Of You, Me, and Us

Summary: "I like you." When those words left her lips, Botan had expected to hear him utter words of apology. After all, she didn't think he felt the same way about her. She didn't expect Kurama looking straight at her in the eyes before leaning closer to kiss her. And although he didn't say anything, one glance at the expression on his face was enough to tell her: she was his now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter 47: Namesake

Botan's long, hard stare was pinned on the pair of twins playing with blocks on the bed. Kurama was on his desk, seemingly flipping through pages of relevant work files.

It took her awhile before she had understood that offspring of demon origins tended to be different than human children. Their growth spurts were significantly faster, and not to mention, their keen intellect inclined to be on a sharper level than most normal infants. In a matter of two weeks, her baby son's and daughter's bodies had flourished to the point where they could resemble three year old yearlings. They comprehended human language from birth and spoke their respective first words on the fourth day. They had also learned how to walk, and adapted to the act of using their legs all too quickly.

Astonishment had mingled with fear at first as they built up inside of her when she saw that they were evolving at an abnormal rate. After all, it hadn't even been a month and yet Tsubaki and Ume had already grasped the concept of reading and writing by the time the first week had gone by. Kurama had explained soon after calming her through her freakout sessions that it was relatively common as demon bodies had the knack of functioning in very diverging patterns than humans. Apparently, he hadn't proffered her the exposition at once as he had made the assumption that she was already aware of the fact after taking into account that she had been working alongside demons for years. It took her longer moments to elucidate to Kurama that not everyone boasted a penchant for doing a background check on everyone they would come across like he regularly did.

He soon disclosed that the reason their bodies matured at such an atypically brisk pace was that it was not unnatural practice for demon parents to abandon their litter, thus contributing to the purpose of their children developing immensely fast so that they could fend for themselves. In fact, he had divulged in the information that he had learned five languages in a matter of three weeks and started to grow out of his childhood phase in a month. Then it took him another couple of months before he began advancing into the early stages of teenagehood.

To be more precise, he actually thought it surprising that his saplings were blossoming at a slower tempo than he did, though he presumed that it was probably due to the factor that he had practically raised himself back when he was a pup, and that the rate of evolving for a demon depended on their state of mind. The more they had to deal with themselves, the more accelerated the process of growth was. He didn't seem to find it a bad thing though - it meant that his kids were having a life he never had; a mother to care for them and a father to protect them. He seemed happy that they still harbored positive, childish outlooks in life - unlike him who grew to be cynical all too rapidly and acted like a full-fledged adult when he was young.

Nevertheless, it felt like time was flying by too fast for Botan. Of course, it had its own pros and cons. One of the benefits was that she didn't have to teach Tsubaki and Ume much for them to decipher a lot of things, and that the speedy exponential growth granted them the advantage of understanding the concept of utilizing their demon energies a lot better. She was certain that it was contributed from their genes; the fact that they were Kurama's children prompted their already aberrantly perceptive intelligence to skyrocket to higher heights and it wasn't long before she found herself losing count on the amount of notions that she no longer had to educate them about. She wasn't sure it was a good or a bad thing, but they were hers, after all, so she accepted it nonetheless. Albeit, she had a nagging feeling that by long she would that they would surpass even her brains in due time. Not that it made her love them any less of course.

Shiori fainted on a whole lot of occasions though when she noticed that her grandkids looked different each time she came to visit. Although the entirety of them assimilating basic - and non-basic - prospects came as no shock as Kurama had displayed the same exhibit of wits when he was young, the sole sight of their briskly changing appearances were enough to make her lose consciousness each time she stopped by.

The biggest downside was that their existence was mostly obscured from Kurama's extended family as a vast majority of them had no inkling of the notion of demons, aside from his grandmother, Chika. Neither Botan nor Kurama desired for their children to end up as test subjects in science laboratories, after all, and even if they wouldn't, no mortal could easily look at them without some sort of prejudice or judgemental standpoint in mind. It was alright though, their friends and Kurama's family knew who they were and Tsubaki and Ume seemed jovial enough with them. Kurama found it to be a pleasant thing that his family had a rather strained relationship with their relatives as it made lying about his son and daughter a lot simpler.

