Chapter 2

Neji's footsteps echoed loudly as he stepped through the metal gate. He was especially careful not to lose his footing on the dilapidated flooring, seeing as huge gaping holes were scattered about the amusement park.

Yes, an amusement park. He was in Lakeside Amusement Park (not that he knew where it was or why he was where he was), and he couldn't be more terrified. He had just woken up in front of the park with no memory at all, and a small purple switchblade that couldn't cut through butter. Neji was very, very confused.

He stepped forward slowly, trying to take in the corrupt state of the park. The park's mascot was slumped over on the bench, blood drying around the smiling mouth of the pink bunny rabbit. Dead… things hung in cages, their skin crawling with a kind of living rust. And for god sakes, there were holes cut in the damn floor! How somebody cut a perfect, unending square into the earth was totally and completely beyond him.

"Just don't think about it," Neji whispered, holding the useless blade closer to his chest, "If I don't think about it, I'll be okay…" He took another step forward, steering himself towards the large wooden door to his left, trying his best to ignore the crying coming from the men's room on his right.

He reached out towards the door and gave it a push, surprised when the heavy looking door swung open easily, giving off a loud squeak as it rolled on its hinges.

Stepping through the door, Neji seemed to have left all of his shinobi training at the gate. He gave no thought to the fact that he was stepping into a large, unlit hallway with no other exit in plain sight. He thought nothing of the fact that the squeal the door gave off could have attracted the attention of the looming thing in the corner. He also didn't think that his only means of effective defense was a dull little knife. Yup, his good head was definitely not with him today.

A sudden movement caught his eye and he turned swiftly to his right, his shoulder knocking into the door and slamming it shut behind him. He backed up slowly, his hands patting furiously at his pockets for anything that he could use as a light.

The thing was advancing faster now, its limbs swinging side to side as it walked (better yet, stumbled) towards him. Finally, he came upon a matchbook in his coat pocket and he hastily ripped the package.

"C'mon for god sake, c'mon! Light you fucking thing, light!" Neji nearly screamed as he tried furiously to strike the match. His palms were sweaty, his hands were shaking and he couldn't remember the last time he felt so damn terrified, but he on the seventh strike, he got it. The match burst into flame, illuminating only the few feet in front of him, but that was more than enough.

Neji froze as he found himself face to… kind of face with… something. It was more like a spinning circle of flesh that was sewn in the middle. Still, it wasn't anything like what he had expected, and Neji couldn't really seem to move at all. Well, until the thing stood up. That got him moving.

Neji turned on his heel, dropped the match, and ran. He had no idea where the hell he was going, but he ran. His feet pounded the pavement; the echo of his steps mixed with the thumping of the creatures just dared him to look back.

He skidded to a halt and backtracked suddenly as a nearly invisible door caught his eye. Neji grasped the metal handle and tugged, but it was no good. The hinges were rusted shut.

Neji's eyes widened considerably, his hands shaking as he pulled at the handle, "Open, please, for the love of god!" He trembled as he heard the creature approaching, and he stepped back. All at once, he unleashed a barrage of… anything at the poor door. Flying fists, feet, elbows anything painful and powerful.

The door eventually gave way, falling to the floor with a loud crash. Neji ran through the second it was down, going further still and dashing up the stairs at the end of the park. He didn't stop; he couldn't stop until he got to the upper landing and slammed the wire gate.

After making sure the thing wasn't climbing after him, Neji sunk to his knees, "What in the hell is going on?" He ran a hand through his hair, tucking his sweat soaked bangs behind his ears. He was terrified, and that scared him even more than he already was. He hadn't been this scared since…

Neji stood up suddenly, "Don't think… don't think about it and it'll all go away." He whispered, taking in his surroundings. There was a roller coaster track right in front of him. He looked over the railing, and even though he didn't see the thing down there… he didn't want to take any chances. So, roller coaster it was.

Neji tapped his foot on the rail before jumping lightly onto it. He looked ahead, and after praying there were no loops anytime soon, he started to walk. He was careful no to get his feet caught under the rails or the wooden boards as he walked along the track, his hands shaking wildly at his sides.

About halfway down the track and two camel humps later, Neji had begun to calm down. His strides were faster, his hands less sweaty and shaky, and unfortunately, he was less on guard. Maybe if he had still been on edge, he'd have felt the shaking of the tracks, or seen the lights coming towards him. Or maybe he would have heard the sound of metal on metal as the cart sped towards him.

