Hikari smiled slightly, glad to hear that Kyran's answer to Nanashi's question matched her own. She looked up to Kyran for a moment and then back down to Nanashi before reaching over to place her hand against his head. He blinked when she thought she felt a lump and then sighed softly when he sucked in his breath and flinched. "Sorry...I didn't see that..." She moved her head down a little and then stroked his hair lightly a few times. "Kyran's right Nanashi...I would say the same as well," she kept her voice soft and offered him a weak smile when he glanced at her. "...It's alright to be upset...I know how you feel...,but Kyran's right. The hunters all know what they are getting themselves into, and they have taken many lives and they will continue to do so for so long as they are able." She looked at him a little sympathetically and moved her hand to his cheek, gently wiping away the tears, though more replaced them as soon as she had moved her hand. "...Nanashi, I know you think this should have turned out some other way...but it was an accident... I know you didn't mean for it to end like that. It was just an accident..."

Nanashi did relax a little after listening to Kyran's answer. He closed his eyes a little and tried to let it sink in, but he found himself opening them again and turning his head a little to look at Hikari after she touched his head. He winced and tried to move away from her hand by pressing his head against Kyran a little more for lack of anywhere else to go. His head was really sore after being hit by...whatever it was. He wasn't sure if it was the guy's fist, foot, or that metal ball, but either way it hurt. He found it a little hard to look at her right now with the still healing gashes on her face and all of the blood all over her, but he listened. After hearing the both of them he finally closed his eyes again, forcing a few more tears to run down his face. "...Yeah..." he whispered after Hikari had said that it was an accident, though he almost sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than agree. "...But...I...I can't get his face...out of my head..." He shivered again before he leaned closer to Kyran again and finally released his shirt only to wrap his arm around him. He didn't want to touch him with his other arm since his hand was completely covered in blood, so he just gave him a weak one-armed hug while the tears continued to run down his face. He had stopped sobbing at least, but he still couldn't seem to turn off the water works completely or stifle the occasional sniff. Luckily for Kyran, he was very tired, so he probably couldn't keep this up too much longer.

Hikari watched Nanashi and then felt her ears lay back slightly before she pulled her hand back and then looked at Kyran. She offered him a sympathetic smile and then reached over to place a hand on his useless arm. "...Are you alright?" she asked quietly. She looked at his arm, gently running her finger over the scratch before she sighed. "...It should wear off soon..." she said quietly. After all, Kyran was a decent size and it didn't seem to have gotten him too badly, so she didn't think it would last too long...or at lest she hoped not.

Kyiri clung to Nero's hand as they got closer to the others and then blinked when Reyes started asking about her. She looked at the girl for a moment and then stuck her tongue out at her before pulling her hands away from Nero and sitting down where she was only to push Reyes's hands away from Celestine. "No, he's mine!" she told her firmly. She only shared him with Aamori because she liked Aamori more, and she didn't like the overgrown dog that hung around this girl all of the time. As far as she was concerned Celestine was her property, she was just letting everyone else enjoy him, but she could be a jealous and possessive little thing when she wanted to be. She gave Reyes a pout and then looked over to Kanone. "You can pet that one," she said as if being considerate. She reached over to Kanone and put her tiny hand on the side of his face, dusting his hair out of his eyes before she tugged on his ear a little, though not hard enough that it would have hurt him. All that did was earn her a groan and make his ear twitch. She tugged on it again and then pushed on his shoulder. "Wake uuuup!" she whined.

Kanone was still feeling the effects of the sedative, but they were slowly starting to wear off. All of Kyiri's poking and prodding was starting to bring him back around, but he was still clearly out of it. He groaned and shifted a little, turning his head away from the whiny voice as he furrowed his brows. "Uhhg....shut up..." he muttered quietly, his words a little slurred together. After a moment he seemed to gather a little more comprehension because he opened his eyes, though his pupils were still dilated and he looked groggy and disoriented. He turned his head a little and tried to look around, but his vision was so blurred from his dilated eyes that he couldn't really see much. He blinked a few times and then pushed himself up. In all he though he was alright, other than the feeling of not being able to see very well, but he was so drunk at the moment that he couldn't even tell that he was so off balance and didn't even seem to know what had happened until he had sat up and fallen sideways into something. He couldn't even tell if he was still sitting up and propped against something or if he had just fallen back over on the ground again, but either way the sudden stop made his head swim with pain. He felt like he had a migraine and all he could do about it was groan and press his fingers to his forehead as he closed his eyes tightly.

Esen looked down at Nobu agian when he jerked against her at the feel of the water and shined softly, raising her head just for a moment before laying it back down and nuzzling him again. She was trying her best to be comforting, which was about all she could do right now. She whined again softly when Nobu said that one was more than enough. She raised her head again, not bothering to say anything more on the subject. She just licked his head again a few times and then nestled back down against his head again. "...Alright...just rest...I guess it doesn't matter now..." she said gently. She nuzzled him again and sighed softly with no obvious intent of moving. Esen was as much the mothering type as she was the shy quiet type, she couldn't help wanting to comfort anyone who was upset or injured, and she really did like Nobu. She was a little on the jealous side every now and then just because she could tell Celestine liked him better, but that wasn't Nobu's fault, he was introduced first so it was natural that Celestine would be more fond of him. She didn't really let it get to her the way Nobu did at times, she just let the two of them go and have their time together. After all, she was going to have all the time in the world with Celestine so long as he had her blades, so she didn't see much to worry about and he did pay attention to her, so she was content enough with that.

Kyran felt a little better about the things he had been saying when Hikari backed him up on a few things. He just wished that there was a way to make Nanashi feel better about all of this now, right this minute, but he couldn't think of anything. It was just something that Nanashi was going to have to work through himself and all they could really do was be there for him when he needed them. He noted the way Nanashi reacted when Hikari touched his head and let out a quiet sigh. It seemed like Nanashi got quite the little beating without his even really knowing it. He didn't bother to ask when or how he was hit in the head, he probably wouldn't have been able to recall anyway. He stared down at Nanashi when he heard him say that he couldn't get the guys face out of his head and merely tightened his arm around him a little. "I don't know anything to help with that... but if it will put your mind at ease even a little... we won't mess with the hunter at all and what's left of his comrades can come and take the body home so they have something to bury." He paused. "That should even give the mans family some closure, knowing they at least have a body to bury." He told him quietly. He turned his attention to Hikari for a moment when she spoke again it was more directed at him. He glanced over to his arm and tried to move it but got nothing but an annoying tingling sensation out of it. "I'm alright... It could be worse." He answered. He then nodded his head slightly. "It's already tingling a bit so I don't think it'll be too much longer before I've got use of it again. She only managed the one small cut down my arm with a dart..."

Nero stared down at Kyiri for a moment after she had sat down and watched her as she pushed Reyes' hands away from Celestine and said the dreaded words 'He's mine'. The 'Mine' stage was bad enough with his sister and now Kyiri was saying it. He shook his head lightly and watched as she told Reyes he could pet Kanone. Well... he could certainly see where the love was. He finally had enough when Kyiri started poking and prodding Kanone and whining for him to wake up so he reached down and grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. "That's enough." He told her in a quietly stern tone. "You're supposed to check on them not force them to get up." He added. "...and other people besides you care about Celestine so chill with the 'mine' stuff." He said with a sigh. He kept hold of her and finally decided to sling her under his arm so that she couldn't go anywhere. He didn't want her messing with Kanone any more than she already had and he was trying to get himself up now because of her. He glanced down to Kyiri for a moment and shook his head. "I'll put you down when you agree to be nice." He told her and then shifted his glance back to Kanone. "Don't rush it, Kanone." He paused. "Just relax, it'll wear off completely soon enough. Kyiri's just being impatient..."

Reyes slid his hands away when Kyiri pushed them and said that Celestine was hers. He just kind of stared at the child and then rolled his eyes a little behind his glasses. Go figure. It's a possessive cat even in a human form. He kept his hands away from Celestine at least until Kyiri started poking and prodding Kanone. As soon as the girls attention was over there he went right back to stroking Celestine's hair. He shook his head almost in disbelief that this girl was actually forcing Kanone to wake up sooner. He thought it would be better for them to sleep it off and wake up when they could rather than force them up. But maybe the girl just felt like forcing Kanone awake and she wouldn't do that to Celestine. He was a little relieved when Nero wound up picking the kid up and eventually making it so that she couldn't get down. At least that kept her from bothering anyone any further. He felt a little bad for Kanone at the moment since he appeared to be having a great deal of trouble finding his barrings. Even sitting upright appeared to be a challenge for him. That sedative must have really disoriented the person it hit.

Aamori continued working on Nobu steadily working her way to the fourth and last gash on him. She still took her time, even though she really wanted to be done with this. In the back of her mind she knew her hands were going to be covered in blood and she didn't want to deal with that. She knew she shouldn't look but she was going to have to eventually. She sighed quietly and continued along slowly, again apologizing quietly when it looked like the cold had gotten to Nobu. She stared down at the cleaned up gashes while she was working and noticed that they were still bleeding. Not quite as badly as they had been but they were still bleeding all the same. She kind of wished that there was something she could put in the gashes like an ointment or something and maybe bandage him up but that would take a lot of ointment and a lot of bandages and she wasn't sure even Hikari had the stuff for that. At a time like this she really wished she could have been like Vara, the nurse in the training center rather than like Hisako, trained to fight. She'd likely do more good at helping with wounds and stuff than fighting. She bit her lip lightly and shook the thought before glancing over at Hikari for a moment. "...Hikari..." She paused. "I know Reyes said you couldn't heal Nobu.... but how hard to you think it would be to get some bandages or something to wrap around him?" She asked. "I'm no specialist... but even so, these wounds probably shouldn't be left uncovered..."

Nanashi didn't really know how good it would be for them to find him, but he thought that sounded better than not knowing. He nodded his head weakly into Kyran's chest after his suggestion but then again...he wasn't in the greatest position. "...H-he...fell on....on one of those....crystals... H-his head...is...." he trailed off and shuddered slightly. He couldn't even describe it, though it probably wasn't that hard to imagine. He wanted to move him a little, at least get his head off of that crystal, but...well it probably wouldn't matter much. On or off, it was still an ugly sight. He shuddered again and nestled against Kyran's chest again and tried to tighten is grip on him a little. He continued to cry quietly without bothering to raise his head. If he had eaten anything today he probably would have already been sick by now, but luckily for Kyran his stomach was essentially empty. It wasn't long before his sniffles became a little less frequent and then died away altogether as his arm slipped down Kyran's back. It was probably hard to tell whether he'd passed out or just cried himself to sleep, but either way, he had at least stopped crying for now. It wouldn't be hard to wake him if one tried, he was just physically and emotionally drained of energy and he could probably stand a few minutes of unconsciousness.

