reached the Outlands his mother gave a story about how they had discovered the ones who had attacked the Queen and royal cubs and found off the attacker.
When he was a cub he believed every word of it. Because then why would he believe that his mother had any reason to lie? And the others backed his mother. But now that he was older. He felt there were many holes in the story that they were told. And the looks the others all got now and again whenever it was brought up.
Like that of which there was something that they weren't exactly saying.
But Kovu also wondered if it was worth something questioning? Was his mother capable of the things that Simba accused her of? Kovu paused wanting to simply say no. Like he would have done when he was a cub. Where he would have believed that his mother was never capable of something like that.
But given what his mother's plan for revenge for "wrongly" accusing them and casting them out and denying Scar's rightful heir a place in the Pride and as King of the Pride Lands. His mother's madness with her deceased mate was borderline madness he thought.
If she wanted to do all this for Scar...what else would she do for him?
Kovu felt a shudder run through his body. And it confused him. Why now was he thinking these things? Why now of all times did he want to think his mother had been wrong all along in all of this? Even as a cub when his mother stated her revenge when they were exiled...maybe that was when he and his siblings should have doubted what she had told them?
Kovu felt the need to groan and rubbed his head with a paw. He could feel a headache coming on as all this doubt came to mind. Why was he suddenly thinking these things? Maybe he always had a bit of doubt? He didn't know.
He just did not know...
"Kovu!" The young lion jumped startled when Kiara shouted his name for the tenth time in a row. Green eyes stared into blue with confusion.
"What?" He questioned looking aroud them wondering if something was wrong.
Kiara rolled her eyes and huffed as she reached out to poke his snout with her paw. "You zoned out there. Are you all right?" She repeated the question that she been asking for a few moments now when Kovu had zoned out. After she had asked him if he wanted to speak about her brother after she heard him mention him.
Thinking it over Kovu in the head nodded his head. "Yes...I'm just fine." He offered the Princess a grin. And eyes her suddenly a bit suspicious. His mind thinking back to why he might suddenly be so suspicious of the stories that his mother told him.
Was it his time in spending with the Princess?
Or had it been like he thought and there were always loopholes but his young self wanted to refuse to doubt his mother? After all she was his mother. And neither of his siblings doubted her or at least to his knowledge.
Kovu felt like groaning again but bit back. Feeling these were something for him to focus on later when he was alone. Not when he had Kiara with him.
"As for your previous question...no." Kovu sighed looking at her. "No need to bring up the past." He watched the pout come over her face. "What you really want to hear about him from me? Certainly you heard stories from others about Kopa."
"Oh I have." Kiara nodded her head with a smile. "But it is always nice to hear other stories...perhaps those I have not heard before?" She tilted her head as she sighed and looked at the sky.
"It just feels odd that I have a brother and siblings and a mother up there...that I never met." Kiara's shoulders slouched.
Kovu followered her gaze to above. He knew what the Pride Landers and that thought of the dead. And that they were far above watching over them now. But Kovu hmself never knew what to make of it.
It was something that his mother never believed in. That much was true. She would give them a good cuff on the ears if she ever heard them speaking about it in the past. Saying that they should not follow some stupid Pride Lander tradition.
Not unless it was to speak with Scar, he thought with a roll of his eyes.
"Kopa...I considered him my best of friends." Kovu sighed shaking his head. "I never had a friend like him since." Yes he had his siblings and Zawadi but he was never as quite close to them as he thought he had been with Kopa or at least he was closer with his siblings when they still lived in the Pride Lands than they had become since moving into the Out Lands.
"He always liked to go and explore...he had so much spirit about him..." Kovu sighed and followered her gaze to the sky. "And Queen Zuri...she was like an aunt to me." He looked at Kiara who looked at him a bit in surprise. "She was always caring for us. She even taught us a few things we felt our mother wasn't...Mother never liked that." He frowned.
That memory triggered another memory of surprising doubt with his Mother. How when Vitani proposed the idea of where their Mother and the others had disappeared the night during the storm. They all knew how their mother had thought about the Queen. They could never understand why. Queen Zuri had always been so kind to them.
