Chapter 9
Soon, the rains came down upon India, with all work now being dictated by Mother Nature's choosing. The man village closed their gates and loaded sand bags up nearby in case of flooding. On top of all of it, no one was permitted to leave the village for fear of being swept away by the high waters unsuspectingly. Mowgli didn't like it one bit, though he didn't overtly express it. He had made it through plenty of monsoons before, and he never had to be paranoid of it. Now he couldn't even leave the village, let alone go and visit the jungle. Moments like these gave him a rare chance of internalization of himself, and there certainly was none of that recently. Baloo being a teacher, Bagheera once a pet and know Kaa's supposed death. Change is commonplace in the jungle, but this may be too much.
It was at this time Shanti sat beside him, joining him in gazing off.
" I know how you feel, Mowgli. I hate all this weather."
" Why would you say th-" Mowgli stopped his question when he looked over to see her big frizzy hair on her head. It was clear that Shanti had tried to get it under control, but it was like a porcupine trying to sheathe it's quills. Shanti raised a humorous yet questioning eye to Mowgli's gap.
" Uh, nevermind."
" Nevermind what? It's not like I'm the only one with crazy hair." Shanti jokingly said as she ruffled Mowgli's cheek.
" Come on, don't mess up my beard!"
" Ha, more like your peach fuzz."
Mowgli recoiled and gave a pouty look. " It's growing."
At that moment, Ranjan peeked his chubby head around the corner to see his two older friends. He came behind Mowgli, tugging his shoulder.
" Come on, we gotta hurry!"
" Why?"
" Because we gotta make paper boats and send them down the water before the rain stops."
Both Mowgli and Shanti just laughed and decided to meet Ranjan's pleads. The three went downstairs to see that Ranjan had already amassed a pile of coconut tree leaves for them to work with. The slight stagnant smell of coconut filled the whole floor, showing their old age.
" Rajan, how long have you had these?" Shanti questioned.
" Just long enough for a day like today!" the little boy exclaimed as he pounced into the pile.
Mowgli just shook his head and knelt down to start with the building.
In no time at all, Mowgli had built half a dozen good sized mini boats, thanks to all the handy work he needed for living in the jungle. Ranjan started off his like a massive wad, but quickly learned from Mowgli. Shanti on the other hand was stubbornly stuck in making even one, though she wouldn't admit it. But Mowgli also had gotten good at reading body language and approached the girl, reaching out a hand.
" Need a hand?" Mowgli asked with an innocent yet humorous tone.
" No, no I'm very fine thank you very much." she replied dryly. She silently gasped as Mowgli placed his hand gently over hers.
" Alright, then at least take a guide." Mowgli then began to over trace her hands and helped her fold up her paper boat. Together, they opened the wooden door of the hut and released their little boat into the nearby brown stream. The two looked on in silent enjoyment as it drifted down, and then met eyes with the same feeling coursing through them.
" Hey, no fair! You guys set yours downstream too early!" Ranjan cried out in between them, breaking the moment with his usual young humor. He then hopped out the door into the knee deep water, resulting in a massive wave onto Mowgli and Shanti, " Come back here, boat!"
The other two just laughed and met eyes with a mischievous look to the other, as they began to chase down Ranjan while splashing each other.
Author's Note: Ok, I'll admit it. I'm not the biggest fan of Mowgli getting a love interest like Shanti, as the original book version never really needed a love story. But still, I wrote this chapter to give more bonding time between the two. I'm still not entirely in on the relationship, but at least I don't hate Shanti ( I don't know, maybe it's cause the same person who did Katara in Avatar the Last Airbender voiced her. I'm serious, look it up!)