With trembling hands, she opened the blue box that belonged to her mom to look into what's inside. Pretty stationery was sticking out.

Multiple letters.

Some of them were empty, some of them were scribbled all over with her mom's favourite black pen. But that meant the note Boruto found three months ago was real. Sarada couldn't deny evidence she held in her hands. No, she should calm down. It's not like she knows what's written in them, right? For all, she knows the rumours she heard could be baseless, and her mom is a friend of Boruto's father. Their parents seemed to know each other for some reason. All of that could be just her being unnecessarily paranoid.

Dear Naruto

Meet me today at our usual place. Don't let Hinata or anybody know about it, you know what I mean, right? Anyway, I'm counting on you!

Sakura Uchiha

Sarada recognised the words written in the first letter she took out. That was the same one Boruto pulled out three months ago and based their bet on it. She decided to ignore Boruto was peeking out from behind her shoulder since he was an involved party just like her.

Dear Sakura

Got it! I will promise to arrive on time, believe it! Are you sure you're alright without Sasuke around? I can always call him to come back for you, ya know.

Naruto

"Call back for dad? What for?" Sarada wondered out aloud.

"Maybe my dad, your mom and dad formed the love triangle in the past? Wouldn't surprise me, really." Boruto chimed in jokingly.

"Shush. There's more," she said, curious to see the entire exchange.

Dear Naruto

I am sorry Hinata heard those stupid rumours. I went to explain to her everything personally. I cannot blame her for that considering all three of us were in an open-relationship before because I wanted to make my current husband jealous. We all made stupid things when we were teenagers, right?

Thank you for keeping your promise. And no. You don't need to call Sasuke. We're not teenagers anymore focus on your family, okay?

Sakura

"I was right, ya know! In some way. The love triangle part happened with your mom and my parents. Isn't that awkward?"

Sarada was too shocked by obtaining this information behind her mom's back. She expected many things. That maybe her mom had a secret romance with Boruto's father, that maybe there's the hidden reason why she's so upset when she hears about the dream Sarada and her grandma shared. Not that Boruto's parents and her mom were in the poly-relationship as teenagers!

"It is awkward," she responded, still shocked by the things she recently learned about her mother.

Sarada felt incredibly bad for not asking her mom about everything in person and snooping around her stuff. But who could blame her? It wasn't Sarada's fault that her mom had a bad habit of hiding the family past.

It hurt she always needed to discover events hidden from her by herself. Sarada hated her family was so-secretive sometimes. Both mama and papa supposedly did it to spare her feelings, but it had an opposite effect.

Dear Sakura

Guilt-tripping again, eh? We all did stupid things as a teenagers, but I don't think the whole experience was negative. We are where we are because of it, right? Besides, it looks like my son is getting along with your daughter well. Both you and Hinata should meet up and explain everything to each other. I have a feeling we all meet soon considering our children are friends, ya know? We can talk about granny death in detail in person later, got it? I feel bad hiding our small letter exchange from Hinata. I don't want to make her angry.

Naruto

Sarada slid the letters to their respective envelopes and looked at Boruto to relax. "Let's stop reading these letters. I am feeling bad about reading our parents' private correspondence."

"I am shocked about some things written in here too. Mom never mentioned to me anything she did as a teenager, even if I asked her a few times." Boruto added still staring at her small collection of books

"Are you interested in borrowing a book from me?" she questioned him.

"Ahh, no. I just like how neatly those books are put." That was the weakest excuse Sarada heard coming from Boruto. Something was up, and she never had a chance to ask what was bothering him. Consumed by her own feelings, she decided to move that subject for later. However, they were alone in her room now, so that's her only chance to ask him what's up straight up.

"Hey, what's wrong? You space out a lot lately. Are you feeling alright?" She didn't try to sound incredibly worried, but lack-of-communication with other people for so long made it an impossible task.

"It's nothing serious," he paused and directed his gaze at her. "Sarada, you have something you want to do in the future, right? Why you want to pursue that dream?"

