Animal

“Hey, Temai-chan-sama, where are we going?” A girl with a baseball cap much too big for her head asked, for the millionth time.

The girl with the long leather jacket rubbed her face, angry. “Just bear with us, Megumi. We’ll get there.”

“But what’s WHERE?”

“Megumi.” A boy with a red bandana covering his head turned to walk backwards in front of the two girls. “Just shut up for one freakin’ day, will ya?”

Megumi’s hat jumped up, shooting into the air and revealing black cat ears. “Huh? What’d you say, Yu-kun?”

“Jesus, Megumi!!” Yuto and Otemai both dove for her, shoving the cap back onto her head. “Do you WANT people to see your ears?!”

“Well, this hat is really itchy! And I can barely hear through it!” She defended.

Otemai ran a hand through her short hair. “She’s right, Yuto-san. And besides, we’re walking through the desert. What harm can it do?”

“Fine!” Yuto turned in a huff, walking forward again. “Let’s just keep moving before the sun comes up.”

Megumi blinked, and was silent for a moment…Just a moment…

“So, where are we going?”

Otemai had to grab Yuto by his wolf tail to prevent him from tearing the black haired girl’s limbs off. “Calm down, Yuto-san. Megumi, why don’t you scout ahead to see if there’s any villages near here. We need to camp for the day, soon.”

“Okay!” Megumi darted forward, almost sending her comrades flying. They watched her wordlessly as she cleared small dunes in cat-like leaps, tail unraveling from her waist which used to be disguised as a fuzzy black belt.

Yuto snatched his tail back, growling. “Don’t pull on my tail!!”

“I’ll do as I please. I AM leader, and I can leave you in this desert to die if you disobey me.” Otemai fixed him in one of her deadly glares, making even the wolf boy shiver.

“…Fine…Just don’t pull on my tail that much…” He stuffed his tail back under his longer-than-normal shirt to hide it.

They continued their walk, and they could still see the cloud of smoke that erupted from the cat girl’s running miles away.

“Here’s a good question.” Yuto muttered. “If we hate the airhead so much, why don’t we just kill her?”

Otemai still faced forward. “An even better question, do you see any other humans around here with animal DNA? We need her to fulfill our mission. It requires three Fusions to complete.”

“Alright! Alright! I get it!”

“The point is, if we want to destroy this pathetic land, like the rest we’ve obliterated, we need Megumi…” Otemai narrowed her eyes at the cloud of dust. “After the mission is complete, we’ll kill her.”

| :8 ^o^ 8: |

Megumi leaped over the sandy hills vigorously, tail streaming behind her. Her hat was almost coming off, so she flexed her ears to keep it on.

“I don’t know why I need this. Nobody’s around, and I can’t see or smell any humans…”

She stopped on a dune suddenly, sniffing the air carefully. Her ears shot up, the cap flying off, and she ran full speed over the cool, night-time sand.

The baseball hat rested, half buried in the sand, for her comrades to find.

Megumi didn’t stop for quite some time, ignorant of the fact that Otemai might grab her by the ears and hang them on a flagpole, like last time she disobeyed her. Her brown eyes became determined slits.

“This smell is all weird.” She muttered to herself. “Nothing like I’ve ever smelled before.”

Soon, she stopped, slightly panting from the sprint she had made, staring before her.

“…A human village…but…” She smelled again, screwing up her face in confusion. “Something else…”

“Hey, you!!”

Megumi looked in the direction she heard the voice from to see five men in khaki robes with an hourglass symbol on them coming for her.

Instinctively, her tail wrapped around her waist again, and she reached to her head to make sure her hat was secure.

“No hat!” She suddenly panicked. “I-I must have dropped it!!”

Megumi froze as she watched them come closer. ‘They’re really slow.’ She thought absently.

Finally, she messed up her hair so that it covered her ears; it wasn’t the best disguise, but she had nothing else to improvise with.

The men faced her, strange, diamond shaped weapons, almost like daggers, held in each hand.

“Who are you?! State your business!” One of them demanded.

“Er…business?” She repeated. (BTW, she’s not faking the innocence. She’s an airhead, remember?)

Another took a step forward, weapon still drawn. “What are you doing in this village?! As a Sunagakure Shinobi, I COMMAND you to answer our question!”

Now Megumi was completely confused. “Look…er…Shi-whatever-you-are…I REALLY don’t know what you’re--”

A loud wolf’s howl came from the distance, and the black haired girl’s ears popped back up. “Yu-kun?”

“AH!!”

She turned back to the men to see that one of them was missing, and the others were looking around frantically for him.

There was a flash of black and maroon, and another was sent flying straight up into the air.

“Up there! In the sky!!” The remaining shouted, pointing their weapons above their heads.

There was a vicious snarl, and a large gray and white wolf jumped on two of them at once, tearing at their arms as they held them up to attack the beast or defend themselves.

Megumi blinked, unaffected by the violence. “Yu-kun, it IS you.”

“You’re planning to attack the village!!” The last remaining Shinobi positioned himself to throw the dagger.

“Whatever gave you THAT impression?” An innocent voice from behind him made him freeze, and he slowly turned around.

A girl with short, purple-pink hair and huge black angel wings smirked at his reaction, her vamperic teeth glinting in the light of dawn.

“AH!!”

Megumi watched with no particular surprise as the dark angel ripped open his neck with her fangs, blood gushing out, and she gulped it down greedily. The body fell, and she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her face still stained.

“Temai-chan-sama, you, too?”

Otemai flapped her wings, giving her momentum as she hovered over the ground. “Stop acting so stricken, Megumi.”

“Yeah, give up the act.” Yuto padded over, licking the blood and meat from his muzzle.

“Come, Megumi. We’ll destroy this cute little village, then proceed onward in the morning.” The dark angel cooed.

Megumi shook her head. “What’d this village ever do to us?”

The large wolf bark fiercly. “Damn it, Megumi!! Just kill everyone you see!! It’s not that hard!!”

“But--”

“Come on out, Neko-sama. Leave this wimp and join in the fun.” Otemai slurred, floating over to Megumi.

The cat girl tilted her head. “Why are you--?”

Otemai hit her in the neck with her palm, and Megumi cried out in sudden pain. Then her eyes began to close, her body beginning to fall to the ground in unconsciousness.

“Come, Neko-sama.”

Her body stopped falling, her legs finding strength again. Her hair covered her eyes as she stood in an almost crouching position.

Otemai smirked again. “Come out and play, great lord. There’s lots of fun to be had.”

“Yes…” A growl escaped Megumi’s throat, energy suddenly erupting from her feet, swirling around her. She lifted her head suddenly, her once-brown eyes now glowed a white-blue, and she was suddenly fully engulfed in purplish-black flame.

Yuto’s ears flattened in sudden surprise, and he took a few steps back to prevent being set aflame by the energy.

Megumi, once an innocent, pretty young half-cat half-human girl, was now a giant cat creature, it’s body made up of pulsing and flowing energy that burned anything it touched. It yowled such a roar that it made the ground shake beneath it’s comrades’ feet.

But Otemai wasn’t afraid. Her smile only grew wider, and she laughed evilly. “THIS, dear Yuto-san, is why we need Megumi! Neko-sama!!”

“Y-Yeah…” Yuto cleared his throat to cover up his wave of fear. “Let‘s just take out the village already--I’m tired of waiting.”

“Good point. Come, Neko-sama.” Otemai shot straight into the air, soaring high above the other two before rocketing into the village.

The wolf glanced wearily at the giant energy cat. “L-Let’s go, Neko-sama.”

A bone-chilling howl was the only answer, and it galloped towards the little town at lightening speed.

“Hey! Wait for me!!” Yuto scampered after it, cursing to himself. ‘This is why I like the airhead better!’

| :8 ^o^ 8: |

“Ow. My head hurts…”

“Quit your whining.” Yuto muttered. “It’s your own damn fault for letting Neko-sama out like that.”

“But, I didn’t--”

Otemai sighed irritably. “Shut up, both of you. And Megumi, if you want to prevent future pains when you transform into Neko-sama, perhaps you should stop that pointless fighting with him inside of you.”

Megumi frowned sadly. “But his ideas of fun are so cruel…he even tried to tell me to eat a little girl that was on this swing in the old village…”

Yuto snorted. “I would’ve.”

“But I don’t like doing that.” She insisted.

Otemai glared at her, telling her to be silent.

Megumi sighed. ‘They don’t understand at all.’

“It’s too bad we couldn’t save any supplies from that village.” The wolf-boy rubbed his throat. “We ran out of water three days ago.”

“Suck it up. There must be another village to destroy.” Otemai stated flatly.

The cat girl blinked. “We’re going to destroy ANOTHER one?”

Yuto glared at her from the corner of his eye. “We DID say that we were taking out the Wind country, didn’t we?”

“Well, yes…”

“So quit your griping. Jesus, and you call yourself a Fusion Cat?”

They were silent for the next few hours, noticing that it was practically twilight as the full moon floated gently over the sky, not a cloud in sight.

