Chapter 3:
Timon ran all night until he reached the outskirts of the Pride Lands. He panted as he reached the end of the desert, and then he dropped from exhaustion. He looked up at the sky and exhaled.
"Pumbaa, working that reverse psychology on me... I'll get you for this!" He swallowed and forced himself up. He decided to reserve what little moisture he had in his mouth and try to reach the watering hole. He stayed low in the grass, trying not to attract attention to himself. He lacked Pumbaa, so he had to be careful to avoid predators. He reached the watering hole and bent down to it to relieve his thirst. After he satisfied himself, he sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his paw. "Well, as long as I'm here..." Timon started to walk off when he heard a familiar sound.
"La-la, la-la, la-la, la-la..." Timon ducked behind the tall grass as Zuri came through the grass on the other side of the watering hole. She hummed a few more notes as she knelt down to the water and filled a nutshell half with water. She brought it to her lips and took a drink. Timon tilted his head to the side, then he shook his head.
"Now or never, Timmy boy..." Timon mumbled to himself. He was about to go back out into the open when he heard a voice.
"Zuri! Where are you?" Timon ducked back behind the grass as a handsome meerkat stepped out. "Ah, there you are."
Zuri rolled her eyes and uttered a small sigh. "Makali." She turned to face him and smiled sweetly. "Makali! Good morning." She stood and offered him the nutshell with water in it. "Thirsty?"
Makali pushed it back towards her. "No, thanks."
"Then what are you doing at the water hole?"
"Your father Shomari asked me to make sure you were still in one piece. You've been outside for more than 10 minutes."
Zuri sighed and rolled her eyes again. "I got tired of inhaling dirt and sneezing my head off. Is there a law that says I can't stay outside alone for more than 10 minutes?"
"Yeah... it's called the Food Chain."
"Makali..."
"Hey, I'm just trying to look out for my fiancé. What's wrong with that?"
Timon grimaced as he slapped a paw to his forehead, "I knew it. She's got a fiancé. I wasted a trip coming here."
Zuri sighed again, "Nothing's wrong with it... look, would you just leave me alone for a while more? I'll scream if I need rescuing."
Makali grimaced, "Fine. Don't stay out long." Makali turned and walked away. Zuri sighed a third time, then took another sip out of her nutshell. Timon shook his head and started to walk away. He kicked the dirt to let off a little frustration. Unfortunately the piece of dirt he was kicking was actually an earthed rock and that caused a stinging sensation on his toe.
"Ye-ow!" he cried out, then he hopped backwards on one foot while holding his other foot. "Ow, ow, ow! That was dumb!" he said to himself, and then he yelped as he ended up falling backwards into the watering hole. He resurfaced and spat out some water. "And that was dumber." He heard some laughter and turned to see Zuri was still standing there, putting a paw to her lips and giggling. He nervously smiled and climbed out. "OK, I think I made a mess out of myself enough today... guess I'll go home." Zuri continued to giggle as she walked around the water hole to meet Timon as he climbed onto the shore. She stared at him a moment and stopped laughing, putting on a serious face.
"You again. Are you stalking me?" Zuri asked, furrowing her brow.
Timon shook some water off and started backing away from her. "What? Oh, no! I was going to get a drink and then I saw you and I didn't want to give you the impression I was stalking you and--" Timon yelped again as he fell back into the water. Zuri put a paw over her mouth again, trying to suppress another giggle fest. Timon resurfaced and shook the water out of his fur again as he walked back onto shore. "I mean, if you recognized me while your boyfriend was here, he'd beat me 'til I was black and blue."
"You were listening in on my conversation, too?" Zuri put her paws on her hips. Timon gulped and held both of his paws up.
"Accident! Promise!"
"If you must know, rogue--"
"The name's Timon," Timon interrupted, looking a bit annoyed being called 'rogue.'
"... Timon... Makali is not my boyfriend."
"OK, so Makali's your fiancé," Timon shrugged.
Zuri let out a disgusted sigh. "I hate hearing those two words in the same sentence."
"You're engaged to a guy you don't even like?"
"My family is deep into tradition, including arranged marriages."
"That can't be legal."
"Unfortunately, it is." Zuri shook her head. "Enough about my personal life. What are you doing here stalking me, rogue?"
"I'm not stalking and I'm not a rogue! I'm still with my colony."
"Then why aren't you with them now?" Zuri asked, folding her arms in front of her chest.
"I'm, uh... shopping." Zuri cocked an eyebrow at him. "What? The Pride Lands have good resources."
"Or maybe you really are trying to get into my mob," Zuri pointed an accusing finger at Timon, poking him in the chest. Timon dusted her finger off his chest.
"Do I look like I could take your father on? Look, feel this." Timon flexed his arm. Zuri looked closely and felt it.
"I don't feel any muscles."
"Exactly. No way I could get into another colony besides my own."
Zuri grinned and shook her head. "Yeah, you are pretty scrawny."
"Gee, thanks for putting it bluntly, sister," Timon grimaced, dusting his arm off.
"Zuri!" Timon and Zuri turned to see her father Shomari marching up to them. Timon gulped, held his paws up, and backed away from Zuri. "It's been over 20 minutes... why haven't you come back to the tunnels yet?"
"I'm meeting new people. Is that illegal now?" Zuri put her paws on her hips. Shomari looked Timon over a bit.
"With a rogue, it is," he said in a low voice.
"What is it with this family and the use of the word 'rogues?' I still belong to my colony!" Timon retorted.
Shomari pressed his nose up against Timon's. "Then go back to it and stay away from my colony."
"There is such a thing as a father being over-protective of his daughter, Shomari," Timon said in a low voice. Shomari looked at Timon hard, and then he stood up straight.
"Go back to the tunnel, Zuri."
"But Papa--"
"Since when do I have to ask you twice?" Zuri looked her father over, and then turned and walked back through the grass. Shomari watched her go, and then he turned back to Timon. "Your name is...?"
"Timon."
"Timon. Before you even start to think about it, Zuri is already taken. So don't waste your time on her." He turned and walked away from Timon. Timon watched him disappear through the grass, and then he exhaled.
"Harsh... I wonder if Dad ever had this much trouble with Grandpa." He shook the rest of the water out of his fur and then stretched. "Well, I guess now I know she's not worth it. Didn't seem to like me anyway. Now I can go home and enjoy an earful from my mother about missing the party last night." He started to walk away, then he stopped when saw a hole suddenly form in front of him. "Yah!"
Zuri popped her head out of the hole. "Still here?"
"I was just leaving," Timon said, walking around the hole.
"Please, don't." Timon stopped, and then he looked down at her. "I never get to meet new meerkats, and I think we just got off on the wrong foot. I'd like to get together with you and compare colonies."
"But your father--"
"Don't worry about my father. We could get together sometime tonight when he and everyone else is asleep."
"You know, Zuri, my mother warned me about girls like you."
"Oh, come on, Timon... I wanna know what other colonies are like."
"Well... OK. Where?"
"Here's good. See you tonight." With that, Zuri ducked back into the tunnel, leaving Timon alone.
"Hmm... how am I going to blow the next few hours?" Timon asked himself. He looked towards Pride Rock, and shrugged. "Eh, why not?" He dusted his paws off and headed for Pride Rock. Tonight, he'll see what she's really like.
To be continued...
To the readers... I have a lot of time on my hands. That's why these chapters go up real fast.