InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uptown Girl ❯ Chapter 47 ( Chapter 48 )

It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon by the time Kagura had moved the last of the supplies from their hidden vehicles the two miles to the ancient volcanic caves that had been hidden for years in the middle of no where. It had taken her nearly three hours to move the people and gear aboard her feather to the new hideout. The new head quarters were a series of caves with a large one as the main base of operation and two smaller ones for sleeping quarters. A third had been turned into a temporary holding cell for Kagome. Naraku had insisted that Kagura transport him and Kagome to the caves as soon as he'd returned from a scouting mission.

 

“Damn him,” she thought sourly as sweat continued to course down her back and face. The pain in her arms was becoming intense as the shivers of cold signified the on set of a fever. “He'll pay for this,” Kagura ground out between clenched teeth as she hugged her arms closer to her body, trying to rub more heat into her arms, knowing that it was just the fever taking hold of her body.

 

As the feather touched down on the out skirts of the cave system, Kagura nearly collapsed as she struggled to her feet. Muso rushed toward her as she crumpled, reaching her before she hit the hard lava rock ground. “Kagura… speak to me,” he called out to her, gently pushing a few strands of hair from her face, noticing the heat radiating from her delicate skin.

 

With a flutter of her scarlet eyes, Kagura looked into the worried hazel orbs of Muso as she reached for his face. “I… I must have over worked myself,” she replied with a faint smile.

 

“Now, babe… you're burning up something fierce. I knew that we should have gotten those claw marks looked at,” he growled slightly under his breath as he took her festering arms into his hands, scrutinizing the inflamed skin as he continued, “I'm not sure how much worse it's going to get, sweet heart, but I'll be here for you.” He placed a kiss gently upon her hand, avoiding as much of the reddened and inflamed skin as he could.

 

Muso gently picked up his sickly love as he moved into the caves. He laid her upon an air mattress in one of the caves, covering her with an old woolen Army blanket before searching out Naraku. “I've got to make him see reason,” Muso thought as he placed a kiss upon Kagura's head before following the sounds of grunting as well as the smell of tears and blood as he approached the third, smaller cave.

 

As he stood outside the cave, knowing that Naraku was having his way with their captive, Muso called out, “Naraku… I know that you're busy…”

“What do you want? I'm a little tied up here,” he demanded as he looked down into the red and swollen eyes of Kagome as tears streamed down her face with a smirk across his lips. The rag tied around her mouth prevented the screams of pain from escaping the cave, so she only cried in retaliation of his actions.

 

“It's about Kagura… she's really sick and needs medical attention,” Muso replied as he looked upon the floor at his feet, noticing for the first time the intricately tiny holes that made up it's surface.

 

“The bitch got what she deserved, Muso. You knew about the cats and yet left her to defend her self from their deadly attacks. I will not allow you to take her from this camp site for treatment nor will I allow you to seek medical aid for her either. Try and get a hold of Onigumo… he's still out and about… maybe he could pick up some supplies for you,” Naraku replied as he continued his assault upon Kagome's lithe frame, bruising her fore arms as he held them in one massive hand above her head while the other was clamped like a vise upon her tender breast.

 

Angered at Naraku's flippant attitude toward an injured team mate, he stormed into the cave, ignoring the look of horror upon Kagome's face as he grabbed Naraku by the shoulder. Muso forced the older man to look him in the eye as he growled, “It was because of your infatuation with this bitch that she got hurt, now either let me get her to a hospital to be fixed up or let me get the stuff to make her better.”

 

Leaning back onto his haunches, buried deep inside of Kagome's warm, tender body, Naraku glared at Kikyo's older brother as he replied sternly, “You ever interrupt me while I'm entertaining our guest, and I'll make sure that you don't have to worry about your little bitch. Do as you like, but just remember that she's your responsibility.”

 

Muso nodded slightly, a bit fearful of the demented man as he backed out of the cave. He saw the damage that he'd already done to Kagome from the shattered lip and bruised cheek to the claw marks upon her breasts and ribs as they trailed lower down her toned stomach. Shivers ran through him as he thought of the young woman being brutalized by that vile man, but he knew that if he'd spoken up sooner in regards to this plot that he'd be worm food. He quickly sought out Kikyo and told her that he was headed into the nearest town for some medicine and supplies for the camp.

 

A few moments later after stopping and seeing how Kagura was cooping, Muso moved over the rough terrain toward their hidden vehicles. He knew that it would be a good hour before he reached his truck and another hour to the last town they drove past which would result in at least a four hour turnaround trip if nothing happened while he was gone. “Damn it… why the hell did this have to happen?” he thought as he move as swiftly as possible over the uneven and broken ground, trying to stay away from the rabbit trails through the sage brush, cedars, wild grasses and broken lava rocks.

