IMPORTANT!!! I CHANGED A LINE IN THE FIRST CHAPTER, WHEN INUYASHA IS THINKING ABOUT HIS DISGUST OF MEN SO CONCERNED ABOUT HONOR, HE NO LONGER THINKS THAT SESSHOUMARU IS RUBBING OFF ON HIM BUT THINKS THE MAN IS SIMILAR TO SESSHOUMARU!! THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW!!
Disclaimer: If you don't know by now…go back and read it in the first two chapters!!
AN: ARIGATOO MINNA!!!!! I was soo happy when I hit 30 reviews!! Heck, I was happy when I hit 20! You guys are the best! Reviewer responses are at the bottom again. I almost wrote myself into a corner on this chapter! I hope you enjoy this one! FLUFFY APPEARS!!!
Chapter 3
Inuyasha leaned down against the Vindos' railing, his chest resting on his folded arms at the bow. One more day and he would be home. Well, as much of a home as it could be; it was a place to eat and rest his head other than a ship. He couldn't stand it when he was at the castle for long periods at a time; he couldn't understand how Sesshoumaru stayed there all the time. Sesshoumaru was about as sympathetic to his plight as Sesshoumaru could be; they often practiced sword fighting together whenever they could so Inuyasha could work out his energy. 'I've been out to sea for two months now… I almost miss him. Almost.'
Sesshoumaru was Inuyasha's older, half brother, the first son of their father and his first wife. They had lived in London during Sesshoumaru's early childhood until his mother became sick with some disease and died, then Sesshoumaru and his father moved out to the country. It was there that Inutaisho had met Inuyasha's mother, Sarah. Sarah was from the family of a nearby lord whose line had branched off from the royal family a few generations ago. So it was greeted with absolute mortification and anger when she turned out to be pregnant with Inutaisho's child. Both of them were publicly disowned and cast out by their families and so fled to Ireland, to the estates of one of Inutaisho's elderly friends. It was there that they were married and Inuyasha had been born. Sesshoumaru, apparently, had taken all this quite badly, for according to their father, he closed himself off rather suddenly and refused to even speak to anyone for several months. But when he did begin speaking again, he was very cold and uncaring; nothing mattered to him. Inutaisho's friend, whom Inuyasha had come to think of as grandfather died when he was four; and having no children of his own, left the house and it's land to Inutaisho.
"You're brooding again." Called a voice behind him. Inuyasha turned to eye the man leaning against the main mast.
"I'm always brooding Will." He answered sourly as turned from the rail to face Will. Will had been one of the first sailors to sign on with them and one of the few to still be working with them. He was a good four inches taller than Inuyasha with short, but wild curly red hair and unusual green eyes.
"It's not healthy. Maybe you should spend sometime with that woman to take your mind off of things." Will smirked slyly at him.
Inuyasha snorted. "I've been purposely avoiding her for the last day and a half. And you know it."
"I know. But you looked positively dashing when you where walking across that plank."
"Until I fell right?" Inuyasha frowned at him.
"You said it, not me. Besides, Sesshoumaru couldn't have managed more grace when you jumped onto it."
"It's too late to suck up now."
"You didn't let me finish. Your brother though, would have had the girl in his arms, and probably in his bed as well." He said smiling at him.
"Sesshoumaru could get anything in his bed if he wanted." Inuyasha snarled as he looked out to sea.
"Oh don't get cross. Sesshoumaru just does what everyman does. At least he's pickier than most men. He could be sleeping with any whore."
"No, Sesshoumaru has expensive tastes, he'd never sleep with a tavern wench or anything." Inuyasha sighed. Will looked like he was going to make another snide comment but a young boy decided to run up onto that deck at that moment, screaming.
"Capin'! Capin'!" he ran toward Inuyasha only to stop an arm's length away. The boy was the cook's helper, he was the one who took the meals to Kagome, his name was Mark. Mark doubled over at the waist and huffed for breath, his small chest heaving with exertion. Inuyasha waited rather impatiently for him to say what he had to say.
"Capin', the girl!" the boy gasped between breaths.
"What about her?" he answered testily.
"She's dead!"
"What?!!" Inuyasha bellowed. His eyes were wide open but weren't taking in anything. 'Dead? That's impossible!!' He nausea flooded over him as the bottom of his stomach fell out to God knows where and his hands began to tremble slightly. Inuyasha clenched them together angrily, trying to force them to stop. Mark took a step back, obviously frightened by the intense look on his face.
"W…well, n-nobody answered th-the door s-so I went in. A-an she was j-just laying there an didn't move. I-I don't think she's breathin' either." He stammered.
Inuyasha cursed under his breath and took off at a run towards the cabins. He noticed when he got to the door that he was being followed and snarled back behind himself,
"Just wait a damn minute before you come down, alright?!" And plunged into the dim confines of the compartments.
Inuyasha stomped down to her door before reaching in his pocket to extract a copy of the key he'd given the boy. He jammed the key in roughly and turned it, pushing in the door in the same motion. He stood there for only a moment, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. The air smelled stale, strange; Inuyasha gulped involuntarily. 'Damn it all!! What's wrong with me? If she's dead then we'll just throw the body over board and be done with it.' Despite his attempts at steeling himself, he approach bespoke of trepidation as he walked stiffly toward the lumpy but still bunk.
*~_~*
Kagome knew he was approaching when she heard an unmistakable groan as he stepped on the fifth board from her bunk. She had had this planned since the jerk had locked her in this musty room yesterday. But now he'd get his just desserts. Kagome made every effort humanly possible to keep from smiling or laughing; that would only serve to ruin her carefully laid plan.
Inuyasha's downfall was that he was a man, and men knew next to nothing about women's clothing except how to get it off. There was nothing obviously dangerous about a woman's dress and five billion petticoats except for certain bodices. Bodices like Kagome's held a stiff boning to aid the corset in keeping the wearer's back straight. Kagome had managed to work out a piece of the stiff boning by tearing a hole in the fabric with her nails before she received her first meal. The aforementioned meal was unremarkably bland but what held her attention was the bread knife resting innocently next to a small section of what was once a loaf of bread. They obviously weren't used to have captives on board, otherwise the kitchen lad that brought her the meals would have stood over her as she ate or they would have avoided the whole situation by cutting the bread before sending to her. But instead, the boy stood outside her door, waiting for her to finish unobserved. They would surely have noticed the blade missing so Kagome took to whittling one edge of the boning every meal until it was sharp enough to cut.
Now she lay poised and ready; the boning tied loosely to her left arm, to keep her hands free, under the bunk's thin blanket. Her head felt a little light from restricting her breathing as much as she was, but it would pay off, she was sure. She'd be damned if she let him keep her locked up in this hellhole any longer.
*~_~*
Inuyasha was breathing heavily now that he had finally made his painfully slow way to her bedside, or bunk side rather. She didn't appear to be moving in any way; his keen eyes watching her blanket covered torso, searching for a sign that she was breathing; that the lad had been mistaken. Finding no such sign, Inuyasha leaned warily forward, his long hair tumbling over his shoulders to spill onto some of the blanket.
Kagome's eyes shot open the moment she felt the weight of his hair as she bolted upright, her hands grabbed the collar of his white shirt and she pushed with all her strength. Kagome's efforts were rewarded as the surprised Inuyasha fell backwards onto the bottom half of the bunk, soundly thunking his head against the wall in the process. She would have blushed had she the mind to as she jerked the boning from it's loose ties on her arm and straddled his waist to lean over him and hold it tightly against his neck.
Inuyasha didn't know which situation to worry about first, was he bleeding from the head, the pain emanating from it made him think so. But now the girl had something remarkable sharp pressing onto his neck. His comprehending gaze sought her triumphant and determined one as his thoughts cleared.
