Skeletons in the Closet

Chapter Twenty (final chapter)

By: Lazuli

PG/PG-13

Wow, so we come to the end of this story… I hope that you all enjoy this final chapter, that it answers any questions and leaves you fulfilled. I’ve had a great time writing this and so until the next time~

Naruto does not belong to me, but credit goes to proud_snapist for her hard work with the chapters of me story, beta-ing it and making sure my stupid mistakes didn’t show up for all the world to see. Thank you much~

Chapter Twenty

Naruto stared at the figure, unable to believe his eyes. His gaze flicked from the gravestone, to the person, and then back to the gravestone. “You’re supposed to be dead.” He said blankly.

Sasuke stared back at him impassively, hands thrust into his pockets. “And?” He asked dryly. Naruto noted absently that he was looking like his old self – as he did when he was Uchiha Sasuke. He wasn’t sure what to think about it, and tried to squelch down the feeling that he was happy that the Sasuke he grew up with, trained with and learned to care for was back.

Naruto blinked again. “I know you’re dead.” He insisted. “That’s your grave…both of them.” His brain hurt. “There was a funeral and everything. Lots of people attended. I couldn’t have imagined that all…” His gaze was almost pleading. “That means you’re a ghost!” Forget the pleading, the tone was downright accusatory.

“You’re hardly one to point fingers.” Now Sasuke’s tone turned acidic. “What the hell is your problem anyway?” He demanded. “You’re not acting exactly happy to see me.” Not that Sasuke looked overly happy himself, but that could just be Naruto’s reaction to him.

“Well you must have screwed up somewhere to be back here.” Naruto faltered and rubbed the back of his head, nervous habits having carried into death. “It’s not that I’m not happy to see you up and about and talking to me… but I was trying to prevent you dying, bastard.” He made a face. “You always had to do something to mess up something that I wanted.”

Sasuke’s lip twitched briefly at Naruto’s remark. “Oh, yes… I decided to die just to thwart your plans.” He said sarcastically. “I wasn’t exactly planning on coming back the first time, much less having to relive the experience of my death a second time.” Naruto’s gaze tensed slightly at that.

Naruto moved away from the grave and closer to Sasuke, real regret in his eyes, and his shoulders tense as if he was waiting for more from the dark haired man. “So that’s what happened.” He murmured, almost to himself. “Neji warned me that your reliving your death could trigger your one now. Something about your body forgetting it wasn’t supposed to die.” He hesitated over his next words. “If I told you last time what would have happened when you used your chakra, you wouldn’t have died the first time.” He paused and considered. “Well, not at that moment…”

“I knew.” Sasuke said bluntly. “And I did it anyway. Even if you had told me, idiot—I still would have saved you.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I didn’t listen to your nagging before; I wasn’t going to do so at that time.”

Naruto gave him an outraged look. “Nagging? I tried to save your sorry ass, and you call it nagging?” He demanded. “Fine, that’s the last time I try and help you.” He grumbled under his breath. “Ungrateful bastard.”

Sasuke smirked. “Oh, please—it’s over now and what’s done is done.” He eyed the second grave and made a face. It was rather disconcerting to feel the pull of two graves and he wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible. He had died before, but he never had the chance to become a ghost…

Naruto caught where his gaze went and his look mirrored Sasuke’s. “Let’s get out of here since I know you can hear me just as well inside the house.” He muttered. He’d come out to the graveyard to apologize, hoping that Sasuke’s spirit found peace and wasn’t going to come back a third time to torment Naruto and make him repeat the past once more.

~

Once they were settled reasonably comfortably inside the living room, Naruto more so than Sasuke because he was used to relaxing in thin air, Naruto brought up the topic of Sasuke being a ghost again. He did it in his usual blunt and forthright way.

“Why the hell are you back here?” He demanded. “I thought that after having bad memories attached to this place several times over, you’d choose a nice, peaceful afterlife.” He raised a slender eyebrow. “You have a choice. Why’d you come back here?”

Sasuke stared at him, disbelief written all over his features. “You really can’t figure it out?” He asked. “I came back for you, dobe.”

“You were given a second chance, you were alive again and with none of the problems you had in your previous life…until you met up with me again.” There was that look of self blame, the one that annoyed Sasuke to no end. “You should have stayed away like I told you to.”

“It wasn’t all about you, Naruto.” Sasuke had hoped they wouldn’t go through all this nonsense, but when you were dealing with someone like Naruto, there was bound to be stupidity blocking the way of progress. “There were other factors that dictated the outcome. Mainly, I wasn’t supposed to come back as a reincarnation.”

