Title: Points of Connection
Author: Galanthus
Translation: 7toublesome
Beta-reader for Russian version: Никарина
Paring: Sasuke U./Naruto U.
Genre: Romans/fantasy
Status: finished
Permission for translation and posting: officially given by the Author (Many thanks, dear Galanthus!)
Disclaimer: Kishimoto
Warning: AU, OOC, Sasuke-neko
Autor's note: It was written for myself. The Author is not a philologist.
1) Before reading it is recommended to consult the warnings and the heading.
2) There is only the name and appearance of neko.
Interpreter's note: un beta'd
Summary: They have saved a strange creature, beautiful, wild and dangerous. But is he intelligent? And while they were trying to find his home, the creature managed to steal Naruto's heart… That prissy Baby, with cat ears and fluffy tail…
Chapter 3
They had slept twelve hours and had a really good sleep. Naruto was woken up by the neko who was already awake by that time and now started to turn and squirm in bed. At first Naruto was surprised by such behaviour, but then it dawned upon him.
- "Do you want to use a bathroom?"
It was extremely difficult to get rid of annoying associations, and Naruto imagined the neko doing his "business" in a cat's litter and burying all his "traces" after finishing. The absurd image was torturing Naruto's mind and didn't want to let go. Most likely, it was necessary to dress Baby at first but the black eyes looked with such intense impatience that Naruto immediately led him to the bathroom. Getting his rest, Baby preferred to use his own legs and didn't cling to Naruto, displaying his own self-dependence. Once inside the bathroom, a deadlock situation occurred, as Naruto had to explain to extraterrestrial creature how to use a toilet bowl. Words or gestures were doomed to fail. The only possible way was to show him everything, i.m. by personal example.
One had to be a really courageous man in order to continue peeing with perfect calm while being observed by the neko who watched intently one's reproductive organ with unhidden curiosity and interest. But Naruto managed the task with honour and then demonstrated the principle of water drain working. Baby didn't feel shy before him, not in the least, and did his business with evident pleasure. Yes, by all means, the neko was intelligent, there was no need to teach him twice, one simple personal demonstration was quite enough. Moreover, Baby remembered immediately how to use the bathroom equipment and was washing his face at the sink, loudly snorting. There was no need to towel him or to brush his hair. He was a bit carried away while brushing his tail, but after finishing he cleaned the brush and flushed the toilet dropping his fur clot to the water. It was plain evident that the neko got accustomed to be very clean. Hygienic procedures completed, Baby watched Naruto expectedly.
- "Let's dress you at first, and then we will have breakfast, though I don't have anything for you except milk. We will drink some milk and go to the market".
It turned out to be very hard to dress Baby. No, he was not pulling out, or kicking, he was not trying to tear the clothes, he was just unbearably picky. Trying practically every item of Naruto's clothes, he settled for black pants, made of fine thin wool and orange cotton t-shirt. Thus, it became clear that the neko preferred natural fabric. But while the neko had put on the t-shirt almost immediately, there was a problem with pants as the tail needed to be put somewhere. There was nothing to invent and nothing to be done about it, so Naruto resolutely took scissors. The main objective was to make a hole of the right size and to pick the right place for it. Surprisingly, he managed. Baby watched him intently, but Naruto suspected him of having a small smile of mockery in his black eyes. Before handing the pants to Baby, Naruto pulled out briefs from the drawer.
- "These are brifs", - he explained but Baby gazed at him as if implying him to be a complete fool and snatched the pants making indignant noise.
Well, so it seemed that there was absolutely no need to share Naruto's underwear.
New miracles started in the kitchen. Feeling absolutely at home, Baby looked into the fridge, observed its contents for a long time, or rather the lack of it, took out a milk box and sent a reproachful stare to the owner of the house. Naruto felt ashamed and even started to make excuses for himself.
- "Well, I don't like to cook, I just don't. So there's no need to stare at me this way. Let's drink some milk and go to the market to buy some food".
He got a derisive snort for the answer. The neko might not understand the human language but he got the intonation all right. Such disdain offended Naruto. In order to show his protest he got into drawer and pulled out a pack of ramen like a magician.
- "And this is ramen. And I'm not sharing it. You are not going to eat it anyway. But I definitely am".
He suppressed the urge to show the neko his tongue. Baby seemed to get interested with the contents of the pack and watched all Naruto's moves with curiosity, slowly taking sips of his milk. When the ramen was ready, Naruto opened the lid with contented smile. It took Baby only one sniff at the aroma of the ramen to sneeze and to show his displeasure.
- "There's absolutely no need to sneeze here. See, I'm not sneezing while watching you walking naked around the house and getting to my bed to sleep. So shut up and drink your milk".
Again the neko understood him completely and gave him a saucy smile. But Naruto was glad. That incomprehensible creature, thrown in the middle of human world by the whim of destiny, was absolutely interesting, even fascinating, and Naruto desperately wanted to understand him. It was a real pity that they were destined to part sooner or later, but that was the order of universe. Suddenly it occurred to Naruto that he managed to get attached to the neko.
Baby didn't like footwear one bit. He resigned himself to sneakers with visible reluctance and while putting them on he was sniffing scornfully all the time. Either Baby was not used to wear footwear or Naruto had no suitable footwear for him, but all the same the human was assigned the task of tying the laces.
In front of the entrance door the neko paused, shifting from one foot to another and showing his anxiety, but Naruto soothingly patted his head.
- "It's all right, don't be afraid. Nobody is going to harm you, I promise".
Absurdity continued. Walking along the street Naruto was weighting the possibility of the neko's fear of dogs. What if he would try to run away and climb a tree or start to chew some grass? What would happen if he saw a mouse or a rat? Maybe Naruto should buy him some ball toys or something? Meanwhile the neko calmly walked by his side, doing his best in order to look indifferent and confident, but his black ears were constantly twitching, studying new sounds, his nostrils were trembling, sniffing new smells and aromas.
