InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Overboard! ❯ Chapter 3

 

Disclaimer: Neither the characters from the storyline `Inuyasha' by Rumiko Takahashi, nor the plotline from the movie `Overboard' starring Goldie Hawn, are mine.

 

Overboard (Inuyasha-style)

Chapter 3:

 

Sesshoumaru checked his watch for the fourteenth time that minute. Where was his car? The driver was supposed to pick him up at the airport, at exactly thirteen o'clock. It was now fifteen minutes past the hour. Someone would be fired for this, he vowed silently.

 

Then, he received the fateful cell-phone call from his Father. As usual, the old man was asking him to do extra work, at the last minute, without even allowing him to prepare in advance. He would have to stay in Shanghai for a few extra days, to check on their factory and the local managers. Puzzling, how such last minute things always came up when Sesshoumaru was overseas - it was almost as though Touga was encouraging him to take a few days off work. Certainly the factory was doing fine…

 

And as usual, such interference was not appreciated. Sesshoumaru hated being the last to know about anything. If his Father wanted him to tour a factory, in addition to attending a semi-annual business conference, then he should have said so earlier. If his Father wanted him to take an impromptu vacation, then the manipulative old man should have ordered him to do so directly. What was so hard about being up-front in these matters?

 

With an impatient gesture, Sesshoumaru marched back in to the hotel lobby. What should he do with the rest of the afternoon, after unpacking his suitcase a second time? He might call Rin…

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Waking up with a start, Kagome jerked her eyes open in disbelief. She could hear whispering in the dark cabin, and the voices clearly belonged to Inuyasha and Kikyou. They seemed to be debating the merits of sleeping together, on the bed right next to hers. The main dispute centered on whether she was awake to hear them or not.

 

“You know you want this, baby,” murmured a silver-haired silhouette in the darkness. The sound of his voice was husky and insinuating, and she decided right then she could not listen to this insanity. Loudly throwing her legs over the side of her bed, Kagome stomped her feet on the floor, letting them know she was aware of their presence.

 

“All you have to do is ask me to leave,” she announced testily. “I'm more than willing to give you guys some privacy.”

 

It was too dark to tell for sure, but it seemed like Kikyou sported a blush, regretting the fact that they had disturbed a friend's sleep. On the other hand, Inuyasha grinned unrepentantly. “See, I knew she would understand!” he avowed happily.

 

Kagome slammed the door on her way out. Suddenly, the entire ordeal made her furious. They were docking in Shanghai in the morning, and she was determined to give Inuyasha the cold shoulder all day tomorrow, even if it meant she could not associate with her cousin either. What kind of idiot thought a friend would `understand' being kicked out of her own room in the middle of the night? Why did she like Inuyasha again?

 

Grabbing a pen and a pad of paper from the main deck, she wrote a short message, just beneath the ship's logo on the page. When they reached China in the morning, she would go with the first group of tourists, earlier than her friends liked to rise in the morning. It meant she would be surrounded by older men and women all day, but she hoped time alone would give her the chance to cool down and photograph awesome pictures of the city before she rejoined her friends. It also meant that they would worry, and question her endlessly when she returned, but Sango and Miroku would keep the peace. They were good at that.

 

Briefly explaining her plans and her motivation, while leaving out any mention of her feelings for Inuyasha, she slid the note under Sango's door. There now, it was done. It was not so hard to find a little slice of freedom, even surrounded by noisy tourists and nosy friends, in a foreign land. Let them think she was miffed about giving up her room; no one needed to know the whole story.

 

Feeling exceptionally sorry for herself, Kagome bit back her tears and walked to the main deck. The cold, night air forced her eyes to water even more, and soon her blouse was thoroughly soaked with the disobedient little droplets of water trickling down her cheeks. Why didn't he like her again? During the day, she could convince herself it was merely a matter of timing, but at night she seemed too pudgy, too boring and plain to be likeable. She and Kikyou were not so different, after all. If he liked Kikyou, then why not her too? What did her cousin have that she lacked, if not an extra bit of elegance and flare?

 

A bell rang in the darkness, and she heard voices in the gloomy darkness. Her head snapped up, facing into the west. They were close to shore now - she could see the lights of the city stretching all across the shoreline. Other boats were in the area too, although they seemed merely shapeless masses in the night at this distance. By morning, the cruiseship would navigate its way partway down the Huángpu river, arriving at their designated stop, then the tourists could disembark and take another scenic boat tour of the city, on small vessels. The afternoon would involve shopping and dinner, and she could rejoin her friends at the hotel…

 

Like earlier in the day, Kagome had leaned against the railing once more, but without realizing it, she bent much further forward this time. Propping herself up on the bottom rung, her eyes grew wide with surprise as she felt the sole of her foot slip off the wet metal, unbalancing her and causing her to loose her grip on the rail. She should have worn her shoes; signs posted around the area warned of the dangers of slipping on the slick surface of the deck. Unfortunately, her sudden insight on this issue came too late. With a tiny shriek, Kagome toppled over the railing and hit the water with a splash.

 

From inside the ship's cabin, the captain and pilots never heard a thing.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

It was a godsend.

 

He had just completed his tour of the factory floor, and he was speaking to one of the local managers in the man's office. The smell of slightly over-steeped tea wafted into his nostrils, as the supervisor cordially offered him a cup which he respectfully declined. Glancing around the small but comfortable office, Sesshoumaru had relaxed into his chair. Ever since they had entered the room, behind the man's head a tiny television had been playing silently, broadcasting a local news station. Ignoring it, since the manager seemed to be doing so as well, Sesshoumaru had chatted amiably about their progress, until he saw… it.

