Woah! Thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter! I honestly didn't expect that many people to actually be interested in this story, but I'm glad you were.

So here's the next chapter for you all!


I should probably say something about Sasuke's relationship with me before he died.

When we were in middle school, I had a huge crush on him. I was a fangirl; I admit it. I stalked him, demanded dates, tackled him, and basically scarred the boy for life.

I grew out of that stage, eventually, and stopped pestering him so much. However, it wasn't until sophomore year that we began to actually talk to one another, rather than the occasional sporadic comment or me just ogling him.

We ended up becoming good friends. Naruto, as I've mentioned before, was (well technically, still is) Sasuke's best friend and he became my friend as well. He liked to tease us about being a couple, though he usually kept himself from going too far, especially after a couple of…incidents that ended pretty badly for him.

But even after we became friends, I always liked Sasuke. No matter what I did, it never went away. I had just been gathering courage to get the awkwardness out of me to just ask him on a date around the time he was killed.

So understandably, I was thrilled and terrified to see him again. Thrilled for obvious reasons, terrified that he would leave be again.

But one must learn to be practical about such things, and though I wasn't yet, I was certainly going to try.

-

When I woke up the morning after Sasuke had appeared in my room, I thought for one crazy moment it had all been a dream. I mean, my total lack of reaction to Sasuke being a ghost and all that strangeness and his HEAD STICKING OUT OF ME clearly fell into Category One dream behavior, right?

Wrong.

The first thing that reminded me that Uchiha Sasuke was back and a ghost was turning onto my back and looking up at the ceiling.

Only to find it blocked by a hovering Sasuke, stretched full out above me, arms crossed and a scowling face only a few inches from mine.

"Good, you're awake. Now get up."

So I did what any normal person would've done in my situation, and what I probably should've done the day before.

"EEEEEEEEEEKK!"

I screamed.

Sasuke swore and fell out of the air and to the floor. Getting over my shock, I crawled to the foot of my bed and peered over the edge, half-expecting to see Sasuke sprawled out on the floor, possibly muttering obscenities.

Nothing but worn carpet.

Oo-kay.

Before I could think to do anything else, there was a loud pounding on my door. I eyed it cautiously.

"Who is it?"

"Me, Forehead Girl! Who else would it be, Gai?!" I relaxed at the sound of my best (and worst) friend's distinctive voice.

Ino Yamanaka. Blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful, and above all, bossy.

(Actually, I lied.

Above all, she's very, very loud.

But I love her anyway.)

"You could've fooled me," I called back, sliding off the bed and going to the door and opening it.

"I'm going to ignore that." Ino, managing to somehow look immaculate despite the stupidly early hour, scanned my room suspiciously. "I thought I heard screaming. You okay?"

"I'm fine." I assured her. "I just got a nasty shock—out of my dream and into reality." I hastily added on when she gave me a look that said she wasn't buying it. Her eyes slid to somewhere behind me, and the psychotic smile I've learned means trouble spread across her face.

"Oh Sa-ku-ra…"

And there is the creepy breaking-up-of-my-name that really means trouble for me.

"What?" I snapped, not really ready to be faced with trouble so early in the day.

"I didn't know you've been having a midnight visitor!" Ino cut past me, heading right to my…

Desk. Where I had left Sasuke's stupid coat.

Crap.

"Well?" prodded Ino, picking up the incriminating garment and shaking it at me, smirking evilly.

"Don't make assumptions, Ino-pig." I grumbled, snatching the coat out of her grasp. "Someone left it in the hall and it was late and I was going to take it to the lost and found today, so don't go all smug on me. No guy snuck into my room, thankyouverymuch."

Technically, I wasn't lying.

Sasuke didn't sneak in; he walked through the wall.

Or so he had told me.

"Please," Ino rolled her eyes. "You expect me to believe that flimsy excuse?"

"Yep, 'cause that's all you're getting."

