Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Synaesthesia
By : xenus
Category: InuYasha > General
Views: 1053 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.
Chapter List
- 3
- 4
Synaesthesia

~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~ Chapter 3 ~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~

“Sentient”
A/N: Just as a note, I meant to make Asakura’s characteristics a cross between Souji from “Peacemaker Kurogane” and Abel
from “Trinity Blood”. If that bothers anyone, too bad.
2. And yes, Kagome will be back in the fic very soon. Much sooner than you may think, actually, so . . . wait for it!
At the moment, he felt anything but elated. Seeing Kagura’s lightened magenta youki swirl around her dancing body made him
feel even more contrite. Rin seemed to like dancing along with her, the two of them moving merrily as the wind captured their hair
in just the right ways. He was beginning to resent the wind for making Kagura look so appealing. But in all the years she had
thought of him as her savior, he had never seen her smile like that before.
He almost smiled, too. Almost. His demeanor and nerves didn’t allow him to. Distressing over how he was to protect the land his
father had ‘left’ him had always had that sort of effect on him.
“Milord?” Jaken called, his shrill voice wavering as usual.
Sesshoumaru lifted an eyebrow, letting his gaze fall away from the two dancing in the wind for a moment. “What is it?” he asked,
his voice hard.
Jaken fidgeted. “Tatsunosuke has reported in, Sesshoumaru-sama. He has informed me that the northern border of Sayoshi has
been breached by youkai Shinobi.”
“Attribute.” he commanded as his eyes narrowed.
“Wind and fire, milord. Seven, he reported.”
Sesshoumaru sighed inaudibly and gave Jaken a knowing look. ‘How troublesome. Kaze no Shinobi and Hinote no Shinobi.
Perhaps it was a mistake to send both Asakura and InuYasha out on that quest together.’
However, had he not, that probably would have caused more trouble than if they’d been separated. Their fighting styles built off
one another. The two of them would work together much better than alone. Better to live with one’s first option than to dwell on
the path not taken.
Sesshoumaru turned on his heel and strode away. “Make sure Musashi doesn’t burn down . . .” he said over his shoulder.

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
“Oh, gramps, another one . . . ?” Souta complained as he hefted a genuine golden-white Japanese long-sword off the mantle and
set it down carefully on the glass of the old coffee table in the darkened shed.
Grandpa Higurashi closed his eyes and huffed. “This, my boy is the sword of the legendary Masaharu family, passed down their
heirs. This, is the blade of the legendary warrior Masaharu Raikoh . . .”
Souta, long past the stage in his life where he would believe his grandfather’s stories, found himself unable to resist sitting down
and listening to the old man’s tales. After all, he had no idea how long he’d have his grandfather around to tell him such stories.
“So . . . what’s the legend?”
The old man lifted a greyed eyebrow and shifted his beady stare towards his grandson. “Do you truly wish to know?”
Souta nodded as enthusiastically as possible. “Sure . . .”
“Well . . . it is said that the legend of the immortal warrior, Masaharu-sama, dates back to the ancestors of the Higurashi family,”
he stated, scanning his grandson’s eyes for any traces of boredom. He saw none, and continued. “Back in the Heian Era . . .”
Kagome stepped outside into the cool air of autumn, carrying a couple of matching grey scarfs. Her brown eyes suddenly drifting
over the snow to the opened shed that housed various trinkets her grandfather had accumulated in his lifetime, she smiled softly
and shuffled slowly through the snow. Having already reconciled with her brother, he had been brought to tears due to her
apology, and had hugged her for a long time, she found herself wishing she could remember more than the boy in her dreams’
name.
“InuYasha! Move away, I’m going to try and hit him with another arrow!” she yelled, knocking back a glowing pink pointer. Bathed
in her miko’s aura, the projectile flew off, ripping the barrier’s face to a thousand shards that was reminiscent of her shattering of
the Shikon no Tama.
“Dammit, wench, you almost hit me!” InuYasha screamed as Sango and Miroku flew overhead with Shippou in tow.
Kagome planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I wouldn’t hit you, and besides . . . I told you to move, anyway, didn’t
I?”
“Keh!”
Kagome shook her head, and the memory weakened, then finally vanished. Her mind filled with memories she couldn’t quite
place, she was confused, but happy that she didn’t feel like she was in a world she didn’t understand. Although the things that
most college students found fun and exciting, she found paled in comparison to something she couldn’t remember. It was
frustrating.
