Chapter 17: Remember Me

Kiba shifted in stirred frantically in the bed, his body tangled in the ripped and torn sheets and keeping him in a constricting hold. He moaned lightly in pain, biting down on something in his sleep, and panting violently. Sweat streamed off of his body in substantial amounts though he was cold, and an arching pain streaked through him. Even in his dreams he felt dizzy, and his head pounded with a throbbing headache.

Finally his eyes shot open but quickly closed again and a loud, animalistic roar tore from his throat in the place of what should have been a yell. Kiba immediately lifted his hands and clinched his forehead tightly as his face cringed up. "Owww, what the hell." he said out loud, he found it surprisingly hard to keep his hands in place and even to sit upright from his entanglement in the strips of tattered white cloth surrounding him.

He opened his eyes again and looked down at himself, his eyes widened slightly and his ears twitched and perked in surprise...perk? Human ears didn't do that. With that realization Kiba lifted his hands to where his ears should have been, when he didn't find them there he panicked and he felt around frantically for them . "What the hell! Where are my--" Kiba brushed against something on the top of his head and he clinched on to it, something furry. "What is this?"

Kiba ripped the torn sheets off of him and he scrambled out of his bed, opening the door to his room and running down the still damaged hallway to the fully repaired bathroom. He almost fell when he came on to the tile floors but he saved himself by grabbing on to the sink and sliding to a stop. Kiba looked upon his appearance in the mirror above the sink, finding furry gray wolf ears on the top of his head, protruding over the unruly black hair. Fangs now hung in his mouth, both of them long enough to just barely become visible over his bottom lip, and claws now protruded from fingers and toes. What was one of the more noticeable features was a bushy gray tail originating from his lower back "Holy crap! I'm a dog!"

Some how during that, Kiba noticed something, almost like an instinct. Tearing himself away from the mirror, Kiba walked over to the window and pushed away the curtains. He ended up staring into a large blue moon, larger then he'd ever seen, so large it made his eyes grow wide at the sight "Whoa..." he felt the irrepressible urge to howl.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The sun slowly began to ascend from below the horizon, providing some light for Naruto's team who were posted around SDI. Naruto stood on the roof or rather the unfinished third floor. Now it was just a flat surface with steel beams surrounding it like a cage, Naruto was posted on one on the north side, looking around alertly. Gaara would have been west if he wasn't still recovering, Kakashi stood east, and Iruka was opposite Naruto on the roof.

"This is no use!" Naruto called out, staring upward at the distant figures of 3 birds circulating around them like buzzards ready to swoop down and seize it's scavenge. "I can't even hit them, they're too fast."

"It looks like it's up to you Iruka." Kakashi abandoned his post on the east side to jump up on the roof .

"Huh?" Iruka glanced back "What can I do? You know my Jutsus"

Kakashi placed his hands in his pocket and stared upward at the distant figures of circulating birds "Your the most skilled with wind based Jutsu, and that's the only way we're going to get at them."

"But I don't have nearly enough power to do this on my own." Iruka said nervously.

"I'll help you out." Kakashi placed his hands on Iruka's back "Better start, Looks like they're getting ready to attack." Kakashi could see the tree circulating bird's formation loosening, a clear sign something would happen soon.

"I'll try." Iruka nodded to himself and began doing the hand seals to his most familiar and mastered Jutsu, one that he'd used primarily and often modified "Retsu ha geki no Jutsu!" Iruka lifted the 5-point, his most frequently used weapon, holding it out to his side while holding his other hand upward to the sky. A blast of air rushed upward from in a torrent, one that Iruka struggled to stand while it was barring down him.

Kakashi held his free arm outward while generating chakra, causing streaks of lighting to draw up from the ground into his palm with the growing energy of the lightning edge. Cautiously watching the three birds dive down from above toward them carefully, their shadowy forms grew larger with each second they descended. They were much larger then they first appeared, easily their bodies large enough to expand over the SDI building. "Naruto."

Naruto held one hand outward, waving the other over it in a circular motion with focused Chakra. It became visible in a blue swirl, and Naruto continued to poor more Chakra into his Rasengan. "I'm ready!"

"Iruka."

