InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Parallel Dimensional Fairytale ❯ More Blood, and Booze ( Chapter 13 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A Parallel Dimensional Fairytale

OO O OO

Chapter 13

More Blood, Birds and Booze

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

OO O OO

Kagome braced herself for the onslaught of bitter cold she thought was sure to come, since the ship sailed the northern seas. Luckily, she was burning with a livid fire of ire that would sufficiently warm more than one person, or, on second thought, burn certain people to whimpering ashes. Why was he so... like that?! Who did he think he was fooling, pretending what had happened in that dimension wasn't bothering him? Because it was plain to see it did, even to someone who didn't really know him. This, Kagome sighed, was probably the core of her anger, not Inuyasha himself. If she didn't know Inuyasha, it certainly wasn't because she hadn't made some pitiful attempts at getting to know him. And every time she thought a little progress might have been made he said and did things that didn't fit her picture of him at all. Which created a whole other picture, that of someone either very moody or unstable... or both.

She was certainly very curious about him, or nosy, as he would have put it, but it wasn't every day that an averageling like herself met someone who was that different. And that wasn't about his mixed heritage but about the long life he lived, and the miracle that he managed to stay so, well, immature through it, or the reasons why he was so violent, and somehow seemed so haunted at times, or why he thought so little of himself. Right. Maybe she was being overly curious, just maybe. Considering he repeatedly showed that he had no interest in her beyond what one might call a professional one, he sure occupied a lot of her thoughts.

Kagome sighed a second time, and mid sigh she became fully physical. It turned out she needn't have worried about the cold, not yet anyway, because she came to in an incredibly small room, largely occupied by stacks of large sacks along the walls and a heap of fur right under a very small, round window at the far end of the room. The next thing she noted was the swaying, which, she immediately decided, she better get used to while sitting down on the stool that stood at the centre.

Was this where her counterpart slept?. When she discovered a faded pillow in the furs she was sure at least someonewas. She looked around for some hint on the inhabitant but spotted nothing at first. When she considered it safe to stand up again though, she found a chest in the right hand corner, half hidden behind the sacks that seemed to contain rice, if she didn't mistake the smell. The chest was tied to the floor with a string, and opened with one of the keys on the key ring hanging on a nail in the wall. Inside were two books, a smaller, carved box and clothes that looked to be her counterpart's size. She was fully convinced these were indeed a woman's possessions when, underneath all that, she found a pair of worn looking silk stockings and an equally old gray silk corsage. Unless of course one of the pirates was prone to crossdressing. But even then, Kagome remembered, they might still belong to the cook's wife.

Since she surely wouldn't find out about anything if she didn't leave this room, she closed the chest again and opened the door. Or rather tried, then realized it was locked, and managed to unlock it with another of the keys. The door led out into a low and narrow corridor lined with other doors on both sides. She made her way along and realized that it went in a semi circle around several larger rooms in the middle, one of which was the galley, she guessed by the smell of things burning, fish and cooked rice. Several stairs finally allowed Kagome to step out onto the deck, where she was greeted with the expected cold. And jeez, but it was freezing! She only spared a fraction of a glance at the men going about their maritime business all around before she hastened back down, and into the room she came to in, determined to put on every last piece of clothing she would find, regardless of whom it really belonged to.

A few sizes larger she stepped out onto the deck again and right into general yelling and running about. Several people had clustered at one side of the railing and were pointing agitatedly at something beyond. Kagome timidly inched closer. Miroku's words still rung in her head as she looked from one tall, surprisingly scantly clad, wild looking man to the other. "Wolf youkai generally aren't above eating humans..."

She tried to sneak a look around the bulk of them but all she saw was dark gray water with whips of foam. Then the turmoil rose as a rope with a large ring attached was handed though and thrown at something just outside Kagome's sight. Even more yelling ensued, when several people agreed that whoever had thrown the rope, was a stupid fuck and never did anything right, to which someone, probably the accused, responded that they all were even stupider fucks who didn't have the balls to do anything without orders from above, which set loose a furious banter that ended abruptly when another person pointed out, yelling, that someone else had gripped the rope and why were none of them idiots pulling already.

Kagome hurried aside as the mob cleared to make space for the wet mass of shades of gray that one of the pirates, one with excessive face markings, or tattoos, that vaguely reminded Kagome of that eighties horror film she'd seen some time ago, heaved over the railing.

But, her fascination with the eccentric style of the pirates, that included these tattoos and spiky hair, fur, rather random pieces of armor, scars of all kinds and... tails?, only lasted until she realized that the blob now lying in the center of the youkai’s' attention, was firstly human..oid, and secondly looked a lot like... "Inuyasha!"

Her yell was out before she'd considered the consequences, and some of the men turned towards her. "What was that, human? Do you know this mutt?" one of them, who looked menacing in a rusty breast plate that barely seemed to be fit to contain his bulging muscles, asked her brusquely. Kagome was horrified, and struggled for a response.

"I've never seen that woman before, get a grip," suddenly explained a rough voice. Kagome peered past the youkai who'd addressed her to find Inuyasha, if he were Inuyasha, now standing and nonchalantly fumbling with the mass of hair insistently sticking to his face.

The bulgy youkai, who seemed to be something like a spokesman for the rest, or felt in charge because he was the strongest, whipped around and started a futile attempt at towering over the newcomer. But the supposedly intimidated didn't even flinch. "And just who are you, to come up here like the pathetic filth you are and behave like the captain himself?" the youkai growled.

"Who wants to know?" the other guy, who Kagome was convinced was Inuyasha's counterpart, now that he'd overwhelmed his hair to reveal a cocky expression and triangular dog ears, growled back.

Several gasps sounded from the rows of pirates that had been silent with anticipation. And, Kagome was inclined to agree. That youkai did not look like he liked to be messed with. Inuyasha did not look very capable of taking him on, even if he weren't still very blue around the lips and swaying a bit, because the other man was visibly a lot stronger. But, it was too late. "I'll smash that cocky expression off your face, hanyou, and then I'll throw you back into the sea. We'll see how big a mouth you've got then." The youkai tensed, shifting feet into what Kagome guessed was a fighting stance.

Inuyasha grinned, resting his hands on his hips. “Come on then. Try."

Kagome wanted to strangle him. That stupid, cocky idiot! She was about to intervene when another voice sounded from somewhere behind.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Horoto."

Heads whipped around, towards a man with a high black ponytail, a fuzzy headband and a breastplate that looked shinier than the others'. He stood at the railing of the higher part at the rear of the ship below which Kagome's supposed room lay and was smirking down at them.

"What?" the huge youkai groused, "Why the fuck not, Kouga-sama?"

The addressee’s smirk widened as he leaped over the railing easily and right into the circle of pirates. So this was the keen first mate Miroku had made them aware of. He didn't look too bad, Kagome thought.

"Because," he explained calmly, with a note of amusement, resting a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, "if I'm not mistaken, our friend here is none other than the infamous Han-hu, terror of the eastern seas."

Gasping abounded. Kagome listened intently as the youkai called Kouga continued. "Or ex terror. As far as I'm informed he was persecuted rather severely in his quadrant and obviously he was overtaken at last, because why else would he grace us with his presence here?"

Irritation surged through Kouga's face when Inuyasha beat away his hand. But, he didn't comment, just asked "Well, am I right?"

"Who wants to know?" Inuyasha asked again, clearly out of spite, since he must have guessed, just like Kagome, who Kouga was.

Irritation flared into anger on Kouga's face, but the huge youkai from before, Horuto, or something, cut in. "Kouga-sama, even if he is who you suspect he is, you can't let him talk like that."

Within seconds, the outraged youkai was lying on the ground, groaning, holding his smitten face. "What I can, and can't do, Horoto, is none of your business," the Kouga guy explained, deadly calm, all the while never taking his eyes off Inuyasha, who was glowering back fiercely.

"Answer now, hanyou! Are you the pirate known as Han-hu?"

"What if I am?" Inuyasha said defensively.

"In that case," Kouga explained in a forced matter of fact tone, "I'll kindly offer you a post in my crew. After you've passed a little test, of course."

Inuyasha's eyes suddenly locked with Kagome's, who'd followed the exchange with a rising feeling of dread. He drew up an eyebrow, questioningly. Kagome looked back dimly until she got it. Then she nodded hesitatingly. But, of course, he'd have to join the crew of they wanted to succeed in getting their hand on the shard; what was he asking her for? She still nodded.

"Well, yeah, I'm that guy. Now what?"

Animated chatter broke out amongst the pirates but was ended by a loud bellow from Kouga, "Silence!" and turning back to Inuyasha he elaborated, "Now, as for your test..." he tapped his chin with a finger. Then he turned towards the rear and yelled, "Seotsu! Come up here!"

Gasping abounded again, and Kagome was, despite the worrying circumstances, beginning to suspect that this mob of pirates was not one of the brightest. There was only so much gasping you could do before you came across as a little dimwitted.

