Naruto put the crystal balls on the four corners of the room, with cinnamon powder spread on a circle Sasuke had instructed him to draw, and the incense of lotus leaves filling the parameters. He walked over to put the last of the four ingredients Sasuke has required into its rightful place –the Phantom Quartz Point stone, an unfamiliar and unknown stone that he had to purchase online– and arranged everything to gether. Once he was done, he walked over to the center of the room, cut his finger and allowed the blood to seep into the circle.

Honestly speaking, he was starting to freak out at his actions. What he was doing could be considered witchcraft and seriously, he didn't want his friends to think that he'd joined some weird lunatics-only cult that had him practice witchery. Naruto shuddered at the idea of being caught in the act but shook his head the next minute, reminding himself that he was only going through all of these troubles for Sasuke's sake. Closing his eyes, he hoped for his little trick to work and give Sasuke some power so that, at the very least, he'd be able to become visible before the blond again.

Chanting the words that lost their fanciness the minute he recited them with his weird accent, Naruto started drawing architectural shapes with his right hand whilst his left maintained a tight hold on one of the Phantom stones he'd gotten earlier. His blue eyes were closed in an attempt to block out what was going on before him so he wouldn't get lost in his usual awe-inspired trances, which would normally result in forgetting the words he was supposed to chant and thus doom Sasuke to life in his invisible hideout with a complete lack of power.

Still, his other senses were completely alert and were sharpened by the crucial loss of his sight, so when the air started getting colder and the familiar cinnamon-like scent of Sasuke blew in with the sudden wind from nowhere in particular, Naruto couldn't stop one of his eyes from cracking open. However, before he was able to identify any shapes, he firmly snapped it shut and persisted with his sight deprivation until he had finally finished with his chanting.

Because Naruto knew that, when his eyes lay on the conjured-up male, he'd stop everything and pounce forward to crush him in a tight bear hug –even if he'd only be holding onto static electricity.

When he was done, and the air settled back into its normal temperature and its strongly cinnamon-y smell, his shiny azure orbs dared to crack open, and his mouth quirked up into a peaceful smile filled with all of his longing.

They spent about three minutes in suspended animation, with Naruto passively standing still and letting his gaze float up and down the other's figure as he checked his vision, making sure that he was still the same old Sasuke without any missing parts. During that time, Sasuke was also staring back, with eyes filled with a tired collection of hard emotions –emotions that Naruto felt hard to distinguish at all. Finally though, the one who broke the expansive silence was none other than the expressionless raven himself.

"...I'm back."

Naruto didn't realize how much he'd missed that tone until he heard it again, and softly, he whispered back. "Welcome back."

"I don't think we have a lot of time before I disappear again–"

This caught the blond's attention as yet another problem arose, and he quickly interjected. "What do you mean? I thought this ritual was supposed to restore all of your powers back."

"Calm down, Naruto." Sasuke hoarsely eased, unconsciously informing him of his vocal cords' attempts to get back to normal after their long dormancy period. "I never said that; the crystals were only supposed to give me some of their power, which they did. However, restoring all of my power... that's something they can't do."

"Then how can we get all of your powers back?"

Sasuke abruptly lowered his eyes to the ground, unable to meet the hopeful light in Naruto's eyes. "That's... I'm afraid that's not possible."

"There's no such thing as 'not possible' in this world, Sasuke. You said that you know the reason why your powers are failing you, so we just have to correct the situation and get them back."

"...Again, it's not possible."

Naruto watched as the ghost floated to the outside of the room they were currently in and, keen on knowing the reason behind his stubborn denial, he followed closely behind. "Why is it not possible?"

The raven ignored the question and countered him with one of his own. "I've never told you about my past, have I?"

At those words, Naruto was taken aback by the abruptness of the gushing emotions of his heart, and he shook his head in an attempt to maintain a degree of levelheadedness. Still closely tailing Sasuke's shifting form, he responded with a short reply. "No, you have not."

"Then you won't be able to help unless you know." The ethereal ghost commented mysteriously.

Naruto didn't know how to react to the other's words or the calmness that was surrounding Sasuke. It was totally different from the usual briskness that he always sensed with him, and it was almost as if the raven has gotten older, wiser and –to some degree– a bit more...distant. As he tried to get a small hold on the situation that he was stumbling into while neglecting the small differences Sasuke was showing him, he faintly inquired.

"...Where are we going?"

Sasuke ignored the blond's question and gestured for him to follow his golden trail, which the human obediently did until the ghost stopped before a wall. There was nothing interesting about the wall; there were no paintings, no change in paint, no different spots or anything of the matter; it was just a normal wall separating Naruto's apartment from his neighbours to the right... or so he thought. However, before he could question the reason behind taking a whole minute to stand and stare at a plain wall, Sasuke drew a shape with his right hand fingers and, with an awestruck expression, Naruto was made to watch as the wall crumbled like an old paper and disappeared, revealing a door with the same design as all the other doors in the apartment.

With a twirl of a translucent index finger, the door swung open and the ghost floated inside. Swallowing his nervousness with an inaudible gulp, Naruto put a foot inside the room and followed closely behind.

"This room..." Sasuke started, looking at the dusty furniture with a sad and almost detached tone that made Naruto's senses sharpen. "I kept it hidden from you, and anyone who had ever tried living in this apartment; actually, I hid it from the blueprint of the building, so if people were ever to investigate it, this room wouldn't exist...like me."

Naruto looked around at the hidden room and found that there was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the room was a relatively empty one –there was nothing inside except a vintage bed, a dusty old desk and a single rundown closet– with walls a greyish degree of white and the floor covered with varying layers of dirt, mud and filth. It was just a normal old room with nothing fancy or valuable; nothing that made it stands out or would tempt anyone to steal anything from. He was pretty sure people wouldn't want to remain another second in that room, thanks to the awful stench filling the air. So the question was...

...Why was Sasuke hiding it?

"I don't see anything of value here..." The blond stated, in a way that allowed Sasuke to figure out his hidden question without the need to verbalize it.

Black irises continued tracing the layout of the room as their owner began memorizing, remembering and shuddering at the onslaught of recollections. "This is the room I lost my life in. Everything went down in this room and so, as a mean to preserve what little dignity I still held, I covered it up and hid it away in a place where no one would find it. In short, I hid my death."

Naruto's eyes widened at those words, and a single thought rang clearly inside his head.

"Sasuke... are you sure you're fine with telling me this? I mean, I really don't mind not knowing anything, and it doesn't matter if I don't know anything. You're you, and nothing will change that. So...I guess what I'm trying to say is...are you really ready to open such a huge wound for my sake?" When no answer was forthcoming, Naruto quickly added. "If you're doing this solely because you believe you owe me anything, then don't tell me. I only want to know when you're ready for it, and not as a means of repayment."

At this, the raven shook his fallen locks in an ardent rejection of Naruto's words. "That's incorrect; it's true that, somewhere deep within myself, I believe that I owe you something on a certain level, but that isn't the reason why I'm doing this. I want to tell you this for my own sake, because when I disappear, everything I ever did would cease. Eventually, this room will show and perhaps you'll even begin to wonder about things... so, for my own peace of mind, I wish to put aside all of my past grievances and secure a sense of closure for the both of us."

"Just so you know, Sasuke, it's more a question of 'if I disappear', not 'when I disappear', because I won't allow you to disappear to anywhere, since I'll do whatever I can to forbid that from happening. However, if telling me would give you comfort and eliminate the sorrowful look in your eyes, then I'm all ears."

Sasuke smiled softly. "I wouldn't hurry so much into deciding if I were you, since you may not wish to aid me anymore –and my disappearance wouldn't seem all that bad– when you learn the whole of the truth."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You'll find out soon enough. However, for now, since it's already this late and you have training tomorrow, it may be best for you to head to bed and we'll conduct this conversation another time."

