Sango yawned and sat up to face InuYasha staring at her. "Bout time," he said. Sango turned around to see Miroku packing up the campsite. Shippô was the only one still sleeping.
"You guys waited for me?" Sango asked surprised.
"Yeah, well don't expect it to happen again. Now let's go, there's a village not to far from here in the direction we're heading," InuYasha said.
"Oh, yeah, well how do you know?" Shippô asked rubbing his eyes, suddenly awake.
"Because I saw smoke rising from that direction earlier." InuYasha stated arrogantly. "So let's go," he added as he stood up.
"Aren't we gonna eat first?" Shippô asked hopefully.
"No, that would take more time!" InuYasha snapped back. "So let's move it already!"
Shippô jumped, and with much hesitation and doubt he followed InuYasha silently. They walked for about half an hour. Finally they came to the edge of the trees and walked out into one of the many small farms on the outskirts of the village. There were a few men who stopped their farming to look up at the newcomers. Sango stepped forward and spoke up.
"Hello, we are mere travelers. We were curious, did a man named Naraku come through here with a girl?" she asked.
"Yeah, like Naraku would just strut through their town," InuYasha scowled underneath his breath.
"No. No one came in or out of this town," an old man replied, "but I think it was just yesterday morning something strange happened."
"Please…tell us," Sango said.
"It was a beautiful spring day, like the ones we've been having, and all of a sudden it got really cold. We all had the shivers, and there was a weird feeling in the air. After a few minutes the sun began to black out, and when we looked up a huge dark cloud passed in front of it and continued on it's way, and all retuned to normal," he ended.
"Interesting," Miroku cut in, "by any chance, could you please point us in the direction the cloud was traveling?"
"Why of course," the old man replied. "Just go to the far side of the village and you will come to two paths. One will lead into the mountains, and one will lead you to the next village. The path you want is the one into the mountains, and might I suggest that you stock up on supplies now because from what I hear it's a long way to the next village."
"Why thank you, kind sir," Miroku said with a slight bow.
"It is much appreciated," Sango said.
They departed from the old man and followed a small path that lead into the town. There was a small market in which they took a small amount of time to purchase food and things they might need for their upcoming journey. They also purchased something small to eat since they did not have breakfast. They then continued on their way and reached the two paths by noon. Taking the one that headed up into the mountains, they slowly made their way up the steeper incline. They hiked for hours on end, very slowly, but they covered a tremendous amount of ground considering the ruggedness of the mountain. They were about to stop and make camp when they heard voices from up ahead.