Chapter Seven of Once in a Blue Moon!

It's kinda fluffy, but not really.

So here it is.

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Chapter Seven:

Unhealed Burns

Yue sighed.

'This is very strange.'

Two demons, one cold hearted and the other with a strange past, walking around the forest on a quest to stop a large quantity of trespassing demons all the while searching for a human family is not exactly the most common occurrence.

Another quiet sigh.

Finally tired of having nothing to do, the demoness resulted to just taking in nature's beauty that she had just realized was pretty much everywhere around her. Red flowers dotted certain parts of the ground, and lively green colors made the scene vivid and picturesque.

"It's beautiful," she murmured.

"You seem to take consideration in the most trivial matters, demoness."

Hearing the comment, Yue was pulled out of her thoughts, looking on to Sesshomaru's back.

"Hm, it appears so," she confessed, "But the matters that you consider to be so necessary would not look as important were it not for these trivial things to uphold their greatness."

Sesshomaru didn't say anything. What she said was true.

As as she was about to continue on at her inspection with the environmental beauty, Yue saw something.

She gasped.

"I did that, didn't I?" she asked, knowing full well that it was her fault. Yue remembered ordering Seishin to get Sesshomaru away from her when he had kissed her during their battle. As a result, she felt heat rising from the sais; fire, she had assumed.

'I did this.'

The lord turned around at the question just in time to see Yue reaching out her arms and gently touching his. He looked down at her as she continued to inspect the burn marks on his hands - burn marks that spiraled around his arms and stretched up to just below his elbow. He had managed to ignore the sting a while back but know, the unwanted feeling of it started to come back, numbing his arms with a bit of pain. But it wasn't a tremendous amount of discomfort that he, Sesshomaru, could not deal with. Still, Yue lifted the sleeves of his kimono to see the extent of the burn marks.

'His skin...it's been completely eaten away at where the fire had probably been,' she noted, 'And yet, although he was burned so badly, he isn't showing any pain in his expression.'

She looked up intently to find a hidden clue of pain in his face. There wasn't any.

'He's hiding it well. Even a great dog demon would feel some sort of reaction to burns as deep and as long as these,' Yue concluded.

But no matter what, this was all shoved up for her shoulders to carry.

"I did not mean to,"she said quietly.

"This wound is nothing," Sesshomaru explained to her, "It should completely heal within several days."

Liar. She knew he was lying. Wounds, especially burns as deep and widespread as these, would take a minimum of a week to heal completely even for demons.

"Still, let me take care of it so that it shall heal more quickly," she told him instead.

She started to lead him to a large rock nearby, tugging gently on his arms in order to carefully steer clear of the incinerated flesh. Yue pushed down on his shoulders to get him to sit on the protruding rock before kneeling on her knees to have better access on his injuries.

"I thought you had wanted to find your family," she heard him say, "Why do you bother taking care of a wound that would eventually heal even without such treatment."

"My family is strong. And I believe that they would want me to take care of matters that are of my own reckless consequence," Yue answered.

She smiled a bit before continuing on, "And besides my lord, even if this wound is capable of taking care of itself without my intrusion, it does so with the presence of discomfort. And it bothers me that I am the cause of such pain."

"Hn. Do as you please."

"Thank you, my lord. I am sorry for having done this to you," the woman apologized. And Sesshomaru knew that she meant it.

Once Yue had looked at the burns for the best course of treatment, she headed out to gather some water to clean them with. As rapidly as she could, she dipped a large leaf she had found under a small pool of water. Once doing so, she raced back to find Sesshomaru looking as passive as ever as he remained sitting on the rock.

Soaking a white cloth that she had brought in case of situations such as these, she dabbed the burns. This was the second time that she had to tend to him because he had managed to get hurt as a result of her actions. And this was the second time that she paid careful attention to any signs of pain that may slip from his controlled emotions. But once again, Sesshomaru did not give such clues, so Yue continued on by applying an herbal ointment that she always carried behind the sash on her waist.

'Okay, now all I need are bandages.'

The demoness finally decided to rip a part of her sleeves to wrap around the cleaned and salved limps. However, just as she made a move to tear a part of her kimono into two pieces, a hand gripped hers in a firm but soft touch, effectively stopping her.

"It is fine."

"But I still have to cover your burns," she reasoned with him, not at all trying to pry her hands from his hold.

"No, you have done more than enough for me," Sesshomaru said, "The medicine should be able to heal it just fine without bandages."

"Um, if you say so."

"Hn."

Releasing his hands, the demon stood from his sitting position. He turned and began walking to the south, but Yue remained sitting on the ground, unknowingly fixed to her position. Apparently, whenever they have encounters like these, she always managed to become fixated or dazed. But it's not like she could even think clearly at these times.

Sesshomaru stopped.

"Are you not coming?"

"Huh? Oh, yes," Yue said after finally coming to her senses and running up to walk side by side with the young lord.

She gave an almost unnoticeable smile, but Sesshomaru saw it.

'He's starting to seem more human. Well, as human as a demon could get."

And with that, their journey continues on.

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So, as you can see, Sesshomaru is starting to give some hints of emotion. But don't get me wrong, I am not trying to make him get out of character.

And now...Review Please!