I am extremely sorry for the delay but I got caught up in exams and assignments. Good news is that I have been working on the story in my spare time and as soon as i edit the next Chapter it will be up as well. Thank you so much for patiently waiting I really appreciate it. Plz review so I know how I'm going.

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Chapter 4

Flashback

A young Auria was running through a sunflower field, her orange kimono blowing in the wind. Yukiatsu stood with Lady Amelia watching Auria be the carefree spirit she had always been.

"One day she will rule in my stead and when I think I won't be here to help, I am filled with sorrow," Amelia confided sadly, Yukiatsu looked at his Lady in wonder. This Lady was so strong and always so composed, that it was hard to think that she had such worries. He looked back at Auria not wanting to seem rude staring at his Lady so openly.

"The only thing that reassures me is that I know you are her soul mate," at this Yukiatsu was dumbfounded, he looked at Amelia who now met his shocked eyes with her reassuring ones. She did not say anymore, but he understood the implication behind her words. A soul mate of the Lady Auria would be one of the most respected beings in the four Lands. The mate would be the one to help keep the balance of the world by siring the future Lady of the East. To stand beside the granddaughter of Amaterasu would be the highest honour, and to share her soul would be his ticket to divinity. It would also be the first time the Houses of the West and East combined. Yukiatsu was a Silver Dog Demon, despite his appearance, and he was adopted by Toga as his own after his parents died in the war. Yukiatsu bore the title of a Prince of the West, just as Sesshomaru did; only Sesshomaru was the Crown Prince.

It was then that Yukiatsu realised the Houses of the East and West combining. He was well aware of Demon lore and he definitely knew the prophecy of the Golden flower that bloomed in the snow.

Auria's crest was a golden flower, since she was a Princess she could not yet have the sun crest. The sun crest belonged to the Lady only. Furthermore, he bore the crest of a snow landscape but unlike the East all the male's of the Western house had nearly the same crest. In fact the only difference between his and Sesshomaru's crest was that his was falling snow, whilst Sesshomaru's was a fallen snow. Could it be? Had it been preordained that he would be Auria's mate and unite the two Lands. It was said that before the prophecy, there would be great chaos and that by the mating, balance would be restored. The only thing that did not make sense though was that he was not a decedent of Tsukuyomi, and he did not have the power to keep balance.

You see Toga and Amelia were a balance of each other. Auria and Sesshomaru were the next keepers of the balance. If the rulers, the East or West, passed on and were not replaced by the one who bore their aura, the world would fall to chaos. Sesshomaru and Auria were definitely the ones who bore the aura's being the biological children of the rulers. He did not understand how he fit the equation, maybe his role was the siring, and that's how he would help to keep balance. He then wondered about the chaos, maybe chaos had something to do with them not being able to conceive straight away. Oh he didn't know, and he had learnt that what he could not understand now time would make him understand later.

He looked back at Auria, she was now making crowns out of the sunflowers.

It was true that he fancied Auria and over the years they had developed an easy friendship. However, he was much older than Auria, he knew that in demons the age did not really count because they were immortal. He still felt that in some way it would be wrong, he would be taking advantage of her.

Another thing he did not understand was why the Lady told him? Amelia was a patient being, she did not have to reveal that to him. He wondered if she said this so he would pursue something more than friendship with Auria?

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

It was odd seeing her so unlike the girl he had known. Auria was unhappy and her soul had begun to wither. There was nothing worse than being in a loveless mating and a mating fuelled by greed had taken its toll on her. He was here now to help her and help the East the way he should have all those years ago.

Yukiatsu was sitting in Auria's study waiting for her to wake up, Auria had passed out in his arms from exhaustion. Exhaustion was not common among demons because they needed so little rest to function, but in her case she had not rested for weeks. Auria looked so peaceful sleeping on the pillows he had laid out in front of the roaring fireplace. He sat not too far away against the door watching her and guarding the door, so no one could disturb her.

He had watched from afar, this beautiful creature almost squirm in the pain of her situation, and he watched her struggle to keep the mask of nothingness. Even his brother, despite knowing that something was wrong, failed to help her and he could not be more disappointed.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Auria was dreaming; she had to be because when she woke up Yukiatsu was sitting there in front of her smiling.

"Yuki, you weren't a dream?" questioned Auria, still sceptical how a friend who died long ago was back in front of her eyes.

"Auria, you are not dreaming," replied Yukiatsu, smiling at his long lost love. Yukiatsu moved forward extending his hand for hers and helping her stand up.

"We have much to discuss my dear, not least of all your little devious plan regarding Rin," exclaimed Yukiatsu in his casual but chirpy tone. Auria smiled, patting away invisible dust from her Kimono, before she straightened her hair and walked around to sit on her stool behind her desk.

