Summary: In a world where demons rule the land and humans are slaves, one family is tied by the strings of fate. But fate's made a mistake that can only be fixed by one human girl.

AN: Sorry this chapter took so long. I was experiencing writer's block. -_- So yea, this ch is shorter and doesn't really flow. Things are uberly choppy and its hard to understand. Sorry all!!

Thank you for all the reviews. You guys make me feel so loved. Rose, waterdragonmaster, Samara chan, and Byte 1000, thx for your reviews and your votes.

April – I definitely agree that fluffy is a lot cuter. Haha, and ur other question I can't answer till later, but very very good observation.

Allegretto/lirpa – thx u too, and lirpa for pushing me to finish this chapter. ^^

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Votes so far:

Sesshoumaru – 3

Inu-Yasha - 2

Vote for either Inu-Yasha and Kagome or Sesshoumaru and Kagome pairings. You can also choose to kill Kagome. ^^

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Declaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha.

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Fate's Mistake
Winds of Fortune

Chapter 6

Urasue watched the exchange between Inu-Yasha, Kagome, and Sesshoumaru during dinner that night. The chemistry was definitely there, the red threads that tied them did not lie. Yes, they were destined to fall in love. Now the only problem was that fate made a slight mistake. Urasue would have to take advantage of that. Maybe, if she played her hand well, she could use this opportunity to take over the Western Lands.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed as he watched Sango and Kagome serve food out of the corner of his eye. His face remained stoic but he was uncomfortable. Beside him, Inu-Yasha shifted a little and he could see that Kagome was flashing his half brother a bright smile. It annoyed him that Kagome had obviously gotten closer to his brother since the last time he saw their encounter.

When the two humans had finished and departed, Sesshoumaru managed to figure out what was bothering him. He, Lord Sesshoumaru, was jealous. The new revelation seemed so foreign to him that he almost dropped his chopsticks in shock. He gripped the sticks in his hand and as nonchalantly as he could, brought his eyes up. His brother had not noticed the slight fumble, nor had his father. It was Urasue, the witch hag, that had seen it. Her bulging eyes met his after their fixed stare at his hand. Her red lips pulled into a smile.

He decided to ignore her. Whatever it was she thought, she'd never in a million years guess that his composure had slipped because he was jealous.

Sesshoumaru had been jealous only once before but that was different. That time, he had tolerated the intrusion and eventually forgot about his jealousy. That was the old days when he first met Jaken.

------------------------------------ Sixty plus years ago

Sesshoumaru pushed his hair out of his face. He had left Rin for a little while, checking ahead for youkai because he didn't want to endanger Rin during a fight. The wind was blowing hard and for a split second, his nose lost the scent of Rin. His head flashed in the direction where Rin should be, his eyes straining to see between the trees. He felt blind without her scent, and decided he had to go back. In that moment, something could have happened to her.

Sure enough, when he found her again, she was being assaulted. Or more like she was assaulting someone else. Sesshoumaru watched the scene before him, slightly amused. A green toad like demon was yelping as the little human girl chased after him, hitting his head.

"What are you doing?" Sesshoumaru asked, lacing his voice with ice as he glared down at the tiny demon.

Rin stopped attacking the thing and ran up to clutch onto Sesshoumaru's pant leg. "Lord Sesshoumaru! Jaken was playing with me."

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow rose delicately. "Jaken?" He looked down at the raven haired girl and then shifted his gaze to the swirly eyed toad demon that sported multiple bumps on his head. "Playing?"

"Well, he started it!" Rin tried to explain.

The white haired youkai processed what she said. Does that mean that this toad named Jaken had hit his Rin? His hand reached down, grasping the green demon and slamming him into a tree. The impact was enough to somehow wake it from its stupor and it noted the glowering demon before him. "You – you're Lord Sesshoumaru! From the Western Lands!" Jaken squeaked.

Sesshoumaru dropped the taod. After it bounced painfully on the dirt ground, it scrambled to bow at the towering demon. "Forgive this lowly demon, Jaken, my Lord Sesshoumaru. This incompetent fool did not know the human was Lord Sesshoumaru's property."

He turned back to his Rin, disgusted. "He did not harm you?" he asked in an indifferent voice.

Rin shook her head, her little hand gripping the cloth of his clothes. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes briefly, willing himself to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions. As long as Rin wasn't hurt, it was okay. He turned back to the groveling demon named Jaken with a cold, "Leave."

