Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

It was six months ago that the 'operation' had been carried out, well, that was how Tohru called it. Only it was concerned with chakra.

Nabi explained to me that there was a difference with the bijuu being sealed into you. The bijuu after all would be contained in another space, the one created by the seal. Bijuu chakra entering your system is different, the bijuu chakra is like fluid entering the blood stream, but is considered as foreign. Until your body knows it won't cause harm or is destroyed or has been assimilated to your body will one be in a state of chaos.

I wasn't in chaos per say, but I was in a coma for a month. It had been the same with the Kyuubi chakra, only longer. No thanks to that I had to start from scratch with my chakra training, again.

Hand in hand with my basic chakra training, I was given a training routine that I was strictly to follow for a month. If I ever forget one of them, I couldn't change the routine to what I wanted.

It was a great struggle when I have to wake up in the morning and I had meditation to do for an hour, followed by stretching and I think I was doing something close to tai chi. A struggle because I fell asleep while trying to meditate.

In the evenings? I hated that training. I had to do my runs coming from Mirus house always going in diffferent directions until I get back without taking the same bridge twice, and it was dark! It was difficult to see when the place didn't have enough lighting. I was also banned from using sharingan after they caught me.

The rest of the day was reserved for my chakra, taijutsu or kenjutsu training. The training depended on who was present at our designated training ground.

If it's Nabi it would be chakra, he had me do the leaf exercise for a week increasing the number by two each day. On the third month, from my coma, I was able to reach the tree tops without falling off from the side of the trunk. Those times that I did fall, Nabi would catch me before reaching the ground and I would try again from the roots.

"Iruna, do you recall that time the seal you made for the purpose of stopping the Yang Kyuubi from being taken by the Shinigami?" Nabi said. "There was a tug-of-war in three directions for the chakra and you were at the center, but you couldn't win against the shinigami.—"

The level on how much information they know is really creepy.

"—Not alone. The shinigami still managed to take some of your chakra, and to compensate for that chakra. The Kyuubi chakra entered into your system."

"Is there no other way to remove it?" I asked.

"There is, but that would mean taking someone else's chakra." Nabi explained.

Just like with Gaara, but it's not like I can ask anyone to give me their chakra life force.

"There's always 'that' method." Tohru said.

"What method?" I asked curious.

"No." Nabi said interrupting Tohru who seemed to pout, before he could suggest it.

"It is only a suggestion, if Iruna-san agrees, do we continue with it." Tohru said.

"Can I at least know what you're talking about?" I said feeling left out.

"There's another way for you to utilize nature chakra without having to remove the Kyuubi chakra." Tohru said. "We just have to pierce small rods near the chakra points where the Kyuubi chakra entered. Only they'll have to stay there and you can't remove them."

"You know how dangerous that is Tohru. If the rods enter her body that would only cause disorder with her chakra that would result to her inability to use chakra."

Aside from that it seemed to be painful and uncomfortable to me.

"No, thank you." I said wrinkling my nose. I do not want to be like Pain. It seemed to close to that, and they have objects like that here?

"Can't we use nature chakra to replace the kyuubi chakra we remove?" I asked.

"A good idea, but no." Nabi answered. "If we do that you will have to replenish the chakra a number of times within a day. Someone would have to act as your replenisher."

When he says it like that, it sounds like I would turn into a chakra vampire.

"I'll do it." Koushi said then, when the room fell into silence. "I'll give her some of my chakra."

"You can't!" I said. "What if you die during the process?"

"He'll be fine." Tohru said off-handedly.

"But—"

"Just believe us on this one Iruna." Mirus said to me. "He'll be fine."

"But—" and before I could say another word I was interrupted yet again.

"I will be fine, Iruna-san." Koushi said smiling, which only made me annoyed now. "Thank you for worrying about me."

"But what about Shouyou?" I asked. "What if soemthing does go wrong? What about him?"

Shouyou would blame me if he losses his brother.

"I like you, Iruna-san." Koushi said all of a sudden.

I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Didn't you tell me the same?"

"Th—that was two weeks ago!" I said stammering.

"You what!?" Mirus shouted.

"Oh, wow. What a sudden turn of events." Tohru said smiling in amusement.

I sat there confused, but with Nabi shaking his head and Mirus sighing I probably did something I shouldn't have.

"Congrats, you have a new member for your flock—"

That doesn't sound—

"—and a fiance if you had been an avian."

—bad. I blinked, wondering if I heard that right.

"Can you repeat that?" I said.

"Well, you're our summoner so he's not really your fiance. It does give him some privelages though. Didn't you read that as one way to have a member of your flock?" Mirus said.

I only stared back at her.

"You may want to explain this one throughly. I don't think she's gotten to that part." Tohru said chuckling.

