A/N I'm back! And in record time, if I do say so myself. Half days at school allow much time to type alone, so here I am! Anyway, I tried to have everybody in this chapter, so I hope I managed that.

Thanks to SunRise19 for reviewing! To tell the truth, though, I hadn't really thought of bringing Simba into this. I guess I should keep all options open, though! Thanks to everyone else who's read too, even if you haven't reviewed (though I'd prefer it if you did). Happy reading everyone!

xxx

Timon hadn't slept when he went to bed. With all that he had on his mind, it was a wonder that he could sit still at all. But then, after just a little while, Pumbaa had shown up, dragging him away without a word; after several hours of searching he was just plain scared.

Presently the duo was circling the borders of the oasis, Timon perched atop his friend's head to survey the surrounding land. He groaned after examining yet more empty sand. "I can't believe you let this happen!"

"Me? You're the one that just walked off and left her!"

"I had a good reason, and besides you guys were there." He said defensively. Pumbaa snorted up at him.

"I didn't even know you guys were nearby."

"Look, just 'cause you're too thick to-" Timon cut himself off, aware that he had nearly said something he would have regretted terribly. He knew that it really was his fault that Hadiya had disappeared, no matter how many good excuses he came up with.

Not that he was going to admit that, of course.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, offering Pumbaa a shrug, even though the warthog couldn't really see it. "Sorry, Pumbaa, I'm a little worked up over all this. It's just that, well, she's gone! She's gone and for all we know we may never find her!" He slumped down and slid on his stomach to lie on Pumbaa's snout. "I mean, what if we don't find her in time?"

"Don't worry, Timon." Pumbaa smiled, trying to look encouragingly at the meerkat, but became cross-eyed in the attempt. "We'll find her and she'll be fine."

"Yeah, I hope so. Hey, not a word of this to anybody, got it?" Pumbaa chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"No, really, what is it?" Pumbaa laughed again, a little louder this time and Timon propped himself up huffily. "What?"

"It's just that you're so worried about her."

"And that's funny how?"

"You're never like that. I just think it's cute, that's all."

"Cute?"

Pumbaa stopped in his tracks, dumping Timon to the ground as he looked down to his hooves.

"Hey!"

"Tracks! Do you think it was them?" Timon bent over them, dusting himself off. They were standing at the very edge of the oasis, where the lush vegetation faded to dry, cracked earth. The loose top layer of sand had been disturbed, and it appeared as if the tracks continued off into the desert. The pair stared at it, their eyes following the trail until it disappeared otu of sight. Timon gave a yell and scrambled excitedly back onto Pumbaa's head.

"Come on! Come on!"

"But shouldn't we tell somebody first?" Pumbaa asked worriedly. Timon just continued to tug at his ears as if they were reins.

"Pumbaa, do you have any idea how much time that would take?" He paused, glancing back at the oasis and bending to Pumbaa's ear. "Time is something we may not have, buddy."

xxx

"We...we're going out there?" Hadiya asked. She and Flinchy inched closer together. Pazu merely smiled as if he were amused. The three of them were standing just where Timon and Pumbaa would find their tracks, a few hours later. The young meerkats glanced at each other.

"Well, you two are, at any rate." Hadiya was growling under her breath, brought to her last nerve. She stepped around Flinchy so she could get up in Pazu's face.

"You crazy old idiot! Do you just expect us to walk off into the desert?" Pazu glared back at her, any trace of amusement gone.

"I do. And you are not coming back to this colony."

"Grandpa, don't you think this is a little unnecessary?" Flinchy asked worriedly as Hadiya allowed him to pull her back. "I mean, what have we done?"

"Yes, please enlighten us with a villianous monologue, why don't you..." Hadiya gave a snarl that was returned by Pazu.

"If you don't know, you little tramp, then don't expect me to tell you. Get out of here. And if either of you come back, then I will kill you." She began to protest, but he cut such an imposing figure that Flinchy turned tail and ran, dragging her by the arm.

xxx

Several hours later Hadiya was sifting feverishly through the loose dirt, Flinchy doing likewise beside her. She paused and glanced up at the sun.

