It was a cold and sad morning in the centre of Tokyo, the big city which concentrated many well-known companies and multinationals spread across the whole world. One of these was Suki's, which means "love". A restaurant famous for its hand-made lamens and the chief cook Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was a famous cook that participated in different TV Shows, winning everyone's heart because of his charisma and passion for cooking, thanks to his mother, who administrated a simple restaurant; and to his father, a very important politician in the district of Osaka. His story life became known because of an accident, in which both of his parents died in a fire. However, a very close family friend, Iruka, took charge of him before he was taken to a shelter. Since then, a strong bond of father-son was created. When Naruto turned overage, he graduated at cooking and specialized in what he loved the most: lamen. Seeing himself obligated to move to Tokyo, he constructed a large empire of restaurants, with the same name as his mother's.

It was the middle of the week and Naruto had already gotten up, anxious, in a hurry to make his children's bentos while they cried in order not to go to school. Naruto was trying to concentrate; he was finishing a rice bear, made for his younger daughter that was having difficulty in eating, hoping that it would cheer her up.

"Himawari, come get your lunch," yelled Naruto from the kitchen, cleaning his hands on his apron, running around to wrap the bento in a piece of pink fabric.

Himawari showed herself at the kitchen's door, rubbing her eyes with her sleepy face and a crying eye. She had been crying desperately not to go to school.

"But I don't want to go to school, Otou-san", complained Himawari, cleaning the tears that were running down her face.

"You have to go, honey. Imagine if daddy didn't want to work, how many people would be hungry", said Naruto, kneeling before his daughter and cleaning her face with delicacy.

"But I don't cook food, daddy", said the child, making a fit of laughter come out of Naruto's throat while he was taking the lunch into Himawari's bear backpack.

"Listen to your brother and study, okay?", he asked, giving her a kiss on the forehead and pointing the way to the living room.

Some minutes went by and Naruto was still waiting for his older son. He snorted, irritated, looking at the clock, and made his way to Boruto's room. He opened the door and turned on the light. Besides the expected mess, he saw his son still lay asleep in bed.

"Boruto! You and your sister are going to be late for school!", he yelled, impatiently, grabbing his son's uniform from the wardrobe. Boruto squeaked and covered his head with the blanket.

In the last few years, it had been hard to deal with Boruto. Instead of growing and becoming more responsible, as it was expected, he grew more rebel and distant. Naruto couldn't really blame him for it. Two years ago, Hinata, his wife, died because of a health problem. She had breast cancer, which, by the way, made it harder for her to breastfeed Himawari, who was too young back then. His lovely wife was a housewife for option, to take care of their children. Nowadays, two years after her death, the children still miss her, including Naruto himself.

Her passing was very painful, even more than it was expected. She was cremated and her ashes were put in the living room, with a small altar with her photo and some candles. In order to celebrate her birthday, even after her death, Naruto and the children got together and paid some homages, with drawings, photos and a portion of her favourite food. After her death, Iruka visited them more often. He knew how hard it was to conciliate the administrative pressure of managing a business with the house chores and raising two kids. Even two years after Hinata's death, the time hadn't healed the pain of the loss.

"I won't go to school!", Boruto exclaimed, still under the blanket.

This resistance had been recurring over the last days; Naruto wasn't patient enough to handle this misbehaviour one more time. Would it be that hard to collaborate? Naruto didn't demand anything else besides collaboration and better grades at school. Was he asking too much? The father snorted, annoyed, getting closer to the bed and eventually pushing the blanket out of Boruto's bed.

"No, Boruto! I have to work and you two need to study. Get up right now or you'll be grounded", he threatened.

After a long time insisting, the boy finally changed his clothes. As soon as the kids went to school, Naruto started to get ready as well. He ran towards the bathroom, quickly undressing and took a warm shower to lighten his mood. He thought about how hard it was for him to do all this and how Hinata usually took care of it with ease.

The kids always felt happy to go to school because of Hinata's encouragement. She was always present in their memories, and, because of these memories, tears ran down his face, joining the warm shower water. Despite the constant pain, he couldn't give up. He had to be strong, for his children, for their mother would be if he were the one who had passed away. Why didn't he go in her place? The three of them would be living a happy and stable life due to the restaurant's fortune, with no worries. Hinata would take care of them well, she loved cooking, and that was the passion that brought them together.

In contrast to that, Naruto wasn't being as strong as he'd like. He sorrowed every night. There were still plenty of her clothes in the wardrobe. He was too afraid to get rid of them, scared of forgetting about her or finally accepting that she's gone and wouldn't come back. Naruto kept himself busy as often as he could, closing the restaurant late at night, trying his best not to go home and face the fact that Hinata wouldn't be there waiting for him. Iruka always insisted and argued with him so he could move forward and find a new wife to help take care of the children. He wasn't brave or strong enough. Trading the love of his life for another person seemed to be selfish and senseless.