I can't believe this, guys. I'm disappointed in you! I got a lot of reviews asking whether Sesshomaru let her go or she was escaping. Well, I'm just gonna say, go take a look at Ch 10 if you want an answer, because I sure ain't giving you none! Okay, I'm done pretending to be mad. Usually it's me who's the clueless one, so I totally sympathize! So yeah... You rock! Ooh, and btw, first ever 3,000-word chapter! Like, ever! So! Yeah!

CH 13

Sumireko started slowing down, bundle of fabric nestled to her chest, as she neared the village. There was a nasty smell in the air. She knew it smelled when they burned the leaves, but this was different, somehow. There was a strange quality about the smell. She had never smelled anything quite like it before. It smelled a bit like when the villagemen roasted a rabbit or squirrel, but again, different somehow.

She drew her sleeve over the bottom half of her face. "You should do the same, Souta." He didn't understand her, so she mimed raising her sleeve to her face. He mimicked her, grinning.

"It smells good," he announced.

Sumireko forced a smile. There was something not quite right about this, but she had to admit, the smell made her stomach rumble. "Yeah. If they're eating rabbit without us, I'm going to be really mad." And she would be. Any kind of fresh meat at all was something to be treasured. A lot of the bigger villages and towns ate meat more regularly, but they were a small village, with little money to go around.

Holding her little brother's hand, she walked down the familiar path to her village. Right before she rounded the forest-obscured bend, she hesitated. There was something inside her heart that urged her to run, run and leave everything and everyone behind. She dismissed it with a toss of her head. Why would I pass up a chance to eat real, fresh meat? Steeling herself, she stepped around the bend of the road, and froze. The world seemed to slow down, like it was trapped in honey. She processed everything in slow motion. What? What had happened?

What had happened to the lush, rich grass that carpeted the fields of her home, the neatness and order of the layout of her village? What had happened to the skies, normally blue as the wings of a dream?

For brittle brown stalks poked out of the ground around her village. The roads in her home were trampled, and there were fallen trees blocking the paths. Everything had a dusty look about it. Even the sky was gray, with blots of ink that were crows circling about. Every now and then, something would pop loudly, and there would be a bright orange flash. There was so much smoke, hissing up from the dead grass, where little bits of amber glowed sinisterly, nestled in the brown stalks of its bed. And the ashes… They dusted the trees, the grass, the roads, the houses, everything. And the smell was so much worse.

"What happened?" Sumireko whispered, eyes stretched wide. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Behind her, Souta started to wail at the sight that awaited him. "Maa-maaaaa!" he screamed. "I want my maaa-maaaaaaaaa!"

"Shut up!" she shouted harshly, which only spurred on more screaming. "SHUT UP!" she shrieked, and grabbed her little brother's shoulders. She shook him hard. "Shut up right now!"

He stared at her, lip trembling. At least he had stopped his crying. She backed away and turned around again, to face the village. Where was everyone? She started running again, little brother completely forgotten. She tripped on a huge clod of ash and landed with her face buried in the pale gray stuff. Vision starting to blur, she got up, and started to kick contemptuously at what had tripped her. Her foot stopped midway. Her eyes stretched wider and wider until she thought the skin around them would stretch to pieces.

There was a face in the ash.

Sumireko screamed wildly and backed away from the horrifying sight, her eyes screwed shut. Very slowly, she opened her eyes again. Yes, she hadn't imagined it. There was definitely a nose, lips, and eyes in the ash. And the way they fit together looked familiar… He was one of the older village boys! It was Takeo. Yes, she recognized his large nose and full lips. They were burned and charred almost beyond recognition. The eyes were half-closed, a black liquid seeping out from between the eyelids. White foamed at his lips. But… What had happened? Her eyes shifted from the face to the rest of the ash clod.

It wasn't an ash clod.

Where she had tripped, she had stirred up some of the ash, revealing something bright red and charred-looking. There was a strip of blackened white in there too. She got a good look at it until a crow soared down and pecked in the ash up to the mound of gray. Beady eyes twinkling greedily, it hopped onto the body and started pecking at the red stuff.

Sumireko screamed. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

The crow ignored her, only giving her a bland gaze before returning to its meal. It ruffled its inky feathers with a self-satisfied expression. Before long, its gray beak was shining with dark liquid.

"STOP IT!" Sumireko screamed again, and lashed out at the crow. With a caw, it fluttered away to perch on top of a fallen tree trunk. It glared at her. She paid it no mind. Gently, gently, she brushed away some handfuls of ash, belly churning with horrified fascination. More of the red stuff was revealed, and the strange smell grew too intense for her. She backed away. Immediately, three new black birds flew down to peck at the body. Feeling sick, Sumireko ran on. She had to tell the rest of the village. She had to tell her Mama.

There was more smoke, more ashes. More crows.

She tripped several more times on other large clumps of ash. She didn't stop to think about who could be hiding in there. She just ran on. She had to find Mama. Her mama would make everything okay. She could fix up Takeo. Her mama could do anything!

