Chapter 15: Flesh and Blood

Shikamaru started to become aware of certain changes that were happening after that. When Naruto returned, he and Shikamaru both agreed that their view on human beings had been skewed. They knew who their friends were, but were now focused on the fact that they were human. That was now their title. They were human. They were different. Even Naruto and Shikamaru were starting to think differently from humans. They saw nothing wrong with raiding the farm for food. To them, the farmers attacked them out of nowhere because they were mean humans.

Shikamaru became aware of the changes in themselves as well. He could move much faster through the woods now. He could hear the slightest sound with his ears, no matter how small. He could easily find water and sense changes in the weather. His antlers would still get tangled in thin hanging branches from time to time but he was getting much better with avoiding that as well. His running had also improved. He was such a fast runner. Controlling his legs was no longer a challenge. Now he could dart up an incline in the dense forest if he desired.

Naruto had improved as well. He was always very agile, but now even more so. He could climb with ease and his fishing had also improved. The changes in him weren't as apparent as they were with Shikamaru. However, Shikamaru did notice a few subtle things. For instance, Naruto would bury whatever he was too full to finish eating. His digging had improved and now he was much faster at it. When Shikamaru woke up after a nap, he noticed that Naruto had dug himself a small tunnel to sleep in. When asked about it, he claimed he didn't realize he had done it. Naruto had also become accustomed to sleeping on the ground. He no longer missed his bed and preferred to sleep under the stars. He thought it was much better. Now the idea of living in a house or anywhere indoors sounded confining. Out here he felt so free.

Along the road, they smelled something cooking and decided to investigate. It was a small tea house perched beside the road for travelers. Naruto had left behind his backpack so he didn't have any money on him. That didn't seem to be an issue. He didn't want to go inside. He was more interested in the barrels outside. He could smell food. He stuck his head inside one of the barrel and shuffled around with his face. He pulled something out with his teeth and dropped it on the ground. It was an apple core. He dug around and pulled out something else. He was gnawing on an orange peel. Naruto was actually digging through trash, trying to find something to eat.

Shikamaru didn't want to take part and hung back. When he sensed someone coming, he bolted. Naruto ran after him and the two went back on the road.

Only a half hour later, they smelled something else and got off the road quickly. Two humans were walking by. A man and a woman. They spotted Naruto peering around a tree and the woman grimaced.

"What?" Naruto asked her, slightly upset.

"What are you?" She looked disgusted.

"I'm a human."

"You don't look it."

"Tell me something I haven't heard..."

The man tugged on the woman's arm. "Come on. He's obliviously some deformed kid. Let's go."

"I'm not deformed," Naruto barked back.

The man started to turn but the woman tugged on him this time. "Let's get out of here. He gives me the creeps."

Naruto's ears twitched. "I give you the creeps?"

Shikamaru's ears twitched, watching from behind the trees. Naruto was getting very upset.

"Yeah," said the woman. "You're ugly and gross looking."

"You're no prize yourself, sister!" Naruto snapped.

The man pulled the woman behind his back and confronted Naruto. "Hey! You don't speak to her that way."

"Why? You gonna do something about it? I'd like to see you try!"

Shikamaru flinched. Was it his imagination, or was Naruto a little short-tempered? Why was he picking a fight?

The man took him up on his challenge and stepped forward. "I'll mop the floor with a punk like you."

Naruto arched his back and approached sideways, lashing his tail. The man took it as a joke and scoffed. Then Naruto stood up straight and showed his teeth, snarling. The man held up his fists, ready to box. Naruto launched an assertive attack, coming straight at him with his tail aloft and his ears rotated sideways. He man punched Naruto in the face. Naruto hissed and slashed him back, his claws cutting deep into the man's cheek.

"Ow!" The man pulled back, covering the open wound with his hand. "What the hell?"

Naruto snarled and came at him again. The man backed away but Naruto kept coming. He pounced on the man and cut him again.

"Stop it!" yelled the woman.

Naruto snarled at both of them and shoved the man into the woman. "Get lost! Go!"

