Sorry for the long delay. My brother's wedding was fast approaching and my family from Florida was driving me nuts, so couldn't work on this chapter as much as I usually do. Took me a few days to regain my sanity after they left Sunday. Anyway, read on.

Chapter 4:

"Kito!" Zuri pushed some brush aside and glanced around the area. "Kito!" She sighed and looked back at her brother Sudi as he came up behind her. She noticed he was about to open his mouth, but she cut him off. "I don't want to hear a word out of you, Sudi."

"I was just going to call for Kito, same as you," Sudi said, holding his paws up. "Isn't that why you asked me to come along with you, to help you find him?"

Zuri looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

As she turned back around to walk forward, Sudi mumbled, "If you had let the 3-month-old boy walk behind you instead of in front, we wouldn't be looking for him."

He gulped when Zuri suddenly got right in his face. "Are you criticizing my parenting skills?"

"Not at all." Sudi carefully took a step back from her and held his paws up. "I didn't mean anything by it. I was just thinking out loud--"

"Very loud."

Sudi furrowed his brow and then cleared his throat. "Kito thinks like his father... with his stomach. Five to one says he saw a bug shuffle by and went after it, forgetting about following you and visiting me."

"He would've done that even if he was walking in front of me." They started walking again. She pushed a low-hanging branch up and ducked under it. "You know, Timon didn't have a brother growing up... I'm almost starting to envy him."

Sudi furrowed his brow again. "What's that suppose to mean?"

Zuri turned her eyes towards him. "Well, you're acting more like a father-in-law than a brother-in-law to him."

Sudi sighed and ran a paw through his hair. "I know, I know, and I'm sorry, Zuri. I'm trying to accept him, but when you're raised to hate the colony of Fearless Buzz, that kinda sticks, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. For the older members of both of our mobs, it's kinda hard to forget the past."

"I've been wondering something for a while, but the topic's never come up."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I'm just wondering why you liked Timon, the son of Fearless Buzz, when you first met. I mean, that's like the direct definition of 'forbidden love.'"

Zuri scoffed and rolled her eyes slightly. "I didn't know he was the son of Fearless Buzz... and I didn't believe him when he said he was." She stopped to flex her arms as she added, "I mean, you look at Timon and then you look at portraits of Fearless Buzz, you don't see a family resemblance."

Sudi chuckled, "Yeah, I see what you mean."

"And FYI, I didn't like him right away..." Sudi arched an eyebrow at her. "OK, I admit when he first showed up when I was singing the tunnel digging beat, I was curious. You know, since Papa doesn't let us socialize with strange meerkats."

Sudi walked ahead of her. "And he was pretty strange."

"Shut up." She followed, looking from side to side, looking for Kito. "The next day, I really met him. Sure, there was some friction at first, because I thought he was stalking me..." She then smiled. "But by the end of the day, when we talked I felt... appreciated. Happy. I hadn't felt like that since--" She stopped walking when she saw something, but Sudi kept going.

"Since Sly left?" Sudi asked, thinking she stopped because she didn't want to say it. When he got no response, he stopped and looked back at her. "Zuri?" He walked back over to her to see what she was looking at. They saw Timon sitting against a tree with his knees hiked up to his chest and his arms folded on top. He stared at the ground in front of him, listening to the rainfall around him. Sudi bit his index finger, and then he turned to his sister. "You don't think he heard that, do you?"

"No. He gets a little touchy when someone mentions my old boyfriend Sly, but he's never like that. I'm gonna go see what's on his mind," Zuri said as she walked towards her mate.

"Sure. In the meantime, I'll go see if the warthogs have seen Kito," Sudi said as he walked away.

"Thanks." Zuri approached Timon, and stopped a few feet from him. She didn't say anything until he finally noticed she was standing there, and turned his eyes to look at her. She smiled and said, "You're taking the gloominess of a rainy day way too seriously, Timon."

"It's not the rain that's bothering me, but it's a nice touch," Timon mumbled as he turned his eyes away from her.

Zuri frowned and kneeled down behind him. She put her paws on his left shoulder and rested her chin on her paws. "So what are you so happy about then?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Timon..."

"Before you even start, I want you to know pestering or threatening me won't work this time."

Zuri frowned again. "How about saying you might feel better if you tell someone, let it out instead of letting it fester inside like a bad bug?"

Timon wrinkled his eyebrows and looked at her. "Where do you get this stuff?"

"Here and there," she smiled sweetly.

Timon blinked and then looked away from her. "Well... you know those dreams I've been having lately, where I'm a pup and there's another pup named Titus?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I finally asked Ma about it."

There was a long pause before Zuri finally broke the silence. "And?"

"You know," Timon said as he gestured with his paw, "it's bad enough she kept such a thing from me for six years, but telling the warthog before even telling me?" He put a paw to his forehead. "That's almost insulting."

