AN: I've had to overcome a battle of sever writers block to get this chapter to you… Somehow it seemed that whenever I felt like updating, I'd look at the text and just …'.' But luckily, several months of zero time and no inspiration, I'm back with my muse.
Anyhoo, thank you guys for the 370+ reviews It's wonderful to know that so many people read and like my writing. ...Makes me feel great inside. And so, I apologize in advance for the evil cliffhangers.
Special thank you's to ArtemisMoon, dancingbarefootinmysocks, geta kuns chibi, and everyone else for their comments.
To ArtemisMoon, did you know I'm a fan of yours too? *grins*
Without further ado, here is the next chapter...
Hanyou on the High Sea- Chapter 11
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...Her insides were on fire. Every inch of Kagome, from her nose to her toes burned with a flurry of emotions she had yet to sort out. ...Her legs pumped against the dry wooden deck for eternity. ...It was all so endless. She gave no heed to the pirates she nearly trampled; the only absolution from this feeling would come when she was as far away from Inuyasha as possible.
Inuyasha... Not Inu. The sudden realization had her head throbbing.
...The stern loomed into view. It was a wide expanse of ship, twice as vast as the bow and probably twice as cluttered. Barrels and canvas sacks of all assortments lay scattered around the patch of deck space, forgotten by the disorganized pirates. And in this moor of wood, Kagome was alone.
Not that she noticed.
She tried desperately to focus. Her hands found their way to the cold metal of the railing. Her feet met with the lowest rung, and, once the blurry tears in her eyes had cleared enough, her gaze with the choppy waters of the ocean. A few spare tears ran down her cheeks and plummeted to the waves below. Tears of what? She questioned brokenly to herself. ...Anger? One of her hands reached up to feel the moisture beneath her eyes.
Anger, certainly... Inuyasha was a pompous blowhard. ...Pond scum, really, even subtracting the fact that he was a pirate. Never in Kagome's lifetime had she met a man as pushy, obnoxious, domineering, and outright rude as Inuyasha! …He was vile and filthy. He had the mouth of a sailor. He was violent. Yes...Violent. ...The soft skin under her wrist where Inuyasha had grabbed Kagome and pushed her against the wall now throbbed with heat.
She wallowed in these thoughts until the most important one struck her again, causing her fists to clench once again...And he was the captain. ...Captain Inuyasha. Captain Whiteclaw. In passing, she thought of Sango and her brother's case... She thought of Shippou's words, 'The captain...? He's a major ass... He'd kill me if I he caught me in there...'
He had lied to her...
It was then that a new emotion broke through the anger... Kagome put her head down on the railing and let out a deeply suppressed sob. ...He had lied to her. Again, she didn't know why the pain in her was so potent.
The water beneath her crashed continually against the ship like broken glass. Both the blue of the ocean and brown of the deck blurred together as her eyes filled with tears. Her elbows rested against the railing as she hunched over, trying to squeeze away the tears...
From behind her, she didn't even realize that the taijiiya was watching.
Kagome...? She wondered, eyes shifting with concern. Is Kagome crying...?
Sango took a few steps forward, to make her way to her friend. Whatever could have happened to make the otherwise happy girl so upset?
Suddenly, a noise cut her off from her thoughts. ...The sound of a distant boom rang out over the horizon.
Sango's gaze broke to the direction from which it had come.
But, she didn't have time to even think. Her mouth opened in surprise.
~*~
CRASH!
That was the sound of a shattering globe. It now lay in ruin on the opposite side of his cabin.
Inuyasha clenched his fist and eyes and made a nearby bookshelf his next victim, sending it to the floor with a well placed punch.
...FUCK! He cursed himself inwardly. ...What... is WRONG WITH ME?!
To the destruction of the rest of his cabin, the hanyou replayed every minute of the previous events in his mind with a new sense of self loathing.
He had nearly struck Kagome. ...He had told her his true identity. And... He had told Kagome he cared about her.
He dug his claws into his head, as if to try to get rid of the awful memory. All three of them. …He cared about Kagome? What had he been thinking?! …She was a haggard, annoying, whiny bitch, and was of absolutely no use to anybody!
Inuyasha leaned over, heaving.
…Especially not him. Not to Captain Whiteclaw. …Pirate captains just weren't made for love.
Inuyasha stood still amongst the debris in the room, hands close to shaking. ...What's important now isn't Kagome, he nodded to himself. …It's the search for the legendary Shikon no Tama. ...It's the reunion with his old school mate, Lord Kouga... Nothing else mattered. No air-headed floozy was getting in the way of that.
