Siblings a Few Times Removed

((Closed to Kion; March sixth))


She didn't like returning here anymore.

It reminded her too much of him, of Kovu. It was where she and Vitani had burried him; where she'd stayed to be close to him the whole while she'd been plotting her revenge on her father; where his ghost had returned to torment her. And ever since, Kiara had avoided the caves like they contained some kind of awful plague. The words and his judgement would have been bad enough-

Worse had been the fact that she just couldn't reconcile the ghost who was reviled by what she'd done with the young male who she had cared so deeply for; and yes, even loved. But the spirit had worn his face, had spoken in his voice, and had torn her already-damaged heart clean in two. He'd spurned her, despised her for the blood on her paws, in a way she would never have imagined, never dreamt he was capable of acting.

At least, not towards her.

Perhaps the fact that she struggled to reconcile the two faces would have been her first clue that something was up with the apparition. If she'd stopped to think about it for long enough, rather than shoving the painful memories away, into the back of her mind.


Still, she'd needed to retreat to some kind of sanctuary to lick her wounds after the battle yesterday. At least metaphorically speaking; she couldn't reach the spear-wound between her shoulder-blades to do much of the kind. All the same, once the adrenaline of the fight and of fear had worn of, she'd become aware that the wound was a mess. It would probably heal in time, it wasn't a vastly deep gash; but at present it pulled painfully every time she moved her right shoulder. The best she could do was just lie still for a couple of days, to allow the worst of it to mend on its own.

The crystal caves were the only safe place she could think of for that.

At least this time, she had blessed peace. The spectre of Kovu was conspicous only by its absence; and she'd found a small pool of water to lay down by, so she could lap up enough to sustain herself without getting up and agitating her wound. There had been no other intrusions either; she might have heard very distant pawsteps a couple of times during the night, but they had never come near the cavern she'd picked out.

She was hardly happy here; not when she had so much time alone with the confused jumble of her thoughts and memories of the past months, years. But as a temporary solace, it was as good as she could hope for.


Or--

Not so completely alone. Kiara had been frowning down at her reflection in the small puddle, blurred and enveloped in shadow as it was, when she'd caught the scuff of paws on the stone, much closer than anything she'd heard before. The young lioness' head came up, her amber eyes piercing the darkness as they reflected what little light a few of the crystals seemed to generate.

There was definitely someone close by. Smaller than her, if she was any judge; about the size of a cub, or one of those dogs that seemed to get everywhere since the war had begun. At this distance, she couldn't make out details; and for now, she didn't rise to move closer, so as not to agitate the wound between her shoulders.

"Who's there?"

She was glad to hear that her voice was under control; though it wasn't quite a challenge, it also didn't betray any of the fear and uncertainty she'd spent months wrestling with.

"Don't try to hide, I can hear you there."

Unbeknownst to Kiara, Kion had entered the cavern whilst she busied herself with her own matters. The golden cub had claimed the crystal caves as his own personal hiding spot and had chosen that day to sneak from Priderock to visit his secret sanctuary.

After finding out about his imminent betrothal he had been consciously trying to avoid the other cubs of the pride...particularly Uhuru if what his father and Aunt Kula got their way. The thought of being forced to marry his cousin made his skin crawl in revulsion. Kion decided that when he became king he would definitely do away with that stupid tradition and maybe tell Uhuru she would have to marry someone else, he couldn't imagine she would want to marry him either. At least if he hid here he could be free of the others and his father's plans for him for a few hours maybe...assuming he didn't send Aunt Zukki or Aunt Sabini or someone out after him.

Kion moved further and further into the crystalline cavern without really thinking or seeing where his paws were taking him. He was caught up in his own inner thoughts and simply moved deeper, his paws kicking small stones ahead of him as he continued to walk, following the twists and turns of the underground chamber until the dark rock gave way to beautiful sparkling crystals. With a loud, resonating ping, his paw kicked a stone into a nearby crystal growing out of the ground.

"Who's there?" Kion's ears flattened against his skull and he quickly ducked behind a large crystal in hopes of hiding. Caught. He'd be in so much trouble now. "Don't try and hide, I can hear you there."

Reluctantly, Kion stepped out from his hiding spot to face the other person in the cave. He didn't realise there had been anyone here but him. He certainly hadn't been expecting a lioness...and one that he had never seen before. Yet, he couldn't place exactly why, the lioness's features felt almost familiar, like he had seen her before or she reminded him of someone he knew. She sort of resembled his grandmother if he squinted, perhaps, except her fur was scruffy and unkempt looking. His father had warned him about approaching strangers, especially strange lions, but this lioness seemed too...familiar to be a threat. Plus, from the look of things she was also wounded so if he needed to run he might be able to outpace her and get back out of the caverns before she actually caught him.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he questioned her back, taking another step forward and puffing out his chest, drawing himself up in an attempt to look bigger and fiercer than he actually was. Whoever she was, she didn't need to know that he technically shouldn't be there either. "I'm Kion and this is my spot!"

