In too Deep, a naruto fanfic

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-In too Deep-

A Sasuke-Sakura one-shot

Sasuke Uchiha was doing what he did best; which was absolutely nothing. He leaned against the railing with his all-too-famous, stoic expression on his face. What his thoughts were on, however, would probably surprise many different people.

The weather is pretty nice…So long as it isn't raining, I think my good mood might keep up. He thought to himself. He would never voice his thoughts, but he considered himself to be in a relatively good mood.

The sun shone down directly, but wasn't too hot. There were a few puffy white clouds that hinted that there was a possible chance of rain in the afternoon. A slight breeze made his black hair move with it, but not by so much that he would get irritated with it.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted happily as she ran towards him. So much for his good day. And did she have to shout his name whenever she saw him? Which, by the way, was practically every day.

He turned his head slightly just to let her know that he acknowledged her presence. He didn't want to be stuck with her whining in his ear about why he wasn't paying attention to her.

A few minutes later, with the pink haired girl aimlessly chatting away, Naruto showed up.

"Heh, heh, sorry I'm late!" he said loudly, as usual.

"Naruto!" Sakura said while glaring. The typical greeting between the two.

"Hey," Sasuke said simply and looked at them both. He wasn't in much of a talkative mood, but still a good one. All he really wanted to do was to zone both of their annoying voices out and think to himself. Any normal person would call this day dreaming, but Sasuke wasn't about to admit to that.

"When is Kakashi going to be here?!" Naruto asked impatiently, marching around like he normally did when they met together for training. A long line of curses, mostly directed towards their very late teacher, followed.

"Yo," Kakashi's familiar voice rang out. He was crouched on the railing directly in front of Sasuke.

"Dammit, can't you come on time?!" Naruto asked angrily. Apparently not everyone was in such a happy mood.

"I apologize," Kakashi said, reciting something he said every single day followed by an excuse to why he was late. This time it was something about helping a baby bird find its way back to its nest.

"Yeah, right," Naruto scoffed. He had his arms crossed and his blue eyes were glaring straight into their teacher's black ones.

"Hmm, well sorry to have made you wait for so long," he said again and hopped to the ground, "But there won't be any training with me today. The Hokage wants to see you, Sakura. As for you two boys, I'm going to have you guys practice."

"So we are training?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but not with me. I can't stay for long because there's been word leaking out that the Akatsuki is planning to attack sometime. I've got a mission to attend to," he explained, "Now Sakura, you should see what Tsunade wants. You two, follow me."

They did as he asked. Sakura was off in a flash while Sasuke and Naruto followed Kakashi into the forest. They reached a small, open field.

"Ok," their teacher said and turned to face them, "You will be practicing changing into different things. It's just to see if you can do it. Ninjas must be able to change into different thing, whether it be people or animals, to try and spy on the enemy. You can choose whatever it is to practice changing into, but you have to do the same ones."

"What do you mean, the same ones," Naruto asked. His hands were folded on the back of his head.

"If you decided to change into, say, a butterfly, then Sasuke would have to try and change into that too. Oh, and you can't continue until both of you has successfully changed into whatever it is you're trying to change into," he said and smiled.

Sasuke made a small noise of annoyance. If it was going to be like that, he would never get any better. He would have to wait until Naruto got the hang of it before he could try anything else.

"Got it? Good. Now, goodbye!" he said and was gone in a 'poof'.

Sasuke sighed. His good mood was slowly being broken down.

"Ok then! Let's get started!" Naruto exclaimed and looked around the forest, "What do you want to change into first?"

Sasuke thought about it. He sure as hell didn't want to change into any damn butterfly. "How about we try changing into each other first?" he suggested.

"Ok!" Naruto said and made the hand signs, "But then I get to choose what we change into next!"

Sasuke shrugged, seeing as it was only fair, and also formed the hand signs.

Changing into each other wasn't all that difficult. It was partly because they saw each other so much.

Sasuke stared back at Naruto, who had taken the shape of him. The blonde boy had started to grin and then laugh.

"What is it?" the Uchiha boy asked, obviously annoyed. Anyone passing by would have seen a laughing Sasuke and a glaring Naruto.

