Nope, still not betaed and riddled with mistakes and poor word choices.

Lest you fade here all alone

Chapter 2

Naruto was racing through the streets of Konoha like a little whirlwind, sporting a toothy grin and blue eyes sparkling with joy. He didn't even notice all the glares and whispers following him this time around, too busy rushing home, his heart swelling with happiness.

Because he had someone coming to visit him! And spend time with him! And talk to him! And cook him dinner! Just how awesome was that, 'tteabyo?!

Nearing the district where he lived, the boy started to slow down. His smile started to slowly fade until it completely vanished when he finally reached the door to his apartment, all kind of doubts rearing their ugly heads in his mind.

That stranger had no reason to come, did he? Naruto was worthless. Useless. Unwanted. The demon brat that everyone hated. Everyone. Even most of the other kids didn't want to do anything with him. Why would a ghost be any different?

Naruto burst inside, slamming the door close behind him. Without pausing, he ran through the hallway straight into his bedroom and jumped onto his bed, burying his head in the pillow. After a moment, muffled sobs shook his tiny body and he cried himself into the restless sleep.

Over an hour later, the door to the apartment opened again and another six years old Naruto walked in casually. Once he closed the door, there was a puff of smoke and an adult version of the same person stood there instead. He put the open palm on the wall, lines of chakra ink burning into its surface, and then stepped aside.

And suddenly there were two of them, with one carrying a big bag of groceries.

The newcomer looked around until his blue eyes settled on his clone. "Any trouble with Naruto's ANBU guard?"

"Nope." The clone smirked smugly. "Doesn't suspect a thing."

"Alright." The original passed the bag. "Go start the dinner."

The clone made a face at him.

Rei chuckled as he turned and walked to the bedroom. He stopped at the doorway and watched his tiny counterpart sleeping for a few minutes. The boy shifted, and the man narrowed his eyes at the wet pillow and tear streaks across the boy's cheeks.

A rightful anger ignited inside Rei, but he didn't let it leak outside, appearing as carefree as ever. If something happened, if someone hurt Naruto after he let him out of his sight, he'd obliterate that someone till they were nothing but a pile of dust. The person he was now, after everything that had happened back in his own world, he did not – could not – chose not to play around or show mercy when it came to those he decided to take under his wing. Or, well, under his tails.

Rei lowered himself on the floor next to the bed, crossing his legs, and brushed a gentle hand through the blond mop.

It took a few strokes for the young Jinchuuriki to stir. His puffy eyes fluttered open and seeing a stranger in front of him, he blinked. Then he rubbed his face and blinked again. "W-Who are you?" he asked uncertainly and, as he sat up, he shied away from the touch of the unfamiliar man, even if it didn't bring him harm.

Rei cracked a grin. "It's been, what? An hour? And you've already forgotten about me?" he teased, goodheartedly. "I said that I'll come, so here I am."

Naruto stared at him, confusion written all over his childish face. His eyes widened as he connected the dots and flicked up at the stranger's hair as yellow and bright as his own, then back to his eyes as blue as his own. "Ghost-san?"

The blond chuckled. "I never introduced myself, have I? Call me Rei," he said before motioning to himself. "And this is how I look like when not hiding under the henge."

The boy's gaze moved to his hair again.

"Yeah, Naruto, we look alike."

"…Why?"

Rei smiled. A tinge of sadness touched the edges of that smile. "Your father and I were brothers," he explained, and the six years old simply froze, holding his breath. "Half-brothers, to be precise, born from different mothers. Mine was from Uzumaki clan just like yours. So, we're family as you can get."

Naruto said nothing, utterly speechless, still as a statue, afraid even to breathe lest this dream-come-true suddenly puffed out of existence and he was hurled back into the nightmare where he had no one.

"I'm sorry that I didn't come earlier, little kit. I was very far away and while I knew that your parents passed away, this is the best I could do. But!" He flashed a wide grin. "I'm gonna look after you from now on."

The boy stared at him before his eyes shifted down, his hands absent-mindedly fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt. "E-Even if I'm just a worthless d-demon brat?" he asked in a small, subdued voice, barely above the whisper. He tensed when he heard a growl, refusing to acknowledge the tears that gathered anew.

"You are not," came a firm reply, an undertone of steel layering naturally deep soft tenor. "Worthless or useless or a demon, but an innocent child with a burden so heavy that nobody even knows how to explain it to you. Don't listen to those villagers. They're spineless cowards who'd rather live in their hateful delusions than accept the bitter truth. You're my nephew, my family, and if someone will dare to lift a hand against you, I will exterminate them all, 'ttebayo. You have my word."

Naruto watched the older blond as he rambled, an anger rolling off of him in waves. Yet, he didn't feel scared. Quite an opposite, actually, a strange sense of security and acceptance and belonging wrapped around him like a warm blanket and cared him to the world where nothing was wrong.

