Love Beyond Reasons

A/N: Finally! Completely original chapter. I hope you guys are ready for it. And if you're confused, right now Kion looks like how he was when he was a baby.

So let's begin Chapter 4! Roll it!

Chapter 4

Kion Meets Jasiri

Meanwhile, deeper within the Outlands, Kion had shaken off the dizziness that he got from his own fall, quickly realized his current situation and went off to try and find his sister. Or at least, a way back to the Pride Lands. But after a few minutes of walking through the dry canyons, he soon realized that he was lost.

"Just great!" He snapped. "I knew this was a bad idea, but no, Kiara wouldn't listen to me! And yet, I'm the one who gets lost in the Outlands?! Perfect. Just perfect!"

Suddenly, tiny chips of rocks came tumbling down near Kion. He jumped away, and then started to sniff them curiously. They couldn't have just fallen by themselves. Someone had to have knocked them down, purposefully or unintentionally.

"Boo!" A chipper voice exclaimed, making Kion jump again with a yelp. He looked up and what he saw made him shudder.

A hyena.

True, it was a hyena pup, a female one, and looked about his age. But he still remembered what his father had said about them, and they were not pleasant. Call him crazy, but this hyena looked like she was teasing him in a playful way, not like she was going to attack him.

The young pup had gray fur with a purplish tint to it, slightly darker spots over her body and stripes on her back, and a short black and purple mane on her back that only reached the nape of her neck, matching her tail. Her eyes were big and violet, and her nose was black, matching her small paws. She even had little spots across her face and two little bangs over her eyes.

"Scared ya, didn't I?" She asked the cub with a snarky little smile.

Kion readied himself in a fighting position in case the hyena pup decided to pounce him. "No!" He retorted. "I- I knew you were there the whole time. Hyena." He snarled.

The hyena only giggled at Kion's reaction of her. "Ooh, look who's such a big, tough lion." She cooed teasingly at him. He only deepened his snarl.

"Now, easy there, little sis." An older, more experienced voice said. "Can you see he's tense enough?"

Out of the shadows, much to Kion's fright, was another female hyena. But she was an adolescent, about a year or two older than himself and the hyena pup, who was apparently her little sister.

This hyena had pale gray fur with no hint of purple in it, with faint black spots and stripes on her body. Her mane was short and black as well, and her brown eyes held... kindness in them as she looked over at the frightened lion cub.

"Easy, little one." She said, trying to calm Kion down. "I assure you, I won't bite."

Kion seemed to start to relax a little bit. "R-Really?" He asked.

The older hyena nodded. "Yes. I'm Madoa. And I see you already met my little sister." She looked over at her, the pup getting a little closer to him.

"The name's Jasiri." She cheerfully introduced herself.

The way that she was smiling at him, a teasing but genuine smile, it made Kion start to feel a little bit better, and he even cracked a tiny grin at her. "I'm Kion." He said.

"Well, Kion." Madoa said. "What's a young one like you doing in the Outlands by yourself?" She asked.

"My sister convinced me that we should come here and explore." Kion explained, a bitter look in his eyes. "I tried to warn her not to, but she just never listens to me. Now, I'm the one who's lost, and I got to find my sister and our way back home to the Pride Lands or else our dad will get really angry."

"Well, there's a trail here that leads to Flat Ridge Rock." Madoa said. "You can easily cross there to get back to the Pride Lands."

"We can take you there." Jasiri piped up.

Kion was a bit surprised by her request. Well, since they haven't eaten him yet, he supposed that maybe he can trust them. "Okay." He said.

"Good." Madoa said. "But stay close, you two. This is not a safe place to be alone."

"Yeah, I can tell." Kion muttered as he began trailing behind her with Jasiri.

The female pup looked over at him with curiosity. So he was a bit of a scaredy-cat, yet he does have some backbone, even for a cub. Interesting.

After a couple of silent minutes, Kion spoke up again. "I'm sorry, but I want to know. Why are you being so nice to me? You're hyenas."

Madoa smiled. "I suppose that many animals believe that all hyenas are bad." She said. "After what happened before you were born."

"That's what I've been told." Kion said.

Jasiri giggled. "Well then, you need to get out more often." She said, playfully nudging him with her paw. "Not everything is what you think it is."

Kion rolled his eyes. "Yeah, try telling that to my dad." He said. "He gets worried enough whenever me and my sister just leave our home to play."

"Overprotective daddy?" Jasiri asked.

Kion nodded. "You know it." He said.

Jasiri laughed. "So you do have a funny bone in you." She said, chuckling. Her laughter was proving to be a little contagious, as Kion was starting to laugh as well.