Sometimes, she loathed having temporary memory loss.
The battles she remembered fighting, the graceful heroics that the silhouette in her mind had done, was any of it actually real?
Kagome found that thinking about it made her head hurt even more.
“It is her . . .” the silver-haired man said as he regarded her through soft golden eyes. His stance straight and proud, it
commanded a silent respect that he thought would have deteriorated over the years. It hadn’t.
“Honestly, what good would it do, if she were to be informed now? She remembers nothing . . .”
His stance shifted a little, as if he were contemplating something, his wild brow was marred with a nagging sort of concern. “I
understand that. But . . .”
Her gentle violet eyes flicking calmly over him as she laid a soft palm on his chest, the woman peered up at him. “I implore you
not to rush this. These things have a way . . . of working out for the best . . .”
“It happened the same way the last time. I cannot allow it to take place this time around.” he insisted.
She smiled—that smile that could melt his heart and make him do just about anything, as was evident in her scent. “Yes, that’s
true, however . . . think; If she were to know now, would that not make things more complicated? She must remember gradually.
At least she recalls his name.” she ventured amiably.
He sighed—something he rarely did—a sign of his defeat by her calming ways. “We cannot wait so long this time around,” he
said cryptically. “This time, we find an alternate means to help her remember . . .”
Kagome reached the opened door of the shed in a few seconds, calling inside while her grandfather told Souta another one of
his outrageous stories.
The comfortable blackness of the shed offered her a remindful hint of her past. She smiled wanly, despite her dissevering
headache.
“And he felled a thousand youkai with a single sweep of his cracked katana . . .”Grandfather Higurashi said, sweeping his arms
broadly, Souta’s eyes wide with excitement.
And she remembered. Those same eyes she’d seen in her little brother were the same eyes she’d seen . . . somewhere a bit
over two years ago.
“Kaze no Kizu!!!!” InuYasha yelled, the vile body of Naraku suddenly breaking apart as the child who carried his heart’s barrier
quickly dissipated.
Kagome looked frantic, her friends nowhere to be found, her heart racing faster than she could ever remember. The intense,
white-hot flames surrounded the courtyard of the interim castle Naraku had created, having acquired a fuyouheki stone, and
deciding to sit back and play it safe. ‘There’s something we haven’t seen in a long time . . .’ she mused as another Naraku replica
burst forth from the ground.
InuYasha visibly tensed, rocks, earth, sulfur exploding all in one single instant.
He was tossed into the air, his elegant twist matched only by the dazzling sparkle of shining diamonds as they split the night sky.
“Kongousouha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Dichromatic diamonds hurtled fast at the ground, shredding the puppet to a defeated form of itself.
A moderated cough drew Kagome out of her musings and she smiled cheerfully at her brother, who was sporting a very
confused face. “Are these . . . for us?”
She hadn’t noticed that Souta had stood up and was looking at the scarfs expectantly, his eyes drifting from them, to her slowly.
Kagome nodded. “Yeah . . . Mama said it’ll be snowing soon, and that you two should cover up while you’re out here, so you
won’t catch cold.”
Souta nodded again, regarding his older sister with a calculating stare, one he had acquired from a ‘friend’ at school. “You were
thinking about him, weren’t you?”
Kagome blinked at him. “What? Who do you mean?”
“InuYasha. You were remembering some things, weren’t you?”
Smiling and waving a dismissive hand, she shook her head. “No, of course not. Besides, I’m not sure I’m able to remember
everything. I’m in no hurry. Besides, what good will it do? You’ve already said that the well doesn’t work anymore . . .”
Souta lowered his eyebrows into a scowl. “That’s only because InuYasha hasn’t come through the portal yet.”
Kagome sighed. “But if he’s as adamant about coming to get me as you say he is, then why hasn’t he come for me yet?” she
said, accusation marring her soft tone.
Souta shrugged and turned to go back into the shed for the rest of the tale. She thought she heard something, a whisper on the
wind as she walked back to the house. “But are you ready to see him again . . . ?”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
Miroku and InuYasha had muddled through yet another deferential conversation, both feeling intently like they were forced to say
something to break the stilted silence that impaired their journey through the barren wastelands that was known as the
Yourouzoku lands.
But suddenly, the path had diverted, split into two separate roads. They had chosen the right, down into a secluded valley,
seemingly untouched by war, or hatred.
