This is probably about my 10 billionth attempt at writing this story, but perfection takes time, I guess! Even though this is far from it... Anyway, I feel like I've had a bit of a Naruto relapse lately and this, apparently, is the product of it. I hope you enjoy!

~ Sara

Do you know why roses are red? Or why they have thorns as dangerous as a knife? Legend has it that Cupid, the son of Venus, shot an arrow into a bed of roses when he was stung by a bee. The sting of the arrow caused the roses to grow thorns, and when Venus walked through the bed, she was pricked and poked by the thorns. The drops of her blood were what turned the white petals red.

That's what you are. You are turned dangerous by the sting of other's actions; turned dark by the shedding of other's blood. You are beautiful and vicious. Enticing and repellent. Soft and rough. Caring and unkind.

You are a crimson beast. A red rose.

"Where are they already?" The boy threw back his head in anguish as he moaned, tired of waiting any longer for the expected company. His unnaturally red locks slipped from his face and hung behind him, as his luminous green eyes were half-closed in boredom. The colour of his eyes matched the sleeveless shirt he was wearing, which hung casually over his black trousers until reaching his hips. The trousers stopped below his knees, not quite reaching the same colour ninja shoes he wore. Like all ninjas, he had a shuriken bag on his right thigh, and a forehead protector ironically tied loosely around his neck. He was tall and lanky, with only a little muscle.

"Be patient, Kenta. We obviously arrived early." The other boy leaned against a tree casually, trying to massage away the headache he was getting from the red-head. He, himself was of average height and build for a boy his age, with raven-black hair and an identically coloured long-sleeved shirt that's collar reached just under his chin. His trousers were dark green, which matched his narrow eyes, and he wore his village symbol around his head.

"We did not arrive early. They are late." The girl of the trio stood at the edge of the forest, looking outwards nonchalantly in search for the delayed party they were waiting for. "See, Hiroki." Kenta stuck out his tongue childishly at the raven-haired one, who gave an annoyed sigh in response.

The girl was the shortest of the three, with snow-white hair that reached her shoulders and idle eyes the colour of blood. She wore a pure white kimono that travelled down to just above her knees. It had long, flared sleeves, and splits down the sides, which showed off her black fabric-covered thighs. It was open at the top and tied around her waist, showing that she was wearing a black shirt underneath. An abundance of red roses travelled up the kimono, spacing out as they got further upwards. Her outfit was very colour coordinated to her appearance, as all of them seemed to be. She, too, wore her headband around her forehead and black ninja shoes.

"Maybe we should just-" "That is not our mission." The red-eyed girl cut Hiroki short with her robotic voice. Her white hair blew in front of her face as she stared out, patiently waiting and watching. Her eyes flickered behind her for a moment as she sensed something moving in the trees. She turned around without expression, gazing up at the group that were comfortably perched on a branch.

"Sorry we're late, kids. Had some urgent business to tend to." Zaku drawled with a snicker, not really sorry at all. It was this kind of attitude that Zaku often used to rile the others up. Well, not so much the others as Kenta. Hiroki and Atome were more mature than that, and knew when people were being idiotic and not to interfere with those matters. Kenta, on the other hand, didn't take to Zaku's antics well.

"Yeah, right! You just wanted to make us wait, didn't you?" The red-head growled angrily up at him, his cheeks flustered, and his raised hands balled into fists.

"Enough. We are here, now let's go." Dosu stood from his seated position on the edge of the branch. He was a lot like Hiroki and Atome in the respect that he had neither the time nor the sanity to bare Zaku and Kenta. He was the first to take off, followed by Rin and Hiroki. When neither Zaku nor Kenta stood down from their glaring, Atome barked Kenta's name. The boy looked away moodily and followed the others. A cocky grin soon turned into a frown as Zaku's eyes met Atome's disapproving ones, and he soon moved after the others.

