The Red Crimson Bride

Five days passed and Sasuke still didn't return. That fact made Naruki worried. What if something happened to him and the other three? Even she knew that for an Akatsuki member nothing will be considered a challenge. But Sasuke was strong, she felt that, then why should she be worried?

"But most of all why am I worried that much about him?" she asked herself loud when she was laying on the bench at the training grounds.

Since Sasuke left, she trained herself non-stop. Now that there wasn't anyone around she could try all the jutsus she knew. In her opinion the training ground won't be anymore the one that used to be. It practically had holes, craters everywhere and trees were ripped from the ground. 'I guess I went too far.' she laughed sheepishly.

"Worried about who?" a voice asked. Naruki sighed and turned towards the direction of the voice.

"Um...no one?" she said blushing and stared at the snake. Surprisingly, Sasuke's summonings not that they were big they even talked. Somehow she was grateful, at least she had someone to talk to. In other words, three.

"But it sounded like someone." another voice said. She turned her head towards the second.

"No, it's just your imagination." she said still blushing.

"The three of us imagined the same thing?" the third asked.

"Well...." she stopped. "Hey, it's none of your business who was I thinking or talking about!"

"So you finally admit that you were talking about someone." the first said.

"And thinking." the second added. Naruki blushed harder, why did she had to slip something like that?

"What about caring?" the third asked. "Mostly this, don't you think?" the third asked and the other two nodded. Naruki got up on her feet fast and sent all of them death glares.

"It's none of your business!" she said and crossed her arms."Aren't you three supposed to protect me or something like that?" she asked.

"Yeah, we are, but there's no enemy around." the first said.

"Also we got bored." the second said.

"And we thought about making fun of you." the third said. Naruki twitched, hurting them now wasn't such a bad idea, right?

Taking a deep sigh, she calmed herself and took a sit on the bench.

"Any news from them?" she asked
.
"None. But they'll be here soon, they always are." the third said.

"I hope you're right." she said and leaned her head down. There was a long silence between them only being interrupted by the hissing sound coming from the snakes. They watched her worried face and exchanged looks between them.

"Hey, break-time is over." the first one said.

"Train, or do you really want to have the same old, lazy moves?" the second said.

"Not to mention slow." the third said.

Naruki twitched at their words and rose her head. She gave them a deadly red glare which scared them.

"Slow??" she yelled then got up on her feet and started to run. "I'll show you something slow!" she yelled then jumped with her fist which had a purple flame surrounding it, towards the ground. "Take this!" she yelled again and punched the ground. Seconds passed and an earthquake started. The three snakes watched amased how a crater appeared around Naruki swallowing her fully.

After the earthquake stopped, they crawled quickly at the edge of it. They looked down and saw her in the middle straightening up.

"Hey, Naruki."

"Are you still allive?"

"Or dead?"

"Allive, thanks for concerning." she said ironically. She rose her fist and stared at it with her red eyes. The purple flame started to disappear and smoke came from it now. Naruki blew it away smirking.

"Are you coming out?" the first asked.

"We could lend you a tail but the crater it's too deep." the third said.
"So thoughtful of you." she said and concetrated chakra in her feet only to walk ont he walls of the crater towards the surface. When she reached there the snakes made space for her. They exchanged looks.

"So?" the second asked. Naruki looked at him confused.

"So...what?" she asked.

"What jutsu did you use?" they asked in unison. Naruki shrugged and turned to look at the huge crater.

"Even I don't know. But it seemed powerful." she said and rose her fist again to stare at it.

"Maybe it's from the kekkei genkai." the first said.

"Yeah...maybe." she said after a pause still gazing at the crater.


Later that night, after Naruki finished her training, she went inside the house to have dinner. There was plenty of food, enough for her to eat for one month. While she was preparing her food, a light apperead at her window and after a few seconds a huge noise followed it. Naruki startled at the loud noise and looked through the window.

"It started to rain." she said announcing her three "companions" then continued to prepare the food. "A storm, better said." she said in a low voice. The other three watched her curiously, they could see that she was trembling.

