Time Spents

Uninvited Guest

Death has heard some strange things in his time.

The last thoughts of the Dead are unpredictable and varied, ranging from the inane to the profound, and the simple to the complex.

Of course, there are always the mundane thoughts.

"Why me?"

"What now?"

"Is it really over?"

Those are to be expected.

Sometimes the person is lucky enough to die in their sleep, so essentially they 'wake up' dead.

They usually ask what is for breakfast. (He suspects that is a fear reflex.)

There are those that die in fear, or trauma - and their last words are usually screams.

He does his best to calm them.

Then there are the some more amusing ones.

For instance, this week there was the man who had come in from doing sweaty work outside, and grabbed the large liter bottle of water and chugged it without thinking. Unfortunately, his wife had mixed up some cleaning solution in one of the empty bottles, had left it on the counter while she went to check the mail.

His last thought was: "Well, f**k me."

Macabre, but amusing, if you are Death.

The old woman who died in her sleep took comfort knowing she had put on clean underwear - something he had heard more than once, and he wondered why mortals thought Death cared about such things.

The best this week, hands down, was the man whose last thought was: "I knew it. I always knew my goldfish would get me in the end."

That was up until a moment ago.

He had been walking down the corridor in his own home when he heard a perplexed:

"Where am I?"

He turns in shock - for who could and would drop in at Death's door, uninvited? - and there stands a shimmering image of a young woman.

Her skin is porcelain pale, her hair pink, and her eyes emerald green.

And he is just as perplexed as she looks.

"What are you doing here?" he demands.

She blinks those great, green eyes at him.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she shrugs. "I don't even know where 'here' is."

He glares at her, wondering where she could have possibly come from. He considers the translucent edges of her aura; she is not entirely insubstantial.

She looks as though she would be warm to the touch.

He frowns and speaks sharply.

"I don't know what you're doing here," he draws back, "but you are an intruder in my home. Leave."

"You seem to be forgetting the part where I just told you I don't know where I am," she returns with a barbed patience, "let alone how I got here; how on earth do you expect me to go back to... wherever it is I was... which I just realized I don't remember," she finishes in a puzzled huff.

At least that isn't so unusual. The dead often do not remember dying, or even realize that they are, in fact, dead.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"What is this place?" she counters.

"What do you remember?"

She gives him a hard look before blowing out a sigh. "I don't know," she admits. "I was...working? Yes. Working. It was a long night, I was working. I was at the lab...then..." her brows draw together as she tries to think.

"Then?" he prompts.

She shakes her head. "Then...nothing. I don't remember anything after that."

"So you are a scientist?"

"Doctor, actually," she corrects him. "Medical Researcher II if you want to get technical."

He arches one, slim, ebony brow.

"Sounds like a scientist to me."

"Scientist that got through medical school, thankyouverymuch," she retorts.

"And your name?"

"Sakura," she answers simply. "Dr. Haruno Sakura. And yours?"

He gives her a small smirk.

"I am the Dark Guardian," his obsidian eyes gleam. "You know me as Death..." he watches her eyes grow wide.

"...but you can call me Sasuke."

She returns periodically and always without preamble.

He has started extending his perception around corners, because he never knows when or where he'll run into her.

Today she is in the library, and is either oblivious to or is unfazed by his concentration on his work.

"What are you doing?"

"Culling souls," he doesn't look up as he turns a page. "What does it look like?"

"It looks like ninth grade geometry homework," she wrinkles her nose in distaste. "Either that or amateur alchemy."

"Why are you here...?"

"Sakura," she supplies. "And I thought 'Death' knew everything," she tags on defensively. "Why don't you know who I am and why don't you know how or why I got here?"

"I don't know," he returns as calmly as he is able, flicking a page in frustration.

Her eyes widen.

"That is what you are doing, isn't it?" she asks. "You're trying to figure out that out!"

"It is possible. But unlikely."

He can't see her smug smile, but he doesn't really need to.

"Now," he tilts his chin up ever so slightly. "If I could get back to work in peace?"

She plops herself down in the seat next to him. "At least let me help," she motions to the stack of books at his elbow.

He looks at her; clearly she is not leaving.

"Fine," he hands her a book with a sigh.

She settles into her work, soon losing herself in the pages as she absorbs whatever information she can.

He gets back to work, and pretends it isn't a bit less lonely when she is around.

Why do I never see anyone here?"

