Forever And A Day

"So, you're saying that you don't belong there, in that time? That when this quest is over you really aren't going to stay there, like I know you've been planning to?" asked the soft voice of Kagome's mother, furrowed brows and a small frown on her face.

Kagome herself sighed, rubbing her red and now dried eyes with her fingers, her other hand clutching at her warm tea, savoring the soft and calming fragrance of camellia touching softly in her nose. She sighed again as she nodded to her mother, loving the fact that she had known that she had been planing on staying forever in the past era, even if she had never told her mother her plans to do so...

"I just... It... Came to me... I'm not from there mama. It isn't my time... It isn't my home..." she whispered softly, looking at her mother with pleading gray eyes.

Mrs. Higurashi looked at her daughter's eyes with love and understanding, noting that they looked so much like her late husband's, who had been a half Japanese-American, and had died in an accident when Kagome had been very young, and Souta was still within her... She shook her head away from these thoughts, and placed a hand over her daughter's. She noted with sadness that Kagome's was trembling.

"Dear... Whatever you deiced is what I will support... Don't sacrifice your happiness just because you feel that we will miss you..." she told her daughter strenly.

Kagome simply let out a very bitter laugh.

"Mama... What makes you think that staying will make me happy? What about my life in this era? What about my friends? What about my family? What about the sheer lunacy it is to stay in that era?" she said dry sob, closing her eyes.

Mrs. Higurashi tighten her hold on Kagome's hand.

"Kagome... Listen to me. That era is your home as much as this one, even more so... You've been going back and forth between the two for forever and a day... And you spend most of your time in the past... Which do you think is more important?"

Kagome shook her head rapidly.

"I do that out of responsibility... Part of me hates it there mama... It's brought me nothing but pain." whispered Kagome softly.

"Yet part of you, most of you loves it. What of Inuyasha? Do you not love him anymore, was he just a passing fancy? Did you not promise him forever?" countered her mother.

Kagome sighed.

"Of course I love him... I will always love him... He is my first love... And... He's broken so many promises to me mama, that I don't think a promise I made when I was fifteen counts."

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head sadly at her daughter's soft and almost mournful tone. But took in her steady and serious eyes, finally understanding just what her daughter meant.

"Do... Do you truly think that you could live without them? That you could be happy without them?" she asked her daughter after a moment.

Kagome smiled, placing her tea down to clasp her mother's hand between bother her small hands.

"Yes... I would miss them... I would want them and probably never be able to be completely and utterly happy without them... But... I would miss you, Grandpa, and Souta more... I can't live without my family, and though they are my family too... I just... I just love you more." whispered Kagome.

Mrs. Higurashi let the tears slide down her cheeks without pause, and she lowered her head into her hands, feeling her daughter's arms coming to embrace her tightly. She hiccuped, and managed to get out:

"When did you become so wise?" in a hoarse and almost broken whisper.

She didn't have to look to know that her daughter was smiling, or that she was crying as well when she answered her:

"For forever and a day."