disclaimer: disclaimed.
dedication: late-night bus rides.
notes: what am i doing. WHAT AM I DOING.

title: save you
summary: SasuSaku canon!drabbleseries. Well, at least the war is over.

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she cheats Death to catch him as he falls

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"No!"

The word rung out through the Elder's Hall like a gunshot. Haruno Sakura stood at the end of the hall, fists slammed down on the table in front of her, fire in her glare. She stared at the oldest men in the village, determined not to lose control of this meeting.

They sat in a line on a raised dais, and cowered from her burning eyes.

She was Haruno-Fucking-Sakura, and she would be damned if she let him die without a fight.

"Then what do you propose, Haruno-san?" the oldest man asked. He was sitting in the center of the long table with the tips of his fingers pressed together. He looked old and gaunt and tired and Sakura knew that she should have known his name, but she just didn't have the energy to care.

He was trying to help rid the world of one of the few people she cared about, and that was not okay.

"Death is the punishment for those that betray their homeland. It has always been thus," said the man to his right.

Sakura could feel her eye twitching. She wanted to scream at them; hurt them, destroy them the same way she'd been destroyed. She could see that Naruto was close to screeching at them, could see the muscle beneath his jaw twitching, could see his hands clenching.

She knew they were mirrored on her face.

Stay cool, stay cool, she told herself. Shishou will deal with it. She always does. It's going to be okay. It has to be okay.

Sakura shot a glance at her teacher.

Tsunade was smiling graciously. She pushed blonde hair over her shoulder, and stared at them all, polite and distant. "Gentlemen, gentlemen," she said. "Now, listen to me. The war is over. Konoha got very, very lucky."

The slight smile vanished. "I suggest you don't push that luck. We wouldn't want something unfortunate to happen, like our heroes leaving us, am I correct?"

She let the statement hang in the open air for a second. Sakura watched with a vicious smile as the Elders processed her shishou's words.

It was very silent in the hall for a very long time.

"Good day, gentlemen," Tsunade said finally.

The Elders sat at their table and stared, open-mouthed. The courteous smile on Tsunade's face returned, and she gestured to Naruto and Sakura. They were leaving.

It felt like victory.