Notes: Well I feel like I'm all over the place here. Things are going to start picking up about now; I have a whole complex web in my head that I'm trying to get all down, so I hope you can comprehend. Enjoy!

Maiko

Tenten had refused to see Neji, when messengers arrived at the door of the okiya, explaining that she was summoned to the Hyuuga manor to have tea with Hyuuga Neji, who had matters to entertain with her. Anko went instead, declining the offer in person. The third time Anko returned, she looked weary.

"Tenten," she said coming in, as Tenten sat at her vanity, already prepping for the night. The maiko had learned to apply the white foundation against her skin, and was painting her lips a dark red hue.

"Neji-san refuses to tell me what he is meaning to tell you, however he has not stopped from summoning you. It is highly disrespectful that you do not go, for the fact that the Hyuuga's are a major financial cash flow."

Tenten lowered her brush. Anko already knew what had happened, Tenten had recounted the story before bursting into tears the night of, already bleary from the alcohol. Anko had combed her hair soothingly like a mother would, and said that all young boys were bound for reckless, inappropriate acts. She promised that Tenten did not have to see Neji again.

"Neji-san is also Lee's childhood friend, and you have known him for quite a while, Tenten. I know what I said that night but if he summons you for another time, you will go."

"Does Hiashi-sama know about Neji's actions?" Tenten blurted out, gazing at Anko through the reflection.

Anko didn't answer, but merely turned around and slid the door shut.

In the heavily fumed incense room, Tenten followed after Anko to the muffled noises of another business party. As soon as the maids slid the door open and Anko bowed the men, already inebriated, cheered as experienced, beautiful geisha and her young, naïve maiko walked in. Tenten saw Hiashi was at the head of the table, and he smiled at her, motioning for her to come sit next to the empty spot besides him. Tenten had not even looked at Anko before already shuffling towards him, bowing before she settled in next to the Hyuuga and a heavily bearded man by the name of Asuma. Anko exchanged a sharp glance, gracefully sitting besides Kakashi, an often companion.

Tenten refilled Hiashi's cup of sake, and the older man smiled.

"How have you been, Tenten-san? You are still as cute as before," he said warmly, and Tenten flushed prettily, looking down at her lap.

"I have been well, Hyuuga-sama. Has your business endeavors been successful?"

Hiashi sighed, taking a sip from the cup, "It has been better. I've been trying to get Neji up and ready to take over soon, being that I have been getting much older these few years…"

Tenten nodded, looking furtively up at him, "Isn't Neji-san young to take over such an extensive corporation? You must be more capable to hold position…"

He chuckled, "It's true, and I believe my nephew is around your age? But then again, you look much younger that you really must be. Geishas always have a way of deceiving the eye."

Tenten covered her laugh daintily with her hand, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, a gesture not gone unnoticed.

"I think I have met your nephew on occasion."

"He has spoken of you before, " Hiashi said quietly, and Tenten looked up, before letting her eyes fall back down to his hands. She lit his cigarette, that he brought up to his lips.

"You are the first geisha he's been interested in, surprisingly. The younger men of our family have always distracted themselves in the way of geisha, I have quite often, but my nephew has always been unfeeling. Either way, it will still be years before he will succeed me, and he still has much to prepare."

"I understand," Tenten commented, unable to think of anything to say. "I have seen the works in arithmetic and civics and history and it is all mind-boggling."

Hiashi chuckled, a wondrous smile gracing his lips as his eyes crinkled at the sight of the maiko before him. Tenten could not keep his gaze, her heart already racing. Hiashi did not flatter her with compliments, but it was there, that silent praise of her adorable naiveté. He spoke about how to run a corporation, the tasks of his daily life. Tenten wished she could forever be ignorant so Hiashi would forever explain to her, that deep voice of his.

Anko had interrupted, "Oh Hyuuga-sama, you do not intend to bore the whole party with your continuous talk of business, the only one listening is Tenten-chan!"