The affect of that one word was shocking. Jaken toppled over, pounding the ground with his fists. "No," he wailed, "Lord Sesshoumaru, don't make me go back to that Lord Naraku. He'll have my head if I don't return with a slave. Please, allow me to stay with your holy self!"

Sesshoumaru groaned inwardly, he did not need a clingy follower right now. After all, he had basically run away from home. If Rin were not there, he would have kicked the thing and ended its misery by crushing its scull. Instead, he spun around, pointing his feet into the opposite direction of the toad demon. "Rin, let's go."

But Rin turned her great big eyes on him and said the words that would throw all his thoughts out the window. "Oh, Lord Sesshoumaru, please let Jaken stay with us."

He almost scoffed in disbelief. Jaken shows up for less than five minutes and already, Rin was defending him. "Rin, you –"He stared at Jaken who was sputtering some thanks, unable to finish his sentence, unsure of what it was he wanted to say.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, don't be a meanie." She pouted, crouching down next to Jaken.

"I –"He stopped again, eyes betraying his surprise. Now she'd managed to make him look like the bad guy. Only she could do this to him, confuse him like this. He who was always so sure of things, so definite in his decisions. But then he knew that he could not deny her anything. She had but to ask and he would walk to hell and back for her. She was so pure and untainted by the world. That was why something seemed to squeeze his heart when she said that. She'd never said anything like that to him before. Was he angered? A little; angry that she should accuse him of such a thing for an ugly toad. He turned back to his intended direction. "Let's go, then." Truly, he could not deny her anything.

Rin held out a hand to the small demon. "Come on, Jaken, want to go with us?"

Jaken turned his huge tearing eyes on Sesshoumaru's back and jumped up to follow. Together, the trio walked off some random forest path.

---------------------------------- Back to Present

Sesshoumaru smiled softly, remembering how he resented having to share Rin's childish affections. He learned to tolerate Jaken, learned to trust him. He would leave Jaken to insure Rin's safety. They had been an odd trio, living together in harmony, so devoid of worries. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes, blocking out the pain that suddenly seared through him. Thinking back on the happy days always made him feel the pain of his loss more heavily. He hoped that one day he would be able to erase all that, so that he wouldn't have to remember Rin's grin and silver voice without remembering the day he lost her.

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Kagome bowed a little nervously before the wide eyed demon. "You called for me, Lady Urasue?"

Urasue had sought out the human eagerly on the second day of her visit, asking Kaede to arrange a meeting with the girl. She cackled eagerly now, placing her long scythe next to her and arranging her long flowing kimono around her. "Girl, I'm going to jump right into this so listen carefully. Every human is attached by a red string that ties one to his or her 'soul mate.' That is someone a person is destined to fall in love with. Every human is the result of a reincarnation. Souls are basically shared. When someone dies, the same soul is reborn with a new touch so that the new person is different in essence. That is where the term 'soul mates' comes from."

The human nodded uncertainly. "Okay, so I am a reincarnation of someone from the past and I have a red string tying me to someone whom I'm fated to fall in love with." She recited back.

The demon cackled again. "Wrong. Dearie, you see, you're a special case. You don't have just one string tied to you, you have two. You're not the result of not one reincarnation, but of two. Do you see? You are two people."

Kagome stared at the witch. "I can't be two people, and so what if I am? Why are you telling me this?"

"You're the reincarnation of two people. You're to fall in love with two different people. Fate made a mistake that can't be fixed. Do you understand the extent of fate's mistake?"

Kagome rubbed a hand over her eyes, confused as to what Urasue was trying to say. "Okay, but how do you know?"

"I see the strings of fate because I am a demon witch."

"Then, you can tell me who it is I'm destined to fall in love with?"

"Yes, but I don't know if that would be wise. Here's the deal, no matter what, the two will come to love you. It is fated. But you can change that. I am offering you a choice. My stay at the Inutaikou's palace will last three days. Tomorrow I will leave but in two months time, I will return. When I come back, I can give you the choice of extracting a soul from your body and giving at least one person happiness."

Urasue grinned. Either way, she would be able to control that soul once it was extracted. If she controlled the loved one of Inutaikou's beloved sons, then in essence, she had already gained control of his lands. She had a flawless plan that nobody would know about.

