Starring:
Hitoshi, Junko, Kizuken, Ryo, Taiki, Yaezaki
Date: January 6, 2012
Summary:
The group goes out in search of a boy lost in the forest.
"Grim Conclusions"
Miati Forest
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Here the forest canopy opens, showing a large-ish clearing with a number of dead felled trees here. The edge of the clearing has a large amount of shrubs and undergrowth and here the signs of new trees can be seen growing as well. Directly to the south the path opens up again and leads into a small outcropping of trees and directly into the face of a small mountain. There is a very large cave opening that seemingly leads on forever. The path here is worn smooth with use, and littered here and there are the signs of campfire.
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Contents:
Junko
Taiki
Hitoshi
Yaezaki
Kizuken
The mission: A young boy has gone missing in the Miati Forest. His last known where abouts were near a clearing where his bag was found. Due to forces being stretched thin in the village, a force of genin is being assigned. The mission is to find the boy or what happened to him. Given the evidence, rival shinobi are not suspected.
Yaezaki Had had everyone meet and head for where the boy's bag was found. Once in the clearing, the 16 year old, Silver-haired boy orders everyone to examine the area for clues. "Lets look around and see what we find here, see if we can figure out what happened and or which direction he went or was taken. I'm counting on all of you to use your own specialties to complete this. Alright?" He offers the group of Genin a big friendly smile then gets a bit more serious. "Let's go then!"
Among the group of genin, was Ryo of the Uchiha clan. It was not often that he was selected for a patched together mission. The boy had been at the ramen shop earlier in the morning when a summon was sent for him. Now he was sitting in this clearing with a bunch of slightly older genin. The boy glanced around at all the different faces, all of which he knew.
Then as the orders are given, Ryo stands up and glances around. He waits for the others to get what they can from the area before he does anything.
Taiki was rather surprised to be called to assist this put-together team, but Hitoshi's and Ryo's presences at least assured that there was at least a couple of people he knew present. The introductions were brief, and his didn't go into much other than being an Inuzuka ninjutsu expert with the lightning element. When they arrived, he nodded to the chuunin leading them and said, "First thing is obvious for us to check, the bag." With this he walks over to the bag and crouches down, joined by Shinobu. After activating his Inuzuka senses, he starts to sniff the bag and the ground immediately surrounding it, trying to find some kind of scent, be it the boy's or someone or something else's. His ears are kept open, in case anyone finds anything.
Given that people were having a habit of turning up dead after coming up missing lately, Hitoshi was kind of in the opinion of that this was probably something rather important they all needed to do, and that was find this kid. Having met up in the group, Hitoshi had nodded to Ryo and Taiki both… and when the group splits, he sticks with Taiki - teammates work best together. As Taiki also moves to check the bag, Hitoshi kind of hangs back, his eyes looking over the ground around them as he considers things. He's looking for signs… grass turned wrong. Twigs broken on the foliage close to the ground. "Do we know whether or not this could be a situation like we saw a few days ago, with that person falling into the river?" he asks outloud, arms crossing over his chest as he considers the options…
There was a slight figure there as well with the group. The slightly renowned (not really) Genin of many trades (or maybe he just can't choose a route he wants to take just yet) Senju Kizuken. It wasn't often he was chosen for a mission outside of his team, as he usually requested for time to do research in the library. But, a last minute requirement dictated differently. He was even doing that when he was summoned by note to the meeting area before the group headed out at the last minute.
In any case, here he was, most of the rest of the team taller than he, other than one who was a good two or three years younger than he. But, he sat on a fallen log with one leg pulled up and when given the order to investigate, he would take a moment to watch where everyone else would go before he would fill in a slot. With Taiki talking about the bag, Kizuken started analyzing the area. "Heavy forest, maybe a radius of a half mile off of any beaten path, and Kyuusen fort is to the north of here. I might be able to head there and see if he has turned up… or even pieces of a body have been found."
