Behind the Waterfall

#13 Hawk

'Hello Nine.

Yes It really has been a while. I am honestly surprised to find your letter. I had thought that you had forgotten me, since it has been almost six months since you left Taki. I am well, Chomei has been keeping me company and oddly enough the villagers have started to talk to me. It has been a weird few months, you can say. I hope I can find the spot you described in your letter, and that you will get it.

It was good to read that you seem to adapt well to the life of a rogue. I really hope that I don't run into the group you joined on one of my missions, I'd hate to fight a fellow jinchuriki. Hopefully the next time we see each other won't be as enemies but as friends or neutrals.

I will check the spot after a few days, like you instructed, I'm looking forward to finding a reply from you.

Until next time,

Seven '

The letter was short and didn't give too much away, just like Naruto had asked for. It minimized the risk of something getting out, if the dead drop location was discovered.

Smiling, he read again over the curved words.

"What do you think she is doing at the moment?" Kurama asked.

"I have no idea. Probably some mission." Naruto answered in his head.

Packing the rest of his stuff, he crawled out of his tent, squinting his eyes at the sun that had just begun to rise.

"Wakey Wakey, Wolf. Come on, don't want to miss breakfast." The brown haired girl greeted him, holding up a can full of noodles. There was another one in her lap, but a lot of the contents were gone already.

"Thanks, where are the others?" Naruto asked, sitting down next to the girl noticing that the other three people in their group were not around the campfire.

"No idea, well actually Lion is still sleeping as usual, but I don't know where Cat and Rhino are." She replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Really Hawk, that is how you care for us?" A new voice came up. The two sitting shinobi didn't even turn their heads, as they could identify the person as Rhino.

"We both know that you were out in the trees with Cat, doing god knows what. So don't pretend to be hurt that I didn't look for you guys." The now identified Hawk grinned at the standing man, who looked shocked at the accusation.

"By the way, where did you leave Cat?" Naruto joined the conversation. It was an open secret that Rhino and Cat were together, but they usually acted like normal friends while with the gang. There were only a few times when they had been caught kissing or sleeping in the same tent.

"I think she went to the toilet." Rhino said, admitting defeat. Sitting down, he grabbed one of the two cans left over the fire.

"How was last night?" He asked, looking at Naruto. Since he was able to use shadow clones, it was determined that he would take over the night watches, since he could just get a clone to do it and sleep while the clone stood watch, it was the most logical solution and meant the least exhaustion for everyone in the group.

"Boring. There was no need for the clone at all." The blonde replied.

"I could have sworn I heard someone walking into the camp." Rhino mentioned, earning a small laugh from Kurama, who knew that Naruto had sent an extra clone to check on the dead drop if Fuu had left a message.

"Yeah right, probably just Cat snoring." Hawk grinned, as Naruto and Rhino laughed at her joke.

"What are you laughing about?" The voice of the second female in the group was heard. Seeing the girl walk out of the treeline broke Hawk's composure as she started laughing too, earning a confused look from the newcomer.