Blanket Disclaimer: The writer does not own any characters created by Rumiko Takahashi but like everyone else wishes she did. All original characters or concepts are the author's Inuma Asahi De's (with the exception of historical figures).
Chapter Eleven:
Destination Decided
"Miss Dresmont I'm so sorry." Sango said for what felt like the millionth time as she and Kagome set in the Captain's quarters. Both of them were kneeling on the ground, clasped together in a tight never ending hug. "I wanted to stop it but I couldn't, I can't go against the Captain. I'm so sorry, I'm so—so sorry."
"It's okay." Kagome replied as she held onto the older woman even tighter burying her face into the woman's soft brown hair. "And please, don't call me Miss Dresmont," She mumbled not really sure what she was doing, "Kagome's fine."
She wasn't sure why she had asked the other woman to drop the formality, all she knew was that despite everything she really didn't want to be a Dresmont to this woman, she wanted to be close to this woman and she wanted to be connected with her. After all, if she was going to live on this ship, if she was going to be seen as only the Captain's Bitch then she at least wanted one friend and Sango was her absolute best option—a fellow woman forced to live on a pirate ship.
Sango smiled through tears and hugged Kagome close again, the younger girl's words making some of her guilt ebb. "Call me Sango," She whispered as she pulled away, she brought her hands to her face and wiped away the tears and some of the dirt in the process. "That's my name, not Mrs. Smith."
"Sango." Kagome replied softly and smiled for the first time since she had boarded the ship. Her heart was swelling with a happy feeling, she was sure she had made a good decision in trusting this woman. "It's good to meet you, I guess."
"Kagome," Sango said gently as if testing out the name. "I'm the same woman you met before on land, the only difference now is the life you see me live. I'm sorry if it's not what you expected," She scratched the back of her head, taking off the four corner hate in the process, her long hair falling out. "It's just the way it is."
"It's fine." Kagome replied with a forced smile.
She couldn't believe she had been fooled into thinking the woman before her was a soft debutant when in fact she was the complete opposite as Kagome looked at her now. Sango looked like quite the tom boy with her dirty face and her baggy clothes. It was almost hard to believe that this was the same woman. It seemed so unlikely and yet here this woman set in front of her, dressed as a man, and a pirate man at that. Kagome continued to keep her forced smile in place, the painful feeling in her chest making it hard to keep in place.
"Sango lied to me as well, didn't she?" Kagome thought to herself sadly. "I thought we were friends, that we were connected, that she felt the same way I felt, but maybe that was a lie as well."
Sango watched the emotions play across Kagome's face, seeing through the forced smile easily. Sango frowned and allowed her own face to be taken over by sadness. She understood the other girl's feelings to a degree. Being lied to by people, walking into a situation unprepared for the reality of it, being forced into something you have no want of, it was a hard thing to deal with, and she was sure Kagome was having a hard time handling it.
Looking at the much younger girl Sango found herself wanting to comfort her, to tell her that everything was going to be okay, she really wanted to make Kagome feel safe, she wanted Kagome to feel at home, she wanted Kagome to understand that this ship was a good ship and that Kagome was surrounded by good people (as long as you didn't count the crew that lived below). Those people, Sango thought, were not necessarily good people, they were simply good crew.
But in the end, Sango knew it was not her place to interfere with Kagome's emotions, at least not yet. At the moment Kagome needed to be allowed to feel whatever she wanted to feel, without unnecessary explanations and reassurances. Sango knew, even if she tried, Kagome would not be able to listen—her heart was hurting to badly to hear what the older girl had to say.
With this in mind Sango chose not to say anything about the odd curve of this young girl's lips. "Kagome," she opted to ask instead. "What happened? How did you end up on our ship?"
Kagome glanced at Sango and wondered what she should tell the other woman, she almost wanted to lie. She wanted to say she was abducted or had ended up here by accident but she knew it would never work, it wasn't plausible anyway. Sango would see right through the farce and get to the real situation eventually anyway. Sighing, Kagome reached up and tried to take a strand of hair between her fingers to twirl but her hair was too short to do so. Putting her hands down on her lap she glanced at her fingers as she remembered the day before, as she remembered every step she took, as she remembered her decision now highlighted by her lack of hair.
She could almost see her hair lying on the floor of her father's room.
