This jumped into my mind without warning and pushed aside all other ideas for upcoming stories. I had to write it down before it went on so here it is. It's not completed yet and I'm not sure if it will become a slash fanfiction with some McDanno. Feel free to leave suggestions. :)

Disclaimer: This fanfiction and artwork is purely fanmade. All rights belong to the respective owners.

If anyone would see him like this, they would call 911 and report an escaped animal from the zoo. But he was so deep in the jungle that he was quite sure no one except him would be here. He was an 'Uhane, some people would call it skin-walker, but Steve didn't care what they called him. He had been born like this and the first time he had morphed was as a four month old baby.

His mother had found his little jaguar cub form so cute that she had taken a bunch of photos. The photos were still in his house, collected in a photograph album.

Since he was a teenager Steve used to go out in the jungle in his animal form, it was relaxing and he felt even closer to the nature as in his human form when he was in the ocean.

In his jaguar form he always stayed outside of people's view, despite the fact that being an 'Uhane was not uncommon in Hawaii, but there were so many curious haoles and people in general who would kill him for his fur, no matter if he was a real jaguar or a morphed human.

As Steve got closer to the civilization he morphed back into his human form and picked up the clothes he had hidden in a tree. Unfortunately morphing from human to jaguar caused the clothes to drop in the spot and remain there, if he turned back he was always naked so he had to be prepared for that.

Steve dressed and walked the distance to his car, then went off to work.

Danny was already waiting for him and it appeared that he had called Steve a few times without luck, which was just logical considering that a jaguar didn't have a pocket for his cell phone so Steve had left it in his car...

The thing was, Danny knew nothing about Steve's other form, because Steve hadn't told him anything. He trusted Danny, but didn't want to scare him, which would be the inevitable result if he would tell him or even morph in front of him.

"Where the hell have you been? I've called you a hundred times and left a bunch of messages!"

"Actually there were five missed calls and seven messages."

"Really? You're gonna do that now? Listen to me. You own a cell phone to pick it up when it rings, okay? Not to ignore it!"

"I was busy."

"Busy? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I was busy, okay. So why did you call me? Do we have a case?"

"No, I just wanted to ask you which socks I should wear today. Of course we have a case."

"Then tell me about it."

"Chin and Kono are already there, I stayed here to pick you up. We have a group of three guys who are known for dealing with arms. An anonymous tip said there will be a deal in one hour."

"Let's go."

Steve and Danny arrived a few minutes later at the place where the deal was supposed to happen, which was near the harbor with containers all over the place.

Five-0 positioned and waited. The minutes went by and the silence was only disrupted by the continued ranting of Danny who complained about the missing backup. Steve sighed as his partner started another round of reading him the riot-act of proper police work.

"Danny, we don't need backup. It's just a deal. We will surprise them when they exchanged the arms and money and then book them."

Danny muttered something in response but stopped his rant and stayed quiet for the rest of the time until six men in black clothes appeared.

Steve gave his commands, telling Kono she should stay in cover and look out for the men with her scope rifle. He had his closed fist up, so they waited until he signaled them with his fingers when they would attack.

"One, two, three, go!"

Two of the dealers were shot in the blink of an eye as they raised their guns, while the buyers tried to run away from the scene, but they didn't get far. One got shot by Kono and the other two were arrested by Steve and Chin. The third dealer fled into the opposite direction, Danny right after him.

"I'll take this one", he shouted out as he followed the man.

Kono followed their course with her scope rifle, but got no clear field of fire, because they were too fast for her to aim properly.

Suddenly she saw Danny stop, his gun raised, but retreating from something hidden behind a container.

"Steve, Danny seems to be in trouble. He's around a hundred meters ahead of your current position."

"On my way. Can you tell me what happened?", Steve answered without being able to keep the worry out of his voice.

"No. He looks terrified, but unharmed. He is pointing his gun on someone or something, but it's behind a container and Danny's retreating from it. You better hurry, because whatever it is it can't be good."

As Steve got closer he realized he wouldn't be in time if he kept his human form. His jaguar form was way faster on this distance so in one fluent movement he changed and sprinted towards the direction Danny had went off.

All kind of smells met Steve's nostrils as he got closer. Tension was the one in the foreground but there were also scents of fear and anger. Suddenly the smell of the perp mixed up with a familiar scent. Steve had first smelled it when he had joined the Navy.

It was the scent of a black panther and had belonged to one of his comrades.

Oh no. Steve increased his pace and with one huge leap he tackled the black panther ahead of him. Danny stood beside them, his gun pointed at their direction but Steve ignored it. He was sure Danny could tell, that this jaguar in front of him attacked the panther in order to protect him, well maybe not sure but he trusted Danny's instincts and he knew Danny never shot anything or anyone without good reason.

Steve hissed in pain as the perp hit him with his sharp claws and tried to bite into his neck. He had no other choice than to retreat from the close combat.

The gray eyes of the panther met his blue ones and he growled at the perp.

They couldn't speak with each other in this form, but the growl was easy to understand. Even Danny knew what it meant and stepped back.

Steve was standing between the panther and Danny who smelled like tension, a strong contrast to the rage of the guy in front of him who was longing for blood.

Steve growled deeply and attacked. This time the perp was prepared and tossed Steve away as he almost reached him. Steve hit the ground with a loud thump and rolled to get back on his feet, but the panther already started another attack and Steve wasn't fast enough. Suddenly the loud sound of a gunshot rang in Steve's delicate ears and he lightly growled, because it was more than uncomfortable.

This painful ringing in the ears after a loud noise was one of the few things that he would never get used too.

As he got up he saw the black panther lying in front of him. His breathing slowed down rapidly and within a few seconds he was dead. The sharp scent of the blood that came from the gunshot wound in the back was all around.

Steve looked up and met Danny's wide eyes, his gun still raised and now pointing at him. Okay, now was definitely the right time to change back, Steve decided.

His partner's legs were shaking and Steve could smell the fear seeping out of every pore. Danny wasn't the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later type of a guy but Steve wasn't so sure if this would also be the fact when a jaguar stood in front of him.

Steve didn't want to find out so he morphed back. His form was hazy as his fur made way for skin, his bones transformed into human ones and within a few seconds he kneeled on all fours at the ground as Steve McGarrett, the man.

Well, Steve McGarrett without clothes. Another thing he hated. Why couldn't those clothes reappear when he changed back into human form? He knew they were laying somewhere around the spot where he had morphed. He would have to pick them up later, right now he had other things to worry about.

"Steve?"

Danny sounded like he would faint any second and Steve couldn't really blame him, if he did. He looked up into his partner's wide eyes and gave Danny his goofy smile.

"Hey partner."

Steve couldn't tell if it was his performance or the fact that he was kneeling naked in front of Danny, but the result was that Danny dropped the gun and sat down on his ass in a not-so-graceful movement. Most likely it was because of both.

"Are you okay?" Sure thing, Steven. Of course he is okay. A few seconds ago you were a big wild cat, changed in front of him for the very first time and are now sitting here, bare naked. Why would he be anything else than just fine?

Danny stared at him, his eyes still wide and he seemed speechless.

Steve would have laughed at the rare sight of a still Danny if the other man wouldn't look so terrified.

"It's okay, Danno. It's me, Steve. I know this must freak you out, but I'll explain it to you."

"Explain...?"

Great, I scared the hell outta him. This will take some time to explain...

Steve sighed internally, before he slowly stood up and covered his crotch with his hands, smiling sheepishly at Danny.

"Sorry, I have to pick up my pants. Do you want to wait here?"

"Y-yeah, my legs feel a bit shaky."

"You're gonna be okay. I'll be back in a minute."