A/N: Hi! Sorry for ending that last chapter on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I finally did get around to writing this chapter. I had quite a bit of fun writing this chapter (even though it's not very funny), and I hope you like it. Don't forget to leave a review; I really enjoy reading them. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Boruto (or Naruto, or really any show for that matter)

Something had happened. He was sure of it. Something bad had happened to Sarada. He could feel it in his bones, in the way he was suddenly overcome by an icy chill a few minutes into his mission debriefing with Naruto.

"Teme? Is something wrong?" the Hokage asked, looking up from his papers. Weary blue eyes looked into Sasuke's own in that strange way that felt like the blond was staring right into his soul. He sighed. Naruto was always too damn perceptive.

"You can't fool me, teme. I know you and Sakura have something going on."

"We have nothing going on."

"Right. And I'm not the Hokage."

"You aren't."

"But I will be."

"So?"

"So you and Sakura might not have something going on right now, but you will. If you get that stick out of your ass and actually confess, that is."

…and he was usually right most of the time. But, like always, Sasuke chose not to answer his best friend. The Uchiha patriarch looked out the window, the unsettling feeling in his stomach refusing to go away. Frost had begun to coat the edges of the window, covering the grass with a thin layer of ice.

Sasuke felt his blood run cold.

"It's almost winter," he said, panic threatening to seize him at any moment.

"So? Why does it matter?" Naruto asked, color draining from his face as the realization hit him. He swallowed. "You-you don't think it's the same thing that happened with Sakura-chan, right?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure as hell not taking any chances." He disappeared from the room before Naruto even had the chance to get up and follow him.

It only took a second for Sasuke to reach Naruto's home. The air was icy; even he could feel the chill despite his heavy cloak. It only served to worry him more.

His knuckles rapped on the door, mouth forming a tight line as he heard something crash inside. The door opened to reveal Hinata, pale eyes clouded with worry and fear.

"Sasuke-kun, it's Sarada. She just passed out. I don't know why, and—"

"Where is she?" Sasuke interrupted, fist clenching. It was happening: his worst fear. His daughter, the one thing he had to live for, was going to be taken away from him by a cruel trick of fate.

"Inside, on the couch," Hinata said quietly, moving aside to let him in. As he strode into the living room, his eyes zeroed in on Sarada. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a boy—a miniature Naruto, really—duck out of his way, concern written all over his face. Sasuke paid him no heed, attention fixated solely on his daughter.

Kneeling down on the floor, he brushed her hair out of her face and felt for any sign of a fever, sighing in relief when he found there was none. Then, he scanned her the way Sakura had taught him to, letting his chakra stretch out to search for anything out of the ordinary. Sasuke was never one for religion, but at that moment he prayed to whatever god was out there that is wasn't what he suspected it was.

But the gods seemed to hate him, for it was exactly the same thing he had seen years ago in his own wife: the disease that scared him so much he would never dare to go anywhere remotely cold. He took a deep breath as the realization settled over him.

His daughter was dying.

And it was all his fault.

The first thing Sarada saw was a light so bright that she had to squint to lessen its blinding glare. She had been dreaming again, and her mother's voice still echoed in her mind, the words replaying over and over again. "I love you." Her touch was warm and her smile brighter than the stupid light that kept interrupting her dream (its annoying persistence reminded her of a certain blond who also refused to leave her mind).

Groaning, she pulled herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the way her head spun at the movement. She felt a hand gently place her glasses onto her face and her vision instantly became clearer.

"Papa?" she asked, startled by how weak she sounded. Her father was kneeling next to her, eyebrows creased with worry. He looked somber, a look on his face that seemed so foreign to her. "I'm fine. You don't have to worr—" she was interrupted by a sudden pain in her chest, and it felt like her lungs were pressed so tightly that she could barely breathe. She tried taking in gulps of air but it was to no avail.

