Chapter VII
The midday sun escaped through the clouds and enlightened the drizzly pridelands. The lands were cold and wet, having minimal sunlight from the last week. However damp or gloomy it was, for some reason, the fog and mist that loomed over strangely calmed the lands, having no problems or troubles for a while. There was just something that had created a sense of peace throughout.
Atop the magnificent Pride Rock sat two lovers, deep in mindless conversation. The golden lioness was resting on her side, leaning against a muscular black lion. Her underbelly was larger than it had been before. Her brown eyes flickered sleepily before turning her head up to her mate.
"How are we gonna tell them?" Kiara sighed. "What do you think mother's gonna say?"
"Why don't we just be honest?" Kovu replied sternly. "Just tell them the truth?''
"Oh okay, 'hey mom, looking good today. Oh by the way I'm giving birth to another heir!'"
"Well...sugar coat it a little..."
"I know how father's gonna react. He'll be like 'you know your gonna have to choose one of them to be royalty?'"
"Well...we won't. Nira's older, so he will be king. He's nearly ready for it now anyway, so it'll definitely be Nira."
"I just feel sorry for this cub. Maybe we shouldn't have had another..."
"I thought you said you wanted another one?"
Kiara sighed and licked the side of his muzzle.
"Well, yeah but, don't you think it's gonna be neglected a little? I mean you're gonna be up to your whiskers in work, and I've got to learn to hunt..."
"You know it really should have been natural insti-"
"I know!" Kiara interrupted. "It's harder than it looks, okay?"
Yeah, whatever... Kovu smugly chuckled to himself.
He didn't reply, instead remained silent and enjoyed the late afternoon sun draining through the clouds and reflecting off of the lands. Kiara, without realising, nuzzled into Kovu's forepaws and continued to decide on how she was going to tell her mother the news. They enjoyed relaxing moments like this, it relieved the stressors and duties that they were picking up in so little time.
Another hour slipped by unnoticed, unaware to Kovu and Kiara that they were going to have to announce the news today, one way or another. Kiara decided it was time to tell the truth. She struggled up and groaned loudly in a sleepy yawn and proceeded downwards. As Kiara stepped down the unstable ramp, Simba and Nala prevented her from going any further. Both with warm but stern smiles on their faces, Kiara returned with a weak smile.
"Honey," Nala started. "We need to talk to you about something...something important."
"Shoot." Kiara replied.
"Alone." Simba added to which Kiar gulped to. The older lions led their daughter inside the cavern, where they sat her down and sighed together.
"Recently, we noticed a gain around...your underbelly."
Kiara's smile wiped, replaced with a semi open jaw.
"Yes..." She mumbled. Her mind only replayed the same word over and over again:
Fuck.
"
Well, we just think it's best if...if you were to..."
"Lose weight." Simba cut across. Kiara's jaw dropped fully, shocked that her parents assumption was she was overweight. Kovu had stepped down from the upper summit and was standing at the entrance, sniggering uncontrollably.
"You think I'm fat?" Kiara bellowed. "That's what you immediately assume?"
"Well, what else could it be?" Simba replied.
"What do you think?"
"The only other thing it could be," Nala replied. "Is if you were pregnant again. We just thought that..."
Kiara threw the dirtiest look at her parents she could. Kovu couldn't help but explode with laughter. He rolled around outside, his laughters echoed through the cavern.
"You actual fuckwits!" Kiara retorted. "Of course I'm fucking pregnant again!"
"What?" Simba bellowed, which triggered Kovu's laughter's to come to an abrupt end.
"Why are you bothered father? It's my decision! And why are you so surprised anyway? You had two!"
"Alright!" Simba silenced his daughter, sweeping his paw in a downward motion. He exhaled. "It's-it's just my concern for you, that's all."
"I'd know if it was concern; that was not. When you're concerned, you're more gentle. Jeez, why are you angry? I thought you'd be happy your getting another grand kid. Isn't that what most parents want anyway?"
"Yeah well, were not most parents are we?"
