The Grim Reaper

A/N: Another quick update. In fact I think I may be this quick for a couple more weeks as the Easter holidays have arrived. However when I'm forced back into the hell I know as college updates will become few and far between I fear. Although I'll let you lovely readers know if I'll be updating late near the time. This one's longer YAY!



This isn't beta'd I'm afraid. My boyfriends too busy to read and check for silly mistakes in my Yaoi stories xD



Thank you once again to all my lovely reviewers.



Mija- Thankyou! You always write such lovely things and it truely spurs my writing on! I'm glad to hear Minato was a suprise for you, I like to suprise my readers from time to time. I hope a few, if not all, of your questions are answered in this chapter.



ItaNaruLover- Not to worry about not reviewing every chapter, after all the fact you even reviewed once was good enough for me :) Yay! Another reader suprised. Of course at least one Uchiha had to be a God of Death- they're all miserable sods! I hope you like Naruto's reaction to Sasuke's offer. Thank you for the kind words and don't worry as long as I have hands I'll be writing this xD



Lane- Of course you can copy the story onto your PC! It'd be a great honor to know that someone considers my work worth saving xD

I did think to put Kakashi in there with the other boys but it just didn't feel right. So I thought Minato! You can never have enough Minato.

Sakura will be making an apperance although not as the goddess of love. Although see will be a Goddess. I'll give you a clue, think about her name and what it means. I hope thats not too vague xD

Theres a hint to how Minato has a son on earth in the prologue :D

I hope this update was fast enough to keep me awesome xD



Sango_Houshi- Genius is such a strong word, but thank you!



The_Widow- You were right about nearly all the Gods of Death. I was almost kicking myself thinking I made it too obvious! Indeed Minato has a very charming way of telling Madara to bugger off. I'm glad your liking so far and I'm glad to hear that if I seriously mess up there's someone to kick my ass for it xD I'm afraid the lemon won't be anytime soon. I need to brush up on my erotica writing before I add it to this story, I wouldn't want to ruin a story by adding poorly written sex.



Once again thank you to everyone who reviewed, I'm sorry I havn't responded to everyone! But I do appreciate all your kind words and praise :)





Warnings: Language, Gore?



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Naruto hadn’t had a good day, in fact he hadn’t had a good few weeks. Since the night of that bizarre dream he’d had a feeling of being watched. Sometimes it felt comforting, like his parents watching him from above. Other times though he couldn’t shake the feeling he was being stalked like something’s prey. It had left him feeling extremely paranoid and at times he’d even avoided going out. And an anti-social Uzumaki was an unhappy Uzumaki.



It didn’t help that he just knew he was going crazy. He kept seeing that dark eyed man from his dream at random intervals during the day-be it him saving the old lady next doors cat from a tree, or rushing to one of his many lectures. Hell! He was even sure he’d seen him in the ramen isle during his weekly shop. The man always appeared to be lurking in the shadows as if watching him, which Naruto knew to be ridiculous, mainly because the man was a figment of he’s imagination. Although he knew he was insane the mans appearances were always welcome- even if the guy did seem to have a stick rammed up his backside.



Nobody else seemed to notice the pale man and his odd choice in clothes- who wore a cloak?! It was the 21st Century not the sodding dark ages. Why his subconscious had decided to conjure up a pale skinned man to stalk him Naruto couldn’t be sure and it was the least of his worries at the moment.



People were ignoring him. Looking right through him. Even his many friends seemed to see nothing when looking at him, even whilst he talked to them. And he wasn’t the sort of person you could ignore for fuck sake! It wasn’t as if he was quiet or reserved. Sometimes he had to shout and wave his hands in front of their faces to get them to notice him. At first he thought it was another part of the recent paranoia he’d developed and decided to disregard it with a fierce determination. Nothing stopped him from being with his friends, not even himself!



That is until Jiraiya stopped noticing him.



His Godfather wasn’t exactly an excellent role model, in fact he was a complete and utter pervert, but he’d always looked out for Naruto. They were a small family, but a family none the less. They looked out for each other and looked after each other. Naruto would cover the bar when Jiraiya would go out to ‘research’, Jiraiya would leave him some money for ramen when he was low on cash. Even when they were busy they found time to sit and eat together- just to let the other know they were doing okay.



Then one morning Naruto woke to find Jiraiya eating his breakfast alone. His place wasn’t set. Naruto had gone back into his room without a word.



