A/N- Hey guys I just wanted to give a little credit where it's due before I begin. First off I want to thank Kari, aka dukacia, for drawing the picture that first inspired me to write a Mheetu story. Please take a minute to look at it and some of her other artwork (just copy and remove the spaces for the link)

ht tp: / /dukacia. devianta rt.co m/art /Pinne d-ya-7318 0686

You will see exactly where the inspiration comes in during the next chapter (this was originally a one shot that has grown into an actual story now). Also the usual copyright stuff applies, all characters are property of Walt Disney, etc. Enjoy!

P.S. The mis-spelling in the first scene ARE done on purpose as the cubs are supposed to be too young to speak clearly.

Me Too!

Chapter 1: Always too little-

The savannah was quiet under the bright, noonday sun. The midday heat had chased all the animals of the Pride Lands into the shade; hiding until the cool of night settled over the land again. All the animals that was, except for a trio of cubs playing under the watchful eyes of their mothers. With a youthful attempt at a growl one of the young cubs pounced clumsily on another.

"Rroww!" the little lioness protested, swatting at him with a cream colored paw. But the golden cub pinning her down was too heavy and merely giggled as she tried to squirm away. "Leggo Timba!" Nala grumbled, still young enough that she hadn't quite mastered all her consonant sounds.

"I'm tumming Nala!" the third cub cried, rushing to the rescue on his short legs. "Raar!" he growled, jumping forward and crashing into the golden cub that had pinned his sister. The two rolled over in a tangle of legs and tails, finally coming to a dazed halt.

"I'll geht oo Mheetu!" Simba challenged in mock anger at the smaller cub. Grinning Mheetu jumped to his feet, thrusting his rump into the air as he crouched in a playful stance.

"Be careful boys!" Sarafina called out just as Simba launched himself at Mheetu. The smaller cub steeled himself for the impact, but his young muscles weren't up to the challenge quite yet. The light yellow of his pelt darkened with dust as Simba knocked him to the ground, and Mheetu growled irritably as the prince began chewing on his ear. Nala suddenly appeared, rolling Simba off the smaller lion.

"Tanks," Mheetu panted, looking up at his sister gratefully.

"I don need yor help!" she spat at him, her cold gaze washing the smile from his face. "I can pin Timba mythelf!"

"Torry…" the smaller male hung his head dejectedly as he rolled onto his stomach. Nala just sniffed, turning her back on her little brother as she focused on Simba again. Mheetu pouted a little as the two bigger cubs wrestled, staring determinedly out onto the savannah and pretending he couldn't see them. Suddenly he felt a heavy weight on his front paw, grinding it roughly into the unforgiving earth. "Ooww!" the yellow cub yelped, trying to pull away as he was suddenly pinned by a furry weight. Simba and Nala had rolled into him as they were wrestling, and the future king had been pushed on top of the smaller cub.

"Geh off!" Nala roughly commanded Simba as Mheetu began to cry in pain. Fervently the little lioness knocked the prince off her little brother, as concerned now as she had been annoyed a minute ago. "You otay?" she asked with heartfelt worry.

"I told you cubs to be careful," Sarafina scolded gently as she came to discover the source of her sons' tears. "You guys can't play so rough around Mheetu, he's a lot smaller and it's too easy for you to hurt him." Tenderly the mother lion checked over the cubs paw, deciding it had just been wrenched and lightly sprained.

"We din't mean to urt him mommy…" Nala murmured, hanging her head in disgrace. Simba nodded in agreement, looking up at the lioness with apologizing eyes.

"I know, but you still need to be careful," Sarafina repeated, picking up her son and retreating back to the shade. "You two keep playing. Mheetu you can stay over here with mommy."

"But I wanna pway!" the cub protested when she set him down. He looked up at her imploringly; his light yellow fur mussed up from the play fight so that a little bit fell into his eyes.

