Bounce with me

By Franki Lew

Tigger, Kanga, Hundred Acre Wood and Winnie the Pooh belong to A. A. Milne and Walt Disney studios.

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Rating: K

Disclaimer: I think it's worth noting as someone whose watched lots of Winnie the Pooh that I love TiggerxKanga, so I made a one shot about them. Didn't want to make it overly fluffy as the characters are childlike. You'll understand once you get to the fluffy bits.

Kanga brushed the fallen leaves into a pile and quickly shoveled it into the compost bin so that once Roo woke up he wouldn't jump in and scatter them everywhere. Mind you, she loved her sweet, plush baby more then anyone else in the Hundred Acre Wood, but his highper-active antics weren't meant for a cleaner like herself.

Before the last of the pile was swept out of sight and out of mind a familiar laugh chimed into her ear.

"Wohohohohoooo! Hiya miss Kanga!"

"Hello Tigger dear," said kanga to the bouncing stuffed tiger.

Tigger laughed. "Awhooyehehe, she called me dear," he said to himself.

"Yes Tigger I say that to everyone," said Kanga. "Now, would you mind keeping it down? Roo is taking a nap right now."

"Aw shucks," said Tigger snapping his fingers, "I was gonna ask the little fella if he wanted to play."

"Well that's too bad. He'll be up soon so I don't think you'll have to wait long," said Kanga continuing her work.

Tigger bounced in place over the kangaroo toy until she finally asked what he was doing. "What is it dear?"

"Well gee, I was wonderin' if you maybe wanted to go bouncing with me if Roo wouldn't," Tigger said bashfully.

Kanga laughed. "Well Tigger that's awfully sweet of you but I'm sure Pooh bear or Piglet can play if you head down the road. Christopher Robin is out today and I believe Rabbit is too only I could be-"

"Aw come on miss Kanga!" said Tigger, "haven't ya' ever bounced with me before?"

Kanga paused and realized that of all the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood she was the least likely to follow and play with Tigger, mostly because she was always busy cleaning up someone else's mess. She looked down and saw that the last of the leaves had been shoveled away and that the house where Roo was sleeping in was locked up and safe. "Alright. So long as we don't go too far."

"Oh my, aren't the leaves pretty when they fall right off the trees like that Tigger?" asked Kanga as she hopped down the path after Tigger. Tigger of course didn't notice. He was to busy bouncing away.

"Wohohohooo! What I nice day for bouncin' aye Kanga?" said Tigger.

Kanga caught up and met Tigger at the end of the path, though it took a bit to get used to how fast his bouncing was compared to hers.

"So Tigger," Kanga said, "just what do you like to talk about when you go bouncing like this?"

Tigger thought. "Hm…I don't know. I guess I just like to think about bouncin'."

"Just bouncing?"

"Well yeah. That and I guess I like to think about how high I can bounce."

"Really," said Kanga, "and how high is that?"

Tigger chuckled. "Aw, just you wait Miss Kanga." The tiger plushie fired up his tail and propelled himself into the air with a single bounce of his rubbery backside. He disappeared into the clouds and didn't return until five seconds had past, where he Kanga fell over on impact to the ground.

"Oh gee! I'm sorry Miss Kanga! Did you see that though? Oh I hope you did! I was really high up! I could see the clouds."

"I believe it tiger," said Kanga, "that was the biggest bounce I've ever seen. I wish I could hop that high."

"Really? It isn't that hard."

Kanga caught onto what he was trying to do and stepped back. "I couldn't dear."

"Hold on tight Miss Kanga and twirl up your tail! I'm gonna show you how it's done!"

"Please Tigger I don't-" But before she knew it poor Kanga was picked up by Tigger's tough hands. She barely had enough time to properly prepare her tail and feet before he started.

"Now on a one! On a two! On a three! Bounce!"

Tigger's powerhouse ninety powered bounce combined with Kanga's negative five-powered pounce sent the two flying way up past the Hundred Acre Wood and swiftly into the sky. Kanga watched as the familiar place around her got smaller and smaller until they both went straight through the clouds.

Oh what a beautiful thing to see so quickly. In the afternoon sun, the clouds were softer, clumpier, and the most beautiful pinkish-orange. Kanga gushed in awe at the lovely cloud city before the two stuffed animals fell back down to earth.

The landing was rough but nowhere near as bad as Kanga expected. Both Kanga and Tigger began laughing, not because they found it funny but both the found it to be bunches of fun.

"Oh Tigger, you are right dear! I've never bounced like that before."

"See!" laughed Tigger hopping on his front legs. "I told you bouncing wasn't that hard ohohohooo!"

Kanga was holding herself out of sheer content. "I've never seen anything so pretty as those clouds up there!"

"I sure have!" said Tigger.

"Really? What?"

Suddenly Tigger stopped bouncing and fell onto the forest floor with a thud. "Ugh…oh gee I did I say that out loud?"

"Say what out loud?" asked Kanga.

Tigger took his tail in his hands and tightened it into a bunch nervously. "I was gonna say you were just as pretty as those clouds but that doesn't sound right…"

Kanga and Tigger stared at one another trying to make sense of how it felt uncomphy when you called someone pretty. They thought lots of things were pretty and occasionally they thought all their friends were pretty and nice in different ways. But saying Kanga was pretty was odd, especially coming from Tigger who never thought anything was too odd.

To break the silence Kanga put out a hand and let Tigger take it compassionately. "Want to bounce more then?"

Tigger smiled and, feeling odder than odd, hopped alongside her. "Anything you say miss Kanga!"