"You will let me out of this room." She demanded, her voiced laced with the authority of her station, however humble it was. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed.
"Is that so?"
He lunged upwards; his hands roughly grasping her arms as he threw his weight up to twisted their bodies round quickly so that she couldn't react. Kagome cursed lightly as her arms were pinned harshly against the semi-hard mattress beneath them. They were now laying long ways on the bed, as Kagome had been originally and Inuyasha quickly straddled her hips as pressed his weight down upon her to keep her from moving too much.
"Now," he murmured, his face nary five inches from her own. "Why would I let you out?"
"Because." Kagome breathed heavily; his weight was making it difficult to take in air.
"Because why?" he taunted as he applied more of his weight. Kagome was now fairly gasping for breath as her lungs began to burn, she glared at him with tear wreathed sapphire eyes.
"Because of this." She whispered vehemently and brought her knee up hard into his groin.
A burning pain exploded behind his eyes as his nerves were set afire with the force of her kick. With a pained yelp, Inuyasha rolled off of her and doubled over on the floor cursing.
Kagome rolled to the side of the bed to sit pertly upon the edge and assess damages. It hadn't gone as planned, but he was in no condition to stop her. Kagome supposed that she should be feeling sorry for him, and she did fell a tiny twinge of remorse, but after all the insults that he had hurled at her, she was not about to feel so sorry for his manhood and pride and let her moment slip by. With a soft rustle of fabric Kagome stood and walked primly around the moaning man to the far side of the room to the open door. Then, with a slightly sadistic smile, she turned back to him and proceeded to sweetly say,
"See you on deck, Inuyasha." And with a swish of shirts she was gone.
(AN: I thought about ending it there, but decided for my own well being to continue.)
*~_~*
The men that had crowded around the door to the cabins to see what was happening scattered as she walked onto deck with her head held high. Her dress may be wrinkled and her hair a mess, but her pride was still intact. A soft breeze rustled her skirt as she walked to the bow, ignoring the murmurs from the crew around her, she was stopped however at the main mast when a tall red haired man called out to her.
"Miss?" he called just loud enough for her to hear. Kagome simply stopped to look at him to show that she was listening.
"Where's the Captain?"
Kagome smiled impishly, "Writhing on the floor in pain I imagine." Her voice was just a calm as if discussing the weather, but her eyes shone with a dark enjoyment as she continued her way to the bow.
She sighed as she undid what was left of the braid her hair had been in and cautiously ran her fingers through the tresses only to get them snagged in vicious tangles. With a heaved breath, Kagome untangled her fingers and shifted her attention to their surroundings. They were no longer in the open ocean she noted with surprise; the helmsman was deftly steering them through a narrow water way bordered on both sides by high steep cliffs. They landscape was all together surreal and frightening. She had never heard of any place like this. 'Where are we?' she wondered as she nervously wringed her hands together.
*~_~*
Inuyasha groaned as he got up from his position on the floor. Damn but it hurt to stand too. Inuyasha was thanking every god and saint that came to mind that that dumb girl hadn't ruptured anything. After the first five minutes of intense pain had passed, Inuyasha had warily checked for any bleeding and was thankful to find none. He walked stiffly to the door of the room and leaned against the frame to take a brief rest. 'How long will this take to heal?' he wondered absently as he pushed off and continued to stomp down the narrow hall to the door.
There to meet him was Will, who watched him was an infuriating smirk on his face as Inuyasha painfully ascended the six stairs to the deck of his ship. Inuyasha's breathing was heavy and labored as he glared at will before demanding,
"Where?" He didn't need to say anymore, not that he felt he could and not blow his fuse. Will chuckled darkly and pointed toward the bow of the ship with a lazy swish of his hand. After glaring at him for one more moment before starting to go after her but was stopped by Will, who then pointed past the girl standing at the front of the ship. Inuyasha couldn't decided on whether to curse or jump for joy, which would have hurt, at the sight of the cavern opening ahead of them.
