Sorry you had to wait so long! I hope you like it, especially since I think I'm on a roll.

"Yato, this is day 25. I hope you're not angry with me."

Hiyori stared at the screen, realizing she was warning him without warning him. Anger wasn't something she imagined him capable of, especially not at her, but concern sat like a lump in her stomach. Daikoku was so convinced there was another Yato, a face behind the mask that he wore, and Hiyori thought that entity very capable of rage. But were they the same? Is that the person that she'd really see?

Daikoku had parked the car in a nondescript location, on a side street of a side street, and had started walking wordlessly. Hiyori followed him closely, keeping just as quiet as she watched the residential streets change to commercial run-down shops and bars. She'd definitely never been anywhere close to this neighborhood and she was sure if she mentioned it to her mother or father, if she even knew the name of it, they would both have turned white. This was a world completely separate from her own, the world Yaboku inhabited.

Hiyori ran into Daikoku's back as he stopped short. His hand tightened on her arm and he leaned into her, a waft of old smoke and musky cologne hitting her nose. "He'll be around the corner. Just… stay quiet, OK? We're never sure who's nearby and if you made a fuss…"

"I know," she murmured back. It wasn't like she was planning on screaming bloody murder as soon as she saw him, but it was going to be hard to check every reaction. In anticipation, she started to pinch at the skin of her thigh, letting the thin pain take her attention. She didn't hesitate in Daikoku's hold, just let him grip her arm tightly as he led her around the corner, ready to jerk her in any direction necessary.

The alleyway was barely lit, one light at each end the only thing offering help, leaving the middle decidedly dark. Hiyori had first hoped that that's where he was hidden because on first view it was empty, shadows and critters the only inhabitants. "Stay here," Daikoku muttered, pushing her to the wall. She obeyed, watching as he skulked forward, hand trailing along the brick.

Hiyori watched him walk into the middle of the darkness, slowing his steps until he let himself crouch. She resisted the urge to yell for him, watching as Daikoku quickly got his feet, almost jogging back to Hiyori. "Go," it was an order that came with a quick grab of her arm, pulling her out of the alleyway and back onto the street. Her heart was pounding, her eyes looking back again and again towards the entrance, hoping to see those bright blue eyes, that heartbreaking smile.

She felt Daikoku shove something in her hand and as her hands squeezed it she realized it was a phone, the screen cracked but as she hit the power button it still illuminated. Her own face stared back at her through the spiderwebbed screen, a picture Yato had taken of her outside a cafe. As she moved the phone to her right hand to see if she could manage to unlock it, she noticed the residue left in her palm. Not detritus from the alleyway, but a smear of deep red. It was his phone, away from him, half-broken, and splattered with blood.

It had gotten to the point where there was barely a trace of his scent left on his pillow and Hiyori had to squeeze, to really bury her face, to catch the last hint. She heard the footsteps, the hesitation at the door before they continued forward and the bed squeaked under the weight of another body. "Hiyori?" It was Yukine's voice at just above a whisper.

"Yeah?" She lifted her head and rested her chin on the pillow, eyes focused not on him but the headboard as the tears still threatened.

"What happened?" She knew it must have scared him because he actually produced the nerve to touch her, to put a shaking hand on her shoulder.

She reached her hand out to the nightstand, fingers gripping the phone again. Rolling over, her hand stretched out to put the phone in Yukine's face. "I wiped the blood off." How she could say that without screaming was beyond her, this whole evening feeling madness-inducing. She rolled back onto her stomach, clutching at the pillow again.

"Yato's phone…" He dropped it back onto the duvet, looking at his hands as if there was still red there.

"It was in the alley where Daikoku was supposed to meet him." Hiyori pressed her mouth into the pillow, making herself swallow that scream again.

"Maybe he…" but Yukine let his voice trail off, feeling like he could barely breathe. How could he be strong and explain this away? What rationale came to mind? To both of their surprises, Yukine opted to collapse on top of her, wrapping his arms around her neck. "Don't think it, Hiyori. If you start, I'm not sure I can stop myself from doing the same. Both of us have to believe."