Inuyasha paused, the sudden stillness of the room weighing on him. His bare feet plodded to the door and he opened it, taking a step outside... Her scent had faded. She was nowhere to be found, his secret relief.
...Not that he'd ever be embarrassed. …Of course not.
The weather had just turned windy, and carried with it a faint scent... Inuyasha paused to determine what it was. The odor was acrid and grainy… a scent he should've known anywhere.
...Gunpowder?
His eyebrow furrowed. The hanyou stepped out to the wooden deck in an effort to get a better whiff. One well placed foot sent the wood below him creaking. In typical hanyou reaction, Inuyasha looked down.
It was Kagome's piece of paper. There, folded and pinned against the wind. Inuyasha lifted his foot, but a sudden breeze lifted the bit of parchment and sent it high into the air. Before any rational thought could enter his head, he leaped to the mast above him and snatched the paper as it flitted by.
...It smells like her... His thoughts momentarily softened.
Inuyasha caught himself. ...In pure, yet indignant curiosity, the hanyou folded the paper open. Her handwriting was elegant and spaced, but unremarkable. ...Not like a girl's. At least, not like proper girls who were always taught their calligraphy. It was written hastily, and the words carried with them her voice, as Inuyasha would have imagined it. '...What is your greatest fear...?' It said.
His first, well, hanyou reaction, of course, was to be offended.
HA. Fear? He gave an inward snort. Was this supposed to be some half-ass attempt enter his head and get all warm and cushy with his feelings? ...All of the anger began to rise up again. The conversation, the fight, the confession.
He crumpled the paper between his fingers and clenched his fist.
That was it, he swore... At the next village they sailed by, Kagome was being dumped and sold, along with the contraband. Available cooks like her were cheaper than a pack of instant ramen!
...The wind changed again. His puppy-ear twitched towards the land, and his amber-eyes narrowed... something was happening. He released his grip a bit on the mast and slid to the rooftop of his cabin. The faint stench of gunpowder once again reached his nose.
Suddenly, a large explosion erupted from the face of the cliff. The sound reached him moments later as a dull, distant boom.
What was that...? He gazed over the water strangely, without much alarm.
Then, something caught his eye.
It sailed over the water, first, as tiny as a pinhead, then growing to about the size of a grapefruit... then growing...
Inuyasha's eyes shot open in gripping realization and his entire body paralyzed.
Oh, holy fuck! His thoughts yelled. Cannonball!!
A huge mass of iron, roughly three feet in diameter flew barely meters past where he was standing and crashed into the ship with an earth-shattering shake. The entire vessel was tossed to one side from the impact, and Inuyasha lost his footing and flew from the roof. As he flew through midair, the surprised and shocked shouts from those on deck faintly reached his ears.
He had little time to think, as Inuyasha's head collided directly with the mermaid statue soon after. Which is when, for the first time in over three years, Captain Whiteclaw blacked out.
~*~
The world had silenced... but just for a moment. Kagome had seen the unidentified flying object crawling toward her the last few meters before it hit. Afterwards, all she knew was the unpleasantly familiar sensation of flight. Somewhere inside her whined, "Oh, for god sakes... not again."
So there she went, sailing over the stern rail.
There she went, flying through the air like a bird.
And... there she landed, back-first into the cold, salty ocean.
...You know, for once it'd be nice to not have to be a victim…
Unfortunately for Kagome, the blast and toss had left her body momentarily paralyzed... This she vexingly thought about as the water covered her body, neck, and then her eyes.
If only she could move... If only the cannonball had missed.
If only...
~*~
Sango, meanwhile, watched the entire scene with little more than horror. The ship shook violently with the impact, and she was tossed off her feet and sent rolling towards the bow, acquiring numerous bangs along the way.
The ship shook, rattled, and groaned for what seemed like hours. Sango lay where she was until the ship ceased trembling and she could once again get her footing and scramble to her feet. ...A sick, terrified feeling welled up at the pit of her stomach when she saw the splintered deck boards and massive hole, just feet from where Kagome had been.
...Kagome! She clasped her mouth.
She ran to the edge of the stern, leaping over the ship's massive wound and frantically scanned the area with her eyes for any sight of Kagome. The waters chopped a bit larger, but other than debris... there was no sign of her.
Sango collapsed to her knees. "No..." she moaned, thinking of the possibilities with inescapable dread. "No... Kagome..." She felt her vision blur and terrified, worried tears stung her eyes.
