It had been nearly two hours since the announcement was made, and Tenmei was still being held in the first aid room.
The last battle against Hanbei Guanyin had been difficult to say the least. Having gained several hair line fractures across certain bones, with matching scratches and bruises that painted her lightly tanned skin in different levels of pain; the three busy body medical shinobi worked hard to heal up the scars and the burn on her left palm as fast as possible so she could soon make her way up to the next challenge. The last part of these damned chuunin exams.
  But in the mean time, Tenmei just sat there, still, on the bed with a steaming cup of lemon and green tea in her steadying hands, a book on her lap and the words of her father running through her mind, telling her not to give up. Telling her that she had to be strong one more time and finish.  

'You'll be okay. You can do this. Make me proud'

For the final time that day, Tenmei raised the steaming rim to her lips and took a tentative sip, enjoying the bitter sweet taste of the liquid as it slipped off her tongue and tricked down her throat, melting away the dregs of anxieties that had lingered in the back of her mind since leaving the arena a short while ago. 
Then, once, and only once she had assured herself that no drops remained, Tenmei carefully pushed the book back on to the side table and swung her tired legs over the edge of the bed. She had been here long enough and it was time to go. So with one final, grateful glance at the three that had aided in her recovery, the female grabbed her change of clothes and headed to the tower. The place where she would meet her final opponent. The last person she would have to beat before this whole thing would be over.

Yes. It would be all over. 
Finally.

As she slowly made her way to the gleaming white tower, Tenmei allowed her mind to drift from the nerves of what was to come, and focus on what had taken place during the days before.
Back then, she had never even dreamed of surviving this long.

Walking up to her first opponent in the magically peaceful scenery of the zen garden, she was barely able to breath with the worries and  doubts and that had been pulling at her wind pipe. He had been so confident. Cocky. Arrogant even. The female genin had shown no mercy as she took him down without so much as breaking a sweat. 
  The next was much the same. Confident, clever. The way he used paper as weapons was something completely new to the girl shinobi. He had made her bleed and for that she had trapped him in a forest of burning trees with no way out except for through her. He had not lasted long enough to even try.
  Her third opponent used a technique that was familiar but no way less impressive. The scars she was given from the shoots, the tree that had grown fast and strong, holding back the stone pillars of the completely darkened arena. Tenmei had never seen a Genin move as she did back then.....and then there was that final battle.
She had nearly lost against the feminine looking child. Skilled with his needles, the female had gotten lucky once more and managed to pull through alive with only a few more scars to show for it.

But this time.....this time she may not be so lucky. 

Arriving at the tower reminded her of back at the first event. Having made her way through a sand storm with little supplies and even less confidence. It was almost a relief to see the gleaming white stone, shining blindingly as it rose mightily out of the sand. But the structure itself was not what drew the awe from her lips. Floating high above the ground were these giant blimp type balloons, humming away together, caught in their chain net like trapped birds. It was enough to bring back the stomach knots which she had spent the last couple of hours untying. Needless to say, the doubts, the anxieties she had once experienced, came rushing back full force, threatening to topple her before she even reached the tower.  
It took all of the young Sotsuji's will to not to turn around and head back to where she came from right now.

And so here she was again, letting her pride lead her towards her final challenge. The act she would be performing in this rust covered place.

Without knowing how she had found her way in, Tenmei  felt herself climbing the many stairs that spiraled around and around the circumference of the tower, her hand finding comfort on the steady wooden railing beside her. Higher and higher she climbed before coming to a stop at a heavy wooden door that would hopefully lead to the platform outside. A wide circular area, flattened by the weather where the proctor and her opponent would be waiting for her to arrive. 
Who ever this person happened to be.....

"Ki....Kichirou?.....But...no. What are you....?

It was like someone had stopped her with an iron bar to the gut.
It had been years since she had seen him, the persistently optimistic dark haired boy. Years.
Back before Tenmei had arrived in Kiri, when she had first started her travels with the old man, they had picked up some boy off the side of the road who was hoping to for a lift. With her father recently having passed away and recovering from the nastiest of burns , she was less than hospitable towards him. But despite her cold attitude and the utterly gruesome looking burns , he had helped her with her wounds and gave her the company she really needed. 
In the end, she had warmed up to him but by the time she admitted to herself, he had already gone.....and Tenmei was back to square one. Completely shut off from people and the world around her. 

