The Huntress

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 3

A few days had passed since the Hyena Incident and Hiashi Hyuga was beginning to notice a problem. The lionesses in the pride were far too interested in the black furred nomad. He was likely going to be forced to take action soon.

He could understand why. It wasn't everyday that someone was willing to face off against a pack of hyenas to protect strangers. That and the fact that he had such exotic fur likely only fueled their curiosities. Perhaps it was only natural and such interest would eventually die down. Hiashi was finding that increasingly unlikely though.

"He was really Play Pouncing with a crocodile?" Hanabi asks her sister.

"Yes. He was. I guess they are friends. It was the strangest thing that I've ever seen. He had absolutely no fear of the crocodile." Hinata replies.

He mentally sighs. Well so much for interest in the black lion dying down. Damn. Now he had three choices.

Hiashi could grab the other males and chase the nomad off. If worse came to worse, they could kill him. Though he really didn't want to do that. The neko had saved more than half of his pride. Finally, he could offer him a place inside their pride.

"That is one strange lion." Neji muses.

It was rare to offer a slot in an already established pride. Most of the time, it was only done to prevent the risk of the gene pool getting too thin. He supposed it couldn't hurt to have the pride's genes diversified a bit. Clearly, it would make the females happy.

That was assuming he was trustworthy. It was one thing to allow Neji to stay. He had known the man since he was a cub. Neji was absolutely loyal. This nomad was a completely unknown entity.

"You say strange, I say brave." Hanabi counters.

If they were normal lions, Neji wouldn't be in the pride anymore. They weren't though. They were nekos. Instinct was powerful, but the human mind could overrule it. Well it could overrule it when your willpower was strong enough.

Neji wasn't a threat to his rule. He could allow Neji to stay. Besides, Hiashi wasn't going to sire anymore cubs. Oh he COULD sire more cubs if he wanted to, the Hyuga Patriarch just didn't want to.

"He charges at a hyena pack by himself and plays with crocodiles. He's strange." Neji insists.

After his mate had died, Hiashi had just lost the desire to find another lioness and continue having more offspring. So he had kept Neji around and a couple other younger males to keep the pride going.

It was too big a risk not to have some breeding going on. Their numbers would eventually get low and the gaps between the generations would be too wide. His decision would have been playing with fire, if he hadn't allowed his nephew to stay. Hiashi never played with fire.

"Maybe a little, but it'd be boring if we were all the same." Hinata says as she cleans her paw.

Neji shakes his head. Honestly, the fanciful notions that were getting into the heads of the lionesses were rather dangerous. He could see them really getting hurt, if they tangled with some insane nomad.

Just then, Hiashi roars. It was the type of roar that signaled a meeting of the pride. Their leader wanted to discuss something important and he wanted to discuss it now.

"What is it, father?" Hinata asks.

"I wanted to speak with you all about the black furred lion. I know that he has been a topic of interest recently. I had hoped that it would die down eventually, but it seems that is not the case. So I will put it to a vote." He states.

The lions and lionesses look at each other in surprise. A vote? A vote on what? What was Hiashi talking about? It didn't make any sense.

"I can see you are all confused. The vote is about what we should do with him. Obviously, there is the option of just ignoring him. There is another option. We could chase him away. That may turn into a fight though. That or we could see if he's trustworthy. Potentially let him join the pride." He explains.

A vote was soon taken. Perhaps not surprisingly, the females were very interested at the prospects of having another male around. The males were far more skeptical. It was a majority rule vote though and the females ended up winning because they outnumbered the males.

"I was afraid that was going to happen. I want Neji to stay behind with the females in case something happens. The other adult males are to come with me. We'll see if we can't find him." Hiashi says with a sigh.

He gestures for the males to follow him. Soon enough, they did and the proud lions took off on their search. The rest of the pride could only watch as the nekos slowly disappeared from their sight.

"Do you really think that they'll find him?" Hanabi asks her sister.

"I don't know, but they are going to try. Hopefully, he'll join the pride. Any male brave enough to play with a crocodile has to be a fearless hunter." She muses.

Neji just shakes his head. Women could be so strange sometimes. He would never understand them. It didn't matter how long he lived.

Meanwhile the research team had headed off into the Savannah. All of them were bound and determined to find some lions. Though they were all determined for different reasons.

Jirayia hoped to discover a new species for purely academic reasons. Kakashi wanted to study the big cats. Danzo wanted to discover a new species to make his own fame and fortune. Finally, Tsunade hoped that they were able to find something because otherwise her friend was going to be crushed. (She hoped that he would be content with just regular lions.)

