"So," Naruto said as he leaned back in his seat. Sasuke gazed at him from the corner of his eye. He tried not to notice the languid way his body stretched over the chair as he sunk further and further away from the back of the chair. It was unprofessional, to say the least, that he sat the same way his students did. But Sasuke found that he truly didn't mind. If Naruto did choose to sit like a professional, like Sasuke, then it would be much harder to ogle him. "I hear you've got a fox shifter."

He sighed. The class had come and gone, which left him and Naruto alone together for the first time in several hours. It was for the best because Naruto had been giving him weird looks all day, and Sasuke needed to know why before he lost his mind.

The looks Sasuke could read clearly. Anger was the most prominent. So clearly Sasuke had done something wrong. But he needed to know what so he could gauge if he truly was the asshole.

Not that it mattered. Sasuke didn't do apologies.

But this news—the fox shifter—a rather new and unique specimen never before seen, had been kept under a tight leash. Sasuke's brother found that shifter, and he wanted no one to know about it yet. Their competitors would try to negotiate a deal where they kept the specimens in exchange for a large sum of money.

The last time their competitors discovered his brother found a new specimen, the deal went to hell, and a week later, the specimen disappeared from their labs.

"Is there a rumor I haven't caught onto yet?" Sasuke said, "no one's supposed to know about that."

Naruto's eyes darkened. Neither he nor Itachi could afford to have a rat in their midst. Anyone who started a rumor or spread any kind of information needed to get out of this school before someone discovered their head rotting in the hallway. The teachers and scientists here didn't appreciate rats, and nothing good would come of having one.

"No. No" Naruto shook his head, "I overheard a, uh, conversation you had about a fox. Got me wondering is all."

Oh.

Sasuke's body relaxed. That was good. A rat would only mean trouble. To know that he'd only been overheard—

"But we only talk about the fox in the lab. You don't have access there."

Sasuke sat up straighter and rolled the chair closer to Naruto. Either there was a rumor or there wasn't, because there was no other way for Naruto to have heard about this particular shifter.

"I—uh."

He brushed his fingertips over the back of Naruto's hand. Naruto, with his blond hair and blue, blue eyes. Always so cheerful and happy. It was infuriating. Never did Sasuke meet someone so happy before Naruto. And never did he think that he would work with such a person.

But he didn't do lies, and Naruto didn't make them, either.

So, there had to be something more to this. Naruto couldn't have possibly gained access to the laboratory. The security guards would have noticed, and if not them, then the camera sure as hell would have. So how else could he have found out if not for a rumor?

"Well?"

Naruto fidgeted and craned his head to the ceiling. Evasion of eye contact. Sasuke knew that sign like the back of his hand.

He jumped out of the seat and looked down at Naruto with a glare.

"When you're ready to tell the truth," he almost bit his lip, then, because Naruto rarely did anything to get in trouble and Sasuke didn't know how to handle it, "I'll be," in the office. He thought.

Except he didn't have an office.

"Around."

He didn't listen to anything Naruto said as he stormed out.

Naruto found him later that day.

Sasuke pretended not to notice. He slowly lifted the cup of coffee to his lips, heard the way his footsteps clanked against the wooden floor, but it didn't matter what Naruto did, Sasuke kept his eyes downcast. He didn't need to look up to know it was Naruto, because he always knew where to find Sasuke. Right now though, all he hoped for was that Naruto hadn't somehow broken into the laboratory or stolen the cameras footage. Because if he did, then Sasuke had no choice but to turn him in.

"Not even gonna acknowledge me, huh?" Naruto said.

No.

"Not until I get the truth."

A heavy sigh breached his ears, and before long, Naruto was sitting in one of the chairs of the teacher's lounge. He closed his eyes as he sunk into the chair, letting his body relax into the comfortable furniture.

"I don't really know what to say." Naruto said, "pretty sure I'll get in trouble no matter what."

He shrugged, and Sasuke once again lifted the coffee to his lips.

"You won't get in trouble unless you did something wrong. But I know you. You wouldn't do that. So who's the rat?"

Naruto clenched his eyes tighter, fists coiling into his palm until blood seeped between his fingertips. Sasuke almost, almost, made an exception to the rule.

Because this was Naruto, the only person that Sasuke talked to outside of family. Surely, even though he had information he was not meant to have, he hadn't done anything wrong.

Surely, Naruto simply didn't know who started the rumor.

