A/N: As mentioned in my profile, my files got deleted, thus the long delay. Hopefully, Yakuza II will be updated this weekend. Damn, the page breaker won't work! FUCK!

Neko Sasuke

"Damn! I'm gonna be late!" Sakura cried out, not minding the neko that slept on her bed as she ran around the room while putting on her jounin clothes. Sasuke's ears twitched from the noise that she was making that he slowly raised his head to look at her make a fool out of herself in front of him. "Is she always like this?" thought his eighteen year old self, absent-mindedly raising a brow. "Crap!" she yelled and went out of the room, rushing down the stairs and comletely forgetting to bid him goodbye or even greet a good morning.

He got out of bed and jumped on the window pane, watching as her figure dashed towards Konoha's hospital. With a shake of his head, he climbed down the stairs and sat in front of the entrance of the Haruno household, waiting for her to get back and say how stupid she is for forgetting that she has no work besides the D-rank mission.

Just as he suspected, the front door opened and in came a panting Sakura. He suppresed the urge to smirk, since cats don't smirk at all, and slowly, his neko self came back to take control of his eight-year old body. "Grr..! I'm so stupid! I can't believe I forgot that the Hokage cancelled my shifts!" she turned to the neko whol blinked and tilted his head at her. "Don't you dare mock me Sasuke..." she said, glaring. She could actually imagine his ANBU self smirking and shaking his head at her, feeling smug about her situation. A frown set upon her lips when her mind started to think about him again, and she just can't help but somehow wish that the eighteen year old ANBU captain come back. Even if she does love the little neko Sasuke, she still misses the other one.

Chapter 3: Plush Toys and more

Sakura watched as he ate the bowl of cereal with a spoon, an event flashing back to her mind when she remembered her seventeenth birthday this year. A small smile formed on her lips when she marked that day the best birthday she ever had.

Flashback:

"Another bowl of rice please!" Naruto and Kakashi requested, a grin forming on their faces. Sakura giggled and took their now empty bowls and began filling it up. Her sensei didn't bother to hide his face to his former team anymore so they could now see him without the mask. Although there was no beaver tooth or fish lips, he did have a good-looking face, but of course, nothing could replace her Sasuke. "Hell Yeah!" agrees her inner self. Speaking of Sasuke, he still isn't here, and she's beginning to think that he forgot.

Kakashi noticed the sad look on her face and he too, frowned at this, followed by Naruto. "You're thinking about Sasuke, right?" her ex-sensei asked. She blinked and forced a smile. "I'm just worried about him. I mean, Tsunade-shishou knew that it'll be my birthday three days later on the day she gave Sasuke the A-rank mission. Even if she told me that he promised to be back in time for this day, I still can't help but feel that somethin g bad happened to him..."

Naruto racked his brain for some answers to comfort his friend, and he grinned when he thought up of the perfect answer to cheer her up. "Sasuke's never broken a promise before, and if he says he'll be back in time, he will. Besides that, that guy is too stubborn to even die! At least, that's what I heard from his team. Even if he was the most number of injuries, be it fatal or not, he'd still ask their medic to treat the others first before him. No wonder they remain loyal to him. Plus," his grin widened and turned sly. "He might be planning a surprise for you..."

Sakura blushed as a million of ideas popped into her head. "Maybe he's going to confess his undying love! Or maybe... maybe... he's going to ask me to marry him or... Kya! Too much!" her hands cupped her reddening face and she tried to push down her excitement. Naruto praised himself for the job well done of boosting her spirits.

Time passed and the day was coming to an end. Sakura waved goodbye to Naruto and Kakashi until they were out of sight. With a depressed sigh, she went back inside and looked at the clock, seeing that it was only two minutes left till the day is over. "He's not coming after all..." she thought grimly, switching off the lights and walked over to the stairs. When she was on the first step, someone knocked at her door, and it was a pretty loud and rushed knock.

