Cruising Along

Chapter 1

Side note: All these damn stories I have up . Special thing to remember about being a writer, starting a story is easy but finishing it is hard. Same thing goes for me. As of right now, I have three stories that are the closest to being finished and that is "Fuck Valentine's Day", a story I have on asian fanfics, and "Astro Bakery" Even though I haven't written for it in a while. This story, I refuse to make any promises for. I don't like starting a story and taking long unannounced hiatuses but if that happens, it happens. I will try not to but I have to get into the feel of a story to write for it and refuse to force myself to write a chapter that I can't get a feel for because it usually turns out ugly and boring. So without further ado, I give you Cruising Along.

"Ahhhh! The boat is so big! It's almost like it gets bigger every time!" She squealed in delight. She turned to the teenagers she was chaperoning and smiled in their direction. "Look at the boat children! Isn't is amazing!" She took out her camera phone and started taking pictures. Everyone else in the back of her just examined the boat. Well everyone except for one.

Behind everyone was one girl who didn't want to be where she was. Everyone else was excited about the cruise except for her. She wanted to be excited but she felt like she couldn't be being the odd ball of the group. She looked up into the sky and heaved a heavy sigh as she remembered how she got dragged out on the voyage.

"I'm so proud of you Kagome! You've really come a long way!" Kikyo said as she hugged her younger sister. Kagome hugged her back lightly. She felt good that her sister was proud of her but she didn't see the big deal in just completing another school year.

"Thanks Kikyo but it's only junior year. It's not like it's senior year or freshman year."

"I know that already but it's because it's you Kagome!" She said excitedly. Kagome rolled her eyes. She already knew what was going to be said next.

That's when her mom walked into the kitchen. "Kikyo. I know you're excited for your sister but can you tone it down a bit please?" She asked as she got to work on getting out ingredients for tonight's dinner.

"How can I mom? This is Kagome we're talking about! You know? The same Kagome that failed just about all of middle school! Mom, it's amazing that she even got to junior year! Thank god for summer school and the rest of that sentimental bull crap you fed to the state to help her get her credits!"

"Kikyo!" Their mom yelled at her. "I know Kagome hasn't been the best child but she's pulled through on top in such a short amount of time! That is amazing but there is no need to remind her of all the wrong she's done! She went through enough dealing with all of that!"

"So! It's her fault! She's a big girl! No excuses!"

"I don't care! She's still young! You're going to put her back into depression again if you keep talking like that!"

The two were so caught up in their bickering that they didn't even notice Kagome slip out of the room with a frown on her face.

"Depression my ass! That is no excuse to act up the way she did! She was lucky they didn't expel her when they had the chance!"

"That's enough Kikyo! No more! I'm done! It's obvious you don't care about your sister!"

"Don't care! I came all this way just to bring her and her friends with me on another cruise with me!"

"What?"

"Yes! A cruise mom! Is that good? I know Kagome's been through it all which is why I just want her to let it all go and this cruise is the most perfect way to do so!"

In a room upstairs, kagome listened to her mom and her sister bicker back and forth still. She heard her sister mention the cruise. She wasn't a big fan of boats but she had never been on one so she really didn't know how it felt to be on one. When, she heard the fighting stop, she heard footsteps on the staircase. Then her door flew open.

"Kagome! Guess whose going on a cruise with big sissy?"

"Uh...I am?" Kagome guessed even though she knew she was going.

"Yeah you are! And so is souta, his girlfriend, my husband, Sango, Miroku, Ayame, and Kouga! Isn't that great? You'll be with all your friends!"

Kagome would've been happy if she wasn't quick on her mind. Her and her group of friends had been friends for a while. Kagome always saw the looks some would give each other and would always play match maker. It got to the point where she put all her friends together leaving her as the extra wheel wherever they went. She even got her brother with someone. Kikyo, being the age she was, had a husband. Putting it all together, she would once again be the extra wheel. Ninth wheel to be exact.

Now here she was ready to board the boat with all her friends. She looked around at everyone and saw a bunch of happy couples. She looked back on her past and remembered when she was in a relationship. It didn't work out too well for her. She put that thought in her head and kept it walking when the boat was ready to be opened for the people.

The horn of the boat honked as as crowds of people hollered in happiness. The cruise was ready for the people. A summer long cruise to be exact. The captain stood at his post watching everyone get on board. He made a hand motion to his staff to get into position so that once everything was settled, they could get the show on the road.

He looked to one specific staff member of his. "Oh first mate of mine." He called amusedly to his first son. "Do me a favor and go wake your favorite brother."

"Favorite? Pffft. He's my only brother. That's bad enough." Sesshomaru replied.

