Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or Inuyasha

Chapter One

A young woman sighed as she wiped her perspiring forehead with the back of her pale hand. It had been awhile seen the weather had been hot enough to make her sweat, then again the strenuous work that she had been doing all morning had probably helped. On that note dark amethyst eyes slide slowly to the side to stare at the old fashioned wooden broom. The old thing's handle was a little weak so much so that the girl had found herself holding it at an odd and uncomfortable angle just in order to make sure it didn't break. That, of course, had taken time. The broom's bottom also needing to be cleaned since dirt had clung to it while she had been sweeping around the temple. She nodded to herself as she added 'cleaning the broom' to her mental checklist of chores to be completed for the day.

As she entered the house that she and her grandfather lived in the girl couldn't help the immense feeling of relief that washed over her. The weather was nice, but for now an air-conditioned was preferred. A small smile fluttered across her exotic face for a moment as she recalled how difficult it had been for her grandfather to allow the system to be installed in what he said was supposed to be a 'traditional Japanese house'.

"Rei is that you?"

Rei automatically nodded before she called out that it was she, realizing that her grandfather couldn't see her affirmative nod. Before she stepped fully into the house she pulled off her shoes, slipped into her house slippers, and gingerly set the broom beside the door. When she was done all of the house chores she would take her time to fix the broom. Stepping into the kitchen she glanced around to gauge the amount of work needed here. From what she could she it wouldn't require too much work. Mechanically she re-rolled up the sleeves of her priestess robes, while absently wondering if she should change, and began to wash the dishes that had piled up in the sink of the week. She had only been washing for about two minutes when she heard someone knocking on the door. A dark eyebrow twitched once in annoyance before Rei reluctantly rinsed her hands and straightened her clothes before making her way to the door. She was not at all surprised when a blonde mass came tumbling in once the door was open.

"Hello, Usagi."

The blonde beauty stood up quickly, trying desperately to save some face, before turning towards Rei with a puppy dog look. Rei rolled her eyes and started back to the kitchen. She had restarted washing the dishes and set Usagi to wiping the table before she opened her mouth to question the other girl on exactly why she was here. For a moment after she had asked silence returned to the kitchen and then…

"Setsuna's holding a meeting today. She said that its an emergency. Something about some weird vibes from the Time Gate. She's concerned that there might be a leak somewhere between this dimension and another." Usagi murmured in her rarely used serious tone. Rei didn't doubt that the blondie was concerned about how many people, how many friends, might get hurt in this new problem if Setsuna was right.

"Wow, Usagi. I'm impressed. How long did you have to practice in order to make sure you wouldn't screw up the message?" Rei asked with an eyebrow cocked and an air of arrogance about her.

"Rei! Why are you such a meanie?!" The blonde cried.

Rei shrugged and then went through the familiar motions of a 'Rei vs. Usagi' moment as she mentally thought about what the meatball head had told her. It was better for her to worry over it rather than Usagi. Nothing showed how bad things were then a serious and depressed Usagi…Well, maybe not so much a depressed Usagi. After all Usagi could get depressed over dropping an ice cream cone. Nothing life threatening there!

For a while, things passed peacefully by with Rei finishing the kitchen and completing her other chores around the house with the help of Usagi. Rei had been pleasantly surprised that Usagi had been less of a klutz today and actually helped more than she had caused more work to be done. In order to thank the blonde Rei set up the sitting room nicely and served red tea and small cakes left over from the a festival. It was as she was serving Usagi her fourth cake that she heard another person knocking on the door. Rei frowned and turned towards Usagi.

"Are we supposed to have the meeting here? Now?" Rei questioned as she moved towards the door. She didn't even have to look behind her to know that it was indeed the others at the door waiting to enter so that they could have their usual meeting at the shrine. Rei sighed as she remembered that she hadn't exactly cleaned her room. Of all the days for her to have trouble finding her priestess garments why did it have to be today? Her room was literally covered with shirts, pants, dresses, and skirts of all colors and designs. If only her grandfather had told her sooner that he had taken it to have some of the seams redone. Shaking her head Rei opened the door.

"Hey Rei," rung throughout the entryway as the sailor scouts filed into the house. About ten minutes passed before everyone had removed their shoes, received house slippers, had tea and cakes served to them, and had greet Rei's grandfather or Pa as they called him.

"So where's Setsuna?" Rei asked. The long purple haired senshi was no where to be found.

Haruka waved her hand in the air in a dismissive manner. "You know how she is, firebird. She'll show up after we're done with the preliminary stuff." Michiru nodded beside her in agreement.