"To make my grandma's wish come true. It's the only thing that was left to me after she died. You can think it's stupid, but I've never moved on after her death. I feel like making our dream come true can give me a sense of closure." Granny death has shaken her pretty hard. When Sarada thought about this, it was around that time she stopped talking to other people besides Chō-Chō. She only spoke with her club members and teachers afterwards. Rest of the students were afraid of her, or just not noticed she exist.

"That's an awesome dream, ya know! Personally, I don't know what to do in the future, or with myself after I graduate. All the talks about plans for the future just makes me feel pressured, and in the end, I am unable to choose the path I want to walk on. The whole too-cool-for school act just paints me as a popular troublemaker, " he sighed, sharing his worries with her as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Sarada wanted to embrace him, tell him it's alright, and she'll help him find the dream he wanted to pursue. That people will stop seeing him as a troublemaker sooner or later. Like she did and has fallen in love with him.

Would he like to hear it from her? Boruto was popular at school, a lot of girls confessed to him daily. There's no way she could compare to them. Although, he's kind Boruto was way out of her league.

"There's some time for you to think before we graduate, or you can always accept the position of my future assistant! I need a lot of help if I want to pursue my dream too," she said. It wasn't what she really wanted to do, but Sarada hoped her words cheered him up. Just like he always did it for her, even without knowing about it.

"Thank you, Sarada," his smile came back, and she drowned in his beautiful blue eyes again. She needed to redo the Uchiha family training from the scratch. Staying composed around Boruto was starting to get harder for her as of lately.

Boruto felt like a heavy burden left him. He spent so much on creating his 'cool' persona, so he rarely talked about his worries. Most of the time, people didn't take him for the type that would be serious about the future. That's why being near Sarada was like the breath of the fresh air.

"Glad to help you," Sarada said, the concern still visible on her face. It's probably the first time he was cheered up by a person that wasn't his family member nowadays.

"By the way... Are you sure it's okay for me to be in your room for so long?" Boruto pointed out, feeling suddenly self-conscious of what he was implying.

"Yes? Is there something wrong with my room?" she tilted her head in the way she always did when he said something that was confusing to her.

Sarada was the type of girl that interacted more with books than people. He shouldn't be surprised she didn't catch on his implications, or that he enjoyed teasing her to see how dense she can be. Her reddening cheeks every time he called her 'Lady, Meow, Meow' were adorable to see.

"Not at all, ya know! I like how neatly you lined up the books, but I think I've told you that already?" He needed to distract her somehow and just have fun. Having a fun time with Sarada helped him a lot recently.

"Oh, no, no, no, no! This is a disaster!" she shouted, pointing at the box where the letters they read were inside. They weren't allowed to take this box, not to mention see the content inside.

"Don't panic, Sarada! I have a great idea about what to do with this small issue. You don't have to worry about anything, ya know," he reassured her. His idea wasn't that dangerous.

"I don't like how smug you look right now. I think you came up with the idea I won't like."

"Where is your sense of adventure? Jumping out from the window in your room and hiding the box outside isn't that bad. I'll catch you, kay?" Boruto had too much fun seeing how an expression on Sarada face turned from annoyed to terrified.

"Are you crazy?! There's no way I am jumping out of my window!" she shrieked out. Was he that much of a bully when he liked spending time with his friends? The answer was a resounding 'yes'.

"Don't worry, I am reasonably crazy," he decided to smile, hoping that he can put his plan into action.

Before Sarada had a chance, he ran up to her and snatched her into his arms. He gave her the box with the letters too when he was close to the window. Luckily for him, it was open, so climbing up on the windowsill wasn't that big of a problem. Faster than lighting, he jumped through the window still securely holding Sarada that let out the loudest scream in the entire history of their friendship. Just like Boruto predicted they landed safely nearby some trees. He decided to hold Sarada in his arms longer, considering how pale she was after the sudden jumping.

"See? I told you I am reasonably crazy." Boruto knew he played with fire here. However, it was so amusing to see the new expressions Sarada showed to him lately.

"You are a moron! I thought I will die and you'll drop me down at the last minute!" The tears streamed down her cheeks. Damn. He didn't want for her to cry.

