Boruto and Inojin sat on the edge of his bed playing Call of Duty. Himawari was in her parents bathroom still trying to scrub the face paint from last night off and it had already been an hour. Digging through her mother's makeup and using all the foundation in the world wasn't helping because the purple streaks on her cheeks were still visible. She screamed in frustration, and Inojin and Boruto flinched.

"Bro, good luck with her today."

Inojin forced a laugh. "I mean, we're just going out for ice cream."

"Doesn't matter. She'll be in there all day if you don't go tell her she's pretty." Boruto said. He had way too much personal experience with his sister growing up to know exactly what to say and what not to say. Inojin let out a big sigh, setting the controller aside while Boruto covered for his character. After a couple minutes, Inojin came back with a nervous look on his face.

"Look like I'm going to pick some up instead. You wanna come with?"

"Sure, let's finish this game first."

They won, and Boruto slipped on some shoes while Inojin grabbed his jacket and they headed to the store. Himawari specifically instructed Cold Stone brand Chocolate Chip and would accept nothing less. If they came back with nothing, it meant bad news.

Out of curiosity, Boruto was checking out Inojin's permit once in the car. He laughed at the portrait.

"Dude, your eyes look hella small!"

"Shut up, I know! I wasn't ready for the picture and they wouldn't let me retake it."

"Good thing you can retake your license picture." Boruto flipped the paper around. "When Shikadai got his he didn't smile. He looks high as fuck."

Inojin laughed. "I'm not surprised. He's lucky he gets to drive by himself legally."

"Right? That's what I told him. His ass never takes me anywhere."

"Probably because you're the worst co-pilot. When do you think he'll get a girlfriend? That guy never talks to girls."

"Who knows. Whichever girl he does date, though, needs to be able to beat his ass around. He can't date a pushover." Boruto handed Inojin back his permit, and they hopped out of the car and went inside.

Beelining straight to the frozen food section, Boruto scanned the ice cream for Cold Stone, until he found the brand, but no regular chocolate chip. He gulped. Maybe Himawari would let them get away unscathed if they brought her a different kind. Chocolate chip cookie dough was in stock, and she could pull out the little cookie dough pieces if she didn't want them. Perfect. Boruto reached into the freezer and grabbed the carton.

Inojin rounded the corner with some flowers and makeup wipes, and Boruto gave him a look.

"You're gonna get those for her too?"

"Well, yeah, because I feel bad she didn't get to go out. She was excited to show off her new outfit."

Boruto scoffed. "You're whipped."

Inojin shrugged. "You wouldn't understand."

"Yeah, well I don't really care to." Boruto set the ice cream atop the self checkout. It beeped, and he grabbed the flowers from Inojin. "All I'm saying, bro, is I know she's my sister, but you're the girl in this relationship." He scanned the makeup wipes and Inojin pulled out his card.

"Why is that a bad thing?"

Boruto hesitated. "I dunno, it's not manly."

"It's not manly to make the girl you're dating happy? Flowers, makeup wipes, and ice cream is the bare minimum, Boruto."

"It's just weird." Boruto said, as Inojin pulled the card from the reader. "You guys might not even end up together, you're not even her boyfriend. Why are you gonna spend all this money on a girl you might not end up marrying?"

"Because I'm enjoying my time with her right now." Inojin took the flowers from Boruto. "You really have a skewed way of seeing things. Imagine a guy that thinks and acts like you trying to date your sister. How would that feel?"

Boruto got quiet. Inojin sighed and they walked out of the store back to the car. Once the car was on and their seatbelts were latched, Inojin held onto the steering wheel. He sighed.

"All I'm saying is these are the little things that matter in the long run. For all Himawari knows, we're just getting ice cream and that's it. That's where the bar is set. I'm going out of my way to get her flowers to make her feel special, and the makeup wipes show that I actually listen and care about what's going on. You really need to look outside of yourself, dude, because take a look at you and Sarada."

Boruto flinched. "What about her?"

"Do you see how off and on you two are? It's because you can't pull your head out of your ass and stay consistent with your feelings. To be honest, I was shocked to even see you taking her out to boba all the time, but then you had to go and fuck around with Chocho and mess it all up."

