Anime Dream Homes: Ino and Sai
While Ino grew up surrounded by bright florals and verdant green things, she has always preferred the cool greys and leafy neutrals of the forests that surrounded her childhood. Sai’s own youth spent as a trained (and traumatized) child soldier was only periodically interrupted by the temporal tranquillity that he found deep in the woods. They both imagined their life together like a tree house, a growing thing that is made up of many different parts that intertwine, overlap, and grow together.
Thick with the smell of pine needles, linseed, ground coffee, and freshly sharpened wood pencils, the kitchen is the center of their tree house. Ino l’s flower orders spill over the countertops while Sai sketches and, occasionally, mixes oil paints and acrylics from his work bench. Along with their plants and paints, the couple have expanded the flower shop to include a natural soap and candlemaking component.
The hanging bars add a touch of whimsy to the space and allow Inojin to play while they cook and
While they have working spaces, they love staying together as a family, mixing play and work into every part of the home.
Sai as a parent is exceedingly gentle a gentleness that he was denied for much of his early life — speaking softly over meals, reading picture books curled up on the floor, falling asleep in pillow forts, and filling the house with finger paintings and flower arrangements.
Their bedroom has a lived in feeling, that holds pieces of the past and future on the same threadlines: freshly cut flowers, relationship books and couple games (the sexy kind that Sai likes to keep close at hand), scrapbooks filled with old teammates and new friends, art pieces scattered on shelves and tables collected over the years.
They often fall asleep curled around their kids after returning from missions, staying up late with plates of cookies, soft lights, and warm ciders.
As they heal their own inner child as they have children of their own, their home is a safe space for friends and family, be they born, found, and formed.
