We Are One

By: Xhibit B

A Snippet

.i do not own the lion king.

"There's been a lot of unrest in the Pride Lands recently," Mufasa said as he walked alongside his son. He'd offered to come with the younger lion on his morning patrol of the lands to discuss the recent happenings in their lands. "Herds have been stampeding on a consistent basis recently, almost as if they are afraid of something. I have had Omari and the others check, but your Uncle has been on his best behaviour as of late. He keeps to himself, not even bothering with the hyenas. After what happened with the whole situation with Ashante all that time ago, he's seemingly given up on trying to overthrow yourself and I to take on the mantle as King."

"I've noticed that too," Simba sighed. This issue had been bothering him as well for quite some time. What could possibly be happening that would cause such unrest amongst his subjects? Perhaps he'd try talking with some of the leaders of the herds soon and attempt to piece together what is going on that way. "Tama, Malka, Tojo, Aisha and Chumvi have been keeping a very close eye on him as well ever since this started happening. They, just like us, were concerned that he had something to do with what was going on. But when they confronted him about it, he too was just as surprised to hear what was going on as any of us. Of course, I'm not completely buying it. He did try to kill both of us when I was a cub and kept a straight face the entire time he was confronted. But there's something different about the situation this time. And it just doesn't feel right to blame him for it, this time, you know?"

"Yes, you're right," Mufasa agreed. While he didn't completely trust his brother, he couldn't find it in himself to blame all of this on the banished Prince. But then, who could have possibly been behind this? And why were they doing it? "We will continue to investigate. My Guard and yours will work together to figure this out. Sarabi and I will also help yourself and Nala combat this issue and bring the herds to ease again. We'll also be keeping a very close eye on the cubs. Kion and Kiara are just like you were when you were their age. Always getting themselves into trouble everywhere they go. And if there really is an enemy around, I want to make sure that they are as safe as possible."

Simba nodded. At seven moons old, Kiara and Kion were exactly like their father when it came to them getting themselves in trouble. Most of the time, Kiara took after her mother unless her brother was able to goad her into doing something against her better nature. Adventurous and not very cautious of what they were doing most of the time when they were together. Just the other day, they had wandered into the gorge and were almost trampled by a stampede of antelope. Had Malka and Tama not been patrolling that area when they were, Simba was sure he would have lost his children. They were too much like him when he was their age.

"We'll be keeping an extra close eye on them," Simba assures his father with a chuckle. "After that incident with he antelope in the gorge, I'm sure that Nala won't be letting them out of her sight. Neither will anyone else. That goes for all the cubs, actually. Until we figure out what's going on, we're going to have to keep a very close watch over all of them. The last thing we need is any of them getting hurt."

Mufasa nodded his agreement. None of them would be happy about it, but it was for their own good. They would have to be diligent about watching after the cubs until they figured out what was going on.

…

The lionesses could hear the laughter of children from where they lay on the tanning rocks, smiles on their muzzles. Kiara, Kion, Penda, Aziza and Akiki were all playing in the tall grass as their mothers, Tama and a very pregnant Aisha were watching them. Aisha would be giving birth to her own cubs within days and she was very excited about becoming a mother; but concerned what her absence would do to the Lion Guard she was part of should a problem arise. She would need at least a full moon to recover and be with her cubs before she could return to active duty. And she wondered if Malka, Tojo, Chumvi and Tama could handle the responsibility on their own for a time.

"Gotcha," they heard a female voice say laughingly.

Several more voices joined in and the adults glanced out at the group of cubs. A small smile crossed the Queen's muzzle when she glanced at her children. Kiara had her brother pinned down while Penda, Aziza and Akiki were all laughing at the unamused look on the Prince's face.

"Okay Kiara, you got me, now let me up," Kion whined. "You win, I give!"

The female, Kiara, laughed as she released her brother. "And don't you dare forget it, Kion!"

Kion rolled his eyes as he got to his paws again, using his left forepaw to brush down his hair tuft that had been ruffled from his sister pinning him down.

"He acts just like his father," Tama commented with a laugh. "Simba was the same way when he was Kion's age. Always becoming extremely annoyed when he didn't win."

"Remember the time he lost in tag and stalked away from us," Kula recounted with a laugh.

"Or the time he lost the game of porcupine ball and got stuck with a quill in his paw," Aisha hummed lightly; a small smile on her muzzle. "Rafiki always gives him a hard time every time he sees him about it. Like when we found what's her face's mother. He immediately started picking on Simba about messing with the porcupines."

Nala laughed at the memory. She had been so confused as to what they were talking about until Simba had explained it when she asked him about it after the entire ordeal. And she could very much see that much of her mate in their son. Kion had inherited many of Simba's traits whereas Kiara was reserved like her mother. While she did have her adventurous side, she was very much like her mother in most ways. And for that, Nala was thankful. She didn't think she could handle three Simba's. It was bad enough that she had two already.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here," they heard a female voice say as several unknown lionesses made their presence known.

The shrieks of the children alerted the adults, four heads popping up to see the five cubs surrounded by the lionesses. Before anyone could say anything, Nala was to her paws and leaped forward to stand between the children and the lionesses. Tama and Kula were quickly at her side, Aisha ushering the children a safe distance away. Nala snarled, her deadly claws extending.

"Who are you, what are you doing here," Nala demanded, her muzzle curled in a snarl.

"Ah Queen Nala," the female said grinning wickedly. It was then that she really took notice of who the cubs were that she and the other lionesses were protecting from her line of sight were. "I am surprised that you are here. But then again, with the little Prince and Princess here, you couldn't be far away."

"Who are you," Tama demanded, taking a step forward. She didn't like the fact that this lioness was not telling their Queen what she wanted to know. "And what do you want?"

She was ready to attack, should she need to. The lioness already had it coming for attacking Kion to begin with. All she needed was for Nala to say the word and she would rip this lioness apart. No one was going to touch her self-appointed niece and nephew and get away with it if she had anything to say about it.

"What do I want? Why, that should be very obvious, Tama," the mysterious female said with a wide, sinister grin. Her brow rose when Tama and the others didn't immediately answer. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about me. You, Simba, Malka, Aisha, Tojo, Kula and Chumvi were the reason for my banishment all those years ago. And now, I'm here to take my revenge."

this is only a little snippet of what is to come in the sequel. bonus points to whomever can figure out who the lioness is. i didn't really give her identity away, at least i don't think that i did. lemme know what y'all think. until next time my loves!