"Oi, what the fuck have you been telling her, huh?!" Yukine seethed, lifting Yato off the ground by his shirt.

"Nothing! I didn't get to tell her anything!" Yato panicked, clearly terrified of the much younger boy. Yasumi sighed. Whatever dignity Yato had managed to build up over their conversation was completely and utterly dashed now.

"This is stupid," she said flatly. "I'm leaving."

It happened so fast that she didn't even have time to blink. One second Yukine was pinning Yato down, and the next the so-called god was standing in front of Yasumi, looking down at her imperiously. Even bloodied and bruised, the pure blood-lust and derision in those eyes froze her in place.

This man is going to kill me, and I won't be able to do a thing to stop it, she realized with horror.

"Not another step, Yasumi-san," he said, barely above a whisper. Yukine ran forward, throwing an arm in front of her.

"Don't even think about it!" he said sharply, but Yasumi had the impression that even Yukine was frightened by Yato's change in expression. Yato seemed to notice it too, because he took one look at Yukine and relaxed visibly.

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna hurt her," he said, and though he'd just been beaten half to death, he put a reassuring hand on Yukine's shoulder. "You won't let me kill anyone, right?"

Yukine turned slightly red but lowered his arm. "Obviously," he muttered.

Yato gave him a lopsided smile. "Sorry, I got a little carried away."

"Jeez," Yukine scoffed. "I should kick your ass for even threatening her."

"Uhm, wasn't that already an ass-kicking?" Yasumi interrupted, barely concealing the sheer relief she felt at being alive.

"I've had worse," Yato admitted, cracking his neck. "Anyway, Yukine," he said, addressing his servant. "I wasn't gonna tell her anything that would cause trouble. But she really doesn't know shit, so I at least figured she should know about Ame."

Yukine crossed his arms, glaring suspiciously at him.

"...As long as you keep Kiri out of it and don't go telling her anything Heaven might kill us over, do whatever you want," he said gruffly.

"Yeah, yeah," Yato said, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Well, let's wrap this up before it gets properly dark," he said, nodding at Yasumi. "We can talk while we walk you home."

"Didn't you say you wanted to avoid eavesdroppers?" she asked, making a point to stay behind Yukine, just in case.

"Yukine's here now, so it's fine," Yato explained. "As long as I've got Sekki, most of our enemies know not to fuck with me. At least not out in the open."

"What's Sekki?" she asked, confused.

"Me," Yukine said, with the air of the obvious. "I told you, I'm a Regalia."

"And not just any Regalia," Yato grinned, throwing an arm over Yukine's shoulder. "This kid is a bona fide genius, a Blessed Regalia." Yukine flushed at the praise but looked pleased with himself.

"...Not to diss your fighting skills or anything, Yukine," Yasumi said slowly. "But I don't think you could exactly beat the shit out of Heaven with your bare fists."

Yukine and Yato exchanged a glance and burst into laughter.

"My fists?" Yukine chortled. "Seriously, what the hell, of course I'm not gonna fight anyone with this body," he said, wiping tears of mirth off with his sleeve.

"Not that you're not pretty strong, for a little shrimp," Yato smirked. Yukine stepped on his foot pointedly.

"No one asked you, shithead," he growled as Yato yelped with pain. He turned toward Yasumi and pointed at the spot on his collarbone where his Mark was, under his hoodie. "I'm Yato's servant, but that doesn't mean I just go around running errands or anything. Shinki are like a god's protection, but it does kinda vary on the nature of the god and the individual Regalia what that protection looks like. Sometimes we're armor, or some kind of support object. More often we're weapons, or even animals. I'm a pair of blades," he explained, grinning proudly. "And I can cut pretty much anything."

Yasumi was suddenly reminded of her mother's explanation regarding Regalia as the weapons and Divine Instruments of the gods. That's right...! And now that I think about it, didn't Yukine introduce himself as a weapon to begin with?

"You mean... you can turn into a weapon?"

"That's right," he nodded. "As a vessel, I'm Setsu, so my weapon form is called Sekki. Yeah, I know, it's kinda complicated," he grinned at her bemused expression. "Just remember I'm a couple of swords and you're good."

