It was hard to imagine a place more beautiful than this. With its mountain ranges of a rustic deep brown and gold, jutting in to the silvery clouded deep blue sky like a monstrous jaw. Broken only by the pure streaks of white hot energy that clashed against it's surface. It was breath taking. Breath taking like the way those same lightning strikes collided in one place of their own will and the crowning spire of Heaven's tower reaching far above. Impressive like the buildings built on stone and the people made of stronger stuff. And the prison that could somehow hold all of them. Tenmei Sotsuji hated to leave the land hidden among the clouds; but after everything... after everything she had done. There was no way she could stay. But where to go now?

Dear Father, where do I go now?


Thinking about it, naturally Kiri was out of the question. Not only had she taken her turn and burned down a good portion of the country's forests (during an already chaotic time none the less), crushed buildings fighting a giant puppet and near killed more than one Mist shinobi, Tenmei had also picked a fight with the village kage. An act she had repeated in Konoha, making it not the most ideal choice either. So where could she possibly go now? Suna? Where the Jounin couldn't quite catch a breath in a dust covered country. Or how about Iwa? What more trouble could she bring to a place that had once been, and was maybe still, a home to all manner of rogue.  No... no. The fire born kunoichi was lost. Well and truly, hopelessly....lost. But not just the kind of lost that she felt when leaving her home in Kiri. It was the feeling she got when leaving Yuuki. When she didn't know where to go because she didn't have anywhere to go. So again.... where could the Sotsuji possibly stay now and not feel like either the world or her own actions against it, would throw her back to this same place.

Don't worry little candle, we will find you a place. Somewhere, where they will never find you.
  "Suna? I'm just going remind them of how much they hate me. And..."
  Ah, so now she listens. I was starting to think you had forgotten me?

  "Forget you? How could I... I have been straining, praying for your voice for months. Didn't you hear me call out when I was in Suna, leaving Kiri? When I first got to Kumo?"

The laugh that echoed through her mind sent a chill down her spine. But that was nothing compared to the frost that prickled beneath her skin when he stopped and held her in silent anticipation.

   Oh my poor little flame. I have been here the whole time. Like I always will be. Like I promised. But you, you stopped listening to me. Don't you remember? I told you to not speak to that Ice Witch and yet you silenced me. I said to just kill the clone and be done with both of them, but you hesitated. And then in Suna, I begged you... I. Begged you to continue on to the city to show them that you were still as strong as when you fought in the exams. But no, you stay back where it is safe. And yet you throw that away to go save a child and for what? You held back against the Senju in Konoha, you held back against the one in Kumo; Tenmei, I have been yelling and screaming  and praying for you to...Stop. Holding. Back. But you don't. So tell me candle? Why is it that you wont listen anymore?
  
"I will listen... I will...."
Is it because... you don't need me anymore?
"No. I do... please"

She was shaking. Trembling. Burning. But what caused it? She didn't know. For a moment the jounin thought it was just the storm of her scorched chakra inside, battling against the cold air that leeched it's way in. But it wasn't that. It was the outright war of feelings churning through her form. The confusion , the sadness. The fear. He was right, he had always been right. Tenmei found herself reaching out before her, for the man she had always needed... still needed, even though she knew full well that she couldn't grab hold. And yet she tried. She tried to force back the tears that poured freely down her cheeks. She tried to explain that it wasn't as he thought, that she only silenced him because her head was hurting and that she let go when she did because she wasn't strong enough to hold on anymore. That she saved the child to make him proud; With all the strength and will that she could contain in her inferior form, Tenmei tried all she could to stop him from slipping away from her again. Not again.

"Please.... please don't... don't leave me" Her voice cracked with desperation, laced with fear. The woman took another step forward, arm still outstretched. "I will listen to you better. I will do anything that you say just dont...."


No. It's not just that you don't need me anymore. You don't want me

"NO! Its not true. Stop!"

It's too late

......

As his eyes opened upon the wasteland that was the open earth, he could tell immediately that they were at high altitude, the thinness in the air was not like that of the dank cave of which he had grown accustomed, the humidity here was absent almost entirely, and the world seemed to fade away in the background along with the muffled screams of the victim he had locked into the deep recesses of the mind that he had stolen. The memories that he had siphoned he had destroyed, this ninja seemed to be a waste of space of a man, another wretch that composed this broken world that he oh so despised. Ninja would be the end of this world, but, this man was not his target, someone far more dangerous was. Looking to the horizon he knew where she was, he could see through the eyes of almost everyone within a mile of this location including that of his targets. It took moments for him to cross reference the image of her eyes to the image that he was seeing through this mans' to get a direct heading to her location.



Flickering in like a fading light, he had almost forgotten what it was like to move, reaching into the ninjas pack and drawing out what seemed to be a standard A rank Katana of less than average make, the weapon was crude for a curved sword, but, he would not complain. Turning to see woman before her, crying out to the wind as if calling out to a long time lover... or a long lost father, he would approach under the guise of a stranger, bringing a hand to his mouth and calling out to her in the voice of the puppet that he controlled oh so easily. "You there... are you ok? Who are you calling out to?" The man would speak as he made his approach, leaping in bounds to be near her. For a while he would listen to her response, no doubt some childish rejection of the mere notion of aid. He knew her well after all... After she would speak the hollow man would respond in kind as he would move just far enough to be in her blind-spot over her shoulder.  

