Sarada awoke to find herself tucked down in her blanket. Chills ran over her body and across her skin like the gentle caress of Jack Frost. Her throat was beginning to feel as though little tiny microorganisms were chewing away at the lining.

"Not today," she moaned, wondering if the hay fever that was affecting everyone else had finally made its way to her. "We were supposed to go on a mission..."

It wasn't just any mission. It was a B rank mission. Her first B rank mission as team captain.

Boruto shirked a mission for the sake of saving someone else's life, but she couldn't sit out just because of a fever... Besides, Cho-Cho was looking forward to the opening of a new sweets shop. And as a Chunin, Sarada was going to use her earnings from this mission to treat her.

The moment she sat up, a sneeze flew out of her mouth at Mach speed. Her mom was already at work, which was a good thing. If she was home, she'd never let Sarada leave the house. While her voice wasn't being affected just quite yet, her mother could spot sickness from a mile away.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed her color wasn't too bad. It was only slightly paler than normal. She threw on her regular clothes and ran the palms of her hands across the goosebumps on her arms. I'll just take some cold medicine... Then I'll be fine.

After swallowing down a few pills and making herself some herbal tea, she felt a little better. The goosebumps receded, and the tea was doing a good job at soothing her throat. "Alright! Time to go do this mission."

Sarada left her house and walked through the village. The warmth of the sun soaked through her sensitive skin. If she didn't run, she could conserve more of her energy for the mission... But it would also be cutting it close to their meetup time.

Boruto, Mitsuki, and Kawaki were all waiting for her on top of the hokage's office, each one with a surprised look on their face.

"Ah there she is," said Boruto, waving his hand and hopping off the building. "I thought I was going to have to go looking for you. Our team captain was really thirty seconds late for her first B rank mission..."

"Oh shut it," she grimaced.

But when Boruto paused, narrowed his eyes, and slumped his head forward in a "really?" gesture, she knew her sickness was discovered.

"Hm? Boruto." Kawaki jumped down and came to join them. "What's wrong?"

To her utmost surprise, Boruto nonchalantly turned around and sighed. "It's nothing. I thought maybe someone else was transformed into Sarada for a second, but I was wrong after all."

Either he was an idiot, or he was covering for her.

"Hmm," said Mitsuki. "You must look at her often to be able to tell. But then again, it is strange for Sarada to come late."

And there was Mitsuki, teasing them without knowing. Or maybe he did know and he just found it amusing. She never could read that smile of his.

"Anyways, let's go." Boruto turned his back and began walking. "Our client is waiting."

Their mission was to escort a merchant carrying goods that were being targeted by a few lower-level rogue ninja. Their client was a middle-aged man, average appearance, no remarkable features. But the dark green box on his back was a dead giveaway for the bandits.

Sarada was about to introduce herself, and then sneezed into her hand.

"Hm? Sarada, are you sick?" Mitsuki asked.

"Ahaha," she laughed nervously. "Maybe Cho-Cho is gossiping about me..."

"Anyways," Boruto covered her for certain this time, "our team is here to escort you. Let's get this mission underway!"

"Hold it."

And then there was the client, angry as usual.

"I can't believe you're letting a bunch of children take on this mission. Do you know how valuable this vase is? At least include a jounin. I won't leave the village otherwise."

Naruto sighed. "I understand that they are children, but all of them are highly capable ninja. The four of them together could take on an A rank mission if I allowed them to. Please rest assured mister, you're in safe hands."

"Tch. Whatever. If this gets broken, I'll be taking the fee out of your paycheck!"

"Tch," muttered Kawaki under his breath. "Cruddy old geezer."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Nothing nothing!" Boruto laughed nervously. "Don't worry old man. We'll be able to protect you. We just have to take you to the edge of Konoha, right?"

"That's Hacho village to you, brat."

Sarada put a hand on Boruto's shoulder as he struggled not to sock the man across the face. "Come on, let's go. It's going to take us a few hours to get there..."

She felt eyes on the side of her neck. Another chill ran up her spine. Boruto put himself between her and the man and followed her out of the office.

. . .

The team walked through the forest, Mitsuki and Kawaki in front for attack, Boruto and Sarada in the back for defense, the man in the middle. After two hours of walking, the clothes on Sarada's back were beginning to feel like sandpaper. She reached into her tool bag to feel for the cardboard box that contained a few extra pills, but it wasn't there.