Gorgeous blonde hair. Awesome blue eyes. Kickin' fashion-sense. These were the ingredients chosen to make the perfect kunoichi. Unfortunately, fate added an EXTRA ingredient… COMPLETE LACK OF EXPERIENCE.
…And thus Yamanaka Junko wound up on her very first C-Rank mission! :D D-Rank is for things like finding a lost cat or whatever. Rescuing a little kid, however, even if ninja or bad guys are not necessarily suspected of being involved, is definitely higher priority than walking dogs or delivering prune juice to an old lady. Thus, C-Rank! This boy's life might depend on their success, after all! The POTENTIAL exists for TROUBLE! Junko can barely contain her enthusiasm.
The blonde-haired teenager leaps, and bounds, and when she's not leaping or bounding, she's SKIPPING! She's SO FREAKING HAPPY she could do like a real ninja and flip out — maybe even kick someone in the face! :O But she doesn't kick anyone yet, thankfully, and instead just bounces here, and there, and everywhere. Even when everyone gathers around the bag, and the dog-boy starts trying to pick up the scent of the missing child, Junko doesn't quite take everything as seriously as might be wise. Instead she turns her back on a bush several feet away and then… Whips around and yells, "Hiyaaa! There! Take that!" as she throws three shuriken at the bush. One hits the tree above the bush, one trails off to the left and lands in the grass, and the third hits the bush and may well disturb some sort of rabbit or squirrel or somethng.
Junko ahems and mutters, "I was meaning to do that! Soo desu ne." Coughcough. "Ee… <Um…> Team leader-san, may I ask a question?" Junko waves a hand in the air as though she were still in school and waiting to be called upon.
Yaezaki keeps to the center of the area where the genin are searching, keeping his eyes and senses open and trying to keep everyone withn his range of protection should soemthing unexpected come up. He nods happily as each of the ninjas do what they can, impressed by thier focus even this early in the mission. He makes small mental notes as each person does thier thing, noting Inuzuka's sensory abilities and faintly tracking Ryo's movements . The comment about body parts brings him up short and he frowns. In fact the idea that the boy was seriously hurt or possibly dead hadn't occured to him, and the idea wasn't very good for his mood… He speaks in a slightly more serious tone to the group. "Junko-kun, try not to take it out on the trees." It's said in a kind of playful way so she shouldnt take much — if any — offense to it. He trusts Ryo with the furthest distance from him, notes the locations and actions of the others then says to Taik, "Inuzuka-kun, did you find anything?"
Ryo watched the other genin. He even saw Junko toss the shuriken. While he did not approve, instead of state it, he moved towards her. "A little excited?" he asks before his red eyes activate and he scans the area. He does not say much, but waits for Taiki's analysis of the bag.
Taiki looks up from the bag and frowns slightly at Junko, but then seems to shrug it off as other people take it in hand. In the meantime he focuses more chakra into his sensory system and his body in preparation for further attempts at tracking. "I smell the boy, and some kind of creature, what I don't know. The bag is fairly torn apart as well. Shinobu?" he asks, looking at his partner. The dog, about the size of a full grown husky and no-where near fully grown, whimpers a little. "Right now, I would have to say the boy was attacked, and may have dropped the bag, either to give himself time to flee, or by accident. Either way, my best guess is that the creature focused on the bag for at least a short amount of time. I'm still trying to make sense of all the smells."
Broken twigs. E'erwhere.
