Title: A Demon's Tale
Author: swiftstar85
Genre: Drama/Friendship/Romance
Rating: T for some strong language, violence, suggestive material, and crude humor.

~Chapter Sixteen~

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I wouldn't mind if I did.

With a meaty fist flying at his head and nearly being blinded by the Chakra Level, Neji did the only thing he could do and that was jump back as far as he could. He merely felt a brush of Jirati's fist skim his nose as he leapt back, feeling a sharp pull at his Chakra when their skin almost connected. He was only too glad that Jirati hadn't charged again just yet as he gathered his balance and snapped into another stance.

'Damn it! He barely touched me and I still feel his power working against me.' Neji thought to himself as he gritted his teeth.

However, his eyes snapped wide open when Jirati decided to charge again and start swinging his fists at him. Neji knew he couldn't let this guy lay a hit on him so all he could do was dodge until he could figure something out. He wanted nothing more than to just lay this guy down but remembering what Gai had said, one touch of this Ninja could be his undoing.

How in the world was he going to beat him if he couldn't touch him?

And that's when he caught sight of Alea standing off to the side, watching him like a hawk. He was surprised to see that she was watching him fight and not Rock Lee, more or less, he hated that she was. He did not want her to see him struggling. But it wasn't just that she was watching him fight. He saw something else.

Her Chakra level was unusually high. It was bright as hell fire, nearly as bright as Jirati's was. Yet, there was something else about it that he couldn't put his finger on. Something rather sinister about her Chakra was bugging him, yet it didn't seem to be threatening towards him.

'What the hell...?' Neji thought to himself.

"Hyuga, don't be looking at me and my Chakra level! Duck!" Alea suddenly yelled at him. It was to his own surprise that he actually listened to her and dove down into a crouch just as Jirati came close to punching him again. "Roll to your right side!" He heard her yell at him.

Again, Neji was surprised that his body listened to her as he dove to his right side before spinning to his feet and shot her a dark look. "Quit telling me what to do! I know what I'm doing!" He shot back at her.

Alea ignored him as she smirked watching as Jirati also shot her a look before spinning back to attack Neji. "Just listen to me and you can beat him, Hyuga! Turn off your Byakugan! It's just going to be a hinderance to your fighting! His Chakra level is just too high!" She called him.

Neji would have shot her another dark look if he wasn't too busy trying to dodge Jirati's fist. He did see her point though. He was barely able to see past his own Jutsu because of the offending Ninja's Chakra. So with the quick swiftness of his hands, he deactivated his Byakugan and moved back to avoid getting punched again.

"Hm. Listening to the Cloud Ninja, are we?" Jirati sneered, before lashing out a foot.

Barely escaping from getting kicked in the side, Neji's eyes snapped wide open from surprise before having to back flip away from Jirati. He even saw Alea stiffen from what the fat Ninja said. So it had to be true. She must have been a Cloud Ninja.

'Of course!' Neji thought savagely as he shot her a very dark and hateful look. 'That's why she knows about me! She's one of those murderous Cloud Ninja who murdered my father. I'll kill her later! Right now I can't deal with her!'

Straightening up a little, yet remaining in his Hyuga stance, Neji glared directly at Jirati. "I am not listening to her, Jirati." He said, a lot more calmly that he actually felt. "Right now, you are my enemy and not her. I'll deal with you first then her."

And then he charged forward, hands moving fast to strike at Jirati.

That proved to be a very big mistake. The large Ninja didn't even move to avoid his strike but smirked when the Hyuga's hand smashed against his blocking arm. Jirati could have laughed harshly when Neji's eyes snapped wide open and he let out a yelp when he felt the sharp pull of his Chakra before yanking back. "I'm pretty sure you should know that touching me any where would diminish your Chakra, Neji Hyuga. But I didn't know that you would actually try it." He remarked, smartly. "And I thought you were a Jounin."

Neji moved back several feet before reaching up and grabbing his arm, which felt heavy from getting stung by this guy. He could barely feel it even if it was just a brief strike. His arm felt numb and it dangled by his side. He couldn't even lift it. 'Damn it! Neji, snap out of it! You're letting your anger blind you!' He thought sharply at himself.

