Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha or anything about it. I do own my own ideas and characters.

A/N: ! I'm looking for a beta reader! For this story and for my other stories. I'm going to be revising some of my old stories so a little assistance would be great!

Death's Destiny

By: Ethril

Chapter 1: Frozen embrace

It was a pleasant winter's day in Northern Washington. School was out for the next couple weeks and the lake just outside of town was completely frozen over. Most of the families were out at the lake, all bundled up in their winter gear intending to enjoy the once a year event. Many of the teenagers were already out on the frozen surface, playing ice hockey or just skating around together. Parents were helping their younger children into ice skates so that they too could join in on the winter fun.

One girl in particular was enjoying a leisurely lap around the outer edge of the lake. "Kassandra! Wait up!" A little boy yelled as he followed after the red haired girl. "You know I can't skate as fast as you!" The little boy in question was at least half the height of the laughing girl, and was having trouble in his brand new skates.

"If I go any slower Johnny, I'll fall over!" Kassandra turned around and started skating backwards so she could watch her younger brother. Unlike Kassandra, Johnny had short brown hair. Kassandra had thick, long, wavy red hair. Where Johnny was tan, Kassandra was pale. The only thing the two had in common, were the deep brown eyes.

"Longer strides Johnny, I know you can do it!" Kassandra was all giggles and smiles as she watched her little brother wobble forward on the ice. "If you feel like you're going to fall over, go to your knees." She reminded him before sighing and slowing down. Kassandra came to a complete stop as she waited for Johnny to catch up.

"Sandra, I can't do it!" Johnny let out with a whine as he stopped where he was and went to his knees. "It's too hard!" He let out a wail and in no time at all, their mother came over on the ice to help Johnny up.

Kassandra offered to come back to help, but their mother just smiled and shook her head, motioning for Kassandra to continue on. With that taken care of, the red haired teenage girl spun around and started skating with a little more speed.

Skating was something that Kassandra had been doing all her life. She wasn't a pro skater, nothing like that, but it was a hobby that she enjoyed just for the sake of having fun. She knew the lake she was skating on perfectly. In the summer she would swim in it, in the winter she would skate on it. There was nothing about this lake that she didn't know about.

Her confidence was probably the reason she didn't at first notice the small cracks starting to form on the ice. Kassandra was used to staying near the edge so she could stay out of the way of the hockey players. It wasn't until the second pass over the cracked ice that things went downhill.

There was a loud cracking sound and Kassandra heard someone scream her name. One moment she was skating peacefully across the ice, and the next she was under the ice and sinking into the freezing water. Kassandra struggled for a moment, her chest burning as she reached down to unlace her skates before they could pull her down further. Once free of the cumbersome gear, she kicked her legs and pulled her arms to try and reach the surface.

For a sick moment, Kassandra felt like she was in a horror film as her hands came in contact with solid ice instead of the hole she had fallen into. Kassandra blinked and squinted her eyes as she swung her hands out over the ice to find a weak spot or the broken ice so she could pull herself out. Even after she stopped flailing so she could get a better view of the ice, she still couldn't find her way out.

Her air was almost gone, her chest was burning, and her clothes were completely soaked through. Kassandra was starting to lose feeling in her arms and legs and she didn't know how much longer she could stay in the water before losing conciseness. Kassandra's eyes burned and she finally let out the last breath of air she had.

She couldn't' fight it anymore; the cold or the lack of air. She wished she had gone back to help her little brother now. Kassandra wished she could see her family again. All her regrets and all her happy memories surfaced in her mind just as she gradually began to sink down in the water.

Unwilling to look up at the glassy surface of the ice anymore, she closed her eyes and gave in to the darkness that was growing around her. With her eyes closed Kassandra didn't see the water around her turn purple.

She was just about to completely lose consciousness when a hand grabbed onto her outstretched arm and pulled her up. Kassandra was so cold that she didn't notice a difference between the water or the air. Hands on her chest roused her some and after a few hard compressions she coughed and tried to roll onto her side.

"She's freezing cold!" She heard a male voice comment loudly as her clothes were pulled at. "It's early summer, how is she that cold?"

"I don't know Inu-Yasha, let's just get a fire started." An annoyed female voice replied. "Sango, grab my sleeping bag and a couple extra blankets!"

That was the last thing Kassandra heard before she passed out again. She did wonder why someone would be starting a fire when they should be calling for an ambulance. It wasn't like the hospital was that far away.

Warmth. That was the first thing Kassandra noticed when she started waking up. She was warm. The next thing she realized was that she was lying on the hard ground instead of in a bed. There were voices speaking quietly around her and she could smell a fire burning not too far from her.

Kassandra let out a groan, alerting the people that saved her that she was waking up.

"Move slowly," A gentle female voice told her as she tried to sit up. "My name is Kagome." Kassandra looked up into a pair of brown eyes. The girl looked to be Asian with her raven black hair and her dainty physique. She had on a green school girl uniform and Kassandra was reminded of those anime's her friends would always watch.

The girl who had identified herself as Kagome looked over at her companions. "That's Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Shippo, and Inu-Yasha."

The first two people who were introduced looked to be relatively normal, even though they dressed strangely. She lived in Washington though, one of the Great Northwest states that had a large Asian population so their clothes weren't too strange.

