the dream kept getting worse and worse.. sometimes she could wake herself up. Tonight, she couldn't. This is why sometimes she would stay up all night while most of her friends in the Forest would sleep. She would eat mushrooms, sometimes funny ones, to stay awake.. so she wouldn't dream this.


Kaoori reached the bottom of the stairs, tripping on her feet as she leapt off the last step and following the short dirt path to the small village adjacent to the shrine.
"How.. how could this happen?!" she whispered to herself. "This village has no warriors! What warriors they did have have already been recruited away to become samurai! There are only farmers and old men and women left! And children! I've heard of the villages being raided around us.. but I never thought.. I never thought they'd pick us.. "
She sucked in a breath, rushing into the village as fast and as stealthily as her legs would take her. She could only pray that if she could get some people to the shrine, they would be safe enough.
-----
The village was in chaos. Buildings were burning. Bodies lay everywhere. She heard moaning in the distance, screaming and horse hooves. A frightened dog scampered by her, terrified of the smoke and fighting. Kaoori's heart sank. She was too late..
Walking further, she tripped on something and fell. She hurried to her feet, heart pounding. She had tripped on an arm. It's owner was as still as a stone. Fighting back fear and nausea, Kaoori rushed forward, past a now-empty home where she could hear some cries for help. She did her best to ignore some more bodies, they not moving.
Suddenly the sound of galloping hooves came closer and she slid behind some barrels for cover, nocking an arrow in her bow. If she could get a shot and they couldn't see her, maybe they'd go after some enemy out of the village and she'd have a shot at helping some injured..
The arrow hit true, and one ronin fell dead instantly from his horse, pierced through the neck. The horse, bucking at the unknown enemy, darted off. The other two ronin riding beside him, looked around in confusion and nervousness, then darted off out of the village, toward where they thought a sniper was hiding. Kaoori waited until the coast was clear, then she ran toward the cries once again.
---
In the village's square, where people would have been about doing what would have been their livelihood, trading, gathering water, herding livestock, now gathered bodies of all sizes. Kaoori once again had to fight off the nausea, and now the tears. She recognized so many faces.. but the cries, where were the cries coming from? She knew she hadn't been dreaming!
"Miko-sama?"
A faint voice called to her from underneath a pile of materials meant to construct a home that would now never be used. Small eyes peered out at her. She ran to them, peeking in. A group of children stared back at her, filthy, covered with soot, blood and dirt.
"I'm here, children! Where is everyone else?"
"We think.. we think we're the only ones alive..."
Kaoori swallowed, fighting back the tears. These children had seen hell. She could not break down in front of them.
"Children, I'm going to take you back to the shrine. I will come back after and I will see if there is anyone else I can bring back with me, okay?"
One of the children started to cry. Another soothed it. The lead child nodded, then began to get them grouped up and ready, when an arrow hit the shelter, and they screamed, panicking. Kaoori leapt around, whisking out another bow. She shot straight without thinking.
----
Another ronin fell off his horse behind her, leaving two to circle her on their horses. She didn't have much time to think. It was now or never. Kaoori placed the arrow in her bow, readied, and yelled, aiming.
"Children?"
"Miko-sama!"
"When I say 'go!' You need to all go together, and run as never before, as if you were running a race. You need to all help each other, and when you get to the shrine, you need to tell the head priestess everything you saw here, and everything I told you!"
"But Mi-"
"I'll be there later, okay?"
They nodded, eyes widening.
The arrow hit the ronin farthest from them.
"GO!"
The children scrambled out the back of the pile of material, running and holding hands, as Kaoori hurried to ready her second arrow before the last ronin.
Suddenly she heard a thunk and she gasped in pain as her chest armor split and the ronin's arrow found its own mark-- her. She fell to the ground, eyes widened, clutching her chest. Her vision blurred. Her white kimono began to stain red.


catch your breath.
Kaoori twitched in her sleep, all four legs nearly galloping now. If deer could whimper, she'd be doing it.

The ronin began to turn his horse, ready to leave. Would he go after the children, or would he care? Kaoori wasn't bloodthirsty. But was he? Those children..
Gritting her teeth, she stood on one knee, readying an arrow, and through blurred eyes, managing to find her target. Before he got away, she let the arrow go as he galloped off.
"Please hit.."
A grunt came from the ronin as the arrow hit him in the back and he fell from his horse to the ground with a harsh thud. The horse continued off.
Kaoori smiled faintly, then fell to the ground herself, closing her eyes. She was tired..
------
The children made it up the steps to the shrine. The head priestess met them with open arms at the torii. A few injured villagers had made it here themselves, and some other miko were tending to their wounds. The frightened dog was here, laying in the sun with a bandaged tail.
The priestess hugged the children, and led them towards the shrine, where the younger miko waited to comfort them and clean them up.
"Where is Kaoori, little ones?"
"Kaoori said she would be here soon! She was going to follow us! She told us to go first!"
The priestess looked toward the village, tears welling up in her eyes. She smiled down at the children.
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