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Kawaki's hand grabbed Sarada's jacket, pushing her up against the wall of the Hokage's office. "Did you not hear me? I said... Boruto needs to be killed. We can worry about Code later. Boruto is clearly the bigger threat here."

"Did you not hear me?!" Shikamaru slammed his hand down on his desk. "I told you to cut it out!"

"Kawaki," said Sarada. Her eyes full of nothing but stone cold resentment. "Come outside with me for a minute."

As she dragged Kawaki out of the eighth's office, Kawaki slapped her hand away. "Sarada. Cut it out. You know you don't stand a chance against me... Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

She halted. Turned. "Oh? Big words coming from someone who is posing as Boruto. Kill me and everyone will know... You aren't him. They'll turn against you. And maybe this stupid omnipotence will finally come undone."

"What I do is up to me... Nothing you say can change what happened. Everyone knows you already tried... Stay out of it unless you want to get hurt."

She took a stance. Reached behind her. "Fat chance." And pulled out shuriken, throwing them in Kawaki's direction.

Kawaki shrunk down and reappeared behind her. "I told you," he said, putting her in a chokehold. "To stay out of it."

But Sarada was watching the situation from down the hall. "I'm done, staying out of it."

Kawaki gritted his teeth as the Sarada under his arm melted into a puddle of dark liquid on the ground. He spat to the side. "Genjutsu..."

"Whether he's an otsutsuki..." She took a step forward. "A father killer." Another step. "Or just plain Boruto..." A kunai was lifted to Kawaki's throat. "It doesn't matter to me. I'm not the same weakling I was back then... My goal, is to become the Hokage. I'm going to protect Konoha. And right now, that means protecting Boruto."

She shifted the world around Kawaki, making the halls bend and throwing off his sense of balance.

"Tch."

Kawaki suddenly disappeared. She searched the ground with her sharingan. He still should have been under the effects of her genjutsu... But that didn't mean she could stop sukuna hikona. She turned their surroundings to black with blood red water under their feet, looking for ripples on the surface.

"As hokage," his voice echoed. "Aren't you supposed to make sure no one dies? Shouldn't you be out there saving all those trees?"

"As I reported earlier," she said, adding a bit of mist to give not just the ground, but the air visibility as well. "All of those people are alive. And Boruto might be looking for a way to save them."

"Then what about me... People aren't going to like the fact that you tried to attack me, you know."

Sarada spotted him. She altered the mist into individual water droplets that reflected her mangekyo, enlarging her own body to three times its size as she glared down at him.

"I no longer care," she said, raising her foot. "What happens to you."

In that moment, the illusion was shattered. Sarada felt an arm squeeze her neck, cold metal at her throat.

"So... You would go as far as to kill me for his sake, would you?"

Sarada struggled, trying to push away his arm. But he only activated his karma and tightened his grip. He somehow slipped out of her illusion.

"Sha...na--"

"Kawaki, you bastard."

She turned around, her eyes wide. It was Boruto. His hand spread over Kawaki's face as he slammed it into the ground. Unlike the time with Code, the slight anger he'd showcased was now full force.

"Hm... The rumors are true..." Kawaki grunted. "You really do show up when she gets attacked. I should have thought of that from the start."

"Oi, Kawaki," Boruto glared daggers at his adopted brother. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Boruto, weren't you supposed to be with Code!?" Sarada's eyebrows furrowed, confusion muddling her anger. She was supposed to be buying him time. "What are you doing here?"

"Code got away... The situation isn't that great right now."

"Then why are you here?!"

"Because this idiot..." He glared in Kawaki's direction, clear hostility between the two. "Never mind. All that's left is for us to fight now."

"Heh. It's about time."

"That's not what I meant," said Boruto, turning his back on his brother without even sparing Sarada a glance. "Those trees... Are becoming claw grimes with the attributes of whoever they sucked up, making them even stronger. For now, they're more interested in testing out their power than eating us. But they won't spare you just because Eida's taken a liking to you, Kawaki."

