A/N: For some reason, I kept thinking about something like this, and I finally decided to act on it. Now, Sasuke and Naruto are 17 to start in this fic, and once again it's an animal hybrid world fic. I can't help myself! They're just too cute like that! And I apologize, Sasuke's gonna be kinda OOC in this. Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.

Trustworthy

Chapter 1

X*X(Sasuke's POV)X*X

"You pathetic boy! You'll never be anything like your brother," my father, Fugaku, spat at me before slamming the door to my room, locking it behind him and trapping me inside. I winced at the loud slam, my black cat ears folding back as tears threatened to fall, but I shuddered heavily and took a deep breath to keep them back, despite the protesting pain from my side at the action. My pride as an Uchiha wouldn't let me cry. My father had given me his weekly beating for me early, which wasn't too surprising, considering his work was becoming stressful like it normally does during this time of the year. I was given several kicks to my left side, bruising it and possibly breaking a rib or two, some cuts and bruises along my arms, and even a black right eye this time. I wrapped my slender black tail around myself as my mother, Mikoto, unlocked the door and entered, carrying medical supplies. This was normal for me, unfortunately. My father would drink after a stressful day, beat me, throw me in my room, and then send my mother in to clean me up afterwards so not everyone would know about it. During this time of the year, Father was especially stressed, and hence would drink more often, about three times a week, and each time, I got the brunt of his anger. My mother was too timid and docile to fight him like she should, so I didn't care for her. The only thing she did right these days was tend to my wounds properly after my beatings. I couldn't even look at her as she began to clean me up, disinfecting and bandaging my cuts and healing my bruises.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," she whispered, standing when she was done, making me scoff. Before she left, she added in a soft voice, "I'll bring your dinner up in a few hours." I didn't even reply, just an involuntary angry flare of my chakra being my only response. She sighed sadly when she felt it, and left me, locking the door behind her as she was always ordered to. Now that my ribs were fully healed, I decided to crawl into bed and lay there until I had to relieve myself or dinner arrived, whichever came first.

I curled up into a ball under my blanket, fingering the gold pendant my best friend, Naruto, had given me when we were eight before he moved away with his parents. I missed him dearly, and I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in the warm arms of my friend, protected from my father's wrath. I had gained feelings for him when we were kids, even though we met when we were four, and those feelings had only become stronger over the past nine years. I wished he would visit, but I highly doubted it. I hadn't heard from him since he moved, which made me depressed. I was starting to give up on my fight to live, like my brother, Itachi, had urged me not to do, but I couldn't help it. I wanted that blonde fox back in my life, even if his parents were afraid for him to live here because of his being a jinchuuriki for the nine-tailed fox demon, Kyuubi. Yeah, I know, he houses the feared demon in his body, but that doesn't make him dangerous. He was only chosen because the last jinchuuriki was to pass away soon due to illness, and they wanted a young body to house the fox demon. I was honestly surprised when he told me, and felt honored that he trusted me enough to tell me. I didn't hate him for it, and in fact, I think him telling me made us become closer as friends.

As for Itachi, he had moved out a few years ago to live with his boyfriend, Kisame, a shark, and they lived in a house a few miles away from the village. Itachi couldn't visit often due to their adopted son, Suigetsu, who was a shark as well and already four years old now, but my brother at least tried to protect me. He always told me to keep my chin up, and look on the brighter side of things, but even his advice was becoming difficult to follow. I wasn't sure if I would even last until my 18th birthday at this rate…

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

It was Saturday, five days since my last beating, thank gods, and that meant that Father would let me out of the house so I could get out for a bit. I knew he didn't want me out at all, but he had to let me go out for a bit every week or else he'd look bad. I dressed myself in black pants and a navy blue t-shirt, and decided to walk over to Naruto's old home to see if anyone had moved in yet, like I did every week, and then I would scare them off with stupid shit that made them not want it anymore. As I got closer, I was surprised to catch a faint trace of a familiar scent coming from the house, and I recognized it as Naruto's. Wait a second… I thought he wouldn't be coming back! What the fuck?! I quickly ran over to the fence, and listened carefully for my best friend's loud voice. I didn't have to wait long, however, as I heard him complaining to his parents, Kushina and Minato.

"But what if he doesn't care about me anymore, Mom?" he asked them.

"I'm sure he still cares about you, Naruto," Kushina assured her son.

"In fact, why don't you check outside?" Minato's voice smirked, and I blinked in surprise, having no time to react before I was suddenly tackled onto the grass with a loud yell of my name by none other than Naruto Uzumaki himself.