With each breath she took, the pain grew, and the feeling of something obstructing her airway did the same. She felt somebody hold a small cup to her lips, and she opened her mouth, letting the cool liquid flow down her throat. It seemed to work; the pain had dulled to a tolerable ache, but she felt exhausted, too weak to hold herself up. Unceremoniously, she flopped back onto the soft velvet, releasing a small cough as she did so. What is happening?

"Sarada?" Hinata called. The girl tilted her head towards her. She was holding the wooden cup in her hands. "Does it still hurt?"

"A little," Sarada admitted. She glanced back at her father, who brought his arm around her, pulling her into a hug. It was a rare show of affection, especially in front of another person, and it worried Sarada even more.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Sarada looked up at him in confusion.

"For what?" she asked after he released her. He simply stared at her, and from his expression, it seemed as though he was making a difficult decision.

Suddenly, Sasuke stood up, startling both his daughter and Hinata, who stood behind him.

"I have to leave. Could you—"

"You don't need to ask. We'll take care of her," Hinata interrupted. The Uchiha simply nodded and turned back towards Sarada with a pained look in his visible eye.

"I'll try to fix this. I swear."

And with that, he left, leaving Sarada behind to try to figure out what had just happened.

Sarada drank more of the liquid Hinata had given her: a healing tonic of sorts that was made by her own mother. It helped to soothe the pain, but didn't get rid of it completely. Hinata gently took the cup away from her hands as Sarada began to cough. Frowning, she turned towards her.

"Let me get you a coat," she said, standing up and leaving the room. Sarada was about to protest that she wasn't cold, but she involuntarily shivered, so she presumed staying warm was probably for the best.

She wrapped the blanket closer around her and grimaced.

"I know you're there, Boruto," she said. Said boy sheepishly stepped out from behind the wall, rubbing the back of his head. His face fell when he saw her.

"You okay?" he asked, bright blue eyes searching her for any sign of damage. Sarada felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny, even more unnerved by the genuinity in his voice. She felt her face heat up as the blond continued to stare at her.

"I'm fine," she spit out. Boruto raised his eyebrows.

"Right. Because passing out and having coughing fits is totally normal." Sarada glared at him as he came to sit next to her on the couch. He was sitting far enough away from her, but even that distance felt too close, and Sarada could feel her heart speed up. He didn't seem to be aware of anything, though, because when he looked at her, his eyes conveyed a seriousness she hadn't seen in him before. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said before. I was just frustrated, I guess, and it annoyed me that you defended my dad," he admitted.

"Did Aunt Hinata put you up to this?" she asked. The blond looked offended by her accusation.

"I can apologize by myself, you know," he huffed, and Sarada had to resist the urge to giggle. She sobered up as she thought back to the stupid argument they had.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have butted in." There was a moment of silence after that before Boruto broke through the tension.

"So now that we've gotten that out of the way, what happened?" he asked. Sarada sighed.

"Heck if I know."

"Yeah, well neither do I." He paused for a moment. "Are you still gonna go tomorrow?"

"Go where?"

"The Academy. Tomorrow's the first day," he said. Sarada's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Tomorrow? I completely forgot about that! She had only just begun to open up and actually socialize with Boruto, and she was not ready to face an entire class. The panic definitely outweighed her excitement at the moment, and Sarada paled in fear.

"I'm screwed."

Sasuke stopped in front of the door of a small hut. It was just on the outskirts of Konoha and it had taken him about an hour to get there because of the dense foliage surrounding it. He rapped his knuckle on the door impatiently. He couldn't waste any more time. There was no use pretending or trying to avoid it. No, he had to face the affliction plaguing his daughter head on, and there was only one person alive who could help him do it.

The door creaked open and a tired looking woman stared at him, barely concealing the surprise in her honey colored eyes. It wore off after a few moments, and she frowned at her visitor's silence.

"What?" she snapped. Sasuke sighed and looked down at his feet. Then he said the words she never thought she'd hear come out of his mouth.

"I need your help, Tsunade."