Around him, everything was comforting.
Around him, everything was warm.
Around him, everything was comfy.
Simply put: Naruto felt good.
What was he dreaming about, again? He knew he was only seconds away from his latest night fantasy, but its memory was already slipping out of reach from his mind as his brain slowly regained consciousness, his soul emerging from the depth it had sunk in for the past hours.
He grunted, and moved over in his bed, realizing where he was. The crispy sound of skin and fabric rubbing against one another disrupted the silence of the room as he settled again beneath the clean sheets, longing to fall back asleep.
He laid still for a moment, his eyes tightly closed, waiting for it to wash over him calmly. Nothing.
He grunted again.
His brain, trained by years of poor sleep management in more than questionable conditions, was already turning on, bravely fighting to brighten the fog that obstructed his mind, slowly waking up his senses one by one.
He sighed internally.
Damn.
The next thing he became aware of was the sound of the rain falling heavily on the tiled roof of the house, its noise similar to one of a thousand of pebbles, rhyming and lulling the silence that reigned supreme on the habitation, isolating it from the outside world, its thick curtain of water and mist creating an eerie halo occluding the windows.
He lazily opened an eye to check on the time.
6:17 a.m.
He closed his eye again, only to instantly open it wide as panic accentuated his heartbeat, pumping orexin in his body with full force. He was late to work.
His muscles tensed, readying themselves to move, when the sudden memory of today’s date rushed back to him. He relaxed against the fluffy mattress, relieved. Of course.
Today was a holiday.
No one was expecting him to show up at the office. Actually, no one was expected to be at the office. Silly him.
His head nested on the pillow, a big smile stretching his lips as he closed his eyes and wrapped himself in the duvet, unconcealed satisfaction clearly readable on his partially visible face. It did not matter if he could not go back to sleep right away; nothing was awaiting him outside of this bed, and it would take another ninja war to take him away from it anytime soon.
He loved holidays.
Him, who had so little free time outside of work to enjoy the sweetness of life -let alone sleep in-, reveled in the oh-so-rare occasion to dawdle the whole morning hidden in bed, shielded from responsibilities by layers of cotton and goose feathers till the first signs of human activity down the hall would eventually force him to extricate himself from his warm heap of blankets.
Then, finally, he felt her.
Immobile behind him on the other side of the bed, her sleepy presence so serene he had yet to sense her, Hinata laid still, her breathing but a faint breeze in the middle of the rainy tumult that swamped their home. How could he have forgotten, even for a minute, about his wife? He must have been really tired.
Rolling over, his sleepy stare distinguished in the penumbra of the master bedroom the dark indigo of her hair as well as the marbled cream of an ear, lost in an ocean of white eiderdowns and pillows, her minuscule body barely discernible under it.
She hummed, but did not move otherwise when, without a warning, Naruto closed the gap between them and moved against her, burying his face in her hair and circling her waist with one arm, effectively locking her against him as tightly as he could, yet still gentle enough that it should not overwhelmingly disturb her sleep. Hinata may not have been a Hokage -nor even a ninja no more-, but she worked just as hard as him inside their house and for their family and therefore, deserved her sleep.
His nose brushing against thick and silky locks of royal blue, he took a deep breath of her, natural scent mixing with shampoo, a combination of Centaurea, blue agave, and a more earthy vetiver. It smelled like always and forevers, like she had smelled as far as he could remember, like he was expecting her to, a smell of comfort and home and unconditional love. It smelled Hinata.
He loved it.
Grinning despite himself, he plunged back in his wife’s luxurious mane and inhaled heartily, like a junkie their fix, instinctively tightening his embrace around her. She whined in her dreams.
It was incredibly selfish of him to huddle so possessively Hinata when she was so obviously happily sleeping, but he could not resist the temptation. Outside, the rain was still hammering their tiled roof and wooden walls. A few rooms away, their two children seemed sound asleep. This was some god-given time just for the two of them, something he was barely used to anymore. He closed his blue eyes and rejoiced at the sensation of her back against his chest, her arm under his arm, her skin against his skin.
