[RG Veda&TRC] A Bond to Change Fate: the Yasha/Ashura Manifesto
Title: A Bond to Change Fate
Author: Capella (capella_aurigae)
Pairing: Yasha/Ashura
Fandom: RG Veda and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
Spoilers: For all of RG Veda, and the Shara/Shura arc from Tsubasa (volumes 8-10)
Word Count: roughly 6,100 I’m sorry DX
Author’s Notes: Apologies for lateness. Quotations are from the official English releases, unless they’re from RG Veda vol. 10, for which I had to use the scanlations. Thanks go to von_questenberg for beta’ing.
About RG Veda
They will be the schism that splits the heavens.
RG Veda was the first commercially published series by CLAMP (now a four-woman manga writing team, though at the time RG Veda began there were more). It is 10 volumes long and currently being published in English by Tokyopop (the Tokyopop releases have reached volume 9 at the time of writing). There is also a two episode OVA which adapts a very small part of RG Veda’s story.
RG Veda takes its name from the Rigveda, a collection of ancient Hindu hymns. The manga series is not in fact based on this text - it only borrows names, and certain character positions and relationships from mythology, and most of those references are drawn from Japanese Buddhist myth (which itself draws on earlier Hindu myths).
300 years before the story of RG Veda begins, a war broke out in the previously peaceful world of heaven (Tenkai). The thunder god Taishaku-ten led a rebellion against the emperor (Tentei), killing the emperor and all the tribes of Tenkai that came to his aid. Notably destroyed was the Ashura tribe, which had been the most powerful of Tenkai’s guardian tribes, though their true power had always been sealed (and with good reason). Taishaku-ten took the position of Tentei, mercilessly slaughtering all those who stood against him, and some who did not. The story begins when Yasha-ou, guardian warrior of the North and ruler of the Yasha tribe, is given a prophecy by the stargazer Kuyou. The prophecy tells of the gathering of “six stars,” a child “who can turn the wheel of Tenkai’s destiny,” and “the schism that splits the heavens.” Yasha-ou, believing that the prophecy tells how to overthrow Taishaku-ten, sets out to fulfill it, not knowing that what the prophecy foretells is not the defeat of Tentei, but the awakening of the god of destruction and the downfall of Tenkai.
About Yasha
"That is why I call you a foolish and brave man."
Each of the four sections of Tenkai has one tribe holding the position of guardian warrior tribe, in charge of the defense of Tenkai’s borders from the mazoku (demons) that attack them. The Yasha tribe is the newest of these tribes, having gained their position after the holy war. Dwelling in the rocky north of Tenkai, the Yasha tribe descended from warriors who gathered to fight off the mazoku. The Yasha are renowned for their swordsmanship and after the annihilation of the Ashura tribe they were considered the most powerful of Tenkai’s tribes.
Yasha (named Yama before he became the lord of his tribe) is the son of the previous Yasha-ou and his concubine. He was an incredibly skilled fighter from the time he was a child, and as an adult is regarded as the best guardian warrior in Tenkai. When Yasha was a child he believed that his younger brother (Rasetsu, whose mother was their father’s wife) was better suited to become Yasha-ou, but his brother, believing the opposite, left the tribe so that he would take the position. Even still, he dedicated himself to the task, as Rasetsu comments: “You were always sacrificing your will and devoting yourself to the tribe. I used to be so proud of you, my strong brother, but…it broke my heart to see you living like that. I hoped that you’d live just for yourself someday.”
Many people who know Yasha (even for long periods of time) think of him as cold and distant. He does tend to be formal, dignified, and quiet (not in a shy way - he will speak if he has something to say) with most people, but he does care about others, and extremely passionately for certain people. Threaten or insult the people he really cares for, and then he gets scary. Yasha is very single-minded and straightforward, which on the one hand makes him very devoted to whatever his cause may be, but on the other means he often doesn’t fully consider the consequences of his actions. He’s also demonstrably dense and sometimes slow to pick up on what’s really happening. He tries to ignore things that are awkward or ridiculous (though he sometimes becomes amusingly flustered). Ryuu-ou at one point objects that Yasha is “too sloppy” and is just going through things randomly, to which Yasha’s response is “you may be right.”
About Ashura
I cannot discern the child’s alignment, but I only know that it is he alone who can turn the wheel of Tenkai’s destiny.
Ashura is the last survivor of the Ashura tribe, born to the last lord of the Ashura and his wife Shashi. Shashi, who had betrayed the Ashura tribe and taken the position of Taishaku-ten’s wife and queen of Tenkai, tried to kill the child of Ashura-ou as soon as it was born. Instead (and here I extrapolate somewhat from later events) the Maya forest sprang into existence and sealed the baby Ashura inside one of its trees, where s/he slept for three hundred years.
Ashura is the center of the prophecy - the one who will bring about the destruction of Tenkai. This is because Ashura, like all the Ashura before him/her, hosts within his/her body what is generally called “Dark Ashura,” the god of war and destruction. It is within Ashura that this god is destined to awaken. The prophecy had been given to Ashura’s father, who decided to attempt to defy fate and save his child. He made a deal with Taishaku-ten, who took over Tenkai at his request and promised to do everything to prevent the gathering of the Six Stars and if that failed, to kill the god of destruction. As punishment for Ashura-ou’s attempt to change fate, his child was born without a sex and therefore unable to continue their bloodline.
On the one hand, Ashura is a child. S/he is accordingly naïve, and very curious, delighting in seeing new things and meeting people. Ashura tends to like and trust people instinctively - even Kujaku, who seems very suspicious to everyone else. Ashura also likes fooling around and teasing people (particularly Ryuu-ou) but not being teased in return. S/he can sometimes be a little brat who insists on getting his/her way, is very stubborn, and eats a ridiculous amount for such a small person. S/he is emotional and can swing from cheerful to tearful very quickly.
On the other hand, Ashura is not just a child. Ashura has the raw power to burn down a forest and cause a major cave-in when s/he gets upset, though s/he is not yet able to use his/her power to its full effect in battle. Ashura is also royalty, and you could say it shows, in a habit of giving orders and a certain streak of pride. But, contradictory to that, Ashura has a very low opinion of his/her own worth. S/he blames him/herself for the deaths of those killed by Taishaku-ten’s army for the crime of harboring or protecting him/her and his/her companions (as they are rebels against the emperor, even if solely because of Ashura’s presence). For this reason, and because his/her own mother wished him/her dead, Ashura tends to view him/herself as a worthless child no one wants and is slow to believe that s/he is in fact loved/needed by others (and most particularly by Yasha). This is why Ashura says, early in the manga, that “you can’t go on living if nobody needs you.” Ashura is not content to be only a child protected by other people - s/he wishes to become stronger so that s/he can in turn be the protector (and in the meantime to as useful as s/he can). In the eighth volume s/he decides: “I have to stop running away if I want to protect those I love…I must become stronger. No matter how hard it is…I won’t run away anymore. I will fight my fate.”
Ashura is often highly empathetic, and can be thoughtful if not entirely sensible (like Yasha, Ashura is more of an emotional than an intellectual person). S/he will sometimes consider things in ways the other characters don’t - for example, instead of wanting to go and fight against Taishaku-ten in order to defeat him and avenge the people he has killed as the other rebels do, Ashura wishes to ask Taishaku-ten why he acts the way he does, and what it is he wants to protect.
For a final note, while Ashura is sometimes described as “gentle” by the other characters, and does not wish for any innocent people or people s/he cares for to come to harm, s/he is not entirely peaceful and harmless - s/he has no reluctance to fight or to kill his/her opponents in battle. When Ashura is one thing, s/he is often its opposite as well; the main principle behind his/her character (most evident in his/her gender and the presence of Dark Ashura) is duality.
