A Lion's Coalition

Chapter 1

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! " Kion yelled excitedly, trying to wake his mother from her slumber. The cheetah stretched as she awoke to her cub's calls. She felt him tugging on her tail as she opened her eyes and groaned. Fadia had a rough night last night; she'd barely slept, so she was still too tired to begin the day. She looked behind her, seeing little Kion filled with excitement and a huge grin on his tiny face, the same as he always did at the beginning of the day. She smiled when she saw him; he was her everything, and she was raising him as her own, even though the other members of the coalition weren't always accepting of him, choosing to shun her at times when she walked past. She hated how he had to stay inside their cave every day, so he wasn't open to the other cheetah's ridicule, but she didn't want to expose him to what she was facing on his behalf at such a young age.

"Morning, little one," she groaned as she stretched, feeling her little one still holding tightly onto her tail, giggling as his front paws left the ground as his mother stretched out her back, "you look happy," she said. Laying herself back onto the floor of the den, Kion still continued to tug at her tail whilst mumbling some incoherent words along with playful snarls and growls, "you're full of energy today,"

The cub didn't answer his mother, but she knew he was up to something once she felt the grasp on her tail leave. It wasn't long until she was proved correct in her suspicions when Kion suddenly jumped onto her back; Fadia let out a small 'ouch' as he landed smack bang in the middle of her back, a part of her body that was already in pain from the events of the previous day. Kion smiled as his mother looked at him once again before jumping off of her landing in front of her, with a sort of wag in his tail, grinning at her, "can we play?" he joyfully asked, hoping that his mother wouldn't be too tired to join in on his fun.

Fadia smiled at him, she loved seeing him this happy, and although she was struggling to keep her eyes open, she knew what she had to do, "of course, we can," she said, accidentally releasing a yawn she wasn't even aware was hiding within herself, "I'll get up now," she slurred as she attempted to get up only for her head to fall back onto her paws, closing her eyes sluggish as she drifted back off to sleep.

Kion frowned at his mother as he watched her drift off again, "Mom!" he growled, upset that his mother had just said she would play but instead fell back asleep, leaving him alone, "you said we could play!" He huffed as he continued to watch her, waiting for her to wake back up only to hear soft snores start to resonate from within her. Little Kion waited a while longer but found himself quickly becoming bored of just sitting there waiting for his mother to wake back up he huffed, beginning to feel annoyed at his mother; however, before he could grow too annoyed, he noticed his tiny mane atop his head moving when he would exhale in his upset. Kion quickly forgot about his mother, instead giggling to himself as he started to blow his mane around. He found it amusing when it landed back on his head with a slight thud, only then to blow it back into the air; this lasted for a few more amusing minutes before he began to get bored again. He looked at his mother, smiling, hoping now that she would be awake and ready to play. But that smile quickly vanished when he saw that she was still sleeping. Another small huff came from him once more as he grew impatient once again, "mom," he called, placing his front paws on her shoulder and shaking her, attempting to put all his strength into waking her, only the cheetah didn't budge no matter how hard he tried, so the cub slumped back down and began to huff for a third time, "why won't you play with me?" He muttered, feeling tears starting to well in his eyes.

Little Kion huffed again as he now waited silently for his mother to rise; however, even now, his mother showed no signs of waking her snores, only getting louder the deeper she fell into sleep. Kion quickly grew bored once again, craving something to stave off his boredom, so he began a new game which was to wag his tail around behind him, accidentally hitting his paw every now and again with his tail, making himself jump every time it collided with his tiny paw. "Hey!" He giggled to himself, standing up and turning to his tail. To his dismay, however, it got further away from him when he tried to confront it, "Get back here!" he giggled as he began to run in a circle, chasing his tail. "Get back here!" he yelled as he continued to run himself in circles. "I'm gonna get you!" Kion exclaimed, filling the den with the sound of his laughter as he snapped at his tail, just missing it every time until he decided to really focus himself on catching his tail. He stopped running and focused on where it landed, watching it stay still, just beside him. "Ha!" Kion leapt and jumped forward, catching his tail in his mouth. "Got you!" he yelled, muffled, as he held his tail between his teeth triumphantly. The little cub was so excited that he had to tell his mother. He quickly turned to face her and show her his accomplishment, "Mommy! Look!" He yelled before sighing when he saw her still sleeping so she would never know what he had done. He held his tail in his mouth a little longer before letting it fall to the floor as he sorrowfully sighed.