The Lion King: Kion's Future

Chapter 31: Falling In Love

Princess Aisha was sitting at the edge of pride rock, thinking about her little cousin. She is worried that Hofu might turn evil like her uncle and great-great-uncle, Kion and Scar. As she pondered in thought, she didn't know that Tanabi was walking behind her. The young male sighed as he looked at his crush with a strange feeling in his stomach.

Ever since he developed a crush on the princess when they were cubs, he was too nervous about telling her how he felt. On the day he and Shani were adopted by Subira, she had taught them how to be brave and kind, thus erasing all of the darkness from their minds that their birth parents had put in them. Until this day, the twins had no thoughts about turning evil.

'Come on, Tanabi. You can do this! Just tell her how you feel,' he thought, mentally beating himself up.

Aisha turned around and saw Tanabi behind her, "Oh!" she exclaimed, her heart pounding like a drum, "Tanabi, I didn't see you there. What are you doing up here?"

"Sorry, Aisha. I-I *gulp* I came to talk to you," he stammered.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

Tanabi sighed, "Listen, I have a confession to make,"

"Go on," she urged.

"*gulp* I have a crush on you since we were cubs," Tanabi confessed, making Aisha stare at him with a surprised look on her face, "Aisha, you are going to be a future queen of the pride lands one day, and I am willing to rule beside you."

"Wait, you're saying that you want to be my future mate?" she inquired.

"Yes, Aisha. I want to be your future mate, and I love you," Tanabi said before bowing his head, "But I understand if you don't love me back."

Aisha approached Tanabi before nuzzling him lovingly. He felt butterflies in his stomach as his heart began pounding faster than a gazelle could run, "Awwww. I love you too, Tanabi. And I would love for you to become king of the pride lands one day," said Aisha.

Tanabi didn't hesitate to nuzzle his new girlfriend in return, "Aisha, I promise I'll protect you from any danger. I won't let anybody hurt you, not even my mother and father," Tanabi said with determination.

They stopped before Aisha gave Tanabi a quick lick on the cheek, making him blush, "Let's go for a walk in the pride lands. Let's spend time together as an official future king and queen,"

"Yes, dear. I'm right behind you," said Tanabi as the new couple began walking down the steps and away from the pride lands.

Near the exit of the den, Chaka and Shani watched as Tanabi and Aisha walked away from pride rock with smirks on their faces. They're going to be teasing them when they get back, "Finally, my brother and your sister are an official couple," said Shani.

"Just like we are, my future queen," said Chaka.

"Oh, please. I'm your only future queen," Shani teased as she licked Chaka's cheek.

"Shani, one day when we're grown. We can start a pride in the outlands,"

"The outlands?! Isn't that place forbidden?"

"Yeah. Since our grandfather Simba used to restore the pride lands all those years ago; then we could restore the outlands to be like the pride lands,"

"And how in the world are we going to do that?" Shani inquired, "The ground is dry, there's a lot of termite mounds, the river has crocodiles in it, the trees are dead, and not to mention, there's hardly any food or water."

"You have a point there. I'll have Zaki search for an unclaimed land for us in the future," said Chaka.

"Chaka, I heard what Hofu had done to Kopa and Kali," Shani brought up, "And not to mention that he knocked you out and dumped Eshe."