Chapter 2

A Tank and a Visitor

"I see this place hasn't changed," Sesshoumaru was stating more to himself as he was lead by Naraku's house keeper known as Kanna into the main living room, "it still looks like a giant fish tank."

What came out of Sesshoumaru's mouth was indeed true. On every wall in Naraku's mansion, there seemed to be a built in fish tank. He distinctly remembered there being ones filled with piranhas in the closets, however mostly the ones out in plain sight held rare exotic fish that were pleasant for the eye to look at. Naraku seemed to always be obsessed with fish ever since he came upon marine biology and genetics.

"Lord Senaka will see to you in a few minutes," was all Kanna said as she wandered off.

Sesshoumaru took a seat on one of the many expensive leather chairs that were within the vicinity. His eyes couldn't help but look into the many aquariums that surrounded the room. The one that caught his attention the most was the cylinder tank residing next to the big screen plasma TV. The object that held his attention appeared to be the largest object in the room. While all the other tanks held the many uncommon and striking fishes this one held Orca whales. Sesshoumaru was already quite aware about how these creatures got air. The whole top of the mansion was nothing but a huge cluster of pools that were connected to these tanks allowing the sea creatures that needed oxygen to swim up and receive the air they needed.

"I see you are quite taken to my whales," Naraku's voice finally made Sesshoumaru's thoughts go back to the task at hand, "I find them soothing for when I come to rest here."

"I see them as a waste of money," Sesshoumaru mentioned indifferently as he stood up and glared into Naraku's scarlet eyes, "if you see one fish you have seen them all."

"Whales aren't fish," Naraku replied angrily as he walked up to the topic of their discussion, "and I don't like to call any of my creatures 'fish' for labeling them under one word rids them of their invidaulism."

"Fine then I shall call them animals," the young business man told the client, "and animals don't have feelings so they would not care if you labeled them. Now back to the matter at hand, how is your project coming along?"

"There is slight problem."

"A problem that you require for my father's money to bail you out of? If you weren't always investing in these creatures then you could afford to deal with the problem on your own."

"It's the test subjects that I am having trouble with. How am I supposed to prove that I can make humans breath under water if I can't test it on humans?"

"That has never stopped you in the past. Usually you will just experiment with a human and then write into your logs that you were using a monkey."

"I have been using monkeys Sesshoumaru. As though I would defy the scientific standards and test on a human."

"That's not what the court thought during your trial."

"That's where you're wrong. If that were what that court believed then I would be behind bars rather then continuing my studies and research. Now on with our conversation, monkeys aren't cutting it anymore because I need a certain equation to get it to work on humans and I can't figure out that equation without a human, now can I?"

"That's a problem I cannot help you with. I am just here to see if this will work, give you the money, and then leave, although it seems you won't be able to complete it."

"It will be finished and you will see for yourself. I believe your father has requested you to stay here for a week. I will have something for you by then."

"I was planning to depart earlier."

"Consider this as a vacation. Just like when you were a child and your father brought you along to look at my creatures while he and me attended to work."

"Back then I was easily entertained. Now I wish to just get business done and return home."

"I have always imagined you would grow up to be like your mother. All work and no play. No matter, you are to stay here for a week and I promise to show you a sample of the project by the time you take leave. Kanna shall show you to the room you will be staying in."

Kanna then appeared at Naraku's side, but from where Sesshoumaru was unaware. He didn't have time to think about his client's housemaid at the moment though. He was more concerned with his family's money at this point. He assumed this project would be done upon his visit meaning he could quickly leave, but now he would be stuck here waiting for a result that could cause him to take a gamble with a huge amount of money.

"Why did you contact my father if you weren't done with the project?" Sesshoumaru demanded to know.

Naraku was thinking about how to answer that. The project had really been done for a long time, but there was a problem. He could care less about that gill solution getting out to the world, he just needed money, but in order to get the money he needed to show that it worked and to show that it worked he couldn't use a human or he would get in trouble once again.

"I will have the preparations done as soon as possible," was all Naraku answered with as he turned his back on the visitor, "Do make yourself at home. You already are familiar with your surroundings I do believe."

"I guess I do," the visitor replied, "sharks are in the living room, turtles can be found loose in the kitchen, and dolphins are in the basement."

Normally Naraku would have just ignored Sesshoumaru's disrespectable comments, but this time he shot a deadly glare, "I want you to stay away from the basement."

