School Room - Nightmare
"Sakura."
Sakura blinked a few times before realizing that she was still staring at the wall. She slowly pushed herself into a seated position and looked around. Her breath quickened as she got a good look at the surroundings and it was only Sasuke's quick thinking that prevented her from screaming.
He watched her and waited until some of the panic faded from her eyes before removing his hand. He might have chastised her for her actions but the truth was he didn't feel comfortable in this place, either.
Down the long halls, the walls had turned dark red separated only by doorways and lockers. Several floor and ceiling panels were missing, replaced with rusting steel grates. There was a metallic smell in the air that could only be blood and the temperature had dropped a dozen degrees. Worse though was the feeling that emanated from their surroundings, a fear that, even though there was no visible danger, something was stalking them from the shadows.
"Where are we?" Sakura whispered.
"Same place," Sasuke said. "I think the illusion tried to compensate for Ino's disbelief."
Sakura closed her eyes and attempted not to get upset. She had caused this. Why couldn't she ever do anything right? She should have just kept her mouth shut.
"We need to find Ino," she stated, pushing her worries away and concentrating on the task at hand. "If we can reason with her, then the illusion should revert back."
Sasuke stood up slowly, scanning the area. "I'd be more comfortable doing that with a weapon."
Sakura nodded as she got to her feet. "You feel it too then? Like something is coming to get us." Sasuke didn't have to say anything for her to know he agreed. She frowned as she looked down the hall but her disposition quickly changed.
"I think I see something," she said, striding down the hallway. Her feet clicked occasionally on the grating but nothing seemed to react to her sudden movement except Sasuke. He pulled up quickly next to her, having seen what caught her eye.
One of the grates on the floor had come loose and the metal bar that had kept it in place was sticking in the air. Sasuke reached forward and pulled at it, frowning as it refused to come free.
"Sasuke-kun..."
"Give me a second and I'll get it," he snapped back.
"I don't think we have a second."
Sasuke paused and suddenly heard it. His head shot up and looked down the hall. There was something there but the lack of light blurred the details. It was moving slowly yet steadily, dragging one of its legs as it tried to reach them.
Sakura reached forward and started to help tug at the bar. It came free quickly and sent them tumbling backwards. Sasuke recovered first and looked quickly down the hall to find the approaching enemy. The only thing he could see was darkness.
"SASUKE-KUN!"
He swung before even fully turning around to acknowledge her cry. How it got there so fast, he didn't bother to wonder. He just knew from the panic in Sakura's voice that it was here. The creature ducked and Sasuke's strike missed. The momentum threatened to turn him around again so he just went with it, spinning on the ball of his foot and winding up for the second swing. It connected with a sickening crunch and the thing crumpled to the ground.
"It moved so suddenly," Sakura said walking up towards him, "like time had stopped for us but not it." She knelt down and examined it, her inner voice prompting her to keep strong. Out of her group, she was the best with medical knowledge and with that she might be able to discern something about their enemy.
"It doesn't have arms and the eyes don't look like they work either. There's a lot of blood." She frowned. "And you cracked its skull but..." she jumped up as it twitched suddenly. "It's still alive!"
Sasuke frowned and slammed his foot into the wound he had already made. The thing let out a cry and finally was still.
"Not anymore," he stated simply.
Sakura stood up and slowly walked back towards him. "We should find Naruto," she said softly. "If we're here, then he must be as well."
Naruto's eyes opened despite the protests of his mind. He couldn't really remember why he had fallen asleep, only the strange sound that filled his ears and the room turning black. Much to his dismay it was still dark when his eyes opened and only after several seconds of adjusting, he realized that there were no lights on save a soft red glow from under the closed door.
He stood up slowly, wondering why no one else had noticed or said anything.
"Hey, what happened?" he asked, trying to get the attention of his classmates.
There was a response but not the one he had expected. Something was scampering away, whimpering slightly as it moved towards the other end of the wall. Swallowing his breath, Naruto walked slowly backwards until his hand grasped the doorknob.