The Naruto's house was situated on a small quiet street, where all the inhabitants were acquainted with each other. He settled in the house immediately after entering the "Konoha" department. During these six years he had brought home such incredible creatures that his neighbors got accustomed to everything. Baby was absolutely safe among these people, although some cat loving ladies might pet him to shreds. Actually it was true, many of them would like to have a cat and a young man all in one. But the female neighbors still were well-behaved and Baby was perfectly safe among them, well, almost perfectly safe.
When Baby noticed the attention and growing interest on ladies' part, his tail twitched nervously. Then his ears stood upright, he shook his head and proudly raised his chin. His countenance showed a grimace of slight disdain. Naruto couldn't restrain himself.
- "Poseur".
On the food market Baby just didn't know where to look first. He watched everything with curiosity of a child and unceremoniously stuck his nose everywhere possible. Owners of different small shops were not angry with the neko as they respected Naruto, they trusted him and understood the importance of his work. Naturally, Baby was interested the most to see rows of fish and meat stalls. Naruto didn't play stingy and bought everything remotely interesting to the neko. They wandered among stalls for a long time, the dairy stall took some time, but vegetable stall took the most of it. Baby sniffed at vegetables this or that way, taking into their smell and choosing the right vegetables and fruits, but finally he chose only cucumbers, tomatoes, melon and watermelon.
They struggled to drag the packages with food home, but they finally managed to do it. Baby turned out to be strong enough and was capable of great endurance. Once they got home, the neko took off his pants immediately and put them on a chair with care. He already refused to wear offered underwear in the morning as well as sweatpants. He kept Naruto's t-shirt on which was a bit big for his slender frame and it still managed to cover his ass. But when he stooped or raised his hands, everybody could see his "hidden beauties". That was confusing Naruto a lot because humans had different norms of decorum, but he was not inclined to teach them to the neko as the neko had already learned himself that humans could be different. After weighting the idea, Naruto decided that if the neko was wise enough he was sure to copy the necessary norms of behaviour and habits, accepted by human society, by himself.
Right at the moment they were settled in the kitchen where Naruto, who actually was very enthusiastic about the task, was going to strip of virginity the set of kitchenware, given to him by his mother long time ago, when he just settled in a new house. He took a saucepan in one hand and frying pan into another one and addressed the neko.
- "So, are we going to fry or to boil?"
The baby attentively studied the presented equipment while chewing a cucumber with melancholy and sipping some milk at the same time. The frying pan got lucky to be his choice. But as far as food was concerned, Baby was not so sure what to choose, meat or fish.
- "Right. There's really no need to be niggle!" – Naruto assured him and pulled out another frying pan.
The matter of salt still had to be cleared out and Naruto shoved some of it under neko's nose. As always the neko sniffed and only afterwards decided to lick. He didn't like salt to such extent that he spat it out and drank a lot of water in order to get rid of the awful taste. Naruto immediately got the idea that he should make the meat underdone. The underdone meat and not thoroughly roasted fish turned out to be the very thing needed. Baby was eating, eyes closed tight with pleasure, and making loud purring sounds. Naruto cooked his own meal later and that particular matter of gustatory sense showed their evident difference. The neko seemed to understand it too.
After such substantial meal Naruto thought the neko to become sleepy and inclined to take a nap, but Baby was not a cat and that was exactly the reason why they were currently sitting on a sofa and watching TV. The neko was fascinated by the toy named "TV", but all the same he did not allow Naruto to leave his side and demanded human's constant attention. They were watching all the shows in succession, the neko watched them to be exact, and Naruto was writing his observations in the report diary. He had already called Sakura and was told that there was no news and that meant he still had some time to study his guest.
The neko was playing with TV till evening. During supper Baby finally made his choice and chose fish. Then he chose a melon as a dessert. His eating manners were neat, elegant even, in spite of his constant licking all over. After finishing Naruto suggested without any hope though:
- "How about you wash the dishes? I think it is only fair if we switch while cleaning."
Baby chose not to understand his words.
The same situation repeated itself in the bathroom. Baby refused to wash himself point blank and made Naruto get into bath with him. But Naruto still chose to keep the last obstacle in the form of the underwear. In the bath tub, Baby turned his back on Naruto in a care-free way in order to be washed. It turned out that his scars had already disappeared, clearly stating the fact, that the neko had faster regeneration than humans. Naruto thought that he would have to wash the neko first and then would have to wash himself, but Baby surprised him, taking a washcloth out of his hands and demanding with gestures for Naruto to turn around. Anyway, Naruto was uncomfortable. Taking a bath together looked like some intimate ritual to Naruto, but, probably, the neko was far from such convention.
There, in the bathroom another incident occurred. Baby was watching Naruto for a long time, but finally made up his mind and carefully touched his ear. Most likely, human ears looked ridiculous to the neko, but nevertheless he traced the auricle with his finger, and then poked it with his cool nose. That was a milestone event in the relations of the two species.
Without asking for permission, Baby headed straight to the bedroom, casually slipped off his bathrobe and imperturbably got under covers. Naruto shrugged. Nothing could be done with the neko as he was accustomed to do that way. Naruto made a quick call to his parents and got into bed himself. Just like he did it the previous night, Baby placed his head comfortably on Naruto's belly and curled into a ball. He was not objecting to Naruto's petting him on the head, not in the least. Drifting to sleep, Naruto thought that apparently Baby liked living with him, and he was glad that he could brighten the life of that incredible creature in the world that was alien for his Baby.
-end of chapter 3- TBC-
The interpreter's note: the original story is written in Russian, the translation is going on and there will be 9 chapters.