Chapter 26: Ghost in the Wind

Kagome felt strange, almost like she wasn't quite all together there. Her mind drifted here and there, as if on a breeze and it felt like her body was along for the ride, catching the gentle currents of warm air that moved her this way and that.

It's almost like being on a boat. She thought to herself as she let herself experience the sensation further. But the calm she was feeling started to break apart as she felt herself getting caught in a stronger gust and carried further than she necessarily felt comfortable. Or like being a boat – with a broken rudder.

Panic began to set in as she began to feel that whatever was going on wasn't quite as copasetic as she first thought. She might be calm but she wasn't peaceful, she felt empty – physically and spiritually.

She fought to open her eyes to no avail – blind. She tried to listen – deaf. She tried to speak – mute. She felt like she was wrapped in thick cotton and it was dulling everything even the panic.

Her last attempt to reach the world outside her foggy mind caused the first clear feeling she had – fear. She tried to reach out with her spirit but she felt no spirit – not outside of herself, but worse yet, not within herself either. She felt the claws of fear wrap around her heart and her strained laugh echoed in her empty mind. I'm alone in my head. I know that to be alone in one's head is the goal of most sane people but I don't think I value humanity's so called 'sanity'. Really, in the sane world there is no such thing as time travel or overbearing demons or excess spiritual powers that came with their own inner voices – and those are three of my absolute favorite things in the entire universe!

She tried to fight what was happening to her but she had nothing to fight with. She had no body, just the memory and a sense that she should have one. She had no spiritual energy, just the whole in her soul and the painful sense of loss that it left behind. Somethings not right.

Geez, Kagome, what gave you that idea? she chided herself. The better question is what happened. Okay, I got nothing. We were fighting all the The-West-is-falling-to-humans guys... I had Rin in my arms... oh! my back. There were claws on my back. It was bad. I could feel that it was REALLY bad right away. Uh... how bad is REALLY bad?

DEAD bad?

Oh, this is SO not good.

XXXX Author's Note XXXX

Don't worry, the next chapter is already written I just have to edit it - and it's much longer than this one.

I did want to send out my deepest appriciation to the readers who were kind enough to review the last chapter:

Killiara: I am so happy to hear that you like the story enough to reread it even though I hadn't posted an update. I do that with my fav authors on here, too, and I think it's an honor for someone to do that with my story. Thanks.

waterflame4991: I love the word 'marvy' I think I'll have to try and fit it into the story later, when things get more marvy. Thank you for reading.

brokenly yours: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. (PS - I LOVE your idea on your biography page - I'd like to believe that, too)

hentai18ancilla: We shall see, we shall see... Thanks for the speculations, it means that your thinking about where the story is going and as a writer I think that's a high compliment indeed.

misamiania: Thank you for your dedication. Readers like you keep me coming back to do it some more.

TrueFan31: Thank you for your kind words of praise. That last chapter was particularly hard for me.

CheshireCatGrin3421: I hope this is soon enough for you ;) Thanks for reading!

The Anti-Stratigist: Thank you.

wintersalad: I was so happy to see that you were still reading. You, I can honestly say, are the reader that comes to mind when I needed to write because there are others who want to see this story's conclusion. I have your fanart bookmarked on my laptop. Thank you so very much.

brandonlov: Thank you, I hope they will live up to your expectations into the future.

Euphoric Sorrow: Glad you're sticking it out with me. (PS - that's an interesting screen name you have there.)

And though not a reviewer, or even a reader that I know of, I would like to thank LadyFifi10, author of Vacation with the Boss. I agree with her last author's note - I am a reader on this site as well and look forward to regular updates and get sad when good stories die. I will try to treat others the way I want to be treated and update more regularly until I have a complete story.