These are the things that are never complete, that have never been full since the Rains began.

Jacala's Mouth, and the Glut of the Kite,

And the Hands of the Ape, and the Eyes of Man.

--Rudyard Kipling, Red Dog.

"Who are you?"

The kunoichi had a kunai to my throat. I'd never encountered anything like this before. How could she overpower me so easily? I was an experienced kunoichi myself, a Shinobi of the village trained in defensive technique and tactics. She was so fast, so precise. The question just slipped out of my mouth.

I think it gave her pause. Maybe it reminded her that I was a person, too. Not just a Shinobi. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Her voice was... low. Her tongue flickered over her lips, slipping around her words. An accent I didn't know, either.

How could I? Her Chakra was little more than a whisper, even to my ears, but I could feel it there. Somehow its song was masked. Not only had she surprised me in my most vigilant time, but she worked jutsu I'd never seen with seals I didn't recognise. I swear she worked a few without any seals at all...

"You're an enemy. Aren't you?" The question caught both of us by surprise. She'd attacked me on guard. Diplomatically, that was a declaration of war against Konoha. But the shadows over her face, moving with her and so deep that they had to be artificial, prevented me from seeing her hitaite to determine which village she was from.

"I'm not your enemy. Necessarily. But I fought you and won. Why are we having this conversation?"

Good question. My mind raced. No time to wonder about diplomacy, I had to survive to tell Konoha that we were being attacked. "Not sure about that myself. Can't really breathe. Can you ease up on the pressure, please?"

A low chuckle. Warm. Real amusement. That was progress, and the kunai disappeared into a sheath at her thigh. A sheath, not the usual pouch, I noticed. Was there something special about her weapons? What happened if she lost it, and the two it rode beside? She took a step back, released me from the choke hold and shook out her hair. Odd to keep it flying so free as a Shinobi, especially if she was planning trouble.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you who I am if you don't raise the alarm until we finish talking," she offered. "Try to cheat me, and you'll die." Not 'I'll kill you.' Just 'You'll die.' She was on a whole different level to me.

Not much of a choice. "Deal. Tell me your name."

She smiled a little, beneath the veil of shadow, and shook her head. Her hair was thick, just past chin-length, and purple. I was assembling what profile I could already, training taking over while I tried to improvise some way to survive. "I don't think so. I've heard about Konoha's Namae Shibari no Jutsu. Why don't you tell me your name first?"

Damn. "At least show me your hitaite. How did you beat me so quickly? I barely knew you were there before I was pinned. And why didn't you just kill me?"

Another little smile. I got the feeling that she wanted to tap me on the nose like a puppy. "One question at a time. I beat you because I am stronger than you." I stiffened, and she noticed. "Don't be ashamed, I'm stronger than most. I earnt it. My jutsu aren't what most Shinobi are used to facing, and my doujutsu..." The words petered out, as if she'd noticed my eagerness and realised she was about to give away too much. "That's really all I want to tell you about my abilities, I think. I've also observed you on your watches and worked out your schedule, because my tactics work best against yours in particular. I was prepared, you weren't, and I won. I didn't expect you to ask such a strange question, and it stayed my hand. I'm not really sure why, but I don't like killing if I don't need to." Her tongue flickered out again, passing over blood-red lips. "Pain, now... that's another story."

"But... you haven't told me anything. I meant-"

"I'm you're enemy," she reminded me, her voice sharp. "I don't give information that could potentially hurt my operations."

"So you're on a mission?" I pounced on that word 'operations.' "For a village? Covert action against Konoha?"

"I didn't say that. You shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly, its unseemly in one so young." She sighed. "I'm getting bored quickly. I thought you'd ask more interesting questions. You can't stop this anyway, so there's no need for you to die tonight. Maybe I'll see you again." She turned to the narrow observation window she had entered the guard hut through, black cloak emblazoned with red clouds swirling dramatically, and prepared to leap away.

"Wait!" I blurted. "Don't leave yet!" Surprised, she turned back to me. What was this weird kinship I felt with this woman? The top half of her face was shadowed, so I didn't even know what she looked like. "Show me your face. Let me... let me see who I have to chase." I think my face was red. I've never been so completely beaten before.

She was silent for a moment. "All right. Kai!" No seals that I saw, but the darkness blew away as if chased by a strong wind.

Revealing the hitaite across her eyes like a blindfold.

A Konoha hitaite. I'd half-expected a Mist-nin, but this?

"Wha... what is this?" My voice had dropped to a whisper. "Why are you here? Aren't you one of us?"

"One of who?" Her voice was lazy. "What were you expecting?"

I didn't answer. I didn't even notice what else she was wearing. All I saw was that thick purple hair framing her face, and the hitaite covering her eyes, just above the high collar of her cloak. "You're hypnotic," I blurted.

"I know," she shrugged. "It runs in the family. I do have some more things to do tonight, so if you'll excuse me..." She turned away again, but swung back as I dipped a hand to my shuriken pouch, and in a blur of movement my hand was knocked away by a shuriken of her own.

It took me a moment to realise my fingers were bleeding. The scene was so surreal that pain hadn't sunk in yet. I glanced behind me when there was no noise from the weapon striking the wall, but saw no sign of a shuriken. Where had it come from, anyway? There was no pouch on her thigh, no sheathes for shuriken, and I hadn't seen her grab anything from a pocket...

"You were hoping this was an affectation?" she asked calmly, pointing to her makeshift blindfold. "You were hoping I couldn't see you? Bad luck. I'm leaving now. Chase me hard, little kunoichi. An idol will make you stronger. One day you might even become as strong as me."

"What are you doing in Konoha?" I blurted. My mouth is clumsy, I've noticed. Things just keep coming out that no one expects, least of all myself. My face was truly burning now. Underestimating a Shinobi who had already demonstrated complete superiority over me? My sensei would have dismissed me without a thought.

This time she didn't turn back to face me, but that same smile rang in her voice. "What am I doing here? It's really very simple. See the lights out there?"

"Vaguely." The sinking feeling that I had gotten myself in way over my head suddenly came back with a vengeance. The lights were on the wall, and they were moving up and over

"They're a renegade Shinobi army with only one goal. You should probably go help fight them off." Shouts drifted through the window, and my divination pulled my attention every which way. Chakra was screaming out there, in voices I had never heard before. That amused voice cut through the clamour, and I clung to it. "My job was to distract the security guard so that she couldn't raise the general alarm, but you're too interesting to die so pointlessly. Ja, mata ne." Without taking a step, it seemed, she blurred into motion and disappeared.

I sighed heavily, my mind completely shut down. Konoha under attack. The screams and war cries were completely drowned out by the song of the Chakra flowing all around. Konoha under attack. My fault. Smoke in the air. Chakra singing so loudly it hurt my ears. Konoha under attack.

As I stood there in paralysed confusion, Konoha village began to burn.