Chapter 7

Navigating through nightfall was easier said than done, and Kiara couldn't see where she was going at all. She was afraid of stepping on a thorn, or perhaps running into a boulder. At the same time, she needed to get back to Pride Rock quickly, as she didn't want her mother to begin worrying again. Kovu certainly wasn't going to bother sending out a search party...

Just thinking about him made the princess's blood boil. How she hated him...

...or at least tried desperately to believe she did.

She gazed up into the darkened sky, the stars still faintly visible through the clouds. Moonlight just wasn't there...

There was no light.

Fighting back the urge to cry out in frustration, Kiara trotted onward, missing a thorn by an inch without even knowing it.

"What happened, son?" Zira stood at the entrance to the cave, eyeing Kovu suspiciously as he climbed up to Pride Rock and strode past her with his head held high.

"Nothing." Kovu replied, turning around to stare at his mother blankly.

"Between you and Kiara? Nothing?" Zira pressed.

"No." Kovu shrugged.

Zira sighed. "I don't know what to think, Kovu."

"Why not?"

"Kiara's just as obnoxiously prideful as her father." Zira came to push Kovu down to his haunches, then sitting down in front of him to look him in the eyes. "You know I didn't care much for Cho...her with that imbecile brother of hers-"

"Don't speak a word about her! Or Bozo!" Kovu snapped, jumping to his paws and baring his fangs at Zira. "Get out of my sight!"

But before Zira could obey, Kovu was already storming back into the cave.

However, only a few heartbeats went by before the King came back out to eye Zira darkly. "Where are the lionesses?"

"What?" She snapped.

"There are no lionesses in that cave." He growled.

"Why would there be?" Zira leaned in to peer inside.

Indeed, every possible space within the stone room was empty.

What now?

Ah, there it is.

Kiara spotted the shadowed peek in the distance. Pride Rock was not hard to spot, even at night. Though it was usually silhouetted against the moon...

"Kiara?"

Kiara jumped. "M-Mom?"

"Get in here!"

She was pulled down into blackness, screaming the whole way down.

When she finally hit dirt ground, she looked up into a pair of familiar ocean blue eyes.

Nala helped her daughter to her paws. "Sorry about the drop." She murmured.

"What's going on here?" Kiara demanded, flipping around a few times to realize that all of the Pridelander lionesses were inside this strange, underground room.

"We're down here to figure out what to do." Sarafina replied firmly. Sarabi nodded from beside her, as did every other lioness.

"Why wasn't I informed?" Kiara asked.

"We couldn't go passing about plans anywhere near them." Nala growled. "It's better this way."

Kiara didn't reply. She just sat among her friends, shivering. It felt good to be with pride members and no one else, she had to admit. Even if she didn't have a clue on how to defeat these evil lions. She wouldn't deny the fact that Kovu's emerald gaze was still captured in the back of her mind...

"Wait," Nala navigated her way to the very middle of the group, lashing her tail a few times to catch each of their attentions'. "They need us, obviously. Why don't we just tell them that we won't come out until they release their control on us?"

"But that could take forever." Kiara pointed out, shaking her head to clear all thoughts of Kovu. "We could die."

"At least we'd be dying for our sanity," Sarabi muttered.

"And the sanity of the pride, no less." Sarafina added.

"Simba wouldn't have wanted that." Kiara whispered, tears springing into her eyes at the thought of her father having to watch each of them die one by one.

"None of us do." Nala brushed her muzzle to her daughter's ear.

"It'd make more sense to fight." Sauda growled, her claws easily heard clicking in and out.

Kiara turned to the battle-scarred lioness, feeling a rush of sympathy. "That wouldn't be any better."

Nala shrugged. "I still think my idea is best."

Sarabi and Sarafina came to stand beside the former queen. "As do we."

Kiara forced her paws into the dirt to keep herself from following. "There's got to be something in second best."

Sauda looked a tad disgruntled for a moment, but after a shake of her scar-infested dark pelt, she came to stand beside Nala as well. "If Kovu ever wants a full pride, he'll have to give in. Maybe we can learn to live in harmony with the freaky guy."

Kiara looked around helplessly. No other lioness got up to join her mother, but they were all nodding their heads in agreement.

The princess waited, hoping with all her might that someone might've joined her side...but no one did.

She sighed, casting her mother a level look. "I think it's foolish to starve ourselves for something they did. But if the whole pride agrees on it, I will not protest any further."

"How will we tell Kovu?" Sauda asked.

Still looking a bit startled by her daughter's words, Nala shook her head and looked around the room, "They'll all eventually find us. I'll bet Kovu already got the hint that we're rebelling against him." She sighed, settling her gaze upon her sandy colored paws. "I'm thanking the Great Kings we haven't got any cubs to look after."

Kiara couldn't help but nod vigorously in her agreement. Where would they be if they did have cubs to take care of? They surely couldn't starve them. They couldn't leave them anywhere near Kovu or Zira. As far as Kiara knew, Zira ripped cubs to shreds if she believed them to be useless or weak.

"Get comfortable." Nala instructed. "It's gonna be a long night."

"I don't understand this." Kovu hissed, stalking on next to Zira.

Zira rolled her eyes. "They're little rebels, those Pridelanders. But they'll learn. We tried being nice. We simply can't any longer though."

Kovu nodded. "...Vitani ought to report back soon." He lifted his head to stare up into the pitch black sky. "Hmph," He snorted in amusement. "If I know Kiara well enough, she'd rather die than get her fragile little paws dirty."

Oh yes. This is leading somewhere if you were wondering.

Sorry I took so long to update, once again. I'm trying to improve on other things, too.

Oh, and by the way, if you didn't understand what Kovu and Zira were talking about, with names mentioned such as, "Cho" and "Bozo", well...I might be having a prequel to this story, talking about Kovu's life growing up in the Outlands. Cho and Bozo are two important characters in that.

And ALSO, there might possibly be a sequel to this story. I'm not giving anything away, but...something is going to happen, and it might be needing a second part...

Anyway, now that I got that all off my chest...er, be waiting for the next chapter!