"Well, he says that," Yato explained as he pointed toward the door, implying they should start walking. "But he was once a shinki that had a human form too."

"Ew, don't bring up something so gross out of nowhere like that!" Yukine said, visibly shivering as he held the door open for her. "T-that was different! And it wasn't 'Yukine' who had that form, it was that other name!"

"Not that this isn't interesting," she said frankly, sensing that they were getting off topic. She let Yukine pass into the stairway as the door shut behind them, unconsciously determined to keep him as a buffer between herself and Yato. "But can we go back to this whole Ame business, please?"

"Yeah, just don't tell her anything unnecessary," Yukine growled, tugging at the back of Yato's scarf. Yato cursed under his breath.

"Ahem," he said a second later, clearing his throat. "Let's see... Ame-no-Mikoto, Lord of the Rain. Despite her name, Ame isn't a weather god," he began. "She's also not a typical god. She existed before she became the divine guardian of your family line, instead of being born from their wish."

"That's rare?"

"Usually gods are born from human wishes," Yukine explained. "But Ame was already a god when she came to your family."

"A god, but a new one," Yato amended. "See, gods have childhoods too, though they last way longer than human ones. Ame was a little kid then. Normally Heaven pays no attention to unknown gods, especially not children, cause so many of them are forgotten and die out pretty quickly. But for some reason or another, Ame ended up attracting attention from Amaterasu-Omikami."

He hopped down several steps, and Yasumi got the feeling that he wasn't being entirely forthcoming.

Well... he did say there were things he couldn't talk about, she thought, frustrated.

"Amaterasu is a pretty fair god... when it suits her," Yato said, scowling. "She doesn't interfere directly in stuff unless it's really important, but she's also completely inflexible. You break a rule, and she's gonna come after you, the little bitch."

Yasumi flinched; she wasn't sure how she felt about someone who was already on Heaven's bad side cursing out the foremost god in all of Shintoism. It seemed unnecessarily dangerous.

"Anyway, for whatever reason, she and the other bigwigs in Heaven decided that Ame was dangerous and sent the Divine army after her. Imagine for a second, the entire fucking army of Heaven, ganging up on a little brat barely this high," he said angrily, holding his fingers an inch apart in an exaggerated gesture. "Being a pretty minor god myself, I was pretty pissed about it when I heard. It's hard enough for us little guys to survive without Heaven picking us off on a whim."

"I heard that some of the more well-known gods were against it too," Yukine said. "The story says one of them took pity on her and sent her one of their own shinki. In order to protect their new master, the shinki took Ame and hid her away in the human world where Heaven couldn't find her."

"Where would you even hide someone from Heaven?!" Yasumi asked.

"The only place to hide," Yato explained. "In plain sight."

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for them to catch up.

"Like I told you, Ame is a god of protection," he continued as they set off for her classroom. The hallways were empty now, though there were students still milling about in the classrooms for various club activities. They passed unnoticed, a trio of ghosts bathed in the scarlet light of a dying sun. Yasumi suppressed a shiver; it felt too much like an omen for her liking. "Her specialty is in defense. She's basically the opposite of a combat god like me. Barriers and spells are all within her abilities. Recognizing that, her Regalia decided that the best way to keep her safe from Heaven was by using a very old, very dangerous kind of magic. By binding her essence to a human bloodline, she could dwell in the bodies that shared that blood."

"You mean... she's in our blood?!" Yasumi paled, suddenly feeling rather sick.

Yukine gave her a pitying glance.

"She's not literally in your bloodstream, you know," he said, not unkindly.

"It is a form of possession, though," Yato said grimly. "A permanent one. Not just any human can handle it. Ame was lucky that at the time this was happening, that Regalia of hers found a Sighted family willing to make the pact with her.

"Back then, your family was struggling. They were pretty powerful, but they attracted too much attention from ayakashi and other things that meant them harm. The last thing they needed was Heaven finding an excuse to attack them. But Ame swore that in exchange for them harboring her, she would divert all her power to protecting them and their land. In the end, they agreed."