"I ran away from home." She told Sango in a soft voice, her eyes not looking at the older woman but instead focusing on a point in her lap.
"Why did you run away?" Sango inquired softly, trying to keep her tone gentle and reassuring.
"Because I didn't—I—," Kagome closed her eyes and took a deep resolving breath.
"It's okay Kagome, you can tell me." Sango pushed as she placed a hand over one of Kagome's own that was curled tightly on the young girls lap. "I won't judge.
The words seemed to strike something within Kagome and the girl began to tear up as she confessed to the older woman. "I ran because I didn't want to be that girl anymore." She looked at Sango pleadingly. "I wanted to get away from that life of manners and duty, I wanted to get away from propriety. I wanted to be me, I wanted to be free, I—," Kagome wiped tears from her eyes. "I didn't want to live for my duty to my family anymore, I wanted to live for my duty to my heart, just like you said."
Sango looked at Kagome and practically had a flashback to her own life. She remembered saying those same words to Kagome, she had seen the reaction cross the younger girls face when she had spoken those words. They must have impacted Kagome a lot more than Sango originally thought. Still, she couldn't blame Kagome for her decision, the decision to run away. In fact Sango secretly wished she had run away from her home a lot sooner than she had. "I understand." She said gently as she took Kagome's hand into her own instead of just letting her fingers hover over it. "And don't worry," She assured trying to convey the truth behind her words. "You're free here."
"Free?" Kagome said in a soft voice as she reached her free hand up to touch her shoulder. Her finger came in contact with the mark on her flesh and she shuddered involuntarily.
"You can be whoever you want to be here Kagome, no one will change you."
Kagome wasn't honestly sure if she believed Sango but she was too tired to fight her on it. The mark on her arm didn't symbolize freedom, in fact it was the exact opposite, it symbolized all the things she couldn't ever be now. It symbolized the Captain's control over her.
Setting these thoughts aside Kagome nodded slightly towards Sango and looked at the room around her, she glanced at some of the things that had not been there on her tour. The guns and the knifes, the charts, the trophy's of other men's hats or pistols, the strange plates and figurines from foreign countries, the furs and the strange clothes of velvet and a rather odd calico jacket that hung off the back of the Captain's chair at his desk. She let her eyes sweep over all these things, really taking them in for the first time. Even when she had first awoken only an hour or so ago, she had not really seen any of the Captain's personal affects. Perhaps her mind had simply been too preoccupied to see them. Looking at them now, Kagome thought she was getting a glimpse into the true nature of her capture, this was a part of who he was, he was an invader, he was a fighter, he was a destroyer, he was a pirate.
Kagome turned back to Sango and looked at the woman currently dressed as a man. Deciding to redirect the conversation onto a safer topic Kagome touched Sango's jacket and gave it a tug. "Why are you dressed as a man, you were dressed as a woman before?"
"Because it's safer." Sango said matter of factly. "There aren't any other women on board and the men, how should I say this." She tapped her chin briefly. "Their palms will start to itch if they constantly see me dressed as a woman."
Kagome gulped at the thought and pulled her jacket tighter around herself from her position on the floor next to Sango. "Would they—the Captain said they would—um—hurt me. Would they really do that?"
Sango frowned at Kagome, a look that told Kagome the answer. "Yes," She said with a deep breath. "But we're safe as long as we're claimed."
"Claimed." Kagome stated and touched her shoulder slightly, her conversation with the Captain coming back to her. "You mean this mark?"
"Yes." She said with a nod. "That mark gives you protection from the rest of the crew, especially the demons. They won't get near you as long as they know it's there." Sango sometimes wished she had a mark like that. From what she had heard of demon customs that mark was as good as locking yourself in a room. No demon would dare touch you if you had that mark on your flesh, to do so would be death plain and simple. "For me it's a little different."
"Different." Kagome pondered out loud and then curiosity got the better of her again. "Who claims you?" Kagome questioned with pure inquisitiveness fueling her. She was very certain she knew the answer to her question already, the display on the deck had said a lot, and the kiss back at Port Royal—but it was always nice to hear the news from the accused and not from the jury.
Sango blushed and turned away from Kagome. "I figured it would be obvious." She smiled slightly, a little crookedly as she looked at Kagome through thick bangs. "The man I had the affair with."
"Peter?" Kagome acknowledged, glad to know there had been at least some truth back at Port Royal.
