Knight of Vampires - 7th Hour

   “Where’s Kiba?” Sasuke asked.
   Tenten laughed again. “Guess!”
   “We don’t have time for games, Tenten,” Neji scowled.
   “Of course you don’t,” she smiled, “It’s midnight. That means you only have five hours until the game is over. Having fun yet?”
   “This isn’t fun at all,” Sasuke mumbled, “Just stop messing around.”
   “Well, I’m sorry you’re bored,” she frowned.
   “How the hell can we be bored?” Naruto snapped, jumping to his feet.
   “You’re not bored?” she questioned, “That’s great! That means we can have some more fun! I hope you all like swimming!”
   “How can you think of swimming in here?” Shikamaru sighed.
   “I can’t swim,” Shino replied.
   “Here we go! Have fun,” she laughed.
   Suddenly, the walls turned into a stretchy material, grabbing the five remaining boys and dragging them to the wall. Just as they thought they couldn’t be pulled any farther against the wall, the material dragged them in, pulling them straight through the wall. On the other side, they were met by a wall of water. Each one struggled for breath as they swam to the surface.
   “Who in hell would have a swimming pool in their house!?!??!” Sasuke gasped, shaking his head to try and dry his hair as he clambered onto the unstable surface.
   “Who the hell knows or cares?” Neji roared furiously.
   “Where’s Shino?” Shikamaru asked, looking around, “And Naruto, for that matter?”
   Naruto burst out of the water just as Shikamaru finished. “We lost Shino,” he panted.
   “What? How the hell did we lose him!?!?!?” Sasuke growled.
   “I’m beginning to think things are not what they seem,” Shikamaru said, “I think they may actually have some compassion in this.”
   “How so?” Naruto asked.
   “Choji couldn’t take the stress of the situation, so he went first. Lee didn’t agree with fighting the girls, so he went as well. Akamaru may have noticed this or something else, and they captured him. Kiba couldn’t have gone on without Akamaru, so he was taken out,” Shikamaru dictated his theory, “And Shino can’t swim, so they must have taken him out before he got pulled through the wall.”
   “And now it’s just the five of us,” Neji pointed out, “Who’ll be next?”
   “Maybe no one,” he continued, “The remainder of us need to stay in the game. We need Naruto because he’s got all the energy and stamina to get us through this. Sasuke has the wide array of jutsu that will help us. Neji has the sight to see things coming. And I have the brains that we need, even if I don’t want to be here.”
   “Let’s not let our guard down. We still have to find a way out of here,” Sasuke replied.
   “Simple,” Neji mumbled, looking around with his Byakugan, “Naruto, there’s a panel above you that leads into an air duct. Break it open and we can find out way out with that.”
   Naruto swung his fist up and cracked the tile in the ceiling above him. The pieces fell away to reveal a long, cold metal duct.
   “Neji goes first, followed by Sasuke, then me and Naruto at the rear,” Shikamaru instructed calmly.
   “Let’s hope they’re not aware of this one,” Sasuke mumbled.
   “Don’t be so hopeful,” Naruto frowned, “You’ll jinx us more.”