Ahhh! *pleased smile* We are barely 4 reviews away from hitting the 100 mark on this story and all I have to say is…

Take that "Sasuke's Twin"!

In your face "Loves Me Not"!

All your loyal fans and all your ridiculously high amounts of hits cannot outshine the "Game Of Fear"! Mwahahahahahah!

Oh! *back to reality* And thanks to all those of you who read and review. Without you this wouldn't be possible!

Chapter Ten

xX Moving Forward Xx

Baked alive he was.

Baked alive… what a horrible death.

'It could have been me.' She thought as she stared unblinkingly at Kisame's disfigured form. 'Just one door to the right and it would have been me.'

'Sakura! Sakura stop that!' She heard Sasuke's voice but it was drowned under a constant, high pitched sound.

What was that sound? Where was it coming from?

'Sakura-chan!'

No… could it be?

Her eyes focused on Kisame's horribly distorted mouth.

Was he the one making the sound? Was he still pleading for mercy even though he knew that, in this game at least, there was none to be offered?

Horror… pain… heat… and the blood curling shrieks that still drowned everything else.

'Sakura-chan!' Naruto's face appeared before her, blocking the horrible sight. 'Sakura-chan, snap out of it!'

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard. The ear splitting sound stopped.

"Na-Naruto…" She stammered, coming back to her senses.

So that's what it was. She only realized it then. The sound she heard was her own screams of terror.

"I… I…" her whole being shook and the tears streamed down her sweaty cheeks.

"It's all right." Naruto pulled her close and pressed her face against his chest to block the sight from her. "It's all right."

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"Oohh…" She moaned weakly, covering her mouth with her left hand. "Naruto…"

"Again?" He asked worriedly, unwrapping his arm from around her waist.

Sakura merely nodded and stepped to a side of the hallway to throw up for the third time, her stomach lurching so hard it felt as if her very insides were trying to come out.

"Agck!" She spat, but her stomach was too empty to produce anything but vile.

"She's doing it again?" She heard Sasuke ask behind her.

"Yeah." There was so much worry in Naruto's voice. "I think she's fallen ill."

"Ough!" She gagged again. There was nothing left inside and she knew it, yet her stomach insisted. Her face turned red from the effort.

"Enough." Sasuke ripped a piece off his cape and used it to wipe Sakura's mouth, the first sign of kindness he'd shown her since, well, ever. "We can't fall behind, let's go." He placed his hand on top of her head.

Naruto, whom she had been leaning against as she walked, offered his arm for support again.

"It's all right." Sasuke waved him off, taking hold of Sakura's right arm. "I'll take her from here."

"You sure like playing hero, don't you?" Naruto frowned at him.

"No, I just don't think you should be carrying someone else around when you can barely go on yourself. After all, you were almost…" He stopped as he noticed Sakura's terrified expression.

"Almost…" She repeated.

What? Almost killed? Almost baked alive like Kisame? Almost turned into zombie-doll material?

"Never mind." Sasuke shook his head. "Let's get going." He swung Sakura's arm over his shoulders and wrapped his left arm around her waist the same way Naruto had done just moments ago.

Any other time she would have enjoyed it, being so close to him. But now the usual tingling she felt every time he was near her was gone, replaced not by numbness or disinterest, but by fear and sickness.

"Should we slow down?" Lee suggested, waiting for them to catch up.

"Yeah, we should." He nodded. "Sakura's too weak to go any faster and who knows what'll happen if we split up."

"Just leave her behind, un!" Deidara rolled his eyes in frustration. "It's not as if we haven't been delayed enough."

"Deidara." Sasori closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at the idiot next to him. "Please keep quiet."

"What?! But… Danna… you're the one who hates waiting! Don't tell me you'd let them hold you back just so they can drag this bitch along!"

"Pardon me." Deidara looked down at the bandaged, uni-browed boy that stood before him. "I would very much appreciate it if you could please abstain yourself from calling her that again."

"Why?" He smirked. "I don't see what's wrong with calling things by their names."

The muscles in Lee's body tensed up, which only made his smirk even bigger.

"What is it now, fuzzy?" Deidara raised his right hand, which was also smirking and had begun to lick itself. "You wanna start something?"

"Back off Lee." Neji hissed as he tried to pull him back. "This guy is dangerous."

But Lee wouldn't budge and he probably didn't even hear what the Hyuuga had said because his eyes were fixed on the blond man before him.

