Fourth Hokage and Son

3 Years Old

In. Out. In. Out. Pause.

In. In. Out. In. Out. Stop.

Sharp intake. Pause. Out. Whimper.

In. Out. Twitch.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

His son, other than his breathing and occasional spasm, lay completely still. His arms were down at his side, his head to tilted to the right, while his tiny body rose and fell with every breath. He was having a nightmare... typical at this time of night.

Minato left the doorway and walked over to the boy's bed. Slowly, without waking him, Minato began combing through his sons hair and rubbing his head. Every now and then he'd touch Naruto's ears and the boy would unconsciously hum in contentment, calmed as the nightmare dissipated at his father's touch.

Naruto's breathing slowed, his body once again completely still. Minato could only smile to himself. It would be the first time in two weeks that Naruto slept through the night without waking up from the night terrors. Now if only Minato could sleep without worry, that would be a miracle. The adult blonde slowly stood up and left his son's room, making his way to his own. The minute he hit the mattress, our young Hokage was dead to the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He could feel a tug on the blankets and blue eyes shot open to look into eyes just as equally beautifully blue. Naruto stood by his bed, blanket and frog stuffed animal in hand, thumb in his mouth. The child was obviously scared and fresh tears were rolling down his whiskered cheeks.

Reaching down, Minato picked up the boy and placed him in the bed next to him. Per usual, the boy was cold and immediately snuggled close to Minato and hogged the blankets. Minato merely wrapped his arms around Naruto and once again ran his fingers through Naruto's hair.

"Did you have a nightmare?" After all his efforts, Minato was afraid of the answer.

Naruto shook his head, "The bang woke me up."

At first Minato didn't understand what his son meant but only a few minutes later, thunder shook the house as lightning danced through the sky and rain pelted the windows. Thankfully, Naruto was soon fast asleep... safe in his father's arms.

Please comment!