A treat! A quick update. Jrotc drill season is over for unarmed male mix platoon, we didn't make it to Nationals. :( So no more practice, which means more time for stories! :) I know, the names are a little corny lol, sorry. Last time I never did thank you guys for the comments about grammer and all. THANKS! Well any way...

Shall We?

Living in the Shadows

(Paranoid Part Two)

Sasuke groaned rubbing his head and trying to get the thudding to stop. His whole body felt sore, his only relief being the cool atmosphere that slightly eased the aching.

Still a bite foggy he looked around realizing it was completely dark. He couldn't sense or hear anything else besides his own heartbeat and breathing. "Where am I?" he wondered.

Suddenly his head cleared and his recent memories flashed through his mind. Getting on his knees he was instantly on guard remembering the amazingly strong arms pulling him from Sakura. He could now hear her voice echoing in his head, calling his name out and trying to hold on in vain.

Reassessing his situation he looked around again, this time more alert and aware. He heard nothing still but this time sensed something deadly. He scowled as he recognized the aura. He was always ready for him so much so that he could sense it any where from a ten mile radius probably.

"Why don't you turn on the lights?" Sasuke hissed in a low voice knowing he could hear him.

"But the dark is so lovely." A low voice crooned back. "It's where I found my strength."

"It's where you found your betrayal dear brother." Sasuke replied spitting out the last word with venom. He stood up and looked into the darkness even though he couldn't see.

"I killed every single person who had Uchiha blood running in their veins…" he said it as a statement, as if he was remembering it himself, "and every drop of blood I spilt bought me more power. I tested myself and found that I could overcome senseless bonds that held me back. I lost my heart, stepped into the darkness, and found it was beautiful in all its strength. Dear little brother, you can't hope to defeat me as long as you hold on to your bonds. They make you weak." His voice was deep and velvet as he said these words his aura becoming more definite.

"I am bound to no one." Sasuke shot back.

"No one?" the voice questioned. "Not the demon fox? Not even the pink hair kunoichi?"

Instantly Sasuke's body went rigid as their faces came into his mind. Sakura's locking in place. He had to calm himself, an irrational fear ran through him as he realized he had no idea where she was.

"As of currently she'll be dead in a few minutes. Her delicate body couldn't handle the cold though she tried. My assistant is standing over her, ready to take her life."

Sasuke heard himself catch his breath. "You better not touch her or I swear you'll regret it more than anything." He growled. He couldn't put his finger on it but he felt this surge of power that followed the words. At first he thought it was coming from his brother but realized it was radiating from inside him, beckoning him to carry out his threat. It was almost stronger than his thirst for vengeance.

"Oh don't worry. I won't. We have more pressing manners."

"She better not be hurt." Sasuke said ignoring the words.

"You see my little experiment was poorly executed in the past. Don't you remember?"

Sasuke unconsciously clutched his stomach that had a whole new injury caked over with blood. "Where's Sakura?"

"Well I perfected it now. As a matter of fact that's how I got my three assistants. Unfortunately one of them was too eager and ended up dead. But no matter."

"I swear…"

"I would still like to try it out on you brother. You're the perfect vessel. And with Orochimaru out their lusting after you, having you under my control could benefit me more than I thought. Perhaps leaving you alive was fate."

"WHERE'S SAKURA!" Sasuke yelled finally, angry that he kept getting cut off with senseless babble.

"You can go rescue her. But that's only if you make it past me."

Sasuke braced himself two conflicting emotions fueling him. Worry and bloodlust. Together they created an intense fire inside of him, one that seared his soul. With out even noticing he had already activated his bloodline trait, his eyes glowing a dangerous red in the darkness.

"Well than, shall we?" there was suddenly another pair of blood red eyes staring back at Sasuke's own looking menacing and eerily calm in the dark. Nothing else could be seen in the dark but the atmosphere was clouded with electricity.

"Itachi…."

Naruto and Hinata squinted as they neared the light. "I can see something." Hinata said shielding her pale eyes with her hand. "Two people…."

Naruto shuddered and they stepped through the opening. They froze instantly. Hinata's coat provided little heat despite the thickness of it. Naruto's teeth chattered as he hugged himself.

"Crap, it's snowing." He mumbled watching the flakes fall on his shoulder and wishing he had dressed warmer. "I thought we were inside."

Hinata frowned. "This snow is filled with chakra, this isn't regular snow. It's too cold to be regular snow." She ignored the floods of charka flowing in the fluff beneath her and zoned in on the two people a little distance away. They were at least three miles ahead but she could see them clearly with her Byakugun.

"Two people, one's standing over the other holding something…sharp."

"Who is it?" Naruto asked stepping forward.

Hinata concentrated. Even though her blood line trait was quite as refined as Neji's if she concentrated she could still make out individuals. "One I don't recognize, the other is…" she gasped as she saw the limp figure lying down motionless. "Sakura! He's going to hurt Sakura!" she cried out.