"That doesn't matter to me... My only goal is taking you down, Boruto."

"Wait a second," Sarada started, standing in between them. "I'm not letting this turn out like it did before. Kawaki, in the interest of Konoha, leave Boruto alone. He's clearly allied with us."

"Step aside, Sarada," Kawaki growled. "I've been waiting a long time for this moment."

Sarada's nose twitched. She was done stepping aside. She was done being protected. And she was done with Kawaki.

She opened her eyes nice and wide like a cereal killer, lunged forward, and aimed a punch to the right of Kawaki's head. He failed to close his eyes. So she activated another genjutsu.

Sarada didn't exactly have proper sharingan training, but she did sneak into the Uchiha compound to read the stone tablet and figure out what this new pattern on her eyes entailed. Her mother told her a few things, and she'd trained a good bit on her own, asking Kakashi for help every now and then.

And so now, she subject Kawaki to a genjutsu technique she recently mastered called the Tsukuyomi.

"...Sarada?"

"He won't be moving anytime soon."

"...What did you do to him?"

"Right now, he's seeing me as a giant, running but never running fast enough to escape, tripping over a well placed obstacle every thirty seconds, and at the end of the illusion, I get to tower over him, pick him up, and shannaro him into the ground. This will repeat every five minutes for the next twenty-four hours."

Boruto blinked in surprise.

"Thank me later. I've been holding a lot back." She crossed her arms. "And speaking of holding back, why won't you look at me?"

His lips formed a tight line as he turned his head away. "That's..."

"It's been three whole years and you don't even want to see my face. I didn't think you hated me this much."

"Wha..? I don't hate you I just..."

"You just what? Is my outfit too revealing? Do I have a sign on my face that says Uzumaki Boruto is an idiot? Because I think I need one."

He hesitantly looked over at her and then immediately averted his eyes. "Sorry, Sarada..."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. I spent three years defending you, and all I get is dismissal. You show up out of nowhere like a hero from a comic book to protect me, you literally step on the enemy's face and tell him he can't get girls, and yet you can't even bring yourself to look at one."

That earned her a shocked glance.

"Oh there we go, finally." She stalked up to him and picked up his collar. "That conversation you said we could have later. We're having it now. Where were you and what were you doing."

"I..."

"Out with it. All of the jutsu you know. All of the girls you must have saved for a line like that to come out of your mouth."

"S-Sarada?"

"Why can you teleport to me? If you know the fourth's flying raijin, you need to mark the person. Did you sneak a mark onto me without my consent?"

"I..."

"...I'm waiting." In her life, there were only a few times when her face had been this close to Boruto's. And it was clearly making him incredibly flustered despite the pissed scowl on her face. So she decided to leave it there.

He gulped. "The mark... It's your glasses... You got new ones from Karin... Right?"

"Hm..." She released his cloak and took them off, inspecting them carefully to find a mark inscribed on the inside of the leg. "Now that you mention it, I haven't really looked closely at these. That's one question down. You still have more to go."

"But I--"

Sarada grabbed his collar again. "This is in case you get any ideas about teleporting somewhere else. Now you'll be forced to take me with you. What else did you learn? Where's papa? Is he even alive?"

"...Boruto?"

Sarada flinched at the sound of the new voice.

"Class prez?"

"Oh?" Sarada recaptured his attention. "So you look at her right away, but you refuse to look at me?"

"Huh? Sarada what are you--"

She threw him back. "Hm. Fine. I see how it is."

"Sarada wait!"

"You two have fun having a nice, leisurely chat. I'll go help the village!"

She didn't even know what was what anymore. She was just pissed. He wouldn't tell her anything. No one told her anything. Three years of suffering and this was how it all turned out. The village was turning to ruin. She needed to do something about it.

Boruto teleported in front of her. "Sarada wait--"

"Out of the way. You wanted me to save the villagers, I'm going to save the villagers."

