DAMN INTERNET DELETED WHAT I HAD WRITTEN TWICE!

"Mhmmm," was all that Sakura said in response. She finished untying the knotted vines on the last of the Grunts before proceeding to retie them, on his hands behind his back. She now had a group of faint looking grunts who had no mobility in their hands. "Take two or three each," she ordered, grabbing two of the grunts herself. She turned to face the east. There was a main road there and there should be plenty of people travelling on it. Hopefully they'd stumble upon one of the regular patrols who could take the grunts to the city themselves. She hoped that they'd be able to make it back to the cave before the sun rose the next morning. "Okay, let's go," she said, leading the group through the forest and hoping that they all had relatively good night sight.

"Well, I guess we should go too," Caldwell suggested to the group going to the cave, once again picking up his bags. He momentarily considered shifting, knowing that it would make the journey much quicker for him. He let the thought go though, still refusing to shift in front of all these people. Plus, he wouldn't want to lose the group and he had no idea where the nearest cave was. He waited for someone to take the lead and show them where they could find a cave. Fidgeting with his scarf, he stared at the backs of Sakura and the others heading to the city with the grunts. Despite himself, he found himself hoping that they stayed safe and didn't run into trouble. So much for no attachments he though, shaking his head.

Peace "we better go" he said taking the lead and heading to the cave making sure everyone could follow.

Ladia and Shane followed Sakura, Shane with two grunts which he had to drag and Ladia with three she just simply forced them to move forward and they couldn't do a thing about it.

Shade completley blanked her friends as they trudged to the cave. Every time they tried to talk to her, she would just go and walk at the other side of someone else. The others knew what was going on and accepted it. The group finally reached the cave just before dark.

Dmitri and Harry settled down in opposite sides of the Cave, with Shade still blanking them both. Before long, you could see the stars. Shade shifted and perched on a tree outside the cave. She could see everything, and to an onlooker, she looked, at first glance, like a normal owl. She twisted her head to look back inside the cave, her friends were still asleep. Sleep. She wondered how long ago it had been since she last actually slept. Since the Dark Gang had arrived, and Dmitri's parents had helped them rise, she had never slept a wink, worried that they would come and haul her away like the rest of them. Shade remembered when her parents sent her away as they started a rebellion. When her father was caught and tortured in public view of the village, all tied up. She heard her father's screams echoing in her head. Shaking her head she eliminated the horrific memories her and swooped down into the cave. She perched on a ledge above where Dmitri was sleeping and curled up in her wings. 'This is my family now.' She thought to herself. 'And boy is it gonna be an adventure.'

Yukio couldn't sleep, nightmares plagued him every time he did. Tossing and turning in his make-shift bed, he knew he kept his companion, Amaya, awake. She was staring at him with questioning eyes after all. Sighing, Yukio whispered to Amaya that he would go for a walk, to which the female replied with a 'no, not unless I'm with you'. In the end, Yukio caved, not in the mood for arguing. He couldn't remember his nightmares though, and he didn't knew what they were about. He just knew that he couldn't sleep.
"Amaya, do you have nightmares?"
The assassin blinked in surprise. "A couple times, yes, but only when I was younger. Why?"
Yukio explained why he had asked, and the female laughed, guiding him to a pond. She suggested they sat there, to relax and stargaze. The younger teen agreed, and both lay on the ground, facing the stars.

-------

Akari was hauling 3 grunts at once, though hauling wouldn't be the proper term. She was in actuality threatening them to move forwards. Arashi sighed as he watched his friend treat the grunts, and turned back to the two he was pulling along. "Speed up..." He muttered, eyes returning to the road in front of him. He wondered how long they had left before they could go back.

Shade ruffled her feathers as she was distracted from her thoughts by the brief conversation between her teammates. She looked up and swooped to a ledge above them and shifted back. "Can't sleep?" She was perching precariously above them, unfazed by her position. She held her hands up in a surrender. "Fine. Fine. I'll go away, leave you to your nightmares. Shout if you need anything." She shifted back and decided to scout around for a bit.

She soared high above the trees and could see the faint lights of the city in the distance. She thought she'd be annoying and find the others who were with the grunts. Flying high, she then the dived down at lightning speed and zoomed off towards the group.

She landed on a tree branch in front of them and cawed. She shifted and sat on the tree branch staring at them, eyebrows raised mockingly. "I got here from the cave, faster than it took you to reach a quarter of the way to the city..." Judging by their dissaproving looks, she deduced they wanted her to shut up. She continued speaking. "Yes I know I can fly and stuff but really? Anyway, you need a hand? I'm bored..." She thought for a moment. "Can anyone here shift into an animal like a lion or tiger or something, because wouldn't it be easier to just haul them along in animal form? You'd be stronger and quicker?" She shrugged. "Just a suggestion. See ya." She shifted and cawed to them friendly before speeding off back to the cave they were sheltering in.

