Tracks

The summon had come early in the morning, an insistent tapping on Kakashi's window. His eye blinked open at the sudden sound, he had jumped from his cozy covers- his body reacting before even being fully aware of what he was reacting to. The tapping noise started up again more urgently this time and Kakashi dropped his defensive stance, before lazily making his way over to the window.

There, in the dimly lit hours of the early morning sat a very annoyed and ruffled looking hawk. Its yellow eyes stared at Kakashi through the window, impatiently waiting as he slid the glass upwards to deal with the sudden intrusion. Once open, the hawk lifted one of its long, clawed legs to offer Kakashi the scroll that had been bound to it by leather.

"Maa…" He hummed while removing the scroll, already recognizing the seal on the front.

As soon as the scroll was released from its leg, the hawk flung it's wings open and was up in the air and on its way.

Kakashi pushed his chakra into the seal and let it fall open to read. His eyes immediately fell into an annoyed squint as he read the three words on it.

'My office now'

"Well… good morning, I suppose" He mumbled out while shrugging on his usual green flack jacket. It took him less than a minute before he was jumping out of his window and on his way to the Hokage tower. His feet never making a sound as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

Today was going to be a long day

Yama woke with a start, twisting her body while pushing upwards to a crouching offensive stance- she was ready to kill. Sweat ran down her temples and her heart pounded furiously in her chest.

She thought she had felt something… someone.

Closing her eyes, Yama opened her senses and let her chakra reach out to the world around her.

The flap to her makeshift tepee parted slightly as a disturbed Koma stuck his snout in and gave a sniff, checking to see if his lady was ok. He was much too big to fit inside of the small area, so he laid outside underneath a canopy as to block the entrance for her; her first line of defense. The cold didn't bother Koma in the slightest, he was born in this kind of weather. Meant for it.

Her eyebrows pinched together in concentration and confusion.

Maybe I'm just sleep deprived…

With the constant attacks sent her way from the Raikage, Yama barely had a moments peace these days- which was her sole purpose of traveling so far out of society. She wanted to be left alone, to make her own way through life.

But the life of a shinobi was a treacherous one. If you wanted peace, you had to fight for it.

Keeping her focus on the surrounding area, Yama gave it a few more minutes to see if she truly was crazy. After nothing more happened, she finally released her focus and let her chakra settle back into her system.

"Everything is alright Koma, you may go back to sleep if you wish" she spoke the quiet command that the big, black bear was waiting for.

Shifting his large bulk, Koma laid back down with a huff, once again blocking the single entrance to the cave, effectively keeping his lady hidden once more.

While Koma was making himself comfortable once more, Yama did the same. Tomorrow they would need to hunt and gather more wood, but for now she would rest and replete her chakra levels. Months of fighting off retrieval shinobi had almost exhausted her mountainous supply of it.

Maybe it's time to we moved… Yes, I think that would be for the best.

There were plenty of secluded areas south wards that would be perfect to make a home in- as well as deter the Raikages advances. In fact, the closer she was to the fire, the less likely she was to get burned…

Yama cringed at the thought of once again being close to… home…

"it's been a long time… Maybe I've been forgotten" She let the words sink into the quiet around her, just simply to get them out of her mind.

She stretched out on her fur covered cot, rolling lazily onto her stomach. Half lidded eyes stared at the rocky wall of the cave while she became lost in her thoughts of the past, present, and possible future.

"Maybe…"