About Yasha and Ashura in RG Veda
And you shall undertake a journey. One that begins when you find the child of a vanished race.
It was, to put it simply, destiny. At least, it was in the beginning. When Yasha hears Kuyou’s prophecy he immediately sets out to find the child it describes and bring it back to Kuyou, ignoring her warning that the child is destined to kill him. He journeys deep into the Maya forest and frees the baby Ashura from his/her three hundred year sleep. The spirit of Dark Ashura appears and tells him that because he has released it, the world will be turned into a living hell. This spirit vanishes and Yasha, apparently undisturbed by this proclamation, takes the baby back to his village. Ashura doesn’t stay as a baby for long, since just after arriving in the Yasha village s/he goes through a sort of metamorphosis into a small child. Yasha ignores the many warnings he is given about what will happen if he keeps this child of the Ashura clan with his tribe, and further ill omens delivered by the mysterious Kujaku (who shows up asking for food and immediately befriends little Ashura). Instead he continues with his plan and takes Ashura with him to Kuyou’s hiding place. But when they arrive they find that she has been killed. Even worse, while Yasha is away, the army of the Northern general Bishamon-ten descends on the Yasha village, killing everyone in the tribe and burning the place to the ground. Yasha and Ashura are stopped on the way back to the village by a final survivor of the tribe, who tells Yasha to live on for the tribe and curses Ashura for bringing this upon them. Ashura is scarred for life, and Yasha swears revenge against Taishaku-ten.
And so Yasha turns to Ashura and asks if s/he will come with him on his quest to bring down Taishaku-ten, as they are now both the last surviving members of their tribes. Ashura agrees immediately, adding at the end “I’ll never leave your side, if you don’t leave mine.” Those few words become the promise between Yasha and Ashura.
Thus the prophesied journey begins.
Ashura: Everyone who comes near me dies. You, too. If you stay with me, you’ll die someday, too. All because of me. But I don’t want you to die, Yasha…don’t die because of me!
Yasha: Ashura, do you think I’m weak? I’m the best guardian warrior in Tenkai! You don’t think such a person can be killed, do you? Then I’m staying by your side. Together, we’ll defeat Taishaku-ten and make Tenkai a better place. No one will be hunted anymore. No one will die anymore. Until then, we’ll stay together.
Distraught by the death of Gigei, a dancer who gave shelter to Ashura and Yasha at the beginning of their quest, Ashura believes that s/he really is cursed to bring misfortune to those around him/her. From the very beginning Ashura loves Yasha dearly, so s/he is afraid of losing him or causing harm to him. Yasha is naturally very protective of Ashura, and so tries to look after and reassure him/her. However, at this point he still sees their promise in relation to their mission to defeat Tentei.
Apparently Yasha’s argument here works, as Ashura decides it’s all right for him/her to be with people if those people are “strong.” So Yasha and Ashura acquire several other companions in their rebellion against Taishaku-ten, including Souma, Ryuu-ou, and Kujaku upon occasion.
Kujaku: Hey, Yasha-ou. Why are you so intent on protecting Ashura? Is it really just to gather the six stars and destroy Taishaku-ten? Or…is it something more?
Yasha, Ashura, et al journey to the city of Kusumapura in search of Shuratou, the sword belonging to Ashura-ou. Once there, Ashura is captured by the city’s king. Yasha frantically attempts to get to where Ashura has been taken (by breaking the floor with his bare hands, threatening Kujaku get him to tell him how to get to the lower level of the city, etc.). Kujaku has a strong interest in Yasha and Ashura’s feelings for each other for reasons of his own, and he thinks perhaps Yasha’s attachment to Ashura has become for Ashura’s own sake rather than because of the prophecy. It quickly becomes apparent that he is right.
Ashura: If I wasn’t even wanted by my mother…why was I born? Who could ever want a child as despised as me?
Yasha: You promised me, Ashura. You promised that you’d come with me and be with me always…and I promised to protect you always. It’s a promise just between you and me. Even if everybody in the world said they didn’t want you…I still would.
After obtaining Shuratou, Ashura learns what happened after his/her birth and is shattered. To Ashura, a mother is supposed to be a person whose love is unconditional - so if Ashura is so unworthy of that kind of love that his/her mother tried to kill him/her, then how could anyone ever care for such a person? That question is swiftly answered: Yasha. He doesn’t hesitate to run to Ashura, even straight through the torrents of flame that spring up around Ashura in his/her distress. Yasha calls on their promise again - but this time it is for always, and because he will love Ashura, even if no one else does.
Ashura: I don’t care what happens to me! I have to save Yasha!
When the group returns to the Northlands the tables turn and Yasha is kidnapped by a man-eating demon, necessitating a side quest by the others to save him. Ashura initially panics, but manages to spring back with sheer determination to do anything necessary to get Yasha back, no matter what it may be. In order to break the force field preventing the group from entering the castle where Yasha is imprisoned, Ashura allows Kujaku to merge the Shuratou into his/her body, which releases Dark Ashura.
Kujaku: I just don’t understand how Ashura’s personality returned without the use of Yamatou. It’d be impossible unless…the ‘bad Ashura’ wished for it to happen…how could that be? Could Yasha really have that much effect on Ashura? Hmph. Looks like Yasha’s got an admirer.
After Dark Ashura kills the leader of the army pursuing them, Ashura returns to normal (not remembering what just happened, as Ashura normally doesn’t when Dark Ashura has been in control). Kujaku is surprised at the extent of Ashura’s feelings, as Ashura has overcome a very powerful, if not fully awakened, being, by his/her own will to save Yasha. This apparently ought to be impossible. Normally Yamatou is used to return Ashura’s control. Yamatou “resonates" with Shuratou, so with Shuratou inside Ashura and Yasha carrying Yamatou the two are able to find each other. But even without the swords, the two of them appear to have a kind of sixth sense for whenever the other is in trouble.
Souma: So just keep this thought in mind - Live now for the person you care most about.
Ashura: Then the one I care most about is Yasha. He always protects me, no matter what. Even though his people had to die because of me…he’s still kind to me. He’s the only one to comfort me when I’m sad. He’s made me feel like I have a place in the world. It’s only Yasha. Only Yasha…who forgives me. Even though I’ve caused him nothing but grief. Even though everyone…everyone says I’m an unwanted child…Yasha is the only one…who says he needs me. So I want to be strong for him. He’s protected me my whole life, but someday, I want to protect him. Because Yasha’s the only one I have.
Despite everything that has happened and everything Ashura believes about him/herself, Yasha is still there to love and protect Ashura, and to Ashura this means everything. Now, much of that is not technically true as there are several other people who comfort, protect, and want Ashura, but to Ashura, for whatever reason, only Yasha counts. Ashura wants to return the favor, and be for Yasha what he is for him/her. Additionally, this dialogue sets up a parallel between Ashura and Yasha and Souma and the woman she loves, Kendappa-ou.
Kujaku: Yasha-ou came back here to be strong. He came back to see all the precious things he’s lost, and all the damage that was caused by his own weakness. To turn his sadness and regrets into strength…It was still necessary for Yasha-ou to do this, because he wants to protect you. The only precious thing left to him…is you, Ashura. He had to make himself realize that.
Ashura: I’m…precious to him…?
