Disclaimer: I… do… not… own… Naruto. Simple as that.

This story is a special present I've been working on for a while for all of my 'A Prisoner's Silence' fans.

WARNING: Rape will be in this story however I am not a disgusting pervert and thus will have only the barest of details that will only be there for the storyline to take place. No bodily descriptions of private parts or in depth lines on sex. One more thing. I'm NOT describing male on male. The rapist is a female for my sanities sake; males are more violent, females more manipulative. Its very rare but works well with the way I've done the story. I intensely dislike fanfics that include rape just for the sake of describing body parts and sex. This is from a far more of a psychological stand point. Other warnings include abuse and cutting.

THIS STORY WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BE IN THE POINT OF VIEW OF KAKASHI'S DOG… THERE WILL BE FEW MOMENTS THAT KAKASHI, NARUTO OR SOMEONE ELSE'S VIEWS ARE SEEN!!!!!

'Guruko thinking'

"Guruko talking"

Guruko, one of Kakashi's dogs, is stuck staying with Naruto whose forced to take care of the injured dog. The dog soon finds out its Naruto that needs help, but what can a dog do?

Chapter 1: To speak or not to speak

"I'm not talking to him."

"It would make things a lot easier if you would."

"That imbecile of a student will drive me insane if I do."

"Naruto isn't nearly as bad as you think Guruko."

Kakashi, along with his eight dogs, made their way along the roads of Konoha to the bridge that he and his team meet at everyday. At the moment, Kakashi was in a tight spot with three of his dogs, Pakkun, Uhei and Guruko, out of commission due to injuries with a month long mission ahead. There in lies Kakashi's brilliant plan: If he couldn't take care of three of his precious dogs while he was gone then why not have his three precious students do it for him? Pakkun rode atop Bull, his little body burned a bit from a fire jutsu Kakashi didn't expect from the 'water' wielding missing nin. Uhei, his only female dog winced every few steps, her injury being nothing more than an ear infection but enough that she could not go on the mission and needed someone to take her to her check ups. Then there was…

"Why do I have to go with the idiot? Can't one of the others go?" Guruko whined pitifully from within Kakashi's arms. The dog had broken his back leg when he'd miscalculated the strength of a tree limb while they'd been on the trail of the said 'water' missing nin. Kakashi took a deep breath and then a smaller one just to be sure. "Because Sakura is not strong enough to carry you to your vet appointments or anywhere for that matter. Uhei is the only one with no way to communicate in the human language so she will go with Sasuke because Sasuke is not absent minded enough to forget something. Despite his size, Naruto can easily carry you and you will be able to remind him when he's forgotten something." Kakashi explained for the third time that morning.

"I'm not talking to him," Guruko repeated, "If he knows I can talk he will drive me insane with useless babbling." Kakashi sighed. "Then I guess if he forgets to feed you, you will starve," Kakashi said bluntly. Guruko huffed and buried his head deep into Kakashi's chest for warmth; it was November after all and even the fire nation got quite cold from November to January. "Besides," Kakashi added with an eye smile, "Naruto talks to everyone whether they can hear or understand him any way. You have to remember that Naruto's been alone all his life. I often find him talking to himself while he trains just to fill the air with noise. I think it's just his way of trying not to feel too lonely…" Kakashi said the last part quietly and assumed Guruko got the point when the dog felt no more need to complain.

When Kakashi arrived at the bridge it was to find, to his vast amusement, Sakura atop the rail trying to engage an irritated Sasuke in conversation while he stared down at the river below and a fast asleep Naruto with chin to his chest and his back to the pole. It was to be expected on a Monday. Naruto did God knew what on the weekend's and always slept while waiting for the lazy Jounin to arrive. The rest of the week Naruto would be wide awake, but Mondays were, as the boy put it, "Death warmed up just for me." Always the optimist of the group, team 7 was caught off guard by the solemn phrase one early Monday morning when they'd first become a team. So caught off guard were they that Sakura cracked up laughing, Sasuke nearly tripped and Kakashi stopped walking to stare at the miserable blonde. Needless to say they never once questioned why Naruto immediately fell asleep every Monday, they just went with it, everyone deserved at least some time to be in a dark mood after all.

