Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto, nor do I make any money from using their likenesses. I do this for purely entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 3: Sleep Over

So much for going home. Sasuke thought lazily as he listened to Naruto putter around the kitchen cooking dinner for his guests. From his perch in Hinata's lap, the kitten watched the blonde through a serving window in the wall that separated living room from kitchen, absently wondering how the blonde had learned the culinary arts with no one around to teach him.

Trial and error, I suppose. The kitten let out a grunt and a sigh as something in his back popped, presumably (and hopefully) back into its original position. He relaxed, letting his body be molded and prodded as Hinata's hands willed. She petted and massaged him, easing stress and pain as she did so, gradually changing him from feline to pudding.

Honestly, Sasuke just wanted to melt into the towel he was sprawled tummy down on. He knew that his placid state was, in part if not totality, due to whatever medicine the death happy vet had given him. That, combined with whatever Naruto had added to the milk he'd forced the kitten to drink, had the kitten feeling pretty good.

Dimly, the young Uchiha knew that he should be putting up a fuss about his treatment; he was not a cat, despite his current appearance, and did not want to spend the rest of his days as a pet. He knew that he should be seriously bothered by his predicament, that having Naruto in charge of his care should be scaring the Hell out of him. He should be screaming his head off, demanding to go to the Hokage and be changed back to his normal form, not letting Hinata's hands roam over his body.

However all that seemed to be too much trouble; being safe, warm, and heavily medicated were inducing a sense of calm the Uchiha hadn't felt since he'd been young.

Before his parents had been murdered.

Sasuke's sense of peace began to evaporate, the rage and depression the thought sparked momentarily chasing away the effects of the pain killers. But then Hinata took hold of his right rear leg and began rotating the appendage slowly as much as Sasuke's hip joint would allow. Pressure built and built inside the kitten until it was just this side of pain, then, just as he was about to protest his treatment, the Hyuga heiress did something that made all the pain and pressure disappear, the relief from pain helping to restore his content state of mind.

He knew he should be bothered by all this also but, still, he just couldn't seem to manage it.

But I'm on to you, Sasuke thought a bit drunkenly as Hinata gently turned him onto his back, mindful of his worst injury, a badly mauled shoulder. I know your game- you can't fool me! And you, He looked up at her slyly, seeing past her look of concentration and instead noticing her pink tinged cheeks. I'm onto you too!

They would make an odd couple, to be sure, but would be cute as could be if it worked.

Too bad that subtlety was wasted on Naruto and subtlety seemed all Hinata could muster. But that was okay since the more Hinata relaxed and laughed, the more confident she grew around the blonde. Sasuke smiled up at her- or at least tried to even though, since he was a cat, it looked like a baring of teeth to Hinata- and knew that it was only a matter of time before her confidence fuelled the Hyuga heiress's courage enough to confess her feelings to Naruto.

"Dinner!" Naruto called, balancing the plates on his hands and forearms. He set the plates on the serving window platform with care, then shooed the kids into the bathroom to wash their hands. Sasuke could hear them chattering, Naruto's voice seeming a tad louder than normal in the small apartment.

I didn't know he lived alone. It had never occurred to Sasuke to wonder about the living arrangements of his teammate. He knew that Naruto was an orphan but he hadn't made the leap that Naruto lived by himself. He didn't understand why he hadn't made a connection just that- stupidly- he hadn't.

This new piece of information did shed light on some of the blonde's habits and personality quirks, though.

Naruto's apartment was a small one bedroom. The living room served as a multi purpose room and showed evidence of the various activities it played host to. There was a neat pyramid of scrolls in one corner, set next to a small bookshelf that had been crammed to bursting with various paper materials and media. Closest to the large dinning table was a refrigerator that had to be as tall, if not taller, than Naruto. There were a few small shelves positioned above comfortable height around the room that could be easily accessed via the single large wooden chair Hinata was currently occupying. Sasuke could not comment on the bedroom, bathroom or the kitchen since he had not been taken through to those areas, but he wondered vaguely if they would match the general shabbiness of the living room area. It was clean, Sasuke could tell, but nearly everything he saw had the overall feeling of being hand-me-downs. The kitten stared at a patch in the table cloth covering the table and wondered if Naruto had done it himself or if someone had shown him how to do the intricate stitching.

"'Number one Ninja,'" Hinata said quietly, her hands smoothing Sasuke's fur back into place. "'Do your best!'"

The kitten looked around, trying to follow her gaze. She was reading the captions of the handwritten posters on the walls. The young Uchiha thought it odd to put such phrases up as decoration but since it was Naruto who had done it, Sasuke doubted he'd understand the answer even if he got one. Another thing that was a bit out of place were all of the blonde's plants- they were on the high shelves in the living room, one on top of the fridge, a few in the kitchen and a rather large one sitting on the floor near the table.

