A/N: This story is for Fanofthisfiction's Show me the Love Challenge. Big thanks to her for creating the Fanfiction Review Movement, and this challenge!

This story is related to my 'Apprentice' one-shots found in 'Shinobi Life.'

I hope you enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Achoo!"

Sarada closed her eyes and moved her face away a millisecond too late. She was hit by the flying germ projectiles that her teammate spewed.

"Cover your mouth, Boruto!" Slightly disgusted, Sarada wiped her face before she lightly threw the towel to cover his face. Direct hit! It covered his entire face.

"Achoo!" The towel nearly flew off. "This sucks!" He complained as he lay back down on his back.

He had caught a cold when he jumped into the freezing river the previous day to save a village girl from drowning.

Mitsuki's hands were glowing green with healing chakra as he placed it on Boruto's forehead. "He's coming down with a fever. I think it's best he sits this one out."

The blond whined. "Nooo! I'm fah-fay-ACHOO!"

Sarada crossed her arms in front of her chest and sniggered. "That's what you get for being a show off."

Boruto shot back up from his bed. "Shut up! I saved that girl from drowning."

"She wasn't drowning," Sarada bit back. "She was only in waist deep!"

The two started arguing and glaring daggers at each other. Mitsuki simply watched their exchange with an amused look on his face. Their bickering never got old. What he found more entertaining was how they always reacted when he said something in the lines of, "you two argue like an old married couple," With a wide smile on his face.

In which the two never fail to stop their arguing immediately, snap their attention to him—faces as red as tomatoes—and reply in unison, "WE DO NOT!"

Konohamaru ignored his team as he sat on the tatami mat in their shared room, studying a map of the valley. This was B-rank mission. They were hired by a small village in the Land of Fire to detain a large group of bandits who had inhabited the nearby forests and river. There were a few low-ranking rogue ninjas that mingled in the group. Even so, Konohamaru thought the mission was easy enough, considering that he was now in a team with three fifteen-year-old chunins. He was no longer their sensei. Now, they were equals.

Sarada had been taken by the Hokage as his apprentice, while Boruto remained to be Sasuke's student. Sakura had then taken Mitsuki under her wing, and he was now a growing medical ninja. It was a complete four-manned cell.

"Alright," Konohamaru made up his mind. "Sarada, you're with me. Mitsuki will stay here with Boruto."

"What?" Boruto protested. "I'm fine, I can fight!"

Konohamaru shook his head. "Missions are important, but a comrade's well-being is of utmost priority." He grinned, "the Seventh taught me that."

"But Konohamaru-sensei," Sarada spoke up. Like her mother with Kakashi, she couldn't shake off that honorific when referring to him. "How do we find them? Doesn't it make more sense for you to take Mitsuki with you since his snakes can sniff them out?"

The jonin stroked his chin. There was a reason why he thought she was the voice of reason in this team. "That makes sense," he conceded. "But who will stay to heal Boruto? We need him to be in top shape tomorrow."

Mitsuki smiled cheekily, "Sarada can do that. She can manage basic medic techniques." He eyed her. "Isn't that right? Shishou was telling me how good you're getting at it the other day."

Sarada kept her cool demeanour. True enough, she was learning how to do basic medic-nin procedures like healing cuts and bruises. Her mother also taught her how to ease sinus pains and lower fevers by manipulating the chakra flow. This would be a good opportunity for her to test her progress, too.

The blond burst out, "Sarada's a puncher not a healer. She'll kill me before she can get a single cell to regenerate!"

A vein throbbed on her forehead. She looked at him and replied cooly, "You're right, Boruto." The light reflected on her glasses, hiding her eyes. Her voice lowered dangerously and she let out an evil smile. "One touch from me and I can crack your skull open. Want to give it a try?"

He shrieked and hid under the covers. Boruto always thought she might kill him one day. He prayed to Kami it wouldn't be today, though.

Konohamaru couldn't help but smile. The three of them have grown a lot since they were genin, but some things just never changed. "Alright, it's settled. Mitsuki and I will set out at ten in the evening."

Sarada walked them to the lobby leaving Boruto behind in their room. She couldn't help but worry for the two.

"We'll be fine Sarada," Mitsuki assured her. "Just take care of Boruto."

