Major thanks to everyone that gave me corrections, your efforts were appreciated, and will go towards the reworking of this story should I ever finish it.  In possession related news, the remaining evil brothers are named, and there's some insight into Kotetsu and TenTen's earlier relationship.  Chapter Thirteen is in transition, I have written half of it already, but I'm not completely pleased with it.  And although this is not related at all to Possession, Alien Ant Farm rules for their video for These Days.  They have some really big cajones.

Chapter Twelve

"Sensei, have the hunter-nin found those murders yet?"

The middle-aged jounin gazed up at the bright sky.  "The last I heard they lost their trail in Cloud Country."

"They're not going to let them get away with killing Honda are they?"

"We don't have the best relationship with Cloud Country.  To send our hunter-nin in there would require wading through a lot of red tape."

"So they'll just give up then?"

"They'll get them the second they leave Cloud Country." Their sensei sighed deeply.  "What reason would those two have to attack you?"

"They're insane."

"That doesn't explain why you and Honda were in their practice area.  What the hell were you doing there?"

"They challenged us to a fight."

"Then why didn't their third teammate show up until after Honda was dead and why weren't the two of you with your brother when he died?"

The eldest boy lit a cigarette.  "What's with all the questions sensei?  Don't you trust our word?"

"We've already made a statement.  You can go down to the Hokage's and read it."

"I already have, and I found it less than satisfactory."

"We're sorry, but that's all the answers you'll get."

"I know you little bastards killed Honda and blamed it on those kids."

"That's a heavy accusation sensei.  You sure you want to say something like that without proof?"

"I've overlooked most of the stupid crap you boys did, but you've gone too far.  First you gang-rape a thirteen-year-old girl and then you kill your own brother?  I can't look the other way anymore.  My conscience won't allow it."

"Don't worry pops.  Once we make Chuunin we'll be out of your hair for good." He exhaled loudly, blowing his smoke into the man's face.

"Tell me, how did a clueless weak runt like you ever become a jounin anyway?"

"I stayed out of trouble."

"There's some good advice sensei.  Keep your suspicions to yourself, otherwise you may end up like Honda."

He sneered at the teenagers.  "I'll remember that." He could honestly say that he didn't give a damn about what happened to them now.  The Shiratori family was notorious for producing criminals so he had been surprised when the Academy had accepted their twin boys Ryoji and Kenji.  He had not been pleased at all when they graduated the Academy along with their younger brother Honda and were assigned to his team.  Honda was the only one of the three who had been remotely normal and they always blamed him when their devious plans backfired on them.  They'd force Honda to go along with the plans and then punish him when he got cold feet.  Their pranks were usually harmless, but what they'd done now was beyond anything he'd ever ignored before.  "See you in hell boys." He threw a smoke bomb at the ground near Ryoji's feet and disappeared.

"Well I'll be." He walked through the smoke, his twin on his heels.  "The little mouse actually thinks he's going to squeal on us."

Kenji smiled.  "Good thing we planned ahead."

An ear-piercing scream ripped through the jungle.

Ryoji motioned to his brother.  "Let's go."

~~~

"Dammit Kotetsu!  Why is that baby still crying?"

"I don't know." The boy replied.  "Every time I put her to sleep she wakes up screaming."

Her frazzled mother leaned over and picked up the toddler.  "Poor baby." She cooed at the one-year-old.  "She's scared and doesn't know how to tell us." She rocked the child slowly back and forth until she quieted down.

"Oh." Kotetsu brightened.  "In that case, don't worry TenTen." He pointed his thumb at his chest.  "Big brother is a ninja now and he'll protect you from the bad dreams."

Baby TenTen giggled and stretched her chubby hands towards him.

"Aww." Their mother sighed.  "Would you look at that honey?  She loves him."

"That's wonderful." Her husband said sarcastically.  "Now give her to him so we can all go to bed."

She planted a kiss on top of her daughter's head.  "Goodnight sweetie." She handed the girl to her brother and left the room with her husband.

"You know, they really should build you your own room."

In response the baby grabbed a fistful of brown hair and pulled.

The genin scowled in pain and carefully eased his hair out of her grip.  "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" He sighed and rested her in her crib.  "Goodnight." He turned off the light and climbed into bed.

As soon as he got comfortable TenTen began to cry softly. 

He rolled his eyes.  "What did I ever do to deserve you?" He crawled out of his bed and picked up the little girl, silencing his cries.  He slumped back down onto his bed and allowed his sister to curl up on his chest.  "C'mon TenTen.  Go to sleep."

The baby smiled and her eyelids fell shut.

Kotetsu smiled and brushed the thin brown strands of hair away from her face.  A worried expression crossed his face when his fingers grazed her forehead.  "You're so warm."