Suddenly, both Yuto’s and Megumi’s noses were going hay-wire.

“You smell that?” Megumi asked.

Yuto growled. “No, I’m just sniffing the air ‘cause I FEEL like it!”

“Well, try looking for a weird sent.”

The wolf boy sighed irritably, still smelling the scent.

Otemai became impatient. “What is it? Well?!”

“Humans…with the same smell as some of them in the last village.” Yuto confirmed.

“More of these Shinobi species?”

Megumi nodded. “Yeah…”

“Let’s go.”

The trio of teenaged animal-humans darted at lightening speed across the sand, Otemai letting Megumi and Yuto lead, since they were the noses of the team.

Soon, they climbed over a large dune, standing together as the moonlight hit their backs, looking down on the source of the smell.

It was an old, abandoned village, the buildings crumbled and broken down, no source of life anywhere.

Otemai grew angry. “You imbeciles! What does that look like to you?!”

“An…abandoned village?” Yuto shrugged.

“Exactly! And what kind of human LIVES in an abandoned village?!”

“…NO human?”

“My God! He CAN be taught! Can’t you scent old smells from fresh?! I should tear off your ears, you moron!!”

“Wait…”

Yuto, who had been flinching backwards in fear, and Otemai, who had been ready to beat the living daylights out of him, turned to their other comrade.

“What is it, Megumi?”

The cat girl sniffed the air, almost in a trance, sliding down the dune. “I smell…” She sniffed again. “Humans…”

“Then wear this so you won’t be suspected!” The brown haired girl shoved the hat over her head again.

“Follow me.” Megumi whispered, letting her nose guide her over the sandy hills. Yuto and Otemai cautiously followed her as she walked openly into the ghost town, eyes glancing everywhere for any source of movement.

The black haired girl tilted her head, trying to listen for anything when her nose stopped. Then it started again, moving her towards a large building with a gaping hole in the side, like a rotting wound.

Yuto growled after he had tried scenting the humans out. ‘I don’t believe it! I used to be the best Fusion at tracking, now a Fusion Cat shows me up!!’

“Stop it, Yuto-san.” Otemai mumbled, only loud enough for him to hear. “I can feel human presence, but don’t release your form just yet.”

“Right.”

Megumi, unaware of their conversation, leaped on all fours into the open gash in the building, and she crawled across the floor, tail itching to flick back and forth. Her ears were already making her hat rise up unnaturally.

Yuto jumped in after her, on all fours as well, but standing up straight again. Otemai’s white wings slid from under her long jacket and she used them to help her get up before pushing them back in.

The brown haired girl frowned ferociously. “Megumi, get up!”

“Sorry…” Megumi muttered, rising to her feet again and making her way into the hallway, led by her nose. The other two followed.

The cat girl’s eyes flashed in the darkness a bright green, Yuto’s eyes were blue, but Otemai’s were red. Megumi stopped at a room with the door closed.

“Is this where they are?” Yuto demanded in a harsh whisper.

Megumi took a deep breath through her nose. “Yep, this is where they are.”

“Right…” Otemai reached for the door knob, opening the door slowly. It creaked open, and they stepped inside. It was pitch black.

Yuto reached into his pocket and flicked open a lighter, the dark room turning into a fire-lit tavern, the chairs over-turned on the tables, as if it were yet to have opened.

“There aren’t any humans here, Megumi!” Otemai snapped, furious.

Megumi shook her head. “There ARE!”

“Wait!” Yuto bared his teeth in a snarl. “There!”

The two girls looked across the room to see a figure, bent over a table, like he was enjoying a drink. He sat up straight, not facing them. He was swaying.

“YA!!” The wolf-boy charged at him suddenly, almost dropping the lighter if Otemai hadn’t have caught it.

Megumi held out a hand to stop him. “Yu-kun! That’s not a human!!”

He stopped suddenly, looking back. “What is it, then?!”

“…A…puppet…”

“What?!” Yuto turned to look back at the figure when it him square in the jaw, knocking him back to the others.

“Yuto-san!”

“Yu-kun!!”

“Well well well. Looks like we’ve found our band of wild animals that attacked that village.”

A voice came from the darkness, and with it, a teen with a full-body black suit, purple face paint, and blue, glowing strings attached from his fingertips to the man-sized puppet.

He smirked. “What do you think, Temari?”

Megumi heard footsteps behind them, and turned to see an older teenaged girl with spiky blonde hair pulled into four ponytails, holding a closed, giant fan. She smiled, equally as menacing.

