Weeks had gone by without Boruto and Sarada uttering a single personalized word to each other. But, day by day she still consciously wore his necklace, and Boruto was always sure to check every time they passed each other in the hall. It always felt as if time was halted in that moment, just the two of them passing by as strangers once more, though the ruby on her neck said differently. There was history. There were feelings.

Boruto hated knowing that he'd had everything in the palm of his hand. Trust, integrity, and Sarada herself, and didn't realize it until it was too late. He'd gotten too careless, too comfortable. And now that he for sure wanted her and wasn't afraid to be out and loud about it, she didn't want him back. And he was just chasing his tail in circles trying to figure out a solution to get back to where they were before.

He'd run away again. Because it was easier for Sarada to hate him. It was easier for them to be enemies so he didn't have to constantly be mirrored by his horrible actions. But now he was regretting it.

It was always so awkward when Sarada would stand up half an hour early and say her ride was there. It was an excuse. Boruto already knew she was going to the track, she didn't have to say any more. He was allowing her with no complaints because...well, he didn't quite know. Maybe because he had already put her through so much, letting her go watch Pasty Legs run five miles with his short shorts was the least he could do. And besides, he found himself actually paying more attention to his student council paperwork rather than giving Sarada the brunt of the stack.

So, in a way it was his way of paying back retribution for stressing her out this entire school year and everything else in between.

But, that didn't stop him from gazing out the window to watch. The track was barely adjacent to the school, so he could see Sarada always run up to the fence with an excited hop in her step, glad to be free from the constraints of Boruto, and clasp her fingers around the metal diamond fence. Metal would always finish his lap then meet her at the gate, they'd chat for a moment, and then he was right back on the track while Sarada settled on the bleachers tucked in her peacoat and scarf.

He did this to himself. Even as much as he wanted to blame Chocho or anyone else, there still had been truth in all the stories told. Sarada was right when she said it was simple. If he would've just walked away, Chocho would've said Sarada's name, and then what? She was an angel, her reputation was flawless, and her and Boruto had never been publicly involved like that. People would've pinned Chocho as the liar, both Boruto and Sarada safe from social destruction. Oh how he yearned to turn back time and choose to walk away in that moment. But the fact that he didn't proved he still cared what others thought.

Now, he didn't anymore. He was done letting others control his reputation, and more importantly, his relationship with others. All Sarada had asked of him was honestly, and to be his true self. And he was unable to do either of those.

All he could do from here on out was move forward. Show Sarada that he didn't care about others' opinions and truly live to be his full potential regardless of the constraints others tried to put on him. Show her that he did care, and was ready to display it for everyone to see.

Whenever she was ready again, he'd be patiently waiting for her.

XxX

Of course, it was inevitable the two would be intertwined socially. Metal was friends with the boys. Sarada had been hanging around him and only him the past week. So of course, there they stood Monday morning bright and early in the circle with the entire group of friends on the opposite side of Boruto. He had a straight view of Sarada, and jeez, she looked so good today. And the necklace was still on. And Iwabee was on his bullshit, like always.

"You guys smash yet or what?" He took a large bite of his breakfast burrito. "I swear y'all are attached at the hip. Take some of that cardio from the track into the bed, eh?"

Everyone cackled, and Metal's face burned bright red. "N-N-No, it's not like that!" He turned to Sarada. "I'm so sorry, he doesn't mean it!"

Boruto rolled his eyes. Gross. He couldn't ever imagine having someone with a bowl cut on top of him and taking it seriously. Not a pretty sight.

"Oh Sarada, would you look at the time," Boruto looked at his imaginary watch, "time to go set up the classroom."

"Wha–huh?" Sarada was taken aback as Boruto grabbed her wrist and dragged her along. "Hey!"

"You'll see your Daddy Long Legged Lover later, we have stuff to do."

Sarada huffed. "Boruto, let go!"

They were already at home room, so he unclasped his grip. She brushed her skirt flat.

"What was that for? We still have five minutes."

"Oh, did I read the time wrong?" Again, Boruto held up his wrist that held no watch, and Sarada shoved him to the side. He laughed, and she resisted cracking a smile.

"You're so dumb. Guess we'll make the board look extra fancy today."

As Sarada readied the chalk, Boruto admired her. He missed her... but he didn't know what he could do in that moment to fix it. He hid behind jokes to make it all seem okay, but really it wasn't. He wanted her back fully. He wanted their after school boba dates, and randomly showing up at each other's houses at ten PM to drink tea and finish their homework.

