Skeletons in the Closet

Chapter Eleven

by: Lazuli

Standard Disclaimer applies here.

Warnings: Some bad language, some spoiler-ish type comments. Lots of conversation going on in this chapter, explanations? Maybe a boring chapter, but look at all the cool stuff that happens! ^_^ Edits were made thanks to varied suggestions.  Enjoy!

Sasuke gave the Hokage a confused look, anger abruptly draining away from him to be replaced by confusion. He wasn't expecting the question, and wondered what it had to do with…his eyes abruptly widened and he immediately shook his head. "No—that isn't even a possibility. Things like that don't exist!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he had an odd sense of déjà vu. Hadn't he said those words to Naruto when they first met?

The Hokage didn’t immediately try and correct him, he just sat in his own chair and watched Sasuke. "I can't say for certain if it exists or not. The fact that ghosts exist—as you see with Naruto—may give credence to past lives and reincarnation. It's certainly not something I thought of before." He tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the desk. "But Naruto… he made a few observations, deduced something from what's been going on the past few months, and eventually came to this conclusion."

Sasuke's brows creased as he mulled over the possibility. He still thought that Naruto was seeing things that weren't there—to imagine that he was the reincarnation of someone he knew? It was worse than just the vague thought of Naruto seeing Sasuke as his old friend in a superficial light, but to actually think he was his friend, just reborn? Sasuke's mind was open to a great deal more since he had moved here, but even that was stretching the limits a little. But the fact still remained that Naruto never said any of this to him. Ever.

He could feel the anger building, his eyes narrowing as he stood up. "If that was all the message contained…" He let his voice trail off as he met the eyes of the Hokage. "I think that I will continue this conversation with Naruto." A pause that held a multitude of emotions in it, all unvoiced or revealed. "Since he didn't see the need to discuss this with me in the first place."

"Don't be too hard on him, Sensu-san." The Hokage's own gaze was grim. "It's not exactly anything we've come across before, and Naruto was very good friends with Sasuke. I told you that they didn't have very pleasant lives, Sasuke especially. Naruto may have been wanting to hide away from that past, simply because of the pain that it represented. He said in his letter that he never wanted to drag you back into a past that no longer exists."

Sasuke snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. "The idiot should have talked to me first." He muttered, eyes still dark and angry. There was enough space from the anger left in him to bow to the Hokage, murmuring a thank you for his time. He remembered to grab the scrolls given back to him—were they given back to him because the Hokage really thought he was Uchiha Sasuke's reincarnation?—and then he left, because he had a certain ghost to confront. A slow smirk appeared on his face. And it didn't look as if it was going to be pretty.

~

He didn’t waste time stopping by Sakura's again—she probably saw him as a reincarnation as well, and kept as silent about it as Naruto did. He snarled silently to himself. He was sick and tired of all the bullshit covering up. When Sakura had seen him by the memorial stone…His breathing calmed slightly, and he slowed his pace. She said that he looked like the Sasuke she knew. She was the one that showed him the picture.

So he couldn't direct his anger at her—nor at many of the other people he encountered. The only one he wanted to be angry at—and he felt deserved it—was Naruto. Naruto was the one who tried to hide things. Why? Why was he so determined to hide the idea from me?

He strode past the grounds of the Academy, the outlying areas of town, and went straight to the Uchiha estates without stopping. His hands never let go of the scrolls he was given, and his eyes never turned away from his target. He and Naruto needed to talk.

~

Naruto had to be waiting for Sasuke to return—he would know the moment Sasuke stepped on the grounds—some time of warning system or whatever the hell Naruto set up. "Get your ghostly ass out here, Uzumaki!" Sasuke's angry shout echoed throughout the empty rooms.

"Gee, since you asked so nicely…" Naruto eyed him. He was looking and acting more like the past Sasuke, and the bitter anger in his eyes was completely of the past, he was certain. Not that he ever saw the future incarnation really get angry, but he had seen this anger before, felt it directed at him. "Did you have a nice talk with the Hokage?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed even further at that and the anger practically crackled around him. Good job, Naruto. Piss him off more. Good thing you're already dead and he doesn't have any chakra to use.

