Chapter 1: Secret Discovered

Hello everyone, I'm here to give you a brand new story that I'm excited to share with all of you. You see, around the end of last year I read an interesting Lion Guard theory that said Rani doesn't actually love Kion, that all she ever really cared about was his roar and manipulated him to get him to stay at the Tree of Life, playing the love manipulation card to do so and I thought that I could make a fanfic out of it. It was originally going to be a one-shot story, but I felt like it deserved to be more than that and so it turned into a longer story that deals with what happens after Kion finds out, how does it affect him and his family and friends, and to see if he finds love again. I was originally going to start off with there already being tension between Kion and Rani, but someone who I've talked to about this fanfic suggested that I show Kion and Rani happy together before the tension starts. Since this fanfic is somewhat controversial and there are probably going to be people who are going to act like immature brats and probably start bullying me for writing this story and people who like it, I'm not going to give away their name. For the one who did make this suggestion, you know who you are and I thank you for it and PM me if you want to thank me for using your suggestion.

Now, before you all go any further, I want to make it clear to everyone that I did not write this story to just bash on Rani or KionxRani, I don't do that with any character or ship. I wrote this because I came up with a good story based off the theory I read last year and as a way to cope with my disappointment over season 3. I'll explain more in the ending author's note, but for now enjoy the first chapter of my story.

Kion tossed and turned on his usual sleeping spot within the cave under the Tree of Life. He had been doing so for a couple hours, unable to get to sleep. He had patrol with his friends tomorrow when the Night Pride's shift was done, so he tried another attempt. After another ten or so minutes he sighed and gave up. Kion got up and stretched out his stiff limbs before making his way for the cave exit.

As he came out of the cave he looked up at the full moon and judging by it's position, it was no more than half an hour past midnight. Kion heard snoring not to far away from him. He looked and saw Bunga leaning against the Tree of Life, asleep, but he was not alone. Bunga had Binga, a honey badger who could basically be called a female version of Bunga, held in his arms as they were sleeping together and not to far from them were Fuli and Azaad. Kion smiled at the two couples sleeping together.

When he and his friends began their journey to the Tree of Life to get Kion's scar and Ono's eyes healed half a year ago, he never thought that two of his closest friends would find love. Beshte and Ono hadn't found love on the journey though, but Ono was the youngest of them and not an adult yet, same for Beshte, who matured slower than the rest of them due to being a hippo, and no one knew about the secret crush Anga had for Hadithi back in the Pride Lands. All these thoughts on love suddenly reminded Kion on why he decided to get up. He quickly ran all though out the lands surrounding the Tree of Life, looking for a certain someone and soon did. Bunga and Fuli weren't the only ones to find love at the Tree of Life, but Kion himself also had.

When they arrived at the Tree of Life and met the Night Pride, there was a lioness about his age among them, Rani. During the few weeks the Lion Guard had stayed at the Tree of Life, Kion had gotten to know Rani and her pride that composed of her, her brother and uncle, her grandmother, who had died of old age not too long after they arrived, and of a lioness named Nirmala. All of them were lions with brown fur who protected the Tree of Life and all the animals that came here for healing or a place to call home. They were kinda like the Lion Guard, but no one had a Roar of Elders like Kion and they only worked at night, hence the name Night Pride, that was unless a problem showed itself during the day. During their first time here, Nirmala had helped Kion heal his eye and they fought together against a leopard named Makucha, who had followed them to the Tree of Life and teamed up with a bunch of other animals and kept attacking; that was until Kion had mastered the Roar of Elders and sent Makucha and his allies flying very, very far away, further than Kion use to do to Janja and his clan and others who threatened the Pride Lands.

Soon after that Kion and Rani talked with each other and had decided to become mates. Soon after though, Kion's friend Jasiri along with the reformed Janja came and warned them about Zira attacking the Pride Lands. Makini stayed behind, having promised Rani to stay as a royal adviser and shaman, while the Lion Guard, Jasiri, and Janja made a journey back to the Pride Lands since Kion still had a duty to defend it. However, when they got to the Pride Lands, they found out that Zira and her eldest child, Nuka had died and the rest of her pride became part of the Pride Lands' pride and Vitani had formed her own Lion Guard. Vitani and Kion's guards quarreled for a bit on who was the Pride Lands' true Lion Guard until they decided to have a competition to decide it.

