A/N: GUYS SASUSAKU IS CANON WE MADE IT WE MADE IT WE'RE CANON OMG!

Sakura looked down to her right with a skeptical smirk as she walked down the busy nighttime street of Konoha, watching her new so called cat friend walking devoutly by her side. He looked up at her every so often, almost as if to make sure that she wouldn't disappear from his sight. The bells dangling from his collar of red ribbon chimed out softly as he trotted next to Sakura.

The cat just wouldn't leave Sakura alone, and that had became evident to her as she took a few cautious steps away from the cat back at the training grounds, only for him to take three steps as well. Frowning, she took a step to her left, and the cat mirrored her perfectly.

Sakura blinked, then her lips spread into a coy smile.

"Okay then, see if you can keep up!"

She leaped off of the ground, and propelled her body forward so that she landed about twenty feet away from her original spot on the fields. Once she landed, she began to dash away a few more feet, and once she judged that she had put enough distance between her new location and her original, she turned to look behind her, however she didn't see the cat running after her. In fact, she didn't see him at all.

However, just as she began to think that she had been too fast for the feline, she heard a taunting meow ring out behind her, followed by the soft chine of bells.

"No way.." Sakura said to herself as she turned around to see the cat sitting calmly behind her, his eyes taunting. Sakura's eyes widened at the cat's unexplainable possibility to catch up to her at such a quick speed, something that no animal could do..unless..

They each looked at each other for a few more seconds before the cat began to purr once more and walked right over to Sakura and began brushing his body against her legs once more. Sakura stood perplexed and frozen in her standing position, until a few seconds later she sighed and bent down to stroke the cat's fur.

"You're quick, aren't you? Just what are you anyway?"

The cat meowed brightly at her.

And now, a few minutes later as they headed down the road side by side, Sakura's mind wandered as she heard the cat's bells chime melodically. It was an extremely curious situation, and Sakura never imagined that she's find herself all caught up it something like this. The only rational belief would be that she knew this cat, after all why would it follow her around and insist on being at her side? And then there was the fact of his appearance at the window of her hospital room on the night she woke up to expose herself to her new-slash-old life. He'd been there to greet her, not that she had known at the time what his intentions were, she had just assumed he was a stray cat wandering around looking for some attention or food. The more she thought of that night, the more serious her thoughts became about her relationship with the feline. After all, he couldn't be some insignificant random cat..could he?

"Hey, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and turned her attention to the road up ahead, where a blonde ninja was walking over to her with excitement in his pace.

Sakura smiled. "Hey, Naruto."

Naruto smiled widely. "Haven't seen ya for a few days!"

"Yeah, well I've been busy training." Sakura said, adding a bit of haughtiness to her words, with a small touch of fabrication. Yes, she only started her true training that very night, but she technically had snuck out of the hospital prior to her release to get some training in, though that had been brief and rudely interrupted. But even so, she hid her doubts behind her eyes as she took in Naruto's believing blue ones.

Naruto nodded. "Yup, I'd expect nothing less from you."

"Right.." Sakura said awkwardly, though Naruto hadn't seemed to pick up on it. "Where's Hinata?"

Naruto threw his arms behind his head in a relaxed fashion. "She's off at some important meeting..some exclusive Hyūga clan stuff." Naruto said.

Sakura shrugged. "Well, if it's clan centered then it must be important, right?"

"I guess so, but still-" Naruto said, then cut himself off as his eyes travelled down towards Sakura's ankles, staring right into the eyes of the furry creature that sat patiently by her feet.

"Oh, right." Sakura said sheepishly. "I almost forgot-"

"Hmph." Naruto huffed, his eyes narrowing slightly as he bent down on the ground to stare the cat right in his whiskers. "So you're still around, huh?"

Sakura blinked in confusion as she watched the awkward encounter of ninja and cat, Naruto staring the cat down with an annoyed expression.

So she was right after all..she had met this cat before. The only question was how and where. But that still didn't explain Naruto's reaction upon seeing the feline.

That's funny.. Sakura thought to herself. Maybe he's not a cat person?

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the once gentle cat beside her stand up into a fighting stance, his tail puffing up and his whiskers spiking out prominently. The peaceful glimmer that was once in his eyes was exchanged for vicious sparking as he opened his mouth to hiss softly at Naruto.

"What the..?" Sakura asked, completely bewildered at the cat's change of behavior.

"Oh boy, you're so vicious aren't you?" Naruto said sarcastically, as he reached out to pat the cat lightly on its head, in which it responded by reaching out to claw Naruto's hand with his sharpened claws, who had thankfully snatched his hand away quick enough to avoid getting scratched. "I'm terrified."

"Oh..I, uh..Naruto I'm.." Sakura stammered nervously, but then Naruto did something that surprised her.

He began to laugh.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, it's fine! The furball and I are like this all of the time! And besides, he seems to despise any other males, human and non-human." Naruto said, looking down pointedly at the cat who seemed to be glaring up at him.

