Hey guys!

Sorry about not updating Occupation Change in a while. I find myself pressed for time and a little unmotivated to work through my writer's block. So instead, I wrote this one-shot to give you something to read while also getting my creative juices flowing. If you can't tell by the title, the main chracter of this one-shot made an appearance in chapter 2 of Occupation Change.

And I quite like his character a lot. I find his personality similar to a friend of mine, maybe that's why...?

Oh well, never mind that. I hope you enjoy this one-shot as much as I had fun writing it! ^_^

I Give a Hoot!

Watching a group of bi-pedal mammals' scurry across the grassy floor below, I couldn't help but huff in annoyance at their tried and miscalculated attempts in taking down their leader.

I stringed a thought together as the prediction to their effort proved true.

'It's inevitable… They'll always be a step behind her.'

Watching the taller bi-pedal woman replace herself with an illusion, the much smaller bi-pedal orange mass ran straight through her as the mirage shimmered, before disappearing due to the light being eclipsed from the mammal's shadow. The other two mammals stared in shock before gritting their teeth in aggravation. The pink mass was yelling haughtily at the orange mass while the blue mass shook his head in annoyance, nodding once as to what the pink mass was stating.

Narrowing my eyes at the pink mass, I felt slightly sorry for the visiting orange mass. I did detest his presence whenever he visited the nest, but the male, loud, and hyperactive orange mass was never as annoying as the silver tall mass that came even more often than the orange loud mass. Right now my mind was screeching with a vigorous aching sensation, probably due to the pink mass's screech. Huffing in resignation, I agreed internally to what the woman said; sensitive hearing can be a disadvantage at times.

Oh how I wish to just claw the pink mass into silence; I was never one for patience. The one who was patient was the woman; and knowing her, she'd never give me the weekly special that I've come to love so dearly. Knowing me, I'd probably fight her back for it. And thus, it would result into a whole multi - leveled mess of stress for both her and I.

Thankfully, the pink mass's howls were stopped shortly thereafter when the three small objects were sprayed and washed away into the lake. I relaxed in satisfaction as each bopped up out of the blue tinted liquid, like the small little mice that check for danger; the same ones that I always eat when I go out hunting into the endless twilight.

Eyeing the woman that appeared before them, the three masses growled in annoyance. Obviously she was playing with them. The three masses were fresh; like little hatchlings born prematurely into the world. If they didn't take care, or heed the woman's advice; Mother Nature would surely take her natural course with them. The three masses were lucky to have such a caring woman be their teacher. My first teacher was fare more harsh and scathing. Mother Nature may be a fare mistress, but Brother Wild never cared for fragility and kindness. He was the one who took my brothers and sisters as Father Time aged us all. Father Time and his in law, Brother Wild took all who were close.

Mother Nature did gift me with survival in times of sorrow, but an unexpected gift came from the one who was at most unforeseen. Brother Wild was able to lead a bi-pedal human mass to me when sorrow was at its strongest. Instead of taking me as Brother Wild has done to my kin, Brother Wild gifted me with a caring bi-pedal human mass. And despite my constant clawing and bites of retaliation, the mass held me close. The mass…she soon grew under Father Time, as did I. Together we traversed and were tested under the endless twilight. Together, we found a home under it; and oftentimes we grew close together because of it. Despite the annoying human mass I once knew her as, the woman grew into something more.

She became an equal.

"Hekaer."

Looking down, there she was. With her left arm extended, the woman smiled at me. Under those shades I can imagine the glint in her almost brown twilight eyes. I stretched out my wings, fluttering down from the perched tree. Within peripheral vision, I can see the three mass's wondrous stares. I lowered my eyelids.

'Yes, I'm impressive; I know. Now stop staring.'

The woman huffs, probably in amusement. She seems to know what I'm thinking while looking back towards the three small masses. Walking towards the three, they stilled in befixed glee – even if their faces didn't give it away. Motioning to my glorious being, the three followed.

Calmly, as usual, the woman introduces me to the three.

"Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke; I'd like to introduce you to Hekaer the Great Horned Owl. Hekaer, these are my students."

Shifting my head to her, I lowered my eyes; dead-panning;

'Really? I haven't noticed, especially with their abilities.'

Smiling wirily at my actions, she picked at my only weakness. Curse her for being so good, though – she wouldn't be my equal if she wasn't.

Chiding me in that usual voice whenever I looked at the silver mass, she said;

"C'mon Hekaer, be nice. They still have a lot to learn after all."

