In the night's silence, there was close to nothing for the god's ears to focus on. There had been no noises to become accustomed to. That was exactly why - when he heard the floorboards creak - he threw his arm off his face and shot up from where he lay.
His fierce blue eyes instinctively turned to the darkened hallway leading to where the others slept. He couldn't make out the bedroom doors from his angle.
"Who's there?" Yato's startled voice called out quietly. "Come out right now, or I'll use my own methods."
There was a brief pause.
Then, a hand wrapped around the corner of the wall. And a head slowly peeked over.
The minimal light the moon provided through the curtains was enough to see the figure rather than its features. This person possessed grace; their aura was gentle, and the dark locks of hair gathering around their shoulders was familiar.
It was, in fact, not an enemy like Yato had originally suspected.
The god released a sigh of relief, leaning back into the couch cushions. "Dammit, you scared me," he mumbled, pinching his nose in visible distress.
"S-sorry…" she muttered back awkwardly.
She stepped out from behind the blackness of the hall, a hand holding her bump.
Yato was surprised by her appearance. The past week had been unbearable awkwardness for both of them.
The second-hand embarrassment Masaomi and Yukine dealt with around them was enough to go around for months - maybe years. However, they did their job well at managing the couple's possible outbursts. Masaomi kept watch of Hiyori, while Yukine guarded Yato.
The silent dinners were deafening. Neither Yato nor Hiyori wanted to converse with anyone beside them for fear of sparking an unintentional argument.
Yato absolutely despised it. He barely caught her gaze without suddenly worrying she would turn him to stone. It was a ridiculous concept, especially since Hiyori had only mirrored his tense behavior. She seemed to only stay in the same room with him as long as someone else was with them, too.
So why - at almost midnight - was she there, alone with him? Where did she gain her sudden confidence to speak up?
Perhaps the absolute darkness blanketing them was a decent ally in preventing her from having to catch any uninviting gazes.
"What are you doing awake?" Yato asked, searching around as if expecting someone to be not too far behind her.
It was only her.
Hiyori slowly came to sit across from him, fidgeting with something in her hands.
"W-well," she began, "I meant to give this to you yesterday. But you were-… busy."
The brunette held out something for him. He retrieved it, realizing it was a folded piece of paper.
"'Busy?' Yukine tied me to a chair for several hours," Yato exclaimed, glaring in her direction despite the inability for her to distinctly see it.
Hiyori rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Well, I told him that you weren't allowed to come to my appointment while you're in such terrible condition."
"Yeah, yeah…" he mumbled while continuing to unfold the paper in his lap.
His eyes gradually adjusted to the paper presented in front of him. Hiyori watched as he nearly stumbled, quickly reaching for the reading light on the stand beside him. The light hit them both, and he gaped at the picture once more.
This photo was much different than the one he spent those agonizingly long nights curled up next to. The god's heart ached with guilt as he stared down at his daughter's newly-developed form.
It truly had been a while since he left.
Yato felt his throat tighten as bittersweet tears filled his brilliant blue eyes. "Aw, Hiyori… She's-"
The god lifted his head. He immediately found Hiyori, trapped in thought. She seemed distraught as she fixated on the floor by her feet.
A careful, strong hand came to rest over the one Hiyori used to hold her bump. She jumped slightly, immediately coming back to reality. Her gaze met his.
With her full attention on him, he spoke gently.
"Please. Can we talk...?"
Alarm rang in Hiyori's expression, immediately retracting her kindness. "I only meant to give you the ultrasound photo! A-and it's already late, so…-"
"Hiyori."
Her ears caught his deep voice, the seriousness warning her.
Hiyori sighed in defeat, red spreading across her cheeks. "...Alright."
Yato set aside the paper on the couch and stood up, using the hand he was already holding from Hiyori's stomach to guide her out to the balcony beside them.
As they crossed into the fresh winter air, Hiyori shivered. She held her arms and cringed at the bitter sensation.
Yato noticed her reaction, and - almost as if on instinct - undid his jersey and draped it over her shoulders. Hiyori felt his body heat seeping into her chilled skin.
The god couldn't grasp her expression as she avoided his eyes once more.
"You're doing it again…"
Yato blinked several times, confusion written across his face. "Doing what?"