Her eyes scanned the streets desperately. Where was her house? Her feet faltered to a stop. It should be right here… But her house wasn't there. There was only a skeleton of wood left, some parts still burning. "What's going on?"

Then she saw her.

Her mother was sprawled on the ground, half in, half out of the ruined doorway to their house. Sumireko frowned. "Mama! Mama!" she called, running to her side. She fell to her knees and shook her mother's shoulders gently. "Wake up! I'm back! Takeo needs your help!"

Her mother didn't stir. Her eyes were closed.

"Mama, this isn't funny!" cried Sumireko. Her eyes felt hot. "Stop pretending to be asleep! I know you're awake!" She noticed that her hands felt uncomfortably wet. She lifted them up and held them in front of her eyes. "Wh-what?" They were soaked in blood. This was very bad. Sumireko had never bled this much at any one time. Her mother might have to lay down for a while before she could get down again. "Are you okay?"

Still her mother remained still.

"Mama!" she cried. "Your yukata, it's all messed up!" It was down around her mother's shoulders. Her mother was on her stomach, and her back was only half covered. "Were you going to take a bath? To wash off the blood? I can help. Remember how you used to help me take baths? Well, I'm helping you now. Come on, Mama, let's get up. Don't sleep now. Please, wake up!" She was babbling, a flood of words streaming past her lips. "No, no, please, wake up!" She grabbed her mother's shoulders and lifted her up, just enough to hug her. "I can make you okay again, then we can go help Takeo. Where's Jii-chan? Does he have an ouchy too? Maybe I can help all of you!"

Still her mother slumped limp in her embrace. Sumireko felt a sob burst past through her throat. "Please get up! You're scaring me!" She buried her face in her mother's neck. It was cold, with only the barest trace of warmth. "Pretty please? I got some really pretty cloth for my yukata! I know you can make it beautiful!"

She tried to awake her mother for an hour, trying different tactics. Begging, threatening, apologizing…

"I'm sorry I was ever bad!" she cried, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Why was everything so wrong? "I'll never be bad again. Just… Please wake up! Please, please, please, please…"

Her mother was like a porcelain doll, cold and unresponsive. Only, the porcelain dolls smiled. Her mother looked sad. Plus, her mother was still a little warm.

Finally, Sumireko backed away, laying down her mother's head gently on the dirt. "I'll go find Jii-chan, then I'll be right back," she promised. "You'll get better soon!"

She ran into the house. She could see through the walls now. Sumireko ran down the hall, glancing from side to side. There, her grandpa! He was sleeping, too, in his room. Why was everyone so lazy today? Was she the only one awake? She hurried to his side.

"Jii-chan," she cried. "Wake up! Mama has an ouchy, a really big one! She's sleeping. I tried to wake her, but she's a lazy-bones. She wouldn't get up. Help me wake her up!"

She stepped closer, and her breath caught in her throat. There was a large red stain on the back of his kosode.

"Do you have an ouchy too?" she asked. She poked at it tentatively. It was stiff, not warm like her mother's ouchy. "Why does everyone have an ouchy? What happened?" Her grandpa didn't answer. "Jii-chan? Jii-chan…? Jii-chan!"

He was just like her mother, only he was so much stiffer, and his body was so cold. He didn't wake up either.

Sumireko was sobbing freely. It was terribly hot in here. Once in a while, an ember would drop from the ceiling and land on the floor. She was quick to stomp it out, but there were so many. "I'll come back," she promised again, wiping her nose. "I need to see if Takahiro's okay."

She didn't bother going through the hallways. She simply stepped through the wall. Now where would his house be? Normally, she could locate his place with a blindfold on, but everything was so different, gray and brown and orange and red instead of green and blue and tan. She ran down the road. So many people had ouchies!

"Higada-san, I'll come back. You too, Yamudai-san. And Gonozawa-san, and Bisohaka-san…"

Why was everyone taking a nap? The sun hadn't even set. No one was waking up, either, Sumireko noted. She sidestepped a large clump of ash, looking the other way determinedly. She didn't want to see another face.

After what seemed to be an eternity, she made it to Takahiro's house. It looked like her house; a mere skeleton of what it used to be. But it was even more on fire than hers. She could barely see through the walls, for all the flickering flames, licking up the wood.

"Takahiro?" she shouted, straining to see past the blazing orange and yellow. "Are you in there? You need to wake up! Do you have an ouchy too?"

This was no good; she couldn't see anything. Besides, he was probably sleeping, that sluggy potato. Mind made up, Sumireko braved it into the flames, holding the fabric for her new yukata to her nose. "Takahiro? Takahiro?" she screamed. But there was no reply.

She stumbled through the rooms, dancing a deadly dance, dodging falling burning planks of wood and embers. "Hey! You lazy slug! Wake up right now!" she ordered, trying to shout as loud as she could; but for all her begging the past hour, her voice was hoarse. "Get up!"

She made it to the last room. Still no sleeping lazy slug… And then she saw it.

