Disclaimer: All relevant characters belong to respective authors/owners of the Jungle Book franchise, including books and movies. I do not claim to own, nor will I profit from, using these characters/story lines in this fanfiction. This is all in fun. Any references to real places are coincidental or specifically for fictional purposes and are not, in any way, factual. Would also like to mention that any facts about species of animals in this story I include are not meant to be a form of educational content, and have been altered or tweaked to fit this plot/story.

a/n: This has absolutely no value whatsoever. I don't know what's possessed me to write Jungle Book fanfiction, or how it grew into the monster that it has, but here we are. I must warn any readers that this story does NOT focus on the main characters of the Jungle Book. Mowgli and friends are in the story, are the focus of the prologue, but will take a back seat after that. Sita (female Bengal) is introduced in this chapter and she, as well as Karik (male Siberian Tiger) will be the focus of the rest of the story, with Baloo, Bagheera, and the rest tagging along for the ride. This will be multi-chaptered with no update schedule.

Important: This fic is rated hard M. Prologue is K, I think, but hereafter I make no promises and would warn any readers that going beyond this point will be, and I can't stress this enough, rated M, for violence, some languageish content, and sexual content.

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Priyore

By: Gurbs2

Prologue

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Mowgli had been alive for nearly fifteen dry seasons when Red Flower finally devoured his forest.

Raksha and the pack, aided by Bagheera and Baloo, were able to round up many of their creature neighbors. But more of them died. Even, Mowgli thought, entire peoples. He'd looked back from across the river at the orange and black destruction and had mourned life as he'd known it. There was no place for them. Man had taken all of their forest and were preparing to cross the river and even the elephants had given up their territories. They'd disappeared into the night and Mowgli's starving, exhausted caravan didn't have the time or energy to search for them. Likely, he thought, they hadn't wanted to be found.

Another two seasons had passed since then as they'd traveled north and east, into the strange lands beyond Seeonee. Mowgli was surprised to find that man was here, too, and in many other places they'd touched in search of a new home. Places with strange names and strange peoples. No where had been safe, though. They'd snuck around villages, fought through groups with more men than any of them had ever seen. In some places, there were no tress, no dens, nowhere to hide from the predators protecting their territories or from man, who Mowgli had seen kill and skin and give away creatures that looked so similar to his Bagheera and to Shere Khan. Tigers, jaguars, panthers, and even wolves were hunted and trapped, often killed on the spot for their fangs and their furs and their claws. He'd snuck into a large village once, in search of food, and had stumbled into a place filled with all of these things, as well as entire elephant heads hanging from the walls of the hut.

Their group had shrunk significantly from where they started. The majority of plant eaters were gone; fallen prey to predators or starvation or injury along the way. Mowgli had woken many times to the sounds of someone being dragged away into the dark of night. Bagheera had reminded him, when Mowgli had a mind to go help, that this was the way of life. They were strangers in these territories and had no ground to call their own. The pack was not in charge here, and neither was Bagheera, or Baloo. Though it saddened them, they could not risk their own survival to thwart another's meal. Those that remained were tired, discouraged, and haggard.

It was late into the summer months when they finally seemed to leave man behind them. Mowgli shivered as they continued moving upward, and enormous, snow-capped mountains towered above. "It's cold here," he said aloud, because it was nice to have something to talk about.

"You'll need to cover yourself," Raksha suggested. Her head swayed to indicate the bag hanging from Mowgli's shoulder, filled with supplies he'd taken from various villages along the way. He wasn't as suited to adaptation as the rest of them.

Bagheera leapt atop a rock and scanned the trail ahead. He looked small compared to their surroundings; land and trees and boulders and mountains as far as their eyes could see. It was more expansive than their Seeonee jungle had been. Wilder, even, in some ways. They didn't know the law here, or if there was any law at all. "Come," Bagheera said, rejoining them on the ground. "Move quietly." He cut green eyes to Baloo and chuffed in warning. "We don't know where we are, or what to expect. Best not to draw attention to ourselves if we can help it."