"That land is where your family's shrine is now," Yukine said, taking over as Yato reached the classroom and rolled the door open. "Ame's got a permanent barrier around it that prevents ayakashi and evil intentions from crossing it, and which also keeps Heaven from noticing it. As long as Ame is there, and as long as her bloodline lives, then that barrier can't be destroyed."

"There's also a side effect to this particular spell," Yato added as Yasumi hurried to grab her things. "When members of your family leave the shrine, they're exposed, but as long as they have something with Ame's blood on it enshrined in their homes and offer regular prayers, then Ame's protection extends to those places too. You've got a little shrine at home, right? I bet your mother never worries about ayakashi when she's there."

I... now I think about it, he's right, she realized. Mom and the others have always been incredibly anxious and wound-up whenever they go out, but they're always fine at home or at the shrine.

"Th... That's true," Yasumi admitted aloud, shoving her notebook into her bag. "I never really thought about it, but you're right. At the shrine too; my family is always pretty relaxed there, even though they're usually so guarded."

"That's thanks to Ame," Yato confirmed, watching her lazily. "But that's also where you and your job come in."

"Huh?"

Yukine shot Yato a warning look. "Nothing unnecessary," he reminded him coldly.

"I know, you don't gotta shove it down my throat, you little shit," Yato said, roughly tousling the boy's hair. Yukine slapped him away, muttering something about sweaty hands. Yato shrugged, closing his eyes and leaned back against the open door. "In exchange for her protection, Ame requires a physical bond with a living person from her bloodline. Every fifty years or so, she has to switch hosts to keep the barrier spell from breaking. The problem is, the ritual for switching hosts means that for a short time, her protections get really weak. Weak enough that any god determined enough to find her might notice something off about the space around the shrine. There's also the problem of finding a host strong enough to safeguard her essence. Luckily, we don't have to worry about that part." He opened one eye and fixed it on her.

Yasumi realized what he was about to say a split second before he did.

"You'll do," he said.


"I just don't get it," Masaomi complained. "Even though you finally got over that flu, you're still dragging your feet around all over the place like a zombie or something, Hiyori."

Hiyori groaned pitifully from the couch, where she'd curled up with a plush animal.

"I can't help it, I'm so tired," she moaned. "Don't you have anything to make me feel better?"

"Normally I'd say it was your narcolepsy acting up, but you seem even more lethargic than usual," he said, touching her forehead. "No fever or anything, as far as I can tell. Stress or depression might explain it..." he lowered his voice to a whisper. "I don't suppose you broke up with your boyfriend or anything?"

"No!" she muttered back. "I told you, I just feel all gross and heavy and sleepy. I can't still have the virus in my system, can I?"

"Not after three weeks," Masaomi said, frowning. "I thought you were fine when you started going back to school, but now I keep having to go get you in the middle of the day. What was it this time, dizziness?"

"Yeah, I almost fell down the stairs," she sighed, covering her eyes with the back of her hand. "It wasn't the usual sleepiness either, I just couldn't see straight, and I felt all wobbly."

"Maybe the virus caused some lingering damage somewhere," he mused. "I could do some blood tests, if you'd like to be on the safe side?"

"Okay," she agreed.

He brought a kit from the clinic down the hall and some ten minutes later he'd filled several vials with her blood.

"Wait here, I'll go to the hospital get them rushed through the lab. I'll be back with the results," he said, labeling each vial carefully with her name.

She waved him off and lay against the sofa sleepily.

She woke up from a short nap suddenly, her cellphone vibrating in her pocket.

Yato, she registered as she flicked the phone open. "Hello?" she answered sleepily.

"Hiyori? I came looking for you at school and didn't see you. Where are you?"

"Home," she groaned. "I feel sick again."

"Again?!"

There was a flash and then he was there, phone pressed to his ear and Yukine at his side.

"Hiyori, you okay?!" Yukine fussed, sitting at her side. "I thought you got better!"

