What Have I Told You About Them?

Kovu made the last-moment decision to follow his training. Mother always said to stand tall and show your teeth—he was Kovu, and he was the Chosen One, and even if he felt like hiding in the river...well, maybe making his face as ferocious as possible would help him feel more ferocious. It did help to use his muscles instead of just sitting there like a shaky reed. He poimcdd through the nearest shrub, in the direction of the thing that was scaring him.

The adopted son’s heartbeat leapt up for a moment at the blur of warm color and lion-scent...but then it strengthened to the rhythm of confidence. Just a cub! His size. Way easier to fight than a Pridelander as big as his brother. His snout crinkled in another vicious snarl.

Do what you must! Let them feel fear before they taste your claws. That was how he’d been trained to confront anyone on this side of the stream, one day. Wouldn’t Mother be proud to see that his first encounter would go just like she taught him.

But...

Green eyes opened out of their glare, and his ears and tail floated up with a confusion that tilted his head and slid his budding mane to one side.

That wasn’t how he expected a weak, soft-clawed sunshine pride member to look. The sunset coated girl in front of him didn’t match Scar’s description of ‘brute strength’ he’d been anticipating, either. She was definitely from here. But why were her ears so droopy? She looked afraid. Yeah, that was what he’d been going for; it didn’t give the Chosen One the glow of pride he normally got.

Green eyes squinted under very confused eyebrows. Was he imagining it? Or did this other cub have stripes on her cheek fur? Wait...no, her fur was just wet in tracks. And it hadn’t rained. 

Had she been crying? 

Kovu had never seen a lion cry before.

Before he could even figure that out, the Pridelander’s face totally changed again. And she laughed. Kovu took a step back involuntarily, abashed. Her laugh was very much NOT like Vitani’s cackle, or Mother’s chuckles. It was light and high, and weirdly bubbly. Did all Prideland lions laugh like that? He hoped not; he’d get in trouble for liking it.

Hang on, what was she laughing at? Him?

Outrage fluffed the dark cub’s hackles and dropped his head beneath his shoulders again. Just a cub! Nobody spoke to the Chosen One like that! But of course, this was what Zira had always said. Pridelanders coddled their cubs and treated them like babies. They didn’t know the first thing about training and fighting because they were soft. She looked soft.

“Oh yeah?!” He flexed his claws the way he’d been shown with ever step forward, prowling into the newcomer’s personal space. She smelled like sun-warmed rocks and other things he’d never encountered before, but he ignored it. If he was scary enough, she’d eat her words.

”Well, I’m a lot tougher than you,” Growled the Outsider. He switched from crowding her to leering, trying his best to look like Scar. Lidded eyes, toothy smile, voice that made you want to crawl under rocks and stop being judged. ”Guess you Pridelanders always scream like cornered gazelles when you’re scared, ha!”

He didn’t like this shrinking feeling inside of him. He usually got it from Mother or Scar, but they were allowed to give it to him because they were Mother and Scar. Kovu wouldn’t let this Pridelander shrivel him up—she should be the one feeling small in front of the Chosen One![/i]

The Scar-like mask dropped from Kovu's face. Now the tufted cub looked only stunned. That laughing! She wasn't afraid of him? Were Pridelanders...not as soft as Mother always said? Or was this the girl cub's version of brutishness, like Scar always said?

It didn't feel like either of those things.

Kovu didn't give himself time to worm into the impression he was getting and figure the female out.

Now not only was she laughing at him, she was threatening him. Did he not look like the Chosen One? The heir to Pride Rock? Scar's 'black soul' personified, the fall of Mufasa's pride, all of the things Zira always said he was? Either she was very stupid or even cockier than Vitani.

When she called him ugly, maroon eye spots narrowed to slits. A hairball of a snarl rumbled out of his throat, and training had nothing to do with it. This, the Outsider understood immediately. Without another word, he launched forward, intending to pin the girl cub down. “That's it! Hrr-ggrraahhr!”

Maybe he wasn't scary enough or maybe she was just...weirdly brave. But when he was done, she'd know exactly who he was and why calling an Outlander names was a very bad idea!

The wave of satisfaction that crashed over Kovu when the girl was under his feet nearly washed away the small feeling. Not quite, though. The sting of being called ugly and looked down on was new for a cub pampered by the Cursed Thorns in their way, and it wasn’t leaving so easily.

Maybe if he rubbed it in a little more.

Wrinkles of a snarl appeared on either side of the Outsider’s sharp nose. They didn’t leave when that growl turned into a toothy grin of triumph. Ha! She did look scared. Or...maybe just surprised. Since the dark lion still didn’t feel happy about whatever expression was on his victim’s face, he chalked it up to surprise. After all, Zira was always talking about the ‘joy of vengeance.’ This was vengeance! She had called him ‘ugly.’

His ears swooped back. And a slow mole?!

“Huh! Yeah, a weak Pridelander!” Kovu sneered, feeling his lashing tail flick one of her hind legs beneath him. As if to prove his point, she went all limp. Kovu relaxed enough to puff his dusky chest. He was trying to decide on what could be more insulting than that to call her when she kicked.

Green and yellow eyes popped. The Chosen One found himself flying through the air, crashing into the thorns at the edge of their tiny, slightly less-choked section of dirt. “Guh!” Left a pair startled, open jaws. Worse than the prickles of the thorns stabbing into his coat was the feeling. That ‘being small’ feeling was so big, it almost blotted out another one that was confusing Zira’s son.

It was fluttery, like the moth he’d once let go after pouncing on. It had something to do with the fact that the ‘weak Pridelander’ had caught him off guard. Plus he was pretty sure she could kick even harder than Vitani.

