Title; Lucky

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Okay so the pairing will be SasuHina in the end, but don't expect me to avoid muddying the waters a bit first. Just trust me, in the end SasuHina.

Beware the timeline, I never said all this was perfectly chronological…or that I wouldn't skip minor things.

Can I just say it's really sort of fun writing Sasuke's Pov at the moment. I like that readers will likely cringe a lot where he showers affection on Tenten or compliments character traits that may very well be the death of him. It's just so nice to write such wholesale Irony. Plus it's the first time I've managed to separate a character's logical perception of the world around them so much from the reality of the world.

Manga Aficionado- Thank you for the insight, tis much appreciated. Hopefully this chapter lives up to you expectations.

FallenRaindrops- Indeed, I believe you requested a badass Hinata at some point. Here she is! Sakura's got the devils luck really. Yeah Tenten's sort of going off the deep end, not all on her own mind you. Remember the Unknown status.

Artemis Of The Golden Distaff- Sorry I'm actually having a little trouble understanding your review of chapter 10 so this response may not be the best. The books are a clue to what Kabuto's up to but they're not necessarily why everyone's on the islands. Orochimaru has his agenda for the contestants as does whoever controls the hammer wielding Warden as does whoever's supplying information using the phones as does whoever's supplying information using the dreams. And there's still a party separate from all of those that are truly responsible for them being on the island and putting them there. Simple, no?

And yeah, I caved on the Pov's.

Chapter 12-

Hinata's Pov-

The elevator came to a stop with a noisy clatter but I waited an extra few minutes behind the cage, just listening and stretching out my exhausted senses for any sign of danger. When none seemed present and Waffles too seemed calm I pulled the cage open.

I didn't know if we were still in the same building, I doubted it considering how far I'd walked in those underground tunnels. The room I was in now seemed to be a storage room of some sort, filled to the brim with crates and old dusty furniture that looked to have come out of a movie from the mid-fifties.

Waffles trailed behind me quietly somehow sensing the need for silence as I made my way through the room. Nothing poked out in the darkness and nothing else seemed to move except my own reflection in an old mirror. I did not look good, but at the least the sight reminded me I was still stripped down for dealing with the tunnels heat and as the goose bumps on my arms told me it was no longer so unbearably cold. I untied my jacket and pulled it onto my shoulders happy at least to have covered the bruises on my reflection.

I found a creaky ancient stair case the other side of the room and decided on a stock check before I ascended into a potential battle. I only had the riot gun now and eleven rounds for it, six chambered and the other five sitting cosy in my jacket pocket. I had some medical supplies but what I really needed…the last time I'd eaten or slept had been just after and just before I'd tumbled into the underground passages, quite a while ago really. I pushed on up the staircase anyway, I had no food and it would be crazy to sleep here without some idea of the dangers that could be lurking above.

Waffles ghosted backwards, reluctant to follow as I pushed open the basement door and stepped out into the much larger room. I recognised it immediately. Nothing had been moved in the room since I'd seen it through my cousin's eyes. The churches doors had held and even now I could hear the slight sounds of someone at its door. Only maybe two though attempting to force their way in.

I was slightly surprised to hear them leave after a moment apparently giving up. It was strange but I sort of figured the ghouls were more determined than that.

Waffles finally came into the room but something was still obviously causing her distress. I patted her head gently before I started retracing my cousins footsteps, where he'd been standing and what direction they'd set off in. The back right side I figured from my hazy recollection, they'd headed in that direction.

A picture frame had been tore from the wall beside a confessional booth and as I pulled it back I discovered the hidden passage it had been concealing. It wasn't a tight squeeze which I figured was a good sign. Whichever way they had come that ginger giant would have had to fit too.

I scrapped the walls every now and again as I swayed on the uneven footing of the passage and only the sound of Waffles panting behind me kept me moving. I wasn't afraid to admit that I was absolutely terrified at the moment, I had been this whole time but it was different now. For the first time I had a choice, as terrifying as this island was I'd been surviving it and it was less frightening than the men holding my cousin at the moment, if I wanted to I could take an easier path.

Then again how could I ever justify that to myself, sorry Neji that extra bit of terror wasn't worth saving you from murder, rape or whatever horror they had in store for you. No, it just didn't stack up, and as much as I sometimes wished I could be I wasn't so selfish. I'd suffer a little more terror.