Sumire let out a slight chuckle.

And Sarada turned right back around and death glared her. "What, you think this is funny? You gave up a long time ago on trying to set things back to the way they were. I've been trying ever since, and I'm tired of it. Sick. And. Tired."

Sumire flinched back.

Sarada sighed. "Papa better be alive."

Boruto gulped.

"On second thought," she said, dragging him by the back of his cloak. "You're coming with me. Walk and talk, Uzuamaki."

"Sasuke-san is... Well... He just..."

"Hey, Boruto. Whatever happened to -ttebasa? Stop talking like an edgy emo boy. Your not papa. Try it again."

"Sasuke-san... Became a tree... -ttebasa."

"Hmm... So that's how it was." She continued dragging him, out of the hokage's office. "You should have been wearing a cape your whole life. It would have made scolding you a lot easier."

Boruto apparently decided he was done taking her onslaught. "What about you? Why are you wearing my jacket?"

"Huh? This isn't your jacket. It's mine. It's quite fashionable as well, don't you think?"

"I... I guess."

"You guess? Not girly enough for you? Do I need to transform into a sexy clone of myself into a swimsuit with giant boobs in order to get your girlish stamp of approval?"

"S-Sarada? Where are you even getting this from? What the heck is a girlish stamp of approval?"

Her hand suddenly lit up with lightning and sliced through a claw grime as she walked, Boruto unsheathing his sword to fight off another.

"When we were in the academy, you said you'd give me that Yakisoba bread if I was a 'normal girl.'"

"You're still hung up on that?! And wait, let go of my cape-ttebasa! I can't fight properly with you clinging all over me!"

"Hm. You think this is clinging all over you," said Sarada, pausing her sentence to blow fire at more approaching claw grimes. "I guess you really didn't have any interaction with girls on your travels. Not that I would expect anything less from papa as your coach."

"He wasn't the only one! I also had Kashin Koji. Yeesh that guy can be a pervert."

"..." She lifted her palm lined with lightening towards him.

"Don't get mad-ttebasa!"

She didn't let up. "And what perverted activities did you do with this perverted teacher?"

"I-I didn't do anything I swear!" He put his hands up in surrender. "W-Wait, Sarada, we can talk this out, I--"

Sarada sent her chidori over his shoulder and into a claw grime that was about to attack him. "Instead of walk and talk, it's become fight and talk. Don't lose focus on your surroundings."

Boruto send his sword up and to her left, stabbing another claw grime in the stomach. "Same goes for you! Why are you so angry right now?!"

"I have every right to be angry," she said, pausing to punch the lights out of another grime. "At my childhood friend who left me alone in the village for three years without a single word of contact!"

"How was I supposed to contact you?!"

"If there's a will, there's a way," she said, ducking under his sword and tripping a claw grime to his right. "I had a will, but no way. You clearly had a way, and no will."

"That's not true! I... Was kinda scared of your dad...-ttebasa."

"Scared of papa?"

"He gave me this look!" Boruto sent a rasengan into another claw grime, "This look of disgust whenever I brought up your name! Like I was trash who didn't deserve to be talking about you! It made it... Uncomfortable."

"Ah, that's probably because I had to convince him to go after you by unlocking my mangekyo."

"You... You what?"

"Nothing!"

Boruto paused. Suddenly he was in front of her, not purposefully towering over her but much taller than her all the same. She tried not to flinch back, but it was difficult, given the circumstances. "You unlocked your mangekyo for me?"

Blush flew into her cheeks. "It wasn't just because of you, Idiot!" She turned away and sent another chidori through an oncoming claw grime. "Don't get your hopes up."

"Who said anything about having hopes," Boruto smirked, clearly elated at this new revelation. "I was just asking, that's all. Besides, all the girls you think I was flirting with would clearly be jealous."

Her mangekyo was now aimed at him. "I also unlocked it because your dad got killed, you know."

