InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uptown Girl ❯ Chapter 35 ( Chapter 36 )

As Jade awoke from her slumber, realizing that it was nearly late afternoon, almost dinner time, her stomach growled its opinion of having missed lunch. “Alright… alright… I'm getting up… do you hear that stomach… I'm getting up to put some food into you,” she growled as she ran a brush through her hair before descending the stairs to the kitchen below. Once the sweet smell of elk pot roast with vegetables and potatoes hit her nose, Jade began to salivate; knowing that her grandmother's cooking was exquisite. Considering she's the one who taught Jade all she knew, it was not wonder that Jade was also an excellent cook.

 

Spying her granddaughter near the kitchen entrance, Shina called out as she prepared a plate of food for Jade, “Come and take a seat while I fix you a sandwich. The roast won't be ready until later.” Taking a seat at the counter on one of the bar stools, Jade slowly at the ham sandwich that her grandmother had prepared for her.

 

As her grand daughter inhaled the sandwich, a sly smile crossed Shina's face as she saw a pickup drive toward the barn with the foreman inside. “Why don't you go down and see Kami at the barn? I'm sure that he'd love to see you again,” she suggested as she finished washing up the dishes in preparation for dinner.

 

“I've been meaning to do that. I'll need him for the `plan' seeing as he is the fastest horse on the ranch. I'll run up and change into my jeans and maybe take him out for a bit before dinner,” Jade replied, placing her now empty plate in the sink.

 

Quickly she ran up the stairs to change into her jeans and hikers once she pulled her hair back into a long red braid that trailed down her back. Once she sprinted down the stairs and out the back door, Jade focused her attention to the barn that lay beyond the huge back yard. Despite the slightly heavy boots, she made the long distance in relatively short time. As she slowed from her sprint to a slow jog, she realized that something was amiss. Quickly she sniffed the barn, and realized that her horse was missing.

 

“Where the hell is Kami?” she thought as she searched the area. A slight breeze blew past her carrying the odors from the surrounding corrals as she quickly assessed each scent, searching for Kami's unique smell. Suddenly it hit her; a faint trace of his scent was enough for her to follow it out to the corrals behind the barn. As she wandered from one to the other, following his odor, Jade began to have a sinking feeling in her stomach as to where he was at. “He'd better not be where I think he is, or I'm going to kill some one,” she thought as she came to the last corral.

 

In the center of the corral was a single post about 8 inches in diameter, used to tie down horses as they were getting ready to be broke to ride. The corral itself was made of sturdy posts and rails made into a circular shape. She'd seen the foreman Kyokotsu break many of the horses that way and it wasn't pretty. Fortunately with Kami, Grandpa had given him to her once his mother had died of colic. She'd raised him on milk supplements and grain until he was ready for hay. As the bond between her and Kami grew, so did his trust of her. One her last trip to the ranch before going into the Army, he'd been broke to bit and saddle, but only through the kindness that Jade had shown him.

 

As she approached the fence of the corral, a scream filled the area, as hooves hit dirt, with a heavy thud and a body slammed into the nearby fence. Jade raced to the corral seeing the mess of what used to be Kyokotsu, his huge body bent in ways that could not be good for sustained life. Looking toward the horse that had done the damage, Jade's eyes filled with tears as she saw her beloved Kami slathered in sweat, his nostrils flared and flames in his eyes. His once beautiful blood bay and white coat was covered in a thin layer of dirt and mud, his white and black mane and tail were tangled and messy.

 

Suddenly three men appeared at the fence of the corral, quickly pulling the injured, near dead man to the safety of the outside of the corral. A kind looking man checked the pulse of the unconscious one and directed the other two to carry him back to the barn to his office for further assessment. He turned his attention to the girl in the corral. It had been nearly a year since he'd seen her. “Jade… it's good to see you again,” he commented as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

Slightly startled from the devastation of her heart, she turned toward the kind man as she looked into his eyes, Jade asked, “What happened to Kami, Suikotsu? Why does he look so mistreated?”

 

Pulling the girl closer to his body, trying to ease the pain from her heart as he replied with a heavy heart, “As foreman, Kyokotsu figured that everyone and everything on the ranch should pull their weight and earn their keep, however with Kami, we've kept him from trying to break him to his will because we knew that he didn't belong to the ranch. When he circumvented us the first time, it nearly killed him. Your grandmother found out and replaced him as the foreman. Unable to throw him off the ranch permanently because of his association to your family, she kept him on as a ranch hand. With the new foreman gone for today, he decided to try again. This time, I think that he'll be lucky to walk again.”

 

Jade looked up into his grey eye as she saw the hurt there as well. “How could he be so cruel?” she cried.

 

“He disobeyed orders and now that has cost him more than he can imagine,” a smooth voice replied from behind Jade as another set of hands wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest as Suikotsu let her go to attend to his injured brother.

 

Jade turned into the man's chest, eyes closed as she continued to cry into his shoulder. Seeing the distressed girl being consoled by one of the few men the horse trusted, Kami shook off his anger and moved quickly toward the two. The scent of her tears thick in the air as he nuzzled her back as gently as he could with his great nose. A slight smile crossed Jade's face as she pulled back from the man in whose arms she had found comfort. Quickly her eyes caught his blue ones as a quick smile crossed his lips.

 

“It's been a while, Jade,” Bankotsu replied, seeing the look of shock on her face.

