The Labrynth's King
Three: Confusion
Hinata had been stuffed back into Kakashi’s thigh pouch despite her cranky protests and several bites to Kakashi’s hands. Orochimaru was still sniffling on the Jounin’s shoulder and had lost his hankie more times than Kakashi dared to count.
“Ah I don’t know much in the way of the rest a the labrynth, sorry.” Orochimaru said, blowing his nose again. Kakashi absently picked up the soaking cloth and handed it back to the worm. “Thanks.”
“Pakkun could be useful here.” Kakashi muttered. Then again, what would the dog be looking for? The scents were likely changed, and that would have all of them going in circles. “Or, I suppose I could mark the ways I’ve gone. . .” he said, taking out a kunai and scratching an arrow into the wall. “If we hit a dead end, we’ll be able to figure out another way.”
“Good idea.” Kakashi mentally sighed. This was so wrong having Orochimaru agreeing with him.
After several twists and turns in the labrynth, and finding absolutely no one, Orochimaru and Kakashi decided to turn back. . . or tried to at least.
“What the. . .?”
“We couldn’t have gone down now, could we?” the worm said, looking at the mark on the wall. Instead of the mark being pointed in the direction they had just come from, the arrow was pointing to the ground. “What did you do that for?”
“I didn’t!” Kakashi protested. “I just. . . oh shit.” He purposely did not choose ground tiles to mark because he had read that Jareth’s minions had messed up Sarah’s lipstick markings. He didn’t think that the walls could move his marks as well. “The walls moved.”
“Of COURSE they move, silly!!” a female voice said from behind Kakashi. It was Tenten, very tall and all but completely hidden behind a gigantic card. Her head and hands were the only visible parts on her. “That’s why you can’t solve the labrynth!!!”
“But people have. All sorts of people have had to in order to get into the city.” the silver haired man retorted.
“Well, I suppose.” the other person said. This ‘card guard’ was Tsunade, having just as much hidden on her as Tenten. “But they knew from the beginning which roads to take. The more wrong turns you take, the more difficult it becomes.”
“So, why are you here?” Kakashi asked.
“We’re guarding the doors.” a male voice muttered. Kakashi looked around, not seeing anyone else but the two women and himself. “Down here, fool.” Kakashi looked down, finding a Neji head popping out from the card Tenten was on top of. Next to him was Jiraiya, who was the bottom half of Tsunade’s card.
“Oh, so which one is the right one?” Orochimaru asked them.
“I can’t tell you that.” Jiraiya said. “She can, though!”
“Tsunade, which one’s the right door?” Kakashi asked.
“What’s Tsunade?” the woman asked. The Jounin shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“Well, it’s this one.”
“No it’s not!!” Tenten said. “It’s THIS one!!!”
“Oh dear.” Orochimaru said, looking at the two girls.
“Why would *I* lie?” Tsunade asked.
“You ALWAYS lie!!” Tenten shouted. “You always land people into the thinger!”
“The thinger?” Kakashi inquired.
“Nothing!!” They both shouted. The man sighed.
“All right, I know how to solve this one.” Kakashi turned to Tsunade and asked her a simple question. “Do you lie?”
“Of course not!”
“How does that help??” Tenten asked. “That doesn’t solve anything!!”
“Yes it does.” Kakashi said. “Because if she was telling the truth. . . oh.” It just dawned on him that what Tenten had pointed out “That does pose a problem. Well. . . What color is this eye?” he asked, pulling up his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.
“It’s rainbow!!” Tsunade exclaimed. Kakashi somewhat calmly covered his eye again (the Sharingan’s a RAINBOW?!?) and turned to Tenten.
“What’s the correct door?”
“Well, both actually lead to certain death. . .” Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed in disgust.
“Lovely. Which one is better?”
“My door, since you’ll just fall into some hands.”
“Hands?”
“They call themselves ‘Helping Hands’ but they just freak people out.” Neji said. “The other door leads into the Bog of Eternal Stench.”
“Ew.” Kakashi said. “Thanks, but no. Actually, could you all come with me?”
“For what??” the four shouted. Kakashi shook his head.
“Jareth should know that his system isn’t fool proof. He should teach you a new trick.”
“Teach us a new trick?!?” Jiraiya was appalled at the very idea!
“I’m headed toward the castle. You can come with me if you like.” The two card guards looked at one another and then back at the man.
“You really think we should?” Tsunade asked. Kakashi smiled and nodded.
“Yes, I do. It wouldn’t be so bad having company along the way.” The cards look at each other again.
“But. . . we don’t know the way over there.” Neji stated, as if that was going to dissuade Kakashi from bringing them along.
“Neither do I.” Kakashi said. “But we’ll get there eventually.”
“Well. . .” Tenten began. “We still have the guard the doors!”
“If both lead to certain death, it wouldn’t matter if your guarded the doors o not.” Orochimaru reasoned. The card’s jaws dropped. They had been doing a pointless job this entire time!!
“Well! I guess we have a bit to discuss with Jareth then, don’t we?” Tsunade said, fire burning in her eyes. Kakashi nearly stepped back, fearing she might still have retained her monstrous temper and strength.
“Er, yeah. So, let’s go. . .” Kakashi looked down, seeing a dark, seemingly endless hole in the ground. “Are you sure there are ‘Helping Hands’?”
