Love Beyond Reasons

A/N: Here we go with Chapter 2, which actually really needs no introduction. Roll it!

Chapter 2

Uncertainty

Meanwhile, further away, Kiara and Kion were still chasing after the same butterfly from earlier. But it still managed to flitter away from their pounces. "Come back." Kiara called after it. "We just wanna play."

Kion jumped up to catch it, but he missed it again. "So close!" He said.

Finally, the butterfly had landed on a nearby rock. The two cubs saw their chance, and they crouched down low. "The mighty hunters have cornered their prey." Kiara whispered dramatically.

Both of them growled playfully as they slowly inched their way closer. Finally, they both pounced, but they missed the colorful insect yet again. Kiara had managed to latch onto the rock, but Kion wasn't so lucky, having headbutted into it instead.

Kiara giggled as her brother rubbed a sore spot on his head. "You okay?" She asked.

Kion shook his head to get rid of the dizziness. "I'm fine." He said. "You always say I have a thick skull."

His sister giggled again. "True." She said.

Then, both of them looked over the rock and saw something quite interesting. Over at the horizon, there were barren and sandy canyonlands, which seemed devoid of life. It was much different than the vibrance of the Pride Lands.

Both of the cubs' eyes widened at the sight, Kion in surprise, and Kiara in amazement. "Whoa." She exclaimed, climbing up on the rock to get a better view. Her brother only followed her to stay close. "Cool! The Outlands."

Kion gulped nervously, looking behind him and seeing that he could only see the peak of Pride Rock. "We're too far from the path Dad told us to stay on." He said. "We should probably head back."

He stood up and got ready to get off the rock, but stopped when he saw that his sister didn't move an inch. "Kiara, let's go!" He urged.

"Come on, Kion." Kiara said, her eyes still glued to the barren wastelands in the distance. "I wonder what's out there?"

Kion rolled his eyes. "And they tell me that I'm the younger one." He muttered under his breath, quiet enough so that his sister didn't hear his snarky comment.

Suddenly, there was something quietly rustling around in the grass. Kion's ears perked up at the faint sound, but Kiara didn't, as she was too enthralled by the Outlands. He slowly turned around and saw that there was something coming towards them.

"Kiara, look out!" He shouted, and he immediately jumped off the rock.

Kiara was about to ask her brother why, but then she heard the rustling. She turned around and screamed in fright as Timon, Pumbaa and Bunga suddenly appeared in front of her. They started to scream as well, but when Kiara tried to back off to give herself time to calm down, she lost her footing and fell into the pond below.

Kion rushed to the edge of it. "Kiara!" He exclaimed worriedly.

"Don't worry, Kiara!" Pumbaa called after her as Timon and Bunga got off his back, the latter jumping next to Kion. "Uncle Pumbaa's coming!" He then cannonballed into the pond, creating a mighty splash, soaking everyone.

"Oh, no!" Timon exclaimed as the two younger animals shook themselves to get rid of the water. The meerkat then cleared his throat and began talking as if Simba was right there.

"'Gee, Simba. The good news is we found your cubs.'" He said, pretending how that possible conversation will go. "'The bad news is we dropped a warthog on one of them. You got a problem with that?'" He had said that last part nervously.

Kion imagined that if Timon were to actually say that to his father, he would definitely not be pleased. Bunga, however, laughed at the "dropped a warthog on her" comment. "That's a good one." However, he quickly shut up when he saw the unamused glare of his best friend.

Pumbaa was looking around in the pond for the older cub. "Kiara? Kiara?" He called, not seeing that there were bubbles underneath him.

"Pumbaa!" Timon called down to him. "Let me define... babysitting!"

The warthog caught the implication and quickly removed himself from his spot, and Kiara came up to the surface, coughing for some much needed air. She glared at the African pig.

"Sorry." He apologized with a sheepish grin. They then both got up and out of the pond, with Kiara shaking the water off her fur. "Now, Princess Kiara, and Prince Kion, as Simba's cubs, you two know better than to go off on your own." Pumbaa said as he and the eldest cub went back onto the ledge where the others were. "You could've gotten hurt."

"Hurt?" Timon started panicking as he quickly inspected the cubs, Kion first, and then Kiara. "Oh, Simba will kill us! You didn't slip a disk, did you? Catch a fever? Get a hangnail?" He picked up Kiara's paw to see, but she pulled it away.

"Timon!" She said, annoyed.

"I had one once." The meerkat continued.

"Very painful." Pumbaa chimed in.

