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As they came over the hill, Rin saw the towering trees ahead. It was a forest that came out of nowhere and seemed to stretch forever. The sun was setting behind it, and was soon lost from view as it disappeared into the branches. Sesshoumaru-sama continued towards the forest, and Rin wondered if they were going to go into it. She used to like forests, but some of the ones that they had seen seemed to have a lot of scary things in them. Though she hadn't seen any things in the days since they had entered Sesshoumaru-sama's land, however far that was. Rin wondered if they were still in Sesshoumaru-sama's land. She guessed that they were. Maybe Jaken-sama was right about there being too much of it to see.
They did go into the forest, and Rin didn't see any scary things, but by the time they got there it was almost too dark to see. They didn't walk that far into the trees before they stopped to sleep. Sesshoumaru-sama woke her up the next morning, and soon they were walking again.
Rin sometimes walked and sometimes rode on Ah and Un. The first part of the morning she excitedly looked at everything in the forest. She could see so much more of it than she had been able to when they had entered it last night. It was a lot different than the woods that she had been in before. They were plain compared to this. Everything was so green here, there was even green moss on lots of the trees' trunks. The trees went on in every direction, and stretched up to the sky, which she could barely see because of the roof of leaves overhead.
"Is this all Sesshoumaru-sama's, too, Jaken-sama?" she asked.
"Of course!"
"Wow! Rin's never seen trees like these. They're really, really tall! And look at that tree, Jaken-sama! It's really big around!"
Jaken-sama didn't really seem too impressed, but Rin didn't care.
They kept going into the forest, finally ending up on an old path of some sort. They stayed on that until Sesshoumaru-sama stopped to talk to a tree. Rin had never seen a talking tree before. Sesshoumaru-sama and the tree man talked about swords, and about someone named Inuyasha. After they were done, Sesshoumaru-sama turned in another direction, leaving the forest's path. It wasn't that much longer before they were out of the trees and back to the meadows.
Rin was sort of sad to leave the tall trees so soon. She lingered by the edge a little while as Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama talked ahead of her. Suddenly, Sesshoumaru-sama called to her.
"Come on, Rin."
Rin turned around and saw that both Sesshoumaru-sama and Jaken-sama were sitting on Ah and Un. She ran over and got on Ah and Un in front of Sesshoumaru-sama.
"Sesshoumaru-sama is riding on Ah and Un, too?" she asked, turning to look at him.
He nodded at her. "Hold on, Rin."
Rin wondered why she would need to hold on; she rode on Ah and Un all the time. Still, she braced herself a little, wondering if something different was going to happen this time. It did. Ah and Un suddenly moved, jumping up into the air. Rin gasped and leaned back against Sesshoumaru-sama. Ah and Un kept going up, and Rin saw the ground far below.
"Wow! Ah and Un can fly!" she exclaimed after a moment.
Rin leaned up, and looked down. Everything was so faraway, and being up high made it all look so different. Her hair blew around her face, and it almost felt as if she were the one flying. She looked to one side and then the other, leaning so she could see as much as she could. Once as she was leaning, she felt Sesshoumaru-sama's hand on her shoulder, pulling her back a bit. She looked back at him, and he gave her a barely noticeable shake of his head. Rin decided that maybe leaning out wasn't such a good idea. After that, she only sat and saw what she could without leaning.
"Rin's never been flying before," she told him, looking behind her.
Sesshoumaru-sama didn't say anything, but later he told Jaken-sama to turn toward the left.
"Is he that way, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken-sama asked.
"Yes."
"Is who that way, Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin asked.
"Inuyasha."
"Who's Inuyasha?"
"My hanyou half-brother."
"Oh," Rin said. He didn't really seem to want to talk about it. So she just looked at the ground beneath them again.
A little later, Jaken-sama brought An and Un down above some woods, and landed in a clearing. Then Jaken-sama took Ah and Un a little bit away.
"Rin," Sesshoumaru-sama suddenly told her, "you stay here."
"Where's Sesshoumaru-sama going?"
"You stay here."
Rin looked down, but nodded. She remembered the last time that Sesshoumaru-sama had gone somewhere. He had said that it wasn't a good place for her to go.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" she called as he started to walk away. "Sesshoumaru-sama is coming back soon, right?"
He turned to look at her for a moment, before he said, "Yes."
"Sesshoumaru-sama promises? Soon?"
"Soon." Then he turned again and walked away.
In a few minutes, Jaken-sama came back with Ah and Un. "Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Sesshoumaru-sama left, Jaken-sama."
Jaken-sama frowned. "Sesshoumaru-sama left? Did he go alone to where Inuyasha was?"
"Rin doesn't know. But Sesshoumaru-sama said he'd come back soon," she added brightly. Jaken-sama didn't look any less annoyed. "Hey Jaken-sama, who's Inuyasha?"
Then Jaken-sama talked for a really long time. But Rin got out of it that Inuyasha was Sesshoumaru-sama's younger brother, and that they didn't really get along. Also, Jaken-sama didn't seem to like Inuyasha much.
"Does Jaken-sama think that Sesshoumaru-sama went to fight with Inuyasha?"
"Probably."
"Does Sesshoumaru-sama fight a lot, Jaken-sama?"
He shrugged. "I suppose."
"Rin hopes that Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't get hurt."
"Silly girl! Sesshoumaru-sama is much to strong to ever be hurt!"
Rin decided that she still didn't like the idea of Sesshoumaru-sama fighting. He seemed very strong, but something had hurt him before. Something had been strong enough to cut his arm off, and he had been hurt when she had found him. Rin wondered if maybe Jaken-sama had forgetten these things.
But she turned her attention to combing her hair, which had gotten tangled while flying. Then she played with some flowers, but decided not to pick any since there weren't very many there and someone else might want some. She found some grass for Ah and Un to eat, and then just sat, waiting for Sesshoumaru-sama. It didn't seem like very much time had passed before she saw him walking back through the trees.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" she cried, running over.
Sesshoumaru-sama didn't say much, and didn't answer Jaken-sama's questions, only turning and saying, "We're leaving."
Jaken-sama grabbed Ah and Un's reins, and Rin walked beside Sesshoumaru-sama.
"Did Sesshoumaru-sama go fight?" she asked him.
"More or less," he said.
"With Inuyasha?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He didn't say anything.
"Rin doesn't like it when Sesshoumaru-sama fights," she added. "Sesshoumaru-sama might get hurt. Then Rin might not have Sesshoumaru-sama."
"I wouldn't be hurt," he said.
"Does Sesshoumaru-sama promise? Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Yes, fine."
"Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Rin hoped that he wouldn't get hurt again, since he had promised. Then she would always have him.