InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 26 ( Chapter 26 )

Chapter 26

By the time the antique motor cycle ran the second red light Houjou was sorry he'd ever accepted the offer of a lift. Only the fact that they were moving too fast for him to easily get his left foot up from where it was tucked onto a peg between the bike and the body of the side car kept him from bailing off the back of the bike at the next turn. In fact, he rather thought the shoe was stuck and that he was going to be pinned in the wreckage of the inevitable crash.

Jukuryo slowed the bike momentarily and beeped the horn at a shambling mound of plants in a zebra crossing before accelerating past it. Houjou got a dizzying impression of an irate face masked in leaves as they whisked by and looked behind to see the figure shaking a leafy fist after them just like any other offended pedestrian.

Higurashi-Jijii was no help. Laughing as they careened through the empty streets of the capitol he reached down into the body of the side car to produce an open bottle of saké and proceeded to share it with the bike's driver. He even tried to offer it to Houjou once only to draw a shocked refusal.

Jijii-Chan blinked owlishly at him and settled the head of the up-ended staff more firmly between his knees. "You should loosen up, boy." He shouted over the roar of the engine. "Go with the flow of life. See into your nature and become Buddha!"

"But you're a Shinto shrine priest, not a Buddhist monk!"

"See what I mean?" Jijii-Chan shook his head sorrowfully. "You really need to loosen up."

Houjou hunched his shoulders and clutched at Jukuryo's belt as they took a sweeping turn onto the street leading to Roppangi Hills. The glittering bulk of Building C rose up before them and Jukuryo headed the bike straight for the electronic sliding doors at the front entrance. Houjou goggled as the doors obediently slid open and the bike roared, sidecar and all, into the granite-walled lobby and drew up in front of the reception desk.

A number of business-suited staffers came from behind the counter frantically waving their hands in shooing motions while one harried-looking individual shouted into a phone and persistently palmed a panic button under the desk. As the engine of the bike backfired its way into silence their voices could be heard. "No, please sir! It is absolutely not permitted to park a vehicle in here!"

Jukuryo ignored them to dismount the motorcycle and stride over to the desk, black leathers creaking. The man behind the desk shouting into the phone had a badge that declared him 'Night Manager' on his chest. Jukuryo said, "Excuse me," and took the phone from him. He placed the receiver against his own ear and spoke into it: "Is this security?" He listened for a moment. "The operator? Security is busy? That's fine, not to worry. Connect me with unit 1401 please. Yes, Nishigawa-Sama's apartment, that's right. I'll hold…" Jukuryo shoved up his goggles and leaned against the counter while he waited. "Nice voice that girl. Should go into broadcasting." He said conversationally to Jijii-Chan as he came up to the desk with the blindfolded staff and the bottle of saké clutched to his chest. The noise in the background was continuing and Jukuryo lifted his hand for silence as he spoke into the receiver. Astoundingly, he got it.

"Ah, Nishigawa-Sama, Jukuryo-Ada here. I have the staff you requested but the toad youkai….Ah, yes. They have arrived then." There was an extended pause as Jukuryo listened intently to the phone with all eyes upon him except for Houjou's. Houjou was quietly trying to abstract his left shoe from where he had been forced to leave it when he'd dismounted, wedged between the frame of the bike and the body of the side car.

Abruptly, Jukuryo began speaking again. "It seemed best to move it here so we have some additional security measures in place. Although, really, the security staff here seems a bit inadequate."

The night manager had been listening to the whole exchange with bulging eyes and heaving chest looking very much as if he would explode like a puffer fish at any moment. He suddenly reached his moment in response to Jukuryo's comments and with an ear-piercing samurai yell lunged across the intervening counter and grabbed the phone out of Jukuryo's hand.

"Honored sir!!" He bawled into the phone. "These gangster types have invaded the downstairs lobby causing much damage and disruption!" He voice slowed as he said impressively, "They have driven a motorized vehicle into the lobby, sir."

Jijii-Chan was looking about him with interest. "Disruption?" Yes. "Damage?" He had yet to see any. His attention was drawn back as the manager suddenly emitted a frantic bleat. Jukuryo had thrust the claws of his right index finger and thumb up the night manger's nostrils and given a vicious pinch. The manager stood at attention, with his nose upturned and tears starting from his eyes as Jukuryo gently took the phone back.

"As I was saying, shall we meet?" He nodded to something that was said on the other end of the line and placed the phone back on its rest, releasing the manager who promptly sat on the floor behind the counter to nurse his abused nose. Jukuryo thoughtfully pulled out a packet of tissues and dropped it in the manager's lap after abstracting a couple for his own use and turned with a satisfied smile. "Staff still secure Higurashi?"

"Oh, yes." Jijii-Chan held up his bundle and nodded. "What do we do with young Houjou-Kun here?" He asked, thrusting a thumb at the boy who was standing next to the motorcycle holding his shoe.

Jukuryo shrugged and stopped in surprise as a wild haired Houjou hobbled over to them on one shod foot staring at Jijii-Chan.