"Furl the sails!" Inuyasha called to his men, happiness threading his voice. "Man the oars! Will bring her in under our own power."
*~_~*
Kagome jumped when she heard his voice on deck and whirled around to see him shouting orders as his men hustled about quickly to obey them. The oars met the frigid waters with a chorus of splashes as the canvas sails were tied tightly to their masts. Kagome watched it all in a sort of daze, imagining what the ship might have looked like from afar, like some great multi-legged bug running across the water's surface back to the safety of it's hole. Kagome turned back around to watch the cavern opening grow closer when she noticed something at the top of the cliff above the opening. 'What…'
"That would be our castle." Kagome jumped around violently to find that Inuyasha had somehow snuck up behind her.
"Our?" she asked shakily.
"Mine and Sesshoumaru's." Kagome lifted an eyebrow at his answer as he turned his attentions to the castle high above them. 'Sesshoumaru? Who's that?' she wanted to ask but refrained as she too looked upwards only to find that they were now to close to the cliff to see what rested at it's top.
Inuyasha turned his gaze back to the cavern opening. . The entrance was a large hole in the wall of the vertical cliff only visibly during the low tide and was barely large enough for a mast ship to enter; but the hole opened up into a large cavern. The ceiling was so high that even when the tide rose the main mast would still be a hundred feet from it; inside was a large flat slab of stone that served as a dock for the returning ship. A small ways away from the slab was a long series of stairs that led to the castle at the top of the cliff. As the ship glided almost silently under the entrance a feeling of homesickness washed over him like he had never felt. He would be happy to be back for a few days before he began to go stir crazy again.
As the ship coasted with practiced skill to the 'dock' Inuyasha was dismayed to see that Miroku had already completely unloaded his ship and was sitting on a large keg of ale waiting for him. Several men on shore caught the mooring ropes cast to them by his crew to tie the ship off. The ship jerked to a stop and the ropes groaned as it eased backwards into the water. Several of the men hefted a large, thick gangplank to the edge of the Vindos' side and the dock as it settled. Inuyasha grabbed her arm roughly yet again.
"Come on." He said simply as he half dragged her down the shifting gangplank onto the steady rock.
Kagome jerked her arm free his grasp when her feet touched solid ground again and glared at him.
"You don't have to drag me every where. A simple 'Follow me' would do. But no, you have to be jerk don't you?"
"What?" Inuyasha seethed at the girl. "And who is the one who kneed me to get up on deck? A simple 'Let me on deck' would have been sufficient." He mocked sarcastically, glaring down at the girl.
"Oh please. You would have laughed in my face if I had asked you that!" she yelled back at him. She would have continued except for the sudden flash of metal that caught her attention as a dagger pressed tightly against Inuyasha's throat.
*~_~*
Sesshoumaru had just entered the cavern from the terraced corridors that lead from the lower levels of the castle when Inuyasha half dragged a woman off the ship onto the dock. She angrily pulled her arm from his grasp upon reaching solid ground and preceded to give him a piece of her mind. A very large piece from the sound of it. Sesshoumaru would have been slightly tempted to smirk at his half-brother's obvious discomfort but the fact that Inuyasha had brought her back with him had him suspicious. His brother wasn't necessarily stupid, but sometimes his impulsiveness took complete control of his one-track mind. And Sesshoumaru had a distinct feeling that this was one of those times; one of those similar lapses of judgment that had plagued their father that tended to bring hell to the rest of the family. They were starting to get louder now and some of the men were taking bets, so with a quiet sigh, Sesshoumaru walked over to intervene.
