Chapter Seven: Complications


Yato didn't have a clue why the statement suddenly brought him fear.

That was, until the unbidden question left his mouth.

"Are you here to take him away from me?"

The inquiry was met with a firm shake of the head. "I-no. I mean, it depends on what you decide," she grabbed her wrist, rubbing at the skin and purposefully avoiding Yato's gaze, "can we talk somewhere else? I don't want him seeing me."

It was obvious that she meant Yukine.

"If there is even a small chance he'd notice me, I won't be able to do this. I-it's for the best, for him...you were with a girl just now, weren't you? Maybe she can look after him while we talk."

Hiyori had just returned to hear the conversation. "Yato? Who is this?" She had never seen the girl before, but it was obvious that she was foreign.

Yato didn't immediately respond, almost as if he were considering his options. "I'll tell you later, after I fully understand what's going on. Do you think you can watch Yukine for a bit?" He didn't leave much time for Hiyori to answer before he was on his feet, walking towards the entrance of the park and motioning for the woman to follow.


"I don't remember meeting you." Yato's previous assumption of who Yukine's mother had been was wrong; the young lady in front of him had not been the same girl he'd met before.

So who exactly was she?

"No, we have-," the girl rubbed the back of her neck, incredibly nervous by the whole situation, "My name is Liliana. There was an art convention you attended a few years ago, with a brown-headed man who was wearing glasses, I think?" She tried to explain, not sure if she was remembering right.

"Ah…" Recognition dawned upon Yato's features. "You were the girl who caused all that commotion in the conference hall. I punched your guy friend for hitting you, right?"

"He was my boyfriend, and I was pregnant. You pulled him off of me and helped me to the infirmary, yes." The more information she gave, the more Yato realized exactly where this was headed.

"We met when you were pregnant?" Yato's brows furrowed. "No, wait. That has to mean-,"

"You're not Yukine's father..." Liliana confirmed his thoughts. "You were very kind to me during that time, and I really appreciated it. But, Yukine... you remember the note I left you, right? I said that my boyfriend...y'know."

Yato remembered. He'd specifically kept the details from Hiyori, but he remembered. "So, the boyfriend that hurt Yukine was his real father." He stated it as a fact, and Liliana lowered her head. Yato felt angry, but he wasn't sure of the specific reason. For being lied to? For what had happened to Yukine?

"He really did hurt him." Liliana went on. "But, I had to leave Japan and go back home. My husband didn't know about any of this...I couldn't bring myself to tell him." She shook her head. "And Yukine would have been hurt even more if I had left him with that man. I got out, but-,"

"So let me get this straight, yeah?" Yato interrupted her, "you came here to Japan and ended up having an affair on your husband, you got pregnant, and you couldn't own up to your own mistake after deciding to keep the baby? Then, this whackjob ends up not being the guy you thought he was, so you decide to go back to wherever you came from when the kid is ten months old, right? You just decided to drop him on my door step and completely abandoned him because you didn't want your husband to know?"

Liliana nodded, the movement barely visible. "I couldn't have just left him with his father! He was too violent, and I couldn't trust him after he did that to my baby. I was ashamed, Yato. If I had gone back home with him, my husband would have known it wasn't his, and he would have left me."

"He should have! It was your job as Yukine's mother to look out for him and you cared more about your relationship with your husband than your own ba-wait, how the fuck did you even get my address?" Yato was livid; maybe it hadn't been his business before, but it sure as hell was, now.

"The art convention's manager passed it along when I asked about your work and how to contact you." The woman was ashamed, knowing that there had been a chance that this would happen. "I've been living with the guilt that I dropped this child on you when it wasn't even yours to begin with. Yato, I'm sor-."

"Don't even try to apologize for that. Secondly, he's not an 'it'. No, maybe you shouldn't have made it a complete stranger's problem. You know, Yukine knew you were gone, and he cried for you to come back for days. But hell, you weren't even in the same country by that point, were you? And you have the nerve to show up after all this time just because you felt guilty?" It was laughable.

Good, Yato thought bitterly, you deserve to feel guilty.

"I think we're done here. I don't accept your apology if you think it was justified to keep your marriage safe before putting the wellbeing of your own kid first. You didn't know anything about me other than the fact that I seemed 'nice'. Well, you want to know the truth? I hated kids. I couldn't stand them."

That had been true, once upon a time.

"But then I'm left with this kid who I fully believe to be mine. I'm not the kind of person to back out just because I don't like it...unlike you." Yato paused, yet there was no hesitation in what he said next.

"You gave up your parental rights the morning you left him on my doorstep, as far as I'm concerned." Maybe it was a bit harsh, but in the moment, Yato couldn't stand to look at the woman. Instead, he walked away from her, back over to where Hiyori was sitting and dropped heavily to sit down next to her.