"I am sorry. But isn't this whole experience valuable? Now we know that when we're jumping through the windows, I won't ever let you down!" he said, gently putting Sarada on the ground and giving her a head pat to calm her down.

"Let's hide the box somewhere. I didn't survive this whole ordeal for it to turn out to be useless!" Uh-oh, he made her angry, or maybe not? Maybe she likes him more than she admits and his words made her embarrassed. Ha! In his dreams.

"Yeah, let's hide it."

And so they did, the box that gained the nickname of 'I cannot believe we jumped through my window' from pretty shook Sarada because of Boruto executing his crazy idea.

"I don't understand why you have fangirls with that type of character," Sarada muttered, the night sky reflecting her beauty.

"Because I am great. Though, I don't care about fangirls opinions that much." Boruto cared just about the opinion of people that were close to him, he just left it unsaid unable to tell her such cheesy words.

"I thought so before too. That I don't care about the opinion of strangers, but by meeting you, I very soon discovered I lied to myself." Sarada's confessing something so personal wasn't a usual occurrence.

Boruto strangely didn't feel surprised by her sudden talkative mood. They both put it aside but were equally shocked by their parents hiding so many things written in those letters. Sliding into friendship mode they had, delayed the matters they had eventually face head-on. Like having an honest conversation with the family members, finding something he wants to do in the future, supporting Sarada, overcoming his fears towards the commitments in romantic relationships... All of this was honestly overwhelming and tiring.

Maybe that's why he wanted for Sarada to open-up to him so badly. He needed a person he can freely open up to without consuming him fear that his trust will be betrayed. Boruto knew his friends had his back, but his friendship with Shikadai and the rest of the group didn't feel the same after his break-up with Asami. Well, an exception was Mitsuki that joined the club after those events.

He was hopeless, wasn't he? Allowing for this irrational fear to get in the way of his friendship with Sarada. How could she open-up and trust him when he couldn't do it in return? Running away from his problems by jumping through the window together with Sarada cannot solve anything. She was right, he really was a moron.

"You lied to yourself? Really? What made you realise you were lying to yourself?" he asked, hiding his own inner struggle.

"Boruto, you know? Once I asked myself about the meaning of feelings." Sarada hands were shaking when she averted her eyes from him. "I was thinking it wasn't worth it. Acting on something unreliable as emotions... But I-I...," her sudden outburst didn't finish yet.

She looked preoccupied to convey what she means to him without lying. Boruto couldn't help but feel glad about it. That she wanted to be honest with him of all people in her life.

At the same time, a pang of guilt hit him when listening to her words. Isn't that something he wanted? For her to open up to him and not holding any punches? But what if she bottled so many things inside he wasn't aware of until now? What if she hates him for being a bad friend? Does Sarada really think her personal feelings won't matter to him, or anyone else?

His heart ached.

"I was taught by you to be honest with how I really feel and to act based on those emotions. Stop lying to myself I don't feel them. Being straightforward is something I admire about you." Her smile was like a wave that washed away all of his worries.

"Hey, Sarada?" Boruto longed to say these words to her for a long time. His cheeks heated up, hearing she admired him for being reckless. Gathering the courage to say something so cheesy wasn't like him at all!

"Yes?"

"Can we stand next to each other a little longer? I am glad out of all the people I've met you're my friend." Just a little while longer he wanted to savour the moment, where the feeling of peacefulness, remained in his heart.

"Sure, I am glad out of all the people I've met you ended up as my friend too."

Sarada's answer filled him with an unknown source of happiness. He didn't mind they will probably get a solid scolding from everything they did today from their parents. He wanted to stay here with her just a little longer, since having her by his side felt like he could face anything he worried about head-on. That feeling of blissfulness was the reason he realised he wanted to protect her.

This realisation made that peaceful moment more special to him. God, he really was an idiot. But that's a secret he doesn't plan to tell anyone anytime soon.

AN: Hello, everyone! This chapter is dedicated to all of my readers. ;) I cannot believe we're on the chapter nineteen. Soon we enter the round number of twenty! Thank you for your support now and in the future.

Your Clumsy Author - Karinrumi ;)