"Are you sure? You don't seem fine... Have you lost someone? Your friends? Your Mother? Your Father? Perhaps the two of us can find them together..." There would be a pause just long enough for Tenmei to think of beginning to reply as the man would finish the sentence with a name, his hand gliding to the hilt of his blade. ...Little Candle. With the final word as the trigger the stranger would launch with a single horizontal strike with the Katana for Tenmei's neck with staggering speed, beyond that of the body that he was puppeting with his mental strings. The flash of the steel across the sun would be like lightning as the weapon would hope to cut a wound deep enough to have the girl gasping for breath and helpless at his fingertips. He had become intimately familiar with this girl over the past two decades, though, it was not a friendly experience, she was like a tumor that had finally been isolated.



There was not a doubt in his mind that he would revel in what they were about to experience. Parting, was such a sweet sorrow after all.

How long had he been there? That being in her head. The voice that told her heart to keep beating and her lungs to keep inflating. Who taught her nerves when to brace and her muscles to let go. For as long as she could remember he was there within the depths of her thoughts whispering the secrets of being alive. But now... it was gone. He was gone. And for one second. One  long drawn out moment, the ebony haired jounin forgot all of it. How to move, how to think... how to feel. Every other time she and her father had argued and he had gone silent there was always a trace of him lingering around some where. Like in a memory of them together when she was a child or a throw-away thought of how she had missed those times. Once upon a time, if she reached in and searched for long enough she could even feel the soft thrum of his pulse within the steady flow of her lava like chakra. But.... There was still nothing. He was still gone and when the moment ended. When time resumed, it was like her failures had finally started creeping in and were slowly constricting her airways. She couldn't breathe. The thunderous pounding in her chest broke from it's erratic rhythm, her whole body went rigid as an ice sculpture and even though she tried... She...Tried to search for him, to call for him, to beg for him to help her breath again, she couldn't. It was too late. Her head was spinning. She was feeling lightheaded. No, dizzy. No, faint. Oh god. The Sotsuji was going to.....

"You there... are you ok? Who are you calling out to?"

"Huh? What?"

The words shot through her stupor like a stone through glass. Piercing straight through her attention, cracking up through her senses. She wasn't going to answer, but by the time the pane cracked and she realised, the young woman had already turned around with a forcibly polite smile painted on her lips an the half-hearted words creeping off her tongue.

"Nothing... no one, I'm okay... thanks"

"Are you sure? You don't seem fine... I'm fine. I mean... I will be. Please, I just want to be left alone. "Have you lost someone? Yes, but... Your friends? No Your Mother?" Not recently but that's not....come on, just leave "Your Father? Perhaps the two of us can find them together..." What are you...? Just go.... ...Little Candle 

"What did you just say to....?"


Her voice had barely taken place over her thoughts when her instincts took hold. Suddenly. Abruptly. Violently; the female ninja found herself pushing off the ground with such force that she landed, skidding backwards, half crouched in a cloud of dust, with one hand slowly lifting away from the ground and the other reaching for the sword at her back. All while her mind raced to catch up with what just happened. With what was happening. His words. Those actions. The crimson speckles starting to seep from the stinging fine line parting the tanned flesh of her throat. With care she brought her fingertips up to feel the laceration, her steel eyes staring in to the space he occupied with a look that didn't even begin to reflect the rage that begun to stir within. It was real. The pain was real. The sliver of silver that he sent striking for her arteries were real. But that man, this... individual in front of her was nothing but a fraud. An imposter with lying words and a fake concern that had clawed it's way in to her head. Planting its seeds of fear there and watering them with anxiety. Neither were as bad, as what would come when this plant bore fruit.

Hope.

It almost had her. She couldn't help it. The reasoning made perfect sense. The fact that he was gone. That he had disappeared somewhere she couldn't feel him or find him. And then right as he did, a stranger comes walking up knowing exactly what to say... and how to say it. Her father: the main who had raised her, who had loved her and never left her for as long as she could remember; would surely not want to leave. Yes, thats right. This villan must have done something to him. Surely. Surely it must be true. But... if that was the case, then why did she feel like there was a gaping hole where her heart was supposed to be? Why did it feel like a part of her was crumbling in her hands as she tried to hold on to it? If it were true, then how come, no matter how hard she damn well tried; the fiery Sotsuji couldn't stop the tears....or the shaking... or the panic and the fear and hatred and the feeling of the pit opening deeper in her stomach and.... and the tightness of her throat as she tried to choke out the words once again. Force them out through clenched jaw and gritted teeth. It was all just...All just... Hopeless.

"Who are you? What have you done to my father? Where is he?!"

She raised her sword before her, balancing shifting, heat rising to creep along the metal as she readied to charge at him with her sword swinging down to part his ribs from clavicle to pelvis. She would end this now.

