With Gaara's sand manipulation, all the sand from the room was quickly evacuated through the window, and the four of them found themselves sitting behind the table, looking with trepidation at the food Gaara had prepared.
"Gaara," Temari slowly started, poking her fork into the omelet on the plate in front of her, sporting a helpless frown. "How did you prepare the food?" Her words were deliberately slow and careful.
The jinchuuriki blinked as he put a spoonful of omelet into his mouth and tilted his head. He chewed for a few seconds, while Temari, Kankuro, and Ren waited, all giving him blank looks. Gulping down, he finally spoke, "With my sand clones. Why?"
"..." Temari, Kankuro, and Ren exchanged a few bewildered glances before they looked back down onto the plates in front of them.
Temari slowly nodded, "... Right. That makes so much sense."
She fought the urge to push her plate away as countless small grains of sand glittered in the omelet under the artificial light in the room. Gaara gave her a curiously questioning look as he ate another spoonful of the sand-filled omelet without a care in the world, looking as if nothing was wrong.
And as far as Ren could see, nothing truly was wrong in the guy's perspective. He was covered in sand from head to toe pretty much twenty-four-seven, and the grains of sand on his lips probably end up in his mouth more often than not. So, to Gaara, this was nothing unusual.
Maybe?
But still.
Ren turned a bit of omelet over with his fork, his expression becoming strained. "I know your village is struggling, but I am not going to eat sand." He said toward Temari in a low, deadpan tone.
The girl winced before she ducked her head. "I, I can cook you something else." She mumbled, looking mightily embarrassed about the situation.
"Wimp." Kankuro just huffed in derision toward Ren. And despite how his shoulders slumped, he scowled and dug his fork into his omelet, before grudgingly munching on it as if it owed him money. "We are hungry, and food is food." He said with his mouth full, visibly cringing every time a crunchy sound came from his mouth.
Ren watched him almost in fascination, while Temari's embarrassment reached new heights at his brothers' antics.
"What would you like? I can make you a new omelet or a sandwich?" Temari asked, pulling Ren's out of his surprise.
"What are you in the mood for?" Ren asked back, making Temari hum.
"I... could probably go for a tuna sandwich." She sighed and started to push her chair back in preparation to stand up, only stopping when she felt resistance. Furrowing her eyebrows, she glanced around and found that fine chakra threads were wrapped around her and her chair. Following their length, Temari noticed they came from Ren and raised her eyebrow at him in a silent question.
Ren slightly shook his head, "I didn't mean it like that." He told her with a bit of exasperation seeping into his tone, and pushed the plate of sandy omelet away from him, to the center of the table.
Suddenly, a plate of potatoes with meat appeared in front of him, and he gave Temari a meaningful look, "So? What would you like to eat?" He asked with a small smirk.
He didn't want her to go and cook for him. She looked very tired after today. Despite her earlier burst of energy when she chased Kankuro around, right now her entire demeanor was quite haggard.
So, Ren decided to dip into his emergency food reserves. Well, not that there was anything 'emergency' in that anymore. By now, he had thousands of dishes stored for rainy days as he always bought two to three servings more than he needed every time he visited a restaurant or a food stall.
He had both variety and quantity, and providing one dinner would not be even a drop in the bucket. Even if he found it a bit rude that, as a guest, he needed to provide food for his hosts. He was looking forward to trying some Suna specialty, but apparently, that was not on the program right now.
Frankly, it was a shit welcome. But so far, that seemed to be a recurrent theme with his arrival in Suna.
At least, he couldn't really blame the siblings for it.
Temari's jaw slightly dropped from astonishment as she stared at the food in front of Ren, but a bit of relief appeared on her face as her surprise morphed into a hopeful and slightly excited smile, "Sushi?" She fidgeted in her seat a bit.
'Oh, she doesn't hold back.' Ren inwardly chuckled as a plate of sushi from the best and most expensive sushi restaurant in the Capital city of the Land of Fire appeared in his hands, and he handed the still-warm dish to the excited girl.
He guessed sushi was not something that could be easily obtained in Suna, and the smile it made appear on Temari's face was absolutely worth the disgustingly expensive dish.
He didn't even like sushi. He bought it just in case, on a whim, because he was there, so why not? Right?
And he almost did a spit-take when the waiter brought him the bill. The dishes he bought that day sat in his storage ever since then, and Ren was so disgruntled that he hadn't touched even one of them. He did like a few of those, but every time he thought about pulling them out, the price flashed in front of his eyes, and suddenly, he was no longer in the mood for food.
So, yeah. Temari could have it.
Ren turned toward Kankuro, who was blankly staring at him, frozen in shock, while holding his spoon full of the sandy omelet in front of his mouth.
Ren smirked.