"I thought so too, Yukine-kun," she said. "My brother is gonna do some blood tests to make sure there's nothing too bad going on, don't worry."

Yato put a knuckle to his lips, thinking.

"It doesn't seem like a cold or anything," he mused to himself. "No fevers, no coughing or sneezing, just fatigue, drowsiness..."

"Nausea," Hiyori said weakly, swallowing it down.

"And body aches," Yato finished. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were pregnant."

Yukine choked and Hiyori made a noise between laugh and a scoff.

"That is not funny," Yukine scowled.

"It's completely ridiculous," Hiyori said, rolling her eyes. "In order to get pregnant, I'd have to-" She suddenly remembered and went completely scarlet. "NO! NO WAY!" she cried.

"Wait, wait, it's okay!" Yato said, quickly. "First of all, I'm a god, so it's not really something I can do... I think," he said, unconvincingly. "But more importantly, you're still a virgin, right? I never touched your body."

"I'm not listening to this!" Yukine said fiercely, clamping his hands over his ears and shutting his eyes tightly. "I can't hear shit!"

"Th-that's true," Hiyori admitted, calming down a bit as Yukine loudly chanted nonsense to drown them out.

"Yeah, so unless you're seeing a human behind my ba-" Yato suddenly paled and burst into tears. "YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME?! HIYORI, HOW COULD YOU?!"

"I AM NOT!" she shrieked, throwing her stuffed animal at him. "HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT, YOU STUPID IDIOT?!"

"THEN WHOSE KID IS IT, HUH?! TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

"I AM NOT PREGNANT, YOU SON OF A-"

Her phone rang again.

"Masaomi-nii-san?" she answered immediately, even as she tightened her arm around Yato's neck.

"Hiyori, you have got to be kidding me!" her brother's voice said angrily. "What were you thinking?!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"You're pregnant, goddamnit! You're a doctor's daughter, how could you be stupid enough not to-"

Hiyori dropped the phone.

"H-Hiyori?" Yukine asked timidly, lowering his hands at her expression. "What happ-"

"Y-you're... you're telling me," she said in a harsh whisper. "You're telling me that the... the Christians... THE CHRISTIANS WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG?!" she screamed, all but breaking Yato's neck in her fury.

"OW! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I CAN'T BREATHE!" Yato cried, scrabbling to get free.

"YOU!" she shrieked. "IT NEVER CROSSED YOUR MIND TO WARN ME THAT IMMACULATE CONCEPTION WAS A REAL THING?!"

"THE HELL IS THAT?!"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YATOGAMI!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! YUKINE! HELP ME!"

"I can't hear SHIT!" Yukine shouted angrily into the chaos. "You got yourself into this, you can get yourself out!"


Yasumi dropped her bag, shaking with terror.

"M-me?" she said, trembling. "B-but...!"

"Don't say things so misleadingly," Yukine scowled, kicking Yato in the shin. "Relax, Yasumi. It's not what you think."

"Every single one of you, you're always hitting me!" Yato whined, rubbing his leg.

"That's cause you keep doing shit to deserve it," Yukine said coldly. He turned to face Yasumi, hands in his pockets. "When we say 'host', it just means that you become something like... a resonator." He explained. "Ame doesn't take over your body or anything."

Yasumi sighed with relief. "Okay, good. It did sound kind of fake, like something out of science fiction."

"Oh, but I can do that," Yato said casually. "Divine Possession."

Yasumi immediately looked at Yukine for confirmation. To her horror he nodded grimly.

"Don't worry though, he can't do it on just anyone. It has to be someone he's really close to."

Talking to these two is exhausting, she thought, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She felt like she'd aged several years just from the constant anxiety of having bombshells dropped and defused over her.

"What does a... resonator... do?" she asked, kneeling down to pick up her things.

"Ame will transfer some of her essence directly into your body," Yato explained. "Her main form and consciousness will remain at the shrine, but her spirit will be part of you. That's how she keeps herself hidden from Heaven, and also how she collects the energy she needs to keep the barrier going."

Yasumi frowned. She didn't like this much at all.

"What happens to me after?"

