Outcasts [COMPLETE]

Babe in the Jungle

It was a day like any other, Bagheera was making his way through the jungle when he heard a voice, he stopped to listen. Yes, there it was again; someone was calling for help. In graceful leaps and strides, he made his way towards the voice so desperately yelling for help. At some point, it faded to sobs just as he landed on a tree's sturdy branch and looked down. What he saw made his heart skip a beat.

There curled at the base of a tree sadly sobbing was a girl-cub, she looked old enough to speak but too young to be called full-grown. Her body was thin and dirty, with cuts that still bled without being tended to. Her hair was dark brown and tangled, her limbs gaunt and fragile. She wouldn't last a minute in a cruel place like the jungle, and he knew it. Carefully, he crept down the tree and quietly landed on the leafy ground. It wasn't that quiet because she heard and looked up, as soon as she saw him she jumped to her feet.

"Please don't be afraid." The fear receded from her eyes by not that much. "Who are you?" He took a huge risk by coming closer, when she pressed her back further into the tree behind her he stopped and sat. She swallowed before speaking.

"Zaria." It was a nice name, he didn't know her but somehow felt it suited her. "Where are your parents?" Her eyes crinkled around the edges as she ran a hand through her hair. "I...I don't know. We were going through the jungle, and then I think there was an animal attack. And I just ran." Fresh tears bubbled up from her eyes. "I don't want to think about it but they might be..." She fell back to the jungle floor, palms pressed to her eyes as she started to sob anew. Bagheera felt sympathy towards the girl, running from danger was an instinct everyone in the jungle was familiar with, it wasn't her fault she was afraid. Her parents, wherever they were were too far from her now, she needed a new family to care for her.

"You need someone to take care of you." There was no sugarcoating this, she looked up and carefully stood. She took a careful step and instantly fell, crying out in pain. He came to her side.

"Your leg appears to broken, you won't be walking on it for a while." He lay down. "Climb on." She looked at him, before carefully pulling herself onto his back. He carefully stood, making sure she was comfortable, before starting off into the foliage.

~

He took her back to his cave where he left her and went back out, returning with large green leaves and several long sticks, she basically knew what to do and made a makeshift cast, wrapping the sticks along her leg to keep it in place.

Now Bagheera had a job, a cub to take care of. Being male he had no maternal instinct and knew forgetting her was a mistake he couldn't risk making. Evening fell and he returned with a water buffalo and watched her make a fire and cook her share, devouring it like a rabid wolf.

She has spirit, it'll do good for her. He thought as she slept up against his chest. "But does she really have a future here? Can she ever truly belong?" Deciding it was too late to think about something so serious, he lay down and fell asleep.

~

Zaria learned quickly if she was going to heal any time soon she had to eat whatever Bagheera brought home. She hadn't been too partial to meat, not enough to eat it every day for every meal, but Bagheera was a predator, meat was all he ate and until she was well enough to catch her own food it was all she'd eat too. Between meals they talked a little here and there, mostly about where she came from before, he tried to help her remember, to help her find a way out of the jungle and back to the world of man. Unknown to both of them her memories were fading like the seasons and soon they had to give up. There was nothing left to retrieve.

Things became worse when her leg healed, what should've been a joyous occasion turned sad when they found out it healed wrong. She could walk, run a little, but it would be significantly more sensitive than the other. To take her mind off it, Bagheera started taking her out to teach her how to hunt. He was right about her energy, it proved helpful when he was too tired to catch dinner. As time past, he began to notice the way she acted around him.

"Zaria." She looked up from her slice of meat with a sparkle in her eyes. "Yes Bagheera?" There was that eager tone of voice, it reminded him of the way female creatures spoke to their mates. "Would you come here please?" A cheerful smile on her face, she hopped up from her firepit corner and came to his side, laying her back against his shoulder.

"You've been here for a long time now, your leg's healed and you know how to hunt." She smiled, reaching up to run a palm down the length of his leg, tapping his claws. "What about it Bagheera?" It pained him to say what he was thinking, he had come to see her as the sister he never had.

"Don't you think it's time you set out on your own?"

It was a like a switch was thrown, the smile left her face and there was the shortest pause before she jumped to her feet, eyes glossy with angry tears.

"What do you mean I should leave? This is nice isn't it, you and me together?" "Zaria-" "What's wrong? What can I fix?" He stood. "There's nothing wrong, I just don't think you need to live here anymore." "But I like being here, with you, I actually feel like I belong." "I can't be with you the way you want me to Zaria, we're just too different." Her face fell, then hardened, angry tears tumbling forth.

"Fine! If that's the way you want it then I just go. And you know what? I won't be back either. You won't see ever again!" With that, she jumped from the cave and ran out into the night. She didn't care that it was the most dangerous time to be about and alone, she just wanted to get away. She ran until she was far away from Bagheera and hopelessly lost, remembering her lessons, she found a tree which she easily scaled and lay stomach first on a thick branch, it wasn't until her sobs stopped when she spoke.

"Never..." She whispered. "Never again will I lose my heart to another. And never will the world of man be one I return to." And with that vow in mind, she closed her eyes and fell into a troubled sleep.