Crimson Red

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Chapter 2:

Ruby Scarlet

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"From now on, I will be your teacher!"

-Yuuhi Kurenai

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The heavenly showers had faded into a cool, misty air, night life slowly stirring after the downpour of the autumn season.

Crimson Red had set camp in the desolated caverns cited in the western part of the Fire Country. No one came close to the rocky hills and harsh winter peaks of the mountain, and so it had become one of the secretive installations for the group when in mission.

Kiba and Shino had, after patting her head and touching her shoulder, (actions done respectively by that order in gestures of congratulations and friendship,) walked out of the tent, off to do whatever they wished with their free time. They could do anything, as long as they didn't stray away from the secluded area Kurenai had designed and chosen four years ago.

Another mission had been successfully handled and they weren't expected back in the village for the rest of the week.

They had time to rest and catch up with a healthy amount of sleep, something Hinata wasn't going to pass up on.

Not today.

She was tired, although not exhausted. If necessary, she'd keep going. Her stamina was regarded as high, rivaling that of her cousin, Neji, a Jonin and soon to be ANBU.

But when proposed with the idea of returning to Konoha and reporting to the Hokage that same night, Kurenai-sensei had refused.

"No," she had said, serene as she untied her cape and wrapped it around Hinata's shoulders, covering her from the cold and smiling kindly to the rest of her Team. "Tonight we rest. Tomorrow we move."

Her orders had been absolute, and no one had dared to question them.

After all, it wasn't every day that the Team's mentor presented them with a break. She had tutored them well in appreciating every blink of slumber they could gain, for such a thing didn't come as often as some might like.

So Hinata sat on her sleeping mat, heavy-lidded eyes resting on the dark-haired man applying soothing salve on the rope-burns of her right thigh, obedient to her Captain's words.

Sasuke, for his part, had pushed the length of her ragged blue dress up her leg, exposing porcelain skin marred with fiery red and irritated pink rough line-prints, unmindful of any sense of modesty between the two.

That particular tent, usually reserved for Kurenai and Hinata, housed the Uchiha and Hyuuga as the former concentrated on the task at hand and the latter tugged the black coat closer, sinking into the warmth the older female had left behind in the article of clothing and trying, simultaneously, to cover as much as she could of herself.

Hyuuga Hinata was a kunoichi of the Leaf first, but being a kunoichi didn't mean she had to stop being a woman. Thus, her lack of cover was starting to make her slightly uneasy when in the electric and muted presence of Uchiha Sasuke.

Her heel rested on his lap, her left leg tucked underneath her, and Shino's and Kiba's quiet murmurs of conversation coming from outside were strategically indistinguishable, a soothing lullaby of unknown dialogue mingling together and resounding gently in her ears. Even the Inuzuka man spoke softly, something he'd mastered radically quickly, to the surprise and secret satisfaction of the red-eyed Yuuhi.

"Sasuke-san," Hinata said, putting an end to the calm silence that had established its existence for the last ten minutes.

Sasuke sparred her an inquisitive glance before going back to work, the tips of his fingers sliding across her flesh and completing the second coat of the slimy curative substance around Hinata's sensitive burns.

The men he'd killed just a few short hours ago were guilty of the inflicted damage on her, and albeit he held knowledge of the diverse scars that spoke stories of training and previous battles on her body, it bothered him to see more added to the list.

"Daijoubu?" she whispered.

Sasuke's hand went still as he recognized the real meaning of her concern. It was a question she only asked in delicate situations, for she was well aware that he wasn't fond of sharing inner musings unless strictly necessary

He responded after a pause.

"Aa."

Her eyes closed at his reply and reopened when she inhaled, the lavender-cream depths warm as she reached out and traced a lock of his ebony hair.

"Nothing happened to me, Sasuke," she murmured, purposely discharging the honorific.

And nothing had. She was alright. She was alive. That was all that mattered.

Her mission was to be bait, and she had been bait. Nothing more, nothing less. It was something she didn't regret.

"I know."

But it could have.

The words went by soundlessly, but Hinata felt them caressing her face as he breathed.

"I will never leave," she promised, like she had done for a while now, her fingers drowning themselves in the blackness of his mane. She had always loved the texture and length of it between her fingers; it was smooth, like silk slipping gently through her hands.

The sensation was quite addicting. She loved it.

"I will not disappear," she continued softly.

He finished dressing her burns quietly, his eyes hidden by his bangs, the strong jaw she had taken a liking to trace tense.

"You can't say that. You have no power over Death, Hinata."

His words were uttered matter-of-factly, but his burning eyes told another tale when he pinned her down with those intense obsidian orbs.

