1 Tenmei vs Kichirou - GRAND FINALS Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:25 am
Tenmei
D-rank
This.....was it.
It had been nearly two hours since the announcement was made, and Tenmei was still being held in the first aid room.
The last battle against Hanbei Guanyin had been difficult to say the least. Having gained several hair line fractures across certain bones, with matching scratches and bruises that painted her lightly tanned skin in different levels of pain; the three busy body medical shinobi worked hard to heal up the scars and the burn on her left palm as fast as possible so she could soon make her way up to the next challenge. The last part of these damned chuunin exams.
But in the mean time, Tenmei just sat there, still, on the bed with a steaming cup of lemon and green tea in her steadying hands, a book on her lap and the words of her father running through her mind, telling her not to give up. Telling her that she had to be strong one more time and finish.
'You'll be okay. You can do this. Make me proud'
For the final time that day, Tenmei raised the steaming rim to her lips and took a tentative sip, enjoying the bitter sweet taste of the liquid as it slipped off her tongue and tricked down her throat, melting away the dregs of anxieties that had lingered in the back of her mind since leaving the arena a short while ago.
Then, once, and only once she had assured herself that no drops remained, Tenmei carefully pushed the book back on to the side table and swung her tired legs over the edge of the bed. She had been here long enough and it was time to go. So with one final, grateful glance at the three that had aided in her recovery, the female grabbed her change of clothes and headed to the tower. The place where she would meet her final opponent. The last person she would have to beat before this whole thing would be over.
Yes. It would be all over.
Finally.
As she slowly made her way to the gleaming white tower, Tenmei allowed her mind to drift from the nerves of what was to come, and focus on what had taken place during the days before.
Back then, she had never even dreamed of surviving this long.
Walking up to her first opponent in the magically peaceful scenery of the zen garden, she was barely able to breath with the worries and doubts and that had been pulling at her wind pipe. He had been so confident. Cocky. Arrogant even. The female genin had shown no mercy as she took him down without so much as breaking a sweat.
The next was much the same. Confident, clever. The way he used paper as weapons was something completely new to the girl shinobi. He had made her bleed and for that she had trapped him in a forest of burning trees with no way out except for through her. He had not lasted long enough to even try.
Her third opponent used a technique that was familiar but no way less impressive. The scars she was given from the shoots, the tree that had grown fast and strong, holding back the stone pillars of the completely darkened arena. Tenmei had never seen a Genin move as she did back then.....and then there was that final battle.
She had nearly lost against the feminine looking child. Skilled with his needles, the female had gotten lucky once more and managed to pull through alive with only a few more scars to show for it.
But this time.....this time she may not be so lucky.
Arriving at the tower reminded her of back at the first event. Having made her way through a sand storm with little supplies and even less confidence. It was almost a relief to see the gleaming white stone, shining blindingly as it rose mightily out of the sand. But the structure itself was not what drew the awe from her lips. Floating high above the ground were these giant blimp type balloons, humming away together, caught in their chain net like trapped birds. It was enough to bring back the stomach knots which she had spent the last couple of hours untying. Needless to say, the doubts, the anxieties she had once experienced, came rushing back full force, threatening to topple her before she even reached the tower.
It took all of the young Sotsuji's will to not to turn around and head back to where she came from right now.
And so here she was again, letting her pride lead her towards her final challenge. The act she would be performing in this rust covered place.
Without knowing how she had found her way in, Tenmei felt herself climbing the many stairs that spiraled around and around the circumference of the tower, her hand finding comfort on the steady wooden railing beside her. Higher and higher she climbed before coming to a stop at a heavy wooden door that would hopefully lead to the platform outside. A wide circular area, flattened by the weather where the proctor and her opponent would be waiting for her to arrive.
Who ever this person happened to be.....
"Ki....Kichirou?.....But...no. What are you....?
It was like someone had stopped her with an iron bar to the gut.
It had been years since she had seen him, the persistently optimistic dark haired boy. Years.
Back before Tenmei had arrived in Kiri, when she had first started her travels with the old man, they had picked up some boy off the side of the road who was hoping to for a lift. With her father recently having passed away and recovering from the nastiest of burns , she was less than hospitable towards him. But despite her cold attitude and the utterly gruesome looking burns , he had helped her with her wounds and gave her the company she really needed.
In the end, she had warmed up to him but by the time she admitted to herself, he had already gone.....and Tenmei was back to square one. Completely shut off from people and the world around her.
She had not seem him since....
And yet here he was. Same eyes, same smile just a bit taller.
Unlike her. She had changed immensely over their time apart. The burns which he would remember was now just a scar that covered her arm, shoulder and ribs. Her hair was longer, her skin a little darker and there was a life in her eyes that had only started to come back within the last couple months. However the biggest change was her control.
Before, she couldn't be touched. Now, Tenmei could turn the first five pages of her favourite book without the paper turning yellow.
She had never forgotten her friend. Not once.
Tenmei just hoped that he would remember her too.
"What are you doing here?....I mean....I know what you are doing here. But why now?....why? I....It's been a long time"
There was no stopping it now. The subtle shaking that stemmed from her fingers in to her hands, her arms. The shuddering inhales as she tried to maintain composure in front of the scrutinizing audience.
She could already feel the warm sting of tears as they built up behind the conflict in her silvery eyes before mercilessly slipping out to roll down her cheek, leaving a moist like on her tanned skin. Carefully, hesitantly, she took a step forward and reached out to touch him but pulled her hand away, grasping it in front of her chest as if to stop herself from seeing if this person was really here. If she was actually seeing him there after all this time. Surely this was another dream.
There was no way, she could fight a friend like him.