"It's just, I can do whatever I want as you!" Naruto exclaimed. With that said, he started to prance around the meadow.

"Naruto," Sasuke said threateningly as he tried to look away. It was slightly horrifying to see oneself dancing around like an idiot.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said and walked back over, a huge grin still on his face. "My turn to pick what we turn into!"

They had successfully turned into a butterfly, a bird, Sakura, and a weapon of their choice. Naruto had chosen the butterfly and Sakura while Sasuke had chosen a bird and the weapon. The Uchiha hadn't been too thrilled to transform into the pink haired girl he disliked so much.

"My turn!" Naruto exclaimed happily, though he was starting to look worn out. Transforming so many times spent a lot of chakra.

"Ok," Sasuke said, his eye twitching slightly. It seemed that the blonde haired boy just liked to pick things that were funny.

He thought for a moment. "Ok! How about cats?" he asked.

"Whatever, you get to choose," Sasuke said and shrugged, though he didn't like the idea very much. It was better than changing into girls that he happened to know.

They performed the correct hand signs and, with the thought of a cat in mind, muttered the word 'transform'.

"Neh, Sasuke! You look weird!" Naruto said.

He opened his eyes to see that everything was suddenly big. "We were supposed to change into cats," Sasuke said as he took in Naruto's appearance.

"I know that!" he exclaimed.

"Then why do you look like a fox?"

Naruto glared at him. He had the fur patterns of a fox; white stomach, orange fur, black paws; but the overall look of a cat. His eyes were a bright blue, which didn't surprise him much.

He looked over himself. He had to admit, blue-black fur definitely wasn't normal. His paws were pitch black and so was the tip of his tail.

"Aww, Sasuke, you're a kitten!" Naruto cooed, choosing to tease him to replace the silence.

"So are you, stupid," Sasuke replied, glaring at the fox-like cat in front of him.

"Yeah…" Naruto stated, getting distracted by a nearby butterfly. In a matter of minutes, Naruto had: chased a butterfly, tried eating some unknown bug, ran after a grasshopper, sneezed when sniffing a flower, and now he had discovered his tail and was intent on catching it.

Sasuke had been watching Naruto with a sort of dazed expression. He hadn't realized someone else had entered the meadow; he was that focused on the idiot in front of him. It amazed him how A.D.D. Naruto was. (Attention Deficit Disorder)

"Oh, wow," Sasuke heard Sakura say loudly. To him, it was loud; to a normal sized person, it was a hushed whisper.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto mumbled, something between his teeth, "Look what I got!"

The blue-black kitten stared at him in disgust, his realization that Sakura was in the meadow momentarily forgotten. "That is gross," he stated as Naruto placed the mouse in front of him.

"Oh, hey, Sakura is here," Naruto said and looked up at her, "Man, she got huge!"

Apparently, she couldn't understand what they were saying; otherwise she'd be squealing on how adorable Sasuke was and trying to hit Naruto for calling her huge.

"I've never seen a cat with that kind of fur," she said to herself as she inspected Sasuke. Then she turned her green eyes to Naruto. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed and leapt away.

Naruto huffed. "Why is it that you get all the attention?" he mumbled to Sasuke, his ears drooping a little.

"Wait," she said, once again, to herself, "Why would a cat be playing with a fox? That's got to be another cat! I don't think foxes have blue eyes. Yes, most definitely a cat."

Sasuke stared back at her, a sort of 'what-the-hell' look was in his eyes. She was, after all, talking out loud to herself. To say the least, it wasn't particularly normal.

"Aww," she said and smiled softly. Sasuke followed her gaze to see Naruto chasing his tail again. He mentally rolled his eyes.

Suddenly he felt himself being stroked. His first instinct was to back away but he knew that, reasonably, a kitten would be enjoying this.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, looking amused, "You're purring!" He rolled around on the ground laughing.

The Uchiha opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them, and noticed that he was.

"What a funny kitty," Sakura said, looking over at Naruto again, "I wonder if mom would let me keep them…"

The next moment she was gone. Sasuke shook himself, as if to get rid of the feel of the girl's lingering touch.

