S!

[Kleee]

Finally, they'd reached Konoha.

Under different circumstances, Kei would have been excited about exploring the massive city, bouncing from street to street in order to catch a glimpse of all the new and interesting people either visiting or living within the legendary largest city in the shinobi world. Under different circumstances, all the different colors, lights and sounds would have been paradise for her, but right now they were only distractions. After everything that had happened, all Kei wanted was to get home as quickly as possible.

The walk from Kasai to Konoha had been quieter than usual. Awkward, even. It was probably a good thing that Ryou wasn't complaining as much anymore, but for once, Kei hadn't felt much of a need for constantly breaking the silence the way she usually did either. Maybe the long journey was finally getting to her but really, what could she say? Despite all that they'd been through, Team Yuki had made it. They were all alive, and they were all together. But... Kei couldn't seem to shake the feeling that nothing would ever be the same again.

She wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, either.

Luckily, in a city as big as Konoha, it was hard to concentrate on complicated things like that. As much as Kei wanted to move on and get home so she could just be done with all this and put it behind her, while navigating the streets of Konoha, she just couldn't help but wonder where all the people were coming from. How did they all fit? Yuki was never this crowded. And what was with all the trees? How was she supposed to get out of this place, anyway? And... hey, where did she know that guy from?

Kei blinked, glancing across the street at a lone man hurrying into a dark alleyway. She could've sworn she'd seen him before somewhere... but then again, he didn't exactly look like the type of person she'd normally talk to. He was huge, kind of dumb-looking, with an angry expression that immediately told Kei everything she needed to know. This guy was definitely a hater of cake, penguins, rainbows, and all things good in the world. No, this man was definitely not Kei's idea of fun. But still, that nagging feeling just wouldn't leave her alone... What if he was from Yuki too?

Oh well, there was only one way to find out.

"Hey guys!"

Kei bounded over to her teammates, pointing in the direction of the nearby alley before the man managed to disappear out of sight.

"I just saw some weird guy over there, I think I know him! I'm going to go ask if he knows where how to get to Yuki from here, okay?"

With that, Kei was off. She quickly disappeared into the alley as well, in pursuit of what would (hopefully) turn out to be her ticket straight back to Yuki.

Hopefully.

[Kleee]

A stifling silence had fallen upon the three genin as they continued their sullen march towards their next destination. They all would have probably preferred to head straight back to Yuki at this point, but Toya decided that it would be safer to take a quick detour through Konoha to replenish their supplies and ensure that they would make it back home without starving to death. Besides, they needed to make sure that they actually knew how to get back to Yuki from this location. No one had argued with him for a change, though he almost wished they would have. At least things would have felt normal, but now the mood surrounding them just felt… dead or something.

Before leaving Kasai, Toya had made sure to pick up another pair of sunglasses for concealing his eyes, a commodity that he seemed to be replacing a lot lately. He let out a quiet sigh as he walked and glanced forward. Kei had been leading the way, walking at a slightly faster pace than the two guys. Ryou was a few feet behind, leaving Toya stranded in the middle of the caravan. He wanted to start some sort of conversation to break the tense atmosphere, but the words always seemed to stick in his throat before he built up the courage to speak. Since when had it become so hard for him just to talk to his teammates? When would he feel like he was really a part of the group again?

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they had entered the large village of Konoha. Everything seemed so much bigger and full of life than the other villages they had visited. Toya would have liked to take his time and enjoy his surroundings, but somehow that didn’t seem appropriate in this situation. Not only did they need to hurry up and move on, but it was hard to take pleasure in anything when there was still such an awkward tension amongst the young genin. Hopefully this weird phase would pass quickly and they could go back to the way things were before.

"Hey guys!"

Toya blinked as Kei’s voice pulled him back into reality. Suddenly Kei had appeared directly in front of him and was pointing eagerly towards a nearby alleyway. He managed to get the faintest glimpse of a figure passing into the passage as he glanced in the direction that Kei had indicated.

"I just saw some weird guy over there, I think I know him! I'm going to go ask if he knows where how to get to Yuki from here, okay?"

Only Kei could somehow come to the conclusion that asking a weird guy who she ‘might’ know would somehow get them directions to Yuki. But regardless of her unusual logic, Toya couldn’t just stand around and let her run down a shady alley chasing some guy who could easily be a criminal ready to mug her. If he really wanted to regain his team’s trust, then he could start by protecting them whenever he had the chance. Once of those chances had just appeared in front of him.

”C’mon Ryou, we better go make sure she doesn’t get herself killed."

Not waiting to see if Ryou would actually follow him, Toya quickly dashed off, making a sharp right-turn into the alley and continuing forward. He quickly skidded to a stop a few moments later, ending up about a foot behind Kei. The girl had finally stopped running, because the man she had been following had noticed her presence and turned around to see who had been tailing him. Toya’s eyes widened as the significance of the thug’s identity became incredibly apparent to him. His hands subconsciously clenched into fists as he glared at the man

”You’re that bastard who got us abducted by the rest of your bandit group! What the hell are you doing here?!”

Toya didn’t really care why the guy was here. All he wanted was a chance to knock him around and possibly discover the location of the REAL bandit hideout. Talk about a lucky break for the team. Maybe they could actually finish out their originally assigned mission before finally returning to the village.

[Kleee]

For once, even Ryou didn't have anything to say.

He just couldn't find anything to complain about. Maybe he had changed so much since the incident with Toya that he was actually viewing things in a positive way or something; because today there was surprisingly nothing wrong with the world. The path they were walking on was perfectly kept, the trees were nice and shady, but kept in a way so that their leaves didn't litter the floor. He couldn't even whine about how he hadn't eaten or had a shower since they had left Kasai because the village of Konoha, where they would likely be stopping for the night before heading home, was only a short way ahead. If all else failed, he could have at least complained about the weather. But even that was perfect on this particular day.

But for some reason - on the one day when world decides be nice - Ryou was feeling far from perfect. It was strange; he was pretty sure he had just walked for hours upon hours without saying a single word. None of them had. After they had all agreed that they didn't hate each other back in the hospital, everybody had just gone quiet. Very quiet. Ryou was pretty sure that the only things any of them had even said in the time it had taken them to be discharged from the hospital, sort out their supplies in Kasai and then set foot back to Konoha were small, neccessary phrases such as "Ready?" or "Let's go".

