Oofie: "Hello, my friends! What do ya know, I'm starting another fic!"
Inuyasha: "Yeah, you didn't even finish the last one."
Oofie: "That one, I discontinued. It was my first fic, but it had no plot…. It was going no where. A good writer knows when to kill what she's got no interest in."
Kagome: "How wise…"
Oofie: "Thank you! So, for those who didn't read my last story (and if you didn't, I don't blame you), I have a certain style of writing fanfics…"
Kagome: "Ooh! I wanna explain!"
Oofie: "… Okay…"
Kagome: "Okie dokie! So, hello, I am Kagome, one of the main characters from Inuyasha… and I will be explaining a few things to you, the reader, today!"
Oofie and Inuyasha look to each other as if to say, 'what's with the peachy keen attitude?'
Kagome: "So, at the beginning and end of every chapter, Oofie, myself, and Inuyasha have a little time to talk to the reader, have special guests, and give any announcements that we may have."
Oofie: "I dunno about the special guests… I'll think about it guys, we'll see next chapter."
Inuyasha: "Good, no more guests. If I have to spend time with Kouga like last time, I might just lose my mind…"
Kagome sighs and rolls her eyes.
Inuyasha: "Oh Kami, please tell me you're not still defending him…"
Kagome: "He's not even that bad!"
Inuyasha: "Are we forgetting that he almost RAPED YOU last time!?!?"
Kagome: "It was just a story Inuyasha…"
Inuyasha: "THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!"
Oofie: "Oh dear… I suppose I should just give the disclaimer and start the chapter… I don't own Inuyasha, or Kagome or whoever the hell else may be in Takahashi-sama's masterpiece. Oh, and check out these definitions real quick, they'll come in handy for the story."
Youkai – demon
Hanyou – Half demon
Ainoko – its basically an insulting word for someone of mixed blood.
Goten no Kaizoku – Pirate Court
Hentai – pervert
-nii – big brother
-chan – term of endearment
-sama – term of respect
Ikkitousen – strong warrior
Chapter 1: Let's meet the Court
The seas were raging. The waters beat upon it self as the wind churned the salty deep blue mass. For miles around there was nothing but the glorious sea… the glorious sea and a ship amongst its waters.
Aboard the ship, a small but efficient crew bustled around, performing their duties with precise skill. Dark clouds spread over head and thunder was heard before its partner, the flashing lightening struck. It was easy for the crew to see that a fierce storm was coming. All the men on the ship were panicked and hurried in their efforts to secure the ship. All the men except one.
The captain stood at his place behind the wheel of his ship with his face wearing a lopsided grin. His waist length silver hair was woven into long braid that blew in the wind behind him. He wore a black pirate hat on his head and an oversized black coat that reached his calves. His sleeves had to be rolled up in order for his hands to be of any use to him, but he wore the coat proudly anyway. Underneath he wore a deep dark red cotton shirt that was only buttoned up halfway. He also had a pair of black trousers that he tucked into a pair of brown leather boots that were pretty worn out. Looking at his cloths alone, a person would with out a doubt think of him as someone who didn't' really care for fashion, just as long as he was covered.
Any outsider who didn't know the captain would have thought him crazy for smiling death in the face like that, or maybe just insanely cocky. But to anyone who knew him, or loved the sea, he appeared to be one hell of a sea-loving pirate.
"Captain!" shouted a voice from the captain's shoulder. "The storm approaching promises to put up a good fight against us! Why on earth did you decide to leave port yesterday when your instincts clearly told you about the consequences?"
The pirate grinned at the flea demon sitting on his shoulder. "If you question my logic so much, why didn't you just stay your ass back in Surabaya, Myoga?"
The small flea jumped off of his captain's shoulder and landed on the wheel. "It is not that I doubt you, Captain-sama. It's just that… well… It hardly seems reasonable to risk all our lives in a storm we could have avoided by waiting a few days!"
"And let that damn Indonesian pig get to it first!? To hell with that! You saw how many ships he has in his control!" the captain yelled to the youkai. He smirked in a way that made his companion roll his eyes. "I know what I'm doing. This crew is well past good enough to survive this storm, but I didn't see not one sea-worthy man on any of his ships. If he was stupid enough to follow us, I doubt he'll make it out of this with even a forth of his ships or men."
Myoga opened his mouth to say something more but someone was shouting from the crow's nest.
"Captain! Captain we've got another ship coming at us!" yelled a young boy's voice. A small orange colored head popped out from over the side to make eye contact with the one he was speaking to.
The captain growled. "Damn! Where are they coming from?" he shouted back looking up into the sky as the first drops of rain began to fall.
"Astern! And they're gaining fast! They don't look like they've come for a friendly bottle of sake either!"
