A/N: Still I return again! Things have been absolutely crazy for me as of the last few months what with the surgeries and all, but now at long last, I feel I can devote my attentions to this fic anew as I've intended to do! Of course, now that they're not cutting me OPEN anymore to work on my heart I've also come up with a quite a few new ideas! I can promise ya'll that the next few chappys are going to be nothing short of absolutely brilliant! So sorry for the wait! There's a bit of a long author's note this time, because there are a few matters I want to address.

But I also want to bring something to your attention. I've been putting this off for a while, but this needed to be done. I have PURGED many of my older works. That's right, I've delted or adopted off many of the stories that I will no longer be continuing. Fear not, my most popular fics will remain, but most of my old stuff from back in 2008 and 2009, when I had no idea what I was doing is being all but removed from the site. Out with the old, in with the new, as they say! Still, if anyone is interested in any of my old stuff, say the word and its yours to continue. But I've held ya'll up long enough!

Now that we've addressed all those issues, I just wanted to say: Thank you. To all of you who reviewed and have yet to review, and especially those who noticed my improved writing style. You all know who you are. I look forward to hearing more from you as we continue down the strange, convulted path that is this story. I honestly cannot believe I've already gotten so many reviews for the first chapter alone, and now its so damn high I could cry with joy! Hopefully I won't dissapoint you guys!

Which brings me to my next point of interest. I'm sick. Really sick of getting flak from people for dedicating time and precious resources to my works, only to be assailed by those who are dissapointed that I'm not going to stick to canon in some of my stories. This is fanfiction, damnit!

The latest chapter of Imperfection is a prime example of this and its beginning to grate on my last nerve. So, I...say this. I'm DONE. Just, done. If ya'll don't want to read some of my works then I won't grace you with them. My health is atrocious, and I'm STILL dedicating time to this site, knowing that some like my works. But I'm sick and tirned of all the hate I've been gettingin this last year- which is seriously causing me to wonder whether I should just drop this site altogether and move on. I dunno. Maybe I just don't like it when I've devoted so much time to something and a large group of people dedicate themselves to tearing it down. Who knows?

Maybe I'm just contemplating out loud. But to any writer reading this, you probably understand where I'm coming from. It wears on the soul to not have your work appreciated, doesn't it? I know you can't please them all but this...is ridiculous. Speaking of Souls, I've just finished Beyond Two Souls atm when I thought of a cute little oneshotxcrossover. I searched on the site an it turns out that no one's bothered to do one. None in English at any rate. Lets remedy that, shall we? Spoilers ahead!

And with that...

...onto the story! =D Fair warning, there's a tiiiiiiny bit of language in this chap...and I apologize for any OOCness. Now...enjoy! And prepare to smile.

"Who are you...?

~?

First Night

Jodie didn't like this place.

She didn't understand why mummy and daddy had brought her here, why she'd had to leave home. Was it because of Aiden? She didn't understand. She didn't want to understand. She wanted to go home, to be back in her bed, to listen as her mummy read her a bedtime storry. Anything was better than this cold, unfeeling room. She wasn't alone-thanks to Aiden-but then again neither did she feel safe. Not from the dark, and not from the monsters, and certainly not from her dreams.

Fitfully, her eyes closed in sleep.

Then she felt a chill. It came out of nowhere, turning her beath to ice, and plummeting her room to a chill.

"Okay, that does it. I am officially, totally lost."

"Ah!"

Jodie jumped upright in her bed with a shriek-little heart racing as a soft voice plucked at her ear. Her mind still fuzzy from sleep, struggled to remember. It was her First Night at the institution and despite Aiden's very best efforts, both at telling her a story with a flashlight and shapes, she'd had a terrible time of falling asleep. She missed her mummy and her daddy...on second thought, mostly mummy. She didn't like daddy. He said bad words and hit her.

But this one was different.

He...He didn't look like Aiden. No, this looked like a person. Whiskered cheeks and soft blue eyes, spiky yellow hair, all wrapped up in what looked to be a black and orange track-suit. He looked rather silly, she thought, especially consider that she could see right through him, to the wall upon which he was leaning. And then there was the strange metal headband wrapped around his head. Very silly,indeed. There was no tether binding him to anything, either. Not her, not the room, not anything at all.

As she looked on, he waved cheerily, a warm smile, the expresson making him look oddly foxlike.

"Sorry," it was the voice of a young teenager, faint and distant, that emerged from his mouth. "Did I wake you?"

She nodded tentatively.

"Gomen." came the reply.

Whoever this was-he obviously wasn't a monster. Or was he? He certainly didn't look like one. And Aiden hadn't done anything to him yet. Even as she looked on her ever present guardian and friend warbled a question to the stranger. The boy in black and orange laughed softly to himself and shook his head.

"Not my choice," he sighed, the words echoing once more. "I did what I needed to do while I was alive; hell, I saved my world. I'm content with that. Don't really know why I'm here."

"You can understand him?" Jodie blinked, the knot of dread that'd been wound so tight only moments before now slowly loosening its grip.

"Must be a ghost thing." he shrugged.

"W-W-Who're you?" Jodie whispered.

