Standing over the woman who was gallantly holding to her faith in Sasuke, Itachi scoffed at her "touching" words. Inside his cunning head, however, he was grateful to her for not only standing firmly by his brother's side, but for loving him unconditionally the way that she did. He may have only just met this girl, but he could see quite clearly by the look in her eyes that she was indeed a good thing for his troubled little brother. Unfortunately, Itachi knew that Sasuke couldn't afford to be happy if he were to survive in this world, not yet at least. Such is the fate of the Uchiha.

Itachi made sure that Kisame's chakra really was gone before speaking in a hushed yet razor-sharp tone, "You are sorely mistaken if you think that you are going to be reunited with my brother. Even if he comes after you, he won't succeed in rescuing you."

She let out a small gasp as he closed the space between them...

Sasuke returned to his room, expecting to find Aoi waiting for him, but in her place, he was greeted instead by Kabuto. Wearing a triumphant smirk on his shrewd face, glasses gleaming sinisterly, he gloated to the boy, "Looking for something? A certain little," He paused, thinking up the cruelest thing to call her, or at the very least the thing that would most anger Sasuke, "whore?"

If Sasuke had ever looked angry, it was nothing compared to the look on his face at that moment, "You don't ever call her that."

"Oh? Did she already put her filthy lies into your naive little head? Don't feel bad - she's lied to better men than us, I'm sure." He watched Sasuke, gauging his reaction with the greatest attention possible, if only to corrupt the teen further, "Aoi always has been a gifted liar. First, she makes you fall in love with her, then, just when she makes you believe that she loves you, she takes what she wants and leaves you high and dry. Just as she did last night."

"... You're wrong." Sasuke knew that Kabuto was probably only trying to bait him into some kind of sick game, drawing on his own account of what he considered to be personal experience. He knew that Aoi wasn't anything like what the bastard was trying to paint her to be.

Kabuto seemed to sense the Uchiha's train of thought, as he was quick to elaborate, "Can you really be so sure? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she just suddenly vanish? And after finally coaxing you into her overlapping webs of pleasure and madness... The taste of her really can't be compared to any other, and with the way she trembles, it seems to make her absolutely unique. I've had many lovers in the past, but none of them came half as close to satisfying me the way she did."

At this point, logic began to take a back seat to jealousy in Sasuke's mind, though his heart tried to resist the doubt that now seeped into his mind, "..."

Kabuto grinned, lost in his own memories of Aoi, though sadly Sasuke had no way of knowing how real any of them were, "I can still remember the way she would trail butterfly kisses from my neck to my loins, working with the skills of a well-trained bride. Her husband must have taught her well. And how could I ever forget the delectable shade of pink-"

"Shut up." Sasuke was positively fuming now, furious by Kabuto's words.

Without further ado, he left the bespectacled ninja behind to speak to Orochimaru, to demand to see Aoi right away. But Orochimaru was waiting for him just outside the hallway, seemingly already aware of Aoi's disappearance, "Sasuke-kun, I've heard the news from the servants... Aoi is gone. She left without a trace."

But the boy refused to believe that she would willing leave, even if he was nagged by suspicion, "Where is she?"

Yellow eyes slitting in mirth, the snake told him exactly where Aoi was to be found, "He took her."

Sasuke didn't need to ask who the older man was talking about to know who had taken Aoi. Itachi was a dead man.


Anyone catch the Inuyasha reference? Speaking of Inuyasha, not that they're exactly connected, I would like to thank KagomeUchiha101, LoneWolfPack, SweetzJunkie, Kaulitz-Twins-Fangirl, fedwvu, Larn555, Ninja99, BadRomace96, Peachie-Trishie, TaintedDarkInuShemeeko, and The Only Sane One for reviewing my work thus far! I hope that you all, and all of my other readers, continue to read and enjoy my story!