Boruto woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. He lied tense in the arms of his unconscious lover, who (since he doesn't have the extensive ninja training that Boruto had) kept on snoozing. Yori's arm was placed over his stiff form, but Boruto easily removed it and glided out of the soft hotel bed. His carpeted socks made no noise on the carpeted flooring.
He quickly pulled back on his t-shirt and capri cut track pants before heading to the balcony. He gently slid open the glass door. He made sure Yori's breathing was still deep and even before he jumped down the balcony.
He arrived at the Hokage Tower within eight minutes. The front door was usually locked this time of night, but one of the ANBU guards let him in. It seemed that his father had been informed of his arrival.
He crawled down the dark hallway and up the dimly lit staircase until he reached the Hokage office. He let himself inside the office, the old oak doors screeching slightly in the calm night. The first thing he notices was his father sitting behind his desk, dark circles under his blue eyes. A pen was in his hand and he was signing paperwork. Looking at the three giant stacks beside the older blond, Boruto wondered why his father never used his army of shadow clones to do the paperwork so he could go home and sleep. His father always swore that he would never use shadow clones in the office because that was disrespectful, but he sent a shadow clone to be with his family. HE didn't understand how his father didn't see that as disrespectful to his own family. Boruto wondered if his father regretted their family as he was never home. He must have if he would rather do paperwork than be with his family.
"Bolt!" His father greeted sleepily, a small smile on his face. He looked like he was about to fall asleep on his paperwork, a line of drool trailing out of his mouth. "Hello, Hokage-sama," Boruto greeted, softly falling into the wooden seat in front of his father's desk. He ignored Naruto's flinch at being called Hokage-sama, but he was the one who asked him to call him that whenever they were at his place of work.
His father stared at him and Boruto stared back, royal blue eyes meeting a set of sapphire colored eyes. Naruto sent him a modest smile before quickly signing more paperwork. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds between them was their breathing and the sound of the pen gliding across starched parchment.
After a few moments, Naruto gently placed down the pen he was using to write his signature. He folded his hands and placed all his attention on his son in front of him. Boruto wanted to squirm under the blond's hard stare, but he refused.
"Bolt," His father started, "Why are you here? I assume you didn't visit me suddenly at two in the morning to watch me finish my paperwork."
They stare at each other for a couple more moments before Boruto opens his mouth. "If mom was from another village, would you have left to be with her?"
Naruto stills at the question, and then he adopts a contemplative look on his face. The silence between them is heavy with the possibilities of other lifetimes. Boruto stares at the face of his father and noticed his face is starting to have lines around his eyes, age finally turning on him. Boruto always figured his father would have laugh lines before anything else, but this was just another physical reminder of the stress his father's job placed upon him.
When he answers, his voice is strong, but there is a hesitance in it, one people who weren't close to him wouldn't have noticed. "I would like to believe so. Yes."
Boruto doesn't bring up the hesitance in his voice or his father running his hands through his short hair. He stands up, making his chair scrape lightly on the ground. He nods to his father and tells him goodnight before quickly leaving the building.
They both know what he would have really chosen.
He woke up once again in the confines of his lovers arms. Yori was lightly stirring, his internal clock telling him it was time to get up and face the day. Boruto was exhausted, not only because of being up and about at two in the morning, but he was exhausted because he finally faced what the future would bring.
Yori leaned into the form in front of him and gently kissed his neck before retreating from his form. Yori stretched before he stood up and padded toward the bathroom. Boruto buried himself under the covers that were still warm from Yori's body heat and pretended he was asleep and that the world was perfect and that his lover was a Konoha villager and that he could continue being a chunin in his village's military force.
Yori padded out of the bathroom softly and started shucking off his night clothes. When he was standing there naked, he called out, "Sunshine, I can feel your eyes on me. Get up, lazy pants."
Boruto kicked off the white downy comforter from his body, throwing it onto the ground in a childish display. He lied there on the bed, the cold air wrapping around him. He watched his lover cloth himself in his normal business attire. He stepped into some dark pressed pants and tucked the ends of his white button up in them before buttoning his fly.
