Naruto's pace didn't indulge in the nothingness he had found himself in. The sound of his rapid footsteps meeting the ground ringed in his ears as he squinted his eyes to recognize something in the darkness that surrounded him.

Suddenly the gloom was illuminated by bright light, forcing him to close his eyes and hold his hand protectively to his forehead. After an incalculable amount of seconds, he dared to open his eyes and had to blink a few times to realize his new environment.

He was in the hospital. Several people passed him, without giving any of their attention on the tall man standing in the middle of the hallway.
His feet lead him onwards as if they had their own mindset. Around identical corners and unrecognizable faces.
In front of a closed door then, he came to a standstill. His hand had enveloped the handle but he hesitated in pushing it down.

His pausing was interrupted when the door opened and granted him a glance into the room. A familiar pink haired woman jumped into his sight before he could examine the interior any further.

"Sakura-chan?" Her eyes were unusual puffy and red.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry." He was confused. What was going on? He desperately tried to search the room for answers as Sakura clawed her fingers into his arms. It was uncertain if she supported him or rather herself.

He found the source of this turmoil when his eyes fell on a bed behind his friend. As if he was zooming in, the object drew closer and he detected a figure lying on it. Sakura's continuing voice resounded in the background as he narrowed his eyes, trying to make out who it was. But his vision was inexplicably blurry.

The figure was coated in a white blanket, even hiding the face from the outside world. It took him too long to discover the dark blue hair strands peeking under the blanket and spreading their length over the pillow.
His eyes widened in the grasp of what was going on. He knew that hair. He had touched it on uncountable occasions. He knew its scent and how it felt between his fingers when he ran his hand through it. And he knew who they belonged to.

He felt confined as if the walls were moving towards him and crushing him between their hardness. He couldn't breath. He had the feeling like something invisible squeezed him really tightly.

Naruto took one step backwards and, after seconds of struggling, another. Sakura had already released him from her grip and watched as he steadily backed away towards the wall behind him, his eyes still fixating the figure on the bed, he knew was his wife.

He then turned around and ran. The fuzziness in his vision didn't make him lessen his speed. It didn't matter where he was going anyway, as long as he got away as far as possible.
But his sprint ended in a deadlock. There were no doors, everything was just blanc and cold walls. He looked at the ground and tried to draw air into his lungs.

Unfamiliar people had gathered around him. They talked to him, but he couldn't understand a word they said. Everything mixed together and sounded like an overbearing noise. He was occupied with the aching in his heart. His mouth opened to scream but he fell silent.

—

Naruto's eyelids twitched before he was able to open them. Paralyzed he laid in his bed, reminiscing about the scenes he just saw and affirming himself that it was just a dream.
He threw his blanket to the ground and sat up, accompanied by his heavy breathing. Unintentionally the man glanced at the tidily made bedside of his partner, before he swayed his legs over the edge of the bed and buried his head in his hands. He sighed as he teared his hair out, messing up the blond streaks more than they had already become from tossing and turning in his sleep.

Dreams like this haunted him every time Hinata was out on a graver mission. Over the years it had become a well developed anxiety, that he had failed to drop.
The message, he had received today, that her mission would take longer because of complications, made him worry endlessly and fueled that little spark of panic he had inside.
He had to calm himself down or he could abandon any further attempts of sleeping tonight.

His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness and his breath calmed down when he stood up and found his way out of his bedroom, into the hallway.
The moon lighted up his path sparsely, what he didn't really require since his feet knew their way blindly. He remembered to pass his children's room in a more quite manner and tiptoed around the corner to divert into the kitchen.

He pondered about switching on the lights but decided to not do so, in fear of hurting his eyes. So he stumbled around the kitchen table, towards the cupboards over the sink. Skillfully he grabbed a glass and poured water in it, and gulped it down afterwards. Naruto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and put the glass in the sink.
Out of habit he opened the refrigerator but, after scarcely examining its content, closed the door again.

A wind breeze made him shiver and remember, that he had left the kitchen window open this evening. He suddenly sensed how cold the room actually was and lifted his naked feet one after another, as if his soles touched the surface of ice.
Naruto moved towards the wide open window but stopped in his motion to close it. He took a deep breath and felt how the cold air passed through him and filled his lungs with fresh oxygen.

He couldn't help but wonder if Hinata was cold right now or if she had managed to keep herself warm and healthy. He sighed because of his thought's anew travel to his wife.
He was more aware than anyone else of her strength but no matter how capable she was, there were no times where he wasn't anxious about her wellbeing. No matter how much her abilities would grow in the future.
Another sigh left his throat. Somehow he was always a mess when she was away.

