"Naruto-kun? Are you alright?"

Naruto snapped out of it, glancing to see Hinata's concerned gaze.

He gave a wry smile, "I'm fine, just a rough sleep." partly true, the reason for his quiet attitude was because he had a horrible night's sleep.

Not to mention they were stranded in the middle of kami-knows-where with no supplies... that could have contributed to his reason of silence.

It had been... a nightmare actually; Sasuke's chidori... and the anthro tearing out his jugular were also parts in his dream.

He shook his head, 'Maa maa... stay focused, all that matters now is finding the nearest town.' This gloomy attitude wasn't like him, and he could tell Hinata had taken note of it as well.

Her anxious behavior whenever Naruto glanced her way, he could see how she even held her breath, eyes still, the small nature of her biting her bottom lip in nervousness.

Did his brooding... scare her? Then again he never really brood before; shame on him for making Hinata feel uncomfortable.

Naruto grinned, "Ne Hinata? When we find a town, we should find the nearest food place so we can eat, I'm starving!"

She looked at him in surprise, completely caught off guard by the sudden change in personality.

She smiled reluctantly, "Demo- Naruto-kun, we don't have any money... and we need new clothes."

Naruto paused to consider, then looked down at his current attire, as if reminding herself just then, Hinata looked at herself as well.

Simultaneously they blushed, "Yeah, getting new clothes should be the first thing to do." He agreed, their current clothing was, suffice to say, horrible.

Or in Hinata's case, extremely revealing.

"We'd need to get money first though." Hinata muttered, the two continued to jump branch to branch. As soon as they woke up that morning they had set off to find civilization, an hour into the travel and still no progress it seemed.

Naruto chuckled, "Well we are ninja." He hinted.

Hinata raised a brow, and then caught on to his hint, but stealing money was always risky.

Never mind all that, "We need to find out where we are first, see if we're in enemy territory, and then we can head back to the village. Also have to report the encounter with the anthro to Tsunade-sama." Hinata explained.

"Yeah, she'd wanna hear about it." Naruto nodded, "I mean did you see how fast the feline moved?"

Hinata nodded timidly, still, what exactly was she? Where were they? And more importantly, what were they going to do when they got back to Konoha?

The image of her was still fresh in the boy's mind, he couldn't help but blush, the figure of the feline, how her body responded to such slight movements...

-Jiggle jiggle -

Naruto blinked, staring at nothing for a moment, realizing exactly what he was thinking about.

He lowered his head, 'Now's not the time, I shouldn't even be thinking about that.' he sighed, he couldn't help it, already heat was filling his face.

That was the first time, in all his life, that he... had actually seen a woman naked, completely exposed.

Sure he had his moments of peeking into the bathhouses, but the steam, and also the girls lower bodies were in the bath's water.

His Oiroke no Jutsu was only based on what he had seen in books, he had never seen a woman, clear and up close- er... from a magazine yes, but still did that count?

What he had seen.

Naruto glanced to Hinata, apparently in her own world of thoughts; his eyes observed... shifted up and down, such little clothing, it almost left nothing to the imagination.

His lips creased in shame, and forced himself to look away. Shaking his head he narrowed his eyes, No! He could do this, all he had to do was stay focused.

*Swwssh*

Naruto's ear twitched, his body tensed, almost immediately he stopped on the next branch, he quickly scanned the tree's.

Something was following them, his eyes widened, the bare lower body of a furred female, going to hide behind the leaves of a tree twenty yards away, was it another anthro?

Hinata was still enveloped in her thoughts; in fact she hadn't even noticed Naruto stop ahead of her, blind to the world she continued to think. It wasn't until it was too late she saw that Naruto had stopped.

"Hey Hinata, did you hear th-Grrah!" suddenly cut off!

Her body crashed into his- "Awah!" the two of them landed on another five feet down Naruto landing on his back with Hinata on top- "Dah!"

.

.

.

*Groan*

"Ahh- It-ta-ta-ta..." Naruto groaned.

"Mnn- Ooww." Hinata whimpered, as she rubbed her head, "I-I'm sorry-... Naruto-kun." She apologized, eyes closed at the pain.

Naruto wheezed, "It's fine Hinata~" struggling to get air back into his lungs.

He creaked open his left eye, before it widened, his face frozen at how close her face was to his.

Quickly Hinata snapped out of it, slowly lifting her head she came face to face with Naruto's less than a centimeter away, both of their eyes wide in silent shock as their faces grew more and more red.

Hinata stuttered, "N-Naruto-kun... I-I-I never meant to-" She blabbered as Naruto kept staring at her with a large embarrassed blush.

She pushed up into a sitting position her legs contacting the wood below on each side of Naruto's waist looking as if she was straddling him, her hands on his chest to maintain balance.

She looked down - He looked up.

Hinata felt her body tingle at her position. Naruto's tense body supported her fragile form, and fortunately or unfortunately, Naruto had realized exactly how thin Hinata's fabric was within her short... short shorts. Her bare thighs at his sides, her soft bottom resting on his stomach...

'Oh my... Naruto-kun...!' she thought to herself as Naruto continued to stare at her with wide eyes and a blush frozen in place, her face filled with blood and things began to get dizzy before her eyes rolled to the top of her head, falling back down onto Naruto's chest.

"Eh! Hinata? Hinata are you okay?" Naruto questioned finally waking up from his shocked state, shaking his head to get rid of his blush.

'She must have been thinking of something pretty important in order to run into me like that.' Naruto scratched his cheek in embarrassment, perhaps it was his own fault that this happened it probably would have been better if he had warned her first.

Narrowing his eyes at what he was originally concerned about, he hurriedly and combed the area with his eyes... nothing, not even a sound, had he imagined it? Or did the supposed anthro mystery animal flee?

Coming to he realized Hinata was still on him, making sure to pick her up gently he continued his travel in silence, both at the mysterious threat, and at how light Hinata felt on top of him, 'That... didn't sound right.' Naruto blushed, and hurriedly shook his head, 'Damn it, what's wrong with me, this isn't like me at all.'

ARC I

Her body shot up- She was!... was?

Hinata looked around in confusion and panic, and then squeaked in shock. Having felt someone put her down, she woke up almost immediately to Naruto's surprised face.

"... What happened?"

The last thing she remembered, 'Me and Naruto-kun were...' Hinata couldn't finish her thoughts; her face began to become scarlet.

Naruto sighed with relief, "I was beginning to get worried."

Hinata stared at him, why was he whispering? "Naruto-kun wha-"

Naruto gently pushed a finger to his lips for silence. Then beckoned her up the grass hill, "Come check this out." Naruto whispered moving away, his other hand motioning her to follow. Crawling up the grass hill he laid on his stomach and looked over then looked back and motioned her to hurry.

Nervously she crawled on her stomach next to her blond friend. Peeking down the hill, there spied a small river not too far away.

Hinata froze.

It was what was splashing around in that river that made her nearly squeak.

Bathing in the river were more... anthro's that resembled human, while they were mostly human in appearance, what really disturbed her was the light down of fur on their skin, which seemed to be thicker around what looked like rabbit-like hands and feet, small whiskers was on their face, as well as long rabbit ears instead of normal ears. Their legs were muscular and well defined, finishing with a slight rabbit-like muzzle, they looked like eighteen year old girls from the normal far away eye.

She kept herself in check from not startling the... bunnies' bath, or at least they resembled a bunny as far as she could tell. Her eyes widened, a blush quickly taking place at the sight of nudity. The creatures appeared to be naked like that feline anthro.

There were five of them, tall, toned and blessed anthro rabbit females; the two watched as they giggled, and splashed each other in the river. Silently, and quickly she glanced down to her own chest before looking back to the frolicking creatures.

They jumped around which made their large breasts jiggle... And now Hinata was blushing.

Almost reluctantly, she bit her bottom lip and glanced to see Naruto's reaction, 'He's... smiling?' technically not smiling, more like in awe.

She looked down at them, their cute muzzled faces, light girlish voices, and innocent chocolate brown eyes as they giggled and played; Hinata couldn't help but elicit a giggle, "They look so cute." Hinata whispered.

Naruto blushed, "Y-yeah," He muttered, "Can you believe this?" he asked incredulously.

Hinata glanced to him, and then back to the family of bunnies, "... No." the reality came to her... she just couldn't freaking believe it.

Where were they?

Ambushing such cute and innocent creatures should have been a crime in itself, but as with any curious beings, they wanted a closer look. Hinata watched idly by hiding her little giggles as Naruto dived and tackled in an attempt to catch one.

Four of them had scurried away, with their leg strength they were out of sight within seconds.

Although the fifth one was struggling, writhing and crying as Naruto held her in his grip from behind.

Hinata bounded over and gathered her chakra, and with a tap on the creature's forehead, not a second later had her struggling ceased, now looking extremely tired she slumped in Naruto's arms. His clothes were now soaked from her wet furred body.

His face was red and Hinata wasn't any better, she could see the creature's assets freely bounce in the out and open, its nipples perked while her eyes didn't dare drift any lower.

Naruto sighed finally, and then looked up to see Hinata staring at him and the anthro.

Quickly dropping her body lest Hinata might get mad at him, Hinata winced as the female dropped with an audible thud.

"… Heheh… Sorry" He laughed awkwardly.

They paused, and then stared at the almost lifeless anthro bunny.

Her figure was perfectly shaped, nice toned legs, muscled thighs, her fur was glistening due to the water, and with the sun it made her shine. She now breathed steadily, the small movements in her chest caused her assets to jiggle just so-

Naruto palmed his red face, "I can't take this! This is so wrong!" he yelled frustrated. This was the second one, nude, and this one had an unsavory amount of cuteness!

Hinata squeaked, "Y-you were looking?" red-faced as she looked at Naruto.

"I didn't mean to! She's naked!" He turned away and began to walk, pounding the top of his head as he paced back and forth, "Grrrgh! Animals aren't supposed to look like this!" He vented.

There was only so much a thirteen year old could take, a defenseless naked luscious female laid just a few feet away from him; not to mention just moments ago there were four other equally astounding females bouncing around naked in the river before his very eyes.

Hinata stared speechlessly at the embarrassed blond teen pace back and forth, finally she bit her bottom lip nervously, "A-ano, Naruto-kun!" She tried to call, only to go unanswered as Naruto continued to grumble.

Shutting her eyes, she looked at the ground and found her voice, "Naruto!" She shouted, a sudden backbone developing.

Naruto stopped mid-step, "Huh-Hinata...?" turning to see an angry pout on the shy Hyuuga glaring at him.

Her eyes shut again, "Stop being p-perverted Naruto!" She ordered, her whole face was in a blush as she tried to keep it together, "P-please get over here!" pointing at the spot in front of her.

Naruto stared at her, then a look of shame and nervousness overcame him, he lowered his head, "I know that... but." A nude female anthro was the least of their problems, "R-right." Naruto shook his head of the distraction.

"There are more important things we need to worry about." She finished sternly.

Naruto slowly nodded, scratching the back of his head as he slowly trudged back toward her, "Sorry Hinata." He didn't mean to lose control of himself like that.

Hinata nodded shyly, "I-it's okay," She replied, and cleared her throat, "What is she?" Hinata mumbled softly tapping her index fingers together nervously; Naruto acting like he hadn't heard her, he stared at anything but the exposed female.

Hinata saw him looking away, and snapped again, "Naruto! She's naked, that's not going to change anything." She cut in more annoyed than anything else; his reluctance only showed how much he was looking, and him doing that right in front of her left her irritated. Trying to get over it already, she tried to calm the heat in her cheeks, 'What's gotten into me?' Hinata thought, having just noticed how... strong-willed-ish? She's been at the moment.

