Simple But Beautiful

Hand clutched to his side, Sasori grunted as he limped around the corner into the dark alley. The pain in his side was excruciating and it was becoming harder to breathe with each passing second. He was pretty sure he had a punctured lung to go with the broken ribs he gotten while taking the last blow that had be directed at Deidara. Had he known the blonde dumbass had picked a fight with members of the Hebi Gang, he never would've come to bail the moron out - former fellow gang member or not. But he had and now he was left with a black eye, what felt like several broken ribs and a punctured lung, very likely a concussion, and a heavily bleeding stab wound that showed no signs of clotting any time soon.

'I should have just gone to that stupid costume party,' Sasori thought to himself bitterly as he headed further into the alley, swaying unsteadily on his feet. 'I should have dressed up like that damn bunny and gone with her like she'd asked me to...'

Closing his eyes, he trudged forward, feeling blindly in the darkness for the edge of the dumpster he knew was nearby. When he found it, he followed the cold metal wall until he reached the object's far corner, where he knew existed a small space, just big enough for a human, between the side of the grimey green dumpster and the back of the alley.

Another soft, pained grunt punctuated his movements as he twisted his body and slumped down on the ground with his back pressed against the brick wall. Then, he held his breath as the sound of shouts and footsteps raced by.

"I think he went this way!"

"Shit, it's a dead-end!"

"Dammit, we can't lose him."

"He's injured, he couldn't have gone far. Keep looking."

Once the noise disappeared, Sasori wheezed softly in relief before squeezing his bleeding side tightly as another wave of nausea washed over him. Desperately, he shoved his free hand into his pocket and dug out his phone.

Bloody fingers tapped the touch screen as he checked the time.

It was 1:00am.

He had totally missed the party. He could only imagine how pissed she was at him.

She was probably still at Ino's, though, and for that he was grateful. It was better that way.

Quickly pulling up the contact photo of a brightly smiling pinkette with the prettiest jade eyes he'd ever seen, he tapped the call button.

Better to apologize now than later.

Grunting as his side continued to throb and his head began to feel light, he lifted the phone to his ear.

She picked up on the second ring, and he couldn't help but smile when she started off by yelling at him.

"Sasori! Where the hell are you? I've been waiting here for hours!"

"I know, I'm really sorry," he apologized, "Something came up at work and I couldn't get away."

He could almost hear her pout on the other end of the line.

"But you missed seeing me in my Tooth Fairy costume!" She whined childishly, an obvious sign to him that she was at least a little drunk, though he didn't mind it in the slightest.

"I'm sure you look great," he replied placatingly as he allowed his concussed brain to conjure up the image of his fiesty girlfriend in her skimpy, homemade and sparkly green fairy costume.

"'Great'?" she parroted with a small scoff, "I look freaking hot."

Sasori covered a harsh cough with a forceful laugh, unable to keep himself from smirking at her blunt remark that only fueled his already wildly inappropriate shock-induced fantasy.

"I wish I could be there to see it," he said honestly, remorse slipping into his tone as he wondered briefly how she would react come morning.

"Well... the party is almost over now, but... if you're done, how about meeting up at my place?"

Sasori chuckled at the hopeful tone in her voice, only to bite back the groan the action induced a second later.

Taking his silence as disagreement, she suggested next, "or... your place?"

Sasori swallowed past the urge to vomit to reply calmly. "Nah, it's late and you haven't seen Ino in a while." He held the microphone away from his mouth to take another deep breath before continuing. "Why don't you stay the night with her instead?"

There was a pause on the other end that made Sasori worry she might have caught on to his silent distress, but when she finally gave a soft, almost disappointed sigh, he felt relief.

"Okay... But promise me that I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

Sasori smiled despite numbness he felt creeping up his legs.

"Yeah, I promise."

He wished he could see the sweet smile on her face as she spoke again.

"I love you."

Her words warmed his heart despite the chill that began seeping into his limbs.

"I love you too, Sakura," he replied, his voice soft and gentle, as he felt his consciousness starting to fade. "I love you... so much more than I could ever tell you."

He didn't hear the hitch in her voice that followed his confession. Nor did he hear her as she desperately called his name when he didn't respond, his arm having fallen to his side because he was too weak to hold it up any longer. He didn't hear her screams when she realized something was utterly and terribly wrong.

All he heard were those three simple but beautiful words.

I love you.

A/N: Please don't hate me! Hate the random fanfiction prompts that are sad but too hard to resist writing! To be honest, though, I have a few SasoSaku short stories of the more angsty variety sitting around that I have been meaning to clean up and post. SasoSaku, I feel, is a pairing that has the potential to be both sarcastic and fun and light-hearted, as well as very dark and intense and heart-breaking. It's a dynamic that I really like and enjoy playing with.

I apologize that this wasn't fluff. I'm trying to shoot for some variation in my writing.

Let me know what you all thought! Thanks as always for the support!

Stay safe and healthy!

~Smash41KMF

- 04.20.2021