Before Sasuke could leave the room that he'd declared to be the scene where he'd lost his life and thereby finish their conversation, Naruto called out to him. "Wait! You said that your powers will only decrease from here on, so we don't really have the time to bother with anything as trivial as my sleep..."

The ethereal being halted and turned around, and with his calm exterior facing the blond, he quietly murmured. "Calm down, Naruto. My disappearance this time won't be as sudden as the last time; I'll know when I'll be going and be able to give you an indication for it, so you can relax. You should also remember that those crystals were able to buy me some time, so my time's not near–"

"How much time do you have left then?"

"...If I were to give an accurate prediction, it would be around three to four weeks from now."

At this, Naruto's eyes widened and he bit his lips in silent frustration. "Only that much? That just leaves us with so little time; we can't afford to waste a single second then!"

Swirling his right index finger as he sped out of the room, Sasuke startled Naruto with the golden particles that suddenly appeared all around the boxer, and gently lifted him outside via his ethereal abilities. Although the blond eeped at the abruptness of the action, he didn't complain at his situation. When the ghost's steering finger had allowed him to be softly let down onto the couch, he frowned at the smug looking ghost and grumbled.

"This still doesn't mean I've let go of the issue, so you're going to tell me what's happening right now! I'm not sleepy, tired or anything of that sort, and if you're afraid I'll miss out on practice, then I can call my coach right now and tell him that I won't be coming tomorrow –so tell me, Sasuke, how can I possibly stop you from disappearing?"

Rolling his eyes at the stubborn human who didn't know when to give up and rest his case, Sasuke brought their faces close together, and with a genuine smile that left Naruto blushing –since it was his first time seeing it– he quietly enunciated.

"Simple... you'll just have to kill me."

||XxXx||

Sakura fixed her pink hair into a smooth ponytail and brought her locks to cover the huge embarrassment that was her forehead and, with a final touch to fix her outfit and put on her usual vibrant shade of red lipstick, she exited the ladies room and drifted her jade orbs through the crowd of tables for her second-best friend. A sweet smile soon broke onto her features when she sighted Gaara's burnished, red hair three tables to her left, and with firm steps, she made her way towards the table that held another visitor beside her best bud.

Adopting her usual cheerful tone, she greeted the two hot males. "Hello, boys~"

The first to acknowledge her presence and return her greeting with an equally chirpy tone was none other than the guy she'd only heard about and never seen. "Hi, I believe you're Haruno Sakura-chan."

"And you're Hyuuga Neji-kun, Hinata's cousin. I've heard a lot about you."

"I hope you've only heard good things."

"...They were more interesting things."

Sakura smiled as she pulled out a seat for herself and gratefully sat down, before she took a minute to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the place she was invited to and nodded to herself when it matched her standards. After having enough of observing the environment, she directed questioning eyes at her best friend, due to his evident silence since her arrival.

"Gaara, darling, saying hello back won't cause your stiffness to subside, you know."

Gaara looked up from his cellphone and nodded obliviously at her, before he murmured. "Hi, Sakura, when did you get here?"

She sighed and decided to ignore it instead of flaring up at him. "Just now... in any case, why am I here? It's not like I don't appreciate the gesture –I do, it's just that you hardly ever invite me anywhere– but what's so important that we couldn't discuss this in my apartment?"

The redhead began to open his mouth, yet before he could explain his reasons, the waitress assigned to their table came and took Sakura's non-sugar latté order, and ignored the two males since they'd already ordered beforehand. Afterwards, he was also obliged to wait for the three gawking fangirls, who'd suddenly appeared, to finish admiring Neji's unearthly beauty and leave after the raven gently refused their invitation to hang out.

Sighing inwardly at the interruptions, Gaara made his voice loud and clear to get the girl's full attention, and stated the problem. "...It's Naruto. There's something wrong with him."

"Naruto? What's wrong with him?"

"Don't you think there's something odd about his behavior lately?"

Blinking at the query and shaking her head in denial of recalling any incident where the blond's behavior had ceased from idiocy, she slowly replied. "Not really; he seems fine to me. Well, there was that time when he drank himself into a stupor and you had to rush him over to the match, but then again, Naruto was –and still is– a stupid guy, so..."

"Yeah, but for these days he's looked totally depressed, and his boxing is clearly evidence of that. I've tried to ask him if he needed help with something or if there's a problem he can't solve, but he just sticks with his mumbles of 'I'm fine, you don't need to worry' like a broken record."

"Maybe there's really nothing there, Gaara–"

"No, there definitely is –even his punches have slowed down, and they NEVER slow down. I don't know what that says to you, but to me, this is telling me only one thing; he's in some deep shit!"

"Gaara," She frowned. "Have you even thought about the remote possibility that he might be just having a bad day, or even a bad week? People get those without having a major problem in their lives, you know."

Before Gaara could inflame the conversation anymore or even hope to counter Sakura's words, Neji interrupted with his deep tone. "Oh, are you two talking about Naruto-kun?"

Sakura smiled at the handsome male that has finally concentrated on their conversation after the girls stopped coming his way, and cheerfully replied. "Yes –Gaara is worrying because he's just a worrywart. Ever since high school, he'd worry nonstop about Naruto's wellbeing, even when there's no need for it."

"Ooh, I see."

"In fact, when it comes to Naruto, he's just like a mother hen."

"Shut up, Sakura, I'm not like that. You're the one who's always protecting him, so if there's anyone here who would be called a mother hen, it's you. Remember how you used to hover over every girlfriend he got and how you had to put your nose into his business each and every time he had a problem?"

"Hey! He's stupid, okay? Besides, he always used to put his nose where it didn't fit anyway. I was just keeping an eye out for Kushina-san's sake; after all, she wouldn't rest in peace if she knew her only son was drowning in a pit somewhere due to his inherent foolishness."

"You have to admit though, not all his problems were due to his foolishness –sometimes, life was just giving him crap."

This caused Sakura's mouth to twitch upwards into a smile, and she wholeheartedly agreed with the redhead. "Yep, you got that right. He's just like a trouble-magnet."

"Certainly."

The two long-time friends shared a knowing smile and Neji raised a brow at their inclusive attitude, feeling a little left out from their intimate camaraderie. "Naruto-kun is so lucky to have two people care this much about him. Honestly, I'm feeling a little jealous here..."

Sakura grinned at the long haired raven, and assured him with a jolly tone. "Oh, you really don't need to be, because Gaara has purely platonic, brotherly love for Naruto, and nothing other than that. His heart hasn't been dominated over as of yet, he's all yours~"

"Hey! What the fuck are you saying?! Don't give him extra hope!"

Neji tucked a black lock behind his ear and returned Sakura's cheerfulness with a slyly confident smile of his own. "I'm glad to hear that, Sakura-chan, I'll be doing my best to win him over then. By the way, you don't mind if I called you Sakura-chan, do you?"

"Of course not! It's not every day that I get a gorgeous guy like you calling my name."

"Well then, you'd have to call me 'Neji', because I wouldn't pass having a beautiful girl like you calling my name either."

When Sakura and Neji shared their own inclusive smile at their newfound understanding, Gaara rolled his eyes at the two and stood up abruptly. "Why don't you two just hook up? Then everything would be alright for all of us. I'm going to check up on our food, because they're taking their damn time getting it out of their fricking kitchen and I'm damn starving!"

Sakura giggled as she watched her redhead friend stalk over towards the waitress who was supposed to tend to their table. With a sneaky smile, she remarked. "He's jealous."

Neji blinked at her and tilted his head to the side, allowing light to accentuate the smoothness of his dark locks as he confusedly asked. "Of whom?"

"Of me, obviously. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but Gaara is a very reserved guy, so he wouldn't bring you here to meet me if he didn't think anything of you. You know, it also seems like he doesn't really mind your overt emotions for him either."

"I'm not so sure about that; you see, he didn't invite me here on his own accord. I forced myself on him." Neji smiled stunningly, in a way that allowed Sakura to note just how handsome the male before her truly was, and continued speaking in an offhand tone. "He was glaring the whole ride here, and although it was a little unnerving, it was just too adorable."

