Chapter Six : Dreams of Future Passed

Sesshoumaru carried Ishiru back to the fortress. As soon as he arrived, Rin came from around the hall with flowers in her hands.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, what happened to Ishiru-chan?" Rin ran up to him. She hopped a little, trying to see Ishiru.

"She will be fine Rin. Ask Aisumii for more paints and go find Jaken." The taiyoukai said and Rin scampered off, giggling at the thought of tormenting her favorite play-toy.

Sesshoumaru reached Ishiru's room and lay her down on the futon. He noticed the bandages on the table. They lacked any scent but Ishiru's and that of the servant boy that saw to her room. 'So, she doesn't like Aisumii.' He picked up the rest of the bandages and brought them over to the futon.

He untied the thin white obi at her waist and took her arm from its sleeve, exposing her wounded shoulder. He shoved aside his rising instincts at her newly revealed skin and bound her shoulder. Ishiru's expression became pained as the bindings tightened from Sesshoumaru's tenseness. Sesshoumaru stopped for a moment, calming his hand and loosening the bandages.

He finished her shoulder and set about her hands, which had been scraped to the point of bleeding. Just as he was finishing, Aisumii stepped silently into the room.

"Dana... Why did you not call on me to take care of her?" Aisumii knelt a safe distance away from Sesshoumaru.

"It is not your concern what kono Sesshoumaru does." He said, standing up. "Go find Rin. Make sure she is occupied." Sesshoumaru got a salve from the table and went back to Ishiru as Aisumii left the room.

Ishiru's dream went in strange directions. She thought she had heard Sesshoumaru say that he had come to save her! No way that could have been real. She fell deeper into the recesses of her mind.

She saw a little girl running down cobblestone streets, the buildings looked a lot like they did in Sengoku Jidai. But they were somewhat more uniform. The boards matched up perfectly in width and height. She was in the time period about three hundred years later then Sengoku Jidai.

The little girl ran around all the buildings until she came to a field. She took a deep breath and smiled. She spread her arms and her body glowed a faint blue as she gained demonic features. Lines drew their ways across her cheeks and her ears elongated as dainty claws replaced her nails. Ishiru realized that the little girl... 'That's me!' She thought and tried to go to the child. But she couldn't move. Her body ached and her shoulder practically burned in pain. Her vision of the little girl vanished and was replaced with darkness.

She felt something cool sliding into her arms, banishing her pain as it flowed through her veins into the rest of her body. Ishiru felt her mind slipping into consciousness and gripped her dream for a moment longer before surrendering to reality. She lay on her futon, her eyes still closed. She felt someone's hands gently massaging her arms. A cool substance was being spread along her aching muscles by gentle fingers. Ishiru didn't open her eyes. She just lay there, enjoying the feeling.

Sesshoumaru could tell she was awake. Her heart rate had increased enough to state as much. But he kept working the salve into her arms, wondering vaguely when she would realize that only half of her torso was covered.

OOO

"Well you know. That's not a bad idea." Erisa said, reading Sesshoumaru's thoughts. She picked up the "chess piece" that represented Ishiru and prodded gently at it before placing it back on the table. As she set down the piece, she realized what Ishiru had been dreaming.

"Chikuso!" She stood from her chair. "She's remembering her future life!" Erisa paced in front of her table, trying to think.

OOO

Ishiru shifted a little and felt a slight lack of sensation on the left half of her torso. She couldn't feel her shirt there at all. She woke up a little more. 'NANI!' She screamed mentally. She opened her eyes and tried to move. But her muscles wouldn't respond. She looked around the reaches of her sight and saw Sesshoumaru next to her.

"You..." She said, struggling to find appropriate words. Sesshoumaru sealed a hand over her mouth before she could shout at him.

"Would you rather have Aisumii treat you? Or perhaps, not be treated at all...?" Ishiru still glared at him. "I will remove my hand, only if you do not shout." Sesshoumaru stated coolly. Ishiru humphed, but nodded and Sesshoumaru took his hand from over her mouth.

"Seeing that I can't move, I will ask you to please cover me up." She said, her voice deadly calm. Sesshoumaru grinned inwardly and made no move to conceal her. She pouted in a child-like way and opened her mouth to snap at him. Then she remembered her promise not to shout at him and shut her mouth, blushing at her exposure.

Ishiru fought to stay mad at him as his hands worked the soreness from her muscles. She sighed and gave up retaining her frustration. He slowly worked his way up her arm, the movement in her fingers returning. She lightly moved her clawed fingers against the sheets, experimenting.

"If you move too much before your muscles have had a chance to rest, you will take even longer to recover completely." Sesshoumaru reprimanded, his hands reaching her shoulders. Ishiru pouted a little, but stopped moving. He was right... She had stressed her muscles too much and if she used them now, they would only take longer to heal. She closed her eyes and let herself fully relax as Sesshoumaru began to work the salve into the flesh around the base of her neck.

He mentally smirked. She was practically falling asleep under his hands. Her eyes closed and her breathing slowed to an inhuman rate. But then, she wasn't human so Sesshoumaru didn't think anything of it. But he did begin to worry when her pulse began to decrease. The bandages on her shoulder began to smoke lightly and Sesshoumaru removed them, revealing the wound beneath to be frothing with some kind of venom. He gave the wound a quick visual examination before determining that the venom was Ishiru's own.

Otsuma had cut a main artery that carried her venom to her hands. And now she was being intoxicated by her own poisons. Sesshoumaru mentally swore and sealed his hand over the wound, releasing a mild form of his own venom. Ishiru let out her breath in a feral hiss, her hands tensing as her claws extended and she convulsed, still miraculously unconscious. Her back curled, her chin pulled into her chest as her body rebelled the venom, her poisons fighting with Sesshoumaru's.

He growled in the back of his throat and let a bit stronger venom seep from his palm. Her venom sizzled and died, leaving way for his to clean out the wound. Ishiru fell back into the bed, her body too tortured to take anything more and she fell into a deep sleep.

Sesshoumaru heard her heart rate slow again, and then relaxed when it maintained its speed. He rebound her wounds and left the salve by her bed as he stood up. He would have to rebegin the treatment of her muscles with it when she woke up. Sesshoumaru quietly closed the door behind him and stood outside her room.

Why was he so concerned with her well being anyway? And why did it bother him to have another treat her!