"Sango!" she heard Miroku's fearful voice call out from behind her. "Sango-sama! Are you alright?! Are you hurt?!" Moments later, the houshi's hands were around her waist, hoisting her up upon wobbly legs. Sango collapsed against his heaving chest. "Kagome..." she whispered, still in disbelief.
Miroku brushed debris off her shoulders and steadied her in front of him. "...Did you break anything? Sango... look at me... are you hurt?" But the taijiiya didn't seem to be paying attention. Instead, she quickly turned around and climbed to the top of the railing.
From about twenty yards down, Inuyasha sat up stiffly... not knowing which part of his body was it that stung so badly. She shook his head in an attempt to clear the stars bobbing merrily around it. He was almost numb in disbelief... A cannonball. ....A cannonball aimed at his ship. He glanced painfully over at the damage, wincing at the gaping hole...
Swarms of pirates ran about in every which direction. A particularly large one knelt down to help up the captain, only to have Inuyasha swat him off. "Sah? Sah? You al-raght? He asked in deep bass. Inuyasha ignored him, pressing a hand to his throbbing head.
"Sango!" Came a shout from the direction of the wound. "Stop! Are you crazy? Just what do you think you're doing?!" He looked up to see the monk and taijiiya struggling near the ship's edge. Sango looked about ready to take a dive... Only, Miroku was frantically holding her back. As well as he could anyway.
"Ooph!" Miroku winced at another blow from the woman. "Sango..." he begged. "You're not in your right mind..."
To which Sango merely elbowed him again, frantically trying to escape his grasp. "Let... go! " She half screamed. "Kagome! ...Kagomee~!"
Miroku froze and spun the woman around, gripping her tightly around the shoulders. " Kagome... What happened..? Did something happen to Kagome...?" Sango's composure faltered then and there, and her legs collapsed against Miroku once more. She pointed to the water with a trembling finger and screamed through tears.
"The water! Kagome fell into the water! ...She's gone! Kagome is... is... she's GONE!"
~*~
What could he do..? Inuyasha sat... [again] paralyzed on the bustling deck. But he didn't notice...
"...She's gone! Kagome is... is... she's GONE!"
A terrible pain suddenly erupted from his chest. Not anguish, though... His chest was on literally on fire. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe.
The pirate named Hiten scrambled to his side. "Captain! Captain!" he yelled. '....We've located the source of the cannon-fire, sir!" Inuyasha looked up into the face of several of his men. "W...Where..?" he managed to croak.
Another pirate, the skinny one with glasses ran up to him and saluted. "Believe it or not, sir—It came from a castle on the cliff! There," he pointed. "Due northwest!"
"...Lawd Kouga's castle...' Another pirate said far off.
"What amazing firepower..."
Inuyasha looked up into the hardened and eager faces of his men... This was the first time their ship had ever been fired upon... and taken damage. The bloodlust was evident on their faces...
From his far, far right, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Miroku cradling a crying Sango...
Kagome... what was he going to do?
He stood up, panting...
"Well, Captain?" Hiten asked eagerly. "What are your orders..?" A few other men nodded and grinned. One fingered his katana maniacally.
Inuyasha couldn't think straight... His fist trembled at his side. His chest was still pounding. His ship... damaged. Kagome... overboard. His men... ready for war... Kagome... overboard. ...Kagome.
Kagome.
He looked up, trying to keep his voice steady. "...Comb.... the waters.... for any injured and overboard... take all you find to Myouga..."
A silence passed over the crowd of men. One dropped a cigar from his open mouth. For a moment, the only sound was the chopping waves on the boat's side.
After a moment, Inuyasha realized the quiet with a start and looked around fiercely. "What the fuck are you women standing around for?! I could've SWORN I just gave an order!" The men uneasily looked around, then back at the captain...
Inuyasha's voice rose tremendously. "WHAT? Is there something fucking wrong with what I said? Smee, did I offend your ladyship?!" He grabbed the nearest pirate. A man with several jagged scars and long, coarse black beard.
"Shir... no... Of coursh not..." Smee surrendered with a lisp. "It's just... that.."
"-WHAT?!" Inuyasha yelled in the man's face and lifted his collar even more.
"It's... just..." the man wheezed. "The code... what about... the code?"
Inuyasha froze again, his face remained locked in a state of fury. The struggling pirate in his arms was begging to turn blue... "The rule... that saysh... no mercy... for the fallen...?"
Inuyasha never realized how quiet his men could be. His heart was beating even faster... His eyes and teeth clenched shut. What could he do..? What could he say? There he was... trapped by his own stupid guideline. Kagome... was gone. There was nothing he could do. He looked up into the faces of his men. Their expressions were mixed. Some confused... at his behavior, no doubt. Some hardened and deadpan. Some trying their best to avoid his steely gaze.
