Summer Survival

"And they would do well to enjoy what they could of that day, as their journey will only go downhill from here…"

S.O.S!!

To say the very least, they did not start their day well.

Thump!

"OW!" Inu-Yasha had fallen off his bunk onto the floor.

"Shut up," Sesshomaru growled drowsily as he threw his pillow at his brother. Of course, that was the pillow that had absorbed the previous day's fumes and Inu-Yasha would've suffocated if he wasn't wide awake from falling six feet from his bunk.

"Why you…" Inu-Yasha was about to throw the pillow back at his brother when the captain burst into their room.

"WAAAKEEEEEEEYYY WAAAKEEEEEEEYYY BOYS!!" he bellowed.

"Five more minutes…" Koga mumbled.

"SORRY, BUT NO! WE GOT CLEAN UP DUTY TODAY!!"

Needless to say, he dragged them out of bed (minus Inu-Yasha, who was already out) and up on deck.

"I'm hungry…" Koga moaned before the stench hit him. It emanated from the trail left by the shark they heaved overboard the other day. Their mission became clear.

"TODAY WE GOTTA CLEAN UP THIS MESS!" the captain ordered as he handed them each a mop or a rag. "I WANT IT SQUEAKY CLEAN BY BREAKFAST!!"

"Aren't you going to help like last time?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"And where's Kagura?" Hakudoshi added.

"SHE'S TAKING A SHOWER!!"

"What! And let the rest of us to do the work?" Koga cried, flabbergasted. "If all it took was a shower, I'm going to get one too!"

"Actually, I don't think you'll get to. Kagura takes an impossibly long time in the shower," Hakudoshi said, sighing.

"And you would know this…how?" Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow.

"Our families went on a vacation together, and she took so long in the shower that her parents threatened to disable her credit card account if she didn't come out by the time they counted to five hundred."

"Yikes," said Inu-Yasha. "And I thought Sesshomaru took a long time."

"You only think that because you hardly take showers at all," Sesshomaru countered.

"Yeah, but I still take showers, and still not as long as you do!"

"At least I don't smell as bad as a rotting shark because of it."

"I do not!" Inu-Yasha swung his mop at Sesshomaru, who easily countered it with his. They began fighting each other with their mops as Hakudoshi noticed that the captain was gone. "Where's—"

"Hey, look! I think we're nearing the International Date Line or something!" Koga said excitedly. "Cuz it looks like it's night over there."

"Don't be ridiculous—" Hakudoshi paled. It wasn't night.

It was storm clouds. Very big, and very black, storm clouds.

Rin had never felt so overjoyed in quite a while. For once, Kagura didn't hate her anymore. Also, she had a good night's sleep and looked forward to making breakfast. And she had an idea for what to make.

Once she entered the kitchen, though, she found Naraku wasn't there. She decided that she would do the dishes first, of course, but if he didn't show up by the time she finished, she'd to surprise everyone by doing making breakfast herself. Her idea still included frying, and she accomplished it yesterday. So it should be pretty simple, shouldn't it?

The same nightmare again. The flames licked and consumed everything, including his…

Naraku blinked his eyes open. Strange, he still smelled smoke. Was he still dreaming? Then he got up with a start. No! Don't tell me—

"RIN!!" he screamed furiously as he stormed into the kitchen.

"Uh…how do you flip the pancakes?" Rin asked meekly before coughing. The air was filled with a burnt odor, and the 'pancake'—still stuck on the pan—was charred beyond recognition. Naraku began to calm down. No fire yet.

"Don't use the stove while I'm not around," he said coldly, and Rin flinched.

"I was just trying to—"

"Burn down the kitchen?"

For a moment, his question hung in the air, sarcastic and menacing. Then Rin shook her head. "No, make breakfast. You know I never try to burn down the kitchen."

Naraku turned away gruffly and was about to turn the stove off when the ship shifted abruptly. Naraku and Rin fell as the pan flew off the stove and hit the sink, just missing their heads and causing the sink to erupt in fountains of water. At the same time, the fire leapt from the stove onto the cupboard above it and spread across the kitchen.

