title: feline

disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

note: I wrote this after reading Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami, so I tried taking on his writing style a bit, and incorporated that 'ability to talk to cats' part. This story doesn't make much sense, I guess. Writing in Sasuke's point of few is difficult. He sounds more like Kafka, actually.

After surfing channels mindlessly for a while, I glance at the watch on my wrist, and sigh. I turn off the TV, leaving the remote on the sofa, and decide to head out for dinner today.

I live alone in this apartment, and can't cook to save my life. This leaves little options for me whenever I'm hungry. Most of the time it's take out, sometimes those instant cupped noodles when I'm feeling thrifty.

I'm feeling particularly restless today, so I decide to head out to go eat somewhere. It's a nice evening, not too cold, nor too warm. The breeze is comforting against my skin, and I walk at a leisurely pace. There's a small ramen place around the block, pretty close to my apartment. It's cheap too, and the food's really good. I visit there so often that the owner, a guy named Teuchi, knows what I want before I ask for it.

Not many people visit Ichiraku's, except this really loud blonde idiot, so it's the perfect place for me, I guess. I like quiet places, so I make sure not to come on the days that blonde guy shows up. Even then, he comes over pretty much every day, so I usually just get my ramen and leave to eat someplace else.

I reach the small stand, pushing away the curtains to the entrance. Teuchi's at the counter, wiping a bowl with a wet rag, and smiles at me. I nod at him silently.

I take a look around the place, and I'm the only one there, thankfully. That blonde's not here, so that means I can eat in peace. I take a seat in the bar, and without having to ask, Teuchi begins making my usual tonkotsu ramen.

There is no small talk; he knows I don't speak much, and I'm grateful. It's not that I'm shy, not at all. I prefer silence, is all. I've never been much of a speaker anyways.

"Here you go, Sasuke-san," he says, sliding over the bowl to me. I nod appreciatively, split my chopsticks, and say a quiet 'itadakimasu' before digging in. The broth is as delicious as always, nice and hot. It fills me up well, and I don't realize how hungry I am.

I don't know why, but I'm feeling more hungry than I usually am. I finish off my ramen quickly, and to my and Teuchi's surprise, I order another one. He doesn't say anything, only gives me a bemused look, before shrugging and turning his back to me, facing the kitchen.

I sit there silently, elbow propped up on the table, with my chin resting on my upturned palm. It's a very peaceful night, though something seems a little different today. I don't know what exactly about it is different, but it somehow is. It could be the weather, or maybe I'm catching a cold? I don't know, but I feel like something's gonna happen.

I shake my head of these thoughts. I don't usually entertain things like that. I've always been a serious person, even when I was young. I did the best I could in all areas, though, but I didn't make a lot of friends, just admirers and unfortunately, fan girls.

Not to mention my family was quite well-off, so I got the best of everything-education, clothes, toys, books. It was my elder brother though, who was the true prodigy. I used to be so envious of him when I was younger, always striving to best him. Itachi was that sort of person everyone wanted to be. It seemed like he had everything-looks, brains, charisma, the whole package.

Naturally, he took over my father's company, and when I was fifteen, I left my family to live by myself, independently. I didn't take any money from my parents' bank accounts, and got a part-time job in a bookstore. I completed high school on a scholarship, and managed to deftly avoid contact with any of my parents, or with Itachi.

Now I'm seventeen and work at a newspaper while taking up AP psychology at a nearby college. My job at the newspaper gives me a pretty good income. It's enough to get by, and I've never been one to splurge on unnecessary things.

Sometimes this kind of life gets lonely, I admit. I'm used to being alone though, so I don't really mind much. I've got a few friends in college, not too close, but still friends.

Teuchi sets down my second bowl in front of me when the entrance to the shop is roughly pushed open. A loud, very familiar voice calls out to him, and I breathe out a weary sigh.

Teuchi gives me a knowing look. "I'll wrap it up for you?" I nod, and he takes away the bowl.

It's the blonde idiot. And I thought I could get away from him for a while. He sits down a few seats away from me, but I don't turn to look at him. Teuchi is soon back, with a plastic bag in hand. He gives this to me, and I pay for the meal, standing up.

It feels good to stretch my legs like this, and after a nod of thanks to Teuchi, I head out the door, cringing when the blonde's loud voice reaches my ears. "Yo, Teuchi-san! Who was that emo-looking guy back there?"

I almost want to go back inside there, just to punch the idiot in the face, but I just clench my fist and continue walking.

It's gotten a little colder than the last time I was out, and I frown, before deciding to just head back to my apartment and eat there. The city is unusually silent tonight, no car horns or music or chatter. It's almost eery.

I continue down the road towards my apartment block, passing by a river bank, when I hear a voice.

"I hope you don't mind sardines, Takagi-san." The voice is definitely feminine, soft and whimsical, almost like a whisper from the wind. I look around, almost sure I've just imagined it, except it speaks again.

