Well, I think the last chapter's end left you all in suspense, so I'll just continue on from there.
Once Hiei and Ume reached the top deck, they looked around and saw people running around frantically.
"I guess our demon has finally appeared."
"I doubt that. We barely left port. I don't think they would reveal themselves so early." Hiei told her.
A couple that looked like they were completely calm even though everyone else was going nuts. Another couple in about their late 40s ran by. Ume grabbed the arm of the woman and asked what the heck was going on.
"Some person fell over board," was the woman's reply.
"Who fell?"
"No one knows for sure." With that, she ran away.
Hiei and Ume looked behind them and saw Tsume jumping off the boat and dove head first into the water to save the person in the water. From the side, Kurama quietly used his Rose Whip and helped the two up. When Tsume and 'person' came back, the four were surprised to see the 'person' was nothing more than a test dummy used for the safety demonstration, the demonstration that he four interrupted.
"Thank you, kids, for saving our dummy there, but our staff was going to present how to save a man-over-board." A man appeared behind them.
Kurama turned his Whip back into a rose and hid it while Tsume dropped the dummy to the ground.
"Sorry about that." She apologized.
The man grabbed the dummy and threw it over board in front of everyone. People in the crowd laughed at the four, some congratulated them on their 'rescue', and others tried to ask how they saved someone that was in the water even though the deck was a good 20 feet from sea level.
The man continued with the safety demonstration for at least an hour, covering everything from a minor injury to a sinking boat. Once it was over, the people scattered and continued what they were doing before. Most people headed towards the pool. Ume was glad to find out the pool was open late.
They quickly left the moving crowd and headed towards Tsume and Kurama's room. They locked the door behind them and started to converse.
"Well, that was a weird presentation if you ask me." Ume began. "I can't believe they'd trick people into believing someone actually fell off the boat."
"You'd think these humans would be smart enough to know that if someone fell from that height into water, they would mostly likely have been knocked out and be sinking very quickly." Hiei retorted.
"Heh, they're humans. What cha gonna do?" Tsume joked.
"This cruise is strange. No wonder those demon thieves chose this particular cruise to get to the break in the barrier."
"What do you mean, Kurama?"
"It's just some weird feeling I have that there's just something not right with this place."
Hiei and Ume nodded. Tsume just stood there.
"Why am I the only one not having this weird feeling?"
"You just have less experience. Go through several more missions and you'll start knowing when something weird is up." Ume replied.
"When it comes right down to it, experience has nothing to do with it. You have less of it than Kurama and I do, but you know best when something bizarre is happening." Hiei half complimented, half insulted.
Ume stuck her tongue out and tapped herself on the back of her head gently. "That's true." She put her hands back down. "Anyways, did anyone notice the creepy couple who didn't even panic while a 'person' fell over board? They were completely calm. Does anyone else find that strange?"
The others nodded.
"That's right. I remember them now. That was strange. I wonder what was up with them." Tsume pondered.
"Two of us will be having fun while the other two look for the demons and keep an eye out for those strange couples. That way, we can enjoy our vacation and not have Ko-Enma breathing down our backs." Kurama announced.
Everyone else agreed. Tsume volunteered she and Kurama take the duty of investigating first.
Hiei and Ume once again went through the lower floors of the boat. The boat had a top deck, the engine at the very lowest floor, the control room (what ever that place was called), and everything between the deck and the engine were rooms and everything possibly imaginable for entertainment and relaxation.
They passed by an art room and Ume couldn't help herself but to look in. A pretty old woman was in charge there. Not many people were inside so as soon as Ume stepped in, the woman's assistant got Ume a chair, a canvas, and some paper. The assistant was a tall male with brown, wavy hair. The old lady, Miss Kyoko, told the boy, Hoshi, to help with some of the other people, although there were only two others.
Ume tried to object but Miss Kyoko wouldn't hear to it. She came up to Ume and told her that she should draw a model of something. "You can pick out anything in this classroom."
Ume began to turn to Hiei, to ask if he could model but he was already gone. Hoshi stepped up and told Ume he'd volunteer to model.
"Uh…ok…"
Hoshi sat down on a chair and Ume began to sketch.
"Was that the guy you came on the cruise with?" he said, after a while of silence.
"Yea, what's it to you?"
"Nothing much, really. The guy just seemed insensitive since he just left you like that."
Ume was nearly done. She had a habit of drawing the mouth of her drawings last. Miss Kyoko passed by and Hoshi stopped talking about Hiei.
"Ume, you have great potential." She said. She then left and Hoshi began to talk again, this time, not about Hiei.
"So, tonight, there will be a small get together on the deck. In other words, there's going to be a dance. Would you like to-"
Ume knew what was coming and she said something to interrupt the boy's request. "Stop talking for a while. I'm trying to draw your mouth."
"But-" Hoshi stopped and just shut up. He decided not to make Ume mad.
Ume was done in an instant, signed her name at the bottom along with the date and left immediately and said as she was leaving, "Tell Miss Kyoko I finished."
She got out the door quickly, turned to her left, and bumped right into Hiei. He had waited outside the whole time.
"What took you so long to get out here." He said as he got up.
"Art can't be rushed." Ume said jokingly as she picked herself up from the ground. They left and continued to look around.
Ume wasn't planning on going back there unless it was to restock on her supply of pencils and paper. She had her own art supplies so she didn't have to go back and have another encounter with Hoshi.
"What were you and that human talking about?"
"He just told me that I was good at drawing and stuff…" she lied to Hiei…again!
"You don't need a baka (stupid/idiot) human to tell you something that was completely obvious." Hiei managed to insult Hoshi and compliment Ume at the same time.
Ume was glad he didn't like Hoshi. There was no way he'd let her go anywhere near him again. She tapped on Hiei's shoulder.
"When we get back home, I'm going to make you a huge dinner for what you said." She smiled at Hiei.
Kurama and Tsume had followed the couple for some time already. Besides the fact that the two disappeared into some room with the captain for a long time, nothing seemed suspicious about them. Kurama and Tsume mentioned this in a restaurant at dinner. Ume and Hiei decided to follow the odd, supposedly human couple, instead of looking out for other things the next day.
That was a mistake.
Let me remind you all of one thing… REVIEW THE STORY ALREADY!