"...You're a sadist, aren't you?"

"I've been told so."

Sakura released a sound laugh and happily replied. "I think we will get along just fine, Neji –oh, and since I really like you, I'll let you in on a nice little secret about Gaara. See, he's the real jealous and possessive type... And I'll demonstrate my point right about now; make sure you play along with me though, okay?" She whispered the last part as her jade orbs fell on the redhead who came back to their table, with a frown crossing his usually-stoic features.

Neji blinked at her words, not getting what exactly she wanted to demonstrate, but since it looked like fun he winked and nodded to her in agreement.

"I hate these places." Gaara remarked, pulling his seat backwards as he rested his weight on it. "I should have just invited you over to my apartment instead."

Sakura scowled and reprimanded him. "Oh shush! This is the first time you have done something I'm pleased with, so please don't ruin it by mentioning that tiny, prison-like apartment of yours."

"My apartment isn't tiny, prison-like or anything of that sort. It's calming and neat, and I like it the way it is. Besides, it's very soothing there."

"Well, learn to find it soothing here, because we're not going anywhere. And that reminds me," She added before Gaara interrupted her with a nasty rejoinder, "I've small news or you."

At her thrilled tone, his initial irritation returned and he irately snapped. "What now?"

"Neji-kun and I have decided to take you up on that little advice of yours," She paused for dramatic effect, and then excitedly chirped, "We'll start dating!"

It took less than a second for the vein inside Gaara's forehead to pop and even less time for him to express his annoyance in a cold and dry snort. "What sort of twisted joke are you playing now?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and pouted. "It's not a game; tell him, Neji-kun! I'm telling the truth, aren't I? We've agreed to dating, right?"

At her stealthy wink in his direction, the raven knew what she was playing at and, with a charming smile of his own; he took hold of one of Sakura's soft hands and gave it a tender kiss. By a delighted lilt evident in his demonic and profound voice, he backed up her audacious announcement. "What can I say? She swept me right off my feet the moment our eyes met."

At the flattery, Sakura felt a faint blush spread over her cheeks, thereby convincing Gaara that this was reality and not just a grand hoax. Grinning like a stupid girl in love, she faced her best friend with glowing orbs and joyously exclaimed. "See? I told you so. Now you don't need to worry about him running after you, and that annoyed expression would stop appearing on your face. Congratulate me, Gaara, because thanks to you, I've gotten myself a hot boyfrie –"

Before Sakura could finish her teasing sentence, the redhead stood up, took his jacket and heatedly growled at the two of them. "Congratulations then! You know what, consider this your very first date, courtesy of me! Have a fucking dandy date!"

With his torrent of caustic words done, the redhead spun fast on his heels and left the restaurant in a huff. Sakura stuck her tongue out at his disappearing form and smiled at the still amused-looking raven, before she smugly added. "I told you, the jealous type. Well, you better follow him fast, because when redhead over there gets mad, even seven years of hardcore sex won't be able to satisfy him~"

Bowing curtly at her for the amusing demonstration she just provided, the beautiful raven was out of the door before she could even take a single sip from her latté. Smiling at the successful match-making she just did, Sakura winced when she was served two overstuffed plates –the orders of the two males who had just left – and groaned when she realized that, due to their absence, she would have to pay for them now. With a disgruntled frown, she leant back in her chair and sipped at her latté again, before she abruptly exclaimed.

"Shit! I forgot to ask him about that Sasuke person, too! Gosh, Sakura, you're getting more and more senile these days!"

||XxXx||

Sasuke floated towards the opposite end of the couch as a pair of blue orbs fixed upon him and refused to allow him a chance to get away. With a smug tone that was mostly due to the crazy amount of attention he was getting from Naruto –which he was sure was only given to him because Naruto was still subconsciously beating himself up for being unable to see him when he lost the ability to visualize himself– he opened his mouth and began relating his story.

"When I was young, I didn't understand anything. My family's life seemed perfect to me; my mother and father always got along impeccably well, and my big brother was my greatest idol. Everything was so magical that I failed to see the small cracks that were appearing in my idyllic life. You see, when I was in fourth grade, my parents had their very first fight." Sasuke smiled faintly, before he continued on. "It was because my father missed one of my music recitals, actually I wasn't all that keen on him witnessing it since mother was there... but to her, it was an entirely different story. The tension from the first crack provided the second crack; mother flipped again when father was hardly home, due to long business trips he had. Looking back on that situation, I realized that it was a big fight, but the third and final one was when she came home and some people started threatening our family. Well, needless to say, it was too much for her to handle, so on a rainy Thursday she took me... and we left home together."

Sasuke suppressed the little buzz that travelled through his whole body as the other's blue eyes continued to keenly observe him. Reciting the story of his broken family to a person bestowing on him such deep concentration... it was a first for him, and he found it hard to ignore the small part in him that liked that buzz.

"...S-So how did your father react?" Naruto asked, breaking the unbearable silence that Sasuke decided to create between them.

"Actually, I don't remember. It happened such a long time ago that I'd forgotten, but what I do remember is that, for a while, we spent most of our time searching for a place to stay as mother used all her capabilities to provide for the both of us. She also refused to entertain any notion of getting back together with my father and eventually, she became set on divorce, which they got after a year of constant conflict and failed attempts at consoling. I think they both realized that she wasn't strong enough to carry the burdens of her married name, the constant worry that always plagued her and the hell she went through with her husband being away from her. Mother was a very fragile person to being with... and I suppose that, due to her nature, my tragedy befell me."

Sasuke arranged himself into a seated position as Naruto tilted his head and asked the obvious question that he'd been expecting. "What tragedy?"

"Well, remember when you asked me whether the reason I was trapped was because of a female?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, that female... was mother. When she got divorced, the two years that followed were ones in which we lived in harmony. She found herself some work and was genuinely happy, and I grew up in an environment with my mother as the center of my world, and I had no complaints. I admit, I didn't really have any hopes or dreams or whatever, but since she was there and fine with the world, I was fine too. Then mother got a boyfriend, I forgot his name... I didn't like him but she positively adored him, so I kept my mouth shut. They dated for a while and I saw how she was falling in love with him; I was content with that... until the ass revealed his true colors. At first, he started making passes at me, but since it didn't really matter at first I ignored it and carried on. Somehow, he got the idea that I was subconsciously okay with it and his harassment increased, and this was something I wasn't okay with. I had a big fight and mother found out..."

Naruto watched Sasuke as the ghost released a loud sigh upon recalling whatever scene he wasn't able to see and, softly, he urged the other on with a hesitant "...And?"

"I was everything to her and so they broke up because of me... but that's when she started showing some unbalances in her character. It started small –forgetting some objects, leaving a key at home, keeping a door open, timers being left unset– and then it escalated. She began forgetting her friends' names, and I still remember how she even forgot my own name once, and when she forgot the iron on and went out, I decided that it was time to call in some help." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, allowing Naruto a peek at deep transparent locks, before he continued. "The doctor said she'd developed some sort of schizophrenia. I freaked out at first, but he assured me that, with the right treatment and plan, she could return to normal... well, as normal as it could be for her."

"And she stuck to the plan?"

"Yeah, mother didn't want to be a burden to me so she tried, many times, to act normal for my sake. Anyhow, the drugs worked and, for about half a year, we got used to things and mother really did show some signs of improvement. I had to adjust my time to suit hers and gave up on stuff teenage boys liked to do for her sake... but it didn't matter to me, because she was my whole world. Besides, I didn't even want to think of what would happen to me if she was gone."

Naruto stretched his right hand to take hold of Sasuke's but it just went through it, with the familiar spark coursing between them. The raven gave him a small smile when Naruto's face formed a tiny frown, and warmly chuckled at the blond. "Although you knew the result, you still tried."

