Sarada sighs when they've finally gotten back to the village, her shoulders tense from carrying the backpack for so long. It's getting late, and Konohamaru - sensei says "I'll go submit the report – good job you two! Go rest."

When he leaves, they look at each other, standing side by side, shoulder by shoulder.

"…" Sarada nods at him.

Mitsuki seems to take a moment, then nods back, smiling politely.

An unspoken understanding is set between the two; Sarada can rely on him during their missions together for the next two weeks, and after that he'll go do what he needs.

Sarada did not attempt to break the silence between them; what minimal amount of trust and understanding she needs from Mitsuki for the time being, she has, and she has no interest to bring up any conversation further.

Mitsuki, too, seems settled.

"Finally you're back!" Boruto jumps between the two, a hand on each of their shoulders. "Did something awesome happen?!"

"No. But something funny did." Sarada tells him, knowing he'd want to know.

"What what what?!" Boruto demands.

" Konohamaru -Sensei got rejected by the border-kunoichi in charge of us during the mission."

"Oh maaan! I missed it!" Boruto grumbles.

"Don't worry Boruto, I'm sure he'll be rejected again soon, and you can see it." Mitsuki says politely.

Sarada grins in amusement.

"You promise Mitsuki?!" Boruto demands. "Because if I miss one more thing I'm going to lose my mind!"

"I wasn't aware that you had one." Sarada teases him.

Boruto huffs at her, but otherwise ignores her.

"Listen, listen, LISTEN!" Boruto jumps on the spot, clearly just now remembering something big.

Mitsuki grins almost fondly, which pisses Sarada off; how can he enjoy that siren-like noise setting off in his ear? She almost feels like the weird one out of the three members of team 7.

"We're listening you idiot so just talk!"

Boruto's eyebrow twitches. "Oi! You've been real rude to me lately! What's your deal?!"

Sarada rolls her eyes. "We're tired; we just finished a week long mission."

"What's wrong princess, the life of a shinobi too rough for you?" Boruto smirks, crossing his arms almost accusingly.

Sarada can feel her eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"You two are cute." Mitsuki says with a fake snicker; this time Sarada is positive he knows what he's doing – pissing them off.

When he gets twin glares from both herself and Boruto, he doesn't even blink.

"So what did you have to tell us Boruto? I too am tired, actually."

Boruto drops his glare easily going back to a casually cheerful energy; something Sarada knows she can never pull off.

"So this old man that I know –"

"Already suspicious." Sarada cuts him off sharply. "If it's illegal, I don't want to know."

"I do." Mitsuki says, raising his hand.

"What's suspicious about knowing an old man?!" Boruto calls, indignant. "Anyway – you guys met him, remember? Katasuke-Sasn, he works at the Techno-Nin center – "

"The Scientific Ninja Tools Research Facility?" Sarada corrects dryly.

"Yes that, and –"

"The one who roped you into cheating at the Chunin Exam?" Sarada cuts him off again.

"Alright, yes, maybe –"

"The one who lost dangerous technology to enemy shinobi who almost got away from the village and sold it to Kara only three months ago?" Mitsuki inquires, at attention as soon as techno-nin was mentioned.

Sarada remembers the story Boruto and Shikadai told them, whilst she was with the Hyuga clan members helping with the genjutsu problem.

"Well okay, so that did happen, but –"

"The reason we nearly died when we faced old man Ao six weeks ago?"

"…Why am I being attacked?" Boruto asks sadly, standing between them looking small.

"I was right; this story is going to be suspicious." Sarada concludes.

"Would you two just listen, Dattebasa!" Boruto begs. "So two weeks ago, Big-Sister-Hanabi's team had a mission to help test some of the developed techno -nin devices –"

"Oh, we did that one too – how many are they developing?" Sarada notes, thinking back on the uncomfortable experience.

"Seems dicey." Mitsuki agrees.

Boruto shrugs them both off. "Who cares? Point is, when they were there, Class pres remembered how much she loved going to missions with her squad – and agreed with her boss, Inuzuka-San, to return in a few years for her apprenticeship because she wants to be a Genin like us again!" Boruto says quickly in one, overexcited breath, like he's afraid they'll interrupt him again. "And she is! She kept it quiet but on the day you guys left for your mission she joined one too officially and told everybody about the change – I've been waiting FOREVER to share this with you!"

Sarada and Mitsuki glance at each other.

"Well, aren't you amazed? You're welcome, you know!" Boruto says smugly, happy he got to deliver his bit of juicy gossip.

Mitsuki gives Sarada the slightest of shrugs, uncaring.

Sarada sighs; for all that he follows Boruto around, Mitsuki never shies from bruising his feelings – whatever it is for Mitsuki with Boruto, he doesn't want to protect Boruto in any way, in fact it's more like he tries to put Boruto in the center of complicated situations so he'll be able to observe him.

A bit guilty, Sarada tells Boruto truthfully "The day before our mission after you left we saw Class pres. Sumire told us she was going on a mission. We knew."

Boruto looks soul-crushed, but Sarada knows he'll get over it quickly. First, he'll be loud. "No! You can't say that Sarada! But – but – but did she tell you about the whole thing – with her team reminding her – and her quitting the apprenticeship?"

"No, we figured though."

"How can you do this to me?!" Boruto whines, laying down in the middle of the street and kicking his feet in the air in overdramatic show of frustration.