Give him back to me

The blade whisked through the air, catching little in its path other than the smallest of etchings across her throat, leaving a long red line where the blade had elegantly kissed. But Munashi was able to feel the confusion and turmoil within her as he posed at the end of his strike for a moment before standing up once again to his full height, holding the blade firmly in one hand as he would run two of his fingers along down the edge to collect the small sample of blood that lingered upon the tempered steel. The eyes of the assailant were like knives as they narrowed at her words, but he had been with her so long, he could imagine to the letter what was running through her head. Having studied her thought patterns actively for so long, for so many years, he didn't need to be in her mind anymore to know exactly what she was thinking. The pathetic little girl was predictable at the best of times, but now, while she was in this emotional state, it was all too easy...



The man in the mountain would see through her, see the strings attached to her limbs as she thought, then finally came to the false allegation that the man before her was some imposter that had stolen her father away. It was a childish false hope that made the man before her smile like the devil as his sharp pearly canines bared moments before the allegations were cast in his direction. As Tenmei shouted, his suspicions were confirmed... no.... his prophesy was confirmed. He knew he could have said the words out loud minutes in advance if he wanted to... but he didn't. Munashi could remember the words that had been passed down him by the last man of the mountain, the sage like father figure that he had trained with since he was old enough to remember...



Tenmei would rush at the man with her weapon drawn in retaliation and hatred... but the man was fast, likely far faster than Tenmei had imagined possible at this point in time. He moved to the side so quickly, she would think that she'd cut through him for a moment due to the visual after-image that he would have left behind. Dropping a kick down for Tenmei's knee the man would want her to lower her stance somewhat. He would move at such speeds, Tenmei would have barely finished the arc of her swing as he made the attempt. Kicking down for her knee, should he be succsessful, her leg would swing out behind her and drop the sotsjiis stance, allowing Munashi to plant his kicking foot and step in on her with the butt of his blade hard enough to smash her hard to the ground and send her grinding a couple feet across the dirt. The blow was intended to deliver pain, but no extreme levels of injury or debilitation.

"Poor helpless little candle flickering in the wind, blinded by your light and isolation. You'd better call for help little one... I fear you cannot see that your wick has struggled to its end, your flame flickering violently in the lightest of breezes... This is where you end. Where your father is... he cannot hear you anymore. But do not fret, I'm here to take you to him."

The sinister tone of the ninjas voice would resonate in the area around them, haunting the air like a cloud of malevolence as he would make his next approach to Tenmei, flourishing the blade before placing its tip along the ground facing her, edging it along as he walked leaving a thin line tracing in the dirt as he moved towards his destination before he broke into a sprint towards the girl, as he would reach her he would pull the blade up horizontally to cut from hip to adjacent shoulder, not stopping there but at its apex, pulling it horizontally across for her neck then diagonally back down then up again in a flurry of blows that most definitely carried the weight of his superior strength, but were tapered back in speed to have her be able to resist to some extent. Munashi knew that the battle here was in the mind, not in the body. After so long, it was not enough to simply kill this girl... she had to defeat herself.

"Who...the hell are you? Stranger, that is so sure of my demise. What do you know of my power, my strength? Of the brightness of my flame? What could a false face like you, possibly know of the greatness of my father"


It was her voice that spoke... at least, it sounded like it. The way it reverberated with confidence and bravado. Echoing undertones of defiant certainty, surety and strength. Spilling stubborn scorched words laced with venom and heat and yet... And yet, even though she could taste the biting retort as it rolled off her tongue; she knew it wasn't really her voice that had spoken. It couldn't have been. Why? Because a little further down, below that superficial layers of calm, the real Tenmei was frozen. Caught between the confusion of not knowing and the frustration of not understanding. Her thoughts that desperately called out for her father and the silenced words that wouldn't dare let him see her comply. Wanting to run, needing to fight. Feeling conflict. Emotion. Adrenaline. Panic!.... Stop.

In that moment, when he spoke her father's secrets, a part of her froze. But... at that same time, there was another part of her that started to stir. It started to claw its way out of her mouth and through her pores. Slinking through the red ooze that trickled down to a mud stained smear at her collar bone; It would grow and spread and entangle itself with fiber of her being until all that was left was to race down the razor sharp edge of the sword and reach ravenously forward in to the air around her. Oh yes, this beast...this heated hatred was so famished and furious that it didn't matter how devastated or terrified or pathetic the inner self might feel. It didn't...matter that the loss caused her own body to fail. The Sotsuji blood, boiling inside veins her wouldn't be so weak. No, it would fight. It would pull at the muscles in her hand to tighten around the blade and command her voice to speak. Speak with confidence and certainty with bold words and sharp tones.

"Who are you?"