"Well... I thought I could pull it off if I concentrated a lot," Naruto hopefully offered, "...but I guess it's still a no."

"You should learn how to give up."

"I wouldn't be me if I did. Anyways, back to what you were saying... haven't you told your father or brother about what happened to your mother at this point?"

Sasuke shook his head and allowed the blond to return to his side of the couch and, still maintaining their preliminary eye contact, he quietly responded.

"Mother didn't want them to know; I think she felt that, if they knew that she was ill and wasn't able to care for me anymore, they'd take me away from her... and she would have rather died than allow that to happen. However, the disease was taking a toll on her, and I could see it clearly –she was losing weight, seeing things that weren't there, and experiencing a strange change in her mindset– but the last straw fell on a school day. Mother had decided that she was alright, and thus didn't take her medications for a whole week... without my knowledge, of course. I went to class that morning but I wasn't feeling good about it as I had suspicions that she wasn't doing fine since, when I told her I was going on a school trip, she showed some hesitancy. My nervousness increased at noon and I decided to return home early to finally put my mind at ease..."

The ethereal being lapsed into a restful silence and Naruto allowed him a minute to collect himself, along with his memories. Slowly, Sasuke reopened his eyes and recounted the events that irrevocably changed his life.

"When I reached home, the house had a strange smell in it, which I'd later identified as gas. Mother forgot to turn the stove off and gas was filling the whole apartment, so I went to close it. However, when I started searching for her, I found her in the bathroom... with both her wrists slashed open with a knife."

"Sasuke..." Naruto soothed, subduing the sudden gush of frustration at not being able to comfort the other by any other means.

The raven shook his head with a small but comforted smile and waited for Naruto to relieve his frustration, before he continued on with his recount.

"I remember being unable to think at the time; I tried to prevent her from losing consciousness, but she just smiled at me and blabbered on about how her blood refused to stop. I didn't know what to do then... if I took her to a hospital, they'd surely contact my father and he'd take me away from her, but if I left her like that, she'd die. In the midst of trying to find the right thing to do, I took her to her room and bandaged her slit wrists as best as I could... but eventually, I settled on taking her to the hospital. I figured I'd do whatever was possible to be with her if father was set on getting me back, and besides, her current health was more important than any future troubles."

The blond smiled and softly uttered. "You're such a good son, Sasuke. Your mum must've been proud of you."

"...I'm not so sure about that." Sasuke darkly replied. "When I started calling the hospital, mother woke up. I'd no idea what went on inside her head at that time, but she started incoherently screaming while attacking me. My only guess is that she must've thought I was someone bad that came to hurt her and her son so, in her brief moment of insanity, mother forgot that I was the teenager standing before her. Hence she treated me as an intruder and started hitting me..."

The raven released another sigh as the past began replaying in his head. "It was a tragedy, really, and I was pathetic as hell. I couldn't use force on her since I would never hurt her, and no matter how hard I tried, she didn't respond to any of my words. Somewhere along the line, mother got hold of a vase and, after distracting me, she gave me a hard hit on the head. Much to my chagrin, I lost consciousness and only 'regained' it after a couple of hours have passed, but by that time... I was floating in a cloud above, looking down at the lifeless body of my mother as it hung loosely over mine, with her blood covering the both of us and the same gaseous stench filling the apartment. Suddenly, paramedics came as I helplessly watched on and began trying to resuscitate us."

"Then... what happened to your mother?"

"...She passed away on the spot, as she was unable to handle the bleeding, and I was turned into the creature I am today– not only was I unable to pass on, I was also unable to become reality. I've hung on like this for the past seven years... pitiable, huh?"

Sasuke's black orbs widened ever so slightly at the small stream of tears silently coursing down from Naruto's eyes, and in a tone that matched his pained facial expression, Naruto chokingly defended the raven. "Y-You're not pitiable! Not at all! You're... Sasuke... you're incredible. I can only imagine how that all must've felt... you're brave, cool and amazing, all at once...! I... I don't know what I'd do if I had to lose my life by the person who gave it to me –I'd probably go berserk and lose my mind for the rest of eternity– but you, Sasuke... you handled all that pain by yourself, alone in the dark and looking back on the painful truth, for all these years. Seriously, you're the best person I've ever met and now I really don't want you to disappear!"

Something inside the dark depths of Sasuke's cold heart buzzed with an unidentified emotion at Naruto's tears. It was the first time he'd heard a person give him such wholeheartedly warm words and for anyone to sincerely cry for his sake; a first to feel close to a person without suffocating, and to allow said person willingly into his heart. Permitting Naruto yet another chance at seeing his genuine smile, Sasuke floated close to the tan face facing him and his smile quickly grew upon closer inspection of the other. If there was something that he was starting to adore and feel attracted to in the blond, it was the way those beautiful azure jewels would glow and shine with every tear Naruto shed on his behalf, and how they gave him a look into the pure translucence that made his frozen heart thaw.

"Well then, what would you do if I said I was still alive?"

The way Naruto's tears abruptly halted and his mouth gaped open like a fish out of water allowed Sasuke to take a minute to bask in the total bafflement of one Uzumaki Naruto.

"W-W-What are you s-saying?"

"Exactly what you heard."

"B-But... you said you were dead!"

The ghost sighed and floated upward, forcing Naruto to switch his line of vision so he wouldn't lose sight of him, and muttered. "Hmm... I don't ever remember saying that I was dead. I did say I lost my life, but I never explicitly mentioned death. Besides, that only happened once."

Naruto's brows furrowed at the ghost's misleading words. "How can you lose your life without dying? Losing your life means death... doesn't it?"

"Not necessarily; you're the only one who identified it as such."

"Sasuke, do you want to see my fury that much?!" The boxer glared upwards and growled out, "You're a fricking ghost! And you said you've lost your freaking life! What do you expect me to think after that! Ha?! That you're happily living on Earth, spending your days carousing around!?"

"If you thought that, I'd be troubled and doubt your mental capacity more than I already do."

"...Okay then," The blond took a deep breath and, under the belief that lashing out would not get him anywhere, he directed a thoughtful gaze at the ethereal being. "Do explain to me how you're alive but still floating in my living room –and if you're joking, then just know it's not funny and that my patience is at its lowest right now."

"If I want to joke then I can think of other ways to do just that. Now, having said that... it was indeed funny; seriously, you should have seen how shocked you looked! I should've gotten a picture..." Sasuke raised his index finger after his little remark and quickly added. "However, I wasn't joking."

Ignoring Sasuke's little tease, Naruto asked the important questions. "Then? Tell me what you meant by what you said. How are you alive?"

"After my mother did what she did and I turned into a floating ghost, my father and brother managed to get a hold of my body. They started searching for a way to heal me and bring me back to life, and as the years passed by father's condition worsened and only my brother remained to continue the work. All this time, I didn't really care about what they did or the condition of my body –because I was as good as dead anyway– yet he never gave up. He kept on trying and trying and trying and trying..." Sasuke paused as a semi-transparent vein popped inside his head, before he irately burst out. "It fucking pisses me off!"

"Umm... Sasuke?"

"The piece of shit had no fucking right to use my body for experiments! Who does he think he is!? Big brother my ass! He should've allowed me to rest in peace all those years ago, and because he hasn't, it's all his fucking fault I'm trapped like this! On that day, my soul had already left my body, but he's not allowing me to pass on! He's gluing me forcefully to Earth, and that's how I've turned into the soul haunting this shitty apartment. He forced me into it... that fucker!"

The blond sweat-dropped at the other as he continued ranting. This was his first time seeing an annoyed side of Sasuke... well, an annoyed side that wasn't directed mainly at him, in any case. He suppressed the tiny flare of happiness that appeared at that for, even though the raven was venting, he felt closer to him.

"Umm, Sasuke, I have a question." When irritated eyes snapped towards him, Naruto continued with his query. "If your brother is keeping your body and you're unable to move on, then... was it because of him that you lost your powers?"

