Cameo from Itsuki from my other fic, "Itsuki's Tale". Had to throw that in there.
Chapter Seven

"C'mon, Miyako!" Masumi tugged at my arm. We crashed through small saplings and wild brush and into a clearing. My heart sank as I observed my surroundings through tired eyes.

"I-it's impossible!" I said to myself. My legs gave in from under me, allowing my body to fall to the ground in a heap. I had time to breathe but I somehow pushed that aside like it wasn't that important anymore. The disappointment was overwhelming over anything that I'd felt before seeing what I'd seen.

"This can't be..." Masumi helped me up to my feet. I leaned on him for support and we walked. The familiar sight of the hilltop was utterly upsetting to the both of us. We came to the tall dark stone pillars that protruded from the earth and he paused, all the muscles in his body went still. The only one that worked was his neck and his heart. "How did all the torches..."

I lifted my head a little from his chest and looked around what little area my neck permitted me to see without breaking it. He noticed something that I didn't when we arrived back on the hilltop. "The torches. How did they-" I shook my head to knock away the imaginary orange blurs that resembled flames but they stayed. I wasn't imagining things.

"Is this village warped or something?" I let my head fall back onto his chest, my arms folded tightly under the pressure of both of our chests. "How will we ever find a way?" I felt the mental smack of reality hit me, just by a hair because I already knew, but hitting Masumi almost head-on.

"It's hopeless, Masumi..." I muttered into his chest. He snatched me away from him abruptly and shook me a little.

"Why are you talking like this? We both know that there is a way out of here! Please, Miyako, just have some kind of faith..." I swayed in his hands and blinked to focus on his face but I couldn't. All I could see were two black holes and another one below changing its' size with every blink.

"Masumi, please..." I swallowed back the urge to vomit and put my cold hands to my face. "Let us get out of here..."

"We will, we will..." He hugged me close and I almost folded in his arms. My legs screamed to be rested like the rest of my body and my throat burned and cried with thirst. I closed my eyes, just to rest them, and started to feel myself slip into a world unknown.

"Masumi...keep me awake..." I whispered to the chilled air. His arms tightened around me and made me open my eyes. His fingers dug into my arm and it soon felt painful. I lifted my head and focused on the white mist around us.

Faces stared in our direction, pale, dead faces marked with an eternal scream were fixed on Masumi and I. They were stepping in, surrounding us from all corners, closing us off. I steadied myself, wondering if Masumi was seeing what I was. His grip on my arms had loosened and he muttered something. He grabbed my hand and burst into a run at the same time and so quickly that I didn't have the time to ready my feet.

"Ghosts, Miyako...!" He said as we trampled down the damp hill careful not to trip or go too fast. My black bag dangled from my wrist, it's contents flying out of the opened flap.

"Masumi, wait!" I stopped and he pulled my wrist.

"We can't, Miyako! They are after us!" I gazed back up the hill and saw the same white mist seep from the hilltop, making its way down the hill. My eyes fell on the fallen flashlight in the dead leaves and I ran to get it. The beam was bright and tore through the darkness of the shadows like a knife. I shone the light up the hill and the mist parted just a little. It must have been what made the ghost man let go of my wrist... "Let's go, c'mon!" I ran to Masumi with the flashlight in hand. We'd made our way down the hill and back into the village.

"It's no use!" I screamed.

"How are we ever going to leave this place if all we do is run in circles!" Masumi slammed his fist into the old rotted wooden plank that was poorly nailed to a nearby house. It was the same one that I'd first went into when I came looking for Masumi. His cold fingers grabbed at my wrist again as he pulled me onto the village road, heading westward. We ran, looking to no where to hide, looking only for an escape.

I stumbled trying to keep up with Masumi and my fingertips brushed the biggest house on my right, leaving me confused for some reason so I stopped on the village road. I blinked with little strength I had left and everything was a hazy grey, my vision veiled in what looked like static. I stopped in the middle of the small road, Masumi was no where in sight. I called to him and received no answer in reply. I heard men voices coming from the shadows and bushes ahead. None of them sounded like Masumi's voice. The rustling was getting louder and so was the voices. I squeezed the flashlight in my hand, readying myself for just about anything.

The voices were just around the corner of the house on my right, not so far away. I was stepping back, preparing to burst into a run the opposite way. Now they were screaming at someone or something. I squinted to see through the shadows. A blur of white made its way towards me, cutting through the shrubs and dark trees.

The blur emerged from the shadows revealed as a young adolescent boy, his face flushed in fear. His unusual snow white hair, pale complexion and white kimono made him look like he was a walking undead. He ran from the voices, heading the way I came from. I stepped closer and he ran through me leaving a cool, lingering vibration throughout my body. I turned and watched as he dipped down the small road that lead to the Kurosawa Mansion. The men weren't far behind. I gulped and followed the boy and three village men down the small road.

The men ran up a flight of concrete steps to a high-up door straight ahead from the overhead bridge. I watched as they pounded at the door, fighting for a way to get into the house. Why were they chasing after the boy? More men came into the picture to help pound down the door. I ran around and back up the small stairs to the main road. Men with torches and scythes and even long poles came from no where. They were all headed towards the house the boy ran into.

A hand that slammed down on my shoulder made me jump, hard. Masumi was there now, his face fixed with fright. He pulled on me and we continued running. We stumbled across a small wooden bridge and up a numerous amount of stairs. On the horizon was a small building, oddly intact despite the yearly weather damage the other houses took. I huffed to catch my breath.

"What-what is this place? Looks like some kind of storage building...Is it?"

"No, no...It's a shrine..." Masumi's sudden facination had my attention. I stood upright, my hands cradling my burning chest.

"What's here for us?" I stepped up to his side, glancing at him. He turned and faced me, hands on my shoulders.

"A way out." He said with a smile.