Disclaimer: Characters and original storyline belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

Notes: This fic will be set up as a collection of one-shots, each written a week apart and relating in some way to the newest Inuyasha manga chapter released in Japan. In other words, this is where I'm going to try to do something with reactions/speculations that are inspired on my part by each respective chapter. Note that if you don't keep up with the Japanese manga, you may not want to read any further, for there most certainly will be SPOILERS.


I have the one-shots for chapter 407 and 408 currently posted as seperate stories: "Pinnacles" and "Accusation", respectively. The first chapter here starts with 409.

This is a bit AU-ish, mostly just me playing around with an unlikely possibility. I actually don't believe that Reforged!Tenseiga will lose any of its previous capacities - But if it did indeed have to, this is what I'd expect Sesshoumaru's reaction to be...


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Inflection


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"Forge me a sword, Toutousai." He says. "A sword to rival the Tetsusaiga."

He wishes for such a thing because he would have vengeance upon an upstart brother, and it cannot be allowed that he be surpassed. Because he is unsure of what else he might desire, and for the moment power will suffice. And so he waits, taut in anticipation, jaded with calm. The swordsmith observes all this, and frowns.

"No." Says Toutousai. "Leave."


He leaves, though not without volatile protest – a protest that he maintains until it brings him once again into direct conflict with Inuyasha. Ironically, it is his presence that leads the latter to master a new attack.

Then he meets a human girl with a battered face and a ridiculous smile. By a choice of his own making, Tenseiga begins to flourish.

It is just as the swordsmith had predicted, although he does not know this. Little by little Tenseiga takes its toll on him, seeping into the recesses of his persona and taking root. He is still pride personified, but gradually something more.

He knows that he has changed when one day he relies on the sword of his own choice, and is deeply bothered when it offers him no help. An ensuing fight gives him concrete account of what these changes might entail, suggestions of just how careless he has become.

It cannot be said that he has come full circle, because not even he knows from where it was he had begun.


"Hand over Tenseiga." Toutousai says. "I will reforge it to be a weapon."

Briefly he entertains old notions of possessing the stronger of his Father's two swords. A mental survey of his broken armor and battered attire, and he is aware that he would never have to be found in such a state again. Then he looks Toutousai in the eye and realizes what the old demon would say next, that a mutated Tenseiga would be one devoid of the ability to heal. He pictures the human girl once more lying, blank-eyed and broken, on the abandoned forest trail.

It is true that with the sword he had failed, once, and it is precisely that failure that now weights ponderously upon his mind. Yet turning away is ultimately a thing for those who wish to cheapen, not amend. There are certain things that ought never change, because after all he is himself, and next time will be different, he is sure.

What one thing started, it would finish.

"No." He says. "Leave."


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