Hello again! Welcome to chapter three. ; I would like to warn you all that starting now there will be things that allude to actual spoilers, such as, let's pretend that... Sasuke was traumatized by seeing a kitten drown when he was little. In the story, he might see a puppy being hit by a cart or something. Not that either of those happen. 3 Thank you all for your support and please enjoy. More characters are revealed in this chapter, and I hope they don't completely disappoint you.

Love, Hinaku.

Every night, Itachi came home a little later, and I had to quietly unlock the front gate for him. I was always afraid that I would slip and make noise and wake Tsunade-sama up. Not only would that get both Itachi and me punished, Itachi would probably never tell me where Kimimaro was. My loyalty to Itachi was blind and foolish. I rushed to do anything he asked of me, thinking nothing of the consequences. I wanted to prove myself to him quickly so that I could see Kimimaro again sooner.

It was the night that Itachi came home reeking of alcohol that this loyalty of mine cost me.

I could hear his laughter from down the street, accompanied by the high giggling of a friend he was bringing home. The two almost looked alike from a distance, with their long, dark hair and red eyes. Itachi stumbled in first.

"What's your problem?" asked Kurenai as she tried to pull him back, "You're being so cold to me, Itachi-chan!"

"I don't have a problem," Itachi grumbled in return, trying to break free of her grasp. They both lost their balance and almost fell, Kurenai clinging to Itachi for support.

"I know your problem!" she declared, "And his name is-" The sharp sound of flesh meeting flesh rang through the air. Kurenai staggered backwards, cradling her wounded cheek.

"Don't spoil his name with your dirty little mouth," Itachi hissed in a half snarl. The floorboards creaked. Itachi's gaze snapped over to where I was and found Sasuke standing behind me blearily, watching Itachi with a mixture of shock and confusion. The emptiness in Itachi's eyes receded and his expression softened.

"Oh, Sasuke, my future otouto," he greeted with a half drunken smile, "Go back to bed, ne? Nothing's wrong. Kurenai-chan and I are just playing a game."

Sasuke and I exchanged a glance. A reassurance like that might have satisfied perhaps a four year old, but we knew better. Still, Sasuke played along. Itachi was his idol, after all. He nodded and turned to quietly sneak back to bed.

"Kurenai-chan," slurred Itachi as Sasuke left, pulling her in after him, "I have... I have something to show you."

I cringed as Kurenai stumbled into the door frame, praying that the noise would not wake Tsunade-sama. By the next day, I would almost wish it had.

Itachi stumbled to the receiving room, producing an elaborate outer kimono coat from the folds of his own clothing, laying it out on the floor. It was beautiful, white and shimmering with pale blue embroidery. Kurenai gasped, seeming to wake a little from her drunken stupor.

"Is that-" she began, eyes wide as she knelt to stroke the luxurious silk.

"Oh yes," grinned Itachi with a certain malice. Now that Sasuke was gone again, so were all the traces of the Itachi I had met so many weeks before. His expression was dark with promised cruelty. "My most beloved rival should get better help. I bribed his maid and the little boy was more than happy to bring it to me. In fact, I think that the boy would have brought it to me regardless of the bribe."

"Well," Kurenai chuckled, "That's what you get when your help is forced rather than by choice." As she spoke, Itachi drew out an inkwell and a brush. Kurenai fell into a shocked silence. I did not know why I stayed, watching, though I suspect Itachi would have stopped me if I had tried to leave. I still had a major role to play in the tragic play that was Itachi's life.

"Roka," Itachi called, motioning me to his side. Half unwillingly, I joined them. He held the brush out to me, nodding at the kimono.

"Go on," he commanded. I bit down on my lip. He wanted me to ruin such a beautiful thing? Was the owner of this the reason Itachi had grown so cold lately? Those questions ran through my mind as I hesitated.

"You swore yourself to me," he reminded me in a soft, silken whisper against my ear. I shivered and closed my eyes, taking the brush from him. My hands trembled as I dipped it into the inkwell. Eyes still shut, I lowered the brush toward the kimono.

'Kimimaro...'

With my brother's smiling face in mind, I brought the brush down on the kimono. Itachi's sadistic laughter rumbled deeply through the room, inspiring a nervous chuckle out of Kurenai. After the first stroke, the rest were easy. Once you have gone too far to turn back, it is easy to run further into darkness.

Itachi allowed me to stop when he decided I had done enough damage to the kimono and he carefully folded it up, thrusting it back into my hands when he was done.

