Disclaimer: I do not own Sasuke-chan and Naruto-chan... I don't even own the idea of them being turned into animals! But I do own the plot in this fan fiction, thank God.

Author's Note: Now, looking onto this fan fiction, I'm so pleased with it. Not only because it's a great fan fiction and using a concept already used commonly in an advantage, but I was also comparing it to how I used to write in the past, and gosh darn it, I sucked in the past. "The Grandma petted the cat. The cat purred happily. The cat and the grandma lived happily ever after." LULZ!! WHAT THE HELL... As you can see, I write much better. I know the part where Naruto's running somewhere in this chapter sounds a lot like that, but it actually makes sense if the sentences are choppy like that. It builds the drama.

WARNING: CHAPTER IS EXTREMELY ANGSTY. Those of you afraid of angst, RUN AWAY!! It wasn't under the category "angst" for nothin', ya know. ;3

Speech: "When any character talks". "When there's either multiple people talking, or when it's a flashback, or, if it isn't either, it's someone talking in another language (animal speak ftw)". Thoughts, or flashbacks. Any word that is italicized specifically is emphasized. "Kyuubi is speaking". Kyuubi is thinking. 'Naruto is talking directly to Kyuubi'. "Naruto is speaking, but he sounds like Kyuubi". I never make any words bold if I want to emphasize them – emphasis is only on italicized or fully capitalized words. Any words that are in thoughts or italicized speech that are emphasized are emphasized by removing the italics.

--

A Black Cat, a Fox, and One Hell of a Story

Chapter The Second.:.

Lovely time for a storm

It was quite a few hours before Sasuke drifted awake again, blinking his cat eyes, allowing them to absorb the light from the kitchen. His great ears picked up the sound of shifting silverware and frantic movements. The black cat rolled his head back and made a giant yawn. He arched his back in a stretch, his claws carefully rolling in between sheathed and unsheathed, before finally ending his stretch and leaping off the couch. Bored, was certainly the first thought as he padded into Sakura's dining room, watching her nonchalantly as she scrambled about, searching for something. He meowed to get her attention.

"Oh hey, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, pausing to look at him. She didn't sound nearly as enthusiastic about seeing him as usual, which weirded him out. "Have you seen Naruto?"

Sasuke pondered for a second, then remembered that the fox kit had jumped out of the window to play outside. He was about to say, "He went outside," but remembered he couldn't speak. Instead, he pointed a paw to the window.

Sakura gasped, eyes widening. "He went outside?" she whispered in horror, and Sasuke nodded, not getting the big deal. "Oh Goddammit, this is bad," she said in a horribly guilty voice. Sasuke tilted his head in confusion. Sakura noticed this. "You don't know?" Sasuke shook his head. Then what Sakura said next scared him. "Sasuke-kun... while you were asleep, a storm started to brew, and I heard thunder... I think a terrible storm is coming."

Sasuke didn't wait for her to say any more. He sped back into the living room, running as fast as a bullet, before hopping onto the couch, using it and its back as stairs to the window. He heard her startled cry and her desperate calling of his name, but he shut her out. He leaped through the window, only one thing scrambling in his mind: Naruto, where the hell are you!? ... Are you okay?

--

He kept running. Even though he's slow, he knew the storm was coming. But his paws kept forcing him toward the forest instead of toward Sakura's house. He could hear them laughing. He could feel himself crying, tears streaming down his cheeks. He could feel the blood stinking his pelt from fresh wounds. But he didn't stop. Because that was what he learned to do for all those years, albeit he wasn't afraid.

Or was he?

The little fox kit stumbled blindly in the cold, into the forest, well aware that rain was falling rapidly and spilling itself amongst his pelt. The water mixed with the blood from his wounds but didn't stop him from bleeding and didn't stop the blood from spilling. Dammit, dammit, dammit! His paws ached like hell, and for all he knew, he could be bleeding from them too. But he didn't stop. He just kept running. He had always kept running, ever since he had been young. Ever since those days...