"For the most part? Nothing," Yato shrugged. "You'll still be you, you'll grow up and have a normal lifespan and all that. The only thing is that you'll have to go to the shrine once a month to reconnect with Ame, and that you'll be targeted by ayakashi and possibly Heaven if they find out you're a vessel."

"... And if I refuse?"

"Ame will be found by Heaven, and the barrier will break. Your family will likely be executed to destroy Ame's bloodline. Takamagahara spares no one it considers a threat," said Yukine, his eyes full of anger.

She gulped.

"Even me and my mom?"

"Everyone."

She looked at Yato, remembering something else. "Y-you said that when I got my Sight, Ame-no-Mikoto would die," she said slowly. "But you just said she's going to possess me in order to stay alive."

Yato nodded. "I said that because when Ame switches hosts, it's a little bit like a reincarnation," he said, and Yasumi detected a hint of bitterness in his tone. "Her memories are wiped and she starts anew. The Ame I knew, the one I originally meant to help, she was replaced a long time ago. The one who you'll inherit will also be a new incarnation."

"Oh... that's why you said I won't be able to see her," she realized. "That Ame will be gone. Then... why me? Why pick the one person in the clan who doesn't have the Sight?"

"It's not really a matter of choice," Yukine explained. "When the time nears for the host to change, the nature of the spell finds the most suitable branch of the bloodline to transfer to. When we got the job, we were told it was someone in your household, so we assumed it was Kobayashi Hana. But for whatever reason, the auger led us to you. If you've been chosen, then you will get the Sight, and all the other spiritual abilities that Ame needs to survive."

Yasumi nodded, feeling strangely empty.

"I have one more question," she said as they left the classroom and Yasumi returned Yato's jersey.

"What?" he asked.

"What does any of this have to do with you?"

Yukine and Yato exchanged a meaningful glance.

"I owe Ame for something from a long time ago," Yato said, not quite meeting Yasumi's eyes. "I couldn't really turn down the person who asked us to help either."

"Besides," Yukine said. "We're part of Takamagahara, but we're no friends of Amaterasu-Omikami. We've got our own secrets we don't want her prying into." He opened his phone and typed something quickly. "Yato, you should go ahead and check in at home. I can walk Yasumi home on my own."

Yato hesitated.

"Er, I should probably come, just in case..."

Yukine squinted suspiciously.

"What did you do?" he asked coldly.

"Uhm... er... nothing... I think?"

"I've only known you for like two hours and even I can tell you're full of it," Yasumi scoffed.

"Go home, asshole," Yukine said, punching Yato on the shoulder. "Whatever you did, you'll deserve the beating."

"You're so cruel, Yukine," Yato sniffed, but he still pulled out his phone and dialed.

"What the hell do you want, idiot?" a vaguely familiar voice said loudly through the receiver. Yasumi suddenly realized it belonged to the woman she'd seen fighting with Yato during PE.

"Every single one of you!" Yato wailed, but then there was a flash of light and he vanished.

"WHOA, what the hell was that?!" Yasumi cried.

"Just a stupid couple, ignore them," Yukine snorted, stepping through the front doors and into the cool evening air.

"... That's not what I meant."

"I know," he said with a coy smile. "By the way, I hope you don't mind taking the scenic route, I prefer to stay in well-lighted areas when I can."

"As long as I get home in one piece."

"Regalia's honor."


"Hiyori? Are you okay in there?"

"OBVIOUSLY not!" she shouted, crouched miserably against the door to her bedroom. "I told you to leave me alone!"

There was a faint rustling sound and then a soft thud as he sat on the other side of the door.

"I'm not going anywhere," Yato said quietly. "We have to talk."

Hiyori buried her face into her knees.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said bitterly. "I'm mad at you right now."

"Yeah, I know..."

"... I'm so stupid," she said, fighting tears. "I know better, I should have insisted on protection. It didn't even occur to me, and then when I remembered it was just my apparition form, I thought it was fine. I'm such a stupid idiot."

