Chapter 36: The Unknown Encounter
Kagome and Inuyasha gather their belongs and head out of Kaoru's house. "Well Kaoru, I want to thank you for your hospitality." Kagome smiles as she gets her backpack's strap over her shoulder. Kaoru bows to her. "It's been my honor to help to get Inuyasha and Kirara the information that they needed to rescue from the Academy." Kirara grows into her sabre-toothed form. "No, Kirara. We can't be too exposed to the public." Kaoru stops Kirara. Kagome raised her one brow. "Why not?" She asks him. Inuyasha answers, "Kirara can be sighted by the people below us. Our best time to get going faster is the middle of the night." Kagome thinks about this for a minute. 'He has a point. Riding on Kirara, her paws and two tails are surrounded by flames which can be easily sought out.' She holds her chin. Kaoru walks up to them. "I know it's early in the morning, I think it's best you guys wait until nightfall." He suggested to them. Inuyasha nods, "I agree. I know how much you want to get home and continue on our journey back in my time." Kagome nods back. "You're wait we might as well wait until then." She puts her backpack back onto the ground with a disappointed look as Kirara shrinks down to her kitten form.
Seeing Kagome in such a state, Inuyasha kneels down to her. "I know you're upset and all, But I bet Kaoru might know a few places we can go to some places." He softly rubs her back to cheer her up. Kaoru nods, "If I were you guys, I'd go to the ferry port to watch the ships and boats pass by the pass between the two islands." He gives his option. Inuyasha puts on his charm to make himself look human. Kagome does the same thing to Kirara to make her look like a grey tabby cat. "We should go there." Inuyasha agrees with Kaoru suggestion and takes Kagome's hand to help her up. "There should be a ferry coming from the Kyushu Island." Kaoru said as they look towards the bay. Inuyasha nods as they head towards the pier.
The bus from the Academy arrives at the pier. Once he puts it in park, he turns off the vehicle. "Okay, guys. We're here." He announces and opens the doors for them to get off. Sakura gathers hers and Kagome's luggage and gets off first. Miyuki and Hirako follow her out of the vehicle. Once the three kids got off the bus they can see there's a ferry waiting to have the people and vehicles to board. "You guys should board immediately." The bus driver said to them. The kids head out to the pier and present their tickets and IDs to pass the workers and get onto the ship.
The conductor of the ferry inspects each of the students' luggage until he gets to Sakura's two. "I'm sorry miss, I cannot allow you to have two carry-ons onto the ship." He tells her sternly. Sakura already knew about this policy because each passenger is only allowed just one on the ship, just like boarding on a plane. "Sir, I have this to show you." Miyuki steps in and pulls out a file to give to the man. The man reads the file carefully. "I already know about the policy and such, But the thing is that this luggage belongs to a friend of ours and we've been tasked to give it to her." Hirako explains the situation.
The conductor doesn't seem to be convinced. "Oh well if you guys are running an errand for your friend. Where is she?" He asks as he kneels down to read the owner's name on the luggage. "She's in Tokyo. That's why we need to go there." Miyuki speaks up. The conductor stands up. "I'm not much of a person who needs to go on errands from island to the main land, But I'll have to let you guys board on one condition." He said as he lets them board the ship. "What is it?" Hirako asks him suspiciously. "When we arrive at the mainland, you are to take me to the destination of friend's address." He suggests as he leaves them alone.
A few minutes later the kids make their way to the lobby floor with their luggage in the slots below their seats and get themselves comfortable. The horn of the ferry signals the ferry to depart their dock and set off to their next port. "I think that guys is up to something." Miyuki said to stop their silence, even though there were a few other passengers on the floor. Hirako nods, "I agree, I mean think of the way he spoke to us when we got on." He reminds them about earlier. Sakura narrows, "We're all aware about the policy about the luggage but never the errand thing. He's up to something that's for sure." She said in the end as she gets out of her seat. "Where are you going?" Sakura turns around her head a little to give her most serious look, "To find out what his main objective is." She answers and goes to the floor where the captain is sailing the ferry.
In the dock where a man in his mid 50's is sailing the ferry, a knock on his door gets his attention. "Who is it?" He asks the unknown visitor, not turning his head. The door opens and Sakura enters the room. "Miss, it's forbidden for passengers to come in here." He sternly tells her. Sakura nods, "I'm sorry to barge into private areas of the ferry, but I need ask you only." Sakura said as she shyly walks to the front of the window to see what's up ahead. "Make it quick." The captain tells her. "Sir. I'm just curious about this conductor who board us on the ferry." She starts off.
"The one you're preferring to is my son, Satoshi." He answers her so far. "Okay, your son was cautious about the luggage I had with me." She explains the issue so far. "He already informed me about it. But I know he's just trying to scare only the girls on the ferry and I despise his actions." Sakura did expect that kind of respond from him. "So he does this all the time?" She asks him. "Yes. But that's going to be his last run today. So you don't need to worry about him." He smiles as he turns towards her direction. Sakura smiles and leaves the room.
Miyuki and Hirako gossip quietly about what they want to do when they finally get home. Sakura makes her appearance and takes her seat next to Miyuki. "What did you find out?" Miyuki asks her friend. "The conductor is nothing but a douche bag who like to intimidate girls." Sakura gives her answer as she drinks her water from a vending machine. Hirako and Miyuki look at each other and back to her. "You're kidding." Hirako protests her. Sakura turns her eyes to him. "Does it sound like I was joking about this? I'm dead serious." She glares at them. Miyuki waves her in defense. "Okay, okay." Sakura sighs, "I'm heading outside." She tells them and goes to the front deck.
Inuyasha and Kagome make their way to the dock where the ferry comes to. Even though the air of the sea is all around them, Inuyasha's human disguise doesn't block out the air. "You okay?" Kagome asks him as they sit on a bench. "Yeah it's just this salty air is just a pain in the ass." He answers to her. Kagome nods and sits against the back. "We might as well enjoy the day until nightfall." She said to him. They just watch aimless at any boats that pass the pier. Until a faint, familiar scent tickled his nose. "Is something wrong?" Kagome asks him. Inuyasha stands up and gets to the fence. "Kagome, you might think I'm crazy but I can smell three of your friends from the academy." He said to her as she comes up to him.
Hearing her three friends widen Kagome's eyes. "You can't be serious Inuyasha." Inuyasha narrows as a ferry turns a corner. "They're on that ferry." He points to her. Kagome gasps, "It can't be." She is disbelief. There are a lot of the thoughts running through her head. "Kagome, you should hold your questions when they get off." He comforts her by placing his hand onto her shoulder. Kirara hops onto her other shoulder.