Only Time Can Tell

OLD PATHS

FILLER 17

OLD PATHS

SARADA UCHIHA

"So, where are you taking me?"

"You'll see..." Boruto told me, I could easily tell that he was nervous and I felt a sneaking suspicion rise in my chest. I reached for his hand that was firmly stuffed in his pockets and lightly tugged on it until it slipped out and I thread my fingers through his.

"What's Hima being a pain in the butt about?" I question as we stroll seemingly nowhere.

"Oh you know....teenage girls are always pains in the butt without meaning to be."

"Well, from the tone of her voice it seemed like she very much intended to be." I smiled thinking of how Chikara had called me annoying from as soon as he could conjure sentences. I certainly didn't think I deserved it but my mother just sighed and called it hereditary. Now Chikara was what he would call independent but what mom would call a typical little boy. I have the privilege of branding him with the title: 'annoying'.

"That's just her then." Himawari has always been a bit rambunctious, a little over the top, and spontaneous with her mood swings, going from the kind of girl that you would suspect of drinking too much coffee to the kind of girl that you would assume had social anxiety. Normally however the anxious version of her only comes out around guys...a certain guy in particular most of the time.

"Fair." I tightened my fingers around his sensing a slight tremor. "How's your dad?"

"He's doing pretty well actually, he's so much more alive than how he was when he was Hokage. I think he's just as proud of you as he is of his own children."

I blushed. "How's his back treating him?" When Naruto left office his back issues were starting to flare up, tales of how many times he had been impaled or struck with devastating blows to the solar plexus quickly provided explanations for his pain. He refused to admit that his weakness came with age, but my mom was always there to help him. The two of them combined are the most stubborn human beings I've ever met.

"It's only hard for him when he wakes up, as soon as he starts moving he's young again. Mom helps him with anything he can't do." Boruto smiled. "He still has more than enough strength to slug me if I call him old and frail though."

"The life of a ninja is hard on the body." I nodded before shifting my glance to him in silent worry. "You better take care of yourself out there."

"I try. Besides, I'm not old yet!" Boruto seemed to loosen up for a second. That's good, it's no fun to have a stiff date like this. The tightness in my chest loosened like untangling a thread, I had no reason to be suspicious. We walked in silence for a few moments before I noticed something in my peripheral, a dark shadow, one I was far too familiar with.

"My God."

"What?" Boruto said turning.

"Why is my dad up there?" Up on one of the powerlines my dad sat, his legs crossed lazily, his eyes fixated on us, his grey hairs highlighted by the setting sun.

Boruto automatically tensed. "What--" I heard him swallow loudly.

"Is he following you or me?"

"I...have no idea."

"Kind of sounds like you do." I sighed waving at my dad. "We can see you!" I yelled letting go of Boruto's hand to cup my mouth like a megaphone to holler up at him. "Get down from there! What would mom say?!" For a second my throat caught because I thought he lost his balance up there, but he only shifted where he sat to wave back. "I will call her! I have her on speed dial for exactly this kind of situation!" Even from this distance I could detect his sigh, as he slowly slipped down and vanished into the background.

"Why was he watching us?"

"Probably making sure I wasn't messing with you." Boruto admitted.

"Oh come on, we've been dating for years, the first 20 dates are excusable but really? Years later and he's still tailing us." I took Boruto's hand back and we kept walking, Boruto leading me over to the edge of the village. I felt his temperature rise steadily in his palm, he's still nervous...

"Did something happen with the Anbu?"

"No."

"Are you taking me out just to tell me you're going out on some terrible mission without my permission, leaving the village, dashing into peril, not sure if you'll come back to me?" Unfortunately that's happened more than a few times, all without him telling me.

"No."

"Are you taking me out to tell me that we're breaking up?"

"No! That's not happening! It's not that kind of talk!" Boruto said firmly, glancing over his shoulder.

"Then it is a talk." I said slowing our pace, removing all satire from my tone.

"It's not like that. Not like that at all. I promise you." Boruto said again speeding up his pace, pulling me along with him slightly.

"You're starting to scare me." I felt something rise up in my chest, that same feeling, something was knotting in my heart again, squeezing it. "I don't like surprises."

"I know you don't. But this one is....necessary." The way he said that last word made my spine tingle, a very unsettling feeling. I was reminded again by my self conscious just how much I hate surprises.

The sun has now set, and the streetlamps have begun to light. Many of the places that our fathers had grown up with have been replaced with better more efficient zones for housing and training but there are still a few places of overgrowth near the border. Boruto has taken me to one of those places, mostly untouched by the city, ivy growing out of control and creeks still bubbling by. It's places like these that I've fought to preserve against the rapidly growing inner city.

I look back to the city and smile at the construction, they're still busy with carving my face into the stone, and the stern cold eyes remind me of my younger self, the me I used to be before it was so easy for Boruto to make me smile. Boruto was always so...understanding when it came to me taking on the hokage role, I had always feared that I would get the cold shoulder much like his father had experienced, but I suppose his response is just an example of how much he has grown, how much he has learned.

"I want to build a house out here." Boruto says suddenly.

"Huh?"

"I want to build a house out here. Even though it's so distanced from the village, it...feels more like it should be out here. Less complicated and more...open."

"You're right." I said my shoulders loosening, but blush powdering my cheeks when I think of living in the same house as him. What am I thinking? It wasn't even an invitation. Pull it together.

Boruto paused in the street, where the pavement met the fused stone path that had remained from when our fathers were children. "It all leads here." I watched as his eyes followed the path before stopping at the gates, his hands felt cold in mine, the tremor disappearing all together. I felt the blood rush from my face turning me pale with an emotion I wasn't ready to confront.

"The road out of the village..." Something caught in my throat and I had to force it out. "What is it you want to tell me Boruto?" 

~

I KNOW YOU HAVE WAITED LITERALLY FOREVER AND I AM SO SORRY YOU DESERVE AN ENDING!!! Thank you for reading! After publishing this I got two votes in a matter of 30 seconds. You all are amazing I can't believe you guys! Don't worry! The borusara arc will come to an ending that you deserve! It's been almost a year since I've uploaded a chapter. I don't deserve readers like you. You all brighten my day with the strength of a thousand suns. Thank you for being there for me.

-Akine.