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Author's Note:

Well, this is new! I never expected to write more stories to add to the Kinira series, but, due to many pleas for more, I have relented...;P According to many entreaties, people want me to add more detail to the lovemaking sessions in my stories. Well, I believe two and a half pages, in this story, of utter LK immorality is enough, hmmm? Yes, there's other parts with pure lust in them, BUT, I think, the two and a half pages of intercourse and foreplay between two characters we know _well, is the finest scene in my story series!!

Ahem. Without further adieu, here is. . .

~Kinira's Encounter~

Kinira's Encounter, the long awaited. . . (stop giggling!). . . sequel to Kinira's Reign.

**

Amber eyes gleamed in the light of the savanna's red sunset. A tawny coat moved through the tawny grasses. A huge elephant stood silhouetted against the golden sun and scarlet skies. Four paws stalked the lone zebra foal that pranced through the dust, calling for its herd. The elephant murmured to herself and moved away, her keen sense of smell catching the hunter's scent. Gazelle bounded away from the waterhole where they had been drinking, droplets of water streaming from their wet muzzles. As they raced across the savanna grass toward the setting sun, they became leaping black shadows. Topi and wildebeest scattered, galloping in all directions as they smelled the predator. The single flamingo that stood alone at the water's edge took to the air, her pink wings flapping quietly as she sailed past the golden sun. The beast crouched in the grass, the zebra foal calling and trotting before it. Impala bolted, the feline's scent in their nostrils. Zebra whoowhooped and ran off. The striped foal stopped just before the parting grasses, and called one last time. The predator sprang. . .

**

Kiara lay in the dust with her daughter, Shuna, gathered tightly next to her body. Nufei stood over her, caressing her hips with his paws. "Soon, once your brat is old enough to fend for herself with the others, you will be mine, Kiara. Do you hear me? Mine." Nufei dipped his muzzle to lick at her flank. The lioness winced and shivered, squeezing her eyes shut and holding her daughter closer to her chest. Shuna snuggled and shuddered in Kiara's grasp, fearful of the musky stench that wafted over them both. Nufei rasped his tongue down the outside of Kiara's thigh, inhaling her scent. "All mine." Kiara quaked under his shadow, but did nothing except clutch Shuna closer.

Months had passed since Kiara's daughter, Kinira, had ascended Pride Rock. To any stranger in the Pridelands, this would have seemed a good thing; a new heir taking over the preceding monarch's territories---but it was not. For every beast, from the plains below Pride Rock, to the dry, cracked, sunbaked earth of the Outlands, knew that Kinira was driven and controlled by the evil spirit of Scar, back from the dead to reclaim his blood. By some wicked quirk, the young lioness, after assuming the name Tazu, which meant 'daughter of darkness,' had changed drastically in appearance. Her pelt, once the sunny golden color of her mother's, darkened, thickened, and took on the hue of the lions she now ran with; the Outlanders. Her body, although still slender and sleek, took on more muscle; her claws grew long and black; her fangs razor-sharp and yellow-white.

And the scar. The scar that Zasti, the leader before her, had marked her with the first night that she ever spent with the Outlanders. So jagged and a pale pink, that scar. It symbolized everything Tazu now lived for; her mentor and the one that possessed her: Scar, the sire of her late stepfather, Kovu, Kiara's deceased mate.

After heeding Scar's words and attacking the Pridelanders, Tazu had assumed the throne following her defeat of Kiara, her own mother, and allowed her lions, along with hyenas she had recruited, to rape the Pridelands lionesses, over and over and over again, and still again when a lioness had the bad luck to come into heat. Rafikia, the old baboon Rafiki's, granddaughter, along with Zazi, the ancient hornbill Zazu's, great-granddaughter, had been banished from the Pridelands by the new ruler. Kiara, overwhelmed by the betrayal she had experienced and her beloved mate's untimely death, had fallen into a deep depression, refusing to eat and gazing up at the stars every night, weeping, hoping that her cherished Kovu had somehow found his way into the sky to rule over the heavens with the great kings of the past, and that Tazu's cruel words had not come true, that Kovu had gone to hell to be with Scar and Zira, his parents. When finally, under the gentle ministrations of Vitani, Nala, and her other lionesses, Kiara had risen from the black abyss of misery, her ability to speak was gone, along with her will to live. She became a mute, skinny shadow of living suffering, able to make only sounds to express her moods, existing only to raise her daughter, Shuna, and even that Vitani, who refused to leave her friend's side for hardly a moment, took care of sometimes, nursing the rapidly growing cub with her own son, Nali.

Now, Vitani sat helplessly nearby, watching in anger as Nufei toyed with Kiara, taunting the young lioncub that the mute lioness held clasped in her arms. Kiara would be coming back into heat, Vitani knew, now that Shuna was becoming more independent and slowly weaning off her mother's milk, and she did not want to think about what the male Outlanders would do to the poor, wordless lioness. Nufei flicked a claw out at Shuna's nose, making the little she-cub cry out in pain as the sharp tip of it nicked her muzzle and drew a bead of blood. "Look at this. . . this worthless little scrap of fur," sneered Nufei of Shuna, pinching the cub's ear harshly with his claws. "She is almost four months old and she is still not off mother's milk!" He thrust his muzzle into Shuna's face. "Maybe I should kill her here, Kiara," he snarled, gazing deep into the cub's terrified golden eyes, knowing full well that if Shuna should die, Kiara would come back into heat quicker, after a period of mourning for her lost daughter. The mute lioness, now just a shell of her former strong, robust self, whimpered low in her throat and pulled Shuna closer, wrapping her body around her cub, trying to hide her from her tormentor's view. Nufei scoffed at her. "Look at you, Kiara. Just a shadow, flitting here and there. Who would care if your cubs die? who would care if you do? You are nothing! A meaningless bit of fur! A waste!" The cruel Outlands lion dug his paw between Shuna's warm little body and Kiara's clenched stomach, and yanked the cub from her arms.

Instantly, Vitani was on her feet, ready to shout some insult at Nufei and leap at him and claw his eyes out, but two Outlander lionesses, who had been passing by and stopped to watch their leader's favored warrior torture the helpless mute, snarled and sprang upon Vitani, forcing her down into the dust and slashing at her body with fangs and claws until she stopped struggling and lay still, wheezing for breath through her dirt-clogged nostrils, bleeding from a dozen wounds, and watching the proceedings through tearfilled eyes. Kiara had leapt to her paws and was now jumping desperately for her cub, who Nufei, joined now by Tufa and the hyena named Beza, tossed back and forth. The scrawny lioness, helpless and with tears obscuring her vision, could only run from the hyena to the two lions and back, following Shuna as she was pitched and thrown back and forth from paw, to mouth, to paw. Jeers surrounded Kiara, biting at her sanity, paining her, infuriating her:

"Oh, look at the little mute Pridelander go!"

"Come get your cub, Kiara!"

"Do not worry; we will not drop her---too many times!"

The lioness tried to form words, tried to shout curses and obscenities at her and her cub's tormentors, but was unable. She ran to and fro, leaping high in the air, sneezing and choking as Tufa, Nufei, and Beza kicked dust and grit at her, and snarled as Shuna screamed with terror. "Mother! Mother, help me! Please, help! Help! Ahhhhhhh!"

The cub shrieked as her torturers' barbaric play became fiercer. Nufei, rearing into the air to catch Shuna in his mouth, bit down, his fangs sinking past her pelt deep into her body, and Shuna howled in agony. Blood streamed, ribbonlike, into the air, as the Outlander tossed her to Tufa, who snapped her back leg in two before hurling her at Beza. The hyena, cackling with delight, reached with wickedly strong jaws to catch the injured, tortured cub, but yelped as sharp claws dug into his eyes and slashed his face to bits before a long tawny shape flashed overhead, seizing the cub in midair and landing on the ground---beyond Nufei and Tufa. The last the shocked lions saw of Shuna's kidnapper was a twirl of a blacktipped tail.

Kiara threw back her head and gave vent to a horrifying scream of pure agony. The lioness shrieked as she launched herself at Nufei, slashing and snapping, her thin body buffeting Nufei's with every bit of strength she possessed, until a vicious backpawed slap from the cruel lion snapped her head back and, deflated of her sudden burst of energy, Kiara sank into the dust at his paws, sobbing uncontrollably for her daughter. Nufei snarled, kicking dirt over her head as if he was burying his dung, and then ran to join Tufa beside Beza's spasming body. The hyena tried to scream, but blood bubbled up from past his torn lips, and he jerked a few more times in one last response to his dying brain before lying still and stiff upon the ground. Letting Vitani run to Kiara's side, the two Outlands lionesses joined their companions and stared at the lifeless hyena before whirling to see if Shuna's abducter had returned. Nufei snorted finally and turned away from the body to glare at Vitani, who was bent over Kiara's gently whimpering body, her sobs hoarse from her scratched larnyx, which she had damaged screaming and shrieking. "Get her into the cave, and hurry up about it."

**

Tazu lay across the sunwarmed stone of Pride Rock, gazing out across miles and miles of endless savanna. "Scar," the dark lioness mused, "what am I to do about the Pridelanders?" She scented her half-grandfather's spirit before she felt him, and smiled grimly as she heard his voice. Ahhh, my daughter, Scar growled. I would have felt that you knew this. Tazu felt him sit down beside her and dipped her head toward the semi-visible thing. "I am sorry if I have failed you, great leader." Scar chuckled. No matter. Now, about the Pridelanders. That is easy. What do you do if you have a snake by the body? Tazu frowned. This was a new question. "Kill it?" Scar nodded slightly. Yes; but how? Tazu shook her head. "There are many ways of killing a snake, lord ruler." Scar rolled his yellow eyes. Yes, but what is the most obvious way to kill a snake? Tazu licked a forepaw and passed it over her face absently. "I have killed many snakes in my time, lord ruler, and none of the ways that I have killed them were 'obvious.' But, if you wish to know the general way to kill a snake, it is to cut off its head." Scar smiled broadly. Exactly! Cut off the snake's head and the snake will die! Do you see what I am saying? Tazu scowled; and then a look of admiring comprehension crossed her face, followed swiftly by a look of horror. "Kill Kiara, lord ruler!?" Scar sighed. Is she not the leader of the Pridelanders, Tazu? Tazu nodded. "Yes, but---" Scar crouched beside the darkfurred lioness. Then, she is the snake's head, right? Without waiting for Tazu's answer, Scar went on. Then, kill Kiara and subdue the rebellion that has been welling up within your lands. Tazu nodded slowly. "Yes, lord ruler." Scar shivered with pleasure and got to his transparent paws. I love the sound of those words! Now, drop your mind's barriers and let me enter. Call the pride together. Tazu closed her eyes and loosened her muscles as she felt Scar's spirit enter her, and then turned to lope down toward Pride Rock's cave.

**

A few minutes later, as darkness settled over the savanna, Tazu ascended the great rock once more, the Pridelanders gathered in a tight knot below the huge stone symbol of their leaders' power, surrounded on either side by hyenas and Outlanders. Tazu scanned the faces for Nufei's, but did not see him, or Kiara, or Vitani, or several others of the Pridelanders' ranks. She waited, her yellow eyes glowing coolly with Scar's spirit from behind her scar as she waited for them.

Inside the cave, Nala, Vitani, and some other lionessess gathered around their lionqueen, who lay still and quiet, her only signs of life her hoarse breathing. "Will she live?" whispered a young lioness named Tekibi, her belly swollen with Nufei's cubs. Nala nodded. "Yes, she will, young one, but not for long." Vitani agreed silently. Tekibi stared at the two older lionesses. "But, Nala, I thought you said that she has no life-threatening physical injuries!? Why would she die?" Vitani sighed. "Her heart grieves for her cub, Tekibi." Quickly, the former Outlander recounted that afternoon's horrid events to the others.

They all stood in shocked silence around Kiara's body, until a familiar grating voice startled them. "Get out here, all of you! Your leader has just called a meeting!" The Pridelanders looked at each other, then began to file one by one out of the cave, each murmuring their love into Kiara's scarred ears. As Tekibi passed him, Nufei reached out a paw to fondle her gravid belly. "Be careful now, lioness. I would not want you to lose any of these cubs---for then, I would be very angry. Go now." He gave her a slap on the rump, and herded the rest of the lionesses out into the open.

Tazu watched them join their companions, and then began: "Lionesses of both prides, and you hyenas also, I have sad news to report. We have lost a cub today." Her words were greeted by snarls of contempt from the Pridelanders, for every lioness there, from the youngest cub to Nala, knew how Shuna had 'died.' Nala spoke aloud, raising her chin defiantly, even as hyenas snapped at her. "And how did this cub die, oh great one?" Tazu stared at her calmly, but her paws prickled as Scar's anger spread like heat through her body. Nala went on. "If I knew better, my possessed leader, I would say that you ordered the untimely death of this cub, and care not about finding her or about the cub's mother, Kiara." The old lioness's golden eyes hardened, and her companions winced as she spat, "Your own mother, Kinira!" Tazu's ears flicked forward and she sat down on the great cliff. She nodded to three of her warriors: Nufei, and two lionesses, Tibu and Zari. "Beat her." The dark lions leaped forward immediately to do their prideleader's bidding.

Nala cried out as jagged black claws raked across her spine, and fell to the ground with Tibu cuffing her around the shoulders cruelly. Nufei backpawed her in the face several times, grinning wickedly as blood spattered his face and Nala's worn teeth shattered. Zari sank her fangs into the old lioness's thighs and flanks, slashing and ripping the golden pelt. The carnage went on and on, eliciting cries from the watching Pridelanders, until Tazu flicked her tail for it to stop. Nufei, Zari, and Tibu backed away, grinning, their claws and muzzles dripping blood. Nala lay on the ground, barely breathing, her skinny, aged body a mass of cuts, bruises, and gashes. Blood pooled around her, and her face was stained scarlet with it as well. Passing a paw over her face casually, indifferent to the old lioness that lay close to death below her, Tazu settled herself more comfortably upon the stone and gazed down at Nala. "Your insolence suprises me, old one. I thought that you would have more concern for what happens to your companions because of your sharp tongue." She licked her paw again, then narrowed her scarred yellow gaze at Kiara's mother. "Answer me, you old carrion!"

