(A/N: I hope you will all like the end to this story. Though I think its a little anti-climatic, you WILL find out what INPOM means. I added a moral to the story at the end about why I wrote it. Now that I've lowered your expectations, I know that this final chapter will now exceed them! So enjoy! And yes, this is my final night. I will still be around, but this and "Bug Invasion" are my final chapters.)

Nala sat with another lioness, a cheetah, an okapi and a vulture with a twisted neck.

Nala watched as a wounded armadillo walked out of the west part of the baobab tree.

"Next!" exclaimed Rafiki, calling into his waiting room.

Well, the armadillo was the patient that Nala had came in behind. Apparently it was her turn now.

The lioness got up and made her way over towards Rafiki's medical area.

"Ah, hello Nala!"

"Good day Rafiki."

"How could old Rafiki help Madam today?"

"Well…" began Nala, trying to speak in his language, "…old Rafiki could for one, help me decipher the meaning of a certain word or acronym. And two, he could try and stop me from going insane, because I keep seeing here word or acronym, every…every…" Nala gulped, "everywhere."

"Is something wrong?" asked Rafiki, looking at Nala's pale face, "you look like you've seen a ghost."

Nala tried to swallow a lump in her throat. "Um…R—Rafiki…um…how…how did that get there?" she asked, pointing at the word "INPOM" on a piece of bark behind him.

Rafiki turned around and saw the word.

"Hmm…" he began.

Nala took a deep breath. If Rafiki could make it all make sense to her, then perhaps she would feel better about it now.

Rafiki turned back around to face her.

"…I don't know," he said.

At this, Nala panicked and whirled around. She was really getting creeped out now. Although she was sure that a lion had made the markings, she was hoping that Rafiki would have known if "INPOM" was an old lion's name, or a famous acronym that stood for something.

But then, she thought again, if I've only just seen it today…perhaps it's something recent. Perhaps Rafiki isn't my answer.

"Nala, do you need help?"

"Um…sure…" replied the lioness, "…I just eh…I need to go outside for a bit," she said, pointing to the outskirts of the tree.

Rafiki nodded. "Go," he said.

Nala did so. Within seconds, she was down on the ground and away from the word "INPOM."

"Ah, Nala!" exclaimed Zazu, "hope you're not hunting this time."

"No," replied the lioness, "Zazu, you've got to help me out."

"Certainly," replied Zazu, "but first Simba believes it's necessary that you know not to let the elephants irrigate the lands near the Eastern waterhole."

Nala forgot about her concerns, and she frowned at Zazu. "Zazu, what did I tell you about not telling me anything?"

"His majesty insisted."

Nala sighed. "Alright, you know what, let me talk to him. Maybe he can help me out with this whole INPOM thing."

Zazu patted his wings together nervously. "I'm afraid that won't work right now, Madam."

"Why not?"

"He's gone on to oversee the pride treaty to the South."

"Well then I'll wait for his at the border," replied Nala. "I don't mind."

This is pointless, thought Simba, watching the conversation take place.

Two kings of rival prides were standing face-to-face with the rest of their pride members behind them. They had been at war since Simba was a cub, but now they had decided to agree to a treaty.

In order to make the other prides aware of the treaty, all of the kings from their adjacent prides had been called to the discussion. This way, if either king broke the treaty, the other prides would know who to blame.

I could be doing so much more right now.They're just blabbing on.

I should probably listen.

Who cares? It's pretty simple. Whoever invades whoever's territory, we group up and go to war with.

Perhaps it's more complicated than that. I should probably still listen.

Finally, Simba heard one of the lions say the word "agreed?"

"Agreed," replied his former foe.

Then…they shook paws.

The group around Simba cheered. In order to not look like a jerk, Simba began to clap.

That's it, I'm out of here!

Simba was now heading to do his final task of the day: measure the depth of the waterhole.

The numbers so far had been promising. On average, the water had been making an upward progress on his arm as time had passed. He was hopefully today would yield the same results.

"Simba!"

The lion looked up.

He smiled. "Nala. How glad it is to see you."

Simba was not close enough to tell…but Nala was still frowning.

"Mind telling me why you didn't pay attention to Zazu?" she asked.

Simba hadn't expected that, but he had an answer ready. "Nala, you're queen. It's only right for you to remain informed."

"Not about every little detail!" retorted the lioness, "it's an undue burden on Zazu!"

"He doesn't mind. And besides, what if I do something wrong? I need someone to be able to correct me."

At this, Nala finally smiled. "Simba," she stated, "I trust your judgment, okay? If I didn't, I'd come with you more often, and leave somebody else in charge."

"So do you trust my judgment on having Zazu feed you news?" asked Simba.

Nala opened her mouth to respond, but then realized Simba had trapped her. Whether she said 'yes' or 'no,' Simba could point out her fallacy.

"You got me there," she admitted. "Simba…I guess the best thing I can do is make you understand this. You're a great king. Much better than Scar, much better than any of the others bordering our lands. It is an undue burden for Zazu, and it is an inconvenience for me, if all you are sending him out for is to make sure that I approve of what you are doing. And…Simba, are you even listening to me?"

"Kinda," replied the lion, looking up from the ground, "I started drawing."

"Well stop…" began Nala, moving her paw over to sweep Simba's drawing away. It was then, however, that she realized just exactly what Simba had been drawing.

