Foxed!
Summary: Due to a freakish accident while spying on Sasuke, Naruto is now sporting a fluffy orange tail with matching ears!
Warnings: OOC syndrome…although we were going for that so…yeah… This story should be tame compared to our other ones…but we're not making any promises! Also it is Yaoi! You have been warned!
Pairings: SasuNaru!!! So there!!!
Rating: PG13…for now…if we don't lose our minds in the process of writing…again…
Sasuke yawned and opened his eyes. The sun was just barely shining into his room...it was still early morning. He sat up and rubbed at his sore eyes and mentally cursed himself for being weak enough to cry in his sleep again. (Hence the salty pillows! All you people with your minds in the gutters, tsk tsk...) Blinking sleepily, Sasuke looked around for the little visitor he'd had last night, but to his disappointment the small fox could not be found anywhere...the only evidence that he had been there at all was the blonde fur he had left on the bed.
He got up and wandered the house for a while, calling the little fox's name...although since it had only been given its name the day before, it probably wouldn't have known it anyway. The fox, however, was nowhere in the house. There was an open window on the bottom floor, and a book had been knocked off the little table underneath it, so he assumed that the fox had entered and escaped from there.
Although he was disappointed that his visitor had left him in the middle of the night, Sasuke had other things to think about. Getting ready for the day did not take long at all and since he did not want to stay inside his empty home Sasuke left...but not before propping a window open just in case his visitor wanted to come back.
He wandered to the area where team seven met to be given their instructions by Kakashi...although it was pointless to get there on time considering Kakashi was notoriously late. So it didn't matter much that he was just a little late by the time he reached the bridge...what did matter was that Naruto didn't seem to be there yet. Sakura was waiting, staring into the water, but there was no Naruto in sight.
Sakura looked up as Sasuke neared the bridge, "Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" his pink haired teammate greeted, waving enthusiastically. Sasuke tried not to cringe at the girl's high-pitched voice. Did she always have to speak like that to him? She didn't even seem deterred when Sasuke merely grunted a response and ignored her.
Sasuke looked up the road...then down the road. No familiar orange jumpsuit coming down either way... "...Where's Naruto?" Sasuke ventured to ask after a pause, and for all intents and purposes it sounded as if he didn't care one speck and was merely minutely curious at the others absence.
"That baka," Sakura complained, crossing her arms over her chest, "He's always late!" she said, not even bothering to notice that Sasuke had been later than usual himself. Sasuke just sighed and ignored her. What was the point if all she was going to do was bad mouth Naruto...
He leaned on the railing and stared up at the sky as they waited. And waited, and waited some more, for either Naruto or Kakashi to appear. At last, when the sun had risen high above them and it was almost lunchtime, Kakashi appeared as he usually did. "Sorry, I got lost on the road of..." He stopped as Sakura twitched at him and Sasuke only stared. "Where's Naruto?"
Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders in response, but Sakura went on about him being irresponsible and annoying and so on and so forth. Kakashi nodded his head as if he was listening to every word the pink haired girl had to say, but that illusion was shattered because his eyes were on his perverted book.
"Kakashi-sensei, what should we do?" Sasuke asked and Sakura continued to mutter to herself.
Kakashi glanced up from his book to the two students before him. "Well...our mission today requires that we have three team members but obviously we don't have three members, so I'm canceling it for now." He paused. "Sasuke, I want you to find Naruto and uncover the reason for his absence, if you would."
Sasuke just twitched in response and left the meeting area without bothering to say if he was going to find Naruto or not. Sakura looked after Sasuke longingly and was about to run after him, but remembered that he was going off to find that baka Naruto...she really was not set for a day of Naruto...he would probably glomp onto her and ask for a date...
She turned on her heel and stormed off, and Kakashi simply disappeared from where he was standing, perverted book still in hand.
Sasuke wandered down the streets in search of the blonde haired deserter. He first checked the places he knew Naruto liked to go, but he wasn't at the ramen bar or the public baths and he really didn't know what else he did with his spare time. At last he made it to Naruto's apartment, maybe he'd just slept in or something.
