Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


I'm not crazy. I hear voices, I see people, I see things -I don't hallucinate, I learned that a long time ago.

-Sasuke Uchiha [from chapter one

(Don't you just love the irony in that line?-laugh-)


T W O

The feeling of holding back tears did not go after I saw his face and his eyes. It felt like an overwhelming sorrow was covering my very heart. I felt like crying was the only thing that would give me relief from the closed air in my lungs and the twisting knot in the back of my throat. My heart felt like it sunk, and my eyes stung as if tears wanted to spill but they wouldn't. I blinked thinking that the build up tears would come down my cheeks, but even after I waited, nothing came. I felt but the unbearable stinging in the corners of my eyes. I cried out quietly as it began to burn my eyeballs.

What the hell...? I stood up in knees and quickly rubbed my eyes with my palms.

"Ugh..." still I felt the stinging and burning sensation surround my eyeballs.

What the hell is wrong with me? I rubbed harder, bringing my fingers to massage my eyes. Soon it started to hurt more and more. The burning was becoming unbearable, I felt stinging and throbbing inside my eyelids and the rubbing was making it worse. I groaned louder as if it would help ease the pain. Soon, I could no longer stand it.

Quickly, I stood up on shaky legs. I kept my fingers still lingering gently in my eyes to keep them from opening. I cried out quietly in pain as I very slowly removed my hands from my eyes and cracked one of them open to a squint.

I couldn't see, all I could see was blurry furniture from my room.

Suddenly, a I felt like a small bullet had been shot into my eye. I crushed my eyes closed in a painful slam, and screamed in pain. I yelped and whimpered loudly, and rubbed my eyes harder and harder, hopping that it would make me tear-up.

I felt tears coming, instantly I felt relieved as if the sole action of crying would make the pain stop. Slowly I opened my eyes. The liquid was slowly building up, and the tightness that was around my eyes loosened.

I waited for the right moment to blink and closed my eyes tightly. Instantly I felt the moisture slowly slide down my cheeks in thin slow streaks. I sighed in relief as I felt the pain slowly loose it's intensity. I opened my eyes and blinked, again I felt the tears slide down my face, only faster. I sniffed and bought my palms to my face to dry the tears.

I stopped suddenly, realizing how tears smudged against my palm. They were thicker, heavier, and dried almost instantly in my skin.

"Wha...t?" I asked myself out loud wearily, tired from the pain I had experienced earlier. Slowly I bought my hands down to inspect my palms.

My breath hitched, and my eyes widened as I looked at the drying and cracking crimson smudged against my open palms. Another knot formed in my throat, and I felt like screaming.

The thick liquid slid slowly down my cheek again and my face was abruptly struck with fear.

Those weren't the usual salty, clear, tears.

It was blood.

My knees trembled, and I almost fell to the floor again from the shock.

I wanted to scream again, but my throat couldn't find my voice. I smeared the blood on my face as I dried the tears feeling more thick blood slide down my cheek slowly. Throughout five minutes I just felt them come down my cheeks and then dry in my palms as I wiped them with my hands. I tried thinking, but the shock I was in obviously clouded my mind of any action.

The minutes seemed to last for hours and I began wondering if I was bleeding to death. Millions of thoughts passed through my brain instantly.

What was I supposed to do? Call an ambulance and say what? What would father and my brother think if they came home and found and ambulance parked outside their new home, or if they got a call from a doctor?

I pondered on whether I should call Itachi. I imagined myself counting the minutes it took him to get home at the news that I was probably bleeding to death. Father was definitely out of the question, he had enough at work, he didn't need to deal with anymore.

I can handle this...I tried to convince myself, it's no big deal...

"Dammit," I cringed as more blood streamed down my face, "this phase of thinking isn't working..."

I suddenly flinched as I felt a straight cold object be injected harshly in my lower back. I flinched again as I felt another painful jolt in the middle of my back.

I cried in pain as my back started to throb and burn. I couldn't move. I whimpered softly as I felt my back sting unbearably.

