Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

re:WRITE - Letters From the Sky

Chapter One: Arabesque

I had posted this before, but had removed it due to lack of interest from readers. But my computer conked out on me and chapters of other stories... went poop. Fortunately, this along with a couple of other random chapters of other stories were okay, so I decided to upload this and try to work on it some more. But ONLY if I know readers like it.

He couldn't bring himself to scream as he fell further and further, the figure at the top of the cliff just a small dot in the distance. His heart was hammering and his mind was racing a million miles a second, but he couldn't even comprehend what had just happened. All he could get a grip on was the feeling of being cold as he sliced through the air and the image of his bangs flying over his eyes, like black flames against an orange and faint pink canvas.

Pain spread through his body suddenly, water choking him. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move, he felt so tired... With eyes barely open, he felt his body float upward and breach the surface. With a desparate, yet weak, breath he inhaled what he could but only coughed, a warm substance running out of his mouth. He could see the warm evening sun in the distance, lowering itself along the large body of water.

His lips moved slowly, like he wanted to say something, but no sound came out other than a gargled cough. Everything became a lot colder quickly and before he could bring himself to be afraid, his breathing came to a stop and everything started to drift away as if he were falling asleep.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Eyes snapped open, meeting only darkness. There was a faint yellow glow in the distance, the only light in wherever that place was. The boy looked down at his hands, then followed up his arms and down his torso until he saw his bent knees. Bones were dislocated, huge bruises marred his pale skin, and it looked as if his ribs were trying to tear through the skin of his sunken in chest.

But there was no pain.

He lifted his head to stare at the light, but was startled to find that as soon as he moved his head, water flowed from his lips. The bitter, salty taste was horrible. Coughing and sputtering, he drew the attention of the glowing orb that slowly moved closer to him, making a 'humming' sound similar to a hummingbird.

It hovered above the child's head, then expanded and swallowed him whole.

He shut his eyes tightly so he wouldn't be blinded, his arms shooting up to cover his face.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Your time of death was 6:17 pm; cause of death was murder by the hands of-"

"Murder...?" the boy lowered his arms and blinked rapidly, the outline of a much larger person standing above him. "I was murdered...?"

"As soon as you arrived here for judgment, your memories slowly started to disperse. You'll soon find that even this memory will disappear soon."

There was movement, followed by the touch of a cold hand.

"Judgment has been passed. Wecome to Purgatory, child."

...

"Shukaku-san."

A cinnamon-haired male turned from where three figures were laying on the black ground, all mangled and crying out in desparation. Their distorted fingers reached out toward him, but he brushed them off as he walked away, their forms screeching painfully before dissolving into nothing. As soon as they disappeared, a single shape appeared in their place, sitting quietly while looking around at everything.

A dark-eyed boy stood at the doorway to the rounded room, watching the spirits appear and disappear with quiet curiosity. He'd known Shukaku's job was to pass judgement on incoming souls, but he'd never seen how the process worked. He'd had his own judgement passed by the man, but he could never remember it. Though, from what he could see, it was a lot less flashy than he'd imagined.

"What brings you here, Sasuke? You're usually off with that teacher of yours," Shukaku stood in front of the much smaller man, glancing back at the silent shape that soon vanished with a wave of his bare hand. His dark bown wings trembled slightly along his waist.

"I'm looking for Kyuubi-sama," the raven answered politely, watching another form appear in the same spot on the floor. "I'm supposed to receive an assignment, but I can't find him."

Shukaku pointed a slender finger in the direction of the joint room to his left, the round door open. Not a single sound came from it, but Sasuke could see a faint red hue against the pitch black walls. He nodded in his superior's direction, then made his way to the other room. He peaked around the corner and saw just the man he was looking for.

The red-head sat in a pure white chair that seemed completely out of place in the black room, a flame burning in mid-air above him. His liquid gold eyes reflected the dancing flame, but as soon as he noticed another presence in the room, the fire burnt out and was replaced with a swirling orb of wind and debris.

"Sasuke-kun," Kyuubi let his lips tug into a thin smirk. "I suppose you're here for your 'job'?"

He stood up and the chair melted into the floor. The ball of wind followed right behind Kyuubi, shifting right above the male's blood red wings and causing the fine feathers to flutter around slightly. With a flick of his wrist, a name slowly appeared on the ceiling above them; Uzumaki Naruto.

Kyuubi smiled almost knowingly.

"It's almost too coincidental that this name happened to stumble into my lap," he crooned.

