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When you live your life in total, complete Hakuna Matata, sometimes you honestly can't think of anything to do. And when that's the case, you start to think of things you never dreamed would cross your mind.So it really was no surprise that Timon started thinking of her that day, back when it was just a harmless thought that had popped into his head - well, almost harmless.Shenzi.That first time, it had just been more of a memory of his own life than an image of her, though. He had been dancing around that rock, singing - and all of a sudden she had been there. At first, he had been able to ignore it. He thought of the other hyenas, too - all three of them had gone out of their way to antagonize him and his colony.Well, the other two had been focused on the colony. She, on the other hand, had always seemed most intent on him. And so, as time went on, his thoughts drifted away from Banzai and Ed, and latched onto the only one remaining - her.Because she was the leader?No. Because - Don't you dare think it, Timon thought. Don't you even try. There was also the fact that he got odd shivers every time his memory dragged her into his thoughts again. At first, he had assumed those shivers came from fear. That would have been perfectly natural -- after all, every interaction they had ever had involved her trying to eat him. But as time went on and the carefree days passed, the shivers lost the connotation of fear for him, and began to feel - almost pleasant. But why, then?Why did she make him feel that way? Because he had proposed to her? He had only meant it as a distraction, but... now he thought maybe he had done it, when there had been a thousand other things he could have done, because something inside of him felt attached not to survival, but to Shenzi herself.He didn't really understand it. But he did know that thinking about it for too long made him uncomfortable.He knew it had gone too far, though, when one day he found himself wondering where she was now, when he very well knew the answer. She was somewhere in the Elephant Graveyard, of course - somewhere he could never go unless he had a death wish.But the moment the thought had clawed itself into his mind that his inclinations toward her might be romantic, he found himself completely unable to let go of it.He tried to forget about it, because it was wrong. He knew it was wrong. He'd never heard of any interspecies relationships, much less inter-food-chain-level ones. Which was another thing - what were the chances that she could ever see him as anything but another meal? What were the chances that he would even be able to get a word in with her?Ridiculous.The whole thing was ridiculous, so he tried to forget.But no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't. So he decided to try to talk to Pumbaa and Simba about it (separately, of course - he wasn't going to make it that obvious.)He asked Pumbaa first, who didn't really understand."Hey, Pumbaa... can I ask you something?""Sure, Timon! What's the matter?""Do you ever, uh... think about the hyenas?"Pumbaa thought about it for a second."Not so much anymore, now that we live here, but I guess they cross my mind once in a while... why?""In what, ah, context do you usually think of her in?"Pumbaa looked at him, confused."Her?"Oops."Y'know what? Never mind!"He decided to wait a while before asking Simba, figuring it would seem less suspicious in case Pumbaa had mentioned their odd conversation to him.But in the meantime, he couldn't stop thinking of Shenzi, of the butterflies in his stomach she gave him that were not entirely from fear, of the way she looked at him, a mixture of hunger and disdain that he only wished translated into longing -NO.- ...and the way her presence would send him into a panic: Because she was always trying to eat him, yes, and yet she always seemed to light up his world at the same time -"Stop." He actually said it aloud this time. "No, stop, that can't be right. It's wrong, she's never wanted anything to do with me except for eating me, so forget it!"And yet his mind continued to say that nothing had ever been more right.Eventually, Timon couldn't stand it anymore and went to Simba for guidance."Hey Simba, do you think there's anything wrong with saying something as sort of... a joke, and the person you said it to knew you weren't serious at the time, but the more you think about it, the more you think you might have actually meant it?"Simba grinned. "Asking for a friend?"Timon felt a little less nervous about the conversation he was currently having. "Yep," he said, arching an eyebrow at his friend."No, I don't think there's anything wrong with that... it's nothing that the person in question would be upset about, right?"Upset? He nearly laughed. She would kill him on sight. Instead of voicing these thoughts to Simba, however, Timon just shook his head."Then you should probably tell the person how you feel, right? If nothing else, at least it'll help ya rest easy."And although he was as confused as ever inside, Timon managed a smile. "Me? Asking for a friend, remember?"Simba winked. "Yeah. Now get back to your Hakuna Matata."With the words of his friends in mind, Timon returned to the tree where he had been lounging, unaware of nothing much but his confusion and... was it disgust he felt for himself? Contempt? Who was he to pine after a hyena, one who had antagonized his colony countless times?And yet... he couldn't feel that way. Not when he couldn't help feeling that she might be the one thing that was missing in his life.He couldn't talk to her, of course, and had no plans to. He'd have to settle for dreaming about her.It was wrong, and he knew it. For the moment, though, he didn't necessarily care.Thinking about it later, though, he came to realize that maybe it wasn't her he needed, just a little romance. After all, he had two best friends, a personal paradise, all of his family with him, and no worries whatsoever... except for that one, of course. It only made sense that romance was the only thing his life lacked. It didn't have to be her.Thinking this way, Timon was able to forget Shenzi Hyena... for a day or two, anyway.His last shreds of denial disappeared the day he moved a few pieces of grass aside to find her face staring back at him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
His first instinct was to run. That was good, because she immediately tore after him, only slowing down when he ran into the jungle.