Kassandra's eyes went wide and she groaned softly as she held her head for a moment. The cat looked like it had more than one tail. She figured it was just fluffy enough that it gave off that appearance. Any rational thoughts or explanations for what she was seeing went away when she was introduced to the last two members of the group.

They had to be going to a party, they had to be. But why would the one girl, Kagome, be wearing such thin clothes in the winter? "Where are my parents?" Kassandra asked, deciding not to think to hard about their costumes. "I should probably get to a hospital."

Kassandra froze in surprise. She hadn't noticed before, but she definitely noticed now. She wasn't speaking English. She knew what she was saying, she understood what was being said to her, but none of it was English! Kassandra grew confused and she fought to stay calm as the group started talking around her.

'Ok, think rationally.' Kassandra instructed herself as she looked down at her lap. Her parents weren't here, which was strange enough. The air was warm, warmer than it should have been with a fire going. She didn't recognize the area she was in. She was speaking a foreign language even though she only knew English. The people that had saved her were dressed strangely. She would have thought this was all some big prank, except she honestly didn't know any other languages. She also highly doubted people would purposefully drop her into freezing cold water as part of a prank.

"I'm dreaming." That was the only logical explanation. "I'm sinking in freezing cold water and now I'm dreaming." The people around her stopped talking.

Kagome shifted uncomfortably. When they had first pulled the red haired girl out of the water, Kagome knew she was from the future. When the girl had mentioned a hospital, Kagome was sure. The best thing to do right now was to keep the girl calm so they could gently explain things to her.

"What's your name?" the little red haired boy asked as he hopped over to Kassandra.

Kassandra wanted to wake up, but that would mean waking back up in the freezing water where she was dying. "Kassandra." She might as well play along with the dream since she had no other real alternative.

"You have hair like mine!" Shippo pointed out as he reached out to touch her long red hair that was loose and damp.

Kassandra smiled a little. In her life she'd only run into a couple people with hair as red as hers. Her father being one of them.

"Kassandra…where are you from?" Kagome asked slowly. The girl didn't look like she was from Japan, and even though she was speaking Japanese fluently she had a rather strange accent.

"Oh, um," Kassandra paused. If this was a dream, shouldn't they know that? "Peaceful Valley, Washington."

Kagome's eyes went wide and she chewed on her lip. That was definitely not in Japan.

"That's not a real place." Inu-Yasha said with a scowl. "Look, I don't care where you're from. I saved ya cause you have a jewel shard."

Kassandra frowned at the silver haired guy. She couldn't tell if he was wearing a wig or had actually dyed his hair. "Of course it's a real place! I live there with my family! I go to school there! We go skating on the lake there!" She struggled to get the blankets off of her. "I don't care if this is a dream! I'm going home!" She'd wake up and fight to get out of the water. She wasn't going to just give up and die!

"Just give us the jewel shard first!" Inu-Yasha stood up and pointed at her. "Then you can do whatever the hell you want."

"Inu-Yasha!" Kagome frowned up at him and her eyes glinted as she held back a certain word. "Si-Calm down."

Kassandra stood up on wobbly legs. "I don't have a jewel shard." Her hand went to her head as the world spun around her.

"It's hanging off your ear!" Inu-Yasha nearly shouted. He did sit back down though when Kagome sent him a very upset glare.

Kassandra's hand went from her head to her right ear. She didn't wear earrings, she wore ear cuffs; specifically a single ear cuff on her right ear. The one she was wearing today had a thin chain hanging down from it and attached to the chain was a little crystal. She'd made the ear cuff herself after buying the little crystal from a garage sale last spring.

"This isn't a jewel shard! It's an ear cuff!" Kassandra glared at Inu-Yasha. This must be one of the most ridiculous dreams she'd ever had.

"Kassandra, please sit down." Sango, the other woman of the group spoke up. "There's a great deal we need to explain."

Kassandra was tempted to storm off and just leave the group all together, but the gentle request from Sango and the pleading eyes from Kagome convinced her otherwise.

After Kassandra had sat down, the group slowly started explaining things to her. They started from the very beginning, reciting when Kagome had first arrived. One by one each person included their tale. The entire story was too unbelievable for Kassandra and when they were done talking to her, she was silent.

"I can sense jewel shards, that's how we found you." Kagome stated, finally coming to the end of their story. It was night fall by then, and the fire was burning low. "Your jewel shard must have brought you here."

Silently, Kassandra reached up and unclipped the ear cuff from her ear. Once it was off she handed it over to Kagome. "How do I get home?" She asked after a few more minutes of silence. Her voice cracked and she bit her lip to keep from crying hysterically.

"It…it could be possible you could return home with Kagome." Miroku said slowly.

"That might not work." Kagome said with a sigh. "It was winter where Kassandra was from. I do know that the USA is in the Northern hemisphere and that we have the same seasons."

Kassandra was catching on to what Kagome was hinting at. "You think I'm from a different time then you."

Kagome nodded. "What year is it where you're from?" She asked softly. "It's 2000 for me."

Kassandra winced and buried her face in her hands. "It's 2013." Kassandra was 13 years in the future from Kagome. Even if she could go back with Kagome, it wouldn't be her home or time.

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A/N: It's just something I was thinking up while at work. My job can get boring some days so I thought I would just jot down a story idea.

I have no idea where this story is going! WEEEE Fun Time Make it up as you go along plot!

ALSO:! I'm looking for a beta reader for this story and other stories of mine. I'm going to be revising older chapters of many of my stories so I would appreciate some assistance!