InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Uptown Girl ❯ Chapter 57 ( Chapter 58 )

Sesshomaru grabbed up the phone as soon as he entered the main house. Quickly he dialed Miroku's number knowing that the information he held in his hand was an important clue to Kagome's kidnappers. “Come on… come on and answer the phone you jerk,” Sesshomaru growled between clenched teeth as the phone seemed to ring for the thousandth time.

 

“Watch who you call a jerk,” an answering growl sounded through the phone.

Slightly taken aback by the lawyer's reply, Sesshomaru huffed as he said, “We've got a problem. Jade's gone.”

 

Sitting bolt upright in bed, much to Sango's protests, Miroku swung his legs over the edge as he asked, “When?”

 

“Just within the last half hour, or so, from what I can tell. We lost the trail once the kidnapper ditched his car at the ranch,” Sesshomaru replied as he moved into the spacious kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.

 

Moving toward his own kitchen, Miroku grabbed up a bottle of water as he moved toward the completely covered kitchen table where his files and laptop had stayed over night. “I think that she was taken by the same guy as Kagome,” Miroku replied.

 

“We'll I've got the registration from the car originally used in her abduction. It's registered to an Onigumo Demonioarana. He left it behind seeing as he cracked the transmission and it was leaking fluid,” Sesshomaru commented as he brought his cup to his lips.

 

With a look of slight shock upon his face, Miroku began to frantically look through his files, easing the phone between his ear and shoulder as he mumbled, “Where is it? I know that it's here.”

 

After swallowing some of his coffee, growing a little irate at the lawyer's mutterings of nonsense, Sesshomaru growled, “Just spit it out already.”

 

Finally finding the wayward file, Miroku flipped through it quickly as he replied, “I was looking for the file on Naraku Viudanegra- Araña.”

 

Slightly confused, Sesshomaru wrinkled his brow as he asked, “What the hell does he have to do with the kidnappings?”

 

With a sigh of frustration, Miroku replied, “If you'd have called me last night like I'd asked you to on the message that I'd left you would know that Naraku is behind Kagome's kidnapping, as well as Jade's apparent abduction.”

 

“You'd asked me to call last night? I don't recall that request,” Sesshomaru retorted as he continued to drink his coffee, looking over the registration once more as he listened to the lawyer.

 

In slight frustration at the dog demon, Miroku retorted, “Yes, I'd left a message on your cell last night. Anyways, Naraku was Kagura's ex boyfriend. Onigumo is Naraku's cousin and Muso ran with him during high school. From what I've been able to discern from the authorities a few unsolved cases of sexual assault had taken place a few years back where the girls were so messed up that they couldn't clearly identify their attacker but all of them said that it was a huge spider with an hour glass on his back.”

 

Sesshomaru's eyes shot wide as he thought back to some of Inuyasha's supposed friends from high school. “He was mixed up in that shit?” he thought as he slammed the coffee cup down onto the counter top, nearly cracking it in his frustration.

 

Turning his attention back to the conversation, Sesshomaru growled slightly, “Get on the horn to the authorities that Jade's been taken as well as our suspicions as to who's behind the kidnappings. I'll be getting a hold of my precious brother and see if I can strangle some answers out of his scrawny neck.”

 

Hearing the dripping venom in the demon lord's voice, knowing the rocky relationship that the two brothers had, Miroku commented, “I'm sure that Inuyasha didn't have anything to do with this, Sesshomaru. If he did, I'm sure that he would have told you by know.”

 

“That's immaterial, he was friends of both Muso and Onigumo in high school, and I'm almost positive that he still hangs with them on occasion,” the demon lord practically growled.

 

With a shake of his head, Miroku replied, “Then you don't know him at all, Sesshomaru. He hasn't spoken to either of them since that night after graduation. Once they saw him get the ever living shit beaten out of him, their opinion of him changed and they avoid him like the plague. They'd rather deal with bad ass goons than some one who could get beaten by a mere wolf. You should talk to him, yes, but not attack him for whom he considered his friends once upon a time.”

