Book 1: The Demon of The Outlands

Chapter 1: Borders

Even in the darkest of moments or the most daunting of uncertainties there is always a light to guide those who both live by and defy the circle of life. For Kane that was his mate Kala who also had a knack for jumping into the unknown with Kane not far behind her. The hyena watched as the slim female pranced from side-to-side cackling as her hungry mate watched with an amused smile on his face. He had grown so used to the sound that he could no longer hear it, but he could feel his sucked in stomach rumbling. Even with his black fur that never got its color, his ribs were visible, and each step made him wince subtly from the blisters and sores on his paws. It had been so long since the last time it rained that he couldn't even swallow correctly from a lack of saliva. Kala didn't look any better with her dark brown fur looking beat up and it was clear that she was malnourished like everyone else. Yet, she always had a smile on her muzzle and a pep in her step.

"I knew I would get you to smile eventually Kane. I know patrolling the border isn't the greatest job in the world, you can always make your own fun," Kala teased as the female hyena turned and gazed into Kane's light brown eyes. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. While it was true that patrolling the border between the physical embodiment of death that was the Outlands and the lush paradise that was the Pride Lands could be boring, she always knew how to make him smile. The bright orange sun basked the two in its warm glow as it continued to rise and the sight of birds flying over the vast fields made him want to run after them. Not to eat them but just because he could. If he was allowed in the Pride Lands, he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

"You know Shenzi is going to be livid if she heard that you stepped one paw over the border," Kane sighed as he tried to keep his mind off of the discomfort that came from a lack of food. Kala stopped and smiled mischievously. Kane stopped as his eyes widened. He knew that look all too well. "What are you doing," he whimpered. She trotted slowly over to a patch of large grass that had managed to grow in the middle of the border and raised her front left leg slowly as she studied Kane's reaction. Still smiling she pressed her paw down and pretended to wince. "Kala… really," Kane snorted.

"Why stop at one," she whispered as she placed her other paw into the grass. "Oh yeah… that feels good. Much better than Outlander soil," she continued while pretending not to notice her mate writhing and cringing. The female hyena threw herself into the grass and began rolling around and laughing as she felt the sensation of the grass tickling and brushing against her back. "Besides, it's not like your sister has to know that we diverted from our regular patrol route," she added before wiggling and making herself comfortable. Kane glanced around at the surrounding area to see nothing but birds and the forever taunting, Pride Rock. He turned his attention back to her and smiled. Without warning he jumped into the grass and pranced around her while cackling before flopping next to her and pressing his wet nose against hers.

"I think you might be right," Kane whispered as he stared into her hazel eyes and felt as if he was falling in love all over again. She smiled sweetly as she eased into the gentle nuzzle.

"About what," she asked softly before batting her eyes.

"The soil over here is way nicer," he whispered before giving her a playful lick. It was moments like this where the troubles that plagued his clan seemed like a thing of the past. One could even argue that it felt like the past didn't even matter. It was just the two of them. She returned his affection and gazed back up at the morning sky. Her smile faltered for a second and he could tell that reality had begun to creep back into her thoughts. "Hey, things will get better. Sis was saying that Scar has a plan and that we need to be prepared. We'll finally have food in our bellies. We can find a home of our own in the Pride Lands or stay with the clan. We can finally have that baby," Kane whimpered as he tried to keep his lover's spirits up. She turned and looked at him again with a tear running down her furry cheek.

"Kane… what if it doesn't…," before she could finish, she stopped less she would finally cave and start full on bawling. Kane nuzzled his love and did his best to comfort the one who brought him warmth in the coldest of days.

"It will. We just have to be patient for a little while longer," the male hyena said as if he was also trying to convince himself that everything really was going to change for the better. His wife nodded and stood back up. Taking another moment she put on another brave face.

"Thanks, it's probably best we head back anyway and tell either Banzai or Shenzi that we didn't find any prey or at least any that were dumb enough to wander over the border," Kala said before both hyena's jumped in fright and felt their blood run cold as the unmistakable sound of a lion's roar echoed through the Outlands.

"No way… holy shit that was… Mufasa," Kane stammered while trying to piece together why the king of the Pride Lands would be here in the Outlands. Panicked and understandably so, Kala started to scamper off in the direction of the elephant graveyard before stopping and turning to her husband who hadn't moved an inch.

"Kane, we need to go! We need to go now!"

A/N: Hey guys, so I did some replanning and the project, while much larger than it was originally, looks a lot better than it originally did. Kane's story will be split up into 3 "books" which will span over the Lion King and Lion King 2. I also want to give a heads up that I'll be doing some messing around with the plot of the Lion Guard. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this long but hopefully fun journey. Feel free to leave a review! I always love seeing people's reactions and questions. I'll try to keep my uploads consistent and until then have a good one!