A/N: Plot with porn, or porn with plot? Or maybe neither. Also, any historical inaccuracies, I excuse with a creative license.


On the table was a bag of 600 drachmae, a respectable payment for a few words of wisdom.

Upon hearing the heavy weight of silver, the elder did not know whether the wine against his lips became more honeyed or bitter, just as he did not know whether to be intrigued by the upfront manner or disgusted by it. He had always scorned superfluous etiquette, the pretentiousness of many social conducts, but a man must be given the courtesy to savor his meal and conversation, not be interrupted by the dirty dealings of money.

And so, he calmly set down his goblet and tossed the bag to its owner.

"Ambition is very common in many youths, as are rashness and impatience. You do not distinguish yourself among them, and for that, I have no interest."

The rejection caught Sasuke by surprise, after considering the elder's financial position.

As if catching onto his thinking, the elder scorned, "You believe monetary generosity can sway my decision, but all you have accomplished is offend the one you bequest and betray your naivety. Your wealth will have much more use on a common whore."

And with that, Danzou laced together his fingers, finished with their conversation.

Left seething, Sasuke seized the bag and made his abrupt exit.

He did not travel six days and six nights to be denied. No matter what, he will not leave until he received his education. He particularly sought the mentorship of Danzou, founder of an influential school of philosophy. He had heard of his fame, as well as studied his manuscripts, and the elder's insights coincide well with his own.

Lost in anger and fierce determination, he failed to notice the numerous curious gazes, nor the colliding path with another pedestrian across the agora.

They both fell, and there was the shattering of ceramic. When Sasuke came around, he saw it was but a mere artisan or slave, bent and haggardly, hideous of face and skin, hands filthy of soot and soil. His robes appeared more ancient than his ruinous age, and he carried an odor foul enough to be outlawed.

Sasuke wrinkled his nose in disdain, wondering how a polis like Athens could bear the sight of such a creature within its walls. However, what disturbed him the most was the gleam in those eyes that had set their sights on him, the expression of awe.

The peasant scrambled up and extended a hand. He must have thought mighty high of himself, as he boldly exclaimed with enthuse, "By the strings of fate, I have met a son of the gods! Such a beauty is truly unforgettable. Please stranger, I beseech you to tell me your name and destination, if I may aid you on your journey."

Unamused, Sasuke ignored the hand and helped himself. Unfortunately, the hideous peasant seemed to be enthralled by him, an obstacle in his path, as he asked, "Your traveler's cloak is still fresh of the road. Could it be you are in need of housing? My abode is humble, but the fruit is sweet, the brew splendid, and I can assure you shall live with Dionysus as your company."

"No."

That did not discourage the peasant of his approach, eyes lecherous and fingers playful. "O, be assured there is no charge-"

Sasuke coldly slapped the hand away before it could grope him, and had to grit through his teeth, "I already found residence."

"May your host be blessed to have what handsome company! Is there a name for this fellow, for I do have quite the extensive hearsay and can serve an excellent guide."

"That will not be necessary-" However, just as Sasuke was about to depart and escape this pestering peasant once and for all, he discovered something amiss. He looked around the busy streets, through the footsteps and pottery fragments.

"Ah, is something of the matt-" Sasuke pushed the peasant aside, and was struck to discover his bag of coins gone. He peered into the moving crowd, but they gave little indications, moving to and fro.

"My bag," he demanded the peasant, grabbing him by the robe. "Where is my bag."

The peasant only smiled with a drunkard's giddy, gaze fixated on Sasuke's face. "Oh dear, oh dear, let us hope it is not of too much value-"

Sasuke released him, lost in confusion. Then, he realized how he had been played for an utter fool. Of course. It was the most classic trick in the book, a thief and his accomplice, and the distraction executed well. Immediately, he unsheathed his sword, and to the peasant, said coldly, "Return my bag."

The sight of the blade sent gasps within the crowd and attracted the attention of many men, including the officials who pushed into the audience and demanded an explanation.

"I have just been robbed of 600 drachmae!"

"How unfortunate! But I am afraid the direction of your sword is misguided. I do not have it. Search my person if you wish."

Sasuke had to cringe at the thought. "Not on your person, but your friend's."

"If a friend, no friend of mine."

Heads turned back and forth between the two sides, the accuser and defendant, but only one end gained the support of the masses, as they began to shout, "Thief, thief!" and "the audacity of such a crime before Apollo's eyes!" with even a pebble or two pelted towards the peasant. Meanwhile, many more watched, captured by the magnificent of the youth before them, radiant, regal, with a face handsome as the gods and a body sculpted better than the statues.

"Enough!" A strong command dictated over the quarreling and the audience's excitement, as a magistrate and two guards stepped in. With a scowl, Ibiki forced the sword in the air down to the ground with a strike of his own and said, "Violence as this is prohibited, lest you wished to be charged for murder." When Sasuke growled and resheathed his sword, the magistrate continued, "But the crime you accuse is grave. Speak, and I shall decide to whom you present your hearing."

By evening, the skirmish had carried across the city, down to a building in the upper corners, where in quiet, fingers circled around an amphora. With a smile, Itachi leaned in and gave a gentle blow across the vase. He was about to set it back on its shelf when there were shouts and banging on the door.

"It is not me, I say! How could money grab even a lock of my attention when there stands the abundance of wealth in front of me!"

"O, for the fires of Hades, shut up!"

Itachi's palm pressed against the door, as he listened, his lips twitched in amusement. It would appear quite a muss had developed.

