Gaara curled around his wife on the couch of their hotel room. She seemed completely fine after meeting with the Uchiha avenger even seemed to have had a pleasant conversation with him. He was still unsure about bringing Suna into this battle for the man.
Hinata hummed, repositioning her head on his shoulder reading her book.
He laid his lips to her neck wanting her full attention, he soon got it. "Gaara..." She whispered letting her red face and glassy eyes turn up to him closing her book.
He didn't answer, he just paid more attention to the soft points in her neck, possessively positioning her closer to him.
She giggled as she moved her legs to more comfortably set in his lap.
He felt particularly possessive of his wife while they were in her home village. Though there was no real risk of her not coming back with him, he still had the smallest flicker of what might not have been. She could have lost her temper with his rudeness and not offered to further their interaction. She could have not told him about her situation, he could have decided not to care, she could have turned him down.
He trailed up her neck making her breathing heavy before joining their lips. He could feel her smile as she tangled her fingers in his mess of hair. She curled her legs around him making sure he couldn't separate them without force, there was no risk of that.
How would his time have been different, the prospects didn't look appealing. There was so much of his life that now revolved around this small woman in his lap.
Shukaku was calmer, he thought twice before causing chaos, and didn't give him as many violent thoughts or our bursts. His siblings trusted him more, his counsel was more malleable, his sleeping and eating were more normal than it had ever been in his life.
What would have happened without her?
These thoughts only added more reasons to make her giggle or lose breath.
"What has gotten into you." She giggled separating their lips, moving back just slightly to look at him.
She was right. He didn't usually become so affectionately aggressive. She usually started any intimacy and it was usually short despite how much he wished to continue, but that was entirely his fault.
"I need you." He admitted. He needed all of her now. Even this dumb summon would be almost physically painful with the amount of stress he would take on if she was not there.
Her lip twitched to a frown. "Gaara you don't need me." She whispered.
He felt his entire being take a violently possessive turn, his grip tightened on her, and eyes became searing.
Her eyes became wider with little understanding as to his sudden surge of anger.
"I do." He demanded.
She frowned. "I think you would do fine without me." She whispered. "You may not want to believe that but ..."
"Then I want you." He demanded angrily. "Always."
She licked her swollen lips looking away from his gaze and took a deep breath before laying her head down on his neck. "Then, I need you too."
His hands slipped down from her hips to her thighs gently releasing the tight grip.
She shivered, he revisited his assault to her neck.
Hanabi was giving her a smile she didn't quite recognize. "Is that a love bite?" She finally voiced.
Hinata instinctively covered the part of her neck that Gaara had been attacking last night and turned red. That wasn't good. Not at all.
"Don't look so scared." Hanabi giggled. "I'll lend you a compact to cover it up."
"No, it's not that." She pulled her scarf closer to her neck. She had to make sure he didn't see it, it would hurt him if he knew he left a bruise even if she didn't mind it more than slight embarrassment. He wouldn't understand that it was okay, and he would think that he had hurt her.
"You okay, you look scared. It is just a love bite?" Hanabi looked a lot more concerned.
"Yes, it is, sorry." She whispered. She didn't want people to think it was a real bruise either that would be much worse if he thought other's thought he was hurting her purposely.
"Then what the matter," Hanabi asked with a tilt to her head moving her scarf to get a better look. "It looks like it was fun."
Hinata gave a scolding look to her sister. "It's just that Gaara doesn't like seeing bruises on me, could you heal it. I don't want him to see it."
Hanabi frowned, activating her eyes and leaning over her. "You know most men are proud of their work." This was not the conversation she wanted to have with her younger sister no matter how old she was.
"He doesn't think of them that way." She whispered honestly.
"He does think he is nothing more than the monster, doesn't he? Even now." Hanabi sat back deactivating her eyes, leaving no spots behind.
Hinata turned her eyes down, sadly she was right. No amount of convincing was going to tell him otherwise.
Hinata held out the package she was holding to Shikamaru with a small smile.
"Really?" He asked, lazily taking it with one hand flipping it over barely examining it. "Troublesome woman."
Hinata smiled as he frowned at the package with a warm look in his eyes. Their relationship brought warmth to her heart. They bickered and fought, but they cared and acted like it was a terrible inconvenience that they did. It was truly one of the sweetest things she had ever seen.
"She's not expecting something back is she." He asked, annoyed with the etiquette of gift-giving.
Hinata smiled. "She didn't mention." She knew she would be traveling back with something even if it was a quick note. They were so cute.