"Well, no, not really. It's not so often I get to speak to cats, even though I can, most of the time. Other times I'm not able to, I suppose." The voice pauses, contemplating. "This is a very nice neighborhood you've got here, Takagi-san, there are many cats around. I like to speak to the cats here sometimes, though whenever I try, they run away. It's not normal then, for humans to be able to speak to cats, aren't I right?"

I can almost hear an answer. Maybe I've imagined this voice too, because it's quite softer than the other, and more husky. A rasping, kind of scratchy voice. I don't hear what that voice said, but the other voice appeared to have understood it well enough.

The voice sighed. "I thought so. If you don't mind me asking, Takagi-san, have you been speaking to humans like this for a while now, even before you met me?"

I don't get to hear the answer to this question, because before I know it, I climb down the slightly steep river bank, and approach the two figures sitting on the grass, watching the calm water.

It's pretty dark around, so I'm not able to see their features very clearly at first. Gradually, my eyes get used to the black, and then bits and details of them soon come to light.

I first notice the larger of the two figures sitting on the bank. It's a young girl, who appears to be a year or two younger than me. She's kind of funny looking with a slightly broad forehead, pert nose, and two big green, cat-like eyes. It's a very natural looking face, nothing artificial or cosmetic about it at all. The kind of face you can't ignore. Still, she gives off this kind of childish, almost ethereal aura about her which calms me down. She's pretty, I suppose, in a strange, exotic kind of way.

The girl is slim and wears her short, tousled cotton candy pink hair in a messy bun on the top of her head, though it looks to be about shoulder-length if she ever let it down. She wears a long-sleeved, striped blue cardigan over a white shirt and gray leggings underneath her dark, washed-out shorts. On her feet are a pair of dirty white tennis shoes, clearly worn many times before.

The second figure is a large, fat black cat.

Both their eyes turn to look at me, wide and unblinking. It was like staring at two cats' eyes, with the girl's the way they were. Her green eyes and the cat's blue ones dig into my own, causing a shiver to go down my spine.

I can't make myself turn away, even though I more than anything want to. Their stares are very uncomfortable, like they're judging me from head to toe, and whether I should be allowed to speak to them or not.

Before I can do anything, though, the girl speaks.

"Well, hello."

I blink. "Hello."

She grins at me, all perfect white teeth, though her canines are slightly more pointed than an average person's. "Were you standing there a while? It must have been cold."

I shrug. I've never been a man of words, remember?

"I imagine you need to speak to either one of us about something?" she asks, gesturing between herself and the cat, before pausing to think contemplatively. She frowns. "Well, just me then, since Takagi-san here is a cat. Though I don't think that should really be a limiting factor, should it? By all means, you can talk to Takagi-san if you'd like."

I don't know what to say.

She looks at me amusedly. "If you hadn't said 'hello' to us earlier, I would have thought you mute!" She looks at the cat beside her, whose tail was swaying upright, following the direction of the winds. "Have you anything to say, Takagi-san? I should like to be an interpreter between you two, if you don't mind."

The cat turns to look at her with lazy, almost arrogant eyes. It opens its mouth, I expect, to yawn, except it didn't.

"I don't need an interpreter, though the gesture is appreciated, Sakura-san," the cat drawls heavily, sounding as if he'd fall asleep any minute. His eyes stare in my direction again. "I'm sure this man is able to understand me perfectly well."

I suppose I should've been more surprised that the cat was talking, which I was sure cats were unable to do before, though I felt very calm right then.

The girl-Sakura-looks at me in astonishment. "Can you really?" she asks.

I nod once. Her mouth opens a little, before she abruptly gets up on her feet, startling me. "So you're like me then? You can talk to cats too?"

"Not until right now," I admit truthfully. I'd never spoken to cats before this.

She stares at me again, straight in my eyes. I can't help but stare back. Her eyes, I think, are the most peculiar part of her. They're big and the greenest shade of green I've ever seen, with thick, long lashes framing them. A very lovely pair of eyes, as far as eyes go. Her eyes also seem to speak, in a way. They were probing my own, as if checking if I were telling the truth, as if her eyes would find every single part of me I tried to keep hidden.

It's a strange sort of feeling. I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad one, either.

Sakura's pink eyebrows-her hair is natural then, I think-furrow slightly, before she nods a little to herself and steps back. I find myself missing how little space there was between us, and am positively confused. I make sure not to let this show on my face though; I've had a lot of practice hiding what I truly felt behind a blank mask, though it was a little harder to this time.

Even though she had stepped back, her eyes still remain glued to mine, very curiously. "What's your name?"

"Sasuke."

"Sasuke," she says, testing it out.

I have no idea why, but hearing my name on her tongue sends another shiver through my body. Like before, it's hard to tell whether it's a good kind of shiver or not.