Watching as she wrote on the board welcome to class, he began doodling on the corners. Sarada broke from her concentration to look at what he was doing, and she scowled.

"Dinosaurs? Seriously?"

Boruto grinned from his crouched position. "Hell yeah!"

Sarada rolled her eyes. "I don't know how Mr. Aburame will feel about that."

"It'll be fine." Boruto wiped his chalky hands together, "'cause look."

Slyly putting his hands on Sarada's hips, he moved her to the side. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat as she took a step to the left and Boruto slipped the piece of chalk from her hands.

"If you put some fancy calligraphy in here, he'll never notice."

Boruto drew swirls around the letters, making them look accented and cursive, while Sarada couldn't stop staring. He was deathly close to her face, one of his hands still on her hip, and she was sure he could hear her heart thudding inside her chest.

Once Boruto was done with his art, he set the chalk down on the tray and met her gaze. Her deep brown eyes were twinkling anxiously, as if she expected him to make a move. Boruto let his eyes trail down her soft features slowly, until they landed on her lips. Sarada felt a chill run down her spine.

"Hey." He said.

"What?" Sarada asked breathlessly.

"You got something right there." Boruto tapped her nose. Quickly, she lifted a hand to brush it away, only to be met with remnants of chalk on her nose. Her mouth dropped open, and looking at Boruto's devious grin, he'd done that on purpose.

"Boruto!"

He cackled loudly and ducked away, dusting his hands together as he avoided her chalky revenge. "Looks like you got something there too." He glanced down at her skirt, and Sarada followed his gaze.

There, two distinct chalky handprints were sitting on her skirt right on her hip bones, and her face burned a bright red. It looked–it looked like–!

"Boruto Uzumaki I'm gonna kill you!"

"Don't threaten me with a good time!" Boruto said as he dipped out of the classroom, his laughter echoing throughout the hallway.

Sarada groaned loudly and tugged her black sweater off, leaving her white dress shirt as her only top left. She quickly tied the sweater around her waist, and grumbled her way to the bathroom. That stupid horn dog, trying to seduce her like that! She couldn't stand him!

A damp wad of toilet paper was the solution, and luckily her skirt wasn't too wet by the time she was done. The handprints were so obvious against her dark colored skirt it left nothing for the imagination. And no one else touched the chalk boards except student council members, so that definitely narrowed down the options real quick.

Sarada shook her head. He obviously did that on purpose; he was like a disobedient child trying to get any sort of attention through bad behavior. They hadn't talked for weeks, and this was how he was trying to get them back to normal again. As much as Sarada wanted it, she just couldn't. Not after everything – it was too late. Boruto had made his decision repeatedly, and finally she had gotten tired of waiting around for him to correlate his words and his actions. She appreciated the sentiment trying to break the ice between them, but it wouldn't continue any further than that. She was moving on to different things now.

As she stepped in the stall to get more toilet paper, she heard pairs of shoes come clacking into the bathroom. She looked at her skirt; there were still some chalk marks, so she'd wait until they left.

"I can't believe your plan worked though, like that's crazy!"

Sarada halted. She knew that voice.

"Hmph. Yeah, she's a lot stupider than I thought. She has like no boy experience, so of course she's gonna believe her best friend of ten years over a guy she's hated her entire life."

That was Chocho...and one her friends. Sarada didn't know her name. She leaned against the stall in shock.

"Well, so what are you gonna do now? Are you going to try and get back with him?"

"No, I don't really want to anymore. He already dumped me, so I like someone else." Chocho said.

"Oh my God, who?!"

"I'm asking him to the Sweetheart's dance, so you'll find out there."

The bell rang, and Chocho and her friend scurried out of the bathroom. Sarada waited a longer moment before coming out of the stall. What had she just heard?

Barely making it to her seat on time, Sarada was greeted with a coy smile from Boruto a couple desks up. He then stood.

"Please greet Mr. Aburame."

"Good morning Mr. Aburame!"

The teacher walked through the door right as their voices rang together.

"Good morning class–" Mr. Aburame stopped in his tracks. Looking upon the… creative… chalkboard filled with dinosaurs playing volleyball, he looked to Boruto and Sarada. "It seems our student council reps had some extra time today."

