"Oh sweetheart, how are you feeling?" Mamori came into the room, pulling up a chair next to her young daughter's bed. She placed the bowl of cold water on the bedside table and proceeded to wring out the water, laying the towel on Akari's heated and damp forehead.
Mamori could see the lack of a twinkle usually found in her daughter's eyes as Akari sniffed and sneezed.
Mamori couldn't help but worry.
The light coughing from Akari's cold had turned for the worse when it had suddenly started snowing while she was walking home with her mother and brother. Flu season, Mamori thought. "Here sweetie, drink some tea, it'll make you feel better, I promise."
She blew on the steaming cup of honey lemon tea and lifted it to her daughter's lips. Akari took a small sip but made a pained face when she tried to swallow.
"Mommy everything hurts." The little girl cried between labored breaths, as Mamori's eyebrows knitted in concern.
Just then, her father walked in. "Youichi, she's burning up," Mamori said in a worried tone. Her father sat down on the bed at Akari's side, frowning, and placed a long fingered hand on his daughter's damp and clammy forehead.
"Damn fever's burning up, give me the towel." Mamori once again dipped the towel and wrung it out, giving it to her husband.
"Tch. You should know better than to play out in the snow when you have a cold, Chibi," Hiruma Youchi lightly reprimanded his four-year-old daughter as he pressed the cool towel to her forehead.
"I'm sorry daddy-ACHOO!- I didn't know," Akari sniffled.
"It's alright sweetie, you'll know next time," Mamori said as she tenderly laid a hand on Akari's pink-tinted cheek.
Akari nodded. "I'm sorry mamma, daddy, I promise I won't do it again," she said as she began to nod off.
The last thing Akari felt before sleep overcame her was the cool touch of her father's hand as he brushed away her bangs.
"Hmm- her forehead feels cooler now. The damn fever's going down," Hiruma said as he brushed wisps of damp hair from his daughter's face.
Mamori smiled as she looked at father and daughter. He was fondly watching Akari as she breathed in and out, calmly sleeping. Yes, he may be the devil, she thought, but when it came to his family, Hiruma Youichi was as caring and protective as any other father and husband, if not more so.
"What are you looking at damn wife?" Hiruma grunted.
Mamori was pulled out of her stupor. She looked at him for a second, confused, but then a warm smile spread on her lips.
"I was just thinking, I definitely chose the right man to be the father of my children," she whispered.
He grinned his trademark grin, pointy teeth showing.
"Damn right you did."