June arrived with a vengeance that year, accompanied by a fierce storm that pelted the region with rain and lightning for days. There were worries that it might become a typhoon and shut down the city, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Still, the bad weather persisted for over a week, and Hiyori couldn't help but wonder if nature were trying to match the chaos currently strewn across her bedroom floor.
"I told you we should've used the instructions!" Yukine said angrily, holding two pieces of wood and trying to figure out where they needed to be screwed together. He and Yato were both kneeling on the floor with the disassembled contents of a do-it-yourself crib, littered over the carpet like a botched murder scene.
Masaomi had bought it a few weeks earlier, but completely forgotten to set it up; Yato, sensing an opportunity for an easy 5 yen, offered to do it as an official job when he found out. Too busy to be bothered, her brother paid up and left him to it.
Unfortunately, while Yato had no problem building things from scratch, he was also arrogant, so upon finding Yukine reading the instructions, he'd snatched them out of the boy's hands and ripped them up in a rash show of confidence.
"You get it, Yukine?! A man doesn't need to use a stupid guide for something so simple!" he'd declared proudly.
"ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT?!" Yukine roared, but in the end the instructions were too mangled to fix, so they began the slow, torturous process of trying to understand how to put the crib together while Hiyori did her best to salvage what she could from the scraps of paper so they wouldn't have to work totally blind.
"We don't need instructions!" Yato insisted grumpily, attaching the rounded bars to what Hiyori sincerely hoped was the rail. "I've built cribs before! Just how long do you think-"
"'-I've been a god?'" Yukine finished for him in a mocking tone. "Building something from scratch is completely different from putting together something that was pre-manufactured, stupid!"
"Oh, Yukine-kun, that piece goes on... I think it's that long bit over there?" Hiyori said uncertainly from her seat at the edge of the bed. She leaned forward to give him the scrap of paper with the diagram and groaned with discomfort as she straightened back up again. "Ow," she complained, rubbing her lower back.
"Hiyori?" Yato asked, tense.
"It's just a backache," she reassured him hastily with a wave of her hand. "I slept on it wrong I think, it's been hurting all morning." Her due date was in a few days, and Yato kept panicking every time she winced or felt winded. She couldn't really blame him; she was still on the smaller end of the pregnancy spectrum, but Hiyori felt like her body was being weighed down by several bowling balls, and it was impossible to find a comfortable position to do anything without some form of ache or sharp pain. She just wished his anxiety weren't so contagious.
He shoved the crib pieces aside and got to his feet so he could sit with her and massage her back for her. "Better?"
Hiyori sighed with relief and nodded. "Yeah, a little. Thank you."
"I can go get Masaomi-san, Hiyori," Yukine offered.
"No, I'm okay, Yukine-kun," she said with a small shake of the head. "It's just the usual. My mother deserves an award for doing this twice," she admitted, stretching her shoulders. "Then again, she wasn't eighteen years old."
"Or nineteen," Yukine corrected automatically. Her birthday was only a few days away, and there were running bets on just how close the baby's birthday would be to hers. Yukine had bet on it being afterward, and seemed to think that saying it aloud might persuade the child to do just that.
"Eighteen used to be considered pretty old to be having your first kid," Yato said as he pressed his thumbs against her hip. "But trust me, whether they were thirteen or thirty, pregnancy and childbirth has never been easy. Nowadays you have a little more leeway with epidurals and painkillers and surgical help if things get too dangerous, but it's still one of the most difficult ordeals humans have to go through. Since I was young, I always thought women deserved to be fucking deified for doing this even just once; I definitely still think that."
"I feel like I should ask why you know so much about pregnant women," Hiyori said suspiciously.
"Hmm? I don't, really. I just got a lot of jobs to look after newborns or to protect mothers while traveling and stuff like that," Yato said simply, oblivious. "I even assisted a midwife once; I didn't do much except boil water and hand her things she needed, but I definitely never took pregnancy for granted again after that."
"Trust me, If I could make you do it for me, I would in a heartbeat," Hiyori told him flatly. He leaned his head on her shoulder.
"Sorry," he said in a childish voice. "Not sorry," he added a second later, stealing a quick kiss. Hiyori smacked his arm angrily as he pulled away.
"Jeez, go help Yukine-kun and clean up this mess already," she snapped, her cheeks warm.
"But your back-!"
"I'm fine!" she lied, irrationally annoyed by his hovering. He pouted at her, his eyes huge and guileless, but she wasn't having it. "Go."
"Fine," he sniffed. "Sorry kid, Tou-san has to go fix your bed now," he said, pressing a palm to her stomach affectionately. "Yeah, I know, Kaa-san is a real slave driver- WAH! Okay! I'm going!" he whined as she shoved him forward.
"We could've been done by now," Yukine grumbled, hammering a peg in. "But noooo, not in Yatogami's household! You ever tear up an instruction manual in front of me again and it's you I'll be hammering down," he snarled as Yato rejoined the effort.
"We don't need it!" Yato said stubbornly. Hiyori and Yukine shared an exhausted glance.
"You won't mind if I kill him, Hiyori?" Yukine asked her seriously.
"As long as it's not in my room," she said flatly.
"YOU GUYS ARE SO MEAN!"
"Oh shut the fuck up and get those damned bars in place already," Yukine scolded, holding the hammer out like a weapon. "You want your kid to sleep on the floor? Or get crushed if this thing falls apart cause you were too busy being a pain in the fucking ass to secure all the parts? Yeah, I didn't think so."
"There's nothing wrong with sleeping on a futon," Yato grumbled as he worked. "Kids have done it for thousands of years, cribs are relatively new imports from the west-"
"I don't have a futon in this house," Hiyori said. "I have a bed, and sleeping in a bed with an infant is dangerous."
"Well we can all sleep together at Kofuku's place, so who cares?"
"We can't spend every night at Kofuku-san's, Yato!" she exclaimed. "I still live here for the time being!"
"If you'd just accept my proposals already-" he muttered petulantly.
Hiyori threw a pillow at him. "I'm not gonna move out of my parents' house just to freeload off Kofuku-san for the rest of my life," she huffed. "Ask again when you have an actual apartment or house for us to live in. All four of us," she added before he could suggest something ridiculous.
Yato sat cross-legged on the floor, hugging the pillow sullenly.
"You always say no when I ask you to marry me," he whined, pouting. "Don't you love me anymore, Hiyori?"
Yukine threw his screwdriver at him, narrowly missing taking out his eye. "Don't even start with that bullshit manipulative garbage," he warned. "We've been over this a hundred times, legal marriage would make all this way harder than it has to be. There's nothing wrong with a verbal promise to be together; it's how people used to do it all the time, ain't it?"
"I know," Yato whined, falling over onto his side dramatically. "But I wanna be recognized as Hiyori's husband, even if it's just one time! It's been my dream to marry her for ages-"
"Just how many dreams do you even have?!" Hiyori asked irritably.
"Well, you gotta dream big or you'll never get anywhere in life," Yato said seriously.
"Says the perpetually unemployed freeloader," Yukine said with a snort.
"I have a job!"
"Now," Yukine said, rolling his eyes. "And only because Hiyori's parents won't let you within ten miles of this house without one. You do know that they ask me if you're really working every time they see me, right?"
"Well maybe they wouldn't need to ask if we were married," Yato sulked. Hiyori groaned aloud and fell back onto her bed in protest.
"Enough already," she sighed.
"It's true!"
"You're so fucking needy," Yukine snarled. "Don't you know how lucky you already are?! You're just a dumb minor god but you're properly recognized enough to have a seat in the Heavens, you've got a shrine, you've got one of only three Blessed Regalia in existence, you've got Hiyori, who, by the way, isn't just your insanely out-of-your-league girlfriend but also the believer who keeps you from disappearing, and you've even got a biological kid, a literal child of god, who's gonna be born any day now! Learn to be fucking happy with the blessings you already have, for fuck's sake!"
"I know that!" Yato whined. "But Yukineeeee-"
He was interrupted by a sudden whack over the head with a rather heavy looking piece of wood and fell over, dazed.
"Yato!" Hiyori exclaimed, but Yukine wasn't done yet.
"It's fine, he won't die from something like that," he scoffed, looming over Yato ominously. "Seriously, think about how your selfishness affects the rest of us for once, asshole! You have everything you fucking need, who cares if some dumb human law says Hiyori is your wife or not?! Gods, you're exhausting! Just shut up already!"
Yato sniffled, gingerly rubbing the bruise Yukine had left. "Stupid brat, you didn't have to hit me..."
"Hah?! You talking back to me, shithead?!" Yukine snarled, bouncing the wooden beam over his shoulder menacingly.
"N-no, absolutely not, sir!" Yato yelped.
"Good. Now shut the fuck up and help me with this part over here-"
Hiyori watched them work, deep in thought. It was only natural for Yukine to be angry. Yato was being unreasonable, and he was also unknowingly hurting Yukine by forgetting that everything he was taking for granted were things no Regalia could ever have. It would hurt any child to hear their father saying the existence they treasured more than anything wasn't enough for them. But Hiyori also knew that Yukine wasn't the only wounded child in the room, and though Yato probably wasn't even aware of it, the rejected proposals were probably weighing heavily on his already anxious heart.
Sorry, Yato, she thought, hugging a pillow to her chest as he and Yukine slowly brought the crib together piece by piece. If it were just a matter of you and me, that would be one thing... but I have to put the child first.
She closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. It wasn't just Yato who had a whole list of things to be thankful for beyond their imminent parenthood. That a god, a dead spirit, and a half-ayakashi could even sit together in this room and do something as mundane as setting up a crib was nothing short of miraculous, even by a god's standards. Despite having broken a fundamental law of Heaven, they had been able to live in relative peace thanks to the support of their allies in Takamagahara, and Yato and Yukine's infamy was enough of a deterrent to most of the loyalist gods that they could get away with some level of carelessness, just as they always had. Yes, they were constantly afraid that their luck would run out, but Hiyori knew she mustn't overlook their time together and the friends that kept them safe for anything other than the blessings they were.
She truly was extraordinarily lucky... lucky to be in good health, lucky to have met Yato and Yukine, lucky to have so many people who cared about them... lucky enough to have suffered and struggled as a human being to reach this point, and to have had the chance to understand that that too was also a blessing, one she would never take for granted no matter what fate had in store for her.
The urgency in the girl's voice was so pronounced that despite Yukine's warnings, Yasumi hurried forward to unlatch the window. She'd barely unlocked it when the girl threw it open from the outside and jumped into her bedroom, slamming it shut behind her without hesitation.
"I'm sorry!" she apologized immediately with a small bow. "I know coming here like this is rude-"
"How did you even get inside the barrier?!" Yasumi asked, blinking hard. For some reason, it was really hard to focus on the girl despite the fact that she was standing right in front of her, so close that Yasumi could reach out and touch her white haori. It was like she was blurry around the edges, like she might disappear if Yasumi didn't put in all her energy into keeping her image clear. "Yukine said he and Yato were the only ones with permission-"
The girl shook her head. "I don't know, I just followed Yukine-kun's scent and Nora-chan's directions and it let me in-"
"Nora? Who's that?" Yasumi frowned, wondering where she'd heard that name before.
"Later, right now the most important thing is- ah!" the girl exclaimed with the air of remembering something suddenly. "That's right, you don't even know who I am-"
"I saw you once," Yasumi said slowly, her head pounding angrily. "You're Yatogami's lover, aren't you?"
The girl blushed deep crimson but to Yasumi's surprise she shook her head and waved her hands in a desperate denial.
"It's, it's complicated-!" she began, and Yasumi was struck again by how pretty and charming the girl was. She seemed to struggle with her words for a second before regaining her senses. "Never mind, It's not important!" she said anxiously, glancing out the window with concern. "Listen, I never meant to interfere, but something bad is coming, you have to leave the house now!"
Yasumi frowned, squinting to prevent the girl from vanishing from her sight. "Why? The barrier-"
"The barrier is about to fall!" the girl said, grabbing Yasumi's wrist and yanking her toward the open door. Even her touch felt odd, like it was somehow far away, but still imminent enough to hurt when she pulled, hard. "We have to go, right now!"
"Ow!" Yasumi exclaimed, tugging her arm away. "I have no idea what you're talking about! I don't even know you! Yukine told me to stay put-"
"Yukine-kun doesn't know about this yet!" the girl cried, frantically patting a pair of sewn in pockets on her hakama and coming up empty. "Of all the times to forget my stupid phone!" she wailed angrily. "I'll explain everything later, Yasumi-chan, I swear, but even if I could reach them, Yukine-kun and Yato are fighting right now! They won't be able to get here in time so you need to hurry!"
Yasumi had never been one to think before acting, but she couldn't help remembering Yukine and Yato's frightening warnings about Ame and the terrible things waiting outside the barrier if she left.
"Wait, what about the ayakashi?! Or Heaven?! What about my mom when she comes home from work?!"
"That's exactly why we have to get out of here! They won't hurt your family until they're sure you're the one they're looking for, and they won't risk causing damage to the Near Shore if they can't help it. Come on!" the girl shouted, holding out her hand. Yasumi wasn't sure why, but it was hard to doubt the note of panic in the girl's voice or the real fear in her eyes. Yukine had told Yasumi to stay away, but he'd also never said anything about the girl being untrustworthy. It was probably safer to follow her, even if Yasumi had no idea what exactly it was they were supposed to be running from.
She hesitated only for a second and then took the girl's hand.
Their fingers had barely touched when the girl hurtled through the door, half dragging Yasumi behind her at top speed. They sprinted down the hallway, but when they reached the stairs, the girl grabbed Yasumi bodily around the waist as though she were weightless and jumped over the railing directly into the entrance hall, ignoring Yasumi's shriek of terror as they landed soundlessly. "Sorry, no time-" the girl said quickly, yanking her by the arm again and rushing into the parlor. "There should be a shrine, a talisma-" She spotted the altar in the corner and abruptly stopped dead, her clear, brown eyes becoming strangely unfocused.
A nasty feeling ran up Yasumi's spine and she shivered at the glazed-over look on the girl's face.
"Uhm, are you alright?" she asked, frightened. Thankfully as soon as Yasumi spoke, the girl blinked and seemed to come back to her senses.
"The talisman! Ame-no-Mikoto's relic!" she cried, "I don't know which it is-"
Yasumi realized what she meant and snatched up Ame's figurine from among the rest. "This one," she said, but before she could hand it over the girl was pulling her along again and throwing the glass door open.
"Oh, for the love of the gods!" the girl gasped as she glanced at the sky. "All that just for one human girl?!" Yasumi's neck cracked painfully as she looked up. There was nothing there.
Or was there? The sky had been clear just a little while ago, but now the clouds seemed to be rolling in with a cold, unnatural breeze. Worse, the more she stared, the more her head hurt, and Yasumi realized that whatever she was failing to see, it was hidden from sight because it was part of the Far Shore.
Something is coming, she knew, her heart catching in her throat.
"They can't see us yet, we have to get out before the barrier fails-" the girl insisted, leading her around the house and toward the garden gate. "Hold on to me!" she ordered, holding out an arm. Yasumi barely had time to put a hesitant hand on her slim arm before the girl abruptly lifted her up and effortlessly threw Yasumi over her shoulder. In one fluid motion she had leapt over the gate, ignoring Yasumi's startled yelp, and hurtled down the alleyway at top speed.
"I fucking hate you right now."
"Yeah well, I fucking love you anyway, runt, so quit complaining and get lifting!"
With a massive effort, Yukine managed to lift the almost completed crib high enough for Yato to quickly disassemble a part they'd put in the wrong spot and replace it with the proper one.
"Hurry up!" Yukine seethed. Yato clicked his tongue but worked faster anyway. Dead he might be, and able to do a hell of a lot more than most kids his age, but Yukine wasn't exactly the strongest when it came to heavy lifting. Yato would have let him fix the bad part instead, except he was too neurotic to let the boy risk stripping the screws or breaking something in his haste to repair the mistake.
"A bit higher," Yato ordered, and Yukine grunted through gritted teeth but did as he was asked. It took a minute or two to secure everything properly, but at last with one last turn of the screwdriver, Yato ducked out from under the crib's frame and Yukine let it down with a heavy sigh of relief. "Heh, easy," Yato grinned.
Yukine glared at him.
"Die."
"It wasn't that heavy!"
"No, but it took three times longer than it should have to put it all together because you fucking ripped up the instructions!"
"It would have taken the same amount of time!" Yato insisted, too proud to give in to Yukine's logic. "And shhh! You're gonna wake Hiyori!" he hissed, lowering his voice as he pointed frantically toward the bed, where Hiyori had dozed off against the wall a few hours earlier. "She needs her rest!"
"Tch! As if I didn't already know that!" Yukine snapped, but he lowered his voice anyway. A flash of lightning illuminated the window, and Yukine glanced at the clock on Hiyori's desk. "Though... it is about lunchtime, maybe we should wake her?"
"Give her a bit longer," Yato said, picking up the pieces of cardboard and spare materials from the floor. "If you're too hungry to wait, Hiyori's mom said it was okay if we ate some of the leftovers from last night."
"Actually, she said I could have them. She specifically told you to find your own food," Yukine said frankly, giving the crib a firm shake to make sure it was sturdy.
"Hmph, I just don't get that woman," Yato grumbled. "Even though she always says I'm not allowed to be alone with Hiyori, she lets you do whatever you want."
"Yeah, well, I didn't knock up her teenage daughter," Yukine scoffed. "And unlike you, I put in an effort to stay on her good side. But it's ok, there's not much in the way of leftovers anyway so I'll go and make something so Hiyori can have a proper meal when she wakes up. Here, gimme that," he said gruffly, taking the trash off Yato's hands. "You should go and sit down for a while too, you didn't sleep much right?"
Yato opened his mouth to lie but decided it was best not to. "... Yeah, Hiyori moaned a lot in her sleep so I was worried," he admitted.
"She does that all the time, idiot," Yukine sighed grumpily. "She sleep talks and everything, you know that."
"Well, yeah, but I couldn't stop thinking that maybe it was different-"
"I doubt even Hiyori could sleep through a real contraction," Yukine said, tucking the cardboard under his arm. "You're the one who's lived for ages, you should know better than a kid with a handful of parenting books that labor isn't something you can just casually miss. So just go the fuck to sleep for a bit, I'll come get you both when the food's ready."
"Fine, fine," Yato said tiredly as Yukine left and closed the door behind him. "Man, that kid is too sharp for his own good," he muttered to himself, scratching the back of his neck. Outside, the rain picked up in intensity, battering the window loudly. He glanced at Hiyori, who was still sound asleep despite all the noise. "What I wouldn't give for a little bit of that peace of mind right now," he chuckled fondly, stepping forward to brush the hair from her face.
"Hey, Hiyori," he said gently. "You shouldn't sleep like that, lie down properly."
Hiyori groaned sleepily, her brow furrowing.
"Hiyori, oiii... can you hear me, sleepyhead?" he asked, tapping her shoulder.
Her eyes blinked slowly open as she stirred, gazing up at him without really seeing him.
"Hmm?" she asked, rubbing her eye with a cute, innocent sort of gesture. "Yato...?"
"The one and only, at your service," he said with a small smile, stifling the urge to sweep her up into a tight, reckless hug. "Have a good nap?"
She yawned. "Nap?" She glanced out the window; the light was as gray and lifeless as it had been all morning. "Did I...?" she asked, confused.
"Just for a couple of hours or so," he reassured her. "The rain makes you sleepy, doesn't it? I wouldn't have woken you, but I was worried you'd get a cramp in that uncomfortable position."
"I'm okay," she said. "... Where's Yukine-kun?"
"Downstairs, making lunch," he said. "You hungry?"
She shook her head. "Not yet," she said, fighting her drowsiness.
"Wanna lie down?" he asked, rubbing her back comfortingly. She leaned against his shoulder.
"It hurts more when I lie down," she said, touching his hand. He turned it over automatically so her fingers could rest in his palm.
"Then I'll be your pillow," he said, more than a little pleased to have any excuse to hold her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and adjusted their positions so she could sleep soundly against him, her cheek pressed to his arm.
"You smell good," she murmured into his sleeve sleepily. "I love this scent more than anything..."
The physiological response was instant. Yato felt his heart pound violently against his chest as the heat flooded into his face and he had to fight off several inappropriate thoughts before his body gave him away. It had been quite a while since the last time he'd allowed himself to give in to his lust, and he had no intention of indulging it any time soon, not while Hiyori still had so much pain and discomfort to deal with. It was the absolute least he could do as the one responsible for her pregnancy, but that didn't mean he could control every stupid thought or impulse that ran through his head.
He cleared his throat, focusing on a spot on the wall as he tried to conjure up the image of Yukine's utter disgust if he knew Yato had entertained a dirty thought for even half a second.
Hiyori sighed contentedly, completely oblivious to the silent war playing out in his head.
"Mm... even... don't marr... I... lo...," she mumbled, her words lost as her breath evened out.
"Hmm? I didn't catch that, what'd you say?" he asked, but she was already asleep, her chest rising and falling gently. He gave a small hum and leaned against the bedpost, stroking her hair. "Sorry for being such a pain in the ass earlier, I know I was being selfish," he murmured aloud. "Yukine's right, a verbal promise is more than enough; our fates will always be intertwined, Hiyori. I swear it."
The girl put Yasumi down once they were a safe distance from the house, but they didn't stop there. They ran wordlessly through a maze of streets for what felt like ages, taking seemingly random turns and out of the way alleys at every opportunity. The girl was fast, faster than anyone Yasumi had ever seen, though part of it may have been her strangely graceful movements as she dodged obstacles or hopped over walls with all the ease of a cat. Keeping up took all of Yasumi's strength and stamina, so that by the time they finally came to a stop near a park in the other side of town, she was clutching a sharp stitch in her side and gasping for dear life.
"Wh-What the hell was all that?!" She wheezed, collapsing against a tree. In sharp contrast, the girl was only mildly winded, patting her chest a couple of times as though telling her heart it was fine to calm down. Yasumi didn't recognize the area at all, but as soon as the park had come into view the girl had breathed a sigh of obvious relief.
"It's okay, we'll be safe here," the girl said, glancing back the way they'd come. She closed her eyes for a moment and muttered something under her breath, and suddenly the strange fuzziness that had been keeping Yasumi from focusing on her vanished, leaving her as visible and corporeal as Yato and Yukine had been. "Sorry for the rush, I'm not used to having to keep up with people from the Near Shore," she said, offering a hand to pull her up. Yasumi took it, still panting, self-conscious about how pathetic and worn out she probably looked.
"What were we running from?" She asked once she'd caught her breath. "And what was that about the barrier-?"
The girl bit her lip but motioned for Yasumi to follow her down the tree-lined path. "I'm not supposed to meet with you, actually," she admitted as they walked. It was a lovely park, with a sizeable lake, and under normal circumstances Yasumi would have loved to stand at the railing and relax for a little while. "Yukine-kun is going to be very upset with me when he finds out I've been acting on my own and getting involved in a job he made me promise to stay out of..."
"Yeah, he told me the same thing," Yasumi admitted. "He likes to boss people around, doesn't he?"
The girl giggled. "Well, he is Yatogami's guidepost, and if a god ever needed guidance, it's Yato."
Yasumi would have laughed, but she felt it might be too presumptuous. What if the girl was like Yato, sweet and gentle one second and terrifying the next? She was definitely more than met the eye, and her superhuman strength was no joke if it could even subdue a combat god like Yatogami. Yukine wasn't around to shield her from angry deities just now, so she held her tongue.
"Yukine-kun means well," the girl continued, clasping her hands behind her back. "And normally, I don't mind doing as he says. He's a good boy, so he worries about me and doesn't like it when I go off on my own."
"Because Heaven is after you too?"
The girl looked over her shoulder at Yasumi with a sad smile.
"Yes, unfortunately. Heaven would love an excuse to execute me on the spot, so I understand Yukine-kun's insistence on keeping me out of dangerous situations... But it's not like I'm totally defenseless!" she exclaimed suddenly, raising her fists and bitterly simulating a punch. "I can take care of myself too!"
Yasumi backed away slightly, startled by her outburst.
"Er, right," she agreed slowly. The girl lowered her hands and sighed.
"Besides, I couldn't just leave you to fend for yourself after that premonition-"
"Premonition?" Yasumi interrupted, confused. The girl nodded, waving her concern away as though it were besides the point.
"Yes, I saw Yato fighting another god somewhere, and then the Heaven's Guard descending on the Kobayashi house as the barrier broke-"
"Wait, you... you saw this... As in, you saw the future?!" Yasumi asked, thinking of her Aunt Reiko.
"In a sense," the girl said reluctantly. "It's a little more complicated than that, but yes, I can sometimes see what's going to happen before it does. I don't usually get an indication of when those things are supposed to happen, but Nora-chan called to let me know she'd noticed something amiss-"
She stopped suddenly as Yasumi clapped her hands together in a gesture of apology and bowed fervently. "I'm sorry, you must be a really big deal, and I've been so rude this whole time!" she said, hoping the girl was in a forgiving mood. "It's just that... I don't really know the names of that many gods, so I don't recognize what their abilities are either-"
"Gods?" The girl asked, clearly confused. Yasumi faltered.
"Aren't... Aren't you also a god like Yato?" she asked bluntly.
The girl looked alarmed. "No, of course not!" she denied vehemently. "I just have a little bit of a special talent, some shinki do-"
Yasumi gaped at her. "You... You're a Regalia?! You're dead?!"
The girl frowned slightly. "Yes... in a way," she said cryptically. "I'm-"
Yasumi's eyes were drawn to a strange movement behind the girl, as though her vision were flickering after seeing something unnatural.
"Behind you-!" she yelped, hoping the girl could see whatever it was more clearly.
The girl whipped around into a defensive martial-artist's stance, but the thing followed and turned around with her; it took Yasumi a moment to realize it was part of her, a strange, almost see-through-
"T-Tail!" Yasumi gasped.
The girl jumped and looked over her shoulder. "Oh no, it got out again," she sighed, as though it were the most normal thing in the world. She adjusted the tie on her hakama and the tail tucked itself into the small space she'd made before she tied it securely back in place. She caught Yasumi staring and her cheeks turned slightly pink. "Er, yes, sorry, as I was about to say, I'm a little bit of an... anomaly."
"Th-that- Yukine didn't have a tail!" Yasumi said, backing away from the girl nervously. Maybe she'd been tricked into leaving the barrier after all; what did she really know about this person anyway? That she was dating a god? A god who Yasumi didn't even fully trust? Yukine seemed decent enough, but he had told Yasumi to stay at home no matter what...
The girl seemed to realize how suspicious she was because she immediately raised her hands. "No, of course he doesn't!" she said, slightly panicked. "Yukine-kun is a Blessed Regalia. He's a pure, gentle soul compared to something as unnatural as me!"
Pure... and gentle? Yasumi thought, nonplussed. Yukine?!
"Unnatural?" she repeated instead, trying to avoid unnecessarily provoking her.
"Well... yes," the girl said, uncomfortable. "In all honesty, I shouldn't exist, especially not as an attendant to the gods. There isn't even an official term for what I am," the girl continued, and Yasumi got the impression that the topic was something of a sore point. "I'm a shinki, but my soul is a little bit... Well, you know about the Near and Far Shore, don't you Yasumi-chan?" she asked, clasping her hands together nervously behind her back.
"The Near Shore is where the living reside, and the Far Shore is where the dead and ayakashi exist... and in between them is the Boundary, where gods, Regalia, and people with the Sight live, right?"
The girl nodded. "Right... but there are also some denizens of the Boundary that don't fit very neatly into any of those categories. If you had to give me a label, I suppose I'm a being that was once human but became... untethered... from the Near Shore while I was still alive. In other words... I was also part ayakashi."
"What?! How is that even possible?!" Yasumi asked, taken aback. "Aren't ayakashi monsters born from negative energy and corruption?!"
"... Usually, yes. No one seems to understand why I'm not blighting my master, including me," the girl admitted, wandering over to the railing so she could look out into the lake. "I don't even know why I was like this when I was alive, much less how I ended up a semi-apparition even in death. Normally someone who's possessed by ayakashi can't come back from the Far Shore after they die at all."
She paused, running her fingers over the knotted wood thoughtfully.
"There's never been another Regalia quite like me before," she said slowly. "I'm pure enough that I could return as a wandering spirit without succumbing to outside corruption, but I'm still firmly connected to the Far Shore even after being taken in by a god. I'm neither human, ayakashi, or even a proper semi-apparition as I was when I was alive. I guess you could say I'm all of those things... or none of them," she said, turning to Yasumi with a bitter smile.
"It's actually a grave crime to grant names to ayakashi, and gods have been executed for it in the past. My master disregarded that rule to take me in for some reason, and while he somehow avoided being punished for it, I'm actually forbidden from setting foot in Takamagahara. I'm not even officially recognized as a Regalia there; they call me a familiar instead, even though I do have a vessel form. My master, he... he's never said so, but I know I cause him far more trouble than I'm worth..."
She let her voice fade, clearly upset. She looked so sad and guilty that Yasumi couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
She's kind of like me, she realized. An existence that doesn't fit in, a fluke.
"You... your master is Yato, isn't it?" Yasumi asked, remembering what Yukine had said about his master and how it was rare for most gods to want a troublesome Regalia.
The girl blushed but nodded.
There's no accounting for taste, I guess, Yasumi thought, sighing, her headache returning with a vengeance now that the adrenaline of their escape had worn off.
"Look, I don't know shit about Regalia or ayakashi or any of that. All I want to know is what's going on and why you brought me all the way out here. If Ame and Yato are in trouble like you said, shouldn't we have gone to the shrine instead?"
"Um... I don't... actually know where Ame-no-Mikoto's shrine is," the girl admitted sheepishly. "Yukine-kun has always insisted I stay as far away from everything to do with this job as possible... But, you're right, I've been rude about the rest," she added, bowing deeply. "I haven't even properly introduced myself, have I? I apologize. Let me start from the beginning."
The girl hesitated for a moment before tugging her sleeve up to reveal a red tattoo just like Yukine's inked on the inside of her arm. "I am Kiri1," she said in formal language. "As a vessel, Boukki. Less formally, I am called Kirine, and I am one of Yatogami's servants and Regalia. It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Kobayashi Yasumi-chan."
Yukine was still preparing lunch in Hiyori's kitchen when someone shouted loudly upstairs and all hell broke loose.
"What in the fuck...?" he frowned, putting down the ladle and untying his apron. He got to the hallway just as Hiyori's brother peeked sleepily out of his office and there was a loud crashing noise as a door was torn open.
"YUKINEEEE!"
"That's all you," Masaomi grunted, noticing Yukine wringing his hands clean on a towel. Yukine scowled as Masaomi closed the door and returned to what was probably a nap during work hours.
"Yukine! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"I'm fucking coming already!" Yukine snarled loudly, glad Hiyori's parents were both out so he could curse as much as he liked. He didn't even take more than three steps on the stairway before Yato's terrified face appeared over the railing.
"What are you doing, idiot?!" he shouted, panicked. "Get the big brother, for fuck's sake, Hiyori's in labor!"
A loud, pained cry from Hiyori's room confirmed he was telling the truth, and Yukine swore.
"FUCK, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY SO?!"
He half-tripped back down the stairs and pounded his fist against Masaomi's office door.
"Masaomi-san! Masaomi-san, wake up! Hiyori-"
The door flew open before he could finish, and Masaomi crashed right into him, knocking them both to the floor.
