Chapter Twenty-Three

A/N: ~breaks down in tears~ I have three exams Thursday and Friday and then I'm going home for Christmas break, so the chance that I'll be updating is very slim, but you can bet I'll be scribbling away in my little notebook while everyone else is rife with Christmas cheer. ~still a little miffed about the giant hole under Neji's arm in chapter 196, but will get over it~ See you guys whenever I see you.

Kojiro sat in front of the fire, his arms folded across his chest. He stared directly into the flames watching as they danced and swayed with the wind. Without turning to look at any of the ninjas in his presence he spoke. "So, who are you? And how do you know my name?"

TenTen opened her mouth to say something, but Gai's stern voice silenced her. "I think we're the ones with the authority to be asking questions. What's a ninja from the Hidden Mist village doing wandering around Konoha's territories?"

"I have diplomatic passes if that's what you're worried about."

"You haven't answered my question."

The boy shifted from his cross-legged position. "I'm an orphan. My ancestors are from your village, so I wanted to see if I could learn anything about them."

TenTen wanted badly to blurt out to him that he was her brother, but the comforting feel of Neji's hand on her knee kept her silent.

"What family are you looking for?" Gai questioned. "Perhaps we can help you."

He sighed. "Konoha can't do much for me. I know all traces of our clan left your village a century ago. I just want to walk around a bit and see what they felt."

'Don't think about it.' Neji warned the girl mentally. 'If you do, then he'll know. It gives him the same link to us that we have to each other.'

'I wasn't thinking about it.' She insisted, knowing that the truth was exactly the opposite, but he had a point. They knew nothing about this boy or how he was raised. He might turn out to be a cold-hearted killer who wouldn't think twice of killing the four of them, especially since he had not been sealed his entire life. He could be very dangerous.

"You still haven't answered my question." He remarked. "How does the girl know my name?"

She had to select her words carefully, building her lie with expertise. "You're a Chuunin, aren't you?"

"Three years ago I came to Konoha to take the exam."

"I met you then. You probably don't remember me as we barely crossed paths, but I heard later from my brother what you had done to your opponents."

He smiled into the fire. "That was fun."

"Shouldn't you have an escort?"

"I may be fifteen, but I am Chuunin. I don't require an escort. The Mizukage has already informed your Hokage of my desire to visit your country and she has granted me free passage as well as a place to stay while I'm in town." His smile widened, resembling the toothy mug of a tiger.

Gai must've felt his subordinates' fear. "If what you say is true then we have no reason to keep you here. Continue with your journey."

He stood. "Ahh…perhaps I'll see you when you return to Konoha."

"Perhaps."

The boy turned and walked away, disappearing into the thick underbrush of the forest.

"Why did you stop me from saying anything to him?" TenTen questioned.

Gai sat cross-legged on the floor facing the three teens. "Couldn't you sense his aura? That boy is a lot stronger than either of you and his thought patterns are unpredictable."

Neji picked up where Gai left off. "You saw the way he reacted when you mentioned how many people he killed. I managed to probe into his head. He's been driven insane by the Phoenix. Maybe he was your brother once, but right now he's been reduced to a reckless killer. I hope Godaime knew what she was doing when she invited him to come to Konoha."

TenTen stood to her feet. "Suppose he knows something!" She shouted. "What if Father taught him about the history of our clan before he died?"

"He would've been three TenTen." Neji once again was the voice of reason. "He probably doesn't remember anything about his old life. Why else would he be returning to Konoha?"

"Gai-sensei…" Lee spoke for the first time since Kojiro had shown up. "Is it okay to just let Kojiro go to Konoha? I mean, what if he tries something?"

Gai's features settled from a scowl to a smile. "ANBU members have been following him ever since he left the Hidden Mist village. Don't worry, they won't permit him to try anything rash." He dug his hands into the dirt around him and scooped up two handfuls of sand. He stood up and poured the sand into the fire, dousing it. He then started shuffling towards them. "Come on, we should head towards the next village, get our mission started as soon as possible."

Lee pointed behind him. "Sensei, the fire isn't out."

In fact, the fire roared even higher than it had before, and from the center of the dancing blaze there crouched a figure who was seemingly made from the flames. "Did you really think I would just let you go?"

Gai shifted into a fighting stance, standing protectively in front of his three students. "What do you think you're doing?"

