The young female could barely remember the first time she had laid her silvery eyes on this golden blessed land. She could recall the occasional image of young girl watching patterns form across the sand, and the little nimble feet that created it. And flashes of the gangly silhouettes, giant slender shadows and the auburn painted horizon. But the clearest image she had of back then… the thing she remembered most about that age, was of the man she was travelling with. The tall, thoughtful figure with the bon fire voice and sunrise skin, wrapping his large hand around hers. Guiding her through this new and strange world. She had never seen a land so magical as this…. But that was only the beginning..
Many years later when the word had become clearer and the memories more stable, she had found herself wandering the sunny sands for a second time. However, this time, the man she was travelling with, was nothing but a stranger.
Yes. That’s right. The old merchant who had found her in the mountains never told her his name, nor did he give her the location they were travelling to. He never gave her the attention she wanted or the affection she craved. What he did give her though made up for everything. He showed her another way of seeing this place. How at night, there were as many stars as there granules and even something as a simple as a leaf could be something amazing. She had learned a many things from him. But there was only so much he could teach her. Soon enough another teacher would take his place. And it was she who would take her to this strange place next. The Sotsuji just never thought that it would be the Lady Mizukage herself.
From the moment they met, the talented ice user and unstable heat user, had an almost instant connection. Not only did she teach the genin how to better manage her chakra. She taught her to open up to people. To make friends and create connections. If it wasn’t for her, she wouldn’t have made it through the barren landscape a third time and exceed in one of the most emotionally taxing events she would experience so far. And I was all thanks to Ayakashi.

But this time… the fourth time, Tenmei  Sotsuji was alone.
There was no one to lead her by the hand, no cart to show her the secrets. No teacher to guide her through the tall standing barriers and twisted misdirection. When the kunoichi stepped in to the looming shadows of the sand stone buildings she was completely and utterly…. Alone. 

But that didn’t matter anymore.

­­­------------------

The desert hadn’t changed. And thankfully, neither had its village.



Once upon a time, she had likened each village to a different colour. She remembered saying that Kiri ga kure was a sort of bluish grey. A sombre colour that reminded her of the stormy water that surrounded the lands and the mist that connected it its people to the sky. And the luscious emerald green that reflected the purity and life in Konoha. But Suna ga kure….. The land hidden in the Sand; was a magnificent sparkling tawny gold. Like an illustrious piece of amber dropped on to the earth’s surface, it remained ever still and flawed under the fierce protection of it’s clawing gales and merciless sun. A place so hot and secluded and so terribly damaging. It reminded the Kunoichi of who she was when there was no one else around. And that…. was something she missed. Those memories. Those sensations.
It was a good feeling.  It was a comforting feeling. A feeling that was like coming home. Like going to a place where you knew which direction to wander in, which shadows were safe. Which familiar twists and turns to take. A place where every corner store, every rustic bar…. Every half run down hotel was right where it should be.
Kiri may have been her home for a time. But the waves grew ominous and the mist, suffocating. And Konoha was like living in a tinder box with the fuse growing slowly closer.  But this scorched place, with it’s occasional storms blowing around it’s city walls and the surfaces so hot it rippled: All this time it had not changed. And Tenmei had not felt so welcome in a long time.

If only it were perfect.


Despite her adoration for the sun swept village and its blustering country, the young female was somewhat relieved to finally find her way back to the hotel she had stayed in during the exams nearly two years ago now.  And even more so when she discovered that there were rooms free.  
Oh yes, if there was one thing that Tenmei had yet to improve on: It was planning ahead. When she had left Konoha a few days prior and crossed the border between the vastly different landscapes, she had not put much thought in to what she would do when she reached the village. Where to stay, what to eat, where to go next if things didn’t go well. With what little belongings she had and the barely surving remnants of her savings, the Sotsuji’s options were limited at best.  Thankfully…. thankfully the people here had not changed that much either.

The elderly couple who ran the modest little establishment had been long time friends of the old merchant she had travelled with all those years ago. Whenever they stopped by Suna’s borders he would take her with him to the inn and organize for her to stay a night in one of the cooler rooms.
She would take the time to wash up properly, find a change of clothes and have a good night’s sleep, even though, those nights were always short lived and few and far between.
The next time she saw them was during the exams. Having had asked the old man for a favour and to call ahead and book the room, it was only a matter of showing up and paying the stay fee. A price that was worth the warm greeting that she received from the two worn and cracked faces.
The third time….this time, when she stumbled through those doors with her dust stained skin, greasy hair and grit ridden clothes. With no warning to speak of or bookings to be done…. Everything was still the same. The smiles were still there and so was the warmth.  They even gave her the opportunity to work around the inn and to pay what she could until she could afford the room.
Even with the news of the merchant’s passing and not having contacted them since. Their kindness was boundless. And that was something that she would never forget.

It seemed that land hidden in the sand, was just that kind of place

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

It was part way through the third morning in windy country when the special Jounin first started getting restless.

Up till now, everything had been fine. As promised she had been helping the old couple around the inn. Cleaning the rooms, preparing the meals, making them the best cup of tea they had sipped since the old merchant was here. And despite her wanting to keep her distance from the guests the wandering nin did what she could to be useful as far as the business went too.  But soon, that stopped being enough. She needed to get out of these walls. Out of her skin….. Away from her thoughts. And this new version of home was so expansive and curious…. Unexplored, Tenmei couldn’t help but find herself wandering out just after dawn, and slowly picking her way through the sand stone buildings and sugar brown floors in search of something new… something different. Or so she hoped.
But instead of finding a hidden cave full of cobwebs and forgotten memories, or an unusual and magical store to get lost in, the ebony haired kunoichi had wandered straight in to the administration building. Without glancing towards any of the curious onlookers, the female walked right through the doors, up the stairs and didn’t stop until the female was staring straight up at the Sukagkure Mission Board.

As far as she could tell, no matter which village you travelled to or which country; the problems were always the same. There were the usual bandits causing trouble around the border zones and the basic chores that needed doing. The land criminals that needed to be caught and the treasure that needed to be found. There was even one or two about the importantly fragile people who needed to be protected and handled with care. However there was one mission that stood out to her cloud lining gaze.


Her memory of the first time she had seen that young shinobi was as tattered and as worn as the piece of paper hanging forgotten on the wall. But unlike the rest of the world, she had not forgotten.
It was during the very first event of the Suna chuunin exams when the ambiguous child had become more than just a face in the crowd.   The eager swarm of gathered genin had just been told that they were to venture through the desert and make their way to something called the Ivory Tower. A supposed monument hidden amongst the dunes. But with the stories floating around, little supplies and no direction to speak of it was clear that danger was probable and death, not impossible. However…. just when people started having second thoughts about their desire to be better than who they were, and started to question their competitive nature; a small but powerful voice spoke up out of the crowd. The child she had come to know as Hanbei spoke up and urged everyone on, despite the peril that they might face. It was by far, possibly one of the stupidest, and definitely one of the bravest things she had seen in a long time. It was a terrible shame that bravery wasn’t enough to get you through the exams.
   Days later during the semi final, the fire born nin had finally come face to face with the curious little Guanyin. Armed with needles and the element of surprise, he had almost over whelmed her. But he too crumpled under the sheer force of her Sotsuji heat. The last thing she remembered was watching the unconscious beaten body of the child being carted away to the medical bay.


It wasn’t much. But the end of that memory would be her start.

A short detour back to the hotel. A quick side trip to the markets.
Soon enough the female had arrived at the place where the missing person was last seen, only to find…. That there was nothing. No footprints to track, no drops of blood. No sign of a struggle. Nothing.  Absolutely and utterly nothing. Of course, the special jounin had not really been expecting much. After all this mission had been around for so long, that she was afraid to take the parchment off the wall in fear it would crumble in her fingertips. But where was one to start when there was not even a trace of what transpired here over a year ago? How could she follow a trail that had been washed away by months of footsteps and altering weather? What was she to do if there wasn’t even one tiny little insignificant…… Hey, what’s that?
It was barely noticeable. If she had not placed her hand in that particular spot on the door frame…. if she had not had first-hand experience with those unusual weapons, then she may have missed it altogether. But there, wedged length deep in to a crack in the aging wood was a thin, matte black needle with its tip barely protruding past the mess of splinters and defects.  It wasn’t much, but it was a clue.  A beginning. And that was all Tenmei needed to find him.

So, after having meticulously burned away the surrounding wood and stashing the needle safely away in her bag, the Special Jounin started slowly searching around. Following the line of trajectory from that first needle and working her way out from there.  And thankfully the next piece of evidence wasn’t too far.
No more than five meters away, half buried in sand and amongst some rubble was an oddly shaped chunk of glass, (glass not of her making) and inside, was another black needle.  
   Now, Tenmei was no ANBU. She didn’t have their skills of detection, and she couldn’t recreate the entire scene based on a couple of needles and some carelessly forgotten debris. However, when her mind was clear she did have a decent amount of common sense. And that sense was telling her that, while the previous senbon may had been mistakenly thrown in to the cracked wood, this particular sign was placed. Something about the angle that it faced in the glass, and the somewhat obscured location. It didn’t matter how skilled the shinobi was, there was no way he could throw that needle and have it land exactly like that. No, the clever child had put it there on purpose to tell her. To give her a message.

Go North East.

There was no hesitation.
Tenmei Sotsuji pushed off and sprinted down the street. Tearing past the crumbling sand stone building and less than empty streets. Spinning around corners and tripping through alleys. Moving fast enough to regain all the time she had wasted looking… wandering, but not so fast that she would miss another clue. Another well placed needle or… trace left behind.  Or nothing. From that compassless needle to the walls that protected its enclosed village from the raging desert beyond; there was no further trace to be found. She even found herself going back once or twice to make sure she didn’t miss anything…. Or didn’t screw up her directions. But there was nothing. The hands and feet of the curious and careless, the weathering wind…. Time. It had devoured everything and left naught but a cold trail and a hot frustration burning deep in her gut. Perhaps this was why no one had found the poor young Shinobi after all these years. Maybe this was why that poster had worn away untouched on the wall.  They gave up. They forgot. But this wandering kunoichi wasn’t like them.  She knew that hope was something to look for and faith was something you had to claim for yourself. If you wanted to find the lost you had to follow your instincts in to the unknown and not over think it.

Which is why, Tenmei ran straight through the opening in to the open desert, eyes wide and searching for anything…anything that could lead her to the missing Guanyin.


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

She had been hunting for hours. Scraping over scrub and picking through rocks, through sand and rubble and everything in between.  Anywhere that you could hide a subtle sign and not have it noticed by curious hands and prying eyes, she had looked there.  But the borders were as bare as the desert she came from. The only thing out of place was the occasional scavenger bird flying too far from home.
It almost seemed that the world was out to prove her wrong. She almost believed it too….. Until something unusual caught her sunset cloud coloured eyes.
At first glance, it could have been anything really. A passer-by getting snagged on a cactus. A piece of escaped cloth caught on a spindle. An accident….. A strange coincidence that this material would be here. She didn’t believe in such things. The sharply determined kunoichi knew better. That shred of fabric, though tattered and covered in filth… and singed around the edges; it was all too familiar. Oh yes. She never did forget that battle all those years ago. The way it felt when the needles pierced dangerously deep in to her skin and the nimble deft hands that threw them. The uniquely sharp and determined eyes and the numerous layers he wore despite the heat. It was his. It was definitely his. And the female could just make out another not too far ahead.
This was it. Despite the scavengers attempt to sweep those bread crumbs and the other’s previous meddlings, they called attempts; Tenmei had all she needed and there was nothing that could stop her now.

They couldn’t hide him forever.

Not from someone like her


It was only a matter of time. A few more hours of picking up needles. Another handful of time sodden rags; By the time the mid-afternoon sun was beating down on the desert topography; the Sotsuji found herself lying belly down in the shadow of a large dune, watching strangers crawl over their home like ants in a sand pit. Heads down and busy. Focused. Minding their own business. It was almost a shame that they would never see the fierce heat that was about to bare down on them like a sadistic chid with a magnifying glass.  It was almost sad even. But Tenmei… she didn’t care. Despite the devastation she had brought upon this desert before she arrived, the anger simmering in her gut had yet to subside. And seeing this colony and their so called fortress, smelling the stench of iron and rot and tasting the fear; it only served to focus that unbridled rage.
So when the Special Jounin slowly stood from her vantage point and started walking towards the entrance of their hide out, she wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t like the fire back in kiri or the towering flame pillar from back there. She wasn’t the scattered spits or the tangerine rain from Konoha either. Tenmei was simply a candle. Burning small and controlled. Calm. Carefully melting away the wax, the wick, until all that remained was a powder keg and an old wooden house.

