Credit to anon for the prompt "Could you do a fanfic involving Boruto listening to Sarada's heartbeat and/or performing CPR on her?"
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto or Boruto or anything related to them.
Modern AU
Rated T
…..
Heartbeat
…..
He has broad shoulders.
Very attractively broad shoulders.
This is the first thing that comes to Sarada's mind as she watched her husband rummage around the little bar at the corner of their suite, his back turned towards her.
Husband.
Her husband.
The idea of being married to Boruto was just settling in.
It's been nine hours since they married. The reception ended around two hours ago. She was still in her elegant wedding dress. The veil had been discarded and Sarada was contemplating undoing the intrinsically braided bun.
Let the man do the work. It boosts their ego if they get it right.
Aunt Ino's advice rang through her head and Sarada's hand jerked itself off the diamond tiara sitting atop her head at the edge of the bun. She got up from the cushy sofa in the lounge room and made her way to the windows. She could still see the vestiges of their wedding and reception at their five star hotel grounds.
Money had never been a problem. How could it, when she had been born into one of the most influential and wealthiest families in the country. The Uchiha zaibatsu dates back to the Meiji Restoration though her family's wealth pre-dates it. Uchiha Madara, her great-great-great-grandfather, had been the one who modernised the old businesses of the Uchiha and built its headquarters at Konoha, a then newly created prosperous suburb of Edo. His best friend, Hashirama of the Senju zaibatsu and one-time mayor of Edo, was also based at Konoha. The cordial relationship between the groups continued on till the generation of their great-grandson, Fugaku and Minato, respectively, when the friendship deepened thanks to the personal friendship of their wives, Uchiha Mikoto and Uzumaki Kushina. This friendship filtered down to the next generation as a fierce rivalry/best friendship/brotherhood to Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki which, in turn, unfortunately, led to their respective children, Sarada and Boruto, ending up growing up together since infancy. Growing up, she always knew that she had to bear the responsibility regarding the Uchiha Corporation. Her grandfather Fugaku was the current Chairman and her paternal uncle Itachi would be soon taking over.
The loss of Itachi's fertility at a young age due to treatment for cancer left him and Aunt Izumi childless and her parents' busy careers meant she remained an only child. She was made aware of the mountain of expectations that was heaped on her shoulders as the heiress to the Uchiha clan and its businesses at a tender age. This mountain included marrying a suitable man. And unfortunately, Boruto Uzumaki was deemed to be this 'most suitable man'.
Kushina belonged to the Uzumaki clan which owned the Uzushio zaibatsu. Minato's own great-grandmother on his mother Tsunade's side, Mito Uzumaki, had belonged to the same clan, and the two zaibatsus - the Senju and the Uzushio were hugely allied with each other and often looked after each other's business interests. This camp received further boost in influence and prestige when Minato and Kushina's son, Naruto, married Hinata, the heiress to the Hyuga zaibatsu. This triple company alliance, therefore, found its heir in Naruto and Hinata's first born, Boruto Uzumaki.
Sarada remembers how as mere toddlers in kindergarten, she and Boruto would play 'House' together on play dates arranged by their grandmothers. She would pretend to return from "work" while Boruto would welcome her back home, describing how their five "children" - a series of large soft animal toys - behaved the entire day while she was at "work". Their grandmothers snickered and fawned in the corner, gushing over their future mutual great-grandchildren.
Elementary school ripped their closeness apart. Rivalry was what was obvious to everyone at that age between boys and girls. Boys (aka Boruto) were stupid and that was as much of a fact as the sun rising in the east. He was a brat, a prodigy, a troublemaker, a star student and her rival. They moved around in their own (overlapping) friend groups. Their fights often threatened to become physical and it frequently invited a teacher's call to their parents. She still remembers Aunt Hinata's (it's Mother now, Sarada chides herself) disappointed look when the two of them nearly blew up the junior science laboratory during a fight. She also remembers the teasing she and Boruto endured those years the moment they had an interaction where they didn't try to throw down at each other.
There is the married couple.
Aww. You two look so good.
Husband and wife.
So, when are the wedding cards being printed?
Junior high school began and she remembered the piercing look from his brilliant blue eyes sending a shiver down her spine. It was also the first time she realised that she wanted to keep looking at Boruto. Within six months in their first year, however, Boruto was caught cheating on a inter-school competition. It was less of him really needing to cheat on the final test and more of him rebelling against his father. Though she knew he regretted it immensely afterwards, he was packed off to a boarding school at Switzerland.
It would discipline him. Being treated like an adult, that is. It will do him good.
Don't worry. He will come back to attend high school here in Japan.
Consolations meant little to a new teenager. She remembers contacting him via Skype with a tortured feeling in her gut and having his voice soothe her. He had promised to become a better man. For her. He told her that he let her down by not being honest. He didn't contact her for the two and half years afterwards. She threw herself in her studies, trying to distract herself from dreams of him violently crushing her lips with his and ravaging them.
She stills remembers the Boruto who had returned from Switzerland.
Muscular and taller.
Handsomer.
Hotter.
Sexier.
Her dreams the night after he had returned and given her an joyfully engulfing hug in his strong arms were full of moans and shivers. She woke up with sweating, panting and gasping. Within a week, for the first time, she was realised that the teasing between Boruto and her by others might actually have been a social and psychological ploy to make them fall for each other. It was a sugar-coated way of putting together the merger of the Senju-Uzumaki-Hyuga commercial group with the Uchiha Corporation. The former sought to eliminate competition by engulfing the Uchiha while the latter, in turn, realised that in face of mega corporations, it was difficult to survive alone. The easiest solution had already been in making for sixteen years - a marriage between the two heirs.
That's how three weeks later, she found a platinum ring encrusted with an elegantly cut pink diamond being pushed onto her ring finger by a gently and reassuringly smiling Boruto in front of an insanely large gathering. The party's glamour was to send out a warning to the rival companies. Their close allies - the Saru-Ino-Shika-Chou group - congratulated them profusely. At some point of time, she must have slipped out to the luxurious balcony of the hotel. She must have been crying and Boruto must have followed her out there to console her because she remembered giving Boruto a very wet and sloppy kiss on the lips. She could still feel how he drew his arms around her and practically engulfed her into him while ravaging her lips and leaving her far more out of breath and wanting than she had ever dreamt or imagined.
Being engaged at sixteen was not unusual in their elite private school. Most of their peers came from wealthy backgrounds, eager to preserve and promulgate their wealth and status. She knew that Inojin of the Yamanaka group would be engaged to Boruto's younger sister Himawari once she graduated middle school. There were many such couples, same as them, most trying their best to be a couple. Some were even married. Her paternal grandfather and his maternal grandfather, both a bit old-fashioned, had too insisted on a wedding instead of engagement.
You can have your own apartment. A trust fund will be set up for you both for expenses of any kind. You can have maids and butlers. And can hire nannies. We would like you to have an heir as soon as possible.
It was Boruto who had put his foot down.
Sarada and I are still quite young. And we would like to be as much hands on with our children as possible. We will marry after we both graduate from college.
She remembers being grateful for Boruto's suggestion (or rather blunt refusal). She remembers how his little acts of conjugal affection - buying her trinkets, making bentos for each other, taking her to dates, having fun together - increased slowly. Until one particular date, their affection turned into an intense make out session, leaving her gasping for breath and wanting him inside her.
They were seventeen when she could no longer stand the sexual tension anymore. The consummation of their relationship was exhilarating. It was funny, awkward, and made her heart burst and set her body on fire.
Yet it was missing.
Those three words.
She wanted to hear them and yet dreaded saying them. Sometimes, she wondered whether he did this out of duty. Or perhaps affection. Or just lust. Or maybe social expectations. She wondered whether he would do the same with another woman if he had been engaged to her.
They were eighteen and in the final year of their high school when they moved in together. It wasn't easy. Despite familiarity, it is extraordinary how much one can discover about another person - both good, bad, funny and annoying.
Oxford. BA in Jurisprudence. It's a three year course. And then I was hoping for an MBA. Perhaps I will continue at Oxford. Or maybe London. It lasts an year out there in UK.
His eyes shone brightly at her as she confirmed her own political science majors at Harvard. A four year course. Perfect timing too. They could return to Japan at the same time. And get married immediately afterwards.
She loved the long three months they would spend on road trips together at Europe during the summer vacations every year. She loved the excellent restaurants he took her to at Dubai. She loved their short trip to Egypt (she loved history, come on). She loved the internships they took up in various offices of their companies at Singapore and Hong Kong. She was less amused at the flirtatious belly dancer who practically threw herself at him at Istanbul.
She was further less amused at the hedonistic wedding their parents had arranged for them within a week of their return to Japan. Her friends managed to organise a wild bachelorette party. Boruto had actually kicked down a door to rescue a drunk Himawari from her sober fiancee. It made her wonder if Boruto would have liked to have a simpler wedding. Just the two of them. Exchanging words promising eternity.
The kiss at the wedding made her realise how cowardly she was being.
She should tell him.
She had to tell him.
A clanging noise brought her out of her deep thoughts. Boruto was pouring one of the finest rosé wines known to mankind in two elegantly beautiful stemmed wine glasses with one hand. He had taken off his coat and was in the process of loosening his bowtie with his other hand.
"You will love this one. I promise. Kagura managed to get his hands on this baby in France. Great of him to actually remember our favourite wine. It is rare and I have only had it once."
Boruto looked up to find his bride, resplendent in white and waking up from deep in thought. Concern and insecurity immediately broke through their floodgates in his brain and heart and Boruto couldn't help but offer her a glass of wine with a concealed forced smile on his face.
"Hey! Cheer up. We did sign life imprisonment certificates today but that doesn't mean our marriage has to suck. If I can make you happy in bed and be responsible at work at the same time, I am sure we can work something out."
He watched as Sarada titled her dark head upwards, her beautiful onyx eyes watching him curiously from underneath her long eyelashes, her hands clasping together, her shoulders shaking slightly and her legs fidgeting. She looked downright innocently alluring.
Boruto had to resist that inherent animalistic urge to seize her, rip her wedding gown off and ravish her till she is sore and unconscious, and utterly soiled and filled by him. Boruto had to smack himself internally. That is not the first thing he should be doing right now. That was the last part of what he planned to do with Sarada. The first part of the plan was to make her comfortable. The second was to confess. The third depended on her response. He knew she won't react completely negatively. But if she returned even an inch of what he felt for her, he would happily promise her a lifetime of happiness together and go ahead with the last part with a fluttering heart.
If she didn't, he had no choice. He was expected to do the last part regardless of what she felt for him. The elders of the clans were seriously pressing them for an heir as soon as possible. And as far as he knew, Sarada had gone off contraception and was as fertile as she could be, as he was told rather obstinately by his mother-in-law, who seemed partially happy at the idea of grandchildren and mostly irritated at the idea of her only child being treated as a broodmare. Nevertheless, he and Sarada were both twenty-three and married. It's best to get started before they turned twenty-five.
He was surprised at the amount of emotion with which he thought about his personal plans and the utter tonelessness with which he thought about the actions he was expected to go through with. He wondered with a pang in his heart whether Sarada thought of everything regarding him as tonelessly as that.
Boruto knew he was expected to follow in his father and paternal grandfather's footsteps into becoming the Mayor of Tokyo, perhaps even aim to become the Prime Minister. But growing up with them and watching his two predecessors from close quarters managed to create a severe aversion to that idea. His paternal grandfather had little time for his much beloved wife and only son, and the said son, in turn, devoted his life to acquire his father's praise and acknowledgement by surpassing him as the elect to the office he once held.
Naruto never realised the completely unintentional neglect he meted out to his own beloved wife and two kids. Hinata was a mild woman with few spectacular dreams and wishes of her own beyond a happy and cosy home and family. She was happy to be a part time celebrity chef and cookbook author and a full time homemaker who supported her husband unconditionally, organising and hosting social events, parties and charities. Hima was quite young when their father began his full fledged political career, and despite his maternal uncle Neji taking over as the CEO of the Senju-Uzumaki-Hyuga company group, his father was still a member of the board and an active one at that. This ate up his time even further, unlike when his father was young, his grandfather Minato was only involved in politics while his grandmother Kushina was the CEO to the then smaller Senju-Uzumaki company.
Boruto still remembers how happy he was to play with Sarada and just be with Dad, Mom and Hima back in preschool. He just knew that one day he will grow up to have a family with Sarada just like his Dad did with his Mom. He was quite happy to chase her around the vast and old Japanese style gardens of the Hyuga estate while his maternal aunt Hanabi and her then boyfriend (and now husband) Konohamaru laughed out loud at his cheeky and stubborn remarks about not becoming the elusive Mayor or Prime Minister which kept his beloved paternal grandfather away from playing with him and Hima. His father would laugh it down and challenge him that he will change his mind soon enough.
His father lost the challenge.
All of that happy childhood changed when he entered elementary school. His father became the Mayor and his family became lonely. He now feels chagrined at how he took out his anger at his father at a starry eyed Sarada who had happily told him that she wanted to like Grandpa Minato and Uncle Naruto.
Go and become like them. And then stay alone for the rest of you life because people like you three are a nuisance to their families.
He still remembers Sarada's tear stained and stricken face. He did not even offer her an apology back then. He should not have been surprised when Sarada and his relationship soured after that. Friction increased whenever she seemed hell bent in following those stupid rules into becoming a model student and him in breaking them and escaping punishment by taking advantage of his status as a star student.
Junior high school was tougher and hormones did him no favour. Sarada's renewed nagging and his inexplicable desire to entertain her fancies of having a future political career got on his nerves more than before and he did not know whom to lash out at. He didn't know why then but all his excellent academic records failed to bring him his father's attention for even a bit. He lost his interest soon afterwards and stopped giving any new effort towards his academics, skating on past hard work.
It bit him in the ass when he cheated through an inter-school academic triathlon for which he had teamed up with Sarada and Mitsuki. He knew that he could have averted it but the opportunity was too valuable to be left to chance. He remembers guilt punching him in the gut when his best friend Shikadai, who actually deserved the first place, looking absolutely betrayed upon learning about his cheating and then, ripping his heart out when he looked at Sarada's heartbroken look. She was the one had brought their team together in the first place because of how prestigious the triathlon was. It was a sure ticket to a valued future career besides being personally felicitated by the Mayor himself. Something she knew he wanted desperately.
The next thing he knew that he was being packed up to an elite boarding school in Switzerland after he could barely apologise to Shikadai and be forgiven by him. He remembers being forgiven by nearly everyone.
Everyone. Except Sarada.
Who did not even meet him after the entire fiasco. Chocho informed him generously that Sarada had locked herself up in her room and was crying her eyes out till they are red, puffy and sore because she blamed both him and herself for what had happened. She did not open her balcony doors when he came to visit her the night before he left.
The next he heard from her was when she Skyped him at his new school. He remembers looking at her beautiful face. The stricken dewy porcelain face framed by black hair. Her beautiful onyx eyes, and pink and plump lips. He remembers the urge to grab hold of her and crushing her lips with his, even if it was through the laptop screen. He did not know how to respond to her forgiveness which she gave out quite easily even before he could complete his procrastination. He disconnected the line and threw himself into becoming a better person. He kept in touch with his other friends. He did not contact her. He did not want any distractions.
Switzerland provided him with friends like Kagura, Tentou, Lily and Kawaki. Wonderful friends they were, but he missed Konoha. He missed his family and friends. He soon realised it was Sarada whom he missed the most.
He remembered getting down at Haneda airport two and half years later and Hima rushing into his arms. Shikadai came up and hugged him tightly, smiling happily at him as he did before. His childhood friends barraged around him, nagging him with questions, bluntly and shamelessly demanding gifts and treats for missed birthdays and events.
He remembers his feet unconsciously taking him to Sarada who stood at a distance, practically walking past his friends in a trance.
Longer hair and curvier body.
