A/N boy, talk about rotten luck...I had done this whole chapter and suddenly the disk it was on died. I'm redoing it from memory, so it may not turn out exactly the same way. There may not be a whole lot happening, but I think I should really bring Pazu into the story, if only a little. Sorry this took so long to come out!

If you like this (and I know at least a few of you do) take a peek at my songfic, "Proud of Your Boy" there's plenty of Timon-ey goodness and I'd appreciate some feedback.

Thanks to Sunrise19, Pichooi, DarkEcoOttsel, and Neosun7 for reviewing!

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Hadiya groaned in frustration and sailed past the beetle she was chasing, missing it by a foot. Flinchy laughed from where he sat watching behind her. Hadiya ignored him, launching herself and missed again, sending the beetle buzzing away. "You have too much lion in you, girl. A little less energy next time, eh?" she rolled her eyes. "Just an opinion." She sighed, seeing that there weren't any more bugs wandering around nearby and sat down next to him. Flinchy turned sideways, looking closely at her.

"If you don't mind, and I mean this in a brotherly way, now that you've spent a few days eating you look totally different. Turning into quite a looker." Hadiya gave him a look and he smiled innocently. "What, don't you believe me?"

"No, I don't." she said matter-of-factly. He gazed at her thoughtfully.

"You don't think very much of yourself, do you?"

"I think I'm about average." Hadiya turned away from him irritably and he grinned again.

"I'll bet you Timon doesn't think so..." she was trying to ignore him, but she gave a slight "humph" that only encouraged him. "You spend a lot of time with him, I mean. Everyone's noticed."

"He's my friend, so what?" she got up and started to walk away, but Flinchy pulled her back by the tail. She whirled angrily and tried to yank it from his grip. "Let go!"

"No."

"Do it!"

"Not until I know what's going on with you..." Hadiya grunted and pulled again, stopping to rub her tail tenderly.

"This is starting to hurt...if I talk will you let go?" he did so wordlessly, crossing his arms expectantly. She tugged her ear thoughtfully for a moment and sighed. "You see, the only reason I don't have a colony..."

"Ahem."

"Didn't have a colony, is because when I was little my mom was kicked out of ours and she had to take me with her." She wrung her hands as she spoke. "But before all that happened I had this friend...he was my best friend, but we were so little that I can barely remember him. Timon...he reminds me of him."

"So, basically you're saying that Timon's kind of replacing this friend of yours?"

"No!" Hadiya said angrily, "I'm friends with him because I'm friends with him, do I really need a reason?" Flinchy put his hands up defensively, starting to regret voicing his thoughts. "If I had known I'd be getting morally interrogated I'd have stayed away from you!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!" he called after her, but she only stomped away. Flinchy arched an eyebrow and shook his head knowingly.

"I think I need to stay away from that subject..."

x x x

Hadiya muttered sourly to herself. She was feeling just a little hurt by what Flinchy had said, but that was no excuse to be angry. She had really hoped to keep her temper under control from then on, but she could see it wouldn't be any use.

"I really don't want everyone to think I'll get angry over every little thing..." she sighed, the last of her temper melting away. She considered going back to apologize to him, but decided it would be best to wait until later.

Slowly she pushed her way down the path, nodding occasionally when she passed someone. Eventually she came upon Max standing with another, much older, meerkat. Max, who had been pointing off towards the desert surrounding the oasis, reached out to stop her as she passed.

"Hadiya, opinion please?" the older one huffed irritably. "Pazu here," he jerked his head to indicate his companion, "seems to think the oasis isn't safe and that we need to start posting sentries."

"Judging by how easily that filthy rogue got in a few days ago I'd say we're getting downright negligent to the outside." Hadiya glared at him, but he paid her no attention. Max, however, was a little more observant. He elbowed Pazu pointedly.

"I don't believe you've met Hadiya yet, have you?" Pazu glanced at her, his mean eyes narrowing in dislike.

"Oh, so that was you, eh? What are you doing here?"

"Now how do you even know it was her?" Max asked, taking hold of Hadiya's shoulders and pushing her along. "I think it would be best if you left." He hissed. Hadiya nodded and started away from them, but she could still hear Pazu calling after her.

"You'd best keep an eye on that one, Max, I don't like the looks of her." It took all of Hadiya's restraint to not turn around and tackle him. She was glad that Max didn't seem to be listening to him, but how long would he go on? She sniffed as she thought about it...surely he wouldn't go and spread that around to the whole colony? She didn't like the possibility of everyone turning again her so soon, but would they be decent enough to believe her instead one of their own?

She was starting to feel like she had her own personal rain cloud that had decided to follow her around as she started to cry softly. It was amazing how fast she was going from anger to unhappy tears. She just didn't understand...how someone could act like that when they don't even know whom they're talking about?

"Aw jeez, now your eyes are gonna be all puffy. You'll never snag yourself a guy lookin' like that." She looked up just in time to see Timon blocking the path. He smiled at and turned off to the side. They stood in silence for a moment before he motioned her over. "Do you ever just stop and look?" Hadiya didn't answer; instead she followed his gaze. He had been admiring one of the many views of the oasis (complete with waterfall). The view spread out below them, with a small cliff overlooking it all. Timon walked forward to sit near the edge, pulling Hadiya with him.

They sat for awhile; Timon focusing on the view and Hadiya on the new issue of Pazu. He seemed to notice her wringing her hands on her lap, he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned close.

"What's the matter with you?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little worked up." She looked out over the oasis, smiling at the sight of the setting sun bathing them in its warm glow. Timon prodded her.

"Is this something I want to hear?" she shrugged and let him wipe away a tear. "I think it may be..."

"I saw Max a little while ago. He was with someone named Pazu."

"Oh." Timon cringed knowingly. "Okay, I get it now. I tell ya, he's even more crotchety than Uncle Max."

"Yeah, that much I gathered. He wasn't exactly friendly, and he kept looking at me..."

"Ew!" Hadiya frowned at him, a little annoyed at what he was implying.

"NO! I mean...it was like he recognized me or something. And to add to it, I was a little mean with Flinchy before that." Timon nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry about it. Pazu's just some musty old coot and Flinchy, well, he'll get over it."

"But..."

"Believe me, you'll forget all about it by morning." She arched an eyebrow and he smiled. "Why not just enjoy the moment?" The light was almost gone now, and the stars were beginning to show. Hadiya sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, frowning when he stiffened.

"Getting a little too friendly?"

"Nah, it just seemed like a good thing to do."

"Oh..." he relaxed and wrapped an arm around her. "Unexpected, but definitely a good way to end the day." He mumbled and smiled into her hair.

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A/N sorry if it seems like I just threw in some random fluff at the end, originally it was a lot better.