A Mother's Love

Finally, a break! The young mother of four had just woken up from a long cat nap and was now laying at the edge of the den, sunlight immersing half of her creamy golden body. Her cubs had since been put down for a nap, although some of them thought it was childish to do so, Heshima knew full well that sleep was one of the most important things that a cub needed. Well, that and food.

Food, she had to convince Scar to let the cubs get a small amount of extra food. Heshima wasn't one to violate her king's rules, but they were his cubs as well. If he wanted a suitable heir, then the mother had to work with what she had produced. Kifu was her main goal, she wanted to make her son stronger so that he would be the best in his father's eyes. The task was not going to be easy since he was the runt of a premature litter, but Heshima was willing to give it a shot.

Unknown to Heshima, Kifu was not in the den sleeping with his sisters, but out roaming the Pridelands. The female wasn't paying attention to her litter and she closed her eyes yet again, becoming oblivious to the missing cub in the litter. Heshima thought of new training techniques to get her cubs to beef up. She thought back to Mufasa and Simba, although the cub did not do much 'training' she remembered that he did have pouncing lessons daily. Ideas formed in the female's mind as she daydreamed, unaware of what was about to happen.

The young prince began to pad slowly back home. He'd had enough of spending time with his father for one day. With reddened eyes from sobbing, the cub sniffled as he stopped to scratch a small itch upon his back before continuing on towards home.

A small cough escaped him as he climbed up the rocky path leading to the ledge only to find his mother sleeping in the mouth of the cave. Hoping that she wouldn't notice his presence, Kifu's body sunk low as he slowly made it past Heshima.

Heshima was almost asleep, almost finished with training ideas. But then, something told her to wake up. Whatever it was, the creamed coated lioness was not so happy about it, but she decided that it wouldn't look good if she was sleeping 'on the job' as Scar seemed to view it. Yes it was an occupation to be a mother, her job to watch over her cubs. But it was more than a job, it was- What was it? Heshima would figure it out later.

With the thought of her cubs, Heshima looked back to see her litter sleeping. Odd, it was larger last time she checked it. But no sooner as Heshima looked back, a cough was heard in front of her and a sniffling Kifu was seen walking up the rocky path. The cub seemed to as if sneak past his mother, but Heshima decided against it. "Kifu," Heshima cooed, gently pulling the cub back into her arms with her paw. It nearly broke her heart to see her little prince in such a mood.

Kifu's eyes were red, he had been sobbing by the looks of it. It almost brought tears to the young mother's eyes in seeing it. Heshima leaned her head down and nuzzled her son, squeezing him lovingly and softly in the process. Heshima stared into the soft green eyes of the boy, so much like his father. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Heshima was going to get to the bottom of this, whoever hurt the prince of the Pridelands was going to surely have to be punished.

He had almost made it past his mother when a large creamy paw pulled his small dark body in the opposite direction. The cub's body almost froze but softened a bit when he found out it was his mother. Another small sniffle escaped him and he looked at her briefly then turned his head away from her. "Nothing Mommy..."

Truth was, he didn't want to get punished for leaving the cave in the first place, and he certainly didn't want to go into detail about what had happened with his father earlier that morning. "I just.." he had to think of something.
"I just was playing in some plants and...my eyes itch is all." Sure he hated lying to his mother, but it had to be done to protect himself and her from the wrath of their father.

Heshima frowned, she hated when her cubs lied to her. And how did she know Kifu was lying? Well, the first thing was the plant life was rather limited around here, ans second; if Kifu was playing in plants, there would be some form of residue left on his sleek russet pelt. Whether it be small pieces of leaves or grass, or a sap from the stems. Heshima licked her cub's head and fur tuft, and stared into his eyes once again.

"Kifu, you know I don't like it when you lie to me," It then dawned on Heshima that the cub left then den without a parent or adult. But, she wasn't going to punish him for that, especially in his current state. The female pulled her cub even closer and into a small hug, with her head over his shoulder, hoping he would return the gesture. But now, came the actual question she wanted to ask, and if anything she was going to get the truth.