"We've got to get out of here!" Naraku shouted as he pulled Rin along by her cuff. The ship lurched again, and they tumbled backwards. The floor suddenly became as stable as a swinging seesaw.

"What's happening?" Rin cried frantically, clutching Naraku's arms in an iron grip.

"OW! Get off my arm!" Naraku snarled. Rin, however, was too petrified to comply.

It actually became worse when the fire met water, as steam came pouring out and mixing with the smoke, making the heat and thickness of the air unbearable. Not only that, the fire had them surrounded. Just when Rin thought she was going to run out of breath, the ceiling exploded upwards. The steam and smoke had weakened it, and as the combination grew in strength, it managed to push the ceiling away in order to escape. Rin and Naraku gasped for breath; then, they suddenly became drenched as rain poured down. It put out the fire, but there was so much rain that Naraku realized that if they didn't escape soon, they would drown. "Come on!" he growled, pulling Rin along once more by the cuff. Rin was too tired to complain or struggle, though it is very uncomfortable to be dragged by your neck through knee high water as the floor constantly shifted with the violence of a bucking horse. Just then, she heard a scream coming from the direction of the sleeping quarters. Oh yeah…Kagura had wanted to take a shower!

"Hold on! Kagura's still here!" she managed to croak. Naraku cursed.

"Can you make it on deck?" he asked brusquely.

"I think so," Rin said nervously, but if the water did get too high, she could swim, and that would be easier than wading, too.

"Hurry," was all he said before he went to get Kagura.

Kagura had no idea what was happening. She was taking a long, invigorating shower when there was a jolt and she slipped. As she tried to get up, she noticed the shower gradually become cold. What?! she thought and, staring angrily at the shower, quickly turned it off. However, the ground was shaking vigorously like an earthquake, and water was still dripping on her. Like, what is going on? she thought, still more irritated than puzzled as she got out of the shower…and saw that her towel, luckily on top of her clothes, was soaked as the ceiling continued dripping and the floor continued lurching. Just then, she knew that something was wrong. As quickly as she could, she put her clothes on, though they only became wet. This is so disgusting! she thought, fuming as she tried to unlock the bathroom door, though this was difficult as the floor kept shifting beneath her feet, worse than the usual. At a particularly sharp undulation she lost her footing. With a high-pitched scream, she fell with a splash to the floor, though her fall was softened by the water. Wait…water? It was halfway up to her knees! Kagura panicked and began pounding the door, screaming, "Someone! Anyone! HELP! HELP! HEEEEEEEELP—"

"Why is this door locked, Kagura?" she heard Naraku ask as he attempted to open it.

"I was taking a shower," she sniffed. "But nevermind that; GET ME OUT!!"

"Argh! Stand back!" He began ramming into the door, though the water inside was making it harder to push inwards. "Kagura, you ram the door!"

"But I'll, like, hurt my shoulder!" she wailed.

Naraku gritted his teeth. No time to blow his top. "Do you want to get out or not?"

"Yes!" Kagura sobbed.

"Then hurry up and do it!"

Very pathetically, she pushed against the door, though it was more like leaning on it. Naraku, in turn, began pulling, though the credit must be given to the rising water inside, which built up enough pressure that the door burst open with a BOOM! As the water rushed out, Naraku didn't wait for Kagura to catch her breath as he carried her in his arms and headed back for the stairs.

On deck, Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru's fighting was abruptly stopped when the deck seemed to swing around and swept them off their feet. It was then they noticed the deep black and angry storm clouds chasing them and realized the immediate danger of shipwrecking on hand. As the rain practically hammered down onto the deck, Koga was desperately trying to keep the water level down by dumping water out by the bucketful as Inu-Yasha tried to so with his hands, moaning, "Why did the captain only have one bucket for us to work with?!"

Where is the captain, anyway? Sesshomaru thought, looking around when a new thought hit him. And where is Hakudoshi?

Hakudoshi raced towards the steering room and saw that his hunch was right. He had thought that the captain, too, saw the clouds and would try to outrun them. As if on cue, the ship swerved as the captain turned the steering wheel. But will it be enough? Tthose clouds sure looked big and ugly, Hakudoshi thought. So intent was the captain on steering that he didn't notice Hakudoshi sneak into the room and up behind him.
"HO! WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE, HAKUDOSH?" the captain asked, though Hakudoshi thought his voice sounded strained. Just then, a paper poking out of a drawer caught his eye. He reached out to pull it out…

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" roared the captain. Hakudoshi, caught by surprise, withdrew his hand, but was made even more curious by the command. However, at that moment, the storm had caught up to them and was beating the Ocean Gull around. They realized the hopelessness of their situation.

"ABANDON SHIP! I REPEAT! ABANDON SHIP!!" the captain cried out with the force of a thousand trumpets blaring at the same time. He dragged Hakudoshi out as a lightning bolt hit the cabin and it burst into flames, despite the torrential rain.

Darn, now I'll never know what that paper was, Hakudoshi though disappointedly.

At this point, everyone was gathered up near the door to below deck.

"REPORT, NARAKU!"

"Everyone is here; water is filling up below deck."

"INU-YASHA?"

"What?"

"GOOD! SESSHOMARU?"

"Here."

"KOGA?"

"Hey, you said my real name!" Koga exclaimed in a moment of surprise.

"RIN?"

"Here!"

"KAGURA?"

Kagura moaned.

"AND I GOT HAKUDOSHI RIGHT HERE! QUICKLY, TO THE BOATS!!"

At that moment, a lightning bolt hit the mast, causing it to ignite. It cracked and slowly but surely began falling down where they were all standing. With a big OOMF! it cleanly split them into two groups: Naraku, Rin, and Kagura on one side, and the captain, Hakudoshi, Sesshomaru, Inu-Yasha, and Koga on the other. There was almost silence as they realized this.

"Why did I get stuck with you?" Sesshomaru groaned, referring to Inu-Yasha.

"DON'T STAND AROUND LOOKING LIKE A FOOL, NARAKU!!" the captain somehow shouted above the noise of the storm. "GET THEM TO THE BOATS! HURRY!"

"But what about—"

"FORGET ABOUT US!! THE KIDS WITH YOU ARE YOUR PRIORITY!!"

At first, Naraku hesitated, but then he said, "Come on," and they hurried to escape on the boats.

"So…what happens to us?" Inu-Yasha asked, trying not to panic.

"We gotta ride this out, boys," the captain replied. His normal voice, at this moment at least, failed to surprise them. Then, with astounding strength, he pulled out seven planks of wood from the floor and handed one to each person, keeping three for himself. "Hold onto your plank, cuz it can mean the difference of life or death. Now, when I say go, we—"

A simply enormous lightning bolt crashed down, cutting off his directions. They could just hear the captain shout, "GO!" above the thunder, and though they weren't exactly sure what he wanted them to do, the blaze the lightning created gave them the hint. There was only one thought: escape. And so, with the captain in front of them, they all leapt off board and disappeared into the frothing black ocean. Thunder boomed.

Naraku just got Rin and Kagura into the boat when he saw the lightning bolt hit the ship and turn the deck to flames. This is too much like my nightmare, he thought grimly as he got into the boat and pushed them into the ocean below. Unfortunately, they had no oars, so they were left to drift away from the flaming ship. Thunder boomed.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Okay, this is the last chapter I'm posting this summer, as 1) it is the last chapter of Part 1 and 2) this summer is drawing to an end and I will not be able to conclude this series by the time school starts. And because it's called Summer Survival, I'm not going to post any chapters until next summer (and it'll give me time to brainstorm more ideas). So, thank you for reading this far and hope you've enjoyed it! Anticipate the next part, next summer!