Title: My Days with the Reaper

Pairing: Naruto/Itachi… please note that this is NOT Itachi/Naruto.

Disclaimer: Gosh; stings every time I say this, but I do not own the characters used in this story! On the other hand I do own the plot of this story.

Note: I started writing this story and went up to chapter 8, but it wouldn't budge after that. And so I went AWOL and deconstructed and reconstructed and I've come back with this. I can guarantee that it's different; and so I don't recommend skipping to chapter 8. Nothing is the same, if you skip, you won't understand. Please enjoy –and review, because we all know reviews are full of love… mostly.

Warning: Character death in this chapter.

Beta-read by Redwitch0587, yay! But all mistakes are mine (if there are any left)

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My Days with the Reaper

Chapter One

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In this magical world, five great lands stand as allies.

There is the Land of Water, consisting of several smaller islands around its capital; the Mist Kingdom. The Land of Water is known for its beautiful, crystalline water and its mysterious mist. Most of all, however, it is known for its natural inhabitants: the Mer. With their glistening, colourful tails that turn into lean legs on land and mischief, the Mer easily captivate the rest of the magical world. They're creatures of beauty and mischief, mystery and unfaltering loyalty. Their talent provides the world with stunning jewellery, fashioned deep in their crystalline ocean.

The Land of Water is a close ally of the Land of Lightning. The Island Turtle, the only one in the magical world, travels back and forth between the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning. Because of this a deep and ancient friendship ties the two great lands together.

The Land of Lightning is a land of mountain ranges and rivers, formed and kept running due to the numerous storms that occur weekly. Their varieties of rivers offer their Mer friends constant access to their land. Like their Mer friends, the people of the Land of Lightning have a special talent. They provide the magical world with all kinds of tools and weaponry. They especially specialise in metal tools; their workmanship unique only to their cloudy land. Their capital is the Cloud Kingdom, a massive mountain with ancient wooden buildings all along the side of it.

The western, jagged coast of the Land of Lightning shares a large population of harpies with the eastern coast of the Land of Earth. The coast of the Land of Earth is comprised of desolate mountain ranges, making communication with the other lands a difficult task. Harpies populate the east side of the Land of Earth's coast, flying a vast distance over the ocean to the western coast of the Land of Lightning. The capital of the Land of Earth is the Stone Kingdom. This land is most known for its 'Rock Rain' phenomenon. A strong north-western wind carries small rocks from the Land of Earth to the rest of the world. The path in which the harpies fly escapes this phenomenon. On the other side of the Land of Earth's southern mountain ranges is the Land of Wind.

The Land of Wind, with their endless deserts and ever-changing wind currents, are known for their exotic food and bizarre beasts in their numerous circuses. At the center of this ocean of sand is the Sand Kingdom; an exquisite network of buildings made of hardened sand and stone. The Sand Kingdom worries little for politics and secrecy, opting instead to entertain the rest of the magical world with their travelling circuses and unusual sand beasts. The most popular location for their circuses is the Land of Wind's close neighbour, the Land of Fire.

The Land of Fire is the most diverse of all the lands, with all sorts of creature that scatter and live all throughout the terrestrial. The Land of Fire is a land of lush green forestry and rich soil. It and the Land of Earth are the magical world's most profound source of sustenance, due to their prosperity in farming. The Land of Fire is the only one of five great lands which has four equal, changing seasons, with the blooms in spring, the leaves in autumn, the heat in summer and the snow in winter. Being the most habitable of all the lands, the Land of Fire is a land of many creatures. Its capital is the Leaves Kingdom, a name originated from the sheer number of leaves present in the land all year round, be it on the trees in spring or on the ground in autumn. The Leaves Kingdom is hidden by the leaves and the canopy.

x

The carriage swayed slightly as the ground grew more uneven. Two polite knocks sounded at the little window to her left, and Kushina released the protective magic on it, unlocked it and opened it. A male fairy hovered just on the sill of it, his slight, brown wings fluttering madly. He threw one last glare at someone riding behind the carriage, muttering under his breath about incompetence idiots, and Kushina watched on with amuse eyes. It never ceased to amaze her how such tiny, beautiful creatures could carry such fiery, volatile tempers. Anything could set them off, anything at all.

The fairy looked back at her and bowed slightly in mid-air. His adoration was as clear as day. Kushina herself, despite being a healer, had a bit of fairy blood in her. Although her temper was not as volatile as the rest of the fairy species, it wasn't unheard of for her to once in a while explode upon her husband. The Leaves Kingdom knew to be wary of her temper, but the fairies adored her for it.