"Now, what happened my sweet prince?"

With her head over his shoulder and his small body in a hug, the cub had to admit that he felt better. Somewhat. "I..." he had to choose his words carefully. "I was out ...with...Daddy." he explained.

"We were playing and..and...he got made at me for calling him a a word." He was on the verge of tears now. "He was mad Mom, REALLY mad." Kifu pulled away from her a little bit as he spoke. "He hurt my tail too.."

Kifu couldn't take it anymore. Collapsing into her tawny fur he began to cry. Cry out all the tears that he had held in that morning. "I'm really sorry Mommy.." his voice broke as he continued to sob. "I didn't mean to call Daddy that at all..really I didn't."

Heshima listened closely to her son's story. He had been out with Scar, it was a shock to the pale lioness. Scar had never really shone interest with their cubs, so it was a stepping stone in the right direction. Then Kifu said that the two were playing? It was almost too good to be true! But, then things came spiraling down into the worst things the mother of four could imagine. Kifu had spoken out of line, and in turn was yelled at by the tyrant king. But what came next shocked Heshima and almost made her stand and find Scar right then and there.

He had hurt his son, crushed his tail none-the-less. Being a runt, Kifu's tail was extremely delicate, and Scar knew that. Heshima moved her arm slightly and inspected her son's tail. It wasn't broken, but it was slightly swollen, an injury to his body clear. The creamed pelted lioness licked it slightly, and then placed it back in it's original position. But three seconds later, Kifu was sobbing up a storm into his mother's coat. And Heshima almost cried along with him.

She hated to see her little boy sad, and she wanted to make it up to him. But first, "It's alright Kifu, we all make mistakes sometimes." After letting Kifu cry out all of his tears, Heshima would stand and turn to one of the lionesses, "Watch them for me?" She asked, referring to the sleeping cubs in the den. The lioness would nod and Heshima would turn back to Kifu. "Come on sweetheart, let's take a walk," She would pad away slowly, waiting for her son to catch up. Of course she would ask what he called Scar, but right now, she wanted some quality time with her son, away from the dens.

The young prince cringed slightly as his mother inspected his tail before placing it down again. He was quite surprised that she didn't take action right then and there about the situation, but then again maybe she would later on.

With a loud sniffle, Kifu rose up and padded down Pride Rock's stony path once more and trotted along after her through the grass. He wasn't exactly in the mood to go anywhere at the moment, though he figured that maybe some quality time with his mother might help him calm down somewhat.
"Where...where are we going?" he asked as he tried his best to keep in step with Heshima.

The question of the destination seemingly stumped Heshima, she had nowhere in particular that she wanted to take the cub, she just wanted her son to be able to feel loved. "Hmm... I don't know," Heshima replied, "just a walk around the kingdom I guess," It was strange for Heshima, before her cubs were born, she would have never left Pride Rock unless she was part of the hunting party or getting a drink from the watering hole. It was as if now, her cubs were changing her attitude and killing most of her shyness. Although, her submissiveness was still there among the older lions of the pride.

The cub that walked beside her, he was technically fifth in line to become the next ruler. But with Scar's more tenderness towards males, he would most likely be second in line after Mheetu. It didn't wrap around Heshima's head, how could Scar not truly pay attention to Kifu. The cub was so much like himself! They were both on the scrawny side, Kifu being a tad more so, but they were both cunning. One of the reasons Heshima fell for Scar all those months ago. Kifu would always run off-

With that thought, Heshima turned to check if Kifu was still there. To her shock he was! But now, Heshima decided to give Kifu an old lesson that Mufasa had given to Simba. And that the deceased king had given to herself as well. "Kifu," the mother started, "do you know about the Circle of Life?"

Pausing to catch his breath after finally catching up with his mother, the cub sat down to make sure his chest wasn't hurting. Being the runt of the little was proving to be quite difficult at some points, such as keeping up with others and being last in games with his siblings. But right now since he was alone with his mother, all that really didn't matter.

