Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. I'm just borrowing the Naruto characters again because it is fun and I'm still a perv.
Author's Notes: This AU fic was inspired by my demented but adorable kitten- Bunny Boots. Because for an entire month she tried everything she could think of to get our (neutered) remarkably stupid yet also cute Cockapoo (dog) to mate with her. XD
Subsequent chapters of this fic shall be co written by me Lady Valtaya and fellow Sasu/Naru/Sasu nut, the lovely SangoStar. So leave us a review and give her much love for being so amazingly wonderful!
The Trouble With Pets
Chapter 1
The room was too hot- even with the air conditioner on. At least the lights were low. But the sound of his pounding heartbeat almost deafened his sensitive ears in the quiet room. In one of the far corners, he sat hunched against a cream colored wall.
His trainer was with him, as always. Tall, lean and white haired, the human was in his mid thirties yet reminded him of a sloppy teenager or a scarecrow. Patiently, he waited over by the easy chairs provided for them. The man leaned against the wall beneath one of the recessed lights, slowly savoring his favorite smutty book. Kakashi's constant presence with his cool, disinterested demeanor helped him to stay calm.
Unlike most of the people who applied for a hybrid trainer's license, Kakashi actually had a lifetime of experience with exotic animals. His father had been a famous circus performer. That was why Kakashi could read him so well. The tilt of his head, every flick of his tail and the set of his ears, all of it held meaning to the human because he'd seen it before- in lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards.
He closed his eyes. Usually they were pitch black, but tonight hormones and adrenaline had combined to turn them a rich, deep crimson. It was hard to keep his breathing slow and even.
This fight was almost over- on a floor above them; the anxious crowd suddenly whooped an octave louder. He could feel their excitement even through the heavy cement walls and ceiling of the basement.
That meant the next match- no, he corrected himself, 'my match would be starting soon.'
It was tempting to get up and start pacing around the room- but it never helped and he wasn't nervous. He was just ready to get it over with.
Humans prided themselves on their "civilized" behavior- yet every time he fought it was the same. He smelled the spectators' aggression increasing each time the doors down this hall were opened. They told themselves that the violence they witnessed in the ring above him was "controlled" of course, but many of the thousands in this arena had come to see blood.
He opened his eyes and growled as that thick, musky scent of excitement above permeated the hallway once more. Licking his lips, he enjoyed the tension it added to his muscles. Murmurs came down the hall toward them, and his tail flickered warningly across the cool cement.
A nervous looking human stuck his head inside the dressing room.
'My dressing room,' he corrected himself.
"Five minutes, people!" The short, balding man waved his clipboard. Furry black ears swept back and he growled at the approaching voices of more tournament staff. "Control says we've got about five minutes left in this match! Hey! Kakashi? It's so quiet in there, you sure your boy is-"
"Leave," Kakashi calmly blocked the man from proceeding any farther into the room, but he had not bothered to put down the erotica he was reading.
"But he's just-"
"Sasuke's ready," Kakashi shrugged. He heard the sound of another page being turned in the book his trainer was holding- ordinarily Sasuke would have chuckled, but tonight his hormones and instincts were already making it too hard to hold still. "Go twitch somewhere else."
"You can't talk to me like that! I'm just doing my-" The technician snapped, glaring at the other man.
Sasuke smelled the intruder's mounting indignation. Because it was directed at Kakashi, he gave the idiot a long, low warning growl to back off now or be removed.
"My Neko doesn't like company before his matches. So my job," Kakashi interrupted in a low voice, "is to keep him from killing you. Go."
Sasuke growled a little louder, his tail twitching ever so slightly- he knew the other man was going to argue.
The man started to complain again, but the door slammed shut and the intruder was gone.
"I saw that, Sasuke."
Sasuke shook his head, quizzically giving Kakashi his full attention. He realized he'd been growling and stopped. His ears ticked back- he didn't like the man's tone. "Saw what?"
"You were going to attack that moron." Kakashi said, he slid the book into his jacket pocket and folded his arms across his chest.
Sasuke blinked. 'Attack?'
That was when he realized wasn't in the corner anymore. His arched tail was rigid, he was crouched low on all fours, all his muscles tense, ready to spring - but most telling of all; his claws were out. Sasuke growled, and stretched out onto his side, lying on the cool cement. He caught the end of his glossy black tail and licked it, feigning disinterest.
