InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Beside You in Time ❯ 1717: Tortuga ( Chapter 9 )

A/N: Hey, all. Just a reminder of the warnings from my note last chapter. There's some heavy swearing, violence and other disturbing events in this chapter. It toes the line of darkfic.

This was a difficult chapter for me to write, and I considered scrapping it completely several times. I ultimately decided that it was a vital turning point in the story, and it had to be done.

She sighed as her feet met dry land for the first time in three weeks. "Don't believe that I'm not grateful for getting off that ship of yours, but why exactly did we come to this place?"

Sesshoumaru crossed his arms over the tattered, wool coat he wore and surveyed the scene at the docks. His own men were rushing past him with nothing but a tip of their hats, hooting on their way to the whorehouses and taverns that lined the water. Although the sun had not even set, drunks had passed out at every doorstep, oblivious to the occasional dust-up between the pirates around them. He could hear guns being fired and could smell the rum seeping into every surface. Down the waterfront, three men were tipping a fourth into the water. This was anarchy at its most degraded, and even the Union Jack - the small show of official authority Sesshoumaru held - had been taken down on his orders long before they had pulled into port.

"You may stay on the ship, if you wish, but I believe one of the shape-shifters is on this island."

His companion shook her head. "I'll stay with you."

Someone clapped his hand down on Sesshoumaru's shoulder. "Me too," the other man said, grinning. "But I could kill for some food that hasn't been salted and in a barrel for weeks. Tell me you know a place to get some good food around here."

Sesshoumaru shrugged off the other man's touch. "I avoid this place, but the establishments away from the waterfront should not attract as much trouble," he said, started to walk into the city. The sun had been bright on the docks, but once they stepped into the alley, there was only shadowy gloom. The buildings were poorly constructed and straining towards each other over the narrow roads, as if they needed to lean on each other to remain standing. Smithies that crowded for space and customers at the waterside spewed black smoke from their bellows, and the shops full of illicit merchandise had blackened windows thanks to the soot.

"Have you considered the possibility that it's not a shape-shifter that you're sensing is here?"

He looked at Gisela, an eyebrow arched. "You mean Kagome?" He shook his head. "She is not here. She sailed back to Europe a long time ago." He paused as a man with a blond beard stumbled out of a dark alley and vomited next to the wall, splashing Brandt's shoes. "And if she did come back to the New World, she would never be here."

Brandt growled at his stained shoes, but was robbed of the chance to throw a punch when the blond man sunk down on his knees, passing out in his own filth. "I wish I was not here. Pigs wouldn't live like this," he scoffed.

They wandered for some time, keeping their eyes on the sun. Tortuga's drunken debauchery was an activity for the day, but when night fell, the alleys would be thick with cutthroats and thieves. "Here," Sesshoumaru said, pointing to a dingy, little tavern in the corner of a rare patch of open area and sunlight. They stepped across the threshold and were greeted by a sudden hush and suspicious stares.

"Good choice," muttered Brandt, moving to an open table near the cold fireplace.

The conversation slowly ignited again as they took their seats without a threatening move. "They know who you are," Gisela said, watching the crowd of pirates. They were still being watched.

"I doubt it," Sesshoumaru replied, leaning back as a mug of rum was placed in front of him. It was pointless to hope for anything else in this place. He would never drink rum again once he escaped from the Caribbean. "They are looking at you. Your dress alone could fetch a high price in a place like this."

The countess glanced down at the drab muslin she wore. "You told me to wear this."

"I told you to wear your plainest gown," he corrected. "That does not mean it would not still attract attention. You must remember that most women in this place are whores."

Brandt snorted into his drink.

Sesshoumaru sent him a scathing glance. "I know that our current location tends to dissuade the very idea," he said, "but have you found a suitable place for your next fortress?"

"I'm beginning to think the New World would be a poor place to build another home for the Alliance," Gisela replied. "The humans come over from Europe in droves, and they have been bringing humans from Africa to be their slaves as well. What could we possibly do here to stop the human threat when there are so many humans arriving each day?"

"There are depths of the southern continent that have not been explored yet," Sesshoumaru suggested.

"But they will be."

He frowned. "What is this to be? A fortress to mount an attack or a hiding place?" he asked. "I have been away from Triberg for many years, but the scraps I have learned through the few messages I receive have only seemed to indicate that you are losing. Almost seventy years ago, you were already considering concealing our presence from the humans completely."

"Triberg survives. So does Sweden." She tapped her long, curved nails against her glass. "The issue is not the strength of the fortress, but the strength of our people. We will have to evacuate Triberg , simply because none of them want to leave the ever-shrinking confines of the Black Forest. When the humans are coming in at you from all sides, it's hard for them not have fear. I do not want to stop fighting, but we must reevaluate how we do it."

"We'll have to hide soon enough," Brandt growled. "Even without the Order, we're being bred into oblivion."

"And what do you suggest?" drawled Sesshoumaru. "That we ask all the demons in the Alliance to impregnate their mates?"

"Well, it sounds a hell of a lot more fun than dying in a lost war," Brandt said, smiling suddenly. "We could set up an entire system. More females are left than males. Think about it."

"Inuyoukai take only one mate," Sesshoumaru said with a frown.

"And they take their time about it too, don't they?" the male fire demon countered.

The countess frowned at her cousin. "Stop it, Brandt."

"Just saying," he replied with a jerky shrug.

"However I feel about the future of this place," she continued, "I still would like to see the southern continent before I make any final decisions."