In their visit to the ruin of the Yasha village the rebels meet Yasha’s brother Rasetsu, who tries to kill Yasha in revenge for allowing their tribe to be massacred and choosing Ashura over his people. This causes Ashura to feel even more guilt over the destruction of Yasha’s tribe and Yasha’s previous life. Ashura thinks “I should have died…If I had…Yasha could still be…happy…” Even still, Ashura cannot imagine that s/he is “precious” to Yasha as he is to him/her, and in fact Yasha is happier with him/her alive than dead. Kujaku explains the situation: the Yasha tribe is gone, so all that is left to Yasha is Ashura. So Yasha must resolve to give everything he has to protecting Ashura. And indeed, he does.
Yasha: The life of the tribe is the life of the king, so the day the Yasha tribe was destroyed, Yasha-ou died along with them. Who you now see standing before you is…a man who lives to protect Ashura. A man who fights to protect Ashura. A man you don’t know. I live only for Ashura. And I will stand by his side forever.
Facing his brother, Yasha says that Rasetsu has the right to hate him and wish to kill him for failing in his duty to protect his tribe. But still, Yasha cannot die, because he has Ashura. He lost the thing that he had built his life around, so now he lives a different life - one that exists only for the sake of Ashura.
Later, when the two are reconciled, Rasetsu repeats Yasha’s words, with an alteration: “The man standing in front of me is…a man who lives only for himself.” Perhaps suggesting that unlike the Yasha who lived to fulfill his duty to his tribe, the present Yasha is living for what he truly loves - what he himself chose to devote his life to.
Ashura-ou: Listen, child. If you knew that the most precious thing to you was something that would bring tragedy…what would you do?
Yama: I’d protect it. I’d hold on to it tight and protect it as long as I was alive.
Ashura-ou: Then…be strong for the thing most precious to you. Only then can you realize your destiny.
In explaining himself to Rasetsu, Yasha describes this meeting between himself and Ashura-ou when he was little. He took Ashura-ou’s words that day to heart and decided that his destiny was to protect the thing most important to him, though at the time he didn’t know what that was. A couple different perspectives on this scene are shown in the manga, so we know that Ashura-ou, in fact, knew exactly what they were talking about. As he knew Kuyou’s prophecy and was himself troubled by visions of the future, he recognized Yama as the one who would become Yasha-ou and awaken his child. So in a way, Ashura-ou was asking Yasha to take care of his son.
Ashura: Yasha…I believe you. If you say you need me…I’ll live…for you. I’ll live only for you…
After making a desperate attempt to offer him/herself in Yasha’s stead, not knowing that Rasetsu no longer wants revenge, Ashura ends up promising Rasetsu to believe in Yasha (like when he says that things are not Ashura’s fault). So Ashura lets him/herself believe that Yasha does need him/her. And so, Ashura, like Yasha, decides to live because s/he is needed, and to live for the person who needs him/her. Now both Ashura and Yasha live solely for the sake of the other.
After this, Ashura seems more at peace than s/he has been in the manga. One could say that Ashura is growing up here, trying to do what s/he can and not getting lost in his/her doubts as much. Of course, the childishness remains, but considering how short a time Ashura has actually been alive s/he matures very fast indeed (physically as well as mentally). After a relatively peaceful stay with Shara, a human woman who turns out to be Rasetsu’s wife (Ashura decides that s/he aspires to have as much faith in Yasha as Shara does in her husband), the rebels are set on the warpath again. After assorted battles they finally reach their destination, Zenmi-jou.
So the six stars have all come together at last and everything goes straight to hell. Through the gathering of the stars Dark Ashura emerges again, and is able break the final seal placed on it and Shuratou itself. Ashura’s body goes through another metamorphosis, as in the beginning, and emerges in its true, adult form. Then Dark Ashura is fully awakened. There are explosions, injuries, mountains of corpses, revenges fulfilled and left unfulfilled, many, many deaths and revelations, and a whole lot of fighting and climactic action.
Dark Ashura: The one who disrupts me…I will kill you! Yasha-ou!
Yasha is not in the clearest mental sate at this point, and it takes him a long time to grasp that this person reveling in death is a) Ashura, but b) not his Ashura. He continuously shouts Ashura’s name as if he could wake up his Ashura. As mentioned previously, Yamatou has the power to return Ashura’s personality to control. This messes with Dark Ashura during its rampage, and so it decides that Yasha must be eliminated. Yasha doesn’t really fight against Dark Ashura, since to him this is still Ashura and he doesn’t want to hurt Ashura.
Dark Ashura: Your Ashura is no more. He died in here.
Dark Ashura and Kujaku both tell Yasha this - Ashura was the first of the six stars to die, having been completely replaced by the personality of Dark Ashura. Yasha doesn’t even seem to hear this the first time he’s told. Kujaku explains to him the true meaning of the prophecy, of the awakening of the god of war who would destroy heaven, and finally Yasha understands what he has done. At this point only Yasha and Taishaku-ten stand in the way of Dark Ashura. As Dark Ashura attacks him, Yasha recalls the prophecy that Ashura would be the one to kill him, and then Ashura’s own words: “I’ll live only for you.” So he lets his sword fall, clearly intending to let Dark Ashura kill him. But at the last moment Yasha’s Ashura, not being truly dead, is able to overcome Dark Ashura. Ashura turns Shuratou on him/herself rather than kill Yasha. In this way Ashura’s love for Yasha was able to change fate and stop the destruction of Tenkai.
Now, there is a reaction to this which is difficult to describe which results in the ruins of Zenmi-jou being replaced with a weird sort of version of the palace of the Ashura, Ashura sealed asleep enveloped in part of this castle, and Yasha’s right eye ruined.
Kujaku: Ashura gave his life to protect you. He probably will not ever awaken again.
Yasha: …I promised him that I won’t leave Ashura alone. I will always be with him…!
Kujaku: Then you can continue to wait here, Yasha-ou. You can wait here until your life ends and he still may not awaken. Even so will you still continue to wait for him?
Yasha: …Yes.
Quite simply: now that everything has passed and ended, fate has changed, and even though Ashura may be effectively dead, Yasha still wants to keep his promise and stay with Ashura. Even if it means waiting until he dies.
And Yasha does wait. He sits alone with Ashura’s body sealed in the castle as the surrounding area goes from a lake to fertile land full of greenery, and from that into a desert with high sand dunes. A new Zenmi-jou is built and falls. Yasha continues to wait. One day Kujaku comes to tell Yasha that Taishaku-ten has died, and repeats that Ashura will probably not wake up. But Yasha insists the contrary, and Kujaku says that then he will try to believe that too. So, using his power as a stargazer, Kujaku gives his life to wake Ashura.
Ashura is naturally horrified to wake up having committed mass murder, among other things, but Yasha embraces him/her and says, “Even so, you will live on…because you have promised me. I need you. I only live if you are there. Let’s stay together forever, until the end of our days. That is our ‘promise.’” And there the story ends, with the promise again.
About Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
"The fact that new things have been born from that destruction has a second meaning: Everything is hitsuzen."
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is one of CLAMP’s current series. 18 volumes have been published in Japan at the time of writing, and the anime has two seasons, counting 52 episodes (most of the TRC fandom would like you to note that the anime is terrible and we want nothing to do with it). The manga is published in English by Del Rey, with volumes 1-12 currently available.
CLAMP has been crossing over their series ever since they had series to crossover, and TRC is their largest crossover, connecting all of their series in a multiverse of their own creation. In each alternate universe live characters from CLAMP’s various works - they are not the same people as they were before, but they share the same souls as their selves in different worlds. Traveling through these many worlds are Syaoran and Sakura, their elder companions Fay D. Fluorite and Kurogane, and Mokona Modoki, the bouncy creature that is also the means of transport given to them by the Witch of Dimension. They are on a quest to retrieve Sakura’s feathers - pieces of Sakura’s heart that were scattered among the worlds, each an item of incredible power.
