The bittersweet and I think longer version of Smile Because It Happened
Eight hours of labour and a breach birth, but there she was. He wished he could say she looked beautiful, but in reality she was slimy with a face red from crying.
"Have you chosen a name?" he asked the proud parents, wiping his hands while the nurses washed the little girl.
"We're torn," the woman said with an apologetic smile. "Either Ayumi or Kagome." The doctor smiled as Baby Higurashi was placed in her mother's arms.
"Ayumi belongs to someone else, I think this little one is Kagome."
"Demon begone!" Kagome cried, running around the yard. Her grandfather loved telling her all about their family heritage, but all that really stuck were the stories of demons and priestesses. She played pretend that she was a priestess who saved villages from the evil demons with her purifying talismans that were little more than leaves.
"Where does she get such an imagination?" her father wondered watching her chase after a demon he couldn't see.
"It makes my heart sad to see her so serious," Chika Higurashi sighed. "A few years ago she was so lively and playful."
"All children grow out of their imaginary playmates," Kagome's babysitter said wisely. "No matter how magical they may be."
"I know, just ever since her father died and with me being so busy with Souta I feel like she's growing up too fast." The women drank their tea in silence for a few moments. "She's starting school in the fall, maybe having some friends her age will help."
"I'm sure it will."
"Class, this is Ayumi Hamasaki," the teacher introduced a small, curly haired girl. "Be kind to her. Hamasaki-chan, take that seat there next to Higurashi-chan." Ayumi found her seat and smiled brightly at Kagome.
Ayumi's happy and innocent nature brought Kagome out of the shell she had wrapped around herself and the two were soon inseparable.
"We'll be best friends forever," Kagome declared as they walked home from their first day of the fifth grade.
"Forever?" Ayumi asked.
"Forever and ever," Kagome confirmed, running to the house while Ayumi lagged behind, her eyes on the well house.
"Forever is a very long time."
"Ayumi! Do you want to stay for dinner? Will your mother mind?" Mrs. Higurashi called from the doorway. Ayumi glanced at Kagome, then back at her mother.
"Sure, my mom will be okay with it."
The first day of middle school their pair became a quartet, Erii and Yuka from another elementary joined their class. With the start of middle school Ayumi became more serious about their studies, especially history.
"Come on, Kagome," Ayumi whined. "This is important, you need to know these dates."
"Aw, who cares?" Kagome groaned. "It's in the past, it doesn't matter anymore."
"The past matters more than you know," her curly haired friend replied, strangely serious.
"What do you mean?" Ayumi shook her head, as though waking from a dream and continued on in her usual way.
"Haven't you heard the saying? 'Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it'. Our knowledge of the past helps us to decide how we behave in the future."
"Oh all right..."
"Good, now through which eras was the topknot commonly worn?"
"What do you think is actually going on with Kagome?" Erii wondered, playing with her straw.
"Ayumi, you've known her the longest," Yuka said. "Is she actually sick?" Ayumi sipped her drink, unsure about how to answer.
"I don't know, but if she weren't really sick she might not be ready to tell us why she says she is. We should just trust her, she needs us."
"Needs our notes you mean," Erii joked. Ayumi just smiled.
"Inuyasha is such a weird name," Erii commented as they walked home. Kagome's delinquent boyfriend was not what anyone expected.
"I like it," Ayumi decided. "His hair too, everyone has black hair, but who else has silver?"
"That's true," Yuka agreed. "Still he's a twotimer though and I'm worried he'll hurt Kagome."
"No, I don't think he would. He's clueless, but so are most guys." The trio laughed and continued on. Ayumi knew that Kagome loved her strange boyfriend and that, in his own way, he loved her too. She always had been the hopeless romantic of the group.
"Do we have to study?" Kagome whined. Ayumi sighed, not out of frustration, but sadness. Kagome was 'cured' in the sense that she no longer skipped school with various illnesses, but her cheer had dwindled.
"You need to get caught up," Ayumi reminded her patiently. "You missed a lot of stuff and if you don't get a good grade on the high school entrance exam we'll have to go to different schools."
"Yeah, I know." Ayumi tapped her pencil, unsure what to do. Erii and Yuka had gone home already, leaving her with the sole job of comforting a girl who insisted she didn't need to be comforted.