"Well, even if you say that..." Naruto mumbled, glancing down to the bunny-girl. Hinata calmed down shaking away the blush.

"Naruto-kun, this is serious." Hinata replied quietly, Naruto struggled to find his resolve; he nodded stonily, "Alright." He replied.

"I've... Never seen anything like this... er- her." He muttered making sure not to stare at her for too long, Hinata put her hands together, and with a command, veins sported beside her eyes.

"Similar to the feline anthro, this one's bone structure is crossed with a rabbit and a human." She evaluated, canceling the jutsu, "That's strange." She muttered.

"What does this mean?" Naruto asked with a raised brow as he crossed his arms.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure."

Naruto grunted, scratching the back of his head, "Damn it! I just know that this type of stuff isn't normal."

"Why do you say that?" Hinata asked truly curious.

"The way the feline thing back there attacked, surely a shinobi would have tried capturing these animals and using them as weapons, as far as I know... we might have discovered some sort of new species or something." He replied seriously, surely these things would have been used as weapons had people known about them.

Hinata stared at the unconscious thing in all of its glorious beauty. Her muscles were visible underneath the thin coat of fur, yet she maintained a figure many kunoichi would dream of.

"What do you think it is?" Hinata asked.

Naruto's expression hardened, "It looks like some... animal... human... thing, I don't know? That last animal resembled a cat and now this one resembles a rabbit, I think it's like this with every other animal around here." Naruto replied shrugging his shoulders.

'Could all the animals around here be like this? Are they animal, or human? Or… something entirely different?' She asked herself.

"You think we should take it with us?" Naruto threw out, Hinata looked up in surprise.

"T-take her?"

"Yeah. You saw how fast the other one was, maybe we could train her or something, or at least once we find Konoha we can tell Tsunade about this right?" Naruto justified.

Hinata pressed her fingers together as she looked down at the ground, "I suppose..." she mumbled.

Silence settled between the two, Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, and Hinata continued to play a game with her fingers.

*Ah-choo!* the unconscious bunny sneezed.

Naruto and Hinata blushed at how adorable she looked curled up like she was.

Coughing into his hand, Naruto averted his gaze, looking into the sky, "I guess we should get going, I'll carry her-"

"I'll carry her!" Hinata blurted out suddenly causing Naruto to take a step back with a stumped expression.

"Uh, alright." Naruto agreed, Hinata nervously heaving the bunny over her shoulder and to her displeasure revealed the bunny's womanly parts to the world right beside her face. Her face blushed scarlet before she decided carrying her like that was not such a good idea, settling for carrying her bridal style.

'Why-... are all these females naked?' she shyly pondered.

It hadn't been a long travel but then again did traveling for three hours count as long, it didn't matter right now, what did matter was restraining Bunny when she woke up. Hinata had gotten tired of calling it 'it or her' or 'creature and Anthro'.

She didn't know her name so she had just settled for calling her Bunny, Naruto seemed okay with it.

They had found some vines curling around some trees which they used as rope to restrain her hands and legs from fleeing or attacking them and sat her against a tree.

Hinata idly wondered to herself what Bunny could do when she just looked so adorable and cuddly, it seemed hard to believe that she could even be capable of violence, but then again she didn't think that feline would have attacked the way it did.

They had set up what camp they had, in a small clearing surrounded by trees and decided to rest for today.

Hinata knowing full well that Bunny's unconsciousness was going to wear off in the next few minutes or so, decided to watch over Bunny; while Naruto left to catch fruit and vegetables, and a small fill of water.

She could hear his footsteps as he returned.

"Is she still out?" He asked.

"She'll be waking up soon." She replied.

Stopping her thoughts she looked away from the dreaming female anthropic, and sighed.

Hinata tapped her forefinger on her forehead, 'What's the matter with me? I'm feeling kind of strange.' she asked herself, she never felt this way when Naruto was with Sakura. Then again Naruto didn't see Sakura naked... now he's already seen two naked females; part animal, but female nonetheless.

Glancing to Naruto he had his back turned, going over the food and water he had gathered for them tonight.

Curiously she looked to her arm, the one the feline anthro had clawed, now wrapped in bloodied orange cloth. Ever since last night she hadn't felt pain since, quietly she unwrapped the cloth.

Her eyes shot open, 'What?'

Her arm! Turning it over, then back around Hinata couldn't find any trace of the wound. It was all healed… just in one night? 'That's... never happened to me before.'

The four deep claw marks that had been engraved in her arm only yesterday, bleeding and stinging with pain all night... Hinata tilted her head.

She glanced at Naruto, then back to her arm.

- She looked at Naruto's shoulder, the very same that had been ripped open and bleeding profusely, now completely unscathed, but still covered in blood... -

Hinata blinked, as she observed her arm, "That's... weird." She whispered, with a quiet command her vision turned grey and she could see into her arm... her chakra network completely normal now... only, her chakra coils were larger.

'What? When did that-...'

She stopped herself, watching as her chakra flow was now at least twice as fast, there was more chakra activity than there used to be.

"Hey she's waking up!" Naruto warned appearing by Hinata's side causing her to squeak, her veins disappeared.

True to Naruto's words it seemed Bunny was beginning to twist. Hinata's breath hitched, hopefully the vines would be able to contain her even if they were thick she had her doubts.

Bunny twisted for a moment before shooting up realizing that she was unable to stretch her limbs.

Naruto and Hinata took a cautious step back as Bunny turned to look at her bound feet and hands in confusion.

She sensed movement ahead of her; she looked up to find Naruto and Hinata. Staying as still and calm as possible the three all stayed quiet each taking in the opposite's features.

Realization seemed to dawn on the anthro as she tried to struggle, falling onto its back it tried to free its hands making little whines and whimpers in frustration. Naruto and Hinata were quick to act before bunny realized she could probably break the ropes.

"Hey, hey calm down! We're not going to hurt you!" Naruto reassured, not knowing whether or not she understood them or not.

She ignored them at first, but Hinata ushered in, "It's okay."

Bunny stopped struggling staring at the two cautiously.

Naruto slowly approached the girl as Bunny remained still.

"Think she can understand us?" Hinata whispered.

Naruto looked at her, then back to Bunny, "Listen... we're friends, understand friends? I'll even let you go!" He grinned nervously, waving his hands non-threateningly.

"N-Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered not sure that it was a good idea.

Bunny flinched when Naruto took a step, but kept still on his second, and as he got onto his knees to slowly bend down to undo the vines, Hinata could see the anthro begin to relax and no longer tense up.

The moment her feet were free Naruto was flying upwards. Quickly she leaned onto her hands that was tied behind her back and brought her feet straight up into his jaw launching him off the ground. Quickly she rolled forward and brought her legs out into Hinata's abdomen shooting her backwards.

Bunny then swiftly jumped onto her feet and jumped away with amazing speed, before either of them could register what had happened.

Hinata crashed into a tree across the clearing forcing her to gasp, her body crumpling to the ground limp, three seconds later Naruto finally came back down, landing with an audible thud.

"Gah!" Naruto groaned as he held his jaw in pain Hinata doing the same with her stomach, Naruto barely being able to voice out.

"Kuso! Maybe... that wasn't *Cough* the best thing to do." Naruto rolled back and forth on the ground, that bunny had some serious leg strength although he should have expected as much since like any other rabbit, she probably used her legs a lot.

"Yeah..." Hinata softly groaned, she crawled over to Naruto to where her face was about two feet above his, she couldn't help but give a glare at him for him being that dense and reckless. He should have known bunny would have done that, she was madder at him for the fact that he made such a rash choice than the current pain that followed.

"What were you thinking Naruto!" Hinata tried to yell but just came out as a loud squeak, still trying to get air back into her lungs, her glare looking more like a pout than a glare.

Naruto stared at her... Then burst out laughing catching Hinata completely off guard, Naruto held his sides as he laughed louder.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata hoarsely squeaked in confusion.

Xx

xX

- She could see it, Konoha!

Hinata and Naruto stopped and stared in shock, before Hinata's face brightened in joy, "We made it back!" She rejoiced and glanced to Naruto, "Come on, we have so much to tell Tsunade!" She began running.

Everything was black, only Konoha in front of her, she couldn't wait to see all her friends, her sensei, her family.

But something felt wrong, Hinata stopped halfway to the gates and turned back to Naruto in confusion to see if he was still following. Instead he stood there, his hair covered his eyes as he remained silent, and something else... waving red chakra, like the one before, waved back and forth behind him.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Konoha was on her left and Naruto on her right, "N-Naruto-kun what's wrong?" She looked back home and then back to Naruto, the chakra loomed over him and created a strange atmosphere.

"Please... Naruto-kun let's go home." She pleaded.

Naruto looked up, and despite the somewhat evil atmosphere looming over him, his eyes told a different story.

"Naruto?" She asked, taking a step toward him, he took a step back... in fright?

She looked at herself; Naked, surrounded by darkness Naruto looked as if he was getting farther and further away. Hinata's eyes widened, looking back, Konoha grew smaller and smaller as well.

She looked back and forth, then sprinted after Naruto, "Naruto-kun!... Naruto don't leave me!" She cried out, but she couldn't reach him, she couldn't reach anything... she was alone, and on her own, tears welled up in her eyes.

The sound of growling reached her ears.

Hinata froze, and slowly turned around. She screamed at the sight of the feline anthro standing before her. -

"Ah!" Hinata gasped as she sat up.

Eyes wide, sweat ran down the side of her head as she breathed hard. It took time to calm her heart, and even more to realize that it had been another nightmare, the third one since they got here in fact... this was the third night she spent in this forest.

She looked around, and struggled to slow her breathing, and at the sight of Naruto sleeping soundly by the fire a few yards away, she realized it was still night, perhaps one in the morning.

Leaning forward she looked at her hands, trembling; Hinata looked at herself and saw that she was still covered in skimpy rags, 'What's wrong with me, why am I having nightmares?' She wondered.

She had nightmares before yes, but usually it involved having the crap beat out of her or something to do with her family or sometimes on missions, being killed. These last three were... different, her nightmares never had her naked before, never involved Naruto.

Glancing to Naruto's sleeping figure near the fire, a minute of silence passed as she listened to the steady rhythm of his breathing, occasional grunt and a murmur of ramen, Hinata smiled at him, "At least one of us is able to dream about something pleasant." she sighed.

The night air was cold, yet humid, they had camped out on the summit of a grass hill that night. Hinata remained upright, letting the last of the chilling dream leave her body. What did these nightmares mean though she wondered?

Kurenai-sensei had once told her that dreams were sometimes composed of what the brain was usually concentrated on when awake, so what did that mean for her? That she wanted to go home, she couldn't forget Naruto and his strange red chakra, and these weird anthro women?

Then again those three aspects plagued her mind non-stop recently, but why did it affect her dreams?

Her first nightmare wasn't so much a nightmare as it was just… frightening, it involved her and Naruto together, doing intimate things... in a pond of blood. As for her second nightmare, she was bleeding and injured, Naruto much the same, but together, red chakra, and some other. Just like that they were healed, but at the price of something else.

Hinata remembered herself in that dream, grinning with oddly elongated fangs, long nails and a bloodthirst she couldn't control; and then there was Naruto with red eyes, fangs, mangy hair.

That second dream, Hinata looked down at her arm, the one that had been torn open and bleeding two days before, it had healed faster than any injury she'd ever had; she remembered that it stung and it burned for some unknown reason, but after the hours passed she had forgotten all about it.

