I honestly have no clue where this came from. Sunday night I was sitting, playing Solitaire (as usual XD), when I thought: Hmm, I shall write a Halloween story. It shall be wonderful. Naruto shall wear a turban. And then I wrote this. Somewhere in the middle it shifted, and started rampaging off on its own, and I have no clue where I got the ideas for this, but I did, and thus: this story.

Funny how this whole thing started because I wanted to put Naruto into a ridiculous Halloween costume. XD

Title: Nearly Beloved

Warnings: Shounen-ai, non-graphic violence, death. Supernaturalities.

Summary: Sasuke never celebrated Halloween, ever. Naruto was determined to find out why. Then, everything fell apart. BL, NarSasNar, death-fic.
October 31st, roughly 4 p.m.

Sasuke was sitting in the library, minding his own business. He rubbed his cheek, and yawned, too bored to care about his undignified state. The brunette pulled his history text book back in front of him to continue reading for the test the following week.

Someone approached, jangling slightly with what sounded like keys. Sasuke paid them no mind, assuming that they would pass by, and was rudely interrupted when he was hit over the head with a tambourine.

Babmmpt—janglejangleclash.

"Ow."

He glared at his attacker.

His attacker glared back and put his hands on his hips.

"Bastard."

Sasuke did a double-take. And choked.

"Wh—what are you wearing?"

Naruto glowered, and adjusted his canary-yellow turban.

"It's Halloween, dumbass, why the hell are'ya in here?" He said here like the library was a vial waste ground. "You promised you'd come out tricker-treatin' with me, asshole," he continued, cheeks puffed with disgruntlement.

Sasuke looked away from the duck-yellow image before him, running his long fingers through his inky hair. "I've got work to do. And I never promised, you assumed," he stated, glaring back up at his annoying stalker. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere with you if you're dressed like that," he added, nodding to Naruto's outfit.

The blond crossed his arms, indignant, and said loudly enough to be 'shushed' by the entirety of the library's occupants, "I made this myself! Bastard!"

The bastard snorted, and shook his head. "Obviously."

Naruto was wearing a pair of ballooning silk-like yellow pants patterned with hundreds of tiny orange ducks, that might have at one point been pyjama pants. He had elastic straps with clicking plastic beads attached to them bunching the pants above and below his knee, giving them a three-tiered look. A brilliantly blue sash was tied around the top of his pants, contrasting garishly to his pants, but matching his fierce eyes almost perfectly. He wore no shirt, and had only a bright orange vest to go over his bare chest, and more festive beaded armlets. His shoes were also orange, and curled up into an elfin toe. On his head, he wore a giant yellow turban, with a massive plastic jewel attached to the ridge in front.

He looked very much like an Arabian Duck.

In his hand, he clutched the tambourine, which jangled crudely with every movement.

Naruto grinned suddenly, his eyes squinting shut and the scars on his cheeks emphasizing his vulpine grin. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, and focused more intently on his book.

"Don't worry bastard…I made one for you too." Naruto smirked.

Sasuke blanched. "You want me to put on a fucking turban and clown pants? Why did you think that was a good idea?"

"They're not clown pants! And no, you don't get to wear the most supremely awesome costume in the world, I do. You get this," Naruto said, and tossed a crumpled brown paper bag on the table in front of his friend.

Sasuke pushed it away and didn't look at him. He felt guilty, but Naruto should have known better.

"I don't do Halloween, you know that. You've known that for years. Now fuck off, dork."

Naruto whined, and started a different track. "C'mon, Sasuke! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'monc'monc'mon" he stopped to breathe, "cmoncmoncmoncmonnnnnn!"

"No."

"Saaaaasssss'kkkkkkaaaaayyyyyyy"

"No."

Naruto pouted. He looked ridiculous with the turban on his head.

Sasuke was not amused.

"You're eighteen, shut up and stop trying to trick-or-treat already. You're probably the only person who still goes out. Except Lee. But that's because Lee's retarded, and has no sense of propriety." The Uchiha turned away from Naruto. "I'm not coming out, so leave me alone."
For as long as Naruto had known him, Sasuke had never celebrated Halloween. As far as he knew, Sasuke spent it beating up little kids and stealing their candy, but he couldn't really imagine that since Sasuke could just charm candy off any unsuspecting teenage girl.

At first, Naruto didn't care. Sasuke was broody and emo, so it was no surprise. Then, when they turned thirteen, Naruto had gotten fed up. Every year after that, Naruto had made (not quite) stealthy attempts to figure out just what Sasuke was up to, and why he was so adamant on not celebrating the candy-ridden holiday. Each time, Sasuke had successfully foiled his attempts to figure it out, and Naruto had spent each Halloween nights without catching a glimpse of his reclusive friend at all.