"Come with us," he ordered, pushing me out the door without giving me time to slip on my shoes. He half lead, half dragged me to a nearby okiya.

"Leave it on their doorstep," he told me, pointing to the porch, "And don't let anyone see you."

I forced myself to be brave for Kimimaro's sake and did as I was told, creeping up to the front door as quietly as I could. It was in vain. As soon as I set foot on the porch, the doors flew open. I fell backwards in surprise.

A tall, imposing man stood silhouetted in the doorway, as breathtaking as Itachi if not even more so. He looked perhaps older than Itachi, but there was a commanding grace and precise attractive quality in his timeless features. His eyes were white within white, seemingly sightless but felt as though they pierced right through me. His intense gaze left me to look upon the bundle of cloth in my arms. His expression hardened. I trembled.

"Come in," he ordered shortly. Something in his voice left no room for disobedience or argument. I slowly forced myself the rest of the way to the door and entered. A boy around my age, perhaps a bit younger, was kneeling just within and I saw him only when I entered. He quickly adverted his gaze from me and went to close the door. His eyes were the same strange white as the geisha's.

I had no shoes to remove and I did not want to insult this geisha further by dirtying his floors, so I stood where I was, heart hammering frantically in my chest.

"Bring it to me," he ordered his servant. The ruined kimono was taken from me and handed over to its owner, who inspected it slowly. His frightfully sharp eyes fixated on his cowed servant boy.

"Hiashi-sama-" the boy began, but was cut off with a sharp gesture.

"Neji, you will be punished later. Go to your room," Hiashi sighed. The young boy glared darkly at nothing in particular, stood, and stormed away. Now Hiashi's eyes turned on me. I shrank back.

"Who did this?" he demanded. I bit my tongue. I could not betray Itachi, not out of any love for him but for the sake of my brother. I would endure anything to get Kimimaro back.

"I am not stupid, boy," his voice was steady but showed a hint of irritation. I could tell his anger was the kind that smoldered quietly beneath cold embers, which was the most frightening kind of all. "But if you will not name him the blame will fall on you." Though my brow furrowed and I sniffed, I offered him no information. He shook his head and sighed heavily.

"Go home," he dismissed me with a flick of his wrist, "I will alert your okiya of this in the morning."

I turned and fled, my footsteps in time with the racing of my heart. Of course Itachi and Kurenai had long since left themselves. I returned to the Uchiha okiya with cuts on the soles of my feet and scrapes on my knees from stumbling and falling several times in my haste. I numbly did my best to wash away the grime with the rain runoff from the roof before I curled up in my futon that night; cold, wet, and in pain. My heart was heavy with fear and a sense of foreboding for what the morning would bring.

I could hear the cane whistle through the air before it connected with my exposed flesh with a sickening crack. I screamed. The stones against my cheek cut into them as my body jerked from the pain of the blow. Tsunade-sama's eyes were narrowed and cold with fury as she raised the cane again.

"Do you have any idea how much damage you have done?" she demanded as she brought it down upon my back again. Another pained cry tore from my throat. I wept, tasting blood in my mouth from when I had bitten my cheek at the first blow.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune-san was calling, voice laden with concern and outright worry, "Tsunade-sama!" She was also trying to take the cane away from her.

"Do you know who that kimono belonged to? Do you know how much it cost?" Each question brought another strike down upon me.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune finally succeeded in wrenching the cane away, "Let me do it, Tsunade-sama! You don't know your own strength!" Tsunade glared at Shizune, hesitated, then turned around and walked away. Shizune directed her attention at me.

"Roka-chan," her voice sounded strained, "Why have you done this? Itachi's trick is going to make you pay dearly! Hiashi is one of the top geisha of our district! Those two... Roka-chan, please, don't listen to Itachi anymore! Next time it will be much worse! Now, I am going to have to punish you. I won't go easy on you, because if I do Tsunade-sama will just do it again herself."

She raised the cane. It connected with my small body with enough force and sting to bring further tears to my eyes, words melting into nothing more than whimpers of pain. Somewhere between the eighth and tenth strike my back went nearly numb. My screams ceased to ring through the courtyard, but tears continued to wet my face. A short while or an eternity later, I could not tell because I lost touch with the flow of time, Shizune-san stopped, sighing sadly as she straightened to leave.

"I'm sorry, Roka-chan," she whispered, "but this is the life you were sold into. The sooner you grow used to it the brighter your future can be."