It had come down to a tie where Kion and Vitani had to fight to break it, but when Vitani said that she could hold her own against Kion without a magical roar, Kion saw that the Pride Lands did have a guard that could protect it, so he gave Vitani and her guard the honor. Kion along with his family, friends, and other Pride Lands animals journeyed back to the Tree of Life days later where he and Rani got married. That was a few months ago and Kion was happy, he missed his family and other close friends back in the Pride Lands very much, but he was happy none the less. Kion jumped down some rocks to get to the patrolling Night Pride. The four lions heard the sound of Kion coming closer and not knowing it was him, got ready to fight, but eased up when they noticed him.

They all greeted him when he came up to them.

"Hay Kion, what are you doing up in the middle of the night?" Kion's new brother-in-law, Baliyo asked.

"I couldn't sleep, so I just thought I'd come to see how you all were doing." Kion replied.

"Oh, worried about us, weren't you?" Rani asked.

"Uh, maybe a little." Kion replied with a chuckle.

Rani smiled back at him before looking towards the rest of the Night Pride.

"Baliyo, Uncle Surak, Nirmala. You three mind if you give me and Kion a little bit of alone time?" Rani said.

"Not at all your grace." Nirmala assured.

The three walked off to give the couple some time to themselves. When the two were sure they were gone, they both rubbed heads together.

"I'm glad you came out to us Kion, I was starting to miss you." Rani said.

"You last saw me right as you and the others were going out on patrol." Kion pointed out.

"Yes, but that was hours ago." Rani said.

"Compare that to the month plus that I had to spend not seeing you when I went back to the Pride Lands when I was informed of Zira attacking." Kion replied.

"What is this, a contest of who had it worse?" Rani questioned with a laugh.

"Hay, it's not a competition if we both went through it." Kion deflected.

The two lions laughed at their teasing of each other. The two lions took a small stroll in silence, occasionally glancing at each other, thinking the other didn't notice. Kion suddenly felt Rani's tail tuft brush against his side, which had Kion shudder.

"That send shivers down your spine?" Rani asked.

"No, I just took a deep breath of the fresh air." Kion lied.

"Yeah right." Rani replied.

Kion and Rani suddenly came to a snowy area of the Tree of Life's lands. They took a few steps and watched the prints they left behind. Rani suddenly began dancing away from Kion, slowly twirling. Rani looked towards him.

"Dance with me." she invited.

Due to the smile Rani was giving him, Kion couldn't deny her invitation. He memorized the moves she made and danced how she did, making sure to fit his paws neatly inside the paw prints Rani had made in the snow. When he made the last twirl, he found his nose touching against Rani's.

"I would say you stole my moves, but I think you fitting your paws into the paw prints I made as you danced made it feel more romantic." Rani said.

"Well, that's good to hear since I'm not a romance wiz." Kion smirked.

"Hay, you're a king and kings aren't supposed to say stupid stuff." Rani said.

"Okay." Kion agreed.

The two continued their walk until they came to the highest point in the lands surrounding the Tree of Life. Rani sighed and laid down with Kion joining her.

"You know, this is the best spot to watch a sunrise." Rani said.

"Oh really?" Kion asked.

Rani nodded.

"My parents use to bring me here… before they died and so did my grandmother after that." Rani said as her ears dropped.

Kion nuzzled her, which instantly lifted her spirits.

"That's kinda like how my dad use to take me and Kiara out to look at the stars and how my grandfather use to do it with him as well." Kion said.

"Yes. Some love to look at the stars, others, the sunset, but me, I like the sunrise. There are nights when the stars aren't out and the sunset gives way to cold, isolating night, but the sunrise brings warmth, the songs of song birds, community, and as my grandmother once called sunrises once, the representation of birth bringing forth new life." Rani explained.

"Sounds very interesting." Kion said.

"Yes, it is." Rani agreed.

The two sat together in silence before Rani suddenly remembered something.

"Hay, Kion, isn't your birthday in just a few days?" Rani asked.

In the first few days after Kion came back to the Tree of Life and married Rani, they had talked more about each other, one of the things being that Kion's third birthday would be coming up.

"Why yes, it is; day after tomorrow to be exact." Kion confirmed.

"It is? Holy Tree of Life, I thought it was a day or two after that." Rani gasped.

"Hay, don't worry about it." Kion tried to reassure. "It's just a day."

"Just a day? Kion, it's not just a day." Rani said. "It's the day you were born, it's the most special and important day of your life, and it's your third one, and a lion's third birthday marks them as an official adult."

"Oh, yeah, I guess your right." Kion said.

"But quick Kion, you gotta tell me, what would you like for your birthday?" Rani asked.

Kion just smiled and placed one of his paws over Rani's while using the other to gently touch the brown lionesses' cheek.

"You don't need to get me anything. What more could I want than you?" Kion stated.

