Nebuchadnezzar - The Nebuchadnezzar: Mark III No. 11 (25+)

Ikemen Vamp's Leonardo fanart for @nebuchadnezzar

Bah, I think others further up in the thread have already made great points about the SessKag pairing and its fans, but I will never not be frustrated with people who think some of us ship SessKag only because we didn’t like Inuyasha, as if Sesshōmaru is some second fiddle, second-rate fallback partner for Kagome. I think that’s a massive disservice to the character. Ignoring his visual design, I think he’s interesting enough on his own and experiences a compelling character arc through the original series that makes people experiment with the idea that he might be a good match for Kagome. 

I also have to hard disagree with people who assume that all/most SessKag shippers self-insert into Kagome. Do some people do it? Sure, and there’s nothing wrong with self-inserting. But I daresay the best SessKag stories make Kagome a distinctive individual, something which she most definitely struggled with in canon what with the endless, pointless comparisons to Kikyo. Chalking all of that down to self-insertion is (in my opinion) a dismissal of the talent and hard work from skillful writers that work to make sure that Kagome is a fully-fleshed out character who retains her core personality in canon.

Here’s the thing: maybe some of us just didn’t see Inuyasha as an ideal partner for Kagome. Maybe some of us just prefer ship dynamics like opposites attract, where Kagome is very passionate and hot-tempered, while Sesshōmaru is cool (sometimes to the point of cold), and they have to find a way to meet in the middle. Maybe we like enemies to lovers but with different personalities. Maybe we like the way Sesshōmaru seems to respect Kagome for her strength and power, even if he doesn’t care for humans (at first). We’re not all shipping SessKag because we’re disappointed InuKag shippers. We’re not here, consuming and creating SessKag content, because we didn’t get what we wanted from InuKag. Some of us, by our own choice, are here because we took a close look at the characters and decided we felt that Sesshōmaru and Kagome would share a greater affinity.

Personally, I just don’t like Inuyasha’s immaturity. I don’t like the personality clashes with Kagome, full stop. I don’t enjoy constant bickering, a refusal/inability to talk about feelings, and double doses of hot-headedness. He is just not a flavour of tsundere I enjoy. And like someone above mentioned, two teenagers met when they were 15, experienced a lot of trauma together in circumstances where they cannot seek professional help/support from others beyond their tiny social circle, and only knew each other for a year? Seems marginally better than Romeo and Juliet to me but whatever.

However, I want to reiterate that InuKag was never my OTP. That’s just not the case. I simply never had good feelings about them in the first place. People who think I’m participating in the SessKag community because of disappointment with InuKag are prioritising InuKag even in a conversation about SessKag and I’m not down with that.

But I’m not here to bash people for shipping InuKag. I’m just here to say I know what I prefer and know what I’m doing when I ship SessKag, and whatever ship you’re a fan of, I think you’re the same.

My headcanon is that as InuKag spend more time together without the glue of endless chaos and strife and life-threatening situations, they’ll grow apart. Now Kagome is stuck in the Feudal Era, parts ways amicably with Inuyasha, and has to figure out what to do with herself in a time far away from home.

I also cannot stand it when some people criticise SessKag writers for making Sesshōmaru a bit softer/kinder/whatever while not acknowledging the fact that they do the same with Sesshōmaru in whatever ship they prefer, or that they have to do the same with Inuyasha to make him a more acceptable/healthy partner for Kagome. It’s called development. You’ve got ten fingers so point some of those at yourself maybe?

More power to you if you enjoy InuKag. There are some wonderful fans and creators in that community who’ve done great things with the characters.

I just wish people would stop making inaccurate assumptions about SessKag shippers in general or dismiss us as disappointed/wishful self-inserters.

Honestly, Inuyasha and Kagome could’ve really been something if the show hadn’t dragged on for so long.

All anyone remembers about it anymore is the “INUYASHA! KAGOME! INUYASHA! KAGOME!” meme. They remember them as Ranma and Akane 2.0; obviously in love but refusing to admit it and never getting together. Him always putting his foot in his mouth and getting the smackdown for it, but then both of them getting jealous whenever someone else hits on them and protective and worried whenever the other is in danger.

No one remembers how it started. With Inuyasha straight up trying to kill Kagome, claiming to hate all humanity after the perceived betrayal by Kikyo. With that comic relief “sit boy” necklace originally being a failsafe to protect Kagome from him. With his ultimate goal being to use the shikon jewel to become a full demon and rid himself of his puny human half. With him claiming he only cared about Kagome because of her ability to sense the jewel shards.

They started out as enemies. This was an enemies to lovers romance. Kagome was afraid of him and Inuyasha despised her. Then, circumstances forced them to work together. Kagome got to know and understand what happened to him to make him such an asshole, and he warmed up to her and transformed from a selfish bloodthirsty monster into a noble hero. But that all happened within the first season. Afterward the characters and their relationship stagnated until people got completely fed up with the two of them refusing to grow the fuck up and be real with each other about their feelings.

I never got shipping Kagome with Sesshoumaru before. I don’t recall them interacting much in the series, I don’t know if they ever spent more time together after the point where I stopped watching. But if I had to guess why it ended up so popular, (aside from fangirls liking Sessoumaru and projecting themselves onto Kagome) it’s probably because Inuyasha’s immaturity, the refusal to let him grow and complete his character arc and become the romantic partner he was meant to be, caused people to lose faith in the relationship. I think people latched on to Sesshoumaru as someone who could’ve finished what Inuyasha started. Especially since he more or less did with Rin. He started out as a villain who despised humans and lamented having a sword that heals instead of kills. Until one day, he decided to save a small human child and become an adoptive father to her. But he managed to do it without endless years of obnoxious withholding of affection or making excuses to try and pretend like she didn’t matter to him as much as she does.

I don’t know if Kagome is the sort of girl Sesshoumaru would ever fall for, but if he did, he wouldn’t have bullshitted her about it like his brother.

See, I didn’t even think I liked trash characters until you asked me about my favourite characters outside of otome games and then I remembered... oh yeah... I used to have / still have the biggest lady boner for Albert Wesker lmao

it's the purity culture

the idea that if you like something it must be good

bc if you like something bad or that has been bad in the past then you are a bad person

it's exhausting

Yep, extremely exhausting. I dunno what brownie points people are trying to score by virtue signalling about fictional characters but this is why I prefer talking to people who like villains or morally grey characters but don't make excuses for their actions.

If someone says they like 'trash' characters, they're usually my kind of people 😂

I thought Tumblr was bad but turns out Twitter is pure cancer. You follow SessKag content? You follow any Sesshōmaru content? Here’s a million and one recommendations YOU CANNOT SWITCH OFF of fucking SessRin and all sorts of sickos with their twisted headcanons and disgusting artwork and stomach-churning smut all in your face. And nope, we won’t stop recommending it to you.

Fuck you Twitter.

Honestly, Yashahime is over, but I’m still heartily sick of Sesshōmaru. Those assholes at Sunrise did a brilliant job of assassinating his character. 

No context, just posting this high-quality low-effort meme made by my friend @mythicamagic​