Back! Warning: Mental images coud be graphic thanks to me. You've been warned.

ANYWAY. Review, and enjoy! :D

Luna held ontoNaruto for dear life as he and Miku balanced themselves across thick, rounded beams in the shape of a Japanese arch jutting out sideways above what seemed like a bottomless pit at the moment.

The beams were the only way to get to the rest of the winding staircase, portions of which had fallen through here and there.

Miku sweatdropped after getting across, looking pointedly at Luna, who currently had her face hidden against his arm.

"...She doesn't like heights," he commented, holding her a little tighter to keep her from trembling so much. The last thing he needed was damn Luna making him trip with her shaking, and then have her declare it was all HIS fault.

"Then how come you can scale roofs and stuff, Luna?" Miku asked with bewilderment.

"When I do things of that nature, I can usually just focus on the task at hand because I am obligated to do it. But at times like this, when it's beyond my control, or being done just for the hell of it...It terrifies me," she admitted, her voice muffled by his shirt.

"That...makes no sense whatsoever."

"Whaddaya expect, it's Luna we're talking about here."

"Ah, good point."

"Traitor...you'll never escape from here...I won't let you..." A Shrine Maiden hissed. "What's happening, Naruto?" Luna asked, feeling quite blind at the moment. But like hell she was going to open her eyes; she'd probably freak out and make her and Naruto both plummet to their death.

"Nothing, it's just a Creepy Shrine Maiden's voice right now."

"Oh."

"You'd know if you lifted your head up," Miku pointed out. Naruto grinned as a very audible and slightly-intimidating growl came from against his arm. "Probably not the best thing to say right now, Miku. Unless you want a limb missing."

"Amane...You can't escape..."

"Why does everyone hate Amane so much lately?" Naruto wondered. Luna sweatdropped. "Well, from what I've heard, she's a traitor of some sort...?"

"Amane...It's why...I have to do this..."

They finally reached the bottom to find a stone floor, and Luna slowly lifted her head from the safety of Naruto's body. By the foot of the staircase was a little tower of stones, like a shrine or something, with three long candles spread around it.

Miku pointed a shaky finger straight ahead. "Look...Over there, on the ground..."

Impaled to the ground was a Shrine Maiden. Luna could only assume it was this Amane they had heard so much about lately. So SHE was the one with braided pigtails that kept calling for Miku's attention, and their help!

"Poor kid..." Naruto muttered. Luna nodded before wriggling out of his grip as she felt very malicious spritual presences rising nearby.

"Naruto, something's coming," was her simple explanation as she crumpled limply to the ground, pulling out her camera.

If she couldn't move (the miasma was even worse underground, standing up wasn't even an option for her), she could at least fight in one place.

As predicted, three Shrine Maidens popped up. The one with long hair and bangs in a straight line across her forehead zoomed for Luna, who nearly shrieked as she got right up into her face before a Fatal Frame showed up.

Luckily, she had quick enough reflexes to take the Fatal Frame shot, but nearly being hammered in the head was a bit unsettling.

The one with short hair was currently attacking Naruto, and the one who had just tried to get her moved on to Miku.

Luna turned around just in time to see the one with short hair and a sphere-shaped barrette near the back of her head appear behind her, mallet raised sky high like an evil little pro.

Luna shot a picture in time to stop the Maiden and crawl against the wall to keep from having any more surprise attacks, but was unable to stop the one with her short hair pulled back and the straight bangs hanging loose across her forehead from nailing her bare foot to the ground.

Luna's scream of pain rang throughout the room, followed by her shout of "DON'T MIND ME, KEEP FIGHTING, I'M FINE!".

Luna let out a rather vicious growl as she used her good foot to kick the Maiden in the face, sending her flying back into the wall. "How'd that taste, BEYOTCH? Won't impale MY foot next time, WILL YA?"

The Handmaidens, scared by the evil aura now pooling out of her, busied themselves with Naruto and Miku.

Leaving Luna plenty of time to look down at the blood blossoming slowly but steadily out of her foot, a stake portruding from the top at a perfectly straight angle. At least the Handmaiden was skilled.

She tried to pull the stake out, but could only do it slowly, making her groan. Not wanting to scream too loudly and attract more ghosts to fight, she balled her hand into a fist and stuffed it into her mouth, ready to bit down on it if necessary.

While her teeth ground against her hand, she slowly inched it out a few inches, only to see Past Self appear in front of her.

She eyed Luna's nailed foot, and Luna did NOT like the look that spread onto her face. "Don't you dare..."

"What, you gonna beg?"

"The day I beg to you, or ANYONE, will be the day I let Naruto take a shower with me, because it shall have to meet the same requirements," Luna snapped.

