By Dan

"How the hell did you get here so fast...?", Crimson asked his former teacher, "...I could've sworn I lost you all the way back at the precinct..."

"Not likely. I had time to fix a sandwich for both of us while I was waiting for you...", Guy said, keeping the sardonic grin on his face while motioning toward Crimson's small coffee table. Crimson sighed and muttered something under his breath.

"Well, fine. You've got me here now, so what made you come all the way to my house?", Crimson asked Guy. The Bushin master's smile wore away quickly as he became serious once more.

"You think my first priority was to come all the way here from overseas was to bury the hatchet with you? You think too highly of yourself, Marcus...", was Guy's cold reply. Crimson cocked his head, nodding.

"So what the hell are you here for? Your health?", the Bushin student said with a nasty tone. Guy shook his head.

"Unlike you, I have duties and responsibilities as a Bushin that I must attend to. That, is why I'm here...", the Bushin master said, with a hint of anger in his voice as well. Crimson ran a hand past his cornrows and scratched the back of his neck idly.

"So that's it? Why'd you come here, then?", Crimson asked. Guy got up from the couch and walked towards Crimson. Standing a body's length away from his former student, the older Bushin Ninja looked Crimson dead in the face as he responded.

"To say I don't want to ease the tension between us would be a blatant lie...", Guy started. "...So what I've came here to ask is that can there be basis for common ground with you and I, Marcus..."

"What are you saying?", Crimson asked his ex-teacher and mentor with a questioning raised eyebrow.

"I want for there to be a truce between us...", Guy replied. Crimson was taken back. It was uncanny for Guy to ever to go back on anything that seemed to be set in stone, for he said whatever path he chose when a decision was made was final, for a Bushin's path can only be one road, and never two. Crimson wanted to look further into why Guy would do this, for he was sure there was a motive somewhere.

"Why would you want a truce between us?", Crimson asked Guy with a hardened look. "...You said back then that it didn't matter if we were a team or not... Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I was wrong to say that...", Guy simply said. "...But the truth was that you weren't doing your best as a student of Bushin. I had said it didn't matter if we were a team or not because you weren't applying yourself."

"Aw, man...", Crimson muttered. Guy acted as if he didn't remember one of the reasons why Crimson chose to secede from his teacher's instruction.

"You know there's another reason why I left, Guy. Why would you want to act so oblivious to the truth...?", Crimson said, raising his voice. Guy stayed stoically calm, however.

"Because the only truth was that you weren't ready to handle the responsibility of Bushin, that's why... Marcus.", he replied. Crimson could've knocked Guy down right then and there.

"That's a load of crap Guy, and you know it!", Crimson exclaimed. "...That man died, and you did nothing about it..."

"He was a soldier for Bison. He would've died anyway...", Guy replied. Crimson shook his head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Guy, justifying murder? It was unthinkable.

"Yeah, but you're the one who put applied that pressure-point thing to him... You could've gotten the information from another one of the soldiers...", Crimson said with a accusing finger pointed at Guy.

"...You didn't have to kill that man! His life wasn't in your hands!"

"Does it matter in that respect?", Guy asked, somewhat beginning to show some emotion of his own.

"...You're right that his life wasn't in my hands. It was in Bison's. He sold his soul over to that unholy evil when he decided to throw whatever life he had beforehand in the garbage, Crimson. Recognize that. Had I left him alive and standing *after* he and his men attacked us, he could've easily told Bison about how we infiltrated the underground base and then we would put *our* lives in his hands. Which I'm sure he would've had no problem in deciding what could've been our fate..."

"..."

Crimson was speechless. He didn't think about it that way. As a Bushin, Guy stressed that decisions would forever alter your life when you became Bushin, and that the mental stress that it could cause could easily overwhelm a young student such as Crimson. Could it have been that the guilt Crimson had in his mind from killing that guard was in truth Guy's?

*****

(Flashback - Five Months Ago...)

"This seems wrong...", Guy said more to himself than his student who was walking quietly in the semi-dark corridor of an underground weapons base. Guy nor Crimson had encountered any soldiers or any one of the Grand Masters of Shadaloo since they had secretly been able to break into the seemingly impenetrable base.

After two months of planning and studying the ins and outs of the interior and exterior workings of the surrounding area and base they had succeeded. And now, Guy could almost smell an ambush waiting to happen, but he couldn't exactly sense when and where it would happen. But one thing was for certain, it would involve both he and his young student Crimson. However, Crimson couldn't yet feel the looming sense of danger and was curious as to why Guy seemed so ominous.

"What's up, Guy? Something I should know?", Crimson asked, as the two continued their investigation. Passing by a strobe light, Guy looked at it for a moment, and Crimson stopped in his tracks as well.

"Nothing. Just make sure you keep your eyes peeled, that's all...", Guy replied coolly. Crimson nodded. Taking a long look once more at the strobe light (which resembled those of a police vehicle's), the Bushin master continued down the seemingly endless corridor. Guy's suspicion (or paranoia) had proved to be right. The strobe light had a hidden camera that could pick up voices as well...

=====

The lead soldier of Bison's underground base, whose code named was "Briggs", contacted the Shadaloo lord inside the main control room immediately after picking up two unidentified persons inside the corridor. As Briggs knew, Bison wouldn't be happy hearing the news. Watching the monitor before him, Briggs was greeted with unnerving scowl of Bison's face on the screen.

