Hiya!

Oooopsey daisey... I just realized that I've been mistaking Mayu's name with her former name Tomone. So, whenever you see "Tomone," just replace it with "Mayu."

:)

"I-I-I'm...I'm sorry, sensei!" Yukine cried as loud as he could.

But to Yato, it sounded as if he was submerged deep in water, unable to take a full breathe with out drowning in the coppery liquid in his mouth. However, he couldn't move. His limbs wouldn't listen to the messages his brain was sending him. His pain sensors had overblown causing his fingers to buzz with needle like pain.

He wanted it to stop so...so badly.

Yato couldn't hold on to reality on longer. Sleep was calling his name over and over and over again. He was afraid that if he didn't oblige, he would go crazy.

He confessed all and every single sin he had committed.

Yukine sobbed throughout the remains of the purification ritual. All the while, his phantom characteristics had slowly disappeared.

His large wings melted and disappeared into the ground like polluted water. His claws morphed back into human fingers and his eye had turned back into its usual yellow color. His skin regained its healthy glow and the grayish color had faded away. His fangs had also reverted back into the healthy whites he had had before.

But the hardest features to get rid of were the spinning eyeballs embedded into his skin. They seemed to be all over his upper body and on the right half of his face. Yuki wrapped his arms around himself, enduring the pain of being purified. When his hands made contact with the many eyeballs on his arms and shoulders, he quickly retracted his hands and wiped the eyeball slime off onto his pants with a disgusted look. It took several hours, but finally, one by one, the eyeballs shriveled up and fell to the ground like dried prunes. One of them even screamed on the way down. His pain decreased with each phantom eye that that met its doom.

Though the process had been long and extremely painful, nothing felt more agonizing than the guilty feeling in Yukine's chest. He wanted nothing more than his master's forgiveness…but he didn't think he deserved it. After all the pain and stress he had forced upon Yato, Yukine knew he deserved to be hated and despised.

Yuki's divine punishment lasted into the early morning hours of the very next day.

When the boundary lines had finally disappeared, Yukine had been greeted by a beautiful sunrise. The sky was streaked with bright reds and oranges mixed in with a bit of plum purple like Yato's hair.

But now, wasn't the time to enjoy the view. They still had another matter on their hands.

Yukine stumbled to his feet. Pins and needles stabbed his legs as the blood began to circulated through his limbs. They felt as if somebody had chopped them off and then sowed them back on again. His body felt numb and thoroughly exhausted while his mind felt conflicted. He fell to one knee before getting back up again. Mayu offered her assistance but he refused. Half crawling, half stumbling, Yuki made his way towards the Yato god who was still on the ground surrounded by everyone else. Yukine's heart jumped up his throat when he saw the… the blood.

There was a lot of blood. Blood was lay in a large puddle surrounding the god. Yato's chin was still dripping in the wet liquid. His hands were also soaked. It seemed that during the ritual, the god had clawed at his chest in order to distract himself from the burning sensation of blight. The white tee-shirt under the jersey had been torn to shreds and dyed a dark cherry red. The small man looked thoroughly soaked to the bone and ... vulnerable.

However, the worst part was that the blight was still there and was still spreading. There was barely a patch of skin that Yuki could see that wasn't covered in the increasing impurity.

Yuki panicked, "Wha-what? Why does he still have blight? Why is it spreading?" His heartbeat sped up. He looked to Diakoku. "I thought-"

Daikoku cut him off. "Kofuku and I have never actually witnessed a purification ritual so we're still new to this. We only know what the other gods and shinkis tell us, which isn't a lot since it's an uncomfortable topic."

Yuki turned to Kazuma. "Kazuma, what do you think?"

The other shinki shook his head. "I don't really know either. Bishamon and the others had never really had to do a purification process before. And the ones that I had just happened to witness from afar never really worked out in the end. I'm sorry."

"Mayu?" the blonde begged. Yato's former regalia slowly shook her head. Yuki felt like crying all over again. "Why? I don't understand? I confessed! I confessed everything! Did I miss something? What did I miss?" He cried desperately.

"Perhaps we were too late…" Diakoku said with sorrowfully.

"W-what did I m-miss?" Yuki's voice craked.

"I'm sure you didn't miss anything," Kofuku said comfortingly without her usual enthusiasm. She reached out to hug him but was pulled back by Daikoku. "Wha-?"

"Don't touch him! He's still blighted!"

The younger shinki froze. "Wha?" He turned his head around, trying to view his back. And sure enough, there was a dark purple impurity on his back. It wasn't as big as before and only covered half of his back… but it was still spreading. "Ah!" He stepped away from the group so they wouldn't get infected by him. Tears streamed down his face once more.

He still had the blight. That meant that he missed something! He's the reason that Yato's still dying! "I don't understand!" He cried out, "I-I thought, I confessed everything" He held his head in his hands. "What did I miss? I don't understand!"

Yukine wants reviews to cheer himself up!

So...

Review!