Chapter 1: Secret

"You ought to tell him," a voice seemed to float from her side like a lingering case of the Monday blues.

"Hm?" Hiyori groaned absentmindedly looking up from her desk. She turned her head and it was then that she noticed a small girl with brown wavy hair standing—or no, floating—next to her school table. There was a shrill scream and a flail of limbs before Hiyori regained her composure. She finally stood up in a classroom full of students, heads down, focused, concentrating.

"Ahem," Hiyori glanced over at the stranger, "You've dropped your body again, Hiyori," The dark haired girl looked down at her own sleeping body, hair sprawled around her desk, eyes fluttering from what seems like to be a dream. Her spirit tail swooshed faintly in the sun light of the classroom, she really needed to learn to control her 'body-leaving' moments.

"Who are you?" Hiyori asked, curious as to why she had been called out by another possible ayakashi, "How'd you know my name?" the girl lifted her arm and on the small of her wrist was a character etched into her skin. A shinki! Hiyori stepped back, suddenly cautious, as Yato had taught her as she has had her fair share of corrupted shinkis to last her a lifetime.

The girl snorted, "Please, if I had wanted to hurt you, I would've done so already," she floated around the tables and past the working students, the drone of the teacher's voice seemed to hum softly in the background. Hiyori's body relaxed on cue, although she could hear Yato's voice just now nagging at her to be more alert, that she was too trusting of random spirits. Well, Yato was a random god she'd met on the side of the road. He turned out okay.

The girl wafted past her towards the classroom door, she turned and peered at Hiyori and gave her a toothy grin, "I'm Azuha," that family name, Hiyori recognized it.

"You're one of Veena's shinkis," she mouthed, Azuha nodded before disappearing through the door, "W…Wait!" the dark haired girl stumbled before catching up to Azuha in the corridors. She proceeded to phase through the walls of the school building landing softly on the track field outside. Hiyori of course followed by pure curiosity. The two girls stood with the sun beating down on them, newly bloomed cherry blossoms rained upon them decorating the floor ground in pink petals, "You haven't answered my question, how'd you know my name?"

The other girl smiled cheekly, "How can anyone not know your name, Iki Hiyori?" Hiyori furrowed her brows together, "The girl that the God of Calamity would wage war over in the Heavens for? The girl that saved Yatogami in the process. It'd be blasphemy not to know your name," she joked. Hiyori felt her cheeks flush red it wasn't like she had asked Yato to disrupt the heavens for her. Azuha walked over to the cherry blossom tree and touched it gently, "Lady Vaisravanna is my master, and I collect information for her on people that are of interest," she looked over at Hiyori, "You happened to be one of them and I've found some rather interesting things about you, Hiyori,"

Startled, Hiyori stepped forward, "L… Like what?" what was this girl talking about?

"The secret you've been hiding from Yato, the one that's been bothering you this entire time," Azuha noted. Her lips curled into a devious smile one Hiyori was all too familiar with. Kofuku had that smile on all the time when she wanted to meddle into her and Yato's affair. Memories of a horrid time came flooding back as images of that kiss at Capypaland assaulted her mind like an unrelenting tidal wave.

Hiyori faltered and fell to her knees curdling at the thought of what happened, "Please, don't remind me," her hand over her face.

"That's why I told you: You ought to tell Yato the truth," Azuha skipped over to the lamenting Hiyori.

Hiyori's head flew up, "No!" Azuha stared down at her, surprised. Hiyori's eyes shifted to the ground, "I… I just can't," she mumbled. Her face was burning and her stomach was fluttering like there were a million butterflies in there.

Azuha kneeled down so that their eyes were leveled, pink to lilac "Is that why you didn't tell him when you were at Capypaland the other weekend?" Azuha laughed, she didn't know Hiyori's face could turn any brighter than it was now. She kind of had an understanding of what was going on now, it seemed neither Yato or Hiyori even had the slightest idea what was happening between them. Although Azuha didn't know what the future held for these two, it was definitely going to be interesting. Why not have a little fun?

Azuha leaned in close to Hiyori's ear, "Would it have been better if it was Yato that had given you that kiss that night?" she whispered casually. She could hear Hiyori's breathing stop momentarily. She pulled away watching an embarrassed Hiyori just sitting there flustered, Well, that confirms my suspicions. Azuha sighed with a bright smile on her lips, "The truth will set you free, Hiyori, and I mean that as a friend trying to help Yato," Hiyori finally looked up at Azuha, "Try not to break his heart," with that Azuha turned and walked into the wind disappearing with the falling petals of the cherry blossom as if she was never there in the first place.

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Author's Note: Azuha's an oc created specifically for this scene. Please leave me a review, I would love to hear comments on this 'long drabble' I should say. Lol. It was a scene that came to me after I read chapter 41 of Noragami and thought it would be fun to play with Hiyori. ;)