Ch 4: Treasure, Treasure
Disclaimer:
TDTBR- Finally the 4th chap. I hope you enjoy.
Kagome- What if they don't?
TDTBR-Then they don't. I don't care as long as someone likes it.
Inuyasha- What if no one does?
TDTBR- Then I'll just have to hurt you in their place won't I? Alright I don't any thing Inu on with the story!
Summary: IK MS Kag and San are the captains of the dreaded fleet of pirate females. As most pirates, these scallywags are infamous for tricking and stealing from everyone- especially men. But when, after captain Kagome goes inside one of their ships disguised and ends up steeling the one that the Captains are actually on leaving them not know who she was, the crew finds they're being trailed by the Silver Coats, because the Captains have figured Kagome out, what'll they do?
Adventure/Action/Comedy/Romance
Alternate Universe
"Kagome? Kagome," Sango called through the door.
Kagome sighed and lifted her head off of the desk, "Yes?"
"We've arrived at port," Sango responded, pushing the door open enough to peak her head in.
Kagome jerked her head, signaling for Sango to enter the room.
Sango hesitated, then asked, "Kagome, have you considered that maybe the map is back on the island?"
"I'd rather not think about that possibility," Kagome growled.
"Sorry," Sango muttered, "Um, well, I mean... How long do you plan to search for this map? How far do you plan to search?"
"As, long as it takes and as far as I have to go," Kagome replied.
"Kagome, not all of us are immortal," Sango glared.
"That can be solved," She looked directly at Sango.
"Let's not talk about that right now," Sango sighed.
"You know, you'll give in eventually, it's too tempting an offer to refuse," Kagome smirked.
"I'm not really sure I want to live forever, Kagome," Sango said.
"Everyone wants to live forever," Kagome scoffed.
"Not everyone," Sango stated.
"No worries, you've got plenty of time to decide," Kagome smiled, tightly.
Sango pressed her lips together in a tight line, seeing her chance to drop the subject she didn't mention it again. She turned and headed for the door.
As she pulled it open, Kagome spoke, "I'll be out, momentarily." When the door shut, Kagome scribbled the current location down on the map. She sighed and glanced over the map. There were so many places to search and so few that they'd already looked. Maybe they'd find the thing before Kagome turned 100.
She pushed herself up out of her seat. Walking into the sunlight she squinted as her eyes quickly adjusted to the change. Kagome strode across the empty deck and leaned over the front of the boat, staring at the large port city that lay before her.
She heard Sango boarding the ship, "Sango, trouble already?"
Sango looked up at her, "I've already let the ladies go; they know what to look for."
Kagome nodded, "I'll stay on the ship for now."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure that I won't be needed," Kagome turned and smiled at her, "There shouldn't be any trouble."
"Captain Kagome!"
Kagome looked toward the docks and scowled, "Maybe I spoke too soon."
A female, with short black hair stepped onto the ship, pulling a stocky man almost twice her size in both width and height. A taller female, looking very displeased, with longer chestnut hair followed behind the two with her arms crossed over her chest. Looking at the smaller woman you might not know at first that she was youkai but the inhuman strength was a dead give away, as were the slightly pointed ears hidden behind her hair. The taller woman was obviously youkai as she had brilliant purple eyes and a mark on her forehead.
Kagome twitched at the sight of the man being pulled onto her ship! "Mariko! Aine! What in the hell is going on?"
"Well," The black haired female started. She was quite bubbly and she smiled as she continued, "while we were searching this man's house, he continued to beg for his life, not that we planned on killing him in the first place, and he called parley. So, we didn't know what to do with him. We didn't know if it was a good idea to bring him but I felt like we should bring him. So we did." She ended grinning.
"Well, Aine, my little psychic," Kagome said, sarcastically, "Can you tell me why you felt the need to bring him here?"
Aine shrugged, not deflated in the least.
"Tell me then, Monsieur, why are you on my ship?" Kagome glared at the man.
"I... didn't want to die," the man cringed.
"Ah," The single syllable dripped venom.
"So," he continued, wincing at her intonation, "I...called parley."
"Parley, well! In that case," She plastered a poisonous smile on and spoke in an over pleasant tone of voice, "welcome to my ship."
The man stared at Kagome and gulped, "Please, please, don't kill me!"
Kagome began to circle the man, observing his every move, his every emotion. "Tell me, why should I not kill you?"