Her question comes like most of her questions – out of the blue and with the tilt of her head and a strangely insightful and curious look.

"Who were you expecting to see?"

"I don't know. Other souls? A big three-headed dog? A girl with a thing for pomegranates?"

"Myths. And I do not keep the souls here. I simply help them pass on."

"Pass on to where?"

"You ask too many questions."

"I'm just trying to understand," she crosses her arms. "I've never been near Death with a capital 'D' before. Who wouldn't have questions?"

"Hn," is his only answer.

"You called yourself the "Dark Guardian," she prompts. "What does that mean?"

He surprises them both by answering.

"The River of Life flows through all realms, connecting them. The Light Guardian allows souls to pass from the River into a realm, and the Dark Guardian allows them to exit the realm and re-enter the River." He shrugs. "Simple."

"So… you're Charon?"

"Another myth," he snorts. "But closer to the truth."

"So you are more like an after-lifeguard?"

Sasuke frowns because her analogy might be inelegant, but is not wholly inaccurate.

"Okay, there are other realms," she continues. "And if we return to this river of souls, we, what? Keep moving on to the next realm and getting reborn downstream?"

Not every soul enters every realm," he allows "but that is the idea, yes."

"And how long do we stay in this river?"

"As long as your soul exists."

"So why aren't you in the river?" she frowns. "What does that make this place? And if there are other realms, are there other Guardians?"

"My people have always been Guardians, and yes, there are others."

"Huh," she muses. "So we aren't on the same team."

He arches an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?"

"I spend my career saving lives. You end them."

"They end," he corrects her. "I simply collect and return them."

"Still," she quirks a smile. "You're the competition."

"You are not competition to me," his smirk is sure. "No one cheats Death - not really."

"Then why am I here?" she challenges him - she is always challenging him - with a teasing smile on her lips, but a competitive glint in her eyes. "Maybe I found a way to cheat the system. Maybe you met your match."

"I doubt that. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do."

"We'll see, Sasuke!" she calls after him.

He smiles to himself – but only because he knows she can't see.

He finds her in his kitchen, poking around in the refrigerator.

"Stop rearranging everything," he demands, hands on hips.

"Rearranging?" she asks, looking at him In confusion. "I haven't moved anything. I just wondered what Death keeps in his freezer."

"I don't have a freezer," he narrows his eyes. "I don't even have a kitchen."

Sakura looks around the room, her hand still on the open door handle. "You sure?" she asks. "Because this looks an awful lot like a kitchen to me."

"This wasn't here yesterday," he crosses his arms. "Stop rearranging my home."

"Wait…" she stops, closing the fridge. "You're saying I somehow made this appear? Because I was looking for a kitchen?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," he glowers at her. "Stop it."

"Huh," she looks around with a new appreciation. "Well that makes sense. I was surprised that you had such good taste!" Her eyes light up. "I wonder what else is in your house! Oh!" she claps, "I bet you have a game room! I am so going to kick your a*s at something!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke calls after her sharply, but it is too late. She is gone, and her laughter is echoing behind her.

Sasuke!" her voice rings from a direction in which he previously had no other rooms. "Hurry up! The game is loading!"

He smothers a sigh and if for no other reason than intellectual curiosity (perhaps these things will help him understand who she is and where she came from and why she is here and how to get her home because she is annoying) he follows after her.

He stops in the doorway and grimaces at the huge flat-screen, the comfy couch, the snacks, and the insane gaming system.

She leans over the back of the couch to hand him a controller.

"No."

"Why not?" she ignores his flat refusal, opening her eyes to an impossibly wide and innocent width, the controller dangling between her fingers. "Scared a little mortal is going to kick your eternal a*s?"

"Sakura," he can feel the ache in his jaw from clenched teeth.

"I mean, no one lives forever, so you're going to win in the end, right? Can't handle a little defeat until then?"

She blinks those great eyes at him and he has no idea why he is even entertaining the notion. He is at a loss to explain how he gets to the couch next to her, and can only assume it is some kind of witch craft.

Nothing can prepare him for the intensity with which she does battle, and he finds himself drawn more and more into the game.

"What is this hellish thing?" he asks, brows furrowed in concentration.

"Mario Kart," she knocks into his character. "And you're losing."

"You are cheating."

"I thought I couldn't cheat death," she taunts.

"You threw a banana peel at me!"

"And?"