Boruto gave a hardy thumbs up, meanwhile Sarada hid her face in her hands.

XxX

Boruto thought his cute chalk incident would lighten the mood of the student council today, but it almost seemed to do the opposite. Sarada arrived in the classroom with a stack of papers, plopped them on the desk, and began shuffling through them immediately. Boruto waited expectantly for at least a greeting of some sort.

"Um, hello?"

Nothing.

Boruto frowned. "Are you even going to say hi to me?"

Sarada's head whipped up. "Good evening. We have a lot of paperwork to read over, so no wasting any time." She handed him half the stack, then readjusted her glasses before diving back in.

Boruto was looking at her incredulously. Okayyy… so she didn't take the bait from earlier. That's fine, all good things came in time. He did suppose he was going out on a limb here even trying to maintain a friend basis again when they had been bumped back down to merely acquaintances. He just couldn't help it – when things were bad between them it didn't feel right.

Twirling his pencil in circles, he sucked on the inside of his cheek debating on what his next move should be.

"Alright, whatever you say, Miss President. At least you got your skirt clean."

Sarada made a face, but said nothing in response.

Joining her in their journey to read through all the paperwork, Boruto noticed the detention they had discussed months ago was finally going into effect next school year. They had taken a class survey, and a lot of people had agreed with what Sarada said. Make detention more of a buffer class to help them catch up, and once all their missing assignments or attendance was caught up they could resume after school activities.

Boruto sighed. She was so intelligent; always having a solution for everything. She was a great leader and didn't even realize it. When she was able to get over her tattle-tale tendencies and emotional outbursts, she really was incredible. Boruto admired that about her. No one really looked up to him respectfully, it was more out of fear. He was such a loudmouth clown that no one took what he said seriously unless he was reiterating Sarada's point, since she tended to shy away from being too direct when it came to a group of people. Luckily, Boruto didn't give a fuck when it came to public speaking, so their dynamic meshed well.

He smiled. They made a great team.

"What are you over there fantasizing about?" Sarada growled. Boruto shook from his stupor. He smirked.

"Oh, just thinking about how it I had gotten your skirt any dirtier you would've had to take it off."

Sarada gasped, her face turning bright red. She grabbed the chalk eraser and threw it at him. "Stupid, don't be saying those types of things during student council!"

Boruto cackled. He loved giving her a hard time.

"I'm kiddinggg, Jesus. Relax." He laughed. "I'm just proud of you, is all."

Sarada momentarily stopped her rampage, giving him a strange look.

"Proud...of me?"

Boruto crossed his legs. "Yeah, you know, for the detention policy. There were over thirty other ideas brought to the table, and they chose yours. So good job."

Sarada gazed at him for a long moment. She dipped her head down, her hands falling into her lap.

"Thanks, I guess."

Boruto shrugged.

They worked in silence, the only sound an occasional flip of a paper but other than that no words were spoken.

Finally, thirty minutes to five, Sarada glanced up at the clock. Boruto noticed, but pretended he didn't by continuing to read through the papers.

Sarada kept fidgeting, and now she was having a hard time focusing. Eventually, Boruto sighed.

"You know you can go, right?"

Sarada avoided his eyes. "I just didn't want to leave you with all the work."

Boruto shrugged. "Not like that ever mattered anyway. If you wanna go, go."

To be honest, he didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay here with him. He'd been friends with Metal for a very long time, and sure, he was an incredible guy. A little socially awkward, smart, athletically inclined, but he wasn't Sarada's type. Hell, Boruto didn't even know if he was Sarada's type, but he just knew Metal wasn't. Metal wasn't a lot of things.

Sarada pursed her lips, relaxing into the back of the seat, then grabbed her shoulder bag.

"All right, well I expect you to put those on Mr. Aburame's desk when you're done."

Standing up, Sarada made her way to the doorway. Boruto sadly watched her go. Her frame was so petite, it was amazing how her confidence made her seem much broader in a room than she was. But in situations like this, by herself, she looked so small and fragile walking away from him.

Suddenly, Sarada stopped.

"I...don't want you getting the wrong idea about Metal and I." She said, placing her palm against the doorframe. "We're just friends, and I...he's just–good company."

Boruto lifted an eyebrow, flinging one arm over the back of his chair. "I wasn't going to say anything. You hang out with who you want. You do you, girly."

