Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not Sesshoumaru, not Inuyasha and not PotC. I do have sketches and numerous pictures though…and no, you cannot steal my painting of Jack, as someone recently threatened to do…

Something very important I forgot, which I smacked myself on the head for a minute after I posted last night: A huge thank-you, TrisakAminawn, for all the wonderful reviews you left throughout the story! They've become invaluable as I work though all these old chapters. I still can't believe you read though all my ramblings, and gave me the kind of helpful criticism you did. Thanks!

Chapter (2) : Sit Down!

Sesshoumaru had finally finished drying his tail, and turned on his side to go to sleep, noting that his half brother was already snoring alongside the other human. Kagome stared up at the night sky and the brightly shining stars, still awake. He ignored her as unimportant for the moment, and closed his eyes, exhausted after his watery adventure. He had a feeling he might not be getting very much sleep soon…best to do so while he still could…

Sesshoumaru was immediately dead to the world, still trying to think about what had happened, who would take care of Rin, right up until the moment he slipped into sleep.

Kagome watched as he fell asleep, still wide awake. There was a slight smile on her face as she reached across to her faithful, ragged backpack and slowly drew out a slender sting of beads. They were surprisingly similar to the ones Inuyasha wore around his neck, though fancier in design, and a pure black color. She carefully checked to see that Sesshoumaru was sound asleep, then fastened it around his throat, being very, very careful not to wake him up.

She'd had experiences where Inuyasha woke up at slightly embarrassing moments…and if Sesshoumaru were to open his eyes now, she doubted he'd be pleased with what she was doing…


Jack stirred slowly with the dawn, frowning…why was he so irritable? Oh yes…that crazy dream he'd had about three strangers falling out of the sky…of all the things…

Jack turned his head to the side and found his view of the world obscured by a bright red blur. He squinted, and yelped as he realized it was the dog eared Inuyasha.

At the moment, Inuyasha was smirking, watching Sesshoumaru and Kagome sitting off to the left. Sesshoumaru's eyes were dark with anger, a fierce scowl on his face as he tugged at a string of beads around his neck. He glared at Jack, who was looking shocked to find his 'muzzy-vision-in-the-night' a waking reality.

"It…it wasn't a dream at all! You're still here!" Jack put his head in his hands "Why me? What did I ever do?" He did not deserve this…not even his worse enemies deserved this…

"You said Barbossa's got the other half of the shard, so we're going after him. You're welcome to come along." Kagome offered, without taking her eyes off Sesshoumaru's ongoing battle with the beads. He was even more stubborn than his brother had been when it came to not admitting they were stuck.

"Why are these here?" Sesshoumaru gave the dammed necklace another sharp pull "They won't come off!" He finally let his hand drop, glaring.

She hadn't yet chosen what word to use. She didn't think Sesshoumaru would be familiar with why the beads were there anyway…he looked a great deal like how Inuyasha had when he got his necklace, in fact: clueless.

She was still not entirely certain about him. She wanted some insurance that he would cooperate, not try and kill them at the first opportunity. It would also be nice if he left Inuyasha alone once they got home.

She even had the very faint hope they might, for once, see eye to eye…probably from ground level, if she had to make a guess…

Fat chance of that though. "I'll tell you why in one simple word, Sesshoumaru. Down!"

Thump!

The boat creaked ominously, and Inuyasha burst out laughing as a rather shocked Sesshoumaru was flattened to the deck, eyes radiating death. And the best thing was, Sesshoumaru couldn't do a thing about it…

"Perfect! We should have thought of that ages ago!" Kagome was such a clever woman…he admired her head nearly as much as the rest of her some days…

"What just happened?" asked Jack, confused. How'd she do that to Sesshoumaru? Was she a witch? That explained the demons…were the two others her minions from hell? He laughed. Of course, maybe he was still dreaming after all…

"You… you will die!" Sesshoumaru was surprised enough to let his poker face slip, revealing the anger beneath. "What did you do?" He knew she could shoot arrows, yes. But put a subduing spell on him? Never…the indignity of it…

Jack wondered why the minion wanted to kill his mistress…unless he wasn't really a minion after all…

"Gave you a necklace like Inuyasha's so you can match? You can do face-plants too now!" she laughed, pleased with her handiwork. Maybe the two brothers really would see eye to eye…(from the level of the floor.)

