Chapter 9: Collisions Pt.1

An email from Chouchou says that she, Iwabe and Denki are coming to Japan to check on Sarada after a long period of unresponsive emails. Now Sarada has to find a way to entertain them without letting them find Sasuke. At the same time, Boruto is losing patience with Sarada's not letting him in on her secret. It doesn't get any easier when both groups of friends meet and don't get along. Will Sarada be able to play these charades long enough to hide her identity between both groups?


"And done." I lick the stamp and put it at the top right corner of Karin's post card. I hope each one of these bring some sort of ease to her about my whereabouts. I never leave an address for her to trace me back to, but it still eases my conscience somewhat.

As for my ankle, luckily it turned out to not be as serious as Sasuke thought it'd be. Just some bed rest and raising my foot while I slept, and I was able to walk on it in a few days. I'm all better by now. And even more so - Sasuke and I have been getting closer too. A lot less tension with him in general in the house for everybody. It's pretty refreshing.

"Hey kid," Sasuke's voice knocks. I look over my desk chair and see him leaning in from the door. "Breakfast's ready downstairs."

"I'll be right there," I smile, finishing up my stuff. He smiles back and heads down before me. After a few moments, a small solemn frown falls over me.

On the flip side, Boruto and I have been reduced to one word conversations if we ever cross paths in the mansion. Ever since our argument after the basketball game, things just fell really hard between us. He's been ignoring me more, and smiling a lot less with me. I try acting civil or asking what he's up to, but his answers all come out unenthusiastic and fast to leave.

To be honest it kind of sucks.

I sigh, leaning back in my chair, looking back at my open door. "Boruto's stopped waking me up for breakfast too," I realize. I never noticed how routine it became for him to wake me up some ridiculous way every morning and scream at me to come down for breakfast. As of lately it's always been a maid. And today, I guess I'm a little late and Sasuke came up to get me instead.

Is it bad when it's Sasuke having to come get me?

"Agh," I groan, running my hands through my hair. Why is Boruto still frustrating even when he isn't talking to me?!

I check my phone and realize how much time has passed since Sasuke came in actually, and I rush out. Downstairs in the kitchen, I see everyone already eating and Hinata just sitting down, having just served everybody. "Good morning!" I report, rushing to my chair.

"Sarada hey," Naruto laughs, mistaking my rushed entrance for food-eagerness. I see fruits and pancakes over my plate. "How's the ankle?"

"A lot better today thanks!" I smile.

"She helped me carry groceries yesterday," Hinata brags, also glad my foot is doing better.

"If it were up to me she'd still be in bed," Sasuke says, busy with business on his phone while he drinks his coffee.

"You're the worst," Naruto frowns almost comically. "If she had a paper cut you'd send her off to the emergency room at the rate you're going."

"And what's wrong with that," Sasuke says monotone, keeping his eyes to his phone.

The irked Naruto seems annoyed with Sasuke's passiveness. "And what the heck are you doing so glued to your phone anyway? It's breakfast, you know," he points with his fork.

"I'm replying to emails, dobe," Sasuke says.

As Sasuke and Naruto do their one-sided argument again, I look across at Boruto who's eating quietly to himself. He barely interacts with me if at all anymore during breakfast. I used to try making conversation before, but now it's almost sad trying. It's been this way for a week now.

Then I hear a ping from on my phone. After the ankle incident, Sasuke's been unusually overprotective and wound up buying me a temporary cell phone to use during my stay - that way he could check up on me during work. It's a little much sometimes, but I try to appreciate it.

Anyway I slide it under the table and check the message. It's my email reminding me I have 30 unread emails. How redundant. Hm, that is a lot. I've been pretty busy though so I guess I haven't run through them as often as I used to. I better check these.

Hinata seems to notice the air around our side of the table anyway, and goes to elbow her son. "Are you and Sarada okay?" she whispers.

"We're fine," Boruto replies, continuing to eat.

I click through my emails as discretely as I can over my phone, under the table. About half of them are junk email, but the other half are coming from my friends at home. From Chouchou. From Denki. Even Iwabe. Multiples from them. Agh, I should've been checking my emails. They must be worried sick without getting a reply this long.

Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke's arguement seems to be filling in the silence. "Why can't you just relax like the rest of us for once when we're at the table?!" Naruto goes on.

