Chapter 9: Janja's Plan

Another week and another chapter everybody! After the last two chapter being really long, you all get a breather with a much shorter chapter. Enjoy reading.

Despite his doubts, Kion had managed to fall asleep. He was still asleep after everyone had gotten up. Everyone agreed with Jasiri when she advised to let Kion continue to sleep. Jasiri like yesterday continued to lay with him. She got up once around noon to go over to what was leftover of the carcasses from last night.

She took a rib bone that still had some meat on it and chewed on it for a while. When she was done, she tore off some meat for Kion to eat when he woke up and dragged it over to him. Jasiri than carefully settled herself back into the sleeping lions embrace to continue laying with him until he got up. Jasiri looked around the den. Simba had gone to receive the morning report from Zazu, Nala gathered the hunting party, Vitani and her guard joined by Kovu and gone out to patrol the Pride Lands and keep an eye out for Janja, and the rest of the pride, Kiara included had gone out to the sun bathing rocks on the other side of Pride Rock.

So, Jasiri and Kion were completely alone. Taking advantage of the situation, Jasiri shifted herself around and licked Kion, dragging her tongue across his jawline and onto his cheek. His dirty fur left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she didn't care. Jasiri than quickly rubbed her round nose against Kion's flat one before shifting back into her original position. A half hour passed in peaceful silence; it was so peaceful in fact that Jasiri nearly dosed off until she felt something lightly brush against her side.

Jasiri's body jolted before she looked to see what had brushed against her side and saw that it was Kion's tail tuft. She looked towards his face to see that he was still asleep. Smiling, she continued to lay there, wrapped under one of Kion's forelegs and enjoying the feeling of Kion's tail tuft lightly brushing against her side. A few minutes passed and Jasiri felt Kion's tail tuft start brushing further down her body, to her hip, down her legs, over the tops of her back paws, and than it started lightly brushing against her paw pads. Jasiri let Kion's tail tuft brush against her back-paw pads for a minute until it started to tickle, so she carefully pushed it away with her paws.

About ten seconds passed before Jasiri felt Kion's tail tuft start to lightly brush against her paw pads again. Jasiri's smile widened in both amusement and from the ticklish sensation Kion's brushing tail caused. She let it go on for a couple minutes before she began to giggle lightly, so she once again pushed Kion's tail away. Almost immediately, Kion's tail tuft went back to brushing against Jasiri's back-paw pads, tickling her. Jasiri immediately began to lightly giggle again.

"Kion, for your sake, I hope you're actually asleep and your tail is doing this subconsciously." Jasiri warned.

Jasiri for a third time, pushed Kion's tail away. Thirty tickle free seconds passed before Kion's tail started again, causing Jasiri to burst out giggling this time.

"Alright Kion, now I know you're doing this on purpose!" Jasiri accused.

Jasiri kicked Kion's tail away and looked back at Kion's face, expecting to find a mischievous look on it to confirm her accusation. Kion's face however gave nothing away. Jasiri slowly turned her head back around and waited for her chance. As soon as Kion's tail tuft began to try tickling her again, she quickly turned her head around and saw a mischievous smirk on Kion's face and one of his eyes were half opened. Kion quickly tried to make his face look like he was still asleep, but it was too late.

"Ah-ha! I caught you!" Jasiri shouted victoriously.

"No, you didn't." Kion whispered.

Kion tried to tickle Jasiri with his tail tuft again, but she caught it between her paws. She than flicked Kion's nose, it didn't actually hurt, but it did cause him to yelp.

"That's for trying to tickle my paws!" Jasiri said as she laughed.

Kion rubbed his nose where Jasiri had flicked him.

"But than I don't get it. You love to laugh, you do so like every other minute. So, I thought you'd like it." Kion said.

"Not when it's forced laughter." Jasiri laughed.

"Okay, sorry than." Kion apologized.

"Thank you, just watch yourself later tonight." Jasiri warned, mischievously giggling.

"Uh, okay." Kion said nervously. "What time is it anyway?"

"About noon." Jasiri said.

"Aw crud, I slept in again." Kion groaned.

