I owe you
Rated: T
The click-clack of her heels blended in with the pouring rain. Sakura picks up her pace. In a hurry to get home so she can get out of the dreary cold wet weather and put on some pajamas and get cozy under her blanket. Maybe she'll pour herself a glass of wine and put on a movie.
The raindrops falling against the top of the umbrella sound louder than her surroundings. The downpour had practically come out of nowhere, just that afternoon the sun was out and shining and now it was cold and wet. She'd had to buy the umbrella she was currently using.
A gust of wind makes her quicken her pace again, her toes have become cold and soaked because of the heels and it makes her want to get home faster.
She's a block away from her brownstone when she spots a cat finding shelter in a soaked overturned cardboard box.
She stops to observe the poor creature, its fur dark and its paws wet. Small drops of rainwater dripping off its whiskers.
"Oh, you poor thing," she says stepping closer "what are you doing out here in the rain."
The cat meows back at her pathetically, obviously distressed about the weather.
She notices the cat doesn't have a collar or any kind of tags that indicate that it must belong to someone so the thought of taking it home quickly comes to mind.
Certain about her decision, she picks up the furry feline, with little to no trouble and holds it against her chest. "I really hope you don't belong to someone, but I really don't want to leave you out here in the rain."
The cat meows again nuzzling her neck, its nose cold against her skin and purrs and it makes her smile.
When she gets home she slips off her heels by the entrance, not wanting to leave water tracks on the floor, and a content sigh escapes her lips. With the cat still in her arms, she makes for the living room and sets the cat down on the ottoman near the fireplace and turns it on, letting it warm up the place.
"I don't have cat food but I do have some milk I can give you." She says out loud to the cat as she walks to the kitchen.
The cat stays in its spot on the light brown ottoman, making itself comfortable, the heat coming from the fireplace warming up its cold fur.
Sakura comes back a couple of minutes later with a small bowl filled with milk and places it on the floor. "Come on Cat, drink up." The cat only opens a dark gray eye before ignoring her, content in going back to sleep.
Sakura lets out a huff standing back up, "Alright then Cat, you stay here, I'm gonna go get out of these clothes. You better not get into any trouble." She says, wagging a finger in its direction.
Once she's out of sight the cat slowly opens up its dark gray eyes and lets them roam about the place. Observing its new home.
Lazily it gets up stretching out its paws, the warmth of the fireplace had thawed its muscles and it hops off the ottoman with silent steps and goes to drink from the bowl. Once it's finished it walks around the spacious home climbing on tables and hoping on the counters.
When Sakura comes back out of her room, fresh out of the shower and in comfortable pajamas, she finds her new companion sitting atop the refrigerator. "Cat, what are you doing up there?" she asks, hands on her hips, she reaches for it grabbing it from under its legs. The cat lets out a disgruntled squeak that makes Sakura laugh and she walks them back to the living room and turns on the flat screen.
She places the cat on the couch before going to the hallway closet to grab a blanket. She settles onto the couch next to the black cat softly petting its head and the cat purrs closing its eyes. They spend the night like this, Sakura flipping through the channels never once deciding on what to watch and occasionally petting the cat until she finally dozes off.
She wakes up in the middle of the night feeling something weighing on her chest and the light of the tv that was still on illuminates the cat that was now sleeping comfortably on her chest. Not wanting to stay on the couch she gets up slowly mindful of her companion, turns off the tv and the fireplace before walking to her bedroom. The feline leaps out of her arms and lands swiftly on the bed stretching before once again finding a spot that it deems suitable for sleep.
Sakura lets out a huff of amusement, laying down on her side of the bed quickly letting sleep retake her.
Sakura wakes up the sound of her alarm early the next morning, reaching a hand out from under the cover to turn it off. She lays there cocooned in the warmth for a few minutes before she finally decides to throw the covers off of herself and get ready for work. She showers and completes her morning routine, putting on a silk robe over her undergarments while she puts on her makeup and blow-dries her hair.
The cat remains unbothered where it lays on the edge of the bed, its dark grey eyes following her every move. Tail swishing back and forth. Its ears perk up as she speaks.
"Alright Cat, I'm gonna be going to work soon so that means you're going to be here all by yourself for a while." She lets the robe fall to her feet and walks to her closet pulling out what she would wear for the day a pair of black slacks and a blue blouse. Once she's dressed she comes back out with a pair of black pumps in hand, slipping them on as she walks.
