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…
AN: Sorry this was so late I've had a horrible string of bad luck lately
and was unable to get around to editing this chapter....or maybe I was just
being lazy, I don't know. Anyway, here it is, and hopefully it won't take
me that long to finish new chapters for the other stories'
Chapter 3: Rub-A-Dub-Dub
Naruto could only glare over at Sasuke for letting him drop into the ramen
Bowl, 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.
Naruto's eyes widened, 'A BATH!?' He cried in his head, 'Nooooo!!!' he
tried to get out of Sasuke's grip, but finally had to give up when Sasuke
grabbed his back feet and held the scruff of his neck; it didn't hurt, but
Naruto was effectively caught and 'hog tied' well, not really, but Naruto
knew when resistance was futile.
He grumbled in his head as Sasuke carried him upstairs and through a door
there. Even as a fox Naruto could not help but gape at the fancy
bathroom...there must be three bathtubs in there! He hoped Sasuke would put
him in the big one in the center, it would be fun to swim in...but alas,
Sasuke took him to a smaller square one in the corner and turned on the
Water. Then he placed Naruto in the water and watched to make sure he wasn't
going to drown before starting to take off his clothes.
Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head as Sasuke stripped down to the
skin. 'What the hell!?' Naruto mentally asked, as a very naked Sasuke also
entered the tub. Naruto tried to dash to the rim of the tub, but it was too
high for him to get out...plus it was really hard running in water when your
legs were only 6 inches long.
But still he tried. He was scrambling to climb the slippery slope of the
tub when he felt Sasuke's hands wrap around him and lift him up....onto his
lap in the water! Naruto hadn't known foxes could blush until that
moment...he felt the skin under his fur turn very, very red.
Naruto couldn't even think as Sasuke held him in his lap...his naked lap,
and scrubbed his fur with shampoo...'Hey, this must be where the strawberry
smell comes from...' was really the only intelligent thought that entered
Naruto's mind. All the rest of his thoughts were along the lines of:
'Sasuke naked...' 'Naked Sasuke holding me...' 'Hope he never, ever EVER in
a million years finds out that it's ME he's holding!' 'Waaah, Sasuke's fan
club's going to kill me when they find out!'
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and his fingers paused in their massaging of
Naruto the fox's fur. Was it just him or was the fox blushing? Was that
even possible? He shrugged it off and continued to lather the fox's fur,
smiling a little to himself. At last he took a little bucket and filled it
with water, dumping it over the fox's head.
He smirked again, now the little runt really looked like a drowned rat.
Sasuke was glad for the distraction though, he hated it when he cried, it
just got in the way, and Naruto missing was nothing to cry about, he could
have just...wandered off and forgot to come home. But that still did not
reassure Sasuke down in his gut. Even though he would never show his
emotions to another human being, it was another story when he was alone. He
wasn't the cold hearted Uchiha as everyone thought…no, he was weak… and he
hated it.
The fox looked up at him as if daring him to explain why he'd dumped water
on his head and made him look like he was all skin and bones, but all Sasuke
could do was reach out and absent mindedly run a hand through the damp
orange hair. If he couldn't talk to people...maybe he could talk to his new
friend. It wasn't like he was going to run off and tell anyone, right? And
he'd always heard it he helps to talk about things...and his pillows weren't
listening apparently.
As he squeezed the water out of the fur, Sasuke sighed, wondering how he
was going to start. Then he realized that he was talking to an animal...it
wasn't like he was explaining the science of a light bulb to a two year old
who was going to demanded to know everything. " Dumb Naruto..." he muttered
to himself, not looking at the fox. "Baka had to go and get himself
lost..."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who had that look in his eyes again...what now?
He wondered miserably. Sasuke wasn't going to start crying again, was he?
Sasuke, however, just continued to talk.
"Doesn't he realize that people will worry about him if he just
disappears?" Sasuke grumbled. "The Dobe doesn't think before he acts..." He
paused and looked at the fox's blue eyes for a moment. "Sakura won't miss
him though...he adores her and she treats him like dirt...pisses me off..."
The fox's eyes widened and his ears perked up as Sasuke said
this...probably just from the feel of Sasuke scrubbing his back. Sasuke
pondered as he scrubbed the soap suds into the fur again. "Wish she would
just leave me alone..." he continued to mutter, "Naruto's not that
bad, sure he's loud and annoying , but would it kill her to be nice once in a
while..." Naruto felt like slapping Sasuke on the head and telling him the
exact same thing, but Sasuke was still talking...actually he snorted in
contempt. "Yeah, like I'm any better..."
He was silent for a long time as he scrubbed the fox's fur. His fingers
were gentle and the movements slow as both Naruto and Sasuke slipped into
thought. Naruto never thought he'd hear Sasuke sound regretful about the
way he treated him in a million years...
"I don't understand it..." Sasuke started talking again, his eyes softening
and narrowing so slightly Naruto wasn't sure he'd caught it. "I want to say
one thing...but it comes out as something mean." He sighed.
Looking down at the wet fox, though, Sasuke could not help but smirk at the
sight it made, "Do you think your clean enough?" he asked the small
creature, completely switching the topic for no reason whatsoever...well no
reason that Naruto could understand, he was getting to the juicy stuff there!
...Most of it actually disturbed Naruto now that he thought of it, but
still...Naruto was very confused now...
Getting no answer from the fox, Sasuke stood up and took the animal into
his arms. Naruto felt himself blush more as he was pressed against Sasuke's
bare chest while the dark haired ninja stepped out of the bath and pulled a
towel around himself. Sasuke sat down on a little bench in the room and
covered Naruto with another towel, carefully scrubbing his fur dry. He bent
forward and sniffed. "Well at least you don't smell like soup now." He
smirked.