"So, Sasuke," Naruto said, looking smug as he pranced up to him, "Are you becoming a softie now? You looked like you were enjoying it. Am I right?"

"Let's change back quickly before she comes back," he said, ignoring the question.

Naruto smirked, taking it as a yes. "Ok," he said, sounding oddly happy.

But try as they might, they couldn't change back. Panic set over them both.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Naruto yelled, running around in circles. This time he wasn't chasing his own tail. "I can't change back! What's going to happen if we never can?"

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke said, pacing back and forth, "There has to be a good reason for this. We can't change back…because we've spent too much chakra!"

"But then, shouldn't we change back anyways?" Naruto asked, "I mean, whenever I'm just about spent, all my shadow clones disappear!"

"Those are shadow clones," Sasuke said thoughtfully, "And I was just trying to find a good explanation. Did you hear something?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, his ears twitching slightly. He couldn't hear anything save the birds in the trees.

A huge white dog unexpectedly jumped out of the woods…and directly at them.

"Holy crap! Since when was Akamaru that big?!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping away immediately.

Sasuke realized he was right. The dog was Akamaru.

"What did you find?" Kiba asked, jumping in the clearing almost right after his dog. He looked to the ground and saw the two kittens. "Oh, so that's what got you sidetracked. Well come on, quit buggin' them. We need to train; not run after some dumb cats."

Just as they had come, they had abruptly left.

"Ok, I'm definitely hoping Sakura's mom says she can keep us," Naruto said. All his fur was standing up and he looked absolutely terrified.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, though he was much calmer. "If Akamaru was that big, just think of the wolves that live here. Plus, an owl might want to pick us up."

This only made Naruto more scared. It seemed hours until Sakura came back.

"Come here and look at this!" Sakura said, signaling to someone.

"Oh wow," Hinata whispered, bending down to look at the cats, "They're so cute!"

"You know, I think that's the first time I heard her not stutter," Naruto said absentmindedly.

"So you can take one, right?" Sakura asked, "Because I can't take them both and I really don't want to leave either one out in the wild."

"Yeah," she said and looked back and forth between Sasuke and Naruto, "I think I'll take this one." She cautiously started to reach for Naruto.

The fox-like kitten eagerly jumped into the shy girl's arms. "Alright! Bye Sasuke! Have fun with Sakura!" he said.

"I thought you liked her," Sasuke replied, looking surprised.

"I do," he said, "But I'd rather get picked first. Besides, I know you hate her!"

He glared at the other boy. It wasn't that he hated the girl, just strongly disliked. He had been so concentrated on burning holes into Naruto that he was startled when he felt himself being picked up.

"I guess that means you're with me," Sakura said happily, "Wow…A kitten!"

After being petted, awed at, and cuddled by Sakura's family, Sasuke's eye was twitching all on its own. Finally it was evening. Which meant that he could fall asleep happily, right?

Wrong.

"Come on, Fluffy," Sakura said, using the name she had oh-so-brilliantly given him. It was very original. "We're going to take a bath!"

Before he could try and escape under some bed, he was lifted up from his comfortable position on a chair.

"Oh, come on," Sakura said, pouting, "I know cats don't like water, but you need to get cleaned! I don't know where you've been."

It wasn't because he disliked water; he just didn't want to take a bath with Sakura. It would be embarrassing, to say the least.

He was struggling in her grasp when she turned on the water in the tub. Luckily for him, she also dumped some stuff in the water that produced a ton of bubbles.

Sasuke looked away when she had started to strip. Again, he felt himself being picked up. This time he was submerged in sweet smelling water.

"Wow, you're not trying to claw me to death," Sakura said, smiling softly at her new pet.

'Thank God for the bubbles…' Sasuke was thinking to himself over and over again. He was set on her knees while she scrubbed at his fur. 'It's almost like being at the hot springs,' he thought, closing his eyes.

After the bath, he was toweled dry. When Sakura was done getting dressed, she picked him up and set him in her bed.

"Goodnight," she said softly before clicking off the lights and drifting off to sleep.

