The punishment that was given to me after I had left the cave was that I had to wait an extra 2 weeks before I could leave the cave. Though my parents would occasionally allow me to look out from the entrance since all the other cubs got to explore. By the time my punishment was over, all of the other cubs had explored most or all of my prides territory. Mama had said that my pride is called the Savanna pride. This is because we have a territory in something called a tropical savanna. She said it was a region we live in.
The day that I got to leave the cave, I was bouncing off walls excitedly. "Promise us that you will listen to the other cubs. And don't go places you know you're not allowed to go to." Daddy said causing me to look up at him. "Yes daddy I promise." I responded before turning around and started walking. "We mean it. Listen to the other cubs because they know more about the territory." He called out to me and I looked back and nodded. I looked back in front of me and took off running. The ground was warm underneath my paws.
I came upon a large waterhole and looked around. I noticed the other cubs in a group next to a large tree. "Uzuri!" She jumped up and said with excitement. "Furaha!" I said back speeding up until I reached them. "So, your parents let you finally leave that cave huh?" Kinga had said diverting my attention away from Furaha to him. "Yeah, I still don't understand why I was punished. It's not like I wandered around the whole territory." I said as I sat down. Before the cubs got to leave the cave, we all got to know each other when our parents let us play together. Me and Furaha became close friends while the same is said about Kinga and Utundu.
"Uzuri, did you hear, I'm going to be future king." Utundu said puffing out his chest. "Yeah, yeah, we get princey." Kinga said causing Utundu to glare at him. This only caused me and Furaha to giggle at them. "Uzuri, cmon. Let me show you the territory while they are distracted." Furaha whispered into my ear. The males were too busy arguing over who is stronger and who would make a better king.
We silently snuck off away from the two males and made our way down a path. The path led from the waterhole towards a lightly wooded area. "Soo…Where are we going first?" I said looking up at her. "There is this place called shady rocks. It's basically a bunch of rocks under a large tree. Us cubs like to hang out there when it's hot." She replied. "Sounds cool." I said and turn to see what she was talking about. There were flat and smooth rocks underneath a large tree.
We sat there underneath the tree as the two males we ditched earlier came running out of nowhere and busted through some bushes panting. "What are you two doing?" I said looking down at them. "N-Nothing…W-we just decided…to race…each other here." Kinga said between breaths. "Hmph…Males." I hear Furaha say behind me. This caused me to giggle as I trotted back up to the rocks and laid down.
When the two males were done nearly suffocating, they laid down on the rock in-front of us. "So, what do you guys want to do?" Utundu said looking at the three of us. "I dunno, it's too hot to run around right now." Kinga replied earning a nod from me and Furaha. I noticed Utundu had a grin on his face. Not one of happiness, one of mischief. "Utundu, why are you grinning? Male cubs don't grin. It's a girly thing…oh wait, I forgot you are a girl." Kinga said smirking playfully at Utundu. "What! I am not a girl. I don't run around giggling and playing with butterflies. Oh, and the grin…hehe…I have an idea. An idea that will make you realize I'm the opposite of a girl." Utundu said causing me and Furaha to glare at him and Kinga to bust out laughing falling off the rock. "N-No!" He said as he fell. We heard a thud and all began laughing. "I'm okay." He said lifting his paw up and pulling himself back onto the rock.
"Here is my idea. How about we go to the…pridelands." He said causing Kinga and Furaha to look at him eyes wide. "What's that?" I asked having never heard of 'the pridelands'. "You seriously don't know Uzuri? Well, the pridelands is another prides territory home to a pride of lions called pridelanders. Their kings name is Mufasa, and the queen is Sarabi." Kinga explained. "Ohh." I looked at him until I had a flashback.
Promise us that you will listen to the other cubs. And don't go places you know you're not allowed to go to.
Yes daddy I promise.
I came back to reality almost instantly. I looked at Utundu and asked, "Are we allowed to go there?" He looked at me and grinned. "Okay, quit it with the grinning girly prince." Kinga said when he noticed the grin on Utundu's face. "Shut up Kinga, and Uzuri, no we aren't allowed to be there, but what's the worst that could happen?" He said now facing me. "Oh, I don't know…Maybe we could get caught by a lion from that pride, or a predator, or even our parents." I said with a hit of sarcasm. "Guys look, Uzuri is a scaredy cat!" Utundu said with a laugh. I just glared at him. "I am not a scaredy cat!" I said defensively. "Prove it by coming with us to the pridelands then," He said. "Okay, I'll come, just to prove I'm not a scaredy cat." I said completely ignoring the flashback I had earlier.
The border to the pridelands isn't far from where we were. You could see a huge rock thing off in the distance. Furaha said it was something called 'pride rock'. Once we arrived at the border between the two territories, Utundu took off saying, "LAST ONE ACROSS THE BORDER IS A SMELLY CUB!" He just kept running as me, Kinga, and Furaha just stood there and looked at each other. "Should we go after him?" Kinga said looking straight ahead. "Mhm," Furaha mumbled next to me. We were walking when Kinga stopped and sniffed the air. "You guys smell that?" He asked the two of us. "No…what do you smell." I said with a confused look. "Wait, I smell it, it smells like..AHH!" I had started saying before being pounced on from the side. I look up to see Utundu standing on top of me. "Get…OFF!" I yelled. "Okay, okay, it was just a joke, chill out girly." He said getting off of me and I just glared at him.
