As a brief warning, this chapter may be OOC, as the character was chosen deliberately to be a challenge, and is one I'm not particularly familiar with.

Chapter Title: Kurenai Appraises

Before asking a man out on a date, a woman likes to be sure that their potential lover (husband/father) is worth the effort. Therefore, they appraise and assess the man in question to judge his various qualities (marriage prospects). When it came to Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai had not bothered to assess. Their affair was all about passion and lust (unspoken love), not about a future life (inevitable death).

Now however, Kurenai is pregnant, and her lover is dead. By shinobi standards, unless she retires, Kurenai's own time is nearly through, and her unborn child will grow up an orphan. This prospect leaves Kurenai afraid; this is not the life what she wants for her child. She must move quickly, and suddenly the men in her life are strangely significant, and their merits (paternal instincts) even more so.

The man that Kurenai decided to set her sights on, was Umino Iruka.

There were several reasons for this. Iruka-san was a chuunin for starters, even better he was a teacher and a desk-nin. This meant that Iruka-san was extremely unlikely to be sent on a mission, leaving next to no chance of her child being left alone (of him leaving, of him dying)and an almost equal chance of him being around long enough to help her child become a strong, adult shinobi. It also meant Iruka-san had a stable job, a routine to his life that she knew was important for any child's upbringing, especially as Kureani, a Jounin, would be expected to leave the village at short notice, without complaint, maybe for weeks at a time.

Moreover, Iruka-san's paternal instincts went without saying, as an academy teacher he was used to, even expert at, relating to (dealing with) young children every day. It also meant that there was no doubt that Iruka-san would do what was best for her child; if his relationship with the Kyubbi vessel meant anything, it meant that Iruka-san would love her child unconditionally, whether or not it was his.

Iruka-san was also the kind of man who would have no problems with having an open relationship with her (as opposed to a shameful silence, which was none the less thrilling), and who would easily give her child the affection and love it needed (unlike her, unlike Asuma).

It wouldn't matter that she preferred older (if more immature) men. It wouldn't matter that she preferred hair that was just long enough to run her hands through, that the rough, unshaven look appealed more to her senses than a clean-shaven face, or that the smell of smoke was oddly comforting to her, despite her complaints, because her child would be safe and happy. So it wouldn't matter that... Iruka-san wasn't the man she was so in love with.

So when she asked Iruka-san out to dinner, and when he gave her a sad smile and politely declined , Kurenai was devastated. She felt even more alone and unsure and afraid, because in her mind, Iruka-san was her last chance to give her baby, Asuma's baby, the stable and loving life she wanted it to have.

But Iruka-san somehow saw through her defences and understood what she was skilled at hiding (even from herself), took her home and made her tea (domesticity she both craved and shied from), sat her on his sofa and explained her feelings; her feelings. How this chuunin, this stay-at-home shinobi, managed to see and understand her, a master of genjutsu and deception, was beyond Kurenai's comprehension. The fact that you didn't have to be a particularly skilled shinobi to read and understand a person's humanity did not tally with her beliefs.

Iruka-san explained to her that they didn't have to be dating for her to come and talk to him whenever she wanted, that she didn't have to be alone if she didn't want to be, promised her that he would be more than willing to be a surrogate relative for her child, that all she had to do was ask for his help...

She was so desperately relieved, grateful and... shaken at the kindness Iruka showed her, that, for the first time since her lover and best friend had died... she broke down. And, as Iruka promised, he was... there.

Kurenai would never forget.

As I mentioned at the start, I chose Kurenai to give me a challenge; I'm running low on inspiration at the moment, so by forcing myself to really think about what I was writing I hope to unblock the creative flow as it were However, I don't feel like I achieved the standards I set myself with this one, so I apologise if you feel the same. On a more cheerful note, many thanks to ZeldaFitz, P'tfami, Fhulhi the crazy, angelica, Ame Mika'zuki and Unknown Marauder, as well as those who continue to add me to alert/favourite lists. Your support really means the world to me!