More than friends
[Two-shot] Sarada and Boruto have always been close. Chocho thinks they might be a bit too close to be only friends. Mitsuki and Shikadai want to stay out of it, Inojin is way too honest.
Part I
"Sarada, it's unreal the amount of things you own," Chocho sighed, using a kunai to open one of the many boxes that surrounded her. She considered how she really should have given it a second thought when her best friend showed up at her door with that many bags of those really good limited edition chips. To her, a chip oath was more binding that a blood one, Sarada knew this well. So well she used it to bribe her into help her moving out.
"I don't own that many things Chocho," Sarada smiled, throwing her a bag, "You're just getting cranky now. Have your chips."
Chocho frowned a bit but still took the offer, taking a couple chips out of the bag before returning to the unpacking task at hand, "Why can't you just stay with your parents? We're only eighteen, you know. We're running out of years to have our parents clean and cook for us."
Sarada chuckled while folding a blanket and putting it on top of her light green couch, "I think they deserve their privacy now that they finally have time together."
"Your dad did not look particularly impressed by this move," but then again, he did not look impressed by much really.
The dark haired girl shrugged with a caring smile on her face, "Papa would keep me under his cape and hide me from the rest of the world all my life if he could."
Chocho said nothing, continuing to look through the boxes for what belonged in living room that they were attending to first, "You know this is much easier when you move from living room to a new living room and not from 'huge room that fits eighteen years of your life' to a whole house-" she then stopped abruptly as something rolled under her feet and almost caused her to fall. She glared blamingly to the item, picking it up from the floor, "where do you want your baseball bat? Is it a living room item?"
Sarada was carrying a box to the other side of the room but stopped to look at her, "Oh, you can put that in one of those corner boxes," she signaled with her head, as her arms were currently occupied.
The other girl pursed her lips at the prospect of walking past all the boxes on the floor again, seriously considering to just throw it and hope it would land close enough to the corner without breaking anything. She then realized Sarada knew exactly what she was thinking and was staring, ready to chastise her, "why do you own a baseball bat anyway?" Chocho attempted to change the subject and reluctantly tiptoed to the corner boxes.
"So I can smash my enemies into pieces, obviously," Sarada spoke sarcastically, then chuckled, "It's not mine, it's Boruto's."
Chocho stopped when the other girl spoke that name. She then turned to the corner boxes where she had just come to drop the bat, "Does everything in these boxes belong to Boruto?"
"Yes, that's all his," Sarada raised her hands innocently when she noticed Chocho's judging stare, "hey, it's not my fault he brings a new toy every time he comes over."
When the house owner raised her hands, Chocho noticed something, using her bat to point at Sarada, "Okay, and what are you wearing now?"
The dark haired girl looked down at her clothes, puzzled, "Jean shorts and a dark blue crop top."
"And where did you buy that crop top?"
Realization dawned surprisingly quickly. She hugged herself defensively, "I didn't buy it-" she paused, mumbling, "I stole one of Boruto's sleeveless shirts and cut it into a crop top because he forgot my birthday and also because no man should be allowed to wear sleeveless shirts." In all honesty, he did look ridiculous wearing it.
"Right," Chocho nodded sharply and dropped the bat in one the boxes.
Sarada knew her long enough to recognize Chocho's silent judgment a mile a way, "It's been at least three years since that," she tried not to sound too defensive about it.
Chocho looked at her friend and back at boxes, mumbling, "This is weird."
"What do you mean?"
The bigger girl pulled a few random items out of the corner boxes, "A lot of your stuff is not actually your stuff."
The Uchiha shrugged, "It belongs to my friends,"
Chocho raised an eyebrow, picking up a tennis ball out of the items and throwing it towards Sarada, "No, it belongs to Boruto."
Sarada caught it and skipped to Chocho with her arms wide open, "Ah, are you jealous?" she smiled, embracing her in a tight hug.
Chocho's eyes widened in surprise as she went to return the friendliness, "Don't think you can distract me with these little rare displays of affection, I shall not be silenced!"
The dark haired girl laughed as she was hugged back, "You know you are my one and only."
"You are forgetting one thing, Sarada. I know these things, I am a girl," Chocho pulled back from the hug, declaring her statement as if that explained everything she had just said.
Sarada looked confused, "What am I, a tree?"
"You are an Uchiha," Chocho pointed at her, "You guys lost the genetic tweak dedicated the emotions a long time ago." She came closer and put her hand's on said Uchiha's shoulders, "Sarada, you're my friend and I love you," she received a smile and took that a cue to continue, "you are also a blind idiot that doesn't realize that whatever you and Boruto have is not friendship. I mean, seriously, sometimes I feel like I should pick up a bat just like that one and smash you two back into reality with it."
Sarada stood dumbfounded at her words, "What do you mean is not friendship? We have been friends for years, we do everything together. I spend more time with him than anyone else in my life."
"Which is a fact and which is the point," Chocho sat on the sofa and took her phone out of her pocket, "I'll give you a second."