The man almost toppled over as the yellow blur suddenly launched himself on him. Tiny, shaking arms wrapped around his neck as the boy buried his face into the crook of it. "I have family…" he muttered, his voice muffled as he tightened his hold on the adult, afraid to let him go in case he'd disappear. "Thank you..!" he choked out and then just continued to repeat tearfully, "Thank you..! Thank you..."

A tender smile tugged at the corners of Rei's mouth. One of his hands embraced the boy to hold him in place and another stroked his head to soothe him. "Yes, you do have a family," he said softly. "We both have it now."

It took about half an hour for the young Jinchuuriki to calm down. Rei sat him back on the edge of his bed and fixed with a serious gaze. "Can you keep our meetings a secret for now, Naruto?" he asked.

The boy sniffled into his sleeve. "Why?"

"I'm not from around Konoha and I don't plan to stay here. And I doubt that the Hokage would allow us to meet if he knew." Seeing the young blond's expression twisting with horror, he put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "While I can't stay with you all the time, I'll come to visit as often as I can."

Rei was a stray without a permanent living place or allies; it would have been unreasonable to drag a child with him everywhere. Besides, just because he wasn't tied up with Konoha anymore, didn't mean that he could just whisk their Jinchuuriki away.

Naruto's face crumpled and his body sagged in defeat. Rei knew why – he had been promised the same thing too many times to make him actually believe it. There were no suitable words to convince him otherwise right now, however, the boy would see that he spoke the truth in time. "Turn around," he requested all of a sudden.

Quizzically furrowing his brow, the kid did as he was asked.

Rei blazed through a series of hand seals too fast for a normal human eye to see, then lifted his nephew's t-shirt up and laid a glowing palm on the small of his back. The black lines of chakra ink spread from where he touched it, weaving and swirling into an intricate design.

Naruto giggled. "It's tickling!"

The seal flashed blue and faded. "Oh, really?" he inquired. A mischievous grin stretched across his face as he pushed both his hands into the boy's armpits and started tickling.

Naruto writhe, trying to twist away from his tormentor, laughing. "No! No! Stop!" he pleaded between fits of rich, bright laugh, ringing off the usually somber apartment's walls.

After another few seconds of tickling, Rei decided to take pity. He sat back on the floor while the kid tried to catch his breath, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

"Rei-san?" Naruto started attentively.

"Hm?"

"Did you know my mom and dad?"

"Not as much as I'd have liked," the man confessed. "I met your dad a few times, we even fought together for a bit. I've seen your mom only once, unfortunately."

Naruto sat up, his wide eyes settling on his uncle.

There was a distinct crease of sadness and wistfulness etched onto the older blond's face. For a while, he was silent, staring somewhere beyond the physical walls, before heaving a sigh and closing his eyes. "They loved you so much, Naruto," Rei said, turning to look at the boy. "It broke their hearts to leave you and with such a heavy burden, but they didn't have any other choice. The situation was out of their control."

Naruto listened, soaking every word like a dry sponge soaked water. No one ever told him anything about his parents, not even Jiji when he asked, so he started to think that he never had them at all. That he truly was… a demon.

Rei suddenly flicked his forehead. Naruto yelped not expecting it, then glared, rubbing the offended spot, eliciting a laugh from his uncle.

"I can hear you moping," the man said cheerfully. "We can talk later. Too much and you'll get overwhelmed. Besides, the dinner should be ready anytime now."

The boy blinked. "The dinner?"

The blond raised an eyebrow. "I promised you a dinner, haven't I? And I never break my promises."

At that exact moment, another Rei strolled into the room with a shit-eating grin and announced, "Dinner's ready!"

Naruto's jaw dropped, his eyes flickering between two identical men.

"It's just a shadow clone, Naruto," the original explained as he stood, shooting a withering look at his clone when he crossed his arms with a mocking huff. "You're dismissed."

"Not fair, boss! Gobbling little Naruto all to yourself!" the clone whined, throwing his arms up in the air in his great displeasure. "I want to spend some time with him too!"

Rei rolled his eyes, dispelling the clone with a mere thought. It had been a while from the last time his own clone threw a temper tantrum. This whole returning back in time business made him feel nostalgic.

"That's so cool, 'ttebayo! Can I learn it too?! Can you teach me, please! Please! Please!"

The man looked down at the pleading dewy blue eyes with practically stars shooting out of them and almost folded. Almost. "When you're older," he promised and Naruto's expression dropped. "We'll start from the very basics. Can you already control your chakra, even a bit?"

The boy perked up at it. "Yeah!" he declared, his chest puffing in the immeasurable pride.