 

 

Naraku turned back toward his captive, a vile smile across his lips as he asked in a rather husky tone, “Now… where were we, before I was rudely interrupted?” Kagome's chocolate eyes widened in fear as Naraku continued his assault upon her body.

 

“Sesshomaru… please forgive me,” she thought as she closed her eyes from the fearsome creature above her, grinding himself into her very being, over and over and over again until she thought that she couldn't take any more pain.

 

Tears streamed down her face once he finally grew tired of his games, leaving her to clean her own wounds from the rough outcrop of lava rocks that he'd thrown her against the first time he raped her. Once he left her cave, shutting the make shift door behind him, Kagome gathered what remained of her pajamas, and covered herself as best she could, feeling sick, dirty and defiled as she curled into a ball upon the cold hard ground wishing to be saved or die at the hands of her captors. As she lay there, all her thoughts turned toward Sesshomaru, drawing strength from knowing that he would save her from this horrible night mare.

 

 

 

Jade rode down the hill toward the lake deep in thought about what Ban said and the message from her Grandmother. After grabbing a Buck knife from her saddle bags and affixing it to her right calf, she collected Kami's bridle. Quickly she'd put just the bridal upon his head, and slipped onto his broad back before taking off down the hill at an easy gate, deep in thought.

 

“Why would any one want to kidnap Kagome?” she thought as a worried look crossed her face. “Could they have actually been after me or worse… the both of us?” With a furrow of her brow Jade tried to recall any conversation that she'd had with Kagome about her immediate past. “The only incident that she's had that would lead one to think of her being attacked was…” with a slight gasp, Jade realized who was behind the whole kidnapping. Only one word slipped past her lips as she thought of the vile creature with which she'd ever had the displeasure of meeting, Naraku.

 

“That has got to be it,” she thought as Kami stopped on the sandy bank of the mountain lake. Sliding from his back, Jade wiggled her toes in the cool sand as a shiver of both cold and excitement moved up her back. It had been a while since she'd gone swimming in the mountain lake, but she knew every nook and cranny, cove and eddy like the back of her hand.

 

With the knowledge that she'd cracked the kidnapping case, Jade quickly stripped out of her jeans and sweatshirt after looping Kami's reins around a low hanging branch. She stepped toward the water, inching her way into the freezing liquid as she allowed her body to slowly adjust to the temperature change. Once she was about waist deep, Jade quickly submerged herself in the water, only to resurface a few seconds later as the shock of the sudden cold caused a bit of a brain freeze.

 

“Whoa… That was refreshing,” she thought as she moved farther out into the lake, only to dive under the water once more, looking through the clear mountain water for anything that looked tasty. As she surfaced and dived, searching for the mouth watering trophy rainbow trout that she knew lurked in the recesses of the rocky bottom, Jade failed to notice the faint breeze pick up as an intruder moved toward the lake at a high velocity of speed.

 

 

Ban eased back in his chair, moving his booted feet on the edge of the picture window frame so as to be able to keep a better eye upon Jade as she slipped off Kami's back. His breath hitched in his throat once more as she peeled off the sweatshirt and jeans, revealing her little two piece bikini with spaghetti strap ties at her neck, back and shapely hips. With a slight furrow of his brow, Ban scrutinized the sheathed blade upon her muscular calf.

 

“Ah, I see that she's more than a little concerned about the abduction then she let on,” he thought as a slight smile crossed his lips. “I always knew she had a good head upon her shoulders when it came to self defense. Speaking of which…” He eased the bag of ice upon the lump on the back of his head as he continued to watch her lithe frame move agonizingly slow into the water, causing other parts of his anatomy to ache with need.

 

With a shake of his head, Ban thought, “It never fails, even when she doesn't mean to, my body reacts to hers in such a fashion that I can almost not control it. It's like she's some kind of drug that I can't get enough of.” He eased back into the chair a little bit more as he thought about another time that he'd been swimming with Jade.

 

Flashback…

 

Jade had gently pushed him back into the water, after he'd dunked her in a game of tag. As he came sputtering toward the surface, Ban glared playfully at Jade as she'd moved farther onto the sandy shore, her eyes full of mischief as she returned his gaze.

 

“You little…” he started as he moved as lightning toward her, catching her mere feet from the edge of the water line, pinning her between his body and the sandy shore. Claiming her lips in a searing kiss, Ban made sure that Jade knew that he meant business as he leaned his lean muscular frame against hers.