- In slight confusion Naruto scratched his head, "I guess... the wound wasn't that deep." But even as he said it he continued to do a double take. Hinata stared at the gashes in her arm, they were thinner, and now weren't so deep, Hinata and Naruto both looked at the other. -

Hinata flexed her arm, ran her fingers down her forearm where the gashes were and felt nothing, saw nothing. That second dream, Naruto and her together, red chakra and some other, then suddenly their horrible injuries were healed.

The even stranger part, that disturbing thought in the back of her mind that found herself curious about that first dream? Naruto and her together. Hinata glanced at the blond in question out of the corner of her eye; they were all alone out here and no ally for miles...

Hinata lowered her head; indulging in a thought or two… her cheeks began to heat up.

Naruto was such a heavy sleeper; her body tingled with an unknown desire to seize this small opening.

*Blink?*

Hinata shook her head, 'No!'

She couldn't even dare, horrified at the thought, 'How could I even think such a thing?' That wasn't like her. Yes she had feelings for Naruto, maybe even an infatuation, but intimate relations had never once crossed her mind in the past. She usually imagined them at a pick-nick, or at his favorite eating establishment, flirting and so on.

'Being intimate...' She thought, lowering her head her face heated up, 'What's wrong with me?' she whimpered, thoughts of Naruto, how his clothing was reduced to rags and her same; the idea was planted in her head.

She looked back to Naruto for the fourth time that night and silently wondered, did he think about her and him doing that kind of thing? He looked at those female bunny anthros' with their gorgeous figures. So what were the chances of him looking at her? The rags she sported now didn't hide much; her lower garments could almost be considered a thong.

Hinata groaned to her, pushing her hands to her head she brought her knees to her chest, hugged them and rested her head.

"I just wanna go home." She whimpered, her abused mind couldn't take all of this, the recent dreams of death and darkness, the perverted thoughts brewing in her head, and these weird creatures were bringing her to the edge.

Hinata stayed there silently wishing to go home for the next few minutes, before she raised her head and rested her chin on her knees to look up at the stars, 'What are all of our friends doing?' Hinata prayed that they all had survived the mission; she barely came out of that alive.

Were the rest all together again? She had never actually spoken to Sasuke, heck she hardly knew what he looked like, she didn't really pay that much attention to him, but she knew that Naruto considered him his brother, and so for that she hoped Sasuke was also safe.

What were Kurenai, Kiba, Shino and Akamaru doing? She hoped they weren't sad, if Kurenai was in her place she'd know exactly what to do, Hinata lowered her head, 'Even Sakura-san would probably do better in this situation than me. She wouldn't be thinking about such useless things.'

What of Konoha? Were they still bustling with activity, still lively and as friendly as she remembered? Sure she had been out on missions longer than three days, but these past three days did not go at all with protocol, neither did she have her gear or even her mentor by her side to guide her through this.

Hinata blinked small tears away, rubbing at her eyes in restlessness, she hadn't had a decent good night's sleep since they got here, constantly hungry, paranoid of anthro's, and the tension between her and Naruto was unbearable. As each day went by she could feel herself growing irritated, more on edge from the lack of sleep and food.

She looked up at the crescent moon in the sky and imagined herself having a nice peaceful soothing soak in the hot springs. She was dirty, bloody, sweaty, tired and sore; the mere thought of hot water was like a desired dream. She wanted to wash her hair of all the sweat and grime and soak her troubles away.

After having a nice soak and wash, she imagined pigging out at a meat restaurant. She wasn't a meat kind of person, and while she had her share of meat before when her team went to those restaurants, right now she had never had such an intense craving for meat before in her entire life, she wanted steak, pork and especially beef.

Hinata swallowed her saliva; on the side would be a nice set of creamy sugary cinnamon rolls, and a nice warm cup of green tea to top it off-

~Grumble~

Hinata looked down, tears might as well of welled up in her eyes right then, she bit her bottom lip and curled her fists.

"... Kuso..." She whimpered.

Xx

xX

Another day of travel, another day of fruits for breakfast and dinner, at this rate they were going to run low on energy. Their clothing added with the weather, while warm out, they were bound to catch a cold sooner or later.

When they could no longer muster up the energy to travel they decided to sleep up in one of the large tree's, using the large log-like branches to sprawl themselves out, Naruto left a clone to keep watch that night.

It bobbed its head; the Naruto clone opened his eyes wide again to try and wake himself up, but try as he might it ended in futility as his eyes slowly closed and his head nodded off begging for sleep.

He'd been like this for the past hour, keeping watch for four hours now he was sure it was nearly two in the morning, 'Just want to poof away.' he was tempted, but if he did that and the boss ended up getting eaten then technically he'd also die.

But still as time passed his vision was gradually beginning to blur more and more, the clone nodded again, this time his eyes shut tight and he yawned, 'Maybe a small five minute nap.' He persuaded-

~Rustle, rustle~

The clone's head snapped up, wide awake now, hearing the rustling of leaves he looked ahead, but spied only darkness, to the right but there was no change, then to the left.

Naruto paused, and then turned around… coming to the sight of large brown eyes staring at him.

Maybe the clone was too tired to care, or maybe he was dreaming, but he stared back at it, then he squinted in recognition, "… You're one of those-..." he mumbled.

It was crouched on a branch just a few feet from him, perched, silent and intimidating, large sensual breasts complimented her furry frame, delicate, curious, perfectly curved, brown curious female eyes stared at him, she crawled closer and the clone found himself in awe of her behavior.

She raised her thin prehensile tail and touched his cheek experimentally.

The clone blinked, blushing as his eyes drifted to the area between her legs, shaded with brown fur and darkness of night.

He remembered, she was the one following them? He was pretty sure he had saw her scurry away two days ago when him and Hinata were traveling tree to tree, just before Hinata ran into him.

The clone's cheek turned red, she looked so unashamed, maybe even purposefully displaying her assets, and did she widen her legs? She-It... The creature smiled, her tail played with his hair and he found himself chuckling.

"Heheh…" An exhausted grin couldn't help but sprout at the slight tickling behind his ear.

He glanced to the original Naruto and Hinata sleeping on the branches to the side. The clone looked back to the anthro and she looked at him intensely as she drew her tail back, and he stared back curiously, "How? You look just like a girl?" He murmured scratching his cheek with his finger.

She tilted her head.

"You're kinda… cute." He mumbled tiredly.

Hinata groaned as she tossed over to the bed of leaves to get more comfortable.

With that sound the anthro looked back at her, then to the clone before she proceeded to hop off the branch and onto another.

The Naruto clone blinked, "Huh? Hey, where you going?" it wasn't long before she disappeared into the dark leaving Naruto to stare in amazement, "Whoa."

Shaking himself out of it he rubbed the side of his head, "Damn... so tired." he muttered, "If I wake boss up, he can create a new clone." he guessed, he pushed on the boss's shoulders.

He grumbled and blearily creaked open his eyes, "Huh? What do ya want?" he yawned.

"I'm too tired boss, I'm seeing things, you should create a new clone before I go." he explained apologetically as he rubbed his eyes.

The original stretched his limbs, trying to wake up, he looked around and waited a minute to adjust to the night, "Eh? ~Yawn~... Forget it, I got it." he waved off, now up.

"Suit yourself boss." Then he dispersed.

"Erm..." Naruto groaned in confusion, a small headache formed, he imagined he was seeing stuff, an image of a voluptuous primate anthromorph flashed through his head for a second before fading.

He must've still been sleepy; shaking his head he sat on a branch and let his legs dangle as he yawned again. It didn't matter, he wasn't having much of a good dream anyway, all of his dreams were usually cut short by either waking up in the middle of the night, or like just now, having a dream about... the mission.

Naruto narrowed his eyes; the flashing memory of the Uchiha-teme, Naruto looked down at the ground sixty feet below.

"Sasuke." He growled, a small bubble of anger, before it popped at the knowing result that he... had failed.

His dream wasn't heroic, he didn't beat Sasuke and keep Sakura's promise, he didn't reunite Team 7 and Kakashi would know that. In his dream, it was worse than reality; Sasuke was seen in the clutches of that damn snake bastard.

The rage fell away, replaced by sadness at the predicament it landed him in, 'What is he doing now I wonder? What does Sakura and Kakashi think of me because I couldn't keep my promise?' Despite how he acted for the past four days, he couldn't stop thinking about that mission, about Team 7 and how he failed everyone, his comrades and friends, his team, his sensei.

Naruto looked over to Hinata's sleeping form, 'And now because of me, I dragged Hinata into this.' He thought. Why did he have to do it? What was Sasuke's goal and why was it so important?

Because of it his team was left in shambles, he had tried to kill him that was for sure. Part of him wanted to get back home as soon as possible, but the other part of him wanted to find Sasuke first, he didn't want to meet Kakashi and Sakura's gazes without him.

He didn't want to go to his friends that helped on the mission and tell them that he had failed and Sasuke got away, he just couldn't. In the back of his mind he hoped that another one of his friends recovered, or an ally came to help them and found Sasuke and managed to take him in, but the chances of that weren't even considerable.

He hadn't managed to keep his promise like he told Sakura, but it was a promise of a lifetime he told her, and he wasn't planning on giving up anytime soon. If Sasuke had managed to get away, then he'd find him and he'd drag him home.

But still, the look of pure malicious evil in Sasuke's Sharingan eyes, his second cursed form glaring at him, he was incredibly strong and he ended up with a hole in his chest twice because of it.

Not to mention his left arm was still not completely right since then, most of it healed, but the small tingling feeling still remained.

Shaking his head Naruto returned to reality, he was getting too deep into this again, and right now that was the last thing he needed.

Taking a deep breath Naruto sighed.

Again he turned to look at Hinata, she looked so peaceful and fragile, and right then he simply had to wonder, 'Hinata... why'd you try to save me?'

When he and Sasuke brought out their strongest Jutsu's to a clash, he remembered how she jumped in to save him.

She knew that was dangerous and still she tried to save him, Naruto felt horrible for bringing her into this mess, for bringing her to where ever they were. He listened to the silent whispers of her breathing inhale and exhale.

"I'm sorry for getting you into this mess." he apologized, what must her family be feeling right now? She almost died, and she would have been eaten if Naruto hadn't come when he did.

He drifted to her clothing; it could hardly even be called such. Hinata murmured something in her sleep before turning, hiking up her left leg and bringing her arms close to her chest.

Naruto blushed, watching as she turned away from him, hiking up her top leg her... shorts thinned, Naruto's cheeks reddened as he turned away quickly, berating himself for looking at her behind.

Naruto blinked, and then rubbed his head, the sight of the voluptuous naked anthro again, he shook his head, 'Stop it, just concentrate on getting back home, and don't look at Hinata like that!' He berated.

His stomach ached; voicing its wants for food Naruto cradled his stomach with a frown, "Man what I'd give for a bowl of Teuchi's Ramen right now." He daydreamed. He looked around, four days they've been stranded in this forest.

Naruto groaned as his stomach did the same, "I miss Konoha." right at the moment; it was only for the ramen. He hadn't had a good meal in days, he was starving and sick of fruits and vegetables, and he was quickly growing agitated with each damn noise he heard in this forest.

Naruto leaned forward and rested his head into his hands, "... Great." He sighed.

Xx

xX

"No, that wouldn't work." Hinata rejected, yet another option shot down.

Naruto was beginning to become irritated... no it was official, he was frustrated. Five days, five fucking days they've been heading in the same direction and the wilderness had yet to take a turn for the better, mountains still littered the area, tree's still blocked their vision, and they've been paranoid ever since they had first woken up in this damn forest.