Sasuke's Pov-

"Were you bit?" I asked and watched quietly as the brunette's already pale features drained entirely of their remaining colour, several emotions that I couldn't even begin to interpret flashed through her eyes before she settled on for some reason panic.

"Bug bites Ten, do you have any puck marks or anything?" I elaborated for the queasy woman. She'd been shaky for just under an hour now after we'd made one last attempt to force our way into the church at my insistence. She had had to vomit at least twice in as much time but she insisted it was the food despite the fact that I'd eaten exactly the same and felt fine.

"No, I don't think so school boy. Fuck it, I'll be fine. We need to find some kind of shelter." Grunted Tenten forcing herself back to an upright position. She was stubborn I'd give her that, once the woman had decided on something it didn't seem even the forces of nature- natural or supernatural- could budge her from it.

We got another half an hour down the path before the sweaty woman couldn't manage to move any more. With a look that read of defeat and grief in equal measure she sagged against a tree trunk breathing erratically as her features scrunched up in pain. A mirthless laugh fell from her chapped lips as she glanced up at me…long lashes slightly damp.

"Well, what are you waiting for school boy…get going." She didn't speak very loudly and I had to ask her to repeat herself as I crouched down to her level pressing a bottle of water to her too dry lips. Her lower lip was swollen and red in patches and I realised her new found anxiety had caused her to chew at it quite fiercely.

"Get going? You make it sound like I've got somewhere I need to be." I joked lightly brushing her hair back from her face. I needed to be off this island I supposed but I wasn't exactly ready to abandon her, not so easily at least.

"Come on Uchiha, I'm done for…would you just…fucking fuck off!" She bit out turning her head away as her hissed the words without any kind of real anger or passion. A tear dribbled from the corner of her eye and I couldn't help but wonder, why? Did being vulnerable terrify her so much, the need for help that embarrassing.

"What's wrong with you Ten, I haven't been hanging around you this long just because you're useful. We're a team remember?" I tried but it did little to change the brunette's disposition as she seemed to turn even further away from me. Well that was fine, I could be a stubborn bastard myself.

She squeaked, more than a little caught off guard as I pulled her onto my back, hosting her quivering and surprisingly light frame into a piggy back position. I could feel her long hair, the few strands that fell loose from her ponytail, tickling the back of my neck.

"Sasuke…" It was strange hearing her say my given name, or sounding so delicate.

"Save it, if you have to you can view this as me kidnapping you." I threw over my shoulder. Sakura and Hinata dead and she thought I'd just leave her here to die alone in the woods, did I really seem like such a cutthroat.

"You're really not going to let me go are you?" she asked after a tense moment allowing her arms to link in front of me, seems I'd finally gotten through to her.

"Nope, not even if you get really fat or start singing show tunes." I returned hoping for a laugh, I didn't get one. Instead I felt her breath ghosting the back of my neck, her chapped lips rake over my skin and the light touch of what I thought was her teeth before…she pressed a soft kiss to my shoulder.

"Thank you…I won't let you go either." She offered back softly. For some reason I shivered and convinced myself there'd been a sudden chill wind and it wasn't a reaction to my partner's tone.

Not far ahead I spied shelter for the night in the form of a run-down factory building.

Sakura's Pov-

I was getting pretty tired of waking up expecting to be dead, more so even by the standards of this damned island. But at least one thing had brought me comfort in my sleep, the sight of a pale barely grown man and an ill brunette on his back. I'd be seeing Sasuke and Tenten again it seemed.

I cast a glance around the room I was in trying to recollect me thoughts, the city, the hospital, the elevator and the bloody hands and the groan of the hungry Dead. And yet despite what my mind told me I took in the sight of a florescent lit room, a rubber potted plant in the corner and an ancient TV hanging from a tray in the corner. More remarkably I couldn't seem to find a bite mark on me, an IV drip had been hooked up to me and my leg was cleanly bandaged and I suspected stitched too.

I glanced to the door as a familiar figure pushed his way inside followed by a less familiar one.

"You…what…how…?" I swear the questions were fully formed in my mind and made lots of sense but somehow my mouth had went rogue and was screwing them up.

"Quiet Miss Haruno, and stop fidgeting you'll reopen your wound." Ordered the tired Kakashi Hatake stepping around my bed to the small sink he pulled of his blood slicked disposable gloves and rinsed his arms free of any scarlet remains. Blood stained arms.