"You have to get up some time," Yori greeted out as he placed a green lined tie around his neck. He watched himself in the mirror as he tied it.
"Wear the red tie, Bunny," Boruto ground out, his voice rough with sleep. He felt as if he had a slight headache. It was either from stress or his lack of sleep, he couldn't tell. Maybe it was a mix of both.
Yori hummed and took off the green tie and instead switched it for the red one that he knew Sunshine preferred.
"How is this going to end well?" Boruto asked with emotion heavy in his voice. Yori kept fixing his tie before he calmly replied.
"It's not."
"We have options, don't we?"
Yori grabbed his dark socks and sat on the bed next to his Sunshine as he pulled them on. Boruto gently placed his hand on the other's forearm, slowing his movements. Yori sighed. "As I see it, we have only two choices: you leave with me or I stay in Konoha. I can't leave my daughter behind, Boruto; I can't stay in Konoha."
Boruto loved the man, but did he love him enough to leave everything behind? Leave his friends, his family, and his way of life behind, all for the owner of the most beautiful brown eyes he had ever seen?
Those brown eyes conveyed sadness, but understanding. "I would never ask you to leave the Hidden Leaf for me. I know how you love it so." Soft lips caressed Boruto's hand; scar on his upper lip touching all of the scars Boruto's hands had gained from shuriken practice over the years.
"But, if you can't leave, and I can't leave, then you knew from the beginning it would end like this," Boruto said accusingly. Yori nodded as he kissed up the blonds' bare arm. Yori kissed the freckle trail the sun had granted the blond with.
"Yes, I knew," Yori said in between kisses at his collar bone.
"What if I asked you to stay?" Boruto whispered into the silence of Yori's darkened inn room. Neither of them had turned on the lights yet and there was only a limited amount of sunlight coming in from the window. The older man stilled, and then pulled himself away from the blond. Boruto's eyes widened in fear and he reached to stop Yori from moving away, but the brunette's hands went to caress the eighteen year olds face.
"Then I would stay," Yori said confidently. Boruto's face broke out into a grin and he was about to tackle the other man into a kiss before he continues on. "I would stay and I would love you, but, Sunshine, I don't think I would love Konoha. I have a daughter at home who I rarely get to see after I left her mother; if I moved this far away I would never get to see her." Boruto's stomach dropped and tears began forming in his eyes. He understood the pain of a child left behind and he would wish that on no other child. "If I stayed in Konoha, I don't think I would be happy."
A sob broke free from Boruto, breath hitching and shaky. "Then ask me to go. Please. I can't do it unless you ask me."
Yori looked at his Sunshine reverently, looked at the desperation on his face. They both wanted to be kept together, but it seemed at this point only Yori knew what would happen. He shook his head, brown hair ruffling. "I would never ask you to leave, Sunshine. I could never, I love you too much. This has to be a decision you make on your own."
Boruto didn't know if he was too selfish, asking Yori to stay, or if Yori was too selfless, not asking Boruto to go.
Boruto leaned forward and kissed his love and tried to not focus on the inevitable loss they would soon put themselves through.
Boruto was glad that Yori couldn't see his face. Try as he might, the blue eyed beauty could not stop the tears from escaping.
Boruto and Yori had agreed that Bolt wouldn't spend the night so he could decide what he wanted to do. Would he leave with Yori or would he stay in Konoha? Naruto had traded in fatherhood to be the protector of Konoha, even when the older blond swore he hadn't. Boruto understood the pain of a child left behind like no other did (except maybe Sarada, but the older she became, the more her father stayed around, as if he was trying to make up for her childhood). He wouldn't wish Yori's child to ever feel like he had growing up, or how he did even when he was older.
Boruto tried to weasel a lunch date out of Yori, yet the brunette wouldn't give in. He wanted Boruto to decide on his life without the influence of Yori. The blond cursed how understanding his lover was.
His feet had brought him to his father. Even though his father wasn't around all that much, the man tended to give good advice. A lot of his friends' parents called it the Talk-no-justsu, whatever that meant.
