This screenshot motivational poster is highly pro-Ayame, pro-Shunran, and pro-AyaShu in the platonic BroTP sense as well as a bit of shojo-ai between these two fiery redheads. So, sit in for a spell and take heed for why I believe Ayame's and Shunran's friendship is the stuff of legends in my eyes.
For as long as I can remember, I have been platonically shipping Ayame and Shunran as great friends almost akin to sisters. It should also come as no surprise that I am a hardcore Sesshoumaru x Ayame, Inuyasha x Ayame, and Ginta x Shunran shipper, the former which I made my OT3 for life and the latter which I made my OTP for life. Growing up with a lot of installments where two or more girls end up being best friends for life made me take a long, hard look at how I envisioned Ayame's and Shunran's friendship and I surprised myself in terms of how many positive traits I can find with the brave wolf yokai princess and the feisty panther yokai of spring. Ergo, they can certainly build a friendship that can last a lifetime.
Ayame's bravery, strength, courage, and persistence meshes extremely well with Shunran's cunning, feistiness, craftiness, and fun-loving attitude to the point where physical strength and boundless stamina meet surprising cognizance and beguiling precision. Therefore, when one combines Ayame's powerful punches, lightning kicks, and relentless endurance with Shunran's hypnotizing flower mirages, accurate replication, and agile speed, these two would become the most powerful fighting duo all of Feudal Era Japan has ever witnessed.
However, it is not just glory, power, and conquest that define their strength when they are together. It is also how honest, genuine, and dynamic their relationship is and goes so much deeper than just two friends being there for each other. Ayame may have her grandfather, her fellow tribesmen, and, of course, her two beloved beaus Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha and Ayame may have her daring oldest sister Toran, her brawny older brother Shuran, her fiery older sister Karan, and her charming knight in shining armor Ginta, but Ayame wants to know what it is like to have sisters in her family rather than just "brothers" and Shunran wants to learn how to be stronger the natural way rather than just relying on the illusory tricks that she has up her long, silken sleeves. By joining them together, they could get a feeling of what it is like in each others' shoes and learn something completely new about each other every single day.
Another facet that would define Ayame's and Shunran's tight, sisterly friendship is the amount of respect and admiration they have for each other because they complete each other in a way siblings and the best of friends would turn really green with envy.
Ayame would easily admire Shunran and her spunk, as she can see a girl who enjoys living her life to the fullest and is not afraid to speak up whenever something goes wrong. To Ayame, Shunran is like the little sister she would like to have and would do anything in her power to keep her safe from all harm, look after her, and make sure that she does not do anything too risky or too stupid. She would even do wonders with Shunran by helping her improve on her punches, kicks, endurance, and speed with daily sparring matches and marathon-running.
Shunran would definitely love having Ayame as a cool older sister figure in her life. Sure, while Shunran is content with the big siblings she has, Ayame is the one who improves her overall outlook on the concept that family does not always have to be about blood relations but rather having something in common. What makes Shunran respect Ayame so much are her outstanding traits such as her strength, her courage, her ability go headfirst into battle, and, most of all, the compassion to her friends and her family. Part of Shunran might have a bit of a crush on Ayame because of all those glowing traits, but she would realize that they are better off as best friends for life because of how their perceptions of love and life vary. Furthermore, Shunran would also inspire Ayame to not take things too seriously and always find the time to unwind every once in a while.
One can say that Ayame is the Xena, Louise, and Wonder Woman to Shunran's Gabrielle, Thelma, and Hawk Girl because of the concept of having a main heroine in Ayame and a secondary heroine/sidekick in Shunran. That could not be further from the truth given how physical Ayame is in battle and how Shunran's craftiness can be a huge plus to ensuring victory in everything they accomplish as a team. However, if you cut right down to the bone, there is so much trust to be found between Ayame and Shunran where they can be themselves when they are with each other and no one can judge them for that. Their compassion is even off the charts, as they share each others' moments of triumph, sadness, doubt, surprise, anxiety, and joy, thus demonstrating a commitment few friends can ever aspire to attain.
My AU headcanon for Ayame and Shunran is that they have been best friends ever since they were little babies, i.e. when Ayame was two years old and Shunran was barely a month old. Their long-lasting friendship even extended to being great friends and comrades to 6-year-old Sesshoumaru, 5-year-old Shuran, 4-year-olds Inuyasha and Hakkaku, and 3-year-old Ginta as well as 7-year-old Kuranosuke Takeda who they also swore to protect and 2-year-old Ayumi and 1-year-old Karan who were their closest allies. As Ayame and Shunran continued to grow up together, their bond grew stronger and stronger to the point where they constantly confided in each other and made sure that no one dared to break their indestructibly sisterly bond.
Even when Ayame is happily married to both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha and Shunran is happily married to Ginta, they maintained their strong bond as sisters from other misters, especially when Rin, Shiori, Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha passed down that brand of sisterhood to Kanna, Moegi, and Ai and they also passed it down to the next generation.
In conclusion, Ayame and Shunran have been building their amazing friendship on trust, loyalty, respect, admiration, compassion, strength in numbers, persistence, and oodles of positivity. There is not one gray cloud that can separate them or mutilate their friendship, as their strong will can eradicate any form of negativity.
I hope you all managed to soak in Ayame's and Shunran's brand of lovable sisterhood and I will see you in the next submission. Take care and stay safe, everybody.
Ayame and Shunran from Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Sunrise.