 

Sesshomaru sighed, knowing that Miroku was probably right, since he never saw the two goons after that night either. “I'll talk with him, but until we figure out which of the vehicles Onigumo took, we'd better just report that Jade had been kidnapped,” Sesshomaru replied.

 

“Will do,” Miroku replied before hanging up the phone to make various other phone calls to get the authorities the information that they'd been able to glean.

 

Sesshomaru looked over the rim of his coffee cup, contemplating what Miroku had said. He knew that the lawyer was right; after all he'd been Inuyasha's best friend since kindergarten. Pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the tension headache that was about to erupt, Sesshomaru quickly dialed the number to Inuyasha's cell phone. “Better to get this over with now, rather than later,” he thought as he heard the phone ring.

 

 

Inuyasha had just pulled his Jeep Cherokee Laredo into the hospital's parking lot when his phone rang. Cursing slightly under his breath, he pulled out the croaking phone and looked at the caller ID. A look of surprise crossed his eyes, his voice a little gruff as he answered the phone, “What do you want, Sesshomaru? Need me to pick up your laundry while you're gone?”

 

“No, that won't be necessary, little brother,” Sesshomaru retorted. “I've called because I wanted to let you know that Jade has been kidnapped as well. I'd like for you to stop at the house on your way up to the ranch and grab my swords. I believe the bandits are between town and the ranch.”

 

“I'll be there as fast as I can,” Inuyasha replied before hanging up the phone, failing to hear a slight protest from Sesshomaru before he hung up. He looked over at Aryn and saw the worried look upon her face. He pulled into a vacant parking spot before turning and taking her hands in his.

 

“You're going after her, aren't you?” she asked her emerald eyes full of concern as he grasped her hands, rubbing them gently between his own.

 

Not wanting to hurt her, like he knew that he was going to, Inuyasha turned his eyes away from her as he replied, “It's because of me that she's in this situation. I've got to make things right or else this will be on my head.” He looked once more into her emerald green eyes as he continued, “I've greatly enjoyed your company this morning and hope to be able to do this again some time.” Quickly he pulled her toward him, covering her lips with his in a searing kiss.

 

Once the kiss was broken, as Aryn pulled away from him, Inuyasha locked his amber orbs with her emerald ones as he said from the bottom of his heart, “Know that I love you Aryn and that I will come back to you.”

 

Unable to believe what she had just heard, kind of in a daze, she exited the Jeep and moved toward her own vehicle tears coursing down her cheeks as she thought of the silver haired hanyou that she'd just eaten with. She glanced back toward his parking spot, only to see that he'd already left, off to save a woman that she'd only recently heard about as if she'd been some hot shot celebrity. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Aryn entered her car and quickly drove home, hoping that Inuyasha would keep his word and come back to her once this crisis was over.

 

 

Naraku practically flew over the volcanic plain in his rage. “Where the hell is she?” he thought as he searched in ever widening circles around the surrounding area. Through the use of his demonic powers, Naraku flew over the cedar and sage chocked gullies, his eyes scrutinizing every crack and crevice in his search for Kagome. About half way to the parked vehicles, his cell phone began to ring. Growling in slight anger, yet glad that he'd grabbed it before leaving the caves he glanced at the caller ID.

 

Seeing that it was his cousin, Naraku growled as he answered, “You'd better have some pretty damn good news Onigumo or your life will be forfeit!”

 

Onigumo swallowed hard as he looked over at the still unconscious Jade as he replied, “I've got your present. I just need to know where you're at so that I can drop her off.”

 

“So, you're bringing me the wolf bitch. Damn near about time. I'd have thought with all your surveillance training that you'd have had her in hand shortly after you found her. What was the hold up?” Naraku asked as he headed back toward his hide out, to get things ready for his new prisoner's arrival.

 

“She was practically surrounded by body guards, Naraku. If it hadn't been for my stealth I'd have been captured and possibly tortured by the brutes,” Onigumo replied, embellishing the story as best he could. The fact that he was practically a coward didn't sit well with Naraku, and Onigumo knew it, but the fact that he was family after all as well as having helped him out in the past, made Naraku trust him more than the others.

