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Chapter 34

Into the Compound

Kakashi focused on what he was working on. In the last ten minutes or so he'd begun working on a seal array that would completely take out the barrier seal array. As much knowledge as Minato had pounded into his gray haired head, there were still some things that he didn't know. Some of the individual seal strokes were modified, likely a mix of Kiri and Kumo array.

He could have the barrier down in no time at all, but unless he got inside and looked at the matrix there were many unanswered questions. The matrix itself could have triggers in it, which could include alerts and traps that would occur once the barrier came down. Kakashi was concerned that this particular array might have a dead man trigger which could blow the entire compound up. This concern wasn't as great because the ninja in question would have to take into account that he or she themselves might be in the compound when the trigger would go off. It was more likely that there would be a series of alerts and possibly a few delayed fire explosions, that would allow the seal master to get out. They would have to balance the pros and cons before going in.

Looking up, Kakashi could only sigh Shikaku was still using his shadow web to keep an eye on things inside the compound and inside the barrier. Asuma and the Inuzuka pair would be back soon he hoped so they could get this show on the road, there was something that seemed to be rubbing him the wrong way. The silver headed male hoped that the others would arrive soon, the sun was up rising higher and higher into the sky. Sweat was beginning to form on his brow from the heat and humidity, Shikaku was equally affected.

His forehead protector was once more covering his eye keeping him from using too much chakra as the Sharingan still used up much more chakra than he was comfortable with. It was one ability he used sparingly as it tended to cause massive amount of pain, which made long-term missions very hard to do. He could hear movements in the surrounding foliage, most of it was coming from the right which was the direction that Asuma had taken. Soft voices that seemed to be arguing, a small smile seemed to form on his face as the voices became more distinct. It seemed that Tsume had gone around the entire barrier and had spooked both Asuma and his summon.

Only the severity of the situation kept him from laughing in stress and mild amusement, turning slightly toward the right he watched are the large fronds of a thicket of ground plants gave way. Tsume eying Asuma with tightly coiled amusement shining in her body languages and the glitter of her dark slitted eyes. Asuma on the other hand was eying Tsume as if terrified as to what she might do to him.

The conference between the four of them was relatively short, this trade of information was really in there favor. With two civilians, and only three ninja, two of which felt like chunin levels and the man Shikaku had pinned to the tree had ended up bleeding to death nearly fifteen minutes ago. It was time to go, Shikaku had drawn back his shadows and like Asuma and the others taken several steps back. Earlier in the day, he'd gotten his dogs to deliver his seal tags around the outside of the barrier, these tags were all connected through a chakra string. Once Kakashi pushed his chakra through the tag in his hand it would destabilize the barrier, the rest of the ninja prepared themselves all of them knew that this would send the alerts through the compound allowing those hidden inside to know they were there.

Seconds passed, before a light shimmered and the barrier keeping them out basically snapped. Sound reverberated, before the barrier shimmered into sight before falling completely. The blare of sound rocked the five of them lightly, before all of them were off. Kakashi needed to find the two civilians, while Tsume and Kuromaru were headed after the three remaining ninja. Shikaku and Asuma went after the children that had been taken from them.

Kakashi found himself taking off for the far end of the compound, it really was one long line of a building. There were no bumps or even windows so it had to have been well sealed to keep the light from shining out from any cracks that might have been at any of the junctions of the building. It was very strange it would have taken years for this to be built up, this couldn't just be one gang's work. Time, effort ,and money had gone into this project, it had also been established in the area.

The silver haired man sighed, getting up into the trees to take long jumps from tree branches. The Hatake male had mild sensor abilities to the point that if he was extremely close, it was easy to identify how strong and where the chakra signatures were going. Kakashi took a flying leap before flipping silently through the air to avoid a dive bombing crow, the blackbirds were highly territorial and hated it when ninja came near their nest. The second source of civilian level chakra was moving in the other direction and Kakashi couldn't help but feel conflicted he could follow the moving source of find the still one.