Her friend stared at her, "Wait, you don't mean-" realization sunk in, "No way."
"There we go."
"I don't-" she hesitated, absentmindedly grabbing a pillow from the couch to make space for her to sit down, "I don't have a crush on him."
"I agree," Chocho nodded, eyes still glued to her phone, "it's definitely not only a crush anymore."
Chocho's words played over and over in her mind. She could not like Boruto that way, could she? He was her best friend. He had been there for her since she remembers and they did everything together like best friends would. So what if they did spend an awful lot amount of time together and told each other everything? So what if she did feel a bit giddy when he was too close? She just assumed her hormones were affected by how great he always smelled - that's normal, right?
Now that Chocho mentioned this, Sarada wondered if this idea is why Boruto's girlfriends always seemed to hate her with a passion. She remembers mentioning this to Chocho, explaining how ridiculous it was that they considered her a threat and how it earned her only an eye roll followed by a simple 'yeah, totally unrealistic'. She did think sometimes that a lot of that could have been avoided if the blond simply stopped hugging her so often and complementing her every time she tried a new outfit or hairdo. She vividly remembered how once one of his girlfriends simply walked out on them when Sarada distractedly commented on how she might cut her hair short again and Boruto spent the next ten minutes explaining how wonderful she looked with long hair, but still reassuring her she would look lovely either way.
Those girls did not understand how their relationship worked and were overly upset. Boruto was always very keen on his compliments after he became a teenager, especially once he realized how unconfident Sarada sometimes felt because of her glasses. After that, he seemed to always want to make sure she was well aware of how good she looked. Sarada, on the other hand, very rarely mentioned how good her friend look. Of course she knew Boruto was ever so handsome with his kind light blue eyes, confident smile and his body - well, she rather not start down on that road.
Sarada tried to snap out of it, "So what if I get along with him and I think he's good looking?"
The other girl smiled smugly, "I know, you've said so in many previous occasions."
The Uchiha pushed her hair out of her face in frustration, "So I mention a few times Boruto is attractive and I automatically have a crush on him?"
"No, but you did certainly internally freak out at everything I just said, you've mentioned he's good looking without prompting AND you went bright pink just thinking about it," she lifted a finger for each reason, "and that means you have a crush on him," she lifted another finger as she recalled another certainly relevant point, "Oh, that and the past seven years of your life."
Sarada stood from the sofa, seemingly preparing to set forth all the reasons why her friend was not correct… if she found any.
Chocho looked up at her from the sofa, "You don't have to be shy about it. It's normal, about half the village has a crush on him anyway."
The black haired girl did not seem particularly impressed to be clustered with everyone else, "I don't have to be shy about it because it's not true. I've know Boruto forever, he's my best friend and there is absolutely nothing abnormal about our relationship."
The girl sitting on the sofa prepared to again justify her line of thought, "To be honest, I have never mentioned this until now because-" her words were cut short as a loud bang was heard: the front door being slammed open.
"How's my beautiful house owner?" the annoyingly cheerful voice shouted, Sarada now strongly regretting giving a copy of her keys to Boruto.
The blond rushed to his best friend, picking her up easily and spinning her. Chocho grabbed a bag of chips that was near her as a close enough replacement to the popcorn she should have really consider bringing along for this moment.
Before Sarada could say anything, Boruto put her down, kissing her forehead as he shoved a bouquet of red roses in her face.
Sarada could spot Chocho's smile behind Boruto, "Why did you get me these?" she asked the first thing that came into her mind that was non related to the whole conversation she was having before.
The blond tilted his head slightly, "You love red, don't you?" Sarada nodded, looking anywhere but at him.
The tension in the room seemed to go completely over the new comer's head, "Oh, you brought jelly beans!" He spoke excitedly as he looked behind Sarada and spotted a bag of jellybeans sitting on top of one of the unopened boxes.
While rummaging through the bag to find his favorites, he finally noticed something was up - mainly because Chocho was not shouting at him for daring to go near a bag of food he was absolutely sure belonged to her, "Did I interrupt something?"
Chocho rolled her eyes, took him long enough to figure it out.
Sarada stood with her back facing him, too embarrassed to move, she felt frozen on the spot.
"We were just talking about how popular you are," Chocho offered, trying to get the attention away from the other girl. Damn Boruto and his crap timing.
The young man smirked, "Well, I am the whole package."
Sarada couldn't help but grin at this; this was the boy she knew. Sure, now he was becoming a grown man but that changed nothing, and no matter what other people could think of them they still had their own special relationship - regardless of what it was. She was never one to let other people's opinions interfere with her life and she was surely not starting now.
Her discomfort eased away, "Indeed, arrogance and stupidity all in one package."
The blond smirked with a shrug, "Well, a package is a package and you get the best and worse of it. You get the arrogance and stupidity but also the good looks and the charm," he wiggled his eyebrows and Sarada laughed, shaking her head at him.
