A Proper Funeral
The village was silent and cold as Utsuho walked through the empty streets he once called home. Most of the buildings were completely destroyed and the crop field was burned to a crisp. The metallic smell of blood and burned bodies floated in the air as he tried to find any unburned bodies to bury. The children were so young and pure...it pained him to see them lay motionless on the cold ground.
"I should've made that bastard suffer more..." Utsuho growled as he came across a young girl's unburnt body. Her hair was pure black and her skin was covered in burn marks, which meant she must've suffocated by the smoke before the fires got to her completely.
He leaned down and gently scooped the young girl in his arms like she was only sleeping. He recognized her as one of the new orphans that Gramps brought from a nearby village. If his memory served him correctly, Gramps had said she was an abuse survivor. What pained him the most was the fact he never got the chance to get to know her.
"I'm sorry little one..." Utsuho whispered to the unmoving body in his arms. "I should've been here to protect you."
Once he had gathered all the bodies he could find that weren't damaged in the fire, he dug up small graves to lay the children to rest. The adults that were killed by Iriya's men were buried underneath the cherry tree on the temple grounds earlier in the day since he couldn't bear to bury them all at once.
Gently, he lowered the young girl into the cold soil and moved on to the next grave. Soon he had laid every child to rest as he began covering the graves to hide their faces from the earth. As he did so, his eyes prickled with tears as he remembered their laughter and he teared up at the fact that they would never be able to thank Gramps for rescuing and raising them. Just like him.
"I'm sorry that your life was cut short by that bastard...I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you all and that I wasn't there for you when you needed me. The least I could do for you now was lay you to rest and hope that you're at peace. I swear...I'll let your memory live on through the people I save." Utsuho declared as he felt fresh tears run down his face. He wiped them away with his sleeve and shook his head. Crying wasn't going to bring back the dead but at least he was able to give them the proper funeral they deserved.