𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | | 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐡𝐚 | | 𝐊𝐍𝐘

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓: 𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐡

Kotoha was shocked when Douma started leaning his face closer to her, she could hear her heart pounding immensely in her chest ever inch Douma moved closer.  Her body tensed when he was only a few inches away from her face, but she soon relaxed when she felt his other hand hold hers, his gentle touch soothing her.  She closed her eyes and waited for his warmth to press against her own, until she felt Douma flinch and opened her eyes in curiosity.  Douma was only a couple inches away from Kotoha's lips, but two little  warm hands were pushing  him away, Inosuke.  Inosuke was covering Douma's mouth with his hands, preventing him from reaching Kotoha.  Douma chuckled at little Inosuke, and removed his hands gently off his mouth and tried to lean closer to Kotoha but this time Inosuke slapped his face.  It didn't hurt as much since Inosuke was only a child but it still left a tiny red spot imprint of Inosuke's hand.

"Ino-Inosuke!", Kotoha exclaimed as she gently pushed Inosuke's hands down.  'I-I can't believe Douma-sama almost kissed me....!'

"Hahahaha, he sure is quite protective of you, Kotoha", smiled Douma.

"I'm very sorry, Douma-sama", Kotoha apologized.  

"No, it's alright, I can relate to him being protective of you", Douma responded as he rubbed her cheek with his thumb, "Who wouldn't want to protect someone as wonderful as you?", Douma continued, gazing in to her eyes that showed affection for the person who was in front of her.  He'd never seen someone look at him that way, besides Hiroto, his servants and followers only stay because they think of him as a god.  But what if Douma was only a normal human, would they still continue being by his side?  Probably not, but as long as Kotoha's with him, he doesn't care if the whole world hates him.  

Kotoha, Inosuke and Douma stayed in the greenhouse, enjoying the comforting silence.  Douma held Kotoha's hand and smiled while staring at her, Kotoha lowered her head, hiding her beet red face as her heart wouldn't stop racing, and Inosuke was watching Douma carefully in case he might try to come near his mom again.  Inosuke is almost 1 year old, only a few more days before he actually becomes one.  He was quietly sitting in Kotoha's lap while eating the tips of her hair, but also glaring daggers at Douma.  Everything was peaceful, until Akako came in.  When Kotoha saw Akako walk in to the greenhouse, her whole body filled with fear and she hastily got up and walked towards Akako.

"Akako, I'm so very sorry for taking up your lovers time", Kotoha whispered and bowed her head towards Akako, who stood in confusion.

"Ms. Kotoha, please raise your head, and lover?  I don't have a lover, Ms. Kotoha", replied Akako.

"But, isn't Douma-sama your-"

"Oh my, heavens no.  We were only baking something together", giggled Akako.  Kotoha sighed, letting all her fears and guilt free in the air and felt relieved she didn't hurt Akako's feelings.

"Were you perhaps jealous, Ms. Kotoha?", Akako asked and Kotoha's face instantly flushed pink.

"I-I wasn't, I just didn't want to hurt your feelings in case Douma-san was your lover...", Kotoha half-lied.  True she didn't want to hurt Akako's feelings, but she did feel jealous, not a bit, quite a lot actually.

"You don't need to lie, I can see the redness on your face~", teased Akako and Kotoha quickly covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.  Douma stared at the two girls in confusion since he couldn't hear them, but he saw Akako put a thumbs up so he stood up, with Inosuke sitting around his shoulders.   He kissed Kotoha on the cheek and held her hand.

"Come, Kotoha, there is something we want to show you", Douma smiled.  Kotoha relaxed herself and nodded, following both Akako and Douma back inside the temple.  Akako covered Kotoha's eyes as Douma held her hand, leading her in to the kitchen then made her sit on of the chairs.  

"Keep your eyes closed for a bit longer, Ms. Kotoha", Kotoha heard Akako say.  Kotoha nodded in response and waited until Akako or Douma said to open them.  While waiting, she heard a lot of footsteps, things being dragged around here or there and something that sounded like plastic being placed somewhere in the table she was sitting in.