Instant regret chewed at her stomach, bringing on a wave of anxiety and dread. She left the pills on the counter at her house.

And then she tripped on a root. She tried to catch herself, but her other foot caught it as well, and before she knew it, she was falling face first towards the hard dirt.

A small whimper left her throat as she braced for impact.

But the impact never came.

"I knew it," Boruto muttered, one arm across her ribs to catch her. The simple touch of his warm hand on her sensitive wrist felt like little hammers pounding against her bone. His blue eyes looked down at her with stern displeasure, sending a guilty swirl through her chest. "You do have a cold, don't you?"

"Sheesh, look where you're going!" The man shouted, oblivious to Boruto's mumblings. "You could have fallen and knocked me over, and then the vase would be broken! How am I supposed to leave my protection up to ninja this clumsy?"

Mitsuki and Kawaki certainly seemed annoyed, but Boruto was glaring daggers at the man in front of them.

All of a sudden, she sensed the presence of three... No, four ninja surrounding them on all sides. Activating her sharingan, she pulled away from Boruto and stood in a battle stance. "They're coming."

No sooner had she said the words than four men appeared in the treetops above them, slashes through the leaf shaped swirls in their headbands. "We'll be taking that vase off of your hands, Mr. Kunigawa."

Sarada threw four shuriken. Boruto materialized four shadow clones. Mitsuki sent out a lightning snake, and Kawaki's hand turned into a hard rocklike substance, building on itself until it stretched to the length of the rogue ninja.

Mr. Kunigawa's knees began to shake. "Y-you'd better protect me, brats!"

Boruto sent two of his shadow clones to Mr. Kunigawa and used the others to guard Sarada. "Don't worry, we'll protect you well, old man."

Sarada stared at the backs of his clones, grateful but at the same time slightly offended. She wasn't going to let him outdo her. She was captain.

Her eyes locked with the man who seemed to be the leader as she cleared the clouds from her head. And with that, she launched herself at him, kunai at the ready. "Why do you want that vase so badly?"

"It's worth ten million ryo," said the bandit, locking Kunai with her. "Not only that... It's not even his. It belongs to my father."

"Your father? Why would it belong to him?"

"He stole it first. That man is just a thief who went to Konoha to get it back."

Momentary confusion caused Sarada to freeze. The man used that to his advantage and shoved her off of the tree branch. She tried to catch herself, but her chakra control was imbalanced.

The man weaved the signs for a wind jutsu, but she couldn't tell which one. Her vision fuzzed and a spell of dizziness overtook her. She was falling.

"Gale palm!"

Wind shot out from his hand and increased her speed as she plummeted towards the ground. But the impact was cushioned by Boruto's shadow clones.

"Sarada," he yelled from a few trees away, slashing at another man with a kunai. "Call for two on two."

"Ah. Right," she said, struggling to her feet. "Mitsuki, Kawaki, you take those two. Me and Boruto will handle these."

"Is your captain seriously that weak?!" Mr. Kunigawa held the box in front of him, his eyes on her crumpled figure. "I knew I couldn't trust you all."

"Be quiet and stay where you are," barked Boruto. "I told you..." He formed a swirling palm of chakra in his hand, his hair billowing with the sudden breeze of wind. "We'll take care of these guys."

With that, he sent the rasengan swirling into the other man's stomach and knocked him out of the tree.

"Jeez Sarada, you're awfully clumsy today." Two of his shadow clones stood behind her, one in front, all facing outwards as the man jumped down from the tree to protect her in a ring of Borutos. "Seems like you need more training," he teased, turning around to deflect a kunai.

Sarada struggled to her feet, a smirk on her face, chills ransacking her body. "Try to keep up with me, idiot Boruto. I bet in my state I could still challenge you to a fight." It wasn't true, she was extremely weak. But firing back insults filled her with the adrenaline she needed to keep pushing herself.

She imbued lightning into her kunai and threw it. But it was off target. Boruto's clone pulled out shuriken and covered for her. Can't I do anything right today?

The man smirked and looked behind her, likely at Boruto who was fighting the other ninja. Out from his pouch came a kunai with an explosion tag. Oh no you don't.

She finally hit her mark, sending the kunai flying skyward to explode in a wave of heat above their heads.

Boruto still cried out in pain. Sarada turned around to find him taking a careless hit to the shoulder.