Hiyori was suddenly reminded of how much of a child he still was, the still boy-sized chest pressed against her back. "Yato's alive," she murmured, letting her fingers gently touch Yukine's arm. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Yukine's grip tightening both protectively and needily, thoughts cycling between comforting and the need to be comforted. "Yukine?"

"Yeah, sorry." He finally forced himself to sit back up, arms hugging around himself rather than her.

"It wasn't that," Hiyori turned her head so he could see the soft smile. "Just… do you know the code for the phone?"

"Oh, yeah," Yukine shrugged, reaching out for the device again, facing concentrating on the screen. "1217." His thumb plugged in the numbers and the screen unlocked. He resisted the urge to scroll through, to try to find out his own information and tossed it back in Hiyori's direction. "It's… the month and day he made his deal with me."

Hiyori patted the bed next to her, "Will you tell me about that?"

Yukine stared at the bed next to her for a few deep breaths before stretching out across the bedspread. "Like about before? Or just Yato?"

"Anything you want," Hiyori reached out and laced her fingers with his. "I just… I'm starting to feel like I don't know anything about him or you, really."

Yukine focused on their hands. "I told you, he was different then, or maybe he was already starting to change but he… well, we met in the hospital." He forced a deep breath, his eyes far off as if the video was playing in his mind. "My dad tried to… the doctor said I should have been dead. Yato was the one who found me, too, took me out of the trunk, took me to the hospital. And when he came back, I thought it was to check on me but that's when he finally told me that he was supposed to finish the job."

Hiyori squeezed his fingers, her mouth opening to interrupt, to stop the obviously painful flood of memories. "I'm OK," he spat out quickly, shaking his head. "I remember being so scared because he's got those eyes, too cold to be human. He wasn't lying when he said I was going to die and I cried, didn't beg. I told him… I said it wasn't fair. I didn't get to have a life and now it was going to be gone." Yukine took his free hand and rubbed it over his face, letting it rest over his lips for a moment to gather his thoughts. "He asked me what I wanted most and I told him all I wanted was a family that loved me. He made me a deal." Yukine let a weak laugh play across his lips. "And I hate to admit it but that idiot almost had me believing it was possible. All of us together, it almost felt like that but now…"

"You still have me," Hiyori murmured as she ran a hand across the hair on his forehead, pushing it out of his eyes. "And when he… we're still a family, Yukine."

"The weirdest family, but sure," Yukine tried to offer her a smile. His eyes fell from hers, concentrating hard on the bedspread as if it were a puzzle. "Hey, Hiyori…"

"What is it?"

"I don't… don't get the wrong idea or anything…" Color was starting to creep up his cheeks. "Can I stay here with you tonight?"

Hiyori caught a laugh before it left her throat. "You mean sleep in Yato's bed?"

"Yeah." The red was now bright across his cheeks.

"Alright." Hiyori moved into a seated position, grabbing the phone that lay between them and putting it next to the pillow. Yukine followed suit and sat up, getting off the bed right after she did. Hiyori pulled back the comforter and then the sheets underneath. She hadn't planned on actually sleeping here tonight, especially since now just being in this room felt like his ghost was breathing down her neck, but there was no way in hell she'd say no to Yukine asking for closeness.

"Thanks, Hiyori," Yukine murmured as he collapsed back into the bed. He made sure to hug his side, his back as close to the edge as possible.

Hiyori finally let a little giggle tumble from her lips. "Family, right?"

"Right." Yukine pressed his face into the pillow, finding Hiyori's scent on it and quickly realizing, with a dawning embarrassment that of course Yato and she had slept in this bed. Probably done more than sleep, too, but Yukine was quickly pushing that idea off of the cliff of his mental map. He forced his eyes closed, feeling the bed move as Hiyori got back in.

"Good night," she murmured. Her hand reached out and smoothed his hair again, simply adding to Yukine's embarrassment instead of comfort as she had hoped.