When he reached Naruto's apartment, however, Sasuke was a bit surprised to see his visitor from last night sleeping on the dobe's doorstep. Kneeling down next the little fox, Sasuke scratched it behind the ears. The purr that came from its throat caused Sasuke's eyes to soften a little. But when he went to pick up the little orange thing he raised an eyebrow...it was purring...and still sleeping?
He looked around...and wondered why the heck the tiny fox was sleeping on Naruto's doorstep, of all people. Shrugging it off, he slipped his hands under the light body of the fox and picked it up.
Naruto blinked as strong hands lifted him off the ground and he was pressed up against something warm...something that smelled like mint...and strawberries and... His eyes flew open, and he found himself staring at familiar blue fabric.
Looking up at Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto thought he was going to have a heart attack. 'What the hell is he doing here? Why is he holding me? W-What happened?' Naruto's mind raced with questions, but he stopped and yawned...wait, why was his mouth so big? And why was his ear twitching?' Reaching up with his hind leg to scratch at the itch behind his ear, Naruto nearly had another heart attack, less than a minute after the first. 'WHAT THE HELL?'
His mind reeled as he looked down at himself...he had orange fur...and a tail...and paws and.... 'What the hell did that bastard Sasuke do to me?!' He thought frantically, searching his mind for any recollection of the night before.
Then he remembered sneaking into Sasuke's room, getting stuck as the fox, Sasuke undressing... His mind unconsciously lingered on that last one for a moment before he angrily pushed it aside and looked around him. Sasuke was standing outside Naruto's apartment and was reaching out to turn the knob to try and get inside.
Naruto was just about to bite the hand that was threatening to get into his home, not realizing that he was supposed to be cute and cuddly...plus that that was probably the only way he was going to get into his home anyway. Unfortunately his head was at the wrong angle, and when he tried to bite Sasuke's arm he nearly fell out of Sasuke's grasp.
Sasuke quickly grabbed the fox tighter and put it in a more safe position in his arms...which was upside down in the crook of his right arm where he could hardly squirm, let alone escape. Naruto watched helplessly as Sasuke turned the knob...and the door opened. 'Damn it, why didn't I lock my door before I left?!' Naruto cursed.
As Sasuke stepped into Naruto's home with...Naruto the fox under his arm, the musty smell of his dirty laundry hit his nose like a rolled up newspaper. 'Gah! IT reeks! I need AIR!' He cried inwardly, but of course Naruto could not speak...like he would tell Sasuke that he couldn't stand the smell of his own home anyway.
Sasuke looked around Naruto's apartment, and his own nose twitched, although he was not nearly as offended by the smell as the small fox in his arm.
Sasuke cautiously stepped farther into the apartment and looked around. Everything was a mess...had there been a struggle? Or was Naruto just a horribly messy person? Sasuke opted for the last one, it was more probable. "Naruto?" He called out and walked by Naruto's little table with several empty containers of instant ramen piled up, and a few dirty dishes. "Naruto, are you here?" He called out again and cautiously walked into the back of the apartment where Naruto's bed was situated.
It didn't look like it had been slept in the night before...well that was only a guess because of the sloppy job the blonde had done making his bed. Having never been inside of Naruto's home before, Sasuke took some time to look around. There were a lot of plants around actually...and none of them were dead, surprisingly. Some posters were on the walls, junk on the floor; dirty clothes tossed around...nothing really important.
'Ok, I'm not here genius, can we go now?' Naruto thought to himself. At this part of the apartment, the smell of dirty laundry was almost enough to make the little fox pass out. He was going to have to remember to CLEAN when he got back to normal.
Unfortunately for him, Sasuke moved farther in and started pushing some of Naruto's stuff around with his feet. 'What the hell is he doing?!' Naruto thought. Sasuke didn't seem like the nosy type...
Naruto stared down in horror as Sasuke's foot uncovered a small orange book...of course it had to be orange, what other colour would he choose for his Di...Journal? Naruto refused to admit he had a diary, it was a journal! Naruto could only stare at it, hoping Sasuke would not notice the bright orange cover that could probably be seen from outer space. No such luck, Sasuke bent down and picked up the journal, and Naruto felt like he was going to die...and not just from the fumes.
