+Chapter 2+

"Miroku!" He was fucking exhausted. "Sango!" He was two seconds away from just letting them sink. "Miroku, Sango!" It took every ounce of energy he had left to bellow.

Inuyasha scowled from where he floated at the base of the yacht. He did not want, by any means, to swim for another second.

He had decided about halfway into the four mile swim that he'd done enough to last him a year. Unfortunately, it looked like he would have to swim to the mossy rocks on the shore, and climb them to get on the damn boat because his 'friends' obviously weren't waiting up for him.

Fuck, he was tired. His right arm felt like it was about to fall off. His other arm was numb from carrying the girl who still hadn't woken up, after all this time.

She would be fine though. He'd made sure she coughed up the last of the water in her lungs, and now her breathing was clear instead of choppy and gurgle-like. She was probably just dizzy from hitting the water so hard when they fell, and needed to rest.

He was about to head for the shore when he heard footsteps on the wooden floors of his yacht.

"Inuyasha?" he heard Sango call.

"Sango, throw down a ladder!"

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha, where are you?!" she asked worriedly.

"I'm in the fucking water, hurry up!"

Sango peered her head over the tip of the yacht, looking around for him.

"Yo!" he called her attention.

She quickly turned her head in the direction of his voice and rushed to him with Miroku in tow.

"Where the hell have you been, jackass?" She asked relief evident in her voice, as she dropped one end of the rope ladder over the edge.

He ignored her, and contemplated how he was going to make it up with the girl on his arm. He took one struggling breath and forced his sore muscles to throw her over one shoulder, before he proceeded to climb.

He sneered in disgust at how much effort it took, when he would normally have been able to do this without batting an eye. He heaved himself over, when he reached the top, begging them to take the load off his shoulder.

"Who the hell is this?" Sango asked, taking the stranger by the armpits, while her feet were in her fiancé's arms.

He didn't answer, just letting himself fall on the floor, back first. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax as he breathed deeply, tuning out his friends' endless questions.

He stared up at the minimal stars in the dark sky, happily letting consciousness leave his body to rest.

"T-Take care of her…" he panted, before falling into the much needed reprieve of sleep.

It was sickening; the way she slowly came back to the land of the awake.

Her insides churned in a slow, squishy, circular motion and she was desperate to have them settle down. The slow ascend, then the quicker descend that her body seemed to be making was nauseating.

She could feel it.

Creeping up her esophagus was whatever the hell she last ate. It wasn't until it reached the back of her mouth that her eyes popped wide open, and she jerked into a sitting position.

Surrounding her were three people; two men, one of whom she recognized with shock and --surprisingly enough—glee, and a woman.

She blinked at them…Who… are they...?! Why are they here...?! Where is here?

She didn't have time to question anymore than that because the bile in her throat wanted out of her system immediately. She looked around, frantically, for some kind of disposal and that's when she noticed that they were on a boat. What the hell was she doing on a boat?!

No time, it was coming, and the pressure inflated her cheeks. She brought a hand to cover her mouth, reflexively, and pushed her way past her three observers to wretch over the side of the yacht.

Kagome's eyes bugged out as her body got rid of the waste in no time. She clutched the iron rail with sweaty palms, waiting for the rest to come, so she could free her body of it.

She was thoroughly annoyed by the masculine chuckles coming from behind her, and was about to turn and glare death at them, but more mush spilled from her lips instead, demanding she stay perched over the edge.

Gentle hands came and held her hair back, and she turned to see the woman smiling down at her. She gave a shaky smile of gratitude in return.

About two minutes later, she was pretty positive that her body had reached equilibrium again. She turned to face the strangers, wiping her mouth in embarrassment.

"Umm, who are you guys?" she asked, politely.

"We were going to ask you the same thing," said the man whom she did not recognize, as he stood to greet her with a smile.

He was tall and quite lean, with a not-so-muscular build. He had short black hair tied in a little ponytail at the base of his neck while he wore a navy blue polo shirt with khaki shorts. Kagome deduced that he was rather handsome.

Speaking of handsome….

Her eyes flew to amber ones. He was staring at her, but not quite the same way as everyone else. Not with curiosity and hospitality, no… his gaze… his gaze demanded her attention. He sat on a chair near the built-in sofa where she had woken up.

