Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be drunk or drugged, up to the point that nothing matters. No feeling, no sense of responsibility, so messed up on chemicals that it's a wonder you heart is still beating. Then it just stops and you can't be bothered to be bothered.

The thought frightens me, and yet it sound exhilaratingly freeing.

Not that I'd ever do so. I have ambitions and dreams, and if I am going to survive that long, I can't afford such a weakness and distraction.

But that doesn't stop me from wondering what it would be like to have wings.

I've heard of people characterizing their personalities as animals. I can only think of three people whose souls would have wings.

Sasuke would be some bird of prey. Maybe a red-tailed hawk, waiting up high for someone to prey on, but never watching his back because he is so proud. A fierce predator, but with one eye blind, because he isn't perfect, not even close.

Naruto would be something like a peregrine falcon, some winged thing that flies high and fast in the sky, taunting Sasuke as they ride the thermals and rise incredibly high into the heavens, up and up and up.

The third person would be Shino.

He'd be an elusive creature of the night, an owl or maybe a bat, so competent and with such potential that you are never able to even catch a glimpse of him. Never able to tell if it's potential for good or potential for bad, because he flies so high that you only catch the faintest scent his presence, like the smell of smoke barely tainting the breeze, or the smallest golden twinkle. And you wonder if you're missing out or if it's for your own safety that you don't know.

But we've all got so much potential and talent, myself included; I'll stretch out on my fingertips and the tips of my toes and reach up to my goals because I know I'll make it some day.

Even when I sink to the deepest depressions, my goals will always be glittering on that slope, calling out to me to jump just that much higher, to extend myself that much more.

And one day I will have wings too, when Sasuke has become the lord of the birds, when Shino has become his stealthy shadow and yet Naruto is still beating Sasuke, challenging him to reach new, higher heights, and I will be there with my hard earned wings.

I will be there, waiting to ask, "What took you so long?"


A/N: From Hinata's thoughts.