A New Family, A New Home
Tales of the Jagan
Chapter Four
OOOOOBotanOOOOOI woke up terribly early the next morning and not in the best of spirits. I had had a nightmare, well actually a replay of the townspeople being surrounded by the pirates. I kept picturing their faces, scared and frightened while the crew simply jeered at their expense. All of which I was the cause.
And on two accounts. First off, the pirates came because of me, or rather the jewel I possessed lured them to our small, remote village. I didn't feel too guilty about that, how was I to have known? It didn't come with a sign that said 'Beware! Pirates are looking for me!' I always knew it was valuable, but to the pirates of the Jagan? Before meeting them, I wasn't entirely sure if they were a myth, legend, or real. Now I knew first hand it was the latter.
The second is horrible to say but I did save Hiei's life back there before the raid. Maybe if I hadn't helped him out there, maybe they would have given up and gone home if they found one of their captain's beat up and in horrible condition. Aunt Trisha always told me to live with the consequences of my actions, but I never knew saving someone's life could be a bad thing!
Surely things could have gone worse, much worse. In fact, I probably would be dead, Hiei in turn saved my life, and he couldn't very well save my life if he was dead or crippled now could he? But then, maybe I wouldn't have, because the rubble wouldn't have fallen on me if the building it fell off of wasn't on fire, and without the pirates to provide the fire, if they had indeed turned back with their injured captain, there wouldn't have been a fire at all! See how the situation turns confusing?
All I know is that I felt horrible. I helped the one who brought on the destruction of my town, burned the whole village down! Sure no one was killed, but his or her houses, livestock, and possessions were all in ruin! No doubt the crew took their more valuable possessions and ran off with it anyway! So, yeah, they're alive, but left with nothing! And the very idea of Hiei being killed at all doesn't give me a happy feeling either, especially when I feel such a strong connection with him…and I should hate him! But I can't!
He destroys my town, kidnaps me, and takes me away from the people that I love! I have every reason to hate him, I should hate him! But I am very aware that my mind and heart are two very separate things. I feel bad that I can't hate him, and bad that I want to hate him. The whole situation is tormenting me to no end!
I sighed from my spot on the balcony and rubbed my temples with my fingers. When I couldn't sleep, I instinctively came out here. It was calming, feeling the breeze from the wind and hearing the water from down below. I had woken up early, how early I don't know but it was still dark. Now the horizon was beginning to get lighter and I new the sunrise was going to come soon. I had never seen the sunrise from a ship before and despite my troubling thoughts, was excited to seeing one.
I never heard the knock on the door, or the click of the lock being pulled back, so I was surprised when I found Hiei behind me on the balcony. Really surprised. I even screamed really loudly when he tapped my shoulder. Had I been a fighter I probably would have punched him but I'm not and I didn't.
"Hiei!" I exclaimed, whacking him softly on the arm with my hand out of instinct. Which probably wasn't smart, hitting a pirate, but he didn't seem to mind.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Checking up on you," was the reply.
"Afraid I'd jump overboard?" I wondered curiously, but my tone was more serious than teasing.
"Hn. Newcomers don't normally sleep well the first night."
"I had a nightmare," I admitted, "About my town."
"You should consider yourself lucky. Most of our raids don't turn out that peaceful."
He called that peaceful?
"Ooooh, lucky us," I mumbled.
I saw him frown and winced internally. Great! I just had to piss him off on the first day! I panicked and stiffened, realizing he could probably throw me overboard if he wanted too.
"I keep thinking it's my fault," I said in a softer tone, and I saw his eyes soften a little. I relaxed a little when I realized he wasn't going to hit me.
OOOOOHieiOOOOO
"Ooooh, lucky us."
I frowned at her comment. Did she just mock me? I think she was thinking on the same lines because I saw her stiffen as if she was bracing herself for something. I could see where she was angry, it was my crew that raided her town, under MY orders no less, but all things said and done, I pretty much single handedly spared her sad excuse of a village, too. I called off the crew once I found what I wanted, yeah ok so the village was technically burned down, but I couldn't reverse time and go back. I wondered briefly if she hated me, she didn't seem to.
