Orange Day
Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat, he would never have known any great victory.
-anonymous
"Itachi..," growled Sasuke. The "denizen" of Hell stood perfectly still. The neck of his coat was covering half his face. The story behind the pattern of his coat was an interesting one.
On an old plantation field, a red cloud gathered overhead. It was the same thing as a rain or snow cloud, though it was a faint red color. The workers kept picking cotton, ignoring the cloud. An hour later, the cloud seemed to grow in size. A sudden wind came, and it started raining. But the rain wasn't clear white, it was red, and thick like blood.
"You know, I look nothing like you, and I'm proud of that...," said Sasuke. He forced out a thin smile, his nose wrinkled. He stared at the red clouds on Itachi's kimono cape. Usually the Uchiha clothing line has a little blue fan on the back or side. It was the type of fan you could wave over a stew to cool it, which was the main infatuation of the Uchiha women. Of course the women made the clothes, so they were permitted to choose any "cute" pattern that was available to them. Sasuke wondered what woman had made Itachi's clothes.
The Uchiha boy shifted his gaze to the shiny lone kunai on is desk. It shone beautifully in the moonlight, then he gave his eyes back to Itachi. Though he was too scared to move his body that far. He couldn't even wriggle his pinkie. He was frozen.
Sasuke opened his mouth, then closed it.
Black
Black
Black
Black
Sasuke snapped out of a state of shock, and leaped towards the door, quickly grabbing the throwing knife in his hand. He tripped over a doll and went flying towards the stairs. Sasuke blocked himself from the harsh fall by his small arms, wrapped around his head.
The Uchiha boy forced himself to his feet, and stared forwards to meet the red eyes that were staring back at him. Sasuke threw the kunai as hard as his ability would allow him to the drifting shape on the wall.
After, Sasuke felt his ears ring, and his vision go white. He collapsed to the ground.
-----
Warm wind pursued its daily trail through the wind chimes. Sometimes the sound was annoying, like when it was a long day, and you wanted silence. Other days it was welcome with the breeze; it made you feel peaceful and sleepy.
Sasuke awoke. There seemed to be a leak in the roof. No...pretty boy stood up and wiped his face for some reason, shooing away that invisible fly. He looked around, and remebered he must have went to sleep on the floor. Sasuke went to his drawer and withdrew a second pair of jean-shorts and changed; he felt uncomfortable and sticky.
----
Naruto crept up to the Uchiha house. It seemed quiet; it didn't belong in a good morning like this. Naruto started to walk away, but then noticed some activity in the house and teleported to the window, leaving a hazy white mist behind him.
----
Sasuke lifted a wet cloth from the table and placed it on the wet spot on the floor.He felt embarrassed.
Under the wet spot was a box, black in color. Its hinges looked ancient. It smelled of intense incense that an old dying woman would clutter around her death-bed. Sasuke held it up to the light. It had a pretty red tint to it when put under the sunlight. He was hesitant to open it. The box was quite large, though it didn't feel like anything but dry air.
Sasuke ran up the stairs to further study it, noticing his kunai was gone. Where was his kunai? Using muscle memory, he guided himself down the stairs and to the wet spot. Ther he looked up to the wall. It made him at ease to see his kunai half-stuck into the wood wall. Black flames were coming from the end of it. Yes, black flames, not orange. Sasuke didn't dare go near them.
He ran up the stairs, sent the the box flying through the air, to hit the wall and land with a thud. There he waited for something hideous to happen. For something ugly to come out of that pretty box.
Nothing did at first, but as Sasuke crept closer, red liquid squeezed itself out of the enigmatic box. It kept coming, never stopping. He stepped even farther up to bloody carton, his hands covering his face, to protect him from the box. Sasuke ran up quickly to the box, and slipped, blood covering his face, and intruding into his mouth. Sasuke stood up and blood dripped out through his nose, he spit out the blood that was in his mouth.
-knock knock knock-
"I will kill you I will kill you I will kill you I will kill you I will kill you"
"Naruto?"
The 'cloud story' was found in a real clipping from a book.
(Thanks to understar for beta-reading.)