He had been contemplating breaking the silence for a while now, but he didn't know how to go about that. He had thought that complaining about something trivial would be the ideal way because it would at least remind them of the times before any of this happened. But the strength of the silence made it seem like things were never going to go back to the way they were before.

Kei brought up at the lead, actually appearing to know which direction she was going in for once. Toya was walking in the middle, yelling out no "super strategy" or plan of action.
Ryou was at the back, failing to kick sand at his teammates unsuspecting backs.

Things had changed. Nothing needed to be said.

All three of them just wanted to go home. Rid themselves of each others company for a while, and then see if they missed each other. That was the only way they would see if they actually wanted each other. Or needed.

It wasn't long before they arrived in Konoha itself. It was a big and regular city, neither hot or cold, neither industrial or majestic. It was the type of place you rarely found in the world these days. A nice place to go sightseeing. Pity they had no time to do that.

"Hey guys!"

Ryou jumped when he heard Kei's excited exclamation. It had been so long since he had last heard one of those, it almost felt like he was dreaming. Kei was pointing ahead to what looked like a dark alleyway. Ryou could have sworn he saw somebody enter it.

"I just saw some weird guy over there, I think I know him! I'm going to go ask if he knows where how to get to Yuki from here, okay?"

Uncontrollably, Ryou's surprised face reconstructed itself into a smile. It was innapropriate, but he couldn't help but feel just a little more elated. Kei was still stupid.

Maybe things hadn't changed entirely.

"Uh Kei," he yelled, "Big guy entering a dodgy alleyway? Don't know where you met somebody like that but shouldn't we ask somebody a bit more trustwor- HEY!"

Kei bolted, disappearing into the alley before Ryou could say another word. He looked at Toya; and judging from the look on Toya's face, the pair of them were on the same page. This might be their chance to rebuild their team.

”C’mon Ryou, we better go make sure she doesn’t get herself killed."

"Right,"

Ryou nodded, breaking into a run and following after Toya. He was relieved to find that running wasn't all that hard; all of the injuries he had sustained had supposedly healed. Finally, after a couple of moments of running, he found himself stopping behind Toya who had halted a short way behind Kei. All eyes were on the large figure who had just turned around to face them. Ryou blinked. He had seen this guy before.

”You’re that bastard who got us abducted by the rest of your bandit group! What the hell are you doing here?!”

Ryou noticed Toya ball his hands into fists ahead of him but didn't do anything initially. Oh right, they had been on a mission after all. A little D-Rank mission. A mission they were going to fail if they didn't go and investigate this bandit hideout.

And not only that. This was the ideal chance for him to work on passing his mission. His mission to somehow put their team back together.

This was his chance, and he suddenly had an idea as to how he was going to go about doing that.

"Oi! I remember you!"

He paced forward, pushing past Kei and Toya to come to the front. If he was going to get their team together again, then he'd have to change.

"You're the guy who stole my stuff. If you think I've forgiven you for that, think again. Because I never will."

Putting all of his escalating fears of getting beaten up and deported all the way back to Haha Island once more behind him, Ryou forced a smirk.

"I don't know about you two, but I don't want to go down as a failure who couldn't complete a D-Ranked Mission." he put his hands together, forming handseals he hadn't performed for what felt like an eternity, "Lets get him guys!"

He wasn't going to be the coward at the back anymore. He was going to be a leader... or something.

[Kleee]

As dark and shady as the alleyway was, Kei still managed to catch up to the man in no time. She normally would have said something to announce her presence, but he didn't seem to need it. He was already waiting for her. With a twinge of uneasiness, Kei realized that this man, whoever he was, probably wasn't all too happy about being followed. He certainly didn't look it, from the way he was standing there in front of her with that angry glare of his boring holes into everything, as if waiting for Kei to explain herself.

"Um." Kei began, suddenly not so sure that this had been the best of ideas after all. "Hey, I was just wandering around Konoha, and this place is like, really big so... I was wondering if you could--" But then she noticed the odd way the bandit was looking at her, a mixture of disbelief and complete amusement, as if something incredibly funny and entertaining had just happened, and she stopped herself.

She did know this guy after all.

Now that Kei could actually see his face, it was all coming back to her. And judging by his expression, he recognized her too. No wonder he was laughing at her! This guy... He was--

”You’re that bastard who got us abducted by the rest of your bandit group! What the hell are you doing here?!”

"You're the guy who stole my stuff. If you think I've forgiven you for that, think again. Because I never will."

Apparently, Ryou and Toya had finally decided to show.

"Yeah! Took you guys long enough to figure that one out," Kei chimed in quickly, not about to be outdone by her teammates. "But I knew it aaaall along. You and your friends took my cake, don't think I've forgotten," she warned the bandit. "For that, you're going to pay."

"I don't know about you two, but I don't want to go down as a failure who couldn't complete a D-Ranked Mission," Ryou agreed. "Lets get him guys!"

Ryou, taking the lead for once in his life? Wow, things really had changed. Yet Kei couldn't help but feel that the bandit, despite his situation, didn't seem to be expressing the appropriate amount of terror in the face of the obviously very intimidating wrath of a few genin. In fact... he was laughing.

They were going to have to change that.

"You three think you're going to get me? Hah! That's priceless. You can't even stop arguing amongst yourselves long enough to notice when you're walking straight into an... ambush."

At the word 'ambush', a shadow fell over the alley and Kei gulped. She glanced over her shoulder, only to see that the exit was now blocked by two more large figures. More bandits. Kei couldn't help but wonder why all of these bandits just had to look exactly the same... but she quickly pushed the thought from her mind. Somehow, they needed to get out of this.

"Sorry kids, but it's not my fault that you three got dumped off on that island. You did it to yourselves. I'm amazed you even managed to get this far," he continued, smirking, "but your little adventure ends here. Let's see how long you last this time...before we ship you all straight back to Haha Island where you belong."

The bandits closed in. Kei had managed to pull out the sword from Hana just in time; there was a sudden clang of metal on metal as her blade clashed defensively against that of the first bandit. His "friends" had struck out against Ryou and Toya as well.

Well, so much for catching the bandit off guard and outnumbered. Now they were the ones that were in trouble. And this far into such a shady alleyway, it was unlikely that anyone from Konoha would notice them in time to be of any real help.

Not that Kei was paying attention to any of these facts, of course. She was still dead set on giving the cakestealing bandits the beatdown they deserved, even if it wasn't going to be quite as easy to accomplish that anymore... It looked like the team, and all the changes they had gone through, was about to be put to the test.