"Deidara, put your hand down." Sasori said dryly, but Deidara grinned instead of doing so. "Deidara!"

"Lee-san!" Sakura attempted to shout but all that came out was a choked squeal. "Please, stop it!"

"But… Sakura-san…" He blinked repeatedly. "But he… he called you…" his hands gestured manically towards Deidara. "He called you… he… he shouldn't have… he said those things and…"

"It's all right." She shook her head slowly. "And as much as I hate to say it, he's right."

"He is?"

"I am?" He tilted his head.

"With so many rounds and…" She closed her eyes and tried to avoid the images that rushed to her head. "Well, we've been delayed enough and it's not fair that all of you should slow down just because of me.

"But you're not feeling well Sakura-chan!" Naruto grimaced. "We can't just leave you behind!"

"I'm okay. Just walk at your own rate and I'll make sure to follow. Besides," She stepped away from Sasuke. "I'm feeling better already."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes skeptically.

"Yeah." She lied, offering a feeble smile.

In reality her head felt like it might roll off her shoulders at any moment and the simple action of breathing sent a wave of nausea up her stomach.

'I'm all right.' She told herself. 'I'm all right.'

As the rest of the players resumed their advance Sakura tried her best to act normal, at least until Naruto and Sasuke's suspicious glances ceased.

Upon advancing a few meters her stomach again sent her the unmistakable necessity to throw up, but she ignored it and kept on going.

Sakura had already set her resolve; she would not allow herself to slow the others down. Even if her skin melted because of the fever and even if she had to swallow her own vomit, she would not slow them down.

She would simply keep on moving forward.

Moving forward…

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*Random Advertisement* We are now Beta Readers. Hell yeah!

"So where to now?" Kakashi panted.

The three Inuzuka before him, all drenched in sweat, stared at each other in confusion.

"Where to?!" He demanded.

"I don't get it." The oldest male in the group answered. "Their trail ends here… but… there's nothing here!"

The four of them stared around, but the patch of forest they were standing at wasn't different form the rest in any way.

"Are you absolutely sure this is where the trail ends?"

"Of course we are." The shaggy haired woman replied indignant. "Our noses are never wrong, but you may summon your own dogs if you don't believe us."

"No shit!" Inuzuka Hana, the third Inuzuka member, wiped her tears away with her fists. "If their scent leads here then they must be here!"

With more tears streaming down her face she dropped to her knees and began digging with her bare hands.

"They're here, I know they're here." She mumbled while digging. "They must be hidden somewhere, that's why we can't see them."

"Hana-san." Kakashi took hold of her hands to stop her. "This is obviously just a decoy. We have to keep on looking."

"But I… his smell…" She sobbed. "My brother was here, how can he possibly…"

"Kakashi!" Called a voice from his ear piece. "Kakashi, can you hear me?!"

"Kakashi here." He answered. "I hear you Asuma."

"My team is fifteen miles away from you, to the south." Asuma explained. "Get over here as soon as you can. The Hyuuga found something."

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We would now like to express our gratitude to all our wonderful readers, so to.- Alita 'n' Emily, silverokami2009, , redfox-akatsuki, Lulusi227, Sasuke's Pal, Shizuka Taiyou, MahoShoujo, uglyllamas, 0.o, inamehyuuga, sunshinelexi, Bamby Birthday, Osiris Gainsborough, Devil'dBlade, yuki973, lulla, Emiko Aika, whatsername810, MidnightNinja777, NightMare ReVisited, Aw, FlyPandaBear (hell yeah!), OMG POOR ITACHI, Miss Peppy Red Head, KibaHinaLUV (hell yeah x2!), Serene Grace, The Masked Idiot, Guest (?) and blackcatgirl…

Thank you. No, really. Thank YOU.

Ten.- So… no death here either but the story is developing. Someone needs to rescue them, right?

Glacia.- I am surprised that you decided to add a story line at all. In the beginning you only wanted to kill everyone in rather improbable ways just for the sake of it.

Ten.- And I still do! I just thought a little plot would help, though it's still pretty… um…

Glacia.- Improbable.

Ten.- Well, it's a fanfic, isn't it? It's not supposed to be… damn you! Where's Vianey anyways?

Glacia.- Trying to upload the "Sasuke's Twin" Sequel.

Ten.- What? More competence? I MUST stop her! *runs away then comes back* Don't forget to review! *runs away again*

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