Halloween Project: Haunted

by Chosha Kurenai

For Tattookitty as part of the Halloween 'Trick or Treat' project. The Ghosts of the past are haunting Sasuke and Naruto is worried about his teamate so decides to try and help out. Mild Shonen ai

Halloween 'Trick or Treat' Project:

Haunted

By

Chosha Kurenai

Chosha's Notes

Hello and welcome to another Project! Much in the same way as how my Secret Santa Project was done, this was done entirely through Naruto Roleplay Forum where we are secretly informed who we are to write a one shot for. This time, it's Halloween! (and posted a day late. Sorry, I was busy…) Thus, the project is Halloween based (vaguely). Now, this story is for Tattookitty! (gives round of applause). I hope that this fic is to your liking.

Now, as per Tattookitty's request on her profile, this fic is Shonen ai (aka boy love). Now as most people who have read my fics are aware, I've never wrote Shonen ai or Yaoi before, and where romance fics are concerned, I tend to like to take my time building up the relationships. As it is though, I'm limited to a one shot, so don't expect there to be anything too graphic. In fact, if you look at it from a certain angle, you could see it as just a close friendship fic, or as a fluffy fic, I suppose. Either way, I apologise if it's not quite to standard, but I did my best for a first timer when it comes to Shonen ai. For those who are not Shonen ai fans, please either see it as close friendship, be open minded, or turn back now. I do not want to have complaints about the fic being boy love – I am doing as requested, so I appreciate no flames to that nature. Thanks!

Now, Halloween. In the modern sense of the word, its not particularly Halloweenish. However, I am focusing on the original meaning of Halloween more than the modern version – honouring the ancestors that have passed, and chasing away the bad Ghosts with costumes. This is because to be honest, I really didn't want to write an AU fic and because I wont have to try and fit a multi chapter fic into a one shot. Lol!

I also appologise for Sasuke's OOCness, but I hope the first part sot of explains his reasoning.

Now, apologies for the long notes. Lets get on with the important stuff!

Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. Not to me.

Dedicated to Tattookitty for the Halloween 'Trick or Treat' Project!

Without further adieu, enjoy!

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

He was breaking.

He knew he was breaking. Knew that the constant nightmares that had him waking up screaming in the dead of the night were tearing him apart to the point that he feared to close his eyes lest he drift off into the hellish dreams. He knew it was because of these dreams that the slightest shift in the shadows made him jumpy, paranoid that if he only looked closer into those shadows he would find gleaming icy blood red eyes peering back at him promising pain and death, whispering of his weakness. He already got to the point that he could no longer walk through the empty compound without his mind dragging up ghosts of the past, copying images of the past over his eyes so that he could still see the splashes of blood that had long since been scrubbed off the walls and ground, still see the limp, mutilated bodies lifeless on the ground, eyes blankly staring as their mouths open in silent screams and their lifeblood spilled around them, bodies already growing cold. He could still smell it, the sickly, coppery smell that filled his nose and made him want to retch, his ears could still hear over his pounding heart the screams that he had memorised as he had been forced to watch his family die over and over in the Tsukuyomi, no matter how much he tried to distract himself, no matter how much he buried his head in his arms or clamped his hands over his ears so he could hear his pulse in his wrists. They would torment him, demand answers why he didn't help them, why he hadn't done something, even though a part of him knew that as a six year old academy student he wouldn't have been able to do such a thing. He could ear them clambering at him, to avenge them until his pride had been dashed so he was begging them to be silent lest he collapse into sobs despite the fact he had not cried since the last time six years ago when it had really sunk in that his entire family was gone, before he had resolved himself to avenge them.

And all of this was because of one little reminder of death.

All because of the death of the third Hokage.

Now, Uchiha Sasuke would never claim to have known the Sandaime particularly well, personally. At first it was mainly because before the deaths of the Uchiha, Sasuke had been merely an academy student. Ok, he had good grades, was the best in his class, but nothing particularly meriting him needing to see or know the Hokage personally. Not even Itachi had really had contact with the Hokage before he graduated. It was only after he was released from the hospital after he had woken to find his family gone that he actually spoke to the Hokage the first time. The Hokage had come to him after the funeral, offering his condolences and asked if Sasuke needed anything.

At the time Sasuke was still hurting, still felt as if his heart had been torn out and stabbed through, still smarting with the betrayal of the brother he had adored and looked up to and he had shot down the offer as quickly as it had come. He didn't want 'Help'. He wanted training. Training so that if he ever saw that man again he would rip him apart for what he had done, in the same manner his family had been, the ways he had been forced to witness over and over again until it was burned within his 6 year old Psyche permanently. The mirror of his life had been shattered, the memories acting now like shards of razor sharp glass that cut and sliced, stabbed and hurt him whenever he tried to move on. The Hokage had only given him a sad expression that at the time just served to piss him off further – he didn't want or need useless Pity. How would pity help him to bring down the monster that masqueraded as his older brother? Still, the Hokage had offered that the help would still be there if he desired it. After that, there was only a few times Sasuke had seen him before he graduated and afterwards, he only saw the Hokage before and after completing a mission as part of team 7.