She had not seem him since....
And yet here he was. Same eyes, same smile just a bit taller. 
Unlike her. She had changed immensely over their time apart. The burns which he would remember was now just a scar that covered her arm, shoulder and ribs. Her hair was longer, her skin a little darker and there was a life in her eyes that had only started to come back within the last couple months. However the biggest change was her control.
Before, she couldn't be touched. Now, Tenmei could turn the first five pages of her favourite book without the paper turning yellow.

She had never forgotten her friend. Not once. 
Tenmei just hoped that he would remember her too. 

"What are you doing here?....I mean....I know what you are doing here. But why now?....why? I....It's been a long time"

There was no stopping it now. The subtle shaking that stemmed from her fingers in to her hands, her arms. The shuddering inhales as she tried to maintain composure in front of the scrutinizing audience.
She could already feel the warm sting of tears as they built up behind the conflict in her silvery eyes before mercilessly slipping out to roll down her cheek, leaving a moist like on her tanned skin. Carefully, hesitantly, she took a step forward and reached out to touch him but pulled her hand away, grasping it in front of her chest as if to stop herself from seeing if this person was really here. If she was actually seeing him there after all this time. Surely this was another dream.

There was no way, she could fight a friend like him.

“Ten-chan, you have grown.”

She wanted to say something...anything.
But when Tenmei parted her slightly trembling lips to speak...her words were choked off by quiet sobs that took their place. Granting her tears the permission they needed to fall freely as they rolled down her flushed cheeks, collecting up the sand that had stuck there and washing it away with all that she had been holding back over the last couple of days.
Right now: Tenmei didn't care what the ravishing crowd saw. The salty streaks that reached her jaw line, before evaporating in to the dryness of the atmosphere, the trembling that had crept from her hands to her heart like a virus slowly taking over her sullen form; None of it mattered anymore. He had remembered her. The time they spent together. The long hours of sitting side by side with a thick wall of tension that kept the touch of friendship, just out of their reach.

All she wanted was to tell him that....

He had never been this close before...but it still felt so familiar.

The soft, light hearted laugh registered to the young girl's mind, but it sounded far away. An echo from a time long since passed. A dream.
Tenmei couldn't help but find herself glancing around the empty platform with concern buried in with the tears, deep in her silvery grey eyes, expecting to see the tall figure that had graced her every day, every night dreams.....but then the arms came up around her. Strong, reassuring, warm. Like home. In that moment's breath, it sparked a reaction that could not be helped. The girl shinobi allowed her weight to mould with his, as she leaned in to him, embracing the warmth so different to her own. This feeling, once so foreign to her. She didn't want to let go.
 
'Please don't make me let go. Not this time.....please'

But once more, her thoughts were silenced by the hand on her back, gently caressing the spot between her shoulders. Every time she felt his cooler skin press up against her clothes, Tenmei could feel the anxiety build under his palm. Then, like urging a small child from it's quiet corner, the tension, the nerves and the doubts, were all released from her slight, trembling frame and she could breath again.
  “Sshhh. . . it's okay Ten-chan.”
Oh how she wanted to believe those words. Tenmei just wanted to nod and accept that he was right. That the words in her mind were right. But deep down the same niggling, pulling thought was always still sitting there like a torment. How can it be okay when she was to fight one of the only people that she cared deeply for.
One of the only people that cared for her.

“You have control now.”
"Yeah...I've...I've been trying"

The words were broken. Spoken with quiet fractures that only he would hear. Only he would be allowed to hear. And even then, they were masked behind a breath of self doubt and a forest of nerves.
Slowly, she raised her hand to his arm, reaching for his shoulder and softly, gently tracing her fingers down the length of his arm before letting them rest steadily just before his elbow. She would never forget the first time she had left her mark on another person. A small patch where the skin was a little paler, a little more roughened than that of the rest of the body. Is it still there? she found herself wondering in her wandering thoughts. 'Are they all still there?'
I didn't matter. None of it mattered. Those would soon be covered by more burns. More marks. More little reasons for him to forgive her again and again. The fear pulled on the knots, tied tight in her stomach, gripping with a hold that choked out more tears.

