The idea for this story came to me on a whim, and its flow is rather...unexpected.
I would greatly appreciate feedback from you along the way.

Additionally, I am no expert on Japanese culture, or the Feudal Era. I did some research, but all the same, have exercised some creative license whilst writing about the village and the ensuing events.

Thank you. : )

I don't own Inuyasha.

The Detour And The Discovery

Chapter One

"Ooh, look! Come, fast!"

Kagome ran ahead of everyone else and pointed excitedly at a village nestled comfortably in the valley. The others quickened their steps until they reached her side and peered at the cluster of huts, wondering what it was now that had captured the interest of their friend.

The group was by now, fairly used to the occasional burst of wonderment from Kagome, who being from the future, was quite taken by the most commonplace of things, such as the games played by the children, flowers growing by the road, or even villagers getting together to build a hut.

She insisted on learning what the game was, stopping to smell the flowers, expressed her amazement at manually building a hut from the frame to the roof and her delight at the fact that this was done together as a community.

While Inuyasha frequently groaned about such inane interruptions in their journey and Miroku and Sango shared more than the occasional smile when this happened, each of them was also secretly grateful to Kagome, for pointing what they, as adults of this era, had come to see as mundane and routine.

And so, dutifully, they all looked at village, slightly bewildered this time, as to what they were supposed to be seeing. Gauche as ever, Inuyasha bluntly asked, "What is it, wench?"

Still excited, Kagome jabbed her finger at the village again and said,

"Can't you see? Look properly!"

"'Course I can see, idiot! I can see a hundred times better than you! What the hell am I supposed to be so jumpy about?"

Rolling her eyes, Kagome replied as though the answer was most obvious, "Decorations, baka. The village is all decked up; see the banners and the flags and all the flowers! It looks so pretty!"

While Inuyasha just stared at Kagome, apparently knocked speechless at the utter randomness of what Kagome was pointing out, Sango smiled at Kagome and said, "It does indeed look nice. They have put in considerable effort. It's a reasonably big village, so I suppose they can afford it... I wonder what the hoopla is about, though. Houshi-sama, do you think it's some kind of festival?"

Miroku chuckled and said, "It seems Naraku and our mission has driven away most everything from your mind, Sango. It's harvest time! It's time to celebrate!"

Reddening, Sango made a self-deprecating expression and looked at the village with renewed interest. And indeed, fields looked like they had been picked and plucked, and basically all crop had been harvested.

Inuyasha too took another look and admitted, "I forgot..."

Shaking her head at Inuyasha and Sango, now lost in trying to figure out what the people of the village were doing, Kagome turned to Miroku and asked, "So, what are they going to do now, Miroku-sama?"

"Well, the Kami have been good to the farmers this season, and that is definitely reason to celebrate. Life will be a little easier for some time, so I suppose from the looks of it that they are putting up a fair of sorts."

Kagome's eyes widened and she whirled around and tugged on Inuyasha's sleeve.

"Can we please check it out? It's on the way anyway! I just want to talk to them and ask them what they're doing!"

Inuyasha huffed and gestured weakly at the road, "We gotta go..."

"I know!" Kagome said, looking at him with wide, earnest eyes, "I know we have to be on our way, but can we just see what's going on? And it is on the way! And I know you don't like villages, Inuyasha, but it can't hurt to take a look, right?"

Inuyasha's eyes flicked from Kagome's hopeful face to Miroku's slightly amused one to Sango. Sango's body faced them, but her head was still turned towards the village, her eyes still trained on all the activity. He looked down at Kagome again and before he could stop himself, the smallest of smiles began tugging at his mouth.

"Alright," Inuyasha allowed, nodding. "We'll check it out."