AN: Rewrite of am old story. I'm sorry I'm reposting it, but some thing just had to be fixed. Anyway, the plot is kinda lame, characters are kinda out of character, but I still think the fic is fine – especially considering it was my first longish one-shot.

Fresh baked chocolate cookies for Delfina23 for being her usual awesome self and helping me make this story better!

A Ghost Story

I like this neighborhood; I like living here. The house I live in at the moment is not mine; it belongs to this old writer, Jiraiya, who was once a good friend of my father's. He felt responsible for me, I guess, and so he offered me the use of his house while he was away. I live here free of charge and got a teaching job nearby. It was a good deal; I could afford to say no, but like this, my budget improved significantly. The neighborhood was nice and quiet, and the house had a small pool in the back yard, not that I care about things like that.

The only annoying thing was that the house next door seemed virtually incapable of keeping residents for more than three or four months at a time. I moved in six months ago myself, and the house was sold once during that time already. But other neighbors had complained about it to me . . . a lot.

Anyway, I wasn't very surprised when I came home one evening to see a group of movers unloading a truck of fancy furniture and boxes into the house next door. I slowed my pace for a better view, to try to see my new neighbors. When I almost passed the gate, someone tapped my shoulder and made me look away from a well-muscled, nineteen-year-old boy. It was probably for the best.

"This way," the person said.

I won't say that I lost my breath when I saw him or something overly romantic like that, because that's corny and I don't really remember it that well anyway. He was pretty, though. Not simply good looking, but downright beautiful. And judging by his commanding voice and elegant clothes, he was my new neighbor.

"Um, actually, I live over there," I told him, pointing.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the box in my hands. Sure it looked like I could be one of his workers, but he didn't really think that I was trying to steal something from him, right? Why would I do that?

Never mind, I'm sick and tired of people doing this to me. I'm not in high school anymore. Not that I ever did anything wrong back then, either. I'm not a kleptomaniac just because I grew up in the orphanage. He'll be the one that has to apologize for this; I had no intention of explaining myself.

I pushed the box full of papers I had brought home with me to grade into his hand and smiled, not meeting his eyes.

"Uh, I think this is yours. It," I paused as if trying to think of what to say next, "It fell down and I picked it up."

He took the box and left me in the middle of the sidewalk without another word. What a bastard!

And what was with those loose pants? I couldn't even check out his ass!

I barely managed to close the door behind me and take my shoes off when the bell rang. It was my new neighbor, of course. I straightened out my face into what I hoped was a cool, unaffected position and opened the door.

"Hi."

He was not pleased with my trick, not at all. I was a bit afraid to let him into the house; that glare could set fire to Jiraiya's curtains. And I would be the one to pay for them.

He didn't answer, so I asked, "Do you need a cup of sugar?"

"What?"

"No?" Happy I got a reaction, I persisted, "What then, flour? Are you making cookies?"

"Are you insane?" He glowered at me. I opened my mouth to tell him that no, I wasn't, but he stopped me by raising a couple of fingers from where he was holding my box of papers. "Never mind; just shut up. What is this?"

"A box," I said, innocently. After all, it was the truth.

He had missed that I, in fact, had answered instead of shutting up. "It's not mine. Why did you give it to me?"

So you'd come to knock on my door?

"Oh, that. Because you practically accused me of stealing it from you and I wanted you to see for yourself that I didn't."

He cocked his head slightly. "I never said such thing."

"Um," I offered, because he really never did say it. "I was hoping you'd grade the papers for me." It was a statement, but it sounded more like a question, or a plea. Not having to read those papers would be so great right now.

A dry 'huh' was the only answer. Not a way impressed people would react, so I kept on trying.

"I wanted to invite you over but you weren't acting very friendly?" It was definitely a question now. My effort was rewarded this time. He answered.

"Then move away so I can come in."

"Er." Yes, it wasn't super cool of me to stand there wanting to hit my head against a wall to chase out the stupidity, I know, but I liked him quite a bit already and my house was not . . . very neat, at the moment.

Ah, well, first impressions were overrated anyway. I sighed and moved away from the doorstep. "Just try not to burn anything."

I remembered that I hadn't shared my concern about Jiraiya's curtains with my new neighbor only after he gave me yet another 'you're unstable, right?' look.

"So, what's your name?" I asked, trying to be polite and pleasant, and compensate for the babbling. "I'm Naruto."

He pushed the door of my kitchen closed with his foot in a swift move that would have made anyone else awkward. As he let himself in I followed just in time to see an angle of the box ripping sideways when it hit the floor. "You are a teacher?"

"Yes."

"In elementary school?" It seemed like he'd skimmed through the papers. I found myself even more curious of this guy.

"Yes."

"Do you live here alone?"

He'd never answered the question I asked him, though, which wasn't nice. "Am I on a quiz show? Are you my host? Someone should've told me. I would've dressed up."

He glanced up at me from where he was trying to grab something from behind my couch. Who does that, anyway; walks into other people's houses and picks up things from the floor? Does he know what could be stuck back there?

"You'll pass," he finally said and I saw the thing in his hands. It was just a cushion, thank God. It could have been dirty underwear or the remainder of some three weeks-old take-out. "Do you live alone?"

"No. I live with my boyfriend. He's a martial arts specialist, and he'll kill you with a really small knife if you try to rape me." It's always better to keep the 'I'm gay' thing clear from the beginning. People sometimes feel insulted when they find out later, especially in the nice little suburban areas.

"It's not a rape if you're willing."

I almost laughed in relief. It wasn't, he was right, regardless at just how offensive that sounded. I also didn't have a boyfriend at the moment. So I was quite free to take that as an offer, and jump him.

I had to find out his name first, though. It was only proper. "Can I make it up?"

"What?"

"If you're not going to tell me your name," I explained patiently, "Can I make up something and call you that?"

"I need to go." He said instead of giving me an answer, and walked past me back to the hallway. I followed, bemused. When he was already on the other side of the threshold, he turned a bit and said, "Sasuke. You can call me that."

The door clicked shut before I could think of anything to say.

***

Now, I know how this will sound, but I've never used that telescope before. It's not even mine, it's Jiraiya's. But that evening, I was just bored, sick of essays and out of ramen. So I decided to check up on my new neighbor.

The telescope was in the back of the closet, I left it there so I wouldn't have to dust it all the time. As soon as I managed to assemble it, I turned the light off and fixed it in its old place, next to the window of my guest room that looked right into the main bedroom of Sasuke's house.

He was not there, of course. It was still too early, so I made myself comfortable, and waited.

I need to tell you this, because I am sure you're wondering: no, I had no guilty conscience about my intentions. I was fairly certain he would be living alone, from what I picked up on peering through the windows the entire afternoon. I had no bad intentions, anyway. My intention was to just take a good, free look, without having to hide the reaction.

Sasuke walked into his bedroom around midnight. The sudden glow of light seeping out of the glass snapped me out of my nap, and while he was fetching something from one of the many boxes on the floor, I examined his room. Nice furniture. There were some paintings waiting to be hung on the wall, and most of the bed was in full view, right across the window. The curtains were not up yet, so he couldn't shut them, but I expected him to at least turn the light off before he started changing. He didn't.

I know I should have stopped watching as soon as he started to unbutton his shirt. I couldn't make myself do it, though. I couldn't even make myself try seriously. I have no real excuse; I just wanted to see him naked.

And Sasuke was in the best possible position for it. His back was turned to me, but at the same time, I could see him up front from a certain angle in the mirror. He took his clothes off at a perfect pace. I managed to see every detail, yet didn't have to wait forever for it.

He was apparently one of those people that slept just in their boxers also, because that was all he had on him when he went to the door to turn the light off. With one hand on the switch, Sasuke turned and, looking back through the window in my direction, smirked.

I literally jumped back and fell over the telescope case, flat on my ass. That freaky bastard! He knew all along!

It would have been so easy to change in the bathroom, but he didn't. He knew. And he, what, gave me a show on purpose? The thought sped up my breathing. I was already turned on, of course; I couldn't watch someone like Sasuke take his clothes off and not react. But, if he did that on purpose . . . for me . . . Good God, I need a shower.

I left the telescope there, still facing Sasuke's now dark window. There was no way I wouldn't try again the next night.

No, I will not recount every little detail of my shower that night. But I never would have fallen asleep without a really long and intense one. I will say this, though; near the end of it, the only thing in front of my eyes was that little smirk he gave me.

***

Sasuke was waiting for me in the morning, I swear. What else would he be doing on his porch that early?

"Naruto," he said as a way of greeting, voice cold and serious.

"Sasuke," I answered in the same manner. He was leaning on the fence. "How was your first night in the new house?"

He tilted his head a little, and I cursed inwardly. Why am I unable to think before speaking? Instead of making sure the exchange went nowhere near the thing that happened last night, I presented him with a convenient introduction, in case he wanted to… say things.

"Hmm. You know that feeling like someone is watching you? I couldn't get rid of it for quite some time last night."

I think I was standing in the middle of my front yard, watching over the fence where Sasuke was standing calmly, for at least four minutes, gaping at him. His expression never changed, and his eyes never left mine.

