Cat's Tales (Chapter 5 up!)
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Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
5
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1,166
Reviews:
185
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Category:
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
5
Views:
1,166
Reviews:
185
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Jealousy, thy name is...
NOTES: Author's Notes are important, folks. (As are Review Replies!) Please take the time to at least skim over them, so I don't get bombarded with questions I've already addressed. And enjoy the story, while you're at it. :3
Cat's Tales
“Shino, would you please call out the girls for dinner?” Iruka turned towards the moth, precariously balancing four bowls of steamed rice in his hands. At the nod and quick flutter of wings he received in response, he walked into the dining room and placed the bowls onto the low, round table in the center.
“And Naruto, get out the mats and set them.” The blonde kitten, who had stayed quiet and frightened for the grand total of fifteen minutes after the bathroom incident, had rapidly returned to his original self after he had found out that he was being gypped out of ramen for dinner. Iruka pretended not to hear the grumbling as Naruto dragged his feet and started to search for the cushions that served as seating mats for the pets.
He walked back to the kitchen grabbed the chopsticks from the drawer and did a quick count to make sure he had enough. Yesterday Kiba had only gotten one chopstick and then proceeded to steal Chouji’s in an attempt to correct this severe infraction, starting a food fight that had only ended when Iruka had threatened to cut off every tail in the vicinity with the chopstick in question. Shaking his head slightly to rid himself of bad, bad memories, Iruka took the tempura platter and checked quickly for a certain wolverine before gingerly placing it on the table.
A low drawl sounded as he wandered back and forth from the kitchen, setting the table like he did every day. “You seem awfully calm for a guy who just found out his pet is half girl.”
Iruka’s eye twitched as the tall, masked man lazily leaned against the wall and raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. “He isn’t half girl.” He snapped instantly in Naruto’s defense. “Just because he has a… a…”
“Vagina.” The man, whose name Iruka had learned was Kakashi, provided helpfully.
“We don’t discuss genitalia at the dinner table!” he hissed, stabbing the spatula in his direction with vicious intent. A soft snort was the man’s response and Iruka gave him one last reproving glare before retreating to the kitchen in search of the sweet carrots he’d made for a certain pink bunny.
“When do you plan on discussing it then?” Iruka jumped as the voice sounded from right behind him and silently cursed the man’s ability to move so quickly. “Because right now it looks like you know little to nothing about the situation at hand.”
Iruka turned jerkily and stumbled into the masked man as he elbowed his way out of the kitchen. “I’ve read books.” he managed to mutter, feeling embarrassed by the fact that Kakashi was right; he hadn’t even considered the possibility of any of his pets – or any pets at all, for that matter – being hermaphrodites.
Kakashi fixed him with a disbelieving one-eyed stare. He opened his mouth to no doubt discomfit Iruka further about his lack of knowledge, but the soft chatter of approaching pets caught their attention first.
“And Shikamaru said that there was blood all over the place, right Shika?”
“Tch. Why do girls have to gossip about everything? Even if its happening two rooms away?”
“And it was Sasuke-kun that was bleeding!”
“That Naruto! It’s because he didn’t let Iruka-sensei clip his claws last week!”
Shikamaru rolled his eyes expressively at Shino, who twitched his antennae in response to the girls’ mindless babble. They moved ahead of the rest of the pets and wandered into the kitchen, where the presence of a stranger caused all of them to quiet.
“Who are you?” Ino spoke up boldly, slinking forward to sniff the tall man discreetly.
Iruka coughed uncomfortably at the pet’s scrutiny. They didn’t often have visitors, and especially not at this time of night. “This is Kakashi-san.” He introduced, waving his spatula in the masked man’s direction and accidentally catching the sleeve of his jacket.
He winced in apology and continued. “He works at the grocer’s and since he was so kind to bring us flour this late in the evening, I thought we would invite him to stay for dinner.”
This announcement was met with three indifferent shrugs, one expressive yawn, and a shy nod from the most timid pet Iruka had ever made an acquaintance with. Hinata, a dainty Siamese born of the same litter as Neji, was actually one of the larger pets, but her ducked shoulders and bowed head made her seem much smaller. She rarely spoke in anything but a quiet stutter; in fact, the only pets she managed to converse with at all were the girls and Shino, whose own quiet demeanor made him a kindred soul.
Iruka blinked out of his psychoanalysis as a loud thunk caught his attention. He looked up to see Chouji tumble into the room and quickly stepped in front of the plate of tempura to block the wolverine’s advance.
“Dinner?” the chubby pet demanded, butting his head against Iruka in an attempt to get him to move.
“Yes, yes.” Iruka relented hastily, nudging the wolverine aside and ducking his head under the table to take out the dinner mats.
“Where are they?” he muttered, holding Chouji back with one hand on his insatiable stomach and frowning at the empty space beneath the tables. “I thought I told Naruto to g—“
He stood up suddenly, banging his head on the edge of the table but failing to even notice the pain as the thought occurred to him. He scanned the room rapidly, and felt his heart drop when his eyes failed to fall upon a head of bright blonde hair.