[Kleee]

Ryou’s reaction was similar to Toya’s, though it put a lot more emphasis on the fact that the bandits had robbed them as well as kidnapped them. It was a typical Ryou-like way to act, and Toya breathed a sigh of relief for some reason. None of them had changed. They were still the same three genin that they had always been, and they would continue learning to support each other in the future.

"You're the guy who stole my stuff. If you think I've forgiven you for that, think again. Because I never will."

"Yeah! Took you guys long enough to figure that one out. But I knew it aaaall along. You and your friends took my cake, don't think I've forgotten. For that, you're going to pay."

Toya smirked at Kei’s attempt to cover the fact that she had just figured out what was going on. It had been a while since they had seen her usual, carefree, klutzy self. Everything had become so serious and dark ever since they had entered the Kasai forests, but they had left that dark cloud behind them. It was all in the past now, and this was the beginning of their second chance.

"I don't know about you two, but I don't want to go down as a failure who couldn't complete a D-Ranked Mission. Lets get him guys!"

Good, Ryou was finally starting to show some motivation and pride as a shinobi. Toya cracked his knuckles on both hands and nodded. It was about time they got a little payback. And this time they would be sure to find the real bandit hideout and finally turn the tables on them.

"You three think you're going to get me? Hah! That's priceless. You can't even stop arguing amongst yourselves long enough to notice when you're walking straight into an... ambush."

A familiar sense of menace filled Toya as he quickly spun around to face the two newcomers who had sealed off their only escape route. Not that he thought they would even need an escape route, but it still never felt comfortable being boxed in and surrounded by enemies. He preferred to have plenty of open space when he fought, but part of a shinobi’s very existence was the ability to react to new surroundings and to be incredibly versatile in combat situations.

"Sorry kids, but it's not my fault that you three got dumped off on that island. You did it to yourselves. I'm amazed you even managed to get this far," he continued, smirking, "but your little adventure ends here. Let's see how long you last this time...before we ship you all straight back to Haha Island where you belong."

”Like hell you will! You landed some cheap shots last time, but don’t think that three of you guys can take us down in a fair fight!”

Toya quickly raised his arms and crossed them to absorb most of the force from an incoming punch. One of the new bandits had charged him, probably hoping to catch him off guard and end the fight just like in the first ambush. But this time, Toya would not be making any stupid mistakes like giving the bandit a chance to actually hit him. No, this time these thugs would get a taste of their own medicine.

The genin pushed forward with his arms, causing the larger man to stumble backwards. He then took a step forward and raised his right leg, snapping it forward and delivering a vicious kick to his opponent’s chest. The man reflexively raised his arms in a feeble attempt to block the incoming strike, but the speed and force of Toya’s foot was enough to break his guard and send the bandit reeling backwards until he toppled over.

Not giving him any opportunity to recover, Toya dashed forward and went down on one knew next to his fallen enemy. A feral instinct somewhere deep inside of him called out for him to rip the man to shreds, but he immediately silenced those thoughts. He wouldn’t lose himself like that again so easily. Without wasting another second, he drove his fist into the man’s gut with enough strength to send him deep into unconsciousness, but without inflicting any severe or permanent damage. That was enough for now. They still needed to think about finding the rest of the bandits and then finally returning home.

Toya quickly stood to his feet and turned around. He could easily assist his teammates and finish off the other two assailants, but today he would trust his companions completely. Kei and Ryou were stronger than he gave them credit for, and he would not move another muscle until they had proven this fact. …Hopefully he wasn’t making a horrible mistake by not helping.

[Kleee]

Unfortunately, Ryou began regretting his brave act just a little bit the moment the bandit decided to turn around and figure out who was trailing them.

Looking at the bandit face on, Ryou realised that these men were a lot larger and more menancing than he had thought. Not only that, judging from what the bandit said as he first opened his mouth, he possessed more brains than the genin had originally figured too.

"You three think you're going to get me? Hah! That's priceless. You can't even stop arguing amongst yourselves long enough to notice when you're walking straight into an... ambush."

Ambush? Cursing under his breath, Ryou turned around, only to find that indeed, the bandit hadn't been making baseless claims. Two more of the goons had appeared at the end of the alleyway; and these ones were just as big, if not bigger than the one they had already been confronted by.

"Sorry kids, but it's not my fault that you three got dumped off on that island. You did it to yourselves. I'm amazed you even managed to get this far, but your little adventure ends here. Let's see how long you last this time...before we ship you all straight back to Haha Island where you belong."

”Like hell you will! You landed some cheap shots last time, but don’t think that three of you guys can take us down in a fair fight!”

"Ugh. What makes you think we haven't improved?"

The first bandit moved to engage himself in combat with Kei, the other two quickly dashing forward to do the same with Ryou and Toya. Toya broke off, fighting back swiftly, appearing nonplussed about the entire situation. Ryou needn't have worried about him anyway; they all knew how capable Toya was after all. Unfortunately, Ryou didn't manage to catch exactly how Kei was going against her own opponent because his bandit decided to use that moment to speak.

"Doesn't particularly matter if you lot have improved. You can't defeat me; I'm different from the rest. Matter of fact, I'm one of the best,"

Ryou looked at the bandit, producing a kunai. The bandit was grinning broadly, his own hand reaching into a sheath on his back. Metal shrieked as he withdrew what appeared to be a very lean, yet deadly shiny sword.

"Behold, my weapon, Hagane-Koutetsu. Passed down in my family for generations, it has the power to completely destroy my opponents. I'm sorry kid, but you don't stand a chance,"

Ryou bit his lip as he watched the sharp blade gleam in the little sun they had access to in the alleyway. Darnit - he was horrible when it came to hand to hand combat; if all this guy's babble about that sword was true, then he was as good as dead. He helplessly watched the incredibly confident bandit swing his weapon back, planning to strike...

Clang!

The bandit flinched for a second as he found that Ryou had somehow managed to block his attack with a kunai. Ryou himself was completely dumbstruck; he had kinda just moved his hand in front of his face out of force of habit. Looked like he had moved it in the right direction, and just in time.

"Phew"

The ban dit quickly regained his form, the slight appearance of confusion on his face quickly becoming replaced by the smug look it had just held.

