The next day, Ren woke up to a beautiful morning. He was warm and comfortable, spooning the still-sleeping Temari, cuddled to him in his arms. He enjoyed the feel of her silky hair against his cheek and nuzzled it gently, sleepily into her head.
Her pajamas were also very comfortable to the touch. Kankuro had a good taste. The cat-patterned pajama originally belonged to him, but Temari found out how comfortable it was, and well, older sister privileges happened.
It was slightly too big on the blonde girl, but in Ren's opinion, that only added to her charm.
Ren closed his eyes in contentment and tucked his hands underneath Temari's pajama top, seeking more of her warmth and the soft feel of her skin. Mhm, yes. Everything was well in the worl-
That's when his blissful morning was interrupted by a surge of memories containing some very unpleasant discoveries that completely ruined the perfect moment for him.
He couldn't help but curse his clone in his mind. He probably would still be grumpy if he had already woken up with these memories, but at least it wouldn't feel so bad. The bastard even timed his dispersal so Ren would actually enjoy his morning for a few seconds before it got ruined.
Sometimes, he was just his worst enemy.
Turning his head to the side, he noticed two new scrolls now sitting on his night table, and huffed, 'Drama queen.' He rolled his eyes, momentarily reveling in the absurdity of admonishing his own clone for his actions. Something that had somehow become an ordinary thing for him by now.
But his easygoing attitude didn't last long. It disappeared quickly when he remembered what the scrolls contained. His clone copied everything important from Akito's office. Making solid chakra copies of documents was surprisingly cheap, so there was no need to leave any paperwork behind.
And wasn't that surprising? The widowed man was the last person Ren would suspect. He even seemed to be genuinely in grief! Was it any wonder that Ren developed genuine trust issues after spending so many years in this world?
With a silent sigh, he let go of Temari, who mumbled in her sleep as she shuffled slightly away and hugged her pillow as a substitute for his body. Smiling a bit, Ren gently caressed her hair before he got up from the bed and went to put on some proper clothes.
He needed to send a clone to Ebizo with all these documents, and sending one wearing only boxer briefs jumping through the village would not be received well.
After dressing up, he grabbed the two scrolls and walked out of the bedroom. In the living room, he dropped onto the couch with a groan and created two shadow clones. One to go and cook him and Temari some breakfast. The glare that accompanied the service was not appreciated, but suffering through it was a price he was willing to pay for some well-done scrambled eggs.
It even came with the upside of having absolute certainty that his chef would not spit into his food because the clone was based on him, and he hated that shit with passion. Wouldn't do it to his own worst enemy.
And since the clone was doing the breakfast for him and Temari, he wasn't going to half-ass it either, if only for Temari's sake. He knew himself well. Cooking for himself? He would totally half-ass that shit. It's why he preferred it when Hinata cooked.
But add one of his girls into the equation, and he was going to put in the effort. Nobody could accuse him of not knowing how to exploit his own clones.
'You must first get to know yourself before you can abuse yourself well.' Ren joked and inwardly cackled at the thought as his clone flipped him off and went to the kitchen while grumbling under his nose.
He handed the storage scroll with the shadow-cloned documents to the other clone, who nodded at him, already knowing his job, and disappeared in a body flicker.
"Well, that's my morning responsibilities done." Ren hummed and leaned the back of his head on the backrest, staring at the ceiling. He was still kind of tired.
But he knew he would be unable to sleep anymore. Not now, not after finding out that the Wind Daimyo intended to fuck with Sunagakure one way or the other, and he and Temari were right in the blast zone.
The village was vulnerable right now from a political standpoint. There was no Kazekage, and nobody who could take the post, either. Oh, many council members would probably wish to take over, but they would not get the necessary support.
Ebizo could do it, but the man is too old. Chiyo could do it, but her age and her recent senile acts... yeah, no. Nobody was going to vote for that.
The less said about the other members of the council, the better. There are also no outstanding, special Jonin in the village right now. No S-rank ninja, who could act like the perceived threat the Kage was supposed to be.
It was why the council defaulted to waiting a few years for the Sabaku children to grow up. They should succeed the position by birthright, and even if they are a bit weaker, not many would complain. They had the support, if only because their clan being on the top was how it always was in the village. People were used to that and would not complain... much.
Gaara was currently showing a lot of promise. He was quickly growing into the dangerous ninja he had been in canon, and quite a few council members started to pay a lot of attention to his growing prowess. Even ignoring his words that he would not compete with Temari.
Temari, on the other hand, was seen as diligent and level-headed. Certainly not the strongest candidate. But one that could, eventually be relied on, and someone who could be taught and advised. Ebizo and his faction had her back.
Kankuro flat-out stated he has no intention of competing, and it was accepted because... well, he was the worst choice. As bad as that sounded, that was the truth. He cared more about his puppets than the village.
As such, the Sabaku siblings were a prime target for the Daimyo. They were young and inexperienced right now, and the Daimyo probably thought he had options on how to put them under his thumb. How to make Suna obedient to his will.
Akito? He was just a bastard taking advantage of the situation for his own benefit. He would cause some chaos, make the current administration look more incompetent, and do some sabotage, so when the Daimyo's officials came two weeks later, they would find Suna in disarray.
Hop, jump, skip, make some threats, and serve the council an ultimatum about cutting even their current pittance of budget for the village, and voila. He would get his desired leverage and look reasonable while doing it.
'There is no way that womanizing idiot came up with this on his own.' Ren idly thought, thinking about the current Wind Daimyo.
As hostile as Rasa and he were to each other, Rasa was an S-rank ninja, and the Daimyo had to treat him with respect. That... had passed with Rasa's passing.
But the fact that it took this long for the Wind Daimyo to act was telling. Somebody was playing games in the shadows. And that was dangerous. Very dangerous.
Taking a deep breath, Ren rubbed his forehead. This could turn ugly. Nobles were not reasonable human beings. Daimyos even less so. They were held at bay by the power ninja villages possessed. It forced them to play ball. But Sunagakure was the weakest it had been in a long time right now.
The Daimyo wouldn't be doing this unless he was confident he could subdue Suna quickly and without disastrous consequences, even if it came to fighting. Whether his confidence was misguided or not, Ren didn't know. But it didn't matter.
'I really, really, really don't need a civil war to break out in the Land of Wind right now.' He irritably thought.
For the first time since he started meddling with Suna matters, he started wondering if he didn't perhaps fuck up by doing so. Gaara in the original seemed to do just fine.
That, or his troubles were just not shown.
Hearing steps coming toward the living room from the hall, Ren put a small, tired smile on his face and straightened up in his seat, just as Temari, still in her oversized pajamas, entered the room and beamed at him in happiness.
"Good morning!" She exclaimed before she hurried up toward him and pushed her way into straddling his lap.
"Hey." Ren's smile became a bit more genuine as she put her forehead against his and kissed his lips in a greeting.
"Today is going to suck." She complained with a content smile, after pulling away from the kiss. "The work on setting up the underground farms is starting today, and I want you to know that I hate you for making me so busy." She stared into Ren's eyes while saying that.
And then she kissed him again.
Ren inwardly snorted. Yeah. He could intensely feel her hate as she pressed herself into him, alright.
Eagerly reciprocating the kiss, Ren finally relaxed and let the trouble with the Wind Daimyo float out of his mind.
Right. One problem at the time.
His fingers found their way underneath Temari's pajama and sank into her soft skin, making her let out an adorable moan.