InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Windows on the West ❯ We are the Same ( Chapter 9 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

-xXx-

Sesshoumaru pinned the wise woman with a stern gaze.

“You know already why this one has brought the miko before you.”

Umeko considered the daiyoukai for a long moment as Kagome fidgeted nervously, then turned and looked at her, before nodding.  “Yes, I can see what you wish me to speak of.   As for you, Sesshoumaru-sama, there is someone who wishes to talk to you – you will need to find a quiet spot and meditate.”  She turned, leading Kagome into her house, pretty much ignoring the youkai at her back after delivering that information.

Sesshoumaru, however, was used to such behavior from her, and simply ordered Jaken to take Rin to the edge of the clearing they were in and settle her for the afternoon.  Once the gami did as told, he walked away, heading for the same place he always came to when visiting Umeko's.

It wasn't too long later that he slipped into a meditative trance, quite well aware of just who it was that wished to speak with him.  After the battle with Sou'unga, he had come here, and Umeko had helped him speak with his father.  It wasn't often, but this would be the second time his father had requested a meeting.

The link was established almost instantly.

Within the trance, Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to see not one, but two spirits – but he wasn't sure which one was his father.  Usually, the daiyoukai would appear to his son in a slightly see-through version of his living form... but not this time.

His brow cocked questioningly.  “What is the point of hiding yourself?”

His father's voice answered, though there was no way to tell which spirit had spoken.  

“Tell me, Sesshoumaru – do you know which soul I am?”

Sesshoumaru almost wanted to roll his eyes, but since that was beneath him, he merely answered blandly.  “No, father, as I am sure you are aware.  Is there a point to this?”

There was a chuckle, then,  “You know I never do anything without one, my son.  I just want you to be sure – you can't tell a difference between the two souls before you, is that what you are saying?”

“Yes, father, that is what I am saying.”  He continued to stare at both, not moving his gaze from them.

“Very good, then!”  His father sounded pleased, and within seconds, Sesshoumaru was made aware of which spirit was his father as the both materialized into their past forms. His father stood on the right, but the one on the left was no one he'd ever seen before.  

He was also a ningen.

He looked at his father, brow once again climbing into his bangs.  “And this person with you is..?”

“This man was your ward, Rin's, father in life.”

Sesshoumaru looked the man over carefully, then nodded.  “Was there something you wished me to pass on to her for you?”  he asked.

The man spoke for the first time, his voice deep and confident.  “Just that we all, her family, miss her, and love her.  And I wish to thank you for saving her, and protecting her.”

The daiyoukai tilted his head in acknowledgment, and the man bowed, then faded away, leaving him alone with his father.

“Was that all, then?”

“No.  I wanted you to see that the differences between human and youkai are only flesh deep.”

With a frown, Sesshoumaru shook his head.  “I do not understand.”

Suddenly, his father faded, and another human man stood in his place, wearing ancient clothing.  “Does it help to see me as I once was – in another life?”

“You mean to say that you were ningen in a life... before you became the Inu no Taisho?”  Sesshoumaru, though not showing it, was astounded... and uneasy.

“Oh, hai.”  He changed back into his familiar inu form.  “All this is to say that there really is no difference between you, and the little human females that now travel with you.  Our souls are all the same, and we may be youkai in one lifetime, and ningen in another.  Your sense of superiority is only as good as the body you are in – because your soul is no different to the one that the miko carries... though her soul has far more purity than yours,”  he chuckled.

Sesshoumaru didn't say a word, his mind frozen as he took in the implications of what his father had just passed on to him.  He found himself standing on unfamiliar ground, as everything he'd always believed to be true disappeared from under him.

“My soul is the same, as a ningen's?”

“And the same as a hanyou.  The only difference is the body.  You have a youkai body – this time – and your brother has a hanyou body, while the little priestess and your ward have human flesh.  Next time, that might all change.  Where it counts, you are all the same.  And while you might live longer than most humans, in the end, even you will die, Sesshoumaru.  No on is exempt from that.”

He was silent as he digested all the ramifications of what he'd just learned, mind grappling with things he didn't want to believe.  Finally, his father sighed.  

“I must take my leave of you.  Consider well what I have shown you this day, and we will speak again at some point, my son.”  With that, his father faded from sight, and Sesshoumaru woke himself from his trance, well aware that it was probably fairly late.  Meditation didn't follow the same time constraints as reality.

Sure enough, it was dark, and he found his small group settled in a clearing just away from Umeko's house, fire going and food already prepared.  Saying nothing, and looking at no one, the dai sat against a tree and proceeded to allow the knowledge he'd garnered that day infiltrate his deepest being...

And turn his life upside down.

This would take some time to ponder... and accept.

As for Kagome?  He would speak to her later to learn what she had been told by the wise woman in regards to her ability to stand outside of time, and what it's effects could possibly be.  Right now, he had something life changing of his own to think on.



Converting /tmp/phpcsBQCz to /dev/stdout