Hated Explanation

The duo of mother and son had been running from the Pridelands for hours now, the hyenas long since given up their pursuit. It had been their guess that the two wouldn't survive past the raging deserts, and by the looks of it they could have been right. Heshima had grabbed Kifu without a moments notice, telling him only to run and keep up. Her now near adolescent son didn't falter in keeping up with the rushing lioness and soon the two were out of sight. The only problem they had was the hyenas who had returned from chasing off Tasa, disappointed that they couldn't kill her. Heshima prayed that her daughter who shared her colors was safe but she pushed her out of mind quickly. Right now she had to take her son and get out of the Pridelands and outrun the hyenas. Undernourishment struck the mangy beasts and soon they started to drop like flies, but Heshima was running on pure adrenaline, and it seemed that Kifu was as well. The pale lioness wished desperately to run back to find Tasa, to take her with her and flee all together. But the hyenas were smart, and if Heshima turned around she knew she would be killed. She couldn't leave Kifu, the boy not knowing why him and his mother fled, without a mother like it felt she did with almost all of her other cubs. Scar called their son soft, and Heshima took great pride in that, he needed a mother's influence to stay pure.

Finally the duo, after hours of running, came across a series of dens that were carved into the sand dunes and the rock that lay hidden underneath. Motioning for her son to follow, Heshima rushed into the nearest one at full speed and finally collapsed once inside. She fell and her chin scraped the floor of the den leaving her battered and bruised. Her stomach ached from where Scar had pushed her back, everything hurt. But was ached the most was her heart, and Heshima finally let out all the tears that she had been harboring all day. The pale lioness curled up into a ball, muttering how she could have saved her if she had only been there seconds before hand. But finally Heshima sniffled and brought her head up. She turned and looked into her dull russet son's eyes and held out her paw. "K-Kifu," All she could say was his name and she motioned for him to lay underneath her paw and arm. Once he would do so, she would bring his head closer to his and nuzzle it, her tears staining his dulled pelt. Heshima would stay silent for the moment, she just needed to hold her son close, prepare him for what had happened. He didn't know about Ari, he didn't know that he had just lost his eldest sister, the only one that was actually kind to him. And now, their family had been torn apart yet again by the sire of the litter. The demon of the Pridelands had finally lost all loyalty of four of his precious pridemembers.

Where would they go now? They had lost everything and it was only a matter of time before the savannah claimed them as another loss. But right now was not the time to think about their impending doom, but it was now time to grieve. The female nuzzled her son once more and stroked his growing mane with her paw. "Oh Kifu, I give you terrible news, the real reason why we left," Teary violet eyes stared into dull jade and Heshima thought only to Scar. "Ari's dead, your father brought her death upon her," Only a speculation, but in all essence it was true that Scar was responsible. Now all that remain in the Pridelands were Nuka and Uma, not much for the dark king to chose from but still enough to show him the error of his ways. "And then, he has the nerve to exile Tasa for being there and trying to stop him. Oh my son, our family has yet been torn apart again," But then, Heshima swore to make a promise to her son, to find a way to a new home. They would claim a neutral land, Kifu would be a king and he would rule alongside Tasa once she was found. And then there lay Giza, she would be given the opportunity to rule as well, but would she take the chance? Only time would tell, but for now the remaining russet daughter of Heshima lay oblivious to the family matters that she had long forgotten about due to her disappearance. But only time would tell if she soon discovered the fate of her family, or would lay oblivious yet again.

Kifu had been in the den all day by the time his mother had returned but with her return she brought not entertainment but panic. He'd only been given a few words, to run and keep up, and with her fear his own came to be making him compliant with no questions asked for now. He rushed behind the pale lioness that was his mother and though he was tired, though not as quickly as Heshima, when the Hyena's took up behind them he felt himself renewed by the pure fear that flooded his veins with adrenaline. His dull russet ears pinned back against his head and he pushed himself faster to run beside his mother, glancing back at the poachers who had before never dared chase him.