Shane "Grrr.... as insulting as that was maybe shes right we really need to get a move on so we can group up with the others". Ladia "we don't have a cart or anything, that is why we are doing this in the first place". Shane looks around for something to use but all he sees is forest. Shane "this is going to be a long trip" and continues dragging his grunts along.
Peace back at the cave is half awake due to having to continually open the door to let people out and sees Shade the owl land back on the perch. Peace thinking nothing out of the ordinary goes back to sleep.

Akari was pinching her nose bridge, trying to calm down, with Arashi there to help. However, they were not paying attention to the grunts, and those they were looking after took the distraction as a chance to escape. However, Akari had seen them and she snapped, yelling and kicking them. Flinching, Arashi tried to stop his friend, but in the end had to use a gust of wind to separate them.
"Erm guys? How much further? Depending, I may or may not be able to use my ability to speed up the journey..." The aeir shifter said, despite knowing he would tire himself out.

-

Yukio growled as the owl flew out of earshot, and had begun cursing the shifter. Stifling a laugh at his reaction, Amaya pulled the boy down to rest beside her, for he had nearly gone after Shade. "Relax... Sometimes, just forget about it."
Mumbling something akin to 'whatever' the boy looked back up at the stars. "They really are beautiful...."
Amaya hummed her agreement. "They are, aren't they? I wonder what I would wish for if I found a shooting star, assuming the legends are true."
"Heh, I'd wish that the promise my brother and I made before he left be unbroken forever, always kept in my heart.... I'll never forget him..." The young boy said in a slightly sad tone, hands lingering on his veil. "I should have convinced him to stay..."
Amaya said nothing, she could not, and returned her gaze from the boy to the stars. After a few moments, she sighed. "Don't mope, your brother wouldn't like it. Besides, who's to say he's... gone? He could very well be alive." Taking Yukio's silence as an indicator to continue, Amaya did just that. "It's not your fault, alright? Don't blame yourself..."
Yukio looked away from her, and Amaya frowned. Foolish boy... She thought fondly. The kid was really starting to grow on her. I wonder what the future will bring us...

Shade was bored. Very bored. So bored to the point that she was actually playing eye spy with herself. How sad is that? There was nothing for her to do. She couldn't go back into the cave because she'd just annoy that girl...peace, was it? She couldn't go with the grunts because the promised she'd stay here with Dmitri and Harry. She resorted to making her own constellations in the sky. She wondered how all her friends from her village were. Maybe, just maybe, there was a slight chance they'd be looking up at the sky, just like her. It's a small world.

Shade eased open her wings as the sun came up. Relishing in her sun bathed back. She cawed to the cave, a morning call she used to use to wake up Dmitri. It worked with the rest of them, because she heard mumbling and shuffling from inside. She flew down and shifted, landing gently by the door. She heaved open the rock letting the sunlight illuminate the dark space. "MORNING!" She yelled cheerfully. Her reply was a series of grunts and groans. "Nice to see you're all awake." She said rolling her eyes. Harry and Dmitri were still shooting glares at each other. "Oh forgod's sake." She mumbled to herself as she turned to face the forest. "For once, just once, in your miserable little lives, pull your heads out of your******and ditch pride and prejudice? Please?" Dmitri had obviously heard as a rock was thrown at the back her head. It smashed on contact. "Smooth. Real smooth." She called over her shoulder.

(PEACE IS NOT A GIRL!!!!!!!!!! Also Peace is at the cave.)
Peace was curious that Shade managed to open the stone door and wondered to himself was that even possible as he sleepily got up. Peace (to Shade) "have the others got back yet why are we getting a wake up call?".

Sorry, my internet has been being mean to me :(

Sakura tried to keep herself awake as she trudged through the night with the others and the grunts. A task that she was not very good at. After almost tripping over the first time, she resorted to counting her steps to keep herself occupied. She was tired, and grumpy too after hearing Shade's snide remarks. Everyone was going to have fun dealing with her tomorrow, especially on no sleep! After reaching 874 steps, they finally got to the main road. Not even consulting with the others, she headed towards the city, thankful that at least the path they were on was now flat.
It seemed like forever before they found one of the city patrols, but thankfully they were in a large group. They checked Sakura's identity card and matched it up with her name on the sheet that listed the team's going after the Dark Gang. The grunts were finally taken off their hands, a much needed relief to her. "Mmkay Akari," she mumbled rather sleepily. She rubbed at her eyes and forced herself to stay awake. "How do we get back?" The sun was beginning to rise, and she hoped that they could at least have a bit of a break at the cave before making a move.
~~~~~~~~~
Caldwell sat up in the morning upon hearing Shade's call, leaning against one of the cave's walls. Despite nothing interesting happening all night, aside from the occasional leaving of the cave by the others, he got hardly any sleep. He was too busy worrying about what Rusalka had told him just days ago. He noticed that the group transporting the grunts hadn't arrived back, a slightly worrying situation. He walked around the cave, stretching his legs, and wondering where they were going to head off to next.