Tears poured down the faces of the watching Pridelanders as Nala, in great pain and spitting broken fragments of bloody teeth, pulled herself into a hunched sitting position, then slowly rose to her paws. Tekibi and Vitani would have rushed to aid her, but Zasti and Tufa shoved them back into their rank, and they could only watch helplessly as the oldest and bravest one of them all swayed unsteadily upon her paws before Tazu, squinting up at the darkfurred lioness above her through swollen eyes, the skin around them already beginning to blacken. Slashes from Nufei's wickedly sharp claws decorated her face and muzzle, and blood dripped slowly from her torn ears onto her cheeks. "I. . . I am not the insolent one, Tazu," Nala began haltingly, dignified even in agony. "It is . . . you who are insolent, sitting upon that. . . that rock with the Evil One to. . . guide you. What right do you. . . do you have to beat us and rape us?" Tazu cocked a brow at the aged lioness; even she could not deny Nala's courage in the face of such opposition. "Well spoken, Pridelander. Very well; I shall tell you what gives me the right. Nufei!" The dark lion padded past Nala and gazed up at his leader. "What have you in request of me, oh exalted one?" Tazu curled her thickly tufted tail around her haunch. "Find yourself a succulent young lioness from the ranks of the Pridelanders, one that has never lain with a male before, and bring her here." Nufei nodded, and turned to carry out Tazu's orders.

Tekibi shrank back as her rapist padded past, but Nufei did not even look her way as he made for Vitani's oldest cub; a daughter, a beautiful young, virginal lioness named Tekai. This lioness had been spared the orgy of raping at the beginning of Tazu's reign for she was but a cub then; however, with Father Time's help, she had developed into a sleek and comely female since then. Nufei leered at Tekai, who cringed back against her mother, but Nufei's paws shot out and he tore her from her mother's arms against his hard body. He grinned and pressed his muzzle to hers, snaking his long, raspy tongue into her mouth to tickle her tonsils. Tekai coughed and choked on the chafing intruder, then cried out for Vitani as Nufei dragged her into Tazu's presence. The darkhearted prideleader beheld Tekai's beauty. "Is this the one you choose, Nufei?" The Outlander lion's answering words were broken off as Vitani screamed, "No! Please, not her! Not my cub!" Yanking free of Zasti and Tufa's clinging paws, the former Outlander raced to Tekai's side and threw herself down in the dust before Tazu. "Please! Not Tekai! I beg you, Tazu, let me preserve my daughter's virginity for just a while longer, until she is ready! Please!" Tazu gazed down coldly upon Vitani. "Your daughter will be a special tribute to me, Vitani. Do you not want that?" Vitani shook her head, tears cascading down her face. "Not my baby!" Whirling on Nufei, she prostrated herself before him. "Please, take me as your tribute instead of my daughter! Rape me, beat me, kill me, but do not take Tekai!" Nufei scoffed. "Go back to your companions, lioness! There is nothing more that you can do or say that will stop me from taking Tekai for myself this night!" Vitani scrabbled wildly in the dust before Tazu again. "Please! I beg of you!" Tazu rolled her yellow eyes. "I grow tired of this one's persistence. Remove her from before me." Zasti and Tufa leapt forward and dragged Vitani back, the lioness screaming and shrieking obscenities and pleas for Tazu's mercy toward her daughter all the way, but Tazu paid her no attention. "This is the one you have chosen?" she asked, indicating with a tip of her head the shaking Tekai. Nufei nodded. Tazu smiled gravely. "Then take her here, before this assemblage."

Nufei grinned evilly, bowed before his leader, and grabbed Tekai. Pulling the unwilling lioness into another kiss, he groped at her moist folds, squeezing and separating them with his claws. Tekai writhed and moaned in pain as Nufei's clawtips scratched at her virginal opening, struggling to shove away from him. "Leave me alone! Let me go! Mother!" Nufei grinned and grabbed her hips, stroking them roughly. "You are all mine, my little leonine rose. I shall enjoy deflowering you immensely." With one last burst of enraged energy, Tekai extended her claws and slapped Nufei across his leering face---hard, drawing blood as her talons tore gashes in his flesh. "Cur! Hyena!" Nufei yowled in agonized fury, scarlet liquid dripping down into his eyes, and hurled her into the dirt furiously. Tekai hit hard and lay moaning as Nufei wiped the blood from his face and approached. "I vow I will make you scream for that, you little thorn!" Yanking her to her feet, Nufei slapped her cruelly in the face several times, making her whimper, until she was as swollen and bloody as Nala, who stood watching in shock a few feet away. Twisting her arms behind her body, Nufei pulled on them until the right one popped free of its socket and Tekai screamed with pain. Vitani struggled and kicked against her captors, shrieking as Nufei kicked the young lioness onto her side and stood with one foot on either side of her, stroking himself to an erection. Droplets of preseed dripped down upon Tekai and mingled with her blood as Nufei finished.

The young lioness howled in severe pain as he thrust two claws into her opening, wiggling them around until he loosened her a bit, and then lay down and pulled her onto him. Hoisting her above his stalk, he licked at her firm, full, furry breasts, making the nipples stiffen, although she was unwilling, and impaled her firmly and quickly upon his hard member. Tekai screamed. Some of the Pridelanders turned away as Nufei, gritting his teeth and digging his claws into her arms, lifted her roughly up and down upon him, blood lubricating her slick tunnel and adding to his pleasure. Tazu watched stoically as Nufei raped Tekai brutally, not caring whether the young lioness lived or died after the virile lion took his pleasure.

Tekai shrieked as Nufei thrust her back down upon him, clawing at his wrists with her good arm and paw, while her right arm hung uselessly at her side. Nufei lifted her quickly up and down, his hard shaft rubbing her hardened clitoris at every impalement. He groaned as he ripped through her resisting opening with his flaring barbs, causing more blood to leak from her cruelly stretched tunnel, and felt her own involuntary arousal as well. Tekai, despite herself and the pain, was beginning to enjoy the brutal encounter, and Nufei, sensing this, began to lift the young lioness up and down upon his large rod faster, fondling her clitoris. Nala watched with tears running down her beaten face as Tekai was raped against her will, and then turned away as both the lions' bodies shook in orgasm. Nufei was in heaven as his victim's vaginal muscles clamped down upon his large member and her muscles tightened. Tekai screamed as Nufei's hot seed flowed into her womb, ensuring that more Outlanders would be born of her later.

As hot tears of bitter realization flowed down her face, Nufei slid out of her and pushed her aside. Tekai crouched on the ground, stripped of her virginity, her pride, and her happiness. Tazu gazed down at the shocked Nala. "Power is what gives me the right to do these things, Nala; power given to me by Scar." Nala looked up at the hardhearted and cold-eyed young prideleader. "And, what did you give him in return for this. . . this desecration of the young, the old, and the weak!?" Nala's voice rose with anger, her body shaking with rage. "May you burn in Hell, Kinira! Burn in Hell, with your wicked forefathers, for you have sold your soul to the Evil One!" Tazu smiled mirthlessly, and motioned for Nufei, Tibu, and Zari again. The watching Pridelanders yowled in mental agony, tears spilling down their faces, as, once again, the old lioness was beaten almost unto the point of death, and, once more, Nala rose shakily to her paws to face Tazu. The darkfurred leader smiled, but inwardly, she conversed with Scar in a hot rage. "I think that this one needs to die, not Kiara! Look at her!" Scar, from his black home inside her heart, nodded grimly. Yes, but Kiara must die also. Tazu sighed. "Yes, lord ruler." Scar smiled. Good.

Nala struggled to stay on her paws, one eye clawed into blindness; the other swollen even more. Her body was gashed deep, some of her wounds even revealing a bit of gray bone. Her paws were covered in her own blood, and still, she gazed up at Tazu. "I," the dying old lioness gasped, "was once raped by Scar. Oh. . . countless times. . . . undoubtedly, I. . . I watched him rape. . . rape my mother, Sarafina, but . . . but the things he did to me! To me, Kinira! And. . . he tried, many times, to. . . tell me that I. . . I would be his daughter, and eat when. . . the others did not, and thrive. . . thrive when they starved, if. . . if only I would relent to his. . . rape of me, and. . . worship him as. . . as a god." Nala strained to see Tazu's cold face from where she swayed, and bared her broken, bloody teeth. "Scar---the Evil One---is mad, terribly mad, Kinira! He. . . he will destroy this. . . pride, and bring down the wrath of Nyame---and the great kings, as well---upon us! Heed my words, dark spawn of Scar! You will die. . . die at the fangs of the One you have chosen. . . and destroy us. . . as well." With those words, Nala collapsed into the pool of her own blood and did not move again.

As the lions, Pridelanders and Outlanders alike, stared at the shattered, bloodstained body of Simba's one-time mate, a shrill, earsplitting scream rent the air. Bruised and beaten, Kiara staggered across the clearing to throw herself across Nala's body. The mute lioness sobbed upon her mother's once-golden pelt, clutching the limp body to her own in her grief.

Tazu watched the two, silhouetted upon Pride Rock against the moon, her yellow eyes glowing from behind the scar with all the evil in her expression that her Lord Ruler and Kovu, also, had possessed.

Kiara, clenching the skinny body to her, felt Nala move, and threw her head up in time to see the one swollen eye flicker open and soften at the sight of her. "Kiara. My daughter." The mute held her mother closer as tears flowed to her face to drip onto Nala's. Weak and close to death as she was, Nala reached up a paw to gently caress her daughter's face, and Kiara leaned into the touch. Nala smiled faintly at her. "The power. . . is in the flaws, Kiara." Her voice no more than a whisper, she gazed one last time into her daughter's face, Kiara's tears flowing over her paw. "I love you." Her eyes rolled back into her head, closed; she exhaled her last breath; her head dropped back into the puddle of crimson under her; and the paw, the paw that had once joined with the other and caressed and cuddled Kiara as a cub, slipped from the mute lioness's face, and landed limply beside her lifeless muzzle.

Thus passed Nala into the welcoming paws of the ancient great kings, where she would gaze down over her one-time lands for all eternity with her beloved Simba.

(can't you just hear the music of that one part in TLK 1, where Mufasa, as a spirit in the night clouds, is just leaving Simba, saying, "Remember....?")

Kiara, her skinny shoulders heaving with the force of her sobs, did what Simba had done with Mufasa, so long ago, after finding the great, redmaned lion lying dead under the broken tree in the gorge after rescuing his son and being trampled by the wildebeeste: she, lifting Nala's lifeless paw and placing it upon her back, lay down beside her dead mother and pressed close to her as the warmth died slowly from Nala's body, heedless of the blood that soaked her fur, and closed her eyes. As if the great kings were already showing their grief for the departed lionqueen, thunder rumbled overhead, lightning forked the sky once, and rain began to fall; softly at first, and then gathering strength and pouring down upon the dry savanna in silvery sheets.

While the other lions, lionesses, and hyenas had been mesmerized by this touching farewell between mother and daughter, Tazu had descended from her place atop the great rock. The darkfurred and blackhearted prideleader padded across the dampening ground to where Kiara lay curled next to her mother, still sobbing quietly, clutching for the last vestiges of Nala's warmth and scent. Tazu stood over them, a black shadow against the stormy night, rain flattening her dark fur and revealing her muscled body, and her yellow eyes gleamed with contempt as she gazed down at the two, but she said nothing. Skywater mingled with the Pridelanders' tears, dripping from their ears and the ends of their muzzles, and even Nali wept, not just for the old lioness that had taught him many things, but for his lost playmate, Shuna, as well.

Dark clouds streaked the night sky and the faint shafts of moonlight slowly faded into oblivion, plunging Pride Rock into darkness, as the great kings grieved for all that had been lost.

**

Kiara inhaled the fresh scent of newly turned African soil as she lay across the large mound of earth under an umbrella thorn tree where Nala had been buried. The mute lioness lay her chin upon her paws and closed her eyes as tears gathered in them and began to fall once again.

A little ways off, Vitani held her son, Nali, close, and watched Kiara shed more tears for her departed mother. "Poor Kiara," whispered Nali, his sweet little face streaked with tears. "Poor Shuna." Vitani nodded silently, her own sorrow beginning to flow as liquid down her face. "Nali, Shuna is with the great kings of the past now, and---" A harsh voice behind her made her whirl. "You know that is not true, Vitani!"

It was Niakai.

The darkfurred, yellow-eyed young son of Kovu padded forward until he stood face-to-face with Vitani. The one-time Outlands lioness, setting Nali down, looked Niakai in the eyes. "Why do you say that, Niakai?" The young lion looked past Vitani to where Kiara, his mother, lay across her mother, Nala's, grave. "Look at her." Vitani sighed sadly. "I am." Niakai stepped to her side. "Look at her. Does she look like the so-called 'great kings of the past' have favored her!?" Vitani turned, her eyes brimming with tears. "No, but, Niakai, all things have their own time! Kiara was chosen by her father, Simba, to rule after him, because he had no sons. She is blessed by the ancient rulers!" The lioness reached up a paw to stroke Niakai's face. "She had you, and Shuna, and---" Niakai's yellow eyes blazed. "And, that piece of filth she still calls 'daughter?' Kinira---Tazu!? Look where her respect of the great kings has gotten her!" the young lion spat venomously. "She is a mute, she has lost her daughter and her mate, and, to top that all off, her daughter is a traitor to her own pride and has ordered Kiara's ultimate destruction!" Vitani could not meet Niakai's angry gaze. "You are right, Niakai." Suddenly, before Kovu's son could do or say anything, the former Outlander lifted her tearfilled eyes back to Niakai's own. "But, the kings have not forgotten her! She was a great queen, and might once be again!" Vitani gazed at Kiara's still form atop the mound of earth under the tree. "You must have faith, Niakai, for your mother's sake. And for the sake of your pride. If Kiara should die under Tazu's rule, then you will be the rightful heir to the leadership of us all." Vitani gazed deep into the eyes of Kovu and Kiara's oldest offspring. "You must have faith."

Niakai snorted bitterly. "Faith? In some cub's legend?" Adopting a mocking tone, Niakai began to prance around Vitani, crooning, "The great kings of the past gaze down upon us from the stars, and they will be with us always. Foolishness! Pure stupidity!" Without warning, Niakai thrust his face into Vitani's. "If my mother dies," he hissed, his voice so cold and filled with hate that it sent a shiver down Vitani's spine, "then I myself will kill Tazu! By Scar's blood, I swear this!" Without another word, Niakai turned and leaped away toward Pride Rock, where he was roughly grabbed by Tufa and Kova, a couple of Outlands lions, and hustled back toward Tazu's dominions. Vitani gathered Nali into her paws again, and clutched him close to her heart. Burying her face in his cubsoft fur, she breathed a silent prayer to the great kings for Niakai's faith, as well as Kiara's dwindling health and for the end of Tazu's cruel reign.