"Shit! Ow!" he cursed, blindly feeling around for his glasses. Yukine spotted them and pressed them into his hand. "Sorry, can you grab my bag-" Masaomi began even as he started sprinting up the stairs. "Stay calm, Sis!" he shouted, not calm at all.
Yukine hurried into the clinic and after a frantic search he finally found the home-visit kit tucked into a cabinet. He was on his way upstairs with it when Yato and Masaomi appeared, half-carrying Hiyori down the stairs between them, her face pale and clearly in terrible pain.
"We're going to the hospital," Yato told him quickly as Masaomi sat Hiyori down onto the couch and checked her pulse. "Hiyori's dad is the one with experience delivering kids-"
"I could do it in a pinch, but I don't feel confident I could handle any complications, sorry sis," Masaomi said apologetically. Hiyori shook her head, gritting her teeth.
"I know," she managed. Yato brought her a coat and a pair of shoes from the hallway and immediately slipped them onto her feet.
"It's okay, I've got you," he said, kissing her hair as he helped her up again. "Just focus on me until we get there, Hiyori." He turned to Yukine, who was already holding out Yato's boots and tugging on his own coat.
"I'll call Hiyori's parents," Yukine volunteered as Yato put his shoes on and helped HIyori into the hall.
"Yeah, thanks," Yato nodded with relief. "Let's go, big brother, come on!" he barked into the house. Masaomi appeared a moment later, out of breath, with his car keys jingling in his hand.
"You got umbrellas? Your ID, Hiyori? Good," he said, opening the front door and shoving them all outside into the pouring rain. It took them a few minutes to clamber into the car, soaking wet and shivering, Yato and Yukine sitting in the backseat with Hiyori between them as Masaomi pulled out of the driveway.
"Hiyori, it's gonna be okay," Yukine told her, squeezing her hand as he frantically dialed her father. The pain seemed to have subsided somewhat, but Hiyori didn't seem to really be listening to anyone as she tried to focus on her own ragged breathing.
"You're gonna be okay," Yato told her, clutching her fingers almost as tightly as she was. Yukine wasn't fooled by the steadiness of his master's voice; Yato was paler and more frightened than he'd ever seen him. Yukine opened his mouth to reassure him, but Hiyori's father suddenly answered the phone and he had to redirect his attention.
"Hello? Iki-san? Yes, it's Yukine, Hiyori's gone into labor-"
It was a short phone call, but by the time it was over, Hiyori was shrieking in pain again, not at all comforted by Yato's desperate attempts to soothe her.
"No more! Make it stop, please!" she pleaded, half-burying her face in his jersey to hide her tears. "Please, Yato, it hurts! I can't do this, I can't!"
Yukine saw the anguish on Yato's face and knew he was barely holding it together himself.
"Yes, you can, Hiyori!" Yukine insisted, giving Yato a sharp look as he grabbed both their hands. "You're going to be just fine, I promise! Scream and cry as much as you need to, Yato is gonna stay with you the whole time, so you just think about punching him in his stupid face when it feels like you're in too much pain, okay?" He half expected Yato to protest, but his master seemed to take heart at the suggestion instead.
"R-right, I don't even mind if you really do punch me," he told Hiyori seriously. "You're gonna be just fine, you both are, god's word. I'm not going anywhere, so hit me, bite me, I don't care; if it helps you feel even a little less pain, do your worst, Hiyori. I'll take all of it."
"Almost there," Masaomi told them as he ran a yellow light.
"Oi, don't get us killed either!" Yukine barked over the front seat as Hiyori let out another vicious scream and he frantically dialed Nora's number. "Can't you see it's fucking raining?! If we so much as start skidding I swear on Yato's name I'm gonna kick your ass into next week, Masaomi-san!"
A switch flipped in Yasumi's memory and she snapped her fingers.
"So you're the person Yukine's been talking about on the phone!" she said. "He was always arguing with Yato about someone named Kiri and how Yato wasn't keeping an eye on them-"
The girl groaned and facepalmed with frustration. "Jeez, those idiots... I know they're always fussing about my safety, but they don't have to argue over who has to babysit me!" she complained, crossing her arms with a huff. "It's a Regalia's job to protect her master! Not the other way around! Men!" she spat angrily. "Always treating me like some fragile child, looking for excuses to leave me behind! Stupid, useless Idiots!"
Yasumi had to agree that Kirine had a point. Even without the whole Regalia becoming weapons thing, Kirine was clearly a gifted fighter. If Heaven hadn't punished Yato for naming her in the first place, it was probably fine for her to accompany him on jobs, even dangerous ones like Yasumi's. Yato and Yukine may have thought they were just being thorough, but Yasumi knew all too well how insulting and lonely it could be when people who said they cared were the first to underestimate and look down on those they claimed to care about.
That being said...
"Um... it's not that I disagree or anything," Yasumi said slowly, glancing back at the gathering clouds across town. "And I do want to know what's happening, but... is this really the time or place to be having a leisurely conversation, Kirine-san? Don't we have pursuers who might find us if we just stand out here in the open?"
"Oh! Yes, sorry," Kirine said, absently patting her pockets again. "Ugh, right, I forgot my phone," she groused.
"I have mine," Yasumi told her.
"Do you have Yato's number saved, by any chance?" Kirine asked hopefully.
"No, just Yukine's."
The girl sighed, disappointed. "Unfortunately, if Sekki's fighting, he can't exactly answer in his vessel form. Yato probably can't either, but he's more likely to notice. I should have memorized their numbers instead of relying on my phone's contact list, damn it..." She set off again down the path at a brisk walk, gesturing for Yasumi to follow. "Come with me, we should regroup at our place before we figure out what to do and where to go."
"Your place?" Yasumi asked, catching up with a short jog.
"Well... it's where we live, anyway," Kirine said, not quite catching Yasumi's eye. "Yato is uh... well he doesn't find a whole lot of steady work, so..."
She cleared her throat but didn't continue. They walked for a few minutes longer, circling the lake until they came up to a small lakeside stand with a small house tucked away behind it. They'd barely walked through the little gate into the garden when a girl of about Yasumi's age appeared out of nowhere and rushed forward to throw herself at Kirine.
"Kiriiiin!" she squealed, and something about her voice struck some distant memory that Yasumi couldn't quite place. Where Kirine was as traditional as could be, this new girl seemed to have taken the concept of 'cuteness' and run wild with it; her short, curly hair was dyed bubblegum pink to match her equally bright outfit, which seemed to be a frillier high school uniform than any real school would probably allow. She was shorter than Kirine, and undoubtedly adorable, with a sweet face and innocent charm... except for her eyes, which might have been mistaken for amethyst colored contacts if Yasumi hadn't seen eyes like those elsewhere. They weren't the same as Yato's, exactly, but they had a similar, otherworldly feel.
"Kofuku-san, I can't breathe," Kirine gasped, and the other girl let go, beaming as though nothing in the world could sour her mood.
"Hehe, sorry Kirin, we were worried! You ran off all of a sudden and didn't even take your pho-" She stopped, noticing Yasumi for the first time. "Kirin... this person..." she said, the smile vanishing from her face.
"Oh, right, this is Yasumi-chan, she needed help so I brought her-"
"You're a human," Kofuku interrupted. It wasn't a question.
Yasumi bowed politely, unnerved by her gaze. She must be another god, she realized, gulping. It was obvious now how naive she'd been to mistake Kirine for a god; the aura Kofuku gave off was faint, but definitely carried the same hint of danger that Yato had when he'd threatened her.
"Y-yes, I'm Kobayashi Yasumi, sorry for intruding," she said, bowing again to give herself an excuse not to look at those unsettling eyes.
"Kobayashi, huh..." Kofuku said slowly, pacing around Yasumi as she inspected her. Her eyes narrowed. "Kirin, you interfered in Yato-chan's job, didn't you?!"
"Er... y-yes, I had a premontion-"
"Even though Yukki told you it was dangerous?" the god said sharply, and Yasumi didn't miss Kirine's flinch at her tone.
