Tap-tap-tap!

Kion blinked dizzily, his mind winking back into existence after a sleep not nearly long enough.

Tap-tap-tap!

"Stop it!" he mumbled, stretching on the cool rock floor where he had slept. "I'm awake!"

"My apologies, Kion." the hornbill spoke in his usual clipped voice that suggested no regret. "This isn't my most pleasant duty, but the Pride Lands do need to be patrolled."

"Yeah." the lion prince sighed and before Zazu could dodge, let out a yawn worthy of the Great Kings themselves.

"Kion!" Zazu shouted, immediately returning to his classic "grumpy teacher" mode. "Will you be careful with that magic breath of yours?! Just because you can make the clouds go ooohhh, does not mean you have to blast it at every creature that starts with the letter H!"

"Sorry, Zazu." Kion spoke in his usual easygoing voice that suggested no regret. "Go wake the others, okay? I'll meet them down at the waterhole."

The hornbill grumbled something unintelligible and flew off in a second. Initially, the other Lion Guard members were to be awoken by their own family members, but Timon and Pumbaa at 5 AM... that plan was ultimately dropped.

Kion raced through the empty fields, his soft paws landing gently on the grass over and over again. However, before long, he slowed down and collapsed, out of breath. Because of his duties to the Lion Guard, Kion had adapted to a strict schedule, but because of his duties to the Lion Guard, he'd also had to break them entirely yesterday, when he ended up in the Outlands due to an accident.

Alone and lost between jagged cliffs, he'd set foot in hyena territory.

Territorial as ever, the lone scavenger who lived in that area had approached him at his most vulnerable moment. Her name was Jasiri. And she was a friend. His friend. She'd saved him from Janja and his thugs and led the way back to the Pride Lands. But that was insignificant when compared to the lesson she'd taught him. Sisi ni sawa.

No wonder he was still exhausted. It was only fortunate that he still had about 15 minutes to spare before Zazu got everyone here. Who would he wake first? Hopefully not Fuli, the cheetah would be here in seconds. If she found him sleeping, he'd never hear the end of it.

"Psst!"

Lost in a titanic inner struggle between dreams and reality, Kion didn't initially hear anything.

"PSST!"

Kion's head jerked upwards, adrenaline shocking him back into full awareness. "Who's there?! Stop fooling around!"

"PSS-SST!" The voice whispered, with more intensity. Staring left, towards the direction of the voice, Kion saw nothing... until a familiar and even from the distance, a distinctly frustrated-looking small black paw waved at him from a thick bush right near the Little Jungle, inviting him.

Kion smiled, but it was a worried smile. He ran over to the paw, revealing his new friend. "Jasiri, what are you-?" he started to ask, before Jasiri pulled him down under cover with a fierce look on her face.

"Are you crazy?! Do you want them to see me? I'm sure that'll go down well the King!" she hissed angrily.
The lion prince's face fell. "Jasiri, you're my friend. I'm sure the King won't mind-," Kion began to explain, but the pent-up hyena didn't give her a chance.

"Use your brain, prince of haircuts! If the zebras and the antelopes notice me, your dad's gonna have a riot on his hands!"

"Then why are you here?!" the prince of haircuts said, finally getting to the point. At that, Jasiri's mouth fell shut and the two awkwardly stared at each other until a clipped, naturally authoritative tone pierced the air at precisely the wrong time.

"Yes, I'd quite like to know that as well."

Zazu glared at Jasiri.

"Hyenas are forbidden to hunt in the Pride Lands. Shoo, shoo! Kion, do something!" he continued, flapping his wings in a vain effort to get Jasiri to move. Kion and Jasiri shared a mutually bemused expression before the former turned to the agitated majordomo.

"Zazu, leave her alone. Jasiri's my friend." he said.

If Zazu was irritated before, he was downright angry now. "Friend!? Friend?! Kion, you know better than to consort with these scavengers! If you weren't here, she'd bite my head off!"

Jasiri cackled, the first time she'd been herself today. "I probably would." she said mock-threateningly.

"You see! How could you let this happen?! Oh, I must tell Simba about this!" Unfortunately, Zazu's tendency to speak to himself proved to be his literal downfall as Kion pinned the frenzied bird down. "Kion! Let go of me! I simply must tell Simba!"

"Why? Jasiri hasn't done anything! She's not hunting, she's..." he glanced at her. "She's here at my request."

That didn't help.

"Request?! REQUEST?! Oh, why can't you throw me in waterfalls like your father did?!" Zazu whined. "That was much less stressful. Let me remind you that your duty is to..."

"... guard the Pride Lands, in and out. But Jasiri isn't going to hurt anyone. Her being here is a minor infraction at worst and I'll take care of it. Are we clear?"

Zazu had the sourest expression that Kion had ever seen on his face, but gave in. "Oh, alright. I suppose you know what you're doing."

"I suppose so." he curtly added. "Also, tell the other Guard members I'm going to be late. "

After Zazu flew away, Kion turned back to Jasiri to be rewarded with an admiring, sly grin. "What?"

"Nothing." she said, although her body language betrayed otherwise. "Just... never seen a male with that sort of a backbone before."

Kion rolled his eyes. "Let's not get back to the male talk. What are you doing here, Jasiri?"

Suddenly, the arrogance dropped out of the hyena again and she sniffed the air. "Well, we... eh... we made a deal, didn't we? Heh heh. I told you, I'll come and visit."

"Yeah, we did. Yesterday."

"Well... I'm here. Visiting. So brighten up! Let's go do something wicked!" Jasiri said. Making sure that nobody was looking, she leaped out of the bushes and sprinted away with Kion racing after her, his exhaustion long forgotten.