"Bakemono!" they had yelled at him, throwing sticks at the young boy, as well as stones. "Monster! Get the hell out!" He had scrambled out of the way, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. He just kept running, even though his feet really ached, and probably even bled. He didn't know why; he just had to flash out of there, running, running from those people that had always bullied him, and attempted to murder him. He wasn't afraid of them, and dared them to keep hitting him.

And he always forgave them, that's what they say made him special. He said that was his weakness.

Nothing stopped him from his run. Whenever he ran, he didn't stop unless he found shelter, unless he was away from them, unless he could no longer see them whenever he looked over his back. He did stumble once in the mud, but he knew they were still following him, still wanting to kill him and hit him like they did every day, so he just got up and kept running. By now he was bloody all over, everything was hurting and he even felt tears gracing his eyes and swimming down his cheeks. But he never stopped running.

When deep in the forest, he stopped, merely to catch his breath. He was very tired, and his legs burned like as if they were in a fire, and he was scathed all over himself with marks that were easily visible. But, though he stopped here, it wouldn't be his camp permanently. He'd move again, he'd run as fast as he could again, because he knew they were still coming. He had to defy his luck, because he needed to live. He needed to live so he could show them eventually, and he'd live to forgive them again, to teach them the lessons that they needed.

And once his breath was caught, once he felt that his lungs were filled again, he continued running. And he heard their voices behind him, but he wouldn't stop. He just kept running. Perhaps he was running from fear. But he felt that he was running from fate.

It was just like then now, except for he couldn't run for nearly as long. He was smaller, so he could run faster, but he couldn't run for as long since his legs were shorter thanks to his small fox-height. But he didn't let this get to him, because as before, when he was tired, when he was worn out, he'd just keep running. He felt his speed decreasing; he couldn't have this. He sped up, putting more muscle into his aching limbs, and just kept running as fast as he could pull his fox self there. Perhaps he was a fox now, not the human he had been before, and thus he had less weight to pull but required more force to pull something, anyway. He wouldn't let these hindrances stop him. Because he was just a runner, probably like Konoha's Yellow Flash, the one that they had all heard about.

He suddenly slipped in the mud again, this time his legs aching so much that he couldn't even get back up. He lay in the mud, his face touching it, and at the same time feeling blood leak from him every second. If he didn't move, he'd die. Rain continued to pour down, and soon, lightning made its presence known by flashing in the air. Thunder roared for attention, and Naruto could've sworn he heard it say, "Keep going, fox kit." But maybe that was just his imagination.

His blue eyes stared, staring into the trees in front of him. He thought he heard those voices again, the voices of the people that had been chasing him. He heard the pitter patter of rain, and also saw the ground move with sprinkles of water. It glowed in his eyes. He hardly cared.

The sky was dark, and the shadows grew so even the forest was a dark and foreboding place. Not one to be swallowed by the shadows, the darkness, Naruto shoved his black paws onto the ground again, pushing onto the mud-covered ground so he could lift back up to those paws. He hissed as they shot pain up to his legs, but he still tried to get up. He found himself extremely tired, and couldn't get up much. But he still tried. And the fox kit succeeded for a bit, as he finally staggered back up to his paws. And not even wasting time celebrating, he started to run again.

The run continued to push him further and deeper into the forest. He was now hopelessly lost. And now, he regretted ever running. Running from fate, running from the shadows, as now he was running into their clutches. He tried to turn around, but he saw more trees, and saw more shadows trying to swallow him up. He was surrounded, and there was no way out. He wanted to go back, go back to Konoha. But it was too late, he was too gone lost. Finally, exhaustion forced him to give up, by the only way possible: the world turned black.

--

Sasuke fell to the ground, his paws allowing him to be right and upright on the side of Sakura's house. If Sasuke wasn't colorblind, he would've scoffed at the colors on the outside of the house; as it was, though, that wasn't his primary concern.

Where was Naruto?

He felt rain. When Sasuke looked up at the sky, the clouds were dark and huddled around the sun, not allowing the sun to spread its arms of warmth over the world. Sasuke cursed under his breath; it looked like he'd be walking out in a storm. Not more than five steps forward was he stopped by someone, and he knew immediately who this someone was.