"Yes… I had a very interesting talk with him." Sasuke's voice practically growled out the words. "He told me of the message you sent him---" He took a deep breath, eyes closing for a moment as he tried to rein in his anger. It didn't work. "Why the hell didn't you tell me, Naruto?" He demanded. "Did it ever occur to you that I might be concerned over how stupid you were acting? That if it concerned me, I may want to know what the fuck was going through your head?"

Naruto jerked as if hit, his own eyes narrowing. "Did it ever occur to you that I didn't want you to know? That I was seeing things that weren't there and it was in the past?" He hissed out. "Uchiha Sasuke died eighty years ago. He has nothing to do with you. If you were ever him, it's gone!" He raked a hand through his hair, the strands mussing underneath his fingers. It wasn't as if everything was static about him while he was a ghost. He could at least affect things about himself. "You're deluding yourself to even think you're like him."

"How do you know it's gone, Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, one hand still clutching the scrolls to him, eyes intense as ever. "Did you ever question me as to what I saw or dreamt? What I felt when I was at the Valley of the End?" His breathing sounded harsh to his own ears. "Who I saw in my dreams?"

Naruto's face turned away, hands dropping to his sides. "What you choose to see is your own business, Sasuke. Like I said—it's in the past. It's not a past that I would bring up and one that you don't need to think about. Past lives aren't meant to be remembered." His shoulders drooped slightly. "There's a very good reason for that."

Sasuke wasn't going to stand for any of it, and he marched up to Naruto, scrolls tumbling out of his hands as he faced the ghost—Naruto obviously didn't want to leave entirely yet, or else he would have vanished by now. Perhaps he didn't want to be seen as a coward. Sasuke sneered at how self righteous he was acting.

"Really, now?" Sasuke's voice was low and he met Naruto's gaze easily. "I'm not even sure I believe in this whole past life nonsense, but what reason did you have for keeping it from me? Did you think that I would believe you and want to leave? Wasn't that your intention in the first place? To get rid of me?"

Naruto growled at him, one hand clenching at his side. Only Sasuke was ever able to get him this angry—dead or alive, reincarnated or not—only Sasuke managed to hit all the wrong buttons. "What the hell did you want me to say?" He snapped. "Yeah…you not only look like the only friend I had, but … get this—you are him—or at least you were in a past life." Rolling his eyes, Naruto gave Sasuke a dry look. "Honestly, do you hear how stupid that sounds? You wouldn't have believed me and quite possibly been hurt by the assumption. I didn't want you to find out because I rather liked having you around!"

"Is our friendship in the past so trivial that you couldn't tell, couldn't trust me to see it objectively?" Sasuke demanded. "Or did you just screw up so badly in your life that you were too chicken to try again and hide away all thoughts of it?" He sneered at Naruto. "What if I was him, Naruto? Is that what you want?"

"If it was you, then the key word is 'was'. It's not you any longer. You didn't have Sasuke's painful childhood, you weren't stuck with just me as a friend. Sasuke was the only friend I ever had, you selfish asshole and I almost gave up my dream for him. It he didn't yell and me and call me a moron for doing so, I would have."

Sasuke arms crossed over his chest but he was unable to think of a reply to that. After all, he didn't believe any of this crap, but something told him that Naruto did. "You still should have told me." He said stubbornly. "It may have made the dreams I had make more sense, or explained why I'm so attached to these." His foot prodded one of the fallen scrolls. Maybe he would humor Naruto and get some answers out of it in the meantime.

"Now you know." He snapped. "Whatever you chose to make out of it, it's entirely up to you. If you believe you were Uchiha Sasuke, fine. If you think it's complete nonsense, that's fine to. I don't really give a shit anymore. I tried to help you by giving the letter to the Hokage. He was supposed to find a way to reverse whatever the hell is going on with you. Did you think I was blind to not notice anything? Your stubborn self refused to ask for help or tell me a damn thing!"