 

Nearly tripping over his legs, Jade sprung to her feet moving toward the relative safety of Kami's side as she replied, “I… I've not seen you in almost four years, Ban. Needless to say this is a shock.” Jade turned her attention to the horse as she quickly removed the offending saddle from his high muscular back, turning away from the man whom her heart had still a place for.

 

Noticing the intensity of her actions, Ban remembered their last encounter four years previous.

 

Flashback- four years ago

 

They had taken two of the horses the five miles into the mountains to the cabin overlooking the lake in the back forty. They'd worked on it together for the last few years with some help from his six brothers and the other ranch hands. It was to have been a getaway for everyone, but Jade and Ban seemed to do most of the work. Now that it had been completed, Ban and Jade were the first two to stay there over night to make sure that everything worked as it was suppose to.

 

“What did you bring for food?” Ban asked Jade as they trotted past the lake as the sun moved toward the western horizon throwing everything into an orange glow.

 

Patting the saddle bags behind her saddle, Jade replied, “A couple of steaks and the fixings for a decent dinner. You should know better then to ask me what I'm cooking, Ban. If you don't like it that means you're cooking the next meal.” She laughed at the look of apprehension on his face, knowing that if he did complain about her cooking, not only was he going to have to cook breakfast the next morning, but he'd also wouldn't hear the end of it from her as well, considering that he didn't even know how to boil water.

 

“I'll just be greatly surprised then,” he called back as she urged her horse into a faster gait. He pulled abreast of her as they made the next quarter mile to the cabin.

 

It was an impressive two story log cabin with a steep roof to shed the mountain snows as huge windows at the front that overlooked the lake below. The sloped roofs on the south side supported a row of solar panels that provided continuous hot water as well as power to the impressive home. A huge red wood deck wrapped around from the south side of the house to the west, providing a place for relaxation with an awesome view of the lake and surrounding valley. Inside the home were three bedrooms with a small galley like kitchen, a large living area that took full advantage of the huge windows overlooking the lake and built in fire place to cozy up to at night. Up the stairs were two of the bedrooms resided. One had a walk out balcony that had a great view of the lake as well.

 

Once they'd taken care of their horses, leaving them in a corral behind the cabin, and making sure that they had plenty of hay, Ban and Jade made their way into the spacious cabin. After checking to make sure that everything was in good working order, Jade began making dinner while Ban built a fire in the fire place. Quickly dinner was done and they were enjoying the steak and potato dinner that Jade had prepared. As they relaxed on the couch after the dishes had been washed and air dried, Jade cuddled deeper into Ban's muscular chest.

 

“Thank you for coming up here with me, Ban. I didn't want to stay here by myself,” Jade said as he began to play with her hair, loosening it from the high pony tail she always wore it in.

 

Quickly he brushed her ear with his lips as he responded, “It's a pleasure spending time with you like this, Jade. I'm not sure that I would have wanted you up here by yourself either, considering the wild animals and all.”

 

Jade shivered as his warm breath spread down her ear onto her neck, sending more ripples of pleasure through out her body, the likes that she'd never felt before. She'd never dated in high school, considering that Jade was a loner as well as considered an outcast by a majority of the school. That didn't seem to bother her, until she saw the girls getting ready for the dances or kissing their boyfriends in the halls. Her heart ached for someone to treat her like that, to hold her in a warm loving embrace, but no guy would touch her, not even with a 10 foot pole.

 

Gently Ban nibbled on her ear lobe, as his hands traveled from her hair to her chest, massaging her breasts through the cloth, feeling her arch against his palms. Her breath caught in her throat as he moved his lips from her ear to her neck, planting kisses along the jugular vein down to her collar bone. With a slight whine as he withdrew from her neck, Jade opened her eyes to the new sensation of being lain down on the couch as Ban moved from behind her, a genuine smile across his lips.

 

Seeing the lust in her blue eyes, Ban eased his body over hers, straddling her hips as he turned his attention back to her plump, juicy lips. He kissed her lips, pulling gently on her lower one, requesting permission to explore further. Dazed with the heat of passion, Jade allowed her jaw to slacken, thrusting her tongue into his mouth as his fought for dominance. She ran her hands across his rippling torso, easing his shirt from the confines of his jeans, slipping her hands underneath to the hard toned body. Similarly, Ban's hands began to unbutton the sleeveless denim top that she wore, exposing the white tank top style sports bra that she wore. Her nipples pushed against the confining fabric, aching to be ministered to like he'd done previously through her shirt.

 

Taking the opportunity a step further, Ban eased the bra above her breasts, exposing the mounds of flesh to the cool mountain cabin air as his hand slowly massaged one, then the other while his other hand kept him poised above her, supporting most of his weight. Jade gasped into his mouth as he paid attention to her breasts, enjoying the tingling sensation that raced through her body to pool at her very core, aching to be touched.

 

Ban pulled away from her briefly as he continued to massage her breast. “Are you sure about this, Jade? I know that this would be your first time, and I don't want to pressure you if you're not ready,” he said in a mere whisper, a few breaths away from her lips so that he could see into her eyes.

 

Unable to express her desires for him to continue in words alone, Jade wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back to her waiting lips as she replied, “I've never wanted anything more in my life, Ban. To be with you, in this way has been a dream of mine for who knows how long. I put my body in your hands… just please be gentle.” She pulled him closer to her as his lips crushed into hers, his hand moved quickly to the button of her jeans, eager to see her in all her naked glory.

 

End Flash Back

 

“That was one hell of a night,” he thought back to that night as he got back on his feet, a slight aching bulge in his pants that hadn't been there before and a smile on his lips, as he recalled the remainder of the events.