"You're pretending like you care. But you don't…"
The golden light illuminating through Masaomi's bedroom door, followed by the sound of his balcony door opening and closing aroused his senses. He opened his groggy eyes, reaching for his glasses on his nightstand. He blinked a few times to be sure of his surroundings before leaving his bedroom.
As he was investigating, Masaomi found the blonde boy hunched over around the corner of the hallway. He was poking his head over as if intently engaged in a TV show.
"Yukine-kun?" The young man yawned, adjusting the collar of his pajamas.
Yukine gasped and whipped his head around to see Masaomi behind him.
"What's going on?" The man asked cluelessly.
"Shhh…!" He whispered back, holding a finger to his lips. "They're finally talking to each other…!"
Masaomi suddenly felt wide awake. With his interest peaked, he joined the boy in secretly observing the two. With no context, it was up to watching their body language and facial expressions to gather up any conclusions.
They could sense the tension building from inside.
"Is this about what you were saying the night you were with your friends?" Yato asked, concern visible on his face. "Hiyori, did my father say something to you?"
The god reached out to comfort her, but Hiyori stepped away from him.
"N-no," she answered as she turned away from him. "He didn't."
"Really?" The god said doubtfully. "He didn't say anything to you?"
Yato could tell Hiyori was distancing herself from him. Physically and mentally. That wasn't like her. That behavior was usually normal on him, but it was concerning to see her using it.
He had to get her back.
"Just that you're a liar…" she muttered with a grimace.
"I still dunno what that means," Yato said, trying to keep his patience.
Hiyori clenched her fists around the edge of her shirt. She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Your father knows about us being together! You lied to me!"
Yato bit his lip nervously and lowered his head in shame. "W-well, technically I didn't lie about that. I just-... d-didn't…- tell you…"
"Then stop hiding things from me!" Hiyori snapped, turning to face him with fury across her expression. "It takes more effort to be dishonest."
Yato felt his heart constrict. His breath shuddered as he opened his mouth to speak. He stared up at Hiyori through his dark locks of hair, pity and remorse in his eyes.
"I was just… trying to protect you..." he exclaimed quietly.
The brunette reacted immediately.
"'Trying to protect me?' Yato - don't you understand how useless that makes me feel?"
The god caught his breath, shamefully rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes dropped to his feet.
"I wanted to help you, but I can't do anything unless you help yourself," Hiyori added. "If you had just told me something was wrong…-"
Even given a thesaurus, Yato wouldn't have been able to find the words - much less form a sentence - to convey it to her. Up until that moment, he thought he could rely on his ability to hold a straight face, but it was quickly failing as his emotions reached the surface.
Hiyori was right. He should've admitted defeat a long time ago. He always had to take the more difficult route.
It had been fear that imprisoned him. It was fear that kept Yato strapped to his father's side all those centuries, but it had also been that same fear that drove him to flee. And even then, as he lived his life away from said father, Yato was just as reckless with his anxieties. He constantly pushed everyone away, avoided all of his problems, and fell inward on himself.
While that powerful horror he'd been burdened with was not an excuse, it was an explanation. Among a handful of other things he owed Hiyori.
"We were supposed to come to each other for anything. Remember...? We made that promise even before we were together…" Hiyori hiccuped, bringing her arm up through Yato's jacket to wipe her face, now wet with her warm tears.
Yato's ears twitched at the sound of her broken voice. He lifted his head, slightly alarmed.
"I'm coming to you now. Please, let me explain…" Yato tried.
His lover remained unmoved, standing with arms crossed over her bump. Her fingers came to touch her temple, and she closed her eyes. Yato was unsure if it was a headache caused by her pregnancy or his incompetence.
"That's not how it works, Yato," she sighed and sniffled through tears, sounding exhausted. "You broke the trust."
She might as well have been conversing with an actual broken record. Nothing was getting solved with his current thought process.
Then, the broken record suddenly switched its tune.
His voice darkened. "What about you, Hiyori? You're lying to me, too."
The question threw Hiyori completely off guard. Her eyes suddenly shifted away from his gaze. She stared out over the balcony, catching the view of the dim street lights below.
"W-what do you mean?" She almost choked out, pulling her sleeves down over her wrists. "Of course I'm not."
"You are. Kazuma told me you're giving her up," the god answered, his fists tightening at his sides.