“Naruto!”
—oo—oo—oo—oo—
Sasuke stubbornly refused to look into the mirror as he bandaged his hand. He knew what he would see – blood in his hair, on his face and chest, a rapidly swelling eye and a shredded shirt – and had no desire to reaffirm that image.
His lips pursed as he tightened the bandage viciously. Cords of pain pulsed through his arm, but he continued to pull until his hand started to feel numb. He picked up the gauze Iruka had hesitantly placed in front of him before leaving him to clean up, and taped the ends together.
The entire process was mechanical; living in a house full of pets with sharp claws, sharper teeth, and no restraint to speak of, taught you quickly how to treat your own wounds. So as Sasuke washed the blood from his claws and tried to get his hair back in some semblance of order, his mind was a million miles away… or rather, a few feet away, circling around a certain blonde kitten.
He gnashed his teeth irritably and felt his face flush in anger as he remembered how completely he’d lost control. His recollection of the entire scene was fuzzy around the edges, and it made his tail bristle to think that he’d acted like a complete animal in front of everyone, including that masked stranger.
Logically speaking, of course, Sasuke knew that a pet behaving like an animal was nothing unheard of – rather common, actually, in this household – but he had always prided himself on being more human than all of the others. He had been brought up to be well mannered and orderly, and despite the fact that none of his family remained to witness it, that display had disgraced his stately lineage.
He glanced at the door and frowned distastefully at the deep furrows he’d raked in the wood. Even now he wasn’t quite sure what had caused him to go into such a frenzy. He remembered feeling satisfaction and an odd sense of accomplishment when he’d finally gotten that idiot Naruto underneath him, and then a sudden, heavy flood of rage as he was taken away, but everything after that came up a blank.
Though… Sasuke’s brow furrowed as he clawed through his memory. Distantly he recalled Iruka asking the tall, silver-haired man to dinner, and feeling that pungent anger choke him as the man had touched Naruto without his permission – he bared his fangs instinctively at the thought even now. The only thing that had stopped him from leaping and ripping that man to shreds had been the way Naruto had hissed and jerked away.
It had been obvious that the blonde kitten hadn’t wanted to be touched by anyone but him. Sasuke’s lips curled up in a self-satisfied smirk at the thought before the full meaning behind it sank into his mind and he stepped back with a hiss.
What the hell was he thinking? He lifted his gaze to meet frustrated coal black eyes in the mirror. It wasn’t as if he wanted the blonde idiot to want him to touch him. Sasuke paused a moment to stare blankly at his reflection as the pronoun confusion in that thought prevented it from making any sense at all.
He shook his head in vague irritation and forced his ears to stop twitching. Standing here thinking about something clearly so ridiculous was getting him nowhere. He curled his hand into a fist to test that the bandage was loose enough to allow him to hold his chopsticks properly and licked the tip of his tail to dampen an unruly cowlick (1) before glancing one last time towards the mirror and walking out the door.
—oo—oo—oo—oo—
“And then what happened?”
A low, smooth voice broke the silence and Naruto waved his arms agitatedly in response.
“And then he tried to EAT ME!!”
“…eat you?” A hint of skepticism now, and Naruto grabbed the older cat by the shoulders and leaned forward to look earnestly into his eyes.
“Neji, he was chewing on me!”
The Siamese felt a shudder run down his spine as the smell grew stronger due to Naruto’s proximity. He swallowed and turned his head away, pulling his tail forward to wrap around his waist so it wouldn’t be thrashing wildly behind him.
“Really.”
“Believe it! And then… a-and then…” Naruto’s voice trailed off into a worried frown. He chewed his bottom lip absentmindedly and Neji had to close his eyes lest the sight caused him to take that lip into his own mouth.
“And then what?” he prompted, easing a bit closer to the blonde kitten, running his claws gently through the soft fur at his wrist.
“And then it started to feel funny. Itchy and… hot.” He squirmed. “Really hot.”
Naruto rubbed his head against Neji’s shoulder as he talked, taking advantage of the unexpected close contact. He didn’t know what had prompted the usually solitary Siamese to come to him, but he wasn’t going to complain. He was still a little shook up from Sasuke’s sudden attack, and the memories of rough hands and water in his mouth, nose, lungs, kicking out and sinking, drowning…
He trembled furiously and covered it up by fluffing his tail and extending it in a full body stretch. He slid against Neji as he did so, reveling in the warmth and companionship. A purr traveled up from low in his belly but didn’t quite make it out of his mouth.
He wasn’t sure why, but it felt… wrong to purr because of Neji. His tail lashed behind him irritably as he tried to figure out why this was. He purred with Sasuke (that bastard!) all the time, and he was the one that had tried to kill him!