Sasuke turned the orange book over in his hands curiously, and he sat down on the edge of Naruto's messy bed. Naruto squirmed to try and escape so he could grab the book and take off with it...or throw it out the window...or tear it to shreds or...something! But he was still held firmly in place by Sasuke's arm. 'Nooooooo!!' He screamed inside as Sasuke opened the cover to the page that had 'Naruto's Journal' written on it in the blonde's messy handwriting.
Naruto felt his heart pounding in his chest as Sasuke's brow knitted together, trying to decipher what Naruto's Journal had to say.
After a moment, Sasuke sighed in frustration, "Damn dobe, " he muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "This isn't writing, it's chicken scratch." he complained and closed the book. The small fox under his arm seemed to loosen up as Sasuke closed the book, but he didn't pay attention to that.
Naruto relaxed. Sasuke couldn't read his di...journal, it was a journal! Then it hit him. 'Chicken scratch?' He thought angrily to himself. 'My writing is not chicken scratch!!' He glared up at Sasuke, who was still holding onto the journal as if trying to decipher its secrets by just looking at the cover.
Tucking the fox more securely under his arm, Sasuke still had a hold of the bright orange journal as he grabbed Naruto's keys, which had been lying on the counter, then left Naruto's home and locked the door behind him.
'What the hell?!' Naruto ranted in his head, 'Sasuke's a klepto! What the hell! That's my stuff! My Keys! My journal!'
Sasuke stared at the door for a moment before dropping the keys in his pocket and turning around. He looked down and realized he still had Naruto's so called 'journal' in his hand. Oh well, he'll just return it when he found Naruto...if he found Naruto. He tucked the little orange book in his pocket as well and looked around. He was all out of places to look.
Sighing, Sasuke turned in the direction of Kakashi's home...he would at least have to look there to tell his instructor that he hadn't been able to find the dobe. Looking down at the fox he still carried in his arms, he felt a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips again, the fox looked like he was pouting... Again Sasuke was struck by how odd it was that he found the animal outside of Naruto's apartment and that the little fluffy thing reminded him so much of the dobe.
Maybe he was Naruto's pet or something... He thought, but he remembered Naruto telling him once that his landlord didn't allow pets in the apartments. Of course, Naruto was the type who would throw that rule out the window and keep a tiny fox anyway. None of this speculation, however, led him to any brainwaves about Naruto's location. It was as if he'd just...disappeared or something...
He sighed as he reached Kakashi's door and knocked to announce his presence.
He was just about to walk in afterwards but when Iruka opened the door, Sasuke had to hide the mild shock that threatened to show on his face. "Sasuke-kun." Iruka said, looking slightly disappointed, "H-Have you found Naruto?" the older ninja asked, not bothering to explain why he was at Kakashi's home in the first place.
"Will you two come inside, you're letting the cold air in." A bored voice said from inside the apartment. Iruka blushed a little at his rudeness and stepped aside to let Sasuke and his little fox inside. Kakashi's apartment was small...Naruto's was large compared to it, and the three of them felt slightly cramped.
"Well?" Iruka asked impatiently.
"Um...no I didn't find him." Sasuke explained. "All I found was this little guy." He held up the fox.
Iruka and Kakashi blinked...what did a little orange fox have to do with anything? And even holding the animal up and asking them, saying the words, 'little guy' was completely out of character for Uchiha Sasuke. Apparently there was a point to all this and it became clear when Sasuke asked, "Does Naruto own any pets?"
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know, nor care if the blonde had a whole zoo in his home. Iruka just shook his head, answering no.
Sasuke sighed and flopped down on Kakashi's one and only chair.
"Why do you ask that?" Iruka wondered.
Sasuke was silent for a moment as if brooding about something before answering. "I found him outside Naruto's apartment...I thought maybe he was Naruto's but I guess not..."
Naruto squirmed out of Sasuke's grasp at last and ran to Iruka's feet. Iruka would be able to help him get back! But when he tried to ask for help the only thing that came out of his mouth were barks and squeaks.
Iruka looked down at the small fox that was barking and squeaking at his feet. Reaching down, Naruto's former teacher scratched the small animal behind the ears. Naruto ceased his obsessive barking and yipping, and emitted a low cooing sound; he melted under Iruka's hand.
Sasuke sighed, "I also found him in my home last night..." he admitted, hoping that it was not of consequence.