"Good morning team," Kakashi called out cheerily. Sasuke peered over at him with a thankful expression as Sakura's attention was pulled away from the Uchiha. Sakura blinked several times and checked her watch. "Your only ten minutes late," She said surprised. The dogs yipped happily and skipped over to the pair. Sakura immediately bent down to scratch behind Shiba's big ears. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at the dogs, hand unconsciously scratching Urushi on the head. "What's up? Why'd you summon your dogs Kakashi?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi eye smiled.

Sasuke always called him by name while Sakura merely called him 'Sensei' and Naruto called him 'Kaka-sensei.' It displayed their personalities perfectly. Sasuke with his hint of arrogance even while addressing a superior yet the clear respect he held for the Jounin that Kakashi could detect through the boy's tone. Sakura's formal show of respect underlying the fact that she called all other Jounin senseis as 'Gai-sensei' or 'Kurenai-sensei,' indicated that HE was her team leader and therefore the one she most respected. And then there was Naruto- The slightly shortened disrespectful nickname 'Kaka' combined with sensei was perhaps the name he was most fond of. He had noticed that Naruto only gave disrespectful 'titles' to those he was closest too. Iruka being the exception to the rule because Naruto would never disrespect his father figure in such a way; it simply wasn't done. Due to the nature of his birth and the consequences afterward Naruto had been forced to learn everything about normal behavior on his own and thus had come up with several wrong conclusions. It took Kakashi a full year of working with Naruto to correct some of those habits and yet he still found some of the things the blonde did completely bewildering.

Bull lumbered over to the still dozing Naruto and licked the boy's face to awaken him. Naruto cracked his eyes open tiredly and yawned loudly, arms outstretched above his head. Naruto patted Bull's head dazedly before peering around and catching sight of the other seven dogs and his team. "Yo sleeping beauty," Pakkun called with a raised paw from the back of Bull's head. Naruto smiled crookedly at the small dog. "Mornin' to you too," Naruto said with a bit of a laugh as he got to his feet slowly. Kakashi nodded toward Naruto, "Now that we're all awake I tell you why I brought them along today. Its because you three will be watching over three of my dogs while I'm gone on a mission," Kakashi chirped happily. All of his students greatly enjoyed it when he summoned his dogs to aide in a mission after all.

The statement enlisted a variety of reactions. Sakura stopped scratching and looked up. "For how long," she asked happily. Sasuke sighed in a bored-like manner but couldn't completely hide a small smile. Naruto surprised him by biting his lip and tilting his head forwards a bit, allowing the shadows and his bangs to hide the sight of his eyes. An action Naruto did only when he was displeased or upset about something and didn't want anyone knowing. "My mission should last from about four to five weeks, so about a month. I have scrolls of instructions for each of you and money for dog food and supplies. All of them should be healed in a couple weeks so they can even assist you on missions after that if they feel up to it." Kakashi said as he pulled out three scrolls. Naruto bit down on his lip hard enough to draw blood, but with a small flourish of his arms as he brought them to rest on the back of his neck the trail of blood was gone. 'What was that?' Kakashi wondered.

"Sakura you will be taking care of Pakkun," Kakashi said as he handed the scroll to her. She frowned a bit, remembering the comment from the small dog about how they used the same shampoo, and sighed. The weeks ahead were going to be very long indeed. "Sasuke you will be taking care of Uhei," Kakashi said as the bandaged dog ambled over to him. Sasuke nodded, but felt a little annoyed that he'd somehow managed to get the only female dog in the entire pack. Kakashi turned to Naruto who smiled at him broadly, eyes narrowed far enough that Kakashi couldn't see them, and hands in pockets. "I want you to take Guruko here," Kakashi said, nodding toward the disgruntled dog. "Hey Kaka-sensei, I don't remember, can he talk?" Naruto asked still with his too big grin. Guruko gave Kakashi a warning growl from within his arms and Kakashi inwardly sighed in exasperation. "No, so you won't be able to talk to him while he's with you," Kakashi said. The other dogs gave Guruko an irritated stare but the injured dog ignored them.