"I can only take you as far as Barbados," Sesshoumaru said. "The Spanish have Grenada and the Port of Spain. And I will not go near any place where the Caribs defend their land. They are not as well-armed as Europeans, but they're fierce warriors and dangerous to my ship and crew."

Gisela nodded. "That's fine. We'll find another ship to take us to the mainland. It was kind of you to take us this far."

"It is my duty."

"To the Alliance, of course," muttered Brandt. "And just the Alliance."

Sesshoumaru turned to growl a warning to the irksome fire demon when Gisela grabbed his arm. "Hawkins!" snapped a gravelly voice from behind him.

Sesshoumaru swiveled in his chair. "Roger Vane," he said, identifying the man with a glance at the matted, greasy beard that the pirate wore. An obnoxious copycat of Blackbeard, Vane took none of the pride in his appearance that the more infamous man did - from five feet away, he stunk of moldy bread and salted pork. Two large men flanked him. "How can I help my enemy?"

"You can give me the prize from that Spanish galleon you boarded last week," growled the pirate. "That was mine, and you knew it."

"I didn't see you or any other ship on the horizon," Sesshoumaru replied.

"I chased it for ten leagues!"

The taiyoukai arched his eyebrow. "If I could not see you, you were doing a poor job of it. My capture. My prize."

Vane gestured to their audience - the tavern had gone quiet again. "I'm sure every man here can agree that a man of my means is in more need of a few coins than an English privateer," he cried, stressing the last word. A rumble of agreement went through the building.

Sesshoumaru's hand curled into a fist as he slowly stood. This was a pirate's town, and although privateers were essentially pirates themselves, they worked with the blessing of a crowned head of Europe to capture a competing countries' ships. It made them heroes in friendly cities, but less than popular in lawless ones, where pirates had sudden bursts of patriotism for the countries' ships that a privateer would attack. The fact that privateers often acted as unofficial military and captured particularly troublesome pirate ships didn't endear them to Tortuga's residents either. All in all, Vane had just made him a marked man.

"You might have thirty guns on me on the sea, Hawkins," Vane continued, "but in Tortuga, you are just one man. Here, you are no captain."

Other men were rising from their seats. He knew that Gisela and Brandt were on their feet and that they would easily survive anything this drunken lot could throw at them, but they would also expose themselves as something more than human in doing so. His hand danced over the hilt of his knife.

"Roger Vane, I have never seen someone lie so much in my life."

The pirate and his thugs turned, and Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. "Kagome?" he asked, moving around Vane.

It was her. She wore a man's coat - quite similar to his own with its stiff, turned-up sleeves and braiding - but the full skirt and her soft features underneath the tricorne hat showed her true nature. But she was also pointing two flintlock pistols at Vane's head, her face marred by vicious anger. Her eyes didn't even flicker towards the taiyoukai. "I believe," she said, addressing the pirate, "that these fine men would be just as interested in listening to how you came by that fine, new ship you have in the harbor. Let the fool have his prize."

Sesshoumaru arched an eyebrow. 'Fool'?

"He was doing as honest of work as the rest of us can manage here," Kagome continued, drawing back the hammers of her pistols. "We live to a code here, Roger Vane, and you don't. Shall I tell them the specifics of how you got the Catalina or will you leave?"

The men in the tavern were muttering to each other and sitting down again, staring at Vane with more distrust than before. The pirate held up his hands and began to circle the miko, heading towards the door. "Well, it turns out I am outnumbered, after all. Hawkins," he said, throwing a glance at the taiyoukai, "you have some luck, don't you? Be assured that I will be there when it runs out."

Sesshoumaru crossed his arms and maintained his stony silence.

"And Kate, it's always a pleasure," Vane said with a leering smile. "You are a feisty, little one."

The pirate lounged out with his two accomplices, and Kagome lowered her weapons, sagging against a table. Sesshoumaru stepped close as the conversation flared up around him once more. "Kagome, what are you doing here?" He took her by the shoulders and felt the way her body trembled. He pressed one hand to her forehead, which was warm, but not alarmingly so. Removing the pistols from her limp grasp, he eased the hammers back into place and them them on the table beside her. "Do you feel ill?"

"No," she murmured. "Yes. Sort of."

He tried to guide her into a chair. "Then sit."

She shook her head and pushed him away. "No, we have to leave. Vane's a coward but a poor loser, and he'll come back with more men." She looked up at him and frowned. "I'm assuming you have a ship."

"Yes, but we have been here for a very short time. I need more supplies than what they have loaded by now."

"Leave it," she growled, collecting her pistols and tucking them away. "Just more for him to burn, if he gets the chance."

Sesshoumaru glanced at his two companions. Brandt shrugged. "Well, it's not looking like I'm going to get a decent bite to eat anyway," he said.

Gisela was staring at Kagome with a small frown. "We should go," she murmured after a moment. "Now."

"Then we will," Sesshoumaru said, and Kagome was already half way out the door when the three youkai followed. "What are you doing here?" he asked, speeding up to catch up with her.

"Besides saving your ass?" she muttered, checking down the length of an alley before turning into it. "Working."

"Where?" He noticed the low-cut chemise and bodice that she wore underneath her worn, men's dress coat. He remembered the words he had so recently spoken to Gisela - most of the women on this island were whores, and he hadn't been exaggerating. "As what?"

She didn't look at him but drew the lapels of the coat over her chest. "Fuck you!" she snapped, making him blink in surprise. "I worked with a shipwright. It's dangerous work, and I don't get hurt easily. Obviously. The boss appreciated me. With my size, I could do some of the work more easily than the men, and I never complained. And before you think it, I decked a couple of guys and broke a few noses, so they kept their hands off of me. I'm no whore, Sesshoumaru!"

