Hello! I'm back (for the moment...) I finally managed to finish this! YAY! Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. (sad, isn't it?)

The Cat's Meow

I woke up to a very warm feeling on my back and my side. I looked over. Gaara lay sleeping beside me as he usually did now[1]. I slowly but gently squirmed my way out of his grip. I stood up stretching and walked over to the bathroom that was connected to my room. The light blinded me for a few seconds when I turned it on. I blinked a few times to clear my eyes of any fuzziness that might still be lingering. I walked over to the mirror. I closed my eyes and yawned. As I opened them, I nearly screamed, but I covered my mouth so I wouldn't wake Gaara. 'What in the HELL…' my mind yelled. On top of my head was a pair of brown cat ears. I felt something brush against my leg. I looked down and yelped. 'OH. MY. GOD. I have a tail.' I thought as the tail flicked against my leg again. It was thin and brown like my ears.

I cautiously reached up to my new 'ears' and scratched behind one of them. The ear went back and I closed my eyes and let out a 'purr'. I froze. I heard shifting in the other room. I poked my head out. 'Good…' I thought. 'It's only Gaara… Wait… GAARA!' I ran out of the bathroom and stopped at the edge of the bed. His back was facing me. The room was still a little dark and I couldn't see due to rushing into the dark from the light. So I had a little experiment. I reached out and touched the top of his head. Something flicked the palm of my hand. I immediately drew back. I looked around. I went over to the bed-side lamp. I sighed and looked at Gaara's sleeping form. He was peaceful when he slept. Too bad I had to turn on the light.

"Sorry, Gaara…" I whispered as I flicked on the light. As I turned it on, I saw him flinch and slowly open his eyes.

"Wha-"he started and froze when he saw me. "Aria? Are those…" He pointed to my ears and tail.

"Sadly, yes…" I replied.

I could see him fully now. He had cat ears too. His were red with black tips. I hated to admit it, but he looked kind of cute with the ears… One of them was perked up and the other one was to the side. I shook my head and grabbed the covers from his grip, throwing them back.

"Hey! What are-"he started and then stopped as he saw me widen my eyes. "What? What's wrong?"

He looked down to where I was staring. His eyes went huge. He had a long, bushy red tail that was flicking from side to side. I took his hand and pulled him into the bathroom and pointed at the mirror. If it was possible for his eyes to get wider, they did. Curiously, he put a hand over one of the ears. It flicked at his palm. He quickly took his hand away. I stifled a chuckle and reached my hand up to grab his ear. I rubbed it between my fingers. He lowered his head and let out a low purr. I blushed as he snapped his head back up and looked at me.

"We need to tell someone…" he said. I nodded and we rushed out of the room. We dashed past his office. I stopped. Inside the office was Kankuro and Temari.

"GUYS!" I shouted. "Thank god you are here!" I looked at them. 'Lest I repeat: WHAT in the HELL?' I thought. They didn't have cat ears. Or tails. They were normal. Before I could say anything, Gaara talked hurriedly.

"Do you guys notice anything different about us?" he said, indicating to me and him.

Temari put her hand over her mouth and Kankuro just stared. 'Do they see them?' I thought. I thought they did, until Kankuro started to laugh.

"N-no… not r-really! B-but… you… w-would be able to!" Kankuro said between breaths. I was confused until I looked between Gaara and me: All I had on was my underwear and Gaara's black shirt and all he had on were his lack pants and no shirt. My eyes got huge. He turned to me.

"What?" he asked. I pointed down. He saw what we were wearing and widened his eyes. He both stared at each other.

"CRAP!" we both said at the same time. We scrambled out the door and rushed to my room leaving his siblings laughing in our wake.

As we got to my room, I slammed the door shut.

"Did you see?" I panted, putting my hands on my knees for support. Gaara just looked at me.

"See what? What do you mean?" he asked, sitting in the bed.

"I mean, did you see Kankuro and Temari?" I said pacing in front of him.

"Yes, I saw them. What is your point?"

"My point is, they didn't have ears or tails!" I nearly shouted, clearly getting irritated and feeling my ears go back. He flattened his ears and looked down at the ground and thought for a second.

"So now the question is, why do only we have ears and tails and they don't?" he said, looking back up at me.

"And," I said looking at him. "Why can't they see ours?"

I sat next to him on the bed.