"I already told you; I'm not doing such a thing!" She cried, trying to be heard. "How could you think that Kazuma-san was telling the truth after he almost drew us apart?"
"How could you believe what my dad was telling you after he almost killed you?"
The god stared down at the brunette, but her glare was much more powerful. She exhaled, as if releasing her frustration.
"Well, what else was I supposed to believe? You weren't there to defend yourself…!" She huffed out, her expression sending daggers into his eyes.
Hiyori tugged off Yato's jersey. She tossed it at him. Yato instinctively caught it.
His expression dropped as the half-Phantom brushed past him to head back inside her brother's apartment. Yato followed shortly after her.
Yukine and Masaomi quickly stumbled over each other as they rushed to hide. Unfortunately, in their attempts to retreat, they collided together and fell to the floor. The noise alerted the couple standing in the living room. They discovered the man and boy on the ground in the hallway.
"H-hey, you guys are awake too?" Masaomi adjusted his glasses, giving his sister a sheepish smile.
Yukine laughed weakly. "What a coincidence!"
Hiyori rolled her eyes and continued towards the room where she slept. "Don't worry, I was just going back to bed," she replied, irritated.
Silence fell upon the remaining three as Hiyori closed the door behind her. Masaomi and Yukine got up to their feet again. Yato headed back to the couch. He sighed as he slumped down on the cushions, feeling defeated.
"How long has she been like this?" Yato had asked, his mind still racing from the argument.
"What - the recklessness, agitation, and avoiding everyone?" Yukine replied as if teasing him.
"Y-yeah…" The god blinked in surprise, wondering how his Regalia immediately understood what he was referring to.
If he was already aware of Hiyori's odd behavior, that would have meant this wasn't new. He feared what Yukine would say next.
"The Hiyori we knew left when you did, Yato. Now you have to fix it."
Yato swallowed hard. His chest felt heavy, his eyes burned with incoming tears. His heart caved in from misery.
While he was apart from her, Yato would pick up on traces of the "new Hiyori." He caught a moment of her grief and anger that night at the karaoke bar. And while he had seen those emotions from her before, Yato never imagined they'd become part of her usual personality. He had to change that before any permanent damage could come to her already aching heart.
"But how?" The god mumbled aloud.
The blonde boy folded his arms, looking toward Masaomi for an answer.
"An apology would be a good start," the man shrugged.
Yukine nodded in agreement with him.
Yato groaned and buried his head in his hands. He also secretly hadn't wanted the other two to be able to see him cry. "But I've already tried apologizing to her! She's just not listening to me…"
"She's vulnerable right now. Whatever you say, just be gentle about it."
For the rest of the night, Yato fought with sleep.
. . . .
"Hey, did you need some-? Woah."
Yukine stopped in the doorway of the bathroom. His casual demeanor vanished when his eyes laid upon the god standing over the sink with purple-stained hands. The blonde boy blinked in shock as he lifted his head to catch his master's face cringing in pain.
"W-what happened? How'd you get that?"
Yato reached for a bottle of labeled shrine water beside him before pouring it over his hands. The cold water ran down his skin, stinging him until his burning wounds evaporated like steam from a smothered flame. As the water drained down the sink, the god only shook his head and scoffed in a foul manner.
"Don't act like you don't know. Take off your shirt."
Yukine stepped backwards, laughing weakly in confusion. "W-what?"
"Just do it."
"No, you're weird!"
"Listen to me, kid-"
Yato lunged forward and grabbed the boy from behind just as he turned to make an escape. Yukine kicked and whined as the god relieved him of his shirt, yanking it off his body. Yato immediately spun him around like a rotisserie chicken. Once his inspection was done, he freed Yukine from his grasp.
He sighed and glared at his Blessed Vessel. "You're clean," he finally said.
"Was that necessary?" Yukine snipped at him, snatching his shirt back from the god.
"Well, there's no Phantoms around that could've given me that Blight," Yato explained, staring down at his renewed hands in thought. "And it was a rather stubborn form of it, too…"
There was a moment of silence before Yukine shrugged.
"Must've been an area we missed from your earlier injuries," he answered nonchalantly.
Yato was quiet as his thoughts continued. He flexed his right hand, noticing his nerves settling.
"Yukine…?"
