InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uptown Girl ❯ Chapter 55 ( Chapter 56 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Jade woke up screaming as the images of her beloved Koga basically dry humping her ex boyfriend raced through her mind. “It was only a dream… it was only a dream… it was only a dream…” Jade muttered to herself like a mantra as she tried to calm her racing heart. She looked out over the lake, taking in the tranquil scene as the affects of the dream began to wear off as the sun peaked over the eastern rim, flooding the valley with light.
After a few minutes, Jade turned her head toward the door, trying to see if the out cry had drawn any attention from the males in the cabin. Not hearing any scrambling of feet, Jade breathed a sigh of relieve as she flipped the blankets off her body. “That would suck if all three of them came up here,” she thought as she moved toward her bathroom. After running a brush through her hair, pulling her crimson golden tresses back into a pony tail, Jade changed into a black sports bar, with a gray tank top and matching shorts that fell to mid-thigh.
Jade took one last look over the peaceful mountain lake before she headed down stairs, still slightly shaken from her nightmare. She glanced once at Ban's door, sniffing gingerly to see if he was still in bed. To her surprise the scent of coco butter wafted through the air. “What the hell?” she thought as she pushed the other door open slightly, not wanting to awaken the male in the bed.
As she poked her head around the door, Jade caught sight of Jak sprawled across the bed, wrapped in the sheets as if he'd had a nightmare of his own. With a slight smile, Jade slipped into the room, pulling the tussled quilt over her friend as she kissed him slightly on the forehead.
Quickly she slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her as she moved toward the stairs. As she made it about halfway down the stairs, murmurs of a conversation assaulted her ears. She glanced around the living room to see where the voices were coming from, but saw that it was empty, save for some rumpled blankets on the near by couch.
Slowly she eased her way farther down the stair case, adjusting her senses toward the kitchen and dining area. “Yeah… I remember a time when we were thrown together on a cattle drive,” she heard Ban comment. “We were chasing this small herd of angus calves all over the country side. Some how, we were crossing this river and her horse threw her into a river that we were crossing. Once she got out on the other side, spitting nails all I saw was her wet shirt plastered to her breasts and I was hard as a rock, wanting to take her right then and there,” he continued.
Jade felt her anger rise as she recalled the incident and how they had shared a bedroll that night, only because hers, along with her saddle and most of her gear ended up in the river due to a broken cinch strap. Easing an eye around the corner, Jade spied Ban and Koga sharing a pot of coffee at the table as they recalled various situations with Jade. From the smell of the horrid brew, Jade could tell that Ban had made it `camp style' which included at least one if not two horse shoes and was so thick that a spoon would stand up in it. Let's just say that after her first introduction to `camp' coffee that Jade swore off all forms of coffee, preferring her caffeine in the Pepsi form.
Glaring at Koga's tanned back, Jade took a seat on the steps, curious as to what her current ant ex-boyfriend were going to discuss. If what Ban had said was any indication, she was going to be killing them both shortly.
As she settled in, Jade over heard Koga reply gruffly, “That sounds good. I remember the first time that I saw her all sweaty was when they were doing some hand to hand combat training. She was in just a brown tee shirt and a pair of fatigue pants. She moved with such grace and elegance as she took down a guy twice her size. I remember how much just her toned arms and dainty feet turned me on, just that show of a little skin was enough to provide me with fantasies for a week afterwards.” He picked up his coffee cup, wrinkling his nose slightly at the thick tar like liquid, but drank some anyways, seeing as he hadn't slept well after he'd gone back to bed that night. His nightmare earlier didn't help matters either.
Swallowing down the vile liquid Ban quickly scanned his memories for something better to `one up' Koga. Suddenly a thought came to mind as he put his coffee cup down as he replied, “I've got one better then that. The first time I saw Jade, she'd come up for spring break a few years back. I was kind of new to the ranch and didn't know who she was. When she first stepped out of her silver corvette, I thought that I'd died and gone to heaven, the way that her school uniform barley covered her backside. I'll say that I had enough for at least a month worth of fantasies.”