Kagome... just why did he care? He forced himself back to their argument. Pushy... whiny. Unfeminine. She was no doubt the most troublesome prisoner he'd ever had the stupidity to bring aboard. ...So WHY did his heart feel as if it was about to explode?
Because... a little voice inside him said. ...You love he—
"NO!" He growled out loud. The pirates all began to look apprehensive.
Love..? Ha. When he barely liked, Let alone tolerated? ...He shoved away the thought with a wave of irritation and apathy. How... how stupid he had been to even worry... Kagome... this Kagome, was worth absolutely nothing. She was just another cook. Another prisoner. Another waste of deck space. ...And he would not allow her to make him weak.
...Pirate captains... just weren't made to love.
Inuyasha took a deep breath and straightened up his composure, then glared at the men with a somewhat forced, but fierce smile. "Is that so, Smee?" He said with a lighthearted tint of arrogance. "No mercy for the fallen, 'ey?"
Smee nodded, beginning to finally lose his nervousness. "Yesshir... That's what the code shays... Section 8... paragraph 13... second sentence from the bott~..."
With a quick fling of his arm, The second Smee to grace Inuyasha sailed over the railing... and into the sea. Inuyasha grinned with an evil glint in his eye. Most of the men were silent. Several snickered.
'Let this be a lesson to you all..." Captain Inuyasha said loudly. "What you have just seen is the proper example of the WRONG thing to say to a captain!" He turned to a pirate next to him. "Jakotsu, is hitting a fellow pirate while on ship also against the code?"
Jakotsu gave a fervent nod and a grin. "Yes, captain. It is."
"Punch the man next to you."
Jakotsu wasted no time in sending the pirate at his side to the floor with a well aimed stick in the gut. Several more pirates snickered. Inuyasha stepped back and smiled at his men. "Keep this in mind... I created the code... I can also bend it. I... am the law." He looked around slowly. "And a piece of parchment will never... ever be greater than me. ...Remember this..." He looked around... and took a deep breath.
"...As you kill every fucking living thing in Kouga's castle."
A loud cheer went up among the men. Inuyasha yelled, "Get to your positions! And make for the coast!" They scattered in every which direction, manning their stations and crawling in and out of the ship like a swarm of ants. Ants brimming with fierce excitement.
"Hideo! Inuyasha called. "What is the status on the ship?"
"Surface damage, cap'n! It hit the deck and left at the starboard wall, just above the water line!"
Another sea dog came up behind him. "Captain Whiteclaw! What're we to do about Smee? He's still about, flailing in the water."
Inuyasha flashed his canines in a cruel smile. "Let him swim to shore. ...We show no mercy to the fallen, remember?" The pirate nodded and bowed out.
Inuyasha stood poised to make the far jump from the deck to captain's deck, when something made his ear flinch... He found himself turning back to the deck next to the ship's wound.
...It was Sango's subdued voice... pressed into Miroku's robes... sobbing. He looked equally as distraught, almost mechanically patting Sango's hair as he stared up into the sky.
A sick feeling began to rise up again inside Inuyasha... but it was only momentary. He forced his face to harden again in his patented cool callousness and he leaped up to the captain's deck.
Kagome...
He was going to forget about her. Forget she ever existed. No cook, no donuts... No woman. Kagome was as good as dead.
Yes, he was going to forget about her.
...He... just had to.
~*~
For a long time, she felt cold... Every part of her body was chilled to the marrow, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. And everything was dark, too. It was what happened when you went to sleep next to a drafty window and forgot your blanket... Yet you couldn't bear to wake up to fix the problem. That, and there seemed to be something licking her hand... and feet. And... half of her body.
Pesky dog.
Kagome looked to her side to swat Inuyasha away from her hand.
"Bad Inuyasha! Bad!" She reverberated throughout the hollow.
Inuyasha slunk into a corner, looking rather put out.
Scene change.
Suddenly, there was warmth... and light. And... prodding...?
...Kagome suddenly felt very, very heavy... And itchy as well. Her lungs felt as if they were going to collapse. Air.... she needed air.
She gasped... but no air came. Her chest began to burn..
"Wake up... wake up..." a voice said above. Kagome looked up, only to see his face. Inuyasha, hovering above her, and poking her with his finger. "Hey... Wake up."