She would burn them all
 
---------------------------
Words:3097

Hanbei had been holding still for some-time now, waiting patiently for the vast wells of his strength to return... Over the last week and a half his captors had largely ignored the child, who was now half-starved to death, and, over the course of his capture, his true hair colour seemed to be breaking through the carefully layered dyes which were once normally so thick among the soft silken hair of the Guanyin. The boy had not bathed or showered in some time, reflected in his blotched and dirty skin, barely remembering the feeling of cleanliness or any fluid other than warm blood flowing from his own veins, spilling thickly over his own body until he was but an inch from life. Having been holding on only by the strength of his force of will, the sounds of his cries and whatever dreams he still held close in his heart. Hanbei had not lost hope yet, and although he had used his own chakra to heal himself many times over his torture, he had managed to meditate about half of his strength back and overcoming his hunger over the last ten days. Pooling his power into a reserve that he would be able to depend on, he was almost ready to make his escape, though he would do so without his weapons... but none the less, he had to try.

There was only one way this was going to work...

Hanbei attempted to rest, sitting back in his chair, hands shackled and his body weak from the lack of food. He had to preserve his strength and attempt to build up what little more strength he was able to in order to even have a sliver of a chance to make it out of here alive, the ninja here were powerful, and any wasted motion, any wasted chakra, would not be acceptable, including staying awake when he could be resting. Closing his eyes, he fell into a light, painful  micro sleep, dropping into a world which he had seen multiple times, though, never knowing the true implications of it... or its greater meaning

Opening his eyes, he was no longer in the waking world he recognized, out boyond his vision, as far as the eye could see there was life. The Bio-matter extended outwards in all of its forms, trees as tall as the skies, rivers bountiful with nomadic creatures swimming up its torrential current, with a single contented sun-bear doing his very best in order to catch them for his own dinner. Chaotic rainbows of Butterflies and Birds filled the air with their beautiful music and colour as flowers of every spectrum and grass as green as emerald ran past Hanbei's feet. The Chuunin smiled, standing weakly from the stump he seemed to have been slumped against as he rose from the ground, standing tall and light, as if he were never in pain, he began to walk among a world which was not his own, the sun, could be seen shining through the canopy, in little but bright spears of light which seemed to pepper the forest floor as far as his keen eyes could see... the world Hanbei had awoken in was more than perfect, and yet, there was a peace here that could not be described.

But it was not long, before the nightmare set in...

Looking to the skies, Hanbei was shocked to begin with, a celestial body, a comet, or meteor streaked down towards the earth near to where he was, fire and light burning from it as all nature inhaled, a breath which robbed all life of sound, and colour, as, life, transmuted into death, and being, transmuted into non-being. Existence for a time was rended apart although Hanbei stood immune, though, what hovered before him was not a living being, nor a stone, it was a single, radiant, crimson light. Hovering as all things in its presence corrupted and fell to dread. An unfathomable terror could be felt in Hanbei's heart as he began to feel primal fear, a feeling humans had not felt since before their ability to build and weild savage tools in which to defend themselves with and hunt the greater animals of the world... The forest around the young Guanyin burned, the butterflies turned to nothing but dust in the wind. The flowes wilted and died and the grass was nothing but the bones of the birds, animals, and fish of which once were plentiful... the stream nothing but a shoal of boiling blood...

Though the celestial spectacle was not over, looking up to the sky, there was more, as suddenly, dozens of stars fell from the heavens, but, smaller, and not like the much grander one in the middle of them all. Over a hundred bright silver stars radiated the area, as the ground before Hanbei turned into little more than a kaleidoscope of clashing colours, smashing into each other as the radiant bodies seemed to fight the grander crimson body. Hanbei witnessed a great battle before him, not knowing the purpose behind it as the lesser stars began to fall one by one before the might of the greater star of death. Hanbei could feel the power of good within the platinum sentinels which seemed to be trying to hold off the unstoppable might of the star the colour of blood. Hanbei began to panic, taking a step forward towards the fight, winds whipped up at his feet from the force of the battle, but the Guanyin tried to push at it, as star by star the platinum ones continued to fall at an increasing rate, but only pushing the ones which remained to fight harder. Hanbei could tell that they were losing ground, and that some-how they were unable to win... Looking down at himself, Hanbei attempted to pull on his chakra in his dream, looking at his hands as he did so... and what he saw in its place was odd, it was as if, there, in the palms of his hands, was, a glimmering speck of magnesium, brilliant and bright.

A star, but only a child compared to that of the others, though a luminous and pure white...

Hanbei woke with a start, as the sound of the facility rose up around him, it seemed there was some kind of commotion, the facility was abuzz with activity as the shadows of men could be seen running across the boy's doorway, and so, this was the opportunity he was waiting for. His guards seemed to be distracted, so, forming one of his hairs into a single Senbon, he pressed it into the steel, not using any discernible technique other than the smallest sliver of his own chakra, using fuuton to throw the tumblers of the lock and allow his escape. The chains which had once held his wrists freed his hands and so Hanbei moved to the shackles on his feet, resting the chains on the ground as quiet has humanly possible. Feeling his arms move so much, after such a long time, Hanbei had lost all of the ninja-like precision he once had statistically, though, he was sure that he had not forgotten how to throw his needles... Such skills were built into the young boys' blood after all.

Attempting to stand, Hanbei tried not to let out a groan as he moved to one of the racks his captors had used to store the impliments of which had once tortured Hanbei, grabbing one of the knives that they had used, similar to that of a Kunai in size, status, and quality, the small ninja made his way to the door, people still seemed to be passing his door, getting ready for whatever resistance seemed to be coming their way. It sounded like from the other side of the door, orders were being barked from some of the men to each other, something about an intruder, that they were alone, and that they had best be on their guard in case this person was more of a threat than they had bargained for. Hanbei was a little worried, what if the person who was coming was just going to bring everything here to the ground? In his current condition, the Guanyin doubted that he would be able to defend himself for long against the building falling down on him... but the part of his heart which would have jumped to the person coming having been someone who had found his signs had long since passed into obscurity... to hanbei, there was no way that he was going to be saved by another person other than himself, so, creaking the door open, after seemingly no more guards were running past the door, Hanbei looked to see his own personal guard, his back to Hanbei as the boy snuck up on the unsuspecting bandit.

With a single stab, Hanbei plunged the dagger in his hand into the throat of the man, grabbing him by the hair and dragging him into the torture room. There, Hanbei quickly changed into most of the attire of the bandit, taking the new shirt, shoes, pants, and weapons which would be useful to him, namely the small tanto. Something which would actually be handy to get out of here with, while the new clothes were light, and would protect him from the rays of the sun should he manage to escape into the desert. Hitching the second dagger at his waist, it seemed like it was going to be now, that his escape was to be made possible... but the Guanyin needed to think about his exit plan, many of the windows of this place led to wide open areas which were able to be seen by most of the facility... meaning that he would be seen almost instantly, and re-captured and taken back to his cell, or even simply executed as he had no more information to give to the bandits at this point. Hanbei's own fear of death and pain had loosened his tongue easily each day, giving away Kumo secrets to those who asked...

Looking down at the man, Hanbei became angry, kicking the corpse before seeing the marking on the side of his face... remembering the explosion the corpses of the men around him erupted into at the motion of the leaders' fingers. Grabbing the tanto, Hanbei struck a deep wound into the face of the enemy, slashing through the body seal and breaking it, so that the seal was no longer able to be used at all, Hanbei felt a little safer in the immediate mean time, though, the task was far from done, he had killed but a single member of the enemy, while there was more than thirty others within the direct area which were also to become obstacles as he would try to make his way out.

Thinking deeply for a time, Hanbei moved back to stalking the corridors, on the floor he was on, it seemed the Bandits had almost completely vacated, giving him space to move around, looking into one of the other rooms on this level, it seemed that there was an armoury, it was there that Hanbei could see a small black pouch which looked familiar to him, the small wrist bands which carried his Senbon... running over to them, grabbing them, and equipping them, Hanbei felt a even better about his position, gripping two of them in between his fingers, the blunt ends of them pressed against his palm while the points extended out past his knuckles and between his middle and ring fingers like a punching glove, Hanbei was ready for a fight.

Sneaking out into the open with his new weapons, peering around a corner, he could only now begin to hear yelling from downstairs... using the distraction he crept up on yet another of the enemy bandits, hugging the shadows at the side, he moved closer, and closer, until he was in striking range. Biting his lip hanbei struck at the back of his knee with his left hand, penetrating one of the mans' tendons, forcing his leg to buckle and fall down to Hanbei's level with a silent gasp, catching his cry as the Second of Hanbei's needles met the back of his neck, angling up and under the entrance of the skull, where the neck would meet it. Slipping underneath and striking the central nervous system of his opponent, the enemy was stunned instantly, falling to the cold hard earth as a lifeless doll, allowing Hanbei to move onto the next one in line.

Bandit after bandit they began to fall to the deadly needles of the Guanyin, striking at pressure points in their body which trapped their ability to scream out in pain which allowed Hanbei then to execute them soundlessly and attempt not to alert the rest of the base of his presence... though, he knew this would be short lived when he started... soon enough there was a sound from behind him, the voice of one of the Bandits yelling at the top of his lungs what he was doing out of his room, and spying the bodies around him. Calling for help, it was not long before Hanbei was surrounded by five of the men which he called his foes... the real fight had begun, and with only taking no more than four men out with the element of stealth, Hanbei had hoped to manage to tag a few more of them before he was cornered like this...

...

Meanwhile, the large bulk of the bandit forces had rallied to deal with the invader, the leader of the Bandits still deep within the heart of the facility, sitting on a single chair,  as if it were a throne of sorts, standing up slowly the leader would begin to walk through the facility toward his opponents, being able to almost feel the electric pressure of the ninja who approaced across the dunes. Excitement running through his veins as the thirty six bandits redied themselves for what was to come, spacing themselves out on the first floor and outside the building ready to attack the sotsuji when and if she got within range of their building... though only ten were in range of the initial combat which would lead into the facility... the others giving her nothing more or less than vile looks as warning for her to back down and leave immediately in order to spare her own life. Each of the bandits there who had them, drew their weapons as she got even closer... they could feel the in-coming fight, but the temperature of the place around them was beginning to get hotter, more humid, sapping their strength from them at a rapid rate, some of them already beginning to look sluggish under bother the heat of Tenmei and the heat of the relentless desert sun baring down on all of them during the day...

Who knew what was to happen next...

[2504 words.]

Ten

Good little bandits. In a way, they reminded her of hyena. The way they slowly circled about in their safe little pack. Baring their jaws and slightly curved claws. Salivating in to the sand and cackling quietly to each other as they eyed their lone prey with starved, predatory eyes and cautionary gazes. The way they snarled their words and sneered as they started to slowly.... slowly creep together forward, edging carefully closer, ready to pounce. Ready to shred and maul that poor helpless cub that had wandered in to the carnivore's den. It was a shame really. Such a shame..... It was almost a damned shame that those feliform's were as foolish as they were blind.
As the lone figure standing in the center of their attention gripped the hilt of her blade and slowly drew it out with a bone chilling grind of metal, steady feet shifting on the unsteady sand, tangerine eyes glinting off of the Silver before her; as the heat pulsated from the female's slight form, the pack of bandits would realize their misconception too late. That really, their numbers meant nothing. The sharpness of their claws and venomous looks, the silent threats with every step..... It meant nothing. They would realise too late, that they were the prey. And these hyena had just picked a fight with a viciously angry mother lion.


It was too late


The first three charged at her with no hesitation. Swords whistling through the air, growls rumbling from lips. The drumming of her heart beating against her rib cage suddenly silenced as the first blade met hers with a reverbrating clash of steel and sparks. A close swing. Inches from her neck, she parried the scimitar away.... just in time to spin the blade back and stop the second from hitting her shoulder. A mistake that the gutsy bandit paid for, when the heel of her foot came shooting towards his diaphragm, causing him to keel over and gasp for the musty grit filled air. The third however was more fortunate. Using the distraction of the previous two attackers and taking advantage of her one one legged stance; the bandit swung low for her side. Aiming to get a slice of her ribs while her balance was flawed. But his fortune was short lived and he too would fail. Seeing him out of the corner of her eye, the young woman used her already swinging leg to pirouette with the swift motion of the third claw, spinning gracefully free from it's path and finishing with Silver planting itself deep in to the pitiful bandit's spine. Not an immediately fatal blow for sure. But he would be paralysed until his life slipped away to join the granules he was confined to. A somewhat fitting end.

But this Sotsuji was far from done. Roughly yanking out the razor sharp blade from the back of the fallen, she pivoted once again to meet second's sword in a dangerous wide reaching clash aimed for her good arm. Another bone jarring maneuver which ended with a twist and more sparks as she angled the blade to grind against the under side of his, in a screaming indirect line to the ribs. Those fragile bones didn't stand a chance against the razor sharp line. And neither did the first when the Sotsuji turned and swiped across her prey's wind pipe before he could draw the blade through the shock and save his own life.


