Song in the beginning is the lyrics to "Arianrhod" by Trobar de Morte. Though here in this story, Hanaru and co. perform it. :D

Composition by Derek and Brandon Fiechter.

Chapter Six

Melody of Twilight

"I am Arianrhod, mother of wind and skies. I am Arianrhod, and the stars and moon are mine."

His room at the Senju headquarters was beneath the first floor and in darkness, but lit to his satisfaction with electricity. Shades of blood-red and black to his liking, the coffin a converted four-poster where he could push the button and then take him underneath to help him sleep during the day. But he couldn't sleep and needed to listen to some music. This kind he was listening to now, having been released only today, and five days before Christmas. This mystical tale of the Welsh goddess of rebirth.

"My home is found beyond the northerly winds, and I am the storm that whirls and the calm inside its eye. I am Arianrhod, Lady of the Silver Wheel."

The singer was talented beyond her years. She was guided by the inner spirit that she must not have realized. Or did she sense it at the back of herself? He could not tell based on a jump to conclusion.

She has a...lovely voice. Like a wood sprite.

He wasn't lying regarding that thought. Listening to her sing was enough if any physical contact was forbidden to him. He lay on his bed and stretched out, without a shirt and wearing black briefs. Mostly naked and free. His body lit afire within. He had his privacy as long as Tsunade or any of her men didn't step in uninvited.

"I am Arianrhod, I bring darkness, cold and death. I am the guardian of the past, the present and the future life. I am the Silver Threads of the Rays of the Light."

Arianrhod.

If he didn't know any better or had less self-control, he'd say she was the deity in human form. He'd died once, but all he remembered was darkness. He saw no God, none of his own land and people, nor did he recall being in the afterlife. Nothing but darkness. So, as far as he was concerned, there was no such thing as gods or goddesses except in the stories humans created just to have a purpose to keep each other in line.

Itachi had been through death once, seen it around him and brought it to his enemies - as well as innocent people on orders - and knew there was no such thing as a holy religion. Vampirism was a disease that, like many, lasted through the ages since the beginning of time.

But just like all the dark sides of life, there also existed the light that was hope, salvation...and love.

~o~

Arianrhod scored hits across town on the radio. By the time recording was over, she was exhausted, but a singer should never be this tired. After two bottles of water and squeaky clean vocal cords, Hanaru was good as new. Temari was the backup vocal, even though she could sing herself.

It was out in time for Christmas. At this rate, a brand new album would be in order as well as their previous hits like When the Night Falls. Somehow, that one felt more like the group. Because when night did fall, anything could happen.

However, when Hanaru and Temari were home, they both received an "unexpected" visitor when the night settled in. "Detective Uchiha," Hanaru said coolly when she looked the man over. When she first met him as soon as he came to her, telling her about the man on the case of her brother and Temari's, he'd said that the old coot was retiring but wished he could have stayed longer just for them.

Sasuke Uchiha - the face that every girl would just die over, but would she be surprised how many girls he turned down? Not only because he was married, by the way. His hair was black as night, spiked backwards like a duck's ass - and that was one word she could describe him personally if she wanted to - and his eyes matching that you could barely see the pupil. His skin was pale as if he hadn't been in the sunlight often. His features were angular as if he descended from aristocrats. Had she been another girl and he unwed, she would have said yes to any proposal or dinner date beforehand in a heartbeat.

But his cynicism was something that prevented her from liking him in any way. Especially when he had to tell Temari what she was sure he would tell her tonight. She saw it coming from afar.

"I'm sorry if I got you at the wrong time, Uzumaki-san," the Uchiha said, keeping his eyes hooked on her, having a brief one on Temari when she appeared behind her friend. "I just wanted to have a brief moment with you mostly, Hanaru."

"I can guess what it is," she answered, standing back and letting him come in. "My brother." She closed the door behind him and nodded for Temari to get the tea if he wanted it, but he shook off the offer.

"I wish I could, but I don't have the time. I'll just cut to the chase. Hanaru, it's been over two months and fast approaching the holidays. We've done everything we could, we have nothing to lead us to him as we could never find his friend -"

Temari cut him off heatedly. "My brother," she sneered.

He went on, unaffected. "Yes. But I'm sorry to be straight and cold with you; it's fact," he told Hanaru, who clenched her fists on either side of herself.

