A/N: I'm trying my best to write this. With how busy I've been in Europe, I never really get a good chance to sit down, go oommmm, relax my senses, and write.
I also have a formidable reading list for my Honors American Literature class for my freshman year in high school. On top of that, all my friends will be asking me for my help interpreting the readings and so forth. So it's a matter of priority: I have this story and HAM balancing on one hand, the stuff I should really be doing on the other.
Lucky for you, I haven't really decided which comes first (though I know which one should). So, enjoy the chapter.
Oh, I almost forgot. If you can access a map of Japan and the surrounding seas, please do. It would be a bit boring for me to go completely into a geography lesson.
Disclaimer: Take a guess. Do I? Don't I?
AlBhed Chocoboz- Ummm, I think I know what you're talking about when you say "Anne Rice." Because I have read her stories. And I really didn't want to drag it out, the last chapter, but I didn't think anything more would be suitable for it. But yay. It's valuable. Of course more of the Inu-tachi get added, but later. I'm debating about Shippou- I don't really like him.
erosgirl- Thanks. I hope it will be good.
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Chapter IX: Youkai of the Umitaishou
Inuyasha began to realize just how secluded the island of Okinawa was. For one, it was the Shinkyou that had been scheduled to take them back to the mainland, the same ship that had taken Inuyasha away from the mainland and to Okinawa.
When he asked about it, the captain proudly disclosed that he was one of only ten sea captains whose vessels were allowed formal and official admittance to dock at the shores of the small island.
Kagome said she herself had come by a different boat, but the story was still what Inuyasha believed to be true.
So Inuyasha found himself among the same ranks of men and boys with whom he had made his previous voyage with. Some remembered him; those were mostly the ones his age; most didn't.
He stayed with Kagome at all times. He didn't trust any of these men; he never really did. Some of them looked crude, as was expected, with the gleam of a lecher in their eyes. Unfortunately, they all had to sleep in the same forecastle, so Inuyasha made sure that he slept in the bunk next to hers, and that he stayed awake all night, alert for any sort of approach.
Kagome never liked to stay indoors, so she was always outside with the crew. Inuyasha usually worked with them, helping with what he could, such as cleaning the deck and adjusting the rigging, but he always kept an extra eye out for her. If she got in the way, it might just mean an excuse for another man to touch her.
She never expected anything, but that was just Kagome, he supposed. He felt satisfied knowing that he could do something to protect her…And that it was working.
He flew into a rage when the first of the crew started making the off-color jokes about what must be going on between the two of them, but quickly realized that the sailors just enjoyed it more when he reacted that way. But he couldn't really begin to grow used to them, so that they were nothing more but a slight annoyance, a fly buzzing around on his back.
Inuyasha and Kagome were good company for each other; and kept mostly to themselves, but also joined in with the rest of the crew at mealtimes and so forth.
After they had boarded the ship, she gave him a long string of brownish-black rosary beads to keep around his neck.
"Here," Kagome said as she handed the necklace to Inuyasha.
"Hey, do you think I like jewelry?" he sniffed.
"Just wear it, Inuyasha," said Kagome, sighing exasperatedly. She threw it over his head before he could say or do anything about it.
He looked at it disgustedly. "I told you, I don't want trash like this!"
"Fine," said Kagome, standing up and walking away. "Then take it off."
Much to his surprise and anger, he could not.
-
It was the second day that the captain told them some startling news concerning their voyage to Port Kibou.
"The waters of the East China Sea are rougher since ye last came aboard, lad," the captain said.
"It's assumed that we won't be taking that sea route, then?" asked Kagome.
"Hai," answered the captain. "There was a major loss of cargo due to storms on the way here to Okinawa. Half a dozen of my men caught pneumonia from the hurricanes, and the rest of them caught it later. T'was my luck."
The large man plucked a small scroll from the breast of his haori and spread it across the surface of the deck railing.
