101 Words
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own it's characters. I make no money with this.
Author's Note: You know what? I totally forgot to wish you all a fabulously, amazingly, awesomely wonderfull new year. So: Happy (belated) New Year! xD I hope you'll forgive me my thoughtlessness... ;)
Fire
Sasuke's face was completely blank as he watched the single drop of blood run down the edge of his kunai to gather at the tip, then drip to the floor after a moment. The small, almost inaudible sound of the impact echoed though his head like thunder.
Across the room, the single candle on his night stand wavered. For an instant, it almost seemed like the darkness would win and swallow the tiny flame, but a flame never died without a reason. It kept fighting its hopeless fight against the shadows filling the room.
He blinked, then slowly tipped his head to the side, inspected the cuts on his wrist with detached fascination.
On his pale skin, the blood looked darker – thin lines of almost black liquid reflecting the warm light of the candle flame. It burned, pain buzzing up and down his arm with every heartbeat, but it probably wouldn't kill him. He was fairly sure it would heal before he bled to death.
He sighed, the candle wavering again, and simply dropped the kunai.
That one candle was nowhere even close to being strong enough to actually lighten up the room. But Sasuke didn't want the light.
He wanted the fire.
He needed the fire, just like he needed the pain, needed to feel he was still alive. He needed to know he was still here and able to fight on.
Sasuke needed to burn, because he needed to know he was still able to be like that candle, giving off fire when his light was too weak.