In the end, I choked out, "Must be your nerves. New place and everything." Walking away swiftly, I raised my voice, just in case Sasuke had something else to add. "I've got to go. See you around!"

Embarrassed? Yes, I was. But if he minded it, he would have said something more . . . direct. Even if I failed to catch that smirk from the night before, I'd know from this conversation that he knew. And if he didn't mind . . . then I was definitely going to be using my telescope again that night.

***

It took Sasuke five days to put curtains on his windows. Even though the thick, gray ones he'd put up in the study on the first floor had not been pulled apart once since they had found their place, the set on his bedroom window was always open. I considered it invitation enough.

I refused to touch myself while watching. It felt dirty and ungrateful somehow, as if I would be wasting a thoughtful gift instead of really enjoying it. And it's not as though I would forget a single detail to relive later.

On Tuesday, something caught my eye from his basement. While Sasuke was upstairs calmly undressing, someone turned the light on down there. I pointed the telescope there, regretfully, but too curious not to. There was no one there – or at least, no one I could see through the small window.

My first thought was that it must be burglars. I almost stood up, fully intending to go over there and drag them outside by their necks, when I realized that if someone had broken inside to steal they wouldn't have turned the light on. And that they would never break in the first place when the house was obviously not empty, with the windows of the bedroom and attached bathroom vividly bright.

Then it came to me. Of course, Sasuke brought someone over just to play around with me! Maybe he looked cranky or bored all the time, but he'd been treating this entire thing until now like a game of some sort. It was very possible he was trying to make me actually admit what I was doing every night.

Happy with that explanation, I ignored it when the light went off again and focused on my little private show.

Sasuke had never bothered to acknowledge me after the first night, but that was fine. Considering the roles we had adopted for this game, it was completely up to him just how far we would go. If he just wanted to know that someone would be there to be impressed with the way he looked, without pushing him to give more than he wanted to, then it was fine. I could do that. I could be very patient, given the proper motivation.

We never even talked again, aside from occasional brusque greetings when we both happened to be in front of our houses at the same time. I loved his voice, though. It was slightly melodic, even if it was always half a breath too low and rough before a pause or at the end of a sentence. It was like he unconsciously demanded people to stop and listen well, if they had a wish to listen at all.

On Wednesday, the light in the basement turned on and off a couple of times during Sasuke's strip dance. Well, okay, he wasn't really dancing. But with minimal skill he could have been earning a fortune, believe me. He was that fit.

The point is, the winking of the light in his house was annoying. It was designed to be like that, I know, so I would snap and ask Sasuke about it. And he could then rub it in my face that I'd been spying on him while he was changing. Annoying or not, he wouldn't be getting that satisfaction.

By Friday, the light was flickering on every two and a half seconds.

I ignored it. Stubborn would be the word if someone were looking for one to describe me. I gazed at the lighted window in front of me and occasionally rubbed my eyes, to get rid of the ache. Aside from that, it was evening as usual.

***

The doorbell woke me up. I glanced at the alarm clock next to my bed. It was two-twenty four in the morning. I sighed and staggered down the hallway to open the door, hoping it wasn't anything serious.

"I have a ghost in my house." Sasuke said before I even saw that it was him on my porch. He was wearing a . . . kimono, I think. It was something that served like a bathrobe or a housecoat, and it looked eastern, anyway. I tried not to check if he had something on underneath.

Well, just, not very hard.

Still distracted with the sight, I grumbled, "Shouldn't you be going to your girlfriend if you're afraid of sleeping alone? Or your boyfriend?"

"Now is really not a good time for you to question me about my sexual preferences," Sasuke said, and pushed me from the door so he could come inside.

His appearance at my doorstep in the middle of the night was surprising enough to chase away the last of the sleep out of my head, but I had to work in the morning. "To one of your friends' houses? To the neighbors that don't have to deal with twenty ten year-olds first thing in the morning?"

"If you can hang out of the window until midnight every night, you can spare some time for this." Sasuke dismissed my complaint, and repeated, probably in case I hadn't heard it the first time around, "I have a ghost in my house."

When he turned the light on in the kitchen and served himself a glass of water, I was able to take a closer look. He seemed tired.

Automatically, like I would say 'no, you're not allowed to stick a piece of chalk up your nose' to one of my children, I informed him, "There are no such things as ghosts."

Sasuke glared at my patronizing tone. "Humph. One of those nonexistent ghosts is making a mess of my house. In my bedroom! It pulled up my blanket, and it had a cold mouth . . ." Sasuke trailed off and glanced in the direction of the door, as if he believed his ghost was following him.

