A/N: I'm back! We're back in Japan for this story, though it's not the typical slice of life I usually write.

Darkness...

It was all he could see as he felt his body fall further and further away...Was this...the true death? Ah, it was probably better that way. Being alive for so long had been so painful, so...lonely. That wasn't to say he hadn't enjoyed himself along the way, but not now, not in this day in age where no one truly believed anymore. What was his purpose if they didn't? He would admit that he still held the desire to live, but said desire had dulled over the years when he found himself listlessly wandering the land looking for something.

Light?

He groaned at he completely opened his eyes, the sky above him seemingly laughing at his blunder. It was rather unbecoming of a god to fall out of the tree they were sleeping in, but even gods became careless. He let out another groan as he sat himself up, slender fingers moving up to rake the foliage from his long, dark hair. His 'human' ears perked a bit, while the wolf ears on top of his head burned slightly at the sound of snickering behind him.

Picking up a nearby stone he chucked it at the small group of crows, the lot cawing loudly as they flew away. He really hated birds...especially youkai birds. Getting up he straightened out his dark kimono and brushed down the hairs on his now bushy tail, thanking Amaterasu that only a few lowly birds had seen his tumble. Hopping back up on his perch with ease he returned to his previous activities before falling asleep. The park was one of the few patches of greenery left in the city, and even if he wanted to travel and seek greener pastures elsewhere he could not.

This city was his home...he was bound to it, but at the same time the more it changed the weaker he became. He was a deity that relied on faith and homeland for his existence, so he figured that there were still humans that believed in him but they were so few and far between. This was made painfully clear by his appearance; long gone were his white locks and fur, the red sacred markings he had donned so many years ago on his body had all faded away.

His divine robes had been stripped away, leaving him looking so plain that it was hard to tell that he was a decent of Amaterasu herself. His powers had diminished to the point where he could no long perform the simplest of miracles, though he at least possessed enough to remind anyone who judged him just who they were speaking to. But the truth was sad to admit...he was not the only one going through such humiliation.

Many of his dear friends had disappeared because the human's lacked faith, or had destroyed the land which so many had attached themselves to. It was just...a sign of the times. Signing a bit he gazed out to the children playing around him, enjoying their youthful antics as his eyes slowly began to drift close. Or at least they would've had he not spotted something very odd in the distance. Most otherworldly beings knew the difference between a human staring at them and a human staring in their general directions, it was all in the eyes.

At that moment he believed someone had just made eye contact with him.

It startled him at first, because it had been about two hundred years since anyone had really looked at him. Just to make sure he raised his hand, giving the child who had apparently spotted him a small wave. He damn near fainted when his gestured was returned, wondering just what he should do now. After a moment of frantic thinking he decided to just watch the boy, not wanting to startle the him with his excitement.

Of course he didn't let said excitement show on his face. While watching the boy throughout the afternoon he received a few glances from him, the child giving him a small smile before going back to play with his friends. It was reassuring to say the least. There had been instances where he had been visible to someone for only a brief moment, leading to him getting his hopes up prematurely then having them dashed right in front of him. It was an extremely hard thing to deal with...

When the sun was low in the sky, he noticed all the children dispersing while saying their goodbyes to one another...all but one. The boy watched as his last friend left the park, and when they did his attention was again on him. The child approached cautiously, though he didn't look scared in the slightest...just intrigued.

"Um...excuse me..." Because of his good hearing he didn't need to strain to hear the boy mutter, "Are...are you all right?"

"...Pardon?"

"You fell out of the tree earlier...are you okay?"

Oh dear sweet Amaterasu...the child had seen him. Opening his mouth a few times, he tried to think of something to say, anything to lessen the embarrassment he felt. Hopping down, black sandals gently crushing the grass below him, he stood in front of the boy. Most of the human children possessed the same basic look to them, but this was not the case for the child in front of him. His hair was light, far lighter than any of the other children, and he would admit that it was hard to not notice the boy when he was running around with his friends.

Upon further inspection he found that his eyes were different as well, the two of them a shade of blue he though only the sea could hold. He wasn't actually sure if the boy was Japanese at all, since he was fairly sure that blonde hair and blue eye usually equaled a foreigner. Not that it mattered...but he did look horribly out of place

"...You shouldn't, uh...be worried about a stranger, child..."

"But are you okay?"

"...I'm fine."

His answer seemed to bring a smile to the boy's face.

