"Why so silent, good messieurs." The phantom bellowed, the gold painted people holding the candles turned and took in the sight around them "Did you think that I had left you for good? Have you missed me, good messieurs?" The blonde man continued to make his way down the stairs. "I have written you an opera…!"
The demonic music continued to play as he held up a black leather book with a latch on the binding. "Here, I bring the finished score." He threw it on the ground that was covered with glitter, the pages falling away from their folder. "Don Juan Triumphant!" He drew his rapier and held it in the air as he looked around at the gazing crowd.
"Fondest greeting to you all, a few instruction just before rehearsal starts." His rapier slid through his gloved hand as his gaze shifted to Sakura. Sasuke left her side. "Yamanaka must be taught to act, not her normal trick of strutting around the stage." His sword went through her feathered headdress, swinging back and forth as to 'ruffle her feathers'. As she turned, Jiraiya came forward to face the masked man.
"Our Don Juan must lose some weight." The sword pressed against his gut in return. "It's not healthy, in a man of Jiraiya's age." The phantom turned away. "And my managers must learn that their place is in an office, not the arts." The rapier swung in the air, nearly knocking off Kakashi's horns and Iruka's nose. "As for our star," his gaze shifted back to Sakura. "Miss Sakura Haruno…no doubt she knows, though, should she wish to excel, she has much still to learn!" The phantom began to wander back up the staircase. "If pride will let her return to me, her teacher…her teacher…" All Sakura could do was stare at his blue eyes, her feet beginning to move forward, as he moved down the staircase to meet her halfway.
Sasuke ran through the corridor, tying his sword around his waist. He looked up just in time to see Sakura and the phantom standing together on the staircase in the midst of the crowd. He growled under his breath and continued to move closer to the crowd as best he could.
The phantom looked down suddenly, noticing the ring around her neck. He grabbed it and ripped the chain apart from her throat. "Your chains are still mine! You belong to me!" he bellowed, shaking the jewelry in her face. He stalked away and with a puff of red smoke, he disappeared, the last noise being the flutter of his cape and a gasp of the crowd.
Sakura stood there in awe, watching the crowd close in on the place that he had just appeared and disappeared from. Sasuke suddenly ran up and jumped down the hole in which the phantom had just fallen through, finding it to be a circle of spinning mirrors.
Every time he saw the face with the mask, he swung his sword, but missed each time. Eventually, a looped rope fell down, one that was used for hanging people. Something grabbed his should and he swung around to find Tsunade standing behind him.
She led him through a corridor, Sasuke begging for an answer. "Please, I know no more than anyone else!" was the only answer he gained in return from the keeper of the dorm rooms. He continued to follow her and ask questions, craving the knowledge he wanted, wanting to protect both Sakura and the rest of the people living in the opera house.
"That's not true!" he charged. Tsunade continued to tell him not to bother asking questions, saying there were too many accidents. "Accidents?! Please, Tsunade…for all of our sakes…?" Tsunade sighed, giving into the one thing she had been wanting to hide for ages. Letting her barrier fall away, she whispered her answer.
"Very well…"