"You guys should be lucky I'm even here to begin with. I could easily be doing this from the peace of my office."

"YOU ARE SUCH AN AGGRAVATING ASSHOLE!"

Hinata rubs the bridge of her nose. Between her moody son and Sasuke and Naruto with their back and forth banter, this has slowly become the norm lately of breakfasts. It's not the worst in the world, but it is pretty rowdy. Poor Hinata.

"Hm?" Boruto can see small lights reflecting in my glasses looking down. She's on her phone too?

I tap the latest email my friends have sent me. It's a pretty long one compared to their usual. I arch my brows and zoom in to read more clearly. It's from Chouchou.

Hey Sarada,

It's been over a week since we've heard from you last, and we're getting kind of worried. Denki's dad has over overseas where you are coincidentally this weekend, and Denki, Iwabe and I managed to convince him to let us tag along. We booked a hotel in your area and we'll be flying over to Japan soon. We should be landing by Saturday. If you can read this, we'll be at the Leafville Hotel checking in by 11 am. We have room 310. We hope can see you soon girl! We miss you! And we're uber worried!

Luv,
Chouchou.

o

m

g

They're here.

Like, right fucking now.

"U-Um," I speak up automatically. Shit I opened my mouth before thinking of what I was gonna say. Somehow the quiet 'um' managed to catch everyone's attention, despite everything else going on at the table. "I-I, uh," I clear my throat, "I'm gonna head out today. I have plans."

"You have plans," Boruto repeats in disbelief.

"Yeah," I say defensively. Now he talks? "I just want to do some shopping, you know, go out and explore the town on my own. I've been around enough to know the streets by myself."

"No way," both Naruto and Sasuke say sternly together.

Oh come on. "Please?" I say. "I've been cooped up in the mansion all week waiting for my leg to heal. I'm desperate for some outside time. Besides, I can't remember the last time I had a good day out to myself."

"You're what, twelve?" Sasuke argues. "You're not going out alone."

"Boruto gets to," I argue, pointing at him. Naruto and Hinata quickly look at one another.

"You're not going out. End of discussion," Sasuke says calmly but strictly. With one more frown, I stuff my phone in my pocket and leave the table, taking my empty plate and glass with me and putting it in the sink. I take my leave and only hear silence in the background.

"Well that was pretty harsh," Hinata speaks up first after I leave. "And we do let Boruto out by himself. Why can't Sarada?"

Naruto bites his lip. "We-"

"It's different with her," Sasuke speaks over Naruto accidentally. "She's not from here. Even if she says she knows her way around already, I don't feel safe letting her out without a chaperone."

"Someone's pretty protective," Naruto teases, earning a predictable glare.

Hinata rolls her eyes and gets up, wiping her mouth with a cloth. "I'm gonna go talk to her." Hinata goes off and rushes behind me, leaving all the boys at the table.

"Smooth," Boruto mutters for the two adults, finishing his orange juice.

"Geez. I should've known Sasuke would've shot me down," I sigh, about to climb up the main stair case. I've gotta get out of here before Chouchou and the others find me.

"Wait!" Hinata calls faintly behind. I stop and see her coming up to me with a smile. She takes my hands, opens them, and puts a pouch into it and closing my hands around it. "Here's some money. You have my permission to go."

I blink as my glasses fall a bit. Is Hinata really doing this? "What?"

"I know what it's like to be a girl and cooped up for no real reason," Hinata smiles empathetically. "Besides, you've been patient enough with Sasuke's overprotective orders while you were healing. You deserve a day out and some adventure. No chaperone needed. I trust you."

"Hinata..." That's one of the nicest things anyone here has ever said to me.

"Just be back by 8:00 for dinner," Hinata compromises. "And keep your phone on you in case anything happens."

I rush into her with a hug. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

"Haha," Hinata rubs my back. "Now go. Before Naruto and Sasuke catch you." I nod quietly and grinning before heading out the front door.

Meanwhile all the boys hear the front door open and close, and know full well Hinata must've let me out anyway. Sasuke can tell, but kind of just lets it be. Never before has he been so over protective of anybody, and his pride is trying to hide that fact for now.

As for Boruto, he picks at the last few bits of fruit on his plate. She got a text or something from somewhere. She never has a particular reason for wanting to leave the mansion. And so suddenly. The fork he's using to play with the fruit misses a grape. Something's up. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. Today. "I can go watch her."