There would not be much time for an answer. With her blood blessing coating her skin and fueling her movements, trailing down her back like a fierce cloak; she charged at the imposter head on. Hoping to take him down. Hope to end this quickly. He was quick. So quick that it really felt like she had sliced through his torso but it wasn't true. There was no blood. A realization she came too just in time. The silver tip, cutting ripples through the air, barely made it to the end of her swing when he struck for her knee. A move that would have usually caused her to drop her stance, but this time was different.This time...she wasn't in control, her raw animal instincts were. And so when the blow connected with her knee and her leg swung back, she didn't fall. She didn't stumble. Tenmei instead, swiftly shifted her weight to her planted foot and pivoted away from him until she was position almost side by side. Almost. She would not be still for long. No sooner had she stopped the fluid pirouette, the jounin then jumped back and swung her leg out, sending a wave of flame out towards him. Towards his back. And if he thought she was finished, the creature was wrong.

Following the wave of fire, Tenmei came at him again, this time with a lower swing, arcing upwards from knee to hip. And then again for a straight thrust for his gut. This would only be a distraction though, for no sooner had she finished the move, one hand would uncoil itself from the swords hilt and strike hard and fast for his diaphragm. A fist that was wrapped in a more vicious fire than that which clung to the rest of her skin.

"I can see just fine. It is you that do not know that once the wick runs out I will continue to burn. I will burn down this world before I go out. You on the other hand, will be buried here. With your name fading in to the soil, to be forgotten forever"

And then you will be gone and forgotten forever.

Chakra 220/300:

His words would crackle like thunder to the storm as the body that had been controlled would psychosomaticly contort under the presence of the superior mind. Something about it was changing, the muscles tightening and the body augmenting as if the subconscious muscles within the body were suddenly under a deeper control. The body changing adrenaline within this shells' form had given birth to something greater, far exceeding that of its prior meager limitations. Munashii was in control, and this body would be able to perform exactly as he wanted it to... This girl had absolutely no idea just how faceless he was. Because in having no face, one could within reason be one with all faces, one with all man, the very nature of the human essence was he and unto mankind he was no-one... the sheer power that flowed from nothing could not be comprehended by those who saw, those who smelt, those who tasted, and those who felt.


He could feel her fear, he could feel her terror, though not feel as in it seethed off of her form, he could remember her fear, as if it had already come to pass. She shouted and taunted and held a strong visage but he knew the fragility of Tenmei, that she as sensitive as a glass puppet and there were oh, so, many strings that he could pull. For now however, he would remain silent, nothing to say as she shouted her questions and platitudes. It phased the hunter none as her chakra welled up within her body, yet again, she was predictable, rushing to the fight, falling into her passion and her flame as her immediate response to danger. She wanted to eliminate it, like her and her entire disgusting clan her immediate response was to burn brighter with the abomination that was the Sotsuji inner heat. A toxin that stained the earth that needed to be cleansed, a virus that needed to be cured, though thankfully, in most cases, the earth was gracious enough to cleanse it for him.

As Tenmei rushed him head on he would watch the cloak of flames that flared out behind her, tilting down the shade that adorned his head. Kicking out as they reached one another, he felt contact, but none as solid as he could tell which was an odd sensation. She had shifted her weight and used the momentum to charge, planting her other leg and twisting with what seemed to be a reverse heel kick laced with flame that began to spiral off of her in an outstanding manner. Munashi with the force of his kick would too shift his weight to the foot he had stretched out, moving in time with the rotation of her kick and dropping to the ground where his extended foot lay under the arc of her flame, raising his cloak in order to guard against what residual head plumed of the heart of the severe wave. From a crouched position, his other hand hidden, he would leave his blade behind as Tenmei would end her spinning kick and charge with an upward slash directly for his chest... and that is where everything would become a little more interesting...

Crouched like a coil and thrusting out at full speed a hand would move to grab her by the wrist before her weapons' arc would land its blow, springing at speeds which would be difficult for the sotsuji to see. The unexpected grab causing his hand to violently simmer with immediate third degree burns, yet, Munashii would not so much as bat an eye... This wasn't his body, so it wasn't his pain to feel. He couldn't feel pain as his body had not nervous system in which to replicate it upon the mind he was within. Instead he could feel the inner scream of the mind he had dominated. Should he catch her he would use the force of his spring and her opposite lunge to flip her overtop of him as he kept his mass low. Launching her upwards and over, effectively forcing Tenmei into a flip against her will, or to crash down to the earth head first in a failed attempt of one... His other hand coiled having simultaneously to his lunge, performed 5 half hand seals. Upon Tenmei being launched lightning would explode up his arm and from his open palm as he would follow through with his lunge intending to catch her during the upside-down stage of her maneuver middair in the center of her diaphragm moments before she would land and regain any footing or crash to the earth.

Should the palm hit, Tenmei would experience a small (A rank) bolt of third degree burns around her chest, as a lightning bolt would explode from munashii's hand at 30mp/s carrying her light a train before slamming her into the earth 10 meters away with enough force to fracture bones and send her ragdolling another 10 meters. The twice touched hand that had met her skin looked damaged and scalded. The lightning that had surrounded it barely providing any protection at all as he would approach the ninja, lightning still coiling as if the jutsu he cast had more than a single electrical charge it was capable of emitting... His voice had now altered, deep and booming with authority and gravitas as he spoke like the weight of a mountain rested upon his words.


