Shaking off the Rust

Niko ensured the metal was evenly distributed through the mold and noticed that the blackened wood was on it's last legs as well... she would need to discard the mold after this one, but that was fine.  With this last one, the contract was finished, and she could make Ori her claws.  Maybe that would help brighten her mood a bit.  Doing something good for the person she felt like she had made feel uncomfortable... the fact that Niko was the source of that discomfort was outright painful.  Everything she had ever done was to make the pink haired Genin feel like she was safe... she had a home and a place that she belonged...

Thrown away for what?  A nice fore-head protector?

Niko was waiting anyway for the final plate, so she took a moment to walk over towards the plate that awaited rivets to be put into it and stared at it for a moment.  She was waiting for Oriana to respond... to say or do something in response to her feelings that she had laid bare… even if it was just to leave.  The plate was magnificent... easily the best in the bunch so far, and gleamed with that higher quality.  She almost wanted to keep it simply because it was the first thing Niko and Oriana had made together... and could possibly be the last.

Oriana's words shook her out of her fog, and she turned her emerald gaze slowly to look at her apprentice.  "You should be able to 'get use to it' at your own pace... not have it forced upon you by an over-bearing teacher.  I want you to feel safe around me, Oriana-chan.  Being the source of your discomfort hurts because it is the exact opposite of that."  She was being very honest, and the pain in her voice was apparent, but she wasn't crying anymore.  To finally voice these things was honestly something that should have happened a long time ago, but she was so afraid of scaring her off she never had.  The amount that she was holding back was actually staggering.

[26]

Despite her lack of social skills, or rather, her reluctance to use them, Oriana was skilled at determining people's true desires. The ability was forged by necessity and beaten into her with not only physical blows, but the threat of neglect as well. Niko's words confirmed that the redhead wanted Oriana to trust her, to develop positive feelings towards her. She wanted the one thing Oriana has forgotten how to give.

This left the pink haired genin at an awkward spot, a sort of crossroads. She could retreat, let Niko give her space and as a result be a less useful apprentice. The idea of giving subpar service chafed at what little pride Oriana had. It also eroded her belief that she was doing something in exchange for the material goods and care Niko gave her. She had never been given anything without a price of some sort, whether it be sexual favors, emotional attachment, or simple obedience. Keeping up with her "debt" was the only way to maintain any level of control in a relationship. Most of her life, Oriana had been a commodity and all her relationships transactions.

Niko's attempts to be kind without being paid ate away at Oriana's fragile sense of control over her life.

On the other hand, the pink-haired teen could resist Niko's desire to make her comfortable despite it hurting the redhead's feelings. This, too, would mean she was a less than stellar apprentice.

The short woman hated being backed into corners like this. Her frustration was visible, showing how close the young woman was to snapping. Walking this fine line, this tightrope Niko's behavior and her own rigid thought patterns created had worn away at her over time. Oriana couldn't stay poised forever.

She glared at her master, uncharacteristically ignoring Niko's most apparent desires.

"Why are you so worried about making me comfortable? Do you think I'm going to run away?" Her tone of voice made it clear Oriana was questioning Niko's trust in her, demanding an answer.

Something in her chest stirred. There was more to say, but she wasn't sure what.

"Do you like keeping me indebted to you? You keep offering me things and I can't keep up. Even worse, you're not holding me to my responsibilities as your apprentice."

During her short tirade, Oriana had stalked over until she was a mere half meter away from the taller woman. Her stance challenged the redhead to counter her, dared her to disagree.

"Why do you want me to be attached to you so badly?"

Typically, Oriana wasn't so talkative and rarely gave enough details to gain insight to her motivations. When she did decide to use her words for once, it was brutal and held nothing back.

While there were several things the short genin should have said, needed to say, she didn't know how to think, let alone say them. The redhead would have to make do with this outburst.

