Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Synaesthesia
By : xenus
Category: InuYasha > General
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Chapter List
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Synaesthesia

~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~ Prologue ~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~~:*:~

“Realities”
The effervescent darkness wrapped around him in a completely distant, yet warm way. His mind, both languid and incisive
focused on his task, the roaming shadows revealing that the day was already upon him. The telltale scowl set across his pale
face was even noticeable beneath the deluging shadows that raced across the stone floor and stretched across the walls. It was
always so cold in the castle, so distant . . . yet still, he was content to live in it, so long as his father’s scent lingered.
The gentle swish of his hakama and fluff as he stepped into the bleak light of the early morning gave him a sense of repose. Old
books, new . . . the littered the floors, the walls in a decorative show of knowledge and intention. ‘Father’s scent was always
strongest here . . .’ he mused, a slight sad frown touching the corners of his lips. Even thinking of his father had a lamentable
effect on his emotions. Scowling partially at the subtle shift of the current of air within the castle, he blinked.
He let his trained, aureate eyes wander over to the clouds, sensing the approach of the woman who he hadn’t seen in quite a
while. He knew when she entered the room, when she stopped to observe the waking world along with him. Her soft blue eyes
swerved up at him for the briefest moment before turning back to the world below them. “Son . . .” she said, her voice hardly
above a soft whisper.
He didn’t acknowledge her presence for a moment. It wasn’t until a good ten minutes later, that he even began to blink again.
“You once told me . . . your soul-mate is the only one you would grow attached to . . . I had . . . found her . . .”
A whisper of a smile graced her mauve lips as she regarded her reluctant son with a deplorable sort of look. “She no longer
walks amongst the living?” she asked, yet had a feeling she already knew the answer.
A flash of the most passionate scarlet eyes, the gentlest sway of her raven hair before her body turned to dust and became one
with the wind. A sudden pain struck him, and for the slight instant, he flinched. “ . . . She is not . . .”
“Then there is nothing that you can do . . You weren’t able to protect her . . . ?” his mother wondered soothingly, laying a hand
on his arm. “Did he do this to you?” she asked, in reference to the majority of his left arm that just wasn’t there. He didn’t answer,
but she knew. The one subject the two had been able to speak of in absolute confidence came to a halt as she lifted his sleeve
and inspected the lifeless stub that just hung there by his side.
“It is no longer a hindrance . . .” he said, narrowing his eyes at the grey heavens.
His mother gave him a calculated look. “That may be, however . . . that hanyou shall pay for his actions.”
“He pays for his mistakes every time he draws that withered fang.”
She raised her eyebrow. “You no longer wish to possess it?”
Sesshoumaru’s eyes flashed for the slightest moment, and he sighed. “I have no desire to exhibit the strength of a hanyou’s
tainted blade.”
“You so openly dishonor your father’s legacy? I am surprised.” Saiyuri commented.
Sesshoumaru moved away from the window, his sleeve falling back into place. “InuYasha dishonors father every time he speaks
of him.”
“Which is why you’ve decided that he does no longer deserves to live?” His mother nodded to herself. “I see. Despite what he is,
the bond the two of you share far surpasses any other. Your blood is ancient . . . you cannot be defeated by the Hanyou Naraku.”
“InuYasha’s blood stems from a similar line, mother.”
“And yet . . . yours is still purer. Bear in mind that InuYasha has grown up without a mother, not unlike yourself. Yet in spite of the
fact that you two have in common, a missing element in your life, you still had your father. He did not. I’ve never beared any ill will
toward hanyou, however, others have, and it was your duty to see to it that he was brought up well.”
“He has the manners of an underbred mongrel. Baka . . .”
Saiyuri shook her head, but glided over to him nonetheless. “And whose fault do you think that is?”
Sesshoumaru’s jaw clenched. “It should never have turned out this way.”
Saiyuri lowered her head, her thick bangs covering her eyes as she let her ponytail fall over her shoulder. “We never think it
should . . . until it happens. But, I offer you one last chance to save her, Sesshoumaru . . .”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
Wide awake . . . half-sleep, a dream came to her, in the presence of her true beguiling innocence. Floating, in essence, was her
memory, both subtle and subversive . . . they converged into one singular moment. For an instant, the girl was at peace. Her
eyelids fluttered open, amidst the delightfully friable drizzle like a newborn butterfly. Her personal moment was gone. The gentle
song of the birds rang through her morning, as did the nip of the frigid dawn air. The autumn had come. Higurashi Kagome
brought a pale hand to her mouth as she yawned, shutting her eyes against the morning light.
