𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | | 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐡𝐚 | | 𝐊𝐍𝐘

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒: 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

As Kotoha was eating the soup, Douma cradled little sleeping Inosuke in his arms, poking the little baby's puffy cheeks.  'Ahh, so cutee~', thought Douma as he chuckled.  Kotoha noticed Douma laughing quietly and smiled sweetly at the sight.

"Douma-sama, you seem to be very fond of Inosuke", smiled Kotoha.

"I guess so, but how can I not, look at his puffy cheeks Kotoha!", Douma softly exclaimed, leaning the baby closer to Kotoha.  Kotoha giggled and gently took Inosuke from his arms and stood up.

"Ahh, no fair kotoha, I wanted to hold him a bit longer", pouted Douma as he stood up with her.  'He looks so cute when he acts like a child...wait-no, he's only our savior Kotoha...', Kotoha thought as she turned around to hide her face of embarrassment.  Douma, who felt a weird feeling in his chest, hugged Kotoha, leaning his chin on her shoulder.

"Kotoha...I'm having this weird feeling in me right now...", Douma said.

"Could you describe it Douma-sama?", Kotoha asked.

"I-..It happened when I saw that guy near you.  I'm not exactly sure but it felt like my blood was boiling see him with you and that I wanted to instantly push him away... ".  Douma never once felt real emotions in his whole life, he never cried real tears, he had never loved someone, he would always just keep his natural smiling face.  However, this feeling made him feel uneasy, to put it simply, if Kotoha wasn't around earlier, he would've brutally killed the guy.   When Kotoha heard this, she turned around to face Douma and put Inosuke in his arms.  She then gently reached her hands to face and made him look at her closely. 

"Douma-sama, what you're feeling is...anger", Kotoha said.

"Anger...?", asked Douma in confusion.

"Yes, Douma-sama.  The feeling you get when you feel a strong sense of displeasure or annoyance", answered Kotoha.  Douma's eyes widen in shock, for why could he be feeling this emotion for now?  Douma knew deep down that he had plenty of reasons for being angry with before in the past, his useless father, his pathetic mother, annoying men who would question Douma's authority, digusting women trying to seduce him, yet he only felt this emotion now.  Kotoha smiled softly at him as she leaned on him and gently hugged him.  

"Douma-sama, please don't feel angry.  It's a very bitter and harsh emotion, please don't think of anything by that accident earlier", whispered Kotoha.  'That's right...I was late in protecting her from that guy.  If he would've been dead, she wouldn't have been trembling earlier...', Douma thought.  He stood there with Inosuke in his arms and Kotoha hugging him, his mouth grew in to a large crescent shape at the surprise of his newly found emotion.  'Maybe being with this woman and her child can help me feel more emotions', thought Douma.  'Nevertheless, there's still some trash I need to dispose of'.  Douma returned Kotoha's hug, planning on using her to unlock more emotions he never knew he could ever feel.  Kotoha let go of the hug and gently took sleeping baby Inosuke from Douma's arms and was about to leave the room as she said goodbye until Douma grabbed her hand.  Once again, his body reacted on it's own, he didn't even realize that he was gripping her hand till she winced in a little pain and he hurriedly let go.  

"I-Is there something else you need Douma-sama...?", asked Kotoha in shock.  Douma stood there in silent, remembering feeling that cold air next to him whenever he was alone without her.  It went against his knowledge in why he felt so cold without Kotoha and made him question why a demon like him, an upper moon to be exact, would feel so empty without this particular human woman.  

"Can I come with you Kotoha? I still have a lot of time before my worshippers come to with their problems and I don't really know what to do in the mean time", lied Douma.  There were plenty of things he could do to occupy his time, eating his women followers, hunting any low class demon slayers, visit the red light district but he decided to stay with her instead.  Kotoha smiled and nodded and the two walked around the temple talking and laughing, even though Douma was a bad joker.  They both watched the sunset, in the shade of course, where the light wouldn't reach and watched as the sky faded from an organe-ish pink to a dark blue mixed in with purple.  The beautiful moon rose up from the mountains and illuminated the sky, with the help of several stars, shining one-by-one until the night sky was filled with bright tiny white dots.  

