Kaia ran, climbed, and swung for days. Using her bows and arrows to hunt and ward off predators. She didn't have any destination in mind but something was telling her she must keep going forward.

It was currently raining heavily and climbed onto a tree, using the bushes to shield herself. Her eyes softened as she can faintly see the moon and stars above her. Looking around, she licked her skin, grooming herself dry and leaning against the tree.

She is in unknown territory, she's too excited to sleep. So she put herself to work, to bring out the trinkets she found and played with them. She found this rusted, flexible rock. It amazed her how stretchable it is. As she looked at it closer, her eyes widened to see she can see far distance with it and adjusted to the circular object, seeing it clearly.

Kaia chuckled as she saw red pandas huddled together to cover themselves from the storm. Her eye wandered elsewhere, finding frogs jumping into the rushing rivers. She grinned and shoved the see-all into the bag and took out the next object. It was chipped with all her biting but still watched as the little red arrow pointed in front of her.

Curious, she stood up and twirled around, seeing the arrow pointing in the same direction but the arrow kept going in circles as she moved. She doesn't know why it does that but used it when she traveled.

Shoving the object inside, she took out the next one. She immediately detested this one. Her eyes narrowed at her reflection through the rusted solid water. Tapping on it, her dirt smudged on it but her reflection showed. Kaia snarled at it, showing her sharp fangs, and threw the object over her shoulder, hearing it crash and break into pieces.

She huffed at it and turned forward. Looking around her, she immediately grew bored. Looking up at the flooding rain, she huddled herself and tried to sleep in this new territory.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Early in the morning came as greens flooded around with blues and reds. Kaia sat up and yawned. Crouching into fours, she stretched her back and enjoyed the cracks in her bones. Grabbing her bow and arrows, she wrapped them over her shoulder and grabbed her bag of trinkets, dived off the tree, grabbed a vine, and kept moving forward.

She sniffed around, gagging slightly, and sniffed her underarm, realizing it was her. Her eye twitched in annoyance, knowing it was time she gets in the water already. She kept going forward, observing the waken animals around her.

Her eyes widened in awe to see colorful birds flying in the sky. She grinned in nostalgia, reaching a hand on her mane, feeling the familiar feather tucked in. She smirked as she heard the water close by and jumped to a tree, sliding up and down.

Kaia laughed in excitement as she felt her body sliding faster. Finding the water below, she dropped down on the grass and looked around in alarm. Her eyes narrowed and sniffed around for any predators nearby.

She spotted the elephants a little far and dropped her bag into the grass and removed her coverings. Grabbing her bow and arrows, she dived into the water and enjoyed the cold water freezing her warm skin.

Kaia swam towards the waterfall and climbed on the slab, finding herself in a small cave with the rushing waters as her wall. She leaned her bow and arrows on the stone wall and gently removed her feather and placed it under her dominant foot.

Reaching a hand onto the water, she giggled at the harsh pressure from it and leaned forward, causing the water to fall on her completely. She ignored the sharp waters and rubbed herself, grooming herself clean. She dug her claws into her mane and brushed through her black tresses.

She frowned as she pulled something out of her hair and flicked it away, continuing to work. Rubbing herself clean, she frowned as she took notice of her leopard prints washing off with the water. She sighed and decided to clean her claws too.

As she finished cleaning herself, she walked over to her bow and arrows and plucked her coverings, and crouched in front of the water, rubbing them clean. She chuckled, recalling the time her father kicked her into the water to groom. Turns out her odor was bad and made her stay in the water for hours.

It has now become a habit to clean herself at the first sign of bad odor. Putting her coverings on, she tightened the string on her hip and bust, she reached for her feather when she stiffened.

She didn't move a muscle as she heard laughter and voices coming from the other side of the waterfall. She silently crouched and grabbed her feather and held it tightly in her grasp as she peeked.

Her eyes slit dangerously to see a gorilla arguing with an elephant. A female gorilla was there. She silently crouched to her bow and grabbed it along with a sole arrow. Attaching them together, she crouched to the ground, keeping herself balanced, and straightened her posture.

Because of these apes, her mother couldn't have more cubs...because of them, she became more rageful towards her daughter because she was different.

Kaia silenced her breathing but can vividly hear her pumping heart echoing in her ears, causing her hands to tremble slightly. She gritted her teeth and stayed firm, pulling her arrow back as the string stretched.

Her silver eyes focused on the laughing ape, mostly on her chest where her heart resided. She clutched the arrow tightly before sighing quietly. Her focus wavered however when a bare back faced her instead.

