Chapter 4

Bodies low to the ground, figures stalked silently through the tall grass, their shoulder's squared, claws unsheathed they felt the dirt shifting beneath their paws. Dozen pair of eyes peered through the grass at the herd of wildebeest grazing in the grasslands, unaware of the gang of lionesses that were creeping up upon them from all sides, their bodies hidden, all awaiting the signal to strike.

The hunting party had been stalking the herd for some time, pinpointing the proper time and perfect target. Many of the young calves had just been born, but they would have been the perfect of prey to go after, young and not as fast. They were however huddled together in the center of the herd surrounded from their parents, so the lionesses focussed their attention on the elderly gathered near the back of the herd.

The lionesses were stealthy, making sure to keep low and avoid any source of noise possible as they awaited the signal from their Queen. Said lioness was the closest to the unsuspecting herd, sapphire eyes pinpointing the right targets. Zuri had joined the hunting party to take over for Sarabi just three months before leaving Kopa back at Pride Rock under the watchful eye of the one lioness that had volunteered to stay behind and watch the young prince.

Zuri was waiting for the right time to attack. The bigger game on the savannah was so much more difficult and different then it was in the Jungle where bigger prey was limited and the underbrush and trees were perfect camouflage compared to the open plains of the grasslands. She had to keep low to the ground so that her dark fur was not easily detected and would not give her or the others away and cost them that days hunt.

Catching movement from the corner of her eyes, Zuri's shoulders tensed, one of the calves it seems had separated itself from the herd and had moved closer to Zuri's position.

From behind their queen, the lionesses all watched cautiously at this, their eyes looking toward their Queen to the herd where the calf's parents had yet to see their youngling move from the safety it had previously been in. Queen turned her head slowly so not to make a sound and caught eyes with Sarabi who was only a foot behind Zuri half hidden behind a rock. Zuri motioned with her eyes to the elder wildebeests in a command the former Queen understood.

Zuri turned her attention once more to the wondering calf. Shoulder's squared to braced herself then like a spring she propelled her body forward, letting her paws carry her toward the unsuspecting calf who at the last minute realized the danger and only had time to let out a panicked cry as Zuri tackled it to the ground and clamped her jaws around the calf's neck as it struggled beneath her.

From all around her, the other lionesses had sprung into action, Sarabi leading them toward their original targets.

In the matter of moments the herd had scattered in a panic, the calves in the center of the herd as the adults ran as fast as they could away from the predators leaving the elderly behind to try and keep up. It was them the hunting party finally managed to bring down.

With the calf's neck still clamped tightly in her jaws, Zuri made her way toward the rest of the hunting party were gathered around their prey. Dropping the calf, Zuri looked around at their catches, three in total that would serve the pride nicely for several days to come.

"Well done girls, we'll be feasting for days!" Zuri complimented looking at each and every one of them who bowed their heads mumbling their thanks while they ate their own fill of the kill. Zuri looked down at her own kill, the calf wasn't enough for a grown lioness but it would be enough for a cub or at least the few in the Pride that she had in mind. Kopa was still too young to eat meat, so this would serve Zira's cubs nicely. However the other lioness despised the new Queen and often refused the helpings Zuri would bring back, but Zuri would find sooner or later the helpings missing and cubs which were happy and full on meat.

Together the hunting party carried their kills back toward Pride Rock, where they were greeted by those who had stayed behind. Looking around, Zuri saw that Simba was still out with Zazu on his daily patrol. She continued to look around when a familiar cry of; "Mommy!" sounded to her right.

Turning her head, Zuri's face brightened up at the sight of her three month old son bounding his way over to her from where he was previously been sleeping in the shade of a nearby tree with old Aufa who walked along slowly behind the excited cub. Kopa skidded to a halt but wasn't fast enough to stop himself and resulted in tumbling into his mothers front legs.

"Oops!" Kopa giggled peering up at his mother with a wide toothy grin. Zuri peered down at her son with a gentle expression and bent down and licked the top of his head where a tuft of brown mane was now just beginning to grow in. "You must be careful!" she cooed using her paw to lift him back onto his paws.

