Chapter Twenty-One

A/N: ~Appears before the readers, contrite~ Ahh…sorry about begging you for reviews the last chapter, sometimes my ego just needs to be appeased.  It's not that big mind you, it just has to eat every now again.  As a result of your kind reviews, I give you this truly mushy chapter.  Well, the first half is mushy anyway.  Too much mush hurts my stomach.

TenTen could hear people moving around and talking in the darkness, but no matter how hard she tried her eyes refused to open.  She could feel a strange pressure on her hand and guessed it to be someone holding it.  The hand was too small to be her brother's and she doubted anyone else would come visit her, so it had to be Neji, but even if it was him why would he say such things?

"If I decided to go, would you…would you watch her for me?"

"Neji…" Another voice, Lee's. 

"Would you?"

How could he ask a question like that?  Well, she would set him straight.  He wasn't going anywhere.  She wouldn't let him.  She would, she would…no matter how much she concentrated her body still wouldn't respond.

"If it came down to that I would be happy to keep an eye out for my friend."

No Lee, don't encourage him, she wanted to scream, but the words wouldn't come.

"But it shouldn't come down to that." Lee continued.

"It may."

"And I can't stop you?"

She wanted to stop him more than anything.  She wanted to yell at the top of her lungs how much he meant to her, why she couldn't let him leave her behind.  She was so lost in her own thoughts, fighting with herself to wake up that the next part of the conversation was muffled.  The next thing she knew was that the door opened and closed and a sudden silence filled the hospital room.

She could sense his sadness and mental conflict and wanted more than anything else to be able to reach up and hold him.  She wanted to let him know that she was there for him, that she wouldn't let him go.

"I know you probably can't hear me." He was talking to her now.  "But I can't shake the feeling that somewhere in there you're aware.  What do you want to do now?  Some people want us to stay in Konoha, but that's only because they don't want us to fall into enemy hands.  I don't want my mother to be alone, but I don't want to be a helpless pawn.  I feel like the only way I can truly appreciate my destiny is to find it outside of Konoha.  I thought I'd be able to handle leaving you behind, but thanks to my greed for power, our destinies are intertwined now and even if I wanted to I couldn't leave you."

Well, she could take some relief in that admission.  The hand clutching hers tightened.

"I realize that I've been forcing you to do a lot of things that probably aren't good for you and I'm sorry.  My ambition sometimes rules my good sense." Her hand brushed against something warm and soft, and she could only guess that it was his lips.  "Temari's going to take care of everything for us in Sand Village.  Turns out we made life fun for her and she feels indebted to us."

The warmth left her hand and then she heard a chair scrape against the tiled floor.  "I know I haven't told you this, but you probably sensed my inner turmoil.  That was bad of me, I had hoped to hide my thoughts from you, and it seems I succeeded partially.  My handicap is a bigger problem for me than you realize.  I am unable to defeat even the weakest of opponents without your assistance.  I have never had to rely on you as deeply as I have to rely on you now, and I am slowly becoming used to it." She heard his footsteps echo through the room and then she felt a heavy pressure on the bed.  He must've been leaning on it.  "I took the pledge of your line frivolously before, only seeing it as a means to obtain more power.  But now, I swear to you that I will honor our engagement and become your husband once we come of age.  And I will give you as many children as you want, no matter what the Phoenix's will is." A weight pressed into her lap that she guessed to be his head.  "Even if it lives inside us, it does not rule our lives…only we can do that.  That is the lesson I have learned from Naruto."

Against her own will, TenTen could feel herself beginning to cry.  Neji really cared about her and he wanted to marry her.

Of course, Neji couldn't see the tears, but he could sense the change in her psyche.  She was even more aware now than she was before, perhaps on the verge of waking up.  He felt a shift on the bed and then suddenly her hands were moving, pulling his face from her lap up to meet hers.  Their foreheads touched and Neji could feel the wet tears on her cheeks.  "Are you crying?"