A sound made itself heard and Naruki rose her hand. She broke the handle of the pan which she was holding. She didn't realise that she tightened her grip that much around it.

"Are you scared of storms?" one of them asked. She didn't say anything but they heard a sniff very well.

"No, it's just that I have some memories about one storm of this kind."

"Care to share it with us? Maybe you'll feel better." the third said. She shook her head still trembling.

"No. Memories like these ones are meant to be forgotten."

"But you still have them." the second said. Another sound made itself heard and the handle which she was holding broke in two. Without taking a glance, she threw the broken pieces on the floor and stopped the fire from the oven.

"Nevermind, I'm starving." she said cheerfully and took the two pans from the oven then poured food in a plate. She turned around and went towards the table where she took a sit. The other three gazed at her surprised. She had sudden change of moods everytime and they couldn't explain how could she do that. She also poured some tea in a cup and thanked Kami for the meal. "Oh, and I almost forgot." she said smiling. She got up and took some matches from a drawer and a bowl in which were some plants in it. She lit the plants and put the bowl on the table at the center more exactly. "That's better." she said and took a sit.

"What is it?"one of them asked.

"These are the plants which you saw me gathering today from the forest." she said smiling. "These plants, when they caught fire they let out a a beautiful smell. You can smell it, can't you? she asked. The three snakes gazed at her and they also felt a sweet aroma filling the air.

“Yes.” they said in unison and started to move their bodies to left and right. Naruki smirked and sipped her hot tea murmuring ‘Perfect timing.’

“What’s with these plants? How did you know about them?” the third asked.

“There are things which you don't know really about me.” she said smiling and took a bite.

“Why am I feeling so dizzy?” the first asked.

“Maybe you’re sleepy." Naruki said still smiling. Suddenly the other three turned their heads at her looking at her.

"You put something in it, did-" they were cut off as they fell on the ground with a loud thud. Naruki sighed and got up. She touched each one to see if they were unconscious.

"The plants I gathered are used for animals to calm them and eventually neutralize them. Like sleepers.” she sighed and got up on her feet. "I guess Sasori's teachings in plants and their use come handy sometimes." she said and turned around. She looked at the clock. "They'll sleep ten hours from now. Good. They won't be able to trace me." she said and took a pen and a paper from her pocket. She wrote something on it and after she finished she let it on the table. After taking another glance at the sleeping snakes she left the kitchen. "Sorry guys, but I have important things to do." she murmured.

She packed some supplies in a backpack which she found in the house and the ninja equipment which Sasuke left so she could use to protect herself. She took a black and white cloak from the dresser and put it on. After she finished packing and equipping herself she left the house only to meet hard pouring rain. She made a few steps away from the house and bit her thumb.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" she yelled and from a puff of smoke a huge bird appeared.

"Oh Kami-sama, who summons me in this time of weather?" the bird chirped and looked around until her eyes met the dark figure in front of her. "You?"

Naruki lowered the hood which was covering her face and stared at the large bird. The bird blinked twice and leaned forward to see her.

"Naruki? How can this be? There had been news that you died. News telling that Pein and the rest of Akatsuki killed you." the bird said alarmed.

"Yes, Ayame, I'm Naruki. I survived somehow. You know that nothing can kill me easily." she said eyeing her.

"So it is you, I would recognise that voice and attitude from anywhere." the bird said. "So what's with this summoning?"

"You know what I want." Naruki grinned.

"Let me guess, revenge?" the bird asked.

"You got that right." she said and climbed on Ayame's back.

"Where to?" the bird asked. Naruki made a pause to think.

"Take me to where Amegakure used to be. I need to take some things from there first." she said.

Ayame nodded and flapped her wings in order to fly. The rain was still pouring hard and sometimes lightinings appeared on the sky also being followed by thunders. Naruki was glad that she took a cloak with her or she would have been already soak from all that rain.

"Hold on tight, with these lightnings you'll never know where they'll strike." Ayame warned her. Naruki nodded and tightened her grip around the feathers. She turned her head and watched how the light from the house was disappearing in the distance. 'We will meet again, Sasuke.'


