InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Road to Remembrance ❯ The cabin boy ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 5

It was bound to happen sooner or later, Inuyasha knew that much, but he expected to at least remain hidden a bit longer than a few hours out to sea. The person to discover him was a lanky cabin boy with short, sandy brown hair, young—seeming no older than himself, actually. The kid had walked over to the crates most likely to store them away from the exposed, salt air. He took one look at Inuyasha with his dog ears and slitted eyes lounging behind the cargo and opened his mouth to scream. Luckily Inuyasha was quick enough and covered the kid's mouth with his hand, grabbing him and pulling him behind the pile of boxes.

“If I let go of you, do you promise not to scream?” Inuyasha asked in a harsh whisper. It was the first time he had spoken English to anyone else since he received the letter and was proud that it sounded right, despite a slight accent. The kid just stared at him with wide, frightened, gray eyes.

“Promise?” Inuyasha hissed sharply again. The kid gave a quick, terrified nod. Satisfied, Inuyasha slowly removed his hand from his mouth, “now what's your name, kid?”

“Ch-Charles...” the boy stuttered, creeping away from Inuyasha, “What are ya? A sea monster?”

Inuyasha stared at Charles wondering how stupid the kid could get.

“A sea monster? Do I look like a sea monster to you?” Charles shook his head mutely, waves of fear still rippling off him. Inuyasha sighed in annoyance.

“I'm a demon kid—,” the boy gasped and scrambled further back, bumping into one of the crates, “—A half demon,” Inuyasha added quickly, “I am half human as well so calm down—I ain't gunna eat you. Hell, I won't even bite you.”

The knowledge of humanity existing in him seemed to alleviate some of the boy's fear and Inuyasha could hear his heartbeat slow down slightly.

“What do ya want?” the boy asked quietly.

“I need to get to Scotland,” Inuyasha answered, happy to finally be making some progress with the lad, “will this ship take me there?”

The boy crept closer to Inuyasha, seeming to trust him not to hurt him a little more.

“Actually this ship's journey will end in Wales. But it's on the same landmass as Scotland. We have many stops along the way, though, and the journey's a long one.”

“How long? And where will it stop?”

“Many months,” Charles said, “a little over a year I 'spect. We'll be stopping in Indonesia for some trading, and then a couple more stops along the coast of Africa before we finally port in Swansea.”

“More than a year!” Inuyasha said incredulously. That was way longer than he expected. Then again he'd never traveled by boat before—hell he'd never traveled anywhere out of Japan.

“Aye. You planning on hiding out on the ship for that long?”

“Not for more than a year,” Inuyasha muttered.

“Tell ya what. You tell me yer name, and I'll try and fix you up sumthin with the captm' so you don't have to hide out the whole time.”

Inuyasha gazed at the youth suspiciously, “Why are you being nice to me?”

Charles shrugged, “I dunno, ya seem like a nice fellow, is all.”

Inuyasha stared hard at him for a moment before replying, “Inuyasha.”

“What?”

“My name is Inuyasha.”

Charles made a face, “weird name...”

Inuyasha growled, making him `eep' and shut up.

“Just, take me to the damn captain.”

“Alright, alright. Keep ya pants on. Just help me carry a few of these here crates below deck first. S' what I came out here for in the first place, ya know.”

“Fine,” Inuyasha muttered, piling three on top of each other and easily lifting them. Charles stared at him in amazement as he struggled to keep a grip on his only box.

“My god! How ever did you manage that?”

“I'm not human remember?” Inuyasha reminded him dryly, following Charles through a door near the front of the ship and down some steps into a storage room. They went back one more time to finish transporting the rest of the cargo (Inuyasha doing most of the work) before Charles took Inuyasha to see the captain as he promised.

The cabin boy knocked on the door and waited for the muffled response to enter before doing so. Inuyasha followed him silently.

The captain's chambers seemed much more polished than what Inuyasha had seen of the rest of the ship, though it was littered with compasses and maps. Sitting at a desk in the corner of the room was a woman writing in a journal. She had long, red hair swept back in low ponytail with many earrings adorning the lengths of her ears and was wearing clothing similar to what he had seen the men wearing, though it was obvious she was female from the way they hugged her body. She looked up as they entered the room.

“Who the bloody hell is this?” she asked alarmed as she stared at Inuyasha. He had to bit his lip to keep himself from baring his teeth at her attitude.

“Er...” Charles started, suddenly unsure of himself, “This here is Inuyasha, he, ah, would like to get to Scotland...eventually. Inuyasha—this is the captain.”

Inuyasha looked surprised at this. A woman in command of a ship? Apparently she noticed his bewildered expression because she gave him a glare and said challengingly, “You got a problem with a woman for a captain?”

“No,” he answered automatically. She didn't seem to believe him.

“Is he a stowaway?” she asked sharply to Charles, “because you know our policy on them. Besides, I don't even know what the hell he is.”

“I'm a half-demon,” Inuyasha answered angrily, “and I don't give a shit about your policies. I could easily kill anyone on this boat who has a problem with that.”

“This ship does not give free rides, demon,” the captain said coldly, unfazed by his threat. Inuyasha just shrugged nonchalantly.

“I can help out around with stuff.”

“We have all the help we need,” she said, brushing him off again. Inuyasha got the distinct feeling that she didn't like him and opened his mouth to retort but Charles beat him to it.

“Capt'm—he'd be dead useful. You should have seen him carry the cargo for me! Three crates on top of each other—like it was nothing! Work around here would get done twice as fast.”

The captain looked at Charles appraisingly and then back to Inuyasha, considering the possibilities. She stood from her desk and began to circle the half-demon, sizing him up.

“Well, I suppose we could use an extra set of hands on deck. But we have to do something about his appearance. You know how the other men are suspicious of just about anything. We don't need any controversy over a demon.”

She said the word with such contempt that Inuyasha would have flinched if it weren't for the fact that he was used to such tones.

“Take him to your room and set him up there. Find him some clothes and for God's sake cover those ears! Now get out of my sight, the both of you!”

Charles grabbed Inuyasha's arm and quickly dragged him out of there.

“Luck was with you today, mate.”

“You call that luck? She hates me!”

“She hates everybody—and she didn't kick ya off the ship, so I'd say that's pretty lucky.”

“Like she could anyway,” Inuyasha scoffed as he was led into a tiny cabin with bunk beds.

“You can have the top,” Charles said as he rummaged through a bag of clothes, “I'm a bit taller than you, but your broader so these should fit you well enough.”

He held up a white, open-front shirt that he saw many of the sailor's earlier wearing and a pair of beige, drawstring pants. Inuyasha instantly shied away from the offered clothing.

“Uh-huh, I ain't wearin that!” he cried mulishly.

“Well you can't very well go around wearing that if you want to go to Scotland!” Charles cried, gesturing to his acclaimed fire-rat clothing. An argument then broke out between the two through which Inuyasha remained thoroughly stubborn until Charles threatened to tell the captain and get him kicked off the ship, which Inuyasha couldn't allow after coming so far. Finally he gave in, grumpily pulling on the garments in replace of his usual clothing. The pants were much tighter than he was used to, though he was fairly comfortable (even if he'd never admit it out loud) and the shirt breathed much better than his old one.

“Now that wasn't so bad, was it?” Charles asked grinning. Inuyasha just growled at him, something Charles was already getting accustomed too, “Now to do something with your ears and hair...”

“You're not cutting it!” Inuyasha said stridently, grabbing a fistful of the waist length silver and cradling it to him. Charles raised an eyebrow.

“No, no, we don't hafta. I have a better idea.”

Fifteen minutes later Inuyasha sat on the top of the bunk, examining himself in a small mirror Charles provided. His long hair was swept back in a braid, the two front strands unbound and around his shoulders. On his head was a bandanna, loose enough not to hurt his ears.

“Well, we best be getting some shut eye. Gotta get up early tomorrow.”

“Yeah sure,” Inuyasha said leaning back on the hard mattress. He noted, with some forlornness, that he wouldn't be sleeping in trees for a long, long time. It was quiet for a while, neither one able to fall asleep.

“How old are you, Charles?” Inuyasha finally asked; sick of the silence. The boy below him smiled benignly as he gazed up at the bottom of the top bunk.

“Call me Charley, and I'll be seventeen in one month. You?”

“Just turned sixteen.”

“Really? You look older.”

“Nah, not if you look close enough.”

“If you say so.”

“...Just shut up and sleep.”

0o0o0o0o0o

Yay! Inu made a friend! And he's in tighter pants that will show off his buns! Muah!

I'm really just guessing as to how long it would have taken to travel from Japan to Europe back then, so correct me if I'm wrong.