A/N: Well, for those who were waiting for Sasuke and Naruto to meet…here it is!
Disclaimer: #burp# I'm eating cheetos and drinking stale milk. You think I own this!?
Because I Love –To Torture- My Brother
Chapter Two
Almost two weeks after he'd last seen his brother, Sasuke opened his front door to find him standing there, face blank.
"What do you want." Sasuke asked darkly, frowning. Then he noticed the fox sitting calmly next to his brother. And glared back up. "You didn't…"
"Sasuke meet Kitten. Kitten meet Sasuke, my brother who you will be staying with." Itachi gestured to the doorway and Sasuke watched with wide eyes as the fox stood and trotted in between him and the door.
"What the…BLOODY HELL ITACHI! Go get your damned fox out of my house!" Sasuke turned from the door and held it open for his brother…who wasn't coming in.
"Actually I have a meeting to go to. Oh, before I forget." A large garbage bag was suddenly stuffed into his arms. "Blanket, two bowls, a large throw pillow, a toy, small bag of dog chow I got Kitten to eat. He's quite intelligent and I find as long as you respect him he'll respect you. I'll leave Kitten to take care of you now. Bye otouto!" And with that he was walking back down the driveway to his car and before Sasuke could splutter twice he was gone.
"What…what the…" Sasuke stared after the disappearing car rounding the corner of his street before turning around.
The fox was sitting in the middle of the hallway. Staring at him. It was disconcerting actually, especially after Itachi spoke as if it were…well, intelligent.
"Stop staring at me you stupid animal! And when my brother gets back home I'm going to kill him!" Sasuke burst out. Apparently that was all the fox needed as it calmly turned tail and started trotting up the stairs.
"Shit. No, no, no don't go up there." He dropped the garbage bag and started rustling through it desperately. Toy, toy, toy…where was the…
"Umm…Kitten! Kitten look I've got your toy!" Sasuke waved around the ugly green stuffed frog just as the fox hit the top of the stairs. Sakura would flip if she saw a fox in their house. It couldn't…be seen!
Baring fangs in what looked eerily like a grin, the fox ignored him again and walked out of sight.
"Shit."
"SASUKEEEEEEE!" Double shit.
Sasuke hopped up the stairs quickly, taking them in twos. He walked quickly down the hallway to Sakura's studio and found his wife standing on the barstool-type chair in front of her audio area. Itachi's fox was actually shrinking back from the doorway of the room, wide ears flat on its head as it stared reproachfully at Sakura, who was still shrieking.
"SASUKE! GET THAT ANIMAL OUT OF HERE!! MY GOD! From a chinchilla to a fox! Next you'll want to bring home an elephant!" The pink-haired (Yes pink, his wife was a pop singer) woman pointed shakily to the door.
Kitten turned carmine eyes on him with an outrageous look on its face like 'What the hell!?' Sasuke had never seen an animal so expressive. It would be funny if Sakura's high-pitched shrieks weren't driving him to distraction.
"Come on Kitten." He still had the green frog clutched in his hand and he waved it at the fox half-heartedly.
The fox backed out of the doorway with a low huff and trotted smoothly past Sasuke, grabbing the frog on his way by. Sasuke watched the red tail go down the stairs and round the corner to the kitchen.
"Are you just going to let it freely roam our house!? Sasuke! That…that thing…probably has fleas or something!" Sakura got down finally, resting her hands on her equipment as she seemed weak-kneed.
"It's Itachi's fox. It's name is Kitten and he…just sort of left it with me for the day or two. I think he said he had a meeting. He's probably going overseas somewhere so he just…"
"Your brother can't just take advantage of us like that! It's bad enough he drops small rats off here because for some reason he thinks you need a pet…but to leave his own overgrown vermin here…" Sakura turned to look at him finally, green eyes disapproving. "Really Sasuke. You've got to grow a backbone to him and say no."
Sasuke clenched his pale hands tightly and was about to retort when he heard yipping downstairs. "Shit."
Sakura's eyes widened in fear. "Oh my God, suppose he's down their destroying something of mine? My CD collection is downstairs…!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and left the room. "Just keep your door shut for a few days while you're working until I can give it back to Itachi. I assume it's housetrained so we won't have to worry about that and it won't bother you if you don't bother it."
"But Sas-" He shut the door firmly and quickly walked back down the hall, frowning. 'Dammit. His brother was determined to make his life living Hell.
He fairly bounded down the stairs, holding onto the handrail and then strode quickly down the hall. Where had that fox sounded like it was…he paused and then stopped walking. In fact where was the bag he'd left by the door?
He walked warily into the kitchen…to find the fox headfirst in the bag. A spark of the evilness that probably defined Itachi dared him to stuff the fox in the bag and dump it but he held himself. Sasuke then watched in awe as the fox pulled one and then the other of its bowls out of the bag and pushed and prodded them with his nose until they were both against the wall. It burrowed back into the bag and dragged the dog chow Itachi had left for it aside before going back in. Pillow and blanket were both tugged out in a fluffy mouthful as the fox dragged its sleep gear backwards into the den.
"What the hell…" The fox continued setting up house, locating his bed in front of the television and then leaving and reappearing with the ugly frog it dropped next to the 'bed'. It seemed to frown around the room before spotting its target.
Before Sasuke could move it was jumping onto the coffee table, lifting the remote in its mouth and jumping off again. If it bloody chewed up the remote…!
"Hey! Watch it, that thing's expen…" Flip. Cartoons. Flip. Discovery Kids. There was a pause. Flip. More cartoons. Flip. Home improvement channel. Flip. Cooking station. Lifting it's paw off the remote and shunting it aside, Kitten climbed onto its pillow, jumped on it a bit and then settled into the hollow, curling its tail around it's body, eyes on the TV.
"Bloody fuck." Itachi hadn't been lying when he'd said it was intelligent. Had he taught the fox to do that? Surely he had! No animal was that smart. Sasuke raked a hand through his hair. Well, if he followed Itachi's instructions and just…'respected' Kitten, they should be fine co-existing for a few days. Until he could give it back to his brother with 'strong' instruction to quit it.
Sasuke backed away slowly, leaving Kitten to watch TV. He actually cringed every time he said that name, even in his head. What the Hell kind of name was Kitten and why had his brother named the fox that? Geez, it might have been better naming the poor thing Reddy or something equally inane.
Shaking his head, Sasuke turned and headed for his studio. Sakura would do her work for the day, he would do his, Kitten would watch TV…like a happy family. The door shut and Sasuke got to work, soon forgetting about his new charge.
A/N: Hope you enjoy! I welcome all comments. I want to hear everything! So please, review.