Each year, Sasuke told Naruto in a firm voice, to leave him alone on Halloween night.

The year before, Naruto had tried to be stealthier (still ineffectively), and asked Sasuke, in the middle of class, not why he didn't like Halloween, but why he didn't like celebrating with Naruto.

Sasuke had avoided the question, and had asked one of his own.

"Have you ever read the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?"

"Is that the guy who slept with his mother?"

Sasuke had glared, and stomped elegantly out of the room muttering something about needing to go to the bathroom, leaving half the girls swooning.

Naruto had looked up the story, but didn't get it.

Not that Sasuke had been clear about it or anything.

The pale brunette stepped out of the shower in a waft of steam, and pulled a fluffy blue towel off the rack to dry himself.

It had been harder than usual to avoid Naruto's questions. Sasuke sighed, and rubbed his wet hair more vigorously, messing up his wild black hair even more than usual.

Tying the towel around his waist, he glanced at the bathroom clock, and stepped out of the warm room to his bedroom. The air was colder out there, and Sasuke felt goose bumps rise on his bare flesh.

He dressed quickly into a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, before stepping out into the hall and descending the stairs to the living room. The hard wood floor was freezing against his bare feet, and his damp hair trickled cold water down the back of his neck. His bangs hung in his face, clinging slightly to his pale cheeks.

He glanced outside. The sun had just finished setting, and darkness was creeping steadily across the sky.

The moon would rise soon.

And then it would start, just like every year before it.
Being stealthy while wearing orange and yellow is a difficult feat.

Naruto failed spectacularly.

He'd already been trick-or-treating with Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji, and had gathered the usual amount of sickening sweets as usual, as well as a toothbrush, a juice box, and a packet of raisins from the crazy old perverted man who lived down by the Ladies Spa.

Having feasted (and having given a portion of his spoils to the ever-hungry Chouji), Naruto was ready to set out on his quest to find out what Sasuke did on Halloween.

Naruto was stealthy in a way that suggested that there was no point in being stealthy unless there was someone to see you being stealthy. He crept down the street to Sasuke's house, pressing his back against the walls of houses when people passed, ignoring the curious residents when they peered out their windows to see a turban-wearing young man trespassing on their property.

Sasuke lived in the respectable part of town, where the youngest trick-or-treaters were inside before it got dark, and the older ones went to quiet parties where they all sat and watched Halloween movies no scarier than The Nightmare Before Christmas.

He lived alone, ever since his birthday the past July. His parents and all of his living relatives had been killed by his psychotic older brother just a little after he had met Naruto, two days before Halloween, over ten years before. Naruto would think that the older boy's aversion to the holiday would be built on that, but excepting the day and the days before and after, Sasuke showed no sign of trauma regarding the anniversary of his parents' death.

So, it was peculiar.

Naruto made it to Sasuke's front door just as the crescent moon rose above the trees.

A cold feeling crept into the air, and Naruto shivered, his recently added jacket feeling like tissue paper against the night air.

There was only one light on in Sasuke's house, a dim pulsing blue light coming from the living room window around the side. Naruto assumed Sasuke was watching a movie or something. Naruto sneaked past the garden gate separating the front lawn from the back, and tip-toed up to the window.

In a sudden burst of logic, Naruto unwound the massive cloth turban from his head so it a) wouldn't impede his vision, and b) wouldn't alert everyone in the vicinity to his very noticeable presence. He shook his head to let the slightly sweaty gold locks air out, and shivered when the cold air touched the damp skin at the back of his neck and the edges of his hairline.

Setting the unwrapped cloth on the ground by his left-over bags of candy, Naruto stood on tiptoes to peer into the spacious living room he knew was on the other side of the glass.

He refrained from falling over at the sight that met his eyes.

The odd blue light that emitted from the window didn't come from a T.V. set, nor from any visible light source. It was just there. Like someone had taken the walls and floor and ceiling and replaced them with strips of blue lights, the room glowed with a light that didn't seem to come from anywhere. It cast creepy shadows on the walls, and threw everything in the room into a dull, dream-like state. But what was most surprising, was what the light was actually hitting.

There were people in the living room. He couldn't see Sasuke among them, but he figured he would be there, seeing as it was his house.

There were old men, and younger men, women, and a few kids. There looked to be almost twenty people in the room, making it seem much smaller than normal.