Was this some kind of joke? Was I supposed to fall for it? Or was he completely insane? I tried to act sympathetic, so I forced out, absolutely not snickering, "Yeah, cold mouth. That can be a real bitch."

He looked at me as if I was the insane one, dead serious and angry. "Has all that ramen you've been eating finally fused with your brain? Are you in any condition to think at all?"

"Ramen goes in stomach, not the head," I informed him cheerfully. "But, really, I understand. Someone once went down on me with his mouth full of ice, it was very . . ."

"You are an idiot," Sasuke said with absolute conviction in his voice. "That is not an answer."

Still unable to get the grin off my face, I reminded him. "Your question was rhetorical."

"Let me ask you a real one, then." Sasuke glared at me as if I had missed the point out of all the things he had said tonight, but I hadn't. "I have a ghost in my house. What am I supposed to do?"

The point was, he shouldn't have known about me and my ramen. Was he watching me in turn? Did he install a camera while I wasn't at home? Or was he going through my garbage?

Phew, that's disgusting! I hope he wore gloves if he was doing that!

"How should I know? I've never had a ghost," I said finally. I was far from convinced he had one either, but if he needed an excuse to come into my house in the middle of the night, then so be it.

A bit more relaxed now that had I accepted the conversation, Sasuke said, "I don't know. Did the people who lived here before ever complain?"

"Not to me," I said, truthfully; and then it hit me. "But they lived here only for about two months or so. We never had a chance to get to know each other well."

"Hn." Sasuke fixed his eyes on me. "Are you sure they didn't move out because of the bad neighborhood?"

I wanted to say 'Are you suggesting I've been watching a sixty year-old, married couple in their matrimonial bed? You sick bastard! But that would be admitting culpability in what I did with him, so instead, I asked politely, "Are you suggesting I'm a bad neighbor?"

"Not to me, you're not. I'm quite tolerant."

Tolerant? He was quite an exhibitionist, that's what he was. I wanted to make things clear; I was not some fucking pervert.

"I've never done that before, you bastard," I told him. He smirked and seemed amused, very amused. Oh, damn. I kept on talking, so he couldn't say anything. "What makes you think you have a ghost?"

"Noise. I can hear someone laughing in the middle of the night, and . . . jumping around the basement. I think. And did I mention the part where something incorporeal pulled my covers off and tried to give me a blow job?"

"Yes, you did." I nodded, seriously. "Also, lights on and off randomly in your basement is an obvious sign that the house is haunted."

"What?" Sasuke looked surprised, like, really surprised. Just looking at his face gave me goose bumps. Was it possible he didn't know about it? Because I doubt he would bother to sound so surprised after he'd referred to the entire voyeur thing several times already.

"Maybe there's a homeless guy crashing in your basement and stealing your food when you're asleep," I offered, more to calm my nerves then anything. "And he decided to pay you the only way he could. Have you checked?"

"You mean," Sasuke gave me the dry look people usually give while talking about the intelligence of obvious morons. "Was I crazy enough to go to the basement, a place I believe is the epicenter of paranormal activities in my house, all alone?" I raised an eyebrow, so he had no choice but to finish. "Of course not. And the ghost is a girl. What was that about the lights?"

Not easily distracted, huh? Ah, well.

"Uh," I said, for this was a bit awkward. "Sometimes, the light in your basement switches on and off. When I'm . . . pretty sure you're nowhere near it."

He glared at me again. "And you never thought you should mention it to me?"

What was my reason not to again? "I thought it was just some house guest of yours."

That answer had obviously not been enough to make him happy, but Sasuke seemed willing to overlook for now. It might have been the odd circumstance that made him feel like sharing, but I was still surprised when he said, "The entire point of me moving out of my brother's house was so I didn't have house guests."

That was interesting. I should ask him more about it, when he was in a better mood. For now . . .

"So it's the uninvited kind, maybe? Like, a really bold homeless person, as I mentioned before? It's April, you know. Still too cold to sleep out in a box."

"No homeless person would have a reason to laugh the way I've heard, even if she's eating my food," Sasuke said and shivered a bit. Holy God, he actually looked a little . . . scared. Not just freaked, but really on the edge.

Not knowing what else to do, I suggested, "You know what? You should call the police tomorrow."

That was a mistake. One that made him angry again.

"What can the police do about a ghost?!" Sasuke snapped at me. "Do they have a Ghostbusters department these days?"

"Why are you so stuck on that stupid idea?" I snapped back, but it was too late. I was kind of starting to believe him. "There are no such things as ghosts!"

In the next second, he was in my face. "No? Then you won't mind going back to my house to check it out, right?"