"And this hypothetical stripper also left his tie in the hall?" She picked up the red strip of fabric and studied it. "Real nice material too…just a little too nice to leave lying on the ground of their dorm."

"…" I kept silent, not really trusting myself to be able to make up anything with more sense.

"Fine, don't tell me." She dropped the subject, for which I'm intensely grateful. "I'll figure it out eventually. But anyway, it's Saturday, anything you want to do?"

I shook my head. "Nah. Not really." Behind her I could see Sasuke rising out from the floor, looking mildly tortured. "Just go have fun with Shikamaru." Shikamaru Nara is Ino's sort-of boyfriend. Which basically means that she's declared him to be hers, but he just doesn't know it yet, and she's in the process of enlightening him.

"I'll try. But he can be awfully stubborn." She sighed dramatically, then grinned, her eyes glinting mischievously. "You better tell me about the fun with your mystery man!" She dodged the hair clamp projectile I had aimed at her head and ran from my room, laughing. I closed and locked the door after her, then turned to face Sasuke, who had been waiting impatiently for Ino to leave. Apparently, a year away from her had not improved his opinion of her.

"So you really are a ghost?" I asked him, just to make sure.

"Obviously." He gave me one of those are-you-stupid looks, which as a good friend, I completely ignored.

"Just checking," I went over to my desk. "Then how are these real?" I pointed at his oh-so-expensive coat and tie.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess my corpse isn't wearing them anymore." I winced at his bluntness, not really want to think of him as rotting or decomposing or...

Well, ew.

"Huh, that's strange."

"You're helping a ghost. That's weirder."

"Yeah, yeah. I need to get ready." I began to rummage through the drawers of my dresser, picking out the clothes I wanted to wear for today.

"For what?"

"It's Saturday." I reminded him, dumping my clothes on the bed and heading for the door.

"So?" He followed me as I left the room and headed down the hall, ignoring anyone who happened to walk through him. I was the one who flinched every time it happened; seeing a girl stick any body part (however unintentionally) through Sasuke was just too creepy.

"We need to help you win your bet, right?" I smiled at him when he nodded. "Well, we're going to need to do a little research before we start."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Because you're a pessimistic emo." I retorted.

We reached the girls' showers. "Wait out here and don't even think of stepping into the girls' shower." I instructed, ignoring the aggravated look on his face. "If you do, I promise I'll find something incredibly painful to hurt you with."

"Who do you take me for, Jiraiya?" He demanded, sounding both annoyed and faintly creeped out.

"No, but—ugh." I shuddered at the idea of a ghostly Jiraiya that could walk through walls. "Just don't do anything stupid."

"I'm dead. What worse could I possibly do?"

"Right," I muttered darkly as I left him standing in the hallway. "I can think of a few things."

-

First Order of Business: Find out what I can from Sasuke about ghosts and dying.

By nature, I'm a pretty curious person, and ask questions about anything I don't really understand. Considering that I hadn't known that ghosts had existed until yesterday, it meant a lot of questions for Sasuke, because—really.

Who else would know what the afterlife is like?

"Sasuke-kun, what was it like before you…came back?"

"Boring."

I rolled my eyes and continued to search the shelves of the Konoha Library for research material. Despite our principal, Tsunade's, insistence that it's a purely academic library, if you know where to look—you can find some, er, interesting books.

(Including the stash of Icha Icha books Kakashi managed to somehow slip in here, yuck.)

The section detailing the supernatural was a decent size, but on the lower shelves, so I was forced to crouch with very little dignity as I searched for books detailing the different kinds of ghosts. Sasuke walked (not really, but that's the best I can describe it) besides me, hands in pockets, looking around with interest.

"You know, you could be a little more specific," I muttered under my breath, not saying his name for fear that someone might hear me and well…

Considering my history with Sasuke, it wouldn't do well for my reputation to be holding a conversation using his name with thin air.