"Your Majesty," the fairy said. "I'm very pleased to report that we are now in the Land of Fire. Within four days we expect to see the Great Wall of our home Kingdom." He beamed up at her with sharp, pearl-white little teeth, his chest puffed out and proud. "Please, if there is anything you need, inform me right away and I shall do everything in my power to get it for you."

"That's kind of you," Kushina said, her grin breaking out in the presence of the fairy's contagious smile.

"Well, we all saw how hard you worked to deliver that stubborn baby. It is the very least we could do to make you comfortable on this tiring journey home."

Kushina smiled at the fairy's remark about the baby. It wasn't untrue at all, actually. It had been a long and difficult birth, and Kushina's sympathy went to the poor princess of the Land of Rivers. Her first child and it had taken nearly a whole day. By the end of it, every single person who had helped was exhausted and irritable. If not for the cry of the healthy baby boy, Kushina would surely have regretted her decision to travel across the Land of Fire into the tiny Land of Rivers to help deliver the princess's first born. Nevertheless, the act of kindness had once again strengthened the bond of friendship between the two lands, and Kushina had made sure with her two hands that a baby was born, safe and sound.

"Thank you," she said.

He bowed to her again, before taking off from the window sill in a graceful arc, and then flying back behind the carriage to continue to yell at whoever had displeased him earlier. Kushina let out a quiet chuckle before moving to close the window. A quick flash of movement caught her attention as her hands closed on the window and she leaned her head out to look at the surrounding forest. Seeing nothing unusual, Kushina finally closed the window and moved to get a small, wooden box from under her seat. She opened it and held onto the object inside. It was a black dagger of three blades, a weapon most unusual. Immediately her mind calmed and she dismissed the sense of dread from her head.

Then, much too fast for her to comprehend, something big hit the carriage and her world tiled sideways.

x

When she came to, Kushina immediately evaluated her position. The protective spell around the carriage had been shattered. The whole left side of her body ached painfully, and she knew that blood was running down the left side of her head. She was not feeling any unbearable pain, but she knew that was only a matter of time. Soon the pain would come, and she had to be out of this broken carriage before it collapsed on top of her. She got up and into a crouch, quickly tearing off the ends of her long dress and tying it around her head, ignoring the wave of dizziness that assaulted her. She reached up above her head to the door of the over-turned carriage, but then stopped and quickly scrambled for the dagger that was in her hands only minutes earlier. She found it and gripped it tight. Then she got out of the carriage.

Near silence greeted her. Around her laid the bodies of her servants and guards, broken and dead. Only an arm's length away from the carriage laid the tiny, broken body of the fairy who had spoken to her earlier. His body was nearly covered from the dust kicked up from the chaos. Kushina's heart lurched, and she felt the familiar scorching need to avenge him… them, to do unspeakable violence on the ones responsible.

A horse neighed quietly on the far end of the travelling party, far away from the carriage enough that Kushina had to walk towards it and squint.

Nothing moved around her, almost everything was dead, even the horses, even the tiny, defenceless servant elf girls who had been so excited to accompany their party to the Land of Rivers. Kushina could only clutch the blade in her hand and hope to find someone who was not already dead, so she could heal them. The horse on the far end of the party neighed again, this time so quietly that she almost missed it. She moved forward again, her vision hazy and tinged red from the blood running down her head, despite the cloth she tied around it. The horse moved suddenly, and Kushina froze.

The horse had been misshaped, and she saw now as three figures moved away from the dying horse, dirty and thin and crazed. Blood ran down their chin and soaked their filthy shirts. Vampire. They were vampires, and she had no hope of surviving, of returning to her Minato and Naruto.

She could only begin to turn to run the other way, when she felt blood-soaked hands tangle in her long red hair and yank her back. Without hesitation she brought the dagger in her hand up behind her head and cut through her thick hair. Red spilled everywhere and Kushina wasted no time. She ran. With the sharp tip of the middle prong of the knife, she drew a small symbol on her left arm. Blood leaked out from the wound and she held the handle of the knife in her mouth. With her right free hand she drew the wound from her left arm and cast it on the ground beneath her. She jumped over it and continued running. She felt the moment the crazed vampire stepped into the symbol on the ground. Her magic flared up and its footsteps fell silent, frozen inside the symbol which had expanded upon landing on the ground. Her blood was holding it trapped, and only when she died would it be able to move freely once more.

She turned and ran.

She had never ever heard of survivors of vampire attacks. They were an outlawed clan, banned from any and all civilisation due to their frenzied and violent nature. And they truly were a clan. They attacked and fed as clans, which was why there had never been one survivor. Those that they didn't feed on, like the fairies, were nothing but collateral damage. Kushina had little hope for surviving, but it was just as important to her that she tried and fought til her very last breath. To do anything but try her very hardest to get back to her family was unimaginable.