But aside from that, InuYasha was placed in an immediate state of alarm. There were youkai everywhere. Mixing moderately in
with the subtle shift of gleeful humans, they seemed tolerant of one another—perhaps even . . . happy?
A flash of white, a brilliant smile and the most upbeat and soft golden-green eyes within the crowd had drawn InuYasha’s
attention. He had seen that man before.
But what of the young woman with him? Straight, mahogany and black hair tied into soft braids on the sides of her face, swept
across her back in a single lock as she turned to peer down at some vegetables, but not before InuYasha discerned her vivid
hazel eyes. Her scent, though . . .
Miroku seemed to have noticed her, too, his body was moving awkwardly. At least, awkward for him, with his hand seemingly
guiding him. With a sudden snap of realization, InuYasha darted forward and caught his hand before it did something he would
later regret.
“InuYasha-sama, how delighted I am to see you!” The man said, his double-colored eyes brightening considerably.
It was him. The leader of the phoenix youkai . . .
InuYasha snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, pinning Miroku with a pointed look. “I ain’t here on a social call.”
Asakura looked disappointed. “Oh? Then why are you here? I thought that Sesshoumaru had already ordered you to do that . . .”
he searched for the word, his eyes closed merrily. “thing he wanted you to do . . .”
“Keh! As if he’d order me around! I don’t take shit from that bastard!”
Asakura scratched his unblemished face and nodded thoughtfully. He snapped his fingers and smiled. “Well, then I’ll tell you, so
he won’t have to.”
InuYasha seemed to have forgotten he was speaking, because his eyes were wandering, as were Miroku’s hands. Apparently,
the woman had still yet to bargain for a good price. Her face contorted into a light frown, she absentmindedly rubbed her chin in
thought, her eyes narrowing slightly. InuYasha smacked Miroku on the head.
His hand retreated.
“ . . . to unite the people of Musashi . . .”
InuYasha blinked. “What was that?”
Asakura opened his eyes and chuckled. “Weren’t you listening?” he didn’t wait for an answer, but shrugged instead.
“Sesshoumaru would like you to unite the youkai and if possible, the humans of the Musashi domains. And possibly spy on the
Chinese troops nestled so securely at those borders.”
“Keh, why doesn’t he do it?”
“Well, quite frankly, he’s a bit of a stickhead when it comes to things he believes are ‘beneath him’. So, he wanted you to do it.”
InuYasha grumbled, whacking Miroku’s hand this time. The hand retreated again. “Don’t try it again.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much. Callisto is hanyou. Hou no hanyou, to be exact. She’s descendant of the golden phoenix genus.
Very powerful. I’d be more worried if your friend happened to actually touch her bum.”
She chose that moment to turn around. Her smile was hesitant, slow, but bright and cheerful nonetheless. “Maehara-sama, I
seem to be very good at haggling on prices. I got the watermelon for half off!” she giggled happily, her hands clasping before her
violet kimono.
Asakura smiled back at her and glanced at InuYasha. His temper . . . “If you’d like, I could accompany you. I mean, I know you’d
prefer to do it alone, but,” he paused when he saw the pensive frown on InuYasha’s face. “just think about it, InuYasha-sama.”
InuYasha glanced at the two swords strapped loosely at Asakura’s hip, connected by a single strand of energy that seemed to
hover by his waist. Usually able to tell a lot about a person by their scent, InuYasha found it quite frustrating that his scent bore
no malice, no vengeance or hatefulness. At least then he could come up with some reason to say no. A cheery aura that seemed
to mask his hurt and pain, a lifelong battle with some inner demon was his atmosphere.
He knew from Sesshoumaru, that Maehara Asakura was descended from the very first white phoenix youkai, and since his father
was the great imperial dragon, Ryuukotsusei—something he didn’t like to discuss very often—he was also descendant of a long
line of imperial emperor dragons, the strongest of them all. Obviously quite powerful, he was a full youkai to boot. But something
beneath his calm, silly smile made InuYasha sense unbridled faith, trust and loyalty.
Growling, InuYasha had a feeling that even though he’d only known the man all but two years, he was one of the only full youkai
he could rightly trust. “Keh, fine . . .” he said finally.
Asakura grinned, showing off his remarkable white teeth. “Great! But, I heard that you no longer posses your father’s fang?” he
stated as a sort of question.
InuYasha growled again, his expression turning somber. “No . . .”
