My Mermaid by Tamasha Toko
A Tail Fin and a Tank
Chapter 1
A Tail Fin and a Tank
"This is going to be exactly what you need Kagome," Sango Unikji kept trying to tell her friend who looked down right miserable.
"This cruise could last for seven hundred years rather than seven days and it'll still wouldn't be what I need Sango," responded the young raven haired teen named Kagome Higurashi, who threw her suitcase on her temporary bed.
"I have been on cruises like this a billion times," Sango continued as she put her stuff upon the bed that was on the other side of their hotel-like room, "and trust me I always come back feeling like a different person afterwards."
"Thanks for arranging this Sango," Kagome sighed as she laid down, "but I don't think things are going to be that easy. I just can't forget about him."
Kagome was of course talking about her ex-boyfriend Kouga. He was the best boyfriend any teenage girl could ever dream of. Kouga was their school's star football player, basketball player, and track runner. Also luckily being her boyfriend ever since freshman year, though things had unfortunately fallen apart after their graduation. During Kouga's graduation party he announced to his family and friends that before he went on to attend college, he would marry her. Kagome was thrilled, but then Kouga's father shot all of their plans down. They were told that not only were they not allowed to marry, but also they wouldn't be allowed to see each other anymore. For Kouga was in an escapable arranged marriage with a woman named Ayame. She was scheduled to be brought over in the country later this year.
"Hasn't Kouga tried talking to his father?" Sango asked hopefully as she stood next to her friend's bed.
Kagome just nodded her head, "It's too late for anyone to change their minds. In exchange for Kouga marrying Ayame, his family received a lot of money. The money has already been spent on their home and the rest of that stuff that only the wealthiest people could afford. Kouga wanted to run away with me, but if he leaves his family behind he leaves his future behind as well. He has been working too hard to let that slip away from him."
"Well that settles it," Sango announced, as she grabbed Kagome's arm, "like you just said there is nothing that can be done about it, so lets just go and have fun. Maybe you will even meet a hott guy aboard the ship."
"Maybe your right," Kagome finally sighed in defeat as she stood up and prepared to set off to the ship's deck.
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"What a great turn out today," the ship's captain told himself as he positioned the wheel on auto and sat down at a table with one of his shipmates.
"I don't see how Naraku," the female cruise coordinator pointed out, "hasn't anybody dared to start any rumors yet?"
"Tell me how that is possible Kagura," Naraku asked her to do as he opened up a nearby folder, "I just don't just allow anyone onto this ship. If I did we would have lawyers calling my phone every minute of the day. I only make room for customers who seem to have no one waiting for them back home."
"Are you sure you did it right this time?" Kagura questioned as she looked at the folders' contents. "Usually we take aboard the elderly and a few business men. Yet, today we seem to have a lot of young ones on board."
"I decided to expand my research past old widowed ladies and men who are too preoccupied with work to care about family," he said as he flipped through the folder. "the elderly always die too easily on me before I get anywhere with them, and all the others have heart problems due to stress."
"Just be careful. For some reason I don't trust your judgment when it came to choosing your customers."
"Like I said Kagura don't worry about it. The young man who seems to want to flirt with all the women has just recently lost his father, leaving him with nobody."
"He will probably be the first male to survive one of your experiments."
"I plan to use him for my shark genetics, which no female has survived either, but I plan to change that. Aboard we also have a girl named Sango. Her father and brother died two years prior and her mother died while giving birth to her brother. She has been living on her own since she is no longer a minor. The stories behind the rest of our passengers aren't much different. The rest of them can just be used for my gill experiments and maybe my fish and crab projects."
"I've seen that Sango girl arrive with another though, Naraku. I overheard her companion talking about being a seventeen year old. Does she have a family?"
"Kagome Higurashi? Yes, she does have a very loving family. Although due to boyfriend troubles, she has come here to forget all of her worries. I bet if she were to disappear her family would just suspect that she ran away because of her problems."
"That is still too risky Naraku. If just one of her family members gets too curious as to why she disappeared during this cruise, then your little experiments along with your wealth goes down the drain."
"I am willing to take that risk Kagura," Naraku told her as he got up and wandered to the window that allowed him to see the dock. He could see very clearly the girl they were discussing about, who was being dragged around by Sango. "Kagome Higurashi is the loveliest woman I have ever had on board this ship next to her predecessor."
"Predecessor? Hmm...The last woman that you claimed to be the loveliest woman was Kikyo Yamada. There is no way you are planning to open up that experiment again. You could just use the girl on your shark genetics like the rest of them."
