To Be A Guardian

Chapter One: Introducing the Brats

~Ninja's POV~

"Where are we?" Nagato asked as he came to. The gloom was only pierced by a shaft of light that came from a ceiling that looked like cardboard folded to keep it closed. And if the matching color scheme through the whole thing was any indication then no doubt he was in a cardboard box. A big cardboard box with other fuzzy balls like him.

"Nagato?" The blue kitten with golden amber eyes meowed.

"Konan?" Nagato asked.

"Nagato? Konan?" Together Nagato and Konan looked to see a ginger haired kitten with black spots on his fur.

"Yahiko?" Konan whispered.

"Hey… I'm fuzzy!" Yahiko meowed. He sat down and looked back at the tail he had. "I have a tail… Cool." With that he flopped over trying to catch the tail.

"Yeah that's him." Nagato said.

"But how?" Konan asked gently touching Yahiko to make him stop his childishness.

"Nagato?" The three kittens turned in time to see a fuzzy black kitten with red eyes of the Sharingan.

"Itachi?" Nagato asked. "Is that you?"

"… He looks very cute." Yahiko blurted. Itachi gave him a dry glare.

"Itachi?" Another black kitten hissed. The four ninja's-turned-kittens looked over the mound of fur to see another black kitten. Though he was smaller he still looked an awful lot like Itachi.

"Little brother." Itachi greeted monotously.

"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke growled. He attempted to launch himself at Itachi but was blocked by a mound of blue, pink, and silver fur. "Get out of my way!"

"Sasuke! Stop!" Kakashi ordered.

"Listen to your friend's kid. This won't end well for you." Kisame hissed in amusement.

"Ugh, what hit me?" A very familiar voice groaned from the yellow pile in the corner.

"Naruto?" Sakura meowed.

"Who's there?" Naruto asked getting up. A hiss made him jump.

"Get off, un!" Naruto turned quickly to stare at the other yellow furry thing with baby blue eyes.

"Sorry!" Naruto yelped making out the furry thing as a kitten. Another hiss sounded when he bumped into another furry thing.

"Watch it dobe!" Naruto turned his head quickly.

"TEME?" Naruto cried. A voice groaned from somewhere among the fuzzy balls.

"Brat, quit moving closer to me." Sasori snapped.

"Shut the f*** up!" A voice grumbled. The silver furred kitten got up to glare at the others.

"Don't move idiot." Kakuzu hissed since Hidan was about to step on his tail. Kisame had already trodden on it when he'd gotten in front of Itachi protectively.

"Where the f*** are we?" Hidan asked puffing up unconsciously. "And why are we cats?"

"Naruto?" Naruto watched in fascination as a red kitten with purple eyes walked closer to him. Beside him were a blue kitten and an orange spotted kitten.

"Nagato?" Naruto meowed. Naruto saw a silver kitten come to sit by him.

"Are you alright Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked. "What happened to you? Why are you a cat?"

"You're a cat too Naruto." Sakura said.

"WHAT?" Naruto yowled looking down at his furry body. "WHY AM I A CAT?"

"Calm down Naruto." Itachi meowed. Naruto's head snapped up to stare at the others who had gotten up.

"Itachi? What are you doing here? I thought you were dead." He frowned. "I thought you were all dead."

"Thanks for reminding us." Yahiko meowed. He sat down beside Kakashi and Konan looking the least unruffled. "Though the kid does pose a point. Why are we fuzzy little kittens?"

"Team 7 report!" Kakashi ordered suddenly.

"Naruto here."

"Sakura here."

"Sasuke here." Kakashi nodded.

"Sai didn't come with us. Wherever we are." Nagato nodded seeing what Kakashi was doing.

"Akatsuki, report!"

"Itachi."

"Kisame here."

"Kakuzu and the idiot I call my partner are here."

"F*** YOU!" Hidan hissed.

"Sasori here."

"Deidera here, un."

"Konan here, obviously."

"Yahiko here." Nagato nodded seeing the division already starting to begin.

"… So what now?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure. Does anyone know what the last thing they remember is?" Kakashi asked.

"The last thing I remember is seeing that pink-haired kuniochi and my foolish grandmother defeating me." Sasori deadpanned. Sakura's fur bristled. Kakashi and Naruto moved away slightly.

"I remember I tried to take that Uchiha brat out, yeah." Deidera growled seeing Sasuke alive.

"I died." Itachi said simply cutting through all the other explanations.

"Akatsuki, did you all die?" Nagato asked.

"Yes." Was the general answer. Well for the Akatsuki anyways.

"I remember Sasuke and I were fighting at the Valley of the End again." Naruto said.

"We combined one last attack before everything went white." Sasuke said. Sakura sounded subdued as she answered.

"Sasuke stabbed me, though I couldn't break out of the genjutsu."

"And you?" Yahiko asked Kakashi.

"Rikodu-sama was just telling me everything would work out somehow." Kakashi mused.

"Well it f****** didn't. We're f****** pussies!" Hidan growled.

"He doesn't know when to shut up does he?" Naruto asked Nagato. Nagato sighed.

"No. That's why he's with Kakuzu."

"So how do we get out of here?" Sakura asked. "I don't know if any of you have noticed but we don't have any chakra."

