A/N: What can I say? When stories are inside me for too long they boil over and spill out.

Disclaimer: Do you even have to ask? NO!

Wolves in Men's Clothing

Chapter 1: How wolves became men

A man walked silently through the wolf preserve to find the wolves he was looking for. Just from his smooth, steady gait you could tell there was something rather inhuman about this man. He was far too quiet. It was the middle autumn and leaves should have been crunching beneath his feat, but instead there was a light rustling as if the wind was blowing. It could have been that were it not for the total stillness of the air as if it had frozen in fear of this man.

Indeed this was an inhuman creature. He wasn't a human, but nor was he beast. Eccentrics would call him an alien. Scientists called him an experiment. He called himself Orochimaru.

It was difficult to not belong in any category of creature. One day he's a simple serpent, and the next some human woman is pouring a tasteless as well as odorless liquid down his throat. He would have killed the woman with his venom. The problem was that she had suddenly become so beautiful to him. As time passed he realized two things.

The first thing was that when he took on human shape, something inside him changed as well. He had taken on human needs and ideals, such as finding a mate and keeping her for life. He could still feel the wild inside him even to this day; years after he was transformed, but his thoughts and feelings were far more advanced.

Secondly, the attraction to the woman became love. Unfortunately he was not alone in his love for her. Much to his dismay a toad – of all things – was transformed before him, and shared his feelings for the woman. Why his woman chose two coldblooded creatures to transform into humans he'll never know. Perhaps it was just a personal preference of hers.

Orochimaru shook his head in a very human like gesture to clear his thoughts. This next experiment wasn't about him or the woman he loved. It was about the adopted daughter of the three of them. Yes the three of them. The woman named Tsunade had never chosen between either of them for fear of heartbreak. Whether it was hers or theirs, the beast-men could never be sure.

However he was losing focus again. That was not acceptable. He needed to be sure of his choices for the potential mates of his daughter. He was choosing the alphas of four packs that much was certain. If his daughter was to choose a beast-man she would choose from the best. It worked because the alphas haven't chosen mates yet and were all young enough to remember there puppy days when Sakura helped to raise them.

Though they rarely saw her anymore, the girl was practically raised by beasts so the wild was in her as well and they sensed that. They allowed her to visit them on occasion and even run with them. She was also the one to feed them.

As for the reason he was choosing beast-men over humans for his daughter, it was because she was beautiful on the outside as well as inside. She only saw the best in people even when the best wasn't that good. This attracted all sorts of creeps. Her first relationship was with some idiot who broke her heart for another girl. The next was with some girlish wannabe gentleman who turned out to be a coldhearted playboy. Why people call Orochimaru coldblooded when there were humans like that in the world he would never know. The list goes on for miles but it was this last one that worried him.

Whenever that pierced freak of a human came over Orochimaru and even that toad, Jiraiya, sensed something dark about him. Yet even Orochimaru's hypersensitive ears could not detect a lie when he heard the guy confess to her. He was not spying! He was investigating! There is a big difference.

Suddenly Orochimaru stopped. He smelled the wolf that he and Sakura had raised approach. Kimimaro would not hurt him so long as he did not enter his territory. The wolf came to him instead so he wouldn't have to choose between his pack and someone who had raised him. This wolf would become a fine man. He would be a man that Orochimaru could accept. He pets the wolf before moving to check the others.

His next target named Gaara was a very protective young wolf. He would bare his fangs at Orochimaru when he approached, but tonight he brought a peace offering. Sakura had raised him by herself. They didn't think he would survive but Sakura was determined. Because of this Gaara was attached to her even today. That was how Orochimaru would check him. He would gage Gaara's loyalty through the little stuffed toy Sakura used to sleep with. Sakura had been planning to give it to her tamed wolf Kiba, but Orochimaru felt that Gaara would appreciate it more since he rarely saw Sakura outside of feeding time.

That's when Orochimaru heard the growl well outside of Gaara's territory. It was Itachi his third candidate. Orochimaru had wandered into his territory since it was on his way to Gaara's. Orochimaru had planned a test for Itachi too. Orochimaru lashed out at the same time as Itachi. He hadn't fought in some time so his movements weren't as quick as they used to be but Itachi was still no match while Orochimaru retained human shape. Itachi still put up one hell of a fight. Were he still a snake he would be killed in an instant. He was impressed considering Jiraiya had helped Sakura raise this wolf.