Sasuke ran a pale hand through his soft locks and nodded wearily, before he mumbled. "Yes, it was all his doing. I think he's gotten his hands on some serious shit medication and now he's trying to suck me back into my body."

The small amount of elation that formed inside his stomach wanted to explode onto his face at those words but for some unknown reason, Naruto knew that Sasuke wouldn't appreciate his joyful exclamations very much.

"Go on. I know what you're thinking..."

Tilting his head to the side, the blond curiously retorted. "Well, what am I thinking?"

"You're thinking how it's not such a bad idea for me to get back to my body, that it's not a bad idea that I can live again... that losing my powers isn't the end of the world."

"...Well, it's not."

The raven rolled his eyes and started floating away as he muttered in exasperation. "I told you that you won't want to help me anymore when you know... and you just proved me right."

The boxer didn't find the right words in him to deny Sasuke's truthful arguments, because that was just how he truly felt on the inside. There was nothing wrong with wishing for a more physical form of Sasuke... so all he had to do was convince the irritated ghost of that.

||XxXx||

"Kakashi is super pissed at you, just so you know~"

Naruto attempted to block out the extra-chirpy voice that abused his tired drums, but failed miserably in his task. He frowned at the raven who came waltzing out of Gaara's bedroom with an oversized T-shirt –which clearly told him how Gaara's measurement needed some adjustment if he wanted to stick with his original plan of gifting him a shirt for his upcoming birthday– and snorted at his own pathetic muscle growth. Burrowing his face into the palms of his hands, he responded to the beautiful raven's initial comment with a groan.

"Please don't remind me..."

"Neji, is coffee alright with you?" Gaara asked, interrupting Neji before he could amuse himself while he conducted a silly conversation with his blond intruder of a friend.

The raven took a second to fully appreciate the sexiness of a half-naked Gaara then shook his head as an answer when he had enough of the silent staring, allowing his ruffled locks to sway with his movements. "I'm more of a green-tea guy, so...do you happen to have any?"

"Hn. What about you, baka?"

"A sedater with a high dosage of a tranquilizer, please." Naruto grinded out, clutching his aching head in pain.

"Coffee is it then."

The blond watched as his friend disappeared inside his kitchen and tried to dispel the gloominess he was feeling within by switching to a more interesting subject. "So, you two together now or what?"

Neji scowled at the question, before he tried to give an answer that would convey his current emotion, regardless of how messed up they were. "Well... we've fucked all through the night, if that's what you're asking, but I'm not so sure if that means he accepts me or not. Gaara has so much semen pent up inside of him that we did more than we said..." He sighed, adjusting the way his legs were bent, before he grumbled, "No wonder he's cranky all the damn time –he's drowning in semen on the inside. Honestly, you're his friend; why did you allow him to reach this stage without sex?"

Naruto raised his hand defensively to the other, trying to wipe out the nasty picture the raven had just planted into his mind. "Whoa, whoa there, sport! I'm his friend, not his therapist or, God forbid, sex-friend. I mean, how do you expect me to ask him casually about his love life? Not to mention just how disgusting that is. I don't want to die just yet, thank you very much."

"Disgusting? Naruto, you two are guys, guys can casually address sex without it being disgusting."

"Look, I can address sex with Kiba, Shino, and even my own dead father, but with Gaara?! No, no and HELL NO! That's just plain suicide!"

Neji spared a look to the back, where the redhead was still busy making them their hot beverages, and nodded in agreement when he recalled the first time they'd met and the hateful vibe he'd received. "I see where you're coming from; with that rage of his, even I had a hard time persuading him into sex. Still, Gaara's too stiff, and that's affecting his boxing... so hopefully, with sex, he'll be able to relax a bit."

"Then thank God you're here."

"Yeah...an outlet for him." The raven dejectedly agreed.

At the somewhat disappointed tone, Naruto encouraged him with a smile. "You should know that Gaara doesn't take sex lightly. Besides, if he did you, then that means you've entered his okay-zone and that's just amazing, especially with the way he was loathing you. You're definitely not an outlet, and you should never feel like one."

"Thank you."

A faint blush flitted over Neji's cheeks, giving Naruto a slight sense of accomplishment, and the blond sincerely wished that he had a camera on him so that he was able to capture those features for Gaara to see. Immediately after those words had left his mouth, Neji excused himself and headed towards the bathroom to freshen up and wear some proper clothes, seeing as the loose shirt was making him feel a bit like a girl, which was a feeling he detested to the core. Not a minute after, the redhead returned, putting the tray with the beverages on the glass table that Naruto chose to sit beside. The blond smirked smugly at him, sending alarm bells ringing inside Gaara's mind.

"You did him."

"..."

"I thought you don't go after guys."

"..."

"You broke all your laws and succumbed to sweet, sweet temptation. Actually, I never thought you'd be the first to crack –Sakura did, though– but I thought you'd at least last a year. Well, I guess I owe her some money then."

"You... you two had a bet on me?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out with a grin. "Not on you per se, but over how long you'd last before he charms you off your high horse... but for you to lose your sharpness, intensity and reason and eat him up like that; man, you must really, really like him."

Gaara momentarily halted his movement as Naruto's words rang ominously inside his brain, but disregarding them for a later time, he coolly asked. "...Why did you come here?"

"You could at least tell me something to confirm or deny my hypothesis... or are you still mulling over my intrusion on your fuck-time?"

"Firstly, we weren't fucking; you interrupted our sleep, nothing more. Secondly, my feelings towards him are still ambiguous, even to myself; last night I slipped and unfortunately, I lost to his allure... but it won't happen again. Finally, state your reason for coming here and disturbing me, or get your ass out now." Gaara sharply countered.

"Sheesh, man, I thought Neji has gotten all your pent-up frustration out of your system, but it's still stubbornly corked up in there!"

"Yeah... I think it piled over the years, so only one night wouldn't remove it all." The cheerful tone of the now formally-dressed raven came in to reinforce Naruto's exclamation as he aimed a wink at Gaara, silently telling him that he'd just heard everything he'd said and that he'd make sure that there was a 'next-time' for them.

"...You two are unbelievable. Neji," He looked at his previous night's mistake with a sigh, before he chided. "Go to work for now –you said you're needed in your company, so you can't afford to loiter around for another second– and Naruto, for the last time, why are you here?"

The raven rolled his eyes and beat Naruto to answering the redhead's comments. "You don't need to kick me out; I'll drink my tea and be on my way soon enough. See, Naruto-kun, he really is one of those guys who fuck and ditch. After he's done with my body, he wants me out."

Gaara shook his head as he served Neji his green tea. "It's not like that... and you know it. I just don't want you to be late."

"Yeah, yeah."

When it seemed like his words were really better off being kept inside his mouth, Gaara directed his attention to the blond who was sitting comfortably on his armchair and snickering at his failed attempt to persuade the raven to mind his own business and leave. After he'd sent a silent glare his way and Naruto had responded to him with a wide grin, he was finally given his long-awaited answer.

"It's Sasuke... I'm having some problems with him."

Before Gaara could open his mouth to say anything, the loud thump of the cup Neji was holding as it thudded onto the blue-carpeted floor brought the two's attention to him. Neji forced his hands to cease shaking and shook his head as he apologized to them in an uncertain tone.

"S-Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Gaara muttered as he quickly brought over a rag to dry the wet carpet with, and glanced with somewhat worried eyes at the shaken raven. Returning the dirty rag to the kitchen, he came back and quietly voiced his concern. "Hey, you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, but... umm, Naruto-kun, who is this Sasuke person you speak of?"

Frowning at the odd behavior of the raven, the blond looked at the redhead who, seeing as how apparently rattled Neji was, nodded for him to answer truthfully. With a shrug of compliance, Naruto said:

"You may not believe this, but I've a ghost... actually, maybe calling him a ghost at this point is a bit wrong... but so that you won't be confused, we'll stick with a ghost for now. In any case, he's been living with me for a while now."