"I'm-- Just resting here a while."

She had been about to say recovering, then thought better of it. The cub could possibly tell that she was wounded, but she didn't need to confirm that, or to give him any more reason to think she wasn't in the prime of health. It wasn't that Kiara thought, really, that such a young cub could pose much threat to her; but it also wasn't wise to go about broadcasting your weaknesses to every strange lion you met. Especially from a position when either Pridelander or Outlander could regard her as an enemy.

Kion; she frowned as he stepped forward, her amber gaze running swiftly over his form. His attempts at making himself look bigger didn't go unnoticed, but she didn't react to it either. Now matter how much he drew himself up, she still just saw a small cub; and while in another timeline Kiara might have felt some affection for the youngster, at present she was concerned more about how much of a threat he could be than anything else.

If not directly so, then by giving her location away to others who had a score to settle with her.

Her instinct was to identify him as a Pridelander; he looked far too well-groomed to be of Scar and Zira's army. In fact - and this gave the adolescent some pause - he looked rather like Simba, in all truth. Though she'd never seen her father as a cub, Kiara could still recognise eyes, chin, and other features from his fully-grown self; and in better light, would surely have picked up on his fur colour too.

A cousin? Maybe even her half-brother?

Though she wouldn't guess at that much out loud. The name Kiara would probably spark far too much trouble if she brought it up now, especially if Kion carried word of it back to the rest of the pride. Rather, she resorted to her old name, her outsider name; that while she didn't think of herself by it anymore, still made for a useful alias.

"I'm Shani. And if this spot's yours, you didn't mark it well enough, Pridelander."

It was only a guess at where he was from; but Kiara still felt like it had a pretty good chance of being right. And even if not, it was at least teasing out a little more about him.

And she wasn't going to be bullied into moving by him, that was for sure. Not so much out of pettiness - once, her young self might have acted as such for entirely that reason, but she'd long since grown past that - but because she didn't want to aggravate her wound more. It felt to her like it was already thinking of beginning to mend, though that could have been wishful thinking; but in either case she knew that lying still was better for it than getting up would be.

So for now she would simply let the conversation keep going, such as it was, until she had some better idea what was coming of it.

Kion scowled at her, his tail lashing back and forth like a serpent in his irritation. Of all the spots in the Pridelands this lioness could have chosen to rest...she had to choose his hiding spot. The one place where he was assured he could be by himself without constant supervison or risk of being discovered...until now.

"You shouldn't be here at all, Outlander." Kion snapped back at her. He knew enough to know that only Outlanders referred to his pride as "Pridelanders" plus he'd never seen a lioness in his own pride look so scruffy and unkempt. She might be a passing rogue but the comment on his pride made him even more indignant. If this lioness was indeed an Outlander, like he had just accused her of, he knew he should turn and run back to the safety at Priderock. Yet Kion stood his ground instead, unwilling to let this strange lioness cow him. Perhaps he was more foolish than brave as he'd been told before by the adults.

Instead, Kion marched forward and towards Shani rather than away. He wasn't scared. If she was wounded like he suspected then he'd still be able to outrun her especially in the twisting dark tunnels that formed the caves.

With a massive huff, the golden cub threw himself on top of Shani, draping himself across her middle, in hopes that perhaps he could irritate her into leaving. Besides, he wasn't going to give his hiding spot up without a fight and if Shani didn't like it then that was tough. Kion was the prince and this was his homeland, not her's, so he had more right to be here and claim the caverns as his own.

"This is still my spot so shift over." he grumbled.

"The caves are neutral ground; I can be wherever I want."

She wasn't exactly rising to his bait; still, there was no denying that something about his response was getting under her skin. It was true that the Crystal Caves were set close to the Pridelands, but their entrance was still outside of her father's territory and Outlanders had come and gone within them plenty of times without ever being seriously contested, as far as she knew.

Until this cub had shown up, at least.

Wary eyes followed him as he padded closer, as if he really did own the place. Whether he was brave or stupid, Kiara wasn't sure she could tell; but in either case, he seemed strangely fearless. Her younger self, Kiara knew, would have had reservations about approaching an almost full-grown stranger - apparently, however, Kion had nothing of the sort.

That became abundantly clear when he dumped himself on top of her. Missing her injured shoulder, thankfully; but even so, the added weight further down her back pulled on the wound, shooting a fresh wave of pain through the area. Gritting her teeth in a grimace, Kiara hissed softly, shifted as best she could to regard Kion in his new spot.

