Kesu

Chapter 4:

The Psychic

Shinta was an outcast since he could remember. He usually wasn't someone people felt comfortable around. He felt he had a gift, though some would call it a curse. Even he had felt like it was when he was younger. Seeing people who weren't physically there. Knowing people's names before they were introduced. Even how much time they had left in their lives. Watching dark creatures flying in the skies sometimes, was the most frightening. He'd first seen one when he was ten. It was crouched on a lamppost, scribbling away in a black notebook. He'd hidden himself behind a street corner, scared half to death as it wrote down whatever it was writing. He was already used to seeing ghosts by that time, it was a normal occurrence by then, but that thing just took the cake.

The next thing he knew, a man in the crowded street fell over dead. Shinta didn't remember how he'd gotten to the man, but he'd been at the man's side not a minute later, just in time to see the creature fly away. It'd chilled him to the bone. The man still had thirty more years, but whatever that thing had done, it had killed him. Over the years, Shinta had only seen creatures similar to the first twice afterwards, but he thought that was enough for him to be wary. He'd called them Shinigami in his mind, the name just seemed appropriate.

Of course he never told anyone of what he saw anymore. Who'd believe him? They'd think he was a loon and be sent to the funny farm. No, he'd hate to be stuck in a padded room, not to mention hospital. He preferred to travel, never stuck in one place for too long. Never to have a ghost follow him if it noticed he could see it. Ghosts tended to do that. Thankfully they usually couldn't leave too far from where they died unless they haunted a particular person. But he'd only been to a hospital once in his life and he'd been six then. He'd broken his leg when he'd fallen out of the peach tree behind his old house, when his parents still gave a rats ass about him. He'd been treated well at the hospital, the nurses were nice and it'd been (if painfully) clean. But what he'd seen there had scarred him for life. The ghosts there were the most in one place that he'd ever seen in his life. Not even the most populated graveyard had this many! The mutilated transparent figures, some hardly resembling humans, had been too much for a six year old to handle. Such carnage had made him swear to never go to a hospital again.

That's why he was in a real predicament now… Well not exactly… He'd been an idiot on the way to the small village in grass country. He hadn't watched were he was going and the road on the mountainside he'd been walking on had crumbled below his feet. He'd literally thought he was going to die, but he'd escaped death with only a few broken bones at the base of the mountain. He'd been laying here for hours, actually surprised he hadn't bled to death yet. Hoping someone would come and find him, though he knew there was no way anyone would come this way. And even then, they'd probably pass him without noticing him. With his dumb luck he'd fallen inside a couple of bushes, hiding him so well the only way someone would be able to see him is if they poked around the bushes for a while.

He resisted the urge to sigh, or cry, or any other way to vent out his frustration, but the pain he felt from just breathing made his rethink doing much else. He must have broken a few ribs too along with his arm and shoulder. He wasn't sure about his legs, he couldn't even feel them anymore. The pain was starting to slowly numb his body, making him feel cold. He'd lapsed in and out of consciousness since he landed here and made him feel helpless. He couldn't even move and now there was one of those Shinigami creatures looking over him. His eyes snapped open wide, fear and shock replacing his sleepiness.

"I know this is a stupid question, but are you ok?"

Shinta blinked slowly uncomprehendingly as he saw a pair of radiant blue eye. His gazed slowly drifted to the Shinigami behind the blond before turning to the boy who didn't look that much younger than him. Maybe by a few years, not too much. He looked up at the boy's head where the red letters floating over his crown of blond hair, noticing the lack of his lifespan's presence.

"Naruto… Namikaze..?" Shinta managed to mumble drowsily as he saw the corners of his eyesight darkened. The boy gave him a confused yet surprised look, that Shinta distantly found endearing. He closed his eyes with that in mind. At least he hadn't died alone. He'd spent his whole life by himself, at least he died with someone close, even if it was a total stranger. He knew his name, Naruto Namikaze, and that was enough. As he gave into the dark world of unconsciousness, Shinta could faintly hear a dry, raspy laugh that could only be described as an insane cackle.

--A few minutes before--

"Face it, you're lost." Ryuk taunted as Naruto walked through the forest in Grass country still close to the boarder to Fire country.

"Shut up." he snapped. He knew he was lost, but did the stupid Shinigami have to rub it in?! He absentmindedly adjusted the straps of the medicine box that were digging into his shoulders as he trudged through the rugged terrain. He would have taken the path through the mountains to the next village, but the rain from last night had left it slightly unstable. He really hadn't trusted the path and chose to cut through the forest at the base of the mountain. And now… he was lost. Didn't he pass by that bush shaped like a platypus three times already? He had the itching feeling that he might be in a genjutsu…

Of course he knew he could just jump from tree to tree the ninja way and find a way out. He'd secretly kept himself physically fit the past months, making sure not to get rusty, but he wanted to appear like a normal person when he got to the village. That wouldn't happen if he was found out by ninja. He'd seen some on patrols near the boarder and wasn't sure if they were still around. He stepped over a gnarled root on the ground that threatened to trip anyone who didn't pay attention. At least he hadn't seen that before. He was just about to walk past a thick cluster of bushes when Ryuk gave one of his dry cackles. Naruto turned to the Shinigami, giving him a looked that clearly said 'what?'.

"There's a half dead human in those bushes. Let's see how you manage this 'oh great traveling medic'." Ryuk teased sarcastically. Naruto rushed to the bushes not a second after he started and started looking through the bushes. He dug through the branches for a while before he spotted some blood on some of the leaves. Searching through for a little while longer, he finally found a dark purple and swollen arm, obviously broken. Following the arm to its owner, he found a dazed looking boy, probably a bit older than himself.

