Disclaimer: Manga doesn't have time for this angle of it. Aren't you glad I don't own it?

In Red

Kyuubi Tenshi

Red always did look good on her. But… it never looked good on him. Even now, her blood stained his hands, and fogging, pale and lifeless beryl eyes looked up at him, pained, crying.

"I loved you always…"

And he just watched her, dying.

"I waited."

He hadn't.

"You could've come back."

He hadn't wanted to.

Tears streaked down her ashen cheeks, and to his surprise, there was a bittersweet smile for him. Her lips, once beautiful and colorful and enticing, were pale and blue beneath the rain and cold, blood falling away from them. A nostalgic smile, a bitter one, a loving one.

"Go back."

He didn't respond. Because he couldn't return.

"They'll understand."

He wouldn't have. He was killing the only woman in his life with no second thoughts at all.

"You won't complete your other goal."

If he didn't marry, he knew. She was right. She was, as always, right. He knelt down next to her, raven locks framing his face splattered with rain and blood.

Her blood. She always had looked good in red.

"Sasuke-kun, a simple wish?"

He listened. To the woman who had made him care, he would grant almost anything. To the woman who had made him fear, he would grant a dying wish.

"One… a kiss…"

He smirked. Something so simple, when he had expected her to ask him to do something that would move heaven and earth. He leaned over, and pressed his warm lips to her cold ones for a brief instant, and in that instant, he felt a touch, and fell into a sleep.


She had not died. The kiss had been a lure. In that brief moment that she'd had, she had poisoned him, paralyzing him. Even now in his hospital room, he was surrounded by members of ANBU. She came in every two hours and gave him a mixture to rid his body of the other potion.

"They can't wait to see you."

That's what she always said.

"Naruto won't leave the hospital. He's waiting for you."

She always said that, too.

"Sasuke-kun…" -and she would lean in next to his ear- "I really do love you…"

And then she would kiss him. Small, light, butterfly- shadow-like kisses, on his forehead, his temple, the corner of his eye. And sometimes she would trace his cheek, sometimes, his lips; but always, he could see her eyes, and there was nothing but proof there of what she said.

And when he did finally get out of the hospital, it was as though things went back to normal. Team Kakashi was reunited, and though he and Naruto were still only "officially" genin, they were frequently sent on missions with those of higher rank. They were one again, as they had been.

"Sakura, marry me."

It was all he had said, and had been more command than query, but she accepted. It was a loveless marriage, but she would never complain.

"I'm pregnant."

The first time she said that, he had looked surprised. She had smiled at him softly, and pressed a familiar, chaste kiss to his cheek.

"Your dream is coming true."

And he hadn't responded, because he hadn't known what to say. When their son was born, he had stared in awe as the tiny hand wrapped around his. His eyes were jade, just like his mothers, and his onyx tresses faded to a familiar pink at the edges.

"Congratulations, Daddy."

That's what she'd said, her eyes watching the babe in his arms.

"Name him."

That's what she'd insisted when he first managed to look up at her in those moments. Her hair glistened, soaked from sweat, and a tired but playful smile graced her features. And he had. One day, those eyes would be red.

And he, looking so much like his mother, would surely look good in red.


AN: I love this writing style. And I sincerely wish I could pull it off more often. (sigh) REVIEW, minna-chama!