Kifu's mind had ran over plenty of possible explanations for this running and the Hyena's chasing them, Scar's death seemed likely but there had been no stir to announce that so he had to wonder if Scar had not cast them out. The thought hurt but Kifu had not loved his father for a long while and had only wished to take the throne from him to give his mother and the pride a better life than the one Scar was giving them now. That however was now never going to happen and perhaps Kifu had realized deep down that it never would have, Scar had never favored him because of his radically different thinking and Kifu couldn't change himself to suit the Dark King. With dark thoughts prevalent in his mind and heart the run that took hours seemed like years to the growing lion and when they stopped he found himself panting but not nearly as much as he'd thought he would be.

The sight of his mother collapsing brought him to her side in concern with a quick yelp, "Mother!? his tone was alarmed and he looked her over for injury but found none his heart racing in fear of losing the closest family to him. The young lions ears pinned back again when his mother started to sob and mutter about saving someone, it made bile rise in his throat and dread threaded through him, what could have happened to make her like this and who was she? It couldn't be another of his sisters. Please let it not be that. When she called his name brokenly and offered out her paw he moved underneath the pale appendage and cuddled to her, his head fitting under her muzzle as he offered her warmth and comfort with his own nuzzles.

Kifu didn't break the silence and only looked into his mothers eyes when she was ready, their tear filled depths breaking his heart. The news that was imparted upon him made his eyes widen and a half formed word come from his maw but he couldn't speak, he felt as if the wind had been torn from his lungs and his heart truly did break now. Ari, she had always been so kind to him, she had shared his mothers eyes and he had felt safer and more accepted with her than with his other sisters. He had loved her dearly, when his love for the others had sometimes been fleeting his love for her had never wavered and tears stung his eyes. Though his body felt numb his eyes and throat felt on fire and he shook his head as his mother went on to say that Tasa had been cast out as well, blamed for Ari's death.

"A-Ari..." he suddenly dove into the protection of his mothers chest fur and he felt himself weep and shake with sobs of sadness. He had lost more of his family, something he had never wanted, even though Tasa was mean to him he couldn't imagine her out on her own in this unforgiving wilderness and for Ari to just be...gone, well that was a terrible thought. It seemed like more and more each day their family was dying out, that the land demanded the blood of Scar, even if it took it from his children instead of the tyrant himself and Kifu found it unfair. It had not been their fault, not even Heshima's, that Scar had fathered them. Kifu wept for the loss of Ari and Tasa but he also wept for himself and his mother, for it seemed that the Circle Of Life would show them no mercy.

When he was able to gather himself he pulled his russet head from his mothers fur unashamed around her of the obvious darkened pathways that lead from his eyes because of the tears. "T-Tasa is still alive mother, we could find her, we could...we could live somewhere far away. We can make it, I'll take care of you" he promised and moved to nuzzle his mothers face with his own. He'd never let anyone hurt Heshima again, he'd protect his entire family if he had to, one way or another he'd grow stronger to protect them. There had to be a way to keep them safe!

Once Kifu had heard of his sister's untimely death, his cries for his lost siblings were heartbreaking. Heshima held him closer, images of previous tears rushing through her head. Kifu seemed to be not an adolescent, but still the scrawny cub that his father so well hated. But Heshima didn't understand, if his father hated him, why did he demand that he stay? There would be time to think about that later, for now it was time to mourn the loss of the violet eyed child of hers. As Kifu shuddered from all the emotion, Heshima wasn't that better off. But still she slipped into her motherly instincts and brushed her paw through his growing mane, "Shh shh shh, it's alright Kifu. The Great Kings found that it was her time to leave us. We can't change the past, but we can move forward knowing that she's watching over us," Half of what the pale lioness had just said was a complete lie, she knew that Ari had been murdered, the Kings hadn't decided it was her time. Funny, how the species that plagued a young Taka with his scar ended up being the same species that killed his daughter in the end. The image of her daughter dead in her own pool of blood horrified Heshima, much more than it had horrified Scar. To the russet lion it felt like losing his mother again, but to Heshima she had lost her own flesh and blood. Ari was so much like her, and yet so much like her father, either or the female was at peace in another land. The land of Kings and Queens.

