AN: First I must apologize; my two-shot story has now become three chapters long. This is because I like to maintain story chapters within a similar number of words. I don't know how my stories always end up longer than I plan them to be -.-'. Thank you for reading, have a great day!

More than friends

Chapter 2

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?"

"This!" She spoke with irritation, looking around to see if he would realize the same thing she now did, "this whole-"

Noticing the hand on his chest, Boruto pulled back a bit, "Oh, you mean my shirt? I can put it back on-"

She looked away from him, "That's not what I meant-"

"Oh, you want it to stay off?" Boruto interrupted with a playful eyebrow wiggle.

"THIS, this is what I mean." Sarada gestured at him and earned little more than a confused stare as a response, "this is not normal."

The blond stayed quiet, which was considerably out of character for him. Sarada suspected this had very little to do with the nature of the conversation and a lot more related to the fact he had no idea what the hell was going on.

She sighed, "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Boruto prepared to make another unrequired joke that went somewhat along the lines of 'I usually don't'. Once he spotted how serious Sarada seemed to be about this whole issue, Boruto stopped himself. After all, he was quite fond of his nose and he didn't much want Sarada to break it.

He opted to answer with a hesitant shrug.

Sarada was angry. How can this idiot not know what she was talking about? It had clicked in her brain immediately when Chocho mentioned it but to him… maybe it was such an outrageous concept that he couldn't even realize it.

An angry temper took over her. Boruto was caught by surprise as Sarada picked up a pillow from the floor and repeatedly slammed him with it until feathers were flying everywhere,

" . .know!", she spoke through gritted teeth.

The young man crawled off the sofa ungracefully in surprise, putting his arms up to defend himself as he felt his bottom hit the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Boruto tried to stop her but the girl only came to a standstill when there was nothing left of the pillow to hit him with and they were completely surrounded by feathers. By this stage, Sarada was struggling to catch her breath while standing over a truly confused and somewhat scared Uzumaki. Someone should really do something about these unpredictable, bipolar Uchihas. Not him but, you know, someone.

"Are you-" the blond hesitantly started, "are you okay?"

Sarada said nothing, her shoulders still trembling from all the exasperation she was trying to contain.

Boruto came to the conclusion that showing weakness would probably be a mistake. Uchihas don't mix well with weakness but they do freeze at awkwardness and open displays of affection. He decided to try a different, more familiar approach.

"You know," he smiled slyly, "you're quite sexy when you're annoyed with me."

"Then I must be damn near irresistible right about now," Sarada sniped, firmly ignoring the (not entirely unpleasant) tingle in her stomach.

She stared at him while her annoyance slowly gave way to a bit of remorse. It was not Boruto's fault that he was an idiot and considering how blind she had been herself, she was really not in a place to judge him. She looked away from him as she sat on her knees.

The blond half-sat, half-laid on the floor in silence, all too cautious of Sarada's mood swings.

They sat in silence for a minute until Sarada decided it would drive her mad to not speak of this again. It was now or never.

"Chocho thinks," she started, trying not to give a second thought to how much the words she would speak would change their relationship, how far it would take them and how she would never be able to come back from this.

"Chocho thinks what?" Boruto quietly encouraged her to continue.

She sighed and looked away from him, "She thinks our relationship is weird."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Our relationship is weird?" he tilted his head slightly, "I guess it's a bit weird that our parents were mortal enemies and we get along so well. Then again they're annoyingly inseparable now, God knows which one is worse."

Sarada's eyes narrowed, "the first one. The first one was worst and almost caused the destruction of the world as we know it. But that's not what I meant."

The twitch coming up under her eye was clear indication to the blond that he should really manage this situation before another pillow was sacrificed.

"I'm sorry, I'm a dumbass," he spoke, he dragged himself closer to her and sat, crossing his legs under him. He then leaned towards his friend, his hand edging closer to hers as if he was asking permission to hold it. Sarada looked at his hand, considering the offer. He took that as permission, entangling his fingers with hers.