"Nice move kid, but don't count on your luck,"

The bandit withdrew his sword as to strike again, but Ryou was a step ahead of him. He had just had an idea; if he was going to take a guy this big out, there was no way he could maange it using his abysmal physical fighting skills; he'd have to use his jutsu. The bandit swang his sword hard, contemplating no room for mercy this time. Using his free hand, Ryou drew another kunai and pushed it forward.

Clang!

Once again, Ryou blocked the attack, but this time it was a much harder feat. He didn't have nearly enough strength to hold off forever; he could already feel the frustrated bandit pushing down, trying to force Ryou off. He'd have to distract the bandit to get an attack in. It was now or never. Hmm...

"Hey," Ryou said, faking his most confident face, "That's a nice sword you got there. What's it made of?"

The bandit looked up for a second in in apparent interest, the stupid man forgetting to maintain his attack.

"The finest steel around, kid. It's not just any old metal, it's more than that. Forged by my own grandfather..."

Unnoticed by the bandit for a few seconds, Ryou brought his hands together, creating a couple of quick handsigns, all while keeping a firm grip on his kunai. It was a hard feat, but whatever. Spoilt people could be so idiotic...

"...And it's not only a nice sword either. It's alot better than that, more like the b-"

"Raiton! Current Release!"

The bandit had a few split seconds to realize what his moment of big talking had cost him, but there was no way he would have been able to stop what had just happened. Volts and volts of electricity had just been released into Ryou's kunai, conducting into the bandit's weapon and eventually into the bandit himself's completely defenseless body.

The electrocuted bandit began shaking on the spot as though he had just had a seizure. Victorious, Ryou dropped his kunai, watching as the bandit was rid of all senses; his blank eyes moving in all directions as his limbs flailed in all directions. Then the bandit fell unconcious, collapsing onto the floor as the scrambling current left his body. For a second or two, Ryou feared that he had overdone it, but he found that that wasn't the case when he noted the bandit's oversized chest slowly rising and falling.

"Heh," Ryou muttered smugly, looking down at his fallen adversary, "You shouldn't gloat about material things so much. Makes you forget what's important,"

Stepping over the bandit's body, Ryou looked up to see what his teammates were up to. Sure enough, Toya had finished off his bandit. Only Kei remained; time to see if she'd improved too, or if things really hadn't changed at all, be it for better or for worse.

[Kleee]

The bandit swung his sword once again, the blade crashing into Kei's with another audible clang. She winced, forced backwards by the impact.

As much as Kei wanted to be done with these bandits here and now, as much as she wanted to beat them to a pulp for all they'd put her and her team through and then finally just move on with her life, she couldn't. The stupid fat monochrome cakestealing penguinkicking bandit was just too strong for her. He hadn't stopped his relentless hacking and slashing since the first strike, and now it was all Kei could do to just stop his attacks.

How was she supposed to win if she couldn't even land a hit of her own?

"Didn't I tell you it was hopeless? Why don't you just make this easier for everyone and give up already?"

Apparently, the bandit was aware of her predicament.

Kei glared, her frustration finally reaching its boiling point.

"No way! If you think I'm going to just give up and let you morons get away with--hey!!"

As soon as she opened her mouth, she regretted it. For at that moment, the bandit's sword came crashing down once again, harder than ever. And this time, Kei wasn't prepared to block it in time. She fell back again, the sword flying out of her hand and landing uselessly on the ground a few yards away. There was no way she would reach it in time. Already, the bandit was preparing for another strike. The finishing blow.

He'd tricked her.

He'd tricked her, and there was nothing Kei could do about it.

She hated that feeling. Not being able to do anything. It was completely unfamiliar to her. It was foreign. Up until just recently, she'd been so sure that she could do anything. And she could, too. Kei had always had a solution for every problem. When she didn't, all she had to do was trust that there would be one waiting for her just around the corner somewhere and that eventually, if she just tried hard enough, she'd find it somehow. But then these stupid bandits had come along and then there had been Haha Island and the desert and assassins and then... everything had gone wrong. She hadn't been able to stop the bandits from kidnapping her friends, she hadn't been able to defend herself against a few assassins, and she hadn't been able to save her own teammates when they'd needed her the most. She... hadn't been able to do much of anything these days.

Lately, Kei hadn't been feeling so invincible anymore, but that was getting old fast.

She'd promised to be stronger from now on, but... how? The bandit was bigger than her. He had a sword, and she didn't. And if she didn't do something soon, that sword was going to...

Kei didn't let herself finish the sentence. She wasn't about to bring up those memories, not now. That settled it; she didn't need a sword. She didn't want one. She didn't need to be bigger or stronger if she wanted to win, and she didn't want to be, either.

In fact... at the moment, Kei was the one with the advantage.

As soon as the bandit swung his sword, she launched into action. She remembered from watching those other dumb bandits at Haha Island punch each other into the water that once these guys were set on attacking something, they didn't stop for anything. They didn't pay attention to their surroundings... or where they were aiming. Wasn't that what the Mizukage had told her? To learn from her opponents and gauge her next move based on that?

Kei was finally beginning to feel like she understood what he'd meant.

Grabbing firmly onto her opponent's wrist, Kei turned, narrowly avoiding the sword's reach and using the bandit's size and momentum against him in order to slam him into the ground... hard.

Kei jumped back, expecting another attack, but the bandit stayed where he'd landed, still and unmoving.

She blinked. Then, slowly, it dawned on her.

"I did it!" Kei pumped her fist in the air triumphantly and whirled around to face her teammates. "Did you see that!? I won~! I owned that bandit!"

They... had seen, Kei noticed suddenly. Both Ryou and Toya had already defeated their bandits, but... they were just standing there, watching. instead of immediately rushing to Kei's aid, they'd let her finish her own fight.

They'd had faith in her.

Somehow, it was as if realizing that made Kei feel as though she were just a little bit more invincible again. Maybe she could still do the impossible after all.

But first, there was something else she needed to take care of... Kei glanced over at the three unconcious bandits, finally voicing something that she was pretty sure had been on her teammate's minds for a while now as well.

"So... now what?"

[Kleee]

Toya smirked as Ryou exchanged words with his bandit opponent before finally getting down to business and finishing him off with a riveting current of electricity that would incapacitate the poor guy for at least a couple hours. It looked like his spoiled brat of a teammate had grown both physically and mentally throughout this journey, and these trials really were bringing the team together in the long run.

"Heh. You shouldn't gloat about material things so much. Makes you forget what's important."

