Chapter Sixteen

A/N: When I first started writing this I didn't mean for it to become so Temari centric, but I guess she deserves her shine, as she has been their teammate for the past few chapters and hasn't gotten all that much to say or do.  I also didn't mean for her to have so much conversation with Kotetsu, but I guess they have something in common, in this story anyway.  On a separate note, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed the last chapter, you got me motivated to write this chapter when I was going to be lazy about it.  This chapter would've come out sooner if my computer hadn't been knocked off my college's network and successfully killed my desire to work on this story.  Thankfully, I got back on today and completed the chapter so you can enjoy it.

Temari was going nuts.  She'd woken up four hours ago and was unable to go back to sleep.  She wanted nothing more than for the next day to come so she could compete in the Chuunin exam.  The constant pacing of the Chuunin outside wasn't helping to calm her already on-edge nerves.  Being completely alone in the darkened room with the guards stomping around outside only served to convince her more and more that she was some sort of prisoner.

One of the Chuunin, Kotetsu was his name, had come in earlier and told her that her teammates had been arrested and held on crimes that they'd committed in Konoha, but that they would be allowed to participate in the exam. 

"What do you mean my teammates are under house-arrest?" Temari was one step away from attacking the Chuunin standing in front of her.

"Neji and TenTen are being held under suspicion of committing various crimes in this village."

She gritted her teeth.  "Why am I being punished?  I need them to take the exam tomorrow."

The Chuunin was a tall man with spiky black hair and he wore several bandages wrapped sparingly across his face.  "Don't worry.  They'll be present to take the exam tomorrow.  Their trial will be held after the exam has been completed."

Temari rolled her eyes as she recalled the event.  Just what kind of bullshit laws did they have in this village?  They were going to let criminals who'd abandoned their own village participate in an exam where they could freely kill ninjas from Konoha.  Something like that would never be allowed by their Kazekage.  In fact, she was more inclined to believe that they were spies planted in Sand to determine whether they had anything special planned for the upcoming exam.

Whatever the reason, the night before the exam, instead of last minute preparations like every team was probably doing, she was separated from her teammates, sitting on a strangely uncomfortable hotel bed wondering if she should try going to look for them.  Her mind made up, she picked up her fan from under her bed and fixed it to her back.  As far as she knew there was no rule against wandering the city as long as she didn't cause any problems.  Although with Konoha's heightened paranoia, there wasn't much chance that she'd get far.  Either way, she was bored and it was three a.m.  The hell with it.  Temari walked over to her window, opened it and jumped out, straight into the arms of the Chuunin who had talked to her before.  She groaned.  "Well this is an interesting turn of events."

Kotetsu pushed her off of him.  "What are you doing outside of your room?"

"I wasn't aware that I was a prisoner."

He groaned mentally at the teasing gleam in her green eyes.  He was not in the mood to start arguing with a kid ten years younger than him, especially tonight.  "What do you want?"

"You said before that my teammates were under house-arrest.  I want to see them."

"They're not allowed any visitors." Kotetsu replied grimly.  "And besides, they're probably asleep, like you should be.  Now, be a good girl and climb back in your window."

She smirked.  "What makes you think I'm a good girl?"

The Chuunin fought the urge to smile.  "Listen, I don't have time for this.  Go back in your room or I'll force you back into your room."

She took the fan down from her back.  "I'm sure you've seen me fight before.  Do you really want to fight me?"

Kotetsu was torn.  On the one hand this brat was beginning to annoy him, on the other hand, his superiors would be really upset with him if her team was unable to participate because one of the examiners beat her up.  He sighed and glared at her.  "Fine then.  I'll take you to see them, but you're not to stay for any more than ten minutes.  You are to follow directly behind me, and if you fall behind even a foot we'll be coming back to the hotel."

"Fine." She replied.  When Kotetsu turned around she started muttering to herself.  "Someone's got a mace wedged up his ass."

"I can hear you."

"Doesn't make a difference to me."

"You're annoying."

Temari yawned and stretched, folding her hands behind her head.  "Were you a goodie-two shoes your entire life?"