She smiled.  "Hai."

"What's wrong?" He sounded genuinely concerned.  "Did I do something to upset you?"

"No Neji.  I'm very happy, that's all." Her hands tangled into his hair and before he knew it, his lips were pressed against hers.  When he'd fantasized about kissing her it had never come close to this experience.  As much as he enjoyed the kiss, he was the one who pulled away.

"I think we should stop here.  We'll have plenty of time to engage in such activities after we grow up."

TenTen sucked in a deep breath.  "I understand.  I'm sorry." She released her grip on his hair.

"You have nothing to apologize for." He slid onto the bed and sat next to her.  "So what do you think we should do?"

"We have nowhere to go.  Staying here is our only option.  The people here will protect us, simply because we were born…" A strange emotion clouded her brown eyes for a moment.  "…Grown up here."

Neji sighed.  "I'll go back to my mother's and I'll trust Kotetsu to take you home." He stood up and without looking back, exited the hospital room.

Kotetsu turned to face him.  "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home." He replied.  "We're not taking the Chuunin exam anymore, so we're no longer under your protection.  I want my mother to know I'm still alive."

Kotetsu motioned to his friend.  "Izumo, could you escort him back?"

Neji shrugged off the older man's hand.  "I can find my own way home."

"No offense Neji, but you're blind.  The chances that you would make it home safely after being unfamiliar with Konoha's surroundings for so long are one in a million."

He nodded and allowed the man to guide him out of the room.

Kotetsu sighed and entered his sister's room.  He picked up her clothes from where they were lying on a table and pressed them into her arms.  "Father and Tsunade-sama want to see you.  Get dressed." He turned his back as the girl changed clothes behind him. 

"I'm finished." She remarked a minute or so later.