He had even made an appointment to speak to his father, which probably alerted the man that he had some problems as he made room for him in his busy schedule. He was waiting in the waiting room until his name was called. Moegi was keeping an eye on him, but for once, he wasn't doing anything wrong. His mother also sent a bento box with him to give to his father when he told her he was visiting the old man.
A jonin left the room, nodding at the Hokage's son as he passed by. Moegi told Bolt he could go inside Naruto's office, yet the blond didn't move to stand up.
Boruto was nervous to enter the room. When he was younger, he used to barge into the room like he owned it, not caring if he interrupted any important meetings the Hokage was in. The old secretary eventually had him banned from entering the entire building unless he had a mission to report, but his father put a stop to that real quick.
Nowadays, he didn't enter the room unless he had to, preferring to avoid his duties and his father as much as he possibly could. Today, though, he made an appointment to speak to his father. It was odd that to get any alone time with one of the people that created him, he had to wait in line and book a session, just like everyone else.
The door opened and his father stuck his blond head out, smiling wide when he spotted his eldest child waiting patiently in the waiting room. "Why are you waiting out there? Come on in!" His father looked ecstatic to see him, as if their entire past full of misunderstandings and regret didn't hold him down. Boruto didn't know his father well enough to tell when he was faking. He wondered if anyone could. He doubted that his mother could.
Naruto was still smiling, not noticing his son's nervous expression. Boruto wondered if his father knew him well enough to know his facial expressions, to know when Boruto was faking.
Boruto forced a smile on his face and stood up from the green waiting chair and followed his father into his office. In his hands, he clenched a bento box wrapped in a light blue handkerchief. When he sat down in one of the chairs in front of his father's desk, he pushed it toward his dad, who blinked at it.
"It's from mom, idiot," Boruto muttered, forcing the bento box into his father's awaiting hands. Naruto grinned widely and ignored his 0son's words.
"Your mother takes good care of me," Naruto sighed, a love struck look on his tan face. He began untying the handkerchief with deft fingers, unwrapping to show a box lunch filled to the brim.
The son decided that he didn't need to answer and instead looked around the office that was the main place he ever saw his father anymore. It looked like how it always did, empty and impersonal and full of paperwork.
Naruto finally found his chopsticks that were in his top drawer and looked toward his son who was slumped down in his seat, a faraway look in his eyes.
"So, what brings you in today? You didn't need to make an appointment to drop off a bento box, ya know," His father asked as he lifted some sticky rice into his mouth.
"Do I have to have a reason to visit my own father?" Boruto asked, tone slightly on edge. Naruto winced, having said the wrong thing. It seemed like one of them always rubbed the other wrong.
They sat in silence, Naruto eating while looking at paperwork, Boruto looking past his father toward the stone Kages.
After a few minutes of silence, Boruto asked, "Dad, do you love mom?" The question was asked with no hesitancy and no warning, giving a big shock to the older man. He started chocking on his rice, coughing into his hand, face turning red. Boruto watched his father, unimpressed.
"I cannot believe the seventh Hokage is about to die from chocking on food in his office. Mom will never forgive herself for making the food that killed you," Boruto sighed, drumming his fingertips on the desk in front of him.
Naruto flipped the bird to his son and forced himself to stop coughing. He took several deep breaths before leaning back in his chair.
"Why are you asking me if I love your mother? Of course I do," He wheezed out, voice strained from the attack from the rice. "I'm married to her, of course I love her."
"You still love her, after all these years?" Boruto asked, ignoring his father's question. Naruto noted that he was still having a stare off with the stone faces, not once looking at his father when he answered the younger shinobi's questions.
"Of course I do. It's different from when we first got together, but it's nonetheless real and it's stable. Your mother is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, and even after that I don't want to be from her side. Love changes and evolves, but some stay forever. The way your mother and I feel about each other is a forever kind of thing," Naruto said confidently, popping another piece of rice into his mouth, having forgiven it for the attack from earlier. He looked out of the side of his blue eyes to his son, who had an absentminded look on his face still.
"Boruto… Are you alright?" Naruto asked his son, nervous for some reason. Some days it felt like he knew his son inside and out; other days it felt like he was just some stranger with his sons face.