As busy as he was grumpily contemplating this gross injustice, Naruto failed to notice Neji moving stealthily behind him, until his face was right besides the blonde’s twitching tail. Neji’s mouth parted as he breathed in, the scent so concentrated that he could taste it in the back of his mouth.
“So I scratched him, cos he deserved it! I only wanted him to wash m—ah!”
A clawed hand caught his tail, and despite the gentleness of the touch, Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin. He yelped and tried to turn around, but another hand grasped his thigh and kept him in place.
“Neji, wh—“
“Shhh…” A deep, rumbly sound, too low to be a purr but too light to be a growl, sounded from Neji’s throat as he lifted the blonde’s tail higher. The scent was positively intoxicating now, and for a moment he almost felt sorry for the Uchiha. He could see how easy it was to lose one’s mind in the face of this scent, and if he had been in first rut like the proud black cat, he most certainly would have.
As it turned out, however, he had plenty of experience in the courting and eventual rutting of females. And while Naruto wasn’t precisely a queen in heat, he was in heat, and that was good enough for Neji.
He held the blonde’s tail up and nearly groaned aloud at the sight of the slick, wet opening hidden between two soft looking folds of skin. He dimly comprehended that Naruto was no longer lying prone in his grasp but rather thrashing and mewing in irritation, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.
Delighted in the fact that he couldn’t smell the Uchiha in this particular spot – he did prefer tender virgins – Neji leaned forward and drew his tongue in a long, wet swipe, daring to thrust in delicately before a kick to his face caused his chin to snap up and his teeth to gnash together.
He fell back with a curse, feeling blood rush into his mouth from the cut on his lip and washing away the succulent, tangy taste of the blonde’s heat. He looked up in annoyance at being interrupted and blanched at the sight.
The normally cheery, loud blonde kitten had turned into a bristled ball of fury. A growl so violent erupted from Naruto’s throat that Neji actually stumbled as he backed away. Slitted blue eyes glared at him reproachfully and claws were pointedly extended in his direction as a blatant warning not to come any closer.
“Nar-“
“Hyuuga.” The word was snarled more than it was spoken, and the underlying growl causing it to warp so that Neji could barely understand it. His eyes shifted to land on the black cat coming out of the shadows of the house and felt his hackles rise in response to the threat in those eyes.
“Sasuke-teme!” Apparently the sight of the Uchiha had caused Naruto to revert back to his non-violent - and not quite as scary - normal self. Neji contemplated this as he absently nursed his torn lip and watched the blonde bounce over to the black cat’s side.
“Your eye is still bleeding.” Naruto said appreciatively as he reached Sasuke. “I kicked your ass!” A gleeful chuckle followed this statement, something that at any other time Sasuke would have found irksome yet slightly endearing. Right now, however, after having just witnessed Neji clearly enjoying himself between the blonde’s thighs, he felt nothing other than a devastated sort of fury.
Sasuke turned away with a hiss and tried to focus on the smell of the freshly cut grass beneath his feet and nothing, nothing else.
“Don’t.” he snapped as his peripheral vision caught the blonde following him. “Don’t come near me. You’ve caused enough problems.”
He resolutely looked the other way as the blonde’s eyes dimmed and tail fell to brush the ground.
“Yeah, well, you weren’t all sunshine and daisies either, bastard.” Naruto countered lamely, trying his hardest to sound obnoxious so he wouldn’t sound hurt. His chest contracted painfully at the thought that Sasuke was angry with him again. He knew it would be just as fair for him to stay mad at the bastard too, but try as he might he couldn’t conjure up a bit of resentment towards him.
Neji watched the both of them from a few paces away, silently marveling at the tension that practically vibrated between them. He’d had no interest in Naruto -- other than the occasional amusement factor when he made a fool of himself – before the heat came into play, but he had known that the blonde kitten made it his daily tribulation to follow Sasuke around and annoy the crap out of him.
This, though, this… connection that he was witnessing right now, no matter how antagonistic, was something different, something he couldn’t say he himself had experienced in the past. Neji didn’t like it. His eyes narrowed in contemplation. There was no love lost between the Uchiha and himself and connection or no, Neji was going to have Naruto on his knees mewling like a whore for him if it was the last thing he did. (2)
“Naruto! NARUTO!”
Three pairs of ears perked up at the noise and Neji’s elaborate schemes came to a sudden halt. It wasn’t anything too exciting – Iruka (3) ran around screaming at Naruto most every day – but the look of pure fright on the man’s face had even the arrogant Neji mewing in concern.
The slight, brown haired man ran out of the house and grasped Naruto’s shoulder with both hands, shaking him urgently. “Didn’t I tell you not to go anywhere by yourself?!”
“I didn’t!” Naruto defended quickly. “Neji was with me.”
Iruka put his head in his hands and fought the urge to cry out of frustration. Granted, he should have been a bit clearer when telling Naruto not to wander off, but for god’s sake, didn’t the boy understand the meaning of ‘heat’?
