InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hanyou of the Caribbean ❯ The Black Pearl & the Compass ( Chapter 1 )

 

Note: Set during the first POC movie, when Capt. Jack Sparrow is out looking for the Black Pearl again. I may have gotten some of the POC facts wrong, but this is just for fun anyway. This sort of a stream-of-conscious thingy…I'm more comfortable with the InuYasha characterization than the Jack Sparrow characterization, so please cut me some slack on ol' Jack….

 

The Black Pearl& the Compass

 

Even Jack could tell how badly this place stunk. Dark and dank, the room literally dripped with filth. They said the chinaman was inside, so inside went Jack, at least as far as the door.

 

“Stop.” The voice was a low rumble with a strange accent.

 

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Jack saw a figure at the table in the corner, dark head propped on a palm as he leaned into the table. He couldn't see the eyes, they were dark under a shadow of heavy bangs. He could see the long handled sword on the man's hip, though, and it wasn't like any sword he'd ever seen in these barely colonized port towns, long and barely curved with a blunt-ended sheath and a simple handled grip, wrapped in what looked like moldy cloth. Jack wasn't sure he was seeing right - his eyes were always just a tad unsteady - but the handle looked like the oldest antique he'd ever set eyes on. The sheath was polished to a high sheen, however, and was the only clean looking thing in the room; it reflected the weak light of the lantern with a brilliant streak of yellow light, tracing down the length of its shaft, angling off the hip of the strange man with the commanding voice.

 

“Okay, mate.” Jack said, careful to keep his hands away from his guns and sword handle. “I've stopped.” Word had it the chinaman was a little unpredictable.

 

“What'd'ya want?” The man had a bottle of rum next to his hand that was only about a quarter empty. Not enough to bank on, but enough to bargain for…

 

“I wan' some rum, mate!” Taking on the wavering saunter he found so easy to fall into, Jack wove into the room, watching carefully for any sudden action. The man only sat up slowly, his arms falling limply into his lap as he slouched back in his chair and his long black braided pigtail fell across his well-muscled chest, adorned only by a barbaric native necklace. His pants were dark, dusky red, tied with a red sash. He wore no shoes, which wasn't unusual in this island port. But Jack was trying to see his eyes. The eyes told the story. All he could see were lidded, dark blots.

 

“You can have the rum,” the man said, sounding a little sick. “Just give me a quid so I can get something real to drink.”

 

“A quid? That's a bit steep, don' `ya think?” Does this guy know what money is? Jack fell into the chair across from his quarry. “'ow `bout we just share it, eh?” He watched for a flash of anger and saw nothing. “Come on… what's a shared drink between pirates, eh?”

 

The man turned to look at him and Jack felt a little adrenaline pump through him when their eyes met. The strange foreigner was feeling the effects of the drink, but he was far from drunk. And he was dangerous; something instinctive made the hair on the back of Jack's neck rise.

 

“I'm not a pirate,” the man worked his mouth a little, as though it were dry.

 

“Well, word `as it you got yourself off a pirate ship,” Jack reached carefully for the bottle and was pleased to see the other man remain motionless. He took a swig. “usually, it's pirates that do that. Most the rest of `em don' survive long enough to get off the ship. And you're a tad bit large for a chinaman, so I thought to myself, Jack, this `ere's a pirate who's been to China where he picked up that magnificent weapon on his hip. And I need some new crew members… uh… for my ship…well, my ship when I get it back…” better get off this subject. ”Here,” he shoved the bottle at the chinaman, “take another swig.”

 

“What the fuck do you want?” The chinaman pushed the bottle back at him and Jack detected some definite irritation this time.

 

“Ah,” he leaned forward on his elbows, “I can see you're a man who likes to get to the point. You see, I've been told there's an extra high likelihood that you know something about a particular - item -- I want. Actually,” he put on his more sober expression and lowered his voice, “I need it, and I want to find out what you want so we can make ourselves a little trade.”