Sarada looked back, a pained expression in her eyes. "I just...never know what you're thinking. And with him I don't ever feel that way. Because–because with you, one day, you're telling jokes to make me laugh, you're teasing me, and spending all this time with me, but then the next you're walking away...when I laid the chance down right in front of you. You just left. And now I...I'm not gonna keep playing this game anymore. I have to be done with all this uncertainty because it's messing with my head."

Boruto looked to the floor. He stood up slowly, taking small steps until he was only centimeters away from Sarada. She wouldn't look him in the eye; she was keeping her gaze locked on the hallway tile in front of her.

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?" Boruto asked, his voice weak.

After a long moment, Sarada clenched her fist. She shook her head.

"No."

Without waiting, Sarada took down the hall quickly, refusing to look back. The click of her shoes drew further and further away until they were no longer heard. Boruto stood dejected in the doorway, and let his head roll back.

This fucking sucked.

XxX

Valentine's Day was coming up soon, meaning it was the beloved Single's Awareness Day and the Sweethearts Dance they had been planning for. Boruto truly debated asking Sarada as one last desperate attempt to salvage what little acquaintanceship they had left, but knew she would reject him, so it was futile. She wasn't much into dances anyway, so a gesture of the sort would prove nothing to her. Things would be the same as they were yesterday.

So, he went solo much to the chagrin of every girl in the school.

Chocho, for some goddamn reason – Boruto honestly didn't understand – ended up asking Mitsuki, and for some psychotic reason he said yes. Whether it was for payback or to cause jealousy, he honestly didn't care. It was weird and annoying that his best friend was literally letting his worst nightmare trail behind them all night. Boruto couldn't even sip his nasty discounted supermarket punch in peace.

"This dance is so lame." Chocho said, scanning her gaze across the dance floor. Mitsuki kept his complacent expression like usual.

"Then leave."

Boruto rolled his eyes. The dynamic between the two was so weird. Where was Shikadai when he needed him? He adjusted the pinstripe lapels of his suit coat.

To make his night worse, Inojin and his little sister walked up to them, Himawari's eyes glowing.

"This place is so cool!"

"Well, you'll be stuck here soon enough, so don't get too excited about it." Chocho said. Boruto glared at her. What an incessantly unpleasant person.

"Big brother, come dance with me!" Himawari didn't even hear Chocho's offhand comment, which Boruto was grateful for, and was dragged against his will out to the dancefloor.

"Is Sarada here?" Himawari asked. Boruto sighed as he lazily swayed to the beat.

"Haven't seen her."

He spoke too soon. At that moment, Sarada walked in, arm clasped around Metal's, and Boruto rolled his eyes. Okay, so the two were a "thing" now; watching him run five miles every day after student council and walking to each other's classes and going to dances together, whatever. "Good company" is how Sarada had described him. Well, it seemed like a real boring time if you asked him. Metal wasn't much competition anyway.

Sarada looked beautiful as usual in the little black and teal dress, hair cascading in soft curls down her back, and Boruto wistfully wished he was the one her arm was wrapped around instead of Metal's.

"Oh wait, there she is! She looks so pretty!" Himawari exclaimed.

She dragged Boruto through the crowd to the couple that was descending down the steps. Oh God, Boruto's heart felt like it was going to explode, he hadn't had a real conversation with her or Metal since that night she walked out of student council and left him for Bushy Brows and sorbet.

"Sarada!" Himawari gave her a big hug. Sarada smiled, completely ignoring Boruto who was literally standing right next to her by keeping her gaze fixated on the younger sister.

"Himawari! You look so pretty, who are you here with?"

"Inojin!" She pointed to the boy who was standing next to Mitsuki, both watching Chocho bicker with some other girl about nothing.

Sarada said something Boruto didn't catch, but he caught her glancing at him. She could look at him all she wanted, he felt honored. Once she looked away, Boruto let his eyes roam this time. Trailing down from her eyes, slowly to her delicate lips, her chin, her neck, and...oh.

She took the necklace off.

"I need to use the lavatory." Metal had to shout above the music.

"Oh, I'll go with you!" Himawari offered cheerfully, and hooked her arm around his, leaving Boruto and Sarada alone. The lights flashed across their features, blinding when a light shone directly into their eyes. Sarada looked to her feet.

"You look nice." Boruto said, even though it felt like his soul was crushed. Everything inside him was crumbling to dust.

