As the title implies, this oneshot is somewhat inspired by What Sarah Said by Death Cab for Cutie. Initially, I was going to make a songfic around that, but those are technically banned by FFN guidelines and I'm a goody goody two-shoes (and I want to avoid getting a hit on my ass), so I wrote this instead.

Please enjoy and review, and Happy Valentine's Day.

Disclaimer: I don't own AssClass.

Aguri Yukimura was lying in the wreckage of the events of today.

If one were to only give her a passing glance, one wouldn't see the full extent of her injuries. She hid the large puncture wound very well under her clothes without even trying to. And the rubble covered some of her injuries. Someone who wasn't looking too hard would think she was just fine.

And most of the staff of that facility, indeed, were only giving her a cursory glance and running in the opposite direction of the 'monster'. They would all look for new jobs once they got home. The only person (er, tentacle creature) who had witnessed what happened and still wanted to see her now was the one known as the Reaper, or the God of Death, or Subject Number 0036, or soon to be Koro-sensei. The one who blamed himself for her tragedy.

The Reaper, now a blob of white tentacles, completely unrecognizable from the handsome man he was only a few months ago, crouched over the object of his affections. He wiped away the few tears that she allowed to escape from her eyes. He already accepted his new form, and that the tentacles would take over. That was enough. He could not handle this kind of heartbreak.

His love took his tentacle hand- carefully, as if he were the one in morbid agony. She stroked it gently with her remaining hand. And the incriminating words escaped from her lips. "I don't mind dying for you. I hope one day you'll find someone who you feel that way about."

No! If she didn't say it, he didn't have to acknowledge that it was inevitably going to happen. This was a dream. A horrible, godforsaken nightmare.

The cold-blooded assassin caressed her head with his new appendages. "No. It's you who I feel that way about!"

Her hands now began to tremble and lose their grip on him. The Reaper knew it was because of the blood loss, but tried to push that thought away. He tried to convince himself that she'd sit up in a second, laugh it off, and they'd walk out the door (or what remained of it) hand-in-hand and start a new life together.

It was foolish, he knew, but for the past few months he had this idea in his head that they might be able to escape from Yanagisawa, the guy who fancied himself the maddest of mad scientists. They would live somewhere together, quietly and away from the disaster that was this moment in time. Maybe in some thick woods somewhere. He recalled all those times she spoke of an almost uninhabited mountain nearby. They could set up a cottage there. He wanted to meet all of the beloved students he had heard so much about.

Would she let him teach a class or two? He thought so. He had enough left over knowledge from textbooks that he read causally while waiting in libraries for targets to lecture for a few hours on miscellaneous topics. Whatever this new transformation brought him, he was sure students like the ones she described wouldn't judge his appearance. Maybe some of these abilities he'd been gaining recently would wow them. Who wouldn't love a teacher who could draw octopi on your homework at Mach speed?

And of her little sister, the one she doted on, the actress… He wanted to meet her too. He imagined she'd be the maiden of honor in their wedding. He'd never seen a picture of her, but he knew much of her personality based on Aguri's descriptions. She was bubbly, sweet, and the stress of her job was really starting to take a toll on the teen's mental health. He had a vision of her joining their classroom too, to take a break from the pressure of show business. Would the infamously strict principal of the school allow that? Maybe not under normal circumstances, but the administration would surely have to make an exception this time.

They'd be the teaching duo of Class 3-E of Kunugigaoka Junior High, he and Aguri Yukimura. They'd make learning fun for their precious students. Those main building snobs would be so jealous when exams came and the End Class took all of the top spots. Then a new day would begin, class would commence, and he and Aguri would go home to their little cottage and live their simple life. No more killing and no more destruction.

But reality hit the future Koro-sensei like a freight train going at Mach speed milliseconds later. There would be no cottage in the woods. No bright-eyed students would look at him with shining faces. The schoolhouse on the mountain was not his. He wouldn't even know if Aguri's sister ever passed him on the street.

It all could have actually happened. If only he had been a few seconds faster and noticed Aguri in time to sweep her out of danger's way. Or if he had spent those years studying medical techniques rather than determining the most effective ways to kill people. Or maybe if he chose not to be an assassin at all in the first place, and he came to Japan and met her under better circumstances… There were endless choices he could have made to prevent this, but he picked none of them.

With what little strength was left in her body, she reached up to grab his head. After spending what seemed like hours gasping for air, she whispered the first and last request she ever gave him. "Yes?" He would find that he liked the sound of his new voice, but he couldn't care about that right now. It seemed to him like the whole world stopped for whatever she was about to say right now.

"With the year you have left," Her voice was staccato, interrupted by outbreaks of coughing up blood. "Please teach those children," Her eyes became duller with each word, as she slipped farther and farther away from him. "With these tentacles, I'm sure you'll become.. A fine… Teacher."

Her eyes fell shut, and the future Koro-sensei felt her breathing cease. A few seconds passed as her words rung around in his head. He would do exactly as she requested, that was certain. She gave him hope, she gave him happiness, and now she gave him a future. He'd be the best teacher those students ever had (besides his mentor), but this was what became of the most wonderful person he had ever met in his life?

Sobs wrecked his entire body, or rather the mess of tentacles that took its place. She was the best thing he ever had, and he lost her out of his own stupidity. He scrambled for a pen and notebook paper as he heard footsteps approach. He wrote a quick explanation, and fled the building as soon as the tentacles spoke to him.

As Koro-sensei succumbed to his new identity, it occurred to him that he was the only one to watch her die. He clutched the tie she gave him closer to his chest.

Aguri... I love you, and I swear I'll make you proud.