 

“I don't want anything.” The man's face suddenly looked utterly miserable and Jack began to zero in on his target.

 

“Aw, mate. What kind of attitude is that? Everyone wants something. Must be plenty of things you want. Women, gold, rum… oh,” he jerked himself back and stared the bottle between them on the old wooden table, “sorry - you already got that, don't ya? Well, how about the women?” He smiled his most charming metal-tinged grin at his companion. It didn't work.

 

“Nope.” The man snorted through his nose, like he was trying to clear a disgusting smell. “Don't want those things. What I want, you can't give me.”

 

“You know this, do you?” Jack risked another swig, enjoying the warm pool in his belly and how easy it became to put that wavering sway into his hand as it gestured towards the non-pirate across from him. “What if I told you I have a magic compass? One that can find anything you desire.”

 

“I'd say you were a liar.” His words were dismissive, but Jack could have sworn if the chinaman had had has ears on the top of his head they would have swiveled in his direction. He moved in a bit closer as the man whispered, almost to himself, “if I can't find it, it can't be found.”

 

“It's true,” Jack whispered and leaned in to lower his voice even more, “it's a shecret, but I'll tell you, `cuz we're both pirates and we have our own code.” The man glared at him with those dark blots. “Oh, well,” Jack backed off a bit and waved his hand again casually, “you know, they're just guidelines, really.”

 

“Tell me what the fuck you want,” suddenly, the chinaman sat forward and smashed his fist on the table, his bare biceps flexing. He was lean, but pure muscle. “I may not be a pirate, but that doesn't mean I haven't killed before.” His voice was menacing, but Jack, being a good judge of character, sensed something else in the statement.

“You've killed? What? A person?” he made an exaggerated production of looking around the edge of the table at the man's sword. “With that? Who were you killing? Must have been a long time ago with that old antique.”

 

“Shut up,” real anger simmered in the man now, time to back off. “Tell me what you want or get the hell out of here.”

 

“Right.” Jack straightened back up. “You're the chinaman they call Sha, am I right? Sailed once with a Captain Barbosa in the orient, I believe.” The man didn't move, but didn't deny the identity either. “I'm told you are in possession of a clue to the wherabouts of a certain `Black Pearl.' The Black Pearl is very important to me and I will do almost anything to find it before he does.” The man's face smoothed out in surprise at the reference to Barbosa. He really looked quite young. Jack got an idea and leaned forward conspiratorially. “If it's not a woman you want, I could arrange a man, perhaps?”

 

A sharp bark of laughter came across the table at him. Had this guy just barked at him?

 

“You have some nerve coming here to ask me for the Black Pearl.” He leaned forward now and Jack blinked his eyes, wondering if he'd just seen a flash of gold in the other man's glare. Must be the light.

 

++++++++++++

 

InuYasha was sick to his stomach with the smell of the place, the putrid alcohol he was trying to get used to - and failing utterly - and now this twit. He snorted again to get the stink out of his nose. But the twit had said something interesting about finding things…

 

“You're an idiot to have come looking for the Black Pearl.” InuYasha looked carefully at the man who called himself Jack across from him, beads hanging from his unwashed hair and grime covering him from head to toe. His teeth were amazingly white, though, as though he'd learned InuYasha's trick of gnawing on bones to keep them that way. Sesshoumaru doesn't need the Black Pearl anymore. Hasn't needed it for two hundred years. What's he up to now? And who the hell is Barbosa? “You're on a wild goose chase, dumbfuck. And he knows it. So while you're chasing your own tail, he's probably just sitting back and watching you for a good laugh.”

 

“Who?” Jack cocked his head to the side and tweaked his eyebrows quizzically, apparently thinking fast. “Who's sitting back and watching me?”

 

“Him! The guy looking for the Black Pearl. And if you honestly think you can beat him to anything he puts his mind to finding, I think you're more fucked up than you look.” Which is saying a hell of a lot. InuYasha snorted the stench out of his nose yet again, “my fucking brother has the best nose in the family.” A scowl began to grow over his face until he noticed the strange expression spreading across his companion's features. It was comical how confused the guy looked.

 

“Your brother?” Jack looked really unbalanced - well, more unbalanced -- all of a sudden.

 

“What about him?” InuYasha was getting tired of this conversation. Sesshoumaru was the last person in the world he wanted to be thinking of at the moment. He'd followed rumors and vague clues for over two hundred years - and now to the other side of the world -- looking for Kikyou's and Kagome's next incarnation, and he'd found absolutely nothing but dirty, disgusting pirates. He hated this place. He couldn't imagine Sesshoumaru deigning to come here himself, nor why his brother would want to find the Black Pearl again. They'd robbed their father's grave of everything but his bones over two centuries ago. There was nothing left. He'd probably just decided to play some kind of sick joke on this idiot in front of him.

 

“Who are we talking about?” Jack was still staring strangely at him.

 

“Who?” Now InuYasha was becoming confused.

 

“Your brother?” Nobody was making any sense.

 

“What about him?” Are we still talking about Sesshoumaru?

 

“You don't look anything like him,” Jack leaned in closer and squinted his eyes at InuYasha, “and he doesn't have a brother.”

 

“Half brother,” InuYasha succumbed to a rare temptation. He was leaving on a ship the next morning and this guy didn't look likely to remember anything anyway. He leaned in until his nose was only about a foot from Jack's and flashed off his human disguise, the beads at his neck warming briefly as they changed his visual state. When he saw his claws on the table between them, he flexed them and grinned a fanged smile at Jack, who looked like he'd just seen a ghost. “Now do I look more like him?”

 

“Ungh,” Jack shook his head is if to clear it. InuYasha flashed his disguise back on, feeling smug. Somehow he didn't mind leaving a little rumor in his wake when he left this shithole. As the beads cooled on his neck again, he felt a pang, a memory of their original purpose, and he became focused on the thing Jack had talked about before.

 

“Forget the Black Pearl, Jack,” he leaned in and caught the man's eye. Jack was still scared, the stench of his fear rolled off him, mixing with all the other fetid scents of the place, but he was also after something and maybe InuYasha could turn this to his advantage. “Tell me about your compass, Jack.”

 

“That's Captain Jack…” the man looked briefly annoyed and then focused his eyes on InuYasha again. “Ah, well, I can't very well forget the Pearl and still tell you about my compass…” Jack took a deep breath, about to launch into a story, but InuYasha hadn't lived hundreds of years listening to idiots rambling through boring stories.

 

“Right,” InuYasha frowned a little, trying to figure out if this guy was for real, “if you can find anything with your magic compass, why can't you find it yourself? Eh, Captain Jack?”

 

“Er, right-” the man looked to the side as if he'd been spoken to by an unseen spectre, “well, you see,” he raised his brow over dark smudged eyes and looked for all the word as though he were thinking up lie. “I did use the compass. `Compass!' I said, `Where's - hic - Black Pearl?' The thing spun around,” he glanced up, “and it led me to you.”

 

“Well, I don't have the Black Pearl anymore,” at least I don't think I do, InuYasha thought to himself. I never knew when I had it in the first place, though, so who knows? “And there's nothing left in that old grave to rob anyway. You're wasting your time.”

 

“Grave?” Jack looked even more confused. “Who said anything about a grave?”

 

“You did.” Twit. InuYasha sighed and started to get up. “You can have the damn rum. I've gotta get some fresh air.” And maybe a nice high tree to sleep in.

 

“Wait!” Jack kept his hand on the rum and reached out to grab InuYasha's arm. The hanyou jerked back at the touch, lifting his hands as though to strike with his unseen claws. Jack, apparently remembering the vision of the claws, leaned back and put his arm up in a disarming way. “Do you mean you don't know anything about my ship? The Black Pearl?”

