Mika could feel her heart beating viciously against her left breast, almost hard enough to make the girl think it might try and escape the heat of her chest as it heaved silently in terror. She took a deep breath as she slipped her legs into her aunts old Tikaake dance costume, feeling the weight of the heavy fabric on her small yet shapely hips, and feeling the soft texture on her inner thighs. It was half past six in the evening and her guests were due at about seven to watch her dancing and for dinner, she had been working all afternoon and had had to call upon a few clones to help her with the cooking and the preparation of the large room in which she would host her get together. That one room, along with it's en-suite kitchen, was the only one which hadn't fallen into decay over the years it hadn't been used: the floor of the stage hadn't rotted away nor had the floor of the main dancing area, and the kitchen was almost exactly how it had been the last time Mika had seen it… other than a couple of rather large spiders Mika had had to destroy unceremoniously with a large frying pan.

Several times she had found her eyes watering as memories flooded back to her with agonising precision and detail: her mother cooking in their kitchen, her brother running after her in a game of catch, her father kissing her mother in adoration… and then there were the less detailed memories like her aunt and uncle shouting at her and Mizu for some random misdeed which they had been caught doing, her grandfather shaking a stick at her for throwing water on him while he slept… Mizu having disappeared moments before. Her eldest cousin Keamon trying to teach her how to throw several shuriken at the same time, her aunt talking with her mother while her mother was gardening… she sniffed once more as she remembered how beautiful the garden had been.

'It's alright to cry.' came Orochimaru's soothing voice as she rubbed her left eye with the palm of her left hand, picking up a bowl of nibbles with her free hand and walking out of the tiny kitchen and into the main hall. She looked over at the stage as she placed the small bowl on the table set out especially for the occasion, imagining what it would be like for the spectators watching her… would they all be able to see her properly? Would they be comfortable? Did this room smell or was it just her? 'Calm down Mika! The room doesn't smell other than your sweet fragrance, the audience will be able to see you perfectly because you are simply radiant this evening and of course they will be comfortable and if they're not their minds will not be on the discomfort so much as on how stunning you are.' The young girl blushed self consciously at the stream of compliments the debonair voice had just offered her.

'What if they don't like the dance?' she asked uncertainly, feeling a little stupid that she was asking thin air a question, but as though on queue she felt a soft hand coming against her from behind and slinking it's way around her stomach while another invisible hand took her opposite arm and lifted it slightly, kissing the naked skin and making the tiny hairs stand on end deliciously.

'If they don't like the dance,' he started, the ghost of his image appearing where the invisible lips had been a moment before, looking up at her affectionately and yet lustfully, giving her a delicious feeling of confused emotions. 'they're sure to like you.' he moved his face closer to hers as she looked sideways at him, her breathing suddenly heavy as his lips inched closer and closer, his eyes darting from her slightly open lips to her deep hazel eyes. 'Because who could not like you?' he added in a whisper before disappearing again, the pressure of his invisible hands around her waist and on her arm suddenly evaporating and making her arm fall heavily back to her side. She took a deep, slightly shaky breath and looked over at the clock on the wall: a quarter to seven.

'I've still got ages.' she groaned, almost to herself although she knew that Orochimaru was never far away. 'You know, I'm really tired of this village.' she said, sighing slightly as she meandered around the large room. 'They don't trust me here… they think I'm a danger to myself and others.' She sighed deeply partially due to boredom, partially due to pessimism that the people of the village she adored didn't trust her. 'All because of these dumb powers… I didn't even ask for them! It's because they're scared of me… scared of how strong I am now…'

'I believe your power is a gift.' came the familiar voice finally, having stayed silent for the past few minutes while Mika rambled. 'Not many people are gifted the way you are. They're jealous as well as apprehensive.'

'Well they shouldn't be.' she answered moodily, glaring down at the floor as though it had personally brought this on her. 'Do they think it's easy controlling all these elements?' she asked furiously, looking up incredulously and looking around as though searching for someone to look incredulously at. 'It's not my fault I'm this powerful! I could destroy this whole village if I wanted to.'

'Why don't you?'

'Because I don't want to.' she answered quietly, calming down a little and gazing down at the floor apologetically. 'That's the whole problem. I love this place too much, and it's being mean to me… it's hurting me.'