Jumping through the trees for the time that they were was difficult with the tension between Kenta and Zaku still in the air. Rin and Hiroki kept them separated, while Dosu lead the group, and Atome stayed quietly at the rear. Unlike the rest of them, she preferred silence. It meant that she didn't have to listen to the voices of others, and she didn't have to have any opinions or thoughts. She focused solely on her surroundings and nothing else. She wasn't allowed.

"How long until we get to this stupid village?" Kenta demanded like an irritated child. To Atome, it seemed like the boy was stupid. She could see the village from where they were, and somehow he couldn't? She didn't understand how people like him made it this far, to be honest.

"It's right there, dummy, can't you see that huge red gate?" Zaku stated matter-of-factly, a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. He was disappointed to see that Kenta didn't react to his words, but instead looked up in awe at the enterance that shadowed all of them.

"We're here." Dosu stated as the gates slowly opened. "So…" He continued. "This is the village hidden in the leaves."

"I can't believe the boss wants us to do this all for the sake of some plan!" The boy in green was promptly elbowed in the stomach by the shorter male of the team. "Will you shut up, Kenta!" He whispered angrily through his teeth, getting the boy in a headlock after he doubled over in pain.

Atome turned away from the two of them to face the leader of the other team. "Dosu, I think it best that we part ways for now. Remember to keep a low cover and keep your idiot out of trouble." She said with a glance to Zaku, who folded his arms in response.

"The same goes for you, girl." He spoke in his usual croaky voice. "Good luck." With that, the three disappeared, leaving Atome and her strifing teammates alone.

She did not interrupt, but instead took the time to analyse her surroundings. They were on a wide path, surrounded by fences and trees. Buildings and balconies were evident through the leaves, which suggested a town centre not too far away from where they were. The Hokage Mountain was in clear sight, too. There was a smell of ramen and agriculture in the air, and not a cloud in view. She didn't care much for scenery, but it was always important to gather intel on unfamiliar places. Although, she had that sorted already.

"Do you guys smell that?" It seemed the boys had finished fighting, and Kenta was looking around like a meerkat, with drool falling from his wide grin. "Smells like ramen!"

The boy took off so fast that even Atome was taken by surprise. Hiroki groaned and joined Atome, looking off into the direction their friend ran. "Great. Now he's going to get into trouble." He shook his head in aggravation. "We'll find him." Without warning, Atome took off into a calm stride, following the foolish boy, with Hiroki soon in tow.

As Kenta rounded a sharp corner, his body collided with another's, sending both of them crashing to the floor. "Hey, watch where you're going!" He shouted angrily. Kenta looked up to find the other person already standing. The glare of the sun made it hard to focus, but his voice was young and childish, so he couldn't have been much older than Kenta himself.

"Watch where I'm going? Watch where you're going! You're the one who hit me!" As Kenta stood, the boy's face became visible. He was short and wore an orange tracksuit. He had blonde hair and whiskers on his face that made him seem like even more of a child.

"What's going on here?" A girl with pink hair demanded as she approached. Her arms were crossed in an irritated manner, almost like a mother ready to scold her children. She was accompanied by a seemingly uninterested guy, who had his hands buried in his pockets. "I'm sorry if Naruto is annoying you, he does that a lot." She smiled.

"What! Sakura, he ran into me!" The girl seemed to pay no attention to the blonde as he complained, continuing to smile as Kenta raised a red eyebrow.

"What are you guys supposed to be? You on kindergarten field trip, or what?" Kenta frowned. Not only were two of them annoying as hell, but the fact that the other seemed like he thought he was better than everyone else annoyed him even more. Besides, Kenta was too irritated to be the bigger man at this point.

The boy with black hair groaned and gave him a tired sideways look. "Get lost, idiot, we don't have time for this."

Kenta was outraged. He wouldn't let some stuck-up asshat like this guy talk to him like that. Grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt, Kenta pulled the boy's face closer to his with a glare. "What did you call me?" He spat.