It was time.

“I know there's a lot you want to ask me. And there is a lot that I want to ask you. So how about after these exams over when get something to eat?”
No. Let's get out of here. Forget this and go now. We don't really need to fight, do we? I don't want to hurt you again.
"Yeah....I would like that"

“Are you to ready?”
No. I don't want to fight my friend. I never wanted to hurt any of these people. They probably all hate me now. I don't want him to hate me too. Please....don't make me do this
"Y.....Yes. I'm ready"

Before he stepped away, Tenmei's fingers clamped around the material at his chest, her knuckles turning white as they gripped with the force of her secret denial. All the words she wanted to say to him. The apologies, the need to surrender. How happy she was to hear that he had remembered the withdrawn little girl after not seeing her for a portion of his life. His Adventures. But the words would not come together. Like a puzzle missing it's pieces, the sentences would not fit. So, Tenmei simply allowed her hand to relax against his chest as her red tinged silver eyes eased up to meet his.
  "I really missed you...Kichi"
Slowly, she allowed her hand to fall to her side and stepped back, adding to the distance he had formed between them, her eyes still on his, but now with a few less tears and few drops more conviction.
A moment to wipe the stinging from her sights, the paleness from her rose coloured cheeks and to sniff away the last of the sobs. Tenmei nodded to the proctor who made the announcement.

“Good. On your marks. Go!!"

As if someone had lit a fire beneath her sandaled feet, Tenmei ran backwards a few steps and pushed off strongly with her legs springing in to the air with force. A flip to aid in distance and her feet landed safely on the first platform of the nearest balloon. But no sooner had she got her balance, the female repeated the maneuver and landed on the next one; a blimp that sat a mite higher than the rest, looking over the gathering like her sensei over looking her squad. From here, she could fully see the full extent of what they were working with.
The tower of white stone that reflected the sun in a blindingly powerful haze was nothing but a distraction compared to the array of objects among the lack of clouds. Bobbing slowly up and down together in steady sky ocean waves, it seemed oddly ironic that they could be held together by such a flimsy looking metal chain. Not even something that looked like it could have been woven from giants appeared safe here. Down below the ground was shadowed with a few cracks of light, getting thicker and thinner as the sky moved. Here, it was clear, bright.

There was only one thing that inhibited her vision of going all the way.

Closing her eyes for that split second, Tenmei focused on opening the gates that dotted her chakra system, allowing inner lava to spread from their pools and fill her body with a warmth like a blanket hugging her from the inside. Then, within mere seconds, every finger, every single part of her body was radiating heat like a stove top, with the friendly heat waves licking at her skin once more. She could only hope that the wood beneath her feet. That the balloons could withstand her attacks. Or they both would be falling to the harsh, pride shattering net below.
So, for the moment, Tenmei stood there, hear guard up, waiting for this other shinobi to make the first move. It was going to be a difficult match for the both of them. It was clear they both knew that.
The sooner they ended this meaningless parade, the better. And Tenmei would make them all proud. She would show Kichi just how far she had come and prove to him that his work of helping her to heal, helping her to open up. It was not for nothing.

Chakra 135/150:

"You have time. Use it wisely"

That was right. Her sharp steel eyes looked over to where he stood on the edge of the tower, the place where she had left him with all her memories and the echoes of the proctors words.
It was a smart move really, keeping his distance from her. It seemed that going in to this battle, it had a new element in which she didn't experience in all the other rounds. Kichirou knew what Tenmei was like. He knew that touching her would be dangerous and that her strength lay in close combat. The same way that Tenmei was aware that he had a strong affinity with cards and chips. The little knick knacks that were associated with card games.
But time changes things. It changes people. Since she had been living on her own in the beautifully cold land of Kirigakure, Tenmei had learned more than just control. Ninjutsu was a delicate art and had taken her months to perfect what she knew. It had been over five years. Who knew what he had learned also.....

