A/N Okay, so I finally got around to posting this. I'm sorry people! I didn't realise that this hadn't already been put up- thanks to the guests and users who reviewed and reminded me, and this was set a while before he met Hiyori or Yuki, so I felt that you guys deserved some of them, and so I'm gonna add this to the Noragami Big Bang.
Because they are more awesome characters who are going to become even better in the Noragami season three! Yatta!
Have a chapter. Or two.
Dedicated to the awesome MJJK46 for their multiple reviews on my stories, multiple compliments and general awesomeness. Enjoy!
Yuki stared hard at the light blue handkerchief that lay tied around Yato's neck.
Well, he assumed that it was blue considering how hard it was to tell what colour anything that Yato owned was nowadays (he honestly didn't know how everything the god wore became so dirty- did he enjoy wallowing in mud?) but a few of the cleaner patches visible indicated that the garment was blue.
Blue or not, Yuki wanted to know why Yato chose to wear such a dumb looking thing- it had no purpose in the world, there was no point in fashion statements when no one could really see them- he supposed sentimental value might be a valid reason, but surely it would be kept in better condition if it was a memento?
Then again, this was Yato. What people considered 'normal behaviour' were not rules to be applied to the minor god.
"Yuki?" Yato asked, turning around and looking back at Yukine with a confused expression. "Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my back? Ah! Is it a spider? I hate spiders! Get it off me!" he freaked, twisting his body this way and that as he tried to see the spider and presumably get it away from him.
"Yato…" Yuki tried quietly, becoming frustrated when there was no answer. "Yato," he said again, louder, but still no reply was fore coming. "Yato!" he yelled eventually and the god froze where he stood in some sort of contorted yoga pose (and Yukine was reluctantly impressed and a bit surprised by his flexibility), turning to where Yukine stood with wide blue eyes.
"There's no spider," the shinki told him, bracing himself for the blow up that was sure to follow, but pleasantly surprised when the silence continued. "…what?" he asked the elder, who was staring at him as if he had grown two heads, a set of wings and then flown off into the sunset with a chorus of elderly angels serenading him.
"Why were you staring at me, Yu-ki-ne?" Yato replied, separating the boy's name into three syllables and finally dropping his yoga position for one that was more comfortable.
Yuki shifted in spot for a moment, a little ashamed to be caught wondering about the god's private things, but screwing up his courage as he realised that maybe this was something big in Yato's life that he should know and bluntly asking "Why do you wear a neck scarf?"
Yato froze for a moment, but quickly bent over and started laughing. "Is- Is that what you've been concentrating so hard on for the past five minutes?" he choked out, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes and laughing even harder as Yuki flushed in embarrassment and pouted.
"Just answer the question, baka Yato-gami!" he snapped and his master finally straightened up to look Yuki somewhere closer to the eyes as he responded.
"It keeps my neck warm," Yato simply responded and Yuki was stunned into silence.
"It- It keeps your neck warm?" he asked, feeling like an idiot as he perused over deep meanings of the scarf and all this while there was a practical explanation.
"Uh huh! We should get you one Yuki!" Yato grinned, and Yuki snobbishly turned up his nose.
"No thank you!" he replied and stomped on ahead, knowing that this should be the end of that.
Only, it wasn't. Yuki may not have known Yato for very long, but he recognised the look in Yato's eyes as they shuttered off his true emotions before responding, and for some reason he had felt the need to conceal his feelings at the question.
So what was he hiding?
"Yato?" Yuki asked, stopping dead in his tracks and waiting for the older god to stiffly walk by with his hands in his pockets and nose in the air.
"What?" he answered. "Changed your mind? Would you like a neck scarf like mine after all?" Yato questioned, opening one eye a little to catch Yukine's reaction.
"No, I just…" Yuki started, and already a little convinced that this was a bad idea, leapt forwards and tore off Yato's scarf.
"Yukine! What are you doing?" Yato asked shocked, as his hand came up to massage his throat where the material had been roughly yanked off.
"I don't believe you! Why do you really wear this scarf?" Yuki pressed, waving the item around in the air to make his point.
"None of your business! Give it to me," Yato yelled, his playful eyes turning icy as he glared at Yuki viciously, hand still covering his throat.
"It is my business! You're my master! Now, tell me!" the shinki shouted back as he held back the shivers that tried to run across his spine at Yato's deadly stare.
"Yuki. Give it," the god growled, blue eyes piercing through Yuki in a manner very unlike himself in his attempt to get back the scarf, and Yuki made a mistake in moving closer to Yato.
In a flash, the scarf was stolen back out of Yuki's hands and Yato was behind him, tying it back into its place and ignoring his shinki's sputtering.
"Right. Let's go," Yato commanded, not quite back to his usual carefree self, but a damn sight closer than he had been moments before.
Yuki could only stand frozen in shock as he wondered just what he had seen. In the moments when Yato stole the garment, his hand had slipped down from his throat and Yukine had seen a silvery scar across his neck, straight and precise and entirely unexpected.
That kind of mark was usually fatal, and it also showed that someone had tried to kill Yato at some point or other.
"Come on Yuki! We've got places to be!" Yato yelled and Yuki rolled his eyes, hurrying after his master.
He was going to get that story at one point or another.