“Then . . . I shall carry no swords either. Callisto?”
The girl looked up at him, tilted her head to the side and smiled, snatching his two swords from his waistband. Try as she might,
she could not draw the blades, though. Asakura just chuckled.
“That was real smart. What the hell’re we gonna do now that we ain’t got any swords?” he asked pointedly.
Asakura shrugged off-handedly. “Well, we could learn to use regular swords . . .” he pointed out reasonably.
“You mean like a human?” he asked, worry etching his tone.
“Does . . . that bother you?”
InuYasha huffed and turned his head as he watched Callisto’s soft, gentle face turn sour and she knocked Miroku flat on his rear.
‘I told him not to try it again . . .’ he mused quietly, shaking his head as he raised his eyebrows. “No. But it ain’t like there are a
whole lotta places to learn how to use a human sword.” he said and turned toward Asakura.
Asakura smiled amiably. “By any chance, have you ever heard of the three legendary Murasame blades?”
InuYasha shook his head. “No.” he said, obviously not interested.
“I happen to have two of them. The other, the Veniseiji, was lost a few centuries ago. But they are said to have been made by the
finest human sword craftsman alive. Unbreakable by any other human blade.”
“Where?” InuYasha sighed.
Asakura grinned. “We might have to get creative with this; I was kicked out of the castle where I kept them by my father.”
“What? Of all the stupid, crackbrained! Baka!” InuYasha yelled, his tirade halted when Asakura glanced at him with a pensive
frown.
“Don’t worry . . .” he said, a strange light defining the otherwise milky depths of his vivid gaze. “I have a plan.”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
‘I cant fucking believe this shit . . .’ InuYasha mused as he quietly tiptoed through the castle, a dozen thoughts racing in his mind.
‘How’d the hell did he get me to do this, dammit?’ he asked himself, already knowing the answer.
He’d simply asked. Not coercing or threats, he’d just . . . asked, and InuYasha had known deep down that it was the only way.
Besides, Tetsusaiga was broken, with no way Toutousai could see to fix it yet—an unfortunate consequence of destroying and
absorbing Naraku’s youki with Kagome’s power infusing his own—and he was just a hanyou. This was suicide!
Asakura had laughed at him when he’d said that. “Nonsense, InuYasha-sama! I will protect you with my life. Besides, what would
Seishuryumaru-sama think of me if I were to let you die in the process of retrieving two human swords?” He’d said, even when
they’d snuck in after tying up a couple of wandering servants and knocking them out cold.
And now they were in the heart of the imperial dragon’s castle! The home of the new dragon lord, Shousuke, otherwise known as
the inferno torment dragon, and also Asakura’s half brother. Known for his cruelty to both humans and youkai, he was feared
almost, if not equally as much as his father before him.
Definitely suicide.
InuYasha fidgeted as he shuffled around the corner, Asakura leading the way, both their heads and eyes hidden by their cloaks.
Apparently, dragon youkai didn’t like to see the faces of their servants. InuYasha just hoped that the dragon, Shousuke, wasn’t
having a bad day and that dragon youkai didn’t have a very good sense of smell.
Fighting down a serious wave of both fear and apprehension, InuYasha tightened his hands around the tray he was carrying.
“It’s down this hall, in the armory.” Asakura whispered quietly as a couple of dragon youkai guards passed by soundlessly.
InuYasha didn’t answer. Too caught up in the overall choking darkness that hung in the air, he found himself dragging further and
further behind. Hosokawa Shousuke’s scent surrounded his senses, created a shifty look in InuYasha’s eyes.
“The Masayoshi and the Benkatsumori should be behind this door.”
InuYasha hadn’t even noticed that they’d stopped. Asakura’s voice quickly drew him from his fears and offered him a sympathetic
smile. “Then why ain’t we going in?”
“In a moment,” he whispered, another guard passing by without giving them a second glance. Asakura drew a key from his robes
and fitted into the door’s lock. It opened with a soft click, and they both entered soundlessly.
The room was decorated in a fine white silk, blue and gold drapes wrapped over the windows, obscuring all light save for the
bleak streams that found their way around the curtains. On another raised level, were the two swords.
Asakura stared at Masayoshi with a reflective sigh and lifted it off its place on the stand gently. The sword’s hilt was braided in a
fine tan and black phoenix feather hair, the shining sheath a brilliant obsidian color, matching the crest on InuYasha’s newly fitted
robes.
