Sasuke lay on the floor next to Itachi's bed, entwined in a net of chains; Itachi didn't take any chances on letting him get away, in fact, he could hardly move. His back burned from the many stripes on it; a result of Itachi's fixation with his whip.

Sasuke found himself unable to grasp the reality that he had been reduced to this. He had set out with a firm goal clearly set in his mind: to kill his brother and avenge his clan, plain and simple. So how had he managed to end up as the slave of the very man he sought to destroy?

He found himself anticipating the return of Tsukiyo. The cat girl may be an aggravating freak who delighted in harassing him, but at least she was tolerable. He would gladly have put up with her taunting to get away from Itachi's abuse. The emotional torment alone had drained him to the point of exhaustion. And that wasn't even mentioning the physical hounding!

Sasuke shook his head. How long will they continue to put me through this? Will they persist until I break? I can't do this for too much longer… he closed his eyes. I should never have left Konoha. If I had only listened to Naruto and returned with him, then I would never have ended up in this mess! Itachi is just toying with me…but for how much longer? How long will torturing me amuse him? He's bound to grow bored of it before long and if Tsukiyo hasn't returned by the time he does… I know Itachi; he won't think anything of killing me. Most likely, Orochimaru will give him permission. After all, I'm useless to him now.

Sasuke frowned. But then again, Tsukiyo would probably give Itachi permission as well. She's a lot like I was, she has a goal - what ever it is - and she's bent on accomplishing it, no matter what it takes. And she seems to harbor quite a hostility against humans. She won't care one way or the other what happens to a human like me. I might as well accept it; I'm going to die. All that training and careful planning, it was all for nothing.

Sasuke gave a quiet sigh. All I wanted was to avenge the murder of my clan. But I don't think I'm going to live long enough to reach that goal.

Tsukiyo opened her eyes and squinted as the early morning light temporarily blinded her. Sitting up she took an instantaneous survey of her immediate surroundings. She was lying on a bed in strange room. "Konoha…right." She muttered as she recalled the reason she was in a hotel room and not her own room, back at Orochimaru's.

She lifted her hand and rubbed her eyes, smiling when she caught sight of the bracelet that Sakura had given her the night before. Sakura really was a sweet girl. Hanging out with her, Tsukiyo thought she understood why the ancient forest creatures had wanted to make peace with the humans.

A knock reverberated off the door and she opened it to see Kabuto standing there. "Orochimaru sent a message for me to return to the hideout. You are to finish the mission and return as soon as you are done."

Tsukiyo nodded. "Very well." She closed the door in his face. "Good riddance!" She muttered.

Turning, she caught sight of the clock that rested on the nightstand beside her bed. She groaned and smacked her forehead. "Ugh! I'm late! I was supposed to meet up with Naruto, Sakura and the others this morning for ramen and then we were to head to the training grounds!" She dashed into the bathroom to get ready. She showered, dressed and applied a bit of makeup. Then, forming a sign with one of her hands, she implemented a transfer jutsu and appeared next to Sakura in the ramen shop.

Several exclamations of "Tsukiko!" greeted her arrival.

"Yo!" She greeted them.

"Hey." Sakura smiled. "We were just talking about what we should do today; it's been a little slow lately."

"Oh? Did you decide on anything?" Tsukiyo inquired.

Naruto cut in. "Yep! We're gonna go out to the training grounds and have a little sparring competition. You wanna come?"

Tsukiyo nodded. "Sure."

Naruto grinned. "Awesome! But before we go anywhere, sit down and have some ramen!"

"Oh I'll pass, I don't want to hold you guys up." She started to protest.

"Don't worry about it, we'll wait. You can't spar very well on an empty stomach and ramen's just about the best thing out there, it gives you lots of energy- trust me, I'm an expert on that!"

Tsukiyo exchanged amused glances with Sakura who was shaking her head and trying to hold back a chuckle.

"I see…" Tsukiyo said smilingly. "Well, if you insist."

Naruto grinned and called out to the owner of the shop. "Two more bowls of ramen!"

"More Naruto?" Sakura interjected. "Don't you think you've had enough this morning?"

Naruto shook his head vehemently as a bowl of steaming ramen was set before him. "Nope! There's no such thing as too much ramen!" and he began wolfing down the food before Sakura could make another protest.

"Okay! Let's pair off!" Neji shouted. "Everyone pick a sparring partner."

Instantly people began to pair off. Naruto, who had paired up with Kiba, glanced at Tsukiyo. "Why don't you spar with Shino, Tsukiko chan?"

Tsukiyo glanced at the aforementioned, a stoic boy wearing a trench coat of sorts with a collar that covered the lower half of his face and glasses, which succeeded in hiding his eyes. He stood, as usual, with his feet apart and his arms crossed over his chest. She knew he was of the Aburame clan and that they dealt with bugs. He was supposed to be a pretty tough guy but not quite the strongest of the group. It was said he was also quite good at strategizing though not as good as Shikamaru.

Tsukiyo nodded. "That's fine with me." she said, agreeing to the prospect of sparing with Shino

Naruto glanced at the Aburame boy. "Shino?"

"Hn…" was the only verbal answer they received, but the said boy gave a slight nod of the head, indicating that he too agreed to the challenge.

"Alright! Let's do it! Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with his usual enthusiasm. Tsukiyo flinched. His loud voice bothered her sensitive feline ears.

