"Are you done yet?" Kankuro asked, annoyed out of his mind as he watched Ren bent over the edge of the fast-flowing river, fiddling with some seal or something. He didn't fully understand what the man was doing, and frankly, he didn't care.
What he did care about was that the irritating little shit was delaying their return to Suna. Again.
They were in some mountainous region in the Land of Rivers that was nowhere even remotely near their normal route back to Suna, because the prissy bitch wanted to try something out and managed to talk Temari into it. She then talked Baki into it, even though the man did not stop scowling and giving Ren subtle dry looks ever since.
Of course, nobody bothered to talk Kankuro into it. No. Everybody assumed that he would just follow his dear sister's will! As usual. Kankuro clicked his tongue and inwardly huffed. If he hadn't had his arms already crossed over his chest, he would have crossed them!
Well. Okay. Yes. Sure. He would follow Temari's whims. That was not wrong. His sister could be scary when angry. But it was not so simple! She was his sister! As her older brother, at least in spirit, since he was actually younger, it was his duty to protect Temari. And how could he protect her if he didn't follow her?
It's not like he was scared of her! Pff, she wished that was the truth! He-.
"Just a moment." Ren interrupted Kankuro's thoughts without bothering to even raise his head as he kept his focus on inscribing a seal onto a small stone pillar, his tongue peeking slightly out of his lips.
"You said that half an hour ago!" Kankuro grouchily complained, getting only an unconcerned hum from Ren in return. He was indeed a bit preoccupied, and he was only glad that he had his back turned to Kankuro.
Because the seal was not what had most of Ren's attention at the moment. Instead, it was the bathing blonde girl, a bit further ahead of them.
Temari decided that since they were going to be near the mountain stream, she was going to use this chance to bathe. Then, she unapologetically and without any shame, shrugged off her kimono.
Ren chuckled as he remembered how Kankuro grimaced and turned away, muttering something about inconsiderate, stupid sisters. Knowing that Temari was fishing for a reaction, Ren raised his eyebrow at her as he blatantly took in her frame.
What he didn't expect was for her to smirk back at him and start taking off her underwear.
Ren was still scolding himself in his mind for slightly blushing. He had a feeling she was not going to let him live that down. She was going to milk it for all it was worth.
At least, Baki was away, scouting the surroundings. Thank the Sage for small mercies. Kankujro was one thing; he was her brother, but Ren didn't know what to think about Temari's disregard for nudity.
Then again, that's what he gets for marrying a kunoichi.
Over the course of the last hour and a half, he was working on the seal, and he pretty much spent over an hour getting distracted by Temari. He could swear she knew he was glancing at her with the corner of his eye, because every time his eyes strayed toward her, she seemed to move in a sensual way exactly at that moment.
It took Ren forty minutes to realize she was training the kunoichi seduction handbook on him. The irritation helped him to actually focus on his work.
"And with this, it should be done." Ren mumbled as he looked at the stone pillar over one more time.
"Oh? Finally!" Kankuro heard him despite his low voice and exclaimed. He stood up and put his hands around his mouth before shouting, "Temari! Get your ass out of the river! Your wonder boy is finished! We should be on our way soon!"
Ren's eyebrow twitched. But Kankuro was not wrong. Shaking his head in exasperation before he involuntarily threw one last glance at Temari's way as she started swimming toward them, Ren tore his gaze away with a small frown. Letting his chakra reinforce his body, Ren hauled the stone pillar into his grasp, and with a hurl, he threw it. Right in the middle of the river, where it disappeared underneath the surface.
If everything worked well, the pillar should be burrowing a few inches into the streambed with the remainder sticking from it, and having the seal on the top.
A shadow clone popped into existence next to Ren and instantly flickered out of sight. Kankuro glanced at him, but didn't say anything as he simply started rummaging through Temari's clothes. He pulled out a sealing scroll and unsealed a large traveling bag from it. Soon enough, the puppet user held a light gray towel and threw it at Temari right as she pulled herself to the shore.
She caught the towel and gave Kankuro a dry look, to which he rolled his eyes at her before he disinterestedly averted his gaze back to whatever he was previously doing with some sort of wooden puppet part that Ren didn't recognize.