"If he's Naruto's pet, maybe he came to tell you that his master was missing?" Kakashi suggested hopefully. Sasuke highly doubted that the animal was smart enough for that but it would explain a lot...
"Maybe..." He said.
Iruka rubbed the fox's belly as Naruto cooed happily. "I wish we had some kind of clue to where he went..." He mused sadly.
Sasuke thought about it for a moment then reached into his pocket to pull out the little orange book. "What about this?" He asked, holding it out to Iruka. "It might have some clues, but I can't read it."
Iruka looked up and blinked, "Is that his diary?" he asked; only to be distracted when the small fox began tugging on his pant leg.
Kakashi sighed and rubbed his head. "Ninjas shouldn't keep diaries..." he muttered before taking the orange book and flipping through it. After a moment, though he had to close it, "This...is chicken scratch..." the silver haired ninja said and was immediately attacked by the little fox who decided his footwear must be tasty.
"Give me that..." Iruka complained and took the diary from Kakashi's hands, opening it. Naruto groaned inwardly and abandoned his attack on Kakashi's shoe. If there was anyone who could read his writing it was Iruka, he'd been marking his stuff since he was a little kid. All three of them watched as Iruka flipped slowly through the pages, a thoughtful look on his face.
At last, Iruka put the book down and sighed. "Well, apparently, he at least put an effort into his school work..." he muttered.
"Does that mean you can't read it either?" Sasuke asked, wanting a straight answer, although he had not meant to sound rude about it...not that he was worried about the dobe...
Iruka shook his head, "I can...sort of... But it's going to take some time." he added with a sigh.
Sasuke and Kakashi both sighed. Sasuke because it meant they still were no closer to finding Naruto and he didn't like the feeling that the uncertainty of Naruto coming home was putting in his stomach, and Kakashi probably just because it was annoying...although it was hard to tell.
"What do we do, then?" Sasuke asked after a long pause.
Kakashi stood up, "I guess I'll have to inform the Hokage..." he muttered, sounding almost bored, Iruka and Sasuke felt like smacking the man, couldn't he be more concerned about his missing student? Although Sasuke would never admit to having that impulse, especially not for THAT reason.
"The best we can do for now is keep our eyes open for Naruto." Iruka said, picking up the fox and handing him back to Sasuke, "You don't mind taking care of this little guy for a while, do you Sasuke?"
Sasuke shook his head and gently took the fox from Iruka's arms. Naruto felt numb...scared...confused...he didn't know what was going on. His friends and teachers thought he was missing...and he was right there. He couldn't even communicate his plight to anyone, whenever he tried to speak he only made fox noises. Worst of all he was going to have to stay with Sasuke...and Iruka had his diary
"I would take care of him, but my apartment building doesn't allow pets..." Iruka was saying, but Naruto did not really pay attention to what was going on as Sasuke held him. Naruto only vaguely realized that Sasuke had also handed over his keys to Iruka before leaving Kakashi's apartment entirely.
Sighing as he walked down the street, Sasuke looked down at the little fox in his arms, was it his imagination or did the little guy look depressed?
He stroked the soft orange fur, but the fox just sighed and rested his head on Sasuke with no energy whatsoever.
Sasuke took his eyes off the fox and realized that he was standing outside of Naruto's favorite ramen bar. Telling himself that he just didn't want to cook that night, he stepped inside and felt his heart drop heavily when he didn't see Naruto inside...why he'd been hoping he was in there he didn't know, but he quickly made his order to go and took the ramen and the fox home with him.
Once home, Sasuke dished out a bowl for himself and the fox... why wasn't the little thing as perky as it was last night? Or even before he'd left Kakashi's? Hoping that fox Naruto was somewhat like the real Naruto, he placed the ramen in front of the fox... maybe the little thing just needed a recharge, as Naruto had so often needed.
Naruto's ears twitched and his nose sniffed at the ramen in front of him. His nose told him that this was the good stuff...from his favorite Ramen bar. He pulled himself to his four paws and buried his snout in the bowl, eating ravenously. Hey, he hadn't eaten all day, he was hungry.
Sasuke didn't exactly sigh with relief when the fox buried his nose into the ramen. There was no doubt about it, the fox had to have belonged to the dobe. How else had the animal become addicted to ramen as Naruto was? As the fox slurped happily away, Sasuke sat back and ate his own meal as he brooded over what might have happened to Naruto.