"Hi there, Sasuke-kun!"

Lee.

Sasuke stumbled backward, hissing and spitting angrily. He then noticed that Rock Lee wasn't alone; to his right was Kiba, and to his left was Shino. Sasuke looked up to Kiba, and then his brilliant mind worked up something awesome: Kiba understood dog language! Perhaps he could understand cats and foxes as well? Their languages weren't that different.

"Oi, Sasuke, we heard the news," Kiba said. "You're a cat now, right?"

"I told you he was emo," Akamaru said. Sasuke blinked in surprise; he had understood what that dog said! Then he hissed. Akamaru only laughed. "See, he's all black and hissing."

"Shh, Akamaru, that's mean," Kiba told him fiercely. Akamaru shut up.

"What did he say, Kiba-kun?" Lee asked, peering at Kiba curiously.

"Well, he was making fun of Sasuke."

"I have no time for that!" Sasuke hissed at the each of them, practically a yowl. It was enough to get their attention. "I'm not out here to meet you idiots." He rolled his eyes.

"Then why are you out here?" Kiba asked. Sasuke felt a shimmering hope. Kiba could understand him! Kiba sensed this. "Yes, I can understand you. Dogs and cats are a lot alike, even though they hate the other's guts."

"Good, 'cause I would hate to waste effort trying to explain this to you while you don't understand me," Sasuke smirked, his voice a bit of laughing and sarcasm. Akamaru and Kiba rolled their eyes, but stopped when they saw Sasuke's voice go serious and his cat jaw tighten. "I'm not out here for no reason. I don't have time to chat with you idly. I need to find Naruto."

"Naruto?" Kiba blinked. Shino and Lee both looked to Kiba curiously, Lee with more emphasis on his curiosity. Akamaru looked just as confused as Kiba did. "Why do you need to find Naruto? I thought Sakura was taking care of you both."

"Well, she was," Sasuke hissed, obviously very impatient and tense. Akamaru and Kiba both rolled their eyes at how impatient he was being. "But Naruto ran off. And as you can see, there's a storm coming, and this is only the beginning of it. It'll only get worse from here."

Just as Sasuke said that, a flash of lightning lighted the sky and Akamaru whimpered, the little dog hiding in his master's shirt. The cat thought angrily, Dammit, stop getting worse, you stupid storm! Then, even those who couldn't understand him as he spoke could see the emotion clearly written on his face: great panic. Usually the guy was nonchalant, but he was so panicked here it reminded Kiba of a trapped animal.

Kiba's eyes widened, which made Lee and Shino start to dread. They knew something was wrong; Sasuke was losing his cool, and Kiba knew exactly what he was saying as well. After a dreadfully long silence, Kiba screeched, "Naruto is out in this fucking storm!?" This surprised them all; nobody had heard Kiba curse worse than the word "damn". "He's gonna get killed! He's only a fox! Why did he fucking run away!?"

Sasuke avoided his eyes, obviously very troubled. "I don't know," he whispered, his voice sincere. Lightning thrashed out in the sky, trying to tear a rift. "He wanted to go outside... I didn't know there was going to be a storm. That is, until I woke up and Sakura told me."

"So this is all your fault!?" Kiba snapped, which made Sasuke snap his head to him, eyes wide. Then, Kiba was surprised when Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Listen here, bub!" he hissed, slightly scaring Akamaru with how cold his voice sounded. Lee and Shino, having followed Kiba's side of the conversation, knew exactly what was going on: Naruto was missing. And now Sasuke was scolding Kiba. "I ordinarily wouldn't go out in a fucking damn storm this huge for some stupid damn argument! I'm out here to rescue my best friend, and I am well aware that I have made a terrible mistake in being so careless in letting him out here! However, that doesn't fucking matter anymore, because he's gonna die, and not only because of the storm, but because the villagers seem to know! Th... they know that he's Naruto, and they keep bullying him!" At this, Kiba's eyes widened. "Now if you want to keep pointing fingers at me, then go ahead, bastard! But I'm not going to let my best friend die out there over a stupid little argument such as this one!" And with that, Sasuke ran. He dug his claws into the earth, and then ran, toward the forest, the place he knew for sure Naruto would've headed.

