InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Conspiracy ❯ Conspiracy ( Chapter 1 )

[ A - All Readers ]

Setting: Pre-Manga Canon.
Rating: A
Characters: Inu no Taishou & Toutousai
Genre: Angst/Family
Author�s Note: This was inspired by a 2009 challenge prompt called �Bug� in the Inu Yasha Themes Livejournal community.

Summary: Some responsibilities are harder than others � for both masters and their servants.

Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 10.09.2009 | Updated On: 11.22.2009 | Pages: 1 | Words: 878 | Visits: 304 | Status: Completed

Conspiracy

`You're really going to do this?'

Clouds huddled above dull rocks, intensifying the strained expression on the old man's face. He watched the half-light shy away from the dark-stained metal in his hands as shouki gently caressed his companion, shrouding the ethereal figure in shades of murky grey.

Like a wraith, Toutousai thought uneasily, and then wished he hadn't.

`It's already done.' Softly spoken words that were little more than a rumble of movement in the back of his throat forced the sword-smith's hearing to strain to capture a truth his reluctant heart already knew. `Only you can finish it.'

Toutousai's gaze drifted from the broad-shouldered back, sliding across the empty space to linger again on the newly tarnished blade. `I was never meant to break this sword.'

`Then don't break it.' A sliver of yellow light shot across one shoulder, striking the old man deep in the eye. It did not come from the dying sun. `Find a way.'

Toutousai flinched and looked away. `The runt will…'

`Leave him alone.'

`Even if…?'

The flashing gaze was suddenly gone. Distance once more yawned between them, an insurmountable chasm.

`What if he dies?'

`He's my son.'

The silence stretched on. In his hands, the blade restlessly acknowledged its creator's uncertainty. It was as resolute as the one that had commissioned its creation. Toutousai sighed, defeated. `The one you visited. Is he…?'

`I took his face.'

This time, true alarm lanced through the old man's heart. `And his life?'

`It's not mine to take. Toutousai, what questions are these? You know my will.'

`And the will of this new sword…?'

There was no immediate answer. Breath sighed through barely-parted lips, only a temporary breeze.

The ephemeral wind…

One day, the daiyoukai knew, that would be important - but not today. Today, he simply had to create a door to the path. And that meant…

`Patience,' he said simply. `And the strength to endure.'

The old smith scratched his head thoughtfully. `You need me to make a sword that'll bug him, huh?'

`No.'

Through the toxic plumes that ghosted in the lifeless air, the Dog General stared at the distant horizon, his head slowly sinking to his chest with the sun that vanished behind the mountain ridge. It suited him, this darkness that hid the expression on his face. That hid his heart.

`I need you to make a sword he'll hate.'

FIN