Jade just shook her head in frustration as she listened to the two males as she felt the heat of a blush cross her cheeks. Never had she realized that her school uniform had that type of reaction on guys, save for the fact that most of the guys at her school looked at her as if she had grown two heads because of her uniqueness in not wanting to be like the other girls. “I'm definitely going to be killing these guys if this continues much longer,” she thought as she flexed her claws, trying to keep her emotions as well as her arousal at being talked about like that.
The short hairs across the back of Koga's neck bristled as he listened to Ban's raging hormones in regards to his future mate. Swallowing down more of the thick liquid he remembered something that would get under Ban's skin, maybe even a little. “Yeah, I've seen her in the school uniform a time or two as well, so I hear you there. But I've got one even better,” Koga replied, looking deeply into his coffee cup as he clearly recalled the images that helped him through those long months away from his beloved. “Every morning, at least during the late spring, summer and early fall on Ft. Riley we have our morning physical training or PT as we called it. I relished those mornings of strength training for just a glimpse of her breasts as her tee shirt hung down during push-ups or her creamy thighs as she did sit ups. I never got to help her during that time, but I wondered every morning what it would feel like to run my hands up her legs as she did those sit ups and crunches. Hell, even thinking about it now, I can feel myself getting hard,” Koga continued as he shifted his sweat pants and underwear a little, relieving some pressure on his erection.
With a tentative sniff, Jade confirmed that Koga was indeed aroused, but that Ban was as well. “They keep this up much longer and I'll be headed down to the lake for a cold dip,” Jade thought as she leaned back against the stairs, trying her hardest not to be noticed by either of the men.
Suddenly, having had about enough of Koga getting the better of him, Ban blurted out, “Well, I got to see her in a two piece bikini just yesterday. And I'll say that it wasn't the first time either, seeing as I had her teach me to swim in that freezing lake. Getting warmed up was really fun, especially once the ties of her suit came undone… if you catch my drift.”
With the meaning not lost on Koga, anger and possessiveness rising as he delved into the bottom of his bag of memories, he replied, “That's nothing… I've seen her…”
Having heard enough, fearing that they were about to delve into her sex life and thus comparing notes, Jade replied gruffly, “You finish that sentence and I'll castrate you both!” as she moved back into the kitchen clearly angry at the two men for talking about her behind her back. Ban and Koga jumped at her voice and turned their heads toward her as she stealthily moved toward the fridge. Both watched her body sway, as her hips moved with each step, knowing the feel of those same hips in their hands, as well as the ever present constriction upon their groins.
“Good morning, Jade,” Ban said as he looked down at his coffee cup, knowing that if he continued to watch he'd have more problems than just an irate ex girlfriend if he were to stand up just then. With a look of nearly pure bliss and love upon his face, Koga moved toward her from his seat at the table, trying to wrap her in his embrace.
With a quick whirl, ducking under his outstretched arms, Jade growled, “So what else have the two of you talked about? How a roll in the hay with me felt? Comparing notes while I'm not around is that it?”
“What are you talking about, Jade?” Koga asked, a bit hurt at not being able to embrace her as he'd hoped.
Moving around the masculine wolf once more, grabbing a carton of eggs from the fridge, some bacon and a gallon of milk, Jade replied harshly, “I heard the two of you talking about me, and don't deny it.”
Koga glanced at Ban then back at Jade as he replied, “We were just talking about some of the times that we'd seen you is all.” He moved toward her once more, wrapping his arms around her waist as he lowered his chin to her shoulder while she started frying up the eggs and bacon. “I'd never talk about intimate details with some one else, honey,” he continued softly, brushing his lips against her neck.
As the words sunk in, triggering another conversation that she had with Jak from the day before, Jade turned in Koga's embrace as she glared at Ban. “Yeah, like dip stick over there,” she ground out between clenched teeth as she glared daggers at Ban.
Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise, as if he were being started at, Ban looked toward Jade as he asked, “What are you talking about? I'd never do that either.”
Shouldering her way out of Koga's arms Jade rounded on the foreman as she growled, “Then what the hell was Jak going on about you, me and the calving grounds? Explain yourself seeing as you and I were the only ones there!”