"No, Mheetu," Sarafina said firmly, laying down and dragging him into the protective circle of her paws. "It's time for your bath anyways." The little lion scowled and pouted as she licked the dust from his coat; continuing with his cross expression even when his mother chided him that it would freeze that way.

A couple weeks later

"Where are you going? Can I come with?" Mheetu questioned eagerly as he ran down the ramp of Pride Rock where his sister and Simba were whispering. Zazu perched on a low branch nearby. The blue hornbill had been charged with babysitting duty again, but he was obviously distracted by something else and paying the barest attention to the scheming cubs.

"Umm…well…" Simba stammered, looking at Nala uncomfortably.

"Only if you can keep up!" the female cub challenged her little brother. Nala stuck her tongue out at Mheetu, and then spun to race full speed onto the savannah. A shocked Simba and Mheetu sprang quickly after her.

"Young masters! Wait for me!" Zazu called from overhead, suddenly realizing his charges were gone and flapping desperately to catch up. For several strides Mheetu kept right on Simba's heels, but while Nala and the prince were evenly matched in speed Mheetus' short legs couldn't keep up. Breathing heavily, the yellow colored cub finally gave in and slowed to a stop; watching sadly as Simba's tail disappeared over the hill.

"S'not fair," Mheetu grumbled, sitting down heavily with a pout on his face.

"What's not fair?" an older lioness asked, appearing suddenly from the long grasses.

"They always leave me behind Miehka!" Mheetu sobbed, rushing over with tears brimming in his eyes. "Why can't I go with!" the small cub cried, sniffling a little.

"Because you cubs can't wander the savannah alone while you're so little, and it looks like Zazu already has his hands full with those two," the lioness explained patiently, then with a weary sigh added, "And please cut out the tears Mheetu, I know you don't get upset that easily. You just get mad." She looked down at the young male with a knowing glint in her eyes, and he dropped his gaze in embarrassment. Then, more sternly, Miehka continued,

"I'm not going to go and tattle to your mother so don't even try to make me feel sorry for you." Mheetu let out a small whimper, shrinking down to be as small as possible under her gaze. The lioness felt a small urge to smile at his reaction, pleased for guessing what was really going on in his mind. She was the main babysitter for the cubs in the pride and knew them almost as well as their own mothers. Out of all the cubs right now Mheetu was definitely the most hothead one—his small size couldn't keep up with his curious mind and it truly frustrated him. To top it off he was keenly jealous of the close friendship between his sister and the prince, constantly trying to tag along with them despite being shot down day after day.

"It still isn't fair," Mheetu grumbled, trying hard to keep a neutral tone.

"Welcome to the facts of life," the lioness chuckled, kindheartedly rubbing his head with a velveted paw. "Tell you what," Miehka said when Mheetu just sighed and looked sadly at the spot where the two cubs had disappeared. "I'll introduce you to someone special."

"Huh? Who?" The yellow cub asked eagerly, bouncing alongside her as Miehka led the way to the base of Pride Rock.

"Well I have this new friend," the older lioness explained, watching from the corner of her eye as Mheetu concentrated on navigating the rough terrain. "And he just came here and he's a little too shy to meet the rest of the Pride…"

"Does this mean I don't have to introduce him to Nala and Simba?" Mheetu interrupted, thinking eagerly of having a secret friend from the pair. "Maybe it's a new cub who's even smaller than I am!" his heart leapt in excitement at the thought.

"Mheetu!" the tan lioness exclaimed, halting and glaring at him. The cub instantly cringed, knowing he'd said the wrong thing. "Look Mheetu," she said, letting out a calming breath. "I'm doing this as a favor to you…understand?" Quickly the young lion nodded, meeting her gaze with sincere blue-green eyes. "I'm not letting you meet Bhati just to let you get back at your sister, all right?"

"I'm sorry," Mheetu murmured, hanging his head in shame. He really did feel bad. Miehka was one of the few adults who didn't treat him different because he was so little, and he loved her for it. The little lion straightened up, holding his head up and meeting her gaze. "I'm sorry," he repeated, "Thank you for taking me to meet your friend."

