Unexpected Affection

"Boruto?"

The words left Sarada's lips in a gasp of sorts, one of pure surprise. She'd been cleaning the fingerprints off of her window, leftover from pressing her hand to it in hopes that he'd show up, but she never thought he would actually appear. Especially not inside her room, of all places. And with his ability to erase his chakra signature, the sudden feeling of being tugged backwards was nearly enough to make her activate her mangekyo. The only reason she knew it was Boruto was precisely because she hadn't felt him approach... And Mitsuki wouldn't hug her.

His arms held fast to her middle, pinning hers against her sides. His pounding heart thudded into her back like he'd just left an intense battle... Or maybe that wasn't it. 

Warmth crept into her face. "...Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just glad you're..." His voice wavered. He wasn't okay. His cheek gently came to rest on top of her head, hold loosening but not letting her go. "Hey Sarada?"

"...Hm?"

He was silent. His heartbeat slowed, the tension in his body deflating. His arms receded back to his sides like they'd grown too heavy to hold up any longer. "...No. Never mind."

Sarada hesitantly turned, pink still dusting her cheeks in the dark. He was simply taking in the changes that her room underwent over the past three years. There weren't too many. She got a new board for throwing shuriken, the old one splintered and cracked from fits of anger, trying to convince everyone that the boy standing before her was in fact Uzumaki Boruto, he'd never try to kill his dad, and it was so blatantly obvious it was frustrating. That, along with new sheets. A new lamp for her bedside. And a few new pictures on her desk.

His blue eyes wandered the frames, his face appearing in much more than just their celebratory genin photo. Of course, she didn't have any pictures of Boruto's face alone. Not on her desk anyways. But that album of him as a kid alongside her and Shikadai was necessary to prove his innocence. It just wasn't necessary for her to keep it tucked away in her desk drawer. Her face grew warmer. Shannaro.

Sarada remembered running into his arms back on the roof of the hokage mansion. She could see how much pain he was in... He'd never worn an expression like that. And it'd been so long... So long since she'd seen him, she just...

"Uncle Sasuke," he started, his voice husky and low. "Before he got taken out, Master said he was leaving you in my care."

Her eyes were drawn to his towering back, so much wider than she remembered. So much like her father's. Cold and distant, but somehow safe. And warm. As he turned towards her, she tried to hide her face. But...

"I promise I'll protect you."

Sarada curiously lifted her fuzzy gaze, peering over her glasses frames at his complicated expression. He forced his eyes away. Something was wrong. He was on the verge of tears.

She didn't speak, she just stared, trying to understand.

Boruto collected himself with a small breath, clenching his fist. "If you see your dad in the form of a claw grime, I want you to run away immediately."

Her eyebrows knitted.

"Don't hesitate. Just run as fast as you can. Use Chidori to boost your speed if you have to. I'll do something about him, so..."

She remembered Boruto's return to the village. Stepping on Code like he was nothing more than a large squishable bug, even though she thought Code was the strongest enemy she had, only bested by Daemon. In that moment, she could've died if he didn't show up to save her, and her father was probably even stronger. But run away? Without doing anything?

The heat drained away from her face. She'd run. And when he got there, they would fight. Together. She'd make sure she didn't hesitate, that she didn't do something stupid that got him injured. "...Alright."

Cold fingers wrapped around her limp hand, blurring everything around her but him. His voice was almost strained. "Promise me."

Sarada tightened her fingers around his. She lifted her head and looked at him, straight into his cerulean eyes. "I promise."

The relief on his face was evident. But she spoke before he could let her go.

"I promise, so make sure you stay alive too. Stupid Boruto."

"...Mm."

Their hands naturally drifted apart, and Boruto walked to her patio. He hesitated, hand curled around the divot for the handle. And then he turned around. He lifted two fingers to her forehead, poking it softly.

Blush immediately set fire to her face. "W-Wh... Ha-... You-..."

"I'll definitely be back again... So don't worry about me dying."

She blinked a few times, too flustered to react until he'd already dropped his hand and turned around. "You- Do you even know what you just did?!"

"Hm? Uncle Sasuke does it before he leaves you for missions, doesn't he?"

Her brain stayed a muddled mess as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. He does. Get going before Kawaki shows up. I don't want him destroying my room."

Putting her hands on his back to push him, she realized it took a lot more of her strength than she thought it would. And his back didn't just look bigger. It was so large that her palms seemed small.

She put more strength into her arms, but he remained immobile as though his feet had grown roots. "Come... On..."

"That's not what that means, is it."

"If you don't know, then don't do something so confusing, idiot!" She pushed harder, shoving into his back with her shoulder. Why was he suddenly heavier than a mountain?

"Well... I guess it's fine either way." With that he opened the door and took a simple step forward, making her lose her balance. He just snickered as she struggled to catch herself.

Sarada ran to clasp the railing in frustration as he floated up into the air. "What do you mean it's fine either way," she called, her face flushed. "You don't even know what the other way is!"

"Judging by how red you are, it's not hard to figure out," he replied, a grin tugging at his cheeks. "See ya, Sarada!"

"Sheesh! You're such an... Wait, what?!!"

Boruto only waved his hand loosely in dismissal, flying off into the clouds.

Sarada stalked back into her room, threw herself onto her mattress, and grabbed her pillow in a death hug of suffocation. But even then, her heart wouldn't calm down. "Idiot."

----

The End.