"You look nice, too." She replied, finally looking up at him. She wasn't wearing her glasses, probably as to not lose them. Boruto opened his mouth to speak, but could only let out a breath that sounded more broken than he liked.

"Walk with me?"

Sarada complied, and they headed for the entrance. The air was still cold, but not as teeth-gritting as the heart of winter had been. Sarada wrapped her arms around her body, and Boruto shrugged off his blazer and dumped it on her shoulders without thinking. She scowled, but said nothing.

They were silent for a while, looking up at the stars. They were just awakening from their slumber, only a few poking out from the night sky. Boruto exhaled, a hot cloud trailing from his nose. Sarada looked to him, then the sky.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

He looked at her. "Yeah."

She didn't catch his look. Finally, Boruto looked to the ground.

"So...you and Metal?"

Sarada had been expecting him to bring it up. She nodded. "Yeah, he's really sweet to me."

"That's good." Boruto nodded, but couldn't find it in himself to mean it. He sucked in a deep breath as the awkwardness between them settled in. "You guys...official?"

Sarada shook her head. "We just hang out. Nothing's going on between us."

"Have you guys...kissed?"

Sarada looked at him strangely. "Why is that any of your business?"

"I'm just curious." Boruto muttered. He wanted to know how deep into this Sarada was.

She was quiet for a long stretch of time.

"No, we haven't."

Okay good, Boruto's spirits were lifted the slightest bit. Even if she took the necklace off, he was still in the number one spot. It wasn't officially over until she kissed him.

"Well I'm happy for you." Boruto said, even if he really wasn't, he wanted to deep down believe he was. Sarada raised a brow.

"Are you really?"

He scoffed. No, he thought.

"Yes, I'm not heartless."

"I know that. I just wouldn't expect it from you."

He was almost offended, but shrugged it off. "You, uh...took the necklace off..."

She was quiet.

"Yeah."

Boruto felt sadness creeping up his back. He might as well ask, "Why?"

"It didn't match my dress."

He was not expecting that. Maybe more of a, because I'm ready to take the next step with Metal, or, I'm completely over you, but certainly not something as petty as that. "That's...it?"

"Yeah." She said sheepishly. "Red and teal don't go together!"

Boruto stared at her, then let out a sigh of disbelief. This girl. The feelings she made him feel. She drove him crazy wild and gave him weird warm bubbly feelings, but made him feel so many things he'd never felt before. It was like the different stages of a rollercoaster. The upwards excitement of something that was to come, then the slap of reality when the downward slope came and Boruto realized he had put himself in a position to lose her. It hadn't really hit him how much he enjoyed her presence until they were done for good.

Somehow from the distance, he had begun to realize how deep his feelings for her actually were, and now they were developing even stronger. After she walked out that day, he realized how selfish he was treating her like a secret. Sarada Uchiha wasn't meant to be a secret.

The thing that hurt the most was they had been so close to something so great...but it just fell short. Just barely. Bro code stated friends could not date anyone's exes, but since Boruto had never claimed Sarada, she was free game. Boruto wondered if he had spoken up during that Xbox Live chat if things would be different now. Metal wouldn't have even been an option. Sitting here, watching the girl he was falling for fall for someone else, wouldn't even be happening.

He put himself in this position. It was his fault.

"You're such a pain in the ass." He ran his shaky fingers through his hair. The amount of relief he was feeling right now was insane. Sarada laughed, and it was like music to his ears.

"Who are you here with?" She asked.

"No one." He replied with a shrug. "Came solo."

"Why? I bet there's hundreds of girls who wanted to go with you." She said.

There was something about that sentence that seemed so familiar. Ah, yes, it was that night they were sitting in his room after she had come over to thank him for the cookies. Sarada's jealousy had been blatantly obvious, and it had been cute. It showed she cared. And now, it seemed like that hadn't changed.

"Yeah, but I only wanted to go with one person." He stared directly into her dark irises that were illuminated by the dim street lights. Sarada took in a short breath.

"Boruto…" She said sadly, "I—Metal…he really likes me. And I like him."

"Obviously not a lot, since you haven't kissed him yet." He stated, resting his hands behind his head. It was his turn to be jealous. Sarada pursed her lips.

"That's–"

"Was I your first?" He asked. Sarada looked to the ground, her hands trembling.

"You know you were, dummy."

