InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Killer In Hindsight ❯ All Washed Up ( Chapter 4 )

“Speech”
`Thoughts'
OOO-flashback
XXX- change in scene or pov
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While they had been talking the rain had let up some. The light pitter-patter of the drops hitting the windows had entranced the duo some time ago and they sat, content, to just watch the rain in silence. However, their little Kodak moment had sadly been brought to an end when Shippou came barreling through the door and into the room, mouth going a mile a minute. Kagome and Inuyasha both jumped at the sudden intrusion and spun around to watch the kitsune continue to rapidly bounce around the small room.

“Shippou, did you get into the fluff jar again?” Kagome frowned at him. Trying to look as innocent as a little kit could with marshmallow fluff smeared all around his mouth, he slowly shook his head `no'. “Shippou, what have I told you about lying?”

“It's bad.” He said kicking at some of the papers on the floor. The captain just sat back and watched mildly amused at what was transpiring before him.

“That's right. And what do we do to bad little kitsune's who lie?” Shippou swallowed hard. Inuyasha was doing a small happy dance in his head. Finally, the kid got busted instead of him. After a couple moments of silence Kagome finally broke out in a rather large, rather maniacal grin.

“We tickle them!” She giggled as she lunged for the smaller demon. A look of absolute horror broke across his face as he tried to make a run for it.

“No Kagome! I promise I won't lie anymore!” the kit screamed as she backed him into a corner.
“Nu uh, you're not gonna get out of it that easily.” She hooked her fingers and started tickling his sides. The silver-haired captain looked on in utter disbelief. How come the kid got tickled when he did something bad but he, the captain of the boat, got chewed out, by the lowly cook no less. It was just wrong.

“Uncle! Uncle!” Shippou screamed through a fit of giggles. Being an older sister Kagome was a master tickler.

“Come on let's go get you cleaned up and start supper.” The raven-haired girl said as she led the small boy out of the room. Inuyasha watched them go `She'd make a good mother someday.' Shaking his head he decided not to dwell on that thought too much.

XXX

Only a couple minutes after Kagome and Shippou had taken cover in the living quarters the heavens opened up and it poured buckets. The newest crewmember couldn't help but feel bad for everyone up on deck. After getting rid of Shippou's marshmallow beard, they made their way into the small living room, where Kagome noticed Jinenji sitting on the couch going through a small gray metal box.

“Hi!” she beamed. He looked up, startled for a second, then his face melted into a handsome smile.

“Hello.” He said softly as he placed the papers in his hand back into the box. Truth be told they hadn't seen each other much over the past week. Jinenji helped out with odd jobs on deck and Kagome spent most of her time in the kitchen. The only time she really saw him was right before bed and sometimes when she got up early in the morning.

“What have you got there?” She asked gesturing towards the box in his hands.

“Oh, it's nothing, just some pictures of home.” He blushed a little; not many of the people on board paid much attention to him.

“Can I see?” Nodding his head, Kagome sat down, as Shippou ran around the room in circles screaming some nonsense about turtles coming to eat him. The first picture he showed was of himself and a young woman. “Who's the girl?” she asked looking up at him.

“My wife.” The doctor said as he touched one of the pictures and gazed upon it softly. It was of himself and his wife standing in front of dock thirteen where Tetsusaiga was depicted in the background.

“She's very beautiful.” Kagome whispered, smiling at him. “What's her name?”

“Maya. We're expecting our first child a month after my return.”

“Congratulations!” the blue-eyed girl said, genuinely happy for him. He was a good man, and would make a fantastic father someday.

“I was going to make some hot-buttered, maple-baked oatmeal for dinner. Would you like to come help?” Shippou tugged and pulled on her arm, making her bob slightly. He still had a lot of sugar in his system. She couldn't wait `till he came down from his sugar high and went to sleep. Yes, she cared about the little monster a great deal but he sure could be a handful sometimes.

“I'd like that.” Jinenji said as he tucked his small box away in one of the hidden drawers under the couch.

XXX

The rain was coming down hard outside and the crew had to yell at the top of their lungs. Their slickers were useless by now, the waves crashing over the boat in combination with the sheets of rain coming down, made it near impossible to stay even the littlest bit dry.

Inuyasha watched from above in his cozy little control room, and he frowned a little. This was going to be a hard one, probably one of the worst any of them had ever faced. No matter what he said to Kagome, this most definitely wasn't going to be a piece of chocolate cake. And from below Sango looked across the boat to Miroku watching him struggle with his own line. At the same time he looked back at her and they both thought the same thing `This is bad.'

