InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uptown Girl ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 10 )

As the screams of her past raced through her head, Jade realized that it was actually the ringing of the phone. Caught in a trance, she exited her shower, wrapped in a bath towel as she searched for the phone. By the forth ring, Jade answered the phone, “Hello, Solobo residence.”

 

“Jade, this is Ginta. I'm sorry to have bothered you at this late hour, but we have a problem,” the voice on the other end of the line replied.

 

Furrowing her brow, Jade asked, “What do you mean, problem?”

 

“Sango offered to take Kagome back to her hotel after you left. Once they got there, they noticed that her room had been ransacked and now she has no where to go. We were wondering if she could stay with you until she either finds a new place or they catch this bastard.”

 

After some serious consideration, knowing that Kagome had gone through so much, Jade replied, “I have a spare room that she could borrow. What do you want me to do, come down there and get her or is Sango bringing her here?”

 

“I'll have Sango bring her up there. As remote as your place is, even the authorities' feel that she'll be safer there,” Ginta replied, giving a `thumbs up' sign to Sango and Kagome who were seated behind him.

 

“Okay, I'll be waiting for them,” Jade replied as she hung up the phone. Quickly she dried herself and dressed in the T-shirt and underwear, then added a pair of shorts for decency. She made her way into the full basement of her home, making sure that one of her two spare bedrooms was ready for guests. Once all was in order, Jade moved back up the stairs to the first floor, settling on her couch to watch some TV before Sango and Kagome arrived.

 

As Jade curled onto the couch, pulling her legs under her body, Murray and Junior scurried to their places on the couch, Murray laid on the back of the couch, behind Jade, purring in her ear, as Junior cuddled as close to her feet as possible. Both cats knew something bothered their mistress, but didn't know what. Jade grabbed the remote, turning on her TV and satellite dish to the Military Channel.

 

As the program about Pearl Harbor played, Jade thought back to her `accident.' “If it wasn't for those damned faulty hinges, I'd still be in right now,” she thought angrily.

 

Flashback

 

Jade awoke in a stark white room. The beeping of the heart monitor, matching the beating of her heart was the only noise to be heard. Slowly she turned her heard toward the open door on the left side of the room to see an empty hall. Then she turned it toward the right, seeing the orange twinkles of lights against a black backdrop of night.

 

Turning her head back to its original position, Jade sighed as she thought, “At least it's not that damned engine compartment.” As the thought struck her, Jade moved a little into a sitting position trying to catch a glimpse of her injured limb. Unfortunately it had been covered, as was the rest of her lower body. Carefully she tried to wiggle the toes of her foot. As minute of a movement it was akin to liquid fire. Unable to bear much more, she screamed, similar to a wounded animal. Several nurses rushed into her room as tears streamed down her face and whimpers wracked her body.

 

As one of the nurses administered morphine to the injured woman, another quickly left to get the doctor, advising him of the returned consciousness of the lieutenant. Once the morphine kicked in, Jade laid back against her pillows, trying to calm her racing heart as the doctor finally arrived. “I see that you're awake, Lt. Matador. How are you feeling?”

 

Jade turned her face toward the Major, seeing the kind look on the older man's face. “Except for the excruciating pain when I wiggle my toes, sir, I feel fine. How long will it take for my ankle to heal before I can go back to my post?” Jade inquired, again noticing the sad expression on his face.

 

Taking a hesitant breath, the Major explained, “Ma'am, the damage done to your ankle is so extensive that we've had to call in an expert on demon anatomy. From the looks of it, your military career is over… I'm sorry.”

 

As the realization of the situation sunk in, Jade bleached to a ghastly shade of white as she asked, “You… you didn't…”

 

“Call your father, Dr. Vincent Matador. Yes, unfortunately we had to, Lieutenant. He is the only expert on demon physiology that includes extensive orthopedics knowledge. Dr. Matador will be doing the surgery on your ankle in the morning,” the Major replied.

