Disclaimer: I distinctively remember saying I own nothing, not even Inuyasha.

AN: See, I told you guys I could write this on time! ^_^

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Pirate Pash

Chapter 6 - A Plan to Flee

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Another morning. Another meaningless day. Another day to slave away.

Kagome sat bored on her usual rickety stool in the kitchen, chewing mindlessly on a piece of bread. Seeing as those slums wouldn't awake for another half an hour, she figured she could sneak some extra food before anyone caught her in the act.

In the short while she'd been here, she'd already heard from the crew more than enough times that taking more food than you were given was practically a sin - to Inuyasha at least.

Kagome smiled to herself and brought her gaze down to the loaf resting innocently in her hands. Of course, what she was doing right then was dangerously surfacing thin ice. Or as the crew liked to put it, you can get the same results giving the captain a friendly bear hug.

She giggled before turning to the mass amount of food stocked up in shelves or just lying about messily on the counters. It was bizarre... she was surrounded now by more food than she would have ever seen her entire life on the island. The measly portions of food she managed to scrape up were always given to Souta first. The leftovers she'd always considered more than enough for herself.

She brought her hand on her head with a depressed sigh. Souta... she'd tried blocking his image out of her head every single day but it was impossible: the thought of Souta lying on his bed with a high fever, starved out of his mind with no one to care for him. Coughing and wheezing and...

The girl squeezed her eyes together tightly, 'Oh Souta...please be alright.' If anything were to happen to him she would just...

"Kagome?" A voice appeared out of nowhere; surprising the girl so much she dropped the bread onto the floor.

"Sampling....I sampling first!" She yelled quickly, bending over for the food she accidentally let go of. 'If Inuyasha finds out about this...' "It tasted stale." She made up. "Good thing I tried that deadly stuff before any - "

"Kagome, cut the act. It's me." She glanced up. Sango had been the cheerful intruder. And fortunately for her Sango couldn't care less what she ate. "You're still hungry?"

"Yea. Well, you know." She shrugged and dusted off her bread. "I rarely saw food last week, and now I'm enclosed by it. I have to take advantage of it somehow." She said slowly, still trying to shove that picture of Souta to the back of her head.

It would only make her more depressed knowing she was hurting him indirectly.

Sango plopped down in front of her. "Smart. But just remember not to let anyone else know. Especially Miroku." She raised an eyebrow. "He'll probably blackmail you in some disgusting way we don't want to know about."

"Oh..." Kagome made a face and quickly shoved the rest into her mouth. "So...what are you up to?"

The girl across from her propped her chin in the palm of her hand. "I'm just bored. Even battles are more interesting than sitting around like this."

"I don't think so." Kagome said quickly and shook her head. Her last experience with one wasn't exactly what she would call pleasant. Just thinking about that airless box in the floor again made her cringe in disgust. "So... what do you guys do then? Wait for attacks every day?"

"No." Sango retorted, looking a little offended. "If we find some place we want to check out, we go in. And if the town puts up a fight, then we will fight back. But we don't invade towns for no apparent reason."

"Oh?" Kagome said with a bit of sarcasm in her voice as she reached for another piece of bread. "I thought most pirates did that sort of thing."

Sango stared at the counter. "We do. But Inuyasha doesn't like doing that, unless it really comes down to it and we have to check the place out." She shot the girl a brief smile. "But I'm pretty sure Inuyasha hates killing women and children."

She scoffed. "He didn't seem to be so hesitant about ridding of me..." Kagome mumbled under her breath, barely audible enough for the other girl to hear. "Stupid - "

Then out of nowhere, a deafening voice boomed from behind, startling the girls. "QUICK! TO THE MAIN DECK!!!"

They spun around to face a bearded man standing in the doorframe, and before they could say anything he had zipped back the way he came from. They watched each curiously other before shrugging and following his tracks towards the deck.

"What do you think it is?" Kagome whispered to Sango as they edgily ran up the stairs. God... if it was what she thought it was, "Another battle?"

"I don't think so." Sango said seriously, her face looking eerily calm. "It doesn't sound like one... be quiet anyway."

Nodding, Kagome kept her mouth shut as they continued dashed down the hallways; their breaths short and not one word conversed between them.

Finally, they rounded a bend in a huff to encounter something completely unexpected. The entire crew were standing in straight, army lines before whom else but Inuyasha, who was busy announcing something Kagome couldn't make out until she had calmed enough to catch her breath.

"...my men, our navigator has informed me that he has discovered an island fifty miles from here, which is most likely containing what we've been searching for all this time!"

Cue thundering applause and hooting from the crew here.

