Tarzan stretched his arms as he watched the play of light cutting between the thick trees to sparkle and dance across the waters reflective surface. He had been waiting here for most of the day and still the water's surface remained unmoving. He knew that he would have to leave shortly before his mother came to look for him. He knew that if Kala began to look for him or to even hint that she did not know where he was Kerchak would come searching for him. As leader of the family group Kerchak had already told him to stay away from the strange creatures the lived in the water. To him there was nothing good about creatures that lived under the water and never came out of it. There had to be something evil about them and they would be a danger to the family simply because they were different from him.

Tarzan would never understand why Kerchak was so aggressively against anything different from him. It was like that with everything even Tarzan himself was not really accepted by Kerchak. The only reason he was allowed to stay within the family at all was solely because of Kala. Kala, who had found him as a baby, saved him from being killed by Sabore, taken him in, and raised him as if he had been her own. Kala who had fought for him, provided for him, and protected him as far back as he could remember. Kala who never once treated him as if he were any different from her, or even like he were an outsider. She was and always would be his mother, regardless of what Kerchak said or did. Nothing would ever change that.

The sound of movement in the underbrush caught his attention and brought him out of his thoughts. He glanced down toward the sounds, smirked and shook his head. She could always find him. No matter what he did or where he went she could always track him down. But staying quiet was something that she would never be good at. It just was not in her nature to be so.

"I know your there Terk. You might as well come out." He said shifting on the branch so that he was now facing toward the jungle.

"Ohh ehh.. You heard me hu?" Terk said as she emerged from the bushes. "And I thought I was so quite that time."

Tarzan smirked again. "Yeah about as quiet as Tantor when he's leading a charge."

She glowered up at him and muttered, "I was not that loud."

He laughed and said, "Ok so not that loud but I still heard you coming." He looked at his best friend, really his only friend among the family. "Guess it is about time to head back hu."

"Yeah you know what will happen if he finds you here." Terk said looking around. "You know how he feels about them."

"Yes, I know exactly how he feels about them. It's the same way he feels about anyone different from him." He said sharply.

There was no way Terk could have missed the bitterness in her friend's voice. "He just wants to keep the family safe." She said falling back to Kala's line of defense.

Tarzan glared at her. "Don't do that." He said. "Don't go defending him or his actions. Kala does so because she is his mate. It is only right she try to defend his actions. But not you. You're my best friend, my only friend in the family. Please do not start defending what he does, not to me. Never to me."

"I'm not trying to defend anything he does." She said sadly "But Tarzan we cannot stay out here, we need to get heading back." She added quickly. "Before something bad happens."

"Something bad like what for example?" A female voice questioned from the direction of the water.

Tarzan spun around to see the red head leaning against the rocks at the edge of the tide pool. Her bright blue eyes shining up at him happily. "You made it." He said jumping down from the tree and walking over toward where the girl was. "I was worried that you would not be able to get away today."

"Well, it was definitely not an easy thing to do today." She said watching him as he came toward her. "My father is getting more suspicious. He is being very …." She cut off for a moment and her face scrunched up as she searched for the right word.

"Protective?" He asked. He knew the feeling of her father's idea of protection all too well. In fact he was pretty sure that he still had the marks on his back from that pointy thing her father had jabbed him with.

She looked at him the question clearly written on her face. "I take it things are still not good between you and Kerchak as well."

He knew that she worried about him and his continued problems with Kerchak. He also knew that he did not want to make her worry more than she did already. It was hard enough knowing that Kerchak and her father both hated and distrusted each other. And even the idea of Tarzan spending time together with her was a world ending event. If they were ever caught together, that would be all it would take for the two of them to start an all-out war.

"It's not any worse than normal. For the most part he ignores me as if I'm not even there." He said shrugging it off as if even saying the words were not ripping him apart. "So did you find anything?" He asked trying to distract her and himself.

She sighed knowing that he was not telling her something but also knowing that if he did not want to talk about it then he would simply not talk about it. Putting her best smile back on her face she said, "Don't I always find something new?"

She reached back under the water and pulled out her bag setting it on the rocks so that he could see the contents as well. As she pulled out the items for his inspection she smiled as his face lit up with curiosity. The items she had found in the ship wreck today had not been big but they were items she had never seen before so she thought they would please him.

"How do you always manage to find these things?" He said rolling a small box with a little L shaped tube sticking out of the center of it in his hand.

She almost laughed at the expression on his face when it made a noise as he turned the little tube. The sound was very soft and almost sweet as it came out of the little box.

"Yeah this is great and all." Terk said coming up behind him. "That's really neat stuff you found there red, and I really hate to break this up and all." She continued. The panic in her voice caught Trazan's attention.

He looked back at her then back toward the jungle. The large flock of birds that had just taken to the sky told him exactly why she was panicked. Kerchak was on the move. "Terk's right we have to go." He said looking back at her. "We cannot let him catch us down here." He continued. He put the little box back in her bag and smiled. "Do you think you can manage to sneak away for a little while tomorrow? I know it won't be easy."

