~~~~~THIS HAS BEEN EDITED AND HAS BEEN ADDED TO!~~~~~

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or it's characters. Like always, why do you guys have to rub it in?

SUMMERY: I thought I was going to die. "No thanks to you, Mr. Startler, I fell from said tree. I was trying to get that stupid skeleton down if you must know." He was gone.

MOON SAYS: First try at a Halloween fic! My beta/cohort (ZEN) and I have talked this will turn into a 4shot fic. Hopefully after it's edit, it is better.

PAIRING: Until next chapter, it's a mystery!

WORDS: 1, 662

PAGES: 4

ENJOY!

Skeleton Fall

Tonight was dark, cold, and damp as I looked at the giant tree above me. My body leaned against its comforting trunk, as I sighed. God knew I needed all the comforting I could get, that was why I was here after all.

It was still there, that crappy yet at the same time creepy skeleton body hanging up in the tree. No matter how much I hate or dislike it, it pops back up in the same place—in my, yes, my tree—every time October rolls around.

The skeleton takes away from my tree. Oh it was my beautiful, precious, reassuring, soothing, consoling, wonderful tree. And the skeleton was ruining it.

That tree was where I would come to think. It meant so much to me. When life became too much for me to handle, this was where I went. This tree was the only place where I could be myself, a place where I had no worries, no expectations, and mostly no stress. Nothing.

After my thoughts wandered from my situation and back into reality, I checked my cell phone for the time: it was almost midnight.

In less than ten minutes my entire life changed forever.

After I checked the time, ignored the fifty—no joke—text messages I had. I suddenly came to rash, sudden, impulsive decision that I never thought about at all. That freaking skeleton who was infringing upon my territory had to go. Either I was going to go or it was, and I was here first.

Once I decided that, I then stood up and brushed off my jeans while I turned around to face the tree…my tree.

With the branches low and spread out perfectly, not like my legs and arms, it took no time to climb it and get to the branch that the skeleton was hanging off of. A branch that was twelve feet off the ground, and if I fell the wrong way, I knew I could die.

That was something I wasn't going to think about. As long as I didn't fall, I was okay; of course I had to go and jinx myself.

"This isn't too hard," I muttered a little loudly as I reached for the rope that was wrapped around the skeleton's neck. This sucker was going to get unhooked from my tree once and for all. Then he would never plague me again.

"What are you doing?" a male voice called loudly to me.

In that moment—and many more, actually if truth be told—I wished I had overcome that deadly trait I knew that was going to get me killed someday…one of them. This trait was the one where if I'm totally immersed into something and if anyone talks to me I scream and jump. They don't even have to talk. Sometimes my dad would just stand there and I would turn and jump out of my skin in fright. My friend used to poke me and that was all it took to make me scream.

When I heard his voice—for it startled me really badly—I screamed and jumped, well kind of hopped, off the branch (just a tiny bit) and a second later gravity pulled me back down. As soon as I came back down I missed the branch and slid off toward the ground.

I snapped my eyes closed and flinched as I fell. My heart had stopped when he spoke and it still wasn't beating. That was another side effect of me being startled. My heart stopped beating, my brain shut off, and I thought I was going to die.

In the end, I didn't die, let alone hit the ground. The guy who startled me and made me jump in the first place caught my body as gravity pushed me to the ground.

I was shaking uncontrollably and trembling in his arms.

Those words may sound romantic (I know it does) but if you almost had a date with death, you wouldn't be thinking of it that way.

As my body shuddered and shivered, he sat down on the ground and held me close. The guy whispered gentle and relaxing words in my ear to calm me down. It took a little more than five minutes for me to get control over myself.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, as if I was a fragile doll that would break if he spoke any louder.

All I could do was nod my head, it was shaky at best.

"What were you doing in the tree?" he said with curiosity filling his voice.

I turned to glare at him, but it didn't work out that way, I actually gave him more of a shocked look to be honest.

My startler turned rescuer was hot. He had long blonde hair that was halfway between his chin and his shoulders. He had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. I could feel the muscles in his arms, but I still wondered why he wasn't complaining, I mean I was a little chunky after all. Even with the strength that came with those muscles, combined with the extra weight the fall gave me, I had to weight more than he could handle. Yet, he never complained, he didn't let it show either.

His hair fell over his eyes and on impulse; I reached up and pushed it away.

He blinked as if he was confused or he didn't know what to make of my actions.

It broke the spell he held over me. I quickly—to save myself—diverted attention from touching him.

"No thanks to you, Mr. Startler, I fell from said tree. I was trying to get that stupid skeleton down if you must know." I told him with a little anger in my voice.

"Mr. Startler?" He laughed at my name for him, the nerve of him, how dare he?!

I glared up a storm at him, which just seem to amuse him even more. Maybe he was used to them by now, it wouldn't surprise me on bit. "You startled me, which made me fall...so why shouldn't I call you that?"

His eyes laughed at me again, even though the sound didn't escape from that gorgeous mouth…no I couldn't think about his mouth or his muscles or anything about him! Besides that, I was angry at him for almost killing me. Or almost leading to me death…something like that.

"Why did you want the skeleton down?" he said, bringing me out of thoughts I shouldn't have been having.

I paused as I thought about it. How was I supposed to tell a complete stranger that for three years—every Halloween—it seemed that I was competing with a skeleton for my safe zone?

I wanted to hit myself, how did that make sense, especially to a complete stranger? Again with all the nonsense, when was I ever going to learn that I shouldn't say such stupid stuff like that? What I needed to learn was logic, so that was what I started trying to word in my mind; hopefully it came out that way.

"This place is like…my special place. That skeleton is invading. I want to repel him like all those stories of ancient battles we hear. You know like Knights or Ninja defended their Villages." I told him as I turned my glare toward said invader, but I caught something in my parafoveal vision. It seemed something I said triggered recognition in his eyes, but I didn't dwell on it, it didn't seem to matter.

"If I'd known that, I wouldn't have put my skeleton there," he said, with a hint of teasing in his voice.

My eyes grew big. He put it there? All this trouble I was having was caused by the hot guy who endangered and saved my life? What has the world come to?

"That blasted thing is yours?"

He nodded in reply.

My reply was cut off by my phone ringing. Three Days Grace was singing I Hate Everything about You.

My startler whistled and I rolled my eyes at him. I didn't answer it, I knew who it was; it was the same person who left me the fifty text messages. No doubt wanting to say the same thing, there was a reason why I was ignoring them.

It rang again. I ignored my phone as I stood up. He moved fast, and helped me to my feet. As soon as I tried to stand, I knew I was a little shaky. With a little bit of walking, I knew I would be back to normal, or maybe standing would work.

"Thanks," I said, "For both the fall and the catch."

"Anytime." He grinned. To me it looked more like a smirk than a grin, but for the brief moment I looked and studied it, I concluded that it was a grin. A grin smirk, if there is such a thing. For some reason as I thought those words I knew if there was one, this guy would be the one who would invent it.

"Tomorrow?" I smirked when I saw the look of surprise filter on his face, but it was gone just as quick and was replaced by the upturn of his lips. It was almost a smirk, but not quite.

"Same time?" he asked after he nodded.

"As long as I don't have to fall again," I called over my shoulder as I sauntered away.

I heard him laughing along with me.

"Agreed, see you then."

I was halfway to my car when I heard his reply. I didn't look back until after I had gotten into my car and started it. When I did look back, just to get a glimpse of him just to see if he was watching me, but he wasn't, he was gone.

All that was there was my tree and the idiotic skeleton waving in the wind as I left.

To be continued...