Chapter 9: The Predator or Prey? Take your pick!

The sound of bells rang clearly throughout the forest. It's clear, pure piercing sound vibrated in the air and into Neji's mind. Not to far away Neji's other two teammates as well as Gai heard the piercing bell ringing in the air. Leaves rustled individually with each ring. Suddenly, there was a sound of wind whipping through the trees as a shadowy figure darted from tree to tree in the area around Neji. Neji quickly turned around but saw no one. So, being the Hyuuga he is, Neji did the most logical thing any of his clan members would do. "Byakugan!" he said, activating his kekkei genkai.

Neji's view on the world around him changed, literally. His vision soared through the woods, searching for his targets. His eyes found 10 other figures, 7of which, are humans while the other 3 are animals. He distinguished the first three as teammates and sensei, which meant the others were to be his prey. "Enjoying the view?" asked a familiar voice.

Neji quickly turned off his bloodline limit and spun around to face the owner of the voice. Kaori sat on a high branch in a tree with Yue curled around her neck. With the others, the same thing occurred. With Gai, found himself near a river was met up with Zakuro and Tsuchi who stepped out from behind a boulder (much to his delight). With Tenten, Hikari and Akane appeared leaning against a tree trunk and Rock Lee found himself being looked down on literally by Cori and Jubei who stood on top of a tree branch.

(Zakuro)

"It's time to choose..."

(Hikari)

"Are you the Predator or The Prey?"

(Kaori)

"Who knows who will win or who will lose..."

(Cori)

"We'll find out for sure either way..."

(Tsuchi)

"No matter what choice is yours..."

(Akane)

"How you fight will decide anyway..."

(Yue)

"After all, even if you choose to be the Predator..."

(Jubei)

"Will the Prey still be prey?"

The words rang through the other team's heads. Neji smiled confidently as he looked at Kaori straight in the eye. "I'm sure you know perfectly well what my answer will be," he said.

Kaori returned the smile. "Well then, don't let me get away senpai," she replied as she stood up and leaped of the branch towards the ground and was about to make a run for it when Neji quickly threw a kunai at her. The kunai was able to successfully pin her sleeve to a tree trunk. Neji quickly caught up to Kaori just as she was trying to pull the weapon out.

"Don't tell me you lost easily," said Neji as he prepared to strike a pressure point on the girl.

"Not. Quite, "came a reply.

Suddenly, Yue emerged from Kaori's hood and swung a paw at the Hyuuga with such force that Neji actually was blown back. Neji felt something warm and sticky trickling down his cheek. It only meant one thing, blood. Kaori finally manged to pull free and began to run at full speed up a tree on all fours like a cat with Yue at her side. Not willing to give up, Neji followed suit. The two kept climbing higher and higher until they finally reached the top of the tree. The wind whipped around them as they stood on the same branch,staring at each other. From where they stood, it meant one slip and plunge 8 storeys down. (Yeah, it's a tall tree.) Unfortunately for Kaori and Yue, they were standing at the very end of the branch. Neji carefully inched his way across the he did, Kaori asked, "Senpai, do you know what's the best thing to do when you're cornered and your only escape route is a sheer drop to doom?"

"What?"

"You take that route," replied Yue, and with that, her master leaned back and let herself fall headfirst towards the ground, taking Neji by surprise.

Not wasting any time, Neji applied chakra to his feet and began bounding down the tree trunk as fast as he could. With a combination of his speed and gravity, Neji was miraculously able to overtake Kaori. Quickly, he launched himself of the tree, aiming himself at Kaori. At the same time, Kaori whipped out a blue scroll while biting her thumb. In one swift move, the Nekojiwa girl unrolled the scroll and smeared her blood on the surface. There was a puff of smoke and a long blue gymnastics ribbon appeared in Kaori's hand. Yue pushed herself of her mistress and landed on a nearby branch. As the distance between Kaori and Neji grew smaller, the blue haired girl twisted her body in mid air and leaped of Neji when he appeared below her. Kaori quickly turned around in the air and lashed her ribbon out, grabbing Neji by the arm. With one swift tug, Neji found himself being pulled towards Kaori, who delivered a round house kick at him, despite putting up a hand to block, the boy was sent flying towards the ground again. Thankfully for Neji, the ground wasn't far enough to kill him, but he still hit the ground hard.

"Agility weapon: Kaori Ribbon!" said Kaori as she managed to land on her feet, twirling her ribbon as she did so. No sooner did her feet touch the ground, Kaori felt her left leg give way, causing her to sink towards the ground. She tried moving it, but there was no feeling in her leg. "Kaori-sama!" yelled Yue appearing at the girl's side.

"I'm all right, but my leg.."

"Heh, don't even try..." said Neji smirking as he stood up.

Yue leapt in front of Kaori as hissed at Neji. "What did you do to my mistress?" she snarled menacingly.

Neji smirked. "Nothing really..., I just shut down the signals that her brain sends to control her left leg movement."

