Guardian

Guardian

Today, Naruto Uzumaki was going to die. Searching for his target, the Reaper slithered along the shadows of the early morning, materializing next to a troop of mailboxes. Dematerializing once more, the Reaper slipped underneath the crack of the front door, silently heading towards Naruto’s sleeping form. Standing at the foot of Naruto’s bed, the Reaper summoned his scythe and prepared to rip Naruto’s soul from his body. Suddenly, a flash appeared, momentarily blinding the Reaper, and a tall, dark haired man appeared, stabbing the Reaper with what appeared to be a butter knife. Grunting in pain, the Reaper retreated to the shadows, sliding around the dark room, hiding from his attacker. The dark haired man stood still, listening for even the slightest noise to inform him of the Reaper’s whereabouts. A slight woosh signaled the dark haired man, and he turned, shoving the butter knife into the same wound as before, only this time twisting the knife and pressing deeper until he heard the Reaper take the slightest intake of breath. Stepping back, the dark haired man watched the Reaper stumble backwards, gloved hands reaching for the butter knife which had utterly killed the unkillable. Releasing one last breath, the Reaper fell, landing as a crumpled mess upon Naruto Uzumaki’s floor. Cleaning the butter knife off on the Reaper’s cloak, the dark haired man teleported himself and the Reaper’s corpse to a small, dark room.
“Welcome back, Sasuke.”
Looking around, Sasuke saw Kakashi, taking note of what might have been an amused smile behind his mask.
“Hn,” Sasuke replied, setting the Reaper’s body onto a table set underneath a bright light.
“So, a butter knife?” Kakashi asked Sasuke, raising an eyebrow in askance.
“Shut up, it was all I had at the moment,” Sasuke retorted, looking down at the dead Reaper. Kakashi followed his gaze, and removed the hood of the Reaper’s cloak. The Reaper’s face was contorted in pain, with trails of blood running from his nostrils and mouth. Empty, lifeless eyes stared up at Sasuke and Kakashi, while tangled light brown hair traced the outline of the Reaper’s face.
“This one was weak. Must have been a new recruit,” Sasuke stated. Kakashi nodded his head in agreement, quickly snipping away at the cloak’s material with a pair of medical scissors to show the Reaper’s naked torso. Putting down the scissors, Kakashi then picked up a scalpel, cutting away the flesh around the Reaper’s heart. There, in place of a heart was a glowing orb of a dark purple color, emanating a chill. The inside of the orb was an almost liquid swirling mass of darkness. Every now and then thin streaks of color would run through it and become faint. Grabbing a glass jar, Kakashi placed the orb inside, before writing down the date and Sasuke’s name on a slip of paper. Kakashi then took a quick snapshot of the Reaper’s face before placing it with the jar. Picking up the jar, Kakashi walked to a door and opened it. The room had floor to ceiling shelves, all full of orbs in jars very much like the one Kakashi now held in his hands. Placing the jar on a shelf labeled ‘Sasuke,’ Kakashi turned around and returned to the Guardian in the other room. Kakashi then returned to the room Sasuke was in, arriving just in time to see Sasuke leave. Sighing, Kakashi picked up his scalpel, continuing on with the autopsy of the Reaper.

~

Naruto awoke, well rested from a night of sleep. It was around ten in the morning, and he was in a good mood. Stepping out of bed with a bright smile on his face, Naruto took a few steps before stopping suddenly, looking down to see he had stepped in a small pool of blood. Confused, Naruto stooped to get a better look at the imposing red stain on his carpet.
“What the hell?” Naruto questioned, dipping his fingers into the small puddle. The blood was shockingly bright compared to his tan skin. Standing up, Naruto hobbled to his bathroom, careful not to get blood on anymore of his carpet, and returned with a wet towel. Naruto then rubbed his foot clean before working on the carpet, hoping a stain wouldn’t be left there. His landlord probably wouldn’t appreciate that. While Naruto tried to soak up as much of the blood as he could, his cell phone started ringing. Launching himself at his desk, Naruto quickly answered his phone.
“Hello?” Naruto asked the phone.
“Naruto! Where are you? You promised that you’d meet me at the mall at 10:00!” Sakura protested.
“I did?” Naruto responded stupidly, lacking something else to say. Sighing, Sakura said,
“Just get here as soon as you can,” and proceeded to hang up. Naruto flipped his phone closed and stood up, hurrying to find some clean trousers to put on and momentarily forgetting about the blood stain on his floor. An angry Sakura was the last thing Naruto needed. Sakura and he had first met in high school, where Naruto had professed his undying love for her and was constantly beat down for all his efforts. Despite Sakura’s constant rejection, it didn’t seem to hinder their friendship in the slightest, which grew from Naruto’s wilted love. Now, Sakura was one of his good friends.
Stepping out of his apartment, Naruto made his way to his car and away to the mall to meet his impatient friend.

Naruto arrived at the mall not too long after his conversation with Sakura on the phone. He walked into a small café, taking sight of Sakura’s candy pink hair. She looked up at his entrance and smiled, handing Naruto a cup of coffee. Blinking, Naruto accepted what he guessed was a peace offering for Sakura’s phone call earlier. Seriously, Naruto thought, the girl is bipolar.
“How are you today?” Sakura asked, sipping at her own caffeinated drink.
“Fine, until I found some blood on my floor,” Naruto said, sipping at his drink.
“What?!” Sakura questioned, curiosity and concern sifting through her soft green eyes.
“That’s exactly how I felt! It’s so weird! How the hell did blood get on my floor? Who’s blood could it be? I mean, I didn’t find any cuts on me or anything. Maybe it was some villain trying to sneak into my house!! I’m too young to die!” Naruto didn’t realize he had raised his voice to the point where everyone was staring at him in the little shop.
“Would you quiet down if I went to check on it?” Sakura asked, her gaze shifting from various shopgoers back to Naruto.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
“I can go shopping some other time, so let’s go,” Sakura said, standing up and heading for the exit, Naruto following.

~

Sasuke cursed himself for making such a rookie mistake. How stupid am I if I left a blood stain on the floor? So much for not arising suspicions. Sasuke rushed back to Naruto’s bedroom, and saw the wet towel which had been left in an attempt to clean up the blood. Cursing softly, Sasuke picked up the towel and spit on it. He began to rub his spit into the material, and instantly all the blood in the towel disappeared, until a fresh, white towel was all that remained. Sasuke also spit onto the blood stain on the floor, rubbing it in until the carpet was pristine as well. Hearing the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, Sasuke placed the towel where it would be covering the blood stain, and faded into the wall so he could see how well his plan turned out. Soon enough, Naruto and Sakura stepped into Naruto’s bedroom, Naruto stating,
“It’s right in here, on the floor.” Sakura looked at the towel on the floor, noting how not ‘blood coated’ it was. Picking up the towel, Sakura found nothing but white carpet.
“Naruto, you didn’t have to lie about being late. I would’ve forgiven you.” But Naruto wasn’t paying attention to Sakura, he was transfixed with where the bloodstain previously was, a frown marring his handsome features. Not liking that Naruto was ignoring her, Sakura whacked Naruto on the head, earning a cry of pain and a complaint. Sakura soon left, leaving Naruto to contemplate the mysterious missing bloodstain. Sasuke, from his place at the wall, smirked to himself. Sasuke looked once more at Naruto, secretly admiring his charge before teleporting away again to talk with Kakashi.

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading!