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Disguised Curses	By : Raholea Category: Naruto AU/AR > General Views: 2438 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
A/N: I am not totally sure this chapter or the last came out quite like I wanted... but last chapter seemed like it was enjoyed well enough. This is currently unbeta'd, but as soon as I get it back from my beta (thanks, as always, to valencia for putting up with me..) I may change things. I'm not sure. I owe the original conception of swanmanes to Laurell K Hamilton's 'Anita Blake' series, though Neji as a swan was an idea spawned with the amazing Aini. So, really, only Kimi belongs to me. Thanks. Please R&R!!! Enjoy!

CH 16

“You’re a swan-mane?” Incredulity and breathless surprise laced the words, as Kimi soared high on a rising thermal. Thoughts concerning their just interrupted spar fled as she processed the news. “The swans are rare, they’re the weakest of those like me, and most get hunted down. Some can’t take the strain of being both human and the bird.” She tightened her grip on Neji a bit, making sure she wasn’t about to drop him. “How long have you known what you are?”

Neji blushed, unnerved and embarrassed. “My first.. change, wasn’t even two months ago. I found out after the fact. Only three other people know, four now with you. I haven’t wanted to share this, this weakness, with anyone else.”

“Being a shifter isn’t really a weakness. It’s a battle, to be sure, and it takes a long time to become accustomed to the animal’s instincts compared to the human rationale. Embrace the swan within you, and things become easier. Stop fighting what you’ve become, don’t deny the truth.”

“I’m not denying it!” A hiss from behind him shut him up. “We’re heading back now, before everyone freaks. I’m calling this match a tie.” Neji started to argue, complain. Their match was nowhere near done! “You can challenge me again when you have accepted what you are and can control it. Until then, it won’t be a real fight. Get that through your head.”

She let him slip through her fingers as she neared ground, letting him fall a couple feet as she focused on her own landing. They both landed smoothly, easily. Neji grumbled silently as he turned away from his impromptu flight companion. “Unfinished battle, current draw. To be finished at an undetermined date.” Murmurs ran through the gathered group, but Gaara nodded silently. He could accept that choice from the hawk. It was obvious, as good a ninja as he knew Neji was, that he hadn’t been quite prepared for what the falcon could dish out.

Naruto surprised Neji by leaning in and peering over him, nose twitching slightly. He didn’t like the look in those red eyes, but for once, he didn’t feel like they were directed at him. “She didn’t hurt you, did she?” Neji shook his head at the rumbled tone. Naruto grunted. “Good.” The fox stalked into the arena, not caring that several worried frowns followed him.

“Care to play, Kimi- san?” Challenge hung heavy in the words as he stood loose, claws growing dark on his fingertips and his eyes glimmering red. Little else visibly changed, and many of the ninja that didn’t know him wouldn’t have realized what was happening wasn’t jutsu- created. His companions, though, steeled themselves to possibly interrupting the match and having to calm the fox container down. They needn’t have worried.

Kimi grinned, and with a flick of her wrist, sent a wave of cutting wind toward Naruto. He stepped quickly to the side before becoming a dark blur. A clash of metal found both fighters with locked kunai, chakra shimmering around the blades. Unspoken words- threats, warnings, flashed through the locked gaze before they broke apart, both discarding the blades. Claws batted between the bodies, slicing into clothes and nicking skin underneath. A scattering of feathers flew to the side as Naruto found purchase on a wing, only to be sent spinning back from a nasty blow to the ribs. A moment of panting, and then once again they blurred into action.

Dust settled when things stopped moving, and slowly revealed Naruto leaning over Kimi, hands pinned under his, one of his knees in her gut, legs angled to pin hers. His snarling face lowered to just above hers. “Go easy on my prey, little hatchling, before you become food as well.”

The falcon turned her face away, baring her throat in an act of submission. She understood well what the ninja above her was threatening, and she had a feeling that she had seen nothing about what the young man could really do. “I have not hurt him, and have no plans to. Let me go.” She hated being pinned by predators.

Slowly Naruto eased away from her, features softening. By the time he stood a few feet away, he was looking like his now usual self. Shining blue and red orbs peered above the offered hand to help Kimi get up. She shrugged it away. “It’s your win. You don’t need to help me.” She finally dragged her body out of the sand and walked back to Gaara. “His win. Did anyone else want to challenge me today?” At the slight negative shake, she left the circle. She had some serious thinking to do.

****

Neji ducked away after seeing the end of Naruto’s match with Kimi. The blonde was grinning cheerfully and over talking with Gaara. Kimi had left. Neji wanted to speak to her.

