Shippo ran through the streets after the man who had taken away Miroku's "mostly dead" body. The kitsune had taken it upon himself to rescue Miroku before he did something stupid like get buried alive. The commotion in the town square caught his attention however and he stopped briefly, in curiosity, to watch. It seemed they were holding a trial of some sort.
"A witch! A witch! We found a witch!" The mob was shouting. "Can we burn her?" They asked the judge.
They brought forward a young woman with long black hair dressed in Miko's robes. Shippo saw that it was Kikyo and knew that wherever Kikyo was, trouble soon followed, especially for Inuyasha and his relationship with Kagome. Fortunately, Inuyasha and Kagome were still out looking for the Shikon no Tama and wouldn't be back for another few days.
"What makes you think she's a witch?" the judge asked the assembled crowd.
"She stole my soul!" shouted an angry woman.
"Stole your soul?" The judge eyed the woman suspiciously. She lacked the empty stare that usually accompanied soullessness.
"Well…I got better." She replied indignantly.
"Burn her anyway." The mob screamed.
"Calm down. There are ways of telling whether or not she is a witch."
"Really? What are they? Tell us! Tell us!" Something an angry mob could be so stupid, or at least that's what Kikyo thought. She was right. Mobs are stupid and that stupidity makes them dangerous.
"Well," the judge began, adopting an air of calm reason. "What do we do with witches?"
"Burn them!" The mob shouted with frightening unanimity.
"Right," the man sounded slightly put out by their enthusiasm. "Why do witches burn?"
Kikyo, who was being held in the grip of a rather large and burly man, listened with shock, indignation and finally impatience as the self-appointed judge of her "trial" led the crowd through the most ridiculous logical argument she had ever heard.
It would seem that witches burned and so did wood so witches were made of wood. Wood also floated in water like witches but instead of throwing her in the river to see if she floated, they were going to compare her weight with the weight of something else that floated and if the weights were equal they'd condemn her.
The only problem the mob was having was thinking of something else that floated.
"Who here can tell me what else floats in water?" The judge raised his voice, having already rejected the crowd's suggestions of other witches, ridiculously large buildings and very small stones.
"A duck," called a cold voice from the back of the crowd.
The mob didn't wait to be told twice. They had already grabbed Kikyo and gone in search of a set of scales and a small waterfowl.
After the dust that had been kicked up by the departing mob settled, Shippo saw that the only people who remained in the area were himself, the judge and the man who had spoken.
"Who are you, sir, so wise in the ways of science?" The judge asked the tall man politely. Shippo could see from his vantage point that the man was wearing a baboon pelt as a cloak.
The man simply gave a cold smile and answered, "Naraku."
For some reason, Shippo was not surprised. He left quickly, more determined than ever to find Miroku and relay this information to the others.