The man got the feeling that he was about to become the next meal of a vulture or maybe more a hawk or an eagle. He glanced up at Kagome out of the corner of his eyes and flinched, yes definitely some sort of bird of prey, like a hawk, with sharp eyes and terrifying talons that ripped you to shreds. "I," he gulped again, "I could, give you something." He started patting down him shirt, looking for something, "I could give you thi-" He faltered as he pulled out a gold doubloon, he smiled sheepishly, scared, and chucked the doubloon over his shoulder, "You probably already have plenty of those." He reached into his shirt again and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment, "Ah, here it is," He smiled victoriously for a moment, then he looked at Kagome again and he recoiled.
"What would I want with you useless, little ma..." Kagome stared at the parchment, "map. Give me that!" She stepped forward and ripped the parchment from his hands. She unrolled it and held the map out in front of her.
"Kagome?" Sango frowned.
"This is it!" She shouted, her face breaking into an uncharacteristically large, beaming grin. "Sango! This is it!"
"It? What's it?"
"Call back the crew, we're leaving," She seemed to lithely dance across the deck as she walked back to the front of the ship.
Most of the crew was aboard the ship by the time Kagome noticed the man again. He was sitting across the ship from her, cowering in a corner, obviously not sure what to do. Kagome was sure he would have slipped away by now, or would have been taken away. She'd assumed he would have done whatever possible to vacate the premises. She began to stalk toward the man.
The crew noticed and held their breath, apprehensive.
"What is he still doing on my ship?" Kagome pointed at the trembling man.
The man sputtered incomprehensibly and Kagome merely snorted in response, ignoring him.
"Well?" She looked to her crew. When no one responded she looked back to the man and he shuddered.
"Please, let me go," He squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. He was by now, confident that she wouldn't kill him but he was still terrified of her, of the chance that she my take him prisoner.
Kagome glanced at the man one last time then she looked at the nearest crewmember. She jerked her head in the direction of the man, and said, before turning, "Get him off my ship."
"Captain?" The woman standing at helm shouted.
Kagome turned toward the woman.
"Our course?"
"Ah, yes," Kagome smiled, "We're tracking the Silver Coats."
"Tracking the...?" Sango jumped to her feet and stared at Kagome.
"Calm down Sango, there's nothing to worry about," Kagome smiled, softly, and was obviously already off in her own world, thinking of seeing Inuyasha again.
Sango rolled her eyes, "Head to the next port, we'll see if we can find any information there."
Sango watched Kagome dance off toward her quarters. Of course, Sango had noticed that most immortals, going beyond just youkai and hanyou, were always very graceful and tended to look as if they were dancing as they walked. Sango sighed, shaking her head, and went to stand at helm, next to the woman steering.
"Look, Inuyasha," Miroku sighed, "maybe it was already found."
"I'm ignoring that prospect," Inuyasha grunted back.
"So you'll just look forever?" Miroku raised a brow.
"Yup," Inuyasha nodded.
Miroku opened his mouth but Inuyasha cut him off.
"Don't start complaining about forever. I've already told you that mortality is an easily solved problem."
"Right," Miroku sighed again.
"Look, I'm sure we'll find it soon." Inuyasha responded.
"And if we don't?" Miroku appraised him.
"We will," Inuyasha said, confidently.
"Where are we going next?" Miroku caved.
Inuyasha pulled a map out of one the drawers and laid it atop several other maps on his cluttered desk. He stabbed a spot on the map, "Here."
Miroku examined the location, and noted the coordinates. "Next largest port," He inspected the maps beneath the one Inuyasha had taken out; he eyed the scribbles and notations along the maps and took from them their current location.
"Head west by northwest, nearly to 30 degrees latitude, 15 degrees longitude, off the coast of Morocco." Inuyasha murmured.
"We're heading into colder waters, Inuyasha," Miroku warned.
"Not quite, besides it's the summer season in the north. We'll head south before winter." Inuyasha stated.
"How far north do you intend to go?" Miroku question.
"I'm considering Ireland and the Celtic Sea, but probably no farther north than that. I think after that we'll come back and search the Mediterranean, I've always wanted to see Spain and Italy, Egypt too." Inuyasha smiled, wistfully.
"You travel the seas yet you haven't seen much have you?" Miroku smirked.
"Seas, Miroku, not land, and neither have you." Inuyasha countered. "My wanderlust led me to piracy, I want, not the riches, or the infamy, but something else. I don't want the world handed to me on a silver platter like much of our crew does. I just want to see the world."
Miroku smiled, "We have that in common, don't we?"
Inuyasha nodded, "I suspect that such was a major factor in why Kagome became a pirate as well."