"Sasuke!" he grinned down at me, his sapphire eyes shining joyfully. "It's been way too damn long!"

"Naruto?" I blinked, my onyx eyes wide with disbelief at the sight of my best friend and crush, who was wearing a pair of blue pants and an orange t-shirt. "When the hell did you come back?"

"Oh, we moved back in last night, and I hadn't come by yet because I was nervous you wouldn't want to be friends anymore," he admitted sheepishly, flicking his ears a little with nervousness.

"Naruto, why don't you get off of Sasuke so he can breathe properly, and then we can talk more inside?" Kushina called, and I looked to see her smiling at us, her red fox tail swishing. Naruto seemed to realize what she said, and he quickly stood, offering his hand to me. I accepted it, and he pulled me up. Once we were inside, the blonde led me to the living room, which was exactly as I remembered it before they moved, except with some more family photos around the room now. Minato was sitting in his arm chair, and he grinned when he saw us.

"It's good to see you again, Sasuke," he greeted, shaking hands with me. "You've grown quite a bit."

"So have I!" Naruto huffed. Minato chuckled and ruffled his hair and ears, making his son yelp as I sat on the couch.

"Yes, but we haven't seen Sasuke in nine years, and we've seen you daily," he pointed out. My friend grinned before pouncing on me on the couch, hugging me happily.

"I'm so glad you're still here in Konoha!" he crowed.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"Your family could have moved, too," he pointed out with a pout. "But seriously, you have no idea how good it is to be back." He then noticed the necklace I was wearing. "You still have it?"

"Of course," I murmured. "You're my best friend. How could I not have kept it?"

"Well, I still have the one you gave me," he smiled, pulling out the silver necklace I gave him from under his shirt. "I never take it off except to clean it so it keeps its shine."

"Same here," I told him. "I'm glad you're back."

"I hear ya! I'm glad we came back, too!" he laughed. "Wanna walk for a bit? We can talk at our spot." I knew where he meant, and I nodded eagerly.

"Sounds good," I agreed. We got up from the couch and Minato nodded to us in understanding as we left, knowing we needed to catch up. We walked in a comfortable silence to our secret spot, a hidden spring in a cave that had some beautiful blue flowers growing in a patch of sunlight from a hole in the ceiling of the cave. Once we arrived, we sat down next to each other on the grass around the flowers.

"So, what all have you been up to over the past nine years since I left, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking at me, his expression genuinely curious. I thought quickly for some fibs, not wanting to tell him about my beatings at all.

"I've been training hard at focusing my chakra," I began, partially telling the truth. I had trained with my chakra, but only when Itachi came over or on my own when Father wasn't beating me. "It was difficult at first, but it's been worth it. Itachi moved out a few years back to live with Kisame, and they adopted a kid named Suigetsu. He's four years old now." I smiled slightly at the thought of my adopted nephew, making Naruto smile as well. "I've mainly been training, but like I said before, it was difficult at first."

"Why's that?" he frowned.

"…I was depressed…" I muttered. The blonde fox turned to face me, his expression saddened and guilty.

"About me leaving, right?" he guessed, and I felt my eyes start to burn with the oncoming tears. My best friend noticed, and he pulled me close to him in a comforting hug, my ears going back at the kind gesture. Only Itachi had hugged me when he was home after Naruto had moved, and even that wasn't as comforting as this. I couldn't keep them back any longer, and for the first time in nine years, I let myself cry into his shoulder. I hadn't cried since the day after he'd moved away, and right now, it felt good to finally let it out.

"You have…no damn idea…how much I fucking missed you," I whimpered against his shirt in between sobs.

"I missed you, too, Sasuke," he mumbled. "So fucking much." We stayed like that for a while, him comforting me by rubbing my back soothingly as he continued to hug me, and eventually, I calmed down enough to speak.

"Promise me you'll never leave again, Naruto," I whispered. "I don't think I could handle it again if you did…" He placed his fluffy blonde tail on my waist, warming me up a bit.

"I won't, I promise," Naruto swore. I pulled back, noticing the tear-staining on his shirt, and apologized. "Don't worry about it," he laughed. "It'll dry."

"All right…" I murmured, lightly biting my lip with one of my longer canines. Naruto smiled gently, making me relax, and I smiled back. "So, how was it in Suna?" I asked, deciding to focus on him.

"It was good! Lonely at first, but I made a friend who's like me," he grinned. "His name is Gaara, and he's a jinchuuriki, too. He houses the one-tailed raccoon dog demon, Shukaku."

"What's he like?" I inquired, genuinely curious.

