Limit: n. The y-value approached by, but never reached, a function as x increases or decreases toward positive or negative infinity.

Kyrie woke with a start, the sound of the phone on her bedside table jolting her awake. Groaning, she sat up, rubbing a hand against her eyes, gently extricating herself from the body of her sleeping husband before fumbling for the phone in the dark.

"Hello?" she mumbled into the receiver, resting her head against the cool wall, pulling her hair to one side of her neck.

"KYRIE!"

The huntress jumped, snapping to full awareness, leaning over the table to turn on the lamp. Aidan sat up beside her, frowning, but she held up a hand to quiet him when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Uh- Taka?"

"Kyrie! The baby!"

Raising her eyebrows, she looked over Aiden. Taka's voice had evidently carried through the receiver, for Aiden looked just as bewildered as she. "What about it? Taka, is everything okay? It's late…"

"It's coming!" her old friend shouted- she heard rustling in the background, and someone swearing loudly. "I'm at the hospital! Oh, so's Mikkun! Obviously, I guess."

"It's-" Kyrie whirled around, squinting at the calendar on the wall. "It's so early, though!"

"Yep! A whole month! But it'll be fine, so come down to the hospital! Hang on, Mikkun's saying something to me- oh, nope, nevermind, she's just yelling at the nurse to fuck off."

"She's in labor?"

"That's what I'm saying!"

Mouth open, Kyrie turned back to stare at Aiden. He was already on his feet, pulling on a shirt and coat, beckoning to her. The huntress couldn't help but smile. As indifferent as he acted, she knew Aiden was excited about this kid; if nothing else, he had a weakness for children.

"Alright, we're on our way," Kyrie said, getting up out of the bed and accepting the shirt Aidan passed her. "Tell Mika to- uh, I don't know, keep it in?"

"Hang on." There was muffled static as Taka presumably covered the mouthpiece to address his wife, and then he was back on, laughing. "She says screw you, and fuck me for putting it inside her."

"Lovely. We'll be there in few minutes, alright?"

"Excellent! I'll be here, suffering in silence!"

Silence. Kyrie snorted, following an impatiently scrambling Aiden down the stairs toward the front door. Yeah, right.

"Ready? Push!"

"No!" The doctor pushed Taka away from the IV, shaking his head frantically. "No, Fukuda-san, don't push, don't push, it's not time!"

"Oh, come on, look at that belly!" Taka said enthusiastically, pointing at his wife's stomach and bouncing on his toes. "She's ready to burst!"

"Dammit, Taka, shut the hell up," Mika snarled at him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and yanking him down to growl directly in his ear, "oh so help me God, I will cut it off so this never happens again."

"Yikes," Taka said, straightening up and giving the doctor a grave look. "Can't you knock her out or something?"

"You're not helping," Aiden said flatly, taking a handful of the back of Taka's shirt and dragging him to the corner of the hospital room, forcing him to sit down in a chair. "Sit down, shut up, and let the physicians do their jobs."

Kyrie smiled, bending down to hand Mika a glass of water before towelling off the other woman's sweaty forehead. "How are you doing?"

"Besides the thing that's crawling out of my womb? Fabulous," Mika grumped, wincing as she rolled onto her side, trying to get comfortable. "What time is it?"

"Just past one in the morning," Aiden answered, consulting his watch.

"It's the twenty-fifth?" Taka exclaimed, jumping out of his seat again. "Thank God, I'd never remember her birthday if it wasn't a five or a zero…"

"Her?" Kyrie queried, looking down at Mika with raised eyebrows.

"We don't know yet, he just throws out whatever gender he feels like," Mika sighed, rubbing a hand against her forehead. "Taka, you remembered the overnight bag, right?"

"Sure did!" he said brightly, stepping up to her bedside and patting her hand. "Don't worry, Lady Azuma, I've got it under control!"

"I have not taken your last name," she reminded him, scowling. "Ow. God dammit. When do I get the lumbar puncture or whatever?"

"It's an epidural, sweetie."

"Whatever, I'm a programmer, not a biologist."

"Biologists don't administer epidurals."

"Whatever, Taka!"

"Will you quit antagonizing her?" Kyrie snapped, giving Taka a sharp poke in the ribs. "She's getting ready to give birth to your kid, Taka, you could be a little more considerate."

"He's just being him, don't worry about it," Mika said, her voice muffled by the pillow pressed against her face. "This is what I get for agreeing to marry him."

"I still don't know how that happened…"

Taka smiled, clasping his hands behind his head. "It was my incredible powers of persuasion. I'm starved, so I'm going to go try and persuade the cafeteria to give me a discount on their terrible food. Aiden, want to come along?"

"I'm not hungry," the hunter replied from the corner, looking up from the book he'd brought, despite Kyrie's insistence that he should try and be as engaged and present as possible.

"Oh, come on," Taka said, kicking Aiden pointedly in the shin. "I'll buy you a doughnut."

"I don't want a doughnut…" The prodigal heir of the Kiryuu family got to his feet nonetheless, following Taka into the hall with just a hint of a scowl. "Do you have something you need to tell me?"

"Huh. Was I that obvious?"

"Yes. Subtlety has never been your forte." Aiden drew level with his companion, looking over at him and furrowing his brow. "Well?"

Taka sighed, scratching the back of his neck as they turned a corner, dodging around a nurse hurrying past. The maternity ward was relatively quiet, save for the occasional rings of pagers and soft, monotonous tones of monitoring equipment.

"Hibiki had a daughter," Taka said at length, ignoring Aiden's physical jump at the news. "She's four. Kyoko-san told me when I went to give them the news about his death."

