A/N: !!!More pirate vocabulary at the bottom! I recommend reading it!!!

This chapter was edited/revised Sunday, December 27, 2009. Please let me know if there are any mistakes I might have missed in my revisions.

Chapter 3

As I walked out to the helm, I saw the stupid kiss-up that had been in the cabin, standing tall as if it were such an honor to be steering this godforsaken ship.

"Hey, you. Asswipe. What am I supposed to do?"

The man turned his head at the sound of my voice and the ship jerked slightly. Moron. "You will address me as Miroku, not 'you,' and especially not 'asswipe.' You are to…hmm…"

"Come on, I ain't got all day."

"Go and…swab the lower deck. Then do all the upper decks. Once you're finished, tell me and I'll give you more work."

Oh, joy. Swabbing the deck. Real original.

"And where, exactly, is the mop and bucket?"

The man—Miroku…I much prefer Asswipe—sighed, as if it were the stupidest question in the world. "In the hold. Left side. Right by the foot of the steps, you can't miss them."

I turned on my heel and made my way to the hold. Ironic, really. Trying to get into that room is what got me into this mess.

I found the mop and bucket—which were on the right side, not the left—and went back up the stairs. As I looked back to the helm, and instead of Miroku, I saw Kagome.

She held her head high and I could see her inhaling the breeze, just as I had before. She steered with perfect precision, keeping the ship in a straight, set course. She was a skilled helmsman—or helmswoman?—I'd give her that much.

She looked down at the deck where I stood, her faint smile vanishing into a scowl. "What? Get to work!"

Sneering at her, I quickly immerged from my thoughts and remembered my job. As I plunged the ratty mop into the water of the bucket, I began the tedious task of swabbing a deck. I'd had just about enough of this on my last ship…

Several hours later, hands blistered, red, and sore, I started on the last bit of upper deck. The deck around the captain's cabin.

As I started moving the mop around on the wood in the steady rhythm I'd developed, I looked up to see Kagome, no longer at the helm, staring at me, her head tilted to the side.

"What? See somethin' you like?" I put on my arrogant half smile and she blinked, straightening her head.

"Not at all. Just…watching."

"Well, it ain't exactly a song and dance kind of show. Nothing interesting about it."

"Oh, but you're wrong."

"Heh. Whatever you say."

"You may not realize it, but there's a certain…grace about the steady movement. Not at all like Miroku when he has to do the chore."

"Oh, so he's usually your cleaning service? No wonder he was so excited about steering the helm."

"Yes, I suppose. He's also my sail master, so I have no choice but to interact with him. I mostly make him swab for his…well, I won't go into detail, but bottom line, he's a pervert."

"Ah. I thought there was something…off about him."

"Well, I guess you could put it that way. I must admit, he was quite upset when he explained to me that little name you called him. What was it again?"

I couldn't help but laugh. Can't even take a little name, can he? "Asswipe."

Even she laughed a little, but tried to hide it. "Yes, that was it. Did you not hear a word I said about respecting my crew?"

"Oh, what's one little name? It wasn't that bad. It just matched his attitude."

"Well, in his case, I won't do anything to you, but if you do such a thing to my quartermaster…you won't be in the brig any longer. You're just lucky he can't kill you…on purpose."

On purpose? Yep, big guy was definitely quartermaster. "Ooh, scary." I added a lisp, to emphasize how truly terrified I was.

"You say that now but…wait till you meet—oh, you've already met him, I suppose. You know, he was a little big compared to the rest…"

"Oh, yeah. We definitely…met. He was pretty shocked when I yelled 'parley' in his face."

"Yes, he told me about your strange sudden outburst. Do you ever regret saying it?"

"Nope."

"That's it? Just 'nope'?"

"Yep."

"You don't even regret it just a little? I mean, look where you ended up…"

"It isn't so bad…entertaining, really."

"Oh, so you think of this as your entertainment? You're sadly mistaken on that, I'm afraid. Just you wait."

"Is that a threat, dear Captain?"

"You—"

"Captain!"

She jerked her head towards the direction of the voice. "Yes, what is it, Shippo?"

He was a shorter, red-headed boy. His frizzy orange hair was pulled into a small, puffy pony tail and he looked like he was still in his early teen years. "An enemy ship has been spotted on the horizon!"

"Ah, shoot. Who is it, can you tell?"

The boy's face went grim. "Yes. It's him…"

Kagome's face suddenly went pale, her expression bordering terrified.

"What is it, Kagome?" I asked.

"This is not good…very bad…," she murmured, more to herself than to anyone particular. She suddenly snapped her head up to look at me. She had a serious expression on her face. "You can fight, correct?"

"Of course." I was actually quite skilled.

"Come with me." I followed her to the hold and she tore the top off of a wooden crate. She began pulling things from it—extra bullets, some daggers, two swords…

She handed me one of the swords—a cutlass, of course—and then two daggers and a pistol. She pulled out a pocket for me and I attached it to my belt, shoving a dagger inside. I slide one into my boot and put the pistol into another pocket. She wasn't even looking at me when she pulled these things out. She suddenly draped something over my shoulder, and I recognized them as bullets. She draped another over her own shoulder and shoved two knives into her boot—one dagger and one dirk.

"Are you ready? Do you have anything else you are particularly skilled with that I haven't given you?" She was completely serious. She would give me any weapon I asked for. "Oh!"

She dug in the crate more and took out two bucklers, one small and the other larger. She handed the larger one to me. I gripped it skillfully in my left hand and she did the same, getting used to the feel of the cold metal beneath her fingers.

"Anything else?"

"Nope, this is all I need." I held up the cutlass.

"You obviously haven't encountered this pirate…"

"Who is it?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but the boy—Shippo, I guess was his name—interrupted again. "Captain, he's nearly here!"

Kagome rushed past me and up the stairs. She paused halfway and ducked her head so she could meet my eyes. "Are you coming or not?"

I quickly caught up with her and reached the suddenly grim deck of her ship. Most of the crew was on board, each armed with a montage of weaponry. I looked to Kagome, who had an eyeglass out, pointed in the direction of a ship. It was approaching quickly and I got excited pangs in my stomach.

I loved to fight.

She suddenly began shouting commands. "Arm the cannons! Release the sails!"

"Release the sails, Captain?"

"We're gonna meet this bastard head on. Make sure you know where a pair of boots is…he's bound to pull some dirty tricks with the caltrops…Inuyasha!"

I stepped out onto the deck from the doorway to the hold. "Yeah?"

She eyed me at my lack of use of her title. "Are you ready? You sure you can handle this?"

"Of course. What do you take me for? I've been a pirate all my life."

"Just checking."

"Are you ready?" I asked her. She looked almost queasy.

She looked at me, her eyes fearful. "I hope so."


A/N: Some more pirate vocabulary:

Helm - the entire steering apparatus of a ship

Dagger - a short, sword-like weapon with a pointed blade and a handle, used for stabbing

Pistol - a short firearm intended to be held and fired with one hand

Dirk - a short dagger

Buckler - a round shield held by a grip and sometimes having straps through which the arm is passed

Caltrop - an iron ball with four projecting spikes so disposed that when the ball is on the ground one of them always points upward