"I can see this is important to you," he spoke gently, "so… you were saying our relationship is weird?"

So he was smart enough to notice that but stupid to the point of not comprehending the obvious. All this kindness was making Sarada hate him and like him more, building up to a feeling of uncertainty she had felt a few times before.

"Yes, as in, you know…" she spoke, Boruto stared. He definitely did not know.

"Oh for the love of-" she released her hand from his in a quick move. Taking a deep breath in, she blurted out, "she thinks we act like lovers, not friends!"

Boruto blinked once. He then blinked again. After about five deadpan blinks he rushed to his feet and remained frozen in stunned silence.

Sarada stared at the floor; yes, it was pretty much going exactly as badly as she predicted it would. She stood, hesitantly facing him, "Are you okay?"

"I-" he started, "I don't know what to say."

This uncharacteristic silence and Boruto's stare caused Sarada's confidence to start wavering. What was she thinking, bringing this up with him? What good would it cause them to have tension added to their perfectly stable friendship?

She battled the idea that somehow Boruto would be completely aware of these rumors and could put her mind to rest with a dismissive joke. Either that or he would experience that strange excitement she had earlier about the possibility of their closeness meaning much more than friendship.

Sarada regretted these thoughts. She felt embarrassed for ever mentioning this to her friend and for ever considering there could be more to their relationship than both of them thought.

"I'd say nothing. Nothing's good. Go with nothing," she hurriedly spoke.

Boruto took her advice for once in his life and remained in silence.

To be completely honest, it was not the first time he had heard of this at all. He imagined this was such as much of a shock to Sarada as it had been to him the first time he was told about it by none other than his first real girlfriend who had pleasantly asked him to 'please stop staring at Sarada for a second so I can break up with you'.

He went through a surprisingly long phase of denial after that. That denial remained pleasantly dormant until this whole Chocho business.

But why would Chocho bring this up now? Boruto thought back to the last week or so, and couldn't see how his harassing behavior towards Sarada was anything stray from the norm.

Boruto lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head awkwardly, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Sarada muttered, trying to avoid eye contact, until the blond sighed loudly,

"How do other people behave in different gender friendships? What do we do that so abnormal?"

Sarada shrugged, going through a mental list of her male friends.

"I guess if you think about it that way I've only hugged Mitsuki about three times in my life."

The Uzumaki nodded, "Yeah, I don't really hug girls in general." Their eyes met and the fact that this conversation was not exactly working out in their favor was clear.

The awkwardness was then replaced by a silent mutual agreement that maybe this matter was best left buried and ignored as it had been up until this point.

"Maybe that means it's just something about us two," Boruto offered helpfully, a confident smile taking over his features.

"Yeah," Sarada agreed as she stood up from the floor, "we've know each other forever, it's not like we are the same as any other couple of friends."

He stepped closer to her, "of course. We're best friends, that's what we do."

She nodded vigorously in response, "Maybe some other best friends do it and we just never really paid attention."

"Exactly!" Boruto exclaimed, excitedly wrapping his arms around Sarada.

The blond smiled when he felt her face against his chest and her arms around his torso. His still very naked torso.

'Oh, no', the Uzumaki thought to himself as he felt her tense up in less than a second as she realized the shirt was absent. He rolled his eyes but did not let her go, "Sarada-" he started.

"You're still naked."

"Yes, well-"

"I did not realize you were still half-naked."

"Sarad-"

"I don't know what's worse, hugging you half naked right after this whole conversation or having done this so many times that it didn't even pop up in my mind that you were not fully dressed until my face was literally rubbing against your skin," she blurted out, edging away from him.

Boruto tightened his grip on her, resting his chin on top of her head, "Nothing has changed. It's just me, it's okay," he spoke gentle words of comfort until her wriggling settled down.