"Alright, open your eyes now, Kotoha~", she heard Douma say.  She slowly opened her eyes and found the whole entire kitchen covered in pretty decoration, strings, vases, bouquets, candles, and a banner saying "Happy Birthday Kotoha!!".  Akako, Douma, Chiasa and Emiyo were all holding different color of hydrangeas and had flowers crowns on, even Inosuke.  Emiyo went behind Kotoha and placed a flower crown made up of red and pink roses, and hugged her from behind.

"Happy Birthday Ms. Kotoha!"

"Happy Birthday, Kotoha-san!"

"Happy Birthday, Kotoha-chan!"

"Happy Birthday, Kotoha!"

Akako, Chiasa, Emiyo and Douma cheered, clapping their hands together and smiling widely at Kotoha.  Kotoha felt her face get warm as hot tears uncontrollably streamed down her cheeks.  

"Thank-Thank you all so much!", cried Kotoha, wiping off the tears with her hands as Akako and Chiasa surrounded her, embracing her along with Inosuke in Chiasa's arms.   Douma's lips curved up, seeing Kotoha surrounded with her friends, people who actually care about her.  'Her lovely face looks better like this, enjoying her time with kind people', Douma thought, when a light bulb lite up.  'Oh! I almost forgot about the present and cake!', Douma dashed around Kotoha and placed the cake in front of her, then grabbed the several plastics bags lying on the bench and set it down on the table.  

Kotoha stared at the amazing cake in front, a beautiful two stacked white frosted cake with strawberries in the middle of the two cakes and more strawberries on the top, chocolate drizzle drizzled along the sides and little pink petals on the bottom of the plate.  Kotoha closed her eyes, holding her hands together as she prayed for her wish to come true, before blowing the flame out.  The cake looked so charming that Kotoha didn't want to eat it, much less cut it in to small pieces, but they eventually convinced her to do it anyway.  After eating, the girls hurried Kotoha to look at their presents they bought for her, Chiasa and Emiyo bought their gifts in a town hours away from here and hurried back just to celebrate Kotoha's wonderful day together.  Emiyo bought Kotoha a long white robe painted with cherry blossom petals, Chiasa bought Kotoha a blue modern dress from a city, sleeveless with a laced rim and a flowy skirt reaching her knees.  Akako already presented her gift a day earlier because she wasn't going to be here to celebrate it but she showed it again, a beautiful arrangement of flowers in a hand-made vase tied with a ribbon around the neck.  When Douma showed his present, Kotoha was immensely shocked at how gorgeous it was, the soft red silk, the amazing embroidery and the elegant flowers painted on it.  She thanked them all again, from the bottom of her heart and spend the rest of the afternoon  eating cake.  

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Douma and Kotoha were sitting in the porch of Douma's room, Inosuke resting his head on Kotoha's lap as he slept.  It was already night, and they sat in pure silence as they gazed at the dazzling stars that shimmered with a heavy white glow.  Douma had his hand around Kotoha's shoulder as Kotoha leaned her head against him, sitting in the comfort of each others embrace.  Douma looked towards Kotoha and turned her head to face him, and this time with no interruptions, their lips met as they melted in to each others warmth.  He placed his hand on her chin as they parted their lips, staring at her emerald eyes that glowed with radiance and Kotoha stared at his colorful eyes, showing such affection and continued to stare at them as Douma brought his lips closer for the second time, closing the gap between them.  Kotoha felt Douma's hand trace from her chin to her hair and he parted their lips again and kissed the tip of her hair, few of her strands falling from his grasp.  He looked up at her, one more time, looking at the woman who melted his cold heart, who made him softer, who made him happy and the one who made him feel loved, and smiled.  Kotoha smiled back at Douma, the man who saved her, the man who gave her his own temple and room, the man that made her feel special and the man that cherished her like gold, like she was everything to him and he was the whole world for her.  The sky filled with falling stars, shooting across the sky as the couple lost their gaze in each others stare.

'God, I wish for me, Douma and Inosuke to be a family together for many days, weeks, months, years, moons and centuries.  Let him be the only one for me, even in another lifetime.  That, is my wish'.