Sighing, she opened the door and was surprised when a bunch of flowers were directly in front of her face. She took the boquet and was shocked to see Sasuke standing there, bandages messily and amateurishly wrapped around his wounds. "S-Sasuke..?" his brows knitted at this. "That's it?" he asked. "I rushed all the way from the Wind country, didn't bother to have the medic in my team check or wrap my wounds properly, headed straight to the flower shop as soon as I set foot in this village, demanded your best friend to let me in and purchase some flowers for you and all i get from you is a shocked expression?" he took a deep breathe in for saying all of those words so fast, afterwards, he looked away, blushed and mumbled a 'happy birthday' to her.

Sakura was moved with tears, and she tackled him to a hug without hesitating, not minding that he didn't return the embrace. At least he didn't push her away right? Next, she heard his stomach grumble and she giggled, inviting him in for... well, dinner.

End Flashback

She was snapped away from her thoughts when neko Sasuke had tugged on her shirt, getting her back to earth and out of cloud nine. Sakura smiled at him and got up. "You wanna go to the park?" The neko nodded and quickly jumped down from his seat and headed towards the living room. Sakura giggled and washed the dishes first before following Sasuke and then stopping all of a sudden.

She blinked at the scene before her. There was Sasuke, his blanket covering half of his body as he remained seated on the carpeted floor. The red ball of yarn was a few feet away from him, and what caught her attention was the thing that was hanging from his mouth. "Sasuke, drop that now!"

The neko did and crouched low, attempting to pick up the thing again but feared that Sakura might yell again. The jounin looked at him and bent down on one knee, picking up her plushie self from the floor as she stared at it, reminiscing some more.

Flashback

"Give it back!" she yelled, raising her hand to snatch her plushie Sasuke away from the ANBU Sasuke's hand but he only raised it higher and continued staring at it. "Sasuke! Give it!" her face was extremely red this time. She never expected him to drop by this early for a last minute check-up before he starts his week long mission. A smirk was soon seen on his lips as he slowly turned to her with a raised brow. "Since when?" he asked, causing her to stop and stare at him, not believing that he was interested to know. "T-the day we became a team..." she whispered audibly, looking away and started to play with her long pink hair.

"I see..." he said, looking back at his toy self and smiling a bit. "I didn't know you were into black magic."

"N-NO! You got it all wrong! I don't plan to voodoo you or- gah!"

He laugehd a bit and shook his head. "Just kidding Sakura, I don't believe in any of those things anyway." he shrugged and tossed the plushie to her which she quickly caught. Sasuke gave her a questioning look at this and she blushed and looked down at the doll. "I... well... it took me days to finish this... unlike Naruto, Kakashi and my own plush, I just can't seem to... well... finish you in one day..."

"Why? Is it that hard?"

"No, it's not that..." her voice seemed to go softer as each second passed. "I... wanted yours to look... perfect..."

To the untrained ear, her words would've never been heard, but Sasuke had heard it clearly, and he couldn't help but smile a bit. He knew that her love slash crush for him hasn't died down. not even a bit, and it proved her loyalty to him, not that they were in an intimate relationship. He just thinks that he's still unsure whether he likes her too or not. Still, he would do anything to keep her safe now that he's back in their lives, particularly, hers. "Thanks." he whispered and when she looked up, he wasn't there anymore. "Sasuke..." she hesitated at first but continued. "...kun." and her hold on the plush tightened, as if she didn't want to ever let it go.

Sighing, she turned to the couch to pick up the remaining team 7 plush toys, only to find one missing. "Eh? Where's plushie Sakura?" she searched the whole room, panicking. Those toys meant a lot to her and loosing one of them is like loosing someone she cares for. "Oh no!"

There was a knock on the door and she immediately ran to it, hoping that it was Sasuke so that she could ask him if he saw her plushie self. "Sa-" nope, it was Naruto, and he had a grin. "Hey Sakura! I bumped into Sasuke a while ago and he told me to give you this!" he brought out a wrapped parcel, only it was shaped like a katana, and she took it, feeling the thing. "Um..." Naruto chuckled. "He forgot to drop it off earlier since he was running late to meet with his team. Well, my work here is done! See 'ya! Hinata's still waiting for me at Ichiraku's!" and with a poof, he disappeared.

