Sorry for the long wait on this update of the rewritten chapter. Between schoolwork for high school and then starting college, I didn't have that much time to really focus on this story all that much. I am sorry to those who loved the original story but I decided to rewrite it since my writing style has changed. I have also changed Kagome's father's name to Kisho. Feel free to contact me through a PM if you have any concerns or have any ideas that I can use for my story. Now on with the story…
Chapter 1: Calm before the storm
Two men stood looking out over the sea into the sunset. Its golden rays cast an orange shadow across the ocean while different shades of orange and red stretched across the sky later darkening into different shades of blue and purple.
The taller of the two men inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling. "There's nothing more beautiful than a sunset at sea. Don't you agree, Shio?" The man looked over at his neighbor.
"I couldn't agree more, brother. It is simply amazing." Shio closed his eyes as a gentle breeze softly tousled his raven black hair.
"Yes. It is at sea that we have to be the most cautious." He turned to look back at the ocean. "The weather can turn nasty at any time."
Shio nodded. "Yes. Always expect the unexpected. I'm going to go below deck to check on Kagome and Sota. Is there anything you want me to for you Kisho?"
Kisho nodded. "Yes, would you check on Kane, Shawn and Oran for me? They will most likely be in the engine room fixing that leak."
"Okay. Have a good night brother."
"You as well. See you at supper."
Shio walked to the door to his left and opened it revealing stairs leading below deck. As soon as he crossed the threshold, a beep was heard and a row of lights came on, illuminating his path. Once down the flight of stairs, he walked straight down the hall and into the kitchen.
By the stove, stirring the contents of a small pot was a girl about eighteen years old. The girl turned around when she heard Shio walk into the kitchen.
"Hey Uncle Shio, dinner is almost ready. I just have to finish up the noodles and everything will be done. Though the dango is already finished, all I have to do for it is drizzle on the Mitarashi sauce," she said, pointing to the little squeeze bottle filled with Mitarashi sauce. She turned back around and continued to stir the ramen noodles.
"Okay. See you in a little bit then." Shio turned to walk out when Kagome suddenly spoke.
"Will you also check on Sota, Uncle Shio? He laid down for a nap around an hour ago. He should be in mom's room." Shio nodded. "Thank you, uncle."
"No problem. Love you." Kagome smiled at him while he walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
He passed two bedrooms before he reached the bedroom he was looking for. It was at the end and had a sign hanging on the door that had a plaque with the words CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS. He smiled and then knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Shio opened the door and walked in to see Megami, his older brother's wife, sitting on the bed reading a book while her son, Sota, lay next to her, sound asleep. Megami put her book down and looked at her brother-in-law with a smile on her face.
"Hey. Just came to tell you that dinner is almost ready. Kagome said she just had to finish up the noodles." Shio looked back at his sleeping nephew. The young boy would be turning five years old soon. His birthday would be in about two months.
"Okay." Megami gently shook Sota awake. "Time to get up sweetheart, dinner is almost ready."
Sota blinked a couple of times to help his eyes adjust to the brightness of the light coming from the lamp and then looked up at his mother. "Okay Mommy." He stretched his little arms above his head and gave a cute little yawn.
Shio walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, and headed for the engine room to check on the other three crew members. He finally came to the door he wanted. He suddenly heard something fall and looked down to see water leaking through the space at the bottom of the door. Suddenly panicking that something bad had happened, he quickly opened the door and rushed into the room expecting the worst.
"Shawn, you klutz," one of the men said from inside the room. The other man was standing beside a turned over bucket that looked to have been full of water.
"What happened?" Shio asked looking worried.
"Nothin' Shio, it was jus' Shawn bein' clumsy and knockin' over that bucket of water. How could you not see it?" The man shook his head. Shawn looked down in shame at the mention of his clumsiness.
Shio lets out a sigh of relief. "I thought something was leaking. Good to know it was only a bucket of water." He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, a habit he had started when he was a young boy.