"I'll inform the crew of our course," Miroku said as he left the room.
"Sources say he's headed north," Sango said, leaning her shoulder against the open door.
Kagome tore her eyes away from the map she was examining to look at Sango. "We're going north, too."
Sango nodded.
Kagome rubbed the back of her neck and, sliding the chair from the desk, stood gracefully. She stretched and tapped the map, "This is an interesting map."
"How so?"
"It's written in several different languages." Kagome ran a finger over one set of the strange symbols that littered the map.
"That's not unheard of," Sango responded.
"Dead languages," Kagome continued, not looking away from the map. "Some Gaelic, all three kinds of Gaelic, mind you, Irish, Scottish and Mann, also Latin, a little Welsh." She ran her fingers over different sets of the bizarre words as she spoke. "My Welsh is rusty, I had to find a book, which was hard to find in Morocco, believe me, near impossible. I got lucky though."
"You know all those languages? Dead languages?" Sango asked, incredulous.
Kagome nodded, "I'm sufficient. I'm best at Irish Gaelic."
"Gaelic isn't quiet dead yet," Sango countered.
"Close enough," Kagome murmured, "There are many more languages on here, languages you've never even heard of before. Some of these languages have been forgotten for a long time. They are ancient. Old druid languages and languages that no longer have a category anymore."
Sango blinked.
Kagome looked up and smiled, "My father is very old."
"As immortals are apt to be," Sango looked away from the magical map. "Where to next?"
"Across the straights of Gibraltar, to Lisbon, Portugal. Maybe we can also stop in La Coruña, Spain. We'll head up to Brest, France then. I'm fairly sure England and Ireland is where we want to go, in the Celtic Sea, probably. Maybe Scotland, too," She mused mostly to herself. "Perhaps I can find a book in England or Ireland. I'll have to research more." She tapped her chin and puckered her lips. "Hmm," She waved at Sango, dismissing her, and slid back into her seat, once again bending over the map.
She pulled out a sheet of papyrus; on the papyrus were the translations of most of the text on the map. She had translated everything and written it down, not so much to make it easier for herself but for someone, like Sango who didn't know the multitude of languages she knew.
She sighed, this was harder than she had thought it would be. She'd assumed that it would be easy to decipher the map but it was far more problematic than she'd anticipated.
She tapped a piece of text on the map and pushed herself away from the desk with a growl. She went to rummage her bookshelf again but, as she had the last several times, she came up fruitless.
She huffed and returned to the desk to stare down at the half translated map. She growled again and shoved the chair over before leaving the map. She need a break anyway.
Sango was standing on the forecastle deck when she turned to find that Kagome had appear silently next to her, once again, having dropped from the fore mast. She stared at the hanyou for a moment before turning back to look at the sea again.
"Gave up already?"
"Well, what more was I supposed to do." Kagome said. "It's hard to translate where there are holes in my knowledge. If I can't translate half the sentence then it's useless to try until I can really understand until. And until I can figure out those few sentences I can't even start on the ones that I could translate. They'd make no sense and I need information from the previous pieces to translate the later stuff anyway."
"Sure, sure," Sango waved a dismissing hand.
Kagome looked at the mortal woman and scowled, realizing that she had stopping listening about half way through her explanation. She grunted and silently pushed herself back up onto the foremast climbing to reached a comfortable stop.
Sango turned to speak to the hanyou only to find her missing. She sighed and glanced upward, she couldn't see her but she knew that she was up there.
Kagome leaned back in her seat, brought up a booted foot and slammed it down rather forcefully on the table, causing several mugs of rum to jump and slosh the liquid onto the table, as she lifted her own tankard to take a swig from. The owns of the partially spilled rum turned to glare at her but she simply sneered back causing the others to swing quickly away and ignore the fact that precious liquor had been spilled.
She moved gracefully, bringing her other leg up to cross her leg at the ankle atop the table. "For some reason, I feel like getting rip roaring drunk."
"To bad you can't," Sango snickered.
"Don't rub it in," Kagome growled.
"What you really need is a run, and we both know it," Sango dropped her empty mug to the table. "You've been cooped up on a ship for to long and you instinct are screaming at you. You're restless."
Sango stood and gestured for Kagome to follow. Kagome drained the rest of her cup and flung it down on the table as she stood up. Several people, wenches and pirates alike, skittered out of the way of her murderous gaze.
