After catching a small, harmless little snake and tearing it to tasty ribbons, Kuroko didn't get much further than the 'First a meal' plan.
The sun had already begun to set in earnest, and her eyes - no matter how much chakra she poured into them - were not built for the night. It was too overcast to fly by moonlight, and she was already anxious from the idea of being on her own. The world just seemed so much bigger than she wanted to really think hard about.
Also, owls were nocturnal assholes.
As night fell, Kuroko found herself in the nest she was born in, hunkering down in the familiar curve of woven branches. She guiltily tucked her head down, resolving herself to setting out early in the morning to make up for time lost.
She had come to realize that "As the crow flies" should not be a measure of straightforward distance. She didn't know what crows that person had been watching, but it seemed suspicious. Between the wind, natural updrafts from warm spots in the forests, and the weird turbulence around the many rivers of Fire country, there was no way in hell she was traveling in a straight line.
Still headed generally 'East' though. Good enough.
Before the sun had even reached noon, her wings were already starting to get tired. Even her neck felt like it was going to cramp into knots.
Sue her, she'd never just straight-up marathoned before. Did her mother expect her to just fly straight there, or was taking a break okay? How long was that, anyway… 4 hours? 5? She was supporting her entire body weight on just her wings, and balancing in the turbulent air on top of that.
Screw it.
Kuroko landed with a thumph in a pile of thick river grass, laying in blissful relief for a few glorious minutes. Her chest and shoulders throbbed in time with her heart, wings sprawled across the flexible stalks. Moving after that felt almost sinful, but she managed to drag her overworked body to the edge, dipping her beak in for several long gulps.
Yeah, that was good.
She absently pecked up a spider as it crawled through the grass beside her, crunching it with the tip of her beak before tossing it back in a little gulp. She kept an eye out for any frogs. Those were tasty.
Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and she tilted her head hopefully. She almost missed it, until a slight movement betrayed a forked tongue. A thick brown snake was sitting still, neck coiled up in preparation to strike. Bright yellow eyes stared her down, deep pits on its nose ringing several alarm bells.
Nope.
Nopenopenopenopenoepnope nooope!
She burst upward in a flurry of feathers, ignoring her muscles screaming pain in favor of not dying, thank you very much . She looked back, once she was safely in the skies again, but the snake had already vanished into the long grass.
Right.
Crows aren't exactly apex predators.
She took a deep breath, pushing through the ache and trying her best to ride currents for a while. She trudged on eastward, wondering exactly how long she was expected to fly.
Hours later, that question had grown from a weary comment to an incredulous repetition, as each beat of her wings brought her lower and lower to the treetops.
This was insane.
She landed clumsily, letting her wings hang uselessly on the branch as she sucked in gasping breaths. Apparently her stamina sucked. A curling growl in her stomach reminded her that she hadn't exactly eaten much, aside from breakfast and a random spider. Her body was not used to going without.
Using Chakra to enhance her ears only made the hunger worse, but it allowed her to pinpoint the shrill peeping of some baby birds in a neighboring tree.
…. No, she wouldn't….They were babies… and birds. Wasn't that cannibalism? Ugh.
A few moments later, she was perched on the edge of their nest, looking down at the wide red mouths and eager little peeps, wondering if she had ever looked that lumpy and useless. (Yes, yes she had.) Thank goodness there was no swelling of maternal instinct. They were just birds. Noisy, limp baby birds.
She clacked her beak, not sure where to start. Mice always seemed like straightforward prey. They ran, you caught them. And then ate them. These little guys…
They continued to peep, reaching up toward her. They trusted her.
Damn.
Quite suddenly, her vision snapped sideways, and pain bloomed in her neck and the back of her head. Her ears were filled with the furious scream of an angry songbird. Her stomach growled, and the sparrow wheeled around for another run at her head.
Fuckit.
She grabbed one of the babies in her claws, swooping away and dodging a very angry second songbird parent in its murder-dive. She pumped Chakra into her chest, sprinting through the air with her squishy prize. The sparrows eventually lost the determination to hunt her down, and she was able to land to eat it.
She couldn't tell if it was still breathing, or if it was her own pounding heart warping her sight, but she was quick to snap its neck, just in case.
For all that effort and angst, the flavor was disappointing, but she appreciated the break to relax her muscles.
In the middle of rubbing bits of gore off her beak, Kuroko paused to grip her branch a bit harder as the forest seemed to rumble. A plume of dust rose above the tree line, buffeted by an unusual sweep of wind.
Since when did wind blow straight upward ?
Kuroko waited for a few long minutes, the active ache in her wings fading to a persistent tiredness. Good enough.
She flapped up into the sky again, heading toward the plume with no small amount of curiosity. She blinked open Chakra-enhanced eyes, scanning the leaves as she flew over the site. A flash of silver caught her eye.
Her wings almost missed a beat in surprise as a column of fire raced through the trees, swirling bright and fierce across the trunks. They were moving too fast for her to follow, but she caught the moments when they paused. Someone screamed, and she turned slightly to see someone falling dramatically to the ground, blood spurting in an arch as a long sword pulled out of them.
Someone leaped at the swordsman, but fell to the ground after their head jerked sideways. (kunai? Holy shit they were fast)
Several spikes of rock shot up, and one unlucky person didn't get out of the way fast enough.
Fire consumed the area.
Kuroko felt herself buffeted upwards from the rising heat, and flared her tail to keep balance, closing her eyes against the bright flames.
When she opened them again, the fighting had stopped. Only the green-clad people remained, walking around. She couldn't see the detail on their headbands from this distance, but she definitely noticed when one of them looked up at her .
She quickly averted her gaze, carefully keeping her wings at a steady pattern.
I'm just a bird, flying around. Nothing suspicious here, ignore the perfectly normal crow, la de da~"
Her thoughts were strained, forced lightheartedness belying the jolt of adrenaline racing through her veins. If they decided to hunt her down, she'd be shit outta luck.
A few minutes later, she still hadn't been struck down, and allowed herself to relax a hair.
Up ahead, the forest parted to reveal a wide dirt road.
East to road, then north to follow it . Thank goodness.
She angled her tail, gently curving to begin following the dusty tan slice through otherwise endless green forests and shining rivers. (and the occasional ninja battle, apparently) There was a faint updraft from the heated earth, and she thankfully used it to glide between wingbeats.
When the sun was just starting to set, and there was no river - or unusual pine - visible from the road just yet. Or maybe she missed it, and was screwed. Who knew?
So many possible bad endings with just… flying around with vague instructions to a final destination she'd never visited before.
A generous berry bush, a small nest of voles, and several grasshoppers later, Kuroko tucked her head under one wing and hunkered up next to the trunk of a tree with particularly thick foliage.
Before she fell asleep, she had a sudden, certain realization.
My body is going to hate me in the morning.