"You know just as well as me what happens to rats. You think I wanna be responsible for that?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. Naruto was glaring daggers at him—something he'd gotten so used to that he barely noticed it these days—short bursts of anger were common from him, expected even. He had a small fuse, one that lit at even the slightest and smallest insult.

"I think," Sasuke said, "it's the only way you're keeping your job."

And Sasuke hated that because a part of him liked working with Naruto.

He swallowed. Not a hint of worry shrouded Naruto's face. His eyes had gone blank, mouth a frown, but his body did tense. Naruto shook his head slowly, his hair waving back and forth as a result. Sasuke tried not to stare too long at those golden locks.

He licked his lips, eyes trailing back into the dark depths of his coffee mug.

"All that work to stay in this place." Naruto whispered, "and this is what kills me. A stupid slip of my lips."

Sasuke smiled, almost laughed, because Naruto had certainly worked hard to stay in this academy.

He was one of the hardest workers Sasuke knew.

"You always did have a big mouth."

Too big. He thought.

And yet, Sasuke still didn't know that much about Naruto. Only that he loved ramen, worked hard, and lost his mother at a young age.

He didn't hunt, though. Sasuke had noticed that.

Maybe he gave it up in order to teach.

"Yeah. Yeah. I know."

They went silent after that. Sasuke waited for Naruto's answer, the reason why he knew about that shifter. Naruto shuffled in the chair, legs crossing and uncrossing as he tapped his fingers on the armrest. He never even looked in Sasuke's direction, and that, of anything else, made something painful tug at his chest.

He didn't like this… this confrontation. Naruto could be in so much trouble right now, might even go to jail if he had broken into the lab or stolen the cameras files.

Maybe it was better if Sasuke never knew. That way, Naruto could go on teaching, and they could pretend none of this ever happened.

Sasuke heaved a deep breath. No. He couldn't live with himself if he knew there was a rat and didn't do anything about it. Besides, his family would have discovered it sooner or later, and Sasuke hiding Naruto from them would only make things worse.

So when Naruto did speak, Sasuke gave it his full attention.

"I lied when I said I never saw the person who killed my mom."

Sasuke jerked. That—no. It couldn't be true. If it were, then Naruto had seen—would have watched…

An attack like that… Naruto couldn't have been witness to it.

"I looked. I had to—all that noise, her screams…"

Something dreadful plummeted in his stomach, and Sasuke pressed his hand over his mouth as the image of Naruto watching a shifter kill his mom infiltrated his mind.

It wasn't right. It shouldn't have happened. Shifters should never have existed in the first place.

"I think it was a fox."

His breath hitched.

And suddenly, he felt nothing but the vigor of the hunt. The reason for why he did everything he did was right here, sitting in front of him, and explaining everything that Sasuke could only imagine.

This was why he hunted. To find people in need of help and avenge their loved ones. To protect them before the shifters did any harm. To hurt the ones that attacked innocent people, and to kill the shifters before they killed everyone else.

He only wished he could have saved Naruto's mom.

"I didn't think you actually had one, ya know?—" Naruto raked a hand through his hair, "I was only guessing, hoping—" He bit his bottom lip. "There is no rat, but I need to see that goddamn fox."

Sasuke heaved a deep breath and sat up straighter. He could give Naruto access to the lab. Maybe a tour, as some people were keen to do, and Sasuke could show him the fox they had in custody.

It wouldn't hurt anyone. Itachi might question the ethics, but Sasuke could easily convince his family that it was merely a favor for a friend.

It wasn't like Sasuke was the first to do a friend a solid. He would only be contributing to what his family already did.

"Follow me." Sasuke said.

He stood up from the chair, left his coffee, and waited for Naruto to follow.

Then he headed down to the lab, where the secretary gave them access without a second thought, and walked towards to the room where they kept the fox.

And Naruto, who slowed down the deeper and deeper they got, couldn't have looked more uncertain about this.

Sasuke paused outside the room where they would find each shifter they'd ever captured, and when he glanced at Naruto, he wondered if this was a good idea.

"Are you sure you wanna see this? It might not be the one you're looking for." Sasuke said.

But it very well could be.

And Sasuke had no idea what Naruto would do if it was.

Naruto glanced at him with determined eyes, as if he couldn't believe Sasuke would even question him on this.

"I'll do anything to see this shifter, Sasuke."

Sasuke clenched his jaw, then slid the keycard into the room where all their shifters were kept.

The horror on Naruto's face made his blood curdle.