It's been a week since Saori and Kagome disappeared in front of him. He still didn't know what to think about that.
He also hasn't been able to sleep all too much lately either.
Everytime he walks into his apartment it's like someone is grabbing his throat, choking him slowly. The mirrors are still covered and he refuses to lift them. He doesn't care about his looks. If he comes across as creepy or sick then whatever.
It's a Saturday afternoon so their is no academy today. He debates on going out. Outside is blistering hot, so much so you can see the heat waves rippling on the ground. He definitely doesn't want to be out there, but he also doesn't want to be at home.
He still feals unnerved being alone at home. At night he doesn't leave any lights on, even when going to the bathroom. The feeling of being watched is more prominent after the sun goes down. He hates his apartment and wonders if the old man would let him move if he complained a lot. He also feels unnerved being outside too. Ever since Saori and Kagome left he's been seeing more strange things.
Ghastly men, women, and children wandering corners and buildings. Shadows in corners stalking about aimlessly. Pale faces and bloody images staring at nothing. Have they always been there? He didn't think he was so unobservent as to miss the images of people with wounds and shrieking voices.
He realized this week that he was the only one able to see them. There was an incident when he started talking to one of them in the middle of the village coming back from buying some groceries. He didn't know they were dead, they looked normal. No scars or blood and they didn't even wail.
The old women had dropped a heavy looking bag on the ground and Naruto ran over to help, as nobody went to help her. (Jerks) He never noticed the villagers giving him strange unnerved looks as he did so.
"Ah thank you young man." He hand quivered as she grasped the bag he handed her.
"I'm getting too old to be out in this heat anymore."
Naruto figured that was true.
"Yeah, no problem granny!"
She smiled and walked passed him.
Some of the ghosts weren't so bad. Saori, the granny (who he didn't know was dead) and some random ones he meet were kind and simply confused. They didn't hate or glare at him. Little mercies it seems.
Majority of the spirits he saw weren't so kind or indifferent.
Most would wail and scream, crying in the faces of the villagers as they passed through them. Their eyes were usually glazed over and dark in color. He stayed away from them as they were angry and hateful. He found out that the hard way when one of them noticed his eyes on them.
The spirit sprinted towards him and shrieked at his face spiting insults and hates filled words. Telling him to die and how he was unloved. He didnt want to know what made them so hateful.
The way he got rid of them was by ignoring them and appearing like he never saw them in the the first place. Sometimes it would take a while for them to get the hint. As far as he knew they couldn't hurt him.
Their were also these other ghosts he saw that he vowed to stay away from at all costs.
They smelled as rotten as they looked. Appearance wise they had a unnatural sickly hue to their skin, almost yellow. It looked like they were infected with a disease. Their eyes would be dull and faded no longer able to see what color they were. Their mouth parted open mumbling incoherent words repeatedly. Foul is the description Naruto would use for them. They had became husks, no longer human and were left in a rotting spirit.
They scared him.
He feared he may become like that too one day.
Some apparitions he noticed were able to manifest themselves and manipulate things around them better than others. Most not being able touch or really do anything. Saori and her mother were able to change the scenery completely until the end.
He frowned.
He wondered why he could see them now instead of before. What changed?
He also wondered if he should tell the Hokage about this change. As quickly as the thought came it disappeared. Would the old man even believe him? Probably not, plus he was always busy with something. It has been several months since he last seen him.
Going back to his previous thoughts of leaving the house today he wondered what should he do.
He could try a prank, but that would involve running and again too hot. It was fun, but he also didn't want to get scolded by the Hokage.
The swing at the park? Others kids may be there and the swing may not be available. He could try to play with the other kids, but last week's failure with the girls sprang into his mind.
The library was an option. Despite previous conception's Naruto does like to read and can. He likes the adventure books about heros coming to defeat the bad guy and rescue the princess. Sometimes he'll read school related books too, mostly on ninjistu and taijutsu.
The road to being a ninja is a long and hard one Naruto would come to realize.
Decision made. Now he just had to avoid the ill tempered ghosts loitering around outside.
He knew he was dead.
He remembered how he died and why, but also who he left behind. Which was depressing enough as is.
Now he was bored. He did his daily rounds in the morning of stalking his son and old friends and was wondering...what next?
What can he do?
Why is he still here?
He loves to see how his son has become a strong and good man, despite his adversity. That made death a little more bearable, knowing his son could deal with whatever came his way. He wished he was with him though now more than ever. His son was starting to spiral into depression.
He knows what that looks like.
He hopes he meets someone or makes more friends that will help him. Since he was no longer there. Turning his thoughts away from that topic, the apparition glaced around pondering his next move of the day.