"I thought I was going crazy!" Sasuke frowned at him, suddenly tired and not as angry anymore, one hand rubbing his temples as if he had a headache. "Or just affected by all your talk about your childhood and some things you told me about your friend." He slumped against the wall. "I think we're both acting like idiots, Naruto. You think I'm some dead friend of yours, and I don't know what the hell to think anymore. Maybe it is just because I'm stuck in an empty house with a ghost."

Naruto gave a short laugh, but the amusement never reached his eyes. "Maybe we both are." He moved towards the living room and Sasuke followed, stopping to absently collect the scrolls again. Naruto smiled to himself. At least he had those back—it was one less thing he had to beg forgiveness for. He and Sasuke had to have a serious talk, though. It was long overdue.

Sasuke followed him willingly enough, but a raised eyebrow was all Naruto got when he pointed Sasuke toward a chair. "Look—I can force you to sit down, to shut up and listen to me—but I need you to respond as well. I'll admit that I made a mistake by not saying anything for so long, but you also made a mistake by not telling me what was going on in your head as well. Now—we need to talk. Do you agree?"

Sasuke snorted. "Were you always this arrogant in your life, Naruto?" He asked dryly, but still sat down, movements strangely graceful. "I agree that we need to talk. I knew we needed to talk a long time ago." He ran a hand through his hair absently. "But what do you want me to say, Naruto?" He asked softly. "What do you want me to admit, to what I think I've seen? You know that already I am not him and it is your past, not mine." He snorted. "And do you want to bring up things that you decided you never wanted me to hear, that you constantly hid from me? Make up your mind, dobe."

"You think this is easy for me?" Naruto shot back. "I've been here for eighty years, moron, without any major disturbances. I haven't had to face my past yet. I figured I'd just do my duty here and hoped that one day I'd be free of it." His eyes flicked away. "I … I always wanted to apologize to Sasuke—that was one of the few regrets I had, other than not being able to live long enough to guard my village the way I wanted to."

Sasuke felt slightly uncomfortable at that, staring down at his hands. "I don't know what happened at the end …" He ignored Naruto's 'You don't want to know' and went on. "But I've had odd little dreams …" His eyes met Naruto's, and there was an incredible confusion there, and anger at the confusion.

Naruto's gaze turned intense at that. He was aware that Sasuke had some bad dreams, but he wasn't exactly aware of what went on, besides the fact that 'brother' was mentioned. And he certainly wasn't going to jump to any conclusions concerning that. The point was to try and suppress any memories that came up, not encourage them. He couldn't help but ask, though—if Sasuke felt guilty about anything, then it would be good to clarify what he felt guilty about. Considering the last place Sasuke visited of significant interest was the Valley of the End—"What do you mean?"

Sasuke made a face. "It's hard to explain—it's not long things are spelled out for me or anything, and any dreams I have fade too quick for me to really remember anything." Chewing on his lip in a decidedly un-Sasuke like manner, he tried to articulate. "I had flashes of… fighting you when I was at the Valley of the End. Nothing really clear.. just…" His brow furrowed. "It was like I was holding lightning in my hands."

Naruto nodded at that, face solemn. That episode of his life didn’t bother him so much anymore—it had been a long time for him, more than a lifetime ago. "That happened." He said shortly, not wanting to give a great deal of explanation, but the pressure of Sasuke's gaze was as intense as it ever was. His lips turned up in a crooked smile. "Sasuke tried to kill me." Oops, don’t think I meant to be that blunt.

Sasuke's eyes widened briefly, then he nodded slowly. "I've heard that certain places hold memories of things, like ghosts—" He tilted his head. "Somehow that's more plausible to me than thinking I was reborn or something like that." He tilted his head. "But Sasuke didn't kill you then." It was almost a question and Naruto laughed at that, but it was slightly pained.

"No, Sasuke never managed to kill me at all." He was barely admit to himself, that this Sasuke was the other Sasuke. Was the Sasuke that he knew so well. They were still too different in his mind and he wasn't going to further this and hurt Sasuke more. "I think that… some part of him realized that we were still friends, and he didn't want to let go of that. For all the fan girls that followed him around, he didn't have any real friends, except me."

