Hi! I hope nobody was waiting too long for another Noragami fic from me, but if so please enjoy the long-awaited story below :)

Yukine reflected that today had been rather peaceful as he started his trek down the familiar path to Kofuku's place. Sure, the day had begun a little oddly since Yato had not been annoying or obnoxious in the least this morning. Instead the god had been fairly subdued, but his chipper morning greeting had initially caused his quietness to go unnoticed by the shinki. Though when Yukine made it all the way down to breakfast without Yato making him want to maim him, Yukine started to wonder if the god was ill or attempting to hide an injury. This wouldn't be the first time the bakagami got injured and decided it would be a brilliant idea to hide his injury until it the pain became unbearable. Amazing how "smart" his master could be except Yukine was simply not that fortunate and his master was a bakagami that liked to hide his injuries.

Yukine was going to insist Yato prove he was uninjured when suddenly Yato turned to Yukine and said, "Got any plans for today, champ?" The regalia nearly choked on his cereal when Yato said that and even now he shivered at the general weirdness of hearing Yato call him that. It wasn't even the term itself that threw Yukine for a loop, but the way Yato's voice had deepened on the word "champ". Perhaps Yukine had imagined it, but he didn't think so considering Daikoku had raised a single eyebrow in Yato's direction when this occurred and Kofuku's idle chatter died a quick death while her purple eyes popped open.

Suffice it to say, Yukine had rushed to scarf down the rest of his meal before fleeing the table with the excuse that he had plans to train with Kazuma today. Yet despite his attempt, Yato had caught his shoulder at the door and with his sweaty palms dampening his jacket -his god really needed to get that condition checked- Yato uttered something that baffled Yukine even now.

"Life is like a box of sushi, it can be spicy with wasabi and sweet with soy sauce."

Kofuku had definitely been choking on her tea upon hearing that line after a startled laugh escaped her while she was in the middle of drinking. Meanwhile Yukine had immediately fled -his face had been burning- yet managed to hear Daikoku's outraged shouting about Yato daring to freak out his lady while what sounded like a body -his master most likely- crashed into a wall.

Yukine paused in his steps, stopping in the middle of the stone path because it now occurred to him that maybe going home wasn't the best idea if Yato was still acting that weird. His cheeks warmed at the remembrance of being called "champ" because he had never been so embarrassed by his master in his life and considering how embarrassing Yato was on a daily basis, this was saying something.

Deciding he did not want to go through that again, at least not just yet, Yukine turned around and headed down the path in the opposite direction of home while silently hoping he would not run into Yato due to some twist in fate. He did note with mild concern that it was getting dark out, but figured the streetlamps would be enough for him. Thus he continued on his way, his goal to reach Hiyori's house before nightfall and crash at her place, but his walk was disrupted as the sound of splashing intruded on the quiet. He turned until he spotted a nearby lake and noticed ripples in the midnight black water.

Yukine narrowed his eyes and waited for a long moment, only to frown when Nora made no appearance. Hm, maybe he was being paranoid. His imagination did get a little out of control when it was dark out, which often led to normal things like a tree branch becoming a clawed hand reaching for him. Yukine snorted at the thought, turned away from the lake, and flinched back because Nora was standing right in front of him.

"Do you know why the darkness frightens you?" Nora tilted her head as if she was truly invested in his answer, but her expression was impassive and the lack of inflection in her voice said she didn't care.

Yukine recovered fast and glared at her while straightening his spine to stand tall. "I'm not scared, and I am not in the mood to deal with you." Frankly he was never in the mood to see Nora or deal with her cryptic messages and play her cruel mind games.

Nora's lips curled on one side to form a pale smile that held none of the warmth a smile was supposed to have. "The darkness does scare you. Your eyes always look different at night, when you're in the dark." She took a step forward into his personal space, but Yukine stood his ground because he was not afraid and he was going to show her how unafraid he was. "The hazel in your eyes shrink while your pupils grow until it's like the black moon shrouding the orange sun during an eclipse."