Ban blinked a couple of times as he recalled the incident. Standing suddenly from his chair at the table, Ban backed away from the irate female who was slowly approaching him. “He wouldn't leave me alone unless I told him something. You know how he is!” Ban replied as he backpedaled into the wall behind him.
“That's no excuse Ban!!! You told him about us being… you know what we did. How could there be any excuse for that!” she practically screamed as she nearly pinned him to the wall.
Looking toward Koga for help to pull off the irate female, Ban gulped a couple of times before he replied, “Well he told me about a couple of times where you were pretty wild yourself, Jade.”
A look of confusion crossed Jade's features as she asked, “What do you mean?”
“Koga told me about some of your more… shall we say wild nights of passion that you enjoyed,” Ban replied as he tried to carefully paint a picture of wild abandoned sex.
Crossing her arms across her chest, Jade asked, “Like what?” not really believing that Koga would have said anything like that.
“Well, let's see… there was a time that you surprised him for his birthday lying on his bed in nothing but a bikini made of whipped cream topped with strawberries. And then there was…” Jade whirled from her ex to glare at her fiancé as she saw him quickly look for cover from her flaming eyes.
“You told… HIM about that!!!” Jade growled as she moved quickly toward the kitchen stove, to flip the nearly burnt bacon.
From the relative safety of the living room, Koga replied, “I didn't mean to, he told me about a time that you had slid into his bedroll by accident after an exhausting day on the range because you had forgotten where you had been sleeping. Once you realized where you were at, you said basically `screw it' and that's what you did…”
“Enough… enough already… Koga, Ban, why don't the two of you ass holes take and make your own freaking breakfast while you continue to discuss more of my sex life!” she screamed as she tossed the now burnt bacon into the garbage. Anger rolled off her in waves as she stormed out the back door, to cool off and check on Kami. Ban and Koga looked at one another then back at the door before either of them moved.
Glaring at Koga, Ban grabbed the frying pan from the stove and moved toward the sink as he growled, “Look at what you did!”
“What I did? You had your hand in it as well, pal,” Koga replied, grabbing a second frying pan from the cupboard under the stove top and adding some bacon to it.
Turning toward Koga, Ban glared at his tanned and toned back as he retorted, “With your sense of smell, you should have been able to tell that she was down here, that way she wouldn't have left out of here in a huff!”
Turning his ice blue eyes toward Ban, Koga replied, “I just barely got my sense of smell back, ass hole. With her scent all over this cabin, I had a hard time telling the difference. So don't go blaming it on me for your stupidity!”
At that time, Jak came down the stairs, groaning softly as he held his head in one hand. “Damn that is one massive head ache,” he whined as he moved toward the kitchen, oblivious to the two men. He picked up the coffee pot and poured himself a cup before turning toward the kitchen table. Once he noticed Ban and Koga glaring toward one another, he asked, “Did I miss something?”
With a shake of his head, Ban asked, “No… How does your head feel?”
“Not well, I've a splitting headache that a few aspirin will cure. What happened last night? All I can remember is telling you that I was sleeping upstairs and then waking up in your bed with the head ache and a sore neck,” he replied. As what he said registered, Jak looked toward Ban as he asked, “Why do you ask?”
“No reason, just glad that you slept well is all,” he replied as he moved toward the cupboards for some plates and silverware for the table.
Jak looked toward the duo, slightly confused as he took a seat at the table to drink his cup of coffee. “For being rivals over Jade's affections, they sure act pretty chummy right now,” he thought as he sipped the horrid concoction. Forcing himself to swallow the tar like liquid, Jak thought once more as he looked at the thick black stain at the bottom of his coffee cup, “Ban must have made it. You could use it on the roof as thick as he makes it. How the hell can he even drink this shit when it's like this?”
Ban set the stack of plates next to the stove as Koga asked, “Are you going to tell him about what really happened last night?”
“No… when he gets like that… once he's out he wakes up as if nothing ever happened. I won't do that to you, in fact I still feel bad that I didn't stop it sooner,” Ban replied as he put some of the fried bacon onto a plate. Koga slid some more bacon into the pan, the sizzling and snapping of the grease covering their conversation from Jak's ears.