If he's really dead, why do I feel otherwise? He raised an eyebrow when she asked him that, but he didn't seem fazed at the fact she could be just as foolish, or worse, as Temari."It's natural for a sister to feel that way. Trust me, I have a brother, so I know what it is like," Uchiha told her, but she could not hear the sympathy. He was straight as said, cold and distant. Like a statue that took careful carving to bring to life.

Temari growled at him through her teeth. "That's what the bastard before you told me when he couldn't find Gaara, just as he couldn't find Kankuro's killer!" she shouted, stomping her foot on the floor and earning frowns from both of them.

"Temari, you want our neighbor downstairs to yell at us again and call the landlord?" Hanaru asked.

"What the hell if I do? This teme is no better than his predecessor, and he has the nerve to tell you 'fact' when you were fed false hope just like I was - and that you still feel it when I no longer do!"

She snapped then and there, her nails piercing through her skin and making the blood leak out, hitting the hard floor with a faint plip-plop. Her temper had been pushed too far.

Temari hissed and looked down at where the red liquid was dripping. Though Sasuke was another story besides his calm demeanor at the sight of the leaking gore. That sparkle, like it makes him hungry...

And she knew she heard him inhale as if he smelled something very pleasant. But he simply stepped back towards the door. His hand sought out the knob without looking. "It seems I have pushed one too many buttons tonight. I should have thought better." Bastard, you say it exactly as it is, so don't pretend to sympathize. Except she could have sworn she sensed a small pang, but he wouldn't let her see.

"By the way, Hanaru, you should be careful next time. Don't want to leave a scar in that pretty skin of yours. Good night, ladies."

"Bastard," Temari spat when the door closed. "He just comes here and tells you to give up just like his kind told me - new boy, ha! He's just like the rest of them." She stalked over to lock the door. "If I could just take a hot rod to his boy parts myself for the hell of it..."

But Hanaru, while she agreed, no longer heard a word she said. She found herself looking at her cut palm, the slashes very small, but the blood red as apples. In spite of herself, she brought the hand to her face and started to lick at it before her friend let out a noise of disgust and stopped her.

"Hanaru, don't do that! Don't want to get sick, do you?" Temari then led her into the kitchen to run it under water before leaving her there to get the gauze and bandages from her bathroom. Hanaru just stayed where she was, staring at her cuts which had stopped bleeding because the water from the faucet continued to wash the plasma away leaving each cut the size of the outline of a landmass.

Somehow, staring at it made her innermost self stretch further and disbelieve Detective Uchiha's words entirely.

And for some reason, she knew he was keeping something from her. If only she could find out.

~o~

It wasn't every day that she would leave her seat and the temple in the mountains on the outskirts of Konoha. But for the holidays, it was good for the health, her aide told her. And Shizune was right, as usual.

Here she was, days before Christmas, bundled up and strolling Konoha with her somewhat niece. She was on Dan's side, having been his sister's daughter. And his sister had also been killed by monsters, but not before having a little girl out of wedlock. She was still only a toddler when her mother was killed. So Tsunade was the only one close to family she had left, and she was just as bound to serve faithfully and dutifully, exterminate the fiends of the darkness.

"Well, it's snowing," Shizune said cheerfully as she looked around, at the lights on display beneath the murky day, the puffs of white falling from the heavens to build on the grounds. "And look at how happy everyone is, excited for Christmas..."

If her life had been different, she would have just smiled and agreed. But there was a reason she had to keep it hidden and just be glad these people wouldn't have to live her lifestyle. This was what her grandfather, great-uncle, Dan and the others protected. She lived like this once, but then her life changed forever. Watching other people was no means for jealousy; sacrifices were made every day.

They found themselves in the tea shop where HE was waiting for them. "Good to see him again, Tsunade-sama," Shizune told her, smiling and waving at the man who was in the corner, private but beside a window.

Would have said good if not for why I am here.

"Shizune, while I have my meeting, why don't you do some shopping before we go back to headquarters?" Tsunade told her, clutching the sleeve of her coat as she started to walk inside. She could really use some hot tea and desserts, followed by some good sake. It'd been weeks since she had a drink. Shizune had tendencies to keep a good eye on her, since a good leader must have a clear head at all times.