"Chocho was lying. I went over to her house but we didn't hook up. I was getting my t-shirt back then I went home and took a nap."

"Well I know that, but why why didn't you tell Sarada that?"

"Chocho says whatever the fuck she wants about us, we have that agreement. And me and Sarada aren't dating so it shouldn't matter."

"You're right, you're not but look at the principal of it. You set the expectation of taking her out twice a week to spend time with just her and getting to know her outside of the student council, you suddenly cancel and Chocho goes to school the next day singing about your guys' imaginary sex life. That's messed up."

"To be honest I really didn't think it through." Boruto grumbled. "I ran out of allowance and couldn't take her out that day, then remembered I'd left a t-shirt at Chocho's a while ago and went to grab it. They had nothing to do with the other."

Inojin slapped a hand to his face. "So instead of telling Sarada that, you went and had Chocho tell the entire school you guys hooked up?"

Boruto shrugged. "Yeah."

Inojin slammed his head on his steering wheel, shaking it back and forth hopelessly. "You are literally a fucking idiot."

Boruto scoffed. "I wasn't about to admit that I was broke, no way!"

"I'm pretty sure Sarada wouldn't still be hanging around you if it was for your money." Inojin's look got dangerously dark. "I'm not kidding, dude, if you're gonna keep fucking around with Sarada with this attitude you are going to hurt her. Everyone knows Sarada is an angel on earth. So if you're not gonna be serious about her then you better stop leading her on."

Boruto felt uneasy looking at his friend in the drivers seat. The energy was very tense, and he had never had this type of intervention before, especially from Inojin. Maybe that's why they had been clashing lately; because Inojin was getting fed up watching their cycle repeat over and over.

"I'm not leading her on." Boruto said quietly.

"Well, just leave Sarada alone because she's only gonna get more attached." Inojin kept their gazes hooked, then finally broke it and put the car into reverse. "And I'm saying that on behalf of the entire school, as well. People have been talking. You're still a huge asshole to her, but everyone sees you giving her special treatment."

Boruto sank into the passenger's seat, his hands dug into his pockets. He never thought their relationship was that serious since she always hated him every other week. Yeah, she was a cute girl and fun to tease and he definitely now had a soft spot for her, but she could still be a real pain in the ass. Also not to mention she was innocent in every way possible; never had a first kiss, never dated anyone, still a virgin, probably had a crush or two once upon a time but nothing ever came from it, and everyone knew Sarada Uchiha as the intelligent girl-next-door type. She was a black or white, logic only type of person.

So there was no way in hell Boruto was ever going to let their relationship get any deeper – he was terrified of corrupting her and having to deal with "relationship" feelings all over again on his part. Would he like to date someone like Sarada? Absolutely, there was no doubt she was the whole package and more. But had he been hurt way too many times to ever want to go through that again? Yes. Would he end up hurting her because of his repressed flaws and shitty coping mechanisms? Yes. He was incapable of letting himself open up any more than he already had.

To be honest, Boruto had mainly started taking her out to clean his own consciousness of his shitty actions the past couple months, so that was the reason he always said he owed her with no other explanation. It wasn't ever because he liked her that way. He owed her for making her suffer through his inability to communicate or have a normal friendship with someone and ruining her student council experience. He felt guilty for a lot of things, so was attempting to compensate for something. All it resulted in, though, is Boruto realizing he couldn't keep up the fake persona. Being genuine didn't come natural to him. So it was easier to fling a grenade into the middle of their relationship than try to talk through it and explain why he couldn't do certain things.

Once Inojin pulled back into the Uzumaki driveway, he let out a sigh.

"Sorry if I hurt your feelings at all. I know I'm your friend, and Himawari is your sister. But Sarada has always been a good friend to me and my family, she's such a sweet girl I just really don't want her to get hurt."

"No worries, dude. I'll stay away from her." Boruto held up his hands. "You're right. I've been leading her on without realizing it. I'll stop."