Kagome shook her head. "I don't understand. Why do I have to give up my soul? Why can't I just choose? Why does it all matter?"

Urasue pursed her lips. "If you do that, you're basically subduing one soul. It is hard to explain. But if you were to choose a love, then the other would be lost. Not lost forever, but the string would be cut and the two souls will have to live through centuries of time before that string can be repaired again."

Kagome stared at her hands. She had the power of basically ruining one person's life. But.. could she not love for herself? Was it selfish for her to want love for herself? She closed her eyes. "Will you.. tell me who I am to fall in love with?"

Urasue studied the human in front of her. If fate had already decided, it wouldn't really matter if she knew or not, would it? She shrugged, might as well talk since she was giving the girl an overview of her love life. "You will fall in love with the demon brothers, Inu-Yasha and Sesshoumaru."

She left it at that, rising and exiting the room, not bothering to see the reaction of the human. The girl was unimportant, a mere pawn in this game of chess. In two months time, she'll take over everything the Inutaikou deems precious. The girl was really quite a find. Urasue cackled as she glided down the halls in amusement.

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Blood red painted his mind. His primal senses were switched on as he stared blindly into nothingness. He could smell the blood and it drove him mad. He didn't care, didn't think. He didn't have to think, his mind would be his sanctuary. Forget about everything else. Forget about humans, demons. He sank to the floor, his claws digging into the soft dirt as his throat emitted a low growl. Something was coming for him. Or was he going for it? What did it matter, all he knew was that his claws screamed for blood. He could hear it in his mind. The piercing shriek, it rocked his senses. His breath came out fast and shallow. His tongue ran across his teeth and he turned as he felt the oncoming assault.

It was his turn. He would hunt now, and he would make her his.

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Inu-Yasha, threw himself out of bed, springing to his feet, clutching his head in his hands. My gods, his brain thought frantically over and over again. With a cry of outrage, he smashed the first thing he got his hands on, a vase of lilacs. Swinging around, he slammed his fist into the clay shards. The pain registered in a little corner of his mind and he finally allowed himself to crouch down by the wall, hugging his legs to his chest.

Ba-bump

Ba-bump

It was the dream again; it drove him mad, made him crazy. When he woke, he always felt like he was there again, back in the past. It was happening more and more often. This goddamned dream. Fuck the past, fuck everything, he cursed in his mind.

Fuck it all..

He hadn't meant to kill her.

So why won't the past just leave him alone?

"Inu-Yasha?"

He cursed, he had been so crazed he hadn't smelled her, hadn't felt her come in. Damn damn damn! He thought. He lifted his head, quickly sweeping the broken vase and the flowers under his table.

"What do you want, girl? Don't you ever knock?" He growled out, immediately regretting it. He shouldn't take out his anger on her. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kagome's eyes were hooded, as she glanced at the clearly distraught half demon. She was supposed to love him? She knew it was more than possible.

"I heard some – er – noises." She said sheepishly. Her eyes fell on the drops of blood on the floor and then saw his hand. "Inu-Yasha! Your hand!"

He quickly hid it behind his back. "It's nothing, stupid girl. Don't worry about it."

But she wasn't listening. In fact, she was gone.

What the hell, he thought angrily. It wouldn't have hurt to be even a little worried about him.

He almost laughed out loud when she returned in a few minutes, clutching some bandages. He was way too jumpy lately.

"Look, woman, forget about the hand." She wasn't listening as usual, grabbing his hand and pulling out the bandage. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You're hand is bleeding, what do you think I'm doing?" She bit out, wrapping his hand in the white fabric.

He shook his head at her stupidity. "The thing'll heal; I don't need your help."

She groaned at his stubbornness. "Just shut up you idiot and let me bandage your hand."

The second she was finished with the job, he yanked his hand back again, growling, "Keh, whatever."

But he was glad that she had been there. Even after she left, he felt her presence. She had shown up and taken away all his anger. Carefully unwrapping the bandages she had put on him, he inspected his hand. It had already healed; the cuts from the broken vase gone. "Keh," he murmured, "Stupid girl."

:End Chapter 6:

AN: did I mention that this chapter sux? Sorry again. ^^

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Reminder: VOTE FOR PAIRINGS! Inuyasha with Kagome verses Sesshoumaru with Kagome. And a why u chose what you chose would be nice too ^^