He was dying right in front of her. She could see the blood trickling from the edge of his mouth. His eyes were closed shut and his body was still. She reached out for his hand but it was ice cold. She felt frozen in her body, helpless and unable to make a sound. She didn’t know what to do. Her other hand reaches out as she tries to wipe the blood away from his mouth.
“Is he dead?” was the only thing she could think of. She hated that she even asked because somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice answered, “yes.”
Sasuke had woken up not too shortly ago and was sitting outside of his tent by the burnt out campfire. Naruto’s loud snoring had awaken him from his sleep and feeling restless, he had decided to stroll out for some fresh air. He begins to get up to head back inside his tent, shared with Naruto and Kakashi, when he hears a faint noise coming from the tent pitched next to theirs. Immediately, his senses go into high alert as he concentrates on the sound. It was Sakura’s voice.
On a reflex, he quickly unzips the door of her tent as he peers inside to make sure she was okay. She was. Tucked safely into her sleeping bag, she was in no harm. But her face looked far from peaceful. She was tossing now and one arm was outside of her sleeping bag as she cries for help in her faint little voice.
Sasuke steps inside as he kneels beside her. “Sakura…” he calls out to her in a lowered voice as he places a hand on top of her forehead. She was dripping in cold sweat. “Sakura, wake up. You’re having a night—”
Suddenly, Sakura’s outreached arm grabs onto his and he freezes for a second. Sakura’s eyes flies wide open as she gasps heavily. Her bangs were sticking to the side of her face as tears began to fall freely from her eyes. “Sasuke-kun! You’re alive!” she cries as she throws her arms around him. She’s sobbing now as her whole body shakes. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t protect you. I let him kill you,” she repeats over and over, the sound of her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt.
“Sakura… I’m okay. Everything is okay.”
She doesn’t respond but she stops crying after some time. The crying must have tired her out as Sasuke pulls back from her embrace to see that she has cried herself back to sleep. He cradles her head in one hand as he lowers her back into her sleeping bag.
In a crouched position, he looks at her again as the guilt hits him for the first time in a long time. He was the reason for her nightmare. He was weak and that was why he lost today against his fight with Haku. He had to get stronger. His hands began to form a fist as the image of his brother flashes through his mind, the reminder he needed to keep him going. “Next time…” he says as he grits his teeth. “Next time, I’ll be stronger so you won’t have to cry over me again.”
Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Published
SasuSaku Month 