The ensuing wedding was almost disappointingly normal. Well, as normal as a wedding inside an arena with thousands of people watching could be.
Ren almost expected something to happen. Somebody to interrupt or attack. If only in an attempt to ruin the alliance between Suna and Konoha. He had his senses on the highest alert throughout the entire event, but... he didn't know if he should feel disappointed or happy when nothing happened. His emotions were a strange mix of both that made him quite exasperatedly conflicted.
After the wedding was finished, there was a procession through Konoha, heading toward the biggest town square in the village, where the festivities started. Both Ren and Temari had to be present for these.
There was some hasty shuffling and unexpected rearrangement of seats when the already frustrated organisers were informed that there was not just one bride as they were told, but rather, three, and so they had to remake many things on a very, very short notice.
The poor bastards.
But they managed it admirably. The disturbances were kept to a minimum, and Ren doubted that many of the important guests even noticed that some things had been changed at the last minute.
There was food, music, and dancing, all in the town square, where anybody could participate. The invited guests, who were usually influential people or rich merchants, had a prepared feast. And for the 'uninvited' guests, the general populace that just decided to show up, there were many stalls selling easily prepared food that could be supplied in large quantities.
Ramen was a popular one. Some sort of fish soup and buns were selling like hot cakes. And even the Akimichi were raking in the profits with their barbecue stall, sporting a massive and flashy, red 'Yakiniku Q' sign.
The music... kinda sucked in Ren's opinion. But as somebody who had experience with the music from the 21st century, he probably should not have been surprised. Musicians and artists were kinda rare in this world. It was one of the unfortunate downsides of Ren's new life. People love to think getting reincarnated would be a blast, but losing some of the things Ren was used to having in his previous life was hard.
He even caused a small culinary revolution in the village just because he wanted some freaking potato dishes! It wasn't a measure of his genius. No. It was a testament to his desperation!
Sadly, music was something Ren had no idea about. He had never learned to play an instrument in either of his lives, so... It is what it is.
At least nobody wanted Ren to dance. In fact, he and his girls, Temari included, were subtly told to stay at their table. They were there for the masses to be able to gawk at them. Their role was to look good and be friendly with each other as they smiled and waved at the random onlookers.
All in all, it was rather annoying. The entire thing was not for Ren and his brides. It was just a spectacle for the onlookers, something to make Konoha look good. Ren spent the hours trying to engage his girls in small talk, trying to include Temari, who was a bit withdrawn, and trying to ignore the distasteful feeling growing inside of him.
This... really wasn't a pleasant experience for him, and from the small hints in Ino and Hinata's expressions, they too did not exactly enjoy their 'wedding'. The expectations were high. The reality sucked. And their day was pretty much ruined.
They didn't need the telepathy seal to feel each other's disappointment. Ren didn't even know what exactly brought that feeling on. It just... he expected more? He couldn't properly put it into words. He thought his wedding would be special. This was not.
Only Temari seemed to be fine with how things went. But then again, she was too nervous to actually pay proper attention to what was going on.
The second they were informed that they could leave, Ren didn't hesitate for a second and instantly stood up. With the corner of his eye, he saw that both Ino and Hinata were also standing up, following his lead, but Temari stayed sitting. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and he offered her a small smile, extending his hand in an invitation.
Much to Ren's inner amusement, the Suna girl's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as she averted her gaze before she timidly put her shaky hand into Ren's, and slowly stood up while deliberately avoiding meeting Ren's eyes.
Of course, Temari's embarrassment was understandable. They were not told to 'leave'. It was more along the lines of, 'You can go home and proceed with the wedding night.'
And while Ren had no intentions of doing anything 'nefarious' with the girl until he got to properly know her, he was still going to milk the situation for all it was worth and tease her relentlessly.
Smirking at her, Ren squeezed Temari's hand and gently tugged her toward him as they left the table, "We are going to my home." He leaned closer, enough that their cheeks were almost touching, and whispered into her ear.
And Sage, was it hard to suppress his desire to start chuckling! Temari's mortification was oozing out of her so much that Ren was surprised it hadn't physically manifested into a new bloodline limit.
Temari mutely nodded, and under the various whistles and teasing looks of those nearby bystanders who thought they figured the situation out, Ren and his girls disappeared with a puff of smoke.
