Holy freaking muffins, this came out waaay later than I wanted XP And now you guys deserve an explanation.

Pretty much, work has been taking up most of my time, especially since I've had cashier training(which happened about a month and a half ago). I've still been writing rough chapters for the story in a notebook, but it just been about finding the time or the energy to really sit down and start typing it out.

My loss of energy isn't just because of work, but another little reason that's been leaving me worn out and taking up a lot of my time as well. But I'll save that for after the chapter to tell you ;) Just let me use this time to thank everyone who commented before I send you off to read...


NatNicole: Lol, holy muffins, don't forget to breath! XD XD Haha, I'm so glad that you enjoyed the chapter hun, and I'm happy to hear that I'm doing an okay job with the story and the characters so far. Oh wow, and I'm so glad that Ryan in a decent OC as well. I try my best to give my characters their own personality and quirks, it's nice to see that it seems to be working X3. Aww, now that's sweet, but there are other wonderful 'Lion King' fanfictions on here that I'm sure may be a better read(but I sure am tickled that you would say something so nice!)

Matt: Well thank you so much for that Mr. Matt, I'm glad that you like my stories :3 But yeah, I kind of did abandon them for a while there, didn't I? Sorry about that^^;
It is my plan to continue working on them, though since I have so many, I'm trying to focus on only a few stories until they're completed before I work on the others(As well as trying to refrain from posting any new stories as well). So far, this story and my 'Land Before Time' fanfiction are first on the list.

ZabuzasGirl: I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far hun:D:D:D But yikes, six months isn't exactly 'immediately', is it? ^^; I'm so, so,so, so sorry!

gwencarson126: Thank you so much for that, it was important to me to give Sarabi a decent send off, so I'm glad that everyone seems to have approved of it...albeit it's sad that I won't get to really write her in the story anymore T_T. And I missed the oasis too, I really wanted to incorporated it in here as well.
Lol, well you'll just have to keep reading to find out ;)

I-Love-Trunks1: Thank you for reading hun :) And yeah, I'm glad they made it too! Yep, that was a pretty stupid move denying himself water, but at least he's okay, and I'm sure Simba and Nala wouldn't let him do that again X3. That's sounds like a pretty good idea, having Ryan teach them some human games, I'll definitely keep it in mind :D:D:D. Thank you very much again, I'll try and get another chapter worked on here.

Steelcode: Thank you so much for that hun, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, I'm only sorry it took me so long to post number 12 XP.
And those were all very good suggestions, and that's a pretty good idea about using some secondary characters from 'The Lion Guard', It gave me a few ideas for future chapters :3 :3 :3
Thank you so very much hun!

Dave Bennett: Hopefully it'll be a good experience for him ;) Lol, and I'm glad you liked that bit about Nala, I'm sure anyone would jump at the opportunity to go swimming after being out in a hot desert XD Awww, you're sweet! And maybe I will one of these days, I've been trying to focus more working on some more of my projects to really read anything lately, but once I can, I'll most definitely check those authors out :) :) :)

Also, happy super late Easter back to you, though I guess now I should say happy early Halloween.

Jason Chandler: Thank you so very much, hun! I'm glad you enjoyed reading the chapter! :D And that's not a bad idea, northern animals are very awesome!

Jestalnaker94000: Thank you so very, very much! Hehe, I'm glad they made it too X3. Lol, oh yes, Hakuna Matata is a definite must! And I'll try and put your idea of Ryan telling the pride more about humans too. I'm sure now that they can relax in the jungle, they'll be a bit more curious about him. :3


Thank you so very much again for your suggestions and sweet comments! I hope you guys enjoy the latest chapter :3


...

...

...


Chapter 12: Hakuna Matata


...

...

...


Ryan gave a sigh as he tossed away the remnants of the unfortunate piece of produce he had devoured while he stared up at the bit of blue sky he was able to see through the thick branches. His belly full of fruit and Nala, Kiara and the other members of the pride napping in a sunny clearing a few yards away from the jack fruit tree he had climbed to find a snack.

He should be having a wonderful time as not many people can find themselves in such an amazing place like this, surrounded by so much natural beauty. But it wasn't long after everyone had finally settled down in their temporary home in the jungle that he found himself feeling so restless as his thoughts would often wander.

Sure, there was shade, water, food was plentiful for both himself and the pride, and most importantly, they were safe from danger. But even still, it was hard for him to fully enjoy the serenity of the oasis because...he missed Sarabi.

