Eyeopener
By Bashfulglowfly
Boruto glared at his stupid father and began yelling. "Yellowstone?! That's where you want to take us on vacation? Yellowstone?! Sarada gets to go to Bali. Yellowstone is lame and stupid! Stupid like YOU, you worthless…"
He never saw his mother's hand move.
But he felt the slap across his mouth.
Neither one of his parents had ever hit Boruto or his sister, Himawari before.
Hinata loomed over her son. Her voice was quiet, but Boruto could hear the chill. "Sit. Down."
Boruto found himself sitting.
Hinata continued to loom over her son. Boruto's father, Naruto, wouldn't look at him but stared out the window. Boruto saw something roll down his father's face.
It couldn't possibly be a tear.
Himawari gasped and jumped into their father's lap. Naruto wrapped his arms around his daughter and buried his face in her hair.
"Look at me."
Boruto's eyes jerked to his mother's face. He'd never seen her look like that at him before. Like he was…nothing.
"You keep going on and on and on about Sarada and how great she's treated by Sasuke and Sakura and the great condo she lives and the vacations she takes and the school she goes to. Well, for your information, Sasuke and Sakura are well over $250,000 in debt from their student loans and their credit cards. Sasuke and Sakura may be doctors but they only pay the minimum possible on their student loans. Which means they are mostly paying on the interest and not the principle. They do the same on their credit cards. Do you know what principle and interest are?"
"No."
Naruto spoke up. "Principle is the money you originally agreed to pay back. Interest is the cost of borrowing the principle."
Hinata continued speaking. "Sasuke and Sakura spend what they haven't even earned yet. They go out to eat every day. The luxury vacations that you so admire are paid for with credit cards. The condo they live in, they don't own. It's owned by Sasuke's brother Itachi because he doesn't want Sarada to be homeless. The Bali vacation that Sarada is going on…she's going with Itachi and his partner Kisame. Sasuke and Sakura aren't invited. The private school that Sarada attends is also paid for by Itachi because he knows how smart Sarada is, and he wants her to be challenged at school."
She took a deep breath. "Your father was orphaned just after he was born and for whatever reason he was never adopted. He bounced from foster home to foster home and he knew that when he turned eighteen, he'd be out of the System and out on his own. That's why he began working when he was your age. Twelve-year-old little boys shouldn't have to work to provide for themselves, but your father did. And he learned a variety of things. He was able to get into trade school just after high school and learned how to be a machinist.
Hinata swallowed. "I grew up in an upper-class family like Itachi's. But I was not the favored child. It was my younger sister. And while it wasn't explicitly said, I also knew that when I turned eighteen, I would be out on my own as well. That's why when I was still in high school, I also went to a trade school and learned how to be an electrician. The day I graduated high school, I returned to my parents' house and found my clothes and some other belongings in the driveway. They didn't even bother to toss them into garbage bags."
Boruto tried to speak, "Mom, I…"
Hinata held up a hand "I'm still talking. I met your father about a year later when I answered an advertisement for a roommate. It took us a while to figure out that we loved each other." She smiled at Naruto who smiled back at her. Love written all over his face. "We got married. And we bought our first house. And it was a fixer upper. We remodeled it by ourselves. No one helped us. Then we sold it. Made a little bit of profit and bought another fixer upper. Then we decided that we were in a good place, and we chose to become parents. We had you, then we had Himawari."
"Sasuke and Sakura never planned on having kids." Hinata continued. "But Sarada came. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura have bothered to change themselves into parents." She glanced at Naruto, and he shook his head. Hinata looked back at Boruto. "Yes, you and Himawari have moved often. Yes, you have lived in a 'construction zone' for most of your life. But guess what…this house you live in, the house where you have your own room, with your own tv and your own game system…is owned by your father and me. And we don't owe anything on it. We own it free and clear. The cars we own. Those belong to us. Not us and a lender. This vacation that you hate…the only reason we're using credit cards is to provide protection if there's a problem later."
She stared down at her son. "Your father and I have worked twelve-to-eighteen-hour days at our jobs and in our various homes so that you and your sister can have the life we didn't have. You can go to your room now. Your father and I will be up later to remove your TV and your game system. You don't deserve those right now. Go." She pointed towards the stairs.
Boruto stood up and walked up the stairs to his room.
Himawari ran up the stairs after him and kicked him in the shin. "You're so stupid. I want to go to Yellowstone and see everything. And if you've ruined that…" She glared at her older brother. "Something Mom didn't mention. Uncle Itachi is filing for custody of Sarada since Sasuke and Sakura don't give a shit about anyone but themselves." She kicked his other shin. "Jerk!"
Boruto entered his room and sat down on his bed. He realized that the life he'd been living wasn't the life he thought he'd had. He wondered what else in his life he hadn't seen.
