Hinata was starting to worry.

She knew Boruto had been upset, but he'd been gone for a long time. Too long, now. It was nearing ten o'clock. Messages had gone unanswered, calls ringing out to voicemail. She'd tidied up from the evening, putting Boruto's unopened gifts in his room, the cake in the fridge, making Himawari some dinner before putting her to bed. That last part had been pointless, however. Himawari refused to sleep until Boruto came home. Hinata hadn't made her. Hinata paced the kitchen, wringing her hands. She had nothing else to do. She'd tidied up everything, and now had nothing to occupy her thoughts. Naruto lingered in the kitchen doorway, eyes flickering between the clock and the front door. They stood in silence for some time, but when the clock switched to 21:55, Naruto decided he'd had enough.

"I'm going out. I'm gonna get him, and bring him home, and make it all up to him." He muttered, pulling his jacket from the coat rack and striding towards the door. He paused, hand on the doorknob. "Do you know where he might've gone?"

Hinata's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure. I'll- I'll call around. See if anyone's seen him."

Naruto nodded, and stepped away from the door. He took his shoes off and followed Hinata into the kitchen. She flipped open the phone book she kept next to it, leafing through it until she found what she was looking for.

Akimichi.

It was unlikely for Boruto to have gone to ChoCho's house, but it was a chance. The phone rang three times before it was answered by a grumpy-sounding Karui.

"I swear to god, stop trying to sell me stupid crap or I'll-"

"Karui?"

"Oh!" Karui spluttered, angry tone vanishing. "Hinata? What are you calling for so late?"

"I uh, Boruto… stormed out earlier. I was just wondering if you'd seen him?" Hinata asked tentatively.

"Stormed out? Why? What happened?"

"Naruto… missed the dinner."

"Ah."

There was silence for a moment, and it was suffocating. Finally, Karui spoke again. "He hasn't been here Hinata. I'll let you know if I see him though. How long's he been out?"

"Two hours," Hinata mumbled.

They said their goodbyes, and Hinata moved on to the next number. M. Mitsuki. She keyed in the number to Mitsuki's apartment, and to her surprise (though it really shouldn't have been) Mitsuki answered on the first ring.

"Boruto?" He asked immediately.

"No, it's Hinata. Sorry to call you so late but-"

"It's fine. I wasn't asleep." Mitsuki answered promptly.

"Right, so… have you seen Boruto? He's been out for nearly two hours, and we don't know where he is. He hasn't been answering his phone. Have you seen him?"

"Not since this afternoon Mrs Uzumaki." Mitsuki answered. There was a curious edge to his voice.

Hinata smiled stiffly, even though he couldn't see. "Thank you, Mitsuki."

And so it went. Hinata sifted through the phone book, calling all of Boruto's friends and classmates. No one. Nobody had seen him. Hinata tried calling Boruto's phone again, but it went straight to voicemail. Switched off. The last location pinged to out in the village. So Naruto and Hinata had hurried out to see.

Nothing. There'd been nothing. It was at that point Naruto called in to his office. Sending out on duty Shinobi to look.

Boruto was missing.

Shikadai had heard the first phone call. He'd been brushing his teeth, and the phone had rang. He'd spat into the sink, and was about to go and answer it when his mom did. At first, he hadn't cared. It was an excuse to slip away and go to bed while his mom was distracted so she couldn't force him to study or get involved in "family time". But as he slunk across the hallway to his room, he heard something that made him stop.

"Boruto? No, I haven't seen him. Why, what's going on?"

Boruto was missing? He'd tried to listen a little more, but at that point his dad had appeared, smacked him up the head for eavesdropping, and made him go to bed.

He was still awake when the phone rang again. It hadn't been long, only about forty minutes. From his room, the phone was too far away to make out what was being said on either end. But he heard his dad, loud and clear, as he headed for the door.

"Tem, keep Shikadai inside. Boruto's missing. Most likely he's been… you know."

What. The fuck.

A second later, Shikadai had burrowed under his duvet as his mom cracked open his door. After a few seconds, it closed again, and Shikadai threw off his sheets. He scrambled for his phone, which had (again) fallen behind his bedside table. He cursed as he scraped his elbow in his haste to pull it back up, and quickly unlocked his phone. He went straight to the chat he had with Boruto, hoping, praying for a message. Running away wasn't unusual for Boruto. He did it from time to time, but not often. But one thing, one thing he always did, was tell Shikadai exactly where, when, and for how long he was going. In case of an emergency. But the last text from Boruto was from hours earlier.

Boruto had seemed fine earlier on. In a good mood, saying how they were gonna have a birthday dinner and all. Shikadai wracked his memory, searching for any hint that Boruto was upset. But he couldn't think of anything. And he knew Boruto better than anyone. He flicked open a group chat with team 7 and 10. Himself, ChoCho, Inojin, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki. Just as he was about to send a text, he noticed one from Mitsuki, sent an hour earlier.

Mitsuki: did anyone else get a call from Mrs Uzumaki?

