Finding His Mate
Chapter 7
Once Iruka had left the room, closing the door behind him, Naruto curled into a tight ball, his tail wrapped around him as if offering him protection from the world. Naruto allowed his tears to fall. He didn't know how it had happened but he had felt like he had lost his entire world. Which he kind of had, they would have been the ones to love Naruto unconditionally, since Menma certainly didn't care about him. Now that they were gone what was Naruto going to do? He knew that Iruka feared him, he didn't know the reasons for that, but he could admit that Iruka had treated him well so far, going out of his way to help make Naruto feel safe. Naruto didn't know if he would ever feel completely safe again, he'd been through too much recently for that to happen. Naruto whimpered softly, his heart aching. Why did he have to be saved? Why couldn't they his babies have been saved?
Naruto sighed, after a while exhausted from having released his pent up emotions, he could still feel the tears drying on his face. But he knew that his kittens were probably better off even though it didn't feel that way to Naruto at the time being. They wouldn't have gotten anymore love from Menma then Naruto did and he knew that wasn't fair to them. They deserved all the love in the world, not to experience all the hatred that could be found in their world.
Hearing the door open, Naruto's ear flicked upwards, curious as to who was coming in the room. He was pretty sure Iruka had told the other two to leave him alone for a while.
"Are you hungry?" someone asked quietly, kneeling down and peering under the bed. Naruto looked up to find Sasuke holding a plate in one hand and a tomato in the other. While he waited for an answer, Sasuke lifted the tomato to his mouth and took a bite. "You need to eat." Sasuke said, sliding the plate towards him. Naruto really wasn't hungry, didn't think he really had the energy to eat, he just wanted to sleep and pretend he wasn't dealing with this current nightmare.
"I'm not hungry." Naruto answered quietly. "I don't think I can really stomach anything right now."
"Are you sick?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his voice quiet so he didn't scare the smaller neko.
"No, I just don't feel good after everything." Naruto answered tiredly. "So if you don't mind, I'm just going to go back to sleep." Naruto laid his back down, not seeing the dark haired neko frown before leaving the plate beside him. Naruto was almost asleep before the door closed behind Sasuke again.
"Did you get him to eat anything?" Iruka asked after Sasuke exited the room, shutting the door behind him.
"He said he wasn't hungry." Sasuke replied, before taking up the seat at the window. He didn't know why, but Naruto's lack of appetite bothered him. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if Naruto had been fed some kind of poison before being put through all that torture. He really hoped not, if he found out that that's what had happened, Sasuke would be hunting his ass down.
"I guess that would be normal, he's been dealing with a thought of emotional and physical distress." Iruka said.
"You don't think he's been poisoned do you?" Sasuke asked turning his attention from the window and turning his gaze to Iruka.
"I didn't think about checking for it." Iruka said. "But I don't think so. Menma seemed more interested in causing as much physical harm as he could. Poison isn't personal enough for him. I guess he still could have done that."
"I would check, cause Naruto seems pretty lethargic to me." Sasuke said. "I would rather not wake up to find him dead."
"No need to be so dramatic." Iruka said frowning at him. "I don't think that's going to happen. And while we're on the subject of Naruto. You should probably settle down around, all those mating comments will likely a scare about eight of his lives off of him."
"You do have a point." Sasuke murmured. "I might cut back on the comments and being rowdy around him, but I'm still going to cause you hell."
"I can't see you doing anything else." Iruka murmured, before returning to the kitchen to continue cooking dinner. He wanted dinner to be on the table when he got home from work. Kakashi had to deal with shitty people all day, the least Iruka could do was make sure the man had a proper dinner at least once a day. Since Kakashi worked for the wildlife protection agency, Iruka wondered if he'd been able to find any information on how Naruto came to be in Konoha. Iruka knew that Naruto's particular breed was extremely rare. How did he come to be in Menma's possession? Because last time Iruka had checked there hadn't been a demon cat hybrid born within Konoha's wall in a couple hundred years. Iruka doubted that Naruto was that old, if he had just gone through his first heat. Besides Naruto was still pretty small, Iruka wondered if he remembered what had happened to his parents. It must have been something terrible that ended up with Naruto being here in the city, demon hybrids tended to steer clear of the city. Naruto, however appeared to have been here for a while considering he appeared to be used to humans presence. Which meant that Naruto must have been taken from his parents when he was really young. Whatever the case Iruka hoped that Kakashi would be able to find some answers.
"Where do you think you're going?" Iruka heard Itachi call out to his brother, and Iruka stuck his head around the corner to find Sasuke disappearing into Kakashi's and his bedroom. Iruka frowned, he really hoped that Sasuke would let the other rest. Naruto had been through hell and could likely use the sleep.
Sighing, Iruka dried his hands off and headed down the hall. He would make sure Sasuke wasn't bothering Naruto. When he entered the room, he didn't see Sasuke and his foot landed on a tail that he didn't see lying right at the corner of the bed. Iruka realized what he'd done when he heard Sasuke's loud yowl, and he looked down to see Sasuke's black tail right under his foot.
"Sorry, Sasuke." Iruka murmured removing his foot. "What are you doing?" Iruka noticed that Sasuke was lying curled up in a circle bedside the bed instead of being under the bed harassing Naruto.
"I'm making sure that he's okay." Sasuke replied. "it's no crime to sleep on the floor."