**S I X M O N T H S L A T E R**

A large pair of paws dipped up to the ankle into a cool pool of water. As a pink tongue lapped thirstily at the clear liquid, a pair of bright eyes studied their bearer's reflection. Slender, yet muscled; agile, yet powerful; beautifully furred and with a powerful, sensual allure. Suddenly, the perfectly shaped muzzle lifted from the water, and the eyes gleamed with suprise. A black shadow had appeared on the horizon. A broad, grey-pink nose sniffed warily at the air, catching the newcomer's scent, and the sculpted muzzle opened to taste the tang that the air passed over the pink tongue that lay between sharp white fangs. The eyes widened in horror, and then narrowed in anger. The paws began to move through the water, suddenly joined by two more, toward the stranger that drew nearer by the moment. A long tail trailed through the water. The fur on the slender back bristled. The eyes glared. The paws quickened their pace until they were carrying the slim body swiftly, through the water, up the opposite bank, into the grassy savanna beyond. The muzzle gaped in a snarl. The front pair of paws suddenly unsheathed long, razor-sharp claws, and the shapely back legs tightened with sinewy muscles, the backclaws digging into the rich soil and propelling the slender body forward to enage the outsider in sudden battle. . .

The hyena called Keza yelped as eight foreclaws sank into her shoulders, and eight more hindclaws kicked upward to gouge at her belly as her sleek attacker slid underneath her body. The hyena tried to leap over the creature that now clawed and bit at her soft undersides, but could not. Suddenly, her survival instincts kicked in and she dipped her head to slash into a soft ear. The slim beast under her screeched, threw her off. . . and Keza abruptly found herself fighting for her life against a living thing that seemed to be determined to kill her. . .

Savage eyes glared into fearful ones, the mouth opened again and the shapely muzzle surged forward to close about the hyena's throat. Keza howled in terrified agony. The back paws began a steady thumthump rhythm against the hyena's belly, slashing past filthy fur into flesh, ripping upon great tears in Keza's abdomen, the slender body itself being splattered and splashed with hot crimson as the hyena moaned and howled in severe pain, her front paws pushing, shoving, thrusting, against the broad pair of furred shoulders that ended in the paws that clutched her and gashed deeper into her body. The fanged mouth tightened about the furry muzzleful of throat. Keza's howls and crying pleas for mercy became strangled gurgles of breathless fear, soon fading into quieting whimpers and sputtering choking sounds. The last thing the hyena saw before she slid into the everlasting sleep was the clear, hard, cold eyes burning into her own. . .

The familiar, clear, hard, cold eyes.

**

Later that night, Tazu sat alone upon Pride Rock, gazing out over her lands. Her yellow eyes gleamed in the moonlight as a light, warm breeze caressed her fur, whispering through her thick pelt, racing softly along her smooth flesh. . . Tazu jumped as she realized that claws were raking gently throughout her fur, and whirled to face a handsome leonine face. "Hello, Tazu."

Nufei stood before her.

His own yellow eyes glowed with pride. . . and lust. Tazu smiled at him. "Hello, Nufei." The Outlands lion ran his claws through her fur again, across her shoulders, down her sides, tickling her, making her shiver, then back up again to find the two, firm, full breasts hidden beneath Tazu's thick, dark fur. The young prideleader gasped quietly as his warm, rough paws moved across them, scratching the sensitive flesh of her nipples and making them harden in response to her growing pleasure. Sliding his paws forward to hold the sides of her breasts, Nufei brought his mouth to hers. As they kissed passionately, tongues dueling, fangs nipping, Tazu's clawed fingers skimmed through his cheekfur, then drew fiercely through his rich, dark mane as Nufei lowered her to the cool stones of Pride Rock's cliff. His tongue rasped across her ear, making her shudder in his paws with pleasure, and then she heard his low, husky voice. "It has been a while, my leader, has it not?" Tazu encircled the lion's strong neck with her arms, and nuzzled into his mane. "Yes, my love, it has." The young, beautiful lioness pressed her muzzle to her lover's. No more words were spoken between them as Nufei returned the kiss, cupping her cheek with one paw and slipping the other across her body, enjoying the texture of her sleekfurred body, roiling with muscle beneath the dark pelt. Tazu moaned into his mouth, her kisses becoming more ardent, her fingers tangling tighter in the long, dark tresses of his swarthy mane, as his sharp clawtips brushed through the soft fur on her inner thighs, then drifted lazily higher to caress the fur on her groin. Tazu gasped as Nufei began to tease her nether lips with his clawed digits, being as gentle with her as he had been brutish with Tekai. The lioness felt herself moisten in response to his torturing paw, and pulled her mouth from his to nip sharply at the side of his neck. Her lips moved across his collarbones, down his breastbone, between the broad pectorals, and her tongue flicked out to caress his left nipple. Nufei groaned as his prideleader's raspy tongue circled his nipple with short strokes, coating the nub of flesh with saliva until it glistened in the moonlight.

Still stroking her wet nether lips, Nufei smiled into Tazu's face, and bent to take a nipple in his mouth. The young lioness gasped at the jolt of pleasure that shot through her, and pressed Nufei's skilled muzzle closer to her with her paws, entwining her finger-claws into his mane. Nufei worked on Tazu's nipple much in the same way that she had worked upon his, rasping his rough tongue around and across the tender flesh, sucking upon it, sometimes gently, sometimes fiercely, as his increasing sexual mood demanded. As he fondled Tazu's wetness with one paw and caressed the unlicked breast with the other, Tazu writhed and moaned beneath him, crying out as he slipped two finger-claws into her dripping tunnel and began to move them in and out, bringing her closer to orgasm with every stroke, yet denying her release when she teetered on the brink. Nufei pulled up for a moment to survey his work. Tazu lay below him, sweaty, panting, her yellow eyes pleading for him to fill her. Nufei liked seeing his leader like this, but still kept back from entering her, even as his own unsheathed length throbbed against her hip, smearing preseed into the dark fur. This was the first time that they had made love since Tazu's conquer of the Pridelands, and it was even more impassioned and fervid than ever before.

Tazu moaned with disappointment as Nufei pulled his dripping claws from her, his paw almost soaked with her carnal juices, but the young prideleader's displeasure quickly faded as Nufei, licking at her other nipple, caressed her aroused breast with his wet paw, daubing the shimmering, tangy juices through her fur. Stopping his exciting tongue for a moment, Nufei brought his drenched finger-claws to his mouth and licked the sticky, zesty fluid from the short fur, savoring this small taste of what was to come. Again dipping his muzzle to work on her breast, Nufei slid his newly cleaned paw back down to caress Tazu between her spread thighs again, but slipped lower still, to poke and tease her tailhole. The lioness's tufted tail flipped wildly as her lover inserted two fingers into her rump and wiggled them around, lubricating her tight tunnel with saliva and a hint of her own sexual juices for activity later. Tazu's own paws were never still, pulling at the handsome, darkfurred, Outlander's mane, driving his muzzle harder onto her breast, reaching out to grasp his hard leonine shaft and pleasure him. Nufei growled with pleasure, and, drawing his mouth from her nipple, which was engorged twice its normal, aroused, size, slid down her body until his head was between her spread thighs. Tazu lay her head back against the cool stone and waited for what was to come. . .

Running his clawtips through the fur of her inner thighs, Nufei inhaled her hot scent, her feminine

perfume laden with the smell of arousal, body heat, and wet juices. Leaning forward a few inches, Nufei dipped his tongue into her trough and took a long taste. Tazu arched her hips toward his face; never had he done this to her! When they made love, it was usually hot, spicy, and fast, leaving them both still half-aroused and wanting more. But, even as she moaned and gripped his mane as his raspy tongue scraped across her sopping folds, Tazu knew that Nufei was celebrating her---their---defeat of the Pridelanders with her, by drawing out this session.

The lion savored his leader's tanginess, then, spreading her wider, he slithered his tongue deep inside her, as far as he could go, and then pressed his lips to her nether ones to drink in her seeping fluids. His claws ran firmly over the top of her mound, dipped lower, and found her engorged clitoris. Tazu moaned and gasped as his finger-claws fondled and rubbed the sensitive knob of swollen pink flesh, making her leak more juices onto his waiting tongue. Nufei's oral tentacle swirled around inside his lover, tasting her, making her moan for more, playing along the smooth, hot, wet walls of her slick tunnel, drawing more sexual liquid from her. Tazu cried out, twisting and arching her body as the intense pleasure became too much for her. "Ohhh! Nufei! Nufei! Aooooohhhhhhhhhaaaa!" The lion drank in gush after gush of his leader's hot, sticky prejuices, savoring every drop. Tazu panted, moaning, "Please, Nufei! I need you! I need you! Fill me, please, Nufei!" It was almost too much for the Outlander, but he held back. "Wait, my leader. Not yet. Let us make this night something to remember." Tazu closed her eyes, wanting to slash her claws across his face, wanting his blood to splatter her body and bring her to orgasm again, but restrained her anger at being unfufilled. Nufei dipped his muzzle to clean her nether lips of the rich precream, but Tazu sprang to her feet and pounced upon him. "If you will not satisfy me, Nufei, then I shall do the same for you." Before the lion could ask what was happening, Tazu had slid down and taken his throbbing shaft in his mouth. The handsome, darkfurred male Outlander stiffened; then, as his leader's tongue began to work upon him, groaned and relented.

Tazu suckled hard upon the hard, huge, thick, black member; licking up its hot, smooth sides, gently tickling his sheathfur with her clawtips, making him moan and roll his hips toward her mouth, cupping his massive sac in her paws and kneading it carefully, as not to cause Nufei any discomfort. The lion panted hard, spreading his thighs and watching his young prideleader take control. Her raspy tongue scraped over his flaring feline barbs, making him gasp in intense pleasure. His claws reached out for her head, to push her face between his thighs, but Tazu pulled back. Taking him in her paw, she caressed the smooth, ebony flesh, and then let gleaming claws spring from her furred digits to rest lightly upon his sensitive rod. "You know that I do not like it when you confine me, Nufei," she growled, in a voice so low and ominous that she could not have sent more shivers down his spine if she had roared in his face. Seeing the look in her dark warrior's eyes, Tazu smiled evilly, stroking her claws down the silky flesh. Nufei shuddered. The young lioness bent her head and nipped the crown of him, making him growl with pain, but one press of her claws on his member made him think again about forcing himself on her. One slash from those glimmering weapons could end his sexual assaults on Kiara and her lionesses.

Tazu again smiled at the power she wielded over this powerful lion, and took him in her mouth again, but this time to torture him to the brink of climax, as he had done to her, and then leave him. Her rough, leonine tongue again rasped over his shaft's tiny, jutting spurs, making him catch his breath in a moaning gasp, and her claws raked slowly up the many glossy inches of muscle that protruded regally from between his thighs, sending a bolt of pleasure running through Nufei's loins and into his lower back, making his anal sphincter contract. Tazu sensed this, and, slipping one paw from her lover's member, slid it through her underfur to fondle her winking, dripping folds. She moaned slightly around her mouthful of hot black lionshaft as her clawed extremities played with herself, dipping into her wet pleats and membranes to soak her pawclaws and caress her hard knob of a clitoris. Her hips rolled once toward her paw before she raised it to caress Nufei's tailhole, skimming the glittering, sticky liquid through his rumpfur, coating the sensitive outside ring of his anus in it. The dark male Outlander growled as her tongue worked skillfully over his painfully hard erection, and thrust at her mouth, but Tazu pulled away, licked the preseed from her lips, and smiled playfully at him, fondling his tailhole with one paw and stroking his solid black member with the other. Nufei stiffened, wanting his release so greatly, but fearful of the long, gleaming claws that rested an inch from his hot lionhood.

Tazu worked the outside of her lover's tight pink anus for a few minutes, and then, inserting a furred appendage, wiggled it around and played her claw along the tight, hot, inside walls. Nufei groaned, clenching his paws into fists, wishing so badly that he could shove his young leader's head down between his thighs, come, flip her over, and take his pleasure of her, wildly and quickly. The erotic fantasies made his head swim, and his eyes watered with intense pleasure as Tazu shoved her finger in farther, still stroking his hard shaft firmly, roaming his tight, hot depths. The young prideleader smiled as she found what she was looking for, and, taking Nufei in her mouth once more, sucked hard and pressed vigourously on his prostate. The lion half-howled, half-roared as he seesawed on the very brink of climax. . . and Tazu pulled back, a viciously happy grin across her face as she viewed her lover, every muscle in his body tense, his eyes closed, his heavily muscled chest heaving as he panted, his white fangs bared and clenched, and his shaft twitching, droplets of heated preseed dripping down the black underbelly of his member. As his paw strayed to grasp himself and fulfil that agonizing tingle in his malehood, Tazu leapt forward again, snarling into his face.

The force of her sudden attack threw Nufei back in suprise, and that was all she needed. Straddling him, she directly dropped down onto his full and engorged member, moaning with pleasure as she took all of him into her wet, hot folds. Nufei yowled and rose to meet her, grabbing her thighs and working her up and down upon him, as this was what they both wanted. Tazu dug her claws into his hips and kneaded his flesh as she rose up and down upon him, his shaft bumping her hardened clitoris at every stroke, before burying itself to the hilt in her slick tunnel. "I," gritted the darkfurred young lioness, "wanted this before! But. . . ahhhhh. . . you denied me my release, and so I. . . ohhhhh. . . I denied you yours!" She rose up, almost letting him slide his huge, flaring crown out of her, and then plunged downward again, riding him as though she was a zebra stallion in full musth and he a heatstricken zebra mare.

Nufei rose to meet her, his claws digging into her slender thighs as her wet, flaming folds gripped him and massaged him to the point of no return. "Ahhhh, Taz. . . Tazu! Tazu!" The lioness drove herself down on him, impaled herself upon his barbed member, her own talons biting into his hips and causing blood to trickle across her paws and through his fur. "Ohhhh! Nufei! Nufei! Fill me! Fill me; meet me! Ahhhhhhh!" The darkfurred lion did meet her, with a violent upward thrust, and clutched her to him as they both roared with ecstasy, his hot seed flowing into her fiery young loins, filling Tazu to overflowing, the lioness crying his name to the dark night heavens and letting her own juices spill down over his spasming member. Tazu pumped him a few more times, massaging him with her inner muscles and milking every last drop of rich lionseed from his spent testicles. They clung to each other, panting with the strain and intense pleasure of their simultaneous orgasms, and Tazu lay her cheek upon the great, thick, dark mane as she rolled off his shrinking member and onto her side to one side of him. "Oh, Nufei." Her paw caressed his face in the dark, and the lion, meeting it with his own, kissed the rough pawpads, then slipped his paws lower and found the two firm breasts that awaited him. Tazu sought his mouth and slid her tongue between Nufei's fangs to find his, as their lips pressed against each other and their mouths tasted the essences of their pleasures; Tazu's tangy fluids upon Nufei's lips; his own preseed coating hers.

