My Days with the Reaper Chapter 2, a naruto fanfic

Title: My Days with the Reaper

Pairing: Naruto/Itachi… please note that this is NOT Itachi/Naruto.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in this story! On the other hand I do own the plot.

Note: Beta-read by Redwitch0587! All mistakes are mine, though .

Warning: Slight, out of character-ness? Maybe…

My Days with the Reaper

Chapter Two

"I do not understand."

"You don't need to, Itachi. Do as I say."

"Uzumaki Naruto's presence in the magical world is imperative. I cannot imagine that the Shinigami would require his soul."

"Of course it does, child. All but three Reapers have perished. We cannot hope to keep it fed at this rate. Three cannot do the work of thousands."

Itachi lowered his head at the mention of the other Reapers who have passed. It had been a phenomenon of the worst kind, when Reaper after Reaper turned up dead. It had been an easier time when there were thousands of their kind, guiding souls from the living world and delivering them into the Shinigami's Stomach. The balance that existed between the living and the dead had been maintained. It had been a constant, even flow. It had required thousands of Reapers to be working, thousands of Reapers directly connected to the Shinigami, listening for names and then going out into the living world to secure the souls. But then Reapers started dying out, and the connection with the Shinigami severed.

Of the three of them only Madara retained that connection, but things were not the same. As he said, three reapers could not fulfil the duties of thousands.

Madara drifted above the red ground back and forth, a mimic of pacing. The several layers of cloth he wore fluttered as he moved, but they made no sound. Itachi could not even begin to estimate how old those fabrics were, how long Madara had worn them for.

"Still," Itachi said. "With the recent war in the Land of Rain, thousands of souls are left to wander the battlefield. Once we collect them and bring them here, the Shinigami should be satisfied."

"You speak as if the Shinigami truly is a starving beast! Its sole purpose is to maintain the constant flow of life and death. It cannot do that if we fail to deliver souls to its stomach." Madara ceased his pacing and hovered over Itachi, his anger rolling off of him in violent waves. Behind him, the red mountain ranges of their realm shimmered under the pressure of his anger.

Itachi refused to be intimidated. Madara was the oldest of them yet, but he had been crumbling under the pressure as of late. His judgement may be impaired. "Uzumaki is but one soul."

"He is but one soul, yes, but he is the soul. His is worth thousands of others."

"Only because he is destined. He will bring peace across all the Lands. Uzumaki Naruto is destined for greatness. The Shinigami knows this."

"The Shinigami is weakened. Its state is that of an ancient, dying beast. We must act now and give it the power that it needs. Taking the souls off the battlefield in the Land of Rain, even if all three of us work together day and night, would take much too long." Then his voice softened, becoming the gentle voice of the mentor Itachi remembered and love, the mentor who had been so carefree before the burden of staying connected to the Shinigami weighed him down. "Itachi, I know of Uzumaki's destiny, but he would always be reincarnated. He would always fulfil his destiny in another lifetime, but for this one, he must be the soul to awaken the Shinigami from its weakened trance."

It took a long time, but eventually Itachi nodded and said he would do as Madara asked him.

"But what will you do? I do not see a reason why you could not go to Uzumaki yourself."

"I've already started clearing up at the battlefield in the Land of Rain. You know that I cannot abandon my post once I've started."

Itachi slowly nodded.

As he tightened his cloths and the rope around his neck, Itachi travelled out of the Reaper Realm and into the living world.

Madara could be very convincing, especially when he knew that Itachi treasured the memories of earlier days, when Madara had been their beloved mentor. But Itachi was not stupid. He had noticed how Madara changed. The burden of maintaining the connection with the Shinigami should never have been the responsibility of one Reaper. It was unheard of and extremely dangerous. Madara had lasted all these decades; there had to be a repercussion. Itachi was keeping an open mind. He would not be surprised. They couldn't afford to be.

"I hope this is teaching you a lesson," Hatake Kakashi said.

Kakashi was an odd looking man, half demon and half lightning elemental. His hair was a silver untamed mess, leaning over to the left side of his head. Some people said that he was struck by a lightning bolt as a very young child, which turned his hair permanently silver. Others said that his mother made a mistake while using a spell to cut his hair, also when he was a child, and his hair had been silver ever since; the spell unfixable. Although there were many creative ways which people came up with to describe his hair, Kakashi's own personal favourite would be the one where he had silver hair because his father had it. It was genetics. Many dismissed that one because it lacked a certain flare to it.

He wore dark trousers and thick black boots. His top was also dark in colour, with a thick sleeveless, hooded vest over it. The vest was made of an unknown material; so dark in colour that it appeared to suck in all the light and colour around it. This was a vest that allowed Kakashi to control his element without harming himself; a vest most suitable for a lightning elemental. Across his back he had strapped on a metallic rod the length of his own arm. The most noticeable thing he wore, however, was his dark, skin-tight mask. The mask had been on his body almost just as long as his silver hair had. There were only three people in the whole of the magical world who could claim to have seen his real face; although for two of these three people, it could have been a drunken hallucination and they wouldn't know otherwise. The dark clothing and the mask, along with a rolled up piece of cloth he tied around his head and over his left eye gave him the overall appearance of a shadow- a speaking, walking shadow.

"Although I must admit, this is a new experience for the both of us," Kakashi continued to speak.

The person he spoke to, a handsome youth who sat on the stone floor with his back to the wall, groaned.

"It's not possible, right? Please tell me it's not possible!"

Kakashi smiled; an act only noticeable because his one visible eye crinkled. "Well, Naruto, when a man and a woman get intimate, and the man is a young, reckless, spoiled, irresponsible… pureblood elemental…" Naruto rolled his bright blue eyes. "… I… I forgot what I was saying."

Naruto threw his hands in the air. "I meant… I've never seen that woman before! She can't be that massively pregnant, with my child, if I've never seen her before." The blond drew his knees up to his chest and circled his arms around them. "I can't be a dad, Kakashi. That's just… I can't even imagine! How does she know it's mine, anyway? She could totally be making it up, you know?" He said with a pout.

"That's precisely why we're here."

"Yeah," the blond sighed. After a stretch of silence, he perked up. "But in the meantime, I'm going for a walk."

"Naruto," Kakashi said warningly. "Your father is on his way."

"Oh. Well, all the more reason for me to get going! Bye!"

"Naruto!"

But Naruto was gone. With a simple flick of his wrist he was gone, speeding down the halls of the castle and out through an open window like a gust of wind. He landed outside of the castle wall and travelled from there on his own legs, aided by the wind at his command. The castle sat atop a hill, overlooking the kingdom under it. It wasn't too long a distance between the first house under the hill and the castle, but Naruto crossed the distance in a matter of seconds. He was nothing but a quick blur across the afternoon sky.

Naruto was a wind elemental like his father, but unlike his father, Naruto was pureblood. Apart from the blood, there wasn't too much of a difference between them. The exception being that Naruto had the potential to be the wind, to shed his physical form and be part of the wind. King Minato didn't have this ability. By all reasoning, Prince Naruto had the ability to surpass his father. Only, King Minato had hundreds of years of experience controlling the element. He understood it and respected it and knew each and every way that the wind could turn. Naruto just barely knew the basics. His use of his power was more creative, but not at all useful.

At this current time, Naruto was making his way to the house of the Inuzuka clan. His friend Kiba would shelter him for a while; Naruto was sure of it.

The child that the nymph was carrying wasn't Naruto's. Of that he was certain. He would remember if he had slept with a blue-headed nymph. The fact that he didn't just meant that the nymph was making the story up. And anyway, he'd always, always been careful about these things. He'd never made a mistake once; therefore, the nymph was lying to get his dad's sympathy and ensure she had a comfortable place to live in the royal palace. Because his dad was way too nice about these things… and the nymph had a gigantic, rounded belly that she claimed was carrying Naruto's child.

Only old lady Tsunade could prove the nymph wrong.

Only, Tsunade was drunk the last time Naruto saw her… and she may just side with the nymph to teach him a lesson.

"Hmm," he hummed to himself, frowning. He came to a stop in a tiny little clearing, next to a water well.

The whole situation shouldn't even be able to come about. There was a slight, tiny little possibility that his dad had set this up. Lately with the King of the Land of Fire it had been all about teaching Naruto one lesson or another.

The turning of his nineteenth year, Naruto thought, despite the massive party and all the food and company, had brought along with it the notion that he was ready to take on responsibilities. Where it came from, he had no idea. All he knew was that he was not yet ready to take on any important role. He would be honoured to, one day possibly in fifty years, to take his dad's place and watch over the Land of Fire, but for now he had to live with no regret. He had to have fun and flush it all out of his system so that when he stepped up to the throne, he would be just like his dad, powerful and responsible and smart but better looking.

A hand came out of nowhere and tapped Naruto's forehead.

He paddled backwards, arms circling ridiculously. "Wha…" The person before him came into view, sudden and dark, and Naruto knew he had been mistaken when he thought of the thing as a person. "No… no," he breathed, blue eyes wide and unblinking. He took a step backwards, and another and another. His heart pounded startlingly in his chest and a nervous ball of energy dropped deep in his stomach.

With a violent push of his palms at the ground Naruto flew backwards, putting a more significant distance between himself and the Reaper who had just touched him…

Naruto wasn't dead.

The Reaper had touched him and he didn't die. It wasn't a delayed reaction either. Naruto wasn't feeling light-headed or weak or anything at all. He just wasn't dying.

The Reaper seemed to have come to the same conclusion, though it didn't look surprised. It was hard to tell, what with it being covered completely and utterly in filthy, ancient rotten rags, but Naruto didn't detect surprise. He detected nothing really… maybe a hint of… no, nothing.

Too stunned by the situation to form words, Naruto watched as the Reaper's head turned from its raised hand –the one that had just touched Naruto's forehead- to Naruto. Naruto raised both hands up in a defensive position. He didn't die upon first touch, which meant that he had a fighting chance, but all the same he didn't want to risk it. Maybe the second time would do the trick.

He didn't know why a Reaper had come for him. It was not his time to die, Naruto was as sure of that as he was sure that the nymph wasn't carrying his child. It was not his time; so he would do everything in his power to not be touched by the Reaper a second time.

The Reaper didn't come for him a second time.

Instead it disappeared. One moment it was there, and the next it was gone, leaving behind delicate tendrils of dark purple smoke.

Naruto didn't relax. The Reaper couldn't be gone, not just like that. What he knew of Reapers –at the moment much too little for his comfort- was that they always did their job. They didn't back away just because there was a glitch in their power to kill. But at the same time, he was so relieved! His heart was still pounding away like crazy, but Naruto's body was doing that shaking thing where he knew that, in a few minutes, he would collapse.

He spun, arms still raised defensively. His eyes narrowed and darted each and every way.

When the clearing remained silent and he was sure that the Reaper would remain gone, Naruto ran as fast as he possibly could, faster than he's ever run in his entire life.

His legs carried him back to the castle, the wind pushing at his back in a constant stream, pushing and pushing and pushing. Eventually the ground increased in angle and then he was going uphill. He pushed at the ground with his palms splayed out. A violent explosion of wind pushed out from his palm, and he shot up towards the sky. He started to descend once more and used the momentum to propel himself forward. With his arms now down by his side, continued to push at the wind and flew forward. In his wake he left a chaotic trail of dust and dirt.

No matter how fast he was travelling, or how far away from the water well he had come, Naruto still looked over his shoulders. Now that he was slightly calmer and in control of his shuddering body, he noticed a chill at the back of his neck. It wasn't over. Naruto may be young and reckless, but he had always had reliable instincts. It ran in the family. It had never failed him before and it was not failing him now. The Reaper was gone for now, but he was coming back. Naruto knew that.

All he had to do was be prepared.

"I did as you told," Itachi said as he materialized into the Reaper realm. "However, Uzumaki Naruto did not die by my touch."

Madara remained floating on the spot, his head hung down in the position that meant he had been in a deep sleep. Reapers did not need to sleep regularly like the living, but they had consciences, and so they needed to rest every once in a while. Itachi and Sasuke were still young, and needed to rest more regularly than Madara. And when they did fall into the deep trance, they took a long time to come out of. Madara was awake now, obviously, but he did not react to Itachi's news. Still, Itachi watched him carefully.

"No?" The older Reaper asked quietly. "No, I didn't think he would."

"Then we will leave him. I'll help you with the souls in the Land of Rain."

Madara didn't respond.

"Don't be too hasty," he finally said, after floating upwards and away from Itachi. "The fact remains that his soul alone will maintain the balance in the Shinigami's stomach. You'll simply find another way to attain his soul. Do you understand?"

If Itachi had on his human form, his eyes surely would have narrowed in agitation. Madara was acting peculiar; he had been for a while now, but for the sake of their relationship Itachi had ignored it and blamed it on the pressure of maintaining the only connection with the Shinigami. Itachi understood Madara completely on his thoughts on the Uzumaki soul. Just one single soul and almost all their current problems could be solved, temporarily. But there laid another, more vital problem. Uzumaki Naruto's destiny… well, Itachi didn't know the exact details. He hadn't been a Reaper at the time that the child's destiny was spun. He knew, though, that Uzumaki was much too important to be taken away. The Shinigami, no matter how starved and weakened it was, would never ever tell Madara to feed it Uzumaki's soul. Never.