Rani smiled back at him.

"You may be fierce, but you're such a sweetheart you know that?" Rani said.

Kion just smiled back and the two butted heads together.

"But I guess one thing I would like is for my family and Jasiri to be here. With my parents finally knowing about Jasiri and them giving her and her clan permission to come into the Pride Lands to hunt whenever they want means that she could finally celebrate one of my birthdays with me." Kion said.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Rani said.

"Yeah, but with her being the Outlands' new queen and with the rest of my family having to rule over the Pride Lands and the journey to the Tree of Life being a long one, they can't come visit often, even for special occasions." Kion said.

"I guess that's the one downside of living at the Tree of Life." Rani said.

"Yeah, it is." Kion agreed, the fact saddening him a little.

Rani placed a desperate paw on Kion's.

"But you have no regrets about deciding to live here and marrying me right?" Rani desperately asked.

Kion gave Rani a reassuring smile.

"The only regret I have is having not met you sooner in life." Kion said.

Rani smiled and licked his cheek.

"Well, that's good to hear." Rani said.

They both got up and headed back to where they had separated from the rest of the Night Pride. When they got there, they quickly rubbed their noses together before Rani pulled away and began to look for the rest of the Night Pride.

"Now go and try to get some rest, you'll need it if you and that magical roar of yours are going to protect the Tree of Life properly tomorrow." Rani suggested.

"After our little date together, I think I'll have no problem." Kion said. "See you in the morning."

"My heart will be sad until we do." Rani said.

"Very poetic sounding." Kion replied.

The sun began to rise hours later and the animals of the Tree of Life were beginning to wake up. The Night Pride was coming towards the tree while Kion was gathering the Lion Guard along with Azaad and Binga, who often joined them. They all greeted the tired Night Pride as they arrived.

"Any signs of trouble last night after I met with you four?" Kion asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary Kion." Surak reported.

"Good to hear." Kion said.

"But if your team is not as lucky as we were, make sure to kick butt Kion." Baliyo said.

"Got it." Kion promised.

Kion and Baliyo than did a high-paw.

"If so, make sure not to get your eye scraped by a snake again Kion, I don't want to have to go through the process of healing it again." Nirmala said with a giggle.

"Oh, no promises there." Kion smirked.

Finally, Kion looked towards Rani. He leaned in towards her to whisper.

"Want to go on patrol with us for a little bit?" Kion asked.

"I would love to my dear king, but I'm tired from last night." Rani said in a groggy voice.

"But I was thinking of splitting up into teams, just you and me being one of them." Kion said.

"Tempting, but still, maybe next time Kion." Rani said.

"Oh, come on, a king should always have a queen by his side so that they can rule and lead together." Kion said.

"Kion, I said I don't have the energy." Rani said.

Kion knew he should probably stop, seeing as how tired Rani was, but he wasn't done in trying to seduce her into another secret date while on duty.

"Oh, I'm sure I can give you an energy boost." Kion said with a seductive smile.

Kion leaned in to nuzzle or kiss Rani or both. Rani however was not flattered by Kion's loving advances and growled.

"Look Kion, I said I'm tired and want to sleep for my patrol later tonight!" Rani snapped. "So, go and put that ROAR of yours to good use like your supposed to."

Kion's head shoot back in shock and his mouth fell agape. He watched as Rani pushed past him and walked into the cave under the Tree of Life. Surak gave Kion a reassuring look.

"Don't mind her Kion. Rani's just tired like the rest of us." the older lion said.

"Yeah, after a few hours of sleep, she'll wake up with a clearer head, apologize and everything'll be back to normal." Baliyo reassured as well.

Kion nodded in understanding before he gestured for the rest of the Lion Guard and Azaad and Binga to follow him on patrol. They all traveled towards the Tree of Life's border, greeting any animals they passed by. Like Kion and told Rani, they split into teams, Ono and Anga separately, one of Beshte, Bunga, and Binga, and him with Fuli and Azaad. As the three large felines walked, Kion was thinking back to Rani snapping at him earlier. Ever since the two of them got married, they had had no fights.

Couples did fight every now and again, he'd even seen his father and mother get into a few back when he still lived in the Pride Lands, but they never got anywhere beyond raised voices. Kion may have been pushing her too much with trying to go on patrol when she was tired, but it seemed so petty that she didn't have to yell at him like she did. She had also put a lot of emphases into the word 'roar' and in using it which Kion didn't like. He knew his roar was a big part of him protecting others and the lands that he called his home, but he didn't want anyone to relay on him just because he had the roar. He wanted others to relay on him because they knew he was both a good leader and fighter.