Fortunately enough, by the time they would reach their teenage years, many demons tended to match humankind's rate of growth so high school wouldn't be much of a problem and fabrications would be a lesser occurrence. Yusuke's and Keiko's son, Keiichi, was a dissimilar matter than Tsubaki and Ume as he was a half-human half-demon hybrid, therefore his development was relatively standard for the most part. But he got along well with them even though he didn't understand most of the things they conversed about.

"Mama, mama."

Botan snapped out of her reverie, barely aware of the contented smile lingering on her lips as she eyed Tsubaki stride his way towards her in small yet confident steps. He seemed about five years old, even though in reality he was only three weeks in human years. Despite everything though, he and Ume still adored and got excited over being spoiled by their mother and Botan figured it was cute that they at least still retained their rather juvenile personalities. She recalled that Kurama was quite disappointed when both of them had uttered 'mama' as their first word and he was still slightly upset about the subject whenever it was mentioned. Like him, they were growing to be very attached to their mother.

"Yes, what is it, my little cutie?" she cooed at her five-year old son, hands immediately gliding to his sides and fingers moving to tickle him once he was in arm's length.

Tsubaki collapsed face-first on her stomach as he began exploding in a violent fit of barely contained laughters, screaming out pleas at his mother to stop teasing him before she eventually complied after about three minutes and halted her ticklish assault. Tears peeked at the corners of his eyes, a couple of coughs escaping him before he offered her an endearing pout of his lower lip.

"I'm not cute," he murmured in mild displeasure, but didn't resist as Botan wrapped her arms around his tiny waist and brought him in a tender embrace.

"Yes, you are," she insisted as she placed a doting kiss on his forehead. "You have split bangs like your mother. How are you not even the slightest bit cute?" she playfully jeered as she watched her son's features contort into a slightly exasperated expression, his peridot irises reflecting a good amount of childish ire as he attempted to pry out of her grasp. Well, at least you got your overwhelming pride from your father. She mused, a howl of amused, girlish giggles bubbling out of her throat as she discerned the familiar presentation of wounded ego that Tsubaki no doubt inherited from her husband.

"No, I'm not," came his stubborn-sounding reply as he puffed his cheeks in a lovable display of silent rebellion. "I'm not a girl, mama. I don't want to be cute."

"That's what your papa always says," Botan quipped in as she reached her forefinger to poke at his left cheek, observing in amusement the surge of inspired oxygen flowing out of his lips as she noted his resemblance to that of a balloon. "But that doesn't mean you're not."

"I heard someone mentioning my name," Kurama's voice resonated in a light-hearted tone in the room and Botan lifted her gaze up just in time to see him approaching the bed. He took a seat on an unoccupied space at the edge of the bed, hooking one arm around Ume's waist and placing her on his lap as he extended his free hand to lightly poke on Tsubaki's dinky nose. "Just let her call you that. Your mama's as hard-headed as a mule, she's not going to stop until you admit that you're cute."

"Hey!" Botan faked an offended gasp. "Whoever said I was hard-headed?"

Kurama expelled a low, gladdened chuckle before parting his lips to sound out a witty remark, only to be interrupted by the suddenly disquieted Ume as she furiously stomped her little feet on the cushions of his thighs. "No fair!" she sulked in a childish tantrum, puffing her cheeks in a similar way her twin brother had done as she shot a charming glare back and forth between her mother and father. "Ume wants to be called cute too! It's no fair if only Tsubaki gets to be called cute. And he's not that cute to begin with!"

"You're just jealous that you're as ugly as a horse!" Tsubaki countered back at her in an angry roar, about to fling his tiny fists at her before Botan laughed, pulling him back into a safer distance. Her son and daughter had the propensity to bicker over the littlest of things, at times winding up in harmless spars that habitually ended with, ironically, Ume as the victor.

"You get mad when you're called cute and you get mad still when your sister says you don't," she lightly chastised the little boy with a note of gaiety in her chortling timbre. Tsubaki pursed his lips into another pout, seemingly about to submerge into another one of moping modes once again before the slight annoyance dissipated to give way to epiphany as a look of recognition flitted over his features, the child appearing as if he had abruptly recalled something as he hoisted his head upwards to peer up at his mother.

