Disclaimer: Do I have to put down each time that I am not the creator of Naruto? I own hardly nothing worth being sued over, so please do not think that you can get blood from a turnip.

A/N: I have maybe one more chapter after this one; however I do have a sequel to this in mind, it deals with Ino/Sakura and a demonic entity instead of just a ghost. With more NaruGaa action, more bone chilling events than this one and a lot (I mean A LOT) of blood… let me know if you think I should write it…Thanks goes to my wonderful Reviewers… Arigato!

Chapter 9: Cleansing

"'Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world."

William Shakespeare

"A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night."

J.M. Barrie


A strange sensation woke the blond up shortly after he had drifted off to sleep, the feel of a hand on his arm. It was chilling to the touch, causing Naruto to shudder from the iciness. His eyes opened so fast and wide that Gaara, who had been watching the blond, was startled.

"No…" Naruto sat up, he tried to move the phantom hand off his arm, only to have it dig deeper into his flesh. Looking down at his arm, he noticed that it was pale and he could faintly see the imprint of the hand, it was weird to feel a hand on him yet not be able to see anything. "Get it off…"

"Get what off?" Gaara asked softly.

Before Naruto could say anything, the hand gripped tighter and started to pull on him. Slowly he was being pulled away from Gaara and towards the stairs.

"Gaara," panic was finding its way into Naruto's voice. "Help me…"

Gaara grabbed at Naruto and pulled as hard as he could, finally after what seemed to be an eternity, Naruto was released from the ghostly grip.

"What the hell is happening?" Naruto said as he stood up, he looked around as if he could see what had grabbed him.

"I think that the spirit is getting upset that you are with me." Gaara's words made Naruto nearly laugh. He felt as if he was on the verge of hysteria.

"How can the spirit be jealous of you?"

Shrugging his slender shoulders, Gaara followed Naruto out of the room. They were heading towards the front door, out on the porch they could hear the others still talking amongst themselves.

Naruto tried the door and was shocked when it swung open with ease.

"What the hell!" Shikamaru was the first to speak.

"Temari," Gaara said, "Go get the cleansing items."

"The sage and the candles?" her voice was strained from being out in the cold for so long.

Sasuke and Suigetsu both hurriedly went inside, neither one saying anything.

"Yes." Gaara replied to his sister.

"I'll help you." Shikamaru followed Temari into the house, "You shouldn't be alone right now."

"Thank you…" she smiled up at him.

"So what happened?" Kankuro asked as Naruto, Gaara and himself walked back into the house as well.

"The spirit is getting upset," Gaara replied as they headed into the library. "I think we will start in here."

"How long till we can get started?" Naruto was curious now.

"He can get started as soon as Temari returns." Kankuro replied for Gaara.

"How can I help?"

Both brothers looked intently at Naruto. "Be the bait." Gaara softly said.

"What!" panic was starting to seep into Naruto's voice. "How do I do that exactly?"

"You go around the house saying, 'here ghosty, ghosty, ghosty…come get the tasty morsel here…'" Kankuro laughed as he said it.

Gaara closed his eyes as if he were in pain, "Kankuro…"

"Yes, Gaara?"

"Shut up!"

Kankuro rolled his eyes, "As you wish, your highness."

Gaara ignored this and said to Naruto, "All you have to do is go around all the rooms with me so that the ghost follows you."

"Oh… O.K." Naruto was slightly relieved that he would at least be with Gaara.

Sasuke and Suigetsu walked into the room, "We are going to the hotel for now, call us when everything is done."

Naruto felt as if they were abandoning him, however he decided to let it pass, due to them not needing to stay, he knew that Shikamaru would not leave unless he himself left. "That's fine." Naruto said as they walked out, both holding a suitcase.

Within moments Temari and Shikamaru rejoined them, Gaara motioned for everyone to have a sit while he and Temari explained things to Shikamaru and Naruto.

"First off," Gaara said, "Temari and I will do the actual cleansing, Shikamaru you need to help with Kankuro who records the process."

