Lip Balm

…..

Inspired by my new lipbalm as well as my brother's rather pertinent observations about female makeup.

Boruto and Sarada are nearly fourteen out here.

Rating K+

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Boruto or anything related to them.

…

Boruto stared blankly at the blue sky above in a daze. If one were to ask him about the stupidly mellow look on his face, he was sure that he could only gurgle out something incoherent. His entire face was burning red. The tips of his limbs felt as though they have been set on fire. His brain was mush. His entire body felt though it had been turned to jelly. His lips still tasted like berries.

Berry-flavoured lipbalm.

Sarada's lipbalm.

Boruto felt his entire body explode like a supernova at the thought of her. Falling on the ground over his back, Boruto tried to fight back the urge to squeal indecently and grabbed onto thin air to get himself back under control. Beating his thoughts back into coherence, Boruto tried to make sense of the events that transpired over the past few hours.

…..

Sarada, on their way back to Konoha from a three-day long escort mission, had requested for a short shopping break. "It will be only for an hour, Konohamaru-sensei." was all she quipped before she ran off towards the very glitzy and very feminine looking shop. Large posters advertising abominable amounts of feminine products completely eclipsed its glass windows.

Boruto had known his childhood friend to be a tomboy but not a stereotypical one. She liked her clothes stylish, elegant and neatly ironed. She was not scared of lizards and cockroaches. She liked her nails clean and shurikens hitting the target perfectly. She liked history books, mystery movies and romance novels. She had a sweet tooth and liked black tea. She liked breaking her targets' jaws with a single punch.

So, when that weird specimen of the female species came up with the sudden demand that she needed to buy a certain beauty product that was recently launched only in the Land of Wind and yet to be available in the Land of Fire, the looks she received from her three male teammates ranged from mild surprise to genuine dumbfoundedness. It's not that they had had never seen Sarada using beauty products, it's just that she never brought up such a topic with them, especially during missions. Sarada was always focused during her missions and "beauty" was the sacred territory which could only be shared with Chocho or her mother.

The marketplace of the town they were halting at in the Land of Wind was bustling with people. After Sarada had left without revealing what this urgently needed beauty product was, Konohamaru-sensei and Mitsuki decided to look for supplies. It's November and tonight was going to be especially chilly but Konohamaru wanted to reach Konoha as soon as possible. Hence, the night will be spent camping outdoors covering as much distance as possible.

"Stay with her." Konohamaru instructed his blonde student prior to leaving.

"Huh, why do I need to? Sarada can handle herself."

"I know - kore. But I don't like sending her off alone. Just stay with her."

"Ugh, alright - ttebasa."

It was no secret that the team led by Konohamaru was politically high profile, consisting of the Hokage's eldest child, the younger child of the Leader of the Village Hidden in Sound, and the sole heiress to the prestigious Uchiha clan. Criminals and worse had tried to abduct all three members of the genin team individually at one point of time or the other. However, when the three were together, nobody stood a chance. The trio were the miniature neo-Sannin in making, together overcoming whatever shortcomings they might have individually.

Sighing to himself and crossing his arms up behind his head, Boruto manages to slip into the ridiculously overcrowded shop. Letting his arms fall with a sigh and scanning around for his teammate, his eyes found Sarada.

She was standing at a heavily advertised counter. An elegantly dressed shop helper is presenting her a shade-card of numerous swatches of what seemed to be chapsticks. No, tinted chapsticks. Ah, tinted lip balm, he thought as his eyes read the name of the product that Sarada seems to favour as she is handed her chosen product. The crimson-coloured cover of the newly launched product in her hand flashes the words "Berry Sherbet" in cursive. She wears tinted lip balm these days, Boruto comes to an amused conclusion. The growing realisation that his childhood friend likes fruity-flavoured makeup is amusing.

Yup. Definitely amusing.

Wading through the crowd, Boruto reaches her. Sarada is holding a demo stick of the lip balm and looking the crimson-coloured swatch across her wrist contemplatively.

"You like this one - ttebasa?" Sarada whips around, her eyes widening and cheeks flaming up, her face wearing an expression of a deer caught in headlights. Boruto grins like a Cheshire cat. This is going to be fun.

"What is with women and their fascination to smell and taste like fruit salad?" Boruto said, grinning while pointing towards the numerous products stacked up on the racks - moisturisers, hand creams, face washes, scrubs and other products he cannot recognise - all expounding the delights and benefits of added "fruit extract" and "fruity flavours". The elegantly dressed shop helper gives him a scandalised look. Boruto ignores her.

"It's - not that - no, I like it. Yup. It's what I agree to be. I like it."

"You are not making any sense."

"I like makeup."

"And that was already an established fact before you stepped into this shop."

"Uh…"

"What are you so nervous about?"

Boruto frowned at the utterly floundering Sarada. There is no need to so nervous. Until and unless….

"Whatever are you buying this for?" Sarada only flushed red in response.

"Did Chocho put something stupid in your head again?"

"What?! Ugh! No!"

"Really? Because you have a tendency to go along with her crazy ideas."

"Uh…"

"You are a terrible liar. You know that?"

"…."

Boruto frowns at the flushing girl in front of him. She never gets this nervous unless she is going to try something very out of character and highly embarrassing by her standards. He knows this with absolute certainty because no matter how much he (or she for that matter) pins down the origins of their friendship to that of their parents', they are still friends in their own right. Childhood friends at that.

A gentle smacking noise brings his attention back to Sarada. Sarada had turned her back to him. Her entire body was now devoid of its earlier tension and now was casually leaning towards a body length mirror. Boruto's eyes fell on her slightly curvaceous body.

Attractive.

Boruto shook his head as soon as the word appeared in his mind.

It wasn't enough that he was always hyper aware of her presence while in his vicinity or her staring at him. Now he had to go ahead and be hyper aware of the her body as well. Boruto looked up into the mirror, freezing immediately as his eyes met Sarada's in the mirror. Her eyes had lit up in amusement. She was slowly applying her new bought lipbalm. The crimson colour slowly stained her natural pink lips, the stick moving in slow, alluring manner. Sarada turns around to Boruto. The crimson tinted smirk on her face grows wider.

The next thing Boruto remembers is Sarada.

Her slender neck and wrists. Her porcelain skin. Her dark and long eyelashes.

Her scent. Her taste.

His lips tasting hers.

…..

"I AM AN IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT!" Sarada screeched out while burying her head in her pillow.

"Well not so much of an idiot. More like an absolute moron." Chocho looked at her best friend with an absolute lack of sympathy, continuing to munch on her chips.

"Ugh! He has become an absolute pervert and creep since that day." Sarada looked up at her in a frenzy.

"Stalking you, turning up on your balcony in the middle of the night, asking you out on dates, sending you bouquets of your favourite red roses and teddy bears, randomly touching you, blushing like a tomato, writing poetry about you…." Chocho ticked off her fingers with feigned disinterest. "Sounds pretty romantic but yeah, also creepy."

"You said kissing him would tell him my feelings -shannaro!" Sarada pouted.

"Well yeah. That's what it did and this is his answer. That he can't get enough of you. That he wants more." Chocho said seriously. Sarada frowned at this thought.

"So if I accepted his advances, this craziness would stop." Sarada put forward doubtfully.

"Well it would definitely hopefully tone down a lot. I agree with Mitsuki on this." Chocho grimaced at the thought of the good looking jerk.

"Well….if that's the case. I guess I should go and meet him." Sarada got up from her bed.

"Yeah and take that lip balm along with you. Since he looked positively starved…." Chocho laughed out with mirth.

Sarada threw her pillow in her friend's way before grabbing hold of her purse and a pair of sandals and jumping out of her window.

As she sauntered out on the path which lead to Boruto's current location, she smirked. Having a positively lovesick boyfriend was not that bad of an idea.

…

This is not my best work. It gave a lot of trouble. Took me nearly six months to complete it. Please review my work. Thank you.