During one of many travels through the jungle, Tarzan always enjoyed games of tag with his sister to keep himself amused while the family searched for new foraging grounds. His five-year-old sister kept the games interesting as she was always looking for ways to outsmart her more experienced brother, and sometimes, she caught him by surprise. And sometimes, in his eyes, she cheated.

"Hey!" Tarzan growled as he was tackled from the side and pinned down roughly in the dirt, and he could feel a few stones scratching his sides up a bit from the tackle. "You can't cut around the trees like that, they're out of bounds. You're supposed to chase me around the family."

"It's a short cut," Kaphi said. "And I wasn't that far away from the family, so it counts."

"No, it doesn't. You came running from behind that tree. That's off the path and so it is out of bounds. You cheated."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"You're only upset because I tagged you and you lost."

"I wouldn't care if you hadn't cheated."

"I didn't cheat."

"Then what do you call going out of bounds?"

"Short cut. I took a short cut and won fair and square."

"Tarzan, Kaphi," Kala called to them as she walked past them, "keep up with us."

Tarzan ran after the family that was slowly moving on without them, Kaphi following his lead. He began weaving his way through the gorillas, working his way to the front, though Kaphi was right at his heel, and she was determined to argue her case since Tarzan was not interested in any more games.

"One more game of tag?" Kaphi asked.

"No, I don't play with cheaters."

"Come on, I didn't cheat. Stop being a sore loser."

"Stop denying that you were out of bounds, so your tag doesn't count."

"That's not fair. You always use cheats to escape me, anyway, so I have to do it back to catch you. I don't get upset when you start swinging from vines."

"The vines are on the path, so they count."

"But I can't do that, so it shouldn't count. You're not being fair."

"I'm always fair." Tarzan managed to catch up to the front of the family where Kerchak was leading the way forward. "You're not being fair."

"Well, you're being stupid!" Kaphi fired at her brother.

"And you're a brat!" Tarzan shot back, glaring at his sister.

"Hey," Kerchak chided as he looked down at his children walking at his side. "What's all this about?"

"I tagged Tarzan fair and square in our game and he's not happy about it," Kaphi explained.

"Because she cheated by going out of bounds," Tarzan added. "And she's refusing to admit it."

"I didn't cheat!"

"Liar, liar, fur on fire."

"I'll put your fur on fire," Kaphi snarled as she lunged for her brother, only for Kerchak to catch her.

"Alright, that's enough," Kerchak said. He lifted his daughter to his back where she plopped down and pouted with her arms crossed. "There will be no maiming of your brother."

Kerchak gave his son a disapproving look. "Do not taunt your sister. And since you two cannot agree on how to play your game, then I guess your game is over for now."

"I didn't want to play it anymore anyway," Tarzan said, though he was a bit disappointed he would have to continue following the family with nothing to do now. He hid his disappointment though, especially when Kaphi blew a raspberry at him. He made a face back, only dropping the look when Kerchak turned stern eyes on him. He silently fumed as he walked beside his father, which did not ease the annoyance he felt at all, so by the time they arrived to the new foraging grounds, he wanted nothing to do with Kaphi, who seemed to have mutual feelings.

"I think I'll go start with picking some berries," Tarzan declared, wanting to move away from his sister once everyone seemed settled in the new territory. He began walking in the direction of the thick bushes when he felt Kaphi brush by him.

"I wanted to pick berries first," she said.

"Well, I already started," Tarzan said, pushing past her and running up to the bushes. He began plucking off as many as he could, not even bothering to eat them, just wanting to grab what he could before Kaphi could take them.

"There's enough for everyone," Kaphi said, plucking berries off the bush as well, dropping them at her feet to grab more as quickly as possible. "We all have to share."

"Something you're not good at," Tarzan snapped at her.

"You mean you're not good at it," Kaphi corrected, shouldering her brother to push him away from the bushes so she could grab from the side he was plucking from.

"Keep to your side!" Tarzan yelled, shoving into her shoulder to push her back to her own side.

"I am on my side!" Kaphi pushed back against him.

Before Tarzan could come up with a way to topple his sister over, he was suddenly lifted into the air and carried away from the berry bushes by Kerchak.

"Hey, I was there first," Tarzan said as he was set down near where Kala was beginning to make a nest.

"I do not care who was there first," Kerchak said. "You two are wasting berries in your little disagreement, so I'm separating you two for now. Why don't you go enjoy some mangoes with Terk?"

"But Dad . . ."

"Go eat some dinner."