Sesshoumaru was surprised by the look Naraku gave off, "oh really? There has never been a restriction on the basement before."

"Well the lab is located next to the basement and when I run out of room in the lab I move things into the nearest room."

"I see. Good thing I have no wish to look at your animals anyways," was the last thing Sesshoumaru told Naraku before following Kanna to the guest rooms.

Naraku watched as the son of InuTashio disappeared into the hallway, "just an animal? Someone who is as arrogant as him doesn't deserve to be anywhere nearby my mermaid."

Kagome floated in her new home taking in and studying her surroundings. At least this aquarium was as big as her old bedroom back home. Back home with her family whom she would never be able to see again.

"Mother, Father, Kouga," Kagome chanted to herself, "I need you three more then ever right now."

Her eyes traveled to the glass walls that contained her, when she heard the clicking sounds of dolphins. Kagome flicked her tail fin a few times and glided over to the area where her aquarium and the dolphin tank were separated from each other. The sound of the sea creatures talking to each other was the only sound that kept her company.

"Must be fun," she said, "you guys just float and swim in a tank all day. You have never really known any better meaning, you can care less that you are trapped here."

"You would be surprised," a childish voice answered back.

If Kagome had legs and she wasn't in a giant fish bowl she would have jumped backwards upon hearing the voice. Was she going nuts or was one of the dolphins talking to her? She studied her neighboring tanks a little more and discovered a baby dolphin looking at her.

"What's wrong with you?" the voice asked, "haven't you ever heard a talking dolphin before?"

Kagome just shook her head as she was trying to process everything that was going on in her mind.

"I see," the baby dolphin continued, "I thought you were a real mermaid just like the ones my mom use to tell me about. I heard mermaids were able to talk to sea creatures by using brain waves, but you're not use to it. So I take it you were once human."

"Yes I was," Kagome's mind answered trying to go along with this.

"Me too," the dolphin chirped, "until that Naraku guy stole me and my mother off the street and turned me into a dolphin. My name is Shippou, what's yours?"

"Kagome," the mermaid answered in return, "so how long have you been here and where is your mother?"

"Naraku captured me three years ago," Shippou replied, "he turned me into a dolphin while he tried turning my mom into a shark, but she died…"

Things just kept getting weirder and weirder making Kagome still believe this was nothing more then a dream. There was no way a human boy could all of a sudden be turned into a living and breathing dolphin. She still couldn't even believe that she was a mermaid. If this were real though, Kagome would have to be strong for her friends. Before he left, Naraku informed her that both Miroku and Sango would be altered into sharks, which was a project that Shippou informed could kill humans.

"I'm sorry for your loss Shippou," Kagome told the young dolphin mournfully, "how old are you?"

"Eight. Naraku took me when I was five…hold on I need air."

Shippou then swam away from her and disappeared from sight. Dolphins didn't have gills meaning he must have been going somewhere where there was oxygen. Kagome waited for several minutes before the dolphin appeared again.

"That's better. I feel sorry for you, even though I too have been turned into a sea creature, at least I am still allowed to breathe in fresh air."

"I take it that your tank has an opening somewhere."

"Yep, a small tunnel that leads to the island."

"The island?"

"Never mind, I doubt Naraku will ever let you see it. So is there anything else you're confused about?"

"How am I talking to you? Naraku told me that this telepathy stuff only works when that machine is on."

"I already told you, you are just like one of those mermaids in all the stories. You are able to talk to sea creatures, but Naraku needs the machine to hear you."

"Because he is human and not a sea animal?"

"No, I bet if you tried hard enough you could communicate with a human, but you dislike Naraku and you are afraid of him so you don't have a mental connection."

"For a small child you sure know a lot."

"Well when you are forced to live in a tank you have nothing better to do then listen to those outside the glass."

"It seems that will be my fate as well."

"Hopefully, it seems Naraku is actually interested in just keeping you around unlike the other mermaids. He just ate them."

"He eats mermaids!" Kagome mentally shrieked.

"That's what the other dolphins have told me, but it won't happen to you because you actually turned out right. Before I came here there was another mermaid he kept alive until the day she died naturally. Of course he ate her corpse, but at least he didn't eat her alive like the ones before her that didn't turn out exactly right."

"That's disgusting!" Kagome felt like retching…But who would want to swim in their own vomit?

"Oh I see, you don't understand. It would be nice if you knew anything about mermaids before being turned into one. If you knew what mermaid flesh could do, then you wouldn't blame him for eating the others. Every time someone eats all the skin off of a mermaid one hundred years is added onto their life."