"Take it off. Now!" Sesshoumaru was one very unhappy youkai. He brought himself under control with an effort. "Do it quickly and after this is done I may even give you time to run." Not that it would be very much time, of course…

"She can make him eat dirt anytime with that necklace." Inuyasha started explaining the mysteries of the necklaces to Jack. He had never liked his own very much, but Kagome was a lot better about telling him to sit now. Or maybe he was just better at picking up on when to keep quiet and shut up…

"O…k…You're going after Barbossa too then?" Jack blinked, still not sure he was really awake. However, the way things were, he had two options. He was dreaming, in which case it didn't matter, or…and he didn't like this…he was awake and this was real.

So. If it was real it did matter what he decided to do. But if he was dreaming, it didn't matter. Therefore, he'd play along, and if he woke up, it would be good. And if he didn't…well, at least he'd be better off than if he'd decided it was a dream…

"What do you mean 'too'?" asked Inuyasha, frowning slightly. Was Jack after Barbossa as well?

"He stole my ship at the same time he stole the other half of my crystal." Jack thought back to that long ago day, and scowled. He was going to get Barbossa for that, one day. Hopefully that day was now near at hand…

"My crystal." Kagome corrected him automatically, trying not to smile as she watched Sesshoumaru seething in the prow of the ship. She decided he was more like Inuyasha than he cared to admit. He was sulking…exactly like his half brother…

"What's that over there? It looks like a town." Sesshoumaru had managed to summon his composed, icy mask again.

"That? I can't see anything yet… It must be Port Royal. Is it flying the British flag?" Jack held up his hand and squinted against the sun.

"There's a bunch of people in red walking around, but I don't see a British flag." Did the whatsits flag have red and white stripes on it like that one did? Inuyasha didn't know…

"It's the British then. Watch out for the soldiers…they're the ones in red uniforms…. The idea is inconspicuous, and you aren't...terribly good at blending in I'm guessing." Jack grinned pleasantly, aware that he had an unparalleled opportunity here to pay the strangers back for waking him up last night…and for just imposing in general…

"So we're all going after Barbossa then?" Kagome asked, speaking for the two brothers as well as herself. It was obvious to her their group wouldn't split up. You didn't do that in uncharted territory

"Why not? We both want something from him, and I'm sure you could pull your weight in a fight if it comes to that, even without your arm." Jack glanced at Sesshoumaru, who stared disdainfully back at him. Cocky insect. He'd show this annoying human that he was more than 10 times the better swordsman, even missing his arm.

"Feh." Inuyasha didn't have much to offer in the way of comments. Kagome was the only one who had a clue about where they were. He'd follow her lead, since it might just give them a completed Shikon…

He wasn't sure what he'd do once they finished the jewel, but for now they should probably try and fix the damn thing…

"Besides" smirked Jack "From the looks of you I'd say you're going to need all the help you can get to move around… we're going to have to do something about being inconspicuous for you three." Jack smiled, carefully looking too innocent. "I know just the thing…" He rubbed his hands together, looking extremely pleased with himself. Inuyasha got the funny feeling he should be afraid…very afraid…


Sesshoumaru scowled out from under a tattered, off-white bandana that covered his whole head and his ears, tying back his hair. It was quite uncomfortable. He did, however, find some solace in the fact that his brother was far worse off, as Jack had tied a grimy red strip of cloth securely around his head, ruthlessly squashing down those silly hanyou's dog ears.

He looked down at what he was wearing now, which was his kimono, tied with a piece of coarse canvas.

He still wasn't quite convinced that his armor was a bad idea. So what if nobody else wore anything like it? That wasn't his problem. He would far rather walk into an enemy camp with armor than without. But sometimes, secrecy took precedence. And Kagome had pointed out that he shouldn't need armor against humans anyway...which was mostly true...but…

He'd finally been convinced when Kagome threatened to say 'the d word'. He was not going to provide her with an opportunity for public humiliation. Not so soon after Inuyasha had almost cracked a rib after the last time…

So the armor went in her backpack, for now, till Kagome found him another bag.