It would be at that moment that Munashii would thrust his hand down to the ground, his monologue a distraction to a long series of half hand-signs that had been performed by his spare hand at his side with utmost craft and subtlety. Two great doton pillars would expand from either side to grip at Tenmei's arms should she have arisen or lift her had she not as Munashii would charge with his electric palm, digging a burning trench along the ground as he would leap to place it to her chest again, less than half a second after she would have been gripped by the powerful (A rank) Rock as another bolt of lightning angled downward would seek to literally throw her through the rubble of his rock, shattering them and bouncing her off the ground as he would vault over her and land at the cliffs edge, looking back at her under the shadow of his shade...

Some people say that: An average person can survive up to three weeks without food, around three days with out water, and a mere three minutes without oxygen. They also say something about a couple of seconds and a will to live, but that was merely just a bunch of fanciful words to extend a sentence that didn't seem complete at the time. But no. The truth is: there was something else that no one could live without. And it comes from those little glands sitting above your kidneys. Those micro-factories with no off switch. One tiny spark and all of a sudden your arteries, your veins are filled with a chemical that forces your heart to pump faster and your muscles to work harder; It takes over your senses to the point where you are reacting to something before your brain can fully process what was going on. It was this feeling that some people lived for... died for. And it was the very thing that would save her from him. Because right now, nothing else could.

Not her senses or her mind. She couldn't trust them. How could she?
Despite the nature of the world they lived in, Tenmei scrambled to fathom what had happened. What was happening. She remembered that altered version of her own voice speaking out over her thoughts, and his retort firing back. She remembered getting down in to a crouch, coiled and ready to attack while he just stood there steady and calm as a tree in winter. And then there was that strange recollection of that second. That moment where, without any warning or sign or hesitation... he changed. Or the world changed. All the young woman could remember was that one moment she was looking at the scorched body of a man she didn't recognize and the next he was, altering his body and cells, morphing in to something twisted and gnarled. Perfectly terrifying and yet somehow real. Her brain didn't do how to comprehend it, and so once again, her instincts, her adrenaline kicked in and the Sotsuji was moving once again.

Only seconds had passed. 

Every move she made was almost perfectly calculated. Every step of it. Her speed, her strength; The pivot had worked exactly how she wanted it to. His knee came in and just... just as she felt the phantom tingling of his attack drawing near, the Jounin would pirouette around him.. away from him. Breaking that direct line of contact while simultaneously putting herself beside and behind him. A position perfect for delivering one of her own kicks.  An attack that carried a wave of fire that would roll towards him in a rippling wave of ginger, red and smokey grey. But this wasn't enough. She followed it, riding the shimmering air, she charged with her sword, swinging low for a blow that would end this battle. No hesitation. There were no mistakes. So how could it have gone so completely wrong.
Oooh yes! The pivot worked fine, but she was too slow, or too predictable. Because, no sooner had the young woman turned to kick, he was there, ducking under her foot. Completely ignoring the heat that singed the material on his back. And when she swung... he was there again. This time he got the upper hand. He was the more calculated one and he grabbed her wrist. She could smell the flesh as it bubbled and burned under the force of her jutsu but he didn't seem to care. He just flipped her over despite the damage to his muscles, his nerves...he sent the young woman over his head and towards the stony ground behind him.

She couldn't rely on her knowledge of her abilities either.

For half a second, she was seeing things in a different perspective. Upside down, pulse hammering away a death march in her head mingled with the sound of crackling lightning. But it was already too late. Before she even heard the sounds, her chakra was already acting on its own. It was already building. By the time he swung his lightning palm in to her gut, Tenmei had created a wind barrier around herself. Sure, it wouldn't protect her skin and muscles from the attack, but it would lessen the impact. Enough that when she got to the ground, the shinobi still had the capacity to plant her hands and drop her legs down in to a crouch. So by the time the female had ceased skidding across the dirt she was up on her feet once more. Coughing up the dust clouds and clenching her scraped up hands. She wasn't done yet.

"Who am I? You've already answered that girl, I am nothing, I am void,  Munashii... if you will. In a long line of nothing before me I too am nothing...."

"...Nothing? You can't be. That's impossible..."

"How many villages will you burn down little candle before it is finally enough? How many people will you have to kill before you cannot sling another blade....

"...How many people have I...? You come here bragging about the death of my family...my clan? What do you kn...."

"You're in trouble now my little candle, so scream. maybe someone will come to save you!"

It happened so fast. The twin doton pillars exploded out of the ground and clamped around her arms. Holding her in place with such force that even though she poured so much heat... so much pressure in to the stones that they glowed red and started to simmer and smoke; there was no escape. It seemed the Sotsuji was completely trapped, hopeless. Defenseless against the second bolt of lightning that plunged hard, straight in to her chest with a horrible heart crushing 'thud'. A sound that would have sung the end of her flame.... but not this time.
Things were not slowing down. Before she even knew what she was doing, the act would already have been done. Because it only took a second. A tiny fragment of time, when the first sparks of his raiton collided with the katon on her skin, Tenmei would simply... disappear. And in her place would be his sword. The one he had left behind when he chose to defend with his hands. When he made that error. This spot of trickery was all she needed to come up behind him and then to pull her Twin edged Sotsuji Dagger and plant it deep in to his lower back... in to his kidneys and jump back. It was almost over..... almost.