"Huh?" Naruto hears. Sasuke also finally looks away from his phone and paperwork and over to Boruto.

"I'll follow her," Boruto volunteers seriously, similar to Sasuke's tone. "Make sure she's out of trouble and whatever. Is that okay?"

"That's definitely okay," both Sasuke and Naruto say at the same time, both clearly getting annoyed with their in sync thoughts. It does weird Boruto out a little bit, but the boy leaves his plate in the sink and runs out to catch up with me.

"You care," Naruto grins with a pointing finger.

And Sasuke's face is flat.

Boruto appears at the front of the mansion, and can see me just running down the front pathway towards the gate. Boruto can see me from a distance, running for the bus stop. Where the hell is she going in such a rush? And then it clicks. He recalls talking to me once, about why I'd come here in the first place. "Did she find that guy she was looking for?"

Boruto pulls out his phone and sends an emergency text to Mitsuki, Shikadai, and Inojin.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I gotta get to those guys before any trouble comes up!" I pant in a panic. God I'm so out of shape. I make it to the bus stop that should take me downtown to their hotel. Man, and I was just going to relax and mope in my room all day. Who knows, maybe this will be better. I shouldn't have so much anxiety over seeing my friends. I should be happy.

But last I remember, Chouchou and the others think I found my dad. And I did. But they also think he and I get along great and we're catching up on all these lost years together like a happy reunited family. They don't know Sasuke doesn't recognize me. "What am I going to tell them?" I realize, sitting down on the bus stop bench.

Do I say the truth? Or just act like everything's okay for now? Whatever happens, when it comes down to it Sasuke CAN NOT know about any of this.

While I sit by myself, panicking over multitudes of hypotheticals, in the distance around a corner hides Boruto, Shikadai, Mitsuki and Inojin - all just watching. "Why are we doing this again?" Mitsuki asks.

"I'm tired of this girl's secrets," Boruto mutters, aggravated by the secrets. "She got a message or something during breakfast, and she's probably going to meet someone."

"She could possibly be going on a date, you know," Inojin frowns, having thought this was more serious.

"Jealous much?" Shikadai suggests, kind of amused.

"It's not a fucking date," Boruto argues in aggravation to his ridiculous friends.

"I didn't think she knew the area well enough to go out on her own," Mitsuki notes unbiased. "For all we know she could think she's going somewhere and be meeting up with all the wrong people."

"Ah, so we're following her because you're worried about her," Inojin gathers together.

I'm gonna seriously kill these guys. "For the last time no! She's hiding shit and I'm gonna follow her and get down to the bottom of it!"

"You and your conspiracies," Shikadai sighs, shaking his head. "This is such a drag. We're gonna end up following her and it'll lead absolutely no where."

"Wait here comes her bus!" Inojin announces as one comes and I stand up to flag it down.

Boruto looks at the back sign of the bus to see it's destination. "It's going downtown."

"My driver's just across the street. Let's follow it," Mitsuki heeds, and the rest of the boys run across the street as I board the bus.

I hand the bus fare to the driver and go to take my seat. I can't remember the last time I was on a bus. Maybe back home, but that feels like a forever ago. At the same time it also feels like ages since I've seen my friends.

"Deep breath Sarada," I sigh. Try not to be so nerve wrecked about all the secrets. Just be happy you get to see a little taste of home again. Deep down, despite bonding with Sasuke and making new friends, I'll always feel a little homesick. "This will be a good day. This will be a good day."

The bus ride is fifteen minutes down a few streets of Japan. Being out alone like this is a little nerve wrecking, but it is a little freeing. I feel like a tourist almost. As my stop comes close, I hit the button to request my stop, and eventually I get off and smell the air. Such good food and vibes down here. It's the shopping district, and I remember this is where Boruto and I walked to for his birthday.

But just the thought of his face sends a short pang of guilt down.

"Forget about him for now," I say, shaking my head. I'll worry about fixing things between him and me after this ordeal with my friends is over. I see their place of stay in the distance and realize just how big the Leafville Hotel is. Wow. "Leave it to Denki's dad to find the best place to stay."

As I go to the crosswalk to get to the hotel, a parked car rolls down its windows, an it's Boruto and the boys all in the back seat with wide or squinted eyes. "A hotel," Mitsuki says, stating the obvious.