"How so?" Sasuke asked, brows scrunching together. Was he supposed to know who that was?

"Ah, it's nothing. But let me give you some information on little Naruto-kun," Kyuubi slinked his way behind Sasuke and placed his tan hands on firm shoulders. He placed his lips along the shell of the boy's ear, golden eyes focused on the name written on the ceiling. "The reason you're to watch over him is because he's having an extremely difficult time right now. His mentality is very unhealthy and it's part of my job to make sure that people under my jurisdiction are happy," he smirked. "Do you understand?"

Sasuke almost wanted to glare at the being behind him. Make people happy? What a load of crap. Everyone knew that Kyuubi only blabbered on about that because he'd lose his title of Third Area Care Taker if he didn't do whatever he was assigned to do and do it with a smile.

"I understand. I'll take my leave now."

"Wait, one more thing," the male mentioned. "You might learn a thing or two while with that boy, but remember to stay focused," he grinned like a jackal.

Sasuke remained silent before he nodded and left the room.

...

It wasn't the least bit difficult finding which school Naruto went to, but it was pretty hard trying to figure out where he was in said school. He'd carefully meneuvered his way around the perimeter of the complex, but all of the classroom's had been empty and he didn't exactly know where else to look. He couldn't go into the school because that would obviously be blowing his cover.

While standing on a thin ledge underneath a second-story window, he looked up at the steam coming from one of the roof's metal pipes. With wings spread out, he fell forward and cut through the air before looping up to the high roof that was covered in a thin layer of metal shingles. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the dome-shaped building connected to the school had glass panels circling around the top.

"Hopefully, he's in there," he mumbled to himself before flying onto one of the panels and pressing his forehead against the warm glass. He could clearly see down into the spacious room that was filled with risers inhabited by restless children. They were all talking to each other, ignoring whatever presentation was going on.

His black eyes scanned over every single face, but not a one looked like Naruto's. He checked again, searching for blonde hair and blue eyes. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he found his target amongst a group that was sitting fairly close to him. They were laughing about something a female teacher had said and before he could watch any longer, those bright blue eyes that were just dancing in amusement blinked and shifted up to meet his gaze.

Leaping back, Sasuke hovered a good distance from the dome, wondering how Naruto had even noticed him up there. It wasn't as if he were moving around enough to draw his gaze. After a minute of floating there, he slowly made his way back to the glass and stared down at where Naruto had been sitting, but only found an empty seat.

"What...? Where did he go?" he questioned out loud, not too fond of losing track of his 'assignment' in the first ten minutes on duty. Flying back, he looked around and sighed when he saw a familiar mop of yellow hair exiting from the building's main doors and heading into the neighboring woods.

Flapping his wings, he shot up in the air and followed overhead along the shedding tree tops that almost seemed to shiver in the cold weather. There was a strong gust of wind and Sasuke arched his feathered appendages, letting his body bob side to side with the breeze that didn't carry him too far. He blinked back the dryness in his eyes, something he'd never became accustomed to in Purgatory. There, he'd never had to indure Earth's "weather".

He glanced down at the boy he was to watch over. The human carefully walked over a fallen tree trunk that was sticking out of a bubbling creek, his untied sneakers being placed one before the other on the narrow base. He had his arms spread out wide as if imitating a bird, a small smile on his face as he lost himself in what Sasuke's assumed was a good memory.

Memories... What did he know of those, anyhow?

Naruto hit solid ground a moment later, hoisting his school bag higher onto his shoulder and breaking into a sprint as he dug through his back pocket. There was a vine-covered fence stretching horizontally, in front of a large apartment complex that was hidden behind a bunch of thick trees that didn't stand naked in the winter. He hopped the metal barrier and ran to a freshly painted row of apartments that had a set of wooden stairs that spiraled around the back.

Sasuked flew around to the other side of the building and lowered himself to a thick branch securely hidden behind gree brush. He pushed the leaves aside with twin hands, black eyes watching the blond pull out a pair of keys that opened the door. The inside of the apartment was dull, but a dim light illuminated the space after a steady flickering. Naruto entered and a moment later, the door was shut.

Leaping from the branch, Sasuke landed on the rusted railing along the front door. He crouched down and folded his wings cross-cross across his back, his head turning toward the window that was blocked from the inside by canary-colored drapes. Red seeped into his obsidian eyes and three small symbols spun around his small pupil, building speed.