He pulled it open, letting the light from outside filter in and bask the room in an eerie red glow. Turning around, he scanned the room until he saw something moving. Slowly he approached it he realized it was human sized..
"Hello?" he asked tentatively and the thing began to shake again. He reached a hand forward, attempting get a better look at what was there.
The mass turned around and Naruto fell several steps backward as the pupil-less eyes stared at him.
"Hinata?"
The girl shook a bit and tried to pull herself deeper into the white yukata she was wearing. Naruto took another step slowly, trying not to frighten her any more but her only response was a strangled cry.
"Go... go away..." her voice whispered, though it lacked the same quality as the Hinata he knew. It wasn't timid or soft, it was terrified and rough. "He'll come... if you're too loud... please... just..."
Naruto slowly knelt down with a frown. "What do you mean he?" She balked a bit as he neared and shook her head. "Nothing... nothing's going to hurt you, okay? I promise."
Hinata blinked and looked up him, tears still rimming her eyes. "You promise?"
Naruto nodded firmly. "Yeah. Come on, we need to find the others."
"There's no one else here," she said. "Just him... and the monsters."
"Monsters?"
Hinata nodded and with a shaking hand, pointed behind Naruto. He stood up and turned just in time to see the blur move in front of him. Startled, he barely had time to block as the thing lunged to hit him. Without arms, the blow was not what he expected. Teeth grazed his blocking arm, breaking the skin and letting blood seep through the fabric of his shirt.
"Shit!" he cried, backing up as the thing tried to move at him again. It stopped suddenly and in the blink of an eye appeared next to Hinata. Naruto quickly shifted his feet and charged into the creature, knocking it away from the terrified girl and towards the classroom door.
In a moment of perfect timing, the door's light faded and Sasuke appeared, already swinging the metal pipe at the thing as it came hurtling at him. The strike hit its target and the moment the thing hit the floor, Sakura appeared behind him and gave it a swift kick to the head.
"Naruto!" Sakura said happily as she saw him standing there. "We thought we weren't going to find you in time."
Naruto eyed the mess on the floor with a grim smile. "Kind of glad you did." He looked at his arm again and the smile slowly dropped. The wound wasn't healing like they normally did in the real world.
"Are you all right?" Sakura asked, watching him look over his arm.
"I took a hit," he said, showing the bite mark. "It's nothing serious... but what was that thing?"
"They're his." The trio turned quickly as Hinata stood up slowly. "They're everywhere. They herd intruders and bring them to him."
"Hinata?" Sakura asked, watching as the other girl emerged from the shadows. "But... they said..."
Sasuke held a hand up. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"What do you mean, 'Who is she?'" Naruto retorted. "It's obviously Hinata."
"Hinata is dead."
Hinata flinched at Sasuke's words. Naruto was about to respond with a few choice words but Hinata spoke first. "He's right... I am dead. At least, I think I am, because this... this is Hell."
Sasuke snorted and it drew Naruto's attention. "What is your problem?"
"This isn't hell," Sasuke replied. "It's an illusion, the same one we were in, only twisted because we stressed the 'rules' too much."
"Hinata..." Sakura said softly, kneeling down next to the girl and looking over the injuries. Most of them were old, bruises and a few cuts. But there were clearly deeper wounds in her psyche.
"It's not Hinata," Sasuke reaffirmed.
"How do you know it's not?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "What if everyone else is trapped here too but we're the only ones who realize it?"
"The whole world could not get trapped in an illusion. It's a ridiculous thought."
"Please... you're making too much noise," Hinata whispered, trying to avoid Sakura's probing. "He'll hear you."
"It's not ridiculous! It's just something we should think about," Naruto yelled. "What if you're wrong? What if later we find out we could have helped people but we just left them here in... in this!"
"I'm not wrong," Sasuke replied.
"Why are so sure?" Naruto snapped, standing up and staring into his teammate's eyes. "What do you know?"
