One of These Nights

"One of these nights, I'm not gonna be here," he told her.

They were walking along side by side, her tottering in her heels wearing his too-big-for-her jacket with the sleeves dangling past her hands while he had his hands shoved in his pockets. At that statement, she looked at him with a frown. "Well that's dark," she muttered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I mean I won't be on the same night out as you. You never make arrangements for getting home."

Her green eyes gleamed, a smile breaking across her face. "It doesn't matter if you're not out Sasuke," she sang. "I'd just call you."

Sasuke groaned. He knew Sakura well enough to know that she meant it. He glanced at his watch- it was nearly 3.00am. He stopped, turning to face her and she mirrored him. Her playfulness disappeared as she took in the serious expression on his face.

"Sakura, I'm serious. You don't think it's a big deal, but you shouldn't be walking home on your own. Anything could happen and-!" Sasuke cut off when he felt her hand on his chest from underneath his overlong sleeve.

"Sasuke, I promise if you're ever not there, I'll find someone else to walk me home, or I'll find some other means of getting home safely, okay?"

His eyes searched her face. She had been drinking but she wasn't drunk, and she wasn't just trying to placate him. There was a sincerity in her eyes and Sasuke nodded, turning to continue their walk to her apartment.

About a month later, the group had another night out but Sasuke already had plans to visit his parents out of town. He couldn't quite quash the feeling of unease that had taken hold of him. He had to speak to Sakura.

She picked up on the third ring. "Naruto told me you're not going on Saturday. I've already made him promise to walk me home. Satisfied?"

He couldn't help but smirk. Even if that anxious feeling wasn't entirely dispelled, he had to admit that he felt better for knowing that Naruto would be looking out for Sakura. The blond cared about her and wouldn't break his promise. If Sasuke couldn't be there, Naruto was the next best option.

When he was woken up by his phone vibrating on his bedside unit at 2.00am, his first instinct was to be frustrated that she'd got so drunk that she'd forgotten he was out of town, then proud that she was making good on her promise.

"Sasuke," the voice on the other end was decidedly masculine, and raw. Sasuke checked the caller ID and pressed the phone back to his ear, suddenly wide awake. "I'm so sorry!"

Within twenty minutes, he was pulling out of his parents' driveway, a quick text sent to Itachi to explain and a promise to call their parents in the morning. He had to get back to the city, to be by her side. 'How could this have happened?'

Every corridor of the hospital seemed to stretch on and on, like a taunt that he still wasn't with her. Eventually he found the private room and threw the door open. Naruto stood up so fast, his chair was knocked over but whatever he was babbling about was lost on Sasuke.

The steady beeping confirmed that, lifeless as she looked, she was still here, still fighting. A mask covered the lower part of her face but didn't hide the black eye and the nasty graze down the right side of her face. Her right arm was in a splint and there was an IV in her left arm.

Sasuke pulled up a chair of his own, not taking his eyes off her for a second. Naruto was still babbling but Sasuke needed him to start from the beginning.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice a rasp, choked with the same raw emotion that he had first heard in Naruto's voice almost two hours ago.

The blond dropped into the chair that he had righted and set next to Sasuke's and took a great shuddering breath. "We were outside the club. She was right beside me and then Kiba said something stupid. I was so busy arguing with him, I didn't even realise she wasn't there anymore until there were screams, then a bang and-…" Naruto couldn't finish as the sobs escaped him.

Sasuke was angry. He had trusted Naruto to look out for her when he couldn't and he had failed. Yet he couldn't bring himself to shout and rage at him- not when his dopey best friend looked so broken.

Naruto roughly wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I promised that I would protect her. I-!" This time it was Sasuke who cut him off.

"It wasn't your fault," he interrupted, not wanting to hear apologies. "Do her parents know?"

"I finally got hold of them half an hour ago. They're going to catch the first flight that they can."

Sasuke nodded, casting a sideways glance at Naruto. "Go home Naruto. Get some sleep."

Before Naruto could protest, a muffled voice interjected, "And a shower. You stink!"

Both boys half rose, gazing at the girl who blinking rapidly as she tried to let her eyes adjust to the light of the room. Lifting her left hand to her face, she removed the mask and smiled at the boys by her side. "Hey."

Sasuke's hand automatically covered hers, trying to push the mask back on her face. Meanwhile Naruto started crying again. "Sakura, I'm so sorry."

Sakura swatted Sasuke's hand away, scowling at him before turning to Naruto. "Naruto, it wasn't your fault. I saw those boys hassling that girl on her own and I marched right over to try and defend her. I didn't think that idiot would punch me!" She sounded so indignant, Sasuke was torn between smacking his hand to his forehead and throttling her.

"If a guy punched you," Sasuke interjected, placing the mask back over her mouth with one hand while holding Naruto back to prevent him from crushing her in a hug with the other, "how did you end up getting hit by a car? Why were you on the road?"

At this question, her scowl deepened and the heart monitor began to beep wildly. Unconsciously, Sasuke began to trace small circles on the back of her hand with this thumb and the beeping slowed to a more natural rhythm.

She pulled the mask off again. "He punched me pretty hard and I wasn't braced for it, so I stumbled backwards. It all happened so quickly, I guess the driver didn't have time to stop. I don't really remember…" she trailed off. Then her eyes found Naruto once more, who was welling up again. "Naruto, go and get some rest. Please?"

The blond wiped his eyes, lightly squeezed her lower leg- the closest part of her he could reach- and smiled. "I'll be back soon," he promised.

"Smell you later," she grinned. "Oh, and Naruto, bring some good food. I know what they serve in here and I'm not eating it!"

"I'll get you Ichiraku takeaway," he shouted as he disappeared into the corridor and Sakura laughed before wincing, her hand reaching for her ribs.

Sasuke scooted closer but Sakura smiled to play it down. "Broken ribs, huh?"

He nodded. "Cracked ribs, fractured wrist. They thought you might have punctured a lung, hence the mask," he added, pressing it over her face again. "And plenty of bruising."

Sakura sighed and they were silent for a time. Sasuke was starting to drift off when her voice roused him once more. "I thought you were out of town?"

He blinked at her as she gave him a scrutinizing look before he answered. "Naruto called me. I came straight back."

She looked horrified. "I ruined your weekend," she moaned, heartbeat climbing once more. "I tried so hard too!" At Sasuke's quizzical look, she elaborated, "I didn't drink too much. I didn't go anywhere by myself, not even the ladies! Well, until-!"

Sasuke laughed, reaching his hand over to cup the side of her face. Sakura's eyes were wide and questioning. "Then I will just have to be at every night out so that we can both enjoy ourselves without worrying the entire time," he told her, leaning forward to kiss her.

It would have been very romantic if not for the wild beeping of the heart rate monitor in the background.