My Solitary Hope

Chapter 4

Kodoku didn't reply, but the corners of her mouth twitched into an almost unnoticeable smile. The girl seemed to take this gesture as something, and immediately disappeared out of the door way.

Sasuke heard her voice ring again deeper in the household, but she was talking to someone else. He didn't have time to stand there, and he wondered why she had just left, but his mind was thrown off course as Kodoku grabbed his arm and pulled him into the house. She moved quickly down the giant hallway and he was overtaken by the formalness of the area.

He wished he could stand there longer and admire the place, but Kodoku had no intentions of waiting. She silently moved on and into another room, this one surprising Sasuke even more, and then to the back corner, where a stair case resided.

Quickly but silently, Kodoku dragged him up the stairs and down a long hallway to another set of stairs. Once on the third floor, Kodoku went down the hallway again, to the last room, and pulled out a key from the pouch on her thigh. Slipping it into the key hole, she turned it and the door opened without a sound. She placed the key back in her pouch just as footsteps began mounting the second set of stairs.

"Kodoku? Is that you?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

Kodoku pushed Sasuke into the darkroom, flipping the light switch on, yelling back.

"Yeah, what do you want?" then she turned around and whispered.

"Hide in the bathroom, and don't come out until I say so. And don't say anything, or do anything, no matter what you see!" And with that, she slid back out into the hallway and shut the door.

Sasuke stared at the room that he had been placed in. The walls were a pale crème color, with little red Chinese character signs that he immediately recognized as the word 'pain', 'sorrow', 'love', 'happiness', and other words like that.

The room was actually quite simple for a royalty room, and Sasuke wondered if Kodoku had changed it any, because it looked out of place compared to the ones below.

However, its plain aura gave it a more homey feeling, and Sasuke immediately felt at easy. In the corner of the room, there was a king sized bed, covered in burgundy and crème sheets, and next to it, a little table, on which stood a glass of water, and a book. Several book shelves lined the walls as well as a closet in which, Sasuke guessed, Kodoku placed her clothes. A door led out of the room, and Sasuke assumed it was the bathroom. As he took a step towards it, he heard the voice of a man outside the door, and panicking, he turned around and hid in the clothes closet instead. Shutting the door, he realized that he could still see out of the crack in between the doors. Then he listened intently to the voices outside the door.

"Kodoku?"

"Yeah, I'm home."

"Oh. I was wondering where you were." The man said hesitantly, opening the door behind her, and backing her into the room.

Sasuke was surprised, especially with the way Kodoku was acting. Every time the man took a step forward, Kodoku took one backwards. Sasuke caught a glimpse of him from the crack in the closet doors. He was at least 8 years older then Kodoku, and Sasuke would have guessed him to be approximately in his high twenties, and he had golden blond hair. Standing approximately 2 feet higher than she did, he looked down on her with an air of dominance that disturbed Sasuke. He looked…familiar.

"Just at school, catching up on extra lessons."

"So you weren't with anybody?" the man asked, an accusing look on his face as he twirled a piece of her silky hair in his fingers.

"No, except my teacher of course, and another student who was taking extra lessons, but that's all,".

"Kodoku, don't get too attached, alright? I don't want to loose you." He said hugging her in a too familiar way that made Sasuke wonder what their relationship was. He couldn't be her lover, he was way too old… Right?

"You know? I was lonely while you were gone." He whispered, but Sasuke heard anyway.

"Don't." was all Kodoku replied to the man's innocent comment, yet the way she said it, with out any emotion, made it seem like more of a threat than it should have been.

"What are you going to do about it if I do?" he asked. The silence went on even longer, and he supposed that Kodoku was pondering her options, but she never answered.

"That's right, you can't do anything about it. Huh?" the man said, backing her up against the wall, one hand on each side of her body. Sasuke could only see the back of the man, and Kodoku's face. By instinct, he looked at her eyes. They we're green, as usual, with they're golden specks, and her face was the same as always, placid. Her eyes darted to the bathroom door so quickly that Sasuke debated on whether it had actually happened or not. To Sasuke's surprise, the man suddenly moved his hand from her side and put it under her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.

When he pressed his lips to hers, Sasuke had to blink several times to make sure he was not imagining it. Kodoku fought him, and tried to pull her face away, but he held her head to his. When he let go, Kodoku pushed him away sharply and wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

"I said don't. I'm not your toy. Someday, someone will find out, and then – "

"And then what?" the man asked smirking, "Who's going to find out anyways? If you tell anyone, then that precious sister of yours is dead,"

'Sister?'

Kodoku's eyes immediately darted to the bathroom door again, turning red with a faded black around the edges, but only for a fraction of a second. Sasuke was confused. It almost looked like the Sharigan, but it wasn't possible for her to have it. And her eyes had turned blue earlier.

Sasuke looked back outside as he advanced on her again. He tried pressing his lips to hers, and this time, before she could hit him he pinned her arms over her head, and placed his knee between her legs, restricting any movement from her. She muffled a protest, and Sasuke wondered if he should help, but her words rang in his mind.

'Don't say anything, or do anything, no matter what you see.'

…Was this what she had meant? A knock at the door increased his worrying, as the man jumped back and Kokoku's arms fell to her sides. Kodoku spit onto the man's shoes, and wiped her mouth off with her sleeve again, whispering curse words under her breath.

"Kodoku? Are you there?" asked a voice that resembled wind chimes.