 

With a shake of his head, Naraku replied, “Well get your ass here.” After giving his cowardly cousin directions to their new hide out, Naraku moved stealthily back toward their caves, eagerly looking forward to `breaking in' his latest prisoner.

 

Liking his lips in anticipation as his engorged member twitched painfully in his pants. “I've got plenty of ideas as to how to break her and I will delight in every last minute of her torture,” he thought sadistically as he moved back toward the cave eager to get the preparations ready for his new arrival.

 

 

Koga swayed with the rhythm of Kami as he trotted back toward the ranch. His thoughts drifted toward Jade as he hoped that she was okay all the while flexing his claws, cracking his knuckles in anticipation of killing her kidnapper. With a growl of frustration at the slow pace of the horse, Koga poked Ban in the shoulder as he ground out, “Can't this flea bag go any faster? I could walk to the ranch faster than he can.”

 

Ban glared back at Koga as he gruffly replied, “He's as spent as you are wolf. If I get him to go any faster it will kill him and you know it.” Turning his attention back to the road ahead Ban sighed as his thoughts flew to past events.

 

“What's your problem?” Koga asked as he picked up on the tense nature of his riding companion. Unfazed by the question Ban continued to stare between the pointed ears of Kami as he continued to think, his brow slightly furrowed. With a second nudge to his back, Koga growled, “What is your problem?”

 

Jarred from the events of the past, Ban looked back at Koga as he asked, “Did you say something?”

 

With a shake of his head, Koga replied, “You seemed lost in thought is all. What's on your mind?”

 

Ban looked back toward Kami's ears as he replied, “I was just thinking about Jade, hoping that she's okay.”

 

“There's more to it than that, isn't there?” Koga asked as he picked up on Ban's nervousness once more.

 

A sly smile crossed Ban's lips as he replied, “You could say that. About four years ago, after her senior prom she had been assaulted by some guy from her school. That was before she knew self defense. Anyways, I came across her after he'd beaten her pretty badly. Some how, I'm not sure if it was a defense mechanism or not, she'd gone feral. Her eyes had changed to a vibrant green as her fangs and claws elongated…” Ban bowed his head, trying to keep his voice from cracking as the memories flooded through his mind.

 

Eager to hear the rest of the story, Koga asked, “What happened? Did the guy get away?”

 

Shaking his head, Ban replied, “Yeah, he'd gotten away, but I'm sure that the amount of damage that she did to him deterred him from ever screwing with a wolf demoness. I followed her howls of pain when I couldn't find her after the movie we'd gone to see. When I saw her bruised and battered body, all I wanted to do was take her into my self to ease her pain.” With a slight smirk he continued, “In her feral state, however, she had other thoughts. When I'd apparently gotten close enough to her, she turned on me, seeing me as the guy that had hurt her. Jade jumped toward me, claws extended, like a tiger, only that I'd sensed that something was wrong. I countered her move and some how flipped her onto her back, pinning her arms beneath my knees.”

 

Knowing how much Jade hated getting pinned like that Koga grinned slightly as he commented, “I'll bet that didn't go over too well.”

 

“Nope, in fact it only enraged her more. She sank her fangs into my shoulder, leaving a pretty nasty scar,” he replied as he pointed toward the half moon shaped scar on his right shoulder.

 

Koga glanced at the shoulder, seeing the indentations of Jade's fangs in the half moon shaped scar. His inner demon roared in anger at the markings, knowing that despite his human appearance, that Ban had been `mated' by his beloved Jade. Slipping off the broad back of Kami, Koga moved back toward the ranch, under his own power as Ban looked after him, completely confused as to what had just happened.

 

Nudging Kami to keep up with the jog that Koga had set up, Ban called out, “What's the matter?”

 

Turning back toward Ban, his eyes a stormy blue of uncertainty, confusion and pain, Koga ground out, “She's made her decision and from what it looks like you're it. I should have known that something was up when you were talking about her in the bar!” Balling up his fists in frustration, digging his claws into his palms, Koga looked back down the road as he said more to himself than Ban, “I should just get the hell out of here and leave her alone. First it was that mutt, Taisho and now you…” Bowing his head in near submission he asked, “Where in her heart will there be room for me?”