The flash of blue eyes, two pairs and very different in shading, spurred her on. She ran faster at the thought of seeing tan skins again, wild blond hair, contagious grins. Her Minato and Naruto were so close now, so very close. She ran as fast as her legs would let her and clutched the three-pronged dagger tightly in her right hand. She had to keep it. This was the one thing she couldn't let go off.

A demented snarl came from behind her and sharp, bloodied claws descended on her shoulders, dragging her to the ground.

x

On a rare evening in the Castle of the Leaves Kingdom, Minato sat with his only son in his lap, feeding the little boy with the big blue eyes.

In an instant horrifying dread rolled over his entire being, and Naruto escaped from his hold and ran to the window. The little boy went on his tip-toes, peering out of the large window. But unlike Naruto, Minato was much older and knew exactly what the feeling was. He knew exactly what he had to do. Minato wasted not a moment, and the second he caught the one eye of young Kakashi and was sure that Naruto would be protected and taken care of, he disappeared.

Only a faint yellow light was left in his place… and that, too, faded out of existence.

King Minato reappeared many miles away, almost to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers. He had reappeared almost on top of a body on the ground. The body of a vampire, to be exact. Buried in its bloody neck was the three-pronged dagger, the reason for Minato's appearance.

Scanning the chaotic site, Minato spotted the over-turned carriage and rushed to it, frantically peering inside. It was empty, of course, and it did nothing to calm him when he smelt the blood of his beloved Kushina. He dared to spare a moment to take in the bodies of servants who had been loyal and lively. Dispelling a harsh breath, Minato pressed the heel of one hand to his forehead when fear and pain engulfed him. These horrific feelings were not his, though, he knew. They were his wife's. She was close, and she was in pain and scared… and she was fading.

"No!" He yelled, spinning from the carriage and spreading his power.

He called the wind to him, gathered it in a tight ball and expanded it over the area in a dome. Soon enough, he felt her, a tiny little blip of life that was weakening with every second. He rushed to her, legs working fast but numb from the fear. His heart was up in his throat. Breathing had never been so difficult. No matter how powerful a king, Minato had never felt so weak and helpless. He could feel every moment as Kushina weakened.

He saw her on the ground, sitting with her back to a thick tree. Her fiery red hair was short and uneven, the lower half drenched in blood that originated from her neck. Her dress was ruined, covered in claw marks of something that meant to cut her up until she couldn't fight anymore. Although she was covered in cuts and tears, she wasn't bleeding as much as she should be. Her blood was gone, and out there somewhere was a vampire who had taken blood from the King's Queen.

Minato stopped taking in her appearance, and went to her. He wasn't a fool. He knew what it meant when Kushina, an extraordinary healer, was resigned and stopped healing herself.

"Kushina…" he called out desperately.

But Kushina did not turn to him. She did not hear him.

Because a Reaper had come for her.

It was a thin creature, floating above the ground, covered head to toe in several filthy layers of ancient cloth. There wasn't much to describe. The Reaper was just there, silent and ancient, and reaching slowly for Kushina.

"No…" Minato staggered closer to them. "Wait!"

The Reaper paused; clothed hand only a hair's breath away from Kushina's bloodied shoulder. Its head turned to Minato, tilted and curious looking. Kushina, too, had turned her head to Minato, but her eyes were unseeing, glazed over with pain and exhaustion. And it killed Minato to know that the only way she could be free of that was when the Reaper finally touched her and guided her soul away.

"Is there no way I can save her? Is there anyway?"

There wasn't. Reapers don't appear until the very last moment. They don't come to do their job until the universe knew for sure that there would be a soul for them to take. The Reaper before him knew this too. It shook its head twice. Its movement was slow, as if it was moving in water.

Minato bowed his head and clenched his fists tightly. He locked his limbs and commanded his body not to move. He could attack the Reaper if he wanted to. Minato was a wind elemental. He could attack the servant of death without touching it and in turn kill himself. He could do that easily, because Reapers are not fighters. Reapers have no weapon to fight with, except for the fact that any physical contact with them meant an instant death. With the wind under his command Minato would have no problem…

But he wouldn't.

Reapers are possibly the most natural beings in both the magical and the human world. They did not take souls away because they were evil or because they had wicked motives. They just did, because that was how the world worked. If Minato attacked this Reaper and stopped it from taking Kushina's soul away, then what he would have would be a wife who felt nothing but the pain her body was in now, who could eat nothing and speak nothing… he would have left a Kushina who would not recognise her own husband and child. It was an unspeakably vile fate, and if he attacked the Reaper, Kushina would never forgive him.

