I'm the biggest liar in the world and I suck. but... long chapter? yeah? yay? It's summer... I blame the heat... for my laziness... and sleepiness...

I love all three of you reviewers. AMAZING PEOPLE!

I don't own Naruto... but neither do you so HAH!

As I was sleeping, I missed much of the explanations of hunter ninja and their jobs. I stumbled in half asleep to the group, Tazuna, Tazuna's daughter, and Kakashi's declaration that Zabuza was still alive. "No!" I almost yelled it. Clamping my hand over my mouth, I realized that I wanted to blame Zabuza for my sudden outbreak of rage. It had to be him! His general hate had set it off. Still, the team was staring at me like I was crazy, which was probably true.

Sakura, surprisingly, was my savior. "Sensei, what were you saying about preparation? You can barely move!"

"The training isn't for me… it's for you guys."

"How are we supposed to hurt a guy like him? You could barely beat him with your sharingan!"

"True. But you guys helped me out when I got in trouble. Naruto, it's you who's improved the most." He said nothing, but I could feel his eyes on me. He was going to watch me, and see whether I seemed off my rocker or not.

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed, as if there were any other way. "Training sounds like fun!" Yeah- I could use some physical exertion to rid myself of Sasuke's emo-ness. I swear it's rubbing off on me.

Kakashi mustered his strength and we marched outside. "Ok. Now we will start the training. But first, some lessons. You all know what chakra is?" Naruto didn't, so I let Sakura explain it while I tore teensy holes in an abnormally large leaf.

"Yes, well… you all are using chakra improperly. Your jutsu are weak, you aren't balancing body and spirit well. You are basically wasting a lot of energy. So… I prescribe very tough training. Let's climb some trees!"

Kakashi proceeded to focus chakra in his feet and step onto a nearby tree, illuminating its shape to me with the chakra. Well, this was easy! I had already half-done it! "Let's go!" My teammates were a little surprised. I didn't show much of an interest in training with them before. Most likely they expected me to do it elsewhere by myself. But hey, I was the psychotic one of the group, right? Other than Naruto, that is. But that's a different kind of psycho. They couldn't tell me what I was gonna do next!

Figuring it was just a bit different for me, I went to a tree and measured it with a hand. I wasn't exactly sure that if I ran at it I wouldn't miss. So I did what Kakashi told us was too hard at first. I put a foot on the tree and, cautiously, focused chakra on the tips of my talons and heel-spike. When I leaned back, it seemed stuck to the tree enough. The next step was the tricky part. How had Kakashi done it? Just trusted his weight to the flimsy limb of a leg? Taking a deep breath, I shifted my weight forward dramatically, propelling myself a little ways up the tree, making sure to focus the right amount of chakra in my other foot when I set it down. It made for a single long lurch of a step. But I was on the tree still! Woohoo! It was easier when I was fully horizontal on the tree, so I just… walked up. When I was almost halfway, taking it slowly, Sakura had reached the top of her tree. Naruto and Sasuke were still trying, but failing. They were still messing up their chakra balance, pushing too hard or not hard enough. Crouching while still on the tree, I put a hand to its bark and just sat there for a bit. I knew Kakashi was watching me, but the tree felt so… vital. So simple. Although I knew there was no way for it to be, I could just imagine the vitality in me synchronizing with the vitality in the tree… blood slowing, breathing deep and soft with the breeze in the leaves. The sunlight… ah, I wanted to see sunlight and feel air… what was I thinking? Daydreaming during training. After all, I stopped seeing after I was less than a year old. But the lifeblood of the tree was still there under my hand, pulsing and calling me to join it. It ran up… up, up! Enjoying the sun and the sugar energy provided by it. Why wasn't I? Who cared if I was crazy? The sun was calling! I bounded the remaining distance to the top of the tree, not paying one whit of attention to the chakra levels in my feet. But they kept carrying me up to the very top of the tree, the favored leaves still soaking in the light. I wanted to see the light again. I wasn't high enough! The thoughts of the tree still plagued me, with thoughts of Zabuza and family and some things I could never have.

I was sure to be scaring the others below, with Kakashi there still judging my sanity, but as I leapt from my tree to another unknowing of where I was going to land… I didn't care. All I knew was that the air wasn't enough, that this high on being high needed to be satiated. So I leapt from the second tree and dived, not thinking of meeting the ground. So when it came up I did what was most natural. I uncoiled my body from its dive and crouched when I hit the ground, breathing. Deep and soft, with sunlight in my leafy, twig-ridden hair. "Y'know, I think I like heights." Noone else said a word, while I sat against my tree and dozed off, content.

