ℕ𝕒𝕣𝕦𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕒 𝕆𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕤

ᑌᘔᑌᗰᗩKI ᖴᗩᗰIᒪY ᗷᖇᗴᗩKᖴᗩՏT

Naruto woke up to an empty bed feeling rather relaxed considering the stress of his new job being the Seventh Hokage of Konoha. Letting out a loud yawn, he sat up and looked over at the clock, noticing that it was still quite early. That was good, he had not intended to sleep in today anyway. As he got dressed in his attire, looking in a mirror and seeing every bit the Kage he always knew he would be, he could not help but let out a smirk as he left the room. Thinking about all the things he had to do today, the list was quite exhaustive. He needed to author several letters to a few important people, read any mission reports that had come in and were worth his time, assign ANBU missions as necessary, deal with any civilian complaints, deal with any clan conflicts, look into the academy students expecting to graduate so he could start thinking about genin teams, and he thought he could remember promising to visit the research and development division today. That much he would probably leave to a shadow clone.

Walking down the stairs of his home, quite an expensive yet old-fashioned house that Hinata had truly managed to turn into their home, it did not take very long to smell something coming from the kitchen. His mouth started watering and his stomach growled, indicating to him that he was very hungry. That made sense, he was fairly certain something had come up yesterday and he missed dinner. Strange how yesterday it must have seemed critical yet today he could not even recall it. As he entered the kitchen, it would have been impossible to miss the exquisite beauty cooking within it. With a devious smirk on his face, he began stepping extremely lightly as he approached her. Right before he wrapped his arms around her waist, however, she spoke.

"Good morning Naruto-kun. Did you sleep well?" He stood behind her, arms wrapped loosely around her with his mouth next to her ear.

"Of course I did. You were there after all. How did you hear me? Or are you using those eyes again?"

"No, your stealth skills are subpar. It's a good thing you're staying in the village from now on." She teased him, making him laugh softly.

"Never was my strong suit, I guess. That and genjutsu. Still haven't figured out how to dispel whatever genjutsu you've put on me."

"Have you tried using Kyuubi chakra? A strong enough surge should do the trick."

"Not even the Kyuubi's strong enough to break it. Think I'll be under it for a while, maybe even the rest of my life." Somehow, throughout the conversation, she had never hesitated in her cooking even once whilst moving throughout the kitchen with him attached. The moment he uttered that phrase, however, she paused for a split second and in that moment he kissed her lightly on the neck.

"I enjoy you being here in the mornings," she said, a bit hesitant perhaps because sometimes it seemed she still had trouble being open with her emotions. Probably all those years living with her father and, well, loving a guy who had no idea.

"Yeah? But how are the kids enjoying it?"

"They're adapting. It's only been a month so it'll need more time." He hated hearing that, he hated hearing it so much.

"They're both smart. I would think they understand that I'm there for them more now than when I was gone for weeks at a time on missions."

"Feelings are more powerful than facts, Naruto-kun. I can tell they both feel like it's less because instead of you spending all your time with them when you're home you now have other responsibilities. Please, try not to worry." Try not to worry? As if he could not worry over his own children. It took everything in his power to make sure he did not worry excessively over them.