If Naruto could have 'harrumphed' he would have, who would want to smell like
strawberries anyway? But it was kinda funny knowing that Sasuke used
strawberry shampoo and not something else. As Sasuke dried his fur Naruto
was trying to resist the urge to shake himself dry...oh forget resistance.
Sasuke had to turn his head away when a spray of water soaked him.
Sasuke actually chuckled once he'd wiped his face clean of the water from the
fox's hair and he couldn't resist grabbing the fox and giving it a rigorous
scratching behind the ears. He couldn't help but wonder as the fox made
that purring sound and nuzzled at his hand if Naruto would let him keep it
when he got home...it was nice to have something to talk to other than walls
and dark empty rooms.
But Naruto probably wouldn't let him...after all, Naruto was alone too, he
might have gotten the animal for just the same reason. But it seemed kind
of odd to Sasuke... Naruto would have mentioned that he had a fox...at the
very least to Sakura if only to get her to come over and see it. Sasuke
really wished he could get his head around what he was feeling, it was
frustrating and annoying to say the least.
Sasuke sighed and stood up again, carrying Naruto the fox to the door, and
placing him down on the hallway. The fox looked up at him as if confused
and although Sasuke knew it could not understand him, he knelt down and
rubbed it's head anyway. "I'm just going to have a shower, I won't be
long." He told the fox, then turned around and went back in.
Naruto stared at the door, hardly believing his luck. He had complete run
of the house while Sasuke was in the shower...and he wouldn't even be angry
if he found him with his nose in something, he'd just think it was the
curiosity of the fox...maybe he could find some clues to Sasuke's odd
behavior!
Dashing down the hallway, Naruto slipped on the hardwood floor...never run
with wet paws...he was lucky that the stairs he had been heading for went up
instead of down...otherwise Naruto knew he would have been in for a world of
hurt. Taking a bit more care this time, Naruto climbed the stairs to
Sasuke's room...there had to be more there than what he'd found
before...besides, Naruto had no clue where else to look.
He sniffed around the room first, but there wasn't so much as a dust
bunny on the pale wood floor. He tried to open the drawers in Sasuke's desk ,
but his paws could not reach, nor did he have the strength to pull on them
even if he could. At last he sniffed his way under the dark recesses of
Sasuke's bed.
It was dark down there, but Naruto was once again thankful for the excellent
night vision he now possessed...it never really occurred to him that he
should be trying to change back into his human form instead of spying on
Sasuke. There wasn't much under Sasuke's bed...a shoe box...and a
book...ohhh so interesting...Naruto thought with sarcasm.
He sighed and sat on his haunches, staring at the book and the shoe box for
a moment. Somehow it was reassuring to know that Sasuke left things under
his bed too...although maybe he put these under here for a reason...
With new found curiosity about the objects, he approached the book and
nudged it with his nose.
Although it was dark under the bed...really, really dark, Naruto did not
have much difficulty distinguishing the black letters from the white paper.
And what he read on the very first page nearly made his heart stop...or,
to be more precise, caused him to fall over in hysterical laughter, "Journal
of Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto could hardly believe it! Sasuke had a diary too!
He fell to the floor in hysterics and rolled a little, laughing in his head
since foxes don't really have the capacity to laugh outright, and bumped
into something. Blinking, he looked up from his back so see that he'd
knocked the lid off the shoe box. Flipping himself right-side up he stood on
his hind paws and peered over the edge of the shoebox...it was full of
pictures and other little things.
But from the way he was leaning against the box, the contents soon found a
new home on the floor. Naruto nearly had a heart attack when the box tipped
over and dumped the photos and everything on top of him. He really, really
hoped Sasuke had his head under the water at that point in time...Sasuke
might have some other hidden blood line...like super ears or something...
He lay there for a moment, buried in photos, listening for signs that
Sasuke had heard him and was coming to see what was going on. But the room
was silent as a tomb...He shuddered a little at the creepy silence and
pulled himself out from under the pile of photos, shaking the dust out of
his still damp fur, then turned around to see what goodies he'd found...and
his heart nearly stopped again, but for a different reason this time.
Naruto found himself emitting a cooing sound as he looked down at the 3
year old Sasuke's face, mouth, and hands covered in what must have been cake
as he smiled bashfully at the camera. That had to be one of the most
adorable kids Naruto had ever seen! What had happened to him? Sure Sasuke
was sexy but h- wait...sexy?
Naruto recoiled in horror. 'SEXY?!' He screamed in his mind. 'WHAT the
HELL is wrong with me...Sasuke is not sexy, he's not, he's not, he's not,
he's....' His mind reeled with images of Sasuke's slim, naked body which was
so sex....NOT sexy! NOT!!! He cast around desperately for something else
to occupy his mind.
As Naruto ran his head against the floor, trying to get those thoughts out
of his mind, he looked up and saw another picture of Sasuke before
him...Thank god it was not a Sexy Sasuke picture...'Sasuke is not Sexy!
Anyway back to distracting yourself! Picture in front of nose! What's
That!?'
Naruto blinked in surprise when he saw Sasuke again...go figure, but this
time he was accompanied by an older man...well maybe not a man yet, but a
teen at most.
He squinted at the picture...the other guy looked so much like Sasuke it
was scary...mostly the only difference was the long hair tied in a pony tail
and the strange lines on the teenager's face. The older one seemed a little
annoyed about something but Sasuke was holding onto his hand and looking
like everything was good in the world.
