A/N: This chapter was a total pain to write but hopefully it'll still be a good read. I'm trying something new with this fic so there'll be some OOC but all in good fun, 'kay? Now let's get on with it!

Disclaimer: All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

2: Found

"Sasuke!"

The owner of the name flinched and looked about him in the deserted hallway. Was it his imagination or did he just hear a voice yelling his name? This place was getting weirder by the second and he needed to get away. Pronto. Trying to act as nonchalant as possible, Sasuke continued his way down the hallway, hoping that he wouldn't meet a single being until he found the exit back into the living world.

Against Sasuke's desperate hopes however, a door suddenly flew open and out tumbled two people. Or at least they resembled humans. Nowhere in Sasuke's mind were they at all remotely normal like himself.

Sasuke might have a gaping gunshot wound in his abdomen at the moment, but it was nothing compared to the walking and talking raw hamburger that stood before him. The mangled corpse cried desperately while flailing about against the other person who looked more than exasperated at having been pushed about. Quickly taking control of his gag reflex, Sasuke averted his gaze to the ceiling and moved along quickly until he rounded around the corner. Instead of leaving however, he paused momentarily to watch what happened between the obviously deceased human and his…angel?

Sasuke blinked rapidly. Yes, the Uchiha did know something about fairy tales and he distinctly remembered that angels resembled people in almost every aspect except for their other worldly wings. Gorgeous, pure white wings sprouted from their backs and unfurled in all of their majestic beauty to lift the angel high into the sky and presumably heaven.

That sounded just about right and sure enough, Sasuke stared open-mouthed at the wings of that particular man. They were definitely different than what Sasuke had seen in movies, books and paintings however. The wings didn't look related to those of the bird variety but more transparent like flimsy glass that shimmered in and out of focus. And if that wasn't enough proof for the Uchiha, then maybe the very real halo suspended on top of his head would make the skeptic side of him into a believer.

"Let me go! I'm scared! Why do I look like this?!"

"Please, stop struggling against me! I'm your guardian angel and I'm here to explain everything to you!"

"I look so gross! Man, I wanna throw up!"

Make that two of us. Sasuke thought as he continued to watch the angel patiently try to calm the man down.

"B-but what happened? Last thing I remember was looking at Beastie! It was breakfast time and I-I was just doing m-my j-jooob!"

The angel looked strained as if trying to figure out a way of how to break it to the poor man that this Beastie was extra hungry that morning at the zoo. "Well, to put it frankly…Beastie was excited that morning and wanted to share his love for you a little too much I suppose."

"A-are you saying that I was mauled to death?!" The man gasped dramatically.

"You could say that…"

Sasuke sweatdropped. How long was it going to take for this man to realize that he's dead? His horrific condition should be proof enough.

"W-where am I then?"

"Aha! I'm glad you asked! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

Here we go. Sasuke inched closer to eavesdrop as he anxiously awaited the explanation. A very petty and un-Uchihalike thing to do but he was dead and lost and frankly, it couldn't get any worse.

"You're in Limbo-"

"W-why? Shouldn't I be in heaven? I only did a little bit of lying, cheating…stealing…" The list slowly became quiet murmurs as the man recollected his lifetime of bad deeds.

"Wait, let me finish. Most souls go here. Think of it as a bell curve. The majority of souls fall somewhere in the middle and it's only at the extreme ends that the numbers are very low. It's incredibly rare that someone dies and automatically goes straight to heaven or hell. A person's life isn't always so black and white, wouldn't you agree? It's complex and needs judging from people who know all the facts."

"A-all the facts?"

"Yup and this deliberation isn't based on theory and speculation. They have hard core evidence so there's no use lying. I think it's a really a fair chance to see whether it's up or down for you. Cool huh? The ultimate judging system."

