Chapter 7:

Sasuke was having a wonderful time playing with that yarn ball Naruto had given to him just a few minutes ago. It was so much fun to play with. He loved tossing it in the air and rolling it across the floor. He would take a strand of colorful string in his teeth and give it a tug, shaking it loose and flicking it in the air. He tossed it too high one time and ending up having to chase after it on all fours to the other side of the room. He rolled over on top of it and squeezed it in his hands. He gnawed on it with playful little growls. This was such a wonderful time for him to just let his mind go blank and play to his heart's content.

"Aw, isn't that cute?"

Sasuke's ear twitched. He glanced up and saw Naruto watching him with an amused look on his face. He froze in place, a strand of yarn still stuck between his teeth, yarn ball wedged in his hands. Idiot! Snap out of it! You are not a freaking cat so quit acting like it! the inner-self he never knew he had screamed. He quickly threw the yarn away and brushed himself off, trying to look somewhat dignified. But the damage was done. Naruto had already seen way too much.

"What? You looked cute."

"Shut up…"

"Huh? You're mumbling."

"I said shut up, you loser!" Where was Neji when he needed him? Looking around, Sasuke's eyes rested on Neji sleeping soundly on his bed. It was hard to believe he could sleep at all with all the noise going on around him. He must have been exhausted. "No more yarn."

"Aw! Why not?" Naruto whined.

"Because… Why should I have to explain something so obvious to you?! Just leave me alone!"

Naruto moved closer, ready to tease. "Aw, someone's a grouchy little kitty-cat. Who's a grumpy kitty?" He scratched behind Sasuke's ears. He had expected Sasuke to yell at him or try to punch him, but instead, he did something else.

He purred.

Naruto was actually surprised. This was unexpected. But he loved hearing that sound vibrate from Sasuke's throat so he continued to scratch him. Sasuke's eyes rolled back and purred even louder. He closed his eyes lazily and leaned into Naruto's touch, loving the wonderful sensation.

"Heh, so you like having your ears scratched, huh?" He scratched harder. "Do you like that?"

Sasuke gave a moan of pleasure. "Ohh..! It feels wonderful..!" he purred dreamily.

"Aw, the widdle kitty-cat likes having his ears scratched, doesn't you? Doesn't you?" Naruto cooed to him as if he really were a cat.

"Mmm… I love- No! No, I don't!" Sasuke snapped out of his blissful state and pushed Naruto's hand away. "Would you knock it off? I told you I don't like that!"

"No, you didn't."

Sasuke growled. "Well, I don't, ok? So leave me the hell alone!"

But Naruto didn't. He wanted to find more of Sasuke's sensitive spots. "Hey, do you like having your chin scratched, too?"

"No, and I don't want you to find out for yourself, either! Just go away!"

Naruto put a finger to his chin, thinking. "Hmm… What about this?" He forced Sasuke around and started to scratch his back with both hands, digging his nails in around his spine.

"I told you no! I don't…" Sasuke trailed off, staring straight ahead. He actually liked it. Having his back scratched felt great. He started to purr all over again. "Oh… Oh, I really kind of like that… I really do…" Naruto scratched lower and his back arched. "Ohh! Oh, yeah! That's the spot right there! Yes! Oh, that feels great..!"

Naruto chuckled. This was so much fun. "Do you like that?" He shifted his hands to the left. "What about here?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sasuke's leg kicked. "Ohh! That's awesome!"

Naruto's laughter and Sasuke's moans woke Neji from his sleep. He wasn't as grouchy as much as he was curious. He wanted to know what all the fuss was about. As the fog faded from his sleepy eyes, Neji found the two teammates on the floor by the bed. Naruto was scratching Sasuke's back and the Uchiha was in absolute bliss. Naruto's fingernails worked their way over Sasuke's spine and across his shoulders.

Now that looked wonderful. Maybe it was jealousy or maybe it was just a strong desire to be a part of it, but either way Neji ended up getting off the bed and over to Naruto. He sat crouched next to him until the boy looked at him.

