Summary: At twelve, Mowgli the man-cub escaped Shere Khan's wrath. At fifteen, the Man-village exiles the wild child, unable to tame it. Three years later, Shere Khan hears whispers of a strange creature living in the depths of the jungle, though discovering that it is neither a man, nor a child comes as a surprise to no one but him. A coming of age story. Anthro-animals. FemMowgli. Written in short snippets. Eventual Romance.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Jungle Book.
One: Girl-Child
A girl becomes a woman after completing three steps. The first Mowgli learned early in her time within the Man-village. It begins when a girl-child starts her monthly bleeding, a cycle that waxes and wanes like the Moon. Her body changes form, the strong, flat plains of her chest rounding, her firm legs and arms lengthening uncomfortably as she awkwardly tries to find balance in a body adjusting to accommodate a shifting pelvis and the extra, fleshy weight of her developing breasts. The sweet, clean scent of the child's body changes with the fluctuation of hormones, becoming sharp, spicy, and fertile. Perhaps this is why the Wolves, unparalleled in scenting changes in the world around them, saw fit to send her away, instinctively knowing what was to come. They wouldn't have known what to do with her, Mowgli thinks, though Raksha would have tried, regardless.
The next step comes three years later, a horrifying shock to Mowgli, though she should have seen the signs in the behavior of the humans around her, even if she wasn't truly native to their culture. Marriage and the unforeseen expectation of mating with the male chosen for her was a sickening prospect, but also resulted in the completion of the third step: Motherhood.
Now an unwilling woman, Mowgli fled, carrying nothing but learned tricks and the power to make Man's Red Flower.
That she did not know of the life growing within her until it was lost was cruel, but Nature was rarely kind, and the Jungle even less so.