"Um, mama?" he demurely started, one fist cutely tugging at the sleeve of her shirt. "Can I ask you something?"

Botan blinked at that before brushing back a strand of cerulean mane to join the rest of Tsubaki's fringe as it was led astray by the miniscule gust of wind erupting from the slightly opened window. She sent a brief glance at Kurama, who instantly comprehended the message under the fleeting glimpse as he positioned Ume at her lap as well, sparing himself only a second to smile as his daughter scooted closer to her brother on their mother's thighs before he went around the bed to close the window shut.

"Of course. Go ahead. Mama will answer anything," Botan gently responded as the little bit of extra weight on the bed disappeared just as Kurama assumed a standing position.

There was a touch of hesitance in Tsubaki's emeralds as he pursed his lips outwards in a thoughtful manner, his eyes darting to the left at the wall twice before he directed his gaze back to Botan. "Er," he started, fear palpable in his child-like voice as he sounded an audible gulp before going on, "why did you name me Tsubaki?"

His question garnered another confusion-congested blink from Botan as she cocked her head slightly to the side in an inquisitive manner. "Why not? Do you hate it?"

There was a short-lived pause as Tsubaki seemed to mull over the right way to pronounce his thoughts. "No," he muttered, voice uncertain as he shook his head. "It's just that I read somewhere that it's mainly a name you give to girls. Why did you give me a feminine name? I mean, I don't want the other kids to make fun of me."

"It's not very sensitive of you to ask your mother such a question, my little whippersnapper," Kurama mumbled as he perched himself on the bed again, his timbre gentle yet firm with a light reprimanding tinge as the syllables rippled out of his throat.

Tsubaki's eyes began to water with warm tears, prompting the fox to swiftly cup his hands under his son's armpits so that he could set him on his lap. His right hand skirted upwards to confer Tsubaki with comforting, lenient pats at the top of his head. "Don't weep. I'm not mad. It's simply because your choice of words could have hurt mama's feelings, Tsubaki," he muttered under his breath before he leaned down to give his son an apologetic and soothing peck on his hairline. "And it's not like Keiichi is going to laugh at your expense for having a feminine name. For the record, I think it's a beautiful name."

Tsubaki pouted some more before he relaxed, though a hint of a tiny scowl remained on his lips. "I didn't mean to hurt mama. I was just curious," he burbled in a guilt-tinctured voice as his gaze downcasted to his small pair of feet before he aimed a trepidation-filled couple of greens at his mother. "I'm sorry, mama."

"Oh, it's okay, Tsubaki. Mama doesn't mind," she reassured the little boy, stretching a hand to leave a couple of affectionate pats on Tsubaki's head after Kurama shifted to lie on his back against the headboard, propping himself right at her side.

"Hmm, how do I start?" Botan pondered to herself as she tilted her head to the right in a pensive guise, one finger tapping at her chin before her visage lit up with knowing joy. "You might not like it, Tsubaki, but mama loves your name very much," she started, her timbre compassionate and fond as she snaked a hand into his sky blue mane, ruffling his unruly locks before her son offered her a hushed protest not to treat him like a kid, despite the fact that he really was still a child. "I picked it for you after the camellias I would always see blooming in my backyard. You see, Tsubaki, when your mama was first resurrected, camellias were the first flowers she saw and they were very pretty." She bent down and inched closer enough to deliver a featherlight, loving buss at the tip of his nose. "I loved them a lot. But I love you a lot more."

Tsubaki fluttered his eyelids closed as Botan's warm, doting gesture caused heat to flare up his cheeks. They slid open to reveal a pair of remorseful peridots as she drew apart. Silence hung in the air for a few moments before he unexpectedly - to Kurama's and Botan's horror - grumbled the words under his breath,

"Oh… Now I feel like an ass."

Botan sputtered and stumbled over her own words as the petrified shock eventually entered her system, her mouth wide agape as she stared back at Tsubaki's blinking, baffled expression. Kurama, on the other hand, seemed as if he was choking on nothing but air as he was rendered into a vicious fit of retch.