"Oh my God, my dad thinks we're together," she blurted out suddenly.

Boruto inched back in surprise, "wait, what?"

The dark haired girl took the chance to step away from him, "he bullies you all the time and you said his mood swings are getting worse. This explains why."

Boruto gave her a wry look, "it's not mood swings exactly. It's more like emotional parkour." He sighed, "you're making it sound like it's new behaviour, it's really not."

She glanced at him, "you said it was getting worse," she pointed at his wound, "if he did that every day you'd be dead by now."

Boruto instinctively covered his wound, looking around for his missing shirt "this is nothing." He got dressed while his friend was busy pacing around the room like a crazy person.

The blond massaged his temple, "Sarada, please-" she stopped to glare at him, then resumed her pacing, "you're being dramatic, it's fine." He was again ignored. "Look, the guys will be here in a minute and we'll ask them what they think."

Her pacing came to a halt. He took that as a cue to continue, "we can't just take Chocho's word for it, you know how she gets.

Sarada seemed to consider this, giving him a reluctant nod after a while. It really didn't mean much if the other boys didn't notice anything, as they were blind to half the things happening around them anyway. However, if they did notice there was definitely something to worry about.

If there was one thing Boruto could not cope well with was the feeling of powerlessness when it came to Sarada. He could not bear to see her like this, pacing around a room, a worried mess about something that seemed partly his fault. 'Partly' as he would forever blame this whole ordeal on Chocho and her ability to mess with people's lives like a village Oprah.

Sarada picked her glasses up from the floor. She put them on and faced her friend with a sad smile, "what if we can't go back to what we were before, Boruto?"

It had been a while since Sarada had seen her friend as tense as he looked right now.

A loud bang was heard for the second time that day, as the door was again slammed open, this time by Iwabee's strong kick.

"Thanks for the help, guys!" He shouted sarcastically, "couldn't you find a heavier table?"

Mitsuki smiled at them as he came in, holding on to the other side of the heavy piece of furniture.

"I swear fifteen years of shinobi training could not prepare me for how troublesome it is to move out," he continued as he walked in between the couple, "where would you like your massive table my lady?"

"The kitchen, please." The lack of comeback from Sarada surprised the boy.

He narrowed his eyes and look back and forward from Boruto to Sarada, "Right," he started, "kitchen it is then."

Boruto continued to stare at Sarada, her last words ringing continuously in the back of his mind. His lips pursed, "Mitsuki, forget that."

Boruto held his friend back and Iwabee was left on the other side of the table, mouth gaping open at the weight slammed on him. Before he could phrase his indignation at this insult, the blond spoke,

"Do you think there is something weird about Sarada and me," he wavered momentarily, "About our relationship?"

An awkward silence followed.

Iwabee was the one to break the silence by the table's wood scraping across hard floors as he tried to ever so gently drag the piece of furniture to a room where this conversation was not happening. Three heads snapped to look at him, he waved dismissively and whispered, "just pretend I'm not here."

"Let me help you-" Mitsuki tried but the darker boy stopped him,

"Nah, you do your thing. I'll just drop the table in the kitchen and leave through the window so I won't bother you guys."

Boruto and Sarada exchanged a look. This was a conversation that neither their friends nor themselves seemed particularly keen to have.

Iwabee found strength in his purpose to avoid the conversation at all costs and fully independently dragged the table to the kitchen, flinging the door shut. All at a surprising speed.

"I will ask again," Boruto stepped closer to the blue haired boy, "Do you think there is something weird about our relationship?"

Mitsuki leaned against the kitchen door, internally praying for someone to save him.

At his lack of response, Sarada rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Ask the guy who calls you his sun, that will work out."

Boruto did not take his eyes off his pale friend, trying to encourage him to answer.

"Hm," Mitsuki spoke, the same familiar smile stuck on his face.

"Hm?" Boruto repeated, "'Hm' is not an answer."