The three of them looked a lot different now than they had half an hour ago. Kagome wore Inuyasha's red haori and a pair of her baggy blue pj bottoms, while said Inuyasha was giving Jack dark looks from under his tattered red cloth. It tied his hair back, so it looked shorter and covered his ears completely. It also made him look ridiculous…

"Good thing those pants and the kimono look so old and salt stained." Of course, anything would looks grubby after being dumped into salt water and not cleaned. And they'd been silk to start off with too…ruddy waste of money… "Now, all we need to do is fix that tail…" Jack started rummaging in the space under the seats, frowning. How the hell was he supposed to do anything about the tail? He didn't know…pass it off as very bad taste in scarves? Dye it pink, and proclaim it the latest from Paris? What?

"You are not going to do anything to my tail!" hissed Sesshoumaru, mortally offended. "Do it and I tear off your arm."

Bad enough he had to put his armor in a knapsack, not wearing it, and that he had to tuck most of his hair into the bandana so it looked shorter. Even worse that he had to tie that grubby strip of cloth around his ears and over his crescent moon, but he was not going to let this upstart human lay a finger on his tail! That was the final indignity, which he would not suffer!

"Fine. Be that way. But don't blame me if you get thrown in jail." Jack shrugged, privately shuddering at the thought of loosing an arm to Sesshoumaru. For some reason, he didn't doubt that the threat was real. He gave up on the thought of calling it the latest in Paris fashion, and ran an eye over the threesome.

He grinned, amused at their rather mismatched appearance…they'd pass muster, but not by much, and only in a dark room. Too bad about the eyes, really. The golden color couldn't be covered up by a bandana like the ears could be…and he couldn't do a thing about the tail, not if he wanted to keep his limbs…

Jack climbed up the mast, and looked at the town in the distance. He noticed the skeletons hanging by the harbor mouth at the same time Kagome did.

"Jack, could you come down-thump- umm…sorry?" Kagome winced as Sesshoumaru hit the deck again.

The boat shuddered as Sesshoumaru slowly picked himself up, face carefully blank. Inuyasha grinned, shaking with laughter.

Water started gushing in where Sesshoumaru had made a sizable indentation in the bottom of the boat.

Damn damn damn necklace…scrap giving the wench time to run, he'd kill her as soon as he was home…unless Rin was there…in which case he'd start hunting her the moment they got back…

Jack groaned as the ship swayed and creaked. Water rushed in faster, and he swore under his breath. The boat wasn't even his…it was Anamaria's…and she was going to murder him for this…

"Start bailing!" he said, wincing "Anamaria's going to kill me…" he muttered, looking at the sizable hole, and at Sesshoumaru in surprise. If he'd landed that hard he'd have stayed down, he wouldn't have been able to even move!


Kagome bailed faster, but the boat was almost to the docks and water was almost…no wait, it was coming over the sides now. She climbed up the mast with the others, trying to balance precariously with Inuyasha on one side, and Sesshoumaru on the other. Sesshoumaru was looking in horror at the saltwater, and gauging the distance to the docks.

"Not going to get wet again…" she heard him mutter, as he easily balanced on the wooden crossbeam.

The boat continued up to where the dock was, and they stepped across as it came to a stop in front of the docks. People stared at them, and they stared back. Jack winced. Damn…the disguises were even worse than he'd thought…

He closed his eyes as an official hurried up. This was it…

"Names? And it'll cost you a shilling to tie up here."

Kagome looked back at the boat, which had disappeared underwater. Outrageous.

Jack privately praised the lack of questions, and resolved to increase the bribe he'd been planning on accordingly. The man deserved a large tip for his lack of inquisitiveness. He dropped a few coins onto the mans ledger, and grinned pleasantly "How about six shillings and we forget the names?"

"Welcome to Port Royal, Mr. Smith, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Cooper and Miss Young." The official smiled, palming the coins and turning towards another ship. "Enjoy your stay in Port Royal." The child with him looked curiously at the strangers, particularly the fluffy thing one of them was wearing, then followed.

Jack started out across the dock, pausing briefly to nab the moneybag sitting out on his way by. Give the official a tip, give the pirate some loot…


Well, yet another chappy edited. W00tness. This one is kinda short, but hey…some of the other chapters are excessively wordy. It all evens out in the end! )

My homepage 'Dark Gardens', contains a large amount of writing, original and fanfiction, and an art section. Come visit! (ff. net won't allow underscores to be posted in a ch, so please visit my profile for the link)

Originally posted : Feb 16 2004

Revised: Jan 3 2006