"…You are a child."

He ignores her. "I wanted to show you that I'm cool too! At least you're mission sucked and was boring – so I guess I can forgive you since I didn't miss anything that mattered – your lame mission was probably WAY lamer then my time stuck here by myself!"

Sarada, growing annoyed, is wondering if he's even still talking to them or to himself.

"Well, I'm leaving. I'll see you tomorrow Boruto." Mitsuki says and jumps off.

Sarada looks from where Mitsuki disappeared from sight, down to the infant on the ground still wailing.

"Hey, Boruto." She gestures for him with her hand to come closer in a serious tone.

At once, Boruto stops goofing about and gets to a sitting position, looking at her. "What?"

"I have something good to tell you." She tells him, knowing exactly how curious it'll make him.

Boruto jumps to his feet and bounces next to her. "What? What?"

"We patrolled for five days. How do you think Mitsuki and I passed the time?"

"I dunno?"

"We played cards." Sarada tells him from the short distance they're standing.

Boruto's jaw falls to the floor. "No." he whispers, eyes wide. "Which -?"

"All of them – Buta no Shippo, Karuta, Menko*. Mitsuki knew them all."

"You're lying."

"He was good at them. He won more than half of the games."

Boruto gapes, little bubbles forming at the corners of his mouth.

"And the cherry on top – they were his cards."

Boruto lets out a small dying sound. "No."

"On the way back here he said we overplayed them and that he won't play anymore for the next year."

"Oh no please -!" Boruto begs, tears starting in his hunted eyes.

"So I talked him into selling them all to Konohamaru -Sensei." Sarada says almost gently.

Boruto looks absolutely appalled.

"So you Boruto," she looks in his eyes evenly, leaning even closer to his face. "Forever missed it."

He's a frozen statue.

Content; she takes a step back and leaves.

She walks several minutes before she hears him bellow with all his lungs "YOU SON OF A BITCH, UCHIHA!"

Sarada smirks.

That'll teach that idiot to look down on my missions.

"What was that about?" says a quiet voice from her right.

"Papa." She greets, looking up at him. He starts walking alongside her, and they both head home.

Sarada's heartbeat quickens; this is the first time in her life that she's walking home with her father.

"Nothing. He got on my nerves." she admits.

"Mm." They walk comfortably in silence for a while before he speaks again. "We need to talk. As I will be staying in the village for the time being, this is a good opportunity."

Sarada regards him, but there's no use to it; she can't tell either way what it is about.

"Talk?"

"Certain… Clan responsibilities." Sarada knows the last word is spoken until it is time for whatever he has planned.

Clan. Her clan. Their clan.

She feels the clan's sigil on her back like never before. He is her father. He is hers.

Boruto has no place here.

Finally.

Sarada ignores the guilt that immediately rises up with that last thought.

"I'm ready." It's useless; she knows he won't say anymore outside, walking next to people who may overhear. They walk the rest of the way in silence.

Sarada sits down on the table across from her parents, in their kitchen.

She should've suspected something when she saw her mother home so early in the day.

"A darkness of emotions?"

"It's called the Uchiha Curse." Sasuke tells her, expression unchanged. "You are a shinobi now, and the world is far from perfect, only idiots will think that. It is not unreasonable that something with enough impact will cause you to activate it."

"She's only half Uchiha Honey; you could just be scaring her for no reason!" Sakura frowns. "She's always been calm as a kid; I really think this is one thing she didn't get from you."

Sarada gets an image in her head of her father as a young boy wild and loud. If she is to understand her mother's statement, that's how he used to be… Sarada is sure she's missing vital details on this.

Her father closes his eyes for a moment in thought. "If it does happen, she needs to be warned."

Sarada sighs. Both of her parents are masters of speaking a lot, yet cryptically so it's not understandable at all.

"Look, Papa, if you want to warn me, you need to explain what this curse actually is." She tells him. "Darkness of emotions is too vague."

"…"

Her father considers her and she knows there's a good chance she isn't going to get an answer. This can end up being a very uninformative conversation, Sarada realizes sadly.

"…Too powerful."

"What?" Sarada asks, barely hearing him.

"Too many emotions. Your mind will feel like it's about to explode." Sasuke's eyes become hooded. "And then it switches off, all at once, and you become clear-headed, dangerous, unbalanced." He says ominously.

The sigil on Sarada's back burns like fire. It calls out to her in her mind;

We gave you the eyes, our payment will be your mind. One day, we will collect.

"…How?" she asks roughly. "When?"

"When it's too much." Her father says, and doesn't elaborate further.

"What do I do if…"

Her mother answers her. "The first half is to be aware of it Sarada. The second half is to fight it."

Sarada considers those words when her father says "No, the second half is to fight despite of it." and with that he gets up and leaves the room, adding a quiet "Goodnight."

A\N: the bit with the cards was of course inspired by Brooklyn 99 scene when Holt tells Jake about Hula Hooping and then deletes the only proof which was absolutely hilarious - Shout out to my favorite ongoing show!

*Also the names of the games – I just Googled old Japanese traditional card games – tell me if I got it wrong!

I also want to address a guest who left an unkind review which I deleted - please don't judge the story so harshly yet - it's only just stared and remember - this is only Sarada's POV after all. of course if you don't want to keep reading that's your right - but I hope you will. Thank you for those of you who are sticking around for this fic I love you all! :)