"Higurashi-Jijii." He stammered. "What staff is your friend talking about?" His eyes held a half-frightened, half-feverish glint.

Jijii-Chan exchanged glances with Jukuryo, shrugged, and pulled the staff out of the concealing cover of his hat. "Oops." He said as the blindfold slipped off.

Ooo::::0::::ooO

Sesshoumaru had taken the call at his study desk before an interested audience. Three pairs of eyes had never wavered from him as he gave an unemotional account of Jaken's last reported location and bugged as Sesshoumaru winced, pulling the receiver away from his ear with the night manager's voice clearly heard to be heard shouting from the other end before cutting off with a sound that resembled someone's throat being slit in a gore fest horror flick.

With a sigh, Sesshoumaru replaced the receiver to his ear and said briefly, "Inuyasha and I will meet you the lobby in two minutes. Please do not do anything careless in that time." He hung up the phone and stood up from the desk. "It looks as though we are to have visitors. Jukuryo is here with the Staff of Heads."

"The Staff of Heads?" Inuyasha and Kagome chorused drawing a raised eyebrow from Sesshoumaru. "But that's sealed back at the shrine." Kagome finished looking quite pink in the face.

"It is now downstairs. Coming, Inuyasha?"

With an undecided growl Inuyasha shifted to human ears and set off for the door with Sesshoumaru following. They cut through the spacious living cum dining room and Sesshoumaru took the lead as they went through the double doors into the front hallway and up the couple of steps to the foyer. The elevators were no great distance away down the building's interior corridor and Sesshoumaru glanced at Inuyasha curiously as they waited for the car.

Inuyasha was fidgeting and looking about himself nervously, wondering why they were waiting in front of closed doors. With an effort, he restrained himself and stood still. He could tell that machinery was moving something nearby but had no clue what it was. Sesshoumaru continued to stand, facing the closed doors until they opened and then entered with a quick step. Inuyasha hurriedly followed suite only to find himself in a tiny closed room alone with his brother. With muted dings the numbers above the door began to change at a slow but steady rate.

"Your blood." Sesshoumaru said suddenly.

"Eh?"

"Your blood. You changed your ears and your blood smell changed. Was that your wish upon the Shikon-no-Tama?"

"Yes." A few more numbers went by in silence with both brothers looking stiffly frontward.

"Wanna see?"

Sesshoumaru turned his head slowly and gazed at his brother through lambent golden eyes. Taking silence as assent, Inuyasha flowed rapidly through his transformations, flexing down to human straight up to full youkai; vermilion stripes, three inch claws and all. Which, of course, was when the elevator stopped at the lobby and the doors slid open revealing a scene of absolute chaos.

On the bright side, no one had any attention to spare for a startled inu-hanyou hurriedly reshuffling his appearance to that of a white haired human youth. And security had finally arrived, accounting for some of the shouting and at least one cloud of pepper spray hanging in midair in a corner and seriously inconveniencing a pair of female night clerks who had taken refuge there.

Other than that mayhem seemed to be the order of the day. Jukuryo could be seen moving briskly about and preventing anyone in security from successfully tasering Jijii-Chan all the while shouting advice to that beleaguered elder. Jijii-Chan for his part seemed to be trying to detach the business end of the staff of heads from the shoulder of a squealing Houjou. The five man security detail was milling about giving vent to threatening shouts and dodging Jukuryo's claws when one of them slipped on what appeared to be a smashed bottle of some sort and went down in a tangle with two of his companions.

Sesshoumaru took in the situation in an instant and, never one to hesitate, swept forward to detach Houjou from his staff. As Sesshoumaru reached the struggling knot Inuyasha caught sight of a suspiciously familiar glow coming from Houjou's backpack and gave a warning shout while starting forward himself. Sesshoumaru heard him and turned slightly to look back when his hand contacted the backpack and the daemon wards in it went of with a flash of light and a percussive crack.

Inuyasha found himself thrown backward by the impact of a solid body and bounced hard off of the closed doors of the elevator some six feet behind where he had just been. The air was filled with a rustling sound for a couple of moments followed by silence. Slowly a chorus of groans and splashes could be heard. He became aware of a warm solid bulk pinning him down by his upper chest and head. A single whiff told him who it was and he levered an arm to push against Sesshoumaru's shoulder in an attempt to gently shift his brother's inert weight.

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru stirred and jerked back, eyes meeting Inuyasha's in a feral stare. With a scramble they were both up and yards apart as they surveyed the scene.

Jukuryo was picking himself up out of an artificial waterfall that occupied the far corner of the lobby and looking oddly like some sort of black crane with his skinny leather clad legs bending sharply at the knee and drawing up nearly to his chest as he stepped over the fountain's curb. He bent down briefly and hauled what appeared to be a security guard up by his collar and draped his head and arms over the lip of the fountain to drip on the floor.

Inuyasha walked across what must have been a blizzard of white paper scraps towards the pile of bodies by Jukuryo's motorcycle briefly noting a star-shaped scorch mark etched in the floor. The bodies were shifting and an old man's querulous voice could be heard; "Will you get off me, you big ox!"