 

“Your ship?” InuYasha was now completely tired of this conversation. The last thing he wanted was to get on another ship. The things were dirty, smelly and completely disgusting. Unfortunately, out here he had little choice but to use them as he went from place to place. Yet another reason to hate this place. “My Black Pearl was definitely not a ship!”

 

 

“Wait until you've heard me out.” Jack didn't seem totally discouraged by InuYasha's lack of knowledge about his Black Pearl. The pirate was looking at him now with a shrewd expression on his face, which only a moment before had looked completely befuddled. He pointed down at his belt where the compass hung. “Don't you want to try my compass?” Slowly, he started to lower his hand. InuYasha turned back towards him and Jack's hands stopped in mid grasp, not wanting to appear menacing.

 

“What does the compass do?” InuYasha decided to give Captain Twit one more chance before he knocked him out and got the hell out of there.

 

“It'll find whatever you most truly desire in this world.” Jack unclipped the compass from his belt and placed it carefully on the table. “You know what you desire, don't you, Sha?” His voice was lower and seductive.

 

InuYasha sat back down and watched the randomly spinning compass move. It came to rest pointing directly at him.

 

“What the hell?” InuYasha said, sitting back in surprise.

 

“Told `ya, I did,” Jack leaned in again. “I asked it to find - hic! - Black Pearl and it led me to you.”

 

Guess I still got it then. InuYasha thought to himself.

 

“But what it is you want?” Jack pushed the compass across the table at him. “Anything in this world, Sha…”

 

“What I want may not even be in this world yet.” And it may never be… InuYasha looked at the spinning needle and decided he had nothing to lose. He picked up the compass and thought of Kagome. The top just spun in circles for a minute. His heart fell and he felt a small whine beg to be let out at the back of his throat. He swallowed it away.

 

Jack stood up and leaned on the table to look down at the compass. “Aw, sorry mate, maybe you're right. It only does that when you ask the wrong question.” He reached for it but InuYasha pulled backwards.

 

“Wait.” The hanyou was intrigued with the possibilities, suddenly. “Let me try something else.” He thought of Sango. Nothing. The needle just continued to spin. Maybe this didn't work after all. One more chance. He found himself hoping… he was so lonely. He pictured the Monk of centuries past. Please…The needle continued to spin wildly, but looked like it was slowing down. Both men leaned in as the needle continued to turn, beginning to look like an actual compass. Honing in. Slowing. Stopping.

 

Pointing directly at Captain Jack Sparrow.

 

“Shit.” InuYasha couldn't think of much else to say, although his heart leapt knowing he'd found his old friend again. Despite his best efforts, a small smile crept into his voice. “Looks like you've got yourself a new crew member, Captain Twit - uh - I mean, Captain Jack.” He looked up at the man in front of him and saw only unfocused eyes as the pirate sat back heavily in his chair and turning pale as a ghost.

 

“Well,” Jack was recovering. He seemed good at that, InuYasha noticed. “Should I - do I - want to know what you wished for?”

 

“Heh,” InuYasha was intrigued with the possibilities of tormenting Miroku's incarnation for some old grievances. “Maybe I'll tell you someday.” he leaned in with a mischievous expression on his face, “and maybe I won't.”

 

Jack looked off into space for a moment, apparently considering this - or consulting those apparitions only he could see. “That trick you do,” Jack flexed his fingers and clawed the air in front of his face, looking silly to the hanyou across from him. “Can you do that anytime you want?”

 

“Why do you want to know?” InuYasha was suddenly wary, remembering that he carried knowledge and memories that may or may not come back to his friend.

 

“No reason, really,” Jack reached over carefully and took the compass from InuYasha. “Might come in handy, that's all.”

 

The man and the hanyou looked at each other and InuYasha reached over to grab the bottle of rum. Better get used to this. Mentally holding his nose, he took a swig.

 

To be continued…maybe…when I'm inspired…