All the mornings of the world never return.
He remembered having read something like that years ago in some book -but which one?- and, now that he was older and wiser, he finally understood what this quote meant. When was the last time that he had a calm morning in bed with her? He wanted to say last August, during those three days Shikamaru had forced him to take off, but he knew it actually went further back. He had spent most of his time locked up in his home office working, sleeping on the couch he had set up up there years ago, barely coming out to eat with his loved ones. Therefore, if this moment was meant to slip through his fingers and fade away, Naruto better make the most of it.
Lowering himself along Hinata’s back, his face settling in the crook of her neck, he felt his way around her under the weighty sheets, searching for a ringed hand to claim his own. Caressing the tightly stitched rows of the linen, he eventually found what he was looking for up north, near her resting face, and, kindly, slid his fingers between hers, skin and bandages intertwining effortlessly under his palm.
It felt nice.
“Are you awake already?”
Coming from the depths of his arm, Hinata’s voice, coated with sleep, rose. Naruto bit his lower lip. He had not been as smooth as he had thought.
“Go back to sleep, Hina”, he whispered, his breath tickling her ear, “I only wanted some snuggles.”
“But I want some snuggles, too”, she protested weakly, wriggling in his arm to bring their joined fingers under her neck and draw her husband even closer to her than he was before. A grin crossed his face. Whatever his lady whished…
He slipped his other arm, half-asleep after having been constricted for so long between Naruto and the mattress, under her neck to serve as a pillow, and placed their hands along her stomach, almost at the end of her torso, the silky fabric of her pajama running like water against their touch. Her tiny frame fitted perfectly in his arms, a bolster of sweet and kind custom-made just for him. He strengthened his hold around her. For once, they were waking up next to one another and he was not going to let her body ignore that. His fingers lovingly stroke Hinata’s belly. She purred. He could hear her smile. He was smiling too.
How he could let his work get in between himself and this kind of simple pleasures so often was a mystery to him, for he always intended on coming back home early, on spending time with their children, on being there for her, until his plans would backfire against his will. There was always a new issue rising, a new report to read, a new suggestion for him to examine. As a result, he passed by most of his family’s life, missing out on the gentle, ordinary love they had to offer their unordinary father and partner. All the mornings of the world never return… It made him sad. He wanted to make up for the lost time.
His nose brushed Hinata’s skull and ear. She giggled, and lightly pressed on his bandaged hand. How many wives would silently put up with his status like she was? How many women would so unconditionally love him despite his constant lackings? The rain fell hard outside. The wind thundered against their walls. Right here, right now, far away from any kind of work engagement or official promises, it was only the two of them, a jumble of soft limbs, gentle cuddles and unspoken love words.
Naruto felt right.
All the mornings of the world...
Hinata whimpered a little when his thumb, still brushing her lower tummy above her pajama, accidentally tickled her. Suddenly, he became aware of how thin the frivolous material was. He grinned. He betted that if he went a bit more south, he…
“Don’t even think of it”, playfully warned him Hinata, and Naruto straightened instantly against her, getting back to his senses, a big pout on his lips.
“I wasn’t doing anything!” He defended himself before bringing his hand back up, right under her breast. “However, you, if you have something in mind, maybe…”
In his arms, Hinata tutted.
“What if the children woke up?”
She had asked this question while rolling over against her husband, her big, eerie, lavender eyes finally meeting his, a light of uncertainty dancing at the surface of the calm sea that was her retinas. Naruto smirked. He knew all too well how to play his cards.
“What are those children you’re talking about?” He dramatically asked her, swiftly positioning himself above her, distributing his weight in his tensing arms to avoid pressing against Hinata too much. “It’s just you and me here, trust me…” His nose rubbed against hers, before seductively brushing against her lower jaw, his respiration on her swan-like neck eliciting goose-bumps on her skin. She held her breath; then, she sighed. A victorious grin found its way to Naruto’s lips. Checkmate.