"Hay, let your body get the rest it needs after all these months. Anyway, I left you some food there. I'll be waiting outside for you so we can head for the volcano to meet up with my clan." Jasiri said.

"Okay, I'll be with you in a couple minutes." Kion said.

Jasiri exited the den to let Kion eat in peace. She hummed Sisi ni Sawa to herself as she made her way down Pride Rock and sat in the shade of it's peak. Kion met up with her ten minutes later. Jasiri looked and saw his muzzle was mostly clean of blood from the meat.

"Uh, you missed a spot there." Jasiri pointed out.

"Oh." Kion exclaimed.

Kion tried to lick the blood from his muzzle, but Jasiri quickly came up and took care of it for him.

"Thanks." Kion said.

"Anytime." Jasiri replied.

"Anytime for me to." Kion thought to himself.

Jasiri began to walk in the direction of the Outlands, where the volcano was.

"Come on," Jasiri said, looking back at Kion as she walked. "we gotta go meet up with the clan and talk about a few things."

Kion gave a nod of agreement and jogged to catch up with her. They made it to the volcano within the hour. They spotted Madoa on an overlook of rock, possibly to keep an eye out for Janja and/or Cheezi and Chungu if they were sneaking around.

"Howdy up there!" Jasiri shouted up to her sister.

Startled, Madoa looked down to see Jasiri and Kion. Her stern, grim looking face instantly brightened up at the sight of them. She jumped down from where she was and ran up to greet them.

"Jasiri. Kion. I was hoping to see you two today." Madoa stated.

"Likewise." Kion said.

Madoa's gaze focused solely on Kion and she smiled at him.

"And Kion, I'm glad to hear that you and Jasiri worked out together." Madoa said.

"Ha! Why wouldn't we?" Kion said, glancing at Jasiri, who gave him a sweet look.

"I never had any doubt, I just didn't know if you were ready yet Kion." Madoa said.

"Well, I am, and I'll be even more so once I get a chance to take a long overdue bath." Kion said, looking over himself.

Madoa overlooked Kion as well and gave him a sniff.

"Oh, long overdue indeed." Madoa agreed, her nose scrunching up.

"We'll get all that settled, but first we should call a clan meeting to let them know about me and Kion." Jasiri advised.

Kion and Madoa nodded in agreement and followed Jasiri to gather up the clan.

"Oh, and by the way, I hope you don't mind Jasiri, but I told Wema and Tunu about you and Kion. They asked where you were the other night and yesterday and I just couldn't lie to them." Madoa said.

"That's fine. As long as they're the only ones who know." Jasiri said.

"The only other clan members who know are of course you, me, and… Janja and I would guess he told Cheezi and Chungu." Madoa said.

The tone among the three changed at the mention of Janja.

"Uh, has there been any sign of him Madoa?" Jasiri asked.

"No, but I'm keeping a look out. I even told Mzingo and his parliament to keep a look out for him." Madoa said.

"And what about the other members of his clan?" Kion asked.

"Nne, Tano, Kutana, and Tazaki?" Madoa said. "We questioned each of them separately and as a group last night after we heard about the Lair of the Lion Guard and that you suspected Janja was behind it. They each said that they didn't know about it or where Janja, Cheezi, or Chungu are or what they're up to. They seemed genuine about it and I don't want to suspect them of anything just because of their past affiliations with Janja, but the clan and I have been keeping our eyes on them just to be safe." Madoa said.

"I should probably question them myself as well." Jasiri suggested.

"Yeah, if they aren't telling the truth, they might crack when being question by their matriarch and queen." Kion pointed out.

"My thoughts exactly." Jasiri said.

So, the three of them gathered up the entire clan to make their announcement to them. Wema and Tunu were the most excited to see Kion. The two little hyenas were now two years old, about to turn three. Though they had matured into responsible adult hyenas, their pup playfulness and rambunctious energy had not gone away. They all gathered at the overlook, Jasiri, Kion, and Madoa sitting in the mouth of the cave with everyone around them.

"So, what are we here for?" one of Jasiri's clan members asked.