They never exchanged words on the subject of the massacre, of course, especially not in front of his team, but they would silently exchange a look that said more than words, showing Sasuke the Hokage's offer still stood. Sasuke would always gift him with an indifferent expression. He was fine. He was coping. He was learning. There was no need to exchange words about his tormented past yet. And the Hokage would nod before he would turn back to assigning a mission or accepting the mission report while trying to ignore Naruto's complaints of getting a more exciting mission.

Perhaps it was that this had become a constant routine and, for Sasuke, the routines he had helped to keep his mind soothed against the tides of his already screwed up life. Something that was stable and constant and there, whenever he may need him. It was a rock in the tides that helped him from slipping away into the madness below the surface that was left from the aftermath of the massacre. After all, who could stay sane from that? It was a stability that, along with bantering with Naruto and ignoring Sakura's poor attempts to flirt and hearing the two yell "You're late" at Kakashi who would give some half assed excuse that wasn't even believable, had become a balkm to the wounds caused from the shattered memories, acting as protection so the shards were less sharp. They hurt occasionally still, but not so much as before, allowing him to begin to piece his life back together, reforming his broken soul back together. It would never be fully fixed, cracks would remain, but they would become less noticeable as time went on. Though he slipped occasionally, Sasuke was beginning to move on, feel as though he was beginning to grow from the boy he had been, trapped ungrowingly from the trauma of before.

Until Orochimaru came and screwed that up. First by placing the seal on his neck, then he attacked the filage and caused the death of the third Hokage.

He wasn't sure why it effected him at first. When he had first heard the news after he had somewhat recovered from the fight with Gaara, he hadn't particularly felt much of anything until the funeral. It was only as he lay down his flower that it really struck him. He had steadily been feeling a tightness in his chest all the way up to that moment, the tightness increasing at the sight of Naruto's washed out pale face that looked distinctly un-Narutoish, as if he was looking at a Ghost. The lack of spark of life there had unnerved him the most, the lack of his usal grin – the solmn look just did not suit him at all. He'd only ever seen that look a few times before, one of those times being when Sasuke himself had appeared to be dying in his arms.

He suddenly recalled Naruto was very close to the Hokage before. He was like a grandfather to him.

He was experiencing a loss Sasuke was very acutely aware of.

As he lay down his flower, he realised, suddenly, that he was never going to see that look that offered him reassurance and told him he was there if he needed it. And it just stabbed him right at home, reminding him of a similar time six year ago where he placed flowers down for family he would never, ever see alive again, drilling in familiar feelings of 'Why are you gone', 'Why does it hurt', 'Don't make me go through this again!'

The routine was torn down, the still unfinished mirror of his past no longer had the protection of routine to stop him from feeling the sharp tearing of the still scattered shards as he recalled another funeral and all black clothes seen through hot stinging tears mingling with the rain and the ripping, tearing ache of being truly and utterly alone.

He had been glad when it was over and he was able to somewhat catch his breath. Naruto seemed to be getting a little better and even though he knew Naruto was still sad, he was going to recover at least and the fact he was trying to make some semblance of normality on the way back at least helped to soothe Sasuke's mental turmoil so the older memories were pushed back and the newer ones didn't bother him as much. The Hokage was just another name to add to the long list of people who were no longer there.

He felt fine when he returned home. It wasn't until he was asleep that his mind decided to play traitor. The recent memories drawing out the older ones and he had awoken with a gasp, breathing heavily, heart pumping at the half remembered dream. Once he had calmed himself, flopping back on the pillows he scolded himself absently. It had just been a funeral. As a ninja he'd have to get used to Funerals after all. It was a job hazard. Besides, Naruto was probably suffering more. Sasuke himself had barely known the Hokage, all things considering. So he had thought little of it at first and attempted to sleep once more.

However, he soon found that memories from one dream easily lead to others that connected to it. He began dreaming of things he had long since thought he had locked away. Memories that he had locked away to preserve his sanity by dulling what he remembered, but it seemed the lock had broken and Sasuke dreamed in horrifying detail, remembering every twisted face, every stench of blood, recalled the gore and the horror, the red died sky and the Sharingan moon of the Tsukuyomi's sky that died all things monochrome and those terrifying red orbs looking at him with unfeeling callousness that left him waking up shaking, scream dying on his lips, a ghost pain running across the long healed scar from where Itachi's shuriken had cut it, throbbing as if it had only been a few minutes before.