"That's better," Miehka said with a smile, then motioned him forward with a head jerk. "Come on." The two lions had traveled around to the backside of Pride Rock when Miehka halted in front of a sandy tunnel. "Bhati! Wake up sleepy head, I've brought someone for you to meet!"

Mheetu took a step backward in surprise when the creature suddenly popped out of the hole, blinking in the light. The animal had a yellow-brown coat with his legs and face darkening into black. The fox like creature was a bit bigger than the lion cub, and his rounded ears were huge upon his head. "What are you?" Mheetu asked bluntly staring with wide eyes.

"Oh," Miehka groaned, rubbing her face with a paw. "So much for being polite," the lioness muttered with a sigh. "Bhati this is Mheetu. Mheetu, Bhati. He's a bat eared fox that moved here just a few days ago."

"How come I haven't seen you then?" the cub asked curiously, still eying the strange creature. "Mom hardly ever lets me leave Pride Rock…"

"I don't usually come out during the day," Bhati explained, sniffing the air with his delicate nose as he eyed Mheetu with an interest that matched the cubs own.

"I thought you might be lonely Bhati," Miehka explained, gauging that the fox hadn't been insulted by Mheetus' frank question. "And Mheetu doesn't have anyone to play with today so…" she left the sentence unfinished, knowing the other animal was too polite to turn down something so direct as a suggestion that he play with the yellow cub.

"Would you like to see my tunnels?" The bat eared fox asked politely, swiveling his head to look at the lion cub.

"Sure!" Mheetu answered eagerly. Bhatis' head disappeared back into the shadows and the small cub belly crawled in after him. Miehka smiled as the yellow pelt disappeared into the ground, and she heard excited voices rumble out. Then, resolutely, the lioness set off to find Sarafina. The shrewd babysitter may have told Mheetu that she didn't intend to tattle on Nala, but she still felt that Sarafina ought to know just how little time her daughter had been spending with the small brother who so desperately wanted her some of her time.

Mheetu coughed a little as dry earth coated his tongue, and suddenly felt the walls of the tunnel fall away. "Whoa!" the cub exclaimed as his eyes adjusted to the low light. The small cavern was riddled with other tunnels; some lit dimly as though they led to the surface, others even darker than the cave he was currently in. "Did you dig all these?" he asked in amazement, awed by the subtle curves and smoothed floor.

"Yep," Bhati answered proudly. "Of course I've only had a few days, it will be much better once I have time to actually work on it."

"You did this in just a few days?!" Mheetus' jaw was open in amazement as he poked his head down a few other tunnels, even discovering one that simply made a little u-turn and came straight back into the main cavern. "They're so cool!"

"Thank you," the bat eared fox blushed. "It's my first time making my own tunnels so I'm glad someone likes them."

"First time?" the cub asked in puzzlement, eyeing some neat designs the fox had scratched into the wall. "How old are you?"

"A whole year, I left my family about a month ago to find my own territory." Bhatis' tone was full of the pride of those newly initiated into adulthood and Mheetu felt even more in awe of his new friend.

"I don't think I could ever leave my family. I'd really miss my mom…but I wouldn't miss my sister at all!" the little lion growled, frowning a little in anger as he thought of Nala.

"Perhaps one day you will feel differently," the fox responded softly, sitting at one end of the cavern and eyeing the cub with a blank face. Mheetu looked sharply at the canine, wondering exactly which part of his speech the animal was talking about. He shrugged the thought away though, asking instead,

"Do you know how to stalk and pounce? I'd really like to practice with someone."

"You're only talking to the best grasshopper catcher under the sun!" the bat eared foxs' eyes sparkled eagerly in the dark.

"Bet you're not!" Mheetu challenged, grinning as he raced back up to the surface with Bhati panting enthusiastically on his heels.