After coming back to the Tree of Life, Kion had even decided to focus more of his fighting skill other than just relaying on the roar when things were getting a little too hairy. Kion was always a good fighter, even from cubhood, but as the spirit of his grandfather Mufasa and even Rafiki had told him sometimes, 'there's always room for improvement.' So, every other day, Kion trained with his friends and new family members in sparring matches. Fuli and Azaad noticed Kion deep in his thoughts.

"Hay, you okay Kion." Azaad asked.

Kion looked towards the both of them.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine guys." Kion assured them.

"It's about Rani snapping at you back there, isn't it?" Fuli asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, it is." Kion sighed. "Her snapping at me like that just caught me off guard I guess."

"She was tired and seemed a little cranky. I guess you can expect someone to snap at you like that when you push them to do something other than sleep." Azaad guessed.

"Yeah, it was just so petty though and she slept all but one hour before the Night Pride patrol began yesterday and she wasn't up anywhere past their usual patrolling schedule." Kion said.

"Aw, don't let it hang over your head Kion." Fuli said, giving him a small jab in the shoulder. "You know, this kinda reminds me of the time when you and the others where learning that I liked being alone and kept bugging me until I flat out said it."

Azaad looked at her with a raised eyebrow and inquisitive smirk.

"And does Azaad interrupt that little hobby of yours with being around you most of the time now?" the male cheetah asked.

Fuli looked back at him with a smirk of her own.

"Well, maybe I can stand you being around me twenty-four-seven." Fuli said.

The two cheetahs than laughed and deeply nuzzled each other. Fuli than looked back towards Kion.

"Seriously Kion, like Baliyo said, Rani will most likely wake up in a few hours before the Night Pride's shift, come looking for you and you two can say your apologies." Fuli said.

"Thanks guys, I do feel better now." Kion said.

"Just call the two of us, 'Fuli and Azaad, the Love Counselors.'" Azaad joked.

This got a laugh out of all three of the friends.

A few hours later it was midday and the Lion Guard were taking a lunch break. The lands of the Tree of Life was an odd place for carnivores like lions because of the Night Pride's position of protecting animals that they and other meat eaters would look at as prey and they didn't eat their corpses when they died. Because of this, they resorted to other methods of food, like scavenging from the carcasses of animals outside of their borders or catching fish from the rivers. Kion was currently at the edge of a river, his eyes glued on the water, waiting for fish to swim right by. His concentration was however being disrupted by Bunga and Binga not too far behind him.

Both of them had decided to turn their afternoon meal into another bug eating contest, and Binga was about to win again as Bunga futilely tried to outmatch her.

"I'm about to beat ya' again Bungie." Binga said, her words muffled by her full mouth.

"No way, not this time, I learned from the best baby, THE BEST. My uncles Timon and Pumbaa." Bunga declared, his words just as muffled from his full mouth.

Kion shook his head in amusement. Bugs were another way Kion could get easy food around here, but he would never try to eat bugs again after that one incident when he was younger. During the first time when Timon and Pumbaa had babysat Kion, they had decided to make him try bugs for the first time, hoping he wouldn't be squeamish like Kiara. To their and Bunga's delight, Kion wasn't even though he did make sure to ask if they were safe to eat, which they assured him they were. As Kion began eating a bug, Bunga was fantasizing about how great it would be to have Kion as a bug eating buddy and Timon and Pumbaa were rejoicing that they were about to finally relive the ol' glory days with a lion cub as a bug eating buddy as well, especially when that cub was Simba's son, the trio's celebration was cut short though.

Seconds after Kion fully ate the bug, he began to gag and give off those small sickish burps that you got sometimes when you were about to throw up, which Kion did. The young cub had also fallen flat on his stomach and began drooling uncontrollably. Timon and Pumbaa had began to freak out, especially after Kion had said that he thought they said the bug wasn't a dangerous one, which they had retorted it wasn't.

"Oh my god, Pumbaa, we just killed Kion… and Simba's gonna kill us. Nala to." Timon had gasped.

"Call 911." Pumbaa had said.

"Pumbaa, stop saying random crazy stuff, this is serious man!" Timon had said, grabbing Pumbaa's tusks and shaking him by them.

Simba and Nala, had just happened to be not too far away when they heard the screaming and came running, thinking something bad was happening. About an hour later, everyone had found out much to their relief that the bug Kion ate wasn't dangerous, it had just made him a little sick to his stomach and just wasn't able to keep it down. Timon, Pumbaa, and Bunga were a little disappointed that Kion wouldn't be able to be their bug eating buddy, but trio were just glad that Kion was okay and vowed never to make him eat anything that would make him sick again. As Kion tried to force that non to fond memory to the back of his mind, a huge silver fish that seemed to be about three feet long came swimming by. Kion got his claws ready to grab for it.