A little corner of her brain noticed he wore jeans with a white short sleeved t-shirt with 'nautical' written in blue across the front. It also noticed that he was more muscular and tanned than the other man. But that was just the little part, the majority of her focus remained on those foreign yet familiar, exotic amber eyes.

They shone as bright as the sun that they sailed directly under, and were as intense as…as… gods there were no words. Only by force would she be able to tear her eyes away from his.

Then he licked his lips slowly, making her stomach quiver and compact and her nerves jump in excitement.

Damn Kagome, look away, look away, she demanded herself, yet she didn't.

Her body wanted him to look away first, and she wasn't sure if she completely disagreed. The little stubborn and rebellious voice locked inside of her wanted his submission before her own, and it seemed that he felt the same way.

"Excuse me, Ms…" The pretty woman asked, and Kagome almost groaned because she was being forced to lose their little sensual, silent, staring contest.

"Uh…Kagome...My name, Kagome." She stuttered, suddenly afraid to look back at him now.

The woman smiled brightly, "That's pretty. My name is Sango. This is my fiancé Miroku and that's Inuyasha." She said, pointing each of them out.

Inuyasha, she decided that the name fit him perfectly. It was unique and foreign and masculine and…

Wait a second! Who were these people?! Why was she just accepting the fact that they had taken her on some yacht and were currently drifting somewhere in the middle of the ocean?!

"What are you guys going to do with me?!" she asked taking a wary step back, not that that would help anything if they truly meant her harm. They were on a friggin' boat!

The man—Inuyasha, stood immediately.

"Nothing, you're safe here." He told her, and though his voice was harsher than his words, she believed him completely.

She relaxed.

"Do you remember what happened?" Sango asked her.

Kagome looked away as she focused on recalling the last that she remembered while being conscious.

She remembered waking up in the middle of the night, hearing Kouga leave her apartment, then rushing to follow him because she could swear he was cheating on her…

Oh no, Kouga…

She remembered it all, when she first laid eyes on Inuyasha, and she wanted nothing more than to save him. To save him from her boyfriend who was about to shoot him while his friend's watched and laughed. Then an explosion…

She frowned and looked back at Inuyasha who was now closer to her than he had been before.

"Do you remember?" he asked softly.

He was roughly a foot away, and he searched her face intently.

Almost absently, she mumbled, "I saved you."

He rose one eyebrow, scowling, "Feh, like hell you did! I saved you."

She frowned. Now she was confused. She specifically remembered honking her horn, giving him the opportunity to attack and free himself.

"B-But I did. I honked my horn, and you were able to get free."

"No, I was going to get free regardless; you just made everything worse, bitch!"

She took an incredulous step back, "Excuse me?! There was no way you could have gotten free. If it weren't for me, you would have been shot"

The nerve of him! Calling her a bitch, he didn't even know her. And she most certainly did save him. Kouga was pulling the goddamn trigger when she honked, and if she hadn't distracted him, this idiot's brains would be splattered all over the dock!

"Hello! I'm a hanyou, I could have easily defended myself against that wimpy wolf and his flea bitten friends! You honking just gave away your hiding spot! What the hell were you doing there anyway? How old are you 19, 20?"

She gasped in outrage, fighting the urge to slap this baka!

"I am twenty four, you… you… asshole! How was I supposed to know that you could have escaped? Kouga's finger was pulling the trigger," she yelled and made the gesture with her hands in front of him. "I was just trying to help."

He averted his eyes for a moment, a thoughtful frown on his face when she said his name, before he looked back at her with an even stronger intensity than before.

"What is Kouga to you?" He asked in a rough whisper.

"W-what?" she gasped, totally caught off guard by the pleading look in his eyes.

"Inuyasha, leave Kagome alone. She just woke up." Sango said exasperatedly.

"Feh, I'm not doing anything to her." He pouted, turning away again.

"Kagome, from what Inuyasha has told us," said Miroku, "he saved you when there was an explosion at the dock. He jumped with you into the water to avoid it, and when he resurfaced, you were unconscious. Inuyasha then saw it unfit to just leave you there, unprotected so he brought you with him."

Sango nodded, "Yes, and we were scheduled to leave Tokyo last night so the only option was to travel with you until we got to Okinawa. We could drop you off there and you could contact your family."

