DEPTHS OF THE DAMNED

...An Opening to the Underworld...

Disclaimer: sigh I don't own anything InuYasha-wise.

A/N: (I have writer's block!!!!) Okay, I'm now in a soccer team and I'm playing for my school, so also that kind of keeps me from writing my story. I'll try and keep it up—most likely—and continue for you guys! I really appreciate everyone that's reviewed this story, too! I love you people!!

—Oh, just wondering, does this story seem more like a supernatural thing, or a horror fic?—

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I have avenged you, Father...

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Those words continued to ring in Sango's ears. Only last night, she—and InuYasha—had finally gotten rid of the man who murdered her father. And it was something she would never forget.

"Sango...Sango..." a man's voice sounded.

"...Father?" Sango moaned and rubbed her eyes open. "Oh. It's you, Miroku...say wait a minute—what are you doing in my house again??" Sango leapt up on her feet and chased Miroku, welting him on the head. "You're breaking in my house for the second time."

"But, Sango—OW! I—OW! Please—OW!" Miroku winced at every strike Sango made against him. He then only realized she had stopped and he had been cringing at her feet. Embarrassed, he stood up and brushed himself off, and cleared his throat.

"Humph." Sango lifted her head high and crossed her arms, turning her back on him. Which wasn't the best plan...

...A wandering hand rested itself below her hips...

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

While Sango was busy teaching Miroku a lesson, Kagome was out wondering the streets, alone...and afraid...


A black-haired girl with green eyes clutched a shaking hand to her bloodstained shirt. Her face was dirty and pale, for she was frightened for her life. She leaned against a rickety fence and took several raspy breaths.

"Where am I? ...What have I done...? Why do I have blood on.......Kagura? It's Kagura's blood. I'm sure of it...after all; she was the last person I attacked...but it was two nights ago...oh, damn. Why does it have to be like this? Why—" the girl cried and jumped back, startled, when a sandy-haired child with blue eyes tapped her shoulder.

"Lady, do you know where I am?" the child asked. The girl, Kagome, accidentally hit the child, for he had taken her by surprise. "Lady hurt Hachiro! Hachiro is hurt!" Hachiro, the little boy, sobbed and a thin blood line graced his cheek. Kagome's eyes widened and she opened her arms to embrace the little Hachiro. Hachiro stopped sobbing and saw the blood on Kagome's chest. "LADY HURT HACHIRO! HACHIRO IS HURT! LADY HAS HACHIRO'S BLOOD ON HER SHIRT!!" he screamed and tried to back away from the startled teenage girl.

"No! No, I—I—didn't—couldn't—I'm sorry! I..." Tears burst from Kagome's watery green eyes and she ran off, blinded from view, until she came to the corner and she stopped to lean against a lamp post to catch her breath. Everything was a blur—things happened so quickly, she didn't have time to realize what had happened. Kagome was going to make sure of it though: if she stayed away from people, she couldn't harm them...right?


A street across from where Hachiro and Kagome were, three other teenagers were walking along. There were two boys and with them a girl. The taller boy had snowy-white hair, the other had obsidian hair and the girl next to him had chestnut hair. She was smacking the black-haired boy, and the white-haired one was snickering. The girl glared at the both of them.

"I still don't know where Kagome could have gone to! I wish I knew..." Sango sighed and InuYasha glanced at her.

"Sango, that's why we're out here! We're looking for her!" Miroku said.

Sango nodded solemnly.

"Wait a second," InuYasha growled and he held out his arm to stop Sango and Miroku from continuing forward. "I smell blood...and the presence of a demon..."

Sango's jaw dropped and she pushed her way through InuYasha.

"Blood? Did you say...blood?" she squeaked in a timid voice and immediately, thoughts rushed to Kagome's safety and well-being. "And did you say a demon?" A lump formed in her throat as InuYasha nodded his head. Suddenly, a tug at her pants and a meow filling her ears, the brown-haired girl saw her cat, Kilala, sitting there, and the strange thing was...her cat was on fire! It was true! Flames were dancing off the cream-colored coat of Kilala. The only thing that Sango didn't know was—besides the extra tail—was that her very own feline was a neko-youkai, or cat-demon.

Kilala was growling and her eyes shined a bright red. Sango stared, transfixed, and tried to make a sound, but nothing came out. Instead, she reached out a steady hand towards Kilala. Kilala made a rumbling noise in her throat and stepped back. Immediately, a large rush of flames shot upward in the neko-youkai's spot, and Kilala disappeared in them. Sango shrieked.

"KILALA!"

Her fear and anxiety turned into curiosity as a larger version of Kilala stood massively in front of Sango. It was still the same creature, only this large animal had long fangs like a saber tooth tiger's. The transformed Kilala mewled and rubbed her head against Sango. Sango sighed in relief and ducked down to look at her pet's face.

"I wonder how she transformed...I've never noticed anything strange about her, except for the fact she had a second tail..." Sango thought aloud; Miroku shrugged.

"Are we gonna talk about Sango's demon cat all day, or are we going to look for Kagome?" InuYasha spat loudly. "Forget you two if that's what you plan on doing. I'm going to look for her...and I'll die trying if I have to..." The white-haired teenage boy started to walk off, and as he did so, he lowered his head and whispered softly: "Kagome...I'll find you, and I promise you that."

"InuYasha..." the chestnut-haired girl muttered and she started forwards in his direction; the half-demon turned his head to look at her. Tears were filling his golden orbs and, blushing, he wiped them away. He murmured, "I just got something in my eye, is all... C'mon. Let's go find her." Sango smiled weakly and turned to the large neko-youkai. She swung her leg over Kilala's back and seated herself on it as if she was riding a horse. The black-haired boy promptly seated himself behind her and shot off skyward; InuYasha took off running down the street below them.

