Hinata settled in her spot in his office abnormally early, with her reading in her lap, curled up against the arm of the couch. Gaara needed to get more done before he could join her. Annoyingly enough, he was once again swamped with work. At this point, he was sure they were keeping him busy, and he was getting irritated with it.

As Gaara finished signing a document, he tried not to throw it into his pile too harshly to alert his wife. He noticed a letter, unlike the rest. He slipped it out of papers and flipped it over. It was addressed to both of them. He opened the seal. "Hinata?"

"Hmm?" Hinata lifted her head from her reading.

"Who is Inuzuka?" Gaara held up the letter.

"Kiba-kun, you've met him." The boy with the massive dog, the one that yelled at her.

"I believe he's getting married." Gaara held out the note.

"What?" Hinata stumbled out of her seat to snatch the invitation. "Oh no, it's Hana-chan that's getting married."

Gaara tilted his head. "Would it have bothered you if your teammate was getting married?"

"No, it's 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 didn't mention her engagement." Hinata frowned at the invitation. "I don't think we can go. I'll send a gift."

Gaara nodded.

His annoyance only furthered with his work.

"Gaara?" Hinata crossed the room.

"Yes." Gaara addressed, losing the crease in his non-eyebrows.

"I've called you twice now. Are you okay?" Hinata leaned on his desk, brushing his abused hair back. The gentle touch across his sore scalp was soothing beyond belief.

No need to lie. "This is a frustrating amount of petty work."

"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 beast pacing on the office couch, irritability.

Gaara glared at his work. "A short break."

Hinata yawned, leaning more into her asleep husband's chest. "Shukaku-san, can you hand me some of those papers."

Shukaku fake stretched as sand swirled, handing her a pile and a pen.

Hinata giggled at the misbehaved creature as he tried to grab more of her attention by sitting on the stack or nudging away her pen. "No."

They eventually settled with her resting the papers on Shukaku's back and petting his sandy head with her non-dominant hand.

Hinata made notes for Gaara on some pages and signed what she had the authority to. Some of these just needed his approval, things that were normally sent to her first. It explained why she was done early today.

Eventually, Shukaku had enough of 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, wouldn't let anyone touch him. Curled up with a small woman with the beast that 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 its head back down.

Temari 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.

Temari 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?" Hinata squeaked, to be caught before she hit the ground and set back up with sand.

"I fell asleep," Gaara explained.

"A few hours ago." Hinata got up, brushing the sand off herself.

Gaara 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?

Hinata stretched. "I think you could use some days off."

"I can't afford days off," Gaara huffed.

"We were invited to a wedding." Hinata sat by him, digging back out the invitation. "Clans have high respect in Konoha, and though they aren't as traditional and respected as the Hyuga, it may be rude not to go when invited."

Gaara sighed. No, not a good enough reason.

A knock on the door interrupted them. "Yes?" Hinata answered for him.

A Konoha nin stepped in, holding out an urgent scroll. More work? "The Hokage requests your assistance immediately." The man bowed his head as Gaara opened the scroll.

"It seems we will be able to appear at the wedding." Gaara held out the scroll to his wife, who blinked, covering her mouth in shock.