Gaara was ready to punch his friend in the face. He was sick of this entire trip. He didn't want to see any more damn village representatives or hear the opinions of a man he didn't even know. His wife sat silently beside him. She had taken his hand under the table and rubbed her thumbs in patterns over it. It was distracting enough to keep him from having any outbursts.
"Miss Hyuga." One of the village representatives addressed her. "What is the Hyuga's take on this."
She perked, neither of them expected her to be there for more than note-taking or keeping him from ripping heads off.
"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not sure. I'm not representing the Hyuga and haven't spoken to them about it." She didn't correct him on his misuse of her title but then again she had nothing to correct it too. Mrs. Hyuga? Mrs. Hinata? Addressing a woman by her marital status was not something they did in Suna so she was not sure.
The official looked confused, though it wasn't a look they weren't used to.
Tsunade waved her hand. "Hinata is here for the Suna government and represents the wills of the council." Though she had sent back about it, she hadn't gotten anything back on their view but that was essentially correct.
"Oh?" The representative frowned slightly, not understanding. "My apologies."
She shook her head indicating there was no need. Though others seemed interested now as well. She was, short-lived, the center of attention before Tsunade pulled everyone back to the topic.
After the meetings, she asked to see Sasuke again if he didn't mind. This time Gaara wanted to join her and was more than a little confused by her insisting on purchasing another bento.
"Your back?" Sasuke wondered as he took the bag she offered.
"Same reason." She smiled taking a seat in front of his cell. Gaara frowned slightly and crossed his legs to sit beside her. "This is my husband, Gaara."
"I know," Sasuke mumbled, opening the bento this time taking a bite as soon as he opened it. She hoped they were feeding him adequately.
"I have disliked my involvement." Gaara voiced.
"I didn't ask you to be involved. If you want someone to blame, blame the idiot who called you here." Sasuke grumbled into his food.
She frowned slightly but was relieved to see Gaara hadn't taken offense to the comment.
"He wants to see you free," Gaara said with nothing in his voice to reveal the intention of the comment.
"He does what he wants." Hinata saw a small agreement of understanding between the two men. She was further solidified to her idea that the two were similar.
After a moment of understood silence, she spoke up. "Would you like anything for the next time?"
"You're going to come back?" He asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.
"We will be staying an extra few days for a wedding we were invited to." She explained. Though it wasn't an actual reason for her coming back. She just couldn't stand the thought that he sat in there all day and his only interaction was for people to glare at him. There was Naruto, but she knew that even though she was sure he was entirely bothered, he did great on his nerves at any rate.
"Make me one of your bentos." She thought back to a day of her heartbreaking as she had not dared to offer Naruto the bento she had made him. She had instead offered it to Sasuke when he had commented on her tears of defeat.
Then her heart clenched as she realized that he probably hadn't had a real home-cooked meal in ages. He had been in the cell for however long, and on top of that had been rouge for years. She knew he had once made a point to say he was no good at cooking and it wasn't a skill he needed. She had wandered back then when the last real meal that wasn't taken out he had had with no one at home to make it for him.
She felt tears that she held back and nodded. Gaara had no clue why she was upset. Sasuke just looked away with no thank you.
"Your cooking for him?" Neji asked as she fluttered around the Hyuga kitchens, there was no kitchen in the hotel room she and Gaara had been provided with so she asked to borrow a few hours. Her sister couldn't be happier.
"He's in a cell, what they serve him can't be exactly good for you," Hanabi mumbled a half-hearted defense. She was just happy to have her brother-in-law and sister in the compound.
"He requested her cooking," Gaara added, though he didn't at all seem interested in what they were talking about. He was watching her cook. He didn't get to ever, so he was soaking it up while he could. She was flattered.
"He what? When was this?" Neji outburst. "Why were you anywhere near him!"
"Please calm down. He is on trial for his life and freedom and meal is the least I can do, he has done nothing to me." She tried.
"Is this considered favoritism from Suna?" Hanabi wondered shifting her head in her arms.
"Suna has already agreed to support Naruto's efforts if only in not standing against him. I don't think it can be misconstrued as anything other than lending a hand in peace." Hinata hoped she was right the last thing any of them needed now was accusations.
"You're okay with this?" Neji growled at Gaara having nowhere else to turn with both women against him.
"I do not see how my opinion on her gift should matter." Gaara answered.
"I don't think Gaara is the jealous enough type to see this as anything more than onee-chan's kindness." Hanabi smiled at him though Gaara still looked confused as to why he would have an issue.
Neji huffed sitting down with his anger as Hinata set a bowl in front of him. "I made enough for everyone." She smiled as he frowned at the food but immediately thanked her and started eating.