As Things Should Be

-3- Inosuke

Kotoha did sing for Doma. She sang many times over the next few weeks, smiling and laughing whenever someone asked her to do so. Each lullaby was different and brought a sense of peace to the temple. Each and every single one stirred something in Doma's chest.

Doma paced restlessly in his room during the nights, trying to understand why it was he was now... feeling things. He couldn't understand what had changed or what made Kotoha's songs any different from any other song, but he knew that they were different... he just couldn't understand if that was a good or bad thing. Feelings... Feelings. What did this mean?

Eventually, he began to seek her out. As the weeks went by he learned her son's name was Inosuke and that he was just barely older than a year. She was at the mere age of twenty and had been married years ago. Her marriage, her husband, her family, and where she had come from were topics that were skirted around, although Doma already supposed it all based on what the gossip around the temple stated. 

The strange thing was; gossip rarely affected him. Now though, he found himself leaning into conversations whenever Kotoha's name was mentioned. He also became strangely invested in it. When he had overheard someone mentioning Kotoha's marriage and the state she had been in when she had entered the temple, something in him had twisted. He had stumbled, surprised by the sudden warm stab in his heart that he eventually deduced was a form of anger.  He decided very quickly he was not a fan of feeling angry.

He eventually figured out that the feeling he held whenever Kotoha sang was happiness (he liked that one). He also found the feelings of sorrow and contentedness through Kotoha and her presence. He summed it all up to sympathy... somehow, Kotoha's voice conveyed pure emotion and Doma couldn't help but feel what she felt. He wasn't sure what to think about having "emotions."

Sometimes he liked it, sometimes he wondered if pulling it out of his chest would be a better decision. Sometimes he debated whether or not he should even keep Kotoha alive as her singing was so... impactful. Maybe he could just avoid her singing and he'd get better. His head could clear. Yes, he just would stop listening when she sang. There, problem solved.

Or... not.

The thing was it wasn't just her singing; merely being around the woman seemed to spark strange things in Doma. He would watch as she and Inosuke played and feel strange things curling in his chest whenever the baby babbled or Kotoha laughed.

Inosuke toddled and crawled around, giggling and laughing as he ran wild in the temple. The cultists held a fondness for both him and his mother. Kotoha had quite a large group of women who thought of her as a sister, or at the least, a friend. Inosuke appealed to all of the cultists and they all adored the little man and pampered him. 

Doma was rather impartial to younger humans but fate seemed determined to shove them together.

One day, as Doma stayed inside, hidden from the sun's dangerous rays, Inosuke stumbled upon him. The baby crawled past the open door, looked inside, and found himself staring straight into the rainbow eyes of Doma.

The demon was sitting on the floor, pondering when his next meal should be and looked right at the child.

Children were dangerous things to demons. The youth and the elderly often saw things that others did not. Children were always the first to deduce that there was something wrong and were always the first to discover a demon's true nature. It was surprising that Inosuke hadn't started balling.

Inosuke, ever the one to defy expectations, only stared at the man. He sat up and peered at the demon from the doorway. The baby was wearing a small grey kimono tied together with a blue sash that matched the blue tints on the end of the boy's hair.