"They are going to get ruined tomorrow..."
"Of course they will, but isn't this a pretty color?"
Chouchou laid on her bed together with Sarada while she painted her nails in a coral pink shade. Both of them have been dead busy lately, to the point they met just to lay around and do nothing. Sarada looked at her nails which were now nice and neat with droopy, sad eyes
"It's a shame, really. They look cute this way."
"If you like I can do your face too."
Chouchou winked at Sarada when she said that. Sarada smirked awkwardly and said
"It's not my style, you know that."
"Aww..."
"You are so pretty anyways, Sarada."
"Look who's talking."
Chouchou put her hands on her cheeks trying to look cute and asked
"Really, you meant it?"
While Sarada displayed a preachy look
"Yes, I meant it Chouchou."
"AWWWW"
Chouchou fell on the mattress with her hands on her cheeks with a big lovable smile. An exaggerated gesture but Sarada was never bothered by these things, she felt happier when she was with her friend. It was like Chouchou recharged her with positive energy.
"Man... Sarada I'm dead beat."
She was now looking at the ceiling with tired eyes. Sarada had to agree
"I know... But if this gets me closer to become the Hokage then..."
Chouchou narrowed her eyes
"It sounds very tiring... But whatever you choose, I will support you."
She thumbs upped her friend while she laid lazily on the mattress. Sarada exasperatedly fixed her glasses and preached
"Come on, Chouchou! Be more serious about your future!"
"Wait a minute, what does this have to do with me?"
Sarada sighed
"I'm worried for real, you are always this uninterested about ninja things."
She shrugged
"I must have born at the wrong time..."
Sarada wanted to reproach even more, why was her friend like this? She was not any other civilian, she was the heir of one of the noble clans of Konoha. Weren't everyone with this kind of background more proud of their heritage and careful with their responsibilities? She scratched her cheek tiredly looking at her friend who had her eyes half-closed. If only she was able to shake some sense in Chouchou...
Sarada blinked twice when she noticed something
"Hey... I never saw you wearing that hairclip before."
Chouchou sat on her bed quickly, displaying a surprised face as if she was caught redhanded. She said while looking to the side
"Oh, it was a present..."
Sarada wouldn't have asked further if Chouchou's previous reaction wasn't that suspicious
"From who?"
Chouchou fixed her hair not looking at Sarada directly into her eyes
"...Mitsuki."
The spectacle girl looked at her friend blankly not understanding a thing. She felt like she had skipped the first chapter of a book and jumped directly into the middle of it.
"...Uhm. What Mitsuki? THAT Mistuki?"
"Who the heck is Mistuki?!"
"S-sorry I bit my tongue."
She was that shocked. Chouchou looked back at Sarada with the colors rising to her cheeks and a deep deep frown on her face
"Yes, THAT Mitsuki. Your teammate! Gee Sarada..."
"Oh..."
"OH!!!" Sarada exclaimed in her mind. How could this happen? And HOW she didn't notice before? It was true these two always had a spark going on between them, and with that Sarada meant they were always having some bizarre conversation about conditions and things she didn't really pay enough attention to understand. BUT Sarada always had a hunch since that one mission they had together with Team 10... The one where Chouchou gave Mitsuki her chips that maybe...
"Chouchou, since when you two are going ou-"
Her chubby friend raised her hand in a stoic way
"Don't misunderstand, Sarada. We are going out as friends, we are nothing more than that."
Sarada raised a brow, her lips slowly forming a smile
"Really...? Just the two of you? And how many times again?"
Chouchou looked back at Sarada, who now had a big smile while her hands which formed fists were brought to her chest in a very cute way.
"What's wrong with... Ugh, look. It doesn't matter how many times we have been going out, this doesn't change the fact there isn't any romance behind it."
Sarada's expression didn't change at all, she kept questioning. She wasn't going home tonight if she didn't hear it all
"Then why?"
Chouchou rested her cheek on her hand
"I'm helping him to know himself better. There."
"...Alright. Out of nowhere?"
Chouchou clicked her tongue
"Saradaaa!"
Sarada crossed her arms, then took one finger to her cheek looking upward in a thoughtful mannerism
"The pieces are not fitting, Chouchou. I'm not saying you aren't a kind person who is willing to help others, but there must be more behind it, right?"
A deep loud sigh was heard in the room. Chouchou's of course.
"Then hear me out..."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sarada was sitting hugging one of Chouchou's pillow while Chouchou herself laid on her bed, belly pressed against the mattress and arms extended, looking like someone who had died on the battlefield. She buried her face on the bed covers, she said even if her voice came muffled
"I messed it up, so I felt it would be fair to do something for him. To make it up, you know?"
Sarada felt it was opportune to ask
"Chouchou, do you like him?"
"Mitsuki? Yeah."
Sarada's eyes were glossy with emotion, her face a literal 8D so Chouchou had to specify
"Not that way, silly. He is a good friend."
Sarada chuckled
"That same friend you insist he is so in love with you?"
"Eh? Oh... That's..."
Chouchou looked confused.
"Does it matter if he is?! He knows he doesn't have a chance with me!"
"You are not making any sense..."
Sarada smiled warmly at Chouchou. Mitsuki was weird, but he was one of those people who Chouchou would listen, so she felt relieved he was the one her friend was spending time with. LOL let's be real, all of this sounded very romantic. They were going out, right? Sarada's mind was running at 1000km/h
"You know, Chouchou? I think this whole thing stopped being about "making up for your mistakes" and more like "I like to hang out with Mitsuki"."
Chouchou didn't reply, she was deep into her thoughts, displaying a serious face
"Yeah... I like to hang out with him, and I like to hang out with you too."
"I think there is no difference."
Sarada thought deeply into this, so she chose not to say things carelessly. Even in her fangirl mode, she was a down-to-earth kind of kid. Despite everything that Chouchou said to her pointed out there were feelings involved, she would rather be careful with what she said since romance was a thing of two and she hadn't heard Mitsuki's version of this.
"Fine, I understand."
Chouchou watched seriously at Sarada for a brief while before she dropped against her mattress tiredly
"Hey... Can you keep it secret? I haven't told anybody about this actually."
"Why?"
"They will probably misunderstand."
Chouchou lowered her voice
"In particular my parents... Just think how papa will react!"
Sarada felt that was reasonable
"Sure, I can."
"Thanks," was what Chouchou said after they finished that conversation. For once, Sarada was glad. Most of the time Chouchou would bring up her love life as their regular topic "Boruto this, Kawaki that," Sarada never knew what to say to make her shut it. She felt like today she learned another side of her friend, and that made her happy. And heck she was going to watch out these two carefully from now on.