"Well, well, well, look who showed up," Jiraiya told her as he looked up from his manuscripts. He was at work again. Since leaving the organization, he took to writing erotic adventure novels called "Make-Out Paradise", or Icha Icha. He had quite the audience fanbase. And it was their grandson who gave him the nickname Ero-Sannin, which was amusing to say the least. "Just how are things now?"

"The same," Tsunade replied, sitting down across from him, keeping her coat on since she wasn't going to be here long. She couldn't talk about the affairs in public, either, and he knew that. "But you've heard the news reports."

He exhaled. "Yeah. I told her to be careful and to keep with her friends to be safe, but these guys - if there is more than one - took an entire. Who knows when the next is gonna hit."

But we had better get them before they can strike again.

"We are still working on it," Tsunade said, accepting the tea cup she ordered, but had to wait on the skewers of anko balls. "But when we have them locked, I'll send him to dispose of them." And he knew exactly who she meant by "him". She scoffed and blew across the steaming hot surface of the green fluid. "But I'd rather not think about it right now. What about you and our granddaughter?" He chuckled and looked at her with a gleam.

"Kid's done well as always. She's got a new addition to the gallery that will be introduced in time for the New Year clock to strike midnight," Jiraiya answered with a twinkling grin. "Can I persuade you to be my date then?"

And kick around like the old days? It might not be a good night for that, because everything happened at night. The organization depended on it, but this could very much be an opportunity to keep an eye on any potential bloodsuckers out there. Every place was a hotbed.

Besides, Itachi would have this as his night to thrill.

Tsunade smirked. "Perhaps it won't be a bad idea. It's been awhile since I even saw her, but I would prefer to meet her face to face." And NOT tell her who I really am, for her safety. Even though my blood is in her veins, which means only one thing. But then she narrowed her eyes when he had to once more joke about the one thing he could never quip of or keep his hands off.

"Does this mean I get to lay my head against that ample bosom of yours for all to see?"

"You so much as try, and you get one hundred meters of flight."

~o~

The holidays were as interesting as they could get, but thank God it was nothing troublesome, and nobody was killed. Grandpa Jiraiya came over on Christmas Eve to stay with her while Temari went off with Shikamaru to spend it with his parents. And Choji joined his father, of course, while Asuma took his wife and daughter out of their home; he wasn't going to take any chances because of the murders of the family which wasn't too far away from where they were. They were going to spend it with his mother who was at the rest home.

Because of the small decorations and mixed bag of spirits, Hanaru ended up getting her grandfather something you'd seen before, but was special as far as she was concerned. In tight blue jeans, a white sweater that hugged her body, reached her elbows and had a fringed cowl, she gave him a one-of-a-kind wooden box carrying a compass and golden engraving outside the glass covering it. Written were the words Anything is Possible in 何でも可能です. It was something that withstood the test of time.

"Well, I'll say, kiddo!" Jiraiya had said with eyes like a kid in a candy store. "I never thought I'd see one of these again. Nobody uses compasses anymore except on GPS these days." He shook his head, then putting it down on the rattan coffee table and pulled her into both arms of his.

What he gave her in return was something too good to be true. A girl and a dragon - it was a powerful version of "Beauty and the Beast" and how love truly conquered all. Like the princess knew she and the beast who hatched from its egg were destined to be from the moment their eyes locked. Her appearance was akin to Hanaru's liking. Her dress was iridescent blue to match her eyes, her forearms swirling with gold, and around her throat a red glass jewel framed with golden vines - like a rose - which represented the love she had for the powerful red beast who came out of the stained glass, wings spread, and perched atop the maiden's extended hand.

Although, if only she'd gotten Naruto something if he'd returned to them. That tree on the table was all she could do for him.

"I could say the same," Jiraiya told her as they sat on the couch that evening, enjoying old Christmas specials - even the eerie The Snow Woman, unrelated to the joyous time of year, but an expansion of the spirit of Japanese lore. "But look at it this way: he could be smiling at us now and happy that we still have each other, still living and not wasting time moaning over him. It was always like Naruto to keep moving -" But then his facial lines deepened.

"- just like then your parents died."

When they were informed that Minato and Kushina were murdered, Naruto shut himself away for days, and she'd cried herself but ran to Temari, her best friend. Naruto had always been active and positive, but the loss of their parents affected him so much that he nearly lost all of his luster. It meant she had to get Shikamaru, Choji and Gaara over here to help him. All three of them lost a parent at one point, so they knew what it was like, although with Gaara, his relationship with his father was due to the fact his mother died birthing him.