"Hahaha." Inutaisho let out a hearty laugh. "Your sense of humor is the best Sesshomaru. I think I'll make you do stand up for opening night tonight."

"Please don't. I hate people." Sesshomaru said in disgust.

"You'll be fine. I said I'll think on it anyway so you may not have to. Still though, go wake your brother for me. He decided he wanted to sass mouth me the other day on the way here and I told him that he has to now help out the boarding passengers if they need any assistance because I'm pretty sure he knows this boat better than I do and I'm the one who helped built the damn thing."

"You're not kidding on that one. If I wasn't rich already and I got a nickel for every time Inuyasha jumped and tossed himself in, out, and around this boat, I'd be one rich mother fucker."

"Haha. I agree with you on that one. Now go wake him up and tell him the uniform for the day is in his closet."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever." Sesshomaru waved off his father and went on his way to go to his brother's room.

Inuyasha's room was located in a special part of the boat that could only be accessed by a card. There were only three copies of the card. One for Inuyasha, one for his parents, and the last was an extra which is the one Sesshomaru held. The special part was located under the front deck of the boat so it didn't take long to get to if you knew your way around the boat.

When Sesshomaru got to the special part, he swiped the card across a part of the wall and it opened. He stepped through and the wall closed behind him. As the wall closed, the hall illuminated in lights. The small hall had three doors. One large door which led to his room, another small door that led to his own indoor pool after complaining about the dirtiness of the public one, and another small door that led to some unknown room. Inuyasha doesn't allow anyone to go in that room so no one knows what's in there except him since their father allowed him to tell the builders what to put in it.

Sesshomaru walked up to the two big doors and knocked on it. "Inuyasha. It's time to get up." He said heftily. He waited for a few minutes before rolling his eyes and knocking again. "Inuyasha. Wake up. Father wants you out on that deck assisting people."

When Sesshomaru still didn't get an answer, he picked the lock and opened the door. He saw Inuyasha knocked out on the bed sprawled out on the sheets. Sesshomaru walked to the bed and shook him. Inuyasha groaned and turned over still trying to get some sleep. Sesshomaru stared at Inuyasha for a few seconds before reaching forward ad pulling hard on Inuyasha's hair.

It was enough to get a screech out of Inuyasha. "Owwww! What the hell?! Get off!" Inuyasha screamed and smacked Sesshomaru's hand off of him. Sesshomaru let go and got off the bed. As Inuyasha rubbed the spot of pulled hair on his head, Sesshomaru went into Inuyasha's closet.

"Now now Inuyasha. No need to lose your temper. I am simply running an errand for father." Sesshomaru spoke as he looked through Inuyasha's closet for the uniform.

"Yeah right! I'm pretty sure dad didn't send your ass down here to pull my damn hair!" Inuyasha raised his voice at Sesshomaru as he got up to go to the bathroom.

"Tsk tsk Inuyasha. With some type of demon hearing, you'd think you could at least hear a knock on the door. I was simply trying to wake you so you could do the deed father asked of you for running off at the mouth." Sesshomaru found the uniform and took it out. He saw a few noticable wrinkles and pulled out a nearby iron. He plugged it up and got to work on ironing Inuyasha's clothes.

Sesshomaru heard the toilet flush and some running water before Inuyasha stepped out still looking disheveled. He started to rub the coal out of his eyes. Sesshomaru finished ironing his brother's clothes and looked up at him. He saw Inuyasha sit down on the bed and stare out of the window.

"Your clothes are right here. Please be out within the next half hour because we will be departing and everyone will surely need help getting to their rooms and such."

"That isn't my job! Didn't he hire people for that?"

"Why of course he did dear brother. You're just going to be a little extra help. There are a lot of people out there. They can't do it alone." Sesshomaru smiled at his before walking towards the door.

"Ugh! I wanna go to sleep!" Inuyasha got up and grabbed the uniform.

Sesshomaru turned and looked his way. "You can sleep after your duties for today are fulfilled. My advice to you is to snap to it before father makes you do this for the rest of the summer. It's only a day Inuyasha. I'm sure a strong half demon like yourself can handle that." And with that, he left out shutting the door behind him. Inuyasha stared at the door and whispered under his breath "Asshole."

Not even two seconds later, Sesshomaru responded from the other side of the door "I Heard that. Thank you for the compliment."

Inuyasha only rolled his eyes and put the uniform. He thanked the heavens that it was only a pair of white pants and a blue polo shirt and not some ridiculous sailor suit.

"I remember my first time on this boat. Don't you remember baby?" Kikyo had asked her husband.