"A ghost...I guess." he laughed softly, staring down at his transparent hand, as though seeing it for the first time. "Name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! Think I made a wrong turn at the river styx and wound up here. Wherever here is." He seemed rather calm for someone who'd just died, all things conisdered. "Huh." the boy craned his neck around, as though searching for someone. "Guess the rest of Kurama didn't make the trip. Well, most of him, anyway. Damn." irate, he stomped a foot-

-and across the room, a table jumped. Naruto blinked, intrigue flickering across his visage. "Well, that's new. Wonder what else I can do?" His gaze snapped across the hall, eyes narrowing upon the door, with intent. It swung open with a hars bang, causing him to start. Aiden's bemused burble elicited a fierce glare from the blond. "Hey!"

Jodie gulped quietly, and not from the demonstration.

"So...you're not a monster?"

"Nope." he chirped. "Hey, you don't mind if I stick around for a bit, do ya? As I am now, I'm not entirely sure how to get to the afterlife in this sorry state. Besides, I don't understand half of the scientic mumbo jumbo I heard around here already. Hmm." A thoughtful expression crossed his whiskered face. "I wonder if I can take another look...aha!" As if to punctuate that very statement, he walked through one of the nearby walls, his body vanishing within its confines like the breath from her lungs.

Jodie blinked, half-expecting him to reappear immediately

When he did not, the corner of her mouth turned down in a slight frown. Was he coming back? Had he simply gone? What happened next dashed those fears to ashes.

"Yup!" Seconds later, his head popped back out, grinning. "Still boring as ever! Hopefully my prank'll get them to lighten up a bit."

"Prank...?"

Naruto's grin was decidedly impish.

"I may have created a small hurricane in the offices, short-circuited a few vending machines, and made a teepee in the halls with all their toilet paper. C-grade stuff, really. Now if I brought my A-game, there'd be more than a few water balloons and paint cans, both of which I unfortunately cannot hold like this...

She giggled quietly, laughing as he stepped out of the wall and back into her room. But all this excitement was tiring. Even now Jodie could feel her eyes beginning to droop. The anxiety that had so filled her being only a few moments ago was nothing more than a distant memory now. She felt a yawn coming on; a hand rose half-heartedly to scrub at her eyes.

"M'sleepy...

"Oh yeah," Naruto chuckled sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head. "I woke you up in the first place, didn't I? Why don't you try and go back to bed?" At her nervous expression, he hurriedly ammended his early statement. "Hey, don't worry. I'm not a bad ghost. I'm one of the good guys. Aiden and I will keep an eye out for any monsters, neh?

"Kay...but can I have a story?" Ghost or not, she wasn't willing to pass up the chance to hear an actual human voice.

"A story?" Naruto almost snorted at her request but then seemed to think better of it. "Erm...alright." Under her hopeful stare, he hesitated. Damn. He'd never been very good at this sort of thing. "Well, ah...there once was a boy-

"Did he have a name?"

The blond frowned. "Why, yes, yes he did. His name was Menma and he was the number one, hyperactive, knuckleheaded ninja in his village. Now, Menma was a good boy, but he got into all sorts of trouble...

What followed was a very edited story of his life, all the gory and violent bits removed. He'd chosen Menma instead of his name just to be safe. Looking at Jodie now, he could see it was a wise choice. Her eyes glittered as he regaled her with his exploits-and many of his less than reputable pranks. He'd just made it to the bridge when he realized her eyes were shut. She had fallen asleep.

Naruto sighed, staring down at the little girl in her pink pajamas. She looked so frail and innocent when she was asleep. With a soft, almost fatherly smile, he reached down and touched at her head, stroking a strand of auburn hair out of her eyes. She murmurred softly in her sleep. Satisfied, he returned his attention to the wall. Aiden mumbled an inquiry.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "Cute lil' bugger, ain't she? You've been looking after her all this time?"

He wasn't sure how, but the disembodied spirit managed a grunt. Naruto chuckled.

That was when he saw it.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something move in the black. Without thinking, he waved a hand, shattering it - whatever it was, to a thousand pieces before it could make so much as a sound. Blue eyes flashed crimson. He saw more in his peripheals but the stranges entities-if they could be called such-shrank back at the sight of him. For some odd reason, they refused to approach him. A muted hiss fled from the ghost's lips.

"Beat it."

And they did. The strange denizens of the dark vanished back from whence they'd come. Just like that.

He could feel Aiden's gaze boring into his back.

"What? Sorry, did you want to handle them?"

A mute silence followed, leaving him with the distinct sensation that he'd just trod upon a verbal landmine. "Hey now, I didn't mean to offend." Aiden's reply was quite curt. "Welll hey, how was I to know that they were real?" his gaze drifted back to where he'd last seen the creature. No monsters like that where I come from. This happens often?"

Another grunt.

"Well, then. Might have to stick around a little longer than I thought."

Content, he faded back into the night.

"Sleep well, Jodie."

A/N: And there we go. Naruto's passed on, and he's hanging around as a mischief-making. ghost, his ever-loving and cheerful self. Just a cute little oneshot...or not depending on what ya'll think.

So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review Would You Kindly? Unless you want to deal with an angry Aiden...

R&R!=D