Ryan didn't have time to really process absence after they left, nobody did as they had to focus on making it through that desert before they made it to the jungle. But now that he was here, now that everyone was okay, all he could think about was how much he missed the old lioness as her passing was still a deep and very fresh wound on his heart.

He missed listening to her voice as she would tell him stories, he missed her laying next to him at night to keep him warm; and yes, he even missed how she used to fuss over him when his leg was still healing. He thought about talking to Simba about it, but the king always seemed to be away in some unknown parts of the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa.

And Nala and the other lionesses appeared to finally be so relaxed and content, that Ryan just couldn't bring himself to spoil it for them. So, he opted to just keep it to himself by taking long walks alone or hiding out in fruit trees that had edible morsels that so he could try and clear his head on his own.

Ryan knew he should have been satisfied with the knowledge that she was in a better place with Mufasa, but it just wasn't bringing him comfort all that well. Sarabi had become a wonderful friend as well as a second mother figure to him, so without her here, this beautiful paradise felt as hollow as his heart did; and along with Sarabi's absence, he also realized that he greatly missed another, as well...

What was his own mother doing right now?

Ryan closed his eyes and quickly shook his head to clear away these thoughts. It wasn't helping at all for him to think about her when he was all the way out here.

So as he let out a heavy sigh through his nose, he decided that it might be better just to go for a walk and take in the sights of nature again. But the moment he scaled down the tree trunk and took a few steps away, he paused when he suddenly began to hear a commotion in the depths of the foliage to his right.

"What the..." He muttered aloud, the noise getting louder and louder until he let out a sharp gasp as three, laughing figures came bursting out of the bushes. Leaving him with absolutely no time to even think of stepping out of the way before he was swept up into their roll and tumbled across the grasses before they finally came to a stop.

And when his vision finally stopped spinning, Ryan was aware that there was a rather heavy weight on his back and two voices cracking up with laughter behind his head. Blinking, he found himself flat on his stomach with Simba and Pumbaa dog piled on his back.

"Haha! I can't remember the last time we had such a good scuffle!" Pumbaa exclaimed with a hearty guffaw.

"Feels like old times." Simba said and a smirked as he gave his favorite warthog an affectionate noogie.

"You know, I'm glad you guys are having a great time and all..." They looked down to see Ryan, resting his cheek on a fist with a very disgruntled expression on his face. "But could you fondly reminisce off of me?!"

The two of them quickly got up and apologized while Ryan let out a sigh of relief to have them off his back, but before he got up, he noticed that the usual trio was short one member. Though when he was about to ask them where Timon was, a noise coming from as he looked around, his hazel eyes widened to see a little paw sticking out from under his stomach as it slapped and clawed at the ground.

"Whoops!" Ryan cried, quickly lifting himself up to see a rather flattened little meerkat before he pulled his head up and sucked in a loud, gasping breath. "Timon, are you okay?!"

Timon grunted as he pushed himself up from the ground.

"Oh sure, nothin' like getting flattened by three guys five times your size to knock out the old kinks." Timon answered dryly, dusting himself off before he reached behind and pushed on back; making Ryan wince when he heard a series of cracks that seemed too loud for his little body.

"Sorry about that." Ryan started. "I would have gotten up sooner if I knew."

"Eh, Hakuna Matata, ain't the first time it's happened and probably won't be the last." Timon interrupted, waving his apology off. "What are ya even doin' out here by yourself?"

"Um, nothing really..." Ryan hesitantly answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just felt like taking a wal-wait, what?"

"What?" Timon asked, startled by the 1-80 question.

"What did you just say?" Ryan said.

"Er...it won't be the last?" the meerkat offered with uncertainty.

"No, no, the first thing," the young man said. "That, uh, hakuta ma-whatever."

"Actually, that's Hakuna Matata, Ryan." Pumbaa helpfully corrected. "It means 'no worries'."

"It's a motto we lived by out here when I was growing up." Simba explained.

"That's right, until Mr. King of the Pridelands here had to go back to a life of rules, responsibilities and stress, yeesh!" Timon said with a shudder. "Me and Pumbaa felt it was time for him ta get reacquainted with the more important things A.S.A.P."

"What's more important than running a kingdom?" Ryan questioned, a little confused.

"I'm glad you asked, kid." Timon began with a big smile before he suddenly cleared his throat and began to sing.

'Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase...'

That was when Pumbaa suddenly slid up next to him with an even bigger grin on his tusked face.

'Hakuna Matata, ain't no passin' craaaze!'

