Disclaimer: Hunter x Hunter ain't mine, but Lucian is MINE! So are Meta and the twins!

Author's Note: Well, a Christmas present for all the readers of 1001 Nights series. Merry Christmas 2011, folks!

Extra

THEIR NAMES

Kuroro Lucifer was not a superstitious man—or rather, it wouldn't be accurate to label him so. After all, how could he not be 'superstitious' when his whole life had been influenced—to one extent and another—by one of the causes of superstitions: mythical creatures. He had been brought up by a Medusa, had been raised in a politically non-existent city, had been trained in a forest full of monsters and whatnots during his teenage, had a close friend who was a full-fledged vampire, had Solomon Ring that could exert absolute command over 72 greater demons—the item that Kurapika had recently dubbed as 'family heirloom'—and had two unicorns living in the 'backyard' of his home.

Basically, he had given up trying to distance himself with anything that had to do with mythical creatures since the unprecedented 'adventure' with Kurapika years ago.

As such, he found himself not too surprised when he had heard of his children's birth dates and the rather obscure significance behind those dates.

He had discovered—quite very late, if he might add—that his first-born son had been born on midnight right between the last day of October and the first day of November. When he heard of the date and timing, the first thing that came to Kuroro's mind was: Samhain. It was an old pagan festival; in which it essentially celebrates the end of harvest by the day, and veneration for the dead in the night. Meta had been born in the midnight.

Perhaps it explains why he's very perceptive to spirits and the likes… He had idly mused at that time.

This time, his twin children were born on the midnight before 23 April. They were born on The Eve of Saint George.

Now, to be fair, not many people might make the connection as he did. Most people would use the so-called civil calendar and so for them this date had no significance whatsoever—they wouldn't draw the connection. However, Kuroro Lucifer wasn't ignorant. He knew that many other calendars existed, and they weren't exactly parallel to each other. Different calendars had their own different special days. One of those calendars bore significance on the night before 23 April.

The Eve of Saint George was the night when all evil things in the world would be in the peak of their power.

Kuroro frankly hadn't really cared if that would mean that his twins were destined to be some villainous characters in the future. With a mother like Kurapika; what with her ridiculously high moral standards and justice-upholding notion of life, there was no way the children could turn out any more evil than the swap-Lucian's-special-sunblock-with-normal-sunblock-and-tell-not-a-soul-about-it-and-push-said-vampire-into-open-unsheltered-space-during-the-brightest-day-of-summer kind of evil. By Kurapika's definition, perhaps it would stretch to join-the-Genei-Ryodan kind of evil, though honestly Kuroro wouldn't mind that the slightest bit as long as the children proved themselves strong enough to be the arsenals of the Spiders (Kurapika would go apoplectic on this, though).

To be brutally honest, the only reason why Kuroro had found out about the significance of this date was because on that precise night, the Solomon Ring had been oddly restless. The God-forsaken ring was always restless, but on that particular night the demons had been noisier than ever. Their whispers were louder than ever, and the dark energy that the ring contained seemed to seethe from it. Kuroro had also sensed a kind of pressure in his head, as if something was trying to overwhelm his mind. He had dismissed the annoying headache, but out of curiosity he had done a quick research on the date of the day. In the next morning, he received a phone call from the hospital.

He had been amused, really. If anything, he rather preferred to believe that this would be the indication that the children were born with such great potential he could hardly wait until the day he could shape them into perfection.

"NO!"

Kuroro stopped just before he turned to the corridor where Kurapika's room was, and promptly decided to overhear the conversation for a while. It seemed to guarantee good entertainment.

"Meta, don't scream your head off. This is the hospital, and your mamă (mother) is resting inside there. But why aren't you letting me in? It's not like I'm going to murder her or something, I just want to vi—"

"No entry for you."

"…Did I do something that pissed you off big time before today?"

"No."

"So why aren't you letting me in, for God's sa—OWW! Bia, did you just electrocute me again?"

Kuroro couldn't help but snicker quite indiscreetly as he heard yet another yelp from that insufferable vampire, accompanied by one nasty crackle of electricity that no doubt had been shot by Bia. He knew why both were barring entry into Kurapika's room.