Of course I would mind! "It's three in the morning! I want to go back to sleep!"

"So do I!" Sasuke yelled, and I finally understood. He was too afraid to go back home. I mean, no wonder, it must be awful to think there was something sneaking around the house all the time. I don't think I would be able to sleep like that.

"You can sleep here," I offered suddenly. Am I a good neighbor or what? And maybe a joke is in order, to ease the mess. "Um, but I don't have extra bed sheets."

Sasuke looked around, as if measuring whether or not my house was good enough for him. Then he let out a sigh. "Yes, I guess I can do that. I can move out tomorrow."

What? No! He couldn't do that! Aside from the whole stupid, ghost thing, he was really good looking, and smart – and an exhibitionist to the bone. I liked him. I liked him a lot. Not wanting him to move out, I tried to point out lamely, "I still think it's a homeless guy. Or a homeless girl. It's worth checking it out, before you do anything rash."

Sasuke smirked, looking more tired than up for a challenge. "Let's go, then, and check it out."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

Oh, fine. If that would make him feel better, I'd go back to his house with him. Even if there was a ghost, she hadn't hurt him or the previous neighbors in all this time. So maybe I wouldn't die from just taking a look either.

I glanced down at myself; I was still in my pajama bottoms and sleeveless shirt. "Fine. Just give me a minute to change."

Sasuke regarded me with his eyes narrowed. "It's not that cold."

"I'll be back in a minute." I told him, climbing up the stairs. And then I joked, "I bet it's not as easy to get scared of ghosts when you're wearing something manly."

"I bet it's very hard to get scared at all when you are a complete moron," Sasuke retorted after several moments while I gathered my clothes from my bedroom floor. He had followed me there, so I decided to change somewhere more private.

"Would you stop insulting me?" I demanded, loudly, when the bathroom door closed behind me. "I'm doing you a favor here."

He waited for me to come out before answering, probably so he could see my face. "You're returning my favor. The one I paid you when I didn't call the police on you."

Was he for real? "Oh, please. You would never call the police when it was as much your benefit as mine. Pervert."

We were halfway down the stairs when Sasuke halted to give me a bewildered look. Kind of, but not quite, detached, he said, "Says the guy with the telescope."

Going out through the door, I glanced back at him to give him a smile. "I'm not a pervert. I just like you."

He snapped his mouth shut at that.

***

"There is a snake on your door step."

It was a rather small, black snake. She was laying curled up, watching the two of us shivering in Sasuke's front yard from the chilly spring night and eerie atmosphere. The wind was cold but gentle; the movement of the air just strong enough to chatter high in the treetops.

"Bad omen," Sasuke declared, voice grave to match his expression. "I'm not sleeping here."

"Of course not." I said. "But the snake is not a bad omen. You've been watching too much television." It was kind of weird, though. From all the houses in the neighborhood, how come the snake found this particular one to . . . visit?

"I don't watch television at all. Is it poisonous?"

"The television?" I asked puzzled. Sasuke glared at me sidewise, so I rewound the conversation in my head. "Oh, the snake. How should I know?"

"You're a teacher." He reminded me. As if I could forget twenty children waiting to make my life hell in the morning. "You are supposed to know about snakes."

Right, because suburban kids have to know everything there is about them. And anyway, what did he think I was, a Biology teacher? What kind of logic was that? I intoned, "I know that snakes are worshiped in India. In Christianity they are linked to . . . bad, bad things. Evil beings and such. The shedding of scales is called moulting."

"That's very helpful." Sasuke answered dryly. "We'll take the back door."

I think the snake wasn't poisonous because it didn't look very disappointed when we turned around the corner. But considering everything else that had happened that night, I wasn't taking the chance.

"So what do you say to the kids when they ask you about snakes?" Sasuke questioned me. He didn't sound curious, so it was most likely for the sake of conversation. That was just fine. Silence was making me uneasy, too.

I answered, trying to sound like I did in the classroom, "If you ever see a snake on your doorstep, children, go around and use the back door. What else would I say?"

"Clever, aren't you?" Sasuke's wry voice was in perfect harmony with the circumstances.

"As a fox," I answered, solemnly, and almost burst into laughter as my eyes landed on the back door of his house. "You have a crow sitting in front of your back door."

"Shit," Sasuke cursed. The bird made a peculiar sound in response. Oh, maybe it wasn't peculiar per se, but it was a very creepy thing to hear in the middle of a quiet night. "What's next? A bear in my kitchen?"

He picked up a stone and threw it in the general direction of the bird, but it stood its ground.

Sasuke went to reap a branch from the cute, little maple tree that, tonight, looked nothing short of disturbing, its crown trembling against the poorly lit sky.