Sasuke certainly wasn't aware that he was leaving a jaw-dropped, open-mouthed Kiba, with a whimpering Akamaru, in his wake. Lee and Shino looked at Kiba with concern, Lee more than Shino. "Are you okay, Kiba-kun?" he asked, snapping Kiba out of his trance.

"I think we shouldn't be so concentrated on Kiba," Shino said wisely. "Sasuke just took off for the forest. Possibly to get Naruto, right, Kiba?"

"Y-Yeah... he did," Kiba said after a long pause, trying to get his bearings together. "He just told me off about how stupid I was blaming him for Naruto running away."

"I guess he was right," Akamaru whimpered, making Kiba look to him in surprise. "If we were true friends, we wouldn't be blaming other friends for something that Naruto did. We would be trying our best to help Naruto."

"Akamaru..." Kiba sighed. He then looked to Lee and Shino. "Shino... do you have a plan?"

Shino looked a bit surprised, but then shifted his shades coolly after recovering, quite quickly I'd admit. "Yes, I do," Shino said calmly. "Lee, you should go find Gai. Don't question me; just do it. I'll tell you why later."

Lee was taken aback, but decided to follow, saluting. "Aye aye, Shino-kun!" And with that, he ran in a flash in the direction he last saw Gai take off.

Shino then looked to Kiba and Akamaru. "I won't be needing you two until the rain clears," he said gently. Kiba and Akamaru nodded. "But once the rain does clear, I want you two to track them down with your noses. I would ordinarily summon my bugs right now, but they hate rain, and rightly so."

"R-Right, Shino," Kiba stammered, feeling goofy as he put on the same salute as Lee.

"Now, get some rest. It may be some long travel."

"What do we do about Sasuke?"

Shino looked at Kiba with steady eyes. "I know how well Sasuke can handle his own, even if he is a cat. Let him be. I'm sure that he'll take care of Naruto while we're unable to help them."

"R-Right." Dammit, why am I still stammering? Is it because I'm afraid after that yell Sasuke gave me? Or maybe it's because it sounds so damn much like Naruto...

--

When Sasuke entered the forest, it seemed to swallow him up in its endless expanses. He felt a shivering cold as he braved through the storm. It was very wet, and the ground beneath his paws squished under pressure. His tail was once again moving on its own accord. But when he wanted it to move with his consent, he didn't find it too hard; he just wanted to focus everything in moving forward, not on his tail. Water dripped down his sides and he found that it felt really uncomfortable being wet.

He looked to shadows, and for some reason, he knew the way they were pointing. And he knew who they were pointing at. Sasuke looked back. The forest had closed him in. They were really deep in the forest. Naruto, you really ran far... Sighing, he trudged through the raining and the falling of water as the sky seemed to be crying. The wind picked up, hissing in his ear, telling him to turn back. But Sasuke continued, because he could never abandon his friend.

The shadows continued to creep over Sasuke, making him shiver. It seemed as if the forest were closing up on him, not allowing him to go back. The wind kept hissing at him to turn back, to abandon, while the forest was leaving an opening. But Sasuke didn't let this bother him. He dug his claws into the mud, the rain hitting his face and blowing him backwards. When the wind changed direction, Sasuke seized the opportunity by running with the wind – running as fast as he possibly could.

This felt so much like the day when he realized his dearest brother had killed his parents...

Sasuke felt like crying inside. The Mangekyou Sharingan had showed him everything, every single scream that his beloved family ever uttered, and made the houses seem dark and hollow. Sasuke fell to the ground, crying in agony, clutching his chest where his heart was, supposedly. He had lost everything, and he was alone now.

Itachi had seen him snap out of the trance, screaming and crying desperately. "Now do you see, little brother?" he asked, going to Sasuke, looking at him with emotionless, black eyes. For the first time in a while, they were not blood red with Sharingan, but they were still as emotionless and cold as ever.

