Chapter eleven : Broken soul
Sesshomaru's POV
Sesshomaru was walking through the crowd, his Tenseiga held out firmly before him. Everyone was moving aside to let him pass, permetting him to advance more quickly. His sword was very useful indeed ; the pure light emanating from it was practically terrorizing them. And if some were foolish enough to approach him, the Tensaiga would gave a wave of energy that would send them back to where they were coming from, their tails between their legs.
He was almost excited ; he could smell Inu-Yasha's scent becoming stronger. It smelled like the forest. His brother had always smelled like forest. Since Sesshomaru had picked it up, he couldn't smell anything else but that. Not the blood, not the smoke, not the death... nothing except the scent of his brother. Now, he was following it and was definitely coming closer. He almost smiled.
But his happy behaviour disappeared when he saw where the scent had led him : just before one of the constructions, a large one made of rock. There was no windows, just a hole in the front, probably what would've been a door. He could hear screams and sobs coming from inside. There was quite a lot of people in there... they were being tortured... and Inu-Yasha was in there too...
Sesshomaru didn't want to enter... he was afraid of what he would find... But he had to. He had to save his little brother. With the blue glow of his sword preceding him, he slowly walked inside...
His eyes widened. A torture room. He had just entered in a torture room. A big fire was burning in the center, illuminating the place with a gloomy red light. It was full of weird machines that were obviously built to hurt and torture in every ways possible. On some of them were put demons an humans, and Sesshomaru experienced first class what some of the machines were doing exactly. They were operated by Hell demons, of course. There was about ten of them in the room, and many damned souls. When he entered, they all turned and looked at him. Well, most of them... some of the victims were in too bad condition to acknowledge him. The ones who saw his sword gasped, covering their eyes. Everything went silent, except for moans of pain and such...
He took a circular glance, searching for his brother... When he saw him, he almost growled of rage : on his left, at the far end of the room, was standing a huge stone that looked like an altar... on it was lying the hanyou, arms and legs chained. His red Fire Rat kimono was in rags, burned and ripped, and he was covered in blood. Sesshomaru pleaded the gods to help him contain his fury and stay calm. He glared at the other occupants of the room :
- Get out, he said with an icy tone.
They hesitated, of course. His eyes flashed red and Tenseiga started to glow furiously, golden this time, brighter than the sun itself. They squeaked in fear and exited the room without demanding their rest.
The light weakened and returned to blue. He lowered his sword and walked to where Inu-Yasha was. Once he was standing beside the stone and could now perfectly see the damages... it took everything out of him not to collapse. His brother was a real mess ; he was thinner, paler, his cloths were totally ruined, he was wounded everywhere and covered with his own blood. Some of his claws had been pulled out, his skin was burnt in several places, his little doggy ears had deep gashes in it, totally mutilated, and the worst... was his eyes. They had been burnt.
Sesshomaru was furious, but he also had this big urge to cry. But he didn't, of course...
- Oh, Inu-Yasha... what have they done to you ? he whispered.
At the sound of his voice, the small ears twitched painfully, and the hanyou stiffened in apprehension. "He thinks he'll get hurt again" Sesshomaru thought, his heart aching. Slowly, he begun to unchained him. Inu-Yasha's body was so tense he could almost hear its bones cracks. As soon as his hands and legs were free, the hanyou curled up into a little ball and started to shiver. "I have to get him out of here" the older demon thought. He bent to take his brother in his arms and said :
- Come on, little brother. Let's get you out of here...
But as soon as he touched Inu-Yasha, this one yelped and moved away from him. He quickly collapsed on the ground, too weak to stand. Sesshomaru approached him.
- Inu-Yasha, we have to go ! he urged him.
He bent down and took his brother's wrist, at what Inu-Yasha screamed and scratched Sesshomaru's left cheek with his remaining claws. The demon Lord went impatient :
- That's enough, Inu-Yasha ! We have to go now ! he shouted.
At the sound of Sesshomaru's voice rising, the poor hanyou begun to shiver like a leaf. His older brother immediately noticed, and bit his tongue for being so stupid. His father had warned him ; he would have to be patient and soothing with his brother, would have to make the hanyou trust him... «He may not recognize you... Don't force him, he'll get scared and it'll be worst... you'll have to be something reassuring, something he'll be able to hold on to... His soul will be wounded, my son... you'll have to heal it...» His dad's words were all coming back at him, and he realized he had done everything wrong. Be patient and soothing... but now the hanyou was terrified by him.