I needed to talk, even if it was about something pointless. It made me feel better. "Not a bear. Bears are nice and fluffy. Something more horror movie-ish." We needed to fulfill some stereotypes, after all. Since this house was not Victorian at all in style, at least the animals involved could be typical.

"A wolf," I suggested. And then I had a brilliant idea. "Or a giant tomato."

"Huh," Sasuke said, the little not-quite-word very natural for him. "That doesn't sound so bad."

It sounded worse than bear in the kitchen, in my opinion. "You're not afraid of wolfs?"

"I meant the other part. Tomato. It's just a plant."

Not in the movie I had seen a few nights ago, it wasn't. I really didn't want Sasuke to fall into my arms shaking in fear over a tomato, of all things; not when we were in the middle of a ghost hunt, so I kept quiet. It was much more fun to watch him chase the crow with the branch anyway. It almost made me laugh.

It wasn't as much fun when the bird slipped away from him and attacked me instead. She came swooping down on me a couple of times, with claws and beak both trying to reach my eyes. Damn scary, that was. I tried to protect my face with one arm and to chase her away with the other, but I couldn't see anything. My elbow hurt, she must have scored through the cloth there and hit skin.

Then someone – Sasuke, of course – grabbed me around by my shirt and pushed me inside, through the door that was now open.

"This was not a very good idea," I said, my voice shaking. "How are we going to get out?"

"The same way," Sasuke answered. "We'll just arm ourselves."

He was still holding me and I was quite grateful for that. I'm sure he also smelled good, but I was not aware of that at the time. I do remember his kimono robe was made from some nice, soft material. His hands were icy; I could feel them through the jumper.

"I hope you keep a firearm here. Or, hopefully, an assortment of really big guns. I want to make some holes in the head of that bird." Yes, I was a bit angry. The damned bird had given me quite a fright. "Why did she attack me? You were the one chasing her."

Sasuke smirked, but it was strained. "It's your blonde hair. She was jealous."

"Yeah, she was apparently also jealous of my big, beautiful, blue eyes since she tried to dig them up." The alliteration was not on purpose, and it made the sentence awkward.

"Are you hurt?" Sasuke asked, looking carefully into my eyes, as if he was trying to check that they really were big and blue . . . and beautiful.

"Not much. Go get anything you think you need with you for tonight so we can get away from here. Far away. Preferably to China." But I winced at the pain in my elbow and rubbed at it.

He ignored my babbling out long-term plans, took my arm and examined it, frowning. I had my first opportunity to take a close look at him, so that's exactly what I did. Fuck all the crazy birds and the ghosts if they were watching! And also the grueling pain that was making my sight dim.

He was about my age, maybe a little older, a little taller. Dark hair, dark eyes – though I knew all that already. He had long, black eyelashes and fair skin. Then there were the very kissable lips, soft and plush. He raised his head and we shared a look.

You know, the look – one of those that people share right before they kiss. Eyes locked, a perfect understanding filling the air between us, and so on . . . I licked my lips. Sasuke shifted closer, leaning us both against the door. I could feel him; he was warm despite the light material of the kimono. I wasn't really turned on or anything, just comfortable, but when I felt his breath on my face and our noses brushed, I had to inhale sharply anyway.

Then, the stomping started.

Sasuke moved away from me and instead grabbed my arm to haul me out of the kitchen. My heart was pounding, but I wasn't sure if it had been from the almost kiss or the noise. I demanded to know, though I didn't really want to hear the answer, "What is that?"

"Your homeless guy." Sasuke managed to sound dry even while walking briskly. "You should go to the basement and say hi."

"Um, no thanks." If it was making that much noise by banging in the wall, then I would be toast from the first hit – if ghosts could hit people. "That noise is from the basement?"

"Yes. She's usually giggling all over the house, but the stomping always comes from the basement."

I halted in the middle of the stairwell, forcing him to turn to me. "Sasuke, how long has this been happening?"

He licked his lips quickly, frowning a little, before hauling me further up. "Since Tuesday."

That's when the lights had started, too. I can't believe he lived with this for three and a half nights; I would've been in China by now, or on Mars. The noise was very loud; we were on the second floor now, but the entire house was booming with it. I hadn't managed to see the entrance of his basement in all the hurry, but the noise sounded as if someone was hammering on a thick metal door down there.

It stopped when we walked into his bedroom. The adrenaline in my blood never allowed me to take a good look, but it felt vaguely strange to actually be inside.