It was a detailed map of Japan- but more importantly, the trade routes, the sea undercurrents, and the wind patterns of its high seas.
"We're o'er here, obviously," grunted the man, scratching his beard while pointing to near one of the larger dots of the Ryukyu Islands that was Okinawa.
"And…?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.
"We're gonna have to take a major detour around these islands," the captain replied, sliding his finger to a region of sea called the Nampo Shoto.
"And then we cut straight across near Shikoku…" said Inuyasha.
"Where's the regular route?" Kagome asked, eyebrows furrowing in thought.
"This way," the captain replied, placing his finger back on Okinawa, then moving it slowly upwards and to the left. "We make our way to this little island. Cheju Island. Then we sail into this strait here," he said, pointing to the tiny gap between Onzhou and Kyushu.
Kagome's eyes still appeared to be fixed on Cheju Island, carefully studying the area around it. "But that's Korean territory," she said, noting that the island was colored a different shade than the rest of Japan.
"A smart lass ye are. It is Korean territory. However, it's a triangle of trade between Japan, China, and that little island. They don' let in any foreigners for settlement. But it's a common stopping point for traders."
"If they were hostile, they'd starve," said Inuyasha. "It makes sense."
"That can't be the only way, though," Kagome answered. "How about here?" She pointed to the area of sea northeast of Okinawa. "What's stopping us from going here?" she asked, peering closer to see the name. "Saigai Sea?"
The captain's face blanched. "Pirates. They have control over the whole place."
"I see," said Kagome, disappointed and ideas defeated.
"It's a quick way, o' course, those seas…" the captain went on, referring to the regions controlled by pirates. "People still travel there just to expedite their voyage…But, trust me: A boat this big and with this much cargo ain't getting very far in those places…"
"What a strange name…Saigai Sea…" Kagome said.
"I guess ye don't know what it means, then, do you?" asked the captain.
Kagome gave him a blank look. "No, I don't."
"It means Sea of Disaster," he replied, giving her a crooked smile, though what made it crooked, she couldn't tell; his teeth or the words.
And suddenly the man didn't feel like talking about the matter anymore, leaving both of them wondering. It alarmed Inuyasha that it might take longer to get to the mainland than he expected.
Much longer…
-
Kagome knew that Inuyasha had once worried that she might be seasick. But she wasn't. At all. If anything, she was better at sea than he was, and more capable and alive than she was on land.
Perhaps that was just the freedom talking.
She thought the idea of a ship setting sail was liberty. The greatest and utmost liberty.
To her their voyage was almost like a treat; she knew that she had learned all that Goshinboku could ever teach her, and much, much more.
The captain had said at the beginning of the journey that there was no room for idle passengers, but of course Kagome was not expected to work. She supposed what he said simply applied to male passengers, and she was the only girl aboard, so she found good places to watch and keep out of the way.
Every now and then, however, she'd work in the galley, and all the crew loved her as the best cook they had ever had.
Other times, she sat near the bow all day, balancing herself on the railing and over just enough to be able to catch a glimpse of the dragon figurehead at the joint of the keel and the stem. She liked the look of it, elegantly carved in some sort of strong, polished wood. It was fascinating to see the dragon swimming, plunging beneath the surface, only to breach the waters again at the passing of a wave, shooting out water in all directions.
She usually waited all day just to have a chance to talk to Inuyasha, though she would slip him a few words if he passed by her on the ship during his working hours.
She thought he looked odd with his sleeves rolled up, which is what happened when he was required to haul things around or to adjust the riggings.
That's how he came to her the day the winds died, putting down a rag he was using to oil a hook on the sails.
"Are you finished for the day?" she asked him, patting the space beside her in a gesture to invite him to sit down.
He plopped down into the seat, pulling on his sleeves so they fell back to their normal length. "Yeah…"
"I was hoping so. You haven't had any break all day."