"It will be when Kakashi wants to make love tonight." Iruka muttered, and Sasuke's ears flattened against his head and glared at his owner.
"If you think about doing that with Naruto under your bed, you better think again." Sasuke said. "you can find another room to do that in."
"How the hell did I end up with such a bossy neko?" Iruka wondered, scratching at his nose as he exited the room. Sasuke glared at his back until Iruka had shut the door behind him. Sasuke lay his head back down and glared at the door. He dared someone come bother Naruto when he was getting some much needed rest. He had the feeling once Menma discovered that his former pet was worth so much, he was sure he would come looking for Naruto. Sasuke couldn't allow Naruto to return to him. He didn't know what Menma would use him for, but Sasuke got the feeling it wouldn't be anything good. Sasuke could see Menma forcing Naruto to mate with other males just to knock him up so that he could make money off of selling the babies. Naruto would probably be completely wore out after a couple of years despite the fact that he was so young. Sasuke didn't want to see that happen. Naruto was more than just a whore to be used, and Kami help anyone who tried. Yawning Sasuke, tucked his tail around him and closed his eyes. Even though he was sleeping, Sasuke had excellent hearing and sense of smell. It was one of the perks of being of the Uchiha breed. Naruto would be safe with Sasuke here.
As he started to drift off to sleep, Sasuke heard a sound that bothered him more than anything he'd heard before. It was the sound of Naruto crying, Sasuke understood Naruto's need to hide, the neko didn't want anyone to hear him grieve for what he had lost. Sasuke stayed still, ignoring the sound, instinctively knowing that Naruto didn't want to be bothered. He would let the younger neko grieve in peace, while silently offering what little protection he could give. If Kakashi and Iruka didn't like it they could find another bedroom. Let's hope that Kakashi didn't end up stepping on his tail like Iruka had because he wasn't paying attention. He wouldn't put it past Kakashi to actually step on him, considering how absent minded he could get when his mind was on Iruka.
A few hours later, Sasuke was roughly woken when he felt a foot step heavily on his stomach, a loud crack sounding in the air that left Sasuke gasping for air, and in total agony at the same time.
"What the hell" he heard Kakashi exclaim as he leaned forward and flipping on the bedside lamp. Kakashi turned to the lump that his foot had landed on. "What are you doing in here?" Kakashi said kneeling down beside the injured neko. "What hurts?"
"My ribs." Sasuke gasping, giving a cry of pain as Kakashi touched his side.
"What did you do?" Iruka asked, having heard Sasuke's cry of pain.
"I stepped on him." Kakashi explained. "if there had been a light on, and I had known he was in here. I wouldn't have done that."
"I forgot to mention it." Iruka said as he knelt down beside Sasuke and pressed his hands over his stomach, he didn't like the wheezing sounds Sasuke was making. It would seem like a a broken rib had pierced his lung, which meant that Iruka was going to have to take Sasuke in to the animal hospital and have him worked on there. Iruka didn't want to take a chance on Sasuke having internal bleeding or something.
"Why is he in here anyways?" Kakashi asked watching, Iruka quickly diagnose their pet.
"Naruto is under the bed." Iruka replied. "This was Sasuke's way of giving him his space and making sure that he was okay at the same time." Even as Iruka was talking, eyes were watching the efforts that were being made to help Sasuke.
As Iruka picked Sasuke up, grunting at the neko's weight, he heard a soft keening coming from under the bed.
"He's going to be okay, I just need to make sure that injured lung doesn't cause him any problems." Iruka explained, hoping it would ease Naruto's anxiety.
"He'll come home?" Naruto asked, his voice quiet and fearful.
"Yes, it might be a few days, but he will come home. I won't let anything happen to him."Iruka promised, he thought it was sweet that Naruto was worried about the other. Maybe Sasuke just being there and leaving him alone done some good for him. Maybe Sasuke was proving that he could be a good protector and a good mate after all.
"I'll help you get him to the animal hospital." Iruka said sounding guilty. He hadn't meant to step on the neko, but Kakashi hadn't been able to see him in the dark.
"'tachi, keep an eye on Naruto." Sasuke wheezed as Iruka passed Itachi in the hallway. "he doesn't need to be alone."
"I'll take care of him." Itachi said, worry coloring his voice. He could tell Sasuke was hurting, and he didn't like it.
"Next time watch where your walking." Itachi told Kakashi.
"I'm not like you, I don't have night vision." Kakashi informed him. "I can't see in the dark. Besides why the hell were they in mine and Iruka's room?"
"Don't worry about it right now, just get my brother some pain reliever." Itachi replied, watching the couple disappear out the door with Sasuke. Once they were gone, Itachi entered the bedroom, and climbed up on the bed and lay down, letting his tail fall to the floor and silently letting Naruto know that he still wasn't alone.
"Is he really going to be okay?" A small voice asked from under the bed. He had heard Sasuke's cry of pain, and could tell that whatever had happened had been painful.
"He's going to be fine. Iruka probably has to surgically repair a lung, but its nothing that he hasn't done a million times before." Itachi replied.
"I hope so," Naruto murmured, before silently beginning to eat the food that Sasuke had left him only a short while ago. He still wasn't that hungry but he figured he couldn't let it go to waste after Sasuke had taken the time to bring it to him."
Thanks for reading and reviewing! (did that last chapter suck as much as I think it did?) more action and lemons coming soon. Liz