"Huh? They didn't tell you the truth behind that?"

"What do you mean, the truth behind that? I thought the seventh was dead."

Boruto slashed three claw grimes down in a single sweep of his sword. "Kawaki sucked him and mom into another dimension. I'm surprised he hasn't done it to Hima yet."

"Hmm... So that's how it was..."

"Sarada!"

She ducked just in time to see him jump over her, attacking an oncoming group of four claw grimes. When he landed, he sheathed his sword, cape fluttering to the ground as he breathed a sigh of relief. Why did he always have to protect her? And why... She shook her head at the way her stupid heart which felt like a led weight for the past three years suddenly fluttered. "...I could have gotten those... If I tried."

He raised an unamused eyebrow at her.

"I definitely could have!"

"Yeah yeah," he said, walking forward and scouring the area. They managed to take out a good number. But Sarada wasn't concerned about that right now.

"One... Two... Three... Four..."

"Oi! What are you counting!"

"I'm counting to see if I took out more than you!"

"How can you even tell!"

"If they're slashed or have circular shaped holes, they're yours. If they have fist imprints, jagged cuts, or burn marks they're mine."

"That's dirty!" He scoured the area. "You coulda burned some of the ones I already killed!"

"You could have stabbed some of the ones I burned," she retorted back.

"Instead of counting these things, we should be--"

His voice was cut off. Sarada felt wind at her back. A strong hand on her shoulder. And all of a sudden, they were in a completely different space.

"What... Just..."

"They showed up. You stay here." His voice was serious, all the playfulness that had been in his face gone without a trace.

"Stay here?!" Sarada looked around at the unfamiliar grassy hills and cliffs. "I don't even know where here is. Who are they?!"

"Dangerous things that could kill you." 

"How do you know?! I wasn't even fighting seriously."

"Because I saw it happen in the future!" He raised his voice, pain and regret reflected against the backdrop of his sunken blue eye. "Now stay here... Not that you have a choice."

She bit her lip. Before she knew what she was doing, her arms reached out, attaching to his cloak. "Yes I do."

"Sarada..."

She squeezed her eyes shut. When they opened again, her resolve was firm and unyielding. "You're taking me back with you, future boy."

He gently took hold of her hands. "Let go."

"No!" Realizing that he could just take the cape off, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pinning his arms to his sides and entrapping him in a straight jacket hug. "Don't make me stay here by myself."

"...Sarada..."

"I'm fighting those things with you, whatever they are."

"Sarada, it's too dangerous right now. Stay here."

"No!"

"You're going to squeeze all the air out of me-ttebasa!"

She slowly loosened her grip. Tears stung the back of her eyes. She looked up at him, her chin on his chest. "Then come back when you're done."

"You think I'm just going to leave you here?"

"Yes." Her eyes were firm and full of tears. After all, he did leave her. For three full years. And she finally got him back. And now he was going again, and saying she couldn't come. And she thought he was leaving her this time because he was planning to die in her place. Because that seemed like something Boruto would do. 

"...Sarada... I'm only leaving you here to protect you."

"How long will you be?"

"...Mmm... If there aren't any other civilians in the area, I'd say ten minutes, give or take. I learned a really awesome new jutsu."

She tried to hide the little bit of a smile that tugged on her lips. He was starting to sound like Boruto again. "Fine."

"You have to let go of me first, ya know."

Sarada narrowed her eyes in a childish pout. "Don't wanna."

He laughed. "You've really changed, you know. I think you've become more childish than me."

That got her to let go. Almost. She reclaimed his collar at the last second. "Just because I started acting childish doesn't make me a useless kid."

"That's not what I meant," he said, putting his hands over hers. "But for the record, I think it's kinda cute."

In that mere moment of being beyond flustered, her grip loosened. And with a smile that read, "I totally did that on purpose to make you let go haha serves you right but not really cuz it was kinda true," he disappeared.