As I stumbled ready to fall to the floor, another pang of pain hit my upper back, then with the same force, my lower. I coughed into my hand and fell to my knees. My heart beat rose as it crashed against my chest in painful, fast beats and thumps. I felt that I was being torn apart by the pain I was enduring. My body, my back,hurt and throbbed as if large nail was being hammered onto my back hard and merciless. I groaned, cringing and coughing.

"What the hell..."

My back stung and burned as if a hot lit light bulb was being rubbed up and down my back repeatedly. I could feel the hard object steak right from the back of my chest again. I yelped out in pain.

My hand felt wet with blood, great, I thought, I'm going to bleed to death, my back hurts like hell -and I don't even know why.

I dropped to my knees groaning at the impact from the floor to my bare skin. My eyes began to blur, but it wasn't the blood that was clogging my eyesight. I began to panic. My heart pounding in my chest even harder as I realized what was happening.

Shit.

I held my head as I felt myself sway from balance. The slight touch of needles was all over my face, and heat was overwhelming my head at an alarming rate. I tried to stay awake, but it seemed that the sun was coming down faster than usual. I saw black dots as my head hit the cold, hard floor.

As my eyesight faded away, and I started to drift slowly into the darkness, I saw naked feet in front of my face, standing still. I felt a feather wind hit my face, and with the feeling that someone's stare was bearing on me, my eyes subconsciously closed.


B L U N T L Y

When I woke up I was in the study room, and the carpet was stained with lengthy dried blood-stains. I felt like a collage student with a very bad hang-over from way too many shots the night before and still as light as air. I tried standing up from the floor, but my muscles felt like they had turned to jelly. Sticky, bouncy, slippery jelly. So bouncy in fact, that all I managed to do was with much effort, sit on my knees.

I felt cold. My fingers where numb with the stiffness, dry and rough –I didn't realize it then, but I actually thought I felt cold and tingly because of the shock I was in from whatever had hit me.

Silly, isn't it?

It took a few moments for me to 'recuperate' from my little ordeal, and I was finally able to stand up in my two legs. At first I was a little lost. I mean, how long had I been out? Had a passed out from all my crying? Why was I on the floor? If there's blood on the carpet, how come I can stand up perfectly still? Nothing hurt, I was intact, not missing any limbs, and as far as I knew I was perfectly healthy.

Keyword: WAS.

The funny thing is, I didn't feel a thing before I passed out. All I felt was a slight feathery wind caressing my face gently. It was airy, almost surreal. It was confusing, it felt almost like a random moment in which you wanna yell out, "what the hell?" but at the same time never leave it.

I couldn't remember anything before that. All I knew is that I had cried, and then nothing.

I stood up, ready to go look for my guardian, ready to tell him that I felt like crap and that whatever boo-boo I had needed attention. I looked at the digital clock in the desk of the study, 6:44. Good, I had thought, the meeting is over, he's been here more than two hours already. I failed to realize that if he had gotten home earlier, he would have come looking for me, and found me in the carpeted floor laying in a blood bed.

And I'd be waking up in a hospital bed alive and well.

I took a deep breath to break the eerie silence that surrounded the room, and to make me feel less tense. A little voice told me something was wrong, my gut was telling me that I should wake up and smell the coffee, my mind was telling me it was okay; that everything was fine, and my brain throbbed with something that sounded like: you're in denial.

Keywords yet again: WAS FINE.

Not being able to stand what I was feeling I instantly ran out and yelled for my guardian, the person who had taken care of me since I was nine. My bare feet touched the cold wooden floor in the hallways, as I broke into a slight sprint.

"Iruka!"

I ran through the hallways in urgency, the framed photos in the wall were only blurs as I passed through them, and the windows gave off this weird sunlight, as if the sun rays themselves were pitying my stupidity.

"Iruka!"

I ran even more frustrated down the stairwell, and down the hallways of the first floor. Desperately trying to hear something. Anything. Any sign that Iruka was there cooking, or Iruka was watching television. Any sound, even the occasional scold that I should put some shoes on coming from the man who agreed to raise me after my parents had died.

But that was the problem.

I heard nothing. Absolutely nothing.

That's when I started to panic. That's when I immediately came to a halt in the middle of the living room with eyes wide.