Flash forward to none other than the night that came when it seemed like forever.

Here was the night everyone waited for - most of all, her. Her heart was thundering with so much pressure that she thought she was going to pass out. She stood beside Shikamaru, with Temari on his other side. The three of them were on the left of the maroon-velvet strung thing; on the right was Asuma with Choji. Their manager was speaking that night before a few people they'd known all their lives, others being fans with friends and loved ones who were excited to see a new addition to the gallery.

"- done by one of our own, the infinitely talented Hanaru Uzumaki. Give her a warm round as she deserves it."

No matter being used to it, she couldn't resist blushing as all eyes were on her. Here she was in a blue velvet dress which hugged her curves in the right places, the sleeves sheer and with a peeking neckline. Her hair was loose and curled with the iron, her jewelry the usual, but this time added with earrings graced with everlasting love and life, the opened pewter metal crafted into Baroque wings drifting with crystal tears.

The curtain was drawn to show the prize. Gasps arose, then burst into cheers.

Jiraiya was looking at her with a broad smile and thumbs up - and that was when she saw the woman beside him. She was stricken with how beautiful she was, and didn't even recognize her. Blonde hair in two low pigtails behind her head, amber eyes hard like the preserved mineral, and she was young enough to be late twenties, maybe early thirties? She suppressed a scoff; it was like her grandfather to still be the ladies' man. This woman in the fluttering, modest emerald dress looked - she didn't appear to be interested in him in that direction, which Hanaru thought was odd. But it seems they know each other.

There was also someone she never thought she would see tonight at her and her friends' gallery opening: Detective Sasuke Uchiha, all pressed in black and light blue, handsome but not for her. He was impassive, but his eyes were glittering with intrigue and...shock? That was a first. Beside him was a pretty woman with a shock of pastel hair and emerald eyes. Hard to tell if that hair was natural or dyed, but that was the first time she saw this person, whose dress was shimmering dark burgundy with embroidered black flowers and spaghetti straps, the choker around her neck mesh and dangling with black beads and little chains.

It was then that Hanaru saw the blinding flash of the diamond ring around her finger as it laid itself on Uchiha's arm. That answered her question without trouble. She's his wife. She's not what I thought she'd be.

She had to stop looking at the crowd when she realized they were waiting for her to speak. "Well," she said, straightening up and clasping her hands in front of herself, "to be honest, I have no idea where the face of this man really came from. All I can tell you is that it began soon after my brother...vanished well over two months ago. He simply appeared in my dreams, without my awareness, and he doesn't have a name besides the one I gave him: the Man in Red."

And there he was in the glory he was in her sleep, and that was his sad darkness, pale and lined beneath the eye. Couldn't even see the rest of his face, and it disappoints me. His raven hair ended in the front at his chin, and the rest waving behind him. His red shirt blended with the swirling bloody background which was also streaked with brushes of gray. All of it done with real watercolor and pastels, brought to realistic perfection.

His eyes stood out the most, and it seemed to have sparked the most attention, those red irises swirling with a black pinwheel.

"The entire time," Hanaru said, almost too softly that she barely heard herself, then cleared her throat, "I thought maybe he lost someone, like I have, or he just had a difficult life and doesn't see it as wonderful as we want to..."

The murmurs were mixed, but she was certain that she heard them like telepathy was her specialty: unnamed, lonely man whom nobody understands or even knows in life. Whoever he is, he is a parable of any of our lives.

She found herself looking at Temari beside her - Temari in her paneled black leather-and-lace dress with the black satin choker and lavender-etched charm - seeing the distance in her eyes. She'd seen the sketch before, but the final result had gotten her more than before, especially the vague but powerful story behind.

She had a greater effect than she thought she would. And her friends' reactions was proof.

Shikamaru looked at her with a troubled gaze. Choji tried not to weep and was wiping the corners of his eyes. Asuma was looking away sadly.

Something inside her was breaking, making withholding the tears much more difficult. She squeezed her eyes shut, but a tear might have escaped. She was being watched, but she wasn't ashamed. The creator even felt vulnerability, but someone could be quietly judging her. She had to pull herself together, or else.

But when she cleared her throat for the umpteenth time, she blinked numerous times before she looked directly in the crowd again...and was stricken once again at what she saw in the shadowed rear of the audience.