... But instead of Ren's apartment, where Temari thought they were heading, her spatial sense got a small shakedown that ended before she could properly register it, and then, she stood on a grassy plain underneath the darkening sky. Her ears caught the sound of water and waves in the distance, making her quite bewildered as she looked around until her eyes landed on the house in front of them and widened.
"What is this place?" Temari hesitantly asked, with a not-so-little trepidation in her tone.
"Home?" Ren gave her the smart-ass reply that knocked the funk straight out of her as she gave him an unimpressed look, momentarily forgetting her shock.
Hinata chuckled at their antics before wordlessly heading into the house, while Ino gave Ren a quick grin before she followed her, recognizing that he needed some alone time with Temari to explain.
Temari barely noticed their disappearance. The only sign that she registered their absence was the barely perceptible relaxation of the tension in her shoulders. Ren would have completely missed it if he weren't so focused on her.
"You know what I mean." Temari eventually grumbled. "Why did you take me here? Wherever here even is." She tried to sound annoyed, but the small flicker of fear made her voice slightly higher-pitched than usual.
Ren, still smiling, stepped closer to her, ignoring how she instantly tensed, and gently took her free hand into his, now holding both her hands in his. "I told you we were going home." He slowly started, "This? This is my home. My real home."
Temari speechlessly blinked at that as she slowly looked around again, this time with a wholly new outlook, properly taking the place in for the first time.
"Only Ino and Hinata know of this place. And now you, I guess." Ren wistfully said, "We are married now, and I didn't want to keep this place a secret from you. Please, keep it to yourself. This place is important to me. It's where I go when I need to get away from things."
This was both a show and a test of trust. Fortunately, Temari recognized it for what it was and looked suitably flattered. Ren had no illusions that she would keep this from her brothers, but it seemed she was aware of what a big deal this was to Ren. Hopefully, she would at least keep it secret from anybody else.
Revealing the place to her wasn't a simple decision. Ren struggled with it for quite a few days before he made up his mind. Keeping it hidden from Temari was going to get irritating really fast. It would also probably cause a small rift between them, as she would definitely notice something amiss.
Whether Ren liked it or not, regularly disappearing, with her not knowing where he was, was not going to help build up their relationship. That was the kind of thing that bred suspicion, and he was going to have it already bad enough as a Konoha ninja living in Suna.
It was a risk, but for the peaceful future in their marriage, he had to take it and hope for the best.
While Ren had some rudimentary seal defenses set up, the biggest security measure of the place was its anonymity and the fact that it was so secluded that nobody ever came close to the location. Ren started building some more comprehensive seal defenses, but such an undertaking was massive. It would take him years to cover the place with enough seals that nobody would be able to find it.
Alas, ninjas were scarily competent when it came to information gathering. It would take Temari one day, if she were so inclined, to note the various times and the positions of the sun in the sky during them. Giving that information to a ninja who specializes in geography, they could easily figure out in which time zone the place was located.
That alone would narrow down the search perimeter from the entirety of the Elemental Nations to a still considerable stretch of land on the map, but now they would know where to look. Then, taking into account the fact that there is a coast nearby? Suddenly, ninety-nine percent of the landmass in the stretch of land underneath the correct time zone would be eliminated from the search.
And on top of that, there are visible mountains on the horizon. So, that's yet another thing that could considerably narrow things down. And out of nowhere, the search perimeter went from 'the entirety of the Elemental Nations' to maybe two places, and that, too, was only if Ren were lucky.
There just might be a similar place with both the coastline and mountains in the Land of Lightning in the correct time zone that was suitably secluded. That would still mean there would be only two places that fit the description, and anybody who looked for Ren's hideout would first check the place located in the Land of Fire due to its proximity to Konoha.
Ren was not very knowledgeable in geography or how to locate places via landmarks and things like that. But once Hinata offhandedly pointed out how easily the location of their hideout could be figured out, he started feeling a lot less secure in here.
That was the kind of risk he was taking by showing his home to Temari.
Something in Ren's gaze probably betrayed how serious the moment was for him, and her expression softened. "I see."
Without noticing, they leaned closer, their foreheads almost touching... and then Temari had a very unfortunate revelation that by all means should have come sooner, but Ren couldn't find much hilarity in the situation because as her eyes widened, his chances to kiss her disappeared into the wind.
Temari blinked in shock as she reeled back, "Wait! You... We are no longer in Konoha! You can teleport!?" She exclaimed with a gasp, looking at Ren with an open-mouthed shock.