Singer In The Night

*Singer In The Night – chapter 7*


Sesshoumaru’s words froze Kagome and Inuyasha where they sat. Their breath hitched in their chests and their hearts just seemed to stop mid-beat. Slowly Inuyasha turned his head and glanced over his shoulder. There, standing tall and proud was his older brother. He had drawn Tokijin and awaited his little brother’s next move.

The three of them stood there in dead silence for what seemed like a blink of an eye and a long hour all at once. When Inuyasha’s mind had composed itself he immediately put himself between Sesshoumaru and Kagome. He could feel her shaking, though she had not said anything yet.

“Go Kagome, run.” Inuyasha whispered to her as he rose to his feet and brought her with him. She finally brought her eyes away from the youkai lord and looked into her mate’s eyes. She didn’t want to go, she was scared but she wanted to stay with Inuyasha. She wasn’t going to leave him alone.

“Yes bitch, run away. I am not concerned with you right now.” Sesshoumaru said in a low voice, his steely gaze shifting from Inuyasha to the girl beside him. Kagome looked back at Inuyasha and saw the concerned on his face. He nodded and gently pushed her away from him.

“Come to me Kagome.” Came a voice from behind Sesshoumaru. All three looked out into the dark forest and saw Jindoro. He was looking at the dog youkai, in his eyes you could see how string he really was. There was no way he would back down. He had a sword drawn and pointed at Sesshoumaru.

“Come here, he isn’t going to hurt you.” Jindoro called to Kagome, the usual softness of his voice returning somewhat. The arm that did not hold a weapon was opened, waiting to take Kagome into his safe embrace. She went, trying her best to move as far away from Sesshoumaru when she passed him. Inuyasha watched her move over to Jindoro, his eyes went back and forth from her to his brother, and making sure he was not making any move toward her. He didn’t move but Sesshoumaru did follow Kagome with his eyes.

‘This looks vaguely familiar. , Jindoro holding a sword on me while in the other arm he holds my would- be victim. He cannot ever seem to mind his own affairs, can he?’ Sesshoumaru thought to himself as the little bit of deja vou played out before him. When she had reached him, Jindoro looked down and smiled at her.

“Go find Sango and Miroku, alright?” As he spoke he pointed her in the right direction and gently pushed her to go. She walked at first, looking behind her at Inuyasha then she picked up her pace and began to run through the forest.

“You always must meddle in things that do not concern you.” Sesshoumaru sneered at the nightingale youkai. He lowered his sword somewhat but did not sheath it.

“This does concern me Sesshoumaru.” Jindoro said calmly and softly. No one but Jindoro noticed that when he had spoken Sesshoumaru name, the dog youkai’s jaw tightened just a little. Jindoro took notice of this but said nothing. After a moment of silence Jindoro glanced at Inuyasha.

“Go after her Inuyasha, leave us alone.” Jindoro said and then motioned behind him. Inuyasha looked back and forth from him to his older brother and then moved to go.

“Don’t go too far Inuyasha; I’ll come find you when I am done.” Sesshoumaru growled in a low and malicious voice. Inuyasha growled back but swiftly went out in the dark, in the direction Kagome had gone.

Then the two youkai were left alone, silent and staring at each other. They poured through one another’s eyes. They stood still like the trees around them until it was as if they themselves were a part of the forest. Then in less than a blink of an eye, they launched at each other. Gone was the soft and gentle Jindoro. The youkai that stood in his place was still graceful and silent but it was a deadly grace and the silence of an assassin. They both had the perfect countermove for teach other’s strikes. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft, sharp clang of their swords against each other and the cloth of their garments whipping around them. Jindoro had two katanas on his waist but he only had drawn one. He would not hold two weapons when his opponent had but one arm to hold his own weapon.

It had become increasingly obvious that this battle was taxing on Sesshoumaru. Many years ago, when they had sparred with each other, it was difficult enough with two arms. Now, courtesy of Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru had a handicap. As they fought, years and years of emotion was pouring out and it seemed to Sesshoumaru that this may be the battle against Jindoro he would not walk away from. His strikes were becoming more and more sloppy and desperate. It seemed they were no longer equally matched.

Sesshoumaru backed away from his opponent and lowered his blade. Jindoro stopped as well, looking at Sesshoumaru and waiting for him to speak. The dog youkai just stood there looking at Jindoro. In his mind, memories played over and over. Though it was hard to distinguish, a display of emotion played across Sesshoumaru’s face. After a few moments of silence Jindoro could hear the faintest whisper from Sesshoumaru’s lips.

“I can’t do this…” Sesshoumaru breathed as he let his eyes drop to the ground.

“Sesshoumaru?” Jindoro inquired softly, lowering his katana. He took a step forward, straining to look at his face.