Kaia's eyes slowly widened and gasped. She lowered her arrow as she focused on the creature in front of her. She's never seen anything like it.

His broad shoulders were darkened by the sun's kiss. She frowned further to see he speaks ape too and saw his posture. He was on his fours but his back straightened as his fingers were arched and leaning on the ground. She noticed a covering around his hips, hiding his loin, and looked down at herself and saw she was covering her bust and bottom.

Kaia's face flushed slightly to see his muscles portrayed beautifully and shining in sweat from the sun. His unruly brown mane covered his face and it frustrated her to no end to see what his face looked like.

Kaia focused on the male, seeing his bare chest and abdomen and looking down at herself. She cursed silently, glaring at the male.

How come he's flatter than her?

Her eyes widened, seeing the male stopping and walking towards her bag near the water. She growled quietly as he sniffed through it and hesitantly tapped on it. But the female ape's eyes widened in recognition.

"H-Hey, it's best to go somewhere else."

Kaia's eyes never wavered and grew curious about what the male would do. She saw his eyes widen as he sniffed at it and stiffened up in alarm.

"A leopard," he murmured causing shivers to run down her spine. "But it also isn't," he frowned, looking around. He crouched to the bag again and smelled around, stopping at the water. "The tracks end here."

"It's in the water?!" the female ape tensed up and ran behind the elephant.

Kaia saw as the male looked around and frowned at the water. She stopped as she saw the male looking at the waterfall where she is hiding. She stayed still, adapting to the dark cave and water hiding her.

The male clutched onto his long weapon, finding familiarity in his spearhead. Her eyes slit dangerously as she saw the male slowly getting in the water, his eyes never wavering on the waterfall.

Kaia focused on him as he got closer. Her heart thumped harder against her chest. She stopped as she looked down at her hands, seeing them tremble, making her eyes widen in disbelief.

Is she...afraid?

Her lips quivered for a moment and into a snarl. Grabbing her feather, she prepared for his attack. Her eyes watched every moment of him. Kaia crouched still as the male was now a few inches from her with the water between them.

Her body shivered. His eyes were a beautifully striking combination of blues and green. It's as if he was watching through her.

"Tarzan!" the female ape called, making Kaia flinch.

Kaia's eyes softened as 'Tarzan' reached a hand out to her. Five fingers. Five long, slender, fingers were reaching out to her. She subconsciously did the same thing, seeing so many similarities between them.

The male moved his hand back and dived inside the waterfall. Kaia didn't expect the male to actually do it and hid in the shadows as he shook his brown mane and looked around.

He frowned as he could have sworn he saw something inside. He silently walked around the cave, ignoring the calls from his friends. He sniffed around and spotted the water droplets further away.

Tarzan cautiously walked into the darkness, looking around and finding himself in the darkness. The water dripped over him, making him shiver lightly from the cold. He jumped as his feet pressed on something.

He frowned as he crouched and smelled it. His eyes widened in curiosity as it was wood with a webbed string. He spotted several thin branches with spearheads on them.

He knew no creature can do it precisely like him which piqued his interest more. Looking around, he was filled with the sound of the rushing waters behind him. Turning around to face the water, he was instantly kicked forward into the stone ground.

Tarzan growled and turned around but felt a body press harder on his back. He grimaced as he felt the pressure on his ankles being stepped on firmly to the ground. He snarled as he reached for his back but was met with air and a chilling sharp stone under his neck.

Tarzan stiffened, looking back to look at the culprit. A predator would be quick to bite onto their prey and show no mercy to kill, yet something was taking their time to hold him firmly.

He peeked through his tresses to look at the culprit. His eyes widened slowly to see her. All the air filling his lungs swept away as he took a look at her. Her black tresses were dripping onto her bare body. He saw the coverings over her rounded bust and hips.

He gasped as her body glistened from the faint light of the sun, seeing as she recently finished grooming herself. He saw the faint scars on her, making her look strong and intimidating to his eye.

What is she? Why does he look like him?

But her eyes...her silver eyes caught his attention. His stiffened body loosened to see silver eyes staring right at him with curiosity. It was like staring at a panther herself but was in awe at her beauty.

"Tarzan!" Tarzan saw the creature turning to the waterfall and snarl, glaring down at him. She pressed him harder on the ground and let go, grabbing her things. Tarzan saw she was in a hurry and grabbed her wrist.

He flinched back as the creature swung her sharp stone at him but frowned to see it attached to a feather. The creature snarled at him and tucked the feather into her dark tresses and ran away, leaving all his questions with him.

But they both had the same thoughts...What are you?

Published: February 21, 2023

Word Count: 1978