Chapter 24
A/N: Merry Belated Christmas, and Boxing Day, and here's to hoping you have a Happy New Year
Neji was not surprised. The people that lived in this small village had refused nearly their every request, and would not even grant them the privilege of seeing their mayor. Of course, he was not one foolish enough to expect a close-knit village like this one to open up to total strangers.
"Did your father really think that we'd accomplish anything here?" He questioned. "These people won't even give us directions."
"Maybe we'll just have to look some more ourselves." Lee remarked. "There are lots of villages on the list."
"If her parents were searching for over a year and never found the answer, what makes you think we can find it in a couple of days?"
"I never said it would be that easy."
Neji sat down on the bed. They'd managed to get a hotel room to spend the night in, but that was the most response they'd gotten from the town. Not even the hotel manager, who they were paying, would answer their questions about the Fire clan.
"Maybe if you tell them who you are?" Lee offered.
"These people are afraid of Konoha's ninjas and the Fire Clan for a reason. Telling them we're possessed by the Phoenix will only get us kicked out of this village."
"You heard what Kojiro said. His family was hunted by ninjas. Maybe they're protecting the legend of the Fire Clan because of that." Lee glanced at TenTen. "What do you think?"
"Hmm?" The girl appeared to be lost in thought. "What do I think about what?"
"Lee has the theory that the villagers are protecting the Fire Clan and if we tell them why we need the information then they'll readily help us."
"We don't tell them."
"Why not?"
"If what Kojiro says is true, then there's even less reason to trust random people with that knowledge."
Lee sighed loudly. "Fine. I'm going for a walk." He exited the room, leaving the other two sitting there in silence.
Neji got up from the bed and walked over to the window. "Don't think about it."
"Why shouldn't I Neji?" She questioned. "You know you're thinking the same thing."
"That we don't have a future? That we'll go insane and then die young like Kojiro will?"
"So you do think about it?"
"Yes, but I don't believe it. Not like you're starting to." He replied. "There are many other destinies for us to believe in."
She smiled weakly. "That doesn't sound like the Neji I know."
"And pessimism doesn't suit you." He countered. "So we're even."
She shivered unconsciously, changing the subject. "When do you think Gai-sensei will come back?"
"I don't know."
"How will we find out about the seal then? We can't tell them who we are, and if we don't, they won't give us any information."
Neji sighed. "I have no idea."
"If you and I are the last of the Fire Clan I don't want to give anyone the chance to kill us before we can break free."
"Teach me the seal."
"What seal?"
"The one your parents used on you. We can repress the phoenix until we find a way to get rid of it."
She shook her head. "And make ourselves easy targets for people like Kojiro?"
"We can live a lot longer if we do this. Long enough to find the truth."
She sighed. "Don't make me do this."
"You're letting the Phoenix's threats get to you, just like before. This is the only way I can help you."
"We've both grown up a lot haven't we?"
Neji didn't see where she was coming from.
"In the past few months. Ever since I was raped. So much has happened in such a short period of time."
"I'll get them for you."
"You don't have to." She spoke softly.
"I don't want them to hurt anyone else and as long as they're out there what they did is going to hurt you."
"It doesn't make a difference if those bastards are dead or alive Neji. This is going to be with me for the rest of my life." She opened her mouth to continue, but a heavy stream of light dispelled the darkness in the bedroom. She looked towards the door. "Gai-sensei!"
The green clad man smiled widely. "I didn't send you on ahead for you to mope in this room on such a glorious day! Get up! In your springtime of youth you should be outside enjoying the natural beauty and fresh air of this town! Get Lee, we're going to train!"
'That's not Gai-sensei.'
TenTen's whole body went rigid at Neji's thought, but she had sensed it too the moment the imposter had walked in the door. The imitation was nearly flawless, but the Phoenix's presence was unmistakable. It brought warmth and comfort, but behind that it also induced great fear. It was a terrible creature, wise and ancient, but crafty and bitter. She didn't want to face an opponent who possessed the same cursed power as she did.
'I'll take him on.'