Seven


The changes in their eyes.... in their stance, in the demeanor; it wasn't subtle. Before, all she could see was anger. Anger towards the intruder that dare encroach on their territory. Hunger for a long awaited violence lingering in the desert. Resentment towards every man that could hide away in the shade why they brave the sun to crush this creature.
But now, everything was different. There was fear, panic... desperation. There was another flavour of anger in the humidless air and it was driving the disillusioned predators to rush in without thinking. Without seeing.... Without realising that the ebony haired female had already locked on to the simmering forms and was coming straight for them. But they still managed to defend themselves. Somehow.....somehow, despite their quivering the two bandits found their way to their swords and drew them, aiming a swipe for her neck just as she reached them. Too bad it was just another 'shame'.
Moments...seconds before she reached the glinting sharp swords tip, Tenmei dropped down in to a skid. One hand dragging through the sand, the other holding her sword poised ready to drag the steel through the flesh... and bone... and fibers of one while crashing the other to the ground. She didn't even have to stand up to drive her clan's dagger through the lungs of one... and the gentiles of another.


Their numbers were dwindling. As were their senses.


Two more.  Bandits six and seven: They had been lingering in the back while all this had been happening. Watching the mistakes of their comrades in arms, watching them fall over and over again. Watching their liquid crimson souls painting her skin with every flash of her blade. But now it was their turn. Together as one, they moved in on the scorching female, blades drawn in a coordinated slash to cut through the chest as she had done with the others. An X to mark where the final blow would land.
But that attack wouldn't so much as reddened her deeply tanned skin.
With one hand wrapped firmly around the hilt of Silver and the other still holding tight, the signature weapon of her clan, she reached out to them both just...just as the blades collided with an ear piercing scream. And what wonderful music they made. The two single spanning  swords, grinding against each other in a struggle of strength and metal. The other pulling its way through the two finer spindles, constantly catching and pulling free only to be trapped again. Her arms were stuck. Their claws were caught. Someone had to be the first to break free.....

She wouldn't let it be them.
With a sharp twist of the smaller edge and a sudden jerk of her shoulder, Tenmei viciously tore out the curved sword from the bandits hand and cast it aside. Leaving her enough time... enough of a moment to grab the other hilt with both hands, giving her the power... the strength to over power the second bandit and push his blade away. Leaving him wide open for the bloody eviscerating slash that would quickly end their plan. They wanted an 'x'. She gave it to the first just as he reached down to retrieve. What he lost. And lost.


Three

There was nothing they could do. The foolish hyena had come for the metallic ocre liquid. And that... was exactly what they got. But those unpredictable risks, the unseen consequences. The quick made assumptions. They never anticipated, that their own pack would be the one's to pay for it. She was just one shinobi after all. One girl. One threat. That was one too many mistakes and this time there would be no chances.
Crouching low, claws in hand; the Special Jounin waited for the first move. The foot shifting in the sand, knuckles tightening, eye's glistening. The second someone... anyone made a move, that one female kunoichi pounced. And then.... it was all over.
Holding the unique sword steady and close. she rushed the first... but before she drove the slightly raised steel tip through the skull of the first, she altered her footing and twisted around him... only to end up inches from the second. So close. So close. The last thing he would remember was seeing the flickering candle light like flame in her cold silver eyes as the cruel metal point reached under his ribs and deep in to the rapidly pounding muscle.  But there was no minutes to spare to stay and feel that rhythm slow to a stop. No sooner had she eased that sword from the second target, the third charged her.... and got lucky. Somehow managing to slip past her parry, the lightly curved edged severed deep in to the skin, the muscle and fibers.... of the falling corpse of the second bandit who Tenmei slipped behind at the last moment.

The second would fall. The third would get a second chance.
And the first saw the exposed back of the ebony haired female along with an opportunity. Two steps closer, the deadly curved blade aiming for an old scar; the hopeless soul swung down hard and fast with everything he had.... It was still not enough. Too suddenly for thought, the target rushed unexpectedly close, slipping backwards under the path of the sword. The path of defeat, while knocking him back to allow space for the murderous weapon to swing around and delicately trace it's tip across the fragile arteries... veins. By the time the blood loss had weakened the man to his knees, the third was already staring down the sword protruding from his throat. It was over for them... it was all over.

But Tenmei Sotsuji was just getting started.


Nothing


Faintly creased features and silver sunset eyes, glanced around the desert sands at the carnage of the past few minutes.
It was a blood bath... to say the least. A tangle of pale limbs and ruby stained red clothes. With chests finishing their final motions of rise and fall and the final twitches of a succumbing nervous system. The pack of bandits who had so greedily surrounded her before with the taste of an easy prey on their lips and a simple fight at their finger tips were nothing but carcasses, littering the area around her with specks of sand already starting the process of burying these moments. It would only take a few days for the desert to make the rest of the world forget. But she wouldn't.
No amount of earth dust carried on gale force winds could stop her from forgetting the faces of each and every man she had slain. The look in their eyes and the sneers on their lips. The memory would only fuel the fire inside her and she would release that flame on anyone and everyone that got in her way.

With her sword held casually at her side, she started slowly making her way through to the entrance of the maze of tunnels, cutting down anyone who tried to come at her. Ducking and twisting away from their ill fated blows, carving through their meat, hacking away at their bones. Until she was standing in the shadows of the shaded tunnels.
From here on out, she had to be careful. There was no telling what was lurking in these tunnels. Was it a maze she could get lost in, or did they have a set layout to follow? Were there more people here or less? How big was it down there? How wide? How long?  She could only see up to the first corner where the harsh desert sun had shown her in but the rest was a handful of guesses and a sprinkle of hope. Silver had served her well but her tactic would need to change. So sheathing the long sword and rearming herself with the much smaller dagger, Tenmei started to make her way through the tunnels, her senses searching for any trace of cloth or needle to show her the way to missing child.

And if someone stumbled in to her path....

You know what to do

-------

Words: 1957
Total: 5054

Hanbei could hear something which could only be described as a WAR occurring outside of the veritable fortress, there was something going on out there, and now he was more than certain that there was either some intention to either remove these bandits entirely from the equation, or that someone had finally picked up on Hanbei's trail. Whomever was doing the fighting, they seemed to be winning, as the cries seemed to be those of men, their accents rather distinctive, as Hanbei had spent hundreds of days listening to their commands and attempting to ascertain his own location in the ninja world before he attempted to make an escape. Though, it seemed the four men around him were serious, the debate arose on whether to use his jutsu in an attempt to overcome them or flee, or simply attempt to use the weapons he had at his disposal to be-rid himself of his attackers. Hanbei remembered he was able to handle himself pretty well last time against the group, and, after all, there was only five of them.

The Guanyin should be able to take on five of them... right?

One of the men behind Hanbei lunged, though, the Guanyin clan member could barely track the man's movements, the bandit was a blur to himself, something which the ninja was not expecting, though, it came to light soon with his spinning head and weak body, it was not the bandit moving any faster than they had before, though, perhaps they have had some more training than the first time they fought. It was Hanbei whom was weaker. After spending that many days, starved, and bleeding, even with his healing skills he could not possibly keep himself in the same physical condition which he was at the time of the chuunin exams. Hanbei was tired-drunk and groggy with all of the fast motion, he was slower, and his hits would connect with less physical force than they had once used to, though his accuracy was still much the same and he still had a font of knowledge of jutsu and fighting techniques, Hanbei was simply, statistically no longer up to par.

Ducking backwards from the near fatal strike with the scimitar as it flashed past his head, Hanbei felt a blow sink into the small of his back, causing him to bite his lip in pain as he recoiled forward, rolling up right in front of the man who had slashed at him the first time. In such close proximity, the mad grabbed Hanbei by the scruff of his neck, but, it was too late, both of Hanbei's hands sunk into the mans' lower abdomen as the needles penetrated effortlessly through the soft tissue of his body and into the vital organs which lay beneath, at least one of the needles puncturing into his stomache and another into his liver, each of them lethal wounds which would constitute a long, drawn out and painful death. The man froze in place with the wounds and fell back as Hanbei quickly found himself grabbed by the remaining four men, lifted off of his feet in such a manner her dropped his needles and slammed against the adjacent stone wall hard enough to wind the guanyin.

Slumping down to the ground, he crossed his arms over his face to protect himself as he whimpered under the weight of the relentlessly assaulting four men. Punches and kicks crashing down on the ninja with enough force to cause bruises instantly. Hanbei could feel his bones bending under the weight of the strikes with little effort on their part. They hammered down on the Guanyin not to break him or kill him, but to make him submit... not to break or cripple, but to cause agony on a level which they knew would happen. Staggering the blows one by one so that each blow would be felt individually, not merely be lost in a sea of strikes, chaotically flurrying in his direction like a squall. When it was over, Hanbei was bleeding from his face, panting and scraped, bruises covered his arms and the side of his face as they began to blossom into reds and blues like violent flora expanding across his body.

Reaching down one of them grabbed the boy by his hair, wrenching him up causing Hanbei to cry out as he was physically lifted up and onto his feet, his legs barely able to sustain his own weight, though stabalized by the crane like grip on his silken hair. Grabbing the mans' hand in an attempt to pull himself up and reduce the amount of pain, Hanbei largely found that it didn't help, the mans' grip simply increased. Drawing his scimitar, Hanbei's cries suddenly went silent, as he stared, fear-filled and gazing at his own reflection painted in the mirror like steel blade in the mans' hand. Drawing closer and closer like the impending guillotine, the bandit drew the blade along the Arm of the Guanyin with a low singing as the blade chimed, leaving a single long red streak across Hanbei's arm... beginning to bleed as soon as the blade passed over the surface it came into contact with. Hanbei cried out in anguish as his skin gave way, fearing for his life as the bandit gave him little more than a painful surface wound which began to bleed.

In the distance however, Hanbei could hear the desperate cries of the bandits drawing ever closer, meter by meter something was coming in this direction... he only hoped they were close enough to hear him... as Hanbei was about to do something incredibly stupid if he was not careful. Looking at the four remaining men, as the one he had stabbed still lay dying, blood falling from his lips as the Guanyin knew it was because of the vomiting from blood entering his stomach and dilating his bodie's natural acids... Taking a couple of progressively quick breaths, the four around him took a step back as they saw his body prepare something... they were ruthless, but they weren't stupid, getting ready to avoid the boy's chakra as they believed it to be increasing. But, it was not a jutsu that Hanbei used on the wind, raising his head, with a single deep breath in, he readied his lings and his vocal chords, and screamed at the top of his lungs!

Help! somebody help! I'm over here! somebody Help me please! I'm over here! Heeeel-

Blinking and taken back slightly from the surprise, the bandits allowed most of the outburst before one of them stepped in and with a single kick to the side of the head, Hanbei's cry to the person whom was stalking through the hallways was cut short on the last syllable. Forcing Hanbei silent and snapping something in his jaw, dropping Hanbei to the ground groaning under his breath and simply trying to focus on breathing in general... Hoping that his call would be heard as the four bandits still left standing would prepare for their incoming onslaught, weapons drawn.

none the wiser of what was to come.

---

The master of the pack had managed to bridge half-way through the facility, stopping by the holding cells, he saw that they were open, and the prisoner within them was no longer there. He could not have an escaped ninja moving through his facility murdering those in his wake. The Bandit leader was not the kind to forgive so easily, he had kept the Guanyin here hoping that he would prove himself useful, a slave member of the Guanyin clan as a healer would have been more than an advantage within his ranks once he had branded the boy with his explosive symbol like the rest of his men, but, it seemed that the boy had been resilient in their questioning stages... looking out the window it seemed that almost a dozen men had also been slain on the dunes, though, with their cut open bodies he highly doubted that a ninja as weak as his captive could have been responsible for it.

Stalking down the corridor the bandit leader would order another three of his men charging on ahead to reinforce the ranks. Smiling, he only hoped that whom-ever was crashing through and dealing this much damage would be a worthy fight, if they were able to destroy his ranks so easily then they would be a vastly more powerful slave one he branded them with the tattoo. Following the men he ordered that the invader be kept alive so that he would be able to perform his little ritual on them. With a sense of dread the men looked back at their leader. Narrowing his eyes and raising his two fingers together, chakra pulsing at the tips as their own tattoo's began to flare up, as if they were about ready to activate, the men cried out in opposition to their fates, accepting his missions and charging down the corridors in a psychopathic Zeal to attack Tenmei...

As Tenmei would come around the corner and enter this section of the area, there would be seven men standing around the barely moving, crumpled body of the Guanyin wearing his stained silken robes, three of the men each had two swords, picked up from the dead bodies of their comrades behind them while the others stood back, drew their throwing knives and would begin to hurl them at speeds enough to maim and slow a ninja. The projectiles aimed for no place in particular, though most for the Sotsuji's torso. After the Volley the three dual wielders would be upon her, flourishing their blades in spinning dervishes as they attempted to overwhelm the ninja whom was many times more skilled than they were... and while they were afraid of the woman who had bathes their halls in the blood of their brothers in arms, they feared the man with his finger on the trigger many times more.

Behind the men, the leader would begin to slowly make his appearance... folding his arms and watching his men fight in a pathetic manner, observing the female warrior from a considerable distance as he saw the body of the prisoner near by, attempting to recover in the corner.

