Disclaimer: All Characters belong to their rightful owners!

((A/N: I decided to post this story up to the end.  I just wanted to see if anyone would still read ^^'))

After gaining the information that they needed, Rin and Rae were off.  Since it would be much faster to fly higher in the sky, Rae let Rin take hold of the reins due to Rae's fear of heights.  This, of course, made her feel even more stupid.

            With her eyes clamped closed as they flew, Rae tried to keep her mind off of things.  That was interrupted though, when she sensed three Demons.  It hit her like a stab in the back.

            "I…Inuyasha?  Shippou and Kirara as well?" she raised her head and looked downwards.  After a few moments of dizziness and near incidents of throwing up, Rae spotted them.

            There, below them was a bare field.  Rae could make out Miroku and Sango.  Kagome was next to them with her bike, Shippou at her feet.  They all stood in a small group observing the battle before them.

            "Inuyasha must have picked out a battle with some poor soul." Rae laughed to herself.

            But the smile on her face soon disappeared when she saw the familiar figure that battled against the Hanyou.  It was Sesshoumaru.  He was using his Toukijin against Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga.  It seemed to be a constant battle of jumping back and forth, trying to stab each other.

            "Why that….that lousy Son of a…" Rae growled.

            Rin glanced back at her, "What's wrong Rae-Rae?"

            Rae clasped her hand over her mouth and waved her hand, "Nothing, just thinking to myself."

            "Oh…Okay…" Rin looked back on Aun's air path.  "Look Rae-Rae!  There it is!" Rin pointed.

            Rae looked up over Rin's head; sure enough there was a rocky ridge with a large chasm through it, "That's it!  We are almost there!" Rae patted Rin's head. 

            As they began to draw closer to the chasm and further from the battle, Rae gave one last look back.  From what she saw, Inuyasha had released a massive Kaze no Kizu upon his older brother.

            That was enough for her, "Damn him, I hope Inuyasha kicks him around good.  He more than deserves it for leaving us like that!  Who am I kidding, Inuyasha will probably get his head cut off before he gets within yards of Sesshoumaru!" she ranted to herself as Aun slowly descended.

            As the Kaze no Kizu drew closer, Sesshoumaru could only think about how predictable his brother's moves were.  With one swipe of Toukijin, the yellow blast was ripped in two.  With the 'threat' pushed aside, he leapt into the air where Inuyasha was still pulling his blade up from his initial attack.

            "What!?" Inuyasha gasped as his Tetsusaiga was easily knocked away.

            As he crashed down, Sesshoumaru followed.  When Inuyasha began to sit up from the fall, Sesshoumaru placed the cold steel up to his brother's neck.

            "This fight is over" Sesshoumaru said calmly, "I hope you are prepared to die, Inuyasha."

            "Keh, I'm not going to beg for my life bastard!" Inuyasha said spitting at Sesshoumaru's feet.

            "Is that so?" said Sesshoumaru.

            "Wait!" Kagome called out, "Please don't kill him!"

            Sesshoumaru glanced at the girl, he despised Inuyasha's 'woman' being such a pest.  Pondering whether to get rid of her now crossed his mind, but then something caught his eye.

            Her face.

            "That look…it reminds me…it reminds me of… Rae?" Sesshoumaru watched as a flashback over came the scene.

            "When that army of demons came…we worked…together.  We were both weak and injured, then, she was cornered.  I couldn't help.  But, she blew them away…somehow.  With the land and the air itself lingering with death, Rae...looked at me.  She gave me this strange look, it was in her eyes."  Sesshoumaru said to himself as a faint portray of Rae replaced Kagome.  It was the moment when she had released all of her spirit energy in order to destroy a horde of Naraku's youkai.  Blood covered her body and face, but her eyes penetrated through all of it.

"A look of worry?  Of relief?  Whatever it was…it made me feel…"

"Kagome!  Stay back!" Inuyasha voice interrupted as he shouted to Kagome.

Sesshoumaru regained focus and looked down at his half breed, half brother.  He slowly removed the sword away from Inuyasha's neck.  Turning quietly he began to walk off with Toukijin at his side.

Inuyasha scrambled to his feet, "Sesshoumaru!  You were following Naraku's insects!  Why are you after him!?"

"I will not forgive him."  Sesshoumaru said quietly.

