A month and a half.

That was how long Uzumaki Naruto had been gone from his home in Konohagakure. Away from his friends, from his teachers, his home… his Weapons Mistress. Tenten was no longer accustomed to being away from her boisterous blonde for such a large amount of time. All he told her was that he'd taken an S-ranked mission and that he'd be gone for a while, but promising that he would be back in time to celebrate her birthday. He'd even sworn it on his dream of becoming Hokage. Tenten felt her heart sink into the very pit of her stomach when he told her.

Tenten asked for a spare key to his apartment, or more to the point, borderline demanded one. Naruto had only chuckled and fished a key from the pocket of his signature orange jacket. They'd spent the rest of the day together, with Tenten spending the night with her blonde. First light came all too soon for her liking, for even though Naruto managed to slither out of her constrictive grasp in the gentlest of fashions, she'd woken immediately; the bed seeming far too cold to sleep in. She held him and he wrapped her in the warmest of embraces. They stood there, in his bedroom in silence for what seemed like hours, each breath the passing of a century.

"I'll be back before you can miss me," he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She scoffed. "I already miss you, you dork. You better come back safely."

He chuckled softly and she reluctantly released him. Naruto left her alone, wearing one the the violently orange outfits he favored; the only one that he hadn't packed.

"Tenten," a rather familiar voice called out as the bell above the shop's door chimed. "How are you?"

Her chocolate eyes focused on the emerald jumpsuit of her friend and teammate, Rock Lee. "Good afternoon, Lee. I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" he asked, genuine concern lacing his voice. "The fires of your youth seem to be waning."

"You and Gai-sensei and the whole 'flames of youth' thing." Tenten shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"If you say so," he offered his brightest smile. It reminded her of Naruto, the infectious smile he had that could power the whole of Konohagakure for months on end. "Oh, by the way, I've come to retrieve my special order."

With a nod, Tenten knelt behind the counter and surfaced with a black rectangular box. Lee's eyes shone in reverence as she opened the box and revealed two hexagonal, nunchaku made of polished steel. After paying six hundred ryo and bowing to his friend in thanks, the Taijutsu master took his leave. The rest of the day passed without much incident. Ino, the blond heiress of the Yamanaka clan, came in and they chatted for an hour, until they were joined by Sakura. The trio went out for hamburger steak and BBQ. Full and all having early starts in the morning, the pinkette, blonde and brunette went their separate ways; Tenten making her way back to Naruto's apartment for a fitful night of sleep.

Sunlight of the next morning filtered through the window in Naruto's bedroom, causing the young weapons mistress to stir. Her eyes fluttered open. It was the ninth of March; her birthday. Rolling from the bed, she showered and dressed for the day. Leaving the apartment, Tenten went to lock the door when she felt a familiar chakra surrounding her. Immediately, she turned around.

"Happy birthday, Ten-chan." Naruto smiled.

Her vision growing misty, Tenten pounced on the blonde shinobi and held him close. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."

Reaching into his bag, Naruto pulled out a box and a scroll and handed it to her. "These were my S-rank mission. Took way longer than I thought to find those."

Her brows immediately furrowed. "What are they?"

Leading her back into the apartment, Naruto said. "I'd been thinking about what I was going to get for you when we first started dating. What to get for the woman that carries more weapons in her back pocket than the whole Allied Shinobi Forces? More weapons! Just ones you didn't have. That was the difficult part."

Opening the box, Tenten gasped. Inside, were eight guardless daggers. Their hilts were wrapped in a red cloth and the shape of the blades were odd, as they all had four flats. It was almost as if they were rectangular and came to a point that was made specifically for piecing. They were beautiful. Unrolling the scroll, she came face to face with a familiar seal that she used to store her hundreds of thousands of weapons. Undoing the seal, she came sat in front of what looked like a giant sewing needle. She knew this blade.

"Naru-kun…" she started, breathless. "How did you…"

He grinned. "Do you like them?"

"You got me the Sewing Needle: Nuibari?" she looked up at him. "One of the swords of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. How...?"

"Yep. No one would use it better than you."

Moving closer to her favorite loudmouth, she gave him the sweetest, most tender kiss he'd ever known. "I love you. I love you so much, Naru-kun."

"I love you too, Ten-chan."