I never figured Naruto for a plant person. He thought. Actually, Sasuke had doubted that his teammate possessed enough intelligence and sense of responsibility to care for a dead rat, but the plants were proving to be a testament to Naruto's abilities; they were all lush and green and healthy as far as Sasuke could tell.

Naruto and company came back, the kids thundering down the little hall like a herd of elephants with the blonde bringing up the rear. Surprisingly, Naruto was not bounding along with them and, as the blonde took the kitten from Hinata, even looked a bit tired as he gave the girl directions to the restroom. Once again, Sasuke was lain against Naruto's chest and held in place one-handed.

Then the blonde crawled under the table.

At first, Sasuke thought his teammate was out to pull a prank on the unsuspecting Hyuga girl, but, as Naruto began to fuss with the bottom of the table, the kitten realized something else was going on. When the blonde actually began balancing the underside of the table on his shoulders, however, keeping the piece of furniture steady with his free hand, all rational theories disappeared and the Uchiha was thoroughly lost.

The blonde sucked in a breath and Sasuke could hear movement in the room. "Ready?" Naruto called, waiting until he heard a chorus of agreement. "GO!"

In one sudden movement, he lifted, forcing the table into the air above the floor. At his signal, the three kids each attacked a different table leg, forcing the appendages to turn. The wood squeaked painfully in protest then gradually gave in, the legs unscrewing completely. The kids did it with gusto and excitement, giggling madly as they worked. Soon there was only on leg left and when that one was unscrewed and safely stacked with the others on the opposite side of the room, Naruto began another balancing act as he worked awkwardly to set the now quadriplegic table on the floor.

Sasuke, alarm chasing away his contentment, started having serious doubts about this. The blonde had never demonstrated any kind of successful balancing ability and this juggling act, as it was rapidly degenerating into, made the Uchiha fear for his life. The kitten sank his claws into Naruto's clothing to let himself feel a bit more secure as the table thumped the blonde in the head and began listing dangerously to the left. Before the table could hit the floor, or the blonde again for that matter, someone grabbed it, leveling the board. Now that someone had the other end secured, Naruto grabbed the unsupported side with his free hand, ducked down below the wood again and twisted out from under it. It left him in another awkward position but that didn't seem to bother him as he and his helper lowered the wooden board to the floor cooperatively, Naruto not even getting his hand caught.

"Thanks Hinata!" Naruto grinned at her as he straightened, free hand rubbing his shoulders. He then turned his attention on the other occupants of the room. "Where'd you guys go?"

"We didn't want to get hit." Konahamaru explained. "Besides, you being a full fledged ninja and all, we didn't think you'd need our help." His innocent act was ruined only by the smirk that he was ineffectually suppressing.

Sasuke watched Naruto's hand twitch and convulse as if it had the urgent desire to strangle something. Or someone. Instead the blonde handed the kitten back to Hinata, picked up the lost table clothe and, with a flourish, spread the covering over the newly resettled 'table.' Naruto then fetched sitting cushions from his room, thrust them at the kids to place, and retrieved everyone's bowls from his kitchen, arranging the dishes on the table.

"Have a seat," The blonde said brightly as he disappeared again to get utensils. He returned, handed them out, and took Sasuke from Hinata once again. "What's wrong?"

The kitten could tell that Hinata felt at a loss. She, like the children, had selected her sitting place obediently and, like the children, was probably wondering how to go about asking what the contents of her dinner bowl were without seeming rude. Sasuke smirked, familiar with his teammates cooking. Though he got low points for aesthetic presentation, the blonde did know how to cook nutritional food that tasted good. Sadly, for the uninitiated, gathering up the courage for that first bite was could be quite troublesome. As much as she adored the blonde, Sasuke bet that Hinata's instinct for self preservation was proving stronger than her crush.

To her credit, Hinata did give it a try- sort of. Armed with her chopsticks, she gave the liquid an experimental poke and nearly jumped when the thin staves of wood connected with something hidden in the murky depths. The object shifted and an air bubble burst from the ooze with a sound akin to what one might hear from a puddle of sludge under similar circumstances.

Hinata.

Stared.

Hunger won out in the end. Sasuke knew that it would eventually, and as he nursed from his bottle (This is so demeaning! Naruto's a dead man! He vowed. he saw Hinata square her shoulders, pick up her bowl, and fish out…something. With evident reservations, she put the morsel in her mouth and chewed with her eyes screwed tightly shut. The kitten watched her, waiting.

The children stared at her, quite obviously certain that the young lady was going to drop dead any second. But she didn't die; instead she smiled reassuringly at them and began to polish off her dinner, evidently happy.

