InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tale of the Twins ❯ Chapter Eleven: Trouble Brewing ( Chapter 11 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Sorry about all the Original Characters. I really hate OC, but I couldn't really go without it! Rest assured that most of them aren't important.

Chapter Eleven

Trouble Brewing

Three days had passed. Naraku and Sesshoumaru had barely spoken to each other since then, and the situation was so tense that one could feel it in the air. Even the crew were not oblivious to it.

Rin tried to avoid them because of it—which was how she ended up at the helm with Nanako.

“But why are you dropping us off in China?” She glanced toward Korea. She could see it now. The wind had let up a day ago, and set them a little behind. “And then leaving your boat and building a new one?”

Nanako glanced around. “This ship has a bounty on it,” she admitted.

“Nani?” Rin wondered, trying to figure out why it would have a bounty on it.

The captain toyed with a spyglass while she spoke. “Well, considering that we would be sailing along the coast, it would be dangerous, because humans are A) after our heads, and B) want the ship as an addition to their fleets. Mostly, battling them all would be a large waste of time, and they could damage the ship, and repairs are costly and take a lot of time.” She shrugged. “But regarding the bounty… Youkai also want this ship. We've been marauding these waters for centuries—against youkai and ningen alike. So, you see…”

“Oh,” Rin said. They were youkai pirates. More or less.

Nanako seemed to know what she was thinking. “Don't call us `pirates' either. We're not attacking for any more plunder than necessary.” She grinned. “Mostly, we just like to have fun now and then.”

How reassuring.

Nanako seemed to sense something. She rose to her feet and peered over the railing. “Oh, shit…” She started screaming orders, her voice tinged with the tell-tale signs of panic. Rin's heart began to pound. What could make a youkai like her start panicking? Rin looked off where the captain had been looking. Her eyes widened with fright. A whirlpool—it had just sprung up from nowhere. Worse, they were headed straight for it. But Nanako wasn't worried about herself; she was a fish. The other passengers were not. Rin gauged the distance between land and the ship. Sesshoumaru and Naraku could fly. The problem was, all the things aboard the boat would be lost.

Rin found Nanako on deck, still screaming out orders. She tapped her on the shoulder. Nanako whirled around in a circle to look at her. “Is it too late?”

Nanako shook her head. “We can avoid it.”
“Where did it come from?”

“The sea dragon.” She turned back to her feverishly working crew. “Secure that line!” She looked back at Rin. “Get Naraku and Sesshoumaru.”

Rin nodded and rushed down the stairs, trying to find one of them. She found Naraku with Kuraimaru and Shuarra Meitsuki. She blurted out everything that was going on in a rush. When she finished, she said, “Where's Sesshoumaru-sama?”

“Hell if I know,” he muttered, before brushing past her on his way outside, ready to play his role as extra firepower.

The icy grip of panic seized Rin's heart. Where was Sesshoumaru? “What's going on, Rin-chan?” Shuarra Meitsuki wondered.

Rin tried to smile for her, but it was half-hearted. “Oh, don't worry about it. Just a youkai causing trouble.” She started to leave, then paused. “You two stay here.”

“We will,” the younger twin chimed.

“Hm,” the older one confirmed.

“By the way, have you seen Sesshoumaru-sama?” Rin wondered.

Shuarra Meitsuki shook her head. Kuraimaru considered, then sniffed the air. He looked around a bit, trying to “sense” where his “mother” was. He pointed with absolute surety. “Not on the ship anymore,” he said. Rin looked in the direction he was pointing. She opened the curtain on the window. He was pointing toward land—toward Korea. At least he hadn't headed back to Japan. She had known that Naraku and Sesshoumaru were not getting along well, but she didn't know it was this bad.

One hour earlier…

“Sesshoumaru… We are almost to the mainland. I need you to consider—“
“No,” he snapped.

Naraku tried to keep his temper from rising. “Listen to me.”

“No.”

“We left Japan because it was dangerous for the children. Now you're just putting them at risk again because you have to be selfish.”

Sesshoumaru fingers curled into fists. He was tired of this conversation. Absolutely sick of it. He had half a mind to throw the damn Sacred Jewel into the sea. Of course… then a sea youkai would have it. “I doubt those ignorant humans will give it a second thought. We can say that we are relatives. We can say that Rin and Kuraimaru are mine, and Shuarra Meitsuki is yours. They are the same age, and were raised together. Those fools will think nothing of it.”
“What makes you so certain?”

“Humans are idiotic.”

Naraku pressed two fingers to his temples, thoroughly irritated. “You're wrong about that.”

“Hm?”

“This would all be infinitely easier if you were female.”

“I disagree.”

That was it. He couldn't take it any more. “Stop being so obstinate!”

“Obstinate?” Sesshoumaru rose to his feet, angry. “Stop coming to me with such idiotic notions.” He turned from him. The silence was like a curtain between them. “You smell like Nanako.”

“This entire ship smells like Nanako.”

“You don't smell like the ship though. You smell like her, specifically.”

“I was talking with her about our course.”

“Are you certain that that's all it was?”

Naraku's eyes narrowed. “What else could it be?”

Sesshoumaru struggled to control his temper. “Has it ever been anything more than what it is now?”

He grew further annoyed. “Even if that was the case, it makes no difference now. You're the only one I desire.”
“Is that so.”

“Yes.”
Sesshoumaru turned and glared at him. “That whore is constantly trying to entice you.”

Was she? He thought back to all the times she had been around. She did have a tendency to brush up against him a lot, and then there were the times when they were leaning over the charts. She had spread her hands out, leaning over, pushing her hair out of the way so that his view was unobstructed. Her kimono had not been tied very well. As a result, the top had fallen open. He had assumed that she had either not noticed, or didn't care. Then there were those times when she hung off of him—which she did an awful lot. But she had always been like this. He always thought it was because she was never completely sober. Had she just been trying to get him in bed? “Well, if she is, all of her advances thus far have failed.”
Sesshoumaru froze. “Thus far?” What did that mean? “Naraku…”

“You're jealous, jumping to conclusions, and being paranoid,” he snapped. “Nothing is going on between us.”
“Has it ever?”

“No!”

“But she wants something to be there.”

He wanted to slap Sesshoumaru. Maybe then he would listen to him. The only thing he ever responded to was violence or sex. “I don't care about that. It doesn't matter what she wants. It's about what I want, and what you want?”

Sesshoumaru looked away. What Naraku really wanted was a woman. Nanako was a woman—an attractive woman at that. Even when Sesshoumaru had been female, she just did not have the body Nanako had. Sesshoumaru had been thin. Nanako was more shapely. Sesshoumaru was also sort of cruel to Naraku. Nanako wasn't. Would she be better for him? He had been asking himself that for the past couple of days. Would Naraku and Nanako be better together? Naraku really had wanted a female mate. He still loved having sex when Sesshoumaru was a man, and didn't mind being with him otherwise, but… Besides, he was causing everyone so much trouble. It really would be easier if they weren't together. In a lot of ways.

Not just because Naraku would be happier, but because everyone would be better off. If he were out of the picture, then there wouldn't be so many problems with the mother/father issue in Europe. Besides, they were all excited to go. He wasn't. Was he really just a drag?

He wondered if Naraku was actually happy being with him, or if he was only here because it was routine, and for the children. What if he only said that he loved him out of routine? And besides, what did words mean anyway?

“What you want…” Sesshoumaru repeated softly. “And what I want.” I want you to be happy. The thought sort of surprised him, but only for a moment. Yes, he wanted Naraku to be happy. He had accepted him for who he was, if only for a while. He had taken care of him throughout the pregnancy and was an excellent father to their children. It had been asking too much to accept him as a man when he wanted otherwise. It had been too much to ask him to remain a hanyou, when he wanted so badly to be a youkai. It had been too much of everything.

Well, he wasn't giving him the Sacred Jewel—for his own sake. The blood might be too much for him. Regardless, he could at least be with a woman—with Nanako. She wanted him, and probably wouldn't treat him so poorly like Sesshoumaru did. And, Naraku, despite his cold-hearted ambitions and disregard for those he did not care for, was not deserving of such treatment. It hurt, though, to think of these things, like a knife through the stomach. He needed to be alone to consider this. He rose to his feet and pushed past Naraku. Without looking at him, he said. “You want Nanako, do you not?” Before Naraku could answer, Sesshoumaru was gone.

“Bastard,” Naraku muttered under his breath. Sesshoumaru wouldn't listen to reason, would he? He didn't want Nanako! But maybe after all this, the captain would be a relief. If Sesshoumaru wanted to take off and leave, he sure as hell wouldn't wait for him to come back. Sesshoumaru was upset about something. If he was going to be gone for years, he was not just going to sit around twiddling his thumbs and welcome him back with open arms.

Was that what the dog expected? That he would do that? He always did. And, usually Naraku always welcomed him back. Sesshoumaru had always been grateful, but when he left, he had never been angry or upset. What should he do? Go after him, leave him alone?

If he went after him, he might just stay gone longer. It would be best to wait for him for a while. If he was gone any longer than a few days, though…

His fingers curled in to fists. Sesshoumaru. Naraku was tired of getting walked on like this. He was tired of the dog never listening to him. When he saw him, they were going to have a heart to heart conversation, and he was going to get through to him.