Hikari glanced back to Nanashi when he started to tell Kyran what had happened. She cringed a little at the image. So that was what happened... he caused him to fall on one of those crystals. Now that, really was what she would call an accident, it was just pure luck (good or bad) that the crystal was right there and there was where he fell. She reached over and placed her hand on Nanashi's back gently and then rubbed her his back lightly before she glanced back to Kyran again when he told her that his arm was already starting to tingle. "That's good..." she said quietly. She glanced at Nanashi again and then pulled her hand away and placed it back on Kyran's arm again gently, rubbing his arms a little. She glanced back to Nanashi again when he started to go still and then looked over to Kyran once more. "...Are you alright with him like that?" she asked quietly. She didn't really know how Kyran was feeling, but it was clear Nanashi was content where he was. It almost made her smile a little looking at him like that. "...It's kind of cute...he really seems fond of you, Kyran," she said quietly, pretty sure that Nanashi was asleep for the time being. She glanced over to Kanone when she noticed some movement out of him and sighed in relief, glad to see that the stuff seemed to be wearing off a bit. She also noticed that Nero had gotten closer, but again she completely overlooked what he was holding, mostly because Aamori had spoken to her about the time that she noticed him. She turned her attention quickly to Aamori and then placed her hand on Kyran's shoulder as she stood up and started to walk over int hat general direction a little unsteadily. "...I don't know..." she said quietly. She carefully unhooked her bag from her waist and sat it on the ground in front of her before shifting thorugh it with one hand. All she had really were some plain bandages and the green scented ones that Kyran's uncle had given her. She looked at Nobu's back again and then laid her eras back again. "...I don't know if I have enough to cover all of those, but...there should be enough to get the worst of it.." She gave Aamori all of the plain bandages, the ones that she had originally brought with her. She kept the green ones inside, mostly because she couldn't replace those as easily and doubted they would help Nobu the way they should anyway since her healing magic wouldn't work on him. She reached down to the poor canine and placed her hand on his backside, avoiding his wounds as she gently stroked his back. "...Poor thing... I hope he'll be alright..." It was killing her that she couldn't heal him, she clearly wanted to badly, but since she had been informed that she couldn't she didn't think it would be wise to waste the energy trying.

Kyiri blinked when Nero picked her up and squirmed a little before she looked back to him. "But he moved..." she said as she pointed to Kanone. She seemed a little proud of herself for getting him up. Normally she couldn't wake him up to save her life even if she jumped on his head. She looked confused again when Nero told her to chill on the 'mine', and then tilted her head. "But he is mine, I found him, so he's mine. He's my big brother." Again, she sounded proud that she could claim him as her brother, or more or less had adopted him as such. She whined when Nero held her under his arm and started squirming. "Ne-ne, but me down... that hurts," she whined as she wiggled. She looked up to him awkwardly when he said that she could be put down when she agreed to be nice. "I am being nice!" she whined as her large amber eyes watered up. "You said the stuff was bad, so he needs to wake up!"

Kanone blinked groggily and realized that he was laying on the ground, staring up at the sky. The trees doubled in his vision and then melded into one before breaking apart again and he blinked a few more times. "Gods...my head..." he muttered quietly. He turned his head a little to look at Nero when he spoke and squinted, clearly having trouble focusing. After a moment he closed his eyes again and let his hand fall over his eyes heavily. "...Damn cat..." he muttered under his breath, apparently oblivious to the fact it had been a whiny child's voice that had woken him up. "...Is...Cel alright?" he asked quietly. he coundlt really focus well enough to check himself, so he was just going to have to hope someone could give him an honest yes or no.

Kyran barely responded to Nanashi's description of what had happened to the guy that he had pushed. He didn't want Nanashi to be able to sense anything from him about that so he had tried to keep a straight face and not alter the pressure in the hold he had on him. That wasn't exactly a nice picture in his head. He could certainly see why Nanashi was having trouble getting the man's face out of his head. He half wondered if they shouldn't do something about that. There wasn't really anything wrong with leaving the guy where he was on the crystal but part of him had half thought that maybe they should move him and possibly cover his head with something so that no one else had to see it right away once they walked up on him. He sighed quietly and finally dropped his eyes back down to Nanashi when he realized that he must have fallen asleep, or passed out. Considering the blood loss he wouldn't be surprised if he had passed out rather than just fallen asleep. He glanced up to Hikari when he heard her ask if he was alright with him like that and then nodded his head lightly. "...Yeah, I'll be okay for a little while longer." He said in a hushed voice. He just kind of stared at her for a moment after she had said that 'it's kind of cute' and added that Nanashi seemed really fond of him. He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that so he didn't.

Nero stared down at Kyiri for a moment and then shook his head a little. He really wasn't thrilled to be dealing with the 'mine' stage again. Getting that through to a child was so hard sometimes. "He isn't just yours Kyiri." He told her. "He has friends and family too and you have to share him with everyone he wants to be around." He paused. "You don't need to be selfish." He said as he continued to hold onto her. She could squirm until she had no energy left, he wasn't going to let her go until he was ready. "You were not being nice." He corrected her. "You were rude to Reyes." He paused. "Reyes has been nice enough to check on Celestine right away and keep an eye on him and you pushed her hands away from Celestine and told her that Celestine was yours." He sighed quietly. "That's rude and it's selfish, both aren't very nice. Then you pestered and whined to Kanone until he woke up." He shook his head a little. "Yes, I said that stuff was bad but I also said that they would wake up on their own. You didn't need to be impatient and start forcing Kanone to get up before his body was ready to be awake." He stared down at her. "Now, I'm not letting go of you unless you can promise to leave Kanone alone until he's better and not force Celestine to wake up. Oh, and don't be mean to my cousin. If you can promise those things then I will let you down." He told her and then started to look over at Kanone. He was at least glad to see him awake again. That meant the sedative wasn't the lethal kind, at least not to them.

Reyes glanced over at Kyiri briefly while Nero was speaking to her. He wasn't too surprised to hear the way that Nero was talking to her and correcting her, it reminded him of how he was with his little sister. He may come off sounding a little mean to a child sometimes but his little sister still loved him after a stern talking to. He cast his glance over to Kanone and watched him for a few moments before finally smiling weakly at his asking if Celestine was alright. He could only hope his own cousin would be that worried about him if something like this had ever happened to them. Sometimes he questioned it because Nero could be pretty heartless when he tried. "He isn't awake yet, but he's okay now. Don't worry." He answered since Nero seemed a bit busy with Kyiri.

Aamori was just starting to finish up with the last little bit of the gash she was working on by the time Hikari had made it over. She kept her eyes to what she was working on and just nodded her head a little in response to Hikari. Once she finally finished she pulled her hands back and set them off to the side of herself and shook them out, letting the blood stained water fall from her hands. She made a mental note not to look at her hands and then started to look over at Hikari. She eyed the bandages and reached over to grab them to take from her but paused and pinched at them to try and keep the blood stains on them to a minimum. "Thanks, I'm sure just covering the worst ones should be good." She just didn't want them to get infected or anything and she could easier clean out the gashes towards his head rather than the lower ones if she had to reclean anything. She stared down at Nobu for a few moments and then nodded her head weakly. "I hope so too." She said quietly and then started to look over at Hikari. She thought for a moment before she held her hands up and facing Hikari so that she couldn't see them herself. "...Any chance you can help with my hands...?" She asked since she was positive they were covered in blood and they were. There was a lot of blood considering the wounds that she had cleaned and she wasn't going to be able to finish taking care of Nobu if she couldn't use her hands and as they were now if she had to see the blood she would probably lose it again and she wouldn't be able to do a thing.

LaRae was just barely starting to come back around but she was finding it very difficult to fight the urge to just keep right on sleeping. She was starting to become consciously aware but certainly not enough to get her awake and up and moving right that minute. On top of that her whole body felt heavy and she couldn't even register which way was up, down, left or right. Her breathing had at least regulated a little and there was some slight movement behind her eyelids, other than that she was still pretty still.

Kyiri whined again and tried once more to squirm out of Nero's grasp. It wasn't really uncomfortable hanging like this, and she wasn't enjoying it in the least. She gave Nero a few mean looks when he kept telling her she was being rude and selfish. She had been sharing Celestine plenty, she'd spent nearly a week with Annan in the kitchen and she'd spent years with just Kanone and Sonia, and she'd been sharing him a lot with Aamori. She didn't want to share him with another girl. "I haven been sharing!" she protested, "But she's petting him! He doesn't like being petted by girls, it makes him mad because he's not supposed to be petted! He's not a girl so she can't play with his hair or he'll get mad at her and yell at her." That was true to an extent, it did usually make him mad when girls were petting him, but that was mostly because they were telling him and talking about how jealous they were of his hair and skin. He flew off the handle at a lot of them for it, so Kyiri just assumed he hated being petted by girls in general. She wasn't used to being scolded so much, or at least not by anyone other than Celestine. Kanone just yelled at her and called her a stupid cat, so she just ignored him. Celestine was a lot nicer about telling her off, but she respected him a little more. She continued to look up at Nero, her amber eyes slowly watering up. "Fine!" she whined in a shrill voice as she started snuggling again, her arms and legs flailing as, her tears spilled down her face. "Put me down, I don't like this!" At this point she would agree to just about anything if he'd put her down. She may have looked like a little girl but she still had the mentality of a kitten. If she didn't want to be held she would throw a fit and struggle until she was back on the ground again.

Kanone didn't bother to open his eyes again, and was trying to only focus on whoever the heck was answering him. he heard Nero talking, but it had nothing to do with what he asked, and he heard someone else, but he didn't really register who or what it was. Once Reyes had answered him he sighed softly and relaxed a little more. "...Good..." he breathed quietly. He really didn't have the energy built up again to talk much, and whatever was squealing wasn't helping his headache, but he was trying to ignore it just because he didn't feel like trying to shut it up.

Hikari looked back to Aamori again when she saw her hold up her hands and ask if she could help her with them. She looked them over for a moment, noticing the large amount of blood on her hands and then sighed softly and shook her head a little. "...No, dear, I'm sorry... I don't have anything to clean things off with, but...well you can wipe it on the other side of my shirt, it's already ruined," she offered. She didn't really care about the shirt, and if it would help Aamori out, she really didn't mind. She had another shirt she could put on. The shirts she'd had before had to be thrown away, but the skirt was fine. The two might look funny together, but so long as she was dressed she really didn't care how she looked. "...There is a small stream about a quarter of a mile up ahead..you can wash them off better there when we get there."

Nero held tight to Kyiri and listened to her while she ranted and raved. He just stared down at her with a faint expression of 'are you done yet?' while he waited. He could handle just about any mean look a child gave him, especially when he knew he was right in what he was saying. His sister had only managed to hit him once with a mean look and that was because the words 'I hate you' slipped out along with it. She hadn't really meant it and she was just so young she was mad and wanted to make him mad too. He could even handle tears, to an extent. He'd eventually feel terrible if Kyiri kept up with the crying because it would kind of be his fault and then he'd be mad at himself for making her cry. His ears twitched a bit when she finally said 'Fine' followed by her saying to put her down, that she didn't like this. He didn't say a word merely slipped his other hand over and grabbed her around the waist before setting her down gently onto her feet. He didn't let go right away though. He lifted his hand up and slid his thumb across her cheeks lightly to dash away the tears. "You need to calm down and not cry." He said quietly. "Reyes isn't doing anything wrong, I assure you. She isn't petting him like you're thinking. It's just a soothing motion that a lot of people do when someone is sick or hurt. I'm sure you've seen it before." He paused. "Kanone's mom probably did it when Kanone was sick. Then again... you don't seem very fond of Kanone so I can't be certain you'd have seen his mother touching him like that." He finally took his hands off of her so that she could move wherever she pleased. "...I know ...would you rather be doing what Reyes is doing?" He paused. "I'm sure Reyes wouldn't mind letting you take over. I'm sure her hand could use a break." He was about to look to Reyes to double check and see if that was alright but he shook his head a little. "Wait, if you want to do that we should have Hikari look at your arm first. We need to make sure you're going to be okay first. We don't need to worry Celestine as soon as he wakes up, now do we?" He asked and then pointed towards Hikari, hinting that they should head over there first, or at least Kyiri.