Jiraiya had stopped asking him to cover him or work shifts in the bar below their house, he hadn’t asked for money towards rent or even how Naruto was doing in general.



The following days had been torture, he couldn’t delude himself anymore, nobody saw him. He passed by people as if he was nothing more than a shadow. At first it drove him crazy, he’d run up to people and scream in their face, desperate for some sort of acknowledgement. All he got for his trouble was blank stares. Now though he didn’t try. He’d spent the last two days in his room, locked away from the world. If the world was ignoring him then he’d ignore the world!



That was easier said that done. Especially at night.



When darkness covered each corner of his room fear gripped his heart. He wasn’t sure if he was having nightmares or just hallucinations but each time he was jolted back to his room with his own screams echoing in his ears. What made it worse was that their was nobody to hear him.



These dreams or visions didn’t leave him as time passed, in fact they seemed to get more vivid. Now when they occurred he could see every detail, smell the stench. The thought of the night horrors were what had Naruto sat, hands wrapped around legs, as he watched the sun slowly dip below the horizon through his window. As soon as blackness descended he knew the images would come to torment him, there was nothing he could do. He’d tried sleeping before sunset, drinking until he passed out and even sleeping with Jiraiya (not that he noticed Naruto’s presence anyway) each attempt had failed and he’d been dragged into the horrors the night brought with it.



And now the darkness was back. Naruto grit his teeth together, determined not to lose again. If he was going to have these dreams he’d face them like a man! He wouldn’t wake up screaming tonight, or ever again for that matter.



And with that last thought the demons of the night claimed him.



Twisted faces screamed out at him in a swirling blue pool. Bodies hung on chains against dark walls, blood oozed from deep wounds. Several tables lay around the room- men, women and children bound to them tears and blood staining their pale faces. Each body he saw had a deep gash across the chest, wispy vapour rose up from the wounds, each a different colour, to be collected in strange shaped jars. The people stared up in horror as the vapour escaped them- colour draining from their face and life from their eyes.



Screams echoed around the room as bodies were sliced. But worst than the screams were the pleas for help. He couldn’t help, even if every fibre in his being wanted too. All he could do was watch as helpless people were hacked into, their innards searched and then disposed of. The smell of sweat, blood and rotting flesh assaulted Naruto’s nostrils and made his stomach churn in revulsion.



He caught site of a man in the corner of the room.



“Have you found it yet?” The voice hissed out in the darkness.



“Not yet sir.” A calm voice responded. Dim light catching thin rimmed glasses.



Naruto was relieved, although he didn’t know why, he hazard a guess that whatever it was these men were looking for couldn’t be good. Although if they found it maybe the poor people caught in their clutches could be freed.



The room began to swim. Sliced and skinned flesh, blood oozing. And incomprehensible stench. Tear stained faces.



Yellow eyes.



Naruto’s eyes snapped open as he fought the scream that threatened to explode from him. He felt a small wave of pride when the scream didn’t escape. He’d done it! Sure he’d still had the dream but he hadn’t screamed like some frightened four year old. Naruto-1, Dream-0!



He stopped internally congratulating himself as he noticed the silence of his room. It was like before. When he’d seen that man. No birds, no wind, no music from the bar. Just silence. Deathly silence. Naruto twisted his head around to the corner the pale man had been seen stood during his last visit. Sure enough there he was, arms crossed, thin lips pressed together in a tight line.



Naruto blinked once, twice, three times. No he hadn’t disappeared this time. He looked away and looked back. No still there. He closed his eyes and counted; one-ramen, two-ramen, three-ramen. Nope still there. He was just about to get up, leave the room and come back in again when a unfamiliar voice stopped him.



“What are you doing dobe?”



Naruto didn’t know if he should feel insulted or worried. So he’d finally lost it then? All this isolation had finally sent him so nutty he’d invented an imaginary friend. A damn rude, arrogant and prissy imaginary friend. With a gorgeous voice.



“Are you deaf as well as dumb dobe?” The gorgeous voice continued to mock.



Naruto fist clenched as he resisted the urge to get up and hit the bastard in front of him. Two things stopped him. Firstly could you even hit something that didn’t exist? And secondly he refused to argue with something his subconscious had created- that was even more crazy than imagining it in the first place.



He scowled as the man raised a questioning eyebrow as if to say ‘Hurry up and respond retard.’. Naruto couldn’t stand it any longer, so what if he’d be screaming at something that wasn’t really there?! Nobody noticed him to get him committed anyway.



Naruto scowled whilst on his hands a knees and raised a fist to angrily wave towards the other man.



“Fuck you teme!” Naruto begrudgingly realised he wasn’t very good at comebacks.



Another eyebrow rose to accompany the first, the dark haired man had clearly never been insulted before.



“What did you call me idiot?”



“Are you deaf as well as dumb? T-e-m-e.” Naruto mocked, dragging out the final word for emphasis and took great delight in watching the other mans eye twitch as his rage built.



Naruto’s brain decided to remind him he was hallucinating and he should probably stop talking to things that weren’t really there, just because people were ignoring him didn’t mean he had to go completely insane. Writing in a diary seemed a healthy form of expression rather than arguing with imaginary friends. He flopped back down onto his backside and dropped his heads in his hands.



“He’s not real, he’s not real, he’s not real…” He mumbled repeatedly into his hands.



In the next instant he was lying flat on his back, his cheek throbbing painfully. He looked up to see the pale man looming above him, a smirk playing on his thin lips and fist still raised.



“Did that feel real to you dobe?”



Naruto blinked. Then blinked again. The bastard had fucking hit him! And it had hurt. Sure it could have been another trick of the mind but the tenderness of his cheek convinced him otherwise. Which opened up a whole new world of questions. Who was he? Why the fuck was he in his room and how the hell had he got in? Why had he been stalking him? Naruto sat up and reviewed the man before him quizzically.



“You can see me?” That’s right least important first Naruto, well done. His brain teased.



Another elegant eyebrow rose. Naruto was getting sick of seeing it bob up and down like a bloody yo-yo.



“Yes. Obviously or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”



“How can you see me?”



“Well dobe, you see these-” He pointed up towards his face “-these are called eyes. We use the for seeing. Hence how I can see you.”



Sarcastic bastard. Naruto internally complained. Although he himself was quiet proficient in the art of sarcasm.

“Why thank you Teme! So that where I’ve been going wrong! And here I was thinking you saw with your ears.”



“Ask a stupid question dobe get a stupid answer.”



Naruto stuck out his tongue in response.



“Jeez, if your going to be pedantic, what I meant to say was how come you can see me but nobody else can?”



The bastards dark eyes widened and an expression of mock shock crossed his face.



“Dobe, where did you learn a word like pedantic?” He teased. Naruto was just as surprised to find the man actually had a sense of humour.



“Same place you got your stunning sense of humour teme. Now stop avoiding the question. Why can you see me?”



“Hn. Simple your dead.”



Naruto re-ran the sentence through his head. He was dead? Right. He was beginning to think he wasn’t the only crazy person in the room. He couldn’t be dead, death involved a certain amount of stillness and Naruto was pretty sure he was still very much in motion. Death also involved coffins, tombstones and mourning and he was pretty sure none of that had happened for him.



“Of course. I’m dead! Why didn’t I think of it before? Oh wait, that’s right because it’s insane!” Sarcasm- the lowest form of wit, but all Naruto had left at this point. A madman had broken into his house and told him he was dead- why wasn’t he panicking yet?



“Tch, dobe. You said so yourself people don’t see you anymore. Don’t ask me the mechanics of it because I don’t know-” He spat out the last sentence as if it physically pained him to say, apparently the man didn’t like not knowing. “-But it seems because your meant to be dead people don’t notice you. After all humans don’t tend to see things they think shouldn’t be there. Ignorant creatures.”



“Humans don’t see things that aren’t there? Then what are you if your not human?” Crazzzzyyy Naruto couldn’t help but add in his head.



“I’m known as the Grim Reaper, Death and any other variation you can think of. But you should just call me Sasuke.” All this was said calmly and with an air of such honesty Naruto couldn’t help but believe him. Believe Sasuke was completely insane that is.



“Right, Sasuke, so I’m dead and you’re the Grim Reaper. What are you here for then, come to finish me off?” Naruto didn’t know why he was encouraging the lunatic in front of him, it was a combination of morbid curiosity and the fact it was the only proper conversation he’d had in weeks.



“No. I’ve come to make you an offer. Things have gotten busy lately and I’m in need of an assistant, I’m here to offer you that position. Obviously it goes without saying you leave this place.”



“And if I refuse your offer?”



“Then I finish the job off.”



Naruto couldn’t hold it in anymore, he laughed. A loud booming laugh that echoed around his small bedroom. The whole thing was starting to sound like a bad mafia movie. The funniest thing was Sasuke sounded so serious! He actually thought he was the Grim Reaper! Naruto even looked around the room for cameras, it had to be one of those hidden camera shows.