Inojin took the flowers from Boruto and they went inside. Himawari was shocked to see the bouquet and the makeup wipes, and she joyfully jumped into Inojin's arms, thanking him over and over again. She looked so happy, and so did Inojin.

Boruto slowly closed the door behind him with one hand, the bag of ice cream in the other, and watched the couple. Inojin and him may not have a great history together, and their base personalities may clash frequently, but he sure did know what he was talking about.

XxX

For Sarada, November meant more crispy air, Thanksgiving decorations, homework, and unconventional feelings.

Recently, Boruto had been very normal; more apt to sit back and observe. His overall presence was now meshing with everyone else's. For him to have an off day was rare, but an off week was unheard of. He would still crack jokes here and there, but for the most part he was acting...indifferent. Which was such a lukewarm word to use for an Uzumaki, but it was the only thing that fit. Teachers, student council meetings, exciting announcements, homework, rumors, Chocho, his friends, hardly anything got a reaction from him.

It seemed so out of character, but when he and Sarada had been alone together, he was calm, but not like this. There was something wrong. Sarada wondered if now that they were on speaking terms again they would start their boba outings back up, but maybe less frequently, since she really did enjoy spending that time with him. There was absolutely no way to tell what he was thinking with his energy being so masked like this. Whenever she tried to spark up a conversation with him, he would answer, but only minimally. He hardly kept it going either, and kept their student council meetings on Monday and Tuesday's short and to the point. No chit chat, no inside jokes, and no boba offers.

Sarada began to think this was him giving her a taste of her own medicine, and soon it began to weigh on her sorrowfully.

The only person who hadn't changed was Chocho.

"Borutoooo," Chocho sang loudly in the hall one morning, coming in with her new dress on. Every Wednesday they could wear a casual outfit if they wanted, and this week Chocho apparently had chosen to. It was way too cold outside for a dress, being low fifties, so everyone was looking at her strangely. "Don't I look so cute?!"

"Adorable." He said, hardly giving her any attention, then turning his attention back to Iwabee and Shikadai's argument over chess strategies. They were planning a battle after school, and Boruto was glad he had student council as an excuse so he didn't have to die of boredom over a three hour game they all knew Shikadai would win in the end. Chocho puffed her cheeks out.

"You never pay attention to me anymore! What happened, you're so boring now."

Boruto raised a brow at her. "I'm just not interested."

Chocho glowered, then leaned close to his ear. "I'll give you head if you come to my house tonight."

Boruto's eyes widened, and Chocho scampered off with her friends giggling. Mitsuki gave him a questionable look, and the expression Boruto responded with told him to drop it.

The day passed with Boruto's mind muddled with questions. There was a very important topic he and Sarada had to go over in the student council today, but he just couldn't bring himself to be as invested as he should.

"Mr. Aburame said the topic of discussion on Friday will be regarding the attendance policy." Sarada said, reading the paper in her grasp. "Apparently they're talking about enforcing next spring that students can only be tardy maximum of seven times and absent three times in a semester per class, and any after that will result in mandatory after school detention and momentary suspension from any joined clubs." She looked up from the paper. "What do you think of that?"

"I think their intentions with it are good, but they have to remember we're a bunch of teenagers who fuck up sometimes and sleep in and sometimes just don't wanna come to class. They can't expect us to be perfect." He said.

Sarada nodded in agreement. "I like the idea that they want us to be here and succeed, but the mandatory detention? What's included in that? If it's just sitting there doing nothing, that does nothing but harm the students who were absent. They have to catch up on the classwork they missed, but if that's what the detention is for, then it's like a small buffer for kids to get on top of their homework before it piles on too long and they get behind."

Boruto nodded, not really paying attention.

Sarada read over the paper numerous times.

The policy in the making was still so brand new that there were hardly any details on it. That's why each class rep in every grade was to give their classes feedback, turn it in to their homeroom teacher by Thursday, and they would all have a full on student council meeting with teachers and the headmaster on Friday to discuss further.

Boruto slung his feet up on the desk, much to the dismay of Sarada. "Put down in my box what I just said. I like it for the purpose of maintaining an organized setting, but I disagree with how strict it feels."