'No. He's my brother and my responsibility.'
"You're braver than I thought." The illusion of Gai disappeared, leaving Kojiro standing in front of the two genin, the wicked smile adorning his features.
"Where's Gai-sensei?"
"Don't worry. I didn't kill your precious sensei. More than likely he's on his way here, but he'll have a hard time avoiding my traps."
It took all of TenTen's restraint not to hurl herself at the older boy. "Did you do it?"
"I didn't kill my future mother-in-law."
"Then why are you giving yourself up?"
"I'm going to make Konoha pay."
"By yourself?"
"Once I kill you and your boyfriend and absorb the Phoenix's full power I'll be more than enough to destroy your stupid little ninja village."
Neji spoke up. "Is this the Mizukage's plan?"
He shook his head. "He granted his approval though. I'm to greet the Hokage on his behalf."
TenTen clenched her hands into fists. "I can't let you do that. NO matter what they did back then I was raised as a resident of Konoha. I chose to be a ninja and I'll defend my village with my life."
"Dear sister, you've got no family pride."
"You don't deserve to be my brother."
Neji stepped in front of his teammate. "I can't let you do this."
She growled at him. "Don't get in my way Neji. I don't fight your battles. Don't fight mine."
His shoulders sagged and he stepped aside. The girl was determined. He lifted his head and smiled in Kojiro's direction. "You won't beat her."
"Give up sister. You don't even have an inkling of how much power lies dormant inside you, but I'll teach you. It'll be the last person you ever learn!" At his last word his hair seemed to come to life. It stood straight up and grew even longer. She couldn't pinpoint his intentions at first, but then it became painfully clear when an errant strand touched the curtain and the cloth went up in flames. It wasn't his hair that thrashed about in the wind, he had set his head on fire.
"I bet you don't even know that you're not human anymore. You don't have an identity dear sister. You're just the Phoenix's fire in human skin."
"You're wrong!"
"Am I?" He threw a shuriken at the girl that grazed her shoulder. As she watched, a tiny trickle of blood escaped the cut, but then molten fire leaked out and covered the cut, sealing it shut. "You've already paid the price for your power. If you survive, in a year or so you will have no will other than the Phoenix's."
She gritted her teeth. "Did Father have free will?"
"Because he had children, the Phoenix's power was weaker. We helped him fight its control."
"Then why have you given up?"
"We're the last of a dying clan. We have powers that everyone fears and no one wants to use. I have a fiancée that hates me. What reason is there to continue as Kojiro?" He smiled at her. "What reason is there sister?" He reached into his hair and formed his flaming katana.
"My name is TenTen." She drew the two scrolls that she used in the last exam from the pouch at her waist and stood them on the ground. She smiled back at him. "Twin Rising Dragons!" Two white dragons shot out of the scroll as it unfurled, shooting towards the roof.
TenTen sprang into the air as the last of the scroll unwound itself and wrapped her hand around the handle of the first weapon. With lightning fast precision she launched the projectiles at her brother.
Two of her kunai lodged themselves in his right shoulder and one shuriken passed through the material of his shirt and stuck in his stomach, but before he could be hit by the rest of the barrage, Kojiro vanished.
Clutching a kunai in her hand, TenTen landed on the floor and her worried brown eyes scanned the room, trying to find any trace of her brother.
Unknown to the two of them a rope was slithering on the ground behind Neji. One end of it stood up like a snake and continued to rise up higher, then it shot up, its target the boy's neck.
Luckily, Neji was one step ahead of Kojiro's plan. He spun around and grasped it with his bandaged hand. The cord writhed in his hand like a snake, bucking against his hand. Moving his fingers expertly, he tied the rope into fifteen knots, reducing it to only a few inches in length.
TenTen's eyes narrowed. Kojiro didn't think she was a worthy opponent. Just like everyone else, he'd rather fight Neji. "Come out you coward! You want my power, you can have it! It's not like I asked for it anyway!"