Yukine was a bit unnerved by the intensity of Nora's gaze as she peered into his face so he took one step back. "I'm not afraid." He repeated while crossing his arms because Nora needed to stop doing this and maybe showing her she couldn't faze him anymore would deter her. He knew with a certain amount of pride that Nora only bothered him so much because she was still bitter over the fact that Yato had chosen Yukine over her, which was clear from the fiery glare she had sent him after Yato released her and how her verbal attacks had intensified from then on. However, ever since Nora had basically tried to kill him by sicking a pack of ayakashi wolves on him, he'd been more than a little wary of their encounters.

"If you are not afraid," Nora stepped back into the tree line and went further and further into the darkness until she was hidden by the shade of a nearby tree and Yukine blinked because it looked like she was actually leaving him alone for once. "Maybe you should be." Yukine's arms dropped to his sides because that line made no sense. What was she hinting at?

Nora stepped further back into the shade a row of trees offered her so now all Yukine could make out was her cold brown eyes. "Maybe you should be afraid of what lurks in the darkness."

Yukine felt fear trickle into his heart and this feeling spread to his outermost parts when he noticed that the sky was a dark hue and there were no stars out tonight. His gaze drifted down to the shadows surrounding him outside of the circle of light from a nearby streetlamp, making his anxiety rise even higher and he wondered if maybe enduring Yato's eccentricity would have been preferable to running into Nora.

The rustling of leaves behind him caused him to jump before he whipped around to face Nora, only to take in the sight of Father standing there with the locution brush in hand and held up as if he had just painted a masterpiece. Father's stance and his smirk were all the warning Yukine got before an ethereal purple light appeared below his feet and rose until his form was consumed by its radiance. He yelped as his vision was eclipsed by violet shading until purple was the only color he could see.

"What is-" Yukine choked as a force beyond his understanding overwhelmed all five of his senses. His nervous system went haywire, he lost motor control as he was electrified all over and pain sparked throughout his body. He couldn't scream, he couldn't breathe, and he doubted his heart was still beating as his limbs spasm because he could no longer feel his body. Yukine couldn't feel anything, as if he and his body were separate entities and Yukine's life was tethered to no physical form. If he wasn't in the midst of a panic attack, Yukine might have realized this detached sensation reminded him of being in weapon form, of existing yet having no physical presence.

"Come to me." Father's voice was right by his ear and his invitation sent waves of warm feelings throughout his body as if he'd suddenly been swaddled in a great fuzzy comforter. Yukine wanted to curl up next to Father's voice, wanted to hear praise come from that voice and had the urge to do anything it asked of him. Yet Yukine could see the man through the purple haze and knew that Father's mouth had not moved. This was enough to startle him and make him question his sudden impulsive feelings because Father's voice was in his head and something was terribly wrong.

Yukine's head snapped to the side and his neck burned from the whiplash, but the pain wasn't important because there were thoughts in his head shouting obey, obey, must obey! Yukine's stomach churned because those thoughts were not his own. They were too disjointed and resembled the cry of a beast in pain moreso than a human voice.

"Obey me." Father's command intruded upon his thoughts again and it was suddenly too crowded and loud in his own mind. The physical pain and his spiraling thoughts forced Yukine down to his knees. His body bowed over and it was a struggle to focus on a single thought because it was too much!

Feelings foreign to himself, rage and greed and lust, invaded his body like a tidal wave and Yato had to have sensed these radical, unbridled emotions by now. Yato had to have been stung from such powerful negative feelings and Yukine was hurting his master. Yukine had hurt his master. Yukine hurt Yato.

"No!" Yukine's back arched as he struggled to regain control because he needed to protect Yato and those feelings and impulses were a threat to his god. His palms slammed into the frigid stone ground and his nails scratched the earth, but he ignored the pebbles cutting into his flesh and the chipping of his nails.

Get out! He screamed internally and almost thought he could hear his own voic echo within his mind while he shoved his will against that of the foreign spirit invading him. Instantly the pain retreated and Yukine sucked in a shuddering breath before falling into a coughing fit because he hadn't been breathing and the sudden intake was too much for his deprived lungs.

"What a disappointment."

