Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue. I no own, so you no sue. The Naruto series and its world solely belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, I'm merely playing around in that world.

Note: I've got a lot going on in life, which is the reason I have not been able to update my story "Loud Legends". I apologise and hope you can understand that I need to prioritise certain things above others. Though I hope you enjoy and please; review, favourite or let me hear from you via a PM. It makes me happier than I think you guys realise to receive a message with some kind words of advice or approval.

Listening to while writing: Heaven Shall Burn – Deyjanidi Von

Warnings: OOCness and mixed English.

Currency: Ryō is the actual currency used in the Naruto world. Masashi has stated that 1 ryō equals to 10 yen, which is 8 pence (£) or 12 cent (US $). So 170 ryō is about £12.50 or US $20. It may seem like very little concerning that he is the Hokage, but they're in a depression and this does not take place in a time that's like the 2000's but rather something similar to the 1910's.

Some of Your Time
Betaed by Carrie2sky

The only sound to be heard was the scribbling of a fountain pen against parchment.

Scroll after scroll, document after document. They were all being read, assessed and then approved or declined. Sometimes additional notes were added. It was a tedious job.

Sighing in relief, he put the last scroll in the 'D-rank' stack.

Minato frowned as he noticed the difference in height of the piles. There were no A-ranked missions, only two B-ranked ones and one S-ranked. Though there were dozens of D- and E-ranked ones. It was obvious they were in a depression.

At this moment in time they had very few high ranker missions from within Hi no Kuni's borders. Those that had the money to pay were usually those of the 'rich snob' kind. Minato knew that if his Genin continued to get mission after mission of catching missing pets and babysitting spoilt kids, they'd turn on him one day.

Turning his head to look at the clock on the wall, he noticed it was already past nine in the evening. He tilted his head slightly to the left as he felt two heavy weights land on his shoulders. It had been yet another late day and he knew Kushina would be disappointed – again.

Stretching, he waited until he heard a pop in his back before standing up. His chair rolled on its small wheels until its kinetic energy ran out. The room feel into silence once more.

A sad smile marred his face as he started to sort the other documents on his desk. Documents he knew he should have read and signed before the day was over, but had no time left for. That morning he'd promised Kushina he'd be home by six at the latest, but as he'd failed that promise, he didn't want her to fall asleep before making it home.

He stood still for a moment, thinking of his significant other with a thwarted feature on his face.

Minato liked his job, but it was hurting his family; his social life as well. He had no idea how long it had been since he'd enjoyed a day out with a couple of friends.

He knew that he shouldn't complain; it was as a result of him being so obnoxiously stubborn that Konoha hadn't been brought down on her bare hands and knees with the inflation. He felt happy knowing that he had helped his village and that they actually needed him. He felt loved and cared for.

He was happy that Hi No Kuni wasn't in conflict with one of the other countries, and even more so that they'd finally managed to become allies with Suna. It had been a long, tedious meeting about five weeks ago that had finally established the shared ground their new alliance was to stand upon.

But he wanted to be loved by his family as well. He knew that his and Kushina's marriage was like a deer standing on thin ice. It wouldn't surprise him, if one day Naruto would look at him and ask Kushina why that weird man was at their house again.

Smiling sadly, Minato made sure to put away all the sorted scrolls and documents in their right place. He then cleaned up any ink splatter to be found on his desk along with blowing out the single candle on his desk.

He watched as the smoke formed abstract patterns while soaring in the air. Licking his fingers and pinching them over the wick, he waited for the hissing the action had created to stop.

He waited a second longer before walking away from his desk.

Removing his coat from the hanger by the entrance he walked out and closed the door behind him.

The wave of tiredness washing over him at that moment had him close his eyes for a brief second. He tightened his grip on the doorknob while swallowing some saliva; his mouth felt a little dry.

Minato knew he was overworking himself, but he couldn't just leave the paperwork on his desk for someone else to take care of.

He finally let go of the knob and walked over to his secretary's desk where he opened the top drawer with the help of a seal. Placing the application of two new ANBU in the drawer, he sealed it shut.

As he straightened, he took notice to a night guard patrolling the corridor. They nodded in greeting towards one another before Minato decided that he really should get going.

As soon as he clocked out by the entrance, he used his Hiraishin no Jutsu to get home.

Food, a hot shower, his arms around his loving wife and some sleep sounded just about right.

The flickering light of the telly caught his eye as he entered the plot of land he and Kushina had bought as soon as they'd found out Kushina was expecting. Blue eyes looked at the living room's window. Anime characters were dancing across the screen.

Minato smiled as he realised Naruto must have fallen asleep watching a series. Opening the thick wooden door, he entered the house.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime, had offered to give up the Hokage Mansion for Minato and his family to live in – it was tradition after all – but Minato had kindly declined as Kushina had already been set on living somewhere much smaller and homier.