He nodded, "I don't want to answer."

Boruto tried to stress the relevance of his question by grabbing the other boy by the shoulders, "Mitsuki, this is extremely important and NOT optional."

Mitsuki wondered how many times in his life had he dropped hints about how his two friends would make a great couple straight to their faces and the equivalent number of times he had been ignored.

He liked them both. He understood them both. Separately. They were quite easy to comprehend separately. Now when we joined the 'BoruSara' spectrum, things became much more complicated. Complicated as in it would be easier for Mitsuki to figure out how to send a rocket to the moon than understand whatever the hell those two were to each other.

Boruto and Sarada had an incredible relationship like nothing he had ever seen before. They trusted each other as friends do, they worked well together as colleagues do and they played so often near the couple line that sometimes he felt like he had stepped too much into their world.

Their relationship was close, and almost ridiculously romantic. He decided the best way was to say just that, it seemed harmless enough.

"I think you are very good friends,"

His two teammates released a relieved sigh, "Yes, thank you!"

"You have a very close relationship," Mitsuki continued and the other two's smiles started to waver, "Overall it's very romantic."

Sarada fought the urge to punch him; Boruto slapped his own forehead with his palm, shaking his head at the missed chance to put this conversation to an end.

Mitsuki realized their disappointment and desperately tried to make up for his words, "But it's a good thing," he nodded, "it just means that you have such a special friendship that borderlines on romance!"

Sarada rubbed her temple, "please shut up, Mitsuki."

"No, I really mean it." He stepped towards his friends, "You work really well together and you care for each other but then you get those little couple aspects that most relationships don't have-"

He did not find the need to stop at the other two's bewildered expressions, "You buy each other random stuff," Mitsuki continued as Boruto raised his hands to signal his friend to stop.

"You share food," Mitsuki continued, ignoring the blond's plea, "You are touching constantly," he added, "you care too much for each other's dates,"

Sarada snorted loudly. "That is not true," she pointed at Boruto, "if I cared about the girls this idiot dates I would have stopped him from going out with brainless bimbos every two weeks."

Boruto poked his tongue out at her. Mitsuki shrugged, "Well, you have dragged me along to a few of his dates." He got himself a scowl from Sarada, whose cheeks were now tinted with a curious shade of pink, for his disloyal statement. "You know, the most promising ones," he continued, making everything worse.

"Yeah, that's true." The blond nodded to Sarada with a confident smirk, crossing his arms in superiority, "you've dropped by my dates loads of times."

"I do that so we-" she pointed in between her and Mitsuki, "can make sure you are not dating someone that could try to murder you at some point!"

The blond looked away in slight embarrassment, "That only happened once."

Sarada rested her hands on her hips, "You didn't want to stop the date when she tried to kill you."

Boruto shrugged and looked at Mitsuki for support, "in my defence she was hot."

The Uchiha flipped her hair over her shoulder, "THAT is why we drop in on your dates."

"I'm old enough to know what's best for me."

Sarada scoffed, "dying is best for you?"

"It doesn't matter! You don't have the right to interfere with whom I date."

Mitsuki muffled a laugh. They turned to him in unison, "what?"

"I was just thinking back to that time when you interfered and threw Sarada's date from a third story window."

The girl gapped at them, "You did what?"

Boruto's right eye twitched; Mitsuki appeared particularly interested in giving away secrets today. The blond turned to Sarada and tried to explain himself, "He was a shinobi and he was fine."

"I'll assume you knew that," Mitsuki interrupted.

The blond gave him a betrayed look as Sarada recalled the event, "he broke an arm."

Boruto waved dismissively at her, "He has two."

Their fight continued as Sarada accused Boruto of violence and he in turn condemned her for sabotage. It was puzzling for Mitsuki how his two friends could behave like this all the time and still miss the reason why people took them for a couple.

Mitsuki guessed love was blind after all. Or at least these two were.

To be continued…