I only own the OCS!
Leopard the Warrior of Africa
Tai Shang prowled the jungle floor again, looking for a place she could reside in as her "den", so to speak. The tigress was actually mighty pleased with herself so far. She had met some old acquaintances, got along with a python, brought three man-cubs to a sloth bear and black panther, and made allies with all of them along with the animals that were at the temples. She smiled to herself and looked around. Now to make allies with the Man-village, elephant herd, and vultures. Well, as soon as she found a den or something.
"Oh, hello Missy Tigress! And how are you today?"
Tai Shang looked up and smiled before sitting down. Right there on one of the branches, was a vulture with brown hair and black feathers. "Good day, sir. I am very well today, thank you." She said, nodding her head in greeting to the vulture. "May I ask what you're name is?"
"Ziggy, miss. Yours?"
"Tai Shang."
"Oh, so that's what your name is. My friends and I have just been calling you the Mysterious Tigress, Missy Tigress, or New Tigress lately. We all seen you around the jungles and all that," Ziggy said, gesturing his wings with most of the words. Tai Shang giggled and covered her mouth to try and cover it.
"Well, at least I now know that the flyers of the jungles are aware of newcomers," she said, her tail curling and uncurling. "You won't know if there is any empty den or such nearby, do you?"
"Oh, why of course! There's a ton nearby, granted that half of them are taken. But there are still some empty ones. My friends Flaps and Buzzie are on a tree on the way to a hidden one in a canyon only the deer go to for the grass. Just take a left at the waterhole ahead of here, and you'll see them. They could give you the rest of the directions," the brown hair vulture said, pointing the way.
Tai Shang turned to see the small glimpse of the waterhole and looked back to where Ziggy was. "Why thank you- Ziggy?" She looked confused as she saw Ziggy flying away quickly. "Odd. He didn't even say goodbye."
The honey-brown striped tigress went on her way though, and went the way Ziggy told her. It wasn't long until she saw two vultures, one with blonde hair and darkish brown/black feathers and the other was bald, slightly fat, and pure black feathers. Walking up towards the tree they were in. "Good morning gentlemen, I suppose you are Buzzie and Flaps?"
The vultures nodded. "You must be Tai Shang, the tigress everyone's been talking about," the blonde one said, flying down to a lower branch. Tai Shang smiled and nodded.
"That is I."
"Well, then, it's nice to met you, Ms. The blonde vulture here in one of my friends, Flaps, as you already know, along with me being Buzzie," the bald vulture point, pointing to Flaps and himself. Tai Shang smiled and tilted her head at them.
"Your friend Ziggy said that you two could give me directions to a den at the end of a canyon nearby. I trust that you will by a kindness choice?" she said, staring them down with her greenish-light blue eyes. Both nodded and pointing their wings one way.
"First of all, you go down the path," Buzzie said.
"And then you just turn right at the banana tree with brown leaves," Flaps continued.
"Then you go straight, and be careful that you watch your step, because those stones make a bit of a staircase that you would find in the temple ruins."
"Then you'll find our friends Tempestas and Dizzy on a tree. Dizzy would be the tall one and Tempestas would be the female."
Tai Shang listened carefully and nodded. She frowned though, at the last one. 'Why are these vultures always sending me to their friends? Must be a vulture thing,' she thought. The petite tigress got up and looked back at the tree, only to see Buzzie and Flaps flying away before she could thank them. "Oh, now this is starting to get annoying and rude," she said to herself. As she went on her way following, Tai Shang couldn't help but feel that there was someone or something watching and/or following her. She shook the feeling off quickly though as soon she saw the two vultures Buzzie and Flaps had directed her too.
The blonde female vulture, Tempestas no doubt, was giggling something that Dizzy, who the tall, black haired, and darkish brown/black feathered vulture was, most likely said. "Um, pardon me, but... um…" Tai Shang began.
"Oh, you must be that tigress from China, right mate?" Tempestas said, flying to the ground. "I'm Tempestas and this is Dizzy, who most likely has to be the most funniest guy on earth," the female bird said, earning a small glance from Tai Shang before Dizzy spoke up.
"Nice you meet you."
Judging by the sound of Dizzy's tone and voice, Tai Shang couldn't really figure out how he could be "funny." "Yes, um, I hope that I am not interrupting anything, but some of your friends said you could tell me directions to the den in this canyon?" she said, starting to have an unsure feeling.
"Why of course. You just go straight, turn right at the three way path, and go straight," Dizzy said.
"And then, mate, you turn left at the fork there, and at the end of that path, should be our friend named Lucky, who's just at the entrance of the den," Tempestas finished. Tai Shang looked down the path and looked at the vultures to thank them, only to see them already gone.
"Ok, now this is getting ridiculous!" She yelled, running off and following the directions she was given.
…
Shere Khan smiled and he continued to follow his new prey through the canyon. He knew that for a moment she had almost sensed his presence, but the vultures had truly done the job he had "asked" them to do (Tempestas had been the only one willingly to help him, and the other vultures had been either through his force or hers). Ziggy had been the first to find her and also the first to tell him that the plan was in action. Buzzie and Flaps had been next, and Tempestas's feather had been the signal that the last part was on cue. All that was left was Lucky.
…
Tai Shang turned around quickly at the sound of a twig snapping. There was no one there, but her eyes turned around, looking for any sign of danger. After what felt like an eternity, the tigress continued her way, but carefully. It must have been about an hour before she saw a male vulture with almost no hair, with the hair that he did have being a light reddish brown, and having black feathers. 'Must be Lucky," she thought, running up the vulture. What he said, though, surprised and shocked her.