"If for example that I told another hawk that I like them, that would mean I'm proposing to them. If they say the same thing to me, that means he agrees to marry me in the future. The only way to cancel that out is if one of you dies."

"I'm not an avian."

"True and it has happened that a summoner told an avian they like them and was told the same. They earned a new member of their flock. That avian can show up whenever they wish in the human realm. Either it was in avian or human form. Also, you can't banish them back here if you get annoyed with them."

"But can I stop them from doing something?" I asked.

"No. In a way, they're like a bodyguard." Mirus replied. "So if they choose to give you their chakra, they will."

"What if I refuse to continue with removing the Kyuubi chakra?"

"It's either this one or the other. You only have two options to choose from." Nabi answered.

A painful operation or one that wasn't, great I had no other choices, and I don't think a seal would work either since I came here to learn about nature chakra. I reluctantly agreed with removing the Kyuubi chakra and accepted Koushis' offer.

I woke up a month later from the 'operation' to remove the Kyuubi chakra. Koushi was the one who had been keeping watch over me, even if he is now part of my flock I still disliked his choice. Did he even talk to Shouyou about this?

Nabi told me I would have a different trainer for my taijutsu and kenjutsu and that I would meet that person a week later. What he forgot to tell me was that whoever was at our designated training place would decide what I would be training for that day.

I froze in my steps, and couldn't help but scowl when I arrived.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Hm? Nabi told you, didn't he?" He said smiling. "I'll be your trainer for taijutsu and kenjutsu."

I grunted when the roundhouse kick landed on my side, my footing was good enough, but I was still sent a distance from him. Channeling of chakra wasn't allowed, hence that cancels out my sharingan. I was still getting used to the taijutsu he taught me.

Our clan taijutsu had heavier strikes, and solid footing. Attack and defense were the main points for the Uchiha clan. As for the taijutsu Koushi was teaching me, it was attack and speed.

When I met him at the training ground Nabi and I used, we didn't touch on taijutsu right away, but we had dancing lessons. Even I was surprised, what were the dancing lessons for? It was a pre-requisite for the next step and he was the one training me so I had no choice.

The name of the taijutsu is'Kaze no odori'. When I heard that did the dancing lessons make sense. Your steps had to have a spring in it. It was how I couldn't land a hit on Koushi when we had a spar first to show me what kind of taijutsu it is. His defense was sacrificed, but that small spring helped him dodge and with the momentum from it added weigh to his strikes.

You lose momentum once you've made a connection with another object, and that was true for everything. Koushi loss momentum and was close enough for me to retaliate, but I let my guard down and he used that connection to hit me with that kick.

Although, this fighting style was almost similar to that vagrant I met at the cliffs.

"Koushi, this taijutsu, does everyone know about it?" I asked during one of our breaks.

"No. Only those that entered our guard forces learn it there. Why do you ask?"

"The vagrant that I met seemed to know this style."

"Some vagrants used to be members of the guard force. So, it's not surprising that you came across one that knew this."

"Why did they leave?"

"Maybe they just didn't want to be rooted to one place anymore or they felt trapped here." Koushi answered, making me think of my situation in Konoha.

Trapped in Konoha, even if Minato-san as the Hokage did what he could for me to have a bit of freedom. There were still shadows lurking around me and saw me as a threat. Still, home for me isn't Konoha, but those that are precious to me. I will do everything to protect 'that' home.

"Iruna-chan, you're doing it again." Koushi told me. "Just because you see an opening right that second does it mean is it one. Your opponent could have deliberately done it to get you off guard. You need to observe your enemy first and see how they fight if you're taking on a stronger enemy."

"Sorry force of habit." I answered.

"You can't blame it all on your habits. It's your thought process. Take in everything first before you act."

Koushi knew more on how to fight than I did with those spars I had with everyone back in Konoha. He had a point about taking everything in, like looking at the bigger picture but not take all of the hits. Sometimes though the small details, made a difference to the entire picture.

"But if I do that won't I be late on another aspect? Also, don't I need to plan ahead?"

"Yes, you do, but that is if the present plan was a failure."

"Question, when will we start on kenjutsu?"

"Come on, Iruna-chan. Another two more rounds before we take a break." He said smiling, the same one that made me blush before. Before because when he was the one I met at our designated training area, I was annoyed with him a great deal.

ooo

"Koushi!" I heard a high-pitched shriek from the direction of the bridge to find the orange headed ball of energy coming our way, right on time even. "Iruna!" He was carrying with him our lunch for the day.

It had become a routine that Shouyou would show up with our lunches. It used to be Mirus to come here to bring mine, but she got the idea of just handing mine to Shouyou to deliver it to us. Even when I was training with Nabi for the day he would show up with Koushi, if he was free, and would join us for lunch.