"That is cheating!"

"Crybaby."

"What did you just-?!"

But his protest is lost as her character crosses the finish line she jumps up to punch the air in victory.

"See that?" she jerks a thumb at the screen.. "That was me. Kicking. Your. Ass."

He glowers at her, and sets his jaw in determination.

"Again," he demands, adjusting to lean forward in his seat and grip the controller more firmly. "Face me again."

"Are you going to cry about it this time?"

"Sakura," he warns, but she laughs.

"Alright, Sasuke." She guides them through the screens, and slides him a glance as the game is starting. "Just do me a favor and try and keep up this time."

She is around more often then she is not, and he finds he forgets to look for a reason.

Until the day she is standing in front of a fireplace (which hadn't been there yesterday) with her hands stretched toward the flames.

He arches an eyebrow at her and her latest augmentation to his home.

"I'm cold today," she wraps her arms around herself.

"Cold?"

"Yes," she gives a small laugh. "Weird, right?"

But she notices the small crease between his eyebrows.

"Sasuke? What is it?"

"Where do you go when you aren't here?"

She blinks twice at the question before shrugging.

"Not sure," she admits. "I just sort of fade and go somewhere else, but I don't remember anything about it when I come back here.

She watches him arrive at some decision.

"Come. We have someone to see."

"Can't I stay by the fire?" She asks hopefully. "It is warm here."

He removes a cloak from a peg on the wall and drapes it over her shoulders.

"Soft," she nuzzles into the fur.

"Manticor."

"Really?" her eyes are wide.

"No," he clasps it at her throat. "Their fur makes terrible cloaks. Too rough."

She narrows her eyes at him.

"You are teasing me."

The tilt of his lips might be playful.

"Never."

The man that opens the door blinks twice, incredulity painted in broad strokes across a friendly face and infinitely sincere blue eyes.

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be, dobe," he scoffs.

"What's going on?" he looks him up and down. "You come here, well, never? What happened?" he grins cheekily. "Someone die?"

Sasuke ignores the obvious joke (because the i***t has about a million on the theme).

"I have a problem."

"Hey," she pops her head around him, ignoring his scowl. "I'm not a 'problem.'"

Blue eyes spark with amusement.

"Don't mind him. His manners have always been s**t. I'm Naruto," he holds out a hand. "And you are?"

"Sakura," she steps around Sasuke to shake Naruto's hand. "You're warm," she gasps in surprise.

"Yeah, well," he rubs the back of his neck. "Kinda comes with the territory. We can't all be tall, dark, and brooding, you know."

"You must be the Light Guardian," she reasons.

"Hey, yeah!" he grins. "Wow," he looks over to Sasuke. "Smart and nice? Why is she hanging out with you?"

"She just showed up," Sasuke grumbles, earning an eye roll from Sakura, and a sharp look from Naruto.

"Is that a fact," he holds Sasuke's gaze for a second longer before considering Sakura again. Surprise suddenly overtakes his features.

"I remember you," he blurts.

"I get that a lot," she sighs. "It's the hair, isn't it?"

"Yeah, the hair," he laughs, "That must be it."

But Sasuke knows it is something else, even if he doesn't know what that something might be.

"So," Naruto stands a little straighter. "What's the problem?"

"I just sort of showed up here one day," Sakura fiddles with the clasp of the cape. "I don't know much about where I came from, and I don't know where I go when I leave here."

An unexpected intelligence flickers behind Naruto's eyes. "You came her under your own power?"

"I guess so?" she shrugs. "I don't know how I get here or why I leave. It's not really a decision."

"Huh," Naruto slides a glance to Sasuke. "You have any guesses?"

"No," Sakura answers for him. "He's stumped. And the weird thing is today I am cold."

Naruto eyes the cape around her shoulders with a frown. He flicks a glance to Sasuke who gives an imperceptible nod.

Taking both of her small hands into his own, Naruto envelops them both in a warm, orange glow.

She gives a happy sigh.

"That's better."

"Good," he squeezes her hands. "But where are my manners? Come inside and have something to drink."

He settles Sakura in his kitchen - which was there before she arrived - and once she is settled, he makes some excuse to take Sasuke to the side to speak.

"I don't have any answers for you," he admits, glancing over his shoulder. "Why haven't you asked any of the Shepherds? Or the Hunters?"

"I don't have time to waste with them," Sasuke scoffs.

