With an exhausted groan, Ren let himself fall onto a couch in an empty office inside the Kazekage Tower. A few seconds later, the similarly tired Temari sat next to his head, with a small grunt. She nudged him slightly to move because he was taking the majority of the couch, but Ren just huffed. Recognizing a denial when she heard one, Temari fondly sighed as she lifted his head up and gently put it on her lap, sliding her thighs underneath it with ease, while she relaxed her back against the couch's backrest.
Her fingers started to play with the strands of his hair. "I am really, really sorry for this." She guiltily murmured with slumped shoulders.
Ren opened his eyes for a moment and gave her a small smile. She was genuinely feeling bad, and that was enough for him. The lap pillow also went a long way to calm his irritation, too.
Of course, just because he didn't really mind, it didn't mean he could not get some... concessions out of his girl for her accidental transgressions. Oh, no, he was going to milk this for all it was worth.
The 'ceremony', as Ebizo called it, was just as obnoxiously bad as Ren expected it to be. They had thoroughly made Ren look foolish in front of a small audience of important people because he had no idea how to properly react according to their customs. It was so bad that a few people were outright chuckling or stifling their laughter while watching him fumbling around.
At least Temari tried to give him the answers, but Ebizo predicted that and stationed her far from Ren, so the only way to get the answers she was quietly muttering was to read her lips. A skill that Ren was definitely not proficient in.
Ugh. It was one of the worst two hours of his life in both this and his past life. He didn't think he had ever felt this embarrassed. His thick skin had failed him!
At least, it was finally over.
You'd think they would realize this was not a smart move. Humiliating the envoy of the village you want to ally yourself with was dumb. But it was a small enough thing that Konoha would not do anything even if he complained, and bad enough that Ren's reputation in Suna was tarnished.
Hum. Right. Ren made a decision right then and there to make his seals twenty percent more expensive for this. Because fuck these petty old coots. They did not have a monopoly on pettiness!
For the next half an hour, both Ren and Temari stayed on the couch, enjoying the quiet moment where they could simply do nothing but rest.
Unfortunately, everything had its end, and soon enough, Kankuro barged into the room. "Temari! Ren! Time to go home!" He loudly spoke, waking his already half-asleep sister and Ren from their near slumber with his obnoxious voice.
Both Ren and Temari groaned at the same time and turned to give the puppeteer two similarly unimpressed looks that stopped him in his tracks.
"I... uh." Kankuro took an involuntary step back. Then, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Er, did you practice that together in front of a mirror or something? Because let me tell you, it's creepy, ya know?"
With an aggravated sigh, Temari slumped forward a bit and rubbed her forehead as she spoke in a fed-up tone, "You are such an idiot, Kankuro."
"What?" Kankuro was taken aback. He had no idea what her problem was now.
"..." But Temari just glanced at him and sighed again.
"What did I do now?" Kankuro mumbled, looking at Ren for answers, but Ren just shrugged as clueless as the catsuit boy.
Reluctantly standing up, Ren offered Temari a hand. With a tired chuckle, she grasped it and stifled a gasp as Ren pulled her up on her feet.
It was time to go and see the place where he was supposed to live from now on.
...
"..." Gaara's blank face stared at Ren from two feet away. It was kinda creepy.
"..." He blinked and then raised his eyebrow at the boy.
When they came to the Kazekage's estate, Ren had to admit he did not expect a small mansion. Then again, Temari's family was akin to a royal line in Suna. Every Kazekage so far was from her family line, so Ren guessed it made sense.
Not that the house was screaming wealth or anything. On the contrary, it was quite plain in the same style as other buildings in Suna. From the outside, it looked quite unimpressive. No garden, no decorations, but it was big enough that even the four of them could live there and still have a lot of room to spare.
And in Suna, that was most likely a luxury in itself from what Ren had seen so far.
When Kankuro and Temari led Ren in, Gaara entered the entry hall just as Ren was in a crouch, taking off his sandals and putting on the offered slippers. Apparently, in Suna, unlike in Konoha, walking indoors with your outdoor footwear was rude to the extreme.
But Ren guessed that came with the desert climate. Walking indoors with their sandals would bring a lot of sand and dirt inside, so they either wore slippers, and Ren's lips twitched when he saw Kankuro's cat-themed ones, or went barefoot like Temari.
And Ren kind of found himself staring for a second at her feet in the mesh knee socks she wore. Something about the sight was very sexy. He could swear these damned things were made to attract attention rather than protect her feet and lower legs.
It was but a moment. Barely three seconds, when he let his attention wander. But it was right then that Gaara came and saw him in that state.