And so he stood, his head bowed as death worked its course, hoping with every fibre of his being that Kushina went to a better place- hoped that he and Naruto would be okay.

x

"Where will I go?" Kushina asked the dark being before her. Her mouth wasn't moving, her throat torn past the point of being capable of making a sound. The Reaper heard her question nonetheless, and it answered her in her head.

It spoke in a voice that shocked her with its clarity and tenderness. "I do not know. I have never been to the place where you will ultimately go." It was a voice she could listen to all day long.

Kushina made a displeased gesture with her limp hand. "I'm going to need more than that, Reaper."

For a comical moment, Kushina thought she'd intimidated the Reaper.

"I do not know," it repeated. "I have never moved on. Instead I became a Reaper." It surprised Kushina to know that the Reaper before her had once lived. She had never known this. In fact, this was not information that the living world had. "I will guide you into the Shinigami's Stomach. There it will assess you. Where you go afterwards, I do not know. Will you go into the Pit to suffer and pay for your crimes, or will you be cleansed and wait to be reborn, I cannot tell you."

Kushina ceased asking questions, uncaring about her fate in the end because she felt her Minato. He was so close. She wanted him to come to her, but she was also afraid that he would be blinded by grief and attack the Reaper. She wanted to say his name one more time, but her body was beyond functioning now. It was as good as dead.

The Reaper touched her torn shoulder with its ancient, clothed hand.

She knew it was useless, but she asked anyway. "Won't you take care of them for me? My Naruto and Minato?"

.

.

.

"I cannot."

x

Minato sat under the tree until night fell and his guards caught up with him. He sat and held Kushina, covered her up with his cloak and shed his tears. His grief was heavy and he could not think with clarity. The Reaper was gone and so was Kushina.

And out there somewhere was a vampire who had to be killed.

x

The Reaper realm was a dry, red desert. The soil was not like the red-orange soil in the Land of Wind. No, it was the red of old, dried blood. The ground was hard and compacted, dry and cracked. It was a vast, flat plane with a rock every now and then. The sky was a slightly brighter red, giving off the illusion that there was a source of light somewhere that made it red-ish orange and not dried-blood red. In every direction were short, thick mountain ranges, but if one was to ever walk towards them, they would find that the mountain ranges moved further and further away. The mountain ranges were for eyes only. It was possible that they were nothing but mere illusions.

The Reaper realm, in all actuality, was a small but endless pocket dimension that existed for the Reapers and the Reapers only. It was a lifeless and uninhabitable place. Only Reapers could exist here. The realm had no predators to disturb the Reapers while they rested, had no changing season, had no natural disaster waiting to happen. It just existed.

What the Reaper realm had access to was what mattered the most. The Shinigami's stomach existed everywhere in the Reaper realm. That is, any Reaper in possession of a soul that they had guided from the living world could open a gateway and send the soul through into the Shinigami's stomach. It was not a complicated system at all.

The Shinigami's stomach had no physical description. No soul had ever been in there and remembered. It was a spiritual place of absolute judgement.

Some souls of the magical world –evil, sinister ones that had committed unspeakable crimes- were judged and deemed too impure to be reincarnated. And so they were sent to the Pit to repent and pay for their sins, cleansing themselves along the way, before being taken back into the Shinigami's stomach for another judgement. There their fate could be a cycle of judgement and suffering, or they were deemed once again pure after paying for their crimes as a living soul. If the latter was the case, higher power would take that soul away for a long period of rest and cleansing, before sending said soul back into the living, magical world to be reincarnated. It could be dozens of thousands of years before a soul was reincarnated. Other souls, ones that were much more innocent and passed the first judgement, go through the same process under the authorities of the higher powers.

This process, although powerful and absolute, was not the process for all souls. Souls of the non-magical world, the Humans, do not ever become reincarnated like the magical souls. Their destiny, each and every soul that was Human, was to become a servant of Death. Each and every Human soul was destined to be a Reaper, to maintain the incredibly fragile flow of life and death.

There was more to be said for the destiny of the Human souls, however the center of attention in this case was the importance of the stability and safety of the Shinigami's stomach.

This processing of all souls was unhindered by the living world. It was of magic much too ancient and powerful for anyone to comprehend. It was the magic of life and death, of fate and destiny and of time and nature. The Shinigami's stomach was not a type of hell; it was a one and only meeting room for all the forces of the universe.

There are billions of souls, magic or not, in the Shinigami's stomach at all times. Each soul is pure, life and death magic on its own. It is power. To have absorbed everything that was in the Shinigami's stomach –a notion more impossible than impossibility- was to be more powerful than anything in existence.

I know some of you will probably be a bit peeved that I'm mixing different cultures in terms of all the magical creatures and what not, and I'm sorry about that, but I can't change it. I like it the way it is, and so I'm going to make myself happy and make the Shinigami the god of death with Reapers as its servants.