"Simba shut it!" Nala hissed quietly before turning to her daughter. "I'm proud of you Kiara. Just be careful when raising the next one, okay?"
Kiara sprung up, absolutely insulted by what her mother had just uttered.
"What do you mean by that, mother?" Kiara roared.
"I wasn't insulting your parenting skills..." Nala corrected.
"...yes you were! You're suggesting there's something wrong with Nira. Nothing's wrong with my son! He's just...he's just not as strong as his father that's all!"
Kovu stepped into the cavern to help defending his son from being called a weakling. It was true, Nira wasn't the strongest or most biggest of lions, but he sure did eat like one. However, no matter how much weight he did put on, he still remained a scrawny, underweight teenage lion.
Nira and Shemba, having just returned from an eating session, heard the commotion and snuck up the ramp, hiding behind the sides of the entrance to listen in. Their ears pricked up at the muffled voices and occasional mention of their names.. By now Nira's mane had begun to develop. His tuft on his head had increased in diameter and had started to sway to the right. His mane had also spawned down to the base of his neck, where it scruffily sat. Shemba had begun to grow, however she was short for her age. Her fur had become dimmer however, possibly even greying early.
"Exactly. There's nothing wrong with my son. You're just judging him!" Kovu defended. He walked in on over and sat next to his mate. After he stroked her foreleg Kiara slowly fell back down to the floor.
"Maybe just...give him a little extra training..." Simba suggested.
"He's coming along fine with his training!" Kiara screeched. "There's nothing wrong with how he's being trained. In fact he actually corrected Kovu last week!"
"Nothing wrong with a little improvement.'"
"Dad, Mom! You're being so...so...oh my god! Mom, stop telling me were bad parents. Dad, stop saying my son's a weakling!"
"Gramps just called you weak!" Shemba whispered to Nira. Her ear still pricked up. "Cut – throat..."
"I heard him." Nira sighed. "I'm not that bad."
"To be fair Nira, you didn't do well at all at..."
"A hunt? Yeah, only because I was distracted Shemba." He narrowed her eyes onto her.
"Oh I'm sorry! I honestly thought that elephant was gonna eat you!"
"And you were so convinced that you told it to find something skinnier to eat to drop the pounds, where it then nearly did crush me!"
"Look it weren't my fault..."
"Obviously..."
"Look don't be so sarcastic!"
"What are you my mother?"
"Oh obviously..."
Nira smirked.
"Oh well, gramps thinks I'm weak; I say he's old!"
"Nira!" Shemba giggled. "You can't say that."
"I can if I want to! He's old and he stinks like a warthog arse!"
"I'll try to take that as a compliment!" Simba's voice thundered. The sudden shock of the strong voice startled the young lions as they poked their heads round while trembling at the older lion's voice and peered in. Kiara had her face in her paw, gazing through the gaps in her pawfingers shaking her head at the stupidity of the younger lions. Kovu stood, trying to retain his laughter and stepped over to his son. Kovu still towered over Nira.
"When you wanna talk about someone," Kovu chuckled. "Move away from the gaping hole where your voices echo."
"When you wanna talk about someone," Nira turned to Simba, offended. "Make sure their not behind you. I'm doing fine with my training gramps! It's not like you're helping either!"
Kiara paw palmed. That was an idiotic move.
"Alright, if you are so sure then I'll give you...let's say five questions. Wanna step in for a sec?"
Nira's weak heart dropped. "Well...not really."
"I'm not going to bite you Nira."
"...unless you want him to." Shemba whispered. Nira attempted to restrain his laughter and looked at his grandfather's blank expression.
"Just come here."
Nira gulped, hard and stepped in, sitting next to his mother out of fright. Shemba walked into the cave but decided not to sit down, instead stood to the side and watched.
"G-go for it." Nira stammered.
"What's the eight then Nira?" Simba questioned, keeping his eyes locked on the young lion.
"Th-the eight?"
"Yep. The eight."
"It's...It's something to do with...numbers?"
"Far from it."
"Well, errm-it's..its..."
