Thanks for the reviews! =^~^=
I think you know who's POV this is by now, right?
Geez, I can't believe so many people figured it out. At least I know there are people who pay close attention to details as well as review! Here's the people who got it right: (sorry if some are bold and some not. My bold thingy always comes out wrong!)
Fire Rose, Dark Anime Chick, Botan and Kurama lover, and Ronnysama
Sorry if I missed any and sorry if I misspelled stuff! Now here's the chapter!
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I pulled restlessly at the loose threads from my jacket sleeve. Yukina had come almost instantly after Koenma obeyed my request for her assistance. She had taken one look at Botan and ushered me out the room, slamming the door behind her.
I gazed blankly at the stone floor. That had been over two hours ago. It felt like an eternity to me, but my watch told me otherwise. What was going on behind that door? Was there anything I could do to help? Had Botan died without my knowing? I closed my eyes and took in the strange scents of Reikai to make sure. No. Botan was still alive. Her scent still lingered in the air. I opened my eyes again and gazed at the door. Was Yukina ever going to leave the room?
For once, Youko had nothing to say—nothing at all. That was very unusual.
'Why aren't you speaking as you usually do?' I asked him, having nothing better to do
I got silence in response. What does that mean? I sat in silence for several more minutes. Finally, I couldn't take it. I stood up to knock on the door.
"Who's there?" came Yukina's muffled voice.
"Kurama. Can't you allow me to enter the room even for a moment? I'm becoming nervous. No one has informed me of Botan's health for an hour…at least," I answered.
The door opened wide enough for Yukina's face to peek out. "You can't see her until tomorrow morning. You might as well go home. I can have Kazume or my brother get you tomorrow if it's that important to you."
"It's more important than that! I must know how she is! I'm not leaving until I find out what's wrong with her!"
Yukina avoided eye contact and looked back into the darkness where Botan must be somewhere. "Let me see what Botan has to say about this okay?"
The door slammed closed in my face…yet again. Even though the last of my patience was worn thin, I stood and waited. My hands clenched into fists in my pocket. I had an urge to break down the door and demand to know what was happening, but I respected Yukina for what she was doing for me…even though I had rejected her. The door opened once more and Yukina looked up at me.
"I'm sorry, but Botan doesn't want you to know just yet. You might be scared off. I'm sorry," she repeated again and closed the door. She had said that sincerely.
I glared at the door. What could be so wrong…so grotesque about Botan's illness that could scare me off? Hadn't I been a thief for a good portion of my previous life? Hadn't I killed countless demons and humans without pausing to realize that butchering the living creatures was inhuman? I had seen so many gruesome things in my life. Nothing that happened to Botan could scare me away. Or…or could it? Was there something that humans can have or do that I have yet to witness?
I turned my back on the door and began to walk. I didn't know where I was going, but my feet were leading me somewhere.
"What do you want? This isn't your place to be here."
I looked at the owner of the voice. I gave him a tired smile. I didn't have the heart to give Hiei a real one. "Are you saying that this is your place to be here?"
He raised a shoulder in response. "I don't have a place. I just come here for the hell of it."
I looked around at the grassy place. The sky looked endless. A long sidewalk that seemed to be a road led on as far as I could see. Countless types of flowers filled the air with a light perfume.
"What is this place, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked Hiei.
"I don't know. I remember Botan telling me something about this place. I remember her saying something about the spirits coming here to relax before being judged. Even the condemned ones can come here to have a peaceful moment before they depart."
I wasn't sure how to react to the darker aspects of Hiei's remark. I changed the subject. "The air here is different."
Hiei sniffed thoughtfully. He obviously picked up the flowery scent. "It smells girly but it calms my nerves. Even with my temper, it calms me." He glanced up at me from his sitting position on the ground. "What's wrong?"
"I'll give you three guesses," I murmured. I sat down and joined him on the ground.
He smirked. "Botan."
"Exactly."
His smirk grew. "No need to worry, Kurama. There's a good reason as to why the women don't want to tell you what's wrong."
"Well, what is it?! Yukina told me that Botan doesn't want me to know until tomorrow about what's wrong with her. She said it would scare me away if I knew what was wrong," I exclaimed in frustration.
"Maybe it would. I couldn't believe it at first but then I remembered that these things happen quicker when there is a demon involved. He looked up from shredding a blade of grass. "Maybe that's why it would scare you off. If you knew without actual proof of it, you'd start to wonder if there was someone else involved. You'd run off because you would think Botan wasn't being completely truthful to you. You'd wonder if I was involved."
"I wouldn't run off no matter what happens to her." I paused and replayed the words in my thoughts. "Hold on, you know about this? And you haven't told me?"
"Hn. It isn't my problem it's yours. I was sworn to secrecy. Besides…" He grinned. "I can't have you have things spoon-fed to you. You're the smartest one among us, you put the details I gave you together."
"I can't think right now!" I moaned and bowed my head. "When something like this happens to you, I'm going to hide the truth as well."
"Go ahead. Just remember that I have a Jagan eye, got it?" He stood up and stretched. "Now if you don't mind, I have some things to attend to and you need to go to sleep. It'll help the time pass quickly." He walked off with his hands buried beneath his cloak in a pocket I was never able to see.
"Easier said than done," I murmured. I moved to assume a more comfortable position on the fluffy carpet of grass. I dug in my pocket as I felt something move. I pulled it out. The food my mother had packed for me. I put it away. My thoughts drifted around to the things that had happened.
The next thing I knew was morning. The sun was shining brightly and my watch was flashing eight a.m. I stood up and dashed to the door. I knocked loudly, hardly daring to wait. "Yukina!" I said repeatedly.
There were shuffling sounds and the door opened.
