295Shout-out to AndThenBurnTheAshes, , RadicalSoul, Iyan nee-san, The Kazekage of Suna, ii-Phoenix-ii, Chikiblue, Clementive, ElementKitsune and Guest for their reviews, your support is very much appreciated (and needed).
Just a small note before you begin, and before you start hating the OC introduced here, the Guide is supposed to be unintentionally awkward and annoying, NOT scary (just so you know). With that said, here's the next chapter and please be as kind as to leave feedback. ;)
Chapter Eighteen
xX The Guide Xx
"Shino!" Kiba scrambled to his feet as fast as possible, but the door was slammed shut before he could reach it and the metal plates began re-aligning themselves almost immediately. "No, NO!" He clawed desperately at the plates, only succeeding on making his nails bleed.
"Kiba, stop!" Naruto tried to pull him away from the wall before he could harm himself any further. "We can't reach him now man! We can't!
"God damn it, Shino!" Kiba yanked himself free and punched the wall, then pressed his forehead against it so the others wouldn't see him breaking down. "Why did you have to give up now?!"
Sobbing, Hinata clang to the back of his purple jacket and buried her face in it. Kiba tried to fight back the sobs rising up his own throat, but soon realized he was unable. Instead, he reached back and pulled his remaining teammate next to him, pressing her face to his chest.
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Hinata stared blankly as Sakura wrapped a yellowed bandage around the wound on Lee's left arm, then moved shily toward the red-haired Akatsuki, who blinked boredly up at her and shook his head with a light smirk. Vaguely, she could feel Neji's calloused hands holding hers, but his hushed whispers made no sense in her ears.
She was barely even aware of the tears still running down her cheeks. All she could think about was her fallen teammate, and how she might have been able to save him if only she'd paid more attention.
"... all be over soon." Neji got to his feet and tugged at her hands to help her up. "We have to keep moving. Come on."
Hinata nodded weakly and did as she was told, slowly climbing to her feet and following the rest of the players. If she'd been given a choice, she would have liked to sit there for a while longer, though it wouldn't have changed a thing. But if Sasuke was able to push himself forward despite his broken ankle and Sakura had overcome her illness in order to take care of the others, then there was no excuse for her to linger behind.
The game would stop at nothing, and neither should they. Hinata knew that more than well.
She took a step forward, Neji's hand still holding hers. She was expecting him to let go and turn his back on her to follow the rest without a word, his kindness toward her could only stretch as far.
But he didn't, and still holding her hand, he fell into step next to her.
"I'm sorry about your teammate." He said in that deep voice of his that always reflected more maturity than his age could show. "I know how you feel. Trust me, I do. But we have to keep going in order to finish the game, so please stay alert."
"N… Nii-san?" She swallowed, her hand shaking inside his. "Please… promise you won't do that. Please don't q-quit the game like… like…" Tears welled up in her eyes again.
"I won't." He intertwined his fingers with hers. "I'll be here to protect you until the end, I promise."
"I am your brother, after all."
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The Guide was small, he mused idly as he led her through the maze of stairs and hallways. But then again, she had to be small. After all, gaining the players' trust was one of her duties, so it really was a good thing that the girl he'd chosen was so thin and frail looking.
Though, to be honest, he hadn't exactly thought about that when he'd chosen the body he would use. He had simply gone for the piece that had less missing limbs and broken bones.
"Alright, here we are." He announced, letting go of her cold, limp arm and turning to face her.
Ugh.
Wiping off her memory and programming the answers had taken longer than he'd expected. Somewhere along the process, the Game Master had gotten tired of waiting and called the "Half-Time" out, forcing him to speed up his work and ignore certain parts of the Guide's modification such as her clothes, which were a collection of random pieces taken from other fallen players and, much to his uneasiness, her facial expressions.
Once again, he found himself being thankful for her small, thin frame and frail appearance, otherwise the players would find her a bit… he had no specific adjective to describe her, to be honest.
Well, at least he'd managed to fix the part of her skull that had been split open, so as not to freak the players out.
"You know what you have to do." He frowned down at his own creation in distaste. "Just sit here until the players arrive and lead them to the end of the maze. Don't let them know where we are, understood?
"Yes Master." She smiled, sitting with her back against the wall just as she was instructed, her legs sprawled out before her and humming an off-key tune that sounded anything but cute in the deserted hallway.