"Yes. I killed people. But it wasn't like I had a choice. They were going to kill me. Or someone else. Or everyone else. I did what I had to do. But you! You go preaching about my clan burning out. How you took my father away from me. The only person. The ONLY person I have left. How many innocent lives have you taken huh? How many people did you choose to kill? This... has all been...Your. Fault."

Her words were as sharp as the knife she had dug in to his shoulder, but they too, were only a distraction.
Below the surface, beneath the lightly reddened skin and deeper within, brewed a fierce storm. A whirlwind of fire chakra and oxygen growing more chaotic with every syllable. Spreading with every breath, until it no longer was contained in her searing form, but began to reach out and choke anything around her. It was this energy that kept her legs from shaking and her stomach from lurching. It kept her words clear and steady as she took that chakra and channeled it in to her senses. Every thing was clearer now. He may not feel pain but he could bleed. If he could bleed, he could die. And so when Tenmei charged at him this next time, she knew she could win.

Her first strike came for his temple. The second for his chest. However it was the third that would do the most damage. A fierce fire coated strike to the solar plexus to end the fast successive punches. But that was only an appetizer. One quick step back after the third hit and then once again she stepped in to slam her foot down on to his shin, before delivering a final, rock hard blow up towards his jaw. Tenmei Sotsuji would knock him out for good.

"I didn't have a choice...you did. And now you will finally suffer the consequences for what you have done. What you made them do"

-----

Chakra 185/300:

As the lightning spear clad hand would crackle through the air with the intention of slamming through the female ninja and destroying almost every bone in her body as he would bounce it along the ground. However, as the tingling sensation of the lightning affliction graced the ninja's skin as she was pinned in place, there was a shift... Munashii's hand fell through the form of the woman as if it had rested on a shelf that had suddenly given way. Tenmei wasn't there, that was the simple fact, which teased the following question, where was she? His sword that he had dropped was in place where she had been, his hand, that had once been coated in raiton extending its palm outwards would catch it with the same fluent motion. Gripping it tightly he would assume correctly that she was in its previous resting place... Turning his head first to look, he would see her there, moving toward him at break-neck speeds, the force of her charge would put her on top of him in less than moments, so, following his head he began to turn into her attack at full speed, his sword in hand and rotating with it in a potentially ruining strike for Tenmei's neck.


A blade penetrated flesh in a quarter of a heartbeat, but it wasn't Tenmei that was hit. The blade that she had thrust with was lurched through his side, missing his kidney but still biting deeply through abdominal muscle above his hip. Entering at an angle before exiting out to his side. The spinning force of his simultaneous movement and his strike would prevent her from pulling out the blade easily least she be struck by the spinning blade at her neck height... yet, it seemed that she had lept back in time to avoid the blow. Munashii didn't like the fact she had wounded him, he scowled angrily as he moved a hand to grip the hilt of the blade. It was not because this signified any ability to win this fight, it wasn't because he felt the biting pain of the heated blade. It was because that this strike would raise her spirits, while he had been fighting to crush them under-foot. Her words were hollow, Munashii hadn't been actively listening yet he still had a photographic memory of every word he knew she would say.


"Please, hope is a tea that has spilled out before you, the cup too hot to grasp shattered into fragments at your feet. All you are doing is lapping at the last vestiges of its sweetness before it slips between the floorboards." He spoke, the deep monotonous voice never changing in pitch as he would reach for the knife in him and pull it cleanly from his side, gripping it in his off hand, casting the blade off the nearby cliff to ensure that a second trick like the one before could not be done again. "Face it, stare into the truth and accept it, you're not innocent. It was your hand that ended the lives of so many men and women, it was your tongue or your curse has burned all those around you who had ever hoped to aid you, so too has your cursed clan. But, perhaps not... maybe the fault here is mine...

Tenmei would attack! Her fists coiled and heated as they would come for the first of the many attacks, but this time, Munashii was done playing with his superiority. It was time to put it all on show. The first strike would come for his temple, but with a single swipe of the blade he would lean to the side just enough to stop the hand continuing towards her. As the second and third blows came the silver dagger would make a single swipe with every additional blow, Munashiis' eyes barely open as she had fallen head over heels for his provocation. The knife in his hand was busy as her rapid blows came in succession... moving the flat of the blade in front of his chest he would block with its flat hard against her arm, attempting to move it to a side, yet as he did so he would drag the blade down, laying yet another cut on her arms as she did so.


Hher leg would raise for the kick to his shin, and in the instant it did, Munashii was face to face with Tenmei with an elbow to the side of the jaw so violent and explosive it would intend to smash her to the ground in a horrifying display. Only with the kinetic force of the elbow, would any of the fine cuts open on her body due to the ripple effect the harrowing strike would flow through her body, sending blood spurting everywhere like a fountain had erupted for but a moment. As Tenmei would crash to the ground, Munashii would invert the blade into a reverse grip. His face looking darker, more final, as if this was the final step. The cuts to Tenmei's arms weren't random, they were surgical, working on major muscles and nicking tendons so that, while not severed, any large attempt at physical exertion would cause them to snap.


