Title: Just Breathe
Author: Whenpigsfly84
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I make no money from the publication of this work. It is an entire work of fiction.
Pairings: Naruto/Hinata (past), Sasuke/Sakura (past), Naruto/Sasuke
Rating: T
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Romance
Ch. 1
Naruto glanced at the clock hanging from his office wall for the fifth time in the last hour, the hands seeming to leap ahead at an increasingly alarming rate. The week before Boruto had lashed out at him after he'd missed dinner once again and came stumbling in sometime after 10 pm, barely awake enough to even acknowledge Hinata as she hurried to re-heat his meal. As familiar as Boruto's mood swings had become lately, Naruto was still stunned by his son's increased anger and verbal assault. Hinata had tried to intervene but Boruto had turned on her, accusing her of never standing up for herself and acting like a doormat even though his absence hurt her just as badly as the rest of the family. Hinata had fallen into a guilty silence, unable to meet Boruto's accusing glare or Naruto's surprised look. Before either could respond, Boruto slammed up the stairs, nearly knocking his father out of the way, leaving Naruto and Hinata in a tense silence.
The next morning over breakfast Boruto was still clearly unhappy and Naruto firmly declared that he would do whatever it took to change his schedule so he could be home for dinner on time from now on. Unfortunately, it had barely appeased the boy, who scoffed at the promise and stormed out of the house for school. Himawari, however, smiled excitedly and asked if Naruto would tell her bedtime stories again of when he and Hinata were younger. Naruto and Hinata exchanged smiles at their youngest's enthusiasm, effectively breaking the foul mood the lingered.
Once back at work, Naruto had immediately called Shikamaru in and they'd spent two hours going over his schedule and shuffling things around so he could leave for dinner without neglecting too much of his paperwork. It was a pain for both of them, and although Naruto wanted to just be able to send a clone he knew Boruto would spot it immediately so they finally agreed on hiring an office manager who could go through all the paperwork before Naruto and sort it according to importance and help handle anything that didn't require his signature. Finding a reliable person, however, was where they had hit a roadblock until Sai came in for a mission debriefing, his left arm in a sling. Naruto had immediately seized the opportunity to recruit him, and Sai had gladly accepted, knowing how much his own family would be pleased he would be home more then he had been while constantly leaving for missions.
"Naruto, it's getting quite late. If you want to be home by dinner you had better leave now," Sai cautioned, straightening up the piles of paper on his own desk as he prepared to leave for the evening.
"I know, I was hoping to get through these mission logs today but I got delayed with that trade agreement from the Hidden Village of Rain," Naruto grumbled, his hand cramping from how fast he was trying to scribble his signature.
"I believe you handled everything of immediate importance this morning, I can go over the mission logs with you tomorrow morning if you'd like," Sai offered, holding open the office door with a smile.
Naruto chuckled at the man's effort to keep him on time, and grudgingly agreed, packing up his briefcase so he could hurry out the still open door before Sai's arm gave way. Since hiring Sai, and explaining his promise to be home every evening for dinner he hadn't been late once, much to Hinata and Himawari's pleasure. Boruto had stared intensely at him for a full minute the first night, trying to decipher if he was a clone or not and then cautiously stepped aside to let him sit down at the table. Slowly but surely the boy had loosened up, beginning to share stories of his day spent at the Ninja Academy and whatever antics he and his friends had gotten up to. Naruto was relieved at Boruto's relaxed attitude and was determined to try not to stress over whatever work he'd left undone, and enjoy his family.
Naruto winced at the throbbing pain radiating through his skull as he scanned his emails. He'd already worked through lunch, his stomach growling irritably at its empty state and he'd been bombarded by several letters from some of the small outlying villages between the Hidden Leaf Village and the Hidden Rain Village complaining about previous trade agreements being ignored in favor of the newest agreement in proposal by the Land of Earth's Tsuchikage. They were concerned that they would lose any business from both areas if the two reached an agreement that didn't include them. The situation was complex, and Naruto had pulled every trade agreement for the last ten years to compare quantities and pricing to work out the best solution. Unfortunately, the smaller villages couldn't really compete as far as quantity went, the Land of Earth had larger stocks of everything, but the villages were closer which meant travel time was cut nearly in half and so their prices were better all around. This was one issue which made him sympathetic to Lady Tsunade's drinking binges while she was Hokage.
"Naruto, the Builder's Guild leader is here to speak to you. Apparently, the land grant they received to let them build new housing near the west forest is being delayed due to last month's flooding and their grant is only going to last for another two weeks. They need an extension, and are considering changing their location to the east forest but need permission and another grant written," Shikamaru said, his tone clearly expressing how tedious he thought it was.
Naruto grimaced and gingerly rubbed at his temples, the guild leader was a rough, impatient man whose temper always seemed to simmer right below boiling. He was not someone who was easily put off and would probably stand sentry just outside the office door until Naruto gave in and admitted him an audience. The extension on the grant wouldn't have been a big deal, there was nobody else vying for that land but if he wanted to change locations to the east forest then Naruto had to get surveillance teams, land experts and dozens of other groups involved before an agreement could be written up. Which in short meant more paperwork, more time, and more headaches.
"Tell him I can extend the grant for another month, but if he wants to change the location I need a new proposal for the exact location and in the meantime, I'll start getting together the survey teams," Naruto replied tiredly.
Shikamaru gave a nod in understanding and was just about to walk back through the door when several loud explosions were heard and the building shook violently enough to send him down on one knee. His head whipped around to glance in shock at Naruto who scrambled to his feet as several Anbu ninja leaped through the window, taking stances at the entrances.
"What happened?" Naruto demanded, looking out the window as a cloud of thick black smoke covered most of the buildings below.
Shouts from outside the office and pounding feet were his only answer, as several aids who worked in the building spilled through the door. "There was an attack!"
"Where?!" Naruto demanded, his eyes flashing.
"The market section, several unknown assailants set off explosive devices before fleeing. Our security teams are trying to catch up to them now," one of the Anbu members reported.
Naruto's face paled, his hand reaching back to steady himself against the window frame, his knees suddenly going weak. "Hinata," he whispered, before launching himself out the open window and darting across the rooftops towards the smoke.