"She's meeting someone there?" Shikadai blinks in disbelief. "That's pretty weird."

"It's worse than I thought," Inojin agrees. "I guess Boruto really was onto something."

"Damn right I am," Boruto glares with a fist. "Let's go before we lose her."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After going to the concierge and telling them I was here to visit, I gave the room number and got the approval to go up to them. The third floor. By the time I reach the floor and am walking down looking for the right room, I feel a knot in my chest.

Will they be happy to see me? Would they be angry? I still don't know what I'm going to tell them about my family situation. I sigh out, getting closer to the number. "I can do this."

And then it's room 310. With one more deep breath I knock on the door. "Hello?" I call, knocking one more time. I hear foot steps and brace myself, but when it unlocks I'm met with a woman, with the deepest red eyes. Not what I was expecting either. "Hi," she grins. "You must be the girl the concierge called me up about."

"Uh," I blink. "Y-Yeah. Is um, this where Chouchou, Denki and Iwabe are staying?"

"Yup! They're out exploring downstairs in the lobby. They left right before you called up," she grins. "I'm Mirai, Denki's dad hired me to be their chaperone. If you go down you should run into them eventually."

"Great! Thank you!" I say with a bow before running off.

So they are here! And they're so close. Instead of the stairs I go into the glass tube elevator. It would be much faster. However my excitement of meeting them dies quickly when I look back through the glass and I see the lobby coming slowly into view below. I try to look for Chouchou and the guys, but instead in a clump I catch Boruto, Mitsuki, shikadai and Inojin. ALL in a group, talking and looking around.

Oho.

Oh ho no no no no no no no no.

"Oh my god what are those guys doing here?!" I panic as the elevator reaches lower and lower. My hands rest on the back glass as I lose track of Boruto and his gang. I need to find Chouchou, Denki and Iwabe. Now. Before the guys do.

But they can't catch me.

Or Chouchou and the guys can't.

Agh. "This is, going to be so much more trouble than it was supposed to be," I say clutching my head.

The elevator bell dings, and it opens for me as I sprint right out. I try to hide within the crowd while at the same time trying to find my friends and keep away from Boruto and the others. Yeah. That's the plan.

"Sarada?" Shikadai speaks up some feet behind me. Are you kidding me.

I look back and see just him, with the boys facing other directions. My eyes widen and I sprint away into the crowd. I overhear him telling Boruto he saw me before their voices blur out. "Chouchou!" I call loudly but quietly, if that makes any sense. "Iwabe! Denki!"

I see a tall hat-wearing kid, and from behind I immediately recognize him as Iwabe. "Iwabe!" I call out, running to him.

The guy turns around and sees me immediately throughout the people. "Sarada!" he grins in excitement. His arms are open for a bro-shake and hug bug I grab his arm and immediately tug him into a run instead. "What hey what's the rush?"

"We gotta find Denki and Chouchou where are they?"

"They're around somewhere-"

"Awesome! I see them across the room!"

"Why are we running?" Iwabe tries to say, tugging me to a stop and turning me around. "Do you have any idea how worried we've been about you? Are we hiding from somebody?"

Sort of. "I'll explain later, just keep your head down," I say, shoving his head down with my hand and pulling him along again.

"I saw her with a guy just now!" Inojin tells the guys as they wave through the crowd together. "They went that way."

"I'm gonna get her now," Boruto says competitively, leading his troop through.

Chouchou and Denki are sitting in the center of the lobby on some couches, and I manage to drag Iwabe all the way over in peace. "You guys!" I call.

"Sarada?" Denki realizes, but I'm already caught in this massive hug by Chouchou.

"Girl you had me worried sick!" Chouchou exclaims, waddling in our hug from side to side. I can't help but laugh and hug her back too. "Oh my god look at your clothes! And you smell like rich people!"

"Haha! You smell good too Chouchou," I laugh, finally parting from her. "Oh my gosh I can't believe you guys are really here."

"Same to you," Iwabe says seriously. "Guess you actually made it to Japan after all."

"We were wondering about you a lot," Denki says from the couch. He goes on to say more, but I already see Boruto and the guys in the distance. Getting too close. "-and then my dad said we could tag along. We wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to you. We're only here for today though since we leave tomorrow morning. Did you wanna hang out and show us around?-"

"Sorry Denki I'll be right back," I hurry, apologetically speeding off as I noted for them to stay put. Hopefully they do. I must look so suspicious right now. "I have to get the guys out of here first."