"Night," he grumbled. Yukine listened to her breathing, hearing at first the firm in and out of someone nowhere near sleep. He waited, counting the minutes, relaying facts in his mind to keep himself from falling victim to the warmth and weight of the comforter. It took time, but her breathing slowed, a few short murmurs of sleep-induced nothings the only sound filling the room. Yukine opened his eyes slowly and focused for a moment on the way her chestnut hair cascaded across the pillow.

He held his breath as his hand slid forward, fingers gently closing over the phone next to Hiyori's pillow. With a slow exhale, he waited for her eyes to open, for her own hand to shoot over his but it didn't. Hiyori was silent and still as he pulled the phone back and clutched it to his chest. Pausing again, Yukine took one last look at her face before rolling over, counting away a minute before getting up and out of the bed. He crept slowly to the door and into the hallway to the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

The screen illuminated and Yukine was frozen in place by Hiyori's face staring back at him. Suddenly it was as if her eyes were on him and he had to pause, listening to the silence of the apartment. It was the guilt that was slowing him, the thought that if he didn't succeed she would lose two instead of one and how is that fair? Lamely he tried to assure himself of his own unimportance before starting the scroll through the contacts. His finger hovered over the name for a few shaky breaths before tapping it to call.

It was only two rings before the pickup, "Yato?" Ebisu sounded as shocked as he could get, making the statement sound like a hard question.

"It's Yukine," his voice trembled as he tried to grip the sink to steady himself.

"Hold on a moment," Ebisu's voice was flat again, any inflection of emotion hidden away. There was shuffling, tapping, a second voice further in the background before a final thunk. "You're on speaker with Kunimi. I hope you don't mind."

The nicety of the explanation hit Yukine strangely, making hanging up the phone now very tempting. "Kunimi, it's Yukine."

"Yato's kid, right? I mean, the one he takes care of," Kunimi corrected himself, the external clarification he'd gotten used to with his boss's missing memory.

"Right," Yukine breathed. There was a tense beat of silence, time that felt like eons in Yukine's mind as he wrote and rewrote the sentences in his head. "Something's happened to Yato."

"He's gone," Ebisu's voice was without intonation. "There's no something other than that."

It was enough that a speck of rage started to grow in Yukine's chest. This wasn't mundane, it's not just a loss that could be written off as a just because, as something bound to happen. "I know you owe him, I know he has favors with you. How many or for what I don't know but I'm calling them in."

"What?" It was Kunimi, Ebisu eerily silent. "You want us to help you with what exactly? Getting him out from his old man's compound? Are you insane?" Each question hit another octave and Yukine was glad he'd opted for the phone call, sure that the man's huge physical presence would make hearing those questions even more terrifying.

"I don't know," Yukine shot back, feeling his voice reverberate in the small space. He feared that Hiyori would wake, especially after that shout but he was in no place to go silent. "He needs help and I can't do it by myself."

The start of Kunimi's voice was cut short by a rustle at the other end. "What are you willing to pay?"

Yukine had never been rich, would never, but it struck him that that wasn't what Ebisu was asking for. There wasn't a purse that could be filled that could be weighed against Yato's life, against saving his existence. "I owe him my life. I'd be… I'd die if I had to. I'd trade that much to protect him, to protect what we have."

The silence stirred Yukine's stomach, twisting it into a knot as he counted the breaths it took before Ebisu spoke again. "I'm going to send you an address. Be there in two hours."

"Yes, sir," Yukine gaped. This was not supposed to work, Ebisu was supposed to hang up on him, laughing hysterically while doing so. Two short beeps signaled the end of the phone call but Yukine was motionless, the phone still pressed tightly to his ear. He stayed that way, frozen in the quiet of the apartment until the phone buzzed against his face. As he lowered it, the screen showed the text, an address clear across town in Ebisu's territory. It would take time to get there, especially without any help and this knowledge spurred him forward, soft steps returning to his bedroom.