"Has Janja been found?" another of Jasiri's clan members asked.

"And Cheezi and Chungu?" a third member of Jasiri's clan asked.

Jasiri shook her head at her clan's questions.

"No, unfortunately Janja, Cheezi, or Chungu have not been found yet." Jasiri said.

Jasiri's clan all looked at each other, worried by the fact that Janja, Cheezi, and Chungu were still missing and most likely up to no good.

"But that is not what were here to talk about everyone. We're here to talk about the future of our clan." Madoa said.

Excited mumbling rang throughout Jasiri's part of the clan, while Nne, Tano, Kutana, and Tazaki pretended that the announcement was going to be new to them.

"Jasiri and I talked about this the other day. I'll let her explain the rest." Madoa said, taking a step back so Jasiri could come forward.

"So, everyone, this has been a long time coming, but I've decided to finally start courting to choose a mate." Jasiri said.

More excited mumbling went throughout the clan, wondering who Jasiri had chosen.

"The one who I have chosen to start courting with as a potential mate… is Kion." Jasiri revealed.

Like everyone who they have revealed the relationship to, the entire clan, well, the members of Jasiri's original clan, we're shocked to hear that. Kion came and gave Jasiri an affectionate lick on the cheek to erase any of the clan's doubts. The clan began to talk amongst themselves, finding the relationship strange, but were overall happy for the two none the less.

"Alright! Kion and Jasiri are gonna be mates!" Wema and Tunu shouted, obviously excited about the announcement. "We're going to have the best clan matriarch and chief and Outlands king and queen ever!"

"Oh, oh, oh! We should start making paintings throughout the walls of the volcano like those two monkeys with the staffs back in the Pride Lands!" Tunu excitedly suggested to his sister.

Jasiri, Kion, and Madoa watched as Wema and Tunu celebrated, happy to see they were excited by Jasiri and Kion's interspecies relationship. However, one of Jasiri's clan members brought up the fact that Jasiri and Kion won't be able to have children. Madoa decided to answer that question.

"Jasiri talked with me about that. My future pups will be the heirs to the Outlands." Madoa assured. "That is once I chose my own mate of course."

Out of the corner of her eye, Madoa looked over at Janja's old clanmates. The four hyenas noticed and look at each other, a little surprised.

"Uh, is she looking at us?" Tazaki asked.

"Well, she's definitely looking at me." Tano said smugly.

"In your dreams you squinty eyed sneak!" Kutana said.

"I already called dibs." Nne said to himself.

As Janja's old clanmates talked amongst themselves, Jasiri's clan members asked Jasiri, Kion, and Madoa more questions about the relationship. The three explained to the clan that Kion didn't have to be king of the Outlands or even the clan's chief, but he would be recognized as Jasiri's one and only mate. When asked about taking a bath, Kion said he would take one as soon as the rains came back or when they found a pond of water he could bath in. Kion also said that as soon as he was clean and presentable looking and when Janja was found and dealt with, he and Jasiri would get officially married if they decided it was truly what they wanted, which Jasiri agreed to.

"Of course, we've gotta hope that my parents will officially approve of us getting together though." Kion said, suddenly remembering that.

Jasiri gave a small laugh at hearing Kion say that, causing him to look over at her.

"Well, then I've got a surprise for you, Kion." Jasiri said. "Your mom and dad called me over before we ate last night and they approved of us marrying."

"What, they did! Why didn't you tell me last night?" Kion asked, happy to hear his parents approved.

"You didn't ask." Jasiri said, giggling.

A member of Jasiri's clan suggested they do something to celebrate, another member saying they should go on a hunt since they were planning to anyway. Liking the sound of that idea, Wema and Tunu began to make a run for the Pride Lands.

"Whoever takes down the first prey animal for Kion gets to paint the first painting of him and Jasiri!" Wema challenged her brother.

"You're on!" Tunu eagerly shouted.

The twins than ran out of the volcano, towards the Pride Lands. Seeing this, Madoa ran after them.

"Hay, wait for me." Madoa called to the twins. "You two are still new to hunting."

