"I dunno about you, Hiyori, but I didn't understand shit from that lecture," Yukine complained, tugging his school bag over his shoulder. "Who the hell thought it was a good idea to have the Russian professor with an accent teach calculus to med students?!"
"It wasn't too bad, Yukine-kun," Hiyori said slowly, gathering her books. "He follows the textbