A few months had passed since the wolf pack’s adopted human had left them, that fateful night at Council Rock where the elder’s had decreed her continued presence dangerous for all.  And although she had indeed departed the pack, her self-appointed guardian Panther Bagheera at her side, the woman known as Mowglii did not desert the jungle entirely, as planned. Many adventures were had along the way, friends (and the occasional enemy) made, and Mowglii had gradually proved to the panther her ability to survive the wilds. Of her many jungle adventures, some of the most mysterious, interesting, and Ahem-spicy, involved a certain snake. It is such a tale that I intend to tell you, dear reader.

Kaa, as he was known, rested his head along the sun-baked branch of his favorite day-tree, the bulk of his copious coils tucked safely away amongst the canopy. From this position, the sly serpent could observe much of the surrounding area, including any foolish or ignorant enough to wander alone within his grasp. As the afternoon wore into evening, silence reigned, broken by the occasional trill of a bird. Somewhere in the distance, a faint splashing of water could be heard, followed quickly by another, louder as though a large creature had followed a smaller one into a pool of water. Kaa twitched, his eyes not quite opening as his sleep shifted from a deep slumber to a doze. From the direction of the splashing came a murmur of voices, a conversation between two of the jungle’s denizens. Blinking himself awake, the massive Rock Python stretched his neck, his mouth yawning impossibly wide as he came to.

“What isss that noisssse? Ssssomeone or two, by the sssound of it.”

He stiffened and craned his head towards the source of the sound, trying to make out any details. After a few unsuccessful moments, Kaa’s curiosity started to get the better of him. Slowly shifting his bulk, the sly serpent gradually unwound himself from the tree, starting a stealthy, slithering progression toward the pool he knew lay to the north.

“Allright, Baloo, show me how you manage to keep yourself afloat in the water, I just sink like a stone when I try.”

Mowglii lay atop the large sloth bear, her soaked skin drying slowly in the evening warmth. Baloo lay on his back, all four paws stretch out lazily as he and his passenger bobbed along in the cool water.

“Well, Mowglii, it’s simple really, you just have to stretch yourself out like this, and let the water carry you. It helps if you’ve got a bit more padding, though.

The woman blew a damp lock of hair out of her eyes thoughtfully. “Maybe I should ask the Bander-Log for some of those Bananas they like so much. That King Louis looks like he could float along easily after he’s had a dozen.”

Baloo craned his neck to his stomach and cocked an eyebrow at Mowglii.

“I’m only kidding!” she stuck her tongue out at the bear. “One meeting with those monkeys was more than enough.” She laughed.

Creeping closer, Kaa was surprised to recognize the voices of not only Baloo the sloth bear, but that delectable man-cub, Mowglii. He hadn’t encountered her in some time, but the memories of their previous meeting were deliciously fresh for the perverted python. Winding his way around the sturdiest tree he could find, the snake slyly poked his head through the leaves to spy the pair below.

“I still can’t believe that plan of ours worked, and a good thing too!” Baloo shook his head, recalling the bizarre rescue he and Bagheera had mounted to save the monkey-napped man-cub.

“Who knew you were such a convincing dancer?” Mowglii laughed. “Maybe you could teach me some of those moves sometime.”

“No thank you! I’ve got two left paws, and could barely keep myself from tripping over them!” the old Bear laughed. “No, you focus on the Bear Necessities, that’s what I can teach you.”

Overhearing this, a subtle set of sensuous ideas occurred to the serpent. Silently chuckling to himself, Kaa retreated slowly, keeping alert and ready to follow. “Mmhmmhmm…ssso the man-cub wants to learn how to danssse, doesss ssshe? I sssupossse I could arrange sssuch ‘lesssons’ for her…”

As the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky, the two friends’ conversation wound down. Soon enough they were saying good-byes, the old bear lumbering off towards his den. Mowglii watched him until the jungle swallowed the last of his silhouette, then began to saunter off in the opposite direction. Overhead, a silent mass of coils followed, just out of sight…

