It won't be finished for Halloween, but it's the thought that counts, right? Enjoy poor, scared Naruto in this weird house!


"Okay; stick close!" Kiba growled, " –Or we're all going to end up lost again."

"We can't stop it," Neji reminded him flatly as they immediately headed for the stairs. The ground floor was for the younger children and was relatively tame; mostly run by Iruka; Kakashi's boyfriend, who was probably the least scary person in the entire world. Kids longed for the days when they were allowed up the stairs and into the real horror story (though a lot of them lived to regret it. Despite that, they kept going back for more. Halloween wasn't fun without a good scare!)

"Neji's right; every year we try to stick together but we end up lost," Temari admitted with a heavy sigh, "Remember when you were fourteen, Gaara? You got lost and we only found you when Kisame came looking for the lost kids in the morning?" There was no reply from the redhead, but merely a muffled thud as all of a sudden, something rocketed out of some hidden door and kidnapped both Neji and Ino. Ino screamed as she was dragged backwards and the hidden door snapped shut again.

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed as they all automatically clustered together on the rickety staircase, "Stay away from the walls!" That had put them on edge. They'd never lost one of their group so early in the house before, and now there were already three of them missing.

"Okay…where are we exploring first?" Shikamaru inquired as they reached the first floor.

"Not the attic!" Naruto immediately said, "I've never been up there but apparently it's terrifying! No one ever goes up there!" He shuddered.

"Keep your voice down!" Sakura hissed as they slowly began heading down one of the dimly lit corridors, "Oh my god; what was that?"

"Probably just a shadow," Sasuke rolled his eyes.

" –It's never just a shadow!" Naruto exclaimed in alarm, "Haven't you seen any horror movies, like ever?" Sasuke just rolled his eyes and continued to move along after him. All of a sudden, a door opened from the wall and a chair on a pair of tracks appeared; scooping up Temari and carrying her off through another doorway. Naruto let out a very feminine scream and leapt for the nearest person. Unfortunately, this was Sasuke, and the raven just looked down at him dryly. Naruto looked up guiltily; releasing Sasuke's neck and looking away awkwardly.

Suddenly, the dim lights flickered and went out completely; the remaining group huddling close to each other. Naruto quickly did a headcount by laying a hand on each person.

Shikamaru. Sasuke. Kiba. Hinata. Sakura. Choji. . . . Who was…

Lightning flashed and Hinata shrieked in absolute horror as a complete stranger appeared right beside her with a knife raised. Instantly, they broke into a horrified run as the figure cackled maniacally; chasing after them with the knife raised.

"Which way?" Kiba exclaimed in horror as they reached a fork in the hallway. A quick check back over their shoulders assured them that the horrific masked figure was no longer there. Their heart rates quickened as they became suddenly nervous. Things in this house had a terrifying habit of disappearing far too suddenly.

"Left," Sakura suggested at the same time Shikamaru decided, "Right." They looked at each other and swallowed.

"…Let's split up," Sakura suggested, "No; hear me out! This time we choose to! If we're in smaller groups then it'll be easier to keep track of who we're with."

"Fine," Shikamaru shrugged, "Choji, Hinata and Kiba; you guys come with me. We'll go right to the elevator; we'll meet you guys on the fourth floor."

"What?" Naruto complained as they began to stalk off, "You're making me go with Sasuke?"

"Hurry up, moron, before you get left behind," Sasuke chuckled with a menacing look that made Naruto nervous. Sakura grabbed him by the wrist and began dragging him left. Quickly, Shikamaru and the others vanished from sight.

"This was a bad idea," Naruto commented after only a few steps, "Maybe we should go find the others…"

"Scaredy-cat," Sasuke teased.

"I'm not scared!" Naruto immediately snapped as they slunk along. Sakura shrieked as a mechanical creature leapt out from a closet and then was pulled back inside.

"…Sasori and his damn machines!" she cursed, "They get me every year!"

Finally, they located the elevator and remembered belatedly one of Itachi's favourite tricks.

"Damn; this one only goes to the third floor and fifth," Naruto whispered; looking over his shoulder, "We'll have to go to third floor and take the stairs."

"Third floor's the floor of revolving rooms isn't it?" Sakura murmured; not liking the sound of that. The pair of them lingered in the corridor, but Sasuke was already in the elevator and impatiently tapping his foot. There was a shrill scream from somewhere behind them and that was all they needed to get them into that elevator and headed up to the third floor.