"Well, it's just, if I hadn't-"
"Yato-chan asked you, didn't he?!" Kofuku said, her voice taking a pleading, frightened sort of tone. "He begged you to stay out of this job no matter what?!"
Kirine flushed with guilt. "He did, but-"
"You have to go," Kofuku said bluntly, turning toward Yasumi. "You're not supposed to be here."
Yasumi gulped, stepping back. She had no intent on defying a god who already considered her an interloper.
"We can't just kick her out!" Kirine argued, clearly upset by Kofuku's lack of propriety. "She's in danger, she needs help-"
"Then call Yato-chan and Yukki! You promised to stay out of trouble, Kirin!" Kofuku insisted.
"I know, but Ame-no-Mikoto's barrier-"
Kofuku went white as a sheet. "Please don't tell me you went to that shrine!"
"No, I don't even know where it is-!"
Kofuku shook her head in desperation, clearly frightened by something. "This is bad, I have to let Yato-chan know. Both of you stay here, and don't go anywhere, understood? Especially you, Kirin. If you got yourself killed, Yato-chan and Yukki would never forgive me. I'd never forgive myself. Of all the times for Daikoku to go out...!"
She threw the patio door open and hurried inside the house, leaving Yasumi and Kirine standing awkwardly near the fence.
"I should go," Yasumi said, unnerved by Kofuku's reaction. Kirine rubbed the inside of her arm nervously.
"I can't let you go off by yourself, but... I'm sorry, I didn't expect Kofuku-san to act like that, she's usually so cheerful and lighthearted... It was Daikoku-san I was expecting to have to argue with..." she said, trailing off.
"It's okay, I get it. Me coming here is like putting a huge target on all of you," Yasumi said frankly. "I don't wanna cause trouble for you or that god either."
Kirine nodded, biting her lip. "I understand... But I'm not letting you go out there by yourself regardless." She furrowed her eyebrows, thinking hard. "If only I could find Yato... but I can't track him when he's near a barrier, so I have no idea where the shrine is either-"
"Oh, you mean my family's shrine?" Yasumi asked, feeling dumb for not having thought of it sooner. "If that's where Yato is, then I know how to get there just fine."
"You do?! You should have said so!" Kirine said with a yelp. "I didn't know it was your family's shrine or we could have headed there instead!"
Yasumi frowned. How could Kirine know so much about her circumstances but not even know her family owned Ame's shrine? It seemed like a strange detail to leave out considering she knew about the relics and the barriers.
"We don't have any time to waste," Kirine was saying. "Give me just a second to grab my phone-" In the blink of an eye she was gone, and it was only the fact that Yasumi was facing the house that let her see Kirine land gracefully next to the attic window and slide it open.
Holy hell, just how high can she jump?!
It was hardly longer than a minute before she reappeared and hopped down from the roof. "Got it!" she said, holding a small flip phone up. "I called once already but he's not answering, so I'll try again in a few minutes. Quick, tell me the address to the shrine so I can look up the best way to get there."
Nothing could have possibly prepared Hiyori for the sheer agony tearing through her body. She'd been through a lot of painful experiences in her admittedly short life, but there was only one other time she could remember being this terrified, and it had been when her Cord had been bitten. That pain seemed trivial compared to this; she'd spent most of it unconscious, after all.
She'd been asleep in Yato's arms when it started; the dull ache that had been bothering her all morning suddenly became a terrible, sharp pain that started in her lower back and spread through her abdomen. She'd been forced awake with a cry, startling Yato, who immediately rushed into action as soon as he realized her water had broken and she was in active labor. Things got fuzzy after that; wave after wave of debilitating pain came and went, sapping her strength and clouding her thoughts.
No, I can't do this, I wanna go home! she thought desperately, feeling younger and more helpless than she had in years. She wanted nothing more than to run from the pain and responsibility, to go back to her carefree life and be as spoiled and childish as she wanted.
She vaguely remembered arriving at the hospital, but she couldn't remember anything after Yato and Yukine helped her out of the car and into a wheelchair. At some point she'd been moved into a room and her clothes had been changed for a hospital gown, but she had zero memory of being put in stirrups, or of the unfamiliar doctor who was now pulling on gloves to examine her.
"N-no, please, it hurts," she begged, and the doctor gave her a kind, sympathetic look.
"It'll be okay, Hiyori-san, I promise, you won't feel a thing. Tou-san, you want to distract your wife for a minute?" she said, glancing to Hiyori's right, and Hiyori realized that Yato had been standing there all along, brushing the hair from her sweaty face with shaky fingers.
"Not gonna argue that she called you my wife?" he asked with a forced smile, clearly trying his best not to panic.
"I don't care, I just wanna go home, Yato, take me home!" she sobbed, overwhelmed.
He gave her a sad, heartbroken look and took her face in his hands, cupping her cheeks gently between his palms.
"Look at me," he told her, his eyes frightened even as he tried his best to keep his voice steady and reassuring. "I can't grant that wish, but you can do this, Hiyori, I know you can. You don't even need me here, 'cause I know just how kick-ass you are all on your own. If there's anything I've learned about you over the last four years, it's that Iki Hiyori is one hell of a girl who doesn't need anyone, not even a god, to watch over her." He paused to kiss her forehead, the familiar scent on the nape of his neck reminding her to breathe. "So I'll tell you a secret, okay?" he said, lowering his voice into a whisper only she could hear. "I'm only here because I'm completely useless without you, Hiyori. So even though I can't do shit right now, I'm gonna stay right here the whole time anyway, and you can take out all your fear and anger and pain on me however you need to. I swear."
"Promise?" Hiyori sniffled, wincing as the doctor finished her examination. She'd been right, she'd barely noticed it at all compared to the pain of the actual labor.
"You're not fully dilated yet," the doctor told them, but Hiyori wasn't really listening to anyone except Yato.
"God's word," he said with a tiny smile.
"Hiyori!"
They were both startled at the sudden entrance of Hiyori's mother, who rushed to the opposite side of her bed and all but slapped Yato's hands away so she could hug her daughter.
"M-Mother," Hiyori said weakly, feeling the loss of Yato's reassuring touch and presence far more deeply than her ingrained politeness would let her admit aloud.
"I came as soon as I could, how far-?" her mother asked, turning toward the doctor.
"It'll be a little while longer," the doctor said as she disposed of her gloves. "But it's progressing well."
"Nothing to indicate complications?"
"No, but we weren't able to administer an epidural in time, so I'm afraid she'll have to do it without medication-"
"Yato," Hiyori pleaded as another wave of pain overcame her, and immediately she felt his hand clasp hers as he all but climbed into the bed with her.
"Here," he said, his voice strained. Hiyori's mother glared at him for his over-familiarity but he answered the look with a low, anxious hiss. "I don't care if it's proper," he snapped, and even in her haze, Hiyori noted that his eyes seemed a little brighter, a little sharper, than usual.
Her mother pursed her lips but seemed to understand that picking a fight with him at the moment was dangerous and kept her silence.
In the end, it was a relatively short labor, only two hours, but they were easily the longest hours of Hiyori's life. She kept fading in and out of awareness, her throat raw with screaming, and she had to admit that she really did want to kill Yato after all.
"I hate you so much right now!" she cried furiously as he tried to encourage her. "I swear to god, you're going to owe me for the rest of your damned life, you bastard!"
"Good!" he said, sounding far more confident than Hiyori knew he was. "You're almost there, just a little more, and then you can kick my ass as much as you want, okay? You can throw me off the roof of this hospital if it helps! Just one last push, Hiyori-!"
"I can't do it, I can't!" Hiyori screamed. "I don't want to do this anymore, I want to go home-"
"Are you sure we can't give her any medication?!" Yato asked desperately. Hiyori didn't hear the reply over the sound of her own wounded cries.
"You can't go home," her mother said fiercely, gripping her other hand. "You both chose this, so you need to stay strong, Hiyori. You too, Yato-san," she scolded for good measure. "For better or worse, you are no longer innocent children who can change their minds when things get scary. You are this child's mother and father, and you have a responsibility to see this through no matter how hard it is. I know the pain is unbearable, sweetheart, but I need you to remember that this pain means that the child you wanted so badly to protect is finally ready to meet you. Just a little more, and it will all have been worth it, understand?"