"You got quite a shock in the elevator…which I believe Anko owes you an apology for. At any rate I've managed to treat your leg reasonably well with the supplies on hand." Spoke the silver haired man throwing a dark glare towards the not even slightly ashamed woman as she done another impression of a ghoul's groan. I gave her a disgusted look.

"You really should have seen your face, brilliant." Commented the dark woman grinning broadly before Kakashi barked at her to go check on the others. She complied but not before flipping him the bird.

"I thought you were a teacher, not a doctor." I offered settling down into the comfy mattress less relaxed and more defeated. Not really much I could do now but wait and hope I healed enough before the next time this island tried to kill or fuck me.

"I'm neither." He answered in such a way that said a follow up question wasn't an option. He did however pull free my tiny pistol from the back of his belt offering it back to me without hesitation.

"Awful nice of you to give this back." I commented checking over the weapon reflexively.

"I already have a gun, and the thought of that woman with one terrifies me more than words can really do justice." One of those quirky couples it seemed, I decided not to comment.

"Who are the others?" I asked recalling how the man had rid us of his companion before, had the forcefully mysterious man set up some kind of makeshift clinic here.

"There were two already here when I arrived, Shikamaru Nara and Kurenai Yui, the former had been stabbed and the latter was nursing some nasty bruises. A woman named Temari showed up only a few hours before you did, she's locked up tight now…I'm not sure what she's been through but she had something in her system I'd give to elephants if I wanted to turn them psychotic." The mention of Temari put me on edge and made me that much more grateful to be reunited with my weapon. I considered telling Kakashi exactly what she'd been through but declined, he already knew what he needed to treat her and I didn't see why he'd need to know the rest. Rather…

"Does that door have a lock?" I asked sharply eyeing the thick oaken barrier.

"Locks automatically, you need the key to open it from the outside. Odd for a hospital but then again…" I followed the train of thought easily enough, you couldn't really claim anything in particular was odd here since well, everything was nonsensical.

"You seem pretty closed lipped Kakashi but I get the feeling you know more than you're telling so…where are we?" I asked hoping for at least more than a brushing off. The silver haired enigma scratched the back of his head and let out a sigh.

"We're on the Lucky Island. I don't know who runs it or why. There are theories, a testing ground for biological warfare, a survival competition for the watchers to bet on and a hundred others that there's never been a shred of proof for. I do know that people have escaped it before though, not many but it has been done." Somehow I doubted I would escape this place, maybe it had been the sights I'd already seen but even when I ran it logically through my mind I figured my chances at next to zero. Despite my injuries I hadn't gained any real information on the island, I still had no idea how to escape let alone the ability to reach it.

Hinata's Pov-

The florescent lighting of the passage stinging at my eyes had given me a migraine by the time I finished the trek of the secret passage, it seemed all I did anymore was walk these unholy tunnels. I'd found a trapdoor leading above at the end and had to hoist a slightly reluctant Waffles into the room before me.

It was…sort of nice in there.

There were soft plush couches lining three of the walls, a small stocked bar in one corner and some sort of raised platform in the centre of the room. I didn't pass much heed to the room itself as I blinked rapidly to get used to the dim lighting and made my way straight for the one thing of interest, the bar. There was no food with the exception of bloody peanuts and after I'd swallowed a handful of the dry roasted excuses for food I grabbed the biggest bottle of spirits, the lighter sitting neatly nearby and tore a strip from my jacket.

In a matter on moments I'd whipped myself up a useful little cocktail and shoved it into the back of my body armour beneath my jacket.

Whatever kind of preparedness I'd fooled myself into believing I had achieved all fell apart quite swiftly as I stepped out from the small room. Bright filtered lights danced over a colourful stage drawing my attention immediately to the figures 'preforming' there. Stripped and collared several ghouls jostled and lurched on the stage but never got far as thick chains and collars kept them bound to stripper poles. I fought the urge to vomit but barely succeeded as I took in the other figures in the room.

Reclined comfortably just before the stage and observing the ghouls trying desperately to reach him with barely contained amusement sat my cousin draining away the last dredges of some colourful cocktail. His eyes flickered to me for a moment and then back to the stage just as quickly.

"Neji?" Another figure drew my attention as I stepped deeper into the room numb to Waffles insistent growling. Behind the bar the giant Juugo finished the last touches on a glowing drink dropping a cheery miniature umbrella into it before he dutifully carried it to my cousin.

