Author's Notes:
This started off as an idea about to have Naruto characters to change into animals at will, but a another plot bunny made its way into my head that changed my perspective about it.
Disclaimer:
I own Naruto. Ouch! Hey! Fine! I do not own Naruto. Geez! Why did you have to get physical?!
Animal Mimickers
By Boyarina
Chapter 1: Getting Out of His Hair
It grated on her nerves, but like always, she stayed quiet. There is no absolute reason why things evolved to how they are now; no one and nothing can be blamed.
Well, to an extent.
She squinted her eyes at what she had deemed as the forebearer of her foul mood. Its features, its stature could never be likened to anything that could destroy the order how the world should work and yet there it was: upending the entire system around her.
"Is this your animal?"
Hinata blanched at the gravelly tone of the speaker. She felt embarrassed for having been subtly reproached due to her "pet's" actions. The rather hostile phoenix had suddenly become benevolent and familiar to the one person she herself is not even remotely acquainted with. It was perched there comfortably, talons digging painfully into the thinly clad shoulder of Uchiha Sasuke.
Blanch still in place (as she is all too aware of how excruciating those incredibly sharp talons can get), Hinata jerkily held her forearm out; a gesture that her phoenix should have easily recognized. It was a silent command for the phoenix to return to its rightful owner. She was yet to be defied when she summons her phoenix like this, but this day is proving to be a day of firsts.
"Hiro!" Hinata semi-wailed, semi-hissed, her impatience getting the best of her. The passing glance her phoenix bestowed was all that it took to get her flusttered and shatter her intent of leaving in a silent dignified huff.
The little tick that developed under Sasuke's eyes only served to worsen Hinata's present state. Paranoia had her imagining the terrible fate her pet would end up having, lest it decided to take up nest there in Sasuke's shoulders.
...Being mauled to its last bit of feather is just one very fine example.
"Would I end up losing my right shoulder before your bird realizes that you're calling it?" Sasuke remarked acidly with a scowl to match. Hinata would have taken this as a cue to just snatch her phoenix by the tail and make a rapid disappearance, but the succeeding events had her stopping short.
Sasuke's body seemed to coil upon itself and then started bulging out. Anti-gravitational forces lifted him in the air while his body morphed grotesquely. The previously smooth pale skin turned leathery gray. His nose stretched and expanded, becoming calcified in the process.
Trunk-like appendages replaced his limbs. His head and the rest of his being grew in the likeness of a utterly pissed-off rhinoceros.
When the transformation was complete, Sasuke descended with a great thud, shaking the ground and everything else that stood within the vicinity. He swung his giant head to the side, eyes narrowing when he spotted the phoenix repositioning itself on his back. He snorted and then lifted one massive leg up, subsequently stomping on the ground so heavily and angrily that Hinata felt the vibrations right up to her tonsils.
It was quite obvious that he was trying to shrug her animal off – in a very violent (and unreasonable, to her thinking) manner. Despite his brute of an approach, Sasuke failed to deter her phoenix from lounging back again to its original spot.
Sensing the promise of paralyzing death as Sasuke-rhinoceros' eyes blazed in disbelief and frustration, Hinata curled in on herself and projected her mind, her spirit towards her phoenix. Molecule by molecule, she felt herself dispersing, navigating through the tunnel-verse and then transforming.
Soon, she would be unified with her animal and in all essence, make a quick getaway. Once they are out of Sasuke's hair, Hinata swears for the life of her that she would never, ever, ever, EVER be within a mile of that man.