When Waves Meet the Sand

Trees blurred past as Kumiko ran across their branches, keeping an eye on her Polar Bear Dog in case they needed to change course.

Apparently, Megumi and Kana had covered quite a bit of distance in the few hours the squad had separated, and Kumiko had to go at top speed in the hopes of catching up within the next hour or two.

‘They must have gotten at least two scrolls by now.’ She thought, jumping to the next branch with only the strength of her legs.

While most ninja would use chakra to do the same, the Waterbender did not have the luxury.

Secure in the knowledge that Megumi would have insisted on at least two complete sets, she focused solely on finding her teammates and returning to Squad 7 quickly.

Though Kumiko knew that Sakura would do her best, it was painfully obvious that she had almost no combat experience, or even jutsu, to help in case the trio were found.

She would have stayed, guarded them until Naruto had awoken and Sasuke was fully recovered, but finding her teammates was crucial.

Tomo was probably worried sick, yowling and whining, and she felt bad for leaving him behind.

Fubuki suddenly growled, and Kumiko was immediately on alert.

A flurry of senbon came down on her from the right, so she leapt up and out of the way, using one hand to grasp an overhead branch and twist to avoid the second barrage.

Pushing off before the final assault could meet it’s mark, Kumiko landed in an open clearing, out of branches to hide in.

The Polar Bear Dog followed, unscathed, and landed behind her owner with an annoyed growl.

Agreeing with her Animal Guide, she pulled out a kunai as three Amegakure nin landed a few yards away.

They were all a few years older than her, eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing heavy cloaks with umbrella strapped to their backs.

Judging by the numbers, and that they were not safely hidden away, Kumiko deduced that they were for more than shielding from the rain.

The foremost man, who was the only one of the trio not wearing a straw hat, stepped forward confidently, the smirk he was trying to make twisted into a grimace from the scars across the right side of his face.

“Looks like we found ourselves a lost little girl, boys.”

Fubuki bared her teeth, hackles rising, and only Kumiko’s upraised hand kept the Polar Bear Dog from ripping the fool’s throat out.

“I don’t have a scroll.” The Waterbender stated clearly, knuckles turning white. “There’s no point in fighting.”

The man’s single eye was maliciously dark, roving over her in a way that made Kumiko’s skin crawl.

“Actually, I think there is.”

Blue eyes narrowed, darkening slightly, as Fubuki crouched down in preparation to pounce.

“No, there isn’t.”

The veneer of patience cracked, revealing his growing irritation with a scowl, and even the other two tensed up as if expecting a fight.

“So we’re doing this the hard way? Fine.” He growled, pulling two umbrella free of their holsters and holding them like one would a club. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t.”

Without another word, Kumiko slid into a fighting stance, immovable.

Kana’s lessons seem to have stuck, after all.

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With a soft sigh, Megumi straightened from her crouch, flicking blood off her swords with a practiced wrist.

Tomo resumed his place on her shoulder as Kana went about retrieving the scroll, while the Firebender took the downed kunoichi’s scarf to better clean her blades of gore.

The cat would not settle peacefully; he paced across the redhead’s bandaged shoulders, meowing anxiously, tail flicking quickly to and fro.

As if absorbing the feline’s restlessness, Megumi became increasingly agitated, though she took pains not to show it.

Once her blades were clean, Megumi lifted her head to see how Kana was progressing.

“Got it!” The brunette assured, holding up the Heaven Scroll they had come for. “Ya don’t wanna know where it was, but it’s better than nothin’.”

Deciding to follow her advice and not wonder about the scroll’s hiding place, the Firebender sheathed her blades.

“That makes three full sets.” She noted. “Should be enough. Let’s find Kumiko.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Kana grumbled, stowing their new find away before slamming her bare heel against the forest floor.

As her Seismic Sense stretched across the Forest of Death, Megumi waited patiently, soothing Tomo with a scratch behind the ears.

The sudden tension in the younger girl’s jaw and shaking fists had the red-haired girl on high alert.

“Kana?”

“Someone’s after sweet’eart.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the pair of kunoichi took off into the trees, intent on their new prey.

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To see a Waterbender fight is like watching a dancer perform, graceful and swift, and Kumiko was no exception.

Side-stepping a powerful downward stroke, the white-haired kunoichi spun into a crouch to avoid a follow-up strike, slashing the side of her opponent’s knee with her kunai.

As the Amegakure nin cried out, leg buckling, she kicked the back of his injured knee, grabbing his shoulder and throwing him in one motion.

The main difference between a Waterbender and a dancer?

Waterbenders are never to be underestimated.

One of the other Rain shinobi moved to help his teammate, but Fubuki pounced on him, sinking her fangs into his shoulder.

Leaping clear of any possible retaliation, Kumiko whistled sharply, calling off the Polar Bear Dog’s assault.

The pair watched as the Amegakure ninja regrouped, one with a wounded leg, another with a near-useless arm, and the last confused, unable to process what had happened.

Kumiko very much wished that they would just retreat and leave her be, but knew that things would not end so easily.

The swift trouncing had clearly tarnished the older boy’s male pride, she could see it in his unscarred eye, and no man ever allowed such a thing to go unpunished.

Fubuki bared her blood-stained teeth in warning, muscles tensed in preparation to pounce, but stilled when Kumiko placed her hand on the canine’s shoulder.

She did not want Fubuki hurt because of someone’s ego.

Most of the team, mainly the one that had been half-mauled by Fubuki’s fangs, seemed rather eager to withdraw rather than pick another fight.

Unfortunately for them, their leader had other plans.

Umbrellas still in hand, he popped them open and threw them into the air with a flick of the wrist, where they floated ominously.

Water pouches uncorked themselves with an inaudible ‘pop’, the liquid inside beginning to swirl in time with her racing heart, as Fubuki pressed against her owner’s side, entire body vibrating with nervous energy.

Senbon filled the air like deadly raindrops, and the canine fell into a defensive crouch with a sharp growl as Kumiko let out a forcibly-calm breath of icy mist.

‘They’re being controlled by chakra.’ She reasoned, watching the deadly needles fly through the air with coordinated ease. ‘Even if I dodge, they will only follow me…So there’s only one thing to do.’

Steeling herself, Kumiko motioned subtly for her Animal Guide to fall back at the first opportunity, water slowly pooling out of the water pouches to wait just beneath her hands.

‘Fight through the pain.’

With a sadistic grimace, the angry shinobi made a hand sign.

“Senbon Rainstorm!”

To the boy’s surprise, instead of falling back, Kumiko pushed herself forward, right into the senbon storm.

Ignoring the needles that embedded themselves in her skin, the Waterbender pulled her arm back, encasing the entire limb in ice and-

The Amegakure nin was too stunned to avoid the reinforced fist that struck him in the face.

He flew back into a tree, dazed by the blow, and his teammates could only stare in wonder at the bleeding, needle-pierced kunoichi that had somehow survived a nearly invincible jutsu.

Trembling from the pain, Kumiko put pressure on a particularly bad puncture wound on her right shoulder, trying to stem the heavy flow of blood.

Her entire body was littered with needles, and her cheeks had been sliced open by some near misses, but she refused to fall.

Fubuki snarled, lunging forward, when the two moved to grab their own weapons, falling short at the sight of Kumiko’s swift glare.

The exchange was swift and silent, but the dog eventually shook herself with a huff, taking off into the trees in search of help.

With a deep, fortifying breath, Kumiko faced her opponents, the ice thawing on her skin.

A woman’s work is never done.