“Positive!” Tenten said, smiling. Kakashi hesitated, but then took a leap of faith and fell into the hole. Orochimaru screamed.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!? YOU’RE GONNA KILL US!!!!!!!!” Kakashi didn’t think there was any way in heck that a worm of that size could POSSIBLY scream that loudly into his ear. “HEEEEEELP!!!!!!!”
Then they came to a stop.
Kakashi looked around, still seeing endless blackness, but feeling held up by something. Above him, the two Card Guards were suspended, blocking the light from the surface. There didn’t seem to be any ‘hands’ on them either. So what was holding them up? Some other type of magic?
“So, which way?” a lower voice asked. Kakashi scrambled to find the source of the voice. “Up or down?”
“Who is that?”
“The replacement for the Helping Hands. They’re off on break.”
‘Break?’ Kakashi thought. ‘The Hands go on *break*??’
“So, what’s holding us up?”
“Bugs.”
“BUGS?!?” the girls shrieked, squirming to get the beetles off of them. Kakashi sighed a little. So, this was Shino. Well, at least he had found seven of his companions and had six of them with him.
“Well, what’s up?”
“Nothing much, really. Down doesn’t have much either.”
“Well, I guess we’ll go down, then.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, and if you would. . .”
“Them too?” the voice interrupted.
“Er, yes. When will the Hands be back?”
“After I drop you all.”
“Can you come with us, then? You’re another person I need to bring with me to the City.”
“Jareth sent you?”
“Yes.” Kakashi lied.
“Well, I suppose if it’s the King’s orders, then I’ll have to go.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. BOMBS AWAY!!” Kakashi nearly broke into hysterical laughter. . . until his ass hit stone ground and two (four?) more bodies fell on top of him. They all moaned as they got up, very blindly in the darkness.
“Sorry!” the four voices said to Kakashi.
“It’s all right.” he replied, searching for a match or something.
“You lookin’ for something?” a familiar voice said. Candle lights lit around the room simultaneously, revealing the blonde Hoggle Kakashi had met earlier. The Jounin blinked as he saw a very confident Naruto cross his arms and smirk. “You got trapped here.”
“As did you.”
“Nope, I was sent to get you.”
“Get me?”
“Jareth’s been following you since you entered the labrynth.” Naruto stated. “And he actually wants you to try to make it into the castle. Sooooooo. . . yeah, I’m just here ta get you out of here.” Kakashi blinked again.
“Why in the world would he do that??” The boy shrugged, taking another peek at Kakashi’s ring.
“No idea. I’m just following orders. Of course, I’m to leave ya once I get you out.” he said, walking up to the silver haired man and inspecting his left hand.
“I’m not bribing you to take us any further.” Kakashi stated. “Not with this.”
“Got anything else?”
“I gave you a kunai.”
“It’s not jewelry!!” he protested, almost whining like a spoiled child. Kakashi sighed.
“My dog tags?” he offered, showing Naruto the two pieces of metal around his neck with his identification.
“DOG tags??”
“Never mind.” Kakashi said, taking out wire and quickly tying up Naruto.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?” Tsunade screamed, seeing the boy wriggle like a worm.
“He’s being a pain.” Kakashi said simply. “He also needs to come with.”
“NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Naruto yelled.
“Shut up.” the Jounin said. “How do we get out?”
“That piece of wood.” the boy stated, glaring. “Use it like a door on the wall.”
“A door on the wall? Isn’t that a book?” Jiraiya asked.
“That’s ‘The Door *IN* the Wall’, idiot.” Tsunade said, kicking Jiraiya’s head.
“Ow!!”
The shinobi ignored the two and put the small board to the wall, finding a notch that acted like a handle on the side. When he turned it and opened the door, a flood of water nearly drowned Kakashi and the worm who was perched on his shoulder.
“It kinda leads a lotta places.” Naruto explained. “You’ll have to find the right one.” Kakashi glared, but tried again. . . and again. . . and again. . . and again. . . and again. . .
TBC...
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A/N:
Kakashi: I've never done this before. . . so, I guess review and read her other stuff. . .
Iruka: I don't know when she'll be up, but when she is she'll update. . . *pokes Yumi* We should do this more often.
Kakashi: I'd agree, but she's gonna kill us when she wakes up. . .
Iruka: True -_____-;;
Kakashi and Iruka: Damn. . .
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Chapter notes: Disclaimer is in the SUMMARY!!! Bwahaha!! You can't sue me!!! ^___^
Yumi: Soooooooooooooo. . . yeah, I'm updating, kinda. I'll try to write some other stuff in my other unfinished fics. . . but I don't guarentee anything. . .
ANYWAY!! How are you all? ^___^ WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
Iruka: -___-;; She's freaking out.
Kakashi: That's due to the cookies earlier.
Iruka: That would explain it. . . T__T
Yumi: I LOVE COOKIES!!! But I really like that dough you get from those weird fundraisers and you can bake them fresh. . . and you can eat the dough ^__^
Kakashi and Iruka: *tranquilizer darts aimed at Yumi*
Yumi: *hit* T__T you're so mean. . . *falls over*
Kakashi: Since she's out, we'll be doing the end chapter Author's Notes. . .