The twilight overhead accents the spaced-out fires near the abandoned homes. In the distance, the freshly painted exterior, immaculate yard, and the largest house in the vicinity brings a smile to Yukariko's face.

Finally, now I can put this day behind me.

Her accomplices' grins and words of appreciation strokes her ego, thrusting her into a world of self-satisfaction. The creaking of the steps and the porch brings her back to reality. Without hesitation, the door opens revealing the narrow, barely lit hallway which travels several yards forward before branching off into the living room area on the right side. Across the hall lies the kitchen, and even further away three bedroom doors lie at the end of the hall.

"I'm home!"

Her voice echoes down the hall and upon reaching the living room, a woman, several inches taller than herself round the corner from the living room. Her long, black hair flows down to her white blouse as she makes towards Yukariko with urgency.

"Yukariko! Where have you been? Your father and I have been worked sick about."

Father's home, she asks herself, cocking her head to the side. That's surprising. I thought he would have been gone until tomorrow or until later tonight like he usually does.

"I didn't mean to worry you both. I was helping some of the neighbors," she replies, looking past the woman and into the empty hallway behind her. "Where is father now?"

"He went chasing after Yuuko after she ran out of the house. I swear that girl needs to do better. I know I taught her better than that."

"Ran out?"

"She swore you were in some type of danger," her mother says before erupting into a coughing fit.

"Mother..."

"I'm okay," her mother replies warding her off with her hand. "It's just a cough. I'll take some of my medicine soon."

"If you say so. Anyway, I don't know why Yuuko would think that. I wasn't in any danger."

"Maybe she was paranoid because you weren't in the house," her mother says with a sigh. "I don't know how many times I've told her to stop babying. You're too old to have someone constantly babysitting you."

It's not babysitting. She was just trying to be a good sister. Then again, you didn't like a lot of what Yuuko did anyway.

"Did you happen to see Yuuko while you were out?"

"I didn-" she stutters, unable to respond.

Why am I hesitating? There's nothing for me to be ashamed of.

The front door opens, interrupting her monologue. In the doorway, a man about the same height as her mother steps inside the house and closes the door. He runs his hand through his curly, black hair, and knocks off some of the dust on his white short sleeve shirt and glasses.

"Yukariko!" he shouts with excitement before embracing his daughter. "Where have you been? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine...father," she replies, combating his embrace. "I was out helping some of the neighbors. You're…squeezing too hard."

"I'm sorry," he apologizes while releasing his hold. "I worried about you. After seeing Yuuko run out of the house like that-"

"Did you find her Jin?"

"No Rei. I don't know where she could be. No one I've asked said they've seen her today."

"She couldn't have gone far. There aren't that many places in this village, and everyone here knows what she looks like."

"Yukariko, do you know of any places that Yuuko may have gone? Somewhere you two would go in private or that some people may not know about?"

The desperation in his voice tugs at her heart, but only for a moment.

"We don't have any places like that father. I'm sorry."

'Damn it," he shouts, throwing back his head in disbelief. "I've looked out back by the mountain path, I've talked to our neighbors, and I even looked along the road leading out of town. No one has seen her."

"Are you sure you've searched everywhere Jin? What about the river bed at the base of the mountain?"

"I haven't checked out that far out, but I can give it a try."

I guess the most obvious place isn't the most obvious after all. Oh well, that's better for us.

Yukariko rolls her eyes, makes her way past her mother and into the kitchen. The cupboard emits a squeak before reaching inside, taking a glassing, and filling it with water.

I wonder if the mountain god has come down yet and taken Yuuko away, she thinks while sipping her water and ignoring her parents down the hallway. Come to think of it, how would we know if this worked? Is everyone going to mysteriously get better or something? I should have asked father about that when he first told me that story. I definitely can't ask him now.

She turns the glass up and guzzles the remaining water.

"Yukariko," a familiar voice whispers in her ear.