Before Sasuke could answer, Hinata's cries broke through their argument. "He's coming... it's too late." She started to push away from Sakura, standing up and trying to meld into the wall out of fear.
"Who is he?" Sakura asked.
As if to answer her, a loud rumbling echoed down the hall. The desks shook slightly and the lights in the hallway flickered. Naruto reached forward, pulled Sakura off the ground and headed towards Hinata.
"I'm not going to stick around and find out," he said. "Let's just get the hell out of here."
"That I'll agree with," Sasuke replied, resting the bar on his shoulder as he followed the other three out.
They ran, avoiding what sounded like additional creatures, and headed towards the front door. As they went down the steps, the rumbling came again and it was all they could do to keep standing. When it finally stopped, they scrambled faster, the need to escape overriding any rational thought they might have had.
Sasuke reached the doors first and yanking on the handle only to find them securely locked. He struggled with them, soon being joined by Naruto but no amount of force would open them.
"Damn it," Naruto said kicking the door. "If I could still summon just a bit of chakra this wouldn't be a problem."
"There has to be another way," Sakura cried, looking around frantically.
Something moved across the top of the stairs and their attention was drawn away from the doors momentarily. Hinata reacted first, panicking even more as she tried to open the door. The other three could only stare.
"Ino," Sakura whispered, taking in the familiar traits of her best friend. The blonde girl stopped walking at the noise but did not turn, one gray eye catching Sakura's stare as she stood in profile.
"It's not right," Ino said softly. "It doesn't make sense."
"We can explain, Ino," Sakura started, hoping that enough explanation would melt the nightmare away.
But the Ino shook her head. "We were friends... but you betrayed that. For him."
Sakura flinched, knowing that the words hit a little too close to home. "Ino..."
Ino turned to face them and the full extent of the illusion's decay came into view. The skin was hanging limply off the left side of her face and the other gray eye was missing. Her left arm hung lifeless at her side, unmoving save for the trickles of blood that ran down it.
Sakura retreated while Sasuke advanced, gripping the pipe tightly. Naruto turned away from the door and headed to Sasuke's side. He frowned at the Ino that stood in front of him.
"Sakura-chan," he said. "Protect Hinata."
Sakura remained motionless for a moment.
"Sakura," Sasuke barked and she finally moved. Nodding a bit, eyes still locked on the creature, she shifted back towards Hinata.
The Ino-beast looked at the two boys with skepticism in her eye. "What are you doing?" The decay began to spread, slowly shifting across her body from left to right.
"Negotiating with Ino seems to be out of the question," Sasuke observed.
"That's not Ino," Sakura replied, watching as the blond hair fell from the creature's head and pooled onto the ground.
"That's what I've been saying this whole time," Sasuke added before taking off, charging up the stairs with the bar lowered.
He reached her in record time but Ino didn't seem interested in him whatsoever. When the strike finally came she didn't move to block it at all. So it surprised him when Sasuke found his attack had come to a premature end.
Wrapped around the metal pole was a gray tentacle extending from the side of her body. Another one appeared suddenly and Sasuke barely had time to jump out of the way before it struck him. Naruto quickly ran up while Ino's attention was on Sasuke, ready to attack.
"Sakura, Hinata! RUN!" he screamed jumping on the creature's back.
Sakura grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her as she ran up the stairs and in the opposite direction of the fight. Ino cried out and the building rumbled again, causing Hinata to gasp out in fear. Sakura didn't pause at the noise and instead pulled her down the hall, so intent on getting away that she barely noticed the chain link wall in front of her.
"No, no, no!" Sakura cried, pulling at it to try to get it to move. But it refused. The sounds of battle were approaching quickly and panic was engulfing her very being. She looked around and dived at a classroom door, throwing it open and rushing inside with Hinata.
The classroom was cluttered with desks and Sakura pushed them to the side as she struggled to cross it. There was another door on the other side and she could only hope it wasn't locked. The knob turned easily in her hand and she dashed into the next room.
