Hi! This is my first fanfiction, and I know there are major plot-holes, and grammar mistakes, and... just so much wrong with it, lol.

However, I hope you enjoy the plot that I am attempting to portray... further along in the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only Kibana and the Chikushou-clan.

Chikushou means Beast.

Chapter One.

The Uchiha gathered around the young girl who had approached their compound. She looked only the age of eleven. Izuna Uchiha broke through the crowd to see what all the commotion was about-his father had left several days ago to join the front lines of the battle with the Fukari clan.

Izuna was left as a supervisor along with his older brother until their fathers return. The clansmen and servants parted to let the noble man through, only to reveal the battered form of the young child. His eyes widened slightly at her appearance, and his eyes automatically began roving the crowd to locate the one to inflict such injuries to her.

"I-Izuna-sama! This girl claims to be of Uchiha blood and has sought out refuge here." An advisor of Izuna approached from the innermost circle of the crowd. Izuna Uchiha looked back to the girl, who upon closer inspection definitely appeared to share Uchiha blood, though her amber eyes spoke differently.

"Who is your parent, child?" Izuna asked softly-the girl seemed frightened and scared. Her eyes landed on his face, and studied his eyes. He watched as her eyes hardened, and her upper lip curled back, revealing sharp canines that slightly protruded her lips when her mouth was closed. He blinked at her features, and without hesitation sat on a knee before her, and laid his hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"Child? Do you not know who your family is?" He asked softly. The child appeared to him as the embodiment of innocence, and she reeked of fear. He found no reason to believe she was out for his blood.

"I know of my mother, but otherwise I am a bastard child." She answered, her mouth opening to continue, and then hesitating. He prodded her to continue. Her eyes narrowed slightly at his persistence but she nonetheless continued. "My mother," she practically hissed the word "told me that should she leave me, to seek the Uchiha's. She gave me no name, and she gave me no description, however she said that my father was of Uchiha blood."

Izuna's eyes widened. Why would a woman leave her child? No, the girl must have ran...

"Where is your mother now, child?" He asked her patiently, and once again her upper lip curled into a snarl. "She has left me, to continue on to spawn other children."

A few of the Uchiha's blinked in confusion and surprise. Izuna felt the girl twitch under his hand at their blatant staring, uncomfortable under their scrutiny. He stood, and looked at his clansmen in warning. He looked back down to the girl standing only to his shoulder, and he could not help but believe she were more ill, than she was beaten. "Come child, let us get you a meal, and discuss your circumstances further... alone." He put emphasize on the last word, before guiding the girl by her shoulder towards the main hall on the Uchiha compound where many meals and meetings were held with the general public.

"How old are you?" Izuna asked the girl, as they left the crowd of Uchiha, and she merely raised an eyebrow at him and appeared to suppress a smile. "I assumed I was the same age as you, though I find it odd you continue to call me child." She said, her voice sounding forced and plain uncomfortable.

"So, then you are 12?" Izuna asked, with a quirked eyebrow. The corner of her lip twitched as she fought another smile. "Give or take a year, Uchiha-sama." She replied, being as vague as she could.

"Izuna." He said with a gruff voice, causing the girl to glance over at him from the corner of her eye. Her eyes narrowed slightly, before she bit her lip. They walked for eight minutes in silence, Izuna assuming she would not release her name to him, even though he had given her his.

"... Kibana... I prefer Kiba or Ana though." She whispered, as if thinking that if he had not heard her, she could still honestly say she had given her name. Izuna smiled slightly, Kibana fit her nicely, considering her animalistic appearance.

"Kibana-san, do you know your mother's name?" He asked her hesitantly, as he held the large oak door of the dining hall open for her, she stepped in and took a quick inhale of air, before cringing her nose slightly.

She gazed around the brightly lit room that stood before her. A long, dark mahogany table stretched from one end of the massive hall to the other, and not only one table sat in the one. There were at least 2 other tables of equal size taking over the room. Her eyes went from one corner of the one to the other, that Izuna thought her brain was going to have a meltdown at all the information it was taking in. Finally her eyes settled on him, and he flinched back at all the knowledge that surfaced in her eyes.