Treated them no differently then anybody else.
And he heard that it been the Queen who had conviced Simba in the end to allow them to stay in the Pride Lands when he had first taken the throne. He had wished she had been around that night they had been exiled. He knew that she would never have allowed it to happen. But then again they also would have had the truth on who really attacked her...
Was it true...had his mother had a change of heart and gone with others to help save the Queen against another unknown attacker or was it truly as they claimed and his mother...
What other threat would there have been against the royal family? Had there been others who held grudges? Like the hyenas?
Kovu sighed and shook his head.
Shaking the thoughts from his mind and he looked at Kiara to see that she was watching him with those wide beautiful blue eyes of hers. And he felt himself get lost in them for a moment before he cursed himself and tore his gaze away with a clear of his throat and began walking again causing Kiara to have to jump onto all four paws and hurry along after him.
Then Kiara asked him a question that had him tripping over his paws. "If my mother treated you like that and you liked her...why would you follow your mother all this time until now?" Kiara watched him. "I understand you said you left because you didn't want to no longer stay in the Out Lands...and you escaped your mother's ways...but do you believe her when she said she didn't kill my family?"
Kovu wanted to smack his face into the ground. What was with today and all these questions and not just from Kiara himself. But from him. First he started doubting many things and questioning them and now Kiara was pushing these same questions. What did the Princess suddenly learn how to read minds?
"How do you know she killed her?" Kovu turned toward Kiara. "How do you know your father knows the truth? What if there had been someone else that had attacked your mother and them that night? After all there was a threat against them Kopa said. He told us that was why they were out there being hidden..."
"Yeah we were being hidden from your Mother!" Kiara told him forcefully. "Because she was the threat!"
"How do you know!?" Kovu dmanded. "How do you know it was she and not someone else?" He turned fully to face her and advanced slowly causing her to back up from him.
"How could it been someone else?" Kiara asked again forcefully. "Your mother always held a grudge because my Father took the thrown from Scar. Even when it wasn't even he who killed Scar. It had been the hyenas who had turned on him! My Father gave Scar the chance to leave the Pride Lands alive!" Kiara firmly planted her paws against the ground refusing to let him back her up any further.
"But still she held a grudge! She hated my mother for no reason! My family for no reason! And for that she killed my mother in had madness!' Kiara felt the tears coming to her eyes. "Who else could it have been if not for her?" She pushed the question on him. "Who else would have had a grudge like her against them?"
Kovu had to pause his advancement as the question struck him. A question that he just asked himself no more than a few moments before. Was she reading his mind again?
"And what about Hawa?" Kovu decided to put the question out there. "A lioness who was in my pride. She was kind. Innocent. And Nala killed her!"
Kiara looked at him surprised. "No...Nala could never do that. She never would. I was told she was with me at Pride Rock. How could she have killed Hawa? She rescued me and then took me to Pride Rock."
Kovu had to rethink his question on that. But he had nothing else to go on. All he knew was Hawa had been in the cave when they had first fallen asleep and when they had woken up by the others. Hawa was nowhere in sight. And then they had been told that she had been killed by Nala when the King and them arrived and mistook Zira and them for the ones to have killed the members of the royal family.
There been so many grief from the others that they had believed them. Because why else would Hawa be dead?
But if they really had been behind the attack on the Queen that night. And a fight did break out between them and the rest of the Pride Landers afterwards. Maybe Hawa had died during the conflict. But again it was as mentions Nala had brought Kiara to Pride Rock that night. Kovu had remembered seeing them.
At the time he hadn't known who the cubs was of course. But he remembered...
He felt a headache coming on as all these doubts of things he had never allowed himself to think to heavily on in the past began to cloud his mind and judgement. Lowering his head he placed a paw on his head and rubbed it like that would cause the headache to dissapate but it did nothing but mess up his mane.
Kiara watched him as the different arrange of emotions flashed behind his eyes and across his face. Kiara had wondered for some time that his thoughts on this whole matter had been. Since he had told her that he had left the Outlands. The only reason he had given her before had been that he and the other young ones hadn't been wanting to no longer stay there and so had opted to leave and cross the desert.