"Aye, I agree," the man beside Shawn said. His Scottish accent was apparent in his speech.
"Oran, get a mop and help Shawn, will ya?"
"Aye, sir." Oran walked out the door and to the left where a little supply closet was and grabbed two mops and handed a mop to Shawn who then started to clean up his mess.
Shio looks around the room one more time. "Dinner will be ready soon. We're having ramen." He smiled afterwards.
Kane nodded and looked to see Oran and Shawn finishing up. He turned to look at Shio. "Okay, we'll be there in a couple of minutes. We need to do a couple of last minute inspections."
"Okay. Just don't take too long."
"We'll make sure not to."
Shio nodded and walked out of the room only to be hit by a smell that made his stomach start to growl. He sniffed a couple of times and then let out a contented sigh. He looked down the hall towards the kitchen and decided to follow his nose.
To his right he saw Megami and little Sota exiting the room to go to supper. Sota walked out, followed by his mother who shut the door behind them.
Reenergized from his nap, the little boy ran down the hall towards the kitchen nearly tripping over his feet in the process. Shio just chuckled at his nephew.
) . . . . . . Later that Night . . . . . . (
Several hours had passed since everyone had eaten and gone to bed. The wind picked up and caused the waves to start shaking the boat violently, throwing it around as if it was a little toy. Lightning began to light up the sky causing false daylight and it was soon followed by thunder.
Kisho bolted up in bed causing the mattress to shake a little bit.
"What is it dear," Megami said, woken up by Kisho's sudden movement.
"It's a storm honey. And it appears to be a really bad one." He looked over at his wife before switching on the bedside lamp.
Kisho got out of bed and staggered over to the door, stumbling every once in a while. After finally reaching the door, he opened it and proceeded to walk down the hallway and to the stairs which led to the above deck. He reached the above deck and his eyes widened at what he saw.
"Dear God." The mast was ablaze and lit up the whole deck. Suddenly he looked to the bottom of the mast and what he saw happen next scared him like nothing else could.
The mast was cracking and moaning as it was being eaten away at by the flames. It could not bear the sails' weight any longer. A sudden crunching sound was heard and the mast started to rapidly fall towards the side of the boat where it destroyed part of the guard rail.
) . . . . . . BELOW DECK . . . . . . (
Kagome awoke with a start. The boat was rocking more than usual and there was a bright light shining in from the window.
"What is going on?" She looked around and then walked over to the window to look out. The light of the fire was reflecting off the ocean causing the room to be lit up like it was daytime. Suddenly her mouth went dry and she began to cough. She looked towards the entrance of her room where she saw smoke leaking through the gap underneath the door.
She ran towards the door and flung it open only to have a huge cloud of smoke hit her in the face. She began coughing even more profusely now and her eyes began to water from the smoke.
She turned around and headed towards her parents room, hoping that they were alright. Once there she started to pound on the door.
"Mama? Papa? Are you there? Answer me, please?!" she yelled as loud as she could. Her mother finally opened the door. Her little brother, Sota, was cradled in her mother's arms, clinging to her like she was his lifeline.
"Your father is above deck. Sota is here with me." Megami looked down at the coughing child in her arms. She held him tighter and rubbed his back soothingly, hoping to help calm him down.
"Okay. We need to find the crew and Uncle Shio." Kagome raced out of the room, her mother, who was still holding her little brother, right behind her. They ran to Shio's room and pounded on the door until Shio answered it. He began to cough and put his right arm in front of his face, hoping to shield his eyes from the smoke.
"Uncle Shio! We have to get out of here! Come on!" Kagome grabbed Shio's left arm and tugged him through the door.
"We need to get above deck." They then ran as fast as they could towards the staircase when Shio suddenly stopped where he was.
"We need to find the rest of the crew. We can't just leave them here to die," Shio said while he turned around and ran back towards the room where Oran, Kane, and Shawn were staying. He busted down the door only to see the three men still lying on their beds. He ran over to them, hoping to wake them up. He tried to wake up Kane first but he would not wake up. Shio placed two of his fingers on Kane's neck, hoping to find a pulse but there was none. Kane was dead. He did the same for Shawn and Oran but they were dead as well.