With a heavy heart, Itachi was faced with what he'd feared ever since it had just been the three of them- the ugly truth. Madara was not the caring mentor who had taken Itachi and Sasuke under his tutelage.

He had changed.

Itachi wasn't sure if this change was due to Madara being the only connection to the Shinigami, or if it was something else. All he knew was that he was a Reaper, and no matter how much he loved Madara, he lived to serve the lord of death. He was a servant of the being that maintained life and death.

And if Madara was going to jeopardize that, he had no choice but to interfere.

"Itachi." Itachi started when he felt Madara grip his cloth covered chin, tilting his head upwards. They had no eyes to make contact with, only more and more ancient cloth. "Do you understand what I am asking you?" Madara's tone was devastatingly caring, and it only served to tear Itachi apart.

"I do," he replied quietly. "I trust you, Madara."

The older Reaper made a pleased sound and placed a cloth wrapped hand on top of Itachi's covered head, an act achingly, platonically familiar.

The older Reaper vanished, leaving behind thin tendrils of dark purple smoke. He may be going to the Land of Rain to continue to collect the lost souls of the soldiers who had died on that barren battlefield, or he may be going somewhere else. Itachi hated that he couldn't be too sure.

Left alone in the barren, silent Reaper realm, Itachi took his time to compose himself. He'd never been more grateful for the ancient fabrics that covered him from head to toe, if only because it made him that much more difficult to read. Madara would have taken his quiet hesitancy as just that; hesitation. He had no idea that he was hurting Itachi, and that Itachi had no intention of taking Uzumaki's soul into the Shinigami's stomach. He loved Madara, but his loyalty to the Shinigami and the balance it preserved tore him the other way.

"I trust you…" he muttered hollowly to the empty realm, bringing up a cloth covered hand to clench over a place where his beating heart had once been.

Early into the evening, when the sun had just gone beyond the horizon and the sky was a blend of blue and purple and orange and pink, Hatake Kakashi –Captain of the Royal Guard- found the Prince of the Land of Fire in his father's office. He released a soft sigh and closed the heavy door to the king's study. Naruto did not acknowledge his entrance, but his jaw was locked tight and his shoulders tense, no doubt aware that he wasn't the only person in the room.

"The child that the nymph is carrying is a lightning elemental half nymph, half demon," Kakashi started. "Congratulations your Highness, you're not going to be a father. On the other hand, the nature of this unborn child directs all the suspicions towards me. Lady Tsunade is now quite positive that it is my child the nymph is carrying." He paused and waited for Naruto's response, which he did not receive. "Of course that is quite impossible as I have not slept with a nymph in over ten years." Another pause and again no response. Kakashi breathed a long, quiet sigh. "As of this moment your father is dealing with the woman. He will give her enough to support herself and her child, but she won't be posing any problem for the royal family any time in the future."

At the mention of his father, Naruto blinked out of his trance and unclenched his teeth.

"Good," he said softly. "Yeah… good. I'll… I'll just go. Somewhere… wherever."

The young prince slowly stood up, wincing from a pain that Kakashi knew nothing off. He never really stood, though, because Naruto's shoulders remained hunched in a way, and his blue eyes dulled and downcast. The space around him dulled and Kakashi watched worriedly as Naruto swayed before walking towards the door. Naruto walked past him, his eyebrows furrowed, and Kakashi gently grabbed his elbow.

"Naruto," he said softly. "What happened?"

In the back of his mind Kakashi thought idly that perhaps it wasn't his duty to worry about Naruto at such an emotional level, and yet he could do nothing but worry. Naruto had been his charge ever since he was born; a little brother he never knew he could have.

"What happened?" He repeated in a firmer voice.

"There was a Reaper," Naruto said quietly. His eyes stayed glued to the marble floor.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened and he swung Naruto around, taking hold of both the younger man's shoulders. It had been over a year since he's had to look down to meet Naruto's eyes, but in this moment –despite the wide, muscled shoulders under his palms- he could swear he'd never seen Naruto so small.

"But it didn't touch you, right?" He made a face under his mask. "No, of course not. Otherwise you wouldn't be here." Kakashi took a deep breath and calmed his wildly beating heart. "Okay, Naruto. You should know not to be concerned. Reapers only take the souls of those already dead and those who refuse to part with their body. You're neither."

