When Waves Meet the Sand

Pain was the first thing Kumiko registered as she began to wake up.

The cuts along her torso were throbbing, and her body was burning in an attempt to kill off the poison that was running unchecked through her veins.

Taking deep, agonized breaths, Kumiko groaned in an attempt to overcome the poison's influence.

"Oh, you're awake!" A little girl's voice shouted, surprised.

Forcing her eyes open, the Waterbender found a chubby little heart-shaped face hovering over her own, wide green eyes trained on her and blonde hair frizzed.

"Hi!"

Blinking in surprise, Kumiko managed a smile.

"Uh...Hi?"

"I'm Momo!" The child introduced herself, jumping off the make-shift bed. "Who are you? What were you doing in the river? Why do you have so many weapons? Are you a ninja? Could you teach me to be a ninja too?"

Mind still spinning, Kumiko levered herself upright with some difficulty.

"Could I have some water first?" She wondered, a headache forming behind her eyes.

"I can't really think straight..."

"Oh, sure!" Momo assured, turning around and grabbing an old, chipped cup full of the liquid.

Taking the cup gratefully, Kumiko closed her eyes and breathed, feeling for the poison in her blood.

Her senses snagged on the barbed little hooks, and she pulled.

Momo watched, wide-eyed, as a faintly green liquid floated out of Kumiko's still-open wounds, condensing into a sphere beneath the white-haired girl's hand.

Once a majority of the poison was extracted, Kumiko gloved her other hand in a thin sheet of water, which glowed upon contact with her injuries.

With the damage undone, the young blonde seemed to find her voice.

"You're a Waterbender!" Momo realized, awed. "I've never met another Bender besides my oniisan!"

"You're a Bender?" Kumiko questioned, putting the poison safely into an empty vial held in her kunai pouch.

"Yup! Me and my brother are Earthbenders!" Momo explained, grinning widely. "Oh, I've got to go tell Seiji-san that you're awake!"

Turning away, Momo took a strong stance and brought both hands down, pulling open a hidden door in the wall before running through.

"I'll be right back!"

Watching her go, Kumiko collected her thoughts and took in her surroundings more clearly.

The room was rounded and rather large, carved into the rock, with only a mattress and sheets for furniture.

Fingering the ratty sheets, the Waterbender frowned.

Who lived here, exactly?

"So, you're finally awake." A voice said from the doorway, catching Kumiko's attention.

Standing there was a boy her age, only slightly shorter than Megumi, with shaggy reddish-brown hair and weary purple eyes.

"I am Seiji, the leader of the Kodomo no Girudo."

Those eyes narrowed, suspicious.

"Who are you, and why were you in the river?"

"I'm Kumiko." She replied, unknowingly giving him a disarming smile. "Me and my friends were attacked on the way to Shinkiro no Mura, and I got thrown into the river. I'm sorry to have bother you."

Excited whispering came from somewhere beyond the doorway, and Seiji rolled his eyes tiredly.

"If you've healed yourself like Momo said, you should be ready to leave."

Nodding, Kumiko stood up just as two small girls ran in and almost tackled her in a hug.

One was Momo, who rambled on about not wanting the Waterbender to leave, while the other was a slightly taller brunette with short dark hair and hazel eyes that was reasoning with Seiji to let her stay.

They drowned each other out to the point that Kumiko could no longer identify words, and Seiji pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache.

"Someone's obviously going to be looking for her." He argued, cutting off the stream of noise.

"Can we at least help her find her friends?" The brunette girl wondered, pouting cutely.

"You don't have to." Kumiko assured, picking up her water pouches from their spot next to the bed. "I just need to know which way the village is, and I'll be on my way."

Frowning, Seiji opened his mouth to reply-

A scream tore through the air, and Kumiko almost dropped her pouches in surprise.

Seiji tore off down the tunnel, and the brunette girl was quick to follow, clearly concerned.

Taking hold of Kumiko's hand, Momo tugged her into a run after them, nearly pulling the Waterbender off-balance with her speed.

The tunneled hallways were long and winding, cutting across each other in a seemingly random way, that reminded Kumiko of a badger's burrow she had found when trying out her Seismic Sense.

Momo tugged her into a massive room, where two boys were dragging themselves in from a steep tunnel on the other side, covered in blood.

The smaller of the two seemed relatively unharmed, blood dripping from his spiky blonde hair because of the other boy's gushing arm, which was draped over his shoulders from their collapsed position on the floor.

"What happened?" Seiji demanded as the two girls helped support the injured nine-year-old as the younger one collapsed in exhaustion, blue eyes dull from lack of energy.

Kumiko ignored the two, rushing to the other boy's side to check the damage as he was laid down.

The brunette girl was pale with fright, green chakra probing the extensive wound, and she pulled back.

"It's too deep...I can't heal this..."

"I can." Kumiko stated, uncapping one of her pouching and streaming some of the water out over one shoulder.

Examining the massive gash, which started from the brunette boy's shoulder all the way to his wrist, she used one hand to keep the blood from flowing out.

He had lost too much as it was.

Pressing a water-gloved palm to his shoulder, Kumiko let out a cleansing breath as her chi reacted with his own life force and caused the liquid to glow.

Muscles reconnected and skin stitched itself together seamlessly, leaving no trace of injury behind.

With the wound closed, she dropped the bloody water onto the floor and checked for a pulse, concerned.

...

Ba-Bump...

Ba-Bump...

Relieved, Kumiko looked up at her stunned audience with a smile.

"He should be fine after a meal and some rest." She assured.

"A-Arigato." Momo whispered, teary-eyed and sniffling as she kneeled beside the unconscious boy.

"Why did you save him?"

Distracted from capping her water pouch, Kumiko blinked owlishly at Seiji, confused.

"Why wouldn't I?"

He seemed to have no idea how to respond, and she looked past him towards the other boy.

"Are you alright?" The white-haired preteen worried.

"I'm fine..." He replied, studying her curiously.

"You should eat and rest." She advised, oblivious to everyone else's awed, curious stares. "Running out of chakra can be a death sentence with a skilled healer, never mind an amateur like me."

He nodded dumbly, and Seiji watched Kumiko as she stood, adjusting the straps of her pouches.

"Are you going, then?" He wondered bitterly.

"Nope."

All four of them stared at the Waterbender in bewilderment, caught off-guard.

"Really?" Momo whispered, hopeful.

"I can't leave knowing you're all out here fending for yourselves." Kumiko explained, a frown forming at the thought. "So I'm going to help, whether you like it or not."