"Hmmm, we do have much to discuss, let us begin with your whereabouts for the past few decades." Auria looked at Yukiatsu pointedly as he comfortably seated himself on a stool across from her.

"I have always been here with you," replied Yukiatsu, and before Auria could speak he held up his hand, halting the words before they left her mouth.

"I am not done yet Auria, let me finish what I have to say and then you can ask me as many questions as you please," continued Yukiatsu, Auria continued looking at him patiently, asking him to continue.

The story that Yukiatsu relayed to Auria left her in tears because in that story he gave her the answer she had been searching for.

The Lord of the South called Yukiatsu to battle but the Lord had deceived him and drawn him away from the east to kill him. The Lord of South had discovered that he would be the future mate of lady Auria and if he was killed than the lady might never find a mate. The Lord of the south had overestimated his relationship with Auria because at that point Auria did not even know he favoured her. At the time of his death he had made a final wish asking the Gods to grant him the power to still be their for his soul mate. Yukiatsu had fought beside the original demons and thus was granted the power to remain in spirit on earth. He was only allowed to watch the things that would happen and not interfere until Auria needed him the most. That morning by asking Amaterasu for help she had unknowingly lifted the bonds that held Yukiatsu in place, he was now free to help her. He assured Auria though that he was very much dead and that every time she touched him it was with her aura not her body, that's why she could. Yukiatsu told Auria the words her mother had spoken and told her about the prophecy again. Auria was bewildered and she was elated because he had just given her a solution to all her problems. Auria now knew how she could restore the balance and that this was the time of chaos. Unlike Yukiatsu, Auria could see exactly what the prophecy had meant; she and Rin were two faces of the same coin, as were Sesshomaru and Yukiatsu. With the help of Yukiatsu Auria concocted a plan and if this plan worked than the world would be safe once more.

Step one was complete the ritual that would allow Rin to take her aura after she died. However before she could do that she needed to throw her enemies off. She needed to make sure to her enemies that Rin was not a threat and there would be no other way than to betrothed her to the unlikeliest demon. She knew just the person too, whom better than her dearest cousin to take care of Rin forever.

When she had taken Rin in she had always planned that she would one day somehow make Sesshomaru choose Rin for his mate. However she had never thought that this mating would be such a fundamental part in keeping the balance of the world. Sesshomaru was never going to expect this and here she had thought to torment her cousin with the absence of Rin, until he came to his mind. But everything would have to wait for now because Rin was far too young. Auria could only execute this plan when Rin was sixteen, then she would be old enough to mate Sesshomaru.

It would be a lot of fun though watching Sesshomaru beat himself up on being without Rin. She would make sure though that no battle call came from the South this time to part the two soul mates.

She needed to see Lord Kai, because their seemed to be a certain problem she had just recently discovered she had with the South. After Sesshomaru, Lord Kai was her biggest ally and he was a dear friend of her fathers. She was sure he would love to put the South back in its place and she would make sure of it.

Auria was all but ready to teleport to the North before Yuki stopped her.

"Do not do this alone, call Sesshomaru and ask him to come with you," suggested Yukiatsu to which Auria raised one eyebrow exasperated at his almost impossible request.

"Do you know how long it will take for me to send him a message and if I go their myself, than he will bring his army with him," Auria was peeved with Yukiatsu, she was wondering if he was trying to delay her for some reason. She wondered if he didn't want her to avenge him and that made her angrier. Yukiatsu smiled and shook his head enjoying her mild anger and exasperation.

"My Lady, I am merely suggesting that you use telepathic powers and request that Sesshomaru join you immediately. I am sure you already know that you have awakened that power for the both of you," explained Yukiatsu to which at first Auria was shocked but then she grinned sheepishly, he really hadn't changed still pushing her buttons on purpose. Yukiatsu burst out laughing at her sheepish smile, oh how he loved to annoy her, just to see that light red that tinged her cheeks in that moment.