Yue felt a growl develop in her throat as her pupils slitted. "Catgirl jutsu!" she yelled, disappearing in a puff of smoke. In her place, stood a girl around Kaori's age with silver hair tied in a loose ponytail. She also had a pair of azure eyes that just pierced Neji's and sent chills down his spine. What most noticeble was the pair of cat ears that stuck out of her head, that and the tail, plus the cat paws... (See: Catgirl Yue)

Yue snarled as she dropped on all fours. Neji quickly became serious and slid into his Jyuuken stance. Yue charged forward and pounced on Neji, claws extended. Neji quickly activated Byakugan and grabbed Yue's paw, letting her graze his side as he spun around and jabbed an elbow in her back. The cat girl tumbled once but was back on her feet in seconds as she leapt at Neji again, her flashing the same time, Kaori smirked to herself as the sound of a camera shutter clicking went off in her head.

Meanwhile, in another part of the woods by the river...

"Haik! Cha!" yelled Zakuro as she blocked Gai's blows with her legs.

"Hiya!"Gai spun around on one foot and began sending a flurry of kicks at Zakuro so quickly that it was all blurry. "Ha!" exclaimed Zakuro as she mimicked her senior's movements , matching every kick for kick with the exact same speed.

'Amazing, this guy is actually able to match me in speed, no one's ever done that before,' thought Zakuro as she increased the speed of her kicks. As she expected, Gai increased his sped too, matching her perfectly.

Suddenly Gai heard growling behind him as Tsuchi began to aim for the leg that Gai was standing on. Quickly, Gai turned around, grabbing Zakuro's foot, much to her surprise and landing a kick on Tsuchi's head sending her flying towards the river. Tsuchi quickly spun in mid air and landed on all fours on the surface of the river. Zakuro quickly bent backwards into a handstand, spreading her legs apart into a split with her foot still being clutched in Gai's hand. "Seismic Spin!" she yelled, twisting her body and spinning on her hands. Gai found himself getting wrenched of the ground and spun about faster and faster. All of a sudden, Zakuro came to an unexpected stop, catching her senior off guard causing him to lose his grip and go spiralling off in the air. Not wanting to miss out on anything, Tsuchi powered chakra into her already powerful legs and jumped. She appeared just in front of Gai, and turned her back on him literally, smacking him hard with her tail with such force that Gai was sent crashing into the ground. Tsuchi landed next to Zakuro as she cracked her neck.

"Well, that was a quick win wasn't it?" asked Tsuchi. Before Zakuro can answer, they saw a silhouette rise from the spot where Gai landed.

"You've got to be kidding me....."muttered Zakuro as the dust cleared revealing a very serious Gai.

In about a split second, Gai was right in front of her, which surprised Zakuro so much that she let her guard down.

"Nekojiwa Zakuro!"he exclaimed.

In one swift move, Gai used his right leg to literally sweep Zakuro off her feet. The young woman felt herself fall backwards as she quickly reached out and put her arms around Gai's neck to stop herself from falling while Gai caught Zakuro in his arms, forcing her to be in laid back position. (A very common move in tango and salsa). Tsuchi fluffed up her fur in surprise.

"Hai?" asked Zakuro, looking up at her seniors face. Suddenly, a ruby red rose in full bloom appeared in front of her face, it's scent filled her nose as the atmosphere around her and Gai began to sparkle and romantic music began to play.

"I want you as my beloved youthful companion for life, will you marry me?" he asked (R.F.: Demanded is more like it....), causing Tsuchi to arch her her back and hiss menacingly in shock.

A faint blush appeared on Zakuro's cheeks as she stared into Gai's eyes. "Oh,Gai-senpai...." she whispered softly, tightening her grasp around Gai's neck, bringing her body higher and her face slightly closer.

Gai felt color rush to his cheeks as well as he brought his face closer to hers. His heart beat began to quicken."Zakuro-chan...."

Zakuro's face came even closer."Gai-senpai..." she whispered again with a hint of sexiness to it.

"Zakuro-chan...."replied Gai again as he to brought his face closer to hers.

Tsuchi was already freaking out as her jaw hit the ground.

By now their lips were merely inches apart from each other as Zakuro big brown eyes stared into Gai's own. "Gai....senpai..." she whispered once more, and then...

"LIKE HELL I WOULD!!!!!!!!!!" she yelled, ramming her knee against her senior's.... ahem... well, you get the idea....

Tsuchi flinched while Zakuro slid out of her senior's grasp. Gai was on the ground keeled over while holding the family jewels.

The young women was emitting so much fury and killer intent that Tsuchi shrunk into the background. Her eyes dilated into slits as she lashed a kick at Gai's chin, causing him to fall on his back. Zakuro was standing over him looking more ferocious than anyone could have been. "HENTAIIII!!!!!!! ECCHIIII!!!!! PERVERT!!!!!!" she yelled as she sent a flurry of stomps raining down on Gai, pummelling him into the ground. Tsuchi stood on the sidelines as she watched her master stomp the hell out of her senior. She then shrugged and lay down. 'Guess she doesn't need me...' she thought as she went to sleep while poor Gai was getting turned into mush.