Sasuke woke up to Sakura thrashing around in her bed. He grunted, which came out in more of a growl, and tried to change to a more comfortable position.

She wouldn't stop kicking, however. Soon it was followed by her talking in her sleep. "Sasuke…" she mumbled.

The Uchiha had to roll his eyes. How typical was it that she had to dream of him? It was rather disturbing, also…

"Naruto," she mumbled again, "No, Kakashi…Naruto…Sasuke…" this surprised him. What scared the hell out of him, however, was when she suddenly shot up in bed "Naruto!!" she screamed.

'She's breathing heavily…Nightmare?' Sasuke figured, watching in shock as she turned to look at her surroundings.

"Just a dream," she murmured, stroking Sasuke, "Just…Just a dream…" Tears came to her eyes and she grabbed Sasuke, holding him tight. "Oh kitty! It was just so awful!"

If he wasn't being squeezed to death, he might have tried to do some kind of comforting gesture only a cat would do. Such as rub up against her hand or something. He, for one, knew what it was like to be haunted by nightmares.

"N-Naruto," she said, sniffling once in a while, "and Sasuke! Sasuke was st-stabbing him over and over again! It was horrible! Ka-Kakashi tried to help but Sasuke j-just slashed his throat. Then h-he k-k-killed Naruto!! It was horrible! And I couldn't do anything!"

At this point, Sasuke had frozen. She had just told him that he killed their team.

"I'm worried now," Sakura said, calming down. She released her deadly hold on the kitten but kept him in her lap. "What if he does something like that? He doesn't really seem to be the person to do that…Or what if Naruto's going to get killed? I don't think things would ever be the same…Naruto…Naruto's very special. I wouldn't be able to face Sasuke again if he did something like that…"

Sasuke was incredibly surprised. He had thought that she had completely hated the blonde boy.

"But still…" she said, staring off dreamily as if she had forgotten she was talking to a cat, "I…loved Sasuke for the longest time. That's why it would be so horrible if he killed Naruto! But I still don't think he would do that…They seem like best friends now!"

Sasuke sighed, not minding how she absentmindedly stroked at his fur. How he just wanted to be a human again. But then again, he would have never found out more about Sakura.

His views on her had softened immensely. He found that she didn't hate Naruto like he thought she did.

The next day, to their great relief, Naruto and Sasuke turned back into humans. Naruto had excitedly told Sasuke about his time at the Hyuuga's.

How he had: scratched Neji whenever he commented on who was weak, learned that Hinata liked him, learned more about how Hinata was patient and not the dark weirdo he had taken her to be at first, and the happy family atmosphere in their compound.

Sasuke had started to talk to Sakura more and get to know her better.

But when he left Naruto alive by that river when he was going to find Orochimaru, it wasn't on a whim like he said. He simply could not shake Sakura's words from his head.

And the reason he left? Because his older brother liked to destroy whatever he loved or held dear to him.

Alternate Ending

(Ok, that was the real ending above. But this is just something I'd find hilarious and completely cute at the same time…It would continue off of when Sasuke's thinking to himself as a cat. A little out of character…)

The next morning, Sasuke stretched. Instead of a black paw, he saw his hand. Sitting up, he found that he had changed back to normal overnight!

A soft moan and something stirring right beside him made him realize where he was. He was still in Sakura's house!

He had to find a place to hide and quick!

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked sleepily. Too late. She sat up. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke gulped and a small blush spread across his face. He was, after all, half lying down in her bed, right next to her.

She seemed to realize this at the same time. "And what are you doing in my bed?" she asked, her green eyes wide.

"Uh," he said, trying to think of something that would sound reasonable. "Um…" that cat thing definitely wouldn't go over well.

She looked at him expectantly. She also looked scared out of her mind.

"I, uh…" he said, scratching the back of his head, "I…love you?" he said in more of a question. Before she could react, he place a soft kiss on her lips and dashed out of the room, hoping that would daze her for a moment so he could escape.

But all in all, he really didn't mind that kiss.

What'd you think? Reviews are always nice. P

-Jen-