Go away... she wanted to tell him. Can't you start pissing me off again tomorrow? But unfortunately, she still couldn't speak. Hell, she couldn't even breathe. Inuyasha kept poking at her. ...Then, he kneeled down and began to shake. "Hey, hey... wake up, I said! What's wrong?"
She clenched her teeth, and wanted to scream. Get away from me, you... heartless bastard!
Inuyasha's face loomed closer. Kagome began to worry... and tremble. Inuyasha wasn't stopping. His face was inches from hers.
Was he... going to kiss her?!
Sure enough, Kagome saw those lips pucker and loom dangerously near. What was she going to do? What was she going to do?!
Kagome concentrated all of her power and might to try to find her voice. Inuyasha was the last asshole she wanted to be her first! Why wouldn't he leave...? No... Stop... INUYASHA!!
Kagome let out a scream. One that seemed to drain the very life out of her. Only... it didn't sound like a scream... It sounded... more like a gurgle...
Suddenly, Kagome was brought back into the world of the living. She felt herself convulse and heave to her side. Seawater poured from her mouth to the sandy surface she lay on... and bright, blinding light flooded into her eyes. Her chest still burned, but at least she could breathe. Kagome turned her head weakly and looked up...
Sky... blue sky... Ocean waves lapped at her right hand and foot... And the hot sun burned into her face. Kagome moved her head around enough to register that she was now sprawled on a beach somewhere... soaked, weak, and dazed. And that there was someone leaning over her. ...Someone who wasn't Inuyasha.
Brown hair and a lone pigtail fell over the face of a girl that was dotted with freckles. She wore a simple black and white summer kimono and a big, worried expression on her child-like face. She looked to be about ten or twelve... She gave Kagome another shake. "Hey, are you alright, now?"
Kagome coughed violently for about a minute, making her tear up. She sat up on the beach with much difficulty, her limbs being barely strong enough to keep her upright. The water in her eyes made the world unfocused for a good minute.
"I'm not... I'm not dead... am I...?" Kagome pressed her hand to her face and said, almost disbelievingly. The little girl tilted her head to the side and gave some kind of smile. "Well, if you were, then I didn't do a very good job with my CPR..." She put her hand on Kagome's back. "Hey, don't move very much..." Her voice was small and quiet.
Kagome gently lay back on the sand, breathing heavily and closing her eyes. The last thing she remembered was an earth-shattering shake, then her descent into the big blue. After that was fair game. Still...
Kagome put her hand on her chest. She was alive. That in itself had been, before she washed up, almost more than she could have hoped for. Sango would be so happy...
Sango! Kagome sat up quickly. Miroku! Shippou! Inu-
...She caught herself in time. Inu... who?
A sharp pain shot throughout her chest and she nearly keeled over. Kagome's stomach heaved, and she found her self spitting on the sand. ...Only, she spat out red.
The girl gave Kagome an anxious look. "...You're... you might be really hurt... I think we should get you to a doctor." She brushed sand off her kimono as she stood up and extended a small hand to Kagome. "Do you think you can stand? There's a doctor I know... He can be of great help... "
Kagome waved her hand. "No, no, no! I'm fine! I'm just..." She pressed her hand to her head again. "...I'm just a bit woozy, I swear. Besides, I need to get back..." Kagome tried to stand on two legs. ...Only to miserably fail. She collapsed on her near mortem-weakened muscles. The girl bit her lip. "...If you can't get anywhere now without collapsing, then you need to rest until you can..." She looked at Kagome in the face with worried eyes. "Please, let me help you...?
But Kagome wasn't paying attention anymore. She fell back onto the sand with closed eyes... unconscious. Again.
The little pony-tailed girl looked back and forth from Kagome, to the manor that sat atop the cliff, and back again. Wordlessly, she reached down and slung one of Kagome's arms around her shoulder.
All she needed to do was get her up to the manor... Dr. Sesshoumaru would do the rest.
~*~
WOW! I have done it.
No, that isn't winning the Olympic gold for Massive Public Aggravation, though it probably should be... I've gotten over my writer's block and typed out a chapter eons after my last one. Yes...yes.. . I know... most of you guys hate me for the suspense... -_- I just hope I haven't lost any of you... You guys keep me are worth more than a Grecian muse. I'd humbly thank an im-er for busting my chops a little while ago to update.
::little geisha bow:: Sank you... sank you...
For those who are wondering, the next chapter won't take nearly as long as this one did... now that I'm back in the swing of things. As insurance, feel free to shoot me through the temple if I take longer than 3-4 weeks. Said time limit, because of final exams. I still have a life, you know.^^
Oh... and... did I leave anybody dangling off the edge of my cliffhanger? *grin*