Author's Notes:

Heloooooooooo, everyone! It's been a while since I started any type of story, and this would be my fifth Naruto-fic! As always, life is keeping me as busy as honeybee, but I just had to write this story! For all of you who have pressed the button to read this story, I love you, guys! And I know you are in the mood for some Naruto-Ghostly-Romance! I bet I am! =3 I just love ghost stories, and well, I had to enroll myself with the many awesome writers who have written a Naruto-Ghost-Story out there! Most of you may know what would happen –since the initial plot is always the same, boy meets ghost –, but believe me, I've some twist in my head that would keep you tuned. And a million thanks to my wonderful new Beta, Fyrshi, for his edit on this story, thank you a lot! =D So, enough blabbering about stuff in the future and enjoy the first chapter, guys!
P.S: This is a ten-chapter story only, so keep on reading ~

Disclaimer: Naruto is mine! Hahahaha…lol…nah, I'm joking, I'm a penniless student who is trying to write off her sentiments into the actual Naruto series. Sorry for disappointing you, guys, but it belongs to its rightful owner, Kishimoto-chama =3. *sighs in depression*.

He was looking at a complete and utter dump! He should've known it would turn out this way! The moment her eyes had taken that evil glint to them, he should've realized he was in deep shit. Call it stupidity or ill-advised trust, but he chose to believe in her this time, telling himself that she wouldn't fuck him over like all those other times, and that she was finally acting like a best friend should. Perhaps, she was finally caring for his wellbeing and offering her services when needed. But no, Sakura chose to misinterpret the request he'd made like his former ones and fuck him over. To crush the little hope he'd build in favor of her own amusement. Naruto snorted at himself and felt his golden locks curl to the back at the hideous sight that he was forced to get used to from now on.

The young boxer at the front door slowly turned to his right and had to tell his heart not to jump out of his chest when a foreign sound reached his ears. He quickly calmed down and mentally hit himself about his rather fragile heart when he noticed that the sound was only that of the ungodly wind chimes placed on the window, for whatever crackpot reason the previous owner had in mind. Sighing at the craziness of his situation, he proceeded inside and closed the creaking door after him.

No one would disagree that he was looking at a dump, but it was his dump. And there was no way he could escape that fact.

"Besides, I've already lost all my savings on it. So even if I wanted to, there's no turning back."

The young male removed his cap, airing his blond locks for the first time since his arrival; his hair had a mind of its own and always seemed to make sure to stick up at weird angles whenever it was out of the captivity the boxer liked to call his favorite cap. Fixing his wayward hair back to its place, Uzumaki Naruto disappointedly locked the door behind him and stepped further inside his new – or rather, ancient – residence.

This was his apartment. His new home. His shelter. His supposed paradise. At this sobering thought, Naruto sighed again; there was no paradise here, only hell, and one he had to deal with his own way.

His soul was refusing to admit this, he didn't want to admit this, and as he made his way further inside, the apartment was greeting him in the most unwelcome manner he'd ever experienced in his life. Trash was on the floor – no, the floor was the trashcan –, the walls had lost their initial white color and faded to a deathly grey with black spots that he didn't know the origin of, and to top it all off, he made the grave mistake of going inside the kitchen.

Holding his breath as soon as he entered, Naruto valiantly attempted not to gag at the horrible view, and the smell…he couldn't locate the origin of it, but it was like it came from everywhere around him. As if the whole of the unhealthy, toxic place that shouldn't even qualify as a kitchen was vibrating with it, he tried his best to ignore it and dragged his clean ass out and into one of the four rooms on this filthy apartment.

By the time he'd entered the room, there really was nothing that was able to surprise him anymore, and his low expectations were not defied. The sheets were torn, as if a massacre had happened there, and the floor was in the same pathetic condition as the rest of the apartment. Disregarding the floor for the time being, Naruto pulled out a towel from one of his bags and cleaned himself a spot on the nightstand – that was on the verge of falling over – and put his precious bag on it; even if all other bags were to get dirty or ruin, this particular one had to stay clean. Grinning to himself, he discarded the heavy clothes on his body onto the dirty bed and walked out to check the other three rooms.

Okay, so he was stupid. He should have known there was a catch when the price of the place was extremely low, and the surrounding environment wasn't all that welcoming, and he should have been suspicious when his best friend came up with the suggestion, but he didn't. He acted like a complete airhead by allowing her to take advantage of his condition and laugh at his back. Not only was he penniless, he now lived in a broken-down, mold-infested apartment located in the heart of a shady neighborhood. Yes, life truly couldn't get any worse at this moment in time.

No sooner had Naruto's thoughts cross his mind did he curse them; as cruel fate would have it, a broken window fell down and died noisily, allowing it to bear its wicked teeth in a laugh that assured the blond boxer that life really could be worse. He quickly rushed to fix the shattered opening, hoping that the falling snow wouldn't add to the extensive mess on his floor.

Getting by with an old, smelly bed sheet and some nails to tack over the space, Naruto decided to call this dreadful evening a night and hit the bed. Of course, he had to ruffle through his bag for something decent to sleep on first then go achieve that simple task; needless to say, he couldn't do it very well.

Every muscle in his body was aching, and he was dead tired; the day had been a very long one since the moment he had woken up. For a start, he had an early match to hurry to the moment his eyes saw daylight, and the minute he'd finished and rushed back to his old apartment, his old landlord had rudely thrown all of his things outside and with that, he was kicked out of the only place he'd ever called home – luckily, though, he was allowed to collect his stuff quickly then get lost. And when it was like his life was in ruins, he was given the okay from his best friend, the demon Haruno Sakura, to move into his new 'home'. When the offer had been finalized and accepted, he'd transferred the entirety of his financial account to his new apartment's previous owner.

Naruto felt his breath sting from the awful smell of cement that was coming from the open windows – he wasn't sure where it came from, but he knew that if he kept on inhaling it he'd certainly die. Having zero energy in his cells, though, he chose to ignore it and just shift over to the other side in an attempt to get some shut eyes.

But…

A stray tear left his right eye at the huge prank she'd pulled on him; now all the money that his boxing was going to give him was going to be thrown into mending this dump into a place where people could actually visit and he could unashamedly call a home. He rolled over in the uncomfortable bed and tried to fall asleep again, but clearly, his organs didn't agree with his choice of sleeping arrangements. Being fed up with his failed attempts at sleep, Naruto threw the borrowed sheet he used as a blanket –since his was still coming tomorrow with the moving truck – and waltzed out of the stinking bed.

