Recently revamped this, so here we are with a new verison. I no longer have the original, so if you wanted to read that, then you'll have to settle for this version. But trust me, it's a lot better.
Prologue: Minakami Village

Few knew of the village that lay nestled deep within the rural forests of Japan. Even fewer knew of it's history. A single town that disappeared off the face of the earth, it's inhabitants never to be seen, nor heard from again. Their culture...believes, completely gone, and there was little indication of why or how.

Still, there were in fact people who knew of this village, and knew how to get there. Many of which dared never to venture into it's ruins, for that's what it now was. The buildings crumpled with age, and it's empty streets let the grass grow over, nothing passing the old shop windows except for a few scarlet butterflies.

It was the perfect place to hide, the perfect place to do something that you didn't want found out. The perfect place to get away from everything, with no hope of being found for miles.

The perfect place to dump a body.

Mikoto Akamari was doing just that. As a paid bounty hunter, even in this day and age, it was her job to do away with whatever her employer wanted. Her employer had the dough, and the slip of paper was handed to her with the picture of her next target.

Sora Kazerion. Age 18. Pale skin, and brown hair. Blue eyes. A tendency to wander off. It had unnerved her how young the boy had been, and she had wondered what he did to piss off her employer, but details were scarce, and she had no choice but to do her job.

It had been surprisingly easy to get him alone. He was a trusting type, always smiling. It pained Mikoto with what she had to do. With the tendency to wanter off, it had been easy to get him to come with her, however just because it was easy to snatch him, did not make the job of killing the boy any easy. She wasn't sure what he had done, or who the boy had ticked off, but it didn't matter. She had a family to feed, and they came first.

Surprisingly, it had been a lot easier than she thought to take the metal bat in her trunk and slam it against his small head.

Mikoto was not a superstitious woman. Minakami Village was just a dumping ground for her when she could afford to dump the body. Still this did not mean she pulled right into the abandoned village. She parked her car outside the entrance of the village, grunting to herself as she pulled her tired body out of the vehicle. Swatting a couple of the scarlet butterflies from her face, she hefted the limp form out of the car and over her shoulder.

"So light..." she muttered to herself as she passed under the Tori Gateway into Minakami Village. Mikoto tsked under her breath, searching the darkness for a suitable place to place the body. She couldn't afford to place it too close to any of the other skeletons that littered the deserted streets.

"Ah, there we go..." she spotted a bare patch of ground underneath a window. She peaked inside and frowned a bit at the skeleton that lay on the floor. "Seems to be a storehouse...oh well. Nothing edible in there, and hasn't been for a long time." she grunted and placed the limp body on the ground at the base of the window. For a moment she looked at his paling face and sighed at the blood running down it. "Sorry kid. Nothing personal."

Mikoto brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes, and leaned back on the balls of her feet. It didn't matter if he wasn't dead yet...but she needed proof that he had been taken care of. Taking a knife out of her pocket, she quickly cut off what she needed.

Silently, she tucked the lock of blood-stained hair in her pocket and turned to leave, muttering a quick prayer under her breath. Despite not being superstitious, she did have respect for the deceased. With the prayer done, she sighed, and began the trek back to her car.

"Sae, she's been here before."

"I know Yae. This boy..."

A pair of scarlet butterflies landed on the boy's head, and it rolled to the side. The butterflies took to the air once more, and fluttered about his head, almost panicked, then disappeared; replaced by the images of two young women who stood over his body.

"We should help him...he's not dead yet..." one muttered to the other, fiddling with the red cord that tied them together. The other frowned, waving a hand and letting the cord fall to the ground.

"Indeed we should. I think this woman has claimed enough lies. I do not wish her to turn into what I had become."

Both visions vanished, leaving behind two butterflies, one of which fluttered away towards the entrance of the village. There was a groan as the boy shifted slightly, his face twisting into pain as he fought to regain consciousness...but failed, and the only thing he accomplished was to move his hand.

"He once said 'an eye for an eye' I wonder if that works the same with lives."

"It should...but who will the abyss..."

"I do not know Yae, but this has gone on long enough."

The air of the village grew heavy, and it was something that even animals seemed to sense. Mikoto raised her head as the silence settled upon the town. She shivered slightly at the wind that suddenly blew out of nowhere, but smiled as she came in sight of her navy blue Toyota Camery. Mikoto made her way towards the car, not paying attention to the swarms of crimson butterflies that began to amass in front of her. She swatted a few away as she moved forward.

A crunch echoed from behind Mikoto, and she turned slowly; a gust of wind pushing her hair into her eyes. She raised a hand to brush the strands to where she could see, expecting an animal of some sort.

"It's probably a skunk Mikoto, don't be all parano..."

"It's time to end this."

A scream echoed throughout the entire village, and there was a flash of light that began to consume every building. It creeped over everything, swallowing it up in a cocoon of bright light. Within the blinding luminescence, there was a thud as something heavy fell to the ground before even sound was swallowed, leaving only silence as the light retreated.

Mikoto Akamari had been judged. She would never see her family again, and be considered a Missing Persons report for years to come until the case was closed.