Sakura sighed and closed the front door, then started unwrapping the object. It was a katana, as she guessed, but her eyes widened when she saw the Uchiha fan charm dangling from a chain attached to the handle's end. "S-Sasuke..." she whispered, and picked up a folded note that fell from the thing. She nearly cried upon reading his letter.

Hey Sakura,

This was supposed to be my gift to you on your birthday last week but it wasn't done, so I had to resort to flowers. Cliche' huh? Well, I coudn't think of any substitute. You're probably wondering why my clan's insignia is there. It's because you deserve it. Only my friends who are special and precious to me are worthy of it, and just to keep you smiling, you're the first person I've ever given a gift that has... well, sentimental value? I really need to work on these things. Anyway, since Kakashi and Naruto's birthday aren't coming up yet, you get to be the first. Well, belated happy birthday! Use this in training and to protect yourself whenever no one is around to help you.

-Sasuke

PS. Wrote this when I bumped into the dobe. I have your Sakura plushie. Im borrowing it for a while. I need something that would give me motivation to come back home alive. See you in a week then.

She slowly fell to her knees and let the tears flow down freely, a smile on her lips and the katana and Sasuke plushie held close to her body.

Elsewhere, Sasuke stopped walking and turned his head back at the gates of Konoha, a small smile on his lips before he hid his face with his ANBU mask, his team waiting for him a few feet ahead as a Sakura plushie was safely packed into his bag.

End Flashback

"Meow..." Sakura blinked and felt some tears roll down her cheeks, as well as neko Sasuke's hand placed on top of hers. She turned to him who had a worried look on his face, and she returned it with a smile of her own and pulled him into an embrace. "Sasuke-kun..." she thought, missing his presence.

Park

"Hey Sakura!"

She looked up and saw her best friend walking towards her with a fluffy white Persian cat in her arms. "hey Ino, who this little cutie?" she asked, smiling at the pedigree cat that continued to hold its head high, feeling high and mighty. The blonde jounin smiled and sat down beside her pink haired friend. "Oh, it's my new pet. Shikamaru, Chouji and Asuma-sensei said that it was a good birthday gift for me." Sakura raised a brow. "Isn't your birthday two weeks from now?" Ino laughed. "They forgot, but I couldn't just get mad at them when they threw a surrise party for me at the barbeque restaurant. Plus, they were really excited about it, so i didn;t have the ehart to get mad." she noticed neko Sasuke picking up a fallen twig with fully bloomed cherry petals on it and ran towards them, hopping onto the empty space next to Sakura and tugged at her jounin sleeves.

"..?" Sakura turned to her other side and blushed a bit when the neko had the twig of cherry blossoms on his mouth, a happy expression on his face and he was giving it to her! Her lips tugged upwards and she took it from him, giving him a kiss on the nose as a sign of grattitude. The neko purred when she scratched his head and the back of his ears, then staretd nuzzling against her. "Hehe, you're so affectionate!" Sakura exclaimed, petting the half-cat. "Mou, I'm jealous, my cat isn't like him, she's more likely to get my attention when she needs or wants something." the two girls looked at Ino's cat, only to see it looking at Sasuke who continued playing with one of Sakura's hands.

"I think your cat likes... mine..." Sakura said, a frown slowly forming on her face as inner Sakura cursed the Persian ball of fluff. Ino sweat dropped at this. "Weird..." she muttered, her brows furrowed when her cat hopped off of her lap and approached the male half cat who seemed oblivious to ehr presence and only continued demanding Sakura's attention.

"Mew..." it purred, causing Sasuke to twitch his ears and sit up, turning to the white neko that soon began to nuzzle him with its cheek. He tried to dodge but the female cat seemed to only catch him again. "Hey! Don;t use my lap as a flirting platform!" Sakura yelled, annoyed at how Sasuke didn't pull away. She got up, causing the two neko to fall on the ground, the female on top of him while he was on his back, hsi eyes not leaving Sakura's fuming ones. "I'm going home." she said icily, walkign away, not bothering to call Sasuke. Ino laughed. "Come on Sakura! Don't be jealous of my cat! It's not like Sasuke's going to end up with her or anything!"