Unknown creatures were here, he had only seen that feline and that family of rabbits so far, but otherwise the occasional howl to the moon, the roar at night, or the hissing in caves have led him to believe they could be eaten at any moment if they weren't careful.

They were starving and while they did manage to find fruits and vegetables every now and then, the truth remained that they only really ate once every other day. If the creatures in this forest didn't kill them, then starvation certainly would.

To make matters worse they were no closer to civilization than when they started it seemed, no city lights, no voices in the distance, no towns, villages, travelers, not a damn thing!

Naruto continued to walk, pushing large branches, bushes and thorns out of his way, Hinata following close behind, both visibly strained and exhausted.

It was hard to sleep when you were worried about being eaten alive.

Gritting his teeth he glanced at Hinata. Now that he really thought about it she wasn't really doing anything to help, she stayed behind during camp, sure she made the fires, but it was him who gathered the food, not to mention he was trying to find ways out of their predicament, all Hinata did was shoot his plans down saying it wasn't a good idea.

Naruto paused, catching himself before he got out of hand, 'Wait, what am I saying? It's not Hinata's fault, and if wasn't for her scouting for the food, and camping spots I'd be completely lost.' He reminded.

Lowering his head he berated himself, all of his lack of sleep, hunger, and anger was beginning to affect him.

Struggling to calm his growling stomach he glanced to his friend, "Hey, Hinata, you got any ideas then?" He asked.

As they came out of the forested maze and out to a clearing they continued their travel, Hinata looked tired, exhausted, her mussed up hair, ripped clothing and ragged breathing did not suit her at all.

She tried to keep a clear head, "All we can do now is keep going forward, we have nothing else to go on."

Naruto growled to himself, "Kuso! Wish we could do something more, we need to find a way to alert someone!" He muttered angrily, the sun was quickly beginning to descend.

"I know Naruto-kun."

He looked around, and then an idea came, "What if we built a signal? Like a bon fire?" he proposed.

Hinata glanced to him, "That'd attract predators and if this is enemy territory we'd be in even more danger." She replied, "Naruto-kun, there's nothing we can do right now."

Something flared in Naruto's eyes, "Well I don't see you doing anything Hinata! We could be heading away from civilization for all we know!" He snapped. Soon after he said it he froze, eyes widened as he snapped to Hinata.

Hinata was staring at him in shock, surprised at his outburst.

Naruto looked horrified as she lowered her head enough to shield her eyes, "... Hinata- I didn't mean-" He muttered.

"You're the one who wanted to go this way Naruto." She retorted, quiet, but she made sure it was loud enough for him to hear.

Naruto stopped, staring back at Hinata in shock, when did Hinata get a backbone? She looked up at him, brows narrowed as she met his gaze challengingly. Narrowing his brows he grit his teeth and glared at her but she didn't waver.

"Well you aren't helping me find a way out of this." Naruto growled, "We've been traveling for days and we haven't seen a single person yet!" He vented.

"You don't think I'm tired?" She asked, "I'm sore and exhausted too Naruto!" Raising her voice, "Your ideas are reckless, they're going to get us killed and I don't want to see you get hurt!" Hinata yelled as she said all she could, losing her resolve she paused before turning away to recollect herself.

Naruto didn't say anything, instead he stared at Hinata, his mouth ajar, and coming back to himself he realized that he'd taken out his frustration on Hinata. His ferocity vanished, his anger quickly deteriorated.

Then reached out "... H-Hinata-"

*Rrrooowwwl!*

Something cried out, followed by snarling, and it echoed through the tree's, Naruto and Hinata snapped at the noise.

"Something's over there." Naruto warned.

"Byakugan!" Hinata called out. She suddenly gasped, staring at the sight speechless.

Naruto immediately became alert, "What is it Hinata?"

"T-... Two anthro's, they're fighting thirty yards away from us." She replied weakly, and then her eyes widened, "It's being carried over here!" she finished staring at their general direction.

"Hinata, let's go, quick!" He ushered, pulling Hinata as she tripped, they quickly jumped into the bushes.

At that moment a female creature broke through a tree, and tumbled across the grass before coming to a stop.

Naruto and Hinata peered through the bushes, Hinata's Byakugan canceled; they kept silent watching as a bleeding green creature cried out. Naruto and Hinata stared in silence, the female was green, with patches of darker green around it, and a small green plant bulb was planted on its back!

It was hurt, left leg injured, chest bleeding and blood leaking from her mouth as she cried out a word that didn't make sense. She was completely naked, bare and exposed she resembled something of a plant, its chest was... large.

A hissing sound followed up, Naruto's eyes shifted before he slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent from yelling.

The upper half of her, she looked, almost perfectly human, but her eyes were yellow with a black slit going through them, sharp teeth and mangy hair, it had claws; she too had her chest exposed all naked. The lower half of her though... was the body of a snake, blood on its hands it hissed and charged at the injured anthro.

Hinata nearly jumped up, planning on doing something, obviously the serpent was going to kill the other, but Naruto grabbed her arm. The two shared a looked as Naruto shook his head carefully in worry.

Hinata's tense body rested as they turned back to the creatures. The green female's bulb opened and yellow light emanated from it. Naruto and Hinata held their breath as the dust brushed into the snake-woman's face and she froze.

"What the hell's happening...?" Naruto whispered.

The weaker of the two tried to crawl away before the snake got its senses back, grabbed her leg and dragged her back, smacked her across the face as the green creature whimpered.

It locked lips with the defenseless, saliva and blood mixed as she dominated the weaker one. The green plant female struggled and fought only to be beaten and forced into submission, something changed in the snake woman's eyes, possessive and wanting.

"What's it doing...?" Naruto muttered.

Hinata looked forward, her emotions in a jumble, unsure of what to feel, the snake one was going to...

"She's seducing it...?" Hinata whispered. As the snake woman bit into the others neck, groping her breasts roughly, Naruto and Hinata couldn't stand to see anything more; they didn't know what to make of it.

Naruto stumbled, grabbed Hinata's arm they both bolted for the tree's and ran, despite screams of pleasure and pain, they ran until night had completely taken the day, but they didn't stop all the way until the sun began to come up before their bodies could push no further and collapsed against a tree.

Xx

xX

Specks of light glared into his face…

Naruto creaked open his left eye, his mind and vision in a blur when trying to make sense of things. He raised his left hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight breaking pass the barrier of trees above.

Sitting still for a minute he blinked and adjusted to the light, then opened both eyes.

'Wha-? It's morning...?' Looking up he paused in confusion, something about that didn't seem to add up. He felt a slight pressure on his chest, and for a while he stared up at the tree's waiting for all of his brain to begin functioning.

The stress and frustration he had yesterday was gone, that'd been the most blissful rest he had since he got here, he felt rejuvenated, and back to normal… in a way. At the very least he was no longer panicked and paranoid.

He yawned, '... I guess running throughout the entire night released my frustration... and the sleep took away my stress.'

Suddenly he froze, "Wait a minute..." He muttered, he blinked, and then he remembered, after the encounter with those anthros' they had sprinted as hard as they could to get as far away from them, up until... morning, if he remembered correctly.

Naruto slowly looked up, "But then... how... is it still morning?" He whispered.

Unless… they slept the entire day and into the next!

"Mmnn..." A delicate moan interrupted.

Naruto snapped down to his chest, and suddenly realized Hinata was leaning on him, hands on his chest she huddled next to him against the tree they collapsed at yesterday morning.

"... H-Hinata..."

He murmured to himself in shock, her skimpy clothing did nothing to hide her cleavage from his perspective, and even less for body-to-body contact. His entire body shivered... in fright. If she woke up now would she get mad at him? She wasn't like Sakura, but even still.

He looked around then back to Hinata, 'What am I saying, Hinata's not like that' Grabbing her shoulders he gently shook her, "Hinata, hey Hinata wake up." He whispered.

She groaned and twisted until the feeling of her shaking and someone telling her to wake up could no longer be ignored. She yawned, and rubbed at her eye with her right hand before awakening.

Big deep blue eyes as intense as the night sky stared right at her.

"Hinata?"

A whimpering sound came from her, from embarrassment perhaps as her entire face turned red, eyes wide as she released a stuttering whimper.

Her head hit his chest, she was out.

Naruto blanched, "W-wha? Hinata!"

Hinata came too eventually and when she did she apologized, before they continued their journey in current silence on Hinata's part. Twiddling her fingers her thoughts ran a million miles per minute.

Naruto on the other hand walked with his arms behind his head, looking like he was curious, his mind apparently on other thoughts at the moment.

Hinata silently berated herself she had forgotten about what happened the evening before yesterday. She had forgotten about them because she had been marveling at three things that morning: One, she no longer felt stressed; Two, her frustration was all spent; and Three, she had slept on top of Naruto!

'I really shouldn't be thinking about such useless things...' Hinata reminded, walking quietly for a few minutes she thought about what took place two nights ago, the creatures they saw, and what they were doing which confused her even more.

They both caught the other out of the corner of their eye.

"Naru-"

"-Hinata...?"

~Silence~

"... What is it Naruto-kun?" looking over at him.

"I... was wondering about what we saw." He muttered.

Hinata mumbled, "I was thinking about that too."

"Well we both saw it," Naruto started.

"Yeah."

"And no one's here but us so no one will hear what we say." He continued.

Hinata raised a brow, "Yeah, what does that have to do with anything Naruto-kun?"

Naruto glanced at her, "Aren't you curious how they do those strange abilities?" confused by it, "I just... don't understand what's going on, I'm so confused about everything." He confessed, "What are we gonna do when we get back to Konoha?"

Hinata was surprised, but she knew what he meant, she nodded nervously, "I understand, but I don't know if they're really anthro's Naruto-kun, or maybe they are, but there's more to it."

"Whaddya mean?"

Hinata thought back to it, "That girl was a plant, and it had vines and a plant bulb on it's back." Hinata explained, "I-I just don't know what to think." She mumbled, "Why are they human like, why are they all females? We haven't seen a single male thing since we got here." She finished.

Naruto scratched his head in thought.

"That plant-girl used some strange dust to affect her." Hinata stated.

"Not to mention that one feline moved faster than the both of us," Naruto replied, "They're damn strong too," He muttered, "But I just don't get why," He paused, a blush growing on his face; Hinata taking note of it.

She tried to block the images out of her head, those two females together, naked on top of each other feeling each other up, not to mention covered in blood; and she was pretty sure the snake was trying to eat the plant girl... Hinata mentally gagged.

"Naruto are you thinking about..." She asked in suspicion.

Naruto froze, knowing what she was referring to. He saw Hinata look at him in another light, the light Jiraiya was usually seen in.

"Naruto-" She began, offended.

Naruto waved his hands, "Wait a minute! Hinata it's not like that or anything!" He defended himself.

Hinata pushed her fingers together, "But you're thinking about that." She muttered nervously, her face turning even more red.

"It's not everyday you see a snake lady try to rape a plant lady." Naruto grunted defensively.

"Don't say rape," Hinata put her hands to her head, nothing creeped her out more, naked females were one thing; she had been to her fair share of bathhouses full of nude women, but girl-on-girl was an entirely different story, and the fact that one was forcing itself on the other took the cake.

Women creatures... even if it was instinct or some other animalistic-nature induced reason, she just didn't want to think about it.

Naruto growled, "Hinata this is serious, if I hadn't come to save you in time you could've also been-"

"Don't say it!" She cut off, "It's disgusting!" She blurted, face red in embarrassment, she shook her head back and forth.

"Snap out of it Hinata!" He crossed his arms seriously, "You're the one who said to stop being perverted." He reminded.

