A/N: Okay, fair warning that this chapter is pretty intense. There are several medical procedures, and it will probably be one of the more graphic ones in this story. There will be another couple surgical scenes, but the future chapters, during the "healing" phases between Naruto's procedures by Kabuto, will feature heavily the team trying desperately to rescue him.

There will also be a lot of edits coming, as I think there will additional scenes added to previous chapters (like Kakashi and Itachi meeting the first time).

Chapter Four

Beginning Transformations

-Nearly One Year Ago-

"Kabuto, dear, why aren't you eating tonight?" Nonō asked with a frown as she glanced at him.

He glanced at his adopted mother and shook his head. "I don't know, just feeling headachy today, you know," he said as he took off his glasses to rub his nose. "Probably just coming down with a flu or something, school just got going at the university and all, so I wouldn't be surprised."

She smiled and nodded to him. "What are you teaching this year?" she asked as she stood up to clear the plates.

"Anatomy and Physiology," he answered, standing up and watching the world tip and spin before fading out.

When he blinked next, he was staring at a white ceiling. "Kabuto?" Nonō asked him.

"Oh…um, what happened?" he asked as he realized he was in a hospital room.

Nonō smiled at him where she sat beside the bed. "Kabuto-kun, you had a seizure. We thought you weren't going to come out of it!" she said.

Kabuto nodded. "I…I have lost time a few times recently," he said thoughtfully.

"They're setting up all the tests, but they want you to stay overnight. Tomorrow's Saturday so no school, so they'll figure this out, okay?" she said gently.

Kabuto nodded, rubbing his head again in the same spot. Nonō was worried, though. The spot was where he'd had the severe concussion as a child. Even then, there had been worry over the brain injury he had. She had told Kabuto when he woke up there that he had been with them a week, mostly because he couldn't bear to tell him the truth. He'd been in a coma for almost five months before he finally woke up. The "wound" on his head that he had for the weeks after awakening was from draining the pressure on his brain right before he returned to consciousness. They had simply used the same wound they had when they found him to go back in to drain the fluid again.

"We'll figure it out," she said again, but it was mostly to reassure herself.

A month passed, and Kabuto, despite having every test in the book run on him, had no idea what had caused the seizure and continued gaps in his memory. They assumed he was having mild catatonic seizure activity, so they prescribed Dilantin for him. He didn't like the effects so he figured that there wasn't a big deal about having a few seizures. So he simply put it away for later use if he changed his mind. He opted to keep filling it, and telling the doctor he was taking it. Like a good patient. He didn't want to disappoint Nonō by not following the doctor's advice.

He went about his normal schedule, and he was happy. He'd even met another med student that he thought he might ask out during grad student orientation. Kabuto was shy, and very insecure, though, and he had an extreme fear of asking out someone that wasn't into guys as well. He was so nice and seemed to hang around with guys, but he wasn't sure. He had been on the way back home one afternoon when he saw a lovely fox triptych in a shop window. He stopped and stared at it for a long time. Next he realized he was at home, on the futon and staring at the previously blank wall where the three paintings now hung. He blinked. That was the first time he'd lost time and seemed to have done something during the gap in his memory…

The first day of classes was the next day, and he needed to find out what was happening. He spent most the night researching things that would cause something like that. He kept getting answers that didn't make sense, and he didn't know what to make of it. Seizure activity. Gaps in memory. Doing things and having no memory of doing them. It pointed to something psychological. He turned twenty five this year, so he was in the prime range to develop severe mental health problems. He glanced at the computer and quickly composed an email to his advisor requesting to change his specialty from orthopedics to psychiatry this year. He winced at that, though, because he already had bought a lot of his own equipment over the last year. He was obsessive over his things, so he hated other people using them. That halo alone had cost almost six months' worth of his stipend….

The strangest event thought was when at the end of his first class he ran into a student. He didn't remember the student, actually, he just remembered standing outside by the fountain and staring into the woods next to it. He tilted his head to the side and then turned around, seeing that the sun had moved. He glanced at his watch. Two hours had passed this time. He shook his head and went back inside. That week, no one said anything to him about doing anything odd. He didn't lose any more time, for which he was grateful. Then, he was walking through the commons and saw a bunch of the advertisements for the local bands that were playing in the area. He smiled because he recognized two of the girls in his class. He vaguely remembered that they mentioned a band now and then. But his gaze shifted to the boy in the front shown mid leap. The world seemed to waver and all he saw was orange and black and bright blue eyes.