In order to prevent his son from embarrassing himself, Kovu began to help over Simba and Nala's shoulders. He began prancing around, acting out different types of punishment. At one point he was sweeping a claw across his own neck, and at the next he was pretending to kick something. Nira couldn't help but snigger, to which Simba raised his eyebrow. Simba's head spun round only to find Kovu whistling un-tunefully while kicking his paw about in the dust remnants. When Simba turned back round he began to act out punishments again.
"It's—It's got...something to do with p-pun-punishments?"
"Yeah. But what?"
"Well...one of the eight...they like...they..."
Nira was immediately interrupted by an ear shattering scream from his mother. He sprung to his paws in surprise and turned round.
"Oh no..." Kiara exclaimed. "Not again..."
"What is it?" Simba turned to his daughter after a major shock.
"You can't guess?"
"Looks like the cub's here earlier than expected." Kovu concluded.
"Wait, cub? What cub?" Nira asked in confusion.
"...we forgot to tell you didn't we?"
"No shi-"
"You're going to have a sibling."
Nira's expression lit up. For an inexplicable reason, he had wanted a little brother or sister all his life, but it was wiped when Kiara screeched once more.
"Nira, Shemba, get out..." Kiara instructed.
"Why?"
"Trust me son, you don't want to see this." Kovu reassured. Shemba pulled a disgusted look to her muzzle and the young lions proceeded out. He was right, this was something they didn't want to see at a young age...
Kiara lay on her side, exhausted after her second cub-birth. She panted heavily with her eyes closed, sweat slowly dribbling off of her golden fur coat. The wise Shaman stood next to her, holding a small confused bundle of cub in his monkey hands that was mewing and beaconing its mother. Rafiki chuckled and handed the cub to Kiara.
"How the hell did you live through that again?" Kovu chuckled innocently, not quite understanding the pain. He stood next to Kiara, relieved she had made it through. Rafiki bent down and began to check Kiara's underbelly was all okay.
"I don't know Kovu..." Kiara replied irritably. Her words were vicious, she was tired.
"Jeez you weren't this bad when Nira was born..." Kovu whispered to himself quietly.
"Kovu, if you don't shut up I'll compare two pains by kicking you in your-"
"You don' 'ave time to rest." Rafiki interrupted. "De other one's on de way."
Kiara's eyes opened and her head shot up. She was hoping that it was a sick joke the Shaman was sharing.
"What?" She exclaimed.
"I can feel a second heartbeat, prepare yourself!"
Oh crap...
"
Nira, you know what to do." Kovu instructed. Nira nodded back at his father and led Shemba out. Before he left he sprinted back and prodded his father's underbelly lightly.
"This is the last one, right?" He asked. "I mean no more are coming out of there...right?"
Kovu chuckled.
"Just get out. I'll let you know when she's finished."
As they did before, Nira and Shemba plodded and sat at the tip of the lower summit. They could hear the painful shrieks and cries from Kiara interrupting their meaningless conversation every few minutes. Nira was overly excited to see what his two new siblings looked like however he was still insulted by what his grandfather had called him; weak. He was going to let it slide however, he didn't want to hold another grudge against anotherfamily member.
The two young lions could still hear the loud screams from Kiara, muffled voices and at one point a very loud 'Kovu, shut the fuck up!' It had made Nira laugh to hear his mother swear however his chuckles were only brief.
"So," Shemba sighed. "Where d'you suppose Kamba is then?"
"Hopefully fallen off of a cliff." Nira chuckled to himself, causing Shemba to swat him. He never forgave Kamba for his smug and horrid ways towards Nira when they were cubs, mostly because it was the same routine of hatred every single waking moment of the day.
"Look I know he was a little jerk..."
"Massive jerk!"
"Alright...I know he was a massive jerk but come on! We're all gonna be grown up soon just forgive and forget."
Kiara screeched loudly once more. Their attention turned briefly to it, but they returned to their conversation.
"I don't wanna forget. He was obviously trying to hurt me by calling me weak and squaring up to me. Why should I forgive him?"
