Jungle Child- A Tarzan Fan Fiction

Chapter Five

A/N: Time skip! Yay! Picture of Ara to the side :3 For all those who leave encouraging comments and vote- thank you so much! It's really motivating ^.^

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~Four Months Later~

"Tarzan?" the small voice whispered, sounding frightened. Tarzan blinked his eyes opened and looked down to see Ara snuggled against him in her leaf coverings she had somehow put together. She looked exactly the same as when he had found her, but she had grown much in the ways of the jungle... she could talk now and get around by herself... somewhat... "Tarzan, I hear something.." Ara whined softly, her bright eyes showing fear. Tarzan frowned. Ara had not gotten scared in quite some time. The first few nights- or weeks, more like- she had woken up as soon as she heard anything, whimpering, but she ad soon learned it was only the jungles music soothing her to sleep...

"I'll go look around," Tarzan mumbled, careful to keep his voice down. He pushed Ara into the next nest where his mother lie alone, and then picked up his spear. "Stay with Kala," he instructed. Ara nodded her head and cuddled into Kala's open arm, waking the female.

"Tarzan?" she yawned, opening her eyes, "What are you-"

"I'll be back soon, mom," Tarzan soothed her, his voice still very low, "Watch Ara." Kala blinked her eyes open, and saw the little girl nestled against her. Wrapping a protective arm around the child, she lay her head back down and shut her eyes back.

Tarzan carefully crept through the nests, careful not to wake anyone- that would be just what he needed. As soon as he was beyond the nests, Tarzan stood very still and listened. Sure enough, he heard soft rustlings, as if something were sneaking about.. And knowing the jungle, there was most definitely something sneaking about. His brows furrowing, Tarzan gripped tightly to his spear and went the direction of the rustling, trying to think of just who would be there... Not Sabor, for he never showed at night- he wasn't so cowardly. Perhaps another leopard.. or wildcat... Or...

The first panther let out a cry as it fell from the tree, showing it was ready to fight as its twin crept out of the underbrush.

"Wake up!" Tarzan called out the warning, "Nuru and Sheeta!" At once the commotion broke out. Ara, who had just fallen back to the welcoming hands of sleep, was awoken at once as Kala grabbed her up and slung her onto her back as Tarzan so often did. Ara's arms immediately wrapped around Kala's thick, furry neck, as if instinct told her to. All the gorillas were running now, something they rarely did.

"Kerchak!" Kala called out, looking for her mate, eyes wide. He was there in front of her suddenly.

"Get Ara and yourself away from here!" he ordered, before rushing off to help Tarzan who was doing his best to fend off both of the panthers.. However, one slipped away and- as its color matched that of the dark- was hidden from his and Kerchak's view.

"Tarzan!" Ara suddenly shrieked as she spotted the big yellow eyes staring at her. Kala turned around just in time to rise on her back legs and grab hold of the panther's two front paws and begin wrestling with it, gaining a gash on her arm as she did. Ara fell off her back and landed painfully on the ground. Thankfully, however, she was able to drag herself up and, using her arms and good leg, squabbled to a tree and began climbing it as Tarzan had taught her.

As soon as Kerchak saw the panther attacking Kala, he roared in outrage, rushing to her aid. At that moment, the one still being occupied by Tarzan let out another yowl. The one attacking Kala hissed, but then ran into the wilderness. The one attacking Tarzan swiped at the wild man's face before following suit. The battle had been short lived, and the gorillas began their accounting of one another. No one was missing... well, of their kind at least.

"Ara?" Tarzan called out. And soon he was chorused by his mother, Turk, and some of the younger gorillas. "Ara?! Ara, where are you!"

"Listen," Kerchak suddenly grunted, surprising everyone. But the ones who had been calling headed him, listening. And they head it- a very faint voice from above.

"Tarzan!" it whispered into the night. Barely a second later, Tarzan was halfway up the closest tree. The call was growing louder and when he was at the top, he only had to  look around to see Ara hugging onto a branch as if for dear life. He had to stop himself from laughing at the sight. He agilely  bounded from tree to tree until he was on the same branch as Ara.

"How in the world," he began, lifting her up by her arm before slinging her on his back, "did you end up here? You are getting better at climbing." Ara gave a nervous laugh, holding onto Tarzan with a death grip as he descended the tree to rejoin the colony.