Gone, But Not Alone (A KionxRani AU)

A Little Fun Doesn't Hurt No One

Zane woke up about an hour later. He didn't realize it when he fell asleep, but he was very thirsty. Well, maybe he wasn't thirsty before, but he was now. He noticed his new friends were still asleep, so he attempted to quietly pass by them and go to the lake. However, being that they were in an area surrounded by trees, there were many sticks nearby. Without seeing the stick, he stepped right on it and it made a loud snap. Kion didn't seem to be affected by the noise, but it did wake Rani up.

Not only did it wake her up, but it also shot her up from her sleep. Luckily, she didn't make any loud noises to wake up Kion.

"I'm sorry, Rani," Zane apologized sorrowfully after realizing he woke Rani up. "I just wanted to get some water and I didn't see the stick."

"No no no, it's okay," Rani shrugged it off as she laid back down, but didn't close her eyes.

When Zane started to drink some water from the lake, an idea occurred to Rani. She got up and walked toward Zane.

"Zane?" Rani whispered, which got his attention. "How strong are you?"

"Ummm..." Zane responded uncertainly, not quite sure how to respond to the question.

"Do you think you can help me lift Kion?" Rani asked with a devilish grin appearing on her face.

"I suppose so," Zane replied, still not knowing why she wanted to know. "Why?"

"A little payback..." Rani smirked before telling him about how she wanted to get back at Kion.

"Ahhh...so you want to throw Kion in the water?"

Rani nodded.

"Let's do it then!" Zane squealed, but not too loud, as they made their way toward Kion.

"Okay. I'll lift the front, and you can try to lift the back?" Rani asked Zane, seeing if it was okay, to which he nodded.

They carefully tried to walk over to Kion and lift him up without waking him up. Rani slowly lifted Kion up, putting his paws and head on her back. Zane, meanwhile, lifted Kion and put his back paws on his back. Of course, because of his smaller size, he couldn't lift Kion as high.

So, with both of them carrying Kion on their backs, they made their way toward the lake. They stepped into the lake and kept walking until the lake was deep enough to throw Kion in.

"Okay, we'll throw Kion in the lake on 3?" Rani asked; Zane nodded.

"Okay...1...2...3!" she screamed excitedly as they dropped Kion off their backs. Immediately after they did so, they ran back toward the grass, away from the lake, giggling.

As they were running back, they heard Kion yelp. Obviously, being awoken by the cold water shocked him.

When Rani and Zane made it back to the grass, they saw Kion running toward them, wanting to get out of the frigid water. Rani and Zane were laughing their heads off as Kion finally made it to where they were.

"What the heck happened?" Kion panicked, shaking, before realizing he had been pranked. "Oh...I get it..."

"I told you I would get you back!" Rani exclaimed, still laughing. "And you thought it wouldn't happen, but look who's drenched in water!"

"Hey! That's no fair! How am I supposed to prevent this when I'm asleep!" Kion argued, being very salty.

"You know, you're stronger than you look," Rani grinned at Zane.

"Oh, so you were involved in this too?" Kion asked, beginning to look at Zane. Zane nodded his head proudly. Kion smiled. "In that case then..."

Kion, because he was much bigger and stronger than Zane, picked him up and ran toward the lake. Once Kion was far enough in, he threw Zane in the lake, despite all of Zane's efforts to get free.

"There we go! Now we're all even!" Kion remarked, satisfied with himself. He began to walk back until he got splashed by water from behind. When he turned around, he noticed Zane was the culprit.

"You don't know what you just got yourself into," Kion stared at Zane before splashing him. It wasn't long before they were in the middle of a water fight.

Then, Kion noticed Rani wasn't participating in the battle, so he figured he would get her involved. "Hey! Don't think you're not part of this!"

Even though he was a couple of feet away from Rani, Kion was able to splash her. Rani retaliated by getting a running start toward Kion and splashing him.

It went back and forth like that, all of them splashing each other, for a couple of hours. They would take a break, play some more, then take another break, and play even more. It was like like that until sunset. Zane was able to forget he was away from his mother, Rani was able to forget she was away from the Tree of Life, and Kion was able to forget he was away from the Pridelands.

When all was said and done, the three of them found themselves relaxing on the grass, watching the beautiful sunset. Rani then realized something.

"You know, Kion?" Rani said while still looking at the mesmerizing sunset. "I know we didn't really get any closer to our homes...but I really enjoyed today."

"So did I," Kion agreed, before looking to his right, which was where Rani was sitting. Despite how mesmerizing the sunset was, the beautiful girl to his right was even more ethereal. "And I...I meant what I said earlier."

Rani turned to look at Kion, and their eyes met.

I could swim in her beautiful chocolate eyes. Does that sound creepy? Weird? Probably...

His fiery eyes are so tough...yet so gentle. So enchanting...

Kion didn't know how long he was looking into her eyes, but he took a deep breath before continuing. "I also meant more..."

Whether it was instinct or their hearts doing work, there was a gravitational pull moving their heads closer. Maybe it was the fact that those two were the only two things in the universe at the time.

Am I about to kiss her? Kion pondered as he kept on getting closer.

Are we about to kiss? Rani questioned herself as she also kept getting closer.

They were getting closer...and closer...and closer. It was at that moment both lions realized that, yes, they most definitely had some sort of feelings toward the other. And they were about to reveal them.

Oh my, I'm going to kiss h-

"Zane? Where are you, Zane?!"