Hinata ceased, turning to him timidly, "It's not that I'm being perverted Naruto-kun..." She mumbled, "But... all of those creatures were naked, they've even got a womanly figure..." She stopped herself, this wasn't getting them anywhere, "It's just... weird." Hinata whimpered, not knowing any other way to say it, 'It's a wonder how they reproduce if there are no males.' Now thinking about it she hoped not to find the answer anytime soon.

Her face still red, Naruto just sighed in sympathy, continuing their walk in silence again, long enough until Naruto was sure she was completely calm.

"You okay?" Naruto asked, he tried to sympathize with her, I mean how would he react if there were a bunch of naked male creatures that raped each... Naruto shivered in disgust, stopping right there, '... Maybe Hinata does feel that way.' He thought, trying to keep whatever was left in his stomach there.

"Yeah... I'm fine Naruto-kun, I'm sorry." She put her head down.

Naruto shook his head, "It's fine, now that I think about it, ever since we woke up here... we haven't seen that many actual animals." He brought up.

Hinata nodded, so far the only animal species they've seen were birds, never a deer or some other common large animal, which brought the question of what happened to the animals? Why when they first begin to see anthro's, the animals become a rarity?

Hinata's abused soul decided to blame it on the anthros, so much still didn't make sense, and Naruto had readily agreed with her.

They continued to travel for the rest of that day, they picked food on the way and stopped for rest before continuing. They talked about other things, and thankfully they hadn't ran into anymore female creatures.

But something else left them on edge, there were voices that sounded like it came from anthro's, but what they were saying didn't make a bit of since. Just a bunch of "CutiePie, CutiePie" and "Gloomy, Gloomy" here and there, other voices saying other strange things as well.

"Hinata?"

Hinata looked up from the fire she just started, Naruto sitting on the opposite side of the fire, "Yes Naruto-kun?" She asked.

He looked ashamed, "Sorry for snapping at you two days ago, there was no reason for me to do that and... I'm really sorry." He apologized.

Hinata remembered the small back and forth, closing her eyes she smiled, "I forgive you Naruto-kun, and I'm sorry for yelling at you too, we were both a little stressed, we've been out here for days after all." She replied and proceeded to blush, something she's been doing quite a lot lately, "Not to mention the tension." she murmured.

Naruto sighed, knowing what she was talking about, he put his hand over his face in embarrassment, "I'm sorry Hinata... I don't know what's wrong with me." She probably thought he was a pervert for glancing at those creatures.

Hinata looked at him, she thought about the strange... thoughts she's been having ever since they arrived, added with the fact that she seemed to be growing bolder and bolder as each day passed, she simply smiled, "It's fine, I've been feeling a little strange as well Naruto-kun, I don't hold it against you." She assured.

Naruto gave an apologetic smile.

Hinata tossed a few more logs onto the fire, then the two of them sat in the middle of the small clearing. In silence, the two reflected on this whole experience in their own perspective.

What Hinata couldn't understand herself was the sudden backbone she grew, she still stuttered, and blushed, but not all as much around Naruto like she used to. The main cause for her recent hot cheeks was because of these creatures, but if it was just Naruto and herself, her stuttering toned down, and she could actually talk to him.

She even mustered up the ability to scold Naruto perhaps once or twice. She didn't know why, but she found herself caring less and less about her skimpy clothing, it didn't bother her as much as it did on the first night.

Hinata glanced at her arm, the one that had been torn open and bleeding on the first day when she was attacked; Her arm healed the next day, even Naruto could hardly believe it, she let him think that the wound healed in four.

She glanced up and saw Naruto looking into the fire, a concentrated expression, and his eyes had a faraway look.

Naruto had wondered mostly about how calm the furball's been for awhile, he looked up, grinned and said goodnight.

Xx

xX

"Clothes come first." Hinata stated, Naruto nodded, "Then we need to buy food." He chimed in, both walked side by side, one with crossed arms, the other had a hand on their chin in thought.

"Weapons will have to be next." Hinata mumbled, Naruto narrowed his eyes, "And after that, we'll need information."

The two glanced to the other, silently asking if either one wanted to add anything on their to-do list once they finally reached a town. Hinata lowered her head, the gloomy atmosphere about the place left her feeling a little off, everything was so quiet, and on top of that the clouds up above were a disgusting gray.

"We should interrogate the nearest person." Naruto muttered.

Hinata raised her head, "N-nani? We don't have to go that far Naruto-kun." She whispered.

Naruto looked at her for a moment, "What if we're in enemy territory? Just going around asking too many questions, that'd waste more time than I'd like." He grumbled.

Hinata raised her brows, "But if we aren't in enemy territory, kidnapping someone and interrogating them... that's even more risky." She argued.

Naruto scoffed, resting his arms behind his head he sighed, "Damn it, I just wish I knew where the hell we were." He vented, puffing steam from his nose.

"Assumptions and speculations are all we have for now." Hinata replied nervously at Naruto's ever growing temper.

Naruto grumbled to himself in thought before proposing, "How about we just pick-pocket people so we at least have money for the food and clothes; or should we wait til night and rob a store?" He asked.

"I'd rather we not do either." Hinata mumbled.

He looked somewhat irritated, "We're kinda running out of options here Hinata, we need to- Eh?" Stopping mid-sentence.

*Drip...*

Hinata looked over, a droplet hit on her cheek making her flinch, she could see Naruto looking up curiously, raising a brow she looked up as well. Almost immediately heavy rain suddenly poured down on them.

With no useful clothing to protect her, Hinata shivered, crossed her arms and lowered her head, 'Cold... cold.'

*Crackle...!* Thunder was coming quick as well, not just rain, a storm was settling in.

Hinata's body grew cold on the inside as well, a shiver ran up her spine at the sounds the clouds were making.

Hinata yelped, Naruto grabbed her hand and ran, "Hinata, can you use your Byakugan to find the nearest shelter!" He asked.

"Ah- Hai! Byakugan!"

At least a quarter mile ahead, underneath a cliff to provide a roof beside a river, Naruto and Hinata quickly went underneath it. He stood up, turning to Hinata, "Wait here, I'm gonna hurry and find some firewood, I'll be back!" He called over before he rushed back out into the rain, arms over his head.

"Naruto!" She called out, but he quickly jumped into the mass of tree's to scavenge for any wood dry enough to burn. Sitting back she lowered her head and held herself to try and warm up, what was left of her clothes wasn't completely soaked, she looked around, standing on the many small pebbles that ran along the river.

With nothing to do but wait for Naruto to come back, she occupied herself with clearing the pebbles out from under their shelter to reveal the softness of cold dark dirt, by the time she was done she spied Naruto come running from the tree's with an armful of wood, he hunched over it and quickly came over to her.

"I grabbed what looked dry, not much though." He muttered, seeing that the area was cleared of rocks he placed the wood near the river still underneath their rock shelter, away from the wall where they'd sleep.

Bringing out the two stones in his pocket he thanked Kami that they weren't wet, and for the next hour he chipped the rocks together before finally managing to get a fire started.

The weather may have been cold, but the fire did quick to get them warm. Naruto and Hinata sat against the rock wall, watching as the rain poured mercilessly without any sign of slowing down.

By the time all light darkened outside Naruto resigned to sleeping there for the night, "I guess this is where we'll be spending the night." he muttered.

"Yeah." she whispered, eyes concentrated less on the fire, and more on the fierce rain outside, the thunder and lightning flashes only proceeded to make her more and more tense.

Sitting in silence for about ten minutes Naruto looked over to Hinata, arms around her knees huddled up and her eyes shifting to every sound of thunder.

Naruto raised a brow, "Hey, Hinata?"

She jumped, then glanced, "Yes Naruto-kun?"

He was concerned, "Are you... afraid of storms?"

Surprised at first, then she faked a smile as she waved him off, "O-oh, no I'm fine Naruto-kun... I'm just cold that's all." She replied.

He seemed to consider it, and all was quiet for a few moments before he smiled and looked at her, she paused and stared back at him before shifting her eyes and fidgeting slightly, "W-what?" She stuttered, wondering if she had said something strange.

"You know it's okay to be scared, I won't judge you or anything." He grinned.

Her eyes widened, not knowing what to say she struggled to reply, her face heating in embarrassment, "But- Naruto-kun I swear I'm fi-"

*BOOOMMM!* The ground itself shook, followed by a flash of light, the lightning hissed loudly.

"Wwaahh!" Hinata screamed, her body latching onto Naruto in fright she dug her head into his chest as he himself nearly fell over by her sudden actions.

"A-wha- Hinata!" He grunted in surprise, struggling to stay upright as he quickly held her and patted her head, "... Oi... Hinata, everythings fine." He chuckled.

When she looked up, he could nearly see tears begin to pool over her lavender eyes as she shivered and clenched onto him tightly, "N-Naruto-kun." She whimpered, a second boom resounded through the shelter, she clung tighter and cried out, then buried her head into his chest again.

Naruto didn't say anything this time, instead he sat there and waited for Hinata to calm down, looking at her, and as she looked up at him again, she saw a certain something in his eyes, that look he got when he showed genuine care for his friends through his smile.

She whimpered, and he smiled sympathetically, "It's okay if you're afraid of storms Hinata. Don't worry I won't go anywhere." He assured.

As she shook she gave a thankful nod.

Xx

xX

Naruto shifted and grunted as he began to awake, and something responded by moaning in return. His arms were wrapped around something, something soft and fragile, it felt strange, but a good kind of strange, Naruto found that he didn't feel like letting go, still very tired and it was still very early he was content with just laying in the dirt cradling this soft object in his arms.

The moaning that resulted from his tightened embrace was soothing in a strange way, a tune that Naruto decided he liked, his grip was tight and comforting and the voice moaned again as it pushed itself closer into his chest.

The feel of slender smooth skin, warm air hit his chest in rhythm, something breathed into his chest.

Hinata hummed and tingled at the nice snug feeling, something, strong and protective, warm and big wrapped around her. It provided her with all the warmth she needed, and it was when she finally processed the feeling, she came to the conclusion that this was the best sleep she had ever had.

She breathed against it and in turn felt slightly tingly and giddy, the warm embrace felt so good that she couldn't help but sigh in bliss and snuggle deeper into the thing that was keeping her warm and safe.

Unfortunately Naruto and Hinata knew that they needed to get going, from the sound of it the rain had stopped, and it seemed the fire had gone out.

Then what was keeping her warm? What blissful sound was waking him up?

Yawning Naruto and Hinata opened their eyes and found themselves staring into the eyes of the only other person here in the wild.

Blue cerulean eyes stared into large glistening innocent lavender ones, Naruto realized what was in his arms.

"... H-Hinata?" He croaked.

Lavender pools found themselves staring into the deep blue ocean that was Naruto's eyes, eyes that held a free spirit within them, Hinata realized who she was pressing her body into, who's waist she had her legs wrapped around.

She whimpered, "... Naruto-kun?"

.

.

.

"... AAAAaaaaaahhhh!" the echoes almost seemed to have the capability to reach the mountains and back.

"Haa..." Hinata panted, with the rise and fall of the land she should've been used to walking up steep hills, but a continuous hour of this was slowly draining her of her energy.

In the area as far as the eye could see were five large mountains, four at the corners and the fifth placed in the middle right in front of their path. Going around would take longer, so Naruto opted to go over it and so here they were hiking themselves up the mountainside for the past hour, hopefully sometime soon they'd reach the top and her hell would be over.

Hinata looked over to the sun in the west, then again it'd probably be night before then, "We may have to make camp before we can get to the top Naruto-kun." She warned.