Nipping at my wing's feathers as I shuffled to stretch, I idly thought;

'Hmph…Yes, they DO have a lot to learn.'

The woman sighed while shaking her head in the usual fashion. At this, the orange mass narrowed his eyes at me as I proceeded to clean my feathers.

He asked suspiciously;

"Is that bird mocking me again?"

Disregarding him, I left the answer up to the woman in answering the orange mass's question as she precisely summed up my response.

"No, he's not mocking you, Naruto."

The orange mass deflated in satisfaction.

"He's mocking all three of you."

I watched as all three masses spluttered in surprise and indignation. The orange and the pink mass yelled in question at the woman while the blue mass's eyes narrowed in offense. The woman shrugged.

"Don't blame me. If you can't strongly prove to Hekaer that you're worth his time, then he'll think nothing of you…literally. That's just how he is."

Finishing off my wing, I puffed my chest out in approval – hooting a few times in agreement.

'Yes, that's how I am. You three are nothing but annoying little fresh owlets that think too highly of yourselves. You either take it or leave it.'

Knowing me so well, the woman sighed again as she massaged the temples of her forehead. She lightly muttered something that three masses didn't catch.

"You are so full of yourself, you know that?"

Turning my head, I eyed her before blinking in acknowledgement. Knowing her, the woman rolled her eyes, sighing again.

This time the pink mass spoke up. Timidly like a scared little mouse, she inquired;

"Eri-sensei, what did your owl- ."

Loosing my temper I spread my wings at the insult. Screeching at the little mouse she stepped back in fear and surprise. The woman drew me back while laying a hand atop my head, preventing me in flying at the little mouse. The other two masses blinked in shock at the reaction as the woman tried to calm me down.

If it wasn't for the woman, that pink little mouse would've been seriously silenced for an undetermined amount of time.

'Feh! 'your owl'! The nerve! I am NOBODY'S owl! I am my own! The woman is merely a nest mate to keep me company.'

As my thoughts raced in ire at the mouse's serious offense, the woman tried to explain her scornful mistake.

"Ah, Hekaer; calm down! She didn't know. Forgive me Sakura, and please don't judge Hekaer on his reaction. He get's very offended whenever someone refers to him as a 'pet'. I'm actually surprised that he hasn't attacked you yet; although, he could just be doing it for my sake. I'm very sorry if Hekaer scared you."

Taking a step forward, the little mouse calmed as the pink mass took in a breath before relaxing. Taking a step forward the pink mass asked cautiously as the little mouse seemed confused.

"I-its alright, Eri-sensei. But, why does Hekaer not like being referred to as a pet? Aren't you his owner sensei?"

I narrowed my eyes once again, hooting at the mouse to dare say another word.

'If she dare cross me thrice in time, not even that woman will save her from my derisive wrath!'

Eyeing me carefully, the little pink mouse waited for an answer. Shaking her head in exasperation, as usual, the woman scratched my weakness – an attempt in calming me down as the rub began doing wonders for my mood.

As I leaned into the woman's touch, she responded back, making sure to address the three before her.

"Sakura, I would choose carefully in how you refer to Hekaer. I'm not his owner, and he's not a pet. If anything, we're merely partners who live in the same building. I consider Hekaer as my equal, and in return – so does he. Hekaer is much more than a mere 'pet', Sakura. I'd do well to remember that. The same goes for you as well; Sasuke. And I'm sure Naruto, that you've already learned the lesson quite well by now, right?"

With my emotions now calmed, I was amused by the orange mass's annoyed twitch that moved his face. Crossing his arms, the small mass turned away, slowly glowering in memory at the times I've retaliated against his resentful claims and insults. Huffing at his displeased state, I merely closed my eyes – looking away from the three as the mouse inquired about the orange mass's unhappy expression.

"Hm? Naruto? What's wrong? Did the- I mean, did Hekaer actually attack you before?"

Noticing the pink mass's corrected phrase, I idly thought;

'Good…If she said anymore then the mass would be getting the talons and some beak like the orange mass.'

Responding back, the orange mass bitterly said;

"Grr, it's not my fault I got attacked! It's not like I knew he was gonna attack me, especially like that!"

Lifting a lid, I saw the blue mass smirking in amusement. He chided the orange mass, questioning him;

"What, you couldn't handle in fighting off a mere bird?"

'OKAY, that's it!'