Kakashi felt himself staring at Naruto in question when the small blondes entire body language suddenly dropped all of its bounded up tension. It was a small change but enough for the Jounin to notice as well as the dogs around them. "Oh really? That's too bad… It would have been way more fun if he could talk back," Naruto said with a laugh as he took the dog and scroll from Kakashi's arms. Kakashi stood back and glanced at all three of his students with a bit of pride. They would be fine without him and would all take good care of his dogs, there was no doubt about that, even if Guruko was being a brat. "Tsunade will limit you to D and C rank mission near the village while I'm gone and you will be paid out of my own pocket for the amount of two C ranks for taking care of my dogs, one C for every two weeks. If I'm gone a fifth week… lets just call say that you love me enough to do that for free." The copy nin and his five remaining dogs disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Typical," Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto muttered under their breaths before saying goodbye to each other and heading home.

Three months ago the Chuunin exams ended in a small war with Sound and Sand. Tsunade had been in office for a month and a half now as the Godaime Hokage and two days ago Naruto's refrigerator finally broke down on him and died. An event that the blonde had been dreading for the last sixth months. When Naruto entered his home with Guruko in his arms, who was sleeping peacefully in the blondes' surprisingly warm arms the whole way, yawned and stretched his neck back and forth to wake up properly. Guruko cracked his eyes open and peered around the small apartment in interest of the place he'd be staying for the next month. What he found greatly surprised him.

There were plants everywhere. A large one in every corner with vine like plants hanging from the ceiling and small one's on the counters and in the middle of the run down table. A few held flowers on them but for the most part it was just a lot of green and leafy plants. Kakashi devotedly watered a plant in his apartment that Naruto had given him sometime during the first couple months team 7 had been formed so the dog knew that Naruto liked plants but this seemed a bit over the top.

That's when the dog came to a second conclusion. The place, despite the numerous plants, was incredibly bare. The plants were literally the only objects in the apartment. No picture frames, no trinkets of any sort, only the occasional bill sitting on the table or a shelf. Guruko imagined, because he still didn't want to talk to Naruto and thus couldn't ask, that the plants were there to fill up space and force the bare apartment to have some life. Naruto walked passed all of them and pushed aside a curtain that had covered a doorway. Guruko discovered that it lead to Naruto's room. The blonde gently placed the dog on his small bed, making sure that the furred animal was placed on the largest bulk of covers there.

Guruko took a peek around, noticing that the place seemed like a cocoon. Unlike the previous kitchen/living room he'd been in, the small room seemed to have all of the possessions Naruto ever owned. Atop the dresser beside the bed by its lone self sat a picture of team 7 and around the bed sat an array of weapons and scrolls. Above the bed sat a poster with the symbol of the leaf and the fire nation that, if he remembered correctly from what Pakkun said about Kakashi's academy days, was given to each and every student for free. Pakkun was the oldest of the dogs and had been with Kakashi since the man's childhood while Guruko had been born while Kakashi was in his mid-teens. Guruko felt his eye twitch, there were more plants too, one in every corner and a couple hanging from the ceiling.

Guruko watched Naruto sigh heavily as the blonde walked into the bathroom with a bowl and come back out with it filled with water. Instead of setting it on the floor though, Naruto set it down on the wide window seal so that the broken legged dog could easily get to it. Guruko would admit he'd expected the blonde not to consider his leg and felt a bit grateful. Naruto sighed again and sat on the bed, scratching Guruko on the head in a rhythmic fashion.

"How am I going to do this?" Naruto half asked the dog half asked himself. Guruko cocked his head to the side and looked at the blonde shinobi. Naruto fell back onto his bed beside the dog, eyes trained on the ceiling. "I can't just leave you here all the time but…" Naruto turned his head till he stared at him, the dog fidgeting under the slightly dull stare.

Naruto sat up quickly and let his arms fall into his lap staring at the floor. "I could take you to the place I train all the time but leave you here when I go to work." Naruto said thoughtfully and peered back as if he expected Guruko to either agree or disagree. 'Not likely,' thought Guruko with a snort as he turned away from the blonde. Naruto grinned at the dog and shook his head. "Hehehe… so you don't like me either huh? That's okay not many people do or animals I suppose in your case." Naruto said as he stood up. Guruko's ears went back against his skull at the blonde's words. 'I just don't want to be talked to death is all,' Guruko thought, 'you're a nice enough kid your just a loud mouth too.'