The only place that he could actually describe as both relaxing and out of this junkyard was the veranda, and it was to there he'd retreated when he pulled the coat – the one he'd taken along the way – closer around his fit body and walked outside. The scene beneath him was sickening; all his eyes could make out were half-bent street lamps, dirty pavement and drunkards hugging their beers with no care in the world. But above the hellhole he was stuck in it was a totally different story, and it made his heart wonder to see that, no matter how much the sky was snowing, or how much the clouds were gathering, he was still able to detect the faint glitter of night stars. Somehow, as always, they comforted him, silently telling him that he was strong, that he had the power to get rid of something as simple as this, that he shouldn't give up and that he should try his hardest, just like what his mother was always telling him.

Naruto felt his energetic self return with the silent comfort he was being given, and suddenly all too aware of the cold that threatened to destroy his fingers; he shivered and walked inside. As he reluctantly closed the door to the heaven that he'd discovered lurking inside the hellish dirt, Naruto made his way to his room. What lingering tendrils of comfort from the sight outside disappeared when his ears picked up on a gushing sound, and he slowly walked towards it with an anxious heart.

His brows furrowed when he saw the window that he'd mended earlier on wide open, with the nails he worked so hard into fitting in the old wood scattered on the ground and as he stared, a strong gust of air entered through the open window; causing the sound he'd heard. Naruto walked over and tried to steady the sheet once more, but to no avail, and finally, he gave up and decided to leave it like that until morning comes, so he can get some carpenter or whoever worked in the area to come and have a look at the house.

Dragging his weight, Naruto returned back to the room holding the old sheet captive and in a minute, his eyes lost all colors as his mouth let out the three startled words that conveyed the night's emotions perfectly.

"What. The. Hell?!"

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight," The pink haired female, sitting across of him on the coffee table that she'd invited him to, said in an amused tone. "All your stuff was on ground? With the insides flipped out and everything torn apart?"

"Not torn apart…" The distressed-looking blond corrected, "Ruffled. As if someone had gone through and wore all of them, then threw them to different parts of the room."

"And this happened to all of your bags? All five of them?" She raised a thin right brow at this.

Naruto sighed and took another sip from the coffee she had bought him; seeing as how he was penniless right now, he didn't even have the cash to secure some lunch, let alone coffee. "I know you don't believe me, but I'm not lying."

"I didn't say you were…but maybe it was just a dream…" She suggested. "I mean, yesterday was a very, very exhausting day for you, and you were really tired."

"I won't deny that I had been, and I've also thought of that possibility, but pinching, slapping and even sleeping on it didn't change the scattered, worn clothes from being there. I have no idea what's happening, but something's wrong!"

"Couldn't you have been pranked? By some teens or something…maybe they took a chance when you weren't in the room and just ruffled your bags to give you a scare."

"That's just not possible for multiple reasons, of which I'll mention a few. Firstly, it occurred around two A.M – who would be awake at that time to prank someone they don't even know? I also checked for mental people beforehand, and there's none I could find. Not only that, the door was locked, the whole house was locked, I even clearly remember locking the veranda behind me, and there was no way they would want to climb up to the fourth floor just to get to an old, rundown apartment like mine and prank me. There was no one there so believe me, Sakura; this wasn't the work of a human being."

She scowled, drawing her beautiful brows at him, and asked: "Then what? You don't think it's some ghost with unfinished business lurking around you now, do you?"

Naruto nodded, with a face telling her that he took everything he was about to confirm seriously, with no jokes on the table. "Yes, that's exactly what I think, because that's the only reasonable explanation for this confounding incident."

The pink haired girl sighed. "No, Naruto, that's the most unreasonable explanation. You're old enough to know that ghost, fairytales, ogres and anything imaginary is just that, imaginary. Linking a ghost to a real-life event is just plain absurd."

"Passing off something as absurd simply because you haven't seen anything is just plain absurd to me, Sakura. Besides, can you really believe that in this entire world, there's just us humans? I mean, there's bound to be another unknown species in the background, and just because we haven't come in contact with them doesn't mean they don't exist."

Upon hearing this, her frown deepened. "I blame all those silly supernatural shows you've been addicted to during your youth for your ignorance."

"Firstly, I was addicted to boxing, not supernatural shows; and secondly, you know I'm right."

"No, you're not. You're just a stupid person who can't distinguish reality from a dream and that's it."

"You still don't believe me, do you…?"

"What did you expect? You come at me with shit like this and expect me to welcome it with open arms? Grow up, Naruto."

The blond rolled his eyes at her ignorant act and stubbornly folded his arms over his chest. "Fine; if you insist on being so oblivious, how about coming with me and seeing it for yourself? I haven't touched anything, and everything is just the way I'd left it last night. Go see for yourself how that act could be performed by a human being in a mere five minutes without me noticing, especially when I'm about ten meters away."

Having nothing better to do, and wanting to prove to Naruto how stupid he was for believing in something fictional, she agreed. "Alright. It won't hurt to alert you to reality and get those silly ideas out of your head."

"Good. Let's go."

Noticing that Naruto had finished his coffee, Sakura nodded in reply, picked up her purse and, within three minutes, they were out of the cozy café. Tumbling into a cab, Naruto ordered it to hurry towards his rundown apartment, so his best friend could see the acts of the ghost that was trying to kick him out of the home he'd purchased with money he'd spent so long saving.

When they arrived in front of his apartment half an hour later, Naruto's mouth hung open from incredulous shock. He closed the door, opened it again, and then closed for the third time, checking the number on the door. Yes, this was the number on the apartment he got, and he was sure he didn't enter a different building, since there really wasn't any other building beside his around the beautiful flower shop. What in the name of boxing was going on here?!

Sakura pushed aside her freaked out friend and opened the door to the apartment that Naruto – for some reason – didn't want her to enter and when she did, her mouth stretched into a huge grin at the beautiful layout inside. Bright navy-blue wallpapers with sea bubbles decorated the sides, a clean ceramic floor with bluish shoe prints matched the bubbles exceptionally well, and what made her grin turn into an envious smile was the clean, sparkling kitchen that was making her wish she could spirit it away from Naruto.

