Roar of Manipulation

Chapter 7 Vandalism

Kion woke up feeling the most well rested that he'd felt in months. He however had a light headache from his crying fit, which like the rest of last night was all a blur to him. Kion had yet to even notice Jasiri who was still snuggling into his chest and mane. The only thing that Kion noticed was the scorching heat of the dry season's son beating down on him. He got up to try and find some water to drink and shade to lay under.

As he got up, he felt Jasiri stir in his forelegs, but not wake up. Startled, Kion looked down, finally noticing her and the memories of last night all came rushing back to him. He gasped at all the memories of last night, him revealing to Jasiri that he had feelings for her, his rant about how he felt selfish for not getting over Rani and putting everyone through it, how Jasiri placed her paw over his mouth to stop him from apologizing and than her... kissing him. Kion quickly but carefully released Jasiri from his forelegs and backed up, continuously gasping in disbelief as he stared at the sleeping hyena in front of him. Kion's back paws suddenly slipped and he felt himself hanging off the ledge of Flat Ridge Rock.

He tried to pull himself safely back up, but he didn't have enough strength to do so. He fearfully looked down below at the hard rock awaiting him below. If he fell there was a good chance, he'd probably break his neck. He tried to pull himself up again, but he just continued to slip. He looked over at Jasiri, who still asleep, unaware of the danger Kion was in.

"Jasiri! Help!" Kion shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping it would awaken Jasiri.

Jasiri immediately woke up at the sound of Kion's shout for help. She looked around for him before spotting him hanging over the edge of Flat Ridge Rock. She gasped and ran over to him.

"Kion!" she shouted.

She tried grabbing onto his paws to pull him up, but was unable to. She than tried to pull him up by his scruff, but that didn't work either. She finally hung herself over the edge and strained to push Kion up over the ledge of Flat Ridge Rock.

"What... is it... with... your family... and cliffs?" Jasiri asked as she pushed Kion up.

"Maybe we're cursed by some angry cliff god?" Kion said, not meaning to make a joke out of Jasiri's question or the situation he was in.

When Kion was safely back on solid ground, he slowly strolled into the dry and brittle savannah grass surrounding Flat Ridge Rock. Kion let himself fall to ground and than he rolled onto his back and placing a paw on his chest as he breathed heavily from the experience. Jasiri pulled herself back up as well and went over to Kion and lied down on her back as well. Kion looked towards Jasiri.

"This has got to be the millionth time that I've thanked you for something." Kion said.

Jasiri slowly turned her head to look at him and smiled.

"Well, you saved my life once, arguably five times before, and now I just saved yours. So, I'd call us even." Jasiri said.

Kion looked confused when Jasiri mentioned he had saved her five times. The steam vent was definitely a moment in which he and his friends saved her life, but what about the other four.

"What are the other four?" Kion asked.

"One, coming back to save me from Janja and his gang even though I had them right where I wanted them. Two, saving me from that member of Janja's gang who was about to attack me from behind by headbutting him. Three, tackling Nuka before he could try anything else. Four, you and your friends coming to help me and my clan when Scar's army had us surrounded." Jasiri said, holding up a claw for each mentioned moment. "But like I said, you saving my life during those moments are arguable since I could have gotten out of those situations myself before you decided to act all heroic for me."