But that had not been something that Kovu himself had wanted to do. So he had opted to go another route which had eventually ended with him coming to the far end of the Southern lands.
But they had never discussed matters of his mother or why they had been in the Outlands to begin with under the accustations that Zira and those of her pride had partook in the deaths of the Pride Lander royals. Which to Kiara knew to be the truth.
Her Father would never lie to her! None of her pride would lie to her about those sort of things...would they?
Now it was time for Kiara to have the doubt that crossed through her mind. But Kiara did not want believe that. She wanted to believe that Zira truly was the threat she had always been told about. But her mind went to Hawa...Kiara knew nothing about her. And she wondered if she truly was killed by someone of her pride during the fight that had taken place?
If that was the case...was it during self defense? Had the lioness attacked first and hense had to be killed because she was a threat like Zira? Like all the rest?
Kiara was not certain what to make of that nor did she think she could speak about it back at home. Not without mentioning where she had heard that accusation and that she been hanging around with the son of whom had killed her mother. Even if she considered Kovu completely innocent and not like his mother at all, not with his willingness to throw away her ways and leave the Outlands.
But why was he defending her now?
Was it just because she was his mother and felt the need to?
That had to be it. That's what she told herself.
For Kovu himself he was shaking his head repeatedly. Muttering beneath his breath so fast that Kiara had trouble picking up on what he was saying. While he himself was just trying to come to terms with everything that was going on inside his mind?
If he hadn't brought up Kopa earlier...would he be having all these doubts? Did he just need a catalyst to spark the doubt that might have been lingering for some time.
Something the young lion just wanted to be blind too all these years?
Because as a cub he had no choice but to go along with everything he was told?
Kovu sighed and turned away from Kiara. "I think you should head on home..."
"What?" Kiara stepped toward him but stopped when he told turned further away from her. Huffing she quickened her pace and got in front of him. "But I just got here!"
"I have a lot on my mind..." Kovu sighed turning his head away, Refusing to look at her. Something that hurt Kiara she would admit only to herself.
"I'm sorry!" The Princess blurted out. Causing confusion to wash over Kovu and forced him to look at her. "I'm sorry...I know we both were so young so we really only have the tales of our parents to speak of about what happened...I didn't want to fight with you."
Kovu stared at her. Slowly blinking his eyes. Did she suddenly admit that maybe she had some doubt about that night as well and what had gone down and what may and may not be the correct story? He watched her for a moment before he sighed and waved for her to keep following him as he walked.
Fighting back his own grin when he saw that infectious grin of hers spread across her face and again she fell in line with him.
"Let us not talk about it then." Kovu mentioned seeing her nod in agreement. "It is in the past...and like you said...I left my mother and her ways." He kept his gaze forward so he did not give his lie away. But the nod he saw her give and her smile out of the corner of her eyes he knew that she did not catch on. And still believed he was some rogue who had left the Outlands for good.
"But I would still like to know the stories you have about my mother...I like to hear her from your point of view." Kiara offered him a smile. She stopped them on a small hill where they could see for miles around. And laid herself down. Crossing her paws in front of her. Kovu thought about it for a moment then settled himself down on the ground beside her and nodded his head.
"I can do that..." He said as he looked off into the distance thinking about the distance and started to recall his memories that flowed from his mouth in stories that he hadn't talked aboout in some time but he felt like it was only yesterday.
"The sun is starting to get low. You should be heading back home." Kovu glanced at the Princess who was laying with her head on her paws beside him. A wistful look upon her face.
One that had been there for some time during all of the stories that Kovu had about her mother and brother that he could remember. Even Kovu had found himself losing track as he got lost in his memories of those better times.
Times that he missed more and more as he recalled his memories.
Then there was something else. It was like a weight that he hadn't even realized was there that had been lifted off his chest and mind. It been so long since he had spoken about the times he lived in the Pride Lands that he did not know how much weight they had left on him in just the fact of how much he kissed them.
As for Kiara, the princess felt like she knew her mother a bit more from the stories that Kovu could recall of her. She had shed a number of tears throughout a few of his stories. Much like she had with any story she heard from her father or pride over the years. Tears for a mother she would never get the chance to truly know in person.