Kurapika had strictly forbidden anyone from seeing her on the day of labour and for the whole next day—strange for normal women, but in Kuroro's opinion it was just very Kurapika-like. In what little understanding he knew of women, they tended to be overly emotional after child-birth, and Kurapika absolutely didn't like being too emotional. While he had understanding of the working of Kurapika's mind, not everyone was as perceptive as he was when it came to the occasionally queer Kuruta.

Especially not Leorio.

The poor doctor had been so excited about the birth that he had attempted to catapult himself into the hospital room where Kurapika had been resting right after the labour—with the sincere intention of congratulating her, as he understood—but instead he almost had his head chewed off by a borderline-livid Meta and his butt fried by an irate Bia before he could even so much as touch the doorknob of her room. Kuroro hadn't been too surprised when he had heard this. Both of them were always over-protective of Kurapika; had always been and would always be. It seemed that; knowing this, Kurapika had purposefully appointed those two as the guardians of her bedroom.

He had known about this incident because the said victim had called him out of the blue and ranted and complained to high-heavens about just how insane Kurapika was. Why the doctor had called HIM, of all people, was beyond Kuroro. Leorio had even expressed his utmost concern that perhaps the exhaustion had screwed Kurapika's brain or something like that, since she had actually; he quoted: "issued order to these two little monsters to ward off everyone else except for the doctors and the nurses from entering her room."

Lucian, being the creature with enhanced senses he was, heard his soft chuckles.

"Lucifer, I know you're there around the corner! Quit sniggering like an idiot and come here! Fa ceva despre aceste mici prietenilor! (Do something about these little fiends!)"

"Daddy isn't an idiot, you moron!"

There was the glorious sound of a little foot landing violently on a larger foot, but with considerable force on that stomp. Not to mention that it seemed to be accompanied by an episode of painful grinding.

"OW! La naiba că doare ca curva, te sperii puţin icre de Iad!! (That hurt like bitch, you freaking little spawns of Hell)"

"Lucian, I'll appreciate it if you can stop cussing in front of the children. Romanian or not. These children learn incredibly fast." Kuroro said smoothly as he made his appearance and walked towards the trio.

"Daddy!"

The corner of his eye twitches ever so slightly. No matter how long and how often he had been called that, he never got used to it. Meta had called out to him in sheer joy, but hadn't moved from his spot like the faithful guard he was. Kuroro had to silently applaud the boy for his improving self-control. At one time Lucian suspected that the boy was suffering from a weird case of ADHD, and sometimes Kuroro had been inclined to agree with that when Meta was being particularly handful.

"Ceh. I don't peg you as the kind who'll give a damn whether your kids cuss like pirates or not."

"Really, Lucian? Really?" Kuroro gave him a bright smile, but the vampire caught the message behind it fast. After all, he had been around Kuroro for quite some time; more than a decade, as it was.

"…Uh. Forget I said that."

"That depends whether they have picked up your habits or not."

He saw Lucian throwing pleading look of 'please do not ever cuss in front of your parents for heaven's sake' at the children, which was responded with an evil grin from both children. Yes, including Bia. Meta's mischievousness had apparently rubbed off on her permanently, though she was more selective on her victims and tended to be mercifully milder with her pranks. There was no such thing with Meta. As things were, Lucian had been unfortunately—and amusingly for Kuroro—tagged as their eternal subject of pranks. Their pranks ranged from harmless to the kind of pranks that made the Devil himself seem mild-mannered—as Lucian had aptly put it. Nobunaga had testified that once he had seen the two 'little demons' (Nobunaga's nickname of fondness for them) pulling pranks on Lucian and he even flinched at the sheer tragedy that Lucian had to go through at that time.

"Meta, Bia."

When Kuroro was close enough to them, Meta tackle-hugged his leg while Bia did the same with his waist. Lucian was wise enough to know not to push his luck and try to slip into the room while the children were preoccupied by Kuroro. Bia's electromagnetic radar was perpetually on, after all. Lucian wouldn't risk having curly singed hair again.

"Keep up the good job." He told them while ruffling both their hair.

"Yes, sir!" Meta saluted him, while Bia wrote the same with her Nen-writing and saluted him all the same.

With that, he proceeded to the door and opened it, eliciting cries of protests and indignation from Lucian.

