InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uptown Girl ❯ Chapter 44 ( Chapter 45 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
After receiving the call from Sesshomaru about Kagome's abduction and his suspicions as to the culprit, Miroku drove to Jade's home mindful of the speed limit, but also worried that the great and terrible demon lord would take matters into his own hands. “Don't do anything stupid,” Miroku said into his cell phone as he grabbed the keys to his Explorer and headed out the door.
“I might be an emotional wreck, Miroku, but I'm not stupid,” Sesshomaru replied, as he watched the crime scene investigators move from their vehicles to the house and back with bits of evidence. They'd already took his prints and DNA to rule him out as the culprit, but considering that Kagome's blood had been found in their bed, where Sesshomaru and her had intimate relations… Let's just say that he was a suspect, even though he'd pointed out that if he was, then why would he have stuck around.
As Miroku entered his Explorer, he said, “I'll be there in a few minutes. Don't say or do anything to make them think that you were involved with this.”
“I'll be here when you get here,” Sesshomaru replied dryly before the line went dead, signaling that Miroku had ended the call. Putting his phone away, only to pull it back out, and dialing the number to the hospital, Sesshomaru called Jade's father, hoping to get a hold of Jade in regards to her precious cats.
As Dr. Matador answered the phone, Sesshomaru told him of what had happened, about the cats getting injured during the kidnapping and having been taken to the vet. He asked, “Do you know where Jade is?”
“Honestly, I'm not sure where she is… but if I know her as well as I think I do, she'll be out at the Hacienda El Matador with her grandmother,” he replied as he ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it even more than it already had been from a long day of surgeries.
Getting a pen and paper from his glove box, Sesshomaru quickly got the phone number as well as the directions to the ranch in case they needed to get a hold of Jade. Before ending the call, Sesshomaru replied, “Thanks for your help, sir. I'm hoping that we get Kagome back soon. I just hope that these guys aren't after Jade either. They will pay dearly if any harm comes to either of the girls.”
“That's good to hear, Mr. Taisho. For if it something was to happen to my Jade, I would make the culprits lives a miserable living hell,” Dr. Matador replied.
The conversation ended as Miroku pulled into the driveway, pulling up behind Sesshomaru's corvette. As he moved toward the demon lord, Miroku saw the pain in the taller man's posture as well as regret. Placing a hand upon his shoulder, Miroku said, “They'll find her, don't worry.”
Sesshomaru shook his head as he replied, “They're going about this all wrong. Kagura's blood was in Jade's loft, and I could follow it as far as the driveway, but after that… nothing. It's almost as if she disappeared into thin air.”
With a scowl upon his face, Miroku asked, “What are you trying to say, that she's a demon?”
“I'm afraid so, Miroku… of the most dangerous kind. She's a wind demon and if she's involved in taking Kagome, I'm not sure if we'll ever get her back. Once all these investigators leave, I'll be able to get a better sense of what happened,” Sesshomaru replied as he leaned a little more dejectedly against his car.
Following suit, Miroku took up a spot against the corvette with his arms crossed, watching the investigators, as he asked, “Have you told anyone else about what happened here?”
“I called Dr. Matador to see if he knew where Jade is, incase this wasn't just an isolated incident, but that she may have been the main target,” Sesshomaru replied, after handing his notes to Miroku.
Nodding in approval, Miroku put the notes in his pocket as a news van showed up. “Looks like the news hounds are here. If they ask for an interview, keep it to what you know… that Kagome was gone when you returned from your home and that's it. You could plead for her safe return as well, but I doubt that the kidnappers are paying any attention,” he replied as he saw the news crew slowly approach the lead investigator.
“I wish that there was more that I could do, Miroku… right now, I feel so helpless… so useless,” Sesshomaru replied, ignoring the news crew as they finished interviewing the lead investigator and moved toward him and Miroku.
Placing his hand against the grieving man's shoulder, Miroku replied, “I know… if it were Sango that was missing instead, I'd be tearing this place apart looking for her. But I know that if we leave the investigators alone, to do their job that I'm that much closer to getting her back.”
Sesshomaru just nodded in understanding, knowing that once the investigators were done that he'd be able to put his great nose to work tracking down Kagura to get his Kagome back.
As Jak moved the Porsche down the mountain road, he thought about Jade and Ban and how heart broken both of them were. He knew that for Ban his love for Jade was deep, deeper than any other relationship that his brother had ever had with another person. With Jade on the other hand, he knew that her love for his brother was just on friendly terms, and yet from her actions Jak was beginning to think that it was more than just brotherly affection she had toward him.
“How to get them back together is the question,” he thought as he glanced over at a sullen Ban, noticing that he had fallen asleep, leaning against the passenger door.
Looking back at the road in front of him, Jak replied in his thoughts, “But I promised to help her get Koga back in her bed. What a dilemma. I guess that if she wants that damned wolf back so bad, then so be it.”
Within an hour of leaving the ranch, Jak pulled the Porsche into the dirt parking lot of the Waterhole, the only bar in the small town. In fact it was the only business in the whole town, being a bar, convenience store, gas station and post office. Luckily for Jak, the stuff he needed to pick up for Jade could be found at the little convenience store. He nudged Ban awake as he exited the car, moving quickly toward the bar and a long island iced tea.
Shaking the sleep from his head, Ban moved out of the lavishness car, being careful as not to scratch the paint as he followed Jak into the bar. Once the two men were seated at the bar, each with a drink in their hands, Jak looked at Ban as he asked, “So what are you going to do once you get back to the ranch?”
“What do you think? I'm going to confront Jade… I'm going to tell her how much I love her and how much she means to me. I hope that it's not too late,” he replied sipping his beer.
With a slight smile upon his lips, Jak replied, “I hope that you're right, Ban. But you'd better move fast or her fiancé will show up to sweep her off her feet. From what I've been told he's a looker.”
“Too much information Jak, I'd rather not know about the competition,” Ban replied as he sighed, taking another sip of his beer, “For all I care he's a jerk who has a short temper, and takes it out on his women.”
“Maybe you could teach him a lesson on manners as well as how to treat a woman if he shows up,” Jak replied. As he downed his long island iced tea, Jak moved from the bar stool as he continued, “I'm going to pick up some supplies then head back to the ranch. You coming with, or do you want me to come back and get you later?”
Looking at the amber liquid in the glass, Ban replied, “I'll give you a call when I'm ready to go. I've got a lot on my mind so I'll be here for a while. If you see Jade before I call, tell her not to leave, that I want to talk to her when I get back.”
Nodding, Jak replied, “Just don't get too sloshed, you know how mad she gets about being around drunks.”
“I know… that's why I'm taking my time and only drinking beer. If I'd wanted to get shit faced, I'd have a bottle of Jack here instead. I just need to think for a while… and try and figure out what mister wonderful has that I don't, besides the obvious,” Ban replied. “Give me a few hours to collect my thoughts.”
“Okay, here's my cell number,” Jak said as he wrote it on a napkin, giving it to Ban. “I'll be headed back to the ranch shortly, unless you want me to wait, that is.”
“No… I need to clear my head so just head on back and I'll call when I'm ready to split.”
Patting his brother on the shoulder, Jak replied, “Okay… just don't think too hard. I'm sure that Jade will be waiting for you when you get back. I'll hog tie her if I have to.”
A smile slipped across Ban's lips as he replied, “I'd pay money to see you get the best of Jade and hog tie her, Jak. See you in a few.”
Jak turned toward the convenience store as Ban looked back at his beer, thinking about what he was going to say to Jade when he saw her next. After about ten minutes, Jak took his sacks and headed back to his car. Placing the bags carefully on the floor of his Porsche, he took one last look at the bar before getting in and taking off, not even seeing the Bronco pull into the parking lot.
As he drove off, Jak thought, “I hope that these supplies are what Jade was looking for when she asked for my help. If not, I'll send her back down here and she can get her own stuff.”
A few hours later, as Jak drove back to the ranch, he placed a call to Jade up at the cabin. Upon hearing the phone down stairs ringing, Jade finally roused from her nap, stretching as best she could while lying on her back on the bed. “That was one hell of a dream,” she thought as her stomach growled, reminding her point blank that she'd forgotten to eat breakfast ad the phone rang off the hook.
Quickly, she descended the stairs, and headed to the kitchen for some food and the phone. Seeing that it was Jak's cell phone, Jade answered, “This had better be important, Jak. You woke me from my nap.”
With a slight laugh, Jak replied, “I called to say I got the strawberries, whipped cream and candles that you asked for. Though I'm curious as to what you're going to do with all this goodness.”
“Jak… get your mind out of the gutter… it's not what you think. Koga loves Strawberry Short cake. I have all I need for the cake part up here; I just needed the berries and cream, you jerk,” she practically squealed, knowing what was going through Jak's perverted twisted mind.
“I'm only doing what you'd asked. Meet me back at the ranch in half an hour.”
With a shake of her head, Jade replied, “Give me a chance to make something to eat, and I'll be back at the ranch house to get some stuff.”
“That will work. See you then.”
As the line went dead, Jade shook her head putting the phone back on the cradle and headed toward the eco friendly fridge for some eggs and bacon. Within a few minutes, Jade had made up some scrambled eggs and just perfectly crispy bacon. Once the food had been served, she took her plate to the living room, sitting upon the couch as she watched the lake below, remembering all the fun that she'd had while at the lake.
“A dip in the lake would be nice,” she thought as she finished her lunch. “But I've got to get back to the ranch as well as get some clothes. I'd bet that I've got stuff here to wear, but I'll bet they don't fit, too loose probably. Besides, I've got to get going, or Jak will beat me back to the ranch.”
After washing up the dishes quickly, Jade locked the cabin once more, as she moved toward Kami. Grabbing up the reins, Jade vaulted into the saddle as Kami moved onto the dirt road that lead directly back to the ranch. As she let him have his head, Kami opened up, stretching as far out in front of him as he could with each ground eating stride. Lost in the exhilaration of the ride, Jade nearly forgot where she was going, once she passed the fences that signified the main portion of the ranch.
Sensing that home was close, Kami slowed of his own accord, trotting toward the still distant barns and corrals as Jade spied the silver Porsche coming down the main road toward the ranch house. With a knee to his ribs, Kami picked up his pace to an easy lope, eating the distance from the northern range toward the ranch house.
Within a few minutes both horse and car met at the front of the ranch house. Swinging out of the saddle, Jade approached Jak as he slide out of the car carrying the grocery bag with the berries, cream and candles. Handing Jade the bag, he said, “It should last at least an hour before the whipped cream begins to turn sour.”
With the grocery bag and reins of Kami in one hand, Jade reached up and hugged Jak as she replied, “Thank you for doing this for me Jak. You don't know how much this means to me.”
Pulling away, Jak replied, “I've an idea. Although I feel that you're wasting your time in my opinion.”
With a look of confusion upon her face, Jade asked, “What are you talking about Jak? How could I be `wasting my time' on getting back with Koga? I love him Jak, despite the shit that's happened this past month.”
“I know that you love Koga, Jade, but have you actually thought about giving Ban a second chance?” Jak asked as Jade wrapped Kami's reins around the hitching post near the front door of the ranch house.
With Jak's words at the back of her mind, Jade made her way into the kitchen where she place the berries and whipped cream in the fridge before moving up the stairs to her room, Jak on her heels. Once in the relative safety of her room, Jade began to rummage through her duffle bag as she finally responded, “I've thought about giving him a second chance over the last four years, Jak. But every time that I think that I could handle seeing him again, he's never here. It's like he'd purposely left the ranch, giving me a clear indication that he didn't want anything to do with me.”
“It wasn't his fault, Jade. He was sent out every time you came home by father as well as Kyokotsu at the behest of your grandmother. She's the one who felt that you were to fragile to deal with Ban right then, but this last time that you were here, right after your ankle surgery, when he heard that you were bringing a male companion with you, Ban volunteered for being gone that week,” Jak replied, as he laid upon Jade's bed as she removed most of the clothes from the duffle bag, only to return a couple pair of jeans, underwear, and a couple tee-shirts, plus her little black two piece suit.
“I guess, then that he does deserve a second chance, Jak. The only problem is, that after what he said this morning, I'm not sure I'd want to give him a second chance,” she countered. “He basically said that all I do is `mess with his head' and to go away. How can I deny his request Jak?”
Closing the zipper on the duffle bag, Jade tossed it over her shoulder as she continued, “Besides, if he wants me back so badly, why hasn't he come to me and said it to my face since I came down from the cabin?”
“That's because he's at the Waterhole, drowning his sorrows,” Jak replied as they moved down the stairs. “He's thinking about how to win you over, but I see that's fruitless now.”