Now for the telepathy, she hadn't even noticed that she had done something like that. She knew that her mother could and was aware that she would be too but as all her powers she had not known how they worked. She hoped that it would because she really didn't want to have to travel to the West so late in the night. Sesshomaru would probably be sleeping, but no harm in trying. Very nervously she concentrated trying to pick up on Sesshomaru's aura, being her first time it was hard but his silver aura was hard to miss. Mentally Auria intertwined her aura with his, in the shape of a rope than she spoke "Sesshomaru I need you to wake up, please come to the East immediately I am in need of your assistance. It is not an emergency but it is crucial that you get here as soon as possible." Auria felt a shiver run down the silver aura and gently let go not wanting to startle him anymore then she had. She hoped he would understand and join her straight away.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Sesshomaru was woken up, startled by Auria's voice in his head. He sniffed quickly trying to pick up on her scent but all he could breathe in was the roses that bloomed below his balcony. He then felt his aura untangle and he realised that Auria had called to him but that she was not here. Without wasting another second he went to his wardrobe to get dressed, putting on his armour he immediately formed his cloud and lifted off from his balcony. He did not have time to figure out how she did it, he knew she would answer that soon enough, right now she needed him and he would be their for her. He quickly orbed and continued speeding towards the East. Even as he travelled his senses were on high alert and he was looking out for any sign of distress from Auria. As he crossed the border in to the East he could feel Auria's aura and it was unhurt, but she was anxious, which was very unlike her. He did not know why she summoned him but Auria never called to him if it wasn't very important. He had wrecked his brain for any information regarding her call but he could think of nothing. The past few weeks he had been so distracted that even if there was something he doubted he would remember. He thought again if maybe in conversation the night before Auria had said something, but all he could think of was how beautiful Rin had looked. Sesshomaru mentally kicked himself, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately, Rin was an ordinary human girl, she was nothing compared to the exquisite demonesses around her that day, for some reason though that statement wasn't very convincing. What was he going to do the thoughts of Rin were driving him insane already but he really hoped it was a temporary problem.

Auria was pacing her study well aware that Sesshomaru's aura was getting closer, she didn't know how she was going to explain Yuki to him and everything else as well. She knew Sesshomaru would want to kill the Lord of the South straight away after all Yuki was his brother and history would be repeating itself. She was beginning to wonder if listening to Yuki every time was even sensible, Sesshomaru was not going to like this and it was going to be impossible to stop him from destroying the South. Auria peeked over at Yuki, his silver bangs were covering his eyes and he seemed to be in deep thoughts of his own. She wondered what he was thinking about, after all he could not be unaffected, he had just told her that she was his soul mate. She was certainly affected, and to this she blushed, she wondered though how would it feel to be with him, turning rosier.

Yuki did not notice his companion stop her pacing and continue peeking at him. He was thinking about what would happen now, his brother was not an irrational being but it would take a lot of persuasion for Sesshomaru to work with their strategy rather than raging war. Sometimes he could not even understand why propriety was so important, the amounts of times he thought just doing what needed to be done without decorum was easier, countless times. So much so that he had wanted to just come out and tell Auria when she was about to mate Rein that he was just using her, oh but no, the time was not right according to Amaterasu, now the poor female was living a miserable life that no one would understand. He was tempted to just go with what his brother would do but Auria had worked far too hard to put everything together and keep the peace, he would not allow her to be humiliated or the death of innocent people in the lands in case of a war. The burden of letting someone down or killing them was impossible to bear and he already dealing with all the hurt that Auria had faced, he was already dealing with letting her down.

Not long before after a gush of wind opened the balcony doors and Sesshomaru unrobed in front of them. The first thing Sesshomaru did was sniff Auria to make sure he was unharmed but immediately he noticed the presence of someone, someone he didn't think he would ever see again. Sesshomaru, unaccustomed to the situation, gave another sniff but he smelt nothing, but his eyes could not be deceiving him, Yukiatsu stood in front of him he was sure. Not knowing if this was a figment of his imagination, he looked at Auria from the corner of his eyes and she was looking in between him and Yukiatsu, making him very real. Being a dog demon, if he couldn't smell it, it meant whatever it was it, was unsafe and he bared his fangs raising his claws ready to strike. A million thoughts ran through his mind, was this why Auria called him, had this thing in the shape of Yuki done something. When he had sniffed her, she was fine and his hearing was telling him she was calm, her heart was beating at a normal rate, it couldn't be right.

"Sesshomaru, its Yuki in spirit form, just calm down," mediated Auria hoping that Sesshomaru would take her word and nothing bad would happen. Though she did wonder that since Yuki was dead what could possibly happen, but her eyes grew as she noticed what Sesshomaru did. Why was it when you thought what could go wrong all hell broke loose, impossible things began happening. Her dear cousin had drawn Tensaiga, a sword she was pretty sure could send Yuki back to where he came from, Yuki, though, didn't look affected by this.

"Sesshomaru what are you doing?"

Both demons growled at each other and began circling, and then they charged. A brilliant light illuminated the room and Auria watched as the two parted to reveal Yuki on the ground, motionless. Auria was immediately at his side, she had her aura wrapped around him trying to heal but she could not even prick his aura with her healing. He was invincible to her abilities and she didn't know what to do.