 

With a shake of his head, knowing that the wolf was reading more into the scar than Ban thought necessary, he pulled abreast of Koga and knocked him swiftly up side the head. “What the hell is wrong with you, Koga?” Ban snapped, pulling Kami in front of Koga, effectively blocking his path back to the ranch.

 

His eyes snapped wide at the assault upon his head. Koga glared openly at the foreman, as he rubbed the small lump that began to rise upon his skull. “What the hell was that for?” he growled.

 

“Some one needed to knock some sense into you, and Jade isn't here to do it,” Ban replied, as he moved Kami a bit closer to Koga. “She loves you with her whole heart, buddy. Why else do you think that she pulled you out of that freezing lake? Just so that she can say, `I don't want you any more?' Is that it?”

 

“She… She saved me?” Koga thought as he looked toward Ban, his eyes softened slightly as he recalled vaguely the creature that had came into his vision before blacking out.

 

Seeing the look of slight confusion cross his face, Ban replied, “Yeah, she saved your sorry ass, nearly killing herself in the process. If I hadn't come down from the cabin, fearing that you were the kidnapper, both of you would probably have died down there. As it was, I was forced to bring your sorry ass back to the cabin at Jade's behest because she couldn't do it herself.”

 

Koga just stared at Ban as he continued, “You owe her more than you can imagine, Koga. She lay with you while you fought for your life due to hypothermia and didn't ask for anything in return. And yet here you are, second guessing her intentions as to the matters of her heart. You're pathetic, making a bigger deal out of a little scar than I thought you'd be.” Ban shook his head in disgust as he swung Kami back around toward the ranch, leaving Koga to stand in the middle of the road, deep in thought as to what he'd said.

 

His mind turned the information over in his mind as he saw the back end of Kami move away from him, a flick of his black and white tail bringing Koga back to reality. Seeing the horse moving away from him, Koga yelled, “Wait up a second.” He jogged toward the retreating horse, as Ban pulled the horse to a halt.

 

Ban glanced back over his shoulder, seeing Koga moving toward him, he asked, “What is it this time? Wanting another knock up side the head?”

 

With a spring a few feet from the back of Kami, Koga landed upon the horses back in a crouch before settling in behind Ban once more. “Nothing like that, Ban, I've had enough of a reality check. I just got upset over the scar is all, and how to my kind it means essentially that you're mated to Jade, that she has basically chosen you,” Koga explained.

 

Ban laughed as he shook his head. “Wolf demons and their beliefs,” he replied. “You know if I believed a lick of that then Jade never would have left my side all those years ago. I knew that she wasn't in her right mind when she bit me, which was out of self defense, mind you.”

 

“Yeah, but if a female demon were to see that mark, she'd avoid you like the plague,” Koga replied as they continued back toward the ranch.

 

“I've not even told Jade that she's the one who gave it to me, in all honesty. She asked me once, after that night about a month or so later, she asked me about the mark and I lied, telling her that a horse had bitten me. Luckily she's never asked me about it again, I didn't want her to feel obliged to live by that part of her culture when it was an accident,” Ban continued reaching the fork in the road that led back toward the mountain ranch.

 

Koga thought about what Ban had said as they continued back toward the ranch, knowing that by all rights, Ban had a bigger claim on her than he did. “When the time comes for her to choose… whom will it be? Her first love or me?” he thought, hoping beyond all else that she would chose himself over the human foreman, not that he had anything against humans, mind you, it was that he loved her almost as much as life itself.

 

As he continued moving the paint toward the ranch, reflecting on that night so many years ago, Ban thought of his beloved Jade and how much she'd changed since that night. “She's stronger now both mentally and physically but if she's pushed, what will happen? Will she revert back to her wild nature or worse… destroying not only herself but everyone else in the process,” he thought. A shiver moved quickly down his back as he thought of the consequences of her feral state and it literally scared him, considering the results of the last time he'd tried to knock her out. “With Koga along for the hunt, I'm sure that if something like that should happen, he'll be able to take care of her, more so that I can,” he thought with a slight sigh, knowing that he was losing her and that there was nothing he could do about it.

