Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Author's Note: WELL. X3 This takes some explaining, does it? BAHAHA. Um, anyway, I am working on A New Childhood and I am planning on updating Walking Backward some time. Unfortunately, One Character, Another Story is still on hiatus – I'm still thinking up ideas for it. Anyway, this is just a random idea that popped in my head from watching/reading too many of these stupid animal things; I'm gonna see if I can do better than everyone else! (mischievous smile)
Let's be aware of this – this is categorized under "Friendship" instead of "Romance" for a reason. Though there may be times that seem like yaoi between Naruto and Sasuke, it is not. Remember people, I believe in the difference between gay love and brotherly love, and this is brotherly love. So please don't go telling me, "OH MY GOD THAT'S NOT A PAIRING IN THE ANIME!" or "OH GOD NOT ANOTHER SASUNARU FAN FICTION!" or even "MORE SASUNARU PLZ!" Geez, it's getting on my freaking nerves! First of all, to the "OH MY GOD THAT'S NOT A PAIRING..." crap, I never said it was a pairing. I'm not making a SasuNaru pairing here; it is intended to be brotherly, and here's some news for you – it does actually say in the anime that they have a brotherly relationship. So there.
And let me remind you, there will be no romance here other than what is described in the anime. If you want my relationships to be unrealistic in accordance to the anime, then look at A New Childhood. Don't bother looking here or at One Character, Another Story.
And, breathe a sigh of relief – there are no OC's (at least, if there are, only like two) in this one. Happy now!?
Fan fiction is rated T for violence and for cursing.
Speech: "When any character talks". "When there's either multiple people talking, or when it's a flashback, or, if it isn't either, it's someone talking in another language (animal speak ftw)". Thoughts, or flashbacks. Any word that is italicized specifically is emphasized. "Kyuubi is speaking". Kyuubi is thinking. 'Naruto is talking directly to Kyuubi'. "Naruto is speaking, but he sounds like Kyuubi". I never make any words bold if I want to emphasize them – emphasis is only on italicized or fully capitalized words. Any words that are in thoughts or italicized speech that are emphasized are emphasized by removing the italics.
--
A Black Cat, a Fox, And One Hell of a Story
Chapter The First.:.
What the hell!? Why are we animals!?
The awakening of Sasuke caused much chaos today.
Namely, because he was small, for one. Second, he was furry. Third, he was a freaking animal.
Oh joy to the world.
Sasuke felt himself going into the familiar stretch that he did every morning in that empty room. He noticed something odd – the bed seemed bigger than it usually was. Not taking it to mind, Sasuke leaped off of the bed, but he should've felt something odd then – first, the genius could recall that he had jumped off on all fours, which, ya know, is something a human usually wouldn't do. (Sorry to people who crawl and stuff, though.) Second of all, he landed squarely on those very hands and feet. Third, his bed was freaking taller than him.
But, unfortunately, the renowned rookie of team seven paid little mind to such trivial matters. It didn't really matter to him as he padded through, still on his hands and feet, still on all fours. Now, ordinarily, you'd expect someone to notice that they were walking on all fours. Sasuke didn't pay any attention, however; it felt natural. You know how natural it feels after you learn to walk, actually walking? Yeah, that's how it felt. For some reason, he wasn't able to know why the hell he was shorter, or why he was even walking on all fours. He just kept walking through the empty house.
It had been empty for quite a few years now. The thirteen-year-old was now used to the loneliness. His family had been killed by Itachi naught more than six years ago (when he was seven, for those of you with bad math), so he had been alone for quite a while now, and he was sort of used to it. He still had quite an anger for Itachi, but now it had settled down to the point where he was more focused on more important issues such as staying alive and getting along as a ninja.
When Sasuke reached the door of his room, goddammit, he had left it closed the night before, he couldn't open it, and for some reason couldn't reach the knob. When he could reach the doorknob, his hand slipped, and for some reason, he wasn't able to clench it. That's when he realized something was odd. At first, Sasuke thought it was about the room, looking around at how freaking large it was. Then again, it looked the same other than its huge size.
Then he realized, remembered that he had walked on all fours, that he apparently had no thumbs, that he had leaped out of the bed by reflex other than by want or necessity. The problem was not his room, not the surroundings. The problem was him.
