Meant To Be
By Onira
Chapter Two : "How The Devil?"
Emerald eyes opened to a darkened room as their owner attempted to move, slightly restricted by the blankets in which she had slept. Ishiru blinked and rubbed her eyes, still no images graced her sight. She let her hands fall from her face, lightly grasping the blanket that rested across her lap.
She heard a movement to her left and turned to try and see the source. But still, the youkai could see nothing.
"Who is the pretty lady Sesshoumaru-sama?" The voice of a child reached her ears but Ishiru could not see the girl. She listened and heard the child's footsteps approach her followed by smooth more graceful sounding steps of a person who, judging by the scent, was both youkai and the entity to whom the little girl had previously spoken.
The area of futon beside her sunk as the little girl hopped onto the bed.
"Hi. Rin is called Rin. What's your name?" Asked Rin as she kneeled beside the youkai girl. Rin watched as emerald eyes fruitlessly tried to seek out her face.
"I am, Ishiru." Ishiru said, then took a moment to puzzle at the fact that she had not known as much before the girl had asked.
"Ishiru. Rin thinks that Ishiru has a pretty name." Rin smiled and turned to her guardian. "Sesshoumaru-sama, where did Sesshoumaru-sama get Ishiru?" The addressed youkai decided not to answer.
"Rin, go play with Jaken. I wish to discuss some things with Ishiru." Rin smiled happily and ran off to find her previously mentioned play-toy.
Sesshoumaru approached Ishiru silently, confusing the youkai girl. 'I can't see him. That scent, it wasn't here before. That means he's still in the room. So where is he?' she turned her head as though to look for him regardless of her lack of sight.
She felt the futon sink again, signifying that whoever this person was, he was sitting next to her. Ishiru felt a hand brush her longish bangs away from her face. She blinked, her confusion mounting.
The hand moved to grasp her chin, holding her face firmly in place. A thumb traced the dark blue markings on her cheeks. Ishiru jerked her face from his grip, glaring indignantly at the demon.
Sesshoumaru examined her eyes. They were a defiant shade of emerald with streaks of silver in them, as though painted by some celestial artist. But through all this, Sesshoumaru noticed that the girl's eyes were unfocused and blank. Almost like they were disconnected from her mind. Although her face showed her annoyance, her eyes did not support it.
"You're blind."
oOo
"Oh no! I forgot the side affects!" Living alone had made the little goddess partial to talking to herself.
"I think it should clear up in about a week. But how will I keep her there until it does?"
"Aha!" The young goddess chirped, going back to her map/table and picking up her Sesshoumaru piece. She tapped his head twice, then set the piece back where it was.
oOo
Sesshoumaru released Ishiru and stood, walking towards the door. He stood just before the panel, his mind a-boil. This girl had piqued his ever-dormant curiosity. She seemed so innocent, almost ignorant of everything a demon her age would have come to know. She had felt no repulsion or disgust, not even arrogance at Rin's presence, only innocent curiosity. Sesshoumaru frowned as he felt a gentle surge of feeling. He paused in his thinking to identify it. It was not liking so to speak, and not love. He snorted mentally at the absurd thought, snickering at the sheer ridiculousness of it. He settled on intense curiosity. He wanted to know more about the young demoness that had so suddenly entered his life.
"You are to stay here and attend to Rin." Was all he said before leaving Ishiru to puzzle as to how she was to find her way around.
oOo
A few days later, Ishiru sat out in the gardens. Dressed simply in a white sleeveless kimono trimmed with forest green and a thin obi of the same color. She "watched" Rin as she chased a small bright blue butterfly around the grassy area that bordered the gardens on all sides.
Though she couldn't really watch the little girl, Ishiru's demonic abilities, that she knew innately, included hearing equivalent to that of a bat's. The little girls laughter was an excellent reference for keeping track of her.
Rin snatched the butterfly off of a small wild flower and hurried back to Ishiru.