"Rin-chan, stay behind me okay?" Rae said softly but swiftly.

"Yes Rae-Rae" Rin scampered behind the older girl.

Rae glared back to the problem they faced.  They had only been in the ridge for a few moments and already they faced a youkai problem.  It wasn't that they were strong Youkai; it was that there was many.  They manly held bug-like qualities, many legs, most could fly, and all were very long.

"Hate bugs….hate bugs… dear lord I hate bugs!" Rae repeated to herself as they began to inch closer.  One that looked like a big headed dragonfly with a beak took off straight for Rae's head. 

Unfortunately Rae had no weapons and she had yet to work out her little 'power rage' she had preformed before.  The bug scraped straight past her head, it was able to get a good bite and scratch into her hand and the side of her face. 

With a quick cringe, Rae planted her fist into the bug's body, sending it flying into the canyon wall.  As blood dripped down her sleeve, Rae couldn't help but laugh.

"Is that all you got?" she bent her knees into a fighting stance, "Come on boys, bring it on!"

"Rae-Rae?" Rin looked up at her in bewilderment.

The youkai took that as a direct challenge, they attacked together this time.

There was a loud scream and a bright flash as a blast of yellow energy ripped through the insects. 

Rin uncovered her eyes and looked up and Rae, "What happened?"

Rae smiled down at her and pointed to Aun who was perched on a rock near them its' mask was removed from both heads.  Now it was able to release its true power, "Aun helped us!" Rae grinned.

"Thank you Aun!" Rin waved.

Aun roared out in acknowledgement to its thanks.

As they continued into the depths of the canyon Rin looked up to Rae.  Rae was letting the gash on her face bleed freely as did on her arm.

"Rae-Rae, do you want to make them feel better?" Rin asked as they walked.

"Don't worry about it, I can still feel my arm, and my face….. eh who cares?" she rubbed the back of her hand past her face, wiping some of the excess blood off, "Some things we just have to suck up and handle.  Anyways, its Jaken we have to worry about now, we got about one hour before the sunsets.  So let's find that plant!" Rae replied looking onward.

"Yeah!" Rin nodded in agreement.

"You have the picture right?" Rae began to look around on the high canyon walls for ANY type of plant-life.

"Yes," Rin pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper.  On it was a detailed picture of the Sennensou no Mi, it was mainly a tall plant with purple buds on it.

"It shouldn't be too hard…I wish I knew what it smelt like." Rae began to sniff the air anyways, just to find a hint of anything, "Eck…it smells like burnt youkai." Rae gagged.

"Rae-Rae!  Up there!  I found it!" Rin shouted from behind Rae.  Rae turned around and followed Rin's pointed finger.  Her eyes followed the cliff face for quite a ways before she finally spotted the dark purple plant swaying in the wind.

"U…Up there?  Whoa…" Rae was already getting a cramp in her neck from looking up for so long.

"That's it!" Rin smiled as she and Rae walked to the bottom of the cliff wall.  She smiled up to Rae, her smiled faded into a curious look, "Rae-Rae what's wrong…you are shaking really badly."

"N…nothing.  Shall we ascend?" Rae smiled nervously.

"Are you afraid of heights, Rae-Rae?" Rin asked.

"What!?  Me…afraid of high places?!  Please…." Rae began to laugh at the thought.  Realizing she wasn't making things better she bowed her head, ashamed "Yes…."

            "Don't worry Rae-Rae; Rin will get the Sennensou no Mi!  You stay with Aun okay?" Rin began to make her way up the sharp cliff face.

            "Rin-chan, hold it right there!" Rae called before she could get any further.  She slipped off her kimono quickly.  Though she did collect outfits from the current time period, Rae always wore her old clothes underneath.  I mean come on, how can someone work in a dress?

            "There is no way you are going alone!" Rae jumped onto a boulder next to Rin, "We can work together, I can help you to the high stuff, okay?"

            Rin looked back down at Rae's beautiful kimono that she left on the ground, "But Rae-Rae…"

            "Don't '"but" me Rin-chan.  I'll come back for it later.  Also, like I said before, we have to suck up and handle things at times.  I'll tackle this cliff just fine, now let's go!" Rae reached her hand out to help Rin up next to her.