This time when he came back to himself he was home, lying on the futon in the living room. He was wearing the oddest clothes he'd ever had on in his life. Skinny jeans and a black t-shirt that was two sizes too tight. He also realized his hair was in a bun. That was really odd. He got up and showered, noting that there was makeup on his face. He shook it away and then went back to his daily life. However, the strange wardrobe continued to appear on the weekends. He had no idea where the clothes came from, nor where they went the next morning after he showered.

Kabuto wasn't unaware of how much of a problem this was, of course. He kept researching, running tests on himself, and trying to set up ways to see if he could catch himself doing anything. He finally decided it seemed to be limited to randomly going out in party clothes on the weekend. He sighed, guessing it was some sort of psychosis episode. He got his hands on some meds and tried a few different atypical antipsychotics, but he didn't really notice a lot of different other than the miserable side effects.

The lamp was the next thing that appeared in his place that he didn't remember buying. He pushed it away though. It was just a lamp with a snake on it. What does it matter, he thought to himself? If he was just buying random things and going out parties on the weekend, it wasn't such a bad thing, though.

What Kabuto's mind seemed to miss completely, or else he simply ignored it, was the general messiness of his place. He didn't pick up much, and he was constantly ordering out. Take out containers were stacking up by the end of around five months. Then, one morning, Kabuto woke up and the place had been completely cleaned and he saw that Nonō was sitting on the futon.

"Oh! Good morning, Kabuto-kun! Thank you for letting me stay while they fix the water," she said and got up to hug him. He hugged her back and then glanced at his phone. He'd lost nearly a week.

Kabuto smiled, but he didn't remember the last few days at all, and he didn't remember Nonō asking to come stay with him. She ended up staying almost two weeks while her house was replumbed. To Kabuto's surprise, he made it through the time without losing any time at all. It was a pleasant change, and he thought for a while that perhaps whatever had been going on had stopped. He knew that psychosis could come and go like that. He didn't seem to be developing full schizophrenia, so it was puzzling. He had some symptoms, but not enough. After Nonō had left, he fell asleep at the table.

The next two months became a blank. When he came back to himself, he saw drawings spread out on the kitchen table. He recognized…oh…now he understood. Now he knew… He was the snake. He was the predator. And he had prey. Beautiful, lovely, and so very frightened prey…

Kogitsune.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Kabuto, you've been in a lot recently! How much stuff are you ordering these days?" the postal worker said as Kabuto pulled a larger pair of boxes out of his delivery box. Kabuto glanced at the older woman. He smiled. Honestly, after the fun this morning he had been ecstatic that these had come before the postal closed Saturday afternoon. He knew that he was going to have something special in them when he realized there was two instead of one.

"Gifts," he said with a smile. "Large family overseas, you know. Have to order early!" he said as he headed out to the waiting cab.

He was practically thrumming with anticipation. He honestly had no memory of ordering what was in one of these. Of course, he had that happen more often these days when he lost chunks of time. The other night, he'd put together that cage under the bed. The difference was, now instead of a blank spaces in his memory, there were blurry spots that he could remember. He still didn't recall the previous blank times, but now it was almost like he was watching from inside his own head as he did things. A strange sensation, as though he was riding along as someone else controlled him.

He paid the cab fare and got out of the car, humming under his breath. He didn't notice the neighbor's curtain move as he headed into the unit with the two boxes. He headed straight upstairs. He couldn't wait to see what he had in this box. The other box, he knew what that was, that was the order for the paws and other accessories like the shock collar and the latex suits. He'd have to augment the gloves to attach permanently, of course, thought he wasn't sure how he was going to do it. He supposed he had the same problem with the tail…

He sat both boxes on the bed, and of course, heard nothing. His pet fox was tied up nicely in the strait jacket still, and he was gagged. Today, though, he was going to have to deal with the problem he had not anticipated. Kogitsune refused to eat. That would not due, of course. He ripped open the top box with the paws and a few other things that he'd ordered from that site. Then he opened the heavier box. He looked into it for a long moment and then picked up something he didn't expect. A medical drill? He saw there were some metal predrilled plates, some titanium screws and pins and then he realized what they must be for... There was also a bone saw. Why would he need that, he wondered?

