Instead of leaving when the Academy lets out for the day, Nao decides to hang around just in case Takeo shows up. She watches as the students her age are picked up by their parents and the older kids leave in chattering groups, babbling about getting snacks on the way home or ribbing each other playfully.
Rolling her eyes, Nao taps her foot impatiently as they disperse. The ten minutes it takes for the Academy to become quiet and empty of students seems to drag on forever. Looking around for somewhere to sit, when Nao finds nothing she flops unceremoniously to the floor and digs around in her bag for her old fuinjutsu notebook, figuring she may as well do something while she waits.
Fifteen minutes later and Nao has given up on re-reading her notebook for the hundredth time and instead plays with the lizard. Thirty and she's drawing stick figures in the thin layer of sand on the floor. An hour and she's in a light doze, head back against the wall.
Nearly two hours later the lizard chirps and skitters back up to perch on her shoulder, and Nao stretches and yawns before fully realising that the sudden appearance of Takeo is what had woken her up in the first place.
"I figured you'd be off causing mischief by now," he remarks in a bored tone, and she glares up at him after wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"I have no idea why people like you," Nao grumbles.
"It's my charming personality, I'm sure."
Nao glares as she gets up, shaking out her leg to regain feeling. "I've been waitin' for hours! Where were you?"
Takeo gives a half-hearted shrug. "I've been around. You didn't exactly seem too keen to hang around for me yesterday, what changed?"
Picking up her bag and slinging the strap over her head, Nao makes sure the lizard is settled before twisting to try and jab Takeo in the side with her elbow. He sidesteps easily.
"The teacher's a bumbling buffoon, is what," she sniffs, sticking her nose in the air. "She clearly doesn't recognise my lizard's pure excellence, and has made unreasonable demands!"
"Ah," he sighs. "She asked you to register your lizard."
"Yes! Like he's…. he's… cattle! Honestly, how can anyone question this fearsome warrior?" she asks, picking up the lizard from her shoulder and holding him up for Takeo to see.
The lizard blinks, then licks his eyeball.
"Of course," he rolls his eyes. "Well, sadly the world is run by… How did you put it? Bumbling buffoons? So for now, how about we go see about registering him and save the revolutions for later?"
Frowning up at him, Nao studies his face before letting out a long, dramatic sigh. "Fine."
And that's how they found themselves in front of the largest building Nao's ever seen.
Surprisingly it's not that far away from the academy, only a fifteen minute walk away. While Nao was initially confused as to why they were heading towards the edge of the village — towards the same stretch of beach Takeo's house is on — when they get there the question dies in her throat as realisation dawns on her.
Because it's loud.
The sky is filled with birds flying in and out of what looks like hundreds of bird-sized holes in the tall building. It has to be at least ten stories tall, and every level of it has birds flitting to and fro. The sky is so filled that it's as if there's a thick layer of clouds for how much sun reaches the ground.
Nao winces at the deafening noise of flapping wings and hundreds of birds cooing, all but sprinting inside when Takeo opens the heavy double doors. They swing shut with a thud behind her, and she relaxes when it's surprisingly calm and quiet inside, the outside noise becoming muffled and dull.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, she peers around curiously, and upon seeing nothing but a barebones room filled with over-stuffed bookshelves she sends Takeo questioning glance. He ignores her in favour of yelling loudly, "Kaito?"
There's a loud bang and a string of curses from somewhere else in the building, startling Nao and waking the lizard from his nap. A wooden door to the left slams open and a scrawny, frazzled looking man with thick coke bottle glasses and wild short grey-purple-green hair appears, squinting and then breaking into a grin at the sight of them. "Takeo-san! I'll be right there, just give me one second—"
He ducks back into the room and there's even more loud banging sounds, then there's a single squawk and the noises abruptly stop. There's a few seconds of tense silence, then the door is thrown wide open and the man strides out with a bird cage in hand.
"Kiku was being fussy about taking his medicine again, but it's all sorted now! Doesn't that feel better, huh? Oh you're the cutest, yes you are!" The man directs that last bit at the bird in the cage as he sets it down onto a table in the corner.
When he turns around to talk to Takeo the black bird sends him a rather impressive stink-eye.
"Now!" he claps his hands together, "what can I do you for?"
"I've brought you fresh blood," Takeo answers, putting a hand on Nao's head and steering her in front of him when she tries to sneak off towards the bird in the back corner. "This troublemaker wants to register his lizard."
Nao cringes back as the man's — Kaito's? — face lights up like a Christmas tree, eyes positively sparkling. "He does, does he? Oh, it's been so long since I registered something without two wings and a beak! Come, come!"
