title: Born to Be Three
prompt: SASUSAKU MONTH 2015
rating: K-M

summary: oo6: "Tis only a flesh wound."

dedicated to: my baes on tumblr - i love you all!

NOTE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE MONTH: I wanted to add Sarada in many of these prompts, because she's a part of this beautiful family too /sobs forever at my babies having babies/ but sometimes I either couldn't find a way to fit her in and, to be honest, I have little experience writing about her! Hopefully that will change in the future!

.oo6.
Skin Deep

.

"Tis only a flesh wound."

.

"Stop crying," he says. It's an order, not a question, yet Sakura doesn't seem to follow. She gazes up at him with teary eyes and clutches her scraped knee to her tiny, fragile body. Her whimpers are pathetic, coming out of her like kitten mewls, and her fat bottom lip quivers erratically.

"B-But," she begins. Her words are drowned out by the incessant wailing that follows. Sasuke turns his head to observe his surroundings quickly, making sure nobody caught him in such a humiliating situation. He wanted nothing more than to leave Sakura on her own—after all, once she had no one to complain to, she'd stop crying. Right?

"But what?" Sasuke asks. He crouches to her level so that he won't have to look down at her pitiful, weepy face. "It's only a scratch. Just…go home and put a bandaid or something on it, okay? Now stop crying."

His voice is softer now; more soothing, like his mother's. He waits for her to finish crying, which, he finds out, takes a few minutes longer than he hoped. Her hands, caked with dirt and dust, dab the tears away. They leave faint gray marks on her face. The young girl lets out an uncouth snort.

"All better?" he asks. "You can go home now, right?"

"Sasuke-kun," she cries. "I don't have a bandaid."

"Of course I don't have one with me right now. That's why you have to go home and get it."

She continued to stay plastered on the floor, arms crossed in a huff. Her knee had small specks of blood—nothing unlike the many other knees of children on playgrounds or in the yards. She was making mountains out of molehills.

"My daddy kisses my booboos to make them feel better."

"Well, your dad isn't here right now, so you're going to have to go home."

Sakura scrunches her face. "It's too far! And it hurts!" She frowned. "Can you do it for me?"

No, absolutely not, Sasuke thinks. Especially not in a public area, where people could see.

"Please?" she begs. Her eyes, cascading with tears moments ago, shine with hope.

Sasuke growled. "No."

"Fine," she argues. Her arms cross defiantly in what Sakura thinks is an intimidating position. "Then I'm staying here forever, and no one can ever bring me back. I'll run away."

"You just told me it hurts too much."

Sakura cedes her point, but continues to harass him with her request.

"Please, Sasuke-kun?" she inches closer to him. "You'll make it all better!"

Once more, Sasuke glances around him to see if anybody were watching. After a few paranoid searches, he glare into Sakura's gleaming eyes, and snarls under his breath, "You better not tell anyone about this, you hear me?"

"I promise!" she shrieks. With a toothy, perky grin, she waits for Sasuke's lips to press onto her wound. Instead, he touches his index and middle finger to his mouth, and holds them at her knee. The action was so brief, it felt like a tap. And instantly, her booboo seemed to feel ten times better.

Sasuke rises from the ground and brushes his shorts off. He wears a look of distaste on his face, but Sakura had always known he was terrible at concealing his emotions—especially the pink blush on his cheeks the color of her hair.

"Are you ready to go?" he mumbles, turning his head away from her.

She springs up instantly, and grabs his small hand in her own. "Yeah," she beams. "We can go home, now."

updates come regularly on tumblr for each day. I'm lazy at uploading on , but rest assured everything will be up by the end of this month. XD