Without needing another word Naruto stepped forward, braced himself on his two feet, inhaled the cool air, and yelled. "HHHHHEEEEYYYYY!! DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!!"

The snow covered field seemed to actually move as his voice vibrated and filled the air.

Sakura lifted her head as the familiar voice broke through the cold and reached her consciousness. "N….Naruto." she whispered her voice coming out in faint clouds of mist.

"Is that the name of the loud mouth who just so rudely interrupted our little session?" Blizzard asked dryly, his baby blue eyes suddenly flickering with irritation.

She smiled at this; suddenly the cold didn't even matter. He can beat him. Naruto can save Sasuke if I can't. She put her head back down letting it rest comfortable in the thick blanket of snow. She had become numb but it didn't feel horrible anymore. Someone could save Sasuke now. Everything would be alright. She closed her eyes feeling relaxed.

Naruto and Hinata began running towards the two bodies. Hinata gave what information she already knew to Naruto. "He's using charka in the snow. I guess it makes it colder so it's harder for the opponent to fight. It affects your breathing since the air is so frigid. I wouldn't inhale too deeply or you could have problems." Even as she said this she changed her breathing from regular to short even intakes. She could tell Naruto was listening because his breathing changed. She could see the little puffs of cold smoke coming out faster. But he was doing all this mechanically. His mind was focused on Sakura, his blue eyes filling with determination and anger.

She stared for a moment at him, watching his face carefully. At first she felt a twinge of envy at the thought of how much he cared for her. He was rushing into a possible life threatening situation without a second thought for her. But that was quickly replaced with admiration. How he could care for someone so deeply, so strongly. His heart was too big. It was ironic that this was the same boy who held the nine tailed fox inside of him.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?" Naruto asked suddenly.

Hinata quickly looked away embarrassed at the thought that he may have noticed her staring. "He has a good amount of charka but it's obvious he used quite a bit of it to make this snow storm. That's all I can tell right now."

He nodded slowing down slightly as they got close enough to see them. "Hinata." He said still focused on the two bodies ahead of them.

"Hm?"

"I want you to take Sakura and get her out of here. Take her and try to find the rest of the group. If you don't find them ten minutes after you get out of here I want you to leave and get out of this tunnel with out them."

"But...but I'll be leaving you here by yourself." She said softly.

"I'll be ok." He said. Before she could think of something to resist they had arrived by Sakura and her attacker. "Remember. As soon as you get the chance." He whispered.

"Ah, the loud mouth and a guest." The man standing over Sakura said. Naruto immediately was aware of the sharp point glinting in his grasp. Naruto locked eyes with him glaring furiously. "Get away from her." He commanded.

Blizzard gave them a dazzling smirk but complied. Slowly he took a step away from her. "Are you the big hero who comes and saves the day?" he asked mockingly.

"Something like that." Naruto said, his voice hinting playfulness but his eyes keeping their intensity. "But unlike other hero's I tend to go over board when I'm beating down the villain. I hope that doesn't cause a problem."

Blizzard laughed a loud exaggerated laugh that reverberated through their bones. Hinata glanced at Sakura who had her eyes closed, looking peaceful in her defeat. Hinata frowned hoping it was just her eyes playing tricks. Sakura hadn't given up…

"Well, you have a little fire in you don't you?" Blizzard formed another crystal shard in his other palm and held them up. "Allow me to cool you down."

Shikamaru put his face in his hand for a minute trying to calm his frustration. After climbing, falling, crawling, and swimming they showed no progress. All that work to lead them right back in the same spot. Before them were a number of doors in different designs, colors, and sizes. The exact same room they had come to when they escaped the stairs that had them sliding to their deaths. The only good thing that came from this was that his original idea about this room was right. It was nothing more than a trap that was meant to confuse people. Most of these doors probably had no point to them at all.

"Well….which door?" Lee asked his frustration seemingly already gone and replaced with his usual optimism. He grinned at his two teammates encouragingly.

"You pick." Ino mumbled remembering it was her choice that had led them here. She could feel the sewer water drying on her and she was now irritated and feeling highly unsanitary.

"I'd rather not." Lee said quickly looking at all the choices.

"Shikamaru?" they both said in unison, turning towards him. They waited for a moment as he kept his face covered in his hands and took deep even breaths. "This is so damn troublesome." He mumbled waving a pointed finger around with his free hand. After a minute of random waving he stopped. "That one." He said still keeping his face buried.

"That's an interesting choice. It's all isolated." Lee pointed out walking towards it. He pulled the door open and looked inside. "It's kind of small too."