Tenten continuously jumped backwards to avoid getting hit from Hikari's fireballs. After dodging the last one, Tenten pulled a few senbon needles that were concealed in her hair buns. "Take this!" she yelled, throwing them at Hikari.

Hikari merely grinned. "With pleasure, Akane!" she called.

A black blur appeared as it leapt at the flying needles, which disappeared in mid air. "What?"exclaimed Tenten in disbelief.

Akane turned around to reveal the needles in her mouth. She then leaped into the air and spat them out of her mouth at Tenten who quickly summoned a pair of tonfas and spun them in her hands to deflect the projectiles. Akane somersaulted in the air and landed on Hikari's shoulder just as she summoned her own weapon out of a green scroll. Tenten watched as Hikari twirled her weapons in her hands and went into a fighting stance. "Agility Weapon: Hikari Clubs!" she exclaimed, revealing her weapon to be a pair of gymnastic clubs.

Suddenly both girls began charging at each other crying their battle cries with all their spirit.

Poof! A white cheerleading baton appeared in Cori's hand. "Agility Weapon: Cori Baton!" she exclaimed, twirling the baton expertly in her hand before striking a pose.

Rock Lee slipped into his battle stance as he swallowed. 'Gai-sensei, what should I do? I'm going to have to do battle with my precious person!'

Meanwhile elsewhere......

"DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..........."cried Zakuro as she continued stomping the snot out of a nearly flattened Maito Gai.

Tsuchi stretched and rolled onto her back as she continued with her nap. "Oh, Cham-samaaa..... nyaaaaaaa....... you naughty kitty you!" she muttered in her sleep as she grinned and a slight blush appeared on her face while her right leg twitched in the air.

Back to the fight.....

"Jubei! Let's go!" called Cori as tossed Jubei who was sitting on her hand, into the air.

The little kitten somersaulted and took a deep breath. "Ninja Art: Exploding Bubbles! -NYA!" she yelled, blowing out a stream of bubbles from her mouth.

As the bubbles began to float down gently, Cori began to twirl the baton in front of her, sending the bubbles flying in Lee's direction. Lee looked in confusion as he found himself surrounded in a mass of bubbles. Jubei landed on Cori's shoulder gracefully. "Time to go POP!- nya!" she piped up as her master smiled and snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, the seemingly harmless bubbles became a mass of small explosions. Lee yelled as he got blasted into the air. Cori and Jubei watched as he fell to the ground with a thud. The boy gritted his teeth as he stood back up again. Cori smirked as she ran at Lee, twirling her baton. Lee quickly resumed his stance as Cori came closer. Jubei leaped of her master's head and spiraled towards Lee, who dodged while at the same time using his arm to block Cori's baton from hitting his ribs. The kitten swiftly turned her body around and launched her self of the grass, successfully managing to head butt Lee in the stomach. At the same time, Cori spun around and did a roundhouse on Lee's back, sending him reeling forward. Lee quickly recovered and rushed at Cori. The girl took a step back as Lee swung his leg at her. He then quickly changed his move to a leg swipe. Suddenly, Jubei appeared and landed on Lee's leg, forcing it to the ground. Cori quickly swung her leg at Lee who dodged it by falling on his back. Lee quickly countered it by gripping the leg Cori was standing on. He then twisted his body so that she fell over sideways. Quickly, Cori stuck out her baton while gripping Lee's leg between hers and bringing herself into a single handstand as she balanced on the tip of the baton. With a quick twist of her body, the girl was able to send Lee flying.

'Amazing!' thought Lee as flipped and landed on his feet. 'She actually could counter all my attacks so smoothly!'

Cori smiled innocently. "Do you wish to submit?" she asked.

"NO WAY! I WON'T SUBMIT EVEN IF YOU ARE A GIRL!!!" declared Lee.

Cori tilted her head and smiled again, making the air around her sparkle. "HAI!" she said cutely.

At that moment, Rock Lee turned bright red and then blue as he lost all the steam in his body. "I lost....." he said before falling over backwards and fainting.

"Huh?" asked Cori , surprised at Lee's sudden submission.

Jubei sat on her master's head and grinned. "Nya! Nya! Lee-kun fainted!"

"Nande, Jubei?" asked Cori innocently.

"Cori-sama does it again!" the kitten said cheerfully. Jubei mentally turned her head into the shadows. 'Cori- sama.... you are so clueless.....and it was your Super Innocent Charm too.....'

"Oh well?" asked Cori. She began to jog towards Lee. "Ano... senpai? Daijobu? Lee-senpai?"

Lee mentally cried in his mind. 'GAI-SENSEI!!!! FORGIVE ME!!!!!'

(Elsewhere....)

'LEE-KUN!!! FORGIVE YOUR PATHETIC SENSEI!!!!!!!!' cried Gai in his mind as Zakuro had already stomped him into a crater was still at it.

-R.F sits in front of the Tv watching the events take place- : Yeesh... men..... oh well the fight continues in the next chapter till then!!! NYA!