Simba even joined at that point as all three of them sang the rather catchy song while they all seemed to dance as they circled around Ryan as he just silently watched. Feeling super awkward.

'It means no worries for the rest of your days

it's our problem free philosophy

'Hakuna Matata!'

Ryan waited a moment, a little taken a bit aback that they had suddenly gone into song like that. And it wasn't until he was sure that they were done singing did he say something.

"Sooo, it's basically just goofing off and having fun all day?" Ryan asked

But it looked like Timon took some offense to his overly simplified generalization.

"Goofing off?!" Timon repeated, aghast. "It's a way of life!"

"It sounds like Ryan is in need of some Hakuna Matata more than I am, guys." Simba commented.

"Oh yeah, it'll be so much fun!" Pumbaa piped up excitedly. "The more the merrier!"

"Look guys, normally I'd be up to joining you, but I really want to just be alone right now." then Ryan gave a startled yelp as he suddenly felt himself getting swept off his feet until he sat upon the broad back of Simba before he was carried off into the depths of the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa merrily leading the way.

'Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase,
Hakuna Matata, ain't no passin' craze!'

Ryan still wanted to protest in doing this, but somehow, he knew that it just wouldn't be an option for him. Looks like he was gonna get a little taste of their 'Hakuna Matata' after all...

'It means no worries for the rest of your days,
it's our problem free philosophy,
Hakuna Matata!'


...

...

...


Deeper in the Jungle...


...

...

...


"So guys...got a little question for you." Ryan began, gulping at a huge knot that had formed in his throat as he hesitantly peered over the tree limb he stood on with Timon and Pumbaa. Which was much, much higher over the ground than he was comfortable with.

"What's up, Ryan?" Pumbaa asked with a grin.

"For someone who's relatively new to this whole 'Hakuna Matata' thing, why oh why, is this the first thing you want me to try?" He asked.

At that, Timon and Pumbaa looked around, from the branch they stood on, to Simba who was on the ground watching them, to the three, long green vines that were tide around each of their waists before they looked back to Ryan who was patiently waiting for an answer.

"Well, why not?" Timon finally said. "Vine jumping is great!"

Ryan had a pretty blank expression on his face as he let Timons' words sink in. If this cruder, way unsafe version of bungee jumping was what their 'no worries' motto was all about, then he was fairly certain it wasn't going to be his cup of tea.

"Yeah. No. I'm all for fun and games, but "death defying" is where I draw the line." Ryan finally stated as he slowly turned around and started back towards the trunk of the tree so he could climb back down.

"Come on Ryan, it's fun!" Simba called up to him when he saw that the young man was trying to leave.

"Then why aren't you up here?!" Ryan shouted back, but upon losing his focus, his foot stepped on a patch of tree moss and slipped.

He gasped and wind milled his arms, struggling to keep his balance, but it was all in vain when he fell over the edge and plunged towards the ground with an embarrassingly high pitched scream that sounded like it would be more fitting for a teenage girl.

"Now that's more like it!" Timon commented as he and Pumbaa followed after him with loud, excited yells.

Ryan saw his life flash before his eyes as he plummeted towards the ground, absolutely positive that all that was going to be left of him was a puddle. He was so freaked out that he had actually forgotten that he had a vine tied around his waist until he felt the breath squeezed out of him before he was flung back upward and flew past a whopping meerkat and warthog as he flew past them.

Ryan stopped his screams the more they bounced up and down on those vines, and as he watched how much fun his friends were having, he slowly began to realize that he was actually enjoying himself as well. And by the time they had finally settled down and were hanging in midair by their vines, he was laughing just as hard as they were.

Even Simba from his place below them couldn't help but chuckle at them, glad to see that Ryan was having fun with his two best friends.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Ryan finally shouted in between laughs.

"Well we told ya!" Timon stated him as Pumbaa nodded.

They laughed again before they finally felt good and laughed out, Ryan looked down, seeing that they were still a pretty good distance away from the ground while they dangled there like worms at the end of a hook.

"...so how do we get down?" he finally asked them.

It took a little while, but the three of them eventually got down and they were on their way back to the Prides resting place with Simba, talking and joking about the day. Well, Ryan was doing most of the talking, animatedly comparing it to something that him and other humans called 'Bungee Jumping'.

They didn't really know what that was, but they were happy that he still seemed to their Hakuna Matata.

"-Honestly, I thought you guys had lost your minds bringing up that tree," Ryan continued on, a big grin on his face. "But that was actually lots of fun."

"Wanna do it again sometime?" Timon asked.

