There I go, experimenting with backgrounds again. This time I tried to outline the background instead of just doing it randomly. Kovu's colors are intentionally darker (as Kiara's colors are intentionally lighter) and that's just to account for the fact that Gainell is so light and Elewisa is so dark.
This is the first image of Kovu with the boys, and my guess is El and Gainell did something (Gainell to impress his father, El to annoy him) and Kovu is not a fan. In my headcanon Kovu is very military like in his parenting (same way that Zira was to him) and the stress of being king makes him extremely irritable and very quick to lash out.
Poor Gainell just wants to win his dad's approval for once, and no amount of Kovu's snarling or temper or harsh words could take that wicked little smirk off of Elewisa's face.
Gah, I really love this AU.
The boys are meant to be teens in this picture.
Priya - thanks again! I think I�m going to attempt to outline all future backgrounds- I feel like they looks better.