Some stupid hyena fluff. I love the hyenas, don't you know. I also love some Shenzi/Banzai.

Summary: Banzai hasn't come home.

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Once In A Blue Moon

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"Ed, quit it!"

Banzai was dead, and Shenzi had a headache.

Ed had been howling out in the rain for about four nights now. Shenzi pretended she wasn't keeping track of small stupid details like that, when really it was the most important thing in the world. And the only thing which seemed to stop her from ripping someone's throat out.

Banzai had been gone for four days, and Shenzi had decided he was dead on the first night. They'd caught a small zebra earlier that day, and dragged it's still sizable carcass back to the graveyard. Shenzi knew Banzai better than anyone, and she knew his stomach wouldn't miss out on a meal like that.

But he had, so he was dead.

"Idiot."

It made Shenzi feel a little better to say it. Served him right, leaving her to pretend she cared about Ed, who hadn't shut up since that first night.

To pretend like she cared at all. She didn't.

Well, she couldn't.

The rest of the clan looked at her like she might fall apart at any moment, and even if they didn't, they were secretly baying for it.

Some were already moving in, wanting to claim Banzai's absent position beside her. Whatever that position had been.

Shenzi curled her lip. He wasn't that special. Just another head, it didn't make any difference to the clan.

They sure didn't care.

"So you thinkin' about getting yourself another mate?" too many leering males had asked Shenzi, only that morning.

One thing Scar had gotten right, Hyenas were crude, and they didn't care.

Shenzi had offered them all her pinsharp teeth, and the last an admirable chunk out of his ear.

She still caught them watching though.

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"Quit it, Ed!"

Ed's paws were making squelching sounds in the wet ground, because he wouldn't stop pacing. And howling.

He stopped only a moment to look at Shenzi, and his eyes were wider than usual, his ears perked like something wonderful might happen. When nothing did, he started pacing again. And then howling.

Shenzi rolled her eyes and turned away.

It wasn't like she was gonna miss him. Nah, too many more idiots to take care of.

It was just that the last thing she'd done was told him he was an idiot (which he was), and bit him on the behind.

She didn't regret that. It was like Banzai was built for her teeth anyway; he was far too used to it. And he'd have come home later that night after his stupid escapade, and it'd all have been forgotten. She'd probably have bitten him again though, just for good measure.

But he'd not come back, and Shenzi wouldn't be able to do any of that. She'd miss biting him, that's what it was.

She'd really miss that.

Ed's howling was turning into a crackle; his voice was mostly dead, and Shenzi could almost empathise when she looked at him.

"Come in, Ed. It's raining," she ordered.

Ed blinked at her but didn't move. Shenzi would've bit him, but he looked so pathetic that it made her chest hurt.

She stalked out the den and sided up to him. "alright. Tell me what I gotta do, Ed. Tell me what I can say to make you shut up and realise."

Ed cocked his head at her, like a curious dog.

Shenzi hesitated.

"He ain't comin' back, hon. Sorry."

She'd not said the words before. They sounded so alien in her mouth, and her stomach squeezed tight suddenly, like she'd just been kicked there.

There was a strange comfort, in the way Ed tipped his head, and looked adamant, as if he knew she was wrong. Really, really wrong.

It was nice that Ed was so stupid, Shenzi guessed. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.

Then Ed's expression changed, and Shenzi noticed the way his ears pricked, and his eyes brightened.

Like some bullet through the sky, he sped across the ground, toward something Shenzi didn't care to know about.

She turned away. It was too bad that Ed wouldn't listen. Too bad for her that it all felt way too painful.

It was strange that she wouldn't be able to yell at Banzai, and tell him how much she hated him right now. Or even laugh it all off with him.

"Ed!" she yelled. His barking was incessent, and now she really did feel like tearing his throat out. "Get back here right now-"

The words froze in her mouth.

Ed was running circles around another hyena, and Shenzi knew him better than anyone. Of course she did.

She ran, faster than she could ever remember, and knocked the other hyena for six. She landed on top of him, and wanted to kill him.