"Yeah dad, I'm alright," Boruto said, finally looking at his father. Blue eyes met blue eyes and he told his father something he hadn't even disclosed to his mother; something he probably wouldn't have told either of them, but sometimes just seeing his father's face made him spill all his secrets. "Dad… I think I'm in love."
Naruto froze and then started running his hands through his hair. "No,no,no; you're too young! You're still my little baby! You can't be in love!"
Boruto rolled his eyes; of course his father would make a big deal out of this. "Dad, I'm eighteen."
"Eighteen is too young for love!"
"Dad, didn't you marry mom at nineteen?"
"That's different!"
"It sounds like you're a hypocrite. Also, you're fine with Himawari dating Shikadai, so you can't say anything."
In their bickering, Naruto noticed the deep sadness in his son's eyes, and the dark circles underneath like he had been losing sleep.
"Bolt, why don't you seem happy about being in love?"
Boruto got that faraway look in his eyes again, and the older blond cursed himself for putting it back there.
"Because," His son started, tapping his fingers against the hard wood of the Hokage's desk. "Because… Because I don't think it is going to end well, Dad. Not all things do."
"If you love someone, you can't let them get away," Naruto said confidently.
Boruto chuckled lightly. If his father knew that he would have to leave the village to be with his love, he doubted the man would encourage him to follow his heart. "I'll keep that in mind," Boruto smiled sweetly at his father and his father grinned widely back before digging back into his meal. His heart stung because he knew his father thought it was a sincere smile.
Boruto was walking down the street, his head in the clouds as always. He was still internally waging a war within himself. It was a normal thing for him, being at war with himself, yet Yori was usually the thing that made everything calmer, not worse. This time was different.
"Hey, Blondie!" A slightly familiar voice called out. He remembered the voice vaguely, as if he had heard it in a dream.
When he turned around he was greeted with the sight of a small brunette woman with excited bubblegum pink eyes. He didn't know who she was, though she was vaguely familiar.
"Hey," Boruto greeted friendly, his voice holding a note of confusion.
The brunette smiled like she understood and didn't hold it against him. "It's Machi! I was your waitress when you and your man were on your first date!" Machi grinned widely and gave the blond a quick hug, as if they were old friends meeting after a decade of absence. Boruto felt a little rattled at the encounter. "How are you and your hunk of man meat doing, by the way?"
Boruto shushed his companion, grabbing her by the shoulders. They were stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, people weaving around them as if they weren't there at all. "Hey, lower your voice. Yori and I aren't necessarily out and about, if you catch my meaning."
Machi nodded understandably. "You mean you're not out; not him."
Boruto sputtered, spit flying. "How did you know?"
"A man like that," Machi started. She entangled an arm around the blond and dragged him in the direction of a coffee shop. He couldn't understand how such a small woman had the power to drag a man a foot taller than her around. "A man like that knows what he's about. He knows what he wants and he gets what he wants. He is a grown man. You, you, on the other hand, are not a boy anymore, not yet a man, not a real one at least. You don't really know what you want from life, not yet. Not fully. Your youth will be your downfall."
Boruto's mind felt like a whirlwind of emotion. What even was going on? Boruto felt like he wasn't even a part of what was going on; he was just a stranger watching on.
Machi pushed him into a little coffee shop that Sarada loved to go to. When she ordered, she made Boruto pay for it. He didn't even hesitate; he just shelled over the paper money so he could escape this situation. Machi dragged him to a low table, pushing him down into the bench seat across from her.
"If you don't fix this, he's gonna get away," Machi said confidently, not looking away from his eyes.
"He already is," Boruto practically whispered. He ran a hand through his hair, making it stick every which way— a habit his mother smiled fondly at. "I think I'm gonna lose him, Machi."
"Well, Boruto, you'll only lose him if you allow him to get away," she stated calmly, adjusting herself in her seat.
"Wait, how do you know my name?" Boruto asked, confused.