---

A warm evening came on, the moon rising above the starlit canopy. Sleepy from the day’s activity, Mowglii let her mind wander as freely as her feet. Despite the struggles to make it work, she was proud to have proven herself in the jungle, even earning Bagheera’s begrudging acceptance. Shere Khan had given up the hunt and vanished some moons ago, and Mowglii hadn’t been troubled by any of the other Jungle dwellers. While she’d been able to make a life out here on her own, she did have to admit it was a sometimes lonely one. Before being forced to leave the pack, Mowglii had considered herself a wolf, and she’d never felt alone surrounded by her brothers and sisters. All that seemed a lifetime ago, however; everyone made certain she knew she was different, human, not belonging to any of the jungle tribes.

Well, almost everyone.

Kaa surveyed the clearing where the pensive man-cub stood lost in thought, moving himself into position as silent as possible. He’d learned long ago that unexpected interruptions could come along from any direction when his focus was on his intended prey. Assured that he remained undetected, the sly serpent began to hum to a familiar tune. It carried through the still night air, filtering slowly though the thoughts of the girl below.

Mowglii’s thoughts drifted as she ran her hand over the smooth bark of a tree. She’d been feeling lonely, though cheered by the much-needed catchup with Baloo. In a few days, the two would meet again, for another lesson in what the old bear called “Bare Necessities.” Mowglii grinned at the pun, and shook her head slightly. Things weren’t so bad, she mused. An entertaining day with an old friend, and relaxing walk back to her sleeping-spot, and a beautiful moon-lit night to do it by. Heck, it almost seemed as though the jungle itself was alive with a gentle song, inviting Mowglii to relax further. She smiled, fighting back a yawn.

It truly had been a tiring day, and she had learned so much. It helped that she had such an open mind, Mowglii thought.

“Yeah, it really helped me to obey what Baloo was telling me…”

Obey…

Wait, that was a strange thing to think….or had she said it? The woman frowned, feeling a haze settling over her mind. The humming suddenly ceased, and she blinked, more aware of her surroundings. The tree she was leaning against; the moon overhead; the large python watching her with an amused expression.

“Talking to yourself, man-cub? It sssertainly can be lonely out in thissss part of the jungle, I underssstand.”

“H-Hey, don’t sneak up on me like that, Kaa! And it’s not polite to eavesdrop on people, either!” Mowglii’s cheeks flared in embarrassment, startled out of her reverie.

Kaa only chuckled sibilantly, “Mmhmmm, it’sss not ssso much sssneaking as simply lisssstening while you were…lossssst in your own thoughtssss.”

Mowglii cocked an eyebrow at Kaa, putting a hand on her hip. “Fine, it’s an open jungle, you can go wherever you please. You just surprised me, is all. What do you want, anyway?”

“Nothing essspecially…I jussst dropped by to ssay ‘good evening’, and to perhapsss offer you a bit of company…you ssseeemed to be in need of it, man-cub.”

“Well, not that it’s your business, but I am just getting back from visiting a friend.”

“Oh? And are we not friends, my dear man-cub?”

“Kaa, we’re….I don’t know.” Mowglii’s tone grew exasperated. “Look, you seem nice enough, and you’ve never tried to eat me, but every time we meet, you do that…weird thing -- with your eyes, and I always wake up later with…” she trailed off, crossing her arms and looking away to hide her blush.

“Oh? You don’t enjoy that? That’ss okay, man-cub, if you don’t want me to do that, I won’t.”

“No, I don’t—” Mowglii turned back towards Kaa, unsure of what she was going to say. She’d always had…odd feelings around the snake. Sometimes, he seemed manipulative, tricky and untrustworthy. But there was something undeniably…charming about his as well. Mowglii decided she ought to quickly leave before any more confusing feelings doing corkscrews in her stomach

.

“Yes, please don’t do that eye thing--not without my permission, okay?” the woman turned and began to walk away. “Anyway, I’ll see you later, Kaa. Sorry we couldn’t have a longer chat.”