"Your right it won't be easy at all. My father is having a big celebration tomorrow. I have a feeling he's not going to let me out of his site. And if he does I think I'm going to have a crab spy to contend with." She said then added quickly, "But if I can I will try to be here before the sun passes mid-day. If I'm not here by then I couldn't get away."

"Good." He nodded. "I have something to give you for your birthday." He said smiling at her. "Something special for your collection." He started to back away from her and added "You better get going too. I don't want him to see you here."

She smiled at him, "You remembered."

"Of course I remembered." He said shaking his head. "You honestly thought I would forget?"

"Come on Tarzan." Terk said pulling at his arm. "We got to go."

He nodded at her and began to move back toward the jungle pausing to look back at his friend and smiled at her again.

She nodded and grabbed her bag and pushed off the rocks. "I will see you tomorrow then Tarzan." She said smiling at him sweetly.

He nodded. "Tomorrow." He said. Then he turned and raced off disappearing into the jungle Terk right behind him.

The red head didn't wait a moment longer before she sank back down into the water to vanish into the murky depths that was her home.

"You are gonna get so busted" Terk said following him as fast as she could. "I really don't see why you like risking his anger just so you can spend time with her."

"I can't explain it Terk I just feel better when I'm around her." Tarzan said as he continued to move. "I know I shouldn't but I just like being around her. It's been that way ever since we were little." The memory that came over him was that of the first time he had ever seen the little fish tailed red head. He had finally caught up with Terk and her friends only to be told that in order to hang out and play with them he would have to first retrieve an elephant's hair as his initiation. Terk had tried to dissuade him but he ran right past her and jumped off the cliff.

Of course he had completely misjudged the distance of the drop and when he hit the water he hit it so hard that he had actually passed out for a few moments. When he woke up he found himself face to face with a hippo. But the hippo was not what had caught and held his attention. The little red head that was behind the hippo looked a lot like he did. More so than any other animal he had ever seen. The only difference that he could see was the fact that rather than feet and legs like he had she had a tail and a flipper like a fish. He then realized he could not breathe and he started to panic until the girl whispered to the hippo and it began to move she then pointed to him and motioned for him to watch how the hippo moved in the water. He caught on quickly and before he knew it he was back at the surface.

He looked up and saw Terk and the others smiled and waved before going back under the water to move closer to the elephants. On his way he looked around but did not see the red headed fish girl anywhere. He quickly made his way over to the elephants and finally managed to grab hold of the hairs on one elephant's tail. However his victory was short lived as the elephant began to panic running around and around whipping its tail and upon losing his grip, tossing Tarzan up into the air. When he landed in the water he was surrounded by five that had all turned to watch the water where he had landed. He surfaced gasping for air and the elephants all panicked screaming something about a piranha. He more than likely would have been crushed under them but suddenly the fish girl appeared and dragged him out of the way as fast as she could. Once the stampede was over she pulled him up toward the small beach where Terk had found him. After that she had vanished beneath the water once again.

The next time he had seen her had been later on that same night. He had been yelled at by Kerchak once again saying that he would never learn and told that he would never be one of them. He felt like his heart had been ripped out of him. He didn't understand why he was so different from everyone else in the family or why Kerchak hated him so much. He stared at himself in the water and got angry. Hitting the water's reflective surface as hard as he could wanting to take his anger out on something, until mud splashed up in his face. When he looked down again he saw that he now looked more like the rest of his family so he began scooping up handfuls of mud and began to cover himself with it.

"Tarzan?" Kala said from behind him. He turned his head to look up at her. "What are you doing?" She asked.

He turned around and moved toward her and asked, "Why am I so different?"

She smiled down at him reached out her hand and said, "Because your covered with mud." She sat down before him. "That's why."

As she began to wipe the mud off of him he said, "No, Kerchak said I didn't belong in the

"Close your mouth." She said tenderly continuing to wipe away the mud.

He grabbed her hand to stop her and said, "Kerchak said I don't belong in the family."

"Never mind what Kerchak said." She responded shaking her head and reaching for him again to remove more of the mud. "Now hold still."

He pulled away and said, "But look at me."

Her smile faded and she said, "I am Tarzan," She smiled again and moved toward him and continued. "And do you know what I see? I see two eyes," as she wiped away the mud around his eyes. "Like mine. And a noise… somewhere… ahh here" She paid poking him on his noise causing him to laugh. She then reached out with both hands and cupped his ears and said, "Two ears." She wiggled his ears making them both laugh. "And let's see what else."

"Two hands" He offered excitedly lifting his little hands up to show her.

"That's right." She chuckled putting her hands palm to palm with his.

His smile faded as he looked at the very large difference between her hands and his own. He pulled his hands away and looked down at them sadly.

Kala frowned and sighed. She moved her arm to lift his chin so that he looked up at her once more. She smiled down at him and said, "Close your eyes." When he did so she moved closer to him and said, "Now forget what you see." She lifted his hand and placed it against his chest and asked, "What do you feel?"

After a minute he opened his eyes and said, "My heart." He looked up at her quizzically.

