This is part one of a two-shot. I'm using a darker/possessive Yato because I feel like those emotions are just always there even when he is a dork. Trigger warnings: blood, slight language, stalking.I own nothing. I'll try to get the next part up by the end of the week.

Stupid Human Girl

Visiting Hiyori at night was a habit he had developed somewhere around his fights with Rabo. Despite her promises and the hell he went through, he just could not shake the feeling that one day she would permanently forget him and there would be no way to bring her back. And he could not live through that. (That is partially why he also liked to pretend that Hiyori would never die. Why would she? She had come back from the edge of death before and he would never let her get that close again.)

Most nights he would sit in the tree outside her window and watch her sleep. Yukine always made snide remarks about how he was a stalker. "She hates that vampire book, stupid." Yato did not understand what vampires or books had to do with his watching Hiyori. He was not sucking her blood or anything. Of course, when thoughts of blood took hold of him, he ended up remembering the darker life he had lived. That left him grumpy and an absolute hell to live with until Hiyori would smile at him or look at him like he was some gift to the world.

Other nights he found her window cracked open. Silently, he would slip in and be prepared to lecture her about how stupid and irresponsible that was of her. "You idiot! If you slipped out of your body in the middle of the night do you know what would happen? Do you really want to put me through losing you? Again? I want you safe, you stupid human." But his rants always died in his throat when he saw her there, curled up in a ball like a baby. He would sit on the edge of her bed and just gaze down at her like she was the lost wonder of the world. She never woke up, but some nights she turned towards him and whispered his name. And that made him so damn happy.

When did he fall in love with her? This stupid human girl.

Tonight was different and he was immediately on edge. It was nearly midnight. (He would have been here an hour ago if Tenjin had not shoved another Phantom job on him right after he had finished another mold job. He loved working, but some nights he just felt so exhausted and wanted a beer, Hiyori, and a real bed.) Yet, despite the late hour, the lights were on in Hiyori's room and she was not in there.

Opening the closed, yet unlocked window (a rant for another day), he entered the room he had grown familiar with over the past year or so. The room usually calmed him, but not tonight. Tonight his chest tightened and he felt his darker self emerge if just for an instant.

Blood.

It was not a lot by any means, but the fact it was in Hiyori's bed and smelled like Hiyori made him angry. He approached the rumpled bed and gingerly lifted the pink blanket aside to see the angry, red stain. He sniffed again, hoping that maybe his first impression was wrong. It was not. It was Hiyori's blood. He could smell her raw flesh and even the pain and sadness that radiated from the damp stain.

Not many gods could pick up emotions from blood. This gift was reserved for calamity and war gods. Back in the day, he had grown so sick of the rusted smell he decided to delve deeper than the first layer of it. He could smell the emotions in the spilt blood; the fear and sadness. Those feelings had followed him everywhere he went for so long, he had thought there were no other emotions in the world. And then he met her. This stupid human girl.

The stupid human girl he had sworn to protect. She did not even need to make wishes anymore. He would do whatever she wanted. Anything that made her happy. Even if it meant leaving her. Or, hunting down whoever had hurt her.

With a growl he tore himself away from the bed when he heard whispers down the hall. He approached her open door and found her parents hovering outside one of the spare rooms.

"This is bad," her mother whispered. "I've never seen her in this much pain from one."

Her father shrugged. "It's a side effect of the medication. She knew the risks, but she still wanted it. And I have to admit that I think this is a better option for her now. Her narcolepsy is getting worse. What if she went down and someone-"

"Don't!" Her mother interjected. "Let's not even go there." With a sigh, she looked back at the door. "I just wish we knew why she had jumped in front of that bus? Was she trying to kill herself? This whole mistake has derailed her life."

Yato bristled. The blood was caused by a medication she started that was directly related to her accident? His heart lurched. It was his fault. She was in pain because of him. He had wanted nothing more than her happiness. To keep her safe and he had gone and screwed that up.

"It doesn't matter now," her father replied. "Let's let her sleep for a while and check on her in the morning." He turned, walked by Yato and flicked off the lights in Hiyori's room. "We'll look at her bedding in the morning. It's too late now."

Her mother nodded and followed her husband to their room after clicking off the hallway lights. Yato stood in the moonlit darkness of the hallway for a moment before mustering his courage to see Hiyori. Slowly, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open. He could smell her blood, but it was fainter than it was in the other room.

Entering, he shut the door behind himself and went to the bed in the center of the room. His girl lay on her side as he expected, but she was whimpering and the blanket was pulled up over her head. He perched on the bed and gently pulled the blanket down to see her face. "Hiyori?"

The girl opened her wet eyes and new tears lined them as she realized who he was. "Yato…" Her voice cracked.

He lay beside her and pulled her into his arms. He wanted to comfort her, he truly did, but first he needed to calm himself. He needed to know that she was alive and well. That she remembered him. "Hiyori…" It was a prayer to his goddess.

She held him back and whimpered as she tensed. "Stay."

As if he could leave her. "Always."

His promise seemed to calm her. The tension left her body and the whimpers subsided. But, he continued to hold her. And he would never let her go.