(AYAME POV)

The next morning Ayame awoke early as usual, stretched and got up to start the day. It was the first day of the second week of being Koga's "personal slave" and to be honest, Ayame was disappointed that her time with Koga was going by so quickly. Even though he could be a jerk, Ayame enjoyed spending time with Koga, especially when she got to see rare moments of kindness, like him playing with the tribe children. As well as Koga's caring nature towards her after saved her from the attacker who broke into Koga's cave.

Ayame stepped out of her temporary cave home and looked over to the opening of Koga's neighboring cave. She knew that unlike her, he wasn't an earlier riser and it would be a while before she saw him out and about.

'I could use a bath, morning baths are very refreshing'

Ayame excitedly bounded to the nearby spring to indulge in her early morning bath.

….

The spring was close to the tribe, close enough that as Ayame soaked her sore muscles, she could hear distant laughing of the tribe pups, no doubt playing hide and seek again.

Ayame sighed happily.

'I don't do this enough. It's nice to get away from the duties and responsibilities of being the daughter of a tribe elder. Sure, I've had to hunt and cook and clean for Koga, but it's been… refreshing being here.'

Ayame closed her eyes and began to sing a lullaby that her mother would sing to her when she was a young pup herself.

Mori no fukuro ga iimashita

watashi wa mori no mihari yaku

kowai okami, kitsune nado

kosasenai kara ne ne shina

gorosuke ho ho

gorosuke ho

Ayame sighed and sank lower into the refreshing spring water, the sun was begging to center itself in the sky, indicating that Ayame had been in the spring for a while, and that Koga should be awaking soon, and he would definitely want Ayame to make him breakfast… well more like lunch.

Ayame stood and wrung the water out of her hair, and shook dry, redressing in her fur and armor. She smiled as she walked back to the caves to prepare a meal for Koga.

….

(KOGA POV)

Koga sat up suddenly from his sleeping, hearing something he didn't recognize, something that sounded… pleasant.

It was a woman singing. He recognized the song as a children's song often sang as a lullaby.

Koga leaned his head against the cave wall, closed his eyes and just listened to the song, the sound of the woman's voice was very sweet and soothing. Soon he found himself humming along to the tune of the children's song. The song was short and when the singing stopped, he found himself disappointed and wanting to hear more. He waited a few minutes, hoping to hear more but the singing had come to a stop. He sighed, opened his eyes and then heard a grumbling sound. He looked down at the source of the sound.

'I'm starving, I wonder where Ayame is with my food?' He thought as he stretched

Not long after the thought left his mind, Ayame stepped into the opening of his cave with a dead rabbit and some fruit. She piled her ingredients on a make-shift table that was really just a big rock. Koga had been annoyed when Ayame had complained about not having any proper furniture for sitting and preparing meals.

(REGULAR POV)

"Good afternoon Koga! I've gathered some food, I'm about to start a fire for your meal-…."

Ayame stopped talking suddenly when she looked upon the tribe leader who was still lying in his bed, then burst out laughing.

Koga was confused as to the sudden outburst.

"Hey! What's so funny!?" Koga demanded to know, while standing to his feet to approach the young demon woman.

Ayame wiped her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks from the outburst.

"I'm sorry Koga! I don't mean to be rude and laugh, but you're bed-head is hilarious!" Ayame said, while holding back more laughter.

Koga quickly brought a hand up to his head, feeling around his head. His headband was crooked and half of his hair was out of his pony-tail and strewn in many directions.

Koga let out a small chuckle.

"yea, I guess my hair is a mess." Koga brought his hands up to his hair, in an attempt to fix the mess, but he was struggling to untangle bits of it.

Ayame tried to hide her giggles behind her hand but Koga still heard her laughing at his attempts, and he shot her an annoyed look.

Ayame wasn't intimidated by the look, it just made her giggle more.

"Hey don't just laugh at me! Make yourself useful and help me with this! You're supposed to be my personal slave for another week! Don't think you can get away with just sitting there and laughing at me!" Koga said in a distressed tone.

Ayame smiled and walked towards the tribe leader.

"Okay, okay 'master'. Here, sit down and I'll fix it for you"

Koga sat back down on his bed of pelts and furs and turned his back to Ayame so she could fix his hair.

