Disclaimer: No I do not own Inuyasha so there:P

Okay, if no one noticed, I stopped writing this story to finish my other one but now I'm back and this story now has my undivided unattention. ooh look a pretty butterfly........

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....Okay now the story has my undivided attention. *steals glance at butterfly*

Chapter 5: Hium

They stayed at Hium for only three days so that the should could resupply and get back on the ocean.

But Kagome discovered so much about herself in those three days.

She learned that she had a love for adventure.

"So, what's in there?" Kagome asked pointing at the surrounding forest of the town.

"Animals, plants, trees, you know the normal stuff." Sango said not looking up from the sails she was sowing.

Sango and a select choice of other tuff fingered individuals were chosen for the duty. Kagome would have helped but she didn't know much about sails and could do more harm than good, besides they used thick metal needles not the wooden ones she was practiced in.

Instead of sewing sails, Kagome had been set to making nets for catching fish while the men were out at sea. It was a thoughtless repetative task that needed to be done. Thankfully, Kagome could get away with using wooden needles for crochteting the thick net. So she sang songs to make the work faster and neater. But she was always with Sango and the others who would sew the sails so they were all in the spoken language and therefore didn't have as much power as her other ones. And beside that, she couldn't direct the needles like she did in the ancient songs so she had to make them up. It often made for weird songs that she and the others laughed at, but hey, it got the work done.

"1,2,3 pull, pull it all the way through." She sang to her own melody her fingers only mimicking the work her songs were doing.

Sango would tap her foot and move her own needle in time with Kagome's melody.

"You have such a pretty voice, you know that?" she said. Kagome shrugged and kept singing with a smile on her face.

But Kagome had finished her net and was just waiting for Sango to finish. "I mean besides the normal." Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Well, the occasional demon or two and of course there's a few other predators. But no one really goes in there."

"Why not?"

"Too dangerous. No one knows whats in there. Better to stay where your safe than risk death just for curiousity."

Kagome gave her a flat look, "Funny philosaphy for a pirate." Kagome said emphisising the pirate.

Sango smiled. "True but it's still an unknown. Besides don't you know the saying curiosity killed the cat?"

"Yes I have and I have a theory about that."

"Oh?"

"Yes. It wasn't looking at what he found curiouse that killed him. It was the feeling of not knowing and wanting to know. In fact, I believe it was curiosity itself that killed the cat not what he found out being driven by his curiosity."

Sango laughed. "Maybe your right. But it's still not safe."

"So? I want to know."

Sango looked at her. "Hey, I'm almost done. How about we go satisfy your killer curiosity when I'm done?"

"Really? Oh thank you Sango!" Kagome hugged her.

"But I have to finish first." Sango chided returning to her work.

The girls walked into the forest Kagome eager to see everything.

"Bet I can run faster than you." Sango dared.

"Race you to that tree." Kagome pointed.

"Your on." and Sango took off.

"Hey!" Kagome ran off. "You started early, cheater.

"Pirate!" Sango reminded her still going. She didn't stop at the tree and niether did Kagome. They both kept running laughing like maniacs. there were roots to jump, branches and vines to duck, and then of coruse keeping track of each other.

Kagome trailed behind most of the way because Sango had the advantage of tougher muscles from a harder life. "Wait up!" Kagome yelled at her.

"Slow poke! Come on!" Sango shouted starting to run faster. They had gotten so deep into the forest that most of the branches over head were blocking out a good portion of the light.

"No fair!" Kagome tried to speed up but failed to see a root sticking out of the ground and tripped.

"Woh!" she called out as she went down.

"Stupid root." she sat up shaking her head. In revenge she kicked it and, though it was petty, she stuck her tongue out at it. She stood up and glared down at it. "That's what you get for tripping me."

"Sango!" She called turning around but her friend was gone. "Sango!" she yelled again.

"Hello!" she started walking forward. "Oh come on." She stuck her hands on her waist.

"Now I have to walk all the way back by myself." she turned around and started walking her breathing still hard from her extended run.

She started singing to pass the time. For the first time in a while, it was in the ancient language. The forest responded to her voice by dancing. Not in a way recognizable by man, but easily recognizable by nature. The vines started swaying in the wind and the leaves shook and danced. Small birds started chirping with her and she heard a rabbit thumb out a beat.

The trees groaned softly as they moved infentesamily back and forth.

For the first time in her memory she let her power flow with nature creating a song so entricate and yet so simple it echoed to very essence of nature.

Kagome felt the trees around her, was one with the ground still soaked with moisture from a day of rains beneath her feet, the air around her seemed to move her and she felt her spirit flying accord with the small animals around her.

But suddenly the birds stopped chirping and flew off self preservation interfering with the magic of her song. Kagome stopped immediatly and felt her spirit and conciousness return to her body. The rabbit was gone, the trees and their leafes were still, and Kagome froze at the sound of something behind her growling.

She turned slowly hoping not to make whatever it was more inclined to chase her.

The moutain lion growled at her from it's perch in the lowest branches of a tree.

Sango ran out of the forest fear making her feet faster.

"Captain!" she yelled running into town.

Immediatly the villagers stopped and asked what happened.

"Kagome...me and....*huff puff*....we were..."

"Sango breath!" Miroku yelled coming up behind her. "Now what about Kagome."

"We were running and I lost her. I looked her but I can't find her."

"Running where?" Miroku asked.

"The forest."

Miroku looked shocked. "Sango that forest is full of moutain lions and demons and who knows what else. What were you two doing in there."

"Just running and I lost her. What if something finds her? And it's hungery?"

"Where?" The captain asked coming up from behind Miroku.

"In there!" Sango pointed to the forest she just exsited.

"In there!" Silver got mad. "Why is she in there!"

"We were just fooling around and...." Sango cut off and went pale when they heard an earsplitting femanin scream.

Suddenly cut short.

Silver took off into the woods without another word as Miroku took charge ordering a small armed search party.

Kagome was, after all, not a prisoner anymore, but a member of the crew.

She was running as fast as she could but the lion kept up easily.

He had taken a leap at her, jumping out of the tree sending a scream from her throat before her own self preservation took over and she shut up and ran.

The lion enjoyed the hunt just as much as it needed the meat for nurishment.

Kagome was no where near as nimble or as fast as the giant cat who lived in this forest that Kagome was lost in.

She ducked a low hanging tree branch and started singing in hope that savage beasts really did tame with music. But the lion was a living creatue and she had no power over a living thing unless it gave it to her.

So her song didn't work.

Then she made the stupidest mistake someone being chased can make, she turned around and looked behind her.

And slammed her head against another low hanging branch.

She fell down with a grunt of pain and landed right at the lions feet.

It growled at her and lifted it's paw to strike her.

Kagome closed her eyes but the hit never came.

She opened them slightly and saw Silver grabbing the animals paw while the lion looked infuriated at having been interupted.

"Go find your dinner elsewhere." he growled.

The lion growled back and turned it's attention to the captain.

Inuyasha jumped back as the lion took a swipe at his with his killer claws. He jumped around as the lion chased him completely ignoring Kagome who sat on the ground staring at him.

He hated to admit it but his prisoner had become a member of the crew in shorter time than he would have believed possible. The crew seemed to like her well enough and she wasn't afraid to work or learn. And there was this aura of peace around her that made it easy to get close.

If he was honest with himself, he enjoyed having her on his ship. And even though he still wanted to get want she knew he was willing to wait.

There was some internal instinct, the same that led him to her town, that said that patience would be the only way to get what he wanted from her.

So he fought of the lion, he didn't kill it. The lion was only doing what it had to in order to survive and could not be faulted for that. But he sent it running away.

He didn't injure it too badly either, that would be just as bad as killing him but the resulting death would just come on slower.

He turned to Kagome who was still sitting on the ground her breathing hard.

"Are you alright?" He asked noticing his own breathing was a little ragged from his adrenaline rush from both the fight and the run here.

"Yes." Kagome answered standing up quickly.

"It didn't hurt you?"

"No." Kagome hold her arms to her chest. She didn't want to admit that she found the captain much more attractive than should have been normal.

"Come on. Get on my bacl." he turned around and sank to the ground.

Kagome bit her lip but before she could make a dicision Silver snapped, "Hurry up!"

She nodded and got on his back quickly.

He jumped through the forest canopy giving Kagome a clear view of the island.

The sun was setting casting the ocean on fire and the town was a glow with torch light and the sound of men yelling to each other. The green of the trees spread beneath them like a blanket.

And Silver's magnificent ship was decked in the harbor and Kagome was filled with a feeling of home.

Then he fell back to earth and jumped on the highest branches toward the town.

Kagome kept her head low barried beneath his hair and whispered in his ear, "Thank you."

Was it just the red from the setting sun casting that glow on his face, or was the captain, the fiercest pirate to sail the seas, actually blushing.

"Forget it." he said.

The took off the next day with a crowd all screaming good-bye from the port with many wishes of good luck.

"I'm sorry." Sango said for the thousanth time pulling one of the ropes taught and tieing it off.

"I said forget it, Sango. I'm fine. The captain saved me."

"But still..."

"You know Sango if you really want to appologize you could do me a huge favor."

"Anything."

"Can you teach me how to fight?"

"How to...Of course I can." Sango brightened up immediatly.

"Thanks." Kagome said looking out into the ocean. She enjoyed being at Hium, but her home, would always be on the open ocean.

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Dang that chapter was long. I hope you all enjoyed and are leaving me reviews!!!