Tashi stood on the second floor of the apartment-like structure that Maki called her home. It did indeed take her quite some time, the wooden door sliding open a few inches and the Jounin wincing as the sunlight hit her eyes.<br/><br/>She tightened her black and crimson floral-patterned Kimono around her body, obscuring much of her body behind the door. He just barely caught sight of the red tattoos on her forearm as she held the door in place. Her eyes remained squinted, strained from the sunlight though her brow lifted and she was obviously curious. "...Those eyes." She softly murmured, "Tashi?"<br/><br/>She didn't think to use his code-name, if she even knew it. It had been a long time since they had last seen one another, even in passing.<br/><br/>Elsewhere...<br/><br/>"Haah." Suzume sighed, catching her breath as she swallowed the lump in her throat and panted. She shook her head, "I was chasing you... for awhile now... and... hah, I<em>know</em>you saw me... Come on... I need to talk to you."<br/><br/>She shook her head and sighed as she lifted her arm up, forming a few handseals, she bit her other thumb and smacked her forearm, causing a sparrow to appear amid a puff of smoke. "Shitakiri." Suzume called, the bird chirping to attention as it hopped down her arm, "Do you want to play?"<br/><br/>It chirpped, flapping its arms excitedly. She bore her teeth wide in an expression of mock fright and turned her gaze towards the wolf, "With Xexen?" The bird recoiled, stiffening its back and twisting its head to the side. "...Pleease?"<br/><br/>If sparrows could sigh, Shitakiri most assuredly would have. But the bird eventually relented, hopping off of Suzume's arm and fluttering off tauntingly towards the wolf. Suzume almost cried when she first introduced them to one another- not used to how rough Xexen could be with his playmates- and certaintly not with ones so small as a sparrow. Suzume smiled and put her hands on the back of her head, "I heard back from Yasuo this morning."<br/><br/>She closed her eyes and grinned, "I think he might need some help."