It came out kind of muffled, as she was continuing to ease the stake out of her foot while biting on her fist.

That's when Past Self did something so malicious, so evil, so...CRUEL...that Luna was genuinely surprised she did it.

She held out her palm and slapped it down on the stake as hard as she could, making it drive back into Luna's foot even further than it had been before.

Her brain shut off all logical thoughts as the wooden stake penetrated through new flesh and bone; her whole body had gone numb with white-hot pain and fear, going on pure instinct as she writhed briefly.

Her scream was so loud, even covered by her fist, that the Handmaidens covered their ears, giving Naruto and Miku enough time to get two more Fatal Frames on them.

The sickening PINK of the stake hitting against the stone underneath her foot was still ringing in her ears, making her stomach flip and churn so violently she was worried she'd throw up all over her injury.

Past Self sighed and shook her head as Luna sobbed, blood trailing down her fist after biting it too hard, her body and mind coming back to normal slowly...and extremely painfully.

Great, she was losing blood from her foot AND her fist. Then again, it was kind of hard NOT to bite down extremely hard on something in your mouth when someone shoves a stake all the way through your foot, huh?

"I've sang it once, and I'll sing it again. Your tears...They mean nothing to me."

"And I-I...I have said THIS once, and I sh-sh-sh-shall say it a hund...hundred times over if I n...n-ne-need to. Go...to FUCKING HELL!" Luna shrieked; she must've been going into shock.

She struggled to maintain a level head, slipping into her normal state of shock in which the only thing that could be classified as a dead giveaway was her formality.

The remaining two Shrine Maidens disappeared at about the same time after falling to their knees in defeat, and Past Self skipped towards a wall carelessly before fading through it.

Miku and Naruto looked at where Amane had been; there was now simply a lone stake impaled into the ground, which was now stained red.

Speaking of red stains, Luna could see the blood seeping out from under the edges of her foot, down along the outer side of her leg.

"Where'd Amane go? ...Well, there's a door, so..." Naruto was saying as Miku turned around. Her placid expression almost immediately turned to one of horror, and she turned a dark shade of green.

Luna could even see it through the miasma. Obviously her foot, which she refused to look at, was worse than she had originally thought. "...L-LUNA!"

Naruto turned around to see Miku sprint over to her as fast as she could, already taking out some herbal meds. "No offense, Miku, but I do not think those can help me very much," Luna was saying.

Miku moved a little to the side, and Naruto felt the blood drain from his face. Luna was sitting in a kind of awkward position. She was an awkward person.

What surprised him was the stake driven into the top of her foot.

He ran over to the two, and once he got close, he could see the blood pooling around Luna's foot and along her leg.

Like some weird kind of outline. A really sick one.

"Loon, did that...did that go all the way through?"

"Yes, I believe it did. When Mini-Me shoved it back through, I heard- and...felt...it clang against the ground It is now imbedded into the stone, so I do not believe I can free my foot on my own," she explained calmly.

It was the kind of calm that tipped him off that she was slipping into her form of shock.

She took the herbal meds despite what she said about it not helping much; she had looked down at her foot and was now almost as green as Miku was.

Luna glanced at the door before looking at him, and he gulped. He was REALLY not liking how serious she looked right now. She leaned towards Miku, whispering something.

Miku nodded quickly and went over to the other end of the room before slipping through the door they had been about to go through.

Luna cradled her bloody left hand briefly as she stared up at him. "Naruto...If I asked you to do something that you know would cause lots of pain and screaming and blood...would you do it anyway?"

He paled even more. "I don't like where you're going with this..."

"I need you to pull this- no...YANK this stake out. I can't stand to make you stay here with me while Miku explores the unknown, and I don't wanna stay nailed to the ground BY MYSELF until we wake up."

"WHAT? NO WAY! I can't do that to you, I WON'T do that to you! No, no, no, NO."

"NARUTO!"

"Miku's already out there!"

"She's waiting outside! I told her she would probably much rather wait out there than hear my screams, and she agreed rather passionately!"

"I don't care HOW passionately she agreed with you, I'm not ripping a stake out of your impaled foot! I'll just wait here with you, it's no big deal, really!"

"No."

"Yes."

"NO."

"I really don't think you're in a position to argue with me! No means NO this time, Luna, dammit!"

"Can't you just- URGH!" She cried out in frustration. Luna held her hand against her palm for a second, breathing deeply.

She then looked up at him with the saddest, most seriously determined face he'd ever seen.

"Naruto, I have never begged to someone before. In fact, I had told my Mini-Me right before she shoved the stake back into my foot that I would never beg to her, nor anyone else. But I'm already about to prove myself wrong..."

She paused to wipe at her face, but she wiped with the wrong hand, so now she had a streak of her own blood across her whole face.