Sarada squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fist. "Boruto... You idiot!! You'd better be back in ten minutes, or else I'll jump off this cliff and force you to save me!"

Plus a bonus for @damianya_girl

Sarada didn't have a watch to check how long ten minutes was, but she was pretty sure Boruto exceeded it.

"I'm really going to jump, you know!" She shouted to the sky above her. Her high heeled sandals sunk gently into the wet grass as she took a few steps forward towards the cliff. "I wasn't kidding!"

Half of her brain was telling her to shut up, that she was causing trouble for Boruto. The other half was getting anxious, wondering if he was doing okay fighting this threat all by himself. Wondering if someone else from Konoha showed up to attack him. If he was in danger, he wouldn't save himself... But maybe he would save her. 

She got close enough to the cliff to peer over the edge. And she had to swallowed back a lump of nerves in her throat. A fall from this height would definitely kill her. If she didn't stop herself by throwing a kunai with a rope, that was.

Of course, Sarada already had a kunai with enough rope to save herself on standby in her ninja tool pouch. She always did. And so, she bravely inched herself along until she was right up on the edge. Little pebbles crumbled and fell under her weight. "It's been more than ten minutes! Probably!"

There was still nothing but blue sky above her. She took another look over the edge and picked up one foot. Sarada's balance was usually impeccable, but this lofty height gave her one legged posture a bit of a wobble. "You have three seconds!"

If he didn't return in those three seconds, Sarada decided she would figure out her way back to Konoha on her own. The overly confident idiot Boruto probably got himself into trouble again.

She closed her eyes and shouted. "Three!"

Birds called out overhead, the wind gently blowing her short hair. "Two!"

She put her foot down and let her weight lean forward. "One..."

Her eyes slowly cracked open. No sign of life other than her own. Her heart pounded. She closed her eyes...

And yelped.

The rock under her foot broke off, snapping. Gravity lifted her stomach into her throat, dizziness and weightlessness overtaking her.

Suddenly.

Two arms wrapped tight around her waist from behind, pulling her backwards, spinning her away from the cliff. Her limp legs flew out thanks to the centripetal force, finally falling like stones against the ground.

"You really are a handful, you know that."

Blush spread over the bridge of her nose as his husky voice sent the plosives of his words directly against the top of her sensitive ear. Her heart started pounding for a different reason.

"Boruto," came a little voice. "Take her back with you. You need her strength to fight. You can't deal with Code and the evolved shinju at the same time."

"Mm," he muttered, still holding her securely against him. "Just give me a couple seconds."

Sarada inhaled a tiny gasp in the back of her throat when he ducked his head against the side of hers, his cheek against her ear, muscular arms adjusting their grip to hold her just a little bit closer. If he wasn't holding her up... She didn't think her knees would have supported her anyways. The anxiety from nearly plummeting to her death took away her ability to stand. 

Butterflies crept into her stomach as several seconds passed by and Boruto still didn't move. He was so warm... So much bigger than she remembered him being. It felt like he could swallow her whole inside his cape and she would just disappear. Like she really was just some small weak thing that couldn't survive unless he was there to save her.

She wasn't usually one to surrender... But Sarada let her eyes fall closed and relaxed. His arms readjusted around her waist, lips gently coming to rest on her cheek. And for the first time in three years... She felt completely at peace.

"You don't have time to sit here leisurely hugging her Boruto... People could be dying! Hurry and explain the situation and teleport back."

"Shut up, stupid toad. Mitsuki, Kawaki and Konohamaru-sensei can hold them off for a little longer on their own."

Sarada's eyes widened. His demeanor... Had completely changed. It was as if in this moment... He cared about nothing, but... her.

She suddenly regretted being so harsh with him before. She could feel his worry in the strength of his arms, in the pounding of his heart at her back. But perhaps because she was harsh, the chains of restraint binding them both were finally broken.

"At least explain the situation! The world is in peril!"