He ignored Father while his breathing cleared up and the violet film over his eyes departed. Though his heart continued to beat unnaturally in his chest and his arms trembled as a strange tingly feeling lingered over his skin.

"I was hoping for more."

Yukine finally had the strength to look up to see Nora and Father standing beside each other and he glared instinctively. He vaguely felt something brush against his blond hair, but quickly forgot the sensation when he noticed Nora appeared to be mildly surprised. Considering Nora rarely showed any emotion besides cruel amusement or cold fury, Yukine's glare fell away and confusion made his eyes widen because even Father looked a tad uncertain as he scrutinized Yukine.

"What are you staring at?" Yukine meant to say, but only a strange rumble erupted from his throat. Disturbed, especially when he saw Father's lips twist into a smirk, Yukine clambered to his feet.

Though Yukine nearly fell over as the terrible desire to hug Father came over him, and in his horror, the shinki cried, "What did you do to me?" Thankfully the question came out as human speech, though, he could tell his voice was strained -almost a growl.

"Something I didn't intend, however," Father shrugged a little as his and Nora's confidence returned with the girl's expression cooling into her usual apathy. "I'm pleased with the outcome of my work." Father raised an empty hand to make a beckoning motion and Yukine nearly upchucked when his feet twitched because some part of him wanted so badly to run up to Father. Although most of him wanted to rip the man to shreds and that normal feeling reassured him somewhat.

"Perhaps this could still end with you calling me master."

A feral growl rose in Yukine's throat and disgust won out over his strange urges. "You're not my master and never will be." He took an aggressive step forward while something -the wind?- moved above his head, but his attention shifted when he took another step and a loud splash came from beneath him.

Yukine looked down at his shoe immersed in a deep puddle and paused because in his rippling reflection there was something white glowing violet above his head, but the ripples were distorting his image. He waited for the water to calm, squinting at the strange glow, but his heart shriveled and died at the sight of the two furry, white triangles sticking out of his blond hair like daisies blooming in a desert.

His hands shot up to touch what looked like wolf ears, but when his skin made contact with the furry triangles -they couldn't be ears, he wasn't some animal!- he yelped and his hands flinched away because the contact had stung his fingers. Yukine looked down at his hands and gasped because his fingers weren't burned, but they were marred by the dark purple blotches that were a sign of blighting. As if he had touched an...an ayakashi?

Yukine slowly tilted his head up, though he had to forcibly drag his gaze away from his reflection in the puddle because there were canine ears on his head, and he stared at the man and nora he knew were responsible for this horror. "What have you done to me?" His voice was quiet, steady, and completely human with vulnerability stuffed into each word.

"I was attempting to turn you into an ayakashi, but my formula was a bit off." Father's flippant tone mixed with his cocky smirk to form a repulsive concoction. "Or was it?" The man held out his hand once more and Yukine recognized with despair that some part of him was missing. The part of Yukine that made him human was gone and in its place was a familiar monster.

He was part ayakashi.

Yukine stared at Father and when the faintest urge to run to the man's side cropped up, Yukine spun on his heels and fled.

Yato was watching television at Hiyori's house, which was an activity he seldom indulged in until recently. He wished Hiyori would come back and sit next to him -she was soft and warm and he missed that- but the girl had tired of his amazing awesomeness since his good looks were a lot to handle after prolonged exposure. Thus she had sat him on the couch and ordered him to find a show that would keep him out of her hair for the rest of the night. Yato had obliged because Hiyori asked nicely, though that might have been her avoiding shouting like she wanted to for fear of waking her slumbering parents. Though above all else Yato took up Hiyori's suggestion because he did have something he needed to watch.

The something in question was the family sitcom playing on the television screen now. Yato bounced his leg up and down, anxious for the son character to stop talking to the sister character and interact with the dad character. Already he'd pulled out his notebook and held a pen over it in preparation to take notes. He was a little tired because it was getting late, but this show was vital to his and Yukine's relationship.

