Wishes, a naruto fanfic

For some reason, my dead SasuSaku muses came back to life and wouldn't leave me be until I wrote this down. It was originally supposed to be a 500 word drabble, but ended up being over 2,000 words. O.O The words just multiplied like it was bunny mating season. Written in second POV. Not edited yet, so watch out for mistakes. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Me? Own Naruto? Pffttchhhpshhhh.

Summary: To Sasuke, wishes and miracles don't exist. But after seeing Sakura so pale and bloody and practically lifeless, he wants to wish—just this once.

Wishes

You sit silently on the window ledge, contemplating. Your usual menacing countenance is replaced with blankness, but that's the last thing your mind is reflecting right now. Your mental state is in chaos; thoughts are conflicting, memories whir around fleetingly, and mixes of emotions pass through at irregular intervals.

The summer night breeze glides through the open window, gently caressing your spiked ebony hair. Your dark eyes wander mindlessly at Konoha's beautiful nocturnal view. Everything is so peaceful and carefree, and this doesn't sit well with you. Feelings of hatred and Ill-will have abided you for so long, it feels as if you were never meant for such tranquility.

Plus, there will never be peace as long she is on the brink of death.

You turn your head away from the window, glancing at her. She looks so pale, with traces of blood crusts around her face and arms. Her eyelids are closed, hiding away the pain her battered body is feeling. Jagged breaths escape her mouth. The incessant noises of hospital machines continuously beep. Bloodied bandages are wrapped all around her body. The sight of her fragile body makes you sick.

You want to hate her. You want to hate her because she was so stupid and annoying and idiotic enough to love you. Stupid enough to bear so much love for you that she wouldn't think twice to take a life-threatening blow to the chest for you. But to hate her would be impossible.

You then hate yourself for being so distracted during the A-rank mission (which, really, shouldn't have been so difficult) by the fact Naruto and Kakashi were somewhere far away (it wasn't like you were concerned for them—no, that's the last thing on your mind), and split away from you and Sakura. Well, you found out just a second later it was just you. You hate yourself for having a temporary lapse in reflexes as an enemy attempted to run a katana through you, but he got Sakura instead. After registering what happened a millisecond later, in a fit of rage you mercilessly plunge your Kusanagi right through him.

You then remember yourself clenching your teeth and turning around to glare at her, seeing blood (so much blood—oh, so much crimson blood) spill out from her chest. You become angered that she hasn't made the effort to heal herself yet. Then you realize that…she can't. She was dangerously low on chakra.

She saw the intimidating glare you directed towards her, demanding an explanation for such a careless move. And all she does is smile weakly. Before she slips into unconsciousness, she told you:

"I wanted to save you for once."

Stupid girl. Stupid, stupid girl. You could've shaken her senseless if she wasn't unconscious. It wasn't supposed to be like that! You were supposed to save her, not the other way around. The reversal of roles was such an idiotic idea. Honestly, wasn't she supposed to be smart?

Annoying girl, you think as you leap out the window to leave.

The next few days you continue to visit her at the same time every night, when no one but her is in the room and those suffocating white hospital walls don't seem so pristine and pure (and freaking mock your filthy, tainted soul—damn it!) in the pale, enveloping darkness. You don't know why you continue to visit—perhaps the reason is guilt? Whatever it is, your actions seemed so strangely routine. You figure you owe her this much, even though you'll probably never understand why she would long so much for your presence. She's close to being even more of an enigma than you, you suppose.

Each night is the same. You walk up the exterior hospital walls (because really, walking through the usual entrance and passing by people was, in Shikamaru's words, too troublesome) with your chakra concentrated precisely under the soles of your feet. For some reason, remember that sort of thing was her specialty—finely tuned chakra control. You reminisce the time when she effortlessly passed the chakra control training, and how you (though grudgingly would never admit) were pissed off by the realization that she passed it before you did—YOU, the supposed tensai of the group. But you've long since gotten over that. At least she's made good use of her talent. You'll admit she's a decent (damn good, in the small crevice at the back of your mind) medic and somewhat improved her combat skills. Hn, took her long enough.

But she did it for you.

Ignoring that thought, you open the window and climb through, taking your usual seat at the window ledge. And you just stay there, silently contemplating for maybe one, two, or even more hours. And she just sleeps quietly, with the exception of those uneven breaths, seemingly having no change in her state.

Surely she must have wakened up by now. But she hasn't yet, and you remember the medical report that irritating Hokage gave the rest of the team within the first hour of arriving at the hospital. A near fatal stab just one centimeter from her heart, major damage to at least three organs, five broken ribs, internal bleeding at the thigh, severed chakra channels resulting in dangerous blockage, and the damn report continues on and on until you refuse to listen any more. Honestly, she didn't seem so broken and battered on the battlefield, except for the seemingly endless flow of blood practically cascading from her chest area. But it appeared that she had a habit of masking her pain, especially in front of you. Hell, if she was suffering this much, she could have let you know so you'd have taken the enemies down mercilessly within seconds and drag her to the hospital before she lost like freaking half (well, seemingly to you) her blood supply.

The cool night air seeps into the open window as you simply sit and ponder. You muse over many things, over her, or Naruto, or Kakashi, over your simple genin days, over yours days in Sound, over your family, over that dreadful night, over the bastard you once proudly called your nii-san. And when it becomes too painful for you to even think, you dash out the window. The nightly habit continues on for a few days, until on the sixth day you find Naruto there.

