Joanna: Ok so that last cliffy was really mean of me…I don't own diddly squat, so ENJOY THE FIC!

T+E+R+R+O+R+A+W+A+I+T+S+Y+O+U

LAST TIME

The door busted open and Hiei appeared. Sankichi disappeared with his beast and Kurama and your bodies lay on the floor. Hiei ran in and scooped you both up before he ran out again. The door slammed shut behind him and laughter rang through the air as he ran, with all his speed, to Kurama's house.

THIS TIME

Horror 7 - Souls Taken

Hiei made it to Kurama's house in no time flat. He nearly broke the door down but Yusuke got to it just in time. He set Kurama and you on the couch and everyone crowded around them. The bodies were frighteningly still.

"Hiei, what the hell happened to them?" Yusuke asked.
"Sonnuva bitch, I should have gone in there with them," Hiei growled out.
"Guys, they aren't breathing," Kuwabara said. "Hiei, what the fuck happened!"
"He must have gotten them," a voice behind the guys spoke.

They all whirled around to see Koenma floating in his baby form. Botan standing behind him.

He held up a hand, "Yo."
"Don't 'yo' me unless you have good fucking news," Yusuke growled out.
"I don't know if its good or not, but I have some information-" Koenma was cut off.
"Tell me where they are," Hiei was the interrupter; he had Koenma's shirt collar clenched in both hands.
"They are in a realm of the spirits. A place where trapped souls are just that; trapped."
"That tells me a whole lot," Hiei's words where sodden in anger.
"Calm down and let me go and I'll tell you more," Koenma was getting a bit upset himself.

Hiei growled and let the young prince go. He stepped back and leaned against the wall, Koenma and your bodies in view. Yusuke and Kuwabara sat down around the bodies and looked up to the floating Koenma.

"Well?" Yusuke asked.
"It's called Purgatory. Spirits that had no place in Heaven or Hell are sentenced to Purgatory as well as lost souls. It's more of an intermediary between Heaven and Hell, sometimes it a permanent visit, rarely its short-term. Sankichi Takeda, long ago, was sentenced to Hell, where he more than belonged. But his soul escaped the previous ferry on his way to the Judgment Gates. She was demoted and Botan took over but we were never able to recover his soul from Purgatory. Hence from there, he would haunt houses and take souls with him to Purgatory to torture as he did of old," Koenma explained.
"Is there a way we can save them?" Kuwabara asked a question on everyone's mind.
"If you wish to jeopardize your eternal soul, sure," Koenma said.
"What do you mean jeopardize?" Yusuke asked.
"If you go in there and get caught there's an extremely slim chance of you coming back out intact," Koenma said.
"Well then…what about Kurama and ?" Kuwabara asked. "What about them?"
Koenma sighed, "As far as we know they can still escape if they knew how. Sankichi only captured their souls and brought them to Purgatory so he could physically harm them."
"How can they escape?" Hiei asked.
"For one they can't allow their spirits to be broken, secondly, someone with the authorized entry must enter and save them-" Koenma was yet again interrupted.
"Then give us authorization!" Kuwabara yelled.
"Would you guys stop with the interruptions!" Koenma yelled back. "I know how you feel but you can't just waltz in there and expect to be safe. Purgatory is a no souls' land. There are no rules because anyone we send in there to enforce anything never come out alive and its because of people like Sankichi," Koenma said.
"Ok…but won't they be nice if they know we're out to save someone's souls? Just not tell them who?" Yusuke asked.
"No. They aren't stupid, Yusuke. They'll trap you in there with them. Nearly everyone in there bears a grudge to the living so if you go in there boasting to save someone's soul they'll get you, too."
"Damn," he said.

H+O+P+E+

You opened your eyes to darkness and nearly panicked until you realized that you didn't open your eyes. You brought your hands up to your face and rubbed your eyes. They opened and you took a look around. You gasped; your eyes widened.
You seemed to be trapped in a repeat of vicious battle scenes. The room you were in was not just splattered with blood; the walls bled! All the carnage seemed to be around the center you were at so you were unnoticed in your small space. Something twitched beside you and you yelped ready to attack it. It was Kurama. You let out a breath and helped him sit up. He looked around and turned back to you.

"Where are we?" you ask him.
"I wish I knew," he replied. "Are you ok?"
"A little edgy, but I think I'll live," you said.
"Actually, you both are dead," a dark voice behind you said.

You both turned around to stare at Sankichi. He looked the same; burnt ass, yellow red eyes, that perfect fucking smile. Oh, how you hated him so. You held on to that hate and used it to scowl at him.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked him.
"I have taken your souls to my realm; Purgatory," his smile widened. "What's wrong , don't like it?"
"That's an understatement," you growled out between clenched teeth.
"Death does not befit you ; it appears to have given you a backbone even without a physical body," Sankichi glared down at you.
"Beats the hell out of giving you the pleasure you want," you reply.
"It shall be fun to see how long you last," Sankichi said.
"Why do you want so badly?" Kurama asked.
"Why not? Rebellious teens like her are so much fun to break," Sankichi smiled.
"Bastard," you muttered.
"Actually, my father never left me, nor did my mother. Yours, however, left you. Your mother knew about me, I let her see me, and she left you to me. She even managed to get your father to leave you," Sankichi said with a coldness in his voice.
"Like I care about them," you replied. "That woman was a bitch, she had it out for me since I was born."
"Well then I mustn't disappoint her," Sankichi said and stepped closer.
"Let's go!" Kurama grabbed your arm and ran with you.

He pulled you to your feet and raced pass all the murderers and deaths. The room was larger than it looked when standing still. You both jumped over a large crocodilian beast and made it to the door. You glanced back, all actions had ceased and all eyes were on you two. Sankichi was still walking towards you. Smug bastard, probably didn't think you'd escape. Kurama had the door open and pulled you out.
Outside the door was a void; just empty black space. Kurama hesitated but took a step forward onto the unknown blackness. It held and he moved on at a brisk yet cautious pace, pulling you along. You glanced back at the receding door and sighed in relief.

"Don't rest easy yet, we need to get out of here," Kurama said.
"Do you know the way?" you asked.
"I only wish I did," he replied sadly.
"Up? Maybe up would be right," you suggested.
"Worth a try," Kurama said. "Know how to go up?"
"Not a clue…I don't see any stairs," you sighed.
"Hmm," Kurama said.

Kurama made a motion like he was moving up stairs and elevated with every step he took.

"Act like you're going up stairs and lets go!" he said.
"Right!" you replied and moved.

You both were going up. You started to run but Kurama told you to save energy just in case, so you both jogged up. Up and up and up. It seemed like an endless darkness but none of you were going to give up. Especially if it meant facing Sankichi again.

"Hey Kurama," you said, "How long do you think it is to the top?"
"I can't even fathom it," he sighed. "Our best bet is to guess as far as we can think and hope its not further."
"Damn," you said. "As long as Sankichi isn't here, I can do it."
"I'm sorry you feel that way about me," Sankichi said.

You didn't want to, but you did. You turned and saw Sankichi trotting a few paces behind you. His flaky black skin drifting off his body every now and then. You turned with Kurama and ran faster up the stairs, gaining some more distance between Sankichi. This time, you didn't look back. You figured you'd probably end up tripping or something. You ran ahead with Kurama, forcing your way higher and higher up the void, hopefully to the exit.
Something wrapped around your ankles and pulled your feet from under you in mid-step. You fell forward. You hit the steps that you were convinced were there and busted your lip. Kurama stopped and grabbed onto your wailing hand before Sankichi could pull you down to him. He got a strong grip and held you fast, not planning on letting you get taken. You kicked your feet to free yourself from the rope but failed. Sankichi gave a tough yank, you winced and lost some ground, sliding down the steps some, pulling Kurama with you.

"Don't let go!" Kurama yelled.
"Same to you!" you yelled back.
"Foolish attempt," Sankichi said and pulled harder.

You slipped down another step and bit your tongue. You mentally cursed yourself and tried to scramble up the steps using your free arm and Kurama's assistance. The only person gaining ground was Sankichi. He was reeling you in like some caught fish, wish was what you felt like since you had no use of your legs and your arms were pretty much useless. You felt his hand wrap around your leg and knew you were officially caught; again. A whip lashed Sankichi in the face and he let out a fearsome bellow. The crispy skin on the side of his face was broken off leaving a fiery red orange gleam under it. You gasped and Kurama struck him again, across the chest this time. The skin broke away leaving the hell fires burning under his decayed skin exposed. He screamed wordlessly at you and pulled you to him with no restraint in power. He was pissed now; great. You felt your ankle bones creaking, wanting to give out to the power of Sankichi's grip but they held, thankfully. He pulled you close enough to wrap an arm around your waist and hold you suspended and hopeless in the air at his waist. Kurama was still holding on to your arm and was captured as well. A swift punch to the face that Kurama never saw coming disorientated him long enough for the hell spawn to grab him securely and walk off. He continued up the stairs.