Meanwhile with the boys sticking together, and Boruto desperately looking around for me, Mitsuki finally spots a certain head running towards them. "It's Sarada," Mitsuki notifies with a hand on Boruto's shoulder.

"Sarada," Shikadai catches me in my out of breath stance. All of us are finally together, and I can barely stand with all this running back and forth. "Jesus what's been up with you?"

"And where's that guy you were with?" Inojin adds.

"What guy?"

"Don't play dumb Sarada. We saw you," Boruto cuts to the chase.

"I'm more upset about what you're all doing here. Did you follow me?" I accuse.

"Hell yeah we did. What do you think you're doing here? Don't you have any self respect?"

What? "Boruto what the hell are you talking about?"

"Sarada's been gone a while," Chouchou says meanwhile by the couches. "Where'd she disappear off to?"

"I have no idea," Denki sighs, looking around again. But he gasps and adjusts his glasses to be sure he's really seeing this. He sees me, appearingly surrounded by four guys, one of them argueing with me. "Sarada's over there with a bunch of guys. They look like they've got her cornered." Denki squints, seeing a blond arguing close to my face. "I think she needs our help."

"You all need to go home right now," I lecture to the boys in as serious a tone I can muster. "Following me here? That's so wrong."

"Boruto was just worried about you, Sarada," Inojin tries to defend.

"Was not," Boruto argues back for what seems like not the first time, only for Inojin to roll his eyes.

"And what business could you possibly have at a hotel?" Shikadai honestly asks skeptically. I'll admit, it does look pretty sketchy.

"Uh..."

"Sarada?" Chouchou speaks up.

My heart skips a beat, and looking back all of us see Chouchou, Denki, and Iwabe standing in clear view right behind me. And Boruto and the guys in front of me. And I'm smack damn in the middle of it all. I can't believe this.

Somehow looking at the situation, they're not all really looking at me. Rather, at each other. Suddenly Boruto's and the others' aggression is targeted towards the group opposite them. As for the others behind me, they're all equally suspiciously staring at the boys.

"Who are you guys?" Chouchou speaks up bravely, her hands on her hips. "Were you picking on Sarada?"

"Don't worry Chouchou, they're just being guys," I say with a short glare at Boruto. "These are some friends I made while I've been here in Japan. This is Boruto, Mitsuki, Shikadai and Inojin."

"You know these commoners?" Inojin stares. Inojin you did not just say that.

"Excuse me?" Iwabe frowns.

"And these are my friends from back home," I turn, holding my arms up to the three. "Where I came from?" I emphasize to the clearly caught dead wrong boys.

"Friends from home?" Shikadai repeats, slowly piecing things together. "From the U.S?"

"Duh," Chouchou frowns with some attitude.

"They came to see me!" I cover. It's true. "'Cause they missed me so much!" Somehow the follow up of silence makes me even more anxious. These groups totally hate each other. "How about some lunch, haha?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Lucky for me, everyone is at least acting civil. And paying attention to every conversation going in within these groups, no one has mentioned Sasuke luckily. I'm okay with them all being mad at me even. As long as my secret stays safe and today goes over alright, I can deal with the aftermath just fine.

Luckily they're only in Japan for today. If I keep everyone away from Sasuke and the mansion, it'll all be alright. But now it also means I have to keep Boruto and the boys in sight at all times until the day is over.

We're all eating lunch at a small outdoor cafe together. Of course somehow, both groups are seated across and opposite one another. And very rarely do they conversate together. More so just within friend groups. Part of me wishes everyone would get along, but I guess this is fine too.

"So did you guys all order the cheapest things on the menu because they're commoner priced?" Mitsuki asks to the people across him.

"Are you serious?" Chouchou glares.

"Quite," Mitsuki goes on, not reading the social cues. "I listened in on your orders and noticed you all ordered from the lower priced portion of the menu. I will be happy to pay for your meals if you cannot afford to do so by yourselves."

"We're just fine, thank you," Iwabe glares.

I bury my forehead in my hands. I know Mitsuki was trying sincerely to just conversate, but that could not have gone any worse. "So," I begin, to try and at least bridge the storming gap. "My friends are all free today. Why don't you guys join us in showing them around? We can all hang out together," I suggest to Boruto and the others. "We don't get to all hang out as a bunch of kids without adults that often. Let's make the most of today."