"But to proclaim your innocence, and believe it, would be to admit that all this time, you were nothing... Not an ally, not a friend, not a sister, not a even person... nothing. Less than even me. Because, if you truly had no choice, that would mean every step you've taken, every action you've ever made, has been at my beckon... you'd admit to being nothing more than a hollow puppet with no will, no thoughts, no feelings. A pathetic shell of a girl incapable of independant action. A dying candle, fluttering in the wind begging so desperately for familiar warmth that it would leech off anything to fill that void... Are you that worthless? Are you tha-"

Hope: That was another of those necessary concepts they would sometimes talk about. How it was this amazing power. The light in unending darkness. The spark to rekindle dwindling courage. A concoction of bravery to feed the adrenaline. Her father was wiser than that. The idea of hope being some magical force was ludicrous. Oh no. He knew it was nothing but a weapon. A double edged sword with a razor sharp blade that didn't know how to discriminate between good or bad or friend or foe. It would just slice through the flesh of the wielder and the prey without mercy again and again and.... He was always right about these things, but Tenmei hadn't been listening then and she didn't care now. She took hold of it with both hands and wielded with all the conviction she had left. Because, for the first time since this stranger had stepped in to view, it was within her reach. And she wasn't about to let it go. Not now... not after she had worked so hard to find it. To prove that...

That he was not something

more... less.... other....

She was falling apart. She felt it happening. With every cut and word, the female could see the edges of the pieces slowly drifting apart and taking on their own form. The bigger of those she recognized to be hate. Hate that she had doubted herself and actually believed that he may be something other than just a man. Hate that the next biggest portion was fear. Sadness, desperation and pride. Somewhere among the masses there was also glee and satisfaction, but between all of them; Flowing like lava between a cracked land was this.. Hope. Because she drew blood. Because she see bone... Because all his talk proved all of it to be as worthless as her father thought the whole concept had been. He was just a mortal. Even though this stranger had barely flinched when the skin had bubbled and burned off his palm. And didn't so much as bat an eyelid at the clothes had scorched off his back, he could still bleed. Which mean he could still die. And he would. She would put an end to his power games once and for all.

There was barely any direction to her punches. Not anymore. She had tried going for the swift kill. Directly attacking his neck, his heart...his spine. Places that would force an abrupt end to the battle. But that didn't work. Logic and anger didn't work. Using her head, it just... didn't... work. So the Sotsuji stopped thinking and attacked everything. Between the powerful strikes to his head and chest and the scorching fiery blows to his legs and torso, she rained down her fury like a tropical hail storm. Lashing out at whatever was in reach, whittling away, hammering down, until there would be nothing left. Nothing left unbroken.
But it wasn't enough. Not for him. He, who would use a memory so precious, so callously. Who moved like nothing ailed him even though she could see the glistening of bone around his fingers and the mottled fabric that hung off his flesh like rotten rags; It wouldn't be enough until he was blood and matter soaking in to the ground. So, with her heated skin tingling from head to toe, her muscles aching from the constant strain, she stepped in to land the blow that would lead to his.....

....

Splintering. Shattering. Splitting.

Neither could describe this feeling. A sensation overpowering, so absolutely overwhelming, that it wiped clean all but the memory of what happened. The hope holding her together. The adrenaline that urged her forward. The surprise and bone jarring pain when he retaliated with the elbow to her jaw. All of it. Every. Single. Lost. Second. All replaced by the white hot virus like sensation that swept over her form as her skin tore apart. Filling the haze of heat with a red mist and a scream that would echo through the mountains of Iwa......And then......... Nothing........ Silence
She would fall soundlessly to the ground. Her hands unclenching at her sides, the jounin would listen to his footsteps and words. His intentions.

  "No.... no. It's not true. I am not... nothing. I'm not."
The strength of the words were lost to the energy it took to get on to her knees, yet she managed somehow and looked him in the eye as if to prove her defiance towards him. Looked him dead in the eye, speaking over him to drown out his words.

"But to proclaim your innocence, and believe it, would be to admit that all this time, you were nothing... Not an ally, not a friend, not a sister, not a even person... nothing. Less than even me. Because, if you truly had no choice, that would mean every step you've taken, every action you've ever made, has been at my beckon.

"No, I am not innocent. But you forced my hand. Messing with my head..."

A pathetic shell of a girl incapable of independant action. A dying candle, fluttering in the wind begging so desperately for familiar warmth that it would leech off anything to fill that void... Are you that worthless? Are you tha-"



Then, there was nothing but white...


-----------

It happened again. She didn't feel it though. The unnatural burning of a thousand cuts seemed to dim the pressure....
But this time she remembered everything. Watching him walk towards her, malevolence in his stride. Seeing the deep emptiness in his eyes, fearing the deeper nothingness inside. The words that sliced her skin all over again and the grip that silenced her breath. But then there was that seed that was always there. The one that sat waiting in her gut. The one that sprouted and bloomed and blossomed.... and filled her so much and so fast and so completely that it starts to push against her skin.   And explode.
Everything went white... and loud. A roaring storm of fire shooting towards the sky like a temple pillar reaching for the heavens. Devastating the earth, disintegrating life. Burns started to creep across her bloodied red skin but she didn't feel it. She didn't care. The world was on fire. And then it was ash. He was gone.