The floor of revolving rooms was the one floor that no one ever wanted to end up on. No one knew quite how it worked, but a maximum of three doors on the entire floor could be open at any one time. Each time a door closed, or each combination of different doors closing, would cause the rooms to actually shift around. Sasori and Kakuzu, Itachi's friends, were the only people who openly knew the secrets, and many a person had wound up trapped on the third floor until the mechanism was released in the morning.

This had happened to Naruto one year and he had no desire to repeat it, but there they were in the first room with some absolutely petrified sixteen year olds.

"How do we get out?" one of them was whimpering, "We can't get out!"

It took Naruto three rooms to wind up separated from Sakura and Sasuke. He didn't know how it had happened. One moment they were right behind him, and then the door had slammed shut as another was opened…and they were gone; and he was left alone. A few more rooms had gone by; all relatively normal seeming…until he was forced to head into a completely dark room. The door slammed shut ominously behind him.

He started feeling his way along the wall; desperately seeking the next door. He didn't know what room it was; had no idea how big it was.

And then, all of a sudden, his hand touched something that wasn't wall. Red eyes burst into sight and he shrieked in horror; reeling backwards and tumbling onto his ass as the lights faded away. Unfortunately, where he had landed there was something soft and undeniably body feeling. He leapt up with another horrified yell; running straight forwards until he connected with a wall.

"No! Let me out!" he yelled; feeling something soft tickling his face. He swatted it away with a hand; growing nervous. For some reason he felt like there was someone else in the room with him.

"Hello?" he called out quietly, "I –I know you're in here!" His voice quivered a little more than he would've liked. He clung to the wall desperately, sidling along it until he again, touched something solid.

Something hissed wildly at him; hot air that was obviously breath fanning his face. That was it; he screamed and screamed and ran in the opposite direction; hammering on the walls and by chance happening to locate the door. Not caring who he was shutting into what room, he yanked it open and slammed it shut behind him; not wanting to know who or what was in there. It was just reassuring to know that they were now trapped in there with the rooms revolving.

He panted heavily; leaning on a nearby table and leaping out of his skin when an arm shot out from underneath it and caught his ankle. He kicked out wildly; scrambling away from said table and taking a look at this room. It seemed relatively safe; for the meanwhile. There weren't any cupboards; so nothing was going to be leaping out; it was lit by fake candles, so it wasn't entire dark.

Naruto shuddered again; trying to get rid of that awful heebie-jeebies feeling. That had been the absolute worst thing he'd ever experienced; just knowing that there was someone out there in the darkness and just watching him. Itachi sure got into his Halloween. He let out a breath and ran over his options, trying to calm his racing heart.

He had to make it to the stairs, which were in the 'ballroom' of this floor. He knew how to get there as long as he could get to the 'lab room'. It had taken a few years and a lot of screaming for help to figure out how some of the sequences worked. It wasn't impossible to manoeuvre through. The attic was on the seventh floor; Shikamaru and the others would all be aiming for the fourth floor; Shikamaru never bothered with the third floor now; he, Neji and Temari knew how to get from one end to the next with little difficulty. Blood geniuses.

As Naruto mused over what his next move would be, he suddenly felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. He shivered and looked around nervously. The rooms had obviously rotated but the doors hadn't opened. There was no one in there with him, but he had the nagging feeling that someone was watching him. He spun around; feeling a little stupid…but he'd seen enough horror movies to know that if you thought someone was watching you; then it was likely that there was.

And then he saw it.

Up in one of the wall vents.

A pair of eyes.

They were up there; just staring straight down at him; completely unblinking and just watching; like some kind of predator eyeing its cornered prey. He gave a wild, horrified yell and immediately lunged for the nearest door; wrenching it open and diving through it.

He crash-landed completely on top of someone and practically held onto them for dear life.

"…Naruto?" A flat voice inquired from underneath him. Naruto opened his eyes (he hadn't been aware that he'd shut them) and discovered that he was practically crushing Gaara. Unable to hide his relief, he clamped his arms around the redhead in delight.

"Oh my god; I'm so glad I found you!" he exclaimed as Gaara rolled his eyes but didn't push him away, "I've just had the worst time in here…"

"Tell me about it…" Gaara muttered, "I hate this floor."

" –Did you know that Itachi's got people hiding in the vents this year?" Naruto complained with a shudder. "I saw one; just the eyes. It was awful! Like something actually from a horror movie!"