Making a call, Kakashi continued on until reaching the end of the building. There were three entrances each would be easy to break into. Frowning, Kakashi studied the entrances while rummaging in one of his jounin vest pockets for a tool that would allow him to pick locks. Taking the northernmost door, Kakashi landed the air around his landing displaced air sending loose dirt and fallen leaves away from the door. Eyes studied the handless lock, this was chakra and key based. The tool Kakashi was using was an Anbu specialty that allowed members to perfectly mimic the chakra needed to open the door while they picked the locking mechanism. Unfortunately, if a ninja didn't work fast enough it might cause an alert to got off and you might get burnt by the backlash from the door. The Hatake male though, was damned good at picking locks. It only took 2 minutes or so before Kakashi was in and slipping the door closed after him.

The entry way was long and narrow which meant there was little room for maneuvering, most of the doors were open making it easy to peer inside to make quick assessments on whether the information that could be gathered would help or be useless. Most of the open doors seemed to be similar to the barracks of Anbu, bunk beds with a desk and shelving other than that the rooms were very bare. If there was time, he would see if any of the scrolls or items were worth anything. The next set of rooms were a galley kitchen and a large communal bath. Most of these rooms were cramped and very efficient in the use of space, it was much smaller on the inside than it looked on the outside of the building.

Continuing down the dimlite hallway, Kakashi finally found something of interest. It looked to be an office, unfortunately it seemed he had come a bit too late. A large man who was heavily overweight was resting in a plush chair that was generally found in an office of an elite. His large head was hanging forward, thin hair was keeping him from seeing any defining facial features. The man's suite was of a more western style, which was more closely associated with high money or mob affiliations. The only concern the Hatake had, was that there was a large tessen or bladed fan thrust quite brutally in the man's chest and from the number of holes that could be seen it had been a traumatic and violent death.

Shaking his head at the death, Kakashi forced himself to calm down at this strange turn of events. Kakashi turned his attention to the information on the desk he found times, dates and payments, as well as work stubs. Unrolling a different sealing scroll he began to layer the items before sealing them. Leaving the scroll unbound he began to go through the rest of the information as fast as he could, dust seemed to be flying as item after item was dumped and sealed inside the the scroll.

Opening the Sharingan things began to progress at a stunning speed, things were discarded and deposited on a length of the scroll at a growing rate. It was obvious to see that this slave ring had gone on for years and no one had managed to catch it. Pain was beginning to throb behind his eyes as his chakra began dip lower and lower, normally he tried to avoid using the Military Ration Pills. These pills would literally keep him going until he was worn out, the more adrenaline and chakra pushed out the faster they metabolized which would cause him to crash at the end.

It took nearly fifteen minutes for him to sort through the items inside the office with his Sharingan, as well as sealing up three safes that he had no idea what sort of information might be contained inside. Once he was done with that room he headed back into the hallway, and began to rummage through the other rooms. He found several items that would be useful to Konoha as a whole, and happily sealed them away. The silence followed by the sound was a shock to the system as well as being blown back nearly all the way toward the entrance his back slamming into and through the thin metal walls. A broken gasp seemed to pull violently as Kakashi tried to catch the breath that had been forced out of him by the impact.

Struggling up, Kakashi pushed some of the debri that had landed around him. There hadn't been much heat with the impact, just the pressure. It wasn't a seal but a bomb of some sort that didn't use much fire. He'd been lucky, the silver haired man had been in the last room before whatever it was had exploded. It was something new a different type of chakra bomb or something similar, this third of the building was nearly completely demolished. Seconds passed before a large explosion erupted and more of the building became debris. What the hell had happened?

O

Tsume couldn't help but grin as the scents began to disperse all three of them took off at once it seemed it was everyone for themselves. Kuromaru practically groaned, the hunt seemed to be on the large black wolf like dog could only follow as she took off an eagerness in her gait. Silence seemed to surround the two men as they watched the woman and her partner take off, Kakashi had been off almost immediately down the long building.

Unlike Kakashi who had stealth and protocol Asuma wasn't in the mood, he was more of a tank and heavy combat specialist. Shikaku was more of a stealth and tactical portion of the show, when instead of even attempting to breakin through a door Asuma used an unsteady jutsu he'd been working on Shikaku had only eyed him speculatively. The jutsu itself was similar to the the chakra exercise of leaf cutting, this was just a much large version that had something of a small turning blade that took on something of a greenish-blue hue. It was relatively unstable but would be useful as a tool for cutting through items quickly.

Asuma didn't even have to wait for the go ahead, as Shikaku was stepping in not bothering with his usual caution. The Sarutobi male could only snort and follow, this room had only two doors both seemed to have been rather battered one was hanging open slightly. The two of them could hear soft murmurs from the door but there seemed to be some sort of suppression instead, a scuff of shoes on the floor had the inside of the room going silent.