"Well his names actually Miroku, but yes, Miroku claims me."
"That's right," Kagome said with a nod remembering hearing that Miroku was indeed the man's real name and not Peter. "I guess it slipped my mind." Kagome allowed herself to grow quieter with each word, until finally she just went silent, her mind drifting to unpleasant thoughts and feelings.
For a moment Kagome felt something seep into her at the fact that Peter had not been the man's real name. For every one truth these people had told her, there appeared to be a million lies. It bothered Kagome a lot to know she had been constantly lied to for a week by people she had actually liked—people she had trusted. Her thoughts once again focused on the Captain and she found herself once again filled with both anger and confusion. Had the Captain really liked her, was that another one of the lies? She really wasn't sure what to think. "I'm so—confused."
Pushing the thoughts far away from her mind she glanced at Sango. She studied the other woman carefully, wondering if Sango also had a mark on her skin, she was claimed after all so it was only fitting that the older woman also had marred flesh just like Kagome. Kagome knitted her eyebrows at the thought, even if it was possible, she highly doubted it as she remembered Miroku from Port Royal. Miroku was a human and humans didn't bit each other and have mystical dog tattoos with funny symbols appear on the recipients flesh. Still if Sango wasn't marked like Kagome then what kept the men away from her? She had mentioned that she had been claimed in a different manner, but how different could it be?
Once again Kagome looked the girl up and down, she couldn't see under the clothes, Sango was very well covered up but even without having to see the girls flesh she knew—there was no way that Sango had been marked by Miroku and if that was the case, then Sango bared no mark on her flesh at all.
Even knowing this already, Kagome still felt the overpowering urge to ask. "You don't have a mark like mine, do you?" She pointed at her shoulder as an indicator, her eyes barely containing her interest.
"No, I'm not marked in the same way that you were marked." Sango said in a soft voice, her embarrassment catching up with her. It was strange. When it came to Inuyasha and Miroku they could joke about sex easily, it was like a game among the three of them and yet—when it came to a girl like Kagome, she found herself once again a woman of propriety, she didn't want to talk about such things.
"But if you don't have a mark like me," Kagome continued to question, her eyes inquisitive and big with wonder. She really wanted to know what kept this girl safe, maybe if she knew then she could request the Captain to do the same and remove her mark—her chain. "Then why do the other demon men leave you alone? How do they know you are in someone's protection on the ship?"
Sango took a deep breath and tried to control the way her hands were sweating. She glanced at Kagome's innocent face, did the girl really not understand her and Miroku's physical relationship? Sango knew the answer to that already, even without having to ask the girl. Kagome knew nothing about sex, as a girl of society (more importantly an unmarried girl of society) it was obvious that she would never have been educated thoroughly on the manners of the bedroom. Taking another deep calming breath she placed a hand over one of Kagome's again and looked her straight in the eye. "They can smell him on me so they leave me alone."
"Smell?" Kagome looked at her with no signs of understanding. Truthfully, she had no idea what Sango was hinting at.
"They smell Miroku on me." She said again trying to emphasize the words so Kagome would catch on, the other girl simply continued to give her blank looks. Sango sighed and pulled her hand back covering her eyes with it. "We have sex Kagome." She said bluntly.
Kagome's eyes grew huge as saucers and she looked like she might faint as she pointed a shaking finger at Sango. "But you're not married."
"I know or at least we're not married in the technical sense." Sango said with a nod, she felt ashamed for all of a minute. Yes, her and Miroku were a married couple in the eyes of the Captain and the crew but they were not in the eyes of society. The guilt and shamed touched her heart and she pressed one of her hands to her chest before shaking her head. "I can't let propriety get to me, it's nothing but foolishness anyway."
Kagome looked at Sango feeling completely taken aback and yet really not surprised at the same time. She should have known after witnessing that kiss that the two were indeed 'intimate.' Still, a part of her had thought, after finding out that so much of what these people had told her were lies, that maybe that had been a strange lie as well. Thinking on it now that really didn't make sense at all.
Sango took a deep breath and looked at Kagome, seeing the confused emotions on the young girls face. She knew that sex before marriage was the worst sin a woman could commit under the blanket of propriety and proper society but to her it really was nothing because she knew the truth. It was at that moment that Sango decided Kagome needed to understand it as well—it would be Kagome's first step away from the world she was brought up in, the closed minded world that had hindered her growth as a person simply because she was a born a woman.
