Drifting – Part Five: Molested

Aamalie: Busy schedules suck. That’s all I hafta say.

Corisu: I LIVE! XD

Disclaimer: Same one as always.

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Drifting
Chapter 5: Molested

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"What’s with you and dragging me to dingy places, Pirate?" Sango remarked as Miroku, who had somehow managed to get her to come with him, again, led her towards a worn down looking line of rickety buildings that looked as though the only reason they were still upright was because they were leaning against each other.

The pirate tossed her an entertained glance. "Sango, darling. This is a pirate city. It’s a place of criminality, drunkenness, and promiscuity. Dingy is about as good as it gets."

"Is that so? If that’s the case, what makes you think that I’m going to stay here any longer than I have to?" she countered. He didn’t reply, but just continued leading her down the dusty street towards those same buildings. The one that he seemed set on reaching looked to be one of smallest of the shops— Sango assumed that that was what they were— but it was also the most crowded, and in the worst shape.

There was a sign above the door that may have once stated the name of the place, but the gold leafed letters had become so weatherworn that they had faded and cracked beyond recognition. Even the board the sign had been made from was far past its life expectancy, and was only held up by a sole, well-rusted nail. The ground outside was littered with broken glass, which, upon closer inspection, must have been from the windows. The glass of the said windows only clung brokenly to the frames like cruel, jagged teeth that opened to the darkness of the inside.

"What is this place?" Sango inquired, flinching back as an acrid scent hit her. Disgusted, she lifted her hand to her nose and mouth, hoping that it would somehow deter the stench. It didn’t.

"A tavern," he explained shortly. "We’re meeting Inuyasha and Miss Kagome here."

"Why? It smells perfectly awful."

"Tradition."

Sango didn’t get a chance to ask how it was a tradition, as it was then that they had to start wading through the mass of stomach-turning drunks. It was only when they were through the door that she noticed that Miroku’s hand had found its way to her elbow again as he wove through the people, an insurance against losing track of her once more. But, she realized, she didn’t exactly want to be lost at the moment, especially not in this place full of men who had probably been drinking far too much alcohol for far too long. So, she didn’t pull away as she had done before.

"There they are," Sango heard Miroku say, though she couldn’t pick them out for a long moment thanks to the boundless distractions around her, caused the din of the room and the overwhelming stench of alcohol. When she did manage to spot them, she saw that they were located near the far corner of the room, at a small table that looked as though it was ready to fall over in various pieces at any second. After a few minutes more of winding around tables and other things, they reached their destination.

That was when Kagome pounced.

"Where have you been?" she burst out, slipping out of her chair so rapidly that the rickety table gave a seasick lurch. Inuyasha grabbed it quickly, stilling it before one of the legs could give way.

Sango’s first instinct was to back up, but backing up would put her quite snugly against Miroku, who didn’t look at all inclined to move out of her way. Decisions, decisions.

Hence the reason that Kagome was able to glare up at her from close range, an adamant finger pointing at Sango’s chest. "I was so worried when you weren’t there when I came back! I mean, you don’t even know your way around this place, and so much could happen to an unattended woman, and-"

Miroku stepped up behind Sango and peered over her shoulder at the fuming younger woman. "Lady Kagome, there is no one to blame here. Sango was merely restless and decided to seek me out."

Kagome blinked. "Oh. Well, I suppose that’s fine, then..."

Sango blinked rapidly. "What? I did what?" She glared over her shoulder at the smugly grinning pirate.

"Well, if you’d rather chance her wrath..." he whispered as Kagome took her seat once more, much to the chagrin of the wobbly table.

Sango stared at him in mild disbelief for a moment before he moved around her and plopped into a chair. The chair that he sat in, coincidentally, seemed to be the last one available at the table.

Folding her arms adamantly, Sango snapped, "What a gentleman you are. Give me your chair."

Miroku grinned that utterly irritating grin that was somehow charming at the same time. Damn pirate. "But Sango, such an action would not be enterprising at all."

Folding her arms, she fixed him with the same murderous stare that she had been perfecting since she’d first come into his presence. "And why not?" she gritted out.

"There is plenty of room right here," he remarked, gesturing to his lap. "And as I cannot sit on your lap, this would be the most accommodating arrangement." As if obliging her, he turned sideways in his chair to afford her an easy seat.

