This is the first chapter of the first fanfiction I EVER wrote...I'll leave it up to you guys as you read on whether I should finish it/continue it...IT'S UP TO YOU!

"You guys, hurry up!" Kagome called to the people behind her as she reached the top of the hill. Her mid-back black hair swayed in the small breeze. Her brown eyes sparkled as she gazed upon a small village nestled in the meadow. Ten to twelve small houses lay there, surrounded by fields of flowers and rice. A path led from the village up to the hill passing through the fields of rice. Kagome shivered as she stared into the trees beyond the village; the darkness looked strange and uninviting.

"Why are you so happy?" Inuyasha grumbled as he reached the top. Kagome ignored the pointless question; he had been in a bad mood since he had had to carry her bike the whole day. Sango shortly appeared after him along with Miroku. Sango was wearing her kimono and was carrying Hiratsu (Her Giant Boomerang) across her back while Shippo and Kirara rode on her shoulders. Miroku looked like he was tiring; he was leaning a little bit, using his staff as a walking stick.

" This looks like a pleasant place," Miroku said looking toward the village.

" Don't even think of saying anything to the village women!" Sango snapped at him. Miroku sighed.

Kagome continued staring out at the village, ignoring the others. She spotted children running home to their mothers call, and men and women carrying baskets of rice back to their homes. She heard a rustle and the snapping of twigs in the bushes to her left and she snapped to attention. Inuyasha quickly dropped Kagome's bike and grabbed the sword at his waist, his hand gripping it tightly.

The rustling grew louder as whatever it was came closer. Finally, out of the forest stumbled, a young woman. She brushed dirt and leaves off of her ivy green kimono then, she looked up and smiled at them. Her eyes were a deep brown and her black, mid-back length hair was tied in a low ponytail and hung over her left shoulder to keep it out of the basket on her back. Kagome looked over the woman's shoulder into the basket. It was full of plants that Kagome didn't recognize.

The young woman broke the silence, "Welcome travelers, to Tamashi Village. My name is Yuriko."

" Hello, nice to meet you." Kagome politely stated. Kagome noticed how sad the woman's eyes appeared, as if she had lost some one very dear to her. Maybe, Kagome thought, she lost her husband or her family to demons. " Oh, I'm Kagome" she said, "and these are my friends Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kirara, and Inuyasha" and she pointed to each of them as she said their names.

Miroku took a step toward Yuriko. "It's a pleasure to meet such a beautiful woman as yourself," he said, "I ask of only one thing, will you bear my child?" Sango quickly punched him in the head, leaving a fairly big bump. Yuriko thanked her.

" Are you staying anywhere tonight?" she asked. Kagome shook her head.

" No," she sighed. I wonder if we'll have to sleep outside again, she thought.

" Well," Yuriko said, "your welcome to stay at my home. The woods around here aren't very safe."

"Why?" Sango asked, "What's in there?" Yuriko shook her head.

"I'll tell you later," she said, "after we get to the village." Kagome looked worried.

"You don't have to let us stay," she said, " We wouldn't want to trouble y-"

" Its no trouble," Yuriko interrupted, "I've let a lot of travelers stay at my home before. Now lets get down to the village before the darkness falls." She started to walk down the hill. The others had no choice but to follow her. Inuyasha paused and picked up Kagome's bike.

No one said anything on the way to the village. Yuriko seemed to have something on her mind. As they reached the village, a little girl came running toward Yuriko.

"Yuri, Yuri!" the little girl said as she hugged Yuriko.

"Hello Kita." Yuriko said, "How's your cold? You shouldn't be out here, it's chilly."

" I know," Kita said, " I wanted to thank you for taking care of me. You'll always be here, right?"

" Yes," Yuriko answered, though she looked sad, " I'll always take care of you, Kita." She placed her hand on Kita's head. "Now, you better get inside. You don't want to get sick again, do you?" She smiled as the child looked up at her through her black bangs.

"Okay," Kita answered. She turned around and ran to a small house. "Bye!" she called. Her mother came to the door. She took Kita's hand and led her inside. Yuriko smiled after them. She looked happy, but she seemed very sad.

"Well," Yuriko said, "we better continue on." They started walking toward the back of the village.

" You seem very fond of children," Miroku said, " Kita seems to like you a lot."

" Yes," Yuriko said, "I had a little sister. Kita always reminds of her. She was, so cute and so sweet." Her eyes looked even sadder.

"What happened to her?" Kagome asked, though she could guess pretty easily.

"She died," Yuriko answered, "My-my sister and my parents, they were killed by demons three years ago. They went for a walk, but I was in bed with a fever. They never came back. People went to search for them, and they were found dead. They were buried in a small clearing in the woods, not far from here. After I got better I went to see them, then I realized I was on my own. I've been taking care of myself since then."

" I'm sorry for asking," Kagome apologized, "I didn't know."

" It's okay" Yuriko said, "You're the first one to ask." They arrived at a fair sized house; it was bigger than the others. Yuriko paused outside the door. "Well," she said, "we're here." She smiled at then and walked inside. Everyone hesitated. " You aren't going to sleep out there, are you?" Yuriko called.

" No way," Kagome giggled. She walked though the door and into the house. Sango, Shippo, Kirara, and Miroku followed after her. Inuyasha paused to lean Kagome's bike against the side, and then he followed them into the house.

The evening pasted pleasantly along. Dinner was served and they talked about weather, farming, and other things. In the middle of dinner the topic changed again, this time to the woods.

"You said something about the woods earlier," Sango asked, " are there a lot of demons in there?"

"Yes, mostly snakes," Yuriko replied. The basket she had been carrying earlier was next to her, some of the plants spilling out. In front of her was a slab of smooth rock and a smooth stone that was bigger than her hand. She reached into the basket and brought out a pale cream flower with a thorny stem and jagged leaves. She set it on the slab and started mashing it into a whitish-green paste.

" What's that?' Shippo asked as he took a bite out of a dumpling.

" It's a herb that slows the pace of poison spreading though the body," she replied as she scraped the paste into a small pouch, "but it can't stop the poison for good."

" So your village is having trouble with the demons?" Sango asked.

" Yes we are," Yuriko sighed, " and it seems like this village is dying, withering away. Livestock disappears by the day, people are sick, and we have to ration the little amount of food and clean water we have." She wiped the rock slab clean and placed another flower on it.

" Well, we could get rid of the demons for you," Kagome said, " It's the least we could do for letting us stay here tonight."

" Thank you for the offer," Yuriko stated, "but-"

" I am a demon slayer," Sango interrupted, "it's my job to exterminate any pesky demons."

Yuriko smiled, "Thank you." She looked at everyone and stood up. "Well, since everyone's done eating, let's get to bed."

It took a few minutes to put up a set of screens in the middle of the room. Kagome, Shippo, Sango, Kirara, and Yuriko slept on the left side, while Miroku and Inuyasha slept on the right. It didn't take long for them to fall fast asleep.