Hello, all! This is actually a repost. I used to write a lot years ago and stopped only because I got really busy. I totally forgot I even wrote this until literally today. I accidentally found it while I was rummaging through files. When I read the two chapters that I had, I started to really miss writing. I'm currently in medical school, and they don't really give us a lot of opportunities to write creatively, so I haven't written anything in years. When I read this, I began to really miss my old writing style, so I'm hoping to try to get back into writing by picking this story back up. I deleted the old post because I wanted to change some things around! If anyone even remembers this at all, haha. Anyway, bear with me as my writing may not be top notch, but know that I really am trying!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Prologue: At the Beginning with You

As the sun shined down on the swings, slides, and gravel, a boy with snow white hair and small dog ears atop his head raced across the playground. A few feet behind him, a girl with hair black as night followed excitedly.

"Why do you keep chasing me?"

"Because you won't stop running! I only want a hug!"

He never did stop running. However, she caught him every single time. Every time, there was a hug, the boy would blush, and once, there was even a feather light kiss that scandalized both children into avoiding each other for a week. Considering the heightened agility—as well as other abilities—and heightened senses one of his kind are born with, one might say it was quite peculiar she was always able to catch him without fail.

A woman giggled as she watched her energetic little girl hug the life out of her best friend's young son.

"Izayoi, he really is the sweetest boy, letting her catch him like that all the time," she smiled.

"Oh, Makiko, you can't possibly believe he's only doing it for her! That boy loves her attention. As much as Inuyasha likes to pretend he's bothered, I don't know what he'd do with himself if Kagome were to ever stop!" Izayoi laughed. Though funny, both mothers didn't doubt a single word of the statement. While friends since birth, for some reason, for the past three years, each meeting between the two children always resulted in the traditional chase; from Kindergarten to 2nd grade, Kagome never once tried to hide her crush on the hanyou, Inuyasha. The adults surrounding them knew the children's feelings—whether hidden or revealed—very well. From Inuyasha's feigned annoyance to Kagome's very public affection, it was very clear to all that watched that something was blooming alongside the flowers of the spring.

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Higurashi. We tried everything—"

"Don't you DARE finish that practiced sentence! Don't you fucking say that to me with that goddamn fucking emotionless tone!" Makiko screeched to the surgeon as she viciously threw her purse to side and to the ground. "Do you even understand the gravity of what you're saying! You're looking at me to tell me my husband fucking diedbecause of some asshole drunk driver. That's what you're telling me,yet it doesn't seem like you give a shit!" Izayoi sobbed as she gently, but firmly, wrapped her arms around her best friend's shaking form. "Let me go, Izayoi!" As Makiko flailed, Izayoi held her steady, offering the comfort and stability for which Makiko was not yet ready to ask. "Fuck you, Izayoi, and let me go! I don't need your hugs, I need my husband!" Endless tears coursed down the women's faces; one mixed with anger, another's mixed with pity.

"Sweetheart—Makiko, look at me. We need to get you home now." Izayoi solemnly peered over at her husband. Though losing one of their very best friends hurt, they couldn't imagine the pain of losing each other. They had to remind Makiko of what she had left.

"Makiko," Inutaisho said as he gently grasped his friend's face, "Kagome and Souta are waiting for you."

At the mention of her beloved children, Makiko screamed and crumbled to the ground, ready to drown in her own tears. "How…" she started quietly, pausing to catch her breath as her heart and lungs fought to maintain function. "How will I tell them?" When she slowly lifted her head, the great Inutaisho nearly cried along with her. "How will I tell them that their father's dead?"

Her broken whisper silenced the room.

"Makiko, you don't have to do this you know…Inutaisho and I, we can help you. You don't have to leave!" Izayoi begged her to understand, to stay and forget about moving America.

Makiko sadly smiled at her two best friends. "I know you would, but I don't want to have to ask you."

"Damn it, woman!" Inutaisho practically screamed. "Can't you put your damn pride aside and let us help you! You're our best friend, why is it so wrong that we want to help you!"

Placing both of her hands atop theirs, Makiko willed them to understand. "If I were to ask for your help now, I'd ask for it for the rest of my life. For the sake of my children, and for the sake of myself, I need to learn how to survive alone with them. I need to provide for them by myself. I have to build a new life without—" her throat caught at the memory of her lost husband, "without Makoto. And the best opportunity I have at doing that is that position at that amazing children's hospital! I love both of you. You know how much I love you and your family, but I need to prove to myself that I can do this. I have to prove to myself that I can do this."

A knocking at her window caused little Kagome to run across her bedroom. Her eyes peered out into the darkness, not even a little surprised that her half demon friend, positioned on the ground beneath her second story window with pebbles in his hand, was waiting to be granted permission for entrance. The second her window was unlatched, he jumped into her bedroom. When she instinctively wrapped her small arms around him, she was slightly surprised to feel his arms hug her in return. At the fragile age of 7, Inuyasha knew the gravity of the moment.

They were saying good-bye.

"One last sleep over?" Kagome asked solemnly with a small smile gracing her usually bright visage.

Inuyasha smiled, grasped her hand, and pulled her behind him throughout her—practically his as well—home towards the living room. Letting her hand go only to place their favorite movie into the DVD player, he joined her on the large plush couch and settled in comfortably.

Halfway into the movie, Inuyasha felt that his best friend had fallen asleep. Maneuvering himself slightly away from her in order to sit up fully, he reached into his pocket to retrieve the simple, yet beautiful, diamond pendant necklace he begged his parents to get for him, to give to her. Carefully clasping the necklace around her neck, he smiled, proud that he was so stealthy.

A few minutes later, he fell asleep right next to her.

"I'll really miss you…and this is my new favorite necklace in the whole wide wide wide wide wide wide world! I'll never take it off! I promise!"

As the hanyou blushed in the airport, Kagome gave him the best hug she'd ever given in her short life. His 10 year old brother Sesshomaru smirked at the tomato impression his brother had learned to perfect over the years.

"Don't forget me, Inuyasha! And don't replace me, either! That isn't allowed!"

"Keh!" Jeez, could he be anymore red? Sesshomaru was definitely going to make fun of him later. "Don't be so dumb, Kagome…no one could ever be as annoying as you!" She just smiled. She believed him about as far as she could throw him.

"Best friends forever. No matter what you say." She whispered.

"Come now, Kagome. It's time, sweetheart." Makiko walked over to the children, holding baby Souta in one arm and wiping her tears away with the other. "Good-bye, Inuyasha. Always be good, alright? We all love you very much and will always think about you and your family." Kissing him on the forehead and bidding her last farewells to her very best friends and their two sons, she grasped Kagome's hand.

"Buh-bye, Uncle Tai and Aunty Iz! I love you! Don't let him forget me, Sesshomaru! And don't ever forget what I said Inuyasha! "

A smiling, waving, crying Higurashi family boarded the plane.

As the Takahashi family of four watched the plane take off, little Inuyasha glued his face to the window.

"…I'll miss you, too…"

Thank you to anyone that read! :)

With love,
lilyerich