"But he was giving that all up." Sasuke argued. "He knew that he had to give up everything, sacrifice everything to reach his goal. Even to destroy his best friend.." His voice was slightly far away. "To take away the one link that would draw him back, to hold him back from his goal." His eyes met Naruto's startled gaze and he scowled. "You were an idiot not to realize that. Did you hate Sasuke for it afterward?"

"You're an idiot." Naruto snorted. "I told you that I understood Sasuke. I wasn't happy that he tried to leave…" There was the bitterness that he thought had left a long time ago. "To put it lightly. I almost killed him to keep him here.. but when he left—" Naruto shrugged. "I never hated Sasuke—never--!" His look was fierce as he tried to make this reincarnation that barely understood a past that he once lived. "I went after him right away, trained to be stronger so I could bring him back next time. I never gave up on him."

"Hn." It was the most Sasuke-like sound that Naruto had heard yet, and it strangely comforted him. The little gestures, tone of voice—words that he used—none of them actually got to him as much as that little grunt of a sound, that conveyed so much of what Sasuke was thinking without him actually saying anything.

It was silent for a short while after that, Naruto not sure what to say next, Sasuke not volunteering any information. Each was lost in their own thoughts, the images conjured up by Naruto's vehement denial of having ever hated Sasuke. Maybe at one point—when they were young—he disliked him. He disliked the way he acted, the arrogant way he held himself, and most of all—the way he ignored all gestures of friendship offered to him. But he never hated him.

"Sometimes… " Naruto's head jerked up at Sasuke's voice. "Sometimes I see things in the room differently than they are now. Different furniture—the way things are set up—" He shrugged. "Like.. expecting there to be a low table over there—" His hand gestured. "Or a stack of weapons there." His eyes closed for a moment, and when he looked back at Naruto, there was almost a pleading expression in them. "I thought I was going crazy, I didn’t know what to say or do. I still think I'm going crazy." It was the closest that he would come to admitting that he might believe in reincarnation.

His attitude was quite a change from before, and Naruto felt sorry for Sasuke at what he was going through. The intense mood swings, the tenacious grasp on a crumbling reality. What was real and what wasn't? Were ghosts real? What about Konoha … memories were supposed to be personal and real and almost solid—but even now—Naruto didn't know what to say or do to help him—except offer one thing.

The keys to his past.

~

It was only fair to Sasuke to give a little more information—and maybe if he knew it, he'd understand better and actually listen to his senses. "Sasuke… there is one more thing that you should know before we go any further into learning about the past or what we should do." His gaze flicked away for a brief moment. "You remember when Neji came over?"

"The one with those weird blank eyes?" Sasuke blinked. "Yeah… I remember. He kept on giving me…" He groaned. "Strange looks like everyone else. What does he have to do with anything concerning us?"

"He said that it's my fault that you're having these dreams, these feelings.." Naruto said carefully. "That there are two personalities within you… and that the more time you spend with me, the more your current self gets taken over from the actions and personality from the other person…in you.." He clasped his hands together and watched Sasuke. This was the moment of truth—if Sasuke wanted to go any further with this…

Sasuke snorted. "It's a bit late for that, isn't it?" He asked dryly. "It's already happening, Naruto—and I don't want to leave just because I'm scared of some theory your weird friends cooked up between yourselves. I want to know what I am dealing with, so I can handle it better." His eyes were serious and his tone was unrelenting. "If the 'other' personality that's showing up is acting like your friend because of your proximity—it stands to reason that I need to know about this friend of yours."

Naruto rubbed a hand over his face, trying to collect himself. Sasuke still didn't believe in the possibility of a past life—not really at least—which could seriously work to his advantage. He would treat it like Sasuke saw it—like he was posing it as. An alternate personality. Hell, those were explained by doctors, weren't they?