Despite his upbringing Itachi would make a great man. He must take after Sakura. Orochimaru quickly dashed away the moment his test was over. Itachi would have given chase had he not been exhausted. He chose to rest and be able to protect his pact from future threats.

Itachi picking his battles was a great result Orochimaru did not expect. Sakura raised him well. Now he was just outside of Gaara's territory and he waited, still as a snake preparing to strike.

Eventually Gaara sought him out, just as expected. Gaara sniffed the air and growled at how close Orochimaru was to his territory. Orochimaru smirked and held out his peace offering. At Sakura's scent Gaara's tail started to wag, his snarl disappeared, and all his attention was on the strange thing that had her lovely natural fragrance. Orochimaru smiled and threw it towards Gaara who leaped into the air with all fours off the ground to snag it between his teeth. When he came down he didn't stumble or fall. He landed back on his feet as lightly as a cat and immediately trotted off to go snuggle the thing that smelled like his favorite human.

That should do for Gaara. He's clearly very much attached to Sakura even now. I'm exhausted. Orochimaru's internal observation continued as he looked at the last wolf on the list. Tsunade and Sakura had raised two wolf pups that were currently struggling for the alpha position. The name on the list had to be erased and rewritten over and over again. Basically Orochimaru couldn't read it. He sighed and decided he would just turn both into humans. It would be fine to not test them since Tsunade and Sakura together could raise any wolf to be great.

Besides more choices should make Sakura happy … shouldn't it?

-The next morning-

A beautiful pink haired 20 year old woman was brushing her hair in the mirror. It was almost that time. Her cheery apple green eyes shined at the thought. She ran off towards the attic to sit at the weirdest looking machine you can imagine.

Sakura was happy. It was one of the few times she could see the wolves in their habitat. It was feeding time. Before the wolves could awaken, huge slabs of meat that were tied to the contraption she sat at were placed in hard to reach areas of each territory. The machine she was on was like an exercise bike. It didn't move, but it did pull the meat so the wolves could feel like they truly were hunting. What's more Sakura was placed in the attic, by a huge window, to get a bird's eye view of the preserve and the hunting wolves.

When they would catch the meat, as they always did, they would look up towards where Sakura was and howl out what Sakura liked to think was a thank you. Sakura thought it was sweet. She loved those wolves so much.

Way back when Sakura's parents died in a plane crash, Sakura had become a recluse at only eight years old. She didn't talk to anyone, not even Tsunade. Then one day, she heard the wolves howling to each other. Many wolves always responded. Instead of finding it frightening, Sakura was enchanted by the sound. Somehow she knew that they were calling to one another. They were letting each wolf know they weren't alone. For the first time since her parents' death she was at peace. She soon found herself mimicking their calls.

Later she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. Sakura spun around to see Tsunade looking at her with a large smile on her face. Sakura's face reddened from embarrassment. That's when Tsunade showed her the machine they used to feed the wolves. Tsunade told her that it would be a huge help if Sakura could take care of helping the wolves hunt.

Immediately Sakura's mind flashed back to the howling. She agreed to help. Sakura's been feeding the wolves for twelve years now, but she was only allowed to help with the orphaned pups that came in for a few years.

In fact she had started with the current alphas of each pack. Gaara was a striking red wolf with black fur around his eyes, and he was the most affectionate towards her. He even treated her like she was a part of the pack. Kimimaro was a stunning white wolf with two red spots on his forehead and red fur beneath his eyes. Itachi was the most beautiful black wolf she had ever had the pleasure of seeing. His most distinctive physical features were his scars from his fight for the title of alpha. He had fought against a slightly older male and won. It was the only time he had ever been wounded by another wolf. Shikamaru and Neji were two gorgeous dark brown wolves. Their fur was such a rich shade and was the closest brown could be to black. The only thing she regretted with those two was them being so competitive.

Whenever Sakura thought about the wolves she was happy. They were her greatest joy in life. Pein made her happy of course, but sometimes it felt like he was hiding something very important from her. She supposed there were very few humans who could be as open with anybody as her family was, but still she wished he would confide in her.

The next thing she knew the wolves were howling over their catch. As always she felt joy coursing through her and couldn't help responding to those howls with her own. This brought the alphas joy as well.

