Chapter fourteen: Osore, part I
They were walking through hell. Deeper and deeper. The hellish air was sucking life out of them. Just like the presence of death itself.
When the darkness retreated, they entered a descending tunnel that led into a cave. They kept going lower and deeper. It was like walking on the bottom of the ocean, only this ocean was ghostly and dead. Massive rounded stalactites were growing from the ground and the ceiling was disappearing in mist. Many demons were flying there with them. Maggots and insect, snake-like, giant morays and eels that kept emerging next to them in complete silence, floating like ghosts and some that resembled red jellyfish. Evil and decay radiated from them. But they didn't try to harm them and Inuyasha knew there was something much worse waiting for them.
When he looked more closely at the sides of the cave, he saw contours of human bodies, like the whole wall was made of them. Legs and arms, heads and trunks. And they were moving, lamenting in a muffled tone.
"Who are they?" Inuyasha asked silently, chills running up and down his back.
"Trapped souls," Sesshomaru answered. They could hear something like breathing and moaning, getting close and far again, coming from the sides of the cave.
"Can they hurt us?"
"Not yet," Sesshomaru said. The Tenseiga was still glowing, the hellish mist receding before his brother. Inuyasha saw him closing his eyes when they clouded black again, shaking his head, his eyes restoring their yellow colour.
The red bird kept flying with them, its light illuminating their path. Inuyasha liked watching the bird, it somehow relieved his tied chest. He felt like being watched and hunted, all those souls getting nearer, almost touching him. Suddenly Sesshomaru stopped, raising an arm to alert him. Something was moving in their direction.
A demon at least ten feet tall. Walking slowly, with silent rasping. His head was bald and covered with festering boils. He had no eyes, only empty holes. His mouth was chapped, revealing his rotten gums with crooked sharp teeth.
He wheezed, turning his head after Sesshomaru. The holes instead of his eyes had a hypnotic look in them. His scent was overwhelmingly repulsive and sent tears into their eyes. Sesshomaru swayed and Inuyasha caught his arm. His eyes turned black.
"Sesshomaru!"
The red bird landed on Sesshomaru's shoulder and his older brother's eyes became yellow again. He shifted them to the demon standing in front of them, not commenting on Inuyasha still holding his arm.
"Ozomashii," Sesshomaru said quietly. "The main demon of Yomi. He is the demon of decay. Doom embodied."
Ozomashii's black holes were staring at Sesshomaru.
"It is said," Sesshomaru continued, "he was created by Izanami from a worm eating her flesh after she died."
To mark his words, Inuyasha noticed numerous worms twisting in Ozomashii's skin.
"How can we kill him?"
"Nohow, it's not possible."
Ozomashii moved forward.
"Stay behind me,"Sesshomaru said. His eyes were half-closed with pains. But his look was clear so far.
"No, I'm in," Inuyasha said, staying right next to him.
Ozomashii wheezed louder, raising an arm at them, worms falling down from it. Inuyasha was scared a bit but angry too. All those fucking demons, there was enough of them!
"Come at me, you scumbag!"
Inuyasha stepped further. Sesshomaru grabbed his shoulder.
"No!" he said, pulling him back. There was a fractional moment of fear in Sesshomaru's eyes.
"Empty-handed?" his brother said. "Are you mad?"
"Well... I sort of... am, I guess," Inuyasha said. "But I won't let you fight it alone."
"Save your courage, you'll need it," Sesshomaru remarked with cynicism, moving his hand to his sword.
"I said you wouldn't fight it alone," Inuyasha repeated, walking in front of him.
"Back off," Sesshomaru said with annoyance, pushing him away. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Right, so we can either keep arguing while Ozomashii here kindly waits or start doing something together."
"Yes, and that would be staying back," Sesshomaru said, glaring at him. "It probably won't fight us as I imagine it is there for another reason."
Ozomashii approached more and breathed in deeply. Sesshomaru grasped the hilt of his sword, drawing it out. As many times before the sword acted on his own will, producing a dark violet barrier that embraced them. Inuyasha moved closer to his brother.
"How long it'll last?"
"It doesn't matter... We can't move inside of it."
Sesshomaru looked at him.
