Prompt: First Meeting

WARNING THIS CHAPTER IS A WHOLE SPOILER FOR THIS FANFIC:

"Hatsue's here."

Sasori of the Red Sand looks up from distorted wooden shapes, an abstract of limbs, an ancient art called moving statues, puppets. An almost imperceptible smile graced his lips and he nods at his long time friend. "Thought the council meeting would run late again."

Komushi, his friend, was a man of relaxed and tolerant manner, and he was the exact opposite of that in this moment. He hesitates. "The council meeting went without problems but Hatsue she–" Green eyes betraying something akin to fear meets steel greys.

Fury consumed the world reknowned puppeteer, he was a man of little emotions, their description of him but furious he is. "What now. What did the council ask of her?" Suna had owed their generation too much, til when will thave to bleed for the village? What else did they have to sacrifice? Their youth has been wasted. Their innocence long gone. Their life... is all they have left. This is why he had no love for Suna. An irony with how loyal and devoted his grandmother is.

Komushi interrupts his trail of thought with a refute. "No. The council– Hatsue and I, when we took over Elder Ebizo and Elder Chiyo as successors, there's no way they can force her or anyone anything. Not with our sayso." His friend took a deep breath and blurts out something in one breath.

Relaxing at the reassurance, Sasori prompts his friend to say the last bit. He didn't quite catch it.

"Hatsuepetitionedtoadoptthesandsiblingsincludingthejiinchuriki." Komushi blurts out again.

"Slower." He instructs, and then he starts to clean up his tools so he can go meet his wife. Weird. Hatsue could have just barged in here.

The green eyed man sighs defeatedly, shoulders sagging. "Hatsue petitioned to adopt the Sand Siblings including the jiinchuriki."

Sasori starts, clattering the mallet, hook knives and chisels. "The Sand Siblings– The jinchuriki. One Tailed Beast." He learned of the recent assassination attempt of the jinchuriki by Yashamaru under the orders of Rasa, a council member. The 3rd Kazekage was able to apprehend the rampaging jinchuriki and took immediate actions to remove Rasa from the council, and then the talks of custody. No one wanted the monster. And damn, damn, damn his wife's bleeding heart.

"I gathered you two haven't talked about having kids yet in a while and Hatsue surprised you, huh?" Komushi grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

He scowls at his friend who took the cue to leave. His wife enters the basement and suddenly, there was light in the room. A bounce to her step and a sunny smile that keeps him enraptured day by day. "Sasori!" Hatsue calls out, laughing.

And she is smiling and whole and his. "Hatsue." He was up from his chair in an instant and gravitates to her, pressing a kiss on her lips. The other half of him. His life and his end.

They pull away; Hatsue's eyes crinkle, the roundness of her cheeks still made him wanna bite them even after all these years. "You working on Karasu?"

He knew when she's stalling. He didn't have the patience for that. "I heard about your petition."

"Yes. I'd like to take care of them." His wife tells him firmly and then timidly, "I'm sorry. I know we should've talked about this..."

"Kids? We can adopt a whole village, I don't mind." He looks at her carefully, considering his next words because Hatsue's face lit up. "But the jinchuriki–"

"The eldest is Temari, then Kankuro, and–"

"Don't–" Sasori tries to interrupt but the effort was in vain.

"–Gaara. I claimed them as mine. They're my responsibility."

The words were short and clipped; her tone gentle but it didn't quell the rage and worry that sprung inside him. "We should have had a discussion first. This is not just your responsibility but also mine."

"It was kind of an immediate decision. If it dragged on, who knows what power hungry mongrels would come out of nowhere and since I didn't talk to you beforehand, I specifically wrote the petition with my name alone." She rambles, hands squeezing his palms to reassure him. It didn't.

"Alone?" He couldn't help but screech. "You would have the village talk, assume, gossip that Rasa had you that's why you're claiming them alone–"

"No." Hatsue's eyes widened. "Kami, no. There's no way a rumor like that would spread, right?"

"People gossip. And it will unless you include my name in your petition." He intertwined their fingers. The things he'll do for his wife. Sigh.

"But I did it alone. It's unfair if they become your responsibility." She frowns.

"May I remind you, we married each other and whatever burden you carry, I'll carry?" He steals a quick kiss, and smiles upon her flushing red.

"Don't call them a burden." She swats his chest without intent.

"They are. Don't ever think that you'd have to do things alone. Whatever actions you take affects me too. And never do this again. If you picked up another jinchuriki I'll go rogue and hunt the rest so you wouldn't adopt another." He was dead serious, a little light hearted at the almost impossible feat. But Sasori could. Oh, he could. He never felt tied to Suna anyways. Not until Hatsue.

"Thank you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly. She tugs at his hair and he groans, pulling away. Eyes in a daze but he quickly pulled himself together.

"When we go meet them for the first time, I want to talk to the jinchuriki alone."

"Why?"

"This is important. A jinchuriki is dangerous. Adopting one is not playing house."

"I know. I love you."

He leans in for another kiss. "Hemlock." You will be the death of me.

--

AN:

Memory jolt! Yashamaru is Karura's brother. The Sand Siblings' uncle. Sandy blond hair, violet eyes.

Hemlock in the language of flowers translates to you will be the death of me. Basically a death threat but Sasori thinks it romantic.

Why did I post this? So you have something to look forward to I guess. Or so you can hate me even more coz I haven't updated in a long while. (I got swallowed by My Hero Academia fandom and massed produced x reader fanfics on Tumblr)

Spam "hemlock" in the reviews.

To laraceleste

Thank you for falling in love with this fic. Now suffer with this spoiler.

To humancyrax

duuuude thanks for leaving reviews. I wish I could give you a hug or shake you to insanity at how much you motivated me in this.

To Authorship

I could write a whole 1k paragraph thanking you coz you left a review and I wanna keep it in my heart and tattoo it in my brain. And I already bothered you too much on tumblr so I'll just withdraw and hide. (This user is the author of Yeah Kunai Shisui x OC, go read their fanfic and be a whole ass airconditioner like me)

To Guest

Literally wasn't gonna update but I saw your review and I was like oh man, I'll just make your day by updating and then ruin it coz this a future chapter and not a real update.