Tenmei was sure to find out.

He had always been generous. Even back then.

With Kichirou refusing to chase her, Tenmei had been granted a few perfect moments of clarity where she could focus on what she needed to do. How she was going to attack the person she trusted the most without the screeching conscious, inhibiting what motivation she had. How does one turn a blind eye to the many memories a pair shared?
The answer ended up being unnervingly easy.
   From her position up on the highest balloon, Tenmei found herself taking another slow, deep, centering breath; calming her nerves and using her doubts and anxieties to fill the pit in her stomach. Then, she crooked her fingers in to hand sign which in turn, focused the chakra that coursed through her being, fueling the fire filled adrenalin that kept her breathing. Kept her heart beating. From within her hand she let it  build....build and grow, until she could feel it pulse beneath the surface of her furnace like skin...

Then Tenmei stopped it. Halting the spreading chakra before it could form in to the very thing she hoped to conjure up. The only way this could work, is if she used the control her father had taught her back when she was little.  Hold it in until the right moment. Then.....let go.

Then she moved.

Moving with the speed and agility of a Chuunin, Tenmei ran to the edge of the platform and then on to the boyant edge of the balloon, her thick soled sandals protecting the delicate fabric from the heat she was radiating. Then, with all the strength she could channel through her legs, the genin pushed off and was flung in to the air,  before landing in a perfectly calculated somersault on the next blimp on her right. But Tenmei was  far from slowing down. With the continued momentum, the female rolled forward back on to her feet and once more ran and sprang to the next.....and the next....and the next until she had completed a near full circle of the tower, getting a feel and a balance for every individual landing.

And then she turned....

A childish game. That is what it was like. The way she jumped over the cracks with ease, landing on one, only to leap on the next.
But then she suddenly turned. One jump....two.....and then all of a sudden she was on the hot air balloon coming right for him attempting to land a punch to his gut and end this quickly.
The sooner she had finished this battle, the faster the pain would melt away and her whole would be in agreement once more.

Chakra 130/150:

She couldn't see what he was doing.


While she circled the young male Shinobi, Tenmei was completely focused on balancing every landed foot, timing it exactly right so she was leaping off the strongest leg, right at the edge. Not an inch further. Not an inch less.  Every now and then, her anxious silver eyes would would glance across the bobbing mass of blimps, to his position on the tower, checking if he were still there where she had left him.....but it was hardly enough to get an idea on what he was doing. Not even close. 
And yet, the reckless Sotsuji continued to go around anyway, until she was in the right position to make a straight move towards him.
And it didn't matter if he had something up her sleeves. She expected that much from her long lost friend. Kichirou was clever and crafty, with a perfected sleight of hand and a quick smile, one she had grown to appreciate....and love, during their time together.
He could throw anything at her and she would be ready....

She too, had a trick up her sleeve.

Just like every other time, Tenmei ran to the edge of the balloon she was on, stepped so her good foot hit the springy surface just past the more stable platform, and was propelled forward towards him. But just as she was coming down on to him, something caught her eye. Playing cards. Cutting through the air with a sharp whistle as it came towards her hand with a speed close to that of Hanbei's needles.
This flash of movement was all she needed. The split second she saw the cards, Tenmei released the jutsu she had been holding on to, and the wind barrier around her roared to life in a mass of swirling winds that would slice and tear at everything that came in to contact within it's whispering reach. It would have been enough to knock the cards away, possibly cutting them to shreds.....

But Tenmei was a fraction too slow.

The blimp shaped balloon was a step higher than the towers stable surface. All of them were, though it was hard to tell when they all moved in a slow steady, iceberg like manner. Moving up and down, side to side, bumping against each other to create a whole new pattern. Tenmei had to jump down to get to him. And even then, she would have to aim low to get to his abdomen, the target of her coiled fist. If only she had a faster reaction time....
By the time she released her cutting wind barrier, the first card had slipped through, knicking her wrist and lodging itself in to her upper forearm, in to the muscle, just before her elbow. And then....just like what had happened to the paper user, the tip touching her skin caught fire and simply....fell away to join the debris picked up by her shield.

