Chapter nine : The doors of Hell

Unknown's POV

It was not dark anymore. There was a red light... a terrifying red light. Burning his eyes. He couldn't see where he was. But he wasn't alone anymore. There was people all around him. Many people. Crying, screaming, pleading...

He wish he could be alone again.

There was noises. And scents... fire, smoke, embers, dust... blood, burned flesh, fear, death...

He was scared. Terrified. He couln't think straight. This place was turning him crazy.

And the pain... the terrible pain... in his arms, in his legs, in his head, in his eyes... every last part of his body was hurting. He couldn't remember when the pain had started... a long time... and it hadn't stopped since then. He was almost getting use to it. He was almost ready to lose hope...

He was tired. Exhausted. He could breath, but every breaths were burning his lungs like fire. He was tired to struggle. Tired to fight... He was fealing so weak... so weak... He wanted to give in...

But he couldn't. Something was stopping him, something in his memory... Far, far away...

But he had lost almost all of his memory, now... Every sounds, every images... nothing was left... except for some blury visions of a girl with black hair... and a man, a tall man with long white hair... They were calling his name... what was his name, again ? He didn't know... couldn't remember... he didn't know who he was... he was no one... no one...

The pain increased... was it even possible ? Was it possible to suffer so much without dying ? Or was he already dead ?...

He screamed. He knew he had. Oh God... the pain... it was excruciating. He couldn't stand it anymore... he wanted it to end... his head was ready to explode... he screamed again...

"Oh please, make it stop ! Make it stop !"

But it didn't stopped. It got worse... And then he saw them again... the girl was smiling gently at him, recomforting... the man was there, too... Who was that guy ?... He suddenly wished that man would be there... he could save him... he knew it... But how ?...

The visions begun to faltered... he was losing them too... Finally, they disappeared. Nothing was left. He was alone.

He was no one...

Sesshomaru's POV

So, that was Hell ? Not very impressing, Sesshomaru thought. He had expected more. There was nothing here. Just a big empty space. But maybe that was the point... Could that kind of place turn a damned soul crazy ? Maybe he wasn't affected because he was a living being. But still, he had expected more...

That's when it hit him all at the same time ;

One moment, there was nothing, and the moment after, it exploded all around him : first, the heat. It was so hot, even for him it was more than uncomfortable. He felt like the air was burning his skin. After that, there was the fire : flames were dancing everywhere, and then he noticed that there was indeed walls and a floor and a roof, all made of some sort of black rocks, or so it seems. Many rock faces and large parts of the floor were on fire, even know rock doesn't burn. After the heat and the fire, came the sounds : screams, high pitch screams, of fear, of pain, of rage... And moans, whines, sobs... Sesshomaru controlled the urge to cover his ears. Then, at last, the scents... The Demon Lord had never smelled death so strongly before. It was making him dizzy... And to that overwhelming scent was mixed those of blood, smoke, and embers.

So, THAT was Hell.

Much more convincing.

Sesshomaru tried to focus. Something was bothering him ; where did the screams came from ? He looked around. No one. Were those screams even real ? And if they were, what was causing them ? Duh... he knew the answer to that question : the souls were being tortured. Was his brother screaming too ?

He jumped. Inu-Yasha ! He almost punched himself for not thinking of him right away. He tried to pick up his scent. Of course, it didn't worked. There was too many strong smells around. What could he do ?...

He remembered his father's words : Be alert, kill every demons you meet and... always go straight ahead. Simple enough.

As he begun to move forward, being careful not to step in the fire, he saw something far away before him. It looked like... doors. Two big doors, apparently closed and with nothing guarding them. He ran toward it. Once closer, he could see it more clearly ; it was effectively two doors, made of weird black metal, with ancient symbols all over it and handles as big as him. The doors themselves were almost twenty times his height.

"Are these... the doors of Hell ?" he asked himself.

Do Hell have doors ? Well, there was one thing he knew for sure : the sounds were coming from behind the doors. And his father had said : always straight ahead. Straight ahead, there was these doors. So he had to go through. There was one problem, though : how to open them ? Even if he was strong enough to push them, they were probably locked or had some trap on it. What was he to do ? Knock ?

But before he could start to consider his options, he heard something behind him. It was like... a squeaking. Mouses ? Yeah, like he was going to be this lucky...

He turned and saw hundreds of little red eyes staring at him. Those things were certainly no mouses. In fact, they looked a lot like Jaken. But they were not the same race as him. Sesshomaru knew them. They were the disgusting creatures that were picking the souls of dead persons to bring it in the other world. When he was reviving someone with his Tenseiga, it was those imps he was slaying. This time would be no different.

He unsheathed his sword. It gave a strange blue glow, as if showing its superior heavenly force. In this realm of darkness, the purity of the Tenseiga was dominating. The small creatures begun to step back, hesitating before the blue light. It was not goog for them, they knew it.

Sesshomaru raised his hand... and brung it down, slicing the air with Tenseiga's blade. The blue glow became blinding bright, and when it faded away... all the creatures were reduced in dust.

"Well, that was easy" the dog demon thought. But he also knew that it would not always be easy...

He made a move to put the weapon back in its sheath, but then the sword escaped his hand and flew right to the black doors ; it stucked itself in the crack between the two, and the soft blue glow appeared again. When it vanished, Tenseiga just fell to the ground with a clicking noise. Sesshomaru went to grab it, and just as he was benting down to do so, a loud creaking followed by a thundering sound resonated in the cave. Looking up and sheathing his sword, Sesshomaru saw with satisfaction that the doors were opening slowly by themselves.

When it was wide open, scents and sounds tackeled him strongly, making his head spin with discomfort. A burning wind ruffled his hair. Had he been human, his face would've been burnt to a cinder. He quickly regained himself and passed the entrance of Hell.

He wasn't ready for what he saw on the other side.

Sesshomaru sure wasn't a religious person, but at the sight that was suddenly offered to him, he couldn't help himself to say :

- Oh dear Kami... Little brother, don't tell me you're in there...

A/N : Well, for Sesshomaru to say that, the sight mustn't be very pretty... But it's Hell, so it's not suppose to be pretty anyway... Poor InuYasha ! He's stuck in there ! Will Sesshomaru reach him in time ?...