A mother whose love she had never got to feel aside from a few day after her birth.
There was faintly a dream that she remembered or at least she thought it was a dream. How else would she have interacted with her mother? So yes it had to have been a dream. A dream she created in the need to feel that kind of motherly love or at least what she might think it would feel like.
There was also some jealousy that she felt. That Kiara did her best not to let show. That Kovu, the son of her mother's killer, got to know her the way that he had. Yes she agreed all they had to go by was the stories of who may or may not have killed her mother.
But Kiara had seen Zira and some of her madness that she had to believe in some way her family had been right in who they suspected had killed her mother and brothers and sister that night.
But like she and Kovu agreed neither of them had brought it up again the rest of that afternoon.
But yes there was some jealousy. Because he got to know her mother and that was something Kiara would give anything to be able to experience. Right now all she had to go by was the reassurance from her grandmother that one day in the future, when her time came to leave the Earth behind and her soul to transcend that she would meet her mother again in the place where all lions went when they passed from one realm to another.
Kiara did not know if she truly believed that...but she hung onto that hope. Because that was all she ever had when it came to perhaps one day truly being able to meet and be with her mother in some way.
Lifting her head Kiara was a bit surprised at how low the sun was in the sky. Hurrying to her paws she looked at Kovu who chuckled. "What's so funny? Do you want my father to come looking for me and find you in the process?"
With a snort and shake of his head, Kovu glanced up at her. "No." He told her. "But if you aren't careful you'll only trip over your own paws and go tumbling on down that hill." He glanced dowards to the slope of the hill they been laying on.
With a huff Kiara waved her paw to slap him on the head but nearly tripped when he dodged and pouted at his laughter. "Yeah that right there was your fault. If I tripped that is."
Kovu smirked and shrugged his shoulders while he climbed to his paws. Shaking some dust off himself he stretched his limbs. Grumbling when he felt them pop. He turned his head toward her. "None the less you should hurry along." He looked off into the distance.
He could not make out anyone that may be out looking for her. But he did not want to keep her out so long that someone might just do that and catch them together. It had also been a trying day or so that was what it felt like.
Kiara looked off the way he was looking and then glanced at him. "I know you keep refusing...but I wish you would come back to the Pride Lands with me." She looked at him with a eager expression like she always did when she was hoping he would change his mind.
"You know what they think of me...and what they would do if they saw me..." Kovu shook his head. But sitting there Kovu wasn't certain why he was suddenly wishing that he would take up her offer. Thinking it might not be as bad as he thought it out to be.
Maybe...maybe Simba would not punish him for the crimes of his mother...if she was actually behind all of this. Kovu sighed as those thoughts returned to his mind. He felt like he trapped himself in an endless loop. Because no matter how hard to tried to push these new doubts from his mind he felt them coming back to him.
But all the same...maybe he should take her up on his offer...maybe he could convince his siblings to join and give up this endless need to fulfill their mother's revenge. A revenge none of them should have been caught up in he thought. No matter what sort of revenge it was for, Scar or being cast out of the pride lands unfairly or not, or both.
He wondered if they would ever take up the offer anyways?
Surely like him they wondered if they should return home once they were out so far from the Out Lands and got to experience what life was like away from the barren land. There were days when Kovu did not even want to leave the Southern lands to return home to report to his Mother on the way things were going with gaining the trust of the Princess.
Made him question just how could he have possibly at one time gotten used to the barren land that had unfortunately become his home.
He shuddered at the idea of calling it home. It was no real home. But if it wasn't...then what was his home? He felt in a way quite like a rogue. For he felt he had no home if the Outlands was not real place to even consider a home at all. Made him cringe for the cub he had seen return with Zawadi.
What was she thinking? He thought.
But the cub from what he seen was being taken care of. Zawadi was making sure he never went hungry and the cub from what he heard was used to barren lands as all he had known before following his mother after Zawadi had been the desert. But all the same...
"I feel like you should trust me." Kiara looked at him. "I am certain I can get my Father to come around..."
"Maybe..."