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

She sat for what felt like an hours, but surely time wasn't that cruel.  It was like the universe world had succumbed to the quietness of the snowy remains of her fire and was happy enough to have settled there. It wasn't long though before things started to stir. And then she started to move. First her fingers, then her arms... she head lifted to look around at the scorched earth around her but the rest of her body was just too heavy.
It was too cold. Tenmei tried to speak but her words came out as a raspy puff of steam which only made her feel even more tired. Her skin ached, her muscles too. The unsteady bones felt like they could shatter with the slightest of movements. Along with her skin. But that didn't have to matter. right now. In this moment, all that mattered, all the Sotsuji wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep. After all, that's where he would be. He was always there. And so she called out for him, this time with her thoughts.

"Father. I was so worried. Please... don't leave me again"

Somewhere in a dream, or perhaps in this smoldering world, she saw him in this distance. Coming closer. Coming to embrace her. He was here at last.

At last.

"I'm here. Little candle. I will never leave you again......"

So much had happened. So many faces and bodies. Days, months and moments of all shapes and sizes. So much time had passed that it felt like she was walking through a heavy mist. And the further she traveled, the more hazy those pieces of memory became. However even within the smoky delirium that engulfed her mind and lungs, he was as clear as the sun that shone through the clouds. A man that was so beautifully consistent... stable and familiar; that she could remember every little detail about him. The way the warm crackling timber of his voice would reach out to embrace her before he even lifted a hand. Hands that were like sanded wood, grasping for her with unwavering kindness and control. His whole being radiated a warmth that was like a bonfire on a snowy night. The kind that you wanted to get closer to...that made you want to outstretch both arms towards if only to catch just a little of that radiance, because that was who he was...

Who he was



"You really mean it? We can finally be together? Truly?"

Just like that ten year old childhood memory, the girl reached her arms towards his outstretched hands, straining for that moment of embrace but... But when her fingers came to close around his wrist, it was like the man's skin and bone turned to sand. There was no warmth, no feeling. No meaning. It simply slipped through her grasp.... and wrapped around her neck. Squeezing until it had trapped her words at her throat. But that was not what was causing her asphyxiation, no. It was the denial that wanted to ask why he was doing this. To just beg him to let her go and go home. Crawl back to the fireplace and play another game of pretend. Those times were over. Though her soul screamed and screamed that this man was another fraud and her father was still locked away... she couldn't feel him. Not even a breath. He was gone. Truly. Gone. Who this man was, was not who he was. And who he was... was a nightmare.


"To think that you honestly believe that you are the cause of your woes, that without an outside influence that you are the architect of your misfortune....."


He was right. Of course he was always right. After the accident happened, Tenmei thought she had lost everything. Her home, her family, her innate need for survival. She was merely a husk existing in a world where she could no longer be with her father. But then his caramel like voice permeated her misery and everything changed. She changed. Or rather, she changed back, because he was back. But looking back... how could it have been so? The idea of him still being alive? The sheer possibility. The ashen faced child needed to believe it so badly, that she believed him; When she said that he loved her, that he would always be with her. That the Sotsuji was a danger to everyone, and everyone was a danger to her. Every one, every person she thought she cared about, loved, valued... The jounin had pushed them all away because she believed him. And because of that... she was alone. Completely. Hopelessly. Alone.

It was me


"Yes" Her voice rasped out from beneath the vice of his hand.
"It was me.... It was always.... It was me"

This was it. The moment her wick finally burned down to the ashes below.
She could feel it happening. In the myriad of cuts all over her skin that had stained her flesh crimson, and the fragility of her bones that were barely holding together. In the ache that coursed through her trembling muscles, the sting of her flesh being grazed off her knees as he dragged her battered body across the stony ground. Tenmei could feel her lungs burning for the oxygen that would keep her heart beating,...but she didn't care enough to fight it. Instead the girl's arms hung limp at her sides, and her eyes slowly closed. Hanging like a puppet at the whim of it's master she simply waited for the ultimate consequence. Yes. This was it.
All those previous sensations faded as the ice bitten wind charged upwards to pull at her legs, joining with the force of gravity that urged her down. The sound of the water crashing against the cliffside, the taste of salt and iron on her tongue. She wouldn't remember much else of that moment... but his words. Munashii sends his regards. Munashii. 

And then he let go.

No. Wait.

One last hope. One chance. Arms that had once reached for something intangible, now grabbed for the rocky stone wall. Scrabbling, clawing for anything to cling to. Digging her nails in to the very earth itself. Until, something caught. Something caught! Yes! Nails, fingertips. Palms. Stretching her hands across the outcrop she swung her other up up to grab hold...... No. She kept falling. And falling. And falling. That was it.
By the time she reached the tumbling waves below, there was nothing left.

There was nothing left

...........

Exit thread