Then, from a hatch by the mast, a giant emerged. Kagome gasped, right into the anticipating silence that had befallen the crew when the huge youkai, who wasn't wearing any armor, probably because none fit, and was covered in shaggy furs instead, the same mud brown color as his spiky hair, slowly drew close. He had face markings consisting of two large black rhomboids around his eyes, and they stretched as he drew up his eyebrows and asked in an unfittingly clear voice, "Aye, Kouga-sama?"

"This man here," Kouga explained, "claims to be the infamous Han-hu, terror of the eastern seas. We agree that he should prove his words."

"I understand,” the large youkai answered, already sizing Inuyasha up. “A pleasure." The sized up glanced back at the man that was easily more than a head taller than he was, and smirked.

"That's your test? I defeat this pussy and I'm in? A pleasure indeed."

No. No. No. No. Why did Inuyasha have to be so damn obstinate and difficult every time a situation required diplomacy? Why? Even if there was no way around fighting, what use was there in making enemies with the rest of the crew by calling a guy who was probably the strongest of them names? But, what was a girl to do to save the situation, when she was surrounded by fierce looking wolf youkai? Who were “Not above eating humans.”

Not that there would have been time to do so anyway. Before another word was spoken, Inuyasha leaped up, knocking the huge man through several people and into the mast with a massive kick.

Everyone sped away to make room for the fight, and Kagome was swept along, right up onto the cabin house at the back of the ship. The large youkai had shrugged the kick off easily and was now charging Inuyasha. But, he evaded the punch the youkai threw at him by nonchalantly jumping over him, against the mast, from where he propelled himself into the back of the other with both his feet. The giant crashed into the railing, which groaned with the strain, and fell onto his back. Inuyasha was onto him immediately, and in a blur of punches so fast Kagome failed to count them, hit several vulnerable places until the youkai's head crashed onto the deck as he lost consciousness. Inuyasha stood, his face white, and stumbled over to the mast to lean against it.

"Will that do?" he asked, sounding more meek than conceited now.

Kouga leaped down to his fallen companion, prodding him with a foot. His crew members followed slowly, dragging Kagome along yet again, since she had no choice but to walk if she didn't want anyone to bump into her. Which she didn't want at all.

The wolf pirate first mate turned towards the still stark white Inuyasha. "I should think so. Your movements seemed a bit sluggish but I'll put that down to the freeze. You're in," he answered, and despite the criticism there was something in his voice which Kagome thought was awe, although that might have been an over-interpretation on her side, just because she was so impressed herself.

"Human!" Kouga suddenly bellowed and it took her a while to make the connection.

"Yes?" she answered, on a second thought adding "Kouga-sama?"

"Take our new deck boy below deck and get him warm. Attend to him. It may well be that we'll need him in top form soon enough."

"Yes, Kouga-sama," she answered obediently, and waited for Inuyasha to come staggering to her. Then she grabbed his arm to steady him and guided him down into her 'cabin'. She waited outside while he took off his wet and salty clothes and when he said to come in he was lying under the window with the several furs and pieces of cloth that made up the bed.

"Those fucking motherfuckers," he groaned, eyes closed.

"Who? The pirates?" Kagome asked absently, sitting down on the stool. And not looking at the gray and blue heap of clothes on the ground besides her. And not thinking about where the clothes were definitely not to be found, right at the moment.

"No, dammit, that bitch and her slimy fuck! They fucking did it again!"

"You mean that you were thrown into the dimension while your counterpart was drifting in ice water?" Kagome concluded, guessing that the 'bitch and her slimy fuck' were Sango and Miroku.

"Damn right. I was fucking freezing to death out there. It feels like my- Whatever, they're dead, at least that Miroku is."

Kagome felt telling him to calm down would not aid the matter, just direct his anger at her, and so she let him rant. But during the time she half listened to his odd mutterings she recalled that this person in front of her had been the subject of her own severe irritation not so long ago. She'd just been so busy worrying about him that she'd almost forgotten. Which Inuyasha seemed to have realized, too.

"At least you're looking at me again. What was that about, anyway?" he blurted out just when she felt her eyebrows draw together in a frown.

"Hm?" she asked, then, recalling his question, decided to give him some of his own medicine. "Oh, nothing, nothing important. Now, are you hungry?"

"Don't give me that shit! You were bitchy as hell, and even you don't do that without a reason!" he supported himself on his elbows, glaring at her. "And yeah, I'm starving."

Kagome, standing, was tempted to tell him, but then thought better of it, since she might end up telling him about her odd interest in him that way. "I'll see what I can do for you in the kitchen. Stay here."

And she walked out of the room, just taking her hand off the handle inside when it was opened again to reveal a still very pale Inuyasha, but it was hard to tell whether the color came from the cold or from temper. He'd slung one of the pelts around his hips and looked very Neanderthal, which fit his yelling quite well. "Don't you dare walk out on me; I want to know!"

"Why?" Kagome asked, thinking that maybe he was a bit too eager to know, just like she felt too curious about him. And she was right.
He sputtered, blushed, fumbled with the fur and then growled "Whatever."

Kagome opened the door to the kitchens and motioned for him to get back inside her cabin. "Then there's nothing to tell. Now go on back and get warm. I'll get you something to eat."

More sputtering, then grumbling, then Inuyasha grudgingly retreated into her cabin. Inside the galley Kagome met the other two humans aboard, the cook and his wife. Neither was very talkative, just stopped their vegetable chopping when she told them about the hungry newcomer and presented her with a bowl of pickles and fish, and a large rice ball. Kagome thanked them, at which they looked at her a bit perplexedly, and carried the food back to her cabin.
Inuyasha was, thankfully, fully covered again and glowered at her, his nose barely sticking out from under the furs. Kagome placed the tray on the stool and sat down on the ground. Inuyasha immediately dug into the food with fervor, mumbling what sounded like a gruff, "Thanks," between bites.

When he was done eating he sank back into the bed, sighing contently and turning his rice adorned face towards her. "So have you found out anything useful yet? Like where the captain's cabin is?" he demanded, and Kagome, sternly ignoring the urge to go tut-tut, and brush the rice off his face, admitted "No, I'd just reached the deck when they spotted you, and after that there was no time. But-" she hesitated, her wariness concerning the pirates not yet forgotten, "I guess I could go now, and look around a bit, while you're warming up here."

"I'll go with you, I'm warm enough." Inuyasha explained, pushing himself up so that the furs slowly glided off. He glanced down at himself, halting just in time. "But I guess I'll need clothes. D'you have any spare?"

After several embarrassing minutes during which Inuyasha declared her an utter wimp for wearing all the clothing her counterpart possessed and refusing to part with any of it, Kagome went back to the kitchen to ask the cook and his wife for spare clothing. They gave her the same puzzled look, then told her, implying that she ought to know, that there were plenty spare clothes in the storage room under the mess room under the main deck. Kagome swished off, cursing herself for being so undiplomatic again, and walked out to look for the way down to the storage room. There was a hatch close to the mast, held open by a stick, and Kagome climbed right in. Although some youkai were about everywhere, thankfully, none of them seemed to pay any attention to her, and Kagome got past the rows of hammocks, down another ladder into the storage rooms unhindered. There were indeed lots of clothes in several chests but most of them did not look fit for daily work on a ship. They were rich silk and brocade garments, probably booty from the pirates' raids. At last, Kagome found a box of plain trousers and shirts, some with very unsettling faded red brown spots or tears. She chose a pair that looked the right size and, she shuddered, not like it had been stolen off a mutilated corpse, and made her way up again, casting glances at the crew as she went. Yet again, no one interfered, accusing her of theft or whatever.

Kagome hopped down the stairs to the cabin corridor to be intercepted by a fur clad Inuyasha, who furiously demanded what the fuck had taken her so long. She ushered him back into the cabin, telling him to calm down already, since nothing had happened, and handed him the clothes. He complained but she shut the door on him, and he opened it again in no time, fully dressed this time and still grumbling.

They set off for the deck, where suddenly they were the center of attention, or Inuyasha was. Kouga appeared behind them, giving Kagome quite a scare when he spoke up "Welcome aboard then, hanyou."

As if that had been a general cue, suddenly everyone who was not busy doing something important stormed in on them, bombarding Inuyasha with questions.

"What happened to your ship?"

"Who nailed you?"

"What about your crew?"

Inuyasha shot fierce glares at everyone and they backed off a bit hurriedly, but the questioning didn't cease. So, he looked at Kagome helplessly, but she shrugged. She had no idea what he could tell them either. "Make something up" she mouthed, tapping her temple with a finger, and he nodded slowly. Then he began telling quite a phantasmagoric tale.

"Yeah, well, my ship's gone, those fuckers shot it to toothpicks. I think they had magicians, or battle priests of some kind, who kept turning the wind to their advantage, it was a fucking nightmare, I can tell you. I don't think anyone but me survived, lots were torn apart by magic blasts, that kind of thing. And who it was, honestly, I've no idea. Not the government, I'm sure, except if they've a new branch that messes with battle magic."