Nothing. Nothing Nothing. Nothing. I had heard nothing but quiet.

Silence.

I panicked as I stomped on the wooden floor, all that reached my ears was my rigid breathing. I stomped the floor harder and harder each time, trying to make it sound like a thousand drums where being played in the living room full-force.

No sound came at all. All I could hear was my harsh panting, and my pounding heart in my chest, it's weight slowly crushing my insides.

I had no footsteps, no sound. No thump, thump, thump. I had ignored the fact that when I ran I couldn't hear the flesh of my feet hit the floor softly. I didn't hear the usual stampede of feet hitting the hard wood like I did every morning running swiftly to breakfast. My eyes widened, my heart felt like it stopped.

Do I even have a heart?

I raised my hand slowly to my face, and looked at it.

Solid. It was solid, or at least, it looked solid. The last time I checked solid things made sounds, even if your feet are bare you have to hear something, no matter what. When you clap your hands, you hear something like thunder.

Right?

I wanted to cry, but I couldn't, and I wouldn't. I took a deep shaky breath in attempts at calming myself down.

That's when I heard a crashing sound in the kitchen. My head snapped up and my hopes rose up as I thought of Iruka explaining to me that this was some sort of puberty phase I was going through and that it would be over soon. I ran to the kitchen, not caring whether or not I heard anything below me, just with the objective in mind of getting to the kitchen.

I ran hard, my feet stinging from the friction between my naked feet and the cold floor. I turned the corner and almost slipped because of my speed.

"Iruka?!" I yelled out, as I regained my balance and speed off again. I slowed down as I neared the doorway to the kitchen and stopped right before entering, panting softly. I looked up slowly.

There he was, sitting on the floor leaning on the counter by the table. His elbows resting on his slightly bent knees, head hung low. I wanted to take another step forward to enter the sanctuary we both shared in the morning, but something stopped me. Something held me back. Iruka was in the dark.

A tense air swirled around him, and you could almost see the dark cloud looming over him pouring down a dense, dry, invisible rain. I felt so down just standing there, it made me almost want to cry.

Standing there, with the tense air and sadness in the room, you could have guessed that someone had...died.

"Ir-" something stuck at my throat, and I chocked, "Ir- Iru-" I stuttered the words out, and I couldn't figure out what was happening. I wanted to leave, but it was like my feet where sewed onto the wooden floor with wires. Neither of us uttered a sound.

Iruka just sat there leaning over, his eyes cast down on the floor, the plate broken and shattered in front of him.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The facet leaked drops of cold water into the steel sink.

"Iruka?" I asked softly, carefully. It felt like he wouldn't hear me. Like he couldn't.

There was a long deafening silence in the room. My lips prickled with anxiety to utter the words in my mind.

What's going on?

But to no avail, no words came out of my mouth, no matter how much I tried to make a sound. All I could do was stare at Iruka as he looked down to the floor. His eyes dull and sad. Fatigue was detectable in his eyes, like he hadn't slept for days.

After a few minutes, I finally gathered up the courage to take a step forward. Iruka didn't so much as flinch. I took another step and another, slowly making my way beside the man, hands to my sides and eyes never leaving his gloomy form. I took a deep breath, readying myself for my voice to come.

"Ir-"

"Naruto..." I didn't get to finish my sentence, as he cut me off himself. His voice was shaky and dry as he uttered those words.

"Please," he whispered, "forgive me..." I stared at him in confusion, I thought at the moment that I knew exactly what he was talking.

"What are you talking about Iruka?" I asked, suddenly finding my voice, "wouldn't they listen? Are they taking me away?" He didn't answer, all he did was shake uncontrollably below me, "I'm sorry..." he echoed again, "please, forgive me..."

"Iruka?"

He rose his head to reveal a tired face, dry and wrinkled beyond his years. Before I could say anything again, he began to sob. He shook as tears streamed down his face.

"...Iruka?" I asked quietly, but I had gotten the feeling that he didn't hear me.

He suddenly threw his head backwards and hit it with the counter. I flinched as I heard his head hit the wooden floor cabinet.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

He crushed his eyes together as he began to cry more and more. Hitting his head on the counter over and over.

