A/N: So. I have to apologise. I had this chapter ready last year, but I spent a long, loong time debating about whether I should compile all of Izayoi's and Canaria's adventures in this fic or create a separate fic for them. I've decided that this fic has a definite purpose and thus the other adventures can go into another one (if I ever write about them. Hey, if you want them, give me prompts and I'll do my best). So, while there will probably still be adventures in this story, they will be relevant to the storyline.

Also, I sort of classified this fic as a side project and worked on a bunch of other works, and basically forgot about updating until BakaNekoS reviewed a few days ago. (Did thinking about this story really make you fail your exam?! :o I'm so complimented and so sorry at the same time!)

So I just patched this up and have decided to send it out. I'll try to update faster holy crap I'm so sorry. I know waiting is a pain but I've also got a life and other stories to write so yeah.

Shipwrecked

They bought a ship.

It wasn't big; a deck and a cabin barely wide enough to fit the two of them, two beds, and a stove. They would eat meals on deck of the weather was good and in bed if the weather wasn't. All in all, the arrangement was satisfactory, if they could tolerate being in close proximity with each other for so long.

"We need a name for the ship," Canaria declared.

"Nn," Izayoi agreed, long used to the hag's strange tendency to name everything and anything. "We'll call it the Titanic Number Two."

"Mm. Tempting fate, huh, Izayoi-chan?"

"Oi, oi, they called the Titanic indestructible, you know. The one that sank can be called a prototype."

"If you say so, Izayoi-chan."

Izayoi grinned at her, wild and wide, and laughed. "Come on, stupid hag, don't you want an adventure?"

-x-

Apparently fate was not very good at resisting temptation. Izayoi knew that now.

Canaria was going to laugh when they got out of this.

And they were going to get out of this. They weren't about to drown in some stupid storm, that would be stupid.

A wave slammed against the boat, then there was an impact that rocked the whole ship.

"We hit a rock!" Izayoi yelled. Canaria was clinging to the ship's rocking mast; he needed to get to her before the ship went down.

The ship gave a groaning creak and water spilled onto the deck, sloshing around Izayoi's ankles. He pushed off the wall he was leaning against and struggled towards Canaria, reaching out a hand. He could get her to safety - if he could just grab her hand, he could get them to a lifeboat and they'd be alright-

-the ship groaned again, the entire deck shuddering. The wind shrieked and slammed into Izayoi like a battering ram, and he lost his balance on the ship's wet floor.

Shit. Canaria cried his name with something bordering on terror in her tone, something that really didn't suit that stupid hag, then all he saw was black sky and black water and all he felt was the sickening pull of falling.

He plunged into icy waters; the current tossed him about until he couldn't tell if he was up or down, and there was no time to tell anyway, because he was being thrown about by the waves, tumbling head over heels in salty water that stung his eyes and rushed up his nose.

He couldn't breathe. He kicked desperately, and found himself surrounded by pitch black water, crushingly and mercilessly cold. Wrong way, then; he twisted and kicked out again, and found himself in the grasp of the current, which snatched him up like a rabid dog. Izayoi kicked once more, and his head burst the surface of the water. He sucked in a breath, coughing up water that tasted of salt and sucking in desperate breaths.

He twisted about, but he couldn't see the hag; everything was dark and cold, the sea and sky meshing together into one shade of tar black. He couldn't see the hag's gold hair or her white coat, and he cursed.

"Stupid hag!" He yelled, and the howling wind gobbled up his voice like a beast; a beast that Izayoi could never fight. He snarled, lifted his voice once more. "Canaria!"

No response, just the shrieking wind and gnashing waves.

He struck out and swam towards where he thought the wreckage was. It was too dark to see a thing, and everything was wind and waves; there was nothing to indicate that anyone had ever been there.

"Canaria!"

He couldn't find her.

He kicked out again, swimming blind, hoping beyond hope and calling her name every few minutes. Nothing. Nothing!

He didn't know how long he swam; it didn't matter. What mattered was that he couldn't find the stupid hag, and that he struck land eventually, feet sinking into gritty sand. He stood, stumbled, and suddenly realised that he was exhausted in a way that he'd never been before. The water was only knee-deep; he staggered forward and collapsed onto sandy ground, gasping. Glancing up at the sky, he realised that dawn had broken; the sky was deep blue streaked with pink, and the rain had stopped hours ago. He must have been swimming all night.

If he'd been a normal human, he would have drowned. Izayoi shut his eyes tiredly; the hag wasn't a normal human, either. She was stupid and stubborn, and she wouldn't die so easily.

The hag wouldn't die so easily. She would find the lifeboat on her own. She could get out of there, and as long as she was alive Izayoi could find her.

-x-

He woke up with sand clumped behind his neck and sunshine hot on his face. The sky was blue and the sea was turquoise, and it must have been noon because the sun was glaringly hot above him.

He stood, noting with some surprise that his legs trembled beneath him. He raised his hands; his fingers were pale and shaking. It hadn't occurred to him, the previous night, that he might have contracted hypothermia swimming around in that freezing water.

He supposed it didn't matter. He wouldn't die so easily.