But, to Kagome's perplexity, they seemed to buy it. Battle magicians? What the heck?

"Battle magic you say?" Kouga mused, "Well, that could mean trouble for us, too, especially if it weren't those inept fools of the northern hemispheric government." He turned to a shipmate, one with a spiky mohawk. "Who's up in the crow's nest right now, Hakkaku?"
"I think that's Moko up there, Kouga-sama." supplied another.

"Yup," agreed the pirate called Hakkaku. "And Lo-hei on the Bloodcherry, Ginta on the Den and the newbie boy on the Windchild."

Kagome wondered about the funny names, right until Kouga told the Hakkaku guy to tell the Windchild to get a pro up there, right this instant, and every ship to shorten shifts so there would always an able and fully awake lookout. Then Kagome remembered that Miroku had told them the wolf youkai had a fleet of ships. And, indeed, as she peered past the billowing sails she spotted a ship rather close ahead. The other two were probably somewhere behind them.

The small mob of men cleared slowly, each returning to whatever tasks had them occupied before, until only Kouga, Inuyasha and Kagome were left standing there. "If what you say is true, hanyou," Kouga explained his measures to Inuyasha, "we may well be in danger of attack too. And since my father's not with us right now we're one ship and thirty men short so it's quite a streak of luck that you happened to drop by."

"Your father's not here?" Inuyasha blurted out, while Kagome suddenly realized that she was indeed not feeling a shard close by. But, with all the commotion earlier and the bickering with Inuyasha she just hadn't payed attention.

Kouga shook his head no. "Why?"

"Well... It seems a bit odd to join a crew without the captain knowing," Inuyasha said lamely.

Kouga sized him up irritatedly. "I'm captain as long as he's gone, so that'll be alright. He stayed behind at home because the new ship we captured, a southern galleon type, needs various adjustments. And he's still the most capable builder we have. We'll meet up with him soon, though, in about two weeks. And I think he will be well pleased with the catch I made. A strong man in the crew is worth his weight in diamonds."

"Whatever," Inuyasha commented, looking grim for some reason. "So, have you anything for me to do now?"

Kouga drew up an eyebrow at that and tapped his chin. "Not really, but we are on our way to a trade route up west, so there might be work later on. Rest till then, or whatever. There are spare hammocks for the mess somewhere, ask Taro, he should be down in the storage rooms by now."

"But you, human, don't you have cleaning to do?" he suddenly turned on Kagome; "You're just standing around here, that's certainly not what we're providing you with food and shelter for!"

Kagome jerked, fearful at being addressed by him so abruptly again, and hurried off with a bow, thinking that, revolting as it was, obedience was key here.

Inuyasha joined her in her cabin a little later, when she was busy spreading his still clammy clothes on the floor so they would dry. But there was just not enough room to fit the trousers completely, tiny as the space between the sacks was.

"So are you feeling the shard somewhere?" greeted Inuyasha.

Kagome got up from the floor to make room for him, superfluously, since he leaped onto the furs directly.

"No, I'm not feeling anything. The captain probably has the shard with him."

"Damn."

"Yup." Kagome sat down on the stool, exasperated.

"I don't get those two," Inuyasha growled.

"Who, now, Sango and Miroku?"

"Yeah, I mean, why would they send us into this dimension if the shard's not close by, and there's no way of getting close to it in the near future either? That's just stupid."

"That's true. I mean, I thought it was supposed to be really exhausting for Sango to keep our souls fused with our counterparts'. And they do seem to know everything about each dimension, so why do they do it?"

Inuyasha nodded, "And I don't think they just overlooked an important detail like that. So what's that crap all about?" They looked at each other, puzzled, but they just had no idea.

"I guess we're in for a long stay this time," Kagome concluded, getting up. "So I'll go and see what my counterpart normally does, or else I might be kicked off the ship for all I know," she half joked, half voiced her fears. "Maybe you could go mingle, and find out something about the shard."

Inuyasha did not look too eager, but got up anyway. "I'll see what I can do." As they parted ways in the corridor and Kagome was about to walk into the kitchen he suddenly called out to her, scratching the back of his neck hesitatingly

"Huh?" Kagome inquired.

"Well, if there's really any repairing to do, you know, I can, like, help you."

Kagome smiled. "That's nice of you to offer. Thanks."

He smirked suddenly, "Well, we don't want your klutziness messing with your counterpart's life, do we?"

She glared. To think that she'd thought he was being nice for once. "Witty. Thanks anyway," and she burst into the kitchen. OO O OO

Figuring that the cook and his wife would realize something was off about her sooner or later she went right ahead and told them she'd fallen and hit her head earlier that day, and was now a bit hazy on details of her past, starting with her daily routine. It was a very stupid lie, but she just couldn't come up with anything else that might explain her 'partial amnesia'. They gave her the confused look yet again, but nodded, and the wife asked concernedly if she was hurting very bad, and maybe needed to rest. Kagome declined, and instead asked them to tell her about her routine on the ship, struggling to memorize every detail. It turned out she got up before dawn, helped with breakfast , then attended to the captain's and the mates' cabins, then helped in the storage rooms, that were in constant need rearrangement, it seemed, or did whatever was necessary until late afternoon, when she helped with preparations for supper. Kagome was quite surprised. From what Miroku had implied she'd somehow expected her counterpart to be little better off than a slave in the classical sense of the word, but this sounded manageable. Not that she was any less of a slave anyway, as Kouga had said, she was getting food and shelter, no pay.

She thanked the cook and his wife and was about to leave for the storage rooms to see if she was needed there, then remembered about the question of the sleeping arrangements. And yes, she did indeed sleep in the rice storage room, as that had been the only space left when she'd joined the crew.
On her way through the mess she stumbled, yet again, right into havoc of some kind. She heard shouting even from the deck and hurried down fearing those were the typical yells of support that accompanied a fight. But what she found was Inuyasha, lying amidst a circle of about fifteen pirates, locked with one of them in a fierce match of... arm wrestling. Kagome stood and stared as he pressed forearm after forearm of the eager contestants onto the wooden floor.

Well, if this was what he considered mingling... she might as well play her part, too, she decided, and stepped past the agitated young men, down into the storage rooms.

The pirate there was lounging on a heap of foreign looking furs and dozing. Kagome watched him cluelessly for a while. Somehow, life in this pirate ship seemed to be a lot more relaxed than she had anticipated. Now, she was no expert, but she'd imagined everyone would be busy in some way all of the time, even when they were not raiding, doing whatever, climbing around the rigging, yelling commands unintelligible to outsiders, tending to ripped sails, sharpening their weapons, that kind of seafaring thing. But everyone seemed to be quite enjoying themselves; right then it wouldn't have surprised her anymore to hear them sing 'Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum, sitting on a dead man's chest.’

When the sleeping youkai rolled onto his back on the furs and started snoring, Kagome was convinced she was not needed there. Up in the mess, the match was still going on, but Inuyasha seemed to be taking a rest, talking to one of the men who was gesturing elaborately. Kagome refrained from intruding, since he seemed to be making some kind of effort, although, as she took a closer look, somehow those gestures looked like they were talking about... well, certainly not hourglasses.

Kagome stomped past, feeling another surge of Inuyasha bound annoyance coming on. There she was, earnestly trying to find out about, well not exactly find out about the shard, but at least she was making an effort to maintain her counterpart's facade, whereas he was obviously enjoying himself grandly.

Although, she admitted silently, he was, in his way, probably doing the same. It was just her misfortune that the role he had to play included having all sorts of fun, and hers, work. But still, what a jerk.



No matter whom she asked, and she did ask, as she was gradually loosing a bit of her timidity of the wolf pirates, no one seemed to have any task for her to fulfill, none, at least, that took her longer than a few minutes. So when, after that wild goose chase through the innards of the ship she stepped though a door and miraculously found herself in the corridor with the galley and her own chamber, she decided she'd just go rifling that chest to maybe find out more about her counterpart.

One of the books was full of poems, some written in signs she could not read, some in ancient Japanese, which she had some conception of. She turned it so the light that shone through the small scuttle illuminated the lines. What she understood was about trees, flowers, fruit and leaves blowing in the wind, that kind of thing, most of it metaphors for love, probably. The other book was, as far as she could see, a book about the construction of ships, with lots of slightly faded ink drawings and annotations scribbled almost everywhere possible. She thumbed through it a bit, half hoping it would suddenly enlighten her about the nature of ship-craft, but got bored soon enough. So she pulled the little box out, searching on her ring of keys for one that might fit the tiny, engraved lock. But, to no avail, none was small enough. Kagome looked around the room.
"Now, if I were a smallish key, where would I hide?" she murmured, but honestly, this cabin, which was a booth rather, really had no surfaces to place anything upon except for the miniature board on the wall over of her makeshift bed, which was designed to hold a little oil lamp, nothing more. She found the key at last when she pulled her collar musingly, and her hands met a string of leather, with a pendant that felt almost like... a key, indeed.

Inside the box was a dark green flask of milky glass, corked but with a broken seal of wax, perfume, by the smell of it; a necklace that actually might be worth something, an elaborate flower of silver with a core of a rotund red stone hanging on a feeble silver chain; and another flask, filled with dark liquid which was probably ink, since there was a small quill laying besides it. All this lay on a thick packet of paper, bound with a string.

Ignoring the gnawing feeling that she was being nosy to the point of trespassing personal boundaries, Kagome untied it.
The uppermost were letters, all written by someone named Joi-han, to, and this quite surprised her, someone else, called, among other things, 'Ray of light in the endless dark that is my heart'; 'flower of misty petals'; 'My own true love'; 'voluptuous tigress whose willing prey is hers for the slaying'; 'luminous temptress, possessor of my every breath' and the likes. Kagome felt a massive blush coming on, as she skimmed over the pages. These letters were... steamy, written by a man who was not only extremely fond of this woman but also thought that the best way of expressing this was by never repeating an endearment and retelling in detail every dream, every fantasy he had about her. And some of them, well... there was much talk about moist flowers, cradling this and that against creamy thighs or swelling mounds, losing oneself in rapture/an onslaught of passion/a fire, and so on.

Kagome laid the letters aside. Now either this counterpart of hers had quite a hot affair going on, or... but then she recalled that amidst all the flowery endearments the actual name of the woman addressed had been mentioned once or twice, and it wasn't Su-hine, her counterpart's name. So how had she obtained these rather intimate letters? And why?

Confused, Kagome unfolded another paper. It was a poem, artfully drawn and looking decidedly newer than the letters. It was a haiku, about foam on the sea drifting apart in a whip of current, and somehow the theme as well as the handwriting, which looked similar to the scribbles in the ship building book, had Kagome guess that it was her counterpart's own creation.

There where quite a lot of poems, all written in that deft hand, mostly haiku but longer pieces too, even what looked like a Shakespearean sonnet, if she wasn't mistaken. Kagome was mesmerized. And impressed. Her counterpart seemed to be a woman of some culture, some of the poems were truly beautiful. And sad they were, too, speaking of undefined yearning, loss and general melancholy.


It would be rather hard to play this role, Kagome thought. When it came to poetry, she was about as good as your average teenager, which was no good at all. Not that she hadn't tried, but she'd given up after about two lines, when she failed to find another that fit the rhythm of the first. Now she rather regretted it, maybe, if she had put a bit more effort to it, she might now be able to produce prettiness like that.


She lay down on the bed rereading some of the poems, when suddenly a feeling of dread stroked the very boundaries of her awareness. Confused, she concentrated on that notion, but it did not become any clearer. Just more intense. She was beginning to sweat with that undefined fear as she scrambled out of her bed and hurried to look for Inuyasha, figuring that something was awfully amiss. Up, outside, Kagome was nearly run over by several youkai pirates who scurried and leaped past out of every turret and door, carrying weapons, mainly spears, and grapnel-like things. She pressed against the wall of the cabin house, trying to spot Inuyasha in all of this, all the while growing more and more sure that something truly wicked was bound their way.

Suddenly someone dropped down besides her, giving her a painful scare. But, it was only Inuyasha. "Oi, woman, you shouldn't hang around here anymore, they've spotted a trade fleet and are planning a raid," he advised, making shooing motions with his hands, "Go on below deck already!"

"Gladly, Inuyasha, but listen-" She was interrupted by a yell from somewhere high above, which was echoed by all of the crew. Then everyone clustered at the left hand railing, to look at their booty that was probably now in proper sight. Inuyasha half turned to go join them, but Kagome, almost choking on the impending doom, grabbed his sleeve.

"Wait Inuyasha! Something's wrong!"

That got her his attention back. "What?"

"I can't really tell, but I've this feeling, it's like when I feel the shards, and not quite. Like there's some thing very distorted, perverted, something evil coming this way." She pointed in the very direction everyone was staring right then.

"Something evil?" Inuyasha echoed doubtfully, "But what's that supposed to be? Youkai? Then you'd be having this feeling all of the time here."

"It's like youkai, but worse... False, somehow, like, I, gee Inuyasha, just believe me! Be careful!"

He looked at her, probably trying to guess whether she was just messing with him. Kagome met his glare with earnest certainty. She knew she was right, the goose bumps rising on her skin from fear were proof enough!

At last, Inuyasha nodded, looking quite worried now. "Alright. I'll watch out for anything odd. But you will stay below deck, now more than ever, got that?" he urged.

"Yes." Kagome nodded. "Warn the others!" she ordered as she pulled open the door besides her. Inuyasha drew one eyebrow up, but shrugged in agreement.

As Kagome hurried into the kitchens to warn the cook and his wife about the raid and her fears she wondered about that last demand of hers. Because one might think that she wouldn't give much of a damn if the pirates ran unknowing into whatever horror the ships they were about to raid held. But seeing them so cheerful today, and realizing that they were all fairly young, hardly out of their teens, and a bit dim on top of that, Kagome felt that they deserved at least something like a fair chance, even if they were busy doing something criminal.

The cook and his wife were busy stacking all of their equipment away, and were glad for her helping hands. They listened with concern when she told them about her feeling that something truly wicked was coming with the trade ships and whispered something to each other when she was finished.

"What was that?" Kagome inquired.

"Gokuraku-chou," the wife of the cook repeated. "We heard talk of this in the last harbor we put into.. No one seems to know for sure what they are, but they accompany trade ships for a fee."

"What are they, then?" Kagome asked urgently.

Both of them shrugged helplessly. "No one knows, they are youkai, and yet they're not. Because no youkai would ever help humans on their own account. Never," the cook explained.

"This is bad." Kagome listened intently for sounds from above. But there was only the odd command and trampling of feet to be heard. Then, suddenly, a sound like thunder rang and there was silence.

"It's started." The cook explained quietly, sitting down on the bench besides the oven. "Now we wait."

But Kagome could not share their concerned calm. The feeling of dread and horror had yet to cease nauseating her, in fact, it was still getting worse. She paced up and down in the small galley, starting every time another cannon was fired. So, she stumbled when suddenly there was a crash that shook the ship hard. Fierce screams came from above as she clambered to her feet. Now the raid was probably officially started. She thought she faintly heard the cling and clang of metal hitting metal, and the odd shriek of pain that accompanied fighting.

Kagome could not rest. She stood listening for a second, then she hurried out of the kitchens. And just as she opened the door to the deck to catch a glimpse there was a yell sounding over the noise of the fight, and Kagome thought she recognized the voice of Inuyasha's counterpart.

"Look up you idiots! Something's coming!"

Kagome hopped out of the door, looking up in the now darkening skies. And indeed there were black dots spilling out of the low hanging clouds, growing into about two dozens of roundish blobs with wings at an alarming speed. And as they drew near, Kagome was convinced that it was them who were the cause of her bad feeling. They, were, as far as Kagome could see, like a perverse fusion of two creatures at once, of a blue, round feathered body of a bird that was slit in half by a huge mouth with pointed teeth and the blue torso and head of something that looked remotely human atop. She shuddered and pressed into the shadow of the cabin house. The creatures emitted excruciating shrieks as they attacked the wolf youkai spread over all three of the ships that were cornered by the four others around them, the pirates' fleet.

Then a battle broke loose that had Kagome close her eyes half way through it. Feathers sprayed with blood strewing everywhere, limbs and things undefined splattering the decks; it was impossible to tell who might win the upper hand there, the wolf pirates who had the advantage of numbers, or the bird-things, who could fly and were as large as elephants. Kagome could not look away for long though, and when she cast a careful glance at the scene it seemed like the tables had turned in the pirates favor. This obviously had a lot to do with the lightning quick blurs, one of white, one of black, who Kagome guessed were Inuyasha and Kouga, respectively, and who caused massive explosions of blue feathers and blood wherever they appeared. The birds must have realized this too, because all of a sudden, they leaped into the air, well out of the reach of spears thrown and bolts fired, and hovered over the ships. The wolf youkai jubilated, some of them disappearing under deck to loot the conquered ships. But, then the youkai birds started another attack, not at the youkai on the trade ships. They separated and dove at the four pirate ships, which had been left with only a few men to take care of them. Immediately chaos broke out on the trade ships, when everyone tried to get back to their ships at once, but Kagome only half paid attention, because several of the birds, who still had an aura of perverse wrongness that was nearly choking her, came directly at her. They hadn't spotted her yet, but she was really rather plain to see. And paralyzed with fear, too.
A squeal must have escaped her when the ship shook with the impact of several tons of youkai bird, because the one closest to her swished around and caught her with its several eyes. Kagome pressed back against the wall behind her, madly willing it to let her melt through it. Which was stupid of course, but with her mind rattling from the onslaught of terror the thing gave her she was not really capable of anything else. And as it slowly, smugly, because it knew well she could not escape, drew nearer, Kagome saw why the presence of these youkai was so revolting to her. When she looked in its eyes she saw nothing of the humanity she saw in the wolf pirates, or even the slightly dull, but determined glare of a predator she thought she'd seen in every eye of that spider youkai back in that other dimension. What she saw was flickering, no, flaming insanity.

Expressions changed on the being's vaguely human face so fast that for a few seconds Kagome thought it wasn't even solid. And now it was so close, she thought she saw where the feeling she had really came from; around the human neck of the thing a collar was slung, with a stone embedded into it, glowing blackly, and this collar emitted the false aura that distorted the feel of youkai energy Kagome recognized from the wolf pirates as well as the spider youkai and, now that she thought about it, probably even Inuyasha, although his, of course, felt a bit different.

Obviously, this necklace, whatever it was, not only distorted the energy of the youkai but also its mind. Its eyes seemed unable to settle on Kagome, even as it was advancing. They kept swaying to one side and another, or turned towards each other closer than Kagome considered was healthy. And although she was trembling with fear she felt pity for the creature. Because it was clear that it was suffering under the powerful magic of the collar.


On the other hand, it was also still intent on killing her, at least with the majority of its confused personality and now leaping at her, its huge jaws open wide, teeth monstrous and yellowish. Kagome forgot about compassion and closed her eyes. Then she screamed.

When she opened her eyes, she was, surprisingly, still alive. And, covered in blood and bits offlesh. Then she was shoved against the wall, hard.

"What do you fucking think you are doing up here?" Inuyasha yelled at her.

Kagome peered past him, at the corpse of the former youkai that now had a frizzled hole through its... lower body, for lack of a better word.

"What just happened?" she asked, a bit dazed.

Inuyasha stepped back a bit and glowered at her, arms crossed in front of his chest. "You did the freaky energy blast thing again, just when I was coming. You barely missed me, but your friend here was not as lucky, as you – that's not the fucking question here, dammit! Why were you outside? I told you to stay inside!"

Now that Kagome was getting a grip on herself again she saw that he was looking very exhausted, and was covered in so much blood it was impossible to tell whether he was hurt himself in the dim sunset light.

"Are you all right?" she asked, reaching out to touch a gash in his clothing. He swatted her hand away.

"Just go back inside and fucking stay there this time!" he growled, grabbing her arm, ripping open the door and shoving her inside. The door slammed shut when she hit the deck. Kagome scrambled to her feet, caught somewhere between seething and worrying, and stumbled back into the galley where the cook and his wife still sat on their bench, dropped to the floor there and listened anxiously while overhead the battle continued.
OO O OO
The pirates won, barely, but they got away, because the bird youkai finally saw that they wouldn't last, and the remaining ten of them flew off. At least that was what Inuyasha told Kagome when he came stumbling into the kitchen some time later. Then he turned to the cook's wife, asking "Can you sew? They're gonna need some needles out there. And bandages."

To which the woman nodded and hurried to fetch a large box from one cabinet. Kagome followed her when she and her husband ran out, but Inuyasha held her back.

"No. Best stay here, some of them... you don't wanna see that."

"Inuyasha," Kagome looked at him, the cuts and tears all over his body that were visible now in the shine of the oil lamps, since he'd somehow managed to shed his shirt, "can't be looking worse than you, eh?" she joked, but shook her head. "Seriously, Inuyasha, I know a few things about first aid, and I can sew too. Besides, I guess I already have seen worse, remember the spider youkai?"

He sighed, obviously not in the mood to argue, as strange as that sounded, and released her arm. "Knock yourself out. But don't tell me I didn't warn you, when you're sick afterwards."

Which was not that bad a prognosis, not at all. When Kagome was finally sure that they had patched up every last one of the pirates, she felt a huge wave of nausea coming on. With some of the wounds she'd seen it was a miracle their victims were still breathing, let alone conscious and assuring her that this was nothing.

But what was nearly as unsettling as the blood all around was the mood the crew was in. They had, in the heat of the battle, somehow still managed to empty each of the ships of its load, and the ships had transported what looked like the wardrobes of several princesses: exhuberant robes; jewelery;more robes; and even a few small pieces of furniture, like little tables, everything made out of the most precious materials there were, if she could take everyone's word for it. Thus the mood was, even despite the loss of, all in all, five men, one off this very ship, rather cheerful. Calls were for a feast, and before some of the more sombre looking guys, who seemed to have been close friends with the deceased, could protest, barrels were rolled onto the deck from somewhere, and the cook was advised to prepare some of the meat they stored for occasions like this.

Kagome observed all this while she was bandaging Inuyasha, who up until then had somehow managed to evade treatment, and so she voiced her distaste with the willingness to forget their dead comrades the youkai displayed. After he'd elaborately explained how she was insane and suicidal and should not be allowed outside her cabin for the rest of their mission if she insisted on endangering herself like that, of course.

At her comment, he peered down at her winding a bandage around his torso. "Now I don't really know these guys but from what I saw so far I'd say that's kind of their way to honor them. I mean, they died for one hell of a booty, so it'd be a shame not to celebrate it, something like that."

Kagome considered this. "It still seems... inconsiderate of them."

He frowned. "Well, sorry to break this to you, but these guys are pirates. Gangsters, if you want. Ruthless criminals. Each of them knows the risk they're taking when they're going on a raid, and its not like they never take lives themselves."

Which was why, for all the inexplicable sympathy Kagome felt for this bunch of rogues, quite a lot of wariness and even fear remained.

Meanwhile the feast had fully started. Inuyasha had heard they'd anchored somewhere rather shallow, although there was no land to be seen, and were now producing cups from god knew where to fill them with the darkish looking liquid from the barrels. But before high spirits could really ensue Kouga dropped down amidst them.

"Now, folks, I don't mind a little celebration, but must I remind you that some of these bird freaks got away? So don't overdo it, and who's gonna be on the look-out? We're gonna need one man for each mast."

A few men rose, among them those that had seemed to be against the party anyway, and after a short argument two leaped up into the dark above. At Kouga's nod the cups were filled once more, and soon enough some of the pirates came over to Inuyasha and her, all but dragging him away for some 'game' as they called it. Kagome only stayed long enough to see that it involved a song, a deck of cards, and a keg of whatever the stuff in the barrels was. Then she was quite fed up with watching Inuyasha swig away cupfuls too fast for the human eye to see, under the cheer and singsong of his new friends.

The kitchens were blissfully silent in comparison, but she could only stay so long before the cook and his wife carefully suggested that she go rest herself since she kept dropping things, especially when someone yelled overhead. She protested but that was just a reflex. She was pretty knackered, it was true, and her hands were shaking, too. So, she went to her cabin, not bothering with the oil light, just took off her bloodied outer layer of clothing and flopped onto the heap of furs that was her bed. But no matter how comfortable she got, sleep refused to come, and that was only partly to do with the noise ringing through the wooden ceiling.

Because suddenly she realized that this was the first quiet moment, real quiet moment all to herself, she had since, oh, since she'd been blind and a princess, which was... about four days ago? What with the constant change of settings, it was kind of hard to keep track of the days. Now that she thought about it, this whole thing was going on for almost two weeks now.

With all those dubious explanations it was hard to be sure, but if time passed just as fast in her home dimension that meant she'd been dead there just as long. Kagome curled in on herself. Was everyone still crying? She, her body, was certainly cremated by now; what had her burial been like? How did Souta do? Was Mama still singing while she cooked, or was she hardly speaking at all, like she had the weeks after Pops had died? And, Jii-chan, how had he taken it? His heart hadn't exactly been in the best of conditions for a while, maybe the shock had been too much? Buyo, now, no need to worry about him. Kagome chuckled wetly. He'd| hardly ever cared about anything as long as food was plentiful. She choked on her mirth and broke into huge sobs. She wanted home! Now!

This whole mission was so horrible; people kept dying because of them, some of them children for heavens sake! Inuyasha got hurt on a daily basis, worse every time, impossible as that seemed! And those two up there, or where ever else they were, they kept talking, explaining, but it was all just words, nothing ever made sense anymore as soon as they entered a new dimension. And then, for all she wanted home, was it right to sacrifice all these people for it? Granted, if they really were saving the whole universe, maybe it was, but how was she supposed to be sure when Sango and Miroku kept giving this inconsistent picture?


Kagome only realized that she was almost screaming with sadness and madness when a rough hand brushed her face and another shook her shoulder. She started, but the hand kept her down. "Shhh," someone soothed. Kagome peered through the film of tears into the almost darkness, right into two bright pools of shimmering glow, one bluish, one silvery.

"Inuyasha?"

The hands retreated. "Yeah, dammit! What's going on here? Are you hurt or something?"

Kagome sat up, wiping her eyes that were still overflowing. Now that she could see a bit clearer, yes, that was indeed Inuyasha sitting down on the stool besides her bed, swaying gently as she watched. "No, I'm fine," she answered his question.

"Right. So you're crying just for the hell of it, or what?" he slurred sarcastically, at which point Kagome noticed the silhouette of a large mug resting on what must have been his knee.

"Are you drunk?"

He fell off the stool.

"Fuck, don't you have any light in here?" he cursed, among other things, rubbing his head that had hit the door behind him with a loud crack. Kagome fumbled for the matchstick like things that lay on the tray the lamp stood in, managing to light it at last. In its slowly flaring shine, Kagome saw that she needn't have asked. Inuyasha was still cursing as he scrambled unsteadily to his feet and sat on the stool again, scooting back so he could lean his back against the door. Then he grabbed his mug again, that somehow hadn't spilled a drop through all of this. He was drunk alright, if the swaying wasn't proof enough, then his dazedly unfocused eyes were.

He still managed to glare at her, or in her general direction at least.

"So what was this crap about? Fuck, I heard you all the way up there, it sounded like... " he looked away from her suddenly, "like a banshee or something. Crazy woman."

"It was all a bit too much during the last days, I guess," Kagome said lamely, her neutral tone probably spoiled by her sniffling.

"Well, I told you y'better not go up there n'help but no, my judgment can't be trusted, no way," he groused, then cocked his head looking at her again. "That's not all there's to it, though, am I right?" Kagome opened her mouth to answer but he cut in. "I told you we'd make it. Don't worry, you'll get it all back, your life 'n crap," he explained, leaning in. "It all worked out so far, dinnit? And there's only, what, seven dimensions left, if we c'nsider this one here done, so chill, woman."

Kagome couldn't help but smile a little. It was almost... endearing to hear someone as pessimistic as Inuyasha deliver such a positive assertion of their situation. Even if it was just the alcohol speaking. She stopped crying, more or less, and they sat a while in silence as she regained her grip and he scrutinized her.
Suddenly Inuyasha stood. "Come on, I'll show you something, that'll take your mind right off... whatever, really."

And before Kagome had any chance to object he grabbed her from her furs and slung her over his shoulder. She squeaked and struggled for him to let her down, because he wasn’t exactly coming across as steady, but he was already jogging along the corridor, occasionally almost bumping into one wall or the other. Kagome gave up when they emerged, stumbling, into the bitingly cold night air and he leaped right onto the house at the rear of the ship. From there it was only another jump until he settled her down again, right into... a little rowing boat fastened to the very back of the ship?

"What's this?" she asked perplexedly, as Inuyasha dropped down between the benches.

"The lifeboat, somethin' like that," he explained offhandedly, pulling her arm so she sat down besides him, on the floor of the boat. He pointed up. "Now look at that. Pretty, huh?"

He was right.

"But it was so gray all day..." Kagome wondered. Now all that was left of the formerly thick carpet of clouds were a few whips, adding to the serene allure the sickle thin moon cast over the night sky. Stars cluttered the black like little diamonds and there were more of them than Kagome had ever seen. She sighed in awe and watched as her breath rose in a white cloud and evaporated, clearing the view of the beautiful sky again.

"Must've been years since I last saw a sky like that," Inuyasha said quietly after they'd spent awhile contemplating the moon.

"Yes, what with all that light smog in the cities, I don't think I've ever seen something like that," Kagome clattered, since she was getting a bit cold.

"Ah, you cold? Wait, I was gonna refill anyway, I'll get a blanket." And off he hopped, cursing faintly when he hit something on the way across the steering stand.


Kagome looked up again, shivering, and wondered. Now what kind of an Inuyasha was this supposed to be? Was he really being... nice just then? Maybe it was because he was drunk, and his defense mechanisms had been watered down so much he didn't have to pretend it was mortally dangerous to socialize. Especially with someone you were going to spend a whole lot of time with in the near future anyway. And had already spend almost two weeks with, too.

Well, Kagome qualified mentally when he suddenly dropped down besides her again, shaking the boat dangerously, even if he was being nice, just like that, no second thoughts, if he kept going like that he certainly wouldn't recall any of it tomorrow. He'd brought a whole bottle of something she didn't recognize in the dark. But he'd also brought the blanket, or a fur rather, into which Kagome eagerly snuggled when he handed it to her. At her offer to share on which she nearly choked when she realized just how that sounded, he explained he wasn't exactly cold. And, shaking the bottle, he had plenty other things to keep him warm. Just when he'd drained the first mug Kagome burst out.

"Why are you doing this, anyway?"

"What?"

"Drinking like that."

"Uhm... to celebrate?" he said lamely.

"What's there to celebrate, it's not like we're really a part of the crew or anything, or like you'll get a share. Or like the booty didn't come at a price."

"Well, I felt like it. What's it to you, anyway?" he snapped, suddenly not so chemically easy going anymore.

"It's just... well, its poison, isn't it? I just don't see why..."

"Keh, poison! Even the air we breathe today is poisonous. Alcohol is healthy compared t'that."

"Well, and losing control like that..." Kagome continued, "I didn't get the impression that's something you'd voluntarily submit yourself to."

Now he was glaring at her, looking almost normal again. Which was disgruntled, to say the least. "Now listen, tis nothin' like what you're thinking of. Booze, that's... that's controlled loss of control. I know how much I drink, so I know what'll happen."

"So what you told me about drinking till you passed out, that was on purpose? You planned that?" He couldn't be serious!

"What if I did?"

"That's just stupid! I mean, no matter what you say, it's poison. People die from it!"

"Yeah, cuz their stupid. It's never done me any harm, that's for sure." he bit back with little conviction.

"So you wouldn't mind, say, children drinking it? Or me for that matter?"

He shrugged, but uneasily.

"Then give me the mug. You said it helps you sleep? I've had trouble sleeping tonight."

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me all right." Kagome said sternly, gleefully watching him squirm. "If it's only gonna do me good, why shouldn't I try it?"

"I didn't say t'was only doin' good! I meant it did me more good than bad."

"Oh? How are you any different from me, then?" Kagome snapped, exasperated that he refused to admit he was just wrong.

"Well, I'm-" he faltered and stopped, glaring. Then he suddenly thrust the mug to her. "Know what? Knock yourself out."

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me alright. Drink, if you wanna, none of my business whatcha doin."

So there Kagome sat, her scheme of provoking him into seeing the wrong of his ways unexpectedly turned on her. She laughed nervously, trying to catch a glimpse at Inuyasha's face in the dark, to hopefully find in his expression a hint that he was joking. But either it was too dark or his face really was that expressionless.

"Keh. Big words, but you're too chicken, I knew." Inuyasha settled comfortably back in the boat. Inside Kagome a war broke loose, between her pride, which sneered 'Oh, so you're gonna let him think he won, huh? That you have no idea of what you're talking about?'; her reason, which kept yelling 'Poison! It's poison, you stupid girl!, Remember Uncle Shun?'; and some unnamed other part, which mused 'Maybe, you know, maybe it does calm you down. I mean, we're still on the brink of tears here, sleeping would be nice.'

"Though you’re right. Booze ain't for little girlies, no way." Inuyasha then chuckled thickly.

Well, that certainly did it. She ripped the mug out of his hands, spilling quite a lot of it onto their hands. She'd take a teensy sip, just to show him, and then she'd go right back inside, leaving this drunk fool to drown as soon as he eventually fell out of the boat. To think that she'd thought he was being nice!

Kagome nearly coughed up the whole swallow again, but she suppressed it, pride, again. Gee, what did they make this stuff out of? Seaweed? It burned and tasted fishy.

Inuyasha grabbed the mug again, grumbling something she didn't quite catch.

You had to hand it to that awful stuff, though; the blazing hot trail it left in its wake was rather pleasant, warming and soothing. Kagome got up and turned to climb up to the steering stand. But, it was rather far up, too far for her hands to reach it even if she stood on the rim of the lifeboat. Which went to show that her counterpart was indeed as small as the picture she'd seen indicated.

"Whatcha doin'?" Inuyasha was ogling up at her, his neck craned.

"Going back inside," Kagome huffed, hopping up, mindful of the narrow landing place she'd have if she – yup – failed to grasp the deck up there. Why didn't they have any windows on the rear of this ship? A nice, broad ledge halfway up the wall certainly would come in handy here. A chuckle sounded from below when she swaggeringly caught her balance for the third time, still unable to reach the edge in front of the railing, although her tiny jumps had become more daring.

"What's so funny?" she snapped, exasperated and pretty sure she'd managed to thrust a splinter into her palm when she slid down the wooden planks the last time.

"Oh, just, there's no way you'll make this. Without my help, that is," Inuyasha explained casually.

"Oh yeah?" Ignoring the gnawing notion that her pride was out to get her into trouble tonight Kagome braced herself for a full force jump, reckoning that she was bound to get high enoughto grasp the edge that way, and wouldn't have to worry about landing. Well, and it'd show that chuckling idiot down there.


However, this turned out to have been a slight miscalculation. Because she got hight enough all right, but the edge of the deck was broader and slipperier than she had anticipated, she never got to grasp it properly and slid helplessly down the planks. Her feet just brushed the lifeboat’s rim, she completely lost her footing on the curved side of the boat and overbalanced backwards. Luckily, Inuyasha was not yet so drunk as to completely kill his fast reflexes, he snatched her away, seconds before her head, or worse, neck would have made brutal acquaintance with the opposite rim.

"Don't do that! You mad or – no we had that, y'are. Damn, that was close!" He sat down on the bench unsteadily, her awkwardly balanced on his lap.

Kagome waited for her racing heart to calm, which didn't take long because sadly, she was slowly getting used to such thrills. So many near death experiences and the like did that to you. But even when her heart was beating below a hummingbird frequency she felt rather dizzy. She pushed against his chest to get up but as her relatively warm hand touched his skin through the gaping front of his shirt she started.

"My, you're cold as ice! Maybe you should go inside too."

"Nah," he settled her on the bench in front of him, "Don't wanna. It's pretty an' I'm not cold."

"Tsk, I'm sure you aren't, you're completely plastered, is what you are; you wouldn't feel it if I chopped your arm off now."

"Keh, this counterpart is half youkai; we're tougher'n that."

"Right. But you were half dead from cold before, maybe you shouldn't push your luck," Kagome pointed out irritatedly. Why did he have to be so thick and reckless all of the time? On top of smug and making fun of her even when he didn't seem capable of piecing two coherent thoughts together. She picked up the fur blanket and tossed it to him. "At least take this if you insistist... on stayin'."

He caught it deftly but just glared at her. "'Insistist'? Now who's plastered here?"

"Huh?" Kagome, who'd been busy gazing longingly up to the railing, turned back to him. "Y'mean, I'm drunk? But I only took a teensy sip."

"Hm." Inuyasha nodded wisely, "But tis home brewed rum, and for youkai, that stuff, more alcohol 'n anything else in there."

Kagome tried to analyze her condition. Sure, she was a bit dizzy, and thoughts came a bit slower than usual, and well, her balance had seemed a bit off, and yeah, those were symptoms of alcohol consumption, "But after just one sip?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "If this were our dimension I'd say Asian metabolism, but here? No idea, except, well, you're tiny, and maybe your counterpart don't usually drink?"

"Asian metabolism? Ah, yeah, that's right," The curse of being Asian and having almost no tolerance for alcohol, at least compared to folks from other parts.

"Yeah, it's tricky, but tis what makes boozin' possible for me in the first place. I've too high a resistance to poi- wha'ever."

"Poi-? ...Poison?" Kagome guessed slowly, "So you do agree that it's poison!"

"Gah! Y'won't let it slide willya? So what if it's fuckin' poison, not your body, not your business."

"But it ain't your body either. We're just stealin' them! And it's bad enough, what we've done so far." Which brought Kagome straight back to the reason of her previous distress. "We're killing people, and for what? We don't even know!"

Inuyasha flinched when she yelled. Her words seemed to echo in the silence after it, until he carefully asked, "'s that why y've been cryin' before? 'Cause you're feeling bad about that?"

Kagome snuffled. "Hm. It's just... I dunno, who're we to value our lives higher than those of our counterparts?"

"But it's not just your life we're doin' this for, it's to save the universe, right?" Inuyasha said, without much conviction.

"But is it? Do you trust them?"

"Keh! 'Course not," he folded his arms. “Liars, both of them.”

"And even if it were true, still, is the universe worth the life of an unsuspecting child?"

"Y'mean my counterpart back there?"

"Hm."

"Can't be sure, but I think he made it."

"You do?" Was this just another pity attempt at consoling her?

"Yeah, you remember I was telephonin' before we left?"

"Hey, yeah, I's meaning to ask about that, what's that about?" She'd completely forgotten through the commotion in the last dimension and the havoc in this one.

"Well, I was callin' an ambulance. The number's on the phone, an' they said they'd come."

Kagome's jaw dropped onto her knees, which she'd hugged to her her chest against the cold. "An ambulance?"

Inuyasha huffed, "What's so surprising 'bout that?"

“Weeeell, first of all, I guess I'd never have thought of that, and secondly...” Kagome smiled half from the relieving hope that the boy might be alright after all, half from something else, which was, “Who do you think you’re kidding with all that tough guy attitude? You’re nicer than you think, I think."

He sighed. "Am not."

"Are too, sure, why pretend you don't care 'bout anyone else and do stuff like that all the same?"

He kehed, which Kagome found all the more endearing. She hadn't really considered this so far, but Inuyasha was really kind of... cute, somewhere behind all that tough act and defense mechanisms. There was not much to be seen of his usual cockiness and arrogance now. And, another Kagome remarked, he was cute looking, too. Although his counterpart wasn't half bad either, older, certainly, but so was hers.
“Really,” she continued, “why are you still trying to keep that act up?”
He returned her questioning glare until she looked away, then he leaned back and sighed. "I'm..." he started in a voice that had Kagome perk up, because it sounded so lost, as if he was talking to someone far away. "I guess it's just... safer that way. If you don't care, you don't sympathize, you don't like.... you don't love and so you don't hurt. And you don't hurt anyone else either..."

"But..." she tried, just to say anything at all, but fizzled at the pain that rung in his voice. Somehow, she felt she was beginning to get way out of her depth with Inuyasha. Curiosity or not, maybe it was better not to stir up some emotions.

"Why're you doin' this?" he said warily after a pause.

"What?"

"That.” He gestured vaguely. “Bein' so... nice. Like you... whatever."

"Like I what?"

He suddenly stood. "I'm gonna bring you back inside now, else you'll be sick tomorrow."

Now, inside sure sounded tempting, but Kagome felt that it wasn't right to leave. He'd sounded so sad just then, she couldn't imagine anyone who'd like to be left alone feeling like that. She certainly wouldn't. So even if she'd just sit here with him, not prying further, that'd be better than leaving him alone, right? "Just give me the blanket, I'm fine. You're right, it's pretty out here."

He looked up and sighed. Then he tossed her the blanket. "Whatever."

She slid down to the bottom of the boat again and curled up in the blanket. Then she remembered how cold he'd been before and lifted one edge invitingly, "Wanna share?"

He swished around, almost losing his balance, and caught it by flopping down beside her.

"There's enough room, and you were freezing before."

He glared at her scrutinizingly, then shrugged and slipped under the blanket, careful not to let their shoulders touch. Kagome rolled her eyes and scooted closer. "Enough room, but not loads," she mumbled, leaning against him slightly. He didn't protest.

They sat in silence for a while. Kagome looked up to find that the last clouds were gone now and the moon had risen high up in the sky. She half wondered what time it was, but dismissed that thought when suddenly one of the stars came unstuck and fell. "A shooting star!" she yelled excitedly, "I've never seen one before, never ever!"

"Huh?" Inuyasha looked up from the blanket that had held his attention for the last few minutes "Oh, yeah, look, there's mor'a them."

Which was true, one after the other flared and fell, until there was a whole bunch of meteors dancing over the sky. "That means we get..." Kagome counted, which was hard because they kept moving and disappearing suddenly.

"Thirteen wishes," Inuyasha cut in.

"Damn, that's uneven... but you can have the thirteenth one. Go ahead."

"Keh. Superstitious crap."

"You never done this before?"

"... no, I have."

"Didn't work?"

His head snapped away from the sky and her, "'Course not."

"Maybe it will, you just need to wait a little."

"I made it 'bout twenty years ago... Twenty years from 1984, that is."

"Oh." Kagome sighed, "What did you wish for?"

"... " he turned back to her again, his face betraying nothing.

Kagome giggled. "Afraid it won't come true if you tell?"

"I wished to undo the past. T'right the wrong I've caused. But there ain't no force inna world can do that," he almost whispered, making her choke on her mirth.

"Wrong?"

He pushed away from her. "And stop doing this!"

"Doing what?"

"Asking about me, acting like you've any int'rest in me beyond that I'm helpin' you get back t'your life!"

Kagome flinched like she'd been slapped. "That's what you're thinking? That I'm just, like, using you?"

"Aren't you? Look, I dunno kind of game your playing but it's hella messin' with my head, so stop it!"

"Maybe I just like you, ever thought about that?" she yelled, not knowing what enraged her more, that he thought so little of her or of himself.

Inuyasha gaped at her. Kagome leaned in to look him in the eyes, still angry. "I mean, yeah, I hardly know you, but that's not because I haven't tried. I'd like to get to know you. I like you." Which was true, Kagome realized. It certainly didn't make any sense, for her to like someone like him, but why else would he keep nagging her, beyond her usual curiosity? It was more than that, more than curiosity. She didn't only want to know about him, she wanted to know why he was the way he was and, like, well, not help him, that would be overestimating herself a lot, but something like that, anyway. Comfort him, maybe.

"You're drunk."

What was that supposed to have to do with this? Kagome sighed, "Drunks don't lie, they say that don't they?"

"But that's bullcrap."

"Well, I'm not lying anyway."

"You can't like me, I'm... you don't even know me."

"I know, I said so myself, but I'd like to." Damn, but she was being very... forward, wasn't she? Maybe he was partly right, maybe it was because she was feeling a bit dizzy that she said those things out loud, but that didn't make them any less true, right?