Sasuke watched the kids begin theirs and remembered back to his own first encounter with the rather unappetizing meal. They had been out on a mission, divvying up the chores before bedding down for the night. Naruto had drawn cooking duty and had made the same stew-like creation for them all. He'd done it happily and with enthusiasm, clearly eager for the opportunity to show off his skills. Then, like now, no one had wanted to try it except the blonde. He had dug in immediately, baffled when they failed to follow suit.

"What the Hell is this?" Sakura had demanded, pointing at her dinner. "We can't eat this! It's disgusting! We'll probably all die!"

Naruto had blinked, his confusion evident as he finished his mouthful. "But it's good! Try some."

"I'm not eating this!" The kunoichi had screeched angrily. "Cook something normal! Sasuke, don't touch- SASUKE!"

The Uchiha heir, driven by cold and hunger, egged on by the long day, had begun eating the mystery slope. Sasuke remembered devoting all his attention to the stew and its consumption, tuning Sakura's shouting out. Maybe it wasn't the best looking but it was food that tasted okay and, at the time, that was all that had mattered to him. Eventually Kakashi and Sakura had both given in and eaten it too.

No one had complimented the blonde on his cooking ability and no one had apologized for having misgivings and doubts about him. Later that week, Naruto had gotten cooking duty again and Sasuke remembered having the feeling that he and the other two had missed an important opportunity somewhere- that they had screwed up in a big way- but he couldn't figure out what it was or how to fix it

Since their first introduction to his cooking, Naruto had never showed the same level of enthusiasm for the chore again.

"Boss!" Konahamaru yelled. "This is great! Can you teach you how to make this- I'll make some as an offering for the family altar. Grandpa'll love it."

Hinata finished her current mouthful, snorting a bit in embarrassment when she slurped. "Who was your Grandfather, Konahamaru?"

"Huh? Oh, the third Hokage." The young man replied absently, his attention on eating once again.

Sasuke began to choke on the bottle's nipple. Using his right paw he shoved the offending object away and coughed. Naruto switched his grip on the kitten, rotating the feline until he lay belly down on the blonde's forearm at a downward angle. He patted Sasuke's back between the fur ball's shoulder blades carefully until the kitten got its breathing under control again. Once that had been accomplished, Naruto began thumping Hinata on the back with the meat of his hand, helping her to conquer her own sudden bout of choking.

"What?" The blonde asked in surprise with a final pat to the Hyuuga heiress' back, he righted his charge and smoothed the kitten's ruffled fur. "You mean you didn't know?"

The evening progressed into true night outside as the occupants of the small apartment talked of shared hobbies and school work. Deep in conversation, none of them noticed the gathering dark as they laughed and shared their past experiences. Naruto and Hinata, being seniors of the gathered ninjas, gave the younger genin tips and advice about the more complicated jutsus the youngsters were trying to master. Hinata was more helpful in this area since she was better at the complex hand signs that triggered the jutsu but Naruto had his own shinning moment of mentoring when he offered exercises to improve control over chakra usage.

From school work, the discussion digressed to stories and fables that Hinata and Naruto had heard about as children but that Konahamaru and the others had missed out on. Initially starting as an exercise in opinion sharing and lesson learning, things quickly turned into amateur theater with Naruto and Hinata as the stars. Sasuke, held by Konahamaru, watched the two transform Naruto's apartment into a stage, making complete idiots of themselves for the entertainment of the trio and himself and wanted to smile. Once Hinata got into it and began acting out her roles in the various tales in an overly dramatic fashion, things went from funny to wacky since Naruto was normally over the top by nature and the only available props were the blonde's possessions. Things got so bad that, at one point, neither of them could get through their lines with a straight face, breaking down into fits of giggling that only helped to feed the laughter of the trio watching.

"And from that day forth," Naruto exclaimed proudly, still trying to keep a straight face as he continued his narration. He was down on one knee, fists pressed to the floor with his forehead cast downward in an expression of obedience. Hinata was standing in front of him, looking very much her part of princess with her hands folded neatly in front of her as she accepted her new protector's offer of allegiance. "The princess had a body guard to protect her from all harm, who would honor her with loyalty and devotion for the rest of his days. The ninja pledged this all to her and she became his princess."

The blonde jumped to his feet and bowed, Hinata doing the same beside him. The kids cheered, whistling and whooping loudly in appreciation of the impromptu production. They clapped enthusiastically and Sasuke watched the couple preen under the praise, even though they both were ducking their heads and blushing.

Naruto glanced out a nearby window and frowned, removing his 'sword' -a long handled wooden spoon- from his belt.

"It's really late." He said abruptly to his guests. "Looks like you guys are spending the night after all." The blonde scratched his chin, eyebrows knitting together as he thought. He ignored Hinata's inarticulate squawk and the high-fives the kids gave one another, disappearing down the hall into his bedroom.