Bewildered by this sudden realization, the normally-emotionless kid looked all about him, and couldn't stifle a gasp. Looking down, he saw not hands, but paws, and not only were they paws, but they were black as well, and covered with fur. Sasuke looked to his back, and saw a tail moving around on its own accord, having no orders from its master on moving intentionally. He had a tail!? He finally scrambled back to his bed, and then dug under the covers for something. He finally found what he was looking for – a mirror. He put it on the bed, and then examined the reflection that it gave. No doubt he was unpleasantly surprised, when he saw that other than his eyes, everything had changed. What the hell? How the fuck did I become a cat!?
--
The bridge let the breeze tickle it without a care. Wind was fast approaching and told of a storm, but the wind did whisper honestly, "Not today, I say. The storm comes soon, bridge. Not today, though." The clouds seem to respond to this in agonizing protest as they backed away from the sun, allowing it to shine its rays once more onto the lonely bridge. The stream below it bubbled in delight at the bright sunshine, and the bridge sparkled beautifully in approval. Even though it was old, it still shone like as if it was newer than the village of Konoha itself.
Nature's talk with each other was interrupted by the pit of somebody's sandals, preferably the pink-haired girl's. She walked over onto the bridge, but unlike stairs or other wooden things, the bridge did not let out a groan. It was strong enough to hold humans without so much difficulty. Not that it really mattered. "Kaka-sensei! Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" called out the girl, apparently waiting for people to come along.
Suddenly, a swoop announced the arrival of a silver-haired mask-faced man, who stood not too far away from the girl. His single eye that was visible contained no emotion and he looked quite aloof. His Konoha headband lay lazily over his other eye, hiding it from the world. Behind that headband contained a closed Sharingan, which didn't move since its master did not order it to move, as of yet at least. "Hello, Sakura," he said, his voice not containing anything but sheer welcome in it. He leaned against the railings of the bridge. The bridge uttered not a word of protest. "Hey, sorry I'm late, I..."
"You're not as late as Sasuke-kun and Naruto," Sakura, the pink-hair girl, said in reply, looking nonchalant, but obviously boiling inside. What was taking them so damn long!?
"Hm, that's odd," the man, Kakashi, said in reply, putting a hand to his chin and pondering over it. "I would think they would both be eager to train, Sasuke wanting to become strong enough to show that he isn't what everyone thinks he is, and then Naruto... the one who wants to become Hokage, obviously."
The sound of paws grabbed both Kakashi's and Sakura's attention, so much so, that they looked down... and were staring at the furry face of a black cat. However, that black cat was carrying a Konoha headband, obviously trying to tell them something.
"A cat appearing where Sasuke usually appears?" Kakashi asked. "Naw, that can't be just coincidence." He noticed that the cat was obviously trying to signal to the headband it was carrying in its jaws. Finally, it dropped the Konoha headband and glanced up into Kakashi's eye with his own black eyes, normally emotionless, now panicked. Kakashi knew those eyes for sure. "Mm, how'd that happen to you?"
"Ugh, do you think I know?" Sasuke meowed, but he knew it was useless to try to get them to understand him. He was a cat now; he couldn't speak English. Only other creatures could understand him. Which makes his day even better.
"What's wrong, Kaka-sensei?" Sakura asked, looking at the cat. "Looks like some ordinary cat to me."
"Dammit, Sakura," Sasuke cursed. Sasuke was glad, however, that he was able to curse here now; he couldn't be caught for it, either, since nobody understood a word he said.
"This is Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi said. He was rewarded at first with a disbelieving stare.
Followed by Sakura squealing, picking up Sasuke, and then hugging him tightly. The cat winced, hating now that Sakura could easily hug him. Finally, angry at this affection he was receiving, he took out his claws, and immediately put them to use as weapons. He scratched Sakura's face, scrambling out of it, while Sakura tried to prevent her scratch wounds from bleeding. Kakashi grimaced.
"Don't do that, Sasuke," Kakashi scolded, and he was met by a fierce stare from Sasuke. Kakashi's gaze was unwavering, however.
"What? The brat had it comin'," was Sasuke's honest reply. Kakashi, even though not understanding cat speech, rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what Sasuke said. Just 'cause, you know, he knew Sasuke.
"Whether or not you think she deserved it, you still shouldn't do that," Kakashi once again said. He was met once again by a fierce stare from Sasuke.
Sakura had tears swimming in her eyes. Why does Sasuke-kun hate me so much? she asked herself, saddened by his behavior. I mean, I didn't do anything, I...