“So, you’re finally up. Took you long enough . . .” InuYasha grumbled, his arms folded beneath the scarlet sleeves of his haori, or
fire-rat robe; the shirt that guarded against fire that he received from his now dead human mother. Sitting cross-legged, watching
her out the corner of his eye with his dog demon father’s legacy, the Tetsusaiga, nestled safely with its sheath against his
shoulder, he seemed to be waiting for her. Or, at least, that was how it seemed.
True, Kagome had grown accustomed to occasionally waking up and seeing the hanyou posted either beside her window on a
tree branch, or at the foot of her bed waiting for her to come back with him. Back to the world where demons were real, and
mystical creatures roamed freely. Through the well on her family’s shrine to the feudal era of Japan, also known as the Warring
States Era, set nearly five hundred years in the past. This was the place where Kagome felt like she could truly be herself. But as
it were, even with the diversion that the escape of the feudal era created, she found herself conflicted.
How much longer could this girl, clad in a green thigh-length skirt and white-green blouse, the girl who had freed a silver-haired,
golden-eyed half demon from an eternal slumber stuck to an ancient tree, expect to stay in a time where she obviously didn’t
belong? Shaking her head against the barrage of concerns, she forced a bright smile when the young fox demon, Shippou
peeked up at her with his big, luminous evergreen eyes. His deep auburn hair swaying with the gentle breeze, he looked so
innocent, so pure, and he really was. The young boy never seemed to dwell too much on the fact that his father had been killed
due to the fact that he held a shard of the jewel that, until two years ago, had been safely nestled in her own body.
The Shikon Jewel . . . the small, pink jewel that caused the deaths and pain of so many people, demon and human alike.
Kagome’s deep brown eyes glanced at Sango from afar, the demon slayer. Even her family—her entire village and heritage had
been slain because of that accursed jewel. Naraku, a hanyou that desired the jewel for power, had tricked Sango into believing
that InuYasha had slaughtered her village. In the end, though, the truth had come out, but Sango had lost her family in the
process. It wasn’t found out until later that her younger brother, Kohaku, had “survived”, yet only due to a shard of the jewel that
Kagome had broken when trying to shoot a crow demon with a purifying arrow.
Of course, Kagome had never intentionally meant to break the Shikon Jewel into hundreds of shards, but it had happened.
Though InuYasha hadn’t been too happy about it, to say the least. Sango sighed, her trimmed bangs concealing her otherwise
bright brown eyes. Hiraikotsu, her preferred weapon and also a giant boomerang created from the bones of demons, lay out on
the grass behind her, protected by Kirara, Sango’s fire-cat demon.
“Aren’t you done waking up yet, wench?” InuYasha rumbled, a hint of growing annoyance evident in his voice.
Kagome set her lips into a tight line, tossing her bed roll off her and curling it up to be placed back into her backpack. “Yes,
InuYasha, I’m done . . .” she sighed as she tried not to look him in the eye. If she did . . . well, every time she looked into his deep
golden eyes, she felt like he was right.
“Come on! Lazy wench, let’s go already!” InuYasha yelled over his shoulder. When had he gotten up? And more importantly,
where was he going? InuYasha disappeared into the thicket of the bright green forest along with Miroku, the monk who had a
hole in his right hand that Naraku had cursed his grandfather with, and the rest of his family, and acted as a sort of black hole
that sucked everything in its path into the black-violet void.
“Are you going to be okay today, Kagome?” Sango asked quietly.
Kagome nodded, already beginning to pull various items out of her backpack for breakfast. “ . . . Yeah . . . I’ll be fine, Sango . . .”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
“You really shouldn’t be so callous, InuYasha,” Miroku airily advised, his staff resting against the black and violet robes of his
shoulder as he sat with his back against a tree.
“Keh!” InuYasha snorted. “Save it, monk. I ain’t got the patience for you right now.”
Miroku lifted a black eyebrow, his even darker eyes invariably intrigued. “And why is that?”
“Keh, it ain’t none of your business!” he retorted.
The silent monk waved his right hand in obvious defeat. He knew when he was beaten. “By the way, I heard that there were
multiple youkai attacks in the next village over. Do you think we should . . . investigate?” he asked cautiously.
InuYasha narrowed his golden eyes. “Naraku?”
Miroku shrugged, closing his eyes and crossing his legs. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just a random attack. Maybe not.”
“And I suppose you’re gonna say we won’t know unless we find out for ourselves, right?”
“Perhaps.” Miroku allowed.
InuYasha cracked his knuckles, one finger at a time, his grin resurfacing. “Well, we’d better get going, shouldn’t we?”
Miroku nodded, using his staff as a fix and pulling himself to his feet. “I’d say so,” he agreed as InuYasha walked past him. “Oh,
and by the way, did you know that Kagome speaks your name in her sleep?”

