Nukenin

Next days were practically the same. I was just roaming around and we didn’t really interact. After about a week Hokage called us. She finally had some new information. “I have one good news and one not so good. The good one is that I know what exactly happened to you. The not so good one is that it will take some time before we will be able to fix it.” Well, that was surely better than nothing. I couldn’t imagine if I had to stay like this forever.

“Your state was in fact caused by technique. This one is used by a clan from Stone village. I already sent a team there to get them to help us, but it will not be before about a month.” A month, huh? I hoped it would be a shorter time but alright. It could be worse, I couldn’t really complain. But still, sometimes I had a feeling that I was losing my mind. 

Or more precisely I started to act like a true cat. Two days ago Sasuke tried to give me a bath, but only ended up with scratched arms. I just couldn’t force myself into the water. And I didn’t get what his problem was. I was clean as I was grooming myself everyday. 

Anyway this wasn’t that bad. Worse was when I went outside for a little walk. Like, I was going through the street. Not caring about people around and then I heard it. Barking. I looked back and for sure there was Akamaru chasing after me a Kiba running after Akamaru to stop him.

On the other hand, there weren’t only bad things. As we lived like this for a longer time, I had a chance to see another Sasuke’s side than before. When he was at home, he was not acting co cold as when he was outside among other people. He seemed more relaxed. And moreover even kinda nice. Living with him wasn’t as half bad as I originally thought it would be.

During the day when Sasuke was away from his apartment, I was spending most of my time outside. With a body so small and nimble I had more options on how to get to some place that I wouldn’t be able to in a human form. Like in the kitchen of Ichiraku ramen. I had to leave when they finally noticed me, but at least I ran away with a good portion of meat.

But it still would be better without incidents like the one with Akamaru and other dogs from the village. Even if these were the least troublesome…

“Oh my, look Ino! That’s such a cute kitty.” I heard the high pitch voice of Sakura’s right behind me. With fear in my eyes I looked behind me. Her grabby hands were getting closer to me so I ran. Ran for my life, so I wouldn't be crushed to death by her. 

Unfortunately, she started running after me. Like, I know she didn’t know that it was me, but come on. She should have left me alone. What normal person runs after some random cat that doesn’t want to cuddle. Well, it wasn’t much different from how she was always running after Sasuke, I thought as I saw him standing at some stand a few metres before me.

I ran towards him, hoping that he would save me from this pink loud nightmare. Before he could anyhow react, I climbed over his back till I got to his neck. There I curled and meowed at him from his shoulder. “Sasuke-kun, I didn’t know you had a kitty.” She said so sweetly anyone would cringe. I just rolled my eyes as she again got to her ‘I need to woo Sasuke-kun’ mode. It would be better if she already stopped with it. It didn’t annoy only Sasuke, but also everyone who had to witness it.

“And?” He almost spitted at her. He wasn’t probably in a really good mood right now. Or maybe it was just because of her. Who knows. I was glad that at least Ino started to act normally. I had a feeling that she was even dating someone. But I wasn’t sure about it. Now, instead of squealing with Sakura, she would  try to calm her down, when she got too much.

It honestly surprised me that Sasuke didn’t mind me as I laid over his shoulders, slowly stretching my paws. “Can I hold it, please? Pretty please.” She pleaded with pup eyes. If I could speak I would already be calling a doctor so they would take her to hospital. She looked like a crazy with that expression.

“That’s not a good idea, he doesn’t like strange people. Which you should have realized, when he was trying to escape from you! He frowned at her. And thank god, my life was spared. I didn’t even want to think about what could happen to me If she got her hands on me. I would probably end up in some insane outfit, that she would get out of nowhere.

Sakura looked down, visibly sad. “Oh, okay.” She seemed to say something more, but before she could even open her mouth, Ino started to drag her away, telling Sasuke that they had something to do and needed to hurry. Sakura tried to stop her but didn’t stand a chance, so we were saved for good.

“Next time please be aware of where you are going, do you understand? I won’t save you like this again. Not when it has anything to do with her.” Sasuke scolded me, but even though the danger was away I still stayed settled on his shoulders. The evening was coming and he was going back to his apartment, anyway.