Iruka nodded and began spinning the large 5-point shrunken with his hand, and while it was still rotating Iruka pulled it upward and into the current of destructive air. Kakashi drew his hand upward and drove the lighting edge on to the bottom of the 5-point, then Naruto threw the Rasengan just above the metal weapon. The 3 forces combined, the Rasengan increasing the rotation of the 5-point and giving the wind an over all drill like spin, while the lighting edge gave every it a more destructive force of electricity , and the 5-point held that charge. All of it melded together to become one large blast that looked like a wall.

The birds fell out of the sun's glare and allowed themselves to be seen completely, they were Ravens, and large ones at that. All 3 of them were diving downward to swoop in and take out them and the building in one attack, and from the looks of their beaks they probably could do it fairly easily. Which meant this couldn't miss.

"I...can't hold it like this." Iruka called out in a strained voice, with his arms faltering from pushing up the blast with his wind Jutsu. "I don't have enough Charka to hit all three."

"Don't worry, I have you." Kakashi held on to Iruka's arms and concentrated on transferring Chakra, the support seemed to be working. "They're all coming in at once, you can take them out with one shot."

"I'll try... Retsu ha geki no Jutsu Full power!" The current of wind coming from Iruka's hands doubled, he held his arms strait as he stared up into the 3 pairs of red eyes glaring down on him from the approaching demons. They were so close now that the ground started to shake as they all swooped down from the east, two side by side and one above them. 'Now!' Iruka turned and thrust his arms to the left, forcing the 5-point carrying the blast directly in-between the three Ravens.

Electricity slashed at the three as the tarring winds with the oversized weapon and Rasengan ripped the wings from the two side by side and forcing them to veer to opposite side and hit the ground roughly in a trail of blood. The pair had been forced over just enough to slide right past SDI, while the third that had wounds to it's underside glided right them close enough so that Naruto had to dive off the steel beam to avoid the large demon. It crashed to a stop nearby.

"That was great." Konohamaru said, emerging from the usually locked stairway from the 2 floor. "Did you kill it?"

Naruto jumped back on to the steel beam and looked over the 3 demon bodies. Then turned back with a victorious smirk. "Pretty sure."

"That was the third attack this week." Kakashi let go of Iruka and stepped back. "I'm not sure different breeds usually cohabit, but they seem to be working together against us."

"They don't." Iruka looked through the steel beams as he headed for the stairs where Konohamaru was standing "It's disturbing. I'm not sure what to make of it except for a general hate. Do they think we're that much of a threat that different species come after us together?"

! - ! - !

"Neji!"

Neji was training near the familiar waterfall a few miles off from SDI, it'd become a spot for resting among everyone, it seemed to be the only trace of Konoha forest since it was the only place with trees in a 68 mile radius. In fact he was sure he'd seen Gaara someplace nearby, probably above.

'Kiba?' Neji glanced back from his spot nearby where he'd been training, all of a sudden he was sprang on and knocked to the ground from some unknown weight. He found himself staring up at Kiba and usually would have scolded him for doing something like that but his mind was else where "W-what happened to you?"

"I don't know." Kiba climbed off of Neji, Akamaru on his head between the two newly sprouted ears. "I woke up last night and I was like this."

"Last night, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Oh well...I was looking for you but I got really hungry." Kiba flashed a smirked allowing his fangs to be seen as he placed his hand on his stomach "But I was even more sleepy then I was hungry so I fell asleep again." That sounded like Kiba, at least he'd only changed on the outside, that much was apparent.

"These just grew over night?" Neji stood behind Kiba, poking and his ears "Dose this hurt?"

"Not really."

Neji reached down and examined his tail, but it immediately started to wag out of his grip, Kiba couldn't help it. When Neji grabbed his tail he got excited, or at least his body got jumpy. Moving on from the tail, Neji took hold of Kiba's wrist and examined the small yet visible claws that had formed on his fingers. "Maybe that werewolf did something to you after all..."

"I told you!" Kiba said, clinching his head with his hands again "I turning into a werewolf!"

! - ! - !

"Whoa, down boy." Kakashi sat down on the ground against the wall, watching Kiba pace around the Library.