Yato didn't know if there was a specific event or moment that led to this, but over the course of time, Yato felt the desire budding within himself to become a better caretaker of Yukine. Maybe it was because Father had come back into his life recently or perhaps it was because Yato was seeing a really ugly trend where his kid got hurt because Yato failed to protect his shinki from Nora, Father, or whoever else decided to ruin his life this week. Point was, Yato needed to be better, needed to be a better caretaker. Yukine was his shinki, his kid, and it was his job to protect him. Yato didn't know what he would do if he couldn't protect him...if he let his kid die on him. It would be his fault. Bad things happening to people he cared about were always his fault.

Yato shook his head and refocused on the show because it wasn't like he'd failed already. Unfortunately, the son was completely missing from the TV screen. Great, now how was he going to learn more about human familial interactions? It wasn't like he could stalk-um, observe Hiyori and her dad, as apparently sons with dads interacted a little differently than daughters and dads. At least that was what Hiyori told him, unless that was her subtle way of trying to keep him from following and taking notes on her dad's behavior and how Hiyori interacted with him.

A soft chime in his pocket didn't garner even a glance towards his phone since he was so engrossed on his note taking now that the dad character returned to grant his son words of wisdom. Yet when the phone rang again, his hand automatically pulled it out and flipped it open before placing it against his ear.

"How are you, Yaboku?"

He'd opened his mouth to greet the person on the line, but now his jaw snapped close so hard he was certain Father heard the clack of bone on bone.

"You're staying warm this winter, right? You know I worry about you."

Yato hated himself in this moment, though mostly he hated his treacherous feelings. His mind told him they were lies -Father always lied- but there was this fluttering in his chest when Father said things like this. When Father claimed he cared and for one short moment before his mind recognized his father had likely never cared about him outside of his usefulness as a tool, Yato believed the man's words. For one second that never lasted long enough, Yato felt loved.

Yet that second had already passed.

His face hardened into stone as he said, "I don't know what this is about-"

"Don't worry," he could picture Father waving him off with a casual smile, and his hands clenched over his notebook because he could tell this was the calm before the storm. "I'm not calling for anything important, I only wanted to ask how you were doing. How's life? How's Hiyori?"

"You go to school with her so shouldn't you know?" Yato didn't understand why he hadn't hung up -why he couldn't. It wasn't as if he enjoyed his father's company, and it gave him chills simply recalling playing videogames with Father and being trampled by the man's domineering presence.

Father laughed and Yato cringed because it wasn't natural to hear even a feigned chuckle from Father because if his dad was happy then someone was undoubtedly in pain or would be soon. "You caught me! I'm not really interested in Hiyori right now," The man's tone grew serious, "but I think you should be interested in your regalia. He didn't look very well a few minutes ago."

"What did you do?" Yato felt his pupils contract while all the sights and sounds of the world dimmed because Yato only had ears for what sounded like a threat. "If you did anything to Yuki-"

"Now who said I did something?" The light-hearted, joking tilt to the man's question caused the beast inside him to roar and his hands clenched around the phone because there could be something wrong with Yukine. His kid was in danger.

"Okay, well, I might have done something, but Yukine is fine. He was even well enough to run off in the middle of our chat, but he didn't seem to be heading home… Hm, that might be my fault too."

The vilest of venom was bubbling in the back of his throat because Father had definitely hurt his kid. Yukine was out there alone, in the dark, and scared enough to run and Father had done somethi-

Yato nearly dropped the phone as it struck him that he didn't feel it. Yukine was out there in the dark and clearly had a frightful experience with Father yet Yato could sense nothing. Yato hadn't felt a single hint of fear from his kid, in fact, Yukine seemed calmer than usual.

His hand moved up to rub the spot above his heart, but there was no pain or warmth there. He considered the possibility Father was lying, that this was some twisted prank, but his senses told him Yukine was in fact in trouble.

"Where did you last see him?" Yato demanded, dropping everything and not even bothering to turn off the television as he rushed towards the door.

"By the park near your current residence, but I doubt he's around here. By now, the poor thing could be anywhere." The teasing lit was still in Father's voice, but there was an undercurrent of warning -a threat- too. Yet the line went dead before he could further interrogate Father, however, Yato did not allow that to slow him down as he ran into the darkness of night and the door slammed close behind him.

