Well, it really has been over a year isn't it? I owe this to you guys. I really didn't think it'd been that long. I don't think saying "sorry" would make amends for everything. Honestly, I lost my will to write anything at all, not because of school, work, whatever the heck else there is, I just wasn't satisfied with my plot, with my writing, with anything I did. It's only fiction, but as a personal problem for me, I won't be satisfied until almost everything is well above decent.

Funny though, I started on this chapter a really long time ago when someone reviewed with a message that seemed like it was "yelling" at me. It was just the way I read it, but the wording seemed so. I received many more like that afterwards, but they didn't seem to have the same degree of intensity as the original. I opened this chapter up so many times to complete it, but just never did it. I wasn't inspired to write this story anymore. I had a "vampire" phase when I started it. I was reading Anne Rice too though. Hah. But the reviewer got me to actually got me writing and planning. To you reviewer(s), although I have no idea who you are at this point, thanks.

Lame. I know. If you took the time to read this, thanks. I appreciate it. My writing might've changed in some ways, but I don't think there's a big difference.

She felt like she was drowning. She was drowning in a thick, disgusting liquid. It crept up through her shirt, around her legs, and it smothered her face. She could not breath. She did not dare to open her eyes because she was afraid the liquid would seep through, and smolder her vision forever.

Her body was tense, coiling and uncoiling. She curled her fists, so much so that blood drained from the palms of her hands. 'Am I dying?' She asked herself. This place made her feel dirty and grotesque. She had the taste of vomit in her mouth. From the bowels of her stomach she could feel the crawl of acids climbing up higher and higher threatening to open her mouth for release. She swallowed hard.

The liquid washed itself upon her lips, prying them apart. It seeped through her mouth and onto her teeth. She wrenched her mouth shut and murmured a cry or protest. The liquid gushed through her clothing and seeped to every inch of her body slithered onto her naked skin. She could not move her arms or legs, only let out small gasps and cries of agony and disgust. She knew she could not escape. She would be trapped here forever. She would never be able to wake again from this terrible slumber. It would kill her first.

Fear spread all over her body. She froze in panic. She would never escape, never. Ashamed, marred, and nauseated with her circumstances, she realized that she had been trapped here by someone she trusted. It was him. She gave herself to him, and he threw her into the depths of hell. He wanted her to feel disgusting. He wanted her to be abused, molested, violated in every way. He wanted to bring her harm. Why else would she be sent to this wretched place?

Misery clouded her senses. She no longer cared if she died. He had sent her here. She had been betrayed. Slowly, she opened her eyes, but still found no vision. There was darkness around her, and accept for the liquid gushing all over her body, she could not feel anything else. She parted her lips, and for the first time tasted, felt, and saw exactly what she had been drowning in.

Blood.

She was surrounded by it. The crimson liquid gushed all over her body, and even with her clothes on, she felt bare. It crept up on her on her face, breasts, hips, legs, and it left no part of her body untouched. What had she done to deserve such a violation? Why had he sent her to this place?

"Neji..." She murmured.

"Damn it all to hell!" Shikamaru cursed as collapsed onto a dense mass of dead plants. He clutched his broken leg painfully as he ripped the fabric off of his right leg. "Yeah. Great. " He muttered sarcastically. The skin around his shinbone and kneecap was beginning to turn an ugly yellow and purple color, and the shinbone was sticking out a little more than he liked. His knee had been dislocated. He turned an spat at the decaying corpse of a bride a few feet away from him. "You bitch," He growled at her as he set both his hands right above his knee.

He grabbed the fabric from his torn pants and stuck a chunk of it into his mouth. With all the strength he could muster, he pushed onto his shinbone to set it back in place. He clenched the fabric tightly with his teeth, and continued applying pressure until he heard the satisfying crunch of his bones realigning. He spat out the torn cloth, quickly wrapped it around his leg, and let out a large heave of air.

After sobering himself from the first realignment, he grabbed another piece of fabric and tightly wound it around his knee. He crossed the two ends and then pulled it as tightly as he could to set his knee back in place. He bit his lip painfully as he forced the bone to move. Finally the joint returned to its former position. He wrapped fabric around it and tried to push himself off of the ground.

His leg could not take the pressure. He fell back. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and grabbed a nearby tree branch to brace himself up. His legs were still shaky, but he managed to move a few steps toward the bride. When he was near enough, he took the branch and rammed it through her skull. It shattered beneath the tree branch. He whispered, "Rest in peace," and then he kept walking.

"What are you doing! Why isn't she waking up?" Neji demanded. "What's wrong with her?" He shook Hinata's shoulders roughly.

