It had been a couple of hours since the first attack took place, and while they waited for the next attack to take place, the village of Kirigakure had settled in to a uneasy calm.  It wouldn't last long...these Fragile Moments never did. But while the minutes were there, the shinobi, of the village hidden in the mist took the oppertunity to catch their breath and regroup. The darkness had only just started to reach across the hazy skies.

--

Tenmei Sotsuji glanced over her shoulder for the third time as she pushed her way through the trees, towards the rock speckled, sandy shore line. All the other people...all the other shinobi had stayed back to help with defending against the last few stragglers that thought to sneak through the lines, or disappeared off to the hospital to deal with the less unfortunate who decided it was a good idea to go above and beyond their limits. While the rest remained back to help with repairing what they could of the walls, she had escaped to step out on to the calmer waters edge. There was no one around.
For the first time since that first attack on the pier a week ago Tenmei was completely alone.

It was peaceful. Quiet.

The sound of the water crashing against the rocks, covering the sand, the wind as it whispered sweet nothings over the water; Tenmei trod over the gritty sand towards a smoothed stone, halfway between the treeline and the crystaline water. There, she placed her bag down and started to peel away the linen bandages which covered the most of her torso.
Considering the amount of damage that she had done, the burns and grazes were healing pleasantly fast. The most prominent, and oldest scarring was still there...as it always would be. A burn that covered her shoulder to the base of her ribs and halfway down her arms, it was only broken up by the more recent electrical burns which patterned her back in a criss-cross fashion. Bruises, stab wounds around her side, shoulders, nothing looked as bad as the slice mark that spanned the length of her back from shoulder to hip.

She decided long ago that scars were just that....Scars.

Her shirt slipped back easily over her shoulders, falling just above her waist so the marks could still get to the salt tainted air, and she was unhindered when reaching down for her bag.
From within it's depths, she withdrew the few items that would make this moment: A piece of paper, cut in to a perfect square, a thermos of tea, still warm from when she had packed it earlier, and a woolen blanket that would absorb any heat that she may give off.

And then....it was all ritual from there.

Lying the blanket over the rock, she perched herself down in the lotus position with the thermos resting on one knee, perfectly balanced and the paper in her lap. Then, with the well practiced fingers, she folded the paper in to a shape which clearly resembled that of a water lily. With the tea now steaming from a simple, black clay mug and the origami flower sitting in her hands, she closed her eyes and let her mind sink in to a state of calm that she had not been able to reach since the exams had finished over a month ago.

-----

Time passed her by

Keeping perfect control of her chakra, Tenmei remained still on the same spot while the waves continued to work up the nerve to reach her, the wind only just disturbing the top granules of sand.
She was so focused on her task...on the paper in her hands, the tea sending pleasant aromas of vanilla and chai in to the air beside her, the chunin was completely oblivious to the stranger, watching not too far from where she had first entered this magical...

Fragile Moment