“Nothings cast in stone, Jak. If Ban makes his move, then I'll consider it, but until then, I'm continuing with my plan on getting Koga back. Now, if you'll excuse me Jak. I'm going back up to the cabin, if you see or hear about a wolf in the area with an awesome looking ride, let me know,” Jade commented as she grabbed her berries and cream from the fridge, glad that they had a chance to cool off before being put in her duffle bag with the candles, all in a nice brown paper bag.
Following Jade back out to Kami, Jak replied, “I'll do that. Besides, I've probably got to head back down to the bar soon, to pick up Ban.”
As if on queue, Jak's phone began to ring, the most annoying flamboyant ring tone that you could think of. Grabbing his cell as he moved away from Kami, who had his ears laid back, not wanting to be kicked, Jak flipped the phone open as he said, “Jakotsu Loure… how may I help you?” saying his name as if it were a French name.
“Hey, you said to call when your brother left,” the bartender replied.
With a look of slight confusion Jak asked, “Ban left the bar without calling me?”
“Yeah… some wolf demon came in asking for directions to the ranch and I pointed him in Bankotsu's general direction. Next thing I know he's headed out the door to a nice looking Bronco without as much as a by your leave. Hell, he still owes me for the two beers that he had since you left,” he replied.
“Just put it on my tab and I'll be down tomorrow to pay it up. Thanks for the call,” Jak replied as he hung up his phone. Seeing that Jade had safely secured her duffel bag to the back of her saddle with the berries and cream in the middle between the two saddle tie downs, Jak thought about what the bar tender had said. As the description of Ban's ride began matching the description of Koga, he thought, “This worked out better than Jade could have planned it.”
Looking back over her shoulder to Jak, seeing a smile cross his lips, Jade commented, “Care to elaborate who was on the phone?”
“Yeah… sounds like wolf boy is on his way here. Just left the bar, so he'll be here in an hour or so,” Jak replied, keeping the fact that Ban was with him to himself.
With a quick check of her ties, Jade slipped the reins once more from the hitching post and swung into the saddle. “I guess that I should head back up to the cabin then. Thanks for getting me the extra stuff that I needed to make this a night to remember,” Jade replied.
“No problem. It gave me an excuse to get Ban out of here for a while and us a chance to talk without the prospect of him showing up,” Jak replied as he patted Kami on the neck as Jade moved a little ways down the lane back to the cabin.
“I'd better get going, I wanted to get a shower in before Koga shows up,” Jade called over her shoulder as she spurred Kami back up the road to the cabin.
Watching the bay and white rump of Kami as it disappeared up the lane past the northern fields, Jak thought, “This will prove to be a very interesting reunion.” He took off toward his shared cabin with Ban.
As he settled in for an afternoon snack, Jak turned on the local channel to watch some `Jeopardy!' when a news report scrolled across the bottom of the screen about Kagome Higurashi being kidnapped. When he recognized the name Jak nearly panicked as he ran back out to the lane, trying to see if he could catch up with Jade before she made it back up to the cabin.
“Damn it,” he cursed as he hit his leg, “That damned horse is just to fast. Ban… Ban will be here shortly and he'll go make sure she's okay. I hope that Koga's not behind this or else we'll be down one less wolf.” He moved back into the cabin to try and calm his nerves before Ban got back.
Once she made sure that Kami was comfortable in his corral with hay and some fresh water after she slide her saddle and bridle off of him, Jade carried her duffle bag into the house, putting the berries and cream into the refrigerator as she carried the duffle bag to her room.
As she headed back up the stairs, Jade smacked her head with her hand as she thought, “Shit, I forgot to grab my bathroom stuff… I didn't even bring any shampoo or soap.” Once she reached the top of the stairs, Jade looked toward the right, seeing the second of three bedrooms when it dawned on her.
Quickly moving into the bathroom of the other bedroom she thought, “If there's anyone more concerned about their hair then me that would be Ban.” She riffled through the bathroom, knowing that her ex used the same shampoo as she did, as well as snagging a bar of soap from under the sink for her own bathroom.
“He'll forgive me later,” she thought as she wandered back to her room, stripping down to nothing as she grabbed clean towels from the linen closet and clothes from the dresser. She was thankful not to have taken all her things with her that day, it would have been too much for her to handle. Besides, by the time she'd returned home later that day, four years ago she had decided to join the Army and the less stuff she had, the easier it was for her to leave.
Quickly she jumped into the solar powered shower, washing her hair and body as she rocked out to the satellite radio, singing her heart out to the music of Bon Jovi and Pat Benatar, oblivious to all that happened around her.