"Damn it all! Kekaru, take the wheel and hold it steady!" he yelled to the nearest man he saw.
"Aye, aye Captain!" Kekaru said as he took the wheel, feet spread wide and flat in order to keep his balance.
The captain ran towards the bow of his ship, giving orders to all the sailors he could spare from their regular duties. Not even a minute had gone by that he heard a ship was headed for them and he had already started to go through with a plan. He was known for quick thinking and getting out of tight spots. When he got to the bow and had run out of men to give orders to, he made a giant leap up to the crow's nest where he found a little fox youkai, soaked to the bone.
"Shippo, I need a favor."
Naraku sat in his quarters to keep himself out of the rain. His long black greasy hair was held away from his face with an indigo colored ribbon. His face was twisted into a sick little grin that could make ladies swoon and men gag. He wore an Indigo overcoat with tails that he had buttoned up over a white frilly shirt. He also wore beige trousers and black shoes. He sort of resembled captain hook, but in blue instead of red.
He was clicking his well-kept nails on a table when a sopping wet sailor entered his room and bowed to him. "Captain, there's something you need to see."
Naraku sighed and stood, grabbing his black hat with blue trim and placing it on his head as he left the room. As soon as he stepped out the door, he was soaked from head to toe from the shower of rain. He turned to the sailor, "Well, what is it?"
The sailor merely pointed to the cloud filled sky.
When Naraku looked up he doubted what his eyes were seeing. A large pink ball was hovering over his ship, looking around with big cartoonish eyes. Atop this floating pink ball was a silver haired man who had a satisfied look on his face when he saw the captain. The man said something to the ball and it descended onto the deck, scaring off the men who were near it. The ball then suddenly disappeared, and the man was left standing there with a friendly smile on his face and his hands in his large coat pockets.
"Well, hello there," the man said in mandarin.
"If you are here to speak to me, as I assume you are, you should speak your native tongue. Some of us hail from Japan anyway," Naraku said in response.
"Ah, I see. Sorry, just kinda assumed that you might speak Chinese, seeing as most of your crew looks to be from China itself," the silver-haired man said in Japanese. He spoke it just as fluently as he spoke mandarin. It was easy to see that he knew many languages and could speak them just as well.
"Yes, most of my crew is from China. But I assure you they all speak Japanese as well. But enough about them let us hear about you. I'd like to know what made you think you had the right to come aboard my ship," Captain Naraku said with a small polite smile on his face.
"Well, Captain, I could easily ask you the same question, seeing as you were headed straight for my ship as if your very lives depended on it."
"Your ship? So you are the captain of that ship?" he asked, pointing to the ship that they were still headed for.
"Yeah, that's me. Captain Takahashi Inuyasha at your service," he said, taking off his hat and giving a bow. Some of the crew gasped when they saw that the man had a pair of dog-ears atop his head. He replaced his hat on his head so that it was a little crooked and grinned lopsidedly.
Naraku's face suddenly took on a look of interest. "Well, this is fantastic news. You are just the man I've been looking for, Captain Takahashi."
"Is that so?" said Inuyasha, his lopsided grin never faltering. He overflowed with confidence, as if he felt completely safe in his surroundings.
"Yes. Yes indeed. You see, I just needed to secure a little information from you, if that's quite all right with you of course."
"Well, it depends on the information you're looking for."
"The first thing I wish to know you have already told me. You are in fact Takahashi Inuyasha, Captain of the Windscar, are you not?"
"Hai, that I am."
"Ah, then I can only assume that you sir, are a pirate, yes?"
Takahashi smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I do like to do a little stealing, treasure hunting and pillaging among a lot of other unlawful acts in my spare time, but I'm not very fond of labels."
"Well, just for the sake of my purpose here, I'm going to put that label on you. I have reason to believe that you are one of the Pirate Captains that belong to the group known as the Goten no Kaizoku. Am I correct, captain?"
Takahashi's smile faded from his face and a neutral look came to replace it.
"And if I am?"
"Well, then I'm going to have to ask you how big your wrists and ankles are, because you'll be wearing shackles around them in a few minutes," replied Naraku with cockiness oozing from his voice. The grin he wore on his face was a sickening sight, but Takahashi kept his gaze on him.
To Naraku's surprise, Takahashi burst into laughter the very next second. He laughed and he laughed, holding his stomach in merriment. The sailors started to look at each other as if to say 'is this really the pirate mastermind we've been looking for?' Naraku's anger slowly began to rise at his would-be prisoner's laughter. Finally, he had had enough.
"Silence!" he barked. All eyes shot from the silver-haired captain, to the black-haired one. "How dare a filthy blooded hanyou laugh at me in such a way!"