A couple of painstaking minutes passed before the fox collected himself again. Although, the muscles of his jaws appeared to be tense as he kept his voice as controlled as possible despite the thin line of muted chagrin perceptible on his lips. "Okay, young man. I think you've been spending too much time with Uncle Yusuke. That's a very bad word." He adopted as neutral a timbre as possible in fear of reducing his son to tears again, but there was a noticeable note of discontent dormant underneath the tone he used.

Then again, when he stopped to think about it, the revelation gradually dawned on him that even either Kuwabara or Hiei could have taught Tsubaki the disgraceful practice of cussing. Though Kurama didn't particularly care if others cursed or not, this was a child - and not to mention, his child, that they were no doubt swearing in front of for it to reach to the point that Tsubaki would be unabashedly saying it aloud.

Granted, if Kuwabara were the one to voice out blasphemies before Tsubaki, it could have been shrugged off as a careless mistake - and even that was something Kurama found it hard to forgive - but Hiei was another story altogether. The fire demon seemed to be blissfully ignorant of the consequences of his actions as he went about doing and saying whatever he wanted as per usual. Yusuke, well… he was a man of coarse language, but Kurama hadn't anticipated he would have the audacity to even mouth a string of curses in front of a youngster who probably didn't know any better - and did he have to put another emphasis that this was hisson they were swearing around? If they didn't deserve a ticket for early death before, they had certainly earned the right for it now.

He made a mental note to feed his three best friends to his Ojigi plants later.

Botan gave him a soft pat on the shoulder as if to alleviate his brewing wrath as she ushered him to calm down. "Kurama, dear, you're giving off a rather intense flow of demon energy there. You'll end up scaring our children."

The redhead grumbled some unintelligible insults under his breath for some time before levelling a long, hard stare of concern at his son and children. Thankfully, contrary to Botan's belief, Tsubaki and Ume were seemingly unperturbed as they merely gave out a set of adorable, bewildered blinks at his direction despite having discerned his dangerous spikes of angry energy. He heaved out a heavy, defeated sigh before trailing a hand forward to place a light jab on Tsubaki's nose.

"That's not a really nice language to use, Tsubaki. Please refrain from that kind of word usage in front of your grandmother, okay? Or else she'll likely have a heart attack," he tenderly reminded his son. Knowing Shiori, there was a rather elevated chance that she would.

Tsubaki paused before innocently declaring, "Uncle Hiei says that you're not very nice too, papa."

Botan could have sworn she caught a glimpse of a vein popping at the side of Kurama's forehead, the brief exhibit followed with the small, intervalled twitching of his left eyebrow in suppressed sprouting aggravation as he slanted the edges of his lips upwards to a chilling smile. Oh, yes, he was going to lovingly murder his friends when he would see them again.

Kurama's voice was tight, almost tart as he interposed, "Uncle Hiei is just jealous that your papa is smarter than him, thus always has the upper hand when it comes to pulling friendly, harmless stunts on each other." And in fact, he was already devising a little devilish scheme to somehow plant a carnivorous vegetation under the Jagan user's bed some time. 'Harmless' indeed.

"Mama, mama," Ume's equally childish yet more feminine voice sounded in a perked up manner, successfully bringing the fox out of his musings and preventing his line of thoughts from taking a more homicidal approach. "What about me?"

Love resurfaced in the couple of parents as they turned to peer down at the little girl, the radiant, toothy grin on her countenance implying at her puerile excitement. Kurama slackened his tense shoulders as he exhaled a doting gush at the cute display while Botan rippled out a burst of delighted giggles, unsure whether she found Ume's enthusiasm or the sight of her husband basically fanboying over their daughter to be cuter as she directed her gaze between them to and fro.