"Ugh- That's fine with me." He grunted as he jumped up onto a higher precipice, Hinata following suit, jumping from ledge to ledge. Hinata marveled at the mountain for it's size, large tree's grew all over it as well that covered most of their vision from the sky, large bushes and roots blocked the path and clearing would take extra work, but Naruto didn't seem all that much in a hurry, his eyes scanned their surroundings the more they went, probably scanning for food.

Hinata sighed and rested a hand on her stomach, "I'm getting hungry just thinking about food, Kuso..." she groaned.

Hinata blinked, did she say that out loud? Naruto was staring at her as if she had all the ramen he could want in her pockets, Hinata's cheeks reddened at his shocked stare, "Hinata... you cursed!" As if in awe that she could even do such a thing, he didn't think he'd ever hear Hinata say'Damn it' of all things, hearing it come out of her mouth was foreign to him.

Hinata twiddled her fingers, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't mean to say it, it slipped." she murmured, now she felt embarrassed.

Naruto grinned awkwardly and shrugged, "I don't mind it, I mean I've cursed before. I just never expected that you... could say something like that," He explained.

Hinata smiled apologetically, "I'm not usually this frustrated Naruto-kun." She replied.

The blond-haired boy waved it off, "Don't worry about it, you can say 'damn' if you want," He accepted, Hinata looked up at him in surprise, Naruto scratched his cheek, "Personally, I think it makes you seem more open and that means we're becoming better friends!" He admitted with a grin.

Hinata blushed, but she couldn't contain her giggling at his reply, smiling more at how he didn't judge her any more or any less for it, "Naruto-kun..." She whispered.

She did feel that actually, growing closer and more open with Naruto, becoming better friends to where they could actually carry a conversation with the other on their own, and laugh and joke around.

~Grumble~

Naruto and Hinata glanced at his stomach, laughing weakly he rested his hand on his gut, "Come to think of it I'm starving too, come on let's go," he urged pushing through the bushes and branches he smiled, "I can feel it, a few more days and we'll find a town. Right now all I want is some Ramen, that'd hit the spot!" Naruto fantasized.

"Naruto-kun at this rate, I wouldn't mind stealing food." She mumbled as her stomach growled with his, he looked back and laughed, Hinata giggling with him.

"Don't worry about it Hinata, we'll eat out until we're filled to the brim!" He bolstered, only encouraging him to hurry faster, both Naruto and Hinata's entire bodies were covered in sweat, "Hinata use your Byakugan and tell me if you see any fruits nearby, I'll send my clones to go get them."

"I'm getting a little sick of fruits all the time Naruto-kun." She didn't mean to complain, but she couldn't help it, they were beginning to place a bitter taste in her mouth.

Naruto nodded, "I know what you mean Hinata, but right now that's all we have in the forest, we're just gonna have to deal with it for now," He replied apologetically, he smiled as he added, "There's no animals around here for meat, and we can't eat anthro's, that'd be like cannibalism." he joked.

Hinata blinked, then felt a little sick at the thought, they so closely resembled humans. She smiled at the joke though, but then again, if there were regular birds, could there also be regular rabbits and other animals, maybe not big animals, but maybe smaller ones?

She joked back, "Maybe we can catch an anthro and have her track down real animals for us to eat." She replied.

Naruto paused, the thought of a female anthro on a leash sniffing out a scent somehow brought a grin to his face, Hinata giggled with him, "Maa maa Hinata, can you imagine that? It'd look kind of funny."

Sadly they both knew these were empty ideas, but Hinata felt something within her force out the words in her head, "Maybe you're right, the sexual tension would be unbearable for you huh?" She teased with an innocent smile.

Naruto looked shocked for a second at her teasing accusation, then stared at her curiously.

He bared his teeth challengingly, "Oh yeah? What's that suppose to mean?" He asked as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

Hinata pouted, "I've seen the way you look at them Naruto-kun." She stated, as if it were fact. Hinata stopped herself, 'What's wrong with me? Why am I teasing Naruto like this?' She didn't know why, suddenly she just felt like, like she could talk to Naruto about anything.

Naruto paused, looked back at her and blushed before he continued moving, "... That's-"

"Pidgy! Pidgy!"

Simultaneously they looked up, the sight of a black figure with wings flew above the tree's and out of sight before Naruto and Hinata could even get a good look at it, but they both knew what it was.

They looked at each other before looking down, everything grew silent, and soon they continued moving.

Thoughts of anthro's crossed the Hyuuga's mind yet again. Hinata fidgeted, having a war within herself about whether to ask Naruto the question that had been bothering her for many days now.

Hinata stood straight, found her resolve, then hurried to Naruto's side, "Ano, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" Somewhat cautiously, he glanced out of the corner of his eye.

She didn't say anything at first, struggling to find the words, Naruto turned to look after a while.

Hinata averted his gaze, "What do you think about... about these anthros exactly?" She asked.

He stopped walking and Hinata almost tripped trying to stop herself.

Naruto stared at her, "What do you mean?"

Hinata hated repeating herself, it was harder to say the second time, "I'm asking what you think." She muttered, twiddling her fingers.

Naruto looked away, then back, "I think... they are strong, and dangerous." He replied quietly.

Hinata sighed inwardly, "Naruto-kun that's not what I meant."

Scratching the back of his head he averted her gaze, "Why this all of a sudden Hinata? It's not like you." He said nervously.

Hinata lowered her hands and looked at him, trying to convince him to give his perspective, "We both know you've... looked, but what do you think of them?" She didn't know why she wanted to hear Naruto's opinion, and even more she didn't understand why she was pushing it.

He blushed, "W-why would you want to know something like that Hinata?"

Hinata tried to stay strong and look him in the eye, she shrugged honestly, "I don't know, I'm curious about what you think of all this. Every anthro is a n-naked female, so... I wouldn't be surprised if you felt a little... um... affected by all this." She stuttered.

"A-affected?"

Hinata quickly apologized "Gomen Naruto-kun I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable... ever since I first saw one I haven't been able to stop thinking about them. What they are, what they can do... h-how they look." Hinata mumbled, she broke away from his astonished gaze.

He looked around, choosing his words carefully, "I have looked at them," He admitted, "... And their bodies are really beautiful. I don't know why Hinata, it's like I can't control myself. But I feel pretty bad knowing you've seen me look at them..." He left off as he lowered his head in shame, hoping Hinata wasn't thinking less of him with each word.

"Oh..." Hinata whispered, twirling her fingers to keep herself occupied. She guessed that she got what she wanted.

Naruto winced at the sigh of disappointment, but he had to let it all out, he didn't know why, he supposed it was the right thing to do to let her know, "Hinata?" Naruto had enough time with her to realize that she was undoubtedly the most... well-endowed girl out of all their friends.

She looked up in curiosity, "Yes Naruto-kun?"

"Um, I want to say that-... I'm sorry for looking at you- ya know... like that too." He confessed, rubbing his neck nervously with a shameful blush.

Hinata's eyes widened in shock as her cheeks reddened, now knowing that Naruto had been looking. She closed her eyes and shook her head, hurrying to reply before Naruto grew even more distraught, "... It's okay Naruto-kun." The words were easier to say than she thought.

Naruto snapped up in confusion, "What? You mean you're not going to get mad?" He asked in disbelief, if Sakura was here and if she even saw him glance at her or the anthros he'd be ten feet under every other hour.

Hinata slowly raised her head, a nervous but accepting smile on her, "Um, not really. I'm not surprised or anything," she answered honestly, Naruto's face grew red, Hinata quickly went to explain, "I mean, since my clothes are all shredded, I guess it's only expected that you would look, you know? I'm not mad at you Naruto-kun."

Naruto stared at her, after a few moments Hinata wondered if she had said something wrong as Naruto stared at her in disbelief. Slowly he chuckled, then it built up into a nervous laugh as he blushed, Hinata stared at him in surprise.

He scratched his head, "I'm sorta glad that you're here instead of Sakura-chan Hinata, she would've beat me ten times worse than she usually does by now." he laughed, maybe from relief or disbelief, he laughed out his pent up worry before it died down.

Hinata looked worried, "I'd never purposefully hurt you Naruto-kun." She replied quietly.

"Yeah I know. Thanks Hinata," He grinned, never knowing how forgiving Hinata truly was until now. He glanced at her ripped clothing and felt bad, "I'm sorry you have to go around looking like that Hinata, I know it must be embarrassing."

Hinata looked down at herself and admitted, "It is embarrassing... and I do get cold easily," She acknowledged, she blushed, when it had been raining she had to make sure Naruto didn't see her chest that night.

Hinata shyly shook her head, "But," She began, gaining his attention, "If it's only you around, I-I don't really mind it as much." She finished.

Naruto nodded with a smile, they were the only ones that could count on each other, and they were friends, he supposed Hinata would rather accept things as they were rather than being stranded here alone.

Naruto gulped nervously, feeling the odd atmosphere pass, he began to feel like he could tell her anything, "Gee Hinata, I always thought you were a creepy girl that would kill me if I looked at you in that kind of way." He laughed.

Hinata paused, part of her happy he no longer thought of her as a creepy girl that'd kill him, but also somewhat insulted that he thought of her like that to begin with. She sweatdropped, not knowing whether it was suppose to be a compliment or an insult, but Naruto didn't always think before he spoke, she knew that, he must've meant it as a compliment... it still hurt though.

"Um... thank you." Hinata whispered, she 'eeped' when Naruto hugged her.

"But," Naruto continued, "You're actually a really cool person Hinata!" he grinned, "And you're a really good friend."

She blinked, Naruto thought she was cool, but only as a friend. Just like that she was confused again on whether to feel sad or happy about that, but nonetheless she hugged him back. What did it matter, he admitted to looking at her body in that way, for now that's all she needed to know. She smiled and melted into his embrace, "Thank you Naruto-kun."

As the sun began to hide away, Hinata proceeded to use her Byakugan to find fruits, Naruto's clones retrieved them, as well as firewood, and Hinata found a cubby hole within the rock of the mountain that would do well for tonight.

They laid their fruits and wood near the entrance, and after setting up a fire and discussing what to do tomorrow, they were nearly to the top of the mountain, before they went to bed.

Xx

xX

*Crackle*

The sound of rocks hitting rocks, the sound of something walking around and sniffing something.

Hinata groaned, as she slowly opened her eyes to see what was making that racket, looking over at the entrance of the cave she spied something blurry, something feminine moving about the cave.

It moved closer, sniffing its surroundings as it crawled up to her.

Hinata's eyes widened, now wide awake as she stared into a set of brown eyes, frozen in place she and the furry anthro stared at the other, it tilted its head and smelled her scent, then lowered down and continued to smell her all over.

Eyes wide, she stared at it in all of its glory, Hinata tilted her head, it didn't really have fangs. Glancing, she noticed the remaining bits of fruit from last night now only had the cores left, she looked back to the innocent looking anthro as it continued to sniff her, 'She doesn't seem dangerous.' She thought.

She had a slight build and from the look of it, she stood only four and a half feet. She had a thick brown fur coat that puffed out more around her neck and slowly melded down to the rest of her furred body in between her chest. She had ears at the top of her head, and a fluffy brown tail at the bottom of her spine back.

Hinata shivered, Naruto was still sound asleep, "Naruto-kun." She whispered, "Naruto-kun wake up." She whispered, the anthro tugged at what remaining clothing she had covering her chest with her fingers.

Hinata shooed away its hand, "No, don't,"

It whined cutely and tried again only for Hinata to tap her hand again, pouting she leaned close, resting her head into Hinata's chest. Hinata whimpered, closing her eyes nervously.