Hiyori whimpered but nodded. Yato squeezed her fingers tightly.
"You've got this," he insisted. "You don't need me here, remember?"
"You're damned fucking right I don't!" she cried angrily, ignoring her mother's scandalized gasp at her language. "I'm gonna kill you when this is over!"
"As long as you make it through this alive, Hiyori, I'll even let you borrow Sekki," he swore desperately.
Hiyori was determined to make good on that offer, but when at last the room was filled with the sound of a wailing infant and she fell back onto the bed, heaving with exhaustion, she was so relieved that she completely forgot all about it. Tears trickled down her cheeks as Yato tugged his mask down and kissed her without warning in front of the whole room.
Hiyori was vaguely aware that he was being completely inappropriate, but she was struck by a far more pressing realization as the kiss grew hungrier, more insistent. A human man probably would have been more considerate, more hesitant and less passionate after an ordeal like that, but Yato seemed to have completely abandoned the pretext of politeness as his hands wound in her hair and tipped her head back as though he meant to steal every last breath he could. She could taste the reckless desire on his tongue as her thoughts faded and her pain lay forgotten elsewhere, and for the first time it really hit her that Yato's love truly was different from hers, rawer, like a flame consuming itself in its desperation to burn brighter. His intensity was frightening, dangerous even, but what scared Hiyori most was the fact that even knowing that, she would still willingly let that fire burn them all down to ashes.
"I should've gone with them," Hiyori's father said, pacing back and forth worriedly across the waiting room. Yukine tapped his foot irritably, trying not to snap; the man hadn't stopped since he'd arrived, and Yukine was on the cusp of lashing out and telling him to sit his ass down and wait like the rest of them.
He's just worried, like you are, he told himself, chewing on the inside of his cheek.
"They're gonna be fine," Masaomi said for the fiftieth time. "The ultrasounds and tests were all normal, labor is just different for every mother-"
"I should've gone," his father muttered. "I know only two people are allowed in but-"
"They're both gonna be perfectly healthy, any minute now-"
Yukine was just about to tell them both to shut up when a nurse came in through the doors.
"Iki Hiyori's family?" he asked.
"That's us," Yukine said, getting up immediately. "Are they okay? Both of them?"
The nurse gave him a warm smile. "Yes, they're both fine," he assured them. "A perfectly healthy mother and baby girl."
"A girl!" Hiyori's father gasped. Masaomi chuckled with obvious relief.
"See, it is better when it's a surprise, Dad," he teased.
"Really?! Nothing went wrong? The kid wasn't like... special, or different, or anything?" Yukine asked, desperate for answers.
The nurse laughed, clearly under the impression that Yukine was a young child with a vivid imagination.
"She's a normal little girl, don't worry. Would you all like to go see her? They're in room 207, you can come visit now if you like-"
"YES!" Yukine shouted, bolting through the doors even as Masaomi and Hiyori's father asked the nurse a few more questions. He followed the hallways at a run until he came to the right corridor and found Hiyori's mother standing outside the window to Hiyori's room.
"Oba-san," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. "Hiyori, she-"
"Yukine-kun! Did you run here?! You musn't run in the halls of a hospital like that!" she scolded.
"S-sorry, I just wanted to see-"
Hiyori's mother nodded, touching the glass with a strangely sad expression on her face. Yukine followed her gaze to the bed, where Hiyori was sitting fast asleep in Yato's lap, her head tucked into his shoulder. It looked as though she'd fallen asleep in the middle of breastfeeding, her hospital gown tugged aside as Yato supported her arms to make sure the little bundle of blankets against her chest didn't fall while she slept. Yukine didn't miss the fact that Hiyori looked completely relaxed and at peace, or that Yato was ugly-crying with barely suppressed sobs as he watched the baby feed. It was like the three of them were wrapped in their own little world, oblivious to everyone else, and Yukine felt a pang of loneliness and jealousy deep within his heart.
"It's strange," Hiyori's mother said, almost as if she were speaking to herself. "I've known all this time that Hiyori was growing up, that there would be a day when she would no longer need me to hold her hand and lead her down the right path, but... I suppose it takes seeing something like this to really understand that the little girl I raised so carefully has found her own place in the world... Even if it is by the side of that idiot," she added spitefully.
Yukine chuckled despite himself, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, he's... a lot," he admitted as he watched his master give a little start at the baby's movements. "And I used to think Hiyori could do much better than him too. Well, I still think that sometimes," he said flatly. "But... you know, I don't think there's anyone else in the world who has the audacity to love Hiyori as obviously as Yato does," he told her, crossing his arms and leaning against the windowsill. "He makes her feel safe and free to be herself. I know to you it probably looks like he's a bad influence on her behavior, but when she's with him, she's lighter somehow, like she can say what she really thinks and laugh as hard as she wants. I don't think that's a bad thing."
Hiyori's mother sighed. "There's a reason propriety is valued so highly, Yukine-kun. Politeness and discretion show respect for those around you; acting as selfishly or as blatantly inappropriate as Yato-san does is shameful. It makes everyone around him uncomfortable. You should have seen how unsightly he was with Hiyori as soon as the baby was born, I'm mortified just remembering it."
"... I can only imagine," Yukine scoffed, determined never to think about that again. "But I can say one thing in his defense," he said as Yato looked up and noticed them watching, his cheeks and nose red. He abruptly wiped his face with the back of his sleeve and waved for Yukine to come in. Yukine held up a hand and straightened up. "Yato makes Hiyori happy. Heaven knows why, but he does. And Hiyori is an irreplaceable existence to my master, and to me as well. I promise, oba-san, you couldn't ask for a better divine guardian than Amagiri-no-Mikoto and his Blessed Regalia to look after your family." He answered her baffled look with an enigmatic smile as he pushed the door open and strode into the room.
They didn't wait for Kofuku to come back for them before Yasumi and Kirine hurried off toward the nearest station. They paused only long enough for Kirine to cast some sort of spell or charm over Yasumi that she claimed would make her invisible even to other gods.
"As long as no one calls your name, they won't see you," Kirine explained, leading her into town at a brisk walk. "Try not to talk too loudly though, since they can still hear you."
"This is weird," Yasumi muttered as she was almost walked into for the third time in a row. "I don't feel invisible, but people keep trying to mow me down as though I weren't there. But they walk around you just fine, even though you're dead."
Kirine glanced at her apologetically. "Sorry, but as long as you have a living body, even Sighted humans can't properly walk the Boundary the way shinki and gods do. You'd need to have a detached soul to become properly unnoticeable like us, and that wouldn't help keep you hidden from Heaven anyway. Just put up with it for a little while."
Night was falling quickly, and Yasumi couldn't help feeling exposed as she followed after Kirine's lithe footsteps. She felt like a child trying not to lose her mother in a crowd, and the thought of Hana made a fresh wave of fear and worry wash over her.
"Kirine-san, do you think the barrier broke yet?" she whispered as they boarded the southbound train and headed for the least crowded compartment they could find.
"The one around your house would have faded a few minutes after we left," Kirine said, pointing at the figurine Yasumi was still holding in her hands. "Without the talisman, Ame can't focus her power into the other barriers."
"Why did we take it then? Didn't the barrier vanishing just give us away?"
"I'm not sure, I just had a feeling that it would be bad to leave anything with Ame's blood lying around where Heaven could find it. I'm probably not the only entity in existence that knows how to follow the scent of the gods. Other ayakashi can do it, at least, and that's just as dangerous."
Yasumi turned the figure over in her hands, examining the red lilies thoughtfully.
"I don't suppose bringing this with us means the barrier is following us now instead?" she asked hopefully. Kirine shook her head.