Hinata swallowed hard. "I-I d-don't know," She said meekly.

Naruto stepped between the two of them and pried Neji's hands off of her. "Look. She's doing the best she can, so would you give it a rest?" He asked sourly. "Hell, if it was me, I wouldn't even help you." He crossed his arms and slumped against the wall.

"It's not you, so shut the hell up." Neji seethed. "Girl." He addressed Hinata, "Heal her. Now."

Hinata remained hesitant. She stared at Tenten's pale body which seemed to be withering in the moonlight. Her skin was wrinkling. Her face held a solemn expression. There was no rest, no peace in her face. Her body would twitch violently once in a while because she had some amount of blood inside her, but her eyes remained tightly shut. 'What are you fighting?'

"What are you waiting for?" Neji asked, "Do something!"

"I-I don't know w-what's wrong with her." She took Tenten's hand and studied it, "S-she needs more blood though."

"Her body," Neji growled and looked away, "apparently... refused."

Naruto smirked, "What? You mean... she refused your blood?" He padded Neji on the shoulder, "Were you... rejected?" He pressed on to annoy him.

Neji swatted Naruto's hand away, "Shut up, dobe." He looked at Tenten with a serious expression. "She would never do such a thing."

"Are you sure?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I would."

"Well, it's not you." Neji stated angrily, "so shut the hell up."

Hinata pressed her chaffed hand over Tenten's forehead, but could not find what she needed to heal her from. It seemed as though Tenten was only rejecting becoming a vampire in the first place. "A-are you..." Hinata began hesitantly. She looked at Neji. "A-are y-you sure s-she was w-willing when you bit her?"

"She was," Neji looked away, "She was ready."

"Did you ask her?" Naruto questioned, "or was she seduced?" Neji murmured something in response that not even Sasuke would be able to hear. "What was that? Naruto asked loudly.

"I said I didn't have to ask." Neji ground out between his teeth.

"What do you mean you didn't have to ask?" The blonde continued, "If the person isn't willing, they probably won't want to-."

"I didn't have to ask. She's mine." Neji responded, "She accepted this."

Naruto sighed, "You can't just assume she's willing you know."

Neji looked away. "She was. She wanted this too." He sounded like he was convincing himself.

"If she actually wanted it, it wouldn't have happened this way!" Naruto said exasperatedly. "It's pretty freakin' dense of you to assume she'd just jump into your arms like that."

"Don't talk to me about being dense. You're the stupidest and the slowest out of all of us." Neji snapped at him.

The blonde glared. "Ah screw you."

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata intervened softly. "D-do you think y-you c-could," she swallowed, "r-read her thoughts?"

Both Naruto and Neji blinked and frowned at each other. "No," Neji said, "This idiot is not going to do anything."

"I don't think I want to." Naruto shrugged, "Like I said earlier, if I were in your shoes," He looked at Hinata, "I wouldn't help this guy." Although his tone didn't sound like he meant it.

"B-but..." Hinata continued, "W-we might be able to find out s-something... even... e-even what's wrong with her."

"No." Neji said stubbornly. "I refuse to let him 'help'."

"T-then w-we won't know a-anything." Hinata said fretfully, "S-she might never c-come back."

"It's no use," Naruto said bitterly, "If he doesn't want my 'help' I'm not going to give it to him."

Hinata gave him a surprised look. "Y-you c-can't mean that." She said quietly. "S-she's going to d-die because of y-you guys."

"Yeah? Well what are you going to do now, Neji?" Naruto asked. "You can let her blow away in the godforsaken wind, or you can open you mouth and say five little words that might make me help you."

"Help or I'll kill Hinata." Neji stated grimly.

Naruto slapped his forehead, "Not those." An impish grin made it to his face, "Come on. You know... the words."

"Never." The Hyuuga said stubbornly.

"Okay." The blonde shrugged, "Let her die. I'm going to bed." He took three steps before Neji stopped him.

"Fine." He said distastefully.

"I knew you'd change your mind." Naruto grinned and placed a hand delicately behind his ear, "Now, what were they?"

Neji clenched his fists, "Damn you dobe."

"Huh? What?" Naruto questioned, "I think he wants his bride to-."

Neji glared at the blonde, "Fine!" He ground out roughly, "Naruto," his voice suddenly became inaudible.

"What!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto. Will. You. Help. Me." Neji stated mechanically. He snarled and looked away.

"I don't know..." Naruto placed a hand under his chin.

"N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a sorrowful tone.

He sighed and slung his arm around Neji's shoulders, "Alrighty then."

Neji shrugged him off, "Just..." he shook his head, "just do it."