"The genetics I work with are unworthy of her. I think she would be much more useful as a mermaid then an average fish which would probably die within a few days."
"If you say so, but if I recall correctly the very first time you experimented with this project, it didn't work out very well."
"Mermaids are sensitive Kagura. This time my precious little project will be locked up away from everyone else's eyes. She will be mine and mine alone." As Naraku said this, an evil and possessive gleam appeared upon his eyes.
"Whatever you say, Naraku." Kagura bowed her head.
"Good. Now Kagura, go make sure that our guests are comfortable. After all, it's the least we can give them, since it will be their last trip they'll ever make."
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"Isn't this great Kagome?" Sango asked as the two of them laid down to tan on the dock's lawn chairs
"I guess," Kagome sighed as she lain there in a blue bikini and sunglasses.
"Come on Higurashi," Sango scowled at her friend, "we are on a nice cruise ship, we are here during the best weather we have had all summer, and there are some hot guys here. I don't see how you can still be upset." Sango emphasized.
"You're right, but I can't help it Sango," Kagome replied staring into the sun. " I mean...After four years of giving all your love and affection to someone, it is sort of hard not to be upset after he is forced to break off all ties with you."
"Well then think about this trip as a dream. We paid too much money for this cruise to let our problems get to us. We should just enjoy ourselves and worry about our mishaps once school starts up."
"Fine I will enjoy myself then. I have never heard of the S.S. Miasma though."
"That's because it's an exclusive and private cruise liner that only allows certain passengers. If we weren't accepted, we would have just been referred to another ship."
"That's kind of strange."
"Tell me about it. I bet we weren't even close to being the wealthiest on the list, so I don't know why they would ever pick us. I mean...The ship is kind of weird itself as well. It doesn't even have life-boats so you better pray we don't sink."
"Sango please don't say stuff like that," Kagome snapped, "you know how much I can get freaked out by the idea of that happening."
"That's why it's so funny."
"Oh dear Sango, must you be so cruel to Kagome?" came a familiar voice.
The two looked up and saw Miroku Kazanna, one of their high school friends. Kagome removed her sunglasses and greeted him. Sango just blushed and covered her almost naked body with a beach towel. Miroku looked at her with a confused look.
"Sango you look much prettier without the towel," Miroku then told her.
"Do you think you're funny by looking at me like that while I am only wearing my swim suit?" Sango demanded to know rudely before smacking him hard against the face.
"I can't help it," he responded by rubbing the red mark on his cheek, "it's a man's nature."
"More like a pervert's nature," Sango sneered.
Kagome just giggled as the two continued their fight. Sango was definitely right; they paid way too much money for this trip to just let it go to waste because of her and Kouga's current misfortune. Kagome's attitude was probably making her friend's vacation miserable as well. She decided from now on to just enjoy the cruise. After all, she was on an expensive ship in the middle of the ocean away from everybody else except her best friends. Nothing could go wrong.
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They were all going to die. That was what Kagome predicted would happen when she was awoken in the middle of the night by the sharp sound of breaking glass followed by a few screams. The ground was also shaking as though the ship crashed into something. The shake forced Kagome to tumble from her bed to the ground.
"Kagome are you alright?" Sango's worried voice was heard, even though the darkness allowed her not to be seen.
"I think so," Kagome answered timidly, "Sango what is going on?"
"I don't know," Sango whispered as her figure was seen heading towards the light switch, "the lights are not working."
"Just great," Kagome started to cry as though she was about to go into hysterics, "the lights are out and it sounds like we crashed while on a ship that doesn't have lifeboats!"
"Calm down," Sango kept trying to reassure the teenager who only got more stressed out and scared as the sound of an opening door was heard.
The next thing that was heard was the sound of Sango screaming bloody murder. Kagome just cried harder as she desperately tried to look around for her friend. She didn't have time because she then felt someone's strong arms grab her and drag her out of the room.
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He closed his suitcase with nothing but annoyed look on his face, which was unusual seeing as how his face generally wore nothing but an emotionless and indifferent look. Sesshoumaru brushed his long sliver hair out of his golden eyes before picking up his luggage. It was going to be a long week.
"What is your problem now son?" his father InuTashio asked as he came through his son's bedroom door.
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed at the man who was just a fatter version of himself, "You told me that if I decided to become you apprentice and take this job there would be more challenging tasks for me to execute. How can I, Sesshoumaru accomplish this crucial work, if you send me to some kind of island to deal with an ordeal for a week that would merely last a day?"