 

A picture of that woman, looking rather haggard and wet, was plastered across the television screen. Politely interrupting their conversation and requesting to listen to the news, he had taken in the information with wide eyes. A Japanese woman with no identification had been dragged out of the Eastern Sea onto the docks. No one had come to claim her yet, and the authorities had deemed it wise to publicize her picture. Apparently, the woman had amnesia. Since she was obviously a foreigner, the city police hoped to find her companions soon, by using the media to alert them to her presence.

 

It was Kikyou! His half-brother's annoying, despicable, cold-hearted wench! What on earth was she doing in Shanghai? Suddenly, he could remember his half-brother saying something about a cruise, but it didn't make any sense that no one had come to pick her up yet. The accident had happened earlier in the morning, before the sun rose, and it was almost evening now. And this was a re-broadcast…

 

“You know this lady?” asked the manager curiously, helpfully translating the broadcast into Japanese, although Sesshoumaru had already grasped the gist of it. “They are saying she cannot remember her own name, and they are still looking for her family.”

 

Now, normally Sesshoumaru was not an evil person. He wasn't even mischievous. Usually he was the ever-dutiful son, hard-working, intelligent, and calm. In fact, many company employees and acquaintances would have attested to their deep respect for him.

 

But Inuyasha always had been his sticking point. The boy needed to learn a lesson. He needed to understand fiscal responsibility and personal accountability. Take this, for example! Here, his girlfriend had been dumped into the ocean, lost her memory, and she was alone in a foreign land. Yet Inuyasha was nowhere to be found. Why the idiot had not come for her already, he could hardly fathom.

 

That was when the Plan had taken shape in his mind. It began hazily - the vaguest notion of teaching his brother a lesson, combined with his annoyance at this Kikyou woman in general and his exasperation at having to bail his brother out of trouble so often. At the very least, someone had to go collect the woman, whether she was irritating or not.

 

But who said that he had to return the girl to his half-brother?

 

Thus the Plan was born. He would pick up Kikyou from the police station, and take her home to Japan, and he would not alert his brother to this fact. The worry would do his brother good, and the woman's memory would return in due time. Meanwhile, he could have fun watching his half-brother squirm.

 

His most immediate consideration, then, was how to get the silly woman out of the police station. And his manager's question had given him the perfect idea. Even though Japan was a large country, and the odds of him recognizing the face on the screen were really quite low, the very first question his employee had asked upon seeing his interest in the picture was `do you know her?'

 

It was almost too easy. It would never work in a million years. He was going to try it.

 

Excusing himself from the factory, he bowed and made his apologies, explaining that he did in fact know the wayward tourist and he had to pick up his acquaintance straightaway. After seeing the news broadcast, the employees let him leave easily enough. The local manager eagerly wished him well and hoped to see him again another time.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

“She's my wife,” he explained again, trying to act like a desperate man who was forcing himself to remain calm. It was far too easy to pretend - the calm came naturally, and the subdued panic had overcome him right about the time he set foot in the police station. If they suspected he was lying, then they might arrest him. They could hold him for attempted kidnapping, or something like that. His palms felt sweaty. Getting arrested on a business trip to China was low on his list of priorities. “She was supposed to meet me at the hotel, after she got off the cruise ship.”

 

The authorities had no problem letting him visit the girl. Confiscating his license while he spoke with her, they stood by patiently assessing whether he spoke the truth or not. Luckily, Kikyou was making everything easy.

 

“I'm married?” she said, in bewilderment. “I do recognize him though. He looks very familiar.”

 

Sesshoumaru sat across from her, grasping her hands across the slim table in the waiting room. “Yes, that's because I'm your husband. Can you remember my name?”

 

“Um…” Screwing up her face in concentration, the girl blinked several times and stared into his eyes. “Rumpelstiltskin?” she hazarded a guess, then relaxed into a smile, “Sorry, just kidding. Not funny, I know.”

 

The smile on her face was so unusual that Sesshoumaru found he could not look away from her. Since when did Kikyou form cute little dimples as she smiled? Since when did his half-brother's girlfriend smile at all? She was typically quiet and cold.

 

Shaking his head to rid it of such strange thoughts, he turned to the guards with a schooled, blank expression. Gears grinding in his head, he knew he had to find some way of identifying her without a doubt. Only he had no passport for her, no wallet, no identification card… wait! Wallet! He had a picture in his wallet somewhere of his brother and Kikyou (not from any sort of sentimental affection, merely because his Father insisted they carry each other's pictures for `family bonding' purposes). Sesshoumaru had taken the picture and carefully hidden it behind a picture of his daughter, Rin. But the photograph should still be there, and for once, it might serve a purpose.

 

Digging it out, he held the photo up for the guard's perusal. “Here, it's a picture of her with my brother, they go to school together.”

 

The policeman nodded curtly, seeming to find this satisfactory. Really, there was little more they could do, if the girl did not remember her family. At least she found her husband to have a `familiar' face; he could only imagine the difficulties the couple was going to face, upon arriving home.

 

With a gesture, the guard indicated they should follow him to the front desk again. Signing his name in the register, like he was signing for a package, Sesshoumaru was allowed to take his young wife home.