Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any characters FROM Naruto. Nor do I own any of their thoughts, etc. XD; All I own is this idea, because it was created in my mind at 8:27 in the morning. o-o;;

SPOILER for anyone who hasn't watched episode 109 yet or read chapter 181 of the manga.

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Contrary to common belief, even though he wore it all the time, blue was not his favorite color. Nor was it in any way a symbol of his angst-ridden childhood.

No, Uchiha Sasuke was not trying to be emo. He was trying to be a ninja.

Scratch that, he WAS a ninja. It wasn't his fault that he had ended up on the same team as the two flashiest genins in the whole group. Weren't ninjas supposed to wear dark, camouflaging...or otherwise inconspicuous colors that the situation required?

INconspicuous! Not conspicuous!

And thus, his first impressions of his teammates could be easily described as: the Lollipop and the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Long before then, Uchiha Sasuke had already given up on sweets.

So unbeknownst to his brightly dressed teammates, from the time he met them, he had immediately given up on them without a second thought. Because it seemed only natural that he should give up on people who looked like candy as well.

But aside from Sakura's flashy outfit, the color red had always had a very large role in Sasuke's life.

When he was little, the color red was the color of his brother's sharingan. Then it was the color of the jutsu he learned quickly. The jutsu his father had praised him for.

The sweets his mother would make him.

Someday, he just knew he would get a sharingan too, and then he and his brother would form a two-man/boy ninja tag-team called "Uchiha Power" that would fight evil and all sorts of other bad stuff.

Sasuke just loved the color red. It was awesome.

Until it became the color of blood.

And then, Sasuke's whole world became red. So red, he became sick of it.

Red was the color...

of the parents who had been stolen from him.

Red was the color of the flames and the rain.

Red was the color of the brother that had betrayed him, the brother that had stolen everything, the brother who had walked away without even caring, without remorse, without regret.

The brother he had loved, the brother he now hated, the brother he would one day kill.

Red was the color he had to become.

Long ago, Sasuke had already given up on sweets. Sweets were a distraction, sweets were addicting, sweets made you smile, forget the bad things, and keep coming back for more.

and more, and more.

He no longer had time for sweets. If he were to let himself indulge in sweets, he would forget.

The warmth of his mother as she hugged him, and the light smell of white lilies she always carried with her wherever she went.

The sound of his father's voice as he said, "As expected of my son," and the way the corner of his mouth had twitched up, just a little, but more than enough.

The way his brother would keep making promises he could never keep.

If he forgot, then that bright and shining place that used to be his childhood would disappear. It would be replaced. It would be gone.

He didn't want new happy memories, what he wanted was simply, a sense of close.

Sweets, could never give him that. Sweets would only hinder him, and that's why...

Sasuke walked past the four sound-nins who knelt before him.

"Let's go."

He had to get away.

Before he became addicted.