Bestial

AN: So I will wait until after Bestial is finished to begin posting other stories in this universe (and yes, there will be one for Hinata, Ino, and Tenten, I have the pairings already planned out at this point). I think that’s everything I have to say, except everyone give a huge hug to Taberah Blanc, who graciously gave me lessons on HTML so I can preserve/fix my formatting at AFF. Also, everyone say hello to Stem, who has graciously agreed to be my beta and bring me up to scratch! –sends lots of lurve to Stem for mad editing skills-


AN2: Second of all, while I am very interested in hearing your opinions on who you’d like to see, and what interactions you like/would like to see (it gives me ideas), I can’t please everyone. I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is, especially for a long story. If it was a one-shot or a collection of drabbles, it would be different. Hopefully this won’t drive too many of you away, but if you’re waffling on whether to continue, I have more than one twist up my sleeve, and I am by no means finished torturing Sakura, nor am I finished bringing in other characters—just keep in mind that it might not be exactly how you’d like to see them (i.e. with a certain character).

Let the games begin.

Disclaimer: Finally I own something: Rafu, Manjushage, Tenseranpaseran, and Keseranpaseran. I’m going to shoot myself for choosing those names.

Do I still need to go through all my symbols?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm scene break/end of chapter

::Inner Sakura::

Block of italics is a flashback

Chapter Nine

Kakashi leapt away from Kiba, still holding me, and as soon as he landed I began to struggle.

“Put me down! What the hell is your problem? !” I shrieked. Kakashi was stiff and unmoving but I somehow managed to awkwardly scramble down from his arms. My wet hair was all over the place and I angrily pushed back the tangled strands that stuck to my face. I looked up at him, but he was looking straight ahead, and since he has around seven inches in height on me, his line of vision was over my head. That just made me angrier. Fisting my hand in his black shirt, I yanked his face down to my eye level so that our noses were almost touching. He continued to look through me, not at me, and I swear I saw red for a full second before controlling myself enough to be able to form words.

“What gives you the right to throw him against a tree and to carry me off like a doll? I can take care of myself, and I’ll have you know that I was handling the situation just fine. I’m not a little girl in need of protection anymore, Kakashi, and just because I’m a virgin doesn’t mean I’m entirely innocent, either,” I growled at him. I thought I saw his eye—the dark grey one—flash red for a second, and I wondered if maybe it wasn’t Kakashi that I was dealing with, that it was one of the Grass ninja Kiba had smelled instead.

Kakashi continued to remain silent as he straightened up; slightly intimidated, I allowed his shirt to slip from my grasp. He finally looked down at me, but his face was completely blank; I had no idea what he was thinking.

“Go join Hinata and finish healing the villagers,” was all he said before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. I just stood there dumbly, in his vest that was too big for my frame. Oh, that is so like him! Infuriated, I let out a combination growl/shriek, punched the nearest tree (obliterating it into matchsticks), and in a similar puff of smoke, left for the village.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

It was late when Hinata and I stumbled back to camp, Akamaru at our sides, but we were at long last finished with the actual healing of the villagers. Now it was just a matter of keeping them hydrated, warm and letting them rest, a task our clones could do easily. I gratefully accepted a bowl of whatever it was we were having for dinner from Kiba—it looked like ramen—peeled off Kakashi’s now dry vest, tossed it to him, and sat on my sleeping bag and began to eat, dimly registering that my vest was next to me.

“Report,” Kakashi ordered, catching his vest and putting it back on.

“We finished healing them,” Hinata said after slurping her noodles. She shoved in another mouthful and I took over.

“Clones can monitor their recovery,” and I took another bite.

“It’s just a matter of resting and gaining back their strength,” Hinata said. Food tastes so good when you’re hungry. I swear, we both looked like Naruto at Ichiraku if he had starved for four days.

