As Simba slid down the clif and started to climb the pile of logs, Kovu was frightened. Here in the prescece of his mother, he could not refuse her the death of the lion he now considered the rightful king of pride rock-- although to do this- murder Simba- would make him unfavorable un Kiara's eyes- his one true love. As Kovu fought an inward battle, he decided to only act if called upon- so that gave him comfort, knowing his mother would most likely decide to do it herself.  But his hopes were dashed when he heard:

"Go, Kovu, Now!" Zira shouted at her son standing beside her, who was watching her enemy climb like an idiot. "O...Ok, Mother." Kovu stuttered, and then went evil, climbing the logs with grace.

There was a roar of anger from Nuka, who obviously wished he had instead been asked. Then; "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!!!" Nuka shouted from the bottom, quickly going after his younger brother, shoving him aside as he jumped for Simba, trying to show his mother how much better he was than "the chosen one". 

"AHHHHHH..." Kovu shouted as he slipped after trying to regain his balance, falling under a log, and then as Nuka tumbled as well (tumbled on top of Kovu, that is) logs began to fall in magnitudes, but Nuka jumped out of the way before they could touch him. "NOOOOO!" Zira screamed as she watched her little warrior(as she had nicknamed him lovingly as a cub) get covered with logs.

After the dust cleared, Zira shoved Nuka and Vitani (who had started to try and uncover her brother)  "Ma..Ma...Mother?" Kovu whispered as Zira shoved three logs off the top  with incredible strength. "Mama... I'm I'm.. sorry... I didn't want to... All our training... gone to waste... Ru..ru..ruined."

"Shhh... Wee Warrior. It's alright, Little Warrior... My baby... you just rest.. We can deal with it later... It's alright."

"Mother... Ach.. I love yooouuu." Kovu sighed as he closed his eyes and his head fell heavily upon Zira paws. His mother made a small chcoking sound and then lowered her head into Kovu's mane, tears spilling down.

"My son..." Zira whispered as she lifted her head from his soft mane, stared at limp Kovu for a second, and then flew into a rage like never before. "

GRRR...AAAUGHHH." she roared in fury as she raced to where Nuka was and slashed his face with all her might. "MY baby!!! You killed MY BABY! That was your brother, Nuka... you worthless, disgusting killer." Zira paused, and her eyes widened as Nuka rolled his eyes and and responded.

"Yeah, yeah, your point? Scar wasn't even his father, and as far as im concerned he's better off dead." Zira was appalled, and another slash at her eldest's face was instantly issued.

"You are nothing to me, if you were anything to me before." She snorted, turning before he could see the hurt in her eyes.

Nuka whimpered, it was clear she had hit a very sensitive mark uopn her oldest's mental ability. Then his eyes narrowed "But... I... YOU HAVE no idea what you've done to me! I never mattered to you, you spent all your time with him!!! You never cared for me... so why should i care about him??" Nuka shouted, making Zira turn around instantly and hold an unsheathed paw in the air.

"IF YOU EVER say that again, i will not hesitate to kill you. Why should you care for him? because he loved you. Could you truly not see how he adored you? HE WORSHIPPED THE GROUND YOU WALKED ON, NUKA. And what did i ever do to you? Nuka, i had no choice but to not let you participate in training like your little brother... it would have killed you, and I... I always loved you, Nuka. I just never knew how to show it. I.."

At this point, Zira was sobbing, and she dropped her head and continued. "I always knew I was hurting you by not letting you train, but you were my baby, and I loved you so very much. I just didn't want to lose you-I couldn't have bared it. Though you might have been able to do it at one point, the day your dad died... when you tried to protect him from the hyena's... I became too protective of you I suppose. For, you see, you were all I had left of Taka... Your father made his choice when he told me kovu would be the heir... my choice was always you... how do you think my ear got a chunk tore out of it? Until you did this, I loved you more than life itself.. I just didn't know quite how to show that." And with that, Zira pushed past her amazed son and left him there to think about what he'd done. 

"I... I never knew she felt that way..." Nuka choked as he watched her go.  "What if I hadn't been so rude to her... I never did care about anything but pleasing her... now I've ruined the chance to ever get it." 

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the logs, and everyone looked in surprise when Kovu rolled out of them, in pain and his coat bloody. 

"He's alive! Mother, He's alive!" Nuka shouted as he raced to Kovu. Kovu smiled wearily. "I can teach you some of my training, if you want." 

Nuka's face lit up. "Yeah, L'il bro. That would be great."

"Hey, Nuka, What if I hadn't gotten hurt? You'd never have known how Mom felt about you."