Board Thread:Important Logs/@comment-34754862-20170630233851/@comment-28929139-20170703044207

That final struggle...

The hours would pass on, and Kideme's mind, body and spirit fought on through every single second of it. The foreign chakra had seemed to win out for the longest time though when Kideme went totally still...and cold. Her system was running at nearly 100% and within the second hour, that percentage would quickly begin to dwindle. Every facet of her cerebral assertion was being exhausted into submission, and her mind was the first to fade. The blush of heat would fade from her cheeks, her hands would stop balling up and the neutral expression on her face slackened with fatigued. In the minutes to come, her body would follow. Kideme's normally warm touch ran from red hot to icy white and her body would lose its dormant poise, taking on a more dead look. If ever Zaiko tried to feel for a pulse, he'd find one that was quickly fading. For awhile on paper, it seemed like Kideme was dying.

But such had not been the case.

As her body seemed to be slowly shutting down from over-exhaustion, the cursed chakra had finally been dispersed enough to start becoming one with her own. It had nearly worn itself ragged trying to target all her chakra points but for all its volatility, Kideme's kekkei genkai was more abundant and far more powerful to counter it. And so, after nearly three hours of fighting, the electric currents running through in her body would have finally isolated, shrank and merged with that familiar yet unknown presence of power. And now came time for her system to rest and recuperate while also letting its newly acquired chakra circulation to assimilate into Kideme. Slowly, very very slowly, those currents began to recede and Kideme's swollen, overworked heart would have a murmur of backflow as a result. Heart murmurs were not uncommon occurrences in normal people but they often happened as a result of heavier blood circulation or problematic heart valves. In Kideme's case, her blood flow was going at more than double its normal pace and as such, something comparable to a wet squelch or gulping noise could be heard by Zaiko as Kideme absently twitched, lulling her head to one side.

But this was only for the slightest moment since with the influx of new oxygen from her unconscious breathing, her blood flow would reset. It was funny how fast the human body worked on a molecular level, since in that moment of backflow and the circulation of oxygen was reversed, the currents in her system would begin to slow down. However, the reverse of blood flow and restarted surge was just what her body needed! It took some time, and from the outside, the color would gradually return to her lips and cheeks, but it would another hour before the warmth returned to her skin.

In the dark silent recess of her mind, Kideme didn't have that flash of images from her life play before her. Instead, the faces of her friends appeared.

Shien. Ayame. Tiatsu. Hayato. Moeru. Ninny. Winky. The kittens. Zaiko. These were all people that held value in her life. And their very names, their faces, that alone was the inspiration she had to keep going. To keep fighting.

And though it was rather unceremonious, after four hours and some change, a gust of warm whispy air wafted from Kideme's parted lips and her eyes slowly pulled open. But nearly as soon as they opened, Kideme closed them again with a hard frown. The stark brightness of snow and fire made her eyes ache and she pushed her cheek again Zaiko's leg-

"...Zaiko?" She said rather groggily as Kideme slowly sat up, eyes still closed as she stretched her tired, aching muscles...."Are we....chunin?" No honey, but you have about 15 minutes before it's time to fight again.