"It's good to see you my dear sister." He offered turning to me wearing an expression that was clearly not Neji, no there was too much hidden cruelty in his eyes for it to ever be Neji. And sister, that's something a stranger might guess. I raised my weapon training it on the imposter.

"What the fuck is going on here!?" I asked shrilly. I didn't swear a lot and it was strange to hear a curse tumbling from my lips but I thought this situation sure as hell warranted swearing, swearing and violence.

Four things happened all at once. Neji laughed, cruel pleasure crackling in his eyes. Juugo moved to disarm me grabbing and pulling the gun from my hands. I clicked the trigger reflexively before the weapon was lost but the shot hit him with about as much kick and damage as I'd expect if had just punched him. Lastly I heard a pistol click behind my head and a calm cold voice tell me to quiet down.

I stilled and Juugo pulled away my weapon tossing the gun with some mild disgust among the Undead strippers. My mind was going into panic mode before I heard a pained shout from the red head behind me. I spun seeing Waffles at his thigh gnawing aggressively at the flesh, the man's gun ached around lining up with Waffles and I threw myself against him in a tackle.

The gun skirted away but with it went my luck, Waffles only barely managed to avoid being stomped to death as the monstrous Juugo stepped in. The collie bounded off into the shadows as the man wrenched me free of his comrade. Sasori wasn't to his feet a single second before pain exploded across my face and I felt my nose crunch underneath his fist. Through the blinding tears, blood and shock I heard Neji give a low laugh raising to his feet to give me a pat on the head that was more insulting than affectionate.

"Poor choice my sweet dear, Sasori will almost certainly make it as painful as possible for you now." There was sadistic humour in my cousins stolen eyes and just about nothing at all in the invincible giants as the red head grasped a fistful of hair and dragged me back into the one of the backrooms.

It occurred to me latter that I should have been screaming.

As I hit the floor in the dark room I glanced up at the well-dressed sociopath. His gun clicked and fired and I felt pain explode across my stomach. Then came the sound of a zipper as I curled in around the pain in my abdominal and a low twisted laugh echoed.

"You bleed until you suck me dry." Higher thought died as my mind fell into blind panic.

Tenten's Pov

"Sasuke…what's wrong?" the Uchiha was shaking as he paced, we'd both slipped off almost immediately after finding this room. The door was heavy but it only locked from the outside. Still it was safe enough since like the first building we'd discovered, the school, the staircases had all been destroyed.

"How did you sleep?" He asked putting off the question and still pacing frantically, I saw him rake a hand through his hair and his left twitch before he flexed it attempting to fight down his nerves. For a moment I panicked before I felt my bandage was still clearly covering my wound.

"Fine until now. It's freezing you know." He had to, I could see his breath misting in front of him as he continued his bizarre behaviour. I beckoned him over to join me back on our makeshift bedding but he didn't budge eyes still wide and wild as if he'd been possessed.

"No nightmares tonight?" he asked stopping for the first time and fixing me a glance, a cold glance. Had that been what was bothering him, I suppose he was that bit younger so it wasn't surprising he'd be more susceptible to night terror. I raised myself up and moved to comfort him only idly aware that the stiffness and the sickness had seemed to pass…though my body felt more numb than before. I wrote it off as drowsiness.

"No, I'm a big girl school boy. But if you need someone to hold your hand I'll keep it a secret." His eyes turned even colder and I felt my worry really begin to settle in, the kid never got offended, that was how we worked. What had affected him like this? He clicked his tongue and began to speak and suddenly I recalled one of the reasons I'd gravitated towards him, the keen mind shining just behind his dark eyes.

"How about I tell you about my dreams instead. The first starred a cherry toned petite girl freshly escaped from a prison and trying to stay alive despite her very serious injury. The other starred an especially beautiful woman alone in this world except for a canine companion and staring down a fucking..." He trailed off his tone burning angry as he couldn't finish. Neither of us spoke for a long moment…we just stared into each other's eyes as everything unfolded in front of us. He knew Sakura and Hinata were alive, knew I'd lied and probably deduced that that had been for deeper reasons than to cover for inattentiveness. And I knew that he was going to leave me…the dreams said so, he was to see those two whores again and I wasn't which meant he either left me or he killed me.

"You can't go." I whispered just low enough for him to hear…I'd never heard myself sound quite so fragile before, I didn't like it.

"What else am I supposed to do Teagan? You told me they were dead, they very well might be now by the time I find them." His voice was less cold now, but final. Teagan not Ten not Tenten. And the way he said it, there was no maybe about it, the dumb kid was going looking for these two he wasn't going to try, he said he would find them.