Naruto blinked at him, deflating from the matter of fact way Sasuke spoke. “Then why did you?” He asked. “I’m rather inclined to liking the fact you were given the chance to have a normal life…” He tilted his head in inquiry.

Sasuke had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. Over what, Naruto wasn’t sure of. “There was a…glitch…in the system.” As Naruto continued to stare at him, disbelief settling in his gaze, he continued. “The afterlife isn’t exactly perfect, Naruto. There are systems and balances and whatnot up there—I said I wanted to come back here, and well—“He shrugged. “There was a waiting list and a lot of paperwork and somehow it got mixed up. I came back reborn and eventually found my way here, instead of coming back as a ghost like you.”

Naruto groaned and put his head in his hands. “You talk about it like it was so easy.” He muttered. “It wasn’t—and it’s not something I would have chosen if I was given another choice with the same results. It hasn’t been easy, sometimes.” He sighed. “But with the way you talk, it seems I was better sticking around here. I’d probably be reborn as an actual fox this time.” He groaned at the mental image.

Sasuke sighed—the gesture left over from his life—as he ran a hand through his hair. “Well, yeah—I know it’s not all peaches and cream, Naruto—but it was easier than knowing something was wrong your entire life, and nothing making sense until you came to a shinobi village—one that you never even knew existed and wasn’t on the maps.” His look pinned Naruto in place.

Naruto snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, tough.” He muttered. “If you hadn’t ever come back here, you could have lived a normal, productive life with no psychotic brothers or ghosts or other bad memories plaguing you wherever you went. You could have died at old age and then come back here. Were you that worried I couldn’t take care of the place?”

Sasuke waved that off as inconsequential. “That’s not a big deal. It was you that I was coming back to, not the family estates.” His look was a mixture of exasperation and almost fondness. “I broke my promise to you—and… I belonged here—not…” He made a face. “This is going to sound stupid, and if you weren’t already dead and not likely to repeat it to anyone, I wouldn’t tell you.”

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, making himself more comfortable in thin air, while Sasuke struggled to catch hold of the ‘currents’ that Naruto was utilizing. “Now I’m really curious.” He said. “I can get past this weird glitch stuff—but there’s more? And it involves me?” Despite his attempt to sound nonchalant, almost flippant—there was a sort of pleased note in his voice.

Sasuke turned away for a moment, his voice hesitant. “It didn’t seem right to be there when you weren’t there.” He said softly. “That’s why I came back for you and I couldn’t leave you by yourself. I think …I think I knew what you were up to, but I didn’t figure it out until too late. And I never really found out what you did…” His eyes observed Naruto’s. “Exactly what did you do with that jutsu? All I know was that it involved getting rid of kyuubi…”

Naruto was a little stunned over the unexpected ‘confession’ from Sasuke, and it took him a few moments to collect his thoughts. “It’s not something I’d like to relive…” Naruto said hesitantly, rubbing the place where the seal had been for all of his life—and only a memory of the pain lingered. “I basically um…” He shrugged and tried to sound as casual as possible over it. “Ripped kyuubi out and scattered his soul to the elements.”

Sasuke stared at him in blatant shock, eyes widening with his reaction. Despite the seriousness of the situation…the weird situation they were in, Naruto couldn’t help but be amused at one of the rare moments of Sasuke’s façade breaking. He always cataloged every moment that Sasuke’s visible surprise occurred, and seeing it now was still as enjoyable as it had been in the past. “You did what?” He managed.

Naruto grinned. “It was a really cool jutsu, Sasuke—I mean, if it wasn’t being performed on myself and even though I invented it—what it did was kinda awesome. It’s a shame that the Yondaime couldn’t do it, but then he’d be the one stuck as a ghost and I might not have survived childhood and whatnot…” His voice trailed off when he saw Sasuke’s expression demanding some type of an explanation. Naruto fleetingly wondered how the interrogation turned from him grilling Sasuke to the opposite end of the spectrum. “It involved sacrificing myself like the Yondaime did—but in exchange for scattering the kyuubi, I was to guard the area I died and was denied access to the afterlife for an undefined amount of time.”

Sasuke looked rather startled at the whole thing—not that Naruto wasn’t brave enough to do something so self-sacrificing if the village really was in danger, but…”What happened to push it to that point, Naruto?” He asked.

