Twisted

Separation

"Kiss me... Until they find us."

It was all Boruto could think to say through his tightened throat. He would've taken a hug, or just holding her, or anything as long as it meant he got to have his arms around her. Ever since she let go of him to get in the boat, even as he rowed, all of his muscles ached. There was a pulsing desire to be as close as possible to her, a feeling of impending doom that would come crashing down if he didn't protect her from... Something.

He was terrified.

His instincts usually weren't wrong, and after tonight, he was going to spend every day for the rest of his life in fear of what was happening to her. Why couldn't she just stay? Why... Why didn't she want to stay?

He didn't want her to leave. He wanted her more than anything else he'd wanted in his life. This was his favorite view, his favorite day of the year, and yet here he was crying instead of enjoying it because Sarada was leaving him.

It felt like an eternity before she responded, but when the air from her muttered "alright" left her lips, his were already quivering. He pulled her into a tight hug instead, eyes squeezing shut, mouth tucking down against her bare shoulder, hands in fists at her back.

"...Boruto?"

"Sorry," he said, spreading out his fingers over her back. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize," she whispered, slowly but surely wrapping her arms tightly around him. "You don't have anything to apologize for."

"If I was stronger... If I had just trained more this whole time instead of trying to run away from everything, I could have..."

"Shh," she whispered, her voice shaking. "It's alright."

"It's not alright! I... I can't even... What if..." He couldn't finish his sentence. I won't even be able to visit you. I might not ever see you again. What if something happens to you because of me? Because I brought you outside? Because you saved me in that tavern...

"It's alright." Her fingers ran through his hair. Smoothed over his back. She pulled him closer until they were both sitting in between the spaces of the planks, kneeling in the bottom of the gondola. "Boruto..."

"...What?"

She slowly pulled away, brushing the tears away from his face with her thumbs as she held it in place with her hands. "You're going to be a wonderful king," she said, doing her best to pull her lips back into a smile. "Better than your dad... Better than anyone that's ever ruled the kingdom."

Tears fell from his eyes at a rate she couldn't wipe them away. His throat was so tight that he choked on his words and couldn't get them out. In a world where everyone distrusted him and thought him to be horridly childish... Why did her kindness and sincerity have to break him?

He didn't want her to see this. To see him crying. He hated this feeling. But it only surfaced in the first place... Because he loved her. So much.

"You have what it takes to make everyone happy," she continued, her smile too blurry to see. "You can bring everyone peace. So after tonight..." Her hands fell still. He squeezed the tears out of his eyes to see her lips pull back into the most pain-laced grin he'd ever seen. "Forget about me... And be happy."

Boruto's heart dropped. His eyes seemed to sag as the world around him started spinning. Forget about her? Forget about Sarada. There... was no way. On or above or under the earth, there was no way he could forget about her. Ever.

Why? Why would she say something like that? Did he really mean that little to her? Is that why she wanted to go back? Even if he was strong enough, would it just not matter? His eyes drifted towards her shoulder. "You might be able to forget," he said quietly. "You might be able to think of this as nothing more than a dream..."