"I missed you mommy!" Kopa rubbed his head against his mothers muzzle as she continued to lick his fur clean.

Zuri chuckled, "And I've missed you my little one," she smiled down at him. "Has your father come back at any time today?" she asked watching as Kopa's ears flattened against his head and his shoulders slumped just a tad. The cub shook his head slowly, "No…he hardly has time to play with me!"

Eyes softening, Zuri bent her head and nuzzled her cub, she knew Kopa felt a little left out when Simba was busy; "Don't be so sad my little prince, your father would love to spend time with you but as King, he's a very busy lion. But if you want to play why don't you play with Vitani, Kovu and Nuka?" she asked looking off in the direction of said cubs cave where Zira and them still slept away from the rest of the Pride.

"Their Mom won't let them play!" Kopa grumbled smacking the ground with his paw. Casting one last glance at the caves, Zuri lowered her gaze back down to the cub at her paws and smiled nudging him with her nose. "Well, I'll play with you now. But first you have to eat!" picking the cub up by the neck she carried him toward there the hunting party were now resting in the shade of the acacia trees their stomachs full with that days hunt.

Placing Kopa down, Zuri watched the cub run excitingly up to his grandmother who smiled at him and licked the top of his head. Zuri took this time to eat, she needed her strength to produce milk given Kopa was still too young to eat only meat. Once she was finished and had cleaned herself up she reached out with her paw and scooped up her son and pulled him back to her. "Dinner time!" she chimed laying down in the shade to relax as Kopa began to drink.

"They don't want to be apart of this pride or partake in our hunts and yet they scavenge from us, like vultures!"

Zuri's eyes opened once more at the sound of Sarafina's voice, she turned slightly to look over her shoulder where the other lionesses were looking to see the two lionesses Spotty and Dotty dragging the carcass of the wildebeest calf toward their cave. Spotty dragged as Dotty kept watch. "They have cubs they need to feed!" she reminded them, which had been the reason she had taken down the calf after all.

Aufa glowered, "All the same!" she laid her head down on her paws again.

"They may not want to be apart, but they are nonetheless and it's our responsibility to look after our pride sisters!" Zuri stated looking each lioness pride in the face. Though her main concern was the survival of the three cubs in Zira's care. Though male cubs were known to leave the pride, Vitani would no doubt stay and she was the future of their pride when she would bare cubs of her own.

"Zuri is right," Sarabi spoke up.

The others turned their heads, "No matter our differences, now or in the past, they are still members of this pride and therefore vital for our survival…hopefully in time they will come to accept that fact!" Sarabi looked off toward the caves, where she could see the outline of the other lionesses. What had once been one family had been split into two, from their differences. She lifted her head toward the clear sky, and what little clouds that was present that day.

The kings of old would not be happy about this, she thought, not at all.

While lowering her head, she spotted Zuri who was now watching Kopa with a tender expression on her face, softness in her eyes while she watched her three month old son try and stifle a yawn. Zuri bent her head and licked the top of Kopa's head and began bathing him while the cub lay down in her paws.

"Moooooom! You bathed me this morning!" Kopa whined, attempting to crawl away when Zuri caught him by the scruff and dropped him gently back in her paws.

Chuckling, Zuri smiled down at her son, "Yes, but you've gotten dirty since then. And you should be happy to be clean, or else your coat might get dirty and so itchy you'll bite all your fur off just to stop the itch. And then you would be a furless lion. Would you want that?" she asked, her smile broadened at Kopa's look of horror as he thought of himself without any fur.

The other lionesses that were watching, laughed as the young price reluctantly lowered his head onto his paws with a huff while allowing his mother to finish bathing him. Once she was done, he tried once again to stifle another yawn, but was fighting a loosing battle to sleep; Zuri nuzzled him, "Sleep my little prince."

She nudged her son affectionately with her nose, watching while her son's head dropped onto his arms while he lay sprawled across his mothers, Kopa's eyes drooped until they fully closed over the amber eyes that he had inherited from his father. Sarabi commented that Kopa was a spitting image of Simba when he was a cub, save for the tuft of brown mane that was just beginning to grow atop the young princes' head.

