An old house stood on the outskirts of town. At one time it had been a grand estate and the home of some of the town's wealthiest citizens. Now, however, it had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair. The paint was faded and peeling, the roof bore patches which lacked shingling, shutters were missing and many of the windows had long since shattered and were now boarded up with rotten, wooden planks.

A teenager with spiky, black hair, pale skin and obsidian eyes climbed the steps of the sagging front porch and swung open the front door, cursing it immediately afterward for the loud, creaking sound it emitted. He stepped inside and carefully closed the door behind him and hoping against hope that the house's other occupants had not heard his entrance. But it seemed that fate had chosen to side against him tonight for as soon as the door shut, a shadow fell across him.

The boy turned and looked up at the man who towered over him. "…Father…"

"Sasuke…" The man took a few, ominous steps forward. "It's late… Where've you been?" he demanded.

Sasuke eyed the man warily. "At the Library…" He responded.

His father glared at him and advanced further. "And what makes you think you can just waltz around and do whatever pleases you without first asking permission?" he growled, the sour stench of alcohol was obvious on his breath.

The boy stepped back, attempting to keep as much space as possible between the two of them. "I was studying for a test… I-"

"And you think that that makes it all right? Your mother was worried when you didn't come home." The older man cut him off.

Sasuke snorted. My mother? Worried? As if! "Yeah right!" he snapped. "If anything she was worried that I wouldn't finish my chores."

In a flash his father's fist slammed into the side of his skull and sent him sprawling to the ground.

"You ungrateful, little brat! Don't you ever speak to me like that again!" The older man snarled. "To think that I have such a worthless piece of trash for a son…"

Sasuke sat up slowly, his ears ringing from the blow he had received. "I'll say what I want!" he growled. "And I never asked to be your son… in fact, I wish I weren't!"

The boy soon found himself wishing he'd kept his mouth shut as his father lifted him by his throat and slammed him hard against the wall. He slammed his fist into the younger man's stomach earning a pained grunt, before backhanding him across the face and delivering a blow to his nose…

Sasuke knew from past experiences that it was useless to struggle and simply clutched his head in a small effort to protect it while enduring his father's fury, knowing that it would end sooner or later when his father grew tired. He prayed to whatever deity might be listening that it would be sooner.

"I will not tolerate such disrespect from within my own family!" the older man roared as he delivered yet another punch to the boy's battered face. "You will keep your mouth shut! Do you understand?"

By now, the young man was so dazed that he was barely able to form words. He nodded his head.

"Answer me boy!" His father demanded, shaking him violently.

Sasuke took a shuddering breath and responded in a shaky voice, "Y-Yes-s…s-sir-r."

His father drew back and released him. The boy collapsed into a panting, shivering heap on the hard, wooden floor.

"I expect all your chores to be done before you leave for school tomorrow and you will come home as soon as school gets out tomorrow. We will… discuss your less than desirable behavior." His father told him sternly.

Sasuke shivered at the order. "Yes… father." He replied. He cried out in pain a moment later when his father landed a swift kick to his abdomen.

The older man grunted in satisfaction as the younger curled up, clutching his ribs in pain. "I will see you tomorrow." He said, then he turned and stalked up the stairs and into the bedroom he shared with Sasuke's mother.

Sasuke lay on the floor and counted off the seconds until five minutes had passed to be certain that his father wasn't coming back.

He picked himself up, off the ground and tiredly made his way down stairs to the cellar which was his "room". There were certainly plenty of other rooms in the old house which would have been better suited for this purpose, but this was the one he had been given.

Sasuke sighed as he plopped down onto the cot that served as his bed, dropping his backpack on the floor beside him. He pulled out a bottle of salve from the cardboard box that lay beneath his cot and smeared a sparing amount of it onto the gash above his eyebrow that his father had inflicted.

Putting it away, he pulled his books out of his backpack and switched on his lamp. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before getting started on his algebra II homework. He was tired but he needed to get these assignments done before class tomorrow. He had told his father that he had been at the library. In actuality he had been at work. His job at a local restaurant had gone a little over time and he had missed the bus home. His father didn't know he had the job. Sasuke had conveniently "forgotten" to mention it since his father would have instantly confiscated every cent he made. Sasuke used the money he made to pay for his clothes and food since his "parents" never deemed it their responsibility to provide food and clothes for their younger son.

Their older son was a different story. Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha would have gone to the end of the earth and back for their first born son, Itachi. But for some reason, they did not extend the same love to their younger son. Sasuke did not hate Itachi for this. Sure he sometimes envied him, but Itachi was the only member of his family who had ever treated him kindly. When Itachi was still living with them, Sasuke's life had at least been bearable. While his parents had still treated him coldly, they had at least refrained from beating him.

However around eighteen months ago, Mikoto's old brother, Uchiha Madara had chosen Itachi, who was studying to be a lawyer, to be the heir of his giant law firm. It was an amazing opportunity and Itachi had moved to Tokyo to train under Madara so that he could take over the firm. Since Itachi left, Sasuke's life had grown steadily worse. The beating he had received tonight was only a mere shadow of the level of abuse he usually received from his father. His mother put him down and yelled at him a lot, but other than that, she basically just ignored him. While Sasuke preferred that to a beating, it still hurt.

He sighed as he glanced at his clock. 9:00 p.m. He frowned. He knew that he probably wouldn't be getting to sleep until after 1:00 a.m. He had a nine page paper to turn in tomorrow. He sighed. "Another lovely night…"

The four girls walked through the door of their hotel suite and grinned. The large, spacious room was beautifully furnished and had a gorgeous view of the forests and lakes surrounding Konoha.

Sakura and Temari walked off too look around. Sakura returned a moment later. "There are two bedrooms." She announced. "Tenten, what say you and I take one and Temari and Hinata can have the other?"

Tenten nodded. "Sounds good-" she was interrupted by a loud, excited squeal.

Sakura, Tenten and Hinata exchanged bewildered looks and walked over to the door from which the sound had originated. The door swung open to reveal Temari gazing wide eyed and open mouthed at an incredible bathroom. The bath tub was more of a hot tub and was big enough to comfortably accommodate ten people!

"Check it out!" Temari exclaimed. "Do you believe this place?!"

"Sweet!" Tenten said as she glanced around. Sakura and Hinata grinned and high-fived. "This is officially, totally awesome!" Hinata declared. Her friends nodded and cheered.

Once again, sorry it's so short. I'm just trying to lay down the background information before I get into the story. I promise, they will get longer later on.

Let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading. :)

~MidnightAnimeAngel