Frankly irritated; although she couldn't quite deny there was something about his boldness - even if it was foolish to the extreme - that she could hardly help but admire.

Didn't mean she was going to roll over at his command, however. Even on the fairly unlikely chance that she was looking at her half-brother, she no longer belonged to the Pridelands; and she wouldn't acknowledge their future king as her own.

"Did no-one teach you not to climb all over strange lionesses? You might not like the outcome."

So far, she hadn't moved from beside the puddle of water that she had claimed as her own. Whether Kion hadn't noticed its presence, had forgotten it, or simply hadn't expected much in the way of resistance, Kiara didn't know; but whatever the case, it was perfectly suited for her purposes. Shifting abruptly - ignoring the fresh spike of pain it sent through her wound - the rogue lioness tipped Kion off her back as best she could, aiming to land him straight in the puddle.

It wasn't a deep pool, by anyone's standards, but still. Very few lions liked water; and it would certainly be wet enough to teach the youngster a lesson.



((ooc: Fffft, I love the way they're alredy bickering like siblings without even realising that's what they are XD))

"Nuh uh!" Kion argued "It's Pridelander territory! Everyone knows the caves run under the Pridelands."

Shani was right, however, technically the actual entrance to the cave lay just outside the borders controlled by his pride but he wasn't about to admit that any time soon. The cave system ran directly underneath the Pridelands for miles and he suspected that they might even link up with the caves under Priderock itself. It was his territory and that was all Kion cared about. 

Before he could argue further, however, Shani shifted violently to the side and Kion felt himself slip off her and into the puddle beside her. The brief shock of the cold, wet water had Kion moving faster than he ever imagined possible, darting to the other side of the cavern in a golden blur. He looked like a drowned rat with his dripping fur and red tuft plastered to his head. He fixed Shani with a glare so withering he half expected her to crumble to dust on the spot but unfortunately she stayed where she was. 

"That's not fair!" he whined, shivering against the chill that came with being wet "That was a dirty trick and you know it!"

He was being petulant but Kion didn't care. He wasn't used to being so blatantly disrespected and humilated. He was a prince, after all, and that afforded him some measure of respect which this lioness clearly didn't care a whit about. He'd get her back, he'd make her sorry that she ever crossed him and so a devious look stole over his face. Again, Kion bounded towards Shani with mischief written all over his face and was quick to shake the water from his fur all over her in an act of revenge.

If he was going to get wet then so was she. That'd teach her!

((I know! Isn't it heartbreaking great?))

"The world's full of dirty tricks; you should learn to expect them."

She couldn't help it; even in spite of herself, in spite of everything, a little smirk rode the corner of Kiara's maw at how drenched the cub looked. Doubtless, if it were herself or someone she cared about, she wouldn't have found it anything even remotely close to funny; but as far as she was concerned, Kion had simply had it coming to him. He wasn't as big as he evidently thought he was; and better for him if she was the one to teach him that, rather than someone who had real intent to hurt him.

Even so, she couldn't help an idle thought, as she noticed the cub shivering, of poor kid.

She abandoned that sentiment moments later as he shook himself all over her.

She winced back instinctively from the abrupt shower. A protest was on her tongue in seconds, and Kiara had to forcefully stop herself from voicing it. After everything she'd suffered through the course of the war, a little water was nothing, and she didn't feel she could go back to acting like a little cub herself. It wasn't that she thought of herself as above that so much as it was she just felt like... like she'd burned the bridge to that part of herself a long time ago. She could no longer go back to that innocent child she'd once been; and to act as though she could now felt, more than anything, like an insult to the memory of that pure-hearted youngster who Scar and Zira's training had crushed.

What it was about this Kion that threatened to drag such a side back out of her, then, the former princess hadn't a clue.

She huffed slightly. Frustrated less by Kion's action than by her own internal confusion. And the fact that, in all honesty, she didn't much want to send Kion away, in any case. As much of a pain in the tail as he had already proven himself, the company was at least taking her mind off everything else; and, in fact, she couldn't deny that she felt an ellusive something towards the kid.

Why that was, she still couldn't pin down. Maybe it was simply because he was still just a kid.

"Okay, truce? You play nice, and I'll share the spot and won't soak you again." Although not as if that would make much difference to him at present; he still looked half-drowned. Still, shaking her own pelt after Kion's shower, the lioness shifted far enough to allow room for the cub, if he was trusting enough to accept her offer.

"The world's full of dirty tricks; you should learn to expect them."

"That doesn't make it fair!" he growled, trying to shake some more water from his fur before he was chilled to the bone "Gramma was right. Outlanders don't have any honour."


Kion shot a glare at the lioness. He didn't want to admit that she had a point at all and that he should have seen that coming. Still he wasn't about to show her that his pride was wounded by her trick...even if he did get some slight revenge by soaking her in return.