He said nothing, only huffed. He acted tough on the outside, but deep down, reassurance really was nice. It was an honor for him to be Sarada Uchiha's very first kiss. Even if it wasn't his first kiss in his entire life, it was with Sarada, and that's what made it so special to him.

"Well I hope he treats you how you should be treated. How you deserve to be treated." Boruto said.

Throwing a hook out there might result in a catch, so he had to try. He had no idea where they stood, or if Sarada even had a Boruto tab still open in her files of possibilities, so he was pushing the limit more and more. Sarada looked at him sadly.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Honestly." Boruto said a little more aggressive than intended. He softened his tone. "You're gonna do what you're gonna do, don't let me stop you."

Sarada stood up. "I just, feel like we had something, and now it's not there anymore."

"It's still there." Boruto's eyes glimmered underneath the streetlamp. "You just have to want it again."

Sarada slowly turned her head towards Boruto. He couldn't decipher what she was thinking, but somehow they were gravitating closer and closer until her face only inches from his. They stared at each other's lips.

"I want to kiss you." He said.

"You can." She whispered. Boruto smiled despite his aching heart. He heard an all too familiar voice approaching. He shook his head.

"No, I really can't."

"Sarada!" Metal's voice rang from the school entrance. Boruto immediately stood and stepped away from Sarada as he ran up to them. "You disappeared, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Sorry," She said, but Boruto could tell she clearly didn't mean it. "Want to go dance?"

"Yeah!" Metal took ahold of her hand then looked at Boruto. His expression was unreadable as Sarada handed Boruto's blazer back, and they walked back into the school.

It was a few minutes before Boruto walked back in the school to rejoin the solo punch table squad. As he took a drink, he saw Mitsuki and Chocho over in the corner dancing, a few feet away were Himawari and Inojin, and Sumiere and some random guy Boruto didn't know the name of, then on the complete other side was Sarada and Metal. Her hands were draped over his shoulders while his hands were low on her waist, both smiling and chatting at a close distance. Boruto drank his punch indignantly.

He couldn't tear his eyes off the couple. Sarada said he could kiss her, but she also seemed to really be into Metal by the way she was smiling – she wouldn't look so thrilled if that wasn't the case. After spending so much excess time with her in student council, Boruto had a pretty good read on her at this point. Now his feelings were confused. Obviously Sarada still wanted to give them a chance but was fighting everything possible to push her feelings away by drowning in Metal's presence. Who was the stubborn one now? Tch.

Boruto kept his eyes low and cup high to hide his expressions from people who passed by.

As the song slowed down, most couples came to a halt, but Sarada and Metal kept swaying back and forth before he leaned in and kissed her. Boruto's breath hitched in the back of his throat, punch spilling from the sides of his cup.

That was the end. They were over.

Sarada had been enjoying their dance, and was caught off guard when Metal kissed her. It wasn't soft and gentle like her kiss with Boruto had been, it was rushed and felt like a chicken peck with how tense Metal's lips had been. There wasn't a sweet afterglow, and the person smiling back at her when they pulled away definitely didn't have bright blue eyes.

The person that did, though, was at the punch table with a perfect view straight to them with a crushed expression on his face, and Sarada had never felt more terrible in her life.

"Wow," Metal said, a beaming smile across his face, "You're so wonderful!"

Sarada was so overwhelmed. Boruto had seen, and now she had really hurt him. After how hard she'd tried to pin her and Metal as just friends… there was no point anymore. Salvaging Boruto's feelings was useless. They were done for, and putting the necklace back on wouldn't fix this.

After the dance was over, once Metal dropped Sarada off, she headed straight to her room without a single word to her dad, who was still awake and working in his office. Sasuke glanced at the doorway as she passed by, and when she didn't greet him, he automatically knew something was up.

Sarada went and slumped on her bed, not bothering to get dressed down. Her eyes felt hot with tears. A knock was heard from the other side of her door moments later.

"Go away." She muttered. The door opened.

"That's hardly a way to speak to someone, let alone your own father." Sasuke chided, closing the door behind him then sitting on the edge of her bed. "How was the dance?"

Sarada sniffled. "It was horrible. I'm such a horrible person."

"What happened?"

She rolled onto her back, wiping her tearing eyes. "Metal kissed me."

Sasuke blinked. Metal who? Weren't her and Boruto just barely checking each other out at the Christmas dinner and making cookies together? His daughter was kissing boys now? Never mind all of that, was that a bad thing?