"ARGH!" a scream from Tenten caught his attention.

Snapping his head around, Neji saw Tenten go flying into a tree as water attacked her. She was sure taking the heat after attacking Jiro like she had been moments ago. Apparently wacking him with her weapons had set off his temper and he got fed up. Summoning water from the very bay, Jiro sent it crashing against her, knocking her bostaff out of her hands and washing it over her. She could barely move now as his water began drilling for her Chakra.

Lee was doing a little better than her but was still struggling. He looked as if he was holding his breath while Jirai was now trying to thicken the air all around him to bring him down. It would only be a matter of time before he lost all of that air.

"Damn!" Neji cursed before taking a step to go help them.

WHAM!

Neji did not see Jirati coming at him as he had been distracted by his team mate's struggles. He hadn't seen the large Ninja use that distraction to charge at the tall, slender Noble and slam him against the tree behind him, while keeping his hands locked on his arms and starting to drain his Chakra.

Cursing loudly, Neji tried to kick Jirati off of him but his strength was starting to drain along with his Chakra level. He even started feeling very numb from being attacked like that.

"Damn it!" Alea swore as she watched Team Gai's struggle and started to take a step forward to go help them. It was time to interfere. She knew they had another fight within them but right now, they were trapped in a corner. Balling up her fists tightly, she started to raise up her own Chakra level.

But suddenly, before she could even move, there was an explosion of smoke in the middle of the clearing, surprising her. It even caught the Chakra Brothers' attention, making them whirl around in their surprise. But before they even had the chance to see what it was, something, or someone had grabbed and kicked Jiro and Jirai away from Rock Lee and Tenten, sending them crashing against Jirati. All three large ninja went stumbling and rolling against the ground, yelling out in pain or cursing as Jirati's Chakra drain struck the other two, rendering them rather useless after being stung.

After a moment of shoving his useless brothers off of him, Jirati was on his feet, glaring at who just interfered. He frowned when he saw an older version of the young ninja, Rock Lee standing before him in a perfect stance and ready to fight him. "Huh? What is this?" He asked, raising his own fists and readying himself.

"Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee called cheerfully as he stood up straighter.

Gai didn't look at him but kept a serious gaze right on Jirati. He knew better than to look away from his opponent such as this one was. He had been watching a little of his team's fights with the Brothers. "So you think you can harm my team without paying for it, do ya, Jirati? Well, you're wrong! And now, you're opponent is me! Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, take a breather for now! You did well but right now, Jirati is too tough for you." He told them.

Neji pushed himself to his feet, cursing silently but he nodded to Gai, as did Tenten and Rock Lee who joined him. They only watched as their former teacher face off with the large remaining Ninja while the other two were still down from being stung by Jirati's Chakra drain.

"So, you're Mighty Gai." Jirati remarked, smirking at the spoken and looking him over. "I heard you were nearly a match up for that infamous Kakashi Hatake, the Sharingan Ninja. But I didn't expect you to be this ugly."

"WHY YOU...!" Rock Lee exclaimed in rage, starting to take a step forward. But more than two pairs hands stopped him, making him turn to see Alea had joined them, much to Neji's anger and disgust.

Gai, however, snorted as if he was going to laugh at Jirati's words. He didn't even look offended at all, though deep within, he was imaging pounding the hell out of this guy. "You are misinformed, Jirati. I am stronger than Kakashi Hatake. I am his eternal rival who has been a step ahead of him since we were in the Academy." He remarked. "As for who is the ugliest between us, I would have to say you are. At least I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast while you are a Chakra Eating Fat Ninja who could never add up to anything I've done. I have at least beaten some of the Akatsuki. Have you ever done such a task?"

Beside Lee, Alea stiffened when she heard those words, looking at the Jounin in surprise. She looked as if she couldn't believe him but to actually confirm that, she looked to Lee, who met her eyes and grinned, dipping his head into a nod.

Angry, however, Jirati let out a growl before charging at his enemy and swung his fists. He expected that Gai would make the same mistake as Neji had and blocked his attack. But instead, Gai leapt backwards and began moving to avoid getting touched at all. He kept jumping back away from the angry large Ninja, doing very well in the process. It mostly just an evasive manuver that Gai was putting out. He would dodge behind a tree to slow down Jirati, ducking under the flying debries of tree splinters.