Naruto blinked and looked down at the picture which only seemed to
re-iterate the fact that Sasuke was too adorable when he smiled...why the
heck didn't that guy smile very often anymore? Was it like some kind of
weird ninja rule that he'd found somewhere that said good ninjas never
smiled?
Naruto suddenly got an idea...whether it was a good one or not was
debatable, but he figured it could help to keep his mind off Sasuke's sexy
body.....'NOT SEXY BODY, he is NOT sexy!!!!' .....he twitched. Anyway, his
plan was to do everything in his power to make Sasuke smile...a real smile,
not those smirks or evil grins he usually had on his face, but first he had
to figure out HOW to make him smile...he approached the diary with an evil
fox grin.
This was going to be a challenge he knew, BUT he was not going to let the
challenge go unanswered...okay so there was no challenge, but Naruto was
getting bored with only getting an annoyed response form Sasuke while he was
himself...after all Sasuke was not the unfeeling thing he had made himself
appear to be...yeah except he wasn't going to be able to tell anyone about
his accomplishment...oh well.
He placed a paw on the front page of the diary and drug it across,
revealing a random page of writing in very neat and accurately written
characters. He practically pressed his nose to the paper as he began to
read.
'June 14th- Weather: sunny.........We were assigned another stupid
pointless mission today. That damned Kakashi guy never shows up on time and
then I have to listen to those two baka yell at him...I think I'm going
deaf. I can tell Naruto's becoming more and more annoyed with our lack of
progress and I can't blame him...'
"There you are!" Sasuke's voice said from outside the bed and Naruto
thought his heart must have stopped altogether this time...he was caught
with his nose in Sasuke's diary! And he'd spilled the pictures everywhere!
Naruto looked up at Sasuke who was wearing a bathrobe...thank god, as he
stood in the doorway with a mildly surprised expression on his face. Backing
away, he whined as he put his ears down and his tail between his legs.
Naruto really hoped Sasuke wasn't one for beating animals when they got into
his stuff.
But Sasuke just sighed and bent down, ignoring the diary, and the pictures
that were scattered along the floor as he picked up the small fox, "Look at
you," he said and took the towel that was around his neck off, wiping the
dust off of Naruto's still damp fur.
Naruto blinked as Sasuke all but tenderly wiped his fur with the towel. He
should have been past being shocked by things but...since when was Sasuke
such a NICE guy anyway? He certainly didn't act that way to him...
Sasuke put Naruto back down on the floor and reached under the bed to pull
the shoebox and the spilled pictures out. "You get into everything, don't
you?" He asked quietly, putting pictures into small piles and putting them
away again.
Naruto watched as Sasuke began putting away the pictures, did Sasuke
look...sad again? What was with this guy? Wasn't he supposed to be cold and
not have emotions? But of course Naruto was just supposed to be a little
mindless fox, right? So maybe Sasuke was an animal person, not a people
person.
Before Sasuke could put the rest of the pictures away, Naruto reached
forwards and carefully picked up the picture of Sasuke and that...Sasuke's
almost clone person...
He made a questioning noise and tilted his head with the picture held
gently in his mouth. Sasuke's eyes softened and he took the picture from
Naruto and looked at it for a moment. "That's...my brother Itachi." He told
the fox, running a hand along the picture, a mixture of sadness and anger in
his face. Naruto blinked. Sasuke had a brother? Since when?
"He's the man I have to kill..." Sasuke sighed and put it back with the
others.
Naruto's ears perked up, he knew Sasuke wanted to kill a man before this...
but his brother? Actually…hadn't Sasuke mentioned something about that on
that bridge thing...what was that again? He had a hard time remembering
Sasuke's exact words...hey the guy was dying at the time and the only thing
going though Naruto's head right then was...well never mind what it was!
That was nobody's business but his and the bright orange diary...which was
now in Iruka's hands, DAMN!
Sasuke glanced over at the fox and his sad expression turned into an almost
smile when he found it looked kind of like it was scowling at something. He
looked back at the pictures...he'd hid them in the shoebox under his bed to
keep them close to him, but he realized he never really looked at them. He
got up to pull on his pj's (While Naruto tried desperately to stare at the
floor and NOT at Sasuke's body), then picked up the box and the fox (lol I
rhymed), and sat cross legged on the bed.
Looking back down, Sasuke noticed his diary lying open on the floor, and
with a sigh, reached down and picked it up. Looking at the small fox who
stood staring at him, Sasuke shook his head and sighed again, "Knowing you,
you'd probably try and eat the pages instead of reading them." He told the
animal before getting up and putting it on his book shelf high up.
Naruto stared in silent horror as his best chance at getting the goods on
Sasuke was placed high up where he, in this cursed fox form, could not
possibly reach it. 'Damn that Sasuke!!' He cried angrily in his mind and
hunched over, pouting. He had apparently disregarded the fact that he felt
mortified and frightened that Iruka had HIS diary and could read the secrets
inside...
Turning back to see the dejected fox sitting on his bed, Sasuke reached
over and scratched the creature behind the ears. Although that seemed to
perk him up just a little, the animal still looked depressed about
something. Drawing the little fox closer so that he was now sitting on
Sasuke's lap, the dark haired boy turned him around so he was facing away
from Sasuke.
Naruto was confused, 'What the hell?' he asked mentally and was just about
to leap out of Sasuke's arms…he did not want to be cuddled at this point in
time, he wanted juicy info! But when Sasuke brought the stack of pictures
just below his snout, all thoughts of escaping vanished.