"The ears aren't attached right now," he muttered to himself, in a voice that wasn't quite his own. "They aren't attached to the skull. They need to be bolted to the bone…"

A slow smile spread over his face. Yes…yes…now as far as the tail procedure, he thought as he contemplated how to bolt the piece into Kogitsune's skeleton. It wouldn't do for it to fall off at the wrong time, how would it? He smiled suddenly. He could use one of the plates to make an attachment to his tailbone. At first, he thought it would be too dangerous, but now that he considered it, it made sense because hated to make it a surface attachment. He could easily see now as he pulled the mattress off the cage and looked down that surface attachments weren't sturdy enough. The ears had already shifted out of place and there was blood pooling under his head. He sighed and went to get towels.

"Now, so sorry, Kogitsune, seems I erred a bit with this. I've thought better, now. So let's take you down to the kitchen where I have nice light. I'll have to drill into your skull a bit for this, and then attach these, so I'll have to sterilize everything," he said with a smile as he leaned down and pulled Naruto's body up by the front of the strait jacket.

Honestly, Naruto wasn't really even conscious. He had passed out at some point, and then it was like floating between waking and sleeping. He nearly came awake when he felt Kabuto roughly yank the catheter out of him. Even then, though, he was so very tired. He vaguely registered that he was being carried down the stairs and then he was sitting upright. He heard rattling and clinking and then jerked as something pierced his arm. He realized it was an IV.

"There, now, you're a bit dehydrated, Kogitsune," Kabuto said as he adjusted the saline bag and secured the straps around his chest and legs. "I forgot the halo, goodness, that won't due," he said and left the room.

Naruto's eyes fluttered and he looked across at the door and he could see shadows moving past the covered glass. Just a little ways away, there were people…people that if he could get their attention could help him… He whined in his throat when Kabuto came down and sat the headgear on his shoulders and tightened it down.

Kabuto hummed as he washed his hands and sterilized the equipment he was using for this. He checked the battery on the drill, but he wouldn't need it for more than just putting the screws into his skull. The previous incisions would mark it well. He snipped the sutures from earlier. Naruto didn't react to the sting when whatever he'd put into his scalp came free of it. He thought maybe that was it but then he heard the buzzing. He couldn't move at all as he felt pressure on his head. Then he flinched as Kabuto flushed liquid over his scalp where it had been cut and then he was doing something else. He stopped and walked around in front of Naruto and sat a silver tray down with two triangular objects. He pulled a strip of metal off the bottoms of each one and replaced it with one that had holes in it. It was then Naruto realized what he was doing to his head. Ears. He was putting ears on his head. Fox ears.

Naruto struggled against the bindings, but due to his dehydration and lack of food, as well as blood loss, it was pointless. He felt the pressure as something was placed into his skull. It was strange, feeling the torque of what must have been a screw going into his skull. How was this ever going to be fixed? How could this ever go back to normal? He wasn't sure it could…

He felt him suturing the skin again, and Naruto realized he was still humming. He just was standing there as blood dripped down Naruto's shoulders and onto the white floor tiles, humming a tune. Finally he felt him use what he guessed was saline to clean off his head and then put bandages around the attachments this time.

Kabuto came around and smiled at him. "Much better. Those won't shift and cause you pain and bleeding again. I'll wait a few days, then I'll give you the pretty tail I got for you. First, though, you're all messy, so a clean up is in order!" he said as he easily lifted him up and grabbed the IV bag from the stand. "Then, my pretty little fox, since you won't eat for me, I'll have to make sure you get your nutrition! But I'll do that before I put you away for the night. For now, some shower time," he said as he sat Naruto down on the floor of the upstairs one.

He knelt and undid the strait jacket. Despite attempts to ignore it, Naruto couldn't help but try to push him away once his hands were free. Kabuto, though, just laughed a bit as he grabbed soap and the showerhead and started washing him. He pushed him against the wall and smiled.

"My Kogitsune, you haven't used the toilet to empty your bowel since you arrived, you shouldn't hold yourself like that, my sweet fox," Kabuto said as he stood up and moved away. "It is a dirty thing to do," he said as he crouched down and pulled out something from under the sink. "So we'll have to cleanse you," he said as he returned into the shower with a bag attached to a tube.