The pink haired girl skipped through the rooms and her smile turned cheerier after she finished examining all of them. Sakura stood next to the room that had Naruto's things inside and her brows knotted together at how neat they were; none were scattered, no clothes were inside-out; in fact, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Her calm face quickly turned into an 'I-told-you-it-was-one-of-your-dreams' face, and it was directed to none other than her best friend who, again, was lost in a trance of his own at the entrance to his apartment.

"Naruto, baka, there's nothing here. Your clothes are still inside your bags, you really must've just been imagining all those things, and this is a beautiful apartment – unlike what you said earlier. You should thank me for getting it for you at such an amazing price with everything still inside it!"

At this, Naruto woke up from whatever daze he was currently stuck in, and fought to swallow past the lump that had appeared in his throat. "S-Sakura-chan…umm…t-this isn't my apartment."

"Ha–h? Have you lost it or something? That is your stuff, isn't it? You're trying to weasel out again?! Seriously, it was a dream, I was right and you were wrong, so accept it like a man!"

Naruto furiously shook his head at her and tried again. "The apartment I got into yesterday was a rundown scrapyard. I haven't told you anything about it because I was too caught up with what had happened last night, but the apartment was nothing like this. It was a place where the sight and smell would make me gag continuously!"

"Naruto, are you alright? I'm starting to worry about you."

"I'm starting to worry about myself, too. In the meantime, let's get out of here. This place needs an exorcist, because I'm definitely sure it has ghosts inside!"

Sakura didn't like what she heard, but she did as her friend had requested. It wasn't because she had believed him or anything; rather, it was because he was acting in a way that really frightened her. Maybe this place wasn't such a good idea after all, especially with all his crazy antics.

When they got down the stairs and into the front lobby, Sakura sighed as she watched Naruto leaf through his phonebook, in search of possible friends whose relatives stood a chance of being an exorcist of some sort.

"There! Didn't Hana Tori mention that her grandpa was a Zen master or something like that? She outta know some people who work as exorcist!"

"Hana Tori? That girl who had a weird infatuation with you just because you were good at boxing? You're seriously going to ask your old stalker for help?"

"It's the best option I have right now, Sakura. I can't leave my apartment for ghosts to roam about as they freaking please!"

"Did you forget the amount of trouble we went through to get her to back off?! I'm not looking for a repeat of that nightmare."

"But I have no choice here; besides, do you know of an exorcist who can drive those ghosts out then?" He pleaded, with scared eyes that added infinitely more to her worry.

Sakura walked before him and barred his way, forbidding her friend from opening a headache and instead, opted to reason with him another time. "Listen, Naruto, I'm not saying that you're wrong, or that you merely saw everything like that because you were exhausted… but why don't you sleep at my place tonight, and tomorrow we return to your apartment? If it's still lovely and nice, then you have to believe that it was merely a bad dream or a prank made by someone on your first day, but if it was as messy as you've said you found it yesterday, then we'll call an exorcist I know, who has nothing to do with that old stalker of yours."

Looking from her to his apartment, a sulking look came to reside on the blond's face. "I don't want the ghost to take over what's mine…"

"We haven't confirmed their presence just yet, you know."

"…You really think I just imagined all of that?"

"At the moment, I don't know what to think, and I don't want to jump into assumptions you might come to hate, so just come to my house and see if anything changes later on."

Looking his friend hard in the eyes, the blond sighed and slumped in defeat. "Fine. I'll go to your apartment, but not now; I need to get to the ring first, since I have some stuff to take care of."

"Oh, is this about your upcoming tournament?"

"Yeah, Sensei said I need to sign in today or I won't be able to participate."

Sakura scowled at her chronically-late friend and noted: "One of these days, being a lazy procrastinator will fuck you over. Mark my words, Uzumaki Naruto."

The blond gave her his trademark grin and hurried off in the opposite direction. Although Sakura wanted to ask him if he had anything on him, like cash –since he'd left his things in his supposedly haunted apartment – she wasn't given the chance because, as always, her dumb friend used that ungodly speed of his to disappear, like a damn ninja in a blurry fog.

Naruto sighed and tossed once more in the mellifluous bed. This was going nowhere – he couldn't sleep, his whole body ached, but still he couldn't sleep. His beautiful, blue eyes opened and he was met with the familiar view of the pink nightstand under the pink lamp with the pink curtains dancing ever so softly with the fan's air. He pulled the pink, sakura-petals-imprinted blanket away from him and sat up straight.

"I can't stay like this, I need to get back." He whispered to himself in the overly pink guest room that his friend had arranged for him and stood up.

Naruto was never a person who could sleep well in a bed that wasn't his, but he knew that, with the abnormal circumstances given to him, he had no other choice but to settle for this. It wasn't all that bad actually; just the excess usage of the color pink, which was something that he needed to learn to handle in order to survive in Sakura's guest room. He sighed and began walking. Who was he trying to fool? Staying another second in this overly girly room was out of the question – in all honesty, he'd rather deal with the ghosts, especially if it meant not staying in this guest room for another minute.

He pulled his hoodie over his head, put his jeans and sneakers quickly on his feet before checking his watch and feeling relieved that it was still nine in the evening; at least he would still be able to catch the last train if he ran. With that thought in his mind, Naruto proceeded towards the front door and, opening the door silently as not to wake his fast-asleep friend, he closed it behind him with ease.

He didn't deny the fact that he was grateful for her for her attempts to help by knocking some sense into him, but he was a boxer with a clear sense of dignity. There was no way he was going to run away from a fight, especially when this was a fight with his only apartment as the prize. Even though he hated every inch of that dump and regretted wasting a dime on it, it was still built with the money he spent years collecting, and no ghost was ever going to take that money from him!

Luckily for him, he still had money on him from the earlier fight he had participated in this afternoon, so he planned on using that to get home. Licking the tooth that threatened to fall off, Naruto grinned like a fox as he hurried through the crowds to the station. As long as he'd lived, boxing was his love. He had started it as a mean to defend himself because he had once been a weakly, cute child with girly looks, and that proved to be deadly in his neighborhood. Kids would always pick up on him, and having enough of their snickers and bullying, he begged his mother to allow him to join the karate team and gain power.

Well, that notion of his had been rejected in the first two seconds, with various silly reasons like how young he was to have his bones shatter, or how dangerous the neighborhood was to allow her only child to walk back at night from his karate lessons, and other absurd reasoning that made his five-year-old self hate his mother. However, an accident involving a group of threatened bullies slashing open his head with some nearby steel occurred, and needless to say, that final act had been the last straw that led to his mother's acknowledgement of the importance of self-defense. Finally, after a long period of denial, she was made to see the light.

