Gambler of Feelings:
This chapter is with a special dedication for anakrlns that helped when I was confused, while using Tumblr. Once again thank you for helping me out!
Chapter Thirteen:
Two weeks passed away as well seasons changed. It was now winter, which left Shikadai usually in the grumpy mood. He always disliked snow, since unlike Boruto he found walking on it really annoying. If Shikadai would be an animal, he would for sure prefer to go into sleep hibernation and not doing anything during the winter at all.
However his conversation with Sumire made him think about talking with Boruto. Boruto that was currently defending himself from a crowd of fangirls. His main reason for forgetting Boruto poularity was caused by seeing him often either at the club or Sarada's house, of course not counting classses.
It was pain in the ass, but visiting Sarada's house with the entire club helped them a lot with preparations for upcoming Sport Festival. If everything goes smoothly they should end preparing everything during this week and allow themselves to laze around afterwards.
In a short summary of events, winter, his past love and talking to Boruto was the last thing he wanted to do. Turning into the animal in order to hibernate on the other hand was taking the first place in the things he wanted to do right now.
When walking through school corridors the crowds of students chattering, running to theirs lockers and being excited about upcoming winter break would nearly squish him like a bug on the way. Great. Shikadai personally thought he somehow managed to survive walking through to his locker due to him being lazy and too much sleepy to care about squeaking Boruto fangirls.
Shikadai thanks to recent events almost forgot that his childhood friend is Mr. Popular guy in theirs school. Young Nara always was thinking that popularity is too much troublesome to deal with and it's better to have a nap than being worshipped.
It wasn't a subject that Shikadai wanted to intiate considering his role in the whole story, but Sumire being mad at him again would be too much troublesome to deal with.
"Hey, Boruto." Shikadai couldn't help feeling sleepy and yawned. The few female students around Boruto sent to him a nasty stare. It seemed that Boruto didn't care about surronding them girls and instead waved to him with a big plastered smile on his face.
"Yo, Shikadai! Thanks for the rescue!" Boruto said feeling relieved. Yeah, he was attention seeker, but being the source of attention this morning was really ovewhelming for him.
"No problem. Can we talk about something?" Shikadai emerald eyes expressed his annoyance with Boruto fangirls, which were spying on them behind the lockers.
"Sure, what's up?" Boruto response was causal as ever, but Shikadai knew his happy-go-lucky expression will soon change.
"It's about Asami. Sumire want to know what happened between her and us that day. Can I tell her the truth?" Boruto expression just like he excepted changed. His bright smile dissappeared and it was enough to scare some of the fangirls still hiding behind the lockers.
"It's fine if Sumire will know the truth, ya know? I figured out it would've come up sooner or later." Bortuo voice slightly cracked and he looked down on the floor. That's why Shikadai was avoiding talking about it until now.
"Is it really?" Shikadai raised his left eyebrow, not believing in what Boruto said at all. His childhood friend was really good actor, but this time it was easy to notice that he was lying.
"It is, ya now? Personally I don't feel comfortable talking about it, but if you do... Feel free to tell Sumire whatever you want." Although the conversation itself was unpleasant, at least Shikadai got a permission to talk about it with Sumire. It was rare for young Nara to see his friend that depressed just by mentioning someone else's name. Winter sucked.
"Please, go out with me!" The gloomy mood was broken by the shout of the girl standing behind the locker, while other fangirls looked at her with a mix of anger and jealousy. The girl ignored them and hugged Boruto when she noticed he let his guard down.
Shikadai found the way she throwed herself onto Boruto really distrubing, but decided to leave them alone.
"Shikadai, help me!" Young Nara ignored the words of his friend and decided to go to the classroom. He had lot of things to think about, especially how he wasn't the biggest fan of the snow for example.
It was strange like things changed during last year. Asami wasn't here anymore, but it helped him to form a better contact with Sumire. On the other Boruto started to be more distant from him as friend. However the fact Shikadai disliked winter didn't change at all.
"Traitor!" Boruto scream echoed throughout the whole school.
Chō-Chō during the past two weeks was avoiding Sumire as well Mitsuki. She wanted to rewind time and never realise her own feelings in that matter. It seemed Sumire knew something was off with Chō-Chō behaviour, but decided not to mention it to anyone.
"Good morining, Chō-Chō." Sumire appeared behind her like a ghost, so Chō-Chō jumped from being startled.
"S-Sumire! Don't scare me like that. I know everybody loves me, but scaring isn't a good way to win me over!" Sumire probably found her words funny, but decided to ignore them for the time being.
"I didn't see you in a while, but it seems you're the same old Chō-Chō. That's a relief." Chō-Chō started to wonder when Sumire learned to use sarcasm.