“Thanks, I don't want Jade knowing either. She'd never let me live down getting beaten up by your brother,” Koga replied as he cracked a couple of eggs, sliding them into another lightly greased frying pan.
Both guys laughed at the comment knowing that Jade would hold that over both their heads if it were to get out. As the eggs and bacon cooked, Ban and Koga talked a little about themselves, getting to know each other a little better as well as some of their non-intimate times together with Jade. Jak watched the two, slightly recalling a dream that he'd had early in the morning with Ban and Koga making out in the office of a bar he wasn't familiar with. “I'd pay to see that,” he thought dreamily as his eyes roved over the tanned, toned physique of the wolf demon, as well as his own brother. As his eyes wandered over Koga's turned back, his eyes widened as he saw the barely healed slash marks across his back. “Wonder where those came from?” he mussed.
As she slammed the door shut behind her, Jade's fury ebbed slightly at the guys behind her. They were just trying to see if they could get under the other's skin, instead of hers. “Typical chauvinistic bastards,” Jade thought as a smile crossed her lips as she leaned against the barn door, shaking her head at how they kept one upping the other even when they tried to get out of trouble. After a few minutes, she moved toward the nearby corral and dust covered paint.
She leaned against the rail fence, as Kami nudged her slightly with his great head, nuzzling her cheek softly. Reaching to scratch behind his ear, Jade cooed, “Yeah, I've missed you too, Kami. I just wish that those two wouldn't be getting along… Hell I'd even settle for a good ol' fashion knock down, drag out fist fight.”
Kami nuzzled her some more as the wind blew his black forelock into his eyes, causing him to shake his head. Jade pulled back until he settled down before she leaned her cheek against the blaze that trailed from his forehead to his nose. “I love them both, Kami… and that's the hard part about this whole mess, but I belong with Koga,” she continued, failing to notice the footsteps coming from behind her.
“You belong to Naraku,” a husky voice breathed in her ear as a cloth covered her mouth, stifling any screams that would ensue. Breathing in the chloroform filled rag, Jade succumbed to the anesthetic quickly as she slid into the arms of the man who'd done the unthinkable, kidnapped her.
Once Onigumo was sure that Jade was completely under, he quickly tied her wrists together with some thin, pliable strands of leather that he'd found before throwing her roughly over his shoulder. With a grunt, he took off down the road toward his hidden car as he thought, “This is getting to damn hard. Once I get to the hideout and deliver this bitch to Naraku for his pleasure, I'm out of here. Hopefully I'll be able to convince Kikyo to come with me.”
A short while later, he found his car right where he'd left it, parked in a bit of a clearing behind some bushes. Once he got the passenger side door open, he got Jade strapped in and then slid in behind the wheel. “Got to get out of here before that crazed wolf finds me,” he thought as he turned over the engine a few times before it caught. He eased the car out onto the dirt road and headed back toward the ranch cursing his rotten luck half way down the road when an older pick up truck was creeping toward him.
“Damn it!!! I really need to get the hell out of here,” he thought as he pulled as far off the side to allow the truck to pass. As the truck passed, Onigumo recognized the elderly wolf demoness driving the beat up truck as well as the stoic dog demon in the passenger seat. Once the truck passed, Onigumo pulled back onto the road as he breathed a sigh of relief, “That was close. I'd have never gotten away with her if he was there. What the hell is it with her that all these men are after her?”
He chanced a glance toward his unconscious passenger, seeing her crimson gold tresses spilled over the tank top and her healthy tanned arms. Being drawn to her, like a moth to the flame, Onigumo reached toward the sleeping captive, running his fingers across her smoothed cheek, he failed to see a huge rock in the middle of the road. With a sickening crunch, the car lurched to one side, as all the `idiot' lights on the dash began to flash like crazy.
“What the hell?!” he shouted as he pulled the car back onto the road, where the lights finally shut off. Not thinking about any possible damage, he continued on his way down the road, unaware of a slight crack in the transmission that resulted in the loss of transmission fluid.
