Day 3: Of NaruHina Week: "I'm Sorry"

Well, there is one instance where I believe Naruto should apologize to Hinata.

The night felt cold on his skin… A lot colder than what he was expecting… His feet could barely lift his weight as he carried himself home at a non-leisurely pace.

The way back home was something that he normally transversed with speed and ease. Normally he would jump from roof to roof and dash towards his wife's loving embrace…

But not this time…

This time he dreaded returning home…

The memories of the last dissipated shadow clone played back inside his head. He could remember everything clearly…

The joy and happiness in his children's faces as he walked inside his house and greeted him.

The loving smile on his wife's face as she watched him decorate his daughter's birthday cake...

The songs of celebration as he carried his daughter's birthday cake on the table…

And then that look on everyone's faces as his shadow clone disappeared and the birthday cake fell down on the house floor.

How could he do this to his own freaking family?

Did his own family mean so little to him that he couldn't be bothered to show up himself? Did his own children not deserve to have their own father present on one of their most important days of the year? Did his wife not deserve to have him by her side as she celebrated the joyous occasion of giving birth to one of his children?

Tears welled up in his eyes…

He couldn't bring himself to close them… That final image the shadow clone transmitted was burned inside his mind. It plagued him, it haunted him. The look of shock on Boruto's face, the sadness of Himawari's features…

…The disappointment reflected on Hinata's expression…

That was what stung the most. She was his most precious friend, his wife, his lover. She loved him, she gave him a family, she took care of his home. She looked after the kids while he was at work. She offered him a warm embrace, and a comforting word whenever he went back to her. The mere thought that he had let her down…

What was he supposed to tell her?

That he was taking care of the chuunin exams? That he had information about an extra-dimensional threat that he needed to look into as soon as possible? That he had to…

That was just it, wasn't it? He always had something that kept him occupied inside his office. There was always some threat, some issue to he needed to address. It never freaking ended!

Why did he want to become the Hokage again?

Because he wanted to be acknowledged by the village. Throughout the years, he fought tooth and nail to prove to everyone that he was a person worthy of recognition and respect. He forged friendships, he went on missions, he fought wars, he risked his life for others…

…and all throughout the years there was one person who acknowledged him from the start. Who simply gave him her love, and her respect without asking for anything in return…

…who actually risked her life for him…

…and he had let her down…

How could he do this to her?!

He saw her on the living room, cleaning up what was left of Himawari's birthday party. The confetti, the ribbons and the birthday cake were all collected into the dustbin, and she was mopping the floor off the whipped cream's remains.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back."

His heart sank as he heard her voice. It normally sounded so cheerful and warm. So upbeat and happy. But now it sounded strained and hoarse. As if…

...as if she was crying for hours.

The only time he had heard her voice like this was right after…

…Neji's funeral…

Oh damn.

"Where are the kids?"

"They are upstairs. They are both asleep."

He took off his hokage robe and got ready to place it on the coat stand.

"Let me take that, it seems dirty. It probably needs to get cleaned."

She approached him and took the robe off his hands. Her face was facing the floor. Her movements were cold and mechanical. She then turned his back on him and placed the robe inside the laundry basket…

…she didn't face him once…

Naruto couldn't bear this anymore.

"Look Hinata I'm…"

"I knew it wasn't you back then…"

"What?"

"I can tell you apart from your shadow clones remember?"

Naruto scratched his head. He had forgotten that Hinata could actually do that. That she had such a strong connection to him, she could tell when the original Naruto was near her.

How could he be so stupid?

"I pretended that you had actually shown up. I acted as if that was really you decorating the cake and playing with the children. I couldn't let them find out. For Kami's sake Naruto, what the hell was I supposed to tell them? "

Naruto froze when he heard that. Normally Hinata addressed him as "Naruto-Kun". She was normally polite and soft spoken whenever she addressed him. She only dropped the honorific whenever things got serious. When she was not simply addressing "Naruto-kun" but rather her husband and father of her children.

The fact that she not only dropped the honorific but also used the word 'hell'...

"That their father sent a shadow clone in his stead? That he didn't care enough about them to actually come in person to his own child's birthday?"

Her voice choked as she was holding back her tears. She didn't want to cry again.

Naruto approached his wife slowly. He wanted to wrap his arms around her. But Hinata seemed so fragile right now. He was afraid that touching her might send her over the edge.

"And then your shadow clone disappeared and the cake fell on the floor. Himawari started crying and Boruto got angry. He started saying that you never keep you promises and that you don't care about your own family. That you only care about your stupid job."

Naruto saw the the hokage's robe on the laundry basket getting soaked with her tears. She could no longer hold them back.

"I tried defending you. To make up excuses for you. I tried telling him that you are a busy man, and that you are doing your best for your village and for everyone who lives inside it."

She was now benched over the laundry her arms wiping tears from her eyes while trying hopelessly to regain her composure.

"You know what he told me back then? That 'everyone in the village' seemed to not include them. That if things were to be like this, with you not showing up and being there for your children then perhaps it would have been better if you were just absent from the start."

