#yatoriweek2020

Her eyes widened and her lips parted in shock, “O-oh…”

“...Anyway, Rekki…” Yato lifted his hand, hovering just above his chest and a kanji appeared before Kazuma, “I hereby release you.”

Everyone watched in awe as the name vanished into a bright display of blue light. Kazuma, stunned, opened the top of his shirt to confirm that the name had been removed from his body.

Collapsing his head back onto Hiyori’s lap, Yato mumbled, “There, it’s like it never happened.”

“Easy for you to say.” Yukine sniffled from the other side of Hiyori.

“I didn’t mean it like—” He quickly tried to sit before he gave a sharp inhale, overwhelmed by pain and fell back onto Hiyori.

“Yato, you can’t move like that right now! You’re too badly wounded.” She immediately scorned him, though brushed her fingers through the top of his hair as a way to keep him in place.

Bishamon turned around, the heels of her shoes scraping against the dirt. “Kazuma, I think it’s best if we head home now. I think we all have a lot to talk about.”

Kazuma looked over to Hiyori who gave a small nod and an appreciative smile. Shakily, he held onto the wall and pulled himself up, answering, “Alright.” He took a step forward and immediately felt his knees give under the pressure of his weight, but felt something catch him before he fell to the ground.

“I’ve got you.” Bishamon wrapped an arm around him to support his weight. Eyeing him carefully, she warned, “And don’t you dare lie to me about how injured you are.”

He sighed but gave a soft smile as they continued forward, “I won’t.”

Yato smirked as he watched Kazuma being rushed off by the war god, “I’m sure that’s practically a dream come true for him, being carried off by the psycho bitch like that.”

“Yato, focus.” Hiyori nodded towards Yukine, who now had his knees pulled up to his chest as he cried silently.

He let out a deep sigh before calling out, “Yukine.”

The younger boy popped his head up, “What?”

Yato let out a small laugh and commented, “I’m so relieved to see your blonde hair again.”

Yukine’s mouth opened in surprise before he buried his face again, “Stop being stupid.”

“I don’t think that’s something I can stop, at least from how you two describe me.”

“Yato.” Hiyori looked down at him, gripping his shoulders a bit tighter in annoyance.

Yukine lifted his head and clarified loudly, “Fine, stop saying stupid stuff and say what you mean. Do you get it now?” With that, he hid his face again.

“When I said everything about leaving you behind to protect you, it wasn’t just because you’re my shinki or hafuri. That stuff is important usually, but it’s not why I was trying to protect you. I didn’t want anything to happen to you because you mean everything to me, Yukine. We could all switch roles; like Hiyori can be the god or we can all three be humans, whatever. The outcome would be the same no matter what.”

Yukine looked up, tears silently flowing down from his eyes but an intent stare on Yato.

The god reached out his hand and the boy took it gently, “I never meant to make you feel you only had a purpose as sekki or that your only role outside of a weapon is being my guidepost. Yukine, I know you can’t… physically grow, and I’m so sorry. I would give anything to change that. But mentally, emotionally; I’ve seen you grow so much over the past year. And I wanted nothing more but to give you the chance to continue doing that.”

“I never wanted you to know what happened to you. I can’t stand to think about it, so I can only imagine how you feel.” Yato wiped at his eyes with his free hand and saw Hiyori doing the same, “I am stupid. And I do things without thinking through all of the consequences. But I swear, I will work my hardest so show you every day how much you are loved in this life. And not just by me, but Hiyori, Daikoku, Kofuku... everybody.”

Yukine grasped his hand harder, smiling as he answered, “Look, you aren’t actually stupid. You just do stupid things.”

“Good to know.” Yato cracked a smile and Hiyori laughed alongside him.

“And I know… how much you guys care about me.” He wiped at his eyes again, sniffling, “I just got so caught up in all of my fears and doubts that it didn’t matter. So I’m sorry, for the way I treated you.” He looked up, “You too, Hiyori. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head and draped an arm over his shoulder, bringing him into a loose hug, “You two are safe and we’re all going home, that’s all that matters to me.”

“Home does sound nice…” Yato mulled out loud.

Sighing, Hiyori admitted, “Unfortunately, I have to take the long way home since I’m in my body.”

“What?” Yato answered automatically while Yukine peeked behind her.

“Oh yeah, no tail.”

“Long story short, it was your father’s wolves, Yato. I kind of got injured while in my half-ayakashi form and kind of haven’t been able to leave my body ever since…” She explained in a rush as she gently got up from underneath Yato, standing up.

