Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, only my O.C

Shiori free fell through pitch darkness. She tried to fly up, but discovered that she couldn't fly. Shiori desperately tried to remain calm as she fell down into the unknown.

"Where am I?" she wondered while searching around. "What's going on?"

She looked around to see if she was the only one falling. It was then that she remembered what happened with Hisoka. She finally succeeded in killing the evil demon lord…and his soul had dragged her off somewhere….but where?

"I've been damned!"

Suddenly, she saw a reddish glimmer from down below in the darkness. She shielded her eyes as she went closer and closer to the blinding light. Finally her body was emerged in it. It was obvious that she was right.

"Hell has awaited you," said several deathyl voices in unison.

Shiori screamed as she felt her body being set on fire. Her heart quivered when she saw the faces of Hell's demons swarming around. Shiori tried to lash at them over and over again, but they restrained her back.

"This is all you'll know for all eternity."

"No!" she cried. "I refuse to stay here!"

"From now on you'll feel nothing put pain, agony, and sorrow," it taunted. "This is what you deserve."

"No!" she yelled as she burst through the entrapped flames.

Shiori quickly dashed around, but everywhere she looked there were more of Hell's demons. There were other souls being tormented as well.

"Father!" she called out over the cries of the damned souls. "Father, where are you? Please answer me!"

"Shiori!"

Her attention was galvanized by her father's voice. He was standing right behind her. Shiori latched onto his arm.

"Father, I finally found you!" cried Shiori. "Come, we have to get out of this dreadful place."

"Leave? But we can't do that," he said in an ominous voice. "We're stuck here for all eternity."

Shiori looked up at the monster masquerading as her father. He now had two black sunken holes where his eyes should've been. His arms turned into thorny vines. The thorns grew and wrapped around Shiori's body. She cringed as the thorns deeply cut into her, spewing her blood.

"Does it hurt, Shiori?" it asked. "Do you like the pain? Do you enjoy the taste of your own blood?"

"Let me go!" she demanded. "Stop this!"

"Lady Shiori!" called Rin's voice.

Shiori looked to see Rin's tiny form standing in the flames. Her eyes were full of terror and anguish.

"Why did you leave me, Lady Shiori?" she asked. "Why did you leave me all alone?"

Just then, Rin's eye balls rolled into the back of her head, and blood skewered from her tear ducts. She dropped down and was instantly shredded a part by wolves. Shiori tried to look away, but was forced to look forward. She gasped at the sight of her young companion being devoured. She was being shown Rin's death…but this time, Sesshomaru wasn't there to resurrect her.

"No!" shrieked Shiori. "No! This isn't real!

"It is as far as you know," said a booming voice.

"Why did you let this happen to me, Lady Shiori?" called out Rin's bloody head. "You did this! You did this!"

"No Rin!" shouted Shiori, still struggling to break free. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."

"You left me…why did you leave?"

Shiori felt painful jabs on every inch of her body. She cried out in pain to the point where she thought she was going horse. She couldn't take the intense agony.

"Your suffering is just beginning….." said a haunting voice. "This…is….Hell!"

"Father! Where are you?" she shouted.

"He cannot hear your cries." screamed the deadly voices. "No one can."

A disgusting winged, feline creature flew down in front of her. He bored at her with deadly yellow eyes. Shiori stared in complete horror at the terrifying cat like creature.

"That's right, you hate cats don't you?" said the creature darkly.

"You beast! Get out of my face!" she demanded.

"You fight back even now? Give in to your torment…..there's nothing else you can do."

Just then, more cat-like beings came up behind her; they bit down onto her shoulders. She hollered out in pain. How much more would she have to take? She had to find Isao.

"Cry for me, Shiori. Lend me your tears," said the cat.

"Never…" she whispered.

"You might as well get used to it…it is all you can do to ease your troubled soul.."

"This isn't over!" called out Shiori through the torture. "You think you can hold me here?"

"Oh Insolent girl who believes she's invincible," it said. "You truly believe you can escape Hell? You, a mere half shinigami? You are the epitome of a disgrace…."