I stared in horror as I heard his head make contact with the wood, each and every thump making a shiver run up my spine. Goosebumps glazed over my arms as I stared, eyes wide with fear.

"S-stop..." I tried to say to make him halt his actions, "stop!" he kept on hitting his head, over and over. My heart pounded against my chest violently as I watched the scene before me. My eyes watered with unshed tears as I struggled to breath. I stomped my feet, as if he could hear them even though I couldn't, "Stop it!"

"Please stop!" I cried to him angry.

He wouldn't hear me.

He couldn't hear me.

He kept on hitting his head on the wood he was leaning on. Nothing was making him stop. I took my head into my hands and shook my head violently, "STOP!" I cried, "Stop it!" I could hear my breathing come hard, raspy, and quick making my chest hurt and throb. My lungs felt contracted and shriveled. He began to sob loud and broken, his throat dry, "I'm sorry Minato..." he cried.

He sobbed and whimpered pathetically, and I watched helplessly as he tore his own heart apart with sorrow. I covered my ears with my hands and pressed against them, "Stop!" I said, delaying the word. I shook.

He stopped suddenly, and all I could hear was his breath hitch, trying to hold in his cry.

"Please stop..." I felt wet tears coming down my cheeks, "no more, Iruka..."

I thought he had heard me at first, but how could he have? I wasn't there.

He couldn't hear me, see me, talk to me.

I had finally realized that my words were falling on deaf ears. He began to shiver, and I saw through my eyes, blurry with tears, his breath come out in poofs of vapor. I bowed my head low. I didn't want to look.

"No more." he lifted his head, and 'looked' at me.

I smiled shakily, because for a moment I thought he could hear me -that he saw me, even. After a few minutes of shivering, he stood up, picked up the shattered pieces of the plate and left without a second glance.

I just stood there watching him pick up the mess and leave, not really looking up, not really looking down.

As he slowly walked passed me, tears still present in his face, I remember seeing him shiver violently, and rub his hands together for warmth. I let out a low painful sob.

Soon I was left alone in the kitchen, pondering over why I couldn't hear my footsteps, and why Iruka couldn't hear my voice.

Why I was being so ignorant.

I sighed loudly, closing my eyes and shaking as a mournful cry left my lips. I clutched my jaw and looked up at the ceiling.

I got ready to say the words that the back of my mind were screaming to me from the beginning.

"I'm dead."


I watched the boy laying quietly on the floor attentively. He was breathing, so he didn't die. He has just experienced what few people have when they've tried to live in this house. It wasn't like I was torturing him, he just re-enacted for me the last few minutes of my life. It was entertainment (in a way), not torment, just a welcoming comity. I thought it entertaining, people thought it creepy and left the house with a horror story to share and no proof. Obviously we had different tastes in humor.

It seems that becoming a ghost has made me strangely sadistic.

I chuckled at my own joke as I watched the boy on the floor with narrowed eyes. I smirked.

I knew he saw me, and that days before he had sensed me. He knew I was living here, I could tell by the way he tensed up whenever I entered a room, or watched him and his family. Now he would have no doubts that I was here.

A smile slowly crept on my lips as the thought crossed my mind...

Maybe, just maybe,

"You'll be able to help me..."


Notes:

And that's the end of it folks (not literally of course). I was having too much fun with it to just leave it hanging. There are still many ideas in my head on how this will turn out though. Besides that fact, people seemed to actually like this, and hopefully I didn't disappoint anyone with this chapter.

Be warned though, updates will be slow (very, painfully slow).

Besides that, there you have it! Part of Naruto's strange past of when he was alive. I remember someone wrote in a review that there were some unanswered questions; that was very intended –just so you know. I don't plan on telling all in one chapter (hopefully, it isn't too confusing the way I'm doing it now). All questions shall be answered slowly but surely...

Oh and this whole Sasuke's POV and then Naruto's POV, is how this story is told. However, I didn't intend on this chapter having both Sasuke's and Naruto's view and it will hopefully not happen again. I want it to be Sasuke's POV in one chapter, then Naruto's POV in another, Sasuke's, then Naruto's and so on in rotation.

Until next update,

RkR