"I expect they would be by the watering hole." Danzo points out.

"Good thinking. Let's check there first." Jirayia says and Kakashi drives their jeep towards the instructed location.

Tsunade was a doctor, not a biologist or zoologist. Still even she couldn't help but stare around in wonder at the scene around them. There had to be dozens of different species gathered around the watering hole. Most were just happy to get a drink, but she was almost positive she saw a crocodile lurking around somewhere.

"Oh God! Look!" She calls out excitedly as the crocodile jumps out of the water and snatches a wildebeest.

"Please tell me you got that on camera, Danzo?" Kakashi asks and Danzo nods.

Of course, he got that on camera. He was going to get everything on camera. How else would he have proof of his discovery?

Naturally, it would be his discovery. He'd find a way to claim the lion's share of the credit. Danzo just wasn't sure how yet, but he would. There was no way that he was going to share the glory with his colleagues on this. No, this was his legacy. This was one thing that he wasn't going to share.

"I got it on camera. Don't worry. I know enough to keep the camera rolling at all times out here. You never know when you are going to miss something." Danzo reasons and Kakashi nods in approval.

"Amazing! It's a leopard! No, wait! There are three of them!" Jirayia calls out excitedly.

Indeed, there were three leopards slinking over to the water. What the scientists didn't know is that these leopards were siblings. They were also nekos.

While regular leopards were largely solitary animals, save for mothers and cubs and Mating, leopard nekos might occasionally stay in small groups with family members. They weren't pride animals like lions though. This was a fairly rare practice.

"The big eyed humans are watching us." Kankuro whispers to his sister and brother.

"Yeah. They are. They're too far away to hear us though. We should do something normal to distract them." Temari reasons.

Gaara nods in agreement. He smirks when he sees a flock of flamingos on the water. Purrfect.

With the goal of distraction in mind, he lunges at the flock. That should give the humans their amusement. Maybe they would leave them along, if they though the cats were just hunting.

"AHHHH! GAARA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET YOUR JAWS OFF MY NECK!" Sakura screams at him.

The red head blinks and releases the flamingo from his mouth. Hybrids never ate other hybrids. They might kill them, but they'd never eat each other. That was cannibalism. Most hybrids weren't particularly happy when another hybrid ate their animal counterpart, but everyone accepted that was just how the food chain worked.

"Sorry. I thought you were a regular flamingo." Gaara apologizes.

"Since when do leopards eat flamingos?!" She demands.

"Oh we'll eat pretty much anything really. It's not our natural first choice of prey, but mostly I just wanted to distract the big eyed humans." He explains.

That's when Sakura glances back and saw the jeep. Uh oh. This was bad. Those things meant the humans were going to stick around for awhile. She had known that of course.

Sakura had snuck into the hotel and overheard them. Seeing the jeep though in person, made it more real somehow though. She knew that didn't make any sense, but that was just how she felt.

"This isn't good." She mutters.

"No, it's not. We'll get through this though. This is hardly the first time that humans have poked their noses around in our territories." The leopard assures her.

Sakura nods. She hoped so. This was crazy. Why couldn't humans just stick to their territories and leave them alone? What was really so hard about that?

"You're right. Well you three should go. Humans are going to show a lot more interest in leopards than my kind." She warns him.

Gaara nods. He grabs one of the other flamingos in his jaws and Sakura winces. She understood that he had to make it look convincing, but still that could have been her!

The leopards soon disappear. As scared as Sakura was about the entire situation, she had to admit that she admired their speed and grace. They'd probably dart up some trees somewhere or hide in some caves. Leopards could be very elusive when they wanted to be.

Elsewhere Itachi and Sasuke were enjoying lounging on some really big rocks and sunbathing in their animal forms. That was always a fun activity. They were half asleep and completely relaxed. That was until they picked up the scent of some male lion nekos heading their way.

"Itachi, do you smell that?" Sasuke asks.

"I do, brother. Males. A lot of them. Perhaps we should retreat for now." He suggests.

"Maybe that'd be a good idea. I recognize the scents though. Those are Hyuga Pride males." The raven furred lion says.

The Uchihas were about to leave, when Hiashi and the other lions saw them. Sasuke had to admit, they were very fast. He wasn't even sure he and Itachi could have outrun them.

"There's no need to be alarmed. At the moment, all we desire to do is talk." Hiashi says.

