𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | | 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐡𝐚 | | 𝐊𝐍𝐘

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟒: 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬

It was already afternoon and the sun brightened the kitchen, shining upon the cherry tree outside.  Douma was whisking the icing for Kotoha's cake, while Akako cut some fresh strawberries from the garden in half.  By a table near the porch sat two fresh baked cakes, both chilling in the shade to cool off before they started decorating it, so the icing doesn't completely melt.  They were planing on making a double stacked chocolate strawberry cake for Kotoha, since Douma knows that Kotoha loves chocolate.

Flashback

As Douma was walking through the hallway in the afternoon, he heard a few noises coming from the kitchen and decided to see who it was.  When he opened the door slightly, it was Kotoha, eating a couple chocolate chip cookies from a jar.  'Even when stuffing her face and covered in crumbs, she still looks pretty', chuckled Douma, loud enough for Kotoha to hear.  She flinched when she heard someone else and slowly turned around, and instantly felt relieved to see it was only Douma.

"Oh-Oh, hello, Douma-sama", Kotoha said after swallowing.

"Good afternoon~", Douma cheerfully replied as he walked towards Kotoha and looked at the empty jar that had once contained cookies.

"Hahaha, I was pretty sure that jar was full a few days ago", Douma chuckled again.

"Sorry...", Kotoha lowered her head, avoiding Douma's eyes.  He could see that she felt gulity and also looked a bit scared.

"No, no, it's alright, Kotoha", Douma spoke, grabbing a near napkin and brushing it against her face to get the crumbs off, "However, I do need to refill the jar.  Kotoha, would you-"

"Yes!", Kotoha interrupted.

"You interrupted before I even finished, Kotoha", smiled Douma.

"Well, I want to help you in any way I can, to repay the debt I owe you for saving my and Inosuke lives", Kotoha responded with determination gleaming from her eyes.

"What if I had asked you to do something bad...?", Douma asked.  'If she is eager to always accept, then I can simply trick her and kill her and her son...', Douma thought.  

"I know you're not that kind of man, Douma-sama", Kotoha said, holding his free hand, "Douma-sama is a great man, who goes out of his way to help and save others, and because of that, I'll be willing to offer my uses", Kotoha smiled, gently holding his hand.  Douma was shocked at her reply and didn't know how to respond back, or what to think, so he just stood there.  Fluttering his golden fan in front of his face, while his other hand was being held by her small, warm fingers, staring at her carefree smile at him, even if he was a demon.  'I'll...let her live for a few more weeks...', Douma thought.  Unknown to him before, that he would eventually be succumb by his heart pounding feelings for her and let her live longer than he ever expected.

End of flashback

"Lord Douma...."

"Sir Douma..."

"Douma-dono.."

"Douma-sama!", yelled Akako which startled Douma.

"Oh! Yes?", Douma said as he turned around and awkwardly smiled at her.

"I've been calling you for a few times now, my lord, but you weren't responding", spoke Akako, putting all the cut strawberries in a bowel.

"Sorry, Akako, I was just reminiscing about something", Douma replied.

"Would it have anything to do about Ms. Kotoha?", asked Akako.

"Was it that obvious?", chuckled Douma.