Perhaps running wasn't the only reason she was angry but Sango knew it would at least calm her down a little, though not completely. She'd been unable to find any resources to help translate the rest of the map and after make it to Lisbon the were still behind the Silver Coats and nearly to La Coruña. Every time she looked at the map she began to fume. She couldn't translate anything without the books she wanted and she refused to touch I but it was still there on her desk, so she could definitely look at it.
The run did serve to calm Kagome down a bit but once they were out to sea again, a massive roar erupted from Kagome's chamber followed by a crash and the hanyou stomped from the room, slammed the door and launched herself up into the masts and sails and rigging.
La Coruña pissed Kagome off farther. They had almost had them this time. After tracking down someone who could give them the information they sought they found that the Silver Coats were in port at that moment. This had cheered Kagome quite a bit but when they reached the docks and found the ship they were looking for gone, it was quite possible that Kagome was far angry then she had previously been.
For some reason, Inuyasha felt like he might be running. He'd seen her, walking through town going the opposite direction. At first he'd doubted himself, but he didn't try to sift through the many scents surrounding him to pick out hers. So he'd continued on casually, telling himself that it hadn't been her. After all he couldn't see her again without a reason and he was currently still searching for that reason.
However, when he got to the docks and saw the ship he knew that it had been her and he couldn't get out of that port fast enough. It had been lucky that they were done with their business there anyway and he had been able to just leave with no hassle.
He thanked whatever gods were out there that none of his men had recognized their old ship, not that he had given them time to because at this point he was definitely not considering stealing the thing back, that would cause more problems than it would solve.
He sighed and turned away as the port finally fade from sight. Perhaps he was simply being a coward.
"Well," Sango said, "at least you have you book."
"Yes," Kagome wrinkled her nose, growling, "but I still don't have a certain hanyou."
Kagome bent over a table staring at the large map spread across it and frequently glancing into a large tome setting on top of the map and off to the side as she scribble fiercely on a piece of papyrus.
Sango sat across from her watching her work. Each were dressed in finery from this particular port, of course Kagome was drawing attention anyway with the large map and all, so it was a good thing they also had pistols hidden under their skirts.
With a flurry of movement Kagome straightened from her crouched position, smiling victoriously.
"I," She commented, "am finished."
"Finished?" Sango stared at her friend wide-eyed.
"Well, yes," Kagome frowned.
"Well, I thought," She paused, "I mean, I thought that it would take you a lot longer to translate, even with the book."
"Ah, but once I had the book it was easy," Kagome smirked, "There were only a few words that were hindering my progress. Not knowing those words made it impossible to finish those sentences. Then upon finishing those sentences the rest was easy. I knew everything else."
Sango shook her head, "The way you raged and sulked and screamed."
"Sorry, it was just very frustrating to have a few words keep me from completing this." Kagome sighed and began carefully rolling the discussed map.
The moment he pulled into port he knew, he'd have to be blind or stupid. But this time he couldn't run, so he steeled himself to confront her. He felt something tugged at him, compelling him to continue and he momentarily feared that perhaps his instincts were telling him that she'd been hurt or arrested. He shook his head and immediately dismissed suck thoughts.
He nodded toward Miroku and the two continued on into the town.
It wasn't hard to find her, she been already been drawing attention it seemed though probably inadvertently not to mention she was the only hanyou in port aside from him. So they approach her and Sango at a steady pace until he decided to draw her attention.
"Kagome," He called, though not exceedingly loud.
Her gaze shot up and her face lit for a moment before schooling itself into a casual expression.
"Hello," She called, "Just the person I've been looking for." She said as she finished rolling up a large piece of parchment.
He frowned, "What have you got there? A Treasure map?"
"Sort of," She shrugged.
His frowned deepened and he reached for the map. Which as quite rude in Kagome's opinion so she jerked the map out of his grasp and looked up at him, quirking a brow. "I'm sorry did you want to see it?"
He sighed, "May I?"
"Go ahead," She laid it on the table, but before rolling it out she turned to him and said, "You might want to sit down."
TooDiffer2BReal- Gee what has it been, 2 maybe 3 years and I've finally spat out the 4th chapter? Which is undeniably a short chapter. There are several things that make me wish I hadn't taken this story up again. First, looking back on this story even with just three chapters, there are so many pirate clichés and inaccuracies that I want to shoot myself for ever writing them. I mean admittedly I know more about pirates now that I did when I first started this but really? I knew those were Hollywood inventions even when I started this. Second, I'm not as into Inuyasha anymore I still love it but heck there series is over and the ending disappointed me just a little, just a little though. Still I will try to finish this quickly but I can guarantee it will not be nearly as long as the first version of this story before the rewrite.