Funny how a single event had slowly lead him to the pint that as the days wore on while the elders were discussing possible Hokage candidates to appoint after the appropriate morning period, Sasuke had begun to fear sleep. Every time he closed his eyes lately he could only see pictures of his reoccurring dreams dancing behind closed lids and a part of him was afraid that if he fell asleep then he would be once more trapped within the Tsukuyomi world, forced to watch as his family felt to a bloodstained blade guided by callous hands of the monster that wore his brother's face.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep accompanied by the fresh memories, or perhaps the reminder had really woken ghosts of his dead family, but he soon found his waking moments just as plagued as his sleeping ones. He could feel accusing eyes from the dead, whispering spiteful words at him to mock him of his weakness, reminding him of his vow to avenge them. They followed him everywhere through the compound now and it was driving him to the edge of his endurance, making him feel like the six year old that had been driven close to insanity because of his brother's actions and no where felt safe any more. How could it feel safe when these ghosts that haunted him were ones that held a death grip on his mind like a curse?

Stumbling to his knees, Sasuke could only grip his head, mouth open in a silent scream, ghosts and demons of the past clawing at him relentlessly and he felt that he was trapped in some kind of rewinding horror story that he could not escape alone. But there was no one else.

No, a part of him realised as his eyes screwed shut. He wasn't breaking.

He had broken a long while ago.

0o0o0o0o0o0

There was something wrong with Sasuke lately.

Now, Naruto never claimed to be the sharpest kunai in the pack, but he wasn't completely stupid either. Generally Naruto was just extremely energetic and his boundless energy tended to make him lack focus in comparison to some of his peers. But despite his lack of focus that tended to make him a little unobservant at times, Naruto knew when there was something weird about his precious people when they started acting a little different from normal. Perhaps it was just that he only had a few of them (though admittedly his list had grown since he graduated the academy). Or perhaps Sandaime's death had effected him a little more than he thought which was why he caught on it. But just lately his dark haired teammate just hadn't been acting like himself.

Not that Sasuke was always sunshine and rainbows or anything. The Uchiha was always the brooding kind, but usually he seemed more relaxed and nonchalant about….well, anything as long as it had nothing to do with 'the man he wanted to kill', though he usually responded to Naruto, if only to tell him "Shut up, Dobe." But lately, Sasuke had been rather high strung. At first, Naruto hadn't really noticed. Then again he himself had been coming to terms with Old man Hokage's passing, but he started to notice things in Sasuke. The dark shadows under his eyes stood out on pale skin as if he hadn't been sleeping well. He seemed extremely distracted of late too, as if his mind was focused on other things. Sudden sounds had him jumping and there was a slightly wild look in Sasuke's dark eyes lately, as if he was constantly on the watch for someone. Now if this someone was Orochimaru, Naruto would understand. That snake bastard was just damned creepy – he wouldn't want that guy showing him as much attention as he seemed to show in Sasuke. But the snake hadn't been seen at all since the chunin exams and Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't stupid enough not to inform them if he was following him around, right?

But that begged the question of what was actually wrong with his friend/teammate/rival.

After the third day since he noticed, Naruto decided to do something about it to snake the guy out of whatever funk he was in. He was beginning to worry Sakura-chan. And a worried Sakura-chan tended to mean more ouchies for Naruto as she was more prone to whacking him over the head for having annoyed her in some way. So rather than doing what any normal person would have done and spoke directly to Sasuke, Naruto decided to stalk the other and see what would happen.

Now, if Sasuke weren't acting so oddly, he surely would have noticed him, but as it was, whatever was bothering him seemed to have been effecting his normal attentiveness, because he never yelled or demanded an explanation.

It was only as Naruto had followed him to the Uchiha compound gates that Sasuke had stopped, frozen, his eyes seemed to be seeing something that Naruto couldn't see.

He was really starting to worry him now.

Quickly, Naruto dropped down from where he had been following, tentatively approaching. "Oi…Sasuke," he started hesitantly. He really didn't want the other to turn and start biting his head off or whatever, but either way, some kind of reaction would have been a blessing. However, it almost seemed as if he didn't hear him as Sasuke let out a sound that almost sounded like a whimper, hands gripping his head as he dropped to his knees.

Now Naruto was really worried. Even during the times he had seen Sasuke at his weakest, he never made such a sound as a whimper. Even when he thought the other had been dying, he never whimpered.

Something was seriously wrong here and he couldn't even bring up an old taunt or anything because there was something going on that shouldn't be. Quickly he hurried over to the other's side. "Sasuke, what's wrong? What's going on Dattebyato?" he was totally confused.

