As Things Should Be

-22- Kanae

Kotoha was indeed... not extremely pleased. They'd spent an awkward rest of the day waiting in the Ubuyashiki mansion, conversing sparingly with the Master and whatever hashira stayed around to keep an eye on the demons. Doma had no doubt there would not be a moment they were not being secretly watched.

But they had returned and in one piece. They had returned without a scratch to an overjoyed Mirakuru and an eager Inosuke who had thrown himself into Doma and tried to lift him in a hug. The scary part was the boy almost succeeded - he had truly grown stronger and Doma was both proud and utterly terrified. Kotoha had been beaming too, at least until she heard the entirety of the story.

Now, now she seemed to be simmering.

"You told them you'd be willing to die after you kill Muzan?" She demanded, crossing her arms as she glared up at Doma. Her anger was... deserved...

"Well - well, that's just what he told them," Daki tried to intervene, eagerly so.

"Yeah, he didn't mean it," Gyutaro nodded eagerly. "There's no way he's going to - "

"He meant it," Akaza, the snitch, muttered from where he was sitting. "I meant it too."

"Then you both are crazy!" Daki cried, jumping to her feet and glaring at both of them. "Why the hell would you keep your word!? Especially to a bunch of slayers?"

"There's no guarantee they even will kill him, so it is, as Kanae said, a moot point," Akaza shrugged.

Doma stood perfectly still, subject to Kotoha's gaze as she stared at him.

"Doma..." she began softly. "I do not want to lose you. I will not lose you. How could you offer up something like that?"

Doma forced himself to swallow a lump in his throat and cupped the side of her face in one of his hands.

"You won't," he vowed... and he prayed once again he wasn't telling a lie. "I will not leave you or Inosuke or Miku - "

"That's not what I mean," she stated firmly as she grabbed the hand that held her. "I don't want you to be traded for our happiness. Even if they uphold their end of the deal, walking into this knowing we traded your life for it - "

She was angry and Doma's gut curled in guilt.

"We'll have a home," he soothed. "We won't have to run anymore, we'll be close to Inosuke... Miku will be safe. We'll all be safer - "

"Until they complete their mission!" Kotoha objected vehemently. "And then what; You die for something as stupid as this? I will not let you die for me! I won't walk into this knowing we're safe until they kill Muzan."

"If..." Doma murmured. "Many have tried to kill him before and I don't know if we can. If we can, it'll the greatest thing I've ever done. And if we do in your lifetime, I will try and convince the Master to grant me a few more years... he's benevolent..."

"It's the idea of it that bothers me. It's the assumption everyone is making that you are on borrowed time!" she objected.

"I am," Doma tried to argue gently. "I should've died centuries ago -"

"But you're not. So live. No matter how this goes; live."

He stared at her and what steadfast approach he'd had with the slayers began to trickle away. He had been willing to die, whole-heartedly. If that was the trade to keep Kotoha safe he'd do it right then and there...

And that would hurt her. He saw it in her eyes how it hurt her. How the very idea of it pierced her heart and put fear in her eyes; fear he had caused. She loved him for whatever reason and if he left her alone on this earth... that would be his final sin. He gripped her hand and smiled.