"Who wants to go first?" Neji asked in a much more serene voice.

Tsukiyo shrugged. "I'll go first if it's okay with my opponent." Everyone glanced at Shino who gave another tiny nod.

"Okay…" Everyone moved away giving the two competitors room. Tenten raised her hand. "Begin!"

However, Neither Shino, no Tsukiyo moved. The two of them just stood stalk still gazing at one another.

"Uh… sometime today you two!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura hushed him. "Be quiet Naruto. Can't you see they're analyzing one anther?"

Surprisingly, Shino was the first to speak. "Shall I begin?"

Tsukiyo nodded. "Be my guest." She invited.

Shino nodded and then charged, his hands rapidly forming signs. Tsukiyo watched closely as a dark cloud shot from his hand and formed a large wall of darkness in front of him. As the odd mass grew closer, Tsukiyo realized that it was not a cloud at all but a veritable tsunami of beetles charging towards her.

"Heh." Tsukiyo smirked and began to form several hand signs. All around her glowing specks appeared. They grew larger and changed shape. Loud screeches filled the air.

"Bats?" Ino whispered.

"Chakra infused bats." Neji affirmed. He had his Byakugan activated and nobody doubted his words.

"They're huge!" Chouji breathed.

And so they were. Each bat had an eight-foot wingspan. The chakra in them allowed them to fly at astonishing speeds. The army of bats swooped forward, diving and swallowing the beetles.

"A vampire feeding frenzy." Kiba commented. "Good thinking on her part."

Sakura nodded. "Hai."

The bats swallowed the beetles and then disappeared.

Shino and Tsukiyo now stood face-to-face once again. "I see I won't be able to use any of my beetles against you." Shino mused aloud.

"When did he become so talkative?" Naruto inquired.

They began a taijutsu fight, each attempting to outmaneuver the other.

In this, Tsukiyo clearly had the advantage; her cat-like movements were graceful and elegant as she evaded Shino's blows. However, she too was having difficulty in landing blows.

"She has amazing agility." Hinata remarked.

"Yes…" Sakura agreed. "She really is- Oh!"

Sakura's sudden outburst was caused by the fact that Tsukiyo had finally landed a hit on Shino's shoulder. Her hand glowed brightly and Shino froze, unable to breath.

"What happened?" Ino inqured.

"From what I can see with my Byakugan, the instant she touches him she sends a shock of chakra and some other energy like chakra that I don't recognize into his body, much the same way the Hyuga gentle fist technique works. But instead of blocking off the points at which the chakra leaves the body, this energy seems to be going right to the abdomen to where the chakra is created and arrests it there." Neji said.

"I see." Sakura said. "Without the chakra, the body cannot function, thus the result is instant paralysis!"

Neji nodded. "Hai. It is a good technique."

Tenten smiled. "Winner: Tsukiko!"

Tsukiyo released Shino.

He looked at her. "Good spar." He congratulated.

Tsukiyo nodded. "You too."

The two of them walked over to the sidelines as Ino and Sakura walked out into the center to begin their spar…

An hour or so later, during Lee's spar with Neji, Tsukiyo suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding wash over her. Instinctively, she knew that something was wrong with the Uchiha, her advanced, cat-like senses gave her a strong intuition for these kinds of things.

Tsukiyo glanced about her. Everyone's attention was focused on the two contenders who were currently struggling in the center of the field. I could slip away for a half hour or so and no one would notice… She thought. Something's is going on back at Orochimaru's hide out and I intend to find out what!

You want to teleport us to Orochimaru's place?! That's a long ways away, it will take a lot of chakra to make it there and back.

I'll manage! Tsukiyo thought decidedly. Glancing about furtively, she slipped quietly out of sight. Forming twelve signs, she whispered a few words and the wind around her picked up to form a whirlwind. The small, tornado-like windstorm whisked her out of Konoha. When it finally died down, she found herself in one of the many rooms of Orochimaru's manor. Tsukiyo realized that she was in the sitting room of the suite that Orochimaru had given to Itachi for the duration of his stay.

Silent as a shadow, she made her way over to the door which she knew led to the bedroom and quietly opened it just enough to slip inside.

The room was dark, though not as dark as Tsukiyo's own suite and was colored, mostly in dark red with black accessories. Fitting for an Akatsuki member I suppose… she mused silently. After all… "Akatsuki" can be translated: "RedMoon".

Tsukiyo took a step forward then halted in surprise as she realized that she had just stepped into a small puddle of blood. What the…? Glancing around she suddenly became conscious of the fact that there was blood spattered over nearly everything in the room; she simply had failed to notice it at first on account of the dim lighting and the fact that the walls were painted the same color as the blood so that it didn't really stand out.

Tsukiyo frowned. The fact that there was blood in Itachi's room did not surprise her, but whose blood was it?

Tsukiyo abruptly became aware of the sound of someone breathing; she was not alone. The sound seemed to be originating from the other side of the room. She silently made her way forward and peeked around the side of the bed. Uchiha?!

Me: Hey everyone! I finally decided to update this story! ^_^ Yay! So please review and let me know what you think!

Sasuke: Who would think this was a good fic?

Itachi: People who enjoy watching you get beat up!

Sasuke: I hate you!

Itachi: Yeah what's new?

Me: Alright enough with the sibling squables you two!

Itachi/Sasuke:Yes Mother!

Me: Shut up!