Kakashi woke me when he and Sakura were walking back, and I got the impression he had finally deemed me insane. He was impressed by my control, I could tell, even as he scolded me for acting so stupidly. He then insisted on doing some sort of medical check kit he had brought with him.

Kakashi was annoyed. I couldn't tell why, or tell how I knew, but it was there. Sakura had been guarding Tazuna all day, so it wasn't like he was tired. He laughed when the two boys came in after training all beaten up, sure, but he was still ticked. I felt him looking at me more than once. After dinner was over, he asked to talk to me alone outside.

"Listen, Hoshiko. You understand what a bloodline trait is, correct?" I nodded. I had asked about it all the time, knowing it was a link to some kind of family. "Well the medical check kit I had has a kind of… possibility checker, if that. The thing is, with a bloodline trait, we don't know what will be affected. For some families, it's in the eyes. Most, it's a special type of jutsu or technique only the family can use. A few have a kind of symbiotic relationship with a summons or species of animal. Very, very few are physical abnormalities, like your own. These are either... experiments, or naturally occurring- but both are very, very carefully documented."

"So… what you're saying is that I'm weird. I got that."

"This is serious. I need to inform you that there is something else to your bloodline trait you may not know of. Yes, there's the claws and talons. You may not be aware, but when you get extremely upset or angry, or if you are fighting, your eyes turn red and seem to glow. And then there's what's most disturbing. Your bones are spongy and almost hollow. Do you understand? The outside is incredibly strong, but this could mean increased breaking capacity… it could be very dangerous."

My mouth was hanging open, and as I snapped it shut I rubbed my claws against one another. "No way. I can't break these things with clipper, files, knives, needles, kunai- there's no way I'm breaking a bone. But hollow bones? Seriously? Like a bird? I know I said I liked heights and I jumped and everything, but come on! I'm not that kind of insane!"

"Also… this attitude problem of yours. It is possibly part of the bloodline trait. That's a big problem for the future of the bloodline. But I thought you would be more interested in the past. You must understand we document these very carefully. Meaning… your parents must have been in hiding a very long time, and are unlikely to still be alive. People like that aren't likely to expose their bloodline trait to drop off a child. You won't be able to find them, Hoshiko."

"Well… well…" I paused to think. Then I frowned up at Kakashi. "Hey! I don't have an attitude problem! I have an... overly itchy temper." He stayed silent, so I grudgingly gave him the point. "I… still have to try. After all, there has to be someone… they had to go outside their little hermit cave to get me to the place I was found, right? Maybe I could find someone like me… to explain how to use this kind of bloodline. I can't be using it correctly. It's just too much wasted energy." Gesturing to myself, "It's not like I'm exactly bred for muscle." Kakashi sighed.

"I'm not stopping you. Just giving you the facts." I could tell he was smiling again. "If you're that confident and full of energy now, why don't you help Sakura and Tsunami with the dishes?"

"Just 'cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I do dishes voluntarily! What happened to 'attitude problems'?" I began to yell at him, but he was already gone.

A few days later, I had sickened of drilling kicks and jumps, and Naruto and Sasuke had finished their training. Although we were all scheduled to go to the bridge, Naruto was exhausted. We left him to sleep it off and went to guard Tazuna's bridge work.

When we arrived, there were three men unconscious or dead on the bridge. I couldn't tell which, but one was alive to stammer out, "A monster…" The chakra mist then enveloped us, and I was close to panicking again. Damn it, but I couldn't sense anything! Accidentally scraping his arm a bit, I gripped onto Tazuna's sleeve like an invalid and stumbled him into a protective circle made by Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke. Tazuna stammered out, "Ouch, girly! Careful!"

"Long time no see, Kakashi." Zabuza's voice could still send shivers down my spine, like an ice cube stuck down your back on a hot summer day. Terribly invasive and unexpected, but not all unwelcome. Let's just say a lot of kids at the old orphanage thought it funny to tease the blind girl. "I see those brats are still around… and the poor boy's still scared. Shaking!" Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura took a sudden breath. I assumed that Zabuza was there, visible to them.

Sasuke took offense, obviously. "I'm shaking from excitement!" There was a large splash of water around us. I couldn't sense anything yet. The fog cloud was still in effect. Then it dispersed a bit, so I could sense two chakra signatures at the edge of it. Zabuza, and another, who as they approached smelled more and more like ice and boy.

"That masked one… must be Zabuza's comrade."

