Whatever It Takes - A Lion Guard FanFiction

Chapter 27: Growing up

Kion woke up, and noticed that Mwokozi was still sleeping, cuddled up next to him. Kion pulled his paw off the ground and pushed her in the side, waking her up. Mwokozi turned her head towards Kion. "Oh, good morning Kion." she said. "What do you think you're doing!?" Kion questioned, giving Mwokozi a mad glare. "It got cold last night, so I couldn't sleep. I wanted to cuddle up next to you, so we could keep each other warm." "Let me make this clear, there is NO we. It is just you and me." Mwokozi nodded in response, after which she turned away from Kion and started walking. "Where are you going?" Kion asked her. "I'm going to hunt. We need something to eat." "I'll come with you." Mwokozi turned her head back towards Kion. "I though you said there isn't an us, but just you and me." Kion sighed, as he gave Mwokozi an annoyed glare. "If you and I hunt together it'll be easier, that is why I'm coming with you." "Okay then." The two lions had a successful hunt.

A long time had gone by, and Kion was now an adult, just like Rani and Mwokozi. Cheka, Uon and Mrembo were all teenagers now. Rani still missed Kion, but she did not let those feelings get in her way. She had her duties. Because Cheka and Uon were older now, she did not have to constantly take care of them anymore. Sometimes she even had to miss Cheka, because he wanted to visit Mrembo. They became really good friends over the years. Cheka understood that he could not have a relationship with her, no matter how much he loved her. Still they were good friends, who would spend a lot of time together. There were times that Cheka would not come home for a full week, because he stayed with Mrembo in the Pridelands. In the long time that had passed Kiara found a new mate, she did not love him as much as she did with Kovu, but it was still good enough for Kiara to have a second cub with him. It was a boy called Mlezi. It was a still young and playful cub, who would soon become the new leader of the Lion Guard.

Kion and Mwokozi's relationship has gotten better too. Even though they loved each other, Kion did not do anything special with her. Every time they would get close to doing something special, Kion would remember himself of Rani. It made him feel guilt. Leaving her behind, because he did not want to hurt anyone, but starting a relationship with someone else, in a jungle far away.

Kion did face one big problem in his life. He was annoyed all the time, and the smallest things could make him snap out. It was because of his scar. He could not stop it, no matter how hard he tried. Even if he wanted to be happy, his scar always made him feel grumpy.

Kion and Mwokozi went hunting together. They found a zebra, and they decided to let Kion attack the animal from behind, so it would run right into Mwokozi, who would kill the poor thing. Things unfortunately went different. What was meant to become an easy hunt, would turn out to be a tragic event.

Kion started pursuing the zebra, who started running away. As planned, ha ran right into Mwokozi, but she felt dizzy. Instead of her attacking the zebra, the zebra attacked her. She was completely trampled by its hoofs. She was bleeding terribly when Kion arrived, and in the end she died from her injuries. Kion, being furious because of what happened, wanted revenge on the zebra. He continued pursuing it, and once he reached it, he killed it in a slow and painful way.

The days did not feel the same anymore, without Mwokozi. Kion was all alone in the big jungle now, and having no one to talk to, made him feel uneasy. After a few days he decided to leave the jungle, even though being alone was the reason why he left the Tree of Life. He did not like it at all.

After roaming around for days, Kion, unintentionally, suddenly found himself close to the Tree of Life. "I could go for a visit." he said to himself, as he walked into the mountain pass. No one was in there, so he continued walking towards the tree. "Is anyone home?" he asked as he walked in. Uon and Cheka were watching Makini's paintings, while talking about how beautiful they were. When they heard the voice of someone who was entering the tree, they turned around. They were shocked to see who it was. "Dad!" they both yelled as they ran towards him. Cheka nuzzled him first, and once he was done it was Uon's turn. "You came back." Cheka said. Words could not describe how happy the teenager cub was to see his father after such a long time. Uon was now done nuzzling Kion too. A small distance formed in between the two young lions and their dad. Kion gave a good look at them. "Look at how much you two have grown." he said happily. "Well... You did so too dad. I mean... Your mane is fully grown now. That is so cool. I want that too." Cheka said. "But my mane is only on the top of my head." he continued, as his voice saddened. Kion rubbed the teen lion who was his son on his head. "Yours will grow eventually, it just needs time." Kion tried to cheer Cheka up, and it worked, because Cheka's saddened expression got back to a happy one. Suddenly the three lions heard paw steps coming from behind them. They all looked at the entrance of the Tree of Life to see who was entering it. It was a brown colored lioness. Kion recognized the lioness, and the lioness recognized him. "Kion?" was all she said.