"Oh, if your mother told Pumbaa something before you, it can't be that important."

Timon looked straight at her with a furrowed brow. "That's what I thought, Zuri," he said. He added with a sarcastic air, "I mean, how important is it to know you had a brother up until you were two or three weeks old?"

Zuri's expression softened. "Titus... was your brother?"

Timon looked back at the spot on the ground he was staring at before she came over. "Yeah. I don't know why I'm feeling like this, because I didn't know him. But..." He sighed. "I don't know."

Zuri tilted her head to the side. "Maybe because he was a part of you. A little piece of you died when he was gone, and you're just now feeling the pain."

Timon smirked slightly. "Heh. Yeah, if it's not about Ma keeping that from me, that's probably it. I guess he was just one more person to love. No big."

Zuri stood and pulled Timon to his feet. "I know what can take your mind off Titus for a while. You can help me find Kito."

"He's missing? I thought you were taking him to see Sudi."

Zuri twiddled her fingers together as she mumbled, "Well, I was, and then he wondered off somewhere and I didn't realize he was gone until I got there."

Timon slapped a paw over his eyes. "Oy."

"What's the matter, Dad?" a voice from behind Timon asked.

"Oh, your mother lost you on the way to see Uncle Sudi."

"Sorry 'bout that."

Both Timon and Zuri looked at each other and then turned to face the face, seeing it was Kito riding on top of Bango's head. "Kito!"

"Hi, Uncle Timon and Aunt Zuri," Bango said.

"Hello, Bango. Kito, where have you been?" Zuri asked, putting her paws on her hips.

"Sorry, Mom. I kinda got distracted by a bug shuffling by on the walk and then I ran into Bango," Kito said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. He then looked down at Bango with an annoyed glare, "And then I forgot about rejoining you after he sleep-ate my bug. He wouldn't give it back neither."

"I told you I was sorry about that. Let it go!"

Kito folded his arms in front of his chest. "Why should I let it go when you didn't let it go?"

Zuri glanced at Timon. "He's your son."

"You're right... he's your son," Timon replied as he caught Kito as he slid down off Bango.

"Dad, are you depressed or something?" Kito asked.

"Uh... sorta. Your grandmother told me something I probably would've been better off not knowing."

"Don't worry, Uncle Timon. Everything will be better soon," Bango beamed.

"Bango, shh!" Kito said through clenched teeth. Bango quickly put both front hooves over his mouth.

"What?" both Timon and Zuri asked.

"Nothing, Mom and Dad," Kito squeaked. Timon and Zuri glanced at each other, and then walked away together. Kito exhaled and then furrowed his brow at Bango. "You trying to ruin the biggest adventure of our lives before it even starts?"

"I'm sorry, Kito, it just slipped out." He lowered his face to meet Kito. "Are you sure we should be doing this? We could get in trouble."

"We could, but we could also find our long-lost uncle at the same time." He grinned as he leaned his weight against Bango's snout. "That's one more present for our birthdays... two more if he's married."

Bango smiled, "Really?" He paused for a moment. "Who said we'd be having an adventure?"

Kito rolled his eyes and mumbled, "I don't believe this." He said out loud, "Duh. We're leaving the oasis by ourselves in search for our Uncle Titus. That sounds like an adventure to me."

"I don't know... adventures usually include dangers."

"Sorry, but you're too deep in this to back out now, bacon bits."

"Crud."

"You worry too much, Bango. It'll be fun! And you know that old saying."

"No, I worry just the right amount." Bango then blinked, "What old saying?"

Kito rolled his eyes again, "Fortune favors the brave! Geesh, do I really have to tell you everything?"

"'Fortune favors the brave'? That's not an old saying."

"Give it time. It'll be old tomorrow."

"It sounds like a song title to me."

Kito climbed onto Bango's snout and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Don't change the subject." He then looked out towards the edge of the oasis, out towards the desert. "If we can find Uncle Titus, any danger we face will be worth it. Dad and Grandma will be happy again."

"Remember, you promised we'd ask Rafiki to point us in the right direction before we cover every square inch of the Pride Lands," Bango said in a strict voice.

"Yeesh, yes, I remember. Quit talking like my Mom when she's mad." Kito furrowed his brow and looked at Bango right in the eye. "And you remember to keep your trap shut about us going anywhere. I'll pick you up at your nest when both of our families' are asleep."

"Maybe I should pick you up."

"Why?"

"Well, you're a lot lighter than I am."

Kito grimaced, "What-ever." He climbed on top of Bango's head and then pulled on his ears. "C'mon, let's go grab some grubs. I'm starved." As Bango trotted off, Shani climbed down the tree she was in and watched them go with a worried expression.

To be continued...