"Kagome," She started, making sure to catch the young girl's eyes. As soon as Kagome looked up at her and focused on her she continued. "You don't need to be married to make love with someone."
Kagome narrowed her eyes perplexed by the term. "Make love?"
Sango smiled and her face flushed but not from embarrassment. "I love Miroku and he loves me." She sighed dreamily putting a hand to her face. "And love is stronger than any marriage certificate. Even demons think so."
"So you're not ashamed to—do that—," Kagome couldn't even bring herself to say the word.
"No, I have no reason to be." Sango placed a hand to her heart and smiled at Kagome trying to convey all of her feelings into that grin. "Because it is done with love and no one should be ashamed to love."
Kagome nodded not sure how to even take this conversation. Women did not have sex before they were married, it just wasn't done, it wasn't right, they weren't even supposed to kiss until the wedding day and yet—Kagome looked at Sango and saw the glow on her face, her eyes far off as if thinking about something. Anytime her friends back on Port Royal had talked about relations with their husband it had always had a bad connotation to it. Like it was horrible, like sex was downright unpleasant but looking at Sango—and thinking of her feelings when the Captain had touched her—she wondered if it really was as bad as the other girls had made it seem.
"Sango." Kagome said in a small voice almost a squeak as she looked at the older more experienced woman. "Do you like—that? Is it, enjoyable?"
Sango turned bright red as she came out of her fantasy and looked at Kagome with remarkably lobster colored cheeks. She looked down at the ground and covered her face with her hands as her embarrassment traveled from her face all the way down her neck. "I—well—hm." Sango laughed a little and refused to meet Kagome's eyes.
"I've always heard that it's unpleasant." Kagome whispered as she too turned bright red.
Sango glanced at Kagome, an action that took all her will power, and allowed herself to take in the look on the girls face. She remembered being a girl of society, she remembered being told by her mother, female relatives, and married friends that sex was a duty and something not to be enjoyed. After she was raped she had thought of it as horrible, as awful and as something sickening and evil. She remembered how afraid she had been to even have sex with Miroku after all of her experiences with it both physically and mentally. But—sex with Miroku had been nothing like the sex she had been told about, the sex she had endured. Sex with Miroku had been slow and magical, it had been gentle and freeing, it had made her feel whole again, like a woman again, like a person again.
Sango smiled at the thought—the first time had been scary but pleasurable once she had calmed down, the second time had been much better, calmer, longer, and more relaxed. And now—it was fun and happy, it was something they did in the mornings, in the afternoons, deep into the night, or quickly before dinner. It was fun and carefree, an activity the two did together that was simply for them and their love.
Sex was wonderful when you did it with someone you loved. Those girls, her mother, Kagome's mother and their friends, they had never had the sex that Sango had in her life. They had performed their marriage duties because it was what they were meant to do, it had been their job, it had been another thing to hate about being born a woman. That was why sex was so horrible to them, that was why it was always spoken of with bad implications and with sighs of remorse among women. If any of those women had ever actually gotten to experience true love and what it was like to make love, then perhaps they would think differently, as Sango did.
Sango looked at Kagome with that thought and smiled at the younger girl, not feeling embarrassed anymore in fact she felt—unbelievably peaceful. "Sex is unpleasant." She admitted softly and took hold of Kagome's hand for the third time, hoping she could warm up Kagome's heart from simply her hands alone. "But making love, with someone you love, is the most beautiful and amazing experience you will ever have in your life."
"Making love." Kagome repeated the strange foreign phrase out loud again. No one had ever called marital relations making love when talking to her about the duties of a wife.
"Yeah. I really love to make love with Miroku." Sango smiled happily and looked into the other girls eyes.
A strange thought hit Kagome then, she wondered in the far recesses of her mind what it was like to make love. She knew the basic mechanics of sex, Eri had very well informed her of it when she had first married Mr. Hojo. Eri had even told her about the strange anatomy of men—and where that strange anatomy went when one was fulfilling her wifely duties. At the time she had shuddered at the thought, especially when Eri had told her it was uncomfortable and a little painful. But as she thought of it her mind wandered to the only sexual experience she had ever really had.