"You're mad."

"What's mad about wanting to get to know someone?"

"It's mad for you t'wanna get t'know me. You're just a little girl-"

"I'm fifteen."

He nodded, "Just a lil' girl and I'm this... this freak kinda thing."

Kagome waved a hand dismissively. "The hanyou deal again? I told you you're a person is what counts."

"But-"
He didn't get it, did he? Was it so hard to believe that someone might be interested in him just for who he was, not what he was? "Why do you think you can't sleep if you don't drink? What's happened to make you so... hard? Why are you so afraid to relate to people? I could go on for hours like that, I'm so curious. Why did you freak out like that in the last dimension?”

He leaped out from under the cover, crouching on the far end of the boat. "You're just a fuckin' nosy bitch is all!"

The insult rolled off Kagome like water off a swan's wing, she'd worked herself in a downright frenzy. "But I'm not usually like that. It's you, you're making me so prying!"

"Fuckit, this is pointless.” Inuyasha stood, and when he spoke his voice had lost its drunken slur, it was clear and hard. “You wanna know why I freaked out like that? 'Cause the way my mind went blank and I completely lost control and... and fucking drank that man's blood reminded me of a night I had successfully banned from my memory until then.” He turned towards her, sneering “And what was it that happened that night, I'm sure you were about to ask? Well, I killed one hundred and four humans, some of them what I might have called friends, some of them enemies. And that number's just a rough guess 'cause with most of them you couldn't say which was part of whom. Or if they'd ever been human at all.” He crouched down, almost snarling at her “Now fucking tell me, what's there possibly to like about some thing like that? Huh?" And up and away he leaped.

Kagome was left aghast. One hundred and four people? Friends? What the heck was that about? And when did it happen? And what wasn't he telling?

"That doesn't explain anything, you idiot!" She yelled, tears welling up in her eyes, god knew why. And why was he so mad at her, it wasn't like she had any way of knowing that.

Through the mist of her sad confusion, she realized that with him gone she'd probably have to spend the night in this boat. This made her cry even harder. She was so shaken, and so insecure and frustrated, confused and scared, and sad, and missed her mama, and don't forget tipsy, and all of this accumulated into a tight ball of pain in her chest that was hard to breathe around.
Strangely, what grieved her most was that it was her stupid insistent prying that had got Inuyasha so horribly wound up. The image of his face, torn into a mask of anger and sadness and something worse, kept reappearing before her eyes no matter how hard she clenched them shut.

Suddenly, in between sobs, heard someone call from above. "You down there, human?"

Was that the Kouga guy? Kagome called, “Yes.”

"The hanyou said you would, said you were too drunk to get up by yourself." He leaped over the railing and grabbed her as he landed, catapulting them up and right across the steering stand in one go.

"I was meaning to talk to you anyway," he explained when he set her down on the main deck, where the party had reached a rather silent stage, with people sleeping in odd positions in odd places.

"Talk to me?" Kagome echoed dazedly, still feeble from her renewed onslaught of tears.

"Yeah, it's about these birds today. The mutt knew something was up, and he said you had this kind of gift for spiritual things, and warned him." He squinted at her, "Is it true? And then how come I've never seen any of it before?"

Kagome fidgeted. Was it really all that clever to give her counterpart a reputation of being spiritually gifted she would perhaps not be able to live up to when Kagome was gone? On the other hand, how else was she supposed to make herself useful now? And, if she was appointed the ships magician or something, maybe slaughter like that today could be avoided in the future.

"It's true," she assured, and on an afterthought added "Kouga-sama."

"And you haven't told me... why?" he asked, irrtated.

"'Cause I didn't know until recently. I didn't really know what to make of it until In - Han-hu-san arrived," she explained, and that was even, in a way, the truth.

Kouga bought it anyway; he relaxed slightly, then continued the questioning, "And now what exactly was it that happened today?"

So she told him. About her feeling of oncoming dread, that'd grown into certainty, and that she thought it came from the collars the bird youkai wore rather than the creatures themselves. That they were possibly being controlled by someone else.

"Fuck, I knew it!" Kouga commented when she finished. "Even scum like these birds don't go serving humans like that; there must be a strong magician, a human magician behind it."

"It felt really, really evil," Kagome supplied.

"This is bad. Damn, should have got this straight earlier." And he turned away from her, marching over to his men and clapping his hands loudly. "All right now, that's it, everyone to the berths now, and who's gonna replace Kaun on the second mast?"

Groaning abounded as the pirates stood and staggered, or, if that proved impossible, crawled over to the hatches until there was only one fit looking one left, who briefly talked to Kouga and leaped up onto the smaller mast at the front of the ship.

Kagome stood and watched, unsure what to do. She certainly wanted to go find Inuyasha and just, well do something, most of all say how sorry she was for having bullied him like that, but where to look? Could he have gone down to the mess, too, to sleep? Somehow, that didn't sound likely. Maybe he'd just gone to the bow of the ship instead of the rear? But, when Kagome peered along the moonlit deck she saw it was bare except for a few rolls of rope.

As she stood wondering, Kouga was about to walk past her, then suddenly stopped, and looked at her musingly, "You're not bad looking, for a human, anyone ever told you that?"

"What?" Kagome almost shrieked, from the sheer unexpectedness of it, but he just chuckled and walked on.

"If you're looking for the mutt, he's up in the crow's nest," he called over his shoulder before he disappeared into the cabin house.


The mutt was probably Inuyasha, and the crow's nest... Kagome whacked her brain for a clue, then she remembered. That was the basket up on the mast, where the lookout was. She stepped closer and peered up into the dark. Was that a shimmer of gray white up there? It was hard to tell. Now, how did the crew get up there, anyway? ...ah, yes, they could all jump like overgrown grasshoppers, the lot of them. But there were also those net thingies fastened to a spar, where they climbed around on in the pirate movies she derived her scant knowledge from.

So she tried these, and it was fairly easy to get up, especially since she was feeling less unbalanced already. When she reached the spar she could definitely make out the broody figure of Inuyasha sitting on a circular disk, which was a rather lame excuse for what she'd imagined as a crow's nest. She called up but he didn't answer, no surprise. So, she inched over the horizontal timber as far as she could with the rope that was bound to the mast top in her hands. This was not far enough. Then, awkwardly balancing, she risked a glance downwards, which was a mistake. She hadn't even realized she'd climbed this far! With her confidence, her balance just evaporated. She shrieked when she began swaying dangerously, and tried to reach the relative safety of the netting again, but no avail. This night was definitely cursed, she was behaving like an utter moron, and that certainly didn't have much to do with pride, which had been getting all the blame up to that point. Why had she climbed up here again?

Thankfully Inuyasha must have been looking, because he cursingly jumped down and caught her just when Kagome had resigned herself and decided to try and jump far enough so she'd hit the water ahead, not the deck below. He wordlessly set her down on the deck again and was about to disappear just as wordlessly when Kagome seized the opportunity and called, "Wait!"

He froze and sighed. "What?" he asked irritably, never bothering to turn around.

What indeed. "I... I'm sorry I was being so pushy it's... you're probably right, I am a nosy bitch.”

He snorted “Well, duh,” and tensed to leap away but she stopped him again. “Wait!”

He still didn't turn around. “What?!”

“I, I don't know, just, no matter what you say you're not as bad. I mean I've no idea what happened, but I'm just sure there's more to it than you let on."

He shook his head. "You've just no idea, woman," he said almost silently and was about to leave, but Kagome latched onto his arm, swinging round to face him.

"But I want to have."

"Why dammit? Don't you fuckin' get it? Didn't you listen?" he grabbed her arms and shook her "One hundred and four people, torn to fucking shreds! I've no idea what happened, but I know it was me who did it! Doesn't that scare you? It sure fucking scares hell out of me!"

No idea what happened? So there was more to it! But Kagome restrained herself from asking. It wouldn't do, getting him even more agitated. Bad enough that she had brought the matter up again just now. For all her heart cried at the sight of him desperately trying to convince her that he was some kind of a monster, she was completely at a loss of what to do about it, except repeat what she'd already said. So she carefully reached out a hand and laid it comfortingly (she hoped) against his cheek. “No matter what you say, Inuyasha, I don't think you're evil. Or a freak. Or whatever. But-” she raised her voice when he shook his head and tried to object “But I also see that you're not likely to believe me anytime soon. And I'm dead tired, so just... think about it. Can I really be that mistaken?”

She turned on her heel and ran, without looking back, into the warmth of her cabin, where she, against all odds, found sleep rather soon.




AN.: Yeah, I know, took me long, but its rather long too, and the plot is moving ahead too, isn't it? This chapter marks the beginning of the youkai pirates dimension adventures which will take up quite some chapters from now on, at least... two. Or three. We'll see. For the next chapter, of which I've written on and a half pages already, I can promise a lot of the stuff us fanfiction nerds crave for, like fluff and more fighting, and... oh yeah, jealousy. Hehehe.