Hi everyone!

I really hate having to write these notes, especially because it takes away from the actual story and really sours the mood right at the start. I have notes ready for the end of the chapter that are pertinent to the chapter itself, so please bear with me.

For those who are angry at Hinata, good! That's what I wanted you to feel. I was simply saying I was afraid people were going to be mad at Itachi also and accuse him of victim blaming. I was/am angry at Hinata as well. You are right to feel what you are feeling. Hinata is not getting a pass, I promise you that much.

For those who are asking me to stop defending her, I'm sorry my words gave the impression that I was. I was less trying to defend her and more trying to tell those who have been particularly vocal about not liking her at all due to her actions that not everyone is going to react how you want them to react in these situations, and to please keep an open mind. The story and the characters within it are still developing, but this does take time.

For those who have asked what a "perfect" victim is, for the sake of being transparent and making good use of this long author's note, here is a tl;dr of what that means: It is a damaging belief that victims needs to look or act a certain way to demonstrate that they "did not ask for it" and are "faultless" for the assault. We judge individuals based on how they dealt with the assault and judge them if they didn't deal with it in a way we perceive as "correct". Hope this is helpful!

There was a review that mentioned how Hinata had isolated Sasuke from his family, I will just say that further reading will be required, those answers are also coming so please be patient and wait.

As one of my friends put it best "There is an argument to be made about realism vs idealism in stories. People generally have an expectation of idealism in fanfiction." I was not aiming for idealist writing, one of the reasons that I enjoy writing these characters is due to the potential I saw in them and felt was not realized as they were originally written. With that being said, if you are hoping that I will "redeem" them back to "how they are in the anime/manga" as you know them, I am afraid I will only disappoint you. This is a different scenario, and they will recover at their own pace and ultimately end up differently. I'm trying to explore a scenario that was not written for them, where we get to experience them differently than we otherwise would. I know I sacrificed Hinata, but I thought I was doing a good job with the rest of them (those who have shown up thus far) and I am sorry if I disappointed you in that regard.

I know that since this is a weekly upload schedule, as a reader you experience the chapters as they come out and it might prove difficult to remember small details from previous chapters. I put a lot of effort in making sure that I demonstrated that Haru had been negatively impacted by the experiences depicted in that Chapter from the onset of Chapter One. I also made sure to put subtle hints through the Chapters leading up to it to help demonstrate that her mental health was not at its best, Hinata ultimately sacrificed everything that was HER to keep them housed, clothed and fed. I do not expect anyone to sympathize with her, I don't expect you to approve of her methods, I do not expect you to forgive her either. People will do things that we do not agree with or understand, and people who are hurting will hurt other people. This obviously does not make it excusable, by no means am I saying that Hinata was in the right, and that the damage caused to Haru is anything other than abhorrent.

I saw a few reviews that mentioned "She had too much pride to ask for help, but she didn't have it to do xyz". I don't remember mentioning pride as her driving force. I mentioned I had known women who had been too proud to admit their mistakes because that pride was all that was holding them together. If anything I think that there is a clear lack of it dictating her actions and a whole lot of other things at play here. I must sound like a broken record at this point, but these are unreliable narrators, and answers are forthcoming if you want to keep reading. I also would like to gently point out that at no point did I say she was doing those things willingly, trading sex for drugs, money, clothing or shelter is not always done with consent, please keep that in mind.

I did at one point consider making Itachi just run away with Haru to galivant through Europe (honestly, I still might), but I ultimately decided to write a story about how they - as flawed individuals - overcome these circumstances and what they learned from them instead.

I appreciate all the reviews and the constructive criticism that I have gotten in this story, it has helped me immensely when figuring out some chapters that I was unsure about and it has most certainly helped in guiding certain aspects of the story as it is being written.

Thank you to all that have taken the time to leave words of encouragement, and to all that have taken the time to write down their frustrations. I really read all of them and I truly appreciate them. As I mentioned before, there is only one more chapter that pertains to that part of Hinata's and Haru's life, all that I ask is that you have an open mind when the time comes for me to publish it.

For those who are complaining, I appreciate the candor and how passionate you are, but I do want to give you the friendly reminder that you are free to stop reading at any point and time, I will be understanding. This story will not resonate with everyone and that is ok.

Whew! This note is so long, I really didn't mean for it to be a short essay.

With all that off my chest, the chapter is actually being posted immediately after this note, so without further ado I do wish you some happy reading.

Much love,

Emi.

P.S: I'm going to start leaving my "Notes" on how the chapter was first thought to be written with my author notes, some of them are rather hilarious in my personal opinion.