"It's beautiful isn't it, Douma-sama?", asked Kotoha as she gazed above at the starry night.

"Mhm, I guess so", replied Douma.  He never once took the time to admire the beauty of the night sky nor anything considered beautiful to humans, just the deep, dark red color of blood from the humans he ate.  Of course he called things beautiful, but they were always lies, the only one time he never lied about something looking beautiful was seeing Kotoha after he healed her face.  

"Kotoha, it's getting late, let's go to bed now, shall we?", asked Douma.  Kotoha nodded and they both walked back to Douma's room.  Kotoha does have her own room to sleep in with Inosuke but Douma always tricks her in to sleeping in his room on his chair.  It wasn't because he wanted to sleep by her side, but he doesn't mind it, it was to make sure that when he leaves to have his dinner, she doesn't try to look for him.  Every time Kotoha falls asleep, Douma places his demon servants to make sure she doesn't leave the room, so she doesn't find him eating his followers and won't run away.  She is his pretty play doll after all, something to keep him occupied instead of those annoying girls and to help teach him more about emotions.

It's been 30 minutes since they entered his room and Kotoha's fallen asleep and Inosuke quietly snoring in her arms.  He twirled her hair with his finger until he was absolutely sure she was sleeping and softly snapped his fingers to call his demon servants.  He careful got up and gently laid Kotoha on her back and quietly opened the sliding doors to see two of his demon  servants bowing at his feet.

"I'm sure you two don't need me to remind you what to do right~?", Douma asked, smiling at the two demons.

"No sir", they both replied.  Douma nodded and quietly slipped in to every room to find that man, it's already midnight so they should all be asleep by now.  'Which room is that man hiding in now~'.  He still didn't find that man until he heard a ruckus around the corner of the hallway and came upon a room with a faint candle burning inside.  It was him.

"Man, why did that smiling rainbow eyed freak had to show up? And she was so pretty too", sighed the man as he scratched his head.  Douma came to the conclusion that the guy was new here, for everyone knew better than to insult Douma, either because of fear to be thrown out back to the harsh forest or from gratitude.  'Seems this guy needs to learn a lesson', thought Douma as he slowly took out his golden fans and quietly entered the guy's room.  

"My, my, such harsh insults, and for everything I've done, how could you say that?", Douma asked as the man jolted from surprise and turned around to face Douma crying fake tears.  

"Seriously your crying?  Can't believe the 'oh great' founder is such a baby", the man laughed.  Douma remained calm, faking his tears as he fanned his golden fans.

"Seems you'll need to be taught some manners, well don't worry, we have the whole night", said Douma, unknown to the man that Douma was wickedly smiling behind his fan. 

"Oh please, like I need to learn some teachings from you-", Douma quickly slashed the guys hand that pointing at Douma's chest.

"You know, it's rude to point at others right~?", the man fell on his knees, holding his handless arm and looked up at Douma, who was smiling in amusement of the sight.  

"W-What are y-you...", asked the man in complete terror.  

"Oh me? I'm nothing special, just a demon, the 3rd most powerful demon ranked among the other demons", smiled Douma.  The man tried to run and reach for the door but Douma slashed his neck in a matter of seconds.  He snapped his fingers and two other demon servants appeared behind him.

"Please clean this mess up, eat the body if you want to, I'll be heading back to my room now, sayonara~", Douma waved his hand as he disappeared in to the shadows of the dark hallway and back to his room.  He dismissed the two demons guarding it and quietly opened the doors to see Kotoha sleeping soundly while firmly holding baby Inosuke.  He laid on his side facing Kotoha and brushed his finger against her pale, soft face and smiled at the two snoozing humans.

"Goodnight, Kotoha, Inosuke".