She looked down at her feet. She hated it when all she could do was worry for her teammates. She hated feeling so useless.

Konohamaru placed his hand on her head. She looked up to see his smiling face, showing her a perfect set of white teeth. "We're counting on you."

She returned his smile and nodded. She cared so deeply for her team, but rare moments like these were what really assured her that they also felt the same for her. They were comrades—equals. They weren't just pawns in a game. Each of them mattered to one another. Each of them had their own roles to play to contribute to the greater scheme of things.

Her role today would be to nurse Boruto back to perfect health and she was determined to accomplish her task to the best of her abilities.

She walked back up to their room. Sarada moved around quietly as she tidied up the place. After a good ten minutes, she walked over to Boruto's sleeping form to check on him.

His blond locks were covering his forehead, spilling over to cover his eyes. His cheeks were lightly flushed from the fever, lips slightly apart, as he took quick and shallow breaths. He looked like he was in so much pain.

Her eyebrows furrowed and the corner of her lips dipped down in a frown. Sarada placed her palm on his forehead to check his temperature. A quiet gasp escaped her lips. He was burning up. "So hot!"

"I know I am."

The Uchiha jerked her hand away, but still hovered it above his head. He was supposed to be asleep! "Why are you awake?" Her tone was an octave higher than usual. "And that's not what I meant!"

He opened his blue eyes half way and gave her a weak smile. "Stop worrying so much." He held on to her wrist and brought it down. His touch felt hot on her skin. "I'll be fine."

She softened her gaze. Even when Boruto was down with a fever, he was still looking for ways to ease her worries and assure her. She felt irritated with herself. He was supposed to be depending on her right now, not the other way around. Sarada's dipped lightly as she pulled her hand away from him.

She channeled healing chakra into her palm and placed it over his forehead. Despite his raging fever already oversupplying his system with heat, her warm chakra was a welcome and comforting feeling. Boruto relaxed into the pillow and released a sigh of relief. His facial muscles relaxed, as the corners of his lips curled up in a smile.

Seeing that this brought him comfort, it sent a warm feeling and memory to Sarada's heart. She remembered all the times her mother would stay by her bedside for hours into the night to relieve her fever. More often than not, she would wake to find her mother sleeping by the foot of her bed, chakra nearly depleted and sleep deprived.

Sarada kept at it for another minute before she pulled away. Boruto's breathing was calm and even.

He's finally asleep. She brushed his hair away from his face and looked at him one last time before she padded into the bath.

It was nearing midnight, and Konohamaru and Mitsuki haven't returned yet. She wanted to stay awake until their return. She wanted to make sure that they were alright. Wanting to busy herself to ease her mind, she laid out two futons on the floor, ready to accommodate her two comrades right after they got back. She also prepared two clean glasses and set them on the table.

What if they were hungry when they returned? She asked herself. Fighting other ninja was sure to give you an appetite.

Immediately, she opened her backpack and rummaged through. Miraculously, she found a small pack of medicine. She grinned. Her mother must have slipped it in there before she left. She placed it in her back pocket and took out a green scroll where she packed some food. She relented into Naruto's insistence for her to bring some of them home, so she had packed some of the instant ramen with her for the mission. She opened the scroll out on the table and focused her chakra.

"Release!"

Seven cups of instant ramen poofed on top of the scroll. She arranged it on the table according to flavor next to the glasses.

Boruto woke up with the sound of shuffling. Slowly, he cracked an eye open to see his teammate moving around the small room. He closed his eye and sighed. She was worrying again. "Sarada," his voice was hoarse.

She stopped moving the futons around for the nth time and looked back at Boruto. She stared at him for a while, debating if he really called out to her or if it was just her imagination. He held his hand up and beckoned her to come to him.

She got up to her feet and remembered, "I found some medicine for you." Sarada took a glass from the table, and filled it with water.

She brought the glass and pill over to him. Boruto sat up slowly. He took the pill and placed it in his mouth, and drank all the water down. He thanked her, and told her "you should get some sleep, Sarada."

His husky voice made her blush. "I'm fine. I'll wait for Mitsuki and Konohamaru-sensei."

Boruto hardened his gaze. She was being stubborn again. "They'll be alright. Have a little faith in them."

