Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha , etc, etc.

Chapter 1: Mystery

In process: Our heroes still search for Naraku . . .

This village looked like all the rest with one major difference, the silence. As Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Inuyasha, and Shippo saw the village they were perplexed by the silence.

"This cannot be good." Miroku said starting down the hill towards the village.

"Hey, we don't have time for this, we have more pressing business, like finding Naraku and pummeling him!" Inuyasha yelled after the monk's retreating form.

"What's the harm in looking, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as she pushed her bike after Miroku, joined by the demon slayer and demons.

"Feh." Inuyasha replied, he knew once Kagome made up her mind he was going to have problems. Shoving his hands into his sleeves he followed.

Just outside the village they came across the first person. A women lying face down on the ground, as if she was sleeping. Curious Sango moved closer until she could bend down over the prone figure. First she shook the woman slightly, calling to her to see if she would respond. When there was no response Sango touched the woman's skin.

"She's dead, her skin is cold." Sango announced as she went down on her knees. Carefully Sango pushed the woman over to inspect her for wounds. "And look at this, there are no wounds."

"Curious." Miroku said, "Perhaps she was poisoned."

"Perhaps, but there's no discoloration, no signs that her body was attacked by a poison." Sango said straightening.

"Well, let us inspect the rest of the village." Miroku announced.

But what they found in the village offered no explanations. People were everywhere, seemingly to have dropped while they were working. As far as they could tell nothing seemed to be poisoned.

"Do you think Naraku could be behind this?" Inuyasha asked sniffing the air.

"Perhaps, but I don't sense a demonic aura here, though." Miroku said.

"Look here!" Sango yelled from the edge of the village.

The others hurried up to her and looked at what she had found. The ground surrounding the village was lush and green all except for this one spot. A patch of grass had somehow turned brown and had withered up and created a trail that lead into the forest. The pieces of the dead vegetation were broken and brittle as if some one had walked through them.

"It's dead just like the people. Should we see were it goes?" Kagome asked.

"Whatever." Inuyasha grunted as he walked down he trail of dead vegetation, the others followed.