"I keep thinking it's my fault. I mean I was the possessor of what you wanted, and I did meet you and all…" she trailed off.
Whatever I did, none of it was her fault. She was no more in control than any other person in her village was. In fact, they probably got the better of the deal, they got to stay with their families, and she was forced on a pirate ship.
"Your not at fault. For any of it. You should be considered the heroine, if nothing else."
I saw Botan look at me questioningly, with eyes full of hope and innocence, the she wasn't to blame for the devastation that befell her home.
"If you had not interfered when you did, those twenty some men would be dead right now," I saw her shoot me a bewildered look, "No, I'm not over confident, they never stood a chance in the first place."
She didn't look convinced but nodded anyway.
"You saved them along with your village. Had we not met, you would have been killed, and the gem buried with you and the town would have been sacrificed for not handing over the treasure piece," I concluded.
"That's not humane," she protested.
"I never claimed to be human," I shot back.
"You-you're not?" I saw her eyes widen.
"Do you think a human could run that fast?" I asked her smirking. She blinked and ran it over in her head a few times, weighing both sides down.
"But you don't look like a demon," she muttered.
"Not all demons have scales and horns you know," I chided.
She blushed.
"I'm hundreds of years old, and seen much more than you have. You'll find most of the demons that can pass for human are normally stronger," I explained, "If you haven't noticed most of the ship is run by humans. Yusuke and Kurama are half demons, Kuwabara is the only human, and I'm the only full demon on the captains."
"They're demons too? I never would have guessed. You certainly don't look hundreds of years old to me," Botan said accusingly.
"Demons age differently than humans. The life span depends on what race of demon you are and how strong you are, but most demons can live to be thousands of years old. Normally demons don't die from old age, most are killed before their life expectancy runs out," she really didn't know much about demons, "You never saw a demon before, did you?"
She blushed again and rubbed her head, thinking.
"Well, I have seen pictures, and when I saw your crew I automatically assumed they were demons because of their…traits, but now I'm not really sure. We could have had passersby that were demons but I wouldn't have recognized them as demons and probably classified them as humans," Botan replied truthfully.
"Hn." Were most humans that ignorant? Good, I can add that to my ever-growing list of why I hate humans as number 224.
OOOOOBotanOOOOO
By now the sun had come up and was well on its way up the sky. We sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence when someone knocked on the door, and this time I actually heard it.
The door opened and Kayko and Yusuke popped in.
"Hey Botan, Hiei," Kayko greeted, slightly surprised Hiei was there but decided to ignore it, "Since today is you first day here, I decided to make a big welcoming breakfast!"
I mirrored Kayko's wide grin. She made me a welcome breakfast? That was so sweet!
"We sent Kurama to wake up Hiei and Kuwabara," Yusuke added, "But I see Hiei's up."
I missed Yusuke's mischievous look but heard Hiei's growl. Maybe he was a demon after all. I noticed the floor started to shake from a ruckus upstairs and the sound of loud voices coming from above.
"Go away Kurama! I need my beauty sleep!"
Everyone downstairs, with the exception of myself, sweatdropped.
"Yes, but today's Botan's welcome breakfast-"
"Botan, my sweet love is waiting for me? Why didn't you say so!"
Seconds later loud footsteps rushed down the stairs and a resounding crash echoed from the hall, leading me to think he fell halfway down the stairs. Poor guy, that's one way to wake up in the morning.
I heard Hiei growl in annoyance and remembered they didn't have the most eh…companionable relationship. I heard the feet start and assumed he must have gotten up and saw the familiar orange head in the open doorway…and didn't so much as pause as he continued tearing up the hall.
I saw Kurama come up and lean on the doorway, panting.
"I am never waking him up again." Kayko and I laughed, Yusuke chuckled and Hiei just smirked.
The pounding returned and Kurama quickly stepped into the room to avoid being trampled by Kuwabara.