All of them were interrupted by a terrified mewl that sounded exactly like a fox.
--
For some reason, Sasuke knew for sure, he knew exactly where the mewl had come from and who had said it. How he had this instinct, no one knew. For the location, it was probably predictable with his newly found heightened sense of hearing. However, for the who, nobody knew for sure. Perhaps it was because he could hear the tone of Naruto's voice in that mewl.
Nonetheless, nothing caused him to hesitate in running directly toward the source of the noise – toward a river in the forest. Sakura and Kakashi were in tow, even though they knew it was probably a bad idea to interfere, and plus, they had no idea where Sasuke was heading.
Sasuke's paws touched the bank of the fast-flowing river, sinking slightly in the mud that covered it. He was careful not to step into the river directly other than skim over some of the water. He didn't know for sure whether or not he could use his chakra so he could just walk over the water, but since Naruto was being dragged by the water, and of course perhaps even intentionally, he knew that it was highly unlikely that he would be able to use even a little bit of his chakra. He probably had so little now that he was small; his chakra was only enough to keep him alive.
And there he saw it.
A bobbing head appeared in the water, black paws surfacing to try to grip something outside of the water's surface. Ears were flung back and clustered right on the little kit's head in a frightened manner. The nose was shoved to the bank, trying to touch it. Sasuke could see terror clearly written on his face, especially when he opened his eyes, and then he caught the sight of those familiar light blue eyes – the eyes that he had grown quite accustomed to, especially now that Naruto was on his team.
Without warning, Sasuke dashed for the place in which Naruto was floating in the river, and, cautiously, but quickly, trying not to fall into the river but also trying to catch Naruto in time, Sasuke extended his neck and gently enclosed his teeth around Naruto's scruff. He backed away, trying his best to stay on the bank, and was dismayed to know that Sakura and Kakashi weren't even lending a hand. He dug his claws into the bank to make sure that he stayed on it, and then slowly, backed away from the rushing water, pulling on Naruto with all his might. Finally, he felt the boy's tail touch the bank, and finally, he let go of Naruto's scruff.
The fox opened his eyes again, lifting to his black paws, fright the first thing that Sasuke could see in those cerulean eyes. The fox blinked, and then dragged himself further out of the bank and onto solid grass, before finally slumping down again. He looked like he wanted to get all the sopping wetness from him, but unfortunately he was too tired even to get back up from the dragging.
"Hey, dobe."
The fox turned his eyes to Sasuke. Surprisingly, he recognized immediately it was his best friend; it was probably because he had called him "dobe". "Th-Thanks for saving me, Sasuke," he whispered, his little fox voice thoroughly shaken. It was quite obvious. "Wh-Why are y-you a bl-black cat, by th-the way?"
"How the fuck should I know?" Sasuke rolled his black eyes. "And I'm guessing you don't know why you're a fox, either."
The fox simply shook his head.
"Hey, Sasuke, who is that?" Kakashi asked, coming over to the little black cat-used-to-be-ninja-thing. He patted Sasuke's head, which made the cat, in turn, growl. His eye upturned in an obvious smile. "I know you wouldn't rescue some random stranger from a river, right?"
Sakura came over, following Kakashi.
Sasuke felt rage looking at Kakashi and Sakura as they seemed so indifferent to the plight that Naruto had just been in that Sasuke had to drag him in by himself. "Why the hell didn't you help!?" he asked them furiously, before realizing that they couldn't understand him, anyway. "Shit."
Sakura looked over the fox, suspicious of it. "How the heck did a fox get trapped into a river? I thought foxes were smart about those things."
"Not Naruto," Sasuke said simply. The fox scowled at him. Sakura and Kakashi didn't notice.
"I'm thinking that this is Naruto," Kakashi finally decided. Relief washed over Sasuke, knowing now that he didn't have to try to explain to people, who now didn't even understand him anymore. "And Sasuke knew it from the beginning, or else he wouldn't have saved him from the river."
"That explains it," Sakura decided. She looked at the fox, Naruto. "Man, but does he look so pitiful. I guess it's to be expected from floating in a river, that's as fast-moving as this one."
"Why was he even near a river, anyway?" Kakashi asked, knowing he wouldn't understand the answer, but still gazing at Naruto curiously.
