𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | | 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐡𝐚 | | 𝐊𝐍𝐘

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

"Hah...hah...hah", the woman panted as she desperately ran away.

"I'm so sorry, my baby Inosuke.  D-Don't worry, I-I promise we'll be alright", the women told her infant child.  

"Come back here!", yelled the raging man chasing after her.  

'I have to run, I have to, f-for Inosuke!', the woman thought.  She began tearing up, blaming herself for letting her son get slapped and for him having a fever.  The cold dark night sent chills down her body, the wind howled harshly and the screams of an angry man gradually growing closer.  Her vision began blurring up due to the injuries she had on her swollen face, her feet were aching as she tried to ran faster and her arms sore for carrying baby Inosuke for a long time.  She limped on the ground and winced at the pain, fortunately, she didn't awaken her baby Inosuke as she hid behind a tree stump.  She slowed down her breathing and sat on the dirt, she gently stroked her baby's face and held him close to her chest to keep him warm.

'What will I do now? Who would help us', the woman thought.  Just then she saw a silhouette of tall man.  By her instincts, she held baby Inosuke closer to her body to hide him away from the man.  'I-Is it him? No, no, I-I can't let him get closer!' Kotoha stood up, one hand on her baby and the other trying to maintain her balance as the man got closer.

"W-Who are you?! A-Are you-", before she could finish, she fell back on the dirt on her bottom.  Her vision was giving her up, she grasped baby Inosuke tighter and shielded him with her arms as the man kneeled to her.  He lifted her chin up to meet his face and smiled. 

"You poor thing~", the man said.  Kotoha couldn't respond as her eyes began closing and she fainted, not on the dirt but in the man's arms.  He gently picked her up, bridal style and headed towards a building.  He brought the woman to his room and sat her down on his chair.  He moved her hair behind her ear and stroked her swollen face which then healed.  

He was amazed by her beauty after he healed her, her silky jet-black hair that faded to a royal blue color, her delicate pale face, her blood-red lips and her lime-green kimono she wore looked beautiful on her.  He draw his eyes to the child she was still firmly holding, if he tried to take the child to heal him, she would probably awaken and think he was trying to steal her child so he waited patiently till she woke up.  

After an hour, Kotoha began waking up.  'W-Where am I...Did I die? Am I in heaven...?', Kotoha thought.  She looked around the room and saw no one but her and baby Inosuke.  She put her hand on her face and no longer felt the bruises and pain that had once been there.  She looked down on baby Inosuke and felt his forehead.  

'He's still burning up...'  Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps outside the door, she backed away from the door to the wall and clutched baby Inosuke tight in her arms.  When the door opened, it revealed a tall muscular man with blond-sliver-ish long hair and rainbow color eyes who wore a red long sleeve shirt and grey-ish pants.  When he saw that she was awake, he gently approached her.

"Hello, my name is Douma! I am the leader of the Paradise Faith Cult", the man smiled at her.  "May I ask you what you and your baby's name are, miss?"

Kotoha was shocked by his politeness towards her, it was the first time someone was ever this gentle with her. 

"M-My name is Kotoha and my baby's name is Inosuke", Kotoha replied.

"It's nice to meet you Kotoha~", the man said as he walked more closer to her.  Kotoha still held baby Inosuke tight in her arms and watched as the man was practically siting in front of her when he reached his hand to Kotoha's hair.  Douma gently stroked her hair on to her shoulder and gazed into her emerald-jade eyes.  

'They're beautiful', Douma thought.  Kotoha was shocked by his gesture, he stroked her hair so gently and looked at her with admiration, no one had ever looked at her that way before.

"Miss Kotoha, would you like me to heal your baby? I promise I won't harm you both so you don't need to tremble in my presence", Douma smiled at her.  Kotoha was hesitant at first but opened her arms to reveal baby Inosuke, who looked exactly like her.  Douma brushed his fingers against the little baby's face and his fever went down.  Kotoha felt her son's forehead and was amazed.  

"A-Are you a god..?", she asked.  Douma laughed and fanned his fan in front of his face.  

"Oh, I'm not a god, just a person who helps save unfortunate souls and give them a better life~", Douma said through his smile.  He stood up and extended his hand to Kotoha, she reached for his hand and he lead her to the dinning room.  

"This is where you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I'll have some of my servants make you some food for you and your child later", he continued showing Kotoha around and many people along the hallway bowed their heads to Douma as he smiled passed them.  After the tour, Douma brought Kotoha back to his room and sat her down.  

"Now that we're done with the tour~, may I ask why you were running and why you had such terrible injuries on your face?", Douma said as he sat on his chair facing Kotoha.

Kotoha was still wary of Douma and was hesitant to speak, but after a few minutes of starring at the guy in front of her, she began explaining to him.

"M-My husband would often beat me daily and cared little about me and Inosuke.  My mother-in-law was the same.  She wouldn't intervene when my husband would abuse me and neglected me, often calling me worthless...", Kotoha explained.  Douma nodded after she finished and began crying fake tears while fanning.  

"Oh, you poor thing~.  Don't worry, you can stay here from now on, don't think about your worthless husband anymore, here is paradise", Douma said.  He beamed a smile at her and noticed that her grip on Inosuke loosened.  

"Stay here, I'll bring you some food for you to eat~", Douma left the two in the room and walked towards the kitchen.  He got a warm bowel of vegetable soba for Kotoha and started walking back to his room.  As he parted the sliding doors, he noticed that Kotoha had fallen asleep.  'Oh well, it's been a while since I last ate a body~' , he simply shrugged and took his golden fans out, ready to devour her.  He got closer to where he was standing above her, he crouched down to her and was ready to swing his fan across her neck when he heard the baby squeal.  He looked at the baby and in response, the baby smiled widely at him.  

'Smiling at a demon who's about to kill your mother? How dumb', Douma thought.  He carefully took Inosuke from Kotoha's grasp, careful to not wake her up.  He stared at the baby, dumfounded at the little creature and raised Inosuke high in the air.  Inosuke suddenly laughed, which turned into a smile and Douma's eyes widen in shock.  He stared back at Kotoha sleeping and put baby Inosuke back on her lap.  He stared at her sleeping, peaceful, beautiful face and fluttered his fan.

'Hmm, I'll keep them alive a bit longer.  Let's see how these two will turn out, just thinking about it brings me such excitement~'