Chapter 79   - Ch79. Ringo 2

Ringo was invited to Rei's house which didn't happen nearly as often as when she was under his tutelage as both were fairly busy. Her training to be the wielder of Kiba was long ago finished when she slit the throat of the previous wielder and took the blades for herself and she thought she would be freer but contrary to her expectations, her missions just pilled up and she was barely in the village. She had no idea what this invitation was about but she was sure the reason she was not on a mission right about now had something to do with it. After all, Mizukage really listened to Rei's requests. Nevertheless, it made her feel happy that Rei wanted to meet her.

She was in front of Rei's door when she knocked. They opened but nobody was behind them which made Ringo frown. She raised her guard but inwardly she was thinking this was just another of her sensei's poor attempts at joking. With a sigh, she advanced forward, coming to the living room that was completely dark. She furrowed her eyebrows and was about to use her lightning to light up the room a bit when suddenly, the lights went on and she was deafened by a shout.

"Happy birthday!" Rei exclaimed and had to instantly duck Ringo's shurikens. Ringo watched him laugh merrily as her cheeks went beep red when she realized why she was called here. The room was filled with various cakes and on the table were... presents. She actually forgot she was fifteen today! Her mind suddenly halted as she realized one important thing. Rei... remembered her birthday. A lone tear fell down her cheek, she quickly wiped it out, pretending to rub her eye.

"Thank you." Ringo said with a slight smile decorating her face as she came closer and sat next to Rei, biting her lower lip as their shoulders touched. Ringo was speechless. This was the first time she actually celebrated her birthday like this! Rei usually prepared a cake and a present but more often than not, it was in the middle of the mission and they didn't really have proper time for it. But now... She could see Konan smirking at her. The blond old woman sitting in the nearby armchair was for some reason frowning. Then there was the little girl who was sitting in the lap of the old blonde, she was for some reason intently staring at her with ... competitive... gaze. And Rei was smiling at her. But they all were here because they remembered her.

The evening went on as Ringo chatted with Rei and the women, exchanging their experiences during these past two years since she stopped being Rei's apprentice. Ringo really had a good time and it proved to be incredible relaxation from the unending stream of assassinations she was lately assigned.

"Are you okay?" Rei asked her. "You really look kind of tired." He put his hand on her cheek, making Ringo freeze for a moment before she leaned into the touch with a happy smile.

"Yes." She lowered her head in content. It didn't take long though as she could see Rei frown at her which made her stop pretending and release a tired sigh, her head lowering even more, this time in bitterness. "No. The number of people who have a meeting with shinigami is somehow picking up and up and up... I have barely time for sleeping." She bitterly laughed, dragging her hand across her eyes. She just came back from a mission when the Mizukage told her about Rei's invitation. Sadly, she didn't get even an hour of sleep before the agreed time.

Rei pursed his lips as he knew what this meant. The war was getting closer. Ringo is the best tracker in Kiri but due to his tutelage, she is also exceptional at hiding and sneaking around. No longer was she some kind of loudmouth who would just barge in swinging her swords. Rei heard she became a kind of a most sought-after assassin of Kiri. As he looked at his exhausted apprentice, he could do only one thing. He patted her head. "You should take better care of yourself." He told her but doubted she would listen. Kiri was too important for her and if Kiri wanted something... Rei could only sigh and shake his head. "Well, time for presents." He said cheerfully, making Ringo glad he changed the topic.

Ringo was given various presents from the people around but it was nothing extremely pricy or important. Pajamas, jutsu scroll, instant ramen from Tsunade... That's why Rei's last gift made her stop in her tracks. He took out... two swords. The swords were both shortswords, both were the same length as Kiba which made Ringo inwardly pleased as she spent a lot of her time practicing with swords of this length. But these swords were more katana-like, straight, with only one edge rather than being double-edged like Kiba. The craftsmanship was exquisite, making the swords appear elegant but Ringo knew they were crafted to kill and bisect. Not unlike Kiba, her lightning chakra was almost eager to enter the blade which made her gulp. The 'blunt' edge however wasn't harmless and contained a minuscule sharp saw-like jagged 'edge' that would be able to cleave through people with ease even though it would be a more brutal, bloody, and forceful way of killing.

Ringo blinked at him as she didn't expect receiving swords. She had her Kiba, after all. She took them into her hands with a weird look on her face only to then show an utter astonishment. The swords in her hands were... better. Better than her Kiba! Sharper, more durable, and more importantly, better at channeling lightning chakra! Ringo gulped again and looked shakily at Rei, her mouth opening but no sound came out of it.

Rei smiled at her, putting his finger on her chin as he gently closed her mouth. "I wanted you to have spare swords." His hand then went from her chin to her right wrist, pulling it closer to himself as he unrolled her sleeve. He nodded as he saw the storage seal he painted on her wrist years ago. Rei then deposited both swords into the seal, puffing them out of existence before looking back at Ringo's face. "Kiba... has a reputation. But it is a reputation brought out by its former wielders." He told the girl. "You can continue it, sure... but you would be forgotten as another wielder takes it into his hands. If..." Rei showed a hint of conflict on his face but it disappeared as soon as it came. "If you ever feel the need to create your own legend, independent of Kiba, use the swords I gave you, alright?"

"But... the price." She almost couldn't believe her eyes. Both of these were not only made from chakra metal but a special kind of chakra metal that was also used to craft Kiba! It was a metal that would be a national treasure worth billions of Ryo and the entire country would be elated to have enough to craft one sword! Yet, here she received two? Her head almost spun and her throat went dry. She was a swords-maniac but even she didn't dare to think about something like this being real.

"Mah, mah~. don't mind i-." Rei said lightly while waving his hand from side to side. Unknown to Ringo, Rei had enough of this metal in his dimension to actually gear up the entire country... Before he could even finish that sentence, Ringo kissed him.

Tsunade frowned and quickly covered the eyes of the pouting Mei as she saw Ringo losing control. Ringo didn't care anymore and let her instincts take over. As her tongue invaded Rei's mouth, her hand quickly went into his pants and grasped his member. She was m.o.a.ning from all the pent-up l.u.s.t that was going through her and the only thing she could think about was finally getting what she wanted. She knew Rei could stop her any time so she wasn't afraid of forcing him. If he didn't want it, he would push her away so she pushed forward. She wanted Rei!

Ringo already forgot the presence of anyone other than Rei so when Konan sporting a twitching eye-brow stood behind her, she only continued to m.o.a.n into Rei's mouth, not even realizing the ticked-off predator behind her. Rei could only give Konan a bitter look that stopped the bluenette in her tracks. A sad frown appeared on her face. She knew Rei had feelings for Ringo but... 'Ah, f.u.c.k it!' She inwardly thought and even though her expression was the perfect example of stoic, she was mentally thrashing her head around in frustration. 'Rei... if you don't want to beat it into the thick skull of the horny primal bitch, I WILL!' Resolve flooded her as she grabbed the back of Ringo's neck. Ringo momentarily stopped licking Rei's mouth but she didn't have a long time to ponder about what was happening as Konan shunshined away, dragging the girl with her.

It was time for a long talk. A talk that was long overdue.