Sango flushed lightly, but hid it easily by glancing around, searching for an extra chair at any of the other tables. At first glance, there appeared to be none; every spare seat seemed to be filled by men that smelled strongly of ale and grime. Her eyes swept the outskirts of the room, past a man who was being shouted at by one of the tavern workers for breaking his mug. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he had broken said mug over his companion’s head, who was pulling himself up dazedly, a thin trickle of blood wending its way down the line of his partly squashed nose.

Quickly turning from this scene, she finally noticed an empty seat at a table occupied by a group of raucous, burly men. The one closest to Sango slammed down his mug and, through his hoarse laughter, practically shouted, "An’ then I says to her, I says, ‘If’n it was worth all a’ tha’ loot, I’da kep’ ‘er...!” The rest of his sentence was drowned out by a roar of laughter from his buddies. Obviously, he’d resorted to some crude sign language in favor of words, and Sango found herself sure of two things. One, that she was glad that she hadn’t caught the end of that sentence, and two, she wasn’t going over there to borrow a chair.

With a sigh, she perched herself gingerly on Miroku’s lap, just enough so that she wouldn’t fall off. Inuyasha shook his head. "Pervert as always, huh?"

"Me?" Miroku replied, playful shock in his voice. "Absolutely not. I am the pinnacle of excellent breeding and impeccable manners."

Inuyasha let out a snort of sheer disbelief. "So says the third generation pirate."

"I did say ‘excellent breeding’, didn’t I?" he pointed out, just as he seemingly decided to slip his arms around Sango’s waist. Needless to say, it hadn’t been something she’d expected, and Miroku noticed when she stiffened at the contact. She heard him chuckle, and then felt him lean forward a bit. "Sango, relax," he told her, his voice low enough that the others couldn’t make out his words over their own sudden bantering. "I’m not going to bite."

Sango twisted slightly so as to see him and aim a dirty look his way. "Frankly, it’s not biting I’m concerned about."

He gave her a rueful grin, and pulled her gently towards him. "My aim at the moment happens to be comfort, and having you sitting on my knees like you are now is hardly comfortable, perhaps less so for me than for you. Besides, if we’re going to be spending time together," Miroku said, with an almost licentious wink, "you’d might as well loosen up a bit."

Why was it that this man always had such good points?

Deciding against digging herself into a deeper hole by responding verbally, Sango reluctantly shifted backwards, enabling Miroku to settle his arm across her entire torso. She flushed when she realized she’d moved closer to him than she had actually intended when she felt her back brush his front, and then when he used one of his hands to move her hair from his line of vision.

"See? Isn’t that better?" he murmured, close to her ear. She didn’t have to worry about responding, because it was then that a barmaid arrived at the table with several dented metal mugs filled with what was easily judged to be alcohol. She had barely set them down before she all but disappeared, heading back to collect more drinks for distribution.

"About time," Inuyasha muttered, grabbing a drink for himself, and handing another to Kagome. Miroku followed his example, surprising Sango when he indicating the last one was for her.

"Yes, love, you too. Come on, I say that a drink to our impending departure is as much tradition as coming here is."

Kagome laughed. "You and your habits, Miroku."

"Traditions," he said, correcting her. She lifted her cup in defeat, and she, Miroku, and Inuyasha took it as a sign to take a long drink of their ale. Sango hesitantly followed suit, though swallowing the bitter liquid was something of a trial for her. No sooner had she set the cup down than something occurred to her.

"Wait... Departure?"

Miroku grinned and would have responded if a hand hadn’t suddenly slammed a large flagon of ale on their rickety table, causing it to teeter in the direction of Inuyasha and Kagome. The blue-eyed woman leapt out of her seat with a yelp, but Inuyasha was nowhere near as fortunate. The table finally gave way, the leg nearest Inuyasha cracking in half with a sound like a gunshot. Despite its weak stature, the table was much heavier than it looked, and the full weight of it slammed into the pale-haired pirate.

From where Sango sat, staring, she saw the table flip and Inuyasha’s drop out of sight. There was a burst of dust from the filthy floor, borne upward on a long stream of expletives. Next came two clunks, followed by a louder thud and the trickle of flowing liquid. An ominous silence fell, then Inuyasha climbed to his feet, his hair and clothes smelling of strong drink. A snarl escaped his mouth and he whirled to face the owner of the flagon-bearing hand, his fists clenched at his sides and his hair dripping steadily onto the floor. "I hope you pray before you head to work," he said darkly, eyes narrowed.

The other bar patrons seemed utterly unconcerned with that had occurred. Some glanced over and laughed briefly, and some just continued with their conversations as if this sort of thing happened every day. It probably did.

"Oh, my! I’m so sorry!" the owner of the hand gasped, and Sango looked up to behold... the most feminine man that she’d ever seen. His eyes were an odd red-brown, his hair black and pinned up neatly at the back. His slender hands were clasped before him as he eyed Inuyasha anxiously. "Are you hurt? Oh, no, but you’re sopping wet! Here-" He drew an overlarge handkerchief from the pocket of his apron and used it to dab, rather uselessly, at the ale on Inuyasha’s face.

Inuyasha recoiled with something akin to horror on his face. "I’ve... got it... get off!" This last exclamation was necessary because, for every step that Inuyasha backed up, the man was following, still exclaiming apologies and such.

"-and you’ve got such a pretty face, too, and all of that pretty white hair, and I’ve gone and gotten ale in it!" He gave up on the sodden handkerchief and folded his hands in front of him. "Oh, it’s hopeless! I know!" he brightened and beamed suddenly. "You could come wash up at my place!"

Inuyasha froze and gawked at him in disbelief. A man at a nearby table shouted, "A bit forward t’day, aren’t ‘cha, Jakotsu?"

By way of a response, Jakotsu merely raised the handkerchief in a mock salute. Inuyasha blanched.

Finally coming out of the stupor that still held Miroku and Sango, Kagome stepped forward, edging between Jakotsu and Inuyasha. "Um... we’ve got somewhere to stay, thanks."

The barmaid-man stared at her blankly as if she were some mildly interesting species of plant. "What’s that got to do with anything?"

Kagome laughed sheepishly, her hands in front of her as if warding off an attack. "Inuyasha, do something!" she hissed over her shoulder.

Inuyasha swallowed audibly and made as if to move past her, but it was at that moment that Jakotsu squealed, "Inuyasha? What a marvelous name! Tell me, Inuyasha, have you ever been to the Black Abalone? Best lodging on the island and-"

There was suddenly a roar from behind them. Turning swiftly, Miroku and Sango watched a very large, very hairy man wend his was toward them, waving a broken ale spigot over his head and looking murderously at the broken table and spilled drink. "Jakotsu!"

Sango looked quickly at Miroku. "Time to go?"

Miroku nodded. "Time to go."

Sango hopped from his lap and he seized her hand as they made a hasty exit, Miroku pausing just long enough beside Inuyasha to whisper, "Don’t hurt his feelings, eh? Catch up when you can!" Once outside, Sango stared back at the door, then Miroku, and shook her head. "This place is utterly deranged."

"Then you’ll be satisfied with our imminent departure," Miroku said easily, leaning against a signpost with the intent of waiting for Inuyasha and Kagome to disentangle themselves from the tavern owner and Jakotsu. “Unless, of course, you’d prefer to stay on land.”

Sango was quiet as she considered this, kicking a stray bottle away from her as she thought. “So... You’re asking me to choose between living with pirates on land and with pirates on the water? Not much of an option, is there?”

His tone was light and carefully neutral when he replied, “I suppose not.”

She studied the filthy dirt beneath her shoes for a moment. Pirate ships were dangerous. Power could shift between hands unexpected, and policies could change like the wind, which could easily put her at a disadvantage if she were to be on board at the time. On the other hand, Tortuga wasn’t even slightly better. After all, who knew how many lawless criminals were running amuck on the island? And if she stayed... She’d never have a chance for escape.

“Well, then. I’ll just have to come tomorrow, won’t I?” she said, smoothing out a stray wrinkle on her sleeve. Suddenly, much to Sango’s chagrin, Miroku stepped forward and all but threw his arms around her.

“I knew you wouldn’t leave me, my beautiful Sango!” he said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. She, on the other hand, was speechless, and remained so as he pulled back. “I suspected that you were infatuated with me from the start.”

Taken aback and embarrassed, Sango hurriedly pushed him away. “It’s nothing like that! It’s just the better choice.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And why is that?”

Sango’s mind raced to find an answer that was believable, besides the true one; it was unlikely that he’d like the idea of her wanting to escape after he’d given up so much money to get her in the first place. That was just the way that men were. By a stroke of fortune, however, she wasn’t required to answer, as it was then that Kagome and Inuyasha emerged from the tavern, looking a little worse for the wear.

“Oi, Miroku,” Inuyasha growled as they drew into hearing range, flicking his still ale-drenched hair away from his face irritably. “Screw your traditions. We’re never going in there again.” And then he stomped on past, muttering obscenities along the way. Kagome gave Miroku and Sango an awkward smile, before trailing after him and continuing to try to calm his temper.

“Hm,” Miroku said. “He said that last time we went there.” Sango gave him an inquiring look, and he elaborated. “Some woman went crazy and kept trying to attack him and steal his hair. At the end of it all, it wasn’t a very pretty sight, but then, I would pay good money to see Inuyasha half-bald again.”

Sango leveled him a look. “You seem to be rather loose with your money, Pirate.”

“Perhaps I am.” He offered her his arm. “Shall we be off? It’s getting dark, and there’s much to be done before morning’s light.” Much to Sango’s own surprise, she gingerly accepted his offer, and they followed the path Inuyasha and Kagome had taken moments before.

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The sensation of bright sunlight hitting her eyelids while she was sleeping had never been something that Sango particularly cared for. So, as luck would have it, that was exactly what woke her up the next morning, coupled with Kagome encouraging her to “rise and shine” in an overly cheerful, singsong sort of voice. The only proper reaction to this, Sango believed, was to roll over and bury her head in a pillow and try to fall back asleep.

So, that was exactly what she did.

The only problem happened was that Kagome failed to catch the hint, and the covers—which had definitely seen better days—that Sango had been using were stripped away moments later.

“Time to get up, Sango!” Kagome said brightly. “We’ve got to get on our way while the wind is still good!”

Sango cracked an eye open. “What wind?”

She laughed. “Don’t be silly. We’re leaving today, remember? Oh, of course you do. Now come on, get up and get dressed so that we don’t keep everyone waiting.” Slowly, Sango did so as she remembered her circumstances, and within a few minutes, she was in that blasted bustier again.

It was only after she was fully dressed and Kagome was sorting through a few bags of miscellaneous knickknacks that a thought crossed her mind. “What do you mean by, ‘everyone’?”

“Oh, you know,” Kagome said offhandedly, closing one bag and opening another for her double-checking, “the crew and everyone. Like Inuyasha, and Miroku. They’re already at the ship, waiting for us. And I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything, which is a good thing.” She locked the final bag shut, handing it to Sango. “You carry that, and I’ll carry these two. Got it? All right, time to go! Right this way!”

Wondering for a second why it was she was being required to follow so many people around as of late, Sango tailed Kagome out of The Eye (apparently, they’d already been checked out that morning) and back into the streets of Tortuga. It wasn’t long until she found herself disoriented once again, but at the same time, she almost thought she recognized a few streets.

It wasn’t until they reached the docks that she understood why. It had been the exact path Miroku had taken her along when she had fallen into his custody, only going backwards. When she saw the place the auction had been at, Sango couldn’t help but scowl just a bit.

“There she is!” Kagome suddenly said.

“What? Who?”

The younger grinned and pointed towards the docks, which had just come into view after rounding a corner. “Her. The Licentious Wanderer.”

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Aamalie: ...No pun intended. And Corisu is a dork.

Corisu: I LIVE! XD

Aamalie: See?

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OnlyCoolEmoBoysKiss- There’s Jakotsu for ya!

Fantastical Queen Ebony Black- Yeah, Kouga will show up, don’t worry.

Personification of Fluff- XD Well, he’s probably the one who gets stuck buying her the clothes... So I think he’d at least notice a little. Or he’d just be stupid.

Starzki- You can’t picture him as a pirate? O.o How can you not? XD He makes a perfect pirate, what with his nice-guy appearance, but he’s also a bit of a liar, a cheat, and a blackmailer... And he’d look really hot in one of those white cotton shirts that are half open all the time. XD Oh yeah. You’re crazy.

Defafaeth Mechqua- Dude. I’d feel sorry for Miroku if Sango got a hold on some pepper spray.

FlamingRedFox- Eh. Sango always has bad luck in my stories. Its my payback for her getting Miroku. -grins-

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