The lioness responded his his stroking paws eagerly, arching her back, and Nufei, sensing her ever-growing need, held her to him, his stiffening shaft again seeking her wet folds, impatiently. Tazu pulled away from the lion, lay down on her belly before him, lifted the back half of her body, held her tail away, and backed quickly into him. She yowled as his member found her folds, but lowered herself just as he pressed inside, causing him to accidently enter her tailhole. Nufei growled at this new feel and heat, and, reaching forward with his muzzle, gripped her nape in his jaws as he sank into her. Tazu writhed beneath him, not from pain, but from the sensations it caused her, as Nufei's paws fondled her hardening nipples, slid through her bellyfur, and the lion slipped two clawed digits into her slick opening, making her cry out, roll her hips toward his paw, and back to meet his thrusts into her well-prepared anus. Having sunk all of himself into her during the first few strokes, as she was well loosened up by their previous sessions of anal sex, Nufei pulled out, lunged back in, and began to pump her hard, his paw caressing her dripping nether lips and his claws exploring her depths. Tazu cried out and bucked back into his groin, his sac slapping the top of her soaking vagina and sending waves of pleasure through her body. They came together, the lioness yowling as her juices flowed over his paw, the lion biting her neck as his seed spilled into her body again.

The two leonines collapsed onto the rock and pulled together. Nufei cradled Tazu's head on his shoulder as their combined musk drifted around them, and no words were needed as they silently fell asleep together, the first rays of morning light falling across their unconscious bodies.

**

Tazu arched her back in the beginning of her ritual morning stretching routines. Her yellow eyes glowed contentedly at the large form of Nufei, sprawled out across Pride Rock's cliff beside her, snoring loudly. The young pridelander smiled and pressed her lips against her lover's cheek before leaping down the rocks that lined the base of the great pile of boulders, and heading into the savanna toward the waterhole.

Nufei awoke a bit later, his mouth gaping in a fanged yawn. The great, darkfurred lion scritched at his thigh absently, then flexed his claws and felt for Tazu. She was not there, but it did not matter to Nufei. She had been quite demanding and dominant the night before, even more so than when she was in heat. Nufei flopped over onto his side, letting the lightrays of the morning sun sink into his dark pelt. As far as he knew, Tazu had only lain with him, and no other male. . . but such a lioness! His yellow eyes roved over the stone in front of him to rest upon the black mouth of the cave where the Pridelander lionesses slept every night, guarded by hyenas and Outlanders. Nufei closed his eyes to return to sleep, but faint sounds coming from the dark cavern caught his ears. Rising quietly to his paws, the great lion sniffed at the air. . . and caught the ummistakable, bitter tang of canine seed. Nufei snarled low in his throat as he identified the sounds: low, male grunts of pleasure and a lioness's stifled cries of pain. Leaping easily across the stone to the mouth of the cave, Nufei swept inside and stopped dead. There, tied to Tekai and pumping the young, beaten lioness vigourously, was Beza. The canine's paws were wrapped tightly around Tekai's hips and lower belly, and his hips were pistonining rapidly against her sore-looking rump with short, jerky movements, as they were tied. Nearby, a ragged cluster of terrified lionesses huddled together in a corner around Kiara, surrounded by Outlander lionesses. Vitani lay a short distance away, crying and sobbing as her daughter was raped for the second time, Zari and Tibu holding her down. Nufei, enraged at the sight of his newest conquest being used in such a manner, let out a deafening roar that stopped Beza in his pumping of Tekai's raw vagina.

The hyena laid his ears back at the sight of the huge lion framed in the cave mouth, but howled and turned his attention back to the lioness on her belly before him as his canine member swelled and he shot gush after sticky gush of dogseed into her womb, killing the newly forming lioncubs that were just beginning to grow there. Nufei's cubs. The hyena collapsed onto Tekai's back as the young lioness sobbed quietly beneath him, but then struggled to yank himself from her as Nufei leapt for him. "You idiot!" With one vicious backpawed slap, the great lion sent Beza flying backwards to collide with the stone wall behind him, making Tekai scream in agony as his knot was ripped from her. Nufei caught the hyena as he slid to the rock floor and slammed him against the wall again. "You imbecile! That lioness was for my usages, not yours! And look what you have done to her! You have killed my cubs!" He flung Beza savagely to the floor, making the hyena yelp as two of his ribs cracked. Nufei pounced upon him, yellow eyes burning with rage and hate. "Now, for what you have done, you wish for death!" Swinging back a paw, Nufei let his long, gleaming claws spring from it, claws that glittered in the sunlight. Beza scrabbled backwards. "Oh, no! Please! Please, I beg of you! No! No! AEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHAAAAA!" Nufei brought his claws slicing down across the hyena's genitals, ripping the canine's sac from his body and slashing the long, curved member, which had just ravished Tekai not five minutes ago, to bloody remnants of skin. Beza screamed like a dying zebra. Nufei slapped him brutally, letting his claws slash across the painfilled eyes, and, hurling the hyena aside, left him to die in a deepening puddle of his own blood.

Blood dripped slowly down the inside of Tekai's thighs as evidence to her spontaneous miscarriage, and the lioness sobbed, partly from the pain of her second rape and her body's responding abortion, but also, partly from the severing of the bond that had just begun to form between her and her unborn cubs, a mother-and-cub bond. Nufei eyed her bloody, marred jewel for a moment, and then licked the back of her neck gently. "Get up, Tekai. It is over. Zari, Tibu, let Vitani up." The two Outlander lionesses stepped back immediately, and Vitani leapt to her paws and rushed to her daughter. Folding her within her arms, the former Outlander crooned to her sobbing Tekai: "It is all right, Tekai, all right. It is over, over. Oh, my poor baby Tekai. My poor cub." Vitani's own tears flowed, and she clutched her daughter tighter. Nufei seated himself and glared around at the watching hyenas and Outlander lionesses. "You, hyenas! Get your snivelling tails out of this cave---now! Move!" The canines obeyed instantly, filing out of the cave quickly. Nufei's yellow eyes trailed them until they were gone from sight, and then the great lion whirled on the Outlanders. "You! Why did you not stop this. . . this profanation!? Why!?" An Outlands lioness named Zemi stepped forward, trying to hide a smile. "We. . . we did not know that you were so fond of the Pridelanders, oh great and exalted warrior of Scar's Chosen!" Zemi smiled mockingly, and Nufei's hackles raised. The lion was angry, angry that he could be scorned in such a manner, and so, when Zemi opened her mouth to speak, he slapped her, hard, across the face. "Do not ever speak to me in that manner again, lioness, or I will cut your tongue out and leave you to the pleasures of the hyenas!" Zemi, shocked, with blood running down her face from where Nufei's claws had cut her, nodded wordlessly, her eyes wide.

Nufei snorted and rolled his eyes. "Out! Out! All of you! Send Tufa and Kova in here! Out! Now!" Looking at each other, the Outlanders slowly trotted out of the cave, until an angry roar from Nufei made them pick up their paws and hurry. Nufei glared at their backs until they were out of sight, and then turned back to the Pridelanders. "I. . . I am sorry. It will not happen again." Vitani left off cuddling her sobbing daughter and stepped before Nufei. "You are right, Outlander! It will not happen again! I demand that you place a perimeter guard around us at night, so that your foul canine rapists do not enter into here and take one of us by force again!" Her ears went back and her yellow eyes burned into Nufei's. "I was once an Outlander; yes, it is true. I am Zira's daughter, but, I have renounced those ways and become a Pridelander. Simba was gracious to us, and let us stay. I speak now as an Outlander to another: It is fully within my rights to order that sentries and sentinels be placed about us at night, to keep those curs you call friend away from my daughter!" Nufei stepped back, avoiding the fire in Vitani's yellow eyes. "Yes. . . yes. Your plea shall be granted; I shall place guards around you tonight."

A sound behind the large, darkfurred warrior made him turn. Tufa and Kova stood in the entrance to the cave, awaiting Nufei's orders. Tazu's lover nodded at them. "Escort the Pridelanders outside. You, and a few others, will be guarding them tonight. Go now." As Kiara's lionesses filed out of the cave between Kova and Tufa, keeping Tekai and Kiara close among them, Vitani flicked her tufted tail across Nufei's shoulder. "You have my grudging thanks, Outlander," she muttered before slipping silently to Tekai's side. Nufei watched them go, and then turned back toward where Beza lay choking upon his own blood. His large paws worked the stone frantically, and his eyes were unseeing. Blood pumped steadily from his severed loins to coat his fur and form a last resting place for the hyena. A strange pang welled up inside Nufei. Padding back to where Beza thrashed and gurgled, dying, the great lion stood over him, an expression like cold pity in his hard yellow eyes. Raising his paw once again, he brought the long, gleaming claws slashing down across the hyena's throat, ending his struggles immediately and plunging the cave into silence. Nufei watched as the tense agony fled suddenly from Beza's torn body and the hyena flopped lifelessly into the pool of his own blood. Gazing one last time at the filthy cur, Nufei turned and left the cave.

Tazu met him at the cave mouth, her dark fur bristling with horror and her yellow eyes wide with the terror of the things she had seen on her excursion into the savanna. Nufei nuzzled her reassuringly. "Tazu, my love, what is it? What has happened?" Tazu's wild gaze flickered across him. "Get the pride and my prisoners together," she snapped quickly, "and bring them under the cliff for a meeting." When Nufei hesitated, she sprang at him, raking her claws through his mane. "Now, you oaf!"

Outlanders and Pridelanders alike mingled beneath the cliff of Pride Rock, one pride gazing up at their leader, the other glaring up at her. Tazu ignored their frightened and hostile eyes as she leapt into her account of what she had seen. "You, my pride and hyenas, and you, also, Pridelanders, listen to me! There is a dark force loose within my domions, and it will not go unnoticed! From what I saw, this creature, or these creatures, however you may wish to think of them as, is unstoppable. . . except by one with a spiritual mentor and guide! The hyena, Keza," Tazu continued, turning and heading down off the cliff to walk among the assembled lions and lionesses, "is dead, her body decapitated and then torn apart and the pieces scattered throughout the savanna! This. . . this thing is obviously trying to tell us that it wants to fight! If so, then fight we shall! All of us!" Her harsh yellow gaze traveled over the Pridelanders, and then flicked back toward her male leonine warriors, who were gathered in a knot nearby: Tufa, Kova, Zaki, Nufei, and six others, Kene, Aru, Razi, Ezari, Taibe, and Azli. Nine of them were brutal killers; young, strong, fast, and all under the leadership of the oldest among them, Nufei, who would strike seven blows just as soon as he would strike one. He was not young, but not old either, and his battlescars were impressive. He was the most seasoned warrior under Tazu's leadership of the Outlanders, and was firmly loyal to her. Tazu let her gaze linger upon him a moment before addressing all of the male warriors. "You will oversee the battle training of the Pridelanders' male offspring."

Instantly, cries arose from the ranks of Kiara's lionesses. "No!" "Do not make them do this!" "We will kill before our sons and daughters fight for you, Tazu!" Then, a masculine roar rose above the tummult. "I will never fight for you, Kinira! I would rather die!" It was, once again, Niakai. The Pridelanders fell silent as Tazu's cold glare traveled over them to rest upon Niakai. "Bring him here." It was an order directed at her warriors; Zasti and Aru carried it out, shoving Niakai into their young leader's presence. Tazu gazed down at him steadily, and Niakai met her eyes firmly with his own. "I will die before I fight for you, Kinira," the young male lion repeated. As Tazu had descended from her lofty perch above her audience, she stood before Niakai now, towering over him. "Who are you?" Niakai smiled grimly. "You remember me, Kinira; do not play the fool. I am your brother, Niakai." Tazu matched her brother's mirthless smirk with a sneer of her own. "Oh, yes. I recall you now. You are Kovu's brat, the one with whom I was compared; my half-brother." She began to circle him, scrutinizing every inch of his muscular body. "I see Outlander blood in you, brother," she hissed mockingly in his ear. "Playing the little Pridelander while you have Scar's blood in you?. . . ha!" Niakai controlled his temper and stared straight ahead at attention. "I am a Pridelander, Kinira. My mother is Kiara." Tazu laughed coldly. "As she is mine---or was. However, brother, that is no concern of yours. What matters is that you chose that traitor Kovu and his weak mate, your mother, over your true destiny: to run with the Outlanders." Niakai opened his mouth to speak, but Tazu cut him off, shouldering him roughly. "You loved and looked up to Kovu so much, did you not? You wanted to be just like him: just like daddy. Well," she snarled into her brother's face, "let us see if you can look just like daddy, with his pretty scar!" Without warning, her claws flashed out and raked across Niakai's left eye, from his brow to the top of his cheek. Blood splattered her face as her brother cried out and reeled backwards, both forepaws flying upwards to his injured eye.

Kiara screamed and tried to leap toward her son, but Ezari and Tibu knocked her backwards into the Pridelanders' ranks. Tazu stood over Niakai, laughing as he clutched his face and moaned with agony. "Weakling! I never cried, not once, when I received my scar!" She glared at Zasti, who gulped and backed away, and then turned back to her brother. Bringing her muzzle close to his ear, she hissed, "This is your destiny, Pridelander, whether or not you like it." Knotting her claws into the back of the young lion's neck, she yanked his head backward. "Come now; let us see it." Prying his forepaws away from his eye, she flicked away the blood and gazed at her handiwork. A new white scar, still oozing blood, stretched across Niakai's left eye, the eyelid of which had closed in time, fortunately, from the bottom of his brow to the top of his cheek. He looked exactly as Tazu did, and as Kovu had, and how Scar, before him, had. Tazu laughed wickedly and dragged him around to face the crowd of lions and lionesses. "Perfect! A fourth member of Scar's Blood has been created! What an uncanny resemblance! Look upon him, Kiara, and tell me that he does not look like he is made for greatness. . . with the Outlanders!" As the shocked silence prevailed, Kiara raised her head and met her son's eyes sadly. Niakai gazed at his mother from behind his new scar. "I am sorry, mother," he whispered. "So sorry." A tear spilled down Kiara's cheek, and she turned away. "You may have taken him in everything else from us," growled Vitani, "but his heart will always remain with the Pridelanders." Tazu snarled; her moment of power had been ruined. "Perhaps so, Vitani," she snarled, flinging Niakai into the ranks of her male lion-warriors, "but you will not be here when he makes his decision." She grabbed Kiara's muzzle in her clawed paw and lowered her head so that she was eye-to-eye with her one-time mother. "And neither will you. Live on in agony for the last miserable months of your life, Kiara. You were foolish to ignore me when I was your daughter."

Turning away, she returned to her place before the gathered leonines. "That reminds me of another point I had wished to discuss with you." Her yellow eyes flickered over them all. "The titles 'Outlander' and 'Pridelander' are no longer suitable for you. When your great-grandfather, Kiara, Ahadi, ruled, he was continually fighting with a pride far to the north: the Darkslash Pride, who were ruled by none other than Zentari, the father of Scar. After Ahadi defeated them, he found the last of their number: a little male cub. Mercy was his weakness. He could not bring himself to kill this cub, and returned with him to Pride Rock and raised him as a son with his own son, Mufasa. The new cub was named Taka." Kiara's eyes widened. Tazu smiled mockingly. "Yes. It is true, Kiara. You probably have never heard this story before, as it is quite old, but I have. This cub, Taka, when he was about Niakai's age, left Pride Rock after a fight he had with his "father," found the remainder of the Darkslash Pride, whom Ahadi thought he had entirely wiped out, and met Zira. He kept in touch with them all through Ahadi's reign, changed his name to Scar, and, when Mufasa had taken the throne and Simba had been born, waited for the right time to put into action his plan.

