A/N: *sniffles* Man, this is the last chapter…It makes me wanna cry, but it's been so good, and I have to end it eventually…I hope you guys truly liked the story, cuz I loved writing it! Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story, Night, and Shuko.

A Neko's Angel

Epilogue

X*X(13 Years Later)X*X

13 years had passed since Shuko had been born, and he had grown a lot over the years. Not just physically, but mentally, too. He was a very clever and perceptive boy, always able to tell when something was wrong. Shuko was close with both Joshua and Neku, but he seemed closest to me for some reason. He would confide in me if something was bothering him, and always wanted to talk to me.

As far as his looks, though, he was quite a heartbreaker there. His pale orange hair had naturally spiked up a bit in the front, flowing down in the back with some natural curls here and there that he had inherited from Joshua. He also had gained Neku's fringe as his bangs. His cat ears had grown in proportion to the rest of him, and gained more flecks of silver as he grew older, as did his tail.

His eyes were usually calm, showing his quiet demeanor, but sometimes sparkled with mischief like Joshua's did when he wanted to tease Neku. Shuko's skin remained pale, no matter how much time he spent out in the sun. As for his wings, they had grown greatly, and since he was almost the same height as his parents, his wings were almost fully developed. Joshua sometimes took him out to teach him how to fly, while Neku and I watched or just stayed at home.

Occasionally, Sanae would visit, and typically brought something for Shuko to play with, be it a ball of yarn that he would willingly share with Neku, or even just fresh catnip. It seemed the young winged neko had gained more traits in personality from his "mother", though, because he acted a lot like Neku did before we met Josh. Not only that, but he also had more cat-like instincts than he would have if he had taken after Josh more.

It was this past year, on Shuko's 13th birthday, that Sanae visited with a surprise for us all. He had brought a few other young dobutsu with him that he was teaching how to survive on their own. They were all around Shuko's age, except for one who was a bit younger than the rest. The first one to greet Shuko was the youngest, ironically enough, while her brother tried to stop her. She stepped forward and shook hands with Shuko.

"Hiya, I'm Rhyme, a mouse dobutsu, or nezumi," she said cheerfully, smiling. Her black beanie covered her blonde hair pretty good, but her white mouse ears still poked out from two holes in the beanie. Her long, slender, white mouse tail swayed back and forth calmly. Shuko smiled slightly when she introduced herself.

"I'm Shuko, a cat and angel dobutsu, or winged neko," he said, laughing a bit. When he noticed the pair behind Rhyme give him a doubtful look, he spread his wings to their full length, which was around 13 feet. Having a 13 foot wingspan at his age was impressive, so I knew they were only going to get bigger. Rhyme quickly went back over to her brother and tugged him up with her, ignoring his protests.

"This is my big brother, Beat, a bear dobutsu!" she chirped, and looked expectantly at her brother. He reluctantly held his hand out, his brown bear ears flattened against his beanie, which concealed his blonde hair almost as well as Rhyme's did. The black beanie he wore also had two holes in it for his ears, just like his sister's. Shuko firmly shook hands with him, flashing a small, reassuring smile to Beat as though to say, 'I'm not gonna bite, ya know.'

"Nice to meet you, Beat," Shuko told him. Beat merely grunted, and Shuko's expression looked a bit hurt by it. Rhyme quickly remedied that, though, by smacking her brother on the back of the head with her tail, making Beat yelp in surprise and pain.

"What the heck, yo?!" he demanded of his sister.

"Be nice to Shuko!" Rhyme scolded. "Out here, we'll need friends, and this is the first one we've made since losing our parents! And Shiki doesn't count since we're living with her and Mr. H!"

"Sorry, sis…" Beat apologized, and then added swiftly when Rhyme elbowed him, "Sorry, Shuko…"

"It's okay," Shuko said, smirking. Then they all looked at the third dobutsu, a squirrel one, or risu. She stepped forward eagerly, holding out her hand as she clutched a stuffed black cat in her arms. Her small squirrel ears twitched excitedly as she grasped his hand, and her fluffy brown squirrel tail waved happily.