Naruto wasn't sure if the other heard him but Sasuke spoke, his voice ragged and weak and so un-Sasuke-ish that he thought his heart had clenched in a vice. "They wont stop….why wont….I don't want to see…" The words were choked out and scrambled up that Naruto couldn't make out all the words but what he did hear was making him more concerned by the second. Obviously Sasuke could see something he couldn't. He didn't know if it was Genjutsu or something or if it was something else entirely, but Sasuke was normally good with Genjutsu, wasn't he? Either way, Naruto did the first thing that came to mind and grabbed Sasuke and yanked him into an embrace, hoping maybe it would ground him or something, but he was no medic and Sasuke was really, really freaking him out right now. Despite the fact he felt totally embarrassed to have to do this of his own will – hell even that kiss they shared before had been done by accident because someone had knocked him – anything was better than seeing the usually strong and aloof Uchiha falling apart in front of him.

Sasuke struggled for a moment, seemingly stuck between whatever visions he was having and what was actually going on for a moment but Naruto hung on until the moves became a little more unsure. If he tilted his head a little he could see dark eyes seemed to focus on the orange of his jumpsuit. "N….Naruto….?" he managed.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "You scared the crap out of me you know," he scolded. "Acting all creeped out and stuff. Haven't seen you like that since you froze up in the forest of death," he joked, hoping that the bribe would get him to react in some normal way, but Sasuke didn't shove him away or anything like that or even snap a reply. Instead he was breathing heard as if he had forgotten how to before, his eyes fixed on the orange right now as if it held somne kind of knowledge or something and Naruto was struck with the realisation that Sasuke had really, really been creeped out by whatever it was and was struggling not to get lost in those visions or whatever again and the grin dropped off his face as he worried for his teammate once again.

Feeling a little awkward, he continued to embrace Sasuke, awkwardly murmuring calming words and hoping beyond hope that once Sasuke was calm enough to think logically again that the other wouldn't beat him to a pulp for invading his personal space or whatever excuse it would be.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

For once, the bright orange colour didn't make him feel like gouging his eyes out as his face was more or less pressed against it and a part of him, the part that was working, even if oddly, couldn't help but think that the orange reminded him of a Halloween pumpkin, chasing away the ghosts from his mind and he snorted with half hysterical amusement at the thought of Naruto dressed as a large overgrown pumpkin. With Naruto's arms wrapped around him like this, hearing the faint sound of Naruto's heartbeat against his ear, the demons were chased away from his head, the trembles slowly fading, the tension he didn't even realised he had been carrying slowly eased from his limbs until he was half collapsed against the other. In a daze, he could hear Naruto talking softly to him, comforting, but he couldn't hear and of the pity he had been expecting even in his current state.

"Its alright. I'm here. You're not alone, dattebyato."

That's right. He wouldn't feel pity. He's been alone for so long too. Then again, he was probably more worried about him acting like a complete retard since Naruto didn't fully know Sasuke's circumstances.

Maybe he would tell him one day. Right now, as he focused on calming his breathing once more, he would allow Naruto to help him chase out the demons in his head for now, allow himself to seek comfort in Naruto's arms. He'd save his pride for later and beat the hell out of the guy in training later for having seen him in a state of complete and utter breakdown some other time, especially if he ever mentioned this. But a part of him know he would trust Naruto. Sure, he was the loudest most knuckleheaded ninja in all of Konoha, but he wouldn't tell. Of that Sasuke was sure.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could see a figure standing in the compound, someone who looked suspiciously like someone very close to him he once knew. The dark haired woman smiled softly to him, before she vanished.

Sasuke blinked a moment. Was what he saw real, or the remnants of what he had been seeing for the last few days. Because he was almost sure that he had just seen someone who he knew for sure was no longer amongst the living.

….Mom….?

Vision or reality, she had seemed somehow relieved for him.

Sasuke closed his eyes, concentrating on Naruto's heartbeat. Well, whatever it was was gone now. He didn't feel quite so haunted.

A small, ironic smile flicked up on his lips for a moment before he allowed the tension to leave him. "Thanks…" he mumbled.

"Uh….Sure thing, Sasuke," Naruto said, and Sasuke could hear the smile even if he couldn't see it from the position he was in.

Owari

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Whew! To be honest I'm not sure if it quite came out the way I wanted. I did this story pretty quickly because I've been so buisy lately and even then it was done a day late. Well, I hope that t was good enough for you TattooKitty and that you weren't disappointed or anything.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism allowed, though no flames. Since its my first Yaoi attempt I was hoping that it came out ok.

Anyway, until next time!

Chosha Kurenai xXx