Tenmei had heard enough stories to know what happens when arteries get cut open. How fast they could bleed out, how painful they could be. It was a shinobi's down fall, even when they thought they had the upper hand to begin with. The female didn't spare a second. The moment she felt the blood rush to that area, her scorching fingers found the slit and pressed hard, melting the skin a bit and cauterizing the wound. She was safe....for now.
And the pain? Well....she had experienced burns much worse than that. He was one of the only few who knew of this too. After all, they were only healed because of him. Because he had refused to let her suffer in the way, she thought she deserved.

Then there was a moment. Not long. Just a few seconds.

While he circled around her, Tenmei turned to face him as well, feeling somewhat protected by her wind barrier that provided a temporary protection. It wouldn't last long....but maybe just long enough....

"Kichi I.....Im sorry for all the times I hurt...burnt you. You showed me what it was like to have company...to have a friend. I...I had never had that before...."

Another moment....a deep breath and Tenmei pushed off towards him, this time coming from his right. She would dash forward and aim the first punch to his stomach, before transitioning smoothly in to another hit to his chest, and ribs. On the fourth swing, she would pivot on her foot and land a sharp kick towards his mid section, hoping the force could push him off the edge of the tower and the winds of her sheild would not cut him too deeply. If this happened. If the fates were merciful then he would simply fall to the safety of the net and she would not have to hurt him further.

Please....Don't make me hurt him any more.

Charkra 110/150:

She had him. It was going to be all over.
At least.....that was what she thought was going to happen.

-----

She was fast. The soles of her feet barely touched the ground as her toes pushed off against the rough stone surface, propelling her forward with the full force of her chunin grade speed, coming right towards him with her personal wind shield cutting away at the ground around her.
Those barely noticeable smeared red marks, the little slit like cuts that dotted his clothes like a child had gone through them with a new pair if scissors. They had not gone unnoticed by the steel coloured eyes of the genin. She had made him bleed with the same barrier that still hummed around her. Hurt him again. Surely he would look on her like they had done back in the market that day. The day he had seen her for the first time. Even then, he had always seen her differently. Tenmei could only hope and pray that, this....this fighting would not change that.

"Why are you hesitating? Today he is your enemy. Look at your arm. That didn't happen by accident. Finish him. Finish him quickly"

It was not easy. It was never that easy

Tenmei ran towards him....but no sooner had she got within a couple meters, she noticed something on the card he had held up.
At first, they looked like a bunch of lines, nonsensical scribblings that could mean anything. But she knew Kichirou better than to do something so meaningless in battle......But once more, it was too late. By the time it took her to realise that what he was doing, was a seal, the water had burst out from the card and shot in a powerful stream towards her barrier, hitting it square on, jolting the female in to taking a step back. But that was not all......
Although it continued to pound at her protective jutsu, the circular spinning of the air, carried parts of the water to join with the rest of the spherical formation, creating quite a spectacular vision. It was such a shame that neither had the time to admire the piece of beauty.

It was subtle at first. Only slightly noticeably.
Tenmei felt her foot slowly give way from beneath her stance, grinding against the hot stone surface as it slid back despite the traction her heels tried to create. She had not seen how far away the edge was. How close she was getting to slipping and falling to the safety below.
The Sotsuji was not too keen on finding out either.
Bending her knee so that too, was being pressed against the hard ground, she settled in to a counter weight stance to wait out the torrent of water and be ready when the shield finally gave out.....

But something else drew it to cracking halt.

"Kichi no!"

It took  her a second to realise those were her words, breaking from her lips as she pushed away from the shimmering, fading barrier and ran to the edge of the tower, her eyes desperately searching the clouded net below them for the figure she was dreading to see.
Why was she so worried? If he had fallen, she would have won. Why deny it so passionately? Why foolish girl. Why?
The rattling of chains and the soft 'thudding' of something hitting a buoyant surface drew her anxieties back in to the air, and the breaths she had been holding on to, all were released at once. He is okay. He had not fallen. Breath. 
She followed him as he swung back around and landed on the platform...and that was when she saw her chance once more.