"He's got short red hair, green eyes, and is smaller than most, but he's an amazing fighter," he told me. "He was pretty antisocial at first, but he warmed up to me."

"You mean you forced him to be your friend, right?" I chuckled, a purr rumbling softly in my chest.

"Pretty much!" he laughed. "But Gaara's a nice guy once you get to know him. Quiet and short-tempered, but nice. He said he'll be visiting in a few weeks, probably."

"Sounds good. I'd like to meet him then," I said. The blonde grinned at me, pleased with my response. We continued to chat until sunset, and then I started to get up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong. I just have to get home or else I'll be in trouble," I sighed.

"Your dad still has a curfew set, huh?" the fox assumed.

"Yup, you got it," I nodded. "I'll see you soon?"

"Of course! See if you can stay over at my house sometime, okay?" Naruto said, and I smiled in response.

"Definitely. See you, man," I smiled, and then left for home. When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised to see Itachi was visiting. "Itachi!"

"Hello, little brother," he greeted kindly. "Mother and Father went out for dinner, and asked me to fix you something whenever you came home. Where did you go today?"

"I stopped by Naruto's house," I replied. "He's moved back in with his family!" My brother's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really now? That's good to hear," he commented. "I'm glad you have him back. When will you tell him?"

"Tell him what?" I frowned, confused.

"How you feel about him. I know you love him," he smirked.

"It's too soon," I muttered, blushing. "He just came home, Itachi! I'll give it some time and then I might tell him."

"All right, if you say so," Itachi chuckled, and then began to make some dinner for us. As he cooked, I decided to catch up with him since he hadn't visited in two months.

"How's Suigetsu doing? Is Kisame handling parenthood better than before?" I asked.

"Suigetsu has been very well. He's got Kisame wrapped around his finger," he told me, smiling. "Whatever that boy wants, Kisame is happy to give it to him."

"Sounds like the kid's got him whipped," I laughed, and Itachi nodded with a roll of his dark eyes.

"Indeed," he snorted. Soon after, the older raven-haired cat brought dinner over, and we ate in a comfortable silence for a while. "Have you thought about what you want to do for your 18th birthday in a few weeks?"

"Not really. I don't think Father will let me celebrate it…" I sighed, lowering my gaze to stare at my food.

"I'll try and convince him. Besides, you'll be able to move out once you're 18," he pointed out. "And then you won't have to suffer from his drunken wrath anymore…"

"…Mother told you, didn't she?" I assumed. She always told him about my beatings out of Father's hearing whenever Itachi visited.

"That's right. Now, if Naruto hadn't moved back already, I was going to offer that you could live with Kisame, Suigetsu, and me until you're 18," my brother told me. I blinked at him, surprised, but knew I couldn't. "But I know you'll stay wherever Naruto is."

"Damn straight," I muttered, glaring at Father's favorite chair and idly wondering how much time I had before my parents returned if I tried to burn it. I knew if Naruto found out about my beatings, though, he'd kill the man without hesitating, using Kyuubi's power to do so. Not that I was opposed to the idea, but I didn't want people to see Naruto as a monster any more than they already do. He'd been through enough as it was before they moved away, anyway. Suddenly, Itachi perked up in alarm, hearing something, and I soon caught the sound, too. It was Father, and he sounded drunk and pissed off. Mother was trying to calm him, but to no avail.

"Fugaku, dear, calm yourself. Naruto's return will only mean good for Sasuke," Mother was saying.

"Damn that fox to hell with the demon he carries, and our son with them! Why is he back?!" Father slurred. I shivered with fear, my ears folding back at the thought of Naruto being hurt by my father.

"Go upstairs, Sasuke!" Itachi ordered, his eyes flashing scarlet briefly with his sharingan. "Take your dinner, and lock the door. Mother and I will keep him occupied until he passes out."

"Thank you," I said quickly, and then grabbed my food and dashed upstairs to my room, locking the door behind me and sitting on my bed. I forced myself to eat the food, even as I heard Father yelling at Mother and Itachi in a drunken rage downstairs. My tail wrapped around my thin body for some sort of comfort, and I realized I hardly had anything to me. I didn't eat enough, not that I always got to, and I had a feeling Naruto, or even his parents, would soon notice how starved I'd become. Still, I needed to gain a little weight and get some meat back on my bones, so I continued to eat, despite the nausea from the stress as I listened to the yells and shouts downstairs. As soon as loud, staggering footsteps came close to the stairs, however, I heard a crash, and a series of shouted curses from Father.