Naruto felt as if a chidori had hit him in the chest…

… He had really messed up this time…

"How could you do this to them Naruto? To us?"

Her words felt like a slap on the face. Indeed how could he do this? Sure, there were a million things he needed to look after at work, some really pressing matter he had to take care of, but what sort of father sent a shadow clone to his own daughter's birthday? What sort of father didn't make time for his own family?

There was only one thing he could say.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

He kneeled down placing his hands on the laundry basket and bought his face down to hers. He really wanted her to know that he meant what he said.

"I got carried away at work, I didn't arrange my time correctly and and I messed up. I'm really sorry."

"Naruto, please get up."

"No, I deserve to be like this. I have failed you, and I have failed my kids. I am a failure as a husband and as a parent."

He buried his face inside the laundry basket. He couldn't bring himself to face her. To look into her eyes and see the sadness and disappointment inside them.

"I am sorry. Please forgive me. Please don't hate me. Please..."

He stopped as her felt her hands on his shoulder and her lips on his hair. He heard her voice, still sad, still hoarse, but always warm, breeze past his cold cheeks. Like a soft glimmer of sunshine.

"How could I ever hate you for failing, Naruto?"

She placed both her hands against his broad shoulders. He returned the favour by embracing her and placing his head on her chest. He needed to feel her warmth, to inhale her scent. To know that she was still with him.

"I told you once before, right? You are a proud failure. You are not perfect. You make mistakes. And sometimes those mistakes hurt the people you love the most."

He sat down on the floor and placed her body on his lap, his head still below hers. He wanted to be close to her. Her body felt so soothing. Like sunshine after the rain.

"When I look at you, I still get this intense feeling on my chest. I am still in love with you. This will never change. No matter how many mistakes you make. "

She placed a soft kiss on his cheek as he softly cradled her. Her cheeks felt moist and warm against his.

"But it's not just me and you anymore, Naruto. Both Boruto and Himawari are young. Boruto is now a teenager, he is at that impressionable age. If you are not there for him, to guide him as a father, who knows what sort of mistakes he is going to make? What sort of wrong paths he is going to take?"

Naruto cradled his beautiful wife like the precious gem that she really was. He knew she was right. That he had to make things right somehow.

"How am I ever going to fix this, Hinata?"

His wife allowed herself to melt inside his arms. She snuggled him and caressed him, her body fitting into his like a perfect puzzle piece. She made him whole, she was his light in the dark, his hope in times of despair.

"I don't know. But I know that the man I fell in love with, will never stop trying. That he will eventually find a way."

The seventh Hokage finally found the strength to look into his wife's eyes. To his amazement, there wasn't any resentment or anger, just a look of love and expectation.

"You will find a way, won't you?"

He winked at her and smiled like he had all those years ago during his own chuunin exams. Her heart couldn't help but skip a bit. Even after all those years, even after he became the Hokage, Naruto was still essentially the same kid she fell in love with all those years ago.

"I will, or I will die trying. And I will never go back on this. Because it's our ninja way."

Naruto kissed kissed his wife's cheeks, still red and puffy from all that crying and rubbed her nose with his. He then wiped the snot off of it with his thumb and looked deeply inside her beautiful lavender eyes.

She was his sanctuary, his salvation, his home.

"I love you. I missed you."

"Me too."

Hinata saw her husband raise his fist in the air, like he always used to back in their younger days.

"I will go talk to Boruto as soon I see him. By myself. Not by a shadow clone. And we will attend his chuunin exams together, side by side with Himawari, like a family. All together. What do you think?"

"I think it's a good start."

He got up from the floor and started carrying her.

"I think I can carry myself."

"Uh-uh, after tonight's event I have to spoil you."

"Suit yourself."

The tired husband felt his wife's lips on his. The kiss started soft, but got progressively bolder, the nearer they got to the bedroom. All those feelings that they had for each other, those feelings of love, of passion, those feelings that they repressed due to their obligations and social standing were surfacing again. Right now they weren't the Seventh Hokage and his spouse, they were Naruto and Hinata, two people who were still in love with one another.

They had missed each other so much...

"Welcome back Naruto-kun…"

"I'm home."

In the Boruto movie, after the "Birthday Cake Incident" we see Naruto actively trying to be a better father to Boruto. He goes to talk to him by himself instead of just sending a shadow clone and he attends the chuunin exams with Hinata and Himawari, instead leaving a shadow clone to accompany the Kage. My guess is that after Himawari's birthday he recognized that he needed to be there a bit more for his family. This is my interpretation of how he decided to do that.

Hinata being able to separate the original Naruto from his Shadow Clones is a headcanon I had that I used my smutty "Game of Clones" fanfic. Originally, I was going to discard it, but then I thought that it would be more dramatic if Hinata actually knew that Naruto had sent a clone and actually went with it in order to not hurt Boruto and Himawari…

...That and I can't let a good headcanon go!

It seems I missed the "Fireworks" prompt… I couldn't make up a good story for it, sorry...