Author's note: Yes I changed the protagonist's clan name. But I wanted their clan name to mean something, and hitori technically is just a surname in Japanese. So I have changed it to the Hinotori clan (火の鳥) with the literal Japanese translation of fire bird.

"Hi" (火)= fire (hi- and ho- can both translate to fire in Japanese though I don't know if there is difference in context).

"no" (の) being a Japanese transition symbol

"tori" (鳥)= bird

I do not own Naruto or its contributing characters, their owned by: Kishimoto. I only own my OCs and the Hinotori Clan

—

Chapter 3

Out of the Egg

Clunk, Fwushh!

"Ow! Ahhh!"

The joy of getting woken with getting pecked and subsequently have a wave of fire instead of water blown into your face. I never asked Mouka to be my dam alarm clock, but that baka Phoenix seems to take great joy in spreading misery, mainly to me. The peck to forehead was hard enough to leave a red mark and while getting blasted by low level fire Jutsu is nothing but a nice sauna for us Hinotori, it was still startling. The dam bird could have found a gentler way of waking me up, or better yet let me sleep.

Mouka is the synthetic fire head, "Ena's" partner. Well technically his first birth's name was Cevan, but apparently that name is too 'out of the box' for someone of the hidden lands. And we so want people to think we're part of the hidden lands.

When I heard about the name change, the only thing I could focus on is if they had to change his name, why did it have to change it based on the name's meaning? He is so not "God's Gift" to anything or any one. He is a grouch, more then a grouch, he is the king of grouches with a takes dedicative pleasure in other's pain and abandonment issues. Of course I ignored the blatant paranoia of this clan's religious gusto of not wanting the world to find out that we are technically reincarnated fire babies… well it did not come to mind until later at least. Well he would always be 'Synthetic Fire Head Boy" in my heart.

The dam bird kawed me back from my musings, jumping away from my swipes and into the air. Again… baka bird. The bird just smugly hooted and… did that thing jut flipped me off? Well thats rude and frowned a pone, and I'm going to kill that bird!

Chasing a phoenix down the curving and inclining root supported hallways shrieking a bird like "skreeeee" was probably not the most mature thing to do- as a supposed mentally 46 year old. But "Captain flipped mushrooms" that bird keeps coming to try and peck my eyes out and retreat before I could so much as clip his wings, I have an obligation. And with its rancid absence I can rest in peace that my, little unhatched Phoenix chick still tucked in the box against my belly, will not be under the nasty bird's influence. Actually its been 3 years since I came about another life and it still has not hatched… hope she's okay.

Now what was I doing I lost my concentration…?

"skreee?" Queried the baka red and yellow bird.

Oh ya, I'm gonna make me some Phoenix stew. But first a quick check to see if my partner is any where close to hatching. No? Thats disappointing. Without further delay I reinstate my war cry, lifting my fist as if I were superman and charging forward from my stumbled halt.

Only my charge shortly stopped when we entered the large cavern supported by the fire eating roots of the ember trees in the ash garden above. The cause? Mouka landing and settling on his partner's shoulder. Safe zone. You live for now you no good toffy picking bird.

Synthetic Fire Head… I mean Ena, folded his arms against his chest and shook his head at my frozen superman impression.

"At least try to overcome your childishness, that's not the way to keep a low profile in our village's culture. You wont to see whats beyond the garden right?" Baka-Mouka clicked his beak, slowly shacking his head in disapprovement at me from his partners shoulder, "I thought you informed us you were 43 when you 'died' not 3. This little care in preparation can get you eaten and not being of strong mind will make you succumb to the rot! You have done well in learning to speak and read in our new language, but it requires more then book smarts to properly assimilate and find your place as part of this village and properly 'represent' our clan."

I could not help mockingly mute miming to his monologue wile using my hand as a puppet for his mouth, I knew he and most of hinotori believed that smock. Although I had to sputter a laugh when he said assimilate. He made it sound like we were the "Reach" from the DC comic series back in my old life. What, are we planning on conquering the world?

It was taking all my might not to roll around in my laughing at the comparison considering we Hinotori wanted 'assimilating' for practically the opposite reason from the Reach's reasons. As well as our methods was going more for the Jedi mind trick of "These aren't the droid your looking for" then the the Reach's parasitic like methods of attaching to their host and using them as meat puppets.