"Okay, it's almost noon. If we get this done in a few minutes then it should spare us from from all this heat. At least for a little while."

"And we'll have a safe place to rest, right?" Flinchy added, stopping to rub at the sweaty fur of his forehead. Hadiya smiled at him.

"That's right!" The two resumed their work in silence displacing the last bits of dirt just as the sun reached it's peak. Between the two of them they had managed to make a tunnel big enough that they could both stand upright inside it. Hadiya spread her arms and danced happily about the little room.

"I can't believe we did this ourselves! I've never even dug a tunnel before!"

Flinchy peered at the sky through the hole they had used as an entrance. "Never? But it was your idea!"

"Well, I always watched Mom do it, but she always said she could do it by herself, so I never helped." She dropped next to him, yawning. "Boy, what a night we've had, huh?"

"Yeah...really though, I'm sorry about all this."

"But why?"

"What do you mean?" he asked blankly. Hadiya smiled warmly at him.

"Well the way i see it, I've got a new cousin, and now I now that Osono and everyone cares enough about me to try and protect me. So I guess...in a roundabout way...that this is a good thing." she yawned again, drawing her knees up to her chest. "Do you mind if I take a nap?"

"Go ahead, you need it. I'll keep an eye on things ." Hadiya nodded and muttered something before drifting off to sleep.

xxx

Osono had worked herself into a tizzy looking for Hadiya. Her fearsome interrogations had driven nearly everyone to hide from her. Max, thinking calmly enough to be sensible, had posted sentries throughout the whole of the oasis. Presently he was conferring with one, a short, red headed female. The sentry, Amani, was reporting the few things that had been spotted that day.

"Not much out of the ordinary, Sir. The post at the north reported seeing two small figures about three quarters of a mile into the desert eary this morning. Pumbaa was seen heading that way not too long ago."

"Just Pumbaa?" Amani shook her head.

"No, I'm pretty sure Timon was with him." she frowned seriously.

"And no sign of Flinchy or Pazu?" she shook her head and he gave a sigh. Glancing about, Amani whispered discreetly to him.

"Sir, if I may, what do they have to do with all this?"

"It's a long story, but we think those two had something to do with Hadiya's disappearance."

"Or vice versa." she muttered.

"Amani." he said warningly.

"Well, you can't always-" They were interrupted by a shout from several feet away. They ran to find that the disturbance was from Osono.

"How dare you! How dare you even think such filth!" she was shaking a rather flustered looking Pazu by the fur of his chest. Max made no attempt to pry her away, instead he merely asked her to be quiet. Pazu jumped at his chance and loosed a pitiful wail.

"Oh, if only you had listened! I warned you against that rogue, I told you she couldn't be trusted!" Amani gave a gasp, but Max clearly wasn't buying this act. He watched Pazu dully, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Knock it off, Pazu, what is it now?"

"FILTH!"

"Osono, please!" Pazu paused and drew a shaky breath.

"That...that rogue...she's done it. I've looked and looked for the body..."

"Body?" Amani squeaked. A few passing meerkats stopped to see the spectacle; Pazu caught sight of this and raised his voice, certain now tha he would be heard.

"The rogue...she killed Flinchy!" a startled murmur rose from the crowd and Max growled.

"I see. You're very convincing, Pazu, but I'll deal with you later. Now beat it before I kill you myself." The older meerkat's sorrowful demeanor seemed evaporate, he wrenched away from Osono and disappeared into the leaves. The crowd didn't budge until the fuming Osono began to shoo them away. Max gestured Amani closer.

"Yes, sir?" she asked, seeming a little shaken by the angry elder.

"I want you to take over the northern post. If you see so much as a termite out there, I want to know." he ordered. Amani nodded and gave him a jaunty salute before hurrying away.