Reyes nodded slightly when Kanone said 'good' and then stared down at Celestine while he continued to stroke his hair. His hand did pause briefly in mid-motion when he heard part of what had Kyiri so upset. He wasn't so sure he really considered what he was doing petting but... maybe it was. He resumed the motion and then glanced up to look over at Nero and Kyiri as Nero got around to setting her down and then talking to her again. Or well, trying to explain things to her. He almost immediately nodded his head when Nero said that 'Reyes' wouldn't mind letting Kyiri take over. He didn't mind, especially if it made the kid happy.

Aamori stared over at Hikari when she said that she didn't have anything to clean things off with and then offered her the other side of her shirt. She closed her hands a little and pulled them back towards her and then shook her head a little. "...No, it's alright." She said quietly. "I don't really want to rub bloody hands all over your shirt..." She told her. It just seemed like a mean thing to do even if the shirt was already ruined. She wouldn't exactly want to be walking around like a used rag so she couldn't imagine using Hikari's shirt that way. She did need to clean her hands off at least a little, enough that she could use them without freaking out about the blood. She looked back over to Hikari when she heard her mention a small stream up ahead and nodded. That would be helpful, later, whenever they could get moving. She finally caved and opened up her hands all the way and pressed them against her thighs, rubbing the blood off onto the wetsuit material as much as possible. The material was black so it should hide blood decently enough and she could always try and wash it off at the stream if it did show on her suit too much. She rubbed gently for a few moments and then finally started to pull her hands back. She was about to turn them over to look at them but was trying to make a good effort to keep herself from freaking out about it. She bit her lip lightly and then turned her hands, palm up, to Hikari again. "Do they look clean enough?" She asked quietly, honestly a little embarrassed. Her hands were pretty clean, for the most part. They just looked like they were dyed a light shade of red. It wasn't too obvious that it had been blood, it just looked red.

Kyiri calmed down considerably as soon as Nero had put her back on the ground, and she tried to dart away from him, but got nowhere considering that he was still holding onto her. She stood there with that same pouting look on her face as he dashed at her tears and told her to calm down. "Then don't hold me like that!" She sniffled a little and crossed her arms before looking away from him. That wasn't really what had her so worked up, it was just the fact that he kept getting onto her, but griping at him for holding her that way was good enough. She looked back to him again when he started explaining what Reyes was doing and then said that Kanone's mother had probably done it before. She thought about it for a moment, and then tilted her head a little when Nero said that she didn't seem fond of Kanone. "...I like him when he's sleepy, he lets me then. When he's awake he's grumpy and calls me stupid and forgets to feed me, so then I have to take his and he yells at me and locks me out of his room." She looked back to Reyes for a moment and then back to Nero again. "Auntie Sonia used to pet him like that when he was littlerer, but he got mad at her too and told her to stop it because she wasn't his mommy." She certainly seemed to remember the times when Celestine was upset about something at any rate. She sighed and then laid her pointed ears back a little now that she was thinking about it. "Auntie's going to be mad when we get home because Kanone didn't leave her a note this time and we've been gone a long time so she's going to worry and yell at him and then cry." Kyiri had been at the other house the entire time before and had never laid eyes on Sonia's body. She still had no idea what was going on there or why she was taking so long to come home. She looked a little interested when Nero mentioned petting Celestine like Reyes was, but then looked a little worried. What if he really didn't like it and got mad at her? She really didn't want that. She looked back toward Hikari once Nero had pointed in her directed and nodded her head slightly after he said that she should have Hikari look at her arm. "'Kay," she agreed easily. She didn't seem to have a problem with being looked t. She turned around and hurried over to her, her blueish hair flying out behind her in long streams. She came to a stop right behind Hikari and then started to reach to to tap her on the shoulder, but stopped and looked over to Nobu. She stared at him for a moment and her ears laid back before she looked back over to Nero, her hand still outstretched and ready to tap, but she seemed to be waiting for an okay first.

Hikari smiled weakly when Aamori said that she didn't want to use her shirt. "...I doubt anyone would notice...I won't be wearing it much longer anyway..." she said softly. Once Aamori had decided to clean her hands off on her pants, however, she didn't bother to say anything else. She sighed softly, trying to remain patient as Aamori held her hands out to her again. She thought this might go a tiny bit faster if she just did it herself, but she didn't say anything. She was just feeling stressed out and impatient at the moment, but she was doing a good job of hiding it. She nodded slightly when she asked if they were clean enough. "Yes...they are as clean as you will be able to get them for now." Her ear twitched when she thought she heard something, though by the time she decided to cast a glance to the side, whatever she'd heard had stopped, and she didn't turn her head far enough around to notice Kyiri behind her with her one half useless eye. She shook her head a little and then looked back down to Nobu and stroked his back again, a little ways below the gashes. She really just wished she could heal him...she hated thinking the poor thing was sitting there in pain, and she knew it was probably bothering Kyran as well, though at least he had something to keep him a little preoccupied.

Nero couldn't help but laugh quietly when Kyiri said that she liked Kanone when he's asleep and when he's awake he's grumpy. "I think you've officially proven you're not stupid, Kyiri." He paused. "...and in this form no one should forget to feed you because you can speak up when you're hungry." He listened quietly as she went on to tell him about a time when Sonia stroked Celestine's hair like that when he was younger. He sighed quietly. That was going to be difficult to explain to her, at least as to why Celestine responded the way he did. "...I wouldn't worry so much about that. He was younger then and had some tough things to deal with. It's a little different now, I think." He said quietly. His ears laid back slightly the further Kyiri went on. He hadn't known that Kyiri didn't know about what had happened to Sonia, but then again who ever really thought to tell the cat that she died? That was going to be a pain to explain to her but he figured it might be easier if he gave the news to Kyiri then either Celestine or Kanone. He had been the one to help bury the body so he was more then aware of what happened and he wasn't so sure that either of the two really needed to have to explain that to a little kid. Or well, maybe he wasn't sure they could do it without breaking down themselves, especially after dealing with the hunters today. He didn't say anything right then just nodded his head weakly. He continued to watch her for a moment while he thought of the best way to explain it and then decided to hold off for a little since she was on her way over to Hikari. He stayed where he was and watched her though he tilted his head slightly when she stopped and looked back at him. He smiled slightly and nodded his head. "It's alright, go ahead." He called to her and waited, mostly to see Hikari's reaction.

Reyes watched as Kyiri finally headed over to Hikari. He hadn't really noticed she had a cut on her arm until Nero pointed it out, or well, mentioned getting it looked at. He shook his head lightly after she was gone and Nero gave her the go ahead to get Hikari's attention. "...If your sister winds up like her I don't think I ever want to come by the house..." He commented while shaking his head. "She talks a lot and is just a little annoying... and her cuteness almost doesn't make it better." The whole 'mine' thing and overly possessiveness of her was probably what made him think she was annoying the most. It wasn't like he was hurting Celestine or taking him away from her so he didn't see why she had to be like that but then again he wasn't really looking at it from the point of view of a cat.

Aamori was relieved to hear that her hands were as clean as she would be able to get them for now. She pulled her hands back and slowly started to turn them over to look at them. She was more relieved that after looking at them herself she didn't feel the insatiable urge to scrub her hands clean like she had in the past. She smiled very weakly and felt maybe an explanation was in order in case Hikari hadn't been aware. "...I uh.. well... I have developed ...a phobia, I guess..." She started quietly. "...I get this ...urge... to scrub my hands ...when I see ...blood on them... and I usually ...scrub and scrub... and scrub... until they're raw." She told her quietly. "It's happened... a couple times... and I finally remembered... not to... look." She added lastly before she started to take the bandages up and eye Nobu. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to go about putting these on him, at least without him having to move. Unfortunately he may have to help with that because it would be difficult to put them on otherwise.

Hikari listened quietly to Aamori when she started to explain about her phobia and then nodded slightly. "It's alright," she said softly. She placed her hand gently on Aamori's shoulder and then her ear twitched when she heard Nero calling over in that direction. She turned her head just enough to look at Nero and raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead and what?" she called back, looking as confused as she sounded. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something tap her shoulder and turned around quickly, though she blinked when she saw the little girl standing there. in...what she was pretty sure was Nero's shirt. She stared at her for a moment and then glanced back to Nero again, only just now registering that he was shirtless. She felt slow today for some reason, though it was probably from the blood loss, she just wasn't that focused. "...Nero...?" she said as if he was supposed to have the explanation. After a second she shook her head and then turned back to the little girl again, looking her over before she smiled. "Hello there..." she said a little unsurely.

Kyiri waited until Nero had given her the go-ahead and then slimed slightly before she tapped Hikari's shoulder a few times. She moved back a little once she had turned around and then smiled weakly. She waited until Hikari had said hello and then waved at her silently, apparently deciding to go suddenly bashful. She just pointed to her bleeding arm. "...It hurts, Ne-ne said to look at it." she told her quietly.

Hikari looked at the girl's arm when she pointed out the injury and then smiled weakly. "Awww...here...let's see..." she said quietly. She took her arm gently, struggling not to laugh at her nick name for Nero, and looked at the cut on her arm. It was a little deeper than she first thought, but it still wasn't all that serious. After a moment she raised her hand to the girl's arm and let the blue aura come over her hand as she healed up the sound. It really didn't take more than a few seconds on her tiny arm. Once she was finished she smiled at her. "There...is that better?" she asked softly.

Kyiri watched as Hikari healed her arm and then smiled at her again when she was finished and asked if it was okay. "Uh-huh." She chimed, for a moment making like she was going to hug her, but then stopped. "...You're bloody or I'd hug you." She then looked back to Nero briefly and then reached down to grab Hikari's hand without a word and tugged until she had gotten up before pulling her over to Nero and pointing to the cut on his arm.

Hikari smiled a little when the girl said that was good and then couldn't help a soft laugh when she said that she wasn't getting a hug because she was bloody. "That's alight...I need a bath, don't I?" She was a little confused when the girl grabbed her hand and started tugging, but she glanced back to Aamori again briefly. "...I'll...be right back..." she said quietly as she got to her feet slowly and followed the girl over to Nero, not really bothering to try to get her hand free. She looked down to his arm when she pointed to it and sighed softly when she saw the cut though she smiled almost immediately afterward. "Haha...alright, alright..." She could already tell that Nero's cut wasn't bad at all and really didn't need her attention, but she could at least do something about it. She still had the green bandages in her hand, luckily, and had absently brought them with her. She looked back to Nero and half smiled at him, "Let me see what your little friend here is worried about."