Out of nowhere he turned to the other girl, "Head's up, Chocho!" The girl quickly got into stance; ready for a game they've played an embarrassing number of times.
"Twenty, let's beat the record!" Chocho exclaimed excitedly, clapping. Sarada smiled at her two friends, putting her flowers into some fresh water.
Boruto threw a jellybean and Chocho easily grabbed it with her mouth. The game continued for a few minutes until one jellybean hit the floor. Sarada was standing in a corner watching them while folding some clothes; when she noticed the fallen jellybean she glared, "You guys better not mess up the house," she warned.
"Yeah, there's no way I'm wasting another full day of my life cleaning this place again," Chocho spoke, dramatically throwing herself on the sofa.
"It wasn't a full day," Sarada interjected, mumbling something about five hours.
"Hey," Boruto called out to Sarada. She looked at him, trying her best to think of cats and dogs and literally anything else that could not bring her back to the conversation she had with Chocho.
"What would you give me if I got this jellybean in your cleavage?" He asked, holding up a colorful jellybean.
Sarada glanced at him sideways, throwing one of the clothes she was holding in his direction, "A concussion."
Boruto laughed, Chocho stared and Sarada counted sheep, which she was sure was a technique best used for when someone is trying to fall asleep but at this stage she really could not care less as long as it worked as a distraction.
"Well, I gotta run guys," Chocho spoke, getting up from the sofa.
"Will there be tigers chasing you? Because that's the only way you'd ever run," the blond spoke, still holding on to the shirt Sarada had thrown at him.
The big girl eyed him, "I rather run from tigers than be stuck in here with you."
"I'll miss you too, Chocho,"
"Whatever," said girl sneered, a raised middle finger added for effect.
Chocho said her loud goodbyes to Sarada as the girl silently wondered if it would best to ask her to stay and continue to have her watching her every move or go and be alone with Boruto. Chocho didn't give her much choice; she simply patted her on the back and made her way to the door, making sure to close it well behind her.
"Want your shirt back?" Boruto called out to Sarada, "I'll trade it for mine."
She walked closer to him and pointed to the top she was wearing, "What, this old thing? It's a bit too short for you, isn't it?"
"That's because someone decided to cut it in half," the blond spoke as he threw himself onto the sofa that Chocho previously sat on, legs up and hands behind his head.
"It was a bit too long, looks much better like this, doesn't it?" Sarada spun a bit just to annoy him.
Boruto smirked, "If you left it long you could wear it as a dress."
"If I left it long it would still not be long enough to be a dress," she smirked back, "Also, now that I cut it short there is no way you will ever have it back."
He shrugged, "I wouldn't get it back either way, I'm not crazy enough to stand in between an Uchiha and their stuff. You guys are like dragons and gold."
Sarada sat next to his legs on the sofa as he shuffled a bit for her to have space, "you only know one more Uchiha other than me."
"That was enough to learn my lesson."
"Speaking of which, how long are you going to keep training with my dad?"
"Until he kills me, probably."
Sarada gave him a look and Boruto rushed to sit up, "You think I'm kidding?" He swiftly removed his shirt and showed his friend the newer scar that still glared dark red in his abdomen.
Sarada carefully brushed her fingers over it, "What happened?"
The blond noticed her concerned look and regretted ever mentioning this, "It's nothing, really."
She looked up at him, "This is not nothing, Boruto. You should really see my mom about this."
Boruto's eyes widened as he held her hand away, "Oh no. Every time I see your mom then the next day I have to work triple. I'm sure she tells him off and then I have to pay again."
Sarada crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, if papa does that to you he deserves to be scolded."
The blond grinned at her, "Ah, looked at you so worried about me!" he threw himself at Sarada, embracing her. His weight caught her by surprised and she was pushed back to lie on the sofa with Boruto on top of her.
The blond eventually heard her muffled cries from under him and pushed away slightly. Sarada opened her eyes and at first everything was a blur; her glasses were gone, Boruto was still leaning shirtless over her, one arm to each side of her head and his necklace dangling close to her face. She felt her blood rush to her face, a combination of his eyes staring intently at her, his bare chest being barely inches away and his smell being the only thing she could actually sense.
She tried to stop her brain form going mad the way it was. Yesterday she would have pushed him out as soon as he fell on her, mumbling about how he weighted as much as a horse and disguising her small blush.
Today she was looking at him and thinking if he ever meant anything else by all these little moments. If he ever felt like he could stay like this forever like she did right now.
She could swear she could even spot a small blush on his face. No. She needed to concentrate. She needed to remember Boruto was her friend; her unfortunately very attractive friend.
The blond man opened his mouth but Sarada spoke first, pressing one of her hands against his chest, "Boruto, stop."
He blinked at her, "Stop what?"
Sarada sighed, closing her eyes to focus. She opened them again with a more serious look, "Don't you think this looks weird?"
Boruto blinked again, confused, "What does?"
To be continued…