When we got home I jumped down and let Sasuke sit on the couch and take out a book. I decided to lay next to him since I didn’t have anything to do. Even though I was all day outside, I was still clean and didn’t need to groom myself. So I just laid here, eyes closed.

I shook a little when I felt a hand on my back, but quickly relaxed as skilled fingers were running through my fur, scratching me just right. I have no idea how I would react if I was in my human form, but for now it was so nice. WIthout realizing it I started purring loudly. 

I had a feeling that I was going crazy from the situation. Even with this body it was still me and I’m sure that he was also still aware of it. It would be different if I also had a mind like a cat, not just a body, maybe not even remembering our time together when it would be over. But that was not the case. I knew what I was doing and knew what he was doing. And I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t lose any of my memories.

Then suddenly there was lightning visible through the window and a few seconds after it a thunder. As I had my eyes closed I didn’t notice that the sky darkened with clouds and a thunderstorm started. Heavy rain was drumming on the window while the thunders came in greater amounts. I shivered a little. Since I was little I have been afraid of thunderstorms. It was maybe weird that I was scared of something so simple, when I literally had a demon inside of me and risked my own life during missions. But everyone had something.

Sasuke probably noticed it too, that I tensed, since he moved me closer to him. The warmth of his body was making it better, clearing my mind. Rain and lighting weren’t over even when we were getting ready to go to sleep and I was preparing myself for a sleepless night. “Come here.” Sasuke said surprisingly and patted his bed. Even with how nice he acted towards me, I didn’t expect that. Especially after what he told me the first day,

But there was no way I would refuse it. I quickly got next to him and let him cover me with a blanket. I felt so comfortable that I completely forgot about the noise from the outside. Normally I could never sleep during thunderstorms, but that night I fell asleep so fast, not even knowing how.

When I woke up the next morning, I was a little bit confused about where I was. It wasn’t my sleeping spot on the couch. I blinked a few times before I noticed Sasuke’s face, maybe a little bit too close to my own. I had to move on his chest somewhen through the night. But he didn’t look like he minded it. He continued to sleep, undisturbed. It was true that there was nothing because of what he would need to wake up early.  There were no missions or trainings.

As some more time went by, we got along better and better, spending more of that time together. Sasuke even read his book aloud, so I could listen to him as I was spread across his lap. I never really give much to reading, but while he was speaking I got drawn into the story. But it was probably more about his voice than the story itself.

I didn’t really want to admit it to myself, but this was about to end someday. And that day quicker than I would like. Even with how I was looking towards it at the start. One early morning we were both called to the Hokage’s office. There was no doubt that she finally had a solution.

When we got to her office, there were two men from Stone village. On their back they had the same symbols as the attackers that caused this mess. The group was probably from the same clan as these two, but decided to live with their own rules.

“Alright Naruto, these are Akihiro-san and Ginji-san. They’re here to help with your problem.” Men started to talk about the technique that caused it, about how it worked and all these things that didn’t really interest anyone in the room. But they seemed quite proud of the technique, even if a little bit ashamed that it was used in such a bad way.

I zoomed out till they got to the point. “The process of curing it is pretty simple, when you know it caused it in the first place. We just need to inject this substance into you.” He took out a covered sirine with a transparent liquid from one of his pockets. “It will destroy the substance that is still in your bloodstream.” He added.

After they injected it, they also did some signs just to be sure according to them. “So, after you go to sleep tonight, you should wake up in your normal body in the morning. And don’t worry, no cat features will stay.” One winked at me when they went outside. A weird guy.

As it was all done, Hokage let us go too, just asking me to come again tomorrow so she would be able to make sure that everything was alright. I should have been glad that I would be normal again, but after the about a month and half I got used to spend every day with Sasuek. I realized that I would kinda miss it. I managed to find out that even he had his good side, not only the cold and unpleasant one.

But I doubted that he would want to spend any more time with me, when I wouldn’t be a cat anymore. So when I woke up the next morning, the sun had just started to rise, and saw that it worked, I silently left Sasuke’s apartment to avoid any awkward situation. But at least I left a short note with my thanks.