She pulled him toward her and said, "Come here." She lifted him up against her body holding him in place.

He closed his eyes once more then smiled and said, "Your heart."

She moved him again so that he was looking directly at her and said, "See were exactly the same."

He threw himself against her and hugged her tightly.

She sighed again hugging him back and said, "Kerchak just can't see that."

He looked up at her and said, "I'll make him see it. I'll be the best ape ever."

Kala chukled and said, "Oh I bet you will."

"So that's what you are?" A small voice came from out the darkness.

They both stopped and looked around. The voice had come from out toward the water.

"I have never seen anything like you before. Mommy said she wasn't sure what you were either. So I came back to find out what kind of animal you were." The voice came again.

Kala pulled Tarzan back away from the water. "Who's out there?"

"I'm not going to hurt him." The voice came again giggling a bit. "I saved him before but didn't know what he was. I know what you are though, you're a gorilla."

Kala squinted to see out over the water and said, "Show yourself."

The sound of water moving closer to them made Kala pull back slightly until a small figure emerged from the darkness to float before them.

"You again?" Tarzan said looking over Kala's shoulder. He moved around her to get a better look at the strange little red head.

"Tarzan don't get too close. " Kala said. "You have met her before?"

"Uh hu." He nodded looking back at Kala "Earlier today, back when the elephants stampeded." He looked down and said, "I um .. I was in the water and."

"My daughter pulled him out of the way so that he would not be trampled by them." A second voice came from out of the darkness. "Even though she herself could have been injured." The female voice continued to say as it too came closer.

"Hi mommy." The little red head said sheepishly looking back behind her.

The woman that came into view was unquestionably her mother. They looked very much alike right down to the color of their eyes and hair. "Hmm.. I thought I heard your father tell you that you were not to come back here again."

"But mommy I have never seen a real gorilla before and I wanted to know that he was really alright." The little red head said.

The red headed woman looked down at her daughter and sighed then looked over at them. "Forgive her my daughter seems to have forgotten her manners. My name is Athena. I am Queen of Atlantica and this little one is my youngest daughter the Princess Ariel."

"Tarzan where have you been?" Kala asked as he and Terk caught up with the rest of the family. It had taken them about an hour to get back to the family because they had taken the long way back just in case Kerchak was tracking them. They had stopped off at the big tree by the pond where they always hung out just to make it seem as if that was where they had been all day long. They had only stopped long enough to let Tarzan jump in the pond and for Terk to roll around in the weeds there to remove any trace of the salt water smell from their bodies.

"Sorry we were over by the falls and lost track of the time." He said as he came over toward her. It wasn't a total lie but he could not tell her the whole truth for fear that Kerchak might find out. At least this way Kala would honestly be able to say she did not know.

"Kerchak went out looking for you." She said on a sigh moving back over toward her chosen nesting spot. "He will be upset when he returns. You really must be more careful about staying away from the family for so long."

"I know mother, and I'm sorry I really am." He said nudging his hand up against hers she turned and smiled at him.

"I'm just glad your both safe." She said as she sat upon the branches and leaves that made up her nest.

"Safe or not you know you are not supposed to stay out that long." Kerchak said as he came out of the forest.

Tarzan turned to look at the large silverback. "I know Kerchak. We lost track of the time. We did not mean to be gone so long. After the patrol you sent us on we went to the old tree at the pond by the falls" Tarzan said.

"I know." Kerchak said. "I can smell that much. I also know you were down by the ocean again. A place that I have told you repeatedly not to go."

"Tarzan?" Kala questioned.

"Yes I was there." He said not looking at them. "It is along the path that you gave me to patrol. You told me to watch for any danger that might come. Do you want me to not look out at a place where you know danger can arise? The big waves that came two years ago came from out there."

Kerchak grunted at that but said nothing else as he stalked away to claim his own bed for the night.

Tarzan sighed and slumped down against the tree in relief.

"So how is she?" His mother asked from behind him causing him to jump slightly.

"Who do you mean?" He asked not looking at her.

"You know perfectly well who I mean." She said, "Listen to me Tarzan, I like her very much I always have but Kerchak is right about one thing. They live in a very dangerous place I don't like the idea of you being down there with her."

The sadness in her voice caused him to look back at her. She looked on the verge of tears and he knew why.

"I almost lost you once if not for Athena you would have…" Her voice trailed off as the tears started to flow. "We all lost something that day." She whispered when she could manage to speak again. "I lost my friend, you lost a teacher, and Ariel lost her mother." She shook her head. "If it had not been for Athena that shark would have killed you both but in saving you she lost her life. And her husband cannot see past that." She continued.

"I know tomorrow is a special day, and I know you have something planed for her. I will cover for you with Kerchak for as long as I can but I want you to promise me something." She looked at him the tears in her eyes making them almost glow in the moonlight. "Promise me that you will never go into that water with her again. I could not bear the thought that I might lose you."

He moved closer to her and hugged her tightly. "You have my word mother." He said. "I will never go back down into those waters."