About Yasha and Ashura in TRC
“As with the flame, nothing caught up in the flow of time will ever be repeated.”
Yasha and Ashura make an appearance together in Tsubasa. One of the worlds visited by Sakura and company is the country of Shara, in which two groups, the Suzuran troupe (a kind of all-female traveling circus) and the Jinja (a “shrine to protect the people,” run entirely by men), are at odds. The Suzuran troupe travels around the country but once a year returns to its home, Yuuka-ku, near the Jinja. Every year at the same time disasters befall the area. The Jinja blames this on the statue of Ashura, the Suzuran troupe’s guardian god, which the troupe brings with them. The Jinja happens to be in possession of its own guardian god statue - this one of Yasha. This statue sheds blood “tears” from its right eye at the same time when the Suzuran troupe comes into the area, which the Jinja’s leaders have believed warns of the disasters brought by the Ashura statue. In their search for Sakura’s feather, the travelers are transported into Shara’s past, where we learn the origin of this conflict.
The past of the country of Shara turns out to be the country of Shura, ruled by the Ashura. This country is at war with the country of Yama, ruled by the Yasha. These two countries are in fact located nowhere near each other - the two clans have never seen each other anywhere but at the Moon Castle. The Moon Castle, a rocky structure floating high above the world’s surface, is the cause of the war. Each night, from moonrise until the moon reaches its zenith the armies of the two countries are summoned to the Moon Castle, where they fight against each other to gain possession of the castle. According to legend, all wishes will be granted to whoever takes the Moon Castle.
At the time when the dimensional travelers arrive, the rulers of the two countries are alternate universe versions of the Yasha and Ashura relevant to this manifesto. To tell their story in the most straightforward fashion: somehow, while fighting each other every night, these two kings fell in love with each other. They continued the war despite this, but neither ever had an advantage over the other as they were both powerful warriors. But eventually, Yasha became ill - weakened by the disease he was unable to defend himself as Ashura expected him to, and as a result lost his right eye to Ashura’s sword (apparently, if you lose an eye once in CLAMPverse, you’re going to lose it again). Yasha dies because of the illness, and after he dies his spirit visits Ashura in Shura country to say goodbye (and also they kiss - which a) is rare in CLAMP manga in general, and b) gives the strong impression that CLAMP intends them as a romantic pairing, if one has doubts on the subject).
This is where the feathers get involved: one of Sakura’s feathers enters this world, and becomes an exact replica of Yasha - all but the right eye, which is intact. Ashura recognizes that this Yasha is an illusion, but still cannot bring him/herself to destroy it. So Ashura calls on Yuuko, the Witch of Dimension (everyone who’s anyone in Tsubasa, provided they have sufficient magical power, knows Yuuko). Ashura asks Yuuko to send Syaoran, Sakura, et al, to his/her world, apparently for moral support. A couple days after Syaoran and Sakura arrive, Ashura is able to destroy the fake Yasha (and there is a very sweet scene also involving kisses) and return the feather to Syaoran. In doing so, the Ashura clan gains control of the Moon Castle, so Ashura asks the castle to grant his/her greatest wish. But as it turns out, no power in the universe is great enough to grant Ashura’s wish - to bring Yasha back to life. Despite all urging, Ashura refuses to leave the quickly disintegrating castle as everyone else does. Ashura dies (effectively committing suicide) in the fall from the ruined Moon Castle, but only after making a final wish to Yuuko: s/he asks that s/he and Yasha become gods in the future, to stand as proof that not even gods are capable of everything.
In the aftermath, Syaoran makes request of the Ashura clan: “If you ever find [your rulers’] bodies, or even portions of their remains…please! Find some way to bury them together. Do it for them!” Then he and the other travelers go on - and find themselves back in the country of Shara. But this version is different: the Jinja and the Suzuran troupe happily coexist and are celebrating a wedding together. The statues of Yasha and Ashura are here one statue - some of the women and men inform Syaoran that the gods have always been together, and the old stories say never to separate them. From this Syaoran and the others realize that their actions have changed Shura country’s future (that is, Shara) from the one they first visited. From this we can draw the conclusion that it was the separation of the two gods (as their statues) that caused the disasters that plagued the first version of Shara. The moral of the story: letting Ashura and Yasha be together is better for everyone.
So we have a very pretty, romantic, if tragic AU scenario. We don’t see very much of Yasha, but Tsubasa gives us another view of Ashura. This Ashura is older and lacks much of the naïveté of RG Veda’s Ashura, being more experienced (and a king and warlord). S/he also hasn’t been traumatized over and over again since birth like RG Veda’s Ashura. Despite these differences between worlds, Ashura’s feelings for Yasha remain as strong as before, as this Ashura again goes against the will of the universe for Yasha, even if this time s/he can’t win. These versions of Ashura and Yasha have the same desire not to be separated. But most importantly, their appearance together establishes Yasha and Ashura as what we in the fandom tend to call “soulmates.” This means that, as souls recurring in the many worlds of CLAMPverse, in each world they both appear in they will be drawn to each other and love each other the most - souls that are bound to one another.
About This Fan and This Pairing
“Therefore the more I wanted to see with my own eyes how man’s heart, their affinity, changes the path of the stars.”
So, me, this silly fangirl writing out this whole long essay about how OMGOTP my favorite pairing is. In the first place, I’m a CLAMP fan, and when I finally admitted this to myself and decided to read everything they wrote, I read RG Veda, and immediately fell for the series. As for Yasha/Ashura, when I reached the end of the first volume I said to myself “I have no idea what kind of relationship this is supposed to be, but it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” I also read the Shura/Shara arc of Tsubasa nearly simultaneously with RG Veda, so soon I knew that Yasha/Ashura was going to the very top of my favorite pairings list.
Why do I like them? I love their intensity - it errs towards over-the-top, but I (being something of a romantic) like it that way. They will go to any lengths to be with each other, even if it means going against gods and the law of the universe. They live for each other - each is necessary for the other’s existence. It’s a kind of codependency that would be dangerous if the feelings were not entirely equal between them, but they can meet each other promise for promise and act for act. I like the equality between them, strange as that may sound considering the age difference. There’s little power difference - both of them need and want to protect and support the other, the only obstacle being experience. In Tsubasa, where the age difference is removed, they are perfectly matched on the battlefield and (apparently) as rulers. In some ways the two are alike and in others they contrast. They complement each other well and make an adorable combination in their interactions. They’re simple; their love for each other is unmixed with resentment, fear, antagonism, or the like. I love conflicted relationships as much as the next CLAMP fan, but sometimes it’s nice this way too. I also like the way this couple doesn’t really fit into the usual categories of het, yaoi/slash, etc. Now, I like all of those, but fandom has so many assumptions based on those categories that I enjoy having a pairing that (at least in theory) lies outside those lines. For the sake of full disclosure, Yasha/Ashura also gets full points from me in the aesthetics category.
About the Fandom
The fandom for this pairing is decidedly meager. RG Veda’s fandom is very small and only partially alive, and while Tsubasa has a larger fandom there’s not much related to Yasha and Ashura there.
The main LJ communities for RG Veda and TRC:
rg_veda
tsubasarc
Fanfic:
Heartbeat of the War God by October - Post-RG Veda, 13 chapters.
No Heaven for Us by Mimi Zhou - Post-RG Veda, one-shot
Peace by Myranda Kalis - a mostly Tenou-centric fic set after the Dark Ashura crisis, includes some Yasha/Ashura.
Patience by XxDeafening.SilencexX - a drabble for TRC Yasha and Ashura
(If you’d like more than that, um…I did a claim for the TRC version of the pairing at 1sentence myself.)
