Fuyuki Hinata had no idea where he was. All he could remember was the airship crashing, and feeling himself fly into the air. After that, he couldn't remember anything at all. But sure enough, here he was, in a place that he felt he had seen before, but couldn't place it. The skies were cloudy with the threat of rain, and the humidity was unbearable. The entire area was a clearing, surrounded by forest, as if civilization was supposed to be here—only it wasn't. A few small buildings had been left untouched, while others looked almost entirely destroyed. There were some places where it looked like a building had been there, but now there was nothing. And in the very middle of the clearing was an enormous tree, standing out against the emptiness that was in that dead place.

A loud roll of thunder was heard from overhead. In an instant, rain started pouring down from the skies. Fuyuki stood shocked in the rain for a moment, and then covered his head with his arms and headed to the closest and most promising shelter: the tree.

Fuyuki sighed, sitting with his back against the tree. "What is this place? Where is everyone?" He shuddered as the feeling of paranoia washed over him; although the clearing was deserted, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

"The weather on the Atlantic coast is dreadful, is it not?"

Fuyuki jumped at the unexpected noise, and looked everywhere for who could have been speaking. Finally, he looked up into the branches of the large tree. A few feet up, directly over Fuyuki's head, sat a large white cat with enormous grey eyes. Fuyuki jumped up and backed away, making sure not to leave the tree's protection. "A talking cat? What's going on?"

The cat chuckled, and Fuyuki felt his blood turn cold. "Is it wrong for a cat to speak its mind? Oh, you have much to learn about life, Fuyuki Hinata."

Fuyuki froze. "How do you know my name?"

"Oh, I know much more than your name." The cat stretched out, revealing its sharp claws, and started to jump down the branches of the tree. "You are friends with Keronians, and some even live in your own home. You have an amazing older sister, Natsumi Hinata, who is outstanding in athletics and school. You, on the other hand, aren't as great as her, and are often stuck in her shadow. Oh, come now, get that confused look off your face, you know it's true. But you are still very gifted, Fuyuki Hinata. You can see things that others cannot, you think in a way entirely different from others, and most of all, you want to know. That is something that not many people wish for. It makes you…special."

Fuyuki felt anything but special. He wanted to get away from the tree, away from the deserted village, but most of all, away from that damn cat. But for some reason, his legs felt frozen stiff, and moving his eyes away from the gaze of the cat was impossible. "I don't know what you're talking about. So now, I would like some answers; where am I?"

The cat was perched on the bottommost branch, its tail swinging like a pendulum, back and forth. "I thought you would have figured it out by now, but I suppose not. Take a look on the other side of the tree."

Fuyuki was relieved of being excused from the cat, but the terrible feelings all came back when he followed the cat's instructions and went around the tree. On the bark of the tree, carved at eye level, was one word written in large, sharp letters:

CROATOAN

/

Night had fallen, and the sky was full of stars. Miyuki sat on the bank of the stream, looking up into the sky. She remembered when she was little and she hadn't learned to write, trying to ask her mom what stars were. Until she found out, she had always thought the night sky was a big blanket put over the Earth when it was time to sleep, but the blanket was worn out and formed many small holes, letting in small streams of light. Miyuki hugged her knees into her chest when she remembered her mom explaining what stars really were; she wanted her mom so badly right now…

Miyuki's thoughts were interrupted by a poke on the shoulder. She jumped and looked next to her, relieved to see it was just Koyuki. The kunoichi smiled. "We should go to sleep soon, we need a lot of rest for tomorrow."

Miyuki looked at Koyuki in confusion. It was almost like Koyuki was excited for the next day to come, which Miyuki found very puzzling. She traced her finger in the dirt, writing a message to Koyuki.

I'm not very tired. I've been sleeping for days, after all.

The kunoichi smiled. "Then you can be on guard duty!"

The next thing Miyuki knew, everyone at the camp was fast asleep, leaving her alone to watch out for anything suspicious. She sighed, doodling in the sand. It was going to be a long night.

/

Dororo stood in the middle of the street, drenched in the rain. No cars, no buses, no people—this was highly unusual for a city such as Tokyo. The Keronian didn't even know what he was doing here, or how he got here, or how he could leave. You could say that he hated this place, but really, it was that he was afraid of being here.

The ninja turned around immediately when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He put one hand on the hilt of his katana, ready for anything. But instead of seeing someone who would attack him, Dororo saw a young boy. The boy looked about eight years old, and wore all black, with strands of black hair covering his eyes. A black umbrella shielded him from the pouring rain, and in his left hand he held an extra black umbrella. The boy stopped in front of Dororo, and held out the umbrella so that the handle was pointed towards Dororo.

"Take this," the boy said. "If you don't want to catch a cold, you should protect yourself from rain."

Dororo found himself letting go of his katana and taking hold of the umbrella. Before he even got a chance to thank the boy, the umbrella turned into a large snake, its eyes glowing red. It curled itself around Dororo's entire body as he screamed, feeling himself become constricted in its scaly grasp. The snake took advantage of Dororo's fright, lunging itself at his face. The snake tore through Dororo's mask, and the ninja's screams of horror and pain were stopped as the snake slid down Dororo's throat.

The young boy in front of Dororo smiled evilly. "Welcome to hell, Lance Corporal Dororo."

/

Miyuki jumped when she saw something moving in the bushes next to their camp. She gulped, hoping it was just a wild animal of some sort. She tiptoed to the bush, her heart thudding in her chest. Parting the leaves, Miyuki's eyes widened. She grabbed what was there and ran to Koyuki, shaking her awake. It took a while before Koyuki sat up, grumbling. She looked at Miyuki, noticing the fear in her eyes. "Miyuki-chan, what's wrong?"

Miyuki thrust out what she was holding, and Koyuki's expression turned to one of both puzzlement and fear. Miyuki was holding a black and white fedora, her hands trembling. The mute girl still held the hat as she wrote a shaking message in the dirt.

This belongs to Cho-nee.

Koyuki turned her head to look up into a tree behind her, where some leaves were rustling. Miyuki followed her gaze and saw a girl standing on a tree limb. The girl had brown matted hair and wore a T-shirt and cargo pants, her feet bare and dirty. The girl's eyes were stone grey, and an insane smile had formed on her lips. As Miyuki stared in fear at her younger sister, Cho snickered.

"Found you."