Sakura frowned. "Oh? Why is that?"

Naruto shrugged. "Beats me, maybe it's just more competition for him. Though it still doesn't make sense, and the strange thing is that the only guy that he won't try to bite or scratch is Teme."

Sakura blinked at hearing the strange nickname. "Teme?"

"Oh, you know," Naruto replied, "Sasuke."

Sasuke's name was all the cat needed for his tail to return to its normal size and for his whiskers to fall back innocently onto his face. He instantly sat down calmly, and he moved his head left and right eagerly, as if he were expecting something to appear at any moment and he didn't want to miss it. A soft purring was exchanged for his sharp hissing, and his eyes brushed past Sakura's with the familiar glow of affection she had seen in him before.

While Sakura watched the feline with amazement in her eyes, Naruto knowingly nodded his head. "See? Mention his name only once and the lion becomes a cub."

Sakura shook her head slowly. "But.."

"I know, I know. Teme's the only male that this little guy likes..which is so unfair!" Naruto exclaimed jokingly. "I'm much more fun and handsome than he is-"

"Oh, save it!" Sakura exclaimed, punching Naruto in the shoulder.

"Hai, Hai." Naruto said grumpily. "But I guess I can't blame the furball. I guess he prefers the stoic, vaguely pissed off type. He must enjoy annoying the shit out of him."

"I guess so.." Sakura said, still absorbed in the amazement of the cat's ever changing behavior, barely hearing any words that Naruto said to her, that is, until he let out a loud yawn.

"Well, gotta go! I got a big day tomorrow."

Sakura smirked. "Training?"

Naruto smile sheepishly. "You could say that. See ya Sakura-chan!"

Sakura watched as Naruto leapt off the ground and onto a nearby rooftop with a perfect landing, speeding off with a flash of brilliant orange.

Sakura opened her mouth to say her farewell to Naruto, and her eyes shot up to his route to do so until it happened; her mind deciding to give her a hint of a vision to her past that sent paralyzing fear down her entire spine.

She saw a strange animal-like creature crouched on the dusty ground, its entire body coursing in blood red and black chakra. Its eyes were two hollow circles of white nothingness, the inside of its mouth blazing with the same white. Its sharpened teeth snapped out at the air, and from its mouth it released a snarl that couldn't be described as anything human. Numerous tails swished around behind it violently, feeling almost burning to the touch. It turned to look at her just as one of its tails surged forward towards her.

The vision disappeared as quickly as it came, filling Sakura's body with a pulsing dread, and she didn't even understand what exactly she had seen, which only added to the collection of confusion she'd accumulated within a few weeks.

Even as she felt the loyal cat brush up against her legs, his warm fur could not penetrate her skin down to the icy blood that flowed through her veins as the creature she saw finally had a form that Sakura could see.

It was a fox.

o-o-o-o-o-o

It seemed that all Sakura could do at night was stare up at her ceiling with blank eyes, running the events of the day through her head in a slow reel, the dull technicolor of her memories flowing through her thought process.

Dull and plain, that was until her vision flashed red with the image of the fox-like creature that crept into her vision, bringing along its deep pang of dread.

Just what was that thing? And why had Naruto brought it on to her? Had the two of them encountered the creature on a past mission? Or maybe it was just a distorted image of something else that wasn't ready to surface just yet? She didn't know… but it was definitely something she would investigate.

She felt a small ounce of pressure jab into her lower stomach, and her eyes drifted towards the gray and black cat on top of her, kneading her white comforter with his paws. He seemed to be hard at work, pushing with all his little might to make impressions on the blanket, though he seemed to be making more of an impression on Sakura's cramping stomach.

She hadn't be able to shake off the little guy that entire night, he'd refused to leave her side at all, even when Sakura was standing at the foot of her front door, wanting to enter her home and make herself a cup of green tea before bed. She had waited a few more minutes, and after useless attempts to bid the feline farewell, she finally admitted defeat and opened her front door to allow the cat to dart inside her home. He seemed to know the layout of Sakura's home, to which she wasn't the least bit surprised.

And when she decided to turn in for the night, she scooped up the cat into her arms and brought him up to her room, to which he immediately made himself at home.

Sakura's eyes began to glaze over as she stared blankly up at her ceiling, signaling that she would fall asleep very soon. Reaching out to her furry friend, she scratched him softly behind his ears before closing her eyes slowly. Before she fell asleep, the thought that she'd have to pick a name for him flew through her mind, that is, if he didn't already have a name.

And if he did, she hoped it would come to her in her dreams.

Onyx eyes melted into the darkness of the night as the warm july breeze blew trivially through the long untrimmed green grass, making the blades bow down to the Uchiha standing before them. Sasuke watched as the nighttime wind had complete dominance over the feeble grass; the blades were powerless and easily manipulated, completely affected by an outside force. And as the green of the grass slowly melted into the form of two familiar feminine green eyes, Sasuke clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, forcing the image away.