Kagome's mind flashed to the Captain, thinking of the way his hands had felt when they touched her skin, about the way his lips had felt when they sucked on her ear. She thought of the way he had grazed his hands over her bottom, she thought of the way he had moved himself against her—that strange part of his anatomy rubbing against the place that was always warm, that place where it was supposed to fit. Kagome gulped—there was no way that could possibly feel good, no way in the whole of the world and yet—
She looked at Sango who was smiling to herself, it appeared the other woman was lost in thought too.
Kagome took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she allowed herself to ask a question, meant only for her. "What would it be like," She wondered internally. "To make love to the Captain?"
Kagome's eyes snapped open as the thought seemed to reverberate in her mind, flowing over all of her senses. Quickly she shook her head, wanting to push the very thought from her psyche because she knew, that in the end, it would be impossible to ever really know. After all, she told herself, to make love to someone you probably had to be in love with them and Kagome wasn't in love with the Captain. In fact they were so far away from love it was downright unpleasant to even think about their current relationship. She felt the hate in her heart, she felt the pang of anger in her chest, but at the same time she felt the logic. The Captain had marked her for good reason—for protection—and if he hadn't used that mark then—
Kagome's eyes became wide as she made a connection. Looking at Sango she built up her courage to ask the most important question she had ever asked in her life. "If I wasn't marked like this," She motioned to her shoulder. "Would the Captain have marked me like Miroku marked you?"
"It would have been his only option." Sango admitted to Kagome delicately. "Demons don't recognize diamond rings or vocal claims Kagome, they're physical." She bore her eyes into Kagome to reiterate her point. "If you don't smell like the man claiming you or you don't have his mark, then you are fair game."
Kagome nodded as she felt something inside of her registered. The Captain's behavior was making sense, ever so slightly. If he wouldn't have marked her with his fangs then he would have had to have sex with her and Kagome—he must have known she wasn't the kind of girl who went for things like that.
"I will never force you to do anything you don't want to."
She believed him, she understood him. He could have had her, he could have raped her but he chose not to. He chose to mark her instead, in a way this mark had protected her. She touched her shoulder and felt the warmth flow from the mark to her fingertips.
"He did this to protect me." She said out loud, her voice nearly silent in the too still air.
Sango nodded. "The Captain's a good person Kagome, I know it doesn't seem that way right now, but he is a good man."
Kagome looked at Sango wanting desperately to believe her. "Is he really, a good man?" The question was directed just as much at Sango as it was at herself.
"He's a great man. In all my years of being on his ship he has never made me do anything I didn't want."
"He would never force you." Kagome supplied the Captain's words, they continued to echo loud in her head even after she had said them.
"No, he wouldn't." Sango smiled gently. "He's a better man than that."
"I'm a better man than that."
Kagome's eyes snapped wide at the words and she looked at Sango, almost wondering if she had been told to say those words on the Captain's behalf, as if it was something premeditated between the two but that was impossible. Those words were from Sango's heart—Kagome knew that just by looking at the older woman's face. Kagome looked down at her knees, taking in the sight of the ships wooden floor and the soft carpet the Captain kept on top of it in his room. Glancing at Sango she smiled, the anger and confusion in her heart lightening slightly. Perhaps, the Captain was a good man who had been forced to make a difficult decision. Kagome smiled at the thought, maybe there was hope for the two of them yet.
"I'm a better man than that." The words reverberated in her head and she felt herself grow calm for the first time in a while.
"He really is a better man than he appears Kagome." Sango restated because of Kagome's silence.
Kagome looked up at the woman and drew her face into a genuine smile that completely caught Sango off guard. "Kagome?" The woman questioned as her eyes lit with puzzlement at the sight.
Kagome only shook her head and with a smile that showed her teeth before she spoke, "I've heard those words somewhere before, Sango."
-break-
"Why am I here?" Miroku asked for the billionth time as he attempted to sleep in the makeshift bed he had composed of blankets on the floor. After Sango and Kagome's heart to heart it had been decided that the two girls would bunk together until Inuyasha could organize his cabin to accommodate a woman, without imposing on her. It had been a noble thought but, at the moment, the only true suffer was Miroku.
From his desk Inuyasha studied an old chart, looking for a proper port for them to dock at and sell some cargo he had 'obtained' off of the navy ship some weeks back before Port Royal. Because of the unexpected storm they had not been able to sell it as quickly as he would have liked but at least now that they were heading towards Hispaniola, he would be able to get it off his ship easily and, if he hit up the right port, for a good price.
"Why do I have to sleep in here?" Miroku groaned as he rolled on the sheets trying to get comfortable.
"Because I only have one bed." Inuyasha replied smartly as he reached into his desk for an ink well and a feather. He set the two on the desk and slowly opened the ink well, being careful not to spill it everywhere. The ship rocked lightly and caused Inuyasha some worry. Looking around her grabbed a small mug and put the opened bottle of ink inside of it for safety.
"That makes perfect sense." Miroku growled out as he tried to get comfortable again. He set up and adjusted the one pillow he had been allotted before falling back onto the floor again, somehow he had made it worse. He groaned in discomfort and rubbed his neck knowing he would be very sore come tomorrow.
"It makes absolutely perfect sense." Inuyasha grumbled back as he started marking out leagues on the map in front of him, it was an attempt to estimate their travel time. "I have one bed and I refuse to sleep with that wench and I won't let her sleep on the floor—."
"You let me sleep on it easily enough." Miroku grumbled under his breath.
Inuyasha glared at him and continued on. "It was a reasonable idea to let Miss Dresmont stay with Sango for the time being until I can get another bed in here."
"You don't sleep though." Miroku groaned as he threw a blanket over his face. "She can sleep in here and you can prowl the ship like normal."
"I sleep sometimes." Inuyasha defended still not looking away from the charts in front of him. "I might even sleep tonight."
"Sometimes, might—sometimes and might are the key words in that sentence Captain." Miroku seat up from his make shift bed on the floor and gritted his teeth as he popped his neck, he was already starting to feel stiff. "You could go a few days without sleep until we make port and get another bed."
"But I don't wanna." Inuyasha supplied as he made a mark on the map he was studying. He grumbled when he realized just how far they were from any good port towns. "It's more fun to watch you act like a whinny pup."
Miroku raised an eyebrow, the Captain hadn't called him a pup in years. Among dog demons it was very typical to call a child a pup and since Miroku had been raised by the Captain from the time he was eight, it was an expression he had heard many times. On several occasions—usually when the Captain was annoyed with him—Inuyasha referred to him as a pup. As a child he hadn't known what to make of the expression until Myoga told him of its meaning. It was almost like Inuyasha was referring to him as his son—his pup. Back then it had been endearing to hear the Captain refer to him as his son but now it was an insult. It was the equivalent of calling him an arrogant child, even though he was a grown man.
"I'm not a pup." Miroku pouted and laid back in his lumpy bed defeated. "I haven't been a pup for years."
"Then don't act like one." Inuyasha fired back and finally set the chart down. He stood and stretched then yanked off his jacket and shirt the gemstone nearly pulling over his head until Inuyasha grabbed it and pulled it back down to rest against his chest before reaching for the string of his pants.
"Can't we sleep clothed?" Miroku muttered from his blanket bed.
"Am I gettin' ya hot?" Inuyasha said with a smirk as he slowly undid the tie of his pants, pushing them off his hips slowly as if he was giving Miroku a strip tease.
Miroku raised an eyebrow and shuddered at the thought before he made a gagging noise, his eyes shut tightly. "First, I'm not a molly." Miroku told the Captain his eyes still closed tightly. "And second, you're practically my father or something, so that's incest and very creepy."
Inuyasha looked at Miroku with a slight smile. Even though he had referred to Miroku as his pup when he was a child or his brother, it was still fun to hear it out loud. This was the first time, in a very long time, that Miroku had referred to him as a family member but it made sense—he had been raised by the Captain since he was a little whelp, so it was only natural for him to feel like Inuyasha and him were really family. It was an idea that Inuyasha kind of liked, he had always secretly wanted children or a brother that liked him but he had always known that neither thing would ever happen. His mixed blood and his line of work prevented both of those things on many levels.
"Well then pup, I'll just go to sleep. Not as much fun if you ask me, though." Inuyasha muttered as he blew out the one candle in the room, darkness over taking them except for the moon light that came in the windows.
"Don't call me pup." Miroku said with a laugh from his spot on the floor before opening his eyes to the darkness. After several seconds his eyes adjusted to the dark and he could just make out the Captain lying in his own bed. "You think Myoga will be okay at the wheel?" He asked softly into the darkened room.
"He was a navigator once and all he has to do is go with the wind until I decide on a port." Inuyasha yawned lightly, his body feeling drained not physically but emotionally from the day.
"Did you pick a port yet?" Miroku inquired as he stretched and cocooned himself in the sheets.
Inuyasha glanced at the young man and for a second was reminded of when Miroku had been very young. As a child Miroku had often fallen asleep in the Captain's quarters due to their nightly lessons and on those occasions Inuyasha had pilled the boy on top of blankets on the floor next to his bed unless he knew for a fact he wasn't going to sleep that night in which case he allowed the small boy the comfort of the soft mattress. Still, whether Miroku was put on the ground on blankets like now or placed on the bed, without fail, Miroku would make himself into a small ball in those sheets or on that bed. Looking at Miroku now Inuyasha found it endearing that even after all these years the man still curled up in those sheets, maintaining the childhood habit.
"I think we're gonna stop in Trinidad." Inuyasha finally answered as the memories of Miroku as a child went back into the precious spot in his heart where he kept them.
"Isn't that a little far out of the way?" Miroku asked as he proceeded to curl tighter in a ball.
"Yeah but we always fetch a high price there." Inuyasha reasoned with a yawn, for once he was actually very tired.
Miroku grunted at the answer knowing the Captain had made an appropriate choice in ports even if Trinidad bothered him slightly. The only reason it bothered him was because it was a Spanish Town, which meant they would have to rely on the Captain for everything. Even after years of being tutored by the Captain he had never learned much Spanish, it wasn't one of his best languages and yet the Captain, like many other languages he knew, spoke it fluently. Miroku pouted a little jealous of the Captain's ability for language but then berated himself, after all Miroku had learned four languages in under ten years, which compared to even some noblemen wasn't that bad at all.
Pushing the thoughts aside Miroku went back into the present conversation. "Trinidad?" He mumbled before turning towards the Captain in the dark. "It'll be a good place to sell that tobacco and poppy."
Inuyasha grunted in agreement as he turned on his side, his thoughts were leaving Miroku and wandering to Miss Dresmont, not because of anything he and Miroku were saying but because her could hear the soft voices coming from the other room. Sango and Miss Dresmont were talking quietly just like him and Miroku.
"We can sell the navy uniforms there too." Miroku continued to chatter, not realizing the Captain was distracted by the soft voice coming from the other side of the wall. "How much do you think we'll get for the lot?"
Inuyasha didn't respond, he was too busy falling asleep to that woman's gentle voice, Kagome Dresmont's gentle voice. He didn't even know what she was saying, mainly because he couldn't concentrate on her words but it wasn't the words that were lulling him, it was the sound. He really just wanted to listen to the cadence of her voice when she wasn't screaming at him. The soft rhythm reminded him of the Miss Dresmont of Port Royal—the girl who had liked him, the girl who had kissed his hand, the girl who grew excited when she talked of the sea. Unconsciously, he reached for the gem around his neck fingering it lightly as he imagined the girl he had known for only a few precious days. He missed that girl, but it seemed that there was not much he could do. She hadn't even spoken to him since the argument/confrontation in his cabin hours ago, instead she had only stayed by Sango's side as if she was silently refusing to leave the safety of the other woman's arms.
"Inuyasha?" Miroku's voice broke him out of his musings.
"Yes," Inuyasha acknowledged softly as he allowed the gem to slip out of his fingers his train of thought gone for the better.
Miroku was quiet for several minutes, when he did finally speak his voice was calm but confident. "You were thinking of Miss Dresmont weren't you?"
"Go to sleep Miroku." Inuyasha huffed hastily and turned away from the other man completely.
Miroku nodded even though Inuyasha couldn't see him and lay on his back. Looking at the ceiling he thought about Miss Dresmont. Briefly he had been able to talk to Sango and she had told him of Miss Dresmont's decision to run away from home. She had told him about Kagome wanting to simply be herself, wanting to be in a place where she would be accepted for who she was. She had run away because they had given her the courage to believe in herself and allowed her to think for herself. And now she was seeing them as a lie, she was seeing their words as true false hope. Sango had told him about Kagome's feelings and the fact she was both angry and confused.
Miroku sighed at the thought, feeling sorry for the young woman. He only hoped that Sango could show her that although they had lied about who they were, they had not lied about their feelings regarding her. That had been the truth, every moment and every word.