"After all," I continued, "everyone wants to know what the afterlife is like. And who better to ask than a ghost?"

"An angel. Besides, I was never actually in Heaven or Hell."

I looked up at him, confused. "You weren't?"

Sasuke let out a sigh before explaining. "Heaven and Hell are only reserved for those who have accepted their deaths. Ghosts by definition don't. I argued when I died—and the person judging me got so annoyed he threw me out."

"Threw you out where?"

"To wander around Earth as a ghost until Death could deal with me." He scowled. "Why else do you think it took a year for me to show up?"

"Do you really expect me to answer that?" I was a little preoccupied with lifting an especially large, but not heavy, book from the bottom shelf to really answer.

(School's weird. Nearly all the "fun" stuff, no matter their size, is light.

Conversely, all textbooks, no matter their size, are freaking heavy.)

"No. Why do you want all these books on ghosts, anyway?" I turned halfway to look up at him. He stared steadily back, still looking for the entire world completely and perfectly normal and solid.

And handsome, unfortunately. Very, very handsome. I could feel my face heat up from seeing how intense his gaze could be—and he wasn't even trying.

"Because I need to know my subject, and it's pretty obvious that's you're not going to answer my every question." Holding the stack in my arms very carefully, I made my way to the librarian's desk to have them checked out.

"You've never let that stop you before." He pointed out, leaning against the desk. I half-wondered why he wasn't sliding through, and even more irrationally, if ghost-clothing even wrinkled.

"Well, before I could hold onto you when I wanted a question answered. Now, you have an advantage against that: you're dead."

"I'm dead?" I jumped at an accusing voice from behind me. Judging from the evil smirk on Sasuke's face, I had been just a little too loud on that last bit.

Plastering a large grin on my face, I slowly swiveled around to face whomever I offended. It was some freshman, who looked rather wary.

"Not talking to you, kid."

"Then who were you talking to?" He asked, still accusing, and very annoying.

"My invisible boyfriend." I took great satisfaction from watching, from the corner of my eye, Sasuke fall through the desk and pop back up, glowering at me.

"Why?" I raised an eyebrow; was this kid for real?

"No reason. So just forget it." I snatched my books off the desk and left as quickly as I could without being obvious that I was trying to get away.

"See, Sakura—this is why people think you're insane. You talk to yourself too much." Apparently forgetting his slip up, Sasuke easily kept up with me, much to my irritation.

"Shut up, bastard." I turned to glower at him—only to find that he wasn't there. But from the sudden uncontrollable shuddering that passed through my body, and the coolness, I knew he had passed through me.

"I'm on your other side, idiot." I could practically feel his smirk.

Sasuke seemed to be having…fun, being dead.

-

"First things first: we need to find out what kind of a ghost you are." I opened one of the books in my lap, trying to ignore how Sasuke was hovering just to my right, looking over my shoulder. "I already have a good idea, considering—"

"Why?"

"Why…what?"

"What's the point of knowing what kind of ghost I am?"

"Well, Sasuke-kun, we need to have you win your bet, which you still to tell me about—"

"I'll tell you later," he cut me off impatiently. "Again, what's the point of this?"

Irritated by his interruption but determined to keep it from showing, I continued. "Well, there are different kinds of ghosts. Right?"

He nodded, albeit reluctantly, in confirmation.

"Different ghosts would have different rules, right?"

"Hn."

"I'll just take that as a 'yes'. So, again, do you have any idea what kind of ghost you are?"

"Again, why does it matter?"

"It matters in the way that contract mattered. If we know any possible conditions you're under that could be a problem later, we could avoid them. Got it?"

"Hn." He shrugged.

"Again, I'll take that as a yes. Now," I scanned the page the book was open to, "in all likelihood, you're a Gjenganger—"

"A what?"

