Ikigai

Chapter 33: Rain

Kintsugi didn't necessarily hate water, if anything it was tolerable. She enjoyed water within the confines of a shower, even in that of a controlled environment such as a warm spring bath, but in nature, coming from above in the form of rain, she detested it. 

The way she could feel the droplets touch every inch of exposed skin, soaking her clothes as it reached inside her body, it made her skin crawl, made her want to bury herself beneath the cold, cold ground if only to escape the ever-present memory of a time she would rather forget.

The earth tribe wasn't the only tribe that knew how to hurt people. None were as creative as the benders that had made her stand against the pouring rain in nothing but the shackles that had bound her to a boulder as she screamed in anger in time with the ocean waves that crashed all around her.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi spoke as he glanced at her rigid figure, her knuckles tightly gripping the umbrella they had ended up purchasing a few miles back when the rain had started to pour. 

"I'm fine," she dismissed noticing him slow down before stopping in front of an awning. 

"We can rest here if you want, I'm sure the store owner won't mind us standing outside for a bit."

"The rain may be messing with the Inuzuka's ability to track their scent right now, but I'd rather get this over with if you don't mind."

"Are you sure?"

She glared, silently waiting for him to step out of the awning again and continue walking. She heard him sigh, but she didn't care how Kakashi felt right now. Not when she was struggling to focus on her breathing. Not when she had spent her whole existence caring about someone else's wants and needs only to have that same person willingly block her chi as he watched them strip her of her own.

It was hard to let go of the uncontrollable anger that desired retribution when the only thing she wanted at the moment was control, but yes, she was sure. 

"There's a tunnel that stretches out for a mile before forking out into separate dead ends on either side. It doesn't seem man-made. But...it's a decoy."

"A decoy?"

Kakashi watched Kintsugi as her eyes fluttered shut, hands spread against the side of the mountain as the rain poured over them, her umbrella forgotten as her fingers twitched every now and then, her mind working to form a clear mental image against the backdrop of pulsing shadows the rain provided. 

Out of all the tunnels she had built before revealing herself to the village, it was easy to narrow down the next best location Sauske's kidnappers may have come through. Of course, it also helped that the Inuzuka Clan along with their dogs had at least managed to point out a general location for the intruders. 

"Yeah, there's a hidden pool of water, about a couple meters wide, 6 yards into this tunnel's entrance... I can feel its connection to another body of water further out..."

"Hidden?"

"I don't know how to describe it, but...it's almost as if it's warped, fading in and out. You think it's one of those genjutsu things you ninja do?"

"You can sense that?"

Kintsugi shrugged leaning further into the mountain as her fingers trembled, no more focused on sensing the structure in front of her, "You should have someone check the tunnel and figure it out though. It's just a guess, but that would explain why I can still sense it."

The rain was plastering her hair against her face, and as Kakashi spoke her mind began to drift, eyes glazed more than normal as her hands continued to tremble by her side, the rain drowning out his words against the echos of vague images all around her.