Gambler of Feelings:
Chapter 1
"Sarada, it's just a rumour!" said Chō-Chō Akimichi, Sarada's best friend.
"Rumours are stupid," she sighed in response.
Sarada wants to talk with her in person. Phone calls felt like an easy way out. She tries to avoid making them at school. It's not like she has a choice. Not right now. That's the only way to keep in touch with Chō-Chō on a family trip overseas.
Walking with a phone in her hands while trying to talk loudly enough isn't easy. The chattering crowd of students, pushing her out of their way made it difficult. She hates the noise they make. Ugh, that's the reason she avoids this place. Too much sound unnerves her.
"If you think the rumours are stupid, why are you worried?" Chō-Chō's, not even hiding she's getting impatient with reassuring her. Sarada recognises it in her faster pace of voice, followed by a big sigh of exasperation.
It's a sign she needs to hurry up before Chō-Chō's patience runs out. The entire ordeal turning out to be worthless is the last thing she wants, while not having a desired third-party input.
"They're harming my mom's reputation! Of course, I am worried."
A confrontation with her mom crossed Sarada's mind more than once. It's an easy solution she has avoided to pursue after the big quarrel they had. Taking into consideration what has transpired between them, they didn't talk to each other for months. Reaching out first is hard, harder than she anticipated, and she's not ready to do that yet.
"Just ask your mom, that way everything's solved!" answered Chō-Chō, using a simple solution suiting her way of doing things. Sarada admires that about her, the simplicity of resolving complicated problems head-on.
Chō-Chō, unlike Sarada, never second-guesses herself, over analyse, or give a cold impression while interacting with other people. Being a skilful social butterfly like her best friend isn't her strong point. Social skills are a deciding factor amid first impressions, skills she lacked.
The only weak points of Chō-Chō's are brutal honesty, outlandish delusions and her past. She's intense, so not everyone can handle some of the overwhelming things said by her.
When they met for the first time, Sarada wasn't aware that stopping kindergarten bullies from calling Chō-Chō 'fat monster' would turn into a long-lasting friendship. Well, she just looked at them being unaware of her facial expressions terrifying other children. From that moment on six-years-old girls, stuck together as each other best friends till now.
"Hnn..." Sarada hung up. Their shared history didn't mean she isn't feeling disappointed about the advice she got.
That's the worst side of having just one close friend, the limited number of perspectives. It only proves that after seventeen years, she isn't the best motivational speaker. A trait she inherited from her papa, he isn't the best at inspiring speeches either. You can say he's terrible at this aspect of life more than her.
Sarada's eyes scanned the corridors of Konoha's High School, simple in its overall layout. All of the hallways have multiple signs on the white walls displaying the correct path to respective rooms and followed by the smell of freshly painted wooden doors. Finding your way inside of the building is so easy only a clueless idiot can get lost here. An exception is when a group of rowdy students blocks your view of the signs showing the right directions.
Walking through next to the wall and stepping carefully on a tiled floor dispelled some of her worries. This school has a magical effect of calming her down.
Sarada heard it was the present principal, Naruto Uzumaki, that decided to keep the interior of the school simple. It also explained why there's a lot of restaurant posters pinned on announcement boards.
Thinking of mundane topics like that helped to sort out her feelings, underlined the importance of the first rule she should follow;
Always maintain your poker face. In any situation, you find yourself in. Especially facing rumours, or being confronted by them. If you're Uchiha — you don't care about them.
Sarada ought to scold herself for not sticking to something that basic. There is no way her mom has another lover or would betray papa, right? It's impossible. Although she didn't believe it, the worry overtook her again, that there's a tiny chance this rumour is true. In the result, she bumped into someone else by accident, falling onto the floor.
She winced in pain while realising the impact was strong enough for her phone to take irreparable damage. Not only the smartphone she held has fallen, a bunch of students in a hurry to get to the class on time stepped on it completely cracking the screen and made some inside parts in the phone missing. Yes, the model was cheap, but it still physically hurt her soul.
She'll never use a phone on a school break to call her friend ever again. Ever again.
"I'm sorry, ya know!" Sarada felt a wave of anger boiling inside of her, but instead took a rational approach and allowed the guilty party to help her stand up.
A clenched fist was an only clue betraying her pent up anger, on the outside, she looked like a well-composed person with the mask of stoic expression remaining unchanged. Despite that, her gaze mainly focused on her undeniably broken phone.
"It's alright I wasn't paying attention too," she managed to mutter after getting over the initial shock.
Sarada's overall focus didn't change. This time she pondered what was wrong with her life to make a phone that was working one minute ago into a piece of junk due to carelessness. Now it's useless, and after the big fight with her mom, she's not getting a new one soon. Fixing it isn't possible, the damage her phone took is baffling.
"Ya know, are you okay?" The guy, culprit that she bumped into, parroted his earlier question. Coming back to reality, she glared at him. He's one of the primary causes for her destroyed phone!
Only through her glaring, she can see how he looks to avoid him for the entirety of her life. He seems to be a second-year too. His blue eyes were mysterious, similar in appearance, to the eyes of the principal. Their hue was brighter and more vibrant like the sky, rather than a colour of deep blue ocean principal had, though. Spiky blond hair, tanned skin, unzipped black jacket, pink t-shirt and the jeans meant he's a notorious rule breaker. She blinked a few times to shake off her disbelief.
She bumped into the principal son, Boruto Uzumaki. Ugh, this day cannot get worse than it is. Sarada didn't care who Boruto's father is, or in whatever trouble she's walking towards by not holding back for once. Consequences? She'll think about them later.
"Move out of the way, y-you idiot!" she hissed and headed towards the remains of her broken communication device, leaving a dumbfounded Boruto alone.
Boruto Uzumaki for a long time has not met a person who would call him an idiot, except his few close friends. Leaving and being rude after he asked for her well-being makes him pissed off.
Confused what to do with the situation when you're offering help, but called an idiot instead required some thought. An idiot? He, an idiot?! He didn't know this girl and her behaviour is devoid of any charm. He's not an idiot, and he intended to prove it to that girl!
Who's this stupid girl in the first place?! He needs to ask Shikadai about this and teach her you don't mess with Boruto Uzumaki, or call him an idiot!
AN:
Hello, everyone!
Here comes the first chapter of this fanfic! I hope you all enjoyed reading the first chapter. :)
I'm now focusing on this BoruSara story and want to convey the thought out the plot in the best way as I can.
Here is a little question to every person reading this fic:
Which couple in Naruto is your favourite?
I personally like SaiIno and ShikaTema. ;)
AN EDIT 1- Chapter 1 is officially edited!
Sincerely Yours, Karinrumi :)