Disclaimer: This story is based on "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.

To Always Be There

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

She had been trying very hard not to think about the past.

She had enough to keep her mind occupied—starting a week late did that. Not only did she have a week's worth of material to make up, but her science and math teachers, concerned about her barely adequate scores in those two areas, had provided extra problem sets, and had both indicated that they would be willing to recommend good tutors. She had thanked them politely, of course, and made fresh vows to conquer that material; for how could she ask her mother for yet more money, when she had already done so much?

The extra problems at least gave her excuses to shorten the excursions to WacDonald's or the shopping center, and lessened the time that she had to keep reassuring her friends that she was fine, now, thank-you.

And filling her head, before going to bed, with the minutiae of advanced algebra and basic chemistry did seem to crowd out the memories she was trying to—if not forget, then at least put aside.

But this night, she had finished her assignments early. Not ready to face sleep and haunted dreams, Kagome looked through her assignments. Ah, there was one: an extra-credit assignment in English, to translate a poem, both a literal version, and a poetic one. Kagome doubted her ability to create an even halfway decent poetic translation, but this wouldn't harm her grade, so why not try? She reached for her American Literature book, and turned to the page indicated in the assignment sheet. Pulling a piece of notebook paper closer and checking the lead of her pencil, she started the translation.

I shot an arrow into the air,

I certainly did that, the first time…

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

That's for sure. Annoyed Inuyasha, just because I was somehow Kikyo's reincarnation, I was supposed to inherit her skills as well as her soul?

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I bet Inuyasha could watch it. I remember that time with Kagura, and he yelled at me to aim at him. I was so scared I would hit him, but he just stood there, and dodged just enough to be missed. .

Kagome shut her eyes, and clenched her jaws against the surge of memories. No, she would not wallow in memories! Her time in the past was over, she had to accept it, to move forward. Not to forget—she refused to forget. But, she wouldn't let it stop her having a normal life again. She was an ordinary high-school student, going to a good but not prestigious high-school, and she was satisfied with that. It was what she wanted.

She made herself continue with the next verse, which gave her less trouble. Though she couldn't help wonder, if her entire adventure were considered a song, then who in the modern age, beyond her family, would ever know of that song's existence? Outside the shrine itself, had the actions of her and her friends had any remembered impact on history? Certainly not in her history books, but then, who believed in the existence of youkai these days?

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

The third verse loomed.

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;

I found an unbroken arrow, long after it was fired. Did Kikyo try to watch her final arrow; did she see it strike? Or did she shoot it, like the one I shot against the Shikon no Tama, knowing, willing the arrow to go as it must, to strike through his heart…

And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

A friend. What if my youkai friends still lived? What if Shippo survived, came to see me? He would remember, right? Could Inuyasha live this long, he is half-youkai—no, no, no! I couldn't ask that of him: expect him to live five more centuries, trying to keep his memories alive, and maybe most of it alone again, once Miroku and Sango died? No, I couldn't ask that of him! I'd rather he found someone else to love, even if it meant forgetting me. I don't want him to be lonely. I promised I'd stay with him, but now I can't, the well is closed, I broke my promise …

... ... ...

"Kagome? What's wrong?"

She looked up, trying to wipe tears away. "I—I just remembered. I—I promised—after I was so upset with Inuyasha, because he still loved Kikyo and would do anything to protect her … I tried to tell myself not to go back, because it hurt so much, but I had to go back, and not just because I had shards…. I—I told myself, I'd always be with him … but now I'm here, and the well doesn't work anymore…"

"Oh, Kagome." Her mother crossed the room and hugged her gently. Turning in her seat, Kagome wrapped her arms around her mother and broke into sobs, for not the first time. It hurt so badly!

When she quit crying, Kagome and her were sitting side by side on her bed, her mother's arms still around her. Vaguely embarrassed, she tried to pull away. "I should get some more studying in," she muttered.

"Nonsense. It's late, you really should be in bed. But, if you're not ready for sleep, neither am I." Producing a handkerchief, she blotted Kagome's cheeks, and smiled. "I bought a different brand of tea today. Shall we try it? And you can tell me more about that time, when you realized you were in love with Inuyasha."

Kagome looked away. "I—can't," she whispered. "I—I'm trying not to think about it. I have to concentrate on school. I have to…"

"Nonsense." Fingers touched her face, and gently made her look back. "You don't want to spend all your time thinking about your loss, Kagome, but you can't ignore it, either. When your father died, I had a very good friend. You remember her—Yoshida Asuki? She came over almost every day for several weeks, helping me with Sota, cooking lunch. She insisted that I talk with her about Hideki—not how he had died, but how he had lived. How we had lived. I know you can't talk with your friends about this, Kagome, but can you talk to me? It does help; to have someone listen."

Kagome looked away. "There was so much … I couldn't tell you. I—I didn't want you to worry…"

Her mother smiled. "I never wanted my mother to worry, either. Though, of course, she did." Her hug tightened a bit. "And you made it through, so I don't have to worry now, do I?" Her eyes crinkled with a silent laugh. Kagome found herself responding with a tiny smile. "Come and have tea?"

"Okay, mama." She pushed off the bed and wavered a little, but her mother's arm was there to catch her. As she was always there. The young woman leaned a little into the elder, wrapping an arm around her waist, comforted at being the daughter to such a mother.

"Thanks, mama."

Author's Note: This one-shot was written for the FirstTweak commumity, for the theme "I Shot An Arrow." Since that happens to be the first line of the poem at the top of this piece, I decided to try my hand with a song-fic. This story was originally posted on March 12, 2011.