Zuri didn't know much about the genealogy of the Pridelander's, but she knew that brown manes were a thing that befell a lot of young males of the Rasheda's over the years. And now that she took a closer look at Kopa, she realized how much Kopa reminded her of her cousin, Jaali, whom she hadn't seen in almost over an entire year.

Her ears drooped a little against her head. As she thought of her old home, her old pride. How she missed them. She often wondered what was going on back in the Jungle, with Mansa dead, Jaali would have been crowned King. She wondered if her cousin had found a mate yet. How were her youngest cousins Tufa and Yamile? They had only been five months old when Mansa died…so young to have lost their father.

But at least they had known their father. Zuri only knew hers by the stories her mother told her.

She wanted so badly to know what was going on back home; she was quite surprised that Jamine had never been sent to them and Zazu…well Zazu did not wish to dare about trip like the one he had faced the last time.

Sighing the Queen looked down at her sleeping son. Everyone who saw him saw Simba in him, but Zuri…She saw something, much, much more than that. She saw the might and majesty of any male cub born throughout Rasheda history…her eyes saddened a bit knowing that Kopa would never get to see the other Pride that he had come from.

For all that Kopa knew, was that his mother was a Pridelander, the Queen of the Pridelands…to him, besides being his mother, and was nothing more than that. She knew one day she would tell him where she had come from, but he was much too young to know that exact tale just yet. Three months was much too young for a cub of his age to be plagued with nightmares of the past.

"The king returns!"

Zuri raised her head and smiled as she watched her mate and king ascend the rocks, he took one look around before spotting the lionesses lounging about in the shade. Padding his way over, Simba first greeted his mother, and then took his time in greeting his Queen.

Purring, Zuri turned her face into his mane while he affectionately nuzzled her, she licked his muzzle as he pulled away and gazed down at their son still sound sleep in her paws. "How was the hunt?" Simba asked, his eyes finding the carcasses of the Wildebeest, he nodded, two that was good enough to sustain the pride for days if portions were shared equally and fairly.

"There were three…I managed to take down a calf as well…but Dotty and Spotty took it for Zira and the cubs…" She turned her head toward the cave at the far end and sighed. She was used to a pride acting as one unity, and here it was two separate's, it saddened her but she knew it was better then to force Zira to accept her as Queen or to join the pride. That would be her choice in the future. She had three cubs to look after, Zuri could only hope that Zira wouldn't be that stubborn forever and realize that the Pride would always be there for them.

That's what a pride did. You looked after one another.

Simba grunted, of course Zira would try and take what she thought was her part of the hunt, even though she wanted nothing to do with the pride. But he didn't say anything because he knew Zuri cared for the survival of Zira's cubs and kept saying that that would come to accept what had happened. But Simba had something in the back of his mind that told him differently.

He lowered his gaze back to Kopa, who was sleeping, not at all noticing that his father, whom he been waiting for all day, was back.

"When did he fall asleep…?" Simba whispered.

"Just before you arrived, he's awfully tired. He must have been running around all day…He's been waiting for you!" Zuri looked up at her mate. Simba's brow furrowed and he sighed looking away from his Queen whose gaze he felt was piercing right through him.

"I know I said that I would…"

"You told him a lot of things Simba. I understand you have your duties, but Kopa needs your attention too. You know what it's like to grow up without a father…don't let Kopa miss out on that too!" Zuri spoke softly; she nuzzled her mate as he grimaced at this true but sad fact.

"Tomorrow…"

'Simba…"

"I swear. Tomorrow. I'll bring him out into the grasslands with me!" Simba turned his head to face Zuri once more. She looked him in the eyes before nodding, "Alright. I believe he's now old enough to go out for his first real look at his future Kingdom!" the queen smiled.

Zuri knew Simba would keep the promise this time, even if she had to wake him herself and push both father and son out of the cave for a day of roaming the grasslands. Kopa had yet to go any further then the waterhole, and she knew her son was going to be excited about this.