"If you wish to deal with it in a day, then deal with it in a day," InuTashio replied surprised that his son was actually argumentative for once, "just think as the other six days as a vacation."
"I don't have time for a vacation father," the son sneered as he passed his old man with an air of arrogance and his suitcase swinging along his side in his hand.
"Of course you do," Inutashio bellowed blocking Sesshoumaru's path. "Last time you used only one of your vacation days which was three years ago! Then you turned around to make that up with overtime!"
"Father incase you haven't noticed our companies stock, sales, and foreign interest are all declining. I believe it's because I haven't worked hard enough. I will probably have to work even harder considering the money we are about to waste after Naraku has had his way with us."
"Naraku seems to know what he is doing. Right now, you are going to see how his new project is going."
"As though anyone could produce a way to make humans breathe underwater."
"I have been analyzing his research and data and I think he is actually on to something, however he needs money. Once we give it to him to finish the project, he will succeed and we will get millions back in return."
"I didn't even know Naraku was out of jail. I thought using humans as experiments usually got you a bigger sentence then a few months."
"He never went. His lawyers proved that there is no evidence of him using humans and I believe them. Naraku is a well trusted man."
"In spite of everything, why do I have to deal with such feeble things? Make your wife go. She seems to do a good job when it comes to traveling and supervising projects."
InuTashio shook his head while looking at the floor, "Sesshoumaru you know where that island is and why she must not go there. I don't think her heart could take it."
Sesshoumaru merely nodded. He knew why he would be the only one visiting Naraku's island. The last one of their family members to ever go there was his young half brother and the son of his father's late wife. His name was InuYasha and he never returned from that island. The search party went on for a year, before the family finally called it to an end and assumed Inuyasha to be dead."
"Fine I will go and see what Naraku has planned for us," Sesshoumaru finally said not showing defeat as he stalked out to the front of his family's mansion and awaited his transport to the airport.
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Whoever she was, she had short raven hair and appeared to be sleeping in nothing more then a blue bikini. The girl must have been drugged since the room the teenager was residing in was full of ear piercing screams, and yet she did not stir awake. The bed was being wheeled by some kind of doctor who stopped suddenly long enough to examine a fish tank, which seemed to be out of place in the dingy and dirty room. Quickly the doctor removed a few fish from the tank and then laid them by the girl.
There was something wrong with those fish. Their color was pale and they didn't even bother to flop around once removed from the water, gasping for air. It was as though they were so sick that they were nearly half dead. The creatures didn't even widen their eyes as their scales were punctured with a syringe.
Along with the blood sucked out of the fish's bodies, a few other chemicals were collected as well and also absorbed with needles. Once everything that was needed had been prepared, the doctor tightened leather straps around the girl's wrist. It was obvious to see why, once all the chemicals had been shot into veins her she seemed to undergo a type of seizure and a fit of painful screams was followed, all that while still being in a deep sleep.
Sesshoumaru then awoke from his dream to find out that he drifted off while on his private airplane towards Naraku's island. His dull gold eyes traveled to his open laptop that showed charts and figures. Maybe he had been working too hard lately. His dreams were beginning to get more and more eccentric.
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A warm blanket was the first thing Kagome thought about when her mind finally awoke. Wherever she was she felt completely warm and relaxed. Warm enough that falling back asleep would not be difficult to accomplish at all.
"But where am I?"
Kagome finally opened her eyes just to stare at her surroundings in disbelief.
"Am I dead?"
This had to be some kind of trick her mind was playing on her, for she was underwater surrounded by both coral reefs and fish. When Kagome's mouth opened to gasp her taste buds were greeted with a blast of salt water. On the other hand, there was something different about the taste which she usually found to be bitter and disgusting. It had the same scent and essence as saltwater, but yet it had a sweet taste to it, kind of like sugar.
"I have to be dead; if I wasn't...Then my lungs would be burning for air right now, wouldn't they?"
Nothing seemed wrong with her lungs though. It was as though the water was her source of air, similar to if she were a fish or some kind of water animal. She had to be dead.
Kagome moved her legs so she could swim forward. Something felt strange. Her legs felt slick and stiff, but they carried her a lot faster when it came to swimming. She looked down to see what the problem was.
Right away her eyes widened in horror, "M-My legs, where are they?"
This had to be a nightmare or she really was dead. Where her two legs use to be there was now a long, scaly, and greenish tail fin. She explored the rest of her body. The only thing she was wearing was the same gaudy bikini top she wore earlier. Everything else that wasn't her lower body seemed to be the same.
The scaly teenager then chose to use her new tail to swim up so she could get out of this place. That was before her head collided painfully with what looked like glass. Swiftly she swam down and then forward just to hit some more glass. Was she in a glass tank?
She eventually peered beyond the glass and seen a dark hallway. Standing in the hallway was a man with long black hair and unusual red eyes. Where was she and who was he?
"Do you like your new home Kagome?" she was able to hear the man ask.
Kagome opened her mouth. She was ready to let out a frenzy of questions and a few choice words, but nothing came out of her mouth. Just bubbles.
"Do I have to put you back in the lab?" the man questioned as he tapped on the glass, "your telepathic abilities don't seem to be working."
"Telepathic?" she thought inwardly to herself.
"There we go," the unidentified man's voice rang out, "I guess I can't hear you while your mind's filled with so much uncertainty. I will fix that for you. My name is Naraku Senaka."
Once again her mind filled with questions but it appeared to be as though he could only understand one thought at a time, "Why do I have a tail?"
"I guess that question would be your priority," noted the man known as Naraku, "but the answer should have been obvious. You have been turned into a mermaid. I am a marine biologist who experiments in a few genetic fields. Just awhile ago, I even created a way for humans to breath under water. That is why you're not dead yet."
Kagome still didn't believe a word of this, "Th-this isn't real! It's just a dream!"
"This is very real I am afraid," Naraku continued, "You should be honored that I have chosen you to be my mermaid, so just stay in your tank and look calm and peaceful."
Kagome moved her head to shoot him a deadly death glare, but then Naraku made eye contact with her. There was something she didn't like about his scarlet eyes. Whatever it was, it caused her to hide behind a huge coral rock before she could continue the conversation.
"This is great," he chuckled, "you are like a real mermaid. Your brand new instincts tell you to hide when there is a visitor. Mermaids are supposed to be over sensitive. The mermaid I had before you actually died because too many people looked at her at the same time. You will be different though. You will only be for my eyes and my eyes only."
Her mind wanted to quickly tell him off for this. So she was just supposed to be his fish for him to gawk at? Hopefully, this was all just one huge bad dream. With any luck, soon she would wake up in the room she was sharing with Sango, but if this wasn't a dream... Then what happened to all the others?
"Where is Sango and Miroku?" her mind chose to ask this time.
"They are probably in the lab somewhere, but I am unaware of whether they are both still of the living or not."
"What did you do to them?"
"Hmm...What did I do with them again?" Naraku pondered over this for awhile. "Oh yes! That's right, I turned them into sharks. I thought their youth would give them the dexterity to survive the transformation, but I could be wrong."
Kagome's fervent thoughts then prevented any more words from getting out. Naraku just wore a smug look as he walked briskly towards the wall across the hallway. He was looking at some small white device that was nailed onto the wall. Whatever it was, it was probably working since a little red light was blinking until he flipped the switch and turned it off.
"This is what allowed me to hear your frivolous thoughts," Naraku started, "now that I turned it off, I can no longer hear you. Your purpose isn't to talk anyways. You are to just swim in your tank and look serene whenever I come to see you. From now on, you are nothing more then a mere decoration just like all the other fish."
Kagome quickly swam forward and started to use her fists to bang on the glass. Although, once she found out none of her thoughts were coming through. She realized in defeat that this plan wasn't working either. Pounding on the glass seemed to hurt her more than it did to seem to help. Her hand started to throb with pain after striking the glass. While Naraku was standing back watching in amusement and laughed darkly at her.
"The front and top of your tank is made out of a very unique type of glass that won't allow you to break through it so easily," Naraku alerted her, "so you better get use to living in there because you're never leaving it. All you will have for the rest of your life is me, the tropical fish in the tank on your left, and the dolphins that are to your right. I'm afraid I have to leave you now my dear, I have to attend to a very important conference."
He turned around and slowly walked away, fading from her sight. Kagome found herself floating down. She laid in a pile of gravel and pebbles while her mind reflected on the past events that had just occurred. She had lost her friends, her way of life, and any hope of escaping within one day. In the end however, all she had gained was a tail fin and a stupid tank.
(End of Chapter 1)
AN: Well another great chapter from yours truly...yep the wonderful Tamasha Toko who has brought you Shadow Filled Hearts and Baby Blues, but this time...she is not alone. This time I have the wonderful Corlee1289 beta reading and editing to make sure this is the best sess/kag fanfic ever...and if anyone has a problem with that you will be beat up by both me and Corlee...and Corlee is Canadian meaning your in danger being beat with a hockey stick or maple syrup.