Bleeding from his cheek and ear, the man pulled the woman along and they both ran for it.

Naruto stood tall, huffing in anger. Then he calmed and started down the road again. Shikamaru left the trees and approached cautiously. Naruto didn't acknowledge him until they were walking side by side.

"Was that really necessary?" Shikamaru asked.

"Was what necessary?"

"What you just did back there. Did you really need to attack them like that?"

Naruto rotated and flicked his ears. "Did what?"

"You just attacked that man. Don't you remember?"

Naruto looked down. "Well... yeah. Sort of. I know he made my blood boil but I'm not sure why. I don't know why I got so angry but I did and I just..." Naruto didn't look ashamed. Just confused.

This was wrong. He could see that now.

"Naruto..." he said. "We have to change back."

"Huh?"

"I was wrong. I think I just got caught up in the fun I was having, but now I see that I was wrong. We can't stay like this. This is no way to live."

"What do you mean? Didn't you say that we were better off living as animals?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "That was before I realized what was going to happen to us. We ran into our friends and we ran from them. They scared me too much and even you weren't comfortable around them. Don't you see? Before you had asked me about our friends and I said we could always visit. Now I see that that's impossible. I'm going to be too terrified of Choji to come anywhere near him. I run! And aside from that, look at us! We're digging through trash and get chased away and everything else! This is no way to live."

Naruto looked at the ground. That was a good point. He couldn't stand being around his friends anymore. Digging through trash did sound rather disgusting. He wanted the freedom and ended up overlooking everything he would be giving up. Still, the pull of the wild was too great. He found it difficult to give that up. But what of his friends? They were so precious to him. Was he really going to discard them all for the sake of feeling free? At least he would have Shikamaru so it may not have been as bad as he thought.

"And you're changing, too, Naruto. You're becoming scary."

He looked up. "Scary?"

"Yeah. The way I saw you attack those guys... You were picking a fight with them. Me being the way that I am... I might end up running from you, too."

Naruto's ears lowered. "Oh... I see..." Then he would be alone.

"We have to change back, Naruto. I'm having a very bad feeling."

Naruto agreed. Maybe turning into a fox was clouding his judgment. Maybe changing back was the right thing to do. "Yeah, you're right. That's what we're supposed to be doing, right?"

"Exactly. Our brains haven't been working very well recently. I'm starting to think the change is spreading to other parts of us."

"I know it's spreading for me." Naruto's cheeks started to turn pink. "I'm furry. Ahem. Down there."

Shikamaru looked down. "Oh."

"Not all of it. It's my legs, too. And some parts are ok. Here, look."

"I'll take your word for it." Shikamaru turned away.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly. His whole lower half was covered in fur. His feet even looked like real fox paws now. He thought his feet had turned black from walking barefoot through the dirt roads and mud. Now he saw they he had grown fur, dark as pitch. His clothes covered most of the changes, but Naruto knew it wasn't long until he was a full animal like Shikamaru.

After that, both Naruto and Shikamaru became aware of other changes they were experiencing. Or as Shikamaru put it, lack thereof. They were starting to get blanks in their memories. At first Shikamaru figured it was because he was so deep in thought, he didn't notice how far they were traveling or where they were heading. Then he realized that wasn't the case. When he first became aware of it, it was when he had wandered off to graze in a field. He didn't remember leaving the road. He knew this would be coming after he saw the way Naruto attacked those people and afterwords explained that he didn't remember most of it. That was the beginning. When he was aware that he had done something but couldn't remember the details. That was the start of it. Now both of them were starting to have memory blocks.

Shikamaru worried that this would impair them even further. It was hard enough dealing with their animal instincts. Now they had to worry about forgetting why they were doing things in the first place. Shikamaru knew this was coming. There were signs. Everything they were experiencing all led up to this. Everything from viewing humans differently to thinking more like an animal, like Naruto taking food from someone's property and not think twice about it. As far as he was concerned, he found it. He never thought he was stealing. Such thoughts no longer crossed their minds. Now Shikamaru worried about what else would no longer cross their minds. What if they couldn't remember why they wanted to go to the next village and for what purpose?