"There will be another test," he said, pausing before adding: "Probably the most difficult. You must stay strong, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha just stared at him. Could it be possible he seemed a bit nervous? And did he use the Tenseiga only to tell him that?
"OK..." Inuyasha said, his voice a bit weaker than usual. "I'll... do my best..."
Sesshomaru nodded. Before putting the Tenseiga back, Inuyasha stopped him.
"Sesshomaru... you... just don't leave me behind."
Sesshomaru didn't take his eyes off him. His face was as impassive as it could be but yet Inuyasha knew something had been different this time.
"I am here to bring back Rin."
"I know. Just don't forget I'm here as well."
"I won't," Sesshomaru said. "Prepare yourself."
With that words he put the Tenseiga back to its sheath. Ozomashii had already been right in front of them. In a fraction of second his body ripped in the middle, a black cloud coming from it, black cloud and slime. Sesshomaru disappeared from Inuyasha's sight.
Inuyasha coughed, groping around, trying to find his older brother. He heard someone breathing on his neck and it made his hair stand up. What should he prepare for? And how?
"You filth..."
He stopped at the sound of the voice. Never in his life did it speak to him in such a way...
"Filthy hanyou..."
A face emerged in front of him and he widened his eyes.
"Kagome?"
He held out his arm, amazed he could touch her. Although he tried to remember this was just another test, the fact he could touch her made it difficult. Kagome narrowed her eyes and he could see repulsion and contempt in them. It made the blood in his veins froze.
"You filthy hanyou..." Kagome muttered with disgust.
She's an illusion. Just an illusion! She's not real!
"Real? Oh, I'm very real, Inuyasha."
She reached him, grasping his arm tightly.
"That's bullshit!" Inuyasha shouted but he wasn't able to stop looking her in the eyes.
"If I am a possibility, a very high possibility, how can I not be real?"
"Shut up!"
Inuyasha wanted to turn away but somehow, he couldn't. Kagome was as beautiful as ever. It had been so long since he had seen her... But there was no love in her eyes.
"Did you come to taste a glimpse of the future?" she asked.
"Look what you've done!"
He saw three little children, sitting in the darkness with confused and scared faces. He guessed their age was about five or six years. A girl and two boys. The boys had Kagome's eyes while the girl had his.
My children? Mine and Kagome's?
He could hear voices of other children...
"You little monsters!"
"You father is a bastard!"
"Freaks!"
"Mongrels!"
The spiteful voices made the three little kids cower, their eyes filling with tears. A stone flew through the air, hitting the girl's head.
"Stop it, you bastard!" Inuyasha shouted.
"No!"
A sword pierced the girl like a hot knife through butter. Inuyasha's voice died in his throat. The girl fell dead on the ground. The two boys were stabbed by the blade as well. A shadowy figure came out of the darkness and Inuyasha saw it was he himself, looking down at his children with nothing but ice in his face.
"See..." Kagome whispered, kneeling down to her dead children. She gave him a look of grudge and despair.
"See what you've done to them?"
Inuyasha couldn't move. He felt hot tears in his eyes, making their way down his face. The lifeless bodies of his children... He could see bruises on their skin, the tiny arms and legs full of scratches.
"Why..."
"You ask why?" Kagome said, getting up with blood on her hands.
"Because of who you are!" she spat out at him. Inuyasha shook his head, trying to regain his rationality, but with no effect. He wanted to tell her just how much he loved her and how much he would love their children but the words wouldn't come out from his mouth. Kagome turned his back at him. Hellish breeze blew around. A hissing sound could be heard. Kagome's hair flowed in the breeze, covering her face. Inuyasha sensed a change about her scent.
"Kagome..."
She looked at him, her eyes bloodshot and face covered in blood. Inuyasha felt the madness taking over him. He couldn't bear looking at her like that. That was just too much for him to take. He knew he wouldn't stand it.
"Inuyasha..." she said silently. "I needed you..."
She dissolved in front of his eyes, the whole scenery changing. It was an old path in the fields, a late spring evening. Kagome was walking the path, quickly, with a manly figure stalking her.
Kagome... run!
The man grabbed her by the hair, pulling her back. She screamed but he threw her on the ground. Taking a rope out of his pocket he tied her arms and legs, tearing her clothes with a knife afterwards and exposing her naked body.