As late as it was, Sasuke found himself unable to sleep, his eyelids refusing to stay shut and his brain refusing to release the chemical that was responsible for sending him into darkness each night, not that he needed anything more to do with the dark.

And neither did she.

Sasuke looked up at the moon, examining each crater that had made itself visible to anyone who dared to be up at this time of night, people such as himself. As the pale light cast upon his skin, he found himself immersed in a strange calm, the light pouring onto his face creating a serene peace of mind. For the first time in weeks, he felt his muscles unclench and his jaw slacken, a sure sign that his body had been holding up an extreme amount of tenseness. He felt his chakra tickle his eyes, his sharingan bleeding cherry red. His eyes bore into the moon, the moon that would undergo a special eclipse only two days from now..on the day that he'd be adding one more year to his age.

Swish

Sasuke's eyes tore away from the hypnotizing moon and his sharingan blazed in the dark of the night, scanning the area for the source of the noise he heard. He felt his hand brush his right hip, searching for a weapon out of habit, though he found none. Sasuke inwardly cursed himself for leaving himself unarmed, although he certainly hadn't expected to find himself in potential danger such as this one, not to mention on the Uchiha compound. But in any case, he was not in the mood for a spontaneous fight, especially not in the back of his home.

His left hand began to vibrate softly as cracks and bursts of bluish-white electricity began to spurt out from his fingertips, and then his entire palm, until his entire hand was cloaked in crackling chakra, his chidori emitting a harsh glow in the dark of the night.

His eyes searched the ground, until at last he saw a bush in the distance begin to shake, shedding its leaves violently, whomever inside it struggling to get out. It would be too bad that Sasuke had already planned to take out whomever had decided to trespass on his property.

Sasuke raised his sparkling hand, and prepared to launch at the moving piece of shrubbery until a certain tell-tale noise literally rang out to his ears, which made Sasuke freeze immediately. The soft sound echoed through the darkness, and it refused to quiet as Sasuke's sharp eyes saw a small creature come out of hiding. And he watched as the animal came closer to him with the source of the noise hanging down its furry neck.

The silver bells glistened in the moonlight, swinging melodically from the piece of red ribbon tied around the animal's neck, the handmade collar that Sasuke would recognize anywhere.

The cat's gray and black fur shone silky smooth in the moonlight, and his eyes reflected it back to Sasuke as the cat looked up at him eagerly.

Sasuke's chidori slowly faded away back into his hand, and the moment that the electric chakra vanished, the cat let out a cheerful meow and trotted up to Sasuke to rub his body around Sasuke's ankles in a figure-eight pattern. He felt the cat's purring intensify as he pushed his wet nose into Sasuke's skin, following Sasuke as he tried to distance himself from the feline with no success.

What was it about him that made this cat so affectionate towards him? He didn't see why it always preferred his company over anybody else, or rather, any other human male. It had been this way from the start, much to his dismay. But, he didn't fight with the cat's persistent need of affection tonight. Sighing to himself and cursing the cat's needy-ness, he bent down and extended a hand towards the cat, who cheerfully placed his head into Sasuke's palm. Sasuke closed his eyes in an embarrassing annoyance as he began to lightly pet the feline, thankful that nobody was around to see him performing such an act. After all, it wasn't even his pet, it was hers..

But he continued to pet the purring machine anyway, allowing his thoughts to fade into calm.

Now, what had she named him again?

A/N: Little bit shorter than usual, but that's on purpose. The next chapter will be like this too, but don't worry, the moon festival is coming up, and you don't want to miss that chapter! Trust me..

I know this chapter was very NaruSaku, but that's cause I'm saving the good stuff for later ;)

Yeah, the little fur ball has a name! You'll find that out soon. I loved writing him, I used real life experience since the little fur balls of my own sometimes behave like this, one is actually curled up next to me right now to keep me company as I finish typing this up! So yeah, a lot of inspiration there, being a cat owner myself :)

See ya next chapter, and Happy Thanksgiving! Don't be like me and eat yourself into a food coma…

Manga Readers:

This is the last manga readers section I'm posting *sobs*

Guys, we are officially canon. NaruHina and Sasusaku hand-in-hand!

So what did you guys think of the ending? Tumblr is exploding with either "I loved it!" or "I hated it!" I mean, have you heard what people have been doing? It makes me so sad since Kishimoto put his heart and soul into this manga, and to only say you hate it after the ending didn't go your way makes me very upset. Yeah, people weren't happy, but please respect his work, ya know?

And let's take a moment to appreciate Boruto/Bolt's behavior matching his daddy's and Sarada/Salada/Salad even existing, it's everything I've ever wanted and more.

It's funny because I was going to write another story about everyone's children, I even had names and a plot line picked out. But I'd never thought I'd write about canon children and an armless Sasuke? I think I'll still write it to be honest, but with the canon and made up stuff..let me know!