"Her name is Chikushou Hanaki." She said flatly, her eyes dimming back to the apathetic light she held after escaping the crowd of Uchiha's. Izuna studied her a while longer before nodding, filing away the name to ask his father when he returned from the battlefields.

Izuna led her towards the back of the room, where a large double door stood. He gestured to a chair at the end of the table, requesting her to sit. She did as asked, though she seemed as if she were going to protest. "I will be back." He informed her softly before disappearing behind the doors, where the putrid scent of burnt fish and overly sweet desserts wafted from, causing her to hide her nose behind her hands.

She took this opportunity alone to gaze about the room, her eyes landing on the vases of flowers that lined the walls, along with the portraits of who she assumed to be past leaders, or war-heroes.

As a shinobi clan, Kibana had assumed the Uchiha's would live... simply. If their compound were to be attacked, how many of these beautiful things would be destroyed? No... how many times has it already been destroyed? She asked herself, pushing herself away from the elegant table to approach a portrait closest to her. The man seemed world-weary for sure... his eyes were dark, not just from the color, but also from his thoughts. What was this man thinking, as he sat patiently for the artist to be done with his work, and allow him to move? Was he thinking of battle tactics? Was he thinking of his clansmen?

No... those just did not seem quite right to her. She stared at the portrait, as if she were trying to solve a puzzle, even as Izuna and a kitchen maid brought steaming bowls of food to the table for her to consume. Izuna and the maid looked at the girl curiously, aching to approach her. Izuna snapped from his stupor to wave the maid away gently, who simply smiled and nodded-disappearing back to the kitchen-though the girl would never know of her presence to begin with.

Izuna stood behind the girl for a few moments, looking at the portrait of a leader from 5 generations ago, by the name of Uchiha Katazu, a fearless general, and a cruel man from what he gathered of folktales of the man.

"Izuna-sama, why does this man appear so ... lost? As if he has lost the most precious thing to his heart and is broken from the inside out, he appears as if his mind is eating away at him, riddling him with guilt and sadness." Kibana said softly, as she looked over her shoulder at Izuna, her eyes wide with curiosity and questions.

Izuna had to blink twice at her description. He glanced back at the portrait, having only ever seen that of what his father had told him in stories-a fearless general. As he looked closer, and longer though... he began to see all that Kibana had spoken of. He gave a sigh of frustration as he could not call forth any stories that might have given him the answer Kibana sought.

"I do not know, Kibana-san. I will ask my father upon his return if that pleases you-I myself am curious as well." Izuna said softly, as he then looked to the table then back at Kibana, her eyes were lit up, as she approached the table, and-Izuna noted curiously-her nose was sniffing a mile a minute.

"Yatta! This is very generous of you, Izuna-sama. I am but a lowly female, and yet you have offered me a warm meal-I greatly appreciate it, Izuna-sama." She praised as she stared at her food longingly, mid-bow, as she stood in front of him. He tried, but Izuna could not help the laugh that escaped him at her expression of longing.

"Go on and eat, Kibana-san, I shall be joining you, so we may further discuss your circumstances." Izuna said softly, as he turned to take a seat with a portion of the steaming bowls in front of it.

Kibana glanced to see that the rest were seated next to him, and she timidly followed to sit beside him. She watched him, not wanting to eat before one of the noble men of the clan. Izuna however, was watching her, not wanting to seem impolite to eat before his guest-and the two sat in a stalemate watching one another. Izuna finally cleared his throat and gestured towards the food, causing Kibana to sigh in defeat and pick up a pair of chopsticks to pull a piece of chicken to her mouth. She savored the flavor-having not eaten a decent meal in what felt to be months.

