A New Life

New rulers, new rules

It was the day after Kiara and Kovu's wedding. The sun wasn't up yet and some animals were still asleep. The den was filled with snores, groans and moans; all was asleep, except for Kovu.
He woke up all of a sudden and walked out of the den as carefully as he could. When he was outside, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Here I am, a would be killer. Standing on the edge of a rock that was supposed to be my throne that would have been taken one way; by murdering a lion that's done nothing but be kind and just to others. What was I thinking?
Kovu's train of thought was called to a halt when he felt someone's soft lips press against his cheeks.

He turned and saw his beloved wife, future Queen, soulmate, lover and of course mother of his soon to be cubs.
"Good morning my husband," purred Kiara licking Kovu's cheeks. Kovu smiled.
"Good morning my wife," he said returning the lick. Kiara sighed in content and sat down next to Kovu, and there they were; two lovers sitting at the edge of Pride Rock, watching the sunrise, and not being  prepared for what was about to happen next.

"Aww looks like Romeo and Juliet are up early," said a sarcastic female voice
The two lions turned around and saw Vitani, Marisa, Diana and Burnt Eboney standing behind them, smiles on their faces.
Kiara blushed and turned around to resume watching the sunrise. Kovu on the other paw rolled his eyes and hung his head.
"Well Kiara my love it looks like our romantic moment is officially over," he said.

Kiara laughed and walked over to nuzzle her parents-in-law.
"Good morning," she said happily.
"Hey Mom now that Kiara is married to Kovu, what is she going call you and Dad?" asked Marisa looking fondly at her new sister-in-law. Diana looked at her husband and smiled.
"Well we've been thinking and we have decided that Kiara can call us, Mom and Dad," said Diana.

"WHAT!" exclaimed Kovu and Vitani in unison.
Diana turned to look at her son and daughter. "What's the problem?" she asked raising her eyebrows questioningly.
"What's the problem?" Kovu asked. "If Kiara calls you two Mom and Dad, then people will think we're siblings!"
Hearing the absurdity of this statement, Kiara and Marisa bursted out laughing.

"Well she can't call us Diana and Burnt Eboney, that might make her uncomfortable," said Diana.
"Sure I don't mind calling them Mom and Dad. They are my parents-in-law after all," Kiara agreed nodding her head.
"And we can all call each other sis," said Vitani grinning. Marisa and Kiara smiled and said that this was a great idea.

"Sup sis," said Kiara.
"I'm good sis," replied Marisa giving Kiara a playful nudge.
"So you ok sis and sis," laughed Vitani grinning.
"We're good sis," replied Kiara and Marisa in unison.
Then all three started to laugh.
Kovu had had enough so he went into the den to wake up the rest of the pride.

After half an hour, the pride was awake and morning assembly began. Kiara were nervous.
"Kovu do you think we'll be good rulers?" she asked looking at her husband. Kovu licked Kiara's cheek to reassure her. "Don't worry honey, I have faith that we'll be great rulers. Just stay calm and we'll walk out there and act like two proper rulers; just like your parents," said Kovu confidently.

Kiara smiled totally convinced that Kovu was right. She took a deep breath, calming breath and relaxed her muscles.
"Okay then, let's go,"
Kovu smiled and together they walked out of the den and onto the platform. As they walked through, the lionesses bowed to their future King and Queen.

They reached the peak of Pride Rock and after half a second of hesitation, Kovu roared. After came Kiara and then they roared in unison followed by the pride.
Afterwards, Kovu and Kiara turned to face them.
"Good morning everyone," said Kovu smiling at his pride.
"Good morning your highnesses,"

"As you all know, yesterday Simba and Nala announced that Kiara and I would be married, and we're married. We won't be taking their place just yet, but we'll be practicing so when we're ready, we may assume the throne," Kovu said.
Everyone nodded, showing their  understanding and Kovu resumed his speech.
"So it's another day in my beautiful kingdom and I-"

"Your beautiful kingdom?" asked Kiara raising her eyebrows.
"Yes my beautiful kingdom," he said.
"YOUR beautiful kingdom?" said Kiara emphasizing the word 'your' It took Kovu a minute before he finally comprehended what Kiara was saying.
"Oh yes my apologies my love.  What I meant was it's another  day in our beautiful kingdom," he said teasingly.

"That's better," said Kiara seeming satisfied. Kovu grinned and pounced on her.
"Kovu what are you doing? You're acting like a cub, stop it," Kiara scolded.
"So what? We're the future rulers of the Pride Lands, no-one will say anything to us," Kovu said smirking.
"We have assembly to conduct, get off!" Kiara insisted.

"Oh come on baby, where's your sense of adventure?" Kovu said nudging her with his nose.
"Daddy tell him to get off!" Kiara shouted.
Before Simba could say anything however, Kovu jumped off and stepped to the side and Kiara started to laugh uncontrollably followed by Vitani, Marisa and a few of Kovu's friends from the outlands.

"Aww look at that ladies, Kovu's afraid of his father-in-law," Vitani said mockingly.
"Awww that's sooo cute," the lionesses swooned.
Kovu rolled his eyes and cleared his throat which meant,
'Fun's over time to get serious.'
The laughing stopped and Kovu resumed assembly.

"So it's time for some new rules. No hunting after nightfall since it attracts predators, such as hyenas, jackals, leopards, pumas, wild dogs and rouge lions; which can be categorised into two groups. Juvenile males and juvenile females. All of which are dangerous. No association with rouges without my knowledge, one they can rape the lionesses, kill the cubs and the prey among other things," Kovu paused for a breath then continued.

"No one is to bring rouges into the pride without my permission and no crossing the borders. We have our limitations and we know how far out our territory expands. No crossing them. For. Anything."
Everyone found those rules practical and agreed at once.

"And also, I'm going to be extending the hunting party since some lionesses are getting weak and it would be cruel to allow them to hunt in their condition, so after morning assembly, some other lionesses are going to test their hunting skills," said Kiara.
The lionesses agreed to this as well and after a few last minute warnings Kovu dismissed the pride.

Author's note: A New Life is still being edited and a few changes were necessary. I apologize for any confusions and sorry but some parts had to be replaced for the story to make sense again I apologize for any present and future mistakes.