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
InuYasha's gaze darkened as he vaguely recalled the fight he and Kagome had over two days ago. It was foolish, yes, but he
knew she was simply testing his patience. In arguing with the girl over whether or not she should go home, he had gotten himself
plunged into the unforgiving, cold earth quite a few times . . . again. He hadn’t actually done anything wrong, in fact, he had
developed quite a measure of simplicity involving her return trips home. But InuYasha noticed that she had been acting strange
ever since a certain incident that occurred a few months ago, just before Yoreitaisei taught InuYasha how to search for whirlpools
of youki.

Other than that though, he had been quite the quiet hanyou for a while, trying hard not to speak to the untrained priestess, lest he
upset her further. It didn’t really bother him, he merely wanted her to be around for the other’s sake. She brought out a potential
in the monk, the taijiya, and even the kit that InuYasha was certain they never knew they had. He ruminated these things as they
stopped for the night in a large clearing with a monolithic ravine before them, overlooking a land of rocks and granite. InuYasha
walked around to the edge of the ravine and stopped. ‘The land of earth . . .’

He squinted, scrutinizing the landscape as he restively bit the inside of his mouth. The girl behind him sighed and went back to
staring at the sunset. Streaks of violet and orange melted into each other, floating above in the vast expanse of the sky. Her
raven hair blew annoyingly into her face, and she mumbled incoherent curses under her breath while pushing the dark strands
behind her ear. The hanyou leaped up into the tops of the tree with a single leap and leaned his father’s legacy, Tetsusaiga,
against the bark.
InuYasha sighed, training his eyes toward the group, the houshi, the taijiya, the kitsune . . . the miko . . . ‘Dammit.’ he cursed as
he hardened beneath the folds of his hakama. Her scent hit him full-blast, and he tried to shake it off. With another dejected sigh,
he dropped down to the ground, finding the scent of the wolf demon closing in fast. It seemed that Kouga was always butting in
where he didn’t belong. InuYasha hated that Kagome was always so nice to him. ‘Keh, doesn’t bother me one bit.’
‘Sure, keep deluding yourself . . .’
‘It’s true! I don’t care how nice she is to him. If she chooses him, then fine with me.’
‘You really are a baka, you know that?’
‘If me protecting her, willing to give up my life for her before Kikyou isn’t enough, then she’s already made her choice, and I can’t
change it.’
‘Alright . . . baka . . .’
‘Keh.’

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
The gracious wind captured his mother’s hair, whisked it towards the lands of the west, where her mate had built a reputation
simply to secure a future for his heir. In life, the Inu no Taisho had been caring, strong, compassionate—it had made sense for
him to sire an heir with an unapproachable youkai woman. ‘Opposites attract . . .’ he mused with an ambiguous glint lighting the
depths of his otherwise faraway and stoic gaze.
It would have been the sam e with the wind sorceress, too, wouldn’t it? Mating her, keeping her, trying to heal the scars of a
master that had long since valued or noticed her. She would have been his life, his love . . . For a while, he thought that the
human girl, Rin, would have been the catalyst that would have shattered the stone crusting his heart, but . . . that thought was
impossible. True, she had, in some ways, helped him to grow stronger in ways he never thought possible, but . . . ‘It isn’t the kind
of relationship I could cultivate into something more. She is . . . simply a child. Kagura . . .’
When had she begun to trust in his ability? How could someone who didn’t know him very well, believe in him so willingly, so
completely, that it even scared him? What was he to do now that she really was free? ‘But she isn’t.’ he corrected himself. No,
she wasn’t free—at least, not in the way she had wanted to be. Her life taken away, it hurt more that there, in that field of
azaleas and dandelions . . . he had witnessed her beauty, in all its glory. Her body had given off a powerful, artistic glow, and it
hurt that the one person he had wanted to rescue—the one woman he could honestly respect—couldn’t be saved by the same
sword that had given life back to so many others.
“Sesshoumaru,” his mother said gently, her voice barely discernible over the indifferent breeze that blew around his ears. “She is
not yet lost.”
Sesshoumaru blinked impassively, the barest hint of hope glittering beneath his stoic countenance. “I see.” he said simply.
“In the land of fire, you shall be able to go through the gate to the other side. It is up to you to find her and bring her back with
you. Only your possession of the Tenseiga will allow you to bring her back.”
His jaw set in a grim display of determination, Sesshoumaru stepped toward the darkness of the cave. ‘You, my son . . . you shall
not have to pay for the sins of your father . . . should you find him, try to bring him with you as well . . .’