Could they cut a path of some kind? Hitoshi begins to step away from Taiki at this point, stepping past him and his ninken, leaving him with the ripped bag. "A creature of some kind?" he asks lightly, tilting his head to the side as he looks at the many, many broken twigs… trying to follow the pathway they make, slowly. He doesn't want to get too far away from the rest of the group, though. He pauses just short of disappearing on into the thick of the woods and getting out of Yae's eyesight, tilting his head again and letting his arms fall to his side as he crouches down to pick up one of the twigs between his fingers, turning it over before dropping it and shaking his head. "It may not be impossible for something large to have gotten him, maybe, judging from this," he remarks softly…
He then looks up into the woods, again, trying to see if he can see a particular trail of the disturbed underbrush. Maybe it'll help them lead them on? "I didn't see any kind of blood or anything here on the ground… so, perhaps we can assume that whatever has nabbed him didn't physically harm him," he also chimes in. Perhaps this will make for some better moods as far as whether or not the kid is okay…
Kizuken's suggestion of Kyuusen might not be the best, so he just will leave it for now without an answer from the resident Chuunin. Everyone chiming in all their suggestions, Kizu would pipe up with his own little 'kid logic' that comes around from time to time. "Could we completely rule out the idea of something big controlled by someONE. Because most creatures in this part of the woods don't return to roost before eating their prey." He looks around, waiting to see if that actually sinks in with everyone, then he turns and immediately dips his head down over the far side of a fallen log, and there it is.
The poor boy couldn't hold his stomach thinking on a boy being eaten.. or worse, tortured by whomever might be controlling the large creature that might have taken him away.
Whoops. Seems Junko was not being as professional as is required upon a mission such as this! The subtle reprimand from the team leader earns a blush from the teenager before she insistently keeps her hand raised, and asks her question regardless of permission to do so or not. "Team-leader-san! What is this missing boy's name? I may have an idea for how to find him. Also, anoo… Are there even any animals out here we would not be able to identify with knowledge of the forest? I am just thinking that, um, perhaps the reason this boy has gone missing may have to do with something about the boy instead of random occurrence. Maybe." Junko kicks at the ground with the toe of her tabi bashfully, trying to ignore how stupid she sounds even to her own ears.
Yaezaki sees Hitoshi stop just short of disappearing and steps a little closer to him unconsciously, listening to those around him and for any kind of sonds. He's a little nervous as this continues. This is the first time he's been in charge of so many people and it's a bit overwhelming. When Kizuken loses his lunch by a tree Yaezaki feels a kind of understanding. He didn't allow himself to picture what that would look like… or he might hae joined the genin himself…. He hears Taiki's assessment and hears that a 'creature' was near and snaps to a descision. "Everyone pair off. Taiki-kun with Hitoshi-kun in front. Junko-kun with me int he center. Ryo-kun, You and Kizuken can protect our rear. Keep a tight formation and call for help if something happens to your partner. We're going to find him." His resolve showing in his tone is both to assure himself and Kizuken of that fact. Then he motions for Taiki and Hitoshi to lead the way. To junko, the silver-haired, purple eyeed teen says, "His name is Shiinta." He's expecting the conversation to continue even as they start to move, of course. "Tell me what you're thinking, Junko-kun."
Feeling ignored by the blonde haired Yamanaka, Ryo takes his spot towards the back of the group. He nods at the chuunin then glances towards Kizuken. "You going to be alright?" He then looks towards Taiki who is going to be doing the lead. His eyes do not seem to pick up anything out of the ordinary.
Taiki nods towards Hitoshi as he moves up to the front. But he's also following something. "Okay, now the scent is clearer. I smell bear, going off in that direction," he says, pointing down the path Hitoshi is at. Taiki and Shinobu both come up even with Hitoshi, Taiki positioning himself so the dog is in the middle. He reaches and unclips a chakram from the back of his belt, then starts going ahead, even with Hitoshi, while still trying to follow the scent. Everyone else, while not ignored per se, is given second consideration to tracking the beast.
While Taiki focuses on scent, Hitoshi seems to focus on sight. Given the order, Hitoshi nods as well, acknowledging with a simple "Yes, Kaseiume-sensei." What he can see… and as Taiki points, he nods slightly, and he begins to move along, keeping his eyes sharply watching the ground, and considering the foliage. This was, after all, part of Taiki and Hitoshi's team focus - scouting, searching. It'd only make sense that this kind of thing would be something they could both do as a tea—
"Blood," Hitoshi calls up, keeping his voice low, but just speaking loudly enough for the rest of the group to hear as he throws up his hand. He had just almost placed a sandaled foot on the twig bundle where the blood had been splashed… there wasn't a -lot,- but as he crouches down, he looks at the pattern, tilting his head.