Ow…

That Fat Ogar Grizzle Muffin, threw a senbon at me!

"Pay attention!" He roar/shouted his face turning a funny shade of red, head getting cartoonishly big. Still can't figure out if these blatant animeish representations of emotion were an anime thing or is this genjutsu thing Suki has been teaching me about. Although it seems kind of counter intuitive for a ninja village.

Thats right a ninja village, kind of mind boggling, had me getting squirally for weeks when I found out… Perhaps thats part of the reason for the whole integration from being fire born is to not give all the information of my new home at once?

Douse not matter I'm still going to rant about not knowing all the 411 yet in my head-

Oooowww,

He threw two senbons into my thigh this time. Maybe if I'm lucky it will hit my femoral artery and I'll bleed out and he'll get into trouble. But he is too skilled to hit that accidentally, unless it was purposely… Stupid ninja.

"Will you stop daydreaming!"

"I'm not daydreaming I'm thinking dramatically at my self about anything and everything."

"Uh huh, we all have crutches to deal with dyeing kid." He deadpans, "But we can't lean on them forever, otherwise you'll be too slow and get eaten."

…

"Considering how often you use the horrific terms 'get eaten' and/or 'have a strong mind less you succumb to the rot"as a consequence to any action you find stupid, or reckless, I assume you came from, a zombi apocalypse kind of dimension. Right?."

… Considering his growls and seems to grow ominously bigger to my quip, I think I hit a nerve. So he may have gotten 'eaten' as a consequence for doing something stupid.

Good to know.

At least I wont have to worry about zombies here, just worry about how long its taking for my partner to hatch. Hay! maybe. Nope, disappointment again. My egg is just as still as ever, and I'm going to get wrinkles with all these worry faces I'm pulling. I know the other Phoenix chicks (at least the ones I asked about) hasn't taken this much time. Maes's, the first person I met in in this life, and his chick Shinga only took a year to hatch. He is also the only fire-bore who got to keep his first life's name, the lucky duck. Does not keep him from getting nicknamed Hue by Ena though.

"Enough of the daydreaming, lets get to your katas." He says flicking the lid of my egg box down again, grumbling- quite possibly profanities under his breath. He has a big proficiency for those.

Giving one languishing sign I dragged my feet following him beyond the central training post of the cavernous training ground.

"Why are you the one who is sensei today?" I whined, not necessarily to him, "anyone would be better, I would even take Mao-honee."

I continue to complain wile moving into each kata he growls for me to do and pointedly kind of ignored my complaining with exemption to some snarls. However I maybe downplaying that, considering he has me doing harder and more complicated katas wile snidely commanding me to do push ups at the most awkward of positions. I should probably stop, but my mouth keeps on running.

"And Mao-honee likes to literally put ants in my pants during katas to get me better at 'concentrating' on what I need to do despite distractions." I stupidly jabber on, "of course Jun'ichi-honii is my favorite he seems to kave to what I want to practice on and teaches new little interesting things to go with it, and you know how I like new interesting little things to learn. Better yet his partner likes cuddling."

Come to think of it Jun'ichi certainly lives up to his name. He really is a doormat.

"Come to think of it I've been coming to see your ugly mug more and more lately. Are you being punished or I'm I too cute for my own good?"

And it is true, despite the fact he only graduate ninja school 'snort! ninja school' around 7 month ago he's still cropping up for training. Even though the current curriculum is still the basics plus exercises… lots and lots of extra exercise in all kinds of flavors. So I don't exactly need an expert in these things. But I also don't need my proclaimed enemy to do it. They still have not even started on teaching me our clan's signature taijutsu stile the Blazing Wing. Such a bummer.

"In a manner of speaking." He replied through clench teeth.

"The former or the later?"

And with that he picked me up from the stiff color of my vest and threw me over his shoulder.

"And you call me undignified! I highly doubt your fitting seamlessly into society."

I roared from landing cleanly and charge for an impromptu attack only to get picked up like a kitten again and get bonked on the head by Mouka and for him to point a wing to the box at my waste. Just like that, the fighting spirit left me.

"No mater how strong and how that box keeps the shuffling from happening, no starting on sparing until that egg hatches." Ena threatened, lowering and looming over me, a dark aura spazzing out in the background.

Nervously rubbing the box, I was properly chastised. Perhaps another check is in order? After looking I could not help but give the red egg a soft stroke.

