A/N: Hello! First off, I'm sorry for publishing another fanfic... The beginning of this fanfic has been sitting around in my computer since last year? (maybe?) Shout out to all the people who I forced to read it back then! Anyway, it will take place in historical Japan and will follow an ancient path connecting Kyoto and Tokyo/ Edo called the Nakasendo or the Kiso path. ^^ I'll try to make it as historically accurate as possible. Finally, I named it as it is since the characters will be moving from East to West.

Rated for language. Thank you for reading this fanfic!

~meowmeow814

The diluted gray puddle quivered. The oscillations halted to reflect a young girl with startling scarlet hair. Amidst the unbroken horizon of corpses she stood, a lonely silhouette against the overcast sky. She hoisted her indigo umbrella over her shoulder. She didn't bother to open it as the rain began to fall, slowly, hesitantly, unsure of where to go. A rank whiff of fresh guts and blood swirled in the heavy air. As the girl's vision began to blur and her knees began to buckle, her mind was elsewhere with someone. Someone far, far away.

~o~

Hoo, hoo…

The muffled hoot of an owl echoed. Although the streets below were a glitzy, rowdy mess, it remained serene inside the Edo Castle. A pale face peeped between the outer screens. Kagura's petite hands tensely gripped the edges as she cracked them open. Her eyes darted around before fully sliding them away.

The full moon shone down upon the delicate inner garden, its luminous rays splashed over it like the touch from a silver King Midas. Kagura gingerly sat on the wooden ledge of the castle and let her bruised, scarred feet dangle. A cool puff of air blew, sweeping away any remnants of the humid summer day.

Kagura slowly unfurled her clenched fists and cupped them in front of her, raising them towards the moon. The beams washed over them too, and her already pallid hands became translucent. The peace and beauty and perfection of everything pricked Kagura's heart.

Suddenly, her heartbeat tripped. She gasped. Her breath choked. Her throat coiled and constricted. Again. Kagura doubled over and blood began to paint the polished, wooden floor.

When it died down, her throat was left like she had taken a swig of sand. Grinding together her teeth, Kagura silently endured without letting a single sob slip out. But her shoulders shook, and tears threatened to fall. Pathetic piece of trash, stop being so weak. This is why Nii-chan left you and now look, there's no one to comfort you and you're alone. All alone and no one will save poor, little, "Kagura-chan". That's what you get for being so weak, you deserved it, idiot, idiot, idiot… But one hot tear managed to roll its way down.

And one small finger caught it.

Eyesight blurry, panic and fear skittered down Kagura's spine to rub her eyes, to run away, to escape. But she just couldn't. She couldn't pull away. She wanted this odd warmth of something alive, right now, right then and there, and not three days ago out in the rain. She was tired of living in the comfort of the grinning, half rotten, half eaten skulls.

Against the warnings, Kagura brought her trembling hand up to the one frozen by her eyes. To her distant, pleasant surprise, it was cool and smooth to touch.

The swirling myriad of monochrome slowly oriented themselves into a blurry clarity. In the dim shadows, darkly luminous crimson eyes flooded her vision, the remaining, glowing embers beneath coal.

Kagura was mesmerized.