Chapter One
"Next stop island twenty-two."
"La próxima parada es la isla veintidós"
The loud-speaker rang over the crowd as the people on the boat started to gather their things, preparing to disembark onto the island, and their new home.
"Kagome, Miroku, we need to hurry, they don't have many housing units and I refuse to use one of those nasty sleeping rooms." Sango grabbed her things and started to walk forward, "Miroku, you're going to have to stay back, we might have dyed your hair but we can't get the colored contacts till later." She smiled and grabbed Miroku's hand as he started to help them force their way to the front of the boat. As the boat docked there was a scramble for everyone to get off; Miroku, Sango, and Kagome pushed their way through the crowd and got to the check in station with only a few people ahead of them. Only one of them needed to actually be in the line to check in so Kagome decided she'd be the one to stay.
"How many people?" the sour old man droned as if he'd said it a million times already.
"Three, Sir." Kagome put on her sweetest most innocent smile. Most of the people in the line were men so when the old man heard a girls voice, his head shot up.
"Well good-afternoon darling, what can I do for you?" the sour expression was gone from his face, replaced by a sly perverted smile, like he hadn't talked to a girl in months.
"I need a housing unit for me and my two friends." She stepped closer making sure to show off the fact that her tank-top was a bit low. The man opened his book and flipped through the pages, then frowned.
"I'm sorry darling, there seems to be no rooms left for 3 people. Now you can go to the Sleeping Rooms. But a girl like you wouldn't last too long in a room full of bunk beds." He looked her over, up and down, focusing a bit too long on her chest, "but if you'd like to make a deal, I'm sure I could get you in a shared unit." Kagome smiled at him, her plan was already working.
"Two-Hundred dollars, no more. Deal?" Kagome put the two-hundred on the table, a smirk on her lips. Though money didn't have as much power on boats, once you get onto the islands it has power and some, things other people didn't realize.
The man looked at the money and looked at Kagome, "not the deal I was thinking of…" he looked her over once more, "but I'll see what I can do." He took the money and got out a pen, "I'll need the names."
"Kagome Higurashi, Sango Udame, and Roki Akita." She slid forward their new ID's, including Miroku's fake one, that listed that they were all on the safe list and from Osaka.
"You are room two-hundred-thirteen, building three." He handed her three sets of keys and a map of the island.
"Thanks sweet-heart" Kagome leaned over the table and kissed him on the head, and winked before she started to walk away. She had made dozens of deals with men like him, give them a little and they won't care what you do. She had gotten them on the boat, she had gotten Miroku his new ID, she
had even convinced a nice ship captain to give them three-hundred dollars, she could get anything from anyone.
"You know I still haven't figured out how you can sweet talk someone into anything." Miroku said as they came to stand by her, both carrying an extra bag of clothes they had bought while Starr pulled her trick.
"Ah, Roki Roki Roki, I doubt you ever will," she smirked and grabbed the bag that held the clothes they had gotten her from Miroku, "did you even remember to pick up the colored contacts?" She looked through the bag of clothes she started to tell them just what she got from the old pervert, "we have a unit..."
"YES! Now I don't have to sleep with one eye open!" Sango jumped happily up and down squealing like a little girl.
"… not quite, we're going to have to share the room."
"What do you mean share? I thought you said we had a unit." Sango stopped jumping and stopped dead in her tracks.
Kagome rolled her eyes, "well if someone would have let me finish maybe you wouldn't have been so surprised when I told you."
"Girls, seriously you guys fight like an old married couple!" that earned him a sour look from both Kagome and Sango. Miroku backed away slowly putting up his hands in defeat, "I'm just saying!"
"Anyway, where is this unit?" Sango had already dropped the argument and had her arms linked with Kagome and Miroku, making sure that Miroku's wondering hands stayed where she could see them.
"Building three, room two-hundred-thirteen." Kagome took the map from Sango and they began their walk through the streets. It took them two rights, a left, another right then two lefts before they finally found the building.
"Why did we take such an idiotic route to get here? Couldn't we have just oh I don't know, gone straight." Sango looked at Kagome, "did you even realize that we could have gone straight?"
Kagome just looked at Sango and shrugged her shoulders, "I knew we could have gone straight but… um… I… uh… I wanted to take the scenic rout?"
Miroku and Sango looked at each other and then looked at Kagome and said "Yeah right!"
It was true, Kagome couldn't find her way out of a paper bag so she wasn't really hurt, but she wasn't going to let them know that, "gosh, thanks guys for your support!" Kagome walked into the building with Miroku and Sango following behind her.
They walked up the flight of stairs to the second floor and headed for the room two-thirteen. "Two-eleven, two-twelve, ah-hah! Here we are! Two-thirteen." Sango and Miroku raced to the door while Kagome smiled and heard Sango shouting, "I call first dibbs!" They got to the door before Kagome and waited for her to get there.