"Circle of Life?" His head tilted slightly to the right in confusion as to what she was referring to.

With her son questioning the Circle of Life, it shocked Heshima greatly. It was a moral that every child in the Pridelands knew, Scar should have taken the time to explain to his cubs, heck! He only needed to really explain this to his son! Kifu was an heir, and if Mufasa was around, he would have already explained it. Even if Kifu wasn't his son. But since the scrawny runt was hers, Heshima was carrying the burden. But was it truly a burden to teach her son something so great, so powerful? The creamy lioness stopped suddenly and sat, motioning for her small cub to sit beside her. They were on a ledge, one that looked over the birthing fields for the herd animals. Thankfully, there was a few animals around, perfect for the lesson.

"Kifu," Heshima stated, "we are all connected in a delicate balance. A very very very delicate balance that can easily be broken. Since your father's king, you need to learn and understand this balance. And, you also need to respect the creatures of the lands, from the small ant to the leaping antelope and to the large and majestic elephants." The female pointed to each species that she mentioned with her paw, holding her paw for a few seconds before moving on. "We are all connected, for when we die, our bodies become the grass. We eat the antelope, but in turn, the antelope eat us once we move on. And so, we are all connected, in the Circle of Life,"

Kifu's eyes widened as his mother spoke before staring down at the grass. Clinging to her front leg his eyes became wide with fear. "You..you mean we're walking on dead people?!?" His jade eyes darted left to right as he let go of his mother's leg and leaped to a small patch of dirt. "Don't hurt them Mommy!"

"I can balance! See Mommy?" Kifu raised up a paw, causing him to stand on three before falling over onto the ground.


sorry that the post is so short Hesh x.x))

Heshima might have just regretted the words that she had just told her son, but he had to know the pride's philosophy. A small chuckle was given when the small russet cub jumped away from the grass, fearing he would hurt the deceased. "The spirits of those who are gone cannot be hurt by our treading on their bodies Kifu. For they live inside us, and can only be hurt by the darkness in the hearts of us." Just to make sure Kifu didn't go around spreading words that should not be spoken, "But us Pridelanders do not have that darkness, we have light in our hearts. Those who are gone live more in us because we know of them, and they know of us."

What happened next made Heshima laugh and yet sigh at the same time. Her bright violet eyes scanned her son's delicate body as he toppled over just to make sure everything was in place. Gently, Heshima picked up Kifu by the scruff of his neck and sat him upright where he was. "M-maybe we should work on your balance sweetheart," Heshima chuckled. The cream colored lioness nudged her son up and pushed on his front paw. She would be there in case he should start to fall, to catch him and hold him gently in place.

Kifu was certainly thankful that his mother was there and that he was alone with her, for that didn't happen very often. Once his body was placed back on the ground he nuzzled around her legs and stood underneath Heshima, looking up at her. "Mommy?" he asked. "Were you small like me when you were little?" When he was out with his father he had mentioned something about being a runt when he was a cub, or something like that, he couldn't exactly remember all the details from that day. Just the horrible incident.

"Daddy was small too. Just like me." He paused and stood up, a slight wind blowing in his small tuft of hair as he looked to the sky. "I'm gonna be a great King..aren't I Mommy?"

ooc: Hesh I'm so sorry you had to wait like FOREVER for this post and that it's so blah >< I'll try to write a longer one next time <3))

Heshima frowned, she had been born during a prosperous time and was around the size of her own daughters. She wanted so badly to tell her cub that she was his size, but alas she couldn't. "No dear, I was the size of your sisters when I was born," She paused, "But sweetheart, realize that this fact makes you so much like your father!" Heshima wanted to make the fact that her son was born so small into a positive thing. Kifu wanted to impress his father and become the next king, and Heshima would support him every step of the way.

Kifu questioned on whether he would be a good king and Heshima smiled. His father didn't think that he would be a great king, but Heshima had faith. It wasn't just because she was his mother and she was obligated to believe in him, it was because she knew she could train him to be amazing in his father's eyes. "Honey, I know you'll be a great king,"