"Try to feel the seal that I painted on your back and then to insert some chakra into it."

Naruto scrunched his face, concentrating.

Rei felt the seal flaring almost a minute later. It was just a simple precaution, a seal that would warn him about Naruto's safety being compromised, with the addition of the modified Hiraishin formula, allowing him to flash to his nephew's side at any given moment from any part of the world.

The blond stared at his tiny counterpart, his mind reeling. He didn't remember being this capable at such a young age. Then again, he wasn't born as an incompetent idiot – considering his brilliant heritage – but lacking the right guidance and stimuli while growing up hindered the development of his intelligence a lot. No one cared enough or had time to spare to help the poor Kyuubi container, abandoning him to fend for himself and consequently sabotaging his immense potential in its infancy.

Observing this kind of neglect from the sidelines really put things into a perspective. Honestly, it was a sheer miracle that he did manage to grow up into a decent ninja and not end up crazy like Gaara.

Speaking of, he wondered if the little redhead already started his downward descent into the madness. He had to check on him soon.

"Did… Did I fail?" Naruto asked shyly, peering up at his uncle, twisting the hem of his t-shirt as his anxiety spiked.

Rei smiled kindly at him. "No, little kit," he said, ruffling his hair. "You did great. I'm proud of you."

Naruto beamed: a grin stretched from ear to ear, his eyes lit up and face brightened up, his whole being radiating a boundless delight.

"Now, come on, the dinner is getting cooler as we dawdle here," the man told him as he put arms on his shoulders and guided him out of the room and into the kitchen – out of the dark and lonely past and into the bright and happy future.

The Sunagakure was silent and peaceful under the clear night sky, a dry desert breeze picking sand dust and scattering it harmlessly around empty streets.

Rei was seated on the top of the circular building, his legs crossed, his arm resting on his knee and a chin in his palm. The wind showered him in a cloud of dust, ruffling his golden locks and his orange haori, and he closed his eyes, avoiding getting it into them.

He was too late to this party too – the story of his life. He missed sparing Gaara from the childhood trauma by several months. He hadn't been in this world for this long, so even if he had rushed here right after arrival, that wouldn't have changed anything.

Frowning in thought, Rei observed the small, hunched figure, perched on the roof few buildings away. He could sense Shukaku's malicious and corrosive chakra thrashing deep inside the boy, under the layers of his innately compassionate and warm chakra, seeping into it, tainting it.

But not yet fully contaminating it.

Gaara might have been more hardened, jaded, and probably crazier than any normal six-years-old had any right to be, but he was still six and there were childish aspects of him that had not and could not be smothered out. And that childishness is what Rei intended to work with.

Decision made, the blond grinned, jumping to his feet and moving towards the tiny counterpart of his second best friend. And, wow, tiny was the right word, because Gaara was smaller than even Naruto. He would have to rectify that as soon as possible.

First, he had to gain the kid's trust. Second, fix the faulty seal (and wasn't that an abomination, bringing shame for the Seal Art as entirety?!), so that the poor kid could get a good night's rest. Third, give him what every Jinchuuriki yearned – the feeling of being loved and needed.

Okay, Rei might be a bit biased and bitter on that particular topic. Sue him!

The man landed behind the red-haired boy without a sound and just stared at his back for a bit. He could see a slight shaking of his shoulders and hear the quiet sniffling – becoming a murderous monster wasn't a result of one night as traumatizing as it might have been. His psyche had cracks, but it was not yet broken.

"So, what a kid like you doing here in the middle of the night?" Rei finally spoke.

Gaara flinched and stumbled to his feet, almost falling from the roof in his startled rush.

The blond winced. He really should be more careful with greeting kids that were sitting on the edges high above the ground. Seriously, that was becoming plain dangerous.

The sand came to life, swirling protectively around the redhead's small frame.

Rei grinned, wide and earnest.

Gaara's teal eyes widened momentarily before they narrowed into a suspicious glare. Without uttering a word, he swung his arm forward. The sand followed the command, lurching toward the blond, ready to encompass him into a deadly sandy coffin.

The problem was that the man was not there anymore. The boy blinked in surprise, looked around the roof, but couldn't locate him. With a sigh, he let his hand drop back to his side.

"I'm Rei, by the way."

Gaara stiffened when a voice rang from behind, instantly turning around with his sand shooting to the spot on the nearby building where the stranger's voice came from, but once again finding nothing but a thin air.

"…What?" the boy whispered, confused, his sand settling down again. He scanned the empty roof in front, then the one behind with a fierce scowl.

"You must be Gaara."

The young Jinchuuriki froze – the unknown man was right there on his left. The sand rose like a tidal wave, ready to attack, to squish, to protect. He pivoted on his heel, lips pulling into a snarl, and came nose to nose with a blond who had that absurdly bright and friendly grin still stuck on his face.

