Thanks for the reviews! =^~^=
I think you know who's POV this is by now, right?
Yes, this is the last chapter. * sigh * I think this was one of my best stories yet and I think the reviews prove it! Thank you all for being there for each chapter. If you want more of my Kurama x Botan stories, you can read my other one I've been working on: My Assassin, My Dark Angel
=^.^= ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ =^.^=
~~EPILOGUE~~
I sat at the computer typing furiously to finish my advice section in the newspaper. It was called 'Ask Suichi'. All my friends had laughed at the irony of my advice section. I had far too many thoughts for my own good yet I gave humans answers to their problems. I simply brushed my comrades' criticism aside and continued to do what I was best at.
I stopped and reread my work. It would do. I saved it and e-mailed it to send to the publisher. I turned around in the chair and faced Botan who beamed down at me.
"You're getting old," I teased her. " I can see the wrinkles behind your smile."
Botan's eyes widened and felt her flawless face. Naturally, it was only a joke. "No one can be good-looking forever," she said in a small voice.
I offered her a smile.
"Except you," she added. She continued to touch her face. "Do I…really have wrinkles?"
"No, my dear, your face is still as lovely as it was ten years ago," I said, which was true. Her face was unflawed by anything that bothered human age. I was now 26 and counting. My features hadn't changed a bit. My hair had grown a bit longer in the past, but I kept it trimmed to my original length.
"Kurama, will you ever cut your hair to make you look normal? I get such weird looks from all the human boys. They must think I'm married to a girl or something," she complained in an effort to get revenge for my remark.
"Someday I may, but since I still train, I still need a place to hide my rose for my rosewhip." I stood up and kissed her tenderly. "Now lets see if Hiei has killed our daughter yet."
"If she even has a tiny scratch on her, I'm going to strangle that demon!" Botan steamed. "It would be all your fault if she's half dead right now!"
I smiled dryly. "Now now, there's no need for violence. Hiei wouldn't loose control on a child. I'm sure Yumeko can handle it. She has both your and my genes." I had allowed Hiei to train Yumeko during the summer break. As a child she had been manipulating the grass outside of our house to create a chaotic forest of weeds. To keep her mind from creating more of a mess, I had allowed Hiei to train her during the times Botan and I were busy.
Hiei didn't consider the 'training' as a form of babysitting. He found it all quite amusing, which suited me just fine…as long as Yumeko didn't pull the hairpin trigger that Hiei's temper rested on. That was my prime concern. Obviously it was Botan's as well.
"Hiei!" Botan cried out in the forest we had last seen Hiei. "Bring my daughter out this second!"
There was an immense blast of heat and light. My nose was filled with the smell of burned wood and grass. The smoke cleared. There was a large area of charred remains.
Botan gripped my arm. "Please tell me that the fire wasn't from Hiei attacking Yumeko."
I swallowed back the lump in my throat. I couldn't answer her. "I doubt that Hiei would do such a thing to her," I said reassuringly.
She didn't seem to listen to the words I had said. "I hope that those burned things are trees and not Yumeko…"
"Feh, I wouldn't attack your daughter, ferry girl. I respect her for being able to withstand what she has in the past few hours. She's lasted far longer than half the demons I've faced in the past. Kudos to your child," Hiei said, stepping out from behind a tree. Most of his sleeveless shirt had been burned. Only fragments of the cloth hung on his body. He brushed them off casually as if charred clothing was nothing new to him—which it wasn't.
He met my gaze easily. "Yes, it was your daughter that did this to me." His eyes moved to catch Botan's incredulous gaze. "Are you sure you didn't catch me on an off day? Or perhaps that day you knocked me unconscious out of the tree, you conceived this child without my knowing?"
I smirked at Hiei's insinuation. It was a joke. It was rare for the child of a Spirit Fox—me—and the child of a Reikai worker—Botan—to conceive a child with both firepowers and the ability to manipulate plants. Yumeko was the only person I have known to be able to do such things with an immense amount of Reiki at her age.
Botan's amethyst eyes narrowed. "No, this is Kurama's child. Kur—a—ma!" she snapped.
"Hn. You don't need to cop an attitude with me, woman. I was actually complementing your daughter," Hiei said with his usual passive face. Yumeko popped beside him with a proud look on her lovely face. Hiei patted her between her kitsune ears gently. "Her fire abilities were much better than mine when I was her age. Of course I didn't have someone as wonderful as me to train her abilities."
I smiled at his remark. Hiei had a dry sense of humor, but it was a relief to know he was complementing Yumeko. His complements were rare to anyone.
"So fox, how is it that your child is able to manipulate her Reiki into a flame form as well as manipulate weeds into weapons?"
Yumeko grinned meekly and quickly hid a rose behind her back. She avoided my gaze. She knew that Botan and I had restricted her from playing with plants unless I was there to guide her curiosity. I didn't want her to accidentally strangle herself as I had once done over a hundred years ago. I had survived it, but the memory was still vivid in my mind…or at least Youko's.
"In my blood-lines there was a fire demon somewhere," Botan said angrily. "That doesn't give you the right to let her barbeque you!"
"Mother, I didn't barbeque Hiei. It would take a lot more than that to take him down. Right?" Yumeko looked up at Hiei imploringly.
"You can bet your ass on that, little one."
Yumeko looked at me with a pleased smile. Her kitsune ears twitched with pleasure. "See Father? Hiei was just training me. You don't have time to help me so Hiei does it for you."