I stood up hearing a twig snap, and it wasn't just me, everyone else heard it too. "Wh-who's there?" Kinga said with a worried tone. That's when I noticed the face of a large male lion. Upon seeing him, my ears fell flat onto my head and I slowly backed away. "G-G-Guys…W-We should g-go. I said shuddering. What's wrong Uzuri?" Utundu says looking at me. "L-L-Lion…" I said causing him to look back and finally seeing what I saw. His eyes grew wide and his ears also went down. Furaha and Kinga were both still confused but upon following mine and Utundu's gazes, they too noticed the lion. We all huddled into a group and slowly backed away. The lions gaze softened before he slowly stood up.
When he was fully upright, he blocked out the sun casting a shadow onto us. None of us said a word. We all just watched as the lion stepped out of the grass and walked over to us. Our little group slowly backed away as he neared us. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt any of you," the lion said. Until now I hadn't really noticed what he looked like. The lion was large, golden and had a deep red mane. "A-Are you M-Mufasa?" Kinga asked the large lion. "Yes, I am Mufasa. Who are you?" Mufasa asked. "W-Well I'm Kinga and this is my sister Furaha. And my friends Uzuri and Utundu." Kinga said pointing to each of us. "Where are you four from?" The golden king inquired. "From the Savanna pride. I-It borders the pridelands." Utundu said speaking up. "The savanna pride…hmm, ah yes, that's right." The king mumbled before remembering. "Zazu!" The king said before some bird flew down, "yes sire?" The bird inquired. "Come here for a second. You four wait right there." The king said before him and the bird walked in the tall grass. A short moment passed before seeing the bird take off into the air. The king walked out of the grass and laid down. "You four come with me." He said walking into the grass causing the four of us to fallow.
3rd pov
The lions in the Savanna pride were lounging about as the lionesses have already hunted. The lions had gotten their fill and started to relax. None of them have seen the cubs since the morning and they just assumed they found a place to rest in the territory. Their king 'Kiongozi' was walking out of the cave as Zazu arrived. "Zazu? What are you doing here?" The dark king inquired. "Well, I'm here on the account of Mufasa and the pridelands, as you may have not seen your prides cubs the whole day. Well, I'm here because the four cubs crossed into the pridelands. But don't worry as King Mufasa is with them." The bird said as the king grew furious. "They are at the border now awaiting your arrival." The bird quickly added before flying off.
"Dear, the cubs went into the pridelands. Mufasa is with them at the border so I'm headed there now." The king turned to his mate and said before trotting out the cave towards the border.
Uzuri Pov
As we were fallowing the king, Utundu noticed we were heading back to the border. "Uh, Mufasa,sir, are we heading back to the border?" He asked as the king simply turned his head. "Yes, we are headed back to the border." He said before Zazu landed infront of him. "He's been informed and his heading this way, sire." The bird said bowing. "Thank you Zazu." The king said before turning back to Utundu. "And your king is coming to get you all." He said causing Utundu's eyes to grow wider.
We kept walking and finally made it to the border where we saw king Kiongozi standing. He looked at us with a face that said he was furious before softening and looking up at Mufasa. "Thank you Mufasa, I'll take them from here." The dark king said. "Oh don't worry about it, they didn't cause any trouble in the pridelands." The golden king said before turning around and walking off. The king looked at us. My ears went down as he glanced at me then at Utundu. "Cmon let's go!" He said in a harsh tone as we quickly followed. "I sure all of your parents are worried sick, they should be waiting for you when we get back to the cave." He said as I looked down.
"You three head back and Utundu stay with me." The king said as we continued our path to the ever nearing cave. We all stopped as four dark shapes waited outside the cave entrance. As we walked up towards the entrance, Kinga's and Furaha's parents motioned for them to fallow them into the cave. Mine however didn't move and just looked at me. I sat down infront of them and looked down. I was then picked up by my neck and carried out and beside the cave. I was set down and sat down looking up at my parents. I noticed the disappointing looks on their faces and I shrunk under their gazes. My ears were as far back as possible as I sat with my head down. "Uzuri, why didn't you keep your promise? You promised us that you would not go places you knew were prohibited, didn't you?" He said as I looked up. "Y-yeah," I replied lowering my head and closing my eyes. "So why did you go?" Mama spoke up. "I-I don't know." I replied not moving. "Of course she doesn't know." Mama said turning and walking back to the cave.
Once she was gone I looked up at daddy. "Is mommy mad at me? I didn't mean to make her mad at me." I said as tears form on the corners of my eyes. "Sweetie no…your mother is not mad, just worried. What you and the other cubs did today made her start to panic." He said trying to easy my teary expression. "Oh…I'm sorry." I said looking down as a stray tear falls. Daddy obviously noticed because he pulled me closer into his chest. I just leaned into it. "Does mommy still love me?" I asked looking up. "Of course she still loves you. She won't ever not love you sweetie. You are her everything. She got extremely worried and feared the worst when she found out that you were in the pridelands." Hearing that calmed me. "I'm really sorry daddy." I said leaning back into his chest. "I know you are, let's go inside. And I want you to tell your mother that you're sorry as well." Daddy said before picking me up after I nodded.
Once we made it inside, daddy sat me down in-front of mommy. I walked up to her and snuggled into her chest. "I'm sorry." I said quietly. She didn't say anything except pull me in tighter with her paw. This caused me to smile in return. Sleep was getting the better of me as I laid down in her paws. I close my eyes and let sleep take me away.