Love At First Sight

Hide and Seek

An hour has passed and Nilly woke up. She stretched out her wings and yawned. She shook her feathers and then flew to Kion's den.

"Kion, are you awake? asked Nilly. She heard him move. "Yeah, I'm awake." said Kion as he stretched. His muscles were sore from the long journey and there was dried blood on his not so golden fur anymore.

"How long was I asleep?"

"An hour. I took a nap as well. So, I was unaware of the time."

Kion yawned and sood up. A bolt of pain rushed through his body. Kion grimaced in pain. "My whole body still hurts." said Kion.

"Sorry Pri...Kion. Maybe I can find some medicines to soothe the pain."

"That's okay. I can overcome the pain."

Kion and Nilly walked out of his den and eventually went outside. The sun shone bright. Kion saw birds just like Nilly, but smaller, playing games, hunting worms, and test flying. Kion smiled. He liked seeing the birds have fun.

"How many are there of you guys?" asked Kion. "A lot. I kind've lost track after a while."

Kion spotted Bertrude playing with some of her friends. When Nilly finished replying to Kion's question, the birds stopped what they were doing. They all looked at Kion.

Kion felt a little intimidated by all of the birds. "There's so many of you guys."

"Don't worry. They've never seen a lion before. They've never seen a member of the Lion Guard either, so yeah. They're going to stare at you."

Kion just chuckled. After a minute of total silence and staring at Kion, the birds went back to what they were doing before he had arrived. But a couple of birds came up to Kion. Kion noticed one to be Bertrude. He assumed that the other two birds were her friends. "Hi, Bertrude. Hi guys," said Kion.

"Hi Kion." said Bertrude. Her friends didn't respond. They just started at Kion. One of her friends spoke up eventually. "Mr. Kion, is it possible if you can play with us?" asked the smallest one in her group. Kion smiled at her and nodded. "Sure, what do you want to play?"

The four girls were flapping their wings with excitement. "You wanna fly?" asked one of the girls. "He can't fly, he doesn't have wings." said another girl. She was laughing."Oh yeah, I forgot."

"How about hide and seek?" asked Kion. The four girls nodded their heads eagerly. "You count," said Bertrude. "Okay, but you have to be visible and you can't climb more than six feet." The girls nodded, showing Kion they understood the instructions. As quick as a flash, the four girls were flying away trying to find a good hiding spot.

"Alright Nilly, you get to help me find them." said Kion."Okay." said Nilly. They counted for a minute and then started looking for them. "Where do you think Bertrude and her friends are hiding?" asked Kion. "I don't know. I know that Bertrude and her friends have a secret meeting spot that only some birds know. I don't even know where their hiding spot is. It's that secretive."

"Wow, I thought Bertrude shared everything with you." said Kion in a teasing tone. "Mostly everything. I'm not her real mom, so she won't open up to me about everything. She won't share everything that goes on in her life."

Nilly and Kion started their search by looking behind trees and in the branches. No luck, then they checked the river, no luck. "Well, Bertrude, where are they?" asked Kion. "My body is starting to hurt again, but I still want to find them." said Kion. "Hmmm, I'm not sure. Usually, Bertrude dosn't wait more than five minutes after hiding, she'll come up and say, I won, but she hasn't done that yet." Kion could hear the worry in her voice. "Don't worry Nilly, I don't think anything has happened to Bertrude and her friends. If they had, well then, we're just going to have to rescue them." said Kion. Another five minutes passed and Nilly grew anxious with every minute. "This isn't funny, Kion. I don't know where they are." said Nilly. "Fly back to your guy's home, and if they're there, then come back for me. If they're not, come back to me, inform me, and then go on ahead and yell for their names. I'll do the same.

"Okay Kion." said Nilly. She flew back to her home. Alone, Kion wandered near a big boulder. He laid down to take a rest. He yawned and then he heard a little chirp. "Am I hearing things?" asked Kion to himself. He heard it again. He listened carefully and he realized that there were small voices in the rock. "Hello? Bertrude, is that you?" Confused, Kion walks around the base of the huge boulder, examining it. He didn't see an entrance or a whole. But out of knowhere, a decent sized stone shoots up and out comes Bertrude and her friends. "Hi Kion." said the girls in a unison. "Woah, neat hiding spot. How did you find this place? I would've never guessed you hiding in a rock."

"Yeah, One day, we found an armadillo walk in here. We were very curious. Eventually, the armadillo finished her journey in the Circle of Life, and her home was open. So, we made it into our own little fort. Nobody knows about it, except our moms and the leader." said Bertrude. The girls were smiling bright. "That's really cool. Well, know I know." Bertrude's smile turned into a worried expression. "Please don't tell anyone where our secret base is." said Bertrude. "I wouldn't dream of it." said Kion smiling. Bertrude started smiling again. "Well, you guys won." said Kion. "Yes!" exclaimed the five girls. "Let's head back, Nilly flew back to see if you were back home. She didn't like it how you didn't make yourself know in the five minute range." said Kion. "Oh yeah, I usually do that. We got distracted talking to each other in the base." said Bertrude. "That makes sense." said Kion. Kion walked and the five girls sat on Kion's back all the way back to their home.