Neji was so tired. His lids were heavy... The traffic and the lights and sounds around him were blurring.
'No... Wake up!'
Just a little bit longer.. Nearly home... Nearly there... Nearly home... Nearly... Nearly...
Oh god, it was snowing.
Neji liked the snow. Liked the snow when he was in bed, tucked up with a hot water bottle and an interesting, philosophical book... Not in a car... A car in which he was slowly falling unconscious.
A car horn.
Screeching.
Crashing.
The sickening thud of metal colliding with wood. Splintering.
Neji flew forwards.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
A coughing sound.
And then there was silence.
*
The sound of breathing machines. They were terrifying.
Each horrible, grated breath. Each time there was a silence, and you waited, holding your own breath, for another ragged metallic sounding breath to be heard.
Sasuke Uchiha sat next to one of his friends, who was now lying wired in to a breathing machine, nasty plastic tubes sticking to his chest. Something similar to an inhaler attached to his face. His hair fanned out on the cheap cotton sheets, which incidentally smelt strongly of disinfectant, creating a striking contrast. His face was extremely pale, on account of having lost so much blood.
An IV was sticking into a blue vein very visible now, transmitting blood when needed.
Sasuke had been more than shocked when he found out that Neji had crashed head long into a tree, obviously having skidded on the ice. That moron. He had alerted the rest of their friends, who had all come along to see if Neji's condition had stabilized. Of course they were only greeted with the sounds of that breathing machine. That terrible grating sound. Sasuke could clearly picture Shikamaru's pale shocked face, breaking out into a cold sweat. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. He was Neji's ex boyfriend. Neji had ended it. Nobody was ever quite sure why, but there had been rumors of Shikamaru always disappearing somewhere or other. Of course he would feel guilty now.
Sasuke held his breath for a moment when Neji's grating breathing paused. He exhaled again when it resumed.
He could see Neji's eyes moving behind his lids. Rapid Eye Movement.
The poor guy was dreaming. Of what, Sasuke wondered idly.
Unconsciously Sasuke couldn't help noticing just how long and thick Neji's lashes were. They were so black, such a contrast again to his very pale face.
A nurse came in shortly to change the IV.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he watched her dislodge Neji's hand from his chest.
The pale, elegant hand fell lifelessy to the floor.
Once Sasuke was sure the nurse had gone, he carefully, ever so carefully held Neji's hand in his own two, slightly larger ones, and replaced it carefully, ever so carefully back to Neji's chest.
Neji was so fine boned. Sasuke couldn't help but be scared of breaking him, like a porcelain doll his mother had once owned.
He remembered clearly how he had reached up just to look, had held it, and had stupidly dropped it. He still remembered looking at the smashed face, the beady eyes rolling around on the floor. The long thick, curly brown hair completely ruined. His mother had been so angry.
A mumble from Neji shook him from his musing.
"F... Fa..... ther... F..."
Sasuke's eyes widened partially but he quickly regained control.
Neji's father had died in some accident. Very young, only about twenty-seven he had heard.
What was it now? A sky-diving accident? No, no.
Oh yes. He had fallen in to a lake hadn't he? And he had drowned.
Sasuke inwardly recoiled. He remembered as a boy he had once fallen down a well.
To say the least, the experience has left him claustrophobic.
"P... P... Pl.. Ease."
Sasuke glanced back at Neji. His face was shiny with a cold sweat.
"Don't."
"Stop."
Neji was shaking.
Quite how he was able to move his mouth with oxygen being pumped through a tube down his throat, Sasuke didn't know.
Tears were forming at the corners of Neji's eyes.
He trembled like a flower in a strong summer's breeze might.
'He's having some sort of breakdown... A fit maybe.'
Sasuke gazed helplessly down at the quaking form.
What should he do? Shit. What should he do?!
"No... Stop... D-don't... K-kill him... S-stop."
Make him relax, make him relax.
Without thinking properly Sasuke seized Neji's hands, and rubbed soothing circles over the back of his hands.
"Shhh... Shhh..." His mother had used to do this when he had a nightmare.
"It's fine... Everything's fine.. Shhh..."
Still the tears leaked.
Shit.
"Neji... Neji... Shh. It's OK, everything is OK, nobody's going to kill him, I promise."
Neji's face seemed to contort. The expression softened up. The lashes no longer became soaked with tears. Neji's form stopped shaking. His hands stopped twitching.
He looked so... Serene. So innocent. So untouched. So utterly, beautiful.
Sasuke slowly, very slowly, bent down his head, his hair falling to hide his face.
Slowly, so slowly..
He could count every one of Neji's eyelashes by now.
Sasuke slowly cautiously removed the inhaler-like instrument. Assured, that this seemed to do Neji no harm, he slowly lowered his head.
He could count every tear clinging to Neji's lashes.
Neji's lips were soft, just like velvet. They were slightly cold, just like Sasuke imagined his mother's porcelain doll's lips might be.
*
"What the fuck are you doing, Sasuke?!" An all too familiar voice drifted through Sasuke's foggy mind.
This is a request fic =) As a general thing ^^SasuNeji is actually a blast fomr the past for me xD