One summer's day, Kagome and her friends stopped for lunch. Kagome, being the one with the backpack, supplied the food. She also brought something extra this time. Sota, her little brother, had brought back some balloons from a friend’s birthday party, and she wanted to show them to the others. She told them what balloons were, and showed them how to set them up. Inuyasha, obviously not having gotten the point, made a rude comment about the intelligence of people in Kagome’s era. As the two started to quarrel, a thought came to Miroku.

While I can't say what Kagome has brought from her era hasn't been useful, I wonder if she's thought about what would happen if something was lost?

-----

Afterwards, the group came to a village, set near a small creek, with the fields in-between said creek and the village.

"Ah, it seems we've found a place to stay for the night." Miroku declared. The others rolled their eyes, given how Miroku would find a place to stay.

Inuyasha took a whiff of the air. "Something isn't right about this place."

"Like what?" Shippo asked.

"For some reason the scent of humans doesn't seem strong enough for a village of this size." The half-demon answered. "There also seems to be something... I dunno, missing."

"Can you pick up any other scents? Like a demon or spilled blood?" Sango asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Nothing like that here. Just humans."

"I'll go and check with the villagers. If something is wrong here, it might be best if they saw a monk first." Miroku said.

-----

The group waited for Miroku in their own ways. Inuyasha napped in a tree up on the hill while Shippo and Kilala played nearby. Sango went for a walk and down at the creek, Kagome washed up a little. She took a small sponge from her backpack and dried her face off. As she put the sponge away, she noticed that the pack of balloons she had kept was missing.

-----

“I see.” Said Miroku. “So how long ago did the villagers' daughters vanish?”

The village elder sighed. “A few days ago.”

“Do you have any idea what happened?” Miroku asked.

“There has been some talk of a young woman wandering near the village. I never listened since nothing really happened. An innocent joke here, childish mischief there; I thought it was just the children having fun.”

Miroku momentarily paused to think of other ideas. "Do you know anything else about this woman?".

The elder also paused, as he tried to remember. "I believe the children said the woman's name was Yuugiteki."

-----

Meanwhile...