She lowered her eyes to gaze lovingly down at her son. She would do anything to see him happy.

The Great Circle had begun to rise in the early morning sky, spilling its light slowly across the grasslands, chasing away the night. At Pride Rock, the Pridelander Queen had been up since the crack of dawn, sitting in the mouth of the cave, watching as the early morning light welcomed the day. Sapphire eyes watched the birds take to the air, and the animals scattered across the grasslands rise for the coming of a new day.

She turned her head away from the scenic view before her and stared back into the cave where she could see the outlines of her Pride who themselves had yet to rise. From where she sat she could hear the soft snores that she belonged to her son Kopa, who at the moment was draped across his father's back, his tail twitching. He had some how left the spot where he been sleeping in her paws during the night and had crawled onto Simba and had fallen asleep right after he reached his goal.

Zuri smiled at the wonderful picture both father and son made. Getting to all four paws, she slowly crept back into the cave and over to her mate and son, and stopped along side them and with her nose, nudged Kopa awake.

Groggily, the cub raised his eyes, his eye lids drooping to try and catch more sleep, "Mom…what you doing…it too…early!" Kopa tried to say between his yawns.

Zuri chuckled softly, and reached over; grabbing Kopa by the scruff she carefully lifted him off Simba's back. She watched her mate's ears twitch, and body shift but the lion never woke up. Rolling her eyes, and shaking her head, jolting Kopa a little till he whined, she placed him down at her paws. "Now, your father is going to be up soon Kopa, you want to be up so you can go out to the grasslands with him do you not?" she whispered.

She grinned as the Kopa who gave a loud wide yawn while scratching his ear with his paw, suddenly perk up, his little ears twitching along with his tail in excitement, a large grin cracked across his face. "I forgot…wait…he not up yet? Dad? Dad!"

The Queen didn't bother to stop her son as he turned to face Simba, his paws spread apart and his tail twitching behind him. This would be Kopa's real official day out of Pride Rock and though Zuri wished to be there, she wanted to give Simba some bonding time with his son. Something Simba hardly had time for and something Zuri did often.

Kopa stalked slowly toward his father and with his paw, reached out and jabbed him in the muzzle, "Dad….dad…" Kopa continued to jab in between each 'dad' but Simba's only response was a small snort as he rolled on his side and scratched his stomach with his paw. Yawning loudly, but still never woke up.

Stomping his paw against the ground, Kopa didn't seem to realize that the other lionesses in the den had already woken up and was watching the scene untold before them with smiles on their faces and chuckling to themselves.

Stalking forward once more, Kopa moved around his father's head and with his teeth began tugging on Simba's ear. "Dad…" his voice was muffled by the ear in his mouth. "Daaaaaaaaad!" Kopa continued to tug on Simba's ear until he gave up when an idea came to him, climbing atop Simba. Kopa sat on his fathers shoulder and before Zuri could stop him shouted;

"DAD!"

Simba shot up so quickly that Kopa didn't have time to jump, he was flung back, where he landed on the stone floor he continued to roll under he crashed into the cave wall with an "Oaf!"

"Kopa, are you alright?' Zuri made her way to her cubs' side and with her nose rolled Kopa onto his stomach and helped him onto his paws.

Kopa shook his head for a moment, rubbing it with his paw, messing up the tuft on his head, he didn't say a thing for a few minutes then looked up at his mouth and grinned. "I'm fine mom. That was fun!"

Zuri let out a sigh of relief and licked her son's ear and then turned toward Simba, who had climbed to his paws, was watching them with concern. "Is he alright?" Simba asked approaching his family, if he had known Kopa was on top of him he wouldn't have gotten up so quickly, but the cub did give him quite the surprise when he shouted in his ear.

"He's just fine," Zuri smiled, then stepped behind Kopa and with a nudge of her nose on his rump she pushed him toward Simba.