Takahashi's laughter stopped at once. It would seem that the captain had struck a nerve.
"Oh, so you can tell I'm hanyou, huh? Well, I guess it would be easy for a spider youkai such as you. Sure, I'm just a lowly ainoko, and judging by the way that you dress, you gotta be some kinda high up person right? Even if you don't dress like normal Japanese nobles and the like," he said quietly, but loud enough for all to hear. He stood there quietly for a moment, appearing to be humbled. Naraku smiled, and was about to say something else when Takahashi looked up with a huge grin on his face. "Oh well, can't be helped! Now, what was this nonsense you were spewing earlier about shackles and what not?" he said, waving his hand in the air.
"You bumbling idiot. Why do you stand there as if you aren't worried about your future? Do you know that you are wanted in more countries than you can probably count? Dead or alive, my friend. As soon as we get back, you are to be executed. You and your little Pirate Court," Naraku sneered.
Captain Takahashi chuckled. "Are you implying that my life is about to be cut short, you ignorant government son of a bitch? You underestimate this ainoko."
Naraku snarled at the other captain, and spoke to him through gritted teeth. "Really? How so?"
Captain Takahashi simply smirked at him in an I-know-something-you-don't way before the boat shook violently with a series of explosions. Everyone looked to the starboard side of the ship and there, abreast to the ship, was the Windscar, and Takahashi's crew firing cannons and guns at them.
Naraku's anger rose to a dangerous level, and he leapt across the ship to the other captain. Takahashi dodged the attack, but Naraku pulled out a gun and shot at him. The captain of the Windscar had been forced to take to the sails. He pushes his claws into the cloth to keep himself from falling, and watched as his crew boarded the ship. A great battle was being fought below him and he was mesmerized by it.
Naraku jumped up to the crow's nest and looked down at the hanyou in his sails. "So, Takahashi, you are as cunning as the stories say. You came over here to distract me and my crew while your crew took your ship to sneak up on us. Very clever!"
Takahashi looked up and smiled once again. "Well, I'm not as dumb as most people assume me to be."
"Well, hanyou, let us hope that the same is true about you being weak for your sake!" he yelled as he jumped from the crows nest to where Captain Takahashi was on the sail. Naraku knocked him off of the sail and as they both fell a lot of clawing and scratching took place. By the time they hit the deck, both of them had already shed blood. They crashed through the wooden boards and landed in the bunker. Takahashi wrestled the gun out of his hand, then landed a few blows to the head, but Captain Naraku kicked him in the abdomen and he keeled over.
Breathing hard, Naraku stood, sporting a bloody lip. "How dare you lay hands on me…! You don't know who I am!"
Captain Takahashi stood, letting his arms dangled as he looked at his opponent. "Why don't you tell me?"
"I am Captain Onigumo Naraku, of the Youkai Syndicate of Japan."
"Ah, see I knew you were pretty high up there… How do you know about the Goten no Kaizoku, Captain Onigumo?" Inuyasha asked as they started to circle around, ready to pounce again. "I'm not saying that I'm in it or anything, but I do know that even amongst us pirates it seems to be a very protected secret from the 'good guys' of our fair country. Hell, even most pirates don't seem to know about them. You've got to be some kind of genius to have gotten this information."
Naraku smiled at the compliment and spoke with malice in his voice. "Well, it was very easy, actually. But for someone like myself, of course it would be. I've been tracking the most powerful pirates in our seas for some time now. To my surprise I found out about your little group that owns these mighty waters. I must say, from the legends and rumors you guys have a pretty intricate web of systems within your little Pirate Court. I congratulate you."
Takahashi frowned at the man in front of him. "What do you want?"
"I want to kill you. You and the rest of the Goten no Kaizoku. I want to rule over your territory. And I'll do it Inuyasha…" Naraku said, not even bothering to be respectful and use his last name. "I'll kill you and your group and rule in your place."
Takahashi stopped circling the room and stared at Naraku. "Well, now that you've so stupidly given me all the information I need to start the work on your demise, I'll Be leaving now," Inuyasha said. He paused and smiled. "By the way, Captain Onigumo, that shade of blue, makes you look ridiculous. The next time I see you, please don't dress yourself like a damn blueberry, okay?" he said with a smirk at his opponent's very apparent anger.
Captain Takahashi chuckled and saluted Naraku, "Ciao." With that he leapt up out of the hole they fell in through and landed on the deck.
From the Bunker Naraku could hear the captain ordering his men back to their own ship. He stayed down under the deck until he knew that the pirates were long gone and he heard his crew calling for him. Instead of jumping through the hole as Takahashi had done, he used the door and made his way above deck.