When he opened the door, he was greeted by the shadows an entire crowd, with the trampling footsteps and metal armor of guards, the thudding spear of several hoplites, the sudden whispers and gasps of the common people. There was even a woman of pedals and soot, and the light pitter-patters of two curious children.

"Deny as you wish, but compensation will be mi-"

Sasuke stopped and stood as stunned as the rest, watched as an ethereal beauty stepped outside, pale with divinity, hair in long hyacinthine curls lapped to one side, lips dipped and tender. His skin drank like ambrosia, and his eyes, deep and imploring of the world, danced in a lost dream.

"Itachi!"

Sasuke would have winced at the crass voice, but he was too bewitched by each step, delicate and lingering, Itachi took to the peasant's side.

"T-this is your slave?" he questioned Itachi, his mouth dry while his palms were not.

"O, no, no, no, do not involve-"

"Silence, I speak not to you," Sasuke cut the peasant's words short, his eyes still fixated upon the beauty, from the contours of his jaw down to the neck and shoulder, the gentle drapery of light garments. "I-Itachi, is it?" Sasuke did not understand the sudden urge, the need, to be looked at by him.

However, Itachi did not, only lowered his eyelids, and to the crowd, bowed his head. "Officers, statesmen, what an honor." Then, to Sasuke, he playfully tilted his head, letting locks of hair cascade down. Softly, he said, "And even nobility. Those sandals and girding... you must be weary and exhausted from such a long journey from north, and yet you wish to speak to someone as humble as I. Of what may I possibly do for you?"

"This scum robbed me of 600 drachmae, and refuses to say where his friend took it!"

"May I ask why you suspect us?"

"My suspicions only lay on him! Because of him, I fell, then he coaxed out words to distract me so my bag may be taken. I want him brought to justice. A lash for every coin stolen is enough to loosen his lip, would you not agree?"

"Let us say you receive not a word, and whether you see your wealth again is left to the whim of the fates. Would 600 lashes alone be enough to satiate your feelings of injustice?"

"What!" the ugly creature exclaimed in horror, as he grabbed Itachi's arm in desperation. "No, no, please not that, how could you think of such, please I'd rather be in ruin than-"

"We will see," Sasuke answered, his smirk a mirror to Itachi's cryptic smile. How this beauty came to be burdened by a hideousness slave is beyond him, but if all went well, both he and the streets would be forever purged of that perverted filth.

"Does everyone find these terms suitable?" When the crowd murmured their concurrence, Itachi smiled and inclined his head. "Well, then... lay upon me 600 lashes. I have not the power to attest for my master's innocence, but at least I may bear his punishment."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He stood speechless, as Itachi glanced right past him and let himself be led away by the guards, their movements quick and fleeting. Meanwhile, the hideous little peasant was on his knees, shouting, "O, no, no, if you want money, take mine, fine me, I can work for more, but please show mercy to my Itachi. He is fragile and sickly. He will die under such harsh conditions..."

"If he does die, the court will compensate the loss of your property," Ibiki scoffed, trudging off behind the last of the crowd. "Just be thankful your slave was able to coax out such agreeable terms."

"No, I would rather die than lose him, please o' kind, noble soul, the beautiful and good, please take mercy-"

Sasuke shook off the grip on him and ran.

By the time he arrived, the number of spectators seemed to have tripled, all crowded around the crux, a major intersection west of the agora and a mere fifty meters of where the crime took place. On the stage, Itachi had already knelt down, unhooking the edge of his robe and letting the garment fall down to his hips, baring his shoulder and back.

"... do you know whose slave is this?"

"... how could he have escaped my eyes?"

"... does he belong to someone of Athens?"

The questions circulated, but answers were scarce.

"... I believe I do recognize..."

"... the master is that old potter..."

"... what a crafty man! To hide him from the public..."

When the first lash fell, Itachi winced, but kept his silence and closed his eyes. By the second lash, there was blood.

Sasuke had barely managed through to the front of the crowd when he yelled, "Wait!"

But he was not heard, and the third lash came down. The sight was horrifying, as if watching the destruction of a sculpture. "No, hold, wait..." Sasuke could not bear the way the skin fell to lacerations, exposed and wounded. When the whip rose for the forth time, he had enough. His sword flew in the air like a javelin, landing upright on the stage, the whip caught and entangled by the handle.

"By Hades, what part of wait is incomprehensible!" he cursed, leaping onto the stage and pushing aside the officers and magistrates. "No more, you hear!" He let the glint of his blade deal the threat, as he yanked and sliced the whip off it.

"Your anger is far from appeased," Itachi stated in a curious innocence, as Sasuke furiously draped his garments over his back again, covering them from hundreds of lustful gazes.

"With the burning wrath of Ares within me now, all the blood in the city will drain into the sewers before a single coin is compensated. No, justice will be served when I regain my 600 drachmae, but your punishment ends here."

"Is that so. May I be graced with the name of he who spares such generosity."

Something in Sasuke's stomach fluttered, as he licked his lips and said, "Sasuke. Of Uchiha."

"Sasuke..." Itachi mused, trailing fingers through his hair, as a smile appeared on his lips once more. "Then Sasuke, there is little I can do for you but 596 drachmae."

"What?"

Itachi kept his gaze lost somewhere on the floor. "One hundred and thirty eight degrees from my left, half a plethron away stands a man besides two hoplites on his right. Strapped to his right belt side is a heavy bag jingling with 596 drachmae. The other four, I believe, has been spent on his new pair of ill-broken shoes."

By the time Sasuke could validate those claims, his bag seized back from the real thief, Itachi had already vanished into the crowds.

And when he counted, there was indeed exactly 596 drachmae.