Obviously, because his daughter was crying, and not the happy type of crying he usually saw when she got a good score on her test.

Should he do the fatherly thing and go have a talk with this "Metal"? Well, that didn't seem reasonable, if it was Metal Lee, Rock Lee's son, he was a good boy. So scratch that idea. Was he supposed to leave her alone? This wasn't his strong suit, usually Sakura took care of these situations. Think, Sasuke. What did girls need in this type of situation?

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked. Honestly, he was so lost. He may as well ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to kiss him." She said. "And I told Boruto I wasn't going to kiss him but then he kissed me and he saw."

Sasuke was utterly confused. Boruto kissed who? Who saw what? "You'll have to tell me from the beginning so I understand."

Sarada sighed, scooting up her bed and leaned on her wall. Her feet almost touched the edge width of the bed. "Dad...I know Boruto isn't your favorite, but he's different around me. And, I still really like him."

His own daughter and Naruto's son was just so unexpected, even from the beginning. Unfortunately the mini Naruto was the human embodiment of the devil, but Sasuke supposed his first impression of Boruto's wasn't the best. Their latest interaction at the Christmas Eve dinner was about the only thing he's seen of him since, other than that he just went off of how his daughter reacted.

"So you like Boruto but you kissed Metal."

She shook her head. "No–well, I like Boruto, but he's broken my trust too much for anything to work out, so now it's done between us. Metal and I started hanging out recently, and he kissed me even though I didn't want to yet. I like him too, but he's just really weird and socially awkward."

Sasuke snorted. She was so blunt. It was obviously a trait that took after him.

"What is it about him that keeps you around, then?"

"He's always honest with me. I never feel like he's lying to me or not where he says he is. His reputation is gold, he's smart, athletic, a hard worker, people look up to him, and he makes me feel good. Like, he's so nice to me."

"So then what is it about Boruto you like?"

Sarada scowled, her face flushing against her will. "I-I don't know, he pisses me off! But he said I'm different, that it feels natural around me, and he's always treating me so differently compared to other people. Like he goes out of his way to make my day better. He remembers the little things I tell him, he's super thoughtful with the things he gets me, but with others he's so rude and cocky. But with me...he's just himself."

"Ah," Sasuke nodded his head, musing. Sarada looked at him curiously.

"What?"

"Sounds like your mother and I when we were younger." He said with a smirk.

"Whatever, you two are so old and ancient you don't get it!" Sarada said lightly. Sasuke pretended to be offended.

"We're in our mid-thirties."

"So? Things were different back then." She muttered. "It's just dumb. Why does Boruto act so fake around everyone else but me?"

"There's a connection you'll have with people throughout your life. People you can't hide things from, and you can't explain why but you feel like you could give your life for them." He said slowly. "I knew Sakura was the one when I couldn't hide my emotions from her. Naruto, too. He had a way of getting under my skin no one else could."

"Dad, was mom your first kiss?" She asked. It was a seemingly innocent question to connect parallels between her parents to her and Boruto, but Sasuke's face contorted as if he'd just seen something disgusting. Sarada blinked. "What?"

"No, she wasn't." He said begrudgingly. Sarada became more and more intrigued, and Sasuke wished she would drop it.

"Then who was it?"

He absolutely refused to answer. Sarada leaned closer, her lips curling into a smile.

"Wait, dad you have to tell me now!" She laughed. He avoided her look.

"Naruto." He said grimly. Sarada's mouth dropped.

"You're joking. No. Way."

"We were twelve." Sasuke said rather irked, folding his arms. "We were going to fight and someone shoved him into me. So I don't count it but Naruto sure does."

Sarada stared at him for a long, silent moment before bursting into laughter. Sasuke glowered at her.

"Oh my god!" Sarada couldn't stop laughing. "Does mom know? Does Boruto's mom know?!"

"Yes, everyone was there for it." He sighed. "Don't you dare tell your friends, I have a reputation to upkeep in this town."

She laughed and lightly pushed his arm. Sasuke smiled.

"Sarada, it doesn't matter who you date as long as they make you happy. Don't get so hung up on one boy for too long. They're pretty stupid at your age and don't have much to offer."

"Yeah, mom told me that, too." She said. "But you're right. Thanks dad."

She hugged him, which caught Sasuke off guard, but then he wrapped an arm around her to hug her back.