InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer…

A small disheveled-looking man stands on a busy street corner in Tokyo. The kind where only a line of broken rubble shows where the sidewalk ends and the pavement begins.

He holds a sign with red kanji and an arrow on it. Translated, it reads: I own nothing…see chapter 1

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They entered into one of those winding, unnamed cul-de-sacs of interconnected streets, which help to make Tokyo one of the most un-navigable cities in the modern world. Two sharp turns in and up a back alley and they were at the entrance of Jukuryo's Fine Antiquities. The shop was nowhere near any parking and had a non-descript front that was completely at odds with its interior. There, track lighting, brushed nickel and the sharp edges of imaginatively cut granite were all arranged to showcase antique to ancient native Japanese arts and artifacts.

Inuyasha paused to peer into an alcove, which had a fairly large scroll depicting a hauntingly familiar tiger youkai scrambling down a misty slope, hung on its back wall. He found himself craning his neck in an attempt to see where the spotlight was coming from. He was just easing the pack down from his shoulders to step in closer when an impatient hissing sounded behind him.

"Tsk, Tsk, this isn't a sightseeing trip." Higurashi-Jijii fumed. "This is business, he's waiting!"

Inuyasha snarled silently to himself and followed to a side door where an attendant was waiting. After an inordinate amount of bowing the door was opened into an elegantly furnished anteroom where another attendant waited by the imposing door of what must their destination. As that door swung open Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks. : The smell…'YOUKAI!' His head snapped around, there… that ancient human looking youkai…in the suit…behind the expansive mahogany desk.

Higurashi-Jijii scuttled forward with every appearance of pleasure to greet the creature that was rising to bow with formal precision to Higurashi-Jijii and the rather uncertain-looking young man in sunglasses behind him.

"Greetings Higurashi-San. It has been too long. Please seat yourselves. Tea will be in directly."

A'ah, yes, Jukuryo-San. This uncouth person with me is my soon to be son-in-law. One Nishigawa Inuyasha."

Jukuryo glanced over in the now scowling Inuyasha's direction with a faintly puzzled air. "That name, so very unusual." He paused as if expecting an answer but Inuyasha chose that moment to dump the pack on the ground and sit down in one of the chairs facing the desk. Both of the elderly men in the room stared in affronted surprise but Higurashi-Jijii hurried to cover.

"You see what I mean, Jukuryo-San!"

"No matter, ah, here's tea."

The tea took some time. The two old friends put aside business and reminisced over old times in a conversation that would have had the Tokyo police department running for their cold case files. Inuyasha scarcely touched his cup as he covertly studied the ancient youkai across from him.

'How could that brainless old goat NOT realize that his old friend is not human?' He wondered. The spotted, clawed hands that had only four digits, the flicker of red behind the thick glasses, the pointed ears, let alone the scent all screamed at Inuyasha. But the conversation was apparently pleasant for the two and was finally moving towards business.

"Well, what do you have for me?"

"A discovery in our own shrine. Fine old ornaments and furnishings of the original household. Better times then it seems, better times."

The old youkai leaned forward with interest as Inuyasha quickly pulled the items they had chosen out of the cache from the pack and dropped them on the desk. Or attempted to drop them. With a strangled squawk the old youkai lunged across the desk and caught the fragile vase in one hand and the ivory figurine in the other. The two scrolls landed on the desk, one unrolling slightly revealing a deer standing in newly fallen snow.

"No, no, do not endanger these fine items!"

"Jukuryo-San! They are valuable then?"

"You know they are or you would never have called me, Higurashi. If they are what they seem to be, they are well worth my trouble. A moment please." The old creature whipped a loupe out of his pocket and affixed it to his glasses leaning in to study the items in front of him.

Inuyasha watched him uncomfortably, almost flinching when he heard prolonged and careful sniffing from across the wide desk. Damn his youkai scent! He was all right as he was, only the slit pupils gave away his inhumanity. But he had handled all of the pieces in the cache as a hanyou and they belonged to his house anyway. The youkai was bound to be curious to say the least!

No comments were made on the odor but Jukuryo mumbled an almost continuous commentary on the fortune of finding such a cache. "Certainly from the end of the Heian era and in such generally excellent preservation--just a little damp on the second scroll--obviously the damage was inflicted far in the past. Perhaps even from when the scrolls were stored."

'Fucking rain!' Inuyasha thought irritably.

The soft cracked voice of the ancient murmured on. "Were they stored in haste perhaps? During the Sengoku-Jidai?" Jukuryo-San sighed and removed his glasses. "One perhaps will never know. The original collector was surely a man of taste. Are there many such items in the cache?"

"We are emptying it slowly. Where they have been so long seems the best place to keep them,"

"Wise, and so true. In the shrine you say? But surely that has been for all intents and purposes rebuilt many times in its centuries of use."

"Not all things wear out so easily." Higurashi-Jijii chuckled merrily and was joined by his friend.

Inuyasha nearly growled. 'Great, you old fart. Why not just tell him it's in the foundations?!' Aloud Inuyasha spoke hoarsely, "It's time we were going."

"A moment please!" Jukuryo-San rapped out. "Higurashi-San you know that these arrangements are usually conducted as a contract in which the items are displayed in the shop and no money changes hands until a buyer is found. However for this first lot I would like to offer a fair price up front." He pulled a slip of paper from a stack that waited on his desk and wrote on it, folded it and passed it to Higurashi-Jijii.

Higurashi barely looked at it before sighing and saying mournfully, "Ahh, the wedding."

"A-ah that's right, let me amend that a bit."

Inuyasha watched incredulously as notes passed back and fourth. Who would've thought the delusional old fart had it in him? Maybe Miroku could sign up for lessons considering they had usually been flat broke during their adventures. On second thought, could be a good thing these two were unlikely ever to meet.

Finally some agreement seemed to be reached. A kimono clad female attendant was summoned and warmed sake was poured as the small treasure trove was removed reverently from the table by white gloved, white coated assistants.

Inuyasha usually thought sake had a throat catching taste but whatever was in these cups wasn't half bad. The female attendant brushed against his arm. He blinked; the little container at his elbow was being replaced. Had he drunk it all? How many of those tiny cups had he had?

" Nishigawa-San as you are a partner in this enterprise and on the eve of your wedding let me gift you with a bottle. It is some of Nemeto's finest and worthy of some slight attention. In honor of the wedding. Banzai." Jukuryo-San smiled benevolently.

A carefully wrapped package appeared at Inuyasha's elbow and the female, girl really, ducked her head in a shy manner peeping at him through her lashes with a whispered "Banzai."

Higurashi-Jijii hopped to his feet and bowed spouting effusive thanks before Inuyasha could open his mouth to refuse. So he shrugged and stood to dip his head briefly in acceptance. "Shall we go now?" he grated and turned towards the door while stuffing the wrapped bottle in his sack and trying to ignore the warm, swimmy sensation he was experiencing.

Higurashi-Jijii caught up with him on the street. "You are an amazingly rude young man, Inuyasha. You act as though you own everything you see. But," he cackled gleefully, "If sales keep going this well you might just. This is yours." He pressed a thick, highly ornate envelope into Inuyasha's hand. "I asked for it in cash so you may buy what you want for Kagome. It's a lot of money though, so I suggest you put yourself in Higurashi-San's, that is, my daughter's hands and let her guide you in buying. Yes, it is an excellent return for the first sale." He gave a slight, happy, belch. "Jukuryo benefited of course, but he is discrete and reliable. You will not be cheated unduly."

Inuyasha was studying the thick envelope with curiosity and was about to open it on the crowded street to examine the contents when Higurashi-Jijii hissed and batted at him all the while looking around suspiciously.

"No! Not here. Put it away boy! Do you want to bring trouble upon us?"

"Feh, As if there were anyone here I need to worry about." He fell silent though and slipped the envelope away in his shirt. The image of an ancient youkai in an opulent office, acting as though there was nothing odd about his dealings with humans and getting away with it. It nagged at him.

"You look a little flushed, Inuyasha, maybe lunch is in order. I know of an excellent place." Higurashi started to rattle on again.

"No, I want to get back to Kagome." he snapped. "How much money is in this envelope?"

"Ten million yen." came the prompt reply ($76,500 approx). Inuyasha shook his head, not understanding. "Two sales like that a year and you can be sure that Kagome has everything she wants. Just never do two things. Admit you are alive or pay for everything in cash in your name. This is for my granddaughter, thanks to you I can now know she can be secure."

With this Higurashi-Jijii headed home staggering in a seemly manner, given age and sake intake. Inuyasha followed, mind back on that youkai in modern times.

~*~

There was another who was having unsettled thoughts about that meeting.

Jukuryo now stood in an enclosed deck on the roof of his building. He could just see down to where Inuyasha and Higurashi-jiijii were talking together intensely. The old bird youkai smiled and masticated a seed cake.

What had it been about that name? Nishigawa, an old, now unused name meaning western power and Inuyasha, a name mildly notorious in youkai history, how could it be?

He shook his head but the evidence of his nose made him very suspicious. He'd learned to trust his nose over his inordinately long life. Nishigawa…Hadn't there had been a dog youkai clan that disappeared from history without any explanation in the Sengoku Jidai? The same era of the provenance of these wonderful artifacts, with which he rather thought he would pay off some tiresome debts?

"Ryosei!"

"Tandaima."

The girl appeared behind him hands modestly folded at her waist, eyes lowered to await his bidding.

"The young man who was here this morning, you found him very handsome, ne?"
The girl dropped her face a little lower, but could not conceal her blush.

"You should indeed get to know him. I will provide you with addresses and the use of my own informants for the household schedule. I do not mean to cause any harm that you cannot help causing, but I truly need to know who, and what he is."