Sign language had them both agreeing to see what exactly was in the room, quietly they eased around before relief settled over the two of them. This room was where the children had been held, the door opened the children all froze even those too young to really understand what was happening.

Shikaku could only look at his son with frustration, he'd never seen Shikamaru defeated, lazy or bored was common for the young. The older Nara couldn't help but wonder if this was how Asuma had felt the first time he'd seen Kagome and realized what a responsibility he had to the small girl.

"Dad!" Shikamaru felt his heart jump in his chest, he was embarrassed and ashamed. He felt like he was partly responsible for what had happened and he'd been no help at all. But with that embarrassment and shame was relief and love and appreciation. Sometimes Shikamaru had wondered if his father had really loved him, they didn't spend time together like Asuma and Kagome or Chouji and his father Chouza. Shikamaru had to fight to keep the tears from his eyes, his shoulders were shaking roughly he barely noticed the door swinging open as Shikaku forced it open with a very sharp Kunai covered in bit of chakra to ensure it would slice through the metal.

It was almost if they were the only two people in the building, Shikaku didn't try to hide how he felt instead just gathered his son close to his chest and clung to him. Yoshino had been crying for what seemed like days when the older Nara had left. It was hard seeing his tough as nails wife break down, Shikamaru wouldn't be able to keep away from her when they finally managed to get home.

Asuma could only look around besides the four older boys and six younger children he couldn't see his daughter. All but one of the ten children were male, there was a little girl who looked to be about a year old. Fear raced through his heart, his muscles clenched in terror, where the hell was his little girl? All of the children were nude, what exactly did they do to them?

"Shikamaru, where is Kagome?" Asuma finally asked, he couldn't and would not allow this to go. The boy eyes seemed to widen and a pale flash of anger and agony seemed to cover the boys face, and the Sarutobi man couldn't do anything but fear for the worse.

"A woman came in, her name was Sachi. She threatened the rest of us and Kagome went with her, I managed to open the cages with one of our clan jutsu...another boy went after the two of them." Shikamaru replied, in a mildly shaky voice. It would affect him for a very long time the inability to do anything, Shikamaru could only watch Asuma's tan face seem to ashen before the other man was off long legs eating up the hard floor as he left. It seemed that Sachi really was Kagome's mother or at least a danger to his friend.

Shikaku sighed, it really wasn't like Asuma to run off but it wasn't like himself to be so haphazard with caution either. The older Nara male could feel himself calm down slight knowing that Shikamaru was safe, that nothing insidious had happened to his son. Studying the other children, he could only sigh before working on opening the other cages.

"So where are the lot of you from?" Shikaku asked, long drawn out minutes ticked by before he managed to release the locking mechanism on the white haired boy's cage though the metal seemed to be stuck.. He seemed to be about fourteen or so years old, the red marks about his eyes as well of dull white hair and gray green eyes indicated that the teenager could be a Kaguya from Kiri. The older man really wanted to distract the lot of them, if for no other reason to keep them from running.

"I'm from Kiri so is Haku." The white haired boy replied, nodding to the long haired boy who was holding onto the hands of two young children around the age of six or so. The young man seemed to be debating what to tell him before his face fell flat, the white haired boy knew he needed to be calm and wait.

"Hmmp, I'm from nowhere. There isn't a country that would want to claim me...as if I need them anyway." The boy with purple stripes upon his face replied, the onyx haired boy didn't seem to give a damn and seemed rather dismissive of the Elemental Nations as a whole. Flinty brown eyes watched as the older man finally managed to saw through the bar which allowed the door keeping Kimimaru trapped to open. The older man had been a little more uncontrolled with his chakra use at the sight of his son so had managed to saw through the stuck and rusted metal much easier.

Shikaku simply nodded, moving over just a bit to begin working through the second lock which was on the last boy's cage. There was something on the back of his neck that made the hairs stand up, studying the three boys that were currently free an idea seemed to form. Only one of the children wasn't old enough to walk, the rest would be able to stumble out if they started right now.

