Yato's pulse was racing and his heart was pounding. Holy shit. Holy motherfucking shit, he had just run away with the biggest criminal in Oz. Only now was he realizing the implications of it. However, Hiyori had wasted no time and started criticizing him the minute he hopped on her broom.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot! I knew you were brainless, but this takes the cake. When we land, I'm gonna Jungle Savate you so hard-" Sigh, he had not signed up for this. But really, why did he do this in the first place? He had, well used to have, a stable job, beautiful fiancee, really a perfect life. Was a green phantom worth all the trouble he was gonna have to deal with?

Hiyori continued to ramble, breaking Yato's concentration. Ugh, if he was really throwing his life away for an old friend, he might as well get something out of it. Yato grabbed Hiyori's chin and pulled her in for a kiss, silencing her. She went completely still, totally caught off-guard. Just when Yato thought she might kiss back, the broom hit a tree branch, knocking them apart. Yato nearly fell off, and ended up hanging upside down for a while. Meanwhile Hiyori was desperately trying to stabilize the broom and keep them from crashing again. After they both recovered from their near death experience, Yato confessed,

"I missed you. Kofuku and me missed our favorite commotion," Hiyori quickly turned her head away, but not fast enough for Yato to miss her blush.

"Are you trying to get us killed, distracting me like that?" She was ignoring his last sentence and he couldn't help but laugh. In her own weird way, Yato knew she was saying she missed him too. Against his better judgement, he decided to tease her some more.

"You know I should make you blush more often, pink goes well with green," He whispered in her ear.

"Shut up!" Hiyori's blush grew and grew.

"Your words say one thing, but your actions say another," Yato made his voice ooze with seduction, as he ran a hand through her hair. Hiyori was clearly flustered, but didn't say anything for a bit. Yato started to regret that earlier kiss and his flirting. He was about to apologize when she replied,

"You know," Hiyori was just as suggestive as he had been. "I think I know what you deserve," Yato's mind immediately went to the gutter. Did she mean… Before he could react, Hiyori pounced and started tickling him. Soon it was and all out war, both trying to tickle each other to death.

"You can't, you can't do this, I'm a, I'm a prince!" Yato managed to spit out between his bouts of laughter. Hiyori giggled uncontrollably and continued her ruthless pursuit.

"I have you now my pretty!" she cackled. Suddenly, that blasted broom hit another tree. But this time, Yato and Hiyori were completely knocked off. Luckily they only fell a few feet, but Yato ended up landing on Hiyori. He tried not to notice how close they had been and got off her as fast as possible.

"Ugh, when did you get so heavy?" Hiyori complained as she got up.

"I'll have you know, this body is pure muscle,"

"Yeah, right,"

"Pfft, your just jealous," Yato tried to flex his muscles, but Hiyori chose that moment to unleash her Jungle Savate, knocking him back to the ground.

"Owwwww," he whined. "What was that for?"

"I warned you beforehand," Yato was about to make a smart comment when she put a finger to his lips.

"Shh, I need to call Sekki back, and you can't say a word," Reluctantly Yato waited as Hiyori closed her eyes scrunched her nose up in a way that was too cute for someone who could take down the Captain of the Guard. Soon, the broom flew back and glided into her hands.

"Good boy," she purred.

"Why the hell did you name a broom?"

"It looked like a Sekki," Yato gave her a 'what the hell' look, but she just shrugged it off.

"Come on, we need to find a place to rest for the night," Silently the two walked, both completely lost but acting like they knew what they were doing. Yato could feel the tension, thick in the air, but Hiyori seemed to be ignoring his every move. Eventually, they found a suitable clearing and had a fire up and running. Yato, not wanting to be useless, found some berries for dinner. The pair ate in silence, the tension still thick as ever. Both had no idea how to bring up the elephant in the room. Instead they just stared at the stars, Yato supposed it could be considered romantic if they were actually together.

"Why did you do that?" Hiyori finally asked.

"It's the only way to shut you up." Yato replied. "You're fun to tease, and I was tried of being called an idiot."

"Wait," Hiryori looked confused for some reason. "Oh, you're talking about the kiss." She suddenly became very interested in a piece of dirt on her dress.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Yato, the biggest flirt of Shiz." Hiyori moved to start peeling her fingernails off, still refusing to make eye contact.

"What I want to know is why did you betray your country to run away with the Wicked Phantom of the West? Did you and Kofuku have a falling out, or did you grow to hate being Captain of the Guard? Why would you-"

"Hey," Yato interrupted before she could go on a tangent again. Hiyori turned to him, a smudge of berry juice on her cheek. "You got something on your face," Without thinking, he went to wipe it with his thumb. A shock passed through them. Yato lingered, not wanting to let her go just yet. Realizing how stupid that was, he started to move away. However, Hiyori stopped him by gently covered his hand with her own, and looked straight into those bright blue eyes. And Yato thought she must have cast a spell or something, because he couldn't take his eyes off her, despite how hot it made his face feel.

"Please," she begged. "No teasing, no changing the subject, just tell me why." Her eyes were filled with bewilderment, and something else. Was it longing? Desire? Memories of Shiz came back to him. The green girl, that yelled at him of all people for hitting her with his cart. Then the weirdo crashing his party, totally clueless, but somehow able to win his girlfriend's friendship. Next, he saw the oddly enduring nerd all dressed up like Kofuku. He remembered being disappointed for some reason. The scene shifted to them rescuing the lion phantom, and a beautiful, awkward friendship was formed. Finally, he saw himself buying a rose on a whim. Instead of giving it to Kofuku, he gave it to Hiyori, the temptress who stole his heart.

"I think I love you" Yato blurted out. Hiyori froze, eyes wide with shock. "Shit!" He thought to himself, but he willed himself to keep going.

"I take that back, I know I love you!" His words grew more and more confident. "And if it makes you happy, I want to be with you." Then a dreadful thought ran through his head. What if Hiyori didn't return those feelings?

"I mean as long as it makes you happy," He was so nervous now and sweating buckets. "Only If it makes you happy." Yato wallowed in embarrassment, how stupid could he be? How could he assume just because he felt this way, Hiyori felt it too.

However he was brought back to Oz, when Hiyori's lips came crashing into his. This time Yato was the one caught off-guard. She was warm, so warm. All he wanted to do was, feel more and more of that warmth, to be burned by her radiance. After what felt like much too quickly, Hiyori stopped and looked Yato in the eye once again.

"I want to be with you forever," She answered, pink eyes sparkling like jewels. Yato couldn't think. Holy shit. Holy motherfucking shit, she said yes. Finally, he found his voice again.

"Then I'll make you the happiest girl in the world!" Yato gave her his trademark dorky grin, and Hiyori returned a smile of her own. She moved to sit in his lap, hugging him even closer and tickling his chin with her hair.

"Promise me that you're really mine." Her voice was heavy with sleep. Yato couldn't help but wonder how many sleepless nights she had since becoming an outlaw.

"Of course, Hiyori."

"Good," She let out a long yawn.

"Then everything's ok for now…" With those words her eyelids slid close. Yato pressed a gentle kiss to Hiyori's forehead.

"Good night, Iki Hiyori, may we meet again in our dreams," And the two slept, not wasting a minute to be reunited again.