narusasu and #43
thanks!! <33
the prompt is 43. dying + narusasu
The first thing Naruto thinks when Sasuke begins to crumple towards the ground is that he might be able to catch him before he falls.
He's wrong, of course, but that doesn't stop him from trying.
His feet barely touch the ground with how fast he sprints and he distantly hears Kakashi shout his name behind him but he doesn't stop because he can't stop because Sasuke isn't moving now and he isn't sure how that can be.
Naruto doesn't even want to think what his gut feeling right now.
It feels like an eternity before he reaches him but he does. The fabric on his knee soaks up blood when he kneels, warm and wet.
"Sasuke?" Naruto whispers, voice hoarse to his own ears, and Sasuke's eyes open, just a little. They're cloudy. Like he hardly sees him. Naruto feels nauseous.
"Hey," Naruto says, swallowing thickly. "Can you hear me? You gotta get up."
The sound that Sasuke lets out sounds like a pitiful cough and blood spurts from his mouth, painting his lips in fresh bright red. "Who knew I'd die trying to protect the village I wanted to destroy not even a week ago? Feels a bit cruel."
"No," Naruto says, shaking his head and laying his hand over the other's. His fingers are pale and cold under his own. "You're not going to die. I'll save you."
Sasuke's mouth tugs up in a smirk and it looks violent and bloody and arrogant but soft, just like Naruto always remembered him to be. His fingers squeeze tighter.
"You'll always be an idiot, won't you?" Sasuke sighs, voice barely audible above the wind and chaos behind them. "Always thinking you can save everyone."
Anxiety bubbles in Naruto's chest at that, hot and white, and he jerks his hand away to pull at Sasuke's shirt, tearing it open to reveal the nasty stab wound below it.
He doesn't think he's ever seen so much blood come from one person in all his life.
"Naruto," Sasuke calls, weakly tugging at his sleeve, eyes hazy and distant.
"What?" He croaks in response, looking away from the gash and instinctively leaning down to hear him better.
"I--"
Silence.
Sasuke's chest rises once more before it stops completely.
Naruto blinks rapidly, a bitter taste rising in his throat, and he shakes Sasuke's shoulders a little harder than he means to.
"Sasuke? Sasuke?! C'mon, stop this--"
Tears burn behind his eyes when no one responds.
"You bastard" he sobs, voice cracking and shaking and he doesn't know when Sakura and Kakashi show up but they do and Sakura's arms are around him, voice soft and as broken as he feels.
I couldn't save him.