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
He had been told, only once, but it was engraved in his mind, like something he had to remember. His father had told him, that it
was very important, for you to have someone, or something to protect, It took him his entire life, what took Sesshoumaru over
eight hundred years to realize. Though his title, and rank had been passed on by succession, Sesshoumaru knew the
implications of his rise to . . . benevolence, so to speak. As he followed InuYasha, he wondered if it was either Rin or his younger
brother, he was supposed to guard.
The answer was uncertain, but it was unimportant exactly “who” he was to defend. As the years went by, he thought that by
protecting Rin, that he would redeem himself, that the pain over the loss of his mother from his life would finally leave him. For
the most part, it did, and that was a relief. But Rin was only a substitute for the part of himself that was missing, the portion of his
soul that had been taken along with most of his spirit.
So many times, he had tried to live, to love, but they all ended in disaster. His very first love died, because of his lineage,
because of who he was fated to become. He hated his father for a very long time for that very reason. His mother seldom cared
for open affection, but she was always there when he needed it. By youkai standards, four hundred years old is adulthood, and
he was a century behind when his mother vanished.
Tenseiga had been one of the strongest reasons for his sudden change. Humans were still weak, foolish, and much to prone to
take money over honor. InuYasha had a spark that showed promise. He wouldn’t ever be as fickle as a human, Sesshoumaru
gave his brother credit for that much. He had only met one other person like that, but his own bloodline had been the cause of his
personality. His people, the ryuu, had driven him out of his lands, as had his older brother. Thinking of the half dragon, half
phoenix youkai Asakura, brought back a lot of interesting memories.
Asakura sighed into his hand as he stared idly at the brooding Tai-Youkai. His friend’s father had sent his son out to fight off the
panther youkai in the western mountains, where they were rumored to be hiding. Asakura allowed a light smile as he watched
Sesshoumaru frown. Friends for at least a good century and-a-half, they seemed to anyone, to be mere partners in maleficence.
The ‘stickhead’ never liked to go beating on humans, at least, unlike Asakura’s brother, Shousuke.
Sesshoumaru was also known for dragging Asakura out of a woman’s grasp, since he liked to talk to women and/or read more
often than he favored fighting. He didn’t know how much he would change over the years, how much he would alter his public
appearance just to get away from his father’s council——what was left of them anyway. Sesshoumaru glanced at his friend,
shaking his head as they reached the top of the mountain and stopped.
Asakura drew his katana, inspecting it one more time as he turned it over in his hands. “Do you think that it will ever reveal its
true power?” he asked absently.
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes. “Not with you drawing the useless thing all the time.”
“I don’t know, they say that practice makes perfect . . .” Asakura teased.
“Whatever . . . Just don’t try to use that when we catch up to those meddlesome hyou . . .” he remarked, lazily gesturing to the
shining white-gold katana his friend was holding.
Asakura rolled his eyes. “Heh, you wish that you had something as great as Ryokuseijitako . . . or . . . Shintakuhaneken.”
“Those swords are supposed to be legendary. Do not play with them as if they are simply toys . . .”
Asakura chuckled, dropping Ryokuseijitako back into the scabbard beside his other sword. “And both are supposed to be
transforming blades much like Lord Inu no Taisho’s Tetsusaiga.”
Sesshoumaru frowned. “Don’t speak of him right now. He could have sent Kajikuro to do this, but this is just not what I expected
to be doing so soon . . .”
“So . . . you don’t want to fight, Sesshoumaru?”
The tall inu youkai sighed, stalking away from the hou youkai as he started a barrage of questions. The road twisted, winded
around into a circular route around, then down the mountainside. “Asakura . . . we are close, ready your sword . . .” Touran’s ice
blue eyes laid upon Sesshoumaru’s tall form as she stepped out of the woods, her tsueaisu settled in her right hand.
“So, this is the Aristocratic Assassin, Sesshoumaru, is it? I must say, you are much more handsome in person than I had
originally imagined. The hyou messengers did not do you justice . . .”
Sesshoumaru scoffed at her justification of his image. “My appearance has nothing to do with my skill.”
Touran smirked, twirling her Tsueaisu in her hand before rushing at him. “True. Your looks will not dispel my ice, lapdog!”
Asakura moved to counterattack, when the flames shot forth from the mist, connecting with the ground before him. Jumping
back, he unsheathed his useful katana. In a flash of blinding white light, the blade lengthened, took on a completely different
form. The blade held a wispy light silver, almost platinum wispy smoke within it. Shouran grinned from atop the tree as she sent
another fireball at Asakura. “The hou can’t fight back, can he?”
Asakura smirked, cleaving Shintakuhaneken in a semi-wide arc sending a wave of light purple energy at her, tearing through the
fireball and knocking the young girl into the mountain wall. Shouran slumped, having been nearly knocked unconscious. She was
certain, and Asakura could tell that Shouran knew he had held back a tremendous amount of power. But why? The battle had
changed, lasted much longer than Sesshoumaru had intended, and in the end, he and Touran were at a standstill.
He used to wonder why Asakura hadn’t tried to kill Shouran. Maybe it was the fact that he had seen his mother’s dead body, and
that he had already seen two wars by the time he was twelve. The violence that surrounded his life was staggering. Even when
the Inu no Taisho was alive, he liked to keep his battles to a minimum. Sesshoumaru glanced over at the canyon that held the
two guardians of the gate of the afterlife and sighed. ‘Thank you . . . mother . . .’