"C-Captain! They've taken our rations, and some of our weapons and gunpowder!" said one of the sailors as he appeared on the deck. It was still raining and the ship looked a mess from the battle.
Naraku looked to his first mate. "Have this mess cleaned up, patch that hole up, and set a course for the nearest port so we can restock."
"Yes, sir."
Naraku walked into his quarters and locked the door behind him. The encounter hadn't exactly gone as planned, but he did somewhat get confirmation from the hanyou that Goten no Kaizoku did in fact exist, and that would be more than he started with.
"Yes, Captain… I'm coming for you… you and the Goten no Kaizoku."
Captain Inuyasha walked amongst his crew as they cheered for their victory. He grinned from ear to ear, giving off the impression that he was happy as well, but on the inside, he was carefully thinking over what to do next.
Of course the Court had to be informed, but he could do that in a moment, when he had time alone. Then he needed to speak with Myoga, who probably hid on the ship the entire time the battle was going on. He looked around the deck at the rejoicing men, then made up his mind on a few things.
"Avast, yeh thievin' pirates!" Inuyasha barked over the noise. Immediately silence fell, and they all looked towards their captain, most with smiles at being called thieving pirates. "I'll admit, you did well! That ship was easy pickins for a crew as sea worthy as you be!"
At that, the crew yelled in agreement, and one of the pirates yelled out, "It helps to have such a sea-worthy captain!" All the men laughed heartily at that.
"Okay, but now it's time to put away yer winnin's! You two," he said, pointing at two men. "Take those barrels of gunpowder and put them below deck in storage! We don't want them getting wet or we can't use it. And you two over there take the food rations and put them in the kitchen. Tell Totosai that we're feastin' tonight, just 'cause I kinda feel like puttin' some kind of pleasure in your lives."
The four men who were given orders set off with an "Aye, aye captain" as everybody chuckled at the captain's orders.
Inuyasha began to walk away, but a pirate named Harushi spoke up, "Hey, Captain, what we supposed to do with the weapons?"
Without turning around, Inuyasha said, "Keh, distribute them amongst yourselves."
The crew mumbled their acceptance of his orders, and then Kekaru spoke up. "And the rum?"
Inuyasha stopped walking. He didn't turn around but he did turn his head. "There's rum?"
"Aye, Captain," Kekaru confirmed as he looked over the few barrels of rum.
Inuyasha turned around, and walked over to the barrels with thudding steps. "Someone bring me a cup!" he shouted, and within the next few minutes a large mug was in his hands. He pulled the cork out of one of the barrels and let the warm golden brown liquid flow into his cup.
The men watched him closely as he downed his first cup, then filled it once again to the brim. Then, the Captain walked away, up the stairs, and towards the door of the captains quarters. When he reached the door, he turned and yelled, "Do what you will with the rum!" and he stepped inside.
From inside the cabin he could hear a rush of footsteps and cheering coming from the men on deck. It was pouring rain outside, but he knew that wouldn't stop his crew from drinking.
Inuyasha sighed, and took off his hat to set it on the table next to him. He then sat down in his chair, and reached inside his jacket. When he removed his hand, he held in it a large ball of fluff.
"Shippo," he called.
Then the ball of fluff unfolded itself, and it became little Shippo, the fox demon. "Hey Inuyasha!" he said cheerfully.
"Hey, I need another favor."
"Sure, Inu-nii. What is it?" he asked. Whenever the two were alone, Inuyasha allowed him to call him by his first name, or 'Inu-nii' since the boy thought of him as an older brother. Shippo had met the Windscar captain when he saved him from other pirates, named the Thunder Brothers. They had murdered Shippo's parents and entire village, and were about to kill him next, but Inuyasha had come just in time to save his life. The battle that ensued would be one that became legendary throughout the seas and officially put Inuyasha on the map as a great force to be reckoned with at the age of fourteen, just a few months after he became a captain.
That was five years ago, and now Inuyasha was nineteen, and Shippo was ten.
"I need to get a message to the Captain of the Ikkitousen, and I need you to send it," he said, as he took out a piece of paper and a quelled pen and some ink. He quickly scribbled a message onto the paper, and folded it a few times before he handed it to the young fox.
Shippo took it and smiled a smile of determination. "Aye, aye Captain Inu, you can rely on me!" he said as he hoped off the table and headed towards the door.
"If you see the coward, let him know I want to talk to him," Inuyasha said, picking up his mug.
"Yeah, okay Inu-nii," Shippo said, knowing full well who 'the coward' was.
As soon as Shippo left the room, Inuyasha slipped out of his coat and stretched his arms over his head. He lay back on his bed and looked to the ceiling. How could this Naraku person know about the Court? Sure, amongst pirates a lot of people know about it, but what they know is legend, myth. Nobody actually knew what it was or who was supposed to be the ringleaders of the whole thing. Only the captains and their crews knew about it, so really the only way for anyone to know…
"Is for someone to have betrayed us… but who? How?"