"It's isolated, it's small, and it's the perfect choice." Shikamaru said finally looking up. "I'll go in first. Lee you go in behind Ino." Walking towards it he climbed in without even thinking twice. He wasn't use to the guessing game. He liked having strategy, being able to plan out the next step. But in a labyrinth like this one he had no choice to go with the flow and it was becoming irritating.

They crawled for what seemed like forever in complete silence. Even Ino stayed quiet not bothering to complain since it wasn't going to help. After a while Shikamaru became highly irritated again. "Ok, bad choice, lets go back and…" he stopped as he came up towards a hole in the tunnel. Inspecting the break he smiled. "Brand new." He said almost too cheerfully.

"What?" Ino asked trying to ignore Shikamaru who had his butt sticking her face.

"This trap was activated a little while ago. It's not old. The break is new which means-"

"Luck is on our side friends!" Lee shouted enthusiastically.

Shikamaru nodded. "We're finally headed in the right direction. The only problem is we don't know where this leads. It looks like a pretty long drop." He put his hand on the inside of the drop and felt the walls. "Earth." He took a kunai and stuck it into the wall. "Well, that's our way down." He said with finality.

"What is?" Ino questioned raising an eyebrow.

"You know how we got down that ramp?" Shikamaru asked with a mischievous edge to his voice. "That's the same way we'll get down now."

"WHAT?!" Ino shouted. "But the ramp was slanted. This is just a very, very steep drop. It's a lot harder; I don't have that kind of arm strength."

"Yes you do. You have no choice unless you want to stay. This time I'll be only a few inches to your side. Lee will be on one side, I'll be on the other. We'll climb down right next to each other."

"Well then! This should be a good challenge too!" Lee said.

Shikamaru stuck another kunai into the wall and climbed over making sure he had a firm grip. He pushed his feet into the wall and held himself. "The quicker this goes, the easier it will be." He urged as Ino hesitated at the edge.

"Well now I'm highly convinced you two are suicidal." She muttered sticking in her two kunai and climbing over. She felt a jolt of fear as she thought of the fact that her feet were dangling beneath nothing but black. Lee quickly climbed over and they began their descent.

Twenty minutes of climbing mostly off of pure arm strength Ino's arms began to feel wobbly and started to ache. This time she really did have a reason to complain. Her body wasn't built like the two males on either side of her who continued like they weren't doing anything more than walking down the street.

"Shikamaru." She whispered feeling ashamed suddenly. "I don't think my arms can hold out much longer."

He looked up at her and frowned. He had suspected the climb down was a long one and wondered if Ino had enough arm strength to last. He knew she probably didn't but he had to risk it. It was better than free falling or turning back on a good lead.

"Can you climb a little more?" he asked his mind coming up with alternatives already.

She nodded weakly and moved down to prove she still had a little strength left. Shikamaru smiled at her proudly and continued his own descent. She was annoying a good eighty percent of the time but she had a spark to her that attracted his attention. Regardless, if the end didn't come soon he'd have no choice but to carry her. He was fairly sure he had the strength to do so if he alternated between Lee and himself, at least till they got far enough.

Ten more minutes passed and Ino was fighting to keep going. Her arms were now working on sheer will. Her strength long since had disappeared. But now her will was running out too. She didn't want to do this anymore. She considered free falling; maybe it'd be better than torturing her arms. Either way she was bound to fall.

"Shikamaru." Lee said quietly looking up at Ino. "I think she's had enough."

Shikamaru looked up and saw Ino dangling tired onto her kunai, her feet desperately trying to find some foot holds. He nodded and tested out his muscles by straining them. He had enough stamina to carry her.

"Ino," he called up.

"Hm?" her voice was tired, irritated.

"How about we carry you? You seem a little worn out."

She shook her head. "I'm too heavy, we'll both fall." She mumbled trying to reset her grip.

"You're not heavy and we won't fall. C'mon." he pressed.

She shook her head and felt her hand slip momentarily. "Nope, you're not falling on account of me."

He sighed. "Now you're insulting me. Do you really think I'm that weak? Besides Lee and I will take turns."

Lee nodded. "Please Ino."

She sighed. "Ok." She said. She guessed she had just enough left in her to climb down the few feet that distanced them. Carefully she placed one kunai below her and held herself onto that one as she moved the other. Her left arm wobbled and she felt her hand release it's grip.

"Ino!" Shikamaru and Lee shouted as she dangled with one arm.

Cursing she tried to reach up but her right arm was too tired to hold her. Her hand let go and she felt herself falling, not sure if she should scream or not. She felt someone's hand launch out and grab her. Looking up she saw Lee grinning as he held her one handed. She frowned.

"Crap." She whispered watching his kunai begin to slide through the wall under their weight. Looking up Lee saw what she saw and frowned also. "Not good."

Before he could react the kunai gave way and they were falling again. "Hold it!" Shikamaru said reaching out and grabbing Lee's arm. He grunted as his arm pulled under all of their weight. He looked up and saw his own weapon straining.

