"Wash the poison from off my skin;

Show me how to be whole again."

Don't mess this up! She thought to herself, pulling onto each arrow tightly. Focus, just stay focused.

Prancing out of the boulder she hid behind, Hotaru took notice of the four targets Kamiko skillfully placed around her. To her relief, there were three in front of her on the ground and another one ahead, on a tree. Shutting her eyes, she released the three arrows in her grip and successfully pierced through the targets below her.

Feet meeting the floor, she swiftly turned to where she once hid and found another target, hanging on another tree. "One!" she exclaimed as she let go of an arrow, quickly pulling out another one and letting it go after turning to the other direction. "Two!"

Instantly jumping off again, she hid behind a tree on her left, trying to sense Kamiko's presence. The hell? Where is she?

"HA!" Kamiko's voice was suddenly heard, shrill and playful. Spinning, Hotaru found her teammate a few inches ahead of her. Shuriken flew to the brunette's direction, cutting through her body and hitting the tree behind her.

Crud, Hotaru thought to herself. If it weren't for the Hiden, I would be dead right now.

"Don't rely on that too much, fathead," another Kamiko chimed, emerging from the bushes on Hotaru's right. "You let your guard down and you didn't conceal yourself. Shinobi tactics, Hotaru-chan; ninjutsu. Use it and conceal your presence!"

"Dipstick, don't go around telling me about shinobi tactics." She lunged herself off the ground to get a better view of the two Kamikos', seeing a third one appear behind her.

"Jeez," she grumbled, gliding from one branch to another as she pulled out another arrow. "You like annoying me, don't you dipstick?"

"You bet I do!"

Twirling while still airborne, Hotaru sent the arrow to her comrade's direction, only to reveal that it was one of her clones. "Amateur move, dipstick!"

"Say that when you beat me, fathead!"

The words thrown at Hotaru fueled her, making her pull out multiple arrows. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed that there were exactly three girls coming after her. She half-smiled and swiftly took a sharp turn to the left, hindering her hops while rotating to face the spot where the Kamikos' would gather.

"Gotcha." she snickered, pulling on the arrows straightaway and releasing them as soon as the three girls were in sight. But to her dismay, each of them disappeared in a puff of smoke. Crud, I was fooled by a simple bunshin jutsu!

"Pay attention." Kamiko said from behind Hotaru, throwing more shuriken at her.

"You already know that's not going to work, so stop messing around, dipstick!" now angry, Hotaru dove to where Kamiko stood and tackled her, sending them both to the ground. A smile spread on Kamiko's face before she disappeared.

Again?!

Throwing a dart directly to Hotaru's neck, Kamiko giggled. "Hachiro told me that you haven't mastered your Hiden technique."

"Ugh, DIPSTICK CHIRO!" the younger girl exclaimed, falling to her face as drowsiness abruptly coursed through her veins.

The redhead finally came into view and slowly strode to Hotaru, from the bushes on the left.

Hotaru grunted, feeling her body going numb. "What did you do to me?!"

"Wow, didn't expect that to happen," Kamiko muttered, crouching low to Hotaru's side. "I sent a tranquilizing dart to your neck. But don't worry, it's a minor tranquilizer and you'll be fine in a half-hour."

"That's dirty, dipstick-Miko," the brunette hissed as her body felt heavy, preventing her from performing even the slightest of movements.

Kamiko shrugged. "Shinobi do what they need to."

Fifteen minutes of silence passed as Kamiko sat in front of Hotaru, watching her like she did back at the restaurant.

"What?" the girl on the ground demanded, her annoyance still in play. "You wanna say something? Say it."

Wincing at the tone of her voice, Kamiko cleared her throat. "Are you going to tell me why you train so hard?"

Hotaru let out a sigh. "I already told you, dipstick. Next question?"

"There's something else you're not telling me. I know this because I know you; your lips twitched, which meant that you were biting it from the inside, which also means that there's something you're not telling me."

Hotaru let out an exaggerated groan. "Jeez, you and Chiro-nii are so annoying; I don't know who to get annoyed with more."

There was a pause in the atmosphere before Hotaru surrendered, shutting her eyes. "I want to become stronger."

"We've established that already."

"No, you don't understand. I want to become stronger."

"...And...?"

Sighing once more, Hotaru opened her eyes. "When I was brought back to the village, they took me to Yondaime-sama's office. Back then, I didn't entirely know who he was but later on, it came back to me. When I realized that I had just faced the Kazekage, my heart sank."

Kamiko crossed her legs and rested her head on her palms. "Why?"

"Because he looked at me...like I had done something wrong; like I was someone worthless, intruding his village, like a bug that needed to be squashed. That's why I want to become strong; to somehow prove to him that I am not some bug and that me choosing to be a kunoichi isn't a mistake, or a useless feat."

"Why does it bother you to the point of pushing yourself beyond your limits?" Kamiko asked, vexed by the irrational reasons.

"Because Ryota-sensei looks at me the same way," she said softly. "Also Kankurō-kun and...And Gaara-kun."

Clicking her tongue, Kamiko stood up and held Hotaru by the arms, pulling her off the ground. "You don't need them to look at you differently to reassure yourself of your strength, fathead."

Biting the insides of her lips, Hotaru hummed softly in response. "It's hard when you're crazed by the Kazekage, or rather, the idea of the Kazekage."

"You're falling for his father too?" Kamiko teased, shoving Hotaru slightly and making her smile.

"What can I say...I have a thing for them."

Trudging to training grounds Hachiro was meant to be in, Hotaru constantly shoved Kamiko away from her, in attempt to walk a straight line without her help.

"So, what have we learned today?" asked Kamiko, pride inflating her head.

Growling under her breath, Hotaru answered. "Pay attention. Conceal self."

"And...?"

"And don't rely on either Kekkei Genkai or Hiden abilities. Focus more on strategy and become faster."

"Right you are." Kamiko cheered.

Grumbling, Hotaru rolled her eyes. "I thought you said that stuff was minor."

"It is minor. Your body's simply weak to it."

"Tch...Dipstick," she pulled out her water bottle and drank out of it furiously until it was empty. Noticing movement ahead, Hotaru paused as an extensive grin took place of her scowl.

"Already?!" exclaimed Kamiko, watching her comrade and the other team come into view at the center of the brightly lit horizon. "He took like..."

"An hour?" Hotaru continued the sentence, a smile present in her voice. Chiro-nii was always the best of us.

The ones ahead were panting slightly as they advanced, though Ryota, Baki and Gaara were not one of them.

At the sight of Gaara did Hotaru's smile fade, making her feel small again.

"Do you like him or are you afraid of him?" Kamiko asked.

"I'm not afraid of him. He just makes me nervous."

"Butterflies, sweaty palms and fast heart-rate?"

Hotaru gulped. "Butterflies?"

"That feeling over there," the redhead pointed to Hotaru's stomach. "That feeling where you're not sure if you want to throw up or...go to the bathroom."

The younger girl looked up at her friend. "You know this feeling?"

Jeering, Kamiko smirked. "You keep making fun of me about how much I think of boys and whatnot, yet you're also asking me such a question?"

Pausing momentarily, Hotaru set her gaze ahead of them once more. "I always thought you felt something superficial for them, dipstick."

"Looks play a big role," Kamiko swooned, thinking about men that had once passed her by within the village. "But it's more than that."

"Ah...OK." Hotaru chuckled before she started running to the ones ahead of her. "Temari! Chiro-nii! Gaara-kun!" she waved.