Hiashi merely lifted a hand, "I am however only talking to Tenten-chan here, you all can proceed with your taboo talk of sex with our beloved Anko."

The whole table laughed at the sarcasm present in his voice and Anko only smiled, fanning herself in that sensual way.

Hiashi did not glance over as he said, "I'd excuse myself for the restroom now, Tenten-chan is highly devoted in keeping my cup full to the brim."

"Oh I'll escort you, Hiashi-sama," Anko said quickly, before Tenten could speak up.

Tenten wondered where Anko was. She had rushed to accompany Hiashi-san to the restroom, a disappointment for Tenten as she yearned for time alone with the man. There was two other mediocre geishas sitting at the table, and the men had quieted down, falling back to talks of business. Anko should return soon or else the party would crumble.

"Ne, Anko-chan reminds me a bit of Tsunade-san, when she was younger" Asuma said next to Tenten, downing his sake wistfully. He had not lowered the cigarettes from his lips, a constant chain smoker. Tenten was almost running out of lighter fluid, the way Azuma went through pack by pack. Azuma chuckled, "I was a young businessman then, and completely charmed by Tsunade's ways."

One of the geishas laughed in an almost high-pitched shriek, "Azuma-san! Anko-san looks and acts nothing like Tsunade-san, who is a legendary geisha in all of Konoha."

The man with the mask, who Tenten had always seen but rarely conversed with, Kakashi-san, took a long look at Tenten, his one dull eye examining. The latter lowered her eyes, unnerved.

"Anko-chan detests Tsunade-san, because Tsunade-san is much more stronger than she is," he said, and Tenten looked up. She had always seen the tension between the two most important women in her life, but she had never known why. The other two geishas were also similarly interested.

"Tsunade never had a Danna, but Anko gave in, which makes her incapable of being better," Kakashi continued, and Tenten furrowed her brows. This was new information she had never been privy too, but she didn't understand.

"Isn't having a Danna a top priority for a geisha?" Tenten asked before she thought, and then covered her mouth shyly, a gesture that made a few men chuckle at her innocence.

Kakashi winked at her, "It is, but Tsunade was never supposed to be a geisha in the first place. She was to be married to the same man that had just left a few moments ago."

Suddenly, Tenten's mind was pushed forward. The pieces were not fitting in with each other. Quickly, she excused herself, shuffling towards the restroom, and then she heard murmurs from an adjacent room. In the dim-lit hallway, there was a crack of light. Tenten bent down, looking in with one eye.

Through the cracks, she could see Anko's backside, her hair already out of its bun as one hand was already entangled in it. The right side of her kimono had fallen down to reveal pale, slender shoulder, and she was lost in passion.

Anko was kissing Hiashi.

Hiashi opened an eye, spotting Tenten. The one hand in Anko's hair detangled, and ushered Tenten to leave without even breaking contact from the geisha. Tenten's heart tightened, she slid the door shut and sat kneeling on the floor, panting, unable to see past the stinging behind her blurry vision.

She could hear someone coming down the hallway, squat down beside her shivering body, and then she felt a warm hand cup her shoulder. She looked up and blinked through her tears at Kakashi, whose one eye looked solemn. He put one hand on the door, and sighed.

"Compose yourself," he said softly, and Tenten took a heavy breath in, and stood up silently.

"Ah Kakashi-san," Tenten chirped loudly, "I'll escort you to the restroom; I apologize for leaving you behind!"

She could feel his smile more than see it, and they walked farther into the hallway, his one hand merely grazing the bow on her back as Tenten let the shock finally sink in. She smeared the white makeup on her face and Kakashi patted her arm, a friendly, soothing gesture.

"That was Tenten," Anko breathed against the man's skin, her breath heavy.

Hiashi didn't speak, too focused on the geisha's neck.

"What do you want from her?" she asked, a touch of anger and hostility in her voice as she clawed at his back, much more painful than pleasuring.