Frowning in an apparent display of his confusion, Neji raised his brow and asked. "A ghost?"

"Yes."

"...And you're somehow okay with it?"

"Totally; Sasuke is harmless... well, to me he is. You shouldn't get too close to the apartment unless he tells you to."

Neji directed a puzzled glance to the redhead, and Gaara nodded in an attempt to back Naruto up. "If he believes it, then it must be real... and no, Naruto isn't crazy."

"I realize that it's a lot to take in, and you're welcome to disbelieve me; after all, Sakura still does..." Naruto muttered with a frown.

"...It's unusual, to say the least."

"Yeah, I can relate to that. However, I'm not lying, because I really do see him. He's a cranky, childish ghost and he definitely exists."

"Well then, if you and Gaara believe in his existence that strongly, then I, too, would also like to believe in you."

"Great." Gaara echoed, before he continued in a nonchalant tone, "Now that he's on board and there are no more issues, what sort of trouble is he giving you?"

"Well, it's about who he is. Sasuke said he's not dead and that his body is still alive somewhere, though where exactly he didn't say. Apparently, the reason is his brother; he's trying a new method to bring him back to life, and thus Sasuke's steadily losing what little power he has left."

Naruto waited as the information took a while to sink into Gaara's as well as the new believer's brains, and he gave his friend an apologetic smile at his inability to shoulder his own shit. Instead of accepting his silent apology, Gaara disregarded it with a roll to his eyes and sternly asked him.

"How can his brother revive him if he's not dead?"

"Umm... I didn't really focus on it all that much, so I didn't ask him for details. I was more interested in the whole picture–"

"That he's being returned to life, right?"

"Yes."

"...Is the reason why you've been down this past week all because of this?" Gaara asked after getting the empty cups back on the tray.

The blond gave a curt nod and elaborated further on his reasoning. "...In fact, he's lost so much power that just appearing before me is draining him, and to get him some energy back I had to do some stuff that I'll refrain from mentioning for now. Look, the bottom line is that the energy he's gained recently is dwindling as we speak, and when it runs out... he'll disappear."

"Back into his body?"

"That's just it; I have no idea. Sasuke is also keeping silent about all this. He doesn't want to tell me if he'd be human again or simply pass on to the afterlife once he's lost his powers. He hasn't even told me a method to find the current whereabouts of his body to see if his brother is willing to listen to me. I mean, we can at least come to an understanding about this whole situation that way..." Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair, and sadly huffed. "I just want to help him, to fulfill whatever wish he's smothering inside, but he's just not allowing me to."

"Don't you have any leads, then? A clue you've picked up upon through your time together?" Neji asked for the first time since Naruto began telling his problem, allowing his resonating tone to echo through the living room.

This suggestion caught the blond's attention and he started thinking aloud. "Well, there could be some small clues, but I'm not too sure if they're right or if I'm just making things up so I can find a resolution for all this."

"It's a start... so what are they?"

"One, he probably has a rich brother, since only a loaded individual can afford to keep his brother hooked to life-support for over seven years. Two, his brother has something to do with Hatake Kakashi or Uchiha Itachi, because I pronounced their names and Sasuke flipped... twice."

For the second time that day, Naruto and Gaara were witnesses to the intensive shivering of the raven's body as he abruptly stood up. With a pale face and evident shock shining from within his striking eyes, he stuttered in a startled voice.

"I... I... I need to leave."

"Neji?"

All Gaara got after his question was a blurred scene as the raven stuttered a small apology to him and ran out of the apartment, leaving them clueless as to what came over him to force him to suddenly lose his cool like that.

||XxXx||

"Sasuke, I've been thinking... you're just like sunshine."

The ghost had to stop in the middle of the soup he was stirring to crack an eye open so that he could stare at the blond. "Sunshine? That's what your messed up brain has come up with? You think that I resemble sunshine?"

"...Yeah."

"You've gone nuts."

Naruto shouldered the broom as he started making his way towards the living room, and snorted loudly in dissent. "No, I haven't gone nuts or anything close to that; I just simply think that you look closer to sunshine than any other thing I know."

"If you said it's because I'm dragging golden particles along, I'm going to kill you."

"Well, there's that, but mainly it's because of the aura you're emitting." Naruto grinned and fluttered his fingers around to emphasize his point. "Sunshine~"

"If you don't stop that, I'll be initiating your death very soon." Sasuke glared at the figurative rainbow that he was sure would come his way any minute now.

"Sunshine~!"

"You're really asking for it tonight!"

"C'mon, Sasuke, can't you enjoy a minute of pointless jokes without you constantly inserting death into the mix?"

Rolling his eyes at the blond, the raven returned to his soup and hissed. "I'm dead if you haven't noticed; death is all around me."

"No, you're not, so stop misleading me with those sinful words of yours. Besides, it's 'sunshine is all around me', not 'death is all around me'." Naruto fluttered his fingers again and forced the chuckle inside his stomach back down when the hairs of Sasuke's nape began raising, signaling the culmination of his evident irritation.

"Hmph, I'm dead, no matter what you say. My body could be well and kicking for all I care, but my soul has long departed... so I'm as dead as a tuna fish in a can."

At that gloomy comment, Naruto dropped the broom and headed straight to the kitchen and, with a stern tone; he clearly expressed his annoyance to the other. "See, you're pissing me off right now. I actually don't see what the big deal is; I mean, can't you just return to your body and live again? Sure, your mum nearly killing you is a bit of a bitch, but on the bright side, at least we'll be able to meet~"

Sasuke sighed and twirled his index finger, causing the plates, glasses and utensils to neatly position themselves on the perfectly-arranged dining table. He suppressed the grunt that threatened to break free from his teeth at the reminder of who he was about to host in about an hour, and growled back.

"We're meeting right now; you don't need my physical body to know I'm here."

"Yes, but with your physical body a lot of things would be easier to do."

"A lot of things are easier to do in this form, too."

"Sasukeee, you know that's not right! We can't take walks and we can't go places, I can't look at you without seeing the mirage of the background through your being, and I can't even introduce you to my friends since they can't see you. We can't do a lot of stuff with you in this form!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and snappily countered. "We don't need to take walks and we don't need to go places, I can dim the background so you won't see it through me, and you don't need to introduce me to your friends since I don't want to be introduced to begin with. Everything else that requires me throwing this form away is a no-go."

"You're awful, Sasuke." Naruto scoffed, heading back to the living room to continue the sweeping he'd neglected in order to converse face-to-face with the ghost.

"Oh, I'm sure I'm not as awful as you." Sasuke retorted, finally switching off the fire under the soup he was stirring.

Glancing at the clock on the kitchen door, the ethereal ghost scowled –only thirty minutes separated him from the crowd that was about to invade his castle. He bit his lips as he directed the soup to be poured into its rightful container; even if he opened his mouth to object right now, he was sure Naruto will turn a deaf ear. Besides, all his previous attempts at refusing were halted by the stubborn sternness in the other's blue eyes telling him that he, Naruto, needed to have some friends over for once, and thus Sasuke left the distasteful feeling burning at his insides unheeded. As expected, the time flew by swiftly while the ghost prepared all the dishes on the table and resigned to opening the front door with a displeased snort when the doorbell started ringing.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the group of people Naruto addressed as friends and watched as the blond welcomed them inside his home with a cheerful smile lit up on his face.

"Aw, Sakura," Naruto beamed as he took the bottle of wine out of her fur-covered hands, and happily gushed. "You shouldn't have."

"Well, I wanted to so I did; in any case, this's the first time you've actually invited us here to dinner and I couldn't come empty handed."

Before Naruto could respond to her words, a bunch of flowers and box of chocolate were shoved into his face, and he looked up from behind the roses to see his calm redheaded friend nodding to him from where he stood in front of his unofficial boyfriend. Upon seeing the confusion Gaara's actions have aroused in Naruto, Neji hurried to fill in the gaps.