Seductively smiling at him.
Her pose inviting and her eyes softening.
His father's smile, his mother's hugs…suddenly, he was heralded as a responsible and promising eligible bachelor in the society. And a part of this new identity involved taking on a betrothed. The announcement of his and Sarada's engagement surprised him. Her unopposed and easy agreement further blew up his expectations.
He didn't know how to respond. He knew that his stint at Switzerland had changed him. Hard earned reputation and skills, the scar on his right eye thanks to fencing, his own newly found ambition to become a criminal lawyer while leading his company, modelling himself after Uncle Sasuke, Uncle Neji and Uncle Itachi and trying his best to keep up with his new found emotional balance, a fiancee…..everything seemed to point towards success.
Yet the nagging feeling of earning her remained.
He had earned everything else. He had not earned her, much less her heart.
Sarada understood despite her initial protests. Her soft words soon became his motivation. He wanted to be the wind underneath her political dreams. Her initiating a kiss after their engagement sent him into a tizzy. It gave him hope of a passionate future together, one which both of them chose for themselves rather than just a business arrangement.
Then The Night happened.
And all he remembered after that how he went from being flooded with happiness to being drowned in bliss. His years at high school still seems like a dream. Everything he did, he did for her. He couldn't believe that Sarada would actually initiate intimacy. That too on a regular basis. But he couldn't help but wonder whether it is simply an extension of the comfortable familiarity they shared or the consequence of dutiful wifely affection that was expected out of her or perhaps both.
He couldn't help but be greedy.
He wanted more. He needed more.
He was parched and starved for more.
He wanted passion. And obsession. And devotion. And everything crazy associated.
He wanted to both express it and receive it.
He wanted to drown in her affection and cocoon himself in her warmth.
He wanted Sarada.
Completely in her bare glory. Mind, body, heart and soul.
The long distance relationship during college did little to dampen the desire and affection he felt for her. In fact, it possibly made him even more desperate to spend with her each and every moment they could get together during the semester holidays and the occasional vacations they took together.
The return to Japan, however, pulled him back to reality. Wild bachelor parties and hedonistic weddings apart, Sarada had become much more contemplative. And distant. He hadn't touched her in a while and she had shown no indication of any desire that she wanted to be loved and ravished like they had been doing for past six years. The lack of knowledge about what exactly her thoughts comprised of drove him crazy. At least, it was not about not getting married to him. Considering they both are standing here, their wedding bands gleaming in the light from setting sun streaming into the suite, he hopes desperately that it is not something that can shrivel him up and smash him from the inside.
"Boruto, I….I need to confess something to you."
His head jerked down instinctively, jerking his eyes off the increasingly darkening sky. Sarada had already emptied her glass of wine. His still had a bit left. Gathering up all his courage, he took an undignified swing and emptied out the contents into his stomach.
"Yes?"
Dread filled his stomach and he watched her set down her and his glasses on a nearby table and draw back the curtains of the floor length windows. The romantically scented and lit candles did little to assuage the sinking feeling in the pit of stomach.
"I…"
Dark eyes searched for reassurance and comfort in the bright ones, and instinctively and immediately received them. Sarada felt her body relax while Boruto realised that he was possibly not going to die of a broken heart tonight.
A comfortable silence took over and Sarada inched closer to her husband. Boruto leaned in closer to his wife, towering over her and engulfing her in his arms. Sarada put her head on his chest, sighing and instinctively wrapping her arms around the only man she had ever loved and listened to his heartbeat.
"I love you."
Unbridled elation filled his entire body and Boruto wrapped one of his arms tightly around her waist, unwilling to let her go while his other hand crept up to the neck of her off shoulder sweet heart cut gown. Despite the growing urge to show her the reply to her confession, he knew he had spell it out first to the love of his life.
Gently unzipping the back of her dress with one hand and pushing down the dress down with his other hand in the front to reveal her utterly bare torso, Boruto gently fell down to his knees, wrapping both his arms tightly around her waist and pressed his lips to the place just above her bare breast on the left side of her torso.
He can feel her heartbeat on his lips.
"I love you too."