"Are you worrying that I'd wear myself out?" Inuyasha asked, turning to her and looking slightly annoyed.
Kagome quailed, but she didn't look regretful. "Even you need some rest."
"Feh," answered Inuyasha, tossing his head to the side and crossing his arms. "Nobody really did any useful work today. You know. There's no rigging to adjust when there's no wind."
"It's strange," murmured Kagome. "We entered this region a while ago, didn't we?"
"According to that senile fool," sniffed Inuyasha, motioning to the Shinkyou's captain.
"He promised high winds…" she trailed off, looking thoughtful.
"Yeah, well, we better get them. Even out of the range of pirates, we're doomed if there's none."
She nodded, and upon her face was the grimmest of expressions he had ever seen her wear.
Interrupting their conversation was the bright, squeaky chirp of a small sparrow-sized bird who had decided to make its perch on the bottommost spar of the ship. Its feathers were an inferno of vivid red and orange, and it happily sang its heart out to the crew.
However, when Inuyasha turned, he saw that the nearest sailor, a young man named Maruoke, looked cowed.
"What is it?" he asked hastily, perfectly aware of some sort of foreboding presence the bird caused.
Maruoke looked up, looking slightly distracted. "We call them chitori, blood birds. They're a horrible omen for seafarers."
"Why?" asked Kagome, stepping down from where she had been sitting. "It looks perfectly harmless. Actually, it makes me hopeful," she added.
"Why…Because you like birds?" asked Inuyasha dryly.
"No," she answered, giving him a contemptuous glare. "Because it must mean there's land somewhere nearby."
To this, Maruoke just shook his head fervently. "No. We haven't traveled long enough to reach the Nampo Shoto yet." He sighed heavily, looking back up at the bird. "It represents a storm. Sometimes these birds get blown places by tempests."
"So…There's a storm coming?" Inuyasha asked, casting a sardonic look about the ocean.
"Theoretically," Maruoke answered, not too eager to argue with Inuyasha, what with his annoyed appearance.
"In this weather?" Not one wind blew about the place, but Maruoke still nodded.
"Fool," said Inuyasha. "Don't believe him, Kagome."
He expected to get a reply, but she wasn't listening. Instead, he followed her distracted gaze to the horizon, where a ship just began to creep into vision.
It was moving at an incredible speed for traveling in a sea with no winds, even if they had rowers on them. Inuyasha thought his eyes tricked him.
Once the vessel was close enough, he spotted a white flag hoisted, with the solid red circle of the rising sun of Japan.
This could be luck in a time of none; since it was presumably a friendly ship, if the captain offered enough incentive, it was likely that they would give them a pull, at least until the winds started again.
It became clear that the crew of the other ship was thinking the same thing; they connected the planks to board the Shinkyou.
But instead of coming out to greet them, the vessel's captain shouted among the ranks of his crew.
"Can the master of the Umitaishou be of service?"
"Yes!" cracked the thunderclap that was their own captain's voice. "We've been stranded in the area for a few days. You have rowers on you; give our vessel a lift, and you will be paid accordingly."
"What have you to offer?" came the reply, which, as Inuyasha noted, sounded slightly mocking.
It made him realize that he smelled something foul on the other ship. It was a demonic aura he had, in one way or another, encountered before.
He couldn't quite place it…
"This is a merchant trade ship of Japan. You may choose from whatever is in our hull," the captain answered.
"I will give you your lift, not for your goods, but something else," shouted the captain of the Umitaishou. "Hand over two people who I believe are on your ship. One, a half demon known as Shijou. The other, a human priestess."
Inuyasha put a hand on his sword, looking bothered. Kagome was alarmed, but all would be fine if he was there to protect her.
There was a bounty on their heads. Could this possibly have been ordered by Naraku?
"We have no passengers by those descriptions," answered their captain wisely. "Since I have nothing to barter, you should be on your way."