"Those gifts are from me. Since it's my first time here, I didn't know what you'd like –Gaara proposed flowers and I thought chocolate– so in the end, I got them both."

At the nice gesture, and with the memory of the last time they'd parted still fresh in his mind, Naruto returned his initial smile to them and nodded joyfully. "Thanks; I like chocolates and I'm sure the apartment could use some flowers. Anyhow, do come in. You know where to sit, so make yourselves at home."

The blond allowed his friends to get used to his apartment as he hurried to his room, signaling to the bored raven –who was floating aimlessly in the kitchen and silently glaring at the invaders– to come to him. Once he'd made his way inside, Naruto slowly inched the door to his room shut and murmured in an apologetic tone.

"I know I'm being annoying as hell right now... but bear with me, please–"

"What do you want?" Sasuke flatly asked with his hands folded across his chest, already resigning himself to whatever the blond had to say.

"I... umm... can you show yourself in front of them?"

Immediately, his resignation dissipated into cold dissent. "No."

"C'mon, Sasuke, they never believe me when I say I have a ghost living with me! Well, Gaara doesn't entirely disbelieve me, he just believes that I'm seeing something since he's my friend... but Sakura and Neji don't believe me at all!"

"My answer's still no."

"Sasu-"

The raven raised his translucent hand up, preventing Naruto from whining out his name like he always did, and reasoned with the other. "I'm not saying no because I don't want to, I'm saying no because I can't. I already told you that my powers are limited and that I've approximately two weeks or so left before I'll need to find myself another source or resign and give in, which is something I have no wish to do. Besides, showing myself to you is already draining enough as it is, let alone the energy it'll take to show myself to them."

"How about a minute, okay? Or even thirty lousy seconds would do!"

"Okay, since your thick-assed brain is refusing to comprehend the situation, how about I put it like this for you. A minute –no, a second– counts. If I wasted a fragment of a second, I'd lose an hour of my normal output of power, so a minute would be much more than a day. Tell me, Uzumaki, are you ready to lose sight of me for a whole day just so they'd stop mocking your words by glancing at me for a minute?"

This halted the blond in the middle of his thoughts, and after a few seconds of silence, he shook his head with a sigh and murmured. "No, I can't do that. I'd freak out if you were gone for so long."

Sasuke felt something inside of his transparent body turn to fluff at the fact that Naruto thought a day was 'too long', and akin to the reaction he gave to the faint red on his cheeks, he ignored it and curtly said. "...Case closed then. Go tend to your guests and I'll find myself something to pass the time with."

Feeling like his forcing Sasuke outside of the apartment wasn't the right thing to do either, the blond stopped him and whined. "It won't be fun without you, though. I had originally thought that all of us could get together and have fun, but now that you've established that you can't do that... it won't be as fun anymore..."

"Yes, it would. Just pretend I'm still there and act as you always do."

"It's not about the way I act. I'm talking about my feelings here, Sasuke. I want you to share these moments with me, and if you're not there then it won't be the same... well, at least for me."

The raven felt his mouth twitch upwards into a tiny smile at the fact that Naruto was always making him feel emotions that were foreign to him when he was alive. And in response to the dejected eyes facing him, he decided to offer a small and comforting gesture to the other.

"Give me your hand, Naruto."

The boxer tilted his head curiously at the request, but swiftly did so while he was still recovering from the sweet way his name has rolled off Sasuke's gilded tongue. The ghost snapped the fingers of his right hand and, in no time at all, some of his golden dust compacted together and formed two shimmering crystals, which gracefully fell onto Naruto's tan hand.

Eyeing the translucent crystals with a great deal of fascination, Naruto directed a questioning gaze at the hovering male. "These're pretty; Sasuke... but what are they?"

"A gift from me to you, of course. When you see them, think of me, and do try to have some fun."

Naruto found himself lost in a trance as gold and blue particles, mixed with the nice aura Sasuke was currently emitting, seemed to surround him. He felt his heart thump loudly and his eyes lose their focus when Sasuke gave him a beautiful and alluring smile that seemed to radiate and glow purity and happiness, as well as a touch of deep appreciation that left Naruto in awe of the ethereal being.

By the time a second had passed, the charming scene he was allowed to witness disappeared alongside his ghost, and while he was left to blink in wonder, Naruto was made to look at the faint blue particles as they, too, dimmed and followed their disappearing master. The faint sounds of people inside his house brought his focus back to Earth and he shook his head to clear his wandering thoughts. In his right hand, he could feel the warmth that radiated from the small crystals he was holding and, as his face broke into a huge grin, Naruto opened the door to the living room and walked over to his three friends in a state of pleasant contentment.

Upon catching sight of the glow that came gushing out of Naruto, Sakura shielded her eyes and grumpily asked. "Why the hell are you turning into a freaking sun?!"

Naruto pulled himself a seat in the living room and grinned in response. "I'm just happy. Can't I be happy?"

"Sure you can be happy, just don't blind us with it." She retorted, before she abruptly changed the topic. "Anyways, I'm starving; shouldn't we get to the food already?"

"Yep~! My thoughts exactly. Come on everyone, the dining room is this way."

The blond waved his friends into the dining table, and each took his appointed seat at it with simple ease. Without delay, they began digging in after some small chitchat that was mostly started by either Sakura, Naruto or Neji, while Gaara sat calmly in his seat and filled his plate with potatoes.

"Do you have a thing for potatoes?" Neji questioned, when he noticed how fast they seemed to disappear from the redhead's plate.

Gaara nodded, but was beaten to his answer by his intruding blond friend.

"In high school, he was known as Potato-Man." Naruto informed him between giggles. "You should have seen the effect that word had on his popularity."

"Forget high school, Naruto; in primary school, he wanted to be either the Potato-Superman or the Sandman. I still can't see the fascination he has with sand and potatoes, but for some inexplicable reason he has an obsession with the both of them." Sakura added, with her share of chuckles.

Neji smiled at the lively duo and thoughtfully commented. "Now that I think about it, Gaara, I don't really know anything about you."

"That's easy enough; there is nothing to know about him," Sakura interrupted the redhead again, and began listing off facts. "His favorite color is brown, he likes to keep to himself, his favorite food is salted tongue and gizzard, he hates yōkan and marron glacé, and what else... hmm..."

"That's right, he loves cacti! I have no idea why, but he just does. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't force you to get a cactus as a present."

At this, Neji started chuckling, whilst Gaara faintly blushed and looked away in an attempt to pretend that he wasn't the one they were talking about in their conversation. Neji explained the situation with a mirthful chuckle. "As a matter of a fact, his first choice was a cactus."

"See! I told you he was obsessed!" Sakura jokingly exclaimed.

They continued the rest of their dinner with delightful conversations and, at some point, Naruto felt that he was truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in his life. After finishing up with the food, the blond –with Sakura's help– washed, drained and returned every single dish to its place, before he finally brought out dessert, alongside the wine that Sakura had brought, and put them on the table for everyone to partake in.

"Enjoy, everyone~"

Sakura was the first to take a bite from the heavenly dessert and comment on how delicious it was, but Naruto just snickered and kept the truth about the identity of the food's chef to himself.

"Naruto-kun, I... there's something I want to discuss with you, if possible," Neji requested, cutting through the blond's little bubble of happiness.

Naruto blinked at him and nodded. "Sure, what is it?"

"Perhaps we should find a more private place to speak –it's not that I don't trust any of you," Neji glanced at both Sakura and his love interest as he said this, and continued. "...But it's best if I discuss this separately with Naruto-kun since it relates to him. Later on, if he chooses to, he can inform you of what I've said."

The pink-haired female gave him a reassuring smile and replied. "Don't worry about it; I don't really care either way, so enjoy yourselves with your little chat."

"Same here."

With that said, Naruto stood up. "Okay, this way then; we can talk in my room without fear of interruption."