Oh for the love of… did he really just say that? Toya’s initial reaction was one of anger and disbelief, but he couldn’t help but grin widely at the irony of his teammate’s words. Rather than constantly berate Ryou for his lack of common sense when talking and complaining, it was much easier to just laugh it off and move on. Everyone could be happy and hopefully they could avoid too many futile arguments.

Finally remembering that their third teammate was still locked in combat with the remaining bandit, Toya quickly turned his attention back to Kei’s fight, hoping that Ryou would have the sense to wait for a bit before interfering. Luckily the two boys seemed to have the same mindset in this situation. Wow, things really were changing between the three Yuki genin who used to bicker over every other sentence spoken amongst them.

Kei seemed to have no trouble parrying each of the bandit’s brutal sword swings, but it was clear that she was slowly being pushed back into a very unfavorable position. Finally the large man took advantage of Kei’s lapse in concentration and disarmed her with another crushing strike and then moved forward to finish the girl off.

Toya’s first instinct was to lodge one of his knives into the bandit’s back and end it right there. It would be over in an instant, and then they could move on and get the hell back to Yuki. Besides, how could he just stand by and watch Kei get ripped to shreds by this criminal’s blade? She had already suffered the pain of being sliced to death twice over, and this time she would never get up again; this time it would be for real.

He finally convinced himself to continue trusting his comrades and keep watching. If Ryou could step up and do something productive in combat for once, then Kei could do it too. He repeated this over and over in his head and was finally able to let out a huge sigh of relief when he watched his teammate flip the bandit and send him sprawling to the floor, unconscious.

"I did it! Did you see that!? I won~! I owned that bandit!"

Toya grinned and gave Ryou a solid slap across the back in a non-confrontational but forceful manner as he passed him and headed over to Kei, raising his hand for a high-five. They had completed their first step towards giving those damn bandits a little payback, and now it was time to finish the job.

"So... now what?"

”Now we let these fools do the rest of our work for us. Come on, we need to find some cover…”

-----

Three hours after Toya had first explained his plan to his team, the genin were “stealthily” peeking through a line of trees, keeping a careful watch on the three bandits. They had been trailing them cautiously ever since they had regained consciousness and exited the village. Toya assumed they would be heading back to their main hideout, and he proposed the idea to secretly follow them back and strike the bandit group at the source.

The three young shinobi watched as the bandits moved aside a section of thick forest underbrush and seemed to disappear. Toya blinked in surprise and turned to his teammate’s, whispering for them to stay put while he went to check it out. Upon reaching the section of plants that the men had moved aside, he quickly used a beckoning motion of his hand to signal Ryou and Kei to come join him.

”It looks like they’ve been using all of these bushes and vines to hide a cave entrance back here. It probably leads into a bigger area if this is really their main base. This could be a huge chance to ambush their main force or maybe steal some information. Just stay quiet.”

Fortunately for the team, there were a few scattered torches protruding from the cave walls as they travelled down the first few tunnels connected to the entrance. It was still incredibly dark, and the entire area radiated an incredibly oppressive and stifling vibe. After a few more minutes of wandering the seemingly empty labyrinth of tunnels, Toya froze when the murmur of several voices filled his ears. He took two small steps forward and carefully peeked his head out into a bright little cave alcove that branched off from the tunnel that they had been walking down.

His eyes were met with the image of a sort of main room filled with several large torches for light. The place was littered with old wooden chairs and tabled filled with bandits, all incredibly similar-looking for some odd reason. The clothes and dirt must come with the job or something. More importantly, there were chests and containers overflowing with coins, golden trinkets, weapons, and other stolen loot. Toya’s eyes widened when he recognized a particular object. A short-sword held by a sheath decorated with a small silver wolf’s head, an item he had “inherited” from his father and the Nanaya clan. This was definitely the spot where the team’s stolen belongings had been taken, and they were going to get them back if he had anything to say about it.

Pulling himself back carefully before any of the bandits had a chance to glance over and see part of his head sticking out into the entrance, Toya turned towards his teammates and leaned forward until he could whisper almost directly into their ears. If this wasn’t such a dangerous and urgent moment, it would probably be pretty awkward.

”Ryou, I need you to somehow cause a big enough diversion to get every bandit in that cave to run out into this tunnel. Kei and I are going to back up several feet and wait for you. Once you get all of them out here, keep running until you pass us.” He paused for a second to let that sink in as his mind continued finishing the details of this impromptu plan. ”Kei, when we back up into our position, I need you to prepare the strongest fire jutsu that you know. And as soon as Ryou passes us, you will launch it straight town the tunnel towards the bandits following him.”

Not wanting to risk speaking anymore, Toya simply nodded at his two teammates. He hoped they would both trust him enough to carry out this plan just as he had described it. He just hoped that their trust would be well-placed, and that his idea would actually work. Because if certain factors didn’t develop exactly as he imagined they would, then the team would be stuck down here in a dark maze of tunnels with an entire horde of angry thugs out to kill or abduct them again. He tried not to think about that particular outcome too much…

[Kleee]

Thump!

The defeated bandit hit the ground loudly as Kei unleashed her final carefully planned attack. Ryou gave a sigh of relief as he watched the victorious Kei turned to face them, grinning with triumph.

"I did it! Did you see that!? I won~! I owned that bandit!"

And so she had. Ryou had, the entire way through Kei's fight, been looking from Kei to Toya, wondering if his other teammate had any plans to intercept and prevent Kei from recieving any further damage. Ryou had figured that if they didn't do something like that, then she would lose all her faith in them because they didn't come to the rescue and had only ended up putting her through even more pain after everything they had already done.

But now that he thought about it, watching the changing expressions on Kei's face; they were probably better off just watching and waiting after all.
If they had intercepted, then they'd only be admitting that they had lost all faith in her.

And that would have only made everything worse.

"Good job, K-Ow!" Ryou began, only to be interrupted by Toya smacking him in the back in what Ryou assumed to be some form of congratulations before moving over to show Kei his recognition with a grin.

...

Ryou rubbed his eyes; unless he was hallucinating, Toya was actually smiling. For some strange reason, Ryou couldn't help but feel happy about that too. Unable to prevent a smirk from appearing on his face, he stepped forward, almost excited to hear whatever the next stage of their mission would be.

"So... now what?"

”Now we let these fools do the rest of our work for us. Come on, we need to find some cover…”

--------

"How far are these guys going to walk?"