However, that light became boxing rather than karate, and since he entered the sport and worked his ass off learning the basics, he knew that it wasn't all that bad. Gradually, he found himself enjoying himself more and more after each passing day, he made friends, people respected him and his looks ceased to determine who he was. It was for this reason that he'd fallen in love – in sweet, intoxicating love – with the game of the strong.

And he was strong. Stronger than some dead air trying to rob him of his only remaining home and have him stroll the streets like some homeless boxer, at any rate.

Naruto's eyes held a challenging tone to them as he was facing the door to his apartment, and with courage flowing strongly through his fire-filled nerves, he pulled out his keys and clicked open the door leading to his inner hell.

This time, the apartment was in yet another different state. It wasn't as dirty as he'd seen it the first night, or as clean as the following morning. It was in between the two varied states-well, it was more like an apartment that was deserted for a week or so, to be accurate. It was an apartment he was ready to clean up and live in, but before that could happen…

Locking the door behind him and walking inside, Naruto took a deep breath before he shouted: "You fucking ghost, get your stinking ass out this instant and let's have a decent fight! If you win, I'll leave without a second thought, but if I win, you're going to vanish and move on to wherever dead people go to! YOU HEAR ME?!"

There was no change for about five minutes, at which the blond had the momentary thought that maybe his belief about his apartment being haunted was actually just that, a belief – all this time, he'd just been harboring a silly thought that his childish mind made him conjure up to explain all those weird events, and bring up an unnecessary fight. However, before he could go off and label himself as crazy, the air around him started getting cold and, in a few seconds, it turned a faint hue of gold that had him stare unblinkingly at the new mystery that he was experiencing.

The entirety of the wide hall had turned gold and, strangely enough, his hair wasn't even comparable to its vibrancy. This was pure gold, the same color that freshly mined gold would be. His blue orbs blinked at the cold and cool mix, and he swiftly prepared himself.

"I see you're finally making an entrance, and what a grand entrance I'd say it is…"

Quickly, Naruto ran towards the room he'd placed his special bag in and smiled when he found it in the same position he'd left it the previous night. Swiftly, he rummaged through the front pocket and pulled out his special boxing wraps. Since he'd made a promise to never use his boxing gloves outside of the ring, he had reverted to using wraps made of strong, pure-white fabric that would strengthen his punches but, at the same time, not hurt his opponent too much.

Nonetheless, as he was wounding his wraps onto his hands, he wondered how much benefit it would be against a ghost. Still, as the air froze and turned gold before him again in the room, Naruto had no time to think up an answer as his body rapidly dodged the strong gust – faintly resembling the cut of a sharp sword (formed from the faint golden particles melding with the cold air) – that came towards him.

He successfully fell on top of the bed, but the gusts didn't allow him a single minute to rest as they restarted their cruel attack on him. Although Naruto was a fighter and a hell of a tough one at that, the skills he'd taken so much pride in learning were failing him against his supernatural opponent. He used shields of tiny tables and sofas around the house, but air was air and he couldn't escape it; if he could, that would be a sight all scientists in the world would want to see.

Finally, he'd had enough. There was no need to run when it wasn't helping – his ripped up clothes and the multiple cuts on his body provided enough evidence towards this sentiment– so he decided on going on the offensive, by punching the vigorous air until it didn't have anywhere to run. He knotted his brows at his own thoughts, and within seconds, a small and incredibly foolhardy plan formed inside his mind.

Since he had nothing to lose, he dodged until he reached the stove, and in a few seconds, he switched it on and started directing punches to the air around him. Using the backward force of his punches, combined with the heat radiating from the stove behind him, Naruto forced the cold air gusts that threatened him to desist attacking him and grinned in triumph when the air lost its unearthly golden hue.

"Alright! Round one's my win!" Naruto exclaimed in happiness. "Two more rounds and you're outta here!"

A dark chuckle had his bones shivering with mixed feelings and, ever so slowly, as if an old motion picture was being displayed, the faint image of a person started revealing itself to him. He swallowed hard as the apparition began attracting color and pulsating into reality and soon enough, he found himself staring at an ethereal being.

Before him stood –or rather, floated – another creature. He feared calling it human because as far as he knew, human beauty and charm could only extend so far. The being in front of him had a very pale complexion and, combined with the faintness of the air, gave it a disappearing hue. This assured Naruto that what he was seeing was truly a supernatural being, despite its deceptive human-like appearance.

With a head, a torso, an abdomen, two slender legs and long arms that ended with faint glowing fingers, the ethereal being had him mesmerized and, daring to look up at it, the blond's breath hitched. He was aware that God had created creatures with black irises, but he never knew they had the ability to swallow a person whole with their darkness, until now. Matching these startlingly dark eyes was a head of silky hair with two long bangs floating ever so gracefully on either side of the ungodly pale face, leaving Naruto in awe at their apparent lack of gravity. The ends of these bangs, though, twirled in a spike not akin to that of a duck's or chicken's tail. At this rather inappropriate thought, his mouth couldn't contain the tiny chuckle that escaped.

The floating being snorted in derision and angrily cracked a knuckle at the way the foolish human was treating him; not only did he seem completely unaffected by any of the impressive feats he'd done, he seemed to be enjoying everything that had been going on.

"I've got to admit, you sure have guts…"

Naruto emerged from his own little world when his ears picked up on a deep and manly voice coming from the being before him. As he looked up, he couldn't stop from asking for a degree of clarification to sort out the confusion he felt, now that he knew the other could speak.

"Are you human?"

"A pointless question from a retarded being isn't worth an answer."

The blond blinked when a gust of cold air hit close to his cheek; it would have sliced his head wide open had he not dodged in at the last second. It left a faint trail of blood seeping from the open wound on his cheek, which mimicked the three other whiskers he already had.

"I'll take that as a no, but then that means you're a ghost. And if you are, why are you haunting my apartment? You're already dead, right? What good would it do to have an apartment after death? It's not like you're going to be using it or anything like that."

