Chapter 5:

Just by looking at it, Sasuke knew he hated it so much and wasn't going to enjoy this mission at all. The entire village was surrounded by water and there was even more on the inside. Beyond the gates, everywhere he looked there were ponds, fountains, springs, and a small river. Water everywhere. He was going to hate this so much. He hated getting wet.

After checking in, Kakashi turned to his team. "Ok, this is simple. We're to build a fence to keep animals from stealing the koi fish in the ponds. Make sure you keep any animal you find away from the fish. We don't need any more stolen. Got it?"

At first Naruto was pumped up, but then his jaw dropped. "Wait a minute… This sounds like a D ranked mission!"

"It is."

"What?!"

"Just do it, you idiot!" Sakura shook her fist at him. This was an easy mission and there was no way she was going to let Naruto talk them out of such an easy thing. It didn't involve too much energy and the possibility of getting ambushed. She was willing to do this as long as she would be by Sasuke's side.

They got started at once. It was boring and hard work, but a mission was a mission. They hammered supports into the ground and started putting up the wooden fence. Naruto did nothing but complain about how this was a huge waste of his skills and worked furiously in hopes of finishing before Sasuke.

The Uchiha worked hard hammering and nailing. He agreed with Naruto that this was a waste of their skills but it was something they had to do. Halfway through working, Sasuke heard a splash.

Oh, no.

He looked at the pond. The koi fish were swimming gracefully in the water. They swam this way and that, circling each other in a mesmerizing display. Slowly, Sasuke inched closer to the pond, watching them hungrily. The white and orange fish continued to swim, unaware of the danger lurking above them. Like a cat on the prowl, Sasuke crouched on the flat stones framing the pond and watched them closely, licking his lips.

What a fitting snack. He had been working so hard, he deserved a tasty fish. Crouching on the stones, Sasuke raised his right hand above the water. When one of the fish came swimming too close to the edge he struck. With the skill and precision of a true ninja, he scooped up one of the koi and slapped it down on the stones at his side. He played with it. He would let it get close to the water then pull it back. Then he'd slam it against the stones or drop it on its head. It was a rather cruel game, but no less entertaining to him. After a while, Sasuke grew bored with the game and decided to satiate his hunger. Taking the flopping fish in his hand by its tail, Sasuke tossed it up in the air and into his awaiting mouth. He bit down and ripped the scaly meat off its brittle bones. It was tasty alright. So much so that he didn't even care that the fish was still twitching in his mouth. It sure was a fighter. But after a few more bites, the fish lay still in his mouth, finally dead.

"Sasuke?"

The wary voice of Naruto got his attention and he turned, the fish's tail sticking out of his mouth.

"What are you doing?"

He cocked his head to the side. He hadn't realized that anything was amiss until now. He looked down at the tail sticking out of his mouth and blinked. He had become a feral cat without realizing it! He was eating a live fish! And Naruto saw him do it! He quickly spat it out into the grass and looked at his teammate shamefully. "I, uh… I…" No words would come.

"Where you just eating a fish?!" Naruto cringed in disgust.

"Sorry?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I was hungry!"

"So you eat fish out of a pond?!"

Before either of them knew it, they were in a screaming match. Both of them shouted over the other, the conversation getting widely off topic. At first it was over a fish and now they were calling each other stupid. At last, it all came back to who could finish the fence first.

Kakashi glanced up and saw them both hammering away as fast as they could, trying to show the other one up. "Funny how all of their arguments end like this, isn't it?" he thought aloud.

Meantime, Neji was having a great deal of trouble keeping his condition a secret. Every time a dog passed him by, he would flinch and look for a place to hide. Guarding a dog show was going to be harder than he thought. At least he wasn't alone. His team could cover for him if things got out of hand. All he had to do was focus on the mission at hand and not freak out. Mind over matter.

"I can do this. No problem at all. I can resist the effects of the potion. I'm better than that." The pride of the Hyuga was at stake here.

A big black dog struggled against its leash in an attempt to leap up on the ninja guarding the gate. "BARK!"

"AHH!" Neji jumped ten feet in the air and took off down the street, leaving Lee to wonder what in the world that was about.

Neji found himself in yet another tree far away from the building he was stationed at. He punched the trunk and growled. "Great! Just great! I'm so pathetic! So much for keeping a low profile…"

Miserable and embarrassed, Neji decided to hide out in the tree for a bit. A few minutes later, without realizing it, Neji had started to groom himself. He didn't notice that he was doing anything until a light breeze tickled his wet arm and he looked down. He had been licking his unbandaged arm for several minutes. He slapped himself in the face to snap himself out of it.

"God! I'm an idiot!" he told himself. But the urge to continue licking his arm was still strong. He had to resist. What would people say if they saw him doing that? Cat instincts were taking over. He was losing the fight. In no time at all, he was back to licking his arm.

