prompt: paradise — sasusaku month, anyone?
notes: wow i haven't touched this pairing in forever.
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the ships have come
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Sasuke always imagined death would be a dull, numbing kind of feeling. Never did he picture his would be excrutiatingly slow, broken body wracked with pain.
And never did he imagine Sakura would be the one to inflict this upon him. Weak, little—though not so much anymore—Sakura, who now lies battered beside him, soaking in a pool of her (and his) blood.
Four minutes.
Four minutes they have been slowly bleeding out.
Four minutes they have been dying.
(Though he could argue that he had been dying for most of his life already.)
With much effort, Sasuke tilts his head to the sky and inhales. Sharp pain in his ribs stop him short.
The sky is gray, but it does not rain. Still, the birds chirp, and the water from the nearby stream keeps running. The sun is hidden behind cages of clouds, but the day goes on.
The world does not watch them die.
Sakura stirs softly in the corner of his eye and begins to laugh through rust stained teeth. Then, a whisper:
"Hey, Sasuke."
His eyes flicker to the side again, but he does not answer. She continues.
"Remember when we fought Zabuza on the bridge?"
She doesn't wait for him to reply.
"I really thought you were going to die, y'know? I was so scared..."
Sakura pauses to cough.
"That I would never see you again. But now, you really are going to die—"
He flinches.
"—and it's all my fault."
A quiet, strangled whimper escapes her throat, and Sasuke feels something akin to an ache in his chest.
"Tell me, Sasuke, why is it.. That even though I hate you so much... I still don't want you to die?"
At this point, he isn't sure if her persistent rambling is helping his death go faster, or if she's just making it harder.
"I'll meet with you," Sakura swallows hard. "and Naruto, in heaven. And we can be Team 7 again."
Her hand drags along the darkened earth until her fingers entangle themselves gently in his. Limp and shattered, Sasuke knows he can't move, but he's not so certain if he would anyway.
Silence falls on the two before he gives a strained reply:
"I won't be going where you are."
The effort to talk is even worse than he expected, and he clenches his teeth until the waves of pain subside.
Sakura squeezes his hand, and Sasuke thinks, this is probably the closest he'll get to paradise.
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"Sasuke?"