Naruto eagerly wagged his tail as Sasuke reached into the box and shifted
around looking for a picture. This was more like it! Sasuke was
voluntarily going to tell him things about the mysterious people in the
picture...he should have turned into a fox YEARS ago...
His thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke pulled out a picture of two older
people, a man and a woman, holding a small dark haired baby in their arms.
Naruto thought that the woman looked an awful lot like Sasuke....
Sasuke pointed to the woman holding the baby, "That's mother and me..." he
told the fox then pointed to the eldest man, "And that's father...they've been
gone for a long time now..." Although this was really nothing new to
Naruto, he had to wonder at his teammates mental health...come on, the guy
was talking to a fox for one thing...and pointing out his dead parents to
it? Who in their right mind would do that? But anyway who was the guy in
the corner there? Had to be some kind of relative...looks like his
brother...'Okay crazy Sasuke, tell me it's your brother...' But Sasuke did
not say anything more about the picture, only replaced it with another one.
Naruto listened as picture after picture was shown to him...aunts, uncles,
grandparents, cousins, and he accompanied most of them with stories...Naruto
had no idea that Sasuke had such a large family...and yet he lived alone in
this huge mansion. Naruto knew something must have happened to them all,
but he'd never been able to ask his dark haired teammate about it...not
that Sasuke would have answered anyway...
At long last Sasuke turned to a picture of him and his almost clone...the
guy had to be his older brother, no question about it. Sasuke looked about
8 while his older brother looked...well, older, almost an adult at
least...Naruto could feel the tension in Sasuke's body as they looked at the
picture. He could not fathom what was wrong, they both looked happy...well
Sasuke did, the older guy was looking annoyed. Without warning though,
Sasuke took the picture in his hands and tore it in half!
Naruto stared, struck dumb as Sasuke continued to rip the half of the
picture that held his brother. Small squares of paper floated down to land
on the floor, but Sasuke didn't stop until it had been completely destroyed.
Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke had tears in his eyes again...but they
were angry tears this time.
With the picture in shreds on the floor and bed, Naruto whined at Sasuke,
whose eyes were squeezed shut as if trying to prevent the tears form coming.
Not getting a response from the distraught Sasuke, he whined again and put
his paws up on Sasuke's chest. All of Naruto's evil schemes seemed to fly
out the window as he watched his arch-rival, his nemesis, break down into
bitter tears.
Naruto didn't know what to do...if he'd been human he would probably have
smacked him and called him a wimp...but if he was himself he was sure Sasuke
would never let his weak side show...it scared Naruto that behind that stone
cold mask there was hidden a Sasuke which held so much pain...
He didn't want to see Sasuke cry anymore...it hurt to watch it. Somewhere
in the back of his mind he wished he was back to normal so he could hold him
and tell him not to cry...but that was ridiculous and he was a fox so he
just tried to nuzzle Sasuke to take his mind off the pain.
Sasuke sniffed and tried to blink the tears away as the small fox nuzzled
his cheek, it was almost like the animal was attempting to give him a hug
and tell him not to cry anymore. Wiping his tear-stained cheeks, Sasuke
wrapped his arms around the fox's middle and buried his face into the orange
fur for the second time that day.
The fox snuggled closer and made a soothing cooing sound, and Sasuke took a
deep breath, breathing in the smell of his strawberry shampoo in the now dry
fur, and opened his eyes. He looked down at the scattered remains of the
picture on the floor but with the animal there to comfort him...suddenly it
didn't feel quite so painful anymore.
Sighing, Sasuke got off the bed and cleaned up the mess on the floor,
crying never helped anything, it never brought his parents back, it didn't
ease the pain in his heart. Finally having finished picking up the
scattered remains and depositing them into the garbage, Sasuke sat back
down on his bed, only to have the little fox jump into his lap and coo at
him.
He smiled and reached out to pet the animal's head. It cooed and curled up
comfortably in his lap, allowing him to stroke it's fur quietly. It was
kind of amazing how it seemed to understand what he was feeling...
He glanced back over at the box and the corner of a picture caught his eye.
Naruto hoped he wasn't going to bring out another picture of his brother
to destroy...Sasuke had just stopped crying he didn't want to have to go
through that again, but instead Sasuke pulled out the picture of his team.
Naruto's eyes widened a little...he didn't even think Sasuke had kept his
copy...
But there it was, the four of them smiling...well not smiling,
really...Sakura was and probably their sensei, but both Sasuke and himself
were glaring at each other...well Sasuke looked more annoyed to be standing
in front of the camera with Kakashi's hand on his head while Naruto himself
was just glaring at Sasuke. Naruto really hoped Sasuke wasn't going to have
a fit and tear that picture up as well...
Sasuke's lip twitched into a smile...or was it a smirk? "Look at him..."
He said, jabbing a finger into the photo Naruto's chest. "He's always so
annoyed with me..." He chuckled a little. "You know when I first got
assigned to this team I thought I would hate it." He said for no apparent
reason.
'Yeah like that's changed.' Naruto harrumphed in his mind. Sasuke seemed to
do everything in his power to make Naruto's life that much more unbearable.
Sasuke sighed and shook his head, "I-I don't know what's wrong with me..."
he muttered, catching Naruto's attention again, "I don't mean to piss
him off...but he's so..." Naruto waited, and waited, and waited....'Come
on, Sasuke, what the hell am I that makes you want to piss me off?' Naruto
demanded in his head. He could feel Sasuke's face heat up behind him,
curious, Naruto turned and looked only to see something he thought he would
never see, SASUKE WAS BLUSHING!
TBC…
Gasp! Who would have thought that Sasuke would blush? What is the world
coming to?