Naruto shook his head and tried to push away from him as he forced his legs open wider. He slipped the narrow tube into him and unclipped the bag. Naruto had never in his entire life experienced this and he didn't like it one bit as his stomach began to feel very strange and very full. He whined and shook his head repeatedly. Kabuto seemed to enjoy watching his face closely as he let the liquid flow into his little fox. He looked up to see it was empty and smiled, pulling the nozzle out of him. He saw him clench to stop himself from voiding right then.

"Aw, poor baby fox. Come, I'll let you sit on the toilet, would that make you feel better?" Kabuto asked as he lifted him up. He moved him to the toilet and it wasn't a matter of holding himself any longer. Still the complete mortification and shame that he had just done this in front of someone…

"You are so lovely when you blush," Kabuto said, fingers tracing the scars again. "My Kogitsune. My sweet Kogitsune…" he whispered as he forced Naruto's head back, the gag making his throat bulge a bit when he did it. "Ah, I have to take you now, so very pretty," he muttered as he pushed his legs upward and pulled himself free from his tightening trousers. Naruto tried to use his hands but Kabuto grasped his right ankle and he stilled as he positioned himself. He looked at Naruto for a second then slammed forward into him. Naruto tried to look away from him but he kept pulling him to face him again and again.

Another wash, and he was being dropped onto the top of the mattress this time. He was panting and everything hurt. His head especially was eclipsing the pain in his ass. Not by much, but it was doing it. He jerked as he sat down and took his hand and slipped something over it. Naruto blinked, his vision blurring for a moment before he realized it was some sort of mitt. It was made of some sort of beige colored latex. His hand was forced into a glove inside it that slipped around each of his fingers tightly. He pulled another onto his other hand. Kabuto was humming to himself as he reached over and picked up a bottle of clear, thick liquid. He pulled open the side of the mitt and poured it into the glove. It was slightly warm and then began to burn. Naruto started to scream against the gag in his mouth.

"Just give it a second, it forms a Permabond with the skin. I'm hoping that it will act like a skin graft, eventually forming an outer layer of natural skin around this latex framework I'm adhering to your hands. Give it a week or so and it should grow into this. The skeletal structure won't change, unfortunately. I can't make the claws be real, but this is as close as I can come. I've got some fur pierces I'll attach afterward so you can be my little fox," he said as he moved to pour the bonding compound in the other glove.

He let go and nodded as Naruto writhed against the pain searing through his hands. He seemed to pass out after a while. When he woke this time, he was pulled up against the head of Kabuto's bed. His arms were secured above his head. His hands had stopped burning so much, but it was settling into a throbbing that wouldn't stop. He reached around behind Naruto's head and unclasped the gag, though, and that was an incredible relief.

"Please," he rasped, his throat on fire it felt like. "Please, stop this…please…"

Kabuto smiled and cupped his little fox's face. "I own you, remember, Kogitsune? I have to make you perfect, but I'm debating on your hind legs, my Kogitsune. I cannot decide if amputating them at knee and attaching a prosthetic would be the best way to achieve your state as close to perfection as possible…"

Naruto shook his head violently. "No, you can't…you can't just cut my legs off…please…no, you can't do that!" he gasped.

"Oh, my love, you will be fine, I have all the tools I need, and I'll take care of you," Kabuto said as he looked at him.

Naruto honestly couldn't feel his legs much below the knee anyway. Kabuto ran his hands down his legs and looked at his ankles. He smiled and scooted forward to sit beside Naruto's hips. He rested his hands on his thighs and looked up into his glittering eyes.

"I suppose it may have to be done anyway, I wasn't very careful when I broke them…there may be an infection in the bone."

Naruto let out a sob. "Please, please, just let me go…please…"

"Oh, my little fox," Kabuto said with a grin as he leaned forward and started to kiss him on the lips. For a moment, Naruto didn't respond to him but when he slipped his tongue into his mouth, he couldn't stop the reaction. He bit down and Kabuto yelped, pulling back and glaring at Naruto with blood dripping down his chin.