Kiara's mouth hung up a bit in surprise when he cut her off. Her eyes wide. "What...really?"
Rolling his eyes, Kovu grunted. "Do not get your hopes up Kiara." He told her making the smile wash off her face as suddenly as it came on. "I don't mean for you to go running to him right now...however...maybe soon." He told her with a small smile.
"How soon?" Kiara pressed stepping closer to him. Her smile only widening by the minute. This was the answer she been waiting for from him. But it also surprised her now that she got it. While she would have liked a definite answer like a yes. A simple 'maybe' was better than the 'no's' he had been giving her for the last few months.
Kovu closed his eyes thinking on her question. Wondering if he was making a mistake in telling her maybe. But he was thinking there was no harm in it now. It wasn't like he was going to be able to hide out there forever.
Sooner or later he thought he was going to be discovered. And he thought it was better to be discovered through the word of mouth of the princess then to be caught alone where they may not take the time to listen to him. Then again Simba did not know what he looked like now?
The last time Kovu had seen the King face to face had been when he was a cub. With only a tuft of hair upon his head rather than his mane.
"Just soon." Kovu smirked at the look of frustration that came over the lioness's face.
"That's not an answer." Kiara insisted but Kovu shook his head.
"I'll let you know." Kovu grinned at her. Thinking of how he should go through with this, if he actually should. If he decided to join the Pride Lands. That meant he would officially foresake his family and pride. And he wondered if he could actually do that. And it meant foresaking his mother's plan and revenge...that he thought he had no issue with.
The only reason he had come up with this plan to get close to the princess had been so that his mother would not bite his tail off for failing to find new members to better expand their pride's numbers for the coming 'war'.
A war Kovu never really wanted a part of. But felt he was thrust into it and had no real choice in the matter. Because of his mother...but his mother was not here by his side at the moment to make his decisions for him. Nor could she strike against him if he abandoned her and her ideals.
He looked at Kiara and thought to his earlier inner conversations when he had been waiting for her to arrive that day to meet him. How he pushed away any concern of her lateness for the fact that she was nothing more than a mission to him...had he only been lying to himself?
Was she more than that?
Could it be that she might have actually become his friend. Like he had thought she might become when they had first met and played together when they were cubs?
Kovu sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his paw. "You should hurry along." Dropping his paw he got up on all four of his.
"But..."
"No buts." Kovu gave her a little shove with his paws.
Huffing Kiara pouted. While she was hoping for a real outright answer of how soon he wanted to meet with her father. She supposed it was still better than a no. But in a way it almost felt like one. It was like he only said it thinking it would not hurt her feelings this time around. Kiara was not so certain of that. But she had no choice but to accept it.
She would only have to hold onto the hope that this time things would turn around and he could come join her in the Pride Lands where she may spend more time with him and this time not in secret. And possibly get the chance to introduce him to her friends so that he may make more friends of his own.
And if Zira saw her son take the side of her enemy...Kiara wasn't certain how she would react. Anger perhaps. Lash out would be a likely scenario. Deep down Kiara was hoping the lioness might have a change of ways. But if she was truly the one behind the murder of her mother and that.
Then it did not matter if she thought the King was being lenient toward her offspring or not. Because her mother had done that before and it stil got her killed if Zira had been the mastermind behind that night.
Looking back off toward her home. Kiara looked toward Kovu and grinned. "I'll try and come by tomorrow...by then I better have an answer." She teased with a giggle and then surprised Kovu when she gave him a quick lick on the cheek and then took off on down the hill before he could do anything about it.
Not that he could. The young lion sat there with a dumbfounded face. His paw resting against the side of his face where she had licked. Part of him rubbed it in a disgruntled manner that he would allow a female to show such affection to him. The other side of him was blushing beneath his fur as he never had a young lioness place such affection on him.
Sitting there he simply watched her run off until she was nothing more than a speck in the distance. But still he kept watching until he could no longer make out that speck and the sun had fully set casting darkness over the lands with the only light being that of the full moon.
As he sat there watching her fade into the distance. His mind went to earlier that day again. When he had tried to convince everything he been feeling. His impatience in her being late to the fact that she was his mission and nothing more. That he felt nothing for her.