"I did not mean to imply..."

"Oh, whatever," she said. "I'm not stupid, and I won't be judged by you. It was a good job and a honest one. That's rare in Tortuga. When I felt your presence, I knew you'd get yourself in trouble though. And I was right, wasn't I? Since I still don't have enough money to get off this damned island, you're taking me to Kingston yourself. Think of it as a little favor in return for the one I just did for you."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "I was not going to Kingston. I am taking the countess and Brandt to Barbados."

Kagome stopped, nearly causing Brandt to tumble into her back. "Kingston," she ground out. "It's close, so don't give me any bullshit about how it's inconveniencing you. I don't really care!"

His eyes narrowed. "Very well. I will take you to Kingston, but only if you explain this ridiculous behavior of yours."

"Sesshoumaru," started Gisela.

He held up a hand to silence the countess and waited. The miko glared but nodded at last. "If you want to hear the whole story, that's just fine with me," she said. "Don't say that I didn't warn you though."

She stalked away again, letting the three youkai follow her through a winding path of alleys and back roads. She had obviously lived in Tortuga for a good amount of time - although they saw almost no one, the noise of the sinful city never left them, as if gunfights and brawls were taking place on the opposite side of the walls that surrounded them, which they probably were. It was only when they arrived back at the waterfront - directly in front of Sesshoumaru's ship - that they were thrust back into the midst of Tortuga's way of life.

"The Arrow," Kagome announced, sweeping a hand towards his ship and ignoring the drunks trying to cat-call for her and Gisela. "Ironic name."

"It was not my choice," he replied. "And if you knew this was my ship, why did you ask if I had one?"

"Making sure Vane wasn't actually just confused, Hawkins," she said.

Sesshoumaru frowned at the use of his alias - he had so often reminded her to do so in public in the past, but anything else but his own name sounded strange from her mouth now. "Vane and I have met before. He knows who I am."

She shrugged and moved through the crowd like a fish through water, leaving the demons to push their way to the anchored ship. "Sixty-four cannons," she said when they had caught up again. "I didn't think the Royal Navy particularly liked anyone else having these. Besides themselves, of course. These are the best ships on the seas."

"Better maneuverability than the larger ships-of-the-line and with the ability to destroy another well-armed ship, if necessary," he replied as Brandt started to order the men to finish up with the cargo and get back on the ship. Some of his crew were not back from their trips into the bars and whorehouses of Tortuga, but Sesshoumaru wrote them off without a thought. "I captured it from the Spanish. There had been a storm and, they lost a mast. After that, they lost the ship to me."

"No wonder you're famous. Not keeping a very low profile though, are you?"

He frowned. "If I am well-known, it is only in local circles."

"The entire Caribbean isn't exactly what I would call local. Still, if you're going to go the flashy route, I'm not the one to stop you. Perhaps you could have gone with one less canon and gotten a better coat though," she said, giving him a once-over. "You look like you've been fighting dust bunnies and moths, not the Spanish."

He glanced down at his dingy shirt and breeches. The boots were scuffed, and he knew that even his hair was not as pristine as usual. "The perils of the sea," he replied crisply. "Are you going to get on the ship or not?"

Kagome brushed past him and went up the ramp, pausing for a moment before she stepped onto the deck. "I'll wait in your cabin," she said, nodding towards the doors behind the wheel. "You get out of port, and we'll talk."

The fire demon appeared at his side almost immediately. "Something is wrong with that girl," Brandt muttered as they watched the miko walk away. "What happened when you left her?"

"Nothing. I explained my reasons, she understood, and she left. She was not entirely pleased, but it was amicable."

"Well, something happened," said the fire demon, "because that was not the girl that I knew in Germany. She even smells different."

Sesshoumaru nodded, knowing it was true. It was the reason he had not been able to identify her before he actually saw her. She smelled of pitch - the resin used to waterproof ships - and rum. She smelled of Tortuga itself.

"Do we even know it's her?" Brandt asked. "Those shape-shifter friends of yours can imitate anyone's face. A scent is more difficult to mimic, wouldn't you say?"

"It is her. A shape-shifter would never..."

"Tell you to fuck off?" Brandt suggested, grinning. "Highlight of my day. I suppose you're right though. A shape-shifter wouldn't have changed her personality so much. But, of course, that means that's all Kagome, and you know what it takes to change a person's scent so drastically."

He did know. "I need to oversee our departure," he muttered. "She will talk with us once we are in open water. I'm sure you can find something helpful to do until I call for you again."

Brandt wandered away with a gruff agreement to put the subject aside, and Sesshoumaru began his work. The crew grumbled about not being able to spend a full day on the island, but most of them were accounted for, and they followed their captain's orders. The taiyoukai was methodical about casting off, despite the growing night - the hold was secured with their food and water, and the rigging was checked and rechecked. When he was satisfied, Sesshoumaru ordered the main sail to be unfurled and guided the ship out of the dark harbor of Tortuga.

He left the ship in his officers' hands when the lights of the sinful city had disappeared, and he ordered the day shift down to their quarters for some sleep before turning to his own cabin. Kagome had lit a lamp in his dining room and was studying his charts that were strewn across his table. "Don't spill that," he said, closing the door behind him and gesturing to the generous draft of brandy she had poured for herself.

"Uh huh," she muttered, looking at a map of the Carolinas. She had removed her coat and hat - they were slung over the back of the chair. Her hair fell over her shoulder, brushing the parchment she was bending to study.

