[center][h3]Kuhaku Shiro - The airship ride home[/h3][/center]

Shiro sat in relative peace, staring out the windows of the airship as it neared Beacon. The hood of his cowl was still pulled over his head, his ears poking up at the cloth. Scoot lay on Shiro's shoulders, asleep after running around for so long and tiring himself out. Feeling their trip back nearing its conclusion, Shiro glanced sideways at Abel and Gren. Remembering something, he cleared his throat and spoke up over the quiet rumble of the airship's engines.

[b]"Hey...Gren. Abel. About what you each heard and saw. Back there, at the Shelter? Could you two not mention it to anyone?"[/b] He rubbed at his gloved forearms, clearly uncomfortable about something.

Though he was vague, he wished that the two of them would understand what he meant by his words and body language. See, Shiro knew he had 'Foot-In-Mouth' Syndrome. It was only after some time he felt regret and embarrassment about his words and actions, if not immediately after then later. He hoped they would lay the events that transpired at the Shelter to bed. At least, until something occurred in the future. Whenever that would be. To be sure, Shiro would be thinking about how his first mission went for some time. Saying only that, offering no further explanation and falling back into silence.

Turning back to peer out of the windows, he saw the Airship Docks fast approaching and decided to rouse Scoot. Poking at the ferret, he woke the telepathic rodent and began to gather his things. Sheathing Kladenets into Perun, he slung his weapons onto his back and slung one strap of his unused pack onto his shoulder. Standing as the airship touched down onto the dock, he shielded his eyes as the side bay doors slid open and Beacon in all of its glory was within view. Walking off of the airship, he felt a bit of weight being lifted off of his shoulders as his boots stood on Beacon's grounds. Sighing, he smiled ever so slightly.

[i]"Home."[/i] Shiro thought.
And to him, it truly was.

Looking over his shoulder at his teammates also coming off of the airship, he posed the question. [b]"So, are we done here? If so, I want to hang out here for a bit on my own. You all come find me if I'm needed for something. I won't be going anywhere else."[/b] Shrugging his pack onto his shoulder better, he walked away from his team and towards the edge of the docks. Setting his pack down with a [i]thud[/i], he plopped his behind down and contented himself with admiring the view of the sky in front of him. Reaching up with a gloved hand, he pulled back his hood to let his ears twitch freely. Stretching and groaning, he heard slight pops and cracks in his bones as the stress pent up in his body slowly released. Removing his weapons from his back, he began to break them down into their many parts. Laying down his disassembled sword and shield in front of him, he dug out his maintenance kit from his pack and started doing a more in-depth cleaning and upkeep of his equipment. Or at least, so he wanted it to seem. Occasionally, Shiro looked back where his team stood to see when they would leave. He didn't want his true intentions to be made known just yet.

Prior to the surprise pep-talk that Sapphire gave him, Shiro considered retaliating against his leader in his own way. Namely, to not do anything about her mother's daggers. But, after her kind words, he decided that it was childish to do such a thing. As a better way to apologize for his ridiculous actions, he had been planning the entire way home how he would go about locating Sapphire's heirloom weapons and surprise her with their return to her. After all, the only memento he had of his own parents were the very weapons he used nearly every day. He couldn't imagine how painful and heart-rending it would have been if he had been the one to lose his inherited sword and shield. Even less so how Sapphire must've felt. Shiro openly wore his emotions for all to see. Sapphire seemed to him to be the kind to bottle all of her feelings and lock them away, hiding them. So as he waited for his team to leave to do their own thing, he half-pretended to appear to want to do his gear maintenance alone in peace. Only half-pretended because he really did need to. As soon as they would leave, Shiro would reassemble his sword and shield and begin to furiously sniff around.

Unbeknownst to Sapphire, Shiro had quietly been imprinting her scent in his mind the trip home to Beacon. Whenever she would be near or generally close, he would periodically take discreet inhales and sniffs. By the time he made it to where he was presently, her scent was deeply committed to memory. He only hoped they hadn't been gone for too long or something happened to disturb the scent on the daggers. Something tugged at his mind, bothering him. Had they simply fallen off the airship as they took off? Did they roll somewhere and get picked up by another Beacon student? Something told him that both questions were wrong, but he couldn't exactly place what happened in those hectic seconds that he and Sapphire rolled around. Regardless, Shiro took note of every little scratch, ding, and nick on his cherished weapons as he refocused his attention. Brushing away dirt with a nylon brush and rubbing a protective lubricating oil on the moving internal parts with a cloth. Taking short pauses and breaks to glance back over his shoulder at the other members of Swansong.