Sasuke looked up at Itachi. "Why?" the foolish little boy had choked in a sad voice, that seemed to have a rift torn in his heart. "Why did you do this to them!?"

Itachi stared at him while Sasuke mourned his dead family, holding the back of his head. Then, Itachi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, quite a bit roughly. "They were unnecessary, necessary sacrifices," he hissed in Sasuke's ear. "Run now. Save your puny little life, and grow stronger. Then, keep hating me. Once your hate grows powerful enough, try to gain your vengeance. Leave me now. You're too pathetic to kill."

Sasuke gritted his cat teeth, his fangs mashing together to a perfect fit. He slowed his run, and he felt fury crawl itself deep in his mind, embedding into his head. He wouldn't lose everything again. He wouldn't lose Naruto, goddammit! He would save him from the storm! He would! He would!

And this inspired him all the more to run, and keep running, following the shadows as they pointed the direction to where he knew they wanted to lead.

And that's what made him freeze, when he saw something lying in the mud after a lot of running, his black, muddied paws aching; he saw a fox, who wasn't moving.

--

Dread stuck to Sasuke's pelt as he slowly approached Naruto's non-moving body. He nosed him. No movement.

Lightning ripped its yellow claws through the air, tearing the sky in its clutches. Thunder roared in protest. The rain fell on Sasuke's fur like bullets and rolled down his fur like as if he was trying to free himself from chains made of lead. This was no time to dwell; he needed shelter. But he wasn't willing to leave the fox behind. Thinking fast, he picked up Naruto's scruff in his jaws and slung his arm over Sasuke's shoulders. He kept a tight but non-threatening hold on Naruto's scruff as he trudged through the storm. Sasuke had seen a tree nearby with loose roots, which meant they could go under the tree for shelter. The question was where the tree was at that moment.

Then, like magic, the tree appeared in front of him after wandering the mud so much. The black cat dashed for it, making sure he still had Naruto in his grip. Sasuke reached its roots and dug a hole near the front, entering that very hole by scraping frantically inside.

It was dry in these roots, and the dryness made it warmer than the entrance. The soft soil underneath his paws made it a perfect place to rest. Aside from the little hill going up from the entrance, they were surrounded by the tree. The top made it look like a cave. The pitter-patter of rain was muffled by the tree's roots. The rain could only barely slip in through the entrance, and since the space was rather huge, back away a little bit and the rain didn't hit them.

Sasuke set Naruto on the soil gently, letting go of his scruff near the ground. Sasuke then went about to grooming himself, bathing himself with his tongue, the water extremely uncomfortable as it continued to cling to his fur.

"Sas... uke..." said a tiny voice. Sasuke immediately stopped grooming himself and whipped around to see Naruto, his eyes closed, paws twitching, and his chest rising and falling with his breathing. Sighing in relief, Sasuke padded closer to his friend to listen to what he was about to say. "I'm... sorry..."

"What are you apologizing for?" Sasuke asked, nosing Naruto into a sitting position. "And at least sit up. I can't hear you if you're mumbling to the ground."

Naruto tried to sit up, but ended up almost collapsing on his right side. Sasuke swooped in like a raven and caught Naruto's head with his shoulder. Sasuke himself sat up, letting Naruto lean on him. The poor guy couldn't support his own weight. Naruto opened his eyes. "F-For running," he whispered, trying his best to make his voice strong, but failing. "I didn't m-mean to worry you and Sakura-chan."

"Damn you, Naruto," Sasuke hissed. What surprised him is that Naruto didn't seem startled by those words. Sasuke spoke again, his voice soft: "You're so worried about us that you aren't even worried about yourself. Even if you had gone back to Sakura's, we still would've worried; you were bleeding like a stuck pig. If it weren't for that Kyuubi of yours, you'd be bleeding all over my ski – I mean fur."

"Like that matters." Naruto's eyes closed.