Suddenly, Naruto did something that unpleasantly surprised all three of the people he worked with. The little fox made it to his feet, and was coughing a lot. It was true that a lot of his coughs were simply going to get the water out of his lungs, but some of the coughing dumped blood onto the ground. The fox then lay back down, not minding that his head was on top of some of said blood. He was used to the touch and scent of it. It didn't make him uncomfortable anymore.
"Naruto, are you all right?" Sasuke asked, his voice showing obvious concern. He didn't bother to hide it; he mostly hid it from Kakashi and Sakura, anyway, and since they couldn't understand him, there was no reason to hide his emotions.
"I was running away from someone," the fox said weakly, having a hard time keeping from stammering. He certainly stammered at the next thing he said. "N-No... if I-I had s-stayed... th-they would've killed me. It w-was as if th-they knew who I w-was, even though I-I'm a fox right n-now."
Kakashi didn't understand what he said, but he was obviously just as concerned as everyone else was, except for Sasuke, whose concern had escalated. "I think we should take you to Tsunade and sort this out," said Kakashi, with no hint of doubt in his speech. Good guess why not.
"I agree," Sakura said softly. Even though she hated how idiotic he was, she couldn't help but be concerned.
Sasuke was frozen at the news that he had heard from Naruto. Then he did an action that Kakashi and Sakura didn't expect him to. He nosed Naruto in a concerned manner, then lay down next to him, in a protective manner. "Who? Who were you running away from?" he asked, his voice completely serious.
"A-A villager..."
"What villager!? Who was he!?"
"I don't know, okay!" Naruto hid his face with his paw. Sakura and Kakashi picked up that they were obviously having a very serious discussion.
Sasuke sighed, if a cat can sigh. He nudged Naruto again with his nose. "Please don't hide your face," he meowed wisely. "It's not going to help you, and if you tell me something, I won't hear your words. I want to know, honestly, as much as I can. I know this is hard for you to believe, Naruto," he paused a bit at that, having sad thoughts about how Naruto was treated now, "but I am here to help you, not to hinder or hurt you. But if you don't want to tell me, I understand." He then stood up, and looked over to Kakashi. The look on his face said it all: Go ahead and take him. He then spoke again, directly at Naruto again. "But never mind that for now; it isn't very important." His voice was sincere, no sign of joking at all in it. "You need to be treated immediately. Plus, Tsunade-sama needs to tell us a plan for the both of us. We can't go on as animals without somebody to look after us. We can't defend ourselves like this."
Now, Sasuke was expecting some sort of snap or whimper from Naruto. However, when he turned back to the fox-kid, he instead had eyes filled with understanding, as well as regret for being so blind. Nonetheless, Sasuke grimaced. It was obvious he knew hardly anything about people who wanted to help him, because most people did want to inflict harm on him, even though he was training to be a shinobi, even now. Naruto nodded, trying to lift to his paws again. Sasuke walked back over to Naruto and put a paw on Naruto's head, telling him to lie back down again. "No, don't stand up," he meowed. Naruto obeyed, but his eyes looked confused. Sasuke sighed and explained. "You don't want to push yourself anymore than you have. If you were running away from somebody, then obviously your feet – er, paws must be tired. Just rest. I'm sure Kakashi will take you to Tsunade-sama, no problem."
And, just as Sasuke had predicted, Kakashi scooped up the little used-to-be-boy-now-a-fox and headed to Tsunade, with the used-to-be-boy-now-a-cat and the pink-haired girl in tow. Nobody spoke for a while; Naruto was too tired, Sakura had nothing to say, Kakashi never really struck up conversations, and Sasuke was too concerned with Naruto's wellbeing.
--
Let's just say the last thing Tsunade needed was a species change in her shinobi.
"NANI!?" she exclaimed. "What did you do now!?" Her hand was over Naruto's back as she tried to heal the – now literally – fox boy.
"We didn't do anything," Naruto mewed, but to no avail. Tsunade couldn't understand a word he said.
"Naruto, we can't plead our innocence like this," Sasuke meowed, licking his black paw and then swiping it over his ears. "They can't understand a word we say. We will only have one-sided conversations with them. We can only talk fully to each other." He walked over to the little fox, sticking his cat tongue out. "Dobe."
"Teme, you do know foxes hunt cats, right?" Naruto asked, smirking. He was met by an unpleasant scowl by Sasuke. The little fox snickered. "So I suggest you don't test your luck."
"You're lucky I can't perform any jutsu or I'd Chidori your smug face," Sasuke spat, turning around and sitting with his back to Naruto. "I guess you're happy that you've had so much luck, in and out of battles. No wonder you're a fox, lucky bastard."