“Okay…” Consented in a murmur Hinata, a sly smile springing on her cherished face.
Hehe. All the mornings of the world….
His face rose back to her level and they exchanged a tender, amorous beam as their foreheads softly met one another, their breathing mixing together as they both closed their eyes and allowed themselves to connect for a minute.
All the mornings of the world…
Could he ever love someone else as entirely as he loved Hinata, with every cell of his being? He did not believe he could.
He kissed her forehead, he kissed her nose bridge. He kissed the tip of her nose, he kissed her philtrum. He paused for a second to contemplate her desirable full lips, the imminence of the upcoming action tightening his guts…
The slamming of a door down the corridor, followed by the noisy stamping of little feet on the ground, froze him in the middle of his move. Hinata and him almost instantly turning their heads at the door of their bedroom. Raised voices reached their ears. Boruto and Himawari were up.
All the mornings of the world never return.
In front of Naruto’s miffed look, Hinata could not help but chuckle.
“Sorry Nanadaime, another time, maybe”, she tried to console him, her lips surreptitiously pressing a butterfly kiss on her husband’s pout to soothe his deception, too fast for Naruto to fully enjoy it though.
Outside of their door, and despite the deafening racket of the elements around the Uzumaki home, they could distinctly hear the kids rushing down and up the stairs. Their door opened soon, a tornado of yellow and indigo dashing inside the room, landing on their bed, any previously available centimeter of mattress promptly claimed by their invaders.
“Touchan! Kachan! The Sage of Six Paths came by the house and left gifts behind!”
“I saw them, I saw them, they’re big! I want to go open them!”
Letting their children guide them outside of bed and lead them downstairs, Naruto and Hinata laughed, any resistance they could have had to leave their comfy nest futile compared to the youthful energy displayed by the two young Uzumaki, ready to make short work of the pile of presents that had “magically” appeared in their living room over the night.
“Merry Rinne Festival, children!” Wished them Hinata as they posed for a second in front of it, a camera in the hands of their mother.
“Hima, this is mine, don’t open it!”
“But I want the big one!”
“Boruto, Himawari, please, be kind to one another! I’m sure the Sage left an equal amount of gifts for the both of you!”
Wrapping paper flew everywhere across the room, covering the wooden floor with a million of bright and shiny colors, like fresh snow in the dead of winter, waves of laughter and shouts of joy blending to fill out the house to the brim with their pure gleefulness.
Naruto engrossed himself in the sight of this scene of pure family happiness, Hinata taking one shot after another of their kids discovering their gifts with marveled eyes.
It made him immensely happy. It also made him desperately sad.
Boruto and Himawari were growing so fast. How many other mornings like this one did they have left, and how many of them would Naruto be there to witness?
All the mornings of the world never return.
Across the room, Hinata caught his stare and smiled shyly at him, ceasing for a moment her unremitting bombarding of their little ones. He casually closed the distance between them, his arms wrapping around her waist as he brought her closer to him, her back bumping against his chest as she kept on taking pictures, undisturbed. His chin came to rest on the top of her head and he laid still, thoughtful, as the children finished opening up their last packages.
“What were you thinking about?” Inquired Hinata, softly, as she switched to movie mode -probably for her father and Hanabi. Naruto sighed.
“All the mornings of the world…” He started.
“... Are eternal.”
She tilted her head towards his and smiled fondly at her startled husband. Not the ending he was envisioning but, came to think of it, a way better one than his.
Sure, he could not change the past nor erase his evergoing absence, but how good was it for him to be here with them right now if he still could not appreciate the moment at hand? Them, who already saw so little of his time being allocated to their family in the first place, didn’t they deserve for him to be at least 100% grounded in the moment when he got the chance, fully dedicated to them three?
Of course, nothing could bring back the mornings he had and would miss, for every day dawned but once; however, every second spent with his family was an eternity to behold and, as he squeezed Hinata against him and kindly stared at their adorable children so full of life wipe away, even just for a day, the bitterness of his duties, Naruto knew that this morning would stay engraved in his heart for eternity.