“Sssertainly, man-cub. But do you truly need to leave sssooo sssooon? It’s a lovely night, perfect for a little sssqueeeeze…”

As that word floated into her mind, Mowglii felt herself go stock still, legs pressing together and arms falling and locking to her side, as though something was wound rightly around her. She looking around in shock, eyes wide.

“W-what the…what’s going on?? I can’t-rgh-move!?” she struggled, trying to break whatever unseen bond held her standing in place.

“Mmmhmm, yesss, that does seem to be the case, my dear Mowglii…” Kaa remarked casually, looking on in amusement.

She turned on the snake, hopping around to face him with some difficulty.

“Kaa, what the heck did you do? Is this another one of your tricks?”

“Oh no, no tricks, man-cub…merely a little…sssugesssstion. Since the lassst time we met you ssseeemed to enjoy being in coilssss sssso much, I thought I’d let you feel them anytime…am I wrong?”

Mowglii’s face turned a deeper red at Kaa’s words. “Kaa, no—that’s not the point! I-I…”

“SssSSsss Perhapsss it’sss no sssubstitute for…the real thing. Very well, Mowglii, I’ll give you what you asssked for.” Kaa chuckled, bringing his tail down from behind the girl and beginning to wind it slowly around her hips and arms.

Mowglii’s blush went a shade deeper as she unsconsciously bit her lip as Kaa’s touch. “I…I didn’t-didn’t ask you to do that…”

“Ahhh, but it’s ssso obvious that you want to…I can ssse it in your eyesss, little man-cub.”

The tail wound defly upward, rising over Mowglii’s midsection and up under her cloth-covered breasts.

“My…eyes?” she panted. Everything was happening so fast, she could barely keep up. Kaa’s coils, his seductive words, they were giving her such strange feelings, but she somehow didn’t want it to stop.

“Yesssss, your eyesss.” Kaa nodded, bringing his face closer to his partially-wrapped prey. “I could show you what’s in my eyes as well, you know…”

Mowglii’s heart thumped faster, her senses on high alert as she wrestled with the warm feelings bubbling up inside of her. She knew somehow this was Kaa’s doing, the sneaky serpent playing another one of his mental tricks. And yet…she realized that she really did want to see those strange, alluring colors his eyes could produce, if only for a moment.

“O-okay, Kaa, just for a moment…then you let me go, okay…?”

“Ass your wisssh, man-cub…” Kaa grinned, activating his hypnotic eyes, flashes of color bursting forth and pouring into that oh-so-malleable mind of his captive cutie.

Mowglii’s eyes went wide, her pupils shrinking down and disappearing, matching rings of hypnotic color blooming in their place. A warm haze rose up from her core as the familiar colors enveloped her mind, replacing all thoughts with bliss and obedience. A smile curved up on her lips, a quick PING ringing out in her empty head, as Mowglii surrounded once more to her serpentine master.

Unwrapping his prize from his coils, Kaa gazed over her lithe form appreciatively. He thought back to her overheard words with the bear and grinned mischievously.

“So then, my ssssleepy little man-cub, I underssstand that you have been learning much of the waysss of the jungle from your friendss?”

Mowglii nodded, her spiraling eyes locked onto Kaa’s as he loomed over her.

“Hmmm, I would be remissss if I didn’t offer sssomething asss well. You wissssh to learn how to dancssse, do you not?”

A sleepy sigh escaped the captive cutie’s parted lips, and she nodded once more. Kaa sidled up mesmerized woman, coiling around her neck as he whispered instructions into her ear.

“It’sss very sssimple to begin with, man-cub…”

Later that night, if anyone chanced to wander by the isolated clearing, they might see a very strange thing: A woman, clad only in torn red undergarments shaking her hips and undulating her arms, a wide smile on her face as endless loops of hypnotic colors pulsed through her eyes. Draped loosely over her, an enormous serpent watched with amusement and pride, whispering occasionally into her ear.

“Yes, yess, very good Mowglii…you learn well.”

“Forget your ‘Bare Necessities’, all you need are Ssserpent Ssssensibilities…”