"A disgrace, huh, was it not mean that sent those demon lord's here?"

"And what good has that gotten you?" spat the creature. "You've all ended up in the same exact place. But then again, this is where you wanted to be, is it not?"

Shiori was dropped to the hard dusty ground. When she fell, she landed on top of a pile of dusty bones. All of the fiery flames were gone and she was once again left in total darkness. She could see nothing but a long field of corpses in all stages of decomposition. Shiori stood up and dragged her aching body through the field. Shiori had fatal injuries all over herself. Yet she couldn't die—Hell was truly a terrible place. She had to find her father and escape, but there was nowhere to go—the field was endless. She still couldn't fly away since her powers were gone. But she could still feel an overwhelming sorrow manifesting from the field. Shiori was being attacked by the emotional suffering of every dead body in the field. She couldn't take that much negative emotion at one time. Shiori literally thought her heart was going to break.

"Ack!" cried Shiori as she tripped over a large skull.

She fell into the field of bones. It was then, that she saw a familiar face. It was Sango! Shiori recoiled backwards. She swiftly looked over her shoulder and discovered Miroku's body as well.

"This isn't real," she told herself as she got up to flee. "It's not real!"

As she ran away, she spotted Kirara's and Shippo's skeletal remains.

"It's not real!" she kept assuring herself.

Shiori stopped dead in her tracks when she came to Inuyasha's. His body was impaled by his own tessaiga. Inuyasha's golden eyes were permanently glazed over with death. Shiori froze at the untimely sight. Slowly, she reached out to touch the handle of tessaiga, but it was reverted to dust. Directly by his side, was Kagome. Her blood was all over her white school uniform shirt. Shiori backed away as slowly as she could before running into more dead bodies. She came across Kikyo's broken clay body and Emi's just a few yards away.

"No…..this isn't real! They haven't all been sent here! They're alive….and fighting," she thought trying not to break down.

She tried to once again escape the field of death, but nothing worked. Would she be forced to wander around this place for all eternity? How would she ever save her father this way? She had to try.

But Shiori felt her heart stop when she found one more body.

Sesshomaru's body was lying down over top of an enormous demon skeleton. His armor was broken and he had an enormous gash in the left side of his chest. Blood stained his kimono and white pelt. Shiori dropped down to his side….the sight was too much for her. She buried her face in the corpses shoulder. It was then that she released the tears she fought so hard to keep back.

"It's….it's not…this isn't….." she cried. "No…..Lord Sesshomaru!"

Her tears dropped down onto the body. Some even got into the fatal found.

"This wound…." She thought. "It's on his left…..where the heart is…"

Shiori was once again set a blaze. The flames of Hell were once again returning to torment her. More sharp pains ran through Shiori's body.

"Did you enjoy seeing your fallen comrades?" asked an ominous voice. "Did you feel their pain and suffering right before they were sent to their deaths?"

"Stop this…." She weakly yelled. "Stop this madness!"

"Dear girl, this will never stop!"

It was then that Shiori saw it—the blue orb of light. It was gliding over to her. She blinked in surprise. Was this real, or just another trick?

"Grandmother?" She said hoarsely. "Is it truly her?"

The demons around her quickly backed away from Shiori. They were blinded by Ryoko's brilliant light. She slowly took her humanoid form and reached out to Shiori.

"Don't be afraid," said Ryoko over the cackling flames. "Come to me."

Shiori took Ryoko's hand with caution and felt her warm light rush through her. The advancing demons around them backed off. Shiori clung to her grandmother's shoulder.

"It's really you!" she said tearfully. "What are you doing here?"

"Did you really think I'd let you do this alone?" she tenderly asked while wrapping her arms around her. "I've been guiding you this whole time, why would I stop now?"

Ryoko's light protected Shiori from Hell's deadly flames. It kept all of its evil threats at bay as she lovingly embraced her granddaughter. Shiori couldn't believe something like this was even possible. How was Ryoko able to survive in Hell?

"I've been watching over you, even before you came here," whispered Ryoko. "I was with you in the forest when you first met the kodama."