"That's great! Oh, um, my name is Flynn, what's yours?" The boy probably wasn't aware of how much power his words held. Deities and youkai did not give out their real names to humans easily, because if a human possessed such knowledge they could control them.

So he kept his mouth shut, obviously confusing the small child. When asked if he actually had a name he merely looked away, just wanting the subject to be dropped. Why hadn't he left yet? Even if this was the first time in a long time that he had spoken to an actual human, he...he...There was no point in lying to himself...he wanted to speak to the child because he had acknowledged his existence.

"If you don't have a name...can I give you one?" He immediately snapped his head back in the direction of the small boy named Flynn, eyes wide in shock. Give him...a name?

"Why are you being so kind...? For all you know I could be an youkai that eats children, or I could spirit you away so that you never see your loved ones away." Even if neither of those things were truth, he wanted to see what the boy would do. There was something so off about him.

"You're not bad like the other things I see, I can tell."

That was it. Flynn had been in contact with other spiritual beings, which would explain his lack of surprise when spotting him. What was more astonishing was that fact that the boy could see him while his divinity was so low; in this day and age if anyone were to see him he would probably look very faint, but it would seem the child could see him as clear as day. Just how strong was this boy's senses? If anything it was strong enough to allow him to touch him, as evident by the small blonde stroking his tail.

"O-Oi! I might be 'nice' as you say, but that does not permit you to touch me as you please, ya brat!" Quickly he snatched his tail away from the boy, telling him that it wasn't some toy he could play with as he pleased.

"I-I'm sorry..." Ugh...if there was one thing that apparently hadn't changed over the years, it was lack of understanding when it came to human children. He didn't want his actions to cause Flynn to leave, so he threw his pride aside, like he had in the past when it came to children.

"Don't, um, cry or anything..." Crouching down he gently ran his fingers through golden locks, "I'm s-sorry..."

His apology managed to bring a small smile to the boy's face, though when he noticed that his hand was lingering a for a bit too long on Flynn's head he instantly pulled back. He was...so warm. Standing up he quickly straightened himself out, coughing a bit to try and regain a little of the composer he had lost. When in the presence of a human he was supposed to act and speak in a formal manner, even if he wasn't the formal type at all.

"Can you walk me home?"

"...What?"

He didn't get a response; instead the child merely held his hand out, an obvious invitation for him to mimic the gesture. It wasn't like he was actually doing anything productive at the moment, but this didn't stop him from hesitating a bit. Slowly he took the small boy's hand, once again musing about how warm the other felt. Once he felt it, it sadly reminded how much he had missed it. They left the park together, streetlights slowly come on one by one as they walked.

"Why didn't you just leave with your friends?" He was a bit surprised when Flynn's hand suddenly tightened around his, a curious looks crossing his face as he looked at the small human next to him.

"They're not really my friends...I just play with them sometimes. They think I'm weird because I can see things they can't..." Humans had a bad tendency to do that...especially in this era.

In the past it was never considered 'strange' to see youkai or deities, but now when his kind was regarded as 'fiction' people who could see them were regarded as 'crazy' or 'attention seekers'. It must've been hard for Flynn to deal with...which made him pity the boy quite a bit.

"Some of the things I see are scary and do wanna eat me...but some of them are nice and will talk to me, like you."

"I see...How exactly can you tell if we're bad or not?"

"I get this weird feeling in my chest if they're bad."

He once again had to wonder how strong the boy's spiritual awareness was. The pain he felt was probably the malicious aura that radiated off of certain youkai, which meant he would be somewhat safe if he always relied on such a feeling. But not youkai were the same.

"Still...you should be more careful." He was given a small 'okay' for his warning, though he wasn't entirely where his concern for the human was coming from. No that...that wasn't true.

A silence fell between the two of them, the sound of his wooden sandals the only thing echoing throughout the mostly empty street. He was sure that the only person who could hear the sound was Flynn, though the boy made no signs of complaining about. He actually wasn't sure where the boy could even live, so he merely let the small blonde take him wherever. Not that he minded; it was much more entertaining than sleeping in a tree or hanging around the local shrine.

"Yuri-san, are you going to be at the park tomorrow?" This made him completely stop in his tracks, Flynn staring up at him with curiosity in his eyes.

"...What...did you just call me...?" He wasn't upset, not at all, he was more surprised more than anything.

"Oh, um..." The boy shuffled from one foot to the other, eyes downcast as he spoke, "Mama's favorite flowers are lilies...and you have lilies on your kimono, so..."