Timon knew he couldn’t outrun her for long; she was a predator, capable of running faster than he could ever dream of. But she was unfamiliar with the terrain, and that was to his advantage.
He ducked underneath the grass, hoping to lose her, but Shenzi could see the trails he left of disturbed underbrush. Panting, Timon decided on what seemed like his only option: climbing a tree.
He had the sense to zigzag to the nearest one, temporarily confusing the hyena. He scrambled up the tree and perched on the first branch he came to, which was high enough to ensure his safety but low enough that she could still see and hear him.
Shenzi looked up when he reached the branch. Internally, Timon groaned, wondering
why
she had to show up now, just when he had finally managed to get her out of his head.
She surprised him by calling up to him in an eerily calm voice. “Listen,” she said. “You and I both know you’ve gotta come down eventually, and I can stay here all night. So what’ll it be? Now or later?”
He froze. Normally, when predators hunted down prey, no talking was involved. The fact that both parties could understand one another only made the situation more uncomfortable. But now... Shenzi was speaking to him, almost as though she recognized him.
Did she? His heart gave a little jump at the thought, but he silenced the idea, cursing himself.
Deciding not to answer the question, Timon replied, “Do you have something against me in particular, or are you just hungry?”
“Of course I do,” was the response. “Did you really think I’d let you off the hook that easy?”
She was talking about the marriage proposal. Of course. Timon pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking. He felt frightened, yes, but also a bit giddy. All that thinking he had done about her, and now, here she was... No. He had to get back on track, and figure out some way to get out of this situation in one piece. He wasn’t a monkey; he couldn’t move from tree to tree. Calling for Simba and Pumbaa was out of the question; they probably couldn’t hear him, and even if they could, he really didn’t want them to have to deal with another hyena encounter. Not when they had gone for so long in a (formerly) predator-free environment.
Ultimately, Timon decided to wait it out. No matter what Shenzi said, she couldn’t possibly stay there all night. Eventually, she’d have to get some real food and go back to the graveyard, and then he’d be able to climb down safely.
But as the hours passed, he began to doubt that logic. She hadn’t moved, and neither of them were talking. Timon had actually stopped looking down at her, because each time he did, she was staring back up at him, smiling so widely that he could count each one of her - very sharp - teeth.
When he’d had enough of the silence, he called down to her, “So, uh... why does what I did warrant this level of revenge, exactly?”
There was no answer.
Nervous, he leaned over the branch. “Shenzi?”
She wasn’t there. Had she finally given up and left? Or was she trying to fake him out?
Deciding not to risk the latter, he looked at the bushes below, trying to detect any trace of the predator. He couldn’t see anything, through, and when he craned his neck to look out over the far side of the tree, he lost his footing, slipped, and -
“It’s because you embarrassed me in front of my entire pack, runt. Made me look ridiculous.”
Timon was on the ground, still in quite a bit of pain from the fall, and was in a total panic. Here he was, alone, defenseless, about to be eaten by the hyena he’d somehow developed a crush on.
“Oh, come on,” he scoffed, trying to beg for his life without it seeming like that was what he was doing. “Surely none of them thought that. You were just caught off guard, was all.”
Shenzi approached him until they were nose-to-nose. She had come out of the exact bushes that he’d been trying to look into when he fell. “Exactly. You caught me off guard. No one’s ever done that before.” She paused. “I have to ask, though, before I eat you... why did you have to do that? Why me?”
