Boruto was a tiny child when he met Himawari.
She was so small, with black hair and two small whisker marks. Mother held her and was smiling down at her, then looked up to Dad who had his arm around her, and was looking at them both, smiling himself.
Boruto felt very happy.
He sat on his father's lap, who was holding him steadily against himself. He extended his arms to his little sister. He couldn't hold her, for he was still small, but his small hand touched her petite face carefully and he felt a soft warmth under his fingertips.
Her eyes opened and showed a colour the same as his own. Boruto grinned at her. She stared back cluelessly, as she didn't know how to smile yet.
Weeks later she would show her first smile to her older brother. Her first grin, as he observed her through her crib, standing on a stool to view her from above. He would be mesmerised and spend many more early mornings here, sitting up as soon as he woke between his parents, his feet pattering gently on the wooden floor as he made his way to his baby sister's bed. He would have his fingers over the sheets of blankets below her tiny body and watch her sleep, her chest rise and fall. He likes watching her from the side more than from above. He would observe her thick hair, her pale skin, the thin blue and green veins across her forehead.
Himawari wasn't a loud baby. She didn't cry very much and she didn't make Mum and Dad as tired as Boruto had.
Boruto liked Himawari the most.
Some time soon, she'll open her eyes and stare blankly at the ceiling above her, and not cry or yell until Boruto hears Mum and Dad wake. He can hear it, not by the shuffling of their blankets or the quietening of their deep breaths, but he can hear them wake. And it seems Himawari can hear too.
She was such a tidy baby.
Sarada's childhood was happy. She grew up with the love of both her parents. They lived together in Uchiha Sasuke's old home. They ate together, laughed together, held hands, the three of them, when they took walks at twilight.
As she becomes older, Papa often has to leave the village for things. Some nights where Mama had to stay at the Konoha hospital, Sarada stays with the Uzumaki family. She plays with Boruto at the playground, sometimes ninja games, sometimes skipping rope. They eat dinner together; Uncle Naruto, Auntie Hinata, Boruto, Himawari. They watch television together after dinner, sometimes the three children, sometimes all five of them. Before bed, Auntie Hinata baths her and Himawari together.
There are two beds in Boruto and Himawari's room, yet Himawari often sleeps in Boruto's bed. When Sarada stays over, she joins them, and the three of them sleep close together on Boruto's bed all night.
Sometimes Sarada wakes up first and finds Boruto had fallen off the bed. Sometimes no one has fallen off the bed and they squash up to whoever is in the centre. Usually it's Himawari, but when it's Boruto, Sarada clings to him strongly in case he kicks her off the bed before he wakes up. Sometimes she's in the middle, and both Himawari and Boruto face her, hugging her unconsciously, and she doesn't miss her parents as much.
Once, when Papa had come home after a long trip, Uncle Naruto and Auntie Hinata invited her over for the night. The next day she goes home, and Mama and Papa are smiling and radiating with joy. Papa sweeps her up and embraces her, spins her around like she had seen him do to Mama before. The whole day was blissful, the three of them together, the entire day.
Boruto starts to understand Sarada more when Naruto becomes Hokage.
Whereas before his father spent lots of time being with him, the time gradually decreased. He misses his father, misses laughing with him, listening to his stories about great ninja, being told off by Mum to not do silly things, but laughing with them. He misses always seeing Daddy, misses seeing him and Mummy look at each other with icky sweet eyes. He wonders if Sarada felt the same before.
One night, when Naruto is working overnight at the office and Sakura on a night shift at the hospital, Himawari falls sick. Hinata takes her to the hospital, closer to their home than any other compound which had doctors. Boruto and Sarada are alone in the home that night.
They lay in bed together, on their backs, unused to the absence of a third gentle, soft warmth.
"Hey, Sarada," Boruto said out loud.
"What?"
"My dad is always gone."
"I know."
"My mum gets lonely." Boruto turns his back towards Sarada.
"I know."
"Does your mum get lonely too?"
"I think so." Sarada says quietly.
"...Do you ever miss him?" Boruto asks. His stubbornness only allows him to be so straightforward.
There is a pause. "Go to sleep." She replies, turning her back towards his back.
Boruto says no more and obeys. He wakes up in the middle of the night to a streak of moonlight from a gap in the curtain illuminating dried streaks of tears on Sarada's peaceful, sleeping face. He does not mention this when morning comes and they wake up together, feeling closer and more comforted than they had the previous night.
Sarada doesn't mention his tears, either.
Despite their relationship of childhood friends, after Boruto and Sarada entered the academy, they rarely spoke. It might have been a six-year-old phase. It might have been growing up.
Boruto became an active prankster, mostly to catch the attention of Naruto. Sarada indulged herself in books and lost interest in interpersonal relationships. She could not see the point of Boruto's pranks as they were not practical for he had to deal with the consequences himself. She could not imagine herself doing any of the things that he does on a regular basis; they were just too out of character for her personality.
Sarada became able to take care of herself. She stayed home alone on the occasional days when Sakura was busy overnight at the hospital. She was old enough, and she was a capable kunoichi. But what aspired her the most was hearing that Hokage-sama had been living by himself long before he entered the academy. The Hokage was a very admirable man, Sarada knew not only from growing up with his family in his house, but also from records of the past detailing all the events of history which have led to this moment.
Also, her own father had lived by himself from a young age.
She wanted to surpass her father by becoming capable at a younger age than he. (She wanted to be closer to him.)
This all meant she saw Boruto less, as she had no need to have sleepovers with the Uzumaki family anymore.
She didn't mind that much, really.
She sometimes remembers Auntie Hinata kissing Uncle Naruto when he comes home after a long day at work, about eating dinner at the rectangular table together and there being five chairs, with Hinata and Naruto sitting together on one side, Himawari, Boruto and herself sitting across them. She thinks about Boruto's silly antics after a delicious dinner cooked by Hinata, when he is full and energetic. She thinks about Himawari's cheerful energy radiating from her even when the sun isn't up. She thinks about Naruto and Hinata sitting on the couch, side by side, observing the three children contentedly.
At home, when the door is knocked, she rushes to it before Mama does. Most of the time the person behind it is not Papa, but when it is, Sarada jumps and throws herself onto her father who tells her Papa is home, and she has grown taller again. Papa carries her with both hands as Mama comes to the door, and they look into each other's eyes, and Mama wraps her arms around Papa, with Sarada between them.
Sarada does not sleep between her parents even on the rare nights when Papa is home, in order to show her maturity, in order for Papa to be proud of her. Her room is next to her parents', close enough that she feels safety through the wall between them. Papa and Mama sleep in their room together, and Sarada is sure that they hold each other close all night—just like she, Boruto and Himawari used to—and all the loneliness Mama has will dissolve into nothing.