"… It looks like he may've been hurt here. It's not a horrible wound, though. Grazing, maybe a knee scrape, or something? I can't really tell if it's human or animal, either, so…" He shrugs, before moving to straighten up again.
Kizuken waves off people offering him help or asking if he was okay, and comes to stand and wipe his mouth to the back of his sleeve, and then try to wipe it off on a tree frantically. "Ew ew ew ew…" he mutters before taking his spot in the rear of the group.
To the leader, Yaezaki, he says, "Hey, chuunin-sempai, I'm going to leave a little 'trail' for anything coming up behind us." And at that point, he begins slapping little three inch by three inch pieces of paper to trees and hidden inside of bushes and underfoot on the path while they walk. "We'll see and hear the seal go off and might even be able to trap them for long enough to see what it is if they walk into one of these following us."
Junko does as ordered and moves into the specified formation with a quiet, 'Hai!' She looks in Ryo's direction as well. She was so busy being embarassed at her own inexperience and her failed attempts at impressing the others that the one person in this group she met BEFORE the ad-hoc team was assembled wound up being neglected! She'll have to make it up to him later, but for now she tries to catch his eye and puts her hands together and holds them in front of her face a bit as she bows her head in apology. Assuming that this is seen, she'll worry about offense caused later. If it's not seen then… She'll feel guilty the entire mission! That make you happy, Ryo!? That make you feel like a big man, causing girls to be miserable!?! What a cad! :(
Unless, like, he does see and doesn't make her feel bad. In which case it's all okay.
Either way, she conveys her thoughts to Yaezaki quietly, given the gravity of the situation. "Well, um, is it possible that little Shiinta has not been abducted at all? Perhaps he left intentionally, going exploring or… Having a disagreement with his parents and 'ran away from home'? If so, while it is still important that we find him, if he is injured and lost in the woods, we might be able to locate him so-so much more easily by calling his name outloud, to see if he will respond!"
Junko nods her head energetically to show how much she thinks this is a good idea. "…At worst, we may draw the attention of any mystery meat monster that may be involved with our cries, bringing the inevitable confrontation to a conclusion on our own terms, and perhaps giving us a 'lead' to the boy's location." She scratches her cheek a little bit and mutters, "I just do not see the benefit of remaining stealth on a rescue mission with this many ninja. There are unlikely to be many beasts of the forest who could seriously threaten us… Especially not YOU, leader-san, ne?"
Yaezaki nods and follows the two upfront, keeping Junko within range in case something else happened, and keeping mental tabs on Ryo and Kizuken behind him. He's glad he paired Taiki and Hitoshi up front as they both seem to work well together, and he shuffles that information away for future reference. When Kizuken states that he'll leave seals behind as they g he nods his agreement. "Good work, Kizuken-kun, thank you." To Junko, as they move, Yaezaki is a bit more serious and lowers his voice just a touch. "If he had gone off on his own or didn't want to be found he would most likely have kept his bag, don't you think, Junko-kun? And now there's blood. If we call his name we might be simply yelling over what cries we would otherwise hear. I see your point, but for now try it my way. I want to see where this trail leads us first." He blushes when she seemingly flirts with him, the crimson staining his pale skin like bright paint. Clearing his throat he adds a bright smile and takes control of the situation again by saying, "You can trust me with this right, Junko-kun?"
Ryo stands behind Junko. He sees her little act of apology and grins back at her. At least the view was nice on the mission. The boy then scans around. He's spotted something. "Wait a sec… HALT!" the boy yells. He was glad Kizuken had blocked off the path from the back. "There is something up ahead. It's not shinobi, but its big." The boy was unsure exactly what his sharingan had spotted. "It's straight ahead." The boy pulls his shin gunto blade from the sheath by his side. The nine year old is prepared to battle whatever it was.