He did possess a few white lilies at the bottom of his kimono, but even with knowing that and understanding such reason he couldn't help but stare in disbelief. Never in his many, many years on Earth had a human ever given him a name; most merely referred to him as Kami-sama or Ookami-no-Kami, which only indicated what he was. But this...this was something far more personal.

Had he truly become so desperate for human contact that he was seriously thinking about take the name a mere child had offered to him?

"...All right...you may call me Yuri."

No, this had nothing to do with desperation, but it had everything to do with fulfilling one of his many duties he hadn't in a long time. Bringing happiness to children, even if it was rather low on his priority list as a god, was a duty he took great pleasure in doing. So when the blonde gave him a bright smile he couldn't help but mimic the expression.

"Mama and Papa probably won't be home for a while, so...can you stay, Yuri-san? J-Just until they come back." Well it wasn't like he had anything else to do with his time, the small nod he gave bringing another smile to Flynn's face.

It was sad to think that the boy would be home alone...though he was well aware that parents needed to provide for their child...though the fact that it meant sacrificing time with them seemed unfair. It was a sad truth, but the truth nonetheless. Several minutes passed before the two of them stopped in front of a large apartment complex, and as they made their way up Yuri couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in slight annoyance.

Tokyo had become such a crapped place, everywhere he looked plots of lands were being destroyed so that more buildings could be put up. He didn't hate the humans for wanting to expanding so much, what he hated was their irresponsibility. But if there were more people like Flynn out there, more people willing believe, than maybe not all hope was lost.

Even though he had seen them it was actually his first time encountering an elevator, so his immediate reaction was to back up the moment the doors opened, wolf ears pulled back as he eyed the contraption suspiciously.

"It's okay." The boy tugged him in the direction of the small metal box, his body reluctantly making its way inside even though he felt completely uncomfortable doing so. When the doors began to close he quickly snatched his tail away from them just before they completely shut, vowing that he would never ride such a thing again.

The two of them rode four floors up, Yuri quickly getting off the elevator the moment the doors opened. Sure he himself could've easily gotten to the floor without any kind of hassle, he was a deity after all, but that would've left Flynn by himself. The least he could do was accompany him. It didn't take them all the long to reach the boy's apartment, Yuri watching as he opened the door was the key he had fished out of his pocket.

Once inside he made sure to take off his sandals by the entryway, because even if Flynn was the only one who could see them he still had enough common decency to remove them like any other. The only thing he could do in such an unfamiliar situation was follow Flynn around, and in doing so he felt more like a lost puppy than a wolf god. The place was very well kept, though it also appeared that only one person lived there as opposed to three. Or...he believed there were only three.

Looking around he found a few family photos, and was rather shocked when he laid eyes on the boy's parents.

"You're...half Japanese?"

"Yeah, most people can't tell since I look like Papa."

And did he. He was the spitting image of his father, not a single trace of his mother to be found in his appearance. Yuri figured that if he looked like his father, there was a chance that he acted like this mother. It usually worked that way, though he couldn't confirm it himself until he met them. Not that he actually could. He continued to follow the small blonde until they stopped in front of what he assumed was a refrigerator, the cold chill he received from it being opened validating his suspicions.

He kept watching as Flynn removed two square shaped plastic containers, his wolf wears perking up a bit in curiosity.

"What are those?" He couldn't help but poking the clear top a bit, "Bento?"

"Yup, from the convenient store nearby." He had heard of those places, though he was completely unaware people bought bento from them. Flynn placed the two boxes on either side of the dinning room table, motioning him over once done.

"...You want me to eat with you...?" When he was given a rather enthusiastic nod by the blonde he tired his best to hold his tongue. He actually didn't need food to survive, eating to be more of a pastime then an actual source of nourishment.

The reason he wanted to refuse the boy's invitation was because it felt as if he being an inconvenience; the last thing he wanted to do was consume the food the boy could easily be eating himself, so if he didn't really need to he shouldn't have. But he looked so damn...happy. So he decided that instead of being a horrible guest he'd suck it up and eat, seating himself across from the human child as he eyed the bento curiously.

There seemed to be quite a bit of food inside, ranging from meat to pickled vegetables, along with a pair of wooden chopsticks. Mimicking Flynn's movements he removed the plastic top of the bento, the two of them saying a small 'itadakimasu' before picking up their chopsticks. Yuri couldn't help but pick at the food, still feeling guilty for eating something he had no business consuming.