Neji respectfully followed, nodding silent thanks to Gaara as he passed by him, but the redhead ignored it in favour of a bite to the strawberry that was placed over his dessert to tempt him. When they were inside, Naruto sat on his bed and signaled Neji to do the same, before he said.

"You can talk here; I guarantee you that no one would hear."

"First, I need to confirm something, so please answer me truthfully. Do you really see a ghost named Sasuke?"

Naruto furrowed his brows at the sudden probing question, but refraining himself from any further questions due to the seriousness Neji was showing him, he nodded and definitively replied. "Yes."

"Can you describe him?"

"Hmm... he could be around sixty seven centimeters and of a normal weight; he looks like a naughty seventeen years old, though he stated that he's much older–"

"More characteristic features, please."

"Um, well... he has black hair, black eyes set in the palest of skin, and his nose gives you the impression that he's a stuck-up guy –if I could only use one word to describe him, though, it would be handsome. If he was in my high school, girls won't leave him alone." Naruto finished smugly, showing Neji just how much pride he took in knowing the fine-looking creature he had described.

"...If... if I showed you a picture and he was in it, could you positively identify him?"

At this, the blond frowned and halted the questioning with a wary retort. "Hold on a moment, what's going on? Why are you showing this much interest in Sasuke, and what's with this picture?"

"I don't want to raise either of our hopes, which is why I'm conducting this line of questions. So please, just bear with me for the time being; I may be mistaken, and there may be more than one 'Sasuke' in this world, but you seeing him... in this place..." Neji gave a fearful look at the apartment, before he quietly mumbled. "It's too close to be deemed a simple coincidence or a case of mistaken identity."

"Although I still have no idea what you're saying, I'll humor you."

Nodding in gratitude, Neji pulled a picture from his back pocket. Slowly, he put in into Naruto's hands, but before the blond could look at it he sternly iterated. "If it's the same 'Sasuke' you're seeing then please tell me."

Naruto flipped the picture in his hands with those words still ringing in his ears, and his blue orbs shone with recognition at the pissed-off face that was glaring at the cameraman, who had managed to snap a picture of a healthy-looking Sasuke clad in black school uniform and slinging his bag over his shoulders without the raven's consent. His eyes faintly traced the frame of the male as he realized that the other looked younger than he was currently –junior high age, Naruto presumed. However, his handsomeness was clearly visible and it was obvious that he'd turn out to be a heart-breaker later in life. The blond felt a small smile grace his lips at the picture that showed a different, more human side of Sasuke that his ghostly paleness failed to convey.

Knowing he had an audience, Naruto looked with clear eyes into the other's hesitant ones and with a smile, he happily responded. "Though he's younger than he is now... yes, that's Sasuke alright. Now, can you please clarify what's going on?"

Without any prior warning, Naruto was smothered by a bone-crushing hug as the long haired raven clutched onto him for dear life and babbled. "Thank you! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Not knowing the reason behind the profuse thanks, or why the other seemed to clutch at him for dear life, Naruto waited for the explanation to come and for the raven to calm down patiently. Three minutes later, he was finally able to look at grateful, lilac orbs that awoke the faint memory of Hinata into his heart, but just as swiftly as it had intruded on his mind, his brain swept the thought away and concentrated on the male before him.

"So? Care to tell me what's wrong now?"

Neji gave him a huge grin and corrected the other's misgivings with a joyful exclamation. "Nothing's wrong. Everything is alright! Life is alright! We are alright!"

Naruto grew more and more confused by the minute. "I know asking this might be silly, but... do you, perhaps, know Sasuke? From the time when he was alive?"

"Yes. I knew him. Sasuke..." Neji leaned back as old memories began stirring inside of him. "We've been friends for as long as I can remember, since our families always associated with each other, and I always saw him at various venues, whether it was for parties, clubs or meetings. We naturally developed a friendship, and everything was alright... until that night occurred."

"The night his mother tried to kill him?"

Neji glanced at the blond and thoughtfully murmured. "It seems you're well informed."

"He told me a week ago."

"Correct. The night his mother tried to take his life... she pretty much succeeded."

"Wait, isn't he still alive? How did she succeed?"

"I don't really understand it well, but here's my theory. When she hit him over the head with that vase then strangled him, Sasuke lost consciousness and a huge amount of blood, and this caused his sudden fall into a near-death state. However, the paramedics were swift in their job, and having Itachi on their back only made them work harder than they should so, in the end, with a lot of money, work and time... Sasuke managed to shift from almost certain death to a deep coma. To me, he looks just like a dead man. His body is living off machines and his brain isn't functioning probably, but somehow he's barely alive."

"You mean... they're forcing his body to live?"

"To a degree. Itachi refuses any sort of reasoning regarding Sasuke's life. To him, that's the whole of Sasuke lying on that lonely bed –not just an empty shell that everyone else professes it to be– and he'd do anything he can to assure his brother of any chance at life."

Before his mouth could formulate the sentence he'd previously thought up, Naruto's brain registered something and with wide eyes, he looked to the raven for confirmation. "Wait! Itachi, as in Uchiha Itachi, my boss, is Sasuke's big brother?!"

Neji blinked confusedly and asked. "Oh, I didn't tell you?"

"No you didn't! Holy shit, no wonder Sasuke had a fit every time I said his name!"

"Yeah, which reminds me; the Sasuke I know really loves his brother, so why does he detest him right now?"

"Beats me, but I think it's because he's forcing him to live, and because he's responsible for sucking his ghostly energy away from him."

"Just out of curiosity, how come he's only warmed up to you?"

Naruto shrugged and returned to familiar ground. "I don't know, but when he gets back, I'll ask him. Anyways, for n–"

"Gets back?" Neji interrupted curiously, "You mean he's not here?"

"He left to give me space with you guys."

"I... I thought I'd finally be able to talk to him."

Naruto smiled compassionately at the saddened tone and encouraged the downcast raven. "You still can, you know; if you're still here when he comes back, I can ask him to talk with you. Due to his declining energy, though, I'm not sure if he'd be fine with it or not. You should probably factor the possibility that he'd say no into consideration."

The raven shook his head and quietly refused his kind offer. "If that's the case, then I can wait until his powers return to him, but..."

"But?"

"Itachi is using a new method, and from what you said I think this one will work. I still don't know all the details yet, but tomorrow I'll go and find out everything. If this new method would really bring Sasuke back to life, then I'll be supporting it one hundred percent. How about you?"

Once again, Naruto sensed a sting inside his heart. He felt as if he was torn between the ghost-self of Sasuke that he knew and adored, and the human-self that he's only recently knew of and had no idea what or how he was. With a tremulous tone, he voiced his uncertainty.

"At the moment, I don't really know."

"...You're torn, aren't you?"

"Exactly."

Neji smiled and stood up, having finished what he wanted to confirm. "I understand that you need time to think, but you do realize that you'll need to make up a decision and make it fast, right?"

"Yeah... hopefully, in the end, I'll know who I want to side with."

Before the raven could leave the room, a small idea formed inside his mind. Smiling at his own ingenuity, he asked the blond. "Then how about me showing you a way to help confirm things?"

"There's a way?"

"There is. What do you say to a little trip to the hospital? You met the soul, so it's time you meet the body, don't you think?"

His fingertips grew cold as his heartbeat quickened, and his eyes widened in shock at the other's words. Not trusting his voice to function right, Naruto nodded slowly, still lost in the maze that Neji's sentence has provoked inside his mind.

"...Y-Yes, that would be a great help!"

"Well then, it's decided. Tomorrow, I'll phone you about the details."

With that the Hyuuga found his way out of the room and left Naruto to the coils of thoughts, emotions and sensations which were mixed within the dark corners in his mind, with only one sentence shining brightly through the jumbled mess inside to highlight his only remaining hope.

Tomorrow, he was going to meet the human Sasuke...

...And how far tomorrow felt to him right now.