 

Jade gasped slightly at the weight against her thigh demanded to be released from Ban's swimming trunks. Taking advantage of his position above her, Ban slowly moved his lips from her face to feather kisses down the side of her neck, methodically approaching the juncture of her neck and shoulder. Jade's breath hitched as she arched into his hot demanding mouth, needing to feel more of his body against her lithe frame. Easing more of his weight onto his left arm, Ban slid his right under her back, loosening the ties of her bathing suit quickly at her neck and back. As he continued his assault upon her neck, his right hand quickly splayed across her hips, snagging the loops of the ties that held the little black bottoms to her shapely hips. With a quick, effortless tug, the ties loosened leaving the small black patch across what Ban desired most… the very core of her being.

 

Hearing a sharp intake of breath as he'd moved lower, Ban smirked as he looked into her desire filled eyes. “I see that you're enjoying yourself,” he breathed huskily across her tanned skin, brushing away the strings of the top, removing it to expose her wondrous mounds of flesh. He gently kissed a pert dark nipple as she moaned in pleasure, pushing her breast further into his mouth. Taking advantage of her actions, Ban inhaled her breast into his mouth, his tongue moving sensually across her nipple, smirking as Jade writhed in pleasure beneath him.

 

Fearing that the other breast would become jealous of its mate, he moved to nibble upon its pert darkened nipple as well, causing more moans of pleasure as Jade writhed more under his body, slowly revealing the rest of her naked body to his wandering hands. Feeling the constriction of his swim trunks upon his body, Ban leaned forward, placing more of his weight once more upon his left arm, using the right to free himself of the remains of his clothing. Reveling in the glory of Ban, Jade's blue eyes roved over his chiseled features as she ran her hands down his well toned chest.

 

Unable to quench his desire much longer, he leans toward her, claiming her lips in a searing kiss as he buried himself into her velvety warmth…

 

End flashback…

 

As the memories of his time with Jade at the lake swam through his mind, unnoticed the bag of ice that he'd held to his throbbing head slid from his hand and trailed slowly down his chest. With his eyes closed, Ban squirmed in the chair as the intensity of his memories assailed his nerves, constricting various parts of his anatomy. Once he'd settled in the chair, having found a comfortable position, the bag of ice and water continued its way toward his lap.

 

Some how, possibly fate or Karma, the wandering bag of ice snagged on something sharp, causing a hole to pierce the plastic bag, leaking minute amounts of freezing liquid. After a few more moments, with Ban thoroughly engrossed in the rapture of his memories, the bag of ice settle upon his constricted lap, the pin hole having enlarged to expel copious amounts of ice water spilling through his jeans, soaking them with their icy contents.

 

“Shit!!!!” Ban screamed as the water filtered through the denim, jarring him rather harshly from his memories as he leapt onto his feet, dropping the very offensive and now empty bag of ice onto the floor. Quickly he shucked out of the jeans, peeling them off with difficulty seeing as the wet denim wanted to stick to his skin. As he fought the wet material, he glanced out toward the lake, checking on Jade to make sure that she was okay.

 

Seeing her head bobbing in the middle of the lake, Ban thought, “At least she's not here to see this or she'd be laughing her ass off, especially after I divulged what I was thinking about that caused this,” as he finally slipped the jeans past his thighs. He took a seat back in the chair, quickly removing his boots so that he could slip the jeans off. With a quick look out at the lake, verifying once more that Jade was safe, Ban ran up the stairs, two at a time and skidded to a halt at the top before moving into his room, searching for a clean, dry pair of jeans.

 

Having acquired the clothing, Ban moved back down the stairs on his sock covered feet when he saw what appeared to be a whirlwind moving at a high rate of speed toward the far lake shore. “What the hell?” he thought as he moved closer toward the picture window, his pants in his hand as he leaned against the frame, his tee shirt hanging low enough on his body to cover his clean, dry briefs. Realizing that what he saw was the wolf making his way toward the lake… the lake that Jade was currently swimming in, completely oblivious to the danger she was in.

 

“Oh shit!” he thought as he quickly slipped his jeans on, thankful to have had a spare pair in the cabin as he pulled on his boots, only to head back up the stairs once more. He rummaged through his dresser drawers once more looking for the 6” fixed blade Buck knife that he normally left at the cabin, for emergency purposes. As his fingers slipped upon the black polished handle, his fingers grabbed the hilt, and attached it quickly to his belt as he raced down the stairs.

 

Once Ban was out side, he moved with speed and stealth as not to draw attention to himself as he moved toward the section of shore that Jade had tied Kami to. He kept his eyes affixed to the far shore looking along its length for the wolf, fearing that he'd some how slipped around the shoreline and was near where Jade had last been seen. “No you don't mutt,” Ban thought as he gritted his teeth at the thought of what the wolf would do to Jade, fearing that he was behind the kidnapping of Kagome.

 

 

Koga slowed his speed once the smell of the lake was unmistakable. He moved toward the edge of the shore, thankful that his nose had not misled him. As he knelt down, reaching toward the crystal clear water, hoping to quench his thirst, a fuzzy object broke the surface of the water, catching just the corner of Koga's eye. “What the…” he thought as the object disappeared once more into the water, twenty feet or so from his current position on the shore.