"Are you not hungry?"

"A-Ah...it's not that, it's just-"

"It's okay to eat, Papa always buys me two but one is enough, really."

That didn't completely convince him, but...With a small sigh he picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, slipping it between his lips where he was met with a rather pleasant surprise. His tail puffed up as he tasted the sweet meat that had entered his mouth, finding it to be far more delicious than he could have imagined. From that point on he was rather ashamed to admit that he greatly enjoyed stuffing his face with everything inside the bento.

"Gochisosama deshita..." The only thing he could mutter was the usual after meal saying as he held his head in embarrassment, making no move to look at Flynn as he began cleaning up.

"Let's take a bath together."

"...Why?"

"I usually take a bath with Mama or Papa, but they're not here..."

For someone so young, he was pretty well versed in how to guilt trip someone...He was sure it was only because Flynn was lonely, and who could blame him when it would seem that he was home alone on a regular basis. It was sad...but the whole bathing thing seemed like it was overstepping some kind of boundary. Before he could even say anything he felt the sleeve of his kimono being tugged on, trying his best to not fall for the kicked puppy look Flynn was giving him.

"...Please?"

Amaterasu damn his soft spot for children. Reluctantly he followed him down the hall, trying to convince himself that he didn't have anything better to do with his time...so why not? Once in the bathroom he hesitantly began to remove his clothes, which consisted of him just willing them off, rods evaporating off his body in a rather showy fashion. It wasn't until he was putting his hair up in a ponytail that he noticed Flynn staring at him.

"Is something wrong?" The boy looked quite confused, and he had to wonder if it was because of the little trick he had pulled with his clothes.

"You're...a boy?"

Yuri couldn't help but stand there for a moment as he gave a the blonde an odd look.

"I...you...you seriously thought I was a woman? What the hell you brat! I've always clearly been male!"

"Well...you're really pretty!"

With a small groan he rubbed his temples, wondering if he should take the other's comment as a compliment or an insult. He had already called him a brat so that probably counted as enough punishment, but that didn't mean he was okay with being called a woman. He was just a kid, and really...it would've have been the first time he'd be mistaken for the opposite gender. Crouching down he ran his fingers through Flynn's hair as he told him that he wasn't mad, though this admission didn't stop him from pinching the boy's nose.

"O-Ow!" As he let go he didn't say anything as he gave the boy a small smirk, "So mean..."

The bath was as normal as any kind of bath could be...well, as normal as a kid bathing with a god could be. He helped Flynn wash his hair while making sure he didn't get soap in his eyes, which was much easier said than done since he kept squirming. The small child never stop pestering him about wanting to wash his tail, which Yuri was damn sure was just an excuse to touch it again. He could do that himself. He did at least let him wash his back, though he could easily tell he was trying to touch his wolf ears.

When they had finished lathering up and rinsing off it was time to soak, and of course instead of staying still Flynn began to squirt water between his hands. It had been a while since he had actually soaked in a bath, so he decided to take his time, or at least until Flynn's fingers began to look like dried plums. After about fifteen minutes he asked to see the boy's fingers, and when he did he figured it was about time to get out.

"All right, hold your breath and stay under for ten seconds...you do know how to count to ten, right?" He wouldn't deny taking some pleasure in the way the boy puffed his cheeks out at him, clearly annoyed by his comment.

"Of course I can, I'm already six!" Yuri laughed a bit as the boy stuck his tongue out at him, though he still did what he was told. But only six years old? He was far younger than he had originally thought...then again every human was 'young' in comparison to himself.

Once Flynn was done counting they got out of the tub, Yuri helping him dry off before he changed. It wasn't too long after their bath did the blonde began to show signs that he was tired, rubbing his eyes and yawning as his head nodded a bit. He held his hand as the small boy walked to his room, helping him into his bed where he wrapped himself up in his dark blue blanket.

He would've liked to at least had the option to sit on the floor, but because the child hadn't let go of his hand it was clear what his only choice was. Sighing he slipped into Flynn's bed, the blonde wasting no time curling up against his chest like some kind of kitten. He clung to his kimono tightly, Yuri deciding to not move an inch until he was fully asleep. How did things end up like this...? He could understand duty and entertainment being the driving forces for his being there, but had he really needed to go so far?

Maybe...loneliness had a way of attracting loneliness. Closing his eyes he decided it was probably best to just go with the flow, because this was the most needed he had felt in a long time.

A/N: More to come! Reviews are welcome.