"What the hell?" she cried, seeing a classroom exactly as the one before. Hinata came up slowly behind her, quiet in her panic but hand reaching out to grab the back of Sakura's shirt.
There was noise at the front of the classroom and one of the armless creatures came into the dim light. Sakura started to retreat to the previous room but a quick peek inside told her that there were three more there.
"It's a trap," Hinata whispered.
Sakura nodded and quickly scanned the area for something she could use. "Stay in the corner. I'll take care of them."
Hinata didn't bother to argue, instead curling up on the floor and watching as the creatures advanced slowly onto her protector.
Sakura frowned, knowing that their movements were hard to determine. They'd be on her in a second if she lost sight of them. She edged back towards one of the walls, groping for anything useful. Chalk, erasers, and other small trivialities that could offer her no assistance were all she encountered.
Even with their slow movements, she knew they would reach her eventually. And the moment Hinata cried out in panic as one of them reached the door, she knew her time was up. Four opponents, no weapons, just the hope that Lee's tutoring would be enough.
She kicked her right leg forward, slipping it under a chair and using the momentum to toss it towards the single monster on the right while preparing to charge the three to her left.
The first creature fell back as soon as the chair hit it. The remaining three didn't see her coming until three solid punches sent them sprawling backwards. Sakura flexed her fingers, the skin already broken from hitting something as hard as their faces.
They got up quickly though as if the punches had done nothing but throw them off balance for a moment. So she attempted another method. She kicked low to the ground, sweeping the legs of one of them as she turned on the ball of her foot. The second she had returned to her starting position, she lifted the same leg as high into the air as she could and slammed it down on the fallen monster's face.
The thing twitched for a moment before it died, narrowing the opponents down to three. Her attack had left her vulnerable, however, and one of them shot forward, teeth bared as it attempted to strike. She dodged to the side at the last second and shot her arms forward, grabbing its chin with one hand and the back of its head with the other. She twisted her arm quickly, rewarded by a satisfying crack as the creature's neck broke.
She couldn't be sure it was dead so when the final of the trio attacked, she knelt down avoid the blow, simultaneously striking it in the stomach while sending her fist through the fallen one's temple, feeling the skull beneath her break and the blood dribble onto her hand.
Standing up quickly, she wrapped her arms around the remaining one's neck and threw him over her shoulder, tossing him harshly to the ground. Already beginning to run out of breath, she didn't bother to make it fancy. She just slammed her foot on its neck, repeatedly, until it had no life in it.
"Look out!"
Sakura turned, knowing she had lost eye contact with the one that had been on the other side of the room. She grabbed a desk near her and swung blindly. It hit something but Sakura didn't stop. She just swung until the desk connected with the wall and broke apart in her hands.
In the debris, she could see the final monster, clearly dead. Letting out a deep sigh of relief, she was about to get Hinata when she realized that she had just made something useful. Reaching down, she retrieved one of the destroyed desk's metal legs, wrenching it free until a sharp triangle of wood remained on its end.
"Let's get going," Sakura said, walking over and grabbing Hinata's hand.
The two girls went out the door and Sakura found herself on the other side of the iron wall. At least they had moved slightly forward.
She could no longer hear any sounds of fighting but she knew that the boys could take care of themselves. She needed to find a way out of this place and with them distracting the beast, she'd have more freedom to do so.
She wandered down the hall until she reached a staircase going up and down. She looked at it with puzzlement.
"Where do these go?" she asked Hinata.
The white-eyed girl shook her head. "Nowhere."
"What?"
"It's the same on the next floor, just classrooms. The basement... you don't want to go there."
Sakura looked down the darkening staircase and swore she could hear the moans of more creatures down there. "There has to be a way outside."
Hinata looked at her. "Outside? Those doors..." she said as she pointed to a set of double doors in the wall.
"Are the unlocked?" Sakura cried. Hinata nodded slowly as if unsure but it was enough for Sakura. She ran towards them and threw them open, stumbling out into the cold clean air of outside.