[1740 words]

How many had she cut down?


Ten? Thirteen? Fifteen? She had almost lost count. With every powerfully precise swing of the blood hungry sword, with every lethally accurate felling strike; with every beast she cut down, the girl started to lose site of the bandit's faces. The desperate glint in their eye, their snarling twist in their lips. The faux ferocity across their half painted expressions; They all slowly began to fade, sinking away to be nothing but eyeless masks on hollow dolls. Meaningless. Lifeless. Blood filled skeletons sacks ready with blunt swords and a dull resolve. It didn't last long though. By the time she reached the gaping entrance of the dungeon like sanctuary, those poor little creatures would cease to be even that.
That's right. As the female slowly traversed further passed the threshold and in to the hideout; as the shadows reached their nimble claws from the depths of the dimply lit tunnels towards the fading light, those monstrous features disappeared altogether until all that remained were moving shapes. Patterns. Life sized shadow puppets dancing around in the darkness with their silhouetted strings leading further from the last speckle of the out side world. She would sever every string of these ghastly marionette monsters before the light outside gave away to a similar darkness. She would cut them away and walk out of here with one prize walking beside her and the other dragging behind.


And all she had to do, was follow the trails.


Paths of splattered crimson and ivory. Edgeways of rust and coal; the young woman wasn't sure how far she had traveled in to the filling belly of the labyrinth. It seemed that no matter how many corners she turned, or how many gut guided choices she had made down here, the walls all looked the same. The muddy damp earth beneath her feet, the acrid smell of metal and smoke filling the air. The shadows still remained the same. Even  when they came rushing at her head on with their scimitar shaped weapon driving for the killing blow at her neck. And that same resounding sound the swords made when they hit the wall after the Sotsuji skillfully ducked from beneath their reach, or matched their movements with her own forward momentum and a sharp parry of her smaller blade; would spell the same end they would all fall to. It was a never ending spiral of familiarity. A damned frustrating, re-occuring pattern of.... flaws. It was hard to see the blackened cracks inside the darkness. But there, under the flickering torch light was the break she needed. A small needle protruding from a softened bit of clay in the wall. But unlike the mouse sized armful she carried in the small pouch of her bag, this matted surface was coated with a glistening gossamer like sheen of ocre mist. The Guanyin shinobi was alive! And this time.... this time she would make sure that they stayed  that way.

She wouldn't be afraid. She wouldn't repeat those mistakes. The past and the person that belonged there was long gone. This time Tenmei Sotsuji would the be the one....

She would be the one to make them run.


-------


"Say... I am curious"


-------

She was moving faster now. Picking up the narrowly sharp bread crumbs from the carnage stained earth. Plucking rose tinged spindles from each frozen corpse. The special jounin followed the young shinobi's trail through the twists and turns of each new tunnel, down long ended corridors and past false ends. Around and around and around, until she came to an unsettling halting stop. Frozen. Stuck.  For a moment there... for just a moment, Tenmei stood there. Silently statuesque in the entrance, her eyes lost in the scene in front of her. In the macabre image of a lone chair in a deserted space, covered in different layers of rust with it's chains hanging down to rattle across the corroded ground. For that moment the young woman stood there watching the moment pass, but then... slowly... carefully, she walked over and crouched down, her deft fingers wrapping themselves around the chain. Brushing her hands across the arms, the back rest, the seat. The scratches on the floor. It didn't take ANBU level of perception to see what happened here. This is where they chained the child like an anima. This is where they carved in to his soft flawless skin. Where they slammed their fists in to their form with enough force to fracture bone. Where they starved the little bird like one would do a rabbid dog. This was where they.....

.....Help!.......

Help. That was all she would hear. It was all she needed to hear.
The strings that led her deeper through the hyena's den. The needles that brought her to this nightmarish misplaced memory. It would only take one word to guide her the rest of the way to the young ninja. And no shadows nor shapes, no creatures with bent claws and sickly yellow eyes could dissuade her from her path.

------

"What do you see when you look down at the creature under your feet and beneath your hands?

A disobedient cub broken free from their chains?
Tomorrow night's evening meal? The object of a game?

Do you know what I see when I look at you?

Meat"

--------

Like an ember flicker inside a cloud of ash, an soot tarnished hand, flashed out from beside the injured Guanyin and grabbed the on coming foot. Stopping it... protecting it from crashing through the little cub's delicate rib bones.  Then, steady and still, with a vice like grip, she kept him there. She held him there while the biting edge of a pitch painted dagger sliced in, up and across his upper thigh. Severing the artery in one brutally elegant motion while painting the female and those uneven walls with yet another shade of red.... Another wave of anger.... of horror. Every misbelieving eye saw it happen. And yet... and yet it was wasn't until she released her grip and allowed the the wailing bandit to fall to his last breath; that her intentions were finally made clear and they realized what just happened.... and what was going to happen next. Only then would they realize, that the one now standing protectively before the crumpled and bleeding shinobi, would be the last face they ever saw before coming to the same deserved end. It was such a shame. If only they had the sense to run.

Tenmei would not give them that chance


Bones cracking against the stone speckled ground. The squelch of meat falling to the floor. Before the echoes had faded from the silence of the space; the special Jounin had leaped over the corpse at her feet and landed in a crouch by the second nearest bandit. Ending him swiftly with a sharp upwards thrust, that would drive the dagger's razor dual tips,  through the delicate fleshy membrane at the base of his jaw and in to exposed cortex of his brain. A more merciful fate than what the next would receive.
That poor, pathetic, hyena shaped creature. Thinking himself so clever as he cleaved down at her right shoulder while she straightened from her crouch. The bandit's initiative had not planned that the Sotsuji would instead back in to him, hard enough to slam him in to the wall. Leaving the cussing male open for her to grab his wrist and snap his arm over her shoulder in one vicious jerk. He would live long enough to see the ebony haired female use his own sword to slice across the throat of the next oncoming attacker before she lacerated his lungs to end his whimpering.

The final three. She could almost see their emotions tango through their eyes. The fear, confusion and disbelief. The anger and rage. The terror. It was almost tangible in the smokey musk air. Sweet smelling with a bitter after taste. Filling their air ways with an almost suffocating gas. Keeping them frozen on the edge with their hands wrapped around their hits and thoughts locked on to the 'what ifs'. They had not learned to embrace these feelings like she had. They had not learned that they could be powerful. Which was why these half faced men could only stay and watch, while the fire born kunoichi was free to slowly... gracefully bend down and pick up the two fallen blades by her feet....and throw them with deadly force for the chest bones of the two bandits. And finally.... by the time the third realised his only option, it would be too late. She was already there with her knife slowly being dragged down from his throat. Cutting away till there was nothing but broken stones and blood flavored oxygen.

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

"Hey there... are you alright?"

Are you alright? What a stupid question it was.
As she slowly trod around to the beaten Guanyin and crouched down before him, she could clearly see that he was not 'alright'. The bruises patterning across his skin from blows and broken bones. The dried blood caked across every fibrous surface. The tattered and torn clothing that might have well been the perfect representation of the answer to her question. Even as she reached in to her bag for the blanket to gently... carefully wrap around his shoulders and the water bottle she would guide to his lips, the female was almost overly cautious not to get to close in case she broke the fractured fragile thing. But despite her concerns, for the younger, she had seen the courage they had possessed. The discreetly masked strength. Which was why she also handed him back the small bundle of needles she had collected since coming on this journey.

"It's Hanbei isn't it? Hanbei Guanyin?" she continued, speaking softy just in case there was ears at the end of those fallen strings
"I don't know if you remember me. My name is Tenmei. I'm here to take you home. Can you move? Because we may need to move fast"


Another feeling. A prickling. She could sense someone coming through the shadows, coming closer. And this shape would be larger and more ominous than the others. So even if she had to pick up the young shinobi and carry him on her back as she sprinted through these tunnels back to the outside, or drag him behind her as she retraced the scorched footprints in the sand.
Tenmei was going to leave this place and leave it quickly.
These sands had seen enough blood shade this day.

"It's okay. Everything will be okay now. They aren't going to hurt you any more. I promise"

I promise

-------
Words: 1810
Total: 6864

Hanbei watched in a state of absolute shock and awe, freezing him in place as the femme fatal cut her bloodied way through the corrupted men who had, but stark few moments ago brutally assaulted the fragile body of the Guanyin. Looking up at her as he did so with wide eyed innocence, her sleek, slender, aerodynamic frame flowing through them like a silk scarf on a billowing wind. Her blade gliding through their flesh effortlessly as, almost dance-like, she posed, drawing the blade through her final victims' throat as he gurgled on what little of his warm life blood flowed from his open veins, twitching uncontrollably as he fell as if everything beneath his waist just suddenly no longer existed. The warm cadaver slamming face first into the ground with a thud ... All the while, the chaos around them serenaded the hallways, Hanbei used this little chance to pull himself up from the wall he was leaning against, allowing him to better watch what rem the show unfold before him, little more than a phantasmagoria as the wounds from the blows to his face clouded his vision, leaving little but dancing shadows in the forms of men.

As she leaned down and spoke sweetly, her voice like honey to his ears, Hanbei did not register the rather obvious question, but, if he was going to help her escape and give her the information he had on the area, he was actually going to need to spend some of his own chakra in order to heal himself properly ... Looking to his near broken body, he clutched his gut as he tried to focus just enough to channel chakra through his pulsating veins. The pain which it caused almost threw the Guanyin off from being able to perform the technique, pushing him nearing his pain threshold, teetering at the edge, gasping, as he almost lost control of his own power. The events which almost unfolded would have inevitably forced the pulse to go to waste... though, finally, through biting his lip and freezing his actions just in time, he managed to preserve the technique just long enough to send a pulse of positive chakra through his own body, feeling the bruises and the deep tissue pain melt away like ice in water in a wave across the surface of his minute frame, as well as much of the pain from around his ribs save from the deep tenderness of the fracture on impact, though taking the harsh edge off the pain significantly.

Looking up at the woman after she had asked her question, Hanbei nodded in affirmation, he was ready to get up and get going, though, how and where to begin were two other good questions, which would no doubt need to be answered within the next few moments as he gathered his thoughts and attempted to remember the layout of the facility, as soon as he looked back to the way Tenmei had come, he thought that they would just be able to follow the path she had made back to the source of her carnage ... “Yeah, I'm okay, and ... Tenmei ... how did you find me? I... didn't think anyone was coming... but we have to be careful, the leader of these guys, he's a mo-”


Though, once Hanbei had begun to speak, and finally began to have a clear head about him, he could feel a palpable aura of malice approaching them quickly from deeper in the arena which had been set up for the duo... assuming that it was the presence of the leader of the troupe, the situation that the two of them were in just got a whole lot worse... they were surrounded by the corpses of seven of his men, none of them had their tattoos cut or damaged in any way, and all of them surrounded the area. Hanbei froze in terror, looking around as his skin went whiter than it even was before, like he had seen the visages of the dead... they were in a death-trap, and Tenmei didn't know about the lethal death-trap that each of these men were... it was at that specific moment a harrowing applause could be heard echoing from the other end of the hallway, moving closer step by step as a man robed in sand-swept clothing, long faded and staring directly at the pair with ebony eyes, Hanbei reached out with his hand and tried to tug on the back of the famale ninja's robes, in some attempt to gain her attention, she had likely already noticed the identical tagging on the faces of the brigands, but, likely had not linked it to being the same as an advanced bomb seal which was used in the land of Sunagakure... Though, hopefully the man who was eyeing the two of them down, drawing a long, serrated version of the same swords as the others, similar in practise, but vastly more cruel in theory.

Smiling to himself the man held his blade to his side, pressing his two fingers between, as if to click them. On the tip of his fore-finger and thumb, Tenmei would only barely be able to see two tiny body seals of his own, printed on the tips of each of the fingers, one was the symbol for fire, while the other was the symbol for a form of activation. Clues linked in a strand of evidence which would ultimately lead to the realisation of the dire situation she was in ... Hanbei however, didn't know where to go, or what to say, rather than attempt to fight the man whom was vastly more skilled than he was, he took the cowards route. Jumping out a nearby window and falling two stories to the dunes below, the soft sand breaking his fall some-what as he looked up in anticipation. He remembered what kind of ninja Tenmei was, and him being close to her, was more likely just going to hold her back rather than him being able to help in any real way... additionally, him being further away meant that he would be able to be a long ranged asset, able to keep some of the trash off her back long enough for her to deal with what really mattered.

---

The Bandit leader stood before his target, he was impressed with the way she had, with so much flair, dispatched each of his men... he knew now that he needed to have this woman in his ranks. She would be an invaluable asset for attaining the many riches he sought after. To him, she was a holy grail, and something that could not be passed up. Smiling and opening his arms wide for a moment, as if to welcome her to his place... all the while the remaining dozen men in the facility began the long process of attempting to surround them unseen, hiding in far off corridors, on the roof, on the floors underneath and near windows, hoping to take up strategic points where they would be able to be of use to their master...