Instead of receiving an answer to his barrage of questions, the only response Naruto got were sinfully sharp knives of air being thrown at him. Once again, he executed his plan but this time around, his stamina was running thin and his swift, fast punches were much harder to keep up and, soon enough, all he could do was dodge behind large objects and just lay low whenever a chair, a rug, an actual knife or any item of furniture in the apartment came falling down on him. If the murderous aura emanating from the creature he'd identify as a ghost wasn't enough of a hint, the blades were enough to tell him that he wasn't welcome here.

"Shit! Can you stop throwing sharp objects at me already?!" Naruto shouted from behind the sofa as a screwdriver nearly cut open his thigh. "I want to have a fair fight, and I don't want to die fighting for an apartment when I still have lots of things that I want to do!"

For a second, it seemed as if all had gone quiet; even the murderous aura behind him had settled down. Anxious at the sudden calmness in the proverbial storm, Naruto peered around the side of the sofa in an effort to check on what was happening. When he came face to face with the handsome ghost, he blinked in shock and fiercely recoiled backwards and, without meaning to, his hand fell on an upright nail. Instantly, he shrieked and snatched his hand away in pain, nursing his throbbing palm close to his chest.

"What do you wish to live for?"

His attention was instantaneously jerked from his palm to the lovely stranger at the unexpected sound of his deep voice. "Eh?"

"I don't repeat my words."

"Umm…I heard you. To answer your question… well, I want to become a pro-boxer. It's been my lifelong dream since I knew what's what so if you killed me here, I'd become a ghost too, with regrets and unfinished business. If you get in my way or kill me, I swear I'll hunt your ass down and make you experience a hell you've never experienced before for doing what you've done to me!"

The ghost stared at him and smirked amusedly. "This is a very interesting way to beg for your life."

"Who's begging, you bastard?! I simply want to have an honest fight, without anything deadly being aimed at me and without supernatural shit being used to kill me. To make things clear, I'll tell you now that the end result of this fight will also determine who gets the apartment."

"I fight with what I see fit, since there's no need for me to follow through with rules a human's made. As far as I'm concerned, this apartment belongs to me, you're trespassing and appeared unwanted here, so you're going to be treated how I see fit for someone who's intruding on what's mine."

"Yours my ass! I paid cash for this shithole and it's mine! Now, I don't know what you did when you were human, but this apartment of yours have been bought by me, I even have the lease right here! If there's someone you want to haunt, then go haunt the bastard who sold it to me!"

"Worthless objects like papers don't mean a thing to me. You're still invading what's mine."

Naruto snorted, seeing as his conversation with the ghost made him feel like he was conversing with a mountain of rocks; in fact, the mere absurdity of him even talking to a ghost was enough to make him face-palm mentally. He was sure that, if he said anything about this to his best friend, she'd do one of two things – either laugh at his inevitable descent into insanity, or immediately cart him off to a mental asylum for rehabilitation purposes.

"Then you're refusing to fight fair and square with me?"

"I can only promise that your death would be quick."

"So what's your final answer?"

When the air started turning gold, Naruto knew all discussions were put aside. He sighed and pulled something out of his right jacket pocket and, gritting his teeth, he quickly opened the bottle he'd pulled out and splashed it on the floating creature, just in time for the solid knives –now fully formed of gold particles – to fly his way, aiming straight for his heart.

As the bottle's contents took effect, he looked at the shocked eyes of the ghost lying powerlessly on the ground and, at the sight; Naruto ruffled his hair in distress. "I actually didn't want to resort to this, but you forced me to, with your killing intent and your refusal to have a fair fight."

"–How?" mouthed the incredulous ghost.

Naruto knelt down and explained. "You see, when I woke up this morning, I knew this apartment was haunted, so I took some measures, you didn't think I'd walk in defenseless, did you? I went to a monk and explained my entire situation to him, and then this," he pulled out the half empty bottle and continued, "was given to me. Seems like the water inside have been blessed by some sutras. I'm not exactly sure about what's in it, but he said it was supposed to restrict you if you were really a ghost with unfinished business, and judging from your appearance, it seemed to do the trick."

Long, faint fingers stretched towards him as the pale face furiously roared: "Will…kill..yo…u…!"

"If I were you, I'd go back on that death threat; you see, unless I chant a particular phrase, you'll forever be bound to this ground… you'll be weak for all eternity, forever robbed of the ability to move or even speak. Now, I really don't mind letting you lay here forever, but since I have a big heart, I'll give you one last chance, which you're free to either take, or refuse."

"Fuck…you."

"I see you've still retained some power," the blond started, standing up. "And well, I guess it's your loss. Stay glued to the ground for all I care. In the meantime, I'll go unpack and settle into my rightful place."

Having said that, Naruto grinned and bowed to the fuming ghost on his floor, before going off to the room his luggage was in. Since it was getting late and he was tired, he did a minimal amount of cleaning in his temporary bedroom and ignored the rest. About one in the morning, three hours after he'd started, the room was looking far more acceptable. Grinning at his achievement, he walked towards the kitchen, and checked the water, smiling when refreshingly clear water flowed serenely out the tap. The next thing on his agenda was the electricity, which clearly worked – after all, the lights had been on since he'd first entered, and they hadn't turned off since, but to be safe, he reminded himself to check the bills the next morning, since he never knew whether there might be anything wrong with it.

Passing the front hall on his way to his room, Naruto found the ghost still fixed in place and sighed as he glanced pityingly at him. "Look, I really don't want to leave you like this; you probably love this place a lot; hence your possessiveness and the refusal to hand over ownership of the place, but I promise to take really good care of it. With that in mind, you really don't need to be scared anymore, so it's fine to pass on."

A deadly glare and the ever-predictable "fuck you" was his only answer.

"Being stubborn never helped anyone, just so you know; besides, you look like you're younger than me and you probably must've died young. Well, I won't hide the fact that I feel pity for you, but I'm not charitable to the extent that I'd allow you to go on a killing rampage with me as the target. I'm kind, but I'm not that much of a fool."

"Who asked your ass for anything?! You can keep that pity and shove it up your a–!"

"Alright, alright! Geez, there's no need for foul language. Well, since we'll be here for a while, I'll introduce myself; it'd be lovely if you respond in kind, but you don't seem like you want to, so I'm not going to push it. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, twenty four-year-old, first-class boxer; though both my parents are dead, I have loads of friends. Well, nice to be living with you, I guess."

"Fuck. You."