The three young Leaf Ninja could only watch as they tried to regain their strength and nerve, while Alea watched the Jounin move so swiftly. She was impressed, to be honest. She hadn't thought Gai could be so fast and moving away from Jirati so well. 'He's not bad.' She thought to herself.

'You know it's only a matter of time before you have to release me. Even if Mighty Gai succeeds in avoiding Jirati's attacks, he can't put it up forever. And just by touching Jirati, he could be defeated quickly.'Nekomata's voice purred within her head.

Alea merely nodded as a gentle sigh escaped her lips. She knew that her inner demon was right. It was only a matter of time before she was going to have to step in and reveal herself. She wasn't going to like this. If she did what Nekomata was suggesting, there was a very good chance that the Akatsuki might find out that she was still alive and came after her.

What then?

Could she seriously endanger Lee and his comrades because of their persistence of capturing her?

She knew that any time before she actually met Rock Lee, she might say yes immediately. But after the few days of letting him get to know her and she getting to know him, she had to force herself to saying no.

Suddenly, the cat within her began to growl and a second later, Alea knew why. She jerked herself out of her thoughts when she saw sudden movement beside her, causing her to quickly spin away from where she had been standing to see that it was none other than Neji who had swung at her. She wasn't surprised to see him now attacking her. But his comrades sure were.

"Neji!" Lee gasped jerking around.

But Neji ignored him as he glared right at Alea, fury dancing in his pale eyes as he felt so much hatred towards her. He wasn't going to hesitate any longer. This girl was a part of the village the murdered his father in his uncle's place to protect the Byakugan secrets and he felt like extracting little rage on her.

"You! You're a Cloud Ninja! An enemy of the Leaf Village!" Neji ground out, forming his Hyuga stance and preparing to attack her again.

Quickly, Lee placed himself between Neji and Alea, shaking his head. He did not want to fight his own team mate and friend just to stop his anger. He had made a promise to Alea that he would help her and he meant it. Even if having to protect her from Neji. "Neji, do not do this..." He was saying.

"Lee! You knew about her, didn't you? That's why she's been so friendly to you! She's trying to use you to succeed..." It was Neji's turn to be interupted.

"No, Neji, she is not! I can not let you attack her!" Lee spoke up, though there was a very worried look in his eye as he held up a hand to keep Neji back. He did not want to do this. He did not want to have to fight with his team mate to keep Alea's secret. Not after being team mates with the Hyuga Prodigy for so many years. "Please, stand down."

Neji glared at Lee next, while Tenten was frozen stiff right where she stood. She had no idea what was going on and she certainly didn't have a clue what to do to stop it. She felt torn between friends as she glance from one young man to the other, trying to fight herself to say something. Anything!

But it was Alea who spoke up. The dark haired tight rope walker sighed heavily before she stepped forward and carefully put her hand on Lee's shoulder, surprising him. She shook her head at him as she moved past him, keeping her hand onto his shoulder. Instead, she looked directly at Neji, meeting his infuriated glare. "My name," She paused to glance at Lee when he started. "My name is Yugito Nii. And yes. I am a Cloud Ninja. And no, I am not using Lee to distract you or anything. Lee knew about me, yes. But after that little out burst between myself and Tenten." She glanced to the Weapon Specialist, who looked very surprised. She quickly met Neji's darkening glare as she stepped closer to him. "I am not your enemy, Neji Hyuga. But we do have a common enemy."

There was nothing else that Neji wanted to do than to snap at her to shut up before attacking her, using every skill he had to bring her down.

However, before Neji could move, she did.

It surprised Lee that Alea actually jumped forward, raising a fist as if she was going to accept the challenge against Neji. He was too startled to even move as he watched her lunge at his team mate, who quickly prepared himself to fight her.

That is until, Neji's own eyes flashed wide open before he whirled around on his heel, grabbing Tenten by the arm and swinging her out the way just as a katana nearly sliced through her head. He ignored her shout of protest, as well as Alea as she stomped down hard on the blade, forcing the Samurai to nearly drop it. It was the big one. Waraji. He looked down right angry that she had made him drop his katana and was rightfully glaring at her for it.