So much for excitement, Ryou thought, some three hours later. As if waiting for ages for the stupid bandits to wake up wasn't boring enough, following them through the never ending trails of forrest, vines and bushes wasn't just not interesting, it was tedious.

"What? It only gets thicker...?" He groaned again as they came to a point where the wood got incredibly dense, not even bothering to keep his voice down. Thankfully, the bandits didn't seem to hear him - although he did earn himself some dirty looks from his teammates.

Some things never changed.

Toya moved out of the bushes, following the bandits into the forest. Ryou waited for him to return, attempting to pull yet another splinter out of his hand. Another thing he had learned through the journey would have to be that he really didn't like trees.

Before Ryou managed to get the splinter - also known as the evil product of the evil trees of the fire country - out, Toya appeared in the clearing once more, motioning that Kei and Ryou follow.

”It looks like they’ve been using all of these bushes and vines to hide a cave entrance back here. It probably leads into a bigger area if this is really their main base. This could be a huge chance to ambush their main force or maybe steal some information. Just stay quiet.”

"Cave?"

Ryou blinked as he followed Toya. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not; a cave meant that there were no more trees, and as Toya said, it would probably give them the ideal oppurtunity to ambush the bandits, but on the other hand...

"Toya, you do realize that if it's a cave..." he said, hushing his voice to avoid an echo as they passed through the last of the vines and into the dimly lit cave itself, "...There's only one way out. Not to mention this place is kinda dark. They'd know the layout alot better than we do. We better be careful,"

Unfortunately, that was alot easier said than done. As the three genin began to move through the maze of interlocking tunnels, Ryou only found himself coming to lose all sense of direction and completely forget where the cave exit was. Not only that, the cave only got darker and darker as they progressed. The cold chill only confirmed that doing this would be alot harder than he originally thought.

Finally, after walking what felt like a fair few yards into the cave, Toya came to halt in front of them as the bandits rugged voices filled their ears. The room ahead of them was alot better lit than the rest of the cave, and judging from the way that all the bandits voices were converged there, it seemed to be their meeting place.

Ryou took a couple of steps forward trying not to make much noise, to get a better look at what Toya was seeing. Yep, this certainly was the central hall of the bandits, as shown by the large table surrounded by them. But that wasn't the thing that caught Ryou's eyes...

"...My stuff!" he yelled, a little too loud for somebody who was supposed to be hiding. Well, it wasn't just his; drawers, crates and chests surrounded the bandits, glinting in the dim light. There was so much gold; wow, these bandits had stolen so much. Although, Ryou could proudly note that a whole stack of the crates contained his possessions. Well, one thing was for certain; he'd be getting that back before he left, that was for sure.

Thankfully Toya decided to turn around and call them into a huddle before Ryou managed to raise any more suspicions. He looked somewhat surprised about the bandits treasure trove as well, but he also seemed to have come up with a plan. Ryou listened in, wondering exactly how Toya planned to carry out something that appeared impossible.

”Ryou, I need you to somehow cause a big enough diversion to get every bandit in that cave to run out into this tunnel. Kei and I are going to back up several feet and wait for you. Once you get all of them out here, keep running until you pass us.”

...

Ryou blinked. He leaned forward further in order to hear Toya clearer. Surely he had just heard wrong.

”Kei, when we back up into our position, I need you to prepare the strongest fire jutsu that you know. And as soon as Ryou passes us, you will launch it straight town the tunnel towards the bandits following him.”

No he hadn't heard wrong. Now there were a million things he wanted to yell.

"Why me?"
"Do you know how dangerous that is?"
"EVERY BANDIT IN THE CAVE? Me?!"
"Come running right back into a tunnel I can't even see?"
"While the two of you wait here, completely safe while I just go and risk my life out there?"
"Kei prepare a fire jutsu and fire it at them when they come running after me....? Her jutsu isn't that great..."
"THIS IS KEI YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, WHAT IF SHE MISSES?"

So many flaws in Toya's plan. So many ways Ryou could just die. So many things he wanted to yell.

But so many things he didn't yell. Why not?

This was Toya. How many times had Toya come up with stupid plans like that in the past?
Countless.

How many times had they still worked?
Ever single time.

Ryou would just have to trust him, right?

Maybe Toya and Kei had gotten the drift as to how objective Ryou had originally been from the scandalized look on his face, because they seemed somewhat surprised when he nodded.

"Alright. It's crazy, stupid, dysfunctional even. But I'll do it."

Ryou didn't even wait for them to respond before pushing past them, heart racing. He didn't even know what he was going to say; he could aggravate one or two of them by some means, but how on earth was he supposed to get the whole lot of them on to him? He didn't know. But hopefully a way would come, he thought - no - hoped, as he moved out of the darkness of the tunnel and into the room full of bandits.

Even if he had tried to enter more quietly, there was no way that the bandits could have missed him. Ryou and all his color and neatness stood out too much against the dull brown of the bandits. They all glanced around simultaneously as he entered, and Ryou felt his feet turn into jelly, rooting him to that very spot.

"HEY! It's that kid! Didn't we eliminate him ages ago?"

"Ah. He's the little punk who stole that caught me off guard and electrocuted me earlier!"

"Hmph. Looks familiar. Wasn't he the one that we stole all that loot from those months ago? Why is he still alive? Shouldn't he be stranded on Haha Island right now!?"

The bandits voices passed through Ryou's ears, mostly incoherent. How he was supposed to make sense of their words when he knew quite well that he was quite possibly going to die any moment now when these bandits got past their shock was beyond him. He could feel his heart beating louder than anything these guys were saying. How was he supposed to respond?

"Haha, my loot..." he said, not even prentending to sound confident, "...I guess I'm here to take it back...?"

"Agh, Sousuke, I don't know how you managed to get pummeled by somebody as pathetic as this kid. Get him!"

The bandit he had previously fought jumped from his seat, lunging at Ryou. The genin barely had seconds to register what was going on as the heavy man came hurtling at him. Ryou gulped. This was not going well; there was only one thing he knew how to do.

Dodge!

"Lightning Technique; Flash Evade!"

The bandit went soaring past the place where Ryou was just standing, crashing to the floor as Ryou poured lightning chakra into his feet, moving out of the way as fast as a flash. A simple technique, he just had to pick a location and move in that direction. For some reason, the first place he chose to move was by the wall where all of his possessions had been kept, right next to the crate. For the first time in months, he was right next to it. It felt... nice, being next to all that gold. Familiar.