Timon looked at her narrowed eyes, then at her mouth full of sharp, sharp teeth. And after a few seconds of silence between the two, he realized the only suitable answer to her question. He closed his eyes, leaned forward, and kissed her.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
There was a bright white flash that Timon could see even with his eyes shut, and he suddenly felt different. Shenzi’s weight had shifted against him, and he opened his eyes. He hadn’t taken his lips off of hers, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself inches from hers, wide and disbelieving.They were not hyena’s eyes.He suddenly realized just why he felt different and jumped back suddenly, staring at the human woman in front of him.He’d seen humans before, of course. Timon had always kept his distance. The lions told stories about humans that didn’t exactly portray them in a positive light, and he had never been one to take chances. But now here he was, sure that for some reason, he had become a human. And in the midst of the chaos, his mind seized upon the only conclusion that made sense: The woman in front of him was Shenzi.These thoughts took less than two seconds to pass through his head, before Shenzi tried to step away, collapsing on the floor instead.Of course. She was used to walking on four legs, after all.It was clear that despite their altered appearances, she recognized him too, and she bared her teeth at him.“Listen,” she said evenly. “I know you didn’t do this, whatever ‘this’ is, but I do know who you are, and if you think you’re getting off easy, you’re dead wrong.”She looked as though she were about to advance on him, then stopped to reconsider. Abruptly, she turned away from him. “Let’s just try to get back to normal first. Then I can get you back.”Timon gulped. He watched as she walked off down a long hallway lined on one side with brightly-lit recesses. On the other side, windows opened to an airy field with many people gathered around it, judging from the sounds reverberating into the curving hallway.Shenzi was almost around the corner when she turned back and called, “Well? Are you coming, or what?”“Wait!”She turned around and rolled her eyes at his stricken expression. She opened her mouth to reply, then thought better of it and approached him, looking bored.“What is it?”“Aren’t you at least a little concerned about this?” He laughed nervously. “I mean, we have no idea where we are or why, and your first priority is... eating me when we get back to normal?”She stopped where she was, hesitated, then said, “Actually, you have a point there.”Surprised that she had allowed his observation to stand, he could only stare back at her. As he watched, she tossed her hair over her shoulder.“You’re wrong about one thing, though. I do care about getting back to normal, and not just because I want to eat you. You’re not the most important person in the world, you know, although judging from what I’ve seen, you certainly think you are.”Deep down, Timon knew she was right, though he would never admit it. This time, he was the one to roll his eyes. He walked to her side, something he would never have dared to do had they been in their normal forms.“We should probably...” He paused. There was a “we” now. They were on the same side, somehow, because of something he didn’t understand. He felt his heart speed up as he stood next to her, his not-quite-declared crush suddenly coming to the forefront of his mind.“Find help,” she finished. The awkwardness between them was palpable, and he knew she was thinking about what had just happened.Actually, Shenzi was thinking about the marriage proposal, much further back. She had the strangest feeling that everything thus far was connected somehow, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. This was an uncomfortable reality for her, since as the hyena matriarch, she always felt the need to be a step ahead of everyone else. It came as a relief, then, for her to realize the former meerkat clearly also had no idea what was going on. At least she wasn’t subjected to the further humiliation of being less in the know than the guy standing in front of her.They were closer now, and Timon realized he had been about to ask Shenzi what she was really thinking about. Of course this was ridiculous, as there was no way she would have given him an honest answer, but he was going to ask just the same. He opened his mouth, maybe to ask her, maybe to say something else -- but Shenzi hushed him before he could get a word in edgewise. ward it, and Shenzi followed him to the opening.Taking a deep breath, the two stumbled outside into the bright afternoon sunshine.“Hear that? There’s somebody coming.”To Timon, it sounded like there were actually a whole lot of somebodies coming their way. Thinking quickly, and remembering the days when he had to hide from hungry predators (all too often including Shenzi herself), he pulled her into a corner, effectively hiding them from the crowd that had just exited the field area. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with their sudden proximity, Timon turned his head to the side and glimpsed a large doorway that appeared to lead outside. He gestured toward it, and Shenzi followed him to the opening.Taking a deep breath, the two stumbled outside into the bright afternoon sunshine.