By the time they got to the next town, Inuyasha's bad temper had reasserted itself. This town was quite a bit larger than any of the others they had visited recently, bustling with people and activity. Sango quite liked the place; Inuyasha, predictably, did not.

"I suppose you're gonna say there's a jewel shard here, too?" he demanded. "This place is way too busy."

More gently, Sango asked, "Can you sense one at all, Kagome?"

"No, nothing," she confirmed.

While Inuyasha groused about wasting time on a dead end like this place, Miroku had already started to wander away from the group. "I propose we split up to search for leads," he called back.

Sango frowned. "You mean you're going to go look for girls to pick up, don't you."

The monk said nothing, merely carried serenely on his way. Sango continued frowning at his back; how very like him, to wander off in search of a good time like this! In fact, he even appeared to be walking faster now that she had called after him.

"Hey!" she called after him. "What's with that attitude?"

Though she knew she was only going to be disappointed, she broke off from the group to follow Miroku. There was no doubt in her mind that the monk was up to no good… though she wasn't sure exactly what she meant to do about it. Intervene before he could swindle any of the locals? Warn off the local women before he could ask them to bear his child?

And why did she care, really? Merchants and rich men could look after themselves, and any woman willing to take him up on his offer probably knew exactly what she was doing. And anything she did to intervene, especially with the women, would only make it look like she had a stake there. Which she emphatically did not.

Even so, she couldn't seem to help following and keeping an eye on the situation. 'Things might get out of hand' seemed such a flimsy excuse, yet she couldn't let it go. It nagged at her like a splinter of wood jammed under her skin.

And so Sango was surprised and a little chagrined to find out the truth. Miroku was not actually looking for girls; he was looking for someone to swindle. And he had finally found what he was looking for: the biggest house in town. It was the biggest house by far, and looked both venerable and old. Sango could guess what was going through the monk's mind.

The owner of this house was likely a wealthy man. And an old house was much more likely to be plagued by strange sounds and occurrences than a newer building.

Miroku waited patiently, seeming to examine the house, until Sango drifted closer. He acted like he had been waiting for her to catch up all this time, instead of like she had been following him to keep an eye on things.

"Can you sense it, Sango?"

"Sense what?" she countered, knowing what was coming.

"That ominous aura."

"Houshi-sama, that could be anything. Do you really think it could be a powerful youkai?"

"Let's go back and find Inuyasha and Kagome," he suggested.

She frowned. "Meaning the two of us won't be enough for whatever's 'in' that house?"

"Better not take chances," he said serenely.

There was more going on here than the monk was letting on, but she had a feeling he wouldn't tell her even if she asked, so she simply followed his lead. Yet as they turned away and headed back toward town to find their friends, something caught her eye.

A man had been watching them from the house's veranda the whole time. The entire conversation had been a show for his benefit, and she had unknowingly helped Miroku do it. Now when they returned with their friends, that man would believe that there was truly something dangerous in the house, and would be that much more likely to desire the services of a monk and taiji-ya.

As she followed the monk away from the large house, she sighed. This wasn't the first time she had inadvertently become a prop in Miroku's scams; she had seen him use Inuyasha the same way a couple of times, too. It might help guarantee they got food and shelter for the night, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She almost hoped there actually was a youkai in the house.

Inuyasha and Kagome were not where they had left them. Hardly surprising, considering Miroku had wandered away almost the instant they reached town, without waiting for the group to agree on an rendezvous point. Fortunately, with Inuyasha's striking appearance, it wasn't hard to track their friends down—it seemed everyone in town knew where the dog-eared boy with the silver hair and his strange companion had got to.

Their friends were relaxing by the river. Indeed, they looked so happy and comfortable spending time alone together that Sango felt a little guilty interrupting. Miroku, it seemed, had no such qualms.

He spun a grandiose tale, making it sound as if he had definitely found a powerful youkai. He would, of course, need all of their help to ensure a safe exorcism. Inuyasha looked dubious—he and Kagome had probably sensed nothing, just as Sango had—but eventually agreed to come take a look.

They were greeted by the man from earlier. Judging by the size of his house and Miroku's guesses, Sango figured he must be the village headman.

While she and the others waited, Miroku wasted no time. "Good sir! I must speak with you, it is a matter of greatest importance," he called. Once he had the man's attention, he wasted no time in explaining his version of the situation.

Sango wasn't sure how to interpret the man's tone when he asked, "Are you saying there's a youkai in my house?"

"Yes. We must exorcise it as soon as possible, or something very bad could happen."

The village man fixed Miroku with a shrewd look. "I suppose you'll be wanting some sort of extravagant reward…"

"No, no," Miroku assured him. "There is no need for a reward, esteemed village leader."

"Another downright lie," Inuyasha muttered.

Kagome shushed him quickly. "Don't say that! We're trying to help, here!"

Sango sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time this afternoon, and hoped Miroku was paying attention to just how helpful the three of them were being.

"I'll provide dinner and bedding for your entire group," the headman promised. "It's no difficulty."

Since this was what Miroku had wanted all along, he accepted the offer immediately. Then the work of the sham exorcism began in earnest.

By now, Sango had some idea of how this would go, though Miroku had never involved the rest of them as a group before. There really wasn't much for them to do, but she supposed with her hiraikotsu and Inuyasha's obviously inhuman appearance, they must make for an impressive-looking group. This would imply an equally impressive youkai. Doubtless their wayward monk had hoped for cash in addition to food and shelter.