Nero continued to watch after Kyiri and couldn't help another quiet laugh when Hikari called back to him looking confused though the funniest part was probably how she jumped when Kyiri tapped her. That was practically priceless. He glanced towards Reyes for a moment after hearing his comments and then shook his head a little. "You know she likes you Reyes, she'd just cry and whine until she could find you if you stopped showing up at the house." He told him before casting his glance back over to Kyiri and Hikari. He just stared at Hikari for a moment when she said his name, obviously looking for some explanation. All he did was smile. It was kind of fun seeing her flounder like this though she was obviously not quite on top of her game if she wasn't gathering that child to be Kyiri. He continued to keep an eye on Kyiri for a little while, while Hikari was working on her arm though he did glance back to Kanone and then to Celestine briefly. This sedative they were hit with was a real pain since not even Kanone was back to his usual self just yet. He could only imagine how much longer this was going to take with Celestine or even LaRae for that matter. He turned his eyes back towards Kyiri when he noticed from the corner of his eye that she and Hikari were coming over. He just stared at the two of them for a moment before he actually caught onto what Kyiri had brought Hikari over for. He shook his head a little after Hikari had said for him to let her see what his little friend was worried about. "I already told her it wasn't that bad." He paused. "It'll heal on it's own just fine. Don't worry about it." He said and then looked back down to Kyiri for a moment before returning his eyes to Hikari. "...and she's not exactly just my little friend." He said with an almost laugh. "That's Kyiri, if you hadn't noticed."

Aamori smiled very wealkly when Hikari said it was alright and touched her shoulder. Well, at least Hikari knew and that made her feel a little better since she'd been asking her to look at her hands when she could have done it herself. She sighed quietly and was about to turn her focus back to Nobu when she heard Hikari. She turned her head to look over at her and then to look towards Nero though she stopped when her eyes fell on the little girl behind Hikari. She stared at the girl until Hikari finally noticed her. She wondered where the kid came from and why she was out here in the forest alone when there were hunters just here not that long ago. She continued to stare at the girl a bit more while Hikari healed her and was slowly piecing things together. The hair color, it reminded her of Kyiri. The ears... yep... they did too. The tail, there was only one but it looked the same. Then... those big amber eyes. She could almost recognize those anywhere after being in charge of treat distribution with their little secret agreement. But it didn't make any sense. Kyiri couldn't be a little girl she was a cat and a tiny one at that. She shook her head slightly and started to turn back to Nobu once the girl started to tug Hikari towards Nero. She nodded her head a little when she said she'd be back. "...Alright." She responded quietly and looked back to Nobu. Hmm... this was going to be a pain. She undid the bandages a bit and then looked down at Nobu with a bit of a sad look. She hated to ask him to stand even just a little but she couldn't roll the bandages under him. "...Nobu... I hate to ask... but could you stand... maybe just a little." She paused. "I'll be quick, I promise." She told him and readied the bandages for wrapping once he was up.

Nobu was quite relaxed, minus the aching. He'd gotten used to the pain the way he was laying and he was kind of comfortable just the way he was. His ears laid back slightly when he heard Aamori's request. He knew she only asked because she couldn't do it unless he was raised up a little. He slowly pulled his head back from Esen's paws and shifted very slightly earning a low whimper. The gashes and their positions really did make it kind of hard to move without hurting so he was kind of hoping to make this quick. He did as she asked though it strained him a lot. It took him what felt to him like forever to get back on his feet and he didn't even stand up completely. He made it maybe half way to his feet before he locked his legs into place and waited while Aamori hurried to wrap the larger gashes. He actually started to shake the longer he was on his feet and the whining and whimpers came without warning while she worked. As soon as she was finished and told him it was okay to lay back down he tried to gently set himself back on the ground and failed. His legs practically gave out on him part way to the ground and he just kind of plopped with a painful noise escaping his mouth. Once he was back on the ground his ears shot back and he curled his tails up against him tightly, feeling quite miserable but at least glad that he might be able to rest without moving for awhile.

Kyiri looked up to Nero again when he said that his arm would be fine on it's own and crossed her arms, giving him a stern look. "You made me get mine looked at!" she told him, trying to mimic his stern voice, "Not you have to, you're bleeding!" Kyiri wasn't all that good at sounding stern with her high, tiny voice, but she had the face to go with it. She was at least pretty good at mimicking Nero's expression if not his voice.

Hikari glanced down to the girl and then laughed softly at her demand that Nero be looked at. She shook her head a little and then looked back to Nero again when he said that the girl was Kyiri. He blinked and then looked abck down at the girl for a long moment. "...O-oh..." she said quietly, sounding a bit surprised. She'd barely even noticed the way the cat kept changing forms. Of course she had seen the larger version, but for some reason it hadn't really clocked..she was kind of used to there being large, multi-tailed creatures around, so considering her preoccupation with the hunter, she's barely even taken note of it. She stared at the girl for a moment and then smiled a little before reached over to place he hand on top of her head. She looked down at the little bell on her neck and then smiled a little. The girl almost reminded her of her sister a little. After a moment she looked back to Nero and smiled slightly. "Well, here, let's at least put something over it," she said simply as she reached for his arm and motioned toward Kyiri with her head with that 'if it will make her happy' look on her face. It wasn't like it was going to use up much of the bandages but either way, that was what she had them for. At least she clearly had no intention of wasting her energy on something so small. Honestly, she could have just bandaged Kyiri's arm, but she thought it would probably be easier to just heal that for her. It wasn't serious enough that it would take a great deal of energy, but it was deep enough it would take a while to heal on it's own and could probably risk infection, since she didn't know where the girl came from she just decided it would be easier on the girl if it was just taken care of right away.

Esen raised her head off of Nobu's when Aamori asked him to stand up and then laid her ears back, whining with him quietly. She stood up to her full height when he got to his feet and moved a little closer to him, lowering her head and looking at him as if trying to find some way to help him stay up, but without arms there wasn't a a lot she could do. Her ears laid back and she whimpered softly as she listened to Nobu, wishing even more that there was some way she could help. As soon as he flopped back to the ground she moved closer to him again, licking his face gently as she nestled back down close beside him and nuzzled his head lightly with her own. After a moment she looked back to Aamori and let her tails sway just a little, just enough to show some acknowledgment of her and a little appreciation, and then she lowered her head again and curled her tails back around herself again as he leaned her ehad lightly against the side of Nobu's.

Nero eyed Kyiri for a moment when she tried to be stern in telling him that he needed to be looked at as well, especially since he had made her get looked at. The voice she used was a fail, but the face just made him shake his head a little while trying to suppress a smile. It was kind of cute the way she tried to be stern like he had been and the fact that the voice and face didn't match quite right is what got him smiling. He turned his attention back to Hikari once she had said to at least put something over it and caught the look on her face. He didn't bother keeping his arm away from her or start protesting. "Alright, alright. Go ahead." He said with a small sigh. He was only letting her take care of the arm because he didn't want to deal with Kyiri if he didn't. He already knew what to expect if he didn't listen and have it looked at and he really didn't want to deal with that not to mention arguing over such a silly thing with a child was just stupid.

Aamori sat back after she was finished with tending to Nobu and sighed softly before she reached over and gently touched his back, just past where she had wrapped him. She was sorry that hurt him like it did and she wished it hadn't hurt at all but there wasn't anything that she could do about the pain. She sat there for a few moments and patted him before pulling her hand away and leaning back a bit. She smiled weakly when she noticed Esen look at her and sway her tails a little. She still felt bad for having hurt him while doing that but someone needed to do it and at least this way it was done and taken care of and before Celestine saw it for as bad as it was. She kept her eyes on Nobu for a moment longer before she turned her head a bit to look over towards Celestine and Kanone. She was still a little worried about them so she hoped that they were okay and would wake up soon and be back to themselves.

Hikari smiled slightly when Nero agreed to let her bandage his arm. She didn't really thinking it was overly necessary, but it wouldn't hurt anything to have done. She took his arm and pulled it up a little before carefully wrapping the bandage around his wound firmly and then tearing it off so she could tie it. Once she tied it off she let his arm go and then glanced down to Kyiri again. "There, he'll be okay now," she said with a slight smile as she patted her head gently.

Kyiri watched as Hikari tied up Nero's cut and then smiled warmly when she said that he'd be okay now and patted her head. She reached over to her and wrapped both arms around her, not really worried about hugging her now that she was standing since she didn't have to touch her shoulders or anything. "Yay! Now you can go take a bath," she told her lightly.

Hikari couldn't help but laugh at Kyiri's comment and then shook her head a little. "That sounds nice," she said simply as she rubbed the top of her head and then after a moment she just hugged the girl tightly. "You're welcome." After a moment she let her go and then looked back to Nero for a moment before glancing down to Kanone and Celestine. "How are these two doing?" she asked as she looked them over. Kanone looked as if he was merely asleep or resting, but Celestine was still breathing irregularly and didn't seem to have had any noticeable change about him.

Kyiri let go on Hikari once she'd let go of her and then bounded over to Nero again and latched onto his leg tightly, glad he'd decided to listen to her about getting his arm fixed up. She looked back to Hikari when she asked about Nero about Kanone and Celestine and then pointed to Kanone. "Kano moved," she said simply.

Hikari smiled weakly, "I see that..." she said softly as she moved a little closer to Kanone and knelt down beside him, raising her hand to his face and gently pulling up his eyelid.

Kanone groaned softly and closed his eye again. "Ow..." he muttered quietly. He rubbed his eye and then cracked them open again before trying to focus on Hikari. "...I'm up..." he muttered tiredly and then half smiled at her, "...You look like hell..." He rubbed his temples again and then slowly tried to push himself up again, though he still swayed a little as he sat himself upright, but at least this time he managed to hold himself up with his arms. He blinked a few times and then sighed heavily and leaned his head forward onto his knees. "...Uhg...well...is everyone else okay...?"

"Sorry, I didn't know if you were still awake," she said when he said 'ow', and then tilted his head a little when he said that she looked like hell. "Gee, thanks..." she said sarcastically, though she smiled slightly afterward and shook her head. She watched as he tried to get up and gently pulled him up until he was able to sit upright, though she still kept a hand behind him until he leaned forward. "Yes, everyone's been taken care of..." she said quietly. "Now we just need everyone to wake up.

Nero watched as Hikari wrapped up his arm and tied it off and then glanced to Kyiri once she had been told that he would be okay now. He just kind of nodded his head slightly before lowering his eyes to the bandage while touching it lightly. He really hadn't needed that but if it made Kyiri happy it was better to just let Hikari do it. He sighed quietly and then looked back to Hikari and Kyiri. He couldn't help shaking his head lightly at Kyiri saying that Hikari could go take a bath now. Hikari did look like she could use one and a new change of clothes, or well, a shirt at least. He watched Kyiri when she came over to him and wasn't too surprised to see her latch onto his leg like she did. He just stared down at her for a moment before reaching his hand down to touch her head lightly. He looked back to Hikari, since she had asked a question though he didn't get an answer out before Kyiri had said that Kano moved. "Of course he moved. You pushed him and told him to wake up." He said, mostly for Hikari's benefit. He watched Hikari head over to Kanone and inspect his eye only to receive and 'ow' in response. He guessed he could've said that Kanone was awake, or at least he had assumed he was awake and just resting his eyes. He couldn't help laughing when Kanone said that Hikari looked like hell. He had refrained from saying anything since it was obvious but hearing it come out of Kanone's mouth was enough to crack him up. He sobered himself up easily enough and looked at Hikari when she answered the question that Kanone had asked. He focused more on Kanone for a moment and opened his mouth. "You, Celestine and LaRae went down from the darts and the rest of us, minus Hikari and I think Nanashi too nothing more than scratches here and there." He told him, thinking he may have been curious. "Oh... and Nobu got quite the beating but from what I hear Hikari can't do anything about that and the other dogs are fine, and so is Kyiri." He said lastly as he patted the girls head again.