"It's not that!" She burst out. Realizing she had raised her voice, she looked away and sighed. There was no point in getting upset over this. She was confident in their abilities, but she just couldn't help feel agitated with all the waiting. She sighed and decided to let it go. "Lie back down, I'll heal you again."

Boruto did as he was told and enjoyed feeling her healing chakra on him. It wasn't long until he fell asleep.

After a few hours, he slowly blinked his eyes open. His head was feeling much lighter, and he could tell he no longer had a fever. His hand came up to his forehead, and he felt a cool cloth and damp cloth. Slowly, he sat up. He was surprised to see Sarada's sleeping form hunched by the foot of his bed. She was sitting on the floor, arms crossed on top of the bed, with her head resting atop. Boruto looked over to the room and spotted Mitsuki and Konohamaru sleeping comfortably on the futons.

Boruto looked to the small bedside table and noticed that the bowl still had fresh ice cubes in them. It could only mean that Sarada fell asleep just five to ten minutes prior to his waking. He admired her hardworking attitude, but ultimately felt thankful for her caring nature.

Although his favorite hobby was to tease and argue with her until he got her to do what he wanted, he didn't have the heart to wake her up. She was sleeping so soundly and snoring lightly. He snickered at that.

Gingerly, he took his jacket that was hanging from the headboard and placed it over Sarada's shoulders. He watched her sleep for a little bit longer before he went back to bed.

Sarada woke up feeling quite sore, but there was something soft under her head, and she inhaled deeply. She knew that smell. The smell of the morning forests and musk.

Boruto.

She suddenly remembered he had a fever, and she had to conduct another healing session for his fever to stop. She pushed herself up off the bed, and felt slightly dazed at the head rush. Her vision was also blurry. She groped around and finally found her glasses. She placed it on and looked around the room.

Konohamaru, Mitsuki, and Boruto were sitting on the tatami mats, chatting and laughing. Several empty cups of ramen were around the table, and the smell of black tea filled the air. She sat there for a few moments, just watching her team. All three of them were all right.

"You're finally awake!" Boruto grinned.

Sarada grinned, too. She was relieved he was looking better.

"I thought we would have to listen to you snore for another hour or so," he teased.

A vein throbbed on her forehead out of annoyance. Yup. He was definitely feeling better.

Walking along the dirt path leading back to Konoha, Mitsuki was telling his two teammates the story of how their mission went. "We had to stake out for quite some time, while waiting for Team Ten to arrive."

"Team Ten?" Boruto repeated, "you mean Shikadai was there?"

Konohamaru nodded and added, "they were sent by the hokage as backup. Udon's team has arrived this morning, so they will be handling clean up."

Boruto's shoulders slumped as he sighed, "it looks like we got the short end of the stick. We weren't supposed to be in any of the action, after all."

Konohamaru laughed, and Mitsuki smiled at his displeasure. No wonder Konohamaru was okay with leaving two people behind. Team Ten had to do all the fighting.

"Achoo!"

"Huh?" Boruto looked over to his left.

Sarada's right hand covered her nose and mouth. "It's nothing," she said. Her dark eyes closed and she brought up her other hand to cover her mouth with. "Achoo!"

Mitsuki smiled until his eyes closed, "looks like Sarada caught your sickness, Boruto."

"Love-sickness," Konohamaru quipped with a sly grin.

Sarada and Boruto's faces were as red as tomatoes. They both stomped their feet on the ground and yelled out in unison, "THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

A/N: I had so many story ideas that I wanted to use for this challenge, but all of them were just too much for me to complete by February. I started on around seven drafts for seven different plots! Hahaha. Now I have a lot of story ideas and drafts to work on. Watch out for those!

This wasn't my favorite idea, but it flowed out a little better than most, so I went for it! I wanted to explore more than just the mutual romantic feelings that Boruto and Sarada may have for each other, but also warm affectionate feelings that their team share with each other. Much like Philia or a "brotherly" kind of love. I imagine that Konohamaru's team would be more open with their feelings for each other in the team.

Special request: Due to the number of story ideas I have for Naruto, I would like to ask if anyone is interested to be my beta reader. I would love to beta for you in return, too! Just leave me a PM, or holler in your review if you are interested.

I hope you liked this story. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. What did you like and what needed improvements? Your feedback helps me improve as a writer.

Happy Chinese New Year! Happy TET Holiday!

~Kairi