"Maybe not," she conceded in contemplation.

Sasuke looked away.

His face was instantly turned back by tiny hands, hands that could nurture, hands that could heal, hands that could love him...hands that could kill with the weakest of touches.

"But," she halted his thoughts and a half-smile adorned her lips, "I do have power over my life." The pads of her fingertips grazed his cheek. "I will never leave," she repeated firmly.

And as he watched those pale eyes of hers encased in unbelievably long and thick lashes, filled with determination and truth, he dared to believe.

He inclined his head forward until his forehead pressed against her shoulder, placing itself there for support, and exhaled inaudibly.

Hinata had to suppress the shiver caused by his breath. She was used to contact, to blows, to spars, to Kurenai's encouraging hand of approval, to Shino's subtle brushes, to Kiba messing up her hair, but not to this intimacy.

She was inexperienced in how to respond when the tip of his nose nuzzled the side of her neck.

Affection had never come easily, at least, not this kind.

The Hyuuga had always been an unapproachable clan, and she had grow up in a house of distressed wounds and uncleaned tears.

Therefore she...she wasn't used to this.

But neither was Sasuke.

The tentative and hesitant contact the two had held in the past was culminating, escalating into something altogether more intense, something stronger, something...more than what they already had.

However unsure, unsteady female palms slid down his own firm shoulders, finding a comfortable place for them to rest.

And as Sasuke played with the jagged ends of her irregular hair, some strands longer or shorter than the others, he finally spoke.

"...Keep your word, Hyuuga."

Stroking the nape of his neck, Hinata smiled and bit her lip. "Mhm."

With a single motion, he turned her face to him. A deep gaze met her own for a moment. Hinata stared back, her cheeks slowly coloring.

He leaned in and her lids blinked slowly before closing. "...Kiss me," he said.

And kiss him she did.

As Sasuke and Hinata inverted themselves in a world of their own, Inuzuka Kiba's face was busy with an unhappy frown and a twitching eye as he rolled bits of paper into small pieces and inserted them into his nostrils.

Shino casted a curious gaze at the Inuzuka ninja sitting cross-legged, a raised eyebrow barely visible under the shadow of his hood.

Sensing his covered eyes on him, Kiba huffed, the action muffled into a snorting sound.

"I swear I can smell their hormones all the way out here," he said indignantly.

...or something that ran along those lines.

His stuffed nose made his speech sound...well, stuffed.

Shino's brief smirk went unseen. "If I recall correctly – which I do, – you're entirely responsible for Sasuke-san and Hinata's relationship status, Kiba," he replied easily.

"They're not in a relationship!" he was quick to deny, puffing his cheeks out. He still couldn't accept that his baby girl was becoming a woman.

No, no, no, no!

Much less when Uchiha Icecube Sasuke was the object of her affections.

NO.

He couldn't bear it.

His baby...

His baby Hinata was all grown up.

As if knowing his thoughts, Shino the party popper and exterminator of hopes and dreams, came uninvited to crash his personal universe of illusions until there was nothing left. "Hinata is no longer a young girl, Kiba. Besides, she's a kunoichi and a member of Crimson Red."

Kiba glowered at the reminder. "Pfft! You're one to talk! Who's the one who always places a beetle with her to monitor her at all times, eh? Oh, that's right – it's you!" he accused, pointing an emphasizing finger at the Aburame.

Shino pushed his signature goggles up his nose. "That's not the point," he said unaffectedly, but unable to contradict Kiba's words. "The point is that you must now carry with the aftermath of your actions. If not for you, Sasuke-san would've never courted our teammate."

"For the last time, he is not courting her!" Kiba pouted in annoyance. There was nothing he could say to change things now, he knew that, but he sure as hell could try. Had he known Sasuke would join Crimson Red shortly after the performance of his 'prank,' he would have never in a million years proceed with it. But he'd been too immature to listen to the little voice of caution at the back of his mind that warned him of such an outcome.

He'd been nearing age thirteen at the time, and to say that his childish personality had yet to outgrow itself and develop into one of a true ninja back then was an understatement.

"He makes her happy, and vice versa," stated the heir of the clan of insects. "As her friends and comrades, it's only logical to wish for their happiness and let them be, Kiba. Besides," the corner of his lips threatened to lift into a snicker. "You were at fault. Why is that?" Shino continued, keeping the smugness out of his voice. Well, almost all of it, anyway. "Because you tricked Sasuke-san when we performed our first authentic mission as Genin. It was designed to be an undercover assignment. An assignment, may it be added, that you ruined when you decided to have 'fun' and Sasuke-san almost ran a hole through your body with his Chidori. You provoked him, and he acted. Your dishonorable actions– "

"Shut up already, I get it! I get it! You don't have to repeat it so many times, I ain't deaf," the brunet mumbled unhappily, begrudgingly admitting that Shino was right, if inwardly.

