A/N:Thank you CSIMentalistTLK lover, for the review. I'm glad you liked it. Thanks WTF123 for helping with the rewrite.
Jaali lay beside the declining stone slope that made up the back side of Pride Rock. He had numerous amounts of things running through his head, and every once in a while, his green eyes would wonder towards a small shaded tree where Nala rested with Ditto and Dreama. He sighed heavily as he put his head down onto his paws. He thought that his father was going to kill him when he found out he had been hurtful towards both of queen Kiara's heirs. But suddenly, a soft nuzzle brought the golden brown cub out of his thoughts. Jaali cast his eyes up to see the queen herself looking down at him. He blinked at his step-mother.
"Hello, Jaali." Kiara said calmly.
Jaali gulped before pinning his ears. "G-good morning, Queen Kiara." He stuttered.
The lioness smiled lightly before looking towards Nala, Ditto and Dreama. "I'm taking my cubs out for a tour of the kingdom." Kiara started. "I'd like you to join us."
Jaali slowly rose his gaze and looked at the queen with wide eyes. "You want me... to come with you?" He asked with uncertainty.
Kiara smiled, nodded and nuzzled the cub, and to her surprise Jaali didn't try to resist it this time. "You're my mate's son and my heir. If anything happened to my cubs, it'll be up to you to keep the bloodline going. Besides, I wanted to talk to you all about the new cub I'm expecting."
Jaali didn't know what to do. He wanted to turn the queen down, but he knew deep down that he wanted to spend more time with Dreama. With an innocent smile, he nodded.
Kiara grinned radiantly before looking at her other two cubs. "Ditto! Dreama!" She called.
The princess and the prince nuzzled their grandmother good-bye before running over to their waiting mother. Dreama had a wide smile as she saw her mother, but it abruptly faded when she saw Jaali on the stone slope by her mother.
"What is he doing here?" She asked.
Kiara frowned at her daughter. She more or less expected Jaali to respond like that, but not her own cub. "Dreama!" She said.
The golden cub moved her burning amber eyes away from Jaali to her mother. "Mom, you don't understand. This is the jerkface I was telling you about before!"
Jaali whimpered and pinned his ears against his head. He said sincerely, "I'm sorry... I'm really am."
Ditto smiled lightly before head bumping the older cub. "Ah, it's all right. I forgive you."
Jaali smiled gratefully at his unexpected kindness before looking at Dreama, who had her nose in the air.
"I'll reserve judgment. Than I can see who you really are." She said flatly to Jaali. And with a lash of her tail, Dreama trotted off with her head held high.
Kiara sighed before following her daughter with Jaali and Ditto staying close behind.
/
Kovu had returned from talking with Vitani and Uziah, just in time to see Kiara and cubs leave. He was about to go to check on Ara, when he saw Nala out of the corner of his eye. What made him turn his head was that it both looked and sounded like that the ex-queen was crying, making him grow a concerned look on his face. His ears flickered before he moved down the slope and followed the sounds of his mother-in-law. Kovu walked through the lush green grass and the cool breeze blowing through his mane, while the nearby animals bowed to greet him. Kovu dipped his head and tried his best to smile before continuing to follow the creamy colored lioness. Soon, the sound of water reached his ears. Not long after that, he saw Nala sitting by the edge of a river, crying her eyes out like he'd never seen her do before. Feeling deep concern as such, he approached her.
"Nala...?" He started.
The lioness sniffed up some tears before turning to see her son-in-law looking at her. "I suppose telling you that I'm fine is going to work?"
Kovu sat and looked at the older ex-queen with fear in his eyes. "What's going on?" He asked as calmly as he could.
Nala looked from the new king to the calm river below. "This is the Zuberi River..."
Kovu looked at the dull blue water before looking at Nala again. He didn't get to express his thoughts because she continued.
"Remember when... when I told that what you-you're going through with Jaali? How I... How I went through this with your own m-mother?"
Kovu nodded before looking back at the river, and somehow he couldn't stop looking. Something about it seemed... entrancing all of a sudden. Nala followed his gaze and sighed, trying to clear her throat to talk clearly through her tears.
"Simba and I had another cub before Kiara... his name was Kopa. He was not only a joy to us, but also the entire kingdom's. He was born a few months after Simba returned and defeated Scar. But in the meantime, your mother thought Simba killed Scar..."
"But wasn't he killed by the hyenas?" Kovu questioned.
Nala nodded as tears fell from her bright blue eyes. "I tried to tell her, my mother tried to tell her, even Sarabi tried to tell her... but she wouldn't listen. When Kopa was old enough, he and Nuka became best of friends. I didn't pay much mind to it, but I truely should have. Nuka was just the bait. And then one day... Kopa walked right in Zira's trap."
As soon as these words hit his ears, Kovu realized exactly what Nala meant. It hit him hard, to put it mildly. It almost felt as though a bloody paw had come flying towards him in the face. Kovu jumped up and started breathing heavily. Nala looked at her son-in-law with sudden concern now. His eyes were wide, and he was panting. After all these years of confusion, it finally made sense to him now. He realized the true reason why his pride had been exiled.
"No... she couldn't have!" He said hopelessly. "Not even she would go that far, she wouldn't!"
Nala's ears flickered, but before she could respond, the shaken king ran off. She sighed before looking back at the water from the edge below her. With a deep breath, she got up and headed for Rafiki. She could only hope that he could explain what just happened.