Izayoi shrugged. Food, first, then he would search the island for the hag, just in case. If she wasn't there, then he'd have to go swimming again.

He caught a fish for breakfast, then lit a fire and cooked the fish over it as he warmed himself by the flames. It didn't do much, but it helped, and if he sneezed a few times while doing so there was no one to care.

He burnt the fish, only to bite into it and realise that it was undercooked on the inside. He should probably have gutted the fish before cooking it, too, but he hadn't been sure about what bits were edible and which weren't.

When he found the hag, he would learn how to cook. As it was, he was stuck eating a fish that was black on the outside and bloody on the inside, getting blood around his mouth and grimacing at the squelch of raw flesh coupled with the bitter taste of burnt skin.

Hours and a throat raw from yelling for the hag later, a sunburnt and hungry Izayoi had to concede that there was no way the hag was on the island. Everything was trees and sand and irritating mosquitoes which had apparently made biting Izayoi their purpose in life. There was no technology, no hag, and no other people. Which meant that he had to go swimming.

He laughed; this was interesting, at least. A proper adventure, as long as Canaria wasn't dead - but the hag wouldn't die so easily, and Izayoi refused to dwell on it. He just had to find her, that was all.

Don't you want an adventure?

Izayoi laughed, and wondered for an insane moment if Canaria could manipulate the future. Shelving that for future consideration, he smiled and willed his bloodless fingers to stop trembling, then threw himself into the ocean without a second thought.

-x-

It was dark and it was freezing cold and Izayoi had absolutely no luck whatsoever, because night had fallen and he hadn't found the hag or an island to camp on for the night.

He couldn't see a thing; a low growl escaped his throat. Izayoi did not want to be swimming all night. The water was a biting cold that crept beneath his skin and into his bones, and his teeth chattered incessantly.

He had been swimming all day; he really wanted to go to sleep. Izayoi plunged his head into the freezing water for a moment, forcing himself back to his senses. Sleeping equated to death, and Izayoi was not about to die; not when he had just found a decent playmate.

He was so tired, though, and it grew worse as the night dragged on, his limbs turning to lead and pulling him down. Eventually he realized that he couldn't feel a thing below his elbows - everything was numb with cold. The currents batted him around, pulling at his body with terrible insistence; more than once, a wave slapped into his face and forced salty water up his nose, making him choke.

But he'd wanted an adventure, and this was one, so Izayoi would take what he could get. It was a strange, incessant sort of insistence - a fierce determination to find her himself, the way people would want to finish puzzles before bed or a math question before doing anything else.

A few hours later, Izayoi was past pain and exhaustion and was in a region of: not feeling, not caring. He twisted onto his back and floated leisurely, shutting tired eyes for a moment as he drifted on the tide.

It was relaxing, if not exactly restful. His head dipped under the water periodically, but it was a hell of a lot better than swimming cluelessly. He could just stay this way until morning, when he'd actually be able to see.

When he decided that he had rested enough, Izayoi peeled open eyelids glued shut. The world was dark, the sky a deep blackness and the sea a perfect match. Pinpricks of light shone in the sky, gemstones set in velvety black, and the moon glowed rainbow-white and pearly.

Izayoi sucked in an awed breath, floating insignificantly in the darkness. Waves lapped quietly against him, sloshing in a low lullaby, the tide rocking him slowly. And he thought that maybe he could rest and enjoy the world for a little longer.

The darkness lightened into a deep blue eventually, and Izayoi flipped off his back to begin swimming again. He never wanted to swim again after he got out of the ocean; he was seasick if seasick meant being sick to death of staring out and seeing nothing but the horizon separating the sea and sky, and sick of swimming around with his fingers wrinkling and saltwater in his throat.

The water was still freezing, and Izayoi's hands were a curious shade of white. He kicked faster, figuring that if he headed in a straight line he'd hit land eventually. Water frothed behind him as he cut through the water like a motorboat, and Izayoi grinned. It wasn't so bad; he'd swum in circles the previous day, hoping to find some sign of the ship's wreckage and thus a clue on where the hag was, but it was now clear that he had to find land. He could steal a boat and search for the hag later, after food and a good sleep.

Was that a black form in the distance? Izayoi squinted, hoping that he wasn't hallucinating or delusional.

There was definitely something there, a dark spot against the pink light of the breaking dawn. Izayoi turned and surged towards it, hoping that it was not another stupid, deserted island.

It was a ship, he discovered, his heart leaping in joy at the prospect of a warm bed and warm food. It was a ship-

-and, strangely, it seemed to be coming right at him. Izayoi drew up close and squinted up at the deck, catching a flash of white and gold.

That couldn't be…

But it was just like her. Moments later, he heard the stupid hag's voice; "Izayoi-chan! We came to pick you up!"

Izayoi threw his head back, and laughed.

A/N:

Yes. This is short. Yes, this probably didn't warrant a more-than-half-year's wait. I'm sorry. Really I am.

I hope I didn't screw up their characters! Geez they're really hard to grasp.

Please leave me reviews to tell me what you think? As can be seen by my reaction to BakaNekoS's review, these things are very motivational to me. They fuel my writing and inspiration.