The rest of the clan soon followed after Madoa and the twins, leaving behind Jasiri and Kion. The two looked at each other, smiling over the excitement that Wema and Tunu were showing towards this whole thing and that the entire clan seemed to approve of them. Without words, the two strange pair of lovers followed after the rest of the clan, glad that everything was going their way. As they left with the rest of the clan for their midmorning hunt, they didn't notice three pairs of yellow eyes peek at them from over the edge of the overlook. Two of the pairs of yellow eyes were neutral looking while the third pair had an angry fire burning in them as hot as the volcano if not hotter.

The owner of the third pair of yellow eyes pulled away from the ledge, quickly sneaking off and running into the Outlands, with the others following him.

"Janja, wait for us!" Chungu called after the fleeing angry hyena.

Janja continued to run until he came to the cave, he, Cheezi, and Chungu had found the other night. When he got there, he began to vent out all his frustrations. Janja flopped down on the ground and began to pull on his ears, shouting angrily through his teeth. He rolled on his back and kicked out his back legs like a bratty child throwing a temper tantrum because they didn't get something they wanted. Janja had hoped that Jasiri's side of the clan wouldn't be supportive of her and Kion's relationship, but of course they would never question their matriarch and queen.

He thought for sure that Simba and Nala, mostly Simba wouldn't approve of the relationship. Simba was king by birthright, which gave him final say in everything. So, even if Nala supported the relationship, Kion wouldn't be able to marry Jasiri without Simba's approval. Simba saw Jasiri and her clan as allies whose loyalty was beyond question thanks to Jasiri's friendship with Kion and even though it also made him not as racist against hyenas as he use to be, Simba still had an overall disliking for hyenas due to his past experiences and Janja hoped that would be enough to make him not support the relationship, but of course he'd do anything to please his precious children.

"Stupid Simba! Stupid Nala! Stupid Jasiri's clan! Stupid Kion!" Janja angrily shouted.

Janja got up and began to claw at the wall of the cave. As he was doing this, Cheezi and Chungu had finally arrived at the cave, panting from the long run form the volcano to here. Both of them stared at Janja with a mixture of worry and fear as he clawed at the cave wall, mouthing that Simba, Nala, the pride, and Jasiri's clan were all stupid for supporting Kion and Jasiri's relationship. Both eased their way towards the angry hyena.

"Janja, don't get so angry, it's not good for you." Chungu tried to ease his leader and friend.

"Yeah Janja, It's okay, just please calm down." Cheezi supported.

"Calm down?" Janja questioned.

Janja sharply turned around, his angry eyes nearly bulging out of his head.

"I'M COMPLETELY CALM FURBRAINS!" Janja shouted.

Cheezi and Chungu gasped in fright and slowly backed away from Janja. They both sat in the corner of the cave to rest from their long run. When Janja saw this, he angrily stomped over to them.

"Get off your lazy tails furbrains." Janja demanded. "There's no time to sit around, we've got to work on getting Jasiri as my mate."

Cheezi and Chungu looked towards Janja curiously. The three of them had slept most of yesterday for being up so late the other night. Since than Janja had either been pacing around the cave, angrily mumbling to himself or sitting and silently coming up with some plan to get Jasiri as his mate and he had yet to come up with one better than his cover up plan.

"Oh, do you finally have some sort of plan?" Chungu asked.

"No, I don't!" Janja snapped.

Janja turned and walked away from Cheezi and Chungu to think. Janja had gone over many ideas of how to get Jasiri as his mate, but none of them were good enough. He thought of going with what he had told Cheezi and Chungu about crippling Jasiri and leaving the Pride Lands with her, but he had no idea of when he'd get the perfect chance to do so. He knew Jasiri would stay around Kion or her clan twenty-four-seven until he was found and even if she was alone, she'd just easily beat them up like she always did. Janja even thought of having a one-on-one fight with Kion for the right to be Jasiri's mate like some old animal traditions did, but he thought it was a childish and it didn't fit his taste.