"Hm… You, Ume..." she started once she was finished with her own session of fangirling over how adorable daddy Kurama was as she cupped her daughter's cheeks in both hands and gave the supple flesh a couple of affectionate squeezes. Ume's scarlet-colored locks became as disheveled as her brother's as her mother proceeded to tousle her hair with her right hand. Unlike Tsubaki though, Ume seemed to enjoy being stroked on the head as she let out a fit of gleeful, high-pitched laughter at the attention. "Your name is a result from a very fond memory that I share with your sweet papa over here," Botan paused in the midst of her storytelling to nudge her shoulder against her husband's for added emphasis. Kurama laughed before nuzzling his nose against her ear as he leaned in. "You see, mama really likes cherry blossoms, but a few years ago when I went to watch them bloom, they didn't for some reason. Mama and papa were just friends back then, but he was still as romantic as ever. He tried to cheer me up by making cherry blossoms bloom on a leafless tree back at Master Genkai's temple, but he had a high fever and made the mistake of creating Japanese apricots for flowers instead. I didn't mind though, I thought the gesture was very sweet. Of course, papa probably doesn't remember. Boys never remember anything."

Kurama was brisk to dispel her attempt at teasing him as he proffered her a featherlight, demure kiss on her cheek before pronouncing his defensive remark. "I remember. It was a one time error of mine, alright? I miscalculated. You need not bring it up every time."

"You're such a bad sport," she responded in light-hearted mischief as she kissed at the tip of his nose in return. "You always get snippy when I strike at your ego." His mouth tugged down into a slight frown before she quickly leaned in to steal his lips in a chaste lip-lock in order to silence the snide comment he was about to emit. "Well, for what it's worth, that was the moment I realized that I was in love with you, you know."

"Fine, I'll give in just this once," Kurama relented, a loving smile spreading on his lips as he placed his own affectionate buss on hers. The couple caught the sound of Tsubaki's and Ume's disgusted shrieks before pulling apart from each other in shared laughter of hilarity as they spun their gazes downwards to see Ume clasping her hands to her eyes and Tsubaki's nose weirdly scrunched up in unhidden repulsion.

"Did you hear that, you two?" Botan asked them once hers and Kurama's chortles soon subsided, a mildly taunting grin latched on her mouth as she went on with her jibe, "Your papa always turns everything into a competition for no good reason. Don't grow up to be like him in the future, okay?"

"You're giving awful lessons to our children," Kurama's smooth riposte was immediate almost as if it came as a second impulse to him. "I am a very respectable man. My son would do well to follow my steps," he lightly gloated before taking a moment to pause as his mind briefly flashed to his past wrongdoings. Then, came his deep, regretful frown, along with his barely audible murmur, "Okay, perhaps not all of them."

He was about to sink in self-loathing mode until Botan inched closer and conferred a soothing kiss at his forehead. "You're a good man, Kurama," she reassured him, almost as if she was knowing of his line of thoughts. In fact, knowing his spouse, she most likely did.

Kurama gave her a grateful smile before turning his attention back to his children. "Alright, youngsters like these two naughty kids should go to bed early," he announced before instantly wrapping his arms around them to prevent them from escaping as they tried to run away from his grasp.

"Goodnight, my little camellia and apricot," Botan affectionately whispered before she delivered doting, tender kisses on Tsubaki's and Ume's respective foreheads. She observed with a pair of gratified lavenders as Kurama slid off the bed, expertly disregarding the couple of twins acting out in his embrace as he led them out of the door and to their shared bedroom.

"Aw, no! I want to talk to mama a little more!" Tsubaki protested as he propelled his tiny fists on Kurama's right arm as if to get him to release his hold. Unfortunately for Tsubaki, he was simply a five year old and thus was no match for his father.

Ume, who was tucked in his left one, kicked and struggled like her brother as she sounded her own objection, "I want to hear mama sing, papa! Why are you always telling us to sleep early?"

"Because your mama is very tired and your papa is exhausted. And you two need to sleep because staying up is unhealthy," Kurama lightly chided at them as he sent a telepathic order for his vines to open the door to his kids' bedroom for him.


Botan couldn't help but burst out into a knowing yet amused bubble of laughter as Kurama stepped into their bedroom two hours later with scruffy hair, his tendrils of vermillion sticking out in all directions as his shirt appeared to suffer from heavy damage after being ripped apart at various places. The fox looked as if he had been mangled by all accounts.