"That's it!" Naruto suddenly snapped, swiping his arms up to bat Kakashi's hands from his shoulders. "It touched me. It tried to kill me! Why? How can I possibly be dying already? I have literally hundreds of years ahead of me." He paused and winced, backing away from Kakashi to lean against King Minato's desk. Naruto clutched at his forehead and groaned. He'd obviously been drinking then. "Reapers can make mistakes, right? I mean, who's deciding these things? Who's telling it to come after me?"

Kakashi's lone eye softened with pity. The business with the Reaper was not something anyone had dared to mess with. Reapers made no mistake, none whatsoever because they answered directly to the powers that be. That was what Kakashi was taught as a child. That was what anyone was taught as a child. Naruto was been taught the same lesson as a child too; Kakashi had been there to watch him learn. But, no matter how ingrained the lesson was in Naruto's head, in the actual face of death, it ceased to matter. Kakashi, too, was finding it difficult to imagine that Naruto's time had come.

In fact, he didn't believe one bit of it.

After all, although it was damn hard to, it was not impossible for one to trap a Reaper in a well-placed trap and bind it and force it to do one's biding. It was almost unheard of, but not impossible. Somewhere deep in King Minato's private library was a harmless replicate of that particular seal. He had no doubt that somewhere else in this magical world, there was another replica. And out there were many, many people who wished to destroy the good King Minato by ridding him of his only son.

"No one, Naruto," Kakashi said at last. "No one is telling it to come get you. Come, we'll speak to your father about this."

"No," the young prince moaned, his head rolling backwards tiredly. "He can't know about this, alright? If I'm gonna die…" He paused, frowned. "Well, I'm not going to. I'm not dying. I'll solve this problem all by myself. He doesn't need to know."

"Naruto," Kakashi said in a warning tone, like he did mere hours ago before Naruto ran off and met a Reaper. "You know things never go well when you say that."

And indeed, things were already starting to 'not go well.'

In the far corner of King Minato's study, over the space above the ancient vase which the Nara clan had given the King as a gift, shadows gathered in a dense cloud. Kakashi watched as it condensed and expanded, taking the form of a thin, featureless creature. The thinner shadows solidified and became the edges of ragged, ancient cloaks. There were several layers of the cloaks, covering the creature from its head to its feet. There wasn't much else to describe the creature; just its complete covering and the fragile looking rope that was tied around its thin neck, like it died having been hung.

Naruto's shoulders dropped.

"What? What's behind me? Is it the Reaper?" He scoffed, but then gulped nervously when Kakashi failed to answer him. "You jinxed us! You said that things never go well, and now the Reaper's here!" He snapped his head around, quickly taking in the silent, looming form of the Reaper, before turning back around to walking right past Kakashi. He opened the door and said in the most sorrowful voice, "Sorry, Kakashi, but I'm going to my dad with this." Then Naruto ran, leaving Kakashi alone with the Reaper.

Kakashi did not know what to do. On one hand he wanted desperately to run after Naruto, but no, because that would mean he was running right alongside the Reaper's target. On another hand, he shouldn't be afraid because the Reaper was not here for him. And Reapers never unreasonably kill.

He raised a jerky hand and waved.

"Hello," he said. The Reaper did not respond; the billowing of its dirty cloaks the only movement. Kakashi gulped silently. What was he to say? It would make sense to try and negotiate with it, for Naruto's sake, but who was he to negotiate with a Reaper? What did he –or anyone- have that a Reaper would want? Reapers are dead, they did not need anything. But… on the other hand, maybe it really was trap and was doing the bidding of someone who wanted to hurt the royal family.

"Naruto cannot die," Kakashi stated. "I'm sure you know, somewhere in the back of your mind, that this is wrong." How would he prove his case, though? How did one go about explaining someone like Naruto –who was all lively, and energy and lightness and brightness- to a dead thing like a Reaper? Did Reapers even talk? There'd been almost no record of Reapers; most certainly no record at all of Reapers conversing with the living.

"I understand your concern," it said.

Ah ha!

"Good!" The silver-haired warrior latched on, barely giving himself time to acknowledge that the Reaper had a male voice. "So then you won't go after him, anymore… Unless you have no other choice. Are you, in anyway, trapped? Is someone forcing you to come after the Prince of the Land of Fire?"

A dark, covered head tilted slowly to the side, curious. "No."

It vanished, as if it had been an illusion from the start and someone had slapped Kakashi to wake him up. Mysterious purple smoke was all that was left, curiously swirling in the space that the Reaper once occupied.

Kakashi sighed, calmed his heart, and took off after Naruto.