With a muttered "Keh." Inuyasha grabbed Houjou by the back of his belt an heaved to drop him face down on the floor as he extended his free hand to Higurashi-Jijii. The old man's hair was standing up in wisps an his ceremonial regalia was sadly rumpled but he was otherwise unharmed.

'What was the saying about drunks and falls?' he wondered as the sharp smell of saké assaulted his nose. He set Jijii-Chan upright on his feet as the three security guards who had cushioned Jijii-Chan's fall got themselves shakily up. A movement to his right caught his attention and he saw Sesshoumaru bent down picking something up out of a puddle on the floor and shaking bits of what appeared to be glass off of it.

It was the Staff of Heads resting quietly in Sesshoumaru's hand as if it were merely some highly-decorated baton. Inuyasha watched as his bother turned it back and forth inspecting it and giving it the occasional sniff. He frowned for an instant, clutching the stem and giving the staff a sharp look but then lowered it and looked about the lobby.

Inuyasha could catch the flow of youki. The staff was not as quiet as it seemed.

The lobby staff were slowly coming out of their places of concealment and the security guards were trying to pull themselves together and administer first aid to the guard who had been knocked into the fountain and the two unfortunates who had been pepper sprayed. Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and spoke.

"No-one is to leave. I will be calling for backup and a medic unit. No one else is to be permitted in but them. I will also be awakening my secretary and all matters may be referred to her." He stopped, clearly finished, and everyone bowed, even the girls trying to rinse pepper spray out of their eyes.

Jijii-Chan reflexively started to bow too but caught Inuyasha's scowl and turned it into a fumble at his robes. Sesshoumaru turned and headed back to the elevators stepping impassively over the remains of pots and plants that had decorated the lobby and the flood of scattered paper. Jukuryo joined him and jerked his head for Inuyasha and Jijii-Chan to follow.

Inuyasha started to after them but was held back by an insistent tug at his elbow from Jijii-Chan. He turned to see the old gnome of a man pointing at the prone form of Houjou resting in its solitary glory in the center of the wrecked lobby.

"We can't just leave him here, he's out like a light."

"They can take care of him." Inuyasha hissed back.

Higurashi-Jijii's eyes widened in shock. "Leave the boy to strangers? Kagome would be very distressed."

Sesshoumaru's voice sounded behind them. "The elevator is here."

With a quick bow Jijii-Chan called out "A moment." And turned back to glare at Inuyasha with his hands tucked in the capacious sleeves of his robes. "Well?"

With muttered complaints of stupid people wanting stupid things done and why was he always the one to get to cart around insensible idiots Inuyasha scooped Houjou up onto his shoulder and stomped over to the elevators where the other two were waiting. He took no great care of how he got into the cab and Jijii-Chan scolded again when he leaned part of Houjou's weight against the side of the elevator.

"I'm carrying him aren't I?" He asked sullenly but straightened up from the wall.

Kagome and Higurashi-San greeted their arrival with anxious demands for explanations which immediately changed into demands for a spare room in which Houjou could be placed. Sesshoumaru silently opened the door that led to the private living quarters of the apartment and swept open the door to one of the spare bedrooms before heading down the short hallway that led to the side door of his study where he spent the next fifteen minutes on the phone.

Inuyasha plopped the boy onto the bed and took a good sniff. The boy had been out so long that even he was starting to feel concerned but he could smell no odor of imbalance and stepped back. Kagome took this as a good sign and proceeded to surprise her mother very much by sitting down on the side of the bed and shaking Houjou's face by a pinch of cheek skin and shouting loudly in his ear. She briskly demanded an ice cold face cloth which she clapped to the back of his head and, reaching deeply into the side pocket of her cargo pants, produced an ammonia inhalant which she snapped and thrust under his nose.

Inuyasha clapped a hand over his own nose and backed, cursing out of the room to head back to the living room.

"Sorry." Kagome shouted after him distractedly as Houjou batted at her and sat up with a jerk.

He stared around him for a moment, but finding himself in a well-appointed bedroom with no one in sight but Kagome and her mother let himself be eased back to the pillows by the two clucking women. "Where am I?" He breathed, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead.

"You are at my bother-in-law's home. In his spare bedroom. How do you feel?"

"Brother-in-law. Truly, Kagome?"

The girl flushed and stood up quickly from the bed. "I think you'll do with a little rest. We'll just be down the hall, Houjou-Kun. Coming, Mamma?"

Higurashi-San looked undecided for a moment but followed her daughter with an apologetic smile at the nonplussed boy on the bed. "I'll be back to check on you."

"Higurashi-San," he called softly after her "is it true?" She turned and gave a smiling little bow before stepping out of the room drawing the door partway closed after her.

.

000::OOO::ooo

Good thing that apartment is so big. Otherwise it'd be getting crowded. It actually is off of a floor plan to an apartment in that area of Tokyo. Yours for a mere $3,ooo.oo a month. Although I don't think Sesshoumaru is renting.

Reviews would be so nice…