Work Text:
Dear Haku-san,
I apologise for allowing so much time to pass before reaching out. Considering how things ended during the last time we saw each other, I was not sure whether you would be open to further correspondence, and I did not wish to be the cause of further discord between you and your comrades.
I am writing now to thank you. The kindness and understanding you showed me when we met helped me a lot with doing what needed to be done. Though I have now succeeded in my initial goal, my new circumstances have increased the scrutiny I am under and infringed drastically on my free time. I apologise in advance if my replies become even more sporadic as a result, but, if it is not too presumptuous to request, I would like for our correspondence to continue.
And to answer the question you asked in your last correspondence that I forgot to address when we met, if I weren’t a shinobi, I think I would have liked to be a librarian, or a florist. How about you?
I hope you have been well, and wish you luck with the medic programme and your team,
Your friend,
Hinata
The letter in his pocket felt heavy as he placed his newest copy of the Kiri Bingo Book that Zabuza had handed him earlier that morning on the table, a frown creasing his brows. He flipped it to the page that had a rough sketch of a familiar face in the top right corner and pulled out the letter he’d received on his way out of the hospital, laying it out next to the book, eyes stuck on the sign-off:
‘your friend’
Haku hadn’t ever thought he’d get to have friends, much less ones from another Village. It had been easier when his relationship with Hinata had been defined by trading favours, because now, he realised that, unlike their earlier quid-pro-quo arrangement, he…wasn’t quite sure how to navigate a friendship.
Friends would let each other know if one of them had a bounty on their head, wouldn’t they?
He glanced between the letter and the page in the Bingo Book, then firmed up his resolve. With one decisive tug, the page came free, and Haku folded it carefully and put it in the pocket that already housed his own letter.
Then, after making sure he had his wallet, he set out to hunt down the last of the Uzu refugees left in Kiri, sending out a quick prayer that whoever would be checking his response for signs of treachery wouldn’t be too familiar with fuinjutsu.