Janja thought about just going the easy route to just kill Kion so that he and Jasiri didn't get together, which worked for him, but it wasn't exactly what he wanted. He wanted Kion to live with the pain of losing Jasiri and knowing she was with someone else, even if it wasn't by her own choice. Janja had thought of many other ideas, but like the others they just wouldn't work. After an hour of thinking, Janja gave a frustrated yell. His entire life, Janja always had a plan for his schemes, but this time he just didn't have a clear, thoroughly thought out plan and it added to his anger.

"Ahhh! I can't think of anything!" Janja yelled, frustrated.

"Janja." Cheezi called from where he and Chungu were sitting.

Janja shot a warning glare at the red nosed hyena.

"Don't you dare try to tell me to calm down again, furbrain!" Janja warned.

"No, Janja. Maybe you should just get a drink and eat something. It'll probably help you think better and come up with a plan." Cheezi suggested.

"I don't have time for water or food. Besides, I ain't hungry!" Janja said.

Janja's stomach however betrayed him as it growled in protest. Janja gave a frustrated groan.

"Fine, but we make it quick, we stay near the border, and hunt an animal that's by itself so we don't get caught." Janja said.

Janja exited the cave and made his way towards the Pride Lands with Cheezi and Chungu eagerly following him. They made their way to farthest border where the Pride Lands and Outlands still met, where Janja was sure they wouldn't be spotted by anybody. They entered the Pride Lands and began to search for an animal to hunt, staying no more than a hundred feet away from the border. They soon found a lone oryx and began to stalk towards it. The three hyenas were about to get the jump on it until Janja's growling stomach gave them away.

Alerted to the danger, the oryx immediately began to run off.

"Drat!" Janja yelled.

Janja shot forward to chase after the oryx, Cheezi and Chungu following behind him. A minute into the chase, Janja was at the oryx's heals. He made a bite for its legs, but it leaped over the large trunk of a fallen tree at the last second and Janja ran face first into it. Janja shook the stars from his eyes and growled. The oryx was getting away and Janja couldn't afford it to and possibly report him being here for the pride, Kion and his friends, or for the new Lion Guard to come after him.

Janja got up and leaped over the fallen tree to continue the chase, but he should have looked before doing so. On the other side of the log was a deep natural hole in the ground and Janja fell into it, hitting his jaw hard on the ground. Janja got up and looked all around in bewilderment.

"Oh! This is just great!" Janja groaned.

From above, Janja heard Cheezi and Chungu laughing as they unlike him, ran around the fallen tree. He than heard them both give a 'huh.'

"Uh, Cheezi, I see the oryx running off, but where did Janja go?" Janja heard Chungu say.

"I'm down here furbrains!" Janja immediately shouted to get their attention.

Startled, Cheezi and Chungu looked around for Janja.

"Janja, is that you, where are you?" Cheezi asked.

"We hear you, but we don't see you." Chungu said.

"Oh, are you invisible?" Cheezi asked.

Janja groaned as he dragged a paw down his face.

"I said down here furbrains, look behind you!" Janja shouted up to them.

Following Janja's instructions, Cheezi and Chungu saw the pit in the ground and looked down to find Janja.

"Janja, there you are!" Chungu said happily.

"Uh, what are you doing down there?" Cheezi asked.

"Digging a wishing well to make my wish for Jasiri to be my mate come true!" Janja yelled sarcastically. "What do you think? I fell down here when I jumped over the tree to chase that oryx, furbrains!"

"Oh." the two said.

"Well, are you okay?" Cheezi asked.

"No, I'm not okay! I'm trapped down here furbrains. So, get me out now!" Janja impatiently demanded.

"Oh, okay." Chungu agreed. "But, uh, how?"

"Yeah, it's really deep. We couldn't reach you even if you jumped up to us." Cheezi said.

That was true. Janja judged how deep the hole was. Not even a lioness would be able to leap out of here without something being lowered down for them to grab onto.

"Find a long stick or something and lower it down to me!" Janja shouted up to them.

"Alright!" Cheezi and Chungu shouted down to him.

Both hyenas ran off to find a long enough stick to help Janja out. Janja sat there, impatiently tapping his paw until they came back fifteen minutes later. They had found a tree branch that was just long enough for Janja to reach and grab onto.

