The Tournament

Mousse had quacked until his throat was raw. This had never happened to him before. There had always been someone around who had known about the Jusenkyou or happened to speak duck, but this time he was helpless.

‘The stupid jackass even left my clothes behind!’ he thought venomously. Mousse was glaring at the back of the dogs head, when the arms wrapped around him tightened painfully. He squawked indignantly and tried to reach one of his daggers. ‘It’s a good thing that I can use my Hidden Weapons technique in any form,’ he thought as he readied himself to stab his kidnapper.

“Oi, Shikamaru!” Kiba shouted into the gloom. “What do you think you’re doing to Hinata?” From out of the gloom, Mousse could hear the sound of someone being woken from an almost deep sleep.

“K-Kiba?” a groggy voice questioned. Then there was the sound of shuffling, and possibly an embarrassed squeek. From out of the gloom, appeared a big fuzzy blob that focused into two teenagers, sitting under a blanket. One of them, the girl from earlier, was wiping her eyes, and turning an interesting shade of red. The other, some guy with a spiky ponytail, looked bored, but he did have an interesting flush covering the bridge of his nose and cheeks.

“How can you take advantage of her like that?” his captor screamed at the two.

“You woke us up,” ponytail boy complained. “Take advantage of me?” the girl questioned at the same time.

“I trusted you to take care of her!” Scruffy shouted.

“I can take care of myself,” a quiet voice interrupted.

“What are you talking about?” an annoyed voice questioned.

“I leave you alone with Hinata, because I trusted you to take care of her, and when I find you again, you’re all snuggled up. You could be groping her under that blanket!” he accused wildly, pointing.

“Kiba!” a shocked gasp came from the girl.

“…And she was sleeping too!”

“Kiba!” the quiet voice was more firm, “Shikamaru wouldn’t do something like that and you know it. We’re under the blanket to keep warm and nothing else. Now get the tent out so we can all dry off.” This last part was said quietly. It almost sounded like she might have hurt her throat by talking as much and as forcefully as she had.

“Aw, I’m sorry Hinata,” and the arms around Mousse loosened, “I just don’t want you to get hurt or nothin’.”

“That’s okay Kiba.”

“Why didn’t you guys set the tent up already?”

“Because you have it,” the other guy said.

“No I don’t. I thought one of you did.” There was an awkward silence.

“Grab a blanket and join the huddle,” the other guy sighed.

“Okay. But you gotta hold the duck,” Mousse was transferred over to the girl. She cuddled him close to her, and Mousse could once again feel the delicious curves that she hid under her clothing.

“Why do you have a duck?” she questioned.

“Akamaru says that this duck is the same guy that groped Hinata,” Mousse’s opponent shrugged, “Hey Hinata, did you pack an extra blanket for me? I forgot mine.”

“Of course Kiba. I’ll get it out in just a second,” she handed Mousse off to the other guy, and rummaged through her pack. She pulled out a blanket and handed it to Kiba.

The other guy was shifting Mousse around, holding him at odd angles. “What kind of henge is this?” he asked no one in particular.

“It acted like a body switching jutsu,” Kiba replied, “One minute he’s there. The next, there’s a duck.”

“What hand seals did he use?” Hinata questioned.

“None.”

“So what triggered it?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t even sense a flux in his chackra.”

“Weird. Guess we’ll have to wait ‘til he changes back,” the still unnamed one shrugged, then proceeded to get comfortable. “Well, time to get some sleep.” With those words, he closed his eyes, and Mousse could feel him go to sleep right then and there.

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Hinata woke up the next morning, stiff, cold, and cuddling with a duck. At first, she thought that she had gotten drunk, because that’s what had happened the last time she had woken up in a similar situation. The lack of a blinding headache is what brought memories of last night back to her.

‘Silly Kiba,’ she thought fondly, ‘No one is out to take advantage of me. Wonder where he got that idea?’ Hinata had always thoguth of Shino and Kiba as honorary older brothers, and she had always assumed that they thought the same way about her. They had never given any indication that they thought of her in a romantic way.

She stayed seated, as she stretched cautiously. It was then that she noticed that neither Shikamaru nor Kiba were still sleeping. They had built a campfire, and were preparing breakfast. Hinata stretched and was about to get up to grab some breakfast. It was then that she noticed that something had slithered down her back the night before, and remained cold and clammy against her skin. She grimaced in disgust.

Cautiously Hinata started removing her clothing from the day before under the blanket. She, like most shinobi, had practice undressing in front of people without being noticed. She had just removed her shirt, and unclasped her bar when Kiba approached.

“Good to see you’re awake,” Kiba greeted her, as he passed her a steaming cup of what smelled like tea. She accepted it gratefully, and ignored the fact that it slightly burned her fingers. She blew on it to cool it down, and started sliding her bra down her arm. This action caused hot liquid to dribble over her fingers. She inhaled sharply, as a puff of smoke blew up in her face. Where once there was a bespeckled white duck, now sat a very naked man.

Hinata’s eyes widened, and she was in such shock, that she didn’t even have time to blush before everything went black.

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Shikamaru was squatting in front of the campfire, keeping an eye on the rice in the pot as it bubbled happily away. He noticed that Hinata was changing her clothes under the blanket that they had shared the night before. He fought the blush that was creeping up his cheeks at the image of her naked.

‘Weird,’ he thought to himself, ‘I stopped acting like this within weeks of being partnered with Ino, and she’s been naked around me a lot.’ They had been teammates for six years now, and after getting used to her nudity, he stopped blushing at the thought of naked girls all together. ‘Why is the thought of Hinata being naked just a few feet away so appealing?’