"If I had good luck, I'd be dead by now."
Sasuke froze. Did he just hear those negative words, especially from Naruto? He looked over at his friend's face and searched through him and the words he just said to find any hint of joking. He felt himself go numb as he realized that sentence had been very serious. He decided not to press the matter – Naruto would tell him why he thought that when he was ready. Instead, he fell silent and listened to the others speak amongst each other, completely oblivious to the conversation he and Naruto had.
"I think he's done healing," Tsunade announced, her voice notably calmer. She took her hand off Naruto's back. Naruto got up and padded over to Sasuke, sitting next to him and listening into their conversation as Sasuke was. Tsunade looked at Sakura and Kakashi, then spoke again. "I'll alert other teams on this mystery. Kakashi, you gather the elite shinobi and find a cure. Sakura, you'll be their guardian. You may gather some other Genins to help you." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and flicked her hand in a dismissive manner.
Kakashi nodded, jumping to the window and then disappearing. Sakura scooped up Sasuke, obviously favoring carrying him over Naruto, and signaled with her head for Naruto to follow.
"Ugh, Sakura-chan, my paws were bleeding not too long ago!" Naruto pleaded. Sasuke looked a little sympathetic, albeit he hated Naruto's begging. "Why can't you carry me, too?" But instead of complaining more, the little fox chased after her as she left the building.
--
Sakura was busy fixing food in cans for Naruto and Sasuke (though she put more effort into Sasuke's bowl) while the two of them stayed in the living room of her house. Dark clouds were gathering outside, and the wind whistled, "Sorry, couldn't keep my promise," furiously in preparation of the oncoming storm. But nobody noticed its words.
Sasuke certainly was bored as hell.
"Dammit, I wish I could train," Sasuke hissed, obviously considering this silence very unpleasant.
What was weird was that Naruto was completely silent, but his ears were erect, as if listening to something. He was curled up on the couch, eyes closed, paws aching. One would assume he was asleep if not for his breathing, which wasn't as deep as it would be if he were asleep. Little did Sasuke know he was talking to the fox sealed inside him.
"So, how's it like being a fox, kid?" the Kyuubi asked in his mind, staring at the little fox with one eye.
'Not fun,' Naruto moaned in complaint. 'Can't even talk to anyone.'
"Wrong," the fox growled, catching the much smaller fox by surprise. After gazing at Kyuubi curiously, the bijuu decided to continue. "You can talk to the Uchiha. Cats and foxes understand each other. Their languages are quite alike."
'Yeah, I know that,' Naruto replied irately. 'But he isn't that talkative.'
"I'm sure you could get a word or two out of him."
'Yeah, and how?'
"Don't ask me; you're the one he's talked to more lately."
Naruto sighed, which could actually be heard by Sasuke. And it did. 'Thanks for the help,' he mewed irritably at Kyuubi, unafraid of the bijuu. He had a hard time resisting rolling his eyes in front of Sasuke.
The Kyuubi grinned. "You have four feet to stand on, not just two, now." He curled into a sleeping position within the seal. "You don't need eight."
Surprisingly, Naruto understood the message in these words. And it annoyed him. 'Ah, shut up, you damn fox.' And that ended their little conversation, leading Naruto back to the world outside his mind... where Sasuke was staring at him.
"What the hell were you doing?" he asked, tilting his head to the side curiously. "You completely zoned out."
Naruto backed away, the sudden proximity frightening him. After gaining his wit about him, he glared at Sasuke. "Don't sneak up on me when I'm talking to someone else."
Sasuke already knew who this "someone else" was. "Don't know why you'd rather talk to that ancient bijuu than me," said Sasuke, amused. "What'd he say?"
"Nothing important," Naruto yawned, his jaw stretching really far. He lifted to his paws after he had fallen backward from the startle of Sasuke, stretching luxuriously. "I wanna go outside."
"Then go, dobe," Sasuke sighed, curling up where Naruto used to be a few moments ago. "I think I'll sleep now. I'm really tired."
Naruto gave a (literally) foxy grin. "All right, have a fun catnap," he mewed cleverly, receiving his usual prize – a scowl from Sasuke. "Later." And with that, he jumped out of the window, forgetting completely to tell Sakura he was going outside. Sasuke noticed this, but wasn't too concerned as he drifted to sleep.