Misaki walked down the walkway, cheerily calling out, "Kagome! Sango! Shippo! Kilala! Inuyasha! Miroku!", as she passed each room.

The doors slid open and they walked out, yawning.

"What is it, Misaki?" Kagome asked as she rubbed her eyes.

Misaki, already dressed in a bright green furisode kimono with yellow flower petals, clapped her hands and smiled. "Ekaterina-san wants to see you. She says she's found a shard nearby."

Sango's eyes widened. "Already?" she asked with surprise.

"Of course!" Misaki exclaimed and pumped her fist in the air. "Ekaterina-san's the best! She'll found anything for anyone. Now, let's go!"

Something about Misaki seemed a little too happy this morning, but everyone ignored that and followed her to another room down the walkway.

"Ekaterina-san's in here," Misaki said. She bent down and asked Shippo and Kilala, "Would you two like to get something to eat now?"

Shippo eagerly nodded. Misaki picked them up and started walking towards the kitchen.

"Don't worry, I'll have your food prepared by the time you finish your meeting!" she called back to the foursome whose stomachs were rumbling.

As soon as he was sure Misaki was out of hearing distance, Inuyasha asked, "What's with her this morning?"

"She's just happy because she saw her friend, even if it was an illusion," Ekaterina said.

Inuyasha let out a cry of surprise and jumped slightly to the side when he realized Ekaterina was standing beside him.

"When'd you get here!" he asked.

Ekaterina shrugged. "I've been here. Now come inside. It's much too cold outside."

The followed Ekaterina into the room. The room was mostly dark, especially with the door closed, and the only sources of light were the two oil candles burning in the middle of the room. The room contained almost nothing, except a prayer altar with five memorial tablets on it. There were names of people written on the tablets in a language so strange that no one, not even Kagome, could figure out what the letters said. One thing was certain, though: five of Ekaterina's relatives were dead.

"Please, sit," she said.

Everyone sat in a horizontal row across from the altar. Ekaterina sat in front of them.

"Misaki said you found a shard," Kagome started out.

"Where is it?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Calm down," Ekaterina said. "Yes, I have found a shard and the one who has it will soon be coming here."

"Does a human or demon posses it?" Miroku asked.

"Neither."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha asked, scowling a little. "If it's not a human or a demon, then what is it?"

"Well, she used to be human, so let's all go with that. However, she's not a demon, either. There is still a human soul somewhere inside her."

"So it's a woman?" Sango asked.

Ekaterina nodded and closed her eyes. "It is a young woman in her early twenties actually. She is somewhat taller than Kagome-san, fair-haired, and with strange eyes. Green sometimes, but other times brown. This woman is not from this world. She was brought here by a mistake as a child."

"She's fair-haired and with eyes that are both brown and green?" Kagome asked with surprise. "I've never seen fair hair on anyone besides a demon." Noticing Ekaterina's scowl, Kagome quickly added, "Oh, and you, Ekaterina-sama!"

Ekaterina smiled. "Don't worry about it, Kagome-san. One of my daughters was the same way as you." Ekaterina turned slightly to face the altar. "She's a bit like you, eh, Penelope?"

The flame of one of the oil lamps flickered a little when Ekaterina said that name. Ekaterina sighed and turned back to the foursome.

"This woman won't be here for quite a while, though. Why don't we go to find some eggplants?"

"In case you haven't notices, it's freezing outside," Inuyasha snapped. "Besides, it's not eggplant season and I'm starving!"

Ekaterina smiled secretly. "Oh, it's most definitely eggplant season," she said and stood up. "Come along. We'll be back by the time Misaki's done cooking."

The foursome stood up and reluctantly followed Ekaterina out into the cold.

"What should I cook for breakfast, you two?" Misaki asked as she tied back the long sleeves of her kimono.

"I want pork buns!" Shippo said.

Misaki laughed. "I'll make those for dinner, okay? They're not really a breakfast food, and Ekaterina-san doesn't like them that much anyway. She'll be mad if she sees them at the breakfast table." Seeing the look of disappointment on Shippo's face, Misaki bent down and whispered in his ear, "I'll make a tiny one for you right now, okay?"

Shippo brightened. "You mean it!"

Misaki nodded. "Yes. I'll make one for Kilala as well so she won't feel left out." Kilala purred as Misaki petted her. The cat demon held a finger against her lips, winked, and whispered, "It'll be our little secret, understand?"

Shippo nodded. "My lips are sealed!"

Suddenly, the kitchen grew very hot. In the center, a small flame appeared out of seemingly nowhere and grew large. The flames disappeared and a young woman with short, pale hair and brown eyes appeared.

Misaki's brow creased with confusion. I don't sense demonic nor human aura from this woman. Who is she?"

And now for a little background history on these fanfics (this will seem strange if this is the first time you've read one of my fanfics). When I started Kesenai Tsumi, I was thinking, "Okay, this is gonna have a super-duper happy ending!" Of course, it didn't quite work out that way. Thinking about a sequel, I started writing Motherland. I thought, "Okay, it'll be a mix of DNAngel and FMA and that'll be it." Obviously, that didn't pan out wither because I Will is here. I'm not going to actually use the lyrics here, but if you know what the song talks about, you'll see why I decided to use its name.