Two hours passed and they continued their journey towards Amegakure. The rain was pouring harder than ever and Naruki felt cold. She started to shiver and tried to cover herself between the feathers but those were cold too.

"We're here." Ayame said and swooped towards the earth. In a few seconds she arrived there and landed on it. Naruki climbed down from Ayame's back still shivering and looked around. She gasped.

There were only runes in the places where great buildings used to be. She couldn't believe that nothing remained from this beautiful village. She spent only 8 months there but she grew to love it like her own village. The villagers were nice and respected each other. She looked at her right and saw the remainings of some walls.

"Wait here." she whispered and walked towards the walls. When she arrived in front of them she touched the cold rigid stone. 'Hatakeda Compound' she thought looking at the symbol engraved on the wall. It was a circle with three lines coming from it's center. They held for peace, love and unity.

She took a deep sigh and walked through the entrance whose gates had been ripped off. The compound was big, more like a neighbourhood. She made a few steps and saw a lot of houses which were roofless or missing walls but on the remaining ones she could still see the circle symbol. The place was very silent, only the sound of falling rain and thunders broke that tranquility. It was such a terrible sight and it had a dark aura. With each step she made the memories of the day kept on rushing through her head making her to feel more guilty than ever. She started to tremble at the thought that this was all her fault.

Naruki walked along the houses silently until she reached the biggest one. She let out a whimper at the sight. This was supposed to be her house after she would have married Ichiro. The large building resisted the fire and it still had the roof and the walls. She remembered why she was there and looked to her right and saw an oak. It was still there as she remembered. She walked towards it and stared at it. There she had her first kiss with Ichiro and in the same place he proposed to her. Even though she didn't have deep feelings for him, she cared for him as a close friend and loved him as a friend.

Shooking her head she made a few hand signs and the oak started to move from it's place leaving a hole behind. She leaned on her knees and looked at the hole. She searched it for a few seconds until her hands found something. She took it out only to reveal a large box with a big lock on it.

A lightning appeared on the sky making the black box with a red cloud on it more visible. Without taking a glance at the cloud she rose on her feet and started to walk towards the mansion as the oak covered the hole behind her. She went through the non-existent doors and entered the mansion.

Safe from the hard rain she let her hood down and took a sit on the cold floor which surprisingly it was dry. She took a candle from her pocket and lit it with some matches. The hot flame which was coming from the candle made her feel warmer than before. She put the box on the ground and stared at it.

"Kai" she said and the lock opened by itself. She glanced over it and something shining caught her attention. She touched it and felt a soft fabric. Frowning, she took it from the box and saw that it was a black cloak with red clouds imprimed on it. A tear escaped her left eye and she threw the cloth at her right not looking at it.

She searched the box and found also the bamboo hat which suffered the same faith as the cloak. She stared inside and a smirk crossed her lips. She took her Akatsuki clothing which consisted in a fishnet, grey pants, grey shirt and shin guards. Between them was her headband which had a large scratch on it and also a little box. She opened it and took her ring from it. She stared at the red ring with the black kanji on it and put it on her left ring finger. In the light, the kanji for Suzaku (Phoenix/ Red Sparrow) could be read. Fire, immortality, resurrection, somehow the ring represented her.

Taking a deep sigh she searched the box for other things. It didn't take long and another smirk crossed her lips as her hands made contact with two things at the same time. She took the two katanas in each hand and stared at them with a grin. The left was black, and the right was white. Yin-Yang. She smiled, her katanas helped her so much those years back then, not to mention that she received them as a gift too. Yes, Itachi gave them to her as a present. The black-white symbol also represented her. It represented her two sides of personality which were opposite each other. A fierceful tigress in the battle field but a scared kitten back at the base.

She put them aside and searched the box for the last thing. When she touched it she took it from the box and stared at it. It was a necklace which had a red fang attached to it. She moved her gaze from the necklace to the candle light then outside where it was raining. 'It feels so nostalgic.'