Shemba placed her soft paw atop Nira's and stroked it gently with a paw finger. Nira's head shot down, staring at Shemba's paw atop his wondering what the reason was.
"Look Nira, just remember a few things; he watched mom and dad die, then got hit by lightning. You need to sympathise with him just a little."
"...why did you put your paw there?"
"What?"
"Why are you holding my paw?"
"Oh! well, I felt it was appropriate. Why...don't...don't you want it there?"
"Well I mean I never said I minded..."
Nira's head lifted until his eyes met with the glistening eyes of Shemba. On their muzzles, very weak and pitiful attempts at smiles twitched as they gazed into each other's eyes. It was in that split second that Shemba was holding Nira's paw that a strange vibe surrounded the lions. The world seemed to have disappeared around them, unable to hear Kiara's final painful screams. After a few minutes of silence, unable to stop looking at each other, Kovu happily launched himself out of the cave to see the two younger lions holding paws.
"Err...guys?" He said. "Wha-what are you doing?"
Shemba and Nira, upon hearing Kovu's voice breaking the silence, sprung to their paws and flipped round to see him.
"Nothing!" Nira spluttered. "We're just...talking is all."'
"But you were silent..."
"We were talking okay dad?"
"Okay...it doesn't matter anyway. Come and see your new brother and sister."
"Wh-what? I've-I've got...both?"
Kovu nodded his head ecstatically.
Without hesitation the three lions shot into the cavern. When they skidded to an abrupt halt, almost tripping as they did, a few lionesses moved over, where two cubs came into view. There, sat in Kiara's paws before them, was a tiny golden cub who had black pawfingers as if they had been dipped in paint. The cub had a black tuft of fur on his head where his mane would grow and already on his front foreleg knees had tufts. His eyes were a strong green precisely like his father and were very adventurous.
The female cub was a strong chocolate brown. Her eyes were a much softer green to her brothers and were almost blue. The two cubs resembled not their parents but more to their ancestors. The male replicated his great-great grandfather Ahadi where the female replicated her great-great grandmother Uru. The resemblance was astounding.
Nira cautiously walked over to the two cubs, bending down and sniffing them as he did. He smiled at his two siblings and prodded them lightly. He stepped back and gently nuzzled his exhausted mother in congratulations.
"Names!" Rafiki suddenly shrieked. "Names you must have names!"
"Calm down Rafiki," Kovu replied calmly. "We don't have names yet."
"You didn' think about de names?"
"No."
"I'll be back."
Rafiki then skipped happily out of the cavern. Kovu raised his eyebrow and turned to Kiara.
"I'll never understand that weirdo.''
Kiara chuckled and nuzzled her two newborn's underbellies. Shemba sat next to Nira and sighed, suddenly feeling strange after the moment outside. The fact that Nira and Shemba had already reached teen – hood freaked both of the lions out.
"Which one's which?" Shemba whispered.
"I haven't got a clue." Nira whispered back.
"Come on then guys, name decision time." Kiara instructed.
Nira bent down and whispered in Shemba's ear.
"Hasira." He chuckled. Shemba sniggered, knowing the real meaning of that name.
"You have something?" Kiara interrupted their laughs. They stopped and swivelled their heads around.
"Well, I was only joking, it's not really a name." Nira reassured Kiara.
'I wanna hear it.' Kiara said sternly.
"Well, it was...Hasira."
"...you know son, that's not a bad name." Kovu replied.
"Dad, it means anger, you know that right?"
"Still, it's a good name."
Kiara sighed and licked the golden cub, just to confirm its name. "The boy's Hasira then." Kiara announced. Nira smiled proudly, having named his younger brother. The lions remained silent for a few minutes deciding on another name. Nothing. When none arose Kiara finally turned to Kovu.
"What was your mother's name?"
Kovu flipped his head round, then went blank.
"My mom's name? Well...err, it was..."
"You don't know you're own mother's name?" Nira asked, quite shocked. Kovu's head swivelled around once more, suddenly realising he never told his son the truth about his mother. He walked up to his son and moved in to whisper in his ear.