"Who and how what, Captain?"
Inuyasha sat up on his bed and looked to the table to find Myoga sitting there.
"Well, that ship that came up on us… It was a ship from Japan. The captain was one of the higher ups… a youkai higher up."
Myoga looked at his captain. "They can't have come all the way here, just for the bounty on your head, can they?"
"Well, this guy does wanna put my head on a platter, but it's not for the bounty," he replied with a bitter smile. "He said he wants to take out the Goten no Kaizoku. Rule in our place."
"Nani!? How does he know about the Court? And even if he knew about it, then how did he know that you are in it?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. But the only thing I can think of is that we've got a serious rat problem. But who? Everybody on this boat has made a blood oath. Even if they wanted to speak the truth, they couldn't. The spell is too strong," Inuyasha said. He was puzzling out every possible scenario, but he always came up with an obstacle that would make it impossible. Just how could this man have gotten the information that he had?
"I can't fathom how he'd done it Captain… What was his rank in the syndicate?"
"I dunno… He didn't say. I was hoping that maybe you might know of him. He called himself, Onigumo Naraku."
Myoga sat down on the tabletop and lit his pipe. He only did this when he was thinking hard about something. "Onigumo… It is a familiar name, but… I can't quite recall where I'd heard it. What did he look like?"
"Keh, like a blueberry."
"Nani? Like a blueberry? Was he a fruit demon?" Myoga asked in confusion.
"No, heh, just something funny. Anyway, he was a spider youkai. Long hair, black wavy… kinda looked like if you touched it, you'd have a whole lot of gook on your hand. Pale skin, beady eyes… maybe a pinch shorter than me… and he was the kinda guy who wears eyeliner. And he dressed like he was from Europe or something. I think he traveled there a lot. He had many maps in his cabin of Britain and France. He also had lots of papers written in English, mandarin, and Japanese… oh and Spanish too."
"Wow, you gave quite a description, Captain."
"Yeah well, I figured that if he was going to become an enemy, then I should try to find out as much as I could about him. I took a few of his papers too, if you want to see them."
"No, I think you might want to save those for the Captain of the Ikkitousen. I take it you've sent him a message already?" Myoga asked, knowing what the answer would be already.
"Yeah, he should be getting it right about now. I'm expecting one back any minute, depending on how long he wants to think about the whole thing," Inuyasha said while scratching his head.
"Yes, your brother is the type of person to mull over every little detail before taking action. Quite the opposite of you, if I do say so myself," Myoga replied with a smile on his face.
Inuyasha laughed a little, "Damn straight Myoga."
Sesshomaru sat with two people from his crew in the corner of a rowdy and noisy bar. He wore large black hat on his head and a black cloak over the rest of his clothing, although, you could still see the white of his pants underneath, and of course his black leather boots. His long silver hair was kept in a loose ponytail.
His cold golden eyes traveled to his right to glance at one of his crewmembers named Jaken. He was covered in a cloak that was much too long for his short body, and a red scarf wrapped around his head. His green skin looked leathery, and his beady yellow eyes watched every person that passed by their table. Needless to say, this impish youkai was pretty ugly.
Then, the captain looked to his left at his first mate, who was a lot easier on the eyes than the other pirate. Rin was a beautiful girl of sixteen, who looked a lot more innocent than the world she lived in. She was wearing a black cloak as well, but hers was open, so you could see the simple orange kimono underneath. She had cut the skirt from the kimono, and fashioned herself a pair of shorts out of the extra fabric. On her feet she wore pink Chinese slippers that matched the pink sash around her kimono and the pink scarf she had intricately woven into her two pigtail styled black braids. Her large brown eyes were studding the window across the way on the opposite wall.
"Captain…" she said, barely above a whisper and not looking at him. He followed her gaze to find a leaf flying at him. He rose his hand in the air and caught the leaf, and the moment he touched it, it changed to paper. Sesshomaru looked at the piece of paper for a moment, before he unfolded it under the table and read it.
Brother,
Secrets out. They know. We need to talk.
Mutt
"Damn," Sesshomaru said, speaking for the first time since they sat down. "Jaken."
"Y-Yes, Captain!" Jaken said in surprise at his name being called.
"Get me paper. And a pen… and some ink," said the captain in a melancholy voice.
As Jaken scurried away from the table, Rin looked to her captain. "Sesshomaru?"
"As soon as I respond to this," he said, holding up the piece of folded paper, "We're leaving. It's urgent."
Rin nodded her head silently, and watched as Jaken continued his mission of finding paper and writing utensils for the captain.