"No, but I got responsibility dumped on me and I grew up."

"Had a kid?"

"My parents left me with my younger sister."

Temari could understand that.  Now that both of her parents were dead, she was responsible for her brothers, not that she hadn't always been responsible for them after her mother's death.  "So what's it like?  To be in charge?"

"Who said I was in charge?" Kotetsu was starting to become comfortable talking to the younger girl and pushed his hands into his pockets.  "I'm just an underpaid errand boy."

She smiled.  "Funny.  I thought you were an underpaid prison guard."

"Yeah, people make that mistake all the time." At that he stopped talking, and lead her through the streets of Konoha to a small one-storey house.  "This is it." He withdrew his hand from his pocket and pulled out a key.

"Wait a second." She stopped him.  "You brought me to your house?"

"You wanted to see your teammates."

"You were the one holding them prisoner?"

"No, my father is." He pushed the door open.

A voice came out from the darkness.  "Aren't you supposed to be guarding the hotel?"

He didn't acknowledge the question.  "Are TenTen and the boy awake?"

"I don't know.  They went to bed several hours ago."

"Together?"

"They've been teammates for over a year.  I think they know how to behave themselves in close quarters."

Kotetsu stepped aside, allowing his father to see the blonde Sand genin.  "She's here to see them."

His father squinted at her.  "Who is she?  A friend of theirs?"

"Their new teammate."

"From the sand?"

"Yes.  Her name's Temari."

"I can answer for myself."

"The boy is probably awake." The Jounin replied.  "Let her go in the room.  They won't do anything stupid."

She thanked the man silently for his vote of confidence.  He was refreshingly less uptight than his son, who was way too on edge about this whole thing.

"This way." Kotetsu grunted, leading her to TenTen's room.  He pushed the door open and then nodded at her to enter.

Temari walked into the room and felt the door close behind her.  She peered into the darkened room.  From what she could tell, the girl was asleep on the bed, while her friend was sitting awake.

"Why are you here?"

"I was worried.  They wouldn't tell me where you were."

"How did you get here?"

"Some Chuunin named Kotetsu let me in."

"We're safe, you don't have to stay here."

"You're not worried about our performance in the exam?  You don't think it's strange that we haven't practiced at all together as a team?  How do you expect us to perform during the times when we have to rely on each other to survive?"

Neji was silent for a while, but then he found a response.  "Each team is only as strong as their weakest link, right?"

"Yes."

He looked down at the peacefully sleeping girl.  "You've spent a lot of time with her, and you've fought her before.  You know as well as I do that she's gotten a lot stronger."

"What makes you so sure that she's our weakest link?  You are handicapped."

"My blindness will not prevent us from succeeding at the Chuunin exam.  My former sensei in an uncharacteristic fit of genius gave me training that would be useful in a case like this."

"So, what?  I'm the weakness?  Is that what you're trying to say?"

"TenTen and I know each other.  We complement each other in battle, and I know already that she would give her life to save me, and I would give my life to save her.  Other than your fighting style, we know next to nothing about you."

"Well you picked a fine time to be curious." She rolled her eyes.  "Ten hours before the exam starts."

"Better than not knowing at all." He countered.  "I know you don't care much for either of us.  Personally, I don't have anything against you, but TenTen remembers that you were willing to kill her in the last exam.  She doesn't trust you, and that won't work well if we have to rely on each other to live in the second portion of the exam."

"Well then enlighten me Hyuuga Neji, how do I get your girlfriend to trust me?"

"She's not my girlfriend." He countered.

Temari shook her head slowly.  "You pretend to be grown up, but you're such a kid."

"Because of her dumb clan we have to get married once we reach sixteen."

Temari raised an eyebrow.  Where was this coming from?

"The last month and a half has probably been the worst time of my life." He sighed.  "First she got raped, then I find out that she's the last of a near-dead clan possessed by a demon phoenix, then her brother decides that he's going to kill her, so I join her so I can protect her, then the same idiots who attacked her attack us again, and we nearly killed one of them.  The first person to find out is her brother and he goes to my clan and has the head attempt to kill me, which is how I ended up blind.  TenTen decided to take matters into her own hands and flees the village, taking me with her.  Then we end up in your village and get assigned to you so we can take part in the Chuunin exam.  Now we're under house arrest for crimes we didn't commit."