"Eva," It said, Hinata looked at her and she looked back, "What?" Hinata asked.

She stared at her, then pushed her furry body onto Hinata, "Eva..."

"Ah- No, get off- Wah!" Hinata whimpered as it nuzzled into her breasts, Hinata's face growing red.

"Mmnn..." Naruto grumbled.

Her and Hinata's head snapped to Naruto, then she went down, bit down on the cloth covering Hinata's chest, then ripped it off and ran with the clothing in her mouth.

"Wha? No- I need that!" Hinata cried out, covering her chest she got up and ran out of the cave after her, "Come back!"

Naruto sat up tiredly, "Huh? Hinata?" He mumbled seeing her leave the cave, "Wha- Hey, Hinata! It's not safe to go alone!" He called out as he got up, vision still blurry, he chased after her.

"Hey you- Anthro!" Hinata called out jumping tree to tree as she tried to follow the female creature, it ran underneath the bushes, around the tree's, and branches were tightly packed together that she could hardly see where she was going.

"Hinata! Hinata wait, we need to stick together!" Naruto called out behind her.

Hinata turned red, 'I can't let her get away, she has what's left of my shirt!' She thought, she wouldn't be able to face Naruto if she had to walk around without any upper clothing.

She pushed past the branches and through the bushes, the faintest of brown fur was seen as she scurried away, "Give that back to me please!" Hinata begged, there was a bright light in the distance, and as she pushed the last branch out of her way she was greeted with a flash of light.

Hinata nearly tripped, one arm over her chest, and the other to shield her eyes from the bright morning sun, blinking a few times she tried to adjust to the brightness, but by the time she did...

"I lost-... her..." Hinata slowly finished, something before her making her almost forget about the single creature. Her eyes shot open, her mouth dropped, the scene left her breathless, "My kami..." Her arms fell to her side.

"Hinata where are you!" He yelled, running toward the bright light Hinata disappeared into. Naruto ran blind through the crowded forest, "Dang it Hinata why'd you-" Running into the light he came to a stop, "Hinata?" hoping he hadn't lost her, too bright for him to see.

When he could see again he looked into the sky...

Naruto's mouth fell.

As he saw... literally hundreds of the creatures, they had wings hundreds of them flying through the air!

Naruto's eyes widened, "Those... they're..." He couldn't even form words to speak as aimlessly walked over, Hinata stood frozen at the edge of a cliff, and when he caught up next to her realized why.

So many more, scurrying about the cliffside, so far down at the side of the mountain and at the bottom of the mountain there were more anthro's, some had fur... others looked like... plants, and even more looked like other kinds of animals, but they were all girls, resembling human women they flew and ran all about.

All they could do was stare for what seemed like forever. This was the other side of the mountain, they had made it over the mountain...

He looked to Hinata, then back, his lips bobbing speechlessly at the spectacle, "N-Naruto- Naruto there's so many!" she stuttered like a fool, her mouth gaping in awe.

"This is- this is insane... Look at them all Hinata!" He marveled, he watched them as he pushed his hands into his hair and laughed in disbelief, "My god!" He gasped, he couldn't believe this.

They grew silent, watching the anthromorphic women go about in their habitat, "Something tells me we're far from home, Hinata." He muttered, finally growing at least... use to what they were seeing, glancing at Hinata unbelievably, "No one back home's gonna believe this."

Hinata looked over and nodded.

"Eh-... Hinata...?" He asked slowly, realizing something amiss.

Brought out of her frozen state, Hinata blinked, "Huh? What is it?"

His cheeks began to burn as he stared at her attentive... assets, "W... where did your..." He couldn't finish, he should've looked away, but...

Hinata blinked, then remembered.

*Yeep!*

She spun around, away from Naruto and covered her chest and whimpered, "Don't look Naruto-kun! I-... one of them, she took my shirt, I chased her but," Her body grew cold as she came to realize, "I-... I lost her."

Could her life get any crazier? She sunk to her knees, and within moments she had become a whimpering mess. At the sight Naruto knelt down in concern, the many anthro women before them suddenly no longer mattered at the moment, "Hinata? Hey it's gonna be okay." He comforted.

"B-but my top, I-I'm- my bre-breas..." She babbled.

"Hinata it's fine, here, take my shirt." He replied as he took off his black shirt, Hinata looked over her shoulder and gasped when Naruto presented his shirt. She looked up at Naruto whom grinned happily, "What a way to wake up right?" He chuckled, turning to the anthromorphs.

Hinata drifted to them out of the corner of her eyes before she blushed and took the shirt with a thank you, it did well to cover her chest, even though her belly and arms were still exposed, it was better than nothing.

She thanked Naruto again and he waved it off with a grin.

Offering a hand, Hinata took it and stood up, "Afterall, we're all we got to watch each others backs." He, the sun was only just beginning to come up.

Hinata slowly nodded, wiped the small bit of tears at the side of her eyes and turned to look at him, "What do you think we should do?" She asked.

He glanced, "Now we know that there's as many anthros as we thought, we need to watch out for each other, right?"

"Yeah," Hinata agreed, now that almost fifteen minutes passed there weren't as many of them visible, but from the looks of it they were flying east, the predators would hopefully follow them.

Hinata looked over to see what's become of Naruto's clothing, because of her all he had was those orange ripped shorts. Nervously Hinata's eyes roamed Naruto's naked chest, but unlike her, Naruto didn't care about that. Hinata couldn't thank him enough for his kindness.

Naruto rested a hand on her shoulder, "At the very least we've got to keep moving, cover as much ground before night, and also find a place to make camp... hey Hinata you see that?" He asked as he shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and peered down the mountain, there- at least twenty miles away from what he could see laid a place to rest.

"Huh?" Hinata mumbled in curiosity, "What do you see?"

"That grass meadow over there, we can set up camp there and continue tomorrow. I see a river down there as well, we can get water on our way! Come on Hinata lets go, the sun's rising!" He urged, the river at least fifteen miles away from here, after they got to normal ground and off this mountain of course.

Hinata peered down the side of the cliff seeing a steep drop off, but further ahead she spied the river he pointed out and even further out laid the grass meadow.

Hinata was unsure, "W-wait Naruto-kun, it's going to take a while to climb down the side of this cliff." She warned warily, mostly because of the look Naruto had on his face.

Naruto nodded seriously as he watched the remaining anthropomorphic creatures fly across the sky, he looked back to her in concern, "You're okay now right Hinata?"

Surprised, Hinata asked cautiously, "A-ano, I'm fine now thanks to you Naruto-kun," worry quickly settled in, "Why?"

"Uh- An idea just came to me actually." he muttered.

Her heart skipped a beat, Naruto's ideas were known to be a bit reckless, "A-ano... what is it?" she asked.

He turned back to her, and gestured to the open air with his arm, "We're going to jump!"

Hinata stared at him, her mouth fell at the concept, "J-jump?"

"Yeah don't worry about it I got a plan," He assured as he lifted her up, her body locked up wrapping around his neck, "We've got to get there before night."

"M-matte Naruto-kun, that's still a long way away, don't-" She protested as he turned to the cliffside and took a few steps back, preparing to get a running start, "Hang on! Don't worry my clones got us!" He reassured as he took off into a run.

"What!" She cried as he leaped off the edge of the cliff, the ground was far... far below.

Hinata wasn't often a part of Naruto's crazy ideas, so she screamed, loud and panicked as she clutched onto him. Naruto on the other hand had an open-mouthed grin, as they began to fall.

Hinata cupped her hands together, filling it up with water she ran the handful of water over her face, cooling her skin and wetting her hair Hinata leaned back upright and sighed.

Taking a moment to appreciate the scenery Hinata marveled at the peacfulness, it wasn't much, but it still looked beautiful, Naruto and herself sat on their knees as she ran water over herself, both to cool off and to clear some of the sweat and grime.

Feeling refreshed, she smiled and hummed, "Cold," but it felt good, she turned to Naruto, "You're not going to rinse yourself Naruto-kun?" She asked.

He grinned, "Actually," he got up, he was already stripped to only his shorts and he wasn't going any further than that, so with that he jumped and cannon balled into the river that was at least waist-deep.

Hinata covered herself with an arm and giggled.

Rising from the water he whipped around his hair and wiped his eyes, "Oh man that felt good! You should try it Hinata!"

Hinata's cheeks tinted red as she looked at Naruto in innocent suspicion, not sure if he knew what would happen if she went into the water, the wet clothes would leave nothing to the imagination she was sure. It was bad enough her panty-short shorts were a thin fabric, and the shirt she wore was a small cut off tank top, but if it was wet... "I'm good Naruto-kun!" She replied.

He nodded before diving back underwater. Hinata watched as he floated underneath the surface for a few moments before she giggled again, sinking her hands into the river she raised it and waited till the dripping slowed before she ran her wet hands over her arms to cool them, then her legs, Hinata hummed as the cool breeze cooled her off, "Ah that feels good."

Naruto came up again, shaking his hair to a damp he wiped his eyes and looked over to Hinata, until he spied something lurking behind her. Almost immediately his eyes widened as he stood up out of the water and pointed, "Hinata, behind you!"

Hinata looked up in surprise seeing Naruto pointing, she spun around, and came within an inch of a furred face staring right at her as her nose touched the crouching female creature's.

"Yaah!" She yelped, falling backwards into the river.

Standing up, all her hair patted down over her eyes, "What is it with anthros coming so close!" She screamed, looking past the strands of her hair she prepared herself.

The furred female was sitting at the edge of the river staring at Naruto and Hinata's fighting stances curiously, "... Eva?"

Hinata blinked, pushed the hair out of her eyes, before exclaiming, "Hey, you're that anthro that stole my shirt this morning!" she accused.

"This was the one?" Naruto asked, then taking in all of her appearance cautiously, "Is she dangerous?"

Hinata lowered her guard and sighed, "No... she's completely harmless," She replied, staring at the pokegirl, "What did you do with my top?" She demanded.

She continued to stare, "Eva?"

Naruto raised a brow, "I think that's all she can say." He guessed, nervously trying to avoid looking at her assets, she sat similar to a dog, her legs were opened wide... Naruto looked away entirely, not being able to trust his eyes.

He turned to Hinata, who was concentrating on the female, 'Her clothes...' not even his thoughts were coherent, his shirt hugged her chest generously, and the cold water caused her breasts to stand out more...

Hinata turned to Naruto, "Hey Naruto-kun you don't have to worry she-" She saw his perverted face, looking down she realized why, crying out she covered her chest, looking at Naruto with a stern face, "Naruto-kun! There's an anthro right there and you're-... you-" She stuttered turning away as Naruto blanched, then blushed before he apologized, "Ah, gomen Hinata, I didn't mean to."

"Nevermind it Naruto-kun," She replied quietly, hurrying back to land she crawled out-

*Splash!* Blood spurted from his nose as Naruto passed out and fell into the river.

Hinata's face turned beet red, her soaking panty-like shorts were riding up in between her butt uncomfortably, it took a second to figure out why Naruto passed out, she shut her eyes tight in humiliation, "Naruto-Kun!" She cried out.

The female sat there looking back and forth between the male and female, "Eva?"

"You're sure she's completely harmless?" Naruto asked as they continued to walk.

Hinata looked sure for the most part, "Well she hasn't attacked us yet." She replied, the two continued to walk and with each step the furry female walked in between them on all fours, she seemed to be about as tall as them, if not a few inches shorter.

She made curious whining noises every now and then as she looked up between them.