Itachi and Sasuke both raise their eyebrows at this. Yes, they wanted to talk. That was why they had brought so many other lions with them. Sasuke does note with some smugness that the Hyugas seemed surprised that he wasn't alone. Good.

Their odds weren't great, but two lions had a better shot of making this out alive than one would have. Sasuke watches them warily. They wanted to talk? Why didn't he believe that?

"For someone that wants to talk, you certainly brought a lot of friends." Itachi observes warily.

"Yes, well I wasn't entirely certain that he would want to talk. So I brought backup, in case things went poorly. I didn't expect him to have a friend of his own though." Hiashi muses.

"I'll bet not. What do you want to talk about?" Sasuke asks.

He wasn't really sure where the older male was going with this. He had brought a lot of his pride with him. That didn't seem like the type of action that someone wanting to "chat" would pursue.

"You saved our lionesses from the hyena. Our pride females are rather grateful. Normally, I would just chase you out of the territory or perhaps if worse came to worse, kill you. I can't do that though. You saved them. It'd be dishonorable. I was going to offer you a chance to join our pride. There would be conditions, of course." The lavender eyed male says.

Sasuke and Itachi blink. He was offering Sasuke a place in the pride. The younger neko looks at his brother. It was a chance to join a pride, but to leave Itachi behind would be unthinkable.

"Now that you have seen there are two of us, I imagine you are rescinding that offer?" Itachi asks.

"I am more warily now than I would have been before, but he did save a large portion of our pride. If you both agree to the conditions, you may join." Hiashi answers him.

Itachi blinks again. The man was offering to take in two unknown males? That was almost unheard of. Why? What did he have to gain from it?

"What would these conditions be?" Sasuke asks.

"It's rather simple. I am the leader of Hyuga Pride. My word is law. If you wish to mate with any of the females, you should also have the courtesy to inform me of your intention as well. You aren't native to our pride. Bloodlines are important things to think about before allowing such unions to take place. You will of course be expected to pull your weight when it comes to protecting the pride, hunting, and the other daily tasks that need to be done for survival." He finishes.

The Uchiha brothers look at each other and the Hyuga Pride Males in shock. Hiashi was offering them a chance to stay in his pride? Had the Earth turned upside down?

"Itachi?" Sasuke asks uncertainly.

"The conditions do not appear intolerable to me. It's your decision though, Sasuke. I will go with you or not go, based on what you decide. You were the one that saved them. It's only right that you should have the final say." The elder Uchiha reasons.

Sasuke nods at his brother both gratefully and mournfully. He was used to having Itachi make the final decision on important matters. Itachi was older. It was only to be expected really. This was truly the first time that he had made the final call on something as significant as this.

"We'll go with you. It's better than being nomads or risking our lives trying to take over a smaller pride." Sasuke says.

"A wise decision. Remember that you agreed to the conditions. You are still outnumbered, if you decide you do not like them." Hiashi reminds him and the brothers nod as they follow him back to the pride.

When they arrived, the lionesses and cubs immediately took notice. It was rare to take in outsiders. Naturally, everyone was curious.

This was especially true of the littlest cubs. They waddled or scurried right over to investigate. Their eyes were bright and were noses twitching as their tails swished behind them in an alert fashion.

"And if you harm any member of this pride, you will regret it. That should go without saying, but I do believe in laying out all my cards on the table." The Hyuga Patriarch says.

Sasuke and Itachi nod. They smile and allow the cubs to sate their curiosity. One of them seemed to have decided Itachi's tail was utterly fascinating and was practicing pouncing. This was much to Sasuke's amusement.

Neji bounds over to Hinata and Hanabi. He was more concerned about them than most of the other pride females. Hanabi was too young for Mating to be a real possibility. Hinata was another matter though.

"Hiashi has decided to allow them to join us on a probationary status." He explains.

"That's great news!" Hanabi says excitedly and Hinata nods with a smile.

The young pride male didn't know if he agreed. Still he wasn't going to argue with Hiashi about it. He knew that in almost any other pride, he likely would have been kicked out long before now. He would go along with the man's wishes.

"We shall see. There were conditions. They had to accept that Hiashi is our leader." Neji explains.

"Well of course, father is our leader." Hanabi exclaims as if that was the most obvious thing in the world and it probably was to the young lioness.

Hinata nods in agreement and makes her way over towards the two dark furred lions. Seeing one lion with black fur was almost unheard of, but two seemed like nothing short of a miracle. Though she noted that the older male's fur was a shade or two lighter than Sasuke's.