"Hey, hey! No fair! How come he's allowed in and I'm not—AAAAARGH!"

Kuroro closed the door behind him as he heard the thumbing sound of someone falling to the floor, with the unmistakable smell of singed hair wafting faintly to his nose.

"Lucian's still at it?"

"How long has this been going?"

"A good one hour, I suppose."

"A good one hour. And you've been doing nothing but enjoying his torture at the hands of the children? I didn't know you have that streak of sadism in you, Kurapika."

Kuroro said that with a crooked grin as he made his way to the single bed at the other side of the room. Lying on the bed was the blond-haired Kuruta woman; with traces of post-labour exhaustion on her face and a gleam of amusement and something else in those aquamarine eyes. Her blonde hair was a shade darker than before, he vaguely noted. By her bed were two carts carrying a bundle in each.

Kurapika snorted at his comment.

"I recall someone telling me that there's no point worrying about whether Lucian will die or not, since he's just like a cockroach that won't die even when the sky falls unto him. Besides, it's his own fault for not listening to Meta."

"And a few-hundred-years-old vampire is supposed to listen to a six-years-old little boy?"

Kurapika shot him an all-too-familiar glare.

"I won't hold it against you, though. I have to admit that it's too entertaining to just listen to the procession out there." Kuroro said with placating hands raised, while listening to another commotion going on outside that was soon followed by a passing nurse scolding Lucian severely for disturbing other patients. "Although I believe that Lucian hasn't given up yet because he's simply keeping them company."

"I'm aware of that." She said softly as she reclined further to the bed with a sigh. "Goodness knows what Meta tends to pull off when he's bored out of his mind."

"Indeed." Kuroro agreed with a low chuckle as he walked towards the two carts by her bedside.

He could feel Kurapika's eyes on him as he stood by the carts and bent over them. One look, and he could see the stark difference between the two children. To his amusement, one of them had his exact colouring. However, the other one had bright russet hair. Kuroro raised an eyebrow at this; well, that colouring could've come from either his heritage or Kurapika's, though Kuroro had the feeling it was highly unlikely that any of his ancestors had such vivid colouring. Most likely from Kurapika's side, then.

As if taking her cue, Kurapika answered his unspoken question. "My grandmother had russet hair."

"I see." He hummed as he reached out and stroke the baby's thin hair. It felt like Kurapika's, only much silkier.

"You name them."

That, he hadn't expected. In his surprise, Kuroro looked up and stared into Kurapika's aquamarine eyes. They held the eye contact for a while; Kuroro searching for any explanation behind those eyes and Kurapika simply studying his reaction. After a while, Kurapika gave the 'go ahead' shrug. At this, he looked back down to studying the newborns; a scintilla of grateful smile obscured from Kurapika's line of sight.

Kurapika had been gracious. Very much so, if he had to confess. He understood that naming was a very important ritual; Ishtar had taught him so during the early days of his studentship under her. Perhaps Kurapika had thought it fair that he named them, seeing that she had named Meta without consulting him first. She had even estranged the boy from him for a good four years.

So Kuroro observed the twins. He started with the girl, the one with the russet hair. He reached out to touch her hair again, and the moment the contact was made, the girl fluttered open her eyes. Kuroro found himself staring into a pair of the brightest emerald green eyes. Kuroro blinked; he really had never seen that kind of vivid green colour for eyes before. The infant raised its curled fist as if reaching out for his face.

"Sarai." He said as he touched the curled fingers of his newborn daughter; which was responded by an uncurling of those stubby fingers and a grasping at his finger.

"Sarai?" Kurapika raised an eyebrow. With her job scope, Kurapika was obliged to learn about some old languages, and she knew the meaning of that name. "I hope that's not an early warning that you're going to spoil her rotten."

"Am I the type who spoils children rotten?" Kuroro looked up from under the curtain of his bangs and smirked at Kurapika.

"In the weirdest way possible. You do."

Kuroro chuckled. Kurapika always had another whole set of definition of many things when it came to him. Nevertheless, she had been rather quite accurate. 'Sarai' was an ancient name that could be interpreted as 'my princess'. She was the first daughter—Bia had been adopted, and thus not counted—after all.

Gently prying his finger from Sarai's clutch—already she was clingy—Kuroro turned to the boy. One look at him, and a word appeared in Kuroro's mind:

"Noah."