"He had...what?" Aiden said weakly, and for the first time in his life, felt at a loss for words. "When…?"

"He had her with his highschool sweetheart, apparently. Hibiki only met the kid twice, but he had a bank account in her name. He sent the mother money every month." Taka sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Kyoko gave me the bank book. I've been doing it in his stead ever since." He withdrew a black checkbook, extending it toward Aiden. "I was wondering if you'd do it from now on. Just write a check for a thousand every month. There's enough in there to last for years; Hibiki really planned ahead."

Aiden took the book without thinking, opening his mouth to respond- and then a thought occurred to him. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking down at the checkbook, the carbon pages marred by Taka's messy scribble. "Taka...why can't you do it?"

Taka had stopped as well, turning to look at his friend, a small smile quirking at the corners of his mouth. "You're quick, Aiden."

"You're not…" Aiden stepped forward slowly, shaking his head. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Taka scratched his head, wincing. "Hibiki must have really regretted not being able to be a dad for Emiko. His kid, you know. All he could do was write checks. I don't want to be that kind of parent."

"Will they let you?" Aiden asked quietly, tucking the checkbook into his back pocket. "The Society? I've never heard of someone leaving, except maybe Cross."

"I'm not telling anyone," Taka answered. "Just you. As soon as Mika's out of the hospital, we're going to take off."

"Are you serious? And go where?"

"Not sure. Somewhere Mika can work. She's the only one with real job skills. Not much call for vampire hunters outside of the society." Taka grinned. "Guess I'll be staying home with the little tyke. Mika's okay with that. She's not really the nurturing type."

"Christ." Aiden leaned against the nearest wall, shaking his head. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Because I knew it'd be hard. I didn't want to throw off your game or anything." Taka joined him, dropping his weight against the wall before sliding down to the floor, splaying his legs across the tiles. "And, hell, you and Kyrie are my best friends. Family. I never had anyone else until I met Mika. I knew you'd take it hard."

"Obviously." Aiden closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. He'd never felt so unsettled. Taka was annoying and childish and, at one point, they'd competed for Kyrie's affections, but they were partners. They always had been. It had been the three of them, always, for as long as Aiden could remember. "Are you going to tell the kid about any of this?"

"Maybe someday. If it looks like she has the blood. Maybe he'll want to rejoin the Society."

"Pick a gender and stick with it."

"Sorry."

Aiden sighed, opening his eyes and looking over at his oldest friend. "You'll be a good father, you know. You're a big child yourself, so you should have no trouble getting along with the kid."

"That's what Mika said, too." Taka grinned, resting his head against his palm. "I can't believe this is happening. Man. I'm gonna be a dad. For better or worse, this baby is coming."

"Do you have names picked out?"

"...Shit."

"You're an idiot."

"A colossal one…"

"...Mika."

"What?"

"We made a tiny alien."

"Don't say that. You'll give him a complex." Mika opened her eyes, pulling her knees up to her chest and smiling contentedly. Her husband stood across the room, leaning over the plastic box containing the tiny form of their child. "Hey. Roll him over here, will you?"

"Separation anxiety?"

"Obviously. I carried that kid in me for eight months. It's weird not being able to feel him."

Taka grinned, standing behind the tank and pushing it over to her bedside, leaning back over it at once and tapping his fingers on the glass. "Hey, little man. Hi. I'm your dad, this is your mom, we're very pleased to meet you. We made you on a beach, did you know that?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he's way too young for that discussion," Mika said dryly, placing her fingertips on the plastic and smiling broadly when the baby within kicked a foot out. "Think he knows I'm here?"

"I'm sure he does." Taka sat down on the edge of her bed, placing a hand on hers. "We should come up with a name, huh?"

"If we want a birth certificate."

"It has to have two syllables."

"Why?"

"Because Taka, Mika, and Blah-Blah. That's goddamn adorable."

Mika smiled, eyes taking in every detail of the newborn, small and bald and alien and perfect, in every way. "We should name him for the place he was made in."

"...Takamatsu?"

"Ack. Nevermind."

"Because that would mean we'd be Taka, Mika, and Taka."

"The beach we were on, then. The ocean."

Taka looked down at her, perplexed. "You want to name him Inland Sea?"

"No, I…" Mika stopped, running a hand through her hair. "You're a gigantic idiot, you know that? I mean Seto. We should call him Seto."

"That makes more sense…" Taka leaned over the bubble, drumming his fingers on its surface. "What do you think, kiddo? It looks like a good fit. Though we probably won't know for sure until you grow some hair."

Mika smiled, reaching out for Taka and touching his white fringe, running her fingers through the soft strands. "He has your eyes, you know. Blue. He opened them while you were sleeping. Just for a moment."

Taka looked down at her, stunned speechless for perhaps the first time in his life. A slow smile spread across his face, and he leant down, hooking his arms around her and pulling her close, cradling her aching body with infinite tenderness. They savored it, the peace, the quiet, the vision of the little life they'd made together.

And five years later, she was gone.

Notes:

1. The body of water that runs through Japan, connecting the Pacific to the Sea of Japan, is called the Seto Inland Sea. You're welcome.

2. Premature babies are often kept in a little containment bubble thing until they're out of the danger zone.

3. I moved a chapter around so that all the interludes would be together. From here on out, the main story will progress pretty much uninterrupted.

4. Seto's original family name is one of the few pieces of the Yugioh universe that Kazuki Takahashi kept from his readers. It has been confirmed, however, that his birthday is in fact on October 25th.

5. Now I'm sad.