His vision became obscure, color draining away into blotches of black, white, and gray. The curtains disappeared, the glass disappered... Naruto laid in his bed, squeezing onto one of his pillows while curled up in a ball. Tears were soaking his face, his frame trembling as he whispered to himself. He continuously repeated one word, the only thing Sasuke could catch onto.

Mother.

...

It was quite easy to just sit outside of Naruto's apartment every day. He never felt the unecessary need to use the bathroom, to eat, or to sleep. He just sat back in the brush of the beautiful trees and monitered the teenager whenever he was home. Of course, when the blond would leave to go to school or to a friend's, he'd follow behind and also monitor him there. It wasn't boring; he didn't even know what that emotion truly was. When you were a "messenger" of Purgatory, you only felt barely noticeable traces of human emotions.

Sasuke sat, once again, outside of the usual apartment, red eyes watching what was going on behind the peach walls. The usual group of people Naruto associated himself with were laughing and talking in his living room. From what he could gather, Naruto seemed to be a typical class-clown, joking around and making people laugh. Unfortunately, it semeed as if that was just a ruse to hide how much he was hurting. Why he was hurting, Sasuke had no idea.

But something suddenly changed in the air of their conversation and he watched as the platinum-blonde female frowned and tightened her grip on the soda can she was sipping. Her crystal blue eyes fell to the floor, but they lifted up to Naruto's face and she threw on a fake smile immediately. The boy next to her said something, his hand on her knee.

Her lips after a moment, both her and Naruto stood up and walked to the front door.

Sasuke let his eyes bleed back to black and he leaned back against the thick tree trunk.

"What's wrong, Ino?" Naruto asked as soon as he shut the door behind them.

The girl known as Ino bit her bottom lip before sighing.

"I want you to move out of this place," she spoke directly, getting straight to the point.

Sasuke watched as Naruto's face fell and he nervously scratched at the back of his neck.

"You know I-"

"Look..." she crossed her arms, looking away. "I know how many memories this place holds for you, but you need to understand that living here is taking a toll on your health. This place might be one of the only things you have left to remind you of your dad, but... it reminds you of your mom too..."

Naruto's blue eyes softened at the look of sadness on his friend's face and Sasuke faintly wondered if it was love that he saw reflected in those orbs. He'd heard of the strong bonds that humans shared with each other and from what he could see, Naruto and Ino seemed to have a special relationship.

"Ino..."

"No, Naruto," she sounded almost desparate, her eyes watering. "You have to take anxiety pills every day because of the fear you have of your mom hitting you when you get home from school! You know that she's dead, but you're still scared to death of her! Please... it's not that hard to just move out and get a fresh start; it's what your dad would've wanted, you know? I'll just tell my parents to talk to the landlord and they'll start paying for another apartment for you somewhere else..."

Sasuke knew the look in Ino's eyes was getting to Naruto.

"...Fine. But it has to be somewhere nearby. I'm not transfering schools," he groaned.

Ino's smile was like an excited child's. She reached out and wrapped her arms around broad shoulders, burying her face into a firm chest.

"It's for the best," came her muffled words. "You've suffered so much already."

Naruto smiled and placed his hand on top of Ino's head.

Sasuke watched the interaction with blank eyes, absorbing every detail about how they behaved with each other. If he was going to introduce himself to his 'assignment' soon, he would need to know how to interact with him like a normal person so that they could get along. Kyuubi had told him once that normal people didn't like others who were different.

Naruto and Ino pulled away from their embrace and the girl smiled once again, wiping at her damp eyelashes. She laughed and grabbed his hand to tug him back inside, but for some reason, the blond didn't budge. He whispered something and before Sasuke could react, Ino was staring right in his direction.

"Huh? I don't see anything..." she punched his arm playfully. "There's nothing there, stupid. Quit trying to freak me out."

"I'm not," he laughed. "I thought I heard breathing, I'm serious!" turning toward the tree, his eyes seeming to almost stare directly at Sasuke's.

The raven stopped the breathing he hadn't realized was much too heavy, not moving an inch. He let his eyes stay firm, knowing that even though they were looking directly at each other, Naruto couldn't see him within all of the leaves and shadows. Though, something did seem to constrict inside of the angel's chest. It was something he'd never felt before, like a painful explosion of fire that swelled inside of his rib cage and slowly squirmed up his throat until the burning became so intense that he shut his eyes in order to ease himself.

...

"You're like the moon, Sasu-nii," a smaller version of Naruto said while drawing in the sand with a thin branch. His bright blue eyes lifted from his picture and he pointed a small finger at a thinner boy dressed in all black. "You're all white and only come out in black, just like the moon!"