He blinked as the boy's red unfocused eyes landed on Ryuk and widened in fear. He could see Ryuk? Naruto saved that information for later and decided to catch the boy's attention. He knew it was stupid to ask a question he knew the answer to already, but he'd always been used to Tamiko rushing in with professional air when faced with an injured person. Naruto was still awkward with patients, though he'd been gathering his savings from treating people as he traveled for the past month now, slowly but surely making his way from fire country to now grass country.

"Naruto…Namikaze..?" the pale boy mumbled tiredly, his breathing shallow and labored. Naruto gave him the confused look. How the guy knew his first name was a little unsettling. But his last name was Uzumaki not Namikaze. He ignored Ryuk's cackle, instead opting to help the boy who'd just passed out from his injuries. It was a wonder he'd even lasted as long at he did. These wounds weren't that fresh, the blood had already caked to his skin and dried.

He felt pain. A lot of it. Not just the 'ow, I just got a paper cut' kind of pain. It was more like a 'OW! MOTHERFUCKER!!' kind of pain. He felt like he fell of a cliff and rolled down a rocky mountainside before crashing through some tree branches and landing in some uncomfortable bushes. Oh wait, that did happen… He groaned as he swam onto the land of consciousness. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? There was a Shinigami right there…and… What the hell..?

Shinta's unbandaged left eye fluttered open, making him groan once again as the bright light over his head didn't help his headache at all. Damn sun…

"Yo! You're awake earlier than expected!" a cheery voice broke his meaningless boggled thoughts.

"Wha..?" he mumbled weakly, wincing when the bandaged gash from his hairline, over his right eye and to his cheek parallel to his nose stretched and throbbed in pain. His visible red eye searched around, taking in his surroundings- well as much as he could since he couldn't move. His gaze landed on the blond boy with blue eyes watching him with an almost foxlike grin. He looked up at the boy's name floating over his golden locks. Naruto Namikaze. Ah, that was right. Now he remembered. He'd seen the boy right before he'd passed out. He must have helped him. His gaze turned slightly wary since he still couldn't see his lifespan. What made this guy so different?

"Careful, you don't want to reopen that." Naruto advised, but Shinta had too many questions to comply. Like where did the Shinigami go? Why was he helping him? And why couldn't he see his lifespan?!

Shinta decided to examine the blond instead. He wore an orange kimono top, black hakama pants, and a white bandana folded like a headband held his longish spiky hair from his beautiful face. Shinta blushed. Where had that thought come from? Well… he did have a slightly feminine face, with the whole 'perfect complexion' thing… Shinta ended those thoughts there. Wouldn't want to weird out a total stranger now would he?

"Your arm and two of your ribs are broken, but you should be fine." Naruto continued as he checked Shinta's bandages. He'd need to change them soon. "You received minimal damage in comparison to what you could've. I saw where you must've fallen from, and I have to say anyone else would've died on their way down here. You're one lucky bastard I'll give you that." Shinta faintly thought that Naruto was probably the type who always felt the compulsion to fill all silence with mindless chatter. "Unfortunately, by the time I got to you, your wounds had already started to clot, so you'll probably have some scars."

Shinta closed his uncovered eye in acceptance since he couldn't move most of his face without upsetting the cut on his face that would most likely scar. He released a deep breath through his nose, wincing slightly when his chest throbbed painfully. "A few scars is a fair price to pay to stay alive…" Shinta mumbled hoarsely.

Naruto grinned. "Now that's the spirit." he said cheerfully before he gave Shinta some water to clear his throat. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way." he added as Shinta drank his water.

Shinta gave him a confused look, his eyes trailing back to Naruto's head to see if he'd read his name wrong. Nope, still Naruto Namikaze. Shinta faintly wondered if Naruto had changed his name, but decided it would be rude to ask. "I'm Shinta Tokino." he replied with a small friendly smile.

"Did you notice his eyes?" Ryuk asked eagerly as he bit into an apple he'd somehow found. He lay on his side lazily facing the fire, with a neat pile of apples stack up next to him.

Naruto looked across the campfire at Ryuk and raised an eyebrow. "Aside from the fact that they're red?" he asked noncommittally.

Ryuk gave a short cackle as he finished off his apple, tossed the core aside and picked another from his pile, in no hurry to answer Naruto. He stared at the shiny red apple he took from the top of his pile and decided to polish it, much to the annoyance of the blond. "Have I told you about the Shinigami Eyes?" he asked, pretending that all his concentration was on polishing his delicious apple until it was perfect.

Naruto's eyes widened, putting two and two together at what Ryuk was insinuating. "How is it even possible?" he asked. "Does he have a Death Note?"

Ryuk gave a dry cackle. "And I thought you were an idiot!" he finally bit into his apple. "Guess I did judge you too soon with that orange jumpsuit you used to wear!" he laughed.

Naruto shot him an annoyed look. "Ryuk…" he warned.

Ryuk merely cackled, finding Naruto's annoyance amusing. "I can't tell you the answer to either one of your questions. It's against the rules." he gave Naruto a shit-eating grin, letting the campfire splay shadows over his face dramatically and leaned in as if letting in on a great secret. "But I can tell you that the kid seems to have a more advanced version of my own eyes, he just hasn't unlocked it to its full potential. See it's a recessive gene that comes once every seven genera-"

Naruto shot him a sharp look. "So it's a bloodline." It wasn't a question, and Ryuk suddenly biting his apple and trying to look innocent (which only made him look guilty) only confirmed it. Naruto shot a curious look over his shoulder at the unconscious Shinta. He was breathing deeply but shallow due to his injuries. Naruto wondered if it was coincidence or fate that brought him to meet someone with the Shinigami Eyes.