“I am tired Jindoro, so tired. I do not want to endure this life anymore. I think that is why I sought you out. Many, demons and men alike, would like to see me dead but I believe you are the only one that would mourn my passing at least a little.”

Jindoro wasn’t sure what was going on or what he was saying. This was not what he had expected to happen when he caught Sesshoumaru’s scent and came running. After such a heated battle, one where he had been sure one of them or both would not walk away from, he was standing here listening to Sesshoumaru’s strange words. In that moment Inuyasha returned to grove where he had left the two youkai. With him he had Kagome, Sango, and Miroku. Inuyasha had told Shippou to stay behind and keep out of sight. He had no idea what kind of danger he would encounter when he went back to Jindoro. Now he saw Sesshoumaru and Jindoro standing almost exactly how he had left them, but Jindoro’s sword had been drawn so he knew they had fought. What the hanyou could not understand was why now they had stopped and were just standing around. So he kept everyone in the brush, well hidden, in hopes that they would not disturb what was going on. In his gut, Inuyasha knew he should not run in “guns blazing.”

“I know why you are tired, because you are filled with needless hate and bitterness.” Jindoro said sadly, sheathing his blade. Only after he had said it did it seem that those were perhaps not the words he should have chosen. Sesshoumaru looked up and it was clear he was angry.

“What would you know about it? Nothing! So move aside and let me kill the cause of my hate and bitterness. I’ll finish what I should have long ago and rid the world of this hanyou upstart! ” Sesshoumaru’s voice was seething as his golden eyes flashed at Inuyasha. He raised his sword and stepped forward but Jindoro didn’t move.

“I can’t do that. I will not move for Inuyasha’s sake and your own.” Jindoro said, standing still, tall and strong. Sesshoumaru growled at this.

“What the hell is this foolishness?!?!” Sesshoumaru questioned more to himself than the nightingale youkai who stood before him. Jindoro sighed and rubbed his forehead. This was so hard for him; it was like reopening old wounds that perhaps never healed to begin with.

“Inuyasha never did anything to warrant your wrath. You are full of hate, but not for him. You hate and resent your father for many things. For letting your mother die, for replacing her with Nuri, for lavishing affection on Inuyasha as he never did with you, for…what he did to us. You hate me. Can you not see it clearly as I do? If your blood lust must be satisfied and someone must die, kill me.” Jindoro stated as he sheathed his katana and walked toward Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha gasped and moved to run to Jindoro’s aide until Kagome held him back. Sesshoumaru just stared at him with a blank look on his face.

“Let him go and kill me. He is innocent in all of this…And if you kill Inuyasha you will also kill what is left of the Sesshoumaru I knew; the real Sesshoumaru. And if he goes, the man I loved, I will go with him.” Jindoro sighed kept walking until he was face to face with Sesshoumaru. The youkai lord just looked at Jindoro, his mouth gaping slightly. It was as if the nightingale’s gentle words punched him in the stomach or something. Once again memories of them together flooded back and Sesshoumaru felt his eyes, eyes that have been dry and emotionless for so many years, well up with tears.

“Jindoro…Why did you have to go?” Sesshoumaru said weakly as he dropped his sword with a thud and slumped to his knees. Inuyasha and the other bystanders were in shock. They have never seen Sesshoumaru in such a state. He was always so cold and calculating. Nothing could get a rise out of him. Now the mighty Lord of the Western Lands had been reduced to a flood of pent up tears. None of them, especially Inuyasha, could imagine him like this. It was unreal.

Jindoro’s own eyes started to mist as he looked down at the youkai lord at his feet. Sesshoumaru was not even forming words, he was just sobbing softly. His hand reached up and griped Jindoro’s blue robe. Jindoro let his own hand fall gently on Sesshoumaru’s head, trying to calm him by stroking his silvery hair.

‘It has finally caught up with him, and now he is in so much pain. It hurts so much to see him like this.’ Jindoro thought to himself but he was soon rocketed out of these thoughts when his eyes now glanced over at Sesshoumaru’s neck. There, where he had brushed the hair away was a strange scar.

Inuyasha saw the look of shock in Jindoro’s face and squinted his eyes, hoping to see what it was that had brought such an expression on the nightingale youkai’s face. He saw it, and it brought him an equal amount of shock.

“What is it?” Kagome whispered to Inuyasha, tightly griping his hand. At first the hanyou couldn’t get any words out, but after a few tries he managed to speak.

“It’s his symbol, but I don’t…” Inuyasha’s voice drifted off as he continued to watch Jindoro and Sesshoumaru’s exchange. Jindoro dropped down to his knees so he was face to face with Sesshoumaru.

“What happened?” Jindoro asked softly, the shock was still on his face and in his voice. He just didn’t understand. Sesshoumaru’s teary sobs and broken up sentences didn’t help either.

“I found your dagger…you left it home…you weren’t there…I tried…I did it myself.” Sesshoumaru rambled on, but it wasn’t making sense to anyone but him. Jindoro raised his hand and cupped Sesshoumaru’s face, raising it up so he could look into his eyes.

“I don’t understand Sesshoumaru.” Jindoro said softly, letting his thumb run along the crying youkai’s cheek, wiping away a tear. Sesshoumaru sighed and looked down into his lap.

“You went away and I found a dagger you left behind. I tried to carve your mating symbol on my neck.” Sesshoumaru tried to explain, it was hard to get his point across though.

“Why?” Jindoro asked in a whisper. This was all too much for any of them to take. Jindoro had trouble himself forming sentences. Sesshoumaru’s tears started flowing faster and he shouted through his sobbing, as if that would make him more understandable.

“Because…Because I don’t know who I am if I am not yours!” That had opened up the flood gate. Sesshoumaru collapsed against Jindoro’s chest, holding onto him tightly.

“I don’t know who I am anymore, I don’t know! It’s so hard! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was wrong, I am sorry! I don’t know…Who am I? Who am I now?!?!” Sesshoumaru kept repeating over and over. Inuyasha heard this and thought that he had gone mad.

‘Sesshoumaru must have lost his mind.’ Inuyasha thought as he watched the strange and heart-breaking scene unfold before him.

Jindoro enveloped Sesshoumaru into his arms, drawing him closer. To those who were watching it almost looked like a mother comforting a hurt child. It really was surreal. These two powerful, noble and at times dangerous, youkai were kneeling on the dirty ground. One was sobbing uncontrollably and the other had silent tears streaming down his beautiful face.

“Shhh…You are mine. You are Sesshoumaru. I love you and you will always be mine.” Jindoro whispered comforting words to him. Then he took Sesshoumaru’s face in his hands and gave him a small smile before he brought lips up to his own. The kiss was passionate and chaste all at once. It lasted a moment and an eternity. It had been many, many years since last they kissed one another and yet now that their lips were touching it felt like it was only yesterday.

Inuyasha, Miroku, Kagome and Sango all watched with wide eyes. Inuyasha had never expected this to happen but a small part of him said this was the way it was supposed to be. That they were supposed to be together. In that moment Inuyasha did not hate Sesshoumaru, and it was a very strange feeling indeed. Sesshoumaru pulled away from Jindoro and looked up into his eyes and sighed.

“I have been so god-damn foolish, I don’t deserve forgiveness from anyone.” Sesshoumaru said sadly. Inuyasha heard these words and something inside him made him walk out of the forest.

‘Oh I have gone off the deep fucking end and this is not a day that will be soon forgotten.’

Inuyasha strode forward a few steps and then looked back at Kagome. Somehow she knew what he was thinking and she smiled and nodded. Inuyasha nodded his head and kept going until he was standing next to Jindoro. It was strange; he hadn’t been this close to Sesshoumaru with fighting with him in so long. Now he was standing calmly next to the youkai who had tried, on several occasions, to murder him. Sesshoumaru looked up from Jindoro to Inuyasha, wondering what he was doing. The thought had come to mind that maybe Inuyasha was going to kill him, and he would have deserved whatever horrifying death the hanyou could devise. Sesshoumaru had tried to kill him and his friends and had made Inuyasha’s life a living hell at times. He should have been trying to help his younger brother, which was never the case though. He kept looking at the hanyou but he only stood there though. Then, after a long silence, Inuyasha slowly and hesitantly put out his hand and rested it in Sesshoumaru’s shoulder. He did it slowly, trying to avoid getting his hand bitten off or something worse. Sesshoumaru didn’t look up at Inuyasha; it was as if he was ashamed to do so.

“It’s…ok…now…brother.” Inuyasha stumbled out quietly. Sesshoumaru looked up at Inuyasha’s golden eyes and felt astounded. He reached up and took his younger brother’s hand in his own and pressed Inuyasha’s palm to his forehead. It was an old youkai gesture of respect. Inuyasha knew this and never had dreamt this day would come.

“That is the beauty of forgiveness, allows us the freedom to make mistakes.” Jindoro said in comforting voice. He smiled his gentle smile at the man he loved and received a smile in return. A smile that hadn’t shown itself in more than two hundred years.


*That’s it!!! (throws hands up in the air), I hope you liked it cause we have come to the end of this little fic. Not too short, not too long if you ask me. I don't know if I'm done with these characters yet, there may be more from Jin in the future. Now be good readers and remember to tell me what you thought overall, OR I’LL NEVER WRITE ANYTHING EVER AGAIN! :P lol, you all take it easy and don’t read too many lemons, you’ll go blind. Once again thanks very, much for reading this