Yep, thanks for those reviews. Chapter 2 is up!

Chapter 2:

記憶及び行為(kioku oyobi koui) Memories and Actions.

Naruto patted his belly fondly and burped. Then he turned to his silent and slightly irritated companion. "Thanks Shorty, but I think I can manage from here."

"Did…you just call me Shorty?!" His 'companion' gasped out, horrified at the name.

"Yeah, you're kind of short, see?" Naruto smiled and reached out a hand to measure the difference in their heights, as though he was taunting the boy.

"That's not my name! Don't call me that!" Naruto's new 'buddy' angrily swiped the offending hand away, a little touchy when the subject involves his height. "Sheesh. I shouldn't have bought you lunch."

"Then what should I call you?" Naruto asked innocently, ignoring the last spoken sentence. "Masaka… you want to be called...Shiro...-chan?"

"No. Not...Shiro…" The boy gritted out, thinking it was the worst name anyone could ever receive. "It's Hitsugaya Toushiro. 3rd seat of the 10th division." He muttered the last part hastily; thanking kami silently that Naruto didn't know what the 10th division was all about. Naruto gave his foxy grin. So cute, just like Konohamaru…hmm, thinking of Konohamaru immediately made him frown. Toushiro at once spotted the frown.

"Oei, stop mopping over the past already." Toushiro groaned, sick of Naruto's brooding face. Was the blonde like this ninety percent of the time? He really hoped not. First brooding and uncomfortable, then hyperactive and irritating, then brooding again… "I already paid for your eight, no, ten bowls of ramen so that you could at least talk. And I'm not going to treat you to another bowl."

'Damn, this guy is sharp.' Naruto glared. "Hey! You cheapskate fellow! I just died, and I'm taking it really good already, okay? Pay me some respect." Naruto snorted, but he sobered up a bit and asked more seriously. "And one more thing- why can't I remember anything? About how I died? You did said the Akatsuki killed me, right?"

At first, Toushiro was rather surprised that while brooding, Naruto actually did pick up on some of his words. He didn't think that Naruto would remember about the Akatsuki part. Then, he considered on whether he should tell the blond this tidbit of information. He hesitated; usually, newcomers were not given any help at all, they figured it all out by themselves. But for him, since his is a special case...

" It's just something Soul Society does to those souls who come here…remove part of their memories so souls won't get too agitated about what happened to them in the past and try to kill themselves again- or go for revenge. You still can injure yourself here, you know. The longer you spend your time here, the more your memories of when you were still alive will get erased." Toushiro said dully, since this came right out of the textbook you were required to memorize in order to advance to be a shinigami.

He took a gulp of water and continued. "Rarely will people remember their past again, and even if they did, having those memories popping out of nowhere will probably confuse them. Furthermore, as soon as you agree to become a Shinigami, all your memories of the past will slowly fade away and never return."

Silence met his words. Naruto was opening and closing his mouth, trying to get something out but failing, probably in horror. Toushiro sighed. He probably scared the boy for life already. Poor guy. He was somewhat thankful he was born in Soul Society itself, instead of leading new lives in here and twiddling your thumbs away as your memory gets deleted.

Naruto's reaction, you could say, did make him live up to his name as the village's number one unexpected ninja. He had the reaction of what Toushiro had anticipated the least.

" Yeah, well, screw that!" Naruto shouted, standing up furiously. Toushiro blinked at the boy's loud outburst. "No stupid soul society is going to wipe away my memories of my friends! They are the ones who helped me! Who...stood up for me and stuck with me! I mean, I know Sasuke-teme's still a stuck up bastard, and Shikamaru's a lazy bastard, and Neji's an emo bastard, but we've all been through thick and thin together!"

Naruto took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "They're all my precious people," He whispered. "And I'll be done for if I forgot what they all did for me. Small repayment that will be." He said the last part fiercely, took his makeshift crutch and limped out. Sure, would have stomped out, but his leg just refused to listen to him. He left very angry at his current body state. It was already embarrassing enough that he could be seen walking around with a crutch.

Toushiro could only stare at the spot where Naruto just left. Soul Society had kindly made those adjustments so that those souls could start a fresh live without being hindered by their past memories. And most souls would rather forget their past anyway. Some were just too painful to be remembered. Never did someone prefer to, or rather demanded, to keep his or her memories. Never was someone this determined to bend against the unbreakable law of Soul Society.

Now however, Toushiro foolishly thought that maybe he shouldn't have wholeheartedly agreed on that rule. What Naruto said had made him felt rather guilty at himself. Seeing logic in the rules is one thing, but Toushiro had never really been bothered before on how others felt about them. Snapping back to reality, he absently paid the bill for the ramen and left. He really should continue his rounds around Rukongai and track down that dumb blond idiot; least he'll receive a full round of troublesome nagging from his captain.

"Sixty-six...sixty-seven...sixty-eight..." Naruto grunted as he tried walking without his crutches, determined to regain full control of his legs or lest it'll tarnish his pride as a Shinobi. Uzumaki Naruto, the most agile and hyperactive ninja ever seen in the village of Konoha, with a crutch. Yeah, right. This seriously can't be happening. From then onwards, Naruto decided that his so-called afterlife sucked. Badly.

The body you have on now is a sprit body. Since your soul new to it and not like the others who were born fixed with it, it's still getting used to its new body and is trying its best to adapt to it. For most people, it may take at least five hours just to even move a limb. Even people with high spiritual power take two to three weeks to start walking independently. Toushiro had said that.

'Heck who cares about what Toushiro says; whatever comes out of his mouth is practically crap anyway.' Naruto decided. 'I'll be walking in a week, or else my name isn't Uzumaki Naruto!' Then he started walking again. "Ninety-one...ninety-two...ninety-three...ninety-four-"

"BOO."

"Aaaaargh!" Naruto lost his concentration, tripped, and landed flat on his face. He pushed himself back up and glared at the offending stranger who squatted down beside him, as though mocking him for being so easily startled. After realizing it was only Toushiro (yes, only Toushiro), he grabbed the other boy by the collar and started shaking him hard. "TEME! I WAS ABOUT TO HIT 100 STEPS AND YOU RUINED IT ALL!"

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He swatted Naruto's hand away and stood up, brushing himself down. He was somewhat impressed by this kid's ability to walk within this short time span, but this is a special case after all. It was his mission, and abnormal things should be happening with his kind around.

Naruto sat crossed legged and pouted. "You don't just go 'boo!' at somebody who is trying to walk!"

Toushiro rolled his eyes and didn't bother to give a reply. Sheesh; so now you're saying that people like him can't even have some fun? Nevertheless, he sat down, crossed-legged beside Naruto. "I have a proposition for you."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his tone. Years of being ANBU training done by Ibiki did make you much more alert about people's feelings. Even the klutz that he was, Naruto did manage to absorb some facts unknowingly. "What?"

Reading emotions and feelings is one thing, but trying to guess what the other is thinking about is a complete different story. Because what Toushiro said next, however, surprised him.

"Why don't you consider being a Shinigami?"

TBC.

Yes, next chapter is finally completed. Thanks so much, all you reviewers! Okay...maybe I went too angsty about that memories part but hey! Naruto's just really emotional, that's all. You have to wait awhile for what I said in the summary to come out, so don't be too impatient, Kay? And I have really weird imagination about the 'lost memories' and 'spiritual body' theory, but this is why it's called fan fiction after all.