Despite that he had prompted a response from the woman before him by outwardly speaking her name, when she finally did say something in return, it came as a surprise. This of course was because, truthfully, he'd muttered it to himself more than her. Whatever the cause, misgivings about his feelings lingered within him like a stiffness in his sides. Black eyes shifted away to gaze upon the distant landscape through a nearby opening.

The sky was cramped, hemmed in on all sides by tall buildings stitched with industrial pipes. Summer's dry heat never touched this dreary village; there was no moment of reprieve, not with the incessant rainfall acting as an invisible coverture of sorts. Even when the tears were made warm by the thick and humid air as they silently fell, the grey surroundings that enveloped the territory from one corner to the other always felt so.. cold.

A coarse sigh puffed through scarred lips, his attention fixated on those porcelain features once more. He tried to force his thoughts back into some semblance of order before murmuring out a laconic “Nothing.” After a short pause that felt like an eternity, Madara's stand in lifted his arm and curled an index finger toward himself only once, a simple motion that signaled her to move closer.