Soon, they would become like the crocodiles. They would be animals on the inside out.

He didn't want that. He already had a hard time thinking as it was. He felt stupider somehow. No, not stupid. Simple-minded. He was thinking more like a deer. He was already skittish like one. Now he ran away whenever he felt frightened or thought he was in danger. He was always quick to run from a fight when he was human but that was on account of his laziness. Now things were different and with different reasons.

As the day dragged on, they decided to take a short rest before continuing. There must have been a village nearby if they passed two humans along the way. They weren't carrying bags, either, which meant they weren't far from a town or something.

While Shikamaru rested, Naruto wandered off. He grew concerned and wondered if he should go look for him. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he heard rapid footsteps coming closer. Shikamaru remained perfectly still and listened. Naruto came running through the grass on all fours chasing a rabbit. The cottontail zigzagged but Naruto was on its tail no matter where it went. Then Naruto was in front of it, cutting it off. As the rabbit tried to make a hasty turn, Naruto chomped down on its neck and lifted it off the ground with his teeth. The rabbit twitched and Naruto began to pull it apart.

Shikamaru grimaced when he heard a loud snap and cracking. "I think it's dead now. Could you stop that?"

"Oh, sorry." Naruto sat down with the rabbit on his knee. He didn't move for some time as if debating something. Then Naruto picked up the rabbit in his hands and started eating it. Raw.

Blood dripped down his chin like the juice from a watermelon and from his hands. He ripped a chuck of bloody meat from the rabbit's stomach and chewed it. He swallowed and took another bite. Smaller bites he didn't bother chewing and simply swallowed them whole.

"Naruto..."

He turned his head. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to cook that?"

Naruto looked down. "Mm. It tastes good like this. And I don't have the time to build a fire and wait around. I'm hungry now. This works fine." He went back to eating, unaware of the horrified look on Shikamaru's face or the wide eyes he was staring at him with.

Now Naruto was eating raw meat.

Things had been going downhill slowly but now... Now things were getting much worse. They had to get cured fast. Before it was too late.

Soon they were back on their way. Naruto and Shikamaru walked side by side on the dirt road. Sometimes Naruto would wander off the road and into the grass then come back looking confused. He must have been getting lapses again. Shikamaru would do the same. He tried to keep himself focused while they made their way to the next village but it was difficult. He found it hard to resist the allure of the tranquil forest and being left alone to his own devices. That was the main reason he wanted to live as a deer in the first place. He wanted to be able to do whatever he wanted and not have to listen to anyone. He could be as lazy as he pleased. It was very appealing. Every now and then he would get lapses he could not control and other times he would give into the ones he could feel coming on.

Shikamaru stopped, his ears picking up a sound. It was big. "Naruto."

He stopped to listen. The grass was moving. Footsteps.

They both turned to the woods and saw something large moving slowly through the trees. It was a bear. It lumbered slowly between the trees, stopping only to give the boys its attention for a few moments. It stared at them and they stared back. Then it turned away and paid them no mind. It walked away and disappeared.

Shikamaru released his held breath with a deep sigh. He was hoping it wouldn't attack them.

"That was pretty cool, wasn't it?" asked Naruto, looking cheerful.

"Yeah."

"I'm going to go see if we can talk to it." Naruto went off the road and into the woods.

"Naruto, wait!" Shikamaru chased after him. "Are you crazy?"

"Hey, if we're turning into animals, maybe we can talk to it. I can understand you, after all."

"Yeah, but didn't you try the same thing with the crocodiles and it failed?"

"That was when we were just starting out. Since we're this far along, maybe we can talk to animals. I'm going to give it a try."

"I really don't think it's such a good idea."

As usual Naruto wasn't listening and did his own thing. He was a slave to his whims.

Shikamaru hung back, not wanting to get too close to the bear. He had a bad feeling Naruto may provoke it. He let Naruto go on ahead and waited for him to return. Or scream and come running.