"Hiyori... I'm sorry, I didn't think about it either," he sighed. "I've actually never heard of this happening between a human and a god. Especially not when the human wasn't even in their own physical body. It's my fault for being careless and ignorant. Please let me in, and we can have a proper conversation about what to do, okay?"

"No," she insisted.

"I'm worried about you, Hiyori," he said softly. "Please... don't shut me out. I know this is scary and impossible, but I won't let you do it all by yourself. I'm right here, I'll always be right here with you."

Hiyori sniffled.

"Do you have pudding?" she asked sullenly.

He shook a plastic bag. "Yukine brought a bunch before he went home."

"... Ok," she said, standing up to open the door. He fell backwards, startled, and blinked up at her with his wide, cat-like eyes.

"Delivery God Yato, at your service," he said, holding the bag up. She took it and settled on the floor next to him, not even bothering to hide the tears of frustration as she ripped a pudding cup open and spooned it into her mouth. He simply watched her from the ground, letting her process her feelings however she needed to.

"Your brother saw me," he admitted as she ripped open a second cup. "He looked like he remembered me too. But I guess he thought it was more important that we talk first, 'cause he left me alone."

"Mm," she said flatly, concentrating on her pudding.

"You should call Yukine later, he was really worried."

"Mm."

"... Should we get married?"

She choked and spat her pudding all over her shirt.

"What?!"

"You don't have to hate it that much," he said, hurt. "Isn't that the right thing to do?"

She sighed. She felt exhausted, so tired that all she wanted to do was curl up under the bed and never wake up again.

"It's not that simple," she said, wiping the pudding off herself with a napkin. "I'm still in high school, Yato. I'm supposed to go to college this year! I still live with my parents, and there's no way they'll be okay with any of this. I don't even think we can get married; do you even exist in government records? How would we register?! My family would forget you immediately, and anyway, it's not like either of us have a proper job. We don't even have somewhere to live! How in the world would we raise a child?!" She fished through the bag for a third pudding cup and tugged it open. "There's no one 'right' thing to do, even if we were both human and prepared for this kind of thing," she said.

"Then... you don't want it, Hiyori?" he asked, a little sadly. "It's... it's ok if you don't, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to."

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I just don't know right now."

He nodded.

"How much does it cost?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"What?"

"The surgery," he said, staring straight up at the ceiling. "I'd like to pay for it, if you decide to do that. It's the least I should do, though I'll have to start saving right away."

Hiyori put her empty cup down.

"Yato..."

He gave her a sad smile. "It's okay, Hiyori. I'll fix this however I can. I promise."

Hiyori reached out to touch his cheek.

"You look like you're going to cry, Yato," she said, her heart aching at his expression.

"Eh? No, I'm... I'm fine," he said, even as a single, fat tear rolled down the corner of his eye and onto her fingertip.

"Liar," she said softly.

He grit his teeth and raised his arm to cover his eyes.

"Sorry," he said, his voice low and unsteady. "I'm so lame. I was trying to be strong for you, but... I don't know, I feel like something here is breaking," he said, clutching his chest. "I don't know what's wrong with me, I don't even know if I'm sad, or happy, or upset-"

"I know, me too," she said, lowering herself to the ground so she could lie against him. He wrapped an arm around her, sniffling.

"Is it so bad that I feel really hurt, thinking about getting rid of it?" he asked uncertainly.

"No," she said, crying quietly into his side. "You get to have feelings and opinions about this too."

"Even if they're different from yours?"

"Y-yeah," she said, embracing him tightly. "What you want is important too. You... You're the father, aren't you?"

She knew saying it would hurt him, but she also knew he needed to hear it before he could manage to face the impossible choice with a clear heart and mind.

Just as she expected, he broke into full sobs, sounding much more like a wounded child than someone's parent.

Notes: I previously wrote that Nora was Ebisu's shinki cause I totally forgot she actually IS his shinki in canon... so I changed it for now, but I have a suspicion the replacement has the same problem; I just can't remember. ^^; Also don't look at me I'm not crying. I don't get ridiculously attached to my characters' emotional states when writing, I DON'T! *cries in father issues*