Only Time Can Tell

CLUELESS

CHAPTER 16
CLUELESS
BORUTO UZUMAKI
I woke to a throbbing pain in my leg. I looked down and saw that Sarada had wrapped the bandage all the way up to my knee, apparently she must have had to cut deeper to get the infection out.
        "Aaagh." I said sitting up. I saw that the sky was starting to light. Had I really slept that long?
        "Hey." Sarada said, bags under her eyes. "How do you feel?"
        "I feel like I need those pain meds you were talking about earlier."
        "Ha." Sarada laughed tossing me another bottle of pills. "These should be strong enough to keep you relatively mobile for a couple of hours."
        "Relatively mobile?"
        "But because it's you, you'll be fine, you're just too stubborn." She extended a hand to me. "Come on, we've got to wake everybody up." I took her hand and she helped me up, yanking me to my feet.
        "Ow." I said limping. I quickly popped 2 pills in my mouth.
        "Oi, Sai." I said gently kicking his sleeping form.
        "Oh, Boruto." Sai said sitting up. "How are you feeling?"
        "I'm fine."
        "Do you know that you talk in your sleep?"
        "What?"
        "The entire time while Sarada was working on you, you kept talking to yourself."
        "What did I say?"
        "Nothing too embarrassing. Stuff about your dad."
        "Oh."
        "Are you going to be okay with your leg."
        "Dude, it's just a flesh wound, I'll be fine. It's not like my leg is actually broken. We'll make it there in no time. We'll freak Inojin out when we get back super early with the scroll." Instead of smiling Sai turned sad. "What's up?"
        "Nothing...I...miss him I guess." I could tell from his expression that this wasn't the truth.
        Neji woke up and we quickly packed up all of our belongings. All of my chocolate had been depleted and I noticed this right away. "Sarada!"
        "What?" She said turning around still taking down the tent.
        "What the hell happened to my food?!"
        "You call that food? More like junk." Sarada said proceeding to take down the tent.
        "So you did eat it?!"
        "No. Never." Sarada giggled. "Yes, I ate it. Consider it the tax for the surgery."
        "I didn't realize that there was a tax!" I complained looking down at my now empty bag. I knew that were only a few left but I was still upset anyway.
        "Like you wouldn't have me do the surgery." Sarada snickered.
        "Well, I would have thought about the pros and cons more." I said stuffing the plastic bag into my pack. "How much further, Neji?"
        "Do you see that peak over there?" Neji said pointing towards the skyline. Sure enough right in line with the sun was a hill also shrouded in thick foliage. "Just over that peak. Once we're in the air you'll be able to see it better."
        "Good." I said clutching at my leg. "How much longer til this kicks in?"
        "Soon. Just wait."
        Sai stamped out the fire and surveyed our surroundings. "No sign from the bandits from the other day?"
        "None." Sarada nodded. "We're all clear. I was pretty good at scaring them." Sai sent me a look that said: 'You hear that? You're into scary women. Good luck, man.' He's right. I am so screwed. I still don't know if we're together or not. We haven't really talked. The majority of the time I'm unconscious or freaking out. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
        We had kissed twice...or more, she had kissed me twice. (Dang she wants a piece of Boruto) My brain said internally. I slapped my self conscious. Either way it was confusing. Did she want us to be together, or what the heck was she doing? I couldn't get her out of my head. The way her hair falls around her headband. The way she's annoyed by her glasses. The way that she smiles when she does something well. The way that she calls me an idiot even. The way that she blushes. Her laugh. Her warmth. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
        "Oi...Sarada?"
        "Huh?" She said pulling her pack onto her shoulders.
        "Can I talk to you for a second?"
        "Sure." She said cocking her head with curiosity.
        "Not here." Her eyebrows narrowed as she followed me off into the woods. I walked a distance away where Sai and Neji couldn't hear us. I stopped and gathered up what little quivering courage I had. If I can ever dream of surpassing my dad, I've got to be able to at least talk to Sarada alone.
"Sarada?"
"Yeah?" Looking at her, I felt something growing in my chest, a warmth that possessed my limbs.
"What are we?"
"Huh?" She said her face getting more and more confused.
"Are we...you know...together?" I said feeling the blood rush to my cheeks. I tried to get the blush to go away but the beating in my chest insisted. Sarada's face turned bright red. She was silent though. "Because...if we were together...it wouldn't be horrible. I would-"
"Do you want me to be your girlfriend?" Sarada said forcing herself to look me in the eyes. Her face was bright red and she took off her glasses, slowly wiping the smudges off.
        "S-Sarada!" Her eyes met mine again and I felt the beating in my chest grow stronger forcing my lips to move. "I-I love you!" Those words were said quickly and were choppy. But the feeling in my chest told me that those words were what I was longing to say. Her eyes went wide and tears started to fill her eyes. "And I want to be your boyfriend...if you'll tolerate my stupidity."
        "Boruto!" She smiled throwing her arms around my neck. "You're not stupid, you're just clueless. And I love you all the same." The warmth in my chest was met with the warmth in hers and I closed my eyes. This was the happiest I had been in a long time. She loves me, and...I'm crazy for her. I make myself into a fool for her, and I'm happy to do it.
        "So we're together?" I said pulling away to look into her eyes, my arms still wrapped around her waist.
        Her eyes were filled with light, and for a moment, the black in her eyes wasn't dark. It was pure light. "Yes." She said pulling me into a kiss. Her lips touched mine and just like before it was like she had taken my dead heart and had shocked it with a million volts of electricity. My entire body tingled and kissed her back.
        "Oh dear God." I heard someone say disgustedly. I pulled away to see Neji with his bags, his eyes wide with horror. "Oh...oh!" He said blushing, quickly turning around and racing back to camp.
        "Aw crap." Sarada said putting back on her glasses.
        "Keep them off. Your eyes are beautiful." She smiled at me and tucked her glasses into her pouch, extending her small hand to mine. I took it and smiled. Well...that answered my question.