InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Guilty Concience ❯ Shipwrecked ( Chapter 1 )

Guilty Conscience
written by Thyran

Note: this chapter will be confusing... you'll all understand later =)

Chapter 1: Shipwrecked

The warm summer rain splashed against their skin. The lightening flashed before their eyes. The loud rumble of thunder echoed in their ears. The scent of salty water drifted through the air.

They stared around glumly through the rain trying to sight land. The stronger ones where rowing with the cheap paddles provided. The black waves jostled the boat
putting them all on edge. Hope was quickly fading...

How long had they been out there?

It must have been a day... maybe two... she'd lost track.

Their mouths were dry and parched from lack of food and water. Their skin was rough and burned from yesterday's hot weather. They sat slumped around the boat... some of them asleep.

Nobody had found them... someone must have heard about a sunken ship by now and sent out some rescue boats.

Kagome had been on a ship sailing for Quezon city. She had been leaning on the railing, watching the ocean when someone screamed out that they where going
under. The first reaction was panic - everyone had freaked out.

It was strange that it was sinking... there where no giant ice burgs, no storms, nothing... just them and the vast expanse of salted water all around.

It had sunk straight down, water flooding over the decks, wetting everyone's shoes.

She had been lucky to be so close to the safety boat at the time - had she been in her room like most of the people, she would have drowned. She was one of the
lucky ten or so people who had made it to the boat.

All the rest were dead.

Now the ten of them where stranded somewhere in the Philippine Sea.

Kagome sighed and shifted slightly in her soaked clothes. She was a smart, sixteen year old girl with no wish to die. Where was she now? Half dead. If she died,
and went to lie on the bottom of the ocean, she would be dragging the most valuable thing on earth to the bottom with her: the Shinkon No Tama.

The Shinkon... Kagome thought to herself. "The jewel of four souls", "the most powerful stone in the world", "God's gift to the world", "The most magical thing ever
discovered". Those where the nicknames it was given. She preferred to think of it as a curse... Of course now nobody believed it had any magic at all - but it was still worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The only person who knew Kagome carried it was a man called Naraku. An evil, terrible man.

Fucking Naraku... she thought to herself with a shudder.

The evil bastard was probably out to get her at that exact moment. It was him who'd almost managed to take the jewel from her.

Kagome was distracted from her thoughts when something flashed in the distance. Lightening? Or was that something else... She caught a glimpse of a rectangular yellow thingy a little ways away.

Or was it a window?

"There's a boat!" she screamed, "Can't you see it there's a boat!" she pointed to it.

But soon enough there was no need to point. It loomed up out of the fog visible for all of them.

It looked like a much smaller version of the ship she'd been travelling on.

It gave them all hope.

"Need a lift?" called down a smug voice as soon as it was close enough.

"Thank god...Let us up!" called one of the rowers.

Kagome gazed up at the tall ship, craning her neck to get a better look.

"Coast Guard" she read the bold, black, Japanese letters across the side.

Wait, Japanese? What was a Japanese coast guard doing in Philippine waters? And weren't coast guard boats meant to be smaller than this one? And uh... near the... coast. It looked more like a giant yacht... maybe not...

..............so much violence ends in silence...............

He strutted contentedly down the hall. Everything was going according to plan. They'd recruited the shipwrecked passengers without fail, one of them was sure to be
the holder of the jewel. Everyone knew that the holder of the Shinkon could only die by the hand of another human being and never a natural cause. So whoever it
was, was on the ship with them right then.

He stopped at the swinging door that led to the ships mini dining room and entered. He could see Miroku and Sango sitting at a small, round table on the other side of the room. They where half way through a game of blackjack but the game was forgotten and they seemed deep in conversation and kept glancing around for
eavesdroppers.

The room was kind of grubby and simple - but then it wasn't a luxury ship so that could be explained.

Inuyasha walked over to the bar and leaned over the counter to extract a bottle of brandy from underneath. They'd found at least twenty bottles of the stuff when
they'd "borrowed" the ship.

"Hey Inuyasha." greeted Sango as he approached. He strode over and pulled out a chair, sitting on it with its back to front.

"What where you two whispering about eh?" he asked ignoring her.

Miroku cleared his throat importantly, "We where just discussing the possibility of temporarily expanding our horizons by demand-"

"Cut the crap bouzu what were you really talking about." growled Inuyasha seeing right through Miroku's attempt to seem intelligent.

Sango laughed studying her cards while taking a short sip from the bottle beside her. "We where talking about all our little hostages." she explained.

"And what about them?" Inuyasha took a swig of brandy.

"Hit me." said Sango and Miroku dealt her a card, "Well how on earth are we supposed to find out which one holds that stone? Hit me."

"Cavity search?" Inuyasha suggested with a smirk, downing another sip.

Both Sango and Miroku turned up their noses at that idea.

"I aint doing no cavity search." she said passing Miroku a card, "And besides it wouldn't work anyways, its as simple as that..."

"Awe crap..." muttered the black haired guy when he looked at his card, "hit me."

Sango smirked and passed him another card. "Why don't we just terrorize them into giving it up?"

"Fine by me." an evil smile had crept onto Inuyasha's face as he took another gulp of the sticky substance.

"Great." agreed Miroku, "Whadya got Sango?" he placed his cards face up to reveal his perfect twenty one.

"Black jack." she smiled triumphantly as she put her cards down next to his.

Miroku's jaw dropped in surprise. "What?!" he gaped at her, "That's the sixth time in a row!"

"Hand 'em over." Sango laughed.

Inuyasha snickered when Miroku tossed a little tube of mini m&ms at Sango who popped open the lid and immediately started to devour them.

"Wait a minute..." said Miroku suddenly staring in horror at the cards before him. "Sango?" he questioned looking up at her slowly.

"Mhm?" her mouth was filled with m&ms.

"How did you win with an ace of diamonds when I have the exact same card?"

Inuyasha watched in mild amusement as Sango swallowed the last of the little, coloured candies before shrugging and taking the cards in her hands. "New game?"
she asked.

"Sure." accepted Miroku.

"Doofus..." muttered Inuyasha picking up his half empty bottle to head on out. It was time to introduce himself to the hostages and see who looked suspicious. He
wouldn't start scaring them yet, he'd get all the useful information out of them then he'd turn on them...

..................what would you do if you were sure to succeed?.................

Fate was out to get her.

Ever since she came to the world, it had rejected her like cats had rejected dogs.

Fate gave her the jewel, fate made it valuable, fate sunk her ship and fate chose a band of fucking criminals to pick them up.

The second they had boarded the ship she knew they were up to something. They must have heard the ship had sunk and come out to get them before anyone else
did. They wanted more than to bring them to dry land...

She hadn't missed the fact that there where five people on board the ship... why did you need five people per ship to guard a coast?

Then there was the obvious fact that they all carried weapons... they didn't try to hide the nasty looking machine guns or the handguns tucked into their belts. And when she had asked about them they'd simply said it was for security. Yeah... those whales looked pretty damn scary...

There was also the thick scent of alcohol mixed with drugs and various other toxic smells hanging in the air.

After a bit of snooping around, she'd discovered that the captain on the top floor was being closely monitored by some big guy with a hand gun... 24/7.

They weren't your average group of friends either...

There was a hanyou, some black haired guy who kept looking her up and down, some girl called Sango, and two men with hoods over their eyes that walked around the boat with guns...

This ship was not safe...

But what choice did she have? She couldn't sit in the safety boat waiting for another boat to come along and she wasn't about to try swimming anywhere. So she was
stuck with the weirdos on board. She'd just have to watch out and somehow try to stay alive.

"Damn..." she muttered as she strolled the length of the shabby room she was sharing with two others. It was pretty dirty, but at least it was warm and dry. A lot
more comfortable than being outside in the wet, windy weather. They'd even given them some food - rice with some gray, slimy chicken that she hadn't eaten. She had a feeling they had been fed some sort of left overs or scraps...

She wandered around the boat not really going anywhere in particular. She was just looking around for anything else suspicious. It would be a good idea if she discovered what these people where up to so she could avoid it. Oh and she was thinking of calling her mother to tell her she was ok. Yeah that sounded like a good idea... Now if only she had a phone...

The one hall was lit with florescent lights that brought out all the marks and scratches on the grimy walls. She was barefoot since her flip flops where still drying and
she could feel the cold floor beneath her. She padded down the hall past a couple doors, looking in every time she passed one. She stopped at a large wooden door and stood on her tiptoes to look inside through the high, circular window.

It looked like a sort of mini kitchen. She could see a fridge with a microwave and a cabinet in the corner and... a phone! It was just hanging there on the wall...

She quickly pushed the swinging door open and entered. Her footsteps echoed of the high ceiling as she stepped towards the phone. She had to pry it off the hook
because it was a little stiff... probably didn't get used very much. She put it to her ear and cheered again when she heard the dial tone. She dialled the number quickly
and hummed a little tune as it rang. She couldn't believe her luck - now she could get off this stinking boat and get back home. Her mother was probably worried
sick when she heard the boat had sunk.

Pick up pick up pick up! She mentally pleaded... No! I refuse to talk to a machine... Damn it!

"Mum it's me... Kagome. I'm okay - I survived! You see I'm on this boat right now but I don't think-"

Kagome shrieked as someone's fist slammed into the hook to disconnect her...

She instantly dropped the phone to whirl around and see who it was.

She was met with a very angry looking hanyou only a couple feet away. As if he didn't look scary enough, he had a deadly looking machine gun strapped over his shoulder. She looked on in dumb shock as he easily snapped the phone cord in two, depriving her of its use. Then he snapped his glare on her.

Her body tensed up and she had to refrain from backing away in fear. "Hi there." she said with more confidence than she had.

He just glared shrewdly at her as if she was some pesky mosquito he was longing to smack into the wall.

"Umm... how's it going?" she hadn't really done anything wrong so why was he glaring at her?

"And what are you doing?" he copied her casual tone.

"Oh you know, just calling my Mum to tell her I'm alive... nothing much..." she shrugged, his amused glare preventing her from looking away or backing
up - both of which she very much wanted to do.

"Mmm..." he stared down at her before adding, "Not on this ship girl."

"Why not?" she questioned ignorantly, looking down to avoid his eyes.

"Do I have to give a reason?" he smirked, annoyed that she wasn't looking at him.

"Yes." she answered but quickly regretted it the second the word spilled past her lips.

He reached forward with two fingers to jerk her chin up so she was looking directly into his smirking glare.

"Cause I said so - got that bitch?"

Anger coursed through her replacing the fear. Nobody called her a bitch. She jerked out of his reach and took a step forward.

"Where do you think you get off telling me what to do?" she said advancing slowly. He stood his ground, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "And don't you dare
call me a-"

She was cut off when he shoved her away from him and into the wall. She hit the concrete wall with a dull thud and slumped against it in defeat. She glowered up at
him fearfully, watching apprehensively as he tugged the strap on his shoulder down so he could rest the tips of his fingers on the metal trigger. His gaze never left her face.

"Don't mess with me bitch - I'll call you whatever the hell I want!" he spat before kicking the door open and walking out.

"Damn him..." she muttered to herself as she slid to the floor.

...............I won't be made useless.................

The bottle smashed satisfyingly as it hit the concrete floor. He simply pulled out another one and poured himself a glass of the bright, red liquid.

Had it been anyone else, they would not be in such a good mood as him.

Kagome Higurashi had slipped through his fingers. She'd managed to escape him... her ship had sunk and now she was at the mercy of anyone who came along knowing who she was. He'd heard that person was Inuyasha...

He knew she was alive - it was impossible for her to die... unless someone murdered her that is...

That's how it worked with Kagome Higurashi. She would never be killed by some sunken ship or a fire or anything. If she was to be killed it was going to be because someone wanted her dead. It was her fate.

He doubted she even knew that.

But now he was going to have to track her down himself. He'd kill her if he had to - as long as he got the damn rock.

It was probably Kikyo who had told someone to sink the ship. Even though she worked for him she could have a mind of her own and go off and do things...

But for now all he had to worry about was finding the little Higurashi bitch.

...............All the drugs in this world won't save her from herself................

Sango groaned loudly. After spending an hour interrogating the "passengers", all she'd discovered was that one of them was gay. What a great help.

She still had no idea who had sunk the ship... it was probably Kikyo since she had been the one who tipped them off... but that didn't explain much.

She placed her hand on the smooth, metal railing letting it slide along as she walked. She couldn't wait to get off this stupid ship... it had been what? Three days since they'd been at sea. They'd gone in pursuit of the travelling ship as soon as they'd learned it was going to be sabotaged and that the holder of the jewel was on board. They knew that one of the survivors was definitely going to be the one... so they'd gone to pick them up before anyone else could.

Now it was their job to find out which was the right one, kill the rest, and bring whoever it was back to Tokyo to "meet" Sesshomaru.

She knew Inuyasha had other ideas but those where their instructions.

Inyuasha hated his brother... and it wouldn't be the first time he denied him what he wanted...

But Sango just wanted to get back... she was sick and tired of staying in such a confined space in the company of Miroku. It was a living hell.

Sango watched the dark waves slap against the side of the boat, the pale moonlight reflecting off its surface. The boat was moving so fast they'd probably be back at Tokyo in a couple days...

It was nearly midnight and getting a little chilly to be on the deck. Most of the passengers where sound asleep, tired out from being at sea for so long.

She wished she could be too... but no, she had to stay up and watch out for the real coast guards. Stupid Inuyasha...

She rounded the corner of the ship to see the girl she recognized as Kagome and Inuyasha down thee other end. She spotted Inuyasha's machine gun lying on the floor near their feet. Something was going on between those two - she was backed near the wall of the ship and they where both glaring at each other in what seemed to be... hatred?

Well in Kagome's case it was more fear...

She saw Inuyasha say something but she couldn't catch it... But judging by the girl's reaction it was bad...

Sango actually flinched when she saw Kagome retort something back as she kicked at the heavy gun at her feet.

Big mistake... It went skidding away from her right under the gap between the railing... since when did she kick so hard?

The hanyou's expression turned deadly when he heard the audible splash as it hit the water...

Oh shit... thought Kagome switching her attention back to Inuyasha... her mouth was hanging slightly open in surprise. What had she done?

She bit down her scream when she felt his rough hands grip her arms painfully. He dragged her forwards so she was close enough for him to whisper in her ear. "You fucking wench." he spat and she leaned as far away from him as possible.

But somehow he seemed more offended by whatever she'd said than what she'd done.

In one smooth movement he twisted her around and held her against the railing so she could stare down at the dark, spitting waves.

"Learn to keep your fucking mouth shut or I'm going to throw you in after it!" he hissed in her ear twisting her arms behind her back.

Kagome literally had to bite her tongue to prevent her whimper of pain escaping. "Let me go! I should be the one yelling at you after what you said!" she squeezed her eyes shut.

"How did you know all that stuff?" he ignored her request.

"Inuyasha let her go." said Sango firmly from the side.

Inuyasha glanced sharply over at Sango who'd come out of nowhere. "The bitch knows to much." he snarled gripping her even harder.

"Inuyasha let her go! We can't hurt them until we bring them back to Sesshomaru!" Sango cried - she felt something stir inside as she watched the girl bite her lip in pain.

"Fuck Sesshomaru!" he yelled but he let her go all the same. He was sick of doing what his brother wanted... he was used to people listening to him and doing whatever he wanted that was why this Kagome girl managed to bring out the worst in him. Everything she said seemed to get under his skin and make him want to tear her to pieces... oh and she looked like Kikyo...

"It doesn't matter what she knows Inuyasha... it's not like she can spread it around." said Sango in an attempt to calm him down.

"Don't be so sure." smirked Kagome despite her situation, "I talked to my mother on the phone, she already knows I'm alive. They'll be looking for me soon."

She just never learned...

"You'll fucking pay for that." he said cooly drawing back his fist.

...............you got to lose to know how to win...............

Note: well that was confusing...=S I hope you all keep reading despite it all... So lets sum it up: Kikyo finds out that the "person" will be travelling oversea and sinks the ship that they're on knowing that whoever it is must survive since the only way they can die is by murder. Then Kikyo tells Inuyasha and his crew that the ship is sunk and the person is somewhere in the Philippine Sea. Inuyasha steals a boat, goes and picks them all up and within about an hour already hates Kagome. The crew are now trying to find out which one of the ten passengers holds the jewel so they can get rid of the rest and bring the holder back to Sesshomaru. Kagome figures out that they're up to something and manages to leave a message for her mother that she's still alive. And now Inuyasha is about to hit Kagome?

ok well I probably just confused you all even more... oh well! =) And keep in mind that I'm not even fourteen and it's my first fic so it's not going to be perfect! (or anywhere close) hehe =(

well I'll probably write soon...