"We found one Janja!" Cheezi announced.

"Alright, now lower it down and don't drop it furbrains!" Janja said.

The two nodded and began to lower it down to Janja. When they lowered it down to Janja as far as they could, Janja braced his paws against the sides of the hole and tried to bite onto the branch, but he couldn't reach. Janja resorted to jumping up to grab it, but it was still just out of his reach. Janja gave a frustrated growl as he picked up a paw sized rock off the ground and threw it against the far wall of the hole.

"DAMMIT!" Janja cursed.

"It's okay Janja, just calm down." Chungu eased.

Janja glared up at the brawny hyena.

"What did I say about telling me to calm down furbrains?" Janja questioned. "Try to lower the stick down further."

This time Chungu laid himself down flat on his stomach and hung himself over the edge of the pit to lower the stick down further. Janja immediately jumped up this time, nearly grabbing onto the stick. Janja jumped a few more time before finally grabbing onto the stick with his teeth and having a good grip on it. The sudden weight on the stick pulled Chungu further over the edge. Cheezi grabbed Chungu to steady him so he wouldn't fall into the hole with Janja and the stick.

"Now pull me up." Janja said, his voice muffled.

Both Cheezi and Chungu heaved to pull Janja out of the pit. They had Janja to the point of him being just a couple inches away from being able to grip the ledge, but they stopped pulling when they suddenly heard voices.

"Come on, I think I heard the shouting come from over here." a female voice said.

Cheezi and Chungu glanced over where the voice came from and heard rustling in the bushes not far off. They both gasped, dropping the stick and Janja back in the pit. Janja gave a shout of surprise as he fell back into the pit.

"Darn it you furbrains." Janja groaned as he got back to his paws. "What's going on up there!"

Cheezi looked down at Janja and quickly shushed him as he and Chungu hid behind the log. As they did, two lionesses came out of the bushes where the voice came from. One of the lionesses was a Pride Lander named Jiri, with orange yellow fur, orange eyes like a sunrise, and bright yellow spots on her ears. The other was a former Outlander lioness named Jioni, with dark greyish brown fur, dark blue eyes, and dark cream-colored markings like crescent moons under her them. The two lionesses had both become very good friends every since the two pride had joined.

Jioni was looking around suspiciously while Jiri looked at her doubtfully.

"I'm telling ya, Jiri, I heard shouts from this way." Jioni said as she looked around.

"I didn't hear anything; your ears are probably failing you grandma." Jiri said with a laugh.

"I'm eight and a half." Jioni defended.

"Hmm. Eight and a half sounds old to me." Jiri said.

"Oh, shush and just help me look around kid." Jioni said to the older lioness.

"Kid? Hay, I'm only 3 years younger than you." Jiri said.

"Oh yeah, five and a half. Sounds like you're still a young kid to me." Jioni said with a smirk.

Jiri just laughed as she joined her friend in looking around the area. As the two lionesses came closer, Cheezi and Chungu stopped peeking over the log and just ducked behind it, hoping Jiri and Jioni didn't look behind it. Meanwhile, Janja in the pit just flattened himself against the wall since it was his best way to hide down here.

"By the way Jioni, who do you think you heard anyway?" Jiri asked.

"It sounded like that Janja guy to me." Jioni stated.

"Janja?" Jiri questioned.

"Mmmhmm." Jioni replied.

Jiri scoffed at hearing Janja's name.

"If it was Janja, you heard than he's got a lot of nerve coming into the Pride Lands after what he did to the Lair of the Lion Guard." Jiri spat.

"Yeah, and all because he can't accept that that hyena girl doesn't see him as anything more than a friend." Jioni agreed.

Janja wanted to growl and shout something in response to the lionesses talking bad about him, but so as not to be found, he held his tongue.

"I still can't believe that a hyena and Kion actually got together and I thought I had seen everything when Kion used that roar of his to lift Pride Rock off the ground." Jioni said

"Yeah, me to." Jiri said. "And you know what, if it was Janja that you heard, I'll bet he's up to something to somehow get Jasiri to break up with Kion and be with him instead."