The familiar crease between Shikadai's eyebrows returned.

Shikadai: yeah. My dad's just headed out. Apparently Boruto's missing.

Suddenly, little notifications popped up. Sarada, Inojin and ChoCho were online.

Inojin: wait what the fuck did I miss

ChoCho: I think I heard my mom get a call

Sarada: what happened?

Shikadai: they think Boruto's been kidnapped. Far as I'm concerned, he stormed out earlier, and never came back. Now he's missing.

Inojin: wait why would someone kidnap boruto? hes the hokages son

ChoCho: exactly pasty. He's perfect leverage!

Sarada: ChoCho's right. But let's not jump to conclusions.

Shikadai: our parents have. They're looking for him right now.

ChoCho: we should help

Shikadai: meet by my house in ten minutes

Sarada: NO EVERYONE STOP

Sarada: where is your common sense? There are potential kidnappers roaming around and you want to go looking for them?

Shikadai: do you want to find Boruto or not? Besides, strength in numbers

Sarada: ten minutes.

It felt like they were getting nowhere. Sensory ninja couldn't find a trace of Boruto's chakra, so he was definitely gone. The elders why trying to convince Naruto Boruto had ran away. Naruto was well aware that was a pattern for Boruto, that the kid often ran when things got too much, but this felt… wrong. He couldn't describe it but he knew Boruto hadn't left on his own. Which meant someone had taken him. Which meant he might be hurt. Which meant he might be-

No. Stop it.

He wasn't going to think about the what-ifs. They wouldn't help anyone. All he had to focus on was finding Boruto. The kid couldn't have gotten far. He signed off another dead-end report, and placed it in the pile with the others. He picked up the next. He felt his heart drop to his stomach as it detailed the entire of Konoha had been searched, and Boruto was nowhere to be found. He wasn't in the village anymore. Surely, that was proof enough he hadn't run away? He very left the village, he was well aware how dangerous it was for him to do that. He signed off the report, taking a deep breath and adding it to the pile. He pulled out another one, and just as he began to read, Shikamaru marched in.

"Naruto. They found something. The ANBU."

Naruto sat upright, staring at his advisor. He was expecting a look of relief, acceptance, happiness, excitement, anything. But unstead, it was one of worry. His face fell.

"Shika… what did they find?" He asked. He wasn't certain if he wanted to know the answer.

"A needle. Syringe, in the place Boruto's phone pinged last, where you and Hinata looked. It'd been washed into the drain, but with all the rain it floated back up again."

"How are you sure it's connected?" Naruto asked. Half of him was begging for Shikamaru to say 'oh, nothing. It's probably from a junkie, just wanted to let you know'. The other half was praying for Shikamaru to say the opposite.

"We found traces of his blood on it. Whoever used it on him botched it - injected half of whatever the contents were, then accidentally took some blood." Shikamaru muttered.

"What were the contents, shikamaru?" Naruto asked. His voice was barely a whisper by this point.

Shikamaru looked back at him. The crease between his eyebrows that he shared with his son were there. "Fast acting sedative. Based on traces, enough to knock out a water buffalo for a few hours. A kid? You get what I'm saying."

"Is there anything else?"

"Nothing, Naruto."

"Then we keep looking."

ChoCho screamed.

"Oh my GOD WHAT?" Inojin yelled. He swung his torch round to ChoCho - who was in a puddle.

"Seriously?" Shikadai muttered. His face was softly illuminated by his torch, where he scowled at ChoCho.

"Pipe down. If there ARE any kidnappers, you're gonna lead them right to us!" Sarada snapped.

"Sorry, I didn't see! Oh my god, I'm covered in mud!" ChoCho wailed.

"Quiet!" Sarada hissed.

"We've been out for hours. I don't think we're gonna find him," Inojin muttered. "Everyone's looking for him, but he's completely MIA. Are you sure he hasn't run away?"

"No," Shikadai snapped. "He would've told me."

Sarada pursed her lips. "I think Inojin's right. We should go back, before they notice us missing too and everything goes into an even bigger panic."

ChoCho hummed in agreement.

"Guys, come on! We have to help find Boruto! What if he's hurt? Or- or lost? What if tonight's the only chance we'll get to find him?" Shikadai persisted.

"Thats exactly why we are looking for him."

They all froze. Dad. Whoops.

"Why aren't you guys at home?" Shikadai's dad didn't even look angry. He looked tired. Exasperated. "Did you sneak past your mother? She'll be furious."

"We… we wanted to help find Boruto."

Dad's face slipped into one of sympathy. "I know. But we're looking, and we don't want you guys getting caught up in this. Those responsible might still be around, and-"

"So he was kidnapped?" Shikadai interrupted.

Dad didn't answer. But the look on his face was enough.

Sarada's hand was on Shikadai's shoulder, but he couldn't feel it. Inojin was talking to him, but he couldn't hear it. Everything felt like it was slipping away, fading

Fading

Fading

Fa

ding…