"I have a question," Naruto interrupted, Gaara sighed, however he did look towards the blond with his eyebrow raised, waiting for the question. "Why do you film it?"

"So we can one day be famous." Kankuro laughed.

Gaara rolled his eyes at Kankuro and explained, "Its so that we can latter go over the tape and see how we did and evaluate what we need to work on, also it allows us to have documentation of the process."

"Yeah," Temari added, "Gaara goes into a kind of trance and with it on film we can try to help him if he needs it."

"You mean to say that Gaara does this alone?" Shikamaru said.

"Yeah…" Temari said, "I help by going in the next room and using the salt and chalk then he comes in, and does his thing."

"So am I with Temari or Gaara?"

"You will be with me." Gaara said.

Kankuro and Temari both looked at Gaara in astonishment. "What do you mean?" Temari asked for the two siblings.

"He is my bait." Gaara said, "The spirit has connected with Naruto, and if he is with you, then the spirit will be with you, I need the spirit to be where I go."

"I don't like this…" Shikamaru said.

"It's okay Shikamaru." Naruto said, "I will be fine."

Shikamaru and Gaara seemed to have a silent staring contest, in which Shikamaru was trying to convey that if anything happened to Naruto, then Shikamaru would murder the red head, and Gaara was trying to convey that Naruto would indeed be safe with him.

"Besides," Naruto ignored the way the two were glaring at one another, "Gaara has kept me safe this long…"

"True…" Kankuro said.

Shikamaru looked away and grumbled something about he should be the one to keep his best friend safe.

"Well anyway," Naruto said, "What do I do other than what Kankuro said earlier?"

"You just stay with me." Gaara said as he glared at Kankuro once more.

"So what happens if things start to get weird?"

"Not if," Kankuro said, "When."

"What the hell!" Shikamaru exclaimed.

"It's not that bad." Temari said, "The worse thing that has happened since Gaara started to cleanse homes is that time when the spirit was upset and broke all the windows. Causing glass to shatter everywhere."

"Well if that's all…" Shikamaru was being sarcastic.

"No one will get hurt." Gaara said firmly.

In the pit of Naruto's stomach, butterflies were starting to flutter at Gaara's words. Something was urging him to flee the place and never look back. He just couldn't do that though, if he did then he would be a coward, and one thing that Naruto was not; was a coward.

It was like Gaara was speaking prophetically, and even though it soothed Naruto some what, he still felt the strong urge to flee the place.

Shikamaru nodded his head and said, "Fine. I guess if you feel that no one will get hurt I will be fine with that."

"You two care deeply for one another don't you?" Temari asked.

"He is like the brother I never knew I wanted."

"Aw…" Temari smiled.

Naruto grinned, "He can't help but be in love with me."

"Lets get serious now." Kankuro said to change the subject.

Gaara sat down on the wing chair and looked thoughtfully around the room. "We start in here…"

"Front to back?" Temari asked.

"Yeah." Gaara pulled out the sage, "Lets get started. You two help Shikamaru, I will explain and help Naruto. Go on…"

Kankuro grabbed his camera and handed one to Shikamaru before walking out towards the next room. Temari picked up the chalk and salt and started to pour a line of salt at all the entrances to the library, before using the chalk to draw some symbols on the frames over the doors and windows.

Naruto watched as Gaara used a lighter from inside his pants to burn a small section of the sage, with his eyes closed, he moved his hand that was holding the smoldering sage and moved around the room; never once opening his eyes.

Something stirred within Naruto, as if what he was seeing was something that he had seen before. How could it be? This was the first time he had met the red head wasn't it? Shaking his head to clear the thoughts about Gaara, Naruto noticed a slight chill in the room, it felt as if someone was walking through him.

It was unusual, however, Naruto knew to keep quiet. He just watched as Gaara did his thing.

