Neliah was specifically aware of how close she and Shere Khan used to be, but since her return to the jungle, he'd hardly shown any emotion to her at all, that is until one hot summer's day. Neliah had been forced out of the shadows due to the heat, she spent the morning and a decent amount of the afternoon at the river. When she returned the tiger's scent seemed to linger everywhere, Neliah tensed as she caught sight of him, lounging in a soft patch of grass, not far from her lair. He just lay there like he owned the joint and it simply would not do, she took the trees, silent as a ghost, and easily perched on a low branch just behind the tiger, he turned to meet her gaze as if he'd known she'd been there all along. "What are you doing here, Khan?" she demanded as he turned and sat before her. "Just here to chat with an old friend"

"Un invited?" she asked with annoyed swish of her tail "no, I know you better than that Khan, what do you want?" The tiger chuckled at the female before him. "I'm actually quite surprised at you Little Panter" Neliah felt a dull ache at being called by her old niickname. "You've turned into quite a formidable opponent" her gold green eyes glared daggers into him "are you challanging me?" she asked her usual honey sweet voice as cold as ice as she spoke. "Something of that nature" he responded and unseathed a single claw to scatch under her chin as he so often did when they were younger. "If you can handle it." Neliah growled lowly at the direct insult to her pride "I can handle anything you dish out and you know it!" He flashed a toothy grin and he had a gleam of triumph in his golden eyes, Neliah kind of regretted this decesion, but she wasn't backing out now "If I win, I don't want you stepping a paw into my territory again" she growled, he nodded understandingly "of course, but if I win you have to adhere to my request."

"Fine, what's your little game?"

"How about a chase?"

"Let me guess, you're doing the chasing?" Neliah asked raising an elegant brow, he chuckled "of course, if I catch you before sundown, I win."

"Suit yourself" she said as he sniffed her neck "rest assured I won't leave my territory" and she dashed off into the foliage. Shere Khan watched her retreat and generously (at least by his standerds) waited a solid minute before following the pantheress's soft scent.

Neliah took quick long strides, never pausing long enough to leave much of a scent, and often bounding to leave holes in her trail, she wasn't known as the shadow for nothing. She bounded through trees, ran zig-zag, sprinted through a stream that flowed through her territory, and ran through a low valley and sprinted in a tricky manner before finally leaping up in a tree, concealing herself in the coverage of the leaves.

Shere Khan took his time tracking the patheress, following her soft scent through the jungle, he'd lose it a couple of times, but always found it again. He growled in frustration when he had to double back and re track her scent at the stream, but found it again and followed it to the valley. He pressed foward eagerly as her scent grew a bit stronger, he followed it the tree line and stopped, her scent lingered, she hadn't gone on. She was here somewhere...hiding. A feral grin broke across his face as he searched the trees for her.

Neliah felt a pang as she watched the mighty tiger, at this rate he'd have her in minutes! She looked to the sun, it was nearly touching the tip of the mountians, she had to move. Silent as ever, she stood, never creaking the wood, she carefully manouvered to the end of the branch, but she'd miscalculated, a single leaf fell, hitting the ground soundlessly near Shere Khan. She went stone still, he looked up at her, his grin still ever present. "I've found you" he purred up to her, she looked to the sun again 'just a few more minutes!' she thought as she looked down to him with aghost of a smile gracing her features "but you've yet to catch me" she said softly and leapt to another branch, the tiger gave chase from the jungle floor, keeping his eyes trained on the shadow of a pantheress.

The available branches ran out sooner than Neliah would've liked, but she had to keep moving she launched off out of the tree, hitting the ground softly, and sprinted off, hearing nothing but the sounds of her own heart and the persuing tiger behind her. Shere Kha had to admire the pantheress's swift, yet graceful movement as she fled, only motivating him that much more, he pushed himself haarder and when the time was right, he lunged at the pantheress.

Neliah gasped when she felt the weight of the tiger force her to the ground and tumbling down a small hill into the valley. She wrestled him a while, trying to flee, but inevitabley the bigger cat pinned her, letting his face and teeth drop dangerously close to her throat, she stilled instantly. Both cats looked to the sun as it started to sink in the distance "I...win..." he stated as they both panted, tired from the previous chase. "Yeah" she panted "whta do...you want?" Neliah wasn't eager to give into the tiger, but she was a cat of her word and she wouldn't back down. "Rest with me" Neliah looked up to him skeptically as he stepped off of her and laid down at her side, pressing against her slightly. Neliah rested on her back a moment longer before rolling over onto her stomach, forcing herself closer to the large tiger.

Shere Khan looked down at the pantheress as night came, she was tired, her head was rested on foled paws and her eyes were only half lidded, her fur was a mess from the events of the day, but she didn't seem to care as she drifted closer and closer to sleep. Her eyes snapped wide open when she felt his tongue trailing her "Khan?" she asked startled as her tail started to swish nervously. "Hush, now, Little Panther, I'm just cleaning you up" he said stopping her aggitated tail by intwining it with his own. Neliah glared at him a moment, this was unusually kind of him, but she slowly rested her head again, she was too tired to argue or ask questions that he probably wouldn't give answers to. She let her eyes slide closed and pressed a little closer to him, turning onto her side and sighing deeply before falling into a peaceful sleep.

Neliah woke alone the next morning just before dawn, as always, she slowly stood to her paws and stretched. She hadn't known what caused Khan's strange behavior, but then again she supposed it'd always been like that with him. A game of Cat and Mouse, he'd chase her and by the time he'd worn her out enough to surrendure, he'd be gone again, she expected this game would never end, but then again, she wasn't sure she wanted it to. She shook her head to rid of her thoughts and hopped into the nearest tree, disapearing into th shadows as she always did.

Shere Khan watched as his pantheress awoke and stretched, his mind coming back to last night, having her so close to him, feeling her warmth radiating against him, seeing her feel safe and relaxed, listening to her purr contently as he groomed her and nuzzled her before he as well went to sleep. HIs golden eyes stayed locked on the pantheress until she melted into the shadows, yes, he was tiring of this game they played, he chuckled and that feral grin broke across his face again, but it was high time he ended this game and claimed his prize.