At Kifu's sudden outburst of being able to find Tasa, Heshima nodded and smiled. "We will find your sister Kifu, but we have to find some place safe first. We need food and water, Tasa is strong enough to live on her own, her father's stubbornness is inside of her. But us my son, we need a land to live on. We are strong, but we are still easy targets for the savannah to claim," Heshima spoke only the truth, the Pridelands were never safe for Kuzimu had so easily slipped in and ruined everything. The savannah was full of murderers and rogues from other prides, filling the sands with blood of battles and wars. We can make it, I'll take care of you! Heshima thought about his statement and stood up slowly, her legs still weak from the run. She padded over to her son and brought him close into another hug, licking his nose and marking that she often wondered where he inherited it from. "Your grandmother once told me a story when I was a cub, how in the lands where she grew up there lay an ashy kingdom that none could claim. I told Tasa this story, in hopes that if something ever happened she would travel there to live. I plan on traveling and finding it, hopefully then we can live out our days there," Besides his colors, by the look of it none would have been able to tell that Kifu was Scar's child. Yes there was the severe lanky build when he was a cub, but Kifu's personality was a complete 180.

Heshima stood above her son and pressed her forehead against his own, smiling and purring. Her heart was still broken, but Kifu seemed to be doing his best to repair it. It was hard to believe that this child was the same one that had so been ready to take the throne from his father, that he was the one that his sisters had so named 'Fufu'. Shocking really, but to Heshima everything seemed probable. "Kifu my son, when we find these lands, you will be a king. But, I want you and your sisters to rule as one. Of course, only when you're old enough to rule, do you understand love?" The pale lioness wanted something best for all of her remaining children, and she made sister plural because she still had high hopes of finding Giza. Unknown to her, she would soon find her lost lazy daughter running about in the Lowlands where her journeys would take her. Would she recognize her at first? Most likely yes, she was the only russet lion of any gender in the lands that neighbor where Heshima wished to live. But what would really make Heshima hurt would be the scar on her daughter's face, just mirroring where her scar was. While Giza's was from a rogue thorn, Heshima's was from her devil of a father. But Giza aside, now was the time for Heshima to spend with her son, and she hoped that everything would go according to plan. They would find Tasa and Giza, they would rule the ashy lands together, and they would be a happy family. But of course, that never happens.

The dull russet teenager was comforted by the fact that his mother wished to find Tasa and bring their family back together. They didn't need Scar to be a family, he had never really been part of it to begin with so what would be the difference now besides an alleviated tension. He hated that they had to wait and his expression appeared rebellious for a moment before he calmed it, Heshima was right of course, Tasa had always been strong but he and his mother were vulnerable. They needed stability, and he would feel better having something to offer his sister when the time came. He accepted his mothers affection, rubbing his head along her cheek and returning her embrace, his tail curling up and down in, for once, a relaxed manner.

He seemed awed by the thought of an unclaimed kingdom, sure the Savannah was unclaimed but that was different. "It sounds wonderful mother, I hope Tasa remembers it and finds us or maybe even meets us there. I do miss her and Giza" he mumbled the last part, hating that his other sister was also gone. He wasn't sure if she were dead or not but it was all too likely, despite them having fought a lot as children he would have never wished her dead. He would have never wished any of them dead, they had all been victims of circumstance but at the very least they had one another before they were tore apart one by one. He swept some sand away with his paw to distract himself and looked back up at his mother rather sadly, he couldn't help but still mourn all of their losses with Ari's death so fresh in his heart and mind.

He bumped his head with Heshima's and rumbled his own purr though it was slight melancholy, at least he still had her. When his mother spoke again he found himself once again surprised but his expression was one of determination, he would rule, it was funny how he would be taking a throne. Something that Scar had clearly denied him, though not outright, when Nuka showed some promise over his 'softer' cub. Kifu nodded his head reverently to show he understood, "If it brings us all back together I don't mind sharing the crown mama" he sounded young in that moment, reminiscent of the naive cub he had been before Scar's destruction of his family. He was still pure but his naivety had been lost, he knew some of the darker things in life that one usually never had to find out until they were fully grown.

It was sad but it would benefit him if he was to rule a kingdom of his own, he would have a perfect example of what NOT to do. His words to Scar some time ago were remembered, he would rule kindly so that his subjects loved him not hated him for the King he was unlike his father. He would be so much more and with his sisters at his side it would only make things all the more interesting though he wasn't sure if it was for better or worse. For now he was content to muse on the future and simply be with his mother, he could only hope that Ari would watch over them and guide them on a safe path.