He had messed everything... but he would not give up. He would not abandon his little brother. No way in... Hell ! "I'll do it again" he thought, " and I'll do it right this time."
He laid his Tenseiga on the ground just beside them, so it would still give them protection. He kneeled down before the trembling hanyou. First, he had to reassure him...
- Don't be afraid Inu-Yasha, he whispered softly. I will not hurt you. No one will. Your safe now.
His shivers started to calm down. Was it the soft tone or the words themselves ? Sesshomaru slowly raised his right hand and approached it from Inu-Yasha's head. He must've felt it, because he started to tremble again. Sesshomaru gently laid his hand on his brother's hair, then begun to stroke it with care. He murmured :
- Shhh... that's Ok... I'm not gonna hurt you... I swear...
His brother calmed down again... though he was still a bit nervous. Sesshomaru came closer. This time Inu-Yasha didn't flinched. He just waited. OK, part one done. Now, to make him recognize him...
- It's me, Inu-Yasha. It's your big brother. Don't you remember me ? he asked with the same soft tone.
Inu-Yasha frowned. The fact that he couldn't see him wasn't gonna help...
- I came to bring you back home, little brother. I came to save you. To get you out of this terrible place...
The hanyou made a small moan. Small, but heartbreaking... Sesshomaru couldn't resist... He came even closer and took his younger brother in his arms. Gently, to not frighten or hurt him. This one tensed. Sesshomaru stroke his hair, speaking with a low voice :
- Shhh... everything is alright now. I'm here and I won't let anyone hurt you. I'll protect you...
Inu-Yasha's POV
The man was holding him, now. Not harshly, but very gently. It was the first time someone was being nice to him since... since... ah, he couldn't remember. It was all so blurry.
"Inu-Yasha", he had called him. That was probably his name. And him... no, he hadn't said his name yet... but he had said he was his big brother. Did he had a big brother ? This would be so great...
He wished he coul've just seen the man. Then maybe he coul've told. But he couldn't. He was blind. But... that meant that if the monsters were coming back to torture him, he wouldn't see them... he would be defenseless...
He struggled in the man's grasp, covering his eyes with his hands, whimpering like a lost puppy... He was so scared...
But then the soft voice spoke again, a hand still stroking his hair :
- Shhh... don't be afraid... I won't let anyone touch you... I'll protect you... little brother...
He calmed down. The man would protect him ? But why ? Because he was his big brother ? He wished it would be true... he wished so hard it would be true... He was tired of resisting and fighting... he didn't want to be tortured anymore... he wanted it to stop... And there this man was saying he would protect him... not let anyone touch him... "Oh please, let it be true..." he pleaded silently. He snuggled in the man's embrace, just to see if he would push him away... but he didn't. On the contrairy, he held him tighter. Inu-Yasha sighed in contentment. It had been so long since someone had been gentle with him... so long...
He felt warmth on his cheeks... he hadn't realized he had been crying. He hadn't allowed himself to cry for so long, too... The first time he had cried, the monsters had hurt him even more, laughing... So he hadn't cried anymore. But now, with this man, he felt... safe. This man was strong, he could protect him... and he wanted to cry for so long... Now he could finally do it without being punished... so he let the tears fall, sobbing like a child... He was a bit ashamed of himself for reacting like that... but he was hurting so much...
The man held him close, stroking his hair, rubbing his ears, very gently to not hurt them more, whispering softly to sooth him.
He buried his face in the man's kimono. His scent too was soothing... it was familiar... he was sure he knew that scent...
He inhaled deeply, trying to remember... after a while, he thought that nothing would come, when suddenly... it hit him. Hard.
He jolted and breathed the scent another time... Could it be ?... He clenched his fingers on the man's haori with all the strenght he could summon in his weak state... Then, nervous, afraid and hopeful, he asked timidly :
- Sessh... Sesshomaru ?
A/N : Oh... poor InuYasha ! He's not in a very good shape. (Don't kill me... don't kill me...) Hopefully Sesshomaru is with him now. They have all of their chances to escape Hell...