"I'll admit, it was working for a while, but you haven't been yourself for months now." Kakashi sighed. "You shouldn't have to fight every two weeks or risk your hormones and adrenaline sparking out of control, Sasuke. You're five years old now, you need to-"
"Mate?" Sasuke dared him, his eyes were blood red, and his thick tail slapped the cement floor.
Kakashi just rolled his eyes. "I'm not talking about breeding you and you know it."
"You mean not yet." Sasuke corrected, making no effort to hide the bitter sarcasm.
"I want you to love your mate because sooner or later your leopard side will want cubs. But humans mate all the time without having kids."
Sasuke snorted. "I know. I remember every slut you've ever brought home, and I still wonder why all of them actually expected you to call them again."
"Other Nekos mate casually before they find their bond-mates too, Sasuke."
Sasuke's ears twitched again and he growled. "I'm not some demented cliff diving rat, Kakashi. Those are called lemmings."
"Yeah," Kakashi grinned, "You've always been one of a kind… Kitten."
Sasuke choked on his reply which ruined his death glare but another knock sounded at the door.
Kitten? Sasuke simply stared at his human, still incredulous. Kakashi hadn't called him that in years!
No one else would dare say such a thing; he was almost fully grown. He was also already tall for a purebred leopard Neko at 5ft 5inches and he about weighed 131 lbs. With all the fights he'd been in lately, his lean, pale body was scarred, but chiseled to perfection. And, his every move was as effortlessly graceful as the great cat he was partially descended from.
'Kitten?' Sasuke growled arching one dark brow. Even when he was a cub, Kakashi had only called him that when he was being unusually stubborn. Like when he trained instead of going to bed so that he could rest- or when he wasn't socializing properly with other Nekos.
Actually- to be honest, he still wasn't very good at that. The vast majority of other exotics he'd met were all fighters. Conditioned to kill each other if necessary, they were interested in two things fucking and finding out who was the strongest… There were exotics that didn't fight of course, but they were pets and or breeding stock so they were scorned by all of his opponents as lazy bitches.
As an exotic, Sasuke was unique for two reasons- one, he hated fighting. He put up with it anyway because, two he loved Kakashi. When he met the man, Sasuke was still much too young to breed and too distrustful of humans to be around them much. Yet he was also too famous for the media to allow him to disappear into obscurity as a pet so he began training as a fighter…
"Hatake? Kakashi-san," The insistent knocking outside the dressing room got louder. "It's time! Let's bring him out!"
Kakashi grinned. "Your fangirls are ready for you now."
Sasuke growled, but knew that the indignant blush on his cheeks had only deepened. His long tail twitched unhappily as he momentarily considered gutting the man.
But the door at the far end of the hall opened and the adrenaline soaked scent of the crowd teased him again. He smirked as he stood up. It would be a lot more fun to take his frustration out on tonight's opponent. With their discussion already forgotten, he stepped into the utility hallway.
The smell of the crowd and their shouts of excitement above them seemed closer and louder with every stride. Beneath the packed stadium, the service corridors were as crowded as always on championship night. Humans scurried around everywhere.
Reporters and camera-men shouted questions at Kakashi, but the man ignored them and calmly kept walking. Keeping his hands very still in his jacket pockets, Kakashi let the technicians and security guards keep the journalists away. Sasuke ignored them too, the sooner he reached the arena the better.
A gurney clattered by; the female hybrid on the stretcher was dying- a gaping wound torn close to her heart. Sasuke didn't react when he was bumped during the commotion. He missed the wary looks the medical staff gave him as they took their patient past him to the elevator.
Sasuke followed Kakashi, unaware that he was sweating. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as more adrenaline sharpened his animal reflexes and senses to their utmost. He made another conscious effort to control his breathing and heart rate.
A savage growl from another hybrid met his ears, but even when he heard the tug on the chains holding the wolf hybrid back, Sasuke's eyes never left Kakashi.
Like all exotic animal hybrids, Sasuke legally had to be collar monitored at all times. But because of what had happened to him as a cub, Kakashi never used chains or even a leash on Sasuke- ever. Kakashi was adamant that like their ancestors, sometimes just touching a great cat Neko in such a heightened state of adrenaline could be far more dangerous than relying on the hybrid's self control.
"Here they come!" The announcer's voice boomed though the huge room's speakers. Sasuke growled, and his ears flicked back, but he continued to follow Kakashi.
Other handlers thought Kakashi was crazy at first, but cats were proud creatures. Especially when said cat talks and thinks just like a human while it is calm. So it wasn't long before they realized that Kakashi was the smart one- Sasuke would never get frustrated and attack him while he was being unchained for his fights.