"The ANBU members that your village sent to tail me have been led on a wild-goose chase by a very believable double. Did you really think that I would only seek answers from the village that expelled my people and then sent assassins after them to whittle down our numbers?" Kojiro's blue eyes locked with TenTen's brown ones. "You didn't even have to tell me for me to know you were my sister. Even without the Phoenix, I could never forget my mother's eyes." He snorted. "How could I, when they haunt me every night in my dreams? Taunting me, begging me to save her, telling me to kill her demon child." He clenched his fist. "Father didn't tell her about the Phoenix. Going in to the marriage she had know idea of the suffering she would have to go through trying to contain the spirit. It taunted her, teased her, telling her that if she went through with her pregnancy that the child would kill her. She was trying to induce an abortion the night you were born. The night she died she grabbed my wrist and told me to crush your skull so you wouldn't have to live with the curse like I would." He sneered. "Of course, even though it was my mother's wish, I was three years old and I was still terrified at the idea of death." He glared at her, the hate in his eyes causing something in her chest to twist painfully. "Aren't you glad I spared your life?"

TenTen wanted to reply, but before she could, she heard a growl coming from her side. "How can you call yourself her brother? You're worse than the one she already has!" His lips curved back even further from his teeth, setting in a snarl. "Why do you both hate her so much?"

"Hate her?" Kojiro laughed. "I want to free her." He shook his head in disbelief. "The only freedom from the Phoenix is to die. Once the entire Fire Clan is dead, then the Phoenix will finally be free." He reached into the fire, twisting it into the form of a katana. "I'm going to carry out my mother's wishes and end our cursed line once and for all." Brushing past Gai, he charged his helpless sister, who could only throw her hands up to cover her face.

But instead of his flaming sword carving through flesh, it rung loudly against iron. Both Lee and Neji had jumped in front of the blow, kunai at the ready.

"I'm sorry, but you won't be hurting TenTen while we're around." Lee stated boldly.

Kojiro eyed the bandages around Neji's eyes and the subtle limp Lee moved with. "Do you really think a cripple and a blind boy will be a match for me?" He frowned when neither of them made an attempt to back down. "Why would you want to throw away your lives for her?"

"She's my friend." Lee protested. "I'd never let anything happen to her."

"You." Kojiro addressed Neji. "Why are you on her side?"

"You don't even have to ask." His voice sounded gravely serious. "You know."

"Her fiancé." Kojiro gritted his teeth and swung at the boys again. Neji blocked the blow and Lee managed to knock the sword free from his grasp. Weaponless and vulnerable, Kojiro did the last thing anyone would've expected from him. He threw his head back and laughed. "You don't know anything." He pointed at Lee. "You protect her, but if you don't strike first, she's going to kill you someday." He grabbed his sides to slow down his shaking. "That's the curse of the Phoenix. Everyone that you love dies at your own hands."

"What's the real reason why you're going to Konoha?" Gai questioned.

"The Mizukage wants nothing to do with me. He had me arrested five days ago, after my fiancée's mother suddenly disappeared. So he's sending me to Konoha in hopes that they'll discipline me." He grinned. "They'll lock me up in the basement like the bastard son that our clan is and then they'll execute me privately." He chuckled a bit when Lee's kunai pressed closer against his neck. "I suppose I deserve it, being a cold-blooded killer and all." He leaned against the blade and leered at the green-clad ninja. "Go ahead if you've got the balls. Kill me."

"Don't!" TenTen shouted, her fists clenched in anger. "Don't you get it? He wants to die, but he's too much of a coward to do it himself."

"But the world would be much better if I was stolen from it." He protested. "Not to mention the fact that the Phoenix essence that I have within me would go into you and your little boyfriend."

"Do you honestly think I care about that power?" The girl countered. "I want my brother. I want both of my brothers to see me as a person and not as a tool, as some vessel for power."

The look on Kojiro's crazed features softened for a brief moment and then hardened back into his cold stare. When he spoke again, this time his voice wasn't laced with anger or hatred. "I've told you already. You can't break free of the Phoenix, no matter how much you try. As long as you're alive it'll be with you, and when you finally die that's when it'll be gone." He grinned at Lee. "So go ahead. Kill me."

The boy glanced back at his friend and then sheathed his kunai. "Do it yourself."

Gai's hand closed around the boy's elbow. "If you won't go to Konoha of your own volition, I'll be your escort."

"Gai-sensei!" The three teens protested.

"You three are ninjas, I trust you to make it to the village on your own." He smiled and gave them a thumb's up. "Don't worry, Kojiro doesn't even have a chance against your great sensei." With that the boy was jerked away from his sister and dragged out of the forest towards Konoha.

After they left the ninja team stood there for a while in silence, not speaking, but each of them knowing that the others were rehashing the events that had just occurred. Lee was the one who broke the silence eventually. In the distance he could see the tiny orange-red hues of the sky beginning to light up as the day approached. "We should get going." He turned to TenTen. "Don't believe the stuff he was telling you, even I could tell he was insane."

The girl's eyes looked distant. "Insane or not Lee, that doesn't change that he was telling the truth."

Neji's hand rested on her shoulder. "Whatever your fate is, it's my fate as well. I won't let anyone hurt you."

She shrugged off his hand. "No it's not Neji. It's about time I realized that I was the one born into this family, and that it's my cross to bear."