Closing the door as quietly as he could – as to not disturb his most likely sleeping son – he removed the sandals from his feet and hung his coat on a nearby coat tree.

He yawned as he started to remove his shinobi vest and carried it with him by the scruff of its neck. As he walked over to the living room, to see if the sight of his son with a sleeping Kushina would greet him, he was surprised to see that it was only Naruto lying on the sofa.

Letting his blue eyes take in the sight of his five-year-old son cuddled up on the sofa with a blanket and a small stuffed toad, he couldn't help but smile.

There was a reason the toddler was the bundle of joy in his life.

He walked over to bring Naruto to bed, not wanting the kid to wake up with aching muscles and a hurting back. As he bent down to lift the boy, two big blue eyes opened and looked at him.

Naruto was awake; though very sleepy.

"Tou-chan..." he said and raised his arms in a typical 'pick-me-up' fashion. Minato couldn't help but comply.

"Hello there, I thought you were asleep," the father said as he made sure his son was comfortable in his arms before walking towards the stairs.

"Naaa... I was waiting for you," Naruto mumbled and rubbed one eye. It was obvious he was tired and had tried his best not to fall asleep. "Kaa-chan's taking a bath."

"I guess you snuck out of bed then," Minato assumed and smiled down at the boy.

Said boy couldn't help but grin; of course he'd had.

"Tou-chan?" he then asked and Minato hummed in response. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but you may ask another one if you would like."

Naruto blinked a couple of times as he gave his father a mixture between a confused and exasperated look. Minato flashed him a teasing smile as he nuzzled the blond mop of hair, also known as his son's hair.

Naruto giggled before he finally settled on asking his question any way, as he was too tired to counter his father's teasing. "What do you get as Hokage?"

Minato blinked in wonder and slight confusion. He was rather good at the 'toddler language' but at times he had no idea what the young were getting at.

"How do you mean?" he asked, so that his son could elaborate.

"You earn money when working and you get a little every hour. So how much to you get every hour?"

Minato nodded his head, understanding what the boy was asking. They were teaching Naruto about money and its worth, so he wasn't surprised by the question.

"It depends," he answered, "but today I got paid 170 ryō an hour."

Naruto looked a little defeated at that and it made Minato wonder what his son was up to.

They entered a bedroom with light yellow walls and a bed with an orange bedspread on top of it.

Naruto furrowed his brows and took on a look of distress that made it appear as if he had the whole world on his shoulders. "Do you think I could borrow 40 ryō, Tou-chan?"

Minato smiled a little and then he chuckled. He was really wondering what his son was up to now. First asking about Minato's pay and then about borrowing money; was there something his son wanted to buy for someone?

"I could do that, if you tell me what you are planning to do with the money," he omnisciently replied.

Minato placed the child on the bed, making sure to remove the creased blanket as he did so. Naruto was already in his pyjamas from sneaking out of bed earlier, and Minato could smell toothpaste on his son's breath, so he didn't worry about that.

Naruto looked at his father with bug and curious eyes, the sleepiness that had been there a minute ago, completely gone. "Well... Kaa-chan's birthday is soon and I really want to buy her something special."

Minato couldn't help but feel delighted as he heard this. He was proud that his son had a very selfless personality.

"Then of course you could borrow some money. I am sure Kaa-chan will appreciate it very much," he answered and once again nuzzled his son's hair.

"App... appre... reasate?" Naruto blinked at him in slight confusion, a frown between his golden brows.

"Appreciate. It means she will like it very much," the father explained and Naruto smiled, showing off a small gap where there had been a tooth only a couple of days ago.

"Then she'll appresonate it very, very, very much!"

Minato chuckled as he recovered a couple of coins from his pockets. He knew he had a note somewhere as well.

"Here you go," he said as he finally had 40 ryō to present to his son.

"Thank you, Tou-chan!"

Before Minato could say 'you're welcome', his son had jumped out of bed and dived underneath it. Leaving a bemused Minato that could only watch in wonder.

It didn't take his son long to emerge, and with a couple of dust bunnies stuck in his hair. He also had his small money pouch – which he'd affectionately named Gama-chan – in hand. Minato waited for whatever it was his son was going to do as he watched the boy get back on the bed and settle in front of him. He let his fingers work their way through his son's soft hair as he did so, removing the dust and occasionally a knot or two.

He watched his son turn the pouch upside down on the bed, letting coins of different shapes and sizes pile up on the mattress. There were no notes, so Minato immediately knew it was money he and Kushina had given him. He received twenty ryō every Saturday to be able and buy sweets or something else.

He must have been saving for nearly two months to get all the money.

Naruto was good with numbers, so Minato patiently waited while his son counted all the money before looking up at his father with the biggest grin Minato had even seen on the small face.