[26]

Niko could see the profound frustration building up in Oriana, and she knew that she was in for a world of hurt… but a part of her was glad. She could tell the pink haired girl was about to let her have it, for the first time since they had met. If the circumstances were different, she might even feel proud… but here, now, in this moment? She had stepped on the cat’s tail, and instead of running, the shorter woman was challenging her, and she shifted slightly, as though she was preparing to be struck, bracing herself.

She would listen carefully as the woman ripped into her, probing for answers and accusing her of things, and she couldn’t help but think that as her feelings were trampled on, that this was exactly what she deserved. She wouldn’t respond right away either… she would wait until the woman was finished to speak, but the words rolled through her mind, unabated and raw. She was being called out on her fear of Oriana’s flight… like Niko didn’t trust her, and didn’t understand why Niko did what she did… She felt debt with everything, born of a life where everything had a cost.

How Niko wished she had gotten to her sooner and freed her from that hell.

Now that Oriana finally had paused, Niko took a moment and stepped back, sitting down onto a short stool and almost visibly shrinking and looking at the floor. “I want you to be comfortable here because I care about you. No… I would dare say I love you. I have grown attached to you more than just as a teacher… and I can’t properly explain why in a way you would be able to understand. It’s a feeling. Not something I have control over. To me, you are more than just an apprentice… more than a student or ninja.”

She finally looked up, her eyes glossy yet again. “I was worried that you would run away… that my love for you would smother you into running… so I constantly held back. But what I couldn’t hold back was the desire to see you happy and healthy. I would sacrifice most anything to see those two things… no amount of Ryo, time or energy is a waste in pursuit of those two things. I would never ask you anything in return, and yet you would do things anyway as a means of ‘paying me back’… which was a way I felt you expressed that you cared about me too, in your own way.”

Her head dipped again, her red hair covering her face as she stared at the floor and her arms wrapped around her knees. “You have done an amazing job as a Ninja, Student and Apprentice. Never once taken advantage of my kindness, even when you could have easily. Performing well under pressure and getting tasks done with such efficiency that even I found it astounding. It was only fair that I answer that kind of dedication and vigor with my absolute best effort into teaching and caring for you… and I guess as attached as I got to you, I just hoped to give you a safe place in this world. That I could be that safe place you could go to when the world grew cold.”

[27]

Niko's answer seemed to calm Oriana slightly, the aggressive set to her shoulders relaxing, glare softening to a look of frustration not necessarily aimed at the redhead anymore. Her breathing evened out. The skin between her brows wrinkled, as the pink-haired teen's "thinking face" started to surface again. She was still staring at the blacksmith, but with an expression more akin to confusion and concern than that of being at her wit's end.

Those words and those expressions reflected the kind of attachment and loyalty people wanted from her rather than what people tended to give her. This desperate want was authentic, Oriana's senses told her that. Niko desperately wanted a connection, however, the reason hadn't been clear until now. The short woman could see how vulnerable her master was being. Vulnerability was something Oriana usually tried to avoid. If it couldn't be hidden, she left if possible whether she walked away physically or checked out mentally. The people that had used her before rarely cared to be vulnerable in front of her. Sure, some would talk about their problems, their woes, and insecurities. But customers like that lost interest when word got around that Oriana wouldn't even pretend to care.

Several parts of Niko's behavior made this moment seem real. Before Oriana had promised or offered her anything, the woman insisted on feeding her. The redhead didn't even seem angry that the shorter woman had tried to fight her off like a wild animal. That kind of behavior typically resulted in punishment. Even now, that Oriana had challenged her, Niko didn't move to punish her at all.

Oriana crouched, still deep in thought while she considered Niko's words. The little bits of vulnerability that she did display in front of the tall woman were never taken advantage of. Not even when it was clear that the smaller woman could be caught off guard, that she had forgotten to keep her physical defenses up. Perhaps for the first time, the genin thought that perhaps Niko wasn't waiting for her to slip up or to trap her with debt to hold over her head. She had slowly begun to relax in the jounin's presence, her hyper-vigilance dulling, but hadn't explicitly thought that Niko's intentions were benevolent.

Finally, Oriana looked at Niko again, carefully examining the redhead's hunched form. This wasn't the body language of an aggressor or someone who felt they had control in a situation, it was retreat. Frowning, the pink-haired teen realized that she didn't like seeing such weakness on her master.

Quietly, she stood and walked closer, setting a hand on the hunched jounin's shoulder. "I told you I'm yours. I meant that."

[27]

Niko waited, even shutting her Sensory off because she didn't want to feel or see or think about anything at the moment.  She wasn't wallowing in self-pity or belittling herself, even in her mind, she was just trying to recover.  It wasn't often she let herself be vulnerable, and the truth of the matter was that she wasn't entirely sure why she had gotten vulnerable here and now, but she had, and those feelings had gotten lashed in response.  Even so, she was also a Jounin, and would be able to recover quickly... but that was what she was working on now.  Silently, she was taking deep, calming breaths and focusing on letting her mind wrestle control of her soul away from her emotions... she had to remain strong, even if she felt incredibly weak in the moment.

And then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and her body froze at the contact; not out of fear, but because she hadn't expected it and as a result of her surprise.  How distracted had she become that she wasn't even aware of her movements?  She really was not used to not using her Sensory, and keeping vigilant with her senses... but it was the words that were uttered by the pink haired Genin caused her breathing even to pause, and slowly, carefully she looked up, locking her emerald eyes with Oriana's own sapphires.  That statement was not made simply or easily.  When it had first been made, it had been a symbol of submission, a desire to fall into a role she could easily understand.  This time... it was more.  She was not only accepting the feelings that Niko had put out there, and her reasonings for them, but she was also taking a leap of faith and trusting Niko herself with her care.

She wanted to hug the woman, and her arms reached up for a moment before she recoiled them, opting instead to use the technique that Oriana had used; she placed a hand on top of Oriana's own that was on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.  "I will be the best mentor for you to deserve that trust."  Slowly she would release her, and her Sensory kicked back up, and she noticed that the plate was beginning to bronze in the mold, but didn't mention it right away.  "Sorry for making a mess of such a simple job... let's get it done, yea?"  Slowly, she would get back to her feet, giving Oriana a small but warm smile.

"You pick... quality or comfort.  I will work with you either way."  She then moved over and picked up the small hammer, smashing the rivets on the last plate they finished and setting it aside, then putting both hammers near the workbench and grabbing the flat-head tools to pry the molten plate out of the mold.

[28][/color]

The genin nodded once at Niko's pledge to be a good mentor and care for her. She didn't flinch or draw back when the redhead set her own hand atop Oriana's smaller one, a testament to how much had changed since they first met a few weeks ago. Despite doing it bluntly and clumsily, the pink-haired teen had attempted to express her feelings. It was a rough thing, easily battering someone as sensitive as her master, but it seemed they were reaching an understanding, coming into equilibrium.

Her gaze followed Niko's over to the metal cooling in the mold.

"We should work on that," she said, agreeing with the blacksmith's sentiment.

When the redhead moved away, Oriana watched her move to finish off the last headband with a few deft strikes of the smaller hammer before going to pry the other plate from the wooden mold. They needed a crucible and anvil.

The jounin's question drew a brief hint of a smile at the corners of the genin's mouth. "Quality, Niko-sama." She came closer and picked up the tongs. Oriana was still tense, but not nearly as much as before. As she had stated, she would get used to it. It was almost nice, feeling less afraid to be close to another person. While not the biggest fan of physical contact outside of violence, Oriana did like being less terrified of something so simple.

[28]

Niko rolled her shoulders a couple of times, glad that this job was just about complete; she knew she was going to be sore in the morning, but that was just the nature of rush jobs. Seeing that faint smile and hearing her earnest reply, well, as earnest as Oriana likely could be, was enough to get Niko fired up again and a warmth returned to her eyes that had seemed to lose a bit of their sparkle moments before. Working was always a surefire way to get her going again, and in that respect, Niko and Oriana were similar in that regard. A job well done was satisfying.

Carefully prying the plate out of the mold with both of the tools, she let Oriana grab it with the tongs and move over to the workbench. Setting the lighter hammer aside for now, she lifted the much heavier two handed hammer onto her shoulder, waiting for her to get into position. Once there, she moved into her spot, and for only a hair moment, hesitated. She wanted to kiss the top of her pink head, but had no idea if that was going too far... it was such an emotional blurb of stuff pouring out during the past few minutes that it felt right, but her mind once again got in the way.

Just being this close would have to suffice for now... and that was fine, and she began to hammer the plate.

[29]

Oriana took note of Niko rolling her shoulders. Swinging that hammer likely took a toll on the taller woman's muscles. Briefly, the pink-haired woman wondered what she could do about that.

Her attention turned to breathing while Niko stood behind her pounding away at the cooling metal plate. The pink-haired teen moved the tongs quickly but carefully in time with her master's strikes. They had already let the metal cool too much, so there was no time to waste. The urgency helped push the discomfort at being so close to another person to the back of her mind. The rest, she managed with deep breaths and counting. She could do this, she would do this.

Once the plate was pounded into shape and the redhead stepped away, the genin moved to polish the completed headband laying on the other workbench and fold it before setting it in the box with the others. Before she set it down, Oriana ran a thumb over its surface. It was much nicer than the ones the redhead had made before.

She looked over her shoulder at Niko to see if the other one had turned out okay. "Did it work?"

[29]

Niko gently took one of the tongs and the plate and stepped away, appraising it with a critical eye. They had taken too long to start striking it, and it would take some more fine tuned work to get just right and beat out the imperfections she saw. Not a big deal, most of the good work was there... and fine tuning was easy since it was still not hardened in the ice water. Oriana asked a question, and as she hung up the large hammer and grabbed the small one, she gave the pink haired Genin a nod. "Like a charm. Just a little fine tuning and this one will be as good as the last one."

Moving over to the forge she reheated the metal a bit and then moved back to the workbench. She didn't need the big hammer this time, so Oriana didn't have to be close by if she didn't want to be, and Niko began to strike the plate in precise locations, making it to where it was as if they didn't exist in the first place. "You have an interest in smithing, but what else do you want to learn? I can teach a lot of things, but knowing what interests you would make it easier for me to dig into the books and help you learn." It was an honest question, and she posed it in such a way that telling her was a means to help her out, so it would make it easier to answer honestly.

[30]

Oriana's head tilted at her master's question. What did she want to learn? The first answers that came to mind all had to do with hand to hand combat. She favored using her hands and feet as weapons. However, she saw the use of weaponry as well.

"I want to get better at fighting and using weapons, especially throwing things." The answer was simple, something the tall jounin could have predicted. The pink-haired ninja thought a little longer on what else might be useful to know. She was already starting to understand how to craft items at a basic level from working with Niko.

"Maybe trap making?" Traps sounded good, Oriana could protect herself even when her guard was relaxed with those. "Niko-sama," the short woman's questioning tone alluded to another query, "do you know fuuinjutsu?"

[30]

Niko continued to hammer the plate, dipping it back over the heat off and on to keep the metal hot as she sought out the imperfections and eliminated them one at a time while the pink haired Genin considered different things that she wanted to learn.  The first was simple and easy.  "I'm pretty sure I can help you with both Taijutsu and Bukijutsu.  I've been meaning to since our evaluation, but with the missions and all time has been a factor.  Traps are simple too, but truly good ones can be a challenge.  Something fun to work on together."

The last thing she mentioned made Niko pause, mid-swing, and turn to look towards Oriana, a look of both surprise and amusement on her face.  "I guess I've never shown you before, huh?  Ever wonder why I never seem to be carrying any weapons on me?"  She let go of the hammer on the work bench for a moment and moved her ever-long hair to where it was in front of her, draped over her chest and revealing her mostly bare back.  With a pulse of chakra, her clan's symbol, and her seal, appeared.  Oriana would recognize it as what had previous looked like mere decoration on various parts of the house, but the seal would appear as a large black imprint across most her back, a massive Fuuinjutsu tattoo.

The air would get heavy for a moment and the seal would glow again, and five shuriken would appear from the seal, floating in the air and rotating around, Niko utilizing her Sensory to allow them to dance in a tight orbit around her before moving to Oriana, controlled purely by her chakra, spinning in lazy circles around her.  "Fuuinjutsu is a Kanuchi Clan staple.  I am literally a walking armory.  With what you want to learn, I should just induct you into the clan..."  She gave her a wide smile, and with the shuriken still dancing about, went back to striking the plate.

It wasn't long before the stamp was applied, it was iced, and handed towards Oriana for the rivets, her hammer at the ready to finish the job. Once it was done, she moved over to a shelf for a pair of custom molds she had spent a considerable amount of the past few nights working on and showed them to Oriana. One was for the claws themselves, and the next for the handles to seat them into. It was a work of art, these molds, and obviously something she had spend a considerable amount of effort and time into.

[31]

Crafting Information:
ITEM: 1 B-Rank Headband (Complete)
TIME: 0700 30 June 2019 Local Time Complete
INFO:
o Utilizing UA to allow her to craft at 1 rank faster speed for 1 tier lower coordination
o 3 D-Rank, 5 C-Rank, 2 B rank complete, 10/10 complete for mission
o 1 B rank headband completed

When Niko pointed it out, Oriana realized that it was strange the woman never had any visible weaponry aside from senbon despite being a weapons mistress. The familiar pattern the genin had seen marking various parts of Niko's home appeared on the back of the redhead's shoulders in bold, dark lines.

Oriana's eyes widened in surprise when it pulsed, changing the whole atmosphere around them and weapons emerged. Her eyes traced the path of the shuriken circling Niko in obvious wonder. Her expression was almost childlike, something that no one had seen on the pink-haired genin since she was small.

"You'd teach me to do that?" The shorter woman drifted closer, fascinated by the tall jounin's ability. It was clear: Oriana was hooked. She reached up, fingertips brushing against a shuriken as it floated by. Her hand lowered slowly, trailing against Niko's arm in the process --a sign of her wonder and gratitude.

Oriana locked eyes with her master. "Are you sure it's okay?"

[31]

The expression on Oriana's face, the child-like wonder, was something that made her once again resist the urge to walk over and wrap her up in an enormous hug. If only she understood how much the woman was tormenting her with being cute and unapproachable. Downright torture, it was. She asked a couple of questions, and before starting her work, she felt that this was something that would need to be addressed formally. Turning to face her completely, she gave her a smile. The gentle touch of her arm was not unnoticed, but she declined to comment for the moment, knowing that the seriousness of her question needed to be addressed the right way.

"It would be a genuine pleasure to teach you those ways. This tattoo on my back and this technique... it is exclusive to our clan... not to be taught to anyone else, but will allow you to go from unarmored to armed to the teeth with armor and all in the blink of an eye. With training you can use the weapons without even touching them, connecting to them through chakra and attacking with the ferocity of anywhere from ten to a hundred single handedly. But the seal also binds us together... connects us in a way no one can approach. As close as family, regardless of blood." She needed to understand what that meant, so while she mulled it over, Niko set to work.

The red head quickly cleaned out the pot of the last bits of molten steel, and took the large block of Ebony and put it into the pot so it could start melting. It was the highest grade of equipment she knew of, and with some plans she had in the works, she would make it the hardest and strongest in the world. At least, until she figured out alloys, and then she would be producing things that were so strong that even the most powerful of techniques wouldn't be able to pierce them. For now though, the excitement of making these claws was coming to the fore. There was eight ten molds layed out on the workbench... one for each claw, and one for each handle, and a pair for an oddly shaped bolt that held it all together. She took a moment and configured them, shaving off pieces of wood here and there, and assembled them into a pair of completed molds, smiling at her work.

Turning back towards Oriana, she waited for the reply, and the questions.

[32]

---

Crafting Information:
ITEM: 1 C-Rank Weapon (Incomplete)
TIME: 1/3 posts
INFO: Utilizing UA to allow her to craft at 1 rank faster speed for 1 tier lower coordination

Oriana stayed silent after Niko's explanation, brows knitting a bit in consideration. It was hard to believe her master was so pleased with her that she was willing to add Oriana to her clan and teach her restricted techniques. The feeling of being so valued, of meaning so much when she felt she had not done enough to earn it. The pink-haired teen's eyes watered. Her chest felt tight and her throat hurt.

The shorter ninja was speechless. When the tall jounin turned around to face her, she would find her apprentice staring at her as if she could hardly believe something this good was happening to her. Her mind scrambled for some catch or trick, an obstacle of some sort. Things like this didn't just happen without a price attached or someone waiting to take it all away. Or, at least, they never had before.

"Niko-sama," her voice was tight, as if the teen were on the verge of breaking down in the forge. Could this be real? Needing to know that this wasn't some dream, that she wouldn't wake up alone in that dingy room waiting for the next person to use her, the genin moved closer to Niko again and reached for her. Oriana's hands settled on her master's forearms, a gentle squeeze revealing that this was either a hallucination so strong she would never wake up or reality itself.

She withdrew her hands. "My apologies it... this is...none of your clan will oppose?" More shuffling.

Oriana wasn't sure if she should grab onto this opportunity and never let go or wait for it to fall apart.

[32]

Niko was focusing on her work while Oriana processed the information she was just given.  For now, it was a simple process; these molds were damn near works of art in and of themselves... so now that the ebony was in a liquid form, she poured them into the molds and then shut them completely and locked them down with some clamps.  Once they were on the workbench to cool, she turned back around to watch Oriana as the woman approached her, full of uncertainty, and her eyes watering as she reached out and squeezed her forearm for a moment before drawing away.

She asked if anyone from her clan would oppose, and Niko decided that here and now would be a good time to test the waters; she was being impossibly cute right now, and the moment they were in just felt right.  Slowly, the red-head stretched her arms out to her sides, offering her a hug that she could take or leave if she wanted to... she wouldn't force it, but there wouldn't be many better times and places than now.  They were alone in the house, in a private setting, having a heartfelt moment, and Oriana needed an assurance of what was happening.  Combining a physical and an emotional reassurance was definitely the right course of action.

It wasn't in any small part influence by the fact that Niko had been wanting to hug this woman since she met her.  Not at all.

"I can say with absolute certainty that inducting you into the clan would be met with open arms."  In this case, quite literally... Niko was the clan head, and they desperately needed talented and hardworking people to help the clan in any way they could.  After all, as it stood now, it was only getting started.

[33]

---

Crafting Information:
ITEM: 1 C-Rank Weapon (Incomplete)
TIME: 2/3 posts
INFO: Utilizing UA to allow her to craft at 1 rank faster speed for 1 tier lower coordination

Niko's answer was the tipping point for Oriana. The other woman truly wanted her around and was pleased with her work. Unlike her previous customers, the pink-haired teen enjoyed making Niko happy and impressing the redhead with her work. Instead of inviting further abuse or discomfort, doing well simply meant she continued to enjoy food, shelter, and training. These things were all the short young woman really wanted to begin with. Becoming a ninja in the first place had shown her that it was more satisfying to do work that wasn't sexual in exchange for earning enough to satisfy her needs. Having that taken away from her had made Oriana believe that it was impossible, a mere childish dream. Yet here she was being offered clan membership in part due to impressing her master with assistance with her craft.

Her cheeks were wet, the tears from being overwhelmed finally spilling over, softening the suspicious or aloof look Oriana normally wore. She hesitated for almost a minute before closing the gap between herself and Niko, clinging to her master and crying into the taller woman's chest. She held onto the redhead with a grip desperately, painfully, tight. The genin didn't even care, for the time being, about how sweaty they were or how it was honestly too hot for this.

For the first time in her memory, Oriana was wanted by someone, truly wanted. Another person might have sobbed uncontrollably, but the short woman had long since crushed that reaction. She was still, body tense, still not loosening her grasp on Niko, tears falling quietly. If her face wasn't buried in her master's shirt, the jounin would have been able to see that Oriana's face had gone blank. The genin had had too much practice hiding vulnerability to stop, even when most of her defenses had collapsed.

[33]

Niko could tell that the woman who was hugging her right now was doing it more than a cry for affection, more than a way to ensure what was happening was real; she was using the red-head as a tether, a way to ground herself. That was fine; she would be her bed-rock, that immovable object that would never waiver, never falter, and could be relied on for anything and everything. Niko had never imagined that the changing point would have been Niko herself lowering her guard; she was always putting on a good front, her poker face something that even Mako with all his intelligence couldn't see through, and that was because she still put forth every bit of effort in the world to helping others selflessly that it was never an act. She simply masked her own needs and pains with the love she gave to everyone else, without question.

Sometimes even she forgot about her pain that lurked, buried underneath it all. It had been years since she had opened that box.

The smith quietly held her firm, unbothered by the strength of her hold or the fact that she was silently crying into her shirt; this was a massive emotional breakthrough for Oriana, and the only movement she did was gently move her head to kiss her on the top of the head.

Unwilling to let her Ebony go to waste though, her eyes did look up for a moment as her power reached out, silently undoing the molds with expert precision. With a flex of her power and a bit of precise movements, she squeezed it with enough strength to fit the needs. She had claimed it as a Taboo to use her powers to do her smithing, worried about the results quality, but she had to say, she was impressed with how it turned out. They slid into the ice quietly, not even barely audible considering their position and angle, and then came out and drifted through the air and set down silently onto the workbench behind them, complete.

"Welcome to the clan, Oriana Kanuchi." She would stay here, just like this, for as long as Oriana wished, even until she slept and Niko put her into the room that had been prepared for her. It didn't matter; time was no object, and she would enjoy this as long as she could.

[Thread End?]

[34]

---

Crafting Information:
ITEM: 1 C-Rank Weapon (Complete)
TIME: 3/3 posts
INFO: Utilizing UA to allow her to craft at 1 rank faster speed for 1 tier lower coordination

Oriana lost track of how much time she spent there in Niko's arms, being held firmly. The genin could tell that if she needed to, she could break her master's hold and move away, but the pressure of the redhead's arms wasn't so weak that it felt like she was merely being humored. Her own muscles began to hurt from being so tense. Experimentally, the shorter teen relaxed her grip, but stayed close. She had run out of tears, but wasn't quite ready to stop hiding in the jounin's embrace.

Face nestled atop her master's chest, small form wrapped securely in her arms, Oriana felt as if she was being hidden or shielded from the outside world. The kiss on the top of her head was returned with nuzzles and the curling of the genin's fingers into Niko's clothes.

Without meaning to, the short, pink-haired ninja began to relax and melt into the embrace, unconsciously snuggling closer, tucking herself under Niko's chin. A quiet sigh escaped her lips.

Before today, Oriana has considered letting someone catch her like this an unsafe position. It typically, in her limited experience, lead to being used and owned in ways that she didn't enjoy. However, she already belonged to Niko who consistently ignored opportunities to take advantage of her. Perhaps this sort of thing could be okay if it was with her master.

She shifted her head to look up into the taller woman's face, expression calm.

"Niko-sama, we need a bath." Oriana has just remembered the heat of the forge and uncomfortable stickiness that came along with it. She slipped out of the hug and began to herd her master out of the forge and toward the bathroom.

While Niko bathed, she could make something to eat. Maybe more tea. That sounded good. The genin realized right about then that she enjoyed looking after her master. Oriana smiled.

[34]
[Exit]