"Go and fetch the blue dressing case from the bathroom." Sasuke commanded. He had already opened the top drawer of his night table. I was a little curious what was that he needed from it, but now was not the time for snooping around. This house was really creepy inside even though almost all the lights were on, or maybe, exactly because of it.

"Why did you leave the lights on?" I asked, still preferring every kind of conversation to the silence in which you can hear ethereal beings tiptoeing around so they can jump you from the back. God, that thought made me scan the space behind me. "I don't think ghosts are afraid of it."

"I didn't." Sasuke answered, with his nose still low. "Except the one in the hall."

It was a bit too late to take the question back, no matter how much I wanted to. I went into the bathroom, trying not to think about the lights. Luckily, the case had been left in plain sight, on top of the brand new washing machine, so I grabbed it. From the room behind me, the one where I had left Sasuke in all alone, I heard the giggling. He was right, I was thought while rushing back into his bedroom. The ghost really is a girl.

Sasuke was standing awkwardly, his back against the wall and one leg hooked over the night table. His arms were both up in the air, some cloth, presumingly from the drawer, in them. He was looking down, eyes wide and afraid.

"Sasuke?" I questioned. My voice was odd, high-pitched. Sasuke glanced back at me and then quickly at the mirror on my left. I followed the gaze and froze, every atom of my body on the edge of panicking.

On the floor in front of Sasuke, a girl was kneeling. I could see her clearly; she was not at all transparent in the refection from the mirror. I know that I was thinking about how a ghost could have pink hair, but by that point my mind was floating around, on the edge of hysterics. A short, red dress was splayed around her and she was looking up, at Sasuke. The angle was all wrong, but I could still see her expression.

It was full of adoration.

"She is in love with you," I whispered, half scared, half in awe.

They both turned to meet my eyes in the mirror. The girl made a single and swift stride to the bathroom door I was leaning against before I was able to even blink. The silver surface of the mirror started to turn into ice at the edges. Cold air was dancing on my face and I could feel my nose bleeding.

Somehow, I managed to tear my eyes from her reflection, frantic, and search for her in front of me, where she was supposed to be. I was almost surprised when I actually found her, tall enough not to make me bend my head to meet her stare.

There was very little left from the cute fifteen year-old girl she looked to have been in life. The lovely pink hair was parched; looking as if it hadn't been combed for decades. Her face was the one of a corpse, dry and hideous, wearing the expression of a passionate lunatic with intent to kill.

Me, I should add, with the intent to kill me.

My whole world went black.

***

The first words out of my mouth when I . . . uh, regained my senses were, "Where are the crows?!"

It was maybe odd after meeting a scary ghost face-to-face, to dream about crows attacking me but I had been. There had been millions of them, more than enough to blacken the entire sky, and every one waiting for its turn to try and dig my eyes out. Sasuke must have been crouching in front of me because as soon as I opened my eyes, he grabbed my hands and pulled me up to my feet.

"You're such a girl." He told me, not letting go. "I can't believe you fainted."

"Hey!" I answered, feeling embarrassed despite everything. "She was trying to kill me!"

Much like he had done when we were climbing upstairs, Sasuke grabbed me at my wrist, dragged me out in the hall and down the stairs. I let him, enjoying the solid touch. And besides, the house was so dark now; I would've probably lost him somewhere along the way otherwise.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked. I was grateful for the sound of his voice in the dark. "I've been living here for weeks. She's never tried to kill me yet."

"Somehow, I believe you," I muttered, not in the mood for that conversation right then. But hopefully, if the time for explanations came later and we had survived to see it, I would see just how aware he was of the worship there had been on the face of that girl.

"Back door?" Sasuke asked me rather pointlessly when we were already in the kitchen.

"You promised me weapons," I reminded him, in case he had forgotten about the crazy crow outside. I certainly hadn't.

"Here," he said. Only then did I notice the long bag he was wearing over his shoulder. "I'm afraid my assortment contains martial arts weaponry only. You'll have to dig a hole if you want one in the head of that bird."

I looked in the bag. It was full of very strange things.

"This is a bunch of sticks," I complained, wondering what I was supposed to do with them. Play baseball, maybe? "Don't you have a sword or something?"

Sasuke glanced back at me. "Do you know how to use a sword?"

What the hell? Of course I knew. I rationalized, "Like a big knife, only with the both hands." It's easy. I went through quite a few plastic ones as a kid. I used to sell all my dinners to this fat guy I shared my room with, Chouji, and buy swords with the money."

"Right," Sasuke said, unconvinced. "Take this and try not to hurt yourself."

He pushed a small curved staff in my hands and stood up. I felt like pouting but my mind went blank when Sasuke unsheathed the sword in his hand in one swift and graceful move. On my knees in front of him, still holding the bag, I suddenly understood perfectly just how the ghost-girl had been feeling earlier. But she had better not try to get close him again. Next time she would come across some violent resistance from my side.