It was maybe twenty minutes later when they were upstairs in the hall that Naruto could hear a soft moaning sound as if someone was in pain. For some reason, tears threatened to flow from his eyes, absently he wiped at his eyes while straining to hear better. The sound was coming from his bedroom, he was sure of it. The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end as he reached out to the door and touched the solid wood. Nothing unusual about the door, it was slightly warm to the touch, and underneath his fingertips he could feel the paint that was starting to peel.

He was about to remove his hand when a chill went through him nearly suffocating him. He felt as if he could not move, he even tried to force his hand away from the door that was rapidly dropping in temperature to no avail. The frame of the door started to ooze blood, the metallic smell nearly causing Naruto to gag.

"Gaara…"

"I see it too…" Gaara said before Naruto could explain any more.

With his hand literally stuck to the door, Naruto wanted to scream as the house shook as if a earthquake had hit. His fingertips were going numb from how icy the door was becoming, with his other hand he tried to pry his caught hand free.

When Gaara touched his caught arm, Naruto was able to move it away. To which he promptly did so and was rewarded with a bone chilling scream that echoed and reverberated throughout the house. In different parts of the house glass shattered and furniture was being thrown around.

"I think we made it mad…" Naruto mumbled.

Gaara nodded his head. He would save Naruto's room for later.

With each room that Gaara cleansed, the house became more violent, once they were done with Hinata's room and bathroom though, it calmed somewhat.

"What are you doing?" the voice startled Naruto.

Glancing behind him, he saw a spirit, not the usual one that he saw, it was a older woman with a man next to her, they looked like the parents from the portrait.

"I am so sorry…" the man bowed his head.

"Please go before she gets even stronger…" the woman seemed upset.

"What happened here?" Naruto couldn't help but want to know.

"It was our fault…" the man said. "Our daughters were spoiled, they all fell in love with the same boy, a friend of the family. He liked them all, yet he fell in love with someone else, our oldest daughter was devastated and took her grief out on her two sisters." he looked at the wall next to Naruto's bedroom door. "We found her sitting right here holding a knife in her hands, a gun at her feet, blood was all around. Not hers though, it was her sisters blood. When we went to approach her, she went to attack us, I had to do it, I picked up the gun and as she was about to stab my wife, I shot her. Not a fetal shot, it was in her shoulder, she turned and looked at me and I could see it in her eyes, nothing of the vivacious daughter was left, she was already dead inside. When she laughed it made me cringe. That's when she took the knife she held and plunged it into herself with as much force as she could. As she did, she stumbled and fell backwards from the stairs, coming to land in the foyer all twisted and dead."

"We then realized what had happened and tried to cover it up, we buried the girls in the cellar." the woman added as the man seemed to break down from recalling it all, "Please give them a proper burial." Naruto realized that they were both beginning to fade, as if what they said was freeing them from this plane of existence.

"We will." Gaara solemnly vowed.

The house seemed to calm sown slightly and tears were now flowing freely down Naruto's cheeks. Absently he wiped them away.

With the house now calmer, Naruto and Gaara went from room to room cleansing them. Gaara was positive that it was working when they went back to Naruto's room and could feel the absence of any malevolent spirit.

All of them met up at the door leading to the cellar. Shikamaru looked slightly frazzled, Kankuro seemed pleased and Temari was documenting something in a notebook.

"The bodies are in here." Gaara said as his hand touched the doorknob.

"How do you know?" Shikamaru was skeptic.

"We were told." Gaara said exasperated.

All Shikamaru did was nod his head and watch as Gaara opened the door. The smell was stronger here, it was now reminiscent of something rotting, like the smell of earth and a underlying smell of blood.

Naruto followed Gaara down into the cellar, this time the others followed as well.

"It sure is creepy down here." Kankuro commented.

"Do you feel it?" Temari asked, "The pressure is rising." she went back to writing something in the notebook before continuing on down.

"What's that mean?" Naruto asked about Temari's comment.

"Just that this is the epicenter." Gaara answered for his sister.

"The bodies are down here after all." Naruto nodded his head.