"I'm a werewolf!" Kiba shouted.

"How?" Naruto asked, "Hey wait! You've been a werewolf all this time and didn't tell me."

"Don't be stupid dobe." Sasuke snorted "It must have happened on a mission."

"I'm not sure what's going on, but you should try and calm down." Iruka said, though still confused about the whole thing. "Being this excited might just make things worse."

Kiba took a deep breath and decided Iruka was right, being this worked up wouldn't help. "I knew something would happen after that demon bit me." Kiba sat down on Lee's safe sitting right outside of the door to Neji's study, and held his head in his hands.

Kakashi looked upon the boy curiously "I could never resist a pouting dog." He earned a look and a growl from Kiba. "I love nin dogs."

Neji emerged from the rows of books just in time, Kiba was strongly tempted to bite Kakashi. "I found something on it, though it's vague in some parts it still might help." He said, holding a new book he'd acquired yesterday "One of two things happen after something is bitten by a werewolf demon, if it's a compatible species then it mutates, if not it will eventually die. Human is a compatible species, so yes you are a werewolf now."

"Great! Now I'm going to get all big and furry." He wined "So how long do I have till I'm a big, drooling wolf demon?"

"Calm down, your mutation isn't necessarily going to go that far." Neji said.

"What about the moon, the moon was full last night, I'm sure that had something to do with it."

"Yes it did." Neji agreed. "And it looks like your current sate could be permanent, and after tonight you could very well be a drooling wolf demon as you put it. But we can stop that from happening."

"How?"

"Sealing Jutsu, a complicated one that's not permanent. But even if we do attempt it and fail and you do transform completely, since your human you'll change back...eventually."

Kiba sighed, or at lest he tried too but it came out as a canine winning sound.

"This is just too much." Kakashi laughed "I'll have to pick Neji up a collar and leach."

Kiba growled again, now really close to biting Kakashi. "Look on the bright side." Neji said "You look really cute."

"What am I going to do! There's a full moon tonight."

! - ! - !

Konohamaru sat in the center of the shrine, his eyes rolling over each forehead protector that sat below an individual flame. Taking an extra second to look particularly at the two with the lines carved through it, one of them from the hidden Mist village which had drawn some curios attention from others. He closed his eyes again, trying to focus on sitting in this one spot in this one moment in time, Kakashi told him he needed to learn how to focus better. What better way then to meditate on one thing for as long as he could?

So he practiced stirring his Chakra, releasing small amounts from the points Itachi showed him while he rotated the ki inside of him. "MMmmmmm..." His face tensed and his fist tightened as he tried to move faster then usual, but he knew he was doing it wrong when he felt a ripping and burning like pain.

Kisame watched the Yellow chakra rotate around Konohamaru's body like a whirlpool, he had so much of it and could barely use it, or handle it for that matter. "Your Chakra looks damaged, what happened to you?"

Konohamaru flinched, the chakra he'd been rotating expelled outward from his body in one golden flash that made the flames flicker. "Boss?" Konohamaru turned back "I thought you said you were coming back!" He yelled angrily.

"Business." Kisame sat down next to Konohamaru "What happened to your Chakra."

"Well...that thing came back and attacked me. It was draining my Chakra all along and it somehow used that to change, it has a body now." Konohamaru shuttered at the thought, it was an experience he wanted to forget. "I found out what it was." He said "All those people Reedamaru killed, they hated him enough to create a demon with it even after they died. Neji-sama said the only reason it would come after me even when Reedamaru died already was if I was related to him."

"..." Kisame sighed, he knew Reedamaru was related to Konohamaru, he just never imagined that something like this could result from it. It was a pretty unusual situation. "Reedamaru is your father."

Konohamaru usually would have been surprised by it, but he wasn't, he just held his head down "He's really my father?...Did he know?"

Kisame nodded solemnly "Yes, he knew."

"And he still...came after me?"

"Yes."

Konohamaru just sat quietly, thinking. "...But he's dead, isn't that what it wanted? I don't have anything to do with him, why is it coming after me?"

"I'm not sure, I guess it was unsatisfied with his death."

