Itachi contemplated staying in his room and never coming out. It would give him a way to avoid Karin, if such a thing were possible, and he would never find himself trapped again in the winding halls of the castle.

The obvious downside was that he'd last, perhaps, four days in there before dying of dehydration, and that was something he would still prefer to avoid.

That being the case, his only option was to leave the room and hope he could find a kitchen or pantry somewhere within the castle's winding hallways, and take from it enough supplies to last him as long as possible.

Or, with luck, he would find a way out of the castle altogether. He might not be able to leave the grounds, but he assumed his backpack was somewhere near the gate and, among other things, it had his rations and water.

Itachi walked to the window, pulling the curtains out of his way to look out. It was still early but outside it seemed hazy, foggy, and he hoped it was only a result of the weather and not a permanent condition. As it were, he could see nothing beyond a few feet from his window.

He made a half-hearted attempt to open it but, like the doors, it seemed the windows were under Karin's command because he found he was unable to do so, no matter how hard he pulled.

Itachi eyed the dresser in his bedroom as a potential way to break through the glass before deciding that such an act would only result in him injuring himself again.

His only choice was, then, to somehow find his way around Karin's godforsaken castle and pray he did not come upon her as he did so.

With a sigh, he approached the door and carefully turned the handle. Checking both ends of the hallway, he found he was, for the time being, alone. Cautiously, he took one step out of his room, mindful enough of the previous day's troubles to leave the door open.

He started down the hallway, slow but steady, his footsteps again echoing as he walked. Though it was still midday, there were no windows in the halls and they were lit by soft candlelight, giving it the appearance of nighttime.

It was eerie, but not so unusual given the time he'd spent before in the library at the University. He had found it was incredibly easy to lose track of time altogether when one was cut off from sunlight, and he decided he would need to find of means to track the days that had passed.

A mechanical grinding noise followed Itachi as he walked to the end of the hallway, oddly reminiscent of the sound a moving carriage made. He could feel a slight rumble through the floor and he found himself wondering if there was something besides him and Karin in the castle, something much larger and less human than either of them.

Some of the other University students had often joked that their classrooms and dormitories more closely resembled dungeons than actual living spaces. Itachi, who had never been one for excessive material comforts, had never quite agreed. Now he was starting to understand the sentiment.

Itachi reached the end of the passage where he had entered the previous day, and the grinding stopped. He ran his hand over the walls, confused.

The path he and Karin had taken was no longer there. The hallway simply stopped where, yesterday, he knew it had branched off in two directions.

Itachi turned around, wondering if somehow he had headed the wrong way. He tapped the walls lightly and heard a dull thud, suggesting they were solid all the way through.

Annoyed now, he walked to the opposite end of the hall, only to find it only extended in one direction where there had to be a forking path. There had to be, because he and Karin had come from one yesterday. There had been two possible paths, but now there was not.

He turned around again but of course there was no other route; he had just been there and the other end of the hall was a dead end.

But it couldn't be. He tapped the wall again, finding this one solid as well.

There was really only one explanation.

The house had changed. It had moved, somehow, as he slept.

Itachi let out a frustrated sigh. Of course it had. Why should he expect any sort of regularity or consistency from magic?

Seeing there was only one way he could go now, Itachi turned the corner and found himself facing a door, awkwardly placed only a few feet down the new corridor. Ignoring its strangeness, he opened it to reveal a small room with checkered tiles and walls of cabinets, more candles lining the walls but still no windows. In the corner, there was a small stove and a neat stack of pans and plates. A kitchen, then.

There, on the counter, was Karin, resting with a book in her hand, the pages whiter and more crisp than any book he'd ever seen. She seemed calm enough, her hair tied in a loose bun at the top of her head in a way that could only be functional, her legs swinging back and forth as if a countertop were somehow a comfortable and normal place to rest.

She looked up when she heard him enter, smiling and closing her book without even marking the page. "Well, well, you actually came out of your room," she said, one hand coming up to tuck her bangs behind her ear, her lips curling into a smile.

Karin was waiting for a response but Itachi had already decided he would be talking to her as little as possible. It was a childish tactic, something Sasuke would often fall into when he and Naruto had disagreements, but it would suit Itachi just fine here.

He had no one to impress, after all.

Karin frowned, her shoulders slumping. "What are you looking for?"

His eyes skimmed over the kitchen but he had no idea where to start, no certainty he would simply be allowed to eat and drink. Or, if he were allowed, if the food would be safe for him to eat. Eventually her staring became annoying enough that he responded, "Food."