Reyes stayed pretty quiet while he was sitting still stroking Celestine's hair every so often. He had smiled a bit at Kyiri's demand for Nero to get his own cut looked at. That was quite a bit amusing especially since Nero gave in like he did. He continued to keep an eye on everyone around him and just smiled slightly listening to them. He watched when Kanone finally started trying to sit up and eventually asked about everyone else. He shifted his glance to Nero briefly when he started telling Kanone about the state the others were in. Of course after hearing all of that he thought to look over in LaRae's direction though he was a little confused when he didn't see her where he thought she was and started to look around in a couple different areas. She couldn't already be up and moving could she and if that were possible where could she had gone? He was a little confused but maybe she had gotten up to go the bathroom or something?

LaRae hadn't been missing for too long really by the time Reyes had thought to look for her. She had disappeared quite quietly from the group and without a single person coming into view to move her. Renzo had been keeping an eye on her like he usually did and he hadn't had a chance to snatch her up at all from Kairava so he figured he would take advantage of the situation right now. She wasn't completely conscious and couldn't make a sound or fight back so it wouldn't be that hard to take her away from the group for awhile and on top of that he didn't think any of them would notice right away that she was missing. They all seemed a little busy with other things to even be concerned with the fact that she was laying off by herself and without anyone watching her. It was just all too convenient. He had been a short distance from the group, just far enough that they wouldn't notice him and he used his magic to move her body quietly further into the trees until he thought it was far enough in that he could get closer to pick her up and wander off with her. He knew he couldn't just up and leave with her and never return her so he wasn't leaving the territory but he wasn't giving her back right away either. He had a few things to talk to her about and didn't want anyone interfering and he really didn't think he was going to get a chance like this again any time soon. That halfbreed really did seem to be glued to her every time he or Gesa happened to get a chance to look and for once he wasn't near her so of course this chance wasn't going to waste.

Hikari glanced back to Nero again when she heard him respond to what Kyiri had said. She wasn't that surprised for some reason that Kanone was only conscious now thanks to Kyiri prodding him. She really did seem like the type to annoy someone awake. She kept her eyes on Kanone for a few moments and then sighed softly and glanced back to Nero when she heard him laugh. She tilted her head and then laid her ears back a little before sticking her tongue out at him playfully. She shook her head again and then glanced back to Kanone again. She wished she could do something to help his headache, but she really didn't know what to do for it. She wasn't all that accustomed to dealing with poisons and sedatives, so she didn't really know what to do.

Kanone listened quietly to Nero, keeping his eyes closed and his head down against his knees. He raised his head a little after he had said that Hikari and Nanashi had gotten the worst of it. He looked over to Hikari for a moment and then sighed heavily, his ears laid back a little. He absently raised his hand to his arm where the dart had pegged him and rubbed it a little before he looked over to Nobu. "...Geez..." he whispered quietly. He blinked when Nero mentioned the cat again and then glanced around. "...Oh...where is that hairball?" he asked tiredly. It took him a moment to notice the girl clinging to Nero's leg and he blinked a few times, staring hard at her. "...She...?" He glanced around again before his eyes came back to rest on the girl. he stared at her for a moment and then looked down to the ribbon around her neck. "...Is...that...? How...?" he looked at Nero for a moment and then back to the girl again. He still looked as if he was having trouble focusing on things through the way he was squinting, but after a moment he just shook his head a little.

Kyiri stared at Kanone for a moment from where she clung to Nero's side and then slowly let go of him after Kanone had noticed her. She smiled weakly and then edged away from Nero's leg and moved over to Kanone. She giggled since he seemed so confused and then just climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "You're funny, Kano," she said lightly before she leaned her head against him and nuzzled him. She sighed heavily and then laid her ears back. "Can we go home now?"

Kanone blinked when the girl crawled into his lap and stared at her with a slightly wide-eyed expression. He just sat there as she cuddled on him, looking a little shocked, but after a moment he raised one arm and then wrapped it around her gently. "...Um...no...not...not...yet..." he answered quietly. He looked up to Nero again, looking thoroughly confused before he glanced back down to Kyiri again. He stared at her for a moment and then smiled weakly and ran his fingers down through her hair. "...Since when do you come and cuddle on me?" he asked quietly.

Kyiri sighed when Kanone said that they couldn't go home yet. She raised her head a little and looked at him again when he asked when she started cuddling on him. "...I have before," she pointed out, "You just don't remember cause you fall asleep." She yawned and then laid her head back on Kanone's shoulder, nestling against him lightly.

It wasn't but another few seconds before the brief peace was shattered. four guards suddenly burst into the clearing, all of which were male and decently sized. They were dressed identically in blue pants and white shirts. Each wore a short blue cape and a hard silvery breast plate over their shirts. Two were armed with longbows, the others with swords. Someone had come to the city them in the city and reported a disturbance involving a halfbreed and humans as well as a mentioned sighting of a dark dragon and several other dragons from other clans. They had gotten here as quickly as they could, but it was quite a distance even with their speed, so it took them a bit longer to get there than they would have liked. It seemed that most of the excitement had died down, but they came with their weapons at ready, the two with the long bows were already pointing them in Nero's general direction as the two with the swords advance,d though they didn't seem to be coming in for an attack, merely had them out in case they needed them quickly.

The one up front swept the area with his eyes quickly and then his eyes widened a little when he caught sight of the light dragon kneeling on the ground near the dark dragon's feet covered in blood and the wind dragon collapsed near yet another dark dragon. He raised his sword and pointed it at Nero. "Step away from the girl!" he commanded him sternly, "Both of you, get on the ground! Now!"

Hikari nearly jumped out of her skin when the guards came into the area and instantly stared at them, looking almost horrified. This was the last thing she'd wanted to deal with right now. She stared at them until she realized what this probably looked like to them. As soon as the guard pointed his blade at Nero she stood up quickly, a little too quickly as the motion made her stagger, and held up her hands. "No!" she said quickly, "These two are with me!" she tried to tell them, though she wasn't entirely sure they were listening to her. None of them really seemed to give her much notice and proceeded as if she wasn't even standing there.

((Haha I so typed out a huge book then decided not to even use it... XD: ))

Nero just kind of patted the top of Kyiri's head once more after Kanone had asked where she was. He figured Kanone would figure it out sooner or later, the guy lived with the cat after all. He just kind of tried to smile weakly when it looked like it was finally clicking and Kanone asked if the girl was Kyiri and how. He nodded his head slightly and then thought of how to answer his question. He wasn't quite sure. "In a puff of mist." He commented and then shook his head lightly. "The cat is full of surprises..." He said and watched as Kyiri released his leg and headed over to Kanone. He sighed quietly once he heard Kyiri ask if they could go home now, once she'd gotten comfortable in Kanone's lap. He half wondered if either he or Celestine had thought to explain things to Kyiri. Like why they were on this trip and how long it was going to take. Most wouldn't think a cat needed to know those things but it was more then clear now that Kyiri had more then just a cat's comprehension of some things. He continued to stand where he was quietly, keeping an eye on Kyiri while absently touching at the wrap on his arm. He wasn't going to remove it or anything it was just a strange feeling having his arm wrapped up when it usually wasn't. He shook his head lightly when he caught the answer to one of the questions that Kanone had asked. Kyiri in this humanoid form was quite cute even in her speech as compared to how annoying she could be as a tiny cat. His ears twitched quite a few times before he looked up to see who had come into the clearing. He wasn't too thrown off by seeing other people come after them though he was surprised to see light territory guards over more hunters. He shook his head a little. They really should've moved once the hunters were clear. He didn't even appear too bothered by the fact that two of the guards, the archers, had their bows pointed in his direction. He knew better then to make any sudden movements, but he wasn't exactly shaking in his boots either. He just stood there and watched the guards as the one surveyed the area. He glanced over to Hikari briefly when he heard the guard tell him to step away from the girl. Well, lovely. This whole situation did kind of look bad, especially with Hikari of all people likely covered in the most blood. He slowly turned his attention back to the guard when he had said for both of them to get on the ground, now. He probably had a look of 'are you serious' on his face for all of two seconds before he looked down to Reyes. Even with Hikari's protest he was pretty sure this was going to be a mess. There was just too much here that looked bad for the guards to listen to a single woman from their clan and frankly, if this turned out badly and either he or Reyes wound up imprisoned he kind of hoped they both did. If one of them was going he would much rather they both went then have that stupid paper save him and not Reyes. If it were even possible he'd happily give his safety to Reyes, in a heartbeat.

Reyes, unlike Nero, jumped almost as badly as Hikari when the guards came into the area. He hadn't expected anyone else to bother them and frankly, guards were at the bottom of his list of people to see. His ears laid back and he stared down at Celestine for a moment before lifting his eyes to look over at Nero. He knew just like Nero did that this looked bad for them. There was a blood covered light dragon, an unconscious wind dragon and several others who were beaten up a little. Of course the two dark clan dragons sitting in the middle of light territory would be blamed for anything that the guards thought went on here. He felt a pit building in the bottom of his stomach and lowered his ears a little further as he looked back towards the guards as the one was telling Nero to step away from Hikari and then for both of them to get on the ground. His first response would've been that he was already on the ground but he did, thankfully, know better than to smart talk someone like that. He glanced back to Nero, mostly to see how he was responding. He knew he would have an idea of what to do if he looked at Nero and he wasn't surprised to see that Nero hadn't moved an inch. Nero knew he wasn't in the wrong so of course he didn't move. He sighed very quietly and lowered his eyes back down to Celestine for a moment before he stroked his hair again and then took his hand away. He was going to have to move, eventually, but he didn't exactly want to get up just to get on the ground again and he hadn't been told to move away from Celestine so he just followed suit with Nero and stayed where he was kind of hoping the fact that he looked completely defenseless might be in his favor, even just a little.

Kyran had shut his eyes and was just resting where he was while still holding an arm around Nanashi. It was a nice break, honestly and he enjoyed it while it lasted. His lifted his head up and cracked his eyes open when the commotion from the guards started. It startled him very slightly to see light clan guards here. If anything could go wrong today it was going to, apparently. He listened to what was going on for a moment or two before lowering his eyes to Nanashi. He shook him very slightly. "Hey, Nanashi." He said quietly. "You're going to need to wake up, if you can..." He paused. "Just don't freak out if you open your eyes. They're some guards of Hikari's territory." He sighed quietly. "It'd look better if you weren't unconscious... so I hope you aren't..." He told him quietly and really hoped he wasn't unconscious. They had enough unconscious people already and it really would look better if Nanashi could stand on his own if he needed to. He flexed his fingers on his left hand a little and then rotated his shoulder too. For the most part he had full feeling back in his arm, it just felt a little weird. He was sure it was fine, just working off the last little bits of whatever that sedative was. He lifted his left arm and started to reach for his chest pockets to pat for the paper he was undoubtedly going to have to pull out. He was relieved when he felt it in his pocket. They would probably be doomed without that paper.

Aamori startled herself when the guards showed up in the area unannounced. She almost immediately stared over at Hikari. She knew how dealing with guards could be but this situation did look really bad at first glance and honestly, she hoped that being who she was had some pull in his territory like it did in her own. She was going to be a water clan elder though and that didn't mean a whole lot when it came to authority in other clans. She didn't bother to move from where she was sitting beside Nobu but she did reach out and put her hand on Zale and mumbled quietly for him to lay down so he didn't seem like a threat. Animals, especially large ones could startle people and if anyone was trigger happy a sudden movement from any of the dogs could land them in a bad spot.

