Sasuke touched his wounds gently. They still ached and if he wasn't careful, they would reopen. Times like this he couldn't sleep. His wounds hurt too much to lay down, and his mind raced with thoughts of his brother too much to rest. When had everything gotten so convoluted? He had gotten rid of just about anyone who could've given damn about him. Well, except Juugo who stood faithfully by the door keeping watch over him. The only other person had surprised him was Suigetsu. He wasn't entirely sure of his reasons for staying, but he had none the less. He was only beginning to consider this when he felt it, a flare of chakra in the room. Sasuke looked to Juugo whose body was ridged, but he made no move in defense or attack. Sasuke looked around the room only to discover there was nothing out of place except a box. Juugo walked carefully to it, making sure to keep himself in between the object and Sasuke. The box in question was an ancient cherry oak chest. It was about the size of Juugo's torso and it had intricate black markings swirling around it. The markings looked like black vines that curled around all of its sides and seemed to emanate at the lock, or where the lock should have been, he amended. Juugo reached out to touch it, chakra pulsed through the black lines like a warning. A small spark of ration chakra bit Juugo's hand, and something in the box hissed.

"It's alive." Juugo pondered this, then reached out to touch the object again. This time nothing seemed to happened. "This chest and whatever is inside it of it is connected, like it's one being. No," He picked it up to look at it closer. "No, the box itself is chakra and a seal." Juugo's muscles suddenly locked and a look of shock passed across his face. Color drained from his face and he took a few forced steps toward Sasuke and placed it on the ground next to him. "It wants to talk with you." Sasuke looked at Juugo's panicked expression and narrowed his eyes.

"What have you done to Juugo?" Juugo scratched his head and his expression changed to one of deep thought.

"As your friend said, the box and me are one in the same and yet not quite the same. More of the seal is part of me, so I simply flowed my," The thing that possessed Juugo seemed to pause and think of the best way to phrase it's words. "Essence into your friend here. He seems quite frightened for your safety even though I assured him I mean you no harm. It's not like I can lie to him since technically we are the same being at the moment." Sasuke simply blinked taking in the information very carefully.

"So speak. What is it you want?" Juugo snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Silly human. I want nothing you can give. I am here to ensure the certain things head the right course." Power flowed from the box to Sasuke's hand. It felt like someone had gently slipped their warm hand over his and was lightly tugging his hand forward until it lay on the spot where all the black lines converged. The lock. Violet chakra slid across the black lines and began to shine with the intensity of the sun causing both Juugo and Sasuke to look away, and cover their eyes.

When they turned back a little gold cat stood in place of the chest. It was the same tawny gold all over and the only color to break that was a red leather color with a simple iron bell. It stretched its front legs out then pressed the top of its head to Sasuke's hand. Purring quietly and sitting down the cat opened its eyes and stared at Sasuke. Its eyes were a deep emerald green and in a bold feminine voice the cat said,

"Hmmm, I figured there would be more to you, Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the little creature, but it seemed either not to notice the effect its words had, or it simply didn't care because it turned its back on Sasuke and asked Juugo, "Do you have woman's clothes around here? I would expect some of the clothes here would be fitting for a women." Juugo's jaw hung kind of slack as his gaze went from the cat to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded for Juugo to go. Once Juugo had left Sasuke openly studied the oddity that sat before him.

"What are you?" he finally asked.

"A cat." she replied in a sarcastic tone. Sasuke grabbed the cat by its scruff and shook the creature. She yowled in protest.

"I don't like being screwed with. Now answer!" The cat glared at him a swiped at his face drawing blood. Sasuke dropped the little monster and wiped at his cheek smearing the blood across his face.

"I don't actually know what I am. Humans don't have a name for beings like me simply because no one really remembers we exist. All I know is that I am like the creatures you call biju but I am not one, more of a mix of a biju and a human. I am a creature from the beginning that helped shape the world you know today." Sasuke looked at the creature through Sharingan and saw it was a deep well of chakra that dwarfed his own even with the curse mark.

"What is your name?" The cat looked at him like she didn't comprehend the question asked of her. She cocked her head to the side and stared at him questioningly. "What are you called? You have a name right?" The cat thought about it and slowly replied,

"Old geezer called me Kiszu, I suppose you could call them my family," She shook her head, "Anyway, they call me kitten, the first hokage called me little miss, and your brother refers to me as Lily." The last one caught his attention.

"You knew my brother?" He asked suspiciously. The cat nodded and began licking its paws and then rubbing her face. "When? How?" The cat paused her cleaning before looking at Sasuke. For a moment she seemed to debate something before she finally replied,

"Your brother was the first human to recognize I was something more than a ninja cat, well not since the first hokage." Sasuke seemed about to ask something but Lily gave him a look that said interrupting her would be an unwise choice. "You know that the Uchiha clan keeps many ninja cats and your brother always kept council with us. I'm not entirely sure when he realized it, but one day when I was sleeping in the sun your brother came and picked me up. I was brought to his room and he sat there just petting me for a while." Lily began to purr at the memory as if she could still feel Itachi's hand stroking her fur. "It was getting dark by the time he spoke. I don't really remember what he said. It was something along the lines of why I chose to be a simple cat when I could be so much more. I transformed into my human form." She laughed at the memory. "He didn't even seem surprised much less bothered by the fact I was nude, he just kept running his fingers through my hair." She chuckled, "Maybe it was the only thing he could do to keep from being embarrassed." She shrugged. "Either way from then on I followed him as a cat and I remained by his side. I tried to avoid being human unless it was just us." A sad look passed over her face. "Sometime later a man who smelt of death met with Itachi and I tried to protect him, but he locked me in that stupid box. He said he was sorry but that he didn't want him to know of me." Sasuke noticed her tail twitched in agitation and her claws dug into the floor. "He said when his plan was done I'd be sent to you. To ensure peace for his brother and for his home." Before Sasuke could respond to this Juugo came back in the room holding bundle of clothes.