InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Road to Remembrance ❯ The cold shoulder ( Chapter 6 )

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

Chapter 6

“Oi...'ose the new kid?” John Buckington, a burly, veteran sailor of the HMS Swordfish, asked his fellow crewmembers in a low voice the next morning. Everything went according to the routine daily schedule for him, waking up at sunrise to care and run the vessel along with the rest of the crew who he considered his brothers. But today was different. Today there was someone he didn't recognize mopping the deck along with the cabin boy, and he had made it his business to know everyone who sailed in his `home'.

“Think he's `ere to replace Charley or summat?” one asked gruffly, not liking the look of the new guy already.

“Dunno...weird lookn' fella...” another one muttered, staring at Inuyasha's long and braided white hair. Inuyasha concentrated on mopping the floor, skilled in ignoring the commentary from years of scorn. He could deal with a few humans talking shit about him as long as they left him alone. The work was easy enough on the ship and he knew he would soon get used to overpowering scent of salt in the air and the constantly rocking ship. At least he had Charley to talk to, who he had been getting to know quite well, as the boy never shut up.

“Someday I'll have me own ship,” the youth rambled on, dipping his mop back in the dirty water of the bucket they shared, “and you can be me first mate. A good first mate's hard to find ya know...gotta have someone ya trust...good thing yer nothing like Reynold.”

“Who?” Inuyasha looked up from his work at him.

“Reynold—that's the first mate on this here ship. Bloody bastard if there ever was one,” Charley said with bitterness while looking around to make sure he wasn't heard.

“What's a first mate?” Inuyasha asked. Charley stared at him for a moment as if he were crazy.

“Sometimes I forget how little you know. A first mate is someone who is the Captm's right hand man. They're second in command on a ship.”

Inuyasha made an `O' shape with his mouth.

“Hey you,” a gruff voice sounded from behind him. He turned to face a gathering of the crewmembers he'd seen around the ship earlier. The one speaking was huge, at least twice the size of Inuyasha himself.

“Who're you?” the man asked in a deep, crusty voice, “I ain't never seen you here before.”

“I'm new,” Inuyasha replied evenly, turning to go back to his work. The sailor grabbed his shoulder in a vice like grip and spun him around to face the group again.

“I ain't done talking to you boy,” the sailor sneered, letting go of his shoulder with a none-too-gentile shove. Charley watched the interaction speechless for a moment before stepping in.

“Knock it off, John!” he said, stepping between the large sailor and Inuyasha. John responded by roughly knocking Charley to the side, sending the teen crashing to the ground.

“Hey! That was fucking uncalled for!” Inuyasha growled at him, stepping up to the man.

“You tell me your name and what your doing on this ship right now boy.”

“Like it's any of your fucking business!”

“Look kid, I'll pound you so hard...”

“The hell you will,” Inuyasha scoffed.

“Why you—”

“HEY! What the devil is going on here?” a sharp voice cut in. Both Inuyasha and John looked over to see the captain stalk over to them, an irate look fixed on her face.

“You tell me,” Inuyasha muttered, sending John a dark look.

“Who is this, captain?” John asked, hurriedly.

The captain pursed her lips for a moment, looking between the two men, while the rest of the crew watched the interaction tensely, as if waiting for something to happen.

“Boys, I'd like you to meet Inuyasha,” she said stiffly, “He'll be helping Charley as a cabin boy and will be traveling with us until we reach Swansea. Until then, ignore him and he'll ignore you.”

“What's wrong with his eyes?” one sailor whispered, leaning closer to get a better look at Inuyasha's demonic, amber eyes.

Inuyasha openly growled at him but was abruptly cut off by a sharp jab in the ribs by Charley.

“Never you mind! Just get back to your duties,” she said before stalking off to her chambers. The rest of the crowd drained away begrudgingly while gifting Inuyasha dark and suspicious looks.

The incident was over, but it didn't stop the whispers. In fact, it only served to increase the other's curiosity about the `new guy'. Inuyasha often heard muttering about his strange eyes, or his freakish nails, or his unnaturally sharp teeth. It was as if everyone on the ship suspected him of being more than just human but didn't have the balls to say anything about it. Though, Inuyasha often found himself observing everyone else as well. The sailors had wide eyes, weird noses, and a shocking variety of hair color. There were even a few humans with yellow hair. He noticed that, unlike in Japan, most of the men here could grow facial hair covering their entire jaw. Even Charley had rough stubble topping the lower half of his face. Another thing he noticed was the size of these Europeans, who were noticeably larger than the human men he was used to seeing. This always got him thinking about himself and his heritage. If what was in his letter was true...then was his grandfather European? If that was the case then would that give him European blood? Would he be able to grow a beard, or grow as big as one of the other sailors someday? He knew that the average demon reached their prime at sixty years of age, so he had roughly forty something years to figure these questions out.

During the next few weeks Inuyasha had avoided the other crewmembers as much as physically possible without disregarding his duties, and in return, they ignored him. This didn't help any with him making friends but all he really wanted was a peaceful passage to Scotland. The captain hadn't helped matters either. She often hovered over him, discrediting his work and complaining about everything as if she was just dying to find a reason to kick him off the ship (something that became increasingly hard for her as Inuyasha picked up on handling things around the ship rather fast). Despite his treatment by everyone save for Charley, Inuyasha worked through it all. Instead he focused on improving his English and learning what he could about Scotland from Charley. Unfortunately the boy was next to no help in that department.

Three days from arriving in Indonesia, something happened that changed everything…

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