"Well, I'm going to go train, do you want to come with?" Naruto asked watching closely for the dog's reaction. After all he was still one of Kakashi's dogs even if Naruto thought he couldn't talk. The dog shoved his head under the covers and placed his butt specifically in front of Naruto. Naruto sighed and Guruko heard the blonde quietly gather some things and head towards the door. "I'll be back in a few hours," Naruto called back and with that the front door closed.

Guruko raised his head as he heard the door open at five that night. Naruto walked into the room covered in a layer of sweat and dirt, but with a content aura around him. "You hungry Guruko?" Naruto asked as he pulled off his jacket and put it in his dirty laundry. Guruko sat up and wagged his tail happily, he was starving, the blonde didn't leave anything for him and he was too stubborn to remind the blond. Naruto laughed and picked the dog up, easily carrying him into the kitchen despite the fact he'd just gotten back from a long training session.

Naruto set him on the ground and headed to his cabinets, opening one up and pulling out a bag of jerky. Guruko yipped happily but frowned as he poured only half the bag into a bowl and left the other half on the table. It wasn't much, especially since he hadn't eaten all day.

Naruto patted is head and left to take a shower. Guruko ate all of it quickly and stared irritably at the empty bowl as the sound of the shower could be heard from the background. When Naruto walked through the kitchen door running a towel through his hair Guruko growled at the blonde, startling him enough to drop the towel onto the floor. Guruko pushed his bowl forward as the blonde stared at him causing the blonde to give a snort of amusement. Naruto grabbed the other half of the jerky bag and poured the rest of it into the bowl. Guruko wagged his tail and munched happily as Naruto sat down at the table with a sigh. Guruko watched out of the corner of his eye as Naruto folded is arms and laid his head down, watching him as he ate. 'Why's he staring at me?' Guruko asked himself in annoyance.

As Guruko finished up Naruto bent down and picked up the empty bowl. "I wasn't really hungry any ways…" Naruto muttered to himself. Guruko froze and stared at him, he'd eaten Naruto's dinner? 'Why doesn't he just get something else then?' Guruko thought, trying to ignore the guilt he felt. Naruto sighed again. "Well, I'll go ahead and pick up your dog food tomorrow and go shopping while I'm at it." Naruto told the dog whose unasked question was unknowingly answered. Guruko gave a guilty start that went unnoticed by the blonde.

As Naruto cleaned the bowl Guruko noticed something. Naruto was wearing black. In the last year there was a number of times Kakashi summoned his dogs during missions and once in a while just while the team trained for enjoyment. In all those times Guruko never once saw Naruto in anything but orange so the sight set him off balance. It was simply a pair of black pants, perhaps a little big on him and a black short-sleeved t-shirt. Naruto finished up and walked into the room, coming back out with a bandana and black bandages. Naruto gave a small smile as the dog cocked an eyebrow at him. "You totally look like Sasuke right now." Naruto told him. Guruko's ears went back in displeasure at the comment and Naruto broke out in laughter.

Naruto sat down and tied the bandana over his head, making sure to cover every strand of the straw colored hair. "I'm going to work," Naruto told the dog as he began to tie the bandages around his face. Guruko stared at the blonde in question. 'You don't have your head band so what work will you be doing and why are you covering your face?' Guruko thought to himself. As Guruko continued to watch he noted that it wasn't his entire face but just his possession marks that the blonde was covering. As Naruto tightened the bandage and let the ends hang from the back of his neck he caught the dog staring and smiled.

"People easily recognize me from my possession marks. As long as I cover my hair, don't wear orange and hide my marks I'm able to walk around like any normal civilian and get a job like any normal civilian." Naruto added the last part as an afterthought. 'You work two jobs?' Guruko blinked in surprise.