"Is it morning already?" Yukina yawned and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. I flashed her the time on my watch to insure her. She bit her lip. Suddenly she looked wide-awake. "Alright. Let me wake Botan up, then."
"No, let me look at her first. I can wait until she wakes up," I said quickly.
Yukina nodded briefly. "I'll leave you two alone, shall I?" she murmured shyly and left abruptly. She closed the door behind her as she left.
Botan. She looked so innocent. Her silky azure hair fell around her on the pillows. I smiled with a thoughtful silence. I brushed a strand of her hair from her face. Strange…she seemed to have been perspiring. I took the damp towel that sat on the nightstand and dabbed at her cheeks.
My smile widened. She loved me. She had actually said it. I couldn't feel any happier.
Her lavender eyes fluttered open. "Kurama?"
I nodded. "Yes. Now, please tell me what it is that would possibly scare me away?"
"Oh. That." She moved to sit up and fell back weakly. "Are you sure you won't question my loyalty?"
"Loyalty…? N-no, of course not." I hadn't an idea of what she spoke of, but I couldn't bother with that idea at this moment.
Botan drew her slender arms around a bundle of silk. I cocked my head at it. What was it? A mewling sound came from the center of it. Botan patted the bundle and cooed to it. "Shh, it's okay. Daddy's right here, my love." She kissed it gently and looked up at me. Her cheeks were flushed with what looked like shy pride.
Daddy? Had she said daddy? It couldn't be possible. I had only marked her a day or so ago…or more…or less.
Her smile wavered. "You…you don't believe me do you…" She sighed and held the child close. "Just look at her. Please."
I took the bundler…her into my arms and pulled a layer of silk away from what must have been the face. Ruby eyes peered up at me. Ruby eyes. That wasn't possible. My eyes were green, Youko's were a golden hue and Botan's were a lavender color.
"Botan…" I began. "Ruby eyes?" My heart felt as if it had been squeezed and rammed into my throat. I swallowed. She said she loved me! Were they only words? Had Hiei been there before me? Was I only a pawn to be toyed with in this horrible game of chess?
"Yes." She sat up against a pile of pillows. "Red eyes. They're beautiful, aren't they."
"Botan," I tried again.
"Look at the rest of her. She's not Hiei's. I promise that." She gazed at me imploringly. "Please. It's all I ask."
I swallowed once more and pulled the silk further away from the small face. A gasp caught in my throat. She was so small yet it had Botan's raving loveliness. Spirit Fox ears were positioned on her head. Those had to be from Youko…and myself. The azure hair she had inherited from Botan curled around the pointed ears and. The small patch of bangs was stuck upwards the way my unruly hair did. She was beautiful.
Youko purred his response. He was pleased with the results as well.
"She's beautiful, just like you," I said quietly. Botan blushed at my remark. "But, I don't understand how she could possibly be born so quickly," I added in confusion.
"You're a demon. Demon children develop much quicker. It helps them adapt faster and the mother won't have to be so helpless as long as a human mother does. Didn't you know that?"
"I…I never thought about it this way," I admitted. I touched my daughters nose ever so gently. Her nose wrinkled in response. She mewed something incoherent and gripped my finger. She popped it into her mouth. I grimaced and pulled my finger free. "My hands aren't food," I said to her.
Botan giggled. "I'm glad you haven't run off."
"Run off? Why ever would I do that? This is my daughter, is it not?"
"It is, but since you've got Youko as your stronger side, you might ignore her and me. That's what most demons do—abandon their children and find another mate." She said this all in a small voice. "I-I was afraid that if you found out yesterday before you had proof it was your child, you'd run away because you thought I've slept with Hiei or you'd run off because you didn't want the responsibility of fathering her."
"No. It's my fault for putting you through the pain of bearing a child." I kissed Botan's cheek. "She's beautiful. I won't let her live in a shadow without me…or you."
"That's right…she doesn't have a name yet. I wanted you to have a say in naming her."
"I don't know. This feels like one incredible dream. I have a beautiful woman at my side and now I have an equally beautiful child. It has to be a dream."
"Yume," Botan said. "That's dream, isn't it?"
(a/n: yume means dream in Japanese. It's pronounced yoo meh)
"Perhaps that wouldn't be the best," I said thoughtfully. "It doesn't ring well." My thoughts went over the countless names I had heard.
"Are you an angel?"The quote came out of nowhere. Now who was it that said that…it was a small girl, but what was her name? Yumeko! I remembered perfectly now. She was the burn patient I had met in the hospital. She was such a sweet and innocent girl.
"We have Yume so far. Why not make it Yumeko?" I said to Botan. I felt that I owed the girl something for making me see that I was actually worth something that day when I had been in such a miserable mood.
"That sounds perfect! Yumeko it is!"
"You gave the child a human name? Typical." Hiei's drawl echoed slightly in the large room.
"Would you like to hold her?" I asked cheerfully. Nothing, not even Hiei's sarcastic remarks, could lower my spirits today.
"Hold…her? A child? Your child?" he stuttered. For a change he was lost for words. He glanced at Botan for her approval. Botan nodded.
Hiei took Yumeko with unusual care and gentility. I watched in amazement as a smile spread across his face. It was the smile he usually reserved for Yukina, but it was Yumeko who evoked this one—my daughter. I felt my heart swell with pride.
"Not your daughter, human. It belongs to the woman as well. Remember that it was she who allowed her to enter the world," Youko snapped irritably in my thoughts.
I nodded slightly. Yes, he was right. It was Botan and my daughter.
All the things that had happened in the past and harmed me was now what it was—a thing of the past. The time I mistook Botan's CPR for kissing Hiei was now a laughable memory. This small miracle helped me see things. I was now sure that this was pure happiness.
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Just to let you know, the next chapter will be shorter. It will also be the last one! Pretty please review!