"Parenting is not giving your child everything they want. Parenting is not being your child's friend. Parenting is about preparing your child to be a useful and respectful person in society."
― GloZell
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There are things Ren and Hibiki don't have in common. Many things. But there are also some things they do have in common.
Their first 'date' is a visit to a weapon shop, if it could even be called a date to begin with. Their first outing together happens right after their conversation—Hibiki has nothing to do, and Ren still has around three hours before the kids are out of school. She mentions that she would like to look at polearm-type weapons, and so Hibiki, much more invested in blades than in his clan's taijutsu, offers to walk with her to the weapon shop. And so, they go.
They garner a few startled looks—Ren's clan might be mostly dead, but the animosity between the Uchiha and the Hyūga is still legendary, so seeing two members of their clans walking together in a friendly manner makes some heads turn. Hibiki, the little shit he is, takes it as an invitation to basically lean on her shoulder, radiating smugness, and Ren honestly can get behind giving people a good shock, so she plays along and lets him.
The weapon shop they enter is one catering mostly to shinobi, and probably one of the higher-quality joints. Ren sincerely doubts that a lower-grade store would have what she is looking for, since it is rather exotic.
To her credit, the woman behind the counter—who looks a lot like Tenten, actually—doesn't react too much at the odd pair.
"Welcome!" she says cheerfully at the potential new customers. "How may I help you?"
"I'm looking for a specific weapon," Ren tells the woman, and she smiles. "An exotic polearm; a guandao. I have been using a naginata for the past few weeks, but the blade is too narrow for me."
"A guandao, isn't it?" the woman asks, tapping her chin, and Ren nods. "Well, it's a relatively unpopular weapon in these parts, only weapon masters keep it in their arsenal in the Fire Country, really. But you're in luck, I think we have a couple of them in stock right now. Otherwise, you could also place an order and we could import it for a price," the shopkeeper says, and Ren nods as the woman vanishes into the backroom.
After a couple of minutes, she reemerges with a long case and sets it on the counter, opening it. Inside is probably the most common-looking guandao Ren has ever seen—the first thing one imagines when they hear the weapon's name. Separated in two, as the pole comes together at midpoint, the staff is black with golden trims, with a small spear point at one end and a wicked blade on the other. The blade, a wide piece of steel curving upward with a point cut into its back, looked like a dragon's mouth. The lack of the customary red tassel is conspicuous, but it has a small hole to attach the accessory if so desired.
A dragon is engraved onto the blade itself, and the steel so well-polished Ren could see her own reflection.
"It's separated for storage, but it screws back on easily and doesn't come apart unless you want it," the shopkeeper says, demonstrating just that, and suddenly Ren is faced with a wide-blade polearm significantly longer than she is tall. She takes it—it's rather heavy, heavier than anything she's used to fighting with, and her mind is already racing at how she can utilize this weight in battle—and it just clicks. This is it. It's better in her grip than her naginata. A heavy, massive polearm, a huge tool of carnage that can nonetheless be wielded with grace.
Ren twirls it, just shy of the weapons displayed on the walls, and it just fits. Better than a katana or tanto, better than a naginata. It's heavy, the reach is long, and the blade is huge. But it's mostly the polearm itself. There's just something that feels right about twirling a long stick with a pointy end and Ren can't believe she hadn't realized it before.
"How is it?" the shopkeeper asks, but she has a knowing smirk on. She's been working in this trade for a long time, and knows exactly what is happening.
"Yeah," Ren says. "This is it."
"Worked with weapons before, have you?"
"Yes, but mostly with a katana and a tanto."
"Well, if you worked with any blades at all you should be able to feel if the weapon goes well with your preferred fighting style," the shopkeeper says. "Polearm weapons are great for devastating range attacks, especially if you have enough muscle-power to swing them fast and hard. Seen a man bisected with a naginata once."
"Well, I will have to work around the guandao, it doesn't fit anything I've been doing with the shorter weapons," Ren says, "But yeah, I know my balance and fighting preferences. This will do nicely. How much?"
“Two hundred thousand Ryo,” the shopkeeper says, and Ren nods. It had been a bit jarring, at first, switching from pound sterling to Ryo, because the conversions were crazy, but now she can convert on the fly. She’s not even sure why she bothers.
Two hundred thousand Ryo? About twenty-two hundred pound sterling. For a polearm of decent-to-good quality, a bit of a steep price, but then, it was relatively rare and imported.
And yes, that does mean that Ren's life is worth about twenty-six thousand pounds. Wasn't that something over thirty thousand US Dollars? She couldn't remember. Of course, that was the conversion rate from way back when—without any other currencies present in sight, Ryo had its own worth and that was that.
The Uchiha household, even with how much Naruto tended to devour to upkeep his ridiculous chakra stores, could easily live off of one hundred thousand Ryo for a month, rent included—Ren easily made anywhere between two and five hundred thousand a month. And that's without touching the Clan money—the collective wealth of hundreds of people, now for the taking for the two left alive.
Speaking of which, Ren should really start implementing some plans she had for the district. The thing just sitting there, unused, grates on her nerves, when it could be appropriated into something that could generate more income.
She could repurpose one of the houses for herself and the kids and just turn the rest into a shopping or housing district or something. The Massacre was four years ago, the people have had enough time to mourn the clan, especially since they hadn't liked it much in the first place.
(Ren loves her small flat; it is cozy and perfect, but the boys are growing, have friends over more often than not, Ren has guests of her own, there are summons about sometimes, cats, Kurama- It gets crowded. And a fancy Japanese villa surrounded by trees is a flex Ren would like to pull off eventually.)
She buys the guandao and, after some brief consideration, decides to splurge on a care kit for the blade—whetstones, oils, cloths, and the like. She has things to care for blades back home, but they're getting worn out.
Once they're out of the shop—Hibiki with a new set of blades of his own—they decide to grab something to eat as they wait. Well, while Ren waits. Hibiki is tagging along because it's his day off and he doesn't want to spend it doing nothing in his flat.
They pick a dango shop near T&I Headquarters. Knowing that, she should really not be that surprised to encounter Anko there. She spots Ren immediately, of course, because Ren cuts through the village's muted browns and greens with stark black and dark blue, and the huge target-like Uchiha fan always somewhere on her person. That, and Ren is actually rather tall, visibly more so than most other women and some men, and she's pretty sure she's still growing.
She hasn't seen Anko in quite a while, and it is honestly quite nice to revisit all the familiar faces before she pulls off her 'drop a corpse at Hiruzen and hope for the best' stunt. The woman waves them over with a grin, and Ren opts to go sit with her. The vicinity of Anko's table is vacated, her disposition easily scaring off meek civilians, but Ren and Hibiki are as far from civilians as one can get.
"Now, now, who's this cutie with you?" Anko purrs in lieu of a normal greeting, and Ren sighs, setting the wrapped guandao by the wall and sitting down, Hibiki following suit.
"Anko, Hyūga Hibiki, my former genin teammate, Hibiki, Mitarashi Anko, a certified menace who works at T&I down the street," she introduces easily, and Anko grins at the young man, who glances uncertainly at Ren.
"Uh, nice to meet you?" he tries, slightly spooked by Anko's default slightly-crazed-predator resting face.
"Likewise," the other woman purrs. "New boytoy, Ren?"
"You make it sound like I've dated before," Ren huffs, and Anko makes as if to throw out some witty comment, but stops, slightly confused as to why Ren won't blush and stammer like most people. It only registers after a moment what Ren actually said. Then comes the pout.
"Awww, you're supposed to blush and stammer and amuse me!"
"But why?" Hibiki asks, looking through the menu. "We're not children."
"Girls are supposed to get all blushy and stupid, though," Anko complains.
"Have you been reading too many romance novels that have little or no bearing on reality?" Ren asks, amused at the other's flailing. "But then, dare I say-"
Anko's eyes widen, and she waves her hands in front of Ren's face. "Nooo, don't you dare-!"
"I'm not like other girls."
"Aaaaand fuck you."
Hibki chuckles as Ren grins, and Anko puts her forehead on the table.
"Wait so are you actually a thing or-?"
"Yeah."
"Since when?"
"Literally half an hour ago why?" Hibiki says, before turning to Ren. "What do you want?"
"Kinako and Goma, double serving for both. Wait, is this bubble iced coffee they have on the menu?"
"Yeah. It's really good, actually," Anko says.
"Oooh, I want that."
"You eat a lot," Hibiki notices, and Ren shrugs.
"I'm a shinobi, it's an active lifestyle. I know better than to go on a diet or whatever, as long as I eat relatively healthy and balanced."
"No shit," Anko snorts, and points at Ren. "This one can give the Akimichi a run for their money."
"In theory, I could, but overeating is uncomfortable and I would prefer not to."
"Eh. Alright, whatever. So. What have you been up to lately? It's been so dull since that Iwa brat you dragged in. That was fun—Ibiki cursed you out for a week straight."
"Well, I don't know him, but I know of him, and I'm flattered to have been a menace in his life."
And they talk, and eat their dango, and Anko tries to play-flirt with Hibiki until she learns they aren't really serious, and he laughs, and so does Ren, and maybe actually manages to make Anko blush, but Anko will never admit to that.
But then Anko's break is over and she has to go, and the Academy will also soon be out for the day, so Ren has to go, and Hibiki, for the lack of anything else to do, goes with her.
Ren doesn't actually have a plan as to what to do with the kids after school. The only thing she's come up with is seeing how far they've actually gotten, skill-wise. They're all ten years old, will be graduating in two, they should be at least halfway decent little genin.
If not, Ren should probably look into remedying that, what with Iruka being the only teacher who actually seems to be doing his job at the Academy.
So, when the kids are finally out, they grab a quick lunch and follow Ren to the training grounds. And by kids, she means all of the rookie nine. The reasons given to Ren's inquiring look vary from wanting to beat up Sasuke for one thing or another that he did today (Sakura), boredom (Shikamaru, Shino), having nothing better to do therefore following a friend (Ino, Chōji) to wanting to try fighting an actual ninja—Ren—to test himself (Kiba). A sour-faced Neji complaining about the pointlessness of the endeavor is there, too, because Hinata is friends with most of the other kids and wanted to come. When he saw Hibiki, his face contorted as if he'd smelled something particularly unpleasant. For that, Hibiki just ignores the younger boy.
Ren didn't quite know how to bite that bad apple, so she leaves it alone and hopes for the best—in this case, the best being Naruto beating him up during the chūnin exam in some two and a half years.
"So, what are we doing now?" Naruto asks, excitedly bouncing everywhere.
"Well, we're going to do a fun little exercise that'll show me if they're actually teaching you shit at school, or if you're gonna die the second you're out in two years," Ren says with a smile. "Now, I had a plan, but we seem to have one extra member I need to account for."
Neji stiffens under her gaze and turns away.
"Hinata-hime is perfectly capable of running around on her own, you know," Hibiki tells the younger boy, and Neji bristles. "She's much more capable than you think she is-"
"Do not speak to me!" Neji snaps. "Hinata-sama is pathetic and I am here to ensure you plebeians don't damage the heiress! I don't even see the point of these ridiculous outings! It's all useless, and it's your fate to die as cannon fodder on the battlefield anyway!"
And he says it with such certainty, like he's so superior to everyone else, that Ren just can't find her tongue for a moment. Even Kurama, sitting on Naruto's shoulders, has his jaw hanging and indignant anger burning in his eyes.
Hinata hangs her head, cheeks red with embarrassment, and fiddles with her fingers. Most of the children are gob-smacked at the sheer gall of the boy, and Hibiki just hides his face in his hands with something that sounds like a wail. Sasuke looks about ready to commit murder, and so are Ino and Kiba. Everyone but Sakura is from a clan here, and Sakura has more than enough skill to make up for her 'lacking pedigree' anyway, so the insult is not taken well at all.
"Your words, or the elders'?" Ren asks once she can finally form reasonably coherent sentences despite her indignance. By Jashin, she really shouldn't be dealing with this bullshit. "Because if you intend to stand here like you're smelling a pile of shit and insult everyone involved, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm an adult, and so is Hibiki, and we can take responsibility for all the children here. Not you. You're eleven. You're a child. And, also, you're in timeout."
Neji blinks at her, affronted, shocked, and embarrassed, and splutters.
"No excuses, young man. The rules apply to everyone here, and as the adult responsible for you, I'm the one who gets to make them. Go stand by the tree for eleven minutes."
"Why?"
"Because you've been rude, and eleven minutes because you're eleven years old," Ren tells him in a no-nonsense voice and sincerely hopes that Supernanny's method works and makes him bearable for at least a few hours. Neji looks at her, affronted, but makes no move to go to the tree, and she sighs, moving to take him there. "Kids, I want to see three teams of three—Kurama, you don't count, stand with Hibiki or unsummon yourself!"
She then places a hand on Neji's shoulder—gently, of course—and steers the pouting child to the tree. He looks like he's considering whether he should slap her or cry. Ren crouches to be more on his eye level.
"Listen, it really, really should not be my job to discipline another person's child, but your behavior has been unacceptable for quite some time, and it's only getting worse. I will no longer tolerate it. You're making Hinata feel bad, and you're being purposefully obtuse to make other children miserable," she explains to the boy, as he refuses to look at her. "You will now stay here for eleven minutes and think about what you've done. Don't try to escape—I will know, and I will catch you, and every escape attempt resets the timer. Am I clear?"
No response. Naruto and Kiba have started a yelling match because they both want Sakura on their team because she's scary. Neji still refuses to look at her.
"Look at me," she tells him, much softer, "and answer my question. Am I understood?"
"…I'm a Hyūga, and I'm a shinobi. I won't stand to be treated like this," is the hissed-out response, and Ren shakes her head.
"I don't give a fuck who you are, or who you will be, Neji. You are a child, all of eleven, and I'm an adult currently responsible for you. You've continually been behaving in an unacceptable way, and I am now taking action," she explains to him, patiently. In the background, Sakura is yelling that she's joining the all-girls team, go away Naruto. "Eleven minutes to ponder, Neji. I told you why you're here, and I will be expecting an apology once the time's up. Have I made myself clear?"
"…gh."
"Do you understand?"
"…I- I understand."
It's gritted out and forceful, but a step in the right direction, Ren supposes, punishing the boy in a way that an eleven-year-old should be punished. This world is fucked up, she knows, but if his relatives refuse to discipline the boy, at last Ren should try.