Inuyasha had been about to reply when he felt the all to familiar edge of cold metal press along the width of his throat and he wisely shut his mouth. He would have bet a thousand pounds on who was behind him, only one person was that brazen and he had every right to be. Inuyasha had been reminded several times, the hard way, that his elder half-brother was a better fighter than himself; both with swords and hand to hand. He gulped nervously against the dagger, causing it to bite into his skin slightly. Inuyasha knew that Sesshoumaru wouldn't kill him; because that would mean that Sesshoumaru would have to lead the ships, leaving no one here to defend the castle. But Sesshoumaru had no compulsions about giving Inuyasha a good scar to remind him of his place.
Kagome started when she saw a blade pressed tightly against Inuyasha's neck and looked warily to his side, almost afraid to see who was standing there. She had believed Inuyasha to be very attractive when she had first seen him but he was nothing compared to the creature standing next to him. He was dressed similarly to Miroku when she had first met him; shined, black knee-high boots, snug black breeches, and a white shirt with bellowing sleeves that gathered at the wrists, the only difference being that he also had a black vest that hugged his lean torso snugly. A belt hung loosely around his slim hips, weighed down on the left side due to the weight of the long sword that hung there. His hair was the same startling white/silver as Inuyasha, but his looked more kept, it seemed to have a heavier, silkier shine and look to it. His face, the same flawless white as his hand, was a cold mask with slightly narrow aristocratic features showing no emotions, but his eyes spoke differently. His narrowed eyes were the same sparkling gold but were cold with malice and unhidden anger. His deep voice startled her from her thoughts.
"You have some explaining to do" He said simply, eyes locked on Inuyasha; he hadn't even acknowledged her presence yet. Inuyasha wet his lips before answering.
"I thought that you had mentioned her before, so I brought her back thinking we could use her for ransom."
"Ransom? And how do you suppose we do that, hmm?" Sesshoumaru asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at him and was about to answer when Sesshoumaru continued.
"I suppose you had planned to write a letter to her family, explaining that she had been taken by pirates, namely you, and that you demand a price to give her back." Sesshoumaru pulled the dagger away and his brother turned to face him.
"Am I wrong?"
"That was the gist of it, yes."
Sesshoumaru snorted and shook his head, looking away from his brother for the first time. Inuyasha could almost literally feel his blood begin to boil at his brother's response.
"What?! Are you going to ridicule me again like always, Sesshoumaru?" Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed at him again as he answered.
'Sesshoumaru?' Kagome wondered to herself. Wasn't that the name that Inuyasha had mentioned? Kagome looked around them to see that every movement in the cavern had stopped and everyone was watching the two of them fight. She couldn't see them very well, but it looked like some men in the back were watching and taking bets. Kagome couldn't hide her surprise at his next remark.
"Yes, little brother I am." Irritation seemed to emanate from his being as he continued but his tone never seemed to change. "First off, how do you plan to pick up the money? Draped in black cloak and cowl I suppose. It can't be delivered anywhere near this place due to the fact that half the country of England knows that our family fled to this god-forsaken island."
"Which simply means that we would have to collect the money in England."
"Allowing time for the nobility to plead to the King for his army's intervention, meaning that you will either be caught in the act or fleeing on the sea. No matter how good you are at ransacking merchant ships, you couldn't stand up to the armada."
"Why would the nobility plead to the king?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously.
"They would plead to the King and win his favor because if one member of the nobility is taken captive and ransomed, what would keep the culprits from doing it again if they got away with it the first time? And even if you could get away, what's to keep the girl from squealing about us when she is back with her family?"
Inuyasha stared at his brother, blinking, taking in what he had heard. He hated admitting that his brother was right but Inuyasha honestly hadn't seen that many holes in his plot. Sesshoumaru strode away from his brother and the girl that had been oddly quiet during their fight, needing to get some distance between them. 'God what a mess this it.' Remembering something his brother had said earlier, Sesshoumaru whirled on his heel to face his again, sending his unbound hair swirling around his frame.
"You said that I had mentioned her?" Inuyasha nodded. "What is her name?"
