A Lily Bloom In the Land of Shinobi

Sakura groaned when she heard a very, very angry yip as well as an undeniably frightened feline shriek. Their short rest was pretty much over already, and she had barely regained her breath or soothed the pain coming from the scratches the feline of doom had made upon them. The sound of two little animals disturbing the brush was heard and suddenly, a brownish blur passed right between Sakura's legs.

Her reaction time had been entirely too slow to catch Tora, and by the time she'd crossed her legs, threw herself to the ground and made a motion to catch whatever was right in front of her, she was already too late. Instead of catching a mad cat, she caught an angry fox…

…She grossly underestimated the sheer force that the tiny, furry bullet would carry, though, and Sakura found herself quickly bowled over by the small animal. She hadn't been standing in the proper way to absorb the force behind the unintentional tackle. The world turned upside down and she found herself groaning about the pain that her head meeting the ground caused.

Thankfully, the blow hadn't been strong enough to give her a concussion, but it still hurt like a bitch. And there was now a fox that was far too light, she mused, considering it was in truth a transformed human. The laws and rules that governed the Henge had, evidently, bent over and let Naruko rape them, as she ignored each and every precept that Sakura had been taught about the technique.

She didn't have time to muse over this, however. The fox in her chest looked at her in the only way a fox could, making her look quizzical as she tilted her head to the side, clearly surprised at being blocked from her prey by Sakura. She then leaned forward and gave a few licks to the pinkette's cheek, causing her cheeks to try their hardest to match her hair.

That was pretty much all the confirmation they needed for it to obviously be Naruko. If a fox could smile, she clearly would've been smiling. A poof of smoke changed the situation so that instead of a fox sitting on its haunches on top of Sakura, it was the blonde straddling Sakura's hips. "Your chest is comfortable, Sakura-chan. We should do this more often." She remarked, making no move to get off.

With a few swift and quick movements, Sakura did what any reasonable individual would and threw Naruko off her. She also made a point to ignore Naruko's pout about it, because that way lay madness.

She turned to their failsafe, namely, Satsuki. The one who would trap the cat in Naruko's jacket, tie it up and deliver it to the Daimyo's wife… to find her sitting on the ground blinking and clearly confused. "What just happened?" Asked the Uchiha, blinking and looking at the nearly shredded jacket she held in her hands.

"…That was my favorite jacket…" Naruko said, pouting and crossing her arms as she stood up, clearly feeling the cold of the breeze on her now furless chest. "…Gimme." She said, to which the Uchiha complied.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the sight. "That cat's stronger than we thought…" She mused, noticing that it had pretty much made Naruko's jacket absolutely fail to cover her midriff.

The zipper was a loss, too, so she was forced to tie it together lest Naruko's modesty go unprotected. Lord knows she wouldn't care, but Sakura did. Plus, Satsuki was very clearly distracted and Sakura was against anything that made the most competent of their team distracted in a mission that would require all of their effort and abilities.

"I've got a new respect for cats." Naruko muttered, looking at how her shirt had ended up. "This thing is really, really tough. I've had it since forever without a scratch." She added, smiling. "Luckily, I have others." She said, shrugging.

"Should we stop to pick up new clothes?" Sakura noted, looking at her pretty much ruined outfit.

"No way! They'll just get ruined too." Naruko replied, shaking her head. "Plus, I think the wild, disheveled style looks good on both of you."

"Naruko, you think everything looks good on us." Satsuki remarked, dryly.

"Well, it's not my fault if you can make anything look good." Naruko replied, smiling widely at the blush on both of her teammates's faces. "Anyway, I've got its scent locked this time! It won't escape from me!" Naruko yelled, standing up and breaking off into a run.

"Where does she get her energy from?" Sakura asked, gasping as she saw Naruko continue to run as if she hadn't been doing so for a very long time now. She herself was pretty close to exhaustion despite having had a rest not too long ago, and while Satsuki was faring better, she was also not up to a full sprint like the Uzumaki was.

Satsuki merely looked at Sakura for a second before turning away and beginning to jog behind Naruko. Luckily, the Uzumaki wasn't very fast on her feet despite her bountiful energy, so they'd be able to have a reasonably easy time following her. She was also neglecting any and all thoughts of covering her tracks…

…Which was probably the smart thing to do, given she wanted her teammates to track her.

Sakura groaned as she joined the Uchiha's jog. Her every muscle was burning. She'd have to run laps more often if this was what was expected from genin.

***

Naruko's trail of destruction leads deeper into the forest. Apparently, she'd at some point caught up to the cat and engaged it in combat once again. This was obvious from the claw marks left on just about every tree. There were several fist marks along the grassy floor of the forest, followed by claw marks from where the cat had scrambled to safety.

The claw marks multiplied while the fist marks disappeared completely a few meters away from where the confrontation had started, so the two other girls of Team 7 surmised that Naruko was put on the defensive and they spent longer fighting in one spot before moving on from there. Either that or Naruko was getting better at dodging the cat's wild swipes. Maybe she was using the trees as cover?

Either that or the cat had found a way to fuck gravity and run along trees. Actually, scratch that.

A quick look up revealed a myriad broken branches above them, which supported the idea that at some point the fight had been taken to the air, using the trees as platforms to jump into an ever increasing conflict.

The tracks became even easier to follow upon that discovery, as while spread out, they were all headed in the same direction, the one in which the cat and Naruko had been advancing.

They were rewarded for following Naruko's tracks by coming upon a clearing that bore the signs of a devastating battle and, judging from the humidity of the upturned earth, the freshness of the leaves on the floor and the presence of the damn cat, it was pretty clear that the fight had been very recent.

