Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Lion Guard or any of its characters, they belong to Disney! I DO own my own character Nekoda (Kody), because I made her up!

This story takes place before Season 2 of The Lion Guard.

They needn't have bothered running so quickly. Kion and the rest of the Guard arrived to find Ono in a tree unconcerned and Fuli sitting on the ground watching the scene before her with an annoyed look. Kiara, Kion's sister, and one of her friends, Tiifu came out of the trees opposite them, also out of breath.

There on a recently felled log was Zuri, another one of Kiara's, friends. Zuri was pulling uselessly with her entire body, but her front paws seemed glued to the bark. Apparently, she had decided to sharpen her claws on the trunk and got stuck.

"Did you really need to scream, Zuri?" Kion asked with a sigh.

Zuri rolled her eyes and sputtered, "I was alone Kion! I didn't know how to get out and how else was I supposed to get anyone's attention?"

Tiifu jumped up on the log next to Zuri and said, "You know Kiara and I were just up ahead, the ear-splitting scream was a little over the top."

She sighed, "Well sorry, can you help me now?"

Kiara shook her head as Kion told Ono to go get Timon and Pumba, the ones that helped Zuri get free before. "Did you really need to sharpen your claws on every tree we come across?" Kiara asked.

"You know if I don't I won't ever be able to keep them as shiny as they are now!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well, getting stuck is your own fault, you seriously need to remember how to get out on your own," Kion added. He inspected Zuri's claws embedded into the bark and noted how deep they were.

"How am I supposed to get out of this without help?" Zuri asked with a scandalized tone.

"Get out of what without help?" a voice came from behind the group. Everyone turned to see Nekoda slightly limping towards them. Kion could tell that she was trying to hide how out of breath she was. She came to a stop next to him and took a moment to survey the scene. Her eyes fell on the trapped cub and she gave a questioning look to Kion.

He told her, "Zuri's stuck. She was sharping her claws and can't get them out."

"Oh is that all," Kody replied taking a closer look.

Kiara looked suspiciously at the newcomer and asked her brother, "Uh, Kion? Mind introducing us to your friend here?"

"Oh that's right, you guys haven't met. This is Nekoda, or Kody, she's a snow leopard from far to the north. We found her passed out this morning and helped her get better from her injuries. How are you doing by the way?"

"I'll live," the snow leopard deflected.

Kion sensed an underlying tone to the nonchalant response, but didn't say anything. Instead he continued introducing everyone to Nekoda. "That's good. Well Kody, the one being nosy is my sister Kiara-"

"-Hey!"

"-the lioness next to her is her friend Tiifu and the one who's stuck is Zuri."

Zuri asked annoyed, "Thanks for the sweet intro, but can you help me?!"

"Calm down, Timon and Pumba are one their way just be patient," Kion reassured her.

Nekoda looked up at the unfamiliar names. "Who are they?"

Beshte answered her, "They're old friends of the King's. Timon's a meerkat and Pumba is a warthog, and they go way back with King Simba."

Kion swished his tail. "They used to help my dad get out of trees all the time. Once they're here they'll pull Zuri off in no time."

"They're going to pull her off the tree? That's dangerous and kind of dumb," Kody replied.

"What do you mean?" Zuri panickly asked.

She turned to look at the trapped lioness. Kody said, "If they pull with too much force, your claw will come off."

"What?!"

"Hey, don't panic. I can help." Nekoda jumped up next to Zuri.

Fuli asked disbelievingly, "You can? Really?"

"Yeah, nothing to it." Nekoda sat down in front of Zuri. "As soon as I start pushing, retract your claws, okay Zuri?"

Zuri nodded shakily, still thrown by the prospect of loosing one of her precious claws. Nekoda used her left paw to press down lightly on Zuri's stuck one and her right paw maneuvered to the back of Zuri's. Kody pushed gently until Zuri's paw slid forward on the bark and her claws became freed. She repeated the process with the other paw and Zuri was able to jump down onto solid ground once again.

The group stared in wonder at Nekoda as she leapt lightly down next to Kion. Only he caught the slight grimace she had once she landed. She looked around at the shocked faces. "What?"

"I guess we're just surprised is all," Kion said.

"Impressed is more like," Bunga added. "That was awesome! How'd you know how to do that?"

Suddenly, Nekoda was barreled into by a speeding warthog, signaling the arrival of Timon and Pumba. They burst through the trees announcing, "Never fear! Timon and Pumba are on the case!"

"Uh, Timon? You're kinda squishing my friend," Kion said trying not to worry. His father did tell him to be careful with Kody's injury and she hadn't even been awake for a full day yet.

Pumba looked down to see a particularly white cub under his hoof looking rather inconvenienced and in pain. He backed off with a smile, "Oops, sorry."