"I thought you wanted to go to Kingston," he said, pulling out a smaller map of Jamaica.

"I'm not going to stay there forever," she replied with her eyes still on the charts.

Gisela emerged from Sesshoumaru's bedroom. "The bed's made." She glanced at the taiyoukai. "For Kagome. I don't think she should sleep anywhere near the crew. The officers' quarters are on the same deck. Yours is the only one isolated, and you don't have to sleep."

"Neither does she," he pointed out, earning himself a sharp look from the female demon. He frowned. "But I suppose that is acceptable," he amended slowly. The countess's words held no particular measure of kindness, but she sat down at the table and looked at the map with Kagome with more civility than he had ever seen the two women share.

"So you're not going back to Europe?" she asked the miko.

"I have to save up a bit for that," replied Kagome.

Sesshoumaru took his seat at the other end of the table. "I will give you the funds you need."

She shook her head. "No, thank you," she answered simply.

His frown deepened. "Did you ever make it to England?"

She went still, and her eyes lifted to look back at him. "Yes."

"Then why did you return?" he asked. He took a breath. "Did you deplete the resources I had put away for safekeeping in London?"

Kagome's brow wrinkled in annoyance as she dropped back into her seat. The brandy sloshed dangerously close to the lip of the glass. "What do you think I did? Went on a shopping spree? I left most of it. I didn't even touch it until I had to come back here, actually." Her tongue ran along the edge of her front teeth. "As for why I'm back, I think that's pretty plain. I couldn't help it. Trying to resist moving back towards each other works only so long, Sesshoumaru. You know that."

"But why Tortuga?" asked Gisela, leaning forward. "We never thought..."

"Is it 'we' now?" Kagome interrupted. Her tone was lazy, but she was grasping the glass tightly.

Sesshoumaru paused as the countess shifted in her chair. "No, it is not," he said. "Why did you come to Tortuga?"

"Well, I didn't exactly choose to come here." She gave him a pointed look. "Isn't it obvious?"

"You were captured by a pirate," Gisela said flatly.

"Oh, I think we're up to a first name basis," Kagome muttered.

"Roger Vane," growled Sesshoumaru. "That is how you know him."

She gave a small, guarded shrug. "Part of it. It's how I know he doesn't follow any proper code. It's how I know he got that ship of his by cheating his men. That was the ship I was on from Spain to Havana. He had a ship, of course. I don't know if you ever saw it. It was falling to pieces. He'd promised the next ship to his first mate though. He'd always been eager to start his own little fleet like all the really powerful pirates. But when he saw that fine ship we were in, he decided he wanted it for himself. Of course, he killed the first mate and anyone else that protested. More money to share with less hands? That quieted the rest of them." She took a deep drink of the brandy. "Still, that sort of thing doesn't go over well with the other pirates. No one should cheat a man out of his wages. Apparently, pirates think that there should be some honor among thieves."

"But Vane flies a red flag," Sesshoumaru said. "He doesn't take prisoners."

Her hard eyes flickered to his face. "No shit."

"Then he must have tried to kill you," he pressed, his jaw clenching. "Does he know about what you are?"

She snorted and shook her head. "He's not that bright. I was shot by one of his crew, and when I lived, he decided that my anger was amusing. No one exactly checked to see that the wound would have been fatal to a normal human. And let me tell you, surgery on your own gut to get out a lead bullet is bracing to say the least." Her hand pressed against her side for a moment. "I tried to fight," she added, her voice softening. "There were families on that ship, and he just slaughtered them all. Then he made me scrub the blood out of the wood. That bastard."

"He is not alone in barbaric acts."

"No, he's not," Kagome replied, getting up to refill her glass. "But he is, by the way, a member of the Order."

Gisela started, nearly tipping the chair over. "He's what?"

"Don't worry," she murmured from her place at the sideboard. "He couldn't spot a demon if it had three horns and breathed fire. Like I said, he's not that bright. He certainly doesn't know about Sesshoumaru. Or you, I'd imagine. But don't confuse stupidity with not being dangerous. He's just a little worker bee, but someone around here knows who's who. But I'd imagine you're already aware that the Order is present in the Caribbean."

"I hadn't realized its pervasiveness. I didn't know that they had pirate captains on their payroll."

Kagome gave out a laugh that did not hold any amusement. "Come on. They're pirates. They'd do in their own mothers for the right price."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "He will die for his association with the Order," he said, "but I want to know why he brought you to Tortuga and released you."

"Released me? Do you really think that Tortuga is anything but a prison?" she asked.

"You could have bought passage to Haiti. It is not far."

Kagome's derisive grin did not mask the shudder that went through her frame. "Get on another boat with a load of pirates? Right. Even Vane knew I wouldn't do that. I would rather take a dip with the sharks. Not to say that that option wasn't occasionally tempting. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that perhaps my arm wouldn't grow back," she sneered.

Gisela sat down in her chair again, her hands splayed out on the table, as if to steady herself. "But why did he put you on Tortuga? Instead of keeping you with him, I mean?"

The miko gave a quick, half-hearted shrug. "I suppose I'm lucky," she said, the grin sliding away from her expression. "He's possessive, and he couldn't have me on the ship with all his men. He tried, but you know how determined men can be. He had to shoot one and keelhaul another before he decided to put me someplace safe. Safe for him."

A pit was forming in the taiyoukai's stomach as he looked at the troubled faces of the two women. "Kagome," he said through his gritted teeth, "is there another reason I should kill Vane? Something that has nothing to do with the Order?"

She leaned back against the sideboard, the glass of brandy dangling from her fingers. She glowered at a point over his head, but the color was draining from her face. "What he did to me," she replied slowly, "is nothing in comparison to what he's done to others."

The scent of hot anger rolled off of her, making him dizzy. "Others? They are nothing to me," he ground out. "He..." He stopped.

"Say it. Maybe it'll make you feel better," Kagome said, the flinty edge coming back into her voice as fast as it had disappeared. "It didn't help me any, but let's give it a try with you."

The door opened, and Brandt strolled in. "I was under the impression that you were going to tell me when the little powwow began," he said, raising an eyebrow at Sesshoumaru's back.

The taiyoukai didn't turn, but Gisela pointed towards the door. "Out, Brandt!" she said. "This isn't..."

"Why?" Kagome broke in. Her fierce gaze moved between the two fire youkai. "He'll know sooner or later. Let him stay! Why not?"

"Kagome," Sesshoumaru began, rising to his feet.

"What?" she growled. She shook her head. "I don't need you to protect me, Sesshoumaru. Not from him. Not from anyone."

"But he raped you!"

His words were quiet, but they sucked all the air out of the room, and Kagome's jaw clenched as she took a sharp, gasping breath - it was the only movement she made. But Brandt's swagger died away, and he moved forward on heavy feet. "Wait. Wait! Who... who touched the priestess?" he asked, his eyes widening as he looked to his cousin.

"Vane. That's why she's on Tortuga," Gisela whispered. She looked back at the miko with some effort. "Did he ever come back to see you?" she asked.

Kagome gave a curt shake of the head. "His base is usually in New Providence. I was too much trouble to bring there, and he's not around here very often."

"We're talking about that little weasel we just met?" Brandt growled. He looked to the miko. "But he's just a human! And you're immortal!"

"So?" Kagome snapped. Her face suddenly bloomed red, but the tears clouding her eyes didn't fall. "What does that matter?"

Brandt faltered. "Well... I mean, he couldn't... Well, he couldn't kill you..." He trailed off and lowered his eyes to the ground.

She was shaking. "Who cares if I'm immortal if I still have the strength of just a normal woman? How can not dying possibly help when all he had to do was hold me down? And it's no less terrifying when six men grab you..."

"Six?" Sesshoumaru interrupted her tirade. Wood splintered under his claws as his eyes began to glow.

"Well, I didn't go to Vane willingly!" Kagome thundered. The glass fell from her hand and shattered, spraying brandy and shards across the floor. "I tried to fight! You think that I would just let him take me? That I wouldn't fight like all hell? Do you think that I ever gave that monster permission to touch me?"

"No," the taiyoukai said quickly. "I know. I..." The red glow in his eyes faded, and the remnants of his table crumbled out of his fist. "I apologize, Kagome. I should have trained you to fight properly."

"Yeah, that thought occurred to me once or twice," she snarled. "Miko powers aren't much good against a human, you know! I know you despise us as the bugs beneath your feet, but you could have remembered that they can still hurt me. For once, you could have thought of something other than yourself!"

He offered no protest as she continued to yell at him, her words cutting deeply despite the fact that they became increasingly unintelligible. He realized that he had made a fatal error in judgment, and yet it was not the strangeness of being incorrect that hit him so hard as it was the sharp bite of guilt. He had always thought himself prepared for this - from the moment they had parted in Salem, he had admitted that she could get injured. But, at its worst, he had imagined shape-shifters and her death, never a measly human and his perversion. He had never worried about training her to fight because he had protected her from the only ones that could kill her. Until now, he had never imagined something worse than Kagome dying.

Gisela was already on her feet when he noticed Kagome's tears. The countess guided the girl back to her seat, poured her another brandy and pulled a chair close to coax the miko to drink. Kagome's cries were quiet, as if she had become accustomed to hiding them in the dark.

Brandt paced in front of the door, rubbing at the back of his neck and muttering to himself. "This is bullshit," he said, coming to Sesshoumaru's side. 

"What do you care? You don't even like her," replied the taiyoukai, his tone dull. He heard the childish words come out of his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to care about what the fire demon thought of it.

"But I... I like this," he said, gesturing towards the sobbing woman, "even less. Vane deserves to die for this!"

"And he will, but by my hand alone."

"I told you I didn't need your protection," Kagome muttered into Gisela's handkerchief, her words still wet with tears. "I don't need your revenge either."

"You obviously do," Sesshoumaru said, his body regaining some of its strength. "I will train you. I will..."

"No, thank you," she murmured. "Just because you now know what happened doesn't mean anything has changed. I want to go to Kingston, and I want you to leave me there. I'll be safe. The Royal Navy is everywhere in that city."

"You'll be safe from Vane, but there are other humans in this world that would do you harm."

"No," Kagome asserted, her watering eyes locking onto his. "I haven't been idle, Sesshoumaru. I'm learning to defend myself just fine without you."

Gisela frowned, bending down to look into the miko's face. "You know that Sesshoumaru could teach you so much more than a bunch of brigands." She paused and folded her hands. "Brandt and I will be leaving the ship soon enough."

"That's not it," Kagome said.

She and Sesshoumaru continued to look at one another as her tears continued to fall. "Then why do you insist upon leaving?" he asked.

She worried the edge of the handkerchief in her hands. She seemed to have lost all of her air, but none of her anger, and her eyes pierced him. "I didn't just wish you had trained me," she murmured. "I so desperately wished for just you. I wanted you to save me. I wanted you to kill him and take me away and just leave them all to die! The number of times I fooled myself into thinking that you were close... I can't even count that high. I needed you to be there for me. I needed you to save me more than I have ever needed anyone to save me in my whole life!"