Simba looked confused for a moment, when Zuri gave him a stern look and motioned to Kopa that he remembered what he had promised. He looked down at his three month old cub and watched as Kopa grinned up at him, he kept switching the weight on his paws from one to the other every few seconds unable to contain the excitement that was bottling up inside him.

"Are you ready Kopa?"

The young Prince nodded his head vigorously, he looked back at his mother, "Are you joining us mommy?" he asked, and his ears flattened a little when she shook her head.

Smiling, the brown lionesses nuzzled her son "No, today is just about you and your dad, maybe he'll show you some cool stuff…like pouncing…though he never really was good at it as a cub!"

"Hey!"

Zuri giggled flashing her mate a smile "Well it's true."

"I second that!" Nala called from where she laid along side Sarafina watching the royal family. The light tanned lioness flashed her cub hood friend a cheeky smile as he grumbled and hung his head and muttered something about lionesses ganging up on him and how unfair it was. The times he really missed having Jaali around were when he didn't have to be surrounded by females if he had his friend there with him.

"I'm sure you were great at pouncing dad!" Kopa spoke up, "and you get to teach me!" the cub bounced on the spot unable to contain his excitement that he might actually get to learn something cool from his father. In the young prince's eyes, there was no one half as cool as his father he thought, and there never would be.

A grin spread across Simba's face, he nudged his head toward the mouth of the cave where the morning light was finally shining in. "Come on cub, we have a long day ahead of us!" Simba turned and began to leave the cave when he heard someone clear their throat and turned to see his mate watching him with an eyebrow cocked. "Yes?"

"Are you forgetting something?"

Simba blinked his eyes, confused; he had Kopa coming with him…what could he be forgetting?

Zuri rolled her eyes, "Goodbye dear, see you later…ring a bell?"

"Oh…Oh!" Simba turned and hurried back and rubbed his head against Zuri's as she buried her face in his mane, he licked her eat affectionately "I'll see you when we get home!"

"You watch over your son!" Zuri gave him a stern look, causing Simba to chuckle nervously, "Well…if he's anything like me…well you know…"

"Yes, I do know…that is why I'm reminding you to watch over him." Zuri smiled and bent down giving Kopa one last nuzzle and lick on the head then watched while father and son left the cave a proud smile on her face.

"Where are we going first dad?" Kopa bounded along side Simba as they descended from Pride Rock, he was excited about this, the furthest he's ever been was the watering hole and that was always with his mother or grandmother or Nala if either lioness weren't busy.

And the fact that it was his father that was showing him around didn't hurt either. Kopa had to bound every few steps to be able to keep up with his father's long strides, noticing this; Simba slowed his pace until they were both walking comfortably side by side. Simba leading Kopa down the ever familiar path that led away from Pride rock and toward the watering hole for a morning drink.

Simba had just bent his head to get a drink when he heard a "Yaaaaaaaaaaahoooooooo! Look out below!" he raised his head just in time to see Kopa zip on past him, up on a flat surface rock and over it into the water creating a small tidal wave that hit Simba square in the face soaking his fur and his mane. Spitting water out of his mouth he looked around for his son, "Kopa?" when he got no response, he eyed the water nervously, "Kopa?" still he got no answer. He hurried into the water until he was elbows deep. "Kopa!"

From down below his head, a smaller one appeared out of the water and blew water at his nose, "Gotcha!" Kopa laughed splashing the water with his paws, but stopped shortly after he noticed the scowl his father was giving him. His ears pressed against his head while Simba grabbed him by the scruff and carried him down onto land and dropped him down.

"Kopa…that…that was not…Do you know how worried I was? Thinking maybe you hit your head and drowned!" Simba was so upset, he couldn't really think what to say at first, when Kopa didn't come up out of the water or answered when he called his name, Simba for those brief moments thought he failed his son. He had drowned and he couldn't save him in time. He remembered for a brief moment something that had happened like that before…back in the Jungle when the Rasheda grove had overflowed during the rainy season. And Zuri had almost drowned…he could have lost her than…just like he could have lost his son now.