"Brace yourself." Gaara said as a gust of putrid air rushed towards them.

"What the hell…" Shikamaru was shaken, he grabbed the railing next to him and would have fallen if not for the wood support, as it was the wood did nearly snap with the force of air pushing him back towards the top of the stairs.

Once the feeling had gone, it left a chill in the air, as if the temperature had dropped twenty degrees.

Naruto approached Gaara and wanted to grab the red heads hand, however he just stood next to him.

"Why are you just standing here?" Shikamaru inquired.

"We need to communicate with the spirits." Gaara replied. "We need to help release them so that they can move on towards the light."

Naruto nodded his head and acted like he knew exactly what was going on, in reality he knew next to nothing.

For nearly five minutes no sound was heard; then in all the silence a scream echoed off the damp basement walls. Naruto looked up and saw three women shimmering in the room over in the corner, near where Hinata had been. The woman in front had a look of pure hatred, the other two were the ones that seemed to be in terror.

Gaara was about to say something when it seemed for Naruto that time stood still. He knew it hadn't, it just seemed that way, as if the spirits had somehow stopped time. Not hearing anything around him, Naruto stepped away from Gaara and headed towards the three spirits, tears were freely flowing from his light blue eyes now, and he didn't know why he was crying, he just felt a deep aching sadness that began in the pit of his stomach and traveled up to his throat. The spirits were saying something to him, he couldn't hear them though. First one touched him, he fell down to his knees. In his heart he promised to find the bodies of them and give them proper closure, as he was thinking this the one that had touched him seemed to smile gently at him before fading away, then the other one touched him.

More sadness enveloped him, they had died too young, never having lived all their life, all because some jealousy that was unfounded. His hand reached down to the floor that was more hard soil than anything, and he clenched his hand, digging his fingers into the hard soil. As this spirit too faded, he looked up and was staring at the last spirit straight in the face. This spirit was not really wanting comfort, this one seemed to be contemplating Naruto, wanting to tear him apart and smother him with love all at the same time.

Gulping, Naruto doubled over as if in pain, he felt so much misery that it seemed to tear right through him. The little amount of food that he had in his stomach seemed to want to come back up, and he had to swallow a few times to keep it down. He felt so cold that he started to shiver.

A hand touched his shoulder, he didn't know who's it was, just that it was comforting.

As if from a great distance, a voice broke through his thoughts, "Naruto, are you okay?"

All Naruto could do was nod his head, taking in a deep breath, he was about to get up when a force pulled him. It was not a gentle one like before, it was a demanding one, a feeling of being pulled that made him want to scream from the pain. It felt as if his insides were being pulled apart. One arm covered his abdomen while the other hand clawed at the hard dirt ground, trying desperately to stop the feeling of being torn. As quickly as it started, it seemed to fade. He was left alone shivering in the corner. Looking around, Naruto saw Gaara where he had been prior, next to him was the others.

They all looked at Naruto with shock and a touch of fear.

"What just happened?" Naruto shakily asked. He got up to stand and a force knocked him back down. Looking around, Naruto didn't see anything that had made him sit back down.

"Stay there." Gaara said, he slowly approached and mumbled something under his breath, when he was next to Naruto, he cautiously helped Naruto up without looking at the blond. Naruto observed Gaara, he stayed by his side and watched as Gaara wove some sort of spell with his mumbled words, the red head moved his arm in the area that seemed to hold the last spirit, spreading the burning sage to permeate the air.

It was a good thing Naruto was there, for Gaara collapsed in back, and Naruto caught him. With a sigh, Naruto knew it was finally over, all that was left in the house was the scent of burning sage and a empty feeling. With help from Kankuro and Shikamaru, the three of them carried Gaara up the stairs with Temari following closely.

A/N: I have one more chapter for this story, sorry if you wanted a lemon, not in this story, in the next one though. At the end of the next chapter, I will have a preview of the sequel. Please review and let me know what I could do better, as for all the ones that have reviewed, thank you and I just want to let you know that they are food for the muse.