He expectantly raised his eyebrow as he silently waited with obvious amused anticipation written in his expression.
Realizing what Ren was waiting for, Kankuro scowled. He pushed the spoon into his mouth, stubbornly glaring at Ren, while chewing with deep indignation.
Ren chuckled. Yes, that boy was not going to ask for his portion of food. His pride was not going to allow it. Not after he called Ren a wimp.
So, Ren just shrugged, and suddenly, Kankuro's sandy omelet disappeared. "Hey!" The boy loudly exclaimed, but before he could get angry, a bowl of pork Ichiraku ramen appeared in front of him, stopping his complaints.
He mullishly glanced at Ren, but after a second of hesitation, he uttered a disgruntled, "Thanks," before he grabbed the chopsticks that came with the bowl and dug in.
Ren inwardly rolled his eyes at him, even as he found Kankuro's attitude funny. He knew the puppeteer was not going to be able to refuse this dish. He visited Ichiraku for this particular ramen at least once every two days while he was in Konoha. Both for the Chunin Exams and for the negotiations.
"Do you have some takoyaki?" Gaara's voice resounded from Ren's right side, and he found himself being poked by a sand tentacle.
Ren hummed, and Gaara had his takoyaki, somehow looking very pleased despite his perpetually deadpan expression. Pleased with himself, Ren was about to dig into his food when he felt Temari's foot press against his shin. He looked at her and found her giving him the most adorable grateful expression he had ever seen on her face
"Thank you." She said with red cheeks, before she focused back on her food.
Feeling even more pleased with himself, Ren hummed in reply and finally dug into his food.
The dinner was a relatively quiet affair as they enjoyed their food, but when they were done eating, twenty minutes later, Ren decided it was time to bring up an important matter.
Summoning a clone, he had it gather the empty plates and go wash them in the sink, while he spoke, "So, I'd like to put some seals all around this house. Will that be a problem?"
Kankuro frowned, "Why?"
"For protection, right?" Temari nodded as if she expected it. After all, the protective seals on the house in the Hidden Garden were explained to her, and in her view, Ren seemed too paranoid to stay somewhere without proper protection.
Gaara stayed silent, even if he tensed a bit at the mention of seals. Ren could almost feel Shukaku's eyes staring at him from behind the modified seal on the boy.
"Yeah. At the very least, I'd like to place seals that restrict spatial techniques and alert seals before I go to bed today." That was the bare minimum for him to feel reasonably safe sleeping in a world that had Tobi. "I thought of offering to cover the entire house, but if you are against it, I can just place them in my room." Ren notified them.
"I'd rather not..." Kankuro started, his expression scrunching as his fists involuntarily balled into fists. "I don't know how I feel about this. Sorry." He sheepishly said, and Ren nodded in understanding.
This was his home, and Ren, placing seals on it, even if only for protection, would feel like an invasion of his comfort and privacy. That was alright. It's why Ren decided to ask instead of just doing it.
Honestly, Ren started idly considering buying a house nearby. Hopefully, Temari would not be averse to moving out because somehow, he doubted the Suna higher-ups would be happy if they separated.
"I don't care. Shukaku is unhappy about it. You will need to ask Temari if she is okay with seals in your room." Gaara said, making Ren's eyebrows furrow. He looked at Temari, but she looked similarly confused.
"Why would she need to okay me putting seals in my room?" Ren asked Gaara, who blinked at him.
"Because she is going to sleep there, too?"
Ren opened his mouth to protest, but then his brain caught up, and a sudden revelation struck him.
"... They are going all in, aren't they?" He awkwardly asked, glancing at Temari and finding her look as embarrassed as he felt when he realized the implications.
"Yes. They wish you would impregnate my sister as soon as possible. They had already renovated her room and prepared it for you two." Gaara nodded.
"Wait! My room!?" Temari shouted and stood up in anger. "They messed with my room in my house while I was away!?" If looks could kill, Ren was quite sure the Suna council would be smoking corpses tomorrow.
And yeah. His resolve to buy a house for them had just turned into a certainty. This was not cool. Not at all. Sure, there was no privacy in a ninja village, but this was still a step too far.
Gaara frowned a bit and turned toward Temari with a completely serious expression. "Don't worry. All your plushies were preserved, sister." He gave her a clueless thumbs-up, leaving her standing in utter mortification as her eyes flickered between him and Ren.
Without a sound, Temari suddenly turned around and ran out of the kitchen.
"Well, that happened." Kankuro grumbled, suddenly seeming tired.
Gaara confusedly tilted his head, not understanding what had riled Temari up.
"I guess I will take a guest room tonight." Ren sighed. Scratch twenty percent. For this, his seals will be forty percent more expensive.
And climbing.