"Boruto!" Sarada cursed and reactivated her sharingan. "Keep your eyes on your own fight, stupid."

"Yeah yeah, I get it."

The other man hopped down from the tree to challenge Sarada to a hand-to-hand fight. She smirked and put up her fists like her mother had taught her, fighting the weakness in her knees. Instinct helped her block his punches and kicks.

And just as Boruto took two of his clones and readied an airstream, she imbued chakra around her fist. He went flying towards his target with a rasengan. She yelled out a hearty "Shannaroo!" and struck her target right in the chest.

Both men doubled back and cursed under their breath. Struggling to their feet, they leapt back into the trees.

"We did it," said Sarada, dizziness overtaking her as she collapsed to her knees. "We actually did it."

"We? I think you mean you. That guy wasn't a problem for me," he bragged with a smirk. "More importantly, you're not ok, are you."

"If you knew that, why didn't you tell me to go home?"

"You could have called it off, you know," he said, picking her up off the ground and slipping his arm around her waist. "No one would have blamed you. This cruddy old man could have waited... But you didn't so I figured you had your reasons for coming."

Sarada leaned more of her weight against him. In times like these, she was glad there was someone who understood her without having to ask.

But as she raised her head to look at their client, something about his disposition bothered him. "Hey. That man said you stole the vase from him. What was he talking about?"

"I-I don't know!" He sputtered. "This was at a museum in Konoha. I'm supposed to transport it to the museum in Hacho... I work there. If you don't believe me, you can ask the employees. Why would I pay ninja to help me steal a vase?"

"He has a point," said Boruto with a sigh. "Maybe the other guy just said that to throw you off..."

Sarada thought the same thing, but something about it still didn't feel right. Why would a rogue ninja's father make a vase anyway? There were certainly all types of people in the world.

Mitsuki and Kawaki returned nonchalantly, as if both of their fights had been a piece of cake. But they seemed surprised to see Boruto shouldering her weight.

"Sarada, what happened?" Mitsuki tilted his head. "You don't look injured..."

"Hm?" Kawaki peered harder at her. "Don't tell me... Did you have a cold this entire time?!"

"Hehe," she laughed, her breath wheezing out of her throat. "Sorry... I thought I could handle it."

The ends of Boruto's hair brushed lightly against her long side bangs as he turned to look at her. And then he heaved a sigh. "Come on, let's just get you to the other village. It's closer than turning back at this point... You're going to have to rest in the hospital there."

"But..." Sarada bit her lip, taking labored steps next to him. She wasn't used to being in the care of nurses other than her mother. And quite frankly, she was scared of someone else taking care of her. When she and Boruto set out to go find Mitsuki, a sadistic nurse nearly killed them in order to save their lives. What if someone similar tried to treat her this time?

"It'll be ok, ya know," said Boruto, as if he could read her mind. "This village is close to ours. Some of the medic ninja probably even know who you are. If you didn't want it to come to this, you should have stayed home in the first place."

"...I know..."

"You didn't even bring medicine? As Sakura and Sasuke's daughter, I pegged you as a little more intelligent, captain," he chided, the smirk obvious in his voice.

Boruto was unbelievably sweet at times. And at others, he was unbelievably annoying. "I left it on the counter," she mumbled, turning her narrowed and fuzzed gaze towards the trees.

"Welp. Nothing we can do about it now... It should be about a thirty-minute walk from here. Try not to pass out on me. I don't feel like hauling your weight at this turtle-like pace."

The comment about her weight was unwarranted. "When we get back to the village, I'll make sure to report how useless you were on this mission."

"Useless?! I'm the one carrying you, ya know!"

"Mitsuki! Trade with Boruto! He's being annoying!"

"Haah?! You're coving me in your germs, and you want to get two people sick?"

"Mitsuki doesn't get sick. Isn't that right, Mitsuki?"

"Well," Mitsuki said, turning around with a smile. "If you insist on switching, I would be happy to, Boruto. But only if you want to, that is."

"Tch. Fine by me."

"I disagree," said Kawaki, walking at the front of the group with his hands in his pockets. "You can make more of yourself to fight and hold her at the same time, but there's only one of Mitsuki. I'd prefer we keep our battle options open in case we run into any other rogue ninja."

Sarada clicked her tongue. Kawaki had a point. And so it was that she continued to walk, unhappily, with her arm slung around Boruto's shoulder, pins and needles prickling her skin.