"How could I forget. You babbled on about it every damn day. If we didn't sex every day we get on this boat like we do every time, I would've been stop taking you on these cruises." Naraku responded nastily.

"Oh really? Well no kitty Kikyo for you tonight! I'm just gonna dress in that ugly pink barnie suit that you hate so much!"

He turned and looked at her with a menacing stare. "You wouldn't."

She stared back with an even more menacing stare. "Oh I would."

As they started going back at forth, Kagome and her friends just looked around. "Well this place sure is...huge." Sango said awkwardly trying to break the silence.

"Yeah it is." Ayame said.

"You guys think there's a pool?" Miroku asked.

"Duh dumb ass. What cruise boat doesn't have a pool?" Kouga retorted.

"Hey no arguing guys. We don't wanna end up like my sister and her husband." Kagome interrupted them. They all looked back to the arguing couple and shook their head. Kagome sighed towards there way and turned on her heel to look off of the railing back at the city.

"Hey guys. I remember from Kikyo's stories where the pool is. let's go there!" Souta suggested and everyone agreed.

"Wait guys! We still have to-" Kagome turned around and they all were gone. Bags just dropped on the floor. She turned to ask Kikyo where is the pool, but they had disappeared too leaving kagome all alone.

"Excuse me sir. Could you help me get to my room?" Some lady had asked Inuyasha.

He turned and looked at her. "Lady do I look like the help to you?" He asked.

She looked down at his shirt which caused him to look down. Right there in bold letters was "HELP". He sighed and looked back at her. "I'm sorry miss. I'm not used to this sort of thing. I'm only a 16 year old boy being punished by his father but you may know him as the captain of this ship."

"Oh! He has children?" She asked with major interest.

"Yes he does. Two. The other one is ten years older than me." Inuyasha responded.

"Wow! Is he married too?"

"Yeah to my mother. First marriage didn't work out too well."

"Well he seems like quite the man from what I hear. Well I won't take up no more of your time. You seem like a really sweet boy. The captain must be so lucky." She smiled at him before picking up her things and wandering somewhere else for help. Inuyasha smiled back and waved goodbye.

He turned around to see if he could sneak back into his room without his dad getting suspicious. His dad had been walking around showing up here and there making sure he was doing what he was supposed to.

After a moment, an idea popped into his head. He figured that if he was walking a passenger somewhere, he'd be okay. He whistled as he looked around for someone to help. Everyone was walking around trying to get themselves situated so no one really looked like they needed help. Everyone except for one girl.

She was walking around dragging a bunch of bags with her that she could barely lift. She was obviously struggling but no one had bothered to even offer help. Not even the help themselves. Inuyasha jogged on over to her to offer his assistance.

'Damn. How big is her closet?' He thought to himself.

"Um excuse me. Do you need any help?"

She looked up and saw the silver haired boy. She let out a sigh of relief that someone had finally offered help. "Yes please. Thank you so mu-AAHH!"

Not paying any attention to what she was doing, she tripped over her shoe string and fell. Thanks to all the commotion, not many had noticed her fall but she blushed in embarrassment that a boy had watched her fall down. She tried to hide her face on the floor until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Inuyasha had asked her. She held her head up and looked at him. "That was a nasty fall. Come on. Let me help you up." He grabbed her by her waist and pulled her up in one sweep. He put her down on her feet and helped her brush off any dirt she picked up from the floor. He was so focused on her, his senses hadn't even picked someone off into the distance watching them.

"Uh Thank you uhh. What's your name again?"

He looked at her. "Inuyasha. Inuyasha Takahashi. And your name?"

"Kagome. Kagome Higurashi." She extended her hand out and he shook her hand. He smiled. "A pleasure to meet you. Do you need any help with your bags?"

"Yeah. Well they're not all mine. My friends ditched me and now I'm stuck with their stuff. I have their suite numbers but this is my first time here and my big sister was supposed to show me around since she's been on here before but her and her husband ditched me too. At least they took their things with them."

"So you don't know you're way around here?"

"Nope."

He smirked. "Well you're in luck my dear. You're looking at someone who knows the ship better than the captain himself."

She lifted an eyebrow at him. "And just who might you be Inuyasha?"

"The captain's youngest son." He showed a toothy grin. "Been living here since the day my momma popped me out." He leaned over picked up all of the bags with ease. When he leaned up, he saw Kagome's face in complete awe. "No time for passing out in my gloriousness. We gotta get these bags to your friend's room. I gotta skeleton key to this entire boat."

