"Cho-Cho," said Shikadai, eyeing team seven from across Kaminari Burger.

"Hm?"

"Come here real quick."

"...What is it? I'll have you know, if this is a love confession then-"

"That's not what it is," he said, smirking. "I'm going to tell you something you didn't know about your best friend."

"That's impossible," said Cho-Cho, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "There's not anything I don't know about- HOLY POTATO CHIPS ARE THEY HOLDING HANDS?!"

Everyone in the restaurant turned around. Sarada's face turned as red as a tomato. Boruto casually let go and pretended like nothing happened.

Mitsuki just sat there with a smile on his face.

Cho-Cho marched up to the table, picking Sarada up and shaking her like a rag doll. "Since when?! You were just at each other's throats yesterday!"

"Eh heh heh..." She pushed her glasses up nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She glanced over Sarada's shoulder at Boruto, who was eyeing Cho-Cho's hands with malice. But he managed to avert his eyes.

"Oh? Me talking to your new girlfriend annoys you does it? DOES IT?!" As she said the words, she shook Sarada even harder.

Boruto snapped. In seconds, he had freed Sarada from Cho-Cho's grasp, his arm protectively around her shoulders. Eyes half-lidded in annoyance, he stared at the booth on the other side of him and sat back down, pulling Sarada with him and into his side. "No. But you shaking her does."

Cho-Cho's mouth dropped open.

Boruto just casually looked back at her. "Problem?"

"WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS SARADA! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

"I... I wanted to keep it a secret... for a while... until..."

"UNTIL WHAT!"

"She doesn't have to tell you everything, you know." Boruto casually sipped his soda, discretely pulling her against him.

Cho-Cho was grinding her teeth together, her fists clenched at her sides. "MITSUKI!"

"Yes?"

"DID THEY TELL YOU?"

"No," said Mitsuki, "but by the way they act, I thought it was fairly obvious."

"SHIKADAI!"

"Shikadai," said Boruto, releasing his soda. "Not a word."

"Heh. Roger that, Prince Charming."

Boruto rolled his eyes, a smirk playing across his face. Mitsuki sat there with his usual smile. Cho-Cho was fuming. Sarada was red but doing her best to pretend like she wasn't. And Inojin was just coming back from buying a burger.

"Hm? Did I miss something?"

. . .

For the sake of everyone around them, specifically their parents and friends, Boruto and Sarada decided to hide their relationship. But every so often, they turned holding hands and playing with each other's hair in broad daylight into a game; if their friends caught them, they lost. The only one they usually weren't careful around was Shikadai, being that he already knew.

Every time Sarada tried to kiss him, he dodged and kissed her forehead instead, a smirk on his face. "Maybe next time, Sarada."

It peeved her that he was using her family's special phrase, but he had promised her that it was only because he felt like he couldn't handle it yet, whatever that meant.

Cho-Cho didn't find out until Boruto was 14, and at that point, they decided to come clean to everyone except their parents. Their friends took it as a shock when they learned they had already been essentially dating for a year and a half, and on top of it all, the only one Sarada told was Sumire.

"Awawawa!" Was her only response, paired with a smile. "I always knew you did. I hope you're happy together."

Sarada knew she was holding back tears, but she also knew telling her was better than lying to her. Every so often, she would come back to the village and pull Sarada aside to ask how Boruto was doing.

A few days later on Sarada's 14th birthday, Boruto showed up on Sarada's balcony and finally allowed her to kiss him. And she also finally realized why he said he couldn't handle it. Rather than what she thought it was, he started crying and curled up into a ball and apologizing profusely because of the remembrance of what he did to her, and the fact that he couldn't control his hormones. They decided to settle for leaving birthdays as a special occasion, Boruto telling her to punch him off the balcony if he ever made her uncomfortable.

Momoshiki made a few more appearances, stealing something from either her father or Naruto every time. But if he dared to try to hurt Sarada, Boruto resurfaced and shut him up.

When they were 15, Boruto decided to tell Sasuke he liked his daughter. He successfully escaped the wrath of amaterasu, outnumbered Sasuke's shadow clones, and created enough different types of rasengans to prove himself worthy. And he also became a chuunin, while Sarada became a jonin.

When they were 16, Boruto finally overcame his past trauma and allowed himself to kiss Sarada freely. But every once and a while, just to tease her, he would still dodge and run away, only to pull her back into his arms atop the trees and steal her lips.

When they were 18, Boruto decided she had been waiting long enough and asked Sarada to marry him. And she decided to go against tradition, wearing a red wedding dress. The first thing Boruto said to her when she finally reached the alter was, "you would have looked just as pretty in white, but I'm not complaining." Instead of having an after party, he scooped her up and carried her home with a childish grin.

At 19, they had their first kid, their second at 21. At 25, Naruto stepped down from the position of the hokage to be a happily retired grandpa, and Sarada took over. She was much more efficient and doing paperwork and handling diplomatic issues than Naruto. She also made sure to go home every night and take off every now and again to spend time with her family, knowing how much both of their parents' absences had affected them. Shikadai became her advisor, only rolling his eyes and leaving the room with a smirk when Boruto would come back from a solo mission.

And every so often, even in their old age, Boruto would find some old timey music. They would get all dressed up, take each other's hands, and waltz under the light of the moon until their faces hurt from smiling.

THE END