Still standing on the blade, Alea gave the big one a smirk before she snapped up a leg and nailed him across the face. The impact sent him spinning back away from her and the Leaf Ninja. He sure looked surprised that she had managed to do it too. He shot her an alarmed look after catching himself on a tree before straightening up and glancing at Zori when he moved over to join him, glaring at the young female ninja.

"So, you want to join in the little game?" Alea asked, her tone dangerously playful as she crouched a little lower. "It's not very honorable of you to try and slice a girl's head open when her back is turned to you. Even the Samurai would never do something so low. So that must mean that you're not much of a Samurai."

Waraji growled before starting to step forward again. He only stopped when Zori grabbed a hold of his shoulder, keeping him back from attacking. He wanted nothing more than to just shove his companion off of him but stayed back, knowing very well not to anger him.

Zori, on the other hand, just narrowed his eyes at the young dark haired Kunoichi, almost studying her. "Be careful, Waraji. Remember what she is capable of." He reminded him.

Neji and Tenten frowned as they glanced over at Alea, who was just smiling a very dangerous smile. They weren't sure what she was capable of but they also didn't want to take any chances, their selves.

But Lee, however, just smiled as he eyed the two Samurai in front of them. He had not seen what Alea could do, but he had an idea. If she was anything like Gaara or Naruto, then she was more than likely able to take down these two. And he was very sure that she might even be able to take at least one of the Chakra Brothers, if not all of them.

Alea just kept on smiling that coy smile as she crouched even lower, nearly letting her hands touch the ground below her feet. She looked more like a predator, getting ready to attack her prey. "That's right, boys. Don't mess with the kitty cat. You remember when I fried half of your men, don't you?" She said, her eyes narrowing as steam began to waver all around her, surprising Neji and Tenten. It was truth be told, that she didn't even seem aware of their presense right at the moment. Her complete attention was on the two Samurai.

"Do you really think you can take the both of us on by yourself, Cloud Ninja?" Zorii asked, his eyes narrowing at her. "You couldn't possibly..."

"Do not tell me what I can and can't do, Samurai." Alea hissed, her eyes narrowed dangerously at him but she kept a smirk on her face. "I'm way out of your league. I'm way above your league. And if you don't call off your dogs, they're going to deal with me."

Both Samurai snorted from dark humor as they glanced at one another before they both moved forward a step, holding their katana tightly in their hands. Warajii even laughed loudly at her as if she had just told a hilarious joke. "You cannot possibly stand a chance against the Chakra Brothers, more or less, against us, little Cloud." He snorted loudly.

Alea just smirked at him before she snapped into a crouch, nearly low to the ground and one hand clawed in front of her. "I don't know about that, fatboy. Maybe we should find out." She remarked slyly.

"WHY YOU...!" The large Samurai snarled at her before he charged and this time his partner did not stop him. Zorii was just as annoyed as he was by this girl's assumptions so he would allow his partner to show her up. He just stood back to watch as the other Samurai brutally attacked the girl. He would not jump in unless he needed to.

With the katana swinging at her, Alea knew she better draw this away from Team Guy before they ended up getting hurt. She quickly and lightly kicked out at Lee, lightly shoving him away before barrel rolling right under the large Samurai's legs as he tried to bring the blade down where she had just been. The young tight rope walker just smirked as she listened to him roar out in rage before she spun quickly on her palms and smashed her foot across the angry man's face, sending him spinning away from her. She frowned a little when Lee started to take a step forward as if to help her out. But he caught her eyes when she shook her head at him, almost asking him silently to just watch. Her only answer was a nod as he stood up straight and prepared to survey the battle with Neji and Tenten. He knew that Alea could do it on her own.

Waraji snarled as he rubbed his chin before charging at the girl, swinging his katana. He only grew angrier when she spun to her feet and dodged each swing before lashing out with hand and actually slicing open his arm with her fingers. "Argh! You little...!" He roared before slashing down at her again.

Once again, Alea dodged easily away from the spinning katana with a smirk on her face. Her hands raised into tiger claw positions, giving a fair warning to the Samurai that she would use a tiger style hand to hand with him. If he was not careful, she could cause him a lot of injuries.