"It was nice of you both to start heading towards my favorite room," Sankichi growled.
"Shit," you said.
"Double shit," Kurama said looking at the other spirits that came out to watch.
"Back off you cutdicks; they're mine," Sankichi hissed at them.

Some of the rivals backed off and went back to aimlessly floating around yet some stayed by. One in particular, a tall guy that looked like an ex football player stepped towards Sankichi. He stopped in the man's path and glowered down at him.

"I think I want to have them," he said, his voice richly British.
"Too bad, they are mine," Sankichi said. "Go find you own."
"I want yours."

The Brit rushed Sankichi and he had nothing else to do besides drop you and Kurama. The British man tackled Sankichi back a few steps and Kurama was helping you get the rope from around your ankles. You glanced at the fighting men and the rapidly growing numbers of people that surrounded you.

"Um, Kurama," you said. "In Purgatory…what kinda people come here?"
"From what I've heard only lost souls and Hell's escapees," he said.
"Then lets get the hell out of here!" you jumped up when Kurama freed you.

You grabbed his hand and ran down the stairs, carefully avoiding the brawling men. You took a step over to the side, hoping another step would be there and was relieved to find that there was. You ran down the stairs at full gallop, after all if up was bad, down had to be the way to go. And you couldn't have been that far up from the very bottom…if this place even had one.
The British man was pinning Sankichi down and wailing away on his face. Sankichi pulled a long knife from his person and stabbed it into the Brit's eye. He bawled out and reached for his injured eye. Sankichi pushed the big man back and kicked him away. He spat on the man's chest and ran down towards his prey while giving everyone else the stink eye if they decided to try something as well.

M+A+Y+

"Koenma, I don't care what kind of danger it puts me in, I AM GOING," Hiei growled at the prince.
"You guys don't understand, if you get stuck in there I can't help you out," Koenma said.
"Fine then. But I'm going," Hiei said.
"Me too," Yusuke agreed.
"it's a lot worse than Hell," Koenma said again.
"I don't care. My friends are wrongfully trapped in there. I'm going to do everything I can to get them out of there," Yusuke said.
Koenma sighed, "Fine. Meet me at my office in an hour, I'll have everything prepared for you by then. I suggest you say farewell to your loved ones just in case."

They all nodded and Koenma left, leaving Botan to talk to the guys if they needed it. Although what they needed was a miracle…and a damn good one.

"You guys are really going to do it? Face a fate worse than Hell itself?" Botan asked.
"Yeah. They'd do the same for us," Kuwabara said.
"They're our friends Botan, closer than that. I'm about to let them suffer," Yusuke said.
"I know, I understand. Maybe more than Koenma does," Botan nodded.
"Good. So anything you can tell us about Purgatory?" Kuwabara asked.
Again she nodded, "Hope will bring you a long way."
"Meaning?" Yusuke asked.
"There's an area in Purgatory that is just a dark, frightening void. You can't see anything but what's close by, such as a door or another person. In this void hope sometimes becomes reality."
"So if you hope for an exit, it'll show up?" Kuwabara asked.
"No, that's where the sometimes comes in," Botan shook her head. "Unlike in Hell, where the highest level is the first level, in Purgatory the bottom level is the first. The higher you go the more trouble you're putting yourself in. In the void if you hope there are stairs or doors nearby, they appear. You won't see them, except for the door, but its there."
"So if you think it's a straight drop to the bottom?" Yusuke asked.
"You fall for quite a while," Botan nodded.
"We'll have to keep that in mind," Yusuke said.

S+A+V+E+

"Run faster Kurama! Sankichi's somehow gaining on us!" you yelled as you glanced back to see him.
"I am running faster! Hurry up!" Kurama yelled back.

You turned forward, towards the darkness before you, and ran full out down the stairs. You blew past many people, scary and otherwise, and door. Some tried to reach out for you and Kurama but you pushed them away as you passed them by. Kurama glanced back to see Sankichi freefalling over you two. His eyes widened and before he could yell 'Look out!' to you, Sankichi had collided with you both. His shoulders hitting yours and Kurama's.
You fell heavily forward and your head hit the steps again, but your mouth was already bleeding so what's more going to do? You rolled away from Sankichi and felt there were no more stairs. You were on a level floor. Sankichi grabbed you by the hair and held tight so you could roll further away. He grabbed Kurama back the back on the neck and added pressure to show his unhappiness.