"'Cool' isn't exactly the word I had in mind…"

Sasuke leaned away from the door deep in thought. So he was in Limbo. A frown made its way across his features as he realized his good deeds in life merited only average markings and he was packed in with a bunch of other commoners on the grading of this bell curve. So Sasuke wasn't a saint and his ego was rather out of control sometimes but he never really did anything horrible. Just a little conceited and cold. So what? Why was he here and how long was he supposed to stay?

"You don't seem to be in the right place."

Hearing the cold voice penetrate his thoughts, Sasuke froze and slowly turned around. There was something about the voice that wasn't friendly and experiencing that in an unknown world certainly made Sasuke's pulse race.

Instead of cowering in fear however, Sasuke straightened up and stared the owner of the deep, icy voice square in the eyes. Just because he was dead, he was not going to be pushed around like some helpless soul in desperate need of guidance no matter how true that was.

"I'm not lost so why don't you mind your own damn business."

Just looking at the man made Sasuke want to hire him for his company, order him around as a coffee supplier for several hours and then fire him for the hell of it. The way his pearlish, whitish, freakish eyes stared condescendingly at Sasuke infuriated the Uchiha to the extent where he would have pulled back his hand and punched him square in the nose if not for the fact that he had some self control. Whoever this guy was, he had the words intimidation and superiority pretty much emblazoned over his entire being.

There was no way Sasuke could have had those thoughts traveling through his mind without some of its intensity leaking out into his face, therefore the man got the gist and immediately classified Sasuke as an insolent, worthless soul that Limbo would be better off without.

"Watch what you say to me."

And before Sasuke could retort, he found himself on the floor looking up at the ceiling.

"Ow! What the hell?! What did you do, you bastard?!"

"And that would be strike three. I believe it's to Hell with you." With that, Sasuke found himself being dragged along the floor by some invisible force. The man had disappeared. Damn him!

"Hey! Let me go! Wait a minute, did he just say Hell?!" A cold sweat broke out all over Sasuke's body as he struggled hard to get free from the grip on his right foot. This was beyond humiliating, beyond disgrace; Sasuke swore he would get revenge on that man if it was the last thing he did. If he could ever survive getting out of this predicament that is.

"Damnit! Get off of me!" As Sasuke found himself being pulled around the corner, he managed to grab a hold of the wall. Ignoring the sweat that made his fingers slip, he willed himself to wrench free of captivity. Although he concentrated on breaking the hold, Sasuke couldn't help but notice something strange happening to the hallway. The doors and walls suddenly seemed unstable; the very corner Sasuke held onto began to lose its substance.

"W-what's going on?" Sasuke's eyes widened as a loud rumble echoed through the hallway and the walls began to melt away. Even the floor itself began to fall apart. Multiple cracks eventually gave way into a gaping hole in the floor that led to a sight that nobody would ever want to see.

Looking down below, Sasuke felt his entire body constrict in fear. Enormous flames licked the sides of the tavern below as if trying to get out. They burned violently in blinding shades of blood red and Sasuke could feel the immense heat radiate against his skin. He felt the air rush right out of his lungs as though the tavern sucked anything necessary for life into its bottomless pit the moment it opened. There was no telling how much longer he could take this lying there in cold sweat and staring into an eternity of suffering and darkness.

"Whoa, whoa there! Who did this?!"

Hearing a snap, Sasuke blinked and found himself looking once again at a perfectly normal hallway with no melting walls or a gaping hole in the floor leading to Hell. There was another snap and Sasuke's right foot fell the floor, no longer bounded.

"There we go. Honestly, how could this have happened?" Collapsed on the floor and still sweating profusely, Sasuke couldn't find the strength to turn around and see who was talking so fortunately, he or she bent over and greeted him first.

"Hey there, Sasuke-kun! I finally found you."

Sasuke stared up into friendly emerald green eyes and knew exactly who it was. There was no need for the wings or halo for verification because his instincts left no doubt in his mind about this girl's identity. The unavoidable meeting between him and his guardian angel had finally occurred and as she nervously flashed a hopeful smile down at him, Sasuke resolutely decided that he was going to make her pay dearly for what he'd been through.