Author's Note: So, yeah, another attempt at fanfiction, what has CLAMP done to me?! But this time I've actually got some sort of idea about where I'm going with this! So yeah, this chapter is short but I'll update soon.

The only characters I own are Suiryuu and Kuroshio, and they're not making me any money. Why can't you be more like Yuuko? (runs from Kuroshio's wrath)

Spring Upon the Highwind

Prologue

"NO!"

"But, Captain-"

"Suiryuu, hell itself would freeze over before I would even begin to seriously consider that course of action!" Kuroshio fumed as she paced back and forth across the wooden floor of what was technically her office, though she rarely used it. "Unacceptable, there's no way I'm going to sink that low…" she mumbled under her breath, but the small spirit hovering in the air beside her caught every word.

"Captain, please be reasonable!"

"I AM being reasonable!"

"If you would simply calm down-"

"I AM CALM!" Kuroshio roared, followed by a violent burst of wind that nearly shook the room from its foundations. Shelves toppled over, paper flew everywhere, and a fox demon unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity when the wind started clung to a banister for dear life. Kuroshio and Suiryuu, however, were unaffected by the wind as it continued to howl and smash the room to pieces. After a few minutes, when Suiryuu realized Kuroshio wouldn't stop her tantrum by herself and the fox demon was starting to loose his grip, she decided to end the whole ordeal.

"ENOUGH!" Suiryuu let out one of her rare screams and instantly the wind stopped. There were a few clattering noises as pens fell to the ground, no longer being thrown about by the wind. The fox demon sighed in relief and pulled himself up onto the banister before scurrying down and out of the room to avoid any more emotional outbursts that might occur. Kuroshio was still breathing heavily as she glared at Suiryuu, the little spirit giving her a stern look as a reply.

"Captain, I can understand, to an extent, your reluctance to take up on my offer. However," Suiryuu paused for a moment and pointed out the window, "we can't ignore the giant pink elephant in the room!"

It was an old saying of course, for there was no pink elephant in the room with them. What Suiryuu was pointing to however, was something they never saw in their profession. Kuroshio looked out the window and let out a long sigh of defeat.

"We've exhausted any other possibilities?" she asked Suiryuu.

"This is our last resort, even though I keep telling you we should have gone to see her first thing." Suiryuu said, her stern tone not letting up. Kuroshio let out another long sigh and walked over to her desk and opened the bottom drawer to remove a bottle of sake she had hidden inside. Opening it, she began, much to Suiryuu's horror, to drink straight out of the container.

"Captain-!" Kuroshio cut her off with her hand.

"You know as well as I do that the only way I'm going through with this is if I get completely and utterly wasted first!" she stated in an agitated tone before going at the sake again. Suiryuu didn't complain, as long as she could at least get Kuroshio to the shop. It really didn't matter what kind of shape she was in when they arrived. They stood in silence while Kuroshio continued to polish off the bottle with surprising speed. Only after she had drunk over half the bottle did she pause for a moment to look back out the window. She could make out absolute chaos outside, spirits running back and forth in a completely unorganized fashion, no one having a clue as to what they should do.

"… we should probably (hic) get someone to put the fire out."

At that exact moment an explosion rocked the room, breaking the windows and glass flew into the room. Suiryuu's expression had changed to one of absolute horror, but Kuroshio didn't appear to be phased by this new development, even as the sky began to light up in bright colors as firework after firework exploded into the air. Some of the spirits began screaming as they dodged the runaway fireworks that were flying every which way along the docks.

"… we should also (hic) probably avoid that gang of rokurokubi for the time being (hic). They're going to be (hic) pissed about loosing their cargo." As Kuroshio finished she brought the bottle of sake to her lips again as she watched the third airship in the past month burn to a smoldering crisp.