InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Labyrinth ❯ Sail Away ( Chapter 3 )

*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha went and found a small secluded place further up stream. There he stripped, splashed some water onto himself to get rid of the dirt and sweat, before un-corking the little vial of stuff Kagome had given to him and dabbing some onto his wound with a rag. It stung, and at first he was slightly alarmed. Then, he remembered his mother putting similar stuff on his cuts when he was smaller. It had stung too. He let it pass.

Finally came the clothes. Pulling them on, he was surprised by the soft yet strong feel of the fabric. The pants that he had worn for so many years he discarded in a pile, only to pick them back up again and contemplate whether or not he should keep them. One part of his mind thought that was stupid, they were old and useless to him now, ripped, tattered and smelly. Another part argued that, for the longest time, that was all he'd had. To just throw them away...

He tossed them in a heap on the ground and quickly walked away before he could change his mind.

*~*~*~*~*

"There's a ship leaving this afternoon. They're bringing supplies and men over to my Island. We have to get on it so I can find out if anyone on the island knows where my family went."

They were sitting in the clearing eating oranges now. It didn't matter that they'd just had breakfast, Kagome justified that they had a lot of missed eating to make up for, especially Inuyasha. Besides, money was no longer a problem. It had only taken her a handful of coins out of the bag to buy some of the most expensive cloths and medicine in the market, plus the food. On top of everything else, Kagome had bought two heavy duty travelling cloaks, one brown, and one black. Now all she had to do was convince Inuyasha to wear the black one when they went into the market, so that he wouldn't be seen or recognised.

Inuyasha saw cross legged in his white top and red pants, leaning back against the trunk of the same large tree he had slept in the night before. Eyes closed, an annoyed look on his face, Inuyasha ate his orange in silence and half listened to Kagome babble. The other half of his mind was trying to remember when was the last time anything he'd eaten had ever tasted so good. What had his favourite food been? Was it sweet, salty, sour, bitter? What the hell did all those taste like anyway? Did he remember?

Suddenly Kagome grew silent, and an unhappy, almost regretful look crossed her face. When she spoke next her voice was quiet and cautious.

"You know, there was a rumour in the market this morning. Apparently, someone broke into the castle last night and murdered the King by setting his room on fire..."

She trailed off, there was a tense silence.

"Keh! That bastard deserved it!" He tossed the peel of his orange and stood up abruptly. "Come on then wench, let's go."

Kagome didn't budge.

"If I had known what you were planning, I wouldn't have let you go."

The statement was a quiet whisper, but Inuyasha heard it. Instantly he froze, ears twitching in anger...

"And what do you know about it, bitch! That Fucker probably killed you're family too. Don't you want revenge?... Or maybe you're just taking his side because he's human, huh?

He turned on her, a dangerous glint in his eye as he cracked his knuckles and brandished his claws. Kagome just continued to stare at the ground.

"I won't become him."

"Huh?"

He gave her a funny glare as she cocked her head up just enough to look at him from the corner of her gentle yet determined eyes.

"I won't become him, like him. I won't be a murderer..." she whispered, "...especially for my family's sake."

Inuyasha watched her as she sighed and then stood, turning to face him.

"...and I'm sure you're mother wouldn't want you to be one either..."

He stared at her, frozen on the spot.

What did she know? Little witch. She had no clue what it had been like, growing up down there, in the darkness. How dare she! Stand before him, call him a murderer, tell him he was wrong! He wanted to rake his claws along her skin and show her the pain he'd known...

...and yet....His mother had always been gentle, had always hated violence, and the way Kagome was standing there now, smiling just slightly, with eyes so innocent, so full of...something.

Had Inuyasha been able to make the connection between his brain and his heart, he would have called it faith. Faith in love, faith in kindness, faith in right triumphing over wrong faith in the goodness in even his heart.

Faith in a bright future for him.

Of course, the only thing Inuyasha understood was that he couldn't bring himself to maul her like he had wanted. Nobody but his mother had ever looked at him like that, and it made a sort of warm, solid feeling press against his chest.

So instead he spun around on his heel, growled and said,"...KEH!!"

There was a fluttering of cloth and something black suddenly landed on his shoulder. Surprised and alarmed, he whirled around again, only to see that Kagome had started stuffing things back into her bag again, and wasn't looking at him any more.

"You're going to have to wear that while you're in the village. Otherwise, people will start to stare, and they'll probably alert the guards of the castle." She stood up, adjusting the strap of the canvas bag around her shoulders and giving him a smile.

"Come on, Inuyasha. Let's go."

And with that, she set her feet on the path and never looked back. Inuyasha followed her silently, wondering.