Sarada scrunched her nose. If he was going to give her attitude, she would throw it right back at him.

"Write it yourself."

He scoffed. "Nah. You already have the pen and paper so might as well do it."

This new attitude was...different. Especially towards her. She had assumed this easy-going persona would wear off eventually, but it had been going on for two weeks now. Compared to Halloween night, lately he had been cold, apathetic, and unresponsive, which was a complete one-eighty from his passionate, fiery self.

Usually he picked up on energy rather quickly – which Sarada's was slowly depleting with defeat – so she was wondering why he wasn't reacting to it. By now, he would have cracked a joke of some sort then they would've fallen into their deep talks and gotten to a mutual understanding of each other. That's how it always went – that's how it was supposed to go.

After a long branch of silence, Sarada was beginning to feel impatient. Why wasn't he paying attention to her like he usually did? Why wasn't he making fun of her newly developing wrinkles, or her glasses that were too big to fit on her nose, or the fact that her uniform wasn't up to Uchiha standards? Something had happened since Halloween. It was weirdly hurtful, and she didn't like it.

"Welp," Boruto let out a big stretch while yawning. "If that's all, I'll be going. Be sure to slide that under the teachers lounge door, will ya?"

As he threw his satchel strap over his shoulder, his shoes clicked on the flooring as he headed out the door, hands in his pockets, but was quickly stopped by Sarada holding onto his sleeve. He turned his head in confusion.

"What do you want?"

Sarada looked dejected. Her gaze was fixed on the floor, and for a moment, she didn't say anything. She clutched one fist to her heart.

"Sarada?"

She still remained quiet. Then finally, after a small intake of breath, she looked at him.

"Why have you been acting so different?"

He raised a brow.

"This is how I always am."

"No, different towards me."

Boruto looked to the floor and closed his eyes.

"I'm treating you the exact same way I treat everyone else."

Sarada's hold on him faltered. The possibility of that actually happening just seemed so...arbitrary. One day he was buying her boba and walking her home, and the next he was disregarding her like this. He was the definition of hot and cold, and it was more confusing not knowing which Boruto she was going to deal with today rather than them both mutually hating each other like before.

"Like you said a while ago, it's unfair you're getting special treatment. I didn't realize I had been doing it until Inojin pointed it out. You're the same to me as everyone else now."

A burning sensation tore throughout her body. It wasn't a warm, comforting embracing feeling either. It was so fiery hot that it felt cold. Inojin must've said something to him after Halloween, and that's why Boruto was suddenly pulling away. But, Boruto Uzumaki did what he wanted, so why did Inojin's words have such a big effect on him? There had to be more to the story. There was something else going on.

Deep down, Sarada had always known Boruto made an exception for her. Constantly. He obviously was well aware this entire time too. So now that he checked himself and the special treatment was over, for some reason it hurt more than she thought it would.

"Boruto…" She said quietly. "What's going on? You know you can talk to me, right?"

Boruto looked back at her again, his expression unreadable. "What makes you think I'd want to talk to you?"

Sarada let go of his sleeve. So he really meant it now.

He let out a long breath. "You said to stop giving you special treatment, and you're right. I should. When people get close to me, they get hurt. So, this is for your own good; it's better for you to hate me. A girl like you shouldn't be close to a guy like me."

With that, he walked forward without looking back. Sarada clenched her fists and darted into the hall. Personal feelings aside, screw that bullshit, they still had student council work to be done and he was walking away again!

"But we're not done with the paperwork yet!"

"I have somewhere to be." Boruto said, and left without another word.

The walk home was chilly, Boruto wouldn't deny. But, what made it even worse is instead of turning left to head to his neighborhood, he went right. He couldn't let the hurt look of Sarada's face keep replaying through his mind, he had business to take care of.

The Akimichi house was looking as stunning as ever, which was no surprise. Choji surprisingly had a keen eye for home exterior and frequently trimmed the decorative bushes outside, albeit being covered in melted snow. The pathway up to the porch were the most questionable steps Boruto had ever taken, but without hesitation, he knocked.