Her jaw dropped. "INPOM."

"Yeah," replied Simba, "don't worry about it, it doesn't mean any…"

"INPOM. Simba, you know how many times I've seen that word today?"

"Uh…no…"

"It's been everywhere! I've found it in Pride Rock, the waterhole, Rafiki's tree, and it was written all over the walls of a small cave! What does it mean?"

Simba smiled. "Nala, really. Don't worry about it. You'd be disappointed if I told you."

"But I'm freaking out while you're not telling me."

"It's nothing to freak out about."

"If you didn't want me to ask, why did you put it next to our bed?"

"Please stop using logic. You have an annoying habit of doing that."

"Is it something you needed to remember? I mean, you've been busy today. You integrated the herds, negotiated with the northern pride, dealt with the porcupines, oversaw the treaty, and now you're off to measure…wait, that is it, isn't it? Integrate – Negotiate – Porcupines – Oversee – Measure – INPOM – is that all it was?"

"Eh…actually no, that's just a very weird coincidence."

"Well then what is it?" asked Nala, almost laughing. "Come on, Simba. I really want to know."

Simba beamed back at Nala. "You have no idea how great it is to see you smile."

"I'd be smiling a lot more if you told me what it meant!"

"I can wait," replied Simba. "Anyways, I'm off to measure the waterhole. It's starting to get dark now, I think I'll meet you back at Pride Rock."

Nala shook her head. "If you insist," she replied. "Don't send Zazu to tell me how deep the water is."

Simba laughed. "Measuring isn't a decision, Nala," he replied, "I don't need to check if you're proud of me for that."

"Proud of you? Simba!" Nala exclaimed. This time she did laugh. "Simba, of course I'm proud of you! No matter what you do. You really don't need to be asking 'is Nala proud of…of…is Nala…" and with that, Nala's jaw dropped. "Is Nala Proud Of Me?" she asked.

Simba nodded. "INPOM," he replied, smiling. He continued to stare at Nala for a few seconds. However, it then occurred to him that Nala's lower jaw was beginning to look a little unnatural.

"Um…Nala…are you okay?"

Thankfully to Simba, Nala moved her jaw back up, and she took a deep breath.

"I don't know whether to slap you for being so stupid, or to hug you for being so cute."

Simba frowned. "I'd prefer the second," he said. "Explain."

"The fact that you regard me highly enough that you deem it necessary to ensure I approve of every single, little thing you do, is adorable," commented Nala, but she then shook her head, "but highly unnecessary."

"Oh," replied Simba.

Nala finally chuckled and moved in towards Simba. She licked him on the cheek.

"I'm always proud of you," she whispered into his ear, "no matter what."

Simba smiled and nuzzled his mate back.

Nala giggled as she rubbed her head into his mane.

"Alright, well now I'm off to the waterhole," stated Simba, "and I'll meet you back in Pride Rock."

"Mm hmm," replied Nala, not really paying attention. She was enjoying herself too much getting lost in Simba's hair.

"I'm off," stated Simba, and with that he departed.

Measuring the waterhole took quite a bit longer than Simba had anticipated, and when he got back it was already night. Everybody had already settled in to sleep.

He made his way on by the crowd of lionesses, and found his own lying up against the back wall.

Nala opened and eye and, upon seeing Simba, smiled.

Simba returned it.

He glanced up at the wall, thinking that maybe, since he now knew INPOM was 'unnecessary,' if there was a way to erase it.

However, his opinion then changed, as he saw a new word etched into the wall next to it.

"ISPOM," it said.

Simba grinned and looked down at Nala.

The lioness beamed back at him.

Simba lied down and wrapped himself around his mate.

"I see your point," he said quietly.

Nala chuckled. "What's that, dear?" she asked.

"ISPOM...is highly unnecessary."

"And INPOM's just a waste of time," replied Nala. "Just be yourself Simba, and you know I'll always be proud of you."

(A/N: I hope it wasn't too bad. So let's talk about the origins of this story. I was talking to a fellow TLK friend the other day and said that there was part of me that wasn't looking forward to TLK coming back out. He asked why. I said that it would make me a Nalaholic again. He asked: what's wrong with that? I replied: I got so much accomplished last summer when I really wasn't thinking about TLK a whole lot. I was so proud of all the stuff I was able to do. It seems that when I think about TLK seriously, I become a Nalaholic to the extent that I begin thinking in the terms of "what would Nala do?" (hey, it's good for us to have our own personal role models) or rather, INPOM. The problem is, of course, I began to believe that Nala would be proud more of the stuff I was getting done when I wasn't thinking about her. In other words, the only difference between Simba being himself and Simba asking INPOM all the time, is that he's just wasting time and actually making Nala more upset with the things that he's doing (disturbing her, making Zazu do stuff) than if he just was himself. In other words, if you pick a role model and you really do aspire to become like them, eventually, I think, you don't have to keep checking to make sure that that person/yourself is proud of you...you will just become that person that you want to be. Now that I believe that I have accomplished this after what I did last summer, I don't see any purpose for these stories anymore. I've found myself. I know that some of you may not be at that point yet, but I hope that one day, when you're ready to break away, you will come back and read this and remember that you are who you want to be, and then all you will ever need to be, is yourself. I hope this made sense to someone else other than me. Thanks for the ride, everybody - it's been fun! Reviews will always be welcome. Machungwa63)