Souls In Hiding

One Down, 13 To Go

"Has anyone seen Kaede?" Ryoma questioned. The group had been waiting inside the cabin for an hour after the attack, all but one returned.

"She lifted a tree off of me." Korekiyo offered some important information.

"Was she with anyone else?" Kiibo immediately assumed the worst and didn't hide that fact.

"Yes, although I didn't see or hear them. I only knew they were there because she talked to them."

"Kaede's probably having good sex off in the woods!" Miu shouted. Her vulgar behaviour had become commonplace for the group, although sometimes it seemed she used it as a defence mechanism. Kirumi still felt the need to berate Miu like a young child who knew no better.

"What if she's dead..." Shuichi mumbled, staring at the ground. 

"Hey don't worry. Kaede's powerful, she wouldn't be taken down by a few lowly bandits. She might be taking care of an errand and forgot to tell us." Rantaro pulled the vampire into a kind hug, attempting to comfort him.

The door to the cabin slammed against the wall as Angie kicked it open. "I KNOW WHERE SHE IS!" She shouted. Shuichi noticed the lack of a grin on Angie's face, which held a smile even when she slept.  Accompanying the animal whisperer, a bird flew in and grabbed Shuichi's cloak, tugging as hard as its tiny, plump body could.

"Do you want me to follow you, little buddy?" Shuichi asked the bird.

"NO!" Angie raced at the vampire and attempted to swat the bird away, only receiving an angry and painful peck to the arm.

"I'm sorry Angie." The bird seemed to understand his words, racing as fast as its minuscule wings could carry its thick body. Shuichi rushed to follow it close behind, leaving the shouts of concern from his friends. Hurrying through the woods, shoving branch and bush out of his way, the bird stopped mid-air.

Shuichi's face dropped, his entire body felt numb. His brain went into overdrive as it stopped working entirely. He completed his mission, he found Kaede, but now what? In a heap on the ground was his friend, well, what was left of his friend. Kaede's charred corpse curled in a heap, small scraps of ropes melted into her wrists. 

He didn't want to believe it. Kaede was dead. Not just dead, but murdered in a horrible, agonising method. Footsteps thud against fresh plants and old dirt, but he didn't care. Shuichi fell to the ground, his cloak revealing his hand to the harsh sunlight. If he had the energy to do so, Shuichi would've taken off his cloak so he could shrivel up and burn a similar way Kaede suffered, but the overwhelming despair prevented any movement.

Sizzling filled the air as he watched his hand burn, unable to feel the pain over his grief. Before any serious harm could come to him, a familiar purplette entered his field of vision and fixed his cloak. Kokichi knelt in front of Shuichi, blocking his sight of Kaede's corpse as he tried to hug his friend. "It'll be okay Shuichi. We need to get you hom-"

Kokichi couldn't finish his sentence. Shuichi abruptly stood and shoved the phantom back, causing him to slam into a burnt tree with an extremely painful crack. Rantaro was the only one able to process the event, rushing forward towards the groaning Kokichi writhing next to Kaede's corpse.

Shuichi stumbled forward, although not focused on Kokichi, but rather Kaede. He reached for one of his closest friends, one of the first three he'd met in the entire group. Her skin crumbled under his touch as Shuichi attempted to hold her cold, limp hand.

Maki approached Shuichi, carefully gripping one of her many daggers for defence. "Come on. We need to go."

"No!" Shuichi swatted Maki's hand away, his body going into autopilot. "She's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead." He repeated, attempting to force the denial to become reality. Attempting to reach out to touch her again, Maki stopped him, lifting the cloak to cover his shiny hand. "Kaede, wake up... please wake up!" 

Kirumi snuck around Shuichi and knelt beside Kokichi before carrying his limp, unconscious body towards the cabin. Rantaro grew what green grass was left to create a blanket, giving Kaede one last sense of warmth and dignity as she rested. "His hand looks pretty bad, you should get him to Kirumi." The fairy suggested to Maki.

"Come on Sidekick." Kaito wrapped a sturdy arm around Shuichi's shoulders, gently leading him back towards the cabin. Maki stood on his other side, the two trapped him between them as they forced him back home. Shuichi didn't care, he didn't want to live but he'd already hurt one friend, why should he hurt two more.

He didn't know how long it took to get back to the cabin, Shuichi had no sense of time anymore. What use is knowing the time when someone close to you is dead? Kaito and Maki eased Shuichi through the cabin door. "Kirumi, Shuichi's burned his hand," Maki stated, knowing Kirumi understood.

The flame fairy ushered her vampire friend towards the large dining table in the middle of the room where an array of medical items lay strewn about. Kirumi motioned for Shuichi to take a seat as she grabbed a clean cloth from a pile stored in a cabinet nearby. Taking a seat next to him, Kirumi dipped the cloth in a bowl of herbal medicine. "This might sting a bit." Shuichi only hummed, not feeling any sensation as he continued to process what he'd seen only moments ago.

Kirumi cleaned the wound and bandaged Shuichi's hand and wrist. He attempted to move it, finding the bandages weren't wrapped too tightly. Seeming to notice, Kirumi offered an explanation. "You can't wrap burns too tightly, make sure to keep that on, okay?"

"Okay..."

"If it comes loose or gets dirty or anything, come to me and I'll fix it up." Kirumi smiled, but Shuichi didn't respond at all. Not wanting to stress him out, Kirumi made no other attempt at conversating. As Kaito, Maki and Kirumi moved outside to chat amongst each other, Shuichi looked around the room to try and focus himself on the present moment.

His eyes landed on the bunk beds covering the wall, more specifically, the one bed that seemed occupied. Kokichi. Walking over to the phantom, Shuichi stood next to the bed and stared at Kokichi's purple hair. Although his entire body from the neck down was covered by his thin blanket, Shuichi noticed one specific thing about his chest.

It wasn't moving.