SasuSaku Prompts

59. because you're here

prompt: death

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"Have you ever thought about dying?"

Sakura suddenly asked her raven-haired teammate while resting—lying on her back on the grass of the training grounds, staring at the sky watching the sun disappear from sight—after practicing her taijutsu.

Sasuke, who was leaning against a tree, with one knee propped up while the other was stretched out, was surprised by not just the question, but the fact that it was Sakura who asked. He never really thought that someone like her would ask about death, much less going through it.

He pondered for a while, looking ahead of him, before he gave a response. "Aa."

"Really?"

"Many times." If not all the time.

"Me too."

His head snapped to her, she said it in a whisper almost as if she wasn't meaning to tell him, but he was shocked nonetheless.

She briefly glanced at him, saw his reaction and sighed. "I know it doesn't sound like me but I did, a couple of times even."

He didn't respond, just kept on looking at her.

She went on, "Those times I felt so useless. Like I couldn't do a goddamn thing. I worked hard, pushed myself to my limits, to be able to do something, to not be useless anymore but...it still wasn't enough." She paused, eyes glassy and lips curved into a sad smile, she continued, "it still wasn't enough to save every patient, to be something useful in the war...it still wasn't enough to bring you back."

He felt his stomach twist and turn into knots but he said, "I'm here now."

She looked at him, a small but genuine smile finally on her face, "I know. I don't think of it anymore. I hope you don't too, at least not as much as you used to because I'm here too."

"Aa."

That's when he realized that ever since he came back, not once had he thought of dying, the thought of losing his life and breaking her heart again made him sick.

Feeling his eyes soften at the sight of this emerald-eyed girl who never stopped loving him despite everything, he whispered, "...because you're here."