“Ah,” was all that Kakashi said. I stood up and grabbed another bowlful of ramen, then sat back down. Kiba was studiously avoiding my gaze—was he embarrassed about getting caught? Heh, probably. I bet Kakashi gave him a dressing down too. I took the time to glare at Kakashi, but he serenely continued to read his porn. Granted, I know that it’s against the rules—well it’s not actually a rule, but it’s frowned upon—to engage in unnecessary sexual activity with another ninja while on a mission, but really, under the circumstances we’re hardly to blame. Well, at least I’m hardly to blame. I was an innocent bystander…of sorts…completely victimized by a possessed Kiba. I don’t have a leg to stand on. Bla, now I just made myself feel guilty. And I had such a great righteous anger thing going, too.

“Sakura, you take first watch, then wake me up,” Kakashi said. Drat. I guess Hinata gets last watch then—oh well, at least I get uninterrupted sleep, always a good thing. Somehow I don’t think that anything is going to happen tonight.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Luckily for me, my watch was uneventful. Feeling refreshed, I woke up and happily accepted breakfast from Hinata, then walked over a nearby stream to do my morning ablutions. When I returned, Kakashi outlined the plans for the day. Because the Grass-nins (we felt reasonably sure they were from Grass) set the trap yesterday, it was safe to assume that they knew about all of our abilities. Kiba was proven to be a weak link in this area because of his nose (there are hundreds of plants that apparently can affect him), so he would remain at camp and guard Rafu with Akamaru while the rest of us searched for traces of the nins.

At first glance, Hinata saw a massive amount of chakra lines crisscrossing the forest. I was pretty sure that if we crossed them more traps would be sprung, so we tried different ways of disarming the traps, with a lot of not-so-fun results. We first tried to sever the lines—that led to a man-eating Venus flytrap-type plant springing up. And we quickly discovered that absorbing the chakra at another spot led to huge crushing vines that reminded me of an anaconda. Exasperated, I purposely walked through a line, and was almost stabbed by these strange sharp stick-like plants. Kakashi gave me a look when I did that one. It was one of those “what the hell do you think you’re doing” looks that make him look unbearably superior, and make my fist twitch to punch him. After all of our failed attempts, the three of us decided to send wave after wave of clones to get demolished by the traps while we followed and destroyed the plants. This, of course, devoured our chakra at an alarming rate, but we didn’t want to fight today. We just wanted to gather information.

Finally, at midday we reached their campsite. It looked like it had been used last night, so it was reasonable to assume that the trap Kiba and I had set off yesterday was meant to keep us out or drive us away.

“I can smell our prisoner here, but it’s very faint,” Kakashi said, as he bit his thumb and summoned Pakkun. He held a piece of cloth for Pakkun to smell.

“Tell me what you can detect,” he said. Pakkun walked around sniffing at various things while Hinata and I were on the lookout for the Grass-nins.

“That one that you carried, I can smell him here, but the trail two days old. There are two—no, three others. Two are very similar, they’re related—twins, possibly Those are about a day old, maybe a day and a half. And I can smell a lot of chakra—one of them is a chakra manipulation master, and he doesn’t use any hand signals.” Or he doesn’t know any, I thought to myself.

Kakashi nodded and Pakkun poofed out of existence just as a vine slithered towards my ankle. I hurriedly leapt out of the way and threw a shuriken at it, successfully pinning it to the ground.

The three of us into a formation that forced our backs to each other as more of the vines crawled out from various directions. I grabbed one of the creepers and sent a lightning jutsu up it, assuming that it might be attached to the ninja, then finished it off with a weak fire jutsu. In my peripheral vision I saw Hinata, Byakugan activated, dash into the brush. Kakashi was directly behind me so I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I’m sure it was appropriately spiffy. Two more vines shot out towards me and I dodged them, using another fire jutsu to obliterate them as well. It’s a good thing I’m from the Fire Country, where fire jutsus are obviously in abundance—water and earth, my other two strongest elements (in jutsus, at any rate) aren’t exceptionally useful against plants. At least, not when a Grass-nin is controlling them.