"Tonight's Challenger is Hoozuki Suigetsu! Trained by Raiga of the Water country, he's a Great White Shark hybrid! He's dropped a few pounds to qualify for this division, weighing in at…" Sasuke wasn't really listening, his ears twitched in annoyance, but the announcer just kept talking over his loudspeaker.
They were in a long tunnel with a high ceiling that was constructed out of clear acrylic panels over two inches thick. This close to the ring, there had to be fewer people to distract the hybrids. So the path ahead was empty, save for a few paramedics, himself and Kakashi. An identical tunnel from the other side of the arena led to the other side of the ring. This system kept the two combatants separated from the fans and each other until it was time to start.
"And here's our Champion in the Lightweight division, Uchiha Sasuke! Raised and handled exclusively by owner Hatake Kakashi, this black Leopard or Panther Neko is one of the most famous hybrids in the world. He recently moved up to this weight class yet he's continued to be unstoppable! Weighing…"
"Have fun," Kakashi winked and gestured to the sliding doors marking Sasuke's entrance to the fighting cage. They were still inside the tunnel, and a double set of clear sliding doors separated the approach from the ring.
Sasuke snorted, and walked inside the small holding cell with a smirk, he didn't move as it closed behind him.
The so called ring wasn't a ring at all, of course- but it didn't look like an old fashioned boxing ring either. It was a giant, 9x9x9 meter cube, made of more crystal clear acrylic. Each wall and the ceiling had long, tubular ventilation slats cut out of each panel at regular intervals that he had learned to climb on and maneuver easily. This allowed Sasuke to use the cage itself as both a weapon and an evasive barrier. With his compact but powerful body and feline agility, he made better use of the cube's walls than anyone else on the circuit.
"The fighters are ready to rumble! The trainers are ready too! How about it, fans? Are you ready? Both collars were safety checked at this morning's weigh in ceremony," Sasuke's ears twitched back again; every time the announcer spoke, the boisterous crowd grew even louder. "So let's get it on!"
The indicator light on the holding cell's door and his safety collar gave a simultaneous beep. The thick door slid open with a hiss and Sasuke prowled out.
He'd watched recordings of a few of Suigetsu's previous matches. He was taller and heavier than Sasuke, but had limited speed and even less agility. Like all shark hybrids, he depended on his strength and endurance to take down his opponents. Then there was the intimidation factor; the silver haired boy wasn't much older than Sasuke, but he'd already mastered the sharks' ominous toothy grin.
True to his usual form, Suigetsu waved to the crowd and ignored him for a few moments, acclimating himself to the cage and the people watching them.
Sasuke growled and his tail twitched in annoyance. Because of his infamous past, he'd started fighting at a younger age than most and had never stopped. His total of 198 wins in 200 fights gave him the best record of anyone currently fighting on the KHPA's top circuit. Sasuke wasn't sure he was ready to retire after this match, but he was looking forward to his vacation.
Kakashi had promised to take him camping- but first he was determined to win this match.
Tired of watching the shark's showboating, Sasuke pounced on the overconfident idiot who had turned his back on him. He used him as a springboard to jump up and grab onto the edge of one of the slats in the ceiling. Meanwhile his opponent picked himself up off of the floor, grimacing in pain at the bleeding claw marks in his shoulder.
"What's wrong, pretty kitty? Don't like to be ignored? You can bet I won't ignore you when we take you to home…"
Ordinarily Sasuke ignored the idiots who tried to rile him up, but Kakashi had been right earlier. He hadn't been himself in the ring for months. He didn't like the look in the shark's eyes or the teasing tone of his voice, either.
Sasuke shivered and launched himself at the talkative idiot while promising himself that he wasn't for sale. Kakashi would never do that to him…
He punched his larger opponent in the stomach and crouched as he landed, sticking his foot behind him and shoved him over. The shark hybrid went down with a stunned expression and the crowd howled their approval.
Suigetsu was big and tough; it was like punching a sandbag. But most of his opponents were bigger than he was, so it wasn't a surprise. Eventually Sasuke would wear him down- he doubted he would even have to use his claws again.
The shark's violet eyes were furious as he stood up, but Sasuke said nothing. He was smaller, but like all exotic hybrids, greater muscle density and tougher bone structure made Sasuke many times stronger than any human of similar size and weight.
The shark would regret underestimating him. He was already bleeding and soon he'd be limping too.