"Nice to meetcha ya!" Rei said cheerfully.

Before Gaara could strike again, a big, gentle hand landed on his head and his mind screeched into a complete halt, eyes growing wide and fearful. The sand also stopped, hovering in the air above their heads.

Blue eyes softened at his reaction and the grin on the stranger's face smoothed out into a sad, knowing smile. It lasted only for a split second, because the next instant it flared like a sun. "Tag, you're it!"

And then he was gone like a gust of wind.

Rei scowled at the Uchiha compound, still undecided what to do with them. It had been three months as he arrived at this world and the whole time he spent observing the clan, creating and discarding various plans how to help them, how to keep them alive without compromising the safety of Konoha.

He was leaning towards the idea that Itachi was right by slaughtering every single member of the clan. Except Sasuke, of course, for the sole reason of loving him too much. And didn't that came to bite him in the ass later?

The blond sighed, lifting his head up to stare at the starry night sky. Naruto was tucked in for the night and Gaara received his usual hair ruffle after losing another game of tag.

The sand Jinchuuriki was coming around, slowly but surely. Rei could see it in the way his eyes brightened up every time he showed up and how his sand moved not to instantly kill him but to catch him. The blond hummed. He might allow him to do that next time he went to Suna in order to see what would happen.

Something caught his attention on the outskirts of Konoha and Rei's gaze moved towards that direction, eyes narrowing into stormy blue slits. Something very bad – evil – was transpiring there, he could feel it with every fiber of his being.

His curiosity piqued, Rei reached for the nearest beacon and flashed there without any caution whatsoever.

And stumbled upon a very curious situation.

Two ninjas with white ANBU masks held a young Konohan ninja with his arms twisted behind him, forcing him into a kneeling position in front of Danzo Shimura. That old, decrepit schmuck was gripping the prisoner's chin and had his hand positioned above his right eyeball, fingers curled like claws, ready to rip into the flesh.

Everyone's attention snapped on Rei the moment he casually materialized out of thin air.

"Uh…" the blond started eloquently, lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck. "Awkward," he coughed into his fist, then grinned sheepishly and waved at them dismissively. "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just passing by." He paused, seemingly very uncomfortable now. "Although, it appears that I walked in on you doing something, um, very naughty."

"Catch him!" Danzo ordered coldly.

A couple masked ninjas appeared, rounding the blond from both sides, but he didn't seem alarmed. On the opposite, he simply pushed his hands into pockets and tilted his head to the side – a picture of relaxed indifference.

Rei's shadow clones popped into existence without any hand seals. Two of them right behind the ROOT agents that were attacking from the sides and another behind the one on his blind spot, each with a kunai already sinking deep into their throats.

Danzo scowled. The clones dispelled even before the corpses of his subordinates hit the ground. Assessing the threat level, his lone eye glowered at the unknown man, who met his cold stare evenly but clearly amused. The blond had no visible affiliation marks on him – to a village or a clan – but his appearance was a glaring reminder of that man. A dead man without any known family members, except a small child back in the village.

The old war hawk let the teen's chin go and lowered his arm, turning to face the blond and giving him undivided attention.

Rei's gaze briefly flickered to the captured young ninja – Uchiha, he realized suddenly – and then back at the wrinkly old fart. Something in his expression shifted subtly, azure irises boring straight into Danzo, tearing through his flesh and bones and directly into his soul – the eyes of the being that dwelled on the top of the food chain, of the apex predator, staring down at the prey that really wasn't worth its time.

It sent every instinct Danzo had on high alert and he unconsciously tensed, all muscles in his body drawing taut in alarm.

The blond's already there grin stretched wider, a perfect blend of arrogance, gleeful satisfaction, and feral dominance. Because he knew of his fear.

The captured teen used the small opening in his captors' attention and twisted his right arm free, instantly spinning on his knee and kicking the ROOT agent's legs from under him. As the grip on his other arm eased, he jumped away to make a distance between him and his enemy. However, vertigo hit him in full force from a sudden movement and he stumbled.

Before Uchiha could face plant into the dust, someone caught him. Dread pooling in his gut, the teen whipped his head up to look at his new captor.

"Relax, kid, I'm on your side," Rei assured him quietly, blue eyes never leaving Danzo. "Maa, I'm gonna walk the kid home, it's way past his bedtime," he said to the old man, mouth quirked into a cheeky smirk, before giving him a mock salute. "Till the next time, naughty pervert!"

And then he was gone as abruptly as he appeared, with Uchiha in tow.

"I see you."

Danzo heard a whisper near his ear, almost ethereal, bodiless voice that sent chill down his spine. He instantly turned around, but there was no one.

Only a ghostly chuckle echoed into the night.