"You really need to update your dictionary." The blond sighed, then proceeded to stand up. "I guess there's no other choice then. I'm tired and I'm going to bed, so if you need anything – not that you will, since you're a ghost and all – call me and I'll be right over."

At this, the blond bid goodnight to his captured ghost and skipped happily to his bed, leaving a very disturbed, angry and confused creature glued helplessly to his front hall's floor.

Naruto had learnt a few things concerning his ghost thanks to his observational skills. Firstly, it was clearly a male, and thus would be referred to as a 'he' from now on. Secondly, he had a temper on par with a hurricane, so he'd be dealt with calmly. Thirdly, he wasn't visible to other people besides himself –this was demonstrated by Sakura and the three movers who'd brought the rest of his things to his new apartment – so Naruto was alone in this entire mess. Lastly, the ghost was a mulish, yet attractive, being that made Naruto at a loss in regards to the specter's fate, which, sadly, he was still contemplating.

"I still don't believe it." Naruto's friend, Sabaku Gaara, muttered between gulps of water. "How is it that you have a residential ghost that nobody's noticed yet?"

"Easy, nobody can see him. For some reason, he only shows himself to me."

"And you're not scared by this?"

"Hmm…" Naruto tightened his boxing gloves methodically and shook his head. "Not really… I mean, I don't deny the shocking fright I got the first time my things were scattered all over the place, but then, when I came to terms with it, it wasn't scary. Besides, my ghost isn't scary. He's just a little feisty, like a stray cat."

"You're one weird human being, you know that?"

He grinned, starting his boxing training by punching the sandbag. "I try."

"But seriously, Naruto, don't you need to get someone to exorcise him? He's been with you for, what; five or six days now… don't you think it's best to allow him to move on, instead of keeping him hostage?"

"Actually, it's been seven days, and I'm not keeping him hostage. He's entitled to his freedom… if he agreed to my rooming conditions."

"Which are?"

"He needs to stop with this silly killing intent of his. Normally, I wouldn't mind sharing an apartment –since he's so attached to mine, I'd be fine with sharing, but I can't sleep tight knowing a ghost is after my life. So the first thing he's to do is swear that he won't do any harm to me."

Gaara frowned at the words of his professional boxing rival. "That's all? You're going to forget he's some random corpse's soul and just allow him to room in with you like it's a normal thing?"

"Normal is overrated; besides, even if he looks fierce and he's scary as hell, that ghost's still a child, probably only eighteen or so, and I can't bring myself to make a child homeless, even if he's some ethereal being. Besides, where does it say that humans and ghosts can't live cohesively?"

"Um, in every known religious book. Question is, Naruto, are you even hearing what you're saying? Not only are you seeing a ghost no one sees, you want to room together with him… seriously, are you insane?"

The blond stopped punching the bag and frowned at his friend. "Why, Gaara, you're sounding an awful lot like Sakura now. Is it that strange for me to consider helping him?"

"Helping is one thing, and allowing a vengeful spirit to live with you with free mobility to possess you at any moment is another thing entirely. You could always help him from a distance by calling a monk over or something like that."

"Nah, a monk would do shit to him I won't understand, so I won't be really helping. See, what I want to do is have him give me the apartment freely, and not by force."

"That would never happen. Seriously, have you never watched horror movies? The ghost always wins and the protagonist always dies."

"Those are movies; this is reality."

"Movies were based on reality, dumbass."

"Well, not in my reality, besides, his death threats are really funny to listen and he makes the apartment lively, so I really don't mind having him around."

Tired of the airhead's rambling and ready to fight a few bouts after his long break, Gaara stood up and hopped inside the ring. With a challenging gaze, he took hold of the sandbag Naruto was bent on smashing and said to his boxing rival.

"Your gloating time's over. Now, let's start our match."

Excited blue orbs turned to the redhead's in a silent affirmative, before the blond shouted.

"You're so on, Sabaku!"

"So, you finally agree to hear my conditions?" Naruto said, attempting to keep the happiness bottled up inside, rather than let it radiate out.

"Stop spewing unnecessary words and hurry up with it, before I beat you to death!"

The blond grinned at the death threat and leaned down, holding the long piece of sutra in his left hand. "Alright then; my first condition is this, you've got to promise that you won't kill me, hurt me or damage my hands, since the hands of a boxer are his life."

"I knew you'd pull something chicken like this."

"I'm not chicken," he continued with his bright grin, "just cautious. You still don't trust me, so until that time comes, this acts as an insurance policy of sorts for me."

The shining, bound ghost released a sound resembling an unsatisfied grunt, but complied with the other's wish with a grumbled "fine, I agree."

"Nope, you have to say, 'I promise not to hurt you in any way possible, especially your hands'."

"This is stupid. I don't go back on my words, so when I said I agree it means that I agree."

"I won't consider that to be an agreement until you say those words though, since a promise differs from a mere agreement."

Rolling his eyes at the stupidity before him, the handsome ghost grudgingly repeated: "I promise not to hurt your ass in any way possible, especially those worthless hands that can't even hit my form, let alone allow you to win a single fight against me."

"Well done, Blue-chan. Now, here's my second condition – I want you to tell me your name. Calling you Blue-chan is okay with me, but you clearly aren't a fan of the nickname I've bestowed upon you, so it would be best for the both of us to have a name to call you with."

"Enough with this nonsense; I won't obey such a senseless condition, simply because you want some peace of mind. If you insist on it, though, I'd much prefer being bound to this ground over stating my holy name to some worthless, lowly being like you!"

Naruto sighed and slumped to the ground, coming face to face with the nasty male. "Yara, yara, I knew this one would be a hard condition for you to accept, but you don't need to be that rude."

"Hmph!"

"Okay, I won't push it then, until you agree on telling me your real name, I'll call you Blue-chan instead. Once you do, I'll take it as a sign that you trust me."

"You really are stupid, you know that? It's my first time meeting an idiotic human like you."

"Well, I prefer the word 'unique' but… moving on, my third condition is easy, and I don't think you'll have any objections to it, I want you to live here with me!"

At this, Naruto found himself being stared at, as if he was an otherworldly creature, which was ironic, considering that the ghost staring at him was the otherworldly being here.

"I take back everything I've said. You're not stupid, you're unbelievably retarded. I don't know what creatures like you should be called, but you're definitely not 'human'; c'mon, are you a fucking moron? Who on earth would say something like that to a fucking ghost?! Actually, do you even realize what you're saying?!"