Taiki stops just before Ryo calls for a halt, a quick team hand sign signalling both Shinobu and Hitoshi to stop as well. "The scent leads to a cave," he gestures, but stops speaking when Ryo speaks up. "I smell blood on it," he says as Shinobu starts to growl lowly as the ninken crouches down. "It's human blood," he hisses as he himself crouches down to all fours. The chakram is quickly slipped away in favor of a kunai while he focuses more chakra into his coils. Ninken and Shinobi both are just waiting for the order…
"The splatters get bigger down that trail," Hitoshi remarks softly as Ryo calls to a halt, pointing this out to Taiki quietly as he moves to withdraw a kunai of his own with one hand… shuriken wielded in the other, three between his fingers. "So, if that's where the smell leads, logic dictates that our Shiinta-kun is in there." He nods a little bit, and takes a deep breath, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth for a moment as he begins to focus up, taking another deep breath. Unlike Taiki, of course, he can't really smell as well… but, it's all good.
"Orders, sensei?" He asks back toward the center of the group's cell, the Chuunin leader.
The second that someone mentioned cave, Kizuken had his own pack off and he would hold off on setting any more of the tags before he grabs his pack and swings it around on his shoulder, and opens it to pull out a small flask of oil, and very small bolt of some sort of dense cotton cloth. Tortch material. "Gimme the word and I'll have us a tortch or two… oh, and I need a sti- Nevermind, found one!" And a stick is picked up off the trail under Kizu's feet, watching Yaezaki for instruction.
Well. Well! NOW, Junko just feels like a complete MORON. Duh. Why WOULD Shiinta leave his bag behind? She kind of thought maybe he had gotten injured and sort of lost track of where he was in the dark… But unless the little kid set the bag down before that happened, or something happened AFTER he was injured and he became delusional from fever or something like that… Well, the most high-risk mission Junko has been on before now was delivering a love note from some old lady to some old man, with the old man being amongst many other old men… In the BATH-HOUSE. The mission was full of misunderstandings as the guy thought Junko was the one who wrote the letter, and berated her for not dating boys her own age, while at least a few of the other old people were acting kind of perverted, but she eventually got it straightened out. Yes, that was 'dangerous' before now.
But now there's a boy's life resting on the decisions and actions of this team, and she is messing up royally. One thing after another! 'Gloom waves' are practically radiating off of Junko as she mopes along, remaining where she was told to stay in relation to Yaezaki, and hanging her head, and remaining completely oblivious to the whole 'the team leader is 16' thing. He's pretty to look at, sure, but as much as Junko is fascinated by cute things, boys and romance and similar are a great big question mark in her book still. She has no awareness of anything right now except how much better even little Ryo is doing than her!
Though, to be fair, Ryo is a very gifted little boy. HOWEVER, none of this changes the fact they are now venturing into a dank, dark, scary cave, possible full of bats, or bugs, or maybe even SNAKES! D: Junko may not have a very high opinion of the chances of predator-type animals like tigers and lions and land-sharks against trained ninja, but creepy crawlies are definitely a threat! DEFINITELY! Tugging on her own ponytail as she pulls it over her shoulder, the blonde starts up a mental list of gear to add to her inventory when she gets back to the Village, so she's not so unprepared next time. It seems it really WASN'T necessary to fill her pouch with chocolate and cute hair-ribbons. Who'd have thunk it!?
Whispering to Yaezaki while leaning in way close to make sure she can whisper super-quiet and still be heard, Junko says, "Ryo-kun said 'something' was up ahead, large, but not a ninja. When this 'something' is revealed, can you please make sure there is a straight line open between me and the creature? I have a plan that will not risk poor Shiinta or any of us!"
The girl also folds her hands in a focusing Seal for a moment, gathering some of her Chakra and then preparing it for one of the few jutsu she actually KNOWS.