Yukine didn't stop running until he literally couldn't take another step and he collapsed onto all fours. However, this position was too animalistic for him and he hurriedly forced himself up into a stand. He couldn't take his eyes off his hands as he did so, frowning at the splotches from the blight that had already spread down to his wrists. They bothered him a little, but weren't his priority.

His body was different, he could feel it, and he had seen those ears -wolf ears- sticking out of his head. At the reminder, Yukine realized he did not know if he even had human ears anymore. Deciding he needed to know no matter what, Yukine reached up and felt for his earlobes. Triumph brought a smile to his face when his fingers caressed what had to be human ears on the side of his head, but he winced when the blight spread over the skin of them. Quickly he released his ears and stuffed his hands into his pockets because he was liable to forget that his hands were infected and could very well accidentally spread the blight even more.

He wanted to check the rest of himself, though a part of him really didn't want to know how much of him had transformed -he shouldn't have a tail, please tell him he didn't have one wagging behind him- but he didn't bother. Rather he allowed burning liquid to sting his eyes because it wasn't fair, Yukine hadn't done anything wrong, and yet here he was. Blighted, terrified, and turning into the very monster Yato and him killed on a daily basis.

What would his master think of him? His stomach knotted up into a pretzel because he couldn't go to Yato, as much as he yearned to see a familiar face, yearned to be safe. He couldn't dare show his face to his god when there were still foreign feelings shouting at him to turn back, to return to Father and obey.

Yukine abruptly started running again, but didn't have a clear idea where he was heading. Though he figured running in the opposite direction of Father was his safest bet so he did his best to go in that direction. He took great care to avoid any people out at this late hour because he had no desire to hurt them, but the monster inside him could have other ideas and he wasn't going to risk it. Yet he nearly fell over his own feet when he recognized the neighborhood he was running through and realized whose house he stood across from.

"Hiyori..." He eyed the dark bedroom window above him, noting that the window was halfway open. Hiyori wasn't a shinki or god so surely she'd be safe from his blight and the ayakashi inside. Eager to see a friendly face, Yukine scaled the nearby tree with a grace he didn't recall having and crawled across a sturdy branch to the girl's window. In a matter of seconds, Yukine was standing in Hiyori's room and hovering a few feet away from the slumbering girl.

A strange sensation budded inside him as he stepped up to her bedside, but he ignored the nice scent of Hiyori's perfume or shampoo because he simply wanted to talk to her. Hiyori gave great advice and was always there for him so surely she could help him. As the intoxicating scent of what had to be a new perfume because Hiyori had never smelt so good caused him to lean in closer than necessary, Yukine's fears died because Hiyori was half-ayakashi. Thus maybe Yukine wasn't turning into a monster, perhaps he was simply half-ayakashi like her! Yes, his wolf ears were like Hiyori's cat tail, merely a side effect.

He stretched a shaky arm over Hiyori's shoulder and gently placed his hand on her skin. Then his fingers arched and his nails raked down Hiyori's back. The girl jerked up with a scream and Yukine reeled back while snatching back the hand now coated in Hiyori's blood, but he could not breathe or speak or move as Hiyori's teary eyes bored into his and her terror matched his own.

His hand with nails stained red was struggling against his other hand and Yukine understood now that this was different from Hiyori's condition. He had hurt Hiyori, attacked his friend, and the only time Hiyori had attacked him and Yato like that was when she'd been the verge of becoming a full ayakashi. Becoming a monster.

Yukine fled the way he came in right as the hallway lights came on and Hiyori's father called to her. Yet already he was out the window and crouching in the grass below like the monstrous beast he was.

He threw the hood of his jacket over his head to hide his horrid transformation before taking off the way he came because that direction led to home and he needed to go there. Maybe everything would be alright if he just went home. Maybe this would turn out to be a mere nightmare. Maybe he would wake up human again.

I'm not sure how long this will be, but I'm thinking it will be about five to six chapters right now. Though I'm terrible at estimating when I can update sooo for now, let's say this fic will be updated anytime from tomorrow to two weeks from now. Just remember I'm a college student in her last semester so keep your expectations realistic lol