Sorry this took so long. I'm going to pick up the pace, I promise. Because this appears to be my most popular story out of all at the moment (and that makes me happy, of course!).

Enjoy!

Chapter 5

Kiara made her way back to Pride Rock with the rest of the lionesses, glumly helping Sarabi and Sarafina carry the carcass of an antelope. This'd be enough to feed the pride. That is...if the new members didn't hog it all. That was what Kiara expected, and especially from Kovu.

She breathed out wearily once they finally dropped the body, and Kiara glanced up with cloudy reddish-brown eyes to see Nala walking over. There was still sympathy mixed with much sadness within the sandy colored lioness's gaze.

"How was the hunt?" She murmured.

"Fine." Kiara replied absently, casting odd looks over her mother's shoulder.

"Kovu, Zira, and the rest of those brutes are inside right now." Nala assured her daughter, her voice bitter and rough.

"Oh," Kiara shrugged, her head lowering.

"Kiara," Nala brushed her muzzle along the golden-brown lioness's shoulder. "what is it with you and Kovu at the moment?"

Kiara blinked at her with faint surprise. Sarabi, Sarafina, and the rest of the lionesses cleared off to let the queen and princess talk.

"I..I thought he changed."

"I know."

They sat down, brushing pelts.

"And-and I can't believe Dad's gone." Kiara went on shakily.

"I know." Nala murmured, rasping her tongue over her daughter's head in a gesture of comfort. "I'm sending a patrol out to find his body. I don't care what that brute has to say about it."

"I don't know if I'll be able to look at his body, Mother." Kiara whispered.

"Neither do I," Nala pointed out gently. "but if we want to bury him next to his father, as we always agreed on doing, we must."

Kiara sighed. "...All right."

"Get some rest, Kiara." Nala ordered quietly.

"Okay." She was pretty tired, she had to admit.

But wait...

"What if I don't want to sleep in that cave?" She muttered.

Nala sighed. "This is just wrong."

"She's coming, is she?" Kovu lounged near the back of the cave, Zira sitting just beside the wall with an odd glare on her face.

Vitani and Nuka were arguing about something further off.

"You two!" The new king snapped, causing both siblings, as well as the rest of the bony lionesses who lay in there, to jump.

"Y-yes, sir?" Nuka stammered.

"Make up a place for Kiara to sleep." Kovu ordered.

"Why?" Vitani snorted. "She can very well do that on her own."

"Because I said so!" He snarled.

"Well, that just made things clearer..." Nuka muttered.

Kiara, however, already came strolling in to glare at the Outsider lions, and mainly the new king in general. "I'm fine, thanks." She said flatly, her claws clicking against the stone floor as she strode into the shadows to lie down.

"Nonsense." Kovu rose to his large paws almost immediately, padding over to approach her cautiously. "A princess deserves so much better."

"I said I'm fine." Kiara growled.

"No need for such a hostile tone, is there?"

"I don't know. You killed my father. It seems only right."

"Many things seem "oh so right"." Kovu settled down onto his haunches beside her, smirking. "I know one in particular that couldn't get more right than the word itself."

"Really?" Kiara glared up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Don't tell me."

"I wouldn't have to." Kovu inched his muzzle closer to hers, but she pulled away.

"I hope you're not suggesting what I think you are." The golden-brown lioness sat up, her lips drawn back in a soundless snarl. "You better have a look taken at that abnormally large head of yours." She got back to her paws, now hissing down at him. "I hope you know who I am, too."

"Who you are?" Kovu murmured, his voice so dark and...and rather tempting...

No! What am I doing? Kiara couldn't believe she was nearly giving in to this repulsing thought. "Yes, who I am. Who do you think I am, anyway?"

"A lovely princess with a story that has not been fully completed yet." Kovu rose back to his full height as well, now towering over Kiara again. "We can change that though."

"I'd rather keel over and die in a ditch." Kiara turned away and made for the cave entrance.

"Are you sure about that, love?" Kovu followed her, but she only sped up her pace.