Were those...eyes?!

Red with black tomoe...no, it can't be real. I'm just seeing things.

Except the feeling coursing through her body, telling her yes over and over in both her psyche and her heart...

~o~

When twilight fell, he knew this would be the last night of the new year before the next would begin. The wind whistled, the delicate colors of evening turning into rich jewel tones of dusk.

Tsunade had a date, which he commented on, and she sneered at him that it was only an old friend but nothing more. He knew better, though; it was indeed her old friend, the retired hunter, father of her son who was the father of the one who made the painting he finally saw that eve of the new year. She told him it would be first the opening, then the cocktails, and ending with dancing well into the clock striking midnight.

His idea of cocktails would be something else entirely. But he could not get them with these people around. He was not going to fast on a guest or fan of Higeki-tekina ai in the midst. He'd have to slip away for the hour, and so would the other two who came via invite.

"Itachi...I didn't think you would even be here tonight," Sasuke told him when they crossed paths, his wife on his arm and warmly welcoming him.

"Well, I do fancy art, but I also didn't come here of my own will. Invited means invited," Itachi answered, staring at the waiter who offered champagne as a refreshment, but he shook his head and waved it off with a single finger. His brother and sister-in-law did the same, but not the one who came in right behind him. He always knew she was there but would not acknowledge.

"Sasuke, Sakura, fancy to see you both here," Tsunade said, taking a small sip from her champagne. "What did you think about the show?"

Sakura's eyes lit up. "She did your liking justice," she said to HIM, but her husband sniffed.

"I wonder if her 'inspiration' was what I thought it was," Sasuke replied, looking off to the side. "Nii-san, aren't you wondering just like your master is?" He showed no respect towards Tsunade because to him, she was nothing but a nuisance for holding his beloved brother hostage. Despite me choosing to be in shackles for his sake.

"You had better not stir trouble up with these people around, Sasuke," Tsunade warned him, narrowing her eyes. "I'd hate to drive a silver stake through your heart with all these people watching, especially your wife whom I happen to enjoy the company of."

"And what about...Jiraiya?" Sakura asked, being the mediator to keep the tension from bursting. That was one of her many talents as it was keeping her mate in check. Sasuke looked at her from the corner of his eyes gratefully, lovingly, but his other, darker half wanted to pummel the Senju woman himself.

Itachi ignored them and found himself looking through the crowd and seeing her, drinking a glass of red wine - if only that was blood wine, and I would have accepted - and staring at the crowd with something akin to collected anxiety. He knew exactly what her inner struggle was, and it was not because of her friends, family - in the form of her grandfather and estranged grandmother - and guests.

Earlier had been the spectacle, and he had been driven to the core in a manner that he hadn't for two centuries. 赤の男was written beneath the painting in the middle of the bronze frame.

The man in red was him.

Sakura was right: she captured his liking very well.

However, while Itachi was drawn with the fact Hanaru Uzumaki knew about him, but not his face, he was certain it was not just a coincidence that she dreamed about him ever since her brother disappeared without a trace. Tsunade would agree, because it ran into Hanaru's mother's family. Except the girl had no idea.

She knows my face, but she does not know my name. But either way, this does not bode well on my behalf.

Her eyes locked with his for the first time, but she wondered if she was dreaming again. She had no idea what was happening to her, yet she was still clearly sane. Her words when presenting the portrait continued to echo in his memory.

"The entire time, I thought maybe he lost someone, like I have, or he just had a difficult life and doesn't see it as wonderful as we want to..."

She had no idea how true those words were. She was connected to him unawares, but his side was the opposite, and it was taboo in every sense as it should be...but the red thread had its hand to play.

It seemed a song was being sung with a much higher tune, having begun when the onset of darkness settled in place. And it was telling Itachi to go up to Hanaru and get more out of her.

Jiraiya's and Hanaru's presents to each other were based off of personalized gifts from the Bradford Exchange: the "Son, Forge Your Path" compass as well as the "Beauty and the Beast Sculpted Collector's Edition" (though I changed a bit of the latter's appearance from the original).

"The Snow Woman" is a Japanese movie released in 1968, and is both a reboot and expansion of a short within another movie, "Kwaidan".

Good God, I can't believe this. XD I thought ItaHana would finally have their first convo, though it seems things change. But wait till next chapter...