His head snapped up at the thought. That’s right, he thought swiftly, of course he doesn’t. He’s only a kitten. He bit his lip as he wondered how to explain the matter to the blonde. He was about to go into full on teacher mode when Naruto licked him playfully on the nose, snickering at Iruka’s bewildered expression.
Well, he sighed internally, I can’t do anything about it now, at any rate. I’ll have to have a long talk with him later…
“Two toms, in the same house.” Kakashi amused voice interrupted his inner monologue. “Dare I ask what you were thinking?”
Iruka snapped towards him with a scowl. “Forgive me for not having as much startling insight as yourself.”
“Forgiven.” Kakashi retorted cheekily. Iruka's mouth dropped open at the man's rudeness.
“You—“ he began, on his last thread of patience and near ready to beat the taller man to a pulp, before a rather loud growl cut him off.
Naruto chuckled sheepishly and rubbed his stomach while staring up at Iruka with pleading baby blues. Iruka rolled his eyes in exasperation; of course dinner came first. He held out a hand and smiled when a smaller, clawed one settled in.
He looked over his shoulder at the two other stiff, proud cats to make sure they were following. He wasn’t sure what had happened before he’d found Naruto, though the heavy threat of violence that hung like a malignant cloud between the two was painfully obvious.
As much as he was loath to admit it, Kakashi did have a point. Two toms with severe attitude problems in rut over a recently discovered hermaphrodite in heat could bring nothing but trouble. He shuddered at the thought and squeezed Naruto’s hand in his a bit tighter, eliciting a reassuring mew from his favorite pet.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Iruka didn’t know exactly how much trouble he was really in for.
TBC
(1) Right, so it's old news that Sasuke spends obscene amounts of time on his hair (because that duck butt hairdo takes skill and a whole lot of gel) but the thought of kitty!Sasuke doing the same to his tail makes me burst into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. Heeheehee. -ahem-
(2) Neji seems like a real jerk right now, but I'm not planning on making him the villain just like that. I really do love character development, so while he may act like a dickhead now, keep in mind he's going to evolve much the same way he did in the anime. :P
(3) Okay, this is actually not that important so feel free to skip, but while writing this chapter I typed Eureka instead of Iruka over and over and over again. One of the symptoms of living in California? Who knows? But just for common knowledge, Iruka / Eureka. Moving on...
Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to once again try to express how grateful I am to all of you that bothered to review. It's hard to understand unless you're a writer yourself, but to put it simply, feedback IS inspiration to me. I have looked over and read and re-read all of your reviews countless times while writing this chapter and coming up with ideas. So reviews don't just help motivate me (though that's a given) -- I actually take your suggestions and complaints and good-natured jesting into account and incorporate it into the story.
But right now, what I most crave... is feedback on characterization. Character consistency is a HUGE thing for me. I like to show, not tell, and I've been trying to do that in bits and pieces throughout the story - Sasuke's little monologue in the bathroom, Neji's interaction with Naruto, Kakashi's interaction with Iruka - all of that, and I'd fall at your feet if you could just tell me what you thought of it.
Of course, any sort of feedback at all is appreciated. :D It's startling how easily I'm able to write this story -- I have so many ideas for it, I'm running out of space in my brain -- and feedback really will feed a starving author. So if you can find the time, do make my day and review.
Review Replies:
charmpit and everyone else that voted 'aye!' for KakaIru: Looks like it's in the bag, ya'll. XD
littleolmee: Whoa, thanks for the long, detailed review! They're my favorite kind, heehee. I hope a few of your questions were answered in this chapter, and the imagery of Sasuke unable to find the "target" will stay with me for a long, long, loooong time.
mimi-chan: I know that you're getting the idea of half-wolf!Sasuke and half-fox!Naruto from Shirohane's For Your Eyes Only, but they're just plain ol' kitties in this fic. :P Thanks for the long review and yes, koala!Shikamaru is adorable like no other.
Nacht Kind: Thank you for the detailed review, I really do appreciate it. :3 I'm glad you liked the "action" scene, it always feels a bit awkward when I'm writing it, so to hear you didn't think it dragged along was a huge relief.
Rachelle Ryan: Kakashi may or may not have an ulterior motive to being a delivery boy. -cough- I'm keeping my mouth zipped for now! Thanks for the review, hon. (And for catching on so quickly!)
Sneakyfox: The demon thing wasn't planned out at all, but I added the red eyes into the fighting scene and thought, how's that going to fit in? And there you have it. I'm glad someone noticed and is looking forward to it though, because I'm planning on expanding on that idea in the future. :D
Kakera7: You did leave your email in your last review, yes. ^^ Thanks for the review!
Nigellica: Unfortunately, it's near impossible for me to find your email, even if you have an account, if you don't leave it specifically in the body of your review. I'd love to add you to the mailing list, so leave your email and I'll get to it. Thank you for the review too!
C.S.: I'm ecstatic that you thought the descriptions were adequate! I've been struggling with that a bit, because I do want to describe them enough so that you can visualise it in you mind's eye, but I don't want the story to become so verbose, either. So thank you for the review and your kind words of encouragement (and the suggestions, which I will definitely take to heart!)
