ℕ𝕒𝕣𝕦𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕒 𝕆𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕥𝕤

ᑎIᘜᕼTᗰᗩᖇᗴ ➪ ᘜOᑎ᙭ᕼ

It's already past midnight, when Naruto staggers in his and Hinata's bedroom. Another long day at the Hokage's office if finally over and he missed family dinner – for the third time this week. It's more hectic than usual (and usually it's very hectic) because Konoha is hosting the Gokage Meeting this year. Really Naruto is glad about it, because it means he doesn't have to spend a week away from his family, but he barely sees them as it is.

Hinata is fast asleep and Naruto tries his hardest to creep in without making a sound. She wakes up – of course she does, she always knows when he's here.

She doesn't complain, doesn't tell him off about not spending enough time with his family (he already knows that and she knows that he knows), Hinata simply huddles closer and lets him draw her into his arms and breathe in her scent, she nuzzles against his chest and Naruto smiles. Hinata turns around and Naruto is spooning her against her back. It isn't long before they both fall asleep.

Hinata is awake instantly when she hears a tiny whimper coming from outside. Careful not to wake her husband she extracts herself from his tight grip (he needs his sleep, doesn't get enough most nights). She's barely out the door when Naruto starts twisting in their sheets, his hands search the space next to him and he jolts awake when he finds it empty.

He looks around the room, his heartbeat is elevated and sleep is forgotten. The door is ajar and a stream of light falls into the room. He doesn't want to wake the children (they have been sound asleep when he checked after coming home). The door leading to Boruto's room is partly opened and Naruto is relieved to hear his wife's voice.

"You want to tell me what you're nightmare was about?" Hinata holds Boruto close and strokes over his cheek.

At first her little boy seems reluctant, big boys didn't have nightmares. "You know," Hinata coaxes. "I have nightmares too."

"What do you dream about?" Boruto asks her with big eyes.

"Sometimes I dream about how you're Uncle Neji died," Hinata says, her hands draw soothing circles on his back.

So Boruto tells her slowly and hesitantly. "It was all dark and I didn't know where I was and I kept yelling for Daddy to come. And then I was falling and I was so scared and Daddy said he had to go to the village first and…" he hiccups and tries to fight back the tears.

Hinata doesn't know what to say, she knows Naruto has been busy those past weeks, but she has not taken any mission because of that, hoping to make up for it. "Boruto… sweetie, you know your Daddy loves you very much, don't you?"

The six year old averts his eyes but nods with a little shrug and Hinata's heart breaks. She doesn't know what to tell her son, because Naruto has been absent a lot. But she knows he's just overcompensation because he's afraid to fail as Hokage, because the insecurities installed in him as a child are still breaking through from time to time. But she also knows that Naruto would do anything for his family. So she tells Boruto that Naruto would always come for him and that he loves him, but still it takes her more than half an hour to get him back to sleep.

Naruto is frozen outside, the blood is rushing in his ears and he hears nothing but the small voice of his son telling his wife he thinks his father doesn't love him. And he can't breathe because everything is spinning and he feels like vomiting. The Hokage's job is demanding – more so than he thought and wants to be a good Hokage. It has always been his dream, but he finds himself missing his family more and more. And he'd rather spent time with them, than at his desk. And it makes him feel guilty and so he spends more time at work to make up for it. But now – now his son is having night terrors because he thinks that his father would pick the village before him (he wouldn't, couldn't ever and prays it won't ever come to it – and it makes him guiltier, because he's the Hokage and the village should be his first priority but it isn't and so he works harder).