The Red Crimson Bride

The brightness of the blinding sun set over the forest and the delighteful fragrance of pine trees made it even more beautiful. It was a very warm day in the summer and the song of the birds filled the walls of the forest. A fast-flowing river crashes its way in a froth of white water through the valley, its roar echoing for miles around. The river is surrounded on either side by tall, green trees, majestic in their beauty. The place held only tranquility and silence until steps on the forest floor broke it. The person stopped right at the river and leaned forward to take a small drink of cold, refreshing water.

A small crack in distance made itself heard and the person jerked his head towards the direction searching for anything suspicious. As he moved his hand at his back where his pouch of kunais was the bushes in front of him started to move and he stared at it more cautiously. Suddenly, from the bushes a head of a deer appeared and looked around. The man let out a sigh on relief and watched how the deer approached also the river. He didn't made sudden moves and the deer which probably didn't notice him leaned down and drank from the river.

He watched the animal as it sipped water then saw that it's ears twitched. Within a blink of an eye the animal disappeared in the bushes and the man jumped a few meters away as he threw some kunais in the bushes at his left.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" he asked out loud still looking around for any glimpse of his enemy.

"If I knew that you were going to be like this then I should have stabbed you from the beginning." a voice echoed.

"Reveal yourself." he yelled and he moved his gaze at his right. His eyes wide open at the sight.

"Missed me." the person in front of him said smirking.

"You! You're supposed to be dead, Naruki!" he said. Naruki sighed and swung one of his kunais on her index finger.

"Wrong, I'm not dead, Kabuto." she said and threw the kunai away and made a few steps towards him. Kabuto straightened up and rose his glasses.

"What bussiness you have with me, Naruki-san?" he asked. Naruki made a small smile and red flashed through her eyes.

"To tell me where's the Akatsuki base." she said and eyed him.

"Why do you think that I will tell you?" he asked.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Tell me where it is and I'll let you live. If you won't then I'll torture you until you spill out the information and soon die." she said and put her hands on the hilts of the katanas. "The choice is yours."

"Yare yare.... Naruki-san is very convincing as always." he said and sighed.

"You can tell me where's the base to have your revenge as well. They killed your master one week ago, didn't they?" she asked.

"How could you possibly know that he's dead?" Kabuto asked surprised.

"Why else are you alone, in this forest hundreds of kilometers away from any village? You ran away from Akatsuki when Itachi killed Orochimaru because he tried to take control of his body for the second time in his life." she said and made a smirk.
"Orochimaru-sama is not dead." he yelled.

"Enough talk about them, tell me where's the base." she said, her grip around the katanas tightening.

He didn't say anything and continued to stare at her.

"For the last time. Tell me where's the base!" she yelled, her eyes already faded to Ryakugan.

"I'm sorry Naruki-san but I can't do that. I have to defeat you first." he said and made a few hand signs. "Chakra no Mesu!" he yelled and focused chakra in his hands. Naruki's smirk grew even wider and recovered her hands from the hilts and took a fighting stance.

"I see that you want it the hard way." she chuckled. "No matter, soon it will be over, Kabuto." she grinned.

Without saying one more word, Kabuto lunged at her with chakra flowing from his hands in order to slice her muscles and blood vessels. Naruki saw him and jumped away from his attack. She flipped in air and tried to kick him in the head only to be dodged by him smirking. They broke apart and he landed a few meters away smirking.

"The same old Naruki-san." he smirked. "And same old moves." he added. Naruki didn't say anything but smile.

"For the second time today, you're wrong." she said. Kabuto rose an eyebrow but right then a kick had been planted in his back sendind him meters away. The two Naruki's watched how he disappeared in a puff of smoke then both of them threw kunais towards the real Kabuto which was standing on top of a tree. He blocked them with his kunai but the two Naruki ran towards him and jumped high in order to reach him. Not expecting it, he received two kicks in the stomach making him fall. One of the girls grabbed the other one and threw her towards him. Seeing that she was coming with her fist forward, he blocked it and tried to land a punch but she dodged it.

They were falling with speed towards the ground but both of them were preoccupied to hit each other. Then they land with a loud thud creating a crater around them. Naruki jumped away and made hand signs.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" she yelled a huge fireball escaped her lips and went exactly towards him. After the smoke cleared, Naruki sensed danger and blocked his kick from the back. She turned to him and made a smirk then grabbed his leg and threw him away. He landed in a crouch position but when he looked up, he saw that there was no trace of her. He straightened up and looked around for her. He focused chakra again in his hands and prepared himself in case Naruki would approach him. Suddenly the wind changed and he looked up. He stared for a few seconds as petals surrounded him and swallowed him like a tornado. 'Daffodil petals?' he thought for himself. The petals started a dance and he found himself amased by it, he looked at them blankly and thought only how beautiful they were. Then, a petal detatched itself from the others and went straight towards him. He smirked as he got the tiny sharp petal between his middle and index finger. He rose his hand and made a sign.