"Pity," said the voice, finally emerging out of the crowd of Umitaishou sailors. "We'll have to scour your ship for them. We'll take your spoils later."
He was a demon- Inuyasha could tell. It would only make it harder for him. The crew he deployed were all humans, and presumably under the fact that their captain was as well.
But his scent wasn't the one he had met with before.
"When you lay dying on your capsized ship, know that it was Gatenmaru of the High Seas who brought your doom."
Then, he waved an arm, and his company hoisted a different flag- a black one, with the solid red circle in the center. It was generally the icon of corruptive sailors, bandits, and the like.
Then the crew of pirates boarded the Shinkyou before anyone could stop them.
Inuyasha, still able to think half-clearly with his mind racing, reached the boarding plank in one clean bound.
His plan was to clog the entryways until the sailors had retrieved weapons from below, or long. The pirates were just riff-raff anyways, for him. It was Gatenmaru who worried him.
The pirate standing directly in front of him stopped in his tracks and staggered backwards, but still had the gall to smile, rows of yellow teeth winking at Inuyasha.
"What luck. The half-breed has come to us."
Suddenly a better idea occurred to him.
"I suppose you have a problem, then."
Inuyasha pulled the Tetsusaiga out of it black lacquered sheath, noticing how it seemed to transform with little of his effort, and not draining very much energy. I also didn't glow red, though he knew heartfire laced the blade.
Then, sparing a grim smile to the frightened pirate, Inuyasha brought his blade down upon the spot right in front of where the man stood.
He and his comrades fell, screaming pleas for help and panic, into the dark blue depths of the ocean.
Inuyasha had no time to admire his handiwork, though he probably wouldn't have, because as he looked up, he saw Kagome, arrow notched and aimed on her bow, fall under the shadow of one of the masts, which was falling down like a tree.
Running as fleet as a hawk in flight, he tore to the spot where she stood, barely having time to scoop her up in his arms and scramble out o the area.
He set her down on the steps that led to the stern, then pulled on her arm to lead her up. From a higher vantage point, she could shoot those who came her way and more.
The familiar smell was beginning to bother him again.
He should go join the crew on the main deck, where a few sailors were already slaughtered by the men of the Umitaishou. He needed to find a way to get to that ship- and find the demon.
"I'm going to run out of arrows," said Kagome pointedly, peeking nervously into her quiver.
"Listen, I'll bring them up when I can. Stay safe; out of sight is good," he said feverishly.
Then he raced down to the deck, clashing with his enemies.
Meanwhile, both boats had crashed into each other, which the pirates took advantage of by lashing their rails together. Inuyasha gathered four arrows from the backs of pirates, and, more preoccupied than he should have let himself be, received a biting slash on his right forearm.
Taking one backwards step, he looked up.
That face…
The same face…
Which? He had seen dozens of pirates today.
Suddenly the haunting voice of one in particular rung in his mind.
What luck. The half-breed has come to us.
It was the man who he had seen fall into the sea.
Most humans couldn't survive the shock of being pluged into icy cold water, and even if they did, their weakened bodies had little chance of fighting the waves.
The man was slack-jawed, soaking wet, and held the expression of a drunkard.
Something was amiss.
There was no light in his eyes.
He had no…heartfire.
Inuyasha was beginning to understand what Kagome so easily, so readily sensed and saw in other people.
Damn. He had wasted too much time on thought.
Inuyasha cut the man in half with his claws.
But more came, just like him, with the same expression and manner, with the body devoid of soul.
When Inuyasha attacked them, no blood was spilt.
He arrived at the obvious conclusion: they were already dead.
Who had the power to control the dead?
The winds around them seemed to be calm and unstirred no longer; waves were slapping against the side of the ship, rocking it around, and harmless-looking clouds that had dotted the sky earlier amassed in the presence of the wind to become storm heads
Without warning, the corpses and severed body parts rose as one into the brisk air, hovering laxly in slumped positions.