Kanone actually startled a little when the guards burst into the clearing, which caused him to lose his balance and fall backwards onto his elbow. He kept one arm tightly around Kyiri, though he tightened his grip a little when he heard the girl whimper. "Shh..." he whispered as he placed his hand on the back of her head lightly and tried to turn her head a little so that she couldn't quite see what was going on. "Be still," he told her quietly.

Kyiri was startled when the guards came into the clearing and then whimpered. She started to try and squirm out of Kanone's grip when they started on Nero, but she went still when he put his hand on her head and told her to be still. She looked up at him with those wide amber eyes and then closed her eyes tightly and nuzzled her face against his chest. It may not have shown often but she did trust Kanone and she did like him...he was just more funny when he was annoyed. Right now she was just sitting in his lap hoping that no one would bother them.

Nanashi was completely oblivious to the guards when the first entered, but as Kyran shook him he groaned softly and then cracked open his eyes for a second before closing his eyes tightly again. His head still ached terribly, but he at least seemed calmer now. He opened his eyes slowly when Kyran told him not to freak out and slowly raised his head off of his chest just a little to glance around, though when he saw the guards with their weapons he cringed a little and leaned back against him again. "...What's...going on...?" he whispered quietly, his voice tiny. He found himself clutching Kyran's shirt again absently before he glanced up to him, his eyes only half open. He only looked half conscious, but he was at least alert enough to respond.

The guard narrowed his eyes at the larger dark dragon when he didn't respond to him. "I said get back and get on the ground!" he told him again sternly as he came closer. He looked on the verge of subduing the dragon if he had to, considering that he wasn't doing as ordered.

Hikari moved quickly and placed herself between Nero and the guard. "Enough! Lower your weapons. They–"
"You do not have the authority to make that call!" he snapped at her, looking a little annoyed that she was interfering, "Move aside." He reached over to the girl and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her away from the dark dragon forcefully, but not with enough force to hurt her. He passed her off to the man behind him to hold out of the way.
Hikari was a little taken by surprise when they actually pulled her away from Nero. "Stand down!" she snapped, in a tone that was suddenly full of command as she gave the man who had passed her off a stern look. "Listen to me, And you let go of me!" she said irritable as she jerked her arms free from guard's grasp. She smacked h is hand away when he went o grab her again and then moved away from him. "These two have done nothing wrong, this–" again, the guard cut her off, and she instantly looked as if she could have slapped him silly.
"You know the laws here, girl! Their clan is strictly forbidden from entering the territory without special permission. You do not have the authority to allow them into the territory. Now be quiet or I am going to have to take you in as well."
Hikari stared at the guard with her mouth hanging open for a moment before she narrowed her eyes angrily for a few seconds, though she had to remind herself that he didn't know who she was and assumed that he was speaking to a commoner. "As I have been trying to tell you, they have permission to be here," she said again, emphasizing the phrase. "Everyone here has special permission from all of the elders to enter each territory as needed, save three, and they are here as my guests and are to be treated as such." As she spoke she raised her hand to her forehead, shoving her bangs up out of her face with a heavy sigh as if she would much rather keep that blue gem hidden. "Do I make myself clear?" she asked, her voice suddenly taking on an entirely new air of authority as soon as the gem was visible.
"P-princess Selenity!?" he gaped as a look of chagrin came to his face. He glanced back to the larger dark dragon again for a moment and then made a motion to the other guards to lower their weapons as he lowered his own blade before kneeling to her. "Forgive me, my lady, I did not recognize you." He knew the others were likely bowing behind him as was fairly common before one of the royals. He straightened up again, looking her over once again before looking worried. "My lady, your face... What are you doing out here unaccompanied?"

Hikari, or Selenity, rather, sighed heavily and dropped her arm, not even bothering to look at Nero or Reyes. Honestly, she looked a little embarrassed at the revelation. "That was the point," she said simply when he said that he didn't recognize her. "I hardly consider myself unaccompanied. We have only just entered the territory as of yesterday. Now that I have your attention, I would like to inform you that there are hunters in the area, one of which is particularly dangerous. Inform the people that it would be unwise to wander outside of the city for a while, I do not know how many are left." she sighed heavily again as her ears fell back a little. Well...so much for getting to be Hikari for a while. She had a feeling she was going to have a hard time getting rid of the guards now that they knew that she was back.

Kyran lowered his eyes back down to Nanashi when he finally did respond and asked what was going on. He was relieved, extremely, that Nanashi was somewhat conscious. He hadn't really wanted to explain how he had come to be unconscious if that had been the case. He was trying to keep an eye on what was going on but he wanted to answer Nanashi's question too. "I'm not entirely sure, but my first guess would be they'll want to do something about Nero and Reyes." He told him quietly. "Sorry for waking you up, I just thought you should be up just in case." He added and looked back to the guards since the one didn't appear to like the fact that Nero pretty much ignored him. He wasn't surprised that Hikari wound up putting herself between the guard and Nero, though he was a little taken by how the guard was clearly treating her like any other commoner. He honestly felt like guards should be able to tell what their royalty looks like regardless of the fact that bangs hide their gems. How in the world were you supposed to protect what you couldn't even recognize?

Nero could stand perfectly still and keep a straight face through just about anyone's commands so listening to the guard and ignoring him were pretty easy. He saw no real reason to get on the ground any way, he wasn't moving and he wasn't making any attempt to run or touch Hikari so it wasn't like he was a threat. Well, maybe that was wrong. His scales were black, that was threat enough obviously. He lowered his eyes slightly to look at Hikari once she had put herself between he and the guard. He continued to stand where he was, still unmoving even after the guard had grabbed hold of Hikari to move her and pass her off to another guard. He was honestly a little surprised at how the guards here treated someone of their own kind, granted, they probably thought they were saving her from some terrible dark dragon. He wanted to laugh for all of a couple seconds at the sight of Hikari telling the one man to listen to her and the other to let go of her and she even smacked his hand to boot. The look on her face when she was cut off once again was pretty priceless too. He had to admit, he was kind of getting a kick out of watching someone else give Hikari a hard time. He continued watching at least until Hikari lifted up her bangs to give full view of her forehead. He stared at that for a good while thinking he had seen it, or well, seen one similar before. Aside from the gem on her forehead the way she was talking had changed slightly and it wasn't until he heard her referred to by a title and a completely different name that things starting clicking. Lord did he feel stupid once he heard that. The gem in her forehead reminded him of one he'd seen because his father had one as a trophy and her tone had changed because she wasn't just a commoner and she obviously disliked the nickname 'Princess' because she was one. He stared at her again for a moment before he shook his head heavily and muttered a couple things to himself quietly that weren't very coherent.

Reyes remained still where he was sitting and just watched quietly as words were exchanged. He kept looking back to Nero just in case there was some change in him that he should note and change in himself as well. He did watch the exchanges between Hikari and the guards a little more closely since they were just a tad more interesting. He stared up at Hikari when she wound up lifting the front of her hair and stared almost wide eyed at the gem there before turning to look at Nero. "That's like your fath--"

Nero practically stared daggers at Reyes when he opened his mouth. Obviously Reyes had caught onto the gem too and he kind of wished he hadn't. He didn't particularly want any royal to know that his father had a gem of their clans as trophy and he certainly didn't want Reyes blabbering it. Not to mention that would sound so bad at a time like this. You just don't bring something like that up when your ability to stay in the territory, your life even, hangs by a thread.

Reyes shut up pretty quickly given the look he got from Nero. He hadn't really thought about what he was saying before he said it. He was just wondering if Nero noticed it too and was going to comment but now that he was thinking about it, it was probably better that he didn't. "...Sorry." He mumbled quietly and averted his eyes slightly.

Nanashi remained silent as he listened to Kyran's explanation. He didn't move a muscle and curled up a little more, almost as if he would love nothing more than to make himself invisible at the moment. He nodded his head weakly when Kyran has that he was sorry for waking him up. He wished that he hadn't but of course he wouldn't say anything. He knew Kyran was just doing what he thought was best at the moment, not trying to make him uncomfortable. He didn't make a sound other than an occasional quiet 'mmm' when his head got a particularly sharp pain. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he gave up eventually and just settled for trying to listen to what was going on.

Kanone was completely taken aback as he watched the scene unfold between Hikari and the guards. He was a little surprised to see the way that they handled, her but what left his sitting there with his mouth hanging open was their reaction after she had pulled up her bangs. "Princess!?" he gaped without thinking, though he closed his mouth again after a moment since she seemed to have moved on to more important matters. He just couldn't believe that Hikari was a princess or...Selenity...whatever her name was. She really did not act like your typical princess, that was for certain.

The guard that Selenity was speaking to nodded his head in understanding before crossing his right arm over his chest and clutching his fist in front of his left shoulder with a slight bow. "Yes, My lady," he said quietly. He lowered his arm again and looked around again before he turned his attention back to her. He glanced past her for a moment to stare at the dark dragon and then cleared his throat before looking back to her. "You should return to the palace for now, Princess and...let someone take a look at you."

Hikari's gaze shifted briefly to Reyes when she started to say something and then hushed herself, but she was a little preoccupied with the guard at the moment. She sighed heavily and then just shook her head when he suggested returning to the palace. Oh yes, just where she wanted to be. "I told you, I am fine..." she tried to insist again. She glanced back to Nero finally, and then back to the guard. "...As you can see, moving at the time being is going to be difficult for most of the group." She glanced around again and then sighed heavily, though she seemed to stop in mid-exhale when she noticed that LaRae was no longer beneath the tree. She looked around for a moment, looking suddenly startled. "...Where is LaRae?"

Nanashi's ears perked up at the mention of LaRae's name and he raised his head up again slightly, looking over Kyran's shoulder at Hikari before turning his gaze on the tree where LaRae had been laying. His heart nearly jumped into his throat when he saw that she wasn't there and his eyes widened. "LaRae!" he gasped quietly just before he made a sad attempt at squirming out of Kyran's grasp, his headache, nausea, and multiple other small problems forgotten. He was dizzy, there was no denying that. he moved away from Kyran's body and say upright so quickly that he nearly fell over backwards and probably would have hit the ground if not for Kyran's arm around him. He forced himself back up, panting a little as he righted himself this his eyes were busy sweeping the area for LaRae. He looked back to Kyran only momentarily, panic clear in his eyes before he looked away again and started struggling to get back to his feet. It seemed he'd really already used all of his energy before trying to talk to that crazy girl, but he was mustering every bit of strength he could find to try and get to his feet. Unfortunately, he didn't quite have enough. His legs shook as he tried to stand up, and he barely got halfway to his feet before his knees gave out on him and he fell right back to the ground with a quiet grunt before he toppled over into Kyran again. He couldn't believe this. He hadn't even gotten anywhere and he was already gasping for air as if he had just run a marathon and every one of his limbs felt like lead.

Hikari laid her ears back when she noticed Nanashi struggling to get to his feet and then quickly turned back to the guard. "She's an earth dragon, roughly my height, long brown hair. Her horns were sawed off, you should know her if you see her. See if you can find her, she was just there a few minutes ago and she was sedated by the hunters, I don't know how she's missing. Start in that direction," she said as she pointed him off in the direction that LaRae had been laying in.

