The air around Kagome was filled with any unsettling feeling. It was as if there was no happiness anywhere. Sachi, the little girl resting on her back, shook with fear. There was darkness everywhere they turned. There was no light to speak of. No sun, no moon, nothing to illuminate their way.

Inside her mind, Kagome worked over all of her thoughts trying to determine how she and Sachi had come to be the place that they were. One moment she had been chasing Sachi through the woods under the light of a bright and sparkling sun. Then, suddenly the two of them were engulfed in darkness. There had been no warning, no time to prepare.

Kagome was pulled from her thoughts by a sound from Sachi.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, startled.

"There are lights up there!" The little girl pointed eagerly over a hill looming nearby.

Kagome looked toward the brightness stretching in their direction. It seeped over the hills beckoning her to it. Where there is light, there are people, she thought. There must be.

Repositioning Sachi on her back, Kagome hurriedly set off toward what had instantly turned to her only hope. Maybe there was someone in the woods. Maybe there were other people trapped like them. Maybe...

In less than a few minutes, Kagome and Sachi stood overlooking a village. The village, however, did not look very lively. In fact, it seemed as though it was dead. There was no more light. No people roamed the streets or burned candles in their homes. It was to odd for Kagome's liking. A village with no people to occupy it usually meant trouble. She couldn't remember how many times she and her friends had stumbled upon an abandoned place of some sort and been attacked. But this place, it was different somehow. There could be no demons here. There were not demons in her era, they had all been left in the past. So what was it about this place that seemed so uninviting?

"Sachi," Kagome said softly. "I'm going to set you down now, but stay close to me. I don't want you to get lost."

Once Sachi had nodded her head indicating that she understood, Kagome lowered herself so that the little girl could regain a standing position on the ground next to her.

It seemed strange to Kagome to be in a unknown place without Inu-Yasha. Whenever there was a problem he was always their to beat it down with the Tetsusaiga. It felt almost wrong not to have him around. He could fight away almost anything. If here were here with her, she knew that he would find the way back home.

As soon as they had come, her rush of thoughts containing Inu-Yasha was gone. In it's place was a horrible feeling. A feel of complete and utter terror that spoke volumes to her frightened heart. It told her that things would never be right again, she prayed that that would not wind up being the case.

Too soon for her taste, the two of them began their descent into the village. Dark and savage looking trees loomed on either side of the path that they traveled. Sounds of an unnatural silence filtered through the air and set Kagome on edge. The whispers that echoed around them made her heart beat faster.

Suddenly Kagome stopped dead in her tracks. There, a little way ahead of her and Sachi stood a woman. She didn't look to be very old, but then again, it was hard for Kagome to see her at all.
"Hey!" Kagome screamed. She ran toward the woman with flailing arms. "Do you live here?"

But there was no reply, it didn't seem that the woman had heard Kagome's calls at all.

"Please, don't go!" Kagome tried again desperately as the woman began to walk away.

Without thinking, Kagome raced toward the woman. When she reached her she placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. The woman whipped around to face her.

Her eyes were cold and unforgiving. Dead.

She reached for Kagome, grabbing her arms and shaking her.

Kagome felt herself scream, but did not hear it. The world, to her, was silent. All concentration focused on the ghastly creature before her frightened eyes.

"Masumi..." The freakish woman muttered as Kagome broke away. "Where did you go?"

Kagome ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Her only bit of focus rested on Sachi who was standing in the distance. When she reached her she scooped her up into her arms and took off running, once again, in the direction of the woman. However, the path that she had chosen did not lead them to the horrifying woman, but brought them away from her. A little before they would have come to meet, she turned to her left. The street continued past unsteady looking houses, until it again turned, but this time off to the right.

When at last, she finally stopped, she found herself in front of two large doors. The condition of the wood suggested that they were old, but appeared sturdy. Large walls branched off from either side of the two enormous doors and spread farther than Kagome's eyes could see.

Mustering all the courage that she could manage, Kagome reached for the door and pulled it open. What she saw when the doors creaked open surprised her and set her mind racing back in the direction that they had come. A narrow bridge stretched before her and reached across a wide expanse of dark murky water.

Silently screaming inside, Kagome set Sachi down and grasped her hand firmly with her own. If they were to leave this horrid village they would have to search every inch of it. At some point in time the bridge before the two of them would have to be crossed, but that time was not this time. Without much hope the pair set off in the direction they had come. There were other houses, other doors to try. Nothing would remain unchecked while they were trapped within this horrifying place, nothing.