"Fucking hell, Father! You're not going anywhere near Sasuke while I'm here!" Itachi snarled, and then a there was a muttered response, followed by a sound like skin-on-skin, and I knew my brother had punched Father, effectively knocking him out for the next several hours due to the pain and alcohol. I had finished my food by this point, but it soon felt like I was going to just throw it back up again. I took deep breaths, and managed to will away the nausea right before Itachi gently knocked on the door. I knew it was him thanks to his warm chakra he was giving off to calm me. "Sasuke? Are you still awake?"

"Yeah," I called back softly, my voice cracking. I got up and unlocked the door, allowing him in. He smiled sadly at me, and I immediately had a bad feeling.

"He's not dead, unfortunately," he grumbled. "But I did knock his foolish ass out when he insulted you again."

"Thank you," I whispered, and he hugged me.

"I'm going to stay for a few weeks, and I'll see if Kisame wants to bring Suigetsu with him so we can stay in one of the houses here in the Uchiha district until you've moved out," Itachi informed me when he pulled away to sit next to me. I gaped at him.

"You mean that?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course. Sasuke, I want to be here to protect you. In fact, how about you stay with us? That way we can plan your birthday party together without Father's interference and Mother's obedience in following his orders," he smiled. "Besides, I'm sure Suigetsu will be overjoyed to see his uncle, and to help celebrate a fun spring time birthday."

"Thank you, Itachi," I murmured gratefully.

"No need to thank me, little brother. That's what being a big brother is for. Now, let's pack your things and head over to a hotel for now. Kisame should get this message in about two hours," he said, and summoned a raven with his chakra, giving it the message for Kisame. The black bird took flight, and soon vanished among the inky darkness of the night sky. Together, we packed my suitcase, filling it neatly with all of my clothes, the few books I owned, a photo album with pictures of Naruto, his family, Itachi, and me in it, my toiletries from my bathroom that was connected to my room, shuriken and kunai, and my sword. When we finished, Mother came in, an apology written all over her face.

"Sasuke, Itachi, I'm—" she started to say, but I glared furiously at her, cutting her off.

"If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have let it come to this," I growled. "I don't want to see you or Father again."

"Respect his wishes, Mother," Itachi added. "He's been through so much, and he just wants to be happy. Don't take that from him." She merely nodded, tears starting to shimmer in her eyes.

"Look, give me some time, and I may forgive you, Mother. But I can never forgive Father," I sighed, clenching my fists angrily and glaring at the floor.

"That's all I can ask for," she murmured, lowering her gaze. She then turned and left my room, and Itachi sighed.

"Let's go, Sasuke," he said, and we were quick to leave, stepping around our unconscious father on the way out, even though I desperately wanted to kick the shit out of his ribs like he's done to me. My brother led me to a hotel that was closer to Naruto's house than my own, and we checked in, getting a suite on the top floor where there were two beds for us instead of having to share one.

"Thanks," I mumbled, setting my suitcase down by the dresser and sitting on one of the beds. I shivered violently when a cool breeze blew into the room through the open window, and Itachi sat next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Go take a shower, okay? I'm sure the warm water will do you some good," he urged, and I nodded. I grabbed a set of warm pajamas, my toiletries, and a pair of boxers from my suitcase, and then headed to the bathroom, where I stripped and stepped into the shower, cranking the water to a high temperature so it was almost scalding my skin as I cleaned myself. While I gently scrubbed my skin, being mindful of any bruises or cuts I may have still had, I thought about what I would tell Naruto. I would have to tell him why I was staying in a hotel now, as well as what had happened to me over the years. He'd demand an explanation anyway…

I finished shampooing my hair, ears, and tail, and once I had rinsed it all out, I turned the water off and stepped out into the steamy bathroom, slipping the towel around my waist and looking at myself in the mirror. I looked too thin for normal, but mercifully not anorexic thin. I had a little muscle to my arms and legs, but I knew I desperately needed to eat more. Getting dressed, I used my soft brush on my ears and tail, and combed out my hair before leaving the still-steaming bathroom to go sleep in the soft hotel room bed. I quietly bid Itachi goodnight, and he nodded with a small smile at me before I slid into the bed, covering myself with the warm blankets. I knew Father wouldn't remember what had happened, but Mother would inform him in the morning after he had recovered from his hangover. Little did I know, he would remember something extremely important that I had no clue of.

A/N: Well? I hope I did better writing this time! Now, would anyone care to take a wild guess at what Fugaku knows that Sasuke doesn't? Hint: Naruto won't even know about this, and this heavily involves him! R&R, peeps!