AN: So I don't know where this came from. Really, I don't have a clue. I found it on my file-of-forgotten-plot-bunnies half finished and felt like it was about time I wrote the ending. And then I got carried away and now we have something halfway decent. Just a heads up, I don't really do romances. Honestly, I find them too cheesy. But this wouldn't go any other way so...try to keep an open mind?

WARNING: I wrote this on a different computer that has a different program then the one I have to upload things on. I tried to convert the file but it didn't work completely. I'm telling you this because I've been trying to find all the mistakes the converting made but I have three stories to go through and I just don't have the patience to sift through each one with a fine toothed comb. I did what I could, but if must anything, I warned you ahead of time, kay?

DISCLAIMER: Not mine.

Swinging Life Away

By

NOASHADO

Sasuke pushed his way through the busy city market, ignoring the pained huffs of the victims to his elbow. People were screaming around him, running in random directions.

"Call for help! Someone, call for help!"

He threw a plate near her head, shouting at her and arming himself with another. She screamed as the plate shattered against the wall, but shouted back at him with words tainted in steel. It took everything he had not to aim at her, but he was furious and he wanted to hurt her like she did him. Words spilled out, words he didn't mean, and his tirade spun wildly out of control. She was in tears and heading for the bedroom to pack when his actions finally came back to him.

Dust floated in the air from the collapse. A groaning came from what was left of the building. It wouldn't last long and would fall in only moments. Sasuke stumbled slightly, but kept up his rush to the scene.

"Get to the survivors! There are still people inside! Every one, out of the way! We need to get to the injured!"

She had locked the door and wasn't answering him anymore. He was ready to kick the door down when it finally opened, but a small part of him suddenly wished it hadn't. She told him she was leaving. Said she had had enough. There was no love between them and she would not stay as a convenient lay for him. Her words tore. Pain was something he never could handle well, and in this situation, he handled it horribly. His words cut deep, confirming every fear she ever had about his feelings for her. She slammed the door just as she let out a sob, and he flung it open just as the elevator doors closed on her trembling form.

A sob constricted Sasuke's throat, but he didn't dare let it out. He didn't know for sure if...he didn't know anything yet. There was no reason to cry. He just had to get there. Had to find...

"There's people buried inside! Start digging! Damnit, where's that help!?"

There was no contact between them for two weeks. She was too hurt to try and he was too stubborn to admit his overreaction. He finally came home to an empty house and a key placed atop a note on the kitchen table. He had called as soon as he got control of his tears, but went straight to voice mail. All thirteen tries. That night he had been unable to sleep in their bedroom and slept on the couch where she had left her favorite blanket draped over the back. It was the only comfort he had for the weeks after.

Sasuke finally pushed through the last barricade of people and stumbled onto the main scene of the crash site. A large part of the building lay in ruins with people scattered over it looking for survivors. The other half of the building teetered dangerously above. It would fall soon and there would be no help for any of these people. But he didn't care about them. He was already scanning the small group standing by the fire trucks, looking for one person in specific. He searched every face, walked along the rows of bodies covered by white blankets. He was beyond panicked when none of the faces seemed familiar. He avoided the corpses like the plague, refusing to believe that one of them could be her. But a few eternities passed and he still hadn't found her. A careening cry echoed the city and another pillar fell. His heart sank. Filled with trepidation he sprung for the ruins only to be held back by a burly man.

"Whoa, kid! You can't go over there! Just let them do their job. They'll-"

One night, she actually picked up. They talked for hours in which he apologized profusely, but she had been far too hurt. She was steely when she asked him never to call back. And he was stone when he told her he didn't plan to. In a show of fake bravado, he went on a date with a friend of a friend. It was his way of letting her go. He apologized, she didn't accept, he wasn't going to wallow in self-pity over it. The date was horrible, so he went on a few others. It was just bad timing when she came home to find him on the couch with a skimpily dressed blond on his lap. Her apology was left hanging when she ran out crying. He never went on a date again.

"Let me go! Damnit, let me go! I need to...I need..." Sasuke's voice was consumed by cries as he realized how hopeless the situation was. If she hadn't been found yet, she was most likely still... "Oh, god, no..." He slumped in the man's hold, fighting back the tears and the growing pains his heart. The man said something else. Most likely something comforting. But it didn't reach Sasuke. He was too grief stricken. "Please..."

"We found another one! Get her some water!"

She was drunk when she came over, but he hadn't had time to notice before she threw herself at him proclaiming her love and asking to come home. He was all too willing to accept. They made love for the first time in months and he finally felt his heart beat again. The morning after he woke up to her crying. He did his best to comfort her, but she wouldn't listen. She left for work with a fleeting promise that she'd call. It was the longest eight days of his life.

Sasuke looked up wearily, all hope gone. He watched as people swarmed around a lean man as he shouted orders at them, but didn't bring himself to care what they were doing. Nothing mattered, he had already lost-

"Sasuke!"

He finally had had enough. He needed her and he'd do anything to keep her. Even if it meant giving up a little pride along the way. For the next week, he decided to court her the way he did when they were young. Monday, a vase of snap dragons was sent to her desk during working hours. The card simply read 'Please'. Tuesday, she woke up to a house delivery of a bouquet of daffodils with a note reading 'Come'. Wednesday came and she felt her heart leap when the florist showed up with carnations and a card reading 'Home'. On Thursday, she had stopped packing to answer the door for the delivery man and smiled openly at the red roses. Only, this time, when she opened the little card, a key fell into her palm instead. She was home by Friday morning.

The raven looked up sharply at the sound of her voice and felt his knees go weak when he met with familiar jade eyes. There she was, struggling to pull away from the people trying to help her out the rubble. Her clothes were torn and she was trembling horribly but she was alive.

"Oh god."

With new strength, he pulled away from the burly man and dashed to Sakura's side. She also made it free, or maybe she was set free, it didn't much matter to him. All that mattered was that she was alive. He hadn't lost her. She was alive and she was in his arms, clutching to him with everything she had. His arms wound around her and he buried his face in her hair, crying and whispering her name over and over. She clung to him and sobbed into his chest, her body trembling only a little more noticeably then his.

"I love you." he whispered to her, kissing the base of her ear then going back to simply holding her to him.

"I know." She whispered back.

Sasuke looked over her shoulder at the business firm his wife had worked at. It was still groaning and people were still rushing about, but he didn't care because he already held his world safe in his arms. He looked away from the mess and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"You're quitting your job." He told her.

Sakura laughed, laying her head on his shoulder. "I know." She repeated. "But I was going to anyway. The doctor said it wasn't good for the baby's health."

Sasuke blinked, and then pulled Sakura into a desperate kiss. When they pulled apart he smothered his sob against her skin. He cried into Sakura's shoulder and she smiled softly into his.

He was really starting to hate playing the game of life, but for her, he'd keep trying to hit those curve balls, because there's nothing he wouldn't do if it was for her.

FIN

AN: I've come to the conclusion that I really suck at writing endings *hits head on desk*. Maybe that's why it was only half finished for so long...I had no clue how to end it, so sorry if it was inconclusive and abrupt. But, please, tell me if it was. I want to hear from you guys.