InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Killer In Hindsight ❯ Setting Out ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha and Company all rights solely belong to the creator. I also don’t own Kitchen-Sink Cookies or any recipe’s that may appear in this and later chapter’s all rights are reserved totally for Tucker Shaw the writer of the book Flavor of The Week.
‘Thoughts’
“Speech”
OOO-Flashback (hopefully there won’t be many, I’m not particularly a fan of them.)
XXX – Break in scene or POV

XXXX
“Hello?” A young male voice asked over the phone.

“Souta? It’s Kagome.” She was currently still bouncing around very much resembling an over excited puppy.
“KAGOME! How are you? Is everything okay? Did you get fired again?”

“Why whatever gave you the impression I may have been fired…again?” She asked laughing a little nervously.

“You only call when you’ve lost another job.” Souta deadpanned. The girl on the other end of the phone only sweat-dropped (anime style of course) at his answer.

“Yeah, I lost another job, and I thought this one was gonna go so well too…” She sighed a little. “BUT,” she came back quickly when she felt the lecture that was coming on; honestly sometimes her brother was a little too mature for his age. “I got another one, I’m working as a cook on a boat.”

“A boat? But why?” his sister didn’t like to even look at anything remotely boat shaped since their father died.

“Well, it was the only decent job I could find that involved me and food, plus you know how bad I am with cleaning or anything else for that matter; I don’t think I could survive if I took anything less. Besides it might be kinda fun, plus it doesn’t hurt that the captain of the ship is a total babe.” Kagome could practically hear her brother roll his eyes at her.

After a couple seconds of silence she heard her brother ask, albeit reluctantly…“So, what kinda boat?”

“A fishing boat. It’s so big, a beast I tell you.” He laughed a little at her comment. “Look, just tell Keade that I’m doing fine and I won’t be back for a couple months, I’ll phone in two weeks. I’ll send you some money when I get the chance. Okay?”

“Fine, Have fun.”

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you too.” He hoped his sister knew what she was getting into.
XXX
At nine in the morning Kagome was ready to go. She had packed enough clothes, hopefully, and was so excited she could hardly sleep. In her bags she had already packed all the spices and seasonings she would need for the trip, clothes, mostly jeans, sweats and t-shirts. ‘I still don’t know how long I’ll be away, Inuyasha never really mentioned that.’

‘Damn you.’ Kagome cursed the clock to hell and back for taking so long. She supposed she could watch some T.V. before she left. Grabbing the remote from the glass coffee table in front of her, she stuffed her feet underneath the yellow throw pillow beside her and clicked the power button. Sigh. Oh the woeful life of a chef she did live.
XXX

Inuyasha was once again pacing across the floor of his quarters. He, being the captain, of course got his own room while the others slept on the bunks that lined the walls just outside his door. He sat down on the end of his bed looking out the small circular window to his right. It was 9:30 and he was bored out of his skull waiting for the clock to turn ten.

Of course being the captain of this fine vessel he had duties he needed to attend to, but he was rather distracted by thoughts of a raven-haired beauty. The half-demon really didn’t think she was anything to be obsessing over so soon, they had only met for all of twenty minutes, at most. But still, last night his dreams had been filled with eyes so blue, they could put the seas to shame and legs for miles. Plus, it helped a little that she made the best damn cookies he had ever had.

Last night Sango had given him an earful about women being equal to men, and all that feminist whatnot. Of course he knew they were but the sea really was no place for a woman, it was rough and cold and incredibly harsh when it wanted to be. Sango knew how to handle all of those things, but this Kagome, she didn’t have all that much experience in the area. They were doing a little more than just throwing out traps.

Glancing, again, at the clock the minute hand slowly ticking toward the 11. Inuyasha decided this was as good a time as any to make sure everything was all set to go, and then he could go and wait for the girl on the docks.
XXX

Eyes opening slowly, Kagome had never even realized she had fallen asleep. Groggily, she wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and turned to see what had awoken her. There sat Bouyo, kneading her stomach with some very sharp claws. Feeling like she had forgotten something, she turned to look at the clock. “SHIT!” The blue-eyed girl scream as she noticed the time. “10:20…Inuyasha’s going to kill me.” She groaned. Quickly throwing the cat onto the floor, Kagome grabbed her bags and her keys, making sure to leave an extra one under the ‘welcome’ mat outside her door for her neighbor. ‘Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit’ the young girl kept chanting in her head, trying to hail one of the speeding yellow cabs.
XXX

“She’s late.” Inuyasha grumbled to the man standing next to him.