Kurapika went silent and regarded him with a rather questioning look. She knew the etymology and reason behind that name, but she didn't quite understand why he had chosen that name out of so many that was available.

"…Why?" She finally asked.

"To be honest, that name just appeared in my mind." Kuroro shrugged, and then added after a moment of contemplation: "His colouring…is too much like Ishtar's."

Kuroro's voice was quiet. He had bidden his farewell to his surrogate mother long ago, and had come to terms with it in his own ways. However, it seemed that the figure of that woman just wouldn't leave him alone. It wasn't exactly a bad thing. Perhaps the name 'Noah' was really suitable, after all.

"Now that you mention it…" Kurapika muttered as she observed her second son closer.

At that very moment, the baby; Noah, decided to open his tiny eyes and stared directly into his mother's scrutinising eyes. Kurapika then saw it; those obsidian like eyes, very much like Kuroro's but were much closer to the deceased former Lady of Ryuusei-gai.

"Even the eyes." Kuroro said, and turned to look into Kurapika's aquamarine eyes. "I won't be surprised if his eyes don't turn scarlet."

He had thought that she would be upset, so he was rather surprised to see her shrugging her shoulders in slight noncommittal way.

"It's fine. Even if he doesn't have Scarlet Eyes, that doesn't mean I'm going to discriminate or disown him. It's not a sin. Just genetics."

Kuroro studied her expressions and body language. She hadn't lied when she said all those; his eye that had been bequeathed with the power of Isthar's True Vision hadn't tingled. She was being honest. There wasn't even the faintest hint of frown on her tired face, and her body was as relaxed as it could be as she reclined on the hospital bed. Both of them were quiet for a while, before the silence was broken by Kurapika.

"You have something in mind?"

Kuroro turned and studied the twins; both who were now awake and were looking at their parents with their big, inquisitive eyes. He could see that Sarai would probably end up like Meta; a bundle of excessive energy, while Noah would probably more subdued. He could very much imagine Noah growing up into a cryptic person much like Ishtar had been.

"The date of their birth." He finally said at length.

Kurapika raised an eyebrow.

"What of it?"

"It's the Eve of Saint George."

Kurapika was quiet. She was well-versed in legends and myths; that was part of her job to know all those. She definitely had heard of the Eve of Saint George. Kurapika averted her eyes and stared to the white, pristine ceiling of the hospital. Kuroro shoved his hands to the pockets of his pants and observed her.

"I feel that you should know that." He said quietly.

"Well, at least now I know what to look out for in the future." Kurapika turned from the ceiling and gave him a teasing look. "Are you implying that they're cursed?"

"Personally, no. It depends on perspective, though, I suppose. What do you think?" After all, Kuroro knew that Kurapika tended to be more sensitive about this kind of thing.

Kurapika snorted, as if Kuroro had just insulted her.

"Cursed or not, I don't care."

Kuroro understood that when it came to anyone that bore the blood of the Kuruta tribe, she would love them unconditionally; especially when they were her own flesh and blood. She would disregard and accusations and foreshadowing. Any person with a drop of Kuruta blood in their veins were equivalent to treasure for her—perhaps to the point of unhealthy obsession, if he might add. Fortunately, there hadn't been anyone else with Kuruta blood except for the children, and Kuroro didn't think that he would be too happy with the thought of Kurapika devoting her attention to someone else; fellow tribe-folk or not. Well, he was to blame for that—he was the one who had annihilated the whole tribe, after all, sparing her only by unusual negligence to check the surrounding of the Kuruta Village on his part.

"It doesn't matter." Kuroro agreed as he shifted his weight to one foot and gave Kurapika a smile that he only reserved for her alone.

She hummed in agreement. Silence stretched between them, and they enjoyed the comfortable companionship between them, though the silence was occasionally disturbed by the faint squeaks and complaints that Lucian was making beyond the door of the room as he submitted himself to be the babysitter of the two children. Sometimes Kuroro idly wondered how the young count could be so willing to do so much free work for them when unrequested at all; judging from Kurapika's words earlier, she hadn't asked Lucian to keep the children company at all. He did that on his own volition, and Kuroro knew that Lucian wasn't that dumb not to know that babysitting those two would be equal to certain degree of pain and public embarrassment.