Yaezaki jolts to a halt, accepting both auditory signal and hand signals to do so. As Ryo says there's something up ahead, not shinobi, and big. The addition that there's human blood makes his brown furrow. He glances toward Kizuken then turns his attention back to the front, nodding his agreement of the torch idea. He flushes again as Junko leans into his ear to whisper and it takes a force of concentration to keep from jolting away from her as he listens. And then he forgets that she's only a year younger than him as they both were pretty much thinking the same thing….. "Junko-kun, if you see an opening to grab the boy, take it. That's your job here." And then proving that he wasn't oblivious to the fact that they seemed to know eachother, he adds, "Ryo-kun, I want you to cover her if she needs it." He doesn't say that he himself will be covering them all. "Stay close together otherwise and be careful. Our first focus is going to be getting the boy out. Second is dealing with the animal if that's what's happened…. Ready? Go!"
Ryo nods his head as he hears the orders. Cover Junko if she needs it. He moves forward out of formation to make sure he is quick enough to follow the orders. His eyes spot the rather large bear. The mouth of which is covered in blood. Sadly there is no sign of the boy. "I do not see the boy." he states.
Taiki and Shinobu both part a little to allow an opening for Kizuken as dictated by Yaezaki. In the meantime, both Inuzuka and partner seem ready to pounce the moment they're ordered to, or the moment they sense danger from the bear. Either way, their moves are nearly synchronized now…
Sliding to the side to let Kizuken get up to the front with himself and Taiki, once it's time to move forward, Hitoshi oblidges. For now, his weaponry is put away, and he keeps his hands free - to form handseals, if he needs to. Taiki and himself, after all, are ninjutsuists, and it's what they did. He motions for Taiki to come along with him and to keep up with Kizuken, since they're at the point…
The short senju moves up to the front of the group, by this time all the materials were back in his pack, and the torch was held under an arm as he flicked the flint and finally got a spark and the torch lit up easily, lighting the way several meters in front of them once they get further into the dark. HIs other hand pulls out a kunai, ready for something to jump out at him.
Okay! She can do this! Ryo is covering her, and all she has to do is cast Mind-Body Switch on a ferocious bear before it can maul anyone! Easy peasy! Only, not really! Junko is not at all comfortable with going into a bear's den, but… The boy! She has to do it for this poor, injured boy!
…Who is not in the cave? Lul wut? Junko blinks a bit at that announcement. "…Oh," she utters quietly and then uses what she can recall of silent communication methods to convey to others that she thinks it would be a REALLY SWELL IDEA if the team were to withdraw and regroup. The target of the search isn't in the cave. No reason to pick a fight with a bear. Sure, it has blood on its muzzle. But if there's no sign of the victim, then… What? A different person? A prey animal was eaten, and not the kid? The bear licked the kid's wound like some kind of great big scary teddy bear dog thing!? She doesn't know.
But it's winter, the bear probably won't be happy to be woken up from hibernation, and she thinks she heard somewhere that they have a pretty good sense of smell, so if they keep hanging around stinking up the place with humans, dogs, and strawberry perfume, then they are at high risk for being noticed and maulificated.
Of course, she's not the team leader, so if she's told, 'no, we are going to beat up a bear' then she doesn't have much choice in the matter.
Yaezaki is pleased with how the others seem to be handling this and though he has a hesitation abotu putting Kizuken up front after that little scene earlier involving his lunch, he's not going to embarass the boy by keeping him back. Junko's thought about backing off is answered with a negative shake of the head. If this bear had killed the boy… is that even possible? yes of course it is!.. If the bear had killed the boy, they would not leave the bear around to do it a second time. "Go!" As they move, Yaeaki is careful to keep as close as possible to the genin around him…
At the sound of the order, Ryo moves in striking the bear with his blade. The first slash is deep into the arm of the bear, before the second slash comes across the chest of the bear. The sharingan watching every move the bear made. He then glances back towards the others. "Leave Taiki and Shinobu with me. You guys can search the cave." he states. It was not an order, but a suggestion.
