Chapter Three : A Taste Of Anger

Ishiru wandered through Sesshoumaru's vast fortress. Rin was outside playing with Jaken and Sesshoumaru was somewhere doing whatever he did during the day.

She came to a large heavy door that felt wooden under her fingertips. Her sight had returned to light and dark patches, but still she could not see any details or color.

But it seemed that she didn't really need sight. Though she had the claws and various other features of a cat, wolf and falcon, her sense of hearing was just like a bat's. She could "see" using echolocation. Ishiru marveled at this ability and used it whenever possible.

Ishiru pushed open the door immediately listening for the features of the room inside. A sharp ring met her ears from many directions, informing her that there was metal in the room. Under further inspection, she discerned the shape of the metals. Various weapons on standing and wall hanging racks were littered about the floor and walls.

Ishiru approached a sword rack and picked up one of the thinner blades. But her perception had not been fine-tuned enough to tell just where to grasp it. As a result, Ishiru took hold of the blade with half her hand.

With a sharp intake of breath she released the sword and it clattered to the ground. Ishiru clutched her wrist to stop the flow of blood from her wound. Her magical powers as weak as a kitten in the spring, it would take a while for her to learn how to heal instantly.

Had she not been injured, Ishiru would have noticed the form appear behind her. Sesshoumaru took a hold of her wrist, surprising her into letting go of her bleeding appendage.

"Fool. You should not handle things that you do not know how to use." Said the taiyoukai as he examined the wound.

"I wanted to know how so that I might be able to protect Rin should she be in danger when I am watching over her." Ishiru said defiantly, quickly making up a suitable excuse for picking up the sword.

"Well you've bled on that blade, therefore it is now yours." Said the taiyoukai before heading towards the door. "See Aisumii. You will find her in the East Wing, she will help you with that cut."

OOO

Ishiru winced at Aisumii pulled her hand into obtuse angles to examine the wound.

"Stupid girl. Next time don't touch the swords until you can see them!" scolded the plant sprite. "Now since you don't know how to heal yet, I'll have to wrap this up like a human!"

"What a waste. If you'd only learnt such elementary magics you wouldn't, nor I, would be in this situation." The sprite went to a few of the drawers in her little chamber, taking out bandages and several other salves and such.

"Well I'm sorry for causing you such inconvenience. It doesn't cause me the slightest bit of bother to have my hand cut open." Said Ishiru sarcastically. "Of course I just have scolded about something that can no longer be helped." Aisumii put all the things she had collected down on the table.

"Well if you weren't such a bumbling idiot you wouldn't do things like this at all!" she snapped.

"You think I can help it! Let's see YOU pick up a sword properly without using your eyes!"

"What'd you do? Close your eyes when you picked up the sword?" asked Aisumii smirking.

Ishiru closed her eyes, struggling with something that was boiling up inside of her. Like raw flame burning inside her veins. This. PERSON, just didn't understand, either that or she could not see that Ishiru was blind. But Sesshoumaru would have told all his staff. Why not her? Or was she just using this as some way to hurt her? Ishiru thought furiously, trying to understand just what she had done to deserve such from Aisumii.

"Can't you see." said Ishiru through gritted teeth. "That I can't?" Aisumii didn't look the least bit surprised.

"Oh, is that why you didn't see when Rin came so close to falling into the river?" said Aisumii, attacking Ishiru from a different angle this time. "Or when she almost got bitten by that snake?"

"So close but yet so far!" Ishiru began to raise her voice. Rin had come to mean a lot to the youkai girl and Ishiru constantly berated herself for those rare instances when she had come close to hurting herself. "Those things came close to happening but never did!"

"And what if there's a real emergency. Say some demon is trying to eat poor defenseless little Rin. What will you do? You can't see it to attack it. Even if your powers were good enough." Aisumii mocked.

Ishiru turned her head down and clenched both hands into fists, her claws digging into her palms deepening her wound and creating new ones. But she took little heed of them. All her concentration was going to controlling the white-hot rage that boiled fervently in her blood.

"Thought so." Said Aisumii with a triumphant smirk. But the nymph's words broke through Ishiru's concentration. Anger took her control of her arm and Ishiru lashed out at Aisumii.

Faster than light, her claws extended and struck Aisumii across the face, leaving four bloody gashes and knocking the nymph over. Ishiru looked at her hand. Blood covered the four fingers that had struck Aisumii. Ishiru, still in the throes of her anger, calmly picked up a square of bandage and cleaned her hand.

As soon as she set down the now dirtied square of cloth, Ishiru's anger faded. She stepped back, looking at Aisumii who lay on the floor holding her cheek where she had struck. Ishiru shuddered briefly and hurriedly left the room heading straight for her own chambers. As soon as she reached her room, Ishiru sat down heavily on the bed.

"Now what do I do." Wondered the youkai aloud. An idea came into her head and Ishiru stood up. The walls sounded hollow and one spot was particularly thin. Ishiru walked over to the thin area and knocked.

"Is anyone in there?" as she expected, the section of wall opened and a small human came out. The little boy was dressed simply in a cloth that was slung over his shoulder and was much to big for him.

"Hai Ojou-sama, what can I do for ye." Asked the child.

"Um, I need some bandages and such for wounds like these." Ishiru showed the little boy the cuts on her palms.

"Oh." The boy's eyes widened. "Hai Ojou-sama. I be back 'soon as I can." With that the child vanished and the door closed.