Naruto walked away from the dog and pulled on his shoes. "I'll take you out to go to the bathroom real quick and then head out after I bring you in. Sound good?" Naruto asked as he picked the dog up and headed out. 'I have three other legs I can walk on, thank you, I don't need to be carried all the time.' Guruko thought irritably, though still too stubborn to say anything out loud, and admittedly very comfortable anyways.

Guruko limped back and forth, eyes watching the clock wearily, tick-tock. It grated on his nerves more and more with each glance. Twelve hit not but a few minutes ago and the dog was irked. Naruto was not home yet and Guruko was irritated… Okay, he would admit only to himself, he was worried. Forget the fact that Naruto was a shinobi and an orphan that had lived on his own his entire life he was still only thirteen, he shouldn't be out at all hours of the night.

The door creaked open and Naruto walked in with a large yawn. Guruko stopped pacing and growled at the blonde who gave him a sheepish grin. "Satoshi wanted me to mop the floors in the back before I left," Naruto half explained. 'And I'm suppose to know who the crap Satoshi is?' Guruko silently glowered.

Naruto shrugged and patted him on the head before heading into the bedroom. Guruko limped behind him and watched as the blonde took off everything but his pants and t-shirt. "So, would you rather the bed or the floor," Naruto asked jokingly. Guruko smirked and limbed over to the bed where he sat purposely beside it waiting to be picked up. Naruto sweat dropped. "Hehehe… I gave that to you didn't I?" Naruto asked as he rubbed the back of his head. Naruto pulled off one blanket from his cocoon and dropped it on the floor before gently placing Guruko on top of his bed. The dog snickered as Naruto laid down on the ground.

"Yeah, yeah, just you wait, I'll get the bed tomorrow and then you'll be sleeping on the floor." Naruto said as he turned off the light and curled up on the blanket, closing his eyes for the night. Guruko stared down at the blonde for a long moment before also closing his eyes. 'Your not as bad as I thought.'

Rays of light could be an evil thing, especially when you lie on a bed that's directly beside a window that's wide open. Guruko growled in irritation, knowing who pushed the window open. It was this very same evil window opener that could be heard humming in the kitchen. Guruko barked loudly, telling the blonde that he was awake and wanted down. Naruto walked in, orange pants and fishnet shirt on, and walked over, only half paying attention and quickly but gently put the dog on the ground. The blonde walked right back into the kitchen with Guruko limping behind him. There was a large bag of kibble on the table and a single thing of meat that Naruto was preparing to cook. Guruko looked at the clock and bulked. It was only seven in the morning and the boy obviously had been awake long enough to pick up food for him.

Naruto continued to hum a, admittedly beautiful, tune as he pounded the meat and carefully cut out the bone. Naruto placed the frozen bone into Guruko's dog bowl before sticking the meat into the oven to cook. When Naruto finally noticed the dog in the room he gave a small smile. "I figured since I forgot to give you some food yesterday afternoon I'd go ahead and cook you something before I left as an apology." Naruto said happily. Guruko nodded in approval as he pulled out bone from bowl and started to gnaw on it. "After I take you out I'll be going on a few D-ranks with Sasuke and Sakura. When I get back, probably around four maybe five, I'll give you some more food and take you out again. I leave every night for my other job about six and don't usually get off till eleven so I won't be able to spend a lot of time with you." Naruto explained as he poured himself a cup of tea. "Tomorrow is a training day though so I'll take you with me. Sakura is going to help me with chakra control and Sasuke's gonna help Sakura with weapons aim. You also have a vet appointment on the Inuzuka compound at six so I'll have to be a little late for work to take you which means that I'll also be staying later than normal."

Naruto's stomach gave a rather large roar but the blonde ignored it as he continued to sip at his tea, though there was a bit of a blush on his cheeks. 'Hasn't he eaten anything since yesterday afternoon?' Guruko thought worriedly as the dog remembered he'd eaten Naruto's portion of dinner last night. Guruko limped over to Naruto and lightly tugged the orange pant leg till Naruto looked down at him. Guruko whined up at him, his meaning obvious.

"I never eat breakfast." Naruto answered him, at which Guruko's ears went back against his skull. Naruto softly stroked the dog's head as he continued to whine. "Eating food before twelve upsets my stomach," Naruto answered in amusement.