As soon as the imp came back, Sesshomaru jotted a few things down on the paper and handed it back to the smaller pirate. The youkai then reached under the table and pulled out a staff, with a youkai head and woman's head on it (Dum duh duh duuuh! The Staff of Two Heads!). He took the staff, and pressed the pointed end of it onto the paper, and it disappeared in a flash of flame.
"It is done, Captain," Jaken said, looking pleased with himself.
Sesshomaru nodded, then stood and walked through the loud men and women who were in the bar. His two crewmembers followed after him into the cold night air. The sky was dark and clear in Dalian. The streets were empty of the Chinese merchants and sailors that were there only just a few hours earlier. It was a quiet eerie place in the middle of the night.
The captain began walking towards the pier where their ship was docked. The trio walked in silence as they closed the distance between their bodies and their ship. The moon was a bright crescent shape against the sky.
"Captain," the little green imp spoke up. "Just out of curiosity, what's going on? We haven't gotten the information that we came for yet, and I hardly think that leaving so soon is the logical…"
Sesshomaru stopped walking and glared at the small man. "Are you questioning my judgement on this situation. Jaken?"
"Uh… well, I…" he stuttered. Jaken was never too good under pressure.
"How dare you, especially when you don't know the circumstances," the captain said, drawing his sword, the Tensaiga.
Rin stepped in front of the imp, "Captain, if I may, I don't think that Jaken's life is really worth enough to be taken my your sword." She didn't really think of what she just said as an insult to Jaken, she thought of it more as helping to save his life.
Sesshomaru looked at the girl in front of him for a moment before sheathing his sword. "Be thankful that Rin is on your side," he said, more so a bit of advice than a command. "We have to hurry, we must be where we're going in a hurry."
Sesshomaru started walking again, taking long strides so that his two companions had to jog to keep up.
"Well, where are we going, Captain?" Rin's sweet voice asked.
"Home."
Inuyasha stood behind the wheel of his ship, breathing in the salty smell of the sea. He was circling an island to get to its northern side. Once he reached it, he looked carefully up and down the beach. When he found what he was searching for, he veered left, and the ship took a sharp turn towards the island.
"Okay… okay…. And… Lift the sales!!" he barked out to his crew. Immediately ropes hoisted the black sails of his ship up as the crew labored away at their tasks. Then, with a small smile, Inuyasha let go of the wheel, and it spun out of control.
If someone were to be watching from the beach or from out at sea, it would appear that the ship was going to crash into the land and be stuck like a whale washed up on land. But the crash landing never came, as a strong current pulled the ship into a hidden river flowing from the sea to the heart of the island. The current was a strange one, because normally a river flowed from land to sea, and not the other way around, but it still pulled the ship deeper and deeper into the islands depths.
Inuyasha watched the river carefully, and when he saw the waters begin to calm, he took hold of the wheel again and steered the ship down the remainder of the river. Eventually it opened out into a deep lake with many docks on its shores.
The captain pulled up to one of the empty docks, and gave orders to tie the ship down as he walked toward the wooden boards of the dock. Once off the ship, he grinned his lopsided grin at the forest in front of him.
"You know, even though I've been down that river many times before, the way you steer always give's me a queasy feeling in my gut," said a voice from his side.
Inuyasha looked to his left and found Totosai standing there in his deep green kimono style shirt and black trousers with no shoes. The old man was stroking his beard in delight at finally being home with his other hand on his hip.
"You got a problem with my driving old man?" Inuyasha asked, a little peeved.
"No, but maybe if you steered your way down the entire river instead of just letting go of the wheel, maybe—Ow!" he exclaimed at the new found bump on his head. "Now what'd you go and do that for?"
"Go tell the men to bring out the things we got from Jakarta and bring them to the first shop on the main street. And the things we got from Galle to the 3rd shop down on the right side on the backstreet by Fuu's market," said the captain, completely ignoring Totosai's question. He continued walking towards the forest.
"Well, where are you goin'?" the cook called.
"I've got important things to do in the city. Oh, let the men know that after that, they can go where ever the hell they please, but to be back at the ship in a week's time at sunrise," he called back, still walking.
Totosai watched him disappear behind the trees before he sighed and headed back to the ship to give the captain's orders to the crew.
In the meantime, Inuyasha hadn't even walked 20 feet into the forest before he came upon a trap door on the ground, hidden by fallen leaves and shrubbery. He opened up the hatch and climbed inside, finding himself on a winding staircase carved out of the hard earth. He climbed down the steps, surrounded by rock walls that held torches in crevices as he went.