Rei nodded absently as she watched Pa teeter away slowly to his room. Even though he often liked to play oblivious, Rei didn't doubt for a second that he could sense that they were more than just a group of friends hanging out. Otherwise there would be nothing stopping him from staying in a room full of young women in skimpy hot weather clothing.

"So, now that the old man's gone. What exactly is going on?"

There were murmurs of agreement all around at Makoto's words, but before further comments could be made the time senshi suddenly appeared. It didn't take long for the mood in the room to instantly turn somber as they all took in Setsuna's grim face. Before they could ask exactly how bad the situation was or she could tell them Michiru stood up and eased Setsuna gently into a seat while Rei hurriedly serve her some tea hoping to relax the disturbed woman somewhat.

"Thank you," Setsuna's voice was soft and weary as she settled down and sipped some of the tea. After about five minutes she set the teacup aside and shook her head when Rei moved to refill it. "We must begin the meeting now."

All of the girls' faces suddenly either harden with concentration or crumbled with worry as Makoto, ever courageous, asked bluntly just what the problem was.

Setsuna shifted in her seat, taking a moment to study the ceiling before placing her focus back on her audience. "Well, it would seem that there's been a sort of door between two dimensions opened. A door between this era and the Feudal Japan era. You all should know that this could be rather destructive. An unlimited number of things here and in the future can be changed by a changed event in the past."

Everyone nodded solemnly.

"So do we know who let the mouse out of the bag?" Minako asked.

Makoto raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "It's cat, Mina. It's who let the cat out of the bag."

"Popular expressions aside, who's responsible for opening the door, Setsuna?" Ami questioned.

"At first I was sure that only one person was responsible. This person is a girl, similar to Rei, she's a priestess with great spiritual potential. However, her powers, unlike Rei's, are not strong enough to open a dimensional door alone. Therefore I believe that there's some object that is assisting her, allowing her to travel between the two dimensions."

Haruka nodded in understanding and then crossed her arms. "Okay. Now we know what the problem is and even that we should begin searching with this girl. But exactly how are we going to get close enough to keep tabs on her?"

"I've done some search on her. It seems as though she's Rei's cousin."

Rei blinked a little startled out of her own personal musings by Setsuna's words. The truth was that since the very beginning Rei had thought of her cousin. Her memories of her were vague since she had only met her once before her mother died. Although she did remember feeling as though she and her cousin, Kagome, were similar in ways that back then she hadn't completely understood.

"This is great right? It should be nothing for Rei to schedule a visit with her relatives. After all isn't blood tastier than water?" Minako exulted.

This time Michiru corrected Minako. "Thicker, Mina, thicker…."

"What's thicker?"

Sweat drops appeared all around before Setsuna stood up. "The meeting is over. Rei call your cousin and see if you can finish the summer over there. I'm not sure how difficult the mission might turn out to be so be careful."

Rei nodded and watched as her friends got up a left. Alone with her thoughts Rei began to wonder just how she might contact her cousin. It had been a very long time since she had seen her. Would she even remember her? Thoughts like these tugging relentlessly at her mind as she moved about the room tidying it up once more. At one point Pa came strolling out of his room murmuring something about needing fresh air. For the most part Rei was unaware of her surroundings giving Pa only the most basic mechanic response while she continued to clean up. Once the sitting room was clean again Rei turned towards her room. Instead of going inside and cleaning it she suddenly made a sharp left and entered the fire room. It was in this room that she felt the most comfortable and just maybe the fire might have some answers for her.

When Pa had shuffled off to his room he hadn't meant to ease drop on the girls' conversation. It just sort of happened. He hadn't even understood or heard all that was said and yet he understood quite clearly that Rei needed to get in touch with her aunt. So, being the kind of helpful grandfather he was he had taken it upon himself to call his other daughter. In less than an hour he had arranged for Rei to visit. Just as he was walking back inside the house, wanting to tell Rei the news, he saw her heading out of the fire room with a confused look on her face.

"Rei?"

Rei turned towards Pa quickly with a small smile in place. She didn't want him to see her looking even the slightest bit odd. "Yes?"

Pa cleared his throat as he moved towards her. "I've called your Aunt. She had told me a while ago that they were having some trouble training Kagome properly. Knowing that you are an accomplished priestess she asked me to allow you to spend the summer over there and help Kagome. She just called me again wondering whether or not you were willing?"

Rei couldn't contain her surprise. This whole situation could not have been made any easier. After agreeing to spend the rest of the summer at her aunt's house Rei went into her room and began to pack. Her room would have a wait.