I would like to warn you there is some implied Sakura/Ino bashing here... just a bit! I can't resist.

"I won't repeat myself."

"Oh ok then. Won't know what you said." I shrugged. Standing up on my own two feet, I wriggled my talons in the grass and almost sighed in pleasure again. Wonderful!

When he didn't leave, I pretended to shoot him a glare and took a step. Frowning, I walked around the tree I was sitting underneath, in a circle. These feet could take some getting used to. Stopping in front of the boy again, I nearly breathed out, "I practice. A lot. Got it?"

He made a small indignant noise towards me. "How much? Every day?"

"Yes."

He walked away from me as someone else took his place. While the first boy, Sasuke, had smelled of ice, ashes, and storms, the second smelled of a cacophony of different things, all clashing with each other to produce… well, something. He moved more loudly, and I almost dismissed him, usually judging strength by the footsteps of people. But he got pretty close to me as I tried to judge where his eyes would be.

"Excuse me?" I tried to be polite, promise. He just kept studying me. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore my impatience. "Do you need something?"

"Nope. Just looking." I started. The voice was the same as who had commented on my shoes.

I smiled at him and thanked him for the comment. "I owe you one."

Iruka's footsteps caught me off guard. He put a hand on my shoulder and I almost jumped. "I see you two met. Hoshiko, this is Naruto. Naruto, this is Hoshiko." I nodded to him. I assumed he did the same. "Naruto, excuse us, but I need to ask Hoshiko something."

"I'll be right back," I muttered. Funny people who smelled weird would fit in with other funny people, right? Iruka pulled me back a bit and knelt in front of me. I suppose it soothed him to think I was looking at him.

"Hoshi, I think you should tell him about your eyesight. He needs friends right about now-"

"So this was your nefarious plot?" My shoulders relaxed. "No thanks. I'll tell who I choose. Thanks for the suggestion though. You think he's…" I paused, thinking of the right word.

"Worth it." I could tell he was smiling. I thought about as I walked back to the tree.

"So, I saw you talking to Teme." For a moment, I thought he meant Iruka. Then, I realized, it was the cold boy. "You might punch me for saying this, but he isn't as cool as he makes himself out to be…" For the fifth time that day, I felt like bursting into laughter. Whatever Iruka might have thought in his day, the academy was fun.

"Is there some kind of line established, so you people can meet me one by one? It might take awhile."

Naruto sounded surprised as he exploded, "Well, yeah! Everyone's staring at you! You threw that kunai on your first day blindfolded! Some of us couldn't even do that with our eyes open!" He seemed to be pouting at the last, and I tried to hold in my giggles at his expense.

I pretended to look around, and acted astonished. "They are staring, aren't they?"

Smelly-boy leaned in closer as he stared at me. "Theyre the other way, you know."

I tugged at my claws in a nervous manner and laughed. Bound to mess up sometime, right? "My bad. So they are." He seemed to accept this answer, or not push it, because he rocked back on his heels, and I could hear his weight shifting.

"Well, people are starting to stare at me, too. Guess my five minutes are up. See ya later." Falling back down under the tree, I nodded to him as he left. Just how many of these private interviews would there be?

After Naruto came Chouji, a student who made a lot of noise as he approached, with a light boy that I almost didn't notice named Shikamaru. They just stopped to say hi, but it was too troublesome to stick around.

Then came a boy with his dog. The boy smelled of dog, and the dog smelled of boy. I raised my eyebrows and stared at nothing for a bit before he said hi.

"Hi." I replied.

"I'm Kiba, and this is Akamaru, my dog." I was more of a cat person, but I liked dogs all the same. I pet him behind his ears and scratched his back as Kiba instructed. I smiled, as the dog seemed to be enjoying it and I could do this without eyes. We sat for a bit and talked about the academy before he picked up Akamaru and left. I waved, and waited for the next contestant.

A few mobs of people passed, all merely saying hi as they introduced themselves. I couldn't honestly remember any of their names. Two girls came up to me, Ino and Sakura, and pretended they hated each other as they battled for the cold boy's so-called affections. Yeah, affections like an icicle stab to the eye. I laughed at my own thoughts and they were snapped out of their bickering enough to be assured that I would, in no way, be competing for Sasuke with them. They then proclaimed they had no argument with me and left me to my next parade of people.

A boy named Shino stopped by, and said little as we sat and listened to the buzzing of bugs in the air. Nice guy. He let me close my eyes and not pretend to be able to see for a bit.

The last was a girl named Hinata. She was really shy, but I got the overall feeling that she was a good person. She said something odd, though, " I-I just thought… w-we people with bloodline traits s-should get along…" Mind wandering, I thought she must have some kind of nervous habit to fit in those pauses.

Snapping back to reality, "Wait… Iruka mentioned that before. My… erm… oddness just recently manifested, and he hasn't gotten a chance to explain bloodline traits aside from the history of some clans. I'm staying with him for a while, you see…" And I really wanted to tell her everything all of a sudden. If the academy students could accept this as a bloodline trait, what did I have to hide? Blindness? If I can keep up, what should it matter?

