Forbidden Fruit by BittersweetRain

Happiness

It was a beautiful spring morning in the country of Japan, when a small princess awoke from her blissful sleep to the sound of servants bustling downstairs and birdsong outside her window.

Sudden realization crossed her face and she leaped from the bed, her blue eyes sparkling as she clapped her hands in glee.

"Today's my birthday!!" The child grinned impishly and spun around and around, her long raven hair twisting through the air like something alive.

Stopping breathless at the door of her room, she listened as footsteps came closer and closer, followed by a soft knock.

Giggling, the princess opened the door, only to throw herself past the arms of an elderly woman and escape down the hall, her bare feet pattering across the cold stone floor as she called over her shoulder, "Catch me if you can, Kaede! I'm not in the mood for a bath today!"

Sighing, the maid known as Kaede crossed her arms and yelled back, "I 'aven't lived this long for nothing, child. Don't think that I won't find ye – Remember, I had plenty o' practice with your mother."

Snorting in a very un-royal way, the princess continued to run until she came to her parents' room.

Ignoring a servant who said that the king and queen might not like to be disturbed, she burst in, immediately hurling herself onto the large, colorful bed.

Her mother blinked as she felt a tiny body burrowing into her side, and her still sleepy father found himself staring into a pair of wide blue eyes.

Unable to hold back her excitement, the girl announced (quite loudly), "Mommy, daddy, get up! I'm finally 7! That means I'm a BIG girl now, right?"

The queen smiled widely and kissed both her daughter and husband on the forehead, "Yes, Kagome. You're big girl. Why don't you go take a bath, and then join us for breakfast downstairs?"

"Awwww," the little girl pouted, "but I want to stay here with you! I don't feel like taking a bath, and Kaede's probably mad at me because I ran away from her."

Her father raised an eyebrow, "Not again... Kagome, big girls take their baths." With a reassuring look he set her back down on the floor, and obediently the little princess padded to the doorway, stopping just before she closed it to look back at her parents with a dazzling smile on her face,

"Love you!"

The woman sat up in bed, her brown eyes warm and full of content, "Oh Miroku. What did we ever do to earn such a wonderful daughter?"

Her husband just grinned and gathered her into his arms, his voice muffled as he breathed into her ear, "I can think of a few things, my dear Sango..."

~

Kagome stood in front of a large mirror, wrapped in a fluffy towel that was much too big for her.

Her hair was still dripping from the bath that Kaede had given her, and although she would never admit it, the little princess had enjoyed the feel of the warm water on her skin.

Now she looked at herself, trying to discern any changes that may signify her transformation from a baby into a big girl.

Unable to find any, she frowned and stomped her foot when her maid came into the room with her clothes. "Why, Kaede," she asked (or rather commanded). "Why do I look the same?"

The aged woman shook her head and spoke gently while she dressed her charge, "Such changes are gradual and not always shown in our outward appearance, my child. Ye must remember to look not only on the inside of yourself, but anyone else you meet as well."

The child stared at her reflection again. Now instead of a towel, she was garbed in a white kimono made of expensive silk, with pink sakura blossoms all over it and a blue sash at the waist to match her eyes.

She didn't understand what the wise old woman meant now, but she would...