As Shina and Sesshomaru pulled next to the corrals, they noticed Kami running around along the edge of the corral, closest to the forest, shrieking and calling out as if he'd been calling for a mate or stable buddy. “What is the horse's problem?” Sesshomaru asked as they got out of the truck.
“I'm not sure… he's never acted like that before,” Shina replied as she headed toward the back door of the cabin. Sesshomaru watched the horse move, noticing that Kami's eyes focused on the way they had just come.
“I wonder if he's trying to tell us something,” he thought before shaking his head and following the elderly woman into the cabin.
After what seemed like forever, Kagome finally reached the area that she'd been drawn to during her flee from captivity. Despite the sun having come up, dispelling the beacon of light that drew her toward safety, Kagome had noticed some of the land features that the light emitted from and headed toward them, hobbling as best she could on her ankle. “I hope that this isn't heading back toward that vile bastard. I'd rather die then let him touch me again,” she thought as she cleared the last rise, gazing down into a nearly vacant valley of lava rock, sage and scraggly cedars.
Off in the distance, she heard some the noise of metal hitting rock and a nearly constant string of curses coming from her left. Scanning the area, Kagome noticed a some what tall dark haired man with his back to her hefting what appeared to be a pick ax, oblivious to being watched. “Here goes nothing,” she thought as she slipped down the ridge and hobbled toward the man hoping against hope that she was making the right choice in going toward the stranger for help.
Muso cursed once more as the pick ax hit yet another rock. “Go figure,” he thought crossly as he hefted the ax again, trying to dig a grave worthy of his beloved Kagura who's blanket covered body lay just a few feet from where he was working. It lay under the relative shade of some sage brush and cedars, down wind from his position considering the heat and flies were beginning to make the body nearly impossible to approach without gagging.
As he swung the ax yet again in the roughly three foot deep hole, a slight gasp caught his attention. Turning to look over his shoulder, the sight before him was not what he'd expected to see. “What the hell are you doing out here?” Muso asked as he turned his full body toward Kagome, noticing her rather haggard, mistreated appearance.
“I… I… I escaped… last night after you were gone,” she stuttered, taking in the man before her and realizing that this was the one who'd kidnapped her in the first place.
Muso looked quickly over her shoulder, then off toward the cave in the distance as he cursed once more under his breath. Turning back toward Kagome he seethed, “You'd better get out of sight, girl, or he'll come after you in a heart beat.”
Unable to remain much on her feet anyways, Kagome slid into the dirt at her feet, pulling her injured ankle into her lap, Indian style as she looked over Muso's little burial plot. Seeing how much he worked on the hole, Kagome asked quietly, “You loved her, didn't you?”
Taken aback by her question, Muso hesitated before continuing his slow progress on the grave. “She accepted me for who I was and not for what I had,” he replied as he continued to dig at the rock, hollowing out another foot of the grave.
Kagome looked toward the blanket covered corpse as she replied, “She used to be my room mate a few years back. I thought the same thing, but just found out that she ruined my life because she wanted my boyfriend. Forgive me if I don't spill tears over her passing.”
“No problem, I know that I'm probably not on your hero list either,” he replied, as he felt that he'd finally got the grave deep enough to keep her body from being desecrated by the animals. He set the pick ax aside, and eased out of the grave, not wanting to edge any more dirt into the hole before he slipped the body into its final resting place. Once he covered his beloved Kagura with the dirt from the grave as well as the rocks to mark the grave site.
After he paid his final respects to his beloved, Muso turned toward Kagome as he said, “I've seen what that bastard has done to you and I'm sorry to have brought you into this horrific mess. I'll take you back to the nearest town and get you to the authorities.” Unable to face Kagome's bruised and battered face, he offered a hand to help her to her feet, but kept his eyes averted to the ground or a distant object.
With a mumbled `thanks,' Kagome tried to follow Muso as he led the way to where she assumed the vehicles were located but with having taken a break, her twisted ankle refused to support her any longer. Muso moved about another two feet from the grave when he heard an `eep' as a body fell to the ground with a groan. He turned back and saw that her foot faced an impossible position.