"So when we arrive, I expect your teamwork, determination, and brains put into account! I can already feel our treasure in our hands!!!" He yelled, proudly punching his large fist in the air. Men...

Kagome, more clueless than ever stood lost next to Sango at the edge of the sea craft. The female pirate still looked a bit bored, but at least a little more keyed up than before. "Um Sango...what are we doing?"

She paused for a while before lowering her voice and turning to Kagome. "Supposedly Shippou found an island that might have the treasure Inuyasha's looking for, so we're going to go and explore the place."

She stared at the girl dubiously. "We?"

'"We' as in everyone except for a few to guard the boat. If we don't lookout for it anyone could come sack it and leave us all stranded. The exploring part is usually only a day or two, depending on the size of the island." Sango told her briefly, "but the real problem comes from the island itself."

Inuyasha's faded hollering continued before them, "... so we will gear up in preparation for anything in our way!"

More cheering from his men.

Sango sighed and scratched her head. "If there is a village on the island, we will be forced to attack and injure almost everyone. And I really, really hate hurting villagers." From her depressed tone of voice it almost sounded like she meant it.

"Then don't!" Kagome grabbed her shoulders tightly, not wanting to be involved with something so deathly familiar to her. "Sango, don't kill innocent people because of some treasure! The villages don't deserve it," Not wanting to sound sappy she added, "I mean, isn't there another way to go around this?"

"I...I don't think so, Kagome." Sango replied softly.

"But..." A thought popped into her head and she excitedly slammed her hand on the wooden railing. "Wait, what am I talking about? This is it! THIS IS IT!"

"What's it?" Sango turned to the blabbering girl in disbelief. Was she out of her mind? "What are you talking about?"

"This is the opportunity I've been looking for!" Kagome screeched to herself, practically jumping up and down as she brought her gaze to Sango. "This is so incredibly perfect!"

"Stop your ranting and raving and explain it to me."

She gasped. "Don't you see? This is what I've been waiting for all this time!" She brought Sango's ear closer and whispered anxiously, "I can sneak away when we're exploring the island."

"Kagome...are you nuts?" Sango shot her a doubtful look before taking another gulp of air. "You're on an island. There's no place for you to run!"

She had a point there. "But Sango, there are a million things I could do. Hide in a ditch with leaves on top, climb a mountain, take a ship somewhere else; he shouldn't be able to find me, right?"

"I - " Sango stuttered with words but didn't bother adding anything more. She wearily rubbed her forehead. "Well, Inuyasha will find you if he puts his mind to it. I'm just warning you."

Crossing her arms over her chest in a huff, Kagome shot her a fierce look, "Sango, didn't you promise me earlier that you and Miroku would help me get away? Don't tell me this isn't the perfect opportunity!"

"But I... I know. I know. I did promise you." Sango said wearily and hesitantly looked over her shoulder to spot Inuyasha. Then she turned back to the pleading girl. "Alright. I'll try, okay?"

She grinned brightly. "Oh Sango! Thank you so much! I really don't know what I would do if it weren't for you."

Sango sighed tiredly, staring at the floor and unable to find a response to that.

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"I WHAT?" Kagome screamed loudly after Inuyasha had come to talk to her after his speech, the shrillness of her voice nearly shattering all the windows aboard.

Inuyasha sighed impatiently and repeated to the slow girl, "I said, you're not coming to shore with us. I have a few guys staying here to watch you and the boat."

"Bu-but then, what about Sango?" She asked hopefully, her eyes locking onto his stern ones. She winced to get a better look at them. For the first time ever she noticed they were quite an unusual colour - probably a mixture of light brown and purple. Funny how she never really paid any attention to them.

Inuyasha caught her stare and challenged her to keep staring. "Sango's coming with us."

Kagome dragged her eyes to the floor straight away. "That's no fair." Kagome pouted and stomped her foot, desperate to budge him into allowing. "I want to get off this boat too."

"No. You're a prisoner, you have no right to follow around like you're part of the crew." He said seriously, not much gentler than the first day they had met, "if you keep complaining I'll keep you in the cell so you don't mope around deck all day."

"I liked you better when you were drunk." She muttered to herself, her eyes darting at everything except the man in front of her.

"What?!" She couldn't tell if he was angry and wanted her to repeat that to his face, or if he plain just didn't hear her.

"Nothing..." Well, there went her perfect escape plan. There was no way in this world she was going to manage to escape a few men on this ship guarding her every move. She pointed towards the group of men, "Well, I don't feel safe here staying with some guys who might do god-knows-what to me! I want to stay with Sango!"

