Act 1 - The Fox

Happily ever after. That's how the story always ends.

'The princess has a curse put on her by an evil witch. She is locked away in the highest room in the tallest tower surrounded by lava and guarded by a dragon. Only a brave and handsome knight is going to be able to save her. He slays the dragon and rescues her. They share true loves first kiss. They then live happily ever after.'

Neji rolled his eyes and closed the book he was reading. 'Only the prince charmings and the beautiful princesses get happy endings. Not someone like me.' He thought with a sigh.

It was rare for the brunette to allow himself to pity. To pity others, and even more so himself. But reading about happy endings always upsets him. Reading about others happiness knowing he can't have that himself...It was depressing. And it was only because of his family.

He was born and branded with The Symbol. The head of his family had been told by a star-reader that it was in the stars to do so. Neji says that that was a load of crap. The man was obviously some kind of unstable. Why? Because The Symbol hadn't been used in nearly a century. It was how people in large families could tell the difference between those that mattered and those that didn't. The Symbol was put on those that didn't matter. The slaves. The ones that were used and trampled on by the important people.

Neji being the only person to have the seal, was treated worse then the other slaves had ever been treated. Everybody, not just his family, treated him like trash. Like someone worthless. So he ran away. He couldn't take the stares anymore.

The most important rule that came with having The Symbol was that you couldn't hide it. If anyone caught you with it hidden resulted in immediate death.

Even when he ran away, he didn't hide it. He knew he wasn't ever going to be found, but he just couldn't do so. Neji felt like it would be proof that he was ashamed. That he really was the trash they made him out to be. So he didn't hide it. He wore it proudly because from what he knew of his family's history, he was the first slave to get away alive. Those who saw him gave him disgusted glares and 'I'm better than you' stares. But he didn't care anymore. He got away. That's all that mattered to him. The ones who stared could go to hell. Because he had a small cabin to himself in the middle of the woods with a nice river running near it. Sure it was more of a swamp than anything else, but it was still his land.

Neji put away the book on one of the shelves inside the cabin. He tied his long brown hair into a low ponytail and headed outside for a walk. The weather was nice. The sun was warm and the wind was cool. He could hear the water from the river flowing calmly and the leaves from the trees rustling. The animals could be heard scurrying throughout the forest, looking for their suppers.

It wasn't long before he started to hear other sounds. A low growling sound was followed by the sound of numerous pairs of feet running through the woods. Neji remained where he was until the disturbance arrived before him. A red fox, with a slight tinge of orange in its fur, came running through the opening. It stopped once it saw him. It took a quick look at him before hiding behind him. Neji looked at the fox curiously. Usually foxes were noble and gracious creatures. Actually, they were known for their bravery yet this one was trembling, hiding behind him.

It was the source of the low growling, but the running feet were still approaching. Neji focused his attention towards the opening as a small group of five soldiers appeared. They stopped once they spotted him. Their eyes quickly went to his forehead where The Symbol was. Then towards the fox. His lavender eyes looked unimpressed as he glared at them for interrupting his peaceful walk.

The leader stepped forward slowly, "We are sent by Lord Orochimaru to collect all magical creatures." He said, unrolling a scroll with a large 'O' on it.

Neji's gaze remained unwavering, "I do not believe that your Lord Orochimaru is going to want anything that is mine. This fox is mine, and I suggest you get off my property." His voice was intimidating, as well as his height. He looked down at all of them easily.

The leader's mouth formed a frown, "Yes, you are correct. Nothing of yours is good enough for my men, so it's definitely not good enough for Lord Orochimaru." He turned around with a smug air and walked away. Neji let him leave despite his very violent thoughts.

Once the men were gone the fox ran in front of Neji with what looked like a smile, "Thank you! Thank you so much! They were going to take me away and put me somewhere! You were amazing, you intimidated him, even if he didn't show it much! That was great, I'm Naruto by the way, but call me Naru for short."

Neji had a hard time following the excited foxes chatter, "I'm Neji." He introduced himself and started walking back to his cabin with the fox jumping around behind him.

"I don't know what they're doing, but they're taking all of the magical creatures and putting them somewhere...I bet it's torture. I'm too pretty for torture! I'm glad I found you, you were so heroic! Standing up to those guys!" Naruto continued speaking.