Banzai looked up at her with a grin of terror, like he knew her mind too well. Well, he should.

"Hey Shenzi-"

"Shut. Up." Shenzi snarled, and pinned him harder. "Just shut up."

Ed whimpered and skipped around them, like it was the best thing ever.

"Hey...ease up..." Banzai said, looking at Shenzi as though she might be crazy. "You're kinda...hurting-"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Shenzi growled, and for a second she dipped her head. It was easy; his throat was all exposed and there for her to take. It would've been satisfying for a few moments, for him to know what it'd felt like for her.

Too bad he'd be dead though.

Banzai raised his paws over his head, his eyes tight shut, as if he knew what was coming.

"S-sorry..."

He was soaking wet and there was blood dripping from his shoulder. And then it was like Shenzi was seeing him for the first time.

She jumped off him and turned away.

Seeing his chance, Ed jumped at Banzai, slobbering and licking him everywhere, like he was some delicious treat.

"Hey, Ed, cool it," Banzai said. "See? Ed's happy to see me. Can't you at least pretend, Shenzi-"

"Ed'd be happy to see a bone,"

"Yeah? ...well so would I, actually," Banzai realised, more to himself. "Man, I'm starved."

Shenzi shook her head, and glared at him. "were you expectin' dinner to be waiting for you like time hadn't even happened, or somethin'?"

"What?" Banzai looked very confused.

"Don't play innocent with me. You ain't cute enough for that."

"For what?"

"For-get it, that's what!" Shenzi started to turn away, but a sting of conscience told her otherwise.

She couldn't kid herself. Banzai was cute enough, and right now he looked like some kicked puppy. She noticed the blood on his shoulder again.

"Where'd you go?" she frowned at it.

"Nowhere, not really..." Banzai seemed to shrink, because he was really bad at lying to Shenzi.

She waited for him, as patiently as she could manage, to spill the truth.

He folded very easily; "I just went to the pridelands...just for a bit. I thought maybe we could get more food-"

"Your stomach will be the death of you," Shenzi interrupted.

"I wasn't hungry. I just wanted to see if Simba would hear us out,"

Shenzi stared at him; "you tried to talk to the lions?"

Banzai winced back. "I didn't even get that far. Man, there's some crazy lions out there."

Shenzi looked past him, "the outlanders. Banzai, you know what they're like," she tried to sound angry, but realised the conviction in it had all but left her.

"I just want to be some use to you," Banzai shrugged, and looked hopeless.

That kind of sealed it.

"Banzai...you're such an idiot," she closed the gap between them, and Banzai flinched, expecting something painful to happen.

Shenzi smirked, and then nuzzled against him. He smelt of dirt and rain and blood, and everything that was Banzai. Shenzi hadn't thought she'd know that scent again. The relief was kind of overwhelming.

"Shenzi?...are you okay?" Banzai sounded very worried.

"What?...sure," Shenzi wiped the rest of the stinging away from her eyes, onto his coat. "Can't a hyena show a little affection once in a blue moon?"

Banzai looked at the sky. "I don't see no moon."

"Shut up,"

"Um. Okay,"

It was good that Banzai knew her so well, and Shenzi guessed that was what he had going for him.

It was probably why she missed him...

She bit his ear, not too hard, but hard enough.

"Ow...what was that for?"

"Nothin. I just missed doing that."

Banzai grimaced, and it made Shenzi laugh, a bit gentler than usual. She nudged him forward.

"Now haul your ass. That zebra ain't gonna wait around all night for your stomach."

"I thought you said there wasn't any food left?"

"Do you also remember when I told you to shut up?" Shenzi asked. She sided up to him, so that their coats touched as they walked.

"Yeah, I remember," Banzai paused a second. "Missed you, Shenzi."

"Yeah?" Shenzi pretended it didn't matter. "You better have."

Ed bounded after them, running in little circles and barking at the sky. A moon was beginning to emerge from the clouds. Not exactly blue, but close enough.

And anyway, Shenzi liked Banzai way more often than that.

~END~

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