I give up…

Back with Kakashi, they were just about to finish up the fence. The masked ninja stood back and observed their work. Not too bad. Sakura was doing well on her side, but she ended up using a lot more energy than she thought she would have to. She sat back in the grass with a sigh. She had just finished. Kakashi turned his attention to the two boys on the other side and frowned. Naruto had managed to break a dozen pieces of wood by hammering too hard and all of the ones he had managed to hammer onto the posts were lopsided. Sasuke had used too few nails in order to cut back on time and therefore the fence was unstable and ready to fall apart.

"I figured as much," he sighed heavily. Now this was going to take much longer than they had planned.

Not wanting them to make matters worse, Kakashi allowed them to take a breather and work on the fence with Sakura's help.

Now Naruto was tired and bored. "I'm bored...!"

"Stop whining."

"I'm not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Whatever." Sasuke just wanted to go home. On the way over the village, Sasuke made sure to keep an eye out for the woman who sold him the potion in the first place. She was nowhere to be found. But then again, he had first discovered her on another road, not this one. Maybe on the way back home, he'd take a detour to see if he would find her that way.

Naruto leaned forward, catching the light on his headband… and Sasuke's curious eyes. The shiny object now had his full attention. He moved closer to him, but in doing so, lost sight of the twinkling light. He blinked. Sasuke then turned his head to one side and found the right spot where the light hit Naruto's headband. The light shined brightly, nearly blinding Sasuke. Reacting on instinct, Sasuke slammed his hand down hard on Naruto's forehead protector.

"Ow! Hey!" Naruto threw a punch at him, but missed. "What the hell was that for?!"

Sasuke snapped back to himself. "What?"

"Why did you hit me?"

"Uh…" He searched for answers. "Uh… Wouldn't you like to know, loser…"

Naruto's eye twitched. "What did you say?!"

"You heard me!"

"So, you hit me just because?!" His headband caught the light again and Sasuke reacted once again in the same manner. "Hey! Stop that!"

Sasuke pulled back. This was bad. His feline instincts were getting stronger. Hopefully that meant that it was going to get worse before it got better. By that, of course, he meant that the potion would begin to wear off or something. If that were the case then he might be able to handle putting up with this a little longer.

The light was back and he pawed at Naruto's head. Naruto grabbed his hand and held it back. "Would you knock it off?!"

"I can't help it!"

"What do you mean you can't help it?"

Cover story… cover story… "Because… Uh… Because you're… a big, fat loser and therefore I can't help myself!" Ok, that was a total lie that even Naruto didn't buy.

"Tell me the truth."

"It is the truth, damn it!" He couldn't tell Naruto the truth. There would be no end to the teasing and harassment.

"Guys-"

"WHAT?!" They both shouted at once.

Kakashi was standing over them carrying two small boxes. "I was going to ask you if you wanted any lunch, but…" As he started to move away, Naruto reached out and grabbed the boxes from him. "I thought so."

Naruto handed Sasuke his while opening his own. It was filled with rice balls and vegetables. Needless to say, Naruto picked out all the veggies and started to wolf down the rice balls.

Sasuke ate his own more slowly, but not by much. He loved rice balls and these ones were filled with fish. Soon they were all gone and he was left with the veggies himself. He only picked at them. Bored, he started to watch Naruto eat. He was such a sloppy eater. He kept getting the sticky rice all over his face.

It was then that Sasuke was overcome with a strange new feeling. Instincts were kicking in again. Unable to resist, he crawled over to the blond. He sat beside him, nose inches from Naruto's face. Rice was sticking to his cheeks. Sasuke sniffled. It smelled like fish. That's right! The rice balls contained fish in them so it was no wonder that the rice smelled that way, too. The tantalizing aroma drew him in closer to Naruto's face. Closing his eyes, Sasuke sniffled again and got even closer. His pink tongue slithered out of his mouth as he licked the rice off Naruto's cheek.

"AAAAAIIEEE!" Naruto jumped away, screaming like a little girl. "Oh, dear God! What the hell is the matter with you?!"

It was too late to do anything. Once again, his feline instincts prevailed and he was left feeling nothing but embarrassment. He just licked Naruto's face! How must that have looked?

Shocked and humiliated, Sasuke covered his face and ran from the scene. Sakura jumped up and tried to follow him and Kakashi treated the whole thing like it was just another day.

Naruto sat in the grass wiping the slobber off his face. He was thoroughly weirded out. "Jeez! What the hell is his problem?! He, like, tried to make-out with me or something!" He's been acting so weird lately. I mean, first the thing with Kiba, then the dog, he keeps climbing into trees and saying how much he likes it. He's always sleeping; he's eating raw fish from a pond! He keeps trying to smack me in the head like I'm some cheap toy… and now he's licking my face! Man! It's almost like he's acting like a-

It hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Wait a minute… Don't tell me."

Did he find out the truth? Read the next one to find out!

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