He sighed, slowly loosening his snug grip and standing to his full height. One of his hands gently pulled at her side, turning her towards him. The butterflies that fluttered through her stomach seemed to concentrate under his palm, following it around her waist as she let him guide her to face him. But rather than hugging her, he just rested his hands on her waist and let his gaze wander her face. Taking it in.

"You can start explaining now," said Boruto to the toad she now saw peeping out of his collar.

"You're going to make me explain??"

"No rush... Take your time."

She watched his one blue eye shift across her facial features for a few moments, making embarrassment settle on her cheeks. She could have averted her eyes... But she didn't want to. She just wanted to finally see him... The same way he was looking at her.

She wanted to see how much he'd changed, how his round face was suddenly a more defined V-shape, his expression deep set and mature. The scar gave his features a certain edge, one that merited the new husky way he spoke. His hair was shorter, two tufts of blonde falling over his headband instead of three.

Sarada wanted to touch him... But she was suddenly scared. Of what he'd think. Of what he'd say.

"Boruto, you need to get back," the toad said sternly. "There will be plenty of time to make out with your girlfriend after you save the world. But in order for that to happen, you're going to have to save it first!"

"That's why I told you to start explaining the situation." One of his hands left her waist and came up to cup her face, his dry thumb brushing across her cheekbone. If it wasn't her imagination, Boruto was staring at... her lips. She held her breath.

If he was going to kiss her... Konoha could wait. Everything could wait.

"Why does it have to be me?" The toad grumbled.

"Because," Boruto grunted back, a good bit of irritation in his voice. "If I don't manage to save the world, I might never get the chance to do this... And Sarada isn't the only one who is tired of holding back."

"Oh for the love of—"

Sarada's neck tensed as his head tilted. Her breath hitched in her throat. She wasn't prepared. But as the breeze ruffled her short hair, he leaned down and touched his lips to hers. Still and motionless. Like a perfectly painted picture.

The toad started to explain, but it was hard to hear over the pounding of her heart. Was this... Just another dream?

"...so the beasts can absorb chakra and..."

He gently pulled away, just enough to look back and forth between her eyes, confirming that her flustered reaction was laden with desire and not panic. This wasn't a dream. He... He really kissed her. Boruto kissed her.

"...the trees are turning into..."

She took one more look at him before her eyelids fell closed, nervous fire spreading through her stomach. She let the weight of her head slowly sink into his palm.

The gentle brush of his lips came again. But this time... he parted them, slipping them into hers. Not only letting her feel the warmth of his skin, but also his mouth. And Sarada was nearly certain that one single movement robbed her of her ability to listen to the toad, to think about Konoha, to hear and feel and sense anything but.. Him. 

He held her still like that for just a moment more before pulling away again, both of their eyes opening at a snail's pace in unison. Maybe because both of their attributes were lighting, her lips tingled. Her body felt heavy, but her heart which had been feeling like a sack of stones for three years felt as light as a feather.

"...and so they have the same abilities and moves as..."

Boruto lifted both hands to her face and concentrated, taking the edges of her smudged glasses and pushing them up into her hair, making sure they were snug on the top of her head. Now he was even blurrier than before... But she didn't care. 

"...so in other words they're almost copies of..."

He leaned closer so her clothes were brushing against his. She was pressed up against him. But unlike their hug from earlier, this time she was hyper sensitive to every divot in his chest, every button on his shirt. The cold metal of the pins quickly heating up between their shared body heat. 

Suddenly, he tensed. "Shut up, Momoshiki..."

Her eyebrows furrowed, upturned in worry, but Boruto's gaze didn't stray from her mouth.

Sarada's eyelids drooped closed as she leaned in with him, her arms sneaking under his cloak and wrapping around his waist.

Their parted lips connected again. A burning sensation spread throughout the pit of her stomach as if someone had suddenly sent a fireball through her insides. And as his lips slowly moved against hers, the burning spread. Up her ribs. Into her chest. His hand came around to the back of her head to cradle it, thumb now gently brushing over the fronds of baby hair just beneath her ear. And she whimpered. 