Izuna began his meal as well, and after a good portion was gone, he slowed down to turn towards her slightly. He studied her long black hair, that seemed to get in her way easily, and her molten amber eyes that were glinting in giddiness. He saw how her canines absolutely destroyed whatever came closer to them, and he could not help but cringe inwardly, she was absolutely beastly. Her mother's name suited her.

"Have you been considered a Chikushou all your life, Kibana-san?" Izuna asked quietly, Kibana looked to him with large doe-eyes, almost choking on a piece of veggie she had been in the process of swallowing. She cleared her throat, while her face lit up red-in lack of oxygen or embarrassment, Izuna was not sure.

"Ah... No, I was never considered a part of my mothers' clan, Izuna-sama. Not long before I was born that clan sort of... fell apart." She said, not in the least bit concerned with her clans' affairs. Izuna prodded her to continue, wanting something to tell his father later.

She sighed in defeat at her persistence. "The Chikushou clan had many alphas in it's ranks, but there was always one who reigned above them all, and many of the Alphas rebelled against the Head-I do not understand why, my mother said it was caused by Alpha Males pride, so I suppose it was mostly acted upon a whim." She shrugged slightly. "As a result, many of the men in the clan were killed, and with them many of the women that were mated with them. Only women like my mother who did not wish to be mated, were spared."

Izuna stared at her, his eyes widened slightly. Alphas, mates, pride... the Chikushou hierarchy sounded very... strange.

She spared him a glance as she stuffed another piece of meat into her mouth, and smirked slightly at his confusion. She swallowed her food, before continuing the conversation. "You have noticed that I am not quite... human, I assume."

Izuna looked at her teeth and her sharp eyes, only nodding his head in agreement with her statement.

"The Chikushou clan, otherwise called the Beast Clan, is... or well once was a Shinobi clan. I am not entirely keen on all the details, or enemies or anything of the sort, but I know that everyone-including those who did not train to become shinobi, take on characteristics of different animals... My mother was a type of bird, I am not clear on which, but it was a predatory bird for sure." Kibana snorted slightly, before her face lit up red once more, and she apologized for her unlady-like behavior. Izuna could not help but smile and wave his hand, telling her it was fine.

"And what are you, Kibana-san?" Izuna asked softly, his mind having gone through all the possibilities since learning of the technique, and he could not come up with a probable answer.

"Mm? I've yet to achieve the technique, and I don't wish to continue... But from partial transformations, my mother and I deduced that I inherited some form of a black wild cat, most likely a panther." She said softly, savoring the taste of a filet of fish she had tore from the aquatic smoked animal.

Izuna stared at her. He continued to stare at her until she had devoured all of her food. He continued to stare at her even as she stared at him.

"Uhm, what was the technique again?" Izuna asked, a little unsure of sitting beside the girl any longer.

"Ah, I'm not sure how it works, but once the technique has been mastered the user can transform into their animal entirely, and use it to attack their enemies with their animal body. It has draw backs though... The more it is used, the more your animal takes over your mind, and eventually you would either go mad, killing all those around you, or.. depending on your animal, will run to live a secluded life away from humans. Mother told me of a few of the ... lesser Chikushou would would transform and live on the compound as pets-because their animal would not allow them to to transform back into their human form."

She watched in slight amusement as Izuna almost fell out of his chair in shock. She had to suppress a giggle in sight of remaining womanly before the noble boy. "I can only maintain partial transformations, I've yet to master to technique and I probably never will without my mothers guidance. That is why I came here, to seek work." She clarified, and Izuna scrambled back into his chair to look at her in a new light.

"I will have to talk with my father when he returns-I do not know how long that will be, but until then I can only offer you a temporary position under our head maid, and she would dictate what you would do from day to day." Izuna informed her as a maid exited from the kitchen and gathered their empty plates, before scurrying back to the kitchen. Izuna had acted as if he had not even seen her.

Kibana watched the maid closely, before settling her gaze back on Izuna. "I can handle that, I thought I would start lower, actually." She admitted softly. Izuna could not help the small smile that spread across his face as he watched the girl duck her head shyly.