"They're dead. They must have suffocated because of the smoke." He lowered his head. Rest in peace my friends he thought while he pulled the covers all the way over their heads.
His thoughts were cut short when he heard Megami and Kagome yell for him. He whirled around to see that the fire had already started to reach below deck. "Hurry! Get above deck as quickly as you can!"
They hurried out the door and were barely able to make it before a huge burst of flame caused a piece of the ceiling to fall and land where they were standing just seconds beforehand. Kagome watched with wide eyes as the flames started to spread along the carpet towards them. Shio quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her the rest of the way up the stairs to the above deck. Once above deck they turned to see Kisho getting the life boat ready with several life jackets lying nearby.
"I have already gotten what I could get from below deck. I couldn't save much, but it was worth a try," he said while putting the last bit of their belongings into the two crates he had sitting next to him.
"Alright everyone, let's get into the boat," Kisho said while pointing to the boat. Megami, who was holding Sota, walked over to the lifeboat and placed him into it and once he was in, she stepped in after him. Kagome followed her example and sat behind her. Kisho grabbed the lightest crate and handed it to Megami who placed it on the bottom of the boat in front of her.
After everybody was settled in along with the two crates, Kisho and Shio stood up in the boats and cut the rope holding them in place. As soon as they cut the ropes they fell into the ocean, landing roughly causing everyone to be jostled around in their seats.
Kisho and Shio grabbed the oars and then started to row, slowly moving away from the boat that was consumed in flames.
) . . . . . . TIME SKIP . . . . . . (
It had been about an hour or so before Shio finally spotted land. It appeared to be a small island but since it was covered in the early morning fog he couldn't tell exactly how big it was.
"Look over there everyone! Land! With how far away we are I would say it would take us a couple minutes to get ashore," Shio cried out in excitement.
"Finally. My arms are really starting to hurt," Kisho said while letting his arms rest as they neared the shore of the island.
The fog was finally starting to clear to the point where Shio and others were able to see just how massive the island was. The shore that was made of sand appeared to stretch for about a mile before it turned into rocks. It was a very beautiful sight. Out in the distance, they could barely make it out but they could see a couple of mountains.
Once ashore they pulled the boat onto the sand and tied it up to a close by palm tree.
Shio clasped his hands together in front of himself and looked at his family. "So here is what we will do. First, we are going gather together some trees to build our house and then we are going to build said house. While Shio and I are going to be working on the house, Kagome, Megami, and Sota are going to go gather fruit and anything that we can eat."
Kagome grabbed Sota's hand and they began to walk into the forest with Megami not too far behind them. Once they disappeared into the distance Kisho looked over to Shio and smiled.
"Alright, let's get to work," Kisho said while grabbing his two little hatchets from the crates. He handed one to Shio who as soon as he got it started to walk towards the forest.
Thirty minutes after Kisho and Shio began to cut down trees for their new home, Kagome, Megami, and little Sota returned with arms full of coconuts and bananas.
Several hours after Kagome, Megami, and Sota had returned Kisho and Shio had enough trees to make their new home. After they gathered all the trees together they started to lay them out according to how they wanted build the house. It took them a while but they were finally able to finish the walls. Kisho and Shio then built the roof using two short pieces of a tree which they placed on opposite sides of each other and then placed another long tree on top of them. After several hours of placing more trees on top of the roof they placed palm leaves they had gathered earlier on top of the trees.
It was finally finished. They all stood back to admire the house they had built. It was perfect.
Next time on chapter two of Surviving the Extreme: REWRITTEN…
It has been a couple days now since the Higurashi's vacation turned into a disaster due to a freak storm which causes them to be stranded on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean. While out gathering fruit and other food for her family Kagome finds a tiger cub and Sesshomaru makes himself known.