"It doesn't seem to work that way, we're moving too much for the spell to manifest, most likely. This type of charm tends to rely on the permanency of the location. It's possible that there are other conditions too, like the land belonging to your family. But if it makes you feel better, I can still sense a faint aura from the talisman that seems to suggest the other barriers haven't... fallen yet..." Kirine said, her voice trailing off as she gave the talisman a closer look. She frowned, reaching out a hand toward it. "May I?" she asked slowly.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Yasumi said, handing it over even as a chill traveled down her spine.
Kirine held the talisman up to the light, examining it with marked concentration.
"What is it?" Yasumi asked, uneasy. There was something strange about Kirine's expression that frightened her.
Kirine bit her lip. "I don't know," she admitted, running her thumb over the carved kimono. "I feel like... I've seen this somewhere before... or like I forgot something important..." A moment later she seemed to snap out of it and returned the figurine to its owner. "Sorry, I spaced out, maybe I didn't sleep enough," she said apologetically. "This is the first time I've ever had a premonition that had to do with this particular job," she said, leaning against the train door. "Like I said, Yato and Yukine-kun go out of their way to keep me away from it. I know the gist of it, of course, but I've never even met Ame-no-Mikoto. I don't even know why Yato works so hard to protect her; every fifty years, like clockwork, he and Yukine-kun drop everything for a few days to go to her aid, but they change the subject as soon as I ask about it. I can't really make them tell me either; I'm not the guidepost or a hafuri like Yukine-kun so it's not my place to force Yato to explain himself to me."
Yasumi felt her chest tighten as Kirine spoke. They really were strangely alike, down to the lack of self-confidence and the feeling of helplessness that came from not feeling good enough for others.
"I've always envied how open Yukine-kun and Yato are with one another," Kirine continued quietly. "Even though I'm a Regalia too, it's like there's a wall between us, like they're trying to pretend for my sake. It hurts, somehow," she admitted, turning away from Yasumi so she couldn't see her expression. "Knowing there's a distance I can never cross..."
She fell silent, swaying slightly as the train came to a stop, and Yasumi fidgeted nervously across the aisle.
She loves them, she thought, slightly embarrassed to see it so clearly on Kirine's face. Not just romantically, if Yato and Yukine were to be believed, but something deeper, more visceral than that.
And with that realization came another, less obvious one. One that Yasumi would never have come to on her own without having spoken to her mother about her own insecurities.
Just like Hana, Yato and Yukine likely had their reasons for keeping Kirine in the dark. It didn't mean that they loved her less than she loved them at all, even though it probably felt that way to Kirine. If Yasumi, a complete stranger, could see the loneliness and hurt written on her face, she doubted that a god, her master especially, and a fellow Regalia could be dense enough not to know, at some level, that they were causing Kirine pain.
If they know, and they're doing it anyway... they probably think it's a price worth paying to protect her, just like how Mom thought I'd be better off living in ignorance all this time.
That strange feeling of unease she'd felt earlier niggled in the back of Yasumi's mind again. She blinked and looked up to find Kirine frowning at her, or more accurately, at the carving Yasumi still held between her palms.
Somehow, I get the feeling Yato has a very good reason for keeping Kirine away from Ame after all, she shivered, and without a word, she slipped the talisman into her pocket and out of sight, just in case.
Hiyori woke to the sound of laughter and a familiar pair of bickering voices hovering over her.
"You take that back!" Yato was saying, insulted.
"I won't!" Yukine argued, and Hiyori blinked to find him holding the baby away from Yato, as though shielding her from him. "I refuse to let this poor innocent kid grow up thinking you're the standard she has to judge other men by. I ain't letting some lowlife trick her like you did Hiyori."
"You tell him, kid," Masaomi's voice snickered from somewhere behind them as Yato made a choking noise. "You have to teach her at a young age, right Mom?"
Hiyori's mother sighed at the foot of the bed. "I used to think so, but maybe all I did was teach poor Hiyori to look for the exact type of trash I was trying to warn her away from-"
"Every damned single one of you!" Yato cried angrily. "Don't turn my daughter against me before she's even a day old!"
Everyone laughed at his expense, and Hiyori tugged his sleeve tiredly.
"Yato..." she said, and he immediately turned in his chair to take her hand.
"Hey," he said softly, "Welcome back, Hiyori. How are you feeling?"
"Like I'm never letting you put me through this ever again," she groaned, trying to sit up.
"I'm not exactly dying to see you suffer again like that either," Yato assured her drily, helping her get comfortable. "I don't think I've ever been so fucking terrified in my life."
"I don't think I've ever been so terrified in mine," Hiyori's father muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. Hiyori offered her parents a small smile.
"I'm okay, just tired," she told them, turning her attention to Yukine and the baby. "Well?" she asked him nervously, burying several questions in that one word. Yukine glanced up at her, his eyes practically sparkling.
"You are never, ever taking this kid away from me," he said seriously. "She's mine now."
The room burst into laughter and Yato reached over to ruffle Yukine's hair.
"No, but seriously," Yukine insisted, ducking his master's hand. "She's so damned cute! I mean, look at her, Hiyori! Just look!" He held the infant out to her mother, and Hiyori's heart skipped a beat as she carefully accepted the bundle, just as it had when she'd held her daughter for the first time just a few hours earlier.
Yukine wasn't exaggerating. She was a little small for a full term baby, but her soft, round face was undeniably lovely, and she had a shock of thick, black hair just like Yato's. Actually, there was no way she could be mistaken for anyone else's child; from the shape of her nose to the deepset folds of her eyelids, she was her father's spitting image in miniature. She would definitely have his good looks when she got older.
That might be a problem, Hiyori had admitted inwardly when the baby was first pressed into her arms, but she was so overcome with a flood of emotions at the fact that this impossibly tiny creature was hers that she didn't dwell on it for long. For just a little while, she was willing to overlook the danger and just enjoy the moment.
"She really is gorgeous," Hiyori's mother said, leaning in for a better look as the baby snuffled peacefully in her sleep. "And... she looks just like you, Yato-san," she added, clearly conflicted at admitting it.
"You think so?" he asked, touching the baby's tiny hand with his finger. Her fist automatically closed around it and he made a strange, strangled sort of noise in the back of his throat. "Fuck," he cursed, hiding his face in Hiyori's shoulder. "Shit, I'm gonna cry. Again."
Hiyori sighed and patted the back of his head tiredly. "I don't need two crying infants, Yato."
"L-Lay off me!" he sniffled into her hair. "I'm allowed to be emotional about this!"
"You're emotional about everything," Yukine scoffed. "We'll never go home if you don't get your shit together and help us decide on a name so we can fill in the paperwork."
"You don't have a name?!" Masaomi spluttered. "Why didn't you tell us, sis?! I've been sitting here all afternoon thinking we were just waiting for you to wake up!"
"We didn't want to pick one until we met her," Hiyori said defensively. A flash of lightning lit the sky outside the window, followed by a low, threatening rumble of thunder that made everyone flinch.
Everyone except the baby, who merely turned her face into Hiyori's arms and slept soundly through the patter of the heavy rain.
"Amane," Yato said suddenly, leaning over Hiyori's shoulder to address the baby directly, his eyes glinting slightly in the dim light. "You're Amane, right?" he asked, dead serious.
Hiyori meant to tell him he was being silly, expecting a newborn to react to a question like that, but to her shock the baby opened her eyes the tiniest bit to reveal a sliver of icy blue and gurgled with what was undoubtedly agreement. Yato gave a contented hum and placed a gentle hand over the infant's heart.
"Amane, with the characters for rain and sound2. That's her name," he said simply, completely oblivious to the others' stunned silence. Hiyori looked up at him questioningly and Yato returned the look with a mischievous grin. "Looks like she wanted my clan name after all," he said in an undertone only Hiyori could hear. "Even if she is a god."
Notes: Kiri is written 霧, with the meaning being fog/mist. Just like all Regalia, "Bou" is the alternate reading of the same kanji, so her vessel form is Boukki, and her given name, Kirine, is written 霧音 with Yato's clan name, "sound". Together her given name is "Sound of Mist", just like Yukine is "Sound of Snow". Written 雨音, which is a slightly less common reading for the name Amane. Editing is the bane of my existence, send help.