"Do the best I can," Baloo agreed with a casual lift of his shoulder. He didn't say it, but he was better than he used to be. Weight loss and the stresses of survival had shriveled Mowgli's papa bear into a gangly and more pitiful version of his old self. "Though I could do with some dinner, Baggy. Think we all could."

Behind them, a few of the remaining bucks quivered in fear as Bagheera's eyes slid over them. It wasn't a threat, Mowgli thought, but a mere acknowledgement that they'd created a very strange situation for themselves. Back home, Bagheera would have taken his meal without regret. When their forest was killed, though, it thrust them into a more lingering version of their water truce. The panther now protected the buck, led them, when he'd previously have been their doom. For his part, Bagheera didn't seem overly bitter about it, only resigned, as they all were, to getting through this hardship.

"We will find something," Raksha promised, eyeing her pack warningly as they followed Bagheera's gaze and, more than likely, imagined how easy it would be to fill their bellies. "Patience."

Their group weaved through trees that seemed to touch the sky and avoided the heavier clusters of underbrush, feet and paws padding the cold soil softly. Darkness fell around them and Bagheera called a halt to their travels for the day when a few of the water buffalo began falling asleep while walking. Clumsiness was a good way to draw predators.

Baloo gave a low psst, and waved a paw for everyone to follow. "There's a small cave, here." At the base of one of the smaller mountains, some of the rocks jutted outward and into the trees, creating enough shelter for most of their group. Not a cave, Mowgli thought, but close. "Get all the little ones in first," Baloo instructed, standing tall and directing the flow. "Don't push. Room for everyone."

There was not room for everyone. Against his Ami's wishes, Mowgli curled up high in one of the branches above their people, head propped against Bagheera's back. It was a bit of a gamble for him to sleep in the trees, but was less dangerous than slumbering below, where he'd be easy pickings for another panther or jaguar. He wished he knew where they were. They'd left India, for certain. Mowgli had listened and learned much from man as he'd walked among them, seeking supplies and food and safety, and had relayed it all to his family when he'd returned to them. Man's language was hard, at first. Listening to them talk to each other instead of to him made it harder. But Mowgli was smart. The language had changed when they'd entered China, and it had taken him some time to adjust and gather. They'd left it behind when they'd entered this new place, and there were no people and no signs for him to try and figure it out. He felt helpless.

Bagheera was snoring lightly, and Mowgli's eyes were drifting closed when something snapped in the distance. A twig, perhaps. Maybe a branch. He couldn't tell from this far away whether it'd come from high or low. "Quiet," Bagheera said, green eyes searching the darkness. "Do not move. Let it come to us."

Down below, Baloo was awake, as was the pack, but all appeared to remain slumbering. Mowgli saw the glowing eyes bobbing within the brush long before he recognized the stripes of a tiger. "Bagheera," he hissed, and only just stopped himself from springing to his feet.

"Wait," the panther said, watching closely. The moon was high and bright, emitting a bluish glow that broke through the trees to light small patches of ground. The tiger was small, Mowgli realized. Perhaps Bagheera's size… maybe even smaller. It resembled Shere Khan only in the coloring. Its eyes lifted cautiously to their branch and its head lowered. "I don't think she's here to cause harm," Bagheera announced, standing. He leapt downward, from branch to branch, until his paws met the ground almost silently. "Speak," he said.

The tiger blinked blue eyes between Bagheera, and Baloo, standing not far behind. Raksha hovered defensively by the shelter, her pups huddled close. "I am Sita."

"Bagheera," the panther answered. "This is Baloo, the bear. Raksha, Alpha of the Seonee pack. And above, you'll find Mowgli, our man-cub." Sita didn't look upward. She wasn't interested in the man-cub, or in the gathering of predators across from her. Bagheera's head tilted curiously as he sniffed the air. "You are… familiar to me."