Karui answered the door moments later, and she greeted Boruto cheerfully. It had been a while since he had come over, so she was delighted to see him again. The Akimichi's liked him, and were definitely less intimidating than the Uchiha's. It was almost too easy for Boruto to get people to like him. That's why he liked Sarada. She actually tested people's will and true character before making a judgement.

"Boruto!" Chocho came around the corner, seeming impishly content that he had shown up. He put on his best smile.

"Hey, Cho. Came to give you your homework you forgot today."

"Oh wow, you're so sweet!" She said, and Karui left them alone.

Chocho guided Boruto through her huge maze of a house to her room, where it was filled with empty potato chip bags, but everything else was impeccably clean. She locked the door behind them, and she grinned

"Student council ended early, huh?"

"You could say that." Boruto said, looking around her room. She had changed some of her pictures – mostly ones with Sarada in them – and gotten a new stuffed animal. The amount of time Boruto and Chocho had spent here was almost ridiculous, and he would think with all their distractions he wouldn't remember what pictures she had hung up on the walls, but he did. And it was blatant that she was slowly erasing Sarada from her life.

"So?" Chocho said expectantly. "Sit down. Relax."

The air was tense, Boruto could feel Chocho knew something wasn't right, but played it off well. She was rather perceptive which made her perfect at reading people and hitting their weak spots. That's why she was the top mean girl of the school. People wanted Chocho to like them so they wouldn't be ruined socially. Truly, her and Boruto were a match made in hell.

He sat down on her bed, and slowly Chocho approached him. She trailed her fingers up his arm to the strap of his bag and slipped it over his head. Discarding his satchel to the side, she pushed him down on her bed, trailing a finger down his uniform.

"Don't act so tough." She said, "I know you love this."

He said nothing, and Chocho leaned closer. Their lips were only inches apart; if Boruto even moved they would be touching. Chocho smirked, and made the connection.

The kiss was desperately deep, and his hands roamed down her body. She pushed her hips into him harder and dug her fingers through his hair. Their tongues swirled as he secured his hand on her lower back, and she let out a desperate noise. Oh, what a thrill this used to give him.

Chocho broke their touch, and traced a finger down his cheek.

"I knew you'd come. You always do."

This time, it was Boruto's turn to smirk widely. What a bold statement. Boruto Uzumaki did not rebound back to old flames.

"Y'know, I'm actually not here for the reason you think I am."

Chocho scowled and leaned back on his torso, confusion evident in her eyes. "What do you mean?"

He leaned up on his elbows. "I honestly thought about letting you go through with it, because who doesn't want head?" His expression went neutral. "But, I came to tell you that I'm done with you, and all the rumors and the lies and our pretend hookups. Our whole relationship is fake, and I'm over it. I've been nothing but a game to you since we started this."

Chocho was completely taken aback. She slid off his lap, her hands dangling at her sides uselessly. "Wh-What? N-No, Boruto, really, you haven't been. I swear. I actually do really like you, and I only act this way because I thought you liked it–"

"Cho," Boruto stopped her, "stop. I've already made up my mind. I don't want to be your pretend hookup buddy anymore. I'm not the one you actually want to be with, I'm just someone with a memorable name. You don't know me," He took her hand, "and I don't want you to stay caught up with me when I don't feel the same way about you that you do for me."

Chocho scowled, her mind scrambling for reasons to protest, but she had none. "But why?" She muttered.

"I'm just plain sick of being like this. It's getting old. We can't keep playing these childish games with each other and wasting time. It's not benefitting either of us anymore."

There was a long silent pause, then finally Chocho sat on the edge of her bed, speechless. Boruto gathered his bag. Before he went and opened her door, he looked back.

"Earlier, your dress did look very pretty, by the way." He said. She looked up at him, a prominent sadness swirling in her eyes.

Slowly, he leaned forward, and placed the very last kiss on her lips. There was something sentimental about it knowing that was it for the rest of their lives, but Boruto had bigger and better things to move onto. He had Sarada to thank for that...for truly opening his eyes to the cage he had been trapping himself in.

So with that, he left.

