Chapter Text
Sasuke was confused when he woke up to meowing, but not too worried.
Looking back, he should have buried his head in a pillow and went back to bed. But no, he got up, did all his morning routines, and went outside to shut the incessant meowing up.
As the black haired boy stepped outside, he found a cat with quite long black fur and equally dark eyes, meowing loudly to his door with its tail swishing around.
“Shoo, go away,” he scolded.
The cat stared at him, not budging. Before Sasuke could tell it to shoo again, a man ran up to him, sweeping up the cat. Said man had short platinum blond hair and friendly green eyes.
“Ah, hello there! I’m Henka, I’m like a portable pet shelter. I help lost animals and give them to kind owners. I was just worrying for this little guy here,” the man said, petting the black cat and earning a subtle cat-glare. “Would you like to come and see some of my recent batch of kittens?”
“No.” Sasuke’s response was blunt and straightforward. He turned around to return home, but the man stopped him. “Oh, don’t be like that, the poor kittens need a home. There’s a lot of them, too. They need owners.”
“No,” Sasuke insisted, slightly annoyed by now. However, as he turned around to go inside the black cat jumped out of Henka’s arms and tugged at his pant legs.
“Oh my, I think he likes you,” Henka cooed, picking up the black cat again. “Please, I managed to get a lot of your friends over as well. You don’t even need to adopt one, just come and see the cats, alright?”
Sasuke had a short stare-down with the man, before giving in. “Fine, I’ll go. I’m not keeping any though, and you can’t bother me about it again.”
Henka wasn’t lying when he said a lot, Sasuke noticed as they entered the market square. There were a total of 10 cats, counting the black one, running around the center.
First, there was a half-orange half-red tabby with pale purple eyes. He sat next to a blue-gray cat with amber eyes. These two looked relatively calm compared to the rest.
Another cat, with long yellow fur, was circling the pottery stall, occasionally jumping up to try and steal clay. The stall keeper was trying hard to ward it away. A thick-furred black cat with an orange head watched it, occasionally bumping into the stalls by accident. Nearby, a weirdly shiny kitten with short red fur was sniffing around.
A large dark gray cat with blue eyes was sniffing at a fish stall, the stall owner kindly smiling at it and shooing it when it started to topple one over. Nearby, a silver-gray cat with a torn ear was grappling with a large brown tabby.
Watching it all was a cat with zebra colored stripes and eerie golden eyes, sitting calmly away from the others. The black cat from earlier had moved to watch the large gray one sniffing fish.
“Oh, Sasuke!” Naruto waved at the Uchiha. “Did the weird guy drag you here as well?”
“What do you think, that I came here to check out the cats?” he retorted. “Ugh, now that I’m here, can I go now?”
“No, no, come interact with the cats first,” Henka insisted, waving the black cat from earlier. It shot the blond another cat-glare.
“Oh, Sasuke, Naruto!” Sakura approached them with a wave. “The cats are pretty cute, but I don’t know why Henka-san is so insistent on making us come to see them.”
“Ahem, so,” the man announced. “I hope all of you will adopt one of these cats. It’s free!”
Sasuke scowled, glaring at the merchant. “I said I’d come and see, not take home a cat.”
Henka blinked innocently, snatching the black cat from earlier as it passed and holding it up. “Come on, he likes you. Keep the lil’ guy.”
The man tapped his chin to think as Sasuke adamantly refused. “You seem like the lonely type, no? Come up, he’s super cute, he can be a good friend!”
The cat meowed indignantly.
A second later, Naruto returned with the black and orange cat from earlier. “Sasuke, look at this guy! I think I might keep a cat after all!”
Sasuke looked around, hopelessly noticing his companions all being baited by the furry creatures. How pathetic, Sasuke won’t give in so easily to the adorable furry little-
No! He couldn’t give in-
“Oh my god, fine , I’ll keep the dumb cat.”
Henka beamed innocently, placing the black cat beside Sasuke before running off to wave cute cats in other people’s faces. “Wonderful! Thanks for your contribution to Henka’s Pet Adoption!”
Sasuke really didn’t know why he gave in.
He sat at his table, casting awkward glances at the black cat sitting calmly on the windowsill. During the short time the black haired boy spent at the market, he could tell the cats all hated Henka for some reason.
Despite that, the black cat seemed strangely attached to Sasuke.
‘Hn, whatever,’ he thought to himself, getting up. If he was supposed to take care of this cat, then he needed cat food. For now, the boy got a plate and threw some pieces of jerky in it, leaving it on the ground before going out again.
The cat seemed smart, so hopefully he won’t decide to... excrete inside the house. Sasuke left the window open and headed off to do some cat-care shopping.
Quoting Shikamaru, what a drag.
With fresh cat stuff, Sasuke returned home to a surprise. The cat was sleeping comfortably on the windowsill and the food was gone but- the food dishes were done?
Who could have done them? After all, Sasuke lived alone. Well, maybe Naruto or Sakura dropped by? No, they had their own cats to distract them.
But then, who could have washed the dishes? They were all so clean too.
Sasuke set up the cat toilet as well as more food, leaving them there. One of his friends probably came to see how he was doing while he was out. Nothing to worry about.