Finally, he reached a platform where he could look down into a huge cave like space that was lit by holes all over it's roof. At the bottom of this large cave a circular shaped city dwelled, full of life and noise. Many buildings made of stone blocks were present in this underground city, and there was even a waterfall that came from the lake on one side and made a river run through the middle of it. On this platform he was at least eighty feet from the ground, so he still had many stairs to climb, but he was fond of stopping here to gaze at the one place (other than the sea) that he ever felt at home in.
Inuyasha grinned in genuine happiness.
"Home, sweet home."
SMACK!!!
"Hentai!!!"
Miroku sat on the ground rubbing his bruised cheek. If not for the quickly darkening mark on his face, he would have looked pretty handsome. He had his hair in a small rat's tail on the back of his head, and he wore a simple cotton purple shirt that was open, exposing his chest and abs to the world. He also wore black trousers and worn brown leather boots. And to top of his simple look, he had two gold earrings in his left earlobe. "Oh come on dearest. Do you always have to hit me so hard?"
Sango looked down at the man who had just violated her for the umpteenth time. She was also a fair looking person. She wore pink scarf, used as a scrunchy for the ponytail of brown hair she had. She also wore a black Chinese styled shirt with a pink dragon embroidered onto it. She wore matching pants, and a black overcoat that she had wide open at the moment. To top it off, she had black slippers with dragonheads on both. "Well, do you always have to try and touch me there!?"
"Well… yeah," he shrugged.
Sango marinated in her anger for a moment before raising her right foot backwards and released all her frustration in one swift kick to Miroku's stomach.
By this time in the argument, things were more than a little loud, but the people in the street simply went about their business like nothing was happening. Truth be told, this kind of thing tended to happen a lot whenever Captain Taijiya and Captain Houshi were home at the same time.
The writhing man made a sort of gurgling noise at the contact Sango's foot made with his body and he turned over onto his stomach. As he tried to get to his feet and only managing to get to his knees, he looked to Sango again.
"Love, I just have to ask," he said with a sly smile in her direction. "Would you being so violent all the time be any indication that you like to be rough in bed?"
Sango gritted her teeth and raised her fist for a blow to the head, but she suddenly felt a tight grip on her wrist. She looked up to find a Red-haired wolf youkai woman with pigtails holding onto her arm. She wore a bright red chest plate and shin guards over a white kimono that was cut short just above her knees and had no sleeves. On her arms she wore red bangles and on her hands, red gloves that she cut the fingers out of. She also wore red beaded slippers on her feet.
"Sango-chan, think about this. He's so not worth it," the woman said.
Sango looked to Miroku, who gave her a small smile of remorse, before she sighed at let her arm drop.
"Yeah, you're right Ayame-san. He just… he just gets on my last nerves," she said with an anger-filled glance at the man on the ground.
The wolf youkai rolled her eyes. "Tell me about. I can completely relate. But I'm tellin' you, beatin' him to a pulp won't do a thing. You see he keeps coming back, don't you?"
"Of course he keeps coming back," a voice to their right said. "You guys should know by now that he won't stop 'till Sango kills 'im."
Another woman stood off to the side with brilliant smile on her face. She wore a white cotton button up shirt that was probably made for man because it was big on her. Around her waist she had a green scarf tied around her as a make shift belt and it held two daggers on each hip. She also wore a pair of brown trousers that she had obviously cut because they only reached mid thigh, and she had knee-high brown leather boots with gold buckles on them. Her raven black hair was held in a loose bun, held together with a pair of gold chopsticks and she wore the biggest golden hoop earrings that anyone has ever seen, I'm sure. Over her shoulder she had a strap connecting to a quiver of arrows on her back and a bow. Quite frankly, she looked like the female version of a treasure-loving pirate.
None the less, Sango and Ayame both smiled from ear to ear as they happily shouted in unison, "Kagome!"
Kagome laughed at the two as she walked over with her arms held wide. "Well? Can I get my hug or what?"
As Ayame and Sango were about to make their way to the third female captain in their group, two tan arms snaked around Kagome's waist and held her tight.
"Kagome you can always get your hug from me" said a voice in her ear.
The captain turned in the newcomer's arms and found herself to be a little too close to someone she really didn't want to be near. He had tan skin and long black hair that he kept in a ponytail. He wore a brown kimono styled shirt with the sleeves cut off and a black chest plate similar to Ayame's. He also wore trousers and brown leather boots. He also wore guards on his forearm and shins. He was also a wolf youkai
"Captain Kouga… "
The man smiled, baring his fangs in the process. "Glad to see me?"
"Not in particular," she said, trying to pry herself from his grip.