Kagome... my love...
Inuyasha felt his mind burning with incredible hate and insane rage. He tried several times to get to her but he was like stuck in one place, the only thing he could do was just to watch it. As the man slapped her viciously, leaving her lip bleeding. As he kept touching her. Violating her in the most horrible way - till she stopped fighting back, till her head tilted limply up and down. When he was finished, he easied the ropes around her arms, pulling her up and letting her hang from the tree by her ankles, upside down.
Inuyasha collapsed on his knees, shaking. His mind was raving. His fingers were shivering as the hatred of his demon-self was overwhelming him. He had never felt this way, the fierce blow of fury and terror. Something was clawing in his brains. Something was tearing his heart.
My love... my dearest...
In the very back of his consciousness he noticed another dark figure moving next to him.
He got up like a dead man, not fully aware of why he was following that someone. Ear-splitting rumbling filling his head. He breathed irregularly, the images of his dead children and raped Kagome burned into his mind, into the back of his eye-lids. Forever. He wanted to throw up, the waves of sickness washing over him.
Inuyasha crouched, vomiting. Ice sweat formed on his forehead. He lowered his glare down and the urge to throw up was back. He was in a pool of warm blood that smelled of iron. Human arms and heads could be seen in it.
Miroku... Shippo... Sango... Kagome... and Rin...
All dead. And the worms... eating their flesh...
Inuyasha got up, drowsy, continuing, his steps splashing in the blood. Chaos had taken over him. As he was only semi-perceiving what was happening he almost fell over, hitting something. He looked up slowly. Sesshomaru... His face was crossed with pure disgust and the marks on his cheeks were black and ragged. The look of his eyes... So hard as it had never been before.
No, not you too...
"Bastard..." Sesshomaru growled in the animal-like voice. "You deserve to die."
Sesshomaru lashed at him, catching Inuyasha off guard. He attacked him with his poisonous whip, slashing him over and over again. The pain was unbearable. Inuyasha fell on the ground, curling. He was sure his head would break in pieces.
"You despicable trash!" Sesshomaru scolded him. "You are nothing. Nothing!"
'You filthy hanyou...'
'Your father's a bastard!'
'It's all because of you. Because of who you are!'
'Inuyasha... where were you when I needed you...'
'You piece of crap. Worthless brat...'
"You are not my brother, you purposeless crossbreed!"
Sesshomaru's voice was cutting Inuyasha's heart and mind in pieces. It wouldn't take long. He was sinking into the blood and he knew once he would be under it, it would be over. Over...
The pain... The rumbling in my head... It's all true... I'm nothing... Kagome... and my children... all because of me... useless hanyou like me...
Inuyasha trembled, coldness seeping through him, screams and roaring coming closer to him and the arms, the arms from the cave walls were stretching and holding out to him, ready to take him. To endless oblivion...
'Inuyasha... There is strong blood in your veins...'
Inuyasha breathed in shakily. He remembered this... Sesshomaru told him...
My father's blood... and my mother's...
Sesshomaru. He told him that. And that someone before, that wasn't Sesshomaru, that was just an illusion, not his real brother...
Inuyasha took a long, deep breath. He got on his knees, opening his eyes. Sesshomaru was gone, so was the screaming and the rambling sound in his head. Inuyasha slowly looked around, the madness perishing away. He was kneeling near a wide, murmuring river. Although still in hell, surrounded with nothing but darkness, the sound of the running water was real. Inuyasha stood up, glaring at the silvery water. He felt strangely empty after the horrifying strain of insanity. His legs were weak and he was exhausted but actually quite calm.
Now he needed to find his elder brother to continue. He walked quickly up along the river. He couldn't feel him. Where was he? Did he pass the test?
Inuyasha stopped, his eyes stuck on the water surface. Where had been only silvery water just a few seconds ago, dark blood was flowing down the river. And that scent of it. The scent of hell and decay... And something more, something familiar...
His heart raced. This blood was...
Sesshomaru...!
"What are you doing here, demon? Your time is yet about to come."
"My lady... I'm in front of your throne to beg for the lives of my wife and children."
"How did you get there? It was the foolish demon, Shishinki, wasn't it? His wasting with Meidō Zangetsuha is culpable."