I did keep my distance from the two brothers during our breaks. They're both nice, but Koushis' decision still irked me. Strong people had the strength to sacrifice what they had, yet I couldn't accept it entirely. I don't want that kind of strength if it would lead me to death. I would rather be strong enough to get through those obstacles without sacrificing anything, but that's far off. In any reality, I suppose, that one point you would have to let go of something.

After running up and around the gigantic tree for the past four months until I get to the top was over. Now, I was by the shore at the beach working on my water-walking technique. It was only two weeks since I started with this, and Nabi together with Koushi was sending arrows my way. If it's not arrows it would be senbons, and some of them had poison at the tips. The poisons weren't deadly, but it affected my chakra output.

When I got hit with one I fell right through the water and when I broke through the surface, the sharp edge of a katana was close to my neck and Koushi was the one wielding it.

The memory of Kushina-sensei flashed in my mind right there when I looked up at Koushi. The places were different, but the situation was close to it.

Kushina-sensei entered the training ground while I was hiding in the trees and masking my chakra. Just a bit more and she'll be stepping onto my seal. It was one of my old seals the water burst seal.

It had become our way of announcing our presence. The first one to arrive at the grounds had priviliges to prank the late comer, it had often been me who was late and was always pranked by sensei.

Now it was my turn, well, I managed to activate the seal but after that I had no view of sensei and I felt a blade at the back of my neck.

"Your guard is down. Training starts when I step in or you." Kushina-senseis' voice came from behind me.

"Don't let your guard down." Koushi said. "This is still a training session."

"I didn't realize it was a combined one." I said narrowing my eyes at him.

"Expect the unexpected." Nabi said from the shore.

"Does this also mean the beginning of my kenjutsu lessons?" I asked.

"No." The both of them chorused.

"You missed the point of why the both of us are here." Nabi said.

"Er, it's not because you needed another set of hands?"

"No." Koushi replied. "Let's continue sh—"

Before Koushi finished his words and I was on the water, I jumped away to avoid getting cut, but part of my sleeve was sliced off.

"Iruna! Continue to dodge his strikes. No retaliating and keep yourself a float!" Nabi called from the shore. "To end your training session with Koushi just get over here to land, if you get injured…" He trailed off. "We'll just bring you to Tohru!"

What!?

Koushi made a slice by my mid-riff and I clearly heard him cutting through the air. When Shouyou mentioned his brother was a great warrior and that person wasn't holding back from the look in his eyes.

"Iruna-chan, use what you've already learned from us." Koushi said before charging at me with the katana in his hands.

ooo

I snapped my eyes open, recalling the strike to the back of my neck.

"Finally, awake?" The owner of those red eyes said looking down at me.

"How many times?" I asked.

"I think this is the twenty-first?"

I sighed.

"Don't worry you're making progress." Tohru said smiling down at me. "They were telling me earlier it was just one or two more steps before you got close enough to the shore."

"There was that one time I was already on the shore." I told him. "Then, Nabi started to engage me in a taijutsu fight!"

"Well, it's your training and they are your teachers for each art. Ah, they said same time and place."

"He did say to end my training with Koushi." I sighed in resignation, why didn't I see that coming? "Thanks for healing me, Tohru." I said to the albino peacock.

"You are welcome, Iruna-san. This is just like hitting two cats with one stone. You do have to come here for check-ups, so we can make sure that there are no other effects."

"This is just so you can add more information to your research. I'm your perfect subject."

"Well, you're not wrong." He said shrugging. "We haven't had a summoner in years. Have you gotten used to your hair?"

"Somewhat." I answered combing my hand through the silver locks with black-brownish ends. "I miss my black hair."

"You can always dye it black."

"I'll just use a genjutsu seal, dye can come off and it takes time."

"I would have been happy to help you."

"Like dying it red?" I said glaring at him. "That took months to wash off."

"I just wanted to see how you looked with red hair." Tohru said playfully.

"No thanks." I don't want to copy Kushina-sensei and besides Shouyou is already calling me a copycat of his brother which irked me a bit.

My training continued as usual, but when we're taking a short break I would stare off at a distance. Nostalgia often crept into my mind making me think of sensei, my family, or Konoha. Everytime that happened I would shake my head and push it into the back of my mind.

"Do you want to go back to Konoha for a while?" Mirus asked before I could leave her house.

I felt my gut twist, that gnawing feeling I had been supressing came up and I had to fight it down. I had to train. I have to get stronger, it's the reason I'm here.

"No." I said leaving.

I knew then what I was feeling for the past days, maybe even for weeks. I was homesick.

AN: Thank you for reading! And I'm thinking of editing the first chapter a bit. The blocks of text are too...well, I just realized how much it hurts the eyes. Anyways, I would really appreciate any REVIEW from you guys! I need input!

Also to CarolineLoveMary, hello fellow Haikyuu fan! ^^ I also love Haikyuu, and Hinata is my favourite. He's such a ball of energy and sunshine. I love that about him.