Of course, the Samurai didn't seem to care for he sliced the air in front of him before moving forward to attack her again. Only this time, his blade started to glow a violent red, surprising the Leaf Ninja and making the Cloud only narrow her eyes at him. He stopped charging at her with only about five feet between them before raising his katana for a high slash. "Fire Edge!" He snapped before swinging it down at her.

The katana seemed to suddenly catch fire as it came down before it exploded away from the blade and struck out at Alea, making her flinch as the fire burned her arm. She hissed painfully as she quickly back flipped away from the rest of the flames trying to hit her, landing in a low crouch. She did not look amused at all. "Oh, so you think you can play with fire around me, huh? I guess you haven't learned your lesson about that yet." She said coldly before she quickly stood up and threw her hand forward in a claw. "Well, let's play with fire then!"

Fire exploded into the palm of her hand, coursing all around her fingers as it grew bigger and began licking down her arm over the burn that Waraji's blade had caused. The flames forming her hand seemed to caress the burn and slowly heal the burn.

"Fire Style Strike!" Alea hissed out just as more flames began to course right out of her hands, surrounding them.

With her hands alit, the Cloud Ninja began to swirl her hands around each other, causing the flames to seem to dance all around her before she stomped a foot and more fire exploded around her feet. Both her hands and feet were now burning with flames, yet not causing her any damage at all. "Let's dance then, Samurai!"

And she charged, now swinging her hands and spinning her feet as she began to attack Waraji.

All the while, the three Leaf Ninja watched in nearly amazement. Lee had not seen his new friend in action like this but now seeing her fighting like this, he had to admit it. She was more amazing than he had thought before. He had never seen Jutsu like this before. He knew that her being something different than him or his team mates, being like Naruto and Gaara, she could probably handle anything that the Samurai threw at her.

With only a brief glance at Neji and Tenten, Lee was not surprised to see the astonished looks on their faces. It made him smile. At least they were getting an idea of what Alea was capable of. And he hoped that Neji wouldn't try to attack her again.

However, a splash of water brought the green clad ninja's attention away from his team mates before he nearly yelped to see a large wave of water now rising out of the bay and flying at Alea. "Alea!" He gasped now quickly stepping forward to help her.

But before he could take another step, a blast of wind nearly blew him, Neji and Tenten over, earning shouts of alarm from them as they felt the air literately turning heavy for them. It made all three of them fall to their knees, trying to fight back. But with a brief glance, he saw the Chakra Brothers, Jirai and Jiro back on their feet and deciding to aid Waraji, while attacking the three Leaf Ninja at the same time while they hadn't been looking.

Alea, however, had heard the splashes of water but had not been expecting a large wave of it to crash over her, putting out her flames. She gave a loud yowl of shock as she was shoved off her feet from the pounding water and being pushed down from the Chakra Brother Jiro. She barely had time to even see that Jirai was harming Lee, Neji and Tenten by trying to crush them with air before she felt a sharp edge stab into her side. She couldn't stop herself from screaming within the surrounding water as she sharply looked back at the grinning Waraji who had attacked her when she wasn't able to move.

"Looks like your time is up, little girl!" The Samurai sneered as he pushed his katana deeper into her side, forcing blood to gush from her side and mix with the water.

"Al-Alea!" Lee gasped, trying to push himself to his feet but he ended up getting slammed to the ground by Jirai's wind. He was now gasping and choking for the air that was being forced away from him.

Hissing in pain, Alea glanced over her shoulder at him before looking back at Waraji. 'Damn it! I...can't...move! This water is just too...! Neko!' She cried out.

'Are you sure, kitten? Because once I do this, there's no going back and it might attract unwanted attention.' Nekomata hissed into her head.

Alea found enough strength to grab the katana stabbing in her side and gripped it tightly, even though it was slicing her fingers open. She couldn't stop a whimper of pain from escaping her, as well as a part of her breath. She knew that Nekomata had a point. If she did this now, it was more than likely it would attract the attention of the Akatsuki. She didn't want that. But seeing that Lee, Neji and Tenten was in pain because their lungs were nearly being crushed by Jirai's air manipulation, she did not have much of a choice.