“Woman... you've put up a good fight... how about we stop the bloodshed and you join me... I could use a woman of your talents... you would be like a jewel to us. A diamond in the desert with wealth beyond your wildest dreams... what do you say?”

The man offered openly, though, he knew on a deep level that she was not going to accept the offer, strong women like that were the kind who wanted to burn down the world and create their paradise from the ashes. If only he knew the extent that was true with the lone ninja who stood before him. As soon as she made an aggressive move, or declined his offer in any palpable sum, he would click his fingers. The chakra spent from the activation of the technique would be minuscule, the body-seals on the men around them having long had the chakra installed into the symbol, needing only to be activated, lying dormant for his command... The symbols on the faces of the corpses around Tenmei, as well as the marks on the faces of the men further back in the hallway all lit up white with a low humming which rose higher and higher with every growing moment, until, after little more than a second and a half, they would explode, bathing the hallway behind her in crimson flame as the scent of burning flesh would fill the entire building.

Posing with his blade at the ready, he would wait for Tenmei's next move, the stance he took, with his arm raised high and the blade pointing downward towards the floor, was a much more disciplined stance, bending his back leg slightly, his form was elegant to a fault, though it was hardly a fighting style taught by ninja... More arabic, or Indian in theme... foreign... strange...

who knew what surprises he had in store for them all...

She could sense it. Taste it. Smell it on the air. That moment.
That... fleeting fracture in time where the whole world just seemed to pause. Standing still, silent, statuesque. Caught between breaths in a moment of pure calm as it watched and listened to the memories of the nerve shearing snap and the slow humming that followed, filling the lifeless caves like a misplaced echo. Building. Rising. Growing in intensity. Creeping over the feverish heat waves across her skin, until.... suddenly... it dropped away. With the scent of simmering unfurling in her lungs and the taste of a spark just under her tongue, the curtain fell away. And that precious fragile, half lived moment... was shattered. Ending in a beautiful crimson crescendo of flames that roared through the tunnels, towards the two individuals trapped within it's jaws.

And yet... neither one moved.

That's right. She could have taken the same route as the other had done before hand. Race the flames to the very edge and blindly leap out the window. Hoping that the sand's embrace would be gentle enough that when she landed, nothing important would break. Or she could have thrown up a barrier that would reduce the flames to the embers that had started it. She could have even charged the creator knowing that he was standing in a place where the furnace wouldn't quite reach. But the woman...Didn't. Move. Instead... the young Sotsuji embraced it. Like the anticipating sensations in that moment before, the special jounin just stood with arms outstretched, head tilted back and blissfully inhaling, exhaling the smoke tainted scent deep in to her core. It was wonderful feeling. The tangerine tongues glance across her exposed skin, singing her clothes and charring what's left. It's raw heat pressing in around her around her as the ocean of burning oxygen enveloped her completely.... and then it was gone. Just like that. Just like that feeling... that fractal of time it was gone. And all that was left... was the smouldering husks glowing through the smoke, their leader standing perfectly unharmed.... and the sounds of a scorched woman's laugh echoing down the tunnels.

"You think your slave made fire can hurt me?" A venomously silken voice echoed cooly through the dissipating smoke. "Your flames are nothing compared to my fathers.... to mine. Did you really think, that someone like me could work for a man so cowardly that he would wait until a child has been weakened and worn down before capturing and torturing them. Someone who has to paint explosive's on their soldier's face in order to command obedience. If you think that a few kiss arse words are going to make me want to work for a man whose fire wouldn't even leave a scar..."

She was ready. Even with the merciless words flowing cruelly, relentlessly from her lips the Sotsuji stood slightly crouched with fingers barely poised and her glowing ginger eyes trained on the male in front of her. Watching his fingers tighten ever so slightly around that gruesomely edged blade as he slid his foot back in to that unusual stance. Seeing his form tense and coil with every half second passing. If he so much as took a step towards her, parting through the final wisps of smoke and shifting the sands underfoot; she would see it... and react.
But this special jounin would not be the only one to notice a change in the opposition's demeanor. In those empty moments while the voice echoed through the cave; As the first sounds would reach his ears, something else would stretch out to grace his skin. A scorching and unyielding heat unlike that which had already filled the labyrinth like hide out. A vicious temperature that would grow worse with every step that brought the two individuals closer.

And it was all coming from her

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

She could feel it too. The precarious grip on her scorching centers start to slowly loosen. The restricting walls around the lava pathways start to gradually widen. Like a fist slowly opening to free a trapped insect, Tenmei could feel her body relax the controlling strong hold she had tried so hard to maintain and allow the fiery chakra to flow freely through her being. Heating her blood, her muscles her skin....until the air around her started to heat up as well. And with that....the air around her. But she didn't stop.
As soon as he took up that pretentious pose; as soon as she had breathed the constraints from her tensed form; the female suddenly shifted her weight and kicked out with her left leg, swinging in to a round house kick that would send a wave of fire come racing towards him with deathly speed. However, that was not the only thing that was coming after him. The Sotsuji had barely brought her foot back around when she sprinted off after the wave. Oh yes. With transparent fire coating her flesh and a dual tipped dagger held tightly in hand, the Sotsuji followed the rolling wave of heat, closing the gap between them until he was just close enough. Perhaps even close enough that she could attempt a swipe at the arm... the shoulder holding the sword and sever the muscles there. Essentially forcing him to drop the grotesque shard of steel and bring him down to her level.

And yet, there was still more.

While the female kept him distracted with the brutal tips of her blade, she began to effortlessly draw chakra in to her other hand. Letting it flow in to her finger tips and rest in her palm. Allowing it to spread down her wrist but not too much. It was so easy this time. So freeing. Before hand all she could do was allow the chakra to trickle through a little at a time. Make sure she didn't get too hot or go too fast or think too much. But this time, it was as simple as creating a dividing wall for the rapid flowing chakra to meander around. And breaking it away when there was enough.
In the end, perhaps it was a good thing that Hanbei jumped out the window and to the safety of the unrelenting desert. Because after she had started directing that heat in to her hands, she started channeling in to her feet, her eyes, her throat. And once she let go of everything, once she had got used to this lighter feeling; there was no telling how much damage she would do when she let it all go.

The battle had only just begun... but Tenmei Sotsuji could already taste the blood on her lips and the smoke in her lungs. It was her turn to play with fire.

--------
Words:1145
Total: 8009

Chakra 210/250:

Hanbei scurried quickly for a vantage point, he was weak, but not useless, he looked over the area around them with wide eyes trying to put his back to the sun as he looked over everything around them... his arms were tired, heavy, as were his legs, but one foot after the other he found himself moving in the direction he needed to be in order to get the sight he needed. The Man Tenmei was fighting was dangerous, but as Tenmei just stood there, and absorbed the fiery blow that the Bandit leader had dished out from all of the dead bodies which scattered around them, Hanbei was amazed at the spectacle... although he knew that Tenmei was a powerful Katon user, he had never expected that the Sotsuji clan were so potent at their art that they were able to simply bathe themselves in the flame of others... but his medical sight knew differently, he had a keen eye, he could see the pores of tenmei's skin dy as all moisture around them had been completely stolen by the attack, Tenmei had suffered first degree burns, but likely didn't even realize it though her adrenaline and her own personal anger...

Then again... not that first degree meant anything to her.

There were still bandits on the horizon for them to deal with, something which Hanbei could not personally allow to reach them, taking some of hisd throwing weapons between his fingers, he ran his thumbs down the sleek mat black shafts which were his Senbon... they were such potent, precise, unpredictable weapons... ones that he had missed for over a year now as he had been captured and held in the gulag of the enemy, but now, all of his training came flooding back to him, he could remember the vital locations of the human body, he could remember the nerve clusters which when penetrated would cause pain which the victim did not believe to be possible. He could remember the meridian pathways and acupuncture points which could be struck to create strength or relieve it from ones body entirely... Hanbei realised that the blood of a Guanyin, just like the blood of a Sotsuji, never forgot its true talents.

It was the Duty of the Guanyin to fight evil where it lurkes, and rebuild the people after darkness passes.

It was the Duty of the Sotsuji... to become the Sun itself, and illuminate dark places!

Hanbei's eyes steeled and focused on his targets, he could see the movement through the windows, gripping his lower quality senbon he began to channel the chakra he needed through his body to perform the feats he needed to. Gripping the small slender silver spines he hurled them at speeds through the open windows for his opponents, taking them by surprise as they were flanked with needles after needles. Hanbei spinning and throwing one after the other. Few met their marks, but they struck the stone wall ahead of them hard enough to embed into the stone and hang there like a symbol for the bandits to not interrupt the battle between the fierce firestorms... Once they had stopped however, it was time for a jutsu... making a single hand-sign the white chakra needles of his sitting needle technique appeared in his hands and he hurled all of the needles for his opponents, striking two of the bandits with great force, dropping them in pain and causing the others to duck behind cover.

The least he could do was hold them off for her...

---

Meanwhile the Bandit lord was readying himself for combat on a whole new level. Killing intent flooded to his eyes and the smile of the devil itself crossed his lips as the female salamander bathed herself in his flames... it was then he knew that this was going to be a fight to remember. He knew he was not going to be able to dominate her in the same way as he had ruled with fear in the others... for so long the Bandit lord had been bored, lost to the dull repetition of survival at the cost of those lesser than him. He had long forgotten the passion of an even match with someone who was his equal... and with the fires which exploded from Tenmei's skin, the fire within his soul rekindled within its kiln, flaring to life as his body flared into movement... Like a Solar flare leaping from the sun itself The bandit lord began to move, taking a running stride as Tenmei would react immediately, her leg erupting into violent fuuton fed flames arcing from her leg in a fiery swathe of violent malefic force....

The Bandit leader however, was quick... with a hop he bounded to the wall at the side with the speed of her kick, placing himself to the side and over tip od the wave as it began and expanded further down the hall-way. From the flank he was much better able to see Tenmei follow up the wake of the strike, and with a second kick from the wall he would descend upon his opponent like a hawk, the whistling of his blade as it cut through the air was almost magical, the gleam of the Damascus steel cut through the air like a bird chirping in spring... The Bandit lord would come down on his opponent with a strike aimed for the side of her neck, angling it down so that were he able he would cut her in two from her neck, through her body to her opposite hip and out the other side... Landing the Bandit lord would not desist with his attacks, instead coming in on his opponent with sweeping strikes one after the other, supporting the back end of the blade with his palm  pressed up against the dull end in an attempt to grant him unparalleled control over his own weapon.

[1000 words]

Hanbei stared in disbelief, shock, horror, and yet a morbid intruigue as they two ninja exploded into motion, it became immediately evident that Hanbei was correct in that he would have only been in the way of the two Fiery titans clashing at speeds as fast as thought, with strikes as strong as bulls crashing against one another. Tenmei seemed to be on the upper hand, her fire filling the corridor, Hanbei could not believe his eyes when the man leaped the swathe of flame as if it were little more than a hurdle standing still... But the Guanyin could tell something immediately by the way the two of them moved and fought... the Bandit was slower, by a considerable sum, he would not be able to avoid continuous onslaught without injury... it would be too much, and Tenmei did not look like she was int he mood to take prisoners. Hanbei could see before him that he was being avenged, and it made him glad. For over a year he had been in this dungeon, where not even his father could find him... Hanbei had been broken, he was changed, standing in the middle of the sands, he coiled his hands and looked at the other mobs that he had pinned down with his needles... It was not good enough...

Each one of them, he could remember having turns with him, like he was a play thing which would herald a prize to the one who broke his resolve, a prize that was given out over, and over, and over again as Hanbei answered their questions and bled information to the enemy, but only in amounts that he thought would not satisfy their torture. Hanbei would attempt to give them more questions than answers under duress, telling half tales and extending his life-span not because he wanted to... but because he had to, simply to survive... The blood-shedding, cold-sweating, heart-stopping, writhing agony he endured was one which no-one should have had to go through. And now, the emotions of him being free, and facing down his attackers, even with the poltry sum of chakra he had at his disposal was sorely lacking. Hanbei could rememeber one of the more advanced techniques Kanbei had used when he was a child...

each hand seal came to him by memory.

Fore-fingers pushed together...

...Fists placed in tandem...

...palms along fingers

As he moulded his chakra in ways which had never been used, and in ways which had not been used in hundreds of days... the pent up power flourished with the young boys' rage. Exploding outward as the needles began to float in front of his hands as the boy felt something gurgle to the front of his throat... for once the sensation was not blood, nor bile, nor a fluid of his own making, but his voice, shattering the shackles of his oppression as their prisoner and now finally daring to speak out against the men who were being slaughtered by the Kirigakure ninja who stood before them... But the first words which escaped his lips, though lightning crackled at the tips of his lips as he flowed his raiton nature through his technique... his words were not of venom towards his enemies, but of reinforcement of his friend.

"Don't you DARE touch her! RAITON NATURE: STREAM OF NEEDLE HELL TECHNIQUE!!!"