"That was you that I felt?" she asked. "I knew I sensed a strange presence that day, but sensed other presences as well."

"Yes," she answered. "We were all watching over you."

Shiori looked up, "All? What do you mean by that? Who else has been watching over me?"

"The dead shinigami souls,"

At that moment, clusters of glowing orbs surrounded the both of them. They forced back the evil flames. Ryoko let go of Shiori as the new souls swirled around her. Shiori frantically looked around and tried to understand what was happening. Her body was miraculously restored. All of her cuts and gashes were instantly healed. Even the deadly wound given to her by the evil puppet was healed. She have a single scar on her.

"What's going on? These presences…why do they feel so familiar?" She asked. "What are they?"

"These are the trapped souls of the netherworld," explained Ryoko.

"The souls?"

"Anything that dies here is forced to forever wander aimlessly. Souls are sent straight into either hell or the purgatory pit for an eternity. We weren't permitted into heaven, nirvana, or the reincarnation pool," said Ryoko. "But that all changed the minute Hisoka's soul was plunged into hell. The souls of the shinigami were freed…because of you."

"I freed them?" Shiori looked around at the souls. They were lighting up a path for her. "They want me to follow them."

"You saved them, now it is their desire to save you," said Ryoko whisking Shiori down the path. "And because you always pray for and respect the dead, no matter the morality of the soul, their request has been allowed by the celestial powers."

None of the flames dared to touch them as they flew after the other souls. Shiori looked ahead and saw that her father was floating just beyond her.

"Father!" she quickly caught him in her grip.

He wasn't breathing at all and looked completely dead. Even though they were in scorching heat, his body was freezing. What had those evil lords done to him? Ryoko looked to her son. She knew his body had been sealed to keep his spirit from leaving again. It was impossible for Shiori to do anything about that at the moment. Now that she had her father, she just wanted to focus on escaping. Once again, the spirits lead the way and propelled her upward through the flames. The souls of the damned tried to attach to them and escape Hell as well. But all spirits of the damned were repelled back. The monsters of Hell fought with all their might to hold them hostage, but the shinigami souls prevailed. Nothing would keep them down. Shiori clung to her father as they were pulled out of the fiery pits of hell and back up the dark tunnel.

Once in the tunnel, the spirits flew on ahead of her and went further down the tunnel. Ryoko stayed attached to Shiori. She placed her hand to Isao's chest to remove the internal seal. Slowly, he began to wake up. Shiori could feel his body warming up.

"Father," said Shiori tenderly, "You're alright now!"

"Shiori?" he said weakly. "You came into Hell to save me?"

"Just like I said I would," she smiled. "I defeated the lords and came to save you. We're safe now, though. We're on our way back to the Netherworld."

"But, how did we escape Hell?"

Ryoko placed her hand on her son's shoulder, "Hello, my son. It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Mother, so this was your doing?" he said with a grin.

"You weren't the only one risking your life to help Shiori," answered Ryoko.

They were almost toward the end of the tunnel; they could see the light from the other side. Ryoko looked up and back to them.

"It's time for me to join the others," she said grimly. "It's finally time for me to move on."

"Mother," whispered Isao sadly. "Must you go so soon?"

"I must," she responded. "For centuries, I've been forced to stay in this terrible place. It's almost as if I never died at all."

"Because in a place like this, living and dying aren't that different," thought Shiori.

"And now, I'm finally able to move on to nirvana. I never have to see this place ever again," she said. "You no longer need my guidance, and the power of the Netherworlds has been broken. I'm free….."

Shiori watched as Ryoko began turning into a pillar of light.

"I'm glad I finally got to meet you formally, my wonderful granddaughter," she said. "My wonderful granddaughter…"

With that, Ryoko whipped out in front of them and zoomed down the tunnel.

"Wait Grandmother!" cried Shiori.

She held out her hand and felt someone grab onto it. Shiori and Isao closed their eyes as they were pulled out of the gates of Hell. An enormous flash of light exploded as they returned to the land of the dead. When Shiori opened her eyes, she was once again staring into Sesshomaru's amber eyes. This time, he didn't look mad. If anything, he looked slightly concerned. She looked down and found herself gripping Sesshomaru's hand. Slowly….and reluctantly, Shiori released his hand. Did he really reach in so save her?

