Chapter 37: Deep Jungle

Kassy's POV

When morning arrived, the first thing I heard was a steady heartbeat. I cuddled closer into Sora's chest until my bladder protested. I tested my ankle, wincing at the pain shooting up my leg. I slowly escaped Sora's arms and found a secluded sport outside the treehouse with a barrel. I limped back to Sora with an embarrassed blush on my cheeks.

I curled against Sora until he stirred a few moments later, "Huja, wah... Riku...?"

Pouting, I sat up, allowing him to stretch and rub his eyes, "No. It's Kassy."

He paused, "Oh... right. Sorry." He looked around and stood up, "I'll be right back."

He went to the back of the treehouse outside. A sudden thought popped into my head. If Sora was here in the treehouse, where was...

A large jaguar jumped from the roof with a growl, "N-Nice, Sabor..."

He lunged. I put my hands in front of my head, screaming out subconsciously, "Sora!"

I heard metal clash with claws. I opened my eyes to see him fighting Sabor. I summoned one of my guns and aimed.

Lowering it with a frown, I worried that if I couldn't hurt him to help Sora, what COULD I do? Was I no better than a heartless Kairi?

A cry rang through the treehouse as Sora fell to his knees. A tan muscular man with long unkempt brown hair to his shoulders, wearing only a dirty beige loincloth, landed in between Sabor and Sora, effectively blocking the jaguar with his spear.

The man managed to scare the animal off and turned to face us, "Sabor danger."

"Um... Thank you." Sora mumbled, getting to his feet.

"Thank you." The man repeated, tilting his head slightly.

"Huh? Uh, what is this place?" Sora asked cautiously.

"This place, this place." I felt my left eye twitch.

"Okaaaaay... Where did the others go?" The man looked confused. I sighed, "Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them? Friends..." Sora drawled out the last word.

"Friends!" The wild man repeated.

"Right, my friends! There's two of 'em. The loud one is Dona- You know what? Never mind. I'm looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi." I rolled my eyes at his immaturity, only to realize something.

"Our friends." He corrected himself quickly at my glare.

"Look for Riku, friends?" The man asked.

"Right!" Sora cheered enthusiastically.

"Kairi, friends?" Ack! The cloth moved!

Sora glanced behind him, "Uh... Right..." I couldn't see Kairi... Why was that?

"Friends here." Would he please stop with the minimal syllables?

"Really?" Sora exclaimed.

The man made several gorilla sounds before answering in English, "Friends here."

"Not sure I understand, but show me! Take me- uh... us... to Riku and Kairi!" Sora corrected quickly.

"Tarzan." The man said, "Tarzan go."

"And I'm... Sora." He grinned hesitantly, "Tarzan go. Sora go go!"

My left eye twitched, "I'm Kassy..."

He stepped closer. I automatically leaned back, "Friend of Jane?"

"Take us to her." Sora nodded in agreement, if not a little confused.

Tarzan motioned for us to follow him. Sora looked back and forth between Tarzan and I, "Um... She can't walk..."

Silence lasted until Tarzan swept me up bridal style. My protests, as well as Sora's, fell on deaf ears. Screaming, I stupidly watched the trees and branches rush by as we slid down a large and very long tree trunk into a campsite. Tarzan set me on my feet next to Sora, who looked tense and even a little flustered. Shaking, I buried my head in his shoulder. He helped me into the large tent a few feet from us.

"Jane!" Tarzan addressed someone in the middle of the tent, fiddling with a camera.

"Tarzan!" A British woman with shoulder length brown hair wearing a white tank top and a tied up burgundy skirt turned around to face us with a bright happy smile, her blue eyes sparkling happily. She noticed Sora and I, "Oh! Hello! You are?"

Sora smiled nervously, "Uh, hi there. I'm-"

Jane immediately cut him off, "Oh, you speak English!"

I nodded, "I'm Kasandra and this is Sora."

She smiled kindly, "So, then, obviously, you're not related to Tarzan... Are you here to study the gorillas?"

"Highly doubtful." A gruff male voice appeared behind us.

Not expecting it, and still a little shaken from earlier, I jumped, crying out after landing on my bad ankle. A squeal escaped my lips when someone wrapped their arms around me, "Kassy!"

My smile brightened immediately. I ignored my pain, "Hazel! Are you okay?"

She pulled away so I could face her. She had a sheepish look on her face, "Not entirely... I got stabbed by something on the way down. So, now, not only do I have a broken leg, but a broken side. How about you? You survive the wrath of Sylvia's driving skills?"

Sighing, I rolled my eyes, "Not even close. Broke or sprained my ankle."

Hazel's POV

I looked her up and down. She wore a black turtle neck t-shirt with short blood red fishnet sleeves and a blood red pocket in the middle that ended below her chest showing the heartless insignia. She had on a black skirt with a slit up the right side showing a shorter piece of blood red fabric. Black legwarmers covered her ankles, the top and bottom bands blood red. Blood red flats covered her feet. She also wore black fingerless gloves with blood red bands around her wrists, the outline of the heartless insignia on the back of her hands. A blood red head band sat atop her head, "Nice."

She pouted, "Not for cold weather."

I scoffed, "That's never stopped your cuddling before."

"Finally..." I heard a male's voice mutter. Hazel and I moved away from the doorway for Cloud to step in, closely followed by-

"Elena!" We both wrapped our arms around her, only to pull away when we heard a pained gasp, "What happened?"

She smiled, "I'm fine, just a little sore. I, uh, got stabbed by a tree on the way down."

Jane hurried over at once, "Oh no! Are you all alright?"

AN: Yay! Finally getting on with the plot! T.T