Naruto's golden locks shifted sideways as he tilted his head, intrigued as to why the bound ghost was so surprised at his offer. "Yes, I do. Besides, I don't see why I'm moronic for asking you to stay, since it's obvious that you really love this apartment to the point that, even after death, you refuse to part with it. Even though you've attacked me before and have issued multiple death threats to me, I can't bring myself to think that you're bad in any way, let alone some evil spirit that should be exorcised – I mean, even the light surrounding you appears as beautiful, calm and relaxing colors. You don't emit a dangerous aura anymore and you don't appear to be vengeful either, so allowing you to stay here is fine; fine for me, in any case. Besides, you're a ghost akin to air, so you won't consume water or food, you won't need sleeping quarters and I just know that having you around would be great fun!"

The skeptical look stayed resolutely on the transparent face of the handsome ghost as he muttered to the blond. "You're an idiot."

Naruto released a tired sigh and replied. "Fine; think whatever you please about me, but stay here and don't disappear while I take off your limitations"

"Hmph, I'll honor the promise I've made, and nothing else."

"That's good enough, I guess."

With a grin on his face and a sutra in his hands, Naruto started reciting the spell. It was a bumpy ride, since some words were written in kanji that was hard for him to read, but he remembered the pronunciation from the monk and, eventually, he prevailed. Once he ended his chanting, he and the creature on his floor waited for the supernatural bindings to release the latter, which they did after fifteen arduous minutes. Mentally, Naruto wondered if his unbalanced chanting was the reason for the delay, since the monk had said that the bindings would disappear when he'd uttered the last few words of the chant.

Again, like the unforgettable night he encountered the ghost, Naruto was struck with awe. Gold and blue sparks, enchanting in their beauty, danced before his eyes. No other word could describe or give justice to the sight except for beautiful, and at this thought, his mouth eased into a satisfied and blissful smile.

"What the fuck are you looking at?!"

"Nothing, nothing," He airily muttered as he rose to his feet and stretched his tired muscles before the floating teenage ghost. "Anyhow, since we'll be living together, I think it would be best to establish some initial ground rules."

"I still haven't agreed to that condition-"

"Right," Naruto continued with a smile, "since you don't need food, water or a place to sleep, the rules should be simple, so I think they'll just amount to information that I'll give you now. Firstly, I'll put up a chart which will notify you of where I'll be and if I had practice, a match, a camp or a tournament. This is so you won't get worried at my frequent disappearances–"

"Who do you think would be worried about your ass, huh?! The minute you disappear is the minute I'm taking over this apartment!"

"…Secondly, you're welcome into all of the rooms, well, except for my bedroom, since I still remember when you shuffled around my belongings; which, by the way, wasn't very nice of you."

"I'll go into any room I want. You're not the boss of me!"

Sighing for the umpteenth time, Naruto shifted his hands so that they rested on his hips in the universal sign of exasperation. "You were a problem child before you died, weren't you? Do you really need to disagree with everything I say just because you feel like it?"

"I disagree because everything you say is stupid. I don't care about you so I don't need any notifications regarding your whereabouts and I don't care about your room so I don't need to be told I shouldn't go in. Basically, I don't care about your rules because they're a load of crap!"

With that, the ghost he was trying to reason with disappeared right before his eyes, leaving a faint trail of golden dust behind. At the sudden disappearance, Naruto rubbed his forehead and frowned.

"Dear God, I seem to have stumbled face-first into yet another problem."

"Thank you very much! I'll do my best to win!"

Naruto acknowledged the older male's enthusiastically shining eyes as he responded to the man's words of encouragement. Once upon a time, he might've been unsettled by the hidden glint in the other's eyes, but he had already gotten used to it by now. In the beginning, when he was still at a rebellious stage of his life, the youth-obsessed, health-freak individual, whom he later identified as his sensei, was someone that seemed like a wackjob, but he later learnt that the elder person wasn't really such a bad person after all. Tightening the lace on his boxing gloves and shoving his mouthguard into place as he stopped himself from reminiscing too much, Naruto hopped into the ring and repeated his sensei's valuable advice to himself. With the blood in his veins pounding excitedly inside of him and with excitement burning through his system, the blond male prepared himself as the signal for his long and tiring match sounded.

Although the sharp sound of the bell was sure to herald the onslaught of fierce bouts filled with violent hits and blood-soaked spit, Naruto eased comfortably into the plan he and his mentor had strategized beforehand. The first seven bouts would consist of him being on the defense, in the hopes of tiring his opponent while maintaining a high level of energy – of course, he would employ a defense mechanism that allowed him to earn points with the judges, but his moment to shine would be in the last five rounds. Like a lion released from its cage, he would tear his opponent to pieces, and thus would demonstrate his earned nickname of 'The Red Storm' to the stern trio.

He had conducted the thought-out strategy in his mind and followed the instructions to the letter. He ducked when necessary, delivered sneaky body-rips when opportunities arose, and valiantly guarded his face when attacked… but it wasn't enough. Despite the seemingly-flawless plan he'd brought into the boxing ring, his opponent proved to be the flaw in his battle-plan, due to his bear-like body and kangaroo-like stamina. His adversary gave no openings for Naruto to exploit and, to add insult to injury, the blond was dealt a black eye during a careless moment when he'd fleetingly let his guard down because of the misconception that he was somehow 'slow'.

As the bouts continued and the all-too-short breaks were mercilessly cut short by the bell's piercing ring, Naruto attempted to stand his ground and clear his head. Although he wasn't academically gifted, his lithe body compensated for his mental incapacities – heck, Sakura had labeled him a 'ninja' when she'd seen him in action – and the blond could feel his swift advantage pulling through as the match dragged on. Allowing his fluids to surge through his energized body, Naruto pounced at his professional foe and employed the Bolo punch, which was a tricky hit that involved dropping his back hand and swiveling to give the impression that a heavy hook or a straight was approaching, before using his lead hand to land a powerful blow. In a successfully elegant maneuver that not only fooled his opponent, but earned him a loud cheer from the approving audience.

With his self-confidence reinstated by his tactical risk, Naruto steered the match back to its intended course and, utilizing the last of his stamina and speed, he landed a finishing KO, which, technically speaking, was more of a TKO than a KO. However, as his victory was announced and he collected the golden trophy, he exited the ring to loud cheers and applause from the animated crowd and was momentarily distracted from the throbbing of his black eye. As usual, his sensei flew forward to greet his rattled bones with a crushing hug, and as he rolled his blue eyes good-naturedly, the blond responded with a curt squeeze before extricating himself from the unwanted attention.