Kion succeeded in grabbing it, but it's wriggling along with it's slimy scales made it slippery and slip out of his paw. Kion made desperate grabs for it, but it kept slipping out of his grasp. He was about to succeed until…

"Hay Kion." A voice said.

Startled by the voice, Kion missed his grab for the fish and it fell back into the river and safely swam off.

"Well, there goes my lunch." Kion irritably thought.

He turned around to see who addressed him, noting to himself that whatever they wanted had better be important. It was Rani, who had a neutral expression on her face.

"Oh, Rani, it's you." Kion said.

Rani looked past him at the river.

"Sorry I made you lose your fish." Rani apologized.

"Oh, it's okay." Kion assured. "What is it you need?"

Rani looked back towards Bunga and Binga behind them. Rani began to walk off.

"Let's go somewhere a little more private." Rani advised.

Kion nodded in understanding and followed. He followed the brown lioness for a good minute before they stopped.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Kion asked.

Rani just stood there in silence.

"Uh, Rani?" Kion said.

Rani stayed there silent for another moment before looking back at Kion, her eyes gleaming like she was about to cry.

"I just wanted to say how sorry I am about snapping at you earlier." Rani said.

Kion reached a comforting paw for one of her forelegs.

"Hay, it's okay." Kion tried to assure.

Rani just shook her head and tightly closed her eyes, the tears starting to come out.

"No, no it's not okay." Rani said. "You were just trying to get me, your queen, your friend, your wife to join you and I yelled at you for it."

"It's alright, it's my fault anyway. You were tired and I kept pushing you to try and stay up a little longer when you wanted to sleep. I'm the one who should be apologizing." Kion said.

"But it was such I childish thing I did and with being queen, I should know better than to just lash out at such petty things." Rani said. "And what makes it worse is, that you were going out on patrol, which could be a dangerous thing to do and what if something bad happened to you."

Kion looked at Rani with concern, she was acting so dramatic about the whole thing that Kion thought it was coming from somewhere deeper and he wanted to find out.

"Did you have a bad dream where something did happen while I was on patrol?" Kion asked.

Rani nodded.

"Yes, I dreamt that after you all went on patrol after I yelled at you, that leopard, Makucha and his allies came back and ambushed you all. They were able to separate you from the others and corner you, and…" Rani explained, unable to finish.

Kion quickly moved over to Rani and pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"It's okay, it's okay." Kion assured her.

Rani slowly began to calm down. While still holding on to each other, they both looked into each other's eyes.

"I was just so worried that it was real and the last moment between us was me yelling at you for no real reason and basically referring your roaring was the only thing you were good for." Rani said.

"It's alright, it was just a dream and I'm not mad at you for earlier, I never was." Kion assured.

Rani smiled.

"Oh, thank you, Kion. I was hoping you would say that. I really didn't want to fight with you." Rani said.

"Hay, I said it's alright. Mates fight all the time." Kion said.

"Oh really. I would think that all the time means every second of every day." Rani said.

"Okay, mates fight occasionally." Kion said.

"That's better." Rani said.

The two gave a quick laugh before nuzzling each other. As they did, Kion smirked and thought of a joke.

"You know, I hope Kiara and Kovu back home have already had a fight." Kion said.

"You do, why?" Rani asked, wondering why Kion would hope such a thing.

"Because out of the both of us, Kiara has been the first at everything, first to be born, first to see the Outlands, first to make friends with an Outlander, and first to get married. So, it would make since for her to be the first to have a fight with her mate. As for me, I've always complained that I want to be first at something and if I became the one to first have a fight with their mate and she heard about it, she'd never let me live it down." Kion explained.

"Now that you put it that way, I hope so to." Rani agreed.

After laughing, the two nuzzled each other again before Rani pulled away and began to go back to the Tree of Life to sleep. She however had one more thing to say before departing.

"Hay Kion." Rani said.

"Yes?" Kion asked.

"I meant part of what I said when I yelled at you. Here at the Tree of Life, we really do need the roar." Rani said.

Rani than continued to walk off, not noticing the confused look on Kion's face after she mentioned the roar and not him by name.

"Uh, what about me?" Kion asked. "It's not just the roar that does all the work."

Rani gasped and looked back, trying to give a sheepish face that actually looked more like a cringe.