Ruby eyes watched from a little distance away in genuine amusement at the interaction between her boys. She didn't bother to add that Sasuke and Hinata had known each other before she had met Kiba or Shino; it wouldn't serve to hurt Kiba's pride or prove Shino's point, though he was right in that Hinata was no longer a child. And neither were they. They were adults, all of them.

Though their original personalities remained, they were hardened with the path of life.

Hinata was still kind, yet full of confidence in who she was.

Sasuke was still detached, yet kept his bonds with the Team.

Kiba was still loud-mouthed, yet kept quiet and analyzed the situation when it was important, cleverness brimming in wild Inuzuka eyes.

Shino was still what every Aburame was, yet expressed himself when in their company.

Each had changed in some aspects, but had not become something they were not.

Even she, herself, had changed.

She was no longer the Kurenai that had been placed as a Jonin Instructor to Team 8, the one that lived in a superficial game of a lie.

No.

Everything had changed and it had all begun with her students.

They had taught her how to be human; she had taught them how to be shinobi.

X

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5 Years Earlier

Genin Graduation Day

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It was happening again.

The world had gone mad.

The world was once again bathed in ruby scarlet, painted with macabre human blood, perfumed with the overwhelming fragrance of ultimate decay of flesh and bone.

Yuuhi Kurenai's lids twitched as she struggled to escape from the wells of a captive slumber, but her eyes remained shut, her mind disoriented as her body shook, muscles coiling and tensing under salty wet skin, her brain unable to control her unconscious actions as she dreamed. All she could think about was that...

It was happening again.

The world had gone mad indeed.

Reality had ceased to exist. Threads of solid facts had been severed and physical objects had lost their touch.

Memories of long ago were coming back to life, whispering white noise of bittersweet nonsense, wanting to share the secrets of her past with the suffocating neighboring surroundings, slowly trapping her in a spiderweb of distant abysmal dreams that had been and that were and that would be today, tomorrow...yesterday.

Her memories were battling against each other like they always did without her consent.

It was a daily poisonous dance.

Between awake and asleep, Kurenai heard herself gasp in her fight for stability, wanting to hold on to anything, everything, and nothing to aid her – save her – from herself.

So her mind sought, and her mind found.

"Don't forget," the kind but baritone voice of her father had told her when she was young, "that one day, the powerful will be overtaken by the weak."

She remembered having nodded her little pitch-black head, wavy and untamed hair bouncing as if to emphasize her understatement of her father's lesson.

He'd smiled a closed gesture of chapped lips, identical red eyes wrinkling at the sides as he ruffled the top of her head in an act of fatherly affection.

"Good. Never forget this, Kurenai. Always keep it with you, close to your heart." He had tapped his index finger on her breast and stood up from his crouched position.

"I will!" she had promised and watched him walk away as she waved from afar, wishing him luck in his mission and only ceasing to do so when he disappeared into a point far in the unreachable horizon where he couldn't hear nor see.

Her childish mind had innocently wondered when he would come back to teach her how to effectuate a successful genjutsu, something she had never excelled at like the rest of her kin. The gift of casting illusions everyone possessed in her family had failed to grace her, along with the rest of the ninja arts. Training had been thus required, and back then, as a child, training had been nothing but a superficial excuse to be with her father.

She had loved that man dearly, and she had turned her back to him that day at the gates, after the distance robbed him away to perform a mission for the benefit of the village like the loyal shinobi he was.

A mission from which he never returned.

It had never occurred to her that his last words to her had been not just a comment, but a glimpse into her future and a final blessing that had disguised itself as a push of encouragement.

A glimpse for what he knew would come and she'd been oblivious to. A disguised blessing that had been a truth dwelling in a warning.

A warning for the horrible things that would arise.

And Kurenai...had had not the slightest of clues.

Such had been her innocence.

She hadn't known then that the world was about to start dyeing itself black and scarlet red from the Third Shinobi War's chaos.

It had crossed her thoughts, but it never sank in until she saw the magnitude of pandemonium for herself.

A black nightmare no light could reach, the screams of the innocent painting the skies with blood, rain powerless in washing it away.

Get up,her current voice cut through the entrance of her memory, preventing any more of the video footage running unattended. Just the simple echo f her father's words was enough to make her center on the now and not the then.