XXX

Shippou had fallen asleep a while ago and Jinenji had kindly placed the boy in his bunk for Kagome. The boat rocked hard, back and forth, the girl tripping a little at the rough movements. `I hope Inuyasha's right, and everyone is alright up there.' She thought as another wave caught the side of the boat, throwing Kagome back against the wall. She moaned a little, “Piece of cake my ass”. Venomous thoughts crossed her mind as she was thrown back across to the counter, `that little liar'.

XXX

It was two hours now into the storm and things had only gone from bad to worse. The storm having gotten so horrible that everyone on deck had to go down under, all soaked to their very bones. Inuyasha, being captain and all, had remained up above in the control room. There wasn't much he could do but hope that they would push through the storm unharmed. The seas were harsh, the waves now cresting and crashing down upon the boat.

XXX

Kagome had been more than happy to have everyone down in the living quarters. She had been worried when the Tetsusiaga was practically tipping on its side from the force. She suffered her own bumps and bruises, having been thrown across the cabin several times. She now sported a cut on her left cheek, a rather large bruise on her back, and a few more blue and purple spots adorned her arms.

As she looked around the room she noticed that everyone was faring about the same. Miroku and Sango were sitting in a corner of the living room, Miroku was sporting quite the shiner and a cut across his nose, and Sango was holding a cloth tightly against the large gash across her arm that she had received for grappling with one of the hooks on deck.

Jinenji, having taken up residence huddled against the couch, had a bump the size of a golf ball on his forehead but other than that looking a bit better than the others. Kouga, his back against the counter and his knees locked to hold his feet against the adjacent wall in the “hallway”, held the arm of his dislocated shoulder and other than a small cut on his cheek looked okay. Hiten was curled up in the fetal position behind Jinenji, he never really had liked storms.

Hojo huddled against the other side of the couch holding on for dear life, still soaking for he hadn't changed his clothes like the others, only had a couple bruises but looked ready to piss himself. And Shippou the poor kit, having been thrown from his bunk earlier was huddled against her as she lay underneath the bolted down coffee table. He only suffered a rather sore arm and nice bump on his head too.

Kagome had been taking constant glances at the door waiting for Inuyasha to come running down the steps. Everyone had noticed her nervous glances to the door; cast their own worried glances around the room to each other. It would be hard for him to stay up there, no doubt the pressure from the wind would break the windows soon, even though they had been designed to withhold strong storms, this was different. This was the real deal, a hurricane at its finest.

Miroku had been in hurricanes before, they all had, with the exception of Kagome of course, but none of them had ever encountered any this strong. They could only hope that Inuyasha would know what to do.

XXX

It was official he was scared shitless. He, Inuyasha Taisho, was just about ready to piss…everywhere. He had never seen a storm like this before. The report hadn't even come close to this. “FUCK.”

He reached up on top of the window to grab the steal shutters used to keep the glass from entering the cabin and killing anybody, namely him. Next, he took a hammer and some nails from the bench opposite the controls counter, and a couple pieces of plywood from underneath said module. He hammered the boards into place as best he could; this was the only way to keep the room safe. He figured that now he would have to go down under the deck, into the living space with everyone else, there was no way that he could do anything in this storm.

Turning off the engines and taking the key from the ignition, Inuyasha grabbed a life jacket and a long piece of rope. He tied one end of the rope around his waist, and slipped the life jacket over his head. He stepped outside the door and very nearly got blown back into the room. Using one hand to shield his face and the small door for protection, he had to use every ounce of his demon strength to make it over to the railing. After he had let go of the door, to get to said railing it flew back into place so hard that it splintered, but didn't break.

The rain was coming down in literal buckets, and the half demon was having a hard time just seeing his own hand in front of his face. Taking the other end of his rope he tied it around the railing at the stairs, Inuyasha kept low to the ground as he slowly descended the stairs. Anything that was flush with the ground, wouldn't be swept away by the hurricane and by keeping low, he hoped to avoid that situation. Finally making it down and underneath the stairs, he slowly inched his way over to the door, leading to the inside. About halfway there, he ran out of rope, `Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck!' he thought angrily.

Undoing the knot around his waist, the young captain decided to chance making it to the door, rather than being left there with no shelter. He kept himself flush against the wall, and crept towards the door. Just as he reached the handle, he flung the door open, raced inside and quickly slammed the door shut again.

XXX

Everyone in the small room looked up, having heard the door upstairs slam. The group prayed that the storm hadn't been the one to open it, it would mean a major leak for them, and the last thing they needed was for their living quarters to be flooded. In the next few moments, a series of events happened.

Inuyasha came down through the small opening in the ceiling of the room, and practically tumbled down the stairs. Having noticed his tumble Kagome dashed out from her hiding spot, jumped over Kouga's legs, and ran to his aid. The captain looked up at the worried girl rushing at him and tried to stand, when another enormous wave hit the old boat. Inuyasha slammed back into the stairs behind him and their cook found a nice cozy spot against his very soaked chest. It was an awkward moment for both, until the couple got thrown into the opposite wall, and just barely missed the bathroom door.

Sliding down to come to a rest on the floor, Inuyasha now found himself on top of the girl, as he dripped rain water all over her, soaking the white tank she was wearing just enough that you could see the lacy bra underneath. And for the few moments Kagome was in shock lying underneath him, and he was on top of her, his white hair creating something of a curtain around them, both forgot just for a few seconds that there was a hurricane raging on outside of the boat, and that all of their friends were watching with die-hard interest at what would happen next. Then another wave crashed, and they both went rolling into Kouga's legs, finally coming back down to reality.

“Oomph” was heard from Kouga, when both went rolling into his legs. Inuyasha looked up, apologized to the wolf demon, and helped Kagome to her feet. Her face flaming scarlet from embarrassment. She chanced a glance at Inuyasha, who was looking rather fierce, and mighty fine at the moment if she did say so herself.

But there was a reason for his fierce look. “Why haven't you boarded up the windows yet?” He asked as he glared at the occupants of the room. They all knew the procedure, yet none of them were following it, other than keeping close to the floor and against solid objects.

Striding over to the wall with the portholes, the young captain grabbed some circular boards from one of the droors underneath the couch. Taking out a hammer and nails once again, he set about making the room safer for everyone in it. When he was finished, he found a spot next to Kouga, in the same position, just hoping they could wait it out.

Kagome resumed her position under the table with Shippou, and stared across the small space that separated her from a certain hanyou. `What had just happened? Honestly, was it some kind of breakthrough or something?' She could only wonder as she cast her gaze around the small space. All that was left to do now was wait for this stupid storm to be over and done with and then maybe she could talk to him.

Unfortunately for all occupants of the Tetsusaiga, Mother Nature was not in their favor.

XXX

After another hour of being tossed like a little child's toy in the sea, the group soon became more comfortable with the waves, slowly adjusting to their roughness. They started to relax as it soon died down to a dull roar outside, the rain still coming down hard but the hurricane long gone.

Kagome and Shippou had fallen asleep, Inuyasha and Kouga were just starting to doze off, Jinenji silently prayed from his position, at some point during the storm Hojo had actually wet himself and was currently trying to hide it, Hiten was softly snoring behind the gentle giant, a small stream of drool coming from his mouth, and Miroku had his arm around Sango as she snuggled into his chest.

The boat suddenly gave a sharp lurch, like it had hit something. Knocking those who where sleeping, or falling asleep, from their slumber Kagome and the other's groggily looked around. “What's going' on? What was that?” she mumbled, looking to the captain.

“Stay down here guys, I'll go check it out.” Inuyasha said as he stood up. It seemed as though they had stopped moving, even though they were still experiencing the rocking of the waves. He went up through the door to the room above the living quarters, kicking the life jacket he had used earlier out of the way, he continued on through the swinging door to the lower level deck.

Making it outside, he noticed the skies had cleared up, but there were birds chirping. When you're at sea, you don't hear birds chirp, sure there's the occasional seagull and pelican, but other than that, there shouldn't be any birds. The captain stepped out onto the deck, the humid, damp air, practically suffocating him. When his lungs finally adjusted he stepped out farther, only to see land. An island to be exact. His boat was currently resting upon its white sandy shores. `So that's what that was…' he thought, going back to the slight lurch they had experienced.

He made his way over to the steps, up to the control room and through the door that was now barely hanging on a hinge. It had most definitely seen better days. When he stepped into the control room, it felt like someone had knocked him in the gut, the boards on the windows had splintered, there were wires torn out, and pieces of buttons missing, papers had blown out onto the lower half of the deck and the map that hung on the back wall had been ripped in half, the other half nowhere to be seen.

Inuyasha knelt down and gathered some of the soggy papers. `Damn,' he thought `this storm really did a number on Tetsusaiga…it's gonna cost a bundle to make all the repairs…who knows if she even still runs.'

XXX

Back down in the living room, Jinenji had gotten up, gathered his kit and proceeded to check everyone over. Other than Sango's laceration needing a few stitches, re-locating Kouga's arm, and Shippou's small concussion everyone was okay. They had all made it through, no one died, and to them that was all they could ask for right now.

“Inuyasha's been up there for a while now.” Sango said looking at the stairs.

“Maybe we should go see what's going on up there…” Hojo replied as he tried very hard to disguise the stain on his pants.

“After you change, you stink.” Kouga said from his spot sitting on the countertop. Hojo blushed hard, and stared down at his feet, and then he raced off to get a change of pants not wanting to hear anymore of the demon's harsh words. Kagome glared a little at Kouga and he merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Are we gonna go up there or not?” he asked, jumping down and staring at the rest of the group. Everyone nodded as they made their way up to the deck.

XXX

Things were almost foreign to the group as they looked around. The damage was pretty severe. There were holes in the lower deck from hooks and equipment, or what was left of the equipment. Even though they had tied everything down, there were some things missing. There were papers everywhere, and Kagome bent over to pick one up. Staring at it she noticed it was a map, or well, part of one at least.

When they heard a noise over to their left they saw Inuyasha coming down the stairs, he was looking a little pale, and dare they say it worried? He didn't even look over at them as he started picking up bits and pieces of the control room. The other's soon followed his example in cleaning up the mess.

After the deck looked a little bit better, they all met back down in the living room. Inuyasha took the hammer and pried the nails from the boards and placed them all back into the same drawer he had gotten them from earlier. They all sat around some on the floor, some on the couch, staring at him waiting for their next assignment. From the looks of it they were stranded on a, to their knowledge, deserted island.

The silence was almost deafening as Inuyasha sat down on the couch, ran clawed fingers through his hair, and stared hard at all of them. “Look you guys, I radioed in a mayday. I didn't get a response so we can only hope that someone picked up on it. I can't figure out where we are. This place is most likely uncharted. So it will be a while before anyone can find us.” He blew out a puff of air. “I can't start her up; the windows to the control room are completely gone, or embedded in the shield. Half the cover to the control panel is gone. It's just, a mess. Honestly guys, I don't know what we're gonna do.”

“How about we go and explore the island a bit?” Miroku offered. He too was troubled by the situation, no doubt everyone was, but he figured if they spent some time scouting the island, the other's might loosen up a bit.

After hearing that hey had lost the engines, Kagome got up to check and make sure that the oven and other things still worked. She was greatly relieved to find out they did. They could still cook their meals, but if they ran out of food it wouldn't really do them a whole lot of good. Plus the fact that they would have to reserve the battery for radioing for help. At hearing Miroku's suggestion, she immediately perked. “That sounds like a great idea Miroku.”

They headed up on to the first deck, strode over to the side and all immediately stopped in their tracks; eight faces immediately went ghostly white. It seemed they weren't as alone as they first thought. The rope that usually tied the boat to the dock was wrapped around a palm tree, footprints in the sand leading from the boat, to the tree, and further into the jungle.

“I don't really want to explore the island anymore guys.” Shippou shook behind Kagome.

“Well, if there are people inhabiting this island. They can't be too bad; they did anchor us to shore. If they didn't want us here, they could have shoved us back out to sea.” Sango suggested.

“But what if they want to eat us, and they're only keeping us alive long enough to fatten us up to their liking?!” the small kitsune exclaimed.

“Feh, no one's going to eat anybody runt, you got that? Not as long as I'm here anyway.” Inuyasha said reassuring the tiny demon. Although he appeared tough on the outside, inside he we wasn't so sure of his previous statement, not that he'd admit to it though, there just wasn't something right about this place.

“Okay so, how about we split up into two groups, one takes the left side of the beach and the other goes along the right?” Miroku suggested, trying to think positive and get everyone's minds off the strange happenings.

“I don't really have a good feeling about this place.” Kagome said, a chill running down her spine as goose bumps appeared on her arms and she rubbed them trying to get the little bumps of flesh to go back down. It kind of felt like they were being watched, and it was creeping her out. Truth be told none of them really had a good feeling about the place, but they were stuck until someone realized they were missing.
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End Author’s Note: Okay, so this has to be my least favorite chapter and it’s an important chapter. I just kept repeating myself and I hate that, I tried to fix that but I guess I had nothing really intelligent to say for this chapter. I can’t wait to see what you have to say about this one Emily. Haha.