InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dogs in Tokyo ❯ Chapter 29 ( Chapter 29 )

Chapter 29

Inuyasha gave an infuriated grunt as he dumped the toad daemon, still swathed in sodden towels back into the tub of now cool water. 'I do not want to be here.' he reflected irritably, ignoring the squawks from the suddenly thrashing youkai. 'There are better things in life to do than camping out in my brother's apartment.' He dropped to his haunches and contemplated what those many things were.

Jaken stood up in the tub and attempted to climb out. "You can't keep me like this!"

"Oh, shut-up!" snarled the hanyou and grabbed him on the top of his skull, pressing down until the quivering servant had no choice but to sink back down into the water, towels floating up around him. "You come out when I say so and not a moment sooner."

"But I'm getting all pruney. What are you trying to do to me?"

"Shut you up." And, with a more forceful shove, he sent the toad daemon's head under water producing a satisfying flood of bubbles.

"Uh, hey! You can't do that!" Houjou's shocked voice caused Inuyasha to turn around with a snarl.

"What are you doing in here?"

Houjou quailed a bit under the scowling golden gaze and the gleam of a distinctly visible fang and then rallied as another bubble burst up from the depths of the tub. "I was just here to use the facilities but I can't allow you to commit murder!" He took a step forward with a vague intention of wresting the creature's clawed hands away from his drowning victim while shouting for help.

Inuyasha forestalled him by dragging the body of his victim out of the tub by the scruff of his neck. "Daemons are hard to kill, human. See, he's fine." Houjou's eyes dilated with alarm as he saw the limp, dripping, form of the little green man dangling from the monster's clawed grasp. His horror-struck expression caused the hanyou's own eyes to turn and take in the piteous sight of an apparently dead Jaken.

"Murderer," Houjou gasped and lunged so quickly to grab the small body away from its tormenter that he left a bit of Jaken's collar behind in Inuyasha's releasing grasp. He had Jaken's limp body flat on its back on the floor and was about to deliver two rescue breaths when his "drowning victim" suddenly sprang to life and scrambled away from him with a squawk.

Inuyasha burst into sniggering laughter under Jaken's malevolent glare as Kagome stuck her head into the room. "What is it now? Oh, Jaken-San is awake again? Good." She noticed Houjou, kneeling with a dismayed expression on his face in the middle of the floor. "Houjou, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to use the toilet off of the front hall." She turned her head back to Jaken again without waiting for a reply and scarcely taking a breath. "Jaken-San, are you re-hydrated now?" She asked politely.

"Re-hydrated?! Is that what you call it?" Jaken turned his malevolence at Kagome and shook a finger. "Waterlogged is more like it, Missy! What were you thinking of to leave me alone with this homicidal maniac?" Jaken made a dramatic sweep of one arm and lost his remaining towel.

"There's gratitude for ya!" Inuyasha's bad temper had returned in a flash. "I provide water and get called a homicidal maniac for my trouble. You pretend to be dead and some idiot actually believes it. Cover yourself, you're turning my stomach." He slapped the wet towel back at Jaken, drawing a surprised yelp.

Houjou spoke to Kagome in low tones. "What is going on here, Kagome?" He started to climb shakily to his feet, ignored by the two youkai who were involved in a staring and growling match. "I thought I saw this long-haired guy trying to drown the little green guy."

Kagome folded her arms and looked at him for a moment; not without some sympathy. "Houjou-Kun, all I can say is; they have to be destroyed to be killed. Inuyasha gets so hurt sometimes that I can barely stand it. Then he heals right up." She was leading him out of the bathroom while she spoke. "Why even Shippou more or less just wears the band-aides as badges. There's never been a mark when he strips them back off again but he might keep demanding new band-aides several times a day." She smiled at some memory. "Little beggar…The bathroom I was pointing you toward is there," she said, indicating a door off of the main foyer.

Houjou had no choice but to go and spend some time alone wondering who in blazes Shippou was and if he could possibly be worse than Inuyasha.

:::0:::

Eventually they all regrouped again around the now cleared table. Jaken and Ryosei were both pale and haggard after their experiences of the days before but Houjou looked little better. It was he who shared a nervous shifting of the eyes with Ryosei, wincing whenever any of the youkai present spoke.

Sesshoumaru knelt on his zabuton pillow and stared off over the heads of those gathered there out at the skyline of the city and unknowingly echoed his brothers wish to be somewhere else. Jukuryo Aida may have been a mildly notorious dealer in the antiques and artifacts trade. Indeed, in certain quarters there were fairly well-substantiated rumors of a yakuza connection which the Tokyo police watched from a respectful distance. So far as the youkai community was concerned however, Jukuryo Aida was a force to be reckoned with: he was one of the first youkai to have successfully melded in with human society and the oldest living youkai continuing to administer his own business empire. He held no official post and sat on no council seat but his word was listened to.

And now this had come up. He had originally set spies on Jukuryo to discover contacts and business methods. And contacting him regarding the staff when Jaken disappeared had been a bid for damage control. But the problem had been much further-reaching than he had anticipated. Sesshoumaru dropped his eyes to where his hands lay, carefully relaxed in his lap. The urge to clench them and growl was almost overwhelming. He could hear the demented human shrine priest now discussing the likelihood of some local team winning some game or other and smell Jukuryo lighting up one of his disgusting cigarettes. His brow twitched before he could control It.

Jukuryo slid his eyes in the direction of the daemon lord and offered a cigarette to the hollow-eyed Jaken. It was interesting to watch the dynamic that emerged as the little toad daemon struggled with his need for a smoke in the face of Sesshoumaru's thinly veiled displeasure. "Take it," he said soothingly, "you've been through a great deal."

Jaken considered his options. At one time he knew that he would've felt obligated to turn the offer down with an insult on Sesshoumaru's behalf. But, his nerves were shot these days, and his little sojourn on a plane of hell had been enough to instill a feeling of inevitability to the whole situation. There was no help for it. Everything he said was going to distress Sesshoumaru; silence would only draw unfavorable attention to his lord and it was hopeless to think he'd ever be forgiven. Sesshoumaru's attitude when he regained consciousness last night had driven that fact home.

Jaken accepted the cigarette and drew on it in a pall of gloom, filling his little lungs with the smoke. Pity he couldn't catch a rapid-acting cancer and just keel over on the spot. He pushed the breath out and was disappointed to find that his mouth was no longer in the proper shape to blow a smoke ring. He had never thought he would have an occasion to miss the human body that Sesshoumaru had imposed on him.

Another few puffs and he could sense everyone's impatience to get on with things. The hanyou had opened his mouth twice only to be shushed by the little miko. Inuyasha didn't look inclined to stay shushed for long and was as unpredictable as his older brother. Best to get on with things. He stubbed out his cigarette and cleared his throat.

"You asked me a question, Kagome-San. I will answer your questions."

The girl looked at him attentively and he got the odd impression that she was receptive to what he had to say and would withhold judgment until the end although she made no other sign. He inhaled shakily and locked his attention on her clear eyes and gentle face as he commenced his tale.

"Some twenty-five years ago Sesshoumaru-Sama and I arrived in this time."

"How?" Kagome asked quietly.

"Through a tunnel that the wind user Kagura showed us."

Kagome quietly filed this away for future reference. "Was Rin with you then?"

Jaken sighed and risked a glimpse of Sesshoumaru. His face was cold and unresponsive as he contemplated something in the middle distance. 'A passing plane perhaps. Who knows?' Jaken mused and returned his attention back to the girl and her question. "Yes."

"How old was she then?"

"How should I know? She was a young child when my lord first traveled with her and was still a child when we traversed time some six years after we met her."

"So, you wandered all that time."

"Yes." Even Jaken felt this to be an unsatisfactory answer and expanded on it a bit. "The western lands were in torment from the endless petty wars of the humans. And Naraku had consumed so many youkai in his greed that there were few left to rule over." Jaken slid his eyes meaningfully at Inuyasha. "That and the violent actions of others had reduced the population to crisis stage."

Inuyasha simply stared back at him. 'No admission of guilt there,' Jaken thought, 'just a killing machine that destroyed any youkai in his path.' Sure, he had heard of Inuyasha's tendency to extend clemency to any who did not directly attack humans, but he didn't believe it. That hadn't been the hanyou's reputation in the distant past, before he was sealed. 'Homicidal maniac…'

Jukuryo cleared his throat and Jaken came back to himself with a start.

"As I said, we eventually found a passage to this world and quickly found that my appearance made me all but useless and that we would have to adjust. We were fortunate to fall in almost immediately with a group of masterless youkai that wandered the streets of this city at night. They were quickly brought to appreciate the power of my lord and we were introduced to the concepts of business in this time.

"In order for me to be useful a spell was purchased from a mystic that would alter appearance. The spell had unfortunate effects when tried on me however, and could not easily be removed."

In his surprise, Jukuryo broke in. "You mean you permitted some fly by night operator to put a change spell on you? It's a wonder you weren't stuck that way."

Jaken dropped his head.

"You were stuck in human form? But your powers must have been practically sealed!" Jukuryo turned to Sesshoumaru accusingly. "You must know by now about the nature of the masking spells. Why didn't you have the change spell removed and a more modern product applied?"

Sesshoumaru replied through tight lips. "It was an oversight."

"But you left a dangerous item in the care of a near human."

The faintest touch of color stained the daemon lord's cheeks. "That too, was an over sight."

"One that has cost both human and youkai lives." Jukuryo observed dryly.

Kagome shifted impatiently. "Jaken, about Rin.."

Jaken's voice was squeaky as he resumed his tale. "I could still control the staff. I merely didn't allow it to feed and kept it near Sesshoumaru-Sama's calming presence. So long as I remained near him the trouble was minimal. This worked well for several years and I continued to do Sesshoumaru-Sama's bidding in the matter of caring for the child, Rin.

"Rin grew older apace though and frequently tired of the tutors that saw to her education and became intractable. The only person she ever really attended to was Sesshoumaru-Sama's own self. However, business concerns often kept him away for days at a time and I began having difficulties with my accursed human form and the control of the staff. It tested the limits of my control and often proved as troublesome as Rin ever had.

"It was on one of those troublesome days that Rin took a supply of money and escaped the watchful eyes of her retainers to go shopping on her own. I used the staff to trail her to the subway and managed to find her on the train as we drew into the Kasumigaeski station. I was angry and argued with her about her behavior. We didn't pay any attention when one of the men next to us put his rolled-up paper on the floor and stabbed his umbrella tip into it.

"He actually knocked me down in his hurry to get off and I was still regaining my feet with Rin's help when everyone in the carriage began coughing. No one knew what was going on and the stinging of the vapor was truly terrible.

"Fortunately, my travels with my lord had honed my defensive instincts and I recognized that it was something discharging into the air of the carriage. I was able to cast a weak barrier using the staff, but Rin could not see and I was in very little better case. In the confusion, we became separated and I had to fight my way back to her side. She was lying unconscious and I truly feared her dead. In my desperation I invoked a percussive blast from the staff that cleared the immediate area of both air and people. I was then able to draw Rin over my shoulder and make my way out more easily.

"I laid her down in the street and was forced to wait until my eyes cleared a little before I could even see where assistance for her might be. It was amazing, there we were, in the middle of the side walk and many of the passersby still were continuing on their way to work. Rin did not wake up. Not then, not after weeks in the hospital. Sesshoumaru-Sama eventually removed her from that hospital's care."

The group around the table was silent as the diminutive toad daemon sat with hanging head for a moment. "He has not spoken to me since, and the staff became more active during the weeks of my convalescence. Many were injured and there was little treatment available that helped but time itself."

"Some died." Higurashi-San commented. "What happened to the people whom you knocked aside with the power of the staff in the subway car?"

Jaken looked at her out of chill eyes. "I had my charge. As you said, some died. The staff is powerful and inimical to humans. It is a living thing with desires of its own. Several times in the past years I have found myself wandering the streets, staff in hand, with no idea how I had gotten there. It could be that my unusual demands on it had loosened my hold and I no longer could be sure of it."

Jaken lifted his head and looked at Kagome. "It was during one of those times that I recently found the location of your shrine. It seemed to me the staff had led me there but it took weeks of observation before I discovered why. During that time I struck up an alliance with Yasuku-San."

Jaken looked over at Ryosei who remained grimly silent. Houjou sat just beyond her and looked from Jaken to Ryosei with an open air of extreme puzzlement. "I still was nearly human at the time, Boy. Ryosei, for all her ambition, knew nothing of daemons. Pay attention." Both Ryosei and Houjou stared back at him with similar expressions that seemed to say 'Would that have been where it had ended.'

Jaken sighed and resumed his tale. "I was very much at a loose end with no regular duties and Ryosei's eyes are ever bigger than her stomach."

Ryosei colored and hung her head, but the glare she shot under dropped lids at Jaken was pure acid. He coughed and accepted a cup of cold, over-steeped tea, from Souta. "I helped her in her information gathering and she provided cash so I could survive."

Jaken risked a glance at Sesshoumaru, whose eyes burned like gimlets. His voice went squeaky again and he took another swig of the awful tea. "I was having more blackouts and the staff was causing me severe troubles. I was sure it was feeding during my periods of unconsciousness, the youkai and humans that Ryosei and I were investigating kept disappearing. But things were very busy and Sesshoumaru-Sama still did not wish to speak to me and I could keep it from doing much of anything else.

"It was looking for gates you see, and the well house in the shrine drew it. So, I began to watch the place. I hoped to discover what drew the staff to that place but the gate was quite inactive when not being used. Then I saw you and Inuyasha appear from the well house one night, Kagome-San, and… well… you know the rest."

Kagome broke the heavy silence in the room after a few moments. "So, you lost control of the Staff of Two Heads and could not get Sesshoumaru to listen to you. Ryosei-San is an adventuress and was taken over by the staff and here we are. But, Jaken, where is Rin-Chan? Still in a hospital somewhere? How sad. I guess some people still are in comas from that time."

Jaken sighed and his shoulders slumped even further if that were possible. "I thought I had made it clear. I don't know. Only Sesshoumaru-Sama knows and he has not spoken to me from that day to this."

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