"A little help." He said gritting his teeth.

Lee looked up. "I don't have any free hands!" he said.

Ino reached into her pouch and tried to pull out another kunai but her hands were too rubbery and weren't working properly. Her whole pouch unhooked from her hip and fell.

"No! No. no, no, no!" she yelled watching them fall. Two seconds later they heard the clanging noise of the various weapons hitting the floor.

"Perfect." Shikamaru said.

"I'm sorry!" Ino cried looking up at him. Lee re-gripped her arm.

"No, it wasn't sarcasm." Shikamaru said looking down. "The weapons, we could hear them hit the floor. So all we have to do is drop."

Lee looked up at the Shadow ninja with a questioning glance. "I trust you my friend but that plan is a bit….risky."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "If we can hear the weapons hitting the floor than we can't be too far up."

Ino swallowed at the thought of falling yet again. She shuddered, they seemed to be doing a lot of falling today.

"One,"

"He's serious?"

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

"Two,"

"Wait! Let's come up with a new plan!"

"THREE!"

"WAIT!"

Shikamaru let go of the kunai and all three of them went falling into the blackness. Ino shut her eyes. It would take a minute before she hit the ground. But a hard push followed by a thud snapped her eyes open.

"OOOOOWWWW!" she yelled.

Lee landed perfectly on his feet grinning widely. He turned to Ino and laughed as she rubbed her butt. "Nice landing! I give you a ten!" He turned to Shikamaru and his grin faded to a worried frown.

"I'm ok." Shikamaru said taking out the three shurikin that had embedded them selves deep in his leg.

On the way down he had noticed Ino's fallen weapons had made a dangerous landing below her. Reacting without thought he shoved her out of the way and took the fall. A pool of blood stained his pants as he took out the weapons. He looked up and gave a wary smile at the two worried faces staring down at him wide eyed.

"Really, it stings a little but it's not as bad as it seems." Taking out a bandage from his pouch he wrapped it tightly around his leg and tied it. Ignoring the sharp stinging he got up and dusted himself off. "See? Good as new." He said suppressing a grimace as pain shot through his leg.

"I'm…I'm so sorry." Ino whispered realizing she should be the one with three massive cuts in her leg.

Glaring he walked away. "Spare me the pity; you two act like you've never seen someone get hurt. More importantly though, it looks like we found something." He walked towards a door and read the sign.

Welcome

Complete the test in one piece,

And I'll let you through me.

Lee touched the sign and the room groaned. Slowly the door swung open revealing a large empty space that smelt faintly of smoke. "A stadium?" Lee asked peeking his head carefully inside.

"Mm, more surprises…you got to love it." Shikamaru said sarcastically, stepping inside. The other two followed keeping their eyes and ears open.

"All dirt walls." Ino pointed out running her hand over one of the walls.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Except that." He said pointing at a metal door on the far side.

"Well than, doesn't that look promising." Lee took a step forward.

"Yea, but I doubt we'll make it across this arena without having to do something." Shikamaru muttered scanning the room.

Suddenly clapping echoed throughout the room. "So observant! I'm so happy you three survived the small traps! I've been having a bore just waiting!" a cheerful voice squealed.

Looking around they saw nothing. "Who are you?" Lee asked his voice sounding merely curious than alarmed.

"The games, the puzzle, the outright fun! The black sheep of the family I suppose!"

"You're not helping."

"Oh dear, than let me break it down. Everyone in my family specializes in an element. Poor little Blaze got burnt to a crisp and Blizzard it working on chilling peoples bones. But games and puzzles are much more fun to me. The excitement! Any how, anyway, would you like to play?"

Shikamaru groaned. "No, we would like to get to the other side." He took a cautious step forward. Just as he expected a shard rose up almost piercing through his foot. This place was probably filled with traps.

"This stadium was originally made for me though I let Blaze borrow it. It's fully set up for me and my games. You won't get to the door unless you beat me."

"And you are?"

Suddenly he materialized before them, his face just inches from Shikamaru's. He smiled slyly when Shikamaru didn't flinch backwards. "Oh so brave and handsome." He mused. "They call me Joker, and these are my games."

On cue the floor of the arena shot up different walls that almost touched the ceiling. The walls held different colors and designs that were reminiscent of the doors they had to pick and choose from.

Joker hopped back towards the beginning of the maze and grinned looking foolish in his clown suit but his dark black make up showed there was a deadly intent behind his jokes. His eyes, which were a weird shade of purple danced menacingly. "Now I'm no longer asking. It's play…or die."

You know I've never liked clowns and their games, they're so scary...Any way! Every one is back in the story for the most part! And everyone is having a face off!! You like it? You hate it? Any suggestions, comments, concerns, confusions, etc? Let me know!! :P