He looked at her flushed cheeks. "I didn't know," he replied.

"I know. And it's not fair of me to hate you for it, but you were late," she continued, her voice lowering. "You didn't save me, and now, I realize I don't want you to save me anymore. Taking me to Kingston is just a favor for an old acquaintance of yours. The rest I'll do on my own. I have to. I can't depend on you to come to my rescue." She sniffed again and wiped the handkerchief across her damp lashes.

The taiyoukai stood up slowly. "Very well," he said after a moment.

"Sesshoumaru!" Gisela said, her brows coming together.

"She has made her choice, and we long ago decided that I would not interfere in her choices," he said, still not looking away from the girl at the other end of the table. He knew that when he did turn away, Kagome's pale, angry face would not fade from his vision. "We will be in Kingston soon. The winds favor us. Until then, you will not be disturbed. These rooms are yours."

"Thank you," she murmured. "Maybe I'll actually get some rest."

"Have you not been sleeping?" Gisela asked.

Kagome frowned. "Would you?"

The countess bowed her head as the miko slipped out of her chair and into Sesshoumaru's room, shutting the door firmly behind her. Brandt slouched down in a chair as the lock turned. "I usually like being right," he muttered, "but this is... I mean, God, I feel like shit just because I'm male! I'm not even a damn human!"

Sesshoumaru softly grunted his agreement while Gisela rose from her seat to gather the shards of glass from the floor. "She's completely traumatized, Sesshoumaru. You aren't really going to let her off in Kingston, are you?"

"What do you suggest that I do?" he asked. "Follow her?"

"I hardly think she needs any man shadowing her steps," replied Gisela with a scowl. "You have several days before we get to Kingston though. Ask her to stay again. She could even come with us, if she'd prefer."

Brandt raised an eyebrow. "Now, wait a minute. I feel sorry for the girl, but I hardly think..."

"It's not really up to you," Gisela interrupted firmly.

"But you don't like the miko either! We all know that. The girl knows that."

The female fire demon stood, tying the shards into the handkerchief Kagome had used. "We have never been friends or even very friendly, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve some compassion. Lord knows it's hard to come by around here," she muttered, glancing at the two males out of the corner of her eye.

"You suspected this long before she said a word," Sesshoumaru said.

Gisela sat down again. "I've seen that look before," she replied. "Frightened, angry and lost, all at once."

"Her sister," Brandt murmured.

"I didn't know you had a sibling."

The countess shook her head, schooling her features. "I don't. I haven't for some time anyway. My sister became reckless after she was attacked by her own intended mate, no less. She was fierce and unpredictable. She volunteered for dangerous assignments against the Order by herself, or she would slip away from her companions to take on the agents alone. Of course, it wasn't long before she died." She gave the taiyoukai a searching stare. "So you can see why I am somewhat concerned for the miko. I'm afraid I can't help it."

"I will ask again," agreed the dog demon, rubbing at his face. His concealment spell had long since slipped away, and his claws scratched lightly across his face. "But she will refuse."

"She's been trapped on that island for awhile," Gisela said. "Give her a chance to get used to being safe again."

"We'll be in Kingston in mere days. That isn't much time," muttered Sesshoumaru.

They all looked towards the bedroom door, stretching out their demonic senses. The smell of brandy was everywhere, but they could hear the quickness of Kagome's breath and her heart. They could hear the creak of the bed as she shifted around and her quiet sobs. She was not asleep.

"I think you need to try," the countess said.

8888888888888888888888888888888888

He stood on the deck of his ship, watching the frenzy of activity at the mouth of the harbor as the galleon floated in from the open sea. The crew of the HMS Orestes grappled with the adrift boat, trying to tow it into calmer waters. The Royal Marines had already boarded the larger, Spanish ship, but they hadn't lingered. No one was going to touch a thing on the Catalina.

His own ship was docked, and his crew stood with the crowd that was beginning to form on the waterfront. It was probably the most interesting thing that had happened in Kingston in some time, he reflected.

"Cap'n?"

Sesshoumaru turned. "Was she there?"

The crewman shook his head. "No, Cap'n. The barman said she left 'bout a month ago. She bought passage to..."

"It doesn't matter where she is now," Sesshoumaru cut in. "If she was not there, she was not there." He passed a couple coins to him for the trouble.

The Catalina was being brought up to the docks, and he strolled down the ramp, pretending he couldn't smell the tangy scent of blood that was beginning to pervade the entire harbor. He slowed his pace, timing it so that the Orestes' captain - a black-haired man in his forties who went by the name of Smollett - caught sight of him at precisely the right moment. "Hawkins!"

Sesshoumaru inclined his head. "Captain. Good day."

"So you say," muttered Smollett. "I think we dragged Hell itself from the waters."

The dog demon blinked lazily at the Royal Navy officer. "Oh? Do you require assistance?"

"The crew can take care of the, ah, manual labor," the captain replied, "but yes, actually. Perhaps you could make sense of this. None of us can. I've heard that you've been around the natives, right?"

"Somewhat, yes," Sesshoumaru replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Maybe some Caribs did this," mused Smollett. "They're barbarians. You would know if they did, right?"

"Did what exactly?" asked the taiyoukai.

Smollett nodded towards the Catalina - the Royal Marines in their red coats were lingering on the dock, looking up at the ship but not venturing up the ramp without orders. "Killed every pirate on this ship."

