Chapter Nine : Run Away
Ishiru fell, too shocked to catch herself. She lay there for a moment before propping herself up on one arm. 'I knew it. He is angry.'
"I'm sorry... Sesshoumaru-sama." She said, keeping her head bowed. Ishiru got up, and turned, walking away.
"You dare..." Sesshoumaru growled. Ishiru stopped, but didn't turn around.
"Yes, I dare." She said. 'He's already mad at me. Why not...' Ishiru thought. "I apologized! What more do you want?" She shouted.
White exploded in front of her eyes and Ishiru felt her knees go. Then she felt pain. It was impossible for her to tell if her abdomen was freezing or burning. Ishiru looked down to find a blood covered, clawed hand clutching through the torn front of her haori. She yelped as she was pulled sharply backwards. Sparks flew across her eyes as she felt something else tear in her stomach.
"I want you gone..." Was the whisper in her ear. Ishiru was flung to the ground like a rag doll. Ishiru felt his presence drift away. She lay there for a while, until her wound stopped bleeding in torrents. Only once she was only loosing about ten spoons of blood a minute did she move.
She coughed, blood spattering the ground as she heaved herself up. "Fine..." Ishiru stood, ignoring the pain from her injury. She tore her sleeve and bound the shreds around her middle wincing as she tightened them. Then, Ishiru began to walk back to the fortress. If she were to leave, she would need some things first.
Rin finally let her hand drop from her mouth, gasping for the breath she had been holding. 'How could he? Why did Sesshoumaru-sama hurt Ishiru-san?' She thought frantically as she ducked back behind a large shrub.
OOO
Ishiru snuck to her room, mindful of her scent. She entered though her window as she had exited the morning before. She quickly grabbed a few kimonos from her closet, a few spare haori along with her training gi and boots.
As she was rooting through her desk, Ishiru found a small hair-clip. Its delicate form was that of a butterfly, the thin silver legs forming the clasp. The wings were spattered with gems, clinging to the silver webbing like water on dew.
OOO
"Here." Sesshoumaru took a handful of the hair blocking her eyes and fastened it out of the way with the clip. Ishiru reached up and felt it. Her eyesight had yet to return at the time and she could form mental imagery as a supplement.
"Thank you." She said, looking towards where she thought he was. She felt his hand cup her cheek and Ishiru froze.
"You're welcome." He slipped away, withdrawing his aura. She couldn't find him.
OOO
Ishiru bit her lip and was about to throw the comb on the bed when she stopped. Something had entered her mind, an idea from some dark corner of her mind. She wrapped up her things and grabbed a square of white silk before darting out her window, the clip in her hand.
Ishiru reached the dojo and slid in through the window. She slid Soru no Heijin from its rack on the wall and added its back-holster to her collection as well as a wakazashi blade and sheath. She stood before Soru no Heijin's rack, staring at the empty space on the wall.
She snatched a dagger from a table nearby. After a few moments of work with the white silk and comb she had formed a small, silk wrapped parcel, slightly stained with her blood and had pinned it to the wall with the dagger.
"You want me gone? Then I am gone." She whispered before darting out the window and away.
OOO
Sesshoumaru sat in his study sifting through some papers without really paying any attention to them. It was oddly silent. 'Rin...' He wondered vaguely where she was.
"Sesshoumaru-SAMA!" Sesshoumaru's head turned at Rin's shout. She sounded angry. Not as if Jaken had said something mean, but as if she were truly furious. He had never heard her sound like that before. Sesshoumaru stood up as the little girl approached the room.
The door to his study was shoved open and Rin ran in.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Why did you hurt Ishiru-san? She didn't do anything! Rin thinks she might be dead now! Rin likes Ishiru-san! Why did you hurt her?" Tears were falling down her cheeks as she shouted.
Sesshoumaru was utterly shocked. He had done no such thing. True, he had worked her hard in training that day, but he hadn't seen her since.
"Rin, what are you talking about? I have not seen Ishiru since this afternoon." He said, his voice giving away nothing, as usual.
"Rin saw you! You put your hand through her belly! Then you threw her!" Rin had buried her face in his hakama. Sesshoumaru knelt. If he wanted to find out anything else, he would have to calm the child first.
"Rin. I promise you that it was not me you saw. But, if you want me to find Ishiru, I need you to talk to me." He said, putting an arm around her tiny shoulders.
"Rin only saw you and Ishiru out in the gardens. She said sorry for something and you hit her! You had creepy eyes... And you looked kind of dark purple. Rin was so scared! Rin doesn't want to see you like that ever again!" She threw her tiny arms around his neck, and wouldn't let go.
"Aisumii..." Sesshoumaru called. The woman appeared within moments. "Rin, you must go with Aisumii now. I will find Ishiru." He said and the little girl let go to be transferred to Aisumii's arms. "She is not to leave the fortress." Sesshoumaru said, giving Aisumii a look that ensured her death if she did not obey. Without a second look, he left.
He first looked in the gardens. Ishiru's scent was everywhere, most recently in the cherry orchards. Following her scent of mist and vegetation he couldn't help but imagine her in the orchards, the petals sprinkling her ebony hair. He abruptly ended his thought.
He was getting soft, caring for her safety at all. Even in her training. He went too easy on her and she nearly died. He had trained her so hard that day to try and make up for it. And now something had happened to her.
OOO
Ishiru collapsed an oddly short distance from the fortress. She was sure she could have made it farther. 'I wasted too much time at the fortress...' She thought, sliding up against a tree to rest. She sat down and closed her eyes, intending to rest only a moment.
She was immediately flung into the blackness of a dreamless sleep.
OOO
Sesshoumaru followed Ishiru's scent to a point. Her blood. The metallic tang assaulted his senses. 'So, Rin wasn't imagining things.' He thought. Sesshoumaru stopped. A few cherry petals on the ground were spattered with red. He knelt, resting a hand against the ground beneath them. He pulled his hand back. His fingers were covered in blood.
"Ishiru." His eyes became slightly laced with red as a scent reached his nose.
OOO
Naraku grinned. Things were going precisely as he wanted. His transformation melting away as he approached the passed-out demon girl. His mind frothed with thoughts, most too impure to mention, others devious to the extreme. He gathered her up, vines wrapping around Ishiru's lithe form.
