Orphaned [The Jungle Book] {1}

Baloo the Bear

Katerina slowly woke up by weird noises of a sniffing. She opened her eyes slowly to meet a big nose that belongs to a bear. Her eyes grow wide and she gave a small scream. The bear pulled away and sat down, frowning, "Shhh. Relax kid," He said as she moved away from him. "No need to work out, okay?"

Katerina's back was pressed against a wall and she looked at the bear, "Where am I?" She asked. "Huh, this is a cave," The bear pointed out. "It's my cave." She looked around before back at the bear as he studied her, "You don't remember what happened, do you?"

"No," She said. "I saved your life. Yeah, I snatched you from the "Jaws of death" and lucky for you, your new favorite hero, old Baloo here, just happened to be passing by," The bear, Baloo said. "No big deal. Just tell me this; Can you climb?"

Katerina looked up at him with a frown, "Yeah . . ." She replied. Baloo smiled, "Then let's quit wasting time, and get on with it," He said as he moved to get out of the save. Katerina frowned again, "Get on with what?" She asked. "Payback, kid, payback," He said.

"What do you mean 'payback'? Payback for what?" She asked, rushing after him. "You owe me kid," Baloo said as they got out of the cave. "You owe me, you owe me."

"Slow down," She said as she ran over him. "And you have to pay me back," Baloo said and she walked beside him. "But, but . . ." She started. "'Cause it's right, it right . . . You going to do the right thing. This is the right thing. You paying me back 'cause you owe me," He said.

He led Katerina to a big mountain made of rocks, he placed his paws on the rocks and tried to lick away a thick liquid. Katerina watched him with a frown before he turned to her, "Okay, here's our little task," He started as he turned his gaze up, "You see that golden stuff dripping down there? That's call 'honey'."

Katerina looked up as he continued, "All you have to do, little one, for payback purposes is to just shimmy on up there and get me that thing up there that's making that funny noise, and bring it back down."

Her eyes grew wide and turned back to Baloo, "You're kidding me, right?" She asked, hoping he was joking. He sat down, "No, not really."

Katerina scoffed and turned around, "I can get killed going up there," She said and started to walk away, "No thank you."

"Kid," Baloo started and she turned back to him, "Kid, kid, kid. Try to understand this; I'm a bear. It means that I have to eat my weight every day --" He got up, "-- For hibernation purposes. I know I'm asking for a lot, but I don't climb and you do. Look, I really need your help. Winter's coming. You don't want me to go to sleep, and never wake up."

Katerina sighed and looked back up at the end of the mountain where that honey was. She thought for a moment how to get there when suddenly an idea came to her mind. She smiled a little and turned around to run off. She grabbed a few ropes before taking off back to the mountain.

It took Katerina some time, but when she got on top of the mountain, she used the ropes and tied one part around a tree, and grabbed a long stick to use it for dropping the honey. She started to climb down the mountain cliff, holding the rope tightly as she lowered herself close to the honey.

Baloo was watching from below in curiosity and amazement as the little girl was getting closer to the honey. Katerina looked at the bees that were around the honey, in hesitantly. "There are a lot of bees up here," She called down to the bear.

"Yeah, some," Baloo agreed, "But don't worry. These ones don't sting." Katerina looked back at the bees worriedly, but took a deep breath and started to hit the honey with the stick.

"Attagirl!" Baloo cheered happily, as the honey started to drip down. Katerina cried in pain, "Ow! I'm getting stung!" It caused her to drop the stick.