All of them were weirdly coloured in the strange light, but they seemed to be of the same colouring as Sasuke, with smooth pale skin, and inky black hair. Naruto couldn't see anyone's eyes, but he assumed that if he could see them they would be the deep mahogany brown of his friend's eyes.

They all looked like they could be Sasuke's long-lost family.

Why Sasuke would be partying with such a dismal reminder of his tragic past was beyond Naruto, but hey, everyone's entitled to their odd habits. Like the way Naruto always had to eat seven bowls of ramen Friday nights to get rid of the queasy feeling in his stomach about spending another weekend alone.

Naruto pulled himself out of his thoughts (a pity, because he actually put thought into so few things that when he actually did he liked to dwell on it, but there were more pressing matters at hand) and looked back in through the window. None of the guests looked like they were having a good time.

In fact, if he didn't know better, he'd say they were all more emo than Sasuke himself was.

The whiskered boy shifted, trying to catch a glimpse of his friend. He moved his feet, and slipped on his discarded turban that was slowly getting damp in the night air.

His knee bumped against the side of the house with a soft thunk, and he froze. It couldn't have been loud enough for anyone inside to hear.

But he checked, just to be sure.

And he froze.

Eyes.

Red, red eyes.

All staring at him.

Naruto would have shivered if he could have. He would have pissed his pants if he could have. He would have run screaming if he could have, all the way home, and forgotten the whole business, and left Sasuke alone for any Halloween nights to come.

But he couldn't.

Not with those red, red, blood red eyes staring. Straight. At. Him.

There had to have been more than twenty people in that room. There had to have been, because there were nearly a hundred pairs of red, red eyes looking at him. The people hadn't moved. They had turned their heads, all at once, and were all looking at him, as frozen in place as he was.

But there was so much malice in those red, red eyes. So much hate.

It was like looking into Hell and knowing you haven't been a good enough person. It was like facing your own mortality at the edge of a cliff, and knowing that if you attempted to save yourself you would have to let your best friend die.

It was terrifying.

But Naruto couldn't move.

They stared at him, even the little kids, the smallest of whom couldn't have been more than six years old. And he stared back, blue eyes wide and stinging from not blinking.

Then, slowly, ever so slowly, they parted.

It was like watching one of those movies about a king or queen, when they entered the room and the crowd parted before them like a wave. Only it seemed so much more sinister.

As the last few pale people moved, there were three forms that stood there. Two were male (one older, one younger), and a female. Out of all the people there, those three looked like Sasuke the most.

The older man was stern and forbidding, his face set into a scowl that while it made Naruto quake slightly, was obviously just the way his face was. The younger one had much the same look, but he was more elegant, more refined. His smooth face was marred by deep creases on his cheeks, descending from the inner corners of his eyes. The woman looked most like Sasuke, her face the most beautiful Naruto had ever seen. She had Sasuke's almond eyes, and his small, straight nose, and the same rounded chin as Naruto's best friend.

These three, these pale, pale people that so much resembled his friend, had the most hateful looks on their faces. Their eyes burned far more than those of the rest of the guests, and the young man who stood in the middle's face was filled with utter loathing that Naruto had never seen.

And then they too parted, and Naruto could see through the thin panes of glass, a small form curled around itself, huddled on the large, over-stuffed sofa.

It was about the size of an older teenager, but seemed to frail and fragile, with its face buried into its knees. It sat with its feet on the cushions, arms crossed around the shins, pulling them into the teen's chest. It was dressed all in black, just like everyone in the room, and its hair shielded it from Naruto's view, but he knew who it was.

Tangled or not, immaculately combed and styled or not, Naruto could recognize that distinctive flyaway hair anywhere.

That was Sasuke, curled up on that sofa, looking oh-so delicate and vulnerable.

Naruto let out a breath that hit the pane of glass separating the two friends, and saw the heat of his breathing fog the area in front of his eyes. He shifted abruptly, to be able to see, and Sasuke's head snapped up.

Red, red, blood red eyes locked with Naruto's wide blue ones.

In an instant, from the way they pierced so thoroughly through his skin like knives, from they way they seemed to look through his flesh to see the bareness of his mind and souls, Naruto knew that those weren't contacts. It wasn't a Halloween party.

The two friends stared in disbelief at each other from opposite sides of the room, before Sasuke's usually emotionless face contorted into a horrified mask, eyes wide with terror and despair, mouth open in a silent wail of denial.

And everyone started moving. The opened path from Naruto to Sasuke closed, the guests swarming around the darker teenager, hiding him from Naruto's view.

The wind picked up, buffeting Naruto as he held onto the window sill for dear life, still trying to see his friend in the tightening throng.