Kagome was getting more confused by the second, "The other mermaids and I were created by genetics though, weren't we? We aren't like the real mermaids from the myths who grant immortality."

"I don't now how, but you are just like a real mermaid. Naraku is evil, but he sure knows what he is doing with those genetics of his."

"I just want to get out of here. I wish I could see other humans and ask them to free me."

"Don't say that Kagome. You heard what Naraku said. If too many human eyes lay upon you at once you could die."

"I don't need a whole group to come here. If I am really able to link up with another human, then I only need one."

"Good luck with that. Ever since you came along, the basement has been off limits."

Kagome floated to the bottom again, "nice to see that you are so optimistic Shippou."

"Sorry Kagome," Shippou said, "but everyone has been trying to escape for as long as they have been here, but no one has ever been successful."

She frowned, "so I am to live in this tank until Naraku eats me? No I cannot accept that!"

Silence was then the only response for a few seconds before Shippou began to swim away, "sorry but I didn't get enough air."

Kagome laid her body along the gravel as though it was a bed. Though it was not visible because of all the water around her, she was crying. Even the young child known as Shippou, had no hope in escaping this place. She would be trapped here until her life ran out or whenever Naraku decide to end it. She would never see her family or friends again, and while she floated in this tank, Kouga would marry a woman he didn't even know, let alone love.

"Someone please help me," the young mermaid cried woefully.

"Can I be of assistance Mr. Murashu?" Kagura asked, seeing Sesshoumaru in his temporary room staring at the vast beach outside his window.

"It's about time you have appeared Kagura," Sesshoumaru said, his eyes never leaving the window, "nice to see Naraku never replaces his servants."

"Hardly anyone ever leaves the island," the servant replied before leaning against the doorframe.

"I know that," he stated watching the hues in the sky turn gold similar to his own eye color, "that fact is the reason why I am now an only child."

"Even though the search parties left the island years ago, I have been keeping my eyes opened, but I still haven't found InuYasha's body."

"The search never would have ended if most of the men weren't found killed by animals."

"And if those men weren't killed, causing my master to go to court, then he wouldn't be asking for your family's wealth right now. It shouldn't even be Naraku's responsibility. His father Onigumo was the one who filled up this island with those killer animals."

"I see. So interest in animals must run through the family. Naraku is very fortunate; my step-mother also hasn't even attempted to take his money."

"She can't until InuYasha's body is found, and I bet that it will never happen at this rate."

"You may leave now Kagura," was all Sesshoumaru said, dismissing her.

"Very well," she left the doorframe and ambled back into the hallway, "dinner will be served in two hours."

Sesshoumaru waited until the servant left before he finally left the window. Damn that Naraku for putting him behind. The sooner Sesshoumaru left this island the better. Obviously there was something not quite right about it. After his brother wandered into the island's jungle and never returned, he didn't consider Naraku's home a great vacation spot.

"InuYasha are you out there somewhere?" Sesshoumaru asked the air as he sat down on the bed preparing to flip open his laptop.

There was only one bright side to being here right now. While he was here, the rest of his family was on the other side of the world. They weren't aware of the fact that he was actually curious on the whereabouts of his younger half-brother, InuYasha who has been missing for three years.

After thinking a bit more Sesshoumaru didn't feel motivated any longer to do anymore work. He placed the laptop on the bedside table and just laid there. This was the first time he was retiring to bed without having completing all of work getting it over and done with. Was he becoming lazy? But to his dismay his eyes only remained closed for a few seconds before a voice came to his head causing them to reopen.

"Someone please help me."

That voice was a strange one. It sounded like a female in distress. Not only was Naraku's home dangerous, but it was also causing him to hear voices in his head. It didn't end there though. All he could hear now was weeping. There was no way this was in his head. Insanity didn't run in his family. The noise must have been coming from somewhere, and he would put it to a stop for it was preventing his peaceful rest.

"I thought you didn't wish for any assistance," Kagura pointed out, when she saw Sesshoumaru emerge from the guest room.

"I don't," he barked as he stalked down the hallway.

"Then what are you doing?" the woman asked as she followed him down the hallway.

"Confronting a problem," the man answered flashing his golden eyes at her dangerously, "how am I supposed to rest if this damn place if there is so much cacophony?"

Kagura looked at him skeptically, "I don't hear anything."