"You guys realize you ran for nothing, right?" Kagome laughed at her two out of breath friend and got out her key for the door, but before she could even get the key out of her pocket a tall girl with long black hair appeared in the doorway. She was tan and had brown eyes, but her outfit left very little for the imagination, being a blue bikini top and a mini skirt.
"Can I help you?" she crossed her arms, blocking their way into the unit. They all shifted nervously, not knowing what to say; surprisingly Miroku was the first to speak.
"I'm Roki, and this is Sango," Sango raised a hand to indicate that that was her, "and Kagome" Kagome raised her own hand and stepped forward.
"We're your new roommates," Kagome brushed past the girl and proceeded to enter then unit, "so what rooms do we get?" The girl who answered the door rushed up to Kagome and grabbed her arm to spin her around.
"Who do you think you are, barging in here like that?" She got right into Kagomes face, "this is our unit and you and your friends aren't welcome here."
Kagome eyes darkened and she said, with a hint of malice, "I'll give you two seconds to let go of my arm and to get out of my face." Sango and Miroku were now standing behind the girl, putting their things down and getting ready for a fight. That's when he came out.
"Kikyo, let go of our new roommate," he came out of the room closest to the door, dressed in an old pair of ripped up jeans and a blue shirt, his hair was white and long, hanging past his ass, with golden eyes. First thing Kagome thought was, 'tall, dark, and handsome.' He came to stand next to the girl he had called Kikyo, and stopped to stare at Sango. Now Kagome couldn't think of why he'd just stop dead in his tracks, now of course Sango was pretty with her long brown hair, long legs, and beautiful brown eyes, but being bluntly stared down was rare, even for her.
Then he said it, "Sango Udame …" Sango smiled and nearly tackled the guy. "Now I never thought I'd see you again!" he spun her around before setting her down.
"Sesshomaru! How? What?" millions of questions started to spin through Sango's head, "the others? My father? My brother?"
Sesshomaru put his hand over her mouth, "my god Sango, you don't shut up." He took away his hand before he kept talking, "we'll get you guys settled in, there will be time for questions later." They all walked into the unit, getting their first real view of all of it. It had a living room and three doors leading into the three bedrooms that the unit held. The living room was pretty bare, other than a couch and a few chairs, the bedrooms they'd yet to see.
"Kikyo and I share a room and Rin has her own room. So two of you can share that one and then the left over will share a room with…"
"ME!" No one even noticed the girl standing next to Sesshomaru until she spoke up. She wasn't much shorter than Kagome, but was younger, looking about 16 and very full of energy. She had short brown hair, put into a pony tail on the side of her head, but didn't dress half as bad, she wore a pair of skinny jeans and red tank top, she was pretty to say the least. "I'm Rin, Kikiyo's shorter, better looking sister." Sesshomaru laughed at this, but Kikyo looked genuinely pissed.
"Well Rin, I'm Kagome and I'll be your new room-mate!" Kagome smiled and picked up her things, "so where can I put these?" Rin squealed and grabbed Kagomes bags out of her hands and showed her to their room.
"It's not much but it's something," the room was barely big enough to fit the two twin beds and the dressers it held. Rin put Kagome's things on the bed and started to walk out, "make yourself at home." Kagome unpacked her clothes and walked over to the small, beaten up dresser, and started to put her things away, singing to herself
"Come now little one,
Don't fly away,
Please stay with me,
Don't be afraid."
She was so caught up in her own little world that she didn't notice Sesshomaru in the doorway.
"The Night is coming,
The day's almost gone.
Please stay with me,
Don't fly away."
Clapping from the doorway brought her back down to earth, "Well," Sesshomaru said, "looks like we have a musician in our midst," He leaned up against the door frame, with a slight smirk on his face, he had made Kagome blush a deep red and was enjoying seeing her squirm.
"How about you sing Mary Had A Little Lamb next?" Kikyo came up behind Sesshomaru and wrapped her arms around his waist, "It's my favorite." She put on a fake smile as she openly mocked Kagome, but Kagome just smiled and ignored the pompous bitch that was clogging up the air.
"Thanks but I think I'll pass for tonight," she smiled sweetly, "I've been up for nearly 40 hours and I'm about to pass out," she started to close the door, "maybe next time," and she slammed it in Kikyos face.
She put her back to the door and slow slid down till she was sitting on the floor. She put her head on her knees and just cried. Ever since the flood it had been one thing after another, and she just couldn't take it anymore.
She stayed there till the sun had gone down and the moon was high in the sky before she got up and got ready to sleep. She had no sleep clothes so she took off her shoes and jeans and slept in the tank top and underwear she had on.
She fell on top of the bed, not even bothering to put the covers on her and went straight to sleep while Sesshomaru, Kikyo, and Rin were all out in the living room talking.
"I don't like this, we don't know them. How are we supposed to trust them?" Kikyo sat on Sesshomarus lap, speaking her mind.