Sita nodded. "We are from Seonee, though we hunted elsewhere. We have come across your trail here and there, along this tiresome path we've traveled. I think we draw nearer now."

"You mean we're going the right way?" Baloo asked, stunned. "Here I thought we were just wandering. Where is it we're going, exactly?"

Mowgli dropped down a few branches. Sita looked to the sky and took a deep breath. "There is talk of a safe place for peoples like us; without a home, without protection. It is hidden within the mountains of a land called Siberia. I believe we are there, now. It looks as it should."

"What does a tiger need with protection?" Baloo scoffed. He waved a paw aimlessly. "Tangled with your kind before, ya know? Remember Shere Khan? It was us that had to get rid of him."

Sita snorted and gave him a toothy smile. "Got rid of him? Do you truly believe this man-cub killed Shere-Khan?" She shook her head and dipped it low, eyeing the bear intently. "That tiger is not dead. He was maimed, I think, and disfigured. But he lives. I've heard he travels this way, in fact. Most of the creatures that had the knowledge did."

"Is that why you're running?" Raksha asked.

The tigress slanted her eyes, so blue Mowgli was reminded of the snow-capped mountains, to the wolf. She was hard to read. Mowgli knew the wolf way, knew the pack way, and he knew the laws of their jungle, but he was not familiar with the formalities of the big cats. Most were solitary creatures, like Bagheera, and he'd never observed any others interacting with their own kind. Sita said, "Yes." Her head lifted proudly. "I am not ashamed to say so. This is my first mating season, and I won't fall victim to the likes of males like Shere-Khan. My family and others have chosen another way. Your way," Sita stressed, nodding towards the pack. "To find a true mate and remain with them until death. Our kind are disappearing from this world. The old way is not fixing this, so we must find another."

"Are you alone in this thinking?" Bagheera wondered, intrigued.

Sita shook her head. "My parents mated young and remain together today. They are with me, now, escorting me to safety. There were others like us." Her lips curled over fangs that made Mowgli swallow nervously. "But man destroyed our home, and tigers like Shere-Khan, who do not agree with our changes, picked off the rest of the survivors."

Raksha shifted uncomfortably, eyes wide. "He's following you, isn't he?"

"Hunting me," Sita corrected. "That is his way, as you all well know."

Mowgli stood. "He could be close."

"No," the tigress assured. "We left him strung up by a hind leg in China. I've no doubt he'll find a way out of it, but for now, we have a generous head start."

Bagheera sniffed the air again. "Your parents?"

"Close." Sita flicked her tail casually. "I thought we might work together on this last phase of our adventure. We've come far. But I fear our troubles are only beginning." Reluctantly, she admitted, "I am young and have little in the way of experience. My parents taught me to survive, but our home was a safe one, with many other tigers larger than myself to do the protecting. My parents, though seasoned, are aging. We would all benefit from an alliance, I think."

While Raksha and Baloo seemed uncertain, Bagheera was convinced of this tiger's intentions. Panthers were wary by nature, always cautious, and so Mowgli thought it was significant that he'd allowed this stranger into his temporary territory. "We have weaker creatures with us," Bagheera warned. "Who will not be hunted. They are under our protection until we find a safe place."

"Agreed," Sita murmured.

Baloo huffed. "What can you tell us about this mystery haven of yours?"

"Not much. Only that animals from all over flee there when man takes their homes, or when tyrants like Shere-Khan run them out." Sita tilted her head. "Perhaps it's all a lie. The only way to be certain is to go looking for it."

Mowgli leapt the rest of the way down to the ground. His heart beat furiously being level with another tiger. Shere Khan had left his mark on the young man's mind. "I agree," he said, and looked at Bagheera, who studied him with parental concern he could no longer hide. "What else do we have to lose?"

"Yes," Bagheera agreed. "We are on our last leg." He looked back to Sita. "It is decided, then. We will travel and work together to find a new home."

Behind them, Raksha looked to her pups and said, "Fret not, little ones. The end of our journey is near."

One way or another, Mowgli knew that to be true.