A/N:: Sorry for the even longer delay. If you've checked( or not) my profile, you'll know that my computer is completely nuts and hates me. :( I had to mad scramble to rewrite EVERYTHING, and hopefully, it's still up to snuff. However, I have a backup of all chapters from now on incase something like that happens again so, no worries.

Too bad I had to learn that lesson the hard way, huh?

Disclaimer:: I do not own anything that even resembles Inuyasha and the gang. Just a crazy stalker and my horrible plotline.

Fatal Flaw

Entendre Euphenist

Chapter One:: Feelings

..~..

Somewhere, there are Gods. Beings with powers unforetold. Magnificent creatures capable of indescribable feats. With a mere thought, they are able to destroy us, and with another, build this world anew. They are all powerful, all omnipotent beings. They know all. They see all.

They created all.

A council of divine sat together. Using their powers; pushing their boundaries. They struggled to come to an agreement, and they quarelled, the universe trembling in wake of their chaos. They laughed together; the sun joining in on their joys. So that in the end, they had completed together the greatest masterpiece known to man.

They created time; the great tapestry.

And they wanted to rejoice in the fruit of their labors. They wanted to bask in the shade of their greatest triumph. They wanted to lay down their weaver's loom and smile in content satisfaction at the Fated fabric which was their creation, and so they plucked the piece from the loom. After all of the loose ends had been tied, and all the frayed edges smoothed and cut away, there before them stood a great problem.

An enormous, gaping hole.

A place on the tapestry of fate over which they had forgotten to weave.

A place over which they had no control.

The Gods became worried. With no power to uphold goodness, the balance would tip irreversibly. Why, that one spot could undue the whole tapestry! Millions of lives were at stake. With no influence over such a large area of destiny, evil could situated itself quite nicely into history. Such a horrible fate to befall humankind!

Such a disaster! How could the greatest endeavor the Gods set out to accomplish possibly end in such disarray? What to do? What to do?

Somewhere, there are gods. Beings with powers unforetold. However, these beings are still susceptible to the downfalls of their creations. They become emotional. They become moody. They grieve and so, the gods turn their backs to the world, frustrated and confused, leaving you to deal with their mess.

They have given up on you. They have forsaken you in favor of wallowing in the woe that is their anguish at the plight of their beloved Fate. They grieve, ignorant to the sorrow of the people they have forsaken.

They waste away until they become nothing more than fabled sentries of old. They vanish to a place in the mind where gods are nothing but encouraging legends told to desperate children to give them hope in a dark world. Stories which are forgotten by the next morn'. Forgotten by the very world they have doomed. The very world they have forgotten.

However, one woman has not forgotten you. She has seen your fate, and watched your struggle, and deemed you worthy of her aid- which is not an easy thing to do. So for your sake, she slinks quietly into the citadel of the gods, she enters the hall of the tapestry. She sees the failed attempt at history.

And she will fix the hole in the tapestry. She is that kind.

However, nothing is without a price. While she may fix this tear, give order to chaos, you'll be the one stuck with what she gives you, now won't you? Is that a chance you're willing to take? Of course it is. After all, what do you have to lose?

The rules of the game are thus; she makes a move, you do likewise, and so on. Simple? Well, nothing is simple when you play games with the fickle mistress Karma. She had already made her move.

"The ball is now in your court. How will you play, Kagome Higurashi?" and so she waits for your reply.

"This is all my fault," Kagome says to herself on silent nights when the air is thick, but no more so than her tears. By now, even her smile falls away, trailing down her face to pool around her chin. She tries through sheer force of will to keep up that crumbling facade of happy. Fails through sheer sorrow however, and is generally ignored through sheer experience.

Shippou is an exception to this rule, as well as many other things. He is unaware that somethings aren't Inuyasha's fault and that maybe it isn't good idea to bring up the inuyoukai at the moment, at all.

"She will get over it in time," Miroku tells a worrying tajiya nonchalantly. Whether or not he believes this himself is up to discussion as the tiny smile that notes his lies is not on his face, but in his eyes when he speaks, and Sango is unsure what that means. She is unsure of what alot of things mean, especially how this particular death might mean something to her. Death has become quite common to the demon slayer. After all, one must kill something to slay it.

The woman who screamed when she got a scraped knee will shed no tears for the death of some thingthat didn't even bleed when it was shredded to bits. She's seen people shredded to bits, and she knows what death really looks like. Nothing at all close to resembling the form of a broken doll.

That woman broke, she didn't die. Sango knows the difference, feel it every day as she walks worn pathways with four people who are so spirited and alive, and she's so not. Every thought ends in 'it should have been me', and despite her feeling toward the woman, she wishes it all the same. It should have been me a long time ago.

Comforting Kagome has gotten her nowhere but down, and so now she sits close to the monk for some closure of her own. Close enough to express interest, but far enough away to let him know that it will never work. Nothing ever does seem to work, now does it?

No, not really. That's why it's okay when perverts fake a yawn and wrap arms around your shoulder. Because that not really what he's doing. Sango doesn't know what he's really doing, but then again, she doesn't understand what anybody else is doing either, so it's okay. It's alright for them to sit together, but not really, and share this one moment of concern for their friend.

Everyone avoids looking in that part of camp for the remainder of the night, where nothing happens and everyone's got it all wrong.

Inuyasha's convinced that Kagome has got it all wrong, but this time he isn't sure how. Doesn't understand that when you comfort someone there's a difference between empathy and concerned (or in his case, rather rude) words. She's upset, and that's something he can understand ("Most Definitely!" cry all of the trees within a hundred yard radius), but he just doesn't quite get it.

How this is and isn't his fault. How it is and isn't her fault. Or anyone else's. It's just fault; guilt plain as day for all to see. Flustered, and not quite sure what he's supposed to do about it ( why do I always have to do this?) , he thinks that the best thing for himself to do is what got them into this mess in the first place.

"Don't worry Kagome, I'll protect you no matter what," and so it's quite a shock to see that she's (not) crying a little harder now, and to pretend that maybe those weren't the best words for the job right now. He's said he'd protect her and look how well that turned out.

Okay, at least she didn't die, but she broke, and that's what it looks like the woman is front of him has been doing since then. Breaking a little more because she's weak and will never amount to anything, and that is something her friends will fail to understand. That something will always be her fault.

Kikyo has died and it is all her fault, because she is weak and Inuyasha is now offering her exactly what she doesn't want. She doesn't want to be something that needs to be protected. she doesn't want it to be her fault. ( Why can't I ever do anything right?)

So everything is perfect amongst the Inutachi except it isn't. Not really.

Reviews are welcome!