Guruko's first impression that Naruto liked to talk just for the sake of talking was correct. The entire time they waited for the meat to cook the blonde told the dog about a few good pranks he'd pulled at the academy and on some of the villagers but they were much more amusing tales than Guruko would ever admit. For one thing because Naruto believed Guruko could not talk back the blonde was much more honest about failed attempts and even admitted to quite a few hilarious screw-ups. And for another Naruto spoke as if he expected to be ignored so the persona Guruko gauged was much darker and sarcastic than the blonde that belonged to team 7 knew. In the end, Naruto cut up the finished meat, put it in his bowl and left the dog for a busy day.

Guruko sat beside Naruto that night as the two ate dinner together. Guruko chewing his kibbles up while Naruto ate a big bowl of plain white rice. Apparently, as he would discover while sniffing around, Naruto had bought a bag of white rice to match Guruko's dog food. It sat slumped against the wall right next to the kibbles taunting the dog. There was no food in the cabinets or in the refrigerator as Guruko found out when Naruto got home. Just a big white bag of rice, the only thing cheaper than ramen, and definitely not something that you could live off of.

Naruto had explained to him that his refrigerator was copout, that he didn't have the money to replace it, nor would he at any time in the nearby future. The blonde would pick up some meat on the way home every other day for him as Kakashi instructed was the normal diet his dogs received, though simply raw meat instead of cooked.

Guruko watched Naruto slowly eat from the corner of his eyes and wondered how long it had been since Naruto had eaten anything outside of ramen or white rice. Guruko had decided that since Naruto was more open because he believed he could not talk that he would remain silent to see what else he would need to report to Kakashi when the man got back.

He did not like this situation at all. Wasn't the landlord supposed to replace such things as a refrigerator if they broke? Kakashi's landlord always did and the dog had assumed it was suppose to be that way for everyone. After dinner Naruto got dressed in his other work outfit and left. Just as he did the night before Guruko waited up for the blonde, but this time slept on the floor.

Guruko woke up to screaming. The dog jerked awake searching for the cause of alarm and found it to be Naruto. The blonde turned his face into his pillow, trying to muffle the sounds with hands clenched so tight around his bed sheets that the knuckles were white. Guruko looked around trying to find an assailant and finding none searched the short blonde for injuries of which none were evident.

Naruto screamed in agony once more, but at the same time trying desperately to keep the sound in, to keep quiet. Guruko stared in shocked as Naruto pulled out a Kunai and shoved the handle into his mouth. The screams sounded much softer now but no less horrible to watch. Guruko leaped onto the bed, his leg causing him a good deal of pain and causing him to fall more than land on the sheets. Naruto was sitting up, arms tight around his sides, with an intense look of pain in his eyes.

Guruko whimpered as he tried to figure out what was wrong and why Naruto was trying to hide his screams. The dog limped up to Naruto and licked the blondes face but shrank back a little at the intense heat the boy was exhibiting. He definitely had a fever. What could he do? Kakashi was gone, the front door was locked, the windows shut tight and he'd never make it to another shinobi's house with his leg. Naruto's grip on his midriff suddenly tightened as another large scream escaped from around the piece of metal, his body leaning forward till the preteen's sweaty forehead touched his knees. Guruko nuzzled against the blonde, feeling the boy shaking against him. 'What's going on?' the dog thought in panic.

Naruto screamed for two long hours before the pain seemed to lesson considerably. The kunai dropped out of Naruto's mouth dully as the boy tried desperately to get his breathing back under control. Guruko took up the kunai, dropped it off the side of the bed, and then the dog sniffed Naruto hesitantly as a final check. He didn't smell sick, which was what confused the dog so much, because he had a fever. There was no explanation for the pain either, a fever didn't cause pain like that. Naruto coughed harshly for several long minutes before he gave the dog a weak smile, body falling limply against the sheets again.

"Thanks," Naruto croaked in a hoarse whisper. "What's wrong brat?" Guruko asked, but Naruto didn't hear it, he was already fast asleep. Guruko slipped in as close to the blonde as he could, Naruto's face dipping into his side and one still shaking arm gently rapped around the dog's small body. He did not like this… No, Guruko did not like this at all.