Naruto shut the window and shuffled out of the room but before he continued his way to the bedroom, his eyes roamed over the door to his children's room. The door was slightly ajar and a stripe of light fell on the floor, slightly touching his toes. The man softly pushed the door open and sticked his upper body into the room.

The room was somewhat untidy since some toys graced the ground in an unorderly manner. The source of illumination was the lamp on the nightstand next to Himawari's bed. The little girl got scared when she sometimes awoke in the middle of the night to complete darkness, so they had bought her a little lamp with flower motives on it.

Boruto's bed stood opposite to Himawari's bed. He had covered his head with his blanket. The boy had first opposed to the light but quickly changed his objection saying that there was nothing he could do when he had to share his room with a scaredy cat. Himawari had just responded with a smile. Naruto's lips bent by the remembrance of that memory.
The blond snickered when he noticed the countless stuffed toys on Himawari's bed.

He then left the room, not wanting to risk waking one of his children. He stole one last glance of their sleeping figures before he closed the door and went towards the hallway, stretching his limps on his way.

Naruto collapsed on his bed sprawled out like a starfish. He noticed that he wasn't even a bit sleepy and slammed Hinata's pillow on his face, letting out a muffled groan of frustration.
His head jolted up when he heard the bedroom door opening, silently hoping his wife to appear.

A little head peaked in and Naruto had a hard time squinting his eyes trying to detect if it was his son or his daughter, who trespassed the room.

"Himawari, why are you up?"

"Tou-chan." The quiet mumble and his inability to see her expression made him worry, so he sat up and shifted towards the edge of the bed.
"What's wrong?" he inquired.

"You were in my room…" One of her hands was still on the door handle, with the other she sleepily rubbed her eye.

"Oh, did I wake you up?" He was still relieved and his shoulders slacked in ease. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you walking around?" she asked after a while, letting go of the door and humbly moving towards her father. He was taken aback by the question, so he needed longer to answer.

"I just had a bad dream," he replied with an assuring smile.

"A bad dream?" Himawari approached him even further and he could finally see her face. Naruto nodded and stroked her head.

"Yes, but I'm fine now," he stated, the thought that he wasn't fine at all lingering in the back of his head. "You should go back to bed, it's late."

But the girl didn't follow his instruction, instead remained glued to her spot and locked her undefinable glance with his. Naruto commented this with a tilted head.

He intended to open his mouth to question her action but Himawari put her hands on his arm.

"Should Himawari stay with you?" she asked and squeezed his arm.

"Huh?" he resounded, already well before he fully grasped her words. She proceeded, not wavering because of his puzzled expression.

"Every time I have a bad dream tou-chan hugs me and stays with me till I'm asleep." Her words triggered a wide smile to emerge on his face and he lifted her from under her arms onto the bed.

"Would you do that for me?" he whispered and drew his face closer to hers. She nodded heavily as she climbed on his lap.

She glanced at him and then embraced her father around his neck, her cheek pressing against his. She began to pat his back with her little hands, like he did when she had a nightmare. Naruto felt how a pleasant warmth spread in his body, he was moved by her gesture. He didn't understand how a three-year-old could have her mindset already.

"Feeling better?" the girl asked.

"Mhm," he responded with a blissful smile. He had put his arms tightly around his daughter and was sure that he didn't want to let go anytime soon.

But Himawari loosened her arms and looked at her farther, their noses nearly brushing each other.

"Now I will stay until you fall asleep."

"Boruto too," the boy exclaimed from the door and when Naruto and Himawari rotated their heads towards the sound, Boruto was already standing at their bedside. The boy tried to climb onto the furniture but his short legs couldn't raise his body up.

"Where do you suddenly come from?" Naruto chuckled and helped the boy, who firmly hugged his farther immediately after he felt the solid mattress under his feet.

Naruto shifted farther away from the bedside, so Boruto had enough space and then blanketed his family. His daughter on one side and his son on the other, Naruto held hands with each of them.
Being surrounded by their warmness he had to think about how blessed he really was. Even when Hinata wasn't next to him right now, he still wasn't alone. He had two wonderful children unleashing this marvelous feeling in his heart at unsuspected times.

He watched the sleeping faces of the children and tightened his grip around their hands. He sensed how they squeezed his hands and how Boruto drew closer and rubbed his face on his fathers arm.
Naruto closed his eyes and smilingly welcomed his dreams.