Her eyes finally flickered open, giving way to a blurry white ceiling. Narrowing her sight, she focused and curled her fists at the lack of air residing in her lungs. Cold sweat was brimming on her brow and not even the warmth of her apartment was enough to chase away the chill that penetrated her skin and made her heart freeze.

Sitting up completely, she exhaled in an attempt to calm her pounding heart and sneaked a peek at the clock resting on her nightstand.

She had two more minutes before her alarm went off.

Glancing away as she loosened her shoulders, the Mistress of Genjutsu in all Konohagakure stood.

She had no reason to dwell in bed any longer and try to prevent the inevitable.

Today was the day...Today was the day she met with her Genin team.

Pressing a pair of pink lips together, she began the daily ritual of dressing.

She did so slowly and carefully, only hesitating when she reached a blank ceramic mask stored in the depths of her closet, along with the uniform it formed part of.

A dull gaze stared at the piece of white nontransparent glass for a long moment, and her fingers lifted to touch the Leaf tattoo inked on her right forearm, both of which linked her to a survival of deceit, and delusion, and blood, and tears, and conflicts, and pain, and lifeless eyes that pierced her own with ugly accusation, and burning hatred, and –

"That's in the past now," she repeated the same sentence she had come up with in the last month, willing herself to believe it, willing those phantoms that chased after her to forget her.

She was supposed to be another person today.

She was to be no longer Ruby Scarlet, but Yuuhi Kurenai, a 'fresh' Jonin in charge of Team 8.

As for Ruby Scarlet...

Well, that agent was just a memory needed to be buried, and average Kurenai was taking over for the next oncoming years.

Today was the day she took her first step.

That was what the Sandaime Hokage was asking of her, and as a dutiful kunoichi of the Leaf, she would do as she was ordered.

"I'm not doing this to punish you," he'd said, old kind eyes hooded but alight with wisdom. "I'm doing this for your well-being. You can't keep living like this, mission after mission, always out of the village, always undercover. If I were to allow it, I'd never be able to face your father in the world beyond. Therefore, your identity as Ruby Scarlet will be eliminated from the records from now on."

Leaving the porcelain piece where she found it, she grabbed her Jonin jacket and closed the door to her secret life as Ruby Scarlet, and opened the one that led directly to her existence of lies and illusions as Kurenai.

X

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Aburame.

Hyuuga.

Inuzuka.

Eyes the color of a spring-born rose in full bloom read the scroll in her hand, slowly scrutinizing each kanji character written in perfectly well-done calligraphy.

Names.

Clans.

Genin.

This was her new Team.

Team Eight.

Her gauze-covered fingers allowed the scroll to go back to its previous state, and she stored it away in her kunai pouch.

The wind of the fresh months of the year messed untamed dark hair in all directions, and she pushed it behind her shoulders as her eyes scanned the building in front of her.

The Ninja Academy of Konoha.

Her arched brow loosened and a swift smile appeared on her wine-colored lips.

The building brought her old memories of a good childhood.

How very naïve.

Pinpointing the angle of the sun, she stepped into the Academy, and headed to the assigned room in which her students were expecting her entrance.

She was late by twenty seconds, but that mattered little to green Genin such as them. It would be no big deal.

Iruka, one of the shinobi of her generation, was just coming out of the room when she rounded the corner. He headed in the opposite direction, and didn't take notice of her.

She watched him go silently.

She hadn't seen him in a long time.

A bittersweet smile crossed her lips. He looked different since the last time they'd met.

Time really changed the world and its people.

Of course, she was no exception.

Sliding the door open, she was received with the sound of loud chatter. Her entrance, however, was not gone unnoticed as several heads turned her way.

"Hey, isn't that a Sensei?" one of the boys murmured.

"Must be!" a girl with short brown hair said, dark eyes taking Kurenai in. "Oh, she's gorgeous~!"

"Hmph. She's nothing special," the girl sitting at her side replied, tossing her auburn hair back.

"Are you kidding? Look at her eyes; they're red, like rubies! They're so pretty!" a girl with long blond hair and light blue eyes said in awe.

"You only say that because yours are so boring," the same girl replied, her own green eyes sharp and hard.

"Please," the blonde snorted. "My eyes are beautiful. Yours are soulless."

Kurenai stopped herself from rolling her own at the vain conversation the girls had engaged in; had she lacked self-control, she would have told them to keep it quiet, but as it was, she had one purpose in this classroom, and that was to take Team 8 with her.

"Inuzuka Kiba," she said.

A tan boy with dark brown hair and a white pup on his desk looked up.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

In the far corner, embraced by the lack of light, an indigo head glanced at her slowly.