"Tou-chan, I have 170 ryō now!" Naruto pronounced.

He then did something that made the smile on Minato's face slip.

He shuffled all the money towards his father. "Can I buy an hour of your time for Kaa-chan's birthday? She'd... appresonate it. She'd appresonate it very much if we all had dinner that day."

Minato felt something grab his heart and squeeze it painfully. At first he didn't know how to react. Had he heard that right?

Ignoring all the coins on the mattress, he reached over and slowly pulled his son into his arms, giving him a firm hug. He could actually feel physical pain in his chest. A weird contraction was present and it made his jaw quiver as he exhaled.

Was he absent that often?

He thought back to Kushina's birthday last year. They'd only been able to have lunch that day, even though they'd planned on spending the day together. Suna had nearly declared war on them over a misunderstanding and Minato had to deal with it. Why it had to be that day of all days of the year, he didn't know.

He could feel that Kushina's chakra was standing by the door. It had emerged about the time when Naruto had dived underneath the bed. He could also feel the despair it emitted as those words left Naruto's mouth.

Feeling like the worst father there was, Minato kissed the top of his son's head. "Of course I am going to be there at Kaa-chan's birthday. I would not miss it for the world..."

"Thank you!" It hurt to hear his son thank him for what should be given.

Feeling Naruto snuggle into his chest, he frowned as he felt a small stinging sensation in his nose. He let his head fall back so that he was looking at the opposite wall, where a lot of Naruto's stuffed animals were kept.

He was a real jerk, wasn't he? His own son wanted to pay him so that he could have dinner with them?

He felt sick. Sick with himself for letting it go this far.

He could hear Kushina move from behind them as she walked into the room as well. He looked up as he felt the bed dip, and was met with the sight of a very tired expression. They looked at each other for a moment without saying anything. He knew she was waiting for him to say something first.

"I am sorry," he then said and hoped that she could feel that he meant it. "I am so sorry..."

Kushina dejectedly smiled as she let her hands remove the dust bunnies Minato had missed in their son's hair. Naruto's eyes were closed but they both knew he wasn't asleep.

"I know, Minato," she answered. "It's just that you've said you're sorry before, but yet you..." her voice broke, as did Minato's heart at the sight of tears gathering in his beloved's eyes. "You keep on promising that you'll be home, but ever since you were appointed Hokage I haven't seen you in this house for more than three a day."

Absentmindedly, Minato started to rub his son's back while rocking from side to side, wondering what he should say, but Kushina beat him to it.

"You're too noble for your own good, always taking on a lot more work than you can actually manage," she said and Minato nodded in agreement – he knew that was true. "You've got to become more selfish if anything, no matter how horrible it sounds."

Smiling in defeat, Minato shakily inhaled before looking down at his son. He was thankfully being lulled to sleep.

"You know me; I have always been one to please. I do not want the villagers to think less of me if I let my personal life dictate my time. Being the Hokage, I am the village's father as well."

Kushina snorted and shook her head. "There's a limit to everything. There's a limit to how much Naruto and I can take of your absence, but there's also a limit to how much of a workaholic you can turn into before hitting a dead end. You'll burn yourself out with the way you're working things at the moment."

He felt her cool fingers caress his left cheek and he looked back up at her. She was smiling at him again, but this time it was a bit more relaxed and natural.

"It's officially time for bed," Kushina then said and ran a hand through her son's hair.

Naruto mumbled something inaudible, but both parents caught the 'no sleepy' followed by a yawn.

Kissing his forehead, Minato lay the boy down on the bed while Kushina collected the money and put them back into the money pouch.

The parents both bid their son goodnight as they then left the room, making sure the door was slightly open to let some light in.

Once they were in their own bedroom, Minato started to get ready for taking his shower.

Kushina snorted as she took notice to her husband's evasive behaviour. They both knew it was a very delicate matter to discuss his work, but at the same time they also knew how important it was.

She was quite certain that Naruto's behaviour had left a bigger impact than necessary. More than anything she hoped that they could come up with a sensible solution to their rather obvious problem.

Feeling Minato's presence behind her, she felt him encircle her waist with his strong arms. They stood like that for a moment before Minato gulped and uttered, "I will take tomorrow off."

Kushina nodded. "Thank you."

Yet again something stabbed Minato in the chest.

She shouldn't be thanking him for such a thing. Naruto shouldn't have thanked him for being there for Kushina's birthday. He should be the one asking her and their son for their forgiveness.

Sometimes he wondered if his dream of being Hokage was worth it.

It hurt being aware that you were causing your loved ones pain. It hurt being aware that you weren't the best of leaders.

It hurt being human.

I think this 'theme' fit Minato and Naruto, as the job of a Hokage must be very straining on the family relations. I hope you enjoyed, and please, leave a review so I know you liked it. Cheers.