Naruto realized too late that he had done something very, very stupid. Kabuto stared at him and it was almost like a complete other person took over the man in front of him. The first hit to his face was harder than he expected. He wasn't sure what he expected, but the world faded again. He blinked and looked up to see he had disappeared from sight. He was glad, but then he came back and smiled in a horrible way. He had a silver pan in one hand and a pair of…pliers. He had pliers. He tried to scream but he slammed his head into the head of the bed and wrenched his jaw open. If he had been able to scream, he might have.

Kabuto came back to himself in the bathroom, blinking in the mirror. His face and body was splattered with blood and his hands were dripping. He smelled blood. What did he do? His heart was beating in his ears as he looked behind him at his bed. He hoped he hadn't killed his Kogitsune…

Luckily, when he went back into the room to see he was still breathing. He didn't seem to be very injured either, so where did all this blood come from? Kogitsune's body was covered in blood coming from his…mouth. He looked to the bedside table where there was a silver bedpan sitting. Kogitsune was sitting with his head hanging down, but blood dripped down to his lap. Kabuto stepped forward and tipped the silver bedpan and realized what he'd done. He'd pulled all his teeth out. There was a pair of pliers beside the pan. The last thing he remembered was kissing his sweet little fox.

"Oh, Kogitsune," he said quietly and lifted his head up. "I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have done that," he said with a sigh.

Naruto's eyes fluttered and he stared at him. The thought of talking didn't cross his mind. Kabuto sighed. "I'll have to do this for sure now. I can't put you under the bed Monday without making sure you get nutrition and hydration. So I'll have to set this up for while I'm gone Monday. It might hurt a bit," he said as he went to get the equipment he needed. Naruto passed out again almost immediately.

A few minutes later Naruto woke to feel him tilting his head back and forcing a tube into his nose. He struggled weakly for a few minutes and then gagged as he felt it pass down his throat into his stomach. Kabuto secured the tube against his cheek with tape and then nodded. He lifted him up then, carrying him into the bathroom and using the shower to spray off the blood from him. He saw him shiver though and Kabuto realized that he was going to go into shock if he wasn't careful.

He sighed, wrapping him in a yukata that would fit over the mitts he'd put on his hands. He put him back onto the bed and pulled a metal stand over to the bed. He mounted the IV bags, one of saline and electrolytes and one of antibiotics and another for the feeding tube. He glanced back to the shivering form. He wondered what would have made him want to hurt his Kogitsune so much. He'd told himself one procedure at a time, and he'd gone and done two surgeries, the paw application and removed his teeth in one day. He was too impatient to see his Kogitsune as he should be. He'd intended to remove his teeth, of course. He couldn't have him bite, but he was going to do it next weekend so he could heal from the head procedure.

He put the IV into his arm, struggling to find a vein, though. He was too dehydrated, he thought to himself. He put him on the side of the bed closest to the IV stand and then saw that he was waking up. His mouth was swollen and he looked so frightened.

"Kogitsune, you'll sleep up here tonight, okay?" he said as gently as he could as he sat down beside him. He reached between his legs and Naruto jerked away. "Please, I need to put this back in, so you don't have an accident, that wouldn't do," he said as he stroked the inside of his thighs gently before reaching to take him in hand again.

Kabuto slid the catheter into his urethra, threading it upward easily. It was well lubed, and he'd chosen a relatively small one with a balloon. He stopped when it was far enough and grabbed the saline to inflate the small balloon at the top. Ten cc of saline, he thought to himself as he rubbed his fox's belly. He was still so scared, though. He imagined it must be terrible to the poor thing. He couldn't understand all this stuff, he thought to himself. Poor, sweet, innocent thing. He looked at his swollen mouth. He couldn't leave him ungagged. He sighed and wrapped a leather muzzle looking device over his mouth. Granted, he didn't think he would be trying to talk, though. He sighed, running fingers through his hair. He wasn't going to do anything until next weekend, he swore. No more procedures.

Kabuto slid into the bed behind him, rolling him to face him. He ran his hands over his head and threaded fingers through his hair. His Kogitsune was sleeping now, and he snuggled into him. He wrapped his arms around Kogitsune's body and fell asleep. It was perhaps the best sleep that Kabuto had in a long time. Tomorrow, he dreamed about sitting with his Kogitsune for the whole Sunday.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sunday morning was more frustrating than anything else. Sasuke was pacing his way back and forth across his brother's apartment. Inspector Kakashi Hatake was sitting next to someone that Sasuke didn't know. He thought he was security for the building or something. Zabuzu, he thought was his name.