"Kai." he said and the petals disappeared, he looked down and stared at the shuriken which he was holding. Then he rose his head and saw Naruki standing in front of him. She made a small smile and started to run towards him. Kabuto straightened and started to run as well. Naruki tried to hit him with force. She spinned on her heels and fingertips so she could plant kicks and punches on Kabuto which dodged them with effort. Seeing an opening, Kabuto lunged at her and planted a hit on her stomach then on her legs. Naruki wide her eyes open and jumped a few meters away. She put her hands on her stomach and coughed blood then fell on her knees.

"Kuso." she murmured and tried to get up but with no success. Kabuto smirked and approached her with chakra flowing around his hands
.
"It's no use. You can't get up." he said. Naruki stared at him with rage but a smirk also crossed her lips and her eyes went redder.

"You forget who I am." she grinned then disappeared from his sight. He sensed danger and turned around only to see Naruki airborne coming to him with her leg forward. He stared at her surprised as purple chakra was surrounding the parts which he hit earlier. He rose his left hand and grabbed the foot then with the other one hit her in the muscles. She grimaced in pain but after he recovered his hand from the spot, purple chakra surrounded it too. She made a smile then twisted in air and hit him in face with the other leg. She send him a few meters away and then she landed in a crouch position.

He fell on the ground on his back and coughed blood. He stared at her as the purple chakra disappeared and she walked towards him.

"But how?" he asked and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. She made a smirk.

"Heal." she said and started to run towards him.

She caught somethin in the corner of the eye but continued to run. He was ready for the contact but instead of trying to hit him, she practically put her hands on his shoulders and jumped, with her legs she caught a kage bunshin of his and threw it in the second, both of them were coming from behind her. She jumped higher and punched the third one which was above her. Seeing that there were no more kage bunshin she landed behind the the real one and hit him. But he disappeared in a puff of smoke too.

"Stop using kage bunshin and fight for real, coward!" she yelled. "Or now you realise that you're no match for me?" she smirked and drew her white katana. "I suggest to come here and surrender if you don't want to die by the next jutsu." she yelled and her katana started to glow. She looked at a tree where he was hiding behind it. "There's no use in hiding I can see you very clearly." she said and her katana glowed brighter. "Come down and I'll spare your life." she said.

She waited for him to come down but instead he straightened. She also saw that he healed his injuries then came from behind the tree.

"What makes you think that I'll surrender, Naruki-san?" he smirked. Naruki scowled and rose her katana, pointing at him.

"Fine. Then I'll show you something new." she said and made a sign and a wind started blow. "If you really want to die. So be it." she yelled and rose her katana above her head. "Fuuton: Kaze no Tsurugi (Wind Element: Sword of Wind)!" she yelled and let her arm down.

Suddenly the wind which was surrounding her blew harder and went straight to the trees in front of her. In just a second, many pine trees got cut in pieces and fell on the ground, dust filling the air making it hard to breathe or see. She stared emotionless at the opening she created and made a few steps towards it. She appraoched the tree on which he was earlier and leaned forward. She removed a few pieces and revealed his face which was covered in blood and cuts. She was about to say something until his eyes opened. He blinked a few times then his eyes locked on hers.

"I let you live on purpose. I still need your information, Kabuto." she murmured. For her surprise, he smirked.

"You're so naive, Naruki-san." he said. Naruki stared at him confused. Then without expecting it, she felt a hit on her back. She wide her eyes open and turned slowly. She gasped at the sight of another Kabuto standing there. She started to cough blood and tried to rose her hand but she felt more pain coming from her chest.

"I cut your principal vessel from the heart, you'll die in two minutes. Maybe five if you won't move too much." he smirked. She felt numb and her head leaned forward, being hard for her to keep it up. She coughed harder and Kabuto recovered his hand. he sent her a cold look and tried to heal his wounds which were bleeding hard. "Your technique seemed powerful, I barely had time to dodged it." he said. Naruki murmured something barely audible. "What?" he said and leaned forward to hear better.

"Wrong." she said and he backed away confused. Then, he felt something cold and moved his gaze down. For his horror he saw two blades coming from chest, he moved his gaze at the Naruki in front of him and for his surprise it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I told you that you'd die." a voice whispered in his ear from behind him and he turned around slowly. He wide his eyes wide open at Naruki which was holding her two katanas. She sent him a death glare and removed her katanas from his chest, making him bleed harder. She quickly leaned down and with the tip of her fingers she touched spots of his body. "And now you won't be able to use chakra in order to heal." she sighed and sheathed her katanas. He fell on his knees in front of her still coughing blood. She leaned down until she reached his eye-level. "Tell me where it is and I'll heal you. You have only a few more minutes maybe seconds until blood will fill your lungs and you won't be able to breathe anymore. Now I'm the only one who can decide if you're going to live or not." she murmured. Kabuto coughed again but Naruki could see that he was smirking.

"Yare yare Naruki-san... you have indeed... changed a lot." he said between coughs. "I have never seen you before helping one of your targets." he continued.

"Many things change, Kabuto. And so do I." she said and he rose his head to see her.

"I don't care if I die or live, there's nothing that connects me to this world anymore." he said and Naruki was about to lose her temper when she realised that he wasn't going to help her. "But I'll grant your wish." he smirked. "I'll tell you where the base...is." he said. "It's somewhere in the Fire Country. I don't know either the real location. But it will be easy for you to find it since you're used to this type of hiding the base." he coughed. Naruki gave him a grateful look and pityful one in the same time. She straightened up and stared at him.

"Are you sure you want to help me? she said. "You know, I'm the real one who killed Orochimaru when he left Akatsuki. After his encounter with Itachi, he had weakened so I found him and cut him from that state." she said expecting him to curse her. For her surprise Kabuto chuckled and after he stopped, he rose his head higher to see her.

"I'm very sure. I knew you were the one who took Orochimaru-sama's life." he smiled. "I betrayed many people so betraying Orochimaru-sama isn't a very strange thing to do." he coughed. "But thank you anyway for your- how do you say it?- ah yes, kindness. I'll die peacefully not holding a grudge against you. I know that you're doing this for a right thing, not very common for you." he said then his eyes went wide. He fell on the ground his face being buried between dust and splinters. She took a deep sigh and turned around not taking another glance at the dead body.

Suddenly she stopped and rose her head to stare at the sky. Dark clouds covered the sun and a rumble of a thunder made itself heard in the distance. She turned around and gazed at the half destroyed forest in front of her.

"Thank you." she whispered and started to walk away rising the hood.
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Two shadows emerged from darkness. Not being held back by the strong wind, they approached the already fallen trees until they reached a human body. They stared at it for a second then they moved their gazes at the forest which was cut in front of them.

"It seems that somebody else did the job for us." one of them said and smirked.

"Hn." the other one said leaned forward to look at the body. "Yakushi Kabuto. Dead." he said.

"Who could possibly do such damage?" the other one asked still staring at the forest. "Do you think that it was her?" he asked again. His partner straightened and gave him a glare.

"She is dead, Kisame." he said. "No one could survive that day." he added. Kisame noticed that his partner spoke somehow different about her death. Remorse? No, his partner doesn't hold feelings like these for anyone. But it was strange anyway.

"Maybe you're right. But the chakra that still fills the air... one with a great chakra ammount came here. A Jinchuuriki, perhaps? he asked.

"Iie." Itachi said. "It would have had a demonic aura but it doesn't." he added.

Itachi straightened and made a few steps away from the body staring blankly in front of him, analyzing with his Sharingan the surroundings. Pieces of trees everywhere, dust still filling the air and also dead animals were scattered around. It was a cold sight, sending shivers down the spine.

"Oi, Itachi, look at this." Kisame yelled and Itachi approached them quickly. He leaned forward and saw that next to Kabuto was a unsheathed sword. He took it in his hands and stared at it for a second. He twisted and he saw that it was very familiar. His hands felt the soft fabric which was wrapped around the hilt of the sword. Rising an eyebrow he unwrapped it and moved it up to his nose. He took deep breath from it then his eyes went wide open and his hand gripped the fabric with rage.

"Jasmine." he murmured and looked at the sword. He saw that it was his sword from back then. The one which she gave it to him. He saw the remains of the 'Eternity' symbol but it had been almost erased. 'Erased, hm? So you broke the promise.' he said to himself and got up.

"What is it?" Kisame asked staring at the sword.

"She's back. The Red One." he said and threw the fabric over Kabuto.

"What? But she's dead, we saw that day. There's no possibility-" Kisame was cut off.

"Iie. She is allive." Itachi said and turned around. "The signature of the seal which only she has is still around. And also... the sword." he said and moved his gaze on ther sword.

"But it's impossible." Kisame said. Itachi turned with his back at him.

"Take Kabuto at the base, mission accomplished for now." he said.

"What about you?" Kisame asked.

"I'll go and finish something that I had to do almsot four years ago." he said and started to run.

Leaving the forest floor he started to skip on the branches of trees faster. His cloak fluttered in the hard blowing wind as cold drops of rain started to fall. His right hand tightened around the hilt of the katana, not letting it go.

"It was supposed to kill her." he grunted. "How can she be still allive?" he asked himself. He frowned at this preposterous question and concentrated chakra in his feet to speed up his pace making the branches break because of the high pressure now that he added more chakra.

He let a deep sigh and closed his eyes. Rising the katana at his eye-level, he opened them and stared at it with dark grey eyes.

"Impossible. That woman... how could she survive?" he asked loud.

He refused to call her by the name, only hearing it, his senses would go wild and he would find himself destroying everything around him. She made him so full of rage these almost four years. It was like those days back then when he was only with her and without a care in the world, didn't even existed. He refused to acknowledge that they spent every moment together or that they had been in love.

Smashing a tree with his bare hand, he rose his head higher and stared at the dark sky with red eyes, rain drops flooding his face.

"This time I will kill her. No mistakes."
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So this is chapter 12! What do you think of it,eh? Please review!