The callout of the jutsu helped Hanbei focus on what he was doing, then suddenly, the lightning charged needles which hung aloft around the solemn guanyin flipped to face their enemies, then dozen by dozen, hundred by hundred, the flood-gates of the river began to flow... there was no hiding from the technique, there was only fleeing. Where Hanbei had only 'ever' thrown perhaps several dozen needles at once with his abilities, the Guanyin escalated his power to a whole new level, firing not tens, not dozens, but hundreds of needles per second from each hand towards his foes who screamed and began to run from the deadly hail. The Raiton needles ripped into the stone like it was nothing, blasting it apart with its light Raiton affinity as Hanbei swept the technique for his enemies. The needles aimed true, with each Bandit they caught they penetrated one part of them first, causing them to fall before the wave hit... ripping dozens of holes into and through the men one by one before Hanbei found himself almost running out of chakra...

Falling to his knees, it seemed that the risk to Tenmei was over... all she needed to do now was beat their leader... a smile crept along his face, as a strange sensation ran through Hanbei's mind... Hope. He knew the Sotsuji Champion could not loose to those with ill intent. Her fire was the pale red flame of righteous glory, which could not be snuffed by any man, any ninja, any demon or god...

Tenmei was like the mountains...

unbreakable.

---

The Bandit leader was impressed, though his cloak shielded him from the ambient flames, the cloth resistant to the fire which lingered across what flammable material was in the area... shreds of clothing, hay, and bodies which were in the vicinity. The Ambiance was something that was palpable in the hallway now, the smell of smoking flesh, flickering licks of flame arching up from the floor like crimson foliage, casting the room in a warm orange glow... The Bandit leader had been too occupied with action to make small talk, but, as he came down on her, it seemed that she was faster than he had initially thought, she was able to move, with her dagger in hand and catch his blade in between two fork like prongs with a single hand. The Lord was impressed with her strength, but before he was able to comment she had made her next move, routing his blade around and down she bought her powerful free fist up for a punch.

There was no way to avoid this without sacrifice.

Dropping his blade and allowing Tenmei's motion of her dagger to cast it to a side, the Bandit leader, with the hand which had once supported his blade, bought the back of his hand up as a defense, the hand which had once gripped his sword immediately placed on the hilt of a dagger on his belt as he stepped in. Bringing his hand across and keeping it close to his bode, he would meet Tenmei's wrist with the back of his palm and forcibly attempt to route her momentum across him in such a manner as he would step in to her blind-side, her back revealed... dagger at the ready, low, and angled up to her sensitive lower organs...

"Got you..."

But... just as he would do so... there was an eruption from the volcano that was the Sotsuji...

Violent heat blasted the Bandit backwards and slammed him into the wall with force, simmering him and his clothing with some first degree burns. Cursing under his breath, it seemed that Tenmei was a bag full of tricks not to be underestimated. Drawing a second knife from his side, he gripped both of them tightly...

"Enough of your tricks and talk ninja, you ask me where are my promises? I ask you... where's your honour? Your tricks alone won't be enough to overcome me... I don't fear your blades enough to beg ... So fight!"

With his resolve, and gritting his teeth, the Bandit leader would Lunge at Tenmei once again, though a little slower than before due to the shaking blast that he had received from her moments before. Holding the knife in his left hand up-right and the other in a reverse grip, he dove for the female warrior, whipping out his left hand for a strike to her throat, hoping he would bring her one blade up to block or that she would evade down... allowing him to follow up, bending at his knee and spinning with a strike from the second dagger for the outside of Tenmei's left knee. A cut that should it be successful would limit her movement considerably, and give the scum an advantage in the upcoming battle...

This wasn't over yet.

[1400 words.]

Ever since she was little, the female knew that it was never going to be an easy promise to keep. However, that never stopped the young girl from trying her best.
Back when she first moved to the village hidden in the mist; Tenmei got in to a lot of fights. Some bad back streets. One too many mischosen words. It would always end up the same way. She would be bruised, they would be burned and yet..... the Sotsuji made sure to hold back... to not leave any scars. Try to not leave too many lasting memories for them to dream about that night. And then there was the exams. That unforgiving event. She fought there as well. She fought hard enough to leave some marks on both stone and skin but still she diligently obeyed those wise words of his and held back so not one of the competitors got too badly hurt. Wherever she went and whatever she did, Tenmei did as she was told and kept it together.  Until she stopped..... She stopped being strong when Seven Bells sliced at her spine. She let it all out when the world found out. And now... this bandit was only one of the many she had caused harm to.


And yet... she was not stopping

or slowing



Everything was on fire. The smouldering piles of bodies, scattered about the macabre coloured hallway and the charred remains of clothing that clung on like decaying flesh. The splintered weapons and fallen debris. The cracked rusty stone peppering the ground around it. Flames and smoke painted the entire scene but none of it burned as brightly... as vividly as it did in the special jounin's eyes. The reflection of the chakra that was growing and burning as she swung her fist towards him with speed. But this time, the fire wasn't enough. Her assault was cut short when his free hand intercepted hers, forcing a change in her momentum so she was standing in a less confronting position. But that didn't matter. The force that exploded from the raging furnace beneath her skin didn't need a single direction. Like a resonating wave of sound it erupted out in all directions, slamming in to him with the full force of her trickery. It was a victory in the female's eyes. Even though they both knew the feeling was fleeting.

In the bare seconds that it took the male to the stumble from the force of the attack...when he loosened the sword in to her control; the female quickly flicked open the blade between her fingers, releasing the sword on to the debris and granting her another weapon. One that she grasped with her free hand, just as he had taken his own second blade and swiped at her. It was a fast turning of the tables but when it was his turn to step up to the plate, Tenmei was still faster.
As the blade came round to cut through the racing pulse at her throat, the female jumped backwards towards the wall, missing the second blade that spun for her legs by a breath. However, instead of stopping at the barrier, she stepped up, on, and with two carefully calculated steps she jumped off the wall at an angle to land on his opposite side, with one ruby stained onyx blade coming for his cervical verterbrae, the other ready to deflect the recoil. But whether he felt the cool steels edge slice through his tender skin or just its chilly breath across his spine it still wouldn't matter. Standing this close there was no escaping the blistering heat that rolled off the knives in preparation for the next fire born attack.


This fight... it had already gone on too long

The fire inside wanted it to end

He wanted it to end


But all the female could do was laugh. Here this man stood, preaching to her about honour, when the entire reason that she infiltrated this hell pit of a fortress... why she decimated his hyaenidae like army; was because the self proclaimed bandit prince had taken a seemingly innocent weakened child and abused him like a disobedient dog. Keeping him chained and starved for their own sick amusement. It churned her stomach, it twisted it in to knots and braids, but that feeling only served to squeeze out more rage towards the individual. So while she jumped and swiped and kept her guard flawlessly up, the Sotsuji growled through gritted teeth, replying oddly calmly to his some what  bold retort.


"Afraid of my blades? Ha! They might be what cuts your life away but they are not what you should fear..."
The heat from her blades, her arms, her body, her slowly reddening skin... The stifling temperature pressing in from the dusty stone world around them; with every breath the world got hotter... and hotter... and hotter . And it would only be a matter of time before the cooler breeze creeping through the small window opening, was not enough to subdue the rising heat that slowly gathered within. How much time would it take? How long? Neither of them knew. But what the female did know was that one of them breathed that same heat with every throbbing heart beat. And the other just lived in with it breathing down their neck.
"Look around you. There is nothing left. Your people have been murdered by my hand and yours. Your... castle is falling apart while we fight. Even if you somehow manged to crawl out from the bloody debris you still have nothing? Why? Because I took it from you like you took that boy.
But unlike you, foul creatures, I dont take prisoners"


Her words ended, she finished her attack with a backwards slash down across his spine, playing her part in this game. It was his turn now.
And she could hardly wait....


The one you should be afraid of....

is me

------
words:1011
Total: 9946

The stream of needles had stopped, and there was little more that the young Guanyin ninja was able to contribute to the fight, with little more than fifteen percent of his chakra reserve intact he likely had one more technique in him before he was completely rung dry. But it didn't bother him too badly, he had forced whatever was left of the Bandit leader's men into retreat, which led the little ninja into beginning to chuckle under his breath, had he not been ambushed, maybe he could have held his own against these men at maximum strength... though he doubted it, the leader was in a whole other league to him... at least special jounin rank as far as his physical statistics were concerned. There was no way he, and his small frame were able to content with that kind of giant without some extreme strength training. Hanbei had thought back to the chuunin exams and his own training, remembering at no point was he ever in a state where strength was a required element of his victory...

Dragging himself to his feet once again, Hanbei looked at the ensuing fight, the sand stone of the walls was beginning to simmer and redden with the head of everything going on, like the walls of a giant stone oven. Something was about to happen, Tenmei was getting hotter and hotter. Everything that was flammable within the building seemed to be getting engulfed by the flames, tasted and subsequently devoured by the infernal tongues that bathed the former prison manor. Shadows danced upon the shifting sands cast by the flickering hellfire as it seemed to be slowly getting to the point where it was about to loose all control... Which only just made hanbei begin to fear the implications of everything that was going on. If that fire became much stronger, the wooden beams along the hallways might loose their structural integrity. The whole building might come down in but a few short minutes... with hanbei having absolutely nothing he would be able to do about it.

But, just as the boy was about to shout. There was a sharp hiss, followed by a subsequent snap as a sharp, biting pain shot through the Ninja's body, coming from his side. The pain was like being electrocuted, as his hand found itself naturally seeking the location. Blood could be found on his fingers as hanbei looked to the source of it all. A single arrow, lodged into the ground... Using it as a bead, Hanbei traced it back to a silhouette of a man standing upon the roof of the burning building, staring him down, a bandit, one who had not run from the others, holding a short bow, and firing far from its optimum range... which was no doubt why the arrow had failed to meet its mark... The man didn't seem to be standing quite right, one of his shoulders was lower than the other, raising and falling quickly like the man was hyperventilating. He stepped forward and hanbei became afraid, not wanting another fight.

"Oh shit..."

Hanbei cursed as the vengeful man began to make his way along the rooftops to the edge of the building. Drawing another arrow from his quiver and knocking it against the string and raising the bow cross bodied to his chest, much how the english archers fired their bows. Hanbei reached for something, anything, that would be able to defend against or deflect the arrow, but could find nothing in the sand. He had nothing left as the man let fly the next shot. Soaring through the air for a microsecond the birch steel head arrow skimmed the head of the Guanyin, taking the glancing blow and hitting the deck hard... unmoving. Hanbei had hoped it would be enough, the blood from the wound to his head spreading out along the sand as facial wounds were prone to do. The trickle of blood from his leg further staining his clothing. The bandit with the bow, stared in disbelief... had he made the shot? He couldn't tell from the distance....

But the will to believe was enough, the bandit bleeding from the peppered holes in his arms, torso and legs from the rain of needles which had come from moments before. Slumping down to his knees, the bandit fell to his back on the roof as he could feel the heat of the building rise against his back. In his mind, he had gotten the kid... But he wasn't so lucky...

In a split second when Hanbei had taken the glancing blow he had allowed his body to go limp and fall... not that it was a hard thing to do due to his wounds and tiredness. The slyness of his youth coming through as, within that split second, decided to play dead. Figuring that from the mans' posture he was heavily wounded, and would likely not be able to make the three story decent of the building to check his body. And no doubt would be desperate enough to 'believe' that he made the shot. So... lying still he played dead, his eyes open and looking in the direction of tenmei's fight, should she look his way and see him lying there. He was sure she was astute enough to spy his open eyes watching her, he'd give her a sly wink, just in case. Knowing that he would not be able to be seen from the rooftop.

But Tenmei had bigger fish to fry...

---

The bandit Lords' combo was quick and lethal, his two handed knife stance allowed him the opportunity to both attack and defend at will. So, as he dropped his weight and span for her leg with her second strike, and Tenmei jumped over him to the other angle, the Bandit Lord let out a foot to grind his spinning momentum to a halt early at one hundred and eighty degrees, rather than fully finishing his spin... With the early finish he would be much more able to see Tenmei and fight back.

Her knife came quickly, and with a raising cut, as did the bandits to meet it. Using the gap between Tenmei's fingers and the hilt of the dagger, hooking it in on an angle with the purpose of stilling the blow. The bandit lord would ensure to catch the blade to stop the slash from moving any further, locking the blades tightly. Tenmei was stronger than him, and he could feel it with the weight of her blow. Every single one of her strikes had been with a killing intent from the beginning. The heat of her knife had already, in this short stand-still, begun heating his to the point that the skin on his hand had begun to sizzle... but it only made him grip the knife harder against the pain. reinforcing his resolve as his hand received minor second degree burns...The bandit, still in a low, almost kneeling stance, had known that he would not be able to overpower her with his arms alone, and so, he'd placed himself like this, in a position of unconventional advantage.

"All things must come to an end... But-see, I win either way... If I die, I go out in a blaze of glory... if you die... I snuff you like a little candle..."