Kion looked at her, suspicion written clearly over his face. Was this another trick? She said it wasn't but how far could he actually trust her? She was an Outlander, or at least appeared to be, and he knew that they were all evil and would probably hurt him given half the chance...and yet...she had plenty of opportunity to chase him or tackle him to the ground or anything but hadn't. Then the chill came again causing him to shudder and he tenatively padded over to Shani.

"You swear?" he asked, his face betraying his uncertainty "Truce? You won't hurt me or throw me into puddles again?"

Better to be totally safe than sorry. She could still betray her word though but Kion knew that any lion could do that, Outlander or not. 

Outlanders don't have any honour, hm?

Her initial instinct, at least once upon a time, might have been to jump to the defensive and contradict him. That had been when she was a young cub; a young cub, moreover, who had been convinced of the rightness of her cause and methods. The months and the losses, however, had given her a much broader perspective since then.

And on the whole, she had to confess, there was a lot of truth to that sentiment. Not even the 'nice guys' of the Outlands - Kovu for instance, she immediately thought of - would fight entirely fair when it came down to that; and those who fit that category were few and far between. Most of her former fellows would use any trick at their disposal and then some - and if they did have a code of honour, it was one that no-one but themselves understood.

She should know; she'd been like that herself for the longest time. Quite possibly still was.

"She sounds like she has a lot of experience. Who is your gramma, anyway?"

The inquiry wasn't anything like malicious outlander prying for information. It was simply casual, almost as if Kiara was simply making conversation; although at the same time, with a slight tension in the tone as she anticipated an answer. Kiara hardly remembered many of the Pridelands lionesses anymore, besides her own mother and grandmothers, it had been so long; but she also had a suspicion or two. She doubted that Kion was her full brother, considering that insofar as she was aware, Nala and Simba weren't even on speaking terms, much less love-making terms - but that didn't mean he couldn't be her half-brother or her cousin.

And if he answered her, that would go a long way towards telling her that.

She shrugged as he demanded confirmation of her offer not being malicious. Considering that she had just drenched him, Kiara could hardly fault the little cub for the question; and although she had no intention or desire to hurt a kid, she still wanted to make plain that her good will wasn't entirely unconditional.

"As long as you're okay in return, then I promise I'll play nice."

Her initial irritation at him had faded, and Kiara found herself feeling almost a small degree of affection towards the cub. He was certainly bold, perhaps insensibly so; and that was strangely endearing in its way. It might be his way of trying to bluster and make himself seem bigger than he was, but beneath that she could recognise that he was really just a little kid.

It felt like a lifetime ago that she'd been that young and innocent.


She gifted him with a very small smile.

"If it makes you happier, I'm not an Outlander anymore. I... left them. I'm just a rogue now."

"I promise." Kion immediately answered, he had no desire to be thrown around by a nearly full-grown lioness. He hadn't exactly been the nicest to her so he supposed he kinda had that dip in the pool coming, no matter how rude Shani had been to him in return. He was a prince, after all, he should've minded his manners and been the bigger person. 

Seeing as he was going to fulfill his end of the terms, Kion stretched himself out beside Shani in hopes of stealing some of her body heat to stave off the chill that came with being wet. If she really was sincere in offering a truce then he should be relatively safe. He made sure to avoid her injury as best he could, not wanting to provoke her further. 

"Woah...." Kion's eyes lit up in wonder. So she was an Outlander and that piece of information should have sent the golden cub running to the safety of Priderock but he didn't move. Shani didn't seem so bad...apart from dunking him in the cold water and she hadn't hurt him yet. The idea of being a rogue didn't seem so horrible to him, in fact he'd heard his cousins talking about leaving the Pridelands when they were grown to make their way as rogues even if he didn't really get the option to up and leave. Still, Kion's eyes drifted to Shani's wound and he wondered if maybe being a rogue wasn't all that he and his cousins believed, after all, without a pride it would be difficult.

"My gramma is Sarabi." he answered, acknowledging her question "She's nice enough. She tells me stories and plays with me when my dad is too busy...there's Gramma Sarafina too but I like Gramma Sarabi better. She was the only person who liked to play with me before my cousins came along."

His ears drooped slightly, remembering the time before Aunt Kula and her pride's arrival. It had been so boring being cooped up in Priderock all alone with no cubs his own age. He was glad that he had his grandmother and her stories for company then. Now with all the other cubs and the adults arguing she didn't seem to have as much time to play or tell stories anymore. His favourite ones had always been about his grandfather, Mufasa.

"What about you? Do you have any family?" Kion returned. Even Outlanders had to have a family, right? People who cared about them and looked out for them. They couldn't all be as horrible as he had heard if Shani was any indication.