Eagles are known as majestic birds of prey. They're graceful bags of feathers that can fly at super speeds with giant killer talons. They're awesome right? So image Ari's surprise when one came out of no where to pluck her into the sky.

Squirming around the talons that gripped painfully at her sides (and totally not screaming the whole time) she wondered how far the ground was. Opening one eye Ari peaked downwards to check. The earth blurred at her feet as the fleeting sun highlighted the redwood forest below her in blooming hues of pink and orange. Wind whipped at her face as Ari tried in vain to catch her bearings, where was the ground? What was up? Was she bleeding?

Her breaths came in quick panicked gasps as she slashed at the over fed bird's stomach in a desperate attempt to relive her pained lungs.

With a wrenching squawk the eagle released Ari on impulse, probably from the pain who knows; before diving headfirst to try and catch her again. Wings half folded and tense, ready to snap out and stop their descend at any time.

At first Ari welcomed the blissful weightless sensation of falling, her mind going elsewhere as the wind whistled and cradled her small body. A sharp painful sting at her left side brought her back to the real world as her instincts naturally lead her body to flip over in mid air so that her paws was facing the ground.

Ari's limbs spread out as she fell at terminal velocity to increase the air resistance around her and slow down, but another screech from behind that sounded way too close reminded her of her...friend.

Gritting her pin pricks she calls teeth Ari ignored her body's screams of protest as she heaved her sides and four limbs to curl up in mid air. As birds have hollow bones they're made for flight, but that does not mean they're made for falling.

Tensing her muscles Ari locked herself into a tight ball to make herself fall faster, receding the air resistance.

The rustling of feathers faded over the howling winds as the ground came closer and closer with each heartbeat. She felt a dash of smugness entice her. 'Ha! Physics motherfucker! Suck it.' Ari cheered inside her mind. Pain at her sides and lungs a constant reminder that she's bleeding and will probably die before she really lived!

At last second before she plunged to her ultimate demise the bird caught up in a fury of wings and talons. Huh guess they really are made for falling Was Ari's soon-to-be last thoughts as the overgrown flying chicken relatched their very sharp claws back into her, this time much tighter than before. Ari released a strained gasping sound at the impact.

With her small whimpers which was swallowed up by the wind, the eagle pulled up harshly right before hitting a tree, swerving to glide smoothly right over the giant forest, just nearly grazing the tree tops.

Panic and fear burst inside of her as she realised 'this is the end' and how 'fuck I never really did anything did I?!'

The world around her blurred as she tasted faint metallic on her tongue. Ari's limbs too worn out from the earlier run to do much of anything as her vision spotted with blotches of black, the blood gushing in her ears over came any other sounds around her just as she heaved a last painful sigh. Giving into death and accepting her fate as future eagle poop.

And suddenly, she was falling again.

And not too suddenly, her body jerked to a stop as something rough and very smelly caught her scruff just before she hit the 'very hard and painful' ground.

Surprised since she could still think and eww what's that smell Ari breaths a sigh of relief. She's not dead! Not domed forever to wonder the void! Opening both of her eyes to gaze lovingly at her saviour Ari froze as she came face to face with a giant white and green bug mask. She tried to jerk back as the thing, which she noticed, was apparently also human clocked their head sideways.

'What the actual f-' taking a look around she noticed how they're still not on the forest floor. In fact they seamed to be way above the ground on top of a giant tree branch.

'Greattttt'

The human made a "hmmmm" as they studied her ruffled nest of fur that used to be soft god dammit whentheir attention was caught by another human; who seemingly appeared out of nowhere who made some kind of hand sign to them. Bug mask guy made a weird looking sign back with their free hand before reaching under their mask to whistle. High pitched and sharp. Ari winched at the load blaring sound, barely registering the flapping of wings as it came into earshot.

She grimaced as the same asshole eagle from before few in between the tall ass trees to rest on bug mask's armoured arm. The other guy with a red and white flat bird head looking mask made another hand sign, and with that the eagle poofed out of existence.

Ari's jaw dropped, her almost death experience and bleeding sides forgotten as the two guys performed literal magic right in front of her.

'What in the world is happening? Are they ninjas? Do they work for the snake man? The bird was a summon weren't they?' Ari panicked a little only to winch as the bug guy prodded her bleeding sides.

With a hiss she tried to scratch their mask as a warning, to which they dodged wayyyy too swiftly.