Miroku wandered carefully through the home, pausing now and then to sense for 'evil auras' that almost certainly did not exist, and applying scrolls to walls where he deemed them necessary. None of it was very exciting, but the village headman seemed to be taking it very seriously. He trailed along behind them, keeping an eye on the proceedings from a safe distance.

They circled their way back toward the main entrance to the home, and still there was no sign of a youkai. Sango had long since given up hope of finding an actual creature within the dwelling and resigned herself to scamming the owner out of dinner and shelter for the night. But suddenly she heard it: a soft sound, as of clay pots being rattled on a shelf.

What began as a distant rattling sound soon turned into the entire building trembling around them. For a moment it seemed like the entire structure might come down, but then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. Through the open door at the end of the room, a massive, salamander-like shape could be seen fleeing from the roof of the building. It made a high-pitched screaming sound as it fled.

Sango stared out the doorway, watching the youkai's retreating form in surprise. "There was a youkai after all," she observed.

"It wasn't all a lie?" Inuyasha added.

"Do you mind?" Miroku asked. He was actually beginning to look exasperated; Sango wondered if he realized he had brought this skepticism upon himself by scamming so many people in the past. Knowing him, he would just say he was misunderstood.

With the others schooling themselves firmly to silence, no matter what they thought, Miroku applied another scroll to the doorframe. "Best to make sure the creature won't return," he told the home's owner.

He had barely finished speaking when Shippou called to them from outside. "Big news, Inuyashaaaa!" he shouted. A moment later he came racing into the building and threw himself into Kagome's waiting arms.

"Shippou, how did you know where we were?" she asked.

"I guessed that this would be the best house in the area for an exorcism, since it's the biggest," he explained, earning a giggle from Kagome and a sigh from Miroku. "Anyway, you have to come with me! I have to show you something. There's a Shikon fragment here!"

Sango had to admit she was curious. Kagome had said she didn't sense anything earlier. In the other places they had stopped lately, she had tentatively sensed jewel shards where there were none. Was it going the other way, now? Or was this supposed jewel shard a fake?

"Where did you find a jewel shard, Shippou?" Kagome asked.

"There's a girl from this village—she's the one who found it, come see!"

As it turned out, he had brought the girl with him. She was waiting outside in the yard, standing barely inside the fence as if she had no desire to be there whatsoever, and might run away at any moment. She was awfully skinny, and her clothes were dirty and patched.

Who, Sango wondered, was looking after this child?

"That girl is the one?" Kagome asked. Shippou nodded.

"Oh my," the village head said. "That's Satsuki."

Sango drifted in Kagome's wake as she approached Satsuki. Fortunately, for now Inuyasha seemed willing to let them do the investigating; Satsuki seemed pretty skittish to Sango. She might bolt if pushed too far.

Kagome crouched down so she was on a level with Satsuki. "Could you show me the Shikon fragment, please?"

Satsuki trembled, but her face screwed up with determination and she held her ground. "You're not gonna take it, are you?"

"Oh, we'll take it," Inuyasha told her. "If it's the real thing."

Kagome was apparently in no mood to deal with him. She ordered him summarily to sit, and didn't even blink as he faceplanted into the ground. "Now," she said to Satsuki, "it's okay, I just want to see it. I'm not going to take it. And I won't let him take it, either."

Sango peered over Kagome's shoulder as Satsuki held up her hand and revealed the shining shard. It certainly looked like it could be a Shikon shard, except that it was missing the telltale spark of spiritual energy. This was an ordinary, if pretty rock, like the ones you could find sometimes in the hills around her village. There was no magic here; Kagome wasn't mistaken.

Satsuki closed her hand into a fist around the shard and pulled it close to her chest. "That's enough, okay? I'm going home now."

"Thanks," Kagome said, and, "Take care!"

She didn't get far before the headman called after her, "Satsuki, wait! Why don't you stay here?"

The little girl ran off, despite the headman's exhortation. "It's okay," she called back over her shoulder. "My big brother will be coming home any day now!"

Moments later, she had vanished into the dusk.

"Kagome, was that fragment really a fake?" Shippou asked.

"I'm sorry, but I really think it was," Kagome told him. She sounded as regretful as he did.

"Shippou, that was a stone flower," Sango explained. She hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it was better that Shippou not get his hopes up—or get too far ahead of himself in hopes of impressing this girl.

"Oh, you mean quartz, right?" Kagome asked.

Sango nodded, though it was a term she wasn't familiar with. "It's a stone you can find in the mountains sometimes. It's pretty, but it's no Shikon fragment."

Shippou sighed, looking forlorn. He had been so hopeful about that lead, and now it turned out to be false. It was disappointing, but not altogether unexpected—after all, Kagome had sensed no shards in this town. There was really nothing to be done but call it a night.

True to his word, the village headman provided them with a sumptuous dinner, all the food any of them could eat. It was a nice change from the day's foraging cooked over a fire in the middle of nowhere.

But as the food disappeared, conversation turned back toward the strange young girl Shippou had met in the village earlier.

"Can you tell us more about her?" Kagome prompted. She sounded quite concerned about the prospect of such a young child living all alone.

"Satsuki is a pitiful child," the headman said with a sigh. "And stubborn. Her brother went off to war and died, but Satsuki refuses to believe it—she always says he'll be back soon. I've promised to take care of her, but she won't leave the hut where she lived with her brother."

"How sad," Kagome murmured.

Sango said nothing, thinking instead of her own losses. There was so much death, so much pain in the world. Did it never end?