"When he lured Simba down into the gorge and directed his hyenas to stampede a huge herd of wildebeest, he had hoped that both Simba and Mufasa, who ran to the gorge in a fatal attempt to rescue his son, would both be killed. But, as it was, Mufasa died, Simba lived, but Scar put it into his mind that his father's death was his fault, and so Simba fled. Once again, Scar ordered Simba killed, and, once again, the hyenas failed him. Simba left the Pridelands and was not seen again until much later."

Tazu could see that she had captivated her audience, and so went on: "Following this, Scar took the throne, believing that Simba was dead. During his reign, he visited the Outlanders regularly and allowed them to hunt in his lands, and put the first part of his plan into action. Scar had always wanted a son to follow in his pawsteps when he was gone, and had fallen in love with Zira when he was Taka. It was during one of their passionate lovemaking sessions that he received the scar that revolutionized the entire savanna. Well, just before Simba's return, Zira became pregnant. Scar was killed by his own hyenas, and Simba took the throne, as the 'rightful king.' After that, Zira took over the Outlanders and you all know the rest of the story."

"But," continued Tazu, "that is not where we are going. I received a vision not too long ago in which Zentari appeared to me. I will have you know that he had the same scar, as well! He pleaded with me to bring back the days and strength of the Darkslash, and I agreed." Tazu's yellow eyes suddenly glowed with a rich, proud fire. "The days of Outlander and Pridelander are gone! Henceforth, and from now on, we, all of us, shall be known as the Darkslash Pride."

Not a voice spoke out against Tazu's proclamation.

The young, darkfurred lioness smiled, gratified.

"Good. Now, as the sun has risen high in the heavens, Taibe and Nufei will lead a hunting party into the savanna. Make ready the hunters and huntresses, Nufei, and take Kiara's son with you." The darkfurred lion nodded, wicked delight gleaming in his eyes, and Tazu turned to return to the cliff. As Nufei gave out orders, and the newly named Darkslashes began to hurry under his powerful voice, Tazu leapt up the stones and paced, the smooth rock of the precipice flat and cool underneath her paws. A, large, transparent paw appeared beside hers, and then another, and Tazu looked up into Scar's proud face. You did well, my daughter. Tazu smiled. "Thank you, lord ruler. Have you any more advice for me?" Scar grinned and seated himself. Sit, and I will tell you. Tazu sat, and Scar assumed the role of teacher. Thus the day dragged by.

**

Niakai dragged his paws as he followed after Taibe and Nufei. Former Outlanders trotted by on either side of him, throwing casually, not unkind glances his direction. Niakai knew why; his fresh scar. The young lion winced as his injured eye twinged. When she had slashed him, Tazu had just barely missed his organ of sight, and blood still trickled down into his line of vision. A tear dripped from his scarred eye to mingle with the blood as he remembered his mother's face, and how she had turned away from him with despair in her face. Oh, mother, the young lion cried in his head. I still love you and will never, never take Tazu's side! I love you. I love you. . . One of Tazu's lionesses, Nerta, sidled up beside Niakai. "Hello, little brother of Scar's Chosen." Niakai glared at her. "I am not that. . . that. . . piece of hyena dung's brother! I am no longer related to her!" Nerta laid her ears back and snarled, showing long white teeth. "Never speak about our leader in that manner, Pridelander!" Niakai bared his own fangs, his yellow eyes slitted and hard with hate. "Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Outlander?" Nerta slashed her claws through the air, but Niakai ducked and swiped his own paw across her face. The young lioness yowled and leapt back, but attacked just as fiercely a moment later, sinking her fangs into Niakai's shoulder. Suddenly, a heavy paw batted Nerta away easily and sharp claws sank into the back of Niakai's neck. Nerta snarled still, but her anger fell away into fear when she saw who it was that had clawed her. "N-Nufei!"

Niakai twisted around to see the stern, enraged visage of Taibe glaring back at him. "There are no Pridelanders and Outlanders here, son of Kiara! And you would do well not to mention them!" With that, the muscled and darkfurred lion hurled Niakai into the dirt at Nufei's paws. Tazu's lover and favored warrior gazed coldly down upon the young lion. "You are a Darkslash." Niakai glared back up at him. "I am not," he growled, his voice cold and laden with hatred. "I am the son of Kiara, and a true Pridelander! I take no orders from a chunk of hyena dung!" Nufei's yellow eyes glowed with malice. "Tibu." The lioness stepped to his side. "I am here." Nufei kept his eyes on Niakai as he snarled, "Take the others, including Nerta, and continue with the hunt. I and Taibe will teach this insolent upstart to contradict the word of a leader." Tibu nodded, sneering at Niakai, and left, flicking her tail at the others to follow. Slowly, the lions and lionesses drifted into the tall grass, leaving Nufei and Taibe to tower over Niakai.

Their yellow eyes blazed into his as he rose, snarling and glaring hatred at them. Taibe spoke first. "There is a penalty for denying a leader's proclamation," he began, circling Niakai slowly, "and, usually, only the strongest of them that are subjected to it live." Nufei chuckled and circled Kiara's eldest son in the opposite direction. "Very true. However---" the large leonine pinned the end of Niakai's angrily swishing tail to the ground--- "you are the strongest, are you not?" Niakai laid his ears back, catching the sarcastically ominous warning in Nufei's words. Taibe grinned evilly and ran a claw between the young lion's furry rumpcheeks, making him jump and whirl to face him, snarling. Nufei flicked an ear at Taibe, his paw caressing Niakai's tufted tailtip. "He seems strong enough---" Niakai snarled and slapped Nufei's paw away. "What do you want of me?" Taibe flipped his tail idly and, before Niakai could say or do anything, had fondled the young lion's inner left thigh and withdrew his paw. "He is strong; and such a handsome young face upon him!" Nufei laughed wickedly, seeing the angered confusion in Niakai's eyes. "Oh, yes! A face that would make any lioness proud to have nestled between her breasts." He let his claws graze Niakai's shoulder. Taibe rolled his yellow eyes, still circling Niakai and touching the younger lion's muscled body teasingly when he could. "But, do you see a lioness about? Any lionesses? I do not." Baffled and with his anger growing, Niakai whirled and snarled, trying to keep both of his tormentors in sight, but it was all in vain. Taibe rubbed his chin with a clawed paw. "What do you say he undergoes the. . . punishment? After all, he is a strong young lion, and should have a chance to prove himself." Hooking the claws of his right paw behind Niakai's left ear, Nufei drew the young lion toward him until their muzzles almost touched. "An excellent idea, Taibe. What say you, son of Kovu?" Niakai snarled and struggled to get free, but Taibe's claws raked through the fur on his flank lightly, the lion's clawtips just barely skimming across Niakai's flesh.

"Leave me alone!" As he hissed the words into Nufei's face, Niakai tried to wriggle away from Taibe's claws, but when the warm paw suddenly slipped lower, and claws pricked his sensitive testes, the young lion froze. Nufei smiled. "A fine decision, young brother of Scar's Chosen. You would do well to keep silent and keep still." Suddenly, in a motion that shocked Niakai to the core, Nufei pulled him forward into a long, open-muzzled kiss, his tongue snaking into the younger lion's mouth and tasting every inch of his maw. Niakai struggled, regardless of the pain that was shooting through his body as Taibe squeezed his testicles in his cruel claws, choking on Nufei's tongue. Then, just as suddenly as it had began, it ended. Nufei drew away, grinning at the outrage and disgust written all over Niakai's young face, but still cupping the young lion's chin in his paw. Taibe smiled but said nothing, his claws loosening and his paw caressing Niakai's sore sac. Niakai stared at Nufei; then, gathering all of his courage, spat into the darkfurred lion's face. "You disgust me, Outlander!" he hissed. He winced and almost cried out as he was rewarded for his error with a clawed clench of Taibe's paw upon his testes. Nufei glared down at Niakai, sticky saliva plastering his facefur down. Without warning, long claws leapt from his paw to dig into the young lion's chin, making him flinch with pain. The two glared at each other, yellow eyes parrying with hate. Releasing Niakai's chin, Nufei wiped the spittle from his face and bared his fangs. "I had hoped to be gentle with you, young fool, and not hurt you, but, it seems, you need a small lesson in respect." His claws gleamed in the gathering darkness as he drew back for a blow.

Niakai cried out as the older lion's paw swiped across his face, cutting into his flesh. He fell back heavily into the dirt at Taibe's haunches, and the two darkfurred lions stood over him once more. Thunder rumbled overhead, and, as rain began to spatter down upon the three and claws raked through his fur toward his hindquarters, Niakai caught the scent of something. It was then that he realized what his "punishment" would be. Long ago, when he was but Shuna's age, Kiara had taught him where cubs came from. She had also told him about sodomy---relations between two animals of the same sex---and Niakai, with rain matting his fur down, suddenly understood that it was arousal he was smelling. Nufei and Taibe wanted to do with him what his mother had told him was sodomy. Summoning an adolescent roar, Niakai sprang away from the groping paws and landed in the mud. Skywater stung his eyes as he faced the two dark shadows whom he knew to be Nufei and Taibe, approaching him, and he knew what he had to do.

Niakai fled.

Paws pelting through mud, rain stinging his face, thorns whipping at his body, Niakai ran for his life. He stumbled over roots, tore through the tall grass, and tripped over rocks. Hot breath blew over his heels, and he tried to run faster. Then, out of the gloom, the ground suddenly sloped downwards. Niakai cried out again as he descended, skidding through the muck, stumbling over and over again and finally landing in a heap at the bottom. Although his body ached horribly; although his paws stung and his face and pelt were spattered with mud, Niakai forced himself to go on. He fixed his eyes on the boulders beyond him and raced for them. . . but evil Fate struck again. Claws dug into his flanks, dragging him back, and teeth sank into the back of his neck. Niakai yowled and tried to rise, tried to face his attackers, but a backpawed slap cut his lip open and another blow that landed high on his cheekbone gashed the side of his face deeply. Niakai sank into the mud, bleeding, aching, and knowing that he was about to be violated. Through the rain, he was yanked and prodded into the typical feline mating position, his tail was jerked aside, and a voice rasped, "You brought this down upon yourself, Niakai; now take it like your father did." The young lion's eyes widened. His father had experienced this, too? He had no more time to think as something smooth and slick brushed up against the tight pucker under his tail, and something else, wet and slippery, shoved against his lips. Claws knotted into his ears, and his face was pushed into a furry groin. It was Taibe. Niakai attempted to turn his head, strove to keep away from that slick organ trying to shove its way past his clenched lips, but the lion's talons dug deeper into his ears and a voice snarled, "Suck it, young fool, or you shall wish for death!" Niakai whimpered like a cub. "Please. . . let me go." Nufei chuckled from behind his prey. "He begs." A clawed paw slapped Niakai's rump, making him wince. "Speak no more, cub; latch his muzzle shut, Taibe." Niakai made a small sound of pleading once more, hating himself for it but not knowing what else to do. Taibe worked his young quarry's mouth open, and Niakai gagged as nine inches of slippery leonine pride was shoved between his lips, the tip resting just at his tonsils. "Pleasure me well, son of Kovu, and do not let one tooth touch me, or I will personally claw your genitals from your skinny body!" Niakai nodded slightly, choking on the thick member that was filling his mouth, and ran his tongue over it.

Nufei was enjoying just teasing his victim, rubbing his shafthead along, across, and around the taut pink pucker under Niakai's tail. "You will be mine, Niakai, a slave to pleasure me when no lionesses are around, a servant to do my bidding. . ." He laughed wickedly. "Ah, I have not entertained myself with a young male virgin for such a long time." He ran a claw between Niakai's firm rumpcheeks, in much the same manner Taibe had, from the base of the younger lion's sheath to the base of his tail. "I shall enjoy you immensely." Niakai shivered as the lion's slick, thick glans pressed lightly against his anus, smearing preseed everywhere. Taibe hissed with delight as Niakai's raspy tongue scraped over his flaring barbs and released a few jets of hot preseed into the young lion's mouth. Then, digging his long claws cruelly into Niakai's sides, Nufei

lunged inward and buried himself up to the hilt inside the young lion.

Niakai screamed. But it was a sound of pure anger, not pain.

Taibe snarled and plugged Niakai's muzzle with his member. The young lion whimpered and struggled, trying to wriggle away from the excruciating pain that spread from his backside through his body, but it was all in vain. Nufei dragged himself out of Niakai, feline barbs flared and raking the sides of his victim's anus, then plunged back inside, digging his claws into Niakai's sides. Taibe shuddered and growled with delight as the younger lion's tongue scraped over the underside of his huge leonine tool, and forced Niakai to choke down his pre with a small thrust toward the back of his throat. Niakai whimpered, tears forming in his eyes, as Nufei pumped him wildly, reaching over his back to grab the back of his neck in a mating bite, but would not let himself weep and concentrated in bringing Taibe to orgasm as quickly as possible. He felt a warm substance trickle down the backs of his thighs; it was blood, sticky and red. It colored the thick, long length of Nufei's hard lionhood, spattered upon his sac, and soaked Niakai's hindquarters.

The young lion whimpered as Nufei rammed in and out of him, slamming his hips against the younger lion's rump, driving him forward onto Taibe's erection, making him gag and splutter. Nufei groaned and snarled around his mouthful of furred neck as he pistoned frantically in and out of Niakai's tight tunnel, seeping preseed the entire time. Taibe knotted his claws into Niakai's ears and thrust into his mouth, releasing a hot stream of thick pre into the young lion's muzzle. He was close, his lust fired by Nufei's grunts of pleasure and their victim's whimpers of pain. Niakai's tongue rasped over his barbs and tasted his large member once more, squeezing his eyes shut as Nufei growled and bit down, hurling himself at Niakai's backside. The young lion gasped and the rush of hot air around Taibe's thick shaft was enough to make the lion let loose with a deluge ot hot, thick seed. His claws raked through Niakai's facefur. "Swallow it all, little prince," he gritted. The young lion choked and coughed; a little of Taibe's issue dripped out the sides of his mouth and onto the ground, but he forced himself to gulp the bitter liquid down fairly quickly. A split second later, another load of warm seed splashed into his body, flooding deep into his bowels and streaking Nufei's member, sac, and Niakai's thighs.