Shooting straight off of the woman's arm, I screeched in anger as the blue mass stilled in shock. Unready for fast coming approach, I merely saw the blue mass's eyes widen in surprise as little blue mouse bore sight into mine. Scratching and clawing, I released all my frustration on the blue mass as the little mouse tried to run back as a way to gain distance. Swooping behind, I caught the mouse unguarded as the escape plan failed.

'If scratching and gouging at these three is what it takes in getting me some respect, SO BE IT!'

Idly in the background, I heard the woman and the two leftover mass's conversation. Frantically, the pink mass panicked while the orange mass seemed to look on in a mix of amused pity. The woman merely shook her head in usual fashion.

"Augh! Sasuke-kun! Um, Eri-sensei; shouldn't we help Sasuke-kun while you control your…um, partner?"

"As much as I wanna laugh at the Teme, I actually feel kinda sorry for him. Oo! Hekaer just got his nose! That's gotta hurt!"

"As much as I want to help him out, I've already warned you three about carefully phrasing your sentences around Hekaer. I wasn't joking when stating that he has a temper. You guys can help him out of Hekaer's wrath. I'll consider this as the universe paying him back in retribution for insulting Hekaer…even if it was offhanded."

I could practically hear the woman smirking as she added on this;

"Besides, it's funny seeing him run like that. Usually I'm on the receiving end of the owl's rage. It's nice to see another receive the same kind of treatment every once in awhile. I'll intervene when it get's serious."

Sadly, the woman intervened five minutes into my eye gouging time. I didn't even get to do a thing as the blue mouse was able to defend himself from most of the attacks. However, at least I was able to scratch his face and dishevel the blue mouse completely. Now the blue mass seemed to replicate one of the woman's slashed up logs from training. Yes, I was quite happy with my work.

The next time I showed up, it seemed that the three masses clammed their mouths shut completely as the woman snorted in amusement. In all honesty, I too would've done the same if I came to have a nose. Sadly I do not, so I settle in clicking my beak before flying off to deliver a message. Ah yes, silence is beauty.

'Perhaps I should visit the woman more often. I would love to be used against those three masses any day.'

END

Well, there you go! That's the end of that short one-shot. I hope you enjoyed it.

Now, to explain a few things about Hekaer and the things he talked about as to why he addressed our three little Genins as "Masses".

- Okay, first of all, the whole "Brother Wild" concept stood for the far more harsher half of nature. Brother wild stands for instincts and survival, that's why he's described to be brutal and more deadly than Mother Nature. Mother Nature may be fair and at times generous, but that's only because she's the half that doesn't deal with pure instinct, survival, and the food chain. It's not really a developed concept; just something I made up on the fly. But I still found it interesting so I put in regardless.

- The only reason Hekaer doesn't refer to them by name is because he's much more of a character that respects someone's actions rather than words. He only address others by a title that he finds to fit them. So, since he see's them taking up space uselessly, he refers to Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke as "masses", in context to 'mass' and it's scientific definition as mass takes up space. The way he refers to the characters also reflect the amount of respect he hold for each person. Since he doesn't refer to Eri by her given name, he still finds her disapproving at times, but he acknowledges her gender and growth, thereby referring to her as "the woman". Naruto is a mixture of the two. Hekaer does find himself caring for the little Uzumaki, but since the blonde is usually loud and hyperactive when storming into his nest, Hekaer finds his presence displeasing at times, but the owl puts up with it nonetheless. If Naruto was more skilled and showed more action than barking around the owl, then Hekaer would eventually refer to him as the "the orange boy".

When he referred to Sakura and Sasuke by calling them "mouse", Hekaer was obviously in rage and offended by their words. The owl doesn't take kindly to offense and they obviously fall in respect point when insulting him. So, to quell and satisfy his anger, Hekaer hunts down the cause of annoyance. Which, in this case, was Sasuke and almost Sakura. Why Sasuke? Well, his snide remark indirectly insulted Hekaer, and after taking a few from Sakura, the Uchiha's comment just broke the camel's back.

- And yes, Hekaer has attacked Eri in the past before when she didn't take care in carefully formulating her sentences. Kakashi has as well, but that only happened once when he was caught off guard. The next few attempts made by Hekaer failed, so the owl begrudgingly acknowledged the Hatake's skill, thus forever remaining to be called, "the silver mass".

Hekaer is a rather snippety and haughty owl if I must say so myself. I'm actually quite satisfied with him! He makes me laugh! ^_^

Well, I hope to hear your thoughts on him soon in the reviews. Also thank you for those of you who are supporting my other story, Occupation Change! I'm seriously overwhelmed with the support! I'll try my best to work through this writer's block, but until then;

See ya!