"What is this?" I asked, indicating the staff-like weapon in my hands. My voice was shaking. Though why, exactly, I wasn't sure.

"Boken. It's a wooden sword, for practice." Sasuke was getting ready to open the door and I finally scrambled up on my feet. "Tell me you're not going to faint again."

Bah, I'll never live that down. A specter of colorful explanations and descriptions was blooming in my head, but I just growled at him, because now wasn't the time. "I won't faint, you bastard."

He smirked shortly and opened the door. I had a fair moment to understand that he was trying to clear both our minds with that harmless banter, before he closed the kitchen door again.

I blinked as he looked back at me. "There is a flock of crows out there."

"Can't you," I swung my – weapon, to demonstrate what I meant. "Can't you slice them or something?"

Sasuke pursed his lips for a moment in irritation. "Maybe the first twenty. Not all of them."

First twenty? Just how many of them were out there? Maybe my nightmare hadn't really been a nightmare. Maybe it had been a premonition. Suddenly, I didn't really want to go out, not even with the prospect of my very own, safe house waiting to welcome me back.

But I didn't want to stay in the haunted house with that crazy ghost. She'd kill me at least fifty times before sunrise. I took a deep breath, hoping that the extra oxygen would clear my mind.

"A window?" Sasuke suggested, beating me to it. I nodded, and we both headed for the room that was nearest and facing my house.

The window in the study was big enough. I absently wondered if there was a nest of snakes at the front door as I grabbed the handle. For a moment, I was just holding it, not realizing why it hurt, before I realized that the handle was scorching hot. My hand was an ugly red mess, and the pain was intense. That was the third or fourth time I had got hurt that evening.

"Fuck it all," Sasuke said, rather calmly in my opinion, while I was still hissing in pain and trying to make my breath as cool as possible while blowing it on my injury. He picked up his fancy black computer chair and swung it through the closed window glass.

It worked. The glass broke, spraying the room with small sharp bits, and covering the two of us as well. I'm just glad Sasuke had waited for me to get to the other side of the room while still clutching my hand or the burn would have been the least of my worries.

Maybe it was because I was hurt, but Sasuke nudged me to go through the window first. I didn't complain, I just wanted to get the fuck out of that place. But I waited until he was outside as well before starting to walk away. The cool night air felt good on my hand, and on my head. But I was more than happy to also feel Sasuke close by my side, to hear him walking just as fast as I was.

Now the other side of my front door, inside my house, it felt safe. The light I had left on was obediently still glaring down at me, startlingly vivid. I didn't want it off, because it was illuminating every angle of the hallway clearly.

Not wanting to go all the way upstairs, I used my kitchen sink to cool the burn on my palm. It was already fading, so I didn't wrap it in anything. In the living room, Sasuke was sitting on my couch, with his hands gathered under his chin. He was watching me darkly; with the look I think meant he was worried, so I offered him a smile before taking the free space next to him.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked finally, when I already started to drift off from the relief and his warmth at my side. "It was never like that before."

I wondered what it had been like for the people who had lived in that house before him. It was quite clear, from the things Sasuke had said and what I had seen, that the ghost girl was in love with him. She was probably just trying to hold his attention, not hurt him. But she certainly didn't like it that he had brought me to the house. I wonder if she knew, if there was a way for her to know, about our little evening game.

"I don't think your ghost liked me very much," I said, suppressing the shivering.

Sasuke didn't answer. But he probably felt me shiver, because he reached behind me to tug the free end of the couch covering over me as much as it would go. His arm stayed behind me head even after he finished, so I used it to nestle closer to him, making myself comfortable. I deserved it, after all. It had been one scary night.

The second time I stared to drift off, I could feel a small brush of lips at my temple. I took it as an apology or something equally as sweet that Sasuke was probably hoping I wouldn't remember in the morning. I snuggled even closer and fell asleep.

***

The next day, both Sasuke and I made the arrangements to move out of that street. I couldn't stay in the house next door to that ghost. There was no way in hell I'd get used to her being so close. Maybe now, when she got to know me, she could manage with just following me around or something. But just thinking about it made me look over my shoulder. I had no intention to ever go back to Sasuke's old house again, but I fully intended to warn its next residents.

Sasuke had to return to his brother's house for a while. And for that first couple of weeks, he spent a lot of time at my new apartment. Later, he got one for himself, after making very sure there were no special guests already staying in it.

Of course, we kept in touch. Oh yes, we definitely kept in touch.

end