Madoa looked back to see her sister and the lion cub laughing together. A lion and a hyena, becoming friends? Now that was something that hardly ever happened.

Suddenly, she was picking up a scent. An unfriendly one. "Shh, you two." She said, making the young animals quiet down. "I don't think we're alone here."

The two young mammals carefully looked around them to see if there was anything in the area. Low growls started becoming audible. "Uh, what should I be worried about here?" Kion whispered to Jasiri.

Suddenly, a pack of about five jackals appeared all around the group of three, hunger in their eyes. Jasiri gulped, Kion looking at her with surprise that this fearless hyena was actually scared right now. "Them." She whispered back, answering his question.

"Stay close." Madoa whispered, and the two young animals hid close to the older hyena and each other.

Just then, a female jackal, most likely the leader of the pack came up to Madoa. "Well, well, Madoa." She greeted her with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Fancy seeing you here on this side of the Outlands."

"You have nothing to worry about here, Reirei." Madoa said calmly. "We're just passing through."

Reirei looked behind Madoa and saw Jasiri there, but she was also shocked to see Kion as well. "Well, what's a cute little lion cub doing here in the Outlands?" She asked, her tone sweet and kind. But it sent chills down Kion's spine as he inched away from the jackal.

"Leave him alone!" Jasiri said, jumping in front of Kion, snarling. Kion's eyes widened at her bravery, a young hyena pup standing up to a full-grown jackal.

Reirei narrowed her eyes at Jasiri, but then looked back at Kion. "We can take you home, little one." She said, trying to persuade him. "You don't have to worry about these hyenas anymore."

For a split second, Madoa and Jasiri were worried that Kion might actually go with the jackals, just because they were hyenas. The lion cub looked over at them briefly, and then glared up at Reirei.

"You're not acting very friendly right now." He said. "So leave us alone!"Both Jasiri and Madoa were quite surprised that Kion chose to stay with them, even though their species are meant to be enemies.

Reirei growled angrily at Kion's refusal. "Jackals, attack!" She ordered. "Today's lunch, hyena and lion!"

The pack began making their move, but Madoa quickly tackled two of them down. "Run!" She shouted to Kion and Jasiri.

Both young mammals quickly began running, but they were cornered by Reirei and the two jackals. Both of them quivered with fear.

Kion soon noticed that the ground around them was pretty sandy. Jasiri noticed it, too. They both scooped some sand up with their paws and flung it at them, temporarily blinding them as they made a run for it.

"Nice idea." Jasiri said.

"Thanks." Kion replied.

Reirei jumped out of the sand cloud, rubbing her eyes. She snarled viciously as she saw the little mammals running ahead. She lunged and managed to tackle Jasiri down.

"No!" Madoa exclaimed, which gave the opportunity for a jackal to pin her down on her back.

Reirei licked her lips at the terrified hyena that was on her side, trembling visibly. She raised a paw to swipe at her. But then, Kion raced forward and pushed Jasiri out of the way. Unfortunately, he was the one who was sent flying towards the canyon wall by the swipe of Reirei's claws.

The two hyenas gasped at the sight of Kion slumped against the wall. Madoa quickly pushed the jackal off of her and then tackled Reirei down roughly.

"You did that to a cub?! How dare you!" She snarled.

Reirei pushed Madoa off of her, and the two were in a standoff for a few seconds. But then, Reirei noticed that all the other jackals had been taken down, shakily getting back on their feet. She then snarled at Madoa.

"This isn't over yet, Madoa." She said bitterly to the adolescent female hyena, turning to run and leave the area, the others having gotten up and following their leader with pained yelps. Madoa panted for breath, and then she turned around to check on Kion. Jasiri was already there, nudging him gently.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Kion groaned and then turned to face them. The two hyenas gasped.

He had a pink scar over his left eye now. Two markings on his brow led down to one point beneath his eye, but never touching the eye itself.

"Your face." Jasiri whispered in sorrow.

Kion gently rubbed his eye with his paw, feeling the groove of the new imperfection, and then slowly stood up on his paws, shaking his fur. "I'll be fine." He assured them. "They're gone. Let's go." With that, Kion turned to continue on the path.

The two hyenas were in silent awe at Kion's bravery to just shrug off such an injury, especially for someone so young as him. They then hurried over to him to catch up. But they didn't notice that someone else had seen the little brawl.

***********************

Soon, Madoa was back in front, with Kion and Jasiri behind her again. The hyena pup looked over at Kion, violet eyes on his new scar. "Thank you." She whispered, getting Kion's attention. "But you didn't have to do that."

"Sure I did." Kion said. "She was going to hurt you. I had to do something."

"Yeah, but I never thought a lion would help a hyena." She said.

