Boruto opened his eyes to white. White walls, white sheets, white curtains hanging from a massive window that bathed the room in sunlight.

"Where..."

"Prince! You're awake."

He looked down at his hands. The white collared shirt he was wearing was rather stuffy, and so were the black slacks. When he rubbed his fingers together, he felt rough, thick pads that prevented him from sensing everything.

I guess we're in the next story... At least I'm not in rags this time.

Boruto stood to his feet, only to feel his muscles scream in agony. The ground seemed further away than it usually did. And his face felt oddly cold.

"Where am I?"

"Why, I wonder if he's lost his memory," said one of his maids.

"I bet he hit his head too hard when he fell," said another.

"We should tell his brother to go easier on him," said a third.

Boruto ran his fingers through his hair, only to notice that it was a good deal shorter. He was beginning to miss the feeling of his headband and felt bare without his long bangs to hide behind. "Where is my brother?"

The older brother in question stood in the doorway, waving a hand. "Yo."

"Kawaki?" Boruto hardly recognized him. His eyes were slitted, the blonde buzz cut with a dark haired mohawk replaced by neatly trimmed shoulder length hair. It framed his face rather than hanging in front of it. And while he looked... better... in a way, he still looked... weird.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to hit your head so hard with the wooden sword," he said, his posture hunched as he mumbled the apology. "Are you alright?"

Boruto blinked a few times. First Kawaki was apologizing. Now he was asking if he was ok. This was wrong. Very wrong. "I'm fine... More importantly, where's Sarada?"

"Hm? Sarada? Who's that?"

The maids began to mumble. "Maybe it's a princess from a neighboring kingdom... I wonder if she's pretty..."

Boruto narrowed his eyes. In the last story, Sarada was Sarada, but his name had changed. This time, Sarada's name was likely the one that was different. Until he figured out what it was, he wasn't going to get anywhere.

"Yeah, she's a princess... But maybe I got her name wrong. Hey ladies, could you tell me the names of all the princesses in this kingdom?"

The ladies giggled and swooned as Boruto smiled in their direction.

"Well, there's Princess Abagail of the North, Princess Lucy of the South, Princess Rose to the West, and Princess Christine to the East. They all have sisters that are considered princesses as well... But Prince, shouldn't you know this? You've studied all of it with your father several times."

"Maybe he really has lost some of his memories," said one of the maids, beginning to look worried.

Boruto frowned. None of those were in Himawari's books. "Are you sure that's all of them?"

"Well..."

The maids whispered among themselves before turning back to look at Boruto. "They may be baseless rumors... But everyone already knows about Snow White..."

Boruto froze up for a moment as he remembered an embarrassing part of his past. Snow White. His favorite Disney princess. The only story he would purposefully sit out in the hallway of his little sister's room to hear his mom read. He would even go so far as to say that he had a crush on her.

There was something about her raven black hair and skin as white as snow that memorized him as a child. One of her parents loved her, but the other was so jealous of her that she sought out to kill her. The huntsman tried to save her, potentially at his own peril. The seven dwarves took her in as their maid until the wicked old lady gave her a poisoned apple, knocking her unconscious. And then, there was the prince at the end, that thought she was so beautiful even on her death bed that he couldn't help himself from kissing her.

Only now was he making the connection to the appearance of his childhood friend.

The maids started murmuring amongst themselves, something about the perplexed look on his slowly pinkening face.

Boruto cleared his throat awkwardly and sat up a bit straighter. They may have looked similar, but compared to the gentle personality of Snow White who loved everyone despite her tragic upbringing, Sarada was completely different. "That's the one I'm looking for. Can you tell me where she is?"

The women gasped. "Prince... You should be aware as well... She passed away just yesterday."

Boruto knew that this was only the huntsman reporting her dead. But the mirror would still say that Snow White was the fairest of them all, informing the queen that Snow White was in fact alive and well.

If it was just yesterday that she was "killed" by the huntsman, he could find her before she took a bite of the apple. After all, there was no telling what would happen if she ate it.

Ignoring his aching muscles, he walked towards the door. "I'm going out. Do I have a horse?"

The maids' faces contorted with concern. "Prince... You don't even remember your horse? We can't let you go out in such a state."

"This is important," said Boruto, looking around for a vest to wear over his white shirt.

Kawaki laughed. "You hit your head so hard, you're imagining dead girls living. What ever will we do with you?"

"Shut it, Kawaki. Where do I get one of those vest things?"

"Oh, now you're telling me you don't know where your closet is, little brother? Perhaps I should-"

"Never mind, found it."

In seconds, Boruto was wearing a blue tunic with gold trim. It seemed to bring out the blue in his eyes even more and give his handsome features an edge. "I'll be back."

"Please, be safe, prince," called the maids as he walked out the door. It didn't take him long to find boots and a belt, and with that, he headed towards the smell of horse manure.

. . .

Shikadai cracked his eyes open. It had been decided that Sarada could stay with them, as long as she did the cooking and cleaning. Thankfully, Sarada was already naturally good at housework given that her parents were hardly home.

The thing Shikadai was dreading most was going to work. They had to whistle while they worked. Not only that; they also had to sing. And dig out diamonds in a mine. They should have been rich beyond belief, but they were living in a cottage.

At least Sarada would be cooking for them from now on. Maybe instead of sandwiches every day, he would get some tuna. Or some soup. Or something that reminded him more of his mother's cooking than peanut butter and jelly thinly slathered between two pieces of bread.

Heaving a sigh, Shikadai joined the merry men and made his way to the mine, hardly keeping himself upright. Boruto, he whined in the back of his head, hurry up and get here.

Just as he was whining, he spotted a horse off in the distance. On top of the horse was none other than the man himself.

Usually, Shikadai wouldn't have used the word man to describe Boruto. But this time, there was not a doubt in his mind that Boruto was an adult.

He quietly slipped away from his singing siblings and threw a pebble in Boruto's direction. It didn't take long for Boruto to notice him.

"Shikadai? Why are you so short? And what's with the beard?"

He sighed. "I'm a dwarf. Look, Sarada's in the cottage. There's only a little bit of time until the other dwarves figure out that I'm missing... If you aim for that tree and go straight, you'll get there. We just left, so the old woman shouldn't be there yet. I already warned Sarada not to eat the apple."

"Wow. You really are normal."

Shikadai sighed. "Unfortunately... How'd you end the story last time?"

"Sarada just called me Cinder," he said, itching the back of his neck. "I think all we have to do is figure out each other's true names."

"Then make sure to call her Snow White when you get there. Judging from what happened last time, that should be the way to progress onto the next level... Or maybe, it would take us out of here."

"Wouldn't that be nice," said Boruto.

Shikadai eyed him. Almost twice his height. Riding a gallant white horse. Short bangs and broad shoulders. He couldn't help the words that came out of his mouth. "You know, you really do look like your dad... If your dad was magically transformed into a handsome prince."

Boruto crinkled his nose, disgusted by the remark. "Don't remind me. I haven't seen myself in a mirror yet, but I'm sure I look like a geezer... Thanks for the advice, Shikadai."

Shikadai simply waved his hand and went back to join the other dwarves before they got suspicious of his prolonged absence. If all went well, he wouldn't even have to finish the day's work. And that was something to celebrate.