"What?'

Neji didn't speak. He only nudged Sasuke aside and sat with his back to Naruto.

"Uh…" Naruto wasn't getting the gesture.

Neji turned his head so that Naruto was now staring at the back of his long brown hair. He muttered something that sounded an awful lot like 'backrub'.

"Eh?'

Neji clenched his fists in annoyance. "Just give me a backrub, too," he hissed through his teeth.

Naruto was delighted as well as confused. "You want me to rub your back, too?"

"That's what I said, isn't it? Just get it over with." Neji sat in silence after that and waited.

He made it sound like he was doing Naruto the favor. But Naruto was just happy to be able to do this and not get the stuffing beat out of him. Not because he wanted to make them feel good, but rather to laugh at them for acting so much like cats.

He put his hands on Neji's back and started to give him a backrub. Neji shivered, unused to the feeling of someone's hands upon his back like this. Slowly Naruto started to work the kinks out of Neji's shoulders and back. Then when Neji seemed to have gotten more comfortable with the massage, Naruto curled his fingers and started to scratch his back.

Neji shut his eyes and purred. He didn't try to stop it. It felt good to him. It was a pleasant way to express how good he was feeling without words.

"How's that feel, Neji?"

He hung his head, letting the weight of his skull drag his body downward. "Where did you get so good at this?" he slurred drowsily.

He shrugged. "I don't know. So you like it?"

His answer was another loud purr.

~*~*~

What had started out to be a fun afternoon of tormenting Sasuke and Neji had turned into a boring evening of watching the two of them sleep. They were sound asleep on Sasuke's bed snoring lightly. They looked so comfortable, but Naruto wasn't here to watch them sleep. He came to have some fun. Sadly, it was not meant to be. The two weren't getting up.

Naruto lay flat on his stomach, clicking his heels together rhythmically. This was so boring! He drummed his fingers on the carpet. He held his head in his hand. He chewed on his lip. His eye twitched.

"For crying out loud, do something!" He couldn't take the boredom anymore. "Come on, guys! This is so boring! How can you just sleep like that? It's barely sunset. Come on, time's a-wasting! Get up and move around! Chase the yarn! Purr! Anything!"

They didn't budge an inch. They were totally out cold. Naruto doubted that they could even hear him complain.

He marched over to Neji, picked him up by his shoulders and shook him. "Come on, wake up! I didn't come here to watch you guys sleep!"

Neji cracked an eye open. "Then you must have come here to exploit us because we don't do much else."

"What?! You're kidding!"

Neji yawned in his face. "No, it's true. We sleep about 18 hours a day now. It can't be helped."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. 18 hours? Was he serious? What in the world was he supposed to do during that time? Just let them sleep and go do something else? Come on! This was his one chance to torment Sasuke and Neji in such a hilarious way. How could he just walk away?

Neji's head fell back as he started to drift off again.

"Hey, wake up!" Naruto shook him again.

Neji swiped at Naruto's face but missed having kept his eyes closed. "Leave me alone. I've had a long day. I just want to rest."

"But wait… Don't cats usually take lots of catnaps or something? Why can't you do that?"

Neji rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Because I just spent the whole day awake and am far behind on my catnaps, ok? My body's ready to give out." It already had. His whole body was limp and heavy. He needed some sleep; maybe a lot of it.

"Can't you sleep at night?"

He could barely shake his head he was so tired and weak. "Cats are nocturnal… They prefer the night. That's why we're so wired at night and can't sleep very well."

"So you're going to sleep now?"

This time, Neji didn't answer. He had already gone back to sleep in his arms.

Naruto dropped him back onto the bed and turned to Sasuke. Why couldn't they stay awake for longer than a few seconds. They must have been really, really tired. "Damn, this is boring."

The two continued sleeping for several hours undisturbed. Bored with their lack of activity, Naruto left them alone to have dinner. When he returned later that night, they were right where he left them, only huddled together for warmth. Believing to have slept enough, Naruto went over to pester Sasuke. He leaned into his sleeping face and stared at him. When he didn't move, he started to call out his name in a spooky voice.

