The Tower stunk like death. Although this was a common stench, along with a bouquet of infection, excrement, foul bodily odors and other consequences of dense habitation. The only respite was the somewhat sweetly sticky smelling benzine tincture that lingered in the air. The dead outnumbered the living these days, or at the very least that was how it seemed. Most of the ailing had already died or recovered and those who recently fell ill had the good sense to seek medical care elsewhere while they tried to rebuild. The surviving yet not thriving patients that remained were for the most part under the care of their extended family or friends because relying solely on Caduceus' strained resources would be a death sentence for anyone.
She had been ordered to bury the dead on this day. She did not really understand why she was asked to bury them, it was a manual labor request that could have been passed onto anyone but she rarely questioned the office of the Kazekage. She wrapped each of the bodies in a roughly sewn burlap sack, some of the more distinguished corpses had boxes left by their families but most did not. She wrapped the last body and then pulled the drawstring tight, with that final tug a tiny eight-legged insect scurried up her arm and bit her in the armpit. "YEOWCH!" Shiori cried out as she pincer grasped the arachnid and pulled it along with a tiny chunk of her own flesh. "What the *&%$" she muttered as she stomped the little bug into oblivion. It was then that she heard it, the scraping sounds of hundreds of little feet against the abrasive cloth.
She looked to the left and then to the right, not with her eyes of course but rather her ears. She spotted almost immediately what she was looking for, a thick silk tape. With that she expertly sealed off the burlap bag as well as the others for good measure. "Dang bugs," she complained as she lifted the infested body bag along with all of the others onto a large wooden pallet that would serve as her gurney. The hissing and scurrying and apparent movement of one of the bodies was enough to cause concern for spectators that one of the bags might not be as inert as she thought. She tossed a large tarp over the entire pile and started to drag them to the burial ground she had made earlier. There was no way she could bury all of these bodies and in some cases ensure that all of a body was buried in a chosen site, when one also considers the likelihood of decomposition and spread of infectious disease from delayed burials it was a matter of infection control and national security to ensure the expedient burial of the dead.
It would be a shared grave with a simple plaque that listed the names of the fallen in alphabetical order followed by a short poem about peace everlasting under the love and protection of Mother Suna. She dragged the bodies to the end of a dead end tunnel that was recently erected for this purpose. The bag was still moving about, somewhat violently in fact. The walls were charged with explosive notes thankfully because the tape would not hold much longer. She set off the notes in rapid succession as she backed away a safe distance less she also share a tomb with the fallen. The bag had burst free, inside the corpse bag the first had escaped from it was now apparent that they had nested inside of the dead man, if it was before, after or even a cause of his death was to hopefully remain a mystery to her. A curtain of earth and stone showered down before her and sealed the tomb. A dozen or so insects had evaded premature burial. Two bit her legs, she let out a yelp before she slapped them into oblivion. Several others ran up her legs and torso and also started biting at her. These insects were aggressive and they had taken their first live target, the unfortunate medic who was now screaming: "Oh dear Mother Suna get them off! Get them off!" One by one she dashed around like a mad woman and plucked them off before stomping them into little puddles of exoskeleton and goo.
For the most part it was a simple mission, less the two-dozen bug bites she now wore as badges of honor as this mission was a mission with rewards well-earned. With a dead bug in hand to creep out her cousin she trotted off to the Kazekage Tower to get her mission rewards. Hopefully next time she would get a nice watch the comatose patient mission or a simple deliver a baby mission. She liked those, in the former she was able to goof off all day and only pretend to be working when someone else showed up. She had only lost one comatose patient thus far and it was not her fault really, he woke up. The mission was only for comatose patients, so when he woke up and ran off with his intubation tube still in his maw it was really someone else's fault. They should have mentioned that he might wake up. On the latter, babies being born is a lot of fun for everyone but the mother because the mother does all the work while she plays catcher. This time she wouldn't catch the baby in a bedpan even.
WC: 923