He didn't mind the women, it probably helped that he had never had a mother , so she had no shoes to fill. She was a pretty lady with a small belly, she quietly explained that he would have a sibling in twenty weeks. This was only her second pregnancy and she blinked back tears as she said it. He commented wryly that he guessed her first hadn't exactly gone to plan. She had just gripped his hand and smiled sadly. Rui had found it quite hard to reconcile this sad women with the picture Naruto had shown him from the bingo books, she had been absolutely amazing in her heyday, and Naruto had assured him that she could still kick all kinds of arse. He had never had a mother before and quite liked the way she bustled about making sure his sheets were tight enough and that the water had been changed on his flowers. Did he eat enough? Did he need some more? Was this water fresh? No? Okay she would change it. His father just lurked, in the room, he would sleep in the small chair by the window, his mother tucked up on a roll away bed on his floor. Neither seemed to be able to have him out of their line of vision for more than ten minutes, not that he could blame them, not really, after what had happened and how long it had taken for someone to find him. No, Rui couldn't blame them at all.
Finally, the time came, after a month of physical therapy, for a decision to be made. Hinata, his mother, needed to return to Suna for the remainder of the pregnancy and his father had been away from what he called his hat too long.
They assured Rui that he didn't have to come with them, they wanted him too, but they didn't want to frighten him either. Rui had always been adept at reading the why behind people, probably more so than a ten year old should be, he had met some of his relatives. His…uncle and aunt? TenTen and Neji had a young daughter his age, along with four other girls, and she was very loud and stupid in Rui's opinion. But no one else seemed to notice this, so he had to assume that his maturity was due to being blind for the first ten years of his life, living on his own for two probably also contributed. So he agreed to going to Suna, Gaara (Rui had yet to call the man father out loud) explained that for now, Rui wouldn't be heralded as the missing heir, Gaara would need to talk to his council first, admitting ruefully that his council was going to be awful about it. Gaara assured him however that he would let them scream if they wanted too. Certainly there were no questions about Rui's paternity, he looked exactly like Gaara had at the same age, except for the eyes, which were his mothers familys eyes, of course. To this end, there would likewise be no hiding Rui once they did make it back to Suna, Gaara refused to let his wife travel on his own, nor his son for that matter, so Temari would go ahead to brief the council let them know the Kazekages son had been found, then Gaara could deal with there tantrums straight away and hopefully Suna could celebrate.
His first impression of Suna, was sand. There was so much of it, he stayed at his mothers side looking out the window of the train they were travelling on, occasionally she would point out sights. But they mostly traveled in silence. His father was reading reports on a table to the side. He watched his wife a lot, Rui noticed, she was steadily ignoring him though. When they were an hour from Suna, she carefully got up and changed into a pretty blue and white dress, she piled her purple hair, shot with grey into a crown of plaits around her head, and put a hair piece in, that had shiny jewels. They matched her earring and necklace. She also handed him a pair of blue trousers and a crisp white shirt.
"To match your father," she commented quietly, "I know we discussed that you wouldn't be heralded as heir, but I don't think we can avoid our people noticing the similarities between you two. This won't help that, but your father and I agree we don't want to hide you away, you are ours and deserve to be cherished as ours," Gaara nodded, but didn't say anything. He hadn't at all other the logistics of the trip. Rui wondered if he was naturally just quiet or if his father was at a lost. The cuff links of the shirt Hinata had handed him, were silver with the symbol of Suna etched in them , he fumbled trying to do them up. A hand lay over his, and to his shock Gaara said
"Let me, please," His voice shook, it was the first non business thing Gaara had said to him, and Rui realized that his silence had not been shyness but simply his emotions had been too much for him to acknowledge. He reached up and touched Gaara's face gently, and smiled. In the back of his mind he wondered what Kieko had looked like, it made him sad to think he had never known what the man who raised him had looked like. The train began to slow, and Gaara adjusted his hat, then offered Hinata his arm, which she took without looking at him, reaching out to hold Rui's on his other side. Together they stepped off the train onto the platform to crowds, Rui noticed the Councillors on one side of a barrier. Hinata quietly explained that the Kazekage's family had never been away this long before, their coming home had garnered quite the attention. Rui knew the moment the crowd had spotted him, they went absolutely silent. Then their were cheers, he could hear open speculation that he was the baby Lady Hinata had lost, and noticed a smile tucked away on his mothers face as his father led them towards the big tower. The Councillors looked furious, but Rui had the idea that Gaara was quite proud of the picture he was painting of the 3 of them.