 

 

Deep in her chloroform induced sleep, Jade ran blindly down a dark and narrow ally, tears streaming down her face as she ran for what she feared was her life. Heavy male steps ran behind her, spurring her to run faster. Suddenly, turning a blind corner, she tripped on some broken bricks, falling hard on her side, scraping her palms raw and bruising her knees. In near panic, Jade looked back over her shoulder and saw the dark shadow of her worst nightmare coming toward her.

 

Crab crawling backwards, Jade tried to retreat from the looming form of the wolf demon, which'd harassed her all through out junior high and high school. “Don't… don't hurt… don't hurt me, Chad,” she stammered as the hulking wolf demon stalked closer to her supine form.

 

A raspy chuckle escaped his lips as he continued his advance upon the frighten girl, “You're right exactly where I want you, bitch. You've flaunted your high and mightiness around the school so fucking much that I want to bring you down a notch or two.” He cracked his knuckles as he moved toward the demoness; lust clouded his hazel eyes as the wind blew his dirty dishwater blond hair from his face.

 

Jade whimpered as she scrambled backwards as fast as she could, trying to escape the demented wolf. She flipped from her back onto her knees, before getting her feet back under her. As she was about to sprint, his heavy fist crashed into the side of her skull with a sickening crunch, sending her flying into a chain link fence that had blocked part of the alley. “I said that you weren't going any where, bitch. You will submit to me as you've done with that bastard you were at prom with,” he growled in her ear, once he'd crushed her body beneath his weight.

 

Screaming, Jade clawed at the demon, raking her claws across his cheek, leaving four marks to scar his face. He grabbed her arms, nearly crushing the wrists in his massive hands as he roughly pulled her back onto her feet, slamming her once more into the fence. Once he transferred both wrists into one hand, high above her head, Chad moved his twisted face closer to hers as he breathed heavily upon her unmarred cheek. His dry, swollen tongue licked his lips in anticipation before darting out to her cheek, licking the trail of tears that ran down her face.

 

Jade's eyes widened in fear as his other massive hand suddenly moved to the front of her jeans, quickly slicing them from her body before he did the same to her shirt. Suddenly, as if it hadn't already dawned on her, her fear turned into out right terror as she realized that he was about to force himself on her. Not only did the fear spike in her scent, nearly causing Chad to explode in his own confining clothes, but her screams of terror nearly deafened him before he struck her once more, silencing her for a moment.

 

He looked at her nearly naked body, the supple breasts as they heaved against the confines of the lace bra, the curve of her rump beneath the hipster style black underwear. His eyes bled red as he loosened his inner demon in his need to break her to his will. As he approached the seemingly unconscious woman, Chad licked his lips in anticipation of the rut he was about to have, whether by force or consent, it didn't matter to him. He leaned down, gripping a hold of one of her arms, wrenching her harshly off the ground, as he pulled her to him. As one hand lowered to the zipper of his jeans, movement caught the corner of his eye, before he saw the fist knock him on his ass in a blinding move.

 

Jade's vivid green eyes glared at the man that dared to touch her that was not her mate. Her inner demon roared, letting out a long mournful howl that reverberated off the surrounding brick buildings. She moved a bit away from the demon who'd hurt her, licking at the wounds upon the palms of her hands, cleansing them as her ancestors had done for centuries turning her back upon the one who'd meant to hurt her.

 

Chad moved sluggishly from the pavement, holding a hand tenderly toward the side of his head. He looked around the alley, his eyes full of hate as he sought out the wolf bitch that dared to defy him. When his eyes settled upon Jade, then failed to register the change in her demeanor, her stance, or the elongation of her fangs and claws. With a near war cry, Chad charged only to be thrown back into the pavement with a second crushing blow. Having heard the scraping of pavement as Chad approached her, Jade whirled, putting the full force of her body into a punch that sent him flying a good ways down the ally. Unable to see that he was nearly broken from his fall, the now feral Jade rushed the demon, kicking and clawing at his nearly defenseless body.

