A/N: Read and review, por favor! Some pirate vocab is at the bottom!

This chapter was edited/revised Saturday, November 14, 2009. Please let me know if there are any mistakes I might have missed in my revisions.

Chapter 1

I sat alone in the pub, fiddling with the handle of my mug. A waitress came over and offered a refill. "Can I get you another, babe?"

She was trying to look sexy and alluring, I could tell. "No thanks."

"Maybe something…else?" She sat on my leg and winked at me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and rubbing my back in a way I'm sure she meant to be sensual. It made my skin crawl a little bit.

I shoved her off a little. "No thanks."

She got up and headed back to the bar, offended. I didn't care about whether she liked me or hated me at this point. If I got too drunk, I would become an ass. It was just a fact. Not that I haven't been called that before—completely alcohol free…

I got up after chugging the rest of the rum in my mug. I walked swiftly from the pub, the crisp wind from outside biting my face as I exited the stuffy bar. It was dark out, the street lamps lightly illuminating the paths. I headed towards the docks. I could make out the dark outlines of a few ships. I chose one I liked, and crept slowly on board.

This small action, little did I know at the time, would be one of the worst mistakes of my life.

I walked quietly on the deck, trying to blindly find my way to the cargo hold. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard footsteps—that weren't mine.

"Hey! You there!"

I turned and ran back towards the plank that connected the ship to the dock. I leaped onto the wooden dock, my heavy boots making a rather loud rattle as I landed, and continued running back through town. The man—along with a few of his buddies—was hot on my trail. I then looked up from behind me and noticed I was about to enter some woods. I dodged through the trees that zigzagged back and forth. This slowed me a bit. I leaped to hide in the tree tops by grabbing a branch, thinking I could reach a low one.

I was quite wrong.

I gripped a thin, weak branch that snapped almost instantly under my weight. I fell and landed swiftly on my feet. This put me in the position of either running as fast as I could to hopefully make an escape, or surrender to my pursuers; I chose running. I started again, the men close behind. I ran into a dead end—a cliff dive or surrender? I glanced over the edge to judge the distance.

Surrender it is. Damn.

I turned to face my chasers. They were all somewhat burly men, dressed in a way that confused me. They couldn't possibly be military men…could they? I, myself, was a pirate who had been kicked off his ship. Marooned, I guess you could call it. I was floating from town to town by hiding in the holds of several ships, hoping to find a pirate ship or captain willing to take me with him. I hadn't had any luck.

I examined them more closely, and it hit me.

They were pirates.

One of the larger ones—the one who had seen me on the deck—stepped forward, dagger at the ready.

I thought quickly. When the pirate was about to stab me then spin me around to slit my throat, I remembered something.

"Parley!" I yelled.

"Parley?" the pirate repeated, asking in disbelief. I nodded frantically. "If you insist…"

Why does he sound so skeptical?

I was taken roughly by the arm, the burly pirate nearly dragging me back the direction from which I had worked so hard to escape from. I looked around and studied the other pirates that seemed to be under the command of the one gripping my arm. Maybe he was the captain…

No, he couldn't be. I wouldn't be getting dragged through the woods if he was. I would probably be dead by now, instead. Thank god he wasn't the captain. Possibly the quartermaster?

The others all seemed so disregarded compared to him. They all made sure to keep a pace or two behind him, never daring to go ahead. He even kept me from going the same pace as him. I was annoyed by this, but I didn't really care seeing as how the faster I went, the closer to my death I could be getting. Hopefully this captain believed in mercy.

We approached the ship and I was pulled onto it. I was directed to the captain's cabin, where I was to wait inside without moving or saying or touching anything. I looked up when a woman came into the cabin. She wasn't sore to look at, I guess you could say. I was curious as to why she wore breeches and a loose shirt that had a rather low neck line, rather than the usual dress I was so used to seeing. She even wore sturdy boots. A dagger was in a sheath on her belt and a cutlass swung loosely at her side. I noticed a pistol or two hanging in pouches, also attached to her waist.

Was she a pirate? This broke the code of piracy on my last ship. It stated that no women where allowed on the ship. They, apparently, had no problem with it.

Neither did I, for that matter. I was, after all, a ruthless pirate who didn't avoid women…that could be putting it lightly. But lately they all disgusted me. Weird…this one didn't have that same effect. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Well, I see they don't mind having a wench aboard," I said, smirking. I eyed her up and down. She looked up and stared straight at me. If looks could kill, I'd be long gone by now. It almost felt like she was trying to burn a hole through my skull.

"What did you just call me?"

"Why do you care? I'm sure you're used to it by now—"

She slapped me hard against my cheek. It throbbed in pain. I put a hand to my spot in disbelief.

"For your information," she said in an acidic tone, "I am never called that. I am the captain of this vessel. If a crewmate called me that, I would not take kindly to him at all whatsoever. You'd best learn your place, sir."

I couldn't help myself though. I was an idiot…and a man.

I laughed.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" she demanded angrily.

"My apologies," I began, unable to hide the sarcasm, "but it seems a bit unlikely that a woman is the captain."

"Oh, so you're not only a pig, but you're sexist!" She turned away for a moment, furious.