"Have I been too rough with her? Is it my fault she has not hatch yet, 3 years is awfully long time to hatch." I could not help the weak mumble with the bonus clenching stomach.

Ena rolled his eyes and gave a disapproving click of his tongue.

"Youdai-sama (Able) has already been over this with you. Fire-borned Phoenixes don't have a set time to hatch and all hatch on their own time table." Ena groused pulling both hands through his hair and feathers, "They also start hatching with out any warning too, annoying little buggars, but trust me you will know when it happens."

Mouka squeaked at the indignity of being called a bugger, taking and pulling one of Ena's feathers with his beak. Ena simply swatted at his bird.

"No need to get irritate and call me guano, Mouka. Take it like a m- fire bird."

As entertaining as their argument is, it only reminds me more about my own little partner, so I just went numbly straight through my exercises for the day. The cold apathetic feeling creeping back with the absence of my blustering… I don't want to be on that mountainside again.

—

"Alright thats enough kidadult, we are going to the Ash Garden" Ena, cut into what ever lap number I'm on around the training ground, rather abruptly making me startle off the root. I was balancing on the narrow root lip stretching a whole circuit around the training cavern wile running. Balance and cardio two for the price of one.

"But we just got started." And whats with the randomly less angry voice all of the sudden?

"Tsubasa-chan," And theres my new name, funny I thought Zayha sounded Japanese enough, "It's been 5 hours, no matter how old you are mentally you still have the body of a child. Don't push it outside the perimeter of its bounds. Less you not be of sound mind and succumb to the rot!"

Fore a moment after his glowering drill sergeant teaching stile his face switches to a softer glower, that then grew hard again as if it was never there. Perhaps it never was and it was my imagination.

"You need to face the unpleasantness and the fear to move out, and I will not coddle you so can jump back to that peppy annoying escape you have."

With that he the grabbed my head not caring how i swung around like a rag doll. I had nothing to it, but to bare it and vainly swipe at his arms. Stupid Pompous Sock Reject.

Hah, for his info I like being peppy, and for his continued education I have so much fun working out until sizzling droplets of sweet run down my brow (don't ask, its a Hinotori thing) that i completely did not relies how much time was passing. So ha!, the joke is on him now. Bet my chick would agree… she really is taking her sweet time, perhaps I have been too neglectful with her, not giving her enough chakra. I actually have gotten mostly past my… death with a few recurring nightmares and homesickness. The first year was the worst. But its never been in my nature to linger in what was. Now worrying about what is, thats a completely different story. Little egg why won't you hatch?

…Ahh great, I hate it how he shoves my face into his face for him to glare at with that "I know what your thinking" look on his continuously scowling mug. Mouka, gives me one more bonk on the head for good measure before launching off his partners shoulder and dives in the opposite direction up the shaft at the top center of the champers, a roaring bellow of fire in his wake. Ena does not even look up from his glare as he adjust his grip from my head back to my stiff color 'I'm beginning to wonder if thats what its there for' as he easily leaps the 50 ft height of the chamber and onto the smooth black stone surface of the shaft and ping pongs 7 times in mighty upward chakra powered leaps through the shaft and the opened entrance to the root training chambers bellow and out into the Hinotori Ash Garden.

There are no stairs… I don't think we hinotori really believe in stairs. I have never seen them in this second life considering I have never left the compound. And why should we believe in them? Stairs are stupid.

Finely breaking his glare and setting me down, Ena shifts trough a couple of hand seals, snake, boar, and… hare, I believe. And the rumbling and shifting of stone again covers the entrance to the secret training chambers and my temporary lower hidden nest. Now the entrance is hidden with the clan symbol of two founded wings place together like a rough yin-yang symbol in front of the Mother Phoenix fountain.

I embarrassingly flinch when he roughly takes me by the collar again and swings me over like a sack of potatoes and casually strolls through the garden of flowers, herbs, shrubs, vegetables and lots and lots of berry bushes, many of which I have never seen before in my old life. Some poisonous, some edible and some with healing properties. All plants tastefully arranged and grown together the poisonous and the edible sharing soil side by side and all grow far larger and brighter then their counter parts outside. So Im told, but its hard to refute that claim when there are marigolds with stems as thick as my fists and blooms as big as my head, all because of the ash of our rebirth. The 12 ember trees (the only trees in the garden) being the most impressive, the largest towering a good 700 feet high and with 7 feet thick trunk. The tattered leaves of the ember trees casting their own soft orange glow on the garden like burning embers. My own smallest ember tree I planted where I was reborn had already grown 7 feet in just 3 years, with its own candle version of the adult trees campfire flame kept burning deep in the crown of their branches started and fed from time to time from a hinotori clan member's fire jutsu.