As for fanart I admit a total lack of knowledge. If you ever find any fanart for this pairing, I’d love to see it.
Author: Capella (capella_aurigae)
Pairing: Yasha/Ashura
Fandom: RG Veda and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
Spoilers: For all of RG Veda, and the Shara/Shura arc from Tsubasa (volumes 8-10)
Word Count: roughly 6,100 I’m sorry DX
Author’s Notes: Apologies for lateness. Quotations are from the official English releases, unless they’re from RG Veda vol. 10, for which I had to use the scanlations. Thanks go to von_questenberg for beta’ing.
About RG Veda
They will be the schism that splits the heavens.
RG Veda was the first commercially published series by CLAMP (now a four-woman manga writing team, though at the time RG Veda began there were more). It is 10 volumes long and currently being published in English by Tokyopop (the Tokyopop releases have reached volume 9 at the time of writing). There is also a two episode OVA which adapts a very small part of RG Veda’s story.
RG Veda takes its name from the Rigveda, a collection of ancient Hindu hymns. The manga series is not in fact based on this text - it only borrows names, and certain character positions and relationships from mythology, and most of those references are drawn from Japanese Buddhist myth (which itself draws on earlier Hindu myths).
300 years before the story of RG Veda begins, a war broke out in the previously peaceful world of heaven (Tenkai). The thunder god Taishaku-ten led a rebellion against the emperor (Tentei), killing the emperor and all the tribes of Tenkai that came to his aid. Notably destroyed was the Ashura tribe, which had been the most powerful of Tenkai’s guardian tribes, though their true power had always been sealed (and with good reason). Taishaku-ten took the position of Tentei, mercilessly slaughtering all those who stood against him, and some who did not. The story begins when Yasha-ou, guardian warrior of the North and ruler of the Yasha tribe, is given a prophecy by the stargazer Kuyou. The prophecy tells of the gathering of “six stars,” a child “who can turn the wheel of Tenkai’s destiny,” and “the schism that splits the heavens.” Yasha-ou, believing that the prophecy tells how to overthrow Taishaku-ten, sets out to fulfill it, not knowing that what the prophecy foretells is not the defeat of Tentei, but the awakening of the god of destruction and the downfall of Tenkai.
About Yasha
"That is why I call you a foolish and brave man."
Each of the four sections of Tenkai has one tribe holding the position of guardian warrior tribe, in charge of the defense of Tenkai’s borders from the mazoku (demons) that attack them. The Yasha tribe is the newest of these tribes, having gained their position after the holy war. Dwelling in the rocky north of Tenkai, the Yasha tribe descended from warriors who gathered to fight off the mazoku. The Yasha are renowned for their swordsmanship and after the annihilation of the Ashura tribe they were considered the most powerful of Tenkai’s tribes.
Yasha (named Yama before he became the lord of his tribe) is the son of the previous Yasha-ou and his concubine. He was an incredibly skilled fighter from the time he was a child, and as an adult is regarded as the best guardian warrior in Tenkai. When Yasha was a child he believed that his younger brother (Rasetsu, whose mother was their father’s wife) was better suited to become Yasha-ou, but his brother, believing the opposite, left the tribe so that he would take the position. Even still, he dedicated himself to the task, as Rasetsu comments: “You were always sacrificing your will and devoting yourself to the tribe. I used to be so proud of you, my strong brother, but…it broke my heart to see you living like that. I hoped that you’d live just for yourself someday.”
Many people who know Yasha (even for long periods of time) think of him as cold and distant. He does tend to be formal, dignified, and quiet (not in a shy way - he will speak if he has something to say) with most people, but he does care about others, and extremely passionately for certain people. Threaten or insult the people he really cares for, and then he gets scary. Yasha is very single-minded and straightforward, which on the one hand makes him very devoted to whatever his cause may be, but on the other means he often doesn’t fully consider the consequences of his actions. He’s also demonstrably dense and sometimes slow to pick up on what’s really happening. He tries to ignore things that are awkward or ridiculous (though he sometimes becomes amusingly flustered). Ryuu-ou at one point objects that Yasha is “too sloppy” and is just going through things randomly, to which Yasha’s response is “you may be right.”
About Ashura
I cannot discern the child’s alignment, but I only know that it is he alone who can turn the wheel of Tenkai’s destiny.
Ashura is the last survivor of the Ashura tribe, born to the last lord of the Ashura and his wife Shashi. Shashi, who had betrayed the Ashura tribe and taken the position of Taishaku-ten’s wife and queen of Tenkai, tried to kill the child of Ashura-ou as soon as it was born. Instead (and here I extrapolate somewhat from later events) the Maya forest sprang into existence and sealed the baby Ashura inside one of its trees, where s/he slept for three hundred years.
Ashura is the center of the prophecy - the one who will bring about the destruction of Tenkai. This is because Ashura, like all the Ashura before him/her, hosts within his/her body what is generally called “Dark Ashura,” the god of war and destruction. It is within Ashura that this god is destined to awaken. The prophecy had been given to Ashura’s father, who decided to attempt to defy fate and save his child. He made a deal with Taishaku-ten, who took over Tenkai at his request and promised to do everything to prevent the gathering of the Six Stars and if that failed, to kill the god of destruction. As punishment for Ashura-ou’s attempt to change fate, his child was born without a sex and therefore unable to continue their bloodline.
On the one hand, Ashura is a child. S/he is accordingly naïve, and very curious, delighting in seeing new things and meeting people. Ashura tends to like and trust people instinctively - even Kujaku, who seems very suspicious to everyone else. Ashura also likes fooling around and teasing people (particularly Ryuu-ou) but not being teased in return. S/he can sometimes be a little brat who insists on getting his/her way, is very stubborn, and eats a ridiculous amount for such a small person. S/he is emotional and can swing from cheerful to tearful very quickly.
On the other hand, Ashura is not just a child. Ashura has the raw power to burn down a forest and cause a major cave-in when s/he gets upset, though s/he is not yet able to use his/her power to its full effect in battle. Ashura is also royalty, and you could say it shows, in a habit of giving orders and a certain streak of pride. But, contradictory to that, Ashura has a very low opinion of his/her own worth. S/he blames him/herself for the deaths of those killed by Taishaku-ten’s army for the crime of harboring or protecting him/her and his/her companions (as they are rebels against the emperor, even if solely because of Ashura’s presence). For this reason, and because his/her own mother wished him/her dead, Ashura tends to view him/herself as a worthless child no one wants and is slow to believe that s/he is in fact loved/needed by others (and most particularly by Yasha). This is why Ashura says, early in the manga, that “you can’t go on living if nobody needs you.” Ashura is not content to be only a child protected by other people - s/he wishes to become stronger so that s/he can in turn be the protector (and in the meantime to as useful as s/he can). In the eighth volume s/he decides: “I have to stop running away if I want to protect those I love…I must become stronger. No matter how hard it is…I won’t run away anymore. I will fight my fate.”
Ashura is often highly empathetic, and can be thoughtful if not entirely sensible (like Yasha, Ashura is more of an emotional than an intellectual person). S/he will sometimes consider things in ways the other characters don’t - for example, instead of wanting to go and fight against Taishaku-ten in order to defeat him and avenge the people he has killed as the other rebels do, Ashura wishes to ask Taishaku-ten why he acts the way he does, and what it is he wants to protect.
For a final note, while Ashura is sometimes described as “gentle” by the other characters, and does not wish for any innocent people or people s/he cares for to come to harm, s/he is not entirely peaceful and harmless - s/he has no reluctance to fight or to kill his/her opponents in battle. When Ashura is one thing, s/he is often its opposite as well; the main principle behind his/her character (most evident in his/her gender and the presence of Dark Ashura) is duality.