"Jealous?" Sasuke tilted his head to the side a bit as his mistress was walking further and further away. He quickly got up and ignored the Persian cat, then started running after Sakura. "Why would she be jealous?" he thought, managing to catch up with her and biting onto her jounin pants to call her attention. She stopped and looked down, a glare on her face as he winced and lowered his ears, slumpign his shoulders and boring a pleading look. Her gaze on him softened and she sighed, bending down to invite him into her arms.

He lit up at this and jumped onto her, rubbing hi cheek on her neck as she giggled from his tickling spiked-up hair. "Like I said before, there is really no way I can stay mad at you." she whispered, getting up witht he neko still in her arms. "Come on, let's go for some ice cream!"

Hokage Tower

Tsunade sighed for the sixth time that day. It's been how many weeks since Sasuke turned to a half-cat and still no sign or report of any cures. "I'm really sorry about this Sakura, I know how much you miss him and all, but..." she turned to the sleeping neko on the floor and sighed. "We still have no clue how to turn him back to human." Sakur nodded at this and glanced at Sasuke. "It's okay Tsunade-shishou, I do miss Sasuke but I can't dio anything but wait for a cure and hope he'll turn back." she forced a smile at this.

"What about you Naruto? Kakashi?"

The addressed two turned to the neko and then back at Tsunade. "To be honest, I do miss the bastard even if he annoys me to no end." Kakashi coughed at this, earning a glare from the blonde. "And all I have to say is, WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING THOSE DAMN DOCTORS SO LONG!" The three shook their heads when neko Sasuke awoke abruptly and started to attack Naruto for the loud wake-up call. Kakashi cleared his throat and pocketed his book. "Same as Naruto." he answered. "By the way, whatever happened to Itachi and Kisame's bodies?"

"Kisame's body has been taken care of a hunter nin. As for Itachi..." she trailed off, causing the four people, one of them being a half-cat, tot urn to her. "Well, we can't seem to dispose or dissect or even do anything to it. We supposed that perhaps, Sasuke had done soemthing or Itachi did a jutsu to prevent his corpse from disappearing from this world for good." she shrugged. "These are only assumptions though, which is why I told scientists and doctors to keep working on a cure for Sasuke."

"Could the cure have something to do with Itachi?" Sakura asked.

Tsuande shook her head. "We've tried, but nothing takes effect, except for Sasuke suddenly activating his sharingan, which, based from his team and yours, only appears when threatened or feel the need of hate or anger. Perhaps he reacts negatively to Itachi even when in his cat state."

"So what could be the cure?" Naruto asked, successfully keeping the neko from scratching him. "I have no idea..." Tsunade answered, looking at Sasuke who ran back to Sakura's side. "As of now, all we can really do is wait."

Sakura's bedroom

She tossed and turned in her sleep, her borws furrowed and her forehead glistening with sweat. The neko beside her tried to wake her up from her nightmare but she just wouldn't open her eyes. "Sasuke..." she said in her sleep, causing the neko to think. "Why is she dreaming about me?" with a determined look, neko Sasuke lowered his head to her ear and nibbled on it, causing her to sit up abruptly and pant.

Sasukeblinked and looked at her as she tried to recollect her thoughts. "Sasuke... what is he... trying to tell me in... my dreams..?"

To be continued...

Next on Neko Sasuke: Chapter 4: Getting Close

What she was seeing before her couldn't be exactly happening. There was no way thios could happen, especially since Itachi was dead, and that Sasuke is currently a cat. She looked at the older Uchiha's smirking face, then to the younger one's look of hatred and anger. "How foolsih of you to attack the two of us on your own," Itachi said, approaching his little brother who was on his knees, holding onto his katana for support, blood all around his face, hair and uniform. "You're actually wishing to see death."

A/N: Does the preview interest you? He he. By the way, this story will in end in Chapter 5 or 6.