Sasuke dashed forward again, but this time he stayed low to the ground. Suigetsu tried for a kick, but Sasuke twisted his body to avoid it, swinging his heavy tail out behind him for balance. He hammered his fist into the muscle inside of the shark's left inner thigh, close to his knee.
The shark hybrid cried out in pain as he tried to put weight on the limb and almost fell back down.
"S-Son of a bitch," He hissed. No human could've heard it over the crowd but Sasuke smirked and his long tail flickered in amusement.
Suigetsu charged, howling in mindless fury. He punched, but Sasuke just sidestepped and turned. Now behind him, Sasuke kicked him in the back. Knocked off balance once again, the shark rammed ungracefully into the cage wall.
More irritated than ever, larger male charged again. Sasuke snorted, and grabbed Suigetsu's shirt, and used his momentum to toss him over his shoulder. He would have ducked out of arms reach after that, but something happened…
His control collar beeped. Sasuke staggered as a massive surge of electricity shot through him and suddenly he was fighting just to remain conscious.
The device around his neck was standard for all exotic hybrids that fought in the arena. Powered by the bioelectricity constantly created by his muscles, it had channeled the energy it collected into the huge jolt. 'But why now?'
Suigetsu kicked him in the ribs, but that wasn't as painful as the sneak attack from his safety collar had been…
Sasuke felt dazed, but rolled to his feet and glanced at Kakashi. The man looked almost as stunned as Sasuke felt. He pulled the collar's monitor out of his jacket pocket and started pressing buttons.
There was no referee in a hybrid fight to ensure fair play, but a collar malfunction? This collar wasn't new. It was used to his body rhythms and it had entered in fight mode with no problem when the cage door had opened...
Still, there was no point in worrying about it now.
Kakashi would solve the problem if he could; Sasuke trusted him. But he knew they had enemies. He just wished that Kakashi had told him who he was arguing with on the phone a few nights ago.
For now, he was on his own because if he let Kakashi stop the fight, Suigetsu would be declared the winner.
"Sasuke appears to be hesitating, but-" The announcer boomed.
He flattened his ears and snarled; he sensed movement behind him. He rolled left, knowing it would force Suigetsu to test his injured leg if he wanted to follow him.
His evasion worked and Sasuke whirled as he stood up behind the shark. His heel swept Suigetsu's feet out from under him. As he did, his collar beeped again, but Sasuke was ready for the jolt this time. Angry at the searing pain, he gritted his teeth and channeled his determination into one final punch. The collar beeped yet again but the fight was already over, Suigetsu groaned and lay still.
"Woah! That was quite a punch from our champion! Suigetsu won't be getting up from that!"
Exhausted and shaken, Sasuke collapsed too.
"Sasuke's-" The annoying voice on the speaker hesitated. "Folks, I'm not sure what's going on, but they're both down. Our champion is down! Let's get some-"
He tried to get up, he knew he'd won- he just couldn't. He shivered wondering why he felt so cold all of a sudden. Clearly the collar had taken a lot out of him.
But at least everything was finally quieting down- even the announcer and the screaming crowd. The last thing he saw as his eyes closed was Kakashi and the medical team frantically working on the door of the cage…
There were voices murmuring quietly nearby as Sasuke started to wake up. He growled, annoyed that he was sleeping on his back and tried to roll over onto his side, but his wrists were cuffed to the bed.
His eyes snapped open and he tugged at the bindings! The place and the voices were unfamiliar. His tail twitched like that of an angry rattlesnake and he growled louder as he tried to sit up.
"Easy, Sas'ke. Everything's fine. You're at the hospital under the arena."
It was almost embarrassing how fast the tension left his muscles, but he took a deep breath. Kakashi's calm, sleepy voice came from the other side of the room; Sasuke could tell he was smiling.
"What happened?"
"Well, Tsunade has a committee investigating, but a man working in the security booth has already been arrested for tampering with your collar's codes. Speaking of that, I went ahead and had Tsunade fit you with a new collar. I know they're a pain in the ass until they're used to your body, but we can't let that happen again."
"How long was I out?"
"Two days. We're just lucky that the man in the booth didn't have time to finish altering the administration codes for the tranquilizer or the adrenaline stabilizers too or you would have died."
"Did I win?"
"Yes, but that's not the point! I should've stopped the fight immediately…"
"It's not your fault." Sasuke touched the thick metal collar around his neck. "Besides, if you had, I would've been pissed for ages."