Hiyori immediately noticed the pain on Yato's face. "Yato, what's wrong? Who was that woman?" She looked back, only to see that the lady had already fled.

"Yukine's mother." Yato's tone was distant. "Yukine...isn't my kid."

The statement was met with a look of shock, but still Hiyori pressed on. "What do you mean, 'he isn't yours'?"

Yato explained everything that he and Liliana had talked about. "She had no idea what my life was like. If not for the help from you and Masaomi, I wouldn't have even been able to handle the situation. It hurts, Hiyori. It hurts so badly. I've grown so attached to him, and now to learn that I'm not even his biological dad-I don't know what to do."

He'd always told himself that he'd do a better job than his dad did for him. In fact, he'd promised Yukine. But now, knowing that he didn't even have any legal obligation to take care of him-.

"You still love him, don't you?" Hiyori was calm, getting straight to the point of the matter.

"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?" Yato turned to look at Hiyori, as if she'd just come out with nonsense. "My feelings for him won't change, even though I know the truth now. I've sacrificed so much for him already-I can't live without him."

"Then you should adopt him. You need to catch back up with his mom, and...as much as you don't want to, you should apologize. I know it was insensitive of her, but maybe she was just trying to protect him. Mothers do what they think is best, even if it's in their own way. But you two can talk it out. She'll have to authorize the adoption, and..."

"Shit...no, you're right, Hiyori. I'll go-uh, can you get him home and put to bed?" Yato was anxious to catch up with the woman, now; she couldn't have gotten far.

"Of course, Yato. Go ahead."


"Hiyori-tan, where daddy go? I tired..." Yukine'd wandered up to Hiyori and rested his head on her lap, looking over towards the entrance of the park.

"Oh, Yukine-kun." Hiyori reached down to stroke his head, before picking him up. "He went to talk to a friend. He told me to take you home...would you like me to spend the night?" She stood up with the child, not at all surprised by the yawn that left him.

"Mhm…" His response was more a sound, and Hiyori couldn't help but smile as she carried him back towards the school, where her car was parked.

"If you're hungry, we can grab something quick to eat before we get home. Or do you just want to go to bed?" It dawned on her that Yukine had put up a fuss when they'd tried to have him eat the food from the party.

"'Amburger…" Yukine'd mumbled a response as Hiyori backed the car out of the parking lot.

"Ah, alright, Yukine-kun."

The girl remained unsurprised to see that the child had fallen asleep not even five minutes later. Regardless, she picked up the requested meal and drove back to Yato's house, turning to wake Yukine up once in the driveway.

Yukine groaned, but followed Hiyori into the house.

"You need to finish at least half of this, okay?" Hiyori set the hamburger down on the kotatsu, and Yukine scooted over to unwrap it.

"They putted cheese on there." He whined, picking small bits of the cheese off and wiping them on the kotatsu's cover.

"Ah, Yukine-kun, no-!" Hiyori leaned forwards, taking the burger from him and peeling the cheese off. "You can't get food on the kotatsu. If you do, Yato-daddy. Daddy won't be happy. Here, I took the cheese off, so let me take the blanket and wash it."

"Oh…" Yukine frowned, taking the sandwich back and scooting away. "Sorry." He pouted and sniffled, feeling certain that he had upset her.

"I accept your apology, Yukine-kun. Just don't do it again." Hiyori used a gentle tone, yet firm to let him know that it was wrong. She gathered up the duvet cover and draped it over her arm, disappearing down the hall to put it in the washing machine.

Yukine watched her go, before looking back down to the burger. He picked off a sesame seed and hesitated, looking back towards the table. Ahh...the wrapper. He grabbed it and set it down, starting to pick off the sesame seeds one by one; all the while depositing them onto the paper wrapping. After making sure that they were all off, he finally started eating.

"Yukine-kun...why take off the sesame seeds?" Hiyori came back from the laundry room after a few minutes, confusion clear on her face as she retook her seat on the couch.

"Don't like it." The child gave a simple response, taking a particularly large bite of the hamburger. "When's daddy coming back?" He seemed particularly concerned with Yato's absence, shooting a glance towards the front door almost expectantly.

"I'm not sure, Yukine-kun... but he'll be back by the time you wake up tomorrow, I promise."


By the third day of Yato having not come home yet, Yukine was starting to have a hard time believing in this so-called 'promise' business.

It had been hours.

"He didn't come back!" The child had locked himself in the bathroom, refusing to open the door. "He didn't come back 'cause-'cause he don't like me no more!" His tone was angry, but he was dangerously close to becoming a sobbing mess.

These were wild accusations, but while Hiyori wanted to believe that none of it was true, she was beginning to worry.

Had Yato really run off and left Yukine?

No, that was nonsense, she assured herself.

"Yukine-kun," she leaned against the barricade, pressing her open palms to the wood, "Yato wouldn't leave you. He loves you, very much!" She didn't feel good about it; Yukine was frustrated and lashing out at her, but she wasn't doing much better. "Oh, won't you please come out so we can talk about it?"

"No, I don't want to!"

"-Hiyori?"

Through the commotion, a quiet voice called out to her. "What's going on? I'm sorry I was gone so long-oh jeez, is Yukine in there?" Yato had tried not to alarm the girl coming in, but still Hiyori jumped and whirled in place.

"Y-Yato! Where have you been?" Hiyori's surprise and frustration quickly melted into concern. He didn't look like he had slept at all the entire time he was gone; in short, he looked awful.

The bathroom door clicked and opened, a pair of red and puffy eyes glaring out from the crack. "I hate you." These were Yukine's words for, 'I'm never going to forgive you', but still-Yato felt it best he try rather than not.

Normally, he would have corrected the boy; or more specifically, using the word 'hate' so easily. But right now, there were bigger problems, judging by the blond's tear streaked face. "Yukine-no, you don't...I'm so sorry. I didn't expect to be gone that long, I... please forgive me?" Despite feeling utterly exhausted, the young man crouched and held his arms out. "C'mere."

There was only a second of hesitation before Yukine stepped out of the bathroom, staring Yato down while not saying a word. His jaw trembled, angry tears once again sliding down his cheeks. After only a moment of consideration, he ran to Yato and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He couldn't say anything, so he just settled for crying into the raven's neck and gripping tightly at his shirt.


"He hasn't slept well the entire time you've been gone. Yato, what kept you away so long? I thought it'd be a matter of hours...but it's been three days." Hiyori got right to the heart of the matter, once they'd relocated to the living room.

Yukine was refusing to let go of him, and Yato knew that he would have to discuss the topic here and now-whether the child heard everything or not.

"Well, to tell you the truth," Yato turned Yukine in his arms so that the child was lying down instead, half hoping that the position would lull him to sleep, "I didn't find her until the next day. I looked all over the city, but I eventually caught up with her at the Ryumeikan hotel. Let me just say, I've never been in a hotel that nice in my life."

Hiyori presented him with a blunt look, clearly saying that she wanted him to skip the pleasantries.

"Er...yeah. Anyway, I found her on Saturday. I discussed what I wanted to do, and she said that she would agree to waive her rights and authorize the adoption process. But she had a flight that went out yesterday…'course, the court isn't open on the weekend. I spent the whole morning there today, filling out paperwork to get a hearing scheduled. But since she doesn't have the money to book a flight back for it...it's going to be way more difficult than I expected it to be." Yato rubbed a hand over his face. "I have no blood relation to him, so of course they're gonna start by evaluating both biological parents. She already made a written statement signing over her rights, so I'm not too worried about that."

Despite sharing the news, Hiyori could tell that there was something else. "I see...what else? I can see your worry, Yato." It was as prominent as a rain cloud, looming over him with the threat of pouring down.

Yato took a deep breath, looking down at Yukine. The child had fallen asleep, so Yato steeled himself.

"They told me that...they're going to have to require his father's authorization for the adoption process as well. If his dad comes forward and wants to take him back or denies the authorization, I won't be able to do anything about it…"

"What? They can't do that! Didn't his mom sign the rights over to you?" Hiyori immediately became upset. "She had to have, right?"

"She just gave them up in a written statement. She doesn't have his full documentation, so she can't even sign me temporary guardianship. Even worse, if Yukine's real father does come forward, he could easily press charges against me for kidnapping. I could go to jail, Hiyori."

"No way…" Hiyori pulled back, starting to comb her fingers through her hair. "You've had him for two years, Yato. And he tried to hurt Yukine-kun! There's no-they can't just…" She was visibly upset; they couldn't do this, could they? Yukine'd had a stable life up to this point, so for it to be shattered this way…

They would have to fight for it, then.

And Hiyori was going to make sure that Yato would get to keep Yukine.


Author: I really considered wrapping this story up this chapter, but I thought of a direction I could take it in. Depending on what you, the readers, want to see, it can go in two directions: they can win the case and have Yukine, OR, they can lose it and Yukine will go to his dad. Of course this won't last-there's gonna be a happy ending maybe, but if he goes to his dad, there will be damage to overcome. So leave comments about which direction you'd prefer! The first one will mean that the story will end soon, but the alternate path will cover more chapters. Please let me know. :D