"I'll fight him." Sasuke, of course. And the response of fangirl-ness from Sakura.

"Impressive boy."

"yeah, but we have first advantage. Crush him."

"Yes." The conversation between Zabuza and the boy ceased, and the boy left the ring of my senses. He reappeared by Sasuke, and they began to fight.

"Hoshiko! Sakura! Guard Tazuna. Keep him safe!" If it's still necessary to say it, this pissed me off, like many things do. I couldn't sense a thing, and they make me sit and wait for something to attack Tazuna? Duty sucks. (Haha. Duty. Funny how that can still make me happy in the middle of a life-threatening, pissed-off-severely situation. )

The boy said to Sasuke, "I don't want to have to kill you, but it looks like you won't just give up. But I must tell you, you won't be able to keep up with me this time. And now, you will be on the defensive- I have one of your arms pinned, and there is water on the ground." What a nice boy. I just adore enemies who keep me up to speed. I could still sense within the bubble that the boy and Sasuke were fighting within, and I sensed the needles of chakra form and rocket towards Sasuke.

They didn't hit. Sasuke's chakra appeared behind the boy and he said, "Now, you will be on the defensive." They exchanged a few more blows, all incredibly fast, but the boy was the one who ended up on the ground. A pity. Despite the face that I was required to root for Sasuke, I was leaning a bit to the boy's side. "Looks like I have the advantage in speed," Sasuke smirked.

Kakashi took this as an invitation to brag, "Don't underestimate them- Sasuke is Konoha's first-ranking rookie. Sakura is one of the brightest in the village. Hoshiko has a nasty temper, is also very smart when she puts herself to it, and has a lot to gain. The other, of course, is Naruto… the village's number one hyperactive, show-off ninja." I was touched. Sniff, sniff.

"Well… Haku, we can't have them bragging." Zabuza's voice sounded as if it was right behind me. I didn't turn- it would do no good. I just froze to listen, and he wasn't there. My mind was messing with me now.

"Of course." Chakra began to gather about the boy- Haku, Zabuza named him. The chakra moved to the water on the ground, and I finally realized how cold it was becoming when I heard the crackling of ice. Sheets of chakra rose into the air in a dome around Sasuke. Footsteps set upon the ice made me pay attention to Haku's movements. He… melted into the chakra sheets in the air? Kakashi started towards them, but he disappeared into the billowing mist. Haku said calmly, "Shall I begin?"

Sasuke didn't seem to understand the position he was in. He had sheets of chakra hovering above him, and he thought he could win? Then pins of chakra ran from the sheets- too many, so fast! Sasuke cried out, and I could feel myself jerk. I may not like the guy, but he was getting shredded- and I was just training with him a while ago! I could smell blood.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Oh crap, if this is how I felt, how could Sakura the fangirl feel? She was, still, pretty calm and I had to give her some begrudged respect for that. "Hoshiko… I'm sorry but I'll have to leave Tazuna to you for a moment."

"W-wait! Sakura! What-" She rushed ahead to the chakra surrounding the two fighting boys. I started to cast around crazily with my senses. Damn girl, I have no eyes! My claws were still in Tazuna's shirt. I drew him closer to me, when I realized I was shaking as badly as Sasuke had been earlier. And not from excitement.

It took Tazuna to wake me up. He put an arm around me and said consolingly, "I don't know what those people are thinking, putting a poor girl like you into ninja training. Special ability or not, this is just not…" I pulled away from him.

"You think I'm some kind of fragile doll? I may be small, but I'm still a ninja and I'm still made to fight! There's… there's… there's not getting out of control and then there's rage! I fight blind! I was doing it before I ever joined the program!" But I knew I wasn't really yelling at Tazuna. I was still a little afraid of my friends getting hurt by my hands, and afraid of failing. Taking my fist from Tazuna's obviously ruined shirt, I apologized for my emotional surfing. "Thank you. I'm all better now." Spreading my claws and settling into my newly-familiar fighting crouch, I smiled at him. And I smelled blood.

Sakura had tried to save Sasuke, it wasn't hard to deduce. But the boy Haku had caught her thrown kunai in the air with no problem, emerging from one of his chakra sheets. I smelled blood. Then a throwing shuriken came from the other side of the chakra cage. Kakashi? Nope. I forgot Naruto, silly me. His smell still came over the smell of ice and storms, so familiar to both the Wave country and Sasuke. Now, the gang's all here, and my head is back on straight. I can taste the blood on my tongue. Maybe we can get somewhere!