Miroku glanced at the Captain, knowing that Miss Dresmont was probably hurt the most by him. She felt betrayed, she felt angry and yet, she had to at least understand just slightly the hard decision Inuyasha had to make. It was either mark her or watch the crew eat her alive. There was no way to protect her otherwise. Even a Captain's words weren't that strong when it came to a woman.
He hoped the young girl could see this truth and understand the meaning of what was happening aboard the ship now. Maybe if she did then the positive emotion would be enough for Kagome to turn to them and accept them as pirates, accept them for who they were—in much the same way they had already accepted her without her knowledge. Glancing at the Captain's still figure, Miroku silently hoped that would be the case.
"Goodnight Inuyasha." He whispered into the dark, knowing the other man would hear him.
Inuyasha, who was looking out at the night sky, flicked an ear towards Miroku and stifled a heavy sigh. He had a lot on his mind or at least he had a person weighing heavily on his mind. Pushing it all behind him he flicked an ear towards the cabin on the other side of the wall. The two girls were silent now. Disappointed he turned in his sleep and looked at Miroku in the dark with a slight smile filled with sadness, disappointment, and an odd acceptance mounting his face. The gem against his chest burned for all of a second causing that smile to turn into a frown. "Why has it been doing that lately?" He wondered if only to himself as he grasped the gem in the dark waiting for it to cool. After a moment it did just that and Inuyasha sighed before shifting onto his back and letting go of the small jewel. "Goodnight pup." He called into the air with a slight grin forming on his face when he heard Miroku huff in response.
"You're an ass." Miroku yawned into the dark; Inuyasha only smiled wider.
-break-
Far away from the ship Shikuro, standing on the deck of his father's own ship stood one Naraku Morgan, his sharp demon eyes staring out into the flirting sea. He watched intently as the moon was covered by clouds in the sky, his eyes captivated by the haunting sight. There was something ethereal about the way the moon was suddenly covered, leaving only the stars as a guide. He watched the constellations, spotting several he had been told of as a child.
He could make out the big bear and the little bear, the swan, and the man Orion, all were there looking back at him, fixated as if they found him to be the curious thing and not the other way around. Closing his eyes he took in the sound of the waves, the feel of the ship's surf as the water somehow managed to find its way all the way up the ship's side and too his face—it was an invigorating feeling completely, wholly, naturally.
With a feeling of utter contentment Naraku opened his eyes and allowed a curious smirk to light his face, the sight slightly haunting as the moon chose that moment to come back from behind the clouds, casting an eerie light on the boy's face. Looking into the sky again, he grouped the stars creating his own constellation—it was that of a woman, with big grey eyes, the same color as the dark sky where starlight met bleak night.
"I have to thank you Miss Dresmont." He mumbled into the night air. "If not for you I would never have left that god forsaken Port Town from hell."
With another deadly smirk Naraku licked his lips. Now he could do as he pleased and there was no one who could stop him, at the first chance he got he would simply disappear, removing himself from a life he too had hated and then he would proceed to make the life for himself that he had always wanted.
Naraku grinned from ear to ear; it wasn't a pleasant sight to look at.
End of Chapter
Please Review
Minor Editing 7/30/2012
Special Congrats to KagomeLoverOfInuyasha for being reviewer 150, hopefully 200 is right around the corner!
Last Chapter's Bonus Point:
No one has gotten the bonus point yet but some of you are pretty close, the squiggly marks look exactly like this 犬夜叉. But I will award a point to angel, The Anime Chosen One, and TheRealInuyasha for being the closest.
Thanks everyone else who gave an answer. Some of them were really creative and all of them were good guesses! They actually made me feel very unromantic, your ideas were much dreamier in nature than mine but then again, mine has something very important going for it as well ^^
Bonus Point:
Now this chapter's bonus is based off of last chapters'. Identify the squiggles: 犬夜叉. Name the language and what it translates to.
Notes:
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing two states the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Hispaniola is perhaps most famous for the site of the colonies founded by Christopher Columbus on his voyages in 1492 and 1493.
Trinidad is not part of Hispaniola and is located much farther away than Hispaniola is from Jamaica where Port Royal is located. It is closer to Venezuela, whereas Hispaniola is very close to Cuba.
Molly is an archaic term for gay man.
Next Chapter:
The Island of Trinidad
See you then!
UNEDITED
POSTED 3/9/2011