"Ah! Botan! There you are! I was looking for you everywhere!" Kazuma proclaimed.
"Why didn't you start with her room, idiot," an irked Hiei asked.
"Don't ruin my good mood shrimp!" I saw them both tense and I wasn't up for watching them go a round this early in the morning, much less in MY room. To prevent a fight I quickly stepped in the middle of the two would-be combatants.
"Well, I'm starving! Whose up for breakfast?" I asked cheerily.
I saw Kazuma grin broadly and reach for my hand, probably to lead my to breakfast, but Kayko beat him to it, taking my hand just before he could and leading me down the hall, the others following. Looking up to her smiling face, I wasn't sure if she did it on purpose or not.
"I hope you like it! I'm the cook here, you know," Kayko informed.
"Well then, I'm sure it's going to be wonderful," I complimented and she rewarded me with another smile.
"My parents used to own a restaurant and worked as the chefs before I came here. I learned everything I know from them!"
I noticed her face never turned grim when she thought of her parents, so I assumed she didn't have a bad parting with them when she left.
Thinking about the parting, I wondered if my family figured out I was the one taken? Or did they think me dead? I never did get to speak to them before I left…Thinking about them made me feel slightly homesick and Kayko noticed the change in my attitude.
"Hey, Botan, you alright?" Kayko asked, concerned.
I smiled thinly at her. I felt everyone's stares turn to me and I wanted to hide from the attention.
"I'm just thinking about my family. I didn't really say goodbye before I left…I guess they figured out I was the one who was taken, but what if they think I'm dead or something? I don't want them to be worried about me when I'm ok…" I trailed off unhappily.
"Don't worry, Botan. I'm sure they know! You did tell them, right Kurama?" Kayko asked looking for reassurance. Kurama looked slightly guilty.
"Well, I told them we were taking someone, but I didn't tell them who, I didn't know what her name was then," Kurama admitted, looking genuinely sorry.
"It's ok, Kurama. It's not your fault," I comforted, "Maybe I could go back sometime?" I looked at Hiei.
"Perhaps…" It was better than a flat out no.
OOOOOHieiOOOOO
"Perhaps…" I answered when she asked if she could return home some day. In truth, I didn't want to take her home. Ever. She could decide to stay there instead of come back. And for some reason that didn't bode well with me.
We continued on to the high-class breakfast room that the captains and their guests ate in. There was a small kitchen in the room next to it, but most of the cooking was done downstairs in the larger kitchen.
Along the way, I continued to eye the fool and Botan, making sure they never got too close to each other. Yusuke seemed to have fondled the brunette's backside and was met with a harsh slap, but thanks to his demon blood, he was still conscious. Kayko huffed angrily and turned away. Botan giggled and Yusuke smirked mischievously at her. I knew what was coming.
Before his hand was halfway to Botan's unexpecting rear end, had punched him firmly on the top of his head. Yusuke winced in pain, my punch doing more damage than Kayko's slap had.
"Molest your own woman," I growled at him as he clutched his head. Botan looked confused and I wondered if she actually realized he was trying to grope her.
"I'm not his woman," Keiko growled.
"I never said you were," I retorted and she blushed, having called herself his woman.
"Yeah Urameshi, we all know Botan's mine," the idiot boasted.
EXCUSE ME!
The oaf came up behind the bluette and put his filthy hands on her shoulders. Botan turned around awkwardly and he grinned at her while she grinned back feebly.
I gave him my fiercest glare, which sadly went unnoticed by him and strode past them, grasping Botan's hand and tugging her down the hall with me. Once she felt my tug, she eagerly ripped herself out of the oaf's grasp before we could start a tug-o-war contest using Botan as the rope.
The others acted like nothing happened and followed calmly after us. The moron stood there for a couple seconds and stomped his foot once he realized that I had taken Botan from him again. (Talk about slow reaction time)
Too bad the fool didn't seem to realize I wasn't going to let him near Botan. No way in hell.