Neji, totally unaware of his current situation, thought the track was getting shaking a little, but had chalked it up to his nerves. It wasn't until the lights from the cart hit his face that he knew he was in deep shit.

He looked up suddenly, drew in a breath and prepared to jump, but he was too late. The cart collided with his midsection as he lost control of his feet and fell to the ground…

(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)

"Shit!"

Neji shot up from his position of being slumped on the table, his eyes wide and his heart racing. He looked around rapidly, trying to gather his bearings.

He was in a coffee shop in Konoha's only shopping mall.

Neji sat back, relaxing just a little, "Oh god… what a fucked up dream." He sighed. It was probably due to recent events. Too much had been going on lately.

It had been two weeks since Neji had been released from the hospital after the… incident. He didn't talk about it, and everyone (aside from Gai of course) seemed to respect that. The other wounds had healed, but the insignia on his leg still remained. Even Tsunade had to admit it wasn't natural for such a slight burn to take so long to heal. He just changed the bandage often and tried not to think about it.

On the other hand, Sasuke hadn't showed up anywhere for the past few days. The only reason he found out was because of Gai and Lee. One was going on about his eternal rival, the other his darling Sakura and how the disappearance was affecting them. Sakura was a wreak but Kakashi… for some reason, he was much, much worse.

And last but not least, Kiba had been stalking him. Yes, as odd as it may sound, Kiba had been following him around since he had left the hospital. Neji had never confronted him on it, as Kiba was always in full ninja garb when he was tracking him. It was obviously a mission, but in all honesty, who would want to track him? He hadn't done anything the past few weeks except train profusely and… train profusely. It seemed to keep his mind occupied. So why in the hell would he be worth tracking?

Speaking of the Inuzuka, Kiba was staring at him as if he had grown an extra head. Well, Neji had just fallen asleep in a public place, woken up screaming and was now sitting in his little corner booth with a very, very stupid look on his face. All of which were not really his usual behavior.

Sighing again, Neji stood up, tucking his mother's necklace into his shirt. It must have fallen out when he had fallen asleep and he really didn't want to loose it. It was really very special to him.

His mother had given him that necklace for his birthday. When he asked what it was, she smiled and simply said, "Just a lucky charm", but Neji knew it was much more than that.

He walked out of the restaurant, not surprised when Kiba stood up and followed. He never bothered to stay hidden (he seemed to realize how futile it was after the first few days), but he had the sense to stay a respectable distance from his target.

Today however, Kiba seemed a little more adventurous. He actually walked up to Neji and tapped him on the shoulder.

Neji sighed and turned, "Can I help you? I'm busy."

"I know, you're out of food and you needed to go grocery shopping, trust me I know." Kiba replied, scratching the back of his neck, "But this is important, and I need to talk to you."

Neji scowled at him, hoping that would be enough to scare him away. It didn't, just made him laugh a little. Going onto plan B, Neji snapped back, "What, you're going to tell me why you've been following me the past two weeks? Well sorry, but I'm not interested."

Kiba growled under his breath, crossing his arms across his chest. This was not how he planned his Saturday, "No, just listen to me. There's somebody who wants to talk to you, said something about your birth. Just give me an hour so I can finish this mission, get paid and enjoy my weekend."

"No, sorry, but I've got to go." Satisfied for now, Neji turned on his heel and started walking in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, Kiba was feeling insanely stubborn and continued to follow him.

Deciding to change his plan of action, Neji turned towards the bathrooms instead. Sure Kiba could get into the men's room no problem, but if Neji was lucky, there'd be some middle aged chick in there to shoo Kiba out of the women's washroom once he fed her the good old stalker excuse.

"Neji," Kiba shouted after him, "Where the hell are you going?" Figures he'd catch him on a bad day. Kiba stopped just in time to avoid getting hit by the swinging door to the women's washroom. He could just go in after him, but he'd risk getting screamed at. He'd already had enough of that from Tsunade at the lack of progress in his mission. Apparently the Hokage didn't seem to realize that it was a rather difficult task to track a fellow ninja.

Sighing to himself, Kiba leaned up against the wall, settling down for a bit. He could wait. After all, Neji had to come out eventually…

TBC

A/N: A little bit of a short chapter this time, but at least this got it moving! ;P