Kagome smiled widely and told him all of the room numbers Kikyo made her memorize. He nodded and walked toward the hall of suites. Inuyasha moved quickly so they had managed to drop off all the bags in under 15 minutes. The rooms had been close together so that played a factor in everything too. Once they were done, Inuyasha saw he still had a couple of bags.

"So who do these belong to?"

She looked at them and then back at Inuyasha. "Oh those are mine."

"Your sister brought all the rooms together right? Shouldn't your room be around here somewhere?"

Kagome looked back down again. "Well she said my room would be in a different part of the boat because I'd be the only girl without somebody. I don't know where my room is. She did say she got a good deal on my room though. She said it was really cheap."

"May I ask your room number?"

"I think it's BF294." Kagome responded. Inuyasha's mouth dropped at her response. She began to look worried. "What? What is it? It is a real room isn't it?"

He nodded quickly. "Uh yeah. It's a real room...it's just...that..." He began to choke on his words a little which really made Kagome feel nervous. "Oh whatever. I'm just gonna be blunt about it. Your sister fucked you over."

"What?"

"All these rooms" he pointed to her friends rooms "are some of the best rooms in the boat. They're pretty pricey too. If your sister was trying to get a good deal, she would've just paid for the medium quality rooms. The rooms she paid for come with just about everything a hotel room would. That includes a kitchen too. Your room on the other hand is all the way at the bottom of the boat where all the noise is. Yes the sea view is beautiful but the room itself is pretty crappy. My dad says that the only reason he still has them around is because he wants to be able to offer the 'ultimate cruise experience' to those who are less fortunate."

Kagome's was in disbelief. "What? That can't be. There has to be a mistake. Are you sure the room numbers are still the same? Maybe your dad did some renovation. Besides, what could be so bad about it?"

He grabbed her hand and dragged her past the people in the halls. As he took her further down into the boat, the horn honked again. Inuyasha heard his dad come on the intercom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain speaking but you can just call me or for the ladies, Just Inutaisho-OWW! Ugh...Sorry ladies. My wife says only but anyway, the boat will be leaving shore in 10 minutes. There has been a small hold up in schedule and I apologize before hand but rest assured that we will be reaching all of our destinations on time. Thank you."

Then the intercom clicked off. Inuyasha looked at Kagome and just continued pulling her downstairs. The further down they went, the less people Kagome saw. By the time they had gotten to the bottom floor, Kagome didn't see anyone.

"Yeah. No one buys these rooms anymore ever since my dad dropped the price on other regular quality rooms. You're the only person down here Kagome. Then not to mention" He pulled out his key and walked to the door that had her room number on it. He unlocked it and opened it showing Kagome the inside. She was appalled to say the least.

Inside was a small twin bed, a small old television, a little dresser, a closet, a flooding toilet, a little circular bath tub, and a microwave. She walked slowly inside and looked around. The twin bed was in the corner of the room. The small television not too far in front of it. The microwave sat on top of the dresser in another corner of the room. The closet was next to it. Then near the door of the room was the tub and the toilet. There wasn't even a sink. Kagome dropped to her knees.

"That evil bitch." She said quietly. Inuyasha watched as she sat on the floor. He felt slightly bad for her. He remembered as a kid when he would get punished, his father would send him to spend weeks in rooms like this. It was hell. The toilet never worked right, the water was always cold, the microwave worked really slowly plus it always would short circuit, and the bed was very uncomfortable. Not to mention all the mice and roaches that happened to find their way on board.

"Kagome. The boat is gonna leave shore soon. You wanna go see the city before you leave?" Inuyasha said trying to lighten the mood a little. He saw her jump. "Leave? No way! There's no way in hell I'm staying here! I have to hurry!" She turned and ran back the way they came. Inuyasha chased after her with her bags.

When they had reached the deck, the horn had honked again, and Kagome felt the boat move. "No. No no no!" She had ran to where the crowds of people stood screaming and waving. She looked over the rails and saw that they were moving and there was no way off the boat. She was stuck there for the rest of the summer.

The city of New York fading away off into the distance with each passing second. Kagome could do nothing but watch from the railing as her entire beautifully planned summer slip out of the palms of her hands. She blinked slowly hoping that when her eyelids lifted, she would see the ceiling of her bedroom. With every blink, she was met with disappointment as she saw her hometown get further and further. She reached out her hands through the railings with one last hope that everything would freeze and she could walk on the water back onto New York but she was met with the same results.

Inuyasha watched from a nearby bar as Kagome sat and soaked in sadness. Over twenty minutes had pasted since the boat departed and the city was soon to be out of eye's view but Kagome was hanging onto the view as if it would be the last time she saw New York. Inuyasha contemplated on going over there to help console her but he felt like nothing he did would make a difference. Her sister has sold out her summer and there was nothing she could do about it.