"But that's unfair!" Konohamaru jumped to his feet angrily. "That evil bastard didn't even care about me! He wouldn't care what happens to me anyway! Why dose it want to kill me for what he did!"

Kisame folded his arms and closed his eyes in an almost relaxed manner, though he was clearly not. "Calm down kid."

"He didn't care what happened to me, why do I have to pay for all those people he killed?" Konohamaru shouted "Why do I have to go through this for what he did!"

"Konohamaru! Calm down." Kisame said firmly " I know it isn't fair and this shouldn't be happening to you, I know you don't deserve it. I told you life was a bitch, you just have to deal with it."

"...Your right!" Konohamaru growled angrily. "If I'm going to be Hokage then I can't let something like this standing in my way! I'm going to defeat Fear!"

! - ! - !

"He said I have to calm down...alright, then I'll calm down." Kiba jumped through the tree tops, moving from branch to branch fast enough for him to be a blur, his hood was down and Akamaru was tucked inside against his chest. He was moving more agilely, and his landings and take offs were tighter, he had more of a sense of balance. All of this could be nothing other but an effect of his transformation. 'I hope Neji can figure this seal, what's going to happen to me if I do change completely?' He couldn't stop thinking about it, he'd never been so worried in his life!

"Stop--"

Crash

Kiba slammed into something -- no, someone else hard. Hard enough to send the both of them sprawling down from the trees and on to the ground roughly. "Awww..."

"Kiba." Shino pushed Kiba off of him and set him down on the ground next to him. "Kiba you should pay--...What...what happened to you?" Shino stood up, picked up his sunglasses off the ground and returning them to his eyes as he rose, a faint hint of surprise visible on his stoic face.

Kiba rubbed his head and smirked "Well uh...I'll be strait with you, a werewolf bit me."

"Your kidding aren't you?" Shino inquired. "What is that, a costume?" Shino reached out and felt Kiba's ears curiously.

"Dose this look like a costume?" Kiba moved his tail around, twitching his ears slightly under Shino's fingers. "I'm serious."

"Hmmm, it must be difficult working at SDI." Shino leaned against a tree, his hands resting in his pocket. "I imagined there would be injuries and associated risks, but something like this..."

"How'd you know I was at SDI?" Kiba looked up at him questingly, guessing that it was now officially SDI instead of D.S.I.

"It wasn't too hard to figure out, besides, where else would someone inquire an affliction such as that?" Shino said. "Are you going to be alright?"

"I have no idea... but right now I'm alright." Kiba glanced down at his claws forlornly, worried. "Later I might not be."

"I'm not worried, If your strong enough to do a job like that then I'm sure your strong enough to pull out of this." Shino seemed to be doing his best to try and give encouragement, he obviously wasn't very good at it but he was trying, and that's what counted.

"Yeah...Thanks Shino." Kiba took a deep breath and stood up, "You have to admit it is kind of cool."

Shino just smirked and walked past him.

Kiba looked back at him. "Where are you going?"

"I'm meeting someone."

Kiba shrugged "I guess I'll leave you to it then." With a blur, Kiba disappeared in a continuous effort to calm down. Taking a walk always seemed to help.

Shino watched him leave, waiting patiently. He was ready and waiting when he felt two familiar hands pushing him against the same tree by his shoulders forcefully and soft lips roughly pressing against his. "Your late Kankuro."

"Your early." Kankuro pulled back just far enough for his lips to smirk.

! - ! - !

Kiba marveled at how they'd managed to clean away the bodies of three large demons in such a short time, he suspected fire. And he saw some construction happening on the third floor, it seemed as though it was finally going to be completed soon.

With another deep breath he opened the front door and walked inside the lobby, finding it empty as usual, except for Gaara. Who also recently returned by the look of his appearance, he'd probably been training. "Neji has the seal ready." Gaara said, sitting down on the couch and setting his gourd to the side. "He's waiting for you in the back."

Kiba nodded and headed out the lobby, heading down the hall and cutting through the armory and out the back yard to get behind the building. Neji was there just as Kiba had said, waiting with a scroll in hand "Kiba."

"So you got this figured out?" Kiba asked, his the tip of his tail trailing along the soft grass.