"You could've asked the Gatekeeper," Naruto crosses his arms. "You know she will help if she can." When Sasuke makes another dismissive gesture, Naruto narrows his eyes at him. "She's disappearing from somewhere, so someone could be missing her. Someone else might be looking for her already, Sasuke," his voice is serious. "Have you thought about that?"

Sasuke holds his gaze a little longer before exhaling a reluctant sigh.

He hadn't actually.

"I will see what the Gatekeeper has to say. If she thinks it is wise, I will consult with the others."

Naruto gives a short nod, and they return to the kitchen and Sakura.

But she is gone.

Sasuke picks up the cloak and turns it over in his hands, an unidentifiable expression hovering on his face.

"Here," he hands it to Naruto. "Bring it with you when you go to her. See what she can find."

He ignores the familiar feeling of Naruto's eyes on his back as he walks out of the door and heads for home.

It is harder to ignore the pinpoints of trepidation prickling under his skin.

What do you remember about your life?"

She looks up from her book, curious.

"Nearly everything, I suppose."

When he raises his eyebrows, she elaborates.

"My parents were military so we moved around a lot. I'm an only kid and always wanted to be a doctor but never lived anywhere long enough to make friends. I spent most of my time alone and studying. I didn't really have any consistent friends until University and then Med School. Why?"

He studies her.

"Could someone be looking for you?"

She purses her lips. "I...I'm not sure. I can't remember much before I arrived here the first time, and never remember anything after I leave here. Maybe I'm not really gone to them - time is different here, isn't it?"

He inclines his head.

"I lost touch with most of my friends," she admits ruefully. "My mentor still checked on me, but I was deep into research at my new job under Chiyo."

"Your parents?"

"We go months without being in touch," she sighs. "If I really am missing back home, it is a very real possibility that they don't know it yet. But maybe when I leave here, I just wake up wherever I am and go to work. Maybe this is some weird kind of dream travel."

"Unlikely," Sasuke shakes his head. "But there is no one else?" he presses. "Perhaps if we can track someone else in your life, we can make some connections about where you belong."

"I work insanely long hours, and usually by myself," she explains. "I have seen my neighbors maybe twice in the three years I've lived in my apartment. I don't have any pets. I leave the apartment complex early and come back late, and am at the lab at all hours - sometimes without seeing a single person. I was working with some nasty samples - poisons and the like - so not many people had access to my lab."

"If you are always at work, shouldn't they notice if you aren't there?"

"They might notice if I am not at work, but I was about to go on vacation for a couple of weeks. If something happened to me after work, they might just think I am away. How much time has passed since I started showing up here?"

"Unfortunately, that isn't relevant," he grimaces. "As you noticed, time is different here - and there is no way of guessing how the time here relates to the time it is wherever you go."

"So it is possible that any of the people that might look for me, won't even think to start looking for me," she concluded.

"There is no one else?" he watches her carefully. "No husband or lover?"

"You sure you haven't met my mom?" she arches one eyebrow. "Because that sounds a lot like what she asks me all the time - except she knows I don't have a husband and is hopeful for a boyfriend.'"

"And what is your response?"

"The last relationship I had ended rather spectacularly, and I've not had the time, inclination, or motivation to start another one. I can guarantee that person isn't looking for me."

"But can you be sure?"

"Well, considering the last time I saw him, he was screwing his neighbor after complaining about how I never made time for him? And that is when I found out he had been dating her on the side for about a year - and she in turn had never heard about me? Yeah, his night got a lot uglier after that, so I'm thinking he definitely isn't looking for me, and hasn't been for a couple of years now."

He tells himself that he is pleased to have a variable stricken from the list, even as he takes note of the few names she does provide him. It isn't much to go on, but it is, at least, something.

He notices that she has been sitting very still, as if focusing on a sound just out of ear's reach.

"Sakura?"

She blinks owlishly, shifting her face toward him before her eyes follow suit. For a second something glimmers in their emerald depths but it fades again just as quickly.

"Sakura?" his voice is low and gentle. "What is it."

"I..." her eyes search his, her pink brows drawn together. "I...sorry," she gives herself a little shake. "I don't know what that was."

He notices her shaking ever so slightly, and she looks wearier than she had a moment ago. Her book sits open in her lap.

He gently closes the book before placing it on the coffee table.

"Rest. I shall keep watch."