"Right." Karin shifted uncomfortably before giving in with a sigh. "Okay, but what kind of food?"

He did not reply, and her pupiless eyes gave him a once over before meeting his. "If there's something specific that you want I can get it."

Ignoring her comment entirely, Itachi opened the cabinet next to him, finding it filled with dark unlabeled jars. Tea, he assumed, judging by the dry, herbal smell. He removed one and, holding it up one of the nearby candles, could see it was filled with loose leaves.

Unlabeled tea was better than nothing. He placed the jar on the counter.

"What do you like to eat?" Karin prompted when he moved to check the other cabinets.

Itachi hesitated, but ultimately decided the faster he could eat the faster he could leave. "Are there eggs?"

"Like what kind?" she asked, and when he gave her a confused look she clarified. "From what kind of animal?"

What sort of question was that?

Itachi sighed and opened another cabinet, only to close it when he saw it was filled with spices, a mess of sachets and jars and bundles tied with twine. The kitchen clearly had no rhyme or reason to it and he supposed it didn't need to when it was ruled entirely by the whims of someone like Karin.

Itachi stood and ran his hand along the stone countertop, unsurprised but still disappointed by its lack of apparent use.

The tables and countertops at his parent's home had been crafted by Yamato, were made of oak that had been sanded down only to be nicked at some point by almost every implement in the kitchen, had been stained by the berries his mother had used to sweeten her tea when a disrupted trade route had made honey too scarce.

It had been proof of their existence, a reflection of his family's habits.

Karin's voice cut through his thinking. "Hey. Try that first cabinet again."

Itachi eyed the first cabinet and frowned. "I already have enough tea for myself."

Karin rolled her eyes and then shook her head. "Just try it again."

Deciding to humor her, Itachi reopened the cabinet only to find it empty save for a small basket of eggs. He blinked once and shut the cabinet, only to find it unchanged when he opened it again.

Shaking his head, he grabbed the eggs and walked over to the stove, setting one of the pans down on the burner.

Finding a flint next to the stove, Itachi gave it a few clicks and had a small fire going, and then waited for the pan to warm. Karin gave an appreciative hum. "So you like to cook? That's cool. I've never really had the chance to learn."

Itachi assumed that had nothing to do with opportunities to learn and everything to do with Karin never having to provide for herself. "I have no plans to teach you."

Karin stiffened, then turned towards the wall with a shrug. "Well that's fine because I wasn't going to ask anyway."

For a few moments the only sound in the kitchen was the snap of the fire and the rippling sound of Karin impatiently running her thumb along the pages in her book.

She sighed again and dropped down from the counter, walking over to stand next to him. "It's about time you came out, you know. I was waiting here all morning."

"I have no interest in seeing you."

"You can't just avoid me."

Though it hung loosely around her shoulders, he could see the sweater she wore was made of a soft purple material he didn't recognize. The stitches were more perfect than any he'd seen before and instinctively he knew they had not been sewn by human hands.

"I don't see why I can't," he replied, stepping away from to open another cabinet while his pan heated. The cabinet was stocked with, to his surprise, very clearly labelled alcohol, and he could only shake his head in frustration. Any attempt to make sense of this kitchen would likely drive him insane.

"It's my house. I control everything in it."

Itachi would prefer not to be reminded, and so he left her comment unanswered.

Karin stepped closer, leaning over on the counter next to him. "I won't just go away. I can tell when you're walking around, and I can make the hallways bring you to where I am. Like they did today."

Itachi slammed the cabinet shut and glared at her. "I have no interest in your company. You are wasting your energy attempting to change my mind."

Perhaps glad to have finally gotten a rise out of him, Karin gave Itachi a cocky smirk and shrugged. "You say that now but what about a month from now? Two months? A year?" Karin nudged him with a tap of her foot. "You are wasting your time putting off the inevitable."

It was difficult to glare at someone while kneeling on the floor, but Itachi was willing to try anyway. When Karin bent down next to him, Itachi broke his gaze and stood, holding his hand over the pan and reaching for an egg when it felt hot enough.

The eggshell was soft and warm in his hand, perfectly white as if it'd come from one of paintings he'd seen at the University, still lifes so unrealistic he'd wondered if the artists had ever seen an actual egg. Karin raised an eyebrow when he turned to her. "This food is… safe to eat?"