When the god spoke up again, his voice took a lower octave. The Regalia looked over to see him with his bangs shading his eyes. The atmosphere surrounding them suddenly became gloomy and unpleasant.
Yukine swallowed hard. He waited another long second before the question left his mouth.
"Am I wrong…?" He nearly whispered. "Is Hiyori right? About all of this…?"
"'All of this…?'" Yukine repeated cluelessly.
His eyes wandered a majority of the bathroom as if he'd come across an answer hidden somewhere.
"Uh, I-I dunno…-"
"C'mon, Yukine," Yato rested his hands on the boy's shoulders to gain his attention. "I really need you to be honest for a second."
"Well… if you really wanna know, I think both of you are wrong. You're both stubborn as hell-" Yukine laughed quietly, and some weight lifted from the air as Yato smirked in response, "but... you're both also right. You each have your own side of the story."
Yukine saw as Yato's mind worked behind his eyes for a moment.
"I-I see…"
"If you were looking for a different answer-"
"No." Yato interrupted, shaking his head and letting go of his Regalia's shoulders. "That's okay."
Yato sighed and straightened up. When he did, his face contorted into physical pain. He clutched his other arm, rubbing it vigorously as if to shoo away the dreadful sensation from his body.
Yukine checked him up and down. Concern spread across his expression.
"You should go lay down. You're still not fully healed yet."
Yato shook his head once more, refusing the suggestion. "I'm just-... gonna go for a walk."
As the God of Calamity passed the boy and grabbed his boots by the door, Yukine followed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Yato smiled weakly at Yukine, who was passing him a sympathetic look. "I'll be back soon, don't worry."
"But...- what about…-?"
Yato noticed his orange eyes shift. He followed his gaze, leading right to the room he had been sharing with Hiyori for the past week while Yato was subjected to the couch. The door was closed.
Yato glanced back at his Hafuri. "Don't wake her. She needs rest."
The boy nodded once and watched as his master stepped into his boots before leaving. There was a quietness that followed after.
Then, as he was staring at the front door where the god used to be, Yukine heard a doorknob turning behind him. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw his brunette friend standing there as she rubbed her tired eyes.
"Yukine-kun…?" Hiyori murmured gently. "You're awake?"
She lifted her head and took it in her surroundings. She became increasingly aware of the apartment's stillness. Yukine stared at her from the front door.
He noticed as her mind caught up with her. She stood there, putting two and two together. Once she did, panic rushed over her.
"W-where's Yato…?" Her voice shook with growing anxiety.
"Uhh-" The blonde boy blinked in confusion.
He couldn't understand why Hiyori suddenly seemed so frightened, but he continued.
Yukine pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the door. "You just missed him. He went out-"
"You just let him leave?" Her horrified reaction only caused Yukine to pause in perplexity.
He was still processing the situation when Hiyori rushed past him to quickly slip on her shoes and grab her coat. When Yukine finally turned to face her, she was already swinging open the apartment door and hurrying out.
"H-Hiyori! Wait-!"
The door slammed shut, and the lock clicked as she raced away.
. . . .
"Yato!"
The sound of his name escaping her lips immediately caught his attention. The god spun around to find Hiyori emerging from around the corner.
Tears streamed down her face, her damp cheeks catching her hair against them. The way she was tearing through the wind with no sign of stopping nearly gave him the impression someone was chasing her.
But it was actually the opposite. She was chasing after him.
Yato figured she must have been missing something, and that was the reason she seemed so desperate.
What was it she was forgetting? He didn't know.
With seconds to spare, Hiyori leapt through the elevator doors. She crashed into him, forcing everything she had into it until they stumbled over each other.
As Yato's back hit the wall - as if the force of the impact knocked his brain back into place - he finally realized the thing she had forgotten.
It was him.
The brunette was sobbing hysterically on him. She clutched his jersey, hanging on for dear life.
"D-don't-... leave me again...!" She begged, gasping for air through her thick tears. "I'm sorry...! Please don't go..."
Yato released a breath he had been holding at hearing her broken voice. He bit his lip, now trembling against her brow.
"Hiyori... I wasn't going anywhere..." he whispered. "It's okay…"
For the first time in over a month, Hiyori allowed him to hold her. As he did, Yato felt his unborn child pressing against him as she held herself close. His hand carefully smoothed out her hair as she whimpered into his warm chest.
