Singer In The Night

*The Singer In The Night – chapter 2*

Introductions had been made and now Jindoro and seated himself down on the grass with Inuyasha and his friends. Kagome had dared to ask how he had saved Inuyasha’s life, but no answer came. It was as if neither one of them had heard her question, so she decided to leave it alone; at least until later. Sango offered their strange guest some cake that had not been eaten yet, but he only smiled and respectfully declined.

“I brought you a gift Inuyasha.” Jindoro stated as he handed the parcel he had been carrying to the birthday boy. Inuyasha placed it on his lap and proceeded to unfold black cloth. Inside was more cloth, only this was a bright red.

“I took a chance that after so long your clothes would be torn and shabby. I have brought you another shirt and pants. They are made out of the hair of the fire-rat, just as yours are now.” Jindoro explained in his melodious voice. Inuyasha smiled at him and thanked him for his thoughtful gift. Watching Inuyasha, Kagome was pleasantly surprised. Inuyasha was so soft-spoken and kind to Jindoro, it was a side she had rarely seen. Kagome enjoyed it.

“Forgive my boldness my lord, but may I ask where the female nightingale youkai are?” Miroku inquired coolly. Sango snorted, knowing full well why the lecherous monk wanted to know.

‘He can never hold off on the women for too long can he?? Of course it doesn’t matter that he falls over every female, human or not, except for me.’ Sango thought to herself. Sure Miroku occasionally coped a feel on her butt, but that’s all it ever was. Sango was not the only one that caught on the motive of Miroku’s question. Both Kagome and Inuyasha shot him an evil glare but Jindoro only laughed softly.

“Contrary to what you may think monk, they are not my harem. They are my sisters.” Jindoro answered good-naturedly. “All that remain have mated, so instead of having me to protect them, they have their mates.”

“I see.” Miroku said, trying to play off his disappointment but he couldn’t hide it, so they laughed at him. Or rather everyone except Kagome, she was only half-heartedly laughing. She found herself staring at Jindoro.

‘He is so beautiful, it is incredible. And he is so gentle too; it’s hard to believe that he is a demon. Almost every demon we have encountered has been cruel and blood-thirsty. And they all hate humans! Jindoro is being kind and courteous to us.’ Kagome was deep in thought when she noticed Jindoro looked over at her. His eyes on her caused Kagome to blush. Seeing the flush in her cheeks, Jindoro gave her a small smile.

“It’s going to storm soon; you all should find some shelter.” Jindoro said as he glanced up at the sky. He was right. The light breeze that had been blowing had turned into a wailing wind. Dark grey clouds were rolling over their heads and the sound of thunder could be heard far off in the distance. As they began to gather up all of their things, Inuyasha turned to Jindoro.

“Where will you go?” Inuyasha asked.

“There is an abandoned hut a little way into the forest. You are welcome to join me there. It is a few miles to the nearest village.” He explained. He noticed Kagome shivering in the cold wind as she gathered up Inuyasha’s gifts. As they were making ready to go Jindoro shrugged off his outer robe and draped it over Kagome’s shoulders and then took the bag of gifts from her. The dark blue robe was too big for her and much too long.

“I’ll carry this.” He said as he adjusted his robe, wrapping it around Kagome’s shivering form.

“Thank you very much.” Kagome said, her teeth chattering. The youkai merely nodded and started to walk towards the forest, Inuyasha walking beside him.

“I would have given her my shirt. You didn’t have to do that.” Inuyasha said quietly to the person beside him.

“I know you would have, but then you would have been cold. I will be fine without it.” As he spoke he adjusted the two katanas at his side that were now revealed. The two walked in silence for a little while, the rest of the group close behind them. Suddenly Inuyasha ended the silence when he learned over and whispered urgently to Jindoro.

“If he catches your scent he’ll come and find you, you know that. And you know he’ll be pissed off.” Inuyasha said, looking concerned.

“I masked my scent.” Jindoro sighed. “Even so, Sesshoumaru can get as angry as he likes. It won’t do him any good.” Inuyasha merely nodded at this and they continued to walk through the deepening forest. It had begun to rain and the hut was in view.