"No, sorry. It'll turn you into my slave and you'll have no choice but to obey me."

Itachi stared at her for a moment longer before she rolled her eyes. "No, gods. It was a joke? A funny? There's nothing wrong with the food; it's just food."

"It's magic."

"It's made with magic but there's nothing wrong with it."

Her word carried very little weight with him but, finding few other options, Itachi decided he would have to rely on it until a better option presented itself.

The eggs sizzled in the pan and neither of them moved to break the silence between them.

Karin silently traced her finger over the countertop as he waited for them to cook through, and she remained silent as he grabbed a plate off the counter and shook the pan to flip the eggs, unwilling to go to the trouble of finding a spatula. Eventually she let out an annoyed breath and poked his arm. "What are you planning to do for the rest of the day?"

"I'll go somewhere else."

"Alone?"

"Alone."

Karin put her hands on her hips, leaning further into his personal space. "Seriously? And what, you're just going to do that for the rest of your life?"

"Something of the sort."

"You could always just hang out with me."

He gave her a cool glance before walking over to the table and sitting down to eat. "I would much rather be alone."

Karin followed and sat down across from him, leaning over the table on her elbows. "You don't have to be so uptight now, you know. You're allowed to be interested in things other than killing,"

Itachi paused. "I was a scholar. Not a soldier."

She gave him an indifferent shrug. "Yeah, well you stab like a fucking soldier."

"You were in my way."

He began to eat and, unfortunately, Karin did not have sufficient manners to allow him to do so in silence. "You know, I was kinda hoping you'd be a soldier."

"I have no interest in fighting."

Karin seemed to deflate, settling back into her chair and anxiously adjusting her glasses. "Well, there's a library. If you wanted something to read, I guess. You can find just about anything in there."

"There's a library?"

She continued as if she hadn't heard. "I'll eat dinner when it starts to get dark. Just start walking and you'll find the dining room."

"And the library?"

"If you walk back out of here the way you came you'll find your way back there."

Itachi stood to leave and again he heard that strange noise somewhere deep within the building, the echo of something far too large to be safely ignored. He turned but the only way in or out of the kitchen was through the door he had come through.

"That's the house you're hearing. It moves when it shifts."

"Why is it moving now?"

Karin sighed. "Because you want to go to the library? The halls are putting themselves in order."

"Right," he said, slightly caught off guard. That had been… surprisingly easy to arrange. "Well. Goodbye then," and he opened the kitchen door and again found himself in a hallway.

Karin had been right. The hallway had changed again, now only consisting of a short passageway to a set of tall, glass doors. Tugging open the doors, Itachi found himself in the middle of the library.

He took a deep breath and stepped in, closing the doors behind him.

It was, admittedly, a lot to take in. Perhaps too much, because the rows upon rows of shelves stretched further than he could see, multiple doorways along the walls leading off into smaller rooms with more shelves and more books and Itachi could only stand there and stare, dumbfounded. He looked up and saw stairways leading to higher floors, at least five or six and he wasn't entirely sure if the word library was even appropriate for what he was seeing.

The University's library had been quite large, to be sure, but this was… this was borderline excessive, except that Itachi couldn't find it within himself to think an excess of books was possible.

He turned to walk down one of the shelves, tracing his hand along the backs of books, amazed by how firm the spines were, how brightly their titles were illuminated. He pulled one off of the shelf at random and his heart almost stopped; he had never seen print so even and perfectly aligned… He recalled the nights he had spent studying and how his vision had swarmed after hours of deciphering hundred year old cursive and for the first time in a while he felt genuinely pleased.

It was only a day ago that he'd been fussing over a map that would have otherwise fallen apart in his hands. A map, he realized, he had never returned but the anxiety that typically accompanied such a realization lacked the bite it typically would.

This entire library was open for him to use; there were no librarians or colleagues and he could stay here as long as he wanted without interruption.

All it had cost him was his entire life.

Itachi turned back to the shelf. This was, he realized, a unique opportunity and he would be a fool to waste it.

There could be a way out of this.

Itachi scanned the titles of the books and while he couldn't decipher the exact system behind their arrangement, he could at least tell books had been grouped into clusters of similar topics. He went from shelf to shelf until the titles seemed more in line with what he wanted: Of Gods and Men, Spelles of the Sarutobi, Magicks.

He began to grab armloads of books and carried them to a long table arranged in the middle of the room.