He scratched his head in annoyance. "I said - "

"Inuyasha, I think you should consider allowing Miss Kagome to accompany us." Miroku had unexpectedly popped out of nowhere with Sango at his side. "Because she does have a point. It isn't safe keeping a delicate girl like Kagome here with these guys."

"But she can't come!" The captain reassured, waving his hands in the air madly. "There are probably a lot of wild beasts on this island and it wouldn't be safe!"

Miroku nodded, but didn't look like he was backing down anytime soon. "True, but she would be much safer in our large group and under our protection, wouldn't you say?"

He thought for a while and mumbled under his breath, but after a moment he heaved a sigh. "You know what? Fine. She can goddamn come, but don't expect me to protect her if we're attacked." He pointed to the two of them. "You two can take care of her."

And with that, he made the stupid "Keh!" sound he made every so often and turned to march back towards his crew.

When they were convinced he couldn't hear them anymore, Kagome beamed brightly. "I can't thank you guys enough!" She stifled a slight grin and said jokingly, "I take back my comment on all pirates being extremely evil. You two have been nothing but helpful!"

Sango smiled politely and nudged the man next to her in the ribs. "Well, I told him about your plan. He said he'd try to help out as much as he can."

"Anything for two beautiful ladies." Miroku grinned playfully, resting a hand lower on Sango's back than she would have liked it. "Anything."

Kagome watched uneasily as thick veins began showing on Sango's forehead one at a time. And it wasn't long before Miroku was left with a painful-looking red mark on his cheek. "Sango, you hurt me."

She turned away. "Good."

Kagome swore she caught a glimpse of Sango's reddened cheeks for a split second before the embarrassed girl grabbed her arm and dragged her away.

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The captain strolled lightly thorough the hallways of his new boat, thoroughly pestered by their visitor. After hearing of the jewel sighting from Shippou in the morning, he'd been thrilled for a while; humming a cheerful tune and giving lectures even he thought were fairly impressive.

Then that whiny wench had to go refuse the plan he'd made up for her, after he'd bothered wasting his time thinking of something for her to do! That woman had to be the most ungrateful little...

"Inuyasha, sir!" A familiar voice called him from behind, snapping him out of his frustrated thoughts on the girl.

"What is it Manten?" He asked irritably and without having to turn around.

"The brat has reported that we will be there in approximately thirty minutes, and to start lowering the boats." He pointed out. "We won't be getting too close this time because there are some pointy rocks around the island."

"Yea. Go ahead and get Hiten and some others to start unloading the boats," Inuyasha began, and already Manten was heading towards the direction of the deck. "I want it done long before we halt, got that?"

"Of course, sir!" Echoed down the hallway as he scampered away.

"Now..." Inuyasha stretched his arms with a yawn, his body sore and aching from the five months they'd stayed aboard without anywhere to go. He stopped complaining when another thought of him lacing the shiny, pink pearl between his fingers entered his head. "To get it."

He smirked to himself and was starting to head in Manten's direction, when all of sudden that Kikyou look-alike's face popped into his head again. 'Oh right... she's coming along. Why did I agree to let those idiots let her come in the first place?' He regretted and turned down a dark corridor, '...nothing but bad luck.'

He stood still when he realised his distracted mind had made him turn down the wrong passage. It was this damned boat with all its dark hallways' fault! He was right about to beat something's daylight out of it when someone's light voice reached his sensitive ears:

"...a sign, definitely. Why else would he keep grabbing you like he does?"

"Maybe because I'm the only girl available here he can put his hands on. I mean, if we were out in a town with tons of women he'd be after all of them in a second. It's like, it's like he doesn't even know the real meaning of a real relationship."

"Miroku doesn't lay his hands on me, does he? I'm sure he's interested in you, Sango. It looks like it to me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. It was just stupid girl talk. Of all the hallways, he just had to walk down the particular one with Sango's room, and listen to that stupid conversation about stupid things. Of course Miroku liked Sango! He grabbed her often enough, didn't he?

Making a quiet snort, Inuyasha turned to sneak away when the next sentence caught his immediate attention.

"Miroku doesn't go after you, Kagome, because Inuyasha would most likely beat him up." Sango added with a snigger.

Feeling a deep rush of anger take over him, he made sharp fists in both hands and squeezed firmly. Who the hell was Sango to make a presumption like that? Miroku could go screw Kagome for all he cared! Why couldn't Sango keep her mouth shut for once?

But instead of storming inside to give her a piece of his mind, as he so badly wanted to do, he waited idly at the doorway for Kagome's reply. Only there was none.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" He listened attentively to Sango's question.

"Why... why would Inuyasha beat him up?" She asked, sounding confused yet concerned at the same time.

Inuyasha heard Sango stutter. "Because he..." He cursed the girl internally, just daring her to say anything she would regret later on. Sango paused, as if she couldn't decide how to phrase her answer. "Because you're our prisoner. He's not allowed to get attached to our prisoners. "

Sango could live for now...

"What? That's why?" Kagome squeaked with relief. "Thank goodness."

"Why? What'd you think it was, Kagome, huh?" Sango teased. "You thought that he - "

"No! I mean no - nothing. I just didn't know why." She sighed exasperatedly. "You know what? I'm thrilled I'm leaving. His snappy attitude has been driving me up the wall."

Inuyasha's ears twitched. Did she just say she was leaving? He never gave her permission to leave! And what was that about his attitude?

"Kagome, just how are you planning to get away when he's so observant?" Sango pointed out. "He has eyes like a hawk."

The girl paused. "I thought about that. Halfway throughout the walk, I'll just say I have to go do my business, and I'll ask you to come along. Then you can return and say that I ran away when you turned your back."

Sango said worriedly, "But then won't I get in trouble with him?"

Stopping, Kagome lowered her voice to a weak whisper; worried that someone may be listening in on their conversation. Oh, how little she knew. "What about this? Say that I attacked you and threw you onto the ground, and then ran away."

"That might work. But Inuyasha's smart enough to know that you wouldn't be able to attack me, let alone knock me out. No offense."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, not knowing whether to be happy with her compliment or pissed off at the fact that she was actually HELPING this girl get away! Sango... Sango was definitely betraying him, helping her escape behind his back... he snarled quietly. His assistant had to be taught a lesson.

"None taken. But now I don't know what to do, Sango." He heard Kagome plop down onto the bed. "I really hope my leaving doesn't get you into any trouble with him."

"Yea, he can be pretty rough most of the time, but he's a good guy. He'll understand why I did what I did. Your brother's sick, so you're going back to take care of him. I'm sure I'd do the same myself if my brother was in that situation." She said meekly.

The day that Kohaku kid died flashed back clearly into his head. He'd been there, taking care of some usual weakling enemies when he'd heard a sharp scream pierce the air beside him. Spinning around to catch the source of it, it was then that some warm blood splattered across his face as everything shone clearly to him: Sango's little brother was hanging on a sword straight through his heart and out his back.

Of course Sango had flown straight over and brutally finished off the man who had done it, but her face... it was so full of fear and anguish - and hate. Surprisingly enough, she didn't cry, not ever. Not even when they threw the kid's body into the ocean...

He bit his lips until he tasted some of his own blood. He hated it immensely when memories came back like that, always making him feel guilty. How was he supposed to punish Sango with a memory like that, damn it?

"Yea... I miss him." Kagome said solemnly. "But I'm going to go back and see him again."

"See, that's the spirit."

"I suppose I'll figure something out when we get there. I mean, anything could happen halfway. I'll leave when the time is right."

Inuyasha swore he heard them heading towards the door now so he quickly leapt out of the hallway. 'That's what you think, girl...'

"Captain, sir! The boats are all prepared for lowering. All we need to do now is load the people onto them." Hiten stated loudly as Inuyasha reached the deck, his arms signalling to the large crew. "We'll have around nine to a boat."

"Good. But before we do that I want to make a quick announcement." He smiled in delight when he spotted the two girls coming upstairs and running towards the main gathering listening to him. "My men, this island is going to be big, so it will most likely take us long to explore. I want us to divide into two groups to explore the place."

The crowd remained silent. It was, after all, the first time the captain suggested anything absurd like this. It wasn't a smart plan in the least! It was far safer to go in the whole pack than in a smaller one.

Inuyasha noticed the questioning looks on the girl's faces and looked away. "So I will have you..." With his arm he cut an imaginary line through half his men. "...go with me. The rest will go with Miroku and Sango. I trust they will do a first-rate job."

He had cut Kagome off right beside Sango, so she was unlucky enough to have to go with his group. He was too brilliant... there was no way she'd have the guts to leave if she wasn't with Sango and stuck alone with him. He'd like to see her try to run away now.

He spotted her furious face... and smiled evilly. He was going to give her hell for even considering running away.

"Well, shall we board?"

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AN: Sorry if this chapter seemed unlengthy and unmoving, but it felt like a good place to stop. The next chapter should be much more exciting...

For those wondering if Inuyasha and Kagome will ever be attracted to each other, it might take a while, and you'll have to see what evil tricks I have up my sleeves. ^_^

Thanks again to my reviewers, hearing from you guys always makes my day. And to Lazydoll06, your question should be answered in the next chapter. ^_^

*~Sorena~*