The next thing Shikamaru was aware, he was grazing. Another lapse. He couldn't remember anything. This was getting to be troublesome.

"Wah!"

Shikamaru looked up. "Naruto?" Was he hurt? Did the bear attack him? Shikamaru went deeper into the woods to find out what had happened. "Naruto?"

Naruto was on the ground in front of another animal. It wasn't a bear. It was a deer. A huge buck with eight prongs. That was two more than Shikamaru had. The buck scraped the ground with its hoof, lowering its head. Naruto pressed his ears against his skull and arched his back, grinning nervously. No, he was grinning in submission. This must have been another fox trait. He was backing away, showing he was no threat.

The deer didn't seem to think so and charged, head lowered. Naruto dove out of the way and tried to run but the deer chased after him like a bull. This deer wasn't going to let Naruto go. What had he done to anger it so much?

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Shikamaru yelled. "Stop it!"

The deer didn't listen to him and ran into Naruto from behind. Naruto was thrown into the air and, just before he fell, he caught hold of a branch and held on tight. Up here, the deer couldn't reach him. It was still trying, though.

"Shoo! Get away from me!"

Shikamaru didn't know what to do. Naruto was in trouble. So often it was Naruto who protected Shikamaru. Now it was time for him to return the favor. Shikamaru had to do something to protect him.

He didn't know what had come over him, but the next second, he was charging in. He lowered his head and his antlers made contact with the deer's side. He pushed it away from the tree, giving Naruto a chance to run.

The buck recovered and bellowed at Shikamaru. It lowered its head. Shikamaru did the same. His antlers made contact with the other deer's. They made a loud clacking sound and Shikamaru could feel the buck's strength in his neck. He pushed back. Their antlers were locked.

Naruto jumped down from the tree and watched in amazement. "Whoa..."

Shikamaru pushed back hard but the other deer was stronger than him. His hooves slid across the grass. They pulled apart and rammed into each other again. Thinking he would have the advantage if he was higher, Shikamaru lifted himself onto his hind legs and kicked out at the other deer. The deer did the same. Its hooves were hard and powerful. Shikamaru felt a direct hit in his front right leg, equivalent to being struck by a stone rod. It hurt! Shikamaru bellowed loudly. He tried to kick it back but all his swings were misses.

The deer pushed him back. Still on his hind legs, Shikamaru lost his balance and toppled over. The deer pulled away and tried to gore him in the stomach with its antler. Shikamaru kicked with all four legs, trying to keep it at a distance. It moved in.

It disappeared.

Shikamaru rolled onto his side and looked around. Naruto was on top of the deer, biting its underside. The deer kicked and Naruto silenced it once and for all. He drove his clawed hands into its chest and tore it apart. He pulled out fistfuls of flesh and muscle. The deer didn't move after that. Naruto had killed it.

Naruto reached in and pulled out pieces of flesh and started eating it while it was still warm and oozing blood.

"Naruto."

He ignored him, chowing down on the meat.

"Naruto!"

He turned, his mouth full. "Hm?"

Shikamaru had a powerful urge to run away. Naruto was eating a deer. His own kind. He took it down so easily. "You... You're eating a deer."

He looked down. Naruto swallowed and sniffed the meat. He started to lean in for another bite, then stopped, his open mouth hovering over the meat. He dropped it and quickly backed away. Naruto looked horrified.

"Are you ok?" Shikamaru asked, concerned.

Naruto turned away from the dead deer, breathing heavily. "I... I didn't know I was... I don't remember doing that. The last thing I remember, I was trying to stop it from goring you and then..." Naruto looked down at his hands, stained with blood. He tried wiping them off on his pants.

"It's ok, Naruto."

"The thing is... it actually tastes good. I like deer meat."

Naruto and Shikamaru couldn't look at each other. Naruto liked the taste of deer flesh. Shikamaru was a deer. Naruto didn't remember doing any of that. What did this mean?

"Shikamaru..."

"Yeah?"

"I..." Naruto looked worried. "I think we should get to the next village. Really soon."

"Me, too."

Oh, no.

This will not end well.

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