"Lookit Ishiru!" Rin said happily, having no idea just how ironic her statement was. For all that Rin could tell, Ishiru could see just fine. "I caught it!" She chirped, plopping down on her knees in front of Ishiru, her torso halfway on the demon girl's lap.
"It's beautiful Rin, but you shouldn't hold it by its wings. Try just letting it sit in your hand." Ishiru took the little girl's wrist and used it to locate her hand, replacing the butterfly in Rin's palm.
"Why not by its wings?" asked Rin, curious to know.
"Because after you touch their wings, they cannot fly."
"Oh, ok." Rin said, studying the butterfly as it sat in her hands, it's wings twitching every so often. "How'd you know that?" Rin asked, her eyes never leaving the patterns of the butterfly's wings. Ishiru blinked in sudden confusion. How on earth HAD she known that?
oOo
Ishiru wandered through Sesshoumaru's vast fortress, having nothing in particular to do. Rin was outside playing with Jaken and Sesshoumaru was somewhere doing whatever he did during the day. The demon lord had told her that she was to attend to Rin, but it seemed that he still had the old toad do a great deal of watching despite that.
She came to a large heavy door, feeling the grain of wood beneath 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 within. 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, standing and on wall-racks, were littered about the room.
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 rather than the hilt.
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.
Sesshoumaru had been training when Ishiru approached the dojo. Once he detected her presence he had backed into the shadows to watch. He had been pleasantly surprised when she went straight for the weapon racks. For a moment he considered attacking her. Not to harm her per say, but to see her reaction. The scent of blood had startled him out of such thoughts, bringing him silently over to her side.
"Fool. You should not handle things that you do not know how to use." Said the taiyoukai as he examined the wound.
"Why were you in here?"
Ishiru didn't say anything. She was rather embarrassed that he caught her like that. She knew that, as long as Rin had not told him, Sesshoumaru was unaware of her ability to understand anything said to her. So she kept quiet, her head down.
"Answer me." Sesshoumaru commanded. Ishiru kept silent for a moment longer before speaking.
"I had nothing to do. I was exploring, and I ended up in here." She raised her chin slightly. "That is why I am in here." She heard nothing save for Sesshoumaru's heartbeat for several moments.
"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. The demoness snorted, dropping Ishiru's hand rather unceremoniously as she turned towards a small chest of drawers. "Idiot. Since you don't know how to heal, I'll have to wrap this up like a human!"
"What a waste of space. . . Can't even heal a minor injury like this. . ." 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 it up?" 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... witch, 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, going from a different angle this time. "Or when she almost got bitten by that snake?"
"Why are you saying these things? I've done nothing to you!" 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 the child had come close to getting hurt. "Those things may have come 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 abilities 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 woman'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 demoness over. Ishiru looked at her hand, her eyes tinted with red. Turquoise 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 the blood from 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. She had heard soft footsteps within the walls a few days ago. Perhaps whoever made them was there again.
"Is anyone in there?" as she expected, the section of wall opened and a small demon boy came out. The child was dressed simply in a cloth that was slung over his shoulder and was much to big for him.
"Yes Ma'am, 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. "Yes Ma'am. 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 afore mentioned 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.
"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."
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 the devil had he known what she was going to say?
oOo
Ishiru woke up to something standing on her chest, 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 OFF ME!" She dumped Jaken off her front and delivered a swift right cross to his oversized noggin, 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 somewhat overlarge haori-like garment, meant to be worn alone that tied at the waist. The fabric came down to some point halfway down her thighs.
She put on the haori and tied her hair back, thinking it might be less of a hassle just to cut it. 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 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. Sesshoumaru had her running for over an hour with no breaks, three times around the entire fortress. After which the two of them sparred. Sesshoumaru was not exactly the kindest of teachers and Ishiru found herself crawling out of the wall more than once.
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. Sesshoumaru took a moment to be surprised at her actions. His usual sparring partners would just lie on the dojo floor panting during breaks.
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 abruptly deflate.