Mother had squashed that moth. She told him mercy was weakness.

Kovu blinked out of his stupor. He was on his back, facing the clear Pridelands sky. He gritted his teeth and tossed back and forth like a dreamer caught in a nightmare, but the thorns had him pretty well snared. They snapped and seemed to growl back. This was the worst. Not only was it embarrassing and pointy, but if she could do that, this female would definitely be on him again in a second. He had to strike back!

Kovu’s thrashing intensified. The angry rustling of the black thorns didn’t matter; the more important sound was his enemy getting closer. It didn’t matter how much the thorns hurt—going home to Mother having been beaten by a Pridelander would be way worse. Not gonna happen!

He snarled, ears pinned to his head (and earning a new point of pain from the branch beneath his skull in the process.) If he could sound vicious enough she might back off. But...after getting knocked backward, the green-eyed cub couldn’t really imagine that happening anymore.

The heart under the fluffy tan chest thrummed with adrenaline, frustration, and a little panic so that he almost didn’t catch what she’d said. Arrogant tone! When he got out he’d claw it right out of her—

Wait.

Princess? Her territory? This was Mufasa’s heir? No way, she was his age. So...Simba’s daughter? He’d heard from Vitani that Simba had a son. But a daughter? Was she lying? She sounded sure of herself, but so did Nuka, and he was the worst at everything he thought he was great at.

If she was telling the truth, he was about to get clawed for sure. He swallowed, but refused to show further weakness. He yanked one arm, trying to get it free enough to lash out. Well. This was going to hurt—but maybe if his opponent moved him around enough he could wiggle loose while she was pummeling him. Then he’d show her. He had to. Mother would be furious if she knew he’d come this close to Simba’s cub and not done what he’d been trained to...

The thorn snaring one of his ears popped free, because both cupped forward. Square jaw dropped again. Green gaze squinted under one scrunched brow. Had she said what he thought she’d said? “Help?” grunted the frozen heir quietly. He was baffled. He could see her face from his stuck position by this time. She sounded sarcastic. But even an Outlands kid could see that she didn’t look mocking, in fact, her eyes were all...soft. Kovu stared, dumbfounded.

The green gaze flickered behind quick blinks. Kovu tried to process what he was seeing—hearing—feeling.

She was going to help him? They’d been fighting like, two seconds ago? Was this a pity thing? Or part of being a soft Pridelander? Her kicking him had not felt soft. But this did.

So why wasn’t he disgusted?

Maybe it was the thorn currently embedding itself in his tailbone.

The tufted cub suddenly realized he wasn’t controlling his face very carefully. That was against his training. A wash of fear came over Kovu. What would Mother think? Taken off guard by Simba’s daughter, stuck prone and helpless like a fish on claws before her, accepting pity even after he’d been insulted...!

What if she found out? Greater than wanting to save face was the desire to get out of his current position. Kovu’s tail managed to flick in decision. He tried to scowl, but his mouth wouldn’t do it. Not while his eyes were busy trying to read every smooth line and whisker on the Princess’s face. Okay, so he would promise. And then as soon as she let him up, he’d take advantage of her squishy feelings. Yeah, that was it. That was what Vitani or Nuka or Zira would do. It was what Scar would expect.

The Chosen One blinked twice more, then focused on wriggling one arm free again. He reached out, just barely, from the thicket that was tangling him up. “Uh—okay. Okay! Lemme out.” He gritted his teeth, trying to push his paw even closer to her, and deliberately sheathed the black claws he’d always been taught to show off.

When Kiara tugged at Kovu, he busied himself with twisting his hips and shoulders, trying to loosen the thorny hold. Satisfaction lifted the round ears. He was slowly but surely coming free.

The brambles grasped and clutched at him, but the dark lion hooked his wrist around Kiara’s all the more determinedly. With a sudden tearing-of-fur sound, Kovu found himself popping free from the shadows of vines and thumping into the tiny patch of sun beside the Princess, on his belly.

Kovu’s eyes were closed so he could shake his head, shaggy fur atop his head and cheeks flicking tiny black particles. In that spare second he unsheathed his claws and scooted his hind legs beneath himself a little more squarely. He fully intended to pounce, and his teeth were even gritted when he opened his eyes.

The Chosen One was halfway up when he hesitated. Green gaze locked onto the Pridelander’s smile. ”There you go,” her voice didn’t sound defensive or gloating. At least, not like Kovu’s siblings might’ve been. The tear marks on her cheeks had dried and Kovu suddenly realized how out of place the thorns around her looked, too. She was the opposite of camouflaged, standing like a sunbeam breaking through the Indian Jungle canopy. Kovu knew he himself was colored much better to hide in the brambles. If they weren’t here, and the Pridelands were back to normal, would the lushness Scar always described fit Kiara perfectly? Or would her pelt still stand out the same way her actions wouldn’t fit right in Kovu’s brain?

She’d helped him.

”I think the words your looking for are ‘thank you, oh great and powerful Princess Kiara.’”

Green eyes flickered behind quick blinks. Oh. The cub realized he had been staring, his head tipped on one side, his claws relaxed. He’d meant to go back on his promise. But...his legs had never felt less like pouncing. Kovu imagined Zira’s scornful face and tried to reach down, get to that ‘blackness’ she always said made him powerful and ruthless like a true King. Instead, all he could manage was wrinkling one corner of his nose. It was supposed to look disgusted, but actually Kovu just felt befuddled. Scar never looked this way. But he couldn’t help it.

“Puh!” Managed the dark Prince, looking to one side. “Y-you’re just lucky I promised. Otherwise I’d have you pinned again!” The Chosen One lifted his chin arrogantly.