~~~

Kotetsu groaned as the bored three-year-old tackled him from behind again.

"I don't like you."

"The feeling's mutual." He sighed and leaned against the wall to catch his second wind.

"Why can't we go outside?" The girl whined.

"Snow.  It's cold.  You'll get sick."

"Don't care.  Wanna play outside."

"No." He reached out and lifted the toddler into the air, barely avoiding getting kicked in the shins.  "If you get sick Momma will kill me."

"So?" She stuck her tongue out at him.  "I've been outside already and I'm not sick."

Instantly, Kotetsu knew why the house was so much colder than it usually was.  She'd left the front door open.  He dumped her unceremoniously onto the floor and ran into the living room.  Sure enough, the door was wide open and at least an inch of snow had collected on the floor.  He growled in annoyance and pushed the door shut, this time taking care to latch the lock she couldn't reach.  He strolled back into the room to find TenTen playing with a kunai.

His eyes widened.  "No!" He snatched the weapon from her and spanked her hand.  "Don't ever play with these again!"

Her lower lip quivered and her eyes began to fill up with tears.

"Don't even try it.  There's no way I'm going to change my mind." He walked over to the fireplace and scattered the dying embers with a poker.  After giving up on the near dead fire he shoved his hands into his pockets.  Now he'd have to get more firewood.  "Stay right there TenTen, I'm going to get some wood so we can warm up."

The girl scowled at him and then pouted.

"Fine then.  See if I give you any candy."

"No candy?" She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"If I can get this fire going again I'll give you some of my leftover candy."

"Okay." She clapped her hands together in anticipation.

He didn't really want to brave the unusually cold winter to go out and chop wood, so he picked up the poker again and tried to get the fire to catch some of the unburned pieces of wood.

Suddenly the fire flared up, roaring to its full height.  The teen was barely able to avoid getting his face badly burned, but he couldn't stop the fire from latching onto his clothes.

As his little sister watched, Kotetsu dropped to the ground and began rolling around trying to put out the flames.  "TenTen, get water quick."

The girl shook her head.  "You said to stay here."

He groaned and began to strip off his clothing.   "You can get up now.  Just please go get me some water."

The girl slid off the couch and shuffled into the bathroom.  "I can't reach 'tetsu."

He sucked his teeth.  He'd forgotten how short she was.  Oh well, on to Plan C.  He ran to the front door, unlocked it and dived headfirst into the snow.

~~~

"Stupid, stupid boy.  Not only do you set yourself on fire, but you nearly give yourself hypothermia and frostbite in the process." His father lit a cigarette.

"It wasn't my fault.  The fire just jumped up all of a sudden."

"You were supposed to watch your sister, not dance in the fireplace."

His mother looked up from dressing his wounds.  "Honey, don't be so hard on the boy."

"He needs to grow up and be more responsible."

Kotetsu sighed.  "There wasn't much wood left.  The fire shouldn't have shot up like it did.  I think she did it."

"She's sealed.  You can't blame her for this, it was you being irresponsible."

"Maybe she can break the seal." He suggested.  "Have you ever thought about that?"

"She loves you honey." His mother sighed.  "Your sister would never hurt you on purpose."

He stood up and eased a shirt over his wounds.  "Don't be mistaken.  She's not my sister, she's your little charity case, and besides that, she's a monster."

His father stood, anger pooling in his chocolate eyes.  The boy braced for an attack, wary of what his father might do.  It surprised him to find that the man spoke calmly.  "Don't you dare say those things about her.  I don't care how angry you are, that child couldn't choose who she was born to or what lives in her.  We decided to keep her and we're going to protect her until she can do it herself."

"She nearly killed me."

"But she didn't." The elder Hagane replied.  "She probably just wanted to help you with the fire."

"She's three years old and she was mad at me.  I think she wanted to hurt me."

His mother stood up.  "You're right Kotetsu.  She is three.  She has no idea what she was doing." She rested a hand on her son's shoulder.  "Trust us, this'll never happen again."

The boy sighed.  "I trust you."

~~~

Kotetsu looked up at his friend.  "They're sure about this?"

"Six genin left Sand Village two days ago and two of them match your sister and the Hyuuga boy's height and weight."

"They want to be Chuunin."

"I'll warn Tsunade."

"She already knows.  She'll wait until after the exam to charge them."

"Are you going to let that happen?"

Kotetsu sighed.  "I think I may have gone about this the wrong way.  TenTen is my sister and she's been through a lot recently.  I should've at least trusted her."

"She killed another ninja in cold-blood."

"I know Izumo, but she had no reason to attack that team, unless…"

"…They were the ones who raped her." Izumo punched the wall.  "We've been after the wrong people."

"She killed someone and the circumstances don't change that.  We keep the same objective.  They still have to be contained."