Naruto Fan Fiction

SI-OC!

(Title)

"The Weasel and His Cat"

DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Naruto'!

WARNING! RATED M! For warnings of harsh language.

"What... did you say?"

Unreadable lime-green eyes bore into hesitant onyx ones. The Feline's voice had been low when she spoke, dangerously calm even. That unsettled Itachi far more than her angry outbursts. Anger was something he was used to receiving when dealing with Tomomi. But calm? A calm response when he expected an outburst set him on edge.

"My Team has been assigned a mission to Sora-Ku. Nekobaa has requested me. We are to leave in an hour." he said, making sure every word was clearly spoken.

Her eyes narrowed at the boy, tail curling around her paws. "Why are you telling me this? You have already been on multiple missions since you were officially inducted as a child-soldier and you've never felt the need to tell me where you were going. What makes this different?"

Vaguely, Itachi felt like this question was a trap. He ignored that trained instinct as he has always known Tomomi to be blunt and to say what was on her mind, such tactics were not her style, so to speak.

"Because, I thought that you would like to know." he answered. She didn't look convinced. He continued, "I know that you have a connection with Nekobaa, but I am unaware of what terms you are on with her, and I didn't want you to think that I was hiding anything by not mentioning it to you beforehand as this would be my first time traveling to Sora-ku without Otou-sama present."

She caught on, "You were worried I would assume that because you are unsupervised, you'd snoop in matters that didn't concern you by asking that old Witch questions about me." she surmised dryly.

Itachi pressed his lips together. It had been a worry for him, he didn't want to risk their relationship because she had assumed the worst of him as she usually did with people. He had decided it was best to err on the side of honesty whenever dealing with Tomomi. Secretly, the boy harbored a suspicion that she could sniff out deceit, quite literally. To this day he was not been able to get away with the smallest of lies when speaking with Tomomi, whether it was about conveniently leaving the Tuna Rolls behind or about how many hours he had spent training that day, usually attempting to omit the couple hours he'd spent at dawn or during lunch, knowing about Tomomi's particular dislike of anything having to do with his activities as a Shinobi.

Another thing that Shisui was better than Itachi at; lying. He made a mental note to try and practice more. It was invaluable skill for a Shinobi to have, after all.

Tomomi did not say much after that as she lied down and turned on her side, obviously dismissing him. He left her like that, content with the knowledge that he had informed her of his destination. Though, Itachi would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't the least bit curious as to Tomomi's past with Nekobaa. How she came to learn how to speak like a human without previous training or how she had come to know so much about life and the world even through it was obvious that she did not often leave the ruins on the outskirts of the Village? Even now, she rarely visits the newly established Uchiha district after the events of October 10th. Privately, that saddened Itachi. He quite enjoyed the times she would visit and he would be able to spend time with both her and Sasuke. He was disappointed but... he understood why. And it wasn't as if he could try convince her to come by more often, not when she had already gone out of her way for him.

He remembers, how she had come to his house during the Kyuubi's attack to make sure that he and Sasuke had gotten out. That memory was the only good thing to come out of that night.

So, one would be able to imagine Itachi's surprise when he arrived at the Southern Gate after gathering his supplies to leave and witnessed his teammate, Shinko-san, cooing over a very familiar black cat with her hands clasped in front of her chest. "Well aren't you just a sweetheart!" she gushed, reaching her hand down towards the Feline with a wide smile. Itachi felt a wave of panic and felt the urge to stop her before she could be wounded by Tomomi's claws. The only reason he didn't was because of what Tomomi did next...

Tomomi mewled.

Itachi stared in disbelief as the Feline, for he was sure it was her, continued to mewl at his teammate's physical affections and even pressed her lithe body against Shinko-san's leg, purring. The boy then raised a hand and placed it on his forehead, but no. He was not running a sudden fever. This was no hallucination brought on by sickness.

Tomomi was acting like a... a... cat.

His mind, as advanced as it faculties are, could not properly process the sight. Lime-green eyes spotted his form and he involuntarily stiffened as she broke away from his teammate's side, approaching him. After reaching him Tomomi leapt up and he braced himself, only to become deathly still as she climbed upon his shoulders, wrapping her body around the back of his neck and settling herself on his small shoulders.

Itachi did not know what was happening.

Minazuki-sensei, however, was not amused by any of this.

"Is this your cat, Uchiha?" he demanded.

"No, Minazuki-sensei." Itachi denied softly, still unsure of what exactly was happening. "Tomomi-san is a stray."

"You named a stray?" the man asked, incredulity underlining his tone.

"...yes." he confirmed.

"Well, can you-" he waved his hand in a vague shooing gesture towards the apathetic cat, "-so we can get going already?"

Itachi glanced at Tomomi out of the corner of his eye, meeting lime-green eyes. He saw obstinance in her gaze. She had made a decision and wasn't going anywhere. He looked back up at his jōnin-sensei, speaking a bit apologetically. "It would appear that Tomomi-san wishes to travel to Sora-ku with us."

Minazuki-sensei stared, not bothering to hide his incredulity now.

Tomomi gave no verbal answer, nor any indication of her intentions.

Minazuki-sensei sighed, relenting. The Uchiha prodigy could do as he liked in his opinion. If that meant he wanted to bring his pet on a mission then as long as it didn't interfere with his duties as a genin, Yūki couldn't really be bothered to give a damn. The Inuzuka brought their dogs everywhere. Why couldn't an Uchiha bring their cat?

As Team 2 finally ventured out on the road to Sora-ku, with only a few minor complaints from Tenma-kun about Tomomi's presence -he had been silenced after a dark look directed at him from the cat that no one else had witnessed-, there was only one thing Itachi knew was for certain as he contemplated the new -and warm- weight on his shoulders:

He was very, very confused.

The Weasel and His Cat

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Ahh, another update! What a surprise! Ah, I just felt a bit bad about that last chapter, it was really just an interlude to show the passing of time to set up this one. I didn't want to leave it at that for a week or so, just didn't feel right to me. So! Feel free to speculate on what's going through Tomomi's mind as we finally head towards Nekobaa, she'll finally give Itachi -and us- some answers about Tomomi's past! Yay! Hope you liked it, guys!

Love you!

-Nanami