"Hey! Right on time!" he said, laughing as he laid against the tree trunk.
"Excuse me?"
"You didn't really think there was a den over here, did ya? Shere Khan asked us to carry out a plan of his, and it worked! Too bad I was one of the last parts. But Shere Khan's really angry about you being here in his jungles. Ha!" Lucky said, laughing his butt off. Tai Shang gasped and turned to run, only to see that the way she came in was the only way out… and was blocked by Shere Khan.
The tigress backed away as the larger tiger came towards her, forcing her against the canyon walls. Shere Khan's golden eyes turned to Lucky, the male tiger growling. Lucky telling Tai Shang all this wasn't part of it, but it worked either way. Lucky flew away, the last thing he said to the tigress was, "See ya later, Missy Tigress! Not!"
Tai Shang looked at Shere Khan in fear. Why hadn't she seen this coming? She knew that the male had been angry, but this… this was unbelievable.
Shere Khan looked at Tai Shang with a grin. "Well, I have to admit, this has turned out better, hasn't it Tai Shang? Well, at for me, it has," he said, letting his claws come out as he came closer to her. The tigress felt a small quiver go down her spine, trying to think of something quickly. Shere Khan's grin soon turn into a smirk as he saw her ears pin against her head. "Admit it, my darling, there's no one or anything to save you here," he said.
Suddenly, Tai Shang's expression turned from scared and horrified to a very seductive one. "Why, yes, Khanny. I will admit it," she said, her flirty tone making Shere Khan stop in his tracks.
Tai Shang moved closer to Shere Khan, placing her head under his chin. "I'll admit, I'm defeated by one of the most smartest, strongest, and handsome tigers of India," she whispered in his ear. Shere Khan's right eye began to twitch a bit as a stupid grin came across his face. Tai Shang buried her face in Shere Khan's fur, hiding the small smile on her face.
Shere Khan soon regained his senses and pulled away from Tai Shang. "Now, Tai Shang, you can't possibly think that this act of yours will work, do you?" he said, looking away from her. Tai Shang looked at her paws and closed her eyes.
"Who's says I'm acting? And either way, didn't I just say I admit defeat? My fate," she rubbed her head against his white chest, "is in your paws." A train of thoughts came in Shere Khan's head at that moment. Here, was possibly the first tigress ever in his territory, flirting with him. On the other hand, she was a threat to him, and had even made herself at home. On the other hand…
"Shere Khan," Tai Shang whispered before licking his nose. Shere Khan's golden eyes widen as the stupid grin returned to his face. Tai Shang stood up and circled around him, rubbing against his fur, a small smile on her face. Shere Khan sighed, and quickly stood up; watching Tai Shang's every move. The tigress only smiled and licked his cheek, earning a sigh from the tiger. She found it easy to pin him to the ground, and nuzzled him once she did. Shere Khan closed his eyes in bliss. His head was telling him to get back up, and finish the job he set out to do…but this was too good, his heart was beating against his ribcage, telling him that that perhaps… this maybe was what he truly was looking for. It took him a few minutes to realize that Tai Shang had used this opportunity to escape.
"TAI SHANG!"
…
The tigress ran through the canyon towards the jungles. She had a bone to pick with those vultures once she got to safety. Once she reached Elephant Rock, she looked back to see if Shere Khan was following her. Tai Shang smiled and began to groom herself before her thoughts turned to the tiger. Despite his killing of man-cubs and vengeful personality, she had to admit that he was actually very charming. Along with being rather strong, clever, and having unusually long claws. The more she thought about it, the more… tolerable he seemed to be. He was actually fun to flirt with and all.
'He wouldn't actually make a bad mate if he didn't hunt man-cubs as well as man,' she thought, a small smile on her face.
3 weeks later…
Shere Khan had to be going mad. He couldn't concentrate on his goal to hunt man. He had trouble hunting as well as he normally did. Whenever he fell asleep, passing animals could hear him mutter things they couldn't quite believe. Everyone knew of it, all the animals had seen it. Even the man-village had noticed or heard of Shere Khan's actions from Shanti, Ranjan, and Mowgli.
Bagheera was lying down with Banga in the trees when he saw Tai Shang walking by. "Good day, Bagheera. You wouldn't know by any chance where Shere Khan has gone off to?"
"Afraid not, Tai Shang. And I wouldn't want to be near him these days."
Tai Shang only nodded and passed by. "Thanks either way."
…
Shere Khan dipped a paw into the waterhole he was at and sighed. He couldn't get Tai Shang off his mind since her escape from him in the canyon. Almost at every sound, he turned to see if it was her, or every scent he tried to track to try and meet up with her. At the sound of the leaves nearby rustling, he lifted his head, hoping against hope that it was her. The tiger shook his head though.
"Now I'm being pitiful. She wouldn't dare in her right mind come near me," he said to himself.
"Oh, now that is just sad to hear you say that, Khanny." Shere Khan turned around to see Tai Shang right in front of him. His golden eyes widen seconds before she pinned him down. "I have not seen you lately," she said, her tone making Shere Khan have a stupid grin again.
"I didn't think you would want to see me."
Tai Shang smiled and licked his nose. Shere Khan sighed and nuzzled her, whispering in her ear, "Be mine."
Me: And now... we will see in the next chapter if she does become his or not. btw, to make everyone clear, You pronounce Tai Shang's name like this. Tai (tye) Shang (Sh-u-ng) It's Shang as in Farm/sung, not Shang as in Wang and Shake.
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