InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Road to Remembrance ❯ Of seaserpents, missions, and expectations ( Chapter 7 )

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

Chapter 7

“Move, freak.”

Inuyasha reluctantly backed out of the way as two sailors carried a large crate filled with liquor past him.

`Freak'

The name was so fitting for him. Apparently the sailor's thought so too, for they weren't stupid by any means and could tell he wasn't human—even if his ears were covered.

Inuyasha sat back on the bow and watched the sun begin to set. Tonight there would be a festivity of some sort, with much drinking and dancing, though Inuyasha clearly got the message that he was not welcome. It was perfectly fine with him; he didn't want to spend time with the humans anyway.

“Inuyasha!”

Inuyasha groaned as the bane of his existence popped up in his face, hands on her hips in an imposing manner.

“Are you lazing about again?” the captain hissed. Inuyasha casually met her fiery, blue gaze.

“What do you want me to do? I've finished all my duties for the time being.”

The captain glared at him, knowing he deserved a break every now and then for all the hard work he put into the ship. She'd never admit it, but he was a great asset to the crew. She didn't even know why she gave him such a hard time, though she suspected it was mostly the fact that he was as stowaway and got away with it. But another part of her said it was because of his mixed heritage and she felt disguised by it, as she was someone who always prided herself on avoiding prejudices.

She went to say something back to him when the ship gave a sudden lurch, sending the men aboard falling allover each other. The captain herself was thrown forward right into Inuyasha's arms. She hit his solid chest with a thud, feeling the hard muscles underneath the thin shirt and shamelessly wondered how someone so young could become so developed.

Blushing with mortification, she jumped away from him and faced the rest of the crew.

“What the hell was that?”

“Dunno—,” John began before the ship was hit again, once more sending everyone sprawling in all directions. Inuyasha's ears twitched wildly under the bandana. It dampened his hearing slightly but not enough for him to get the general idea what was going on. Unfortunately the thickly salted water prevented him from using his nose to any aid.

“It's coming from under the ship,” he told the captain quietly who was still sitting on the deck from her latest fall. She looked up at him confused.

“That's not possible. The water shouldn't shallow out for another day or two. We can't be that close to land.”

“No. It's moving. It's a beast of some kind.”

He saw the captain's face pale slightly and she rapidly scrambled to her feet.

“I want all men armed and on the deck, now! Drop those crates and get moving!”

The men obeyed her instantly, rushing around the deck, grabbing swords and pistols.

“What is it, captain?” John asked, rushing up to her.

“Sea serpent,” she answered. Inuyasha didn't have to ask what it was because it sprang up from the water, rearing its head at them, causing many men to jump or scream in fright.

The body was long and serpentine; the lower half still emerged in the water with about fifty feet spared above. It had a slick, greenish head with webbed fans on either side that spread as it bared it's fangs and flicked it's tongue out.

What bothered Inuyasha was that it was not a demon, but an actual sea monster. He'd never fought one but figured if he could defeat something like Naraku, then a monster shouldn't be all that hard. Now all he had to worry about was how to fight it without revealing his true heritage, though he had a sneaking suspicion that the crewmembers wouldn't be too surprised if they found out what he was judging from his appearance. Inuyasha settled for watching the humans fight it first, and analyze how they dealt with it.

It opened it jaws and let forth a prehistoric roar before it charged at the crew, fangs bared.

“Stand your ground men!” she called, raising her own sword. As the serpent's head neared she leapt forwards, slashing her sword down on its neck, but the scaly armor left it with no more than a scratch. Many of the other men had the same idea and the swords were proven virtually useless.

“Aim for the underbelly, or the tissue of its mouth!” the captain instructed once more, readying herself for another attack. This time it sideswiped the crew by lifting its tail from the water and sweeping it across the deck. Many of these sailors dived to the ground to avoid it; those who didn't were thrown heavily against elements of the ship.

Seeing most everyone down, the monster surged forwards once more before a shot rang out, eliciting shrieking cry from the beast. The serpent, with one newly emptied and bloodied eye socket, went strait for the one responsible faster than anyone could react, quickly singling out John, who still held a smoking pistol in his hands.

John closed his eyes, knowing it was too late for him and waited for the impact of those twin fangs. A brief reflection of his wife and young daughter flashed through his mind and he sent out a short prayer to God, asking him to watch over them in his stead.

But there was no searing pain, no blood or screaming. Instead he heard a grunt, and a snarl, and a multitude of gasps. He guardedly opened his eyes to be greeted with the back of the strange boy, who, to John's horror and admiration, was holding the serpent's jaws apart with a bit of a struggle. Inuyasha was steadily pushing its mouth open a little further each passing second, revealing a wildly trouncing forked tongue.

The body of the sea serpent thrashed about in pain, taking out part of the foremast in the process and sending water flying everywhere before the boy set the jaws so far apart that they snapped. It was dead. Inu Yasha then, to the further incredulity of everyone on the ship, bodily hoisted the creature in the air and threw it away from the boat. The body went almost a quarter of a mile before it actually hit the water. Silence reigned on the once chaotic vessel.

“You all right?” the boy asked gruffly, wiping his silver bangs out of his face. But john couldn't seem to find his voice to reply. He just stared at the whelp in disbelief as he then turned to the captain, “sorry about the mast. I can fix it easily enough.”

The captain too seemed to be having trouble forming any coherent words and was suddenly looking at the boy in a new light. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to let him on the ship after all.

A single cheer rang out from somewhere on the spar deck which was soon joined by many more. Inuyasha stepped back in shock as men, who mere hours ago scorned him, came forward with praising pats on the back and hands to be shaken.

John watched as the boy seemed to shrink away from the praise, apparently unsure of how to accept it.

“Hey, HEY! Back off will ya? Give the lad some room, damnit.”

The boy gave him a startled, if not gratifying look, and nodded in thanks. John returned it as an understanding passed between the two. John owed him his life, and the boy wanted to be accepted—hide it as he may—it was all he wanted. They were something more than shipmates now... they were comrades.

“Come on men, let's get on with this merrymaking!”

A roar greeted the response as the sailors laughed and pulled out the crates of liquor they brought up earlier. The captain grabbed Inuyasha by the arm and led him away from the commotion.

“That was...er...quite impressive back there. I had no idea you were that strong.”

Inuyasha shrugged, “it was nothing really. Much easier than what I used to fight back ho—back in Japan. Uh...are YOU alright captain?”

“Call me Isabel,” she said almost shyly, avoiding his gaze.

“Huh?” Inuyasha said, not quite understanding.

“It's my name,” she said, “and yes, thank you, I am fine.”

Inuyasha looked at her strangely, trying to figure out what happened to the bossy and loud captain that he knew so well that was suddenly replaced with a shy and quiet and feminine one.

“Hey—Inuyasha! Come on boy, join us!” one of the crewmembers who he recalled as Samuel cried out while brandishing a frothing mug around like it was a weapon.

“It seems you're being called,” Isabel said with a ghost of a smile.

“Aren't you coming?” he asked.

“I'd rather not,” she laughed, “the testosterone levels get a little high for my liking with these events.”

Inuyasha grinned, said farewell and walked over to the table he was being summoned to. John was among the group and offered a seat next to him and handed him one of the mugs that were littered around the table. It was filled with an alcoholic drink that smelled different from sake. He took a tentative sip. It was slightly bitter, but after another sip and another, he grew used to it.

“Like it?” John asked, grinning, “it's the finest ale in Europe.”

“It's alright,” Inuyasha replied. The alcohol level in it was about the same as sake to it would take quite a few more before it would have any sort of effect on him. Samuel, or `Sam' as he preferred to be called, whipped out a deck of cards.

“So boys...who's up for some poker?”

0o0o0o0o

The first thing Kagome did after she sealed the well was go strait to her room and cry for hours on end, utterly consumed by rejection and a broken heart. She spent the next few days in a daze; attending school as normal but never quite interacting with people. Her life seemed so dull and trivial after all her adventures in the feudal era. A couple weeks after she left she began to feel the beginnings of regret.

Was it really necessary for her to seal the well like that? She was so caught up in her own pain that she forgot about how everyone else would feel. This caused her to fall into another crying frenzy. She dropped to her bed, crying about never seeing Shippo again or talking `girl talk' with Sango. She'd even miss slapping Miroku for when his hands wandered. Maybe she overreacted about Inuyasha's decision. After all, Kikyo was able to accept it easily enough and she loved him too—or so she believed, anyway.

Did she really try to turn him into Hojo? Kagome thought back to all the times she sat him. Sure some of them were well deserved in regards to saving Shippo or stopping him from fighting Kouga, but the rest of the times seemed a little unfair now that she thought about it. It really wasn't her place to teach him how to behave, and there were a number of times she wished he had the confidence or charm of Hojo. Maybe she was subconsciously trying to give him those traits?

Sighing, Kagome wiped away any stray tears on her face and rolled onto her back. Perhaps she should have listened to him. Sure, she wasn't happy with his decision but was it right to force herself on him if he didn't feel he was ready for a relationship? She should have stayed and let him set the pace, not run off and cut everyone off from seeing her again. Maybe she could get the well open and apologize.

Kagome sat up with a determined look on her face. She had a mission.

0o0o0o0o

Sango happily polished her boomerang outside of Kaede's hut, enjoying the warm morning sun on her back. Some of the village men and Miroku were off building her and her future husband a home while Shippo was off somewhere in the forest, most likely by the God tree. She sighed a little at the thought of the young kit. Ever since Inuyasha and Kagome left he'd been more subdued. But she and Miroku and even Kilala were trying their best to bring him back to the cheerful little troublemaker he used to be. Her thoughts were interrupted by a large whirlwind heading rapidly fast towards the village. Before she knew it, Kouga, the wolf prince, stood before her in all his glory. And he got right to the point.

“Where's my woman?”

Sango gulped and gave a small nervous laugh, “About the Kouga...wouldn't it be better to marry Ayame? I'm sure the elder's would prefer you to wed another demon rather than a human.”

“I don't give a shit what the elders say! Just tell me where Kagome is and I'll be on my way. There's no reason we can't get married anymore now that the jewel is complete.”

“I'm sorry,” Sango began, realizing he wouldn't be deterred, “but Kagome left. She went back to her home and she isn't ever coming back.”

“What do you mean?” he asked warily.

“She's gone Kouga. Forever.”

He growled as a sudden thought occurred to him, “Is dog turd with her?”

“No, Inuyasha left as well. And I don't think we'll be seeing him for a long, long time,” she said sadly. She greatly missed both her friends and it was sometimes hard to hide it.

Kouga narrowed his eyes.

“So what happened? Why is everyone gone?”

Sango sighed and began to tell him, thinking he deserved an answer after being so devoted to Kagome.

“Inuyasha decided he didn't want a relationship with either Kikyo or Kagome. Kagome reacted badly to that and went back to her home village, using the jewel to prevent anyone from ever reaching her again. Later, Inuyasha received a mysterious letter in another language and left to go find out about it. I think he went to Scotland, though I'm not sure where that is. The point is—Kagome is unreachable...even to Inuyasha.”

`Shit,' Kouga thought as he heard this, `this isn't good. If I don't return with a wife I could loose my status.'

The elders were getting more and more adamant about him finding a suitable mate and providing the tribe with more pups. The thing was, he was still young and didn't want to be tied down with such a commitment, especially with someone he didn't love. But unlike before, when he didn't care what the elder's wanted and did his own thing, his high rank in the wolf demon society was being threatened.

“Oh fuck,” he moaned, rubbing his hand over his face. Life sucked.

0o0o0o0o

Poor, poor, Kouga :( YES Inuyasha is drinking and gambling! He's on his way to a good and healthy corruption.

I don't know if I should let Kagome back or not...

Thanks for the reviews! Please let me know what you think so far!