Sasuke's fur bristled, and he almost moved abruptly away from Naruto, if he hadn't remembered that doing so may injure Naruto further, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. "It DOES matter – to us, at least!" he hissed fiercely. After a few moments of agonizing silence, Sasuke spoke again, his voice calmer: "We're your friends, Naruto, and we worry about you. You're even like a brother to me. Don't you dare forget that." Sasuke started to have a hard time keeping his voice calm. "I didn't go through that damn storm for no reason. And I didn't drag your ass to safety for no reason, either."

Naruto's eyes opened, and he laughed, if not a bit bitterly. "I thought you were a heartless bastard," he mewed weakly, his eyes filled with laughter.

Sasuke brightened as he heard some of the fox kit's old personality return. "Well, I was," he admitted, smirking. "But that was before I befriended you, and the Land of Waves proves that."

At the mention of the Land of Waves, both parties fell completely silent, just watching as the rain started to tap harder on the tree and started to lash out more. At the sound of thunder, Sasuke felt Naruto leap and saw him hit the roots of the tree, leaning against it weakly. He was still unable to support himself, which was weird since he usually got back up on his feet on his own. He weighed less now and he had four legs; couldn't he get up?

Suddenly, Naruto lifted to his four paws, trying his best to stay on them, limping around the inside of the tree roots. His voice was very serious when he spoke again. "I can't be weak and hinder you much longer," he hissed, clenching his teeth in slight muscle pain. Sasuke watched him, eyes widening at his words. "I always seemed to be the weakest in the team who succeeded in the littlest. I couldn't forget when Kaka-sensei told us about how low my scores were. I was pissed, as you could've seen. And I'm still pissed off about it now."

Sasuke got up to his own black paws, walking over to Naruto and walking around him so he could face him. He looked into those deep, blue eyes; they were always laughing eyes, always bright. Even now, when he was being totally serious, his eyes were bright with determination. Maybe it was just their sky blue color, but this little black cat thought it was something much more special than that. Naruto always seemed to brighten a room no matter how dark and scary it was. He was afraid of paranormal, yes, but he wouldn't back down from a fight if he felt that his friends needed him, such that he was doing now. "Look, Naruto, we recognize you, even though you may be a bit sl..."

"You don't understand, Sasuke," Naruto interrupted, looking at Sasuke, his eyes filling with more determination that Sasuke had ever seen anybody have in their eyes. Then, to both of their dismays, Naruto's vision was blurring with wetness; tears. He took a paw, and swiped it across his face, causing him to fall sideways. Once again, Sasuke caught his fall, this time with his back. Naruto stood up again. "I had trained... so hard," Naruto continued, his voice wracked with emotion. Ordinarily Sasuke would interrupt this and say that his training was succeeding, but some force in the voice told him to listen to the whole story. "Like, I would pull weights up every day. And yet I failed. Thrice. In the Academy. The Genin exams... the most important exams, that would determine if I would ever become a shinobi. Maybe it was because I was always on the run and I wasn't able to get stronger because my legs just kept running, as they always have." At this, Sasuke backed away from Naruto. It was true; Naruto ran quite a lot, mostly to get away from the people that made fun of him. "I want to get stronger. I want to grow independent. But... Sasuke, please don't interpret this as me not appreciating your help, or not wanting to be your friend... it's just that, I don't want to be needing protection. Especially after all that the villagers have done to me... I have to prove I'm worthy of being Hokage!"

Sasuke was shocked by Naruto's inspirational words. But they were all true, the truest of words that Sasuke probably would've uttered if he were in Naruto's position. At this, Sasuke nosed Naruto's shoulder to get his attention. "All right," he finally meowed, in a tone of acceptance. "I can guarantee you, that you are not defenseless. However, you will be if you keep pushing yourself. Now relax."

Naruto looked to Sasuke, and groaned in complaint, but then he lay on the soil, staring out of the entrance. Sasuke lay next to him, the two giving each other warmth. It was quite cold. Naruto's eyes became entranced by the rain. "All right, Sasuke," he whispered. "But as soon as the rain stops, we'll go. Though I like the rain. And I like running in it. It gives me a thrill that plain air doesn't give me."