            "Right..." Rin nodded as the began their climb.

            The first part was easy.  The lower part of the cliff held many large boulders and 'stepping stones' that acted much like a stairway.  As the two got higher though, the rocks became smaller and further apart.  Rae's heart was beating like a rabbit's, but she couldn't show any fear, especially to Rin.  Rin climbed above Rae, when times came that the child couldn't reach a ledge, Rae was there.

            "Sesshoumaru-sama…"

            "Eh?" Rae looked up to Rin, she had stopped.

            "I'm scared…" Rin began to whimper.

            "Rin-chan…poor thing.  She thinks about him when she is scared.  Come on Rin-chan, you have to keep moving…" Rae thought to herself.  Just then a small rock hit her face, "Ouch…what the?" the rock 'footing' that Rin was standing on was beginning to give way.  Rae immediately put her hand under the child's foot to make a step for her.

            Rin looked down at her, "Rae-Rae?"

            "Keep going, don't be afraid okay?  If you have to…think about him…think about Sesshoumaru…think about how brave he is."

            Rin looked down at her; the child's eyes were watery.  She was crying, but showed no sobs of fear, there was no more whimpering.

            "What's wrong?" Rae asked.

            "Mother…Father…my brother.  They are all dead…" Rin sniffed.

            "They were killed…by bandits. Weren't they Rin-chan?  If you knew about it…you would hate me as well wouldn't you?  I was no different…" Rae could feel her heart ache.

            "I don't want anyone else to die…" Rin continued.

            "I promise, no one else will die!  Jaken won't die if you continue Rin-chan." Rae reassured her.

            "Promise that you won't die too Rae-Rae?" Rin asked as she turned her head and stared at the stone wall.

            "Wha...what do you mean?  No, I'm not going anywhere, no one is!" Rae said confidently.

            Rin didn't answer; she only let out a small sigh and continued on her way upwards.  The shrieks of youkai filled the air as Aun fried most that tried to fly after the vulnerable girls.

            The sky was now becoming more radiant with the vast array of colors that were emerging.  Sunset was fast approaching. 

            "Curse my big feet…" Rae complained to herself, she was literally on her tiptoes trying to stay on the edge.

            "Rae-Rae, the Sennensou no Mi is right above me, I'm going to grab it." Rin called down.

            "Okay, please be careful…" Rae looked up to watch Rin.

            She watched as the tiny girl's shaky hand reached up towards the plant.  Rin's whispers filled Rae's ears.

            "Jaken-sama…Don't die…anyone…don't die!" Rin whispered.

            This hurt Rae's ears as well as her heart.

            Rin took a firm grasp of the Sennensou no Mi and smiled, "I've got it!"

            Rae looked back up and smiled widely, "Nice job Rin-chan….eh?"

            The narrow ledge that Rae stood on began to crack.  The crack ran so deep into the cliff that it ran up the cliff and back out.  This caused a huge piece of rock to break out that held both humans on it.

            Rin let out a small gasp and felt her body go limp as she flew downwards. 

            Rae held her breath as she fell below Rin.  As a first instinct, Rae lunged her arm out to the rock-face again.  Luckily she grasped a hold something, but it was sharp.

            Letting out a scream of pain, Rae realized that Rin was plummeting downwards.  With her free hand she grasped Rin's wrist before she could pass by.  With more weight on her shoulder, it pulled on the arm that gripped the rack edge.  That rock edge was digging into her hand.

            "Ri.. Rin-chan?!  Are you okay!?" Rae shouted.

            Rin looked up at Rae, "Rae is in pain, because of Rin." Was the first thing she said, noticing blood dripping from the crevasse that Rae was holding onto.  "I'm so sorry Rae-Rae!" she cried.

            "No I'm fine!  Are you okay?!" Rae interrupted; she didn't want Rin to blame herself.

            "Yes, Rin is fine I have the Sennensou no Mi too!" Rin waved the plant in the air.

            "Good, now don't worry we will be…" Rae stopped, trying to get a better grip of Rin.  Rae's sweat that poured in her hands was making her hand slippery.  Not only that but fatigue was kicking in as well.  "RIN-CHAN!" Rae screamed as she felt the tiny hand slip from her grasp.

            All she could do was watch as her companion disappeared into the darkness of the lower canyon area.