Barely a second after his feet touched ground once again, Tenmei suddenly swung her leg out, kicking in an arch towards him, causing a wave of rolling heat to head straight for him and the cards he had scattered all over the ground, possibly scorching them where they lay and showering him in a layer of nasty burns should it hit.
And even then, it wasn't enough for the determined Shinobi. Her leg finished it's arc and landed in front so she could use it to push off and run towards him once more, this time coming to his left, with a series of punches and kicks that would come for his abdomen, his chest, his thigh. Anywhere she could get her boiling hands on.

"That's it my little candle. Keep going. Show no mercy to this stranger. No mercy. No second chances"

Chakra 90/150:

Memories

It was beautiful this time of year. Tranquil. Picturesque.
Tenmei leaned closer to the frosted window, her quick breath fogging the glass as she watched the pristine white flakes with mystified eyes. The way they delicately danced through the air, spinning and twirling through the breeze, dancing about before falling softly on the blanketed white roads like broken hearted ballerinas; the young girl had been living here for a few months now and still, whenever the snow started to fall she would race bare footed over the dust covered mats, her soft night gown whipping around her legs as she sprinted over to sit by the window catching the first glimpses of snow before it touched the breeze and watching until it was too dark to make out the ice flower patterns, stenciled against the cracked glass. 
 
"Tenmei. Say goodnight to the snow fairies and come to bed. It's late"

She knew he had been watching her all this time. 
Those eyes so similar to her own, the familiar gentle smile and fire like warmth; the young girl wasted no time in jumping off the window sill and walking right in to his adoring embrace. She loved being held like this. His arms around, tight enough to be reassuring that no harm would come to her, but loose enough to say that she was free to think and breathe as she liked. Tenmei had always tried to replicate it with her own small arms, but it wasn't the same. It never was.
But it didn't matter. He would always pick her up with a tender kiss to her forehead and lay her down on the prickly fuuton with the wool wrapped around her. Keeping her safe. 

Going to sleep, whispering about stories. 
They had shared many dreams together.....

But one night there was a stirring.
The wind had picked up a restlessness that howled through the mountain valleys, echoing past doors with bone chilling moans.
Near still inside, the faded white curtains flapped about the cracks, while the wind whistled down the chimney and the dust mites creeped. A young Tenmei was subtly lured from the comfort of her cocoon tiptoed across the floor boards to see which ghosts were out and about that night......but it was not those ghostly apparitions that filled the room with white noise. The broodingly tall man who still slept soundly beside her was groaning in his sleep. She could tell by the twisted expression that he was having nightmares again. 

"Hey...daddy? Wake up. You are....."

Gentle fingers against pale cheeks.
Tenmei looked down in utter confusion at the rosy finger pads which tingled in a way she had never experienced before. This was new. This was different, and it made her think of that one time where she accidently touched the stove top that one time....
The moaning got louder. So did the screams. She could barely hear the wind now over her pounding heart. Tenmei turned, she ran for the door....but it was too late. The last thing she remembered was the bright light, and the invisible force that tore at her side like hundreds of claws, through her clear through the window and....

--------------------------------

Tenmei had not seen it coming. 

Every move, every step was executed flawlessly. 
Entirely focused on him, Tenmei had watched with those keen silver eyes as his toes hit the ground first, followed by the rest of his foot that rolled back not a second after. It was this moment, during this breath that she suddenly shifted her weight to her left side, pivoted her right hip, and while simultaneously releasing all the unprocessed heat that gathered in her legs, she kicked around in one half-arc swing that sent a heat wave rolling across the arena in front of her. 
And then he dropped.....flat on the ground in front her. For a fraction of that second, Tenmei thought that it would be all over. But the second she felt her fist past through the skull of the clone, she knew something was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

The blast came too fast for her to dodge.
She crossed her arms over her face and chest to save her vitals but it was hardly enough to stop the blast from hitting her with full force, sending the shinobi, rocketing back with a bone shuddering force, towards and over the edge of the tower....
It could have been all over. But not yet. Not quite. 
The force had pushed her clear off the edge and straight on to one of the balloons where she was left to skid and roll and bounce across the solid wooden landings, the coarse surface of the material burning her each time she passed over it, until finally coming to a jarring stop just over the other side....where she dangled with one arm gripping hold of the edge of the chain, closest to the stable part of the balloons. 