Tarzan grumbled as he climbed up the trees and worked his way over to where Terk was sitting on a branch eating fruit. He joined her, complaining the whole time about Kaphi as he ate his fill, and Terk seemed to agree that little sisters had to be really annoying sometimes. It made Tarzan feel a little better to have someone support him, but it did not erase his irritation, and when it was bedtime, there just was not enough room in the nest for the two kids.

"You're hogging the bed," Tarzan complained as he readjusted in the nest, scooting away from his sister.

"You're taking up all the room," Kaphi said as she stretched herself out next to her mother.

"Stop kicking me."

"I'm not doing it on purpose."

Tarzan moved around in the nest once more and plopped down in a different corner away from Kaphi and stretched out.

"Now you're kicking me." Kaphi glared at her brother.

"You were in my way."

"Tarzan, Kaphi," Kala scolded as she sat up and gave her children an annoyed look. "Please, that is enough. It is bedtime and I do not want to be kept up all night by you two arguing over nest space. Your father certainly won't put up with any of this when he gets back from his night check."

"She started it," Tarzan said.

"No, I didn't, he did!" Kaphi pointed accusingly at her brother.

"Tarzan, sleep on this side of me," Kala said, patting the space to the right of her. "Kaphi, you stay where you are."

Tarzan sulked as he moved to where Kala directed him to go. Once Kala settled back down, he curled up next to his mother. At least he wasn't next to Kaphi. That was all that mattered, really, since he still didn't want anything to do with her tonight.

The next day came too quickly, and while some sibling disagreements only took a night to sleep on and get over, it was not meant to be for this one, and the siblings woke up with as much irritation for the other as they had yesterday. It started with breakfast, where Kaphi decided some of her food could be used to throw at her brother, who retaliated with some fruit of his own. The impromptu food fight ended abruptly when Kerchak snarled at them in warning, and they went their separate ways to play with their own friends.

Except each group of friends wanted to play in the same area, and while it was never usually a problem, since Kaphi and Tarzan couldn't stand to look at each other, it was a major issue that resulted in a huge shouting match between Kaphi's group of friends and Tarzan's group of friends. Unfortunately, a couple adult blackbacks decided they wanted the space, and they chased off the children, forcing them to find different places around the family ground to play.

After some games with his friends, Tarzan felt a bit less angry. After lunch, he started wrestling with Kerchak, who indulged him with some flips and play bites, but halfway through, Kaphi jumped in the game, climbing up her father's arm.

"I want to wrestle with Dad," she said firmly.

"We were wrestling first," Tarzan said, glaring at his little sister for daring to interrupt.

"I can play with both of you at the same time," Kerchak reminded his children.

"I don't want to play with Tarzan," Kaphi said, glaring at her brother.

"I don't want to play with you either," Tarzan said, turning away with a scowl.

Kerchak rolled his eyes, then gently removed Kaphi from his arm, setting her down next to her brother.

"Very well," he said, "if I can't play with both of you at the same time, then I will not play with either of you."

Kerchak walked away from his kids to check on the family, much to Tarzan's and Kaphi's disappointment.

"Now look what you did," Tarzan said to his sister.

"What I did?" Kaphi asked. "I didn't do anything."

"You never do anything," Tarzan said with a roll of his eyes. He walked off himself, heading through the trees to find somewhere to be that Kaphi was not.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaphi demanded to know as she chased after her brother.

"You never admit to anything," Tarzan said. He climbed up a tree and moved through the branches, tree surfing a bit to try and lose Kaphi, but she moved from branch to branch just as swiftly. "You always have to be right about everything."

"I do not," Kaphi said. "You always change the rules on me when something doesn't go your way."

"No, I don't. Stop following me!" Tarzan climbed up higher branches.

"Stop running away from me!" Kaphi climbed up the branches after her brother. "I'm not done talking to you."

"I'm done talking to you. So go away. Go bug someone else."

"I want to bug you."

"Stop following me." Tarzan reached for a vine, his fingertips just out of reach of it. He jumped for it, swinging slightly as he grabbed on to it. However, Kaphi also leaped for the vine, and it jerked beneath him before a loud snap sounded above them.

They screamed as they fell from the trees, narrowly missing the branches.

Splat!

Tarzan looked down at the mud he was halfway buried in. He tried to move his legs, but the mud felt heavy around him, and every little move seemed to make the mud suck him down even more. He looked around for something to grab, but there was nothing in his reach, and the swiveling around he was doing made the mud swallow more of him. Kaphi was struggling in the mud next to him, and she slowly sank more until she was nearly up to her shoulders, and she froze, her eyes wide.