"What do you want to know about Uchiha Sasuke?" Naruto finally asked, just giving up for the moment. He didn't want to delve further into this, lest it cause more problems, but it would help put some of the things he experienced into perspective. "You tell me a dream or feeling you had, and I'll try and explain it." It would work better that way. Naruto not giving away anymore than Sasuke already 'remembered', and thus not adding more to an already overwhelming pile of confusing emotions and memories. Not that Sasuke sees them as memories, but it's not the point.

Sasuke eyed him, not quite sure if he should believe or even take Naruto up on his offer, but he'd been wanting answers since he first came here, and the small dribbles he was offered previously only made him want more. It only added to the desire to grasp onto something that made sense. "Fine." He said shortly. It was best to get the worst dream out of the way, the one that if he closed his eyes, he could still see it, still feel the fear that clawed at him. "Who was Itachi?"

Naruto hissed lowly at the name. "I should have seen that one coming." He muttered. "Remember what I told you when you first came here? About.. well, Sasuke?" He asked carefully. That really hadn't been the brightest move at the time, now that he looked back at it. "About what happened to make this place so… empty?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, then his eyes widened as a few more of the pieces fell into place. Maybe he just didn't want to think about it before, maybe the cycle of rebirth had been kind in some respects and blocked it from him. "Itachi killed the family." His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion. "I dreamt of it… " His eyes never left Naruto's. "Itachi spoke to me in that dream."

Naruto flinched. "That's not a happy thing to remember." He muttered. "Itachi was a real sick bastard." One hand clenched and unclenched. "He was the reason why Sasuke was so driven, so determined to be stronger than anyone else—so he could defeat him." A short pause. "Even at the cost of breaking away from everyone that he knew. His only goal was to defeat Itachi. I think… sometimes.. he wanted to die after that."

"Well, wouldn't you want to?" Sasuke gave him an irritated look. "He would have given up everything, including his honor—how could he know that anyone would accept him back, would trust him? There wouldn't be anything left for him. Honor … was everything." He stared at his hands. "How could he face the one that was his rival in everything and helped him grow stronger by simply being there? He abused his trust the most." His eyes flicked upward again. "Your trust."

"You have a point." Naruto raised an eyebrow and didn't comment on how Sasuke was acting like it was himself, and not some 'other person.' "But he did what he needed to do, what he felt was right. Why didn't he kill me at the end? Maybe he wanted to leave me because he knew that I would eventually bring him back—or he knew there would be at least someone waiting for him." That was what Sasuke had told him, at least, when Naruto had asked. He wondered why Sasuke didn't kill him, and he said that 'he wanted someone to be waiting for him, even if it was just a dobe like him.'

"He doesn't seem like a very good person." There was a faint, bitter smile on his face. "At least, not one that's done a great deal of actions to be proud of." He tilted his head. "How were you able to forgive him when he came back? You said that he tried to kill you—he who was your only friend, the only one you ever trusted."

"He did a lot of good stuff, too." Naruto argued. "He wasn't a bad person. He was my teammate and friend and saved my life more times than I can count. I never asked for his help, but he was always there. We were both stubborn and hurt and we reacted to each other in the only ways that we knew. For as much as he was a jerk at times—he was still good, deep down."

"You sound like you want your old friend back, Naruto." Sasuke said softly. "You still miss him and I'm hardly enough like him to provide a proper replacement. I don't have any ninja skills, I don't possess any chakra—" Naruto glared at him, anger effective and almost visible enough to make him falter in his words, but he continued after a moment. "I don't believe in past lives or second chances." His voice was flat. "I'm just me."

"You're more of an idiot than I ever was." Naruto shook his head. "Jeez, when did I ever say that I wanted that arrogant ass back? I told you from the beginning. That's why I didn't tell you any of this, of what I thought. Maybe I was wrong—maybe I'm still wrong. I don't know why you have dreams that were once things he experienced. It's not normal."

"But if ghosts are involved in it?" Sasuke questioned. "If the ghost of the only friend that this Sasuke ever had is in a place that held such strong memories?" Sasuke's gaze was intense and probing. "Apparently, something went wrong, Naruto. It's up to you what you want to do with this chance."