A sudden blast of hot air charged her and she could only glimpse a flaming object hurtling towards her before it smacked her, sending her crashing through a window. She landed in the square outside in a pile of shattered glass. Through blurred vision she saw Kojiro leap through the window, his body swathed in fire.
'Give up.'
TenTen gritted her teeth as she struggled to her feet. She ignored the voice in her head.
'You're not worthy to be my vessel, you're nothing more than a sniveling pathetic weakling. Die here and let me channel my strength into one who can help me seek my revenge.'
"No." She replied softly, drawing seven shuriken. "I won't give in to you." She flung the weapons at her target. They zoomed towards Kojiro, but disintegrated when they were within inches of him.
"Come on sister." He laughed. "You should know that those weapons will never work on me. Unless you can control the Phoenix you'll die where you stand.'
"Let's see you try." She wasn't a weakling. "She'd trained just as hard as Neji did. She knew she was strong, she could feel it in the power that surged within her. Her own power. Not the Phoenix's. The strength that was her birthright, that she had honed with her own hard work. "This is my body." She muttered, setting her weapon on fire. "You'll never own me."
"TenTen!" Lee had returned from his walk and was now standing in a crowd of concerned spectators.
She shook her head. "Don't worry about me. Neji's still inside."
Lee nodded and dashed into the hotel.
'You'd kill yourself for your pride.' The voice inside her head taunted her.
She grunted and charged Kojiro. TenTen tossed the kunai at him, then slipped her hand into the holster at her side, produced more shuriken, leapt into the air and flung them at him. Before she even landed, the intense heat surrounding him melted the weapons completely. It was hopeless. Just like she was fighting Temari all over again.
'You said you'd handle this.' Neji's voice thundered in her mind.
'I will.' She responded. 'I won't lose.'
'Then don't lose.'
She gritted her teeth. "Okay Phoenix." She tightened her fist. "I'll show you how strong I am."
Kojiro looked mildly annoyed. "Are you done yet?"
"Oniisan." She stood with her feet spread shoulders' width apart, her palms stretched heavenward. "Kill me."
The crowd was stunned into silence, but Kojiro just grinned and extended his katana towards her. "Good to see that you've accepted your fate." He walked up to her and pointed the sword at her neck, the heat radiating from it coloring her skin pink. He swung the sword at her, but the girl vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving his sword stuck in a tree limb.
TenTen reappeared behind him, but before he could turn around she placed her palms on his back and shot a stream of fire directly into his skin.
Kojiro shouted in pain and anger and whirled around to attack her, but she jumped on him, driving a kunai into his chest.
"If I'm touching the weapon then it doesn't burn up."
"You can't beat me."
She pried the sword from his hand and drove it through his abdomen, pinning him to the ground. "Open your eyes big brother. I've already beaten you." She slipped her fingers through his, smirking down at him. She moved their fingers together faster than anyone could follow.
Kojiro's eyes widened as old memories returned to him. He thrashed against his lighter sister, lifting his body off the sword. But he was too late. She completed the seal.
"You lose brother."
He looked down and blood poured out of his wound.
She turned to the crowd, blood from a wound on her forehead blurring her own vision. "Please, can someone get a medic for my brother? He won't hurt anyone, I swear."
Kojiro clenched his fist and stepped forward, wobbling as he moved. "Leave me alone."
"Someone!" She pleaded. "Help me."
The crowd parted and two medics came forward, holding a stretcher between them.
The redhead slumped to his knees and passed out face-first in the dirt.
She made a move to go to her brother's side, but a large hand clamped down on her shoulder. "That was an excellent fight. You defeated him without killing him, I'm proud of you."
"I didn't have any choice." She watched as the medics took him away. "He's my brother."
Lee walked over to the girl and his teacher, awe sparkling in his huge eyes. "That was great TenTen."
She smiled halfheartedly. "Thanks, but coming to this village was a complete disaster. We don't have any leads." She stretched her palm toward the still burning hotel and clenched it into a fist, snuffing out the fire.
"Excuse me." An old man pushed to the front of the crowd and bowed before the ninjas, his forehead pressed to the ground. "Are you a member of the fire clan?"