"Positive." She growled over her shoulder, not being able to help thinking about that little pet name he just gave her so matter-of-factly.

Did he really think of her that way?

His love?

Forcing the thought away, Kiara snuck around the other lionesses who were just going into the cave and bringing the carcass. She could tell, without even looking back at Kovu, that she had frustrated him.

Good riddance...

Kiara walked through the grass, her head low. She wasn't looking where she was going, and nearly walked straight into a tree. Scoffing momentarily at her own oblivion, the princess settled down beside the trunk and dug her chin in between her two golden, cream-tipped paws.

She felt quite ill again.

As though someone ripped something from her and slapped her in the face right after.

And...she could still feel the sting on her cheek...

"Young Mistress, what are you doing out here?"

She jumped at the sound of an English accented voice calling from above. Glancing up, narrowing her eyes against the little sun that poked through the newly formed gray clouds, Kiara saw the majordomo, Zazu, perched on one of the tree's flimsy branches.

"Oh, Zazu," She murmured, relief washing over her. "you scared me."

"My apologies, Kiara." Zazu lighted down to the terrain beside her with a single flap of his wings. "...Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Kiara sighed. "I'm just out here to clear my head a bit." She looked away, emotion choking her next few words. "But...but I don't think it'll ever really be clear again."

"We musn't give up hope." Zazu reasoned.

"I know, I know." Kiara rested her reddish-brown orbs on the dirt terrain.

"Of course...that's what King Mufasa would say." The little hornbill had a knowing smile spread across his beak.

"Really?" Kiara glanced down at him curiously. "What would my father say?"

"Master Simba," Zazu cocked his head to one side, still smiling. "I'd say he'd create yet another wrinkle of concern on that large forehead of his, in a time like this. He'd deny it. But...that's just the way he is."

Kiara managed a faint smile. "I...I suppose he would."

"Nothing bothered him when he was a cub," Zazu told her. "he'd be in his own little world some times." He gazed at Kiara intently. "And though you tended to be the same...I think you had a better head on your shoulders than he did."

Feeling somewhat defensive of her father, Kiara's expression hardened a bit. "What are you trying to say, Zazu? Do you consider this pay-back, now that he can't punish you because he's dead?"

"Not at all." While Kiara expected him to panic at being yelled at, Zazu remained surprisingly calm. "Simba and I, as shocking as it may seem, had our disagreements, and not only in the past."

"Like what?"

"Well, there was that time that waterbuck got stuck in a ditch. I insisted we help him, but Simba told the lionesses to kill him and end his suffering."

"What?" Kiara stared at him in disbelief. "He'd never do that!"

"It was before you were born, young one. He was feeling rather bold because of his new control over the Pride Lands, I guess. He and Nala had an argument that day, and I couldn't help but get involved."

Kiara could picture her mother getting worked up over something like that, but she could never imagine her father ordering the pride to do such a thing.

"That's awful." She murmured, resting her head on her paws again.

Zazu cringed. He hadn't meant to bring her spirits down. "...Don't worry, Mistress. Granted, Simba had his flaws. But no one is perfect." He paused to let his words sink in...

...and they did.

"...Maybe Kovu has a few flaws that I'd be more than happy to point out...?" She smirked.

"Hmm," Zazu looked a tad unnerved by the princess's uncharacteristic expression. "what do you mean?"

"I'm not even sure yet." Kiara heavily rose to her paws, an odd grin on her face.

It felt good to smile again.

"Do what you think is right, Kiara." Zazu murmured. "Just be careful."

"Oh, I will. Don't worry about me." She dipped her head, offering a more polite gesture this time. "Thank you, Zazu. I do hope we'll be able to work together again on a brighter occasion." She turned away with that said, and hurriedly made her way back to Pride Rock, her paws drumming the newly-cracked patches of terrain that were beginning to spread along the landscape.

Heh, I don't know about you, but I think Kovu's bein' smexy.

Ahem...anyway...

Please review if you get the chance! I'd love to know people are still waiting for these updates.

I'll hopefully have the next one up very soon!