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…
AN: Sorry this was so late I've had a horrible string of bad luck lately
and was unable to get around to editing this chapter....or maybe I was just
being lazy, I don't know. Anyway, here it is, and hopefully it won't take
me that long to finish new chapters for the other stories'
Chapter 3: Rub-A-Dub-Dub
Naruto could only glare over at Sasuke for letting him drop into the ramen
Bowl, 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.
Naruto's eyes widened, 'A BATH!?' He cried in his head, 'Nooooo!!!' he
tried to get out of Sasuke's grip, but finally had to give up when Sasuke
grabbed his back feet and held the scruff of his neck; it didn't hurt, but
Naruto was effectively caught and 'hog tied' well, not really, but Naruto
knew when resistance was futile.
He grumbled in his head as Sasuke carried him upstairs and through a door
there. Even as a fox Naruto could not help but gape at the fancy
bathroom...there must be three bathtubs in there! He hoped Sasuke would put
him in the big one in the center, it would be fun to swim in...but alas,
Sasuke took him to a smaller square one in the corner and turned on the
Water. Then he placed Naruto in the water and watched to make sure he wasn't
going to drown before starting to take off his clothes.
Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head as Sasuke stripped down to the
skin. 'What the hell!?' Naruto mentally asked, as a very naked Sasuke also
entered the tub. Naruto tried to dash to the rim of the tub, but it was too
high for him to get out...plus it was really hard running in water when your
legs were only 6 inches long.
But still he tried. He was scrambling to climb the slippery slope of the
tub when he felt Sasuke's hands wrap around him and lift him up....onto his
lap in the water! Naruto hadn't known foxes could blush until that
moment...he felt the skin under his fur turn very, very red.
Naruto couldn't even think as Sasuke held him in his lap...his naked lap,
and scrubbed his fur with shampoo...'Hey, this must be where the strawberry
smell comes from...' was really the only intelligent thought that entered
Naruto's mind. All the rest of his thoughts were along the lines of:
'Sasuke naked...' 'Naked Sasuke holding me...' 'Hope he never, ever EVER in
a million years finds out that it's ME he's holding!' 'Waaah, Sasuke's fan
club's going to kill me when they find out!'
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and his fingers paused in their massaging of
Naruto the fox's fur. Was it just him or was the fox blushing? Was that
even possible? He shrugged it off and continued to lather the fox's fur,
smiling a little to himself. At last he took a little bucket and filled it
with water, dumping it over the fox's head.
He smirked again, now the little runt really looked like a drowned rat.
Sasuke was glad for the distraction though, he hated it when he cried, it
just got in the way, and Naruto missing was nothing to cry about, he could
have just...wandered off and forgot to come home. But that still did not
reassure Sasuke down in his gut. Even though he would never show his
emotions to another human being, it was another story when he was alone. He
wasn't the cold hearted Uchiha as everyone thought…no, he was weak… and he
hated it.
The fox looked up at him as if daring him to explain why he'd dumped water
on his head and made him look like he was all skin and bones, but all Sasuke
could do was reach out and absent mindedly run a hand through the damp
orange hair. If he couldn't talk to people...maybe he could talk to his new
friend. It wasn't like he was going to run off and tell anyone, right? And
he'd always heard it he helps to talk about things...and his pillows weren't
listening apparently.
As he squeezed the water out of the fur, Sasuke sighed, wondering how he
was going to start. Then he realized that he was talking to an animal...it
wasn't like he was explaining the science of a light bulb to a two year old
who was going to demanded to know everything. " Dumb Naruto..." he muttered
to himself, not looking at the fox. "Baka had to go and get himself
lost..."
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who had that look in his eyes again...what now?
He wondered miserably. Sasuke wasn't going to start crying again, was he?
Sasuke, however, just continued to talk.
"Doesn't he realize that people will worry about him if he just
disappears?" Sasuke grumbled. "The Dobe doesn't think before he acts..." He
paused and looked at the fox's blue eyes for a moment. "Sakura won't miss
him though...he adores her and she treats him like dirt...pisses me off..."
The fox's eyes widened and his ears perked up as Sasuke said
this...probably just from the feel of Sasuke scrubbing his back. Sasuke
pondered as he scrubbed the soap suds into the fur again. "Wish she would
just leave me alone..." he continued to mutter, "Naruto's not that
bad, sure he's loud and annoying , but would it kill her to be nice once in a
while..." Naruto felt like slapping Sasuke on the head and telling him the
exact same thing, but Sasuke was still talking...actually he snorted in
contempt. "Yeah, like I'm any better..."
He was silent for a long time as he scrubbed the fox's fur. His fingers
were gentle and the movements slow as both Naruto and Sasuke slipped into
thought. Naruto never thought he'd hear Sasuke sound regretful about the
way he treated him in a million years...
"I don't understand it..." Sasuke started talking again, his eyes softening
and narrowing so slightly Naruto wasn't sure he'd caught it. "I want to say
one thing...but it comes out as something mean." He sighed.
Looking down at the wet fox, though, Sasuke could not help but smirk at the
sight it made, "Do you think your clean enough?" he asked the small
creature, completely switching the topic for no reason whatsoever...well no
reason that Naruto could understand, he was getting to the juicy stuff there!
...Most of it actually disturbed Naruto now that he thought of it, but
still...Naruto was very confused now...
Getting no answer from the fox, Sasuke stood up and took the animal into
his arms. Naruto felt himself blush more as he was pressed against Sasuke's
bare chest while the dark haired ninja stepped out of the bath and pulled a
towel around himself. Sasuke sat down on a little bench in the room and
covered Naruto with another towel, carefully scrubbing his fur dry. He bent
forward and sniffed. "Well at least you don't smell like soup now." He
smirked.