Ena kept his stride purposeful as I swung lazily back and forth against his back, giving a lazy wave to Maes as we past him… picking flowers? Hmm, something to ask him later. He return my wave flowers still in hand, Shinga giving a loud chirp from his head. Odd guy.

Mouka gracefully zigzagging and twirling through the ember tree branches over head. Occasionally He played chicken with one of the tree houses, decorating each tree. Funnily enough, each of the 12 trees is given the old names of the fire-born hinotori clan members who will one day have their ashes buried at their base. Sadly despite the clan only being 28 years old (not including our founder's lifespan) two of the trees already have their planters ashes. One by war, the other by foolishness and not being able to let go of her old life, both trees growing faster towards their limits then the others.

With a good 15 minute stroll, Ena gave a stiff leap to an out cropping just far enough into the cloud like screen that hid the village from the garden. Or was it the other way around? Wouldn't be surprising. The funjutsu powered cloud screen kept the blue fire of my entry into this world a secret. Still not entirely positive that them keeping me on the secret part of the Hinotori clan grounds is them being staunchly overly protective of me in my more vulnerable younger years, or is again their blighted paranoia of keeping our fire-born secret secret. More then likely both.

Taking a deep breath of the cool breeze on my face I scan the sea of leaves below with the occasional island of brightly colored roofs. Closing my eyes I could just picture the hustle and bustle underneath the branches.

"Peacefulness, is just an illusion" Ena's sudden gravelly voice shook me from my musings, the kill joy, "But this illusion has certainly not always been like that, and it most likely not going to stay like that. Which is why we must prepare or-"

"-'get eaten, and be of strong mind less succumb to the rot' I know." I languished at him cutting him off with an overly dramatic sigh, "But their are no zombies here… right?"

He's not answering… Answer gosh crush it all and call it a custard.

"No, hopefully. worse, evil men with evil intentions, its in our nature." He finally responded blandly. "and with the bonus feature of being able to tame the elements."

What a pessimist. I had that in my, less horrifying, old dimension… minus the superpowers. He's one of those glass half empty kind of guys, eh?

Wait… what does he mean hopefully!

"Is that why I can't leave the nest or have been announce to even exist yet?"

He slowly, stiffly turned his head down towards me arching an eyebrow, twirls of the cloud cover snaking through the curvature of his face.

"You are our Ho-imoto the last one, doomed to forever be the youngest of the fire born. And so cursed forever to be the our perpetual glass doll."

Is he trying to make a joke? His face is as always so serious and looking like someone has shoved a bur up his unmentionable, so I can't tell. I'm just going to play it safe and feel insulted. Im adorably dangerous, not fragile. On second thought after a quick glancing down at my reflection in a groove filled with rain water, I come to the conclusion that I'm just dangerous.

"Im the last of the hinotori and by extension my little Phoenix egg is going to be the last of her kind!?" Have to ham it up with an overly-dramatic shout.

"What?" He sounded incredulous, not even the hint of panic… Sigh, it always works for Suki. "Your being a pest again. Just because you and your Phoenix are the last to be fire-born does not mean there wont be more hinotori with their phoenixes to be born naturally… Stop it with that look, I know you must have had the bird and the bees talk. Your just trying for a reaction."

Well its no fun if he's going to play it like that.

Fine then!

"Bet Youdai-sama, will get engage to that nice Kunoichi, Un- something within 2 months of my egg's hatching."

Ena cocked his head and slightly looked down his nose at me.

"You hand wash my close right after training or missions for a month? And her name is Uni it shouldn't be to difficult to remember. Your being a pest again."

Eww, his cloths practically comes alive with grosses after training, better think of a better counter bet.

"And you will have to call me Tsubasa-sama and through yourself into any puddle that dares be in my path wile your in the clan grounds so I may not step in it for the same time period."