Ayame first untangled the headband from his hair and set it aside. She noticed it was kind of ratted and old, she made a mental note to make him another one before she returned back home to the mountains.

She then removed the tie from his hair, allowing the long dark locks to fall down his back. Ayame ran her fingers through Koga's hair, over and over slowly removing the tangles from his hair. Koga closed his eyes and couldn't help but lean into Ayame's touch. He had to admit, it felt nice. The tangles had been removed, but Ayame continued to run her hands through, and play with Koga's hair.

After a few minutes of playing with Koga's hair, Ayame pulled his hair up into his signature high pony-tail. She then placed the headband in its place. As she stepped away from him to admire her work, she couldn't help but run her hand through his pony-tail one last time.

"ya know…" Ayame began. "I've always been a little jealous of your hair. The other pups in my pack would always tease me for having red hair. And they would always pull on my pig-tails. I always thought if I would have had dark hair like this I wouldn't have been picked on so much." She said the last part with a sad smile.

Koga didn't know what to say at first, she was complimenting his hair which was nice, but he also couldn't believe that she had been bullied for her own hair.

Koga scoffed. "What dumbasses."

Ayame gave him a questioned look.

Koga crossed his arms. "First, they're dumbasses for picking on the daughter of a tribe leader. They need to show respect for the leaders of their pack."

Ayame waited, but he didn't continue, she prodded him "… and second?"

Koga seemed to stiffen up a little, and rubbed the back of his neck, refusing to make eye-contact with Ayame. He stuttered out,

"Second, I- uh. Well I like your red hair." A slight blush appeared on his face as he said this.

Ayame's face started to heat up. Surely she didn't hear him correctly. Did he just say he liked her hair?

"You like my hair?" Ayame asked trying to hide her nervous tone.

Koga sat up straight and continued to look anywhere but at Ayame.

"Well yea. You don't see red hair very often. Black hair is common, but red is unique. And-and… I think it fits your personality well." Koga stuttered the last part slightly.

Ayame sat down in front of Koga, causing him to look at her for the first time since his admittance.

"What do you mean by that Koga?" Ayame asked, honestly confused at the conversation they were having. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and she knew Koga could probably hear it, but all she wanted at the moment was to hear what Koga had to say.

Koga scoffed and broke his eye contact with Ayame once again.

"Well you're stubborn. That's for sure. Sometimes a total pain in the ass." Koga looked back to see Ayame with a confused and slightly hurt expression on her face. So he continued.

"but… you're also very unique, just like your hair. You aren't like other women pack members I've known. You're strong, one of the only people who can compete with me actually. I'd still win, but you're decent competition in combat as well as agility."

Ayame could feel her face get hotter and hotter and her pulse get faster and faster as he continued his musings.

"You have a fiery personality. Definitely can't forget an encounter with you, that's for sure. You're smart, caring, resourceful, witty, and beautiful."

They both froze as Koga said the last word. Koga suddenly realized that he had been rambling and what he had said to Ayame. He quickly stood up and walked a few steps towards the cave entrance.

"uh- where is my um- my food? I'm starving! I'm gonna go make a patrol run to see how the pack is doing. I expect my food to be ready when I get back! What good is a personal slave if my meal isn't ready when I'm hungry?"

Koga tried to sound authoritative after his affectionate outbreak a few moments ago. He was the tribe leader after all, he didn't want to seem weak. He looked back at Ayame, who still looked surprised and was still sitting on the floor, she gave a nod.

"O-of course Koga! I'll have it ready for you when you return!" Ayame tried her best to keep her voice from shaking.

Koga nodded at the young demoness and ran to perform his patrol.

Ayame still couldn't believe what had just happened.

'He said I'm beautiful!' Ayame put a hand over her heart, feeling it beat faster than even Koga's feet could run. She couldn't help the giddy smile that spread over her face. She hopped up and started to begin cooking Koga's meal.

She took a minute to tie up her hair so it wouldn't get in her way while cooking. She glanced at her red locks, Koga's words running through her thoughts.

'You're smart, caring, resourceful, witty, and beautiful.'

She smiled, 'I guess I can learn to love my red hair too'

Ayame couldn't stop smiling and singing to herself as she prepared Koga's meal for his return.