A plan was coming together in his mind: he could start indexing these, discarding any that wouldn't be useful. Next, he would skim them and mark places he would then revisit. From there he could begin researching this bargain he had entered into and see if there was a way he might break it, or to somehow eradicate the castle altogether.

It would take weeks of work but the prospect was beginning to excite him. He could finally bring some order to this hell.

When Itachi finally stopped there were several piles, each nearly chest height with him. As he did so, he was distantly aware of the hallways shifting again, and he heard the door click open as he lifted a ream of paper (and an entire ream at that; so much paper would have cost months of his salary) from a box and began to hunt for something he could use to write.

"Wow, you really went for it, huh?" Itachi turned to find Karin standing next to him. He gave her a short glance before returning to his work.

She flipped open the cover of one and raised an eyebrow at the title. "You have some interesting tastes, Itachi," and he silently cursed himself for not being more careful.

He gave her a flat look. "Why are you here?"

"You're late for dinner."

Itachi looked towards one of the large windows and realized she was right. At some point in his work the sun had set and the candles along the walls had taken up their burden.

Itachi gave a half-hearted shrug. It wasn't as if he'd actually been planning to eat with her. "I'll eat later."

"That's not the point!" Karin snapped. "We're supposed to eat together."

Realizing she was intent on having it out with him, Itachi turned to Karin. She had, for some reason, exchanged her previous outfit for a dress cut in a style he had never seen before, the sleeves long and patterned with intricate lacework, the hem stopping several inches above the knee. It seemed to him almost indecent and it occurred to him that it might have been intentionally so.

Has she really expected him to come to dinner?

"I didn't agree to eat with you."

"No, but—! We just are, dammit! It's my house!"

"I don't see how you can force me."

Karin crossed her arms, looking away with a pout. "I'm not trying to force you. You should just do it."

Rather than argue with something so childish, Itachi walked away and began to look through the shelves again, Karin following behind him.

When he went to reach for one volume, she blocked him, grabbing his hand with her own. "Itachi Uchiha, do you want to marry me?"

Immediately, he jerked his hand away, wondering what it was with her and that damned question. "I despise you."

Karin let out a choked laugh. "Does it really matter? You're here forever, why not just marry me?" She took a confident step towards him. "We could learn to get along better."

Realizing he needed to stop encouraging her antics, Itachi returned to the shelf behind him, looking through titles he had already checked. He assumed it would not take long for her to lose interest and find something else to occupy her time.

Instead, she gave his shirt a tug, pulling him back towards her. "Don't ignore me! I don't like you any more than you like me but I'm at least I'm doing something about it!"

Itachi jerked out of her grip and continued on as if she hadn't been there, though he couldn't believe her gall in touching him.

"I know you can hear me! Real fucking mature, you ignoring me."

When he still did not respond, Karin knocked his arm back and wedged herself between him and the shelf, suddenly standing so unnecessarily close to him.

"What are you looking for, huh? A personality? Because I've got some news for you—"

"If humoring you were a means of making you go away perhaps I'd be more interested in doing so."

Karin gave him a cheeky grin and already he regretted giving in so easily to her. "I'll go away if you just answer my question."

Itachi let out a frustrated breath. "What happens if I refuse your proposition?"

"Then I guess we don't get married."

His eyes narrowed. "This is some type of trick. What are you trying to make me do?"

Karin gave an easy shrug and leaned back against the shelf. "You don't have to do anything. You wanna say no? Go ahead. But, just so you know, you're more than welcome to say yes. So what's your answer?"

Itachi took a moment to think it over, even though there was absolutely no way he was going to agree to such a thing. Something was missing here; her previous bargains had been strange, yes, but this one even more so. There was something she was not telling him. "This will not harm Sasuke?"

Karin let out a disbelieving snort. "What about yourself?"

His gaze did not waver.

She waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. No. No one is hurt either way; it wasn't part of our bargain. This is me, offering a new bargain."

"Which is?"

"Say you'll marry me and I'll marry you and we can have a wedding."

"That isn't a bargain."

"Isn't it?"

"My answer is no."

Karin frowned but did not move.

"You said you would leave if I answered your question."

"Yeah, well we didn't shake on it." Before he could object, she rolled her eyes at him again. "Oh, fuck off. I'm leaving," and the sound of the hallways moving as she walked away and the door closing behind her told him Karin had kept her word.

AN: Man, what is up with these kiddos?

As always, I love and appreciate everyone who is reading, and all comments, likes, romantic solicitations, and questions are all welcome!