But that was the key to everything.

A light bulb lit over top of Inuyasha's head as the perfect idea shined clearly to him. Kagome wasn't just stuck a boat for the summer. She was stuck on HIS boat for the summer. Yes there was nothing she could do about her sister ruining a good summer for her but there was plenty he could do about fixing it up for her. He knew though that the biggest struggle of it all was getting her to accept help from a stranger.

He turned to the busy bartender who was attending a bunch of customers and waved a motion for him to come forward. The bartender caught notice and told him to hold on for a minute. When he did come over, Inuyasha whispered something into his ear. The bartender smiled and nodded his head. Inuyasha smiled back and got off his stool. He then made his way on over to the damsel in distress.

She was sitting down on the deck with her legs through the railings hanging off of the boat. Her hands squeezed the rails as she looked through them. To Inuyasha, she looked just like someone sitting in jail. Her eyes held no emotion. They just stood there. He took the silent moment to sit beside her.

He also decided that now would be the perfect time to spark up conversation. "So Kagome. I'm sure your sister and your friends are worried about you."

She didn't even move a muscle nor show any signs that she had even heard a word that he said. That is until her lips started moving. "I doubt it. My friends did the same thing my sister did. They find someone to complete their lives and forget friends or siblings ever existed." She licked her lips before continuing. "I have one little brother. Just one." The sound of her voice started to drop. If not for his half demon hearing, he probably wouldn't of even heard her."I used to be the light of his life. He was always excited to see me when ever he stepped through that door. But now..." She looked up at him. "He doesn't even notice if I'm there or not...he just keeps on going with his phone in his hand right before he heads to his room, shuts his door, and gets on the phone with his girlfriend. Doesn't come down till dinner. Doesn't speak or anything. Just keeps on texting his girlfriend." Her voice got quieter as she spoke. She slowly turned her head back to the sea.

"You know Inuyasha. I love the sound of love and all but I just don't like feeling forgotten. My sister was always a trends setter and it seems just like everything she does to me, everyone else does...except my mom. That's why I don't wanna be here. I want my mom...the only person in this world who hasn't forgotten me."

Inuyasha looked stunned at the girl before him. Someone for he'd only known for a little over an hour, and here she was spilling her feelings to him as if she had known him for years. That showed him that she didn't have a lot of people in her life to go to since she could easily tell a stranger all of this information.

"Well Kagome" he started "that's going to change starting today."

Her head popped up at his statement. "What?"

Her smirked at her. "It's going to change starting today. We're strangers for now but seeing as though you just spilled a piece of your life story to me, I don't think I want us to be just strangers." He reached forward and grabbed her hand. He smiled before looking up into her eyes. "How does being friends sound?"

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked back into his eyes. "Uh...okay...I guess."

"Good." He let go of her hand and got up from the floor. He extended his arm for her to take. She was hesitant to take it at first but decided that she had nothing left to lose. She took his hand and he helped her up. He then led her back down to the bottom floor of the boat where he room was. He sat her stuff down and looked around.

"Okay so this room is obviously shit so here's what I'm gonna do." He said as he turned and looked at Kagome. She looked up with hopeless eyes. The look was enough to make Inuyasha frown. "Okay, look. Although I might look all independent and stuff but I'm not. Truth be told, I'm a spoiled kid that's rotten to the bone. Plus I can be really selfish at times but I'm just not feeling it today." Kagome rolled her eyes at him. She cursed her luck. Of course she would get stuck with the spoiled kid.

"Instead" He continued " I'm going to beg me dad to give you another room." The minute he said that, Kagome's eyes immediately went hopeful again. "Really? You'd do that for me? But what if he says no?" She asked.

Inuyasha shrugged. " I honestly don't give a fuck what he says. Im a mommas boy any damn way and he may be your captain but he's my mom's first mate. All I have to do is tell her the situation and her sympathetic heart will mourn for you thus causing her to nag my dad until he gives you a new room." he stated as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

Kagome's frown left her face and was replaced with a wide grin. She let out of huge sigh of relief and before she could contain herself, she jumped on him and gave him a big hug. "Thank you so much!" She said into his chest causing Inuyasha to blush. He scratched the back of his head and said "Yeah whatever." Kagome let go and Inuyasha left to go talk to his parents.

FIRST CHAPTER OVER AND DONE WITH! Yes! Now guys, I haven't written fanfiction in a long time (about 4 months) so im making this to get back into my feel for writing. I can't promise anything for this story but I do plan to finish it. Please review and let me know your thoughts.