Author's note: Edited to fit the content guidelines of this site. Explicit version can be found on my AO3.
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The manor was dark and quiet this late at night, and Bishamon's footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. Across from her, moonlight fell in slanted streaks through the windows, criss-crossing the hall like zebra stripes of moonlight and shadow. Her eyes had already adjusted to the dark; she could see the soft haze of yellow light from the closed door of Kazuma's room leaking beneath the doorway and into the hall.
"Kazuma?" she knocked and opened the door, poking her head in. Kazuma was sitting at his desk, a cup of cold coffee resting mournfully by a stack of reports and papers, working beneath the yellow lamplight. He turned around and his face brightened.
"Veena," he said, smiling, and Bishamon stepped behind him, letting her hands drift to the back of his neck, frowning at the tension in his muscles.
"You take too long," Bishamon said. She ran her hand through his hair the way she would pet Kuraha's mane, the pads of her fingertips pressing firmly into his scalp. "Do you know how long I've been waiting?"
"I'm sorry, Veena, but with everything that happened, we got really behind." He smiled apologetically at her, then moved to show her the stack of wishes that had accumulated. Bishamon kissed the top of his head and pulled out a report, leafing through the pages.
"Surely we can deal with this later?" She tossed the reports back onto the desk. "We haven't granted wishes for a few months now. One more night will not hurt."
Kazuma opened his mouth, as if to protest, but closed it again as Bishamon clasped his hands and pulled him out of his chair.
She hugged him. She felt Kazuma sigh quietly, the weight of his body resting against her shoulder.
"I still don't think I deserve this," Kazuma said. She gave him a light squeeze then straightened, ruffling his hair.
"Why not?" Bishamon said. Kazuma took a breath. "Because you gave yourself to the Yatogami and fought the sorcerer without me?"
Kazuma nodded mutely. Bishamon sighed.
"I told you already," she said, and she rested her hands on his chest. "It's fine. I'm fine. We are together now and you mustn't overthink things."
"What did I do to deserve you?" His voice was soft. Bishamon looped her arms around his waist and touched her forehead against his.
She hugged him again, and was pleased to feel him hugging her back. He tucked his face into the crook of her shoulder, and it struck her that in all the years and centuries they've spent together, this is the most he's ever hugged her, and also the most he's ever been hugged. "You really were starved for affection, weren't you?" she said. She pressed a kiss against his cheek and felt him smiling against her skin. "Even in your human life, no one really hugged you."
Kazuma smiled. "Are you hugging me now because you feel sorry for me?"
"I am hugging you because it is late and I've been waiting." She drew away from him, tugging his shirt down to straighten the wrinkles, then smoothing her hand over the buttons.
She held his hand as they walked down the hallway, and when they reached her room she tugged him close, locking the door behind them. "Why do you work in your old room anyway?" she asked. "This is our room now. Why don't you do your work here?"
"I get distracted," he said, blushing. "Whenever we're here together, we always end up doing this."
"'This'?" she tilted her head.
"Making love." He looked away, bashfully.
She rested her hands on his shoulders. "Well perhaps tonight I wanted to sleep. That is a bit presumptuous, don't you think?" Bishamon said. Kazuma's head jerked up, gutted.
"Oh, Veena, I'm sorry, I didn't-"
She burst out laughing and hugged him again.
xXx
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"I don't think I'll ever get used to this," Bishamon said, lightly touching the mark on Kazuma's chest. She rested serenely against the crook of his shoulder, her hand on his sternum, painting careful patterns with the tips of her fingers. Kazuma frowned and shifted beside her.
"Do you want me to ask Yato to remove it?" he asked. Bishamon shook her head.
"There is no need." She traced the name with her fingers. "Rekki is a powerful weapon. I am just jealous I cannot use it."
"You could ask Yato to borrow me." His voice was soothing. Bishamon nestled closer to him, starting to drowse as she felt the weight of his arm drape heavily across her shoulder. "Although the outfit might be too big for you. It might be cumbersome to wear me."
"You can't shapeshift into something to fit me?" Bishamon asked. Kazuma shifted beneath her.
"I never thought about that," Kazuma said. "Maybe?"
"Hm." Bishamon smiled. She brushed her lips against the side of his collarbone. "You know, for a shinki who's come across a God's Greatest Secret, you've integrated your memories quite remarkably."