 

Frantically he searched the surface of the water for the object, fearing that it was something that was drowning, although he didn't hear the tell tale sounds of splashing water or the calls for help. Suddenly the object broke the surface once more, however there was splashing as if it was fighting something that he could not see. Fearing that this was an emergency, Koga took action, diving head long into the clear water, only to take in a huge breath of air as the freezing water coursed through his clothes constricting his muscles as the cold tore through them.

 

“Shit… this is too damn cold,” he thought as he slowly moved toward the splashing object in the distance, his arms felling akin to lead weights as the cold sapped his strength. “Damn my heroic nature, it just may be the death of me this time,” he continued to ponder as he edged farther and farther out into the lake as the cold continued to assault his body, slowing his movements.

 

Within a few seconds and about half way to the object of his frantic dive into the water on the premise that someone was in trouble, the freezing water had taken its toll sapping every ounce of his energy. Unable to move any farther as the cold began taking control of his body, constricting his muscles until the pain was too much for Koga to take. Succumbing to the pain, he slipped into the icy depths, his eyes unfocused as he thought, “I've come so far to be near you Jade… but now… now it seems that I'll never lay my eye upon your smiling face again.”

 

Before he lost consciousness, sinking deeper into the freezing water, his last images were of an out of focus creature moving toward him. His frozen brain identified that the creature was human, but as to clearly identifying the character he was too far gone. Hands gripped his muscular arms, pulling him toward the surface as he closed his eyes one last time, slipping into the black world of the unknown.

 

 

Ban had eased his way toward the shore, keeping mostly to the trees as he closed in on Kami's location, never taking his eyes off the far shore. He knew the wolf would find his way to the cabin, through Ban was rather surprised that it had taken him over an hour to get as far as the lake. “Must have busted his nose or something,” Ban thought as he eased up to Kami, trying not to spook the paint.

 

He petted the muscular neck of the paint as he took stock of where Jade was swimming before scrutinized the far shore line. “Come on wolf… I know you're out there,” Ban said to himself, under his breath, “Where'd you go off too?”

 

As if answering Ban's question, Koga broke through the dense trees and moved swiftly toward the water, panting with the excursion. Ban continued to watch the wolf as he knelt down to get a drink of the refreshing water. Seeing him lean down to quench his thirst, Ban noticed him stop and turn his head, as if something had caught his attention. Following his gaze, Ban saw Jade near the middle of the lake, before she slipped silently out of sight, apparently on the hunt for dinner.

 

Ban turned his attention back toward Koga, taking notice that he was frantically searching for the mysterious object in the water. Within seconds of Jade's disappearance below the surface, she broke it once more with a lot more sound as she fought the mammoth rainbow trout in her arms. It wiggled and slapped the water with its mighty tail, struggling for its dear life.

 

Suddenly, while Ban watched Jade's fight with dinner, a sound shattered the battle grounds like cannon fire… the splash of a body diving into the water. Ban looked to where he'd previously seen Koga, only to find him absent from the shore and about ten feet into the freezing water.

 

“What the hell is he doing?” Ban thought as he made his way toward the water's edge, shedding his boots and socks, preparing for the inevitable rescue. However, he never got the chance, for Jade had beaten him to it.

 

 

Jade turned her head toward the splashing of the water, foreign to her fight with the rainbow trout. Taking the slight distraction to free itself, the trout used its mighty tail, slamming it against Jade's legs before swimming back into the icy depths of its home. “Damn fish,” Jade thought as she rubbed her bruised legs and turned her full attention to the far shore. What she saw nearly made her blood freeze in their vessels as she caught sight of Koga some ten feet away from her before he slipped into the icy depths.

 

“Hang on!” she yelled out as adrenaline coursed through her veins, warming her body enough to muscle her way toward Koga. Within a matter of seconds Jade dived under the water reaching his rag-doll like body, using all the strength she could muster to pull him back toward the surface.

 

 

Ban wadded into the freezing waters until it reached his knees. The icy liquid quickly froze the blood in his legs, causing Ban's legs to ache, but it didn't compare to the ache in his heart. As he saw Jade dive into the icy depths to save the stupid wolf, he held his breath, hoping that it didn't turn into two person rescue instead of just one. Seconds ticked by like hours as Ban eased deeper into the water when suddenly Jade's head broke the surface, like some hungry trout jumping for its meal. Ban released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding as he saw her drag the unconscious wolf behind her, holding him so that his head remained above the water. “That was close… too close for comfort,” he thought as he waited for her to drag the unconscious wolf toward him so that they could get him out of the freezing water.

 

 

 

 

8