Then, as if receiving word from one shard master, they rushed at him in one united blow, all at once.
He jumped out of the way, though not without receiving a few biting wounds on his arms and legs.
That was when he heard a voice say, "Fyuujin no Mai!"
Silver arc-shaped blades flew in from all directions, from the sky, as if heaven-sent, from the sides, as if thrown by the pirates. He attempted to dodge them, reacting on impulse and intuition where they would ultimately strike, but one grazed the side of his face, and another at his right leg, which caused him to stumble in mid-air.
Suddenly, an arrow burning with purple energy struck the one that was about to come at his head, throwing it off course into the spars and sails of the Shinkyou.
He looked up and inadvertently the first person his gaze fell upon was Kagome, who stood with her bow and arrow by her side.
The pirates who stood at hand rushed in at her, immediately recognizing that it would be the death of them if she could not be subdued. The corpses followed.
As it began to rain, she notched another arrow-her last one, Inuyasha noted grimly, as he started running towards them. But they were too close.
One pirate raised a hand and batted the bow out of the way, and her aim went awry.
Everybody seemed to watch as the arrow sailed into the black flag of the pirates, pinning it to the mast in the dead center of the red circle.
The pirates seemed to sit in stunned silence for a second, but soon realized that Kagome was defenseless, and seized her.
"Lord Gatenmaru, the flag-" yelled one pirate.
"Faulty superstitions," the man answered. "Hold her." Gatenmaru began walking onto the Shinkyou.
Kagome struggled, but she really was helpless when she couldn't exact her bow and arrow skills.
Inuyasha would have thought of some way to free her, but those strange silver arcs came flying out of the sky again, threatening to cut at him.
He stole a glance at Kagome, who had somehow struggled out of their grasp so that she now sat on the deck and the men had to drag her unceremoniously by picking her up and carrying her across the gangplank.
Inuyasha watched through the flurry of floorboards breaking from the silvery blades and pouring rain.
She shouted something, but he couldn't tell what.
The next thing he noticed, he had fallen flat onto the deck, so that a few blades swept over his head.
It became dark due to the storm-clouds overhead, so that he could only see figures, no faces.
"Onto the Umitaishou!" he instructed. "Help me find the bastard who's doing this.
Inuyasha thought ahead. The Shinkyou was battered and torn. The cut-up forms of the sails and masts lay scattered around the deck. Even if Inuyasha won this battle, their chances of survival were slim if their boat could not function. He had to get the crew over here, then lure the demon controlling these blasted blades onto the Umitaishou.
He ran to the pirate ship, the crew and captain following.
It was unlikely that Gatenmaru would have mercy, so he had to think of a way to get rid of the person creating these blades, and fast.
That demonic aura again…
It was strange. In battle, it felt as if his aura and the other's were colliding.
"Come out, you coward!" Inuyasha yelled at the top of his lungs, getting wetter by the minute.
The next wave of blades came after a brief but noticeable hesitation.
And it was when the blades came that he could smell his half-demonic aura clash with the others.
He could almost see it, but his concentration was mostly on dodging the blades. It occurred to him that they were no longer coming from the Umitaishou, but the Shinkyou.
Perfect.
Hang on for a little while longer, Kagome…Wait for me…
Then, the same voice cried out, "Ryuuja no Mai!"
A swirling tornado of water and wind rose out of the sea and headed straight for him. The other's demonic power was so strong this time that it jumped out at him.
His sense of smell was clearer; he could clearly tell that there was a small rivet right at the spot where the auras crashed against each other.
Some voice inside his head that he couldn't recognize said, 'Cut at it.'
The voice was Sensei-sama's, who'd Inuyasha had known never to be wrong.
So he did.
And he was surprised. The heartfire on the edge of his blade seemed to exert itself outwards just at the contact of the divide, seeming to blow the wind out of place, creating a huge fissure in the Shinkyou, which led to his enemy, who got hit by the full force blow of the attack.