Lowering himself down as close to the ground as he possibly could, Kopa ducked his head down, his ears folded back against his head. "I'm….I'm sorry dad…I…I didn't mean too. I was only trying to have some fun…" he whimpered, tears appeared in his eyes and threatened to fall.

Simba was determined not to crumble under his son's tearful eyes, but for some reason, for a moment he saw not Kopa before him…but he himself…after the time his father saved him and Nala from the Hyenas. He heaved a sigh and bent his head and stopped for a moment as he watched Kopa shake thinking he was going to get punished, but Simba licked his head and helped Kopa to his paws and wrapped a paw around him holding his son against his leg, his paw resting on the cub's back while Kopa himself wrapped his paws tightly around his father's leg.

"Just don't do that again Kopa. Alright? You could have been hurt….you could have been dead…You had no idea just how scared I was…" Simba sighed.

Kopa looked up, "You were scared?" Simba nodded his head, "But I thought Kings weren't supposed to ever be scared?"

Simba suddenly grinned, his mind going back to when he was a cub and he had a similar talk with his own father, "Yes Kopa. Even King's get scared. I was scared I might loose you, I wouldn't be able to face myself if you died…and I would never be able to face your mother, she would have been devastated if anything had happened to you…so please…promise me you won't ever do that again?" he looked down at his cub as Kopa stared back at him with his round amber eyes.

Kopa thought for a moment then nodded his head, "I promise dad!"

"That's my boy," Simba chuckled and grabbed Kopa in his arms and rubbed his paw on top of his head.

"Dad! Dad stop!" Kopa pushed himself away and fixed his tuft, "You're messing up my mane!"

Grinning, Simba walked past his son and flicked him with his tail, "Least you have more hair then I did at your age!"

Kopa wrinkled his nose where his Father's tail had flicked him, and turned on a bound and hurried after him. "Really…but you have such a big mane now dad!" he awed up at his father.

"That's because I grew up son."

"Will I have one like yours?" Deep down he secretly wished when he grew up his mane too would be as big as his fathers.

Ruffling the tuft with his paw, Simba grinned, "Maybe. When you're older and you're king!" he answered as they walked along, leaving the watering hole just as a herd of Antelope arrived to get their share.

The two walked through the grasslands with Simba explaining everything that was around them, he pointed to the various herds that they passed, to the birds that flew over head, and he was surprised that Zazu hadn't come to find him yet. But he supposed Zuri was behind that, he had a feeling she was making sure the hornbill didn't disturb his outing with Kopa. However, he was also sure that tomorrow he would have even more issues to handle and he sighed at the thought but soon pushed those thoughts from his mind.

He was going enjoy the time he had with Kopa. He never had much time with his father and hated that, so he wasn't going to let his son suffer through that either.

He couldn't believe he hadn't done this before. Sure, he was King, but he was also a father. He listened to Kopa go on about what he usually did with the lionesses in the pride when he wasn't around, or the times he got to play with Vitani, Kovu and Nuka and how he thought Zira and the other lionesses were mean when they wouldn't let him play with the other three cubs sometimes.

"They're so much fun…though Nuka can be a bit stubborn…he's such a Momma's boy at times…" Kopa raved on.

"Now that's not very nice Kopa…" Simba didn't know why he was defending the other cubs. He never really got the chance to know them, unlike Kopa and Zuri. And Kopa probably wouldn't if it hadn't been for his mother; Zuri thought it was good for Kopa to play with cubs around his own age. And Simba couldn't disagree; in both the Pridelands and the Jungle he always had company so he never argued with his mate over it.

Kopa shrugged, "It's true…" he said as they started getting close to Pride Rock again, he could see the lionesses were lounging down on the ground in the shade as the sun had moved onto the other side of the structure. All except… "Where's mommy?"

Simba raised his head and squinted his eyes, he could see the lionesses as well, all expect one. Zuri, she wasn't with the others. Maybe she was up in the cave? Resting from a days break from always watching Kopa. "I don't know…let's ask!" he picked up pace until Kopa had to jog to keep up with his father.