There was no option to return the phone to Hiyori and he purposefully avoided going back into Yato's bedroom, worried that just the sight of her would somehow derail his courage. Yukine changed quickly, black everything head to toe, a hoodie and a face mask for the sake of obscurity. He settled the mask under his chin, pocketed the phone, and stood quietly in the hallway, fighting with himself about the last step.

Instead of going to the kitchen he walked to the end of the hall, opening the door without bothering to knock. It was late enough that Kazuma was in bed and Yukine knew that Veena had not been by that day so there was no chance of a surprise. As the door creaked open, the older boy turned in the bed, instantly grasping for his glasses on the nightstand. "Yukine?"

"Yeah." His tongue felt thick in his mouth. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What? What time is it?" Kazuma answered his own question with a glance to the nightstand as he put on his glasses.

Yukine swallowed hard, "You need to promise me that you'll make Hiyori stay here tonight."

"What?" Kazuma turned on the lamp, the light flooding the room not aiding in his comprehension of this moment. To him, Yukine almost looked ridiculous, like one of those stereotypical thugs that started off some low budget movie with a purse-snatching. "What are you wearing?"

"Look," Yukine sighed, his fear starting to ebb to anger. "I'm going to try to do something about Yato, and don't bother trying to talk me out of it, but I need you to make sure that she stays here tonight once she's figured out I left. She's sleeping in his bed right now but once she realizes she's going to want to run out and do something stupid-"

Kazuma broke through his words, "Like you're doing?"

"I'm not alone or anything… I asked someone for a favor." Yukine shrugged off the sensibility Kazuma was trying to feed him. "And I can't sit around and wait for it to get worse. Something happened to Yato, something worse than just being missing, I know it, and if no one else is going to do something about it then I have to."

It was the second time this week that Kazuma felt like the pinnacle of cowardice in the face of people he'd grown to call his friends. Hiyori's words echoed in his head again as he stared at the blond boy. Why does he deserve to be punished by living that life while all of us don't even bother to try to atone for our sins? "You're leaving now?"

"I think I might as well." Or I won't leave at all. But Yukine refused to let his courage falter. This was the choice he had made.

"Forward me the address."

"I'm not stupid," Yukine frowned.

"I'm not going to follow you, neither is Hiyori." Kazuma sighed, pushing at the bridge of his glasses. "Just… if we need to find you, I need to know a place to start looking. Just in case."

The calculations were all over Yukine's face, the pondering of the chance he would take. "I'll text it to you, but it's just where I'm meeting Ebisu, not… where I think I'll end up."

"That's fine. Please send it to me."

Yukine hesitated again, his hand clutching around the knob of the door. "But you won't tell Hiyori."

"I can't say she won't beat it out of me, but I'll try to keep the secret." Kazuma smiled wanly before sitting up completely in bed, throwing his legs over the edge. "Nothing I say will stop you, will it?"

Yukine barely let the question out of Kazuma's mouth, "No."

Kazuma stared at the floor, watching his feet flex as he tried to come to terms with the feelings of his own gutlessness. "You realize how heartbroken she'll be if it's both of you."

There wasn't an adequate way for Yukine to reply since he was sure she'd shatter if it was both of them gone for good, but this slow bleed wasn't any better as far as he was concerned. The reply was his back, turning swiftly and shutting the door before Kazuma could try to edge another word in. Yukine had to get out.

Kazuma listened to Yukine's receding footsteps in the apartment, then the unlocking, opening and closing of the apartment door. In the silence, Kazuma reached for his phone, navigating on the screen until his finger hovered over the contact. He thought of Yukine, a boy maybe barely fifteen now on his way to do whatever possible. His thumb tapped the screen and he brought the phone to his ear.

"It's late," Veena murmured after picking up on the fourth ring.

Kazuma wanted to whisper something sweet, something that embodied the way his heart leaped into his throat every time even just their hands met but he found the words like ice rolling off his tongue instead, "I need you to come over. We need to talk."