Chapter Four: Choppers and Chulip Crystals and Hiraikotsu, oh my!
"Mr. Inutaishou-san! We'd like Hoshino's parents to come with us!" The helicopter's loudspeaker thundered with Laymen's voice. "We think they'd be safer in Nergal's care while you conduct research for us!"
Two helicopters had joined the first. One was lowering ropes, signaling Nergal's "finest" would soon be paying a visit. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles like his uncle always did, and hefted the boomerang up behind him.
"Get the Hell off my land, BASTARDS! HIRAIKOTSU!" he roared, launching the weapon at the chopper which had the first of its occupants descending the ropes. Ruri watched as the weapon sailed through the air, cleanly removing the rear blade, causing the craft to shudder violently. As it returned, it sailed through the path of the blades, snapping one of them in two. The blade harmlessly embedded itself in the wall off to their left, but the craft wasn't faring so well. The demon leaped into the air, letting Hiraikotsu embed itself into the ground below. The demon spun in the air as what looked like a glowing rope emerged from his hand. He flicked the whip-like weapon into the belly of the craft, sending it reeling and making sure it landed outside the grounds.
From where she was standing, she could see the stark panic on Laymen's face. She saw the second helicopter drop its ropes before Inuyasha did.
"Inuyasha!"
"Huh?" The demon spun, letting the weapon return from whence it came. He looked where she was pointing, and saw the second helicopter hurriedly disgorging its cargo, then rush off to avoid the same fate as its sister ship. The first man that had hit ground opened fire on Inuyasha, who took three rounds to his sword arm. Well, Ruri thought he did. "Rubber bullets. Time for some fun."
He took off and was already halfway across the large yard, the men starting to panic since he was apparently immune to their crowd control devices. Had they not been panicking, they might have thought to throw some tear gas or fire some real bullets, but they didn't. Instead, Tenseiga flashed through half of them in one pass, knocking them unconscious to the ground.
A couple that he'd missed decided to charge the house as a last ditch effort to accomplish what they'd been paid to do. For some reason, Ruri didn't even think. She just pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath, and without even waiting for its transformation flames to die down, sliced through the air towards them. A vortex flew from the end of the sword, tearing up the lawn and sending the would-be attackers flying. A well-timed leap onto the courtyard wall saved Inuyasha from the same fate. He leaped again onto the remaining helicopter. Unfortunately, he happened to land on the skid next to Laymen's door. Well, there used to be a door there in the helicopter. Inuyasha looked eye to eye with the terrified human, who was clutching his briefcase as if it might save him. The youkai smiled and then ripped the door from its hinges. He proceeded to rip Laymen out of the craft, seat and all, and toss him unceremoniously on the ground below.
"So, pilot, you gonna get the hell outta here, or am I gonna have to sharpen my claws on you, too?"
He leaped back to the ground as the chopper tucked tail and ran. Inutaishou noticed that Laymen wasn't going anywhere any time soon. A rather displeased-looking Hoshino held Tetsusaiga's point inches from his face. Sheathing Tenseiga, he crossed his arms inside his sleeves. Sauntering up to the two, he saw Ruri's face return to normal and the sword drop and flare back to its dormant state. Ruri stopped staring at her captive and stared at the sword, trying to comprehend how she had just done all that she did. Inuyasha sniffed the air, catching a whiff of something unpleasant, which certainly wasn't bell peppers and beef. Approaching Laymen, he saw where the odor was coming from. Hoshino moved from in front of the upright helicopter seat to allow Inuyasha some intimidation room. From the corner of his eye, he saw his father come out onto the porch, still carrying a skillet with sizzling beef inside of it. He lazily flipped the meat with the skillet while watching the children, as if they were playing basketball with the neighbor's kids.
Inuyasha propped a boot up on the chair next to the man's head. "Did you know," he said, jerking a thumb to towards the porch, "That my pop's a helluva lot meaner than I am?" He kicked the seat backwards, so that Laymen was now in the uncomfortable position of staring up at the evening sky. Inuyasha squatted down by the man's head, lifting his right hand to where the scared man would have full view of it. A green cloud formed around his hand as he prepared the poison claw technique his father had perfected and passed on to him.
"So, did you think that you might scare us into making sure we stayed loyal to you? That maybe if you had Hoshino-san's parents under your 'protection' that we might come back with your prize sooner?" The youkai let a drop of the poison fall onto the headrest beside the man's ear, so he could hear it eat through the metal and leather. Whatever control the man had left of his bowels apparently disappeared, as the stench coming from the man intensified. "If I remember correctly, we had agreed Nergal would stay off us while we worked on this project. At least, that was the deal we both signed. So, did you decide to screw us on the Chulip Crystals, too?"
The man started violently shaking his head no, and tried to open the case he was still desperately clutching. Inuyasha kindly helped him by ripping the latches off. Popping open the case, he grabbed one of the blue crystals inside and tossed it to Ruri without taking his stare off of Laymen. "This look like the real McCoy to you?"
"Hai."
"Well, looks like you get to live another day, Laymen." The poison cloud disappeared and he patted the man's head with the formerly toxic paw. "Try to screw us again and you may have to tango with Sesshoumaru-sama. Especially if next time you happen get into his azaleas."
"I... I I can go?"
"Lemme show you to the door", Inuyasha replied, cracking his knuckles in the man's face the way his uncle always did. The demon stood and grabbed the headrest of the former helicopter chair.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo" was all that could be heard as the chair sailed with its occupant out into street. A few pieces of paper which had freed themselves from the briefcase floated back down to earth as the seat could be heard bouncing on the pavement outside.
Inutaishou Inuyasha and Hoshino Ruri walked back towards the house in silence, the dog demon holding the Chulip Crystals from the briefcase in his hand and retrieving Hiraikotsu with the other. As they approached, Sesshoumaru caught Tetsusaiga's sheath with his foot and flipped it to Hoshino.
"At least she missed the azaleas. Dinner's almost ready, kids." Sesshoumaru turned and headed back into the house.
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