Summary: Tohru receives tickets for the luxury cruise upon the Poseidon for her birthday, along with 10 other people from the Sohma family. Midway through the cruise, the ship is fatally struck by a rogue wave, and it capsized. Now Tohru must find out where everyone else is and escape the bowels of the ship before it slips under the ocean's waves. But not everyone can survive fate. . .

Poseidon
Chapter Two
Boarding

The Poseidon loomed ever closer, as the Poseidon 2 chugged along, bobbing along on the choppy seas.

"We're almost there!" Tohru would shout randomly to the group, many of them suffering from pre-sailing seasickness. She was so happy to be going on a vacation, one which she would share with Kyo; their first vacation together...

She held Kyo's hand, and squeezed it tightly in anticipation as the Poseidon finally came up in full.
The ship itself was enormous, towering over them, on 15 decks, over 100ft high, the ship let out a mighty blow of its horn, which echoed all around them. Tohru looked towards the bow of the ship, which had 'Poseidon' on the silky black steel hull. The superstructure was swept back, in an aerodynamic sort of way, enhancing the ships look of luxury. Above the black hull was the first outside deck, which spanned all around the ship, with 11 lifeboats on each side, plenty for all on board. Next came the cabins, which were then one deck above, each one with a private balcony. Above the 5 decks of cabins were the upper-decks, which Tohru couldn't possibly see any sort of detail, as the ship was too tall to see.

Tohru looked over at everyone else, as the Poseidon 2 was moored alongside the Poseidon, and a solid stairwell was placed down, fitted with its own red carpet. Everyone clambered up out of their seats and stood by the staircase, awaiting entrance to the ship.
Tohru was about to grab her luggage when an officer came to collect it.

"These will be taken to your room for you, Miss" he said with a smile, taking everyone's cases, labelling them and wheeling them away, out of sight.

"Has everyone got everything?' asked Tohru, looking back at the others.

They all mumbled in agreement, and joined the queue waiting to board the ship. This process took the longest, in which everyone had to be booked onto the ship, and directed towards their own cabins. Tohru glanced from where they were getting onto the ship, and how many decks they had to climb to get to their cabins. She glanced back at everyone else, who seemed to have noticed this as well. Uo and Hana, after this point, stood by Tohru, complaining about how Ritsu had been sick over the side of the boat. Tohru had been so wrapped up in all of her excitement that she had forgotten Uo and Hana had even come with them.

"Are you as excited as I am?!" Tohru asked, a huge, silly grin on her face.

"Of course, Tohru!" replied Uo, hugging Tohru tightly "It's great we were able to come, even if we did have to pay for our own tickets" she added, glaring at Kyo, who only glared back.

"Don't start before we've even gotten on the ship!" said Tohru, slightly pushing Kyo away from Uo.

The line took about 40 minutes before Tohru and the group were at the front. The staircase between both ships did not look strong enough to support a lot of weight, in which everyone gave a simultaneous gulp at the thought of it collapsing under their feet.

"Hello, and welcome to the luxury cruise-liner Poseidon" said the guard by the stairs "May I see your tickets, please?"

Then it struck Tohru, had she left the tickets at home?!

"Um... Um...!!!" said Tohru, fumbling around her to find the tickets, when a hand appeared over her shoulder, and gave the guard the tickets.

"There you go, my good man!" replied Shigure, in a very English accent.

"Thank you" replied the guard, checking each of the ten tickets. He called off the names of each person, before tearing part of the ticket off, and handing it to the corresponding member of the group.

"Okay," said the guard "Miss T. Honda and Mr K. Sohma, your room is 12543, which is on deck 12, Miss A. Uotani and Miss S. Hanajima, your room is 12124, which is also on deck 12."

The guard then asked both sets of people up the stairs. The stairs rocked underneath them, creaking slightly with every step they took. At last they reached the main reception of the ship. Upon entering the threshold, the only thing to comment on was the luxury and how far it spread out in front of them.
A guard stood by the door checked their tickets once more, before adding "If you get lost on the way to your cabin, we have staff upon every floor, to direct you in the right way."

Ten minutes later, the rest of the group entered the threshold, and took in the magnificent sights there was to behold. They then stood to one side, and compared rooms.
It was turned out that people sharing rooms were: Yuki, Aya, Ha'ri and Shigure (it turned out they had also booked a family room), Uo and Hana, Tohru and Kyo and finally Haru and Ritsu. Much to Yuki's dismay, Aya was delighted ti be sharing a room with him. He couldn't say no, because this is how it had been booked, at least he could avoid Aya.

Another thing that was out of the ordinary was that everyone was staying on different decks. Whilst Kyo, Tohru, Uo and Hana were on deck 12, Haru and Ritsu were on deck 11 and Shigure, Ha'ri, Aya and Yuki were on deck 13.

"No wonder the tickets were cheap," said Shigure, staring at his and Ha'ri's.

Everyone walked to the awaiting lifts on the other side of the reception, and ascended in one. On the way, everyone agreed to meet up in the reception in an hour. Haru and Ritsu left first, on deck 11, then Tohru, Kyo, Uo and Hana left on deck 12, whilst Shigure, Ha'ri, Yuki and Aya went up to deck 13. Tohru walked in hand with Kyo, whilst Uo and Hana walked behind them.

"Wow, this place it so luxurious!" exclaimed Tohru, taking in the panelled wood effect on the walls, and the crystalline chandeliers above them. There were no windows in this corridor, so the artificial lights had to be bright to simulate it.

Uo and Hana barely said goodbye when they headed off from Kyo and Tohru; their room was more to the bow than the stern, where Tohru's and Kyo's was.

Tohru looked at Kyo "They don't seem at all happy for some reason?" then it hit her "Maybe I'm not doing enough as a friend! Maybe I should spend some more time with them!"

"No," replied Kyo, not even looking at Tohru, put at the gold numbers embossed upon the doors "If they want to mope, that's their own problem, Tohru. This is your vacation too; you can't let others ruin it for you."

"But it just seems as though they're being really cold to me" replied Tohru, looking down at the carpet luxurious deep-blue carpet.

"It may seem it, but they could just be seasick?" asked Kyo, reassuring Tohru, with a squeeze of the hand "Ah, here we are," he added, looking at the gold '12543' upon a light brown door.

Kyo opened the door with his key-card, and inside made their jaws drop.
The room was all white, with a king-sized bed rested upon the wall, with clean, white linen upon it. The carpet was also white and pure. A chandelier hung above them, which lit up the whole room. A portrait of the ship hung above their bed, sailing into a sunset, a picture-perfect moment.
Opposite to them was a wall full of windows, its curtains lifted in the draft coming through the balcony door. Outside which was a beautiful view of the sea.
Just beside them on the left was a wardrobe and vanity table, suitable for both of them to put their clothes and other accessories in. On the right was a door, leading to the en-suite, complete with a shower, toilet and sink.
Upon the bed lay their suitcases.

"Wow..." said Tohru "I never imagined it to be this... Beautiful."

Kyo grabbed Tohru, and pulled her into an embrace, and embrace she accepted and held onto him.

"I'm so glad your curse was broken," she said, muffled slightly in his shoulder, in which he hugged her tighter "Otherwise we couldn't share this..."

Kyo looked at her, and they kissed passionately... Tohru knew this was going to be the best vacation, ever.

(A/N: Okay, yes, everyone's curses have been lifted in this fic (it's based at some point after volum 22 of the manga). Anyway, next chapter will be up soon. After chapter 5 (the proposed capsizing (or I may change it to later on, I dunno yet)), Outcast will begin again, I promise! Anyway, bye and keep reading!)