Chapter 27
A/N: I'm sorry about the shortness of this chapter, but let it be known that only two chapters remain, I think, we'll see, once I finish, sort of…
"Gai-sensei?"
"Hai."
"Didn't Kojiro say that he had ANBU chasing him?"
The man nodded.
"We haven't seen any ANBU at all and they would've had to come this way if they were really after him."
"Do you think he was lying?"
"No." She shook her head. "I think he killed them."
Lee glanced at his teammates. TenTen seemed genuinely shaken over her own admission, while Gai and Neji looked as the though the news didn't concern them at all. "What do we do?"
"The village is just up ahead." And sure enough the trees parted to form a large expanse of farmland. The group of four ninjas continued to trek through the countryside until they came upon the gates of the town.
Lee squinted at the sign. The words were faded and difficult to make out, but this area definitely the point on the map.
"We're here!" TenTen shouted, unable to contain herself. She ran into the village, yelling for them to join her.
Lee felt a broad grin stretch his face. Their journey was almost at an end, and his friends wouldn't have to suffer anymore.
Gai clapped Lee on his back. "Go ahead. Express your happiness."
As best as he could, Lee began running towards her, laughing the whole way, but as he watched, TenTen stopped in her tracks. Worried, he caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
She didn't lift her head and spoke in a dejected voice. "Look around you and then tell me what's wrong."
Lee turned his gaze to take in his surroundings. The town's buildings were falling apart and were completely desolate. An eerie fog seeped out from under the doors of the building.
"How could I have been so stupid?" He could tell that she was crying now. "Some great kunoichi I was going to be, I couldn't even tell when it was hopeless."
"It isn't hopeless TenTen. We're gonna find someone who can help you break free."
"Don't you get it Lee?" She barked. "I'm not human anymore. What's the point of saving me?"
"You're my friend and I'll never let you down."
"This is bigger than you Lee."
"TenTen…"
"You and Gai-sensei should go back to Konoha. Neji and I will stay out here, where we can't hurt anyone."
"You can't be serious."
"Why not? It's my life, I can do whatever I want."
"You're not going to run away."
"And who's going to stop me?"
"I will, if I have to." Lee took a fighting stance, fully prepared to knock TenTen out and drag her back to Konoha if that was what it took. "Just because this is a dead end doesn't mean that the way to your freedom isn't out there somewhere."
"Really?" She clenched her fist. "Lee, this is my ancestor's village." She pointed out at a field some distance from town. "That's where she found the Phoenix." Her hand shook with emotion and she lowered it to her side. "If you're going to take me back, then go ahead." She turned to face Lee and Gai. "I'm only going to run away later. And I'll keep running."
Lee heard footsteps behind him. "I agree with her."
"Neji?"
"It's better if you just leave us here."
Gai laughed.
"Sensei?"
"Did you really think that after all that time I spent with you guys I'd really just be able to abandon you in the time of your darkest peril?"
"See?" Lee's confidence was back up. With Gai-sensei supporting them there was no way they would lose. "All we have to do is look hard. There's bound to be someone around here." He broke off running and TenTen could only sweatdrop as he proved his zeal by knocking on every door and poking his head through every window.
"C'mon." Gai clapped on her back. "We can't let Lee do all the work by himself, can we?" He smiled down at her.
"S-sensei?" She wrung the hem of her shirt with her hands. "Arigato, for everything."
"You don't need to thank me. Seeing you smile is enough."
TenTen took Neji by the hand. "Let's go help Lee search."
Gai gave the girl a thumb's up. "We will all search till your young virile bodies have been sapped of energy!"
Both Neji and TenTen sweatdropped profusely. Nothing about that sentence sound safe.
Lee cupped his hands around his mouth. "OI! Is there anyone here?" He poked his head in a window to find yet another empty building. "OI!" He darted across the street to knock on the door of another house. When his hand touched the door it disintegrated, spraying wood chips and dust everywhere. He bent down to examine the pile and didn't miss the tiny bugs scurrying away. "Whoever they were, they abandoned this town a long time ago. The termites have eaten completely through these houses."
Neji wrinkled his nose. "I smell smoke."
"There can't be anything burning. This is a ghost town."
He shook his head. "It's coming from over there." He pointed to the left. Before TenTen could stop him he sprinted off in the direction he had pointed in.
She immediately chased after him. "Neji, stop! Don't you remember what happened the last time you took off on your own? You got lost!" She continued to shout as his back, as he showed no signs of stopping or slowing down. "I don't want to have to worry about you again!"
"Just follow me. I can sense someone."
She turned and shouted behind her. "Sensei, this way! Neji says he senses someone."
The other two members followed them through the field. They ran for what seemed like miles before they came across a small one-room hut. The building was surrounded by a small garden that grew just enough to sustain one person. As Neji said earlier, a column of smoke rose through a chimney to the sky. He lifted his hand and knocked on the door. "Hello?"
No response.
He knocked again, this time even louder.
Not one sound came from the inside.
"Hello, is anybody home?"
A chair scraped over a wooden floor and then the door handle jiggled and swung open. A dark-haired man in his mid-thirties answered Neji's knock. "Who are you?"
"We were told that this was the village where Haruka found the Phoenix. Please can you help us?"
"This village was destroyed ten years ago in a raid. I don't know anything about this Haruka or the Phoenix. Now if you'll excuse me, my dinner is burning." He stepped back and began to close the door.
The door stopped suddenly and their host looked up to see a bandaged hand stopping it. When Neji spoke, his tone was terrifying. "I don't care about what happened to your village, and I'm not here to kill you. However, if you don't tell me what I want to know, I may change my plans."
"Are you threatening me boy?"
The bandaged hand left the door and closed around the man's neck. "Am I threatening you now?"
He locked both his hands around Neji, trying to pry the fingers apart.
"It won't work." TenTen said softly. "He's really strong."
"I'm not telling you two anything."
"We don't want the information to hurt anyone. We just want to be free."
"Who are you?"
"We're the phoenix's damn vessels. I know you know the truth tell us your name."
"Let me go."
"Let him go Neji."
Scowling, the boy released his prisoner.
The man rubbed the now red finger marks on his neck. "Come in." He walked over to his crudely made stove and tested the soup. He then put out the fire. "How can I help you?"
Gai and Lee slipped into the house behind them.
"We want to know about the seal Haruka used to bind the Phoenix."
"What makes you think I can help you? Just because I live near that village doesn't mean I was a part of it."
"Please don't play games with us." TenTen begged. "You're our last chance."
The man sighed. "I may know the origins of the seal. My parents left some scrolls with me before they died. They said it contained the entire history of our clan as well as the techniques they used to teach. The information you're looking for about Haruka and that seal may be in there."
"Did they tell you anything about her?"
"Only that her fiancé broke their engagement and she left for Konoha to become a ninja."
"We all know how that turned out." Neji mumbled.
"Then where'd I come from?"
"She found another suitor in Konoha, one who hungered for power and had no problem bearing her curse." He bent over and opened a trunk. Instantly a musty smell flooded the room. "It's in there."
The trunk was stuffed to overflowing with scrolls and old papers. "This'll take forever to get through. Haven't you read this?"
He sat cross-legged on the floor and placed his bowl of soup on the table in front of him. "I suppose you'd rather hear it than read it, wouldn't you?"