When she left, I stayed where I was, lying quietly upon the hard, cold stones as tears continued to well in my eyes and splash upon the rocks beside my head. I was paralyzed in my pain, body feeling too broken to move. I could not even turn my head when I heard footsteps behind me, growing louder. A pair of sandaled feet stopped near my face and I saw nails that were painted a light purple. My heart stopped.

Itachi knelt. His face looked soft and worn, as though he were regretting what he had caused. Gently, he scooped me into his arms. I winced and he cringed too.

"I..Itachi-san," I rasped, voice hoarse from my previous screams.

"Aa?" he asked softly in return.

"My... 'niisan," I begged.

"Tomorrow," he whispered into my ear, "Rest well tonight and I will take you to him in the afternoon of tomorrow."

My heart felt light as a bird and I smiled weakly. Itachi smiled back, almost just as strained. By the next day, my heart took wing and threatened never to return.

Sasuke came to my side that night and spread ointment over my back. His hands were soft, warm, and just what I needed to sooth my hurts. I remember kissing him very lightly on the cheek in gratitude. I could not be sure with the poor lighting of the attic, but I was almost certain he blushed.

I was allowed to sleep in the next day, deemed unfit for chores. I was only awakened at all because Itachi demanded my assistance to accompany him to the teahouses. Remembering his promise, I forced myself to get up and dressed. Sasuke's ointment helped a lot, though. Other than a deep ache in my bones, I could move well enough. I followed Itachi out of the okiya, obediently holding his go board for him. He lead me through an unfamiliar path through the inner city. I watched the surroundings go from comfortable to decrepit, lovingly tended to neglected. My heart sank. Kimimaro had been in such awful surroundings since we arrived? I hate myself just then, for not trying to find him sooner, for not trying harder, for only getting here just now. I was still running these regrets through my head when Itachi stopped and pointed to a lone building nestled at the end of a dead end street.

"There," he directed, and that was all he said. He took his go board from me and was gone.

I was too desperate to be nervous or scared and so I ran forward, knocking on the front doors loudly. An older man with disgusting, greasy hair that was some odd shade of graying brown answered.

"Please, let me see Kimimaro!" I begged him. He adjusted his round sunglasses, sneered, and slammed the door in my face. I stood a moment, stunned, before I tried again, pounding on the doors as I cried my brother's name. I stopped only when my arms became too sore to continue and I stumbled back. I could not believe it. All I had sacrificed and I still could not see my brother? I made my way back toward Uchiha okiya slowly, in a daze.

By pure chance, I caught a flicker of silver hair out of the corner of my eye. When I turned, it was gone and all I saw was a window that was only composed of vertical bars with no washi paper coverings. I walked to it, standing on a barrel to look in. At first, all I could see was a strange, middle aged man whose hair was beginning to thin. His half exposed back was slick with sweat and his body convulsed every few seconds, panting like a dog. After a few moments, he shifted and stood. My eyes followed him because he was in motion while everything else was still and I watched him close his clothes and tie his obi. He had two strange circles on his forehead. Laughing cruelly, he took a few bills from within his coat and tossed them out. My eyes followed the motion of the money as they drifted down to land on a pale, naked chest.

'Kimimaro!'

My brother slowly closed his own kimono, slowly enough for me to see the stains of white and red smeared upon his thighs. I had not fully understood the implications then. We both waited for the man to leave, but instead he knelt, parting Kimimaro's kimono again. He slipped his hand between my brother's legs and dragged his thumb through a patch of red. He then pressed his blood stained finger against my brother's forehead, making two marks there similar to his own. His smile sickened me.

"Pity I can't take you home," he slurred.

"Get out," my brother whispered quietly, staring vacantly into space. The man chuckled softly and brought his face close to my brother's, dragging his tongue along Kimimaro's jaw. I felt ill. He finally stood and left, laughing to himself the entire way. My brother began to tremble, angrily wiping away the marks on his forehead before pressing his face into his hands. I could not watch any longer.

"Kimimaro!" I cried, leaping off the barrel to run into the room through a side door. "'niisan! Oniisan!"

Kimimaro's attention snapped quickly to me. He stopped shaking, but I could see fresh tear trails upon his cheeks. Cringing, I reached out with my small hands to wipe them away.

"Roka!" he whispered, drawing me into an embrace, "Oh, Roka, what took you so long?" He sounded near tears. "I went to your okiya weeks ago!"

"Oh, Kimimaro," I nearly wanted to cry as well, "They would not tell me where you were! I did my best to find you!" Kimimaro nodded, kissing me gently on the forehead.