"Excruciating." Then, Timon held a large palm leaf over Kiara's head, giving her some shade, much to Kion's confusion, Bunga's amusement, and Kiara's annoyance. "Darling, with your complexion, you should stay out of the sun." He said.

But the young female cub just swatted away the leaf. "What? Do you wanna wrinkle?" Timon asked.

"Would somebody please just listen to me?" Kiara pleaded.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." Timon said nonchalantly. "What did you say, Princess?"

"Timon!" Kion called out annoyedly to him, getting next to his sister, preparing to pounce.

"Whoa, easy, Kion!" Timon held up his paws in surrender. "No need to put on the claws, little prince."

Kiara huffed. "Kion's not just a prince, you know. And I'm not just a princess." She said. "That's only half of who we are." Her brother though, tilted his head at her in confusion at her words.

"Oh! Uh, who are the other halves?" Pumbaa asked them. But neither cub could answer him.

Kiara wasn't even sure who the other part of herself was, and Kion wasn't really sure about either half of him. He always thought that being a prince was just a title, not who he really was. His sister already had her destiny, but he wasn't sure about his own place in the Circle of Life.

"Well, while you two figure it out, let's eat!" Timon suggested.

He, Pumbaa and Bunga went over to a nearby log, and with Timon snapping his claws, Pumbaa lifted the log, revealing tons of grubs underneath. Bunga began to eat the many creepy crawlies sloppily, while Timon picked up a leaf that was crawling with bugs.

"Grubs!" He said.

"The other white meat!" Pumbaa added.

"And high in protein!" Timon held out the leaf to the cubs, but they both backed away with disgust.

"Ewww! Gross!" Kiara exclaimed.

Kion looked like he was going to gag himself, but he was still going to be polite. "Um, I'll pass."

"No?" Timon asked. "How about you two fellas?" He presented the grubs to Pumbaa and Bunga, who quickly got at them.

"I love grubs!" Pumbaa exclaimed.

"Love! Not like!" Both the meerkat and warthog said at the same time.

Pumbaa grabbed one bug with his mouth, and then spit it back out onto the leaf, the remains having excess saliva all over them. "Oh! You always do that!" Timon complained in disgust. "You take a bite out of every one and then put it back! It drives me crazy."

"But you can't tell from the outside which ones are the real slimy ones." Pumbaa explained.

"Slimy!" Timon asked, acting like he was shocked. "Ah, Pumbaa, my corpulent compadre. It's the crunchy ones that make the meal." He said. Kiara rolled her eyes while Kion just sat there, looking a little bit uncomfortable at the fight that was starting between the two friends, both of them yelling "Slimy!" or "Crunchy!" at the other one, trying to get their point across.

The eldest cub turned back to the colorless Outlands in the distance. Kion caught her gaze, which was full of wonder and curiosity. "I know what you're thinking, sis, and that's a really bad idea." He said to her, his eyes narrowed, not liking where this was heading.

"Come on, Kion." Kiara said, rolling her eyes at how her younger brother can be such a worrywart. "Who knows what's out there."

"Exactly." Kion argued. "We don't know, so we shouldn't go."

"Come on, Kion." Bunga said, nudging his friend's shoulder. "You know that deep down, you actually do want to check it out. I'll keep my uncles busy, while you two explore. Just promise when you go next time, you take me along."

Kion's jaw dropped at his best friend supporting his sister's crazy idea. Well, he too was a little curious about what was out there in the Outlands, and why his father forbade him and Kiara from going there, but if they went there, they were going to get in so much trouble.

When he looked back over at Kiara, she had a smug and victorious grin on her muzzle. She knew she won this round. She then gave her brother a pleading look, trying to break through to him.

The younger cub finally huffed in defeat after a few seconds. "Fine!" He said, making Kiara smile more genuinely and excitedly. "But only for an hour. That will give us plenty of time to get back before anyone suspects anything. Deal?" At least he'll have this one condition before his sister got too excited about their little rebellious act.

"Deal." Kiara agreed, too happy to be bothered by her brother's condition, and the two cubs jumped up slightly and swatted their paws against their sibling's other, like a high-five. It was kind of a promise between the siblings.

Bunga gave his best friend a thumbs-up with his claws before going back to Timon and Pumbaa, who were still arguing. The two cubs quietly crawled away from them, and then made a break towards the Outlands.

A/N: Okay, the next chapter is where things will start to get more exciting. Until then, I'll see y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think.

Got to fly! ;)