Here's chapter twenty two and please review. Reminder that I don't own Lion King, Disney does.
I would like to thank BlackLouie, balto90, Amber, Teddi8347, Radiant Celestial Aura, LionFlower, CSIMentalistTLK lover, gary2000, Fluffy Hug, Aggregate Dragon and Raina for reviewing.
Days turned into weeks and soon weeks turned into months. During that time, everyone recovered both mentally and physically.
Kiara was now back to normal along with Simba. Both of them missed Nala but they took comfort in knowing that she was always watching over them. Kiara never forgot the message her mother had given her and she could always feel Nala's presence by her when she needed it the most. Nala had never really left them. Even in death, she was always there for them.
The Pridelands had healed as well. It was now green and lush again and it was teeming with animals and wildlife. For those who had been born during Scar's reign, it was shocking.
Tanabi and Kiara were still close. To Kiara, Tanabi hadn't replaced Kopa but he no felt like more of a brother than Kopa. Kiara still missed Kopa a lot but she just hoped that her brother was happy wherever he was and she always tried to remember the good things about Kopa. Not the bad ones.
Meanwhile in the Outlands, Nuka's Pride was now getting stronger and stronger. The males trained everyday while the lionesses spent their day hunting.
To Kopa, it was brutal. Every day they would train nonstop in the scorching sun and they barely had anytime to drink water if they could find any.
During the night, Kopa would mourn by himself silently. He would think about his mother a lot and how disappointed she would be with him. Simba had been right; he hadn't honored his mother's death properly. At other times, he would mourn for the family he had thrown away. He was angry at Simba for taking Scar's throne and angry at Kiara for accepting him so fast. Everyone had moved on so quickly. His mother hadn't even had a second thought about leaving Scar and neither had Kiara. The Pride was thrilled to have him gone.
Despite Kopa's anger at Scar for killing Nala, he couldn't help but miss him as his father. Scar had been the one there for him when he needed it and to Kopa, he was his father no matter what he had done. Only Nuka's Pride understood him which was why he had chosen to stay with them. They understood him where no one in the Pridelands, not even his mother or sister had.
During the time that they had been in the Outlands, he and Eisha had grown quite close. To Kopa, Eisha had replaced Kiara completely. Of course he had always seen Eisha as his sister, but never as the sister that Kiara was to him during Scar's reign. But now, he felt bond that he had felt towards Kiara to Eisha instead and he was happy with that. Eisha understood him better than Kiara did. The two of them hunted together and spent the little free time they had together. During the night, Eisha would sleep next to him, giving him warmth against the freezing night.
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Years passed and the adolescents of Priderock grew into young lionesses and lions. Every time that Simba looked at Kiara, he saw Nala shining from her although his mother and most of the rest of the Pride insisted that Kiara took after him.
The young lions and lionesses were still learning and training how to hunt. At first Simba had refused to let Kiara go, worried that she might get hurt. It had been argument with Simba against Runju, Sarafina, Sarabi, Tojo, Alex, Shinda and Shani to let Kiara go. In the end, Simba had reluctantly agreed.
Since her mother was gone, many lionesses were willing to step forward and help Kiara learn how to hunt. Kiara usually went with either of her grandmothers or aunts but she often went with her mother and father's friends as well. Kula, Tama, Shari and the others were more than happy to help her learn hunting.
One day Kiara stepped up Priderock to see her father leaving the den. Kiara went up to Simba and gave him a nuzzle that Simba returned.
"Where have you been all day?" Simba asked, smiling when he saw Kiara.
"I was with Kovu and Jasiri." Kiara replied. "Are you done everything for now?"
"Yes I am." Simba nodded. "I'm going to the resting place with Amri and Moraan now, alright? Be careful during hunting practice."
"I know I will." Kiara nodded. Simba gave her another nuzzle before going to find his friends. Kiara went to the den to wait for the lionesses to start training.
"Kiara," Sarafina walked up to her. "We're doing individual today. I'll go with you."
"Alright Grandma." Kiara said. She wanted to learn from Sarafina since that's who Nala learned from. She had been told that her mother had exceeded Sarafina's skill and seemed to have been born with it and Kiara wanted to be just like her mother.