'Hold on! Don't let go. You are okay. Take a deep breath. You're fine.
Don't give up on me just yet'

Tenmei shakily pulled herself up on to the surface and stayed there, crouched down while she regained her balance once more. There was still something wrong....something lingering on her mind. 
For a second, the young female looked down at her hands, then to her arms and legs. She was shaking. Not like before when she first saw him standing there, so similar with the memories in his hands. She was properly shaking. When she saw her arm, Tenmei didn't see the red puffy surface of blistering skin, or see the slightly wobbly legs of someone who had just stepped on to water. Tenmei saw the blackened and bleeding mess of flesh that spanned down her arms and around her torso, hugging her like a giant had had torn off half her skin. She saw legs broken and fractured from a deadly fall of being hurled hard across a short space with no mercy.

It was just like back then. Back when all this had started.....

"Snap out of it! Come on stupid girl move. Those burns are nothing. HE is nothing. End it. End it NOW"

No choice.

It was only for a short while. The light dimmed in her eyes and she closed them to focus on her muscles, the chakra points that ran through them, empowering the fibers with the liquid heat that coursed through her system like warm syrup. This was over. She wanted this to be over. So Tenmei took a moment to stand up, take a breath, and then attacked, moving speed that surpassed how fast she ran earlier. But she didn't come straight for him. No, she would not go that far just as yet. He had revealed his hand to her last time. Showing how much he had grown, what he was capable of. 
Tenmei had grown too and he was about to see just how much.

Circling the balloons as she had done before, Tenmei formed a fast hand sign while jumping effortlessly from one balloon to the other.....and then all of a sudden there she was, turning sharply as she had done the first time and coming straight for him with a reckless  punch to the stomach.....
But this was simply a diversion. She had fallen right in to the other trap but not this time. Not again. With any luck, the first clone would reveal what he had planned. Trigger any traps he would set and disappear upon impact....ready for the next Tenmei to take it's place, coming right behind it to do the same thing. It would come straight for him, straight to plant a fist in to his stomach....and then disappear. 
Three times she would do the same thing.....

And then she would really be there, stronger, faster.
Either dodging or fighting through whatever he had put up until she could get close enough to slam her boiling fist, up in to his jaw, hopefully knocking him out and ending the battle.
Tenmei felt sick. She felt dizzy and with screams echoing through her distraught mind, she could only hope by the end of this. By the time it was over.....he would not hate her like the rest did.

Chakra 65/150:

She couldn't stop it. The shaking.

First glance down: And all she could see was the black rippled flesh, tainted with red flecks, spanning down the length of her arm, her rib, her shoulder blade. The deep aching had become so painful that the whole half of her body had become uncomfortably numb.
But it was just a day dream. The memories of long past playing on her fears again. Because when Tenmei looked down again, the burnt skin was the angry red that it should be, with the puffy raised, yellowing skin across it's center. It didn't matter she was seeing though, the sick feeling in her stomach never changed. The last time she was hurt this bad from an explosion, the ebony haired female had lost someone very close to her. It had happened again and she had to hurt her best friend. History was repeating itself.....and this terrified her.

'You're fine. Don't stop now. You are so close.
End him now while you still have the chance. Now'

She didn't want to. Tenmei wanted to just take his hand and get out of there, leaving the audience with disappointment on their minds and complaints on their tongues but she knew this was impossible.
Her pride would not allow her to lose this match but her consciousness would make sure she felt every blow. And so....it began.

The first three clones came at him one right after the other.
Just as she had done the first time around, the three small group circled the balloons, over taking each other, getting close enough so they were nearly touching either other. Then all of a sudden the first turned and headed straight for him, jumping the balloons with the familiar finesse before coming to a moving landing right in front of him.... Tenmei thought that he wouldn't notice but the first spike came right for the chest of attacking shinobi, dissipating it, in to the thin air in which it was created.
The next was almost identical. Coming up right behind the first, it had followed the clones exact footsteps but only to meet the same fate. And then the next one. It barely lasted as long as the other two. But Tenmei knew this ruse would not last her entire five clones. She had to act. Now. While he was still focused on the forgeries.