"Hm. It's a bit far for them to go. I would imagine they would attack a ship more like yours, for example, if they were to go through all that trouble."

Smollett frowned. "Well, we need to figure it out."

They walked down the dock, passing the crew of the Orestes who stood shoulder to shoulder, whispering to one another like a bunch of trembling schoolboys instead of world-weary deckhands. Smollett watched them with a scowl - he was the type of officer that detested the civilian crews, instead of thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have to scrub the decks himself. "You," he said, pointing to a tall man on the end of the line, "get the undertaker. Make sure he brings a wagon. We're not carrying this scum to his doorstep."

The crewman scampered away as they mounted the ramp up to the main deck of the Catalina. "You can see the problem," Smollett said when the first body came into view.

Sesshoumaru's eyes passed over the corpses that littered the quarterdeck. Blood was seeping into the wood, while the smell of it burned in their nostrils. The dog demon crossed the deck, coming to stop by the body slumped at the base of the wheel. "Are you sure they're all dead?" he asked.

"No one was keen on staying on board when we found it drifting half a league away," Smollett replied, "but we're guessing so. We've glanced below deck, and it gets worse. They're all dead in their hammocks. Every single one, his throat cut."

"I see fewer pirates for you to worry about," Sesshoumaru said, kicking at the corpse at his feet. It flipped over onto its back to show the wide eyes of horror. He had seen some of his companions die, but he had not seen the killer coming up to his own back. "And you got a fine ship in the bargain."

"I don't know anyone who will touch this thing," said the officer. "Don't you see, Hawkins? These men died where they stood! Their weapons aren't drawn. Half of them were asleep below deck and didn't even move! What kind of man can go on sleeping when his neighbors' throats are getting cut?"

Sesshoumaru stepped around the congealing pools of blood. "Perhaps they were drunk."

"Maybe the ones down below, but these?" Smollett asked, gesturing around the quarterdeck. Bodies were tucked into corners and resting against cannons, as if they had just fallen asleep. "Don't get me wrong, Hawkins. I agree. Less pirates make less trouble for me, and this crew was especially vicious. We've found their victims' ships adrift just like this one was on more than one occasion. But those involved fights. This was murder while they slept, without anyone waking! I can't have some sick monster running around the Caribbean who is capable of this."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sesshoumaru said. "This is not the work of one man."

"I don't want to even think about the possibility that it was more than one man. I don't want to have to hunt down an entire crew of murderers," muttered Smollett.

"Hm. I'm not certain it's necessary to hunt down anyone. Where is the captain?"

The Naval officer frowned. "Probably dead in his bed, just like the others." He sighed. "I don't relish the idea of going down to his quarters, but I suppose we should look in on it."

It was a smaller ship than The Arrow - the captain and officers slept on the same deck as the crew, albeit in tiny cabins of their own. Sesshoumaru and Smollett ducked down the stairs and to the gun deck. "It reeks," muttered the officer, turning his eyes away from the rows of bloodied hammocks. Arms and legs dangled limply from the white, canvas shrouds. The bobbing of the ship made the ropes creak and the hammocks sway in time with each other - it was just enough movement to give the impression that the men were dancing in their beds.

Smollett crossed behind him and opened the door to the officers' cabins. "God in heaven!" came his cry.

Sesshoumaru pushed past Smollett. "Interesting," he murmured. He circled the small table in the center of the room, surveying the scene. "There's gold here."

The captain frowned at the coins in the center of the table. "That's what you notice?" he said, regaining some semblance of control. "The gold? You really are a privateer, Hawkins."

The dog demon arched a brow. "I simply point it out because it makes it obvious that profit was not the objective here," he said. "After all, whoever did this clearly spent a good portion of time in this room and did not take the gold. Considering the condition of the body," he added, bending slightly to look at it from a different angle, "I would say it was something quite personal."

"It's that scoundrel, Roger Vane," Smollett said, coming to one end of the table. "So if you're right, there's an extremely long list of possibilities. He offended everyone personally."

Sesshoumaru paused by the body. "This is more than just an offense," he muttered. "Look at the way the body was tied down and stripped of its skin, piece by piece." He nudged the some slivers of epidermis that were scattered around the chair in neat little piles with one boot. "The body has been almost entirely flayed. Except... well, you can see for yourself."

Smollett approached the corpse slowly, leaning over to look where the dog demon was looking. "That's indecent," he said, shuddering.

"And yet, something that was often done to young boys to keep their voices not so long ago," the dog demon replied. "I would imagine Vane was castrated first, before his skin was peeled off in bits."

"Why do you say that?" the captain asked with a grimace.

"Because I would imagine that that was the killer's point," Sesshoumaru answered. "A perfect kill always has a point. And such an injury certainly makes a strong statement."

"I suppose so." Smollett moved towards where the severed head lay on the platter at the center of the table. Blood dribbled from its open mouth and the gaping holes where its eyes once rested. The lips were ashen where they were not red and formed a perfect, silent scream. "But what about this?"

Sesshoumaru studied the face. "Removal of the eyes wouldn't have been fatal, just like the castration. The same goes for the tongue." He looked up at the other man. "Perhaps he said something that he should not have said. It's the purpose of torture to maximize pain and minimize unconsciousness."

"Then why cut off the head?" the captain asked, leaning forward. "That would have been quick. It's almost like it's an... Well, it is an execution, isn't it?"

The dog demon smirked. "I see that you don't need my assistance."

"But something like this - something personal, if you're right - wouldn't be the work of the natives. They wouldn't have taken the time to do this to a pirate," Smollett muttered. "So who did kill these men?"

"I doubt you have to worry," Sesshoumaru said. "I'm certain that the killer is very far away by now, or he will be soon."

"So he can do this again somewhere else!"

"They were pirates, Smollett, and they would have been hanging from the gibbet anyway if you had caught them. I can almost assure you that no one will anger this killer the way that Vane must have angered him, and that's what matters, right? Your main concern is that this will not happen to a ship of the Royal Navy."

Smollett mulled over this for a moment. Sesshoumaru could see the weighing of possibilities in the officer's mind - the trouble to find someone clearly skilled at stealth against the chance that it would happen again to a ship with British allegiance. "Well, I suppose whoever did this did my job for me. And if you truly don't think we'll be seeing this again, I'd rather forget it. What you've said makes sense, Hawkins." He nodded to himself and walked to the door. "Let the undertaker worry about it now. I'm done with this mess."

Sesshoumaru waited until he heard Smollett ascending the stairs before taking a moment to look once more at his handiwork. He had killed many men and demons in his long life, but torture had always been the work of others. He had never been drawn to it before - as little as his heart felt, he had never felt the depraved desire to make his victims suffer. Usually, people either enjoyed their quick deaths by his hand, or they didn't. And although torturing Vane had held some grim enjoyment, it had not expelled the gnawing remorse from his stomach.

Still, Vane deserved it.

"I would have simply cut your throat for being a member of the Order," he muttered to the bloody head of the pirate. He could still hear the man's screams echoing off the walls of the small room. "But your mistake was touching her. I hope that was the last thought in your head before I cut it off."

He turned and went up the stairs to the main deck, where the crew of the Orestes had begun their work of clearing away the corpses. "I must get back to my own ship," he said to the Naval officer.

"Thank you for the help," Smollett replied, shaking Sesshoumaru's hand. "They were just pirates, after all."

"Less than that," the taiyoukai said as they parted.

He made his way back to The Arrow, gave some orders to the few crew that remained on board and shut himself into his bedroom. It was small but sunny because of the windows that filled two of the walls, and he breathed in the rare silence of his ship. Dipping his hands into the ewer of water, he washed his forearms and face clean of the scent of the Catalina before turning to the small, cedar window-seat that held his clothing. Over the past several months, pushing aside his belongings had become practiced, and he soon held the creased, translucent paper he had sought.

"Captain Jim Hawkins," it said on the envelope in English. She had taken the stationary from his desk, as well as the ink, but she had written the note on his bed - he sat down and touched one of the black spots of ink that she had left behind on his linens so many months ago. It was one of the few reminders that she had even been here. She had remained silent and in her room for the majority of her time on The Arrow - the letter in his hands had more words in it than she had spoken to him in the entire voyage.

It was written in Japanese inside, and he read it carefully, although he could have seen the black pen strokes even if he'd closed his eyes.

"Sesshoumaru," it began. "Thank you for what you're going to do. It's what I would have done if I had had the skill, the opportunity and the courage. You have all of those things, and you believe your honor is at stake, after all. I'm going to pretend that you did it for me after all, despite what I said.

"I hope that when I see you next, I've forgiven you. Somehow, I think that I probably look forward to that day more than you do. Until then." She hadn't signed it.

He folded it and put it into its envelope again before tucking it into his breast pocket. Tetsusaiga and Tokijin were also retrieved from the bottom of the chest, as well as enough coins to allow some comfort. The rest of his possessions he left - he had already stowed his valuables from this life in a safe place, just as he always did when he had decided to move on.

People disappeared all the time in the Caribbean, and even if Smollett no longer cared about Vane's killer, the Order would. They would know it was a demon - it was possible that they could even finger him specifically as the murderer. The slaughter on the Catalina would only let the Order affirm their beliefs that demons were monsters. He had to leave and appear on their grid someplace far from here so that he did not damage the Alliance's chances in this region. It was something he had known he would have to do from the moment that he had decided that Vane had to suffer, not just die. Sesshoumaru had spent far more time deciding on how Vane would be tortured than he had spent finding the pirate's ship.

Opening the window, Sesshoumaru began to summon the energy to transform into the orb of light to travel across the sea. His body pulled at him to go north, but he remembered Kagome looking at the map of the Carolinas, and he refused to look to the north. Not yet.

He stepped up onto the sill as his body faded away, and soon, an streak of white light flew through the air to the east.

8888888888888888888888888888888888

A/N: Roger Vane is based on an amalgamation of real pirates. The primary inspiration, Charles Vane, was infamous for his cruelty and his willingness to break 'pirate code', taking his crew's share as well as his own. He was about as popular with his compatriots as my character, as you can imagine. Roger Vane's first name is a tribute to the ubiquitous Jolly Roger flag that pirates flew. Sesshoumaru's alias, Jim Hawkins, is from the protagonist of the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, "Treasure Island". Smollett is named after another main character (also a captain) in "Treasure Island".

As for the ship names, Sesshoumaru's ship, The Arrow is pretty obvious. Vane kept the name of the ship he stole from the Spanish - Catalina, the Spanish form of "Katherine", which in turn is Kagome's alias, although everyone calls her "Kate". What a coincidence. (It's considered bad luck to rename a ship, actually, unless you do it with considerable pomp and ceremony.) The HMS Orestes was a real ship (actually, several) in the British Royal Navy, but the first one wasn't built until 1781. Orestes is a Greek man of myth whose entire life was determined by vengeance.

Please review.