"What is this meeting for anyway?" Zabuzu asked with a sigh. "I'm supposed to visit my son today for dinner."

"This won't take long," Itachi said as he came out of the other room. "This is off the book, Inspector. I'm sure you know why," he said as he turned around and looked at him and Zabuzu.

"Tell me what the fuck is going on, Itachi. You've had days already to find him," Sasuke said as he turned and glared at his brother.

Kakashi arched a brow from where he sat reclined on the futon. It seemed the younger Uchiha was like this with everyone. Itachi sighed deeply and shook his head at his brother. "I have done what I can, but I needed to meet privately with Hatake. We met yesterday officially. Today is about my other contacts," he said with a sigh.

Kakashi nodded. "You refer to your position as Akatsuki head," he said casually.

"You know about that?" Sasuke said with a glare at the Inspector.

Kakashi smirked under the health mask he was wearing. "Of course, Uchiha-kun. I've known about that forever. We have a grudging peace with the Yakuza lately, and as long as Itachi's men are not involved in illegal enterprises, there's no reason to do anything. Your brother does legal enterprises…for the most part."

"Of course," Itachi said with a nod. "In this case my information network is advantageous. Like this," he said and handed a folder to Kakashi.

Kakashi thumbed through it. "What is this?" he said with a frown.

"When Sasuke told me about the photograph the perpertrator left for him, the fox ears, I had one of my men pull up places to acquire those type of thing. That's a list of all the online places that cater to these 'furries' that would buy something like this. There are many, many products," Itachi said with a glance at his brother. "Brother, give me what you found today?"

Sasuke handed him what had been on his door today. It was a manilla envelope with sketches inside it. Kakashi took it from Itachi and looked it over. "What is this…plans?" he asked.

"As near as we can tell, someone drew this as some sort of plans to turn someone into a fox/human hybrid."

Kakashi nodded. The sketches started with a figure that looked vaguely like Naruto with notes about to how to alter him to be more like a fox. Notes on it were chilling, though. Bolts may be necessary to secure the ear pieces to the skull. Possible connection to the tailbone is possible due to sacrum being the final location of spinal cord. Amputation of calves would be necessary to imitate four-legged locomotion. Possible break and insertion of joint in the center of the thigh could mimic hind legs of animal. Along with the notes were sketches on a generic looking figure.

"Is this what they're doing? Trying to do?" Zabuzu asked as he looked over at it.

Kakashi shook his head. "If it is, there's no telling what he's already done…I need to take this to the team. Please, Itachi, call if you find anything else. I fear that we need to find this boy faster…"

Kakashi left and headed out to the station. On the way he called and had Lee and the others meet them there. Unsurprisingly, he found Sasuke beat him there. He sighed, and noted that this time the two girls had come up too.

"You know, hanging out areound the station isn't going to find your friend any faster," he said as he walked up to them.

"These two idiots were here, they called me to meet them. Sakura, you said you had something to do with the case," Sasuke said and glared at the two girls. "But she wouldn't tell me what it was."

"Well, come in," Kakashi said and took them to his office. "What have you got, Sakura?"

Sakura handed Kakashi a picture. "Th-this was on my door."

Kakashi looked at it and winced. "Whoever this is, they seem to be going through all the members of the band."

"Let me see that," Sasuke said and grabbed the photo.

He stared at it for a long moment and realized that it was hands, well, it was hands in some sort of mitts. They were crossed over each other, and the skin was rough where they went into the light colored flesh of the mitts.

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, you're each getting a permanent detail." He leaned over and pushed the intercom. "Guy, bring your team to my office," he said.

A few minutes later Guy knocked on the door and then brought in the three on his team. "Yes, Sir!" Guy said with a stiff-armed salute.

"Guy, I want you on detail with Miss Ino. Lee, you are to stay with Sakura. Tenten, I want you with Shikamaru, they'll give you his address. And Neji, you with Gaara. I want you to stay with them twenty-four seven. Whoever this is, it is obvious they are going to continue to use this to attack Naruto's friends," Kakashi said with a sigh as he crossed arms over his chest.