He spoke cockily with a grim chuckle before he moved.

He would explosively drive up with his legs, using the locked knifes to hold her in place for a moment as he would aim to push her knife up above her head, and move forward to deliver a powerful knee to the ninja's diaphragm, directly underneath her knife arm. A stunning blow capable of fracturing that ever most fragile lower rib. From there, hoping she would stagger, he would then, with his second knife, move to slash the tendons under her exposed knife arm with a single, targeted upward strike, allowing him to release his knife, which, would finally come down hard, in an ice pick grip to plunge the knife deeply into the gap between the Sotsuji's shoulder and neck...

Should his attacks succeed they would come across as building blocks, each of them one on top of the other. The previous strike allowing the next to succeeded in a tight progression of events which would be hard to out-maneuver. Though he very well knew he would likely receive major damage to his leg with the knee to her side, her exposed skin as hot as flame... but it was worth the sacrifice... and with her heating up, a direct blow may have been a move that the Sotsuji wasn't expecting.

But through all the bravado, this was the final effort, and the Bandit knew it... all of his reserves and speed were pooled into this final attempt.

[1494 words]

Instinct


Action and reaction. That's all that was driving her movements.
With every rage fueled swinging slice that came for her fiery flesh, she would match it with a equally ferocious blow. With every running leap he dared towards her, she would be right there, mirroring his pace to past perfect. And whenever he spit those venomous words across the smoke and sand, she would scream them right back with enough icy venom that it could extinguish even her flames. Oh yes. That's right. Any other day... any other time the two fighting strangers could pass as human. Walking around, working, talking, existing like the once breathing bodies around them. But under the surface they were as animal as they come. Claws out, teeth bared. Salivating and growling. It was a furious lion ravenous for blood and a hyena who would shred everyone's flesh for for it's prize. Needless to say there was only going to be one way this fight was going to end: Someone was going to walk out of here alive. The other would be simply just be dead.


And have their bloody husks carried out in the mighty jaws of the victor.


Tenmei was beyond the feelings of desperation. There was no time.
Everything was moving so fast. In one breath, she was sliding back away from the flashes of silver coming quickly for her pulse.... and in the next she was stepping up to jump haphazardly off the sand layered wall. Twisting, shifting, twirling slightly to get around him.  By the time gravity reached out to grab hold once more, the fire born female was cross slashing her own silver claw in an attempt to end his movements in one felling swipe.... but it wasn't his actions that came to an abrupt stop. With the nerve grating screech of metal on metal his blade connected with hers, locking it in place as she had done with his not too long ago. However, this was different. She was stronger than him. Better. Tenmei could feel his muscles straining to keep his bones locked him position under the pressure of the coal coloured blade. She could feel him trying to keep it up. And still... he was just strong enough. Before the Special Jounin had a chance to push away from him, the bandit leader's knee came up and slammed in to her diaphragm... hard. Brutally crashing in to her lowest floating ribs.


She felt them break

It hurt. It really hurt. The sharp pain shooting across her abdomen. The dizzy sickness rolling over her gasping form. The sheer force threw her back to the footprints on the wall. It was a surprising blow... but it wasn't enough. Not quite. In the very second...the very milisecond it took for her to stumble that one short step backwards; Tenmei brought the matching half of her dagger to incercept his second attack. Stopping it cold so both creatures were stuck with hands locking.... eyes locking, anger interlocking.... there was something else wrong.
It only took a second. A moment's separation from the moment they were in. An aversion of her gaze and the surging of anger. Just before the Sotsuji was about to land a solid kick to his gut and pull her blades away from him she saw out the window: the young Hanbei lying there. Still. Motionless on the ground. Her heart stopped. What had happened? What could she have missed? Had she failed? Had all this been for nothing? Ignoring all other possibilities, all other out comes...choices and problems; had she walked out to the desert and in to this infested pit only to come out a.....
No. No. Not this time. The tiniest flutter of an eyelid shattered those doubts and her heart rate returned to it's usual rhythm. As had time. But this pause in the system was exactly what she needed.

One kick. Two steps. Three meters away.
Four blades being forced from their owner's hands.

"A blaze of glory?...... " the woman would growl between micro bouts of coughing and gasping. "When you die, there will be nothing.....You will be buried along with your cowardly soldiers and broken failures. .....No one will remember the cretin that stole an injured child'...... You will just be another pile of bones for the desert to devour. As for me......."


Instinct


It came to her as natural as breathing. Inhaling the last bit of moisture on the air. Exhaling a gentle summer breeze. Her tangerine eyes would flare to the colour of a terrific sunset as pure untainted heat rolled from her shoulders, before igniting in to a cloak of flames. A garment that covered her from the crease in her forehead to her bare exposed soles.... to the sword that she unsheathed from her newly freed hands. At this distance he would feel the scorching material as it flared and licked at its surrounds. He would see the radiant crimson, amber colours that reflected in the steel. And he would know that there was more to come.
With all the strength she had left. With all the speed she could call on... Burning through oxygen and biting through the agony, she built up her chakra, and ran for him, the Silver edge of her blade coming for his life in a sharp upward swing to tear him a part from naval to neck as she passed him by. And if that wasn't enough. If the metal wasn't enough to sever him completely, the sphere of absolute raw heated chakra that fell away from her hand, rolled down her blade like water on wire, landing right before him before his flesh could be pierced; would ignite with a sharp click of her fingers. Turning the dried air in to a terrifying furnace fueled mass. Boiling anything inside it alive while Tenmei Sotsuji watched with a wicked Satisfaction.

"This candle will not be snuffed so easily"

He couldn't have survived that. He couldn't have. There was no way an animal like the banding king could survive something like that.
But still the female had to be sure. So...while the air still simmered with rippling waves and the ground still smouldered in to blackness, she stepped forward to where she had cut... where she had scorched the area; and raised her sword once more, levelling it to where his throat would be.
Then.... without flinching, without looking back, without hesitation; the Sotsuji swung her blade one final time in hopes of severing the beastly human's head from his shoulders. Hopefully, finally ending this duel once and for all..... if only the rest of the fight would be so easy.
With a deep breath, the Sotsuji sheathed her sword and allowed the fire at her shoulders to fade in to embers. The remains of her chakra withdrew back in to it's pits, her knives placed back in to it's proper place and her prize packed, folded tight to her back; she took the chance before the blissful pause could also end, to take the time to grab a plain looking scroll from the pouch at her side and release it, unravel it... unseal it to withdraw a weapon that could only be described as terrifyingly viscous.

So....with one hand gripping the tail of the chain, the other swinging the blade through the air above her, she slowly moved towards the exit, her footsteps echoing the steady pounding in her chest. She would be right.
Only one person would be leaving this place alive. One. If anyone tried to change that, she would cut them down where they stood. 

"Come on then! What are you waiting for? You think you little beasties are a challenge for this Monster? Lets see who wins this game"

She could see the end. Their end.
It was time to put an end to this once and for all.

--------
words:1335
Total: 11281

Hanbei could only watch as everything came to a head in the stone hallway, even the sandstone was beginning to redden and break apart as the incredible heat from the Sotsuji seemed to storm out of control. The rampaging flame flickering as it reflected in the twin coloured eyes of the Guanyin boy. The woman that he witnessed was as brilliant as the sun, shimmering brightly as her flame scorched the earth clean and turned the ambient sand in the air to a shimmering glass which seemed to sparkle and linger in the air like crystal fragments. The fighting between them was fierce and skilled, Hanbei could not believe the amount she had improved since the chuunin exams, even as it was presented before his very eyes, the wound to his head was weakening him a little as well as a very light concussion, but, he was pretty certain he had been through a couple of those over his time in captivity, what was one more for the price of freedom...?

"I need to get up..."

The boy mumbled under his breath, pushing against the salty landscape as he rose his upper body off the sand and up and onto his knees, taking his own weight gradually so that he would not fall over... feeling his body wabble as it attempted to balance itself, not used to the feeling of self governance, and certainly not used to being so low on chakra. Hanbei recalled several of his escape attempts when he had a higher chakra pool, all of them ending in utter failure, barely able to wound many of the bandits yet alone take them out, but with each of them eliminated one by one, all of the information Hanbei had given them about his home-land of Kumo would be null and void... he had protected himself, and Tenmei had dealt the finishing blow in protecting his village, fighting for it... or fighting for him... Hanbei wouldn't know.

Finally righting himself, Hanbei looked to the fight, it was all that was left, Tenmei Versus the leader which had kept the Kumo ninja under wraps for all of this time, Tenmei seemed to be faster than him, which was good, and her trained chakra control was something which was giving her a major advantage. Every blow the bandit lay on her would also wound him, meaning that if he was on the winning end, they were tied, and if Tenmei was on the winning end, she was dealing double the damage he could be dealing. It didn't take a genius to know where the tide of this battle was rolling towards. Hanbei knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of that heat, and there wasn't a kitchen in the world which could do it justice, a small part of him pitied the man who fought her, but, it was a very small part of him... and easily overwhelmed by the part which wanted to see him seared and served medium rare.

It was at that moment, that when he felt like the battle could not get any hotter, that like the nozzle of a blowtorch the heat which was exuding from the very pores of the sotsuji refined, into a powerful cloak of flame which irradiated the area... The man she was fighting stood no chance, she could hear his screams as his eyes no doubt dried out into husks at the very presence of the sotsuji's powerful jutsu. The heat which was once expanding everywhere was now consolidated into a single cloak of impenetrable flame, generated not as katon, but as heat which caught the atmosphere around her alight... Hanbei became entranced, the mouthing of a solitary word whispered across his lips in awe as the Sotsuji generated the orb of flame and hurled it in his direction. The screams of her opponent gargling as he swung wildly amidst the fire-storm. There was nothing he could do, he was as helpless as a newborn lamb against the roasting power of Tenbmei...

Then the world held its breath.

Everything fell silent for a moment as the orb lingered near the Bandit king, Hanbei knew what came next, he didn't need to know of the technique she used in order to ascertain its purpose. Shielding his eyes in the last moment as all sound seemed to be erased from the world, there was an explosion, bright as the zenith of the sun with a roar which echoed over the dunes like a lion demonstrating its command. Hanbei tore his arm away from his face as soon as he could to look within the plumes for Tenmei, only to see her moments later walking away from the scene, something spinning in her hands as she walked her way out of the encampment, executing any of the bandits which Hanbei had stopped from engaging her and the bandit King... Hanbei had thought that he'd done a reasonably good job at that one as well.

Hanbei would scramble to his feet and lumber across the sand for the exit to the building he saw Tenmei walking towards, hoping to wit for her there... she would no doubt have specs of blood spattered across her body and deep blue and purple welts beginning to show themselves at her side from the knee to the ribs. Hanbei immediately thought of loose bone shards and the damage that might be able to do to her body, he would need to heal that damage quickly if he were able, not to mention the damage the marrow could do if it entered her blood stream... however, there was also a chance that it would internally cyst, and she would likely survive without her blood being poisoned, but, even with Hanbei at low chakra reserves now, that fate would take days, more than long enough for him to recover his chakra and heal the damage and toxicity in her blood... but now, he was free...

I'm free

The words finally sunk in... it was over, he had been liberated from his prison, someone had come for him when no-one else missed his presence. Tears began to well up in the guanyin's eyes as his smile broke, his fortitude finally failing him as he simply fell apart, falling to his knees and openly crying in relief that it was all over. Having to be strong and undergo the torment for over a year, waiting and trying to escape, being fed false hope and now, at last, the nightmare was over. Hanbei cried like a child would the muscles on his face and neck tightening, without the adrenaline running through his body he no longer had the strength to both deal with the overwhelming sensation as well as the ability to stand... Shaking uncontrollably as the serene salt-laced due fell freely... Hanbei felt embarrassed, he felt foolish, he felt childish and immature, but none of that could come close to the raw power of knowing that he was free...

"It's over...."

The Guanyin whimpered between his tears and gasps....

"It's finally over... ... ..."

[1199 words]

[1158 words]

Hanbei watched Tenmei, as after but a sparce moment of peace, he would watch her walk solitarily off in the distance, as if something had disturbed her mind, but in reality was beyond his ability to hear. Hanbei was a curious being, prying his feet which had buried slowly in the dunes of the sun baked sand and managing to walk on his own two feet, knees buckling slightly under the strain as he began to walk wide around the side of the building in order to get a better look. It wasn't long before a series of horses tore free of their burning barn, charging off into the distance in a rabid stampede for freedom. Hanbei knew exactly how each of them felt in this very moment... Though, in a second thought, he hoped that Tenmei would be okay, as the fire spread to the hay in the small house, increasing the burning furiously as the flames rose higher into the sky... though, it was then the Chuunin remembered for a moment what exactly he was thinking. When it came to Tenmei, no amount of natural flame could do her harm, she was heat made manifest into the realm of flesh and bone. Hanbei laughed, and, sure as the sun sets upon the horizon, Tenmei came out leading two nice solid chestnut horses. Hanbei smiled happily as he moved over to one of the two, taking the reigns of his horse and struggling to put his foot in the stirrup... Only to feel hands touching him from behind, lifting him up into the saddle, making sure not to make the mistake of sitting backwards as  many new riders tend to.