Machi smiled widely and laughed a loud guffaw. It wasn't very 'ladylike', yet it fit the woman. "C'mon, the whiskers totally give it away. Who else has those except for your dad and sister?" When the barista called her name Machi motioned for Boruto to get it. He promptly stood up to do her bidding. "When you come back, you have to tell me all the gossip of your love life."
It was weird, but Boruto knew he could trust this woman, who he had only met once before, with things he couldn't even tell his childhood friends. "Alright," he agreed.
Boruto was still conflicted. He had no answers for the question that was tearing him apart: Would he stay in Konoha with all the people he loves or would he leave with Yori, the man he loves?
He only knew of one person that could personally help how he was feeling.
The Nara clan was located at the edge of Konoha. It was connected to the dense forest Konoha was known for. The forest was deep and filled with wildlife, where the Nara Clan had taken care of its deer for generations.
Growing up as Shikadai's best friend, Boruto had spent a lot of time in that clan ground, running through the dense forest with the brunette Nara by his side. Their spirits were always light as they ran through the trees. Shikamaru had put a stop to their forest escapades after they disrupted the wildlife, but Boruto could remember the earthy smell of the world around, the dewy feeling of the leaves, and the way the sunlight filtered through the treetop rooftop and light up his best friend.
Even with his childhood in the leaves, he never saw one deer.
Boruto fought the feeling of nostalgia the sight of the clan ground brought him. When was the last time he was here? When the boys were in the Academy, they spent a lot of times out of their homes, trying to gain a sort of independence that was not allowed under the watchful eyes of their respective mothers. All the years after being assigned to their genin teams, they slowly drifted apart to where they only hung out every couple weeks, if that. Boruto wondered why life dragged you away from those you were once closest to, eventually left with nothing but double-sided memories and awkward meetings. The curse of time was inevitable.
Boruto walked through the rows of big houses, waving at those who waved first. They usually were the older people, who remembered Boruto as more than just the Hokage's son and instead remembered him as Shikadai's little friend. The younger generation of Nara paid him no mind, too busy with their games of ninja.
The blond noted that he stuck out drastically among the sea of dark Nara hair, making his way to his the childhood home of his friend.
Both younger and elder Shika were sitting on their front porch, playing shogi, braving the humid afternoon air to play a board game. Boruto couldn't understand what was so awesome about that game, but he expected it was a Nara thing; as an Uzumaki, he wouldn't understand. Shikadai was losing to his father, but not by much, blessed with the Nara game for strategic thinking.
Shikadai was startled out of his game when he heard the footsteps of his friend gracefully walking up the porch steps. Shikadai noted that his graceful nature must come from the Hyuuga side of the family, especially since he's witnessed Lord Seventh trip over air.
"Were we supposed to hang out today? Shit, man, I'm sorry, I must've forgot," Shikadai rose quickly from his seat on the ground, ready to ditch the the losing game to hang out with his friend.
Shikamaru greeted the blond from his spot on the ground and lightly told his son "language", something so half-hearted that Shikadai just shrugged off.
Boruto awkwardly motioned for his friend to sit back down. Shikadai sat back down confusedly, wondering why this all felt so weird. He raised an eyebrow at his friend, ready for him to start talking and explain himself.
"No, man, you're fine. We didn't make any plans… Actually I'm not here for you…" Boruto rubbed the back of his neck, one of the awkward ticks he inherited from his father.
"Why are you here then?" Shikadai asked, curious. His father was, too, except he wouldn't ask about it. Shikamaru lit up a cigarette instead, letting the smoke engulf him.
Boruto laughed awkwardly. "I'm here to talk to your mom," Boruto said, but it sounded a bit like a question.
Shikadai stared at the Uzumaki and just blinked. "My mom?" He repeated in a dazed voice.
"Yeah, I'm here to steal her away from your good-for-nothing dad."
Shikamaru sighed, knocking the ashes off the end of his cigarette. "Please take her off my hands."
"What was that?" A strong and chilling voice asked from the entryway of the Nara house. Suddenly, the air around the three dropped around ten degrees. They all turned to look at the statue form of Temari, who was giving off an icy aura. Out of all of his friend's mothers, Temari had to be the scariest.
"No dinner tonight," Temari ground out.