Chocho fell back on her bed, completely unsure of what to do. Boruto had just said to move on because he didn't want to be with her. This had to be because of another girl, she just knew it. She frowned. What a horrible human. Leading her on like that then just dumping her?! Ohh, he'd definitely regret this later. No one told Chocho Akimichi no. After getting his fill of whatever girl he was messing with now, he'd come crawling back to her. Guaranteed.

So, for now, she would wait.

XxX

The next Friday night, Boruto's legs were thrown over the edge of Mitsuki's bed, his hand elbow deep in a bag of potato chips, headsets on, and their controllers clacking endlessly. Mitsuki's dad was out of town again, so Boruto was planning on staying the night. They had found some leftover Bud Light's in the bottom drawer of the fridge, so were occasionally sipping on one between kills.

As the next round started, Boruto sighed.

"Do you think I was leading Sarada on?"

Online gaming wasn't able to pause, but Mitsuki's character stopped in his tracks regardless. Obviously, the question had come as quite a surprise, though Mitsuki's expression didn't stray any emotion.

"That's a random question."

Boruto kept his gaze focused on the screen. "Inojin just told me I was leading her on even though I wasn't meaning to."

"Okay, so since when did you start taking advice from Inojin?"

Boruto laughed. "Yeah, I dunno. It's weird."

"What I think," Mitsuki took a sip of his drink, "is Inojin has his relationship with Himawari, you have yours with Sarada. You need to start thinking for yourself and stop listening to what everyone else is saying."

Boruto's character died, and he set his controller down as he respawned. "What do you mean?"

Mitsuki smiled. "You know what I mean. What works for Inojin won't always work for you. You know Sarada, so you wouldn't ever intentionally hurt her like that."

Boruto blew a strand of hair out of his face. He really needed a haircut. "Yeah, well, dunno about that one. I've been blowing her off lately."

"Why? 'Cause of what Inojin said?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

Mitsuki set his controller down. "Don't be stupid, now. Do you feel like you were leading Sarada on?"

"I don't think I was."

"Have you asked her if she felt like you were leading her on?"

"No…"

"Do you have feelings for her?"

"What's with the interrogation?" Bortuo snipped. Mitsuki smiled.

"I just think you're just scared to have feelings again, and Sarada's been the only one to bring them out of you lately."

Boruto glared at his friend, shoved a handful of potato chips in his mouth, and grumbled as he looked back at the TV. "Shut up."

Mitsuki was smiling all smugly and Boruto wanted to punch that damn expression right off his face. He honestly had never taken the time to define his and Sarada's relationship in his head. They were friends, then they were enemies. Then friends again, then enemies. He really didn't know where they stood, and what Inojin said about Boruto being inconsistent with his feelings was exactly the reason why.

Maybe both Inojin and Mitsuki had some points. Maybe Boruto was too scared to define anything, because he didn't want to completely shut down the idea of him and Sarada being a thing, but he never wanted to allude to the fact that he would be interested in the first place. It was a weird, awkward middle ground that he didn't know how he got himself into. It wasn't that Sarada wasn't his type physically, just her mere angelic presence, unbeatable intelligence, and pure heart of gold was enough to send someone like him running. She was so pure.

Boruto didn't deserve Sarada Uchiha. Never in a million years would he unless he really changed his ways.

"I think you guys would be cute together." Mitsuki gave him an impish smile once the round was over. "So stop making excuses about how traumatized you are and just talk to her again. You're a miserable limp dick without her."

Boruto kicked Mitsuki off the side of the bed.

XxX

Things still hadn't rekindled between Sarada and Boruto since that day, and weeks had passed now. Thanksgiving was this coming Thursday, and Sarada was stressed to the brim with gathering food donations that would be donated to different shelters across their state. Homeless shelters, women shelters, drug rehabilitation centers, and any place that needed money for the upcoming holidays. She and all the other class representatives had been campaigning all week about it, and she was about to collapse from exhaustion. It was a good distraction from the disappointing ending between her and Boruto, and even though it wasn't a breakup of any sort, it sure felt like one.

After school on Wednesday, Boruto brought his donations to the teacher's lounge. He had raised a considerable amount which was impressive, one being from his father that specifically stated on the check. Sarada's own father had also donated an undisclosed amount, but remained anonymous. Two types of people. Naruto Uzumaki truly was on a different planet.