"Mom! Dad!" they cried simultaneously.

"Now look what you did!" Tarzan said.

"What I did? I was copying you. This is your fault."

"Well if you had stopped following me . . ."

"If you had listened to me . . ."

"None of this would have happened!" They yelled at each other at the same time again. They turned away from each other, crossed their arms, and pouted.

"What have you managed to get yourselves into?" Kerchak asked as he stepped through the trees and toward the mudhole.

"It's Kaphi's fault; she broke the vine. . ."

"I was trying to talk to Tarzan, and he wouldn't . . ."

"Are you seriously still fighting?" Kerchak growled at them. "Even now?"

Tarzan blushed and looked away and Kaphi also had the decency to look ashamed. As annoyed as he was with Kaphi, he knew he still loved her very much, and their arguments were getting a little silly. Especially now that they were trapped in mud and were still finding things to argue about. He made a decision that once he was free, he would try to put an end to this silly quarrel. At least Kerchak was here now to pull them out, and with his long arms, he would have no problem reaching them.

"We're sorry," Tarzan said. He reached his arms up. "We'll be better. Can you get us out now?"

To his surprise, Kerchak took a step back.

"There is a vine above you," Kerchak said. "You should be able to reach it."

Tarzan was pretty sure he had already checked for anything in his reach, but he looked around once more to see where this vine was that his father was seeing. He saw the one in question and realized why he had originally missed it: it was on the other side of Kaphi. Tarzan was pretty sure he would not be able to reach it, and he gave his father an incredulous look before trying to reach for the vine. This meant reaching over Kaphi, who gave her brother an annoyed look but tried not to move or say anything so he could accomplish whatever it was their father was trying to prove.

"I can't reach it," Tarzan said after a minute of struggling to grab it.

"Kaphi is close to it," Kerchak said. "Why don't you try asking her for help?"

Tarzan shared a look with his sister, and they both huffed and looked away from each other, arms crossing.

"No? Well, I guess it'll be a long day for you two." Kerchak turned away, as if he was about to head back for the family.

"Wait!" Tarzan and Kaphi cried.

"You're just going to leave us like this?" Tarzan asked.

"I gave you a solution. You didn't like it. I guess you don't want my help."

"No, we want your help," Kaphi said. "Don't leave us."

"Kaphi," Tarzan asked his sister, "Can you grab the vine for me?"

"Here!" she said, snatching a hold of the vine and handing it to her brother eagerly.

"Thanks." Tarzan tried using all his strength to pull himself free of the mud, but he was met with a lot of resistance. It was like trying to pull himself in two, and he gave up with a slight hiss of pain. "Dad, I can't get free."

"Let me try," Kaphi said, and Tarzan allowed her to try climbing up the vine, but she was also unable to find the strength to get out of the sticky situation.

"It's not working." Kaphi said.

They looked at their father, and he sat down, still showing no interest in physically helping them escape. Instead, all he said was, "Maybe you should both try doing something."

Tarzan sighed at the cryptic help they were getting, then he racked his brain for what his next move should be. He realized that if Kaphi tried climbing up the vine, he could help her by digging some of the mud away. That way, maybe there wouldn't be as much resistance from the mud.

"Try climbing up again," Tarzan told his sister. "I'm going to dig out."

"Okay." Kaphi pulled on the vine once more while Tarzan began digging away at the mud around her. She grunted as fought against the pull. "It's not working."

"Keep trying," Tarzan said, digging away furiously. "We have to give it a minute to work."

Kaphi kept trying to climb, and Tarzan helped by pushing her up toward the vine as well, along with digging away at the mud. Slowly, she managed to inch her way up the vine, escaping the thick mudhole below.

"I did it!" she cheered. She reached for her brother. "Here, I'll try pulling you out now."

Tarzan took his sister's hand, and with her ape strength, she managed to slowly yank her brother out of the mud as well. They climbed up the vine together before swinging over to dry land, laughing at their success.

"Nicely done," Kerchak praised his kids, standing up once more. "So you can get along long enough to help each other out of some mud."

"I think we can get along longer than that," Tarzan said. He gave his sister an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, sis, I really don't like fighting with you."

"Me neither." Kaphi hugged her brother. "I'm sorry too."

"Race you back to the family?" Tarzan asked

"You're on!" Kaphi said.

Kerchak smiled fondly as he watched his kids race through the trees, following behind them to make sure they made it back safely to the family. He was glad they had finally made up, that had certainly been a long row between the siblings, but he knew they would always find a way to make up going forward. They loved each other far too much to stay mad at each other for long.