Sarabi raised her head when she caught their scents and smiled at her son and grandson, "Hello, did you two have fun?" she asked as Kopa bounded over to her and started talking about all the things that Simba had shown him during their outing, all except what happened at the watering hole. He didn't want to get his grandmother upset at him either or for his mother to find out.

Sarabi chuckled, "Well it seems that you've indeed had fun."

"Mother?" Sarabi raised her head toward her son, "Have you see Zuri?" Simba asked looking around for his mate.

"Oh, Zazu came looking for you, but she told him you were busy with something else at the moment. He kept saying it was important, so she decided since you were busy that she would take care of the matter…oh don't worry Simba, she's perfectly alright. It was just a quarrel between the zebra's and the Rhino's about an area of the land that has the best grazing!" Sarabi explained and reassured her son when she saw the worry spread across his face; Simba looked like he was going to leave to find his mate when Sarabi stopped him.

"Simba…she's their Queen. She can't always sit up in Pride Rock and only leave to hunt; she need's to handle some matters as well. And I'm sure she's doing fine. Have faith in your mate! I did similar things when your father was alive and busy with other matters," Sarabi reached out and lifted Kopa up and set him in her paws as he licked some dirt off his paws.

Simba slumped his shoulders and looked off into the distance like he was trying to catch a glimpse of Zuri or Zazu but couldn't see either of them. He sighed, and nodded, he had to trust his mate, she was Queen as he was King, and she had every right to the royal business as he did. And he was glad that he wouldn't have double the work and that Zuri had done this so that he and Kopa could have some time to themselves.

It wasn't long before the pride climbed to their paws and made their way up the path to the cave, Kopa being carried by his grandmother; the cub had fallen asleep, tuckered out from his day out with his father. Simba himself went to the edge of Pride Rock that gave him the best view of the lands before him; his eyes were scanning for any sight of his mate and Major-domo.

It wasn't until the great circle began to descend from the sky and night crept back over the Savannah that Simba caught sight of the two. Zuri was moving slowly through the grass with Zazu resting on her shoulder, the two with talking about something that Simba couldn't hear.

Simba turned and hurried on down from the peak, just as Zuri began climbing the ramp upwards. She lifted herself over the ledge just as Simba arrived to greet her. "How did it go?"

Zuri looked up a bit surprised to see him there but she smiled and shook her head, "Everything went well. I'm sorry; Zazu said it couldn't wait till tomorrow so I went to take care of it. How did your day with Kopa go?" she asked as Zazu bowing to both his King and Queen took to the sky to head for his nest to prepare for the night.

Simba started to explain everything that went on during the day, when he explained what happened at the watering hole, Zuri rushed on past him and inside the cave stopping when she saw her son sleeping. She sighed, grateful to see that he was alright. She laid herself down beside him, watching him turn into her in his sleep to snuggle against the fur of her stomach.

She nuzzled him, licking the top of his head as Simba joined them; he laid down on the other side of Kopa so that the cub was between the both of them, warmed by the fur of both his parents. "See, he's alright Zuri, I gave him a talking too already and he promised he never do anything like that again."

Zuri sighed and looked at her mate and then down at her sleeping cub, she wondered what would have happened if something did happen to Kopa? Would she ever be able to forgive herself or forgive Simba who was supposed to be watching him? The answer was yes to Simba and no to herself.

She never wanted to loose her cub.

He meant the world to her.

He was everything.

"Zu'"

The Queen raised her head to stare at her mate, Simba grinned at her and licked her cheek and nuzzled her, "he's fine!"

"I know that. But I'm still a mother and it's my job to worry!" Zuri smiled at him and laid her head down so it rested near Kopa. Simba's head soon joining hers lying down on her neck. The royal couple listening to the soft snore's of their son as they too drifted off to sleep unaware of the amber eyes that watched them from the darkness with malice.

'It won't be long now…soon the prince will be no more…and Kovu will be the rightful king' thelioness crept out of the shadows and turned without being noticed and moved through the darkness toward her own cave where her own cubs lay asleep, dreaming of peaceful things while their mother planned her revenge.