“She’s probably stuck in traffic or something.” Nodding his head, his small ponytail at the nape of his neck bobbing a bit. ‘Yeah that’s it, she’s stuck in traffic.’ Miroku thought as he glanced over at the hanyou next to him. ‘Sigh, and I was hoping this morning would get off to a good start. He definitely does not look happy.’

Just then a yellow cab pulled up to a screeching halt just down the dockyard. A rather frantic girl jumping out, with three large bags, throwing her money at the ruffled cabby and yelling “Keep the change!” Kagome ran down the planks of the dock ‘Oh I am in so much trouble’ as she caught sight of a very, disgruntled and pissed off, half-demon. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I am so sorry. I fell asleep watching…”

“I don’t want to hear it, let’s go we’re already forty minutes behind schedule.” The captain grunted. Miroku gave the girl an apologetic look from behind the man. Kagome just nodded her head and followed the two back down the planks and onto the boat.

All of the deck hands stopped what they were doing as they watched the trio step onto the boat. Sango smiled a little at the disheveled young woman and Kagome smiled back, happy to find a friendly female face on board. Hojo blushed a little when she glanced over at him and we waved, shyly, back, and Kouga looked on starry eyed at the girl. Hiten had only come to see what the fuss was about, but silently had to admit that they weren’t so wrong when they said she was pretty. Jinenji stayed back in the shadows but smiled when she looked over at him.

Shippou, being well Shippou, ran up to the girl and stared at her, tugging on her sleeve. “Hi, I’m Shippou. I clean up after these slobs.” Inuyasha ‘feh’d’ and bopped him on the head. “Owww… what’d you do that for?” He groused.

“I’m not a slob.” The captain said glaring at the little kit.

“Aw you poor thing, did he hurt you?” Kagome asked squatting down to the boy’s eye level. Shippou made his eyes as big and teary as he could, sticking his lower lip out in a pout, he nodded his head. “Well I’ll protect you.” She said as she reached into one of the big bags she was still carrying, pulling out some pocky for the little boy. The kitsune grinned up at her as he mentally cheered ‘Yes! Someone else to spoil me.’

“Stop it.” The silver haired captain griped. “Sango does that enough already.” Kagome only turned and blinked at him.

“But he’s just a boy, there’s no need for you to go around clonking him on the head.” She frowned and Inuyasha decided mentally that it was better when she smiled, especially since right now she looked like she was going to beat him. A “Feh” left his mouth in a small puff of air.

Deciding it was time to clear the air, Miroku smiled and offered to take one of her bags. Which she gladly handed off to him. The captain glared at the pervert’s rather cheeky smile and grabbed one of the other bags from the young woman.

Miroku turned to the girl “Well, let’s go get you situated, and then we can introduce everybody, what do you say?”

“Alright.” She was still a little miffed about the hanyou being so rude to little Shippou. The trio turned their attentions back to the task at hand, destination, the galley.
XXX

However, on top…

“Man did you see the legs on that girl? She was gorgeous.” Kouga gushed as he swooned a little against the side of the boat.

“She was rather pretty.” Jinenji added from where he stood. Comments went on back and forth between the guys as Shippou and Sango stood next to each other watching them talk about their new cook.

“I like her.” Shippou suddenly piped up, staring up at the taller girl next to him.

“I like her too.” Sango said as she smiled down at the little red headed kitsune.
XXX

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder…“What the hell have you got in these bags anyway?”

“They are a bit heavy.” Miroku agreed with his captain.

“Well, clothes, and some spices. There’s a blanket in one of them, I used to bring it with me all the time when I went out with my dad.” Kagome suddenly found her feet very interesting yet again. “How long are we going to be gone anyway?”

“Probably four or five months, we’ll dock every two weeks or so to stock up on supplies. Why?” Inuyasha didn’t know that spices weighed so much.

“Oh no reason. I’ll have to call my brother though and tell him. And my neighbor’s, they’re taking care of my cat while I’m gone.”

“You have a cat?” Miroku asked, trying to make conversation with the girl.

“Yeah, Bouyo. He’s a tabby I rescued him from the local animal shelter. Fattest cat in the world, I swear.” Miroku laughed a little, turning back he whispered, “Inuyasha’s not much of a cat person.” Said half-demon’s ear twitched back in their direction and Kagome suddenly had the urge to touch them. Blushing, she quickly banished the thought.

“It’s not much, but here’s home for the next couple months.” Miroku said as he gestured to the small kitchen to the right of them at the bottom of the stairs and the bunks to the left.

Inuyasha grunted and set her bag down by one of the bunks, Miroku following his actions. Kagome took the few steps over to them and did the same, looking around. From what she could see there were nine bunks, three from floor to ceiling, six on the right wall and another three on the left. They were a bit smaller than a twin bed with maroonish colored curtains hanging on each. Pulling back the said curtain, she peeked in and saw the bed already made with a pillow, and blankets and sheets the same color as the curtain. Underneath was a drawer where some clothes already resided; a small spot had been made for her. Further down the hall she saw a door, and Miroku noticing her stare, “That’s where Inuyasha sleeps.”

Left of the bunks was a small closet and three rows of drawers across and down, most of them had been labeled with the crew members names, one drawer closest to the cots, in the middle, had her name on it.

“You can put your clothes in here later.” Inuyasha groused, stepping over the pile of bags he motioned for her to follow, “Come on I’ll give you the grand tour, as I guess you’ve figured out, you’ll be sleeping on that bunk on the bottom. “ Kagome nodded for him to continue.

They were now facing in the direction of the tiny kitchen and on their right were the steps that would lead back up to the deck. “On the left is where we eat,” and indeed there was a rectangular table with a booth seat that wrapped around one side and the entire width of the table. Above it where some cupboards and a couple drawers.

Motioning further on the left to a door, Inuyasha continued with his tour “That’s the bathroom. Only ten minutes in the shower at a time, not like we have an abundance of hot water here. To your right is the pantry, it’s kinda empty right now but we’re going shopping later.” The young girl nodded when the captain looked back at her, Miroku right behind her. “Walking a little bit farther in we have the kitchen, as you can see it’s not very big.”

Indeed it was not very big, in fact it only consisted of a small counterspace in an L shape before there was the wall, with a refrigerator built into it so as not to take up too much space, next to the fridge was a microwave (also built into the wall) and another pantry and then the wall that currently came up beside them. Kagome walked around the small ledge of counter that was sticking out and underneath was the oven, the stovetop set into the counter above it. Then on the longer space of counter was a small sink, and underneath that were some cupboards.

‘This will do. Not exactly top of the line, but it’s kinda nice…hey beggars can’t be chooser’s, right?’ Kagome thought with a small smile, nodding her head. The linoleum on the floor was a little tacky but the stained oak walls of the entire boat gave it a rustic, if not homey, kind of feel.

“Come on, there’s still a some more.” Miroku said, smiling as he watched the girl running her fingers over the counter top and opening up the fridge to explore a little more. Kagome popped back out of the fridge so fast that for a second the boy’s thought she might have hurt herself. Smiling sheepishly with her cheeks tinged a little red; Kagome came out from behind the counter space to follow the men.

There was a small walkway that opened up to a larger kind of living area. Complete with couch, the same dark blue carpeting as the rest of the boat, and a sort of coffee table thing in the middle. There were pictures hung on the walls of the various crewmembers, with fish they had caught, or some family member. Walking around the small room she notice the coffee table bolted to the floor, as was the couch. A couple porthole windows’s lined the back wall where the couch was set.

“It’s…. nice.” Kagome said as she plopped herself onto said couch. It wasn’t so bad a little lumpy and the pukey green color didn’t really do anything for her, but it was still nice. Miroku winked at the girl saying, “You’ll learn to call it home soon enough.”

Inuyasha had been leaning back on the wall the entire time, watching the girl as she explored their little abode. When Miroku spoke up he smirked a little. It definitely wasn’t much but he loved it. It was his baby. Then Kagome asked something he really didn’t expect to hear.

“What’s her name?” referring to the boat. Our silver-haired captain was startled out of his reverie. Looking at the girl a little funny he replied, “Tetsusaiga. I inherited her from my dad, she’s been in the family for generations.”

“You can really see all the hard work you’ve put into this.” Silently referring to how nicely the vessel had been put together. It really was quite a piece of art. Even if the inside wasn’t the prettiest or the outside for that matter. You could tell she was strong and she had faired quite a few storms in her day. Miroku saw the intense stares the two were giving each other and decided he ought to step in.

“Alright let’s get you upstairs and introduced to everybody post haste.” He said stepping into their line of vision and smiling widely. Kagome blinked a couple times and stood up. Inuyasha quickly averted his gaze to the clock on the wall behind the girl.

“No time Miroku. We’re going to have to do it later. Me and the wench have some shopping to do. It’s already twelve.”

“Fine, if you must.” Miroku hung his head as though he was disappointed when really he was trying to hide his ever-growing smile. ‘Poor Miroku he looks so sad…. wait…did he just call me a wench?’ Kagome thought angrily, trying to glare at the captain around Miroku.

“You take that back you pig! My name is Kagome…Ka-go-me! You got it?!” ‘Darned gorgeous hanyou’s with their little doggy ear’s and pretty hair,’ Kagome sulked.

“Feh, whatever let’s just get going.” Darned hanyou said as he reached around Miroku to grab the girl, storming up the steps to the deck dragging her behind him.

When Miroku was finally alone, he couldn’t help it, he just started laughing, rather hysterically mind you. ‘There’s so much sexual tension between those two and they don’t even know it!’ He thought. And that was exactly how Sango found him a couple minutes later, on the floor giggling…like a maniac.
XXX

“Have you got a list?” the half-demon asked Kagome as he continued to drag her down the waterfront.

“Um, no not really. I didn’t know how much space I would have to store food so I didn’t really think of making one. But I do have a couple things in mind.” Quite honestly the man’s barbaric nature was starting to piss her off, and she was out of breath. He walked too damn fast.

“Fine. Whatever. Would ya hurry it up already?” The girl was slowing him down. They had a schedule to keep.
XXX

Barely making it to the store alive, a very disheveled Kagome walked through the doors of the local market. The air-conditioning had goose bumps all up her arms in a matter of seconds. Walking through the store she picked up what she thought she might need and what she thought she had room for in her new cooking space.

‘Flour, sugar, baking soda, butter, eggs, bacon, some rhubarb, tea bags, green peppers, carrots, old fashioned oats, maple syrup, raisins, olive oil, onions, garlic, cheese, chicken stock, hmmm…what else do I need?’ Kagome ticked off the things in her head and Inuyasha looked on a little strangely thinking, ‘What the hell? What’s she going to do with sweetened condensed milk? Well chocolate chips…at least there’s something I know I’ll like…. more tomato’s…balsamic vinegar? Figs? What’s this girl trying to do…kill us?’ And instead of keeping the rest to himself Inuyasha decided it was about time to set things straight.

“Uh, what exactly are you gonna make with artichoke hearts? Or what are those things?”

“They’re called leeks Inuyasha, and I plan on cooking them. You’ll see.”

“But there’s no real meat. We are carnivores, we need meat to survive. Besides, we’re going to be gone for two weeks before we dock in port, we can’t just live off of vegetables the entire time.”

“Inuyasha, I am the cook here. I may have forgot to mention, I’m a bit of a health freak but I know what I’m doing. Don’t worry so much. Now where was I? Oh yes heavy cream, pears, blackberry jelly, some ladyfingers…” Inuysha blanched at the fingers. “No Inuyasha, they’re not real fingers.” Kagome said, knowing the question that was coming.

“Are you done yet?” The half-demon captain asked her; to tell the truth he was a little anxious to get back to his boat.

“Yep, that should be about it, all we need to do now is check out.”

“Finally.” Inuyasha huffed.
XXX

They had finally made it back to the boat and Miroku and the others were now helping Kagome and the grouchy captain put away some of the groceries. It had taken quite a while to get all the bags down in the living area. And then there was the problem of where they were going to put all of it.

As it was, they had just finished putting the last of the things into the fridge and the raven-haired girl was sorting through her spices, categorizing them alphabetically. Inuyasha sat on the couch further down in, and the other’s sat around him in folding chairs, on the floor, or on the couch with him, watching as Kagome went through the task of putting away all of her spices in alphabetical order.

The introductions having already been made, and the new cook now knowing everyone’s names Kouga decided it was time to take action. He was going to claim his woman. Smiling rather smugly he walked up to the counter and popped his head over the side. Kagome was sitting on the linoleum floor storing some of the sugar for later on. She ‘eep’d’ in surprise when she looked up only to come face to face with one very roguish wolf demon.

“Uh, hello Kouga. Can I help you?” She asked as he stared at her longingly.

“I think so Kagome, I think so.” He smiled again, this time one of his fangs peeking out over his lip. The girl on the floor shivered a little at the intensity of his gaze. The captain now noticing Kouga hitting on the new cook already, figured he should put an immediate stop to it right away. Walking over, he pulled the wolf back by his collar.

“And just what do you think you’re doing wolf?” Inuyasha growled at him, looking rather feral.

“Just talking to MY woman.”

The captain quirked an eyebrow. “Your woman?”

“Excuse me?” A raven-haired head popped over the side of the counter, glaring at Kouga.

“That’s right, I’ve decided to give you the pleasure of being MY woman.” The wolf just didn’t know when to quit.

“I don’t think so.” Kagome said as she stood to her full height of five feet three inches. “I am no one’s woman.” She spit the word out like it was vile.

“Yes you are. You’re my woman.”

“Didn’t you just hear her you stupid wolf? She said she ain’t your woman. So back off.” Inuyasha was starting to get a little frustrated. Here Kouga was, thinking he could just lay claim to Kagome like she was his property.

The rest of the group sat by watching silently in amusement as Kouga continued to claim Kagome as his woman, Kagome continuing to refuse, and Inuyasha just getting plain old pissed off. The fun was just beginning.
XXX

A couple hours later around four o’ clock, even though the group was two hours behind schedule they set off. Watching the other’s pull in the ropes and push off from the dock, Kagome sat on the upper level deck of the vessel in something of a daze. Two cups of hot cocoa in her hands she dared to venture inside the wheelhouse. There sat Inuyasha in all his glory, white hair pulled back low at the nape of his neck, black sweatshirt sadly covering his muscular figure, blue jeans, and oddly enough, bare foot.

She sat beside him in a chair and silently handed him his steaming cup of cocoa. Earlier she had called her brother and told him how long she would be gone. He had been a little upset at not having gotten to see her before she left but there was nothing she could do about it now. As she sat there, she thought about what she would make for dinner and quietly studied the captain’s profile out of the corner of her eye. He really was one odd individual.

He had been giving orders over the PA when Kagome had come in with a mug of cocoa. He really hadn’t expected to hire a woman to cook. But they had no choice in the matter now. He was going to have to trust her to cook some half-decent meals even if there was no real meat. She handed him the cocoa and sat down in the dark blue leather chair next to him. He watched as she twisted from side to side in the spinning chair.

He studied her out of his peripheral vision. She didn’t wear any make-up, which was nice. She had on a yellow cotton long sleeve shirt that really brought out the blue in her eyes and made her skin practically glow, it almost clung to her like a second skin and it was thin enough that he could tell she was wearing a red bra underneath. He smirked, red had always been his favorite color. Her jeans were a little baggy with holes torn in the knees but she did look really good. All the way from her black and hot pink sneakers to her ponytail. He could definitely see why Kouga would want to claim her. Not to mention the way she smelled, like jasmine, vanilla, and those fantastic cookies she had brought him yesterday. It was quite enticing. He couldn’t wait for the adventure to begin.