The displeased tone of her voice was like a rapid temperature decrease. Mizuchi tried hard to collect himself and stay calm face to face with the goddess of death.
"Please, my lady..."
"Stupid demon," she said. "You know it is not in my power to give back their lives. There is no such power in the whole world."
But Mizuchi didn't quite agree with that.
"What about the healing sword. The Tenseiga?"
Long silence followed. Mizuchi got afraid he'd annoyed the goddess but she was only thinking deeply before looking back at him.
"There hasn't been a demon so powerful yet to create a sword able to cut the minions of the netherworld and prevent them from taking a soul. But Inu-no-Taisho found a way as I see... His yokai powers must be extraordinary strong to slay my demons... I must say I am curious about him. Hopefully we will meet soon. Although I don't like the Tenseiga much, it steals what belongs to me."
"That sword is not in Inu-no-Taisho's possession any more," Mizuchi said. "It was passed on his son."
"Sesshomaru..." she murmured. "And he refused to help you."
"Yes..."
"Do you know if he didn't feel sorry for your family, the sword couldn't work anyway?"
"That doesn't lessen my hate for him, my lady," Mizuchi said. The goddess smirked.
"Demons and humans... You all are alike. Love and hate..."
She observed thoughtfully as Mizuchi was begging down under her throne and added in a more silent voice: "And gods are not so different either..."
She moved her head on side a little after that, changing the subject.
"But the sword can save a life only when the minions are still there to take the soul. When they have already taken it, the sword is useless. And that, I believe, is your case."
Mizuchi stared at her, giving her a small nod. Although his despair was great and his determination to persuade her strong, he couldn't help himself from gazing at the goddess. He couldn't believe he'd actually met her. The fearsome ruler of the netherworld. She was... horrifying...
"Tell me what you want, my lady. I will do anything, I will give you everything..."
She watched him contemplatively, the look of her eyes stern and unemotional.
"Your love for them must be strong, demon. Not often do I have such a supplicant before me. They are usually too weak to pass all three gates of Yomi. But you proved to be different."
Mizuchi knelt down, bowing, touching the ground with his forehead.
"Say anything, my lady. Anything. Just bring them back."
"Anything, you say? Once again - I cannot bring them back to life. The only thing I can offer is to preserve their spirits to live inside my dominion."
Mizuchi looked up at her.
"How?"
"They will remain dead but I shall give them back their bodies, undamaged and suitable for living on ground marked with hell."
Mizuchi hesitated. He couldn't imagine it precisely just by this description. The goddess had obviously noticed his confusion for she explained: "You and your family would live at a place I would choose for you. They could not cross the border but inside of it, they could - in a way - live. With you. You too would be bounded with Yomi and me. You too would not be able to leave."
"But my family... They would be alive. The same as they were before they died?"
Lady Izanami nodded shortly. Her eyes seemed like holes after fallen stars. Absolutely empty and yet containing the wisdom of the whole existence. It was impossible to guess what the goddess was thinking and why she was doing that.
"I take that," he said. Lady Izanami narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Really? Isn't the price too high for you, demon?"
"Price?"
"Your soul, of course. Sooner or later it will be mine. I don't need to rush. I have the eternity."
Mizuchi frowned. His soul? But what was a soul anyway? Was it really something he needed so much? More than his wife and children?
"And what about their souls?"
Lady Izanami smiled. It was a smile without any joy, without any warmth.
"Clever question, demon. No, their souls would be free."
"In that case, my lady, I agree."
Lady Izanami nodded slowly, raising from her throne. He kept staring at her. She was magnificent. Frightening. Bewildering. She moved her arm, pointing a finger at him. He noticed her nail, sharp and black.
"You've made your choice, demon," she said. "Now there's no way back for you. Do not make the same mistake as my husband."
Chap 14 finished, huh, took some time and brains, ha ha. Hope you liked. I'm afraid I wrote it way too dark for poor Inuyasha but what else would make him touch the border of insanity than this? Also, it's no fairy-tale in hell, ha ha:-)
Next: Sesshomaru's worst fears materialized and also more of Izanami and Mizuchi's back story. This is the last gate and the reunion with Rin is coming! I'm already writing the chapter, will post on next Suturday for sure. And I won't be easy on Sess:)