"I want the rest of you to go ahead and take the rest of the children out. Watch the baby's head when you take him out of the crib." The order was quite clear, Shikamaru was looking at him with worry and Shikaku could only nod. The two boys from Kiri seemed leery of leaving the room, but he could hear Shikamaru murmuring softly encouraging them to head outside of the room. Once they left he focused on pushing his chakra control, the worry that ran down his spine relaxed hearing the lot of them leave the room.

"Somethings wrong in this room isn't it?" Dispassionate eyes stared at him from frustrated brown eyes, there was a bitter acceptance there that made Shikaku uncomfortable. This child reminded him of the children that had come from the third shinobi war, the distance that they put up against those that might harm them.

"Yes." Shikaku replied, tensely. The warning signals seemed to light up inside his mind, the solid thunk seemed to resound in his ear, calloused hands ripped open the door before grabbing the boy. The brown eyed boy couldn't help but shout demanding to be put down. Ignoring the small fists against the back he continued to move quickly just as the explosion seemed to throw the two of them forward.

The impact with the ground was hard, knocking the breath from both of the males, Shikaku had tried his best to shield the younger boy. The pain was hard and it had sent them pummeling into the soft earth, and causing them to slide. The slide wasn't so bad until the propulsion pushed them into a tree, the pain was something fierce.

Shikaku wasn't certain if he wanted to laugh or not, there was likely something broken but the entire lot of them were safe and alive. Really that was all that mattered, Yoshino wouldn't be the least bit pleased that he'd hurt himself so, but she would have been furious if he'd left anyone behind either. That was something that Konoha had taught to their Shinobi, some of them understood this and others allowed human nature to dictate their actions. He could hear the steps of the children heading his way, the faster shuffle was more than likely his son.

"Dad?" Shikamaru had felt a little faint at the action he'd just witnessed. As a role Heroics wasn't built into the Nara gene, his father had literally flown through the air. Once the group of children had gone outside, Kimimaro had insisted that the move away from the building as if it would bite them for standing too closely. It seemed the white haired boy took orders very seriously, and had ensured they had all been far enough from the blast.

Shikaku laughed weakly, as the small teenager managed to worm his way out of his grasp and Shikamaru's shadow and face appeared before his eyes. It was strange being looked at with such consternation. He certainly hoped Shikamaru never did anything quite so foolish, sitting up he could only stifle the grimace of pain. He had probably broken a rib or four and the bruises and rubbed away skin would keep him stiff for days, until he managed to see a medic nin.

"Dad, that was the dumbest thing I've ever seen you do...that was like leaving your porn in the bathroom." Shikamaru was feeling a confliction of emotion, relief and bemusement being the two winners of the race he hoped the rest of the day didn't continue along this line. The look of amusement that his father sent him had a soft laughter of relief break from his lips, god it was over...or close enough to it.

O

Kagome struggled violently, the older woman was setting a pace that she simply couldn't keep up with considering one of their captors had hurt her ankle horribly. Her wrist was starting to hurt painfully as she was continued to be yanked along, if she didn't at least try to hobble after this crazy lady she was certain that being drug through the underbrush and dirt would be the only other option. Thankfully this Sachi couldn't walk extremely well in her heeled shoes and delicate clothing without care.

Looking back the young girl could only hiss, they were much farther away than she was expecting cuts and raw skin was beginning to build up. She was still nude and it kept her much cooler, but it also was exposing the younger girl to midday heat, the black haired girl's skin was beginning to blister something awful. Blue eyes drifted back to the crazy woman, the older woman was muttering to herself and it seemed to be mostly nonsense.

Kagome frowned, some of the words actually made sense like Konoha or Minoa and a few other towns. Most of the towns that were mentioned would be recognizable to any others and well, never mind that the town guards wouldn't let an obviously insane woman drag a nude child who was struggling to get away through the street.

Taking a deep breath, Kagome began to count she needed to get on good footing, then she was going to make a break for it. The moment to escape was upon her and the young girl yanked roughly on the arm that was currently captured, before beginning to run. Her heart seemed to be thundering in her chest. fear was riding inside her. Kagome could hear footsteps behind her as she veered off away from where the compound would be located.

Minutes passed and Kagome couldn't stop running, her foot and shoulder were aching terribly and the stickers and wood was beginning to hurt her feet. The fear was beginning to consume her and the young dark haired girl simply couldn't stop she had to get away. Every sound was Sachi getting closer, ever startled bird was going to mean being captured. Kagome shifted, the feet seemed to be getting closer looking back terror rose up in her, the crazy lady was right on her tail!