"Oh, uh, um, yeah, um, yeah, uh, um… we need you to. The roar wouldn't be able to protect us and the animals if you weren't here." Rani said.

Rani than gave a nervous laugh and quickly walked out of there, leaving Kion feeling unkempt with how Rani worded her answer. He was about to walk after her, but he just brushed it off as nothing important. He walked back towards the river to try and catch another finish, not noticing that someone was watching his and Rani's conversation from the thick trees and bushes.

Hours later, it was dusk and the sun was going down, casting the sky in vibrant oranges and yellows. The Lion Guard had split up to find a spot to sleep for the night. Meanwhile, Kion was heading for the Tree of Life. He was hoping to spend some time with Rani before she had to go out. He was thinking of maybe even accompanying them.

They were going to do a shorter patrol than usual tonight, staying up for only half the night so they'd all be able to celebrate Kion's third birthday tomorrow. A birthday wasn't a birthday if your family, original or new were only half awake. The tree soon came into view and Kion made an eager sprint for the cave entrance. When he came close to the entrance, he saw Rani round the corner of corridor to the cave and she hadn't noticed him yet. Kion quickly dove to the side of the cave and out of view, deciding to jump out and surprise Rani when she was close enough.

He ever so slightly peeked around the corner to watch as Rani came unsuspectingly closer. He covered his mouth with a paw to silence his eager snickering. Rani was about ten paces away and he was about to jump out at her until suddenly he heard Rani's younger brother, Baliyo call out to her from not much further inside the cave. Kion saw Baliyo walking towards Rani at a quick pace, he had a look on his face that said he wanted to talk about something important.

"Hay Rani, I need to talk to you for a moment. You got a sec?" Baliyo asked.

"Sure Baliyo, what is it?" Rani asked, walking closer to her younger, yet taller brother.

"It's about earlier, this afternoon. I just happened to be passing by on my way to the river to get a drink and I overheard you apologizing to Kion about snapping at him earlier and telling him about that bad dream you said you had." Baliyo said.

"Oh, yes, that nightmare was dreadfully terrible and it made me feel so much more worse about yelling at him for just wanting to spend time with me, but things are all better now and you saw." Rani said.

"Yeah, but Rani, there's something else I need to ask you." Baliyo said.

As he watched from the shadows, Kion wondered what else Baliyo was going to ask; what else was there to ask about.

"After you said you meant part of what you yelled at Kion about, about us needing him staying here at the Tree of Life, you only mentioned the roar itself and not Kion." Baliyo said.

Kion noticed a drop in Rani's face along with a look of shock and nervousness.

"And when Kion asked about us needing him, you gave this awkward response and the look on your face showed it as well." Baliyo pointed out.

"I did?" Rani said, as if she hadn't noticed her response earlier as well.

"Yes, you did and Rani, I just want to ask if everything is okay between you and Kion?" Baliyo asked with concern.

Kion noticed Rani's face drop more as she turned her back on her brother and walked a few steps away from him. She had her head hung a little and her ears dropped.

"Oh, yeah Baliyo, it's alright. Everything is just fine between me and Kion, there's nothing to worry about." Rani tried to convince her brother.

It didn't work however as Baliyo still looked at his sister with concern. When their grandmother died, she had asked Baliyo to promise her to stay strong and look after Rani. So, if he felt something was wrong with Rani, he wanted to know so he could help her when she needed him.

"Are you sure Rani, because if something is wrong, you know that you can talk to me. I'm your brother." Baliyo said.

Rani's face looked even sadder after he said that and she sighed. She looked around to make sure no one was around before looking back at Baliyo.

"Okay, Baliyo. Since you're my brother and probably the one I trust above anyone else, I'm going to tell this secret to you and only to you." Rani said.

Baliyo perked his ears up, eager to hear what Rani had to say. Kion did the same, just as eager to hear what Rani had to say, especially when it sounded like whatever was going on in her head involved him.

"It is about me and Kion, Baliyo." Rani said.

Kion's heart rate began to speed up and his paws were starting to sweat. He wondered what Rani was going to say. Was she going to say that since Kion was about to become an official adult and she would be soon to that she wanted to have cubs, but wasn't sure if Kion was ready or something like that?

"I'm not really in love with him, Baliyo." Rani said without flinching.

The world suddenly became silent all except for a sound that only Kion could hear, it was the sound of his heart shattering in his chest as Rani said that. Kion gave a silent gasp as his legs shook, making them barley able to support the rest of his body, ice traveled along his spine, and his stomach lurched, making him feel sick. From the look on Baliyo's face, he was shocked as well by what his sister had just said. His jaw was basically hitting and floor and he was shaking his head, as if trying to deny the fact that his sister had just admitted that she doesn't really love Kion.