 

Finding one last ounce of quickly depleted energy at fighting off the feral wolf demoness, Chad kicked at her bare stomach, slashing her deep causing her to roar out in pain as she moved away from his supine figure. Seeing her back away in pain, Chad struggled to his feet and ran out of the alley headed as fast as he could as far away from Jade as possible, afraid that she'd set her claws once more into his flesh, stripping the meat from his bones.

 

Jade curled into a fetal position, suppressing the blood from the wounds to her stomach as tears of pain streamed down her face. She'd heard the heavy male footsteps retreating down the alley, leaving her to fend for herself. Though in her feral state, all she felt was the feeling of being utterly alone. As she cried out in pain, howling for someone, anyone from her perceived pack, she failed to hear the lighter almost frantic footsteps of Ban as he raced down the alley toward her.

 

“Jade… Jade… JADE!!!” he called out frantically, searching every nook and cranny of the alley, behind oversized dumpsters, card board boxes. A mournful howl drew him further into the alley, leading him to his heart's desire. As his eyes settled on her near naked form, a startled gasp escaped his lips, “What happened?”

 

Jade's eyes flashed open as the musky scent of the male who'd approached assaulted her nose. She turned her vivid sea green eyes to the intruder, failing to recognize him as her friend as she rolled from her side onto her feet, covering the wounds upon her stomach with one arm while she splayed out the claws on the other. Seeing the male stalk toward her, in a predatory fashion enraged her blood, causing her to see red as he moved closer.

 

Ban saw the wounds upon her stomach, his gut in his throat as to what had happened to cause such damage. Tears welled into his eyes as he moved toward her, as he heart broke at her feral, damage appearance. With a hand raised out, to move a few stray hairs from her face, Ban said in a mere whisper, “What has he done to you?” He'd seen the injured wolf demon crawl from the alley in his frantic search of Jade, but he'd never expected to see her like that.

 

With a shake of her head, not really understanding what he'd said, or who he was, Jade growled deep in her throat, warning the intruder to `back off.' Either ignoring the warning, or didn't hear it, the stranger moved closer to her, his arms spread wide as if to attack. Enraged at being attacked again so soon after her fight with Chad, Jade launched an attack of her own, one clawed hand stretched out, scratching at his chest, slicing through his tee shirt as if it were tissue paper.

 

Jumping back, out of her striking Ban turned his concern filled eyes toward Jade's noticing for the first time her sea green eyes showed no signs of recognition in them. They were however filled with anger and pain. Once more, he'd asked almost to himself than to the feral woman before him, “What did he do to you?”

 

Jade growled menacingly, circling the male, calculating her next move as Ban tried to get through to her. “Jade… Jade, it's me, Bankotsu… your date from prom last night,” he called out to her. With her eyes focused on his throat, Jade leap for him once more, only to be thrown onto her back, Ban pinning her beneath him as she struggled to break free. She struggled under him, writhing like a wounded animal as the wounds upon her stomach reopened, the bruises upon her arms and legs aching as his knees dug into them, holding her to the ground.

 

Glaring at the male who had her pinned, Jade growled and roared in anger. Leaning forward, trying to get her to see him for who he was, Ban gave her the perfect opportunity. Seeing as the only weapons that she had left were her fangs, Jade lurched forward, ignoring the blinding pain in her stomach as she latched onto his shoulder, locking her jaws into his hard flesh. Ban screeched in pain, trying to loosen her hold upon his shoulder but to no avail.

 

With the use of only one hand, he turned toward Jade, as he whispered, “Know that I love you, Jade.” He kissed her as he pressed upon the pressure points on her throat, knocking her out as humanely as possible.

 

Jade watched the scene as if she'd been at some horrific movie. Her eyes watched every move that not only Chad and herself had made, but that of the dark haired stranger as well. She couldn't figure out who he was for at the time she was in her wild, feral state. In her mind, she knew who it was, but even it was having problems deciphering exactly who the stranger appeared to be. At one point, it was Bankotsu while at others it was Koga. Tears flowed from her eyes as she continued to replay that same night mare over and over, on some horrific replay of her life except that it was one that she wasn't allowed to awaken from.

 

 

 

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