Hm…a plan, a plan. The light of an idea flashed in my head. I grabbed onto the next vine that shot towards me, and, clutching it, followed it back to where it was rooted in the ground. No sign of a Grass-nin anywhere. A grin of unholy glee crossed my face as I vigorously punched the ground, and, sure enough, there he was, the little rat bastard who thought he could hide from me. Without missing a beat, I grabbed him and threw him into a nearby tree, using my chakra-enhanced limbs to make it feel twice as good. Seeing that he was sufficiently stunned, I threw him back towards the campsite.

“Incoming!” I yelled, then displaced back to the campsite. Good thing, too, I was starting to run low on chakra. I poofed in and saw Kakashi holding another Grass-nin a foot off the ground with one hand fisted in his vest. Hinata was sitting next to hers detainee, who was unconscious. I could see from the small bruises on his forearms that she had closed off his chakra pathways.

“I swear, it’s the truth!” Kakashi’s captive babbled. “The mission scroll is in my left pocket!”

Kakashi pulled it out and slowly let him down while keeping ninja in sight. He opened the scroll and read it. What was going on?

“I see,” he said.

“See what?” I asked.

“They’re after our man too,” Kakashi said. The Grass-nin he had been holding bowed to us.

“Please accept my most humble apologies, we thought you were working with him,” he said formally. Oh crap!

“No, no, please accept mine,” I said hastily as I returned the bow. “And I would be honored if you would allow me to heal your injuries.” Shoot, what are their customs again? I tend to get Rain and Grass confused—they both have formal cultures that are somewhat similar.

Kakashi looked amused. “You may join us at our camp,” he said, as he shouldered Hinata’s unconscious former opponent and began heading back towards camp. I darted after him when I saw the supposed leader (the ninja Kakashi had taken on) help his comrade (my former opponent) up.

“Kakashi,” I hissed at him. “Are you sure it was a real scroll?”

He glanced at me. “Yes. It was signed by the Shokubutsukage, with a chakra seal. It’s impossible to fake them, as you should know.” All jounin are trained to recognize the chakra signature seals (it’s exactly like signing one’s name but using chakra instead of ink) of the Kages—so we can avoid mishaps like the one that just happened, and avoid Hidden Village War II.

So much for an epic battle. But truthfully, I was relieved. My skills, as great as they are, really aren’t ideal to go up against a Grass-nin. My ideal opponent is someone who’s skilled in taijutsu, allowing me use (or abuse, depending on how you look at it) medical ninjutsu to disable them—or someone whose skills are comparable to a Mist-nin’s. Mist-nins can be counted on to use water in some way, shape or form. Fire is a great counter for this if you don’t have a Sharingan eye and have the skill level or power to back up your attack. But it is the ninja who manipulate things that are harder to beat. Summoners, Grass-nin, Sound-nin, and genjutsu specialists are my least favorite people to go up against—their talents or specialties don’t really have an opposites like: earth against air and lightning, water against fire and earth, fire against water and ice, and so on.

As we walked, I dropped to take the rear and analyze the two conscious Grass-nin. They wore the usual Grass jounin uniform—which, coincidentally looked a lot like Konoha’s except for the coloring—dark green pants, dark green shirt, and a light green vest. Their vest was a bit different from ours in the sense that it had a mandarin collar and frog closures rather than a zipper. It also had fewer pockets, but that pants made up for that in abundance. That’s interesting, I like that idea—a superficial concern, I know, but it’s nice to be able to kick ass and look feminine too. On the other hand, my thick vest provides extra padding for any sharp pointy objects that come my way. Still…the scroll pockets in the chest area do go a long way towards androgenizing the women. That’s why none of us wear the full uniform outside of a mission. Well, that and because we like to wear more than one outfit.

