Late update, but it's been less than a week... so... I own nothing, hurry and read! Sorry if this is what you'd call a major cliffie.

He sat emotionlessly and thoughtlessly in the center of his prison, blood dripping from the various wounds all across his body. He'd forgotten already why he was injured. Hell, he'd forgotten already that he was injured.

His eyes were lifeless as ever. And yet his heart beat quickly and irregularly, throwing itself against InuYasha's chest like a battering ram.

A single, delicate thought fluttered to the surface of his consciousness.

They're here.

But fragmented thoughts aren't enough, adrenaline pumping its way through a body isn't enough. No, because all he felt was a deep confusion. All he felt was lost.

*

Somewhere behind her one of her friends drew in a sharp breath, a wordless expression of horror and disgust that could not be spoken of adequately in any language.

What she saw before her – death, decay, suffering – was only a fraction of the overall abhorrence she felt for her surroundings. The feelings that surrounded it, the emotions too deep not to drown in, strangled her.

Her breath came raggedly. It wasn't just the suffering that chilled her to the bone, it was the lack thereof obviously experienced only by the humans who lived and worked in the village. It was the hatred, the prejudice, the unfairness.

"It's so much worse than I believed it would be. Kagome… you must know… that the villages of true demon slayers are never like this…" she heard Sango murmur, and when Kagome turned around, she saw the tears sparkling at the corners of the eyes of all her friends.

She could feel his tears somewhere near… oh, so near…

Faintly she was able to recall that on their way to the source of the smoke dancing on the horizon, they had been greeted by the flea demon. It was so hard to care, so impossible to even feel joy knowing it, that InuYasha was here, that soon it would all be over.

"He's there. He's waiting for all of you in the village. Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, make haste! This village… it's enough to break even one as strong as InuYasha."

She remembered the words, the mixed joy and shock she'd felt. The guilt, the relief. The question she'd asked. The answer.

"Myouga, why? Why am I the only one who's able to see it?"

The flea had considered it for a moment before replying.

"Emotions are stronger than the most powerful barrier. Stronger, perhaps, than your own powers as a priestess is the power of your bond with InuYasha."

She wouldn't think about it too hard. If her feelings for InuYasha were so powerful, that was fine. If it was only her powers as Kikyou's reincarnation, that, too, was fine.

Either way, InuYasha would be free soon.

But was that really true? Could he possibly be free emotionally, as well? Would the scars on the inside be more permanent than those that only went skin-deep?

After all, you can't escape your past.

You can never, ever, escape your past.

REVIEW!!! O_O Plz! Just kidding. I'll use proper english. Review please, my dawlings. Okay, that was a spazz attack... just review. Ignore this stupid note.

But not the part about reviewing.