Hinata settled in her spot in his office abnormally early, with her reading in her lap and curled up in the spot against the arm. He glanced at her but went back to his work. He needed to get more done before he could join her. Annoyingly enough, he was once again swamped with work. At this point, he was almost sure they were trying to keep him busy. He was getting rather irritated with it.
As he finished signing a document, he tried not to throw it into his pile too harshly to alert his wife that he was irritated. He noticed a letter, unlike the rest on his mess of a desk. He slipped it out of papers and flipped it over. It was addressed to both of them. He opened the seal and glanced at the content. "Hinata?"
"Hmm?" She asked, looking up from her reading.
"Who is the Inuzuka?" He asked, holding up the letter.
"Kiba-kun, you've met him." He did recall the boy with the massive dog, the one he had almost attacked for yelling at her.
"I believe he's getting married." He held out the note.
"What!?" She squeaked, stumbling out the seat to snatch the invitation. "Oh no, it's Hana-chan that's getting married."
He tilted his head. "Would it have bothered you if it was your teammate that was getting married?"
"No, it just he hadn't mentioned anything. He's forgetful but not quite that forgetful. Though I'm sure, his sister wouldn't be happy if she knew he hadn't mentioned her engagement." She frowned at the invitation. "I don't think we can go. I'll send a gift."
He nodded.
His annoyance only furthered with his work.
"Gaara?" Hinata wondered, crossing the room.
"Yes." He addressed looking up, losing his crease in his non-eyebrows.
"I've called you twice now, are you okay?" She leaned on his deck, brushing his abused hair back. Gentle touch across his sore scalp was soothing beyond belief.
No need to lie. "This is a frustrating amount of petty work." He informed her.
"Maybe a break, you're covering your office in the sand, and Shukaku-san can't even sit still in my lap." Until this point, he hadn't noticed the small beast pacing on the office couch irritability.
He glared at his work. "A short break."
Hinata yawned, leaning more into her husband's chest. He had fallen asleep almost instantly. "Shukaku-san, can you hand me some of those papers." She whispered.
The beast frowned, fake stretching as he got up, and sand swirled, handing her a pile and a pen.
She giggled at the misbehaved little creature as it tried to grab more of her attention by sitting on the stack or nudging away her pen.
"No." She tried.
They eventually settled with her resting the papers in his back and petting his sandy head with her non-dominant hand.
She made small notes for Gaara on some pages, signed what she had the authority to. Some of these were minor, just needing his approval, things that were normally sent to her first. It kind of explained why she was done early today.
Eventually, Shukaku had had quite enough playing the role of a desk and took the papers from her, putting them out of reach. "Fine, fine, I'll nap too."
Temari was still surprised every time she found them together on the couch. Her little brother that just a year ago would have nobody touch him. Curled up with a small woman with the beast that had plagued him for years laying in form, in a docile state on her lap. It barely looked up at her as she stepped in before it laid it's head back down.
She couldn't help but grin. Not only were they adorable curled up, but she would have never walked into her brother's office without waking him. He was always too high strung, too defensive.
She ruffled through papers until she found what she needed and slipped out, the mess of a desk only slightly lighter. She thought to maybe pat the beast, but she thought she wouldn't want to risk losing a hand.
Gaara forgot where he was briefly as he woke up. The sense of warmth didn't make him less panicked as he woke. He nearly tossed his wife off the couch, jolting up.
"What is it?" She squeaked be caught before she hit the ground and set back up with sand.
"I feel asleep." He mumbled.
"A few hours ago." She corrected, getting up brushing the sand off her skirt.
He frowned, looking at his desk. It had been moved. There was a note from Temari. Had he been that drained, he hadn't noticed her come in.
He rubbed his temple. "I think you could use some days off." She said.
"I can't afford days off." He grumbled.
"We were invited to a wedding." She sat by him, digging back out the invitation. "The clans have rather high respect in Konoha, and though they aren't as far on tradition and respected as the Hyuga, it may be rude not to go when invited." She offered.
He sighed. No, not a good enough reason.
A knock on the door interrupted them. "Yes?" She answered for him.
A Konoha nin stepped in, holding out an urgent make scroll. Gaara took it with a frown, more work?
"The Hokage wishes to ask for your assistance immediately." The man bowed his head as Gaara opened the scroll.
"It seems we will be able to make an appearance at the wedding." He held out the scroll to his wife, who blinked, covering her mouth in shock.
"But what do I do if I need your help," Matsuri asked, keeping up with her as she headed down the hall.
"You've taken my position before. I have full trust in you to be able to handle my workload and know what I would want to be done." She assured her.
"No, with Etsu, what if she gets a fever or starts another fight or..." Matsuri flailed her arm out.
Hinata smiled. "Temari-nee-chan and Baba-chan will be happy to help you, Etsu-chan will be fine. Tell her I will take her for a treat when I get back, okay?"
Matsuri filled her chest with a huff and puffed it out. "Okay."
Gaara was beyond unhappy the whole trip. It got to the point where he was snapping so much to the other nin, one pulled her aside to ask if she could attempt to calm him down. She tried to handle the orders from then on out. He was not taking the summons well at all.
She spent the entire trip as a barrier between the now frightened Konoha nin and her husband. This was not at all helped by the fact that Shukaku was using his claim of dominance over her, looking particularly vicious anytime someone other than Gaara got close to her.
Then one time, it was Gaara he tried to snap at, that bode well. Gaara had swung his arm, making the beast disintegrate in her lap, and then he doubled over, holding his head.
"Stop it!" She commanded, holding Gaara's head to her shoulder. His hands grabbed tightly on her hips, almost bruising as the pain Shukaku had caused subsided, and it was just a few shivers. "You two need to stop, I understand everyone is upset and stressed out, but this is not the time, place, or situation for you two to be fighting over anything." She scolded. The tanuki tried to curl around her legs, and she frowned down at him. "I am disappointed in you, Shukaku-san, that was unfair." He fake shrunk at her knees. She was sure he wasn't happy at her for yelling at them.
She was more concerned with why the other nin wouldn't come anywhere near her anymore. They seemed more scared of her than the Sand beast for the rest of the trip, and she couldn't figure out why.