The guard looked at Selenity for a moment, looking concerned and then cast a glance back to the dark dragon again, obviously not comfortable with leaving her along here, but he didn't get much time to think on it.

"Grah! Go!" she huffed, abandoning that princess air as she gave him a shove int he right direction, "Don't stand there! You three try to find her, you can stay here!" she said pointing to one of the guards with the bow. She only allowed him to stay to put the other three at ease and she chose him just because she recognized him and knew he was fairly quiet and wasn't very demanding. He might actually be more of a use than an annoyance. At least her telling the one he could stay seemed to set the one she was talking to at ease a little, though he still seemed shocked at her sudden personality change. He finally nodded and motioned for the other two to follow him before he hurried off in the direction he had been pointed. Hikari sighed heavily then and looked back to Nero, shaking her head a little. "...Sorry about that..." she said quietly before she looked away, turning her gaze back to where LaRae should have been and biting her lip lightly. She didn't understand how the girl was missing...she wasn't that far away, surely one of them would have seen someone take her. She was certain she hadn't already recovered if even Kanone wasn't completely up to par just yet, and she had no reason to wander off either.

Kyran periodically dropped his gaze long enough to check on Nanashi but for the most part he kept to watching Hikari and the guards. He wasn't really surprised that it took her giving up her identity to get them to listen to her and take her seriously. He glanced to Kanone briefly when the surprise hit him and shook his head very lightly. Now that he was thinking about it the only people who hadn't known that she was really a princess were Kanone, Celestine, Nero, Reyes and maybe Aamori. Of course he glanced in her direction but she didn't have that look of surprise like the others did, so maybe she knew? Was she told? Hmm... he wasn't sure that he told her but he did know it was his fault LaRae and Nanashi knew. He started to look back down at Nanashi about the time that Hikari was getting into telling the guards that it would be difficult to move everyone though his eyes shot up when he heard her ask where LaRae was. She was over under that tree wasn't she? He looked over in that direction and his ears laid back almost instantly when all he saw were her boots in that general area. She had been there before. His eyes didn't stay put very long and he was rather quickly right back to keeping an eye on Nanashi since he was trying to get free of his grasp and get to his feet. He stayed where he was just in case something went wrong in the process of Nanashi getting up and frankly he was glad he didn't move since Nanashi wound up right back on the ground again. He put his arm back around him and sighed quietly as he looked at him gasping for air. He shifted his glance to Hikari catching her telling a guard what LaRae looked like and then lowered his eyes back to Nanashi. "I doubt she went far." He told him, though he honestly wasn't sure of himself. Based on Kanone and Celestine she shouldn't really be up enough to be moving well on her own and if she was stumbling around someone should have noticed her leave. He wished he had been paying more attention to her as well. He watched as Hikari managed to shake loose of three of the guards and then looked back to Nanashi. "Try not to worry too much Nanashi. The guards will find her." He really hoped so any way.

Nero was a little lost in his own thoughts, at least until he caught Hikari... or was it Selenity now? Either way, she asked where LaRae was. His eyes trailed over to where she had been laying and honestly looked surprised to not see her there. That was just strange. Of course his thoughts went straight to the fact that if Kanone wasn't himself just yet and Celestine was still completely out then LaRae shouldn't be herself enough to get up and walk off. He was slightly puzzled especially since one of them here should've seen something if someone actually came out here to pick her up and leave with her. "...I've no idea when she disappeared..." He commented quietly with a bit of confusion clear in his voice. He looked back to Hikari for a moment and tried to just wave off her apology. He was a little too boggled to be upset about anything or the fact that she had hidden who she was from them.

Reyes watched as Hikari told the guard what LaRae looked like and managed to get them to go look for her and then turned back to Nero when he heard his comment. "She's been gone since before the guards got here. I noticed she wasn't there just a little after... er... the Princess finished bandaging up your arm." He said with a slight nod. "I thought she may have gone to the bathroom or something..." He added lastly since he could see the annoyed look on Nero's face. Obviously Nero thought he should've said something a little sooner and the thought hadn't really crossed his mind. He thought LaRae would come back but now that he was thinking about it the way he should've, comparing her to Kanone and Celestine, she really shouldn't have been up and moving on her own. His ears lowered after that really sank in and then lowered his eyes.

Aamori startled quite a bit at the realization that LaRae was missing. She had been preoccupied with tending to Nobu so she wasn't keeping an eye on LaRae just like the others had things they were doing. She wanted to get up and help look but three guards was going to be plenty. She sank back slightly and tightened her hand slightly on Zale's back. How could they all have been so busy not to notice that she had gone missing sooner. She probably shared nearly the same annoyed expression as Nero when Reyes finally mentioned that she had noticed LaRae was missing sooner than Hikari had and just hadn't said anything. That made her a little mad. If it had been anyone else in the group, anyone who had gotten to know LaRae a little, they would've pointed it out right away not just sat with it and brought it later.

Nanashi was still trying to catch his breath when Kyran spoke to him and told him that he doubted that she went far. "...Sh-she...couldn't...go...a...anywhere...on her own..." he gasped quietly. He wanted to get up and help, but he couldn't seem to force his legs to move. He stared up at Kyran for a few moments, his ears laid back practically as far as they could go. His ruby eyes were still puffy and red-rimmed from all of his tears, and his cheeks were tear stained. That sad, frightened look on his face probably made him look closer to his dragon age than his human one in a sense. He felt closer to that age, at any rate... He was rather pathetic at the moment considering that he couldn't even stand up. He was finally starting to catch his breath a little when Kyran told him to try not to worry too much. He just let out his breath in a heavy sigh and looked at him for a moment longer, his expression alone enough to say that wasn't possible for him. He looked back to the area where he had left her for a moment and then closed his eyes again and let his head fall back against Kyran's shoulder. He should have stayed with her once the halfbreed was gone. He gritted his teeth a little and curled up a bit against Kyran as he latched onto his shirt yet again. That just seemed to be the most comforting position he could come up with for himself; clinging to a fist full of material while curled up in the fetal position with his head burrowed against Kyran's chest.

Kanone was a bit startled to hear that LaRae was gone, and he sat up a little to look around himself. He was still dizzy and had a whopping headache, but he definitely didn't see her. He watched as the three guards took off into the trees and then glanced back up to Hikari for a moment and then over to Reyes when she spoke. He stared at her for a moment and then raised an eyebrow when she sad that she thought LaRae might have gone to the bathroom. "...Seriously?" he asked in a slightly disbelieving tone. He didn't think the kid was lying, he just couldn't believe she'd actually thought LaRae had gotten up on her own. He couldn't even stand up yet, and he was pretty sure she'd been hit after he had.

Hikari glanced back to Reyes as well when she spoke and stared at her for a moment, her expression shifting between annoyance, mostly at being called, "princess", and disbelief. This girl wasn't the brightest, apparently... "...I wish you had told us this sooner..." she said quietly. She sighed and then looked back toward the tree before walking over to investigate herself. She moved a little more slowly than normal, mostly just trying not to stagger or fall. She was light headed, and honestly probably needed to be sitting down, but she couldn't even think of sitting right now. She glanced back with a soft sigh as she noticed the guard coming up to stand practically on her heels. "...Do you see anything out of the ordinary?" she asked simply.

The guard looked around for a moment and then shook his head weakly. He didn't really know what he was looking for, though. He moved away from her just a little, enough that he could get around the tree and see. His eyes widened when they caught on the unexpected sight of the human that had been brained on the crystal and he actually retched once before he threw his hand over his mouth and swallowed hard. He, unfortunately, did not have a very strong stomach when it came to things like that. He could stand to see someone shot with an arrow, but now someone with their head planted on a rock. He moved back in front of the tree again and leaved against it for a moment, looking almost more green than white at the moment.

Hikari blinked and stared at the guard for a moment before she moved over to look behind the tree. She wasn't too surprised to see what had made the guard sick. She sighed heavily and then shook her head as she looked back to him. "...Just take a few deep breaths..." she said quietly. The scene bothered her, of course, but it didn't make her ill. She glanced back for a moment and then turned her attention back to the guard. "...May I have your cape, if you don't mind?" she asked simply and then watched as he unhooked it with one hand while the other remained clamped firmly over his mouth and then handed it to her. She just took it wither a quiet 'thanks' and moved back behind the tree again before kneeling down and gently removing the man's head from the rocks before closing his eyes with her fingers and spreading the cape over his head and upper body. Once that was done she moved back in front of the tree, wiping the blood on her hand onto her shirt absently. "...There..." she said simply.

The guard just nodded weakly, still looking half sick. Well...that was just embarrassing. The princess had a stronger stomach than him...brilliant. Then again, the princesses constant companion on most days was the Capitan...so maybe it shouldn't be too surprising.

Kyran sighed quietly at Nanashi's comment that LaRae couldn't go anywhere on her own but didn't say anything more right away. He knew that, or at least he had a strong feeling that was true. He had mostly wanted to try and keep Nanashi from getting too worked up about this whole mess but apparently that wasn't going to be possible. He almost wished that he hadn't woken him up when he did, at least then if he was still asleep he wouldn't be worked up and wouldn't be quite as worried, he'd just not know anything until he was woken and if that were the case they probably could've tried to keep him asleep until LaRae was returned. He didn't really want to say any more to Nanashi, not after the way he looked and certainly not after he resumed his position of being curled against him with a handful of his shirt. He would've mentioned to Nanashi that no one had even seen anyone take LaRae and that if someone had come into the area to grab her, they should've seen someone or heard something but he kept that to himself. Nanashi could be pretty intuitive when he wasn't a mess so he would probably have drawn that conclusion eventually. He also thought briefly of mentioning that he was sure half of the people in the group were wishing they'd kept a closer eye on her or sat with her or something but that wasn't going to help matters since she was already missing. He heaved a heavy sigh and merely tightened his arm around Nanashi a little and for once he was kind of out of comforting things to say since 'Don't worry.' didn't quite work and he doubted 'It'll be okay' would be of any comfort.

Reyes' ears laid back about as far as they would go after hearing both Kanone and Hikari on top of that look he had gotten from his own cousin. He wasn't close to LaRae like the rest of them so he hadn't freaked out at her being gone and half of him seriously believed that the girl had gotten up on her own and gone to the bathroom or something. Then half of him believed it wasn't possible. He lifted his eyes slightly, temping a glance towards Kanone though his eyes never made it that far. He just lowered them again. "...Yes, seriously..." He told him quietly. "...She could've gotten up ...I mean if she wasn't hit in just the right spot ...just the right depth ...she wouldn't have been effected by the sedative the same way you were and... well, she could've been on her feet before you..." He mumbled quietly. He didn't know a lot about the sedatives that the hunters had used so he couldn't honestly say anything one way or the other. He knew that mixing certain things together just the right way lead to compounded things that could be of good use, probably like that sedative. If it were strong enough to take even Kanone down like it did than it probably wasn't your run of mill sedative. He was smart, awfully smart but sometimes it didn't quite show the way he would've liked but then again being who he was in his own clan they wouldn't have cared if he was genius, he'd still be disliked because he wasn't like Nero. He finally just shrugged lightly and went back to stroking Celestine's hair.

