Tracking her feather, Kuroko discovered, was a lot more difficult than just focusing and flying blindly in that direction. Well, that was the gist of it, but the practice of doing so involved a lot of struggling against headwinds and squinting against the sun.
It probably also didn't help that as soon as she seemed to make progress in catching up to the lost little peice of her wing, it seemed to jump even further away. After breakfast with her mother, the crow had just dropped her up in a guesstimated range to where Kuroko sensed her feather. Since then, it had changed locations four times, and continued to move faster than her wings could carry her.
She strongly suspected that her ability to track that damn feather was completely out of wack.
Thankfully, it appeared to head in the same general direction, and she eventually found a road to follow. Several days passed again in travel, alternately mentally complaining about the soreness of her wings and wondering how the heck it could get so far away overnight. That was several days too many, in her opinion. Why couldn't life changing adventures be easier?
No, that was probably the point of them. Make you sweat and ache enough that your brain started to think anything else was wonderful and perfect. It was brainwashing.
She flew over several caravans, in varying states of attended. During one particularly stormy evening, Kuroko opted to land on the edge of a covered wagon, shuffling sideways until she was tucked out of the rain.
A wide-eyed pair of chilren watched her from their mother's arms, while the woman looked significantly less pleased to see her. Kuroko curiously watched her chant something over and over again, before deciding it wasn't any of her business, and stared out at the rainy road instead.
As the hours pressed on, the children became less fearful, and approached the wagon's clothed opening to peer at her. Kuroko really wasn't much for children in general, and just stayed crouched where she sat, puffed up against the damp cold.
She only hissed at them when one of the kids tried petting her back, and the damp skin pulled her feathers uncomfortably. They left her alone after that, and as soon as the clouds cleared, she dove off into the misty morning.
The feather seemed to sotp moving around, after that, and she followed it southwest until the trees grew… uncomfortably tall.
Kuroko stopped, landing on a huge bough and wondering when exactly the trees had become so big that a man could wrap his arms around a branch and not touch his fingers. She looked around, noting that the bushes and general undergrowth had not gotten proportionally bigger, just the trees.
Something about them…
Something about the trees didn't quite feel like the forests she had grown up in. They felt… more present, somehow.
Shaking off the feeling, Kuroko flew onward, until a huge wall came into view. It was the rich color of red-orange clay, with some sort of tower periodically along the top. What made it more impressive was the sheer size of it - the top of it easily rose out of the unnaturally huge trees in the area. Kurako marveled at the wall, as she flew over it.
Ahead, a huge city sprawled out before her. The red-clay color dotted most of the steep rooftops, infrequently clashing with green or blue tiles, all atop what must have been white adobe. Trees grew up between buildings, and telephone wires were strung between all of it, in a naturalistic hodgepodge of buildings and nature.
She was almost starting to see a pattern to it - there were city blocks, and in the far distance a red tower rose above all other buildings.
And then her face was full of feathers and claws.
Kuroko screached, lashing out with her own claws, flailing and getting a lucky peck right in the eye of some sort of bird of prey. It released her in a flinch, and she winged her ass the hell out of there. Kuroko heard, more than saw, the hawk attempting to pursue her. Its wings easily dwarfed her own, and it was probably only dumb luck that let those grasping talons seize onto feathers rather than flesh.
Kurko ducked between trees, using her shorter wingspan as best she could in the wide branches, until she could duck into some shadows and hold her breath.
Seriously, that's all she could think to do.
Thankfully, the hawk did pass her by, auburn feathers streaked with gold as sunlight dappled it through the leaves above.
A very pretty bird.
Also, she hated it.
It circled the area several times, and Kuroko had to shuffle to another branch so it didn't catch a glimpse of her, but eventually the hawk turned back to the walls and flew inside.
Kuroko hissed a soft breath of relief. Her back ached where the claws had pulled a few feathers out, but she was otherwise fine. That one feather still rang in the back of her mind, more important than any other lost bit of wing.
Alright, so just waltzing in wasn't an option.
Her next attempt was much more successful.
Kuroko sweapt in along the shadows of one of the stocky towers, diving down and throwing herself into a scraggly tree while the wide-winged patrol hawk (what the hell?) passed overhead. She stayed on the ground after that, hopping through the dust, pecking at random shit if anyone seemed to be looking her way.
Kuoko continued to flutter and hop her way along the streets until she was deep enough into the city that (hopefully) a hawk wouldn't take her for an intruder. Or a meal. The feather seemed to be moving again, thankfully at a much slower pace than before.
She flew up to land on a fence, and then a bit further to peer out over the city from atop a telephone pole. (Or was it an electricity pole? She couldn't tell the difference.)
It was strange, seeing a city after being fairly alone in the woods for so long. She didn't realize she'd miss the way fatty smoke smelled, or the shiny sheen of silken fabric.
When her eyes were drawn to a woman's sparkling bracelet, it ocurred to her that maybe that was the crow part of her brain speaking. Food, and shiny things.