“I’d say they’re a pretty ugly bunch of mutts. You, Gaara?”

The cat girl turned back to look into the poorly-lit tavern, which she could see through perfectly because of her feline eyes. They widened at what she saw.

Sand was swirling from the windows, forming a vortex in the middle of the room that slowed down gradually, revealing a boy with a sand-filled gourd strapped to his back. His hair was a blazing reddish-brown, and his eyes were sky blue encircled in black rings.

He was emotionless, arms crossed, completely impassive.

“We’re not here to make jokes. Let’s just kill them.”

Yuto stood up, wiping the blood from his split lip. “Damn it…!”

“Calm down, Yuto-san.” Otemai stepped in front of her comrades, unaffected by the three’s strange entrance. “Greetings. Is there something we can help you with?”

The puppet master laughed half-heartedly. “Don’t play innocent! You slaughtered that village about fifty miles back!”

“We have been traveling, nonstop, since we left our homeland six weeks ago.” The brown haired girl stated flatly.

Megumi peaked around Otemai, blinking at the boy with the gourd. ‘He smells like blood…They all do…Who are they?’

“Oh yeah?” Temari snorted from behind them. “Then explain how you came across this ghost town so easily? Unless it was your hideout.”

“Hideout?” Megumi repeated, confused.

“Look, lady, we don’t know what you’re talking about!” Yuto faced her angrily.

“Answer our question about how you found the Forbidden Town as quickly as you did, then.” The puppet master growled, making his puppet take another step forward.

Otemai’s interest in the device sparked, and she gave a devilish smile. “I don’t really feel like talking…Yuto-san…?”

The wolf boy grinned, his fangs showing, which frightened Temari a little. “Not really…”

Megumi swallowed hard. ‘Oh no! They’re going to make me turn into Neko-sama again if I don’t start playing first!’

Yuto removed the bandana from his head, revealing his wolf ears, then let his tail come out,while Otemai let her jacket slide to the floor. Her white, feathery wings stretched out.

Their opponents looked frightened. “W-What the hell are they…?!”

Only Gaara remained impassive, staring at Megumi. “Kankuro, take the winged girl. Temari, the wolf…” He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll take this one.”

Megumi’s ears shot up from the surprise, making the hat fly off of her head and land on the floor. Her tail unraveled from her waist, flicking to and fro.

Otemai chuckled evilly. “Suit yourself.” She darted across the room, snatching up Kankuro’s puppet and flying out the window with it. Since the strings were still attached to it, the teen went flying out with it.

“Ah!!”

“Kankuro!!” Temari started to run towards the window when Yuto got in her way. His tail bristled, and his fangs dripped with saliva. (Mind you, he still look part human.)

“Where do ya think YOU’RE going, girl?!”

She grabbed her fan. “Away from you!!” She slammed it onto the wooden floor, making it break. They both fell through the floor, Yuto yelping in surprise.

“Yu-kun!” Megumi ran towards the hole in the floor, only to be stopped by sand covering it up. It hardened, so the floor was one smooth surface again. She looked back at Gaara.

He just stared at her. “Your fight is with me.”

“Er…Can’t I help Yu-kun? He seems in trouble.”

The boy took the innocence the wrong way. “Don’t mess with me, demon.”

Megumi blinked. “Demon?”

Instead of answering, sand shot out of his gourd and hurdled for her. She cart wheeled and flipped out of the way effortlessly, landing in a crouching position on a table with no chairs. “Do we seriously have to fight?”

More sand flew her way, and she jumped up to dodge it, using her claws to hang onto the ceiling. She looked at him upside down as she crawled across the wooden surface a little closer to him, tail waving gracefully behind her.

Gaara didn’t show emotion, but she did seem to catch his interest as he narrowed his eyes at her curiously. “What are you?”

“Sorry.” Megumi shrugged. “Temai-chan-sama says I’m not supposed to tell.”

Again, innocence taken the wrong way.

“Sand Coffin!” The red-brown haired boy held out his hand, squeezing it into a fist.

She tilted her head at him. “What are you--”

Megumi had to suddenly scamper across the ceiling as sand shot at her, intending to encase her in it. This happened several times, to no avail for Gaara. She dropped down from the ceiling, a little ways away from him, not even out of breath.

“Why don’t you strike back?” Gaara demanded.

“Do you…WANT me to?”

He just made the sand squirm around him, as if it was eager to crush her in its grasp. “Come.”

Megumi blinked, then shrugged. “As you wish.”

She darted towards him, claws extended, merely doing as she was told by her own opponent.