Boruto ran, Shikadai on his shoulder and Sarada at his side. The passageway Itachi had led them into was a narrow cave that was so dark, he could hardly see in front of him. He wished there was some way to give his jutsu to Sarada so she could use fire style to light up a log. But for now, the faint blue light of a rasengan would have to do.
"How long till you think they catch up?"
"Not sure," Sarada replied. "I don't think the Akatsuki will betray our location... But we do have to get out of this cave at some point."
"Hmm... What if we didn't?"
He was only teasing, but the blush on Sarada's face made his heart skip a beat.
"Kidding," he coughed, putting his hands in his pockets. "I was just kidding..." The echo of their footsteps was the only sound that filled the cave. Boruto was beginning to hear his pulse in his ears. He needed to ask something. Anything.
"What was up with the horse earlier?"
"I'm not sure," said Sarada. He could sense her relief. "There were some guards chasing me, Kawaki and Mitsuki. I shook off all of them except for that horse. It looked strangely familiar... And Cho-Cho's dad was its rider."
"Strangely familiar?"
"...At first, I thought it was Shikadai. It chased me no matter what I did. But then I realized, if it was Shikadai, it probably would have let me go..."
Boruto felt Shikadai crawl around the base of his neck to his shoulder. After lifting up one of his feet, he began tracing patterns on Boruto's neck.
"...What are you doing? Ha... Ha! That tickles! Stop it!"
But soon Boruto realized. Shikadai was writing letters.
"D...a...d... Dad? You think the horse is your dad?"
Shikadai nodded.
"Wouldn't that be a pain," Boruto thought out loud, stealing Shikadai's catchphrase. "He'll track us down no matter where we are..."
"Then we'd better run so we make it to the exit before they can trap us."
Boruto nodded.
They ran until they came to the light at the end of the tunnel, panting and exhausted. "Finally! We can get out of here!" But the second they cleared the cave, a horse thundered overtop of the entrance. It leapt and landed in front of them, neighing its protest to their existence.
"Dang it!" Boruto leapt in between Sarada and the horse, his back to her with his palms out. "Sarada! Run! I'll distract them."
"...As much as I would like to run, I don't have anywhere to run to," she responded.
In front of them was a cliff. To the right of them was the horse. To the left, a giant wall.
Crossing the fingers of both hands at the mid joints, Boruto created three shadow clones. The first two held the hands of his real body, allowing him to put his feet against their palms. "I'm going to get to the other side. And then I'm going to catch you. You trust me, right?"
Sarada blinked a few times. She looked off to the side. "Well, in this situation, I don't have a choice, do I?"
With a quick smile in her direction, Boruto readied himself. "Hold on Shikadai... Boruto air stream!" The second he landed, he turned around. The third shadow clone sent gale palms and balls of electricity towards the horse, who was dodging and neighing in displeasure.
"Sarada!"
Sarada readied herself with the clones. "You'd better not miss!"
Boruto smirked. "I wouldn't dream of it!"
The clones launched Sarada, her eyes squeezed shut as her body hurdled over the ravine. Boruto stood, arms out and ready to catch her in a perfect princess hold. Once she was safely in his arms, he spun to stop the momentum. "See? I told you I would catch you."
Blush dusted her cheeks as she averted her eyes, one leg already attempting to escape his hold. "Do you think we lost them?"
Boruto gently set her down and turned over his shoulder. Shikamaru the horse was kicking down a pole to use as a bridge. "I'd say no."
Their shoes pounded against the rock surface as they ran until they came to a strange wooden structure that sustained flowing water. It was narrow... But it was either that or a 30 foot drop. Boruto scooped Sarada up in his arms.
"What are you-"
"I'm the only one with Jutsu." He took a step onto the structure and began surfing it, keeping his eyes forward and knees bent to absorb the twists and turns. "You're going to have to trust me."
Sarada wrapped her arms around his neck, eyes squeezed shut at first, but slowly cracked them open and watched his back.
"...Boruto?"
"What?" He was really trying to focus, but her sudden shyness and soft voice were giving him heart palpitations.
"I think that pole was connected to a dam..."
Boruto slid down onto the ground and turned to look behind him, only to see a torrent of water spilling over the wooden barrier. He let Sarada down. Now more concerned about running away, both of their eyes desperately searched for an escape. Up wasn't an option; even with jutsu, Boruto couldn't scale a 90 degree cliff with her in his arms fast enough to escape the flood. "You don't know earth style, do you," she asked, taking his hand and tugging him towards what looked like the entrance to an old abandoned mine.
"No... That's the only one I don't know," Boruto replied reluctantly. "That and fire style... Sarada?"
"Yeah?"
"Now might not be the best time, but there's also a giant rock falling towards our heads."
Sarada looked up. Boruto tightened his grip on her hand and propelled himself towards their escape route with chakra, only hoping it would lead somewhere.
They skidded inside in the nick of time, narrowly escaping death by rock. But water was still seeping in through the cracks. For now, they were able to outrun the steady inflow of water, but...
"This has an exit, right?"
"I..." Just as he was about to say think so, they hit a dead end.
"Boruto?"
His eyes darted across the dark walls, but there was no exit. Not even a crack. "...Dang it." He knew he couldn't use lightning style in the cave; that would only get them electrocuted. The water was already seeping into their shoes. If he used a rasengan to blast the rocks away, the walls could cave in and kill them. Using water style would only result in more water filling the cave. Shadow clones wouldn't do anything. And wind was also useless.
They were trapped.
"Boruto?"
His heart squeezed in his chest.