Once their donations were counted and collected, they were released for Thanksgiving break. Sarada went to grab her textbooks so she could do homework over the break, and Itachi came to pick her up. As she dashed through the front entrance, she saw Boruto talking to a girl next to the stairs, and he glanced up as she ran by, but her footsteps didn't falter.

Apparently, her grandparents from both sides were coming for the holiday, as were Shisui, Madara, and Obito. They were all related somehow through the Uchiha bloodline, but it was all too complicated that Sarada just called them her uncles too. She vividly remembered Shisui living with Itachi for a while until he was financially stable, then ever since then she hadn't heard much from him.

With being an only child and having hardly any cousins around her same age, that meant holidays were rather boring and she always had to listen to the whole politics-religion-family drama at the dinner table, then proceeded to be questioned if she had a boyfriend, where she wanted to go to college, what she wanted to study, and etcetera. It was the same thing every single year, and although she thoroughly enjoyed seeing her distant family, it didn't make it drag on any less miserably.

The best part was, though, is that all of them had dogs that they always brought to family events, so there Sarada was on Thanksgiving day on Itachi's kitchen floor in dog heaven. All of the dogs were ecstatic to see her, jumping and shedding and drooling all over her nice outfit but she didn't care. Dogs were the best. She loved hugging those giant balls of fluff.

So far, the talk of the dining table was Shisui's new girlfriend he had brought. Her, Shisui, Rin, and Sakura were preparing the dishes in the kitchen, all while Itachi, Sasuke, Madara and Obito were whispering amongst themselves at the table, constantly glancing in their direction. Madara and Obito's kids were sitting in the living room having some "adult" conversation that Sarada wasn't interested in the slightest. They were all in their older teens and early twenties, so for Sarada to be only fifteen left her in the dust quite often by the older cousins. But, being the youngest grandchild, she was spoiled relentlessly by Mikoto and Fugaku. So it had its pros and cons.

After her boredom became too extreme, Sarada joined everyone at the table. Itachi smiled at her.

"Hungry?"

"Kinda." She said. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Apparently Shisui's girlfriend is an undergraduate at Yale." Obito said. "Who would've known he could get someone that smart?"

"Oh, you guys!" Rin came over and hugged Obito around his back. "Stop being so hard on him. He's finally happy, look at him."

As everyone looked over, they saw the large smile that was apparent on Shisui's face as he held his girlfriend's hand. Sarada smiled. It was nice seeing Shisui happy for once. Him and Itachi were very similar since they had grown up very close to the same age. Shisui had spent even longer dwindling and switching his major, so by the time Itachi was on his feet Shisui had just barely decided what he wanted to do with his life.

But, now that he was in his late thirties and had found a girlfriend, Sarada wondered if Itachi felt left out at all. He was the only one now who didn't have a significant other or any kids. Curiously, she looked over at him. He had the same soft expression resting on his face as usual. Huh. So maybe it didn't bother him.

The food was ready, and everyone sat down and began eating. Of course, all the dogs sat at the table with their noses in everyone's lap just waiting for food, and Sarada even snuck Itachi's dog Tobi a tiny piece of turkey. The rest of the dinner went by smoothly, and once everyone was done, Sarada helped her mother, aunt Rin, and her grandmother clean everything up.

Sakura was ready to go, but Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Curiously, Sarada went in search of him upstairs while her mother looked downstairs. Sarada saw Itachi's door was cracked open, and there was talking. It was definitely her dad's voice, and she went to push the door open, but stopped.

"–how many treatments you have left?"

"They don't." Itachi responded. "That's–"

Sasuke held a hand up to stop him, and looked towards the door. "Who's there?"

Sarada gulped. Sheepishly, she pushed the door open. Sasuke looked unfazed, while Itachi looked rather surprised.

"Treatments for what?" She asked.