"No, no, no Rani. You can't mean that. Tell me this is just some cruel joke." Baliyo basically pleaded.

Rani just sadly shook her head.

"It isn't Baliyo, it's the truth." Rani confirmed. "I lied and manipulated him to get him to stay at the Tree of Life and to marry me to become king."

Baliyo was shocked to hear this. He couldn't believe his sister was saying this. He remembered back to when Kion came back and his and Rani's wedding took place and how glad Rani was to have had Kion come back. Baliyo and Kion suddenly gasped when they remembered what Rani said as they were getting married. When Kion went up to stand next to Rani and have Makini give him the mark of the King of the Tree of Life, they remembered what Rani had said.

"I'm glad the roar has returned to the Tree of Life." Rani had said.

Back than, Baliyo and Kion had thought nothing of how she worded that sentence, but now it made sense. Rani was glad that Kion came back only because he had the Roar of Elders, if she was glad Kion himself came back she would have addressed him, not the roar. Kion also thought back to his time at the Lake of Reflection when Rani said that if he left the Tree of Life than he should leave the roar behind. He thought that she was trying to tell him that he didn't need it to be who he was, but she was actually just trying to make him give it to her. Kion wanted to confront Rani or ran away to be by himself to think, but he couldn't bring himself to do it right now, he wanted to hear if Rani had more to say.

"Why Rani, why would you do this to Kion?" Baliyo asked.

Rani looked up at her brother with a stern look on her face.

"After our grandmother died, I had to find a way to get Kion to stay at the Tree of Life so the power of the roar would serve us and help fix the problems in how the Night Pride operates." Rani said, trying to defend her actions.

"Fix the way we operate? What do you mean Rani?" Baliyo asked.

"Baliyo, we patrol our homeland at night when most animals are asleep and leave them to mostly defend themselves during the day when the animals we protect and the ones that seek to harm them, like that leopard Makucha, are awake. Don't you see the flaw there?" Rani asked.

Baliyo thought on that, yes it was a flaw in how the Night Pride did at things. There were dangers that came to attack animals at night, but there were even more in the day, but the way they did things had been a long tradition that's reason for doing had been lost for countless generations. However, when Makucha made his many attempts to attack the Tree of Life during the day, it had affected the Night Pride's sleep schedules, forcing them to stay awake during the day and become tired.

"Yes Rani, I see, but that's our pride's tradition." Baliyo pointed out.

"I know that." Rani said. "And Kion, his plan to have the Night Pride operate at night and the Lion Guard operate during the day, it was perfect and I saw Kion was starting to develop certain feelings for me. Not too strong of feelings, but feelings none the less. I saw an advantage there and I took it."

"But- but Rani, that's just so wrong. You lied to him and for what?" Baliyo said.

"To protect the animals of the Tree of Life like we always have, that's for what, and sometimes Baliyo, you gotta tell lies for the greater good and not worry about whose feelings you hurt." Rani declared.

Rani than gave a mocking scoff.

"And it helps on account of how males can stupidly act on even the slightest feelings of romance without thinking when they come face to face with a beautiful female." Rani said with a sneer.

"So, before Kion's scar fully healed, all those times you were worried about him getting better, you were actually worried about losing the roar instead of worrying about Kion's mental health?" Baliyo asked.

"Yes." Rani sighed.

Kion and Baliyo couldn't believe what they were hearing. Rani was trying to defend her actions and was insulting Kion for trying to form a close relationship with someone he had come to respect and greatly care about, and she was admitting she didn't care if he had lost his sanity from the venom in his scar turning him slowly evil. All this, all this just for his damn roar. Baliyo just continued to stare at his sister in shock for all that she had said, his face suddenly turned to one of anger.

"You're not the sister I know! She would never act like this. Manipulating someone who has special abilities to use them like a bodyguard." Baliyo defiantly declared.

Rani looked at him with a vicious snarl on her face.

"Well, then maybe your meeting your sister for the first real time than!" Rani shouted.

Baliyo gasped at Rani's statement. He glared at her as tears started to pour out of his eyes. He sniffed loudly before beginning to walk towards the cave exit. Kion quickly ducked back behind the mouth of the cave. Rani on the other paw, looked at Baliyo as he walked towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Rani asked.

"To tell Kion." Baliyo declared.

"What!?" Rani gasped.

Baliyo stopped walking and looked back at her.

"Yes, I'd never be able to forgive myself if I let my brother-in-law live a lie." Baliyo declared.