He was embarrassed enough, and didn't need to compound the feeling.

Running through how the horse was meant to be ridden in his mind, Hanbei remembered he had seen other ninja and merchants riding horses back in his village. However, as a ninja himself, he had never had to ride one personally. Hanbei noticed quickly he was rather high off the ground, making him nervous and gripping the reigns a tad too tightly, quickly beginning to make the horse become uneasy. The Mare began restlessly moving its feet and huffing angrily at the grip of the young ninja who, abruptly apologizing out-loud to the horse immediately, lighted his grip to that of a feather... Hanbei knew about the classic tapping the sides of the horse with his feet were a sign to go, and pulling on either side of the reigns were the sign to turn, but he was nervous about any of the other things he needed to do. What was the sign to stop for example? His mind was filled with thought, but, a clear feminine voice cut through his immediate panic as Tenmei began to answer the questions he had asked before, telling him the story of how she had managed to find him in this wasteland.

The story itself was amazing.

Hanbei didn't even remember doing most of the things she had told him about, but, he did remember the battle he had been captured in, and how he was powerless against the bandit leader and his group. He had killed a few of them that day, managed to ensure that several of them required medical attention, but, in the end, his resistance only made it worse on himself. He had killed several of their comrades, and for that, they beat him all the harder, cursing his name as their brothers in arms had been felled by their captive. If Hanbei had have known what was going to happen to him because of it, he would never have fought back. Maybe then he would have been treated better while he was in their custody. Thoughts plagued his mind, the smell of fresh sandy air filled his lungs and the salty taste of freedom and lime danced across his tongue from the ambient particles in the air.

Opening his mouth to speak, Hanbei began:

"I don't really remember at all, ha, I guess when they say that Guanyin Silks are meant to last they weren't lying. But you really are amazing if you were able to pick up that trail. I don't think many ninja would have been able to, the fact that I was still here means that, that was the case. But, I'm glad that you did. Were it not for you... I...I'd... still be there. My break out probably would have failed, and I would have been killed for trying it one time too many..."

After he'd finished speaking he would fall silent before looking at her, and remembering in the blink of an eye that he was a medical ninja, no matter what way it could be cut, Tenmei needed medical assistance or else each of the movements of the horse in gallop would pain her with every ripple which flowed through her body. Hanbei pulled his horse closer for a moment and begun to focus on his chakra, holding each of his hands together he began to summon the needle which would be able to set things right. There would be a single shimmering blue flash from his hand as a long blue needle would erect from his palm, with each of his hands he would shape the needle to be long and thin much like a knitting needle before showing it to Tenmei. His chakra now at an all time low as he pulled the horses together in parallel.

"But hey, you don't look so good, though, I'm sure you can handle it, let me use this on you... don't worry, it's not like the red one from the exams, this one's meant to heal you. If i let it puncture to your ribs, it will fix them, and a lot of the light burns you have at the moment, but it probably wont eradicate them entirely... please... as a thank you for saving me?"

If she would agree, Hanbei would place a soft cold hand to her skin, wincing if the heat would harm him as he would touch the tip of the needle to her skin. As soon as it would make contact the entire needle, like it was the fluid in a hypodermic, would inject itself into her body, sending a pulse over her which would heal the minor burns, but, the location of her cracked ribs would continue to glow, the chakra filling all of the gaps before molding itself into her bio-matter, becoming her own bone and blood and skin rather than simply increasing the healing rate... Pulling his horse away Hanbei would smile and listen to what Tenmei had to say afterwards. Leaning forward to lay against the back of his horses neck and gripping at its mane as tiredness washed over him like a tidal wave, his eyes becoming droopy and his body relaxing against the warm skin and rocking motions of the horse.

"So...."

The Chuunin muttered.

"How have you been since the Exams?"

[1213]

Hanbei perked the side of his lip up softly in a tired but sweet smile at her many reassurances, each of her humble words which praised him put Hanbei more and more at ease, as Tenmei seemed to be modestly avoiding taking credit for the rescue. But Hanbei no longer had the energy to argue over such a pointless subject of that nature any longer as his eyes hung heavy, though he tried to stay awake for as long as possible, the world fading out of existence as his eyes closed, to be born again as he opened them in extended blinks. Like water drying up on stone on a hot day, the adrenaline which had carried him throughout his entire ordeal burnt out from his own body, the heat of the desert sun basically cauterizing the wounds which he had sustained over the course of the hellish event. Hanbei sat up and reached for a water bottle which was placed in the saddle and digging into the side of his leg, his fingers coiling tightly around the neck of the leather bladder and pulling it from its harness and drinking a couple of satisfying gulps and replacing it.

Warm water ran down his throat, bringing life back to his form and light to his eyes.

The dryness of his throat healing, yet not entirely used to water that wasn't the bare minimum to survive, the boy began to cough and choke as he'd taken it a little too fast, gurgling sounds escaping from his swollen throat as he both tried to keep the water down and hydrating himself, yet his body rejecting the nectar and forcing him to bring it back up the route in which it came. Clasping both of his hands over his mouth Hanbei managed to stem much of the attempted escape of the water, some spluttering past his fingers though he managed to keep much of it down before breathing a sigh of relief once it came to an end. Hanbei didn't like the feeling of being not in control of his own body, but this was just some of the damage that he was going to have to deal with and recover from, he had been through a lot, and it wasn't going to be something that would heal quickly, there would be a period where he would need to regain the strength and ability he had lost from his body and train once again in all of the specialisations that would have been lost to entropy.

Lost to the void of nothingness and despair lifted by hope...

Looking to the sun as Tenmei took the reigns of the horses and tied them to hers, keeping them in line he lay back down along the back of his stallions' neck, using his hands, fingers interlocking and palms down under his head as a make-shift pillow. Hanbei rested his eyes on Tenmei as she focused on moving, he had a feeling that this trip was going to be a long one, but, once he got some rest, recovered his chakra, and got to the point that he was able to stand without the need for an aid, he would be able to once again pull on the power of his abilities, and heal any of the wounds which were still troubling Tenmei as well as himself. He was happy that he was able to heal her wounds with the last of his chakra, he couldn't believe that he had gotten so far through the conflict without needing to use the red needle, or the blue for that matter. Perhaps with all of this time locked away, he had enough time to reflect on the nature of strategy, and withholding techniques which would be better used at clutch moments in order to turn the tide.

It was something that felt like it was always there. But yet, foreign.

He didn't want to come to the realization, but the nightmare had allowed Hanbei to grow and mature, forcing him to a level of maturity and intelligence that he would not have had otherwise, growing him into a better ninja and a more responsible person. Hanbei would be proud, but, for now, Hanbei could not come to his senses to admit that there could be good that came out of that deep torturous hell-hole that he would not have had anyway as a free person. Turning his head to a side as they continued to trot into the distance, Hanbei pried his eyes away from the strong visage of Tenmei, loosing himself in the horizon as it began to slowly scroll by, Hanbei blinked slowly one last time, opening his eyes to the rolling dunes swept by the wind to look like a sea of rich gold slowly creeping in the direction of the gust. The next time he closed his eyes, would be the last for some time, as he felt his conscious mind slip away into a world of dreams, his arms cradling his head as his body finally relaxed...

Sleep opening its arms like a long lost lover and embracing the boys mind.

---

Hanbei opened the eyes within his mind, to see an image of a world ablaze, waking up in a sea of sand converted to glass as cinders fell from the protoplasmic clouds hanging in the sky. Cradled within the ashen bones of a fallen equine as cinders still glowed with every breath of the breeze. Raising to his feet, the Guanyin looked over to see another pile of ashen bones, raising an eye-brow he waled over. Volanic remains of a person resting within them as Hanbei moved to brush the set obsidian dust from the face revealing the soft skin of Tenmei, drained of life, laying breathless as a single gust of wind turned her form bracken, before blowing her body away into the dust as a squall of wind whipped around him, blinding him from the world for moments, Henbei let out a yell for Tenmei to come back as he saw everything fade into the darkness of the cyclone surrounding him, pulling the glass from his feet to leave the boy on stone.

Something was coming...

The glass and soot from the sky turned to smoke before parting in the wind, leaving little more than mountains before Hanbei, he felt himself standing at the summit of the mountain, graves lining the terraces along the sides, upon each and every one of them was the symbol of his clan, the twin serpents coiling around a single needle, every grave was without a name, every grave had something mysterious about them, a sorrow lingering over them as if something had been lost, or taken.

Lightning struck.

Hanbei flinched in shock for but a second as within a crater he saw a three eyed skull, a golden spear penetrating its third eye, hatred and anger radiating from the crater in droves as magma flowed freely between cracks in the earth around it. Hanbei's emotions ran rampant, equal parts fear, but also curiosity as he found himself drawn to the skull like emanation. Step by step he drew himself closer, stepping in between the shoals of magma which scolded the earth, guarding his nose from the feeling of sulfur in the air as he reached a hand out for the spear, his fingers penetrating the aura of malice as a voice roared from behind the boy. Commanding him to stop.

Hanbei Guanyin obeyed...

Spinning on his heel to see where the words had come from, there was only blackness, and the boy awoke from his nightmare...

---

Panting and sweating from the days sun, Hanbei felt rested, yet anxious. His hands were shaking, looking to them he was shocked for a second to see the smears of dirt across his fingers, remembering the ashes falling from the skies in her dream and causing a slight mental relapse, doubting the fictitious nature of his fantasy for a moment as he took in the world around him in a panic. He saw no clouds of fire, no bones, no graves and no mountains. Only the clear blue sky of the desert turning violet against the setting sun, the golden sand glowing with the final heat of the day, the sun coming into its zenith against the skin of the earth as stars and the moon began to make themselves known to those who cared to look.

Unknown to the boy, he'd slept a full eighteen hours, the glowing sun in the distance raising, not falling as the boy had woken up from a long and well needed sleep. Though not one that was unwarranted... Kicking off his horse to stretch his legs, Hanbei walked over to Tenmei and put a hand on her shoulder, greeting her and taking some rations to eat before making what small talk he was able to. Chatting about what he could remember and the people who would likely have missed him while he was gone. Kanbei especially would likely kill him for being gone so long, that was, if they still made it back... Tenmeis promise lingered in his mind, re-assuring him of getting home safely, a feeling which felt like a soft blanket wrapped around his very psyche.

Soon they were off again, back on the road until eventually Suna rose from the distance. Hanbei's eyes lit up like candles, pointing and screaming with excitement, tears streaming down his cheeks as the sandy village was the most beautiful thing he could have possibly imagined... Turning to Tenmei, Hanbei's cheeks and face flushed pink from smiling too hard as he tried to calm down a tad, feeling a little embarrassed at the outburst in front of his savior. Moving to the town center, the two of them would report Hanbei alive to the authorities and give them the full story of everything that had been going on. Tenmei would receive the reward for her efforts if she wished, and Hanbei would move to answer a set of questions in an interview alone, leaving Tenmei to move to the street as finally, it seemed the two of them were going to part ways.. It was minutes later if Tenmei was ready to leave or simply waiting outside, Hanbei would call out for her and sprint in her direction. The boy was now dressed once again in silks which had been his spares, handed in for evidence at the time of the chuunin exams, finally allowing himself to look like the girl he did before.

"Hey! Miss Tenmei!"

He spoke loudly, running over to her and panting a little with his hands on his knees for a moment as he would throw his arms around her in another close embrace and burying his face in her chest.

Hey, I just wanted to thank you one last time, and... more than that, I just wanted you to know, that, no matter what, if you ever need someone to help you for anything. Or if you ever need a friend for anything, no matter how small or no matter how big, or even just to heal your wounds. Call on me, and I'll come running, kay?

Not cos I owe you or anything but... Cos... we're friends, right? And when you have friends, you never need to be alone."

The boy said looking up at her from her lower chest with a cheesy grin before letting go.

"So... I guess I will see you later then..."

The boy said a little sad to see her go, he would need to head back in the direction of Kumo, feeling that she was not going in the same direction he would look to the travel which was being organized by the Suna ninja in order to get him back home and report to their authorities. Calling him away from Tenmei the two would likely begin to part, Hanbei taking stray looks back in her direction to see if she would keep looking back in his... Soon enough, they would begin to peel apart from one another, barely in range of sight as Hanbei would stand up on the cart of supplies, looking over the main road exiting the village and calling out at the top of his lungs.

"Goodbye Tenmei! Keep Safe! I LOVE YOU!"

Blushing wildly as the dry desert wind would carry his high pitched voice, people looking to see him and the recipient of his call...

And so...

All was well...

[Exit Thread.]

17100 words.

Stat Training:

Strength E -> C3
Endurence E -> C3
Speed E -> C3
Perception D-> C3

WC: 17100 / 16550. 550 words remaining.