"Well…it's Halloween, and Itachi likes traumatizing children," Gaara pointed out as they got up off the floor and analysed their surroundings. With a great deal of relief, Naruto noticed that this place looking familiar! He knew which door to go through to get to the lab room!

"Are you heading into the maze later?" he asked quietly; not knowing why exactly he was keeping his voice down.

"Maybe the cornfield," Gaara replied thoughtfully; brandishing his toy cleaver, "This year I plan to make Shikamaru shit himself."

"…Still not over how he's dating your sister?" Naruto chuckled; only to receive a dark glare from the redhead. He just shrugged; glad to have company, even if it was a murderous clown. Something about being around Gaara made him feel a bit safer.

"Lab room?" Gaara suggested to change the topic. He nodded and the pair of them headed for the door closest to them.

The lab room was lit with an eerie green glow; huge tanks of ominous fluids and horrifying looking things. Though plastic, they were far too realistic; and had horrible eyes that followed you along the room. Though it was familiar; it was incredibly discomforting.

They wandered forwards towards the only other door; the door to the ballroom and salvation. It was a good thing he'd only had a few rooms…

Naruto was immediately torn from his relief by the ominous feeling again.

"Who's there?" he growled; spinning around; only to find that there was indeed, no one there. Gaara just looked at him strangely; but out of the corner of Naruto's eye, he spied a shadow disappearing behind one of the tanks.

"Did you see that?" he yelped, "There! Behind the tank!"

"I don't see anything," Gaara frowned as Naruto backed into him; genuinely a little freaked out. He knew that just a moment ago, there had been a person; or something over there. The space was empty now, but… "Come on. Fourth floor is better." He hauled Naruto along by his elbow; the toga-clad blonde warily watching the shadows with his flustered blue eyes. If this was going to turn into a horror movie, then he was determined to make it out alive.

Gaara yanked him through the door; but as it began to swing closed, Naruto saw that shadow again; a human completely shrouded in shadow; standing right at the opposite end of the lab room; just waving at him; waving at him. He couldn't see who it was; but that, more than anything, made him scared.


There was no one waiting for them at the top of the stairs, once they'd left the ballroom. Naruto hadn't expected there to be. Fourth floor was the endless hallway; it was one hall that wound back on itself; heaps of corners; and thick walls that had paths within them. It was the perfect floor to terrify your friends on.

Naruto and Gaara could see the entire length of the floor. Essentially, it was all one room. There were paintings lining the walls and suits of armour…and all manner of traps rigged up by Sasori and Deidara. One had to tread carefully.

"…Looks like there isn't a trap active at the moment," Gaara mumbled; warily watching the floor and staying away from the walls; knowing that things could spring out at any point. Naruto hung back a few paces; warily watching. He could see eyes from the paintings watching him; following him with a piercing gaze.

"…Do you think our friends are in the walls?" he asked quietly.

"Probably," Gaara shrugged, "Kiba loves the walls; helps him hide from Neji." Naruto was about to say something else, but that was when the lights started to flicker and die; and that was when the screaming started. "Dammit! Someone triggered a trap!"

A terrifying strobe light began flickering; ensuring that everything appeared to be moving in stop-motion. People were sprinting towards Naruto; seeing him only just before they collided; barely able to avoid. He crawled over to the wall with Gaara and pressed up against it; not even having reached the first corner. It was then that he looked back amidst the strobe lights.

There was that figure again; just standing down at the end of the corridor; just staring.

Flash.

There it was; two steps closer.

Flash.

Naruto backed up against the wall; the silhouette closer still; but he unable to see it actually moving.

Flash. It was only a few metres away from him now; he wished he could see who it was but he couldn't. He screamed as its arm extended.

Flash.

And just like that, it was gone from his sight. He breathed heavily once or twice; waiting for a few more flashes; but they didn't reappear. Then he felt heavy breathing on his neck and gave a wild yell; reeling backwards; but they were already gone as a group of about four terrified people ran past screaming.

A few more minutes passed, and normality resumed; the strobes dying away but Naruto's heart racing. Gaara was gone.

Now he was alone; and he knew there was someone out there determined to scare him half to death.


Poor, poor Naruto! Well, I suppose this is what it means to have a horror house run by an Uchiha. What lies in store for the scared blonde in the maze and the cornfield? Will he find any of his friends? Why is there someone following him?

I think if I was in this house I would already be sitting in a corner and crying. Hope you enjoyed! Updating soon :)

xx K