And of course a huge ol' glomp-tackle-thanks for everyone else who reviewed! Thank you all, darlings.
Much love,
Ella
“Shino, would you please call out the girls for dinner?” Iruka turned towards the moth, precariously balancing four bowls of steamed rice in his hands. At the nod and quick flutter of wings he received in response, he walked into the dining room and placed the bowls onto the low, round table in the center.
“And Naruto, get out the mats and set them.” The blonde kitten, who had stayed quiet and frightened for the grand total of fifteen minutes after the bathroom incident, had rapidly returned to his original self after he had found out that he was being gypped out of ramen for dinner. Iruka pretended not to hear the grumbling as Naruto dragged his feet and started to search for the cushions that served as seating mats for the pets.
He walked back to the kitchen grabbed the chopsticks from the drawer and did a quick count to make sure he had enough. Yesterday Kiba had only gotten one chopstick and then proceeded to steal Chouji’s in an attempt to correct this severe infraction, starting a food fight that had only ended when Iruka had threatened to cut off every tail in the vicinity with the chopstick in question. Shaking his head slightly to rid himself of bad, bad memories, Iruka took the tempura platter and checked quickly for a certain wolverine before gingerly placing it on the table.
A low drawl sounded as he wandered back and forth from the kitchen, setting the table like he did every day. “You seem awfully calm for a guy who just found out his pet is half girl.”
Iruka’s eye twitched as the tall, masked man lazily leaned against the wall and raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. “He isn’t half girl.” He snapped instantly in Naruto’s defense. “Just because he has a… a…”
“Vagina.” The man, whose name Iruka had learned was Kakashi, provided helpfully.
“We don’t discuss genitalia at the dinner table!” he hissed, stabbing the spatula in his direction with vicious intent. A soft snort was the man’s response and Iruka gave him one last reproving glare before retreating to the kitchen in search of the sweet carrots he’d made for a certain pink bunny.
“When do you plan on discussing it then?” Iruka jumped as the voice sounded from right behind him and silently cursed the man’s ability to move so quickly. “Because right now it looks like you know little to nothing about the situation at hand.”
Iruka turned jerkily and stumbled into the masked man as he elbowed his way out of the kitchen. “I’ve read books.” he managed to mutter, feeling embarrassed by the fact that Kakashi was right; he hadn’t even considered the possibility of any of his pets – or any pets at all, for that matter – being hermaphrodites.
Kakashi fixed him with a disbelieving one-eyed stare. He opened his mouth to no doubt discomfit Iruka further about his lack of knowledge, but the soft chatter of approaching pets caught their attention first.
“And Shikamaru said that there was blood all over the place, right Shika?”
“Tch. Why do girls have to gossip about everything? Even if its happening two rooms away?”
“And it was Sasuke-kun that was bleeding!”
“That Naruto! It’s because he didn’t let Iruka-sensei clip his claws last week!”
Shikamaru rolled his eyes expressively at Shino, who twitched his antennae in response to the girls’ mindless babble. They moved ahead of the rest of the pets and wandered into the kitchen, where the presence of a stranger caused all of them to quiet.
“Who are you?” Ino spoke up boldly, slinking forward to sniff the tall man discreetly.
Iruka coughed uncomfortably at the pet’s scrutiny. They didn’t often have visitors, and especially not at this time of night. “This is Kakashi-san.” He introduced, waving his spatula in the masked man’s direction and accidentally catching the sleeve of his jacket.
He winced in apology and continued. “He works at the grocer’s and since he was so kind to bring us flour this late in the evening, I thought we would invite him to stay for dinner.”
This announcement was met with three indifferent shrugs, one expressive yawn, and a shy nod from the most timid pet Iruka had ever made an acquaintance with. Hinata, a dainty Siamese born of the same litter as Neji, was actually one of the larger pets, but her ducked shoulders and bowed head made her seem much smaller. She rarely spoke in anything but a quiet stutter; in fact, the only pets she managed to converse with at all were the girls and Shino, whose own quiet demeanor made him a kindred soul.
Iruka blinked out of his psychoanalysis as a loud thunk caught his attention. He looked up to see Chouji tumble into the room and quickly stepped in front of the plate of tempura to block the wolverine’s advance.
“Dinner?” the chubby pet demanded, butting his head against Iruka in an attempt to get him to move.
“Yes, yes.” Iruka relented hastily, nudging the wolverine aside and ducking his head under the table to take out the dinner mats.
“Where are they?” he muttered, holding Chouji back with one hand on his insatiable stomach and frowning at the empty space beneath the tables. “I thought I told Naruto to g—“
He stood up suddenly, banging his head on the edge of the table but failing to even notice the pain as the thought occurred to him. He scanned the room rapidly, and felt his heart drop when his eyes failed to fall upon a head of bright blonde hair.
“Naruto!”