About Yasha and Ashura in RG Veda
And you shall undertake a journey. One that begins when you find the child of a vanished race.
It was, to put it simply, destiny. At least, it was in the beginning. When Yasha hears Kuyou’s prophecy he immediately sets out to find the child it describes and bring it back to Kuyou, ignoring her warning that the child is destined to kill him. He journeys deep into the Maya forest and frees the baby Ashura from his/her three hundred year sleep. The spirit of Dark Ashura appears and tells him that because he has released it, the world will be turned into a living hell. This spirit vanishes and Yasha, apparently undisturbed by this proclamation, takes the baby back to his village. Ashura doesn’t stay as a baby for long, since just after arriving in the Yasha village s/he goes through a sort of metamorphosis into a small child. Yasha ignores the many warnings he is given about what will happen if he keeps this child of the Ashura clan with his tribe, and further ill omens delivered by the mysterious Kujaku (who shows up asking for food and immediately befriends little Ashura). Instead he continues with his plan and takes Ashura with him to Kuyou’s hiding place. But when they arrive they find that she has been killed. Even worse, while Yasha is away, the army of the Northern general Bishamon-ten descends on the Yasha village, killing everyone in the tribe and burning the place to the ground. Yasha and Ashura are stopped on the way back to the village by a final survivor of the tribe, who tells Yasha to live on for the tribe and curses Ashura for bringing this upon them. Ashura is scarred for life, and Yasha swears revenge against Taishaku-ten.
And so Yasha turns to Ashura and asks if s/he will come with him on his quest to bring down Taishaku-ten, as they are now both the last surviving members of their tribes. Ashura agrees immediately, adding at the end “I’ll never leave your side, if you don’t leave mine.” Those few words become the promise between Yasha and Ashura.
Thus the prophesied journey begins.
Ashura: Everyone who comes near me dies. You, too. If you stay with me, you’ll die someday, too. All because of me. But I don’t want you to die, Yasha…don’t die because of me!
Yasha: Ashura, do you think I’m weak? I’m the best guardian warrior in Tenkai! You don’t think such a person can be killed, do you? Then I’m staying by your side. Together, we’ll defeat Taishaku-ten and make Tenkai a better place. No one will be hunted anymore. No one will die anymore. Until then, we’ll stay together.
Distraught by the death of Gigei, a dancer who gave shelter to Ashura and Yasha at the beginning of their quest, Ashura believes that s/he really is cursed to bring misfortune to those around him/her. From the very beginning Ashura loves Yasha dearly, so s/he is afraid of losing him or causing harm to him. Yasha is naturally very protective of Ashura, and so tries to look after and reassure him/her. However, at this point he still sees their promise in relation to their mission to defeat Tentei.
Apparently Yasha’s argument here works, as Ashura decides it’s all right for him/her to be with people if those people are “strong.” So Yasha and Ashura acquire several other companions in their rebellion against Taishaku-ten, including Souma, Ryuu-ou, and Kujaku upon occasion.
Kujaku: Hey, Yasha-ou. Why are you so intent on protecting Ashura? Is it really just to gather the six stars and destroy Taishaku-ten? Or…is it something more?
Yasha, Ashura, et al journey to the city of Kusumapura in search of Shuratou, the sword belonging to Ashura-ou. Once there, Ashura is captured by the city’s king. Yasha frantically attempts to get to where Ashura has been taken (by breaking the floor with his bare hands, threatening Kujaku get him to tell him how to get to the lower level of the city, etc.). Kujaku has a strong interest in Yasha and Ashura’s feelings for each other for reasons of his own, and he thinks perhaps Yasha’s attachment to Ashura has become for Ashura’s own sake rather than because of the prophecy. It quickly becomes apparent that he is right.
Ashura: If I wasn’t even wanted by my mother…why was I born? Who could ever want a child as despised as me?
Yasha: You promised me, Ashura. You promised that you’d come with me and be with me always…and I promised to protect you always. It’s a promise just between you and me. Even if everybody in the world said they didn’t want you…I still would.
After obtaining Shuratou, Ashura learns what happened after his/her birth and is shattered. To Ashura, a mother is supposed to be a person whose love is unconditional - so if Ashura is so unworthy of that kind of love that his/her mother tried to kill him/her, then how could anyone ever care for such a person? That question is swiftly answered: Yasha. He doesn’t hesitate to run to Ashura, even straight through the torrents of flame that spring up around Ashura in his/her distress. Yasha calls on their promise again - but this time it is for always, and because he will love Ashura, even if no one else does.
Ashura: I don’t care what happens to me! I have to save Yasha!
When the group returns to the Northlands the tables turn and Yasha is kidnapped by a man-eating demon, necessitating a side quest by the others to save him. Ashura initially panics, but manages to spring back with sheer determination to do anything necessary to get Yasha back, no matter what it may be. In order to break the force field preventing the group from entering the castle where Yasha is imprisoned, Ashura allows Kujaku to merge the Shuratou into his/her body, which releases Dark Ashura.
Kujaku: I just don’t understand how Ashura’s personality returned without the use of Yamatou. It’d be impossible unless…the ‘bad Ashura’ wished for it to happen…how could that be? Could Yasha really have that much effect on Ashura? Hmph. Looks like Yasha’s got an admirer.
After Dark Ashura kills the leader of the army pursuing them, Ashura returns to normal (not remembering what just happened, as Ashura normally doesn’t when Dark Ashura has been in control). Kujaku is surprised at the extent of Ashura’s feelings, as Ashura has overcome a very powerful, if not fully awakened, being, by his/her own will to save Yasha. This apparently ought to be impossible. Normally Yamatou is used to return Ashura’s control. Yamatou “resonates" with Shuratou, so with Shuratou inside Ashura and Yasha carrying Yamatou the two are able to find each other. But even without the swords, the two of them appear to have a kind of sixth sense for whenever the other is in trouble.
Souma: So just keep this thought in mind - Live now for the person you care most about.
Ashura: Then the one I care most about is Yasha. He always protects me, no matter what. Even though his people had to die because of me…he’s still kind to me. He’s the only one to comfort me when I’m sad. He’s made me feel like I have a place in the world. It’s only Yasha. Only Yasha…who forgives me. Even though I’ve caused him nothing but grief. Even though everyone…everyone says I’m an unwanted child…Yasha is the only one…who says he needs me. So I want to be strong for him. He’s protected me my whole life, but someday, I want to protect him. Because Yasha’s the only one I have.
Despite everything that has happened and everything Ashura believes about him/herself, Yasha is still there to love and protect Ashura, and to Ashura this means everything. Now, much of that is not technically true as there are several other people who comfort, protect, and want Ashura, but to Ashura, for whatever reason, only Yasha counts. Ashura wants to return the favor, and be for Yasha what he is for him/her. Additionally, this dialogue sets up a parallel between Ashura and Yasha and Souma and the woman she loves, Kendappa-ou.
Kujaku: Yasha-ou came back here to be strong. He came back to see all the precious things he’s lost, and all the damage that was caused by his own weakness. To turn his sadness and regrets into strength…It was still necessary for Yasha-ou to do this, because he wants to protect you. The only precious thing left to him…is you, Ashura. He had to make himself realize that.
Ashura: I’m…precious to him…?
In their visit to the ruin of the Yasha village the rebels meet Yasha’s brother Rasetsu, who tries to kill Yasha in revenge for allowing their tribe to be massacred and choosing Ashura over his people. This causes Ashura to feel even more guilt over the destruction of Yasha’s tribe and Yasha’s previous life. Ashura thinks “I should have died…If I had…Yasha could still be…happy…” Even still, Ashura cannot imagine that s/he is “precious” to Yasha as he is to him/her, and in fact Yasha is happier with him/her alive than dead. Kujaku explains the situation: the Yasha tribe is gone, so all that is left to Yasha is Ashura. So Yasha must resolve to give everything he has to protecting Ashura. And indeed, he does.