Unfortunately, it didn't take the bandits long to recover and realize where Ryou had moved to. They looked just a tad more impressed with him, but still didn't look like they were all going to come charging at him. Ugh, what was he supposed to do to aggravate them?

"Ha, I guess I'll just be taking all of this back then..." he said stupidly, confidence still absent from his voice as he attempted to annoy them by lifting up one of the crates of possessions. The badits weren't phazed though.

"No you're not kid. We're selling all that stuff. It's worth millions, no, more. Ugh, Kenji, take him out!"

Another one of the bandits came at Ryou, diving from his chair. Darn, it hadn't worked. And he couldn't keep evading them like he had for long. But what was he to do...? What was he supposed to do that would make the bandits all want to kill him? What was that valuable to them?

...

Wait.

No.

Not that.

The bandit was coming closer. Ryou gulped. It was all or nothing. Now or never. There was one way he could turn it around.

"RAITON! CRITICAL EXPLOSION!"

The bandit stopped as a deafening explosion filled the cave, completely freezing all of the bandits in shock. But it wasn't Ryou's opponent who had just gone up in flames, been completely destroyed, charred and burned beyond use.

"What's it worth if it doesn't exist?"

Ryou was shaking with guilt and a tinge of regret as he watched what had just been almost everything he had brought with him on the trip combust with his jutsu. It had been easy, exploding the metal, or, physically easy, but mentally one of the hardest decisions he had ever made. There, everything he had owned. All gone.

But it looked like it wasn't in vain. The bandits collective faces went from mutual shock to murderous glares.

"Kid... d-did you just destroy all of th-that millions of ryou worth of of-"

Now it was the bandit leader who was stuttering. Ryou could still feel himself shaking, but suddenly he felt alot more confident. He had a plan.

"Most certainly did," he said, his words giving the right effect. The bandit leader's eyes narrowed as he stood up in his seat, drawing a sword with a glint of metal

"Hpmh Kid, Do you get paid to be nuisance?"

Ryou grinned.

"I come from a whole line of politicians. Getting paid to be a nuisance? As far as I'm concerned, that's nothing new." he said, taking a couple of steps away from the the wreakage and towards the next stack of crates - the bandits eyes narrowed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have alot of other stuff to blow up...!"

"That's it! GET HIM!"

Ryou ran for it as the entire table of bandits, all enraged by his cheek and daring to destroy all they had held dearest came following after. They didn't seem to care if he actually was going to blow anything else up or not; he had already eliminated the most valuable of their stolen goods. They were just going to kill him regardless. No matter how far they had to run.

Feeling the bandits at his heels Ryou tried to pick up speed, feeling himself become drained of chakra just as he came to the door. With one final burst of speed he bolted into the hallway, dashing past Kei and Toya, not even knowing what they were going to do but trusting in their abilities to stop the bandits. Apparently what they had done had worked, because he could hear the bandits stop behind him as he sank to the ground a short way into the corrider, still in utter disbelief over what he had just done.

"Did I just... do that?" he muttered to himself, flashes of every single object he had just destroyed coming into his mind. Ryou panted a couple of times, thinking. Even though he had just rid himself of a potential 3 million ryou, he felt happy. Why was that?

Hm. Maybe it wasn't so bad though. After all, through the course of this journey the experiences he had were worth alot more than that.

The things he had learned were priceless.

[Kleee]

Kei has always suspected that the bandits were secretly trying to take over the world, but the fact that they were actually using a cave for a secret hideout only solidified her suspicions.

Because seriously, a cave? They were bandits after all, couldn't they afford anything less... stuffy? Probably, but nooo, they'd just had to go with the lame cave tunnels to try and seem all cool and scary, Kei mused, following her teammates through the seemingly endless cave-maze. The walls even had those creepy torch things that always showed up in horror stories. Not that she thought they were scary or anything, but the flickering shadows they kept casting on the cave walls were kind of eerie-looking... But the cave idea was still lame, she decided. Only bandit-wannabes with secret (but lame) plots for attempting world domination lived in caves. The whole cave-life thing certainly explained a thing or two about the bandits' appearance, too...

Unfortunately, Kei's examination of the life of a cakestealing cavebandit was interrupted as soon as it began. Toya and Ryou had apparently noticed something important and stopped. Kei knew that could mean only one thing: they'd finally found the bandits.

”Ryou, I need you to somehow cause a big enough diversion to get every bandit in that cave to run out into this tunnel. Kei and I are going to back up several feet and wait for you. Once you get all of them out here, keep running until you pass us.”

Unsurprisingly, Toya had already come up with a plan.

And, just as unsurprisingly, Ryou was about to--

"Alright."

...Wait, what?

Kei blinked, trying to figure out whether or not she'd heard that correctly just now. Since when had Ryou been so... agreeable?

"It's crazy, stupid, dysfunctional even. But I'll do it."

Now that sounded more like the Ryou Kei knew. Still, he'd actually agreed with someone. That was certainly a first--Kei would've had something to say about it, but Ryou wasn't about to wait for a reply. Before Kei even had a chance to respond he was off, charging straight into the bandits' layer.

Whoa. Who was this guy and what had he done with Ryou?

As soon as Ryou disappeared from sight, a chorus of angry bandit shouts rose up from inside the cave. Completely forgetting Toya's advice to back up, Kei darted over to the entrance and peered in, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

Things weren't going so well.

Ryou was managing to avoid their attacks, but he was still outnumbered. He couldn't exactly fend them off by himself, and he didn't seem to be having much luck getting them all to go after him at once, either. Why wasn't he just insulting them or something? Even that would work better than running around at random... Ryou had always used to jump at the chance to insult or complain about anything and everything that moved. Pissing people off always had been his greatest talent, so why was he having so much trouble now? If he didn't come up with something soon, Ryou was in big trouble. Kei shifted uneasily in her hiding spot, wondering if it would be a better idea to forget the plan and just run in there to help Ryou instead. From the looks of things, he wasn't going to accomplish much on his own. The bandit was getting closer and closer, but Ryou hadn't moved a muscle... was he really going to be okay?

...But then Kei remembered how he'd stood by and trusted her when she'd been struggling to fight off one of the bandits herself, and she stopped. Ryou was fighting for his life in there, but he was doing it because he trusted Kei and Toya not to screw up the plan. If snobby, arrogant, selfish Ryou could find it in himself to put that amount of trust in someone else, the least Kei could do was have some faith in him, too. He would come up with something. After all, he'd been surprising her a lot lately. Maybe Ryou still had a surprise or two up his sleeve.