The King would know what to do. King Minato always knew what to do when Naruto got himself in trouble.

Following the slight lingering traces of Naruto's nervous energy, Kakashi found himself standing in a doorway of Lady Tsunade's medical chamber, witnessing a scene he never thought possible.

The Reaper had beaten him to Naruto, and was currently holding up a thin hand, as if to soothe the terrified prince. Two guards had moved to protect the young prince, only to be held back by King Minato. In the far corner of the room Lady Tsunade herself was shielding the pregnant nymph.

"Don't worry," the Reaper said softly. It was possibly the most bizarre thing Kakashi had ever heard from something trying to kill its prey.

"Like hell!" Naruto yelled, yanking a deep marron table cloth from behind him, scattering Lady Tsunade's notes and various jars all over the floor. Quick as lightning he threw the cloth over the Reaper's head, completely covering it from head to mid-thigh. Then he launched himself at it, circling strong arms around the Reaper. Both crashed onto the floor. Naruto immediately started throwing punches, which Kakashi thought slightly pointless, considering that Reapers had no physical bodies to experience pain. The Reaper grunted lowly, thrusting its palm at Naruto's chest, expelling air from the blonde's lungs. Naruto fell away from it, coughing and desperately trying to get air back into his lungs.

King Minato quickly herded the guards out, along with Kakashi.

"Quickly, all of you, out!" He commanded. "Tsunade," he looked back at the fair lady, who nodded and grabbed hold of the nymph's arm. The two women liquefied before splashing onto the stone floor and disappearing. They reappeared next to Kakashi, solid and dry. With all six of them out of the medical chamber, King Minato shut the door, locking his son and the Reaper in.

Unbelievable silence followed the chaos.

"Um," one of the guards uttered uncertainly as he clutched his sword close to his chest.

King Minato expelled a quick breath, lips tightening into a thin line. It was the expression he reserved only when Naruto got himself into trouble. He'd worn it earlier today, when he had been informed that a pregnant nymph had claimed to be carrying his grandchild.

"The Reaper said not to worry," the great King said. "I will heed his advice, if my son does not."

Blind panic was what it was. Well, blind panic as well as rage and frustration and fear. They were the reasons that Naruto continued to pound his fists into the Reaper, again and again and again, never faltering because Naruto was strong and he could do this all night long. Beneath him the damn thing did nothing, just laid there and took it like a lifeless doll. Its head snapped this way and that, and even though Naruto put a lot of power behind each hit, he doubted that it felt any pain. Reapers had no physical bodies, right? He'd read that somewhere, maybe.

He groaned, irritated at his fruitless efforts, and quickly backed away from the death dealer. The Reaper sat up from the stone floor and swatted the red table cloth off of its head. Naruto could only watch with a sneer. The Reaper touched a cloth covered hand to its own face. "Had I been living, you would have killed me," it said calmly, its voice soft and deep.

"I know," Naruto growled. "And if you come at me again I'll do the same thing. I'll fight you until the end, but you're not taking me, you understand?"

The Reaper silently rose, up and up and up, off the ground. Its several layers of dirty cloaks were well over two metres long, covering its feet, if it had any. It was a figure most disturbing to watch; tall, thin and dark, featureless. As it rose from the ground into mid-air, Naruto had a moment to think how unlikely it would seem that something as fragile looking as this Reaper could bring about death. Because it was fragile. It was thin and it didn't have any power to defend or to fight. Naruto had never seen any other Reaper, and he didn't know if they were all as thin as this one, but he knew that Reapers had no powers. They were not elementals. And since they could not die or experience pain they had no need to learn to defend themselves. They were as helpless as… well, as humans, then.

"After I told you not to worry, you attacked me," the Reaper said, its head tilting sideways. "We have already established that you would not die by my touch. Come, see?"

It dove forward and gripped Naruto's head tightly in both its hands. Naruto shrieked, high and loud and not unlike Sakura when she discovered the harmless snakes Naruto left in her bed when they were children.

His shriek went on and on, and this was how he knew he didn't die.

Eventually his scream died down and he was left with his mouth awkwardly wide open, his eyes bulged in fear, and the Reaper's hand on both sides of his head, over his ears. It was all too disturbingly intimate. Everything froze. The Reaper made no further move. It just froze there, in mid-air, cradling Naruto's head and Naruto just stood there, gaping like a fish.

That's when the door opened and Minato jumped in.

There you go, second chapter up! Tell me what you think, guys. It's obviously very different from the old version.