At first, the sight of him standing by on her hospital bed startles you a bit as you look through the window from the outside. You've masked your chakra, so Naruto doesn't notice your presence. Although, knowing him, that dobe wouldn't notice even if you hadn't masked it. As you watch through the window, all you see is the dobe's back, immobile. His fists are clenched tightly beside his hips. You can't see the expression he has as he watches Sakura's fragile body, but you can imagine it's something akin to his broken, choking voice.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you." He murmurs, voice brimming with regret.

"I'm sorry I broke my promise. This'll sound selfish, but…I wished you'd wake up again, so I could continue protecting you."

He pauses momentarily, and you continue to watch the scene with suppressed lips and furrowed brows.

"We're waiting for you, Sakura-chan. I…still love you."

You don't bother to stick around anymore.

If you did, you'd hear Naruto finish.

"But the teme's waiting for you too."

It's the seventh night, and you find yourself back in her hospital room, thankfully noting the dobe's absence. His words from the night before reverberate continually through your head. You don't exactly know quite how to deal with it; frankly, it shouldn't affect you anyways. And it doesn't…really…except for the subtle sting of some unidentifiable emotion inside you.

"I…still love you."

You've always known that usuratonkatchi was in love with her since your genin days. It's hard to miss his open declarations of love practically on par—though not quite—to those of that eccentric, idiotic looking fuzzy-brows junior. And truthfully, it never bothered you before. But when the dobe spoke those words again last night, it was different from all the other times. It was infuriatingly different.

You let out an exasperated sigh, propping your right knee higher on the window ledge as your right arm rests upon it while the left limbs dangle indolently down the floor. Your eyes hazily wander the outside village, taking in the shadowy figures and buildings of Konohagakure.

Your obsidian eyes then align your vision with the infinite indigo firmament above. Thousands, perhaps millions, of stars twinkle upon the vast ebony blanket surrounding this hemisphere of the earth. Then you see it—a thin, silver streak of light traveling across the sky. It's a shooting star.

"Have you ever had a wish, Sasuke-kun?"

You scoff. "Of course not. It's all foolishness anyways."

In the corner of your eye, you see her face falter slightly. You can hear it in her voice as well. "I see. Not even when you were younger?"

"No," you answer bluntly, continuously staring straight ahead.

You can tell she's frowning, but then her pale pink lips start to tremble. Hesitantly, she asks, "Not even…for Itachi's death?"

Her inquiry elicits a glare from you. Surprisingly, she just gazes at you with quizzical eyes and a small frown, never faltering under your daunting glare. You look away before responding.

"Wishes have nothing to do with it. If I want something, I work for it. Wishful thinking is useless if there's no power on your part."

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "I suppose that's true to an extent, Sasuke-kun. But wishes aren't entirely useless." A small smile surfaces on her face, almost painfully. "But there are times when your power isn't going to change the situation. There are times when you've done all you can, and it will still never be enough. And there are times when you feel you are unable to do a single damn thing, because you simply don't have what is needed."

A fully bitter smile appears this time. "And at that point, all you can do is wish—because it doesn't hurt to try."

You are silent, watching her lime green eyes linger at the night sky and spot the stream of light soaring across it gracefully. Her eyes close briefly before fluttering open again. Both of you are silent for a few minutes (or maybe even an hour—you can't tell which) before she whispers those few words that startles you.

"I wish for your happiness, Sasuke-kun."

Your eyes are fixed on the itinerant star, never straying away until it disappears like it was never there. Wishes, hope, miracles—they were nothing but stupidity created in the minds of desperate people. It's hard to believe that there were people who actually believe in that—that she actually believes in that.

You glance back at her. The moment your eyes fall upon her figure, you wish you hadn't. She is so pale and bloody and practically lifeless. It wouldn't be hard at all to mistaken her for dead.

And there's nothing you can do about it. Despite being one of the most powerful ninja alive, you can't use any of that power to save her. Despite having unbelievable speed to bring her here to hopefully prevent her death, it wasn't enough. You can't do a single damn thing to save her—you can't do the medical jutsu that was needed. For once in your life, you are utterly helpless.

You look away and find yourself searching for that ephemeral star. And another one appears, gliding amidst the indigo abyss. You close your eyes and wish.

You don't know why, but you want to wish just this once, because it doesn't hurt to try.

As your eyelashes part just seconds after you closed them, the shooting star quickly shrivels into oblivion. Subsequently, the thoughts of your mind become muddled as you just gaze mindlessly ahead. After only Kami knows how long, you hear a sharp intake of breath.

Your eyes widen subtly as you turn around, slowly registering what's happening. Her thin crescent pink eyebrows furrow, and her pale lips curve slightly downward. Her eyelids gradually open, blinking a few times. She stares blankly at the ceiling, trying to figure out answers to the unspoken questions apparent in her eyes. She then becomes aware of her surroundings, green orbs tearing away from the ceiling and wandering all across the room. They stop when they land on you.

A smile immediately graces her countenance the moment she realizes your presence. The luster and warmth and love saturate her eyes once again.

"Sasuke-kun." She whispers happily, almost inaudibly if it weren't for your keen hearing.

You then realize both wishes came true that night.

Owari

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