"Pretty much." Neji untied the scroll and held it in his mouth, pressing one hand on to Kiba's stomach and the taking the scroll out of his mouth with the other. He unrolled it and flicked it outward, then he wrapped it around Kiba's torso. "MetaSeal!" The text on the seal started to glow in a red light, the scroll started to extend and wrap around his torso, his legs, his arms.

"Whoa..."

Neji started performing a barely learned hand seal with all of the speed he could gather. Then he pressed both hands on to a large circle on the scroll in the center of Kiba's chest, making the light grow more intense and the scroll grow tighter and tighter... until it ripped and fell into a mass down at Kiba's feet. "It...it failed."

"Failed?" A word he didn't want to hear "Failed? What dose that mean?"

"The seal didn't work, there's nothing I can do." Neji fell back and sit down on the ground "It didn't work."

"So...I'm going to change completely?" Kiba looked up in disbelief, he never thought it wouldn't work. "Is there anything else you can do?"

Neji shook his head, "Just wait and see what happens."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Naruto walked into the familiar setting of Gaara's room, marveling at how much change had taken place in two weeks after Nightmare attacked him. Gaara had used a good portion of his salary on one thing, music, and now the once bare, empty room was now covered with CDs. Spread across ever dresser and stacked in just about every corner as so not to create clutter. "Hey Gaara..." Naruto looked around the room, he was sure Gaara was in here. "Where are you?"

Sand began to leak down from the ceiling on to Naruto's head, followed by Gaara who was suddenly hanging upside down, face to face with Naruto.

"Whaaaaa!" Naruto fell backwards, hitting his head against the ground "Ow."

Gaara pushed the headphones off of his ears up around his neck, he was standing upside down on the ceiling "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Where'd you come from?" Naruto took the hand Gaara outstretched and pulled himself on to his feet. "I know I didn't see you."

Sand began to drop down from around Gaara in large amounts until his body disappeared and he was suddenly right side up on the ground where the sand had fallen. "Something I learned when I was fighting Nightmare. I can better control my body and the sand by concentration and desire." Being the first person to ever out will an survive Nightmare greatly increased his concentration, of course he had help, and a high motivation.

"That is really cool." Naruto smirked, "So what are you doing?"

Gaara jumped in the air, doing into a backflip high enough that his feet touched the ceiling. Then he used his chakra to bind them to it so that he was standing upside down again. "Training." He pulled the headphones over his ears and before more sand started to form around him, then his body disappeared and the sand seemed to sink into the ceiling. Leaving him with nothing but Shukaku's intent taking over, blaring music, concentration and desire, possibly the only three things keeping Shukaku from corrupting him.

"Training eh? Great idea, let's train together." Naruto said "How about me and you have a quick spar right here?"

Gaara dropped down right behind him, "Fine, but your guard is down."

"Heh heh, No I isn't " Naruto through his elbow back on to Gaara, but Gaara caught it and twisted Naruto's arm behind his back. Naruto through his head back into Gaara's before his body went up in a cloud of smoke.

"A copy?"

"Damn right!" Naruto sprang on him from behind and wrapped his arms around Gaara's neck

! - ! - !

"I think I know what it is." Konohamaru said.

"What?"

"That demon that attacked Sasuke and Itachi. It's the same type of demon that Fear is, after what Itachi did it has to be."

Kisame nodded "Figured as much, how else could it get those eyes, and it couldn't be a coincidence that it looks like their father."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Neji waited silently, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and his arms folded. It was 1'o clock in the morning now, and everyone else had given up on waiting and headed to sleep. Now it was just him trying to stay awake. He stared out of the window along the opposite wall, watching the large blue moon surrounded by darkness and shining stars, he'd noticed many times that the moon appeared larger then usual, much larger.

Neji hadn't noticed his eyelids were falling shut, and his folded arms were starting to loosen, before long he fell over completely unconscious.

Kiba shifted along the ground slightly, his body curling in to a tight ball on the hardwood floor. Sleeping there by choice, and with out covers or a shirt because he'd been was hot. That heat had become very uncomfortable, to the point where his breathing was being effected and he had to pant. His claws clinched at his arms tightly enough to draw blood and he was trying to curl deeper though he could go no farther. His locked jaws let out a small growl...then his eyes shot open his mouth opened widened, followed by a howl. One unnoticed by Neji.

