Mouse and Rice

This story belongs to a talented writer called rawrchelle who posted this on fanfiction.net and it truly moved me because i was crying a bucket of tears and i thought i should share it with the world, so all the credit goes to her.....please enjoy

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He tried his best to keep his voice from cracking. This was the only time she'd hear him perform, after all. He had to make it amazing.

Her breaths were harsh from the other end of the line, and he felt his throat close up on him. Don't go. Please. Don't go.

The last chord on the piano rang out, and he had to cut his singing short to suck in a long, shaky breath.

"I'll see you later then, ne, Sasuke-kun?"

.

.

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mouse & rice

it makes me sick to even think of mornings waking up alone, and searching for you in my sheets.

.

.

.

"This is my favorite song," Sakura said as she pressed play on her iPod. Sasuke looked at the wall, not surprised that it was another love song. "Isn't it sweet?"

"He hasn't even started singing yet," he pointed out. She punched him affectionately, and he had to hide his face so she wouldn't see the corners of his mouth tilting upwards.

"You play the piano, right, Sasuke-kun?" She hummed along to the melody, subconsciously leaning against him. The little skin to skin made his heart jump to his throat, and he was glad that she couldn't see his reddening ears.

"Just a little."

"If I found the sheet music for you, would you learn how to play this for me?"

"You know I don't perform for people, Sakura."

"But aren't I an exception?"

He looked away from her prying gaze, her green, green eyes. "Hn."

Giggling, she rested her head against his shoulder. He felt the heat rush to his cheeks. "You're so cute."

-

"Sasuke-kun?" Her voice from the other end of the line sounded frantic.

"Sakura?" He sat up straighter in his seat. "Where are you? What's wrong?"

"I-I-" His grip on the phone tightened. "My mom-they just called-"

"Where are you? I'll be right there."

Knowing Sakura since high school, Sasuke had a firm grasp on her family life. Her father had walked out on her when she was still a child, and she lived with her mother. She had no siblings, no other relatives. It was just them. As far as he could tell, they weren't very close-but judging from how Sakura sounded on the phone, her mother meant a lot to her. She was all she had.

He met her in the lobby of the hospital. She was clutching her purse with white knuckles, and her eyes were red, but the moment she saw him, she burst into tears all over again. When her arms wrapped around his middle, squeezing the breath out of him, he didn't know what to do. He'd never seen her this way before.

"You okay?" he asked hesitantly, placing a cautious hand on her head. "What happened?"

It was several moments before she answered, hiccupping in the process. "She was driving home from work, and...someone ran a red light. Crashed right-right into the driver's side."