"Kagome." The said Kagome glared at Inuyasha. She had been about to answer Sesshoumaru herself when his brother had rudely blurted it out. She huffed quietly and looked away pouting slightly before mumbling,
"I can answer for myself."
Sesshoumaru turned his attention to the girl for the first time since he'd spoken to his brother. 'Kagome?' She looked like she had seen better days; her dress was heavily wrinkled, her hair was askew about her. He would have hazarded to guess that the midnight tresses had been bound back originally either in a braid or simply tied back. Her large blue eyes were framed in long, dark eyelashes causing them to stand out against the ivory of her skin, small pink lips pouted as she looked toward the ship. 'The name sounds familiar but…' Sesshoumaru sighed and shook his head warily. This was definitely one of those chronic lapses. While Sesshoumaru had been taking his assessment of her an elderly governess had slowly meandered from somewhere to her side.
"You two come with me." He said to the women before turning his attention to his brother again. "Inuyasha! Have their things brought up to the castle."
"They have no things." Inuyasha told him crossly. Sesshoumaru looked at him dubiously.
"Why not?"
"They were left on the ship."
"You brought them here without any other clothing?"
"Surely some of you whores left some clothing behind for them to wear." Inuyasha snarled at him and instantly regretted it as his bother grabbed him roughly by the collar of his shirt and growled at him.
"You'd best hope so. Now see to the damn ships then come up to report to me." Sesshoumaru then shoved Inuyasha away.
"Why me?" he demanded angrily.
"You're the one who got us into this mess, so at least do something useful while I try to fix it." Sesshoumaru snarled back at him. Inuyasha glared at him but didn't say anything more. With that, Sesshoumaru walked back toward the corridors that led up to the castle with the women following a short distance behind.
AN: Here it is!! Chapter 3! I hope you all enjoy it!!! It's 12:04 AM so I'm going to bed, 'night.
Reviewer Reponses:
FishyKittie – Thanks!!
Snowgirl – WAFF!! There was some WAFF!! I hope you enjoyed it.
vicious-wolf – Did you like this one? I hope so. See, she's not totally helpless, she's resourceful.
Demon-chan – I haven't the foggiest idea!! *laughs ruefully* We'll have to see.
Dark Star – Thank you!! As for Seeshou and Kagome, you'll have to read to see!! I know, I'm mean!!
Zialial – Ano…I have other S x K fics?? But thanks for the review!!
Laura-chan – I'm glad you liked the fall, this chap. got out sooner too!! Thanks!
Misao CG – Yay!!! I got a cookie!!! *smiles* Thanks and I hope you liked this one too!
whitewingeddragon1 – Hehe, thanks!! I know, I'm trying not to make it so fluffy, notice the violence above!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much!!!!
lonemoon23 - Thank you!!!
Yuko: Thank you!!
DemonBlade: *blushes* Thanks! I'm glad you didn't mind that it was short!
Suzy a.k.a. hottie – Thanks!
Goddess Sophitia – Thank You!!!shura – Was this cliffhanger just as evil? I can't help it, blame Sess, it's all his fault, he's so darn distracting *grin* Anyway, Thank you and I hope you liked this one!
Faoiltiama – Thanks! And I hope you always find happiness with you life-sized plushie! I want on of Fluffy!
Wizardess Gal – Like I said, I hated having to give them different last names, or last names as the case may be, but it couldn't be avoided! Anyway thanks for the reviews and I'll be nice to Kouga, I promise.
Crystal Arrow – Did you like it? I tried to make her a little daring…but thanks and I hope you enjoyed!
Zel no miko – Here it is!!!
Vesta, the Great – remarkable? I've never been called that before! Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked that plank scene.
vee – Thanks, I hope you enjoyed this one!!
TO ALL THE ANNOYMOUS REVIEWERS: THANK YOU!!!!
And to everyone still reading, until next time, I love ya!!!