"Nothing really," Hiashi replied into her skin, and Anko could feel the smirk and she wretched at the feeling. She bit her lip, making sure not to push herself away from the condescending man but pushed herself closer.

"You're planning on doing something to her to get back at Tsunade," she accused and Hiashi nipped her ear.

"I have completely forgiven Tsunade for any grievances," Hiashi chuckled, but the words hung heavy in the air.

Lies.

"What really is it, Hiashi-sama?" Anko whispered.

He didn't speak, busy in his ministrations before he said softly, "I want to see how much she is like her mother."

"She is nothing like her."

"I see striking similarities."

"Do you know that your own nephew is after our dear Tenten, or do you already recognize that and are trying to retie the bonds between Sarutobi and Hyuuga again?"

Hiashi stilled and Anko's mouth curled into a feral, victorious, smirk. Her hands scrunched the front of his shirt and pushed him back, proud and vicious of the information she knew.

"Do not touch the girl, or I will make you wish that you never met her," she growled softly, before turning around and fixing her hair.

"Are you threatening me, geisha?" Hiashi's voice was bitter.

"You wouldn't dare switch okiyas. Our connection with you helps you keep your clients, mostly of my job."

Hiashi merely looked at her back, curved in the strong ego of a geisha, and then wiped his mouth and swept out of the room.

When Tenten had composed herself and the two had returned, Hiashi and Anko were already back in their spots, and Anko was making up a false tale of what had happened on their way to the bathroom. Tenten caught Anko's gaze, and her own hardened as Anko looked away and glanced at Kakashi, not even pausing in her story. Tenten resettled herself next to Hiashi and Asuma, still harshly aware of the closeness.

She wondered apathetically how she managed to not crumble into a million pieces as Hiashi no longer spoke a word to her, turned not fully but enough that he did not even glance at her.

Later that night, during the silent ride back to the okiya, Anko was not meeting her gaze.

"I saw you," Tenten had said, much more an accusing, bitter tone.

Anko's expression didn't even change.

"Why did you do it?" Tenten pressed further, reaching over and grabbing her sister's hands. "Aren't you a respectable geisha?"

Anko looked impassively at the maiko, shaking the trembling fingers off.

"In this cruel, bitter world, you do not have respect as a geisha. There is no such thing. The only woman in our world that has respect is Tsunade, and she does not even belong here."

Anko had brought Tenten along to visit Jiraya-san's office. Jiraiya had been delighted to see the maiko again and obviously the beautiful Anko, as he called for tea to be warmed for the two visitors.

He sat across from them, the large book full of scribbles and incomprehensive scrawls between them.

"We would like to reschedule our engagements," Anko said without hesitation. "Under some conflicts should not be able to attend any of the previously scheduled Hyuuga parties, due to the fact that his guests are rather unpleasant."

Anko and Jiraiya laughed at the comment and Jiraiya scoffed, "Do you understand how hard and how furious Hiashi-san will be now that you plan on, without accord, drop all of his engagements? He will hardly take this plesanatly."

"I'm sure there are many other okiyas that will be more than happy to pull us down and take our spots," Anko said, albeit a tone of cruelty in her voice.

Jiraiya chuckled, smirking, "Every other okiya wishes to be more influential than Tsunade's, but how can they live up to that legend?"

"They can't, which is exactly why we have enough affluence to withdraw from these parties, at least for the time being."

"I can't guarantee they will take you back after you throw them aside."

"We are geisha, we'll figure out a way," Anko smiled, and Jiraiya's feral smile only widened as his pen began to move across the page.

Tenten bowed to the man in front of her. He did not speak, his eyes watching her. They were alone along the bridge, and the trees were already dropping their leaves. She had run into him completely by accident, he had been going to see a show, two geishas accompanying him. He had completely stopped, asking for Natsune-san and Akane-san to go ahead without him, for he had matters to speak with the maiko whom neither have seen in weeks.