"Kagome, do you want to talk about anything?" Their eyes met and Ayumi could see the secrets just dying to be told.
"No, you wouldn't believe it," she laughed. "Sometimes I don't even believe it."
"You'd be surprised at the things I believe," Ayumi smiled. "Kagome, I know that I probably don't know all the details, but don't you think they'd want you to be happy?" Kagome didn't ask who she meant by they, she didn't need to. The message was the same regardless who Ayumi meant.
"Have you decided what you'll do for college?" Erii asked while the girls shared a plate of fries, celebrating their last year of high school.
"Ugh, I have no idea," Yuka groaned. "My mom keeps pushing for me to be a doctor. What about you, Ayumi?"
"I was thinking something with music," she shrugged. "I mean I've written a few pieces, maybe I'll become some famous composer."
"I think you should be a translator," Kagome offered. Ayumi's eyes shone as she smiled at her oldest friend.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah, you've got an amazing gift for languages and you're such a people person."
"She's got a point, you already speak like twenty languages," Erii teased.
"Do not! I speak maybe four." Ayumi paused and counted on her fingers. "No, five. Six if you count Mandarin and Cantonese as two."
"I'm just surprised you haven't been nagging Kagome to choose something," Yuka laughed. "Usually you push her the most to keep up." Ayumi smiled and shrugged.
"Kagome's a big girl." She reached out and patted her friend's hand. "She knows to follow her heart and everything will turn out alright."
Ayumi stared at the calendar, she couldn't believe the day had snuck up on her so quickly. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed.
[Hello?]
"Hey Kagome!" Ayumi said brightly. "What are you doing tomorrow morning? We should go for coffee. There's this new bakery I want to go to."
[I don't know, I promised Grandpa I'd help at the shrine. Why don't we go on the weekend?]
"I can't, I'm visiting my grandmother. Please Kagome?"
[Oh all right,] Kagome laughed at her friend's pleading. [Meet me at the shrine tomorrow morning.]
Ayumi showed up first thing in the morning wearing a dark blue skirt, a teal t-shirt and a light brown cardigan. Kagome smiled when she saw her.
"We match," Kagome laughed, indicating her light blue skirt, burgundy top and cream cardigan.
They sat and chatted all morning over their coffees and baked goods, as it turned to afternoon and drew closer to evening Ayumi didn't want to say goodbye.
"I'm going to miss you," Ayumi said as she paid their bill having insisted on paying for Kagome.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Well, I won't see you every day anymore. It'll feel so strange."
"Yeah, you're right," Kagome sighed. "I didn't even think of it." They walked in silence for a while before Ayumi piped up.
"Kagome, do you remember what you said when we were in fifth grade?" Kagome smiled and hugged Ayumi.
"Of course I do, and I still mean it. We'll be friends forever." Ayumi held her tightly, enjoying the feeling of having Kagome close.
"Forever is a very long time." They pulled away and Ayumi smiled. "Promise me you'll follow your heart. Remember that you are one of the bravest and kindest people I know and I'm honoured to have called you my friend."
"Why does it feel like you're saying goodbye?"
"Just remember what I said and know that we all love you and want you to be happy." Ayumi waved and continued on walking home.
Her home was a large, comfortable apartment that she shared with no one. Hanging above the couch was a worn, old sword and on the end table there was a stand bearing a necklace and a Buddist rosary of blue quartz.
Ayumi sat down on her couch and looked at the large painting of her parents that hung next to her tv.
Over an hour passed before Ayumi felt a cold chill go through her, one she hadn't felt in years. A few tears slid down her cheeks; Kagome was gone. She selfishly wanted her to stay, but she knew if Kagome did she never would have known the happiness that still awaited her.
Ayumi knocked on the door, she was nervous though she had spoken to them countless times. The wind was comforting and she paused to enjoy the rustling sound the tree made.
"Oh, Ayumi," Mrs. Higurashi said, looking surprised. "Kagome isn't here, um-"
"I know," she smiled sadly and pulled a leaf from her hair. "My name is Shippo Higurashi, and I am proud to call Kagome my mother."
Reviews = Karma