"N-no, Naruto," Hinata protested, following him. "Really, that's not necessary! I can walk home-"

"This neighborhood isn't the safest in daylight hours." Naruto said, not looking up from his chore. He was stripping his bed down, removing the dirty sheets and replacing them with fresh ones. "This time of night, it's dangerous for even chunnin."

Well, there wasn't much the Hyuga girl could say to that; she trusted him and if Naruto said it was dangerous, Hinata would give him the benefit of the doubt. The girls got Naruto's room, sharing the bed between them, while the boys took over the blonde's living room. He had spare blankets and with them fashioned a bed for the two boys to sleep on, who would have been grateful except that they were already asleep. Being a good host, Naruto rummaged through his wardrobe for pajamas that would fit the girls as well as a set of extra clothes for himself for tomorrow so he wouldn't have to intrude on them. When everyone was settled down for the night, Naruto wished them all pleasant dreams, took the kitten, turned on the bathroom light, and retired to the kitchen.

Elbow on the newly reconstructed table, temple propped against his fist, Naruto cradled the kitten against his chest in his free hand. He was facing the window, blue eyes diligently watching the nightlife activity outside. It wasn't like he expected anything would happen this early in the holiday, but he couldn't be one hundred percent sure and the blonde couldn't take any chances with his small home now filled with some of his precious people.

I am never going to drink. The blonde thought dismally as sleep tried to suck him under again. This holiday brought out the worst in people, as far as he was concerned. The animosity and contempt that he dealt with under normal circumstances intensified nearly ten fold during the festival. Naruto couldn't blame them, really, since technically he was the vessel for the nine tailed fox and taking their anger out on him was the closest they would ever get to actually hurting the real thing. He couldn't forgive their ignorance though, assuming that he was the human form of the beast when in reality he was anything but.

Altogether, for the adults in the village, the entire festival was an excuse to be extremely mean to Naruto and use him as a whipping boy of sorts. As the week wore on, Naruto's apartment would not be a safe haven since ambitious individuals, emboldened by copious amounts of alcohol, would try to break in and, as they put it, "Right the wrong made fifteen years ago."

He straightened, freeing his arm in order to take another bite of his dinner, a dry tasteless granola bar. A few days ago, he had made a whole batch of the calorie and protein packed things for his meals since normal food would soon no longer stay down. He finished the remainder of the bar, leaning awkwardly forward to avoid getting crumbs all over the sleeping feline. Chewing, Naruto dusted his hand off on his pants and held the hand out in front of him, palm flat with fingers splayed, frowning at the mild trembling he saw.

He pressed the back of his palm against his forehead before making a fist again, resettling his elbow on the table once more. The closer it came to his birthday, the more incapacitated he'd become. The fever he had already suspected was there had been confirmed by Hinata's observations earlier. It, like the tremors and other symptoms, was going to get worse and worse until Naruto wouldn't be able to move.

But that's what friends were for- too bad he hadn't received any word about if they were coming or not though he held onto the hope that they were on their way. It's so late…The worried thought popped up before he could stop it and he suppressed it ruthlessly in retaliation. He wasn't referring to the actual time of night but to the narrow timetable he was chained too- if help was actually on the way, they needed to be here very soon.

He was going to have to hide, he realized, somewhere in the forest where even the most die-hard fox hater wouldn't be able to find him.

Out of sight, out of mind. He remembered and smiled, though not happily. The only draw back to this plan was the question of where. Where would he be able to hide? Normal foxes had dens to hide in if a predator came after them, tunnels that twisted and turned in an intricate maze to confuse pursuers. There wasn't anywhere big enough under ground that he would fit, though. But if I can't go down, then there's always up.

And, for Naruto, going up always held more appeal than going down in any and all things. He resumed his vigil, occasionally stroking the kitten as he tuned his senses outward to look for danger. He had people he was responsible for and he would let no harm come to them while they were in his care.

Especially Hyuuga. The fox added from the depths of its cage.

Shut up. Naruto returned to his task, firmly ignoring the beast and the small pang of pain in his heart.

More's Moment:

If any of you have read the manga, you know the general set up of at least Naruto's kitchen and that he has those little sayings posted here and there. I wanted to keep that in there since it speaks volumes, both about his upbeat personality and also because it's something a parent would say to cheer their child on. I've often wondered what someone visiting his apartment would think about those little posters; would they think those phrases were just decoration or would they realize just how little human interaction there is in his life?

As always, thank you everyone for reading! Reviews are well and truly appreciated so please leave one before you go. Sorry for the short chapter but I promise that the next one will be longer- I had to stop at this point otherwise the chapter would have taken forever to read. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed it.

Have a wonderful day and happy tales!