Itachi Uchiha wandered through the streets of Konoha, wondering what he could do to cheer his younger brother. Sasuke had been depressed after he had got his girlfriend of four years with another man. Itachi had tried to warn Sasuke about the girl, Itachi had never liked her, too him she always tried too hard to impress those that had more money than she did. He hated that Sasuke had to catch Sakura in the act, but maybe now Sasuke could put her behind him and move on with his life.

As Itachi wandered through the streets, he decided to take a look through the slave market. Who knows Itachi might be able to find a companion for Sasuke, although he knew Sasuke typically opposed the idea of having a slave. Sasuke had nothing to do with their own slaves but maybe the right companion would help Sasuke with his depression. As Itachi entered the market, his eyes drifted over the chained up neko's. Itachi knew that most of the neko's were here by their own accord, it wasn't like slavery that took the persons free will from them. Most of these people and neko's were here because they couldn't or didn't want to take care of themselves.

"Can I help you Mr. Uchiha?" a silver haired man approached Itachi. Itachi turned and faced the man.

"I'm looking for a companion for Sasuke, he's been depressed as of late and I want to someone to help cheer him up."

"I think I have just the one for you." the man said as he led Itachi down an aisle of neko's that were for sale. Itachi watched as each neko stood taller, and attempted to make themselves more presentable. Itachi wondered what made the neko's choose a life of slavery, he would think that the hybrids would value their own life and freedom. Not all neko's ended up as slaves, Itachi knew that there was a rather large group of hybrids that lived right on the outskirts of Konoha. Most neko's often came into the city to trade for food, some even owned their own business's. No one was really afraid of them though when they first started coming into Konoha, people reacted in fear of them. Itachi found the creatures fascinating and he knew that Sasuke would too, even if he didn't want a neko at first.

A few seconds later, the silver head man stopped in front of a small fenced in area. Several neko's roamed the area.

"I think the red haired one would make a good companion." The Slave Market owner told Itachi. Itachi looked at the neko the silver haired man pointed out to him. Itachi took in the well built neko, his tail was sleek and shiny and his ears stood up on his head. He was clearly a well groomed neko who took pride in his cleanliness. Still the way the neko stood and glowered at the other neko's that approached him. Itachi didn't need a neko that was moody all the time, Itachi dealt enough with a moody Sasuke as it was. Hearing a small noise, Itachi turned and saw a large cage just inside the holding pen. Kneeling in front of it, Itachi saw a sickly thin blonde haired neko, curled up in the furthest corner of the cage.

"Why is this one caged?" Itachi asked taking notice of the way the neko trembled when Itachi was near.

"I had him with the other guys, but he's not strong enough to fight for his food, so the others nearly killed him." the man explained. Itachi frowned, this neko couldn't be in good health, he really looked like he could use a good meal.

"Is he so violent that you had to put him in a cage?" Itachi asked and the market owner shook his head.

"No, he's so skittish and scared of everything. I'm afraid he's set to be put down because he is pretty much useless." Itachi frowned, he didn't like the idea of any creature being put down. Turning his attention back to the neko, Itachi noticed the scars that littered the boy's back, the scars were deep leaving no doubt that how hard that the blonde had been whipped to leave scars that deep.

"What about the scars?" Itachi asked wondering if the neko had gotten the scars while he was at the market.

"He had them when he was sold to me" the man replied "I wouldn't allow any of my animals to be treated so badly."

"It should have been against the law to hit him that hard." Itachi muttered.

"I agree." the man said.

"I'll take this one." Itachi said knowing that the blonde boy would only get put to sleep if he didn't do something.

"I'm not so sure that that is a good idea." the silver haired man said "He's scared of pretty much everything."

"Maybe it's time to show him that the entire world isn't out to hurt him." Itachi replied "Besides it would be good thing for Sasuke to have to nurture something. It just might take his attention off of what he has been going through lately."

"Okay" the man said before reaching for a leash, Itachi moved a couple steps out of the market owner's way. He watches as the man opens the cage door, and reaches in, when he can't reach the neko's collar, the silver haired man reaches out and grabs the neko's tail, pulling him as gently as possible. The blonde neko hisses fearfully as he attempts to dig his claws into the cage.

"Come on, someone wants to take you home with him," the man said as he finally gets the blonde out of the cage. Clipping the leash to the collar, Kabuto hands the leash over to Itachi.

Now that the blonde was free from the cage, Itachi could really get a good look at him. He could see the boy's ribs, the boy was thinner than he had originally thought. As his eyes trailed up and down the boy, he noticed that the neko kept his eyes on the ground, and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"What's your name?" Itachi asked and Kabuto shook his head.

"He hasn't spoken a word since he was brought here. I don't know if he knows how or not." Itachi frowned, what had happened to the young neko that the boy was terrified of the world around him. He wasn't sure if he would end up being good for Sasuke, but Itachi wasn't going to leave him hear to die.

After Itachi payed for the neko, he tugged on the leash and started towards the exit. Upon hearing a gag esacping the blonde, Itachi turned and his eyes found the choker collar.

"Why does he have a choker? Was a leather collar not good enough?" Itachi asked, immediately growing aggravated. He loosened his grip on the leash and the collar loosened around the neko's neck.

"He will attempt to bolt and he won't listen to anything anyone tells him, that's why he has a choker collar." Kabuto said. Itachi frowned, before returning his gaze to the blonde boy.

"Come" Itachi told him gently, not wanting to frighten the other. The blonde kept his gaze on the ground but he followed Itachi up the road to where the Uchiha complex was.

Upon entering the house, Itachi led the blonde called Naruto, to Sasuke's room.

"Sasuke isn't home right now" Itachi informed him "but its okay for you to wait for him here." Naruto flinched as Itachi reached up and removed the leash.

"I will work on getting you your own room but for now, just wait here." Itachi said as he gently shoved Naruto into the room. Itachi watched as Naruto crawled under the bed, and curled up in a tight ball in the furthest corner. Itachi shook his head, he hoped that Sasuke could help Naruto and that Naruto could help Sasuke.

"Why are you in my room?" an irritated voice asked from behind him.

"I brought you a present" Itachi said and smiled when Sasuke frowned. "he's currently hiding under your bed." Sasuke walked over and knelt down and looked under the bed, jumping back when a sharp hiss came from the furthest corner.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with that?" Sasuke asked as he pushed himself to his feet.
"I think you could help him and he can help you." Itachi said as he backed out of Sasuke's room.

"He keeps hissing at me he just might get hit." Sasuke muttered as he flopped down on his bed.

"Once he comes out, I think you will change your mind on that." Itachi said.

TBC? This story has nothing to do with The Lost Neko but it is a SasuNaru story. Let me know what you think.