That day was the first time I had seen him in the months since. I hadn't expected to see him again, not really. But the whole situation was just so strange, so unexpected, that I half anticipated him coming into my life again, to steal up on me some night when the moon was bright and the air quiet.

He didn't. Days, weeks, months passed. I stopped looking for him, stopped thinking of him. I couldn't afford the distraction. And there was, of course, the matter of Sango.

We grew closer, even closer than I had dared to hope. We began to talk more about ourselves, less about our pasts, and more about what we wanted for the future, if we were granted one. Half the time, neither of us knew. It was hard to look to the future when you were constantly worried over dying in the present.

Still, we both dreamed of it. And, of course, somehow, I realized that I loved her. It took me by surprise, my feelings. As if I, somewhere along the way, had forgotten what it was like to love another. Still, it was an even greater shock when I realized she felt the same.

She was a downright minx. Don't let her act fool you. They all called me a pervert. She surprised me in the hot spring! It was all I could do not to blush and dive for my clothes like a village virgin.

We became so close. More than lovers, more than friends. With almost frightening quickness, I stopped being able to remember what my life was like before I had her. And our friends were ecstatic as well. Kagome deemed us 'precious,' Shippo rattled on incessantly about marriage and parenthood, and Inu-Yasha even had a warm smile in his eyes, even as he waved the subject away with a typical "Feh!"

Every so often we fought Naraku, and lost, for the most part. The endless battles seemed to fade though, my desire to kill Naraku fading into a simple desire to lead a normal life with Sango.

The day we defeated Naraku went by in a blur. It was something of an anticlimax really. If you had blinked, you would have missed the actual battle.

I found out I was to be a father that day. And Sango almost died that day. I tried to convince her not to fight, but she wouldn't hear a word of it. And then, a misstep on her part, and she was suddenly in the path of a lesser youkai's claws. I couldn't help, couldn't do anything but scream her name in horror.

He saved her. It was like a double blow to the stomach, my fear for Sango and shock at seeing him again combining in dizzying wave. Hell, I almost died that day, distracted as I was.

When I reached her, he was gone again, leaving us alone with a thoroughly dead horde of lesser youkai.

That night, I couldn't sleep. I ran a hand through Sango's hair as she slept, pressed a kiss to her shoulder, smooth and warm, and utterly beautiful, then moved to press another to her stomach, which fluttered with her pulse.

Then, I slipped out of the tent, trying to clear my mind in the night air. The moon was bright. It was another light like the first one I had met him. Standing in the woods, I examined my hand, bare for the first time since I was a child. My child, I realized, with a smile, would not be cursed.

Yet still, I had lived with the hellhole for so long, it was as if I had lost something as vital as my hand. It was an adjustment, to realize that all those dreams that Sango and I talked about were actually possible now. Not even just possible... they were becoming a reality. Soon, we would marry, have a child. We would be a family.

I wonder how long he stood there before I saw him, so engrossed I was with my thoughts. He stood in front of me, glowing silver with the moonlight. I gasped when I saw him, my eyes widening.

"She's beautiful, your mate." His words were quiet, his gaze on me didn't waver.

I nodded, slowly. "Yes, she is."

"You're expecting a child?"

Blinking, slightly dumfounded, I replied, simply. "We are." I suppose it shouldn't have surprised me that he would know. Inu-Yasha had also.

He reached out to run his fingers down my cheek, and I shivered, suddenly very nervous. He leaned forward, pressed a kiss there, where his fingers had been, held the soft kiss for a moment, then pulled away.

"Congratulations." His smile was... sad, bittersweet; so open and honest that I caught my breath. He nodded to me, then simply left, fading quickly into the darkness.

I touched my cheek, staring after him.

That night would be the last time I would see him.