Shikamaru stirred the rice, and produced his traveling bowl. He was in the process of scooping his breakfast into the bowl when he heard a muffled “bamph.” He looked to see a cloud of smoke where Hinata once lay. He got up to investigate, spilling his breakfast in the process.

When the smoke cleared, he saw a naked man wearing glasses sitting in Hinata’s lap. Shikamaru didn’t know what he was going to do, because the man was tackled by Kiba from behind, leaving a half naked Hinata sprawled against the tree they had spent the night under.

He tore his gaze away from the awesome sight of Hinata’s pale breasts, but not before he memorized how they looked, and the exact color of pink her nipples were. He blushed as he imagined how they would change if his hand were to pass over them, or how they would look glistening from a coat of his saliva.

The sound of cartalidge snapping had him staring at Kiba as his fists slammed into the body of the naked man. The naked man was protecting his body as best he could, and trying to explain that it was an accident.

‘Kiba has that under control,’ Shikamaru thought as he glanced back at Hinata, who was beginning to show signs of coming to. Like the gentleman his mother raised him to be, and because having her faint again would be a waste of time, Shikamaru turned his back to allow her some privacy.

“Kiba,” he said quietly, but with authority, which caused Kiba to look at him, giving the naked man a rest. “He’s obviously changed back. If you don’t kill him we can question him.”

“But he was taking advantage of Hinata!” whined Kiba as he threw one last punch at his victim.

“You’re the one who gave him to her to begin with,” Shikamaru pointed out.

Kiba grumbled as he roughly picked up the duck man, and manhandled him over to his bag. From his bag he pulled out a piece of rope and started tying him up. Once that was accomplished, he threw a blanket onto his lap.

Hinata had finished waking up, and sikamaru could hear her embarrassment even though she hadn’t uttered a sound. His ears started heating up in sympathy. “You might want to finish getting dressed,” he said, fighting the urge to look over his shoulder at her.

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Hinata was so embarrassed that she was tempted to pass out again. It would only put off the inevitable confrontation between her and the cause of her fainting spell, but it might be worth the extra minute of compuosure that it would allow her.

Looking at Shikamaru’s back, and hearing the sounds of Kiba protecting her honor made her reconsider. Shikamaru sounded annoyed. Well more annoyed then he usually sounds, and she could only guess that he was not a morning person.

Hinata scrambled into a clean bra and shirt, and put the dirty ones in a bag that she packed specifically for dirty clothes. When she was finished she cleared her throat to get Shikamaru’s attention. He turned around and she saw a flush across his cheeks. ‘I hope he’s not getting sick,’ she thought to herself as she smiled at him.

“Where’s Kiba?”

Shikamaru gestured with his chin, his arms crossed over his chest. She didn’t bother turning her head, instead she focused her 360 degree view in the direction that he indicated. Kiba was leaning over the man from the photos, holding his hair and growling something at him. Her brow crinkled a little as she focused on what he was saying.

“…You better pray that she forgives you…”

“Kiba,” she called out, “Leave him alone.” She contained her grin at the expression on Shikamaru’s face. He was clearly surprised at what she just did, probably more for the fact that she did it then for the fact that she could do it.

She wasn’t showing off just to show off. She was doing it because when she worked with Kiba it was always a good idea to remind him that he couldn’t get away with anything when she was around. ‘It’s kind of like the rumors that Iruka-sensei had eyes in the back of their heads,’ she thought ruefully.

“Aw Hinata!” complained Kiba from behind her. She turned around and walked over to the two. After politely shooing Kiba away she knelt down in front of the now very bruised man.

“We haven’t been properly introduced,” she started, smiling at him. “My name is Hinata Hyuuga. What’s yours?”

“I’m Mousse, Master of the Hidden Weapons Technique,” he smiled at her, and she had to stop herself from cringing at the sight of his bloody teeth. “I’m very sorry for what happened earlier.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Hinata said, blushing furiously for being reminded. “So what happened?”

Now it was his turn to blush. Through his thick glasses Hinata could see his eyes lower so that he was staring at the space between them. “I am an Amazon from Jusenkyo,” he started, “Near my home village his a valley full of pools of water. Each of these pools have a curse. While training there, I fell into the pool known as Spring of Drwoned Duck.”

“How does a duck drown?” Hinata questioned.

“How does an octopus drown? Let alone get to the middle of China. Who knows? The magic of the springs doesn’t conform to the laws of logic,” he shrugged at this. “Well anyway, now whenever I come in contact with cold water I turn into a duck. Whenever I come into contact with warm water as a duck, I revert back to my normal body.”

“Oh,” she said, nodding at the logic of his statement, “But where are your clothes?”

Now Mousse glared a Kiba, “He left them behind. Most of my weapons were in there,” he muttered.

“You have more weapons on you?” she questioned, trying not to imagine all the disturbing places that he could be hiding his weapons.

“Yes, and no,” he stated. Then he looked around. “I would show you, but then it wouldn’t be a secret.”

“I understand,” she said grinning at him. “So, where were you going?”

“I was trying to find my love, Shampoo,” he stated passionately. Hinata felt envious of this girl. ‘To have someone love her so much as to follow her across the country,’ she thought, smothering a sigh. “The last I heard she and Elder Cologne was heading to Honey Country. I don’t know what she was planning on doing there, but I have to be there to protect her.”

“That’s sweet,” Hinata gushed a little. “Once we get you dressed, would you like to travel with us? We’re going there ourselves.”