"Do you see anything?" Miroku called over the sound of the wind rushing against them.

"No, nothing yet!" came Sango's reply.

He turned his head downwards to see a red figure streaking over the ground below. It looked like InuYasha hadn't seen anything yet that could lead where Kagome was.

"AAAAAH!" came a husky cry; the couple's heads twisted in its direction and InuYasha stopped sprinting. Instead, he changed course and ran down the street across from them. Sango and Miroku followed. No sooner had they arrived, Kagome was backing away from someone. Shockingly, the boy, Hachiro, was really a demon in surprise and Kagome was lured into him. Hachiro no longer had the innocent face of a toddler and his eyes were a luminous red. He had fangs for teeth and a foul odor came from his now enormous body; the demon was drooling madly and he lunged at Kagome, who shrieked and jumped away just in time.

As she looked where she had once been standing, the demon had slashed away at the concrete. The frightened girl stumbled away and ran straight into a stop sign. CLANG! She fell down and saw an ominous shadow fall over her. She stared up into the piercing red eyes and knew she was a goner. The raven-haired girl cringed in fright and waited for the final blow. But it never came. Kagome saw why and was grinning.

A red and white streak flew in front of the demon and swung at it. The demon crashed to the ground and was no more. A triumphant hanyou stood over it and flexed his claws.

"Mess with her, and you're messin' with me." InuYasha said proudly. The snowy-haired boy turned to the raven-haired girl and she came running towards him and into his arms.

"Oh, I was so scared! I knew I was a goner for sure and then you showed up and now I'm not a goner, oh thank you, InuYasha!" she cried as she buried her face into his chest. InuYasha's face brightened a dark red when he saw Miroku and Sango standing there. The embarrassed hanyou nudged Kagome away.

"Yes, thank you, InuYasha..." Miroku mimicked and he kicked a leg up in the air and clasped his hands together; InuYasha growled at Miroku and marched right up to him in the face.

"Listen, you..." he growled as he jabbed a finger in the boy's face.

"Huh? Wh—what's going on...?" Sango and Kagome asked as the ground started to rumble and shake. InuYasha lowered his finger from Miroku's face and looked around. Miroku's eyes widened and he realized what was going on.

"This must be an earthquake! Either that or something much, much worse is happening..." he exclaimed with a horrified expression on his face.

It was Sango the first to realize that Kagome was in danger. Only she was too late. By the time she was about to reach her friend, Kagome had fallen down the crack. Sango crouched to the edge to look down. She sighed in relief—Kagome had caught onto a jutting rock down below. She called Kagome's name and the black-haired girl looked up; her eyes were weary. As Kagome tried to climb up towards the surface, a man's laughter rang in her ears and vine-like arms swirled upwards and tangled themselves around Kagome, who was screaming and kicking them for her life, but to no prevail. They were much too strong and she pulled to the depths of the damned. Sango leaned over the crack further when Miroku cautioned her. Sango fell downwards and Miroku tried to catch her, only he too fell downwards. InuYasha sighed and climbed down the crack before it closed up, closely followed by the large Kilala.

It was a long drop downwards, and Sango and Miroku were lucky they didn't break any bones. InuYasha reached them momentarily and debated on they all split up. Naturally, Miroku wanted to team up with Sango. Sango sighed and suggested they all stay together so they won't get lost. Miroku was happy either way. Of course.

"Kagome!" Sango cried at the top of her lungs. It was hot down here, although that was because of the reason they were in the Underworld. Although they were not dead—a good note to know—that was for sure. "Kagome! Are you okay?" Her voice echoed and bounced off the walls. Anyone down here would hear them easily. But just how many living—or not living—things could be down here??

"Oh, she's fine all right...but how long will you be sure of that, Sango...?" a cold male's voice whispered out of the darkness in one tunnel. Sango froze in her spot, a gasp escaping her lips. How did this man know her name? Her jaw dropped when the man stepped out of the shadows. He had long black hair, a pale white face, and cold black eyes. The chestnut-haired girl immediately recognized who he was and stepped back several paces.

"N—Naraku?!" she whispered in a shocked tone.

"I guess you could call me that, although I prefer Kojigoku..." he sneered.

"You bastard—where's Kagome?"

Kagome suddenly appeared and she was bound by the wrists and chains attached to the wall linked around her ankles. She had a worried look on her face which was paling by the second. She cried out to Sango.

"Sango, be careful! Please! He's dangerous!"

"Thanks for that, Kagome. You know, Naraku, the moment I saw you, I knew there was something eerie about you. I never could figure out how you, a—a demon, could be allowed in the school," Sango crossed her arms and took several more paces back, away from Naraku. "Now I'm going to say this once—give Kagome back to us and we'll leave. No, give Kagome back to us and stop possessing her. What do you say?"

Naraku's lips curled, showing two pearly white canines, and he grinned peevishly at her.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, dear Sango. See, I'm not that kind of guy who lets people off that easy..."

"So I've heard..." Sango muttered under her breath.

"You have to fight me in order to get Kagome back, free from her possessed state, but I promise you, you won't beat me,"

He opened an arm to his side and the chains pulled Kagome against the wall forcefully. She groaned and fell to her knees. Weapons then appeared beside her—a large bone boomerang, a sheathed sword, sutras/ofudas, and a staff. Kilala stepped forward beside Sango and nuzzled her mistress's cheek. Sango patted the large feline's head and glared at Naraku. Miroku stood close by Sango and InuYasha stared at Kagome, then glared at Naraku.

This was it. They had to fight to save a dear friend's life. Kagome's safe well-being was in their hands. They must fight for Kagome's freedom. And it wasn't going to be easy.