I couldn’t detect any malicious intent from the nins so I turned my attention outwards. Before I knew it, we were back at camp, and I was tending to the man I had been fighting, Keseranpaseran. He was handsome, I suppose—but when compared to the rugged good looks of Kiba or the polished appearance of Shino, he had some tough competition. His hair was beautiful though; down to his waist, and a dark shade of green that appeared to be black unless the sun hit it a certain way. His skin was tan, just like that coffee ice cream Ino loves. Tenseranpaseran, his twin who Hinata had incapacitated, possessed hair that only brushed his shoulders, along with some shorter strands in front. Their eyes were a beautiful pale blue—almost grey, they were the color of the pasqueflower; the lightness was even more enhanced by their skin tone. Manjushage (the scroll-holder and apparent leader), had deep purple locks and yellow eyes—not amber, but a brilliant shade of yellow found in sunflowers. His skin—almost more intriguing than his eyes—was so pale that it almost looked like it was green—no, wait, it was a pale green. They were undoubtedly the most exotic-looking ninja I’d ever seen, except for Mist-nins, but these appearances were far superior: Mist-nins aren’t always attractive, they’re just scary. In my experience, they tend to look like sharks and other carnivorous aquatic life…although I have seen a handful of alluring Mist-nins. Maybe I should aim for missions taking me to Grass more often.

::After all, we’re neighbors, we should get to know each other better. ::

After we healed them, the Grass team insisted on cooking the noon meal. It was a vegetarian feast—I have no idea what herbs or vegetables they used, or if they even exist in Konoha, but it was scrumptious.

“Can everyone in Grass cook this well?” I inquired, trying to remain formal—which I was beyond rusty at, I don’t think I had practiced this sort of thing since our diplomacy classes!

“Oh, you are too kind, but really, this is nothing,” Tenseranpaseran waved off my compliment.

“Yes, if we had a proper kitchen and ingredients, then you would really be able to say you had Grass cuisine,” Keseranpaseran broke in.

“Is all Grass cuisine vegetarian?” That was Hinata—she was much better at this than me, due to her upbringing.

“Most of it, yes,” Manjushage replied. “Our country is so small that we use most of it for growing plants that are used to feed the people. Fortunately, we have maintained good relations with the other countries, and we are small, so it is relatively easy to hunt in the surrounding countries—if we desire, we can have a wide variety of meat.”

“But the only ones who take advantage of this fact are those who live very near to the border,” Tenseranpaseran said. “After eating your mother’s cooking for so long, and then preparing it yourself with meat, the meal often tastes strange.”

“Yes, I’m not fond of it—not in Grass cuisine,” Manjushage finished. Hinata and I nodded understanding. We shared a look and stood up.

“We must check on the villagers,” I said. I dispelled my clones and felt a portion of my chakra return. If something had gone wrong with the villagers, a clone (one of mine or Hinata’s) would have come after us. Since our clones would be dispelled anyway when we went to sleep, we might as well dispel them now—we’d need the chakra in order to check on the villagers.

“Please excuse us,” Hinata bowed, and I did the same, before we both relocated to the village center with a jutsu.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

“So, Hinata,” I purred with a sly look as we walked towards the campsite. “Which Grass-nin do you think is the most attractive?”

“Sakura!” She cried, blushing. “I don’t believe it! You shouldn’t be thinking of things like that on a mission!”

I raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Oh please, I know you have eyes in your head, and I saw you eyeing them while you were eating. There’s nothing in the rules that says we can’t appreciate what Nature obviously intended us to look at.”

::And if Nature says worship, I say, hell yeah! ::

“Manjushage is beautifully exotic,” I sighed, and saw her nod at the corner of my eye, still blushing—oh, wait, her ears just turned pink. “And the twins are gorgeous.” Her blush deepened.

“Aha! It’s the twins,” I said, smiling at her. “Which one? Tenseranpaseran? Or Keseranpaseran? Or…is it both?” She covered her face in her hands, scarlet all over, including the ears.