"So, Sasuke," I shiver again, "what brings you here?"

I wordlessly hold up my plastic bag.

Sakura, instead of asking what was inside, bounds forward, peering in. "Hm," she says curiously, "Ramen?" She leans in, taking a deep whiff. Her body is very close to mine, and her heat is radiating off of her in the cold weather. It's comfortable, and I can't help but want to get closer. She smells like sunlight and soap and slightly of sardines. She smells like something precious.

"Tonkotsu ramen," she says, very assuredly. "Well, don't be shy, sit down." She pulls on the sleeve of my jacket, making me sit down on the grass near the bank of the river. She soon plops down beside me, grinning from ear to ear.

"So, Sasuke, are you here often?"

I shake my head. "Just tonight."

"Because you heard us, right?"

I nod.

She laughs for the first time tonight, and it's a very nice laugh. Soft and very cheerful, with no restraints. Laughing for the sake of laughing. Or laughing for the sake of something funny, I don't know. Either way, her laugh is nice.

"You really don't say much, do you?" she says, picking a tuft of grass and feeling it between her thumb and forefinger. I shrug, and she laughs again. I'm beginning to like her laugh very much.

"You aren't going to eat your ramen?" she asks all of a sudden, pointing at the plastic bag at my side. I stare at it for a minute, not feeling so hungry anymore.

"You can have it."

She brightens up immediately. "Really? That's very good. I like pork. You do too, don't you, Takagi-san?"

The cat doesn't say anything, but moves his head a little in what could either be a shake or a nod.

I hand her the bag, and she takes out the plastic container inside, opening it at once. The air immediately smells of pork and broth and noodles, and I can see Sakura practically salivating at the mouth.

She sips a little of the broth and sighs in content. "It's very good, thank you. Would you care for some, Takagi-san?"

The black cat shakes its head. "Maybe, if it were a seafood ramen. Are there any sardines in it?"

"No."

The cat sighed. "I thought so."

We three sit there very silently for a few minutes, Sakura busy with the ramen, the cat licking itself in a lazy pace, and myself just thinking.

Eventually Sakura finishes off the bowl and sets it aside, patting her stomach fondly. "That was a good meal. Thank you, Sasuke."

"Hn," I acknowledge. She giggles.

"You know," she says after a while, "I've always been able to speak to cats. Not so much with other humans. I don't interact very well with them." She wipes her mouth with a napkin from the plastic bag. "I'm very odd, you know?" she says casually.

"You're speaking with me normally," I point out.

She looks at me seriously, thinking. "I suppose that makes you odd too, doesn't it?"

I nod. I suppose it does.

"This is the first time you've talked to a cat, then?" Sakura asks. I nod. "Well, do you think you'll be able to later on?"

Honestly, I don't know. I tell her so.

"It's strange, having this ability," she comments. "But it gives me the opportunity to be able to speak with cats like Takagi-san over here, so I'm grateful."

The cat scratched its ear. "Oh, you're making me blush."

Sakura laughs, before looking to me again. "So, Sasuke, what do you do for a living?"

"I work in a newspaper."

She nods knowingly, her chin in her hand. "That's a smart job, then, is it? Marvelous. Newspapers tell all sorts of news. Most bad, unfortunately. You should write some good ones, you know. It's all quite depressing."

"Most important things that happen aren't very pleasant."

Sakura tilts her head and looks at me in puzzlement. "What are you talking about? I think most of the important things are good. For example, you're alive today, and I'm alive today. That's important, isn't it?"

I can't really see where her line of reasoning is going. "It's got to be important to a lot of people."

"I'm sure being alive is important to many people. When you're dead, it won't matter what's important or not, after all. When you're dead, matters like that don't matter to you, because you're dead and I don't think people are able to think when they're dead."

"I suppose you're right," I say slowly. Sakura beams.

"Aren't I?"

Abruptly, she stands up, and then bows. "It's awfully late and I need to be heading back now. Thank you very much for your hospitality."

"Ah," I say. I don't really want her to go just yet.

"I'll bring some more sardines for you next time, Takagi-san!" Sakura announces cheerfully.

The fat black cat inclines his head. "I'd be much obliged if you would."

"And it was very nice talking to you, Sasuke," she says, smiling. "I'd like to talk with you again sometime."

"Aa," I say.

Sakura bows once more, then twirls on her heel and disappears into the night.

I have the feeling I won't see her again.

I turn to look at the fat black cat. "Is she coming back?"

He looks at me and opens his mouth. No words come out of it though, only a lazy purr. The cat stands up slowly, stretches, and then walks away, blending in with the darkness of the night, like Sakura did.

I sit there for a few minutes, not really thinking of anything. Eventually I too stand up, throw the plastic bag into a trash bin nearby, and head home.