"You might not know them, but I know Sango," he wrapped his hands around Kikyos waist, trying to reassure her, "I know her; she wouldn't betray us for anything." Kikyo leaned back into Sesshomarus body taking in his sent.
"Speaking of, how do you know her?" Sesshomaru loosened his grip on Kikyo, surprising her a little, "Well?"
"This Sesshomaru doesn't have to explain anything," Sesshomaru stared off into space, thinking about the past, and the girl that had lived in the apartment below him.
Kikyo just looked at Sesshomaru with the most disgusted face and said, "You don't have to explain anything?" she got up off his lap, "I'm your girlfriend, when a strange freak comes into our home and says she knows you, I deserve an explanation!" She nearly screamed before walking over and sitting next to Rin, who was obsessively playing with one piece of hair. "I just think we should be more careful," she took Rins hair into her hands and started to braid it, "at least until Rin and I get to know them." She finished braiding Rins hair and stood up, "I'm going to bed, I'm just awfully beat." She kissed Sesshomaru on the cheek then walked into the room closest to the front door.
"So what do you think Rin?" Sesshomaru still didn't want to believe that he couldn't trust Sango. She had done so much for him and his brother; it was time to pay her back.
"We can trust them," Rin met Sesshomarus gaze and held it, "they're hiding something, and if it is what I think it is, then they have more reason not to trust us then us not trusting them." Rin stood up and gave Sesshomaru a hug before walking towards her room, "I'm going to sleep, you should think about doing the same."
"Night Rin, sleep well," Sesshomaru laid down on the couch and started to talk to himself, 'She's right they are hiding something. I just can't figure out what.' Rin has always had a good intuition about people and he trusted her opinion. He laid there for a few minutes then started to hum to himself the tune of the song that's Kagome had been singing earlier that night.
"Sounds like you heard Kagome singing," Sango walked out of her room and sat on Sesshomarus chest, "lying down on the job, eh?" she jested as Sesshomaru tried to sit up. Sango got off his chest and sat next to him on the couch so that they were facing each other.
"Well who said someone had to be on guard duty?" he poked Sangos arm and leaned back, "so why are you still up?"
"Well I heard someone talking, and since I can't sleep, I decided to come and say hi." She put on an innocent smile and poked Sesshomaru, "So tell me, do you know where my family is?" that question had been on her tongue since she had first seen Sesshomaru, and sadly his face didn't reassure her.
Sesshomaru looked at his hands and began to talk, "I was in the apartment when the flood warning was given," he flinched, "everyone else was at work. When the water started to go into the lower apartments, I went down to go see if you were home." He stopped talking and looked straight at Sango, "no one answered so I assumed that you evacuated."
Sango interrupted him, "so you don't know what happened to my father…" she looked at the ground tears in her eyes, "my brother?"
Sesshomaru took her in his arms and hugged her, "it's okay, you survived, I survived, maybe they did too." He gave her a quick squeeze and let go, "come on Go-go, smile," Sango smiled a little and wiped her eyes.
"So, anyway, how did you meet Kikyo and Rin?" Sango sat back leaning her head on the cushion of the couch. Sesshomaru sat back thinking for a minute before he actually spoke.
"I met them on the boat that picked me up off the roof of the apartment complex. There were only a hand full of us that made it, Kikyo looked like an angel standing up there, wind blowing her hair." He smiled to himself, "she was such a sweet heart when she pulled me up into the boat, the water was already up to my chest and it was getting harder to stay put against the current." He stopped talking and they sat there for a while silent, neither of them saying anything. Finally Sesshomaru hugged her and got up, "you should go to sleep."
Sango looked up at him and smiled, "for once the tables are changed, usually I'm the one yelling at Kagome to go to sleep," she laughed to herself, "she refused to go to sleep on that stupid boat." She got up and walked to her room, "well good-night Maru."
"Night Go-go, sleep well." Sesshomaru walked towards his room, and looked at the door that led to Rin and Kagome's room. He walked over and cracked open the door, when they had first moved in he had always gone to check on Rin since she had a room to herself. He was never comfortable not
being able to be in the same room as her. It made him uneasy that she could so easily be attacked and he wouldn't be the wiser, she was like a little sister to him.
He walked over to the room and cracked open the door, Rin was asleep in her bed, warm and cozy under her blankets while Kagome was on top of hers curled in a little ball. Sesshomaru walked over to her and picked her up, only then realizing she only had on underwear and a tank top, luckily she didn't wake up, so he pulled back her covers and slid her in, pulling the blanket up and tucking her in.
He walked over to Rin to check if she was okay, pulled her blanket up a little, pulling the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. "Good-night my little sister." He walked out of the room and closed the door and walked to his own room. He walked over to the queen size bed and pulled back the covers, sliding next to the sleeping Kikyo. As he wrapped his arms around her and started to fall asleep he thought, 'oh how you've changed.'