"I'm Shiki, and this is Mr. Mew!" she said, holding up the stuffed cat. Shuko seemed taken aback by her hyperness, but still managed to recover quickly enough to respond normally.

"Nice to meet you," he replied, still smiling slightly.

"Looks like you made some new friends, huh, Shuko?" Sanae laughed, and Shuko merely smiled at him.

"Thanks for this, Sanae," Joshua said gratefully.

"Yeah, Shuko needs to interact with someone other than us," Neku agreed. I jumped onto Neku's right shoulder, flashing a grateful smile at the panther.

"It's no big deal," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Besides, Rhyme is right in saying that they all need friends. It's a good way to guarantee survival." At that, he gave Beat a pointed look. The bear scowled a bit, but nodded anyway. "Anyway, we better get going. I need to teach these three how to fish." And on that note, Sanae bid us all farewell and led the three young dobutsu away in the direction of the river.

It was now a few months later since the four young dobutsu had met, and they had all become good friends since then. The three trainees would come by and visit at least a couple times a week to play with Shuko, and would then leave at sunset.

Whenever Shuko wasn't playing with his friends, though, he was either drawing on a sketchpad Sanae had brought him once while listening to the music he was given by Josh, Neku, and I for his 13th birthday, or practicing how to fly with Joshua. The headphones he owned now were the same as Neku's, only silvery blue instead of purple, and he had the same music player Neku had, too. It was funny, how much the boy was like his parents.

Anyway, it was one of these evenings when Joshua was out teaching Shuko some new flight techniques that Neku and I began chatting. I started the conversation by bringing up something I had noticed in my best friend during the past month and a half.

"So, when are you going to tell them?" I asked nonchalantly, and Neku looked at me, startled.

"What?" he asked, confused. I knew he was feigning innocence, obvious by his eyes that flicked about, trying to avoid looking at me.

"Neku, please don't lie to me," I said. He sighed and lowered his gaze to look at the ground.

"I don't know when I'll tell them," he mumbled.

"You do realize that you're gonna have to tell them that you're pregnant again soon, right?" I chided. He nodded, sighing heavily.

"Wait, you're pregnant again, Neku?" Joshua's voice rang out as he glided in with Shuko following closely. Neku's pale blue eyes widened in shock and his head snapped up as he realized his mate had heard him. Josh didn't sound upset, just surprised, which made me feel good about the situation.

"Y-yeah…" Neku whispered, nervous, as he lowered his head again. Joshua warmly embraced his neko, kissing him on the lips lovingly. Shuko and I had the decency to look away until Joshua spoke again.

"How long have you known, Neku?" the angel asked.

"About a month," the ginger murmured. Joshua hugged his neko tightly again, and then Shuko cleared his throat, making the pair look at him.

"So…does this mean I'm gonna be a big brother?" he asked. He knew what it meant to be pregnant, and that it wasn't unusual for a male dobutsu to be able to become pregnant. He had curious eyes watching his parents as they looked at each other.

"Yes, Shuko, you're gonna have a baby brother or sister," Joshua told him.

"But don't think that anything is going to change between our family, all right?" Neku assured him. Shuko nodded, smiling happily, and then hugged his parents, who hugged him back.

That night, we went to sleep, all of us happy. Before I fell asleep, though, I couldn't help but marvel at everything that has gone on since I came to this world. I had helped to raise a neko from infancy to adulthood, and even helped in raising his son. I had changed a lot, but for the better, and I wouldn't dare change it for the world. I don't regret anything that I've done in my life, and that would never change.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry this is such a short epilogue, but I think I'll write a one-shot sequel to this story, but I want some reviews before I start! At least a couple, okay? Anyhoo, Thanks for being such faithful readers and reviewers, it means so much to me! R&R, peeps!