She looked around and realized that she could barely see five feet in front of her. A deep fog had settled over the area and it made details hard to see. But if she looked at the ground she could make out a path. Turning back, she motioned for Hinata to follow her and they scurried down the path.
A few seconds later, Sakura could make out another set of doors in front of them. She ran for them blindly, pulling them open and stumbling.
But there was no exit there. Instead it was the hall where they had started. She looked frantically around, trying to understand what had happened.
"I thought that was an exit?" she asked Hinata.
"No... you just said you wanted to go outside," Hinata whispered. "The courtyard is the only part that is outside."
"But the exit! Where is the exit!" Sakura cried.
Hinata looked at her with despair. "There is no exit."
Sakura looked at her like she was insane. She wanted to yell, to shake the girl until she gave away the secret of getting out of here. But instead, she caught sight of what had happened to the hallway and stopped talking altogether.
A massive battle had taken place here. Grating had been ripped off and tossed everywhere. The lockers were bent and destroyed. Several doors were missing. And there were carcasses of armless beasts littering the hall.
"Naruto... Sasuke-kun..." she whispered. Then her eyes widened and she tried again, this time screaming at the top of her lungs. "Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Where are you!!"
Her only answer came from the courtyard. The windows from the second level exploded and her teammates came tumbling out, followed immediately by the monster. When the dust settled, Sakura could see that both of them were ensnared in the tentacle appendages of the beast.
Sasuke still had the bar but the creature was keeping him at a distance so he couldn't strike a hit. Naruto had resorted to trying to claw his way out but it wasn't working at all. Sakura shifted her grip on the desk leg and positioned her feet for a run.
"Stay here," she told Hinata before charging at the thing.
She saw what the twisted version of Ino had become. A mass of scarred skin that barely looked human, both of its arms were working again in addition to the two growths out of its side that held her teammates. Its face had not fully reformed so the skin still hung off the bone. It caught her in its red rimmed eyes and smiled slightly.
"Sakura-chan! Get out of here!" Naruto called finally seeing her.
Sakura did exactly the opposite. She ran straight for it, weapon held firmly as she did. It reacted swinging one of its appendages at her, with Naruto still captured there. She pushed off the ground and managed to flip over it as it tried to sweep her, Naruto's yells passing her by like the sound of a speeding locomotive.
It swung at her again, this time sending Sasuke her way this time. She dove under it driving the weapon into the fleshy part as it passed. The desk leg stayed firmly attached and Sakura held on, letting it drag her along the ground for a few seconds before she could swing a leg on it and right herself.
She wrapped her arms firmly around it, forcing away her revulsion at its sickly flesh. Hand over hand she worked her way along the flailing tentacle until she reached Sasuke. She gripped it firmly with her knees and ankles, freeing a hand to help him uncoil it from around him. It loosened slightly and Sasuke was able to free himself and drop to the ground as Sakura jumped away.
"Get Naruto!" Sasuke commanded, charging at it with the metal pole. Sakura quickly complied, running over and grabbing on to the tentacle as soon as it tried to attack her. While she worked her way up to Naruto, Sasuke charged it, aiming to hit it right on the head.
Before he could reach it, just as Sakura had freed Naruto, the battle came to a grinding halt as a feminine scream pierced the air. Looking over, the trio watched horrified as the beast impaled Hinata on one of the tentacles.
"Hinata!" Sakura cried, watching helplessly as the other girl slumped forward onto the very thing that had killed her.
The beast howled in victory and the noise began to echo in their ears. It forced them to their knees, covering their ears desperately to escape the noise. They could only watch as the monster pulled it's prize in, dragging the girl's body across the courtyard towards it.
In a matter of minutes, the noise took them over, filling every one of their sense and forcing them back into the darkness.
Author's note : Yes it took a long time. Take it up with my employer who decided to lay off half the department and sack the rest of us with too much work. Hopefully, it won't take as long next chapter.