As Sarafina and Kiara went down to the hunting grounds, Kiara began searching out a herd that she could hunt. Sarafina watched her granddaughter learn the skills and tactics she needed to someday be a wonderful hunter. Her heart ached knowing that Nala would never be able to teach her own daughter how to hunt. It was too cruel to even think about it. This should have been time between Nala and Kiara.
"Nala, you would have been so proud of her." Sarafina thought. "She truly is your daughter."
A few days later, Kiara was lounging around with Danyssa and Jasiri when she saw Shinda motioning to her to come. Kiara got up.
"Where're you going?" Jasiri asked, cracking her eyes open.
"To my aunt, she's calling me. I'll be right back." Kiara said and walked over to Shinda.
"Auntie, what's wrong?" Kiara asked.
"Come with me," Shinda said. "You and I have to talk."
"About what?" Kiara asked as they made their way down Priderock.
"Kiara," Shinda began. "You know that you're the future Queen of Priderock, right?"
"Yes," Kiara said, slowly. "Why do I have to be reminded of that?"
"And every Queen needs a King." Shinda stated.
"Wait, are you trying to get me married now?!" Kiara yelped.
"No," Shinda chuckled. "For the sake of the spirits above Kiara, calm down!"
"So what're you trying to tell me?" Kiara asked,
"Whoever is going to be your mate is the next King. And being King is huge responsibility, something that we can't just handover when you get married. Therefore, your father and the rest of us intended you to a male that we know that will be a good King. However we agreed that if you don't like it, we would let you marry who you want."
"Who did you choose?" Kiara asked.
"Kovu," Shinda replied.
"What?" Kiara asked. "Auntie, that isn't right. We're…we're…just friends." However, she knew it wasn't true. She could feel something towards Kovu that she couldn't feel towards the others. She didn't know what it was but it definitely wasn't love.
"Just give this a try okay?" Shinda asked. "Chumvi and Kula took Kovu aside today to talk to him. He already knows."
"So that's why he wasn't around today." Kiara muttered under her breath. Then she looked at her aunt and nodded. "Alright, I will."
Shinda smiled and embraced her niece before Kiara headed back to join Danyssa and Jasiri.
"Anything wrong?" Danyssa asked.
Kiara looked at them. "I just found out that I'm intended to Kovu as my future mate."
"What?!" Jasiri cried, raising her head. "You're going to be my brother's future mate?"
"I just found out," Kiara muttered.
"That's great!" Danyssa exclaimed. "You two are perfect for each other."
"She's right!" Jasiri grinned. "This is perfect."
"But…I'm not sure if I love him or not." Kiara murmured. "If I don't want this, they're willing to change the arrangement but I have to give him a chance."
"Give it a try." Jasiri said nudging her. "You two have been really good friends since you've known him! Our parents knew each other since they were young."
"Yeah," Kiara murmured. Her mother had known Kovu since he had been born. From what she knew, Nala had been there when Kula had given birth to Jasiri and Kovu. What would Nala say if she was here?
"Kiara." Jasiri said. Kiara looked up and saw Danyssa and Jasiri looking at her with sympathy.
"Sorry I didn't mean to bring up your mother and everything. I mean-" Jasiri was cut off.
"No its fine." Kiara said. "I'm just wondering what Mom would have said if she was here."
"She would have told you to give Kovu a chance. Nala was always the kind one, giving everyone a chance." Danyssa said.
"Yeah, that's what she would have said." Kiara said. "I'm going to go find Kovu right now."
Danyssa and Jasiri smiled as they watched Kiara head off to find Kovu.
Kiara searched around until she saw Kovu heading back from the patrol.
"Kovu!" Kiara called, trotting over to him.
Kovu turned around and cracked a smile when he saw her. "Hey."
"Did your parents tell you?" Kiara asked.
"Yeah they did." Kovu said. "Kiara, I don't know what you think of this but I'm…I'm willing...and I want to give this a try. I'm not sure about you, but I am."
"I know," Kiara said, leaning in and giving him a nuzzle. "I want to give it a chance too."
Kovu grinned at her. "Well then, how about I start off by taking my future mate to the Waterhole to spend some time with me?
"I'd love that." Kiara smiled and the two of them headed off to the Waterhole.
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A few days later, Kiara was looking for Kovu. She had enjoyed her time with him for the past few days and she knew that he had as well.
Knowing that he had to do the patrol during this time of the day, Kiara headed towards the Eastern border. At the border she looked around but she couldn't find him. Kiara turned to go back, but froze when she saw a dart of brown fur flash by.
