Date: 5/3/13
Rating: T
Genre: Angst, Drama
Prompt: post canon, Itachi's disease was genetic, and Sasuke is also starting to suffer from it.

And he didn't even tell you why?

Sakura willed the memory of her conversation with Ino away. If she thought about it any longer, she probably would have burst into tears again. She sighed and looked down as she walked, not really knowing where she was going, not really caring. She just didn't understand. Everything was going so well. Was it something she had done?

Suddenly, she bumped into someone. Sakura rubbed her nose and looked up, eyes widening. Of course. "Oh, S-sasuke-kun," she stammered, "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"Hn." He turned to leave.

"Wait, don't go!" Sakura grabbed a fistful of his shirt. However, as soon as she did, Sakura regretted her action. It was childish, and she knew it. But Sakura couldn't help herself. She released Sasuke from her grasp, averting her gaze, and asked cautiously, "So … how have you been?"

"Fine."

Sakura stared at him and gave him a look. "You're lying." She had known him long enough to know when he was hiding something. And Sasuke was definitely hiding something. It was all over his face. She reached her hand to him. "What's wrong?"

However, Sasuke swatted her hand away before she could touch him. "I told you, Sakura, I'm fine—" He stopped, the sentence dying in his throat. Sasuke grabbed his chest, face contorted with indescribable pain. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't even ward Sakura away as she went to medic mode and carefully led him to a bench. She began pumping chakra into his chest, but it wasn't working. Fear creeped up her spine, but she forced herself to remain calm, for Sasuke's sake.

All Sakura could do was hold Sasuke's hand and wait until the episode was over. It seemed to help. Excruciating pain wasn't on his face so much as discomfort anymore.

"I went to the doctor," Sasuke finally said once he could breathe evenly again. He still had Sakura's hand in his. "It's genetic, the disease Itachi had," he sighed and looked at her. "I'm going to die."

Sakura felt her throat constrict, blinking away the tears that began to well in her eyes. "When did you find this out?"

"Last week."

"Last week," Sakura repeated softly. Pause. She looked at their intertwined fingers. "Is this why you broke up with me?"

"Yes."

Sakura slapped him. "What the fuck made you think that breaking up would have been a better solution than telling me the truth? And don't you dare pull that 'you couldn't handle the truth' bullshit, Sasuke-kun, because I don't want to hear it." Her voice cracked. That's it. She was crying now. "Don't you think I deserved to know? Did you honestly think I would have left if I found out? Did you just want to beat me to the punch—?"

"You don't deserve this."

"What?"

Sasuke looked at her. "You deserve better. You're just wasting your time with me. I'm going to die, and you deserve better than that. You—what are you doing?"

Sakura placed her two fingers on Sasuke's forehead, similar to the way Itachi did when they were younger. She bowed her head. Her body was still; she wasn't crying anymore. Sasuke said her name again, causing Sakura to finally lift her head. "Sasuke-kun," she shook her head, "you're really foolish; you know that?"

Her fingers left his forehead. But before Sasuke could say anything, Sakura grabbed his face and kissed him. And she continued to kiss him until he understood. Sakura loved him, and she didn't care. She loved him. She would always love him All of him. Even his disease.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura said when they finally pulled away, "we're going to fix this. I swear, we will."

"How?"

She took his hand and smiled. "Together."