The air temperature dropped suddenly, making Naruto's breath steam in front of his mouth, freezing him to the bones, and he fought to keep his eyes open against the stinging cold.

And then, like they had never existed, all the people in Sasuke's living room vanished, taking the strange blue light with them.

And the room was empty.

There was no one in there.

The air warmed.

The wind stopped.

And Naruto fell to the ground, unconscious.

Naruto woke late the next morning in his own bed. He stared disoriented at his ceiling for a moment, as if he couldn't recognize the four foot orange band poster pasted to his boring white ceiling.

Then the cause of his abrupt awakening made itself more prominent.

Riiiiiiiing.

Phone. Right, answer the phone.

The blond ran a shaky tan hand through his hair, still staring around his room. The previous night's dream left his breath unsteady and his mind fuzzy. He sat up and fumbled to answer his phone.

Checking the caller I.D., he cleared his throat, and answered.

"Hey, Kiba." Naruto coughed again, trying to get rid of the scratchiness of his voice. "What's up?

"Dude, where are you man? It's like noon already. Didja spend too much time partying with Uchiha last night or something?" Kiba's voice came from the speaker, high and tinny.

Naruto made a confused noise in the back of his throat, and scratched his head, turning to look out the window. The sun was indeed high in the sky, and Naruto stared at the bright light for a second, barely hearing Kiba.

"Y'know Tsunade's gonna pound your ass for this. She said she would for anyone who doesn't show up here after Halloween. You know how she gets."

Naruto blinked once. And then again.

Then he swore and chucked his phone across the room as he took a flying leap out of bed and raced to his closet. He grabbed the first pair of pants he could, and a shirt and threw them on, not bothering to shower. That would waste too much time.

He combed his hair quickly with his fingers and scampered around his room, gathering books and various school-necessities. Stuffing them all in his bag, he hunted for his slightly damaged phone, and yelled into it: "WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL EARLIER, IDIOT!"

Naruto could practically hear Kiba wince and hold the phone a foot away from his ear.

"I did, moron, but you're a damn heavy sleeper. Just get your ass to school, already, will ya?"

Naruto managed to get to school in time for lunch, and passed his lateness off as an upcoming cold, something that he backed up with the hoarseness of his voice that just wouldn't go away.

He was still shaky from his weird dream, but knew that as soon as he saw Sasuke, he'd feel better, and the painful feeling in his gut would go away.

He met up with Kiba, and the two ate lunch together with Chouji and Shikamaru, Kiba filing him in on the happenings of his first two periods.

Naruto only half-listened, eyes constantly scanning for a familiar duck-headed emo-boy.

But he wasn't in the cafeteria.

Naruto ate his lunch slowly, and threw most of it away when the bell rang, having felt slightly nauseas. He grabbed his bag and waved good-bye to his friends, making his way to the History hall, where he had European History with Prof. Hatake Kakashi. He felt his breathing come a little easier for the first time that day when he remembered that Sasuke would be in his class.

He sat himself in his usual seat, and watched the door as people filed in.

The bell rang.

Kakashi came in, 20 minutes late as usual.

Sasuke didn't show.

No one had seen Sasuke at all, they said when Kakashi did the class roll.

Naruto didn't pay any attention to Kakashi 's explanation of the following week's test.

After school let out, Naruto wasted no time in racing to Sasuke's house, in his big fancy neighbourhood.

He pounded on the red front door for almost fifteen minutes before deciding that Sasuke wasn't going to answer the door, and figured that breaking in would be a much better solution.

He knew that there was one small window that led to the first floor bathroom at the back of the house that Sasuke always left unlocked, and he tore off the front porch, and around the side, through the garden gate.

He slipped on something as he passed under the living room window.

It was the long cloths that had made up his turban the night before. And his candy bags. They were cold and slightly damp still.

Naruto's body went cold, but he picked himself up and walked, much, much slower, around to the back, where the bathroom window was unlocked, as always.

The inside of Sasuke's house was kind of boring, Naruto had always thought. He didn't have many personal items scattered about, and most of the walls were still white.

It was very cold inside the house.

Naruto checked every room, every closet, every nook and cranny he could find. He stood in the kitchen (he wouldn't step into the living room, and avoided it by passing through the pantry from the kitchen to the dining room) and shouted his best friend's name at the top of his lungs.

He had never been so terrified in his life.

He'd never been so sad in his life.

He'd never felt so much like he'd lost part of himself in his life.

Naruto had never realized just how much he'd loved Sasuke all his life, until that very moment.

It was nearly five in the evening when Naruto finally left Sasuke's house, cold and bitter, and hollow inside.

