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Time is moving too fast, rapidly slipping out of her fingers as she grasps his hand. The blood is everywhere, pooling under her as she lies there.
She can barely remember the last ten minutes. Barely remember anything, just blurs of colour and the sound of her feet as she ran.
"Sa..." His voice is a cracked whisper, his eyes slowly moving to meet hers.
"I'll be..." she can't lie--there is too much blood, it's splattered across her chest, specks on her cheek. She can barely feel the pain anymore and her experience already informs her of what will happen.
Of what is happening.
(She doesn't want to die, Naruto isn't here yet and Sasuke is only now going home. She hasn't given Ino the exotic flower she found, hasn't scaled Hokage's mountain with her own hands--)
"I..." There is too much to say. I'm sorry, I miss you, goodbye. "I..."
Sasuke looks scared and she hasn't seen that expressions since they were in that forest, his body shielding hers. He looks scared and oddly naked, as though that mask she has been trying to chip at is only now coming off.
She could laugh at the irony, but there is something wet in her throat and she doesn't want to know if it's blood.
Her arm refuses to rise, refuses to do anything, but let her hand squeeze his tighter. Tighter and tighter and oh, she won't be able to feel this again, this scarred palm or coarse fingers. She thinks she might be crying, but she can't tell anymore.
"Sa..." he starts again.
"Say my name," she interrupts.
There is something fragile in the way he is looking at her, in the soft tones of his voice. "Sakura."
Ah, this might be how a lover speaks, she thinks, and closes her eyes.