Title: Canid
Summary: Pakkun doesn't really understand Sasuke. Except when he does.
Humans could easily be split up into three categories. There were dog people, and there were cat people, and there were… other animal people.
This kid was a cat person, no doubt about it. That was what Pakkun first thought when he was introduced to the boy. It went something along the lines of:
"How will summoning a dog help me?" The boy's teeth were gritted together with his eyes narrowed to slits. His hair didn't help any, what with the way it flicked out like the ears of an angry kitten's pressed back flat against its head.
"I won't be teaching you this if that's what you mean." Kakashi motioned Pakkun forward with a familiar hand signal.
Aah. That.
"Hey! Why is it—Stop that! Kakashi!" But he wasn't trying very hard to get Pakkun off his body. Sasuke stopped making sudden movements that would increase Pakkun's chances of falling off had he been an ordinary dog, but he was unable to stay completely still as tiny paws dug into the material of his shirt.
"This guy is Pakkun, Sasuke." Kakashi's eye curved into a smile. "Stay still; don't want him falling off you hmm?"
Sasuke stiffened. Pakkun felt Sasuke's shoulders trembling as he completed his trek up the boy's side. If Sasuke didn't respect Kakashi, Pakkun imagined he'd be flying towards a rock.
"How does this help me?" The kid was trying unbelievably hard not to squirm uncomfortably. Pakkun readjusted the placement of his paws and nosed the wide collar of the Uchiha shirt. He sniffed in the boy's scent.
Kakashi's eye opened. He would've looked for all the world bored if not for the widening stretch of lips shadowed beneath the facemask. "It doesn't." Pakkun would have rolled his eyes, had he the inclination to.
Instead he nudged the boy's neck with a paw. "Hey kid, don't ignore me."
"Don't call me kid," Sasuke hissed.
Oh yes, definitely a cat person. Pakkun was never wrong.
Except when he was. Three years never seemed like a long time to him, but it was enough for the kid to commit metaphorical suicide and replace himself with this languid, silent teen who was as dead emotionally as Kakashi used to be.
Pakkun felt like his fur was being rubbed the wrong way when the teen dropped into the open field and stared at him with dispassionate eyes. His scent was still recognizable, strong and almost overwhelming with the proximity, but it wasn't the same.
"Pakkun," the teen murmured, every inflection of his voice calm and collected and frustratingly smooth.
Pakkun blinked slowly, much like the way Kakashi did. He tracked a few steps to the left, closer to the line of trees, without breaking eye contact.
Then Sasuke's eyelids fluttered down, too long to be a blink but too short to be anything else. Sasuke turned his face towards the looming trees overhead, blocking Pakkun from his peripheral.
And Sasuke was gone, just like that.
And Pakkun could smell Kakashi's bloodied scent permeating through the dense foliage from miles away.
They all held mixed feelings for the Uchiha brat, extremely mixed feelings, especially after that certain incident that rendered Kakashi bedridden for weeks – still had him bedridden.
The growl rumbling from Uuhei was perhaps one of the most frightening to date.
The ninken had come without the call of a summoning at the intrusion. They were all standing in a protective arc around Kakashi's bed. Pakkun was sitting on the bed by Kakashi's side on the white linen, close but not quite touching. Kakashi didn't like it when people touched him as he slept. "What are you doing here?"
The Sharingan swirled to life. Pakkun couldn't tell what he was thinking, but surely he wouldn't—
It was quiet again, and not even a strand of hair of the seven other ninja dogs remained in the room. Sasuke had reversed the summons against their will. Pakkun eyed Sasuke's hands warily, already slipping from the lightning-fast hand seals. They were covered in skintight cotton that spanned all the way up to his biceps. The gloves were fingerless, even as it lay snug against his knuckles.
It hid his summoning tattoos perfectly.
"Oi kid, I asked you a question."
Sasuke stared at him with eyes half-lidded. It was nowhere near the same furious glare from years ago.
Pakkun couldn't pick up on even a slight quiver of anything; not in his face, not even in his posture. Nothing was betraying what the teen might be thinking, feeling – if he felt anything anymore.
Sasuke reached out an arm, as if to run his fingers along the pale lifeline of Kakashi's open palm. Before Pakkun could knock his limb away, the motion turned into a soft, gentle stroke across the top of Pakkun's head, over his hitai-ate and down his back.
Pakkun stiffened, just for a moment, before he forced himself to relax. It was, well, not as soothing as it could have been, since Pakkun liked getting his stomach rubbed more than he did getting petted, but it wasn't unpleasant, to say the least. Especially not when agile fingers scratched lightly at his ear. He tried, really, really, really hard, not to whimper.
Perhaps Sasuke was a dog person after all.