"Sarada," he said, gently putting his hands on her shoulders, doing his best to distract her from the water as it rose to their ankles. "Listen to me. I need you to use every last brain cell you have. What is your name in this story?"
"...Rider," she said, becoming increasingly fidgety. "At least, that's what they were calling me earlier."
"Rider?"
Sarada nodded her head, her eyes on the water as it moved up to their knees. He watched her squirm, ebbing her feet away. "Do you know what your name is?"
Boruto couldn't think of any princess stories that had a character named Rider. But he did know one who was locked up in a tower. "Try calling me Rapunzel."
"Rapunzel?"
Nothing happened. "Dang it... If Cinder was Cinderella, what's the guy version of Rapunzel?"
The water was creeping up their thighs. Shikadai nudged Boruto's neck.
"What? You have an idea?"
But when Boruto met Shikadai's worried eyes, he knew what his idea was. "I'm not giving up... Not yet. Come on, help me think. Raymond. Ryan. Roman. Raphael."
"Boruto," Sarada whined, water soaking her pants as her breathing became unstable. "What if we don't make it out of here?"
When he met her gaze, his heart melted. Sarada wasn't the type to panic. She usually thought calmly through most situations. The only things she couldn't handle were scary movies and otherworldly beings that threatened her life. But even during Momoshiki's attack, she didn't cry. She was certainly scared, but crying...
"We..." He tried to find the words to comfort her, but he couldn't. He had promised to protect her. What was this? He had sucked her into a game. Trapped her in a tunnel. And they were about to drown. Helplessness started invading the cavern in his chest.
His hand dropped from her shoulder. Tugging her hand forward, he wrapped both arms around her back.
"...Boruto?"
"I'm sorry..." One hand gently came to rest on the base of her neck, the other on the small of her back. This wasn't fair. If they died here... If they died here, what would happen?
She slowly accepted his hug, her hands trembling.
"If I hadn't pulled you in... If I hadn't made you chase me... You wouldn't be in this mess..."
The water was creeping up their chests, somehow making them feel heavier than they already were.
She shook her head, her hair tickling his jaw. "It's not your fault..."
"Sarada," he said, gently nudging her away as the water creeped up their necks. "There's one thing left that could potentially end this story..."
Sarada moved her head in front of his, her cheeks dusted with pink. "You mean..."
He slowly nodded, a serious look in his eyes. "I'll only do it if I have your permission first..."
Her eyelids fluttered closed, tilting her head as the water lapped at her chin.
Knowing he didn't have much time, he gently moved her bangs away from her face with one hand and pressed his lips to hers, the water rising to cover their kiss.
It didn't take kissing her for Boruto to tell that she was too terrified to think about this possibly being their last time. When the water continued to rise, he pulled back, allowing her to take one last breath before they were swallowed up by darkness.
But he refused to give up. His hand trailed down her shoulder and folded into hers, pulling her close. If he was going to blast apart the walls, he wanted to make sure she got out with him.
Gathering chakra above his hand and setting it into a spin, he could faintly make out the shape of crumbled rocks. It didn't matter whether they were crushed or drowned. In a last-ditch effort to escape, he thrust the rasengan into the wall with as much force as he could muster.
To his surprise, the rocks tumbled outward. Quickly, he created another, pushing more rocks out of the way. And another.
By the time he had made five rasengans, his hand reached through to the other side. The pile of rocks collapsed and shot both of them out of the cave and into a stream.
It took all of his remaining adrenaline to swim to shore. His heart panged as her grip on his hand began to loosen. But the second his lungs tasted sweet oxygen, he knew they were going to be ok.
Gasping for air, he heaved Sarada out of the cave, pulling her into his arms.
"We're alive."
She coughed up water over his shoulder, her fingers imbedding into his jacket as she trembled.
"Are you ok?"
She couldn't even respond. It seemed as though she had inhaled water in her panic. Until she had coughed up all of the water in her lungs, he reassuringly rubbed her back with one hand, the other cradling her head.
Even after she finished clearing her lungs, she clung to him like her life depended on it. "We're alive..."
"Yeah," he said, one hand encircling her waist as he tucked himself into her shoulder.
"We're actually alive..." Her fear turned into a smile of relief. She buried her head into the collar of his jacket, her incredible strength replaced by the desperate tugs of a small girl. Pulling back, she touched her wet forehead against his and laughed, one hand trailing up his back and into his hair.
Dang it, he thought, his eyes helplessly trailing to her lips. I really wish I could kiss her again...
But he knew that kissing a girl who didn't want to be kissed was one of the worst things you could do. Offering her a gentle smile, he brushed some of the water from her skin and watched her cheeks turn pink. With that, he stood to his feet, holding out his hand to help her up. "I guess that wasn't the end of the story," he said, looking around at the forest. "That being said... I don't really know where to go from here..."
"Can we build a fire," asked Sarada, her hand taking his as she stood to her feet.
He opened his mouth to respond. But before he could, wet hair burrowed into the crook of his neck. Trembling arms wrapped around his stomach. "I'm cold."
"S-Sarada?"
"Your chakra... It makes you warmer..." She pressed her chest into his back. "I think..."
"O-Oh," he stuttered, but not due to the cold. His heart thudded through his ribcage. He looked down at her hands. Does she... Slowly, hesitantly, he reached up to cover them with his own.
But just before his skin could touch hers, she pulled away. "I guess I have to let you go if you are going to build a fire, don't I?"
Heart sinking, he slowly dropped his hands to his sides. Or I could just not build a fire. As much as he wanted to say it,he was starting to shiver. And they needed something to dry their clothes anyway.
Clenching his fists, he took a step towards the woods. "I-I'll go find some firewood..."