Yes, she was lucky to be small.
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"How far into the game do you think we are?" Naruto wondered, trying to avoid the bloody death scenes that played inside his head as he attempted to count the number of rounds they'd gone through. 5 so far, unless they counted the one with the beasts as well.
"There's actually no way to tell." Sasuke checked the crumpled notes in his pocket for what felt like the nth time. There was no indication as to how many total rounds the game consisted of and, to be honest, he hadn't actually thought about it until then. He'd only focussed on getting through each round alive.
"If we take the half-time into account," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "then we could agree that we are halfway through already."
"A most logical thought." Kakuzu agreed. "But you are forgetting one thing.
"Huh?"
"The ovens. When we got there, you realized the game was designed to kill one of us each round. Based on that, we can't discard the possibility of more rounds being added later, or for it to escalate in order to eliminate more than one player at once. After all, we don't even know if they'd allow multiple players to clear the game.
"That…" Shikamaru mentally slapped himself. Why hadn't he thought of that before? It should have been clear after the walls almost crushed Naruto and Sasuke along with Deidara, for heaven's sake!
"Stop!" Kiba raised his hands in alarm.
"No, no. He's got a point." Shikamaru shook his head. "I can't believe I hadn't seen that possibility until-"
"I mean it, stop! Not a single step!"
The rest of the players stopped on their tracks, wide eyes shifting to the Inuzuka's face in search of an explanation.
"Something…. no, someone's up ahead." He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "It's only faintly, but… it smells of dried blood."
"Just one?" Hidan's grip on the scythe tightened. "It shouldn't be a problem, then."
"There were only two enemies on round three." Itachi ran pale fingers over his bandaged eyes. "We are no match for anyone in our current situation unless we work together and use our number to our favor."
"We're out of weapons, though." Neji point out. "And our only Taijutsu master is injured. There won't much we can do if a battle breaks out."
"My mechanisms work through chakra." The red-haired Akatsuki (what was his name again?) spoke up, which was a rare thing. "But I still have some string left. It would suffice me in battle, if necessary."
The other Akatsuki nodded, though the rest of the players had no idea of what he meant by "mechanisms".
"How far ahead is that someone?" Hidan tapped the handle of his scythe on the floor impatiently.
Kiba squint up ahead, where the hallway took a turn to the right. "Should be right around the corner."
"Pretty boy and I go first." He jabbed his thumb at the red-head. "You stay back unless your help is needed."
"Not much of a plan." Sasuke mumbled, and yet he knew it was the only thing they could do, so he positioned himself at the back along with the rest of the players while the two Akatsuki led the way.
Up until then, no one had paid much attention to the sound of their footsteps against the concrete floor, or how even their breathing was amplified by the empty corridor. There weren't many chances of surprising the enemy that way. Not with 13 pairs of footsteps echoing against the metal walls.
"It's not moving." Kiba informed, noticing the tension on everyone's shoulders as they tried their best to advance quitely. "Whoever that is, it must be waiting for us."
A faint humming reached their ears as they neared the turn and, judging by its high pitch, it became clear that the stranger was a female. Hidan stopped a few meters away from where they knew she was waiting and raised the scythe over his head, which was Sasori's cue to make his move.
The clear strings attached to each of the red head's fingers glistened faintly under the yellowish light, uncoiling and snaking through the air as though they had a will of their own.
The humming stopped, replaced by a short yelp as the strings were yanked back to their owner and a small, limp figure was dragged into view. Hidan's scythe came down with a whistling sound.
"STOP!" A chorus of cries erupted behind him and he was barely able to stop his attack, the tip of the scythe barely an inch from wide, brown eyes.
He looked down at the startled creature under him and wondered what the fuss was about. It would all be easier if they got rid of her right away, wouldn't it? "Don't let her go." He growled at Sasori in annoyance and reluctantly retrieved his scythe.
"Are you alright?" Naruto asked, taking a hesitant step forward while eying the smaller girl warily.
"I don't know." She answered, not even struggling against the bindings (out of fear, they guessed) as her eyes, still wide with shock, stared unblinkingly at the ceiling.
She could talk, which meant she could also think (something that the reanimated bodies had not been able to do). Did that mean they could trust her, or was it her intention to make them drop their guard?