"That was more than I'd hoped for! You've grown so very strong, Naruto!" The old man exclaimed with starry and tear-filled eyes.

"Gai-sensei, I'm too tired for this today, how about we do this tomorrow?" He replied, already knowing where this little act was going.

The man with the bowl-cut shook his head and hooked Naruto's arm with his, before happily shepherding the blond to the changing room, where the assistants were coming to aid him. "There's no such thing as being too tired for a drinking party! We have to celebrate your growth and that spectacular win! What type of sensei would I be if I didn't throw a celebratory party for my excellent pupil?!"

"Um… you'd be a sane one that values my dwindling energy levels."

The voices of approval for free alcohol and chicks – which, amazingly, were acquaintances of Gai – overrode his faint voice and, like every match he'd won, Naruto was unwillingly dragged off to a drinking party that he was sure would leave its effect on his head and body the next morning.

He released a loud moan in objection, which went unnoticed in the noisy room.

"If you think I'd even lift a finger to help your drunken ass out of there then you're dreaming!"

Naruto looked with glazed, unfocused eyes at the pissed-off ghost floating ever so strikingly over his slumped body and, for no apparent reason; he started giggling like a schoolgirl in a way that made the imaginary vein inside the ghost's translucent head pop.

"You said lift a finger," an amused giggle followed, "but how will you lift a finger to touch me when you'll go straight through me anyway?!"

At this statement, the giggles turned into laughter, hysterical laughter that echoed in the solid walls of the steamy bathroom and set the unsettled ghost even more on edge. The handsome black-haired ghost was this close to breaking his promise by murdering the pathetic human who –for some unknown and very fucked-up reason – had decided that taking a bath, with an infected black eye and a dead-drunk system, was suddenly a fucking dandy idea. Not only did the ingrate scatter his clothes on the ground and jump into warm, steamy water inside the tub, he'd started calling for help in a fucking annoying voice when he ended up slipping every time he'd attempted to stand up.

"You know what, go fuck yourself!"

Unfazed by the potty-mouthed ghost and his threats, Naruto released yet another giggle. "D-Don't swear man, you look better when you don't curse."

"I don't give a flying fuck what you think about me! I'm leaving, don't think of calling me, and if you want to die, die somewhere I won't have to bother with your stupid corpse!"

The blond's blurry eyes watched the pissed-off teen vanish in a shower of golden sparkles and, even though he knew he was acting in an infuriating manner right now, Naruto just couldn't stop himself from giggling. It was due to his intolerant nature of alcohol. Once drunk, he would turn into an overly-careless and irritatingly optimistic individual that people wouldn'thesitate to strangle. And, despite his diagnosis of his drunken situation, another set of giggles forced itself past his lips.

On the other side of the cozy apartment, the bothered ghost attempted to stay calm as various noises, composed of giggles, crashes and something hard thudding on the ground, reached his highly-sensitive ears. He wasn't obligated to help – after all, there was nowhere in those three lousy conditions that stated that he needed to help when the douchebag decided that life was too much for him and he should die giggling – so he didn't need to move, float or do anything to aid him… because it simply wasn't his problem.

Just as he reassured himself of his obligatory lack towards the idiotic blond, the giggles died down and the surroundings became ominously quiet. It'd been a while since the air around him had been this quiet, three weeks, to be exact, and, in a sudden moment of understanding, the ghost realized that it'd also been three weeks since the idiot had infiltrated his life. And, in his silly way, had made it look like he was doing him a favor by asking him to room together. It was his home to begin with and the one who should ask if he should be allowed to live in the apartment or not was the annoying blond, not him. For all he cared, the other male could die and he wouldn't care, and yet…

It was justtoo damn quiet!

He floated away from the room he'd chosen to reside in and went to see what was going on; instead of feeling worried, anxious or, for that matter, any human feelings –he'd disregarded those useless emotions that fateful night – he was simply curious as to the cause that made the infuriatingly kind blond and, by extension, the boisterous racket that terrorized his life, this quiet. He needed to know, because if it was an enemy of the boxer, then he was sure to befriend it.

The sight he beheld caused him to float in wonder. It was beyond his comprehension how a grown man could get himself in such a tangled mess and, for the first time in an extremely long time, the faint pink of his lips twitched upwards in a semi-lunar curve that imitated a smile. Of course, since his heart was devoid of human emotions and his face had long forgotten how to show anything expect hatred, regret, vengeance and animosity, he was merely giving off an impression of a smile, but nonetheless, it was a valiant attempt at displaying emotion.

"I've said it millions of times, but you truly are an idiot."

His soft words went unheard as the unconscious blond continued to lay face-down, wallowing in the mixture of vomit and hair products his pathetic attempt to exit the bath had made. Gently, the enchantingly ethereal being swirled one of his fingers around and, with a startling lack of effort, the human adult was twirled around and set back into the shallow porcelain tub he'd tried so hard to get out of in the first place. Without missing a beat, a bar of soap floated to the unconscious blond and began lathering the toned body effortless, followed by a scrubbing brush, a warm stream of water and a soft towel to finish off the tanned boxer's failed bath.

The now-calm ghost directed the mop and bucket to tidy up the mess inside the bathroom and, with another thrust of his middle and index fingers, the clean blond was floated onto his bed. As the silence of the pleasant night drifted around the unresting spirit, a pang of nostalgia shot through the being as he dressed the other in his pajamas. And while he placed the boxer in, the moonlight streaming from a crack in the window, the soft glow of the lunar satellite highlighted the features of the man. Wrapped in an air of quiet acceptance, the ghost glanced down… at his roommate.

Turning away from the bed and dimming the lights, the ghost pulled the comforters over his sleeping roommate, before he whispered in a voice that only the walls and the moon heard.

"The one who rescued your stinking ass from drowning in your own vomit tonight… was your 'Blue-chan'. Just so you know, my name is Sasuke, and if you don't want to be killed by me then you'd better remember it…"

Well, that's it for now, guys! :D I'm pretty excited about this story since it's been my lifelong dream to write a Naruto-Ghost fic~ *_* so this is a dream coming true! I hope to meet with your support from now on and thanks for reading. Reviews are deeply appreciated. :D