InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Overboard! ❯ Chapter 5

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 5:

 

“What do you mean, we have to wait at least twenty-four hours to file a missing person's report?” Inuyasha snarled. The man behind the desk answered rapidly in Chinese, and once again the platinum-blond man cursed himself for failing to learn the language. Poking Miroku in the side, he silently ordered his friend to translate the words faster. Patience in such situations was not his strong suit. “Tell'im she went on a tour, and she din't come back. She's lost in a strange city, and she's terrible with directions!”

 

The black-haired male batted away his companion's hand. Worried violet-eyes regarded a friend, as they stood in the lobby of the nearest local police station. It was one o'clock in the morning, which made it two o'clock in Japan, and all of them felt exhausted and upset. “I'm trying to tell him exactly that, Inuyasha!”

 

Jin-Ho was new to the force. That was why he had to work the night shift, when all the crazy people and the criminals came out in Shanghai. As such, he slept most of the day and he did not see the pictures on the news that morning of a Japanese tourist with amnesia. If he had, then he might have realized the forgetful tourist looked distinctly like a girl in this group. Then again, he might not have afforded it a second thought in either case. Jin-Ho believed in following the rules.

 

Rubbing his head, the policeman tried to phrase his answer firmly while still remaining apologetic. “I am sorry, sir. Shanghai is a very big city - many people get lost here everyday. If she is a tourist on this cruise, then she may have returned to the boat?”

 

It wasn't an answer that Miroku and his friends were willing to accept, but it was the only one they received.

 

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Her desire to recall their marriage had quickly evaporated the next morning when she awoke. A note rested on a sidetable next to the sofa, explaining he had left for the office, and she should not expect him until late that evening. Underneath this, he had supplied her with a helpful list of `things-to-do' for the day. Since Rin's nanny is gone for the week, he had penned, it is the least you could do.

 

The note met a quick and violent end, crumpled and thrown into the fireplace waiting to be burned later. Something inside her strongly disapproved of being treated like a servant. One thing was for certain, no one ordered her around!

 

Besides she did not know how to cook, or clean, or do laundry, did she? Biting her lip, she wondered if these were easy activities, or if they were difficult. She was soon to find out, as Rin came thundering down the stairs and greeted her in the living room with a chipper salutation.

 

“What's for breakfast?” the little girl asked, wasting no time in getting down to business. “I like strawberry Pocky. And ice cream. And ramen.”

 

Kagome frowned at this. She vaguely recalled the existence of these Pocky sticks, little breadsticks dipped in strawberry chocolate. But nothing within her indicated or hinted at this being acceptable mealtime fare. “You eat Pocky for breakfast?”

 

Rin nodded enthusiastically and manhandled her new playmate once more, towing her toward the kitchen. “You always let me eat Pocky for breakfast, Mommy,” she answered in a deviously straightforward manner.

 

“I don't know…” backpedaled the older girl. “Maybe I can make a rice-omelet instead. Tamagoyaki is good too, right?”

 

This met with even more fervent approval from the little girl, so she received a crash course in cooking. A few egg shell splinters remained in the food, but overall she and Rin were pleased with the result. The day was bright and the sun was shining merrily through the windows by the time they finished, and Rin ran outside to play, while Kagome slowly hand-washed the dishes. Reaching for a towel, she was just about done, when she felt a stream of water strike her spine.

 

With a shriek, she spun around, only to observe a devilish grin on the four-year old's face. The girl had silently crept up on her, then attacked her with a water gun. The plastic monstrosity appeared to be as large as Rin. A water tank that big could hold a lot of fluid, she realized with dismay.

 

“What was that for?” she demanded to know, dripping on the wooden floor of the kitchen. “You take that outside.”

 

“But Mommy, you always let me bring my squirt toys in the house,” wheedled the girl.

 

Narrowing her eyes, Kagome stood upright and tried to look stern. Merely because a little brown-eyed, fluffy haired girl gazed at her with an adorable, pleading expression, this was no reason to lose her willpower. She had to pull herself together!

 

“Nuh-uh. Look at this floor - it's way too clean for that kind of …”

 

Before she could complete her sentence though, Rin aimed the gun at her again, splashing her face with water. This time, she did not bother trying to reason with the girl. She lunged for the water gun, and soon she was chasing the girl around the house as the four-year old shrieked with delight, nimbly avoiding all her advances.

 

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The house was in shambles. Chaotic disorder and his home, in the same place at the same time. Sesshoumaru's eyebrow developed a small tic as he pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed deeply. Water stains trickled down the walls, the couch cushions looked like they had been used to beat a small dog to death, and a storm of toys covered everything in sight. It looked like an explosion of fun had rocked his residence.

 

Clearly, the Plan was not working. Perhaps Kikyou had not read his message that morning? He had worked for twelve hours, trying to catch up on what he had missed, but he should have known better than to leave a stranger alone with his daughter all day. It was irrational, even if the woman did not remember herself and Rin seemed to respect her. Normal human beings could not create such an excessive mess in only one day. He knew Rin was the one responsible.

 

However, laying the blame on his daughter was impossible. Rin's nurse never allowed such foolish behavior, so ultimately the fault lay with this new woman. After leaving her a short, comprehensible list of activities, she had accomplished this instead. Destroying his house rather than following Rin's daily lesson plans or laundering their dirty traveling clothes was unacceptable! And now, even though it was only seven o'clock in the evening, the house was quiet and dark. There was no bright little face racing toward the door, no attacks on his person, no hugs… Where were those two?

 

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru panicked. The woman might have regained her memories while he worked at his office. What would a woman like Kikyou do in that situation? Visions of his daughter flashed through his mind. The woman might have kidnapped Rin to retaliate for all his lies.

 

He hurried up the stairs and threw open his daughter's door, only to discover both girls snoozing in a heap on the bed, worn out by the day's events. A knot of tension gradually unwound from his heart, and he quietly moved forward to cover them with blankets, mindful of their rest. Retreating down the hall, he collapsed onto his bed, without bothering to remove his jacket or his suit as he crumpled face-down on the mattress.

 

The air-conditioning kicked in, humming a soothing frequency of white noise in his ear, and he grunted into his pillow, wondering whether somehow his half-brother's girlfriend was better with Rin than he was. His daughter had never failed to come downstairs and welcome him home. He had never dreamed they would get along so well. Today was a first in many ways.

 

Too much worrying did no good, however, and he resolved to start from scratch with his lovely wife. Either she failed to read the note, or she did not take well to orders, but regardless, she would learn to obey his will. Rin was very advanced for her age, yet she could not afford to fall behind in her studies. He expected her to be able to read and write before she reached grade-school. Japanese children usually started learning Kanji in the first grade and by sixth grade, they knew over a thousand characters. Thus, if Rin learned a couple hundred Kanji before she entered school, then she would have the advantage, acing her exams and impressing her teachers while other children struggled to learn basic letters.

 

Children needed structure, not wayward, flighty parents who had affairs and ignored their family, like Touga. Rin would have a better life. This woman would not be allowed to mess up her education, not even for a scant number of days.

 

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For the second time in as many days, the four of them were huddled miserably in a police station. Slumping forward in a hard wooden chair, Kikyou stared miserably at the floor and prayed her cousin was all right. Inuyasha yelled at the front desk once again, furiously petitioning the local police to relay a missing person's alert or better still, an arrest warrant of some kind. The fact that no one had any idea who the criminal might be or what he might have done to Kagome did not matter. The light-haired man wanted action, now!

 

Needless to say, the policeman at the front desk was not impressed. Miroku had moved forward to reason with the officers and with Inuyasha, attempting to infuse calm into a dreadful situation. As a pause ensued, Kikyou glanced up from her spot in the corner to check why the voices had died down abruptly. Oddly enough, one of the officers was gawking at her. The woman looked startled, almost ready to drop the pile of file folders she was holding. As she said something to Miroku, Kikyou leapt to her feet realizing the significance of this officer's gaze. If the lady recognized her, then she had probably seen Kagome somewhere!

 

Meanwhile, Miroku's eyes widened when he heard what the female officer had to say. He quickly repeated it to his group. “She says you look like the Japanese woman from the bay, the one on the news yesterday.”

 

A flurry of questions ensued, leaving Kikyou in the dark. Sango came to stand stolidly by her side, reassuring in her presence. Presently, Miroku jotted down some instructions on a small pad and elucidated for the rest of them. It seemed Kagome had already been found! They simply had to traverse the city to the station where she had been held and ask for her whereabouts. It would take another hour, and it might cause them to miss the cruise ship's departure, but each of them agreed finding Kagome took top priority.

 

Glad to have such supportive friends, Kikyou found her smile again and hugged her boyfriend tightly, relief washing through her body. Her cousin was safe and sound.

 

Then, Miroku explained the rest of the situation.

 

Her cousin had trauma-induced amnesia and could not remember her friends. Even more ominous, the police claimed a man had already come by the station to transport her back to Japan. The anxiety she had known all night long immediately returned in force.

 

Arriving at the station where Kagome had been scant hours before, the four college students poured out of a turquoise Da Zhong cab, leaving Inuyasha to foot the bill as usual. This was probably a good thing too, since their short-tempered friend would likely start yelling the moment he entered the building. It afforded Miroku a few minutes of peace in which to inquire about their missing friend.

 

“I'm not sure I understand correctly,” Miroku spoke at last, furrowing his brow. “They say her husband took her home.”

 

The policeman laid the case file down and tapped a book full of names and information to illustrate his point. On the page he saw license number, address, phone number, and a signature. It read `Sesshoumaru Inuhito.' Violet-eyes darkened with shock.

 

By this time, almost two days had passed since Kagome fell from the ship. It did not figure. Why would Sesshoumaru recover their friend from the police station, and then refuse to reveal his actions? Perhaps he did not know which hotel they were staying in, yet he could have called his brother with the information, at the very least.

 

As Miroku faced the group, explaining what had learned, Inuyasha muscled his way through and grabbed the registry, instantly on edge. His reaction was no where near as calm as his friend, however. “The asshole did what?!” bellowed the platinum-haired boy. Back on familiar territory now that he could be furious with his brother, instead of the entire world, Inuyasha began to vent all his pent up frustration. “No fuckin' way! This takes the cake! That bastard can't even take the minimal time required out of his busy schedule to tell us where our missing friend is, and he lied in order to get her out of Shanghai. I don't believe this!”

 

“Indeed, it takes great gall to shanghai someone from Shanghai,” Miroku keenly pointed out, although no one appreciated his pun. Rolling his eyes, the black-haired man asked one more question of the guard, while his testosterone-driven friend simmered in anger. After a few minutes, he translated, “A psychologist visited Kagome and surmised the best thing would be for her to return to a familiar setting. Perhaps your brother simply brought her home in order to…”

 

“No,” Inuyasha interrupted in a huff, “He wasn't being generous - he doesn't know the meaning of the word!”

 

“Wait,” Miroku tried to reason with his friend. “Do you really think she would have enjoyed the rest of our trip, without her memory? Whatever his intent, Sesshoumaru did a good thing by returning her to Japan as soon as possible.”

 

Their blond companion had gone red with fury. The vessels on his forehead were standing out and the color was still rising toward the roots of his hair. It was enough to make Miroku step backward slightly. “Just like the bastard to torture me,” Inuyasha continued as though he heard nothing, “It's always like this - he says I'm lazy, that I don't work hard enough, that I shouldn't take vacations, or have a life. I bet he hoped to ruin the rest of our cruise by forcing us to worry about her the whole time.”

 

Thanking the local police for their help and their profuse patience, Miroku ushered his friends back out of the station. “Be that as it may, we have two options - one, take the next flight to Tokyo, or two, finish our cruise and avoid paying any additional money in transit.”

 

Immediately, Kikyou voted to fly home, because she wanted to see her cousin as soon as possible, to reassure herself Kagome was truly unharmed. Yet while Sango was clearly tempted to choose this option as well, she and Miroku had too little money to buy airplane tickets. Their resources had been stripped to a bare minimum by this cruise. Remarkably, Inuyasha swung the vote. Crossing his arms over his chest, he insisted that his brother was up to something, and that he refused to play into his half-brother's hands. If Sesshoumaru wanted them to worry about Kagome, ruining the remainder of their cruise, then Inuyasha determined he would do the exact opposite.

 

“We should finish our trip,” he announced firmly, explaining his logic. “I'll call him and you can speak with your cousin, but I guarantee she's okay. He may be a bastard, but he'd never hurt a lady.”

 

Having met Sesshoumaru personally, Kikyou was not so sure about this, but she tentatively nodded and agreed to the idea. With a cold glint in his eye, Inuyasha pulled out his cell phone. Finally, he had an opportunity to get back at his brother! Revenge was sweet. “But first,” he concluded maliciously, “I have to call my Dad.”