Sasuke’s voice distracted him from his camera hunt.



“You don’t believe me?”



“Nobody in their right mind would believe a story so ridiculous.” Naruto forced out between laughs.



“Hn. Fine. I’ll prove it.” Sasuke’s slim fingers delved into his cloak and rummaged around to retrieve a golden hourglass. Grains of sand pooled at the bottom, sparkling in the rising suns raise pouring into the room. Sasuke tossed the hourglass at him.



“See it’s yours dobe.”



Naruto scrutinized the hourglass before him and sure enough his name was carved in ornate letters into the golden frame.



“What the fuck! Not only do you follow me around like some depraved fan girl, but you make an hourglass to try and convince me I’m dead? Quick question teme, what institution did you break out of?”



A glare that could only be described as pure rage was shot at Naruto whilst Sasuke stood seething.



“Fine!-” Sasuke snapped at Naruto, a semblance of composure crumbling “-does this prove it?”



And with that Sasuke stuck an arm through his bedroom wall. Naruto stood up as if possessed and pressed against the wall. Nope, it was solid. He then ran his hand along a section of the pale arm that wasn’t rammed into the wall. He followed the section down and felt where wall and arm met.



It was real.

Unless he was insane, which was a possibility.

But it felt so real.



Naruto jumped away from the man as if electrocuted. He was dead. And somehow that made sense. The lack of appetite should have been the giveaway. So did this make him a ghost? And what about Sasuke’s offer? How could you finish off something that’s already dead?



“I-I-I’m dead.” Naruto managed to stutter out. Sasuke removed his arm, a smug smirk on his face.



“Yes dobe.”



“So…what happens now? Shouldn’t there be darkness then a blinding light. Angels playing harps and what not?”



“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never died.” Sasuke responded dismissively.



“Oh. So I’m a ghost?”



“Tch, no. Your body’s dead. Your souls alive. If you come with me your body and soul will rejoin for eternity. If you don’t I’ll have to cut your soul free and then you can see the angels or whatever it is you believe in.”



“What’s the catch?”



“Well for one you become a Reaper like me.”



“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Naruto said cheerily- if he was dead he really had no option but to look on the bright side of a bad situation, and it seemed Sasuke was the bright side.



“Hn. Say that when you have to free someone you loves soul.”



Naruto scratched his scared cheek, weighing up the pro’s and con’s of the strange offer he’d been given. So he was dead and the options he had left were to have his soul torn from his body- and he really didn’t like the sound of that. Or he could go with the Ice Prince and live for eternity tearing the souls from others.



“Couldn’t I like be your maid or something?” Naruto pleaded, he really didn’t want to get involved in the whole soul removal business.



Naruto watched wide eyed as Sasuke did something completely unexpected. He blushed. Bright pink stained his cheeks as he quickly turned his head away, avoiding Naruto’s stares. But the damage was done Naruto had caught an eye full and he couldn’t help but think the man looked delicious with a bit of colour.



In that instance Naruto stopped thinking of it as being an eternity of soul removal. He began to think of it as an eternity to work beside Sasuke. Tease him, annoy him, fight with him and hopefully make him turn that luscious shade of red again. His chest grew warm at the thought and he didn’t understand why. How had such a cold bastard made him feel so warm and happy? Even his friends didn’t elicit this level of tenderness from him, what did Sasuke have that his friends didn’t? Aside from the scythe.



He guessed he had eternity to find out.



Naruto sighed dramatically and placed his hands behind his head.



“I guess I’ve got nothing to stay here for, considering nobody can see me and I’m not ready to give up my body just yet.”



He shot Sasuke a foxy grin whilst Sasuke merely stared impassively back.



“Hn.” Sasuke held out a hand and Naruto stared down at it in confusion. “Come on dobe. I haven’t got all day. Take my hand.”



“Whyyyy?” Naruto asked, suspicion sparkling in his eyes.



“How else are you going to walk through this wall with out my help?”



“We could use a door.” Naruto supplied. Heaven forbid they use something as mundane as a door.



“This is quicker.” Sasuke responded, snatching Naruto’s hand into his own. Naruto was pleasantly surprised to find the hand warm and comforting- a hand that pale he’d assumed it was minus degrees in temperature.



Sasuke held the hand tightly and dragged them both through the wall. Next stop home.



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Once again I'm already writing the next chapter. This one will be called Home.



Thanks for reading :D