Apparently, InuYasha’s father had insisted he wear and be proud of his heritage. ‘A shame that my father was not a family-oriented man.’ Asakura thought, making silent vow to be different if he were to have the privilege of having children. He gazed
with a restrained fondness at the blade as he unsheathed the sword.
Polished into a fine silver with a faint grey embroidering of its ancient name, the blade’s length had to be somewhere between
four and five feet, a bit shorter than its twin, Benkatsumori, a Murasame long-sword with a navy-blue hilt and a silver hand guard.
Asakura sheathed Masayoshi and tossed it at InuYasha, then gazed out the window down at the ninomaru garden, where a
familiar dark-haired brother of his was obviously conducting some sort of business.
Surrounded by men, he seemed to have been chatting about strategies. Asakura could tell this by the way he paused when the
guards of his castle tower passed by him. Tenshukaku castle was a fortress built in the Heian era by their grandfather, the first
imperial emperor dragon, Hosokawa Kensuke. Impenetrable by human forces, the castle had been standing tall for the past
near-millennia.
Asakura watched his brother’s bored, calculating stare widen slightly, then narrow in blatant suspicion before his head whipped
upwards and locked with his own. Shousuke’s lips mouthed his name. “Asakura . . .”
“What the hell are we waiting for?” InuYasha cried impatiently.
Ah hell. He was tapping his foot. Never a good sign.
“I’m afraid I have a bit of bad news,” Asakura grinned, a blush tinging his pale cheeks. “My brother has found us.”
InuYasha’s eyes widened beyond their natural scope and he whipped around and threw open the door. “Let’s get the hell out of
here!” he yelled over his shoulder.
Asakura shook his head. “No good. Shousuke is a master of tactics. He will be waiting for us to make a move like that.”
InuYasha growled and slammed the door closed. “Then what?”
A smile tugging at the corners of his lips, Asakura narrowed his eyes as an idea formed in his mind. “Shousuke may be a master
tactician, but I’ve always beaten him at shogi.”
InuYasha stared at him expectantly, his hands wringing the hilt of the sword at his hip. At least he was prepared to fight if need
be.
Although if Asakura were correct, then this dangerous plan might work, and InuYasha would not have to. “We are going to jump.”
Footsteps followed by the rhythmic sound of armor clanging together removed all need for argument. ‘I don’t know if I can make
a jump like that.’ InuYasha mused to himself, his concern showing through his marred brow.
Asakura put his hand on InuYasha’s shoulder and offered him a reassuring smile. “You’re stronger than you think,” he said,
eyeing the faint traces of bronze markings on the hanyou’s cheeks. “trust me.”
A strange look passed over Asakura’s features. Something akin to anger and resentment, unbridled determination. “I won’t allow
you to die. You’re too young, and you have responsibilities to fulfill.”
InuYasha snorted as he shrugged the youkai’s hand off and stepped to the side. “So do we just bust through?” he asked, a slight
gleam in his eye.
Asakura chuckled softly and shook his head. “No,” he said, raising his palm toward the window and motioning for InuYasha to
stand back as the sounds of footsteps, shouting and weapons scraping the wooden halls grew louder in his ears.
InuYasha wasn’t prepared for what came next.
A pulse of youki traveled across Asakura’s body, making him shiver slightly. He hadn’t had to do this in quite a while. The energy
he had to gather to do this was much more than normal. He didn’t want—even though his father had banished him so long ago
from this very place—to desecrate his grandfather’s castle. He had to concentrate on one small intensified blast, instead of the
erratic, raucous bolt of blue youki lightning.
The pulse shot out first, followed by a oscillating stream of what looked to InuYasha like pure lightning. ‘I ain’t ever seen anything
like that before.’ he mused with an amazed look. A sudden crash from behind him drew his attention as he was suddenly met
with eyes so icy, the mist was literally pouring out from them. Straight black hair streamed down his face as if it were wet, in long,
shining and delicate, thin strands that concealed all but the simple bloodlust emanating from his eyes.
“Shousuke.” Asakura said lightly as he turned as well and pulled InuYasha back towards the opening.
Having never seen such a pleasurable, menacing look, InuYasha was certainly rooted to the spot. Not out of fear, but of sheer
fascination. ‘How can Asakura stand him being his brother?’
‘Probably the same way you deal with Sesshoumaru.’ his voice quipped sarcastically.