His lips parted in disbelief, he eventually answered, “You, we’ll talk later. Be safe. Yukine, let’s go home.”

Once they had vanished into a blinding light, Hiyori called out, “You can come out now.”

The sound of water filled the air before Nora appeared from a nearby pond, muttering, “Thanks. I didn’t really want to be a part of that happy reunion stuff.”

“I figured as much. I still think you should come back with us, though.” Hiyori started walking towards where she had left her bike.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I think I know just the perfect god for you.”

“I really hope Nora is okay down there by herself…” Hiyori looked at the door in the far corner of the room, wondering how it was going with Kofuku and Daikoku. It was relatively quiet which she was thankful for, since Yukine had drifted off to sleep. But because of the lack of noise, she couldn’t tell what was happening.

Yato gave a quiet laugh, “She can take care of herself, you should know that.”

She hummed, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Speaking of holding one’s own in a fight… Hiyori, why did you get tangled up with my dad again?” He slid closer to her, frowning and locking his eyes on hers.

“It’s not like I went looking for him!” She answered back in an annoyed tone before realizing she needed to keep down her volume, “I was walking home from school and I saw him. He was kind of smirking so I got a really bad feeling and I went after him. And he was just… relishing in how he was hurting you and Yukine and I couldn’t take it.”

“He always had a knack for getting under people’s skin,” He reached out to hold on to both of her wrists, “But why would you do something so stupid?”

Hiyori couldn’t help but laugh, “Look who’s talking.”

“Hey, I didn’t try to beat him with just MMA moves and no weapon.” His blue eyes flickered up to hers.

She took a breath and looked at her side, huffing, “Okay, I guess that’s fair.”

“But seriously… why would you be that reckless?” His thumb brushed over her wrist, “Your life is such a precious thing.”

“It’s like what you said to Yukine before. I’ve watched you work so hard to change and be the god of fortune that you’ve always wanted to be. And the fact that your father just… continued to try to tear down everything that you’ve ever built and took so much pleasure in it… I can’t even describe how angry it made me. I’m still angry, even though I know he’s gone.” She clenched her fists and Yato took that as a signal to let go of her.

“Those are my problems, though.” He tried to soothe her, “As amazing of a sight as it would have been for a high school girl to be the one to take out my dad, I never expected you to defend me or anything.”

She shook her head, “I know, and often getting involved just made it worse for you, too. But Yato, you deserve so much better than that. I just wish I could do more.”

He let out a small laugh in disbelief, tilting his head. “Hiyori, you made me my first shrine. You called me your god of fortune. You’ve also saved my ass repeatedly, although I don’t necessarily like that you put yourself in danger when you do that. What else could you possibly do for me?”

“I don’t know…” She gave a sigh in frustration.

Yato reached out to run a hand through her hair, “Don’t worry about it too much.”

Before she realized what she was doing, she leaned into his touch.

Realizing this, he yanked his hand back into his lap sheepishly, “S-sorry, I don’t know what I was doing.”

“I-it’s okay.” She answered back quietly, but he couldn’t help but notice that she looked disappointed.

“Hiyori…” He swallowed, not sure if what he was about to say was a good idea or not.

She perked back up, “Yes?”

“There… maybe is something else, but. I don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything about it. It’s more like… I just want to get this off my chest and be honest with you.”

A flash of worry moved through her eyes but she nodded, “Okay.”

“I… kinda, maybe… might be in love with you?” He squeaked out, wincing once he was finished.

At first, she was quiet, but then asked, “So being in love with you is the other thing I could do, then.”

“Yes, but only if you already—” His words died on his lips as she leaned in closer to him.

“I have for a while now.”

He kissed her eagerly, holding on to her as tightly as he could and repeated her name with every breath he could manage.

Yato’s affections almost too much, she giggled into their kisses. It only came to a stop after she tried to readjust herself and ended up holding on too tightly to Yato’s shoulder which caused him to let out a loud groan.

“Owww…” He whined, letting go of her to rub his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” She apologized frantically before deciding to lean forward and kiss his shoulder as well.

Grinning, he commented, “Now it’ll definitely heal faster. We’ve still got several more spots to go, though…”

“I am not doing that.” Hiyori crossed her arms into an x shape.

Yato pouted, “Why not?”

“For one, Yukine-kun is sleeping right over there.” She nodded towards him.

“If that’s the only thing stopping you, we can go to another room.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“No. Absolutely not.”