Inu-Yasha, Kagome, Miroku, and Sango walked along a path, Inu-Yasha leading the group and Shippo, who was held in Kagome's arms. The sun was blazing, the air was stagnant, and the humidity was unbearable. They had been walking in those conditions for hours, but they were nearing the next village, so they wouldn't stop.

Sango wiped some of her sticky hair off of her forehead. "Kagome, was it this hot in your time when you left?" she asked. Kagome weakly shook her head. "It was nice. Seventy-nine I think," she replied. "And they said global warming is a problem in my time."

After about a half an hour of walking, they had reached the outskirts of the small town. "I swear to God I could cook an egg on my forehead right now," Kagome groaned. Miroku looked at her with a dazed look on his face. "Eggs? I like eggs," he said in a half-audible voice. Kagome looked at his flushed face. "Miroku, you don't look so good, you sound pretty delirious. Inu-Yasha, maybe we should sit in the shade for a while," she said, "From all the black clothes you're wearing, I wouldn't doubt heat stroke or something like that."

Everyone but Inu-Yasha stopped, and after taking a few more steps, he stopped and covered his nose. A low growl escaped his throat, and they all looked at him. "Inu-Yasha, what's wrong?" Kagome asked. "Blood," he groaned. "All I smell is blood…"

Within a few seconds, Inu-Yasha had run ahead of them in the direction of the small village. Kagome and Sango, dragging Miroku along with them, ran forward to catch up with him. In a few minutes, they saw the city gates, and a flaming village beyond them. "Inu-Yasha!" Kagome called. She looked around, and finally spotted him, standing in the midst of the apparent massacre that had taken place.

She ran up to him and stood by him. She looked at what he was, and saw the blood stains on the outer walls of the buildings, and the bodies of men, women, and children, all of the families together, as if they were fleeing from numerous creatures. "Who could've done this?" she gasped. As soon as she said this, Sango and Miroku, who had snapped out of his delirious state, ran up to them.

Miroku looked around, and his eyes fell upon a young woman clutching a small baby. Both were dead. With a disgusted look on his face his spoke. "We should give them proper burials. Some of these poor people didn't even get a taste of life," he said. He took a few steps toward the people, but Inu-Yasha called him back. "Let me check things out. Whoever did this might still be lurking around."

Inu-Yasha quickly slipped into one of the small houses, and then came right back out. "That building's clear," he said softly. He sniffed the air, and smirked a bit. "Think you could hide from me, could you?" he growled. He walked quickly to a building a few plots over and entered.

He looked around the dark room, and that's when he saw something move in the corner of his eye. "Who's there?" he growled. At that moment, Kagome, Miroku and Sango, ran into the room. Sango was holding a torch, which revealed the hiding creature.

It was a young looking woman, with thick, curly black hair, dark brown skin, and she was wearing a long black kimono under a maroon cloak. Inu-Yasha drew the Tetsusaiga, but didn't transform it, and took a step forward. To this, the woman gave a loud, malevolent hiss, baring her bloody fangs. "Did you do this to all these people!?" he shouted. The woman simply looked at him, staring blankly at his features. "To the people in this room? Yes. To the rest of the village? No," she said in a voice like a hissing snake mixed with a lion's purr. "Then who did do this to all of those people?" he demanded angrily. Her reply was simple: "My sisters."