Kaito waves them forward and ducks back through the wooden door.
Nao stares at the spot he was moments before. "He's butt fuck insane."
Takeo clips her upside the head. "Don't be rude. He's just… eccentric."
Rubbing the back of her head, Nao lets out a long-suffering sigh and pads after Takeo as he follows Kaito. The room they walk into looks a lot like the examination room at the hospital, only instead of sterile white the walls are warm browns and dark greens mimicking foliage.
"Right, if you could please place your lizard on the examination table, I'll see what I can do for you."
Nao hesitates for a moment, but after Kaito nods encouragingly she reaches up and picks the lizard up off her shoulder and places him onto the metal table. Immediately Kaito reaches over and starts fussing with the lizard, poking and prodding and opening the lizard's mouth to look at his teeth, all the while making notes on a pad of paper and muttering under his breath.
"Hey uh, I've got a question," Nao starts, and when it's obvious he's not going to look up from examining the lizard she powers on. "What exactly does it mean to uh, 'register' an animal, anyway?"
"It means they're your partner, and you'll be able to take them to the Academy and, later, on missions with you. It's actually pretty rare for anyone other than Kushiro to register a partner, and if they do it's usually something larger, like a dog," Kaito answers, still scribbling notes but no longer bothering the lizard. "That's not to say it's completely unheard of for someone to register a smaller animal, but you have to prove they can help you in some way, and that they won't be a hindrance."
Nao nods along, then stops abruptly at 'won't be a hindrance.' Looking down at the lizard, she can't find it in herself to call him a hindrance in any sense of the world, but… Would Kaito agree?
All he does is nap most of the time, and though he's become a lot more active lately the most helpful thing he's done is bite that kid's fingers when he'd tried to bother her. Although…
"Well, I dunno know if it's proof enough or even real… but it's easier to use my chakra when he's with me. Does that count?"
Stopping his note-taking, Kaito taps his pencil against the table and looks to the side, deep in thought. Nao watches and waits, and just as she's about to ask if he's somehow managed to become petrified in the last few seconds his head snaps up and he twirls around to dart back into the front room.
Nao looks helplessly at Takeo but all he does is shrug, so she pets the lizard and waits, listening to the frantic, heavy footsteps of Kaito in the other room.
A few minutes later he waltzes back in, head held high and looking supremely satisfied with himself. "Here," he declares, dropping a thick, heavy book onto the table with a slam that causes the lizard to jump a mile and sends a thick cloud of dust in the air.
Ignoring the irritated chirp of the lizard, he opens the book and flips through the pages, which kicks up even more dust. Reaching down, Nao scoops up the lizard so he doesn't suffocate and watches curiously.
"There! I don't know how I missed it before, it's so distinctive! But there hasn't been- how can it be? But it has to be! The colouration, the effect… It has to be, there's no other option—"
"You want to clue us in on what you're muttering about?" Takeo asks, but his voice lacks any malice. Instead he sounds amused, as if he's used to Kaito's rambling. Nao files that away to ponder later.
"Oh, of course. See, at first I was confused, because its heart rate is quite low, but he's not showing any signs of sickness. But then you mentioned chakra usage, and it sparked a memory of something I read once, so I went and searched through my collection and found— this!"
He turns the book around and jabs a finger at a hand-drawn picture. Leaning forward, Nao's eyes widen when she sees that it does indeed look an awful lot like her lizard, even down to the mismatched eyes. "Okay, so does that mean you can register him now?" she asks, leaning back and glancing wistfully at the door.
"No- well, yes, but— you don't understand! This is a creature history book. This particular species hasn't been sighted in nearly one hundred years!" Kaito exclaims animatedly, arm nearly swiping a bottle off the bench beside him. "They were native to the now-abolished Mountain Country and were used exclusively by the now-extinct Tokage clan during the warring states era!"
Takeo, who up until now has been casually leaning against a bench, walks over, eyes flashing with interest. "Is that so?"
Nao shifts uncomfortably when both men turn their gazes to her. "Hey, don't look at me like I've got any answers! I found 'im in the Land of Lightning, near my- near Kiso."
Takeo frowns. "Why were you at Kiso?"
Luckily Nao is spared from having to come up with some half-baked lie by Kaito slamming both his palms on the metal table. "Who cares why the boy was there— this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I'll happily register your lizard, all I ask is that you come here for monthly checkups and report any new developments. Oh, this is going to be the most exciting thing to happen around here since Maru managed to burn down the fourth floor!"