"Oh, heck no, once was definitely enough!" the young man quickly said, waving his arms in a cross, making them laugh at him.

"So does this mean you're feeling better now, Ryan?" Pumbaa asked, making Ryan stop walking as he looked down at the red pig with confusion.

"Am I feeling better?" He repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Nala told us that you weren't really acting like yourself lately, she thought that we might've be able to perk you up a bit." Simba explained. "What's been on your mind?"

Ryan didn't answer, not right away as there had been quite a few on his mind earlier...most of all how much he missed Sarabi. But how could he tell them that? Not only would it be embarrassing, but she was Simbas' mother, he was sure that he must have missed her even more than Ryan did. So Ryan just turned away from them and put his hands in his pockets.

"It's nothing..." the young man said quietly as he began walking again.

He didn't get far, though, when Simba quickly caught up to him and stood slightly in his path to get him to stop.

"Ryan, we're all friends here, we know it's not 'nothing'." Simba urged. "You can talk to us."

He still felt embarrassed to tell them anything, but seeing how much Simba, Timon and Pumbaa wanted to try and be there for him, maybe it would be okay to just...talk about it.

Just a little bit.

"I guess since things have been so quiet, I've been thinking about what we're missing..." He finally admitted. "Who we're missing."

The three animals shared rather sad glances with each other, all of them knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Kid, we miss her too; but you're worryin' too much about things ya just can't control." Timon chided. "Like I always say, 'you gotta leave your past behind ya'."

"Even if that means leaving someone you cared about behind?" Ryan asked, not liking the sound of that at all. He didn't want to do that to Sarabi, he couldn't, not when she had meant so much to him.

"Leaving things in the past doesn't mean we ever forget about them, Ryan." Pumbaa explained kindly. "It just means you gotta look more towards your future."

"Yeah, live for today, ya know?" Timon added.

"Like they would have wanted you too." Simba affirmed with a nod of his head. "Even though mother may be gone from the land, she still lives on within us all. And for all our loved ones who have completed their journey through the circle of life, it's important for us to continue on for them...to do things that we know would make them proud."

The more Ryan thought about it, the more he came to realize that they were right. He would always miss Sarabi, but deep down he knew that she probably would have given him quite the scolding for wallowing in her passing the way he had been doing.

Not when he had so much to live for now, so much that he still needed to do.

"I'll try and remember that." Ryan said softly with a sincere smile before he let out a slight laugh. "But maybe next time, don't pick something so extreme? I appreciate you guys cheering me up, but you just might end up killing me with stuff like that."

"Well, there's a whole jungle to explore out here with many fun, tamer things we could do." Simba told him, chuckling a bit while Timon rolled his eyes and Pumbaa just grinned. "So if you ever want to go out and experience some more relaxed Hakuna Matata, all you have to do is ask."

"I think that'd be cool." Ryan said gratefully before he started heading back to where the pride was staying.

Simba and his two pals hung back, not quite ready to join up with everyone just yet; but as they watched him go, they suddenly started to hear the young man humming that unmistakable tune, and they saw that he added a little dance to his step as he walked.

"-It means no worries, for the rest of your days," he sang, mostly to himself while Simba, Timon and Pumbaa all grinned at his retreating figure. "It's our problem free philosophy..."

"Hakuna Matata."


...

...

...


Alright! Got chapter 12 all done! X3 X3 X3I thought this chapter would be best to introduce Ryan to 'Hakuna Matata' after everything that happened.

I know it was rather short, but I hope you enjoyed the chapter still. I imagine that the next few chapters I do will be about this length as I just wanted to Ryan to spend a little more time with his friends in the jungle. But I'll try my best to have more chapter up faster, but I can't make any promises because of that one little thing I mentioned before at the end of the chapter.

Not only has my time for much writing been limited because of work, but my husband and I made a discovery a little over a month ago...guess who's on their way to being brand new parents? :D :D :D

Yep, we're expecting our very first baby so we had been looking to set appointments and classes and we're already 11 weeks and holy muffins it's all been so exciting!*dances* The only unfortunate thing is that we have to use my days off to plan appointments. So along with that and just feeling so sleepy, which is a common symptom, that really cuts into how much time I spend typing on a computer.

Thank you guys so very much, I know that it can be kinda frustrating to wait for so long, but I thank you guys for being so patient with me.

(Also, if I have any spelling or grammar errors, or if something look kind of weird, be sure to let me know, I was pretty eager to get this chapter up after all this time XP)