“What the hell happened to you?” he asked quietly as he moved back to her side, tenderly probing her ankle.
“Ouch… that hurts,” Kagome breathed in sharply as the pain coursed through her leg. “I fell last night in a rabbit hole.”
“You're not walking out of here on this bum ankle. And we've got about two miles in rough terrain between here and the truck,” Muso replied as took the handle from the shovel that he used and broke it in half and tied the two halves to her leg with some strips of his shirt.
Kagome looked questioning into Muso's eyes as he fixed up her ankle as best he could. “How do you propose that we get out of here then?” she asked once he finished tying the last knot on her make shift brace.
“Do you trust me?” he asked quietly as he turned his attention toward Kagome, taking in her blackened eyes, broken cheek and shattered lip really for the first time.
Searching his eyes, finding a heart broken man who'd just lost the love of his life, Kagome swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as she replied almost to quietly for him to hear, “Yes.” Without a word, Muso carefully picked up Kagome, easing her carefully onto his muscular back as she winced with each brush of his hand against various cuts and bruises that she'd acquired over the last 24 hours.
Once she was settled on his back, Muso asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I'll be fine, just let's get out of here,” Kagome replied, thankful that she was hopefully escaping the clutches of Naraku.
Three sets of eyes shot toward the back door as Shina and Sesshomaru walked in, without even knocking. Seeing the slight look of disappointment cross their faces, Shina asked, “What's the matter? Not expecting use just yet?”
“No Shina… It's not that,” Ban replied as he shoveled some fried eggs into his mouth.
“We were hoping that Jade had cooled off and was coming in for some breakfast,” Koga continued as he looked toward the steel eyed demoness.
A worried look crossed Shina's face as she said, “I thought that she was here?”
Seeing as Ban and Koga had their faces full of food, Jak replied, “Apparently she over heard those two twits this morning and stormed out before I came down stairs.”
“Where did she go?” Sesshomaru growled as he moved slightly past Shina, afraid that he already knew the answer.
Koga and Ban's eyes flew wide open as Jak replied, “Out to the corral to see Kami. She should have been there when you drove up!”
Without a word, Sesshomaru raced back out the door with Koga and Ban right on his heels. The three men searched the area around the barn quickly, but only to find that Jade was no where to be found. After about ten minutes Sesshomaru came out of the barn carrying the blankets that Onigumo had used the previous night from the loft as Koga searched near Kami's corral for Jade's unique scent as Ban tried to calm the clearly upset horse.
“She's gone,” Sesshomaru stated as he tossed the blankets onto the fence as Ban moved toward the fence with Kami under restrained control. Koga sniffed at the blankets once, then sniffed deeper as the scent began to register in his mind.
“You've got something, wolf?” Sesshomaru asked, curious as to Koga's actions.
Moving away from the corral, down the road toward the ranch, Koga finally called out, “I've got the scent.” In a whirl of dust, Koga disappeared down the road with Sesshomaru following close behind him, barely making a sound as he moved down the road. Ban cursed his luck at not being very fast but then he looked at the horse he calmed only recently from a panic state.
Without thinking, Ban ran into the barn, yanking the door open as he rushed toward the tack room, looking for either some rope or a bridle. Having spotted the bridle, Ban grabbed it, running past a startled Jak as he move back to the horse's side. Within seconds, the bridle was on and he'd swung onto the horse's broad back with nothing to cushion his rear end.
“Where are you going?” Jak asked as he opened the gate for Ban and Kami.
Pointing down the road where Koga and Sesshomaru had disappeared, Ban replied, “I'm going after Jade. Take Shina back to the ranch and get on the horn to the authorities that Jade's gone.” Without another word, Ban urged Kami out of the corral, letting him loose to chase after the demon dog and the wolf demon. Kami surged out of the corral, barely letting his feet touch the earth before he was airborne once more. At no time, it seemed to Ban that Kami had all four feet on land as his ground eating strides closed in on his comrades.
“Where are you Jade?” he thought as his azure eyes swept the area in front of him, hoping for some sign that she was there. “Where ever you are, just be safe,” played through his mind as he continued to gain on the demons looking for his lost love.
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