Everyone in Boruto's family had an aura.

Dad was orange. Warm, gaudy orange, with the ever present smell of ramen and a bright, happy laugh. His mom was calm, soothing purple, and she – bizarrely – smelled like ramen too. Boruto guessed that this tended to happen if you were hanging around his dad too much; even Shikamaru-san started smelling that way, when Boruto was eight and his dad became Hokage.

His mom was a bright, happy laugh, too, but she'd hide it behind her sleeve and you wouldn't think she was making fun of anyone. His mom was nice that way, always thinking of others.

Himawari was canary yellow and paint and crayons and stuffed animals, and he knew that Shikadai would think he was a weirdo if he said this out loud – but she and Boruto weren't just bright, happy laughs, they were whispered, furious arguments in the middle of the night, and shrieks of glee in the garden as they played tag, and lately, she'd been drooling all over his shoulder when it was late and she fell asleep on him while he was playing video games. That was gross...and annoying.

But the point was, he and Himawari were a team. A unit. Partners in crime. She would cover for him when mom asked him if he'd eaten anything before dinner, and he would pull her back upstairs and into her room when she waited until midnight for dad to come back home.

He scowled. That had been happening a lot lately. Before he'd been Hokage, his dad had been at home...well, not all the time, but most of the time, and maybe he overslept a lot and once when mom got sick, he subjected her and everyone else to torment with his "get well soon" ramen, and maybe he hummed horribly back when he was actually home most of the time and was able to do things like that, and maybe he was kind of annoying, but Boruto was also kind of glad that he was always there to be annoying.

The house hadn't smelled like ramen in a long, long time. Boruto tried not to think about it. His eyes would sting and he knew that it wasn't his Byakugan finally activating.

When he woke up in the morning, he'd caught a small whiff of miso and his heart had sped up and he'd raced downstairs, only to be greeted with emptiness and a note from Himawari.

We've gone shopping, onii-chan. There's some leftovers in the fridge for lunch! Don't wait up for us!

- Himawari

He...he wasn't jealous. He wasn't. He knew that Hima wanted that stuffed Kyuubi doll, Kuraa-ma or whatever. And he knew that she'd probably begged and begged until dad had taken her shopping. Hima deserved it. She'd stayed up all night waiting, after all.

It was just...they were a team. A unit. Partners in crime.

She could have waited for him.

Boruto understood that his dad would be horrified if he knew, but he stared at the photo on the wall, the one of his dad giving Himawari a piggyback, and of him playfully tugging at his dad's arm, waiting for his turn. His stomach lurched.

Suddenly, the contents of the fridge didn't seem too interesting.

He went back upstairs and flopped onto his bed.

He dreamed of orange and purple and yellow and bright, neon pink, getting a piggyback ride from his dad, the smell of ramen, and not waiting anymore.

A warm hand came down on his shoulder and he blinked himself awake. He blearily gazed at bright orange and realized that it wasn't a dream.

"Sorry, I didn't realize that you were sleeping," his dad whispered. "But did you like your present?"

Boruto glanced at the parent and child day kunai clenched in his hand.

"Yeah...it's okay...I guess."

He ducked his head so that his dad couldn't see the grin on his face.

It didn't work. Boruto tried to duck, but dad had already gotten him into an affectionate headlock, one hand ruffling Boruto's hair.

"Ugh, dad, you're – "

"I knew it!"

Boruto's stomach lurched again, this time because dad had thrown him over his shoulder as though he were Himawari and Boruto was her favorite stuffed animal, the...Shu-kaaku doll?

At least, that was what she was talking off their mom's ears about.

Well, he supposed his legs were too long now for a proper piggyback, but the stuffed animal treatment was okay. He guessed.

Not that he would ever say so.

The lurching of his stomach still hadn't completely settled, but the smell of ramen did soothe him a little.

A/N: For Sunshine Siblings Week Day 1: Babies/Firsts/Favorite Child. Obviously I went with the "Favorite Child" prompt! :)

This is from the Naruto Shinden: Family Day novel. For those who don't know: Naruto gets a day off for the first time in a while for Parent and Child Day, but he's completely exhausted from working all night and wants to rest. But Himawari had stayed up all night waiting for him to come home so that they could go shopping together for the stuffed animal she wants, a Kuraa-ma doll. Naruto agrees and they go off and have lots of fun buying lots of things. But Boruto doesn't go with them and was at home all day. It's kind of hinted that he was jealous (I think?), because he wanted to go shopping with Naruto too. However, Naruto did buy him something he really wanted from Tenten's weapon store, so he feels much better. :) It's different in the anime adaptation, but I'm using the original novel here.

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