"You two are pains in the ass, you know that?" he muttered.
"Then why not let us go," your fear was back.
"Oh now, I'll have some real fun making you scream out for mercy," Sankichi stood, pulling you and Kurama up with him. "But first…"

He pulled out more of his rope and secured your hands behind your back and Kurama's. He then tied a rope around both of your waists and tied that rope together to the hand rope. He held the single rope that controlled both of you. If you made a break for it, you'd probably bump into each other and fall.

"Now walk," Sankichi pushed you forward, back up the stairs.

He kept a very evil, yellow red, eye on everyone that he passed. Many of them sneered at him and flipped him off. A beast bared its fangs at him and growled. Sankichi narrowed his eyes at the creature and it walked off. You looked up ahead and saw someone sitting against a wall, and yet behind them was another person. They weren't touching but you were sure there was a wall behind the sitter. She looked sad and lost. You looked into her eyes, they were a light green, that held much pain and a broken spirit. You pulled your eyes away from her. Your mind told you that you'd probably end up like her; walled up and trapped here forever. You imagined walls around you and hoped that it would be protection enough against Sankichi. Before you could dismiss the useless thought, you ran into a wall. You smacked your forehead against it and stopped; staring ahead. There was nothing there. Just the blackness of the void. You walked forward again and that wall was still there. Sankichi growled and pushed you from behind. You hit the wall, hurting your nose on it. He kept pushing you into it, slamming your head on it over and over. A headache was starting and you knew you didn't want to be unconscious around Sankichi. You hoped the wall would break or disappear soon before you did slip away. Another thrust forward and you met air. You sighed; your head was hot where pain dominated it, pulsing in a beating ache. Sankichi pushed you both forward.

Y+O+U+

It seemed too short when you made it to his room. Sankichi opened the door and ushered you both in. You looked around, it seemed like a large torture museum. Bodies hung from the ceiling, some with weights attached to their limbs. They were hoisted higher and dropped. You heard snapping and popping and knew that their limbs were dislocated. You turned away from the scene and saw some hanging cages. They all held starved, suffering people inside.

'This is Purgatory,' you thought. 'You're already dead so I guess its torture for the soul.'

Sankichi pushed you on. You kept looking around as you walked. Someone was being pushed into an Iron Maiden; a upright casket-like box that held man spikes on the open doors. They closed like double doors. You heard a wailing scream come muffled from it and laughter as the person's torturers drove more spikes into the open slots intended for such purposes. You swallowed hard and looked away but came to see more gruesome things. There was a spike forest, for lack of better description, that held many people stabbed through their anus and left to suffer the pain of their innards being pierced and torn. You saw someone new being lowered, their arms tied behind their backs, onto a large spike, very thin at the top and slightly wider at the bottom. They were naked, so the pike easily entered there butt hole and then they were dropped harshly so that the deathly sharp spike ripped through their intestines, stomach and other guts. You grimaced and turned away but caught yourself in mid-motion. You turned to look at Kurama; a much lesser evil on the eyes. Not that you'd object to look at Kurama.

"Beautiful room, eh?" Sankichi asked. "I taught these guys the art of torture myself."
"Nice, but I'd rather check out a room on the lower floor, if you don't mind," you said.
"Funny, but I do mind. We can have fun here. I'll take you lower later," Sankichi said.
"How about we go down first?" Kurama asked.
"Sure, I'll let you go down alright," Sankichi said and turned you both around.

He kicked Kurama, full out; leg fully extended, in the stomach. All air was painfully forced out his body. He crumpled like a soggy cracker to the bloodstained floor, pulling you down with him. He laid his head to the dried blood stains and practiced breathing. He could only take very shallow, hiccup-like gasps. You rubbed his back in soothing circular motions while he fought hard for breath. It seemed he could easily exhale more than he could inhale. Blood dripped out his mouth and pooled on the floor. His eyes were wide, showing too much white.

"Get up," Sankichi said meanly.

He yanked on the rope, you were pulled up higher on your knees and Kurama rolled over; still gasping. He swallowed hard, blood sliding down his throat. He closed one eye and clenched his teeth and tried to force air into his lungs but failed. His vision went fuzzy, then grey….and he passed out. You dropped next to him, worried about your friends and tried to shield his body from anything Sankichi might try to do to him. Sankichi yanked you up and put Kurama's body over you. He pushed you forward.

"Keep moving to the back of the room," he ordered.

You grunted under Kurama's weight, but moved on. The room was big, bigger than the last one. You sighed and walked on.

T+E+R+R+O+R+A+W+A+I+T+S+Y+O+U

Joanna: Ok that's finally finished. Lol, im thinking about 12-13 chapters