Takeo cringes. "I wouldn't call thousands of ryō's worth of damages exciting. Arranging the repairs was a pain in the ass."
Kaito waves him off and grabs a form from a drawer, producing a pen with a flourish. "Right, all I need is your name and the lizard's name and I'll get the required paperwork filed by next week."
"Uh, I'm Uzumaki Nao and the lizard is…" Stalling, Nao's mind blanks. How has she had the lizard for over a year and not named him in all that time? Nothing she's thought of has fit, everything always seemed a little off. Kaito looks at her expectantly and she blurts the first thing she thinks of. "Uroko. His name is Uroko."
Kaito nods along but Takeo raises a brow, to which she raises her chin, daring him to comment. The name Hina had given the lizard way back when might be childish, but it fits!
Takeo sighs. "Okay. I want to talk to Kaito about something, so you're going to have to wait outside."
It's obvious he expects an argument, but honestly Nao is thankful to get out of there. She doesn't even bother to say bye before she's out the door and back in the main room. Stretching and cracking her knuckles over her head, she looks around for a place to sit and spots the birdcage in the corner.
Sitting on the floor, she peeks over the edge of the table and watches the black bird. Up close she can see how a chunk of its chest and a bit of its left wing is missing a fair amount of feathers, showing patches of pink skin underneath. By the way its feathers fluff up it knows she's there but is stubbornly keeping its eyes shut, feigning sleep. Too bad Nao is as stubborn as a cat whining for food at three am.
Eventually it opens a single eye and stares her down. After a few seconds it deflates and opens its other eye, looking at her as if asking what do you want?
Nao is in love.
When Takeo and Kaito come out of the room it's to find Nao wide eyed with the black bird atop her head cooing softly in its sleep. "I'm keeping it."
"No you're not—"
"Oh thank kami—"
"Wait, what?" Takeo looks at Kaito incredulously.
"Kiku has been here for months! Do you know how much of my hair he's ripped out while I was trying to administer his medicine? Not to mention the other pigeons— I have to keep him completely separated! It's been a disaster."
Nao stifles a laugh when Takeo looks at Kaito like he'd just declared he's going to commit high treason. "Kaito," he says, "you can't be serious."
Kaito runs a hand through his hair, somehow making it look even more wild in the process. "It's not like I'm suggesting they learn any Kushiro techniques, they couldn't work together like that even if they tried. It's so rare for a bird to re-partner, no one would deny them the right to be together." Kaito stops gesturing quite so widely and looks strangely solemn, the expression looking foreign on his usually expressive face. "It's been heartbreaking, watching him waste away day after day… Oh, what would Chiyoko say?"
Takeo flinches like he's been slapped. Nao looks between the two, wondering if she dares prod this obvious sore spot for an explanation. Why does everything they say have to be so cryptic?
"Fine, fine! You can keep him, but don't come crying to me if he ends up eating your lizard," Takeo grumbles. Nao decides it's time to get out of there before he changes his mind and leaps up, causing the bird to let out an indignant squawk.
Before Nao can make for the door, however, Kaito runs back to the examination room muttering something she can't make out, but from the hand waving she assumes he wants her to stay put. Nao goes to leave anyway but Takeo levels her with a stare that screams don't even think about it, so instead she deflates and hopes Kaito won't be too long.
Luckily he only takes a few seconds to come dashing back out, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. Before she can even register what he's doing Kaito presses a bottle of medicine and an eye dropper into her hands. When the bird sees what it is he goes batshit; squawking, flapping his wings and even yanking a strand of hair from her head with his beak. Nao reaches up and swats at him, biting her tongue to keep from yelling at him.
"He needs to take ten millilitres of that every morning, and don't let him pluck anymore feathers out! He'll put up a fight, so be persistent."
Nao nods, and when Takeo starts saying his goodbyes to Kaito she tries to slip away, heading for the front door. Sadly, nothing can ever be easy.
"Oh, Nao, before you go, here's a note for your teacher. If you show it to them they should let you bring Kiku and Uroko into class with you until I can get them in the system." Nao turns back around and accepts the slip of paper. When she looks down at it she can't recognise any of the squiggles, and it dawns on her that this could say literally anything. It could say something insulting and she'd never know they were pranking her. What if she gives this to the teacher and they all just laugh at her? What if it's some kind of test?
They wouldn't do that to her… right?
"Alright, I'll see you next week," Takeo says to Kaito, waving as he opens the door, the noise of flapping wings and cooing penetrating the room. "Thanks for getting the kid sorted."
"Any time!"
Nao leaves with Takeo, not trusting her voice to say a farewell.