Author's Note: I love Jungle Book, this takes place one year after Jungle Book 2, Shanti=10 years, Mowgli=10 years, Ranjan=5 years...Somewhat going along with the cartoon Jungle Cubs how Khan used to be friends with everyone...Don't forget to Review!

Summary: A virus has infected the jungle animals, and the JB crew has limited time to cure the wildlife, but the cure lies in Shere Khan's past and betrayal...

Disclaimer: Sadly...but no...

Chapter Eight

Now You Can Hightail it Outta the Jungle,

But it Never Leaves Your Heart

Part One

xxx Two Days after Eleanor's encounter

The human girl kept close to the CubHouse for a few days, sticking with the close path that led to the river bend nearby and her ever resourceful fruit trees.

Then Baloo grew sick, to the point where Eleanor could nothing to even aid his breathing.

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Present Day

When Mowgli entered the animal filled warehouse, the scene below him from the catwalk wasn't what he expected, overnight the animals went from recovering and content...

To most being hovered over by three or more white coat clad workers.

Louie was one of the worst, a breathing tube down his throat and knocked unconscious, as limp as a rag doll.

Shere Kwan wasn't much better, lacking the breathing tube but still incredibly weak as even his ears ceased to twitch as people moved around him like ants.

Col. Hathi had a chain around his right hind ankle and left fore foot, keeping him relatively contained as he continuously stood and settled back down, jerking up wobbly and staggering, rocking back and forth.

Winifred and Jr. were nowhere to be seen, but Mowgli had overheard Ari and a few other older boys mention another barn built for elephants needed to be prepped for new arrivals if need be.

The boy had seen Kaa in a huge room filled with heated rocks and lights, "digital monitors" hooked to "sensors" in the enclosure to control the heat and humidity, Mowgli didn't have a clue what those were for.

Bagheera was the only one relatively stable, managing to get up and move without too much discomfort, the workers let him be, he wasn't the worst affected. Mowgli could still see he was extremely weak, wobbling a bit and moving slow, none of the usual fluidity and grace known to panthers.

The jungle cat was the exact opposite of the on Mowgli didn't want to see sick.

Baloo...

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A Week after Eleanor's Encounter

The girl pounded at the herbs and fruit juices viciously, wiping the tears from her eyes that she refused to creep any lower. Baloo, Hathi, and Shere Khan were ill, and the teenager was pretty sure Louie was too but couldn't leave the others long enough to go climb up to the orangutan's makeshift hide away.

She could have asked Kaa or Bagheera to check on him, but Eleanor refused to risk her friends' lives as this sickness was dangerous, already other jungle friends of hers had...

Died

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He couldn't get that jungle girl out of his head, and while he wondered the jungle, he kept checking every little sound in case it was her.

The path he was following was an okapi trail, not that he'd find the elusive creatures, but their travel routes were great for navigating the underbrush, either it led to a field to graze, or to a water source.

Or in his case to stone ruins with someone singing.

"...sleep my friend...I am near...

Sleep dear hunter, none to fear...

We are of one blood, thine and I...

I shall hunt for you, til the moon is nigh...

Sleep my brother tiger, your breath comes so slow...

I cannot aid your suffering, what is it I don't know..."

The voice trailed off with a choke, turning into heart wrenching sobs, he leaned around a crumbling stone wall to see the jungle girl crying over the limp body of a tiger, the unsteady, weak rise and fall of its chest telling of its plight.

Her hands were fisted in his orange and black fur, head bowed over the shoulder of the great cat as it slept or was merely too weak to do anything.

A coughing fit shook a pile of dry grasses, a gray sloth bear sprawled out on top, unable to breathe without coughing or drawing in thin, weak breaths through a pale mouth.

The girl stood to watch the coughing cease, the bear seeming to slip into slumber once more as she stumbled to check on the prone form of a young bull elephant, the trunk lifting up enough to brush her thigh as her hands rested on the creature's massive chest.

He stepped forward, kicking the spear lying haphazardly on the ground into his hand, the wooden shaft rattling on the stone and the girl spun to face him.

Their eyes locked.

And neither could move.

Lousy, sorry for the wait, trying to get back in the swing of this...