𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | | 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐡𝐚 | | 𝐊𝐍𝐘

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎: 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥

"He's a demon and she's just a human!"

'What...?', Kotoha thought as she was interrupted in her slumber when she heard faint voices talking, 'It's those voices again...'

"He should devour her already"

"Exactly"

'De-devour?! What are they talking about...?!', Kotoha quickly opened her eyes in fear and turned her body around to face the doors, where she was sure the voices were speaking from.

"I don't understand why lord Douma even keeps her around"

"Neither can I, maybe being with her is making him stupid"

'Stupid? Douma-sama? That's it!',  Kotoha stood up from Douma's bed and slammed open the sliding doors, to only reveal no one but an empty hallway.  She looked both left and right, but she couldn't see or hear anyone anymore.  'Maybe it was just my imagination...', Kotoha thought as she closed the doors and laid back on Douma's bed, holding Inosuke.  She looked towards Douma who was sleeping in his chair.  'I'll never let anyone disrespect you, Douma-sama', Kotoha smiled and closed her eyes again, drifting off to sleep.  Unknown to Kotoha, that the Douma that was sleeping in his chair was only an ice statue, not actually him.  The real, flesh and blood Douma was holding two demon servants in his grasp, putting his arm around their neck and his hands on their mouth as they trembled in dread.

"If you have something to say, isn't it more polite to say it straight to my face~?", whispered Douma.  Both of the demon servants nodded and Douma released them, then snapped his fingers and teleported them somewhere else.  

"Now, you may speak and tell me what's on your mind", said Douma, however the two demons just bowed on their knees in silence, not talking.

"Either you speak now, or I'll make sure you never speak again", commented Douma with a smiling face, but they saw through his façade.  

"It-It's just, we don't quite understand why your keeping that human woman by your side, instead of eating her", one of them replied.  

"Ah, I see", Douma replied.  Both of the demons seemed to relax at his response and eased a bit, a big mistake.  

"Yes, my lord, wouldn't it be better if you ate her?", one of them asked.

"She is very naïve of your true identity so it'd be easy to kill her-", before the other demon could finish, Douma slashed his arm off and freeze them both to the ground.

"I don't intend to ever eat Kotoha, I will let her live until she dies naturally, whether you like it or not", Douma smiled, glaring at them both at the end, "Do I make myself clear?", continued Douma.  Both of the demons nodded their head twice and in response, Douma sliced both of their heads off.  

"That is for your stupid judgement", Douma said as he started walking back to the temple from the forest.  He walked from the porch in to his room instead of using the door and melted away the ice sculpture of himself.  He fluttered his golden fan and created an ice rose with his blood demon art, then carefully placed it in Kotoha's hands.  Once he put the rose in Kotoha's palm, Kotoha's hand immediately gripped it gently.  

"Douma-sama...", Kotoha said as she sat up from his bed and rubbed her eyes.

"Kotoha, what are you doing awake at this hour?!", softly yelled Douma as he gripped her shoulders.

"I...heard those voices again", Kotoha responded.  

"It's alright, Kotoha, why don't you try to rest-"

"No, you don't understand! They insulted you!", Kotoha quietly exclaimed.  'They insulted me? These new demon generations are getting quite disrespectful these years'.

"Why do you sound so angry, Kotoha?", Douma asked.  He doesn't care at all about what others call him or what they say about him, or think about, he never has.  All he knows is that the weak grunt and gossip, knowing fully well that they'll never get to be the strongest, but Kotoha cared for him.  Since he was the one who blessed her with a new life, she was furious to hear someone talking dirty about him.

"Because they have no right!", Kotoha yelled again, causing Douma to stare at her in shock, "Douma-sama, I'll never let someone bad mouth you", Kotoha said as she clutched her hand to a fist close to her chest, while looking at him with determined eyes.  '...She really is unique', Douma smiled.  

"Thank you, Kotoha", Douma replied.  He held her hand and carried her bridal style and walked out of the room, and out of the temple.  

"Douma-sama, where are we going?", asked Kotoha as she wrapped her arms around his neck while he walked.

"There's a flower field around here, with flowers that only bloom at night.  I figured that since we're both awake, why don't we visit it together?", Douma replied.  The Datura wrightii, is known by other names, such as the moonflower, jimsonweed, and angel trumpet.  Despite it's angelic appearance, it is quite poisonous to touch, the whole flower is poisonous but its leaves and seeds contain the most poison.  Douma's mother would often bring him here at night when Douma couldn't sleep and it often relaxed him and it was the same flower containing poison that his mother drank and died from.  

Douma stopped walking at a cliff, then carefully set Kotoha down.  As Kotoha looked around then down at the cliff, she saw a huge field of pure white flowers, bathing in the moonlight and dancing in the breeze.  The flowers spread along the hole they were in and reflected the moons glow, shining white as snow.  

"They're breathtaking, Douma-sama", Kotoha said in amazement.  

"Yes, they are", replied Douma as he turned to his side to face Kotoha, "However, they hold nothing against your beauty", Douma continued caressing her face.  Kotoha stared at the man in front, his eyes showing no lie and gazed only at her, showing such kindness and something else Kotoha couldn't pick up.  Her lips curved in to an upward crescent as a pink blush spread along her cheeks, getting lost at Douma's deep glare.

"Thank you, Douma-sama, for everything that you've done for me and Inosuke", Kotoha joyfully said.  

"I feel as if I should be the one to thank you, Kotoha", Douma replied as he swung Kotoha off her feet and up in his arms again, walking back to the temple.  Once they arrived at the temple's gate, he walked through the hallway, not minding that it was dark and cold, since Kotoha was right by his side.  He laid her down at his bed and cupped her delicate face in his hands.  

"Now that your here with me, I no longer feel alone, so let me thank you", Douma whispered as he leaned his face close to hers, and gently placed his lips on her forehead.  'I understand now, I understand what it means'. 

"Hiroto", said Douma.

"Yes, my little lord?", questioned Hiroto.  A tall, handsome man with dark blue hair and deep black eyes.  He was the third in command if either of Douma's parents were away at business and often took care of Douma when he was young, acting like a nanny towards him. 

"I heard earlier that you and Kaori got engaged, by some passing servants out in the hall", Douma stated.

"Ah, yes, we did, and it made me really happy when she accepted my proposal", Hiroto smiled with a red blush on his face.  

"Happy? What does it feel like?", asked little Douma.  Hiroto has been assigned to be Douma's 'nanny' ever since Douma was little, so over the years, Hiroto learned that Douma couldn't feel emotions, so he would often try to explain it to him the best he could.  

"Happiness is an emotion when you feel like smiling, or laughing, often caused by a family member or because of someone unique, like how I experienced it with Kaori", Hiroto explained.  

"Someone unique?", Douma wondered, tilting his head in confusion.

"Hahaha, yep, someone special", responded Hiroto as he ruffled Douma's hair.  

"Darling!", a female voice called out to him.

"Kaori, my love", smiled Hiroto as he embraced the beautiful woman then turned his gaze back at Douma.

"When you get older, you'll understand what I mean..."

"What a special person is"