Seeing her brother ignore her, Temari chuckled and put the towel around her lithe body before she started putting her sandals back on her feet. She then walked toward Ren, sporting a somewhat cocky smirk.
"So, I see I got your interest?" She teasingly asked as she leaned closer to him.
Ren's expression turned into an amused one. She probably expected him to stutter. But instead, he leaned forward, too, and by surprise, he caught her lips with his own.
The short kiss quickly passed, and Ren pulled back. "Does that answer your question?" He asked with a smirk of his own as Temari went suddenly very quiet, her cheeks reddening.
Ren felt his shadow clone pop in his mind, and he got the confirmation that the seal on the stone pillar worked as intended. His smirk eased into a pleased smile.
"You don't play fair." Temari sighed, gently touching her lips with the tips of her fingers of her right hand. She gave Ren a mix of a peeved, exasperated, and fond look, and Ren doubted even she could tell him what she felt in that moment.
"You just want to tease me." Ren snorted and, with a few slow hand seals, he used a weak wind technique to carefully dry Temari off.
"Yes! I do! So let me, dammit!" She exclaimed with a miffed tone, but gave him a grateful look nevertheless as some chakra strings from her fingers connected with her clothes and she pulled them toward her from quite an impressive distance away.
"No." Ren denied, and before Temari could protest, he turned toward the tree line to the left, "How is it looking, Baki?"
The still disgruntled-looking man came from behind a tree, giving the illusion that he was there all along. Fortunately for Ren, he had his sensory technique, and he knew Baki had just arrived literally five seconds ago.
"Temari, clothe yourself. We are still in a possibly hostile place. Your carelessness is showing incompetence." Baki reprimanded Temari, who ducked her head, and without further ado, she turned around and skedaddled back toward her traveling bag near Kankuro.
With that done, Baki turned toward Ren and gave him a nod. "There is a village being attacked by bandits around two kilometers to the east. Other than that, I didn't detect anything suspicious or threatening. We should get moving soon so we can avoid the bandits."
And with that, Ren's previous good mood was gone.
"Bandits, you say?" He ponderingly asked, getting an unimpressed look from Baki, who had already guessed what went through Ren's head.
"Yes." He let out a sigh, no longer even trying to argue with Ren. He did that the first two days of their journey to Suna, and it did nothing but make him miserable because Ren did what he wanted anyway.
He had learned his lesson. If he were stronger, he would throttle the man, but alas, Ren was an S-rank ninja, and Baki knew his strength enough to know he was outmatched.
He could only endure it.
"I'd like to point out it is none of our business." Baki uttered, hoping that Ren would lose his interest. "For all we know, a ninja team might already be on its way to get rid of them, and our intervention would steal their job from them."
But it was not to be. "Are the bandits only robbing them?" Ren asked, and for a moment, Baki considered lying. But he had no idea if Ren could tell if he was telling the truth, and when faced with a superior opponent, it was better to assume the worst.
"No. They gathered the villagers in the center of the village and did the usual. Some women were singled out and dragged out of the way to be used as playthings. Some men were being killed. Some boys were being evaluated as potential recruits for the bandit group." Baki truthfully reported.
"Yup. I am going to meddle in that, then." Ren causally said, and Baki's shoulders slightly slumped.
Ren knew he shouldn't. Ninjas usually did not attack random bandits for shit and giggles. That was like throwing money away. The village got only paid for wiping out bandit camps when somebody requested it as a mission.
Even the academy taught kids not to meddle unless they are paid for it. It was the sole reason why banditry still existed. Konoha could crack down on it, and within a month, there would be no living bandit in the entirety of the Land of Fire. But doing so for free was not going to happen.
Unfortunately for these particular bandits, Ren didn't follow the bullshit ninja morals of this world. He wasn't going out of his way to hunt them down during his free time, but he was also not willing to overlook it if he stumbled upon them.
It was just their bad luck.
"Alright. Let's get this over with." Baki resignedly said. He couldn't wait to be back in Suna, where he could go back to his usual duties and would no longer have to interact with Ren for a prolonged time.
He was so done with this shit, and they were not even halfway toward Suna, yet.