Kuroko shook her head, focusing again and perking up when the feather appeared to be heading her way.
She focused down at the crowd, black eyes picking through the variety of people, all talking or peering at interesting things, or wandering seemingly aimlessly. Her heart quickened in her chest as the feather got closer and closer, until she saw the mop of black hair, and dark eyes staring up at a similarly colored woman. Well, that's where he got his cute face.
She flicked her tail happily, delighted that he had kept the feather on him, instead of leaving it on a shelf somewhere, or tossing it to the ground once it wasn't interesting anymore. Then again, the kid was the type to carry groceries with (apparently) his mother. Maybe he wouldn't throw things like that away?
She watched them shop, getting an eyeful of other townsfolk while she was at it, and took a long several minutes to stare longingly at a stand that sold fried vegetables and meat skewers. Her mouth didn't even produce much saliva, but she could swear she was salivating over it. The man who ran the stall put on a bit of a show for some passerby, tossing up vegetables and meat, flaring his stove with bright tongues of flame. She could smell the juices cooking, and mourned the loss of her ability to buy food.
….Wait a second…
She checked on the boy and his mother (?), then scanned the area for shiny things once more.
There!
Kuroko swooped down, clutching a small silver coin in her hand, and then flapping back up to her pole to look at it.
….and… it had… letters?
She felt her feathers droop.
Whatever language these humans used, it definitely wasn't English. Or Spanish, though her understanding of that was barely elementary-level. Well crap. Kuroko stared at the frier guy, before shrugging her wings and opening them.
Didn't hurt to try.
As soon as she swooped in past the hanging cloth, into the empty stall, the man started waving his arms at her, saying the half-yelled equivalent of 'shoo!'
When she held up her foot and clumsily dropped the coin on the table, he stared at her for a long moment. Then, with a small head-shake, he plucked some of the raw meat still on the edge of his cutting board, and headed her way.
She quickly cawed, bobbing her head desperately toward the fried meats, eager for the taste of rendered fat and seasonings after so long of eating mice and bugs and berries.
"If you get sick, don't come crawling back to me." He muttered, but obligingly set a piece of cooked meat on a small peice of paper, and set it out for her.
Kuroko happily hopped over the slippery counter, plucking a small peice of it off and gulping it down, purring at the familiar taste of garlic and ginger, trying to savor it as long as possible. She didn't even notice when someone else ducked into the tent, and boggled at her presence.
"Letting birds in here, Riken-san? You know you won't get customers if they think your stall is dirty."
The man laughed as his new customer sat down - well away from the crow - and slid her silver coin off the counter.
"Crow-san IS a paying customer, though~" The man grinned, and pocketed the coin. Kuroko paused to croak in agreement, before wolfing down the rest of her meat.
Ahhh~ totally worth it~
Kuroko didn't hear the rest of their conversation, quick to leave the stall and follow after her feather-boy. In the few minutes she left them, the pair had made it several blocks, heading toward a stately looking home. A familiar red and white symbol was painted on their door, but she couldn't quite remember what it was supposed to mean. A family crest?
She fluttered up to a windowsill, sensing the feather moving around the house, but unable to track exactly where. Finally, the boy seemed to settle in one corner, and Kuroko swooped around to alight on HIS window instead.
He had already spotted her before she tapped on the window with her beak, and was already moving to open it.
"Am I being summoned?"
What an odd question.
She tilted her head, glancing down toward the pocket that she could sense her feather from. It kinda… pulsed, a little. The pattern seemed to match a heartbeat, but it was too slow to be hers. He seemed to realize something, and pulled a slim black feather from his pocket.
"Oh… This is yours, right? Did you want it back?" It was visibly worse for wear, but still in one piece.
"Not really."
Kuroko flicked her tail, wondering how she could mime this. He probably didn't understand animals.
"Are you a nin-crow?"
She tilted her head, then shook it negative. What an odd question...but… waitasecond.
"You can understand me?"
His face stayed in a neutral expression that really felt off-putting, on a child's body. Shouldn't they be little balls of emotion?
"Right, I uh, yeah, that's my feather, but I'm kinda hoping you use it as training...or something. If you wouldn't mind…." Crap, she wasn't used to talking to people she didn't know. The awkward words kinda just flowed.
"I'm still training. I didn't think I'd still be able to sense my feather once I dropped it - but after you touched it, I can still sense it! I guess that's a good sign, and my mother told me to try and practice to get better at it. I'd really appreciate if you helped me out." Shut up shut up you'll scare him.
He considered her words for a long moment, before sliding the feather gently back into his pocket. She squinted happily at his nonverbal acceptance, and dipped her head in a sort of bow.
Thank god I don't have to keep talking, that was a disaster.
"My name's Kuroko! Nice to meet you!"
The boy reflexively dipped his head back, dark bangs brushing his cheeks and falling in front of his eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Kuroko-san. My name is Uchiha Itachi."