Sasuke stubbornly refused to look into the mirror as he bandaged his hand. He knew what he would see – blood in his hair, on his face and chest, a rapidly swelling eye and a shredded shirt – and had no desire to reaffirm that image.
His lips pursed as he tightened the bandage viciously. Cords of pain pulsed through his arm, but he continued to pull until his hand started to feel numb. He picked up the gauze Iruka had hesitantly placed in front of him before leaving him to clean up, and taped the ends together.
The entire process was mechanical; living in a house full of pets with sharp claws, sharper teeth, and no restraint to speak of, taught you quickly how to treat your own wounds. So as Sasuke washed the blood from his claws and tried to get his hair back in some semblance of order, his mind was a million miles away… or rather, a few feet away, circling around a certain blonde kitten.
He gnashed his teeth irritably and felt his face flush in anger as he remembered how completely he’d lost control. His recollection of the entire scene was fuzzy around the edges, and it made his tail bristle to think that he’d acted like a complete animal in front of everyone, including that masked stranger.
Logically speaking, of course, Sasuke knew that a pet behaving like an animal was nothing unheard of – rather common, actually, in this household – but he had always prided himself on being more human than all of the others. He had been brought up to be well mannered and orderly, and despite the fact that none of his family remained to witness it, that display had disgraced his stately lineage.
He glanced at the door and frowned distastefully at the deep furrows he’d raked in the wood. Even now he wasn’t quite sure what had caused him to go into such a frenzy. He remembered feeling satisfaction and an odd sense of accomplishment when he’d finally gotten that idiot Naruto underneath him, and then a sudden, heavy flood of rage as he was taken away, but everything after that came up a blank.
Though… Sasuke’s brow furrowed as he clawed through his memory. Distantly he recalled Iruka asking the tall, silver-haired man to dinner, and feeling that pungent anger choke him as the man had touched Naruto without his permission – he bared his fangs instinctively at the thought even now. The only thing that had stopped him from leaping and ripping that man to shreds had been the way Naruto had hissed and jerked away.
It had been obvious that the blonde kitten hadn’t wanted to be touched by anyone but him. Sasuke’s lips curled up in a self-satisfied smirk at the thought before the full meaning behind it sank into his mind and he stepped back with a hiss.
What the hell was he thinking? He lifted his gaze to meet frustrated coal black eyes in the mirror. It wasn’t as if he wanted the blonde idiot to want him to touch him. Sasuke paused a moment to stare blankly at his reflection as the pronoun confusion in that thought prevented it from making any sense at all.
He shook his head in vague irritation and forced his ears to stop twitching. Standing here thinking about something clearly so ridiculous was getting him nowhere. He curled his hand into a fist to test that the bandage was loose enough to allow him to hold his chopsticks properly and licked the tip of his tail to dampen an unruly cowlick (1) before glancing one last time towards the mirror and walking out the door.
“And then what happened?”
A low, smooth voice broke the silence and Naruto waved his arms agitatedly in response.
“And then he tried to EAT ME!!”
“…eat you?” A hint of skepticism now, and Naruto grabbed the older cat by the shoulders and leaned forward to look earnestly into his eyes.
“Neji, he was chewing on me!”
The Siamese felt a shudder run down his spine as the smell grew stronger due to Naruto’s proximity. He swallowed and turned his head away, pulling his tail forward to wrap around his waist so it wouldn’t be thrashing wildly behind him.
“Really.”
“Believe it! And then… a-and then…” Naruto’s voice trailed off into a worried frown. He chewed his bottom lip absentmindedly and Neji had to close his eyes lest the sight caused him to take that lip into his own mouth.
“And then what?” he prompted, easing a bit closer to the blonde kitten, running his claws gently through the soft fur at his wrist.
“And then it started to feel funny. Itchy and… hot.” He squirmed. “Really hot.”
Naruto rubbed his head against Neji’s shoulder as he talked, taking advantage of the unexpected close contact. He didn’t know what had prompted the usually solitary Siamese to come to him, but he wasn’t going to complain. He was still a little shook up from Sasuke’s sudden attack, and the memories of rough hands and water in his mouth, nose, lungs, kicking out and sinking, drowning…
He trembled furiously and covered it up by fluffing his tail and extending it in a full body stretch. He slid against Neji as he did so, reveling in the warmth and companionship. A purr traveled up from low in his belly but didn’t quite make it out of his mouth.
He wasn’t sure why, but it felt… wrong to purr because of Neji. His tail lashed behind him irritably as he tried to figure out why this was. He purred with Sasuke (that bastard!) all the time, and he was the one that had tried to kill him!
As busy as he was grumpily contemplating this gross injustice, Naruto failed to notice Neji moving stealthily behind him, until his face was right besides the blonde’s twitching tail. Neji’s mouth parted as he breathed in, the scent so concentrated that he could taste it in the back of his mouth.
“So I scratched him, cos he deserved it! I only wanted him to wash m—ah!”