The blue sash.

Crying again, fresh tears streaming from her stinging eyes, she danced clumsily through the burning floor, coughing. She stooped down and picked up the long length of fabric, which was for some reason soggy, dropping the cloth for her yukata as she did so. She paid it no mind, all her attention trained thoroughly on this article of clothing. She traced the purple flower that adorned the end of the sash with a single finger, momentarily immune to the intense burning of her surroundings.

"Something happened, didn't it?" she whispered, seeing the violet blur into a blob of purple as more and more tears came to her eyes. "You wouldn't just leave it like this, Takahiro. What happened? Why is everyone sleeping? Is it an evil sorceress? Did she cast a spell on the village while I was gone? Did she kidnap you because you fought her like I know you would?" She rose to her feet. "Tell me!" she screamed. Her voice cracked, and she cried, great wracking sobs that came from deep inside. She fled, breaking through the wall, bare feet burning, clutching the blue sash. "Tell me!"

She ran back through the streets, now stopping to inspect every sleeping body, looking for Takahiro. She would yell at him, she decided, for making her worry so much. But no face she gazed at, no body she examined, completed her search. It only deepened the already gaping hole in her heart. All of these people she recognized as friends and family. Her village was a small one, but close-knit. Everyone knew everyone. It made it all the more painful to see them under a curse.

Sumireko slowed down, panting, chest heaving, as her weary, blackened feet turned on the street toward her home once again. Maybe her mother would be awake.

She wasn't. And now her body held not even a minute trace of warmth. She felt just like a porcelain doll now. All that was missing was the smile. Sumireko held her mother's face gently and tilted it back. To her astonishment and surprised joy, her mother's eyelids slid back just a little. But her happiness was short-lived. Mama's eyes, a beautiful doe-brown, were glazed, and there was a white film over the chocolate of her irises. Just like rabbits' eyes, after they had been dead a while. The thought occurred to Sumireko hazily. And that was the final straw.

The little girl crumpled to her knees, burying her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with the force of her grief. Her young mind had just made the connection.

No… It can't be! This has to be a nightmare! This can't be real! Mama can't… She can't…. She can't be…

But now that she had thought of it, she knew it was true. And if her Mama was… Then everyone else was…. Including Takahiro.

Everyone.

Sumireko was alone.

As she studied her mother's face desperately, a spark from the burnt grass leapt up from the ground and perched on her mother's clothes, where it immediately took seed and blossomed into a beautiful orange flower that devoured at her clothing, burning mercilessly. Sumireko gasped and batted at the fire frantically, not caring at the bursts of pain in the palms of her hands. But the fire spread, orange and yellow flowers spreading across her mother's body, petals flickering, eating at her flesh. At last Sumireko was forced to back away, eyes stretched wide with horror. She watched as her mother burned like a rabbit, her clothes dissolving into flames first, her flesh blackening, then finally falling away to stark white bone that hurt her young eyes. The fire, hunger still unsatisfied, turned on Sumireko then, long fingers reaching out to her, searing her face with their heat. She fled, tears blurring her eyes, falling to the ground, watering the lifeless soil with her sorrow. She cried until her eyes were parched dry. She cried until her voice was but a rasp. As she sank down to the earth, ready to lay down her life next to her mother, a voice rang out through the heartless silence.

"Thu-mi-ka!"

Sumireko stopped her descent with her elbows. She had almost forgotten him, but now a spark of light blossomed in the empty darkness of her mind. "Souta?" she whispered.

Her little brother, her annoying pest of a brother, her beautiful little brother, came running to her on ungainly toddler legs. Tear tracks were visible on his face too, his eyes were red too. Sumireko received him with open arms.

And the two siblings embraced, two hearts desperately grasping for something familiar, in the middle of a heartless, unfamiliar landscape, that, just that morning, had been familiar. A landscape that been a lush, verdant land… and home.

Sumireko buried her nose into her brother's hair. Somehow, through the haze of misery, coherent thoughts, vengeful thoughts, echoed through her head. I'll make this right, she swore. I know this didn't just happen. It wasn't just a fire. Someone set the fire, someone killed all of you. And I will find that person, and I will KILL him.

So... Now Kagome's awful past is revealed! Smashing! So... was this heartrending? Heartripping? Tearbringing? Or naw? Tell me what you think! Anyways, I had some news for you guys. I made an Updating Schedule for May. It's like a calendar thingy and it has little bullet points for each story I'm currently working on, and it shows when I'll update them throughout the month. It'll be a helpful guide for you guys, and you guys will know when to anticipate my updates! So, link is on my profile, so you can check it out... And also, can you guys tell me in a review what day of the week you typically get on FFnet to browse the most? Saturday? Wednesday? If you don't have a specific day, you can just say weekends or weekdays. Please help me with this survey XP

Oh, and there might be some burning-body-facts that I got wrong, like do humans smell when they burn? I have no idea. I'm using artistic license, capiche? *wags head with a superior air*