"Am I supposed to care?"

He shook his head.  "No.  I said it more for her benefit than for yours." He slipped out of the bed and pulled the covers tight around her.  "Even though she's asleep she can hear us clearly.  It's one of the advantages of our possession, if you can call it an advantage.  We're always aware."

"Why are you telling me this?"

He shrugged.  "You're the only person I could think of who wouldn't be terrified to find out."

"What?  Because of Gaara?"

"You're still afraid of him." It was a statement, not a question.

"I'm learning to trust my brother.  Ever since his fight with Naruto he's changed, and the best thing Kankuro and I can do for him is to trust him."

Neji scoffed.  "You should talk to her idiot brother.  The last thing he would ever do is trust us.  He thinks we're going to rain down hellfire and brimstone on this village."

"Whoever her brother is, I doubt he'd ever listen to me."

"He probably already has.  He's the one who brought you here, Hagane Kotetsu." Neji groaned, stretching.  "He acts like the Fire Clan killed his puppy.

"Him?  She's his sister?"

"They're not really related.  That's probably why he feels like he can get away with hating her."

"He's an ass." Temari replied.  "Hating her because of something she can't help is something only narrow-minded pathetic scum would do.  If he's supposed to be her brother, he should love her in spite of everything."

"What do you know?" A third voice entered the conversation, catching the two teens of guard.  "You're a visitor to this village, do not interfere in matters that are not your concern."

Recognizing the voice as Kotetsu, Temari eased her grip on the kunai she was holding and let it slip back into its holster.  "I know more than you think.  And my teammate's wellbeing is my concern."

"You're a kid." Kotetsu stated evenly.  "I'm an adult.  Don't try to lecture me.  I've lived a lot longer than you have."

Surprisingly, Temari didn't push the issue.  She could feel the negative energy pulsating between the two males.  "Can you take me back to my hotel?"

"My father seems to think that you should spend the rest of the night." He shot a glare at Neji before focusing on the girl in front of him.  "Come with me, I'll take you to my bedroom."

Temari whispered goodnight to the boy glaring daggers at his future brother-in-law and then followed said brother-in-law to his room.  He flicked on the light switch to reveal a cluttered room decorated extensively with a sports theme.  Baseball bats, perhaps twenty of them lay stacked in a corner, while posters of foreign athletes were plastered all over the wall.  One of the more prominent pictures was a large blown-up photo of Kotetsu at around her age, dressed in what looked like a baseball uniform, balancing his four-year-old sister on one knee.  "The two of you used to be close?"

"I was her big brother, I lived at home, it was inevitable."

"But then you moved out?"

"I found out about her around that time." He pointed at the picture.  "After that it was hard to be around her." He shook his head.  "I couldn't hate her then though."

"But you can hate her now?"

"Who says I hate her?  I just have to do what's best for my village."

"She's gonna grow up to be a powerful ninja, you know that right?" Temari muttered.  "If you don't give her anything to seek revenge for, she won't come after you."

"Are you an expert all of a sudden?"

"No.  I just know what its like to be torn between loving and hating a sibling."

Kotetsu sighed.  "You should get some sleep." He coughed.  "Goodnight Temari." He turned off the light switch.

"Goodnight." She replied as he exited the room.  She rested her fan on the floor and placed her other weapons next to it.  She climbed onto his bed.  It was comfortable enough, but it had a man-sized dent in it, as if the bed had formed itself to someone after having the person lie in it for so many years.

She sighed.  The oddest thing about being teammates was that their problems became yours, whether you liked them or not.  And now, all of a sudden she was in the middle of Kotetsu and his sister.  She wasn't much of a problem-solver, in fact, most of the time she liked to sit back and watch other people's problems blow up in their faces, but she had to become involved in this particular bout of sibling rivalry before it destroyed half the village, including herself.