"I know but- I thought I lost you…"
He sighed and picked up the tags dangling off of it and saw that they were new too. It wasn't easy to read them upside down. "Uchiha Sasuke. Owner: Hatake Kakashi. Age/Sex: 5/Male." His registration numbers looked like gibberish, but he managed to puzzle out the words on the next line. "Category: Exotic. Type: Great Cat. Breed: Leopard." The other tag had more notes engraved into the metal. "Collar type: combination- built in monitor and safety modes. Breeding status/eligibility: inactive/purebred- registered since age 2. Fight status: pending. Overall priority rating:-"
Sasuke growled. "Still level one? Did they even bother to review it this time?"
Kakashi sighed and shook his head as he sat up in the bed across the room. "I don't know but if they didn't, it isn't your fault. For five years you've been living proof that exotic hybrids can be controlled without cruelty. You've played their game long enough; if the committee isn't willing to drop your threat rating then maybe you shouldn't fight anymore. They obviously can't protect you while you are attending sanctioned events so why keep trying?"
Kakashi sounded as tired and bitter as he felt, but- "But- then what will we do?"
"Do? Well, I vote we sit around and enjoy the swimming pool in the back yard all day and then throw wild parties all night like normal rich people."
"I'm serious, you pervert…"
"So am I. Will you relax? We have more money than we need, Sasuke."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sasuke snorted dubiously. "I know how fast you collect porn."
"Very funny… Kitten," Kakashi said, and went back to reading.
Sasuke scowled at hearing his old nickname again, but Kakashi had several points. It was frightening that a total stranger had been able to make his other collar attack him in front of thousands of people. He had a ton of fans all over the world and they would be outraged by this treachery.
But according to the law he was still considered just an animal. If a hybrid died, it was rarely investigated seriously. Tsunade and the people at the KHPA were working to change that, but for now, hybrids were still considered subhuman. This meant hybrids had the protection of the law only if they were lucky enough to have an owner who wanted to protect them.
Unfortunately, because they were potentially so dangerous, large exotics were considered even less human than their permanently child sized domestic equivalents. So to the police, the worst crime would be the damage to the arena's reputation. Many fans bet on the outcome of the battles that took place in the cage and this generated huge revenue for the KHPA. So, the police and the lawyers took conspiracy to commit fraud charges more seriously than the lives of the fighters the fans were betting on.
"So who did it?"
"The asshole claimed he was hired by a man named Yoroi to tamper with the codes."
"I don't understand… why do it in that fight? Haku and Gaara are much better fighters- and I've fought both of them within the last month!"
"I- don't know." Sasuke growled, sensing the man's hesitation. But before he could say he didn't believe him, the door opened.
The woman who entered was Tsunade, a scientist and the world's foremost authority on hybrids.
"Well, you look pretty good for a cocky brat that just beat two opponents," The tall blonde woman ruffled his hair fondly and smiled. "But how are you feeling?"
"Tired," He huffed. He hated to admit it, but this woman had helped Iruka save his life when he was only 6 months old. Because of that, she was the only veterinarian he allowed to examine him while he was conscious.
"Well," The woman nodded, taking notes on her clipboard. "The precautionary sedatives probably aren't out of your system yet. Other than that, are you okay?"
Sasuke nodded, he pricked his ears as he sat up. "Can we go home now?"
"No. I don't think that's a good idea, given that the attack was so public."
Sasuke growled; his tail curled restlessly all over the bed.
"Now, settle down, brat. I'd feel better if you were at the Agency, but Iruka thinks it might be better for you and Kakashi to disappear for a while."
Sasuke cocked one ear curiously but his tail continued to writhe anxiously.
"We're going camping a little earlier than we'd planned to."
Since he had resigned himself to another trip to Suna and living in a hotel room, Sasuke was happily surprised. "Really?"
"Yep, we're meeting Iruka-sensei at the cabin just as soon as she says you're okay to leave."
Sasuke stilled completely. "Iruka-sensei will be there too?"
"He's due for a vacation, and you'll be safest with people that you trust. Besides, you need some time to yourself. Don't give me that look, brat. Even after you come back to Konoha, I'm ordering you to take at least a year long break from fighting in the arena. I'll keep you updated on the investigation here, but call me immediately if anything happens or if you need anything. But above all else; have fun."
She unstrapped him and then kissed the top of his head making him blush. His ears swept back a little as she ruffled his hair again, but her cell started chirping, and she left with a smile.
Author's Note: KHPA stands for the Konoha Hybrid Protection Agency. In this fic, it is both a gigantic building and the organization that controls all aspects of hybrid breeding, training, adoption and formal events like shows for purebreds and the fights in the arenas.