Despite feeling like she was on fire with tiny pulses of electricity shooting through every place he touched... This... was pure bliss. He was so gentle. So careful and caring, and somehow conveying how much he missed her, how scared he was of losing her without words. 

"...And so you should be careful of..."

Because it was her first kiss, she wasn't really sure how to respond to his affection. But when she gently copied the slow tugging motions of Boruto's lips with her own, his reaction indicated nothing less than a more intimate desire.

The fingers that had been gently cradling her head started to curl, adding a certain wanted tension to the back of her neck. His hand moved on her waist, wrapping around her back, pulling her to him protectively like she was his and he could easily kill anyone else that tried to take her.

If the toad was talking, watching, whatever it was doing... She no longer cared.

She leaned her weight forward, melting into his arms. The tension in her chest eased as it pressed into his. Her hands trailed up his back, fingers tensing in the same way his did, slowly curling into whatever they were holding, his into her hair, hers into his shirt.

The uncertain movements of her lips became much more confident, much more needy. She wanted more of him and she wasn't sure how to get it.

Suddenly her nose felt like it was in the way. He must have sensed the same thing, because they leaned their heads in opposite directions at the same time, recapturing each others mouths.

Sarada sucked in a breath and held it, pulling herself closer to him. Her emotions started overflowing, creeping up her tightened throat as her body melted, kissing him with all the passion and pain she'd buried deep down for the three years he'd been gone. Tears heated behind her eyelids. Her hands reached up to cup his face, pull him closer, wrap her arms around his neck.

She wanted this, craved this without even having the experience of doing it. But now that she was kissing him, she understood. This was what could get rid of the led weight that sunk her heart into her stomach, the furrow in her eyebrows that seemed to be increasingly present, easing all of her anger and stress and taking away the thorns that prickled her personality, making her lash out when she knew she wasn't supposed to.

Suddenly, she found herself completely in his arms. Her legs somehow left the ground to wrap around his waist. He'd hoisted her up, supporting her wait with one arm, the other on her back. She wanted to be closer, to be pressed into him, for him to press her into anything. 

She pulled away from him for just a moment, looking down at his open glassy blue eye, slightly furrowed eyebrows, both panting and out of breath. His expression... Told her that he was going to stop because he was worried... About something. But the pain in his gaze told her he didn't want to. 

Just as she was about to close her eyes and lean in again, to tell him it was okay to take whatever he wanted, a voice stopped her. 

"...Oi."

Sarada's breath hitched, her eyes wide, mouth clamping shut. It was the toad.

"I'm done explaining. I hope you got all that."

"S-Sure," she stuttered shyly as Boruto gently set her back down. "Y-yeah, I got it."

And by that of course, she meant that she'd gotten none of it at all. Her gaze drifted to grass by his boots, arms folding against him as he pulled her close in a warm hug, both trying to calm their pounding hearts and rid their faces of embarrassed blush. There was a village in peril. A village she'd cared about and tried to protect in Naruto's absence for a long time... And now, all she could think about was wanting just a little bit more alone time with his son... After all. She was likely going off to her death. 

Squeezing her eyes shut, she held him tighter. She wasn't going to die. She was stronger than that. Dream, future, whatever it was, she was just going to shannaro it to pieces and prove that she was strong enough to become hokage with him at her side. 

"Mitsuki and Kawaki managed on their own, but you should really be getting back."

"Mm..." Boruto muttered, still trying to steady his breath. "Sorry... One more second."

"And this is why I should never have let you kiss her..."

Sarada's nose twitched. She looked inside Boruto's collar at the frog. Glared at it. And just as she thought to give it a piece of her mind, she was interrupted.

"Sarada."

"...Yes?"

"Leave the toad alone."

She glared at it for a single second longer. Narrowed her eyes... Then tucked her head back into Boruto's chest. "Fine."

.

THE END