"Get your hands off Sasuke!" Sakura wailed in the background, as the boy, Sasuke, smirked and repeated himself. This riled Kenta up even more; he just wanted to punch that cocky little smirk off his face. He raised his fist and flung it forward.

Sasuke was taken by surprise as he was ready to dodge the punch, but found he didn't have to. In a flurry, Kenta's fist was directed away and he was kicked in the stomach, making him stumble backwards. He was caught by his black-haired comrade, as the white-haired one that had knocked him backwards stood straight in front of Sasuke and brushed herself off while glaring at Kenta.

The colour in the red-head's face immediately washed out as his eyes met Atome's crimson ones. She turned her gaze away from him and met Sasuke's shocked ones. It seemed he was quite taken back by the events that had just occurred. "I'm sorry about Kenta. We struggle to keep him on a leash sometimes." Kenta's cheeks flushed red as he stood and he averted his gaze to the floor in embarrassment. He hated being treated like a troublesome pet.

Atome joined her teammates while still looking at the other trio with a forced smile but no emotion in her eyes. All of them were too shocked to give any type of response, which Atome found amusing.

"What is your name?" She dropped her smile and heightened her chin in interest, looking the boy in blue up and down. As she spoke, the blonde boy on the end seemed to deflate. "Why doesn't anyone want to know my name?" He muttered to himself, which brought no interest from Atome, and only made the others think of him as strange and idiotic.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He stated proudly. "And yours?"

"Atome Himura."

With a glance to the other two by Sasuke's side, Atome nodded her goodbye before taking off, shortly followed by her comrades.

She was so fast, he thought to himself. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

"So that's the Uchiha boy." Hiroki reminisced with a smirk. "Interesting. He's much shorter than I imagined. But, I suppose, he is younger." He stroked his chin in thought.

"Who cares, Hiroki? Can we just get to our hotel so we can sleep?" Kenta moaned. He always got grouchy when he was tired, and he always got tired when he was full. After a bowl of Ramen to satisfy his request, he quickly found something else to complain about.

"We're almost there." Hiroki sighed with a yawn, actually quite tired himself. Atome walked silently in front, having no opinion to inject in the conversation. She didn't get tired, or hungry for that matter, so she stayed out of the interaction, and instead thought of tomorrow's events.

The trio reached the hotel shortly, passing a mysterious looking group on the way, but not paying them the attention they obviously wanted. Kenta was snoring the moment his head hit the pillow, and Hiroki bid Atome a short goodnight as she perched herself on the couch, and sat there until morning.

"They're here." Atome followed Hiroki's gaze as he spoke, watching the rookies that they had met earlier walk through the door. The contents of the room were obviously not what they were expecting, based on the surprise evident on their faces.

Kenta, Atome and Hiroki watched from their hidden position in the crowd as the group of rookies at the door extended, and they started making a scene, bickering like the children that they were.

They were all silenced as somebody approached them, and Atome smirked as she laid her crimson eyes on who it was. "Kabuto."

"He's showing them those stupid cards." Hiroki stated, as if Atome didn't know already. She had been watching the whole scene in detail. Her expression didn't change as she heard her name leave the lips of the Uchiha boy.

"His name is Gaara of the desert. And Rock Lee of the Leaf and Atome Himura of the Sound, while you're at it." He said. He wanted information on her, how interesting. She watched his features for her impression as Kabuto described her to him. "Atome Himura of the Sound village. You picked an interesting one here, kid. Not much is known about her other than she is a year younger than all of you, and two years younger than her teammates, Kenta and Hiroki. It seemed she graduated as a Genin earlier than most her age, so became part of their team." Atome scoffed at the false information.

That was the profile her master had made up for her to make sure that she is kept safe. Nothing more. It was true that she was younger than them, but she was no rookie. She didn't even go to an academy as a child. She was trained by her master, as her teammates were too.

Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is greatly encouraged if you have any feedback!

~ Sara