This time, it was hard to find the meerkat. Shenzi searched the oasis for a long time, but found no sign of him. She was about to give up and go home when she heard a noise behind her.

She turned around and saw the meerkat just standing there, looking at her. He seemed wary once he realized that she had seen him, but he appeared to be interested in what she would do next.

Shenzi decided to speak now before he ran away.

"Erm, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't plan on kissing, you, I promise."

Timon still hadn't moved but was no longer afraid, except for a slight anxiety that she was trying to lull him into a false sense of security.

Shenzi went on talking.

"But something strange happened yesterday when I was kissing you, and it really intrigued me, so I was wondering...could I kiss you again? Just to see if it happens again?"

The last part caught Timon by surprise.

The truth was, he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to kiss a hyena, especially not for the second time in two days. But at the same time, he had felt something funny yesterday too, other than surprise.

And although she acted like she was giving him a choice, he knew there was still the off chance that she could eat him if he refused. He seemed to be in a bit of a dilemma.

Ultimately, he decided that being eaten was a whole lot worse than being kissed.

"Alright, but make it quick," he answered.

He waited to feel embarrassed and awkward again when Shenzi kissed him, but that feeling never came. He knew that she was kissing him, but his emotions were not negative in any way.

And Shenzi, meanwhile, had realized that the strange feeling she had before had returned. The odd thing was, she recognized it now as elation.

And when she stopped kissing him, an even weirder feeling emerged in her: the feeling that she wanted to do it again.

They looked at each other for one moment, and strangely enough, Timon felt the same way that Shenzi did, he just didn't know why, nor did he make the connection to his subconscious like she had.

"Could I kiss you again?" she asked, not because of an experiment this time, but because (although she found it hard to believe) she actually enjoyed it.

Timon just nodded his head in disbelief, because he felt the exact same way she did.

So she kissed him again, and feeling was even stronger this time.

Finally, she pulled her head back, and they looked at each other for a long time.

After a while, Timon asked, "Why did you do that, instead of eating me?"

Shenzi noticed that he didn't say the word kiss.

She picked her words carefully. "I don't know why I kissed you," she began, "but I think I know why I didn't eat you."

"The night that you proposed to me, I think I realized that you weren't just another entree. I realized that you had a life of your own. You had a name."

"Speaking of which, I don't actually know your name. What is it?" she added as an afterthought.

"Timon," Timon said, still shocked at what was happening.

"Timon," Shenzi repeated to herself, like she was trying to remember it.

Then she turned and ran into the trees.

But one thing changed: This time, Timon decided to follow her.