Iced it… no, nailed it. Our clan naturally HATES water. Even when it has not rained I could collect water from the fountain and make them.

Ena looks over the village for a few minutes and finally back at me with… oh sweet fudge buckets, that is the most close to the criminally insane type of smile I've ever seen. Not the kind of reaction I'm gunning for.

"Deal." He annunciates with a crushing hand shake.

I'm going to regret th-

Whoa… It almost feels like a pulse of both familiar and alien heat was displacing my chakra. Warm and comforting, thats what that pulse felt like. Instinctively I rested my hands on…. the box!

Slowly I opened my treasure box only gaining part of Ena's attention. I watch my egg for a whole minute and minutely shiver to that creeping seed of doubt that this was like all the other thousands of times I peeked at my egg. But I never had that sensation before, perhaps just a light pet…? Hay! Its wiggling!

"Peep!" Came a very soft sound, and for how low the volume it was, it sounded like thunder to my ears, the dancing shimmer of orange across the red shell's surface like crashing waves.

Now that had got Ena's full attention, Mouka's as well as he squawked dive bombing and gracefully smashing into the outcropping by our feet. Ena, only briefly gave an anime face of wide eyes with, no pupil or iris mouth hanging open and slight scrambling, before I felt myself getting scooped up and feel my stomach lurch when he started jumping into the trees, hopping from branch to branch. With in a moment he silently landing in front of the fountain in no time flat. This time it was Mouka with a few out of place feathers, that did the signs to open the hidden door with his talons mid flight. Ena dropped down the shoot landing in a crouch to spring for my nest. Fly/diving the curved hall like a pingpong ball.

In quick succession he placed me in the center of my bed of sticks and moss cradled in a polished and singed stone bowl of my room. Yes we actually sleep in nests, but there is a purpose… mainly to set it on fire. With no hand seals Ena blew a stream of fire setting the nest ablaze and stepped out of the room with Mouka closing the stone door, leaving me alone in a ring of fire. No, not alone my egg is hatching!

The red egg is wiggling and peeping more and more as I remain frozen with a stupid grin on my face. Until the first crack is seen, gently reaching in I took up and cradled my egg as it continued to crack and franticly peep.

As instruct I gently fed a little more of my hot chakra from hands and breath on to the egg furthering the imprinting already there. The egg seemed to shiver in delight to my chakra as the center of the web like cracks pushed slightly upwards until the the cutest little curved black beak pierced through the membrane. Slowly the beak slid forward amber colored fluid sliding down the shell, with each millimeter I felt my heart flutter. There were more harsh thumps and scratches inside the egg sell, the cracks getting bigger more numerous until the shell could take no more and gave way breaking down the middle of the egg, its membrane ripping away with a quiet sploosh.

Just like that, a baby Phoenix is born all wet and slimy.

Okay I pride my self on being honest… when I don't need to lie, but… she's ugly. She had bare ash colored skin, naked wings, a long neck topped with a head that looks too big for it. She had beady black eyes with a single tuff of down feathers on the back of her head. But she was also strangely beautiful.

With another cute peep she ran her long spindly black bird toes over her head trying to get the excess slime off. Mechanically I plucked a down feather from my hair and carefully swapped some of my partner's amber slime off. The chick shook her head at the feather and blearily blinked up at me. I do not know how long we just sat there in the fire staring at one another.

Okay mind is blank… what do I do, what do I do, I can't remember, first impressions are important. Oh right. With a dry gulp my partner still staring up at me unblinkedly, I meditatively reach for the bond that has been there since the very beginning and traced it to the chick's Hara and back to mine. Smoothly and slowly I traced my chakra across the link and gently brushed against the chicks, which was so much like mine. I did not grab on to her chakra just rest it against hers, waiting for her to take the next step. Her chakra seemed to shiver, blindly splashing against mine until it grab hold and in a single instant we felt like one mind, one emotion, one being. The chick happily squeaked and clumsily scooted and snuggled against my chest with the bond finally complete.

Now the next thing besides cooing and keening excessively, I bet my little darling is hungry, eventually she'll eat meat but for now I can use that one fire technique given to me. Separating a small tongue of fire from the pit around us I brought it as an offering and fed it to her like a meal worm, that she excepted with joy.

Now what shall I call you little one? Only one name comes to mind, and with brief consideration I think it is perfect. Nozomi- Hope, wish.