Chapter 24

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Gaara sighed and leaned back in his seat. He had just been informed about the arrival of Dante's squad with the wife of the Ookami man. Their mission had been a success. Now he was waiting for them to report in. Then finally things could go back to normal.

He opened his eyes when he heard voices down the hall. They were loudly conversing with an occasional bark in between. Gaara sighed again and rubbed his eyes. He had forgotten about the wolves.

"Enter," he called when there was a knock on the door.

A group of six came in and four wolves followed after. Gaara frowned. Six? He was sure he had only sent four people to retrieve the woman. But when the last person filed into the room, he nodded in understanding. He should have known Ichiya would catch wind of his wife's arrival and had gone to greet her at the gate.

A soft smile played on his lips, but he soon put up a front again. Right now he was on duty and they had a report to file. "Dante," he said, "I see your mission had been a success."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," Dante bowed, "we did not encounter any trouble along the way and we managed to retrieve our charge without problems. We have tied up loose ends. No one will come looking for her."

"Very well," Gaara said pleased. He turned his attention to Fujiko. "Fujiko-san, is it not? We owe a great deal to Ichiya-san. It is my honor to welcome you to Sunagakure. I hope you will fare well here."

Fujiko-peeked out from behind her husband with a smile and gave a small bow. "Thank you very much Kazekage-sama. But we are the ones honored. You've brought us back together, and we will forever be grateful to you and this village."

Fusenmei chuckled once more, "Better learn how to handle wolves quickly, Kazekage-sama. I know already it won't take long for these two to have a litter running around." She suddenly let out a yelp and quickly showed her belly in submission to Ichiro.

"Enough of you, Fusenmei. That is none of your business."

"Aww, but it's true! You can't ignore their pheromones."

Tsugi chuckled. "Now, doesn't that sound familiar? I do recall even you had joined in the teasing of Hisayo-sama in the early days of her and Kakashi, Ichiro. Now stop scolding Fusenmei, you hypocrite."

Ichiro gave a small snort in his embarrassment of having been called out. Fusenmei sat back up with a grin. Jinsoku rolled his eyes with a sigh at the scene. Ichiya was sweat-dropping, red at the ears in his own embarrassment, and that of his wife. Fujiko's cheeks were quite red.

Dante was starting at the wolves wide-eyed, unsure how to handle the situation. Meanwhile, Daro and Matsuri were both trying to hide their laughter. The last member of their group, Ao, was standing in the back passively, pretending not to have heard the conversation, while his cheeks were bright red.

Gaara cleared his throat loudly. "Now," he looked at Fujiko, "I am sure you would like to rest. So as soon as I have worked this rabble out of my office," he glared at the wolves good naturedly, "we can get to it." He looked at Dante. "I expect a full report on my desk tomorrow. You can go now. Take some rest." He looked at Matsuri, Ao and Daro. "You three too. Thank you."

Dante bowed and left the office, followed by Matsuri and Ao.

Gaara looked at Ichiya. "You are free to go home, Ichiya-san. You have fulfilled your promise to my sister and I have paid off the debt. You and your wife may take up residence in Suna as long as you like." When he realized Daro was still in the office, he blinked confused. "Daro? Didn't I tell you, you were allowed to go? I'm sure Taryn would like to see you have returned safely."

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