"Aburame Shino."

Covered glasses shone in her direction.

"Come."

With that, she walked out, expecting them to follow.

The new Genin stared at her back, unsure in how to proceed.

Feeling their hesitancy, Kurenai looked over her shoulder.

Remembering how a normal person acted, her lips forced themselves into a calm smile that was, hopefully, genuine-looking enough to appease them.

"A sensei expects her students to act as requested when told to do something," she commented lightly. "Come on. We have a long day ahead of us."

The first to move was the Inuzuka boy, his own crooked grin mischievous and energetic.

"Move it, guys!" he called to the rest, barely containing his enthusiasm.

He was now an official ninja and the feelings of accomplishment had yet to fade away.

"Sensei is waiting!"

X

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They didn't meet in the training grounds, as any other team ordered by the Hokage, nor did Kurenai take them out to the park near the Academy.

No. She had other plans, and those locations, often visited by others, would not do.

Not this time.

From the corner of her eye, she watched them, measured them, calculating her oncoming actions.

The Inuzuka, Kiba, looked ready to face the trial of his life, his gaze sharp, his fangs exposed in a wide smile.

Confidence.

The boy had faith, if blind, in himself and his abilities.

Eagerness.

It was in the air, giving it scent.

He couldn't wait to get to wherever it was that she was taking them, but was affected, perhaps unknowingly, by his less anxious teammates. They were the only people who were rooting him to reality.

The Hyuuga, Hinata, could not be properly defined, not really. Her head hung low, her shoulders were stiff, and her hands were fisted in front of her chest.

Kurenai centered on her and found...

Timidness.

The girl lacked what Kiba had in abundance.

Self-conscious.

For every little sound, her eyes averted to the source, as if expecting Death himself to appear before her and drag her to the pits of hell.

The Aburame, Shino, walked calmly beside his new teammates, a cool presence that seemed to put Hinata at ease, if slightly.

Stoic.

The boy was inexpressive, pocketing his hands deep into the pockets of his coat.

Silent.

He had yet to utter a single word.

...Kurenai knew each of them.

Not as much as she'd like, just what she had seen in the files.

But nonetheless, this was her Team. And as her Team, they would have to prove themselves to her first.

"So, sensei– " Kiba began, only to be interrupted.

"Kurenai."

"Huh?"

The Yuuhi titled her head back to look at him in the eyes. "My name. Kurenai. Kurenai-sensei."

She noticed the way Hinata paid close but subtle attention to the awakening conversation, could feel the sensation of observing eyes on her figure as Shino kept himself in the sidelines but made his senses aware of every little occurrence that stirred.

Potential.

Yuuhi Kurenai sensed the potential.

It was in the air, accumulating like auras in each of the students; it was growing like embers bursting to life.

And she would fan the flames.

"From now on, I will be your teacher."

Her feet stopped walking.

With the graceful turn of a dancer, her body turned to face them.

"From now on, I will groom you, I will prepare you, I will teach you, I will turn you into a shinobi."

A pause.

"Training begins now."

And with that, she disappeared.

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X

Next:

Chapter 3:

Forest Green

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"Abandoning one's comrades meets no logic."

-Aburame Shino

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A/N: I hate cliff hangers as much as you do, trust me, but things will spice up a bit in the next chapter, and SasuHina moments will also be in there.

This is an alternative universe, and things will evolve away from canon, though some things will remain exactly the same. I'm just tired of canon. We'll see where I take this story in the future.

Kurenai and her father had a different relationship from the one the anime showed, Sasuke's story will be changed a little from after the massacre, Team 8 will be the focus here, etc, etc. Honestly, I'm not fond of Team 7's interaction and dynamics, so I won't go deep into Team 7.

Thank you: OneofMillions, alee26606, tactics2012, Breezy2319, umnia, Kibachow, Darth-Taisha, Honeyee, TheMaudlinEffect, Guest, Shalei, Kia-B, nikols, SarahiNia, HolySheet, Kali Luna!

And again, please do review. You guys fill my heart. I apologize for being a bad author these past year, but it's something I have no control over. I've been writing as fast as I can and as much as I can when I have time. School is tough. I've been working little by little for the last two months in this chapter, believe me. I hate not being able to update as much as you do. I love writing, I love team 8, I love SasuHina, and I love writing for you guys. I do. Updates may not be every week, but I will not give up any of my stories. I love each and every one of them, and I will not surround them so easily.

Now, if ya don't mind, I have 46 pages of AP Bio to read for a test on Friday! I hope to hear from you all soon!

-9.10.14