Nekoda pulled herself up off the ground with a groan. Ono flew in at that moment saying, "Sorry we took so long, they were practically on the other end of the Pride Lands."

Timon shrugged. "Well we're here now, so who's stuck?" He scanned the large group of animals but there was no one left on the log that would indicate any trapped lions. He turned to Pumba, "Uh, are we missing something or does no one need help?"

Pumba thought deeply. "Well, maybe we're the ones that need help Timon!"

"What? No, I mean no one's stuck in a tree."

"Oh right," Pumba looked embarrassed.

Timon turned back to the assembled group. "Now, why are we here if no one needs help?"

Ono said, "Zuri was stuck when I left."

Zuri looked sheepish. "Nekoda helped me get free." She indicated the snow leopard when the two looked confused at the new name.

"Really?" asked Timon. He finally took a long look at the mysterious leopard. He seemed to linger his gaze on the scar over her eye for a tad too long. He shook off his unease and asked, "How'd you do that?"

Fuli rolled her eyes and said, "Well she was just about to tell us before you busted in here."

Again all of the attention was on the snow leopard. Nekoda sent a confused glance at the lions around her. She said slowly, "You mean, you never looked at your claws before?"

"What does that mean?" Kiara asked offended.

"I mean, here look," Kody sat down and lifted up her paw, extending her claws out. "Your claws are hooked, see? That's what makes them so good for catching prey and climbing trees. The thing that you dig your claws into gets stuck between the point of your claw and the rest of your paw, so it can't get away. This also means that if you get the claws stuck you have to remember how the shape of your claw is so you know what angle you need to pull to get it out. Since our claws curl in towards our paws, pushing forward on a surface will almost always dislodge them."

Zuri was staring at her newly freed claws with wonder. "I never thought about it that way."

"Obviously."

A flash of anger came over Zuri and she stalked off into the trees with a huff. Kiara and Tiifu were soon to follow only Tiifu giving an "It was nice meeting you!" to Nekoda over her shoulder.

Nekoda bit her lip. "Whoops that may have come out meaner than I intended."

"Don't worry about it kid. They all get over it," Timon said, throwing his arm over Nekoda's shoulders. "And as Pumba and I always say 'Hakuna Matata.'"

Everyone smiled to themselves, some of them chuckling lightly. Nekoda was the exception. "Uh, yeah, that's great, and that means?"

Pumba answered proudly, "It means no worries! It's our motto."

Nekoda bitterly laughed. She smiled sadly at the ground and muttered, "No worries? If only it were that easy to just forget everything that was worrying in the world."

An uneasy silence fell on the group. Kion vowed to find out what had Kody so down. The amount of pain that those words carried suggested so much more than a simple disagreement with her family. She seemed to hunch into herself and forget everything around her.

Kion looked up and realized the sky darkening. "We should get on our evening patrol." He glanced side long at Nekoda who was still lost in bitter thought. He then turned to his friends. "Can you guys handle it on your own while I take Kody back home?"

"Sure thing, Kion," said Beshte.

Timon picked up on the atmosphere and offered, "We'll go along with them."

"We will?" asked Pumba.

"Yes we will." Timon elbowed the warthog.

"We will," he said.

Kion nodded thankfully. "Thanks you guys, see you in the morning."

"Later Kion," waved Bunga and the rest of the Guard plus Timon and Pumba disappeared into the trees.

Kion approached Nekoda and nudged her gently. "Hey, you okay?"

Finally she looked up and around, realizing that now the two were now alone. She blushed and muttered, "Uh, yeah. I'm good."

Kion cocked his head a little, "You know, you don't have to keep it all inside. My dad said that he could only really embrace Hakuna Matata once he let go of the worries he was holding onto."

She met his eyes with a saddened look deep in her gaze. She smiled slightly, but it never reached her eyes. "It's not always that easy when you have… unfinished business."

"Then take care of it and forget."

Nekoda laughed out loud at that. "Yeah, about that..." she trailed off.

"If you want help, all you gotta do is ask," Kion promised.

She glanced at him confused. "Why would you help me? You don't even know me," she said finally.

He thought it over for a few seconds before saying, "I don't need to know you to help you out."

Kody looked down, "Oh. Thanks."

"But," he paused. "That doesn't mean that I couldn't get to know you."

This time when she smiled, the mirth filled her blue eyes and the two started walking back to Pride Rock. Kion didn't know if he was prepared to hear whatever was weighing his new friend down, but one thing was for sure: he would help her, no matter what it was.

Hey, everyone! Uh, yeah its been almost three months since I've updated, but I'm here now? Anyway hope you like the chapter, new ones ARE on their way! Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed, it really gives me motivation and inspiration to keep on writing!