Ishiru sat back on the bed. Not to long after the boy returned with her requested items and left again just as fast.

Soon after Ishiru had adequately cleaned and wrapped her hands, then set off to find Sesshoumaru. 'Ooh. I'll prove that witch wrong. I'll be the greatest youkai there ever was. Then no one will be able to call me weak.' She thought furiously as she walked through the halls to Sesshoumaru's study.

OOO

Sesshoumaru reclined in his study, seemingly looking over some papers. But in truth his thoughts were of the strange youkai who had inhabited his home for the past three days.

So far she had taken good care of Rin. But Aisumii had told him that her sight had come to inhibit her care of the little girl that he had come to care for.

OOO

"Her lack of training could lead to a real disaster if you weren't here to defend her and Rin should a youkai make it's way to the fortress and attack such an easy meal."

OOO

Sesshoumaru's sensitive ears picked up the sounds of Ishiru's footfalls well before she came. Again, he made a quick and critical decision, yet this one he was less likely to regret. Sesshoumaru stood up and headed towards Ishiru.

He met her quite soon after he left his study. Her posture radiated determination. Though slightly lacking, her eyes also showed her resolve as well. Ishiru stopped just in front of the taiyoukai and was about to speak when Sesshoumaru placed a single fingertip on her lips shushing her.

"You start training tomorrow morning." Was all he said before turning around and heading back to his study. Now maybe he'd be able to get some work done.

Ishiru blinked in confusion. How in the nine hells had he known what she was going to say?

OOO

Next Morning

OOO

Ishiru woke up to something standing on her front, and whatever it was, it smelt terrible! She opened her eyes to a disturbing sight of Jaken.

"Get up wench." Snapped the toad youkai. Ishiru blinked at him. Then her eyebrow twitched ominously.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!" She dumped Jaken off her front and curved herself into a graceful backwards arc, effectively knocking Jaken off her bed at incredible speed to crash soundly into the door, knocking it open, then slamming into the parallel wall.

Ishiru got up, heedless of her minute clothing of a white rib length sleeveless shirt and a loose white skirt that made up her sleeping garment, and slammed the door shut leaving a swirly-eyed Jaken still imbedded in the wall across the hallway.

Ishiru went briefly through her closet and found the outfit that the seamstress had made for her for her training. It was a sleeveless kimono- like top that tied just below her bust and pants, both dyed a deep, midnight blue.

She put on the garments and tied her hair up with a blue strip of cloth and pulled back her bangs with an identical cloth. She opened her door to find Jaken attempting to work himself out of the wall with little success. Ishiru studied him for a moment, then turned to the left and punched him further into the wall as she passed.

Needless to say, she was by no means a morning person.

After many errors, but not so many as Ishiru expected, Ishiru found the big wooden door of the dojo. It surprised her that she could tell that the door was a deep red in color, as well as the fact that she could see the deeper and more vibrant colors around her. She listened intently for any sign of movement inside the room, after finding none she heaved the door ajar and went in.

Ishiru followed her senses back towards the sword rack. One gave off the sharp strangely metallic scent of her own blood, naming it hers. Ishiru touched the flat of the blade tracing it up to the hilt. Gripping it firmly, she wrested it from the rack and hefted it securely in two hands.

"It will be a long time yet before you learn to use a blade." Sesshoumaru's voice drifted over from the far corner of the large room. Ishiru whirled to face him, thinking to herself, 'And the sooner I can protect Rin."

"Then I'd like to get started. The sooner I get better the sooner I can use one." Ishiru said defiantly.

Thence after for the entire day, Ishiru trained. By midday, Ishiru was nearly spent. She had used up the first four hours sprinting across Sesshoumaru's lands. Then the last two working her arm muscles by climbing and helping out with repairs in the fortress. (The southern wall needed to be replaced)

Needless to say, she was exhausted. When Sesshoumaru called for a break, Ishiru heaved a heavy sigh of relief as she flopped down on the training ground floor. He handed her a leather flask and Ishiru drained it in nearly one gulp, half choking in the process. If Sesshoumaru noticed, he said nothing.

The afore mentioned taiyoukai walked to the other side of the dojo and leaned against the wall to watch Ishiru. 'She has unbelievable endurance for someone who had never trained.' He thought as he watched her massage her sore leg and arm muscles. 'She's smart to work her muscles although she isn't using them.'

Ishiru stretched one last time then stood up. She walked along side the multitude of racks, each holding a different kind of weapon. She soon spotted two kinds that peaked her interest.

One was a long metal staff with an elongated ax blade at the end and the end sharpened to a fine point. The other was one that was entirely unfamiliar to her. It consisted of two small, wickedly curved blades, and one larger one which was connected to the other two on either side by means of two five inch long bars wrapped in leather and held in place with spiraling metallic strips.

She firmly took the upper most handle in her hand and picked up the weapon. It was surprisingly light, considering it's bulk. Ishiru hefted it a couple of times in one hand before taking the other handle in her remaining palm. She moved it a few times through the air then put it back on the rack.

"Sesshoumaru, could I learn to use this?" she asked over her shoulder.

"You could." He said noncommittally. Ishiru grinned, that was as close to a yes as she would ever get.

"Thank you!"

"But not until you finish training without weapons." He reprimanded, causing Ishiru to deflate quite abruptly.