And they also discovered why there were no more fist marks. Apparently, at some point Naruko had thought it convenient to turn into a small animal to more properly fight and chase Tora. She knew enough about animals to know that canines don't seem to like felines. However, it seemed that she still had a predilection towards foxes.

This gave the very weird image of a tiny, incredibly adorable fox squaring off, Samurai-movie style, against a rather fat and violent cat. Were they holding swords, this could actually be turned into an animal based comedy.

Well, except for the fact that there was a very clearly open wound in Naruko's forehead that was gushing blood. The fox curled her mouth into a snarl that did not manage to be threatening and let out a low yip that might have been an attempt at a growl, while the cat meowed in response.

The situation was way too surreal for either Sakura or Satsuki to interrupt, and they were not entirely shocked to find themselves wanting popcorn to enjoy the scene that could only have come from an epically stupid yet stupidly epic Saturday morning cartoon. "…Twenty Ryo on the cat." Satsuki muttered.

"You're on." Sakura replied, crossing her arms and watching as the two deathly rivals glared at each other, readying for the final clash.

And clash they did. Both ran at each other, full speed, and engaged in a fast paced and frenetic frenzy of melee. The cat's impressively sharp claws were very clearly capable of slicing through the fox's hide, as it proved when it tagged the fox on the side. Similarly, the fox found that its tail was both much stronger and mobile than the cat's, allowing it to use it as a blunt weapon.

The cat's fur might have prevented the bruises from showing, but as the melee prolonged, it began to lose steam. Its bulk was already preventing it from moving at the same speed that the smaller and sleeker fox enjoyed, which meant that its more powerful claws were incapable of dealing more than glancing cuts.

"You know, the henge should have dispelled the moment the cat touched her." Sakura informed Satsuki. "But at this point, I'm not even surprised, really."

"Welcome to my world." Satsuki muttered in response.

The two mighty opponents found their bodies crashing together, though this proved to be a bad move on Naruko's part. The cat's impressive bulk took Naruko's weight without even flinching, and its position allowed it to deal quite a few punishing swipes at the poor fox's head, leaving numerous cuts all along its upper back and most of its front.

The tips of its fluffy ears, once a beautiful white, was now stained with its own blood.

"Why are we watching this?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know." Satsuki replied. "…But I can't stop."

"Neither can I." Sakura admitted. "But isn't this animal cruelty?" asked the pinkette.

Satsuki didn't even bother answering, as she was too concentrated on the melee that had just been broken.

Indeed, Naruko found herself dazed by Tora's ruthless assault and needed to put some distance between them. The cat, being tired and weary, did not follow, instead choosing to offer her a feline glare from its spot. It arched its back and meowed in a threatening fashion, raising its paw and swiping at the air, its blood stained claws very visible, painted the same color as the ribbon on its left ear.

"The next clash will be the last." Satsuki said, nodding to herself.

"You think?" Sakura asked, tilting her head.

"Yes. Neither will be able to continue much longer. Tora is nearly exhausted from the long chase and this fight, and Naruko is too wounded to continue this fight for much longer. I wouldn't be surprised if she found it hard to stay conscious." After all, the cat had struck her on the head many times, and Tora was surprisingly strong for what looked like a fat house cat. "So they will finish it in the next clash."

"…I think you're giving them too much credit." Sakura stated, deadpan.

Satsuki blinked. "You're probably right." She admitted.

The fox yipped and the cat hissed. The fox blurred as it stepped forward, and Tora jumped forward, its own paws blurring at the point the two animals met.

"It's over." Satsuki said, causing Sakura to blink.

Both stood, their backs to each other, on all fours. Their tails were swaying freely to and fro. There was the sound not unlike a branch being split in half, and Tora fell on its side. A poof and a cloud of smoke heralded Naruko turning back into human form, showing her every wound to the world. Her jacket had come undone during the chase and thus exposed her chest, which was, much like the rest of her body, covered in scratch marks.

The blonde fell to her knees, keeping herself from hitting the ground face first with her left arm while using the right arm to try and stem the blood flow from the sizable cut on her forehead. "…I don't feel too well…" She mumbled, as she tried her hardest to remain awake. Then she turned. "Hn… Satchan, Sakura-chan, you two caught up! That's nice!" She said, grinning at her teammates. "I got the cat!"

The wide grin coupled with her squinted eyes and the whisker marks made her look far too much like the fox she'd just transformed into to battle Tora. Both of the other two kunoichi shook their heads, still in mild disbelief over how their first mission had ended up going.

"I'll take a nap now." The blonde said, crashing face first to the ground.

"…I'll take the cat if you take Naruko." The pinkette said, looking at the Uchiha, who merely looked at her as if trying to say 'You traitor!', yet failing miserably to make Sakura think of anything other than the fact that Naruko got very grabby when she was asleep and Sakura had claimed dibs on the cat to avoid that.

"…I'll buy you dinner." Satsuki said, looking at Sakura entirely seriously.

That WAS incredibly tempting. In fact, Sakura blushed as her brain supplied the image of her and Satsuki in a classy restaurant, sharing a charming evening together. She slapped her cheeks. "Okay. Just this once."

Satsuki nodded, somehow managing to look as dignified as ever as she went to the cat and slung it over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It was heavier than she expected it to be, but still more bearable than carrying Naruko would be. At least the cat was completely out of it.

Sakura was blushing up a storm as she adjusted Naruko on her back, giving the unconscious girl a piggyback ride. Because Naruko was already making herself comfortable, making her doubt the blonde really being asleep. If it weren't for the too-regular breathing cycle or the occasional soft snore, she'd smack her for nuzzling against her neck.

"Let's just get this over with…" Sakura muttered, already beyond caring.