InuYasha scoffed and broke out of his trance, stepping back and nearly tripping over a few pieces of wood.
Shousuke simply watched them. “Be not a fool, half brother. I mean you . . . little harm, if I feel it necessary.” he said, his every
word seemingly as frigid as his frozen blue eyes.
Asakura smiled ruefully and motioned for InuYasha to go first.
The dragon general stepped forward and narrowed his eyes, the effect causing a shiver to run down InuYasha’s spine. He
jumped without hesitation and landed softly, instantly dashing across the courtyard, bypassing the charging soldiers.
“I think I’ll take my leave as well,” Asakura said as his brother’s smile turned sour. “You shall not see me again.”
“Quite the contrary. I mean to see you dead. Father should have never sullied the bloodline with a half-breed whelp.” he said
gravely.
‘Kami, he sounds a lot like Sesshoumaru does.’ Asakura mused as he let the comment roll off his back. “I shall be leaving now.”
Shousuke smiled wickedly and charged. “I don’t think so!”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
Asakura stifled a grimace as he rolled his neck and held his shoulder. Avoiding Shousuke’s attacks while simultaneously forming
a wind-based spherical attack into his palm to hasten his retreat hadn’t been as easy as he’d thought it would be. He sat up and
sighed, removing all playfulness from his emotions, overlaying his seriousness in a wholly complacent way. Asakura focused on
his eyes, his most powerful trait, and noted the various moving bugs on the mats scattered on the floors and the bird that flew
quickly by the shoji.
There was a sudden pulse outside. A surge of hard demonic atmosphere that Asakura could only think of as InuYasha’s
untamed and wild youki. ‘He is already growing stronger. Does he realize this as well?’ he asked himself seriously, but vaguely.
He stood and breezed out into the cold morning air in one fluid, sweeping motion, his long, two piece white and sky blue cloak
brushing the ground behind him. He lazily scanned the area for InuYasha but could see neither the trail of his youki nor could he
smell any vague scent of the hanyou.
Asakura couldn’t stand not being able to see anything significant. It gave him a bitter taste in his mouth, something that most
bird-like youkai never experienced. He narrowed his eyes and snorted softly as InuYasha stepped out of the forest for to his left
and glanced down at the blade that was bestowed upon him with a subtle frown. Asakura was serious when he said he would
keep InuYasha safe from harm, so long as he did his best to stay strong for himself. “Hey, bird-boy!” InuYasha called.
Asakura didn’t like that name.
“What is it, now?”
InuYasha strolled up to him slowly, deliberately. “Those wounds of your healed, yet?”
Asakura shrugged, blinking up at the greyed sky, the slow-moving clouds that seemed to make the world move in slow-motion.
“As healed as they need to be. Why?”
“Baka, you didn’t notice her? Damn, if it was a snake youkai it would’ve killed you!” he said, pointing over his shoulder.
After concentrating a moment, gathering his lost youki—a fairly considerable amount since he had single-handedly defeated
Shousuke’s entire dragon youkai army—and Asakura didn’t have to turn to know who was standing behind him, but he glanced
anyway.
Standing with his swords strapped on her black sash to her slender hip, Callisto’s soft hazel eyes glowed warmly as they met his
own. “Maehara-sama!” she said, smiling.
Asakura closed his eyes and sighed. “Callisto, what did you do with the houshi? I thought I told you to keep him safe.”
Callisto looked thoughtful for moment, shifting nervously and adjusting her violet kimono. “Well, that houshi is pretty darned
strong by himself. On the way back to Koko village, he demonstrated a thorough mastery of senki. He isn’t a simple houshi. At
least, not anymore.”
InuYasha looked unfazed, so Asakura went on, “Callisto, why would the houshi have need to display such a skill? You were to
protect him, weren’t you?” he asked, his voice dropping a tone.
“Y-yes. But we were attacked by chimera! You know as well as I do that there are only a few ways to defeat one of those!”
“Yes . . . I do.” Asakura admitted. His eyes took on a wistful stare, but he blinked it away quickly. “Still, why did you not run?”
“I-I’m sorry, Maehara-sama, please don’t eat me!” she begged, dropping to the floor.
InuYasha’s eyes widened. “Eat you!” he screamed, shooting Asakura an incredulous stare.
