The Red Crimson Bride

She cried for a few minutes still in Sasuke's arms. When the tears finally stopped falling she leaned her head against his shoulder and breathed hard.

"It feels better, doesn't it?" he said with a slight smile. She didn't say anything so she just nodded in response.

He pulled her from his chest and they stared in each other's eyes.

"If you still want revenge, I will help you." he said. "I know that together we can make them pay for their sins." Naruki startled. Sins?

But she was a sin too. She committed sins too. How could she be different from them? Why did she thought that she wasn't like them if she did the same work as them?

She remembered that, when she was younger, they mocked her saying that she was too soft. What did they meant by soft? She did her missions very well, leader told her that. Then why was she soft? Could it be that the sight of blood always made her tremble and instead of killing the targets she let them unconscious? She was still a little girl back then, why would she like the sight of blood? Why would she like to kill?

She asked herself many times that. But, seeing that her older teammates did that including Itachi, "her rival", why wouldn't she try that too? Why would she lose against them and Itachi? She knew that they didn't repsected her because she was little, and a girl, besides Konan, who was also a girl in the organisation, but she was older and the vice leader.

So the question popped. Why shouldn't she make them respect her?

Naruki remembered all to well the day when she committed for the first time killing. She was fifteen, and her target was a man who stole money from some "banks" which belonged to the Akatsuki organisation. It was an easy mission, in her teammates consideration. Trace the man, kill him and return the goods. That was all. In their opinion but not hers.

She did as they told her, she traced the man and when he found out that he had been discovered he tried to escape her but she was too good for him. She escaped his traps and followed him until his house. He was such a clueless man.

She waited night to come and she burst in the house only to find him with his arms opened in front of her. She was confused but gazing over his shoulder she saw a woman, his wife, holding two children in her arms crying. "Take me. But leave them alone". She still remembered his last words. Why would he give his life for others? She asked herself at that moment, not knowing that she would try to do the same thing after ten years.

She nodded and killed him with just a wave of her katana. She didn't feel any remorse just... obedience. She finally did what they told her to after so long time. But something inside her told her that it wasn't enough, she had to be more acceptable in her older teammates eyes. So, not taking a glance at the dead body which was lying at her feet, she lunged at the woman who was holding the children.

She killed her too.

When she was about to leave the house she heard a small cry. She turned only to see that under the woman's body were the children. They were crying hard and tried to wake up their mother from her "sleep".

Without a word, she killed the young ones too. She left the house after her slaughter but only to let it burn down to ashes.

Yes... the memory was still there. Her one-man-kill turned to be a four one including a fire.

She gazed at Sasuke's eyes, 'I'm a sin too.' she thought. 'I am because I always did what they told me to without thinking if it was good or bad. I did those things so I could show them that I was a strong person and not afraid of killing. But deep inside me, I was terrified. I was scared of death.'

"Yes, I accept your help." she said and closed her eyes. It was a lie and she hated herself for doing this.

He didn't say anything else and soon she fell asleep in his arms.