Sesshomaru returned to his party in a foul mood. Once again, he had gotten so close to wiping Naraku off the planet, and Naraku had made another maddening escape. Rin's sniffles had subsided and now she was bouncing around with twice as much energy as before. Sesshomaru wondered if Jaken had given her any sugar.

"You look happy," he remarked at Rin, who was spinning in circles, continuously falling.

"Rin is not speaking to Jaken-sama. He would not feed Rin, and I had to go find my own food!"

Sesshomaru shot a murderous glare at Jaken, who was sitting on a rock, hunched over, muttering unhappily to himself about the idiocy of human children.

"Can we come this time, Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked. "'Cause Rin is bored…"

She threw her arms around him and looked up innocently, her brown eyes huge and shining. "Please……?"

Sesshomaru looked poisonously in Jaken's direction. How were you supposed to say no when the girl pleaded like that?

Grudgingly, he nodded.

How spineless are you, Lord Sesshomaru? he thought. You're a daiyokai, being pleaded into saying yes by a human child? Wrong, all wrong.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin yelled joyfully, hugging him harder. He felt a smile pushing at the corners of his mouth and crushed it, trying to regain his dignified, unrelenting self once again.

"Get on to Ah-Un…I will be flying," he said, and walked away.

Rin snuck up behind Jaken, "We're leaving, Jaken-sama!" she cried happily

Jaken pushed himself off the rock, still murmuring about the evils of children like Rin. She gave him a playful shove and nearly pushed him over. Jaken righted himself, wondering whether it would be a good idea to whack her with the staff. No, maybe not.

They got on Ah-Un, and waited. Sesshomaru was standing in front of the dragon, staring at the horizon.

"Sesshomaru-sama, Rin is ready to go," she whispered.

Is Sesshomaru-sama thinking about a lady? Rin thought. I think it is the Kagura lady…she comes a lot. Rin hopes they will get married. Ooh! Rin will be the flower girl, in a pink kimono, with cherry blossoms…

Jaken was not considering possible roles in a wedding. He was thinking of wreaking vengeance on the child in front of him.

Sesshomaru gave one last longing glance at the sky, and turned away.

"Can Rin be the flower girl?" she asked, her bubbly self again after the cold.

Sesshomaru looked her sharply over and chose to ignore the question. He took flight easily. The big dragon followed.

Rin decided to plan her wedding outfit.

I'll have a pink kimono with white cherry blossoms on it. And I guess I will carry cherry blossoms too. And maybe I'll make a cherry blossom wreath for my hair, and- oh! A wreath for Jaken-sama, too! Won't he look funny!

Jaken had given up all thoughts of revenge on Rin. He didn't really want to think about anything, certainly not the fact that they seemed much higher on Ah-Un than ever before.

Rin leaned back at just the wrong moment, sending Jaken off the dragon.

"Damn!" Sesshomaru said loudly as he saw the kappa spiraling down to earth. He dipped down and raced through the air, wondering if he could catch Jaken.

When Rin realized what she'd done, she clapped both hands over her mouth. Ohhh nooo…what if Jaken-sama died and it was all her fault? The guilt would certainly kill her. She kicked Ah-Un impatiently, willing him to race down like Sesshomaru-sama. The dragon went 'down', but certainly not at the pace of Sesshomaru .

Sesshomaru landed on the ground seconds too late. He had heard the resounding crack and thunk as the kappa and the staff hit the ground. Sesshomaru had his hand on the hilt of the Tenseiga when Jaken sat stiffly up and moaned.

"Eveeryythiiing aaches…" he groaned.

"Get up and walk," Sesshomaru ordered, somewhat relieved that the Tenseiga could stay in its hilt for the time being.

Jaken tried, really he did. He stumbled around for close to fifteen minutes.

Sesshomaru looked like he was about to blow a fuse. Then, the demonic smile played at his lips once more.

Jaken saw his twitching mouth, and crawled to Sesshomaru's feet. "Oh, please, Lord Sesshomaru! Don't smile! Please! Take this staff and beat me hard! Don't smile! No, no, no!"

A look of grim amusement showed on Sesshomaru's face as he walked away.

Rin was not happy. She had very much wanted to leave Jaken's company for a few days, and now she could not.

She got her revenge.

"Rin, go get me water," Jaken ordered.

She ignored him.

"I said, get me water!"

Now it was on Rin's lips that a smile was playing. Carefully, she fell to the ground and mocked grabbing someone's ankles.

"No! Don't smile! Beat me!" Her laughs and Jaken's yelps of indignation echoed through the night.