Shikadai groaned. "I didn't even do anything!"
"The son always pays for the sins of the father," Temari said cryptically with a faraway look in her eyes. Shikadai wondered vaguely what she was thinking about.
Shikadai outwardly groaned louder.
"You wanna get ramen for dinner tonight?" Shikamaru asked, unconcerned about his angry wife who was standing near him.
Shikadai nodded. "As long as I get fed, I'm down."
The two brunettes stood up simultaneously, abandoning their game for nutrition. Shikadai was still confused as to why his friend needed to speak to his mom, especially since they rarely spoke in the first place, yet he went along with his dad's plan of leaving the two blonds behind. Whatever Bolt needed to talk to his mother about, he would learn of it eventually, either through his mom or his friend.
The blond woman glared at the retreating forms of her men as they stumbled down the porch steps and away from the home.
"Don't die," Shikadai called out his farewell to the blond.
"If I die, tell my mother I love her."
"Don't be so dramatic, both of you," Temari sighed, motioning for the young blond to follow her inside the home. Boruto quickly took off his dirty sandals in the entryway because his mother didn't raise him in a barn.
"Would you like some tea?" Temari asked as Boruto sat on the ground underneath the traditional table in the dining room.
"Yes, please."
Temari sighed as she went to get the tea. "Why can't Shika be as polite as you?"
"Do you mean your husband or your son?"
"That's a good question," Temari stated as she left the room to make their tea.
Boruto distracted himself by looking around the room. The walls were painted the same color beige, the pictures aligning the walls (baby pictures of Shikadai, genin photos of Team Ten and Team Baki, an old picture of Kurenai with Asuma, a wedding photo of Shikadai's parents who looked young and not like they were recovering from a war, and a picture of Temari and her younger brothers as younger teams) hadn't changed over the years. It seemed as if nothing ever changed in the Nara house, which was a comfort. The Nara family was all about consistency.
Shikadai's mom came back in the room, balancing a tray of cups and a kettle. She gently placed the tray on the hardwood table, serving his green tea to him first before serving herself. Bolt politely took a drink of his green tea, trying not to wince at the bitter taste, the leaves having been steeped for too long.
"Boruto, why did you need to speak to me?" Temari inquired. Boruto always liked how she never beat around the bush, always straightforward, sometimes to the point of appearing rude. He wondered if it was a characteristic of having grown up in the desert, having to grow harsh in the harsh environment, or maybe it was something that developed after she married Shikamaru, who tries to avoid anything unless it was up in his face.
Boruto decided he should be straightforward, too. "What was it like, leaving you village behind?" The sand colored blond paused for a second, not having expected that question. Boruto couldn't tell if the question was unexpected for her, her face gave away nothing.
"I had sworn my life to fight and die for my village. I was prepared for it," Temari took a break from her monologue to take a sip of her tea from her black rimmed mug. Boruto reflected her, even though he didn't like the drink. "When I fell in love with Shika, it was the most beautiful thing I ever experienced. But at the same time it felt like a betrayal to my home, falling for a jonin in a rival village. When my brother created a steady alliance with Konoha, the marriage between Shika and I was turned slightly political, at least between our Kages. Our love was seen as an asset to both our villages, so in a way, being with Shika was a beneit for my village."
They sat in silence for a moment, drinking their green drinks, lost in thought.
A moment later, Boruto asked, "If you had to have chosen between your village and Shikamaru-san, who would you have chosen? If you could have only had one, but would have been forced to permanently give up the other, what would you have chosen?"
Temari stared into her tea, contemplated, as if she was practicing divination. She noted the tea leaf floating through the now room temperature water. "I think…" She started, tapping her fingers against the painted ceramic in her hand, wedding ring creating a bell like noise. "I don't know what I would have chosen and I thank kami every day that I didn't have to chose. But I know that if I would have had to choose between my homeland and my husband, I would have grown to resent the one I chose for forcing me in the position of having to choose."
Boruto took in what she said, letting it sink into his mind like the healing salves his mother used to smear on his skin whenever he came home from training with a multitude of cuts.