Kion smiled kindly. "Well, not all lions are the same." He said. "Just like not all hyenas are bad."

Jasiri returned the smile. But unbeknownst to them and Madoa, the same figure who had seen the fight with the jackals was following them.

"Well, Kion, here it is." Madoa said, getting the cub's attention. "Flat Ridge Rock."

The name of it said it all. It was a large flat rock that served as a bridge between the Outlands and the Pride Lands. Kion happily bounded over to it, with Jasiri and Madoa following him.

"Thanks for bringing me here." He said.

Madoa and Jasiri smiled at him. "This is as far as we can go, Kion." She said. Kion then noticed that they were still on the side that was closer to the Outlands, while he was on the opposite side closer to the Pride Lands. "Get home safe, and find your sister."

Kion smiled. "I will."

"Can we see each other again?" Jasiri asked.

The lion cub grinned widely. "Sure!" He said, getting into a playful pouncing position. "And then, we can play some of my favorite games. Have you ever played baobab ball?"

Jasiri giggled, getting into a similar position more suited for a hyena. "No, but I know how to play tag."

The two young ones laughed excitedly at the thought. But then suddenly, Simba appeared in front of Kion, roaring protectively. Madoa quickly grabbed Jasiri by the scruff and brought her closer to her upon letting her go.

"What. Are. You. Doing. To. My. Son?" Simba growled at them.

Madoa and Jasiri's eyes both widened when the realization hit them. Kion was Simba's son, the son of the King, and that meant he was the prince of the Pride Lands.

"Please, Your Majesty." Madoa said, trying to stay as calm as possible. "Your son got lost in the Outlands, and my sister and I were merely escorting him home."

Nala and the others then appeared on the scene, with Kiara looking sullen in her mother's grip. But then, Kiara noticed something different about her brother.

"Kion! Your face!" She exclaimed.

Then, all of the Pride Landers gasped as they all noticed the pink scar on the little cub's face, which looked pretty fresh, but luckily with no blood. Simba growled more fiercely over at the two hyenas, thinking they did that to him. But Kion quickly moved out of his father's protective stance and got in front of the two.

"No, Dad!" He shouted fearfully, making Simba look down at his son. "They didn't do this to me! It was jackals! They protected me from them!"

Simba looked into his son's pleading light gold eyes and soon saw that he was speaking the truth. He looked back up to the hyenas. "Is this true?" He asked them.

Both of them nodded. Simba continued holding his gaze at them for a good few seconds, and then looked down at Kion. His eyes were wide and fearful. He desperately hoped that his father wouldn't hurt his rescuers.

Finally, Simba spoke to Madoa in a low voice. "Take your pup and go back to where you belong." He said, turning away from them. "Kion." He said, gently grabbing his son by the nape.

The cub still looked over at his rescuers with sad eyes, mostly at Jasiri. "Bye." He whispered to her.

She returned the sad gaze as she and Madoa cautiously went back into the Outlands. "Bye." She whispered back, hoping that Kion heard her.

No sooner were the two female hyenas back into the Outlands, a male hyena who was about the same age as Madoa jumped down from a nearby crevice in the canyonlands. He had gray fur and black spots and stripes on him, just like Jasiri and Madoa, but his eyes were black and beady, having no kindness in them. His left ear even had a tiny notch in it.

"You brought that puny little prince home?" He asked.

Madoa scoffed. "What were we supposed to do, Janja?" She asked him. "Leave him for dead here in the Outlands?"

"You could've brought him back to the den for our lunch." Janja said.

"No!" Jasiri exclaimed, jumping out from underneath her older sister. "You wouldn't!"

Janja looked down at the young pup, who slightly shrank back against her sister. "And that icky kindness of yours, towards even lions of all animals, is why you and your family are on the lower end of the clan." Janja said simply. "Come on." He ordered.

Janja began walking in front of them, leading them back to their so-called den. Madoa followed him, eyes narrowed at him, but she couldn't do much about him, because whether she liked it or not, he was the leader of their clan. Even though the females are supposed to be the leaders, Janja deliberately malnourished all of them so that none of them were strong enough to challenge him.

Jasiri stole one last glance towards the Pride Lands, in the direction where Kion and his family had went, and then followed her sister, standing close to her to avoid the gaze of her cruel leader.

A/N: I know that in Season 3, Kion got his scar from a snake bite. But then I remembered that in the Lion King 2, Zira gave Kovu a scar that looked pretty identical to Scar's. And I needed Kion to stay in the Pride Lands in this story, so I thought of the jackals.

So what do you guys think? I thought it was pretty awesome. The picture I found was literally the best one I can find, so ignore that there's a certain cheetah in the background.

Until next time! I'll see y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think.

Got to fly! ;)