A clawed hand caught his tail, and despite the gentleness of the touch, Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin. He yelped and tried to turn around, but another hand grasped his thigh and kept him in place.
“Neji, wh—“
“Shhh…” A deep, rumbly sound, too low to be a purr but too light to be a growl, sounded from Neji’s throat as he lifted the blonde’s tail higher. The scent was positively intoxicating now, and for a moment he almost felt sorry for the Uchiha. He could see how easy it was to lose one’s mind in the face of this scent, and if he had been in first rut like the proud black cat, he most certainly would have.
As it turned out, however, he had plenty of experience in the courting and eventual rutting of females. And while Naruto wasn’t precisely a queen in heat, he was in heat, and that was good enough for Neji.
He held the blonde’s tail up and nearly groaned aloud at the sight of the slick, wet opening hidden between two soft looking folds of skin. He dimly comprehended that Naruto was no longer lying prone in his grasp but rather thrashing and mewing in irritation, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.
Delighted in the fact that he couldn’t smell the Uchiha in this particular spot – he did prefer tender virgins – Neji leaned forward and drew his tongue in a long, wet swipe, daring to thrust in delicately before a kick to his face caused his chin to snap up and his teeth to gnash together.
He fell back with a curse, feeling blood rush into his mouth from the cut on his lip and washing away the succulent, tangy taste of the blonde’s heat. He looked up in annoyance at being interrupted and blanched at the sight.
The normally cheery, loud blonde kitten had turned into a bristled ball of fury. A growl so violent erupted from Naruto’s throat that Neji actually stumbled as he backed away. Slitted blue eyes glared at him reproachfully and claws were pointedly extended in his direction as a blatant warning not to come any closer.
“Nar-“
“Hyuuga.” The word was snarled more than it was spoken, and the underlying growl causing it to warp so that Neji could barely understand it. His eyes shifted to land on the black cat coming out of the shadows of the house and felt his hackles rise in response to the threat in those eyes.
“Sasuke-teme!” Apparently the sight of the Uchiha had caused Naruto to revert back to his non-violent - and not quite as scary - normal self. Neji contemplated this as he absently nursed his torn lip and watched the blonde bounce over to the black cat’s side.
“Your eye is still bleeding.” Naruto said appreciatively as he reached Sasuke. “I kicked your ass!” A gleeful chuckle followed this statement, something that at any other time Sasuke would have found irksome yet slightly endearing. Right now, however, after having just witnessed Neji clearly enjoying himself between the blonde’s thighs, he felt nothing other than a devastated sort of fury.
Sasuke turned away with a hiss and tried to focus on the smell of the freshly cut grass beneath his feet and nothing, nothing else.
“Don’t.” he snapped as his peripheral vision caught the blonde following him. “Don’t come near me. You’ve caused enough problems.”
He resolutely looked the other way as the blonde’s eyes dimmed and tail fell to brush the ground.
“Yeah, well, you weren’t all sunshine and daisies either, bastard.” Naruto countered lamely, trying his hardest to sound obnoxious so he wouldn’t sound hurt. His chest contracted painfully at the thought that Sasuke was angry with him again. He knew it would be just as fair for him to stay mad at the bastard too, but try as he might he couldn’t conjure up a bit of resentment towards him.
Neji watched the both of them from a few paces away, silently marveling at the tension that practically vibrated between them. He’d had no interest in Naruto -- other than the occasional amusement factor when he made a fool of himself – before the heat came into play, but he had known that the blonde kitten made it his daily tribulation to follow Sasuke around and annoy the crap out of him.
This, though, this… connection that he was witnessing right now, no matter how antagonistic, was something different, something he couldn’t say he himself had experienced in the past. Neji didn’t like it. His eyes narrowed in contemplation. There was no love lost between the Uchiha and himself and connection or no, Neji was going to have Naruto on his knees mewling like a whore for him if it was the last thing he did. (2)
“Naruto! NARUTO!”
Three pairs of ears perked up at the noise and Neji’s elaborate schemes came to a sudden halt. It wasn’t anything too exciting – Iruka (3) ran around screaming at Naruto most every day – but the look of pure fright on the man’s face had even the arrogant Neji mewing in concern.
The slight, brown haired man ran out of the house and grasped Naruto’s shoulder with both hands, shaking him urgently. “Didn’t I tell you not to go anywhere by yourself?!”
“I didn’t!” Naruto defended quickly. “Neji was with me.”
Iruka put his head in his hands and fought the urge to cry out of frustration. Granted, he should have been a bit clearer when telling Naruto not to wander off, but for god’s sake, didn’t the boy understand the meaning of ‘heat’?
His head snapped up at the thought. That’s right, he thought swiftly, of course he doesn’t. He’s only a kitten. He bit his lip as he wondered how to explain the matter to the blonde. He was about to go into full on teacher mode when Naruto licked him playfully on the nose, snickering at Iruka’s bewildered expression.
