Fading
It had never faded.
He wasn’t sure why he thought it would – perhaps because his own worst scars had disappeared after the curse was broken – but the blanket slid low enough that he could see the mass of scar tissue on her bare back in the moonlight. He reached out a finger to lightly touch it.
‘It doesn’t,’ a soft voice told him. He hadn’t even noticed her breathing change.
‘What?’
‘It doesn’t hurt anymore,’ she repeated, rolling over to face him. He could see the gooseflesh on her skin, so he pulled the blanket up higher around her. She smirked – and he couldn’t blame her after all he had put her through when they were first travelling together, this was most unlike his old self. They were married now, though, and marriage changed a man. That’s what he heard the villagers saying, anyways.
‘How long did it hurt?’
‘It started fading after I knew he was alive for good, but it wasn’t completely gone until right before our wedding.’
He smiled at that thought, but didn’t have much time to reflect as she continued.
‘How about yours?’ she asked, picking up his hand.
‘It doesn’t hurt either,’ he told her. ‘I am surprised, admittedly, because of the amount of miasma that was in there but there’s been no pain since it disappeared. I do find myself expecting to see it, though, and sometimes scare myself when I use my hand forgetting that it’s no longer there.’
She nodded in understanding, still caressing his hand lightly. ‘Physically it doesn’t hurt anymore, but I-I’ll never be able to forget what happened.’
He gathered her close and shifted so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. He could tell that she was trying not to cry but he could also feel the couple tears that escaped. ‘What we all went through,’ he started, trying to choose his words carefully, ‘isn’t something that should be forgotten, I don’t think. It changed all of our lives. It would be foolish to try and forget.’
She laughed softly. ‘As if any of us could. I don’t want to forget,’ she clarified. ‘Just, some days I wish it didn’t still hurt so much.’
‘I still hurt, too,’ he confessed. Theirs was a kind of hurt that didn’t go away quickly, he knew from experience.
They fell into a contemplative silence and he thought she might have fallen back asleep when she asked a quiet, sad question. ‘Do you think she’s ever going to come back?’
He looked out the window where he could see the Goshinboku tree. His best friend wasn’t sitting watch that evening, but he was never far. As much as she missed her best friend, he knew there was one of their group that missed her even more. ‘I hope so,’ he replied. He wished he could offer more comfort, but there was no more to be said.
She snuggled in close and he tightened his arms around her, their pains continuing to fade together.