'Maybe you should leave for a while.' suggested Orochimaru sympathetically. 'And come back when you've got complete control over your talents.' Mika's head snapped up as though she was going to argue that she already had complete control. 'I know you're still having trouble with precision. And your technique is messy.' he continued before she could butt in, and her eyes slowly feel to the floor again miserably.

'Oh Orochimaru.' she moaned unhappily. 'I wish you were here. You understand me, you'd teach me how to control my strength.' she whimpered miserably, almost inaudibly as she continued to gaze steadily at her feet.

'Why don't you come and find me?' he proposed benignly, making the girl look up interestedly. 'There's plenty of room for you to stay where I am at the moment.' he continued helpfully, but Mika shook her head making her long plum coloured hair flutter with the movement.

'I can't… I couldn't' she stuttered uncertainly, looking down at the corner of the room as though trying not to look at his face although he wasn't actually there. 'There's Sasuke and- and… well… my home and… Surplus!' she finished looking up apologetically.

'If you don't want to come then that's fine.' came the voice again with a hint of a smile and a chuckle. 'You just have to say, but if you ever need it then the door is always open here.'

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. Mika glanced at the clock and saw that it was in fact five minutes past seven which made her heart skip a beat. She hastily created a clone to answer the door and ran backstage to prepare the music, the curtains and all the other last minute jobs which she hadn't done yet. She heard her clone opening the door and welcoming the guests who had already arrived, she heard Naruto's voice asking why she wasn't ready and Sasuke's telling him it was a clone, she heard Sakura's pained voice telling the clone she brought some tart for pudding, and Kakashi's voice saying that he'd forgotten. She heard the shuffling of feet as the clone showed them to their places in the front row while another knock came at the door.

Mika peered through a minuscule gap in the curtains and watched as the other guests were taken to their places behind Team Seven. She watched as Rock Lee, whom she had invited out of politeness, handed her clone a large bouquet of roses and saw that Sasuke was gritting his teeth in the front row as he listened, grasping a slightly smaller bouquet of small pink flowers. A few adults whom Mika recognised only vaguely were placed in the last few seats in the last row and Mika knew it was time to start.

She hurried to her place in the centre of the stage and knelt down in the beginning position, waiting for her clone to start the music, her heart beating painfully in her chest and butterflies infesting her stomach. She heard the curtains slide elegantly to the sides and the slow music start, reminding her painfully of the only other time she had ever performed. A second before she was supposed to start she felt the unmistakeable feeling of tender lips placed amorously on her right cheek, making her eyes widen in surprise. It lasted a fraction of a second but she almost missed her beginning as the slow beat kicked in, telling her to move. She lifted her hand into the air slowly as a tiny note wavered higher than the others, lingering just long enough for Mika to raise and drop her right hand elegantly, the beat thumped gently behind her as she lifted her upper body from her curled position, unwinding every single vertebra of her spine so as to make her movement flow harmoniously. She let her leg right slowly escape from beneath her thighs and lifted it up beside her shoulder before bringing it back down again, a sudden urge to make the dance a little more provocative taking her. Instead of lifting herself on her right leg, she leaned on her arms which were folded in front of her and lifted her lower half into the air so that she was bent completely over with her back to the crowd, she got a glimpse of her guests and smiled to herself as she saw Sasuke shifting uncomfortably and Kakashi's eyes wide in surprise.

She got up and looked over her left shoulder at a point on the opposite wall before elegantly entwining her own hips around her waist in an exquisite twist since she didn't have anyone else dancing with her she had to fill in the moment when her aunt and mother had picked her up. Her eyes prickled uncomfortably as tears tried to come forth, but the young girl pushed the thought away. She turned around on the beat, regaining the original choreography and moved her hips in time to the beat, then let her torso follow the last movement her shapely hips had made, rotating her chest in a sort of twisted circular movement before lowering herself into the splits which she hadn't been able to do the last time but which she found she could this time. She remembered her mother telling her that she didn't have to do the splits if she couldn't, that it would come with time… when she had mastered her power truly. She could see Sasuke's face as he watched her, his eyes wide and his mouth a little open; Mika smiled provocatively down at him, hoping that the others wouldn't think the smile was directed at them, but inside she was feeling alone, broken. She knew that she couldn't show it though, she couldn't let them know she was hurting… at least not during the dance.