Well, he sighed internally, I can’t do anything about it now, at any rate. I’ll have to have a long talk with him later…
“Two toms, in the same house.” Kakashi amused voice interrupted his inner monologue. “Dare I ask what you were thinking?”
Iruka snapped towards him with a scowl. “Forgive me for not having as much startling insight as yourself.”
“Forgiven.” Kakashi retorted cheekily. Iruka's mouth dropped open at the man's rudeness.
“You—“ he began, on his last thread of patience and near ready to beat the taller man to a pulp, before a rather loud growl cut him off.
Naruto chuckled sheepishly and rubbed his stomach while staring up at Iruka with pleading baby blues. Iruka rolled his eyes in exasperation; of course dinner came first. He held out a hand and smiled when a smaller, clawed one settled in.
He looked over his shoulder at the two other stiff, proud cats to make sure they were following. He wasn’t sure what had happened before he’d found Naruto, though the heavy threat of violence that hung like a malignant cloud between the two was painfully obvious.
As much as he was loath to admit it, Kakashi did have a point. Two toms with severe attitude problems in rut over a recently discovered hermaphrodite in heat could bring nothing but trouble. He shuddered at the thought and squeezed Naruto’s hand in his a bit tighter, eliciting a reassuring mew from his favorite pet.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Iruka didn’t know exactly how much trouble he was really in for.
(1) Right, so it's old news that Sasuke spends obscene amounts of time on his hair (because that duck butt hairdo takes skill and a whole lot of gel) but the thought of kitty!Sasuke doing the same to his tail makes me burst into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. Heeheehee. -ahem-
(2) Neji seems like a real jerk right now, but I'm not planning on making him the villain just like that. I really do love character development, so while he may act like a dickhead now, keep in mind he's going to evolve much the same way he did in the anime. :P
(3) Okay, this is actually not that important so feel free to skip, but while writing this chapter I typed Eureka instead of Iruka over and over and over again. One of the symptoms of living in California? Who knows? But just for common knowledge, Iruka / Eureka. Moving on...
Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to once again try to express how grateful I am to all of you that bothered to review. It's hard to understand unless you're a writer yourself, but to put it simply, feedback IS inspiration to me. I have looked over and read and re-read all of your reviews countless times while writing this chapter and coming up with ideas. So reviews don't just help motivate me (though that's a given) -- I actually take your suggestions and complaints and good-natured jesting into account and incorporate it into the story.
But right now, what I most crave... is feedback on characterization. Character consistency is a HUGE thing for me. I like to show, not tell, and I've been trying to do that in bits and pieces throughout the story - Sasuke's little monologue in the bathroom, Neji's interaction with Naruto, Kakashi's interaction with Iruka - all of that, and I'd fall at your feet if you could just tell me what you thought of it.
Of course, any sort of feedback at all is appreciated. :D It's startling how easily I'm able to write this story -- I have so many ideas for it, I'm running out of space in my brain -- and feedback really will feed a starving author. So if you can find the time, do make my day and review.
Review Replies:
charmpit and everyone else that voted 'aye!' for KakaIru: Looks like it's in the bag, ya'll. XD
littleolmee: Whoa, thanks for the long, detailed review! They're my favorite kind, heehee. I hope a few of your questions were answered in this chapter, and the imagery of Sasuke unable to find the "target" will stay with me for a long, long, loooong time.
mimi-chan: I know that you're getting the idea of half-wolf!Sasuke and half-fox!Naruto from Shirohane's For Your Eyes Only, but they're just plain ol' kitties in this fic. :P Thanks for the long review and yes, koala!Shikamaru is adorable like no other.
Nacht Kind: Thank you for the detailed review, I really do appreciate it. :3 I'm glad you liked the "action" scene, it always feels a bit awkward when I'm writing it, so to hear you didn't think it dragged along was a huge relief.
Rachelle Ryan: Kakashi may or may not have an ulterior motive to being a delivery boy. -cough- I'm keeping my mouth zipped for now! Thanks for the review, hon. (And for catching on so quickly!)
Sneakyfox: The demon thing wasn't planned out at all, but I added the red eyes into the fighting scene and thought, how's that going to fit in? And there you have it. I'm glad someone noticed and is looking forward to it though, because I'm planning on expanding on that idea in the future. :D
Kakera7: You did leave your email in your last review, yes. ^^ Thanks for the review!
Nigellica: Unfortunately, it's near impossible for me to find your email, even if you have an account, if you don't leave it specifically in the body of your review. I'd love to add you to the mailing list, so leave your email and I'll get to it. Thank you for the review too!
C.S.: I'm ecstatic that you thought the descriptions were adequate! I've been struggling with that a bit, because I do want to describe them enough so that you can visualise it in you mind's eye, but I don't want the story to become so verbose, either. So thank you for the review and your kind words of encouragement (and the suggestions, which I will definitely take to heart!)
And of course a huge ol' glomp-tackle-thanks for everyone else who reviewed! Thank you all, darlings.
Much love,
Ella