Yasha: The life of the tribe is the life of the king, so the day the Yasha tribe was destroyed, Yasha-ou died along with them. Who you now see standing before you is…a man who lives to protect Ashura. A man who fights to protect Ashura. A man you don’t know. I live only for Ashura. And I will stand by his side forever.
Facing his brother, Yasha says that Rasetsu has the right to hate him and wish to kill him for failing in his duty to protect his tribe. But still, Yasha cannot die, because he has Ashura. He lost the thing that he had built his life around, so now he lives a different life - one that exists only for the sake of Ashura.
Later, when the two are reconciled, Rasetsu repeats Yasha’s words, with an alteration: “The man standing in front of me is…a man who lives only for himself.” Perhaps suggesting that unlike the Yasha who lived to fulfill his duty to his tribe, the present Yasha is living for what he truly loves - what he himself chose to devote his life to.
Ashura-ou: Listen, child. If you knew that the most precious thing to you was something that would bring tragedy…what would you do?
Yama: I’d protect it. I’d hold on to it tight and protect it as long as I was alive.
Ashura-ou: Then…be strong for the thing most precious to you. Only then can you realize your destiny.
In explaining himself to Rasetsu, Yasha describes this meeting between himself and Ashura-ou when he was little. He took Ashura-ou’s words that day to heart and decided that his destiny was to protect the thing most important to him, though at the time he didn’t know what that was. A couple different perspectives on this scene are shown in the manga, so we know that Ashura-ou, in fact, knew exactly what they were talking about. As he knew Kuyou’s prophecy and was himself troubled by visions of the future, he recognized Yama as the one who would become Yasha-ou and awaken his child. So in a way, Ashura-ou was asking Yasha to take care of his son.
Ashura: Yasha…I believe you. If you say you need me…I’ll live…for you. I’ll live only for you…
After making a desperate attempt to offer him/herself in Yasha’s stead, not knowing that Rasetsu no longer wants revenge, Ashura ends up promising Rasetsu to believe in Yasha (like when he says that things are not Ashura’s fault). So Ashura lets him/herself believe that Yasha does need him/her. And so, Ashura, like Yasha, decides to live because s/he is needed, and to live for the person who needs him/her. Now both Ashura and Yasha live solely for the sake of the other.
After this, Ashura seems more at peace than s/he has been in the manga. One could say that Ashura is growing up here, trying to do what s/he can and not getting lost in his/her doubts as much. Of course, the childishness remains, but considering how short a time Ashura has actually been alive s/he matures very fast indeed (physically as well as mentally). After a relatively peaceful stay with Shara, a human woman who turns out to be Rasetsu’s wife (Ashura decides that s/he aspires to have as much faith in Yasha as Shara does in her husband), the rebels are set on the warpath again. After assorted battles they finally reach their destination, Zenmi-jou.
So the six stars have all come together at last and everything goes straight to hell. Through the gathering of the stars Dark Ashura emerges again, and is able break the final seal placed on it and Shuratou itself. Ashura’s body goes through another metamorphosis, as in the beginning, and emerges in its true, adult form. Then Dark Ashura is fully awakened. There are explosions, injuries, mountains of corpses, revenges fulfilled and left unfulfilled, many, many deaths and revelations, and a whole lot of fighting and climactic action.
Dark Ashura: The one who disrupts me…I will kill you! Yasha-ou!
Yasha is not in the clearest mental sate at this point, and it takes him a long time to grasp that this person reveling in death is a) Ashura, but b) not his Ashura. He continuously shouts Ashura’s name as if he could wake up his Ashura. As mentioned previously, Yamatou has the power to return Ashura’s personality to control. This messes with Dark Ashura during its rampage, and so it decides that Yasha must be eliminated. Yasha doesn’t really fight against Dark Ashura, since to him this is still Ashura and he doesn’t want to hurt Ashura.
Dark Ashura: Your Ashura is no more. He died in here.
Dark Ashura and Kujaku both tell Yasha this - Ashura was the first of the six stars to die, having been completely replaced by the personality of Dark Ashura. Yasha doesn’t even seem to hear this the first time he’s told. Kujaku explains to him the true meaning of the prophecy, of the awakening of the god of war who would destroy heaven, and finally Yasha understands what he has done. At this point only Yasha and Taishaku-ten stand in the way of Dark Ashura. As Dark Ashura attacks him, Yasha recalls the prophecy that Ashura would be the one to kill him, and then Ashura’s own words: “I’ll live only for you.” So he lets his sword fall, clearly intending to let Dark Ashura kill him. But at the last moment Yasha’s Ashura, not being truly dead, is able to overcome Dark Ashura. Ashura turns Shuratou on him/herself rather than kill Yasha. In this way Ashura’s love for Yasha was able to change fate and stop the destruction of Tenkai.
Now, there is a reaction to this which is difficult to describe which results in the ruins of Zenmi-jou being replaced with a weird sort of version of the palace of the Ashura, Ashura sealed asleep enveloped in part of this castle, and Yasha’s right eye ruined.
Kujaku: Ashura gave his life to protect you. He probably will not ever awaken again.
Yasha: …I promised him that I won’t leave Ashura alone. I will always be with him…!
Kujaku: Then you can continue to wait here, Yasha-ou. You can wait here until your life ends and he still may not awaken. Even so will you still continue to wait for him?
Yasha: …Yes.
Quite simply: now that everything has passed and ended, fate has changed, and even though Ashura may be effectively dead, Yasha still wants to keep his promise and stay with Ashura. Even if it means waiting until he dies.
And Yasha does wait. He sits alone with Ashura’s body sealed in the castle as the surrounding area goes from a lake to fertile land full of greenery, and from that into a desert with high sand dunes. A new Zenmi-jou is built and falls. Yasha continues to wait. One day Kujaku comes to tell Yasha that Taishaku-ten has died, and repeats that Ashura will probably not wake up. But Yasha insists the contrary, and Kujaku says that then he will try to believe that too. So, using his power as a stargazer, Kujaku gives his life to wake Ashura.
Ashura is naturally horrified to wake up having committed mass murder, among other things, but Yasha embraces him/her and says, “Even so, you will live on…because you have promised me. I need you. I only live if you are there. Let’s stay together forever, until the end of our days. That is our ‘promise.’” And there the story ends, with the promise again.
About Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
"The fact that new things have been born from that destruction has a second meaning: Everything is hitsuzen."
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is one of CLAMP’s current series. 18 volumes have been published in Japan at the time of writing, and the anime has two seasons, counting 52 episodes (most of the TRC fandom would like you to note that the anime is terrible and we want nothing to do with it). The manga is published in English by Del Rey, with volumes 1-12 currently available.
CLAMP has been crossing over their series ever since they had series to crossover, and TRC is their largest crossover, connecting all of their series in a multiverse of their own creation. In each alternate universe live characters from CLAMP’s various works - they are not the same people as they were before, but they share the same souls as their selves in different worlds. Traveling through these many worlds are Syaoran and Sakura, their elder companions Fay D. Fluorite and Kurogane, and Mokona Modoki, the bouncy creature that is also the means of transport given to them by the Witch of Dimension. They are on a quest to retrieve Sakura’s feathers - pieces of Sakura’s heart that were scattered among the worlds, each an item of incredible power.
About Yasha and Ashura in TRC
“As with the flame, nothing caught up in the flow of time will ever be repeated.”