"What happened?" she asked him, bringing the blanket to his chest as he proceeded to flop on the bed beside her. He tucked his arm protectively under her head as he swerved his body to the side to encase her into a tight embrace.

"Ugh." It was uncharacteristic to hear Kurama make such a sound yet Botan was accustomed to hearing it after his numerous near death encounters with their beloved twins. "I had to play hide and seek with them for a while because they kept insisting they wouldn't let me go unless I humored their requests."

His wife expelled another ripple of high-pitched, gladdened guffaws at his words. Hide and seek usually entailed them practically tearing the entire room apart to look for him. It was odd that they would always be able to pinpoint his exact location despite his expertise at obscuring his presence. And it wasn't as if their room was that small either. But the entire seeking wasn't even the worst part of it - whenever they found him, they would regularly ensure to play a game of tug of war at his poor, battered sleeves. Botan had lost count on how many of Kurama's attires had been mutilated to death under their brutal onslaught. She was grateful that they favored him to be their target, or else she wouldn't have known how to deal with them if she were in Kurama's shoes. Really, it was a miracle that he was still alive after being yanked at different directions every night.

Ah, the legendary former thief, Kurama. Being defeated by a couple of kids. She inwardly thought to herself in amusement, stifling another giggle so as not to alert him of her perceptions as she planted soft, nurturing kisses all over his face. She smiled as she caught the prominent sound of his delighted purrs as he buried his face into the crook of her neck.

She nuzzled her nose against his bangs as she murmured, "Don't kill them, okay?"

There was a lasting pause as he considered this. "I'll try."

Needless to say, the trio of Yusuke, Hiei, and Kuwabara should be thankful for the fact that Kurama was collared and leashed by his wife and forced to respect her wishes - or else they would have ended up with more than broken bones and a couple of weeks of being hospitalized.

They stopped swearing in front of Tsubaki and Ume soon after being discharged.


A/N: Lol, this played out cute and wholesome in my head but I'm not exactly sure how it went in typed out descriptions lmao. Hope it's good enough though. I'm not really used to writing family-centered scenes to be honest. And yes, Tsubaki means camellia and Ume is a translation of Japanese apricots.

saillovelypines- Aw, why are you crying? It makes me sad to hear that you were crying. But I'm glad I made you a little bit happy at least. You're very welcome! I'm willing to update everyday if it brings a smile to your face. Well, hope this update was wholesome and adorable for you!

Tashio- Lol. That would be a hilarious scenario to put in this fic. I would actually consider writing that. Thanks for giving me the suggestion even though you were just wondering XD. And that pink sweater is a good addition just to put in more sprinkles of humor lol.

kyoandyuya- I feel like I want to tell you what I'm planning but I also want you to read that for yourself hehe XD. But all I can say is that I'm not planning on reusing them, if you want to know. I feel like Tsubaki's and Ume's future personalities wouldn't suit Covet's dark story because of how relatively innocent and wholesome I'm planning on making them XD.

Shuichibotan- Thank you! I'm glad it's one of your favorites. That heightens my self-esteem as an author. And thank you as well for the support!

Howdy Aamy- Are you planning on reviewing every chapter? Gah, can't wait to read what you have to say XD. I admit that your reviews are one of the few I always look forward to. Then again, I'm always excited to read reviews.

To be fair, I've been obsessed with KB as a pairing since I was a kid and saw the show and thought that they looked immensely cute together lol. Dunno why but even when I was like very little back then I had a sense that I wanted them in a romantic relationship. Still quite sad they're not canon XD. I guess it would be a bit weird of a change considering how very smutty and darker my other stories are compared to this one XD. But hey, they're still pretty cute and perfect together eh?

Don't worry! Take your time reviewing the 46 chapters if you want! It'll keep you busy and happy while waiting for me to update Covet lol. Ah, right? I really do have a soft spot for fluff, despite the fact that I might come across as a sick and twisted pervert sometimes lol. I just always go from one extreme to another, you know? Just imagine this story as Botan's paradise while Covet is like her heavenly hell or something lmao.