The blonde was irresponsible...even childish sometimes, but he wasn't the type to just take off without telling anyone about it. If he was going to leave he would at least tell Iruka, he looked up to the man like a father, but Iruka was just as in the dark as he was. He was now convinced that Naruto hadn't been in his apartment the previous night but all that proved was that he had disappeared without a trace...where the hell was the dobe?
Sighing, Sasuke looked down at the fox who had finished his ramen in record time, compared to Sasuke who was doing more thinking then eating...actually, Sasuke did not feel like eating all that much. Placing the rest of his ramen into the fox's bowl, he sat back and watched the animal practically dive into the thing.
He reached out and placed a hand on the fox's head. Naruto looked up for a second from his eating spree and the ramen was suddenly pushed out of his mind by the troubled look in the other boy's dark eyes. He almost looked...sad or something...but Sasuke couldn't look sad, could he? His mind pulled him backwards in time to the day Sasuke had 'died' in his arms...he'd looked sad then, but what reason was there for him to be sad now? Did...was Sasuke actually worried about him or something?
Not really thinking about what he was doing, Naruto left the bowl of ramen and put his paws up on Sasuke's leg, asking to be picked up. Sasuke complied and was a little surprised when the fox cooed at him and nuzzled his face, but he didn't complain about it and instead buried his face into the thick fur.
Naruto blinked as Sasuke pressed his nose into his fur and clutched him tightly. What was he trying to do, eat him? Suffocate himself in his fur? What the hell was wrong with him, clinging to him like that, it was just...
He stopped, when he felt something wet soak into his fur, and the slight smell of salt came to his sensitive nose.
Naruto turned his head around so he could look at Sasuke...it was kinda hard and he was only able to see Sasuke's dark hair and shoulders... which were shaking... 'Is Sasuke crying? Has Hell frozen over?! The apocalypse is coming!' Even as Naruto's mind told him that the world was about to end, he tried to think...why was Sasuke crying? It was scary...
A very quiet choking sound came from Sasuke and he pulled away as if he suddenly realized what he was doing and held the now damp fox out, who was looking at him with a look that seemed confused, but it's blue eyes seemed worried. He sniffled and wiped the tears still clinging to his eyes away. "Sorry Naruto, I got your fur all wet..." He said, and then stopped. Naruto watched helplessly as Sasuke's eyes threatened to leak tears again.
Naruto was now very very scared...worried... fearful of the end of the world? All of the above...why was Sasuke crying in the first place? Well, to prevent the world from ending before he could eat his weight in ramen, Naruto had to do something to stop this madness!
Sasuke took the hand that held the fox in his lap and scrubbed at his tears angrily with his fist...unfortunately, that hand was the only thing that was keeping Naruto securely on Sasuke's lap. Naruto blinked and he found himself suddenly falling backwards.
He tumbled off Sasuke's lap and into something round and full of a wet, warm substance...that smelled a lot like miso... He groaned when he realized he'd fallen into the bowl of ramen, now it would be all full of hair...
Sasuke stopped sniffling as he looked down at the fox struggling to get out of the ramen bowl and couldn't help but smile.
Forgetting the tears that had stung his eyes a moment before, Sasuke reached down and picked the sopping wet animal out of the bowl of ramen. Poor thing looked like a drowned rat, Sasuke smirked as he held the animal out in front of him.
Naruto could only glare over at Sasuke for letting him drop into the ramen bowl in the first place...although he was somehow relieved that Sasuke was now smirking instead of crying...it was probably because it meant the world wasn't going to end yet...yeah that had to be it...
"You need a bath." Sasuke pointed out.
TBC… A Bath?! For all that is holy, Naruto RUN AWAY! Wait, don't… lol
Oh and just so everyone knows…its tears! Tears, people…how would it get up there anyway if it was the other thing? …okay there are ways, but we're trying to keep this a pg13 story. Only cute fluffyness shall be here…and maybe a bit of kissing or nudity but no gutter minds…we left that to our other stories lol.
And a special thanks goes out to our new beta reader, The Raksha! (At least I hope that's what she wants to be called lol) Hopefully with her help we will be able to make our chapters that much better! All bow and pay homage to the beta reader! bow bow