It was a special day in the Pridelands, the crowning of a new king and his choosing of his queen. King Simba had strolled upon some hyenas not long ago and they had not taken to him kindly. The wounds inflicted from the hyena clan had left Simba to join his father in the stars. He had named the only living male in the pride, Kovu, his heir. Today was the day Kovu would become the new king. The dark young lion sat at the edge of Pride rock and stared down at the crowd of animals before him "Today," He shouted down at them "I, as Simba wished, ascend the throne. As you all know I must choose a lioness to be my queen!" The whole of the kingdom thought he need not mention this, it was obvious that he would choose the old kings pretty little daughter Kiara, wouldn't he? What Kovu said next came as a shock "Nala!" He smiled "Would you do me the honor of being my lifelong mate, and my queen?"

The cream lioness stood shocked. Had her ears deceived her? Kovu was supposed to marry Kiara, wasn't he? Maybe it would be alright, Kovu had the been allowed to choose his mate. But why didn't he pick Kiara? Nala was confused but in the heat of the moment she shook her head and spoke out.

"Yes!"

The pride fell silent, and Kiara ran away, crying her eyes out. No one even noticed her, they were stunned. Nala walked and sat beside Kovu, and whispered in his ear "Why did you choose me?" Kovu just sat there and ignored her "Why not pick Kiara?" She said getting frustrated "I thought you loved my daughter!" The wind blew hard against them as they talked "I did!" Kovu sighed "I did. But she grew annoying on me, so playful and cheerful, whenever I tried to start a serious conversation with her she would say something stupid and cublike, whereas you Nala." Kovu smiled "You are wise and beautiful, smart and strong, Kiara is dirt compared to you, my dear!" Nala was shocked at how Kovu insulted her daughter so cruelly. Yet who could resist those dark green eyes and handsome looks. Nala had to admit, she had thought the same thing when she met the young male. Having dreams about him from time to time, her marriage with Simba had lost it spark long ago and this young lion was dangerous, yet gorgeous! "I'm glad you chose me," She said, nuzzling his chin "You're such a kind young lion, well minus what you just said about my daughter." Kovu licked her cheek and turned back to the crowd of animals "My friends," He shouted "I have chosen Nala to be my queen." Kovu had been trained for this moment, by Simba and his own mother, he knew what he had to do, he looked down at Nala and nodded.

"1,"

"2,"

"3!"

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"

Weeks later

The new king and queen were on a late night walk in the Pridelands, the sun was setting and the sky was pink and the cool air brushed against Nala's pale coat. For the short time they had been married the couple had hardly left each others side. They would be together from the start of the morning till they fell asleep curled around each other. Nala loved her new mate dearly, but she still felt sad from time to time about Simba. Yes their marriage had failed by the time Kiara was a teenager, but he was still her life long friend. Nala sighed softly at the thought of Simba, she missed him, from his looks and good nature to the strange breath he had from eating all those bugs. "Nala?" Kovu smiled, "Nala, dear, you look sad. What's wrong? Do you want to go home? Are you tired?" The lioness shook her head as tears filled her eyes "I miss him," She choked "I loved him, Kovu! Simba was my mate, and I just jumped at the opportunity to be yours just days after he died! I'm a terrible lioness!" The Queen's bright, sky-blue eyes filled with tears. Kovu saw his mate weeping and wiped the tears from her eyes with his soft pink tongue "Nala, I know you'll always love Simba, but one day you'll have to move on. It doesn't have to be today, but, I think I can help make you feel better." Kovu smiled, his green eyes shining brightly. Nala brushed her cheek against his mane,"I love you, Kovu." She said "Don't you forget that. You're such a kind lion, I have to admit, Simba never really knew what to say when I was sad. Unlike you..." Kovu smirked at Nala's words, "Oh yeah!" He laughed, pushing Nala down onto her back "He could never pin you unlike me, you have met your match, dear Nala!" The two lovers laughed and played all that night, little did they know two young lionesses watched them.

"That should be me, Vitani." The smaller golden-brown lioness said to her friend. Vitani spoke to her friend "Look, Kiara, you need to chill about this, just because of this situation about your mother and Kovu, it doesn't mean you can't be civil with them!" This riled little Kiara "Civil!" She cried "Civil! Kovu loved me and then without even breaking up with me he just goes off and marries my own mother! It isn't fair 'Tani!" The princess started to cry and her friend Vitani snapped at her "Stop being such a big cub! Tough it up! Yeah my brothers a nasty piece of work but that doesn't mean you should start crying like a baby!" The smaller female stopped crying "What should I do then?" She growled "What!?" Vitani sighed in annoyance "You get revenge!" She smiled nastily "I'll train you, I'll make you stronger, we can make their life hell, we can take over the Pridelands and then we can banish them to the Outlands. Kovu won't be able to survive as a male because everyone did the hunting for him, and there isn't any big game that your mom is used to and even if Nala could bring something down it would only be something like a small rat. We could win this Kiara!" The beige lioness smiled at Kiara, her eyes filled with hate. Kiara wondered why Vitani felt so strongly about making her brother's life hell "Why would you want to put your brother in so much pain?" She asked. "You love him don't you?" Vitani snarled at Kiara "No!" She spat "He was the chosen one, I put up with it for years, pretending I didn't care, but secretly, secretly I hated Kovu. I always wanted to beat him in a fight so my mother would notice me, but she never noticed, even if he was half dead at my paw she would just focus her attention on him. I was just an unimportant lioness to her, would get rid of me if she wanted to!" This left Kiara speechless, all she could do was let out a quiet whisper,

"When do we begin training?"