The silence that comes after is rather disappointing. This feels so... unheartening.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Boruto speaks up. He gets up and goes to leave inside the cafe for the restroom, and instinctively I excuse myself and follow behind.

"Boruto wait up," I plead. He keeps going, ignoring me, prompting me to walk a little faster. I reach him just before the bathrooms down a small hallway. Grabbing his wrist I turn him around to face me. We're completely alone. "Are you done being a jerk?"

"Are you done being a liar?"

"You are being so unfair," I saw with a light shove. "First you ignore me for a week, and then you tail me and drag the guys into this, and now you're trying to bail after messing all this up?"

"Look, I get that you're mad. And that's totally fine," he scoffs with his hands up. "But if you were just gonna see some friends why didn't you just say so if it wasn't a big deal? Why do you have to be so cryptic with everything you do? It's so annoying! Unless-" Boruto's eyes crack, and his face changes slightly. "Unless... this is all a part of your 'dramatic' secret, and seeing your friends is just a cover up."

My lack of response answers it all.

"Ha," Boruto nods. "And you're not gonna tell me anything are you." There's a competitive stare off between us. I open my mouth, but literally nothing is coming out.

Eventually, Boruto sighs and turns his back on me. "Whatever. I give up. Whatever it is that's going on I hope you get caught in front of everybody with all your lies. I'm out of here." He turns away from the bathroom and passes me, shoving my shoulder with his own on his way.

I'm about to let him walk away. Would it really be okay to let Boruto leave? He'll just go home and mope in his room most likely. I doubt he'll snitch on me with Sasuke, but this all just feels wrong.

I hate having a conscience. "Help me!" I plead out, causing Boruto to stop walking. He's listening. "I need to stall going back to the mansion, until later tonight. Sasuke can't know about any of this. And, I can't let anybody in this group disband until the day is over. And do to that, everyone needs to get along."

Boruto's back is still turned to me down the hall.

"I can't do it without you being here," I reason. "You're one of the only level-headed people in the group."

"Why?" he asks ridiculously. "This is insane."

"I am hiding something," I finally admit, and Boruto's eyes clear up a little bit. Was he not expecting me to just blurt it out so easily? "From everybody," I add. "And right now, I just can't leave anybody and risk them finding Sasuke or the mansion or anything."

'What. Did you make up something about Sasuke to your friends to impress them? Is that it?"

In a way he's kind of right. "No no, just, agh," I groan. "My friends are just here for a day, Boruto. A day. That's it. I just need your help getting through today without them mentioning anything about Sasuke-"

"And you can't tell me why," he predicts knowingly.

I bite my lip hard. Make it or break it Sarada. "If you help me today, I'll tell you everything tonight I promise," I compromise, walking up to him and holding his hands. In the dim lighting Boruto can feel his face warm up. "I'm sorry for always keeping you in the dark about, everything. I've been a jerk, too. It's not fair that you've been helping me and I can't let you in on anything."

"You promise?" Boruto asks disbelievingly, almost not believing it.

I nod, not sure what else I can give him. "I'll tell you everything after today is over."

Boruto looks hesitant, but seems to give in. "Okay."

"Really?"

Tiredly he nods. "Yeah... And I'm sorry for following you with all the guys. That was crossing a line and I shouldn't have done that."

I hold my hand out to him in a hand shake. "Are we cool then?"

He looks at it then at me, then back down with a tired smile. "We're cool." We complete our handshake. "You so owe me."

"I know," I admit. "We should get back out there before Mitsuki says something else and they all kill each other." Boruto chuckles and we head back outside together to the table.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Meanwhile back at the Uchiha Mansion, Naruto and Sasuke are both sitting in his office, doing their daily workload in silence. While Naruto is seated at the side of the desk overlooking document after document after document, Sasuke meanhile is in the head seat, tapping his pen every now and then having stared at the same piece of paper for... a while actually.

After about the twentieth pen-tap, Naruto gives in and finally dares to look at the man. "Okay," he starts, "you are clearly distracted."

"What makes you say that."