She summoned another clone and proceeded to do the move her aunt and mother had done the last time, twisting herself around her clone backwards and lifting her right leg in a perpendicular angle to her left leg, her head hanging limp and her long hair sweeping across the clean floor. She noticed Sasuke fidgeting again and Kakashi glancing over at the young boy beside him, a tiny knowing smile on what Mika could see of his face before looking back up at the stage. Mika's clone disappeared again in a puff of smoke as the girl moved back to the middle of the stage and put her hands in a praying position, her hips gyrating in rhythm with the beat of the relaxing music; she counted three swings of her right hip, placed her hands on the left of her pelvis and letting her eyes fall to the flimsy skirt as she did so for one swing of her right hip before bringing her hands up in the previous position. She could feel the tears welling up behind her deep brown eyes, but she fought them as hard as she could. She repeated the move three times before letting her hips lead her nimble body around on the spot, her hands winding above her head as she did so, finding herself with her back to the small audience again. She did the praying move once more before turning on the spot so as to face the crowd, lowering herself progressively to the floor on all fours where she rotated her hips which made her chest revolve provocatively. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit more as he pressed his legs together in a telltale move which made Mika raise her left eyebrow before sitting up and holding her hands above her head, twisting her pelvis around as she looked down at the floor just in front of her left knee.

The hardest part of the dance was upon her, but she was ready; she folded her feet beneath her and pushed up hard making her entire body leave the ground for a fraction of a second which was just enough time for the girl to rearrange her limbs to land gracefully on her points. (The points are the ends of the big toes… like the thing ballerinas do! 3) She heard the collective intake from the small gathering and smiled unhappily inside at the memory of exactly the same reaction the last time, she was relishing the outward pain which was reflecting her agony at that moment but which was hidden by her make-up. She shuffled her toes across the floor as she waved her upper body around, changing the balance every time and wondering how long it would be until she fell over, her hands winding above her head again; she held in her emotions. She turned to face the audience again and saw Sasuke still watching her, his legs now crossed but his face was bright red as she bent her knees into right angles on either side of her pelvis so that the deep golden red skirt was only covering the essentials making Sasuke turn even redder. She had to stop herself from laughing out loud when she saw Rock Lee and Naruto's faces: Naruto had a nasty nosebleed and Rock Lee looked like he was about to explode he was so red.

The beat changed and she placed her feet flat on the smooth floor again, invoking another clone as she threw herself into the air before landing in the clone's hands, her legs stretched in the splits as the clone slowly lowered her to the ground before disappearing in a cloud of smoke then leaping up again, trying to ignore how high her skirt was rising and how much it revealed. She jumped into the air and bent her body backwards so that her toes touched the back of her head, hoping they wouldn't get caught in her long shimmering hair as it flowed elegantly behind her. When she landed she let her chest fall forwards, placing it lightly on the floor and noticing how far the audience could actually see down her top before picking it up again and curling her spine back, her head thrown backwards; she then quickly spun over onto her sweaty back with her head facing the public, lifting her now heavy legs into the air where they entwined themselves, stroking each other irresistibly as tears slowly seeped out of her hazel eyes and down her face into her hair. She quickly spun herself around again, pushing her torso up so that she was sitting relatively comfortably on the smooth floor; in that position she crossed her long legs before uncrossing them again, pausing for a moment with her legs apart to smile provocatively again and giving herself a strange high to see several men fidget awkwardly before she crossed her legs again on the other side. In the original choreography she had been able to repeat this several times but this time she only had time to do it twice, her chest heaving as she panted and her entire body sweating from the effort of the dance.

She repositioned herself in the centre of the stage as she heard her queue and sat in a kneeling position, both her hands held out as though offering something. In her hands a tiny yet exquisitely detailed fountain suddenly erupted, to her left a tiny flame erupted on the shining floor, to her right a plant grew with a large red flower poking out of the foliage, behind her a large sculpture developed of her mother and aunt in the process of doing the most complicated move of the dance, around her a gentle breeze fluttered her hair and cooled her down while a bolt of lightning stabbed down for a split second as the music died completely, leaving the room in surprised awe, the tears rolling down her flushed face. The curtains slid closed and Mika fell down on the shiny floor, sweat pouring off her exhausted face mixed with the distinctive running path of tears.