"Then come on."

~~~

Tsunade looked up as the door to her office opened.  "Ahh, Kotetsu, TenTen it's good to see you again."

Both siblings bowed their heads slightly as they walked in.  Their father stood in a corner of the room, comfortable in the shadows.  "Tsuande-sama, you wanted to see me?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay.  Your injuries were very serious.  You had to have a blood transfusion right away and luckily your brother was there to donate as much blood as was needed."

Surprise washed over TenTen.  Kotetsu had saved her?  Why?

"The reason I called you here was to inform you of a new option.  Your father is willing to take you with him to their old village for you to find out more about your birth parents and the Phoenix itself."

TenTen was silent for a moment, but she knew what she had to say.  "I would like that very much, but I don't want to leave Konoha right now."

Tsunade smiled.  "You want to wait until Neji regains his sight."

The girl blushed.

"Believe me, I understand.  Just tell your father when you're ready to leave."

"Ano…" The girl wrung her hands out of nervousness.  "I know the examiners have disqualified us because I am unable to compete, but we do have until tomorrow, and it's not their fault that I was hurt, and they really want to become Chuunin.  Temari doesn't mention it, but she's really upset that she missed her chance the last time.   Neji probably won't bring it up to me, but I know he wants to prove himself."

The Fifth smiled at her.  "You're a good girl, aren't you?" She sensed that her statement embarrassed the girl and kept talking.  "However, when you were brought in and your brother and the doctors present declared you unfit to compete.  That part of the exam was a team effort and if the entire team does not return then we have no choice but to disqualify you, according to the rules."

"But they brought me with them!" She protested.

Tsunade shook her head.  "That's irrelevant.  Either all three pass or none at all, just like the written exam."

"We completed the objective!  The three of us together as a team!" TenTen was shaking and on the verge of tears.  "We deserve to compete, even if I can't."

The older woman sighed.  "You are not the first to come and plead with me.  Both Neji and Temari have spoken to me, as well as your father and your brother, and of all people Gai.  I would like very much to override the rules, but it would be best right now for all of us if you remained incognito.  Besides, as you are unable to compete you will not be permitted to view the proceedings and as a result of that, Neji will also find himself unable to compete, so it is easier this way.  Temari is a patient and resilient girl.  She will return at the next exam, ready to compete."

TenTen groaned, defeated.  She had thought that there was some sort of agenda against them, but the decision had been made in their best interest. 

"However, I have come up with a compromise.  If you are to aim for next year's Chuunin exam then you will need a qualified teacher to assist you with your training.  I have discussed this matter with your father and we have reached a decision that is in both yours and Neji's best interests.  I will re-entrust you to Gai's care.  Despite his unorthodox methods, he seemed to have fulfilled a sort of father-type role in all of your lives."

The smile lit up the girl's face again.  She was looking forward to being reunited with Rock Lee.  "Thank you Tsunade-sama."

"You're welcome." The Hokage nodded at the door.  "You're welcome to leave now."

Now with her spirits significantly lifted, the girl walked out of the door.

"Are we going to ignore her crime?"

"We ignored Uchiha Sasuke's.  Are we going to treat a child any differently because of the family she was born into?"

"Sasuke is important to this village."

"And she is important to you." She countered.  "If she weren't you wouldn't have donated your blood.  After all, why would you keep a criminal alive just so she could go to jail?  A dishonorable death is the ultimate punishment after all." She picked up a thick folder on her desk and began to shuffle through the papers.  "Just in case something happens, escort your sister home."

He bowed.  "Yes ma'am."

Mr. Hagane relaxed more noticeably at the departure of his children.

"From the top Hagane-san.  Tell me everything you know about the Fire Clan."

The big man sighed.  "Is it okay if I sit?  It's a long story."

"Very well." She motioned to a chair.

He dragged the chair back into the shadows and sat down on it.  "No one, not even the historians of the Fire Clan are sure what about them is truth and what is no more than myth" He folded his hands across his chest.  "The Phoenix has lived in that clan for longer than the village of Konoha has existed.  How a bird of such majesty ended up trapped in the body of the first member of the Fire Clan is still a mystery but the most common story is that the Phoenix was outsmarted and he owed the man a single wish.  Instead of asking for things that others had before him, like wealth, beautiful women or longevity, he asked for the Phoenix to protect him and his family forever.  Ever since that day no man anywhere on earth has ever seen the Phoenix in the wild again.  Over the years the Phoenix became resentful of the deal he had made, but the seal the man used to bind the two of them together was so strong that despite his power, the Phoenix couldn't free itself.  He destroyed the paper the seal was written on, but back then, the written word wasn't what the villagers depended on to pass down techniques."

"You think that if you can find whatever village this man was originally from then you could find out how to unbind the Phoenix?"

"That's the problem." He replied.  "I'm confident that the people that I've interviewed know more than they're telling, but they won't say anything to me.  Perhaps if they were able to see people who are tortured with the symbiosis to the phoenix then they would be more willing to talk."

"You want to send Neji and TenTen on a wild goose chase?"

"It won't be in vain, I promise."

"Don't you think the council will be indisposed at the thought of the loss of such a great power?"

"As far as everyone is concerned, the Fire Clan died out one hundred years ago.  Why not prove them right?"

"Give me the list of countries you went to."

He reached into his jacket and handed her a worn book.  "This is my wife's mission journal.  She kept immaculate records of everything that happened.  If they question all the same people we did it's likely that they'll come across the truth."

Tsunade flipped through the book, making a mental note to read it later.  "I'll contact Gai and prepare them to be sent out within the month when everyone is completely focused on the third part of the Chuunin exam.  That should allow them to slip out unnoticed."

"What about the boy's surgery?"

"It's his choice whether he wants it or not."

He stood.  "Thank you."

"Just one question."

"Anything."

"How did your wife really die?"

"Honestly?"

She nodded.

"She was murdered because she asked too many questions."

"And you're confident that your daughter and the others won't meet the same fate?"

"Not as long as they stay smart."