White Moon Reminiscence
The door to the reception room opened, and the attendant that had welcomed Boruto into the mansion entered. She bowed, her posture beautiful and perfect.
"Rokudaime-sama will see you now. Please come this way."
Boruto startled, jumping to his feet.
"Matsuri-san! Have you managed to convince him to talk to me about Haruno Sakura-san?"
She smiled.
"I simply told him that a rare guest wanted to greet him. He has agreed to meet you."
"B-but, you didn't tell him the true reason behind my visit?"
"Hahaha... I decided to leave that honor to you, dear guest. Now please follow me."
She turned away from him with a mischievous expression.
Boruto scratched his blond hair, annoyed but resigned.
He had no choice but to press on now that he'd finally gotten this chance to talk to the mysterious warrior of the sand waterfall.
The man who was supposedly the last person to see Haruno Sakura alive.
.
.
"Gaara-sama. I present to you Uzumaki Boruto, an ambassador of Konohagakure."
Unable to help his curiosity, the twenty year old diplomat studied the VIP room of the Kazekage.
The first thing he noticed was the incredible amount of folded paper cranes that perched on almost every possible surface. They covered the coffee tables, the floorboards, the shelves, the chairs, even the window ledges. All of them different colors and sizes.
Come to think of it, there was a festival in Konoha that involved a thousand paper cranes and making wishes, but he wasn't really interested in the romanticism.
His gaze was inevitably drawn to the children's science book that leaned against the Kazekage's stomach, opened to a certain page.
Mysteries of the Universe, vol. 2
Did the Kazekage have any children? Was that why he had that?
The Kazekage himself was slouched in his chair, his velvet eyelids closed as if trapped within a troubled sleep. His red hair was already graying in some areas from stress. He had abandoned his Kazekage robes on the chair next to his, revealing a simple getup consisting entirely of black.
If anything, the man that the people referred whisperingly to as "The Crazed Sand Demon" looked like a regular man in his forties who was suffering from burnout.
This revelation calmed Boruto's nerves just a bit.
Matsuri cleared her throat.
"Gaara-sama?"
"...Hn."
The redhead opened his eyes.
Those eyes were red and puffy from crying.
They regained their focus and slowly fell on Boruto.
"I am the Rokudaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara."
Boruto bowed once, and then straightened.
"The name's Uzumaki Boruto, -ttebane! I, uhh, want to give you my condolences."
"So you were the Konoha ninja who came to Sakura's funeral. ...And yet, who are you? What is your relationship with her?"
"Me? I'm nobody, I guess. I don't have any connection to anyone!"
Gaara's lips quirked in what might have been a smile, but it was gone before Boruto could tell for sure.
"And yet, you still visited the funeral. What an interesting guest you are. So? What business do you have with me, Uzumaki-san?"
"I wanna ask you about Sakura, -ttebane!"
"What...?"
The Kazekage's eyes grew sharp.
"Why do you ask? You said you were no one. Why do you want to ask about Sakura? What is your purpose?!"
"Whoa, hey! Hold on!"
Boruto jumped away from the thin tendril of sand that was slithering around his ankle. He spoke as fast he could, trying to placate the suddenly enraged Kazekage.
"Because I'm a nobody, I can listen to her story with an open mind and stuff! That way, nobody else can ruin her memory and... stuff!"
His pleas were interrupted by the loud, mad laughter that was washing over him like a malicious tidal wave.
"That... is none of your business. Sakura, and her memories, are mine alone. No matter what anyone says, no one can defile me and that tale. Their words are of no consequence! No matter how they misconstrue it, it will not be painful or vexing for me."
Matsuri suddenly spoke up from her position in the corner of the room. Boruto had completely forgotten her existence until now.
"...Gaara-sama. Nobody can doubt how much you loved Sakura-sama. You are the model most worthy of respect that any of the citizens of Suna know. I beg you, please guide our wandering souls and tell us just how much you loved her. How you were able to live so strongly because of your feelings. Can we not ask you to guide us by showing us the strength of that love?"
"Wow! You're really good at this!"
Boruto grinned excitedly at the woman.
She frowned at him in return.
"That's because you are the most tactless ambassador that I've ever known."
Gaara suddenly rose from his chair. Despite being of average height, he appeared to loom over everything.
"Uzumaki. What do you know of Sakura? A truly ignorant person would not have any interest at all. The mere fact that you know her name shows that you are not as unconnected as you claim."
Boruto scratched his head.
"Well... Haruno Sakura was my dad's old sensei. She was also the mom of my senpai, Hatake Sakumo."
"Oh? But, now that you have mentioned it... yes. You must be the son of Uzumaki Naruto, the late Hokage. I am only somewhat acquainted with him so it had slipped my mind."
"Well, yeah! And that's, uhh, that's not all I found out..."
He gulped nervously before continuing.
"I heard that... you had an affair with Haruno Sakura while she was still married to her husband, Hatake Kakashi."
TBC...