Only Time Can Tell

MOVING

FILLER 13

MOVING

BORUTO UZUMAKI

I was on my way to my dad's office to send in my file about accepting an apprenticeship when I heard someone holler my name. Someone whom I'd hadn't heard in awhile.

"Hey idiot! Can you help me with this stuff?!" I turned around and froze when I saw it was Sarada, carrying three huge cardboard boxes all stacked on top of each other, her body miniscule in comparison.

"Whoa...Yeah sure." I jogged over to her and took the top two boxes off her hand and felt my knees almost buckle from the weight. "Oh my God, what the hell are you carrying in these?!"

"Tools."

"What kind of tools?" I said panting as I followed her to her new house. It was a small apartment, second floor, above what appeared to be a gallery...but a foreclosed sign had been laid out in the now dark window.

"The heavy kind I suppose." Sarada laughed. "Boruto..." She said softly. "We're okay, right? I mean...we're on the same team and I...I want us to be friends again."

"Uh..." Something caught in my throat but I forced it out. "Sure. We're good."

"Great." Sarada bumped the door open with her hip and showed me the narrow staircase leading up to her apartment. "Watch your step, the stairs are steeper than you think..." Sarada warned leading ahead of me. She opened the door to the apartment on the left and I followed her through it. It wasn't extravagant by any means. 4 white walls, a tiny kitchen with a small sink and a stove that I kind of doubted a plate could fit on, a thin bar countertop covered with other cardboard boxes, a mattress leaned up against one of the walls with a small walk in closet, a small window attached to a shelf big enough to lay down on that saw over the street, the only adornment was a medium sized painting. A drawing of the seasons, beautifully painted, each brushstroke almost tangible, even from this distance I could tell...it was Sai's.

"Well that painting is cool."

"Yeah, Ino gave it to me to celebrate my moving. The Yamanakas stopped by earlier to help me with the other boxes." Sarada said sighing as she set down her huge box, it crunching as it set down. "Damn it...that was the fragile box wasn't it?" Sarada groaned.

"How's your dad with all of...this?" I said gesturing to her apartment after setting down the two boxes, my back complaining from the weight.

"He'd deny it but he's terrified, anxious, and sad more than anything. I swear I saw him cry a little, probably imagined it...he's more emotional now that he's got a son around. Have you seen Chi-chan lately?"

"Yeah, actually earlier today...he's three now, huh?"

"Yeah. He grew up so quickly!" Sarada smiled cutting through the tape on her boxes with her kunai. "Frankly, so have we." Her eyes fluttered up and met mine for a millisecond and immediately looked away. "What do you have in your pocket?"

"Huh?" I felt my pocket and felt the roll of paper that had my filled out request form for the apprenticeship on it. "Oh that. I've agreed to be Daichi's apprentice just to try out being a sensei for a while. Your dad is convinced that I need to get my life together."

"Well you are almost twenty." Sarada smirked. "Good luck with Daichi's squad, I've heard they're quite a handful."

"That's exactly why he wanted an apprentice." I rolled my eyes. "It sure will be fun. Your dad did kind of force it on me. I have no idea what I want to be...what's your plan?"

"Well right now...I'm running special missions under your dad for pay, and I've been studying a lot too-"

"To be Hokage?"

"To be Hokage." Sarada nodded.

"Still haven't given up on that dream, huh?"

"Nope, not even close. My dream is even closer now." Sarada said giving me a look that dared me to challenge her statement, her hands planted firmly over her slim hips. "I'm glad that you've got at least something in mind."

"Yeah...I've totally got a plan." I lied.

"Lies." Sarada smirked noticing immediately.

"Well...uh...I'm glad I could help out here. Is there anything else you need help with?" I said scratching the back of my head, changing the subject.

"Hn....well..." Sarada turned slowly in 360 checking out all of her boxes. "Most of my clothes are moved in...and you're not good at organizing....how about you help me lift those boxes up onto the upper shelf in my closet? Then you're free to go." Sarada said gesturing to a pair of boxes, one taped shut still and the other's flaps hanging open just slightly. Glad to have something to take her off my mind I took the box in my hands, and sighed feeling that it was less heavy than the last.

"Anywhere in particular?" I said, attempting to watch my step on the way to her closet.

"Naw, just the top shelf is good."

"Okay." I was able to easily reach the top shelf. I can see how Sarada would have struggled to get it up there on her own. I'm happy that she stopped me. I push it a little too far forward and it flips on it's side, some of its contents spilling out. "Oh, sorry." I pick one of the objects up off the shelf and lift it up to examine it, but Sarada snatches it from my hands.

"That's not necessary actually, I'm keeping this one down here."

"What is it?"

"None of your business." Looking at it clutched to her chest it appears to be a picture frame. I wonder who's in it.

"Uh...sure." I said not overstepping the boundary.

Sarada's tight grip around the picture loosened a bit. "Well...it kind of is....it's a picture of us. See?" Sarada slowly turned it around so I could see. It was taken back years ago when Sarada was in the hospital. It was the picture that her mother must have taken. I remember sitting at the foot of her bed, talking to her for hours that day, but then eventually falling asleep, both of us collapsed on that hospital bed. Sarada's head was leaned up against the pillows her mouth slightly open in sleep, and I was sleeping with my head lodged in the crook of my elbow, my face tilted towards the camera. Sakura-chan probably had a few giggles when she took this one.

"Oh." I said feeling blood rush to my face. I tried to fight it down. "Why do you have that old thing?"

"It was the day I woke up. And honestly one of the best days of my life. I missed out on the two years that you had and had to start from scratch that day, and you were there with me." Sarada took a step away from me and set the picture frame on the counter. "It still means a lot Boruto."

"Oh, it was nothing." I said pushing the box on the shelf back to where it belonged, taking that moment to try and calm my blush. "I'm just surprised that you kept it."

"We are nineteen now, but I think that it was the time when we were 14 that stuck with me the most." A memory flickered into my mind. The two of us sitting together around the campfire, eagerly awaiting going home. Then we were kissing. The sparks joined with the stars and the moment faded away. "Boruto..." She gave me a quizzical look.

"It's nothing." Why am I thinking of this now? That was 5 years ago! I turned away from Sarada. "Do you...miss it?"

There wasn't the slightest of hesitations. "Yes." Her hand touched my shoulder like lightning and spun me around. Her eyes were on mine. She was inches away. She didn't look away from me, her eyes fierce like all the Uchiha before her. "Are you going to do anything?"

My heart started pounding and my hands went down to her hips, resting there. Her face tilted up towards mine, she didn't shrink away. How many times have I imagined doing this. My heartbeat pounding in my ears I closed my eyes and our lips met. For one second, then two, and she didn't pull away. Everything felt together. I wasn't struggling to make conversation with her, and I didn't have to second guess everything that I did. "Sarada..." I said pulling away from her, her arms unraveling from around my neck.

"Yes?" She said gasping.

"You missed that?"

"Every day."

"Me too."