Neji looked surprised, "Me? Heroic? I doubt it." The fox kept talking about how he really was a hero. Neji ignored him and after a few more minutes he interrupted him. "Look, now that they've left you alone, go home."

"But...Well, can I stay with you?" Naruto looked up at Neji hopefully.

Neji glared at the fox, "Only for one night. Tomorrow you leave." Naruto jumped excitedly and ran ahead towards the cabin.

"Is this where you live? It's...Nice!" The fox proceded to give any compliments he could think of, and by the time Neji reached the door, he was talking about how he got poison ivy when he was a young fox. Neji was getting really annoyed with Naruto's really random conversations. He opened the door and Naruto jumped up onto the chair near it, "It's just like a sleep-over! We can swap manly stories and in the morning, I'm going to make waffles!"

Neji's glare intensified, "You are staying outside. Now get out!" He barely managed to keep his temper under control. The fox's ears went down as did his head, "Oh...Well I guess we don't know each other that well so it makes sense." He got up slowly and walked outside. Neji felt no pity for him and he slammed the door behind himself when he entered the cabin.

The hours passed and Neji sat at his table alone eating supper. His eyes drifted towards the door, but he refused to let the fox inside.

He was in the midst of putting his dishes away when he heard a noise inside the house, "I thought I told you to stay outside!" He said to the fox. But Naruto jumped up so he was seen through the window and said, "But I am!"

His eyes went through his house and he saw a shadow. Three mice were walking on his table. They were wearing sunglasses and using canes to try to find their way. It took him a while, but he caught them. Despite their being blind, they were fast little creatures. He opened the front door and threw them outside, "I don't want anybody inside my house!" He told the mice and Naruto. Neji slammed the door and continued to clean up. His bad temper was apparent because when he heard the door open he rounded on the person with such fierce eyes Naruto started to tremble.

"I know you said you don't want anybody inside the house, but what about outside? What do you want to do about these guys?" The fox said and both he and Neji went outside.

His lavender eyes widened with what he saw outside. In the span of a couple minutes, dozens of magical creatures had camped out on his lawn. Pinocchio, the three blind mice, the three bears, Snow White, Tinker Bell, and many more. He breathed in and out trying to calm himself. Naruto quickly noticed this and said, "I didn't invite them!"

A couple people looked at Naruto as he said this, then they looked at Neji. They stared and eventually everybody was looking at him or The Symbol. Silence reigned in the area, "What is everybody doing here?" Neji spoke in a tense voice.

Pinocchio came forward slightly, "Uh...Lord Orochimaru had us sent here." He shrunk when the brunettes glare was brought onto him while he spoke.

"Alright! Who here know's where I can find this Orochimaru guy?" Neji asked.

Naruto was quick to speak, "I know! I know!"

Neji looked at him a moment before turning to the crowd, "Does anybody else know where I can find him? Anybody?"

The only noise in the area was Naruto jumping up and down saying, "I know! I know!"

"Alright. I'm going to go see this Orochimaru and tell him that I want my land back and you are all going to go back to where you came from." Cheers erupted from the crowd as he said this. He's never been cheered for before, but his anger didn't allow him to be happy about it. Neji looked at Naruto and pointed at him, "You. You're coming with me."

He started walking and Naruto followed him, "Neji and Naru going off on an exciting quest! It'll be awesome!"

AN: Um... I've had this lyring around on my computer for the past few months so I finally decided to post it. There are five chapters to this, all complete, and I will be posting them when I feel like it. Probably within a months time span. Anyways, this story is based off of the movie Shrek the First. Which is why I put it as a crossover fic between Naruto and Shrek.

The pairing is NejiIta (Woah, Neji is Seme? Where does that come from?). I read a fic with that pairing, and I wanted to try it with Neji as a seme. The idea for this came when I was watching Shrek the second. The scene where Shrek is human and he's riding donkey (As a horse), I got to thinking what Neji would look like as a 'Prince Charming'. Then I was wondering who could be Fiona, since Itachi/Neji is my favorite pairing, I thought, why not Itachi? And so that's where I started figuring things out.

Yes, so in the end, I hope you like it! The second part should be out shortly! (It's not a very long story, by the way.)

Thanks for reading,
-MewMew