Kazuma smiled and shook his head. "It is a bit embarrassing. Both you and Yato know everything about me."
Bishamon shook her head. "Only your life on the Near Shore, Kazuma, not your entire life. I've no doubt there are even a few secrets yet you are not telling me."
Kazuma raised his eyebrows. "Such as?"
"Mm. Such as, I have no idea how the Yatogami is as a master compared to me."
"Terrible," Kazuma said, and Bishamon laughed. "But he was also a really good friend to me," Kazuma said. He looked up at the ceiling, remembering. "I kept calling him a God of Calamity, telling him I wanted to die and I wanted him to die with me. But even after all that, he just kept supporting me."
"I see," Bishamon said. Her lips brushed the side of his collarbone.
"Will you tell me something I don't know about yourself?" Kazuma asked, shifting to look at her. Bishamon considered.
"That would be difficult, as you already know everything about me," Bishamon said. She rested her head on a pillow, considering. "Hmm. Alright. I've got something," Bishamon said. She looked up from the pillow and smiled at him. "When I was first reincarnated, the Elder frightened me."
"Really?" Kazuma stifled a laugh. She nodded against his chest.
"She was a strict guide. A proper matriarch to the Ma clan. I was told my previous incarnation had appeared from India, and that it was because belief in her wavered that she died. The Elder renamed me Bishamonten," she said. "I have held onto this name ever since."
"Bishamon of heaven," Kazuma said. Bishamon nodded.
"Truth be told, Kazuma, I much prefer the name you gave me."
He smiled at her, and his eyes were shining again. She smiled at him, and then her eyes widened.
"Oh, Kazuma!" she said. She pushed herself upwards. "My apologies, I forgot I should call you 'Kiyotsugu' in private."
Kazuma hugged her and laughed. "Veena, you don't have to."
"But I want to respect you as a human," Bishamon said. He held her close, pulling her back down onto the bed with him.
"I'd rather be your Kazuma than another human." His eyes were soft. His hand slid behind her nape, fingers tangling in her hair. "I am yours," he said. "I told you this before."
"Yes, that you have. In your completely vague, opaque way of confessing to me. I naturally assumed you didn't feel that way of me."
"Really?" he said. Bishamon nodded.
"You certainly never seemed to act the way you did with that servant girl," she said.
"Well, besides the fact that that was over two-hundred years ago, I was young. And I was your servant, first and foremost. I never thought you'd feel the same way about me."
"But Kazuma, I do not understand. Why spend so much time with her? She clearly had no interest in you."
"Ouch," Kazuma said, smiling.
"What did you see in her, anyway?" Bishamon asked, shifting to look up at him. Kazuma considered.
"Time and propinquity," he said. "I spent my days teaching her how to read. And as I was isolated from my brother and father, at that time I was quite lonely."
"Mm. But Kazuma, you thought she was attractive before, did you not? I have a distinct memory of you staring at her and blushing."
Kazuma laughed softly and hugged her. "Veena are you jealous?" he asked.
"Why would I be jealous?" Bishamon said. He ducked his head, smiling.
"You're right. I'm just letting myself get a bit of a big head." He brushed his lips against her forehead, pulling the sheets around them. "To answer your question, Veena, yes I was attracted to her. But nothing came of it as she rejected me."
"That girl was a starry-eyed idiot, anyway. She was obviously too stupid to accept something so precious."
"You are jealous," Kazuma said, beaming. Bishamon pressed her face against his chest, annoyed.
"Why is it you feel you can tease me? Is it because we've just been intimate?"
He chuckled and pressed a kiss into her hair. "It is," he said, smiling.
"You needn't be so happy about it," Bishamon said, sourly. Kazuma laughed softly.
She wished she had been awake. Wished that she saw Kazuma when he was near breaking, throwing himself at Yato wanting to die and begging to be made a stray. If she were there, she would wrap her arms around him and hold him, show him how much she loved him even if she couldn't say the words.
"Did you ever apologize to Iki Hiyori?" she asked, remembering. Kazuma let out a startled laugh.
"You know about that?" he asked. Bishamon drew his hand to her chest, nodding.
"I got quite the earful from the Yatogami."
He laughed softly, then kissed her on the cheek.
"I did," he said, smiling. He kissed her and hugged her close.
"I apologized a while ago."