“Hinata!” I squealed. “You dirty girl! Are you serious? Both of them?” The idea hadn’t really occurred to me before, I had only been teasing, but I was seeing the merits of it. Talk about adventurous. I got a mental image of a Sakura sandwich and flushed. It would solve the so-many-men-so-little-time problem I was having, that’s for damn sure. Then I imagined Kiba and Naruto surrounding me and the blood rushed to my cheeks again. That’s something to save for the shower.

::Oh man, a threesome in the shower? Sign me up! ::

“Well,” she mumbled through her hands. “I’m always so indecisive…why should I have to choose?” I stared at her for a moment, surprised, before I burst into hysterical laughter and paused to rest against a tree.

“Oh Hinata, you have got to speak up more often. That was priceless. Seriously, though, you want to be in a threesome? Have you even been with someone yet?”

She sat against the tree and fanned her crimson face. “Well…uh…no…I haven’t…you know. And…um…well…the thought of one person’s attention entirely on me…it t-terrifies me, Sakura. I’ve always been behind corners, in the shadows…To suddenly be the focus of one p-person make me want to curl up and hide.” She paused, gathering her thoughts—and her courage, she didn’t open up this much very often, if at all. “If someone else was there, then a-all of their attention wouldn’t be on me, right?”

I thought on this. “Well, that, or you would have two people’s attention focused entirely on you.” She looked like she was about to collapse from that statement, but after collecting herself, shook her head.

“No,” she said with an impish look on her face that clashed with the ever-present blush, “because they would have to pay attention to where the other person’s body parts are.”

“Hinata!” I blushed and started laughing again. She has always been full of surprises.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

What do the Grass ninja want Rafu for? How much longer will the Grass nin stick around for? What do Kiba and Kakashi think of these beautiful men? When will the team return to Konoha, and what awaits them there? Find out in the next chapter!

AN: If someone wants to illustrate this story/draw images inspired by it (I’ve gotten one offer from Ziri), please let me know so I can direct people to your awesome artwork and stick links everywhere and give you lots of lurve! –looks around hopefully for a “Kiba and Sakura going at it in the rain” pic-

If you’re interested in the Japanese names used in this chapter/other explanations of things, read below:

Shokubutsukage: “Plant Shadow” (ostensibly the strongest ninja in Grass—who hasn’t been given a name in the series because Grass isn’t one of the 5 major villages); shokubutsu = “plant, vegetation” in Japanese. It was either that or puranto, which means plant, but my dictionary didn’t say what kind of plant. That and it’s clearly Japanified English, which I’d like to avoid, if possible. Unless it’s Rafu. Or Bob.

Manjushage: “red spider-lily, cluster belladonna, cluster amaryllis, manjusaka.” I chose it because I gave this Grass nin the coloring of belladonna (well, North American belladonna is yellow and purple, not sure about Japanese), and my handy dictionary gave me this meaning. This is not the name of a person, but most plant/flower names in Japanese are female (if they’re names for people), and I thought Grass nins should have plant-oriented names.

Keseranpaseran and Tenseranpaseran: Not Japanese names per se; both mean (according to the Japanese/English dictionary I used): “flock from a vine-seed weed, used for face powder, believed to promote desire and happiness.” I used them because I gave Keseranpaseran some funky vine-manipulation powers when he was fighting Sakura, and I was looking for a name (any name, a person-name or a plant-name) that had to do with vines, and since they were twins I thought it was handy that I found two that meant the same thing…according to this online dictionary anyway.

On Sakura’s elemental strengths: I made Sakura strong at fire jutsus because a) she’s from the Fire Country, b) she’s an Aries (a fire sign—born March 28), and c) her hair is pink (a derivative of red, which is a color in Wicca stuff for fire). I made Sakura strong at earth jutsus because her eyes are green (color for earth), and water jutsus because some zodiac ideologists believe that Pluto may also be a strong presence/ruler for Aries (in addition to Mars), and Pluto is associated with a water sign (see Scorpio). Various Wicca and astrology sites were used for this. Also, I gave Sakura a few lightning jutsus because her hair is pink—a mix of red and white, and I used white as a color for lightning (my own invention). The end.