But Hinata was answering my question. "B-bloodline traits are… t-transferred in clans, through blood. I-it is a great h-honor to have a b-bloodline trait, you see, as it g-gives you an advantage over n-normal shinobi…" Hinata stuttered more when she talked about it. "I am a member of the Hyuuga clan… w-we have the Byakugan. I-it gives us the ability to see through objects, or zoom in with unp-paralleled focus." Hinata said it as if she had rehearsed it every day, until she could say it without stuttering. "B-but I don't recognize yours… w-what is your bloodline trait?"

I was at a loss. I hadn't really thought about it. What did this give me? It wasn't going to heal my eyes, that's for certain. "Well… so far… I just have these weird bone spurs." I held up my hand. "But I don't know what they're for." Oh goodness, I was adopting Hinata's odd pauses in my speech. "Haven't got a clue." Hinata giggled.

"Well obviously, they are a weapon, I mean look at them, but you can still hold stuff with them. S-still, I doubt you will be handling anything really delicate for a while." When Hinata felt more comfortable, her stutter almost disappeared. I really wanted to be her friend. "I want to be friends Hinata… but…" She dropped her head and I immediately knew I said something wrong.

"I-I know… I-I'm a failure… who w-would want to be around me?"

"No! That's not it!" Kami, I felt like a jerk, and a drama queen. How was I supposed to tell her that I was the one who had something wrong with them? "I-I…" And now I was stuttering. It was better to just get it out quickly, "ibld" She kept silent, so I took a deep breath and tried again. I had already told her, really. "I'm… blind."

"I heard you…"

"So… so… I didn't want anyone to know, and I didn't want to tell you…"

"o-ok." She sounded a lot more natural now. She giggled. What is funny about this situation?!? I frowned at her. "Its just that… y-you're blind… and I can see at an abnormal level…" My mouth hung open and I stared. We burst into laughter together, laughing at how idiotic it was. Whoever saw us must have thought we were friends years ago. Becoming serious, she said, "I w-won't tell… but you are a fine actress." We smiled.

"Would it be too much… to ask you to describe my… whatever it is?"

"I would d-describe them as claws, but more like they are your fingers themselves… they are w-white like bleached bone… really sharp… the tip is like a blade, and the underside is too. I w-wouldn't shake anyone's hand…" She giggled nervously and shifted.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me that you would try to describe it for me." I could tell she nodded, and then muttered yes.

She continued, "Where they meet the hand is where it gets w-weird… the skin is red and irritated, you should go to the hospital and make sure it doesn't get i-infected… they can do stuff like that in five minutes. C-can I see your feet?" I shifted so my feet were in front of me on the grass. "Well, they certainly look d-dangerous. You know how some civilians wear high heels?"

I nodded. "They make a click-click noise."

"Right. T-they look like those… um… but… they kinda remind me of a hawk's talons… less to walk as to stab… i-its difficult to describe, s-sorry."

"Ah well, at least you tried!" I wiggled my 'talons' in the grass and she giggled.

"That looks funny."

"Got it. Toe-wiggling, bad idea" I grinned at her.

"That's d-disconcerting… Are you sure you're b-blind? You seem to know exactly where I am…"

"It's hard to explain, but when you speak I know where your voice is coming from, and I can kinda… well, bluntly, smell people, and… sense them. Enough about me, what do you look like?"

"That's a d-difficult question. Um, my hair is a bluish color… my eyes are the pupilless pearly white of my bloodline trait… that's about it…"

"Ok." I got up and stretched my shoulders. "I can hear the other kids stopping. We should probably go in." Hinata got up too, quietly. We walked in together, and I nodded to Iruka while I walked to the back to sit beside Hinata.

That night, I told him that I would tell the whole class about my blindness tomorrow. I then went on, "Well… I've decided that it's really a good thing… this. It may not be normal, but…"

He patted me on the head. I frowned at the indignity and crossed my arms. "That's good… because the Hokage won't allow you to be cured."

"W-wont ALLOW?" I gaped up at Iruka.

"He thinks it would be good, great, and in fact an impossible opportunity to pass up, to add another blood trait to Konoha. As such, he won't allow you to be rid of it. Don't know if it's possible, now that I think about it…"

"Oh hell no. If I hadn't already decided to keep it I'd go in there and kick that old man's a-"

"Hoshiko, he's the Hokage. You wouldn't be kicking anything." Iruka had his stern voice on so I quieted down.

"Fine. At least I have tomorrow to look forward to- I bet those kids will complain to their upstanding parents, who will complain to the Hokage, making his life a living hell." I cackled and rubbed my hands together.

"Y'know, Hoshiko, you're having way too much fun imagining this."

I ask you once more... and will continue to do so... REVIEW!!! (I just got Overlord 2 and I WILL sick my minions on you... XD )