In the end, however, the 'surprise' Ryou came up with was far beyond anything even Kei could ever have expected from him.

"RAITON! CRITICAL EXPLOSION!"

First, there was an explosion. There was a flash of light and an eruption of sound and there was no way any bandit could have withstood that attack, and... and then suddenly, there was nothing.

In the space where all Ryou's possessions had once stood, there was now nothing but a charred and blackened burn mark.

"What's it worth if it doesn't exist?"

Kei stared.

Was he crazy? All this time, hadn't Ryou's entire goal been to somehow find and reclaim all his precious 'stuff'? He'd had the chance; it had all been sitting there right in front of him, but... he'd decided something else was more important. He'd given it up.

Actually, he'd blown it up, Kei corrected herself mentally. And it had been awesome.

Enraged, the bandits charged as one. Ryou bolted. It was only then that Kei finally remembered to get into position for her part of the plan, quickly backing up deep into the tunnel before the bandits reached her. Ryou passed her once again, and Kei couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at her teammate's accomplishments. It wasn't the first time, either, she realized, thinking back to his words in the hospital room. Ryou had been surprising her a lot lately, hadn't he? The whole team had.

Back in the hospital, right after the events of that horrible assassination gone wrong, Kei had been devastated. Right then and there, she'd known that nothing would be the same for herself or her team ever again.

What she hadn't known until just now, however, was maybe... just maybe, that wasn't such a bad thing after all. Ryou had discovered a world outside... well, ryou. Toya had finally opened up. And Kei... Well, she'd have plenty of time to deal with that part later. She wasn't going to lose to Ryou, after all.

Right now, however, Kei was a little busy dealing with the horde of angry bandits charging straight for her.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until just then, with an angry mob only feet away from her, that Kei realized even her strongest fire jutsu would be next to useless against this crowd. There were just so many of them! That was where the trusting part came in, she supposed.

Forming rapid handseals and knowing Toya was nearby with a plan, Kei faced the bandits head-on.

"Katon! Dragon Fire Technique!"

This had better work.

[Kleee]

Toya waited anxiously for Ryou’s reaction to the plan. Kei had already given her approval… well not really, but since when had she ever disagreed with any of his plans? As long as she didn’t argue, he could just assume she was on board with the idea. The real obstacle was getting Ryou’s approval.

"Alright. It's crazy, stupid, dysfunctional even. But I'll do it."

A grin lit up Toya’s face, and he gave his teammate a quick nod of confirmation. This was probably the first time the team had come to a consensus on anything without even the slightest doubts or protests. The signs that their team had changed for the better were starting to appear more frequently. Now as long as this whole thing actually worked, they would definitely be on the right track.

Ryou ran off to complete his part of the plan and things seemed to be looking up, but apparently Kei had decided that running forward and peeking in on the bandit lair was much more interesting than listening to Toya and preparing her fire jutsu. The only thought running through Toya’s mind was that they were all going to die in this stupid cave and no one in the entire world would even care.

He quickly stepped forward, preparing to forcefully pull Kei backwards and get them both into the right position, until the noise from inside the cave caught his attention. The Toya of a few months ago probably wouldn’t have hesitated, but right now he temporarily silenced his better judgment and mimicked Kei by taking a quick peek into the cavern entrance.

He made it just in time to watch Ryou evade a few of the charging bandits and then used one of his lightning-based jutsus to blow up a large pile of the stolen loot without a second thought. Wait a minute, was that Ryou’s stuff?! Did he really just do that, like really?

"What's it worth if it doesn't exist?"

Toya blinked a few times to make sure he hadn’t somehow dozed off or something.

Not only had Ryou listened to Toya and ran into a life-threatening situation for the benefit of the whole team, he had just sacrificed some of his most important possessions in life, namely money, in order to carry out the plan of luring all of the bandits into the narrow tunnel.

This was yet another defining moment for the team. They were all slowly overcoming their individual issues and coming together as one effective unit.

It was only after seeing Kei run back that Toya remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He quickly followed his teammate and stood side-by-side in the tunnel with her, executing a short string of handseals and sucking in air with a deep inhale.

”Fuuton! Blasting Gale!”

He let out the air in an instant, the jet stream of air rushing forward and filling up the entire tunnel just as Ryou had made it behind them. The bandits froze as the gusting wind hampered their movement dramatically.

"Katon! Dragon Fire Technique!"

A split-second after Toya unleashed his technique, Kei’s roaring fire rushed down the tunnel as well. The flames, fanned and guided by the directional force of the wind current, engulfed the entire area of the narrow passageway, leaving no room for evasion. The bandits could only raise their arms and cower as the explosive force of the combined technique hit them like an avalanche, burying them all in the wave of fire that had lit up the caves as it passed through them.

Toya smirked and cracked the knuckles of his left hand, satisfied by the results of his theory. He would never tell Kei or Ryou that this entire plan had been based on a theoretical idea that he had come up with, and now that it had worked, they would probably never ask.

The bandits had all sprawled out on the cave floor, either unconscious or incapacitated. The ones closer to the front were covered in severe burns and were left with singed rags in place of their clothing, while the ones further down the hallway had been more affected by the explosive force that had sent their companions flying back into them.

Stepping over the bodies, Toya walked into the main cave that was still intact and quickly retrieved his family’s heirloom weapon with a smile on his face. While Ryou and Kei were still out in the tunnel trying to figure out exactly what had just happened, he continued to look around the area, searching for anything useful and important. He eventually settled on a few rolled up scrolls that seemed to contain information about the group’s other hideouts, allies, and even future plans. Now this was the kind of recon info that the village would want from them.

Tucking the papers away and securing his newly recovered blade onto his waist, Toya turned back towards the adjoining tunnel and grinned at his teammates.

”If any of your stuff is still in there that hasn’t been blown to pieces by Ryou, go ahead and get it now. I found exactly what the village wanted, so we can finally get the hell out of here and go home once and for all.”

Toya’s bright expression faded slightly when he remembered exactly how they had even come this far into the cave system in the first place.

”That is, when we actually find our way back to the original entrance…”

This was going to be a loooong trek back through the dimly lit tunnels, but home sweet home would await them at the end.

Finally…

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