Boruto forced himself to finish his drink, the bitter liquid not tasting any better even after he obtained the sort of answers to the questions he had sought out to get.
Temari suddenly had a look take over her face, lips in a smirk and eyes sharp and calculating. Boruto was instantly nervous. He understood why Shikadai was always scared of his mother.
"Why are you asking all these questions, hmm?" The middle-aged woman asked, rubbing her fingers around the rim of her mug. "Has the esteemed Hokage's son fallen in love with a foreign girl? Ah, the scandal!"
Boruto turned bright red, stammering, "I-I… I've gotta go. Immediately." Boruto quickly stood up and moved toward the door. Temari giggled at him, and Boruto swore that she lost twenty years. "Thank you for the hospitality. I apologize for dropping by unexpectedly." Temari smirked into her cup. Hinata had really drilled manners into that boy. Now, if only she could get the Hyuuga to give her tips because Shikadai was turning too much into his father.
As the blond turned to leave the room, her voice called out, stopping him. "Boruto, whomever she is, she's lucky to have your attention. You're a good boy. Don't let reality get in the way of love. But whatever you chose, you will have to stick with for the rest of your life. This is not an easy decision."
Boruto blushed, nodded, and left.
A half hour later when both Shika men returned home, Temari was slightly tipsy, a bottle of sake on the table and a blush on her cheeks. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at his tipsy wife, who was lying on the ground, blond hair a halo around her face. Shikadai forced past his father's still figure and sat down at the table, sneaking a drink from his mothers cup. His mother kicked at him lightly, her thin leg glowing in the dim lights of the room.
"Did Boruto get you drunk?" Shikadai asked, confused.
"Yes and then he had his wicked way with me," Temari teased. "That boy is good with his tongue."
A disgusted look crossed over Shikadai's face and his father laughed. Shikamaruu moved to sit next to his wife, who in turn placed her feet in his lap, leaning up to give him a sloppy drunken kiss.
"I love you," she drunkenly whispered, so it really wasn't a whisper. Shikamaru blushed lightly and whispered the endearment back, tugging his wife closer to him.
Shikadai groaned. "I'm literally right here. Stoooop."
Shikamaru shooed his namesake into the kitchen to get him a cup. He stole multiple kisses from his wife in the time his son was gone.
Temari grabbed her husband's face between her hands, her unpainted nails slightly digging into his skin. "You make me so happy. You and Shikadai are my boys. Thank you for the life you have given me." She blew her son a kiss as he walked into the room.
"What in the world did Boruto and you talk about?" Shikamaru questioned, taking the cup his son handed him. Temari poured her husband a glass of sake before topping off her own.
Temari sighed dreamily, "Baby Naruto is in loooove."
Shikamaru choked on the alcohol, the liquid burning worse.
"He really came here to confess?" Temari laughed dramatically at her husband's dumbfounded and slightly jealous facial expression.
"Please tell me that Boruto isn't going to be my new dad?" Shikamaru asked, joking. He of all people knew that would never happen— his mother would never leave his father and to top it all off, Boruto was gay.
"Your mother would never leave me," Shikamaru said confidently, taking his hair out of his high ponytail.
"I don't know, Baby Naruto turned out really beautiful with those big blue eyes of his," Temari giggled.
Shikamaru sighed and took a drink.
Boruto couldn't stop stressing over the situation with Yori. If it couldn't even last, then why even let it keep going? Why had they even started this in the first place? They should give up while they were ahead, before they caused themselves more unnecessary pain. Or maybe it would be more painful to cut their ties early, and have to watch each other from afar, never to be with each other for the remaining time Yori would be in Konoha, and then for eternity.
After all the people he had talked to today, nobody had helped. They all told him to choose his heart, because love is beautiful and rare, yet his heart loved Konoha as much as he loved Yori. He loved his family and friends and even though leaving with Yori wouldn't mean cutting those ties, it meant loosening them.
Boruto groaned. A part of him wished that Yori would have never started this with him, that this beautiful mess of a man wouldn't have ever spoken to him. The larger part of him was so grateful that this man had paid for a mission that he was assigned because if he had never, then Boruto would have never met the love of his life.
