1: Through A Glass Darkly

15 Hours Later

My hands rubbed her head in comfort as I paced the blanket over her body. The foreign clothing and glasses were a bit rough for the shock, but I could digress for the moment. After a month of uncertainty our daughter was back in our arms. Her breathing was labored but after being checked out at the hospital she was clearly not having any issues to warrant an admittance.

"Hey how's…"

"Still as you get…" As Sauske smiled I got a glimpse of the three others now in our apartment. Boruto and Hinata joined Naruto as we now knew what had to be mentioned about where we were and what needed to remain between us.

"Shall we…"

Sauske closed the door to her bedroom as we now sat on the couch. Boruto leaned back in the corner while Naruto and Hinata took adjacent chairs. All for the moment tense as can be.

"So…What happened to her?" Hinata broke the ice, which allowed us to finally explain everything that we saw in that other world, Boruto was nearly in complete disbelief while Hinata just gasped at all the trouble we found ourselves in just trying to get her back.

"How did Sarada take seeing you guys again…" He now pondered over to Sauske who growled at the thought.

"It was as if she wasn't the girl we knew."

Now I was livid. "You have to let that go… I'm sure in a week this will be the furthest thing on her mind." I tried my best to keep the situation upbeat but Naruto himself was not as hopeful.

"I've cleared Team 7 from doing missions for at least a month. She'll need that at least to recover. But even from what I saw something else must have occurred to make her not want to go back."

"Dad, Mitsuki's been asking about her…Am I allowed to say any…"

"Boruto I'm making this clear, and this goes for all you guys, what we've talked about can't leave this room. Those circles died off for a reason anyone who knows that one is open can lead to disaster for us all. The penalty for breaking this is banishment from the village…"

Hinata gasped in shock. "You can't be…"

"I am, no exceptions, that includes the Hokage's family as well." Hinata nodded in agreement though she was hesitant to do so.

I looked back at the door and could now hear Sarada snoring. More peaceful than a minute ago but at least that was better.

As the 3 of them left later on Sauske stopped Naruto for a bit for a private word. I could barely see out the door with their body language being telltale. When they finally broke off now, I could see him coming back a rush to the fridge was needed and orange juice was grabbed.

"You can be sneakier than that…"

Now I chuckled in embarrassment as he joined me on the balcony looking out on the quiet night sky.

"What was that about?"

"Arranged it so that if Sarada wakes up while were not here Boruto could greet her."

"Wait you're?"

"Well, he wanted me back out there and if you have to get back to the hospital someone's got to keep an eye on her."

My hesitancy was palpable, but his signature forehead poke alleviated that issue.

"We got her back, she'll be ok. I know I didn't handle myself around the one guy in the shirt with the lightning bolt very well. Frankly looked like Karin 2.0, but at least you know how we could have had her in worse shape if we hadn't intervened."

"You're right about that at least. The one girl that looked nearly like Ino somehow made things easier."

Without saying another word, we adjourned for the night confident yet weary about what lied before us.

41 Hours Later

In his room with nearly not a sound I could feel himself start to disrobe my body and for some reason I wanted him to do it.

"Pick up the pace."

But as he continued, I started to hear a small voice…

"Sarada…"

No, why would he be here, its just me and a guy 2.5 times my age.

"Sarada…"

My vision fades and a white light now brightens the room.

"NO!"

Sure enough I look around after shooting up, yep I'm back in my room at home. The last thing I remember clearly was that guy in the dream, and before that the picnic with Mom and Dad. Without realizing I now heard a noise in the kitchen.

"Mom?"

No response so I opened my door and little did I know I could see a flurry of activity in the kitchen.

"Hey, welcome back."

My jaw dropped upon seeing who was in the kitchen making breakfast. Why did it have to be him of all people?

"Boruto, what are you doing here?"

He now turned and noticed me, as I lost my balance, he quickly grabbed a chair so I could sit down.

"Take it easy, you've been sleeping for nearly 2 days."

"2 days! Where's my parents?"

"Your mom is at the hospital, and Sauske left the night before. I'm only here cause Lord Seventh asked me to."

"Why would your dad ask you to watch me?"

"No Idea just figured you didn't want to hurt yourself any further. I mean, do you even remember the past 5 weeks at all?"

I was blanking hard as Boruto grabbed the juice and handed it to me. The drink did manage to warm me up to having him here. He helped me get to my feet as he sat me down next to some breakfast he had made.

"How did you…"

"My moms' recipe… Taught Himawari and myself to make it for dad. I'll go find your Mom once were done eating. At least you can try it and tell me if I'm just as good as you when it comes to cooking."

As he sat next to me at the table, I looked at the chocolate crepe questionably until I tore a small chunk of it off. The taste was a bit surprising as he looked over for my reaction.

"Well…"

"This is fantastic…"

He sighed in relief as I sat down more comfortably to eat. But while he stuffed his mouth, I questioned the elephant in the room.

"Where's Mitsuki?"

"Helping out Principal Iruka at the academy, new class starts in 7 weeks and he needs assistants for training."

I chuckled at the thought of that, while happy to be back on good terms with Boruto looking forward to what comes next.

A/N: We resume thier lives in Chapter 2: Normalcy As Always Subscribe for more.