Lost Love

Chapter 12

"There you go, little flower," Himawari said as she smiled.

Hanasita admired herself in the mirror. Himawari came over and helped Hanasita and her teammates with getting ready for the festival. Hanasita knew her mom had left for a mission and wouldn't be able to attend with her, but she was too busy admiring herself in the mirror.

"Aw, you look adorable," Suzuka's dad complimented.

"I know," Suzuka said confidently.

"Well, we should go. The festival starts in a few minutes," Yuri said, heading to the door.

As they walked to the festival, Hanasita played with the hem of her kimono. She was amazed. Kiri had never had festivals like this and she was enjoying it. Looking around, the girls ran off to play some games and Himawari disappeared.

Himawari tapped her older brother on the shoulder. "As childish as always, Onii-chan," she commented.

"I'm gonna beat Kawaki!" Boruto said.

"Bring it!" Kawaki challenged.

"You're adults, so act like it," Himawari sighed in annoyance.

"We are?" Boruto asked, laughing when Himawari hit his shoulder.

"What are you morons doing?" Sarada spoke up as she and Sanada came over.

The happy attitude died down upon seeing her. "Oh, hey, Sarada-chan," Boruto said softly.

"Hey." Sarada kissed Boruto on the cheek as Sanada hugged Himawari, who hugged her back, but Sanada noticed that she was spacing out.

"Um, Aunt Hima, did I do something wrong?" Sanada gently inquired.

"What? No, of course not! I was just thinking," Himawari reassured. Himawari then smiled at Sanada. "Ne, Sanada, have you talked to Hana-chan?" she inquired.

"No..." Sanada trailed off.

Himawari sighed then smiled. "I think you should talk to her. She's going through something right now and your hate towards her isn't helping," Himawari said.

Sanada looked at her aunt. "I-I know... I never meant to be mean to her, I just figured that since her mom was in the village, Dad would leave Mom and me," Sanada confessed.

Himawari bent down to her height. "Sanada, your father would never leave you. He'll be with you every step of the way, Sarada-chan, though... It's complicated, your parents' engagement. But just know, even if they break up, you're always in their hearts. They don't have to be together for you to know they love you," Himawari reassured.

They heard laughing not too far away and the two females turned to see Hanasita with her teammates. They were laughing and dressed all nicely. Suzuki was saying something, and Hanasita burst into laughter as Suzuka's face turned bright red.

Seems they made up. I wish I coulda been like that with my teammates... Sanada mused.

Himawari pushed her forward. "Go. Talk to her," she said.

Sanada took a deep breath and walked over, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Hey, Hanasita-san, can we talk?" she said quietly. It was a miracle that Hanasita heard her.

Hanasita looked between her two teammates; Suzuka was glaring at Sanada while Suzuki looked at Hanasita. Hanasita nodded for them to leave the two alone.

"Are you sure, Hana-chan?" Suzuka inquired.

"I'm sure. Go on without me. I'll catch up," Hanasita said, ending her sentence with a wink.

"Okay. Don't think we'll win prizes for you, though," Suzuka said.

Hanasita chuckled as her teammates left. Her smile faded as she looked at Sanada. "What?" she plainly asked, sounding annoyed at Sanada's mere presence.

"Um... I'm sorry..." Sanada murmured.

Hanasita tilted her head in confusion. Then a smile crossed her features. "You're what? You're gonna have to repeat that," she said.

"I said, I'm sorry," Sanada said.

"I didn't quite hear you," Hanasita teased.

"I said, I'm fucking sorry!" Sanada shouted.

Hanasita clicked her tongue. "No need to get so worked up about it." She flung her arm around Sanada's shoulder. "You are forgiven."

"Um, where's your mom? I thought she woulda been here with you?" Sanada questioned.

"Eh. She's on a mission, well, that's what Yuri-Sensei told me," Hanasita replied.

Himawari watched with a smile as they walked off to play some games. Good. Now only Onii-chan, Kawaki-niichan and Sarada-chan left. Himawari thought.

"Ne, where did Sanada go?" Sarada asked.

"She went to talk with Hana-chan. Onii-chan, Kawaki-niichan, I think you two should talk to her, too. Sarada-chan, you, too. And Sumi-neechan; you need to talk to her," the youngest female said.

"I've already talked to Sumi-chan. I don't need to talk to her idiotic daughter," Sarada said.

"Wasn't it her idiotic daughter that bet yours?" Himawari teased.

"I thought you were best friends. You always seemed so close," Boruto piped up.

"Same," Kawaki said.

Sarada pushed up her glasses. "We are. It's... complicated," she said.

"Complicated my ass," Boruto said.

"Where is Sumi-neechan?" Himawari decided to ask.

"Oh, she wanted to go on a mission to "keep herself occupied" or something like that," Sarada replied.

This perked Boruto's interest. "What mission?" he inquired.

Sarada narrowed her eyes at him. "Just to deliever a letter. I mean, I wasn't going to give her a hard mission, or else, just in case she died, Hanasita would be an orphan. She had worked under the Scientific Research Department for a while, and I highly doubt she did missions in the Hidden Mist Village, so her skills are probably rusty."

"Wait, you know where she has been?" Boruto stopped Sarada. Sarada gulped as she knew she'd just fucked up. "We spent years looking for her, and you knew where she was all along? Why watch us suffer!?"

"Boruto, calm down. You're attracting unwanted attention," Kawaki said, but Boruto didn't want to.

Suddenly, a man touched Sarada's shoulder. "Tenth-sama, we have a bit of a problem," he said.

"What?"

"It's that mission Sumire-san went on..." he trailed off.

"What happened?" Boruto questioned.

"We... We just recieved word that she was ambushed..."