"Yeah, but you can't break up love like that. Zira and Simba tried to do it with Kiara and Kovu, but of course that didn't work and they're about to have a cub or two." Jioni said, smiling at the thought.

Jiri smiled along with Jioni at that thought.

"Yeah, I just hope Janja doesn't do something drastic, like attempt another kidnapping" Jiri said.

"You mean like kidnapping Jasiri, tying her up, and taking her far away from the Pride Lands and Outlands?" Jioni questioned. "Ha, he'll never get the chance with everyone keeping an eye out for him and with Kion and Jasiri always being together."

"I'm not talking about Janja possibly kidnapping Jasiri, Jioni." Jiri said. "I'm talking about him kidnapping others."

Janja's ears perked up at Jiri's comment of kidnapping others. Intrigued, Janja continued to closely listen in on their conversation.

"Jiri, why would Janja want to kidnap others, how will that get Jasiri to become his mate?" Jioni asked.

"Have you ever heard of the three times that Kiara was captured by Janja?" Jiri asked.

"Kinda." Jioni replied.

"Well, when Kiara was still a cub, she was made temporary queen for the day since Simba and Nala were at an important elephant funeral. Janja tricked Kiara into meeting him alone for a supposed peace negotiations meeting." Jiri explained.

"And let me guess, Janja threatened to eat her if they didn't give into his demands?" Jioni guessed.

"Yes, but Kion and his Lion Guard arrived just in time to save her." Jiri confirmed. "And than there was the time when Janja resurrected Scar's spirit. He kidnapped Kiara to get Kion to come rescue her and got him angry so that he would use the roar in anger. Then when Kion finally decided to introduce Jasiri and her clan to his parents. Scar couldn't risk Jasiri being able to help the Lion Guard more freely, so he had Janja try to ruin it by kidnapping Kiara and taking her to Scar so his fiery spirit could kill her, in hopes that Simba's prejudices against hyenas would make him act all paranoid and think Jasiri was a part of it, but it didn't work. King Simba and the Lion Guard rescued her and Jasiri and her clan saved their lives and Jasiri personally saved Simba's life, which was what forged the pride's alliance with Jasiri's clan and made Simba have second thoughts about all hyenas."

"So, what you're saying is that you're worried that Janja will do the same thing again? Capture Kiara and use her as a bargaining chip to force Jasiri to break up with Kion and become his mate or he'll kill her or hurt her enough to where her unborn cubs will die?" Jioni questioned.

Jiri nodded her head. Jioni walked up to her friend and placed a comforting paw on the young lionesses' shoulder.

"Don't fret over it Jiri. There are lionesses around Kiara all the time to keep her safe while she's pregnant, so Janja won't be able to get to her." Jioni tried to reassure.

"Yes, but there are always others Janja could try to kidnap to bargain with; Kion himself, Jasiri's sister Madoa, Vitani, and just… anybody." Jiri explained.

An evil grin spread across Janja's face while the young Pride Lander lioness explained her fears of what Janja could do. For the past two days, Janja had been focusing directly on Kion and Jasiri and not everybody else. It'd be next to impossible to try to kidnap Jasiri herself, but to kidnap other animals and use them as bargaining chips to force Jasiri into becoming his mate, it was so simple, yet so brilliant.

"My dear Jiri." Janja said quietly to himself. "Here I was completely at a loss with no plan for once in my entire life, but than here you come along with this brilliant idea of yours. Hope you don't mind if I steal it."

Back up above, Jioni was laughing at what Jiri had said. Jioni told Jiri that she was just being paranoid. She assured her that Janja would be found and caught by Vitani and her Lion Guard, who had promised to go out and search for him everyday, would find him before he could try to kidnap anybody. She also stated that Janja was already highly likely to get banished beyond the Outlands and wouldn't attempt to do something that would without a doubt get him a death penalty. Jiri agreed with the older lioness and began to timidly laugh it off.

The two friends than much to the three's relief began to walk off. Cheezi and Chungu waited a good ten minutes before deciding it was safe to come out of hiding. Both immediately ran back to the edge of the pit and looked down at Janja, each giving him an apologetic look.

