Other Fan Fiction ❯ The Lion King 4: A Single Step ❯ Play ( Chapter 10 )

[ A - All Readers ]
Sorry about the hiatus as usual guys. Thanks to my faithful reviewers. This is one of the more playful/fun chapters, I had fun writing it.
Last time: A strange young lioness appears in the pride lands and befriends Kivu and his team. She shares little about her past. Who is Tempest and where did she come from?
Chapter 10: Play
As the heat in the Pride lands continued, each lion was lazier than ever. Many stayed around the waterhole, drinking from it with long laps. The water had started to recede, since not only lions drank from the large pool. The King and Queen noticed this, but decided it wasn't a major issue yet. The two were laying close to the water's dry edge, alone at one part of the waterhole. Kiara rolled over to lean up against her husband.
"Kovu?" she murmured.
"Hm?" He replied, part asleep.
She smiled. "Nothing." She buried her head in his shoulder and thick mane. She thought she could never be happier, almost as if nothing could go wrong.
Tempest had become rather popular among the lionesses in the pride. They hadn't had new members since the battle between the Pride Landers and Outlanders. Tempest warmed up to everyone and was beginning to feel at home. Most of the time she was with Kivu and the other adolescents. They all were close friends; even Ciara gave her a chance and got to know her. No one tired of Tempest's quick witted manner and speech.
One night when the pale young lioness was drifting off to sleep in the warm night, with her friends sleeping soundly next to her, she thought about how even though she lost her real family, that she was happy. Now she considered the Pride Landers to be her new family. With these last comforting thoughts, she gave in to sleep. The next morning, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a flower, right before her eyes. She rose her head, gazing at the flower. It was small, but beautiful. Its petals were yellow, with a splash of blue coming from the center.
"How beautiful." She whispered. She then looked around, wondering if the one who placed the flower there was still around, but the only ones still around were sleeping. She noticed none of her friends were still sleeping. Figuring they went back to Pride Rock, she got up and walked, forgetting all about the mysterious flower.
Before she could climb up the step-like stones leading to the cave of the rock, Kivu saw her coming, and bounced out of the cave to greet her; Jai was at his side.
"Tempest, come on, we're about to go out and play!"
Tempest smirked. "Aren't we too old for playing?"
"Nope we're not adults yet. We're supposed to play. And when are we supposed to stop playing anyway? My mom and dad play all the time. Yesterday they were playing tag, they asked me to join. I wanted to die of laughter!"
"How sweet, Kivu." Jai teased.
Kivu tossed him a look, then continued, "Hey let's play hide and seek."
Tempest chuckled, "Alright, let's do it!"
"Do what?" Mani said as he and his sister Tali trotted over.
"Hide and seek, you guys in?" Kivu asked.
"Yeah count me in." Tali said, stretching her nearly full grown body. "I need a good run."
"What about Ciara?" Jai asked. "She's talking with my mom." He gestured with his tail in the direction Toni and Ciara were sitting a small ways from Pride Rock. The adolescents noticed Kiara and a few other lionesses sitting or laying with them. "Let's go ask her."
The four young lions headed over to where they were relaxing. When they got closer, without word, Kivu picked up speed, ran and leapt directly on his mother.
"Gotcha!" He proclaimed, as they connected.
"KIVU, you..!" Kivu tried to wrestle his mother to the ground but Kiara, still being the bigger one, quickly threw him off.
She bared her teeth, "Kivu, what in the world?" She growled.
"Great Kings, Kivu!" Ciara proclaimed, feeling lucky she had backed out of the way of Kivu's attack on his mother.
Kivu picked himself up, half of him covered in dirt. "I'm just saying hi." He said, spirit not to be diminished, going close to Kiara and nuzzling her.
"Hello will suffice." She snarled, but couldn't hide the purr that escaped from her throat. "Go be rough with your father, you're to big to be jumping on me." She batted him playfully.
Kivu laughed, "He'd sit on me and kill me, mother you know that!" Kiara purred louder. Then Kivu turned to Ciara. "C'mon lets go." he said, walking away.
Ciara followed, "Where?"
Kivu shrugged. When Ciara saw the rest of her friends, she quickened her pace, then greeted them. When the group was far enough from the adults, they started their game.
"So who's it?" Mani asked.
"Ciara!" Jai said, moving his tail fiercely back and forth.
"Hey, why me?" Ciara said, swatting her brother. He simply knocked her aside with a shoulder nudge.
"I second that." Kivu said. After a moments hesitation, Ciara sighed, closed her eyes then started counting. Her five friends ran off to hide. After a few moments, almost everyone had found a spot to hide. All except Tempest, who was frantically glanced around, looking for an appropriate place. She knew she had to hide fast.
"Tempest!" A voice hissed from a large bush about 2 yards away. "Tempest, over here!"
Tempest followed the voice, lowered herself and pushed her way into the bush. Small branches poked her fur as she lay next to her savior, Mani.
"Besides the prickly branches, there's plenty of room in here." He said.
"You're right," she said. "This is a pretty good spot. There's even a look-out hole." She put her eye to it, closing much of the distance between her and Mani. They were so close, Mani could hear her quiet breathing.
"She's coming." Tempest whispered, and ducked away from the peep hole, trying to keep still. Any movement would cause the bush to rustle, which could direct Ciara's eye right toward them. Mani and Tempest help their breath as Ciara walked toward the bush. She looked determined to find her first victim. As she approached the large bush, she rose her green eyes to look over the leafy bush. She walked around it in silence.
Mani glanced at Tempest. Her paws were covering her mouth, trying desperately not to start laughing. Mani in turn, found it hard to keep a straight face. Seeing Mani's struggle for silence made Tempest let out a small snicker. She quickly averted her gaze from her friend to keep from letting the laughter escape.
Fortunately for Mani and Tempest, Ciara had heard movement coming from a nearby large tree, and had gone to investigate that instead. She probably just missed Tempest's slip. After Ciara realized the noise from the tree was just a bird flying away, she moved on. Suddenly, knowing that now was the time, the two young lions burst from their bush, and at full speed toward the counting tree. It was farther than they thought. They ran laughing, hardly able to breathe with the strain on their lungs. They stopped at the tree and lowered their heads to catch their breath.
"That was a close one," Tempest breathed. Mani chucked.
"A lot of fun," he managed.
"I thought she had us there...for a minute!"
"Cause you had to laugh!" Mani accused.
"If you hadn't looked so much like an idiot, I wouldn't have!" she teased, laughing.
"Well I was trying not to laugh like someone here did." The two burst into more laughter. Tempest's eyes rose.
"There's a twig in your mane," she said, closing the distance between the two, raising a paw and pulling it out. She flung it to the ground, then looked softly up at him.
"...You too," He gently pulled a twig from her bangs. A small purr escaped her throat. She played it off by clearing her throat, and acting like it never happened.