Tazu's lover yanked himself from Kiara's son and let go of Niakai's neck, which was wet with blood from his mating bite. He smirked as a gout of bloody seed gushed from the young lion's badly stretched and abused tailhole. "I think he has learned his lesson well. What say you, Taibe?" Through a haze of pain, Niakai dimly heard Taibe answer, felt the fat pole slide from his mouth; then winced as another shaft shoved its way roughly into him. He tasted blood and sticky seed as Nufei rammed his dirtied rod into his mouth, and began to clean the smooth ebony flesh, too exhausted and in too much pain to object. Behind him, Taibe pumped his sore rump hard and fast, pounding the younger lion hastily. Once more, hot sperm sprayed into him from both ends and the air was filled with roars of climax. Niakai swallowed, groaned, and collasped.

**

Kiara leapt to her feet as Niakai staggered unsteadily into the cave of Pride Rock. Vitani was beside the young lion in an instant, helping him to lie down. "What has happened, Niakai!? Tell me!" Kiara hovered close by, frustrated with herself, her beautiful eyes filled with tears of anxious worry. The other former Pridelanders gathered around the young male lion as he gasped out his story feverishly. "Nufei. . . Taibe. . . rape. . . raped me! I. . . I die!" His head lolled back across Kiara's paws and he was still. Only the shallow heaving of his flanks evidenced that there was still life in his bloody, broken, and bruised body. Vitani's yellow eyes grew hard and cold. "So the filthy beasts have taked to sodomizing our sons, have they? We shall not stand for this!" Licking Kiara's ear and nuzzling Niakai's rain-wet cheek, Vitani swept out of the cavern, followed by Tekai, Tekibi, and six others.

The nine lionesses met Nufei and Taibe just as they returned with the hunting party, bearing the limp bodies of five antelope into Tazu's presence. "You!" screeched Vitani, leaping at Nufei. "You raped Kiara's son?! You disgusting piece of hyena filth!" Her claws scored three blows across his face and neck before Ezari and Tibu yanked her back into the ranks of the other eight lionesses. Nufei licked blood from his lips and snarled at the former Outlander-turned-Pridelander. "You shameless wench! I left a guard around you and yours to protect your daughter from the hyenas! And this is how you repay me? I should take you now, as reward for my hospitality in the face of your ungratefullness!" Vitani sprang her her paws again, shaking free of Tibu and Ezari. "And have my womb soiled with your seed? Never! I would rather die!" Nufei slapped her across the face, hard. "That can be arranged," he gritted, twisting his swollen and bloody face into a grimace of hatred. Tazu stepped to his side. "She is yours to deal with, Nufei. Do with her as you will. Ezari, find Kiara's son and bring him to me. Tibu, rout the lionesses out of their cave, and bring Kiara with them, into my presence. Aru, rally the other Darkslashes and find the rest of the former young male Pridelanders." She smiled wickedly. "They must all be initiated into malehood before their training begins. Go now." The lioness and the two lions turned and raced off to carry out the young pridelander's bidding.

Tazu turned to Nufei. "I leave you here, my warrior, to beat this insubordinate into submission. Break her bones; break her jaws, but do not fail me in breaking her spirit." Nufei grabbed Vitani and crushed her to him, knotting his claws into her ears as he stroked her face roughly. "I shall not, my leader." Tazu nodded. "See that you do not." She turned to mount the cliff, turning back in time to see Nufei bring his mouth down upon Vitani's with bruising force, slithering his tongue deep into her maw. The lion dragged the kicking, protesting, swearing lioness into the cave with him and Tazu saw no more. She leaped to the top of the hill and lay down across it. Let Nufei amuse himself with Vitani for a while, she thought. There were, after all, other lions in the pride, lions that would be more than willing to satisfy her hot flesh. She smiled to herself, and waited. . .

**

Far away, in the baobob tree that had once been her grandfather's, Rafikia conversed with the spirits. "Simba, what shall I do? Tazu has taken over the Pridelands, has changed the name of your pride to the Darkslashes. . . what can be done, Sire?" The wind, heavy with small, fresh leaves swirling in its currents, drifted across Rafikia's body, ruffling her fur and disturbing the fruits that hung from the treetop so that they made a hollow clanking sound. The female baboon listened to the wind, listened to Simba's deep, rolling voice speak to her. She laughed mirthlessly when she heard his order. "Oh, no, Sire! You would have me ask them---" Her voice was cut off as a stronger gust of wind whistled past her face. Rafikia staggered backwards. "All right, all right! I will ask them, Simba, but I do not think that it will work!" She grumbled to herself as she grabbed her staff, but an eerie, keening sound made her stop and look back at the drawings on the trunk of the tree. The granddaughter of Rafiki smiled sadly to herself and ran her long-fingered hand over the images of Simba, Kiara, and Kovu. "Oh, Sire," she breathed. "Things have changed in the savanna, but the Great Circle of Life has not." Rafikia swung herself up into the canopy of leafy branches and limbs until she could look out over the wastelands that surrounded her. She looked up at the sky as the cool night air played across her face. The stars twinkled brightly at her, never-changing and as constant as the sun. She gazed at each of them in turn, noting the stars that were brighter than the others. "There is Mufasa. . . and Simba. . . and. . . and. . ." She stared at the third star, which gleamed like a diamond against the blue-black background of night. "Can it be. . ." She stared harder. "It is." The baboon closed her eyes. "Ahhh. . . Kovu. You have made it to be with the great kings of the past."

A cool breeze whispered across her face, and the mystic could almost feel the brush of Kovu's fur against her slender body, see his yellow-green eyes gazing wise and full of love out at her from behind his scar, smell his dusty aroma. Another zephyr touched her face, caressing it as gently as a lioness's paw. Tears slid unbidden down Rafikia's face as she recognized Nala's voice. She raised her arms into the air and let the four spirits of the greatest past rulers swirl about her, whispering their plans for her and their unstoppable bravery into her ears. Rafikia wept and passed the night like that, conversing with Mufasa, Simba, Nala, and Kovu.

**

Tazu rolled onto her side and stretched luxuriously. He hard yellow eyes took in the scene around her, and then softened when they alighted upon Niakai. The young lion was crouching beside Kiara, murmuring something to her, but, by the despairing look upon the mute lioness's face, Tazu doubted Kiara was listening. She sighed, yawning. Why was Niakai here? She had ordered that the young lion and his male siblings be taken away and kept silent until she was ready to deal with them. The lioness gazed steadily at Niakai, studying him slowly through slitted eyes. As her gaze drifted over his slender body lazily, a familiar scent entered her nostrils. Tazu smiled. "Hello, Scar." Scar smiled, sitting down beside her. Hello, my beloved. Tazu grinned and reached up a paw to trace the scar that outlined her ghostly mentor's left eye. "Scar," she murmured, "how do you break a young lion?" Scar laughed. I think you know how to do that, Tazu. The lioness frowned. "Maybe; yet, Niakai is my brother. . ." She winced as Scar slapped her, claws unsheathed. Foolish lioness! What are you saying!? Scar rose and padded over to Niakai. Hooking barely visible claws under Niakai's chin, Scar gazed into his eyes, but Niakai did not seem to see the evil lion. He went on whispering to his mother. Scar scoffed and returned to Tazu's side. Not a brother to you at all, lioness. He cannot even see me! You disappoint me! Tazu lowered her gaze. "I am sorry--" Scar smirked. What is happening to you, my cherished? You are letting guilt seep into your heart! Tazu pulled herself into a sitting position. "But--" Scar slapped her again. By the hyena's fang, child! Do not ever succumb to your guilt or sorrow! You are a ruler; the ruler of Pride Rock! You are of my blood! You have defeated Kovu and vanquished Kiara! In your young life, you have accomplished more than I ever did when I ruled here! Tazu looked into Scar's yellow-green eyes. "You are right, my king. Let us speak no more of this." Scar smiled. Good. But, he added, taking a step closer to the lioness, just to make sure that this does not happen again. . .

Tazu stiffened as Scar's spirit slipped into her body once more, then relaxed. Now, chuckled Scar from inside the blackness of her soul, make me proud of you once more! Tazu nodded, narrowing her eyes and taking in Niakai again. "Yes, milord." She flipped her tail idly, turned her gaze upon Taibe and Ezari, who were standing nearby. "Leave me, and take Kiara to her lionesses." The two male former Outlanders nodded, and stalked over to where Niakai still vainly tried to communicate with his stricken mother. Tazu smiled to herself as Kiara was wrenched to her paws and herded away from her son by the two lions. Niakai gazed after her with tears in his eyes. "Mother." Tazu chose this moment to step to the young lion's side. "She was a strong one, Kiara was." Niakai whirled to face her. "You!" he rasped. "You did this to her! I hate you! I hate you!" He would have sprinted away, but Tazu's paw shot out and struck him squarely in the jaw, bringing him down. "You fool," she laughed, standing over him. "Did you think that Kiara could defeat me? Scar's chosen? She cannot even speak!" Niakai glared up at his one-time sister, angry tears filling his eyes. "If you are Scar's chosen," he snarled in a voice of pure ice, slowly rising up from beneath Tazu, "then I am a son of Scar! Only one of us can ever rule, if that be so, Kinira!"

The dark lioness was mildly stunned by Niakai's voice and pronouncement. However, as she recovered, she smiled wickedly. "Would you, then, wish to fight me?" Niakai did not hesitate for a moment. "I would. . . Tazu." The lioness grinned. "For once, you show courage. . cub. Nonetheless, there are conditions to be carried out. . ." Niakai laid his ears back. "What conditions?" Tazu smiled wider. "If you lose, Niakai, then you will plant in me the next generation of Scar's Blood." The young male lion froze, his eyes widening with shock. "You mean. . .!?" Tazu nodded. "Yes, young cub. I wish to carry on this dynasty forever, and you are the only living male descendant of Kovu, who was descended from Scar, that can do so. Nufei cannot, although he is a an impressive lover. . . and I refused long ago to carry his cubs." Niakai, still stunned, backed away. "How then, Tazu, if you and Nufei. . . lovemake often. . . can you avoid not becoming pregnant?" The dark young lioness smiled, her yellow eyes gleaming. "I have my ways, Pridelander, and they are not for the ears of a male. Now, then, do you agree to my terms?" Niakai matched her smile with a fanged one of his own. "Yes, I do. But, what if I win, Tazu? What will happen then?"

Tazu laughed mockingly. "You will not. But, if you do, by some bizzare twist of fate, then you will rule the Pridelands after I die, instead of my cubs." Niakai's smile turned into a smirk. "Then I will depose you by killing you then." The prideleader sighed. "Such ambition; yet, remember who gave you your scar, and recall who can take your life." Without waiting for Niakai's answer, the young lioness backed away a few pawsteps and stood facing her half-brother, switching her tail lazily. "Now, we fight."

Niakai watched Tazu quietly, sizing her up. The memory of her brutal murders of his four brothers would remain with him forever. The young lion unsheathed his claws, ran his tongue along the backs of his fangs, and snarled, the fur on his shoulders bristling. Tazu grinned, and sprang. Niakai gasped as her claws scored several slashes across his lower muzzle and throat, then retaliated heatedly with an attack of his own, tearing her ear savagely and biting her shoulder. Shocked, then enraged by the pain her opponent had managed to inflict upon her, Tazu laid his nose open and decorated his left flank with five bloody clawmarks. Niakai was past the pain now. All the hate and grief that he had kept hidden all this time now welled up, adding fire to his eyes, adding fierceness to his attacks.

When finally they broke away, Tazu was dripping with as much blood as her half-brother was. "Oh, you will pay dearly for this, cub," she snarled. "After you plant your seed in me, I will take great pleasure in castrating you for life, so that you may never impregnant another lioness again. Or," she growled, pacing toward Niakai. "I will blind you and imprison you and come to you whenever the urge takes me; it depends upon your performance." She leapt at him again, and this time the force of her attack brought him down. The two lions snarled throatily, slashing and clawing at one another, each tasting the other's blood, their muscles straining and their pelts dusty.

Tazu emerged the victor, Niakai gasping for breath and moaning quietly beneath her claws. The lioness, panting herself, licked blood from his ear, purring, "Such a fool! Now, not only have I ensured my leadership, I have also guaranteed the continuation of my line." Niakai squeezed his eyes shut as his half-sister's paw slid down through his bellyfur to grip his sheath. "Please. . ." Tazu rolled his testes playfully within the furred prison that housed them, then massaged the base of it until it thickened somewhat. Niakai tried to wriggle away from her pleasurable paws, but it was all in vain. Bit by bit, the strength drained from his body and his long red shaft slid from its casing. Tazu purred with triumph, her slit already damp with the arousal that victory brought. Holding Niakai down, she lowered herself onto his engorged member, moaning slightly at her half-brother's adolescent fullness.

Niakai almost cried out as a warm, slick wetness enveloped him to the hilt. Only by biting his lower lip savagely was he able to keep from voicing his delight. Tazu's body was firm and hot upon his, and he could feel her full breasts with their erect nipples pressing against his chest. The lioness moved slowly upon him, enjoying the feel of his long rod sliding to and from her gently. She chuckled a bit at the intense look upon his face, and sat up, pressing her bosom before his muzzle, tempting him with the furred mounds that swung tantalizingly before his eyes. Niakai bit back a moan and attempted to resist licking at her breasts, but it was too hard, just too hard. Tazu drew in her breath sharply as her half-brother's tongue rasped gently upon her nipple, every tiny file upon his oral tentacle noticable upon her sensitive flesh. His forepaws slipped around her body, unconsiously, to massage her rump as she began to move in a circular motion upon his slickened pole.

Niakai was scarcely aware of what he was doing; the pleasure was so violent. Lapping eagerly at her nipples, he inhaled her musky aroma, and his as well, moaning and gasping incoherently. The lioness was increasing her tempo; her tailtuft was caressing his furred sac maddeningly. Niakai was close; Tazu also. Stunned at the amount of pleasure the young lion's shaft could provide her with, she gripped his shoulders, her claws biting into his flesh, and cried out as he thrusted into his, nipping her breasts fiercely, clasping her to him. With a roar, the two came, Niakai's barbs flaring as he spilled his precious, potent seed into her, Tazu crying out as she bathed his shaft in a mixture of his own issue and her feminine juices.

Collapsing onto him, she panted and grinned, feeling the hotness inside of her die down into a flickering ember, knowing she carried within her the seed of greatness. Leaders would spring from her loins, and in turn, take their siblings as mates and produce cubs with the pure blood of Scar flowing through their veins. She smiled as she though of her future grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, all strong, robust lions and lionesses, ruling the former lands of Simba with paws of iron and voices of steel. Niakai stirred slightly under her, and Tazu snapped back to the present. Taking his face between her paws, she purred, "Did you have fun, little brother?" The young lion looked away. "Please, let me go. I. . . I did as you wished, Tazu."