"How did those two find the base?", Bison asked angrily. Briggs saluted, then shrugged.

"I... don't know, sir... Perhaps they captured and interrogated one of the other soldiers...?"

"Of course they did!", Bison roared. "Make sure they are eradicated! Or else someone inside that base will feel my wrath..."

The monitor turned off automatically. Briggs nodded scornfully at the monitor. Pressing various buttons next to the monitor's screen, Briggs waited for the silent signals to disperse through the base. In about five minutes, several doors inside the master control room opened from eight sides, and four to five soldiers wearing green or black outfits similar to Rolento came through the entrances to the main control room. All saluted Briggs as he spoke.

"Listen, men.... We have a crisis here... It has been revealed that two unidentified persons who are a threat to our lord and master have entered this base. What we'll need to do is disperse of them as quickly as possible. By any means necessary...", Briggs said coldly.

All the soldiers replied "Yes, sir!", and left through the same entrances they came in from. Briggs took a quintet of soldiers as well as he left through the main entrance. Talking through a two-way headset, Briggs asked the other groups of soldiers what the two intruder's E.T.A. (Estimated Time of Arrival) was until they confronted a set of the Shadaloo soldiers.

"15 minutes..."

"12 minutes..."

"7 minutes..."

"8 minutes, 35 seconds..."

"Group 3, make sure those two people do not get out alive...", Briggs replied. "...And if you take them in alive, bring them to me..."

"We understand. Over..."

=====

Guy's eyes opened. Sometimes he to walk with his eyes closed for a short distance to use his other senses better, namely his hearing, anit worked. Something definitely was coming. Even Crimson felt it.

"Damn... I've got a chill, Guy... What the heck is in here...?", Crimson asked. Guy motioned to his lips to keep it down. Crimson followed suit.

"", Crimson whispered.

"<...I don't know... But look, a corner is coming up... Be prepared for what is past it...>", Guy whispered back. Crimson looked ahead to the corner that intercepted the current corridor they were walking toward. What could be past it? Danger? Something far worse?

(End Part I of Flashback)

*****

"You're still in need of guidance, Crimson... You know that.", Guy said plainly. Crimson sighed. He used to hate when Guy would get straight to the point, and now was one of those times.

"Yeah, but another thing I'm not in need of, is to associate myself with someone who can kill and not even feel guilty about it, either...", Crimson shot back at Guy. Guy rolled his eyes.

"I could've sworn by Bushinryuu that we went through this already...", Guy said tiredly. The two Bushin Ninjas had been arguing for the better part of two hours now...

*****

(Begin Part II of Flashback)

Whatever was past that corner, Crimson tried his hardest to ready himself. The corridor they were walking down ended at that corner and turned in that direction. So far, the Bushin duo hadn't even seen doors in the entire corridor they were in at the time. At about 100 feet, Guy tensed up.

"Get ready for anything, Crimson...", Guy replied, looking at his student. Crimson looked at Guy and nodded. Taking slow, deliberate steps toward the right-turn of the corner, the Bushin master and student prepared for the worse... Placing their backs to the wall, Guy peeped past the corner partially and saw nothing.

Motioning with his head, Guy told Crimson it was safe. Stepping out into the corridor, Crimson's eyes went wide and so did Guy's. For what was once an empty corridor, was now ten-deep with Shadaloo's soldiers.

"How did they...?", Crimson asked silently. As if on cue, the leader (none other than Briggs), spoke up.

"State-of-the-art human cloaking device, sent down to us by Lord Bison himself. Looks as if we've got some intruders, men...", Briggs replied with an evil grin. Then, with all ten soldiers going invisible once more, the battle began...

(End Part II of Flashback)

*****

"You know what I *do* want from you, though...?", Crimson asked Guy.

"What would that be? If it's an apology, I'd hate to disappoint you by not giving one, for I won't.", Guy answered.

"Nope, it's not that, O' Bushin master...", Crimson replied.

"Then what is it, Marcus. Put aside all these words and just flat-out tell me.", Guy responded.

"Alright... It's simple. I want you to admit you do feel guilt over letting that man die...", Crimson replied, crossing his arms on his chest. Guy rose an inquisitive eyebrow.

"How do you know I won't just stand here and lie to you in the face?", Guy asked.

"I don't...", Crimson challenged. "...But I do know the Guy I know- or knew, doesn't mince words. Or the truth."

Guy nodded. "Hm. So what are you willing to do to wait for me to actually say that I felt guilt towards letting that man die...?"

"I'll rejoin you on your crusade... I'll follow rules, whatever is necessary of me as a Bushin student under *your* orders...", Crimson replied, looking his former teacher straight in the eyes.

Guy looked to the sky (or the ceiling, anyway), then stared hard into the brown-skinned face of Crimson. The simple truth was, he didn't have any guilt whatsoever about letting that soldier die, but the fact was he did not want Crimson to hold a lasting grudge on him. For a simple grudge untreated could turn to anger, which itself could morph into rage, and Guy had seen what the effects of a grudge could do to a Bushin.

The name Shimazura Koushin came to mind, but that's another story... Could Guy lie to Crimson, and in turn, form a truce between the two? Or would his morality prevail? He could only choose one, and like his Master Zeku told him, similar to the Bushin masters before him said as well...

"The decisions a Bushin must make will impact him and those around him forever. It will be up to him to decide what path to take, for there can be only one true path a Bushin Ninja will follow..."