"Please...PLEASE...Rip it out. Yank it. Hold my foot down, ignore my screaming, and get it out as quickly as you can. Please. I...I'm begging you."

As if he already weren't forced to agree to the bizarre thing she was asking from him, those damn big brown eyes of hers brimmed with tears that she blinked away, which just made her eyes bigger and her lashes longer.

"Do it...please? ...For me?"

Dammit, she went there. SHE WENT THERE. She used the dirtiest trick in the book. But Luna looked so sincere saying it that it made Naruto's chest hurt, and he REALLY had no choice in the matter now.

He slowly sat on his knees beside her foot, and her breathing quickened just at him LOOKING in the stake's direction.

"...You're SURE you want me to do this?"

"Of course I am! That doesn't mean I like it!" She snapped.

"Would it make you feel any better if I grabbed your hand?"

"NO! I am not a child, nor am I some silly schoolgirl who needs comforting."

"Which is a yes, right?"

"...Ye-e-esssss," she whined, hiding her face in her non-bloodied hand and stamping her free foot with anxiety.

She heard shuffling before feeling warmth around her hand; her bloodied knuckles stung a little from the contact, but she figured that was the least of her problems at the moment.

"Okay. ...Okay...One...Tw-"

"GAH! DON'T COUNT, JUST YANK WHENEVER YOU'RE READY!" She shrieked between sobs, making him jump.

Luna sniffled. "...Sorry."

"Don't be. Just...gimme a second...I don't wanna hurt you."

She laughed a little. "Naruto, this is gonna hurt either w- AHHHH...SHIT!" She screamed, both the phrase and tiny sobs ripping from her throat and echoing in the large rounded room.

"YOU ASSWIPE!" She cried out; the stake had only come up a little bit, it was now completely inside her foot, and she was pretty sure she felt some rocks lodged tightly into her foot. GREAT.

Naruto didn't reply, just shifted his hand off the top of her hand and lacing their fingers together so she could squeeze the life out of them. Which she intended to do. Immediately. Starting NOW.

"Ow," he hissed to himself, making Luna's temple throb. "You do not know the MEANING of the word 'ow', Naruto Uzum-OWWWWWW, HOLY SHITCAKE, RIP IT OUT, RIP IT OOOOUTT!" She screamed as he pulled it more.

By this point Naruto's hand was numb from her squeezing, Luna's head had reflexively thrown back (causing her to hit it against the wall), her free foot was kicking like mad...and the stake was only about halfway out.

Also by this point, she had tears streaming down her face, and she was shaking almost violently. All the blood loss probably had something to do with the shaking, and it would explain why she felt so lightheaded.

She gripped Naruto's hand even tighter (if that was possible), and he stroked the skin between her thumb and pointer finger reassuringly.

"Don't stop until it's out, just ignore me, please!" She pleaded as he hesitated, eyes welded shut as she sat up and pressed her head against her knees.

"O-Okay, here I go-" Naruto was cut off as Luna let out an agonizing scream against her legs, and with three more tries, the stake was out.

Luna's final scream ended as a sob of relief, and she leaned her head against the wall, panting hard.

Her leg slid out of its drawn-up position, her numb foot skidding across the stone limply, its path smeared and slicked by fresh blood from the now completely open wound. Luna opened her eyes for the first time, but didn't dare look at her foot.

Something told her she would regret it. Naruto had a really guilty look on his face, and she squeezed his hand briefly. "...Thank you. Th-Think of that as having been...a trust exercise?"

Naruto sweatdropped at her statement, shaking his head in disbelief. "...I can't believe I actually just DID that to you..."

"Don't worry about it. I asked you to, didn't I?" Luna smirked. "It was my eyes that persuaded you, wasn't it."

His temple throbbed as he stood and stretched. "Just shut up and let's go make sure Miku didn't pass out. I'm sure she heard you screaming, even from way out there..."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Indeed. You might be right."

He sweatdropped. "How the FACK are you so EFFING CALM RIGHT NOW?" Luna smiled sweetly up at him. "Because I know three things. One, you're gonna carry me, since I'm so helpless. Two, I can heal most of the wounds when we get back to reality, once this miasma stops affecting me. And THREE...Well...number three's nothing for you to worry about."

Naruto sighed heavily and leaned down, picking her up as gently as humanly possible. Luna plopped her Camera Obscura on her lap, her bleeding hand cradled against her chest, and made sure not to look at her foot.

He grinned at her. "I didn't see her impale you, but I sure as hell saw you kick that kid's face in. That was so awesomesauce."

She smiled back at him before pointing her good hand towards the door. "ONWARD! TO MIKUUUU!"

"TO MIKU!"