"Sasuke-kun, please stop interrupting. Anyway, a Gjenganger is a ghost that returns from the afterlife because for some reason, it cannot rest in peace—"

"I am not an it—"

"I'm being general here, Sasuke-kun. And stop acting so silly." Sasuke rolled his eyes at the word; I tried again to ignore him. "But Gjengangers need to seek help from someone alive to help them rest in peace, and they look perfectly normal, the way you do right now—"

"Ah, but I want to come back to life, not rest in peace—"

"Okay, now you're just trying annoy me." He merely smirked in response. I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"Just showing you how you used to be."

"Yeah, riight. You know, considering everything I'm doing, you could be a little more helpful."

"Hn. Sorry."

I blinked in surprise at the apology, no matter how curt.

"Thanks. Anyway, the only thing you probably would have to worry about would be churches and religious chants. Easy enough to avoid, eh?"

"I suppose." He shrugged again. "Is that the end of it?"

"Pretty much." I closed the book in my lap and put it atop the teetering stack next to my foot on the floor. I crossed my legs and beckoned for Sasuke to stop floating and sit down. He complied, sitting right across from me and looking so real that it was difficult for me to remember that he was a ghost. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way…I need to know. What is your bet?"

Sasuke was silent, deep in thought. For a moment I wondered if he was going to even bother to tell me or if I would be in the dark the whole time.

"…I can't tell you everything," he answered finally. "It's part of my deal that I can't tell you all of my conditions. But according to death, there were a few things that I was only just becoming aware of when I died…and my goal is to fully understand these things, and, absurd as it sounds, come to peace with them."

"What sort of things?" I asked.

He snorted. "I'm not entirely sure. As Death said, I was only just becoming aware of them. I have my ideas as to what they may be, but I'm not sure."

I suppose that I shouldn't have been so surprised that Sasuke both didn't know himself very well and still accepted that challenge regardless. But nevertheless that was my reaction, complete with eyes nearly popping out of my skull and jaw touching the ground.

"So let me get this straight. You bet your life on achieving these goals—and you have no idea what they are?"

"I have ideas," Sasuke repeated vaguely, tilting his head to one side, "and there's still a chance I might come back. No matter what you may think, it's better than no chance at all."

"I know, Sasuke-kun, I know. It's just," I struggled for the right words, "well, you know. I really want you to come back. And I'm scared that you, well, won't."

Scared that he would leave again. Scared to wake up and learn he was gone, like the last time. Scared that I might totally break down, and no one would understand. Despite all the light-hearted bickering and talk between us, I was serious when I promised to help him.

I almost (but not quite) love him.

He's my friend.

"I wouldn't have made that bet if I didn't think I would win, Sakura." I felt something barely touching the top of my head, and knew without looking that it was Sasuke's hand. "Trust me; I have every intention of getting my body back."

Hearing him sounding so sure made my mood lift, turn more optimistic.

"Of course you do." I looked up into his charcoal eyes, smiling a bit. "And besides, we have about six months, right?"

"Right," he confirmed, one corner of his mouth quirking up as he looked at me.

"That's plenty of time. We'll do it."

Speaking of time…

I looked at the clock sitting on the bedside table. It read as six fifty-six.

"Well, I better get down for dinner. Ino will be ticked if I skip again." I got up from my bed and grabbed a sweater to pull on (the cafeteria did not have the best heating system). "I'll be back in half an hour or something." I left the room without looking back at him.

If I had, I probably would've noticed him get off the bed, follow me down the hall and through the lunch line. Then I probably wouldn't have screamed and made Ino look at me as though I had rabies when I noticed him sitting besides me. Then I wouldn't have had to deal with him smirking the entire time I was eating, or with the screams of my 'Inner' to slap him, despite the fact I physically couldn't.

Really, no matter what he said about wanting to come back to life; he was having a little too much fun being a ghost.


Eh, this chapter irks me quite a bit.

If anyone here likes parent!fics, I'd like it very much if you could read (and review) my story, little embers. I like where it's going and I really would like some feedback.

Review please!