"Sasssssssukeeeeeeeee..!"

He didn't move.

"Sasuke..!"

Still no sign of movement from the sleeping ninja.

"Sakura wants to know if you want to date with her tonight."

His face twitched. At least he got something from him this time.

"Gai wants to know if you want to train with him in five minutes. You up for a thousand mile dash?"

Sasuke frowned and hid his face with a soft moan.

"Um…" Naruto tried to think of something that would get his attention. He had an idea. It was a stupid and childish idea, but a brilliant one. He hurried over to the sink and ran the water. He caught the water in his cupped hand and ran back to the bed where Sasuke slept. He crouched down by his face and got ready. Stifling his giggles, he mimicked the sound of someone hacking up spit and threw the water into Sasuke's face.

Sasuke shrieked and tumbled off the bed. One of his legs caught Neji in the neck and pulled him down off the bed with him. The two landed on the floor in a heap. Sasuke continued screaming about how disgusting Naruto was and tried to wipe the water off on Neji's jacket.

"Relax! It's just water!" Naruto confessed. "I didn't really spit in your face. It was just a joke."

"You stupid idiot! Gross!"

"I just said that it wasn't real spit."

"I know, but still! Can't you let me sleep in peace? What the hell's wrong with you?"

Neji sat up rubbing his head and frowned. "I'd have better luck sleeping back at my place. I'm out of here." He got up to leave.

"You're such a-"

"Geez, sorry!" Naruto held up the yarn ball. "Would this make things better?"

"Get that stupid thing away from me!" Sasuke swatted it out of Naruto's hand and across the floor.

Neji, who had been getting ready to leave, suddenly stopped and turned around. He got down on all fours and chased after the yarn. He unraveled a section of it and tangled himself up in it, purring happily.

"At least somebody here wants to play with it." Naruto sighed and went into the kitchen. "You're boring, Sasuke. At least with Neji I can get a response. I'll play with him while you mope and whine."

"Do you hear me whining? Right now, you're the one who's whining like a little brat."

Naruto picked up a can of tuna and cranked it open with the can opener. "Call me whatever you want but I'm not the one who's…" Hearing purring, he looked down. "Sasuke?"

He was down on all fours, rubbing his body against Naruto's legs and purring.

Naruto looked from Sasuke back to the can of tuna. "Don't tell me… You like the sound of me opening this thing? That's why you're acting like this?"

He didn't answer. He just rubbed his body against Naruto's legs, purring noisily. He wanted that fish and loved the fact that Naruto had opened it especially for him.

"Who wants tuna?" Naruto sang. He held the can over Sasuke's head and watched him follow it with his eyes. "Aw, aren't you a cute little kitty-cat?"

Sasuke didn't react to the term this time. He was too busy keeping an eye on the fish in his hand.

Laughing, Naruto dumped it into a bowl and set it on the floor next to Sasuke. He laughed even louder when Sasuke actually started eating out of it like a cat. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look?"

Sasuke paused, mouth full of fish and looked down at himself. He was crouched next to a bowl of tuna and eating it off the floor! He swallowed the tuna and grabbed the bowl in his hands and slammed it down on the table. He had half a mind to dump it all over Naruto's head but that would have been a waste of tuna. "Stop treating me like a cat! I'm not going to eat off the floor like one so knock it off!"

"But you were-"

"Just stop it!" He sat down at the table with his back to Naruto and ate the fish like a normal human being.

Neji was still playing with the yarn in the hall, purring happily. He hadn't even noticed anything else going on in the room. He was far too busy playing like a kitty-cat, much to Naruto's delight. The blond went over to him and played with him by trying to take the yarn away from him. Neji tugged it back and swiped at Naruto's hand whenever he got too close.

Sasuke finished off the fish and watched them play. This confirmed what he had suspected all along. They were getting worse. A lot worse.

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