Naruto sighed at that. “After you died…” He paused as his mouth turned up in a faint smile. “The first time, I guess I was a little off edge. Kyuubi had been testing the limits of his cage for a year or so by that point, and apparently the jutsu the Sound-nin used was to start the process of pulling kyuubi out of me.” Naruto fiddled with the edges of his robes, and continued. “If you hadn’t interfered, I suppose it could have been a lot messier—but that’s not important now. The thing is, was that I knew I had a limited amount of time left and I wanted to get as much done as possible.”

It was rather nice to know that Sasuke’s death—his first one at least, wasn’t entirely in vain. “I heard about the stuff you did as Hokage; it was amazing. I had no idea that was what you wanted to do. When we were younger…”And alive…”You would only talk about how you were going to protect everybody. I didn’t think you had any actual long term plans.”

Naruto snorted. “Well, when you know that you’re going to die sooner than later, and possibly take out half of Konoha with you, you start to make some long term plans. Having the system for orphans was something I thought about for a long time and as for the others…” He shrugged. “They came in from various suggestions, sources and observations I made through the years.”

Sasuke lifted a disbelieving eyebrow at the maturity in Naruto’s tone, but he figured those eighty years as a ghost and still aware of his surroundings made the blond grow up a bit. “So you put some plans into motion, hoped for the best, and then took care of kyuubi before he could wreck havoc like last time.” He summed up.

Naruto smirked. “Pretty much.” He stretched his arms over his head and made himself more comfortable, eyes brightening at the look of disgust Sasuke sent his way. “What’s your problem now?” He asked. “It happened a long time ago, and we’re both dead now.”

Sasuke gestured towards the way Naruto was laying full length in the empty air. “That.” He muttered. “Can’t you act a little more … normal?” He asked. “The best way to keep hanging on to normality is to act as if you were alive.”

Naruto stared at him. “Did you just listen to yourself make that statement?” He asked incredulously. “I’m dead; and have been a ghost for the last eighty years. The only time I acted as if I were alive was to comfort your stubborn mind when it had a permanent, past-life flashback.” A slow smile appeared on his face as he took in the way Sasuke was still off center. “You’re just jealous because I’m better at being a ghost than you are.” As the angry look flashed in Sasuke’s eyes, Naruto knew he figured it out. “That’s it, isn’t it?” He taunted. “I’m better at doing something than you, and that’s eating away at you.”

“Dobe…you’ve also been doing this for longer than I have.” Sasuke snapped. “It’s no wonder that you excel at doing what isn’t normal. You never could do things like a regular person, so I’d hardly expect death to change anything.”

Naruto snickered at that. “Aw, you’ve changed, Sasuke—the Sasuke I know would be all ‘it would have taken you eighty years to get at my level, dobe’ or something stupid like that.” His good humor had entirely returned and he enjoyed nettling his friend. “Of course, it did take you two tries to get this far, it’s no wonder you’re a little slow and in denial.”

Sasuke snarled and launched himself at Naruto, and in his still-clinging-to-life frame of mind, he didn’t realize that he could actually touch Naruto this time. As his hands closed over the cloth of Naruto’s robes instead of air, his eyes widened. “Naruto…” The anger seemed to drain away from him as he stared at his best friend.

Naruto smiled, eyes softening as he reached up to touch Sasuke’s face. In that one moment of distraction, he had Sasuke flipped over and pinned beneath him. “I guess I’m still on top.” He smirked.

Sasuke’s eyes widened at the implication and he managed to flip Naruto over, only to have the blond vanish beneath him. “What the hell?” He demanded of Naruto, who was only a few feet away and laughing hysterically.

“Oh… I think the time you spend here is going to be fun.” Naruto smirked. “The memories should keep me sustained for the next few decades after you’re gone.” He didn’t seem too bothered by that, and Sasuke gave him a speculative look from his position on the floor.

“Who said I was going to leave?” He asked. Naruto’s laughter stopped as he gave Sasuke a look that determined he was an idiot. Sasuke just stared back, dark eyes unreadable. “I rather like being back here—and for gods sake, Naruto—I went through all this shit to come back here to you.” He saw the surprised look in his eyes and continued. “And this is the last time I’m telling you that.” He snapped out. “An idiot like you does need to have it spelled out once it awhile, but don’t expect me to get all sentimental just because I’m dead.”

Naruto rolled his eyes and drifted back to Sasuke. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that the dead sticking around isn’t normal?” He asked. “I’m here because it’s the price I paid for my sacrifice, and since I still get to protect Konoha, it really isn’t so bad.” His blue eyes were sad as he looked at Sasuke. “You, as I have pointed out before, have a choice in the matter. You can go to wherever and enjoy your afterlife.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “And risk getting stuck in that ridiculous system again?” He demanded. “I went through it once before, and believe me—eighty years stuck in the hereafter isn’t any more thrilling than eighty years here.” His expression was thoughtful. “More boring, actually—you weren’t there to be a pain in the ass and cause havoc like normal. I rather missed having you to beat up on.”