"We're sorry we dropped you and the stick Janja." Chungu apologized.

"Yeah, all of us just wouldn't have had time to hide by the time those lionesses appeared if we didn't drop you." Cheezi added.

"Never mind it furbrains. Catch!" Janja called.

Janja grabbed the stick in his mouth and threw it back up to Cheezi and Chungu, who caught it.

"Besides, I finally got a plan, curtsy of that paranoid little lioness." Janja said.

"You do?" Cheezi asked.

"Yeah, now pull me out so that I don't have to shout it up to you twos." Janja said.

Cheezi and Chungu quickly lowered the stick back down to Janja and pulled him out.

"Ugh, finally." Janja said, relieved.

Janja began dusting himself off while Cheezi and Chungu sat patiently waiting for Janja to reveal his plan.

"Alright fellas, you ready to hear the plan?" Janja asked.

"Yeah, when did you come up with it?" Chungu asked.

"Right when that lioness indirectly pitched it to me." Janja said.

"One of the two lionesses gave you the idea for your plan?" Chungu asked, surprised.

"Yeah, didn't you two listen to what she and the other one was talking about?" Janja sked.

Cheezi and Chungu shook their heads.

"Nuh uh. We were to frightened at getting caught to listen." Cheezi said.

Janja gave a frustrated sigh and mouthed 'furbrains.'

"They said they were worried about me taking drastic measures to get Jasiri to become my mate, like kidnapping someone like Kiara and threatening her life if Jasiri doesn't agree to become my mate. "Janja explained.

"Oh yeah, kidnapping Kiara and threatening to kill her if the Pride Landers don't give into your demands sounds like a plan you'd come up with." Chungu said.

"Haha! Just like the old days." Cheezi said, slapping Chungu on the shoulder.

"Yeah, just like the gold ol' days furbrains." Janja said, grinning. "But there's one problem those lionesses pointed out. With the golden princess being pregnant, she's guarded around the clock by the pride, so we won't be able to get her."

"Oh, then who else could we use if not Kiara?" Chungu asked.

"Uh, what about Kion?" Cheezi suggested.

"No, no, no, kidnapping Kion and using him to try and force Jasiri to become my mate won't work. It'll just encourage Jasiri to starting beating us up." Janja shot down. "We need to kidnap somebody big, somebody important, somebody who'll show everyone that we mean business, and those lionesses gave me a few ideas."

"Really, who are you going to capture to use against Jasiri?" Cheezi asked.

"Oh, you'll see." Janja said, sinisterly grinning.

Janja than glanced at the deep pit behind him.

"And I've got some plan on how we can use this pit." Janja said.

Janja walked past Cheezi and Chungu and back towards the Outlands.

"I'll be nice enough to let Kion and Jasiri have one last full day together, mostly worry free before things start to go my way." Janja said.

Cheezi and Chungu looked from Janja to the direction of where the oryx had run off nearly half an hour ago after escaping Janja.

"Uh, but Janja, we're still hungry." Chungu said.

"You'll have plenty of time to eat after we kidnap our hostage and get Jasiri to become my mate, now follow me furbrains!" Janja inconsiderately snapped.

Cheezi and Chungu both whined as their stomach growled in response to their disapproval.

"You hear that Chungu, my stomach is talking again." Cheezi said.

"Really, what's it saying?" Chungu asked.

"It's saying that it remembers the days like this when Janja comes up with a plan that's going to end with us going home hungry and it doesn't like it." Cheezi said.

"Oh yeah, mine's saying it to." Chungu said.

Chungu than began to hug himself around his stomach to try and comfort it before he and Cheezi followed Janja back to the Outlands.

Thanks to the unintentional help of Jiri and Jioni, Janja is going back to his roots, if it ain't broke don't fix it. For names and meanings, Jiri's name comes from the Swahili word "Alfajiri" meaning "Dawn" and Jioni is the Swahili word for dusk. No small hints for next chapter again, so until than good day or night, continue to stay healthy out there and God bless.