"Poor kitty's bleeding all over the place." They huffed, voice coming out surprisingly smooth and warm. How a voice can sound warm? Ari does not know, must be the adrenaline getting to her again but whoa they sounded young, around ten years or so?

"Pfft you don't say, Gin did a number on to her. No surprise with those talons. Too bad it's not what we wanted." The flat faced bird man replied almost proudly, coming over from the other branch to also laugh at her misery. 'Wait is that an owl mask?'

"You don't get to brag about Gin my man, we're supposed to be looking for a scroll not cats!" Bug dude snapped, sitting crossed legged on the huge branch as they pulled out a scroll from their ass.

...okay so it wasn't really from their ass but with all the magic disappearing bullshit who says it doesn't come from their ass?

Aha gotcha there ninja freaks!

"Mantis you've got to relax mate, live a little! It's a training exercise." Owl face or what ever shrugged, edging closer to get a better look at the cat. Ari shot them the most unamused look a cat could manage. "I can't 'live a little'" Mantis mocked as they pulled out some weird bottles and bandages from the scroll. Ohhh that's that that's for! Ari thought.

"We're in the middle of a war! We can't afford to "live" Get out of here!" Mantis scoffed, sighing as they set Ari down gently onto their crossed legs, making sure that she was not lying on her injured side. Mantis started to dap small amounts of cotton that was soaked into clear liquid into Ari's wounds and it stung! Ari could not help scrunching up her face and flinching every time he touched her cuts.

"Geez that's a bit dark my man, no need to chew off my head." Owl seamed to pout, Ari could not tell with the tacky mask oh man did he look dejected.

Mantis shook their head slightly as they finished doing whatever humans did and started to wrap the white cloth over Ari. They both stayed silent as Mantis finished the wrapping, tying the bandage with a little knot on the end.

Ari broke the silence with a small purr like meow, bopping her head against mantis's hands as a 'thank you even though you smell bad. Awesome work guys, now go home and take a bloody shower'gesture, adding a meow at the end just for funzies. Mantis relaxed a bit as they chuckled softly, patting Ari a bit before standing back up.

"We should get going, we're probably the last ones now." Mantis suggested as they picked Ari up to leap down onto the forest floor. Owl followed with a snort. "Yea no thanks to you."

The rest of the trip was a blur. Ari had her eyes closed during the whole time, maybe a bit too trusting, maybe a bit too lazy, perhaps a bit of both?

By the time she opened her eyes again she heard more young humans a short distance away with a underlining scent of wood. Mantis reluctantly put Ari down gently, careful not to touch her injured side as they let her go.

"Bye kitty! The instructors will be waiting near the camp and they can't see me with you, you might be a spy!" Mantis whispered softly, stroking Ari once more along her back as they stepped away. The owl guy threw his arms over mantis's shoulder as they strutted forwards out of the bushes, leaving Ari alone once again.

''Well now what?' Ari's ears dropped a bit. They were the first friendly humans she's run into in a long time, but not wanting to risk their wrath Ari scurried the other way, taking a different route through the dappled forest. Her sides seamed to stop hurting half way through their trip with the two weirdos.

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A long while later Ari's paws started to hurt from all the walking! Sniffing around again like she's been doing for the past hour Ari was relived to smell more humans a little ways away. Sure they may not be friendly but maybe she can convince them to carry her? A cute little kitty cat is always welcome right? 'Well unless they're allergic...'

Stopping as some dirt tracks came into view Ari's ears perked in interest as she spotted a horse carriage a little bit down the road. Perfect! With a quick dash Ari ignored the pain in her side as she scrambled into the back of the carriage where they kept bags of fruit for some reason.

'Silly weird humans' she thought as she nested down on top of a fallen cloth. 'Someone's cloths perhaps? I'll keep it worm for them!' She thought giggly as she curled up on the soft fabric, getting comfortable.

Almost falling asleep Ari was awoken by the carriage suddenly moving, a small rumble vibrating the whole structure as the two horses outside pulled the sodden carriage over uneven grounds.

The faint chatter of humans and the rumblings of the wood lured Ari back into a blissful, much needed catnap.

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Whoooo finished. So with the eagle, the two newly graduated ninjas and their little practice mission as well as the carriage, Ari was finally able to travel far far away from Orochimaru's hideout! :D

No where to go but forwards my friends ;)