Rrroooaaaarrrrr

Neji heard that clearly, clearly enough to awaken him, which is when he realized he'd fallen asleep. "Kiba?" Neji sat up and opened his eyes, they quickly grew wide at the sight. "Kiba!"

The other boy really had transformed just like it said in the book, a complete werewolf. Gray fur matching his ears and tail now spawned over his body completely, his face was completely wolf like with a long nose and mouth, now filled with fangs. His pants managed to stay in one piece during the transformation, it couldn't have been easy since Kiba had grown visibly taller then Neji by a good number of inches, as well as new muscles forming in about every part of his body. The claws on his fingers grew longer, as well as the ones on his toes which were much bigger, he also stood with his heels lifted off the ground.

Kiba threw his head back with mouth wide and let out a howl that echoed through the halls, then he slowly advanced towards Neji with a menacing intent "Kiba--" Claws tore at his chest, followed by a strong punch to his forehead by a much larger fist then before, sending Neji flying backwards into the wall. In a blur of gray, Kiba was in front of him, holding him by the neck 'His speed...it's incredible.' Neji barely had time to think about it, Kiba drew his hand back and swiped at his head. Neji lifted his arm and blocked, sending a kick into Kiba's stomach that knocked him backwards on the ground.

"This isn't you, I know your in there somewhere!" Neji pushed himself off the imprinted wall and ran over to the fallen werewolf. Kiba sprang up on all fours, running towards Neji with a speed faster then before, and slashing him across the chest, Neji slid backwards a few feet but steadied himself enough to stay standing. "!" Neji flipped forward, kicking Kiba in the chin who was attacking from behind, then turning back as soon as he landed and punching him in the stomach while he was still in mid-air. Kiba fell backwards but landed on his feet, immediately coming at Neji again.

Kiba drew his arm back as he dived forward then slammed his open palm into Neji's face forcefuly , but he grabbed hold of his head before he could be knocked back. With his claws digging in to the side of the boy's face, Kiba landed and slammed him into the wall, hard enough to throw him through completely.

'He's so strong now, and fast.' Neji reached upward before his body could leave the building completely, and he used that momentum to flip upward in to the air and land on the uncompleted third floor. 'I don't think I can beat him like this.' Neji glanced between the protruding steel beams down toward the hole, and found Kiba coming towards him. Only he was using his claws to climb up the wall, and quite effectively too. 'Damnit, I don't want to hurt him but what choice do I have? He's so persistent.'

Kiba jumped upward from the wall in a gray blur, diving down from the dark sky over the tall steel girders with his right arm and claws outward. Neji crouched down just in time for Kiba's claws to graze over the top of his head and cut off a few strands of hair 'He was going for my neck...' Neji stood up and turn around just before the werewolf landed on his feet and growled fiercely. "Kiba! You have to snap out of this!"

Kiba didn't seem to care what he was saying, instead he clasped his hands together in a very quick hand seal, followed by another roar. Neji found ice creeping up his leg 'He dose Jutsus too. When did Kiba learn an ice Jutsu.' Neji kicked his way from the entrapment and jumped upward as Kiba lunged at him again, then he landed on Kiba's back with a stomp hard enough to force him to the ground. Kiba rolled over, catching Neji by the shoulders and pressing him against the ground.

Neji looked up into those familiar brown eyes, the only thing that hadn't changed, they were so distant, impersonal... and slowly mutating more and more the longer Kiba stayed in this form. 'He...doesn't even remember me..' "Kiba!" Neji shouted "It's me, Neji."

Kiba didn't hesitate, he just leaned down to bite his neck, Neji drove his foot upward and kicked Kiba off of him. "I know your in there somewhere." Neji rolled to his side and climbed to his feet while Kiba got on all fours. The longer he stayed like this, the more persistent and fierce he became, Neji had to find a way to stop him now, or he'd lose him forever.

In a rush of dark blue Sasuke appeared next to them. "Neji! Is that Kiba?"