"I want you to live your life, Sasuke." Naruto put a bright smile on his face, the expression so practiced—even in death—that he was able to make it look entirely convincing. It helped that most of what he spoke was true, what he felt was almost-real. "You deserve to have a normal life, and I'm screwing it up for you." His look didn't waver.

"What if I came here for a reason?" Naruto's smile nearly dropped at the unwavering gaze. "What if there was a purpose to me returning here?" He persisted. "How much of my returning here, to a place that a different Sasuke lived a lifetime ago—is a coincidence?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "Didn't Sakura say that when she visited here? You threw out the idea entirely, yet—what if it's true?"

"Sakura doesn't know everything!" Naruto shouted. "Nobody knows anything about these types of things and how they work—and…" Naruto collected himself. "It has to be a coincidence that you came here." Naruto meant that to come out more strong, more confidently than the almost unsure reply. "It has to be—because… unless…." His head bowed for a moment. "I think I expected Sasuke's ghost to come to bitch at me for how I messed up in the end, how I managed to still kill myself, and instead I get another person with his name that occasionally acts like him. Maybe it's his way of saying I can't live in the past." He paused. "Even after he…"

"Even after Sasuke died to save you?" Naruto's startled gaze met his own, and Sasuke waved any protests off. "I haven't dreamt of that." He said sourly. "But that was one of the things Itachi taunted me with. Saying how worthless it was that I saved you, when you died only a few years after." He made a face. "This Itachi person probably thought I was his brother or something weird like this… I don't know how the hell dreams work." He sighed. "What happened with that, Naruto? Why did you die… Why did you go do something stupid like that?"

Naruto 'stood up', glaring down at Sasuke. "That is my own business." He said shortly. "There was no other way to save Konoha. If you think I did it for some stupid reason like following Sasuke to wherever the hell he went after he died—then you're wrong. The damn fox was getting out of control and I had to stop him the only way I possibly could."

Sasuke didn't react to his anger, just stared at him with that same, calm look that always infuriated Naruto from when he first met him. "I see…" His voice was still that odd calm. "So you didn't ever want to be around him again?" There seemed to be a type of question in there that went more than just the surface, but Naruto didn't even falter.

"You don't have to twist my words around." He groused. "I wanted him around—that's why I brought him back, that's why I stayed with him. I guarded him and kept him company. I rebuilt my friendship with him and…" He abruptly stopped talking. "Anyways—I did want him around, but I'm not going to ask for him to be returned at the loss of your current life, personality, or sanity."

He continued, voice almost as carefully controlled as Sasuke's. "I've done many things that I haven’t been proud of. Both in duty and as a person. But I'm not going to purposely destroy someone just to get someone else back. It doesn't work that way." He grimaced faintly. "That was how Sasuke was—he was so blinded to his goal, to his desire that everything else became encumbering shadows to him. It's not fair to do that to you."

"It's my choice." Sasuke said stubbornly. "If I came back here … I'm going to stay here." You're not going to step in my way like you did Sasuke's, if this was the path I was meant to take." His eyes darkened even further, and Naruto was suddenly very aware of the meaning of Neji's warnings concerning Sasuke regaining more of his past, of his memories of a time that happened before. The anger was gone a moment later and Sasuke was calm again. "Let's just take this one step at a time, shall we?"

Naruto nodded, wishing that none of this had happened, that he didn't know that it was inevitable that it would come to this point. He wanted nothing more than to protect those he cared about, and Sasuke was number one on that list. He only hoped—prayed even—that Sasuke wouldn't ask more questions that Naruto was prepared to answer. There were some things that Naruto didn't want to reveal to him at the moment, if ever. It would be too cruel to him, if Sasuke didn't actually remember and was just told something point blank.

He also hoped that Neji's mind was wandering when he suggested that Sasuke's chakra could come back as well if he regained enough of his memories. They didn't need to deal with the consequences of him with access to that power again. Especially with the volatile jutsus that he now had access to. Some things were not meant to be relived again.

~

tbc