If Naruto could have 'harrumphed' he would have, who would want to smell like
strawberries anyway? But it was kinda funny knowing that Sasuke used
strawberry shampoo and not something else. As Sasuke dried his fur Naruto
was trying to resist the urge to shake himself dry...oh forget resistance.
Sasuke had to turn his head away when a spray of water soaked him.
Sasuke actually chuckled once he'd wiped his face clean of the water from the
fox's hair and he couldn't resist grabbing the fox and giving it a rigorous
scratching behind the ears. He couldn't help but wonder as the fox made
that purring sound and nuzzled at his hand if Naruto would let him keep it
when he got home...it was nice to have something to talk to other than walls
and dark empty rooms.
But Naruto probably wouldn't let him...after all, Naruto was alone too, he
might have gotten the animal for just the same reason. But it seemed kind
of odd to Sasuke... Naruto would have mentioned that he had a fox...at the
very least to Sakura if only to get her to come over and see it. Sasuke
really wished he could get his head around what he was feeling, it was
frustrating and annoying to say the least.
Sasuke sighed and stood up again, carrying Naruto the fox to the door, and
placing him down on the hallway. The fox looked up at him as if confused
and although Sasuke knew it could not understand him, he knelt down and
rubbed it's head anyway. "I'm just going to have a shower, I won't be
long." He told the fox, then turned around and went back in.
Naruto stared at the door, hardly believing his luck. He had complete run
of the house while Sasuke was in the shower...and he wouldn't even be angry
if he found him with his nose in something, he'd just think it was the
curiosity of the fox...maybe he could find some clues to Sasuke's odd
behavior!
Dashing down the hallway, Naruto slipped on the hardwood floor...never run
with wet paws...he was lucky that the stairs he had been heading for went up
instead of down...otherwise Naruto knew he would have been in for a world of
hurt. Taking a bit more care this time, Naruto climbed the stairs to
Sasuke's room...there had to be more there than what he'd found
before...besides, Naruto had no clue where else to look.
He sniffed around the room first, but there wasn't so much as a dust
bunny on the pale wood floor. He tried to open the drawers in Sasuke's desk ,
but his paws could not reach, nor did he have the strength to pull on them
even if he could. At last he sniffed his way under the dark recesses of
Sasuke's bed.
It was dark down there, but Naruto was once again thankful for the excellent
night vision he now possessed...it never really occurred to him that he
should be trying to change back into his human form instead of spying on
Sasuke. There wasn't much under Sasuke's bed...a shoe box...and a
book...ohhh so interesting...Naruto thought with sarcasm.
He sighed and sat on his haunches, staring at the book and the shoe box for
a moment. Somehow it was reassuring to know that Sasuke left things under
his bed too...although maybe he put these under here for a reason...
With new found curiosity about the objects, he approached the book and
nudged it with his nose.
Although it was dark under the bed...really, really dark, Naruto did not
have much difficulty distinguishing the black letters from the white paper.
And what he read on the very first page nearly made his heart stop...or,
to be more precise, caused him to fall over in hysterical laughter, "Journal
of Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto could hardly believe it! Sasuke had a diary too!
He fell to the floor in hysterics and rolled a little, laughing in his head
since foxes don't really have the capacity to laugh outright, and bumped
into something. Blinking, he looked up from his back so see that he'd
knocked the lid off the shoe box. Flipping himself right-side up he stood on
his hind paws and peered over the edge of the shoebox...it was full of
pictures and other little things.
But from the way he was leaning against the box, the contents soon found a
new home on the floor. Naruto nearly had a heart attack when the box tipped
over and dumped the photos and everything on top of him. He really, really
hoped Sasuke had his head under the water at that point in time...Sasuke
might have some other hidden blood line...like super ears or something...
He lay there for a moment, buried in photos, listening for signs that
Sasuke had heard him and was coming to see what was going on. But the room
was silent as a tomb...He shuddered a little at the creepy silence and
pulled himself out from under the pile of photos, shaking the dust out of
his still damp fur, then turned around to see what goodies he'd found...and
his heart nearly stopped again, but for a different reason this time.
Naruto found himself emitting a cooing sound as he looked down at the 3
year old Sasuke's face, mouth, and hands covered in what must have been cake
as he smiled bashfully at the camera. That had to be one of the most
adorable kids Naruto had ever seen! What had happened to him? Sure Sasuke
was sexy but h- wait...sexy?
Naruto recoiled in horror. 'SEXY?!' He screamed in his mind. 'WHAT the
HELL is wrong with me...Sasuke is not sexy, he's not, he's not, he's not,
he's....' His mind reeled with images of Sasuke's slim, naked body which was
so sex....NOT sexy! NOT!!! He cast around desperately for something else
to occupy his mind.
As Naruto ran his head against the floor, trying to get those thoughts out
of his mind, he looked up and saw another picture of Sasuke before
him...Thank god it was not a Sexy Sasuke picture...'Sasuke is not Sexy!
Anyway back to distracting yourself! Picture in front of nose! What's
That!?'
Naruto blinked in surprise when he saw Sasuke again...go figure, but this
time he was accompanied by an older man...well maybe not a man yet, but a
teen at most.
He squinted at the picture...the other guy looked so much like Sasuke it
was scary...mostly the only difference was the long hair tied in a pony tail
and the strange lines on the teenager's face. The older one seemed a little
annoyed about something but Sasuke was holding onto his hand and looking
like everything was good in the world.