"My hair." Itachi said. "I'm showing your dad how luscious and shiny his hair could look if he went to the same stylist as me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and unfolded his arms. He began walking towards Sarada and put a hand on her shoulder to lead her out of the room. "My hair is just fine, thank you," then looked to Sarada, "and I taught you not to eavesdrop." He looked back to Itachi. "Itachi, we'll be going now."

"Really, Sasuke. You should consider getting a deep condition." Itachi smiled as they left. He was then left alone in his bedroom, and his cheerful expression dropped.

What a large, empty house he lived in all by himself.

In the car, Sarada dared not peep a word. She already crossed a boundary she had been taught since she was little. She was sure she was going to be grounded for this, but Sasuke never instigated any conversation about a punishment the whole ride home, so Sarada just knew he was going to do it later.

Even when they got home, Sarada sat on her bed waiting for that knock, . It never came, though, and she was rather shocked her dad was letting her off the hook like this. Maybe because she was older and knew she did something wrong, so therefore didn't need a scolding?

Either way, it was fishy, but Sarada was going to take whatever mercy from her father she could get. Without the scolding, that gave her an extra half hour of her night, and she had put it in her calendar to be sad over the situation with Boruto for ten minutes then to get over it, so she was now ahead of schedule for the night.

School didn't progress any more exciting the following Monday – the very last day of November, though Sarada had noticed Chocho wasn't hanging around Boruto at all anymore, and even he was hardly seen throughout the day until student council. Chocho solely hung out with her posse and terrorized the school like usual, just without rumors of Boruto following behind her every step. Every time Chocho looked at him, there was hurt behind her gaze. Sarada had been her friend for over a decade; she still knew Chocho like the back of her hand. So that only begged the question of what happened between them?

After school, Boruto was late to student council. It was slightly relieving because Sarada still couldn't face him right now with her rollercoaster of feelings. This falling out had been different than all the other ones. There wasn't a big fight, no yelling, just Boruto being done and walking away and that was that. No violins to conclude an ending, no dramatic backstory, nothing but the end. And that had to be the hardest thing for Sarada was the lack of clarity.

Sighing, Sarada had pulled out her precalculus textbook and worked on some homework while she waited. Who even knew if Boruto would show up tonight, she wouldn't blame him if he didn't. She only got through a few problems before she got stuck. Staring helplessly at her paper whilst tapping her pencil mercilessly against the paper, she walked through her steps again. Lightly treading her pencil against the paper, she rewrote the problem.

"So...nine ln five plus...ln four...over two ln five...four equals two ln two…"

She nearly flung from her seat when someone grabbed her pencil and wrote down the answer and circled it.

"T equals nine two plus ln two over ln five." Boruto said, tossing her pencil down and plopping into the seat adjacent from her. "Now let's get shit done! I'm tired as hell."

Sarada had so many questions. Her brain was scattered everywhere until it finally landed on a thought.

"W-W-Wait, how did you do that? You're not even in pre-calculus!"

"I'm in calculus, sweetheart." Boruto winked at her. Sarada puffed her cheeks out.

"You can't take calculus as a sophomore, stupid! You're in algebra two!"

"So what? I got the answer for you, now you owe me some ice cream."

Sarada's jaw dropped, and Boruto cackled loudly. She was too caught up in their banter that she didn't realize that for whatever cosmic reason, without hesitation, they were back to normal. Their normal.

Since there wasn't much going on for their student council duties, Boruto ended up sitting there explaining logarithms to her, walking through each problem step by step. Apparently, the standard way they taught in school wasn't clicking in her head which is why she was struggling so much, so Boruto changed his teaching method. It was as if a lightbulb poofed above her head as she caught on rather quickly after that, and soon was finishing her math assignment by herself. Boruto leaned an elbow on the table, cheek in his palm as he watched amused as she let out the most victorious fist pump. She was so endearing.

He had missed this so much.

"Wow! This is so easy!"

"You're welcome." Boruto smiled wholeheartedly. Sarada looked over and saw the soft expression on his face and she suddenly halted. Boruto quickly pushed back his chair, swinging his satchel over his shoulder, then waved goodbye.

"You can pay me back later." He winked, then left. Sarada was dragged from her stupor and she gasped.

"I'm not buying you ice cream!"