AN: The rest of chapter three has finally been added, and I've actually got a couple of ideas floating around in my head for this story. Yes, I know I abandoned it and have evilness skills that rival Orochimaru's.

Touch Of Black: The Withering Rose

Chapter Three: Lies

The boat was crowded, which made the sea sickness even worse. The food Maiko had brought hadn't lasted as long as she'd hoped; but other than those three things – she didn't feel that bad. After hours of thinking it over she had finally decided to visit Konoha for one last time. Although now she was a young, blue-haired Jounin; who had 'left Konoha to visit distant relatives and had now returned'. Her name was now Hitomi Aoi, and Hitomi was very different to Maiko. Hitomi was a sociable, giggly, care-free girl. Hopefully, she wouldn't be discovered.

She wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere. He'd gone all that way only to find that she was gone. Had she heard of his coming and fled before he arrived? Did she still live at all?

There were questions, so many questions and so many silent answers. Itachi was getting aggravated; and walked slowly out of the small house; fists clenched and Sharingan ablaze. Of course he hadn't come for the sole purpose of seeing her; in fact ever since he'd left her he'd tried to convince himself never to go looking for her again. But, he'd been sent on an assassination mission with Kisame; as usual it was fast and easy- and they had plenty of time left before they had to leave. It wasn't until they were about to leave that Itachi heard two women talking about another as they walked past. They described Maiko perfectly; even if they seemed to dislike her – Itachi knew who they were speaking of immediately, approached them, asked them where she lived and then left Kisame to his own devices.

But there he stood; outside the little house that he had searched for quite some time. She'd been gone a few days at least; but her presence still lingered, and it made him feel sick. He was a failure; he was showing unnecessary emotion and didn't seem to care. She'd done something to his mind; Itachi had never been the same after he'd met Maiko.

He sat in the house for an hour or so; pulling himself together and then heading back out to locate the two women. He discovered from them that Maiko was headed to Konoha; to visit relatives. Of course this was ridiculous, he highly doubted that she had anymore relatives. Unless her brother had lived through the ailment he had suffered when Itachi had first met the both of them. All her reasons for leaving aside, Itachi still intended to find her again. Maybe even kill her if he had the nerve, she was ruining his composure and changing him. It had been bad enough living with the fact that she was out there somewhere, but to see her again might just drive him over the edge.

To Konoha it was, then.

"I've never seen you around here before, Hitomi,"

"Oh Kakashi-san, I travel a lot, that must be it! Not to mention I haven't been around as long as you," The blue-haired girl giggled, and the black-haired girl inside of her groaned in disgust. She was beginning to regret disguising herself as the complete opposite of what she really was. It was getting irritating, and she could tell from Kakashi's face that he was slightly annoyed.

"My family were very worried about me staying here," She lied. "They didn't want me to come back; they moved away after that horrible incident with the Akatsuki all those years ago,"

Kakashi's visible eye seemed to convey some kind of past frustration that was being brought up all over again.

"You lost someone then, Kakashi-san?" Hitomi asked, seeming concerned.

The silver-haired Jounin nodded glumly, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring out at the surroundings. This girl had walked over to him during a training session, it was bad enough that he had Maito Gai challenging him to all sorts of ridiculous things during this time; let alone someone he'd never met before approaching and asking all sorts of weird questions.

She was beginning to scare him; well, not really scare – but more confuse. For somebody that traveled a lot she seemed to know so much about Konoha and its history. But she had a peculiar manner; she seemed nervous and guarded. He was watching everything that she said to make sure she didn't let anything slip. He didn't trust her, he'd have to watch her. She might even be a spy. Kakashi wasn't often wrong about these sorts of things, but the only way he could be sure was to check her over with his Sharingan. Yet wouldn't that be strange? If she was perfectly normal than he'd probably scare the hell out of her, and she was already flustered enough as it was. He'd have to befriend her, he supposed, and wait until she was relaxed fully, before forming an excuse to reveal his Sharingan.

After a long, drawn out silence he looked back over to her and smiled. "I have some training to overlook now, Hitomi-san; if you'd like you could join me. You seem like a most formidable kunoichi,"

Maiko was slightly afraid of saying yes, but nodded in agreement anyway and started babbling on about techniques as she walked alongside Kakashi. Meanwhile her brain raced; Kakashi had always thought that Maiko's technique was very distinctive, probably because she spent most of her time training with the elders of the Emiri clan-- she'd never known any other style in battle. If the Copy Ninja's memory was as good as it had always been then he was bound to notice. Perhaps Maiko had made a mistake in coming? He already seemed suspicious, and not to mention wary, or her already. If she suddenly made up an excuse and left he wouldn't leave her alone. She knew Kakashi, and she knew that he would do all he could until he discovered what her secret was.

She'd just have to avoid fighting, and at any rate Kakashi had only said that he was going to 'overlook' training.