"Stay with me, like you said you would, like you promised. We can get out, go anywhere, you and me." I pleaded moving forward for some kind of contact, I needed to feel him against me. But he pulled away, as if I'd burned him, as if my touch was something toxic and repulsive.

"You're…you're not that woman, not the one I made the promise to. Teagan…you abandoned yourself." He choked out turning away from me. And clever boy that he was he hadn't figured it all out yet, there was still one part in the mystery his dreams hadn't helped him piece together. I grabbed him from behind and as he began to speak, some refusal or final farewell on his lips…and I bit him.

Eye's wet I bit as hard as I could feeling my heart clench as he gasped out in pain. He didn't need to worry though, it would be over soon and it was for the best. This way we could be together…forever.

Sasuke's Pov-

Fighting the lessons ingrained in me by my mother I drove an elbow into my former lover's stomach breaking her grip on me and pushed her away.

As I twisted around trying to process the shock and horror of the situation I discovered only more awaiting me. The brunette had pulled away the collar of her jersey and the bandages beneath to show me the still bloody teeth marks beneath. She looked infinitely sad and smug all at once.

I drew my revolver.

"You gonna shoot me school boy? Why? We're the same now." She smiled serenely at the thought as my mind grappled with the weight she'd hit it with. Tenten was infected, Tenten had bitten me…so I was infected. Except…

"You haven't changed yet?" I whispered keeping my gun on her just in case, she still had her own on hand and I wasn't so sure anymore she wouldn't shoot me. Hell she'd already tried to do so much worse than that.

"Not yet, I watched it before, the Karin girl. I probably should have changed last night…while you were sleeping. But I guess it's going slower for me." She answered with a shrug leaning against a table casually as if she'd not just spoken the words she had. Expected to change in the night…

"Then it's not incubated yet, not fully developed." I spoke oddly happy to see some of the confidence slip from the brunettes eyes. She was following my logic well enough. Maybe the infection spread like a disease, a bite from anyone with it infected you. Or maybe it was more like a parasite, and it passed on eggs through the bite…if that was the case then a carrier couldn't infect someone until their parasite fully developed and they became a ghoul.

Tenten darted forward but I raised my weapon, she stopped in her tracks.

"Wow…you really are gonna shoot me school boy." She spoke with a laugh, a taunting laugh because she knew. She'd lied to me, tried to and damn well possibly infected me and betrayed me in every way I could possibly imagine…but I couldn't kill her. I couldn't shoot her.

"I'm sorry Tenten." She smiled misunderstanding the apology and the final use of her preferred name. As she dropped her guard I moved, exiting the room and slamming the door locked behind me. I heard her hit the door a split second later, howling in fury for a moment before I twisted away from the door and heard the retort of her weapon. The door didn't give though and still held fast as her weapon clicked empty and she began to roar again, and then bargain and then plead with me to let her out. To come back to her.

Shakily I moved through the corridors any and all thoughts of sleep abandoned likely for ever more as my mind attacked itself. I'd just abandoned my lover, locked her in a room to starve or surrender to her infection...whichever came first. Sakura needed my help, Hinata needed it even more and I…I needed a phone because I still didn't know for sure what I was. Could I help the girls and escape with them…or could I help the girls and then watch them escape without me.

A single ghoul greeted me as I reached the bottom floor and with a dangerous ease born of the dark emotions swirling inside me I scooped up a stray iron bar and caved in the thing's skull without breaking stride. The phone came second, I came second now. After what I'd seen the girls came first.

I walked all night but I could never seem to escape the sound of Tenten's voice rattling in my skull, pleading threatening…telling me she loved me, or asking why I hadn't found them yet, teasing me for going in the wrong direction. Calling me a failure, a coward, scum. And try as I might, I could never escape the itching in my veins as my mind constantly twitched with the knowledge that there was at least a fifty percent chance that I was now infected. That soon I'd be a ghoul.

Wow what a change of fortune, now Sakura's futures looking brightest among the survivors…though that's not exactly saying a lot is it.

And look at that, I'm sure everybody has lots more questions thanks to this chapter and precious few answers.

As usual if there's anything you'd like to discuss, any opinion you wish to express or question needing to be posed…or if you simply feel like offering a kind word and encouragement or pleading for a characters survival then please leave a review or Pm me, whichever's more appropriate.

Thanks for reading.

R&R