"We shall have a feast later tonight to celebrate and formerly introduce the two of you to our pride. For now, do stay in your animal forms. There are big eyed humans lurking around and we don't want to get caught." He warns them before bounding off to go reassure some of the other members of their pride that all was well.

"Hinata." Sasuke says with a smile.

Well he was smiling as much as you could smile when you were a lion anyway. Really, it was the thought that counted. His tail swishes happily and Itachi shakes his head in amusement.

It was strange to see a lion in puppy love. Still he thought it was rather cute. Perhaps this would work out and Hiashi might even approve of the match. If not, well there were other lionesses here. Surely, the pride leader would approve of at least one of them for Sasuke.

"Sasuke! It's so good to see you again. Who is this?" She asks in confusion as she looks at Itachi.

"This is Itachi. He's my brother." Sasuke says and Hinata ohhhs.

"It's a pleasure to formerly meet you." Itachi says politely.

She did seem like a good lioness. Hinata was certainly healthy. She was quite pretty in her animal form. His brother had good taste. Itachi personally was hoping for a slightly more experienced lioness for himself.

While his first priority at the moment was making sure that they were accepted into the pride, he wanted to find a Mate eventually. Every lion did. Maybe have a few cubs. Sasuke seemed particularly interested in this pursuit, much to Itachi's mirth.

"And you as well. I'm Hinata." She says and her tail swishes in a friendly fashion.

"Hinata, cub." Sasuke points out and Hinata pretends to yip as one of the cubs gums on her tail.

The females were certainly having a grand time taking in the visual image of the two exotic brothers. Only Hinata had actually directly approached them yet though. It looked like some of the others were certainly thinking about it.

Hinata shakes her head good-naturedly at her fellow lionesses. Clearly, the gesture was designed to tell that it was okay. Sasuke and Itachi were friendly. That seemed to be all that they needed because suddenly quite a few lionesses were pawing over.

Itachi looked rather pleased this attention. Sasuke seemed a little overwhelmed and slinked off. Hinata giggles and follows him.

"Are you alright?" She asks.

"Well it was a little crowded. Besides, I figure that this way Itachi can have his fun. He's not like me." Sasuke says.

She tilts her head. Hinata wasn't really sure what Sasuke meant by that. "He's not like me," what did Sasuke mean by that?

"How is Itachi different from you?" The lioness asks in confusion.

"He doesn't know what he wants yet. Itachi doesn't know who he wants to be his Mate. So it only makes sense to let him get to know the females alone." Sasuke says.

Hinata blinks at that. Sasuke was implying that Sasuke did know who he wanted to be his Mate. Most likely, she was in this pride. Otherwise, why would he join it? It wouldn't have made much sense to join a pride, if she wasn't part of it.

"Oh. Well congratulations? Have you told her that you like her, yet?" The Hyuga female asks.

Sasuke shakes his head. He wasn't ready to tell Hinata yet. First, he had to prove himself to Hiashi. Hiashi was in charge of the pride. There was no point in pursuing her without getting permission first.

"I haven't told her yet. I hope I'll be able to tell her soon though." He answers honestly, but vaguely.

A few hours later, the feast was prepared. Sasuke and Itachi were rather stunned at the bounty laid out before them. There was buffalo, zebra, antelope, rabbit, fish, and even some ostrich eggs laid out before them.

"Your father wasn't kidding when he said there would be a feast." Sasuke muses and Hinata giggles.

"My father can never resist the chance to show off. It's just part of being a pride leader, I guess." The lioness says and Sasuke nods.

He couldn't help but wonder what Hinata looked like in her human form. He had a hard time imagining that she'd be any less beautiful. Once this business with the big eyed humans was settled, maybe he'd get to find out.

"ATTENTION! EVERYONE! ATTENTION! We are having this feast today in honor of our two newest pride members. Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha. They are brothers and originally from the Uchiha Pride. We welcome them with open arms because Sasuke saved many of our lionesses. I want everyone to treat them as they would any other member of our pride, unless they violate the conditions." Hiashi says.

There was a chorus of affirmations after that. Sasuke watches and muses that Hiashi had quite a tight leash on his pride. Everyone followed him without question. He was truly a lion in his prime and master of his domain.

"With that being said, everyone is welcome to eat their fill." He finishes and everyone starts chowing down.

It was a good thing there was so much food. Lions had very healthy appetites. Sasuke had lived through both feast and famine times. When feast times came around, it was wise to take advantage of it and apparently everyone else in the pride agreed. The lions spent the rest of the night enjoying the festivities, unaware that the big eyed humans were getting closer and closer to their territory.