The boy in all black sat with his legs crossed, just inches away from the ocean's slow tide.

"Well, you're like the sun, Naru-chan," he smiled, not taking his friend's words as an insult.

Naruto blinked and looked up at the glaring sun, its warmth embracing him in a loving hug.

"The sun?" he repeated the other's words quietly.

"Un," the child nodded. "You're very warm and kind, just like the light of the sun."

Naruto's lips pressed together tightly. He hadn't expected such an answer; it was the complete opposite of what he'd said, so he tried again.

"W-well, the sun couldn't be without the moon, you know!" he sputtered, embarrassed.

His friend only smiled again.

"And the moon couldn't be without the sun."

...

The pain slowly disappeared and Sasuke opened his eyes, wondering why such a strange scene had played out in his mind. It didn't make any sense, the sun and moon would be fine without each other... Had it been a memory? Of course not... he didn't have any memories of anything other than his birth and onwards in Purgatory. He let it slip to the back of his mind and before he could think of it again, it was gone; as if it hadn't been there in the first place.

He watched Naruto and Ino go back inside and sighed, leaning back against the tree in a relaxed position before letting red seep back into his irises.

...

Almost two weeks had gone by since Naruto and Ino's discussion and the blond had finally moved everything into his new apartment in the Nishishinbashi district of Tokyo. It was one district over from where he'd previously lived, but only an extra ten minutes away from his school if he took the train. It was a bustling place, street preformers everywhere he went and new electronic stores showcasing the newest and best technology in Japanese industry.

Sasuke had to admit, he was rather fascinated by the new surroundings. He'd gone back and forth between the new apartment and the old one a lot in the past week, but he hadn't been able to really focus on everything around him. His sensei had once explained the love Japanese humans had for innovation, creation, and design, but this was his first time truly understanding what that meant.

While Naruto had gone out with his friends to eat lunch somewhere in the city a day or two ago, Sasuke had followed atop looming buildings. He flew from rooftop to rooftop, seeing human androids standing outside of shops specifically to greet customers. They made very life-like expressions and even tied people into casual conversations about the weather or weekend plans. There were bright billboards all around him too, playing videos of famous popstars in the country or showing high quality commercials.

The only downside of where Naruto now lived was that there were no trees for refuge anywhere near the apartment complex. He'd lost his cover.

So as nightfall approached, Sasuke realized it would be best to finally approach Naruto and let his presence be known.

Standing outside of the blond's half-open window, the raven let his red eyes see what exactly his 'job' was doing. It looked like he was in the middle of unpacking his things, sitting picture frames on his new oak dresser. There was one photo that Sasuke noticed right away; one of a small child in between two smiling adults. The female had long auburn hair, her emerald eyes shining happily. One of her arms was around the gruff male to her right, while the other was wrapped around the bubbly child. The man on the left was grinning as if he'd just won the lottery, holding up the tiny had of his look-alike as if presenting him to an audience.

His parents, Sasuke assumed right away.

Naruto stopped unpacking to yawn loudly, his eyes watering as his body told him to go to bed. Not arguing with it, he stepped away from the half-empty box and stalked over to shut off the bedroom light. He flopped onto his naked mattress, not caring that there weren't any pillows or sheets there for him. He'd worry about that later.

"Careless," Sasuke muttered, concerning the open window. Though, he didn't move an inch until he was sure the boy's steady breath meant he was asleep. Holding his own breath, he lifted the window a little higher and slipped in as easily as the wind. He walked over to the side of the bed silently and watched Naruto's sleeping face.

He remembered the affectionate touches between the male and his female friend from a week or so ago and laid down in the bed, making sure not to wake Naruto up. He let his wings fall limp behind him as he ran pale fingers along long, bare arms. He watched the goosebumps rise on the dark skin and wondered idly why humans were made with such a reaction to even the simplest of touches.

He continued the gentle touches, running his fingertips along Naruto's arm, neck, and jaw. He might not have had the sharpest sense of feelings, but he couldn't help the curiosity he felt being so close to a human. He'd been alive too, once upon a time.

So with much interest, he kept on with his task, not stopping until Naruto stirred awake.

I'm sure all of you noticed the changes I made to re:WRITE so far, such as Sasuke's ability to use his Sharingan already. I prefer him being able to use that to his advantage rather than having it suddenly appear out of nowhere near the end of the story. Also, their ages are different. They're older... for obvious reasons -cough- SEX- cough- ... wut?