He still couldn't see very well; in this light, he might as well have been blinded.
However, Inuyasha could still smell, and rushed forward to where Kagome was still struggling, picked her up, and jumped to the Umitaishou, whose deck was nearly unscathed.
The sea roared as it swallowed up the Shinkyou, its captain and crew screaming.
The clouds cleared out of the way, so that Inuyasha was blinded by the sudden deluge of light directly hitting his face. The winds had not returned, but at least the brewing storm was gone.
Still holding Kagome, he watched as a white feather rose from the water and flew off.
"Are you alright, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked.
She nodded, taking a sigh of relief, then opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out of her.
He turned to what remained of the Shinkyou's crew. Gladly, the captain had survived this mess, as well as a good number of the crew. Maruoke, the man who had explained about the bird, was no where in sight, along with a few others.
He sighed.
"Ye destroyed my ship, boy!" the captain said, laughing good naturedly.
"Yeah," said Inuyasha with a smirk. "I guess I did. I'm sorry about the loot," he added, referring to the merchandise that had been lost along with the ship.
The captain only laughed harder. "This is a pirate ship. Are you telling me there aren't any spoils downstairs?" he asked gruffly.
Despite his unwillingness to show it, Inuyasha was genuinely glad.
The captain and crew left to get situated below in the rowers so they could finally be on their way.
Inuyasha and Kagome were left alone.
She was blushing furiously.
"Could you put me down?" she asked quietly.
In response to this, he simply dropped her- not intentionally, but in shock. Shock that he had been carrying her like he was her bride for that long.
He heard Kagome say something like, "Osuwari!"
He plunged face first into the deck.
"Osuwari?" he asked incredulously. "What the hell was that for!"
"Like the necklace?" she asked, smiling triumphantly.
"Why you-"
"Osuwari," she said again.
He got up again, his face dirty. "You did that during the battle, didn't you?"
"And saved your neck," she added, annoyed. "So, this is the thanks I get for it."
"Thanks," said Inuyasha grudgingly.
She seemed at least a little bit satisfied, but probably because she wouldn't be able to get any more out of him. So he sprung a question he had been meaning to since the battle started.
"That demon who started the tornado and everything…Who was it?"
Her face betrayed her surprise. "Naraku," she said simply. "You didn't know?"
His cheeks turned red. She knowing who it was and not him…
Kagome was thinking the same thing. "You, of all people!" she said, laughing.
"Shut up," Inuyasha said, which she promptly did. "It really was him?"
"I'm sure. Same heartfire."
"Why couldn't I exactly figure out the smell, then?" he asked.
"Maybe your nose wasn't working?" Kagome replied.
He gave her a dry look.
"Or maybe…" she started to suggest, "it was because you never faced him head-on."
He considered it. "But I brought him back to life."
"His aura wasn't present before you opened the tomb. And it was only a couple of seconds before he attacked you. And, after, well, you were…"
"Dead," he finished grimly.
"Um, yeah," she said, sounding apologetic.
"And…do you know what I did out there?" he asked.
Now her face was blank. "No. I had no idea. I thought it was something Sensei-sama taught you?"
"I think he did. He trained me so I could figure it out on my own…" his voice trailed off. He was slightly troubled.
How was it that he could tap into so much power at once?
-
A/N: I had to add the part about Inuyasha carrying Kagome just for the ferkin' heck of it. And I had to add the rosary. What is Kagome if she can't yell "Osuwari!" and see the destruction that follows?
I can admit that I suck at humor. Proudly.
Even if Kagome doesn't particularly like birds, maybe I do.
If some parts of the story sound out of it, blame it on Do As Infinity, whose 75 songs on my iPod have been distracting me. During the middle of this chapter, I found myself writing the transliterated lyrics of Fukai Mori. –sigh-
Save me from insanity. Review.
-Alohaturtle