Sunlight peeked through the cracks in the trees and illuminated the forest floor. Leaves tinting brown crunched underfoot and various rabbit holes trapped your feet if you weren't careful. The forest surrounding the school was green and beautiful, you could tell it was full of life just from one glance. Part of Hideo was glad that his botany teacher had given them the assignment to research the plants around here. From the corner of his eye a blue tinted flower growing near the roots of a tree drew his attention. Coming closer to it the 18 year old boy knelt down and brought out a paper handed to him earlier. He silently compared the picture on the paper to the plant in front of him. After moving his head back and forth a few times he nodded when he realized it was the same one. Gingerly he plucked the blue flower from the roots and held it gently in his palm. Earlier in class everyone was handed a picture of a plant with a short description of its properties and then paired into groups to find their plants in the forest. Although the assignment seemed to be an individual one so Hideo didn't see the need for groups but his teacher had expressed the dangers of the forest if not tread carefully. However the boy only scoffed, what was so dangerous about the forest? A angry squirrel throwing acorns maybe. Plus the headmaster was big on safety and Hideo doubted she would let anything that could harm the students live in the forest.<br/><br/>Letting out a sigh the boy wondered where his group went. He was paired up with Kadaj and Lola, fellow classmates of his with ironically opposite powers. Personality wise Hideo knew little about them, they had all split up and went their separate ways from the start leaving Hideo to wonder if they where successful in finding their plants. A slight breeze ran though the trees shaking a few leaves down and made the boy shiver although it wasn't from cold. The atmosphere was wild and free Hideo wanted nothing more than to shift and run through the forest a bit, he hadn't loosened up his body in what felt like ages but he couldn't risk damaging the flower or worse being caught by fellow students. He would surely become the laughing stock of the school. Feeling another sigh coming Hideo quickly pocketed the flower and resisted his silly urges. He should focus on finding his team mates not on frolicking through the woods.<br/><br/>With the leaves crunching under him Hideo followed the path back to the forest entry where they all split up, occasionally calling out his partners names in hopes they where near by. After a couple of minutes had past the trees all looked the same to him and the crunching leaves began to sound more ominous by each step. Halfway through his step the shifter caught an awful stench coming from somewhere near him, leaving the trail he looked around a bit more and was lead to a group of large bushes blocking his path. Pushing them back he came across the remains of what looked like a deer. The bones looked decomposed and almost...melted, but at the same time it looked fresh. Which didn't make any sense considering the smell was as if it had been rotting for days.<br/><br/>Something twisted in Hideo's gut and he quickly backed away almost tripping on a few branches with his haste to retreat. He tried to rationalize that maybe some sick student used their powers on it but even that level of cruelty seemed severe to the shifter. With a frown he tried to forget about the deer and continue with his search for his classmates but he couldn't help a feeling that the beautiful forest around him had more secrets than he cared to find out.