"What are we going to do…"I said, putting my face in my hands. He put his hand on my shoulder. "AND I was planning to go out today to get some herbs…"

"Well," he said looking thoughtful. "If neither Kankuro or Temari can see them, maybe the villagers can't either."

"Good point…" I mumbled. I sighed and looked at him. "Looks like I have an experiment to do."

I got up and pulled Gaara with me.

"What're you-"he started. I cut him off.

"If I'm going, so are you. You have ears and a tail too, you know." I stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, I know, but… *sigh* fine. But people are going to stare anyway. I never walk around the village…" he trailed off. I took his hand and smiled.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine." I reassured him. "Now get dressed. We have a looong day ahead of us."

We spent the next few hours just walking slowly around the village. Gaara was right: we got stares and whispers. Rather, he got stares and we both got whispers. We heard some squeals and looked over. To our (more his) dismay, some kunoichi stood in a group gawking and blushing at him[2]. I glanced up and then down to notice that his ears were back and his tail fluffed up. I giggled. One ear perked up and swiveled in my direction as he turned to me.

"You think it's funny, huh?" he nearly growled. I shrank back a little, ears flattening. He smiled evilly. "How's this for funny?"

"W-what… EEEEEP!" I squeaked as his arm grabbed my waist, pulling me towards him. He let out a deep 'purr' and gently bit the back of my cat-ear making me squeak again. We heard some small gasps and looked over. The Kunoichi looked disappointed, but one gave me a thumbs-up and winked. I smiled. I knew her. It was Matsuri[3]. The girl had the BIGGEST crush on Gaara. I felt him tense up. I giggled again but stopped as I felt him tighten his grip on me.

"Let's go back." He whispered close to my ear, which swiveled towards him.

"O-ok…" I stuttered as we turned around, his arm still around me.

We got more stares going back to the Kage building than we did exiting it earlier that day. As we got back, we went to my room. I shut the door behind me and Gaara sat down on my bed, head in hands. I paced in front of him. He watched me.

"Well," I started, "that was interesting…"

"No one noticed the ears or the tails."

"So we were the only ones…" I mumbled. He sighed.

"Now what do we do?" I said turning to him. "Any suggestions?" He just looked at me. I turned around and faced the window.

I was thinking of something when I felt something pull on my tail making me fall backwards. I landed on Gaara's lap and felt his arms come around my waist holding me there. I froze.

"W-w-what are you doing…" I stuttered. I gasped when I felt his breath on my neck.

"You…" he said in a smooth, low voice. "Smell like vanilla." He nuzzled my neck and let out a deep 'purr'.

My eyes widened. 'What in the hell is wrong with him…' I thought. Then it hit me. 'He is going off of a cat's natural instinct… CRAP! This isn't good…' Natural instincts of animals was something I as good at. Unfortunately, they were about to be tested out. On us. RIGHT NOW. I took a deep breath and smelled something. 'Is that… Mint?' My mind said. I turned to him. He tightened his grip on me, pressing my face to his neck. I inhaled.

"You smell like mint…." I mumbled, sinking in to the scent. He chuckled.

"Don't you like mint?" he asked.

"I do…"

"Well then." I was about to ask what he meant but he stopped me by turning me around and kissing me. 'What the-' my mind rushed. 'Oh my god… he tastes like mint too…..' I thought. I was unaware, however, that I had voiced my thought out loud. I realized it to late, but who cared. I felt our tails entwine as we broke the kiss.

"Wow…" I panted. I felt like I couldn't breath.

"Yeah…"

"Well…" I said, a little to much anticipation in my voice. "I think I found something we can do…"

"Yes." He said his face inching closer to mine. "Yes I believe you have." He raised his hand and sand went up and locked the door.

What happened next was, well, (quite literally) 'the cat's meow'[4].

[1] - Yes. In my fanfictions, Gaara sleeps. I imagine this to all be AFTER the One-tail was removed. And if anyone has a perverted little mind (which I KNOW some of you do...), they do sleep together, but they don't 'sleep' together.(or at least not in this one ;3 )

[2]- I thought it would be funny to torture Gaara and put fangirls in this. LOL, I'm so mean. :)

[3]- I felt like being nice and specifically pointed out Matsuri. I like her character, just not the fact that she likes Gaara... But like I said. I felt like being nice.

[4]- To say that something is 'the cat's meow' is basically saying that it is the best thing ever. I'm not kidding. It is an actual saying. Pretty cool, huh?