Across from them, Sango looked at Ayame with pity. Said wolf youkai was glaring at Kouga with fire in her eyes. She and Kouga had come from the same pack, and their grandparents had arranged for the two of them to be mated. Unfortunately, neither was too excepting of the whole thing and both took off to avoid having their lives planned out by someone else. But it would seem that fate had it out for them, because they ended up in the Goten no Kaizoku and closer than ever. Kouga, in the attempt to have some say in his destiny, started hitting on Kagome in hopes that maybe they'd be together, instead of Ayame and himself. But of course, Kagome wasn't interested, and the only thing his attempts ever managed to do were to tick people off.
It really didn't bother Ayame that he hit on other women, what got to her is that he only wanted to be with other women because it meant he would not be with her. Ayame began to doubt herself whenever she was around Kouga, and her self-confidence was only a fraction of what it normally was. There was nothing really wrong with her was there? She wasn't that bad of a person, was she? No, of course not. But she hated Kouga for making her feel that way, forcing her to deal with him in the only way she could. Through anger.
Just as she was about to step forward to punish Kouga for forcing himself onto Kagome in front of her, someone beat her to the punch. One blow to the head, and Kouga stumbled, letting go of Kagome and falling to his knees.
"You know, mangy wolf, you are one sad excuse of a youkai, and a captain," were the words that came from behind Kagome.
She turned around to find yet another person she really didn't want to see.
"Captain Takahashi," Kagome said, with her nose in the air.
Inuyasha nodded to her solemnly, "Captain Higurashi."
"Captain Houshi."
Everyone looked to Miroku, who had been almost forgotten amongst the arrivals of the other Captains.
"What?" he said after a minute of everyone eyeing him. "I felt left out," he shrugged.
Inuyasha grinned at the man and laughed before he walked over and pounded his fist on Miroku's. "So I take it that you've still been harassing Sango then, huh?"
Captain Houshi smiled at his friend. "How'd you know?" Inuyasha tapped Miroku's face with his knuckles, and at this he hissed. "Ah, I see. The bruise isn't that dark, is it?"
"I can always make it darker, y'know!" Sango yelled from a few feet away.
Just then, Sesshomaru walked up and nodded to everyone. "I'm sure you're talking about that hideous bruise on Miroku's face. Been acting like a wild animal in heat again I see, Houshi."
"Well, you don't have to put it like that…"
"What happened to him?" the older Takahashi brother asked, nodding his head to Kouga who was rubbing his head and glaring at Inuyasha.
"Keh, he had an accident."
"I'm sure he did. What time are we having our meeting?" Sesshomaru asked, catching everyone's attention.
"It should be at night. I've got to check in with a few things," Ayame said.
"I agree. Kagome and I have families we want to see before we get stuck in that room for hours on end," Sango said, voicing both girls' thoughts.
"Yeah… you guys know my mom, she'll want to see me and Sessh first thing," Inuyasha spoke up. Sesshomaru looked over to Inuyasha with cold eyes. "Don't look at me that way, you know you were thinkin' it. You don't wanna see her mad any more than I do."
The dog youkai rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, then it's five voting for night. So we'll meet up in the usual place when it gets dark, right?"
Everyone gave his or her sign of agreement, and then Sesshomaru looked to Inuyasha. "Well, since we don't won't to displease mother-dearest little puppy, we better get going," he said, tipping Inuyasha's hat off of his head, and grabbing his sensitive little dog ear and dragging him away.
They all ignored Inuyasha's screams and curses as they split up and went their separate ways, Sango and Kagome to their families, Ayame to tend to her buisness, Miroku to a local pub, and Kouga to simply wander the streets.
Oofie: "Wow, it came out just how I wanted it. In the first chapter, I wanted to introduce everyone, while the reader still had no sense of what's going on…"
Inuyasha: "You're trying to confuse them?"
Oofie: "No, I just wanted people to know who most of the main characters are, next chapter is going to explain a bit more of what's going on.
Kagome: "I don't have too many character dynamics yet…"
Oofie: "You will, trust me."
Inuyasha: "I kinda like my character. He smart, strong, and good looking."
Oofie: "Yeah, I guess. But you'll see, he's still got your potty mouth, your arrogance, your ability to wolf down food in a matter of seconds…"
Kagome: "Will he still love ramen?"
Oofie: "Of course. Although it won't be instant noodles, since the time period the story is in doesn't have that yet."
Inuyasha: "Alright, whatever, but will Kagome still be loud, unforgiving, and a threat to herself and others?"
Kagome: "HEY!"
Oofie: "Actually, no. I still want her to be her clumsy self, but you'll see the difference… trust me."
Inuyasha: "Well, I'm hungry."
Kagome: "Fine, lets go back to my house and get some food. You coming Oofie?"
Oofie: "Sure, I love your mom's cooking."
Oofie Kagome & Inuyasha all wave to the reader before heading for the shrine.