OOOOOBotanOOOOO
Happily using Hiei as an excuse to pull out of Kazuma's grasp, I forced myself out of embrace to go with Hiei. I didn't want to hurt his feelings or anything, but when presented with a choice of him or Hiei, I'd choose Hiei any and every time. No contest. Actually I'd probably choose Hiei over anyone on this ship, except maybe Kayko, but that was different.
Hiei led me through turns and twists, stairs, stairs and more stairs, until I felt the familiar feeling of being lost again. This ship was really too big! It was ridiculous!
I tried to focus on remembering everything, but all the halls looked the same to me and I lost count of how many right and left hand turns we took. I'd just have to remember to get someone to escort me to breakfast from now on.
"I'm lost," I whispered lowly so the others didn't hear.
Hiei smirked.
"You'll know where everything is by heart by the end of the month," he promised. I doubted it but nodded anyway.
We came to a large, wooden, fancy, ornamented door. He pushed it open and I saw a large rectangular window that gave a perfect view, all you could see for as far as you could see, in every direction: was endless miles and miles of ocean. Simply lovely.
If that wasn't enough to take my breath away, a large table filled with more chairs than we had people, and was filled with more food than I think could last us a week, and this was supposed to be just breakfast. Yeah right, we'd never finish all this. I wouldn't dare voice it to Kayko though, not after she worked so hard on making the grand meal.
I heard my stomach growl and decided I would eat as much as I could, for Kayko and to appease my hunger. After all, I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday and my tummy was reminding me all too well that it wanted food.
With saliva practically dripping from my mouth at the sight of the food and hurried ahead and plopped down on a random chair and started piling things onto a nearby plate. I was about to dig in when I noticed I was the only one about to dine, the others had yet to move.
"What? Aren't you guys hungry?" I asked them.
"Poor thing hasn't had a decent meal in over a day," Kayko said sympathetically.
Yusuke on the other hand mirrored my eagerness to eat and jumped into the chair next to mine and started piling things on as well. Hiei moved before Kazuma could and fill the seat on my other side. Kuwabara dejectedly took the seat across from Yusuke when Kayko claimed the seat across from me and Kurama took the seat on her other side.
I could have cried when I tasted the food. It was wonderful! Kayko really was an excellent cook! And she did all this by herself? I decided to help her out with the cooking from now on, it was a big job and although she did it perfectly, the poor thing probably spent the whole day slaving away at the stove.
Taking her time and effort into consideration, I decided to compliment her on her work.
"Kayko this is delicious! You're parents must have been the best cooks in the world to have taught you this well!" I exclaimed, taking time to swallow before I spoke and digging right back in when I finished speaking.
Kayko beamed at the compliment and I saw her looking at the food, which was diminishing rapidly. I looked on in awe as I saw the food literally disappear before my eyes and empty into someone's stomach. I was amazed that we all ate that much and that fast. Not to criticize anyone on their eating habits, I was doing my fair share of damage to the food pile, but it was almost all gone! That food should have been enough to last us a day and already it was gone!
Kurama was the first to notice my stare.
"Yes, we do consume heavy amounts of food on this ship," he said grinning, "You'll get used to it. Who can blame us when our chef's this good?"
Kayko grinned happily at him and Kurama smiled at her, Yusuke snorted at the exchange, probably a little jealous.
You'll get used to it. How many times had I heard that phrase today? At least twice, but I felt like a hundred. I looked to see all the fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, bagels, and muffins Kayko prepared gone.
Kayko cleared her throat like she was announcing a speech.
"And now that we are all happily fed, I would like to welcome Botan, our newest member! Botan, welcome to the family!"
There was a cheer, and I grinned madly, feeling truly happy for the first time in a day. I forgot all the confusion and uncertainties in that moment. For the first time aboard the Jagan, I finally felt at home.