Something Kovu wasn't certain he could completely convince himself of that now.
His mind then traveled to the doubt he been feeling. Wondering if his mother and pride had been truthful about what had happened that night they were exiled? Did his siblings have any doubt? That he did not know. It was nothing they had discussed aside from the obvious when it came to the things their mother had told them.
And again they had been cubs...what choice did they have in whether or not they should believe their own mother or not.
Kovu sighed and laid down again on the ground. Covering his head with his paws. He hated this confliction. He wished he could go back to earlier that morning when all he had to worry about was going through with his Mother's mission. Where he told himself if he did that and they won, that life would get better?
But now he knew he was only fooling himself.
Only a fool would think they stood a chance against the Pride Landers. Even before they had made their alliance. Certainly him and Nuka were two grown male's against one like Simba. They may have stood a chance against him. But if they didn't...they it would only be that they would be marching to their deaths.
Something Kovu did not want.
He did not like the idea of someone dying in this fight to regain the Pride Lands. At least the inner side of him didn't. The one that Zawadi always thought was weak. And made him a weak choice for heir. And maybe it did. He thought. Well at least in his mother's eyes it would make him weak.
And maybe Zawadi...but could he really hold that against her?
She had been born in the Outlands. Aside from the trip outside it for training purposes as his mother had called it. She had never known anything else. She had been raised with his mother's hatred and schemes from the time she opened her eyes and was first able to walk and learn to fight.
It was all she ever knew. So could he truly blame her for the way her environment had shaped her? For Kovu he felt like that hatred and such had tried to take a hold of him and brainwash him too. But deep down he could remember and hold onto who he was as a cub and the teachings of another lioness who had often sometimes acted more like a mother toward him than his own had.
Kovu sighed.
He did not know the truth of that night.
And he wondered if he truly wanted to know the truth.
Would it be too much to know?
Was it better not too? And just move on with life? Make his own decisions for once?
Did he really have to take part in his mother's plans? He was no longer that little cub anymore who cringed away from her whenever her temper got the better of her. And yet he still feared her in a way...was it because he knew deep down despite being his mother she might punish him if she ever felt he would betray her or did?
Then there was the matter of his siblings and the pride. Did he actually want to leave them behind? He figured that was one of the reasons why the others had returned. Zawadi would never leave Kumai and the others behind. She cared for them too much. She may be cold hearted in some ways he thought but she still honestly cared for the pride.
He wondered if he could convince them to leave too?
To finally say no to his mother's plans?
Looking up at the sky and in the direction of pride rock which at the moment was but a distance large shadow on the horizon in the dark of night.
Laying there for a while more, Kovu pushed himself up onto his paws. Deciding that he should return to the Outlands to report to his mother. Deciding that he would spend the night there to consider what his next move should be. In a way Kovu felt he already knew...but felt the need to also think it over before he made a mistake that cost him maybe his life and the trust of his entire family and pride.
Without a backward glance Kovu began making his way toward the Outlands. Lost deep in his thought he almost did not realize that he had crossed into the Outlands and was nearly...home. The word did not seem right anymore than it had in the past. But much so more now than ever.
"There you are." Kovu lifted his head to see that Vitani had spotted him. What's more that was not all that he noticed. The pride had gathered around the entrance of a termite mound. A mount that he knew that Kumai and Zawadi often claimed as their own. And now Nuka seeing his brother had a tendency to stay there with Zawadi since their return.
If that wasn't what caught his attention it was the smiles on their face's and the excitement of the whispers but also the worry that he could see in some of their eyes and hear in some of their voices which made him wonder what exactly was going on. Glancing to the right however he noticed there was one face among the crowd that did not share any of the same feelings.
His Mother.
Who stood off the side with hidden anger in her eyes, and a deep sneer across her face that she would hide whenever someone looked her way but then it would appear again when they looked away. Her eyes were set fixed on something he could not see.
Something that was inside the den.
"What's going on?" The young lion asked as he approached the others who parted for him to make room to look on inside the den.