"I don't know if you're insulting or praising me, but I will take it as compliment." Chō-Chō answer lacked her usual positivity and she was cursing herself for not being composed. She wished in that moment to turn into Sarada and stay composed, even if her feelings were currently a one big mess.
"Chō-Chō, can I ask you something?" Sumire asked in a serious tone of voice.
"S-sure, you can always ask me anything!" Chō-Chō replied, but she knew that she will regret her words soon. After all she suspected why Sumire wanted to talk with her.
"Good. I will be really straightfoward. Do you love Mitsuki?" Sumire violet eyes as well posture didn't show any hestitation. Chō-Chō always thought about her as timid girl, but in this precise moment was admiring Sumire confidence in expressing her feelings.
"Y-yeah, I probably do." Chō-Chō stuttered. Her words lacked the same confidence, which Sumire had when she asked this question.
However Sumire instead of laughing or mocking her insecurity fell silent. After a minute her friend just nodded like the answer she heard was something completely natural.
"I see, so you already know that you have feelings for Mitsuki. It took you longer than I thought it would." Sumire comment made Chō-Chō really surprised.
"Do you love Mitsuki too, Sumire?" Chō-Chō gulped. She should know the answer. After all she overheard Shikadai talking with Sumire about her crush on Mitsuki. But hearing the direct answer from Sumire was much more important to Chō-Chō than making blind guesses, or false assumptions.
"Yes, I do. That's why I asked if you love him. I thought it would be unfair to confess my feelings to Mitsuki without knowing yours feelings. I wouldn't care if some other girl had feelings for him, but unlike the other girls you're my friend, Chō-Chō. And that makes you special, you know?" Sumire words reached her heart. It was the first time where other girl her age called her a friend and it wasn't Sarada.
"Heh. That's very nice of you, but why bother talking with me? I thought you think of me as rival in love, correction awesome rival in love!" Chō-Chō words started to be cheerful again. It was like a huge boulder in her heart was lifted after hearing out how Sumire feels.
"It seems you're better at reading my intentions than I thought, Chō-Chō. I still plan to confess my feelings to Mitsuki during the winter break, you know?!" Sumire sighed seeing overly happy reaction of her friend.
"So I will confess my feelings for Mitsuki during the winter break too! No hard feelings if he chooses me, kay?" Sumire couldn't bring herself to hate Chō-Chō, even if her words annoyed her.
"Uwahwahwah! Not so fast miss Akimichi! There is a chance he will choose me or reject both of us. In the scenario where he rejects us we should date each other!" Sumire joked and Chō-Chō laughed.
"I know, I know captain, Sumire! You tried to tell me that no matter what happens we will still be friends, right?! It's such a roundabout way, but I'm used to it thanks to Sarada."
The laughter and joking accompanied them on their way to the school.
Sarada was walking alone through the crowd of students and met by accident Boruto who tried to escape from hugging him girl. She decided to ignore the fact that Mitsuki was hiding behind the school lockers together with other Boruto's fangirls. It was too much for her to deal with at morning.
"Y-Yo, Sarada, how are you doing?!" Boruto tried to use his puppy dog eyes on Sarada, but it didn't have any effect on her.
"..." Silence was the only answer Sarada could come up with. She decided to look at the girl, which was hugging Boruto.
"Waaah! Ice queen of our school is here!" The girl shouted, stopped holding Boruto and ran to the classroom.
Boruto whistled impressed with how just one stare could have this sort of effect on others.
"You're really annoying." Sarada said feeling upset that other students ran away from her too. She only looked at them!
"I know. By the look of it you aren't really a sociable person, ya know?" Boruto gave Sarada an amused look.
"Hnn." Sarada decided to ignore annoying blond and don't tell Boruto about Mitsuki stalking him behind the lockers to have her small revenge. She was perfectly sociable person and was able to talk with people! Probably.
"Hey, where are you going?!" Boruto asked when she directed her footsteps to the classroom.
"To the classroom." It was all she said before school bell started to ring.
Lessons ended, so Sarada headed to the clubroom. It seemed Sumire was the only other person here.
"Good afternoon, Sarada." Sumire answer was really energetic.
"Good afternoon, where are the other members?" Sarada considered this question as part of her daily routine. She still didn't believed how past few weeks changed her life.
"Boruto is talking with a teacher, Chō-Chō said she will be late, Shikadai is currently at the director office and Mitsuki should be here soon." Sumire explained why the other club members were currently absent.
"Thank you." Sarada blurted out those words by accident.
"For what?" Sumire asked really confused by the sudden expression of gratitude coming from Sarada.
"For not judging me due to the rumours and my surname." Sarada thought she would die from embarassment, while saying it out loud.
"You're so cute, Sarada! Hey, hey, do you like adventures?" Sumire smirked in a teasing manner.
"My dream involves travelling, so yes I really like adventures." Talking about her dreams with a person that wasn't her mother or Chō-Chō was really refreshing feeling for Sarada.