She nods dumbly, and pulls the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

"Thanks for letting me stay," she curls into the corner of the couch. "And for staying with me."

She drifts to sleep.

Carefully, he adjusts the blanket to better cover her.

He gently brushes a long, lose strand of hair away from her face before thumbing over her cheek.

"You are welcome, Sakura."

What Sasuke told Sakura is true - he and Naruto are responsible for guiding the souls that cross into their realm into and out of the River of Life, depending on what their journey requires.

What he hadn't mentioned is that the River isn't the only way souls can enter or exit a realm.

Souls can become lost, or drift.

It is the job of the Shepherds to find and retrieve any lost souls. While Shepherds can cross realms, they usually operate in only one or two of them, maintaining the borders.

The Gatekeeper (often a Shepherd, but not always) monitors the gate that connects the realm to the others, and can return any found souls to the correct realm, bypassing the River.

Sasuke does not need to worry about making himself available to her.

While the quiet Gatekeeper does not usually solicit his company, she can find him unerringly.

She arrives with the unobtrusive grace of a moonbeam, and he is alone.

"Hinata," he acknowledges her. "It is good of you to come."

"It is my pleasure," she bows her head politely. "How can I be of help?"

"Did Naruto explain to you?"

"A little," she admits. "But he said I needed to hear everything from you."

So Sasuke explains about his peculiar, uninvited guest, and her unpredictable arrivals and departures. Hinata listens, and he knows that beyond her placid expression, a quick mind is digesting everything he tells her.

"This..." she pauses eyebrows lifted in question.

"Sakura," he supplies, her name warm and familiar on his tongue.

"Sakura," she repeats. "Sakura appears in your home, apparently having crossed into the realm, but neither you nor Naruto brought her."

"I do not know what borders she is crossing," he frowns. "I do not know where she goes when she is not here - but I cannot sense her when she leaves."

"That would seem to indicate she is crossing realms," Hinata reasons. "If she was slipping into the realm you and Naruto monitor, you'd be able to sense her there - the same thing applies if she was crossing in and out of the River."

"And she isn't crossing through the Gate," Sasuke adds, "or you would know of her."

She nods.

"So where does that leave us?"

"She must be in transition," she muses. "Between worlds. But for her to have crossed under her own power," she shakes her head. "That is something..." she searches for the word

"Impossible?"

"Special," she corrects. She hands him back the cloak Naruto had given her. "I asked a friend to try and track her. Perhaps if we can figure out where she is going, we can better understand how she is getting here."

Sasuke accepts the cloak and drapes it over his arm.

"Have you seen anything?"

"No," she shakes her head. "But I shall keep watch. Summon me when she next arrives."

Sasuke nods - he has no love for the Shepherds or the Hunters, but he respects the Gatekeeper.

She considers him a moment, clearly weighing her words.

"I asked Shino for help," she begins. "But I suspect I will need to reach out to Kiba. Perhaps you should consider consulting our other resources across the border."

"You mean my brother," he crosses his arms.

"And my cousin," she adds. "But I shall not reach out without your permission."

He sighs his reluctance.

"I shall consider it."

"No need," a familiar voice offers.

Sasuke turns slowly to look into the eyes of his older brother.

"Itachi."

"Uchiha-san," Hinata's eyes widen as she looks between the two brothers, an apology blossoming on her lips. "Sasuke, I-"

"It's alright, Hinata" Sasuke tells her, just managing to both muster what little assurance he can into his voice, and to keep from ranking his hand down his face. "I am sure my brother's being here is entirely of his own doing."

"He is right," Itachi gives her a patient smile. "I had already decided to pay a visit to my younger brother when I heard about his current... situation."

"Then," she darts looks between them before bowing her head respectfully. "I shall take my leave of you."

She is gone before either can thank her, and the brothers are left sizing one another up - Sasuke's curiosity far more cautious than Itachi's.

"Well, then," Itachi motions to Sasuke's home. "Why don't you fill me in on your problem, Little Brother."

There is a sincerity in his eyes that belies his playful tone - and it is the only thing that keeps Sasuke from sighing or muttering something sarcastic. If Itachi has come, it is of his own will, and it is for a good reason.

Itachi stops and looks around the large hearth room with the crackling fire and the worn books waiting to be read.

"My, my," he slides a look to his brother. "Been busy I see."

This time Sauske does rake a hand down his face.

"You have no idea."