But the girl was nowhere to be found. Neji scanned across the little dunes, not seeing her, and tried checking for her chakra. It was unique enough feeling that he could remember it easily, but that didn’t help. She had shut down her signature and disappeared. A flicker of movement on his far right dragged his gaze over, where the end of a wing fluttered from behind some standing rocks before drawing out of sight. The chakra signature on the far side was only enough to pass as a small bird, but Neji guessed the truth. He headed over.

Kimi sat cross-legged on the sand, a wing hanging awkwardly. She was using her dark claws to remove a few broken feathers around the kunai cut and where Naruto had clawed her wing. Open red skin peeked between the feathers left behind from her grooming.

“Kimi- san?”

Gold and brown orbs glanced at him but she didn’t break concentration. If the boy wanted to talk, he could talk. She had to finish grooming her wings so they’d heal right. A quill came from the flesh with a bit of resistance and she flinched. She hated broken feathers.

Her non- response frustrated him but he brushed it off. He couldn’t blame her, she’d just got beaten by the same person that had creamed him so long ago. A person he was still cautious around. “I wanted to ask questions and I’m not sure who else to ask,” he admitted, uncomfortably. She was a stranger, but she knew more than he did. He needed answers. “I need to understand what I am.”

Her sharp eyes narrowed at that comment, finally looking up to study him. He stood under the gaze calmly. Not even his new instincts and feelings could shake that tediously enforced stillness. “I know I’m a swan, at times, and I know there’s changes going on. But all I know past that is I ought to be able to control the change, and that with time, I can control the influence it has on me.” He slowly sat down in the small bit of shade across from her. “I didn’t even know that is possible until you did it.” The gesture vaguely included her spread wings.

The falcon just shook her head. “Let me guess. You have absolutely no clue about what you can and cannot do, in interest to the swan. You fight the instincts, and don’t think I haven’t noticed your pride. You can’t control this. You can manage your reactions, and with enough practice, you can do a lot without having to be overrun with instincts. But you have no clue about how to get there.” Neji nodded. “I... I would be much obliged if you could help me, without this getting out. I’m not ready for anyone else to know yet.”

Kimi just sat there for a moment, thinking, shaking her head. She couldn’t really believe this kid could be what he was and have no knowledge about it. It implied a lot- and none of it bode well. She rose from the ground and slowly folded her wings against her back, where they melted into her skin and vanished without a trace. “You wish for me to share information that I haven’t approval to share, while keeping a secret of yours. Yet you offer nothing in return.” She glanced back at him. “You hardly seem like the type to owe others, so what do you have in mind?”

Neji hesitated. He didn’t have much to offer of importance without risking betrayals of one kind or another. What could be considered fair payment for her? He smirked at a thought. “You helping me means we can have a fair match, soon. I know you could have easily damaged me back there- a fall from such a height can kill even a trained ninja. I may have survived, but then, I wouldn’t have been able to walk away. You could have won and yet called a draw.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You cheated me out of a proper end. A draw when there is obviously one that is stronger is an insult.”

“So you admit I am stronger?” Frustration colored his face as he thought back over his words and a response. He was prideful enough to not cede a total win, but maybe- “In what you are, yes, you’re stronger. But I can’t be certain that I would have lost if you had not used your wings against me.” The words left a bitter taste behind but he was mature enough to acknowledge his chances at losing. If she were to test him again, now, he would probably still lose against her falcon based abilities.

“I’ll share what I can, to help you understand what you are-” the words made him feel happier, though he tried not to show it. Those that followed dropped a stone in his gut. “- If you tell me what your friend Naruto is.”

Neji almost panicked. He hadn’t expected that request. How could he share something like that, when it wasn’t even allowed to talk about openly in his own village? He knew about the fox demon sealed within the lively ninja but he’d been counseled- very sternly- never to divulge that information. Plenty of the older ninjas knew about Kyuubi’s container, but Neji was pretty certain only him and Sasuke knew the truth about Naruto, among his age group. They were bound by promises to keep their village’s secrets.

“I’m sorry, Kimi- san. I- May I have time to think about this?” He didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t want to be responsible for this slip. Pleading lack of information was his safest route- even if he got no information for his own curiosity. Yet he desperately wanted to understand how to deal with this new part of himself.

“I know he’s like Gaara- san. I know he is a predator. I can guess at what he is; I’m not utterly stupid. I also don’t want to see you, or anyone else, dead. He’s almost possessive about you and that is beyond dangerous. Be careful.” She walked away without another word, leaving Neji in a clouded storm of emotions he couldn’t act upon.
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- 17
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Disguised Curses