Fear and adrenaline can make a person run faster, unfortunately at Kagome's age she was still a little slow in comparison to an adult. When the strong hand grabbed her arm and tugged her around, Kagome could only cry out as the motion carried through and she was semi-tackled to the ground the heavy weight of the adult woman pinning the young child to the ground.

The crazed look in blue eyes similar to her own had Kagome looking away, she never wanted to be this woman and the young Sarutobi girl swore she would never end up like this insane woman. Hysterical laughter rose up, bird erupted in flight and fear at the sounds and Kagome felt utterly alone. The muttering continued, Kagome struggled to breath, Sachi was sitting straddle across her stomach and making hard for the young girl to breath.

Kagome squirmed and writhed, she tried bridging by pushing her legs down which was supposed to push the older woman up and off but she was simply too fat. The dark haired childs next attempt was kicking and kneeing at the back of the woman, which make the woman shriek in surprise the kicks were painful and the woman refused to get off or let go Kagome was beginning to feel weak and out of breath from her struggles.

The dark haired girl was huffing roughly as she stopped struggling, she just needed to catch her breath then she was going to throw this crazy bitch off! The laughter hadn't stopped yet and it was beginning to grate on her ears, Kagome knew that getting mad or allowing any heightened emotion could get you into trouble but she really wanted to hurt the woman sitting on top of her. The Sarutobi girl didn't expect a shadow to catch her eye or a large branch come swinging above her face, impacting Sachi on the shoulder and knocking her off the ten year old girl.

"You should get behind me." The voice was relatively friendly, purple eyes studied her with worry. Longish hair was falling into the older boys face before a hand was offered, Kagome only debated for a few minutes before taking the hand and allowing herself to be pulled up from the ground. The scream of rage from the side of the two youngsters had them both looking up, Miroku still had the stick in his hands and stepped forward in front of her only to hit the woman again as hard as he could sending Sachi sprawling onto her backside.

"Hello, Mother." Miroku could hear the sharp intake of breath from the girl behind him, his own eyes became much colder with his hatred of the woman in front of him. He could see the demented glee when she looked up at him, glancing at the tag still in his ear. A mean smirk lifted his lips up in an ugly, his thin hand rose up before ripping the tag out of the lob. The dark haired boy knew he shouldn't derive such pleasure from watching her glee change to horror. Between the tag laced in his ear and the chakra seals on the room and the metal engraved cuffes that he'd been forced to wear after being sold, Sachi had kept him firmly under her thumb for the last five years since Kagome had been taken away. Now there weren't any cuffes to stop him from hurting Sachi or returning to the woman, and there was no ear tag keeping a constant check on his chakra.

Anger rolled over his face at the memories assaulted him, the violet eyed boy simply lifted his hand and a very strange thing happened. A black hole appeared in the palm of the boys hands and wind speed out like a pressurized bomb hitting the dirt just inches in front of the woman who had birthed him. Miroku had to take a deep breath he wanted to hurt her, wanted to kill her, there where so many things that she had done to him. The only thing that kept him from continuing a terroristic assault against the woman was a small but warm hand on his forearm, he remembered Kagome sitting with the smaller girl briefly as a child. It was doubtful that the smaller girl remembered him at all, but that was alright she seemed to have come from a happy and healthy home life.

"Miroku, we should just leave." Kagome spoke softly, she was a little scared of the older boy. The chakra that he was flowing around was hot and sharp as if it would cut at anyone who made him angry. Kagome was mildly subdued, this wasn't like sparring with Kiba or Sasuke or ninjutsu practice with Kakashi or Kurenai.

Miroku's eyes seemed to flutter to the side as he glanced to the smaller girl, his muscles were tense with the unease that he felt with being near Sachi. He couldn't help but to glare at the woman, before a stiff nod was given and the two of them turned away. The taller boy motioned for Kagome to walk in front of him, it wouldn't do for her to be hurt if Sachi decided to come after them. Miroku was certain that she would attempt to hurt them in some manner, he hoped she did it would give a reasonable defense if he killed the woman who had birthed him.

The screaming started after the two of them had taken several steps, and Miroku could only urge Kagome to keep going, to keep her eyes forward. The dark haired male had watched Sachi lose her cool on more than one occasion and when it started with screaming, animalistic screaming it was never a good sounds of footsteps begin to start behind them and with a glance between the two of them they took off.