Bolt knew that it was silly to call Yori that even in the safety of his mind, but he was sure that the brunette was the love of his life, like how he was sure that the sky was blue and that grass was green. It didn't matter that Yori was from another village, it didn't matter that Yori was closer to his parents' ages than his own, and it didn't even matter that Yori was a man and that homosexual relationships weren't very welcome in his home village. It didn't even matter that Yori was leaving in only two days time.
All that mattered was that Boruto loved that silly man, who never seemed to act his age, who believed in dragons, and that all men are inherently good.
Boruto let the thrill of being in love for the first time wash over him, warm as the hot springs his parents took him to when he was younger.
After lying there for a long time, the shadows the moon cast changing positions on his back wall, from the outlines of monsters to the outlines of trees, serenely swaying in the night winds.
Boruto decided to get up and get some water from the kitchen, the solitude of the night not helping his decision. Boruto gently walked down the hall and then down the stairs, careful steps light as a feather after years of rigorous training. He walked into the kitchen and filled a clear glass with tap water. A noise from outside the back door quickly got his attention. The blond quickly walked across the mahogany flooring, his socked feet causing him to slip and crash into the dark wood of the back door.
"And I call myself a ninja," Boruto muttered to himself, nursing the pulsating red bump on his forehead.
"Boruto, is that you?" A voice Boruto knew from before birth called out from the other side of the door.
"Hey, mom, how'd you know it was me?" Boruto opened the door to reveal his mother sitting out on the porch, her pale eyes looking like two pale moons in the darkness.
"Himawari would have never tripped," Hinata smiled, eyes crinkling. Boruto cursed his little sister for being better at him at everything. He cursed her even more for outranking him.
Hinata laughed lightly at his sour expression. She patted the space next to her and the blond sat down, spreading out his legs like a starfish.
Mother and son sat in solitude next to each other, Boruto lost in the summer evening around him, his mother lost in her own mind. Boruto loved that his mother and he could sit next to each other in comfortable companionable silence; if it was his father, the older blond would be trying to fill the silence up with needless small talk, as if he was the quiet air around him.
Boruto turned to stare at his beautiful mother. She had a faraway look in her eyes, hands unconsciously messing with the hem of her silk pajamas. The look in her eyes was something he was too familiar with.
The disassociated look in her white-lavender eyes told him all he needed to know; she was not among the fireflies and mosquitoes and humid summer night air— she was in her mind, and her mind, as always, was wherever his father was.
After a moment of silence, he got the courage to ask her a question that had been bothering him for the majority of his life.
"Do you regret it? If you could go back, would you change anything?"
Hinata didn't have to ask what he meant. Boruto had always been perceptive to her emotions, even when he was really little.
"No," She said, her soft voice confident in the night air. "Your father is a decision I would make time and time again." Hinata leaned her head back, her face bathed in moonlight, her purple hair looking an inky black in the dark light.
"When you love someone with your entire being, you sometimes have to make sacrifices to make them happy. You have to decide whether they're worth those sacrifices. Your father is worth those sacrifices."
Boruto nodded. They both sat in silence for a couple more minutes before the blond stood up. He slowly leaned down and kissed his mother on her forehead, disrupting her bangs. He would always be a momma's boy.
Hinata closed her eyes, at peace. Boruto pulled away and quickly bid his mother a "good night" and continued inside and up the stairs, crawling back into his twin sized bed.
A couple minutes later, Boruto heard the front door open and his father quietly passed his wife unknowingly, continuing up the creaky stairs and into his bedroom at the end of the hall.
Boruto closed his eyes hard and willed himself to sleep.
In the morning when he woke, he woke with the decision that he could not give up Yori.
A/N:
Hey yall! I updated a lot sooner than any of us probably expected, including me! I hope you really like this chapter, it is the longest chapter out of the entire story. We are so close to the end. One chapter next and then an epilogue. I can't believe we have reached near the end, how crazy is this?
Please leave a review or follow the story or message me or favorite it or private message me! I apologize for the grammer mistakes and the such. I have looked over the chapter but I wasn't editing too deeply.
Thank you for reading.