Different. Refreshing. To be honest Sarada kind of liked how her school life turned out to be different than she expected.
"Huh, really?! I really like adventures too, so I thought about being an actress, singer or having a job that involves travelling. Up until now I never told anyone about my dream." Sumire admitted to her seriously.
"It's a really amazing dream. I hope you make it true!" Sarada always wanted to hear these words from her mother, since she secretly seeked her approval. Sumire eyes lit up and her smile seemed to sparkle more than before.
"In that case I wish for yours dreams to come true as well!" Sumire words were really helpful in making Sarada feel better about her future dreams and goals. She never thought she will meet someone who shares her love for travelling.
"Huufff, hufff! Sorry for being late!" Chō-Chō shouted, while entering the clubroom.
"Chō-Chō, you're actually really early." Sarada whispered rather to herself than to Chō-Chō that walked over and sat on the chair.
"Ehh?! Guys aren't here yet! It makes me question why I was running to the clubroom like a crazy!" Chō-Chō complained to them.
"Because you're Chō-Chō." Sumire chimed in.
"Guys aren't here, so let's talk about them!" Chō-Chō proposed and Sumire agreed with her leaving Sarada without any choice, but accepting to talk about boys.
"I will start! What's yours type of guy, Sarada?" Sarada coughed hearing the question Sumire asked.
"I don't have a type, but if I had to choose one it would be a guy, which would support my dreams." It was the best answer Sarada could give them.
"Sumire and me have a similar taste in guys, so our type is Mitsuki." Chō-Chō claimed without any hestitation.
Sarada brain froze with the knowledge that Sumire and Chō-Chō liked a guy that during this morning was hiding behind the lockers from Boruto.
"Chō-Chō, I think it was too much for Sarada to take in. After all Mitsuki has... Interesting hobbies to say at least." Sumire didn't sound surprised seeing how Sarada reacted in comparision to Chō-Chō.
"We must probably change the subject, since Sarada will really start to be the frozen ice queen. Maybe talking about how great I am will help?!" Chō-Chō realisation was completely out of place.
"Chō-Chō, I don't think talking about you will stop her from being shocked." Sumire let out a chuckle.
"I'm not shocked!" Sarada defended herself.
"By the way I didn't asked, but what's your dream, Sarada?" Sumire decided to change the topic to stop Chō-Chō from talking about her delusions.
"I want to be the owner of a travelling casino." Exposing her dream to Sumire was really hard for Sarada. Chō-Chō on the other hand knew Sarada dream from the start.
"That's really awesome dream, ya know!" Boruto suddenly appeared and the girls wondered how long he was in the clubroom.
"You think it's amazing?" Sarada asked Boruto and ignored for a moment that he could overhear theirs entire conversation.
"I do, ya know! You should talk with us more often, Sarada!" Boruto words left Sarada speechless.
"I'm not really talkative person." Sarada stared down on the floor. Chō-Chō and Sumire winked to Boruto in a meaningful way, but the blond was too focused on Sarada to notice it.
"Ya know, did I by accident hurt your feelings by saying you aren't really a sociable person, Sarada? If I did I'm really sorry about that." Boruto voice sounded really calm. Sarada always thought his voice was soothing and is similar to the sound of the sea waves. Sarada liked that sound, since it helped her to calm down when she felt frustrated, angry, or sad.
"Apologies accepted." Sarada whispered, but Boruto didn't looked satisfied with her response.
"Hey, hey look at me, Sarada! I can't hear you or see yours expression." Boruto walked over and was standing in front of her. Sarada lifted her head and looked at his blue eyes.
"Apologies accepted!" The words were the same, but this time she shouted them looking directly at Boruto. Sarada was surprised how loud her voice could sound and her eyes widened by seeing Boruto grin. Did he did it on purpose?!
"See! You can do it if you try, Sarada. I'm so proud of you, ya know." Boruto patted Sarada's head in a caring manner.
"You're really annoying."
"I know and you're lady, meow, meow, ya know?" Boruto responded and laughed seeing how shocked Sarada was by his words.
"They should get a separate room. I feel like a third wheel." Chō-Chō complained.
"Welcome to the third wheeling club, Chō-Chō" Sumire smiled and felt happy, since third-wheeling with a friend was a much more enjoyable than third wheeling alone.
Winter break will come soon and with it a love confessions to Mitsuki from both of them. Sumire knew that theirs relationships depending on Mitsuki answer can change too.
AN:
Hello, everyone! This chapter took me a while to write and I hope ya all enjoyed reading it just like I enjoyed to write fluffy scenes. Just like usual sorry for my potential mistakes in my writing etc. I can't believe we reach soon the plot climax and I want to thank everyone that is supporting this fic.
Thank You everyone!
Yours clumsy author Karinrumi ;)