Naruto blinked and looked down at the picture which only seemed to
re-iterate the fact that Sasuke was too adorable when he smiled...why the
heck didn't that guy smile very often anymore? Was it like some kind of
weird ninja rule that he'd found somewhere that said good ninjas never
smiled?
Naruto suddenly got an idea...whether it was a good one or not was
debatable, but he figured it could help to keep his mind off Sasuke's sexy
body.....'NOT SEXY BODY, he is NOT sexy!!!!' .....he twitched. Anyway, his
plan was to do everything in his power to make Sasuke smile...a real smile,
not those smirks or evil grins he usually had on his face, but first he had
to figure out HOW to make him smile...he approached the diary with an evil
fox grin.
This was going to be a challenge he knew, BUT he was not going to let the
challenge go unanswered...okay so there was no challenge, but Naruto was
getting bored with only getting an annoyed response form Sasuke while he was
himself...after all Sasuke was not the unfeeling thing he had made himself
appear to be...yeah except he wasn't going to be able to tell anyone about
his accomplishment...oh well.
He placed a paw on the front page of the diary and drug it across,
revealing a random page of writing in very neat and accurately written
characters. He practically pressed his nose to the paper as he began to
read.
'June 14th- Weather: sunny.........We were assigned another stupid
pointless mission today. That damned Kakashi guy never shows up on time and
then I have to listen to those two baka yell at him...I think I'm going
deaf. I can tell Naruto's becoming more and more annoyed with our lack of
progress and I can't blame him...'
"There you are!" Sasuke's voice said from outside the bed and Naruto
thought his heart must have stopped altogether this time...he was caught
with his nose in Sasuke's diary! And he'd spilled the pictures everywhere!
Naruto looked up at Sasuke who was wearing a bathrobe...thank god, as he
stood in the doorway with a mildly surprised expression on his face. Backing
away, he whined as he put his ears down and his tail between his legs.
Naruto really hoped Sasuke wasn't one for beating animals when they got into
his stuff.
But Sasuke just sighed and bent down, ignoring the diary, and the pictures
that were scattered along the floor as he picked up the small fox, "Look at
you," he said and took the towel that was around his neck off, wiping the
dust off of Naruto's still damp fur.
Naruto blinked as Sasuke all but tenderly wiped his fur with the towel. He
should have been past being shocked by things but...since when was Sasuke
such a NICE guy anyway? He certainly didn't act that way to him...
Sasuke put Naruto back down on the floor and reached under the bed to pull
the shoebox and the spilled pictures out. "You get into everything, don't
you?" He asked quietly, putting pictures into small piles and putting them
away again.
Naruto watched as Sasuke began putting away the pictures, did Sasuke
look...sad again? What was with this guy? Wasn't he supposed to be cold and
not have emotions? But of course Naruto was just supposed to be a little
mindless fox, right? So maybe Sasuke was an animal person, not a people
person.
Before Sasuke could put the rest of the pictures away, Naruto reached
forwards and carefully picked up the picture of Sasuke and that...Sasuke's
almost clone person...
He made a questioning noise and tilted his head with the picture held
gently in his mouth. Sasuke's eyes softened and he took the picture from
Naruto and looked at it for a moment. "That's...my brother Itachi." He told
the fox, running a hand along the picture, a mixture of sadness and anger in
his face. Naruto blinked. Sasuke had a brother? Since when?
"He's the man I have to kill..." Sasuke sighed and put it back with the
others.
Naruto's ears perked up, he knew Sasuke wanted to kill a man before this...
but his brother? Actually…hadn't Sasuke mentioned something about that on
that bridge thing...what was that again? He had a hard time remembering
Sasuke's exact words...hey the guy was dying at the time and the only thing
going though Naruto's head right then was...well never mind what it was!
That was nobody's business but his and the bright orange diary...which was
now in Iruka's hands, DAMN!
Sasuke glanced over at the fox and his sad expression turned into an almost
smile when he found it looked kind of like it was scowling at something. He
looked back at the pictures...he'd hid them in the shoebox under his bed to
keep them close to him, but he realized he never really looked at them. He
got up to pull on his pj's (While Naruto tried desperately to stare at the
floor and NOT at Sasuke's body), then picked up the box and the fox (lol I
rhymed), and sat cross legged on the bed.
Looking back down, Sasuke noticed his diary lying open on the floor, and
with a sigh, reached down and picked it up. Looking at the small fox who
stood staring at him, Sasuke shook his head and sighed again, "Knowing you,
you'd probably try and eat the pages instead of reading them." He told the
animal before getting up and putting it on his book shelf high up.
Naruto stared in silent horror as his best chance at getting the goods on
Sasuke was placed high up where he, in this cursed fox form, could not
possibly reach it. 'Damn that Sasuke!!' He cried angrily in his mind and
hunched over, pouting. He had apparently disregarded the fact that he felt
mortified and frightened that Iruka had HIS diary and could read the secrets
inside...
Turning back to see the dejected fox sitting on his bed, Sasuke reached
over and scratched the creature behind the ears. Although that seemed to
perk him up just a little, the animal still looked depressed about
something. Drawing the little fox closer so that he was now sitting on
Sasuke's lap, the dark haired boy turned him around so he was facing away
from Sasuke.
Naruto was confused, 'What the hell?' he asked mentally and was just about
to leap out of Sasuke's arms…he did not want to be cuddled at this point in
time, he wanted juicy info! But when Sasuke brought the stack of pictures
just below his snout, all thoughts of escaping vanished.
