A/N: This is the only time an author's note will be at the beginning of the story, instead of at the end.

The following one-shots are my contributions to SasuSaku month, which is the month of July. I'll be following the prompts given by the SasuSakuMonth tumblr page. I am to complete as many of the prompts as possible, but we'll see how far I get. I encourage you all to check out the blog, and everyone's submissions!

(Quote in summary is from the song Butterflies by Sia. It's a beautiful song, I recommend checking that out as well.)

A Chance

She wasn't supposed to get hurt.

She was never supposed to get hurt.

But it happened, and he'd been too slow to stop it from happening.

It was just a normal B-rank mission; nothing too difficult. They were almost done, too. The only thing they had left to do was deliver the scroll they'd reclaimed from the thieves and return it to its owner. Some group of monks who lived on the edge of Fire Country were the ones who kept it safe and secure in their temple. It'd been stolen a few weeks before and they desperately needed it back.

Getting the scroll back hadn't been the problem. The crooks were sloppy and hardly seemed as if they knew what they were doing; as soon as they realized they were being ambushed by ninja, they all started running around like a room full of startled cats.

The problem had occurred on their way to the temple. They knew immediately that they were being followed, but they—no, he—underestimated them.

Stupid stupid stupid.

He didn't know they'd had an archer with them; a skilled one. Before he'd even turned around to deflect the incoming projectile, which he'd thought was simply another kunai, the arrow had already shot past him, missing the tip of his nose by centimeters.

Sasuke had never seen a weapon fly so fast.

He couldn't rid the sight of it from his mind. It pierced through her chest so cleanly that he wasn't even sure he was seeing things correctly. As she blinked a few times, she met his eyes, her mouth hanging open in shock, before she fell from the treetops a trail of blood following behind.

As Naruto shot down with her, catching her before she hit the ground, Sasuke saw nothing but red. The pair of crooks that had been pursuing them were dead before the archers arrow had even hit the ground.

They were more than an hour away from Konoha, and the only one of them who knew any sort of medical ninjutsu was lying in the arms of his best friend, bleeding all over the place. They immediately took off for the Leaf village, running as fast as their legs count take them. But when Sakura choked on her own blood, weakly spitting a mouthful of it onto Naruto's chest, Sasuke almost lost it.

He could almost still hear himself screaming.

"Sakura! Damnit Sakura, stay with us! Stay with me now! Sakura!"

He'd been staring at the clock for what felt like days now, although truthfully it had only been a couple of hours. The only noise in the hall besides the clock's steady ticking was the low hum of voices coming from other rooms.

"She's not in any immediate danger," Tsunade had told him and Naruto a few hours before. "but we won't really know how serious it is until after she regains consciousness."

"When the hell will that be?" Naruto had demanded to know. Sasuke could hardly keep his eyes off of the man standing beside him. His clothing was soaked with Sakura's blood.

"Could be days. Weeks. I'm sorry Naruto, but all we can do now is wait."

After she left, Naruto had sworn some more, kicking over a trashcan in his frustrated fit. The man had only left Sasuke's side a few minutes before; as she passed by them in the hallway, a concerned Shizune had handed Naruto a pair of scrubs and directed him toward the nearest bathroom in order to clean up.

Sasuke had been secretly grateful. He just didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stomach the sight and smell of her blood.

He almost jumped when the door to Sakura's room opened back up. He frowned to himself; he hadn't realized anyone had even been in there.

A nurse he didn't recognize smiled at him before informing him that he could see her if he liked. Before she was finished talking he'd already walked past her and into the room, not saying a single word to the young woman.

He didn't know how long he stood there, staring down at her in shock before he finally moved to sit in the chair beside her.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rid the fear from his mind. He couldn't lose her, not now.

Only a few days before, he'd finally asked her on a date. They hadn't even made plans for it though, since hours later they were assigned their mission.

Staring at her body, he found himself frozen in fear. She looked so pale it terrified him.

With a tentative hand, he reached out, brushing the tips of his fingers against the top of her hand. He frowned; it was cool to the touch.

Hand still shaking, he ever-so-gently wrapped his hand around hers, holding it tightly in his grasp.

She was so strong, yet so fragile. Her life currently laid in the balance as he simply sat by and waited for some sign of life out of her. Some sign that she'd be okay. God, he couldn't wait to hear her voice again.

As he watched the steady rise and fall of her chest, he tightened his grip on her hand slightly, before closing his eyes and leaning his head against the edge of her bed.

The clock eventually began to soothe his tension, lulling him into a calm state, tempting his tired body with the possibility of sleep. Before he allowed his mind to slip into unconsciousness he made a promise to himself that even his exhausted mind would never forget.

He vowed to never let her go.