She came in the same way that they did.
Running to the end of the platform, her right foot hit the edge of the balloon and she pounced with all the strength she could draw from her already throbbing legs. Then, she flew through the air for barely a second before hitting the the edge of the tower and running towards him.....but this time, instead of coming down from a raised position, the Sotsuji came flying in low, a deadly look sharpening the bright silver of her eyes. But seconds before she reached him, a soldier....a knight of sorts emerged from the solid ground below, blocking her path, inhibiting her view of her target. One of the only friends she had ever known in this life.....
It was painful to know that, this defense was not going to stop her from doing what she had to do.

The next step was the worst.
Rapidly opening the gates in her arms, her wrist and fingers, Tenmei could feel the heat rushing through to her palm like an ocean of water being guided in to a small river bed. It would build and build and grow hotter until she could feel the pressure bubbling under her skin like boiling water in a balloon. From there, there was no holding back.
Her muscles grew tense, her fingers curled and Tenmei drew back her arm before swinging it forward to land a bone shattering punch towards the knight, causing the fairy tale creature to crumble before her......and that was when she noticed that something was wrong.
The ground beneath her rippled further and looked as if it started to form yet another obstacle for her to overcome.....but it stopped.
It stopped and she was standing at point blank range with nothing else holding her back from ending this right now.

"END IT"

Tenmei moved in to the last meter, standing so close that he would feel every inch of heat that radiated from her arms, her legs, her stomach, singing his clothes and creating light burns against his skin.
For a brief moment, barely a second, Tenmei looked directly in to his alluring green eyes, conveying all the apologies she could muster within that single breath. Her quivering lips brushed against his, lingering a moment before she pulled away only to bring her fist up in a brutal upper cut that would hit jaw, causing him to be thrown back with such a force that it would knock him flat out on his back. Completely blacked out. Unconscious.
That was it. It was over.....and so was she.

'No more. Please.....please no more'

The shaking stopped. She was frozen.

Completely rooted to the spot, Tenmei looked down blankly at her friends unconscious form, lying peacefully on the ground by her feet. If  it weren't for the sickening feeling in her stomach, the throbbing in her temples and the screams of a guilty conscious...then she would have just thought he was sleeping peacefully. And then she would curl up beside him and close her eyes, pretending that the world around them didn't exist and everything was as it should be. It would be perfect. Simply....beautifully. Perfect.
But no. This was reality. Life as hard as the stones under her feet and as cruel as the sun that beat down on the air borne devices. She had hurt his best friend and nothing short of a weeks worth of sleep and pot of tea could stop the tears that flowed freely down her cheeks, staining her still trembling lips and stealing the steadiness of her breaths.

"Thankyou Kichi.....for everything.
I could not have asked for a truer friend. So.....thank you"

Solstice leaped down, looking to either one of them, in her wake, the medical ninja came to treat the two competitors as solstice looked around, the crowd was in an amount of shock, the battle had been fierce, the stakes had never been higher, and when push came to shove, it was the better fighter, or perhaps the one with the stronger heart in this case. Solstice had seen the look in the boy's eyes as he had taken the blow and a smile had crossed her face as she had seen it.

Looking at her friend who was triumphant, she moved close and took her friend by the hand, the black and blue armour looked over the crowd as she raised the hand of the victor, and as far as the world was considered the strongest Genin ranked ninja of the hundreds who competed.

People of suna, ninja of the world! After an epic battle and after half a dozen tests, it is my honour and the Mizukage to announce in the Kazekage's stead, the WINNER of the Chuunin exams! Thank you all for coming, for the ninja defending this place from threats and to the competitors for helping each other, and doing your best!

The winner of this years chuunin exams....

TENMEI SOTSUJI!!!!!

And the crowd exploded into applause, loud enough to be heard in the nearby towns that peppered the ivory desert sands.