"I'm on page eleven, dude," Naruto points out. Both of them look at Sasuke's paper. "You're still on one." Naruto's mouth flattens. "Obviously something's up if I'm ahead." Sasuke chuckles and shakes his head, dropping the sheet on his desk. "Look this if this is about Sarada let it go! She's fine."

"I don't know why I can't just call her. That's why I bought her the damn cell phone in the first place."

"I already said, bad idea," Naruto insists. "Trust me. If you call now it's just going to get on her nerves after how hard she tried to get out of here. She's probably not even going to answer you. And besides, her ankle's all better, Boruto's with her - that should be enough."

Naruto sounding like the voice of reason was totally new to both of them. Nontheless, Sasuke didn't look too persuaded. "Let me ask you something."

"Shoot."

"How did you and Hinata become comfortable with letting Boruto go out alone?"

Naruto blows some air and sits back, trying to remember. "The phone helped," Naruto shrugs, remembering that much. "His phone bill is a bit much but it's worth knowing he's reachable."

"I'm surprised you and Hinata aren't constantly checking up on him what with how often he leaves the mansion."

"We could," Naruto also shrugs, "but then it'd mean we don't trust him." And there in-lied the answer. "We've built up a habit with Boruto at least telling us where he's going before he leaves, and when he'll be back. And whatever he says, we just take his word."

"That easily?"

"He's never come home later than he said he would before," Naruto admits. "We got lucky. He's a bit of a brat but he's been a good kid." He watches Sasuke lean over his desk a bit, folding his hands together in front of his face - a posture Sasuke often does when he's deep in thought. And for once it's not work related. "That worried, huh?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Um, yeah," Naruto almost laughs. "Come on lighten up, man. What's the problem?"

"You didn't see how hurt she looked when she fell," Sasuke points out. "I'm just having trouble letting go, that's all. She's, fragile."

"She's a kid. She's probably gonna have a few more broken bones before she reaches our age."

Sasuke chuckles, shaking his head and praying that's just a tasteless joke. He runs his hands over his face, feeling a migrane coming on. "This is so annoying."

"Worrying non-stop?" Naruto leans over. "That's called being a parent. And it gets easier building trust." He sees Sasuke eyeing his office phone, and my small succulent plant of a gift beside it. "So, I highly urge you, as your best friend and most trusted advisor, to not call her."

The two are off on a stern staring contest in total silence. It's an almost light atmosphere between them, Naruto fighting the urge to smile and laugh again. Just imagine - Sasuke Uchiha, playing the overprotective father figure. Just in time, a buzzing text comes from Sasuke's phone in his pocket.

Checking it, Naruto tries to peer over. "Who is it?"

"It's Sarada," Sasuke sighs, not wanting to admit Naruto was right. "She texted she's with Boruto and that they'll be out the whole day with friends. They'll be back for dinner."

The blonde grins. "There."

Sasuke has a hint of a smile as he puts his phone done, his mind finally able to rest easy so he can resume work. When he goes to reach for his papers again, he winces at how close Naruto's face suddenly is to him, wearing the most ugly and smug expression. A vein throbs in Sasuke's head as he shoves his friends' face out of his space strong enough to the ground. "Get back to work."


AH! It's so close! Will Boruto really find out that Sarada is Sasuke's daughter? Or will it all just spill out? I'm having so much fun writing this in my spare time - and bringing back Chouchou and the others is super entertaining for me. I'm trying to squeeze in more Boruto moments and SasukexSarada father-daughter moments too, haha!

Hopefully I'll update again within the next week or two! Thank you again for reading and all your review so far! Let me know what you guys think!

PREVIEW:

"This isn't going so well," Boruto whispers to me.

"You just realized this now?" I comment. "And could your friends be any more vain-sounding?"

"They're your friends too now don't you forget." Jeez.

x-x-x-x-x

"So," Iwabe whispers, leaning in after looking over his shoulder. "What's up with you and that Boruto kid?"

"What do you mean?"

"You two obviously like each other," he points out maturely. "And you seem pretty close already."

x-x-x-x-x

"W-What do you mean Sasuke doesn't know?" Chouchou tries to reason out. Everyone's eyes are on me from where they are on the playground."We've seen the articles, and your photos. You live with him we've seen it."

"You're not Sasuke's daughter," Shikadai picks up, blinking repeatedly. "Are you? T-There's no way."

Boruto's knees feel almost weak. 'No fucking way.' The initial shock begins to show on the others' faces.