"Hey! I was just pointing out that I've never heard of a woman as a captain! At least not one that was respected to any degree!"

"Well, you are mistaken. Not only am I the captain and a woman, I am very highly respected by my crew!" I was pulling on every string of patience she had.

"Excuse me! My mistake!"

She huffed, frustrated. "Why am I even arguing with a low-life like you? You were brought here to me…by an exclamation of parley? Is that correct?"

I nodded.

"Well, go ahead. Start negotiating. Convince me not to kill you." She smiled a small, devilish smile. It was even slightly seductive, like she was trying to tease me. It was working a little…

NO. Back to negotiating! Do not want to die!

"What if I made you…an offer?" I was grasping at straws here…

"What kind of offer?" she asked; humoring me, I'm sure.

"My freedom in exchange for…whatever you want?"

"What if you can't get me what I want?"

"What do you want?" I asked warily.

"Never mind…it would never work. You wouldn't be able to do it; we'll leave it at that. Give me a new idea."

I thought. Was she trying to imply that I, a brave pirate, couldn't do it?!

"Hold on! What do you want? You have no idea what I'm capable of!"

"If you're so capable, then why are you aboard my ship, so close to your death?" she asked. She got me there. Damn it.

I thought for a moment. What was I going to do?

"How about this," she said. "I kill you now, or you become my slave and promise to do whatever I ask for, hmm, let's say…ten years?"

"Ten years!" I exclaimed in disbelief. There was no way.

"Mmhmm." She wore a satisfied smile on her face. Perhaps she was hoping I would decline and she could kill me.

"Not gonna happen!"

"Then you want to die? That would be more fun at the moment…but not in the long run…," she mused, more to herself than to me.

"One year," I bargained.

"Eight."

"Two."

"Seven."

"Three."

"Five."

I paused…could I go any lower than that? "Four."

"Five!"

"Four and one month!"

"Five."

"Four and a quarter."

"Five."

"Four and a half?"

"Five."

"Four and three quarters?"

"Five."

"Four and…and…"

"Five," she said again, a wicked grin spreading across her lips.

I sighed, defeated. "Five…?"

"Agreed!" she exclaimed cheerfully. She turned around and bent over to reveal a rather nice behind in her tight breeches. I sat quietly, enjoying the view. She turned and set down a scroll, a pen, and a bottle of ink. "Now, sign here." She pointed to a spot below another's signature.

"What's this?"

"It's what you're going to sign so that my crew and I don't kill you…can't kill you, rather."

"Why do I need to sign this?"

"Well, duh! You need to agree to my code of piracy!" She was one of the strangest and most out-of-her-mind women I had ever met. Talk about mood swings…

I unrolled the scroll to reveal a list of articles referring to her code of piracy. It was a bit different than the one I had learned on my old ship, but relatively similar. Below the articles were several dozen lines, some with signatures on them. I studied them carefully. Then I looked back at the articles.

I. Every man has a vote in affairs of moment; has equal title to the fresh provisions, or strong liquors, at any time seized, and may use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity (no uncommon thing among them) makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment.

II. Every man to be called fairly in turn, by list, on board of prizes because, (over and above their proper share) they were on these occasions allowed a shift of clothes: but if they defrauded the company to the value of a dollar in plate, jewels, or money, marooning is their punishment.

III. No person to game at cards or dice for money.

IV. The lights and candles to be put out at eight o'clock at night: if any of the crew, after that hour still remained inclined for drinking, they were to do it on the open deck.

V. Each must keep their piece, pistols, and cutlass clean and fit for service.

VI. No women outside of those of the crew shall be allowed aboard, unless spoken otherwise by the captain.

VII. To desert the ship or their quarters in battle is punishable by death or marooning.

VIII. No striking one another on board, but every man's quarrels to be ended on shore, at sword and pistol.

IX. No man to talk of breaking up their way of living, till each had shared one thousand pounds. If in order to this, any man should lose a limb, or become a cripple in their service, he is to have eight hundred dollars, out of the public stock, and for lesser hurts, proportionately.

X. The captain and quartermaster to receive two shares of a prize: the master, boatswain, and gunner, one share and a half, and other officers one and quarter.

XI. The musicians to have rest on the Sabbath Day, but the other six days and nights, none without special favour.

XII. All members aboard the ship shall respect their captain. If one does otherwise, they shall be punished accordingly, by marooning or death.

I looked up at her. She watched me, impatient. She had crossed her arms and began tapping her foot against the wooden planks that made up the floor.

"Are you going to sign it or not?"

I didn't say anything.

"I think I should just kill you. I am very busy and I would like to set sail, but I would really rather not get blood all over my finely swabbed deck and have a corpse aboard." She reached for her pistol. Then she changed her mind and grabbed her dagger from its pocket.

"Wait! I was just thinking how closely worded these articles are to that of my previous captain."

"And? If I were you, I would sign that quickly. It's either that or I…" She trailed off, a look of thought across her face. "I could let you suffer a bit. Not let you be fed, keep you in the brig forever—or better! The bilge! Let you have a few battles with the rats! That would be far better punishment than instant death."

"Alright! If I sign, I won't have to stay in the bilge?"

"Sure, why not." This woman belonged in a loony-bin!

I quickly unscrewed the ink bottle top and dipped the tip of the quill pen into it. I slowly lowered my hand to the next available line. I signed my name messily and set the pen down.

"There, you happy now?"

"More than you know!"

She picked up the pen and put it away. She went to lift the scroll when she began studying my signature. "What's your name?"

"Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha what?"

"Taisho."

"Oh."

"What's your name?"

She looked up, surprised. "Pardon?"

"What's your name?" I repeated.

"Well, you are to call me Captain Higurashi, but my name is Kagome."

I'll just state right away that I had no intentions of calling her "captain."

"Should the word wench ever be uttered from your lips in the next five years," she continued in a threatening tone, "you will get a fine taste of the cat."

"Yes, ma'am." I shuddered at the thought. I had never been flogged before, and just the threat made me nervous.

"Now, you will stay in the brig…for now."

For now? What did that mean? Where else would I be kept? Hopefully not the bilge…

She escorted me into the dark brig, walking down the creaky steps after me and hanging her lantern on a nail. "What cell would you like? I figure you'll be down here a while, might as well get to choose."

I walked into the nearest cell and turned around on my heel to face her. She closed the door and locked it, and then I noticed she'd taken the single key from her cleavage. I knew there was another reason for those to be there!

She looked up at me and had a rather angry look on her face. She'd caught me looking at her chest. Before I could explain, she grabbed the lantern off the nail, instead of leaving it down here where it would have helped keep the rats at bay.

"If you're going to be like that, then you won't have any light! Have fun, sweet dreams." The room went pitch black. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. If women don't want you to look, then why flaunt it? They know how men are…!

So, this is how I got into this mess. Sitting in a dark, rat-infested brig of a pirate ship. I listened to the commands she yelled above, slightly muffled through the wood and the scurrying sound from the rats.

"All hands on deck!"

I heard the heaving of heavy boots come from all directions.

"Alright, men. We've acquired ourselves a prisoner for five years."

I could heard some murmurs of reaction.

"Quiet down! Now, we've got to plan out our next course. But first, I need to make a stop in Tortuga. Where's my sail master?"

A few footsteps were taken, presumably by the sail master.

"Yes, Captain?" questioned a man's voice.

"I want to set sail as soon as possible. Set the course for Tortuga."

"Aye, Captain."

"Men, to your stations! We must go quickly and quietly!"

The men scattered in every direction. I could hear the sound of an anchor being hauled up. Not long after the order was given, I could feel the movement of the ship beneath me.

Tortuga. A pirate city, no less. Either she wanted to restock, or she had another agenda that was important.

After adjusting to the movement of the swaying ship, I walked blindly around my cell. I felt around to see if there was anything to sit on besides the floor. I wanted to get as far from those damn rats as possible. The ship suddenly jerked and I fell forward, hitting my head hard on an empty wooden crate. I felt the blood trickle down my forehead just before I fell unconscious.

A/N: So, me mateys, what did you think?

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, and many of the articles from Kagome's code of piracy are from the code of the infamous Bartholomew Roberts, a real pirate. (Better known as Black Bart.)

Some vocabulary for those of you who may have been confused:

Marooned - to be put ashore and abandoned on a desolate island or coast by way of punishment

Parley (usually incorrectly spelled parlay) - conference or discussion between opposing sides during a dispute

Quartermaster (in pirate terms, not military)- like pirate captains, they were usually elected by their crews. It was the quartermaster's responsibility to lead the pirate boarding party when coming aboard another ship. This was usually done from the quarter deck which was the place where two ships touched during the boarding attack. The quartermaster ranked higher than any officer aboard the ship except the captain himself, and could veto the captain's decisions whenever the ship was not chasing a prize or engaged in battle. The quartermaster also was chiefly responsible for discipline, assessing punishments for crewmen who transgressed the articles. (thank you Wikipedia!)

Cutlass - type of sword used by mainly sailors; has a straight or slightly curved blade, sharp on only one side, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard

Code of Piracy - code of conduct used for governing pirates; generally each pirate crew had its own code or articles, which provided rules for discipline, division of stolen goods, and compensation for injured pirates

Bilge - the lowest compartment of a ship where the two sides meet; bilge may also be used to refer to the water that collects there, which is noxious and may contain water, oil, urine, detergents, solvents, chemicals, pitch, particles, and so forth; when water does not drain off the side of the deck, it leaks down to this compartment, and may be from rough seas, rain, or minor leaks in the hull. This water must be removed if the compartment becomes too full, threatening to sink the ship

The cat - the cat-o-nine-tails was a type of whip; it had nine metal-tipped whips that were joined in one handle

Flogged - another word for whipped

Tortuga (I did not steal this from POTC!)- a Caribbean island that is part of Haiti, off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. It was first discovered by Christopher Columbus, a Spanish explorer, and he named it "Tortuga" (Spanish for turtle) because it was shaped like a turtle. In the 17th century, it was a major center for Caribbean piracy. (if you want to know more about it, there's a great bit of history about it on Wikipedia)

I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. I love pirates! Please review! TTFN!