Tazu smirked. "Ah, that you did, Niakai, but, in order to make entirely sure that I am indeed with child by you, I will take you again and again until I am satiated, for it has been such a long while since I entertained myself with a younger lion." Niakai stared at her. "But. . . you. . . I. . no!" Tazu leant close. "Yes, Niakai, because I am your leader and you are my subordinate, will I do this, and also because I wish to bear cubs of Scar's line." Her yellow eyes blazed into his as she lifted her body up off his soft shaft, fondled it to hardness with her skilled paws, and then sank back down onto him with a gasping groan.

**

Tibu and Zasti brought their leader a generous portion of the meat that the hunting party had brought back to Pride Rock. Tazu thanked them and began to feed slowly, her eyes scanning the scene below her: Nufei oversaw the rationing out of prey to the lions and lionesses that had not gone on the hunt; he made sure that Tekibi and Tekai, especially, received a large share of the antelopes' flesh. Vitani sat nearby, cleaning her loins and casting hatefilled glares at Nufei's broad, darkfurred back when the large leonine warrior was not watching her. Niakai crouched beside his mother, holding her unresponsive form in his arms and crooning in her ears. The other former Pridelanders were gathered near Kiara and Niakai, feeding hungrily and growling low in their throats at their guards. Suddenly, a snarling cry arose and the gathered Darkslashes leapt to their paws as Sheko, one of Kovu's young sons by a former Outlander named Zika, another young male lion called Teperi, a son of Kovu from Vitani, his twin brother, Eri, and the youngest son of Kovu, Sekpi, by a former Outlander called Tizia, were shoved and yanked into Tazu's presence by Aru, Kene, and Kova.

The four young lions hissed and spat at their guards bravely, then turned blazing eyes upon the young prideleader that looked down upon them cooly. "Foolish kittens," scoffed the dark young lioness, descending the great cliff to stand on the ground before the young males. "You may deny it, but you are all my half-brothers." She surveyed each of the four in turn. "You all have Scar's blood within you from your parents, the traitor Kovu and his treacherous wives, lionesses that turned their backs on Zira and all they knew to be true!" Her voice was flat and hard by now, and her scar seemed to glow with the hate she emanated. Teperi spoke up first. "No matter what you say, Tazu, we will never honor you or fight for you!" Eri nodded defiantly, agreeing with his twin brother. "Never!" Sekpi and Sheko voiced their own agreement with snarls of rage. Tazu smiled coldly, baring her long white fangs. "Oh?" She began to circle the four, smiling as they whirled to face her, to keep their glaring eyes upon her lithe form. "You all saw what happened to Nala because she opposed me," Tazu spat. Her words made the young lions hesitate for a moment; then, again, as if he had been silently elected the spokeslion for the courageous little band, Teperi snarled out, "Nala died a righteous lioness! We will honor her by fighting you to the death!" He stepped forward. "Only one of us will prevail tonight, Tazu: good or evil."

The prideleader nodded slowly, but her eyes gleamed like fire in the moonlight as she continued to circle her half-brothers. "True. But, I see no great kings with you; no spirits of the dead ancestors returned to help you win against me." Tazu smiled, but her features looked as though they had been chiseled out of ice. "I have Scar." She paced forward until she was eye-to-eye with Teperi. "And you have no one."

All at once, the darkfurred lioness's paw flashed out and raked long, glimmering ebony claws across Teperi's face. The young lion cried out and reeled backwards, blood streaming across his cheeks, but, just as suddenly, Eri leapt forward to take his brother's place. Tazu snarled and sprang upon him hatefully. Sinking her claws into his chest and elbows, the lioness gripped him tightly and buried her fangs in his shoulderblades, ripping and gouging. Eri snarled with pain and tried to drag her off of him, but Tazu clung grimly to his body. Blood swirled into her mouth, rich, red, and fertile with the taste of the Outlanders; her blood. Her muzzle was coated in crimson when she bit down, deep, into Eri's back. There was a ringing snap, and then the younger lion crumpled to the ground, dead. Zika screamed and tried to rush Tazu, but Vitani and Tekai seized her, holding her back, even as the former Outlands lioness writhed and shrieked, hot tears of helpless agony and rage pouring down her face. "My son! Oh, my son!" Teperi, wiping the last of the blood from his eyes, pounced upon Tazu from behind as the young prideleader slashed and tore at Sheko's body.

She yowled as claws sank into her flanks, yanking her back and down, and allowing Sheko a space to grab for her neck. Tazu twisted, raked her own talons down across Teperi's head, and wriggling out of his grasp. She kicked him aside and then whirled to face Sheko, who was just recovering. He had not even the time to cry out or draw a final breath before the lioness's fangs slashed his throat in two. He collapsed to the ground across Eri's lifeless body; their blood mingled. Tazu's eyes glowed with bloodlust and strength; she dug her claws into Teperi's face and ripped his eye away with a gout of blood and gore, then bit down upon his skull and shattered the grey bone into shards. Zika screamed and struggled wildly against her captors, her eyes wide with shock, her body shaking, her horrified gaze fixed on both of her sons' dead bodies.

Tazu licked blood from her lips and headed in for her fourth kill of the night. Sekpi snarled in terror, and lashed out at her. The prideleader sprang like a leopard upon him, forcing his muzzle into the dirt and breaking his left front leg. Sekpi screamed; then whimpered and lay still. Tazu circled her injured prey, panting somewhat, her jaws dripping blood into the fair golden fur of Kovu's youngest son. "Please," he sobbed, "just get it over with! Please, just kill me!" Tazu stepped back. "I am not going to kill you, fool. I will let you live." She brought her muzzle close to Sekpi's flattened ear. "Oh, my little prince! The dead will never know if your father made it to the starland of the great kings. The dead will never know a lioness's love, never experience the heartbreak of losing the ones you love. The dead will never know if your lioness, upon leaving you, has found forgetfulness in the arms of another lion." She smiled. "But you, Sekpi, you will suffer all these things: by living." She kicked him contemptuously. "Get up, and return to your mother." She turned away. Sekpi, even with waves of heat searing through his body, could not take this last slur against his malehood. Gasping in pain, he pulled himself to his feet and turned. Tazu stood a few feet away, her back turned to him. Sekpi winced, but began to run awkwardly toward her. "My companions died fighting you, Tazu!" he screamed. "And I will do no less!"

Sekpi sprang for her. His death was swift and painless; Tazu's paw flashed out and broke his neck, dropping him like a stone at her paws. She glared down at him, expecting to see terror at his last moments of life upon his face, but, instead, Sekpi's features were calm and peaceful, enragingly peaceful. Tazu whirled and faced Kiara's lionesses. "So weak! Striplings and cubs you threw at me! And not one survived; not one! Fear me, followers of Kiara! I rule all!"

**

FOUR MONTHS, TWO WEEKS, SIX DAYS LATER

The figure licked blood from slender jaws, gazing out across the savanna at Pride Rock. Claws tightened into the zebra's plump, striped body; the teeth again sliced across the flesh with a low growl and the slim form ate again. Blood wetted the once dusty-pink nose, dripped from the furred chin, coated the long talons. The zebra was suddenly tossed aside and the dark silhouette began to head for Pride Rock, silently and swiftly. As the shape brushed through the long grasses, other phantom-like, slender creatures broke their cover to slip after the first figure, many of them. Countless paws now padded rapidly upon the hard ground in the trek to Pride Rock; numerous pairs of eyes glimmered in the moonlight; sometimes the flash of an uncovered fang there; sometimes the gleam of an unsheathed claw here. Tails rested, curled, above slender heels, and the many bodies flexed with sinewy muscle. A stream was not hard to cross; the intruders simply waded into the muddy water and swam across to the opposite bank. They were near now, nearer than any of them, save one, had ever been.

The first shape slowed, stopped, and turned to the others. Quietly, the distinctly feline shadow communicated how they would take Tazu by surprise, which route to the cliff of Pride Rock would startle the darkhearted lioness the most. The others nodded, and broke into a silent run to follow their leader as the shadowy shape headed for the back of Pride Rock. A small opening was there; the hole Kiara had created when she ran away from Pride Rock long ago to follow her beloved outcast, Kovu. The numerous forms slipped inside the cave of Pride Rock from the back, sniffing at the dark air warily, trotting silently through the stone cavern after determining that no lions or lionesses were inside the cave. The first shape stopped at the entrance to the den and looked out. Lions and lionesses were in abundance right below the shadowy intruders; many of them were weeping, some of them were chuckling. Four young male lions lay dead around a tall young pregnant lioness's paws; it was obvious that she was the killer, by the blood dripping from her face, the scar across her left eye, and the proud, evil expression she wore as she shouted at the assembled leonines. "Tazu," one of the dark shapes breathed. "I had no idea that she was so. . . powerful." The leader turned to face the speaker, gazing the creature into silence, then turned back and surveyed the scene once more.

So much attention was on Tazu that no one would notice the trespassers slinking up onto Pride Rock until it was too late. The leader smiled. With a whisk of the tail, the slender phantom beckoned the others to follow silently onto Pride Rock's cliff.

**

Tazu glared at Kiara, who gazed back at her one-time daughter with tears in her eyes. "Bring her to me, Nufei." The large, dark male lion nodded and grabbed Kiara by her skinny shoulders, thrusting her in front of Tazu. Kiara turned her face away, tears running down her cheeks, but Tazu grabbed her face in a clawed paw and forced Kiara to look at her. "Well, mother," she spat, "what have you to say about this?" She laughed coldly. "Oh, I forgot; you cannot!" She hurled Kiara to the ground and stood over her. "The lionesses, your lionesses, will only follow you, Kiara. But, if you should be killed, then their loyalty can be reverted to me." Nufei started. "Tazu---" The young prideleader glared at him. "Shut up, Nufei; find yourself another lioness. I will do with Kiara as I choose." Nufei looked away, deflated, and Tazu continued. "It must all end in violence, mother, before there can ever be peace." Long talons sprang from her paw, and she pricked Kiara's throat with the tip of once, before closing her entire paw around the mute lioness's neck and gently digging her other clawtips into the tender flesh. "I will end the insubordination here, Kiara!"

However, before Tazu could break her one-time mother's neck with her claws, a shout arose. "Look! On Pride Rock!" The dark lioness looked up, and snarled. Dropping Kiara, she glared hate at the lone figure standing above her. "Who are you!?" The figure could be seen to smile. "I am but one against many, Tazu, but I have been sent to take back the Pridelands for the Pridelanders." Tazu scoffed, moving subtly toward the trail that led up onto Pride Rock. "You against me? The one whom Scar has chosen as his heir? Stupidity!" Suddenly, she leapt for the trail, shrieking orders at her lions. "Nufei! Gather our warriors and follow me! Tibu, Ezari! Lock Kiara's lionesses inside the smaller cave! Aru! Taibe! Bring Kiara and Niakai to me!" Her commands were carried out with stunning speed, and Tazu sprang onto Pride Rock to face the lone intruder with a full fighting force behind her. Her hard yellow eyes were hard and cold as stones, and her long white teeth were bared.

The lone figure that stood before her was a male leopard, silhouetted against the descending moon, small breezes ruffling his fur as he gazed at Tazu steadily. "Give up, Scar's Blood. You have lost the battle." Tazu stared at the leopard; then began to laugh. "I could break your neck from here, spotted fool! Yet, you say give up? Surrender? Never!" She started to advance slowly upon the leopard, her voice as cold as ice and twice as hard. "I will rip you apart before I give up the Pridelands." The leopard smiled sadly, genuine pity shining from his eyes. "Then you give me no choice but to destroy you. . . Kinira." Tazu snarled, but the menacing sound fell flat as shadows began to creep from the darkness into the moonlight to stand at the leopard's side. More leopards and cheetahs, as well, had come to take a stand against the blackhearted young lioness that had taken over the Pridelands.

Kiara, held in place by Nufei and Aru, stared hard at the assembled cheetahs and leopards. There was something abou them, something. . . A breeze swirled around her; Nala's last words reverberated through her head. "The power is in the flaws, the power is in the flaws. . ."

The spots!

They were the flaws!

Kiara gasped audibly. The spokesleopard looked her way and smiled fondly. "One whom you thought lost lives, Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala." As Tazu and her army watched in shock, the ranks of the spotted cats parted and a golden shape, pale in the moonlight, slipped through. It was a young lioness, slender and obviously a Pridelander. "I am home, Mother." Kiara caught her breath.

It was Shuna.

An explosion of light inside her brain mingled with her conflicting emotions, until one emerged triumphant: joy. For the first time in moons, Kiara spoke, with all the force of lightning ripping from the night sky to rake the savanna. "SHUNAAA!" She leapt forward, just as her long-lost daughter did, tears streaming down her face. "Shuna, oh my Shuna," she cried. "I thought I had lost you!" The two lionesses embraced, and Shuna licked the tears from her mother's face, even as tears poured down her own. "Oh, mother! I missed you so much!" From where Taibe and Ezari held him, Niakai stared in shocked disbelief. "S-Shuna!?" The pretty young lioness that faced him left him in no doubt that she was indeed his returned sister; her eyes had stayed the same cub-blue that she was born with.

Tazu was shocked. Standing to the side, staring at the young lioness that had appeared like a spirit onto Pride Rock, her heart beat fast. How had the cub survived? She felt a shoulder brush her own, and turned, her eyes settling on the barely outlined figure of Scar's spirit. "What; what. . . will. . . I. . . do. . . Scar," she whispered frantically. Scar glared at her. Weakling! Remember how Zentari fought Ahadi; with all the strength of a charging rhinoceros! Tazu gazed at him. "But he did not win, great leader! Ahadi killed him and routed his pride!" Scar grimaced with rage. Enough! he shouted. I will win this battle, because you are too insensible to do so yourself! The spirit's entry into Tazu's body was like none she had ever experienced before. A ripping, sharp pain tore its way through her body as he immersed himself into her ebony soul; she gasped under her breath and almost faltered, but managed to catch her balance, stay on her paws, and wait out the pain. It faded almost instantly, and a fierce expression entered her eyes.

Kiara and Shuna, blissfully unaware of their surroundings, were suddenly shaken by the force of the roar that emanated from Tazu's lungs.

"ATTACK!!!"

Tazu leapt into battle, three dark rulers of the past with her. She fought with Zentari's strength and majesty, Scar's cunning, and Zira's savageness. As before, the cliff suddenly exploded into a mass of writhing bodies, some spotted, some darkly tawny. Tazu grabbed a pretty young leopardess, raked her claws savagely across her opponent's face, and hurled her aside, paying no heed to the leopardess's cries of agony as blood streamed from her slashed eyes. All around Tazu, tawny lions fought viciously with blackmarked leopards and cheetahs, snarling, slashing, roaring, yowling. In the mayhem, Kiara and Niakai had switched sides and now attacked Taibe with a vengeance, pure hatred shining in their eyes. The large lion struck out at Kiara, but the lioness leapt away and Niakai rewarded his rapist with a five-clawed slash across the cheek. Nufei roared hoarsely with pain and threw himself upon the younger lion, pinning him to the ground below his body. Niakai scrabbled and kicked beneath Taibe, biting and snarling fiercely, but he felt cold teeth lock around his head. "You should have never interfered, Pridelander fool!" gritted Taibe. Niakai squeezed his eyes shut and prepared himself for death. . . but it did not come. Taibe screamed in agony as Shuna sank her fangs into his testes and yanked back, ripping them off his body as easily as a hyena would strip feathers from a dead bird.