Taiki and Shinobu look at Hitoshi, and Taiki puts up his kunai. With but a glance toward Shinobu, the dog lurches forward to bite down on one of the bear's front paws and pulls, giving Taiki a perfect opening for a follow up attack. Once Taiki strikes, Shinobu lets go and takes a step back as Taiki runs through some hand seals and announces, from point blank range, "Raiton: Kaminariko!" With this there's a flash of lightning that arcs from Taiki's hand toward the beast, amazingly accurate considering it does not follow a straight line.
Here goes nothin', then!
Handseals formed and Hitoshi moves in a flank just behind Taiki and his ninken, bowing back after a moment or two and planting his feet, before leaning forward and releasing— fire. If the torch wasn't enough to light up the cave, then Hitoshi would probably fix the lack of sight bit. That, and the primary force of reason for doing this is to followup the attack Taiki just launched… If they are gonna take the beast out, they're gonna do it right!
Well, everything hits Kizuken a little too fast, and down he goes! Whatever was left of his lunch was gone, and the poor kid got a headrush. And blinded by all the bright stuff going on. And now, he's on the floor and the torch is lying there burning.
Poor poor Kizuken. Performance anxiety. Gets him now and then. >.>
Slashed, sliced, electrocuted, burned and then punched, the unsuspecting bear falls backwards onto the ground. There are a few moments of growls in pain as the fire spreads across the fur. Soon after the bear dies of it's wounds. The rest of team then travels a little further to find the remains of the young boy. Somehow he had been eating by the bear that should have been hibernating.
Taiki closes his eyes at the mangle corpse and breaths out slowly. The Inuzuka nods his head for a moment in reverence before bringing out a seal scroll. From the third seal he pulls out a tarp and slowly starts to wrap of the remains in it. He doesn't throw up, but he looks very sad while he's doing this. Shinobu, on the other hand, looks angry, very much so. Taiki can feel the anger there and finally, once the body is wrapped and sealed, he gives in a little to his partner's anger. Pulling out a kunai, Taiki goes about trying to remove the bear's head. "Someone with a sword would be especially helpful right now. Once we're done, Shinobu and I will drag the body out there to be eaten by the carrion eaters." His voice is flat, nearly emotionless, but the silent tears running down his cheeks says more than his voice ever could.
Bittersweet successes were never the best. Sure, they found the boy… but not the way he should've been found. If they had been quicker… if Hitoshi and Taiki had picked up on the trail sooner… would it have been too late?
In Hitoshi's mind, he tries to play it out. As the trail had gotten closer to the cave… there was a lot more blood. Hopefully, the kid hadn't suffered too much. "We'll need to get word back to the village on our way back," he remarks softly. "I can get a pidgeon ahead of us after we've gotten this all disposed of." Moving forward, Hitoshi would help Taiki in what needed to be done, wielding his own kunai to assist. "Y'know, there's probably absolutely nothing we could've done to change this outcome, Taiki." No formalities while they do this… just straight Real Talk, as it were.
"Don't let it get to you."
Ryo was unaware why Taiki wanted the head of the bear, but he moves up with his sword. "Out of the way." With that he lifted the blade up above his head. A moment lated to bring it down in a quick slash across the neck of the bear. There would be a little more to cut before the head was severed. Through it all, Ryo seemed indifferent. He offers a nod to Taiki. "It was probably a good thing the more sensitive stomachs were told to wait outside. "
And now it's Yaezaki's turn to throw up. He takes one look at the corpse and loses control of his stomache. He's 'busy' while Taiki is wrapping up the corpse. "No…" He objects quietly at first, then louder, and visibly upset, he commands, "No. I'll carry him back!" He's a bit sharper than he meant to be bt he doesn't appologize and then picks up the boy's remains in the tarp and leads the group out of the cave and back to the child's home village. The whole while he looks like he might either pass out or throw up again, pale skin almost as white as his hair. He remains silent otherwise, communicating with sharp motions and hand signals rather than his voice. When they get to the parents he even takes a slap fromt he boy's mother and doesn't speak. He merely bows deeply and turns away to leave quickly.
