the cave.  They climbed up and tip-toed into the cave, and pretended to be asleep. 

      Nala slowly began to open her eyes.  She got up and stretched, then yawned.  She remembered Kovu and Kiara weren't there when she fell asleep, so she started to look around the cave for them.  She smiled when she saw them soundly sleeping by the cave's entrance. 

     She slowly walked past them and walked to the edge of Pride Rock.  She looked out to the kingdom that now belonged to her daughter and her mate.  She was very proud of her daughter, she'd brought two different kingdoms together as one, and because of that, they now had a stronger pride.

     Nala could hear someone walking towards her.  She turned and saw Kiara walking to her.  "Good morning, Kiara."  She greeted.  Kiara nodded and nuzzled her mother, but quickly stopped, not wanting for her mother to catch the scent of Kovu all over her.

     Kiara slowly stept of few feet from her mother.  She was nervous about what her mother might ask her, even though Kovu was her mate, and it would happen eventually.  But, as it turned out, Nala just ignored the smell; just guessing they'd nuzzled eachother recently, and the thought never came to her mind.

     "Why were you out so late last night?"

     Kiara kept looking out into the distance, not wanting to look at her mother.  "Just...Showing Kovu all the...sights."  Kiara said, knowing that she technically wasn't lieing, she did show Kovu the waterfall.

    Mother and daughter continued their conversations happily and waited for the rest for the rest of the pride to wake up.  It wasn't long before everyone awake, and it was time for Simba and Nala to announce it was time for the hunt, which everyone was happy to hear. 

     They set out and it wasn't long before they'd killed a large zebra,  the pride feasted for hours before finishing their meal.  They all began to head back to Pride Rock to rest off their food, but on the way back Kiara felt a little sick, and slowed down.

     She ended up at the very back of the pride, next to her new sister-in-law, Vitani, who noticed how sick Kiara looked.  "Are you feeling ok, Kiara?"  She asked, in a hushed voice, not wanting to alert the others.  Kiara just nodded and tried to walk faster.

     A few weeks past and Kiara seemed to be fine.  But she was very thirsty and was always by the small lake that was just in front of Pride Rock.  She didn't understand why, but it would soon be clear.

     One early morning, Kiara; being the only one awake; sat on the edge of Pride Rock, she felt very thirsty all of a sudden, so she walked down to get a drink.  She reached the lake and began to lap up the water.  Once she quenched her thirst, she turned to leave. 

      But as she did so, she felt very sick again and a sharp pain came from her belly.  She gasped in pain and fell to the ground.  She cound't stand, it hurt to much to move, she gasped again as the pain seemed to get worse. 

      Nala woke to the sound of someone crying.  She looked around, not seeing anything.  She walked out of the cave and looked around, she then saw Kiara, and ran to her.

     Kiara looked up to see her mother running to her.  "Kiara! What happened?!" Nala asked, franticly.  "I-Idon't know!  I just felt sick and then my stomach started hurting really bad!"  She cried.  Nala looked at Kiara's stomach, she rested her paw on it, that made Kiara yell in pain.

      Nala closed her eyes, smiled and chuckled to herself.  "What is...so..funny?"  Kiara asked, between the shots of pain that seemed to come and go. Nala nuzzled Kiara's face and smiled.

     "Kiara, your expecting cubs."

     Kiara's eye's widened.  "Y-...You mean...I'm, I'm pregnant?" 

     Nala nodded and Kiara rested her head on her paws and smiled.  "I'm..Pregnant!"  She whispered to herself.  She thought about that night with Kovu by the waterfall and then shot her head up.  "Kovu!  Mom, should I,,, tell... him?"

     "Oh yes!  Yes!  Of course!"  Nala cheered.

     Nala helped Kiara up and they walked back to the cave.  Most of the pride was still asleep, but Kovu, Simba and a few others were awake.  Nala walked back up Pride Rock, but Kiara stayed behind and called Kovu down to her.  He trotted down and stood in front of her, with a puzzled look he asked if everything was ok, she smiled and nodded.

     "What are they doing?" Simba asked Nala, wondering why Kiara wanted to talk to Kovu, alone.

     "Just wait...You'll see in just a few seconds."  Nala explained.

     Kovu was very puzzled as to why Kiara seemed so happy, yet she looked at if she'd been crying.  "Are you...feeling ok, Kiara?" He asked again.  She nodded again. 

     She leaned in closer to him, and whispered in his ear.  "I'm pregnant."

     Kovu's jaws dropped.  "Y-You kidding!!"  He smiled, getting into a playful pose; front paws and face close to the ground, and rump in the air.  She smiled "Nope!  I really am!"  She giggled.  Kovu jumped with joy and rapped his arms around Kiara's neck. 

     Meanwhile, Simba stared at them, confused.  What was Kovu so happy about?

     Nala looked up at Simba, she didn't get why he didn't know what was going on.  That was the same thing he did when she told him she was having cubs.

       "Simba... Ki-Kiara is...pregnant." 

       Simba closed his eyes.  He was happy yet sad.   His little Kiara was growing up, he couldn't believe it.  But he smiled and looked down at Kiara, she looked at him,  he nodded and walked back in the cave.  Kiara nuzzled Kovu again and smiled widely.

      The next few weeks went by very fast, Kiara was very close to having her cubs.  Her sister-in-law, Vitani, was also expecting, but it was very hard for her.  She didn't even know who the father was.  Kiara was always their to comfort her. 

     Then it happened.

     Kiara and Vitani were out on a walk.  They did this quite often, but they'd never wondered this far before.  It was just starting to get dark, and they'd started to leave.

       "Where do you think your going, Kiara?"

      The two lionesses turned, only to find a very large, dark colored, dirty, and beat up male lion.  He dirt all over his body, and had scars all over his face, but the worst one was over his eye, he had three scars over his eye and they'd turned it blood red.

     "Who are you?" Kiara asked.

     "Don't you recognize me?" 

     She stared at the strange male.  Then it hit her.  It was one of the male lions that had tried to take over the pride when she was very young.  He'd fought Simba, and used a move that was so bad, it was 'forbidden' to kill him.  It didn't work, but it did hurt him.  But Kiara (being about a year old, but in present time now about three (teen for a lion)) attacked him and gave him those scars.  He was banished and promised to get revenge on her.

     He began to circle the two females.  Vitani growled at him.  He growled back, much louder, and lunged at them. 

     He grabbed Kiara, knocking her to the ground, Vitani grabbed him by his ear and tried to pull him off, only to get slapped by his huge claws.  "Go get help!!" Kiara pleaded, kicking the male off her.  Vitani nodded and ran back to Pride Rock as fast as she could.

     Kiara growled at this strange male.  He lept at her again, but this time, he hit her stomach.  She screamed in pain and fell the the ground.  He grabbed her by the back of the neck and through her about three feet away.  He walked over to her, she was out cold.

     Thinking she was dead, he dragged her for miles, until growing tired and leaving her to die in an old, and very small cave.

     --

     Vitani had told the others about the male lion.  Simba, Kovu, Nala and many others went searching for her, only to find a puddle of blood.  They searched for her for hours, deep into the night, and into the next day, until they went home to rest and come out again.

      --

     Kiara woke from the pain in her stomach.  It had to be time, she looked around, she was alone.  Her heart pounded, but they cubs were coming. 

     Just a few hours later, she had three cubs by her side, but, something was wrong, two of them weren't moving.  She desperately tried to wake them by