"Kovu, Kovu, Kovu," Nuka drawled sarcastically, padding sullenly across the hot, cracked surface of the Outlands. "Scar wasn't even his father. He just...took him in."
The teenager sighed sullenly and looked around. It was another boring day - his mother's huntresses, the other lionesses in their Pride, were milling around relaxing in the heat and fighting each other for scraps and bones near the termite mound they sheltered in. It was pathetic, and Nuka felt a surge of rage in his belly.
If Mother could just see how great I am, we wouldn't be here. I'd chase Simba and the rest of his stupid Pride out of the Pridelands myself!
Nuka padded over to a dead tree, smirking as he saw his baby sister Vitani hard at work trying to pull a tree root out of the ground with her teeth.
"Oh, hey, 'Tani," the teenage lion drawled, sauntering around his sister. "Where's the little termite Kovu? The...'Chosen One'?" Nuka asked affectedly, striking a mocking dramatic pose. He flicked out a claw, cutting the tree root in two and sending Vitani flying.
"Oof!" Vitani yelped, tumbling onto her back before jumping up and glaring at her brother.
"Nuka! Where's Kovu?!" she spat, advancing on him - her purple eyes were fierce, just like Zira's. "Did you leave him out there on his own again?!"
"Yeah, but like that's my problem!" Nuka growled, giving his pelt a scritch with his hind paw. "That little termite's gotta learn to fend for himself."
"Mother's gonna be mad," Vitani reminded him. "She told you to watch him!"
Nuka's heart skipped a beat, but he kept up the act. "Oh who cares?" he asked, starting to scratch himself more aggressively. "I should've been the Chosen One. I'm the oldest, the smartest, the strongest, and AAAUUGGHHH these TERMITES!" Nuka flailed around frantically, gnawing on his matted gray pelt and trying to rid himself of the bugs. Vitani watched, her tail flicking smugly as she relished in his suffering.
"I could be a leader if she'd give me a chance," Nuka asserted, scooching around as he tried to scratch his rear end.
"Pfft, yeah right!" Vitani scoffed. "Why don't you tell that to her?"
"Yeah?" Nuka asked, holding his head high proudly. "Don't think I won't!"
"Oh, yeah? Heh." Vitani glanced behind her brother. "Here's your chance."
"What?!" Nuka asked, opening his eyes. He followed Vitani's gaze, seeing his mother Zira padding towards them over a small rise in the distance, Kovu dangling from her jaws.
"Oh, Mother! Mother, hi!" Nuka chirruped, skipping over to her and laughing nervously. "Mother, I caught some field mice for your dinner, I left them by the, um..."
Zira coldly ignored her oldest son, padding past him with Kovu towards Vitani.
"...okay." Nuka sat there sullenly for a moment, then followed her, an eager smile still plastered on his face.
"Pleh." Zira leaned down, gently depositing Kovu onto the ground near his sister.
"Hey, Kovu," Vitani greeted her younger brother, baring her teeth playfully. "Wanna fight? Rrrrreowrr!"
Kovu looked annoyed for a moment, but then smirked, arching his back and growling back at his sister. "Grr!"
Zira sighed, then whipped around, rounding on Nuka. "You were supposed to be WATCHING HIM!"
Nuka flinched backwards, his eyes widening. Kovu looked up as he watched this go down, smirking. "Yeah, Nuka. Some babysitter you are...right, Mother?"
"That's right, my little progeny of darkness," Zira cooed, bending down to nuzzle her youngest. Kovu flashed Nuka a grin, making the teen bristle.
"But Mother, the little twerp went off on his own!" Nuka protested, then whimpered as Zira once again turned around to snarl at him.
"It's true, Mother," Vitani admitted, flicking her tail at Kovu. "We didn't even see him leave."
Kovu's ears flattened as Zira's red eyes narrowed. His mother started to advance on him, glaring.
"What were you doing?" she demanded, her teeth bared.
"N-nothing," Kovu mumbled, his green eyes anxious.
"Who has made us Outsiders?!"
"Simba!" Kovu responded, barking out the name of the enemy like a soldier.
"And who killed SCAR?!" Zira roared, making Kovu fall backwards.
"SIMBA!" Kovu screamed up at his mother, practically gasping for air.
"And what have I told you about...them?" Zira spat, the word dripping with venom.
Kovu straightened up, the fur standing up on his little spine as he glared up at his mother. "That they are spoiled, overfed warthogs who deserve to be punished."
"That's right," Zira growled before roughly pushing her son back down, putting her paw to his throat threateningly. "But noooo...after all I've taught you, after all the wisdom I've spent countless hours trying to impart, you go and play 'catch the bulrush' with the daughter of Scar's MURDERER!"
"It...it wasn't like that, Mother," Kovu muttered tersely, cringing and struggling under the weight of his mother's paw, but Zira wasn't listening.
"You thought you'd get to the daughter, and that Simba, gracious king that he is, would welcome you with open arms?!" Zira growled, jutting her muzzle into her son's face. "Tch. What an idea..."
Suddenly, the cruel lioness's expression changed into one of excited realization. "What an idea!"
Kovu's lip curled, staring up at his mother incredulously as she took her paw off him, letting him up.
"You brilliant child," Zira murmured, pulling her cub closer by his tail and holding him against her inner flank affectionately. "I'm so proud of you..." Zira stroked her son's back, deep in thought. "You have the same conniving mind that made Scar so...powerful."
Kovu listened to his mother's words, each of them inflating his ego and making his chest puff out, looking proud to have been favored by Scar - even if it was just because of his uncanny appearance. He shot Nuka another smug grin, making the teenager cringe and roll his eyes, letting out a loud "Blecch!"
Unfortunately, Zira heard this and rounded on him. "RRRRAWRR..."
Nuka covered his face with his paws, cowering in front of his mother with a wide, terrified grin. "Aheheh..."
Zira shot her eldest another warning glance, turning from him and picking up Kovu, who gave Nuka a teasing wave with his paw as they passed, heading towards the termite mounds.
"Ugh. The 'Chosen One'," Nuka grouched, pouting.
Someday, I'll make the little termite pay...