Leaping to his feet, the lion yowled again, trying to staunch the flow of blood that was pumping steadily from his severed loins, but left off trying as Kiara bit into his throat, Shuna tore his stomach open, and Niakai gouged out his eyes. Taibe shrieked once more, convulsing bloodily, then stiffened and lay still, mutilated and with his muzzle twisted into a scarlet-drenched mask of agony. Panting, the three leonines backed away from Taibe's lifeless body and grinned happily. "Shuna!" Niakai flung himself at his sister and they embraced under Kiara's smiling visage, ignoring the rage of the fighting around them. Their tears mingled as they wept together, sobbing and laughing at the same time. Niakai backed away first, taking in every inch of his sister. "Shuna! How you've grown!" Shuna giggled, rumpling her brother's adolescent mane. "You have also, Niakai!" They laughed until two hyenas ran into them, trying to escape the wrath of three cheetahs. Kiara gathered her children to her and licked them both. "Oh, my cubs! I love you both so much!" Niakai faced her. "Mother, I love you also, and know that I would never, never take Tazu's side or fight for her!" Kiara embraced him tighter. "Oh, yes! I know, I know, my little son!" Her face gleaming with joyful tears, she roared, "Now, let us fight!" With a shout of triumph, the three hurled themselves back into the fray.

Aru and Ezari were fighting for their lives against a wave of Kiara's lionesses, who had escaped their would-be prison-cave and flung themselves upon their former captors with an unknown fierceness. Backed up upon the very pinnacle of Pride Rock's cliff, the two desperately battling lions had but two choices: fight their way free, or jump to their deaths. Unfortunately, the former alternative seemed quite futile and, while they were deliberating, Aru misstepped and plunged off the cliff to his death, howling with terror. Ezari flinched as his former comrade met the rocks below with a sickening thud, and whirled to face into Vitani's vengeful eyes. "Please, I beg you, spare---" Vitani would not let him finish. Shoving outward with her forepaws, she watched as Ezari was reunited with his wicked companion upon the stones below.

Tazu slowed her barbaric ritual of murder to glance up at the stars. Seen only by herself, the pinpricks of light were assembling themselves into shapes that vaguely resembled many lions. The forms then divided into two groups and attacked each other. Tazu gasped as she recognized Zira, Zentari, Ahadi, Uru, Mufasa, Sarabi, Sarafina, Nala, Simba, and Kovu, among a host of others, whom she supposed to be the ancient great kings of both the Pridelanders and the Outlanders. The vision was shut off as spotted fur filled her line of sight, and claws sank into her shoulders. Tazu snarled, and bit down into the mass of pelt; the she-cheetah shrieked and slipped away, the dark prideleader carrying her down and killing her swiftly. Lifing her bloody muzzle, Tazu watched as Tibu and Kova were thrown off of Pride Rock, and Tufa, Kova, and Kene went down under the onslaught of lionesses led by Kiara and her children. Azli and Razli attempted to slink away from the battle through the ranks of the hyenas, but were halted by Vitani, Tekibi, and Tekai. They paid dearly for their mistake, and, castrated, their bodies dripping blood, met the same fate as Tazu's lions before them; the rocks below Pride Rock were splattered with fresh blood.

Nufei tried to fight his way to his lover's side, but a tawny body flashed between them and attacked the great lion: Kiara. Using her newfound voice, the golden lioness cursed him and clawed him deeply. Nufei flung her from himself, but was immediately beset by Shuna, Vitani, Tekibi, Tekai, and Niakai, all with the blood of Tazu's leonine warriors upon their faces. Tazu grimaced a bit as the six of them tore Nufei, quite literally, apart. The great lion screamed Tazu's name once more before he met death, his body flailing limply beneath the tearing jaws of his murderers. Something deep within Tazu broke, and she cried out in anguish, not because she had loved Nufei, but because he had been the one she was closest to.

Slashing, biting, snapping and killing, the infuriated lioness fought her way through the throngs of battling felines, wreaking havoc upon them with every step she took, and leaving a trail of broken bodies and gory wounds behind her. Just as Tazu reached Kiara, standing level with the furiously pummelling lioness, she felt needle-sharp teeth pierce her flank. The prideleader snarled, ripping into a malecheetah's body with fangs and claws. She gasped in surprise as he, in turn, scoured her flanks with his hindclaws, and wrenched away. She was about to go after him, but thought better of it and whirled to face her next enemy: the leader of the spotted cats. "You!"

All activity suddenly ceased, and all eyes turned to Tazu and her enemy. This battle would be the one that would determine their fate; if the young, blackhearted lioness won, then every Pridelander would be killed. But, if the strong leopard prevailed, then the Pridelands would be won back, and righteousness would return.

The leopard faced the lioness in all his humble glory. "I was sent by the great kings of the past to destroy you, Tazu, and I must carry out what they have ordained for me to do." Tazu scoffed. "We have been over this before, leopard! I could cut you down from where you stand before me now! We shall fight, and before I take your life, you will feel my wrath!"

Tazu now brought all of her fighting instincts, battle ploys, and brutality into play as she and the leopard began to circle one another, the lioness snarling low in her throat, the great spotted cat silent and lithe. However pregnant she was, the heaviness of her precious burden did not slow the lioness down as she hurtled over the stone at her opponent. Her claws scored once! twice! three times! across his rosetted face before she sprang back and he attacked. His body, hard and muscled, bore her down to the ground, his claws raking through her fur, skimming painfully over her flesh. Tazu snarled and bit for his throat, but he reared his head and struck her firmly. The lioness struggled and growled as they slashed with long claws at each other, snapping for each other's bodies and struggling to gain control of the situation.

For the first time, as Tazu tasted and smelled and saw the power of her enemy, she began to fight for her life, and that of the offspring that Niakai had planted with his precious seed in her body. Her eyes lost their fierce fire, and took on a look of fear as she grappled with the silent leopard. No, she howled inside her head. It was not supposed to happen this way! From inside her soul, Scar paced and cursed at her and the leopard, his eyes full of enraged flames. The spotted cat's muzzle grew closer and closer to Tazu's throat, in spite of her frantic efforts to keep herself alive, and his eyes, gentle even though sweat rolled slowly through his fur, gazed into hers. "I am sorry, Kinira," he whispered. "So sorry."

And then his fangs pierced her throat.

Tazu suddenly felt herself fading away. The shapes around her grew hazy and blurry; her limbs became leaden, and she could not keep her eyelids open. She closed them, and drifted away into starry mists.

**

Kiara stepped to her daughter's side and sat down beside her. Running a paw through Tazu's dark fur, she stroked the young lioness's ears gently, her tears dropping into Tazu's pelt. "My dear daughter Kinira. Oh, Kinira." Shuna appeared beside her and placed a paw upon her half-sister's shoulder, her own tears running down her face. "Why, Kinira? Why you? I loved you!" Then, she buried her face in Tazu's pelt and whispered, "I still do." Niakai was the last to step forward, but when he did so, he wept, as well, licking Tazu's face free of blood and gore. "I would have been her cubs' father," he finally murmured." Shuna looked a bit surprised, but Kiara nodded. "I know, my son." Niakai gazed upon Tazu's face. "But more than that, I would have been her brother. I loved her, even though she abused me and scarred me, and I will always love her." Kiara drew a shaky breath. "She was my first cub, and therefore will always have a special place in my heart." Lying her head against Tazu's, the golden lioness closed her eyes and let her tears flow freely. Shuna and Niakai did the same, as the cheetahs and leopards bowed their own heads in grief, along with the newly liberated Pridelanders.

Not an eye was dry in that place.

**

A soft, sweet smell entered her nostrils, and Tazu realized that it was the aroma of fresh savanna grass. She was a cub, running, running, running through the tall stalks with another lioness close beside her. It was Kiara. Her mother was laughing; she was laughing. Why? Tazu felt herself trip and roll a ways before collapsing in a heap of soft grass. Kiara scooped her up and planted a lick on the side of her face. She was saying something, but Tazu could not make it out, only the word 'Kinira'. The picture soon faded into blackness, and an eerie form appeared upon the horizon of the dreamrealm. It was a lion, magnificent and redmaned. Not an Outlander, no. Tazu found herself drawn to this lion, one she had never met. She gazed into his eyes, which regarded her softly. "Who are you?" she whispered.

"I am Mufasa," boomed the specter, "the father of the Pridelanders whom you persecuted in life." Tazu averted her eyes, ashamed and humbled. Mufasa smiled benignly upon her bowed head. "Look at me, my great-granddaughter." Tazu raised her eyes; they were somehow wet with guilty tears. "I forgive you, Kinira. I forgive you." Shocked and repentant, Tazu heard other voices, masculine and feminine, and other phantoms appeared around Mufasa: Simba, Nala, Sarabi, Sarafina, Kovu. "We forgive you, Kinira," they called, smiling down at her. "We forgive you." Tazu was weeping openly now, cradling her face in her paws, unable to face the royal Pridelanders. "I have erred, my leaders, so many times, so many times! I repent! Thank you! Thank you!" Mufasa smiled. "No longer will you be called Tazu, my daughter, but Kinira, 'chosen to be great.' You are no longer a chintu, but a daughter of Kiara, a full-blooded lioness of my line." Kinira smiled at her great-grandfather, her face wet with tears. "Thank you." Kovu stepped forward. "Kinira, I have shamed you." The lioness shook her head. "No; no, you have not." Kovu nodded. "I have. I shamed you before your pride, before your siblings, before your family. I wanted to have nothing to do with you, for you reminded me too much of Scar. I now ask your forgiveness, Kinira, for I have done wrong against you." Kinira smiled. "I forgive you, Kovu. . . my father." Kovu beamed celestially, and the lioness thought she saw a pearly tear tracing its way down his cheek. A lioness stepped forward, aged, yet magnificent and graceful. "I ask your forgiveness as well, Kinira, my child. I scorned you harshly, unjustly." Kinira smiled at Nala. "I forgive you, my grandmother." Mufasa beckoned to Kinira. "Join us now, my daughter, for all eternity."

Kinira felt herself beginning to lift into the presence of the great kings and queens, who all smiled at her as she was deposited at Mufasa's side. Extending a large paw, he embraced her and led the lioness into the pearled mists.

Yet, Kinira lingered behind the celestial rulers, gazing back toward the war-ravaged Pridelands. Mufasa came to her side. "You wish to return, do you not, my daughter?" Kinira nodded. "If only for a moment, Mufasa, just to speak to my mother and siblings." Mufasa nodded. "I will grant to life, but only for a few minutes, Kinira. You see, there is so much to be done on your part. Therefore, I will send Rafikia and Zazi to you." Kinira nodded, and Mufasa passed a paw over her.

**

Kiara gasped as a miraculous change occured in her daughter's body. First, warmth returned to the chilling flesh; her pelt rippled, grew shorter, and changed from dark to a tawny golden color. Her face changed from twisted in pain to placid and calm, and her eyes fluttered open. Kiara pulled her daughter close and gazed into her eyes. "K-Tazu!?" The beautiful golden lioness lying upon her paws shook her head. "No, mother. I am Kinira." Tears began to flow down Kiara's face again, and she embraced Kinira tightly. Shuna joined in, and so did Niakai. Licks and nuzzles were exchanged and then Kinira fell back upon her mother's paws. Kiara leant close. "What is it, Kinira? What is happening?" The young, golden lioness smiled faintly. "I am returning, mother. My time has come." Kiara held Kinira close. "To where are you returning, my daughter?" she asked quietly, tears running down her face, rocking her as if she were a young cub again. Kinira smiled. "To the great kings of the past, Mother." She opened her eyes as Kiara's rocking of her halted abruptly, and whispered, "Kovu is there, mother. My father is there."

Kiara sobbed into her daughter's pelt. "I though I would never see the day when you would call him 'father.'" Kinira reached a paw up to wipe the tears from her mother's face. "Nor did I." She turned her gaze toward Niakai and Shuna, and beckoned for them to come close. Enfolding them in her arms, she nuzzled them both. "My beloved siblings, I love you. Rule the Pridelands well." Shuna and Niakai were weeping openly, regardless of how they looked. "We love you, as well, our sister," they sobbed, embracing her. Kinira fell back into Kiara's paws and smiled up into her mother's face. "I love you, mother, so much." Kiara licked her daughter's cheek. "And I, you, so much more than you can ever imagine." She sighed, closing her eyes, but then opened them again. "There is but one more matter to attend to," she announced, barely loud enough for the others to hear her. As the last echoes of her words died away into the dawn, a baboon, carrying an ornamented staff with a hornbill perched on her shoulder, hobbled into Kinira's presence. Kiara smiled at the primate. "My friend, Rafikia."

Rafikia grinned. "I never thought I would see the day when Kinira would allow me to deliver her progeny into the world." Zazi fluttered down into Kiara's presence and bowed nobly. "My Queen." Kinira smiled weakly at the two, and shifted to allow Rafikia better access to her thigh area, just as her water broke. Her claws digging into Kiara's wrists, she lay her head across the crook of her mother's elbow and closed her eyes.

Pain wracked her body, stole into her heart. Kinira stiffened as she heard Mufasa's voice in her subconscious. "It is time." Taking one last, long look at her family, Kinira fell back with a cry of, "I go! Take care of him. . ."

Kiara clasped Kinira's goldenfurred body to her once more, weeping. The young lioness was gone to the welcoming arms of the great kings. "Sleep well, my daughter," whispered Kiara into Kinira's fur. Rafikia labored for a while longer, then turned with a small, furry burden in her arms. As she stood upon the pinnacle of Pride Rock, holding the cub, the first bright beam of light sparkled down, washing them both in gold. Rafikia turned to Kiara, tears of joy wetting her face. "It is a boy." Kiara, smiling through her tears, padded forth to look upon her grandson. . . and gasped, as did Shuna and Niakai.

Across the lid of his small, closed eye lay a tiny pink scar.

The End

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And that's really the end, folks! No more Kinira stories; I'm through. I thought, if I ended this on a mysterious note, you readers would draw your own conclusions. Another thing: Okay, I know that scars and other physical wonds aren't genetic, but I made this scar genetic anyways! If you don't like, bite me! Email any questions or comments to: [email protected] or [email protected], but please, no begging for more Kinira!

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. . . god, twenty-seven pages long, at least in Microsoft Works 4.0. . . must be a record. . . damn._