Kiba charged past Sasuke at Neji, head butting him and knocking his body back by the stomach into one of the steel girders fences them in. "Yeah." Neji grunted in pain as Kiba started slashing at him furiously with his claws. Sasuke ran forward to help, but Neji stopped him "No! Don't hurt him."

"But he's--"

"I said no!" Neji reached upward and grabbed Kiba's arms, then stepping forward, placing one foot behind his legs and tripping him. The werewolf fell to the ground and Neji jumped on top of him. "Kiba It's me, you have to try to remember." Neji said desperately, Kiba reached upward with another growl, grabbing Neji by his neck and throwing him past Sasuke across the roof.

Sasuke watched hesitantly but ready, still feeling uneasy about this, but that couldn't be helped.

Kiba jumped upward in a distortion of gray fur and landed in front of Neji, grabbing him by the neck again and lifting him up in to the air. Neji grabbed on to Kiba's wrist and tried to pry his hands off, but he was too strong "Kiba..." His voiced was strand due to the suffocation "Stop...It's me...you can't forget me...not after everything...you can't forget...try...you have to try!"

Kiba tilted his head back with an earth shaking roar, and drew his claws back, about to attack until Akamaru landed on his head out of nowhere, barking happily. Kiba flicked the dog off of him with one shake of his head, Akamaru landed on Neji's head, growling angrily. "..." Kiba hesitated.

"You remember don't you..." Neji struggled to hold his breath and refrained from fighting him, holding Kiba's arm tightly while he reached his other out hopefully. He laid his hand on Kiba's cheek softly. "I know you couldn't forget me that easily..."

Kiba stared at him with fangs baring, intense and unmoving...Kiba let go of Neji, clinching his head tightly with his claws and falling to his knees with a loud howl.

"Is it over?" Sasuke asked, still on guard and ready to attack.

Neji, panting light, placed his hand on Kiba's head and rubbed him in an a forgiving almost consoling manner, at first still uneasy and tense. "Arf!" Neji glanced up at Akamaru who was still resting on top of his head, the small dog quickly sprang off of him and towards Kiba, and some how Kiba had the presence of mind to catch him. "Arf!" Akamaru looked up evenly at the werewolf, still recognizing Kiba's sent and feeling unfazed by this knew form.

Kiba starred down at him, almost as if confused, then with a sadden expression...tears seeped out as he closed his eyes tightly and he wined depressingly. Which seemed to make Akamaru a little sad, and the small dog instinctively looked up toward Neji. "It wasn't your fault." Neji patted him on the back softly. "It's over now."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Next time, I'm not falling asleep." Naruto said, laying lazily near the edge of the roof with his feet hanging over the edge and his eyes toward the equinox sky. The east side still covered in darkness and dimming stars while the west glowed with the first ray of the coming sunrise.

Needless to say, everyone was wide awake now.

Iruka sat casually in the open stairs leading up to this level, a cup of coffee in hand. "So is he going to change back?"

"Yes." Neji was sitting with his back against one of the steel beams and a sleeping wolf laying beside him in a ball. Neji couldn't help but notice how even in this form that Kiba still had his usual sleeping expression on. "When the sunrises."

"We're going to go through this every time there's a full moon?" Sasuke asked in an annoyed tone, watching Konohamaru practicing in front of him.

"I doubt it, he remembered us, so he should next time."

"Dose there really have to be a next time?" Kakashi asked, perched a top a steel beam with his usual book in hand "Can't you try the seal again?"

"Maybe, but chances are it won't work." Neji paused to thing "But then again I'm not that good with demon sealing. They are so precise that one mistake could be the difference between halting mutations and stopping his heart."

The moon finally drifted bellow it's boundaries just as the top of the sun made it's way over the horizon. Kiba began to shrink, and his fur began to retract, along with the fangs that reverted back to there previous state as well as his claws. His face regained it's normal human complexion, still retaining that same sleepy expression. His mouth opened and closed slightly making the much smaller fangs visible with each breath, his chest rising and falling in a repeating pattern, everything seemed normal except for the furry, gray ears and tail that shifted and twitched lightly.

"That was really weird." Naruto said, his head tilted back just far enough to see what had just happened.