Sasori flicked his wrists, forcefully tugging her onto a sitting position so they could get a better look at her. To say that she was odd looking would be an understatement.
For one, she had shock of chin-length, orange hair that seemed completely out of place against the gray surroundings, and she appeared to have been dressed purely out of the contents of a lost-and-found box, with patterns, prints and fabrics that did not match each other. Her expression had to be the worst, though, staring at them with eyes that would be rather big on their own without her stretching them out in what they now realized to be surprise rather than fear.
"She must be in shock." Shikamaru said after an awkward silence in which all the players stared at her while her eyes focused on nothing in particular.
"It's okay, we don't want to hurt you." Sakura smiled awkwardly. It would be hard to convince her of that since she was still tied up and hidan had just removed his scythe from the tip of her nose. "Are you a player too?"
"No." She chirped, wide brown eyes turning to the pink-haired ninja as a thin smile formed on her face, her lips stretching more than necessary in an unnatural gesture. "I'm your guide. Pleased to meet you."
…
"E-Excuse me?" Pink eyebrows rose in surprise. "Our guide, you say?"
"Yes!" She nodded twice. "I'll take you to the end of the maze if you follow me." She made an attempt to get up, but her legs were tightly bound together so she merely squirmed in place. "If you follow me." She repeated mechanically.
"You're kidding, aren't you?" Naruto's face twisted into what he hoped to be a convincing smile.
"I don't know."
"Bitch, are you trying to make fun of us?!" Hidan growled.
"I don't know." She repeated with a tilt of her head.
"That's it!" The scythe went up again. "I'm going to-"
"Hold on!" Shikamaru held his arms back. "She can be useful, don't you get it?"
"In what way?" Hidan rolled his eyes and slowly lowered his scythe.
"Ok, let me think about this." Shikamaru tapped his chin and turned to the girl again. "Do you know the way out of this place?"
"Yes!" She smiled and nod her head twice.
"And you'll take us there?"
"If you follow me."
"Did the Game Master send you?"
"Yes!" Nodding twice again.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in concentration.
"She'd be useless anyway!" Hidan scoffed. "The hallway always goes straight, what the fuck do we need a guide for?"
"There are secret passages." She answered almost immediately, the forced smile never leaving her face. "And secret doors you wouldn't find on your own."
"You know where to find those doors?" Someone asked, clearly remembering the door that had let them out into the make-believe forest and the one Ino had disappeared through.
"Yes!" Nodding twice. "Every single one of them."
The players looked at each other, murmurs rising within the group as they wondered out loud if trusting the stranger would be a good idea.
The answer was a communitary 'No'.
"Careful." Sasori warned as Shikamaru walked up to the girl and knelt before her.
"So, you're our guide, aren't you?" Her head nod twice, just as he'd expected it would. "Do you have a name?"
"I don't know." The smile left her face, eyes staring blankly at him.
"What's your name?" He asked, louder this time, more clearly.
"I don't know…"
"That's not what matters, get away from her!"
"What color is your hair?" He continued, ignoring the warnings.
"...I don't know." A pause before her answer, brown eyes avoiding his.
"Shikamaru!"
He leaned forward, eyes narrowing as the faint smell of dried blood that Kiba had described reached his nose.
"Are you alive?"
…
" … I don't know…"
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Ten.- It might be a bit confusing, but it'll make sense next chapter (er… hopefully). Please make sure to share your thoughts (and hate, why not) by clicking that awesome review button at the end of the chapter.
Vianey.- Also, there is a new poll in our profile as to who will be the next victim (which will face misfortune in the next chapter). Just like the last time, we've pulled three random names out of the "Box of Wonders"-
Glacia.- *cough* Random shoe box *cough*
Vianey.- and added them to the poll so you can vote your least favorite character (and get some guilt off our shoulders). Please make sure to share your vote. Poll closes in two weeks, unless we forget again -_-
Glacia.- If you have any questions regarding this chapter, our inbox is always open. Please do not be afraid to ask, we are… fairly civilized and rather nice persons. Or so I would like to believe. (And we do know Neji is not Hinata's brother, he was just adding some depth to his speech.)
Ten.- Thanks for reading guys! Have a nice day/week/month and see you in the next chapter!
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