"Kovu?" Kiara called. She hurried after the figure and realized it was a lioness heading towards the Outland.
"Rogue!" Kiara hissed, running after her to question her as to why she was in the Pridelands.
With a growl, Kiara pounced on the lioness bringing it down. The lioness growled and tried to fight back but Kiara had the advantage and she pinned her down. Kiara looked down at the lioness and gasped as she saw who it was.
"Eisha?!" Kiara gasped.
"Kiara," Eisha growled, and shoved her off.
"What're you doing here?" Kiara asked. The lioness was Eisha. It had been years but Kiara would never forget the lioness that she had thought to be her sister this whole time. And half of her still accepted Eisha as her sister. She had never really done anything wrong.
"I was going to take that," Eisha said, motioning towards the hare she had dropped. "But after you came…"
"I thought you and the rest of your Pride left for new territory to take over." Kiara said.
"We did," Eisha said. "We found good territory and ruled it for years but then a ban of males came and took it over. We weren't strong enough to keep it so we were forced back. We're going to find more land and we happened to pass by the Pridelands." It was a complete lie but Eisha knew that she couldn't even think of telling Kiara.
"How's Kopa?" Kiara asked, eager to find out about her brother.
"He's doing fine." Eisha said. "No rush to see you of course."
Kiara narrowed her eyes. "You may think that he is your brother but in the end, I am his one true sister. Not you!"
Eisha growled and got in an attack position. "Well Princess, you never grew out of that blabbering mouth of yours, did you?"
Kiara growled and got ready to pounce on her when she heard a cry. "Eisha!"
Kiara turned to see a male with golden brown fur and a brown mane running to her. For a second she thought it was Akila, but when she looked again, she realized the male had amber red eyes.
Kopa!
"Kopa!" Kiara cried. "Is that really you?"
Kopa ignored Kiara and then turned to Eisha. "You okay?" He helped her up and gave her a nuzzle.
"I'm fine." Eisha said. "You and I both know that I can fight better than her."
Kiara ignored Eisha then turned back to Kopa. "Is that really you?"
"It is," Kopa grunted.
"Kopa, you have to come back to Priderock. Just visit for a day. Daddy and the others are going to be so glad to see you!" Kiara exclaimed.
Kopa felt a tiny temptation in him, to go but he pushed it away.
"I don't have a father or a family there." Kopa growled. "My family is with Scar's Pride."
"How can you say that?" Kiara asked. "He murdered our mother! Nala died to give us our best chance at living and this is how you repay her?"
Eisha growled at Kiara. "Don't guilt trick my brother!''
Kiara glared at her. ''What're you going to do to stop me? And your brother? He's my brother!''
''I will rip you into pieces.'' Eisha growled.
''She really means it.'' Kopa warned.
''And you would let her?'' Kiara gasped, looking at her brother in disbelief. ''What happened to you?''
Kopa ignored her. ''Eisha, let's go.'' Eisha gave Kiara another snarl before turning and leaving with Kopa. Kiara watched them go, still in disbelief about her brother.
''Kiara!'' Came a voice. It was Kovu.
''What're you doing here?'' Kovu asked. ''You're beyond the boundaries of the Pridelands.''
''I was looking for you,'' Kiara began. ''But I ran into Eisha and Kopa.''
''What?'' Kovu asked. ''Were they just passing by?''
''Yeah,'' Kiara sighed. ''I tried getting Kopa to come visit but he won't. He defended Eisha against me. He doesn't see me as his sister anymore!'' She held back a sob as Kovu pulled her in closer.
''Hey,'' Kovu said, trying not to show the grief in his eyes as he realized what one of his best friends had turned into. ''Don't think about him anymore. You have more important lions and things in your life than him. He may have been your brother, but if he doesn't accept you, there's no point in thinking of him.'' He nuzzled her cheek with his nose.
''I guess you're right.'' Kiara sighed.
''Come on,'' Kovu said. ''Let's go back home. Your father is worried.'' Kiara nodded and the two lions began making their way back to Priderock.
Hope you enjoyed and please review. Sorry if there isn't much action in this, but there will be in the chapters to come. Well so Kiara and Kovu are getting along well with their relationship. Kopa has changed hugely and cares for Eisha more than Kiara. He doesn't see Kiara as his sister anymore. What's going to happen next? Stay tuned to find out!