"You're avoiding me," Hiashi commented softly.

Tenten bit her lower lip, before saying quickly, "I'm afraid I've been rather busy since Jiraiya-san has scheduled us to conflicting times in line with your business parties."

"Most likely to Anko's doing, I assume."

Tenten did not respond, merely looking down at the wooden shoes on her feet.

"Will you take a stroll with me, Tenten-chan?"

The maiko could only nod, as Hiashi took her hand, moving it gently to hold against his arm. Tenten's heart was overflowing, her legs had felt wobbly but she composed herself.

After a moments while, Hiashi began to speak.

"Your okiya's mother, Tsunade-san was arranged to marry me in a political bond between the Sarutobi and the Hyuuga. This was during the times of the Wars, and many people died. This bond was supposed to create alliances, that would further plunge us into farther, bringing about more unity and resources in Konoha to continue the siege against foreign nations. The Hyuugas had not entered the war yet, and with this marriage it would strengthen my family's power as well as help the war. Tsunade, with the help of Jiraiya-san, was able to escape this marriage," there was no smile on his lips, not that Tenten had planned to see one. Hiashi was oddly very solemn about this topic.

"H-How?"

"She fell in love with another man."

"Did… did you love Tsunade-sama?"

Hiashi chuckled, patting Tenten's hand that had encircled his arm. "What man of sound mind could not be in love with Tsunade? She had charm much before she became a geisha."

"What was she, then?"

"She was the granddaughter of the governor of Konoha."

Tenten was silent, and Hiashi continued his story.

"Jiraiya-san had persuaded her into the world of geisha, where Tsunade suddenly gained extreme reputation in less than a year. Many war veterans were relieving themselves in geisha, who were much popular and affluent then. Through that, she had met a war doctor named Suzuki Dan. His niece would come along to be Shizune, a geisha of your okiya. During this time, I was searching for Tsunade, desperately trying to find her and make her my wife. But she was desperately scared of marriage, running away especially from the Hyuuga family, and she had an affair with Dan. Later, she had retired from being a geisha, and that is when I found her.

She married Suzuki Dan, and was pregnant with his child. Dan had gone off to war about six months before, and he had died. Tsunade was nothing more but an abandoned widow."

They had somehow strolled towards a less-populated area, where the trees had already lost their leaves and the bark was already scorched black, a burning fire that kept the trees from growing larger, from growing at all. They were decaying from the inside.

Hiashi merely looked up, and Tenten watched the curve of his jaw.

"I said I would still marry her, I would support the baby, but she refused. I tried for a while, but then could only give up. When I saw her again, she was back in the rooms of the teahouses, entertaining men. She had given up her baby child. She told me that she had left her daughter by the river, hopefully someone would either come pick her up and take the baby away, or the child would fall and drown in the river. Tsunade was no longer quite as lively after that, she was still beautiful and sensual, but the men that really knew her know she lost a bit of fire in her eyes.

And then rumors began to go around that her child, a daughter, was still alive. Someone said they had found a blond girl with the same color eyes as Tsunade. And she had slipped that there was no possible way that was her child, her daughter did not look like her. Finally the commotion died down, and Tsunade's affluence grew, her past became a legend and she came to own one of the most successful okiyas of all the geisha proviences.

Eight years ago, rumors grew once more. Tsunade had given her daughter to an old maid of her household and sent the maid to the outskirts of town. The maid had just died, and two days later, the Sarutobi okiya gained a new member."

Tenten stared at the man, her mouth opened and shut again. There's no possible way…

Hiashi turned towards her, cupping her cheek in a gentle motion. He ran his fingers down her cheekbone to her jaw, tipping it forward.

"You're the long lost daughter of Sarutobi Tsunade."

The story, revelation was such a shock that she did not even recognize the lips that had touched hers.

Notes: That was a bit rushed, sorry! I hope you liked it, I'm kind of in a writer's block right about... now haha. comments would be appreciated.