“Come on guys, the hut is just up there!!” Inuyasha shouted to the rest of the group. The he took Kagome’s hand and picked up his pace, eager to get in out of the rain. They had not taken but a few steps ahead of the rest when the ground seemed to collapse out from beneath them and they fell into a deep hole. Kagome screamed as she and Inuyasha fell, then the others ran over.

“It’s an animal trap, no doubt set by the hunters of the village.” Jindoro stated more to himself than anyone else. They all were stunned when they looked down into the pit. Kagome was laying the ground, covered with dirt. She had a gash on her right leg that looked pretty serious. Inuyasha, however, was in far worse condition.

The bottom of the pit had been equipped with large lengths of wood, sharpened to a point. When he had fallen, Inuyasha had been impaled on one of them. Though something like that should have killed him, he was still alive and what’s more he was conscious.

“Inuyasha!! Can you hear me?!” Miroku shouted down into the dark hole. The only answer that they could get from him was pain filled groans. He shouted to Kagome as well, and she answered that she thought she was alright.

“How do we get to them?” Sango asked. The hole was deep, they were in no condition to climb up and if anyone jumped down they would be stuck down there as well. Shippou was bouncing around, filled with panic. Jindoro kept looking down into the hole and saw that Kagome was attempting to get to her feet.

“Don’t try and get up.” He yelled down to her. A moment later he walked up to the edge of the pit. Without any warning he casually walked off the edge and landed gracefully on his feet below. He knelt beside Kagome and gently picked her up in his arms.

“We won’t be able to get out, Inuyasha is hurt.” Kagome said wearily but it made no difference. Once Jindoro had her securely in his arms he easily jumped back out of the deep hole.

“Here, take her.” Jindoro commanded softly to Miroku. When the monk had her, he and Sango made their way to the hut. Shippou scurried behind them. The Jindoro once again jumped down into the hole and rushed over to Inuyasha who was fighting weakly to get off the branch of wood.

“Did you help Kagome?” Inuyasha whispered hoarsely. As he spoke, drops of blood sputtered out of his mouth.

“Yes she will be fine now stop moving and stop talking. You know this is going to hurt.” Jindoro whispered. Inuyasha nodded, took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. The youkai took hold of Inuyasha and with a last, sympathetic look on his face, Jindoro quickly lifted Inuyasha’s body up and off the sharp branch. Inuyasha let out a horrible, painful scream and fainted.

‘Good, it’s best if he is unconscious, he won’t feel any more pain than he has to. You have wonderful luck Inuyasha.’ Jindoro thought to himself as he held Inuyasha close to him, his hand pressed to the hanyou’s punctured stomach, in an effort to slow down the blood flow. He held on to Inuyasha tightly and jumped, bringing them both out of the hole and then he quickly carried him to the hut in the distance.

When Jindoro entered the hut, he noticed that a fire had been built and Sango was tending to Kagome’s cuts. He walked in and set Inuyasha down beside Kagome and asked if there were any bandages. Miroku produced some and helped Jindoro take off Inuyasha’s shirt and bandage him up. As they wrapped the bandages tightly around him, Inuyasha woke up and groaned loudly in pain.

Jindoro leaned in and sang quietly in Inuyasha’s ear. Almost immediately Inuyasha’s breathing evened out and his eye lids drifted closed. When they finished bandaging Inuyasha and tending to Kagome, Miroku and Sango leaned up against wall nearest to the fire and let out a sigh of relief.

“Happy Birthday Inuyasha.” Miroku said sarcastically which earned a light slap on his shoulder from Sango. Kagome was laying quietly on the bed they had made out of Jindoro’s robe and now, with Shippou cuddling up to her, feel asleep too. Jindoro looked over at Inuyasha and Kagome and then to the monk and the demon exterminator.

“You two look exhausted. Rest and I will wake up you up in a little while.” They said nothing but nodded and settled themselves for a little nap. Rest came easy to them, easier than it had in a long, long time. They didn’t know but it was that was the influence of Jindoro’s presence. Hurt and unhurt, they all rested well knowing that the nightingale youkai was watching over them.