Before she realizes the glass plummets to the floor, shattering upon impact. Her eyesight dances around the room, glancing over the table, chairs, and appliances unable to to shake the chill creeping its way through her body.

"My mind is playing tricks on me," she whispers placing her hands on the counter of the sink and rubbing her eyes furiously. "it's been a long day. That's it."

"Yukariko, are you alright," he father's voice calls from the entrance of the kitchen.

She looks down to find the shards of glass littering the floor around her.

"I'm okay, father. I was just clumsy is all. I'll clean this up right away."

"That's okay"," he replies examining her. "You look exhausted. You should go and check on your mother, and maybe lie down. I'll clean this up before I go back out."

"Go back out?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to look for your sister again."

"Don't you think it's too late to be going out like this?"

'Especially with your detective skills.'

"What other choice do we have? I'm not giving up on looking for her. Once I find her, we're getting out of this place."

"Leave? But this is our home."

"We can make a new home. I don't want to see any of you come down with this sickness, especially since we don't know how to treat it."

"Sickness? You know exactly how to treat it. You told me so yourself. You told me about Akahito-"

"Didn't I say that was just some old story that people used to believe back in the dark ages? There's nothing remotely logical about killing someone to appease some god!"

He sure is mad. I guess I shouldn't have said that.

"I'm…sorry I yelled at you." He apologizes as he recovers from his outburst.

"It's okay. I'll go and tend to mother right now," she says, heading for the doorway. "Don't stay out too late father."

"I pray that I don't have to."

Yukariko makes her way down the hall and into her mother's room where she finds her mother taking a seat in the chair at their father's desk. Her mother bursts into another coughing fit, prompting her to take a drink of her medicine in the glass before her. Yukariko closes the door behind her and takes a seat the seat next to her mother.

"Are you sure you're okay, mother?"

"I'm fine. I just didn't take my medicine today is all."

"You have to remember to take your medicine mom. We don't want you to get sick too."

"I know that. I've been worried about your sister all day, so it slipped my mind."

"Yuuko will be fine. She's fifteen, I'm sure she can handle herself."

"You're surprisingly calm about this. Of everyone, I thought you'd be taking this the hardest out of everyone."

Should I bring up the thing about Akahito? Maybe I can help calm her nerves with that.

"I know that in the end, everything is going to be alright."

"Let's hope so. I don't want to see anyone else we know lose their lives over this."

"Don't you think it's weird how this happened so suddenly? Do you think it could be because we upset a god?"

Her mother takes a sip of her medicine and then looks back to her in confusion with a soft chuckle.

"Gods… I'm not too sure about that. I don't think people still believe in gods nowadays. Then again, I could be wrong. Is that what these people have been talking about around here?"

"Some people have been saying that."

"Do you think what they are saying is true?"

"I'm not sure, but if it wasn't then why hasn't father been able to find a cure for the plague?"

"Your father was doing his best. He says this is a new type of sickness that no one knows anything about. Of course, it's not going to be easy to cure."

Yukariko bites her tongue not wanting to risk exciting her mother, or ruining the chance of her actions going to waste. She motions to see if her mother needs help with her cup, but she waves the girl off.

"It's getting late, maybe you should go and get some sleep. You look really exhausted. I'm sure your father may want you to help him search for your sister, if he hasn't found her in the morning, though I have faith that he will find her tonight.

"Alright. I'm going to go to lie down. Have a good night."

"You too dear," she says as Yukariko makes her out of the door.

She arrives in her room and closes the door behind her. She takes off her clothing and puts on her nightgown before taking a seat in front of her mirror.

Just give it some days. Everyone will see just how wrong they were. They'll all see that it was our fault that those people died and giving Yuuko over to the mountain god was the right thing to do.

After finishing her hair, Yukariko places the comb on the dresser and setups up her futon. Before settling in, she turns off the light on her dresser and glances out of her window. The full moon looms overhead and shines down upon her face. With a smile, she turns around and gets into her futon.