Silence.

"WHAT?!" The louder ones yowled before checking to see if it was true. The quieter ones only got quieter as they realized the truth.

"WHAT THE F*** DID YOU DO YOU S***HEAD'S?" Hidan yelled.

"US? WHY WOULD WE SEAL OUR OWN CHAKRA?!" Naruto yelled back.

"He actually made sense with that." Sasuke muttered.

"Naruto is not as idiotic as we'd like to believe." Kakashi sighed. Nagato and Itachi nodded at the truth of that statement. Hidan of course just got angrier.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Hidan yowled. He started to pounce when suddenly the whole box shuddered like something had hit it hard.

Everyone was thrown to the ground or unbalanced.

"What was that, un?" Deidera meowed trying to shove Kisame out of his face.

"As if we'd know brat." Sasori growled moving away from Sakura and Kakashi.

"Quiet, someone's coming." Kakashi hissed as he righted himself. Everyone instantly became very quiet.

"-eira! No fair!" A child's voice called.

"You said you didn't want me to go easy on you." Another child's voice sounded.

"Oh, yeah you're right!" The boy's voice had come closer as had the girls when the kittens felt the box move again. "I found the ball!"

"GODDAMIT! WE'RE IN HERE YOU STUPID-" Kakuzu efficiently cut off Hidan's air supply.

"Keira, did you hear that?" The boy asked.

"It's in the box." The girl said. The box once again moved as the top of it was tugged.

"Wait! What if it's a snake?"

"What snake meows?" The girl reasoned.

"I can think of one." Naruto muttered staring at Sasuke.

"Hn."

"Don't 'Hn' me Teme."

"These kids don't have any chakra that I can sense." Kakuzu meowed interrupting the pending fight.

"Be prepared in case." Yahiko warned.

"What child would hurt a couple of kittens?" Sakura asked.

"One's who know of animal abuse?" Kakashi said rhetorically. No one had any other objections as the box's lid was thrown open and sunlight flooded in blinding the ninja.

"KITTIES!" a child screamed. Sakura was picked up.

"Hey! Ow! That hurt's!" She meowed.

"Sakura!" Naruto cried. He tried to jump only to barely make it to the edge of the box. But instead of his shinobi muscles, his muscles were softer and much weaker. He fell back into the box.

"Nice going dobe." Naruto glared at Sasuke.

"You try if you're so special." Naruto hissed. Sakura cried out again.

"Memphis you're hurting her!" Sakura was immediately in much kinder hands.

"Oops. Sorry kitty." The little boy said. Everyone could clearly see him when he looked back into the box again. A small boy with chubby cheeks, brown hair with dark brown eyes smiled. "There's more Keira! Look!" A slightly older girl with black hair, slightly chubby cheeks and black eyes blinked down at them.

"There's a blue kitty!" She squealed.

"I call him!" Memphis yelled reaching in.

"Heh, I like these kids." Kisame meowed as he was picked up.

"Sakura?" Kakashi called.

"I'm fine." Sakura's voice meowed. The girl looked at Sakura.

"You want to go back with your friends?" She asked.

"Yes please." Sakura meowed trying to get the hands to move. The little girl gently put Sakura back. The girl instantly picked up Konan.

"You can have that one and I'll have this one!" She said. Konan and Kisame allowed the children to hold them so they could get a better look at the world around them.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled running over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Naruto." Sakura meowed.

"Did you see anything while you were up there?" Kakuzu asked gruffly. Sakura nodded.

"We seem to be in a field. Like a pasture. There are some horses further away and a house that's probably fifty yards away."

"I wonder if they'd try to take us as pets." Sasori murmured.

"No f****** way!" Hidan yowled.

"It'll be better than being out here in the open." Kakashi reasoned. "In a home we could get food and information on where we are exactly."

"That's if they want us." Yahiko pointed out.

"Keira let's take the kitties home so we can play with them!" Memphis said excitedly.

"Well that was easy." Sasuke muttered.

"But what about Amaya?" Keira said. "You remember what she said about pets." The boy deflated.

"Oh… I forgot…" The girl seemed to not like seeing her friend sad since she put Konan back in the box.

"Can't see much other than what was described." Konan reported.

"What if we beg and say please and promise to do our chores?" Keira said. Her friend perked up.

"Yeah, and we can help Amaya take care of the kitties. Then we can keep them!"

"They're remarkably slow." Sasori replied.

"They're children Sasori, what do you expect?" Konan scolded. Memphis put Kisame back in the box.

"Sorry about this kitty!" Keira said. "Memphis you take that side and I'll carry this side."

"Okay." As the kids got into place Naruto dared to ask.

"This isn't going to end well is it?" With that the box was suddenly picked up and the ninja's were wishing for the ground.

GM NASAI: I know I have another story going on but this just wouldn't leave me alone. So I decided what the hell? I'm not sure when I'll update next but stay tuned. I want to see where this story takes me. Also any comments, critics, and/or complaints would be appreciated. Flames will be used to keep me warm and fuzzy!

Also since I'm going to be doing this story I decided to take Team 7 after chapter 696. And the Akatsuki after they were all dead. Why the Akatsuki? Well I believe they could use a break from whatever afterlife they ended up with. Ja ne!