"I never knew my mother." Kovu whispered. "She was killed when I was born."
Nira said nothing; there was nothing he could say. After Kovu padded back up to Kiara, nuzzled her softly and briefly he snapped his head up in realisation.
"It was Jasiri!"
"Jasiri, what do you think?"
"I like it."
Kiara sighed and held her new cubs tighter. Kovu slumped down next to her, placing her head on his shoulder. Simba and Nala stepped over having been unable to watch their daughter in pain a second time. As they stepped over they gazed down at their two new grandchildren. Simba proceeded to walk up to them but was stopped by Nala.
"Leave them to rest." Nala whispered to Simba. "They need it."
Simba nodded understandingly and alongside Nala proceeded out. Kiara and Kovu remained together where Kiara slowly slid off of Kovu's shoulder and snuggled with her cubs. Without realising she slipped into a slumber alongside her new cubs: Hasira and Jasiri. Kovu chuckled and snuggled up with what he thought was a sight of beauty where he too fell into slumber. Nira smiled; he had a full family.
The other young lion Kamba was sat residing atop Pride Rock having found himself uninterested in becoming a pride lander. Being part of the family was something he did not want to do. It was too much of a painful reminder as to what happened to his own.
He lay spread out, snoozing while the chilled drizzle jumped and danced on and off of his well building body. His charcol fur had become a lot darker and he had a very large and bushy mane that would flow in even the lightest of winds. Due to his sudden lack of interest in the Pridelanders his older sister Shemba had growing concerns for him. It was not like him to become distant. Her care for her younger brother was far stronger for the care for most of the pridelanders. Except of course, for Nira.
()0()0()
Once they had finished congratulating the new parents Nira and Shemba stepped outside to enjoy what was left of the day. As they were outside Shemba noticed her younger brother slumped atop Pride Rock. Concerned, she began to walk up the crumbling ramp to check on her younger brother but Nira was quick to stop her.
"Where you going?" Nira questioned.
"I need to check on my brother. He's still my family..."
"Yeah but..."
"Don't be so selfish before you say it Nira! I'm going to check on him!"
Nira grunted in defeat and sat at the cavern entrance to await the return of his friend. Shemba continued up the crumbling ramp and found her brother snoozing. She sat beside him, watched his belly slowly move in and out before prodding him lightly. The black lion was startled, shooting his eyes open and quickly exhaling before looking up at his sister smiling before him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kamba exhaled.
"I'm only worried for you." Shemba replied.
"Look, Shemba, we've been through this conversation a thousand times; I am a big lion now! I can look after myself!"
"It's only my concern..."
"It's okay. I don't need your concern. Just leave me to sleep."
"Kamba I know that..."
"You don't know anything!" Kamba bellowed. "You don't know anything about how I feel! You never have and you never will!"
"I think our thoughts are generally the same..."
"Trust me, they're not. Just leave me alone, please."
"Kamba...I'm your older sister for crying out loud! I'm just trying to help you!"
"I don't want your damn help! Look as I just said I'm a big lion now."
"That doesn't mean I can't help you, Kamba."
"Go away. Please."
Kamba lied back down to continue his snooze. Shemba, unable to get her younger brother to accept her help, shrugged her shoulders, nuzzled the limp lion's mane lightly and proceeded to leave.
"I understand how you feel. Just remember mom and dad watch over us, everyday. And they're proud of you even if others aren't."
"But do you really believe that Shemba?" He sat back up, throat tightening. "Do you believe they could be watching and be proud?"
Shemba sighed.
"Yes. Yes I do. And you're going to have to believe it too." She stepped back off of Priderock where she enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with Nira. Kamba sighed and flopped back down staring into the pridelands.
"Mother, Father, I...I miss you."
NAME MEANINGS:
Hasira = Hatred/anger/envy
Jasiri = Courage
Reviewing would help ;) especially you readers who read the first draft, tut tut, shame on you xD (i kid)