The silence that had been around the entire area of the human trafficking camp, seemed to break during the time that they ran. Crickets and birds fluttered and called, but the sound of footsteps urged them onward. Miroku dodged to the left, motioning for the smaller girl to continue the worry on her face made his heart flutter. Motioning again, relief filled the older male as she did as he wanted. It took little time at all before Sachi followed, her pace was sloppy but hurried.

Focusing on his ability once more, Miroku aimed the palm of his hand outward the more air that his palm took in the more of a blast was created by the wind pressure. Shifting his wrist and arm forward, the young male released the air watching with contempt and trepidation. The tight sphere of air traveled quickly before actually impacting the much older woman's hip. Miroku could feel his breath hitching as time seemed to slow down as his mother flew through the air before impacting a tree.

A sharp breath left him as he studied the woman, she was laying in an odd way. It was obvious that a leg had probably been broken as well as an arm. Miroku couldn't tell if she was dead or not and he was half afraid to investigate, he'd dreamed of ways of destroying the woman who'd treated him as little more than livestock for the most of his life. The violet eyed boy was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't hear a second set of footprints that slowed the closer they came two the two figures, before stopping to watch.

Miroku thought that he must be a glutton for punishment he wanted to see if she was dead, or close to it. Taking those few steps where the hardest thing that he'd ever done, one step two step. Miroku didn't want to get to close, Sachi always seemed to have a bag of tricks hidden up her sleeve. The violet eyed boy sniffed, mildly disappointed that she was still alive but in no position to get up and follow the two of them. His mind seemed to blank, his whole life had been about trying to figure out how to get away from his mother what was he could to do now?

Violet eyes shifted back toward the woman one more time, before he turned completely and began walking back toward Kagome. Miroku forced himself to keep walking, if she was that damaged it was entirely likely that she wouldn't make it two a town and he had no problems leaving that woman there to die. A shout caught his attention as well as the clang of metal, Miroku turned in time to see a tessen fan being knocked aside by a large chakra enhanced kunai.

The young boys eyes traced the trajectory of the kunai only for his eyes to widen in surprise, the man before him seemed like a behemoth to the younger male. He was large broad shoulders and seemed to Miroku very similar to a bear in size, his skin was darker a lot like Kagome's and the hair a more matte black instead of the gloss black the he shared with his half sister.

Miroku could only watch as Kagome rushed past him which utter joy and relief crying happily for her father, it was a strange experience and simply reminded the boy of the fact that his younger sibling really didn't need him in her life. There wasn't anyone that needed him in their life, he was ultimately alone. Kagome's father happily opened his arms to his daughter as she launched herself at him, the expression on the big mans face was so profound that Miroku wasn't sure he had ever felt such an emotion in his life.

"Get up." The face changed in a minute, the contempt on the older man's face showed his distaste, harsh lines formed around the corners of his eyes and lips. The command was directed at the Sachi, and Miroku could only notice that her face seemed to pale to a more sickly hue. The woman struggled, but the black haired man offered no assistance only watched as the woman glared hatefully toward his head and the girl still wrapped in his arms.

Nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry, time seemed to have slowed down a little as three sets of eyes watched the woman walk. The break hadn't been clean seeing how she was actually able to walk on the limb, but if Kagome's father was forcing the woman to walk in this manner it would ruin her leg beyond repair. It was likely that the woman's leg was simply fractured, instead of broken in a more conventional manner.

Miroku could only take a deep breath, watching as they walked away. This was how his life usually was sitting back and watching others leave, he'd never had long term friends. The first time he'd been bought it had been for the specific purpose of being a friend and protector of a well known merchants son. The bracelets had controlled him, and the young boy he'd become friends with had become his victim. Miroku had stopped trying after that.

"You coming, kid?" A deep voice interrupted his thoughts brown eyes were studying him with an understanding gaze , Miroku could feel his brows rising up in disbelief. The man nodded head as if to say come on, hurry it up. It was a strange feeling to be included, he hesitated for a few moments before following and coming up parallel the large man. The violet eyed boy was very weary of the man beside him, and tended to dance just outside of his reach. The pace was sedate, Sachi was moving slowly forward as they headed back toward the compound. The smell of fire, and the fluttering of ash seemed to indicate that his small world was going to change. The question was would it be for the better or worse?