Seems like fate decided to make things interesting.
A newspaper boy was going to the library to restock the papers for the afternoon, the early morning batch already gone. He followed the kid inside to see if the headline was anything interesting.
He waited until the boy had placed down the papers and leaned over the mailbox.
On the front in large bold letters read; MURDER OR ACCIDENT: Man's body found outside of Hokage tower 5:30am. No eye witnesses reported seeing any persons in area.
Strange. The tower is quite secured so the likely hood of anybody not seeing something rubbed him wrong. Sadly he couldn't read the rest of the story as it was on another page.
It's a little hard to turn a page when you know...your dead.
Maybe he could try to listen in on people in town for more information. The civilians would be more likely to gossip than the shinobi.
Plans made up for the day he turns to go back the way he came.
Someone was coming in through the door. A head of mangy unkempt blonde hair came into the building. He's seen him before around the village, but he doesn't remember him looking so terrible.
Under his blue eyes were large dark bags and his clothes had a several tears in them. He looked terrible and tired, not that he could blame him. Uzumaki Naruto has a hard life from what he has seen so far. As an Jinchuriki of the kyuubi no kitsune he was never promised a good easy life. That was forfeited the day he was born.
The Uzumaki boy roamed his eyes in the entry room looking for where to start his perusal. He noticed though with some confusion that his eyes seem to purposely skip over him, and then avoid the area all together.
Normal people don't do that.
People would typically come across as looking at him directly, but in reality be staring at the thing or person behind him. He found this out early on.
It seems that life in death was getting interesting.
He decided to hold off on his previous plans for the short moment and made his way to towards the boy who now has started walking to the fiction section.
He watched for a few minutes and at times put himself directly in front of the boy to watch his reaction. Again he avoid him with his eyes and kept trying to read the spines of the books in front of him. He shook a little bit and looked a little pale.
Maybe he should put him out of his misery. He wasn't trying to be cruel, just curious.
"Hello." He'll start off with that and see what the Jinchuriki will do.
He ignored him.
He tries again. "Hello Uzumaki-san." Maybe calling his name would spark a different reaction. It didn't disappoint.
He gasped softly and his eyes darted towards his face. Quickly realizing what he did he ducked his head and grabbed a book on the shelf. A probably didn't even read the title of.
"I know you can see me Uzumaki-san." He smiles a little to attempt to calm the boy. He was still shaking.
Still no response. He opened the book in his hand now and is sitting at the tables appearing to read it. From the way his eyes aren't moving across the pages hes not doing very well at faking it.
He sighs and goes near the set next to him. He's still standing so he able to look down at the muted blonde hair. It looks like he hasn't showered for a few days, and if he had his sense of smell he would probably smell bad.
"I had a request for you, if you would be willing to help me."
A small flinch and his head tilted a tad. He would count that as a small victory, but he hasn't won the war yet.
"The newspaper in the front entryway I would like to read more of it, but I can't move the pages." He paused and watched him.
"Would you help me?" Again he tried to give off a kind smile. His son when he was 4 once told him he had a nice one. The only true complement his child gave him before he started the academy.
It must have worked because the kid finally looked up at him still a little pale, but looking directly at his face.
He didn't respond for a minute, but then sighed realizing he wasn't going to leave right away. "I guess." He whispered.
He got up from his chair and left, coming back a minute later with a paper in tow.
He wanted to see the paper, but it was amazing to know that somebody could see him. This could be beneficial for both of them.
Naruto placed the paper of the table in front of him and spead it out to read. Sitting himself back down he looked towards him and back to the newspaper again.
"Tell me when to turn the page for you." He kept his voice low to not be heard by the librarian or other guests. Doesn't want to come across as crazy, or worse that he might be talking to something he shouldn't know about.
"Thank you Uzumaki-san, you are helping me stave off my boredom."
He nodded a little but looked confused. He waited to see if he would ask him something. After checking to see if anyone was near by he asked:
"How do you know who I am?" He sounded curious.
He debated how to answer. "I don't know you personally, but have heard and seen you in passing."
He of course knew him as the other villagers dubbed; the demon child or the fox brat. Which boils his rage inside. Nobody should be treated like that. Naruto interrupted his angry thoughts.
"Oh...Who are you then?"
The kid seems like a curious child. He smiled then and crouched in front of him putting out his hand.
"Hatake Sakumo, nice to meet you."
Naruto hesitated in bring his hand forward. He didn't expect that their hands would actually touch, but old habits die hard. Literally in his case. When their hands met Naruto shivered.
"Nice to meet you Hatake-san, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
Ah yes, maybe a relationship would be beneficial to both of them.