The things Lucian would do to get himself involved into all mess pertaining to his strange family. Kuroro smiled discreetly at this thought.

"Why don't you carry them?" Kurapika suddenly asked.

Kuroro looked up and stared at her. Not many people could read him like open books and Kuroro preferred that to be the status quo, however Kurapika had broken that status and she simply knew where to look for clues. She obviously had seen the reluctance on his face, because she then grinned the devil's grin—one that promised a 'you are not getting away from this, mister.'

"Oh? Afraid now, aren't we?"

"Rather than 'afraid', I'll go with 'unprepared'. Do I look like someone who has had practice on how to carry a fragile infant properly without risking breaking a neck or a limb?" He stated dryly.

"I wouldn't know." She sniffed in amusement, and then moved to get up from the bed.

Her movements were rather sluggish and awkward, but she maintained a degree of fine control on her motoric. Kuroro observed her movements, especially when she bent down to scoop Noah—the one who happened to be nearest to Kurapika—from the cart to her arms. He tried to memorise those movements; the subtlety of the moves of the hands, the wrists, the positions; everything. When Kurapika offered the infant to him, he tried to replicate it.

With little success.

As soon as Noah was in his arms, the infant's face scrunched up in utter discomfort, and it wasn't long before he cried his lungs out. Boy, weren't those a pair of perfectly strong lungs. Kuroro decided then and there that he'd rather hear the death cries of people dying in horrid, gruesome, grotesque death a thousand times over than hearing the cries of a harmless infant—to be specific, his infant. Before Kurapika had the time to fix the infant's position in Kuroro's arms, a certain sharp-eared vampire waiting outside the door had reacted far too quickly to certain children's taste.

"What hap—AUGH!"

"Off-limit!"

"Who taught you that move?"

"Daddy."

"…Go figure. And Bia? Stop trying to fry me crisp, for the love of the Lord!"

"Lucian, you're too loud!"

"Look who's talking, runt! Besides, that's one of your little siblings crying. Aren't you worried?"

"Mom and Dad are inside. It's fine."

"…I don't know whether to be impressed by your unflappable faith in your parents, or to dread it, or to pity the world for it. Bia, for the umpteenth time of today, stop calling me Drama-queen! Sheesh."

"Oh, the crying stops."

"Yeah, sure it does, Mister Obvious. OW! What was that for? You're just violent as your mother—OUCH! Bia, flippin' stop that!"

The occupants of the room kept listening to the conversation and the sound effects that followed through the entire conversation. Kurapika had fixed Noah's position in Kuroro's arms and now the infant was snuggling against his chest while staring at his pale face. Kuroro and Kurapika were still looking at the direction of the door.

"Immortal as Lucian is, I think if he's stuck with babysitting them for too long and too often, that immortality is going to really expire one day." Kurapika finally said while shaking her head.

"I concur." Kuroro said with a chuckle.

Kurapika hummed contently, and then picked up Sarai from the cart. She expertly juggled the baby so that Sarai instantly was comfortable in her arms. The infant giggled slightly and then snuggled to her mother's bosom. They stood like that for a while, each holding an infant in their arms. After a while, they switched the infants with quite some fuss from Sarai as she landed in her father's inexperienced arms.

"You'll get used to it." Kurapika said gleefully when Sarai's protest of discomfort had died down.

Kuroro grimaced, but he didn't say anything to that. Instead, he asked:

"So. How long are you going to keep the others out?"

A few days later when Kurapika had been discharged from the hospital, they returned to their humble home in the little town in the remote mountain. Fino had been so excited about the twins and she couldn't stop gushing over how cute the twins were.

Shalnark, on the other hand, was being mauled and murdered by Fino's parents after the old couple had seen the twins:

"GIVE US OUR GRANDCHILDREN!"

Author's Note: Alright, fine. I can't help it. I was tempted. I said I wasn't gonna write about Hunter x Hunter again, but…Oh well. I just love Kuroro and Lucian too much. I don't know if the names are good or not, but I kinda have those names since long time ago.

Oh, and you should check the meaning behind the name 'Noah'. There's a reason why he's named that. Hopefully you can make the connection (since I can be too cryptic and random with my reasoning) =DDD