'Come and stay with me…' came the memory of Orochimaru's offer which seemed more and more comforting. She picked herself up into a sitting position, listening to the sounds of people getting up and chatting animatedly and reviewing the performance. The excited voices were mainly saying nice things but Mika wasn't listening.

'Where can I find you?' she asked in an exhausted whisper, hoping that Orochimaru was still there, still listening. She felt something gently brushing her ear, but she was too drained to react.

'I'll find you.' came the familiar voice, this time right beside her left ear which made her slowly look over… but her eyes fell on the side of the stage. She nodded, her chest still heaving and her eyelids slowly closing over her deep brown eyes. 'Go to the edge of the village.'

Mika got to her feet shakily, following the order she had been given, too tired to change. She walked towards the escape exit she knew was hidden right at the back of backstage her feet trailing beneath her, complaining bitterly that she wasn't still sitting down. She glanced back over her shoulder at the back of the curtain which was separating her from Sasuke who was probably waiting for her just on the other side, an expectant smile on his usually moody lips, his hand still grasping the bouquet of flowers. She wanted to see him, she wanted him to go with her, but she knew that he would never go with her and would probably try to stop her. She closed her eyes as the tears started leaking out again, maybe she was just tired from the dance, maybe it was the fact that she was leaving the boy she adored… or maybe it was a combination of the sensation of being feared, powerful and alone which was forcing the tears out of her usually happy and optimistic eyes.

'I'm coming…' she whispered as she turned and pushed the hidden door open feeling the cool breeze pass over her hot face as she walked slowly out into the serene evening air. She walked through the streets of Konoha, ignoring the strange looks she was getting from passers-by, here eyes stuck to the road beneath her feet as she made her slow way to the gates of the village. Her thoughts were all muddled. Sasuke… Orochimaru… Konoha… fear… She sniffed and tried to stem the flow of tears which were still steadily falling from her eyes with the back of her hand, looking up every now and then to make sure she was heading in the right direction. Finally she glanced up and there were the gates of Konoha standing tall and daunting before her as she shivered slightly, her heat from the dance making her cold now in the chill air.

'Mika…' came a familiar voice behind her, one which automatically made the tiny hairs on the girl's neck stand on end, and her knees go weak. She closed her eyes, willing herself to be strong… she had to do this… she'd come back… wouldn't she? 'Mika…' she slowly turned around, still gazing at the ground she was standing on before looking up at his adored face, the face that she would do anything for and yet here she was… Sasuke's face looked sad and slightly disappointed. 'I followed you.' She tried to stop herself from crying but she found that it was a lot more difficult than she had expected and instead opted for the silent tears.

'I need to do this.' she said, trying desperately to keep her voice steady but failing. She watched the boy shake his head and noticed that he was still clutching the flowers he had brought for her. 'I- I'm all alone.' she continued and this time the tears were painfully obvious in her voice. Sasuke shook his head again, the disappointment seeping away slowly and disapproval gradually replacing it.

'You know you're not alone.' he said firmly, clearly trying to keep his own voice steady. 'I was alone, but you have me… you will never be alone.'

'I need to prove them wrong.' she argued but her argument sounded somewhat hysterical due to the tears now falling rapidly from her eyes and down her flushed cheeks.

'Since when do you need to prove yourself?' asked the boy in front of her taking a step closer, an incredulous expression on his handsome face. 'You are one of the most powerful shinobi in the village-'

'And people don't think I can handle it!' she cried out in frustration, her will to leave waning slightly. 'I have to prove to them that I can do it! I'm not the pathetic little girl I was before!' They stood gazing at each other for a moment, Mika's shoulders jerking a little every now and then as she continued to sob, Sasuke's face was set.

'I'm here.'

'I love you Sasuke.' she said quickly as she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and pick her up as though she was weightless, pulling her into nothingness. But the last image stuck in her mind, etched there as a painful reminder of her betrayal: Sasuke's desolate expression as he ran forwards with his hand outstretched, the other hand still clutching the flowers.