Botan looked enraged. "Hiei! You can't use that language in front of her!"
"The society is full of flaws! You can't hide her from every imperfection!"
I hid my pained expression. It was enough to have Botan in a hot temper but she was arguing with Hiei—both of them had the stubborn mind of a mule. The two of them arguing was enough to send the most patient man on Earth insane.
"Yumeko, I only allow you to train with Hiei so your mind wouldn't become like that of an idle human child. I can't watch you every second and neither can your mother. Hiei here has time to kill," I interrupted.
Hiei gave me a look. "Just because I spend most of my time training doesn't mean I have time to baby-sit. It just so happens that your child strikes my interest therefore I stay and help her."
I held my hand out to motion for Yumeko to come towards me. "Yumeko, later today I can help you put that rose into use. Maybe you should pick a flower that you are partial to so you can put your heart into training. What do you say?"
Her glowing face was enough of an answer. "That would be wonderful, Father! Every since I've seen you fight with the rosewhip I wanted to know how to do the same," she exclaimed. Her vocabulary was impeccable for ten years of age. It must have come from Youko's side of me. I, too, spoke strangely. Luckily for me, this gave the human beings—especially my human mother—the idea that she was a genius. The unfortunate side to this was that it drew attention to her.
Hiei wore a casual smirk on his face as he watched Yumeko dash towards me and hug me around my middle. I studied the smirk thoughtfully. Was that jealousy I saw hidden? I pushed the thought away and returned the hug awkwardly.
"Father, when will I be able to hide my ugly ears and have normal ones?" Yumeko asked with her child-like innocence.
"Your ears aren't ugly," Botan replied quickly. "Your father had them. I find them attractive."
I nodded in agreement. "When you're able to control your Spirit Energy correctly, I'll help you do something about it. It will, of course, change the way you look. When you acquire a human form, your looks will change entirely."
She smiled cheerfully. "Yes, Father." She turned to face Hiei. "Will you be able to train me tomorrow too?"
Hiei gave me the merest half glance before answering, "Yes. As long as I don't have anything more important to do."
"Really, you're going to end up spoiling our child," Botan said in a 'don't-toy-with-me' tone.
"My dear, she won't be spoiled. I know the borderline," I said. How strange this woman was. She wanted the best for our child yet she disapproved of Hiei and I giving it to her. It was mind numbing but it made me love her even more…if that was possible. I took her chin in my hand and planted a chaste kiss on her soft lips. "Trust me, will you?" I added silently.
Yumeko's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Mother, Father, please don't do that in my presence. My eyes may melt," she said quietly.
I laughed at her childish tone mixed with the well-articulated words. "Perhaps you deserve it if you don't obey your mother and I better than you've been doing lately," I teased. I kissed Botan again, purposely. Botan giggled at Yumeko's response.
"No! Stop!" Yumeko squeezed her eyes closed and dashed blindly into Hiei, looking for sanctuary from what she thought was 'disgusting'. "Do something, Hiei!" she moaned.
Hiei chortled and lifted her up, taking her into his arms. "You're overacting. Someday you'll find some worthless male and kiss him as your parents are doing."
"Gross! I'd never do that!" Yumeko exclaimed.
We all laughed at that. Yes, the life I lead was enjoyable. I never knew what fate would throw in my face. Just think, not to long ago, I wanted to die to keep from suffering what I have. Suffering shows that one has felt something truly happy to know what pain is like. Now, I wanted to live life to the fullest, even if it meant I was to have my heart broken.
I gazed at Botan. She would die before me. Spending her time as a human when she was supposed to live an immortal life in Reikai shortened her lifespan. She would have to return to Reikai for long periods of time to keep her alive, but even so, she would be gone before me. There could be other women in my life, but none would be able to understand my weaknesses as Botan had.
I was suddenly aware that Botan was staring at me. "What? Is there something on my face?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, I was thinking. My head was momentarily lost in the clouds," I replied easily. I wrapped my arms around her, savoring her sweet scent. I mentally shook my head. I won't think of those times now. Now was the time to enjoy what Kamisama had allowed me to have even though I had done so much wrong in the past. I had Botan and Yumeko to keep me company. I had friend as well, Hiei being one of them. Wasn't that enough for me?
I frowned and watched as Hiei levitated Yumeko in the air and spun her around. Yumeko shrieked with glee. Botan quickly detached herself from me to shout at him.
"Botan, you can't be too strict on her. I agree, this is our first child, but Yumeko is half-demon. She will have risks in her life. Hiei is nothing compared to what she may face," I said gently.
"But what if he kills her! She might do something to tick him off! Hiei will go berserk!" Botan insisted, gripping me tightly around my waist.
"She won't piss me off no matter what she does. I'm not as dark as you think I am," Hiei retorted.
This led the two of them into another argument with me stranded in the middle again. I sighed and smiled.
Yes, they were enough for me. Anything more than my friends and family would kill me. =^.^=
~*~End~*~
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Told you it would be shorter! Sorry it wasn't interesting. I was going to kill Kuwabara so it would be a completely happy ending. You know, Kurama gets the girl and Kuwabara dies…* sigh * I didn't, though, because I didn't know how to work it in without it getting pointless.
So, you know the drill, review, review and review! As I've said, I have another Kurama x Botan fic out so if you're interested, you can read that! I appreciate each and every one of your reviews! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my mindless dribble that I have manipulated into a fanfic. * holds out big basket of YYH plushies * Here ya go! Adorable plushies to everyone who has reviewed and/or will review!