"It's okay. You're here now. Let's run away together, Roka! We'll go home, we'll go to another city, we can go anywhere - just away from here!" he urged me and I nodded. I did not want us to stay in this awful place either.

"Let's go now," I begged, pulling on his hands. Kimimaro shook his head.

"No, tomorrow. I will steal some money for us. Meet me at the bridge at the edge of town as soon as the sun sets. You must be on time or I won't wait for you, Roka! I can't, I can't stay here any longer. I will die, Roka. Please. Tomorrow, as soon as the sun sets."

"Why not today?" I asked as we heard footsteps draw near us.

"Kimimaro?" someone called. My brother's face grew ashen and he pushed me back toward the door.

"Not today, Roka! Tomorrow, don't forget! Now you have to go!"

It was getting dark by the time I made my way back to the okiya, slipping through the front gates and into the courtyard. The skies were pounding the streets mercilessly with rain. Because of the constant patter of the rain, I barely caught the soft moan from within the storage shed. Thinking I had heard something strange, I turned toward it and saw the door ajar. I went to close it out of habit. I heard another similar moan as I drew closer. I looked in.

It was Itachi.

His eyes met mine and cleared of whatever clouded them.

"Roka!" he cried in surprise, pushing off the slender man that was on top of him.

"Why did you come back?" he demanded, pulling me inside the shed, "I gave you the perfect chance to escape with your brother!" My hand struck the tool box as I tried to struggle upright, toppling it and filling the courtyard with the sound of metal striking wood. Lights went on inside the house. Itachi's eyes widened with fear.

"You have to go," he whispered to his guest.

"Itachi," he sighed as he climbed out of the shed, "I can't keep seeing you like this."

"What?" Itachi asked, sounding surprised. "What do you mean?"

"All the hiding, the deceit. I can't do it. It's shameful."

"Shisui, please!"

Tsunade-sama's distinct footfalls could be heard clearly now. Itachi closed his eyes and placed one last kiss on Shisui's lips.

"Go, we'll talk later."

Shisui sighed and turned away, running out of the okiya just as Tsunade-sama entered. There was desperation in Itachi's eyes as he forced some money into my hands and dragged me out of the shed.

"What is going on?" Tsunade-sama asked as she stepped out into the courtyard, Shizune-san close behind. "Who's there?"

Itachi threw me to the ground.

"I caught Roka stealing money," he accused, "He was going to run away with his whore of a brother." Tsunade's cold anger caught me at once. My eyes widened and I scrambled backwards, shaking my head. My body remembered the last beating too well. I would not take blame for Itachi again.

"It's not true!" I cried, shaking my head, "He was in there, with another man! His name was Shisui!" Itachi's eyes widened then. He had not expected me to betray him so quickly. Tsunade-sama's fearsome gaze fell upon Itachi.

"Hold his arms," she instructed Shizune, who obeyed with surprising speed. Itachi set his jaw, gritting his teeth. Tsunade-sama pressed a hand between his legs. She scowled, slapping him hard across the face a moment later.

"You are a geisha, not some lowly whore," she hissed, "This disgusting activity will stop. You are never to see him again. Shizune, lock all of the doors and gates. No one goes in or out." I paled, thinking of my promise to my brother.

"Roka, go to your room," Shizune-san called to me. Numbly, I obeyed.

My chores dragged on the next day. I was alone, Itachi confined to his room and Sasuke attending to him. My heart rested in my throat from noon onwards as I watched the sun slowly descend. At dusk, I finished the last of my washing and returned to my room. I had only one idea of how to get to the bridge, and that involved scaling the rooftops.

I climbed out through the attic window, slowly making my way on the round roof tiles. They were hard to walk on because of the humidity caused by the rain from the night before. It was also hard to see because the sun no longer offered any substantial light. I had to drop onto my hands and knees after a while, inching along agonizingly slowly. It became even darker, until I could barely see what was directly ahead of my. Imagine my surprise when my hand groped for the next tile and caught only air. I lost my balance, toppling forward.

I fell.

Ahahaha- ... I try to end at cheesy bad places like that. Anyway! ahem Updated character lists now:

Chiyo - 'Roka'
Tanaka - Gatou
Satsu - Kimimaro
Mother - Tsunade
Auntie - Shizune
Pumpkin - Sasuke
Hatsumomo - Itachi
Koichi - Shisui
Mameha - Hiashi
Mameha's servant - Neji
Hatsumomo's friend - Kurenai
Guy who was with Kimimaro - head of Kimimaro's old clan. Man, they all looked creepy.