OOOOO
Ok, we have another world record update! I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I got over ten reviews, which made me so happy! It's practically radiating off me and bouncing off the walls. Too bad I haven't even started working on the next chapter of the Will of the Fighter deflates oh well. Sorry I just noticed I switched back to my original POV I use in my other fic, I was trying to go with the one I used in the first chapter, but I didn't even notice I had switched back so I guess you guys are stuck with me writing like this. It's just more natural for me. So I need 10 more reviews for the next chapter please, which would be…63 reviews! Keep it up and I'll keep updating! Thank you!
OOOOOOO
Reviewer Responses:
Aiiro-bara- Nah, don't feel bad. I put a whole year between the first and the second chapter, now I'm trying to make up for lost time! You think a month's bad! Think how I feel, I've waited a whole year! Yes, pirates are very interesting to read and write, and fun too! The story is a bit different, but I think that's why so many people like it! Thanks for reviewing!
Elemental Dragon-Thank you for taking the time to review! It means more than you know! Over 100 people read it, and 12 people reviewed! Now you can feel happy because you are one of 12 special people!
Sakina B.N. Vega- I know I was really fast! I think I did a world record! Yeah, you'll notice if you look at the first chapter, it's in a different point of view and I was going to try and do the fic in that pov but I just realized I switched back. So I guess I'll just continue this was to avoid more mess-ups like that. This chapter wasn't as fluffy in my opinion, but Hiei does get a little jealous! Thanks for reviewing!
Darkgarent-Nope! I'm happy you didn't say anything about the typo or I would have thought you were really mad at me before I could apologize for my error! I'm glad you like the POVs I use, if you read Sakina B.N. Vega you'll know I messed up again when the POVs! Oh well, no one noticed, not even me, and I wrote it! Yup, these reviews give me a lot of inspiration and support, so don't think their reaching blind eyes! I was going to say deaf ears but that wouldn't make sense so yeah…I kinda make things up sometimes…yeppers…thanks for reviewing!
RitSuYue-Thanks, I get paranoid a lot when I can't write how I wanted something to work out. It's frustrating and I end up rewriting it and it still doesn't turn out what I want it to. So in the end it's just a big time waster. Yay! I wrote fluff! Even if it's only mini fluff! Thanks for reviewing!
LivingImpared-I get my inspiration for people like you! So good job yourself! Heh heh I know I shocked myself when I updated that fast, I bet you dropped whatever you were holding when you found I updated again! Miracles happen!
Crystal Koneko-Yeah, you'll see why in the next chapter…I was going to have it in this chapter but it was already too long because I couldn't fit everything in the last chapter so I put it in this chapter instead and bam no more room. I normally stop once I get 3000 some words and then do the reviews which take normally another 1000. I figure 4000 a chapter's good enough. What do you think? I'm glad you like the couples!
Gab-Thanks for reviewing! You reviewed, you get your update!
Kaori-Angel-Nope! It was only ten reviews, which I can normally squeeze out. It adds up quickly though, so it seems like a lot I guess. For this chapter I actually got over ten! It makes me so happy! Thanks again for reviewing!
Abbu jabbu-Aww thanks! Comments like that make my day and you're very welcome!
Abbu jabbu-Gives cookies Yay, I get kudos, you get cookies! Yummy!
Coolbabykk- Oh, I was wondering about that, thanks for clearing it up! That's so cool, you're sister's Shoujo Bat! I'm an only child and for some reason its weird to think that sister actually take the time to read my fic! I'm honored, thank you!
StupidKitten-Grr, I keep telling you you're a smart kitten! Smart smart smart! Thank you for you're wonderful comments and for reviewing!
Miss Kyoshi-No you did give me a date, what did I put? Heh, sorry for getting it wrong! Well I made it in time for you birthday! Happy birthday! starts singing the happy birthday song Happy Birthday to you! Yeah poor Botan wasn't looking her best, but Hiei thought she looked good, so it's all good. Just imagine when he sees her on a good day!
OOOOO
Oh yeah, before I forget, everyone happy 4th of July! I'm a day late but I hope you all got to see some fireworks! They're so pretty! And everyone, it's Miss Kyoshi's birthday on the 9th so happy birthday Miss Kyoshi!
OOOOOO
Thanks
Freesia