Naruto smiled and made his way over to the other side of Tenten and placed his hand over her forehead. Neji and Hinata watched him in silence.

Sasuke trekked his way through the dead forest quietly. He peered around the dark, misty area cautiously as he stepped listening for any signs of Shikamaru, but he could hear nothing. There wasn't a thing stirring, yet there was an ominous air around him. The smell of dead carcasses around him shielded his sense of smell, and the fog covered his way. He heard a snap in the distance ahead of him. He remained still until he heard the sound of bones popping back together a little later. As quickly and swiftly as he could, he ran over to the source of the sound.

In a little clearing he saw Shikamaru standing limply with a cane. The other vampire looked at Sasuke with a bored expression. "Took you long enough," he said with a smirk.

Sasuke shrugged and peered at Shikamaru curiously, "What happened?"

"His brides are all gallivanting around the place." Shikamaru adjusted his hands on the cane and continued, "I ran into something that looked like a walking fetus too; although, I have no idea what the hell it was supposed to be. The old bats got freaks running around all over the damn forest." He slumped.

"Lets go then." Sasuke took one of Shikamaru's arms and slung it over his shoulders.

"Wait. Go where?"

"Go home." Sasuke stated morosely, "Where do you think?"

"We can't." Shikamaru grunted in pain. "We need to get to the castle."

Sasuke's expression remained blank. "No. We don't." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes. Yes we do." Shikamaru said with a cough, "He's got Ino there with him."

"So?" The Uchiha asked. "She's no concern of ours." He hoisted Shikamaru along with him as he stepped further away from the castle's direction.

"Uchiha," Shikamaru stopped him, "We're going to the castle."

Sasuke glared at the other vampire. He released Shikamaru's arm from around his shoulder and let him collapse onto the floor. "No. We're not. We don't need to. Whatever that psycho is doing with Orochimaru is none of our damn concern."

Shikamaru banged his fist on the hard dirt floor. "He'll kill her if we don't go."

Sasuke shrugged. "A minor loss."

"You bastard," Shikamaru shook his head.

Sasuke stared at him apathetically, "I don't give a damn about Ino or Orochimaru or whatever the hell his plans are. All I want to do is go back home." He spat, "What the hell are you going to do when you get to his castle then? Beat him with your tree branch?"

Shikamaru glared at him, "I'm going to save her."

Sasuke asked scornfully, "You think she gives a damn about you?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "I have no idea. She spends our time together talking about you." He let out a cynical sigh. "You're right. She doesn't give a damn about me."

Sasuke pulled him up, "Your leg needs to be fixed."

"I'm still going to save her with or without you, Uchiha." Shikamaru hobbled a few steps away. "Even if it means facing the old bat alone." He clenched the dead tree branch tightly.

"You're a stubborn fool." Sasuke crossed his arms. "Just let her go. Orochimaru will just use you. It might be a trap." He stated coldly.

"Go back to fucking your woman," Shikamaru brushed him off.

Sasuke punched him in the face and knocked him over once more. He grabbed the collar of Shikamaru's shirt and glared warningly at him. "Shut the fuck up," he snarled, "Fine. I'll leave you here to be shoved around by Orochimaru's brides. I'll let him molest you and kill you like he wants."

Shikamaru shuddered at the thought. He was a coward in general. He was tempted to run away like he used to, but something kept him here. He felt like he couldn't leave. He had to save Ino no matter what.

"You choose the worst times to be brave," Sasuke spat. "If Ino doesn't care then why do you have to bother? There is nothing keeping you here but yourself."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I just... I just need to do this."

"What's in it for you?" Sasuke asked. "You never do something unless it's in your best interest, so how will this benefit you?"

Shikamaru didn't answer. They both knew what it was already. It was all for nothing.

"I'm leaving."

"Uchiha, wait." Shikamaru called him, "Fine. I'll go." He looked sorrowfully at the ground. "... I'll go."

"She's angry." Naruto stated lowly, "very angry." His hand remained atop Tenten's forehead. It was quiet again.

Neji tapped his fingers impatiently as he waited. "Well, what else?"

Naruto shushed him and tightly shut his eyes. "I'm listening to her subconscious; it's a little harder. Shut up." Neji glared at him, but said nothing. Eerie silence pierced the air. Naruto continued in a steadily after a few moments, "You sent her to hell."

Neji's eyes widened, "What?"

"She blames you." Naruto's brow furrowed. He opened his eyes and glanced at Neji with a troubled expression. "She wants revenge. She wants... she wants to kill you."

To be continued...

Thanks for reading. Hope you guys enjoyed.

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