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Shiori exclaimed. She didn't expect him to be waiting for her at the gates of hell. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, I came to stop your reckless behavior," he said sternly. "But I was too late."

"How did you know I was here?" she asked him.

"I followed your scent to this spot," he said blandly. "But I was unable to enter the gate."

"So you waited here?" she asked. "The spirits….they must've forced open the gates of hell and allowed Lord Sesshomaru to pull me out."

"Fool," said Sesshomaru. "You were nearly killed by your own reckless endangerments."

"But my lord," she teased. "If I would've died, you could always bring me back to life with the tensegia."

"Hmph, ridiculous. What makes you think I'd waste my time doing something like that?" he grumbled while turning away. "Besides, I wouldn't be able to revive you here."

"Then what did he think he'd accomplish by coming to the gates of Hell?"

Shiori beamed slightly, and Sesshomaru carefully examined her. Jaken was standing by Sesshomaru's side.

"I can't believe you went to Hell and back!" gawked Jaken. "I always knew you were an evil being sprung from darkness."

"Jaken, care to take my place in hell?" she offered.

He quickly ducked behind Sesshomaru's leg and shook his head.

"What happened to your injuries?" inquired Sesshomaru.

"They were healed by the lost spirits of the Netherworld," she responded.

Sesshomaru sighed. He was beginning to think nothing normal would ever come from her mouth.

Isao quietly listened to Shiori and Sesshomaru's conversation. It was as though they didn't see him standing there next to them. Shiori could sense Isao's discomfort and turned to him.

"Ah…..Lord Sesshomaru, this is my father, Isao," she said introducing him.

Isao bowed, "It's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh. I've heard so much about you."

Sesshomaru casually glared at the shinigami, "Have you now?"

"Yes, and I must say, I think you're the perfect match for—"

Shiori violently jabbed him in the stomach. He instantly curled over. Sesshomaru watched with slight interest.

"Unbelievable!" she angrily thought. "He's been alive for 5 minutes and already he's trying to embarrass me!"

"I'm so glad this is all over," she said innocently. She was trying to draw attention away from what just happened.

"Not yet," said Sesshomaru bleakly.

"Not yet?" she wondered. "Yes….that's right; we still have to destroy that wretched half vermin."

"Feh, this is no time to play foolish games with Inuyasha," scoffed Sesshomaru. "I have a score to settle with that bastard Naraku."

Shiori face palmed, "I wasn't referring to your brother, my lord!"

"Naraku?" asked Isao. "I can sense his evil energy coming from that direction."

All of them turned to the East. They could all sense Naraku—he was with the others. Naraku must've been patiently waiting around for Shiori to destroy all of the demon lords. She originally hoped Naraku and the lords would fight to the death, but it looked like he turned the tables on her. Instead, she was the one who fought to the death while he watched from a safe distance. He must've been too scared to deal with them.

"That cowardly bastard!" she thought. "We must go!"

"You go on ahead," said Isao. "I'll stay behind."

"Are you sure Father?" she just recently got him back. Shiori didn't want to leave her father so soon.

"I'm positive," he answered. "I need to show my respect to the lost souls who passed on."

Shiori nodded, and turned away from him, "Alright then, we may leave now."

"Hmph," said Sesshomaru as his body started glowing. "Take hold of me."

Shiori held onto his armor and Jaken clung to his furry pelt. Sesshomaru zoomed off to find Naraku.

Don't worry, I'm nearly finished with the Netherworld...it's just that this chapter was becoming way too long so I had to break into 2 chapters... Oh and just a little side note, yes, Shiori does hate Cats. It's a well known fact back in her homeland This is why Naraku turned Reika into a giant cat back when they battled. I made her hate them because they share common similarities. Both mysterious, quiet, independent, conniving, and menacing. Plus cats are usually associated with the underworld in mythology. She doesn't seem to have a problem with kirara, however lol...But that's just Shiori, I actually love cats!