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

summary: oo7: "I won't let the people I love die before my eyes again."

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!

.oo7.
Mortality

.

"I won't let the people I love die before my eyes again."

.

Her fingers—once creamy and soft, not so long ago—chilled him like frost. Sasuke's hand intertwined itself with hers, but she lay motionless, unable to register the warmth radiating from his palm.

"Uchiha-san," a nurse said. Her hands rested on his shoulders in a comforting, motherly manner. He flinched at her innocent touch, and she frowned.

"It's been three days. I know you're worried, but when she wakes up, we'll call you immediately—"

"No," Sasuke snapped. "I'm staying here. I won't miss a thing." His eyes washed over her, stagnant under white sheets meant for a funeral. The color, a soft peach, dissolved into a blanched paste. Her hair hung like dry straw alongside her tender face, lacking the vibrancy that accompanied it.

Sasuke was glad he couldn't see the dullness of her eyes.

The nurse sighed. "As you wish," she conceded. "But we'll have to ask you to step out of the room for a few minutes while the doctor gives her the medication." As if she read Sasuke's mind, she added sternly, "You can't stay for that."

Unwillingly, Sasuke agreed. He nodded once, then turned back to Sakura. His coarse thumb brushed over the back of her hand and along her wrist. It stopped once it felt the familiar, yet faint, throbbing signifying what little life she was holding onto.

Flashes of panic and terror flooded his mind as he recalled the events leading up to her injuries. They were thoughts he knew too well, having experienced them before.

"Mom," Sasuke sobbed from the back seat of the van. He ignored the shards of broken glass poking into his skin, and the blood trickling down his forehead. Unbuckling his seatbelt, Sasuke shook Mikoto's shoulders, begging for her to respond. Her head wobbled, then rolled lifelessly to the side.

"Dad?" Sasuke cried. "Dad, please wake up!" He pried Fugaku off the airbag and wrenched him out of the passenger seat. His neck was twisted at a brutal angle. Blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth.

With eyes full of tears, Sasuke finally reached for Itachi, whose body leaned forward into the airbag. He looked as if he were sleeping.

Sasuke held out hope.

"Aniki," Sasuke said. He tugged at his brother's ponytail. "Please, big brother, you have to help Mom and Dad!"

Itachi's hand fell to the side. It did not move.

He couldn't have even helped himself.

So when he received the call from Naruto that Sakura had been hurt in a car accident, adrenaline coursed through his veins in sheer dread. He immediately rushed to the hospital to find her bruised and bandaged. That wasn't his Sakura.

"You're going to be okay," he promised, as tears filled his eyes. The nurses began to pry him out of the room, telling him he couldn't be here, but he fought back. "You stay with me, Sakura, you hear? I won't let you leave me!"

That was only three days ago. Sasuke closed his eyes and brought her hand up to his mouth. He kissed her knuckles and let a tear fall freely.

"Nn," Sakura moaned. "Sasuke-kun?"

Her eyes cracked open; a small slit. But it was enough to know that her eyes still glowed with hope and joy, like they always did. He was a fool to think that anything could dull Sakura's sparkle.

"Sakura," Sasuke breathed. He felt like his heart stopped, and time froze with them in that room. He wanted to hug her, to kiss her. To embrace her, so he would know she was still with him, skin on skin.

"D-Don't leave me," she whispered. Her hand wrapped around his pinky and squeezed weakly. "I want you to stay."

"I'll stay," he promised. "I'll always be at your side, Sakura, as long as you're at mine."

She gave him a feeble smile. "Then I guess we have nothing to worry about."

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