A New Pride, A New Family

Chapter 1

"Dad! Dad! Daaad! You promised dad!" 
"M-Maybe you shouldn't bother him Tabia. The sun hasn't even risen yet." His voice was a soft mewl, careful not to wake up anyone. 
"Pft! I don't care, Tendaji! He promised, and a promise is a promise!" This voice however was more feminine, and annoyed. It also woke up most of the lionesses and lions in the cave.
"You should listen to Tendaji more often Tabia, I'm very busy today." A groan rose from a light skinned male lion, beside him a dark skinned lioness awoke. 
"B-But dad! You promised to bring me to the desert today!" A soft whine escaped from her mouth. 
"You and Tendaji can go together, unless you want Mlinzi to go with you?" 
Tendaji and Tabia looked at each other before saying, "We're fine being together!", in unison. "Well run off then, before a change my mind!" The dark skinned lioness smirked. 
Tendaji and Tabia didn't hear her as they already were running to the desert, prancing and jumping over each other.
"Are you sure that was a good idea, Busara? Tabia always finds a way to get in trouble." He was looking back on their retreating backs that got smaller and smaller with each passing second.
Busara looked at him, a smile dancing on her lips, "Of course Zuberi, Tabia may find a way to get in trouble, but Tendaji always gets her out of it. Now hurry up! Dalisto needs his lessons, after all he has to help Tabia with her ruling!"
That didn't calm Zuberi down, but he had to go to work, "Alright, Busara, I trust you. I'll see you before sunset. Als-" 
"I know! Send Mlinzi if they don't come after sunset." 
"Before." He corrected. 

~Back with Tabia and Tendaji~ 
"Wait! Tabia! Rufaro is here!" He excitedly ran towards a dark skinned cub.
"Tendaji~" She dragged the last syllable of his name, "We haven't even reached the border of the jungle!" But he had already reached the young lioness and started a conversation. "Fine! I'll go by myself!" She shouted, hoping that he would hear her and come back. But he didn't, so the cub just walked away. She looked behind her, however he didn't even notice. She growled softly, 'This is all Rufaro's fault! Tendaji never ignores me! Who would ignore me? I'm the princess of the pride and future queen! An idiot would ignore me!' While she was stalking off, she tripped over something. "Ow!" She yelped and turned to see what she tripped over. All she saw was a golden heap of fur. "Wow! Is that gold? I can bring that to dad and mum, and they'll be so proud of me!" 
"I'm not gold, whatever that is anyway." 
"Woah! It can talk! This is so cool! I can't wait to show the pride!" She was on the tip of her paws, excitement rushing through her, "Tendaji's gonna be so jealous that I found this without him! That'll show Rufaro that she nor Tendaji can ignore me!" 
"I said I'm not gold!" The 'gold' slowly stood up, and walked away sadly. It's ears and tail limp. "I'm a lion." 
"A lion! That's so cool! I'm a lion too!" She sat on her hind legs, a grin painted on her muzzle, "I never seen one with your fur color though, it's so cool!" Now she strolled around him, looking at the rich, smooth color of his pelt. 
"Yeah well you can see a lot of it back ho-" He cut himself off, that surely wasn't his home now. "Never mind..." His voice was mournful. 
"Well, my name is Tabia! It means talented! What's your name?" 
"Um, Simba, I don't know what it means." 
"I wonder what you did to be named that!" She had a sarcastic edge to her words, "It means 'Lion' by the way! If you want we can go back to my home !" 
"Um, I don't know..." He trailed off. 
"It'll be fun! But wait a second." She waltzed to the back side of Simba's body, he was a bit taller than her. Tabia picked up his tail, when Simba turned around to face Tabia, "What are you going!" 
"Checking your tail tuff colour." She said in a 'duh' tone.
"Why?" 
"It's pretty stupid, but if you have a dark tail tuff color, you cannot enter the pride." 
"You're right it's pretty stupid." He chuckled a bit for the first time in a while. 
She picked up his tail and grinned, "Yup! You're safe! You're lucky though, a shade darker and you couldn't have come in!" 
"Awesome! I hope everyone is as nice as you!" 
"Some can be pretty mean, but everyone else is fine! It's okay if someone bothers you, 'cause I'll be there to kick their butts!" 
"I guess I'm lucky to have you as my friend!" 
"Let's go on our way now! The sun is setting, so if we run we'll get there before night!" 
"Okay! Race ya!" Simba rushed ahead, but hit a paw."Ow!" 
Not a minute later Tabia rushed from behind him, "Wow you're fast!" She grinned, but it disappeared when she saw who was infront of them, "Rufaro." She growled. 
"Hello Tabia, who's this cutie?" She winked at Simba. 
"None of your business!" She bared her teeth at her, but Rufaro only smirked. Simba just looked confused, "Um, Tabia who's this?" He cocked his head to the side in confusion. 
"This is-" Tabia started but was rudely interrupted by Rufaro, "Rufaro! It means happiness! What's your name cutie pie? " She batted her eyelashes at Simba, but he just looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I don't give my name to strangers." He politely said, even if it was partially a lie.
"Rufaro, where's Tendaji?"
Rufaro smirked ruefully at her, "He went to get King Zuberi and Mr. Mlinzi." 
"W-What! Why?" 
"We didn't know where you've gone, so Tendaji went to get them, while I searched for you!" 
Tabia whimpered, her father is going to be so angry at her! But she couldn't let Simba know that she was terrified, much less Rufaro. So she put up a mask, "Hah! I don't care! Dad trusts me enough to let me wand-"
"You don't care?" Zuberi's voice boomed. "Mlinzi!" 
"Yes, your majesty?"Mlinzi's tone was void of emotion. He barely glanced at Tabia, who had still kept her act up. 
"Bring Rufaro and this young cub to the pride. I'm going to have to teach my daughter a lesson."