He walked, head bowed, blond hair drooping in front of his blue eyes, shielding his whiskered face from the world, until he came to the same park that he and Sasuke had first met in. Naruto sat on the swings, his bag dropping to the ground beside him listlessly, and wanted to cry so much it hurt.

But he had already cried.

Because he knew that his dream the night before was true: deep, deep in his heart, he knew it was true, and he knew that Sasuke was dead and would never, ever come back.

"Did you know he loved you?"

Naruto spun, startled by the new voice.

Behind him stood a girl he knew quite well. She had been his first crush, and was one of the childhood friends of both him and Sasuke. She had been in love with Sasuke, just like many other girls.

Sakura shook her long pink hair out of her face, and tucked a strand behind one ear. Her jade eyes looked away form the saddened form of Naruto, gazing across the empty park, before she looked down and sighed.

The young woman stuffed her hands into the deep pockets of her coat, and approached Naruto. She smoothed out her black skirt, and stretched one leg of her red tights up over her knee as she sat on the swing next to the blond.

"He did."

Naruto made an enquiring noise, his voice spent from shouting.

Sakura looked over at him, looking like a disappointed mother. "Sasuke. He loved you. He didn't want to, but it's obvious." She looked away again, and the wind brushed her pink locks about her pretty face.

Naruto said nothing, but looked at the ground between his knees, and pushed himself back and forth just a bit on the swing with his toes.

"I knew it from the beginning. Right after you two met you could tell you were obsessed with each other."

Sakura had been the one to introduce the two of them.

"You know…" she hesitated, and looked at Naruto's slumped figure out of the corner of her eye. She sighed and brushed more hair from her face, and continued, "You know, Halloween's a funny time. The days around Halloween too. Weird stuff happens, you know?"

Naruto almost laughed.

Sakura ignored his strangled chuckle.

"Back when we were seven, a few months after you met, after you were so obsessed with beating and being with each other, you know his family died." Naruto nodded, even though he didn't need to. "Sasuke told me something. Something I was never supposed to tell you, but I guess it doesn't matter now."

She stopped suddenly, and looked hard at her friend.

"You did go see him last night, didn't you?"

Naruto nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from his first love's powerful stare.

Sakura closed her eyes slowly, and didn't bother moving when the wind swept her hair across her face again.

"Well, he's dead. You know that, don't you." It was not a question. "When his parents were killed, he came to me a few months after, and said he needed to confide in me. Said he had something to tell me."

And Sakura proceeded to tell Naruto exactly what Sasuke had said. She told him of how he had never been so pale before the event, and wasn't it funny how he never seemed to tan, even in broad daylight? She said how his eyes hadn't been so very cold before it happened, and wasn't it sweet that they only warmed for Naruto?

And then she told Naruto something that he hadn't expected at all.

"Sasuke died that night. Not emotionally, or anything, but actually. He died, and when he told me about it, I looked exactly the same way you do right now," she said, pulling her hair back into a high ponytail, finally fed up with the wind. "He told me that he had died, but that you had brought him back. That's why no one had seen him anywhere between his family's death and November 1st. Halloween was the day he came back, because weird stuff happens on Halloween.

And you're the one who brought him back."

Naruto looked up sharply at that, and croaked hoarsely, "Whaddya mean?"

Sakura stared directly into his eyes, and said firmly, "He loved you. Already, he loved you. And it was that that brought him back."

She stood and turned away from him, already walking. "But you betrayed him. I know you did. You did the only thing he asked you not to. You looked back, Orpheus, before you were out of the fire, and now Eurydice will never come back." She turned, and her eyes were cold. "And now you have to pay."

When the girls came, Naruto was prepared. He had read the story, he knew what would happen next. Weird things happen around Halloween, and so as the girls ripped him apart and crowed with glee over his dying body, he sang oh so softly to the moon he knew was hiding in the daylight.

"Time may be on my side
But it's mostly far behind
I was the apple of your eye
Now I'm the boy spinning on a wheel there
Stuck with knives
Last night I lived more than one thousand lives
Not one of them survived…"

The End.
If you don't know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice,

www. timelessmyths .com/classical/lovers. html#Orpheus is one good place to go.

And yes, I'm aware that this story is not exactly the way Orpheus and Eurydice happened, but hey, it's my story. So it's cool. Also, it's really hard to find a convincing argument for a bunch of insane modern-Maenads to rip Naruto to shreds. I'm goin' on the theory that they were all Sasuke fangirls.

Lyrics are from Wallflower's Nearly Beloved. (not that great, but it's the lyrics that matter. XP)

Hope it wasn't crap.

Happy Halloween, y'all:love: