Do you need to go back to time out?

I don't know what that woman told Mei but after their little conversation, the murderous and paranoid look on her face has faded for the most part.

She was not docile by any means but she was not as aggressive as she used to be. 

I looked at the woman who had a happy smile on her face seemingly proud of what she accomplished. When I was leaning more into my vampiric instincts I was calling this woman a corpse over and over again.

Now I've been fluttering back and forth between women in general and the mother of Mika. At some point, I need to know her name but it's becoming increasingly awkward asking. 

Whatever I just had to wait for Mei to speak to the woman. The only reason I knew Mika's name was from listening to their dialogue.

"Mei has accepted what is happening, my Lord. There is no reason to hold her any longer. " She stated flatly as she looked at me. 

I looked over at her with my eyebrows raised and then looked back at Mei. The woman in question was looking at me with a disarming smile on her face.

Her face was twitching from forcing that expression on her face which oddly enough made me feel better. If she was looking at me with a fully disarming expression on her face I would assume she was preparing to stab me. 

I let out a sigh and started to undo the bindings that I had placed upon her. She still might be planning to stab me but I had some other traps in place in case that happened. 

If taking away the more visible restrictions placed upon her made her more pleasant to deal with then I was fine with that.

It was also kind of annoying dragging her along in the forest. That particular action might have drawn more ire from her actually. 

I cannot really blame her as her uniform was stained with grass and dirt. Her long red hair sported similar stain marks and even a twig or two.

I had switched to dragging her on her back after I had gotten some semblance of control but at the start the both of them were face first on the ground. 

My vampiric self found their squirms and screams amusing as I dragged them through the forest.

The various muffled curses into the dirt were music to my ears. 

As I finally finished removing all the bindings on Mei she stood up hesitantly. I would not say she was completely tense like I first saw her in that clearing but she was certainly not relaxed either.

"So are we cool or do you need to be put back in the time out zone?" I asked with some amount of ribbing in my tone which caused Mei to grow a sour look on her face. 

I suppose the tone that I was using was far too close to the mocking one I used earlier. It probably brought up some rather poor memories for the girl.

" We're perfectly fine." She let out between gritted teeth and again her rather hostile matter gave me some sort of relief.

I would prefer if the knife coming at me was clearly from my front as opposed to a knife in the dark.

I had no doubt she was plotting something but I was rather confident I could handle whatever she was thinking about. 

"Right if you say so. Do you lot have any actual destination or are we just going to wander around in this Forest?" I asked as I followed the lead of Mika.

I'm still not sure if she actually knew where she was going but it's better than nothing. 

The two redheads shot looks at each other as if debating over something. Mika's mother was clearly trying to get her point across but Mei was resisting whatever she was saying.

I was honestly impressed at the amount of information they could convey to each other with nothing but a few glances and subtle looks. 

I was going to chalk it up as a Shinobi thing but this might be a facet of living in an anime like world. Expressions being clearer to read to make it easier for the audience to recognize.

I would say that was probably not it as I have not noticed any other oddities in their reactions. 

As I was contemplating that the debate going on between the two redheads finally seemed to reach its climax.

The woman that I still did not know the name of turned towards me with a triumphant expression on her face.

"I am sure that you know about what is happening in the Mist right now. The Mizukage is going insane threatening to behead and torture any member bearing a bloodline. A few Clans have banded together as a show of force to protect ourselves. We are far safer in a centralized location and that is where we are heading at this moment." She let out with a solemn expression on her face trying to showcase the severity of the issues she had brought up. 

I let out an amused smile at the blatant manipulation. She was playing upon our shared bloodline ability. Trying to get me to show some sort of sympathy for their cause because I could have been a victim as well.

She also subtly brought up the danger I would be in if I was not with the rest of the Clans. 

I was sure that becoming a part of the Rebellion was usually a lot more difficult. In the environment of the Bloody Mist, it was important that you learn to trust those that you were absolutely certain you could trust.

A stranger is just another knife in the back so her blatant recruitment attempts here were rather odd.

I could only assume that the talent of Resurrection overrode any of her sensibilities. The ability to bring back their best and brightest when they died was simply an outrageous ability. 

She probably had more personal reasons for recruiting me as well. You never really knew when death would strike at those you loved so having someone like me on your side was imperative.

Even if my ability did not further evolve its current level was more than enough to draw plenty of attention. 

"Well, you can take me wherever you wish like I said I'm following you guys. I got no cart in this race but I made a deal and I have to follow through on it." I explained with a light smile on my face. 

"Excellent you won't regret this, my Lord." Mika's mother spoke out with some manner of excitement in her voice.

Mei on the other hand did not seem to appreciate what we have done. She had this sort of depressed aura around her.

I really wanted to know who this woman was, and why she was capable of browbeating Mei so effortlessly.

It was not like she was very strong either I could break her arm and snap her neck rather quickly. 

She might have some impressive Ninjustu to strike with but with the binding I have of them her fighting back would be pointless.

So we walked about at a rather sedate pace. Don't get me wrong it was faster than a regular person's running but we had to move at the pace of Mika's Mother.

Mei could go rather fast and I could approach that but Mika's Mother would be left behind if we pushed ourselves. Mika got a pass as one of us could pick her up and run.

Well anyone except me. A fucking 11 year old picking up a 7 year old and running about would be a ridiculous sight.

That woman was kissing my ass the entire time and while it was entertaining at first it was getting annoying.

I could not tell if she felt any sort of respect for me or if she was just blowing hot air up my behind.

Mei was sour and moody the entire time but that was expected. She did not want to lead me toward the Rebellion base.

I did get some dry comments out of her when I prodded her. She seemed surprised when I took every comment with a light mood or even with a chuckle of my own.

That lack of bite from me allowed her to show more of herself. The sassy woman who oozed sensuality was slowly becoming more and more clear to me.

Mika was a blast. Apparently with her relatives no longer in chains she was feeling a lot more like a child. That is not to say she was a perfect representation of what a child should be.

No, this girl was a ninja even if she was not the most experienced of them. She would babel out tales of her training and how excited she was when she found out she could use Boil release like Mei.

The admiration of Mei was rather blatant in Mika's eyes. The grumpy lady had a small smile as Mika babbled about her and her eyes shinned as her admiration was clear.

That dynamic went about for a rather long time before we arrived at a port. I did not expect the final destination of our journey to be a port of all things.

I knew the Mist probably had a good navy but I did not really feel up to the pirate lifestyle. 

I would say my redhead is hotter than Luffy's but the kid beat me out with proper friends. My current companions mainly put up with me because of what I could offer.

While Luffy's companions were actual friends.

Whatever I may have to spend a day or two on the sea to get to where we are going.

Mei and that woman led us forward and brought us to a bar instead of the port. I raised an eyebrow at that but I did not really need to know more.

We walked through a rather dingy place and the clientele did not look that sophisticated. The crowd was the kind of crowd you would expect from a dive bar that did not have a liquor license.

That was the look about them but there were a few signs that this was just a disguise. There was a sharp glint in their eyes that suggested a will that these ruffians should not be able to display.

Their outfits were certainly scuffed up and in need of repair but not a single one of them had a decent item of clothing. Are you telling me that every single one of you did not have at least one thing you liked wearing?

Then there was the most telling fact. It might not be apparent to most people but everyone here stunk of blood. It was having me feeling a certain way again but I was a bit more prepared this time.

As long as I don't feed into the fury I should be able to handle it.

"Well, would you look at that Mei was able to bring back some of them? You owe me 500 Ryu Dai!" One of the surrounding ruffians shouted out in a loud and boisterous manner. Mei let out a sigh as if used to all of this.

I raised an eyebrow as I thought the messed-up look was a disguise. But maybe that guy really was one of those drunkards.

I would only say that about him as the rest were not putting off the same aura.

I guess not every recruit of a rebellion would look like Mei. Even if I wished every one of them looked like the sensual redhead.

As Mei was talking to the bartender trying to get some information across a notion hit my head.

I had noticed Mei's rather sensual nature and her figure was out of this world but I was not really feeling anything about that. It was more of a fact that I noticed instead of the burning desire I was used to.

I bit my lip and let out a curse. I really hoped that this was a puberty thing and not my Vampirc instincts trying to blue ball me.

If that was the fate that awaited me when I awakened Ideal Blood then I would rather completely remove my vampire side. I would probably have a lot of people question my sanity as I did the stupid meme but I would be able to pop a bonner afterwards.

So who was really winning here?

Mei finally seemed to convey what she wanted as the bar tender let out a loud grunt and motioned for them to come behind the bar.

He started leading us into the basement and when we reached it I figured out where the rebellion was hiding. 

They were underground as beneath the bar was a tunnel that reminded me of my days digging out caverns in Minecraft.

For a moment I thought they had some how managed to get their base underwater but I dismissed that idea.

The current Mizukage could turn into a perfect Jinchuriki. This meant the rebellion had to deal with the fact that a giant turtle might sniff out their location if only because it needed to swim about every once and a while.