His breath caught in his throat however when he heard the familiar founds of a cubs mews. That did not belong to that of the new cub that Zawadi's new followers had brought along with them. But rather than of a newborn cub. Blinking his eyes Kovu walked slowly into the den staring at Zawadi who in her paws held a tiny gray and white marking cub.
The lioness whose eyes were normally hardened and impossible to read were softened as she gazed upon the bundle that she held. "What..." Kovu breathed.
Nuka who been admiring the cub himself glanced at his brother with a proud grin upon his face. "Come meet your niece." He smiled looking from his brother down to the cub that Zawadi held.
"Niece...how can this be?" Kovu looked at his brother who gave him an annoyed look.
"You should know by now how these things work little brother." Kovu blinked his eyes at how his brother addressed him. It been too long since he heard Nuka call him brother much less little brother and with any type of affection in his voice. If not ever.
Kovu frowned at him. "I know that Nuka...but how was she pregnant...I never suspected or...why didn't anyone know?" He glanced around at all the others who seemed to nod their heads but likely they had already been told.
Nuka sighed and looked at Zawadi and then down at his newborn daughter who was blindly sniffing the air at all the strange new scents that was filling her nose. "We wanted to keep it a secret."
"Why?"
"Because I feared she may miscarry." Nuka looked at his brother with a deep frown. "We had plenty of food out there but not there."
"And yet you brought a cub back with you." Kovu turned his head to where he could see the lionesses that Zawadi and his siblings had brought back with them stood. And there standing between the paws of his mother was young Badru.
"They did not force us to come." His mother Kalei spoke up for herself. Giving the young lion a look.
Kovu only grunted and looked back at his brother. Nuka sighed and shook his head. "Yes I understand your point. But as she said, we gave her the option she could have opted out but she didn't...but all the same...I didn't want her to miscarry and for the pride to get their hopes up much less worry." Nuka winced as he felt someone slap his head and looked toward Kumai who was frowning at him shaking her head.
"Too late to lecture you two now. All there is now is making sure the little one survives. And seeing as all of you did...I'm certain we can get this one to as well." Kumai looked down at her granddaugher. While not biological. Kumai still felt that pride swell inside her the same as it did whenever she looked upon Zawadi.
But she also felt worry. When Zawadi had gone into labour out of nowhere and had revealed the shocking truth of what she had been hiding all these weeks. Not that Kumai didn't have her doubts. It was apparent to everyone how close Nuka and Zawadi had become during their time away.
Something that both worried Kumai and made her happy. For it seemed Nuka had grown much in many ways during the time he was gone. But it worried her because of Zira. It was apparent the Outlander Queen did not approve. As to her Zawadi was nothing more than a pawn that she would one day use against Simba.
Something Kumai knew she had to do something about if she did not wish to see her daughter die one day. Because she knew if it came down to it. Whether they won against the Pride Landers or lost. Zira would see that Zawadi and every last bit of Simba was officially killed to make room for only her cubs to proceed and claim the throne.
And while Nuka seemed to better himself, there had been no answer to whether she would still use Kovu to claim the throne or an actual blood of Scar's like Nuka.
Now there was new worry where this cub was concerned. It was both the blood of Scar and Simba's bloodlines. Kumai did not know if that would protect the cub from Zira's wrath but she would see that the cub survived. Even if she had to hunt in lands she was not welcomed she would see that the cub survived.
And she was not the only one whose thoughts lingered on that.
Kovu who stood there eyeing his niece. He felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered his entire thoughts of that day and what he had just spoke to Kiara about. Could he leave now? He thought. Could he convince his brother it was not safe and follow the plan he had in his mind that could free them of the revenge path their mother had set them upon?
For Kovu did not know if he could leave...not with the life of this cub hanging in the balance...not with the way he could see the anger that lingered in his mother's eyes as she looked upon the cub. A anger he could not understand.
A anger he could not understand...why would she hate a cub? One of her own blood? Was there something he was missing?
Kovu could not figure that out...
Nor could he no longer answer his question he been asking himself all the way home...
Could he leave?
The ending of this I had to rewrite a few times as each idea getting getting writers block to.