Temari flushed, Kankuro snickered, and Ren donned an awkward smile as he stood up and was about to greet the Ichibi jinchuuriki, fully intent on ignoring the uncomfortable moment.
But Gaara walked forward, entering Ren's personal space quite readily as he stopped with just a little over a foot between them, creepily staring at him. Ren wanted to take a step back, but he had no idea how that would be interpreted by the boy. So, he could only stare back in silent bewilderment.
And in a few seconds, when the staring was getting really awkward and creepy, Gaara finally spoke in his usual monotone. "If you hurt my sister, I will kill you."
The corners of Ren's lips twitched up in mirth, "Okay." He casually answered, throwing Gaara slightly off.
But the socially awkward boy nodded, satisfied with that answer, "Then welcome." He said before finally stepping back from Ren's personal space. He looked at his siblings, and his expression ever so slightly eased up. "You too, Kankuro, Temari. I am glad you are back."
This was a moment when they should have gone and hugged each other. Ren could easily recognize that. But the Suna siblings just awkwardly looked at each other and exchanged nods with a polite, "Thank you. We are happy to be back, too."
Clearly, their relationship was far from properly fixed. But they were putting in the effort. Kankuro, for example, seemed to be low-key scared to be in the same room as Gaara. But he was hiding it quite well for his younger brother's sake.
They started walking deeper into the house, and Kankuro suddenly gained a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Say, Gaara. What if Temari wants to be hurt by Ren?"
"Kankuro." Temari warningly growled out, her cheeks red as her eyes narrowed at him.
"What do you mean?" Gaara furrowed his eyebrows.
Kankuro smirked, giving Temari a provocative look as he deliberately stepped away from her before he spoke, "Well, there is this thing called masoch- Woah!"
He barely evaded the fist Temari swung at him with an angry hiss. Jumping to the side, Kankuro entered the kitchen with Temari hot behind his heels.
Ren chuckled. Weren't they supposed to be dead tired just a few minutes ago? He shook his head and entered the room, too, only to find that Kankuro ran around the table, putting it between himself and Temari, and using it as an obstacle for his sister, who was trying to get her hands on him.
"What do you think you are teaching your gullible younger brother, Kankuro!?" Temari hissed, taking a step to the right, but stopped in her tracks when Kankuro mirrored her movement, and the table stayed between them.
"I am not gullible." Ren heard Gaara mutter, but his remark went ignored.
"What? He needs to know and expect it, sis." Kankuro provocatively said. "What if he goes to have some water during the night and hears you moaning? You wouldn't want him to burst into your room in the middle of-"
Temari screamed and tried to go around the table, but Kankuro put a chair in her path, using the time the distraction bought him to run around the table in the other direction.
Ren glanced at Gaara, who was dispassionately watching his siblings. "This is going to be a thing, no?" He amusedly asked, feeling that he was not that far off.
"They get along very well." Gaara nodded.
Both Temari and Kankuro shouted at the same time, "We don't get along!"
Temari seethed, Kankuro's eyes widened, just like the smirk on his face did, and they were back at it, Temari trying to grab him while Kankuro was dodging her.
'Like cats and dogs.' Ren inwardly thought. His eyes strayed toward Kankuro's catsuit as he heard Temari's growl, 'Well, at least it is obvious who is the cat and who is the dog in this household.' He huffed with a small, mirthful smirk.
He looked at the raccoon boy, "Could you stop them, please? I don't think Temari is going to stop by herself until she rips Kankuro's catsuit ears off." Ren joked.
But Gaara took it seriously. "You are right. She tends to do that. And then Kankuro sulks because he needs to sew them back onto his suit."
'Wait, really?' Ren thought in surprise. But he shrugged it off and watched as both Temari and Kankuro froze like deer staring into the headlights when the sand rapidly entered the room through the door and rushed at them.
Both screamed, and quicker than Ren had ever seen them move, they jumped away to different corners of the room.
"Gaara!" Temari indignantly shouted when she finally calmed down and realized that Gaara was not attacking them, and Ren heard the boy next to him quietly chuckle.
"We have a guest, sister. Please, don't act out." He impassionately told her, making her stammer as she looked at Ren with wide eyes, realizing she had gotten carried away.
"No, no. Don't stop on my account." Ren playfully said, and with a teasing smirk, he added, "It's quite adorable."
"Down, boy. Dinner first. Then you can go get a room." Kankuro grouched with a huff.
It earned him a swat to the back of his head from Temari, who had subtly used the moment when Ren attracted his attention to move closer to him.