Well that was that. Now it's time to feed Kiba. Sakura realized heading down the ladder. Kiba was waiting for her patiently. He was a magnificent beige wolf with red fang-like markings on his cheeks. She was the only person Kiba was ever patient with. Poor Kiba had a cold of some sort, so before she fed him she went to get his liquid meds from Oro-kun. She knew that Oro-kun went right back to sleep after he hid the meat this morning. She hated waking him so she just went into his room and looked for them herself. She found a bottle that looked like the one she was looking for on his nightstand.

As she made her way back to her room where she kept Kiba's bowl, with said wolf in tow, she heard Tsunade making breakfast. She considered going to say hi, but Kiba whined at her and she thought that he'd waited long enough.

When she entered her room she started talking to Kiba in a soothing voice. He never did like taking his medicine but he put up with for Sakura. Besides, she always fed him afterwards.

As Sakura took her syringe looked at Kiba whose ears were back and down. She felt bad having to do this so she gave him lots of affection beforehand. Once he relaxed slightly she opened his mouth and shot the liquid down his throat closing his mouth until he swallowed.

She was turning around to feed him when a blinding flash came from behind her. When she looked behind her to check on her wolf she dropped the meat in her hands. There standing in the middle of her room was a gorgeous young man right where her wolf should be. As if that wasn't bad enough he was completely naked aside from the collar around his throat and grinning from ear to ear.

-While Sakura was feeding Kiba-

Neji felt strange. His stomach was gurgling in a strange way he wasn't familiar with. He and Shikamaru had ripped a piece of the best meat in half and Neji had eaten it quickly, just to get on his bad side by eating before him. That's when he started feeling some very odd sensations. Light started emanating from his body and the delicious raw meat now looked disgusting.

Then he noticed the same thing happening to Shikamaru. What's happening to us? He wondered rather nervous. The sensation was the strangest he had ever felt, but it wasn't painful so he waited for it to pass.

As soon as it did he stood in shock. There in front of him was a human with a scent similar to Shikamaru's yet it was also different. Neji looked down already predicting what he would see. There were hands and feet instead of paws and he now had opposable thumbs. They were both human. The last thought that ran through his mind as their pack fled from them was about a girl that always called to them. We're just like Sakura now. With that Neji and Shikamaru both passed out.

-Back with Sakura-

Sakura had decided that when a naked man appeared in her room wearing her wolf's collar, it was best to just scream. When Jiraiya-kun, Tsunade, and Oro-kun kicked down the door they looked ready to kill. Kiba had misinterpreted the look and stood protectively in front of Sakura. He didn't seem to realize the look was for him.

In the blink of an eye Jiraiya attacked, but incredibly it was Oro-kun who took the blow. Oro-kun just brushed it off though he should have had a broken jaw from the strike. He then turned to Sakura and affectionately ruffled her hair.

"So Sakura-chan, do you happen to have that little bottle that was on my night stand?" Oro-kun inquired with a kind of creepy smile.

"What did you do Orochimaru?" Tsunade and Jiraiya roared at the same time.

-Later that morning-

Oro-kun was in the middle of explaining last night's while Kiba was being helped with dressing courtesy of Jiraiya when there was a banging on the door. Tsunade was opening it to yell at them for banging on her door, but she was completely ignored by the five insanely attractive naked men. They stalked into the room apparently looking for something or someone. Kimimaro paused and took in a deep breath through his nose.

Next he pointed towards the living room and then they were off. Itachi got there first and immediately attacked Orochimaru. It was Sakura who made them all stop in their tracks.

Although inwardly surprised at how difficult the fight was for Oro-kun, she knew what to do. She grabbed the naked man by a handful of his long hair and yanked hard. Immediately he was on her instead. She knew from watching the wolves that if she were to submit he would just continue doing whatever he pleased.

Instead she looked him in the eye with as much defiance as she could muster, but she did not struggle either for fear of enraging him further. As she was looking she noticed the two scars on his face. They were identical to Itachi's as were his eyes. His hair also had the texture of Itachi's fur. She didn't think it was possible but asked anyway.

"Is that you Itachi?" She questioned while slightly tilting her head to the side. The action was too adorable for Itachi who already felt guilty about pinning Sakura. He knew it was her. From the shape of her face to her attitude and most of all that hint of the wild he felt in her when she stared up at him with more courage that he had ever seen. That wasn't his dominant realization though. He knew she had been pretty for a human when he was a wolf, but now that he was the same species as her, she was glorious. From that moment he vowed to make her fiery heart burn for him and him alone.