The young teenage lion continued on to try to find Kion. Rani was starting to freak out, trying to figure out what to do to stop Baliyo. She had a couple aces up her sleeve that she knew would work. She knew what she was thinking to do would hurt Baliyo, but he wasn't giving her any choice

"But Baliyo, what about our grandmother?" Rani desperately asked.

Baliyo stopped dead in his tracks at the mention of his and Rani's grandmother.

"Remember how glad she was to see the roar return to the Tree of Life and how she wanted Kion to stay?" Rani asked.

Without looking back, Baliyo answered.

"I do, but that was Kion's choice weather he wanted to stay or not and she knew that." Baliyo argued.

Baliyo was about to continue walking again to try and find Kion, but Rani pulled her last ace card.

"Baliyo, out of all of us, you are the most loyal and dedicated to the Night Pride and what we stand for and do you remember our grandmother's last wish from you?" Rani asked.

Kion prayed and begged Rani not to use Queen Janna's last words to Baliyo to guilt trip him into keeping their conversation what she thought would be a secret just between them. Kion's prayer went unanswered as Rani did just that.

"She asked you to promise her to always support me as your sister and queen and you wouldn't want to disappoint her, would you?" Rani guilt tripped.

Baliyo was torn. He had promised his grandmother to always support his sister, but this is not what she meant, did she? Baliyo's heart was telling him to do the right thing and tell Kion this, but his brain was telling him that a queen's order was something you couldn't refuse to do just because you didn't like it. Also, Rani did have a point, there were flaws in how the Night Pride did things, sometimes you did have to lie for the greater good and not worry about who you have to step on sometimes to do so, and the Roar of Elders did originate from the Tree of Life, so it rightfully belonged here. Baliyo sighed and hung his head, finally answering Rani's question of him wanting to let Queen Janna down or not.

"No." Baliyo reluctantly said.

"Then promise me that you won't tell Kion, or Uncle Surak, Nirmala, Makini, or anyone else and that you'll take this secret to your grave." Rani asked.

"I promise." Baliyo reluctantly agreed.

Rani smiled and went up and nuzzled Baliyo like nothing was wrong.

"Oh, thank you, thank you Baliyo. I love you, little brother" Rani said.

"I… love you to, sister." Baliyo glumly said.

Kion carefully peeked around the corner at the two siblings. Baliyo looked disappointed in himself while Rani didn't whatsoever. Kion couldn't take it anymore. He quickly slipped away and ran away, letting his legs take him wherever they took him, he didn't care where, as long as he was nowhere near Rani.

And that concludes chapter one. Kion reveals to Rani on their little date night that his birthday is coming up very soon and on the day before it, Kion finds out about Rani's true feelings for him and Rani manages to manipulate her brother into keeping what she thinks is a secret. Next chapter, we see Kion's immediate reaction to this revelation, will he tell his friends about this first or will he call Rani out first and will he do it privately or in front of everybody? You'll have to wait and read the next chapter to find out.

Now, I'll answer some questions that I know some people might have. I admit that I don't like Rani and her relationship with Kion by extension because it's looks pretty obvious that the only reason she has to exist is to give Kion a same species relationship and they didn't bother to develop Tiifu and Zuri's relationship with Kion, and I do believe in the theory that she only really cares about Kion's roar and manipulated him to get him to stay at the Tree of Life by playing the love card, because after I read it, I went through the episodes and actually did find evidence to support that theory; In Lake of Reflection, Rani told Kion that if he leaves the Tree of Life than he should leave the roar behind, in Journey to the Pride Lands when Kion did leave, Rani voiced her hopes to Makini in saying that maybe the roar would return again someday, and in Return to the Pride Lands when Kion did come back, she said that she was glad that the roar had returned again; to me, those three instances, especially the last two since they were after they basically admitted they love each other, just show that Rani actually cares about the roar instead of Kion. If Rani actually did love Kion, on those last two instances she would have mentioned him instead of putting more emphases on the roar. I mean really, how difficult is it for Rani to mention Kion's name instead of the roar? It is for those reasons why I don't like Rani and her relationship with Kion.

Now, I remind everybody, despite what it looks like, I did not write this story just to hate on Rani and her relationship with Kion or anyone who does like it, I don't write or do stuff like that. I wrote it because I came up with a good story based off the theory and to in a way, cope with my disappointment over season 3 as a whole. Now, until next chapter I wish a good day or good night to all of you, if you haven't read any of my other stories than I please ask you to go read and comment on them and leave a review for this story as well and I ask you to please be respectful, you stay safe out there with all this virus stuff going on and God bless!