'Do it!' She shouted at her feline demon.

Waraji was nearly laughing his head off as he tried to push the katana deeper into his victim. He wasn't even looking into the ball of water as he glanced over at Zori, seeing if he was watching. But seeing the growing frown on his companion and feeling his blade give a jerk, he had to look back at the sphere of water, only to freeze.

Something was happening!

Inside the sphere, there was a violent blue light now starting to swirl all around the girl, not letting anyone see her. The lights began to glow brighter just as steam began to trickle out of the sphere. It was like the water was starting to heat up quickly and bubble right out of the sphere.

If that was not enough, there was low rumble, causing everyone to stop what they were doing just to watch the sphere as the water began to ripple and bubble violently. Even the air, itself seemed to start to heat up, causing it to turn a little muggy.

"What the hell...?" Waraji barely had time to say before the water seemed to explode, shooting every where as flames broke the sphere. He had to yank back, stumbling over his own feet just to escape from the intensive heat before looking wildly at the flames starting to swirl all around where the girl had been.

Even Jiro and Jirai were startled enough to stop their element manipulation, letting Lee, Neji and Tenten gasp for their breath before looking to watch what was happening.

The flames swirling around Alea were not like any flames they had seen before. They were an almost evil blue and purple, swirling around the area. They were even growing bigger, expanding until a rather inhuman growl broke out of the flames as smoke around the base of the flames began to swirl with them. It was the most oddest thing they had all seen.

But nothing could prepare them for what began to rise out of the swirling flames.

A large body of blue flames seemed to stand up before a pair of tails lashed out into the air, snapping at the two Chakra Brothers, causing them to stumble back to avoid getting hit.

It was only Lee whose breath caught as he realized what just happened. He realized what Alea had done. "Nekomata..." He found himself murmur in awe as the giant fire cat lashed out its tails again, clearing the smoke as it turned its burning blue eyes onto the alarmed Samurai before it.

"Wh-what...what is that thing?" Tenten gasped as she grabbed her giant weapon scroll and clutched onto it as if she was going to use it.

Almost as if it heard her words, the fire cat merely glanced over at her before looking at Lee. It was then, it's large ears pressed against its head as it eyed him. Lee almost caught his breath when he realized that it was looking a little forlorn for him seeing it. He knew that it was Alea, no. Yugito Nii was bothered with him seeing her Tailed Demon form. He recalled how she said it was an ugly Beast and she always thought she looked just as hideous.

In a way, it was rather ugly.

But Lee didn't see it that way. He looked right into its eyes and he only imagined a rather elegant beast standing before him. He understood that Yugito Nii was feeling worried that he would think she was hideous.

But all the Leaf Ninja could do was smile before he quickly moved forward, dodging Tenten and Neji's grabbing hands as they tried to stop him from going near the Tailed Beast. He went straight over to the Nekomata, ignoring her as she leaned away from him. He just reached out and carefully held out his hand towards her shoulder and lightly patted it without being burned.

"See, Alea. I told you that you weren't ugly." Lee said, grinning at her.

The Nekomata blinked almost as if surprised by his words before her eyes softened and she snapped her head forward at the enemies before her, growling. Her fiery fur seemed to stand on end as she began to crouch low, looking ready to pounce.

"Then let's take care of these wicked fiends, Rock Lee! Let's end their reign of terror for the Port City!"Nekomata hissed as her two tails began waving in the air.

Lee's head snapped into a nod before he folded one hand behind his back and threw the other one out before him, looking straight at Waraji. "Yes! Let's fight together! Come on, Nekomata, Yugito Nii! Let us defend Inari-chan and his village from these villains! And then we will take on the Akatsuki together! I will be honored to fight beside you and I give you my word that they will not hurt you! They will not extract the Nekomata from you! And I will help you find Killer Bee, with Gaara and Naruto's help!" He said loudly.

The only reply he got from the Two Tailed Beast was a pleasant hiss before they both lunged at the Chakra Brothers and the Samurai in seperate directions. Neither of them bothered to look at the astonished and awed looks on Neji or Tenten's faces. Nor even Gai's when he caught sight of what just happened. He didn't even see Jirati coming at him from behind because he had been distracted.