Kagome blinked, Family

The problem with that plan was that she didn't have any. Once they brought her to Okinawa, who could she call? She had been living on her own since she turned eighteen and left the orphanage to go to college.

It was just her and the books, until she met Kouga a little over a year ago. No one would look for her, no colleagues because she had yet to find a job after getting her medical degree, no friends because she hardly kept contact with any of them, so it wouldn't strike anyone as odd if they didn't hear from her for a while. Only Kouga and she had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't bother because of the circumstances of when he last saw her…

That's right, he did see her, yet he still fired that bullet as if she weren't even there begging him not to.

Her face turned dark, as if a raincloud had decided to stalk only her. It didn't go unnoticed by the other three on the yacht.

She couldn't really tell them that, could she? These people seemed nice enough, but the bottom line was she didn't know them. If they thought she had people who might be looking for her, that should give them some incentive to keep her unharmed, right?

"Well, thank you Inuyasha, for saving me. I'm sorry for my rudeness, and thank you all for taking care of me. I accept your offer, once we get to Okinawa; I will contact my… family." She smiled at them.

"Keh," he said, but was obviously blushing.

"Okay, Kagome." Sango smiled brightly at her. "While, you're here, you could help yourself to my clothes. We did some shopping in Tokyo, so I have new packs of underwear that I could give you."

A bright pink flared across Kagome's cheeks and she laughed nervously.

"It's going to be so much fun having another girl around here, since I'm always stuck with these three guys."

Her brows wrinkled in confusion, "Three?"

"Oh right, you haven't met Myouga, he's the captain."

Of course, someone had to be driving the yacht.

Kagome nodded, and Sango took her by the hand, "let me show you around."

Before Kagome was able to head inside, Inuyasha grabbed her other hand, sending a burning jolt of awareness through her.

"You haven't answered me."

"A-Answer?" she stuttered, unable to really focus on words when he was making her stomach do flip flops unlike the ones that made her heave. It was a hell of a lot more pleasant.

"What is Kouga to you?" he demanded, his eyes burning her just like they had earlier.

She blushed. For some reason, she really didn't want him to know she had a boyfriend. Well, she didn't have one, because she had broken it off with him last night… mentally anyways. Who cares if Kouga didn't know? She would never be with a man who, not only kept such a big secret from her, but also killed innocent—well seemingly innocent—men with a smile.

"Nothing… not anymore." She answered, looking him in the eye.

He nodded once, and Sango continued to pull her away from him. Their eyes didn't stray from each other until the door shut behind her.

Miroku whistled when he was sure the women were out of earshot. That was quite the moment his friend just had there with their newest companion.

The look his lover gave him while the sparks flew between the two, let him know that they would be talking about this later in the privacy of their bedroom.

"She is quite the looker, isn't she Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha bit his tongue and rolled his eyes.

"Would you say that a little louder? I don't think Sango could hear you and I would enjoy watching her kick your ass."

He laughed, "No thanks, I value my body, and so does Sango if she's perfectly honest with herself."

Inuyasha shook his head, ignoring him.

"So," Miroku continued, "does she smell of deceit?"

The hanyou shook his head. "No, she's clean. If they are using her, then she has no idea."

"Well, that's refreshing. It's rare to find a beautiful stranger who isn't secretly plotting your death."

"Feh,"

"We should be careful, Inuyasha. They could be using her to track us."

"Don't you think I know that already, bouzo?"

"I suppose you would, and you would also realize the risk of bringing someone along with us. It could get pretty dangerous for her."

"Keh, I'm not worried about that. I could protect her, just fine."

Miroku raised a skeptic eyebrow, not because he doubted his friend's abilities to protect someone, but because of the tone he took when pronouncing it.

"I'm sure you can."

"How long do you think it would take to get to Okinawa?"

Miroku smiled, counting the days you have with her, huh Inuyasha….

"Well, if the weather cooperates with us, then we should be there in a week or so."

He saw his friend look down, thoughtfully, before shrugging.

"Well, she won't be a burden for long. I'll go ask Myouga how the weather's looking in this region." And his friend was gone without a backward glance.

"And for your sake, Inuyasha, I will pray for a storm." Miroku said once he was alone, a knowing smirk on his face.

R/R and let me know if I should continue…

3 Thanks to all who have reviewed, it means a lot!