Sorry, chapter slightly short, but I got everything done that I needed to in this chapter. This chapter picks up directly after the last.


Yukine arrived late that night, a sleeping Yato in his arms. He'd had no choice but to leave the bike and carry his god home so it had taken some time. Kofuku and Daikoku met them at the entrance, knowing something had gone wrong. Daikoku had helped change the motionless Yato while Yukine explained what had happened. They were equally distraught over the events and Daikoku fretted that Yato would become sick. Daikoku loved spending time with Yato: going to the park, drawing, making up funny songs, reading to him, practicing Japanese, and especially cooking for him.

Kofuku sometimes said maybe Yatty came back younger to be fawned over by Daikoku rather than forced to do chores. Yukine had laughed at the thought, then swallowed a surge of sadness.

The three filed down to the kitchen where Yukine scraped the burnt cookies off the tin. Kofuku cleaned the mess of muddy footsteps from Yukine himself, singing a tune while Daikoku got out new ingredients and started mixing up new cookie dough.

He shrugged. "He shouldn't have to know that the cookies he worked on burned." He said as if it were obvious.

Yukine smiled, then had another idea. "Oh! And we can take the cookies to see Hiyori in the morning!"


Yato didn't wake up at seven like he usually did. He slept in, under an extra thick pile of blankets. By nine, Yukine had gotten worried and checked on him twice. Kofuku had tried to ease his worry by assuring him that experiencing a shinki's strong emotions was physically and mentally draining and his body was trying to recover from the cold rain.

Sure enough, Yato came around, plunking down the stairs at 10:30. And Yukine suppressed a sigh of relief and went to pull the rice balls he'd prepared from the fridge and set them out on the table.

"How are you feeling?"

Yato shrugged non-commitally. The droop in his eyes gave away that he wasn't fully recovered.

"Are you hungry?" Yukine asked. After a moment of thought, Yato nodded affirmatively. "Good, here, sit down and have breakfast."

He ate slowly at first, until he realized how hungry he was and dug in. While he was still eating, Kofuku came over and sat next to him, running her fingers through his hair fondly.

After getting Yato dressed and ready, he and Yato took a bus to the hospital. Yato was fidgety throughout.

"Hiyori's in there?" Yato asked, pointing at the large, beige building, Iki Hospital.

"Yeah, she is," Yukine said, trying to sound upbeat "but she'll be happy when she sees the cookies you made!"

Yato looked down at the cookies as a slight blush and smile crept across his face. "Let's go!"


It didn't take long for them Yukine to lead Yato to Hiyori's room. Yukine expected Yato to hang back outside the door shyly and need to be encouraged to enter. Instead, Yato hurried in without hesitation. Yukine noted that Hiyori's parents had left, probably not for too long, however.

Yato made his way to Hiyori's bed and stretched up onto his tiptoes, so their faces were barely inches apart. His wide, understanding eyes watched from up close in a way an only a child would do, until, a few moments later, Hiyori began to stir. Yukine hurried to her side as well.

It took her a minute to wake up and understand where she was but once she did, she gave the two a bright, but tired, smile.

"Yukine, Yato. You came," her voice was soft and warm and Yukine couldn't resist coming around the other side of the bed and wrapping his arms around her, shaking in relief. Her hand found his arm as she silently consoled the older boy.

"Hiyori, feel better?" Yato asked, producing the tin of cookies and holding them out so Hiyori could take them.

She made no move to take the box. Instead, she maintained eye contact with the boy, something empty but fiery in her eyes. Finally, she extended a hand and stroked his hair once. Almost to herself, she whispered, "Right before I got hit with that scooter, why did I think you'd save me?"

Yato's eyes widened in confusion and lowered the cookie tin in disappointment.

"I thought, 'I'm safe, Yato will save me.' And I woke up in this hospital bed with my mom crying. Why did I think that?" She asked, confusion cracking her voice.

Yukine's heart rose hopefully in his chest. Had she remembered something? She must have. Still, she seemed to be scaring Yato, which he couldn't have. He picked up the cookies and gently placed them in her hand. "Yato and I made these for you. We need you to get better soon. Maybe then we can sort all this out."

Yukine didn't want to give the memories to Hiyori by telling her what they did. They had already done that and it hadn't even worked. After all, his stories would just give her facts, not emotions. Living and working with Yato had been something that couldn't be summed up in a story. A slacker, homeless god who worked for five yen, was constantly duped out of his money, lazy, always wore a tracksuit…who would believe that he would go to become Yukine's best friend? Or the one Hiyori relied on above anyone? No, even after thinking about this all this time, Yukine couldn't find the words to describe the cold, protective spheres of light that the war god's eyes became when he had someone to protect; the stupid sheepish laugh he'd have whenever he came back to Yukine broke; the tears he'd shed when he'd gotten his shrines; the resolve he had to get up and fight over and over again; the strength to oppose heaven knowing his execution would have been inevitable; nor the grace and forgiveness he had tacitly extended to Yukine when he had acted out and stung and stung him.

Yukine shook himself out of his thoughts with fervor. He couldn't reflect on those things, because despite how it felt sometimes, Yato was still here. He performed a miracle by coming back to them and for Yukine, that is all he had the right to ask him to do. Hiyori just now had proven that deep inside, she was holding onto those precious memories of Yato, keeping them from being blown away, never to return. Once again, Hiyori was simply a puzzle they could put together. No—he, Yato, and Hiyori were all puzzle pieces. All dented and broken around the edges but together complete. Oh, how Yukine longed for the whole picture.


Hiyori always remembers. Please review!