𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | | 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐡𝐚 | | 𝐊𝐍𝐘

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟐: 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

Douma closed his eyes as he enjoyed the peaceful moment with Kotoha leaning on his shoulder.  She took small scoops of ice cream into her spoon and happily ate it as her eyes glued to the kids running around chasing a poor little butterfly - Inosuke and Daki especially.  

'It feels like we're a family...', Kotoha thought which made her feel warm and overjoyed.  'Having Douma as a husband would be a blessing, he's almost perfect', she giggled. 

Douma noticed her gigging quietly and raised one of his eyebrows - "And, what are you laughing about?", he teased. 

She let out a short chuckle as she leaned away from him - "Nothing", she smiled.

He looked at her cockily - "What?  My eyebrows are getting frizzy?"

"Noo, you're eyebrows look fine!"

"Oh, I see..", he pretended to be sad, "My eyebrows are only fine, not great..."

She put her hand on his shoulder and chuckled more - "No, no, they're fantastic!  They're perfectly bushy and not frizzy at all!"

He laughed along with her - "Oh, why thank you~ I spent a minute combing them to perfection", causing her laugh even more.  He smiled at her beautiful way her lips curved into an upward crescent, revealing the beauty in her smile.  He then realized her ice cream melting; a few drops falling down her dress and her finger.  "Kotoha, you're ice cream is melting..!"

She looked down at her dress and her face printed with horror - "Oh, I'm so sorry, Douma"

"Sorry?  For what, Kotoha?"

"You spent a lot of money on this and I ruined it..."

He playfully shook his head and put his hands on her shoulders - "That's fine, I can buy you thousands more".  Her face eased as she looked up to meet his gaze.  "Trust me, I make many money with nowhere to store it", he joked.  He then glided his hand down her shoulder and to her fingers where he raised her hand up.

'I-Is he going to...', Kotoha's face turned red.  Douma then took out a napkin he had grabbed earlier from the store and gently wiped it off, careful to not discomfort her.  Her thoughts eased and so did her heart.  She turned her head away from him and brought her free hand to her pounding chest.  'Why did I think he was gonna do something else..?!  Kotoha, stop thinking these things!', she scolded herself.  

"Oh..that was the only napkin I had..", she heard Douma talk.  He then turned her attention to her as she turned her head to face him.  "I'll go back to the ice cream shop and get some more napkins, I'll be back soon", he said and patted her head before standing up and walking away.  

'He's so charming...', she smiled.  She then turned her attention to the kids to make sure they were alright.  She found them sitting by the willow tree trunk as they played with the flowers surrounding them; Gyutaro teaching them how to braid the flowers into a crown and a ring.  'He's a great big brother..even to Inosuke', she felt her chest radiate with comforting warmth.  

"Miss", she heard someone say.  She turned her head around and came to face with two men.  Despite looking friendly, something about them set off her instincts. 

"Can I help you?", she said firmly.  

"Indeed", one of the man replied and leaned his arms on the bench, "Can you give us some of your time?"

She turned her head away from them fast - "I'm sorry, but I can't.  I'm here spending time with my...family..", she hesitated to respond.  

"All I see are the little brats", one of them said, "It's fine, we won't go far~", he moved his hand from the bench to her shoulder.  However, before she was about to slap him, someone had done it already.  She heard the hard impact of someone's hand hit the man's face, a loud clap that sounded as if it would leave imprints.