Naruto snorted and when it was clear that Sasuke wasn’t going to move on or whatever at this point, he groaned. “What the hell did I do to get stuck with you for eternity?” He muttered. “I was enjoying the legends that sprung up about me and the abandoned estate.” There was a teasing note in his tone that let Sasuke know that not all of what Naruto said was completely true.

“Well now there will be stories about the both of us being here.” Sasuke said simply. “Since it’s my place and all…” His voice trailed off at the look that Naruto gave him. “What?”

“Excuse me? It’s not your place any longer, you gave it to me after you died and I made it my own after I died.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Sasuke. “You can’t take it back now.” He pointed. “Especially since I’ve been here longer than you and have a stronger claim.”

“Since we’re both dead, I don’t see how it matters.” Sasuke’s voice was acidic. “And if we want to get technical, I bought the damn place again when I was Sensu Sasuke. It’s mine twice over.”

“Deeds go out when you die.” Naruto said smugly.

“Then yours is equally invalid.” Sasuke snapped, and then gave an exasperated sigh. “Look, stupid—it’s not going to do us any good to argue over it. We’re both dead, we’re obviously not going anywhere—and you can’t go anywhere past the estates—just deal with the fact that I’m not leaving, either.”

Naruto stared at him with open mouthed astonishment, unable to think of a reply for that. “You’ll change your mind eventually.” He finally pouted. “And I won’t stop you when you do, but I will tell you ‘I told you so’.”

Sasuke snorted. “I’m not leaving until you’re coming with me.” He said forcefully. “It’s too boring there without my idiot rival making loud noises and trying to show up everyone that’s been there longer than he has.” He paused, considering his next words. “You know…the Yondaime showed up not too long after you died.” He said softly. “I guess that when you released kyuubi, you released the Yondaime as well.”

Naruto nodded and smiled. “Yeah… I knew that. That was part of the jutsu I had to be really careful on. I couldn’t rip the Yondaime’s soul like I did kyuubi’s. It was a really delicate balance.” And considering he was dying at the same time all of this was occurring, he was surprised it worked at all.

“Then you have to finish up your sentence here so that you can get out of this place.” Sasuke’s voice was matter of fact. “But until then, I’m not leaving you alone in this place again.” There was a determined sort of possessiveness in Sasuke’s gaze and it was one that Naruto didn’t now how much he missed until now.

Naruto gave a resigned sigh and reached for Sasuke, something settling in him as he was able to touch those hands—something he hadn’t been able to do for almost a century. It was almost like they were alive again, the sensation of touch was different, but the sense of ‘Naruto’ was there, stronger than ever. Sasuke was surprised at how much he missed it—he didn’t really know how much he cared for Sasuke until after the bastard died—twice. “Then let’s make the most of our time here, when we won’t have who knows how many eyes watching us here?” He asked with a smirk.

It took Sasuke’s startled brain a few moments to process the fact that touching meant touching and ghosts weren’t limited to anything—and in fact, the whole whatever they did should be infinitely more entertaining. “First I’m going to beat you into submission, Uzumaki.” Sasuke smirked. “I have eighty years to catch up to.”

Naruto grinned, rising to the bait and the challenge. “We’ll see, Uchiha, we’ll see.”

~

“Are you sure you don’t want to at least look at the place?” The real estate agent pleaded. She couldn’t get the property off her hands, not when that last kid who bought the place died there. “Sure, it’s set in one of those remote places, but it’s perfect for a new college student on a low budget and…”

The potential customer shook his head and left before she could get the rest of the words out, and she thunked her head on her table. It had to be the rumors that the place was haunted. She actually believed them—but only because she’d been out to the place and seen the ghosts for herself. The dark haired one—she recognized him as the one she sold the estates to—told her to stay off of his property and to not bring anyone else here, but the blond one actually apologized and told her in a couple of decades the place might open up, but for now it was occupied and she should just stop trying. She didn’t believe his warning until now.

“I think I need a new job.” She muttered. Well, I could always go back to working in the casinos, even if I never was very good at betting on the odds of the situation. Before she left, she took the Uchiha Estates completely off the market. After all, who wanted to live in a place that was inhabited by shinobi ghosts?

~