Who's in Control

Chapter 11

CAUTION!
Douma goes demon mode

The day had been normal.

Douma had sent Kotoha off with Kie that morning, tying her scarf around her neck and hugging her. The sun was out and demons were hiding.

HE was hiding from the sun.

Eight months along and Kotoha was beaming with life. Glowing as they only had a month to wait for Inosuke to come in the world. He couldn't wait.

He waved her off, Tanjiro staying with Tanjuro for the few hours the women would be gone.

A few hours

Douma would start to pace when noon came along and the sun was still out. Winter would have brought clouds but this was an unusually bright sunny day.

"Douma-dono, if you'll watch Tanjiro, I'll go looking for them. They probably just got hung up."

Douma had remained focused on the gate of his estate, trees providing little cover during the cold months so Douma nodded. Tanjiro was handed off to him and Tanjuro was given some coins, encase it was a money issue. It shouldn't be but still, Douma gave him the money.

Still, he waited.

Tanjiro, the sweet and empathetic child, started to pat his cheek when he stood too long, just staring at the gate.

"Tanjiro-chibi, I worry." Douma takes a glance at the small baby who has an open mouth before looking at the gate again. Douma would sit down on the porch, waiting and it wouldn't be for another hour before Tanjuro and Kie came back running.

Both are stressed and Kie is crying.

"Douma-dono! Kotoha is gone!"

His vision and hearing goes blank for a moment.

—

Kie would explain how Kotoha was there one moment and gone the next. They had been looking for sweets.

Then she was gone.

Kie had started to panic, calling for Kotoha and not finding her anywhere. Tanjuro had found her crying in the arms of women trying to calm her down.

All Kie found was Kotoha's scarf on the ground.

Dirtied and with blood.

Kie had quickly handed it to him and he gave Tanjiro back to his parents as he sniffed the scarf.

It was tense for a moment.

A frown crosses his face before he speaks.

"It's not Kotoha's." Kie was still shaking, Tanjuro holding Tanjiro who was starting to pout.

No...

A deep breath in and Douma feels his hairs flare. His eyes started to glow as his claws stabbed through the scarf.

This was her kidnapper's scent.

—

How did she get here?

Kotoha would tell anyone her fortune would never last as she is dragged along, a sweaty bleeding palm covering her mouth, a cloth having been pushed in. She had bitten her kidnapper and now her cheek was swollen.

Tears are streaking her face as she is continuously dragged away. Her heart thumps in her chest as fear crawls its way deep in her.

Some humans sell each other out. Most out of spite, others because they own demons and didn't want to lose their lives. Selling out their own fellow human to get back in the good graces of the predators that hunt in the shadows.