~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~∞~
“I-I’m . . . searching . . .” he answered cryptically as he brushed off his white hakama and strode towards the ravine. The clouds
below, the tranquil fog seemed to give the world a presence, a fulfillment he couldn’t depict. His young face, framed easily by the
wispy fog, tensed for the slightest moment, and then, he was calm again. Visible silver stripes spread from the thin strand of
bleach-white hair across his cheeks beneath faint, golden-shamrock eyes.
“Where is your hanyou?” Sesshoumaru asked in a completely world-weary timbre.
“Where’s your human?” Asakura shot back, his bright green-golden eyes twinkling with scarcely comprised amusement.
Sesshoumaru abstained from the hushed oppugn as deftly as Asakura had. “Exactly what is it, that you are ‘searching’ for?”
Asakura’s expression blanked. “My mother . . .” he acknowledged with an atypical wrinkle of his brows. The breeze shifted, and
Asakura lifted his head to permit it to encounter his bleach-white, knee-length hair out of his face.
“You should use the strip of silk your mother left you . . .” Sesshoumaru remarked, his eyes never imparting the vast area of the
netherworld.
Nodding, Asakura apprehended his hair, smoothing it down into one long mesh and searched indirectly for the cerulean-silk strip
out of his robes and wrapped it around the end of his hair tautly. “It was a generous thought . . .” he said lightly as he let his hair
descend back into place. “All right. You’ve asked me what I’m here looking for. Your turn.”
“I need not explain myself.”
Asakura shrugged his shoulders. “Suit yourself. I just thought it’d be helpful for you to have someone accompany you. I mean,
there are a lot of dangers in the netherworld when you’re not already dead.”
Sesshoumaru scoffed indifferently. “This Sesshoumaru needs not the aid of a bothersome hou youkai.”
“Is that so?” Asakura quipped. “Good luck fending off the guardian beasts. They don’t normally listen to reason, Sesshoumaru.”
“I fear not a living being.”
“They’re already inanimate.” Asakura verified with an embossed brow.
Sesshoumaru ventured further toward the murkiness. “Maybe I’ll see you again when we are leaving, Tai-Youkai . . .” Asakura
remarked as he, too, disappeared into the thick fog.
‘Why is he our acquaintance again?’
‘Simple. Maehara Asakura is strong . . . he has an unyielding sense of justice.’
‘And an insatiable need to protect those who cannot protect themselves, yes?’
‘Precisely. However, that is not our task . . .’

A/N:

Shinta: Oracle

Han: Feather

Ken/shuto: Sabre

Shintakuhaneken:
Oracle, Feather, and Sabre; Asakura’s phoenix feather sword.

Ryoku: Strength, power

Ji: Emperor’s Seal

Subeta: Sword/brand

Ryokuseijitako:
Strength, seal, sword; Asakura’s “useless” katana

Youkai: Mystical spirit; bewitching apparition.

Hanyou: Half-magical creature; half-demon

Hyou: Panther

Hou: Male phoenix; fire-bird

Kou: Female phoenix; fire-bird

Inu no Taisho:
Dog, Leader; Leader of the Dogs; Supreme Dog General. The title of InuYasha and Sesshoumaru’s father.

Saiyuri:
Howling Lily. The name I’ve decided to give to Sesshoumaru’s mother. May change if the Manga reveals her true name.

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.
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Synaesthesia