“Relax. Callisto has been stuck on that idea for almost three years now. Whenever I ask her to do something and she ‘fails’, she
thinks that I’m going to eat her for . . . whatever reason. She thinks that about all full youkai. And Callisto, didn’t I ask you to stop
calling me, ‘Maehara-sama’? I’m not exactly what you’d call ‘royalty’ . . .”
Callisto stood with Asakura’s help, sporting a deep blush. “I-I’m s-sorry, Maehara–I-I mean, Asakura . . .”
The white-haired phoenix youkai smiled slightly. “Better. Now tell me, Callisto . . . why are you here . . . ?”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
InuYasha squatted lower to the ground, trying to pick up a specific scent he was certain he’d smelled somewhere before, but for
some reason, his mind had blanked it out. Asakura was leaning with his back to a tree, covered in shade, his right hand resting
on the surface of the stream next to him. Callisto was on the other side, ostensibly doing the same, however, she was fast
asleep. Apparently, her journey to find them had taken her well over two days, and even a hanyou couldn’t hold out without food
or water running nonstop for that period of time.
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Asakura said quietly, referring to Callisto.
InuYasha grunted in response. “You know . . . she reminds me of someone . . .”
“Oh? Who?”
He shook his head. “Not sure. But you know,” he paused, taking moment to glance at Callisto’s reflection in the stream. “She
really cares a lot about you. I think she might even lo—.”
“I know.”
InuYasha’s eyes widened for a moment. He smiled faintly. “Then why haven’t you . . . ?”
Asakura’s expression turned wistful, and he smiled sadly. “Despite her apparent feelings for me, it is not meant to be. There are
too many things I’ve left undone . . . a certain nemesis I haven’t dealt with yet. I cannot draw her into a battle like that.”
“This . . . battle . . . you don’t think you’ll come back alive, do you?”
Asakura shook his head. “Probably not. But after I’m gone . . . she’ll find another . . . she will love . . . she will laugh the same
laugh she does now . . . she’ll live on . . .”
“Are you sure that’s what she wants?”
The phoenix youkai chuckled softly and sighed. “Honestly? It doesn’t really matter. I rescued her from death, and now she
harbors romantic feelings for me . . . however . . .”
“You don’t feel the same way.”
“It isn’t that,” he sighed again. “Callisto is young, I am over six centuries old. Although by youkai standards, that’s still equivalent
to about, eighteen? Still . . . it’s like a man who goes off to war, dies, and then his wife sits at home and wastes away waiting for
him to return . . .”
InuYasha slowly understood. “So . . . what you’re saying is . . . you don’t want to make her waste her life waiting for you . . .
knowing you’ll never come back?”
Asakura smirked lightly. “Precisely. I would never forgive myself if something like that were to happen.”
“But, Sesshoumaru told me you’re half hou. Doesn’t that mean that if you die, you’ll be . . . reborn from the ashes of your death?”
“That is considering my enemy allows there to be ashes of me. Also, I have to retain some youki for that to occur so that I can
burst into flame and actually cause ash. Do you seriously believe that my enemy will allow me the strength to return at full
strength, or . . . even half?”
InuYasha sighed. “I just think you aren’t giving her a fair choice. If she cares that much about you, don’t you owe it to her to let
her make her own decisions about how she goes about that love?”
Asakura chuckled again. “Certainly wise beyond one’s years, hmm? Truly, you are the Inu no Taisho’s son. But alas, I cannot
allow Callisto that option. Besides, did you not do the same with that miko . . . what was her name? Kagome?”
“That was different.”
“How so?”
“Kagome . . . she didn’t love me . . .”
Asakura’s eyes softened, the stream of abject sunlight capturing his smoldering gaze. “You know . . . sometimes . . . the truth of
one’s feelings aren’t always so clear to us . . . perhaps you were blinded by the love or perhaps . . . the loyalty to another that you
couldn’t see what was right in front of you?”
InuYasha snorted. “Keh, as if!”
“Think about it. You once told me that you were in the company of a taijiya, a houshi, a kitsune pup, and a miko. Did that miko
disobey you often? Did she constantly put herself in danger to assist you even when you chided her about her own safety?”
“Yeah,” InuYasha said hesitantly.
Asakura smiled deplorably. “Tell me, is that not love?”

A/N:

Disclaimer:

I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or any of the characters that I know Rumiko Takahashi has created. Though I do
appreciate her genius for giving birth to a great cast of opinionated characters to do with as I please.
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Synaesthesia	By : xenus Category: InuYasha > General Views: 1053 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Synaesthesia