Naruto eagerly wagged his tail as Sasuke reached into the box and shifted
around looking for a picture. This was more like it! Sasuke was
voluntarily going to tell him things about the mysterious people in the
picture...he should have turned into a fox YEARS ago...
His thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke pulled out a picture of two older
people, a man and a woman, holding a small dark haired baby in their arms.
Naruto thought that the woman looked an awful lot like Sasuke....
Sasuke pointed to the woman holding the baby, "That's mother and me..." he
told the fox then pointed to the eldest man, "And that's father...they've been
gone for a long time now..." Although this was really nothing new to
Naruto, he had to wonder at his teammates mental health...come on, the guy
was talking to a fox for one thing...and pointing out his dead parents to
it? Who in their right mind would do that? But anyway who was the guy in
the corner there? Had to be some kind of relative...looks like his
brother...'Okay crazy Sasuke, tell me it's your brother...' But Sasuke did
not say anything more about the picture, only replaced it with another one.
Naruto listened as picture after picture was shown to him...aunts, uncles,
grandparents, cousins, and he accompanied most of them with stories...Naruto
had no idea that Sasuke had such a large family...and yet he lived alone in
this huge mansion. Naruto knew something must have happened to them all,
but he'd never been able to ask his dark haired teammate about it...not
that Sasuke would have answered anyway...
At long last Sasuke turned to a picture of him and his almost clone...the
guy had to be his older brother, no question about it. Sasuke looked about
8 while his older brother looked...well, older, almost an adult at
least...Naruto could feel the tension in Sasuke's body as they looked at the
picture. He could not fathom what was wrong, they both looked happy...well
Sasuke did, the older guy was looking annoyed. Without warning though,
Sasuke took the picture in his hands and tore it in half!
Naruto stared, struck dumb as Sasuke continued to rip the half of the
picture that held his brother. Small squares of paper floated down to land
on the floor, but Sasuke didn't stop until it had been completely destroyed.
Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke had tears in his eyes again...but they
were angry tears this time.
With the picture in shreds on the floor and bed, Naruto whined at Sasuke,
whose eyes were squeezed shut as if trying to prevent the tears form coming.
Not getting a response from the distraught Sasuke, he whined again and put
his paws up on Sasuke's chest. All of Naruto's evil schemes seemed to fly
out the window as he watched his arch-rival, his nemesis, break down into
bitter tears.
Naruto didn't know what to do...if he'd been human he would probably have
smacked him and called him a wimp...but if he was himself he was sure Sasuke
would never let his weak side show...it scared Naruto that behind that stone
cold mask there was hidden a Sasuke which held so much pain...
He didn't want to see Sasuke cry anymore...it hurt to watch it. Somewhere
in the back of his mind he wished he was back to normal so he could hold him
and tell him not to cry...but that was ridiculous and he was a fox so he
just tried to nuzzle Sasuke to take his mind off the pain.
Sasuke sniffed and tried to blink the tears away as the small fox nuzzled
his cheek, it was almost like the animal was attempting to give him a hug
and tell him not to cry anymore. Wiping his tear-stained cheeks, Sasuke
wrapped his arms around the fox's middle and buried his face into the orange
fur for the second time that day.
The fox snuggled closer and made a soothing cooing sound, and Sasuke took a
deep breath, breathing in the smell of his strawberry shampoo in the now dry
fur, and opened his eyes. He looked down at the scattered remains of the
picture on the floor but with the animal there to comfort him...suddenly it
didn't feel quite so painful anymore.
Sighing, Sasuke got off the bed and cleaned up the mess on the floor,
crying never helped anything, it never brought his parents back, it didn't
ease the pain in his heart. Finally having finished picking up the
scattered remains and depositing them into the garbage, Sasuke sat back
down on his bed, only to have the little fox jump into his lap and coo at
him.
He smiled and reached out to pet the animal's head. It cooed and curled up
comfortably in his lap, allowing him to stroke it's fur quietly. It was
kind of amazing how it seemed to understand what he was feeling...
He glanced back over at the box and the corner of a picture caught his eye.
Naruto hoped he wasn't going to bring out another picture of his brother
to destroy...Sasuke had just stopped crying he didn't want to have to go
through that again, but instead Sasuke pulled out the picture of his team.
Naruto's eyes widened a little...he didn't even think Sasuke had kept his
copy...
But there it was, the four of them smiling...well not smiling,
really...Sakura was and probably their sensei, but both Sasuke and himself
were glaring at each other...well Sasuke looked more annoyed to be standing
in front of the camera with Kakashi's hand on his head while Naruto himself
was just glaring at Sasuke. Naruto really hoped Sasuke wasn't going to have
a fit and tear that picture up as well...
Sasuke's lip twitched into a smile...or was it a smirk? "Look at him..."
He said, jabbing a finger into the photo Naruto's chest. "He's always so
annoyed with me..." He chuckled a little. "You know when I first got
assigned to this team I thought I would hate it." He said for no apparent
reason.
'Yeah like that's changed.' Naruto harrumphed in his mind. Sasuke seemed to
do everything in his power to make Naruto's life that much more unbearable.
Sasuke sighed and shook his head, "I-I don't know what's wrong with me..."
he muttered, catching Naruto's attention again, "I don't mean to piss
him off...but he's so..." Naruto waited, and waited, and waited....'Come
on, Sasuke, what the hell am I that makes you want to piss me off?' Naruto
demanded in his head. He could feel Sasuke's face heat up behind him,
curious, Naruto turned and looked only to see something he thought he would
never see, SASUKE WAS BLUSHING!
TBC…
Gasp! Who would have thought that Sasuke would blush? What is the world
coming to?