"Then it looks as though I must take care of it myself. Leave me."

"Whatever, you damn snob," Kagura stated rudely as she froze and let him explore the rest of the mansion on his own.

"Will that bitch shut up already!" the crying mermaid heard one of the dolphins click angrily.

"Give her a break," another dolphin replied, "she was human once just like the other half of us in this tank. They usually start to quiet down after a few days."

Kagome heard conversations all around her. Even the fish in the other tank beside her was gossiping. The creatures who have always been a part of the sea said negative things about the mermaid, while the only ones who were her allies, were former humans.

"Oh good," she heard a fish say, "I hear Naraku coming. He will probably shut her up."

Upon hearing this Kagome quickly swam behind the biggest rock she could find. Naraku was the last thing she needed at this moment. Maybe it would be better if she could talk to him, seeing as how she wanted to go off since he stole her life, but the machine was turned off so it would be all in vain and useless.

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to care that he was walking into the basement, which Naraku had specifically told him that was restricted, at all. All he cared about was finding the source of the damn crying and tell whoever it was to either turn it down or go take it somewhere else. There were two things that Sesshoumaru cared about and that was getting his work done and silence. Already he knew he wouldn't be able to get his work done so he would be dammed if he allowed such noise to taint his ears.

"That's not Naraku," many dolphins started to chatter.

Kagome peered over her rock waiting for whoever it was to come into her view. Who was it? Someone who worked for Naraku? What if it wasn't? Maybe it was just a visitor who had come across this room. If that was the case, then maybe she would be freed soon. After all a mermaid wasn't an ordinary creature that would be found in a fish aquarium.

Sesshoumaru wasn't about to admit to himself that he was loosing his mind, but something was not right. He could still hear someone trying to control their tears, but no one was in sight. The basement was totally abandoned of all life except for the fish. All he could hear was the sound from the source he had been trying to track down and the clicking and ecolocation of dolphins.

He walked forward a little more to the next tank. The sound appeared to be the loudest here. He turned and faced the aquarium that seemed to be empty. Where was the life form that called for help and started to cry?

Kagome could now see him. It was a man with hair that seemed to be as white as snow. His eyes traveled all over her tank. Was he looking for her? The mermaid started to float out from behind the rock. Why wasn't she still hiding? Didn't Naraku tell her that she was probably going to fear all visitors? She didn't seem to want to hide at this moment.

"What kind of fish is that?" Sesshoumaru asked himself when he saw a strange tail fin, but then for the first time in his life his mouth gaped opened slightly when he saw the creature had a human body.

"Why is he here?" Kagome asked herself knowing that no one except the dolphins and fish could hear her.

Sesshoumaru shook his head and tried to process this. He knew this wasn't a dream. He was never the type to deny things by always telling himself that he was asleep. In front of him right now was a creature that appeared to be a mermaid. Was this an illusion? Whatever it was, it was being rude.

"Don't talk to me as though I am not here," he stated in annoyance.

Kagome's mouth then dropped open in her astonishment. He had heard her. She glanced forward and saw that the machine was off. How did he hear her? Did she link with a human just like Shippou said she could? Whoever he was, he didn't seem to be the kind who would even ever help her.

(End of Chapter 2)

My mouth is currently hanging wide open. Just one chapter and you guys gave me 33 reviews not counting ones I got on a single spark. I wasn't expecting that at all. I thought this would be a stupid idea, but you all seem to like it. Once again I thank Corlee for helping me edit it. Speaking of Corlee I would like to have more beta readers. Corlee is pretty much the beta reader of this fanfic, but I need some people to help me with the others. These are the requirements. If you are interested then fill out this application I am going to give you and either put it in a review or email it to (your fanfiction screen name)

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Gunny: Thank you very much…I think. I don't know because you're speechless so I can't hear you talk.

Sarah: Don't worry I have plans.

Angelamisaki: Are you being nice to me for once Angel? I am still going to steal all your doughnuts though and just leave you with your oven. Thanks to your suggestion I am going to have to walk all the way to the library and find this book.

Honeypots: I am honored to have you review then. And I know how you feel I just finished the last of my exams and I am finally out of school.

corlee1289: And even though you are my beta reader out of the kindness of my heart I will reply to your very long reviews. As you have probably noticed I am hiring more beta readers. But don't worry you're the only one who is allowed to work on this story. Oh and by the way I am also going to fix my summary so 'business' is spelled right. We all know that it is biz-naz