Naruto stared at her oddly, "Why is she following us?" for the past twenty minutes they experimented with walking around and checking to see if she'd attack them, so far she just followed them and looked up at them curiously, so they continued on their way to the grass clearing.

Hinata watched as she walked naturally on all fours, surely her anatomy was slightly different like the feline, Hinata shrugged, "I don't know, maybe she wants more food?" She guessed.

"Food?" he repeated.

Hinata nodded, "Yeah, when I woke up this morning, she ate the rest of the fruits we gathered last night, maybe she just wants more." She replied.

They both stared at each other before looking down at the anthro, wagging her fluffy tail her ears twitched every now and then. Just by looking Hinata could tell the anthro's fur was rich and healthy, and it looked really soft.

It seemed so surreal, "She looks so weird like that." Naruto muttered as he stopped walking.

"Eva?"

"Like what?" Hinata asked, staring down at her as the creature stopped as well.

"I mean she's walking like an animal, it's like seeing a regular human acting like that." Naruto explained, "Look at the way she acts, it's strange. I mean can you imagine a regular human doing this?"

Hinata and Naruto considered it, her eyes reminded them of Tenten's, and just for a second they thought of Tenten acting like an animal, strutting around naked on all fours, butt in the air and boobs dangling, with a curious look on her face and only saying one word.

They both shared a disturbed look, "Yeah that's weird." Hinata mumbled, then looked at her, "But she does look kind of cute." She continued as she knelt down and stared at her, those furry ears were simply irresistible Hinata found herself reaching for them.

"Don't! What if she bites you?" Naruto asked, instead she stared at the hand, sniffed it, licked it and then began sucking on her thumb, Hinata giggled, "Aww~"

Naruto bit his bottom lip, "This doesn't seem right," he muttered as he knelt down on one knee and watched, it looked over to him.

Releasing Hinata's hand she came close to Naruto, and he closed his left eye in return as she sniffed his face.

"Heh," he chuckled as his face tingled, before she leaned in and she licked his cheek.

Naruto raised a brow, "That's weird."

She blew into his ear. Naruto froze in return, "Even weirder."

Raising her hands she cupped his face, "H-Hinata, do something- now." he stuttered nervously, Hinata turned scarlet as she kissed him, Naruto panicked, certain that that was her tongue pushing into his mouth.

"Anthro- hey anthro, no don't do that," Hinata yelped grabbing the anthro it whined as Hinata pulled her away, "Mmnn!- stop kissing Naruto-kun!" She pulled her off, Naruto fell back coughing and gasping for air.

The anthro whined, pouting as she looked at Hinata with a dirty look in her eye.

"No, don't do that!" Hinata scolded, it's ears lowered.

"... Eva?"

~Gasping!~ "She freaking nearly sucked my face off!" Naruto yelled, spitting out what was probably her saliva, "I told you! She can't be trusted!" He warned, blushing, he used his right hand to lean back on as he wiped his mouth with the other.

"Calm down Naruto-kun." Hinata pleaded, "She didn't mean to cause any harm."

Naruto crossed his arms, "Hmph!"

The anthro looked at Hinata, "... Eva." She said.

Hinata's narrowed brows turned to confusion when the anthro stalked closer to her, a bad feeling welled within her, "A-ano, what are you doing?"

The female leaned back before pouncing on Hinata, smiling with a wanting look in her eyes, she in turn yelped as she tried to push her off, but it whined and leaned closer before her lips met Hinata's. Hinata moaned uncomfortably as the anthro cupped her cheeks, straddled her and moaned back.

Naruto stared wide-eyed, watching as the naked furred female sat on top of Hinata and swapped spit with his innocent friend. Staring for a moment he came to his senses at Hinata distraught muffled moans "H-Hinata!" getting up to save her.

Grabbing her by the waist it whined, "Grrgh! Get off Hinata!" He grunted as he pulled her away from his friend, leaving her coughing, shivering and scarred.

"You okay?" Naruto asked worriedly.

Hinata stared in shock, then ran her fingers over her lips, "... Nooo..." She whimpered, tears nearly welling up, 'M-my first...'

.

.

.

Sitting before them impatiently the anthro watched as Naruto rubbed Hinata's back as she struggled to hide her tears, trembling at what just happened, "... Eva..." She whined, ears lowering.

Naruto turned to the anthro, "Why you- Trying to do stuff to Hinata, I'll-" about to get up.

Hinata grabbed his arm, clearing her throat she grunted, "N-no, she's just acting like any other- *Cough* one of her kind would, it's not her fault." She defended.

"She tried to-..." He stopped himself, the look of sadness in its eyes made him stop, added with Hinata's pleas he sighed.

Wiping her mouth Hinata sighed, but tried to push past it, "She just needs to know the rules-*Cough*" She hypothesized.

Naruto stared at her incredulously, "Hinata she isn't an animal you can just teach."

"But she acts just like an animal, even if she isn't." She replied, cautiously she raised her arms out in a hug, "Come here- Um... Eva, Eva come here." Hinata called over, Naruto looked at her like she was insane.

"Eva?" She asked, crawling forward slowly.

Hinata gave a friendly smile, "Come on, don't be scared."

She crawled up to Hinata, sitting on Hinata's lap she looked at Hinata, then smiled before leaning in for a kiss. Hinata put a finger to her lips, "Eva no."

"Eva?" She looked confused, then pouted, slowly Hinata hugged her, petting her fur. Eva blinked, looking around, then sighed as she melted into the hug, accepting the level of affection.

Naruto watched the whole thing, "I dunno about this." he muttered.

Hinata smiled and released Eva, "She just wanted affection was all." She concluded happily.

Naruto watched as Hinata scratched Eva's ear, she moaned and wagged her puffy tail, she noticed that Eva's breasts were more attentive because of it, "Yeah, she wanted affection." He replied, he couldn't take this, he turned away and tried to calm himself.

Allowing her to follow them they walked the rest of that day talking to... Eva, watching how she acted and how she reacted to certain things, one thing they both learned, anything that even resembled something sexual resulted in Eva becoming extremely affectionate.

As the sun began to set, Naruto, Hinata and Eva finally reached the grass meadow.

"Eva." She said, looking back to the forest, then back to them.

"I guess she wants to go home now." Naruto muttered, both him and Hinata knelt down and hugged her, she responded by licking them.

"Well, there she goes." Naruto muttered, he watched the anthro go off into the forest.

"Yeah." Hinata whispered, "Such a beautiful... creature." quietly watching as she looked back at them once more, before bounding off into the bushes.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence, "... I hope she doesn't get eaten." Naruto muttered.

~Gasp!~ "Naruto! That's horrible!" Hinata cried out, eyes and mouth open in horror.

Naruto looked confused, "What? I said I hope?" He repeated. Their eleventh day here and they finally managed to inspect and respond to one of those anthros.

Many hours had passed, Naruto and Hinata had gotten a fire started, they hunted for fruits and had eaten what they could. By the time they had completely settled in, the night was already pitch black, no doubt it was almost midnight.

"You know Naruto-kun," She brought up, gaining his attention, "We haven't seen a single male anthro."

"Unless they don't exist." Naruto shrugged, just a guess he threw out, tired at where the topic was headed, "Hinata this past week and a half have been really perverted, I don't want to think about them right now." He muttered apologetically, his abused libido couldn't handle it anymore.

Hinata nodded, among all the things to consider, perverted things, naked furry girls included, should've been at the bottom of their concerns. Hinata rested her chin on her knees as she hugged her legs to her chest and sighed with a small amount of sadness, how long were they gonna keep doing this?

Naruto laid on the ground with his cheek resting on his fist while staring into the fire mulling over where they were and though he'd been avoiding it, how long it would take to get home.

He glanced up, "Hey Hinata?" he continued to stare at the fire, Hinata sitting not two feet away from him looked down to Naruto in wonder.

"Yeah Naruto-kun?"

"During the Chuunin exams that traitor Kabuto told me-er us... well, the nine rookies about how all of the five great shinobi nations were in one continent. I was thinking... could it be that we were somehow blown into another continent?" Naruto asked as if he was questioning himself as he said it before looking up to Hinata who stared at him.

"I... I don't know Naruto-kun, after that flash you and Sasuke made..." Hinata mumbled looking the other way trying to remember if she was somehow teleported or thrown or something else that seemed as ludicrous as the other two.

"Hmm... Well that sucks we have no idea how to get home..." Naruto drifted off, downcast.

"And what if we're on some sort of island? We wouldn't have enough chakra to water-walk our way over to another place, I mean what if we're stranded here?" Naruto asked out loud laying on his back when he said this, hands behind his head looking up into the millions of stars above, of course he was just thinking out loud.

He picked up the sound of sniffling, surprised, he saw Hinata's head sink lower into her knees, tears threatening to spill. Naruto sat up in alarm speaking gently.

"Hey, what's wrong?... I didn't mean what I said you know." Naruto mumbled, berating himself as he said this.

Hinata struggled to stifle her whimpering, "I-I know Naruto-kun... But I don't want to be stranded here *sniff* I can't imagine if we never saw our friends again." She wiped her tears on her arm.

"You must think I'm weak for crying." Hinata blubbered quietly, only to immediately have Naruto use his hand to lift her chin up so she could look at him, Hinata's eyes widened at the contact.

"Don't think like that Hinata, It's not weak to cry everyone needs to cry. Please don't be sad anymore... Hinata?" Naruto whispered.

Hinata's expression turned to shock, the first time hearing from anyone that it wasn't a weakness to cry, 'Kurenal-sensei probably would of said the same if she'd ever seen me cry.' Hinata shook her head, thinking about her mother-sensei would only make her tears spill further.

She silently nodded her head, if Naruto was as strong as he was and he thought crying wasn't a sign of weakness then that was all she needed to hear, the mere truth in his eyes as he said this had easily reassured her. Smiling she quickly wiped her tears softly giggling seeing Naruto looking relieved that she stopped.

"You're right Naruto-kun... I'm sorry." She whispered as Naruto grinned.

"Hinata there's nothing to be sorry about," Naruto waved, adding something just to get her to laugh again, "Believe it!" He declared.

Hinata's head snapped to the blond, he hadn't said that in all the time they've been here, she stared for a moment before she erupted into a set of soft giggles.

"Thank you... Naruto-kun." She smiled making Naruto's cheeks turn pink, after all what were friends for? He was just about to say those words-

~Talking~

'Someone's coming?' he looked to Hinata who already seemed aware, nodding in silent agreement not knowing what was approaching, it may be another anthro.

'Three... Two... One...' The two counted down both readying themselves for some type of conflict.

"Damn it Sabuki I told you we should have made camp!" A teen declared looking to be five years older than they were, a seventeen year old?

As he entered the clearing Naruto and Hinata both sweatdropped. Then their eyes widened in realization, they had found someone, a human! What was he doing all the way out here?

Not two seconds later he was accompanied by an anthro holding a map. with her Byakugan, Hinata could see that it was upside down.

The Anthro looked frustrated and angry as she glared at the upside down map.

The sight, the mere spectacle of what they were seeing had caused all of their shinobi training to go flying out the window, as their eyes widened.

From what they could see the creature itself seemed to be like some reptilian animal, instead of skin, had scales that were red only going lighter around her chest area, red hair going down to her shoulder blades; She wore a black tank top and blue jeans. Standing about 5'2 ft in height and what looked to be a tail that was on fire?

Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other.

"For the last time Tyler I thought that there was a-" She replied only to stop when her master had stopped, looking up she saw that he was looking at something. Looking to the side she saw two children that were no older than what looked to be thirteen standing in rags looking ready to have a heart attack, the two of them realizing that she had spoken words!