Yasha and Ashura make an appearance together in Tsubasa. One of the worlds visited by Sakura and company is the country of Shara, in which two groups, the Suzuran troupe (a kind of all-female traveling circus) and the Jinja (a “shrine to protect the people,” run entirely by men), are at odds. The Suzuran troupe travels around the country but once a year returns to its home, Yuuka-ku, near the Jinja. Every year at the same time disasters befall the area. The Jinja blames this on the statue of Ashura, the Suzuran troupe’s guardian god, which the troupe brings with them. The Jinja happens to be in possession of its own guardian god statue - this one of Yasha. This statue sheds blood “tears” from its right eye at the same time when the Suzuran troupe comes into the area, which the Jinja’s leaders have believed warns of the disasters brought by the Ashura statue. In their search for Sakura’s feather, the travelers are transported into Shara’s past, where we learn the origin of this conflict.
The past of the country of Shara turns out to be the country of Shura, ruled by the Ashura. This country is at war with the country of Yama, ruled by the Yasha. These two countries are in fact located nowhere near each other - the two clans have never seen each other anywhere but at the Moon Castle. The Moon Castle, a rocky structure floating high above the world’s surface, is the cause of the war. Each night, from moonrise until the moon reaches its zenith the armies of the two countries are summoned to the Moon Castle, where they fight against each other to gain possession of the castle. According to legend, all wishes will be granted to whoever takes the Moon Castle.
At the time when the dimensional travelers arrive, the rulers of the two countries are alternate universe versions of the Yasha and Ashura relevant to this manifesto. To tell their story in the most straightforward fashion: somehow, while fighting each other every night, these two kings fell in love with each other. They continued the war despite this, but neither ever had an advantage over the other as they were both powerful warriors. But eventually, Yasha became ill - weakened by the disease he was unable to defend himself as Ashura expected him to, and as a result lost his right eye to Ashura’s sword (apparently, if you lose an eye once in CLAMPverse, you’re going to lose it again). Yasha dies because of the illness, and after he dies his spirit visits Ashura in Shura country to say goodbye (and also they kiss - which a) is rare in CLAMP manga in general, and b) gives the strong impression that CLAMP intends them as a romantic pairing, if one has doubts on the subject).
This is where the feathers get involved: one of Sakura’s feathers enters this world, and becomes an exact replica of Yasha - all but the right eye, which is intact. Ashura recognizes that this Yasha is an illusion, but still cannot bring him/herself to destroy it. So Ashura calls on Yuuko, the Witch of Dimension (everyone who’s anyone in Tsubasa, provided they have sufficient magical power, knows Yuuko). Ashura asks Yuuko to send Syaoran, Sakura, et al, to his/her world, apparently for moral support. A couple days after Syaoran and Sakura arrive, Ashura is able to destroy the fake Yasha (and there is a very sweet scene also involving kisses) and return the feather to Syaoran. In doing so, the Ashura clan gains control of the Moon Castle, so Ashura asks the castle to grant his/her greatest wish. But as it turns out, no power in the universe is great enough to grant Ashura’s wish - to bring Yasha back to life. Despite all urging, Ashura refuses to leave the quickly disintegrating castle as everyone else does. Ashura dies (effectively committing suicide) in the fall from the ruined Moon Castle, but only after making a final wish to Yuuko: s/he asks that s/he and Yasha become gods in the future, to stand as proof that not even gods are capable of everything.
In the aftermath, Syaoran makes request of the Ashura clan: “If you ever find [your rulers’] bodies, or even portions of their remains…please! Find some way to bury them together. Do it for them!” Then he and the other travelers go on - and find themselves back in the country of Shara. But this version is different: the Jinja and the Suzuran troupe happily coexist and are celebrating a wedding together. The statues of Yasha and Ashura are here one statue - some of the women and men inform Syaoran that the gods have always been together, and the old stories say never to separate them. From this Syaoran and the others realize that their actions have changed Shura country’s future (that is, Shara) from the one they first visited. From this we can draw the conclusion that it was the separation of the two gods (as their statues) that caused the disasters that plagued the first version of Shara. The moral of the story: letting Ashura and Yasha be together is better for everyone.
So we have a very pretty, romantic, if tragic AU scenario. We don’t see very much of Yasha, but Tsubasa gives us another view of Ashura. This Ashura is older and lacks much of the naïveté of RG Veda’s Ashura, being more experienced (and a king and warlord). S/he also hasn’t been traumatized over and over again since birth like RG Veda’s Ashura. Despite these differences between worlds, Ashura’s feelings for Yasha remain as strong as before, as this Ashura again goes against the will of the universe for Yasha, even if this time s/he can’t win. These versions of Ashura and Yasha have the same desire not to be separated. But most importantly, their appearance together establishes Yasha and Ashura as what we in the fandom tend to call “soulmates.” This means that, as souls recurring in the many worlds of CLAMPverse, in each world they both appear in they will be drawn to each other and love each other the most - souls that are bound to one another.
About This Fan and This Pairing
“Therefore the more I wanted to see with my own eyes how man’s heart, their affinity, changes the path of the stars.”
So, me, this silly fangirl writing out this whole long essay about how OMGOTP my favorite pairing is. In the first place, I’m a CLAMP fan, and when I finally admitted this to myself and decided to read everything they wrote, I read RG Veda, and immediately fell for the series. As for Yasha/Ashura, when I reached the end of the first volume I said to myself “I have no idea what kind of relationship this is supposed to be, but it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” I also read the Shura/Shara arc of Tsubasa nearly simultaneously with RG Veda, so soon I knew that Yasha/Ashura was going to the very top of my favorite pairings list.
Why do I like them? I love their intensity - it errs towards over-the-top, but I (being something of a romantic) like it that way. They will go to any lengths to be with each other, even if it means going against gods and the law of the universe. They live for each other - each is necessary for the other’s existence. It’s a kind of codependency that would be dangerous if the feelings were not entirely equal between them, but they can meet each other promise for promise and act for act. I like the equality between them, strange as that may sound considering the age difference. There’s little power difference - both of them need and want to protect and support the other, the only obstacle being experience. In Tsubasa, where the age difference is removed, they are perfectly matched on the battlefield and (apparently) as rulers. In some ways the two are alike and in others they contrast. They complement each other well and make an adorable combination in their interactions. They’re simple; their love for each other is unmixed with resentment, fear, antagonism, or the like. I love conflicted relationships as much as the next CLAMP fan, but sometimes it’s nice this way too. I also like the way this couple doesn’t really fit into the usual categories of het, yaoi/slash, etc. Now, I like all of those, but fandom has so many assumptions based on those categories that I enjoy having a pairing that (at least in theory) lies outside those lines. For the sake of full disclosure, Yasha/Ashura also gets full points from me in the aesthetics category.
About the Fandom
The fandom for this pairing is decidedly meager. RG Veda’s fandom is very small and only partially alive, and while Tsubasa has a larger fandom there’s not much related to Yasha and Ashura there.
The main LJ communities for RG Veda and TRC:
rg_veda
tsubasarc
Fanfic:
Heartbeat of the War God by October - Post-RG Veda, 13 chapters.
No Heaven for Us by Mimi Zhou - Post-RG Veda, one-shot
Peace by Myranda Kalis - a mostly Tenou-centric fic set after the Dark Ashura crisis, includes some Yasha/Ashura.
Patience by XxDeafening.SilencexX - a drabble for TRC Yasha and Ashura
(If you’d like more than that, um…I did a claim for the TRC version of the pairing at 1sentence myself.)
As for fanart I admit a total lack of knowledge. If you ever find any fanart for this pairing, I’d love to see it.