Nero listened when Reyes went on trying to be a little defensive when more than just himself had been a bit annoyed with news that Reyes had known sooner than everyone else. He entertained what he said briefly since he supposed if it really came down to it depending on the dart and everything, he could maybe be right but that was a very slim possibility and he really didn't see that having happened. He sighed heavily and watched momentarily as Hikari started over to the tree with the one guard in tow. He shook his head again after he looked back to Reyes and then finally decided to sit down. They sure were having quite the eventful morning and early afternoon. He sat on the ground with his legs crossed indian-style and then rested his elbows to his knees and lastly his head in his hands a little. He just couldn't believe his cousin. He could understand a little and guessed that Reyes really had no reason to say anything. He barely knew LaRae and she wasn't his concern, at least not yet anyway. If he did continue to stay with the group he was going to have to start looking out for everyone just like he was, that's just how it was going to have to work.

Nanashi hardly moved once Kyran had tightened his grip around him, merely tried to burrow closer to him. Kyran was probably wise not to waste his breath. Nanashi was never the type to think positively in situations like this, he always expected the worst possible outcome. In his experience that was usually what he got. All he wanted to do with now was get up and go look for LaRae. He knew that she hadn't wandered off on her own, but somehow, he didn't see humans sneaking up on them again and taking her, nor did he think Fleta would bother. He didn't know what had happened to her, and that was what got to him the most. That and the fact that he was completely useless at the moment. He felt tears welling up in his eyes again, and that only frustrated him more. His grip on Kyran's shirt tightened a little as he tried to fight back the tears again. He didn't want to sit here and cry, but that was all he could really accomplish right now. The frustration only made him want to cry even more, and that caused him even more frustration. It was just a never ending cycle. Finally he cracked and just started crying again, though much more quietly than the first time. The only real evidence of it was the way he was breathing now and his shoulders shaking. He didn't even care what the others thought anymore. He was sure they all already thought he was pathetic for crying over that hunter, why not make himself look worse? He just wasn't quite mentally equipped for so much stress in one day. Amazingly the fact that he had been wounded himself earlier didn't even phase him, he was only worried about LaRae and angry that he couldn't do anything to help her now. He was still upset over what had happened to the hunter as well, but that had moved more to the back of his mind. LaRae was more important to him than the hunter, at least she was still alive...the last he knew. "...Damn it..." he muttered quietly through his tears, sounding frustrated, depressed, and desperate all rolled into one.

Kanone kept his eyes on Reyes as she started to look over to him again and then sighed softly when she lowered her gaze. he shook his head weakly and then listened quietly to what she said before he laughed dryly. "Haha...ha...I doubt depth was an issue..." she said as he glanced at his arm. He still had a visible hole in his arm from the dart. "...That girl throws hard..." He then sighed and tried to set himself back upright, though Kyiri made that a little difficult with one arm. He turned his gaze back down to Celestine once he did finally manage to sit back up and then sighed softly. "...Still..." He doubted it since he was still having trouble himself. He didn't know where LaRae had been hit, but he had been pegged in the arm and went down fast enough. Celestine was down in a few seconds being hit in the neck, but Celestine was also pretty tiny. He shook his head weakly and then looked back to Reyes and pulled his arm from around Kyiri long enough to place his hand on top of her head and mess up her hair just a little. He wasn't really angry at the girl, after all, she hadn't really don't anything intentionally, she just hadn't really though things over that well at the time.

Kyiri continued to cling to Kanone tightly, even after the guards had taken off into the trees. She only let go once he started trying to sit up, though once he'd removed his arm from her she crawled off of his lap and looked around for a moment before scooting over to Nero and crawling up in his lap instead. She just latched onto his neck and then looked over to Kanone again, tilting her head a little. She looked back up to Nero again and tilted her head slightly. "...So...she didn't go to the litterbox?" she asked quietly.

Kanone actually snorted when he heard that question and dropped his head to his knees as he tried not to laugh. The situation wasn't funny at all, but he couldn't help cracking up at that. Oh yes...the girl definitely was a cat.

Hikari continued to look around the area beneath the tree for a few moments before she signed and walked over to the guard, placing her hand on his shoulder gently. The poor guy still looked queasy, even though he'd lowered his hand from his mouth. "...You may sit down," she told him simply. She sighed when he shook his head and then glanced away before finally sinking to the ground herself, and leaning her head back against the tree. She sighed heavily, wishing there was something more she could do, but she knew she needed to rest for a few minutes. She opened her eyes again and glanced over to where Kyran was sitting. She really wanted to be doing something, but right now she couldn't really think of anything.

The guard watched as Selenity finally sat down and then sighed softly, glad that she was finally relaxing a little. The amount of blood on her was making him anxious, and he wanted to look her over, but he didn't really see that it was his place to tell her what to do. Now that she was sitting he knelt down beside her and reached down into the pack on his waist, unsnapping it so that he could dig out what he had in there. He carried around a small kit, mostly for whatever little nicks he might get so he could do something with them. He pulled out a cloth as well as a bottle of water. "...Princess...I...um...may I?" he asked as he showed her what he had.

Hikari glanced over to the guard for a moment, really wishing she could remember the guy's name. She looked at what he had and then sighed softly. "Oh, very well..." she agreed flatly, "But I'll do it myself." She held out her hands and took the things as he offered then before wetting the cloth and starting to wipe down her face, neck, and shoulders. She hissed quietly as she touched where the gashes had been. They still weren't 100% closed, but they were no longer bleeding. Unfortunately, they were leaving scars across her face where they were healing, not that she could really see them. She wasn't really concerned with her appearance right now, she was just wishing she knew what had happened to LaRae and where she'd wound up. She really hoped that the other guards found her soon.

Kyran continued to keep his mouth shut for now and just kept the one arm around Nanashi while he was sitting where he was, or well, kneeling. He never had quite gotten anywhere further then the one knee on the ground and thankfully it didn't bother him much at all. He was bound to be a little stiff when he finally got to stand up again though. He was worried about LaRae as well and wanted to know what had happened to her but he could only imagine how much it was bothering Nanashi. If it had been Hikari who had gone missing... well, yeah then he could really understand where Nanashi was right now. He sighed quietly and glanced around again, focusing a little more towards Hikari and that other guard once he had spotted them by the tree. He was assuming that by the positions they had taken there wasn't really anything out of the ordinary over there and that was kind of a shame. It would have been nice to have some idea of what had happened or where she'd gotten to. He turned his eyes back down to Nanashi as he caught his swear and then sighed again. Well, if anything this seemed to distract him from the hunter he had killed, at least a little.

Reyes kept his glance low but did listen when Kanone started talking. His ears fell back again after he had said that the girl threw hard. He was kind of out of ideas to defend himself, not that he would've kept trying for too long. He sat there quietly for a few moments before he felt the hand on his head, messing up his hair a little. He tried not to smile and it probably showed and once the hand was gone he lifted his own to pat down his hair to make sure it wasn't going to need to be braided again. He finally glanced over to Kanone after checking his hair and then shifted his eyes over to Nero before sighing again quietly. "...I guess I could ask Shen to go help look for her..." He said quietly. "...One of the canines would probably have a better chance of catching her scent and finding her then a couple of guard's who probably don't even want to be looking in the first place."

Nero kept himself quiet and just sat where he was without moving much at all though he did lift his head a little when Kyiri wound up climbing into his lap a little suddenly. He hadn't been paying too much attention to her so he hadn't noticed her even get up from Kanone's lap let alone come over to him. He didn't bother fighting her and just let her make herself comfortable before he wound up shaking his head at her question. The urge to laugh crossed his mind for a brief instant and then was gone. "No, she didn't go to the bathroom." He paused. "She's missing." He told her before looking over at Reyes. The idea of sending one of the canines out to look for her was probably a good idea and it probably wouldn't have hurt to send one of them out with the guards when they had left but none of them had even thought of that until now. He sighed quietly. "That doesn't sound like that bad of an idea." He commented before he glanced over to the other canines. Those three at least new LaRae's scent, or should since they'd spent the most time with the group but the one of the three of them he'd have thought of sending out was a bit hurt at the moment. He wasn't so sure about sending Shen. They could send him and they had LaRae's boots here so he could get a scent but the idea of a giant black canine wandering around in these woods with guards out there seemed like it could be a bad idea if the light territory was against more then just black scales.

Kanone sighed after a moment and then raised his head a little after he lost the urge to laugh. It didn't take him long, it wasn't that funny. It was just strange to hear a little girl talking about a dragon using the litter box. He turned his gaze back to Reyes again when she mentioned sending Shen after LaRae. That sounded like it might be a halfway decent idea. He glanced over to Nero again and then glanced over to the other canines. He looked back to Reyes again and then tilted his head a little. "...Maybe we should ask Esen or Zale to go... If she hasn't met Shen yet, he might scare her half to death...well if he looks like what you were describing..." He offered her a slight smile and then glanced back to the other canines. "...Wait...Shen can travel in shadows, right? I mean it doesn't have to be yours? He could still go with one of them...maybe..." He glanced at Reyes for a moment, tilting his head a little as if looking for some confirmation.

Kyiri looked up to Nero again and tilted her head slightly before she looked around again. Her ears laid back slightly and she laid her head against him as she listened to all of them talk about sending the dogs. "Can I go?" she asked as she looked up to Nero and then over to Kanone.

Kanone glanced over to Kyiri when she asked if she could go and then smiled weakly. "...I don't think so..."

Hikari didn't take very long to finish cleaning herself up, and once she was finished she passed the now red cloth and the bottle back to the guard. Her hair was still stained with red streaks, and her face still held three pink scars, one above and two below her eye, but other than that and her bloody shirt she had managed to clean herself off. She glanced around again and then sighed heavily before she started to push herself up again, a little unsteadily, and then started looked around again, flicking her tail restlessly. She clearly wanted to be doing something more than sitting, but she apparently couldn't figure out what. She looked over to where Kyran and Nanashi were sitting, and then back to Nero and the others, and then over to Aamori and the canines before looking back through the woods where the other guards had gone. After a moment she started moving, crossing her arms with one hand to her chin, though she didn't really seem to have a direction picked.

The guard sat there silently for a few moments and watched as Selenity stood up and started looking around. He sighed softly, and started to get up himself when he noticed her walking off,t hough he paused when she turned around and came right back. He watched as she just walked back and forth for a moment before she shook his head and stood up. "My lady..." he started and then offered her a weak smile, "...I realize you must be worried but...I do not believe pacing is going to help matters...."

Hikari stopped dead in her tracked, barely even aware that she'd been pacing in the first place. She looked at the guard and then sighed heavily and turned around again to stare off into the woods before she walked back over to Aamori and just flopped onto the ground beside her. She looked down to Nobu and then reached over to stroke him gently, or at leas the part that she could touch without hurting him. She wanted to do something productive, but she didn't have much that she could do at the moment.

Esen's ears perked up a little when she heard her name from Kanone and she raised her head a little, craning her head to hear what they were talking about. She wouldn't mind going to look for LaRae, but she also didn't really want to leave Nobu. Of course she would if she had to, she knew that she really wasn't helping him by practically laying on him, but she still didn't want to leave him. She watched as Hikari came back to them and sat down and then finally sighed softly and stood up slowly. She nuzzled Nobu one more time and then licked his face again before she started to move away from him. [I}"I'm going to go see what I can do..."[/I] she told him quietly as she started to walk back toward Kanone and the others.