*~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha hated it. Under the cloak, the air was hot, stuffy and dry. It rubbed his sensitive ears even as it flattened them to his skull. The smell was terrible, the people were loud and worst of all his field of vision had been chopped almost to nothing by the fabric that hung over his head. It made it impossible to sense when someone was about to go and bump into him by accident. Several times he got so pissed off about it he turned around and punched the poor sucker in the face before turning around again and scurrying off down the road before anyone caught on.

After all, who would have believed that an old hag could have a right hook that mean?

"Don't stand like that GRANDMOTHER KAEDE, it's bad for your back." Kagome grabbed onto the front of his cloak and yanked him back down into a position that better suited his disguise. It had been the easiest way to explain the white strands of hair that slipped past the hem of the fabric and into broad daylight. Besides, who could suspect a young woman and an old lady as being even slightly dangerous?

At least as long as they could pull it off.

That was the problem. Inuyasha wasn't so short, so he had to bend almost double as he shuffled along, pretending to be a withered old bag. His pride and ignorance weren't helping any either, and the string of language coming out of his mouth would have made any other old lady feint.

"Ah, here we are Grandmother!" Kagome spoke loudly to make it seem like the old woman had a hearing problem. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Huh? What is it.

Kagome put on her best "innocent-sweet-little-girl" face.

"Well, will this ship be going to Higurashi Island?"

"Hump, you mean the former Higurashi Island, don't you."

"Oh, umm, I guess. Is that where it's going?"

"Yeah, what's it to you, sweety?"

"Well, sir, my Grandmother grew up there, you see. She's very old, and she wants to see the island one last time before...well you know..." Kagome trailed off. She thought she heard Inuyasha snort.

The rough looking sailor took a minute to think, pulling on his think black beard before answering..."Well, I dunno there missy. We can't take passengers for free, see, but if you're that desperate to go, then I suppose...

Kagome cut him off before he could continue looking at her like a piece of meat any longer. "We can pay." She stated quickly.

The man looked at her surprised. "Oh really? How much?"

'This."

She held out a bulging fist sized bag and dug her small hand inside to pull out a few golden pieces. They flashed in the sun almost as brightly as the man's eyes flashed with desire.

"Give-em to me!"

He made a swipe with his hand, but Kagome's was faster as she pulled it back. Behind her, she heard Inuyasha give off what would definitely be called growl. She shushed him by placing a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"Take us with you." She stated firmly.

The sailor's eyes blazed into hers for a few short seconds. Then, he side stepped, clearing the way to the gangplank. Onto the ship they went, Kagome dropping coins into the man's hand as she passed. The sky was blue, the sea was calm, the wind was right and the tide was high. Less than an hour later, they shoved off.

*~*~*~*~*

"I hate this...." Kagome hung her head over the bucket and prayed that she had nothing else in her that could possibly be brought up.

"Oi, you done yet wench?" Inuyasha wrinkled his nose and blinked tears out of his eyes that had formed when the harsh smell of bile had assailed his nostrils. It didn't help matters that as soon as the voyage had started, they had been tossed down into the stuffy, vent-less hold of the ship and left there with the rest of the cargo. Now Kagome was seasick, Inuyasha was about to be smell-sick, and they still had at least three hours to their destination.

"Uhh...shut up Inuyasha. who's the sick one here, you or me?" Kagome groaned out into her pail. Her head was pounding and her stomach felt like it was moving with a life of it's own. Worst of all, her sense of balance had been so distorted by the motion of the boat that she felt dizzy just sitting there. Inuyasha's voice sounded like it was coming out of the end of a long tunnel.

"Keh! Stupid wench! I thought you said you grew up on an island? Shouldn't you be used to this kinda thing?"

"That's right," her voice was tight, as if she was ready to spill again. She paused, and waited for it to pass.

"That's right," she repeated, calmer, "I grew up ON the island, as in I hardly ever left it. When I did, they usually let me stand up on the deck, where there was air and I could see what was happening...unngn."

Inuyasha held his breath and bit back a wave of his own nausea, praying she wouldn't throw up any more.

"...what about you?"

The question caught him slightly off guard "Uh?"

Kagome risked lifting her head, just slightly, to look at him. "What about you? Why aren't you getting sick? Or have you done much sailing in your life?"

Inuyasha gave her a kind of, "How dumb are you?" look, before realising that the slight upward turn on her pale pink lips meant she was teasing.

"Keh!" This was accompanied with the classic gesture, "I'm half god beast! Of course I don't get seasick. That's something only you weak humans get."

"But aren't you also half human, Inuyasha?"

"...Keh!!"

Kagome gave an almost half laugh into her bucket before leaning back and propping herself up on some bags of grain. A moment of silence, and then, "So, what's it like?"

At Inuyasha's questioning glare she elaborated, "I mean, being a hanyou, what's it like?"

Now he was just confused. So as usual, in situations like this... "Keh!"

"Must be really interesting..."

This new pointed glare told her he thought she was insane. Kagome found it rather amusing how well she could hold a conversation with Inuyasha's face alone.

"...I mean..." she elaborated again, "You're hearing, you're sight, they're all way above a normal man's. You can run really fast, jump very high, and you even heal faster than normal people..."

Had Kagome been talking to anyone else, she could have sworn that this expression was one of mild amusement. Finally, he found his voice.

"Heh, that's not all..." His voice held a touch of pride to it. Kagome looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

He got up and walked over to some heavy metal enforced chest in the corner of the room. Once there, Kagome saw him pull back fingers in that clawing gesture she'd seen him use a couple of times. Then, quicker than lightning, he moved...

There was a sharp splintering sound, and Kagome looked over to see he had put his hand through the wooden lid of the heavy chest and was now lifting it up by one of the metal re-enforcement's across the lid, with a single hand.

"A...amazing..."

Inuyasha's smirk widened as he tossed the chest up into the air and effortlessly caught it on top of his open palm. He held it there, looking about as strained as if the heavy chest had been a plate of Greek salad. Kagome gasped.

"I have a better sense of smell than you humans do too." He boasted, setting down the chest with a thud. Still smirking, he held out a clawed hand and pointed, "That chest is full of newly forged weapons. That one has a bunch of clay vases in it, and the bags that you're leaning against are full of raw wheat grain and raisins. That keg's full of wine, and that crates got orang...

"Please don't mention food..." Kagome begged, once again leaning back over her bucket. Only slightly deflated, Inuyasha sat back down on the crate of weaponry and waited.

Suddenly Kagome let out a frustrated grunt. "Ugh! I don't get it! I've never had it this bad before. Why do I feel so sick?!"

She lurched forward as the boat gave another violent rock. Inuyasha watched, staring silently at his companion with something that might have been a kin to sympathy.

"Keh. Don't worry, it's probably just the storm that's making you sick, it'll pass..."

"Storm?!" Whatever sense of comfort he had meant to give her, it had backfired. Her eyes were wide now, and if possible, her face was even paler than before.

Of course, never being one to know when to keep his big mouth shut...

"What, couldn't you here it? It's been raging out there since just after we left the port."

Kagome stiffened, forcing her pounding headache out of her mind, and attempting to focus all her energy on the her sense of sound. It didn't work, the pounding of her blood just seemed to get louder.

She had just stopped when Inuyasha himself seemed to go stiff for a moment, before diving as fast as he could over to where Kagome sat and pulling the cloak back around his body.

Not two seconds later, the door was violently kicked open, and a very wet, very angry looking red eyed sailor stormed into the room.

"WHO ARE YOU!!"

Kagome didn't even get a chance to answer as the man grabbed the front of her blouse and began shaking her violently.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

Her answers were stuck in her throat as the violent shaking brought on the sudden urge to hurl again. The room reeled around her, her already unstable balance being thrown off completely by the tree trunk arm that held her captive...

"LET HER GO!!"

Seconds later the hard wood floor came up to meet her as she fell. For a little while, everything was a blur, then...

"D-DEMON!!"

Red fabric was in her field of view, and she could just barely make out the terrified, already bruising face of a sailor not five feet away.

"What the fuck do you want from us?"

The sailor didn't answer for a moment, then he hardened his resolve. "Bastards! So it's you're fault!"

"What is?"

The sailor was interrupted as new footsteps were heard on the stairs.

"Oi! Marcus, did you get them...?!"

"Oh yeah!" Came the seething reply, "No fucking wonder the gods have been going nuts. We've got a fucking demon on our ship..."

"...D...Demon?!"

"Yeah..." Sailor number one, Marcus, turned to them. "You have to leave!"

Inuyasha glared back at him. "Where? It's a damned ship for fucks-sake -"

"If we throw you off, the gods will be appeased, the storm will calm and we'll all be saved. If not, we all die!"

Inuyasha almost gawked at the suggestion, before growling out, "And just who does "we" include. What about us?"

"That's none of our concern. You shouldn't have come aboard here in the first place..."

Marcus' courage failed him under that murderous glare. Half a second later, Inuyasha's fist had broken his jaw.

Sailor number two fell to a wind knocking kick to the gut, followed by three and four, who landed on top of the heap with matching black eyes and bleeding noses. With that, Inuyasha was up the stairs and onto the deck. The rain and churning seawater drenched him in a matter of seconds, and in that time he managed to take out yet another startled sailor. Blinking to clear his eyes, he just barely dodged getting impaled by a harpoon. Next came a fist, and then a knife attack, before he finally managed to get the bastard down. The ship careened precariously up the side of the next swell, and his feet slipped on the wet wooden deck as they were turned almost vertical with the force. He ground his claws into the wood and held on as an unconscious body rolled over him and into the mast of the ship.

He stayed like that a moment until the ship stabled. The second it had he was back up again, punching, kicking and dodging with the desperation of a cornered animal.

"INUYASHA!!!"

A girls scream cut through the air with the force and effect of an arctic blast. Inuyasha froze mid punch and whirled around to see Kagome, slung over a set of burly shoulders like a sack of potatoes. She was kicking and screaming, struggling for all she was worth, but it was hopeless. One more step, a twist of her captor's body, and Kagome disappeared over the rail, her screams silenced as the water swallowed her completely.

"KAGOME!"

He couldn't see her. Leaning far over the edge of the ship, nothing but sea foam and rain caught his eye. The ship bucked suddenly, or something hit him in the back, and the next second he had lost his footing, and was falling down...

The water was chilling, but not cold, and he forced himself to open his eyes in the salty depths as he searched. He saw something, an arm, a hand, a head of black hair swaying in the current. He grabbed her, and used his free hand to claw his way up to the surface, all the while wishing he knew how to swim.

*~*~*~*~*

At first, it didn't matter. It was bright, loud and slightly chilled, but that was no concern of his. However, when it didn't go away, and continued to become more and more annoying Inuyasha was finally forced to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was...

Blue?

Blue sky. It reached all around him, stretching the east where the dawn had just broken, and was mirrored by the quietly moving water. It lapped on the shore, it's rhythm interrupted occasionally by the scream of a gull. The air was fresh, and when the next blast of wind hit him, he realised he was either damp or soaked from head to toe. Startled and confused, he sat up.

Collecting his thoughts quickly, he looked to his side to see Kagome lying not five paces to his left. Frowning slightly, he rolled slowly onto his hands and knees, grunting at the stiffness in his limbs, and checked her for any sign of life. He was somewhat relived when he found that she was breathing, but her eyes were closed, and her skin was rather pale in comparison to her usual pinkish glow. It was also plastered with stiff tendrils of her long flowing black hair, and thinking that it looked funny like that, Inuyasha brought one claw up to lightly trace over her skin and clear it away.

Kagome frowned, then grimaced, before twisting her face up in a moan and slowly shifting on the sand. Her eyes fluttered open to stare directly into his golden orbs, a look of awe and confusion stuck there. Realising how close he had come to her, Inuyasha straitened up and moved out of the way. No sooner had he done so then Kagome made a soft, strangled gag in her throat, and instantly rolled onto her side, pushed herself up on her arms and began to vomit seawater. Inuyasha watched her with a blank expression as she proceeded to cough and hack, trembling all over from the simple exertion of supporting her body weight.

A few minutes later she finished, easing herself back into a sitting position and hugging her knees to her chest. Inuyasha's face remained blank as he watched her intently. Finally she spoke...

"Are you okay?"

That had been the last thing he had expected her to say. Here she was, just finished puking her guts out, sitting on a beach, shaking like a leaf, and she wanted to know if he was okay. As if that wasn't obvious.

"Keh! I'm fine, stupid."

"Well excuse me for thinking you might actually be hurt after fighting all those sailors."

Inuyasha jumped a bit at her tone. She sounded, angry?? "What do you care, wench? You should be more worried about yourself. I'm not the one barfing up the whole fucking ocean!"

Her tone changed completely as she looked at him and sighed in an exhausted fashion. Bringing her arms up to hug her knees, she let her head fall to her for arms.

"I care..."

Inuyasha's head snapped up from it's distance vigil of the ocean as he stared at her. Had he heard her right, or was he just imagining things. Before he could decide what to do, her head was up once again, pivoting around and looking at the jagged red cliffs that rose up just behind them. "I wonder where we are." Shakily, she got up on her two feet, and began to walk further down the coast line.

"What? Isn't this you're island."

Kagome shook her head.

"I've never seen this place before, and the rock here, it's completely different. Besides, I think that's..."

She trailed off, taking a few more steps forward, bringing her hand up to block out the sun.

"It's a temple." She stated, Inuyasha turned his head and squinted in her direction. Sure enough, there it was. Standing proudly on the top of the cliffs, surrounded by ocean, a pure white marble structure...

"I wonder which god lives there..."

"God?!" Inuyasha's eyes flashed and a usual scowl appeared on his face. "You mean like the same god that had got us thrown off the ship?" He hadn't forgotten that incident. Oh no, not in a million years. This guy was going to suffer, god or no god!

"Inuyasha, what are you-"

"Come on!"

And with that, he was bounding ahead, making a bee line for the temple with Kagome running behind.