 

Jade lay heavily against her pillow, dreading the encounter with her father. As the doctor left her room, a woman dressed in highly expensive cloths rushed into her room, throwing her body in a loving yet frantic embrace over her daughter. “Oh Acacia, how could you have done something so foolish?” the woman wailed, soaking Jade's gown with a torrent of tears.

 

Wrapping her arms around the distressed woman, Jade spoke soothingly, “Its okay mom. It was an accident cause by faulty parts. It was bound to happen to some one, I just was that person is all.”

 

The distraught woman, looked her daughter in the face as she replied, “You should never have been in the Army in the first place! What were you thinking?”

 

“Mom, I did this because it was something that I knew I could. You know why I did this. Where's dad?” Jade countered, as the anger at the same old argument arose.

 

As if on queue, Dr. Vincent Matador strode into his daughter's hospital room, holding her medical record as he perused the information. His full wolf demon blood showed in his features from his pointed ears to slightly protruding fangs. His claws tapped several times on the chart as his brow furrowed at the information presented.

 

“When you do something, you do it well, don't you sweetheart?” her father asked, as he gazed at his daughter over the chart with his twinkling blue eyes.

 

A smile crossed Jade's face as she replied, “Sorry dad. I was just doing my job.”

 

Seeing that there was more that Jade wanted to say, Dr. Matador looked at his disheveled wife as he commented, “Honey, why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat. It was a long flight and you've barely eaten anything all day.”

 

A sigh escaped her crimson lips as she replied, “I guess you're right, Vince. I was so distraught after we got word of Acacia's accident that I didn't realize I hadn't had any food. Do you want me to bring something back for you?”

 

“No, I'll get something to eat a little later. I need to examine my patient first and get a better idea of what happened so that I'm prepared for surgery tomorrow,” he replied, flashing a loving smile to his half demon wife.

 

“Okay,” she commented as she moved from the room, her auburn tresses flowing behind her as she exited the room.

 

Turning back to his daughter, he commented, “Hard to believe that your mother is the best psychologist around, and yet she can't handle her own daughter getting hurt.” Dr. Matador flashed Jade a smile as he raised the edge of the blanket, revealing a tightly wrapped ankle with slightly swollen toes protruding from the top.

 

Vince hissed at the condition he saw as he gently probed the swollen ankle, feeling for the bones that consisted of her ankle. Once his prodding was complete, he covered the foot again, to look at his daughter. He noticed a look of great pain on her face and in her eyes. It was her eyes that drew him to sit next to her. Jade's normally blue eyes had changed to a vivid green as the pain coursed through her leg, causing her to clench her jaw in an effort to not cry out.

 

Carefully he pulled his whimpering daughter into a loving embrace, as he rubbed her back in a soothing manner. “There…there…everything is going to be okay, sweet heart. I'll make you as good as new.” As tears slid down her face, Jade cried as she had not done in a long while.

 

Once she had been sufficiently calmed, Jade laid back against her pillows, wiping her nose with an offered tissue. “Thanks, dad, I needed that,” she said as she looked into her father's face. “I'm sorry if I have disappointed you in my decision to go into the Army, like mom. It's just that I knew that I'd be able to make a name for myself here without being over shadowed by you or mom,” Jade continued, searching her father's face for any hints of disappointment.

 

As he smiled at his daughter, Vince replied, “I'm proud of you, as well as your mother in you commission. She was glad that you became an officer, knowing that you were smart and all. Your mother just has a hard time dealing with changes such as this. Besides your grandfather would be proud of you as well, if he was alive. He always knew that you'd have made an excellent leader as well as a warrior.”

 

Jade embraced her father again in a huge as she thought fondly of her maternal grandfather, a full blooded Sioux warrior. She had loved the stories he had told her about the past and how she came from a great line of warriors. Despite the efforts of her mother, Jade had entered the Army right out of high school, with the help of her father and grandfather. However the day she graduated, her grandfather passed away, never being able to see her get her lieutenant bars. A solitary tear slipped down her face as she thought fondly of the man.

 

End Flashback