Taking one last look in the mirror and liking what she sees she turns back around to the cat and continues where she left off, "I'll try to remember to buy you some kitty food and since I'm thinking you're most likely going to be staying with me permanently I'll have to get you a collar." She takes on a pensive look and then her eyes widen in realization, snapping her fingers "which means I'll also have to think of a name for you!"
The cats' ears twitch and it gets up from its spot on the bed and leaps off heading elsewhere, Sakura takes this a sign that it's time to get moving so she grabs her purse and unhooks her phone from the charger and heads for the kitchen. When she sees the time on the stove clock her eyes widen in panic, she had less than fifteen minutes to get to work, which means she'll have to grab something to eat at the café inside the building. Rushing out of the kitchen and down the hallway, she hastily grabs her keys out of the crystal bowl on the side table, grabbing her coat from the hook and rushes out the door.
"I'll be back later Cat!"
The minute the door clicks shut the cat lets out a relieved sigh, "I thought she'd never leave." Within moments a tall lean, naked man takes the spot where the cat once sat. He runs a hand through his black shoulder length hair, pushing back the strands in his face before going about making himself something to eat. Not minding at all that he hasn't got any clothes on.
He'll change back later. Before she gets home.
Once he's finished eating he wanders around the woman's home, looking at the various pictures she has sitting atop the mantle, pictures of herself as a child others with friends and family. I guess the hair is real then he thinks to himself after seeing the ones of her younger years. He reads the titles of the many books and movies she has on several shelves and he observes the paintings she has on the walls.
It's a two-bedroom house, each room having its own bathroom. High ceilings and a lot of open space. The guest room was bare of anything besides the queen sized bed that sat in the middle of the room against the wall. "Perhaps someone used to live here with her." He says out loud to himself.
Having looked at everything worth noting he decides to head back to her room for a shower, seeing as she has all the products in her bathroom. He steps into the shower stall turning on the water feeling freezing cold water hit his back before turning hot. Steam quickly filling the space.
He uses her citrus scented shampoo lathering up his hair before rinsing it out and using her deep conditioner, while he lets that set he reaches for her lavender body wash and lathers in on his body. Once he's done he rinses the soapy suds along with the conditioner and turns the water off reaching for a towel to dry himself.
He wraps it around his waist before grabbing a smaller one to dry his hair. He leisurely walks out of the bedroom and down the hallway heading for the living room still drying his hair with the towel. He stops mid-step when he hears something fall in front of him.
Looking up his whole body freezes, he guesses he hadn't heard the front door open and close because in front of him stands the woman who had given him shelter.
In her rush to get to work that morning Sakura hadn't realized she had forgotten the stack of folders she left on the kitchen table. She only remembered once she had already made it to the office and by then it would be too late to head back so she made the decision to retrieve them when she had a break since they wouldn't be needed until later that day.
What she hadn't expected was for there to be a naked man in her house clearly just having gotten out of the shower.
Her keys fall from her hand to the floor and this gets the strangers attention. Eyes lifting at the sound of the noise she notices are dark gray, the familiarity doesn't register. Why would it? The man freezes at having been caught and what should be her first instinct, to scream for help and run out of there, doesn't come.
She freezes along with him, internally panicking because this man could be a dangerous creep. He looks strong, one wrong move and he could be on her in an instant.
Seeing the fear and panic flit across her eyes Sasuke decides to be the first to break the silence. He raises his hands in a show of surrender "I'm not going to hurt you."
She flinches at his words being brought out of her racing thoughts, finding the courage to speak, "H-how did you get in? You can take whatever you want, just p-please don't hurt me." She rushes out, tears forming in her eyes.
He clicks his tongue "I said I'm not going to hurt you, I can explain." He says taking a step forward which is as far as he gets because she stops him.
"S-Stay back! Or I-I'll scream!" she reaches for the umbrella she had left by the door last night holding it as a weapon in front of her.
"If you would just put that down, and let me explain to you," he says again growing annoyed, taking another cautious step.
Her hands tremble in response to his movement. But she doesn't lower her makeshift weapon.
He had been hoping that he'd have more time. That she wouldn't be back so early, it had only been a couple of hours. Now though he had to figure out how to go about the situation. He actually kind of liked the place, she didn't have to take him in last night. She could have left him out in the rain but she was kind enough not to.
He owed her.
"You saved me last night." He says, keeping his hands raised.
A look of confusion crosses her face, "Wha- no…no I've never seen you in my life." She shakes her head, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." He continues, cautiously taking steps towards her "You saw me last night, in the rain and you brought me here."
"N-no, I…I picked up a stray last night. A cat. I don't know you."
He's close enough now to grab the umbrella from her hands, and he gently curls his fingers around the dull tip trying not to startle her. But she's distracted, too busy trying to make sense of his words. Gently he pulls the umbrella out of her hands without much resistance and sets it to the side.
"I'll show you, but you have to promise not to freak out." He says, slowly as if speaking to a child.
She backs up against the door and turns her head to the side shutting her eyes tightly not wanting to see what he's talking about. There's the sound of a towel dropping softly on the floor and then a meow.
Slowly she opens one eye and then the other, quickly looking around the place for the missing man that was just in front of her. All she sees is the black cat she picked up last night looking up at her with its dark gray eyes.
And then it speaks, "Hi."
Sakura's eyes flutter shut as she falls to the floor.
Sakura wakes up a while later, sitting up from her laying position on the couch. She lifts a hand to rub at her aching head the pain dull.
"You fainted."
The voice startles her, the man from earlier is sitting across from her, elbows on his knees, his chin resting on his intertwined fingers.
"Y-you…you're, you're the cat. You changed into a cat. What-how, how is that possible?" The words tumble together out of her mouth in a rush.
"I am." He replies simply, eyes never leaving her own.
"But it's not possible. You can't be a cat…right?" she has calmed down a bit from the original shock but her heart continues to palpitate.
"It's not uncommon for your kind to not be aware of the different creatures around you." His eyes are focused on her face gauging her reactions to the information he's providing. "It's not as if we go about parading what we are. There was a time when your people knew of us but those days are long past and the knowledge of us has become legend and myth."
"B-but what are you?" she asks fiddling with a throw pillow she grabbed to place on her lap as if it would shield her from him.
"I was summoned by a witch, to be her familiar." His brows furrow and his knuckles turn white "Long story short she's dead and I'm here. Under normal circumstances, I should be dead but others seem to think otherwise. I am powerful, but at the time my witch died I was weakened, so I ran. Cowardly really but I've never been above self-preservation."
He continues to watch her expressions, hoping that he hasn't lost her. "You were never supposed to find out what I was."
At that bit her eyebrows scrunch up "So what you just thought you'd live here under my roof, hiding what you are hoping I'd never find out." Her eyes lift up to his and there's something fierce in them and he's surprised because it's a complete turnaround from how she had been acting so far. Like a scared child.
"I see how that may sound but-"
Her eyes widen in shock remembering something and she throws the pillow at him, even with all of his fast reflexes he doesn't see it coming and it hits him square in the face landing with a soft thud on the floor.
"You saw me naked!" she screeches, mortified.
"Well," he starts, mind going back to that morning and how his eyes had followed her around the room "technically you weren't naked."
"Who cares about the technicalities?!" she yells back upset.
"I apologize then, sincerely."
Sakura hunches over burying her face in her hands, mumbling to herself "This is so messed up, how is any of this real. This can't be happening."
Sasuke just sits there, an amused expression on his face. This womans moods change rapidly, he thinks.
She finally lifts up her head to look at him once more and in a defeated tone she asks, "What's your name?"
"Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke."
"Sasuke huh. I guess I don't have to come up with a name for you then do I?" she gives him a forced awkward smile.
"No, you don't." he says and the corner of his lip tilts up in amusement.
Her expression becomes solemn again "They're gonna come after you aren't they?"
"One day maybe, not anytime soon." He sighs. "You saved me, you know and I owe you. You could have kept walking but you didn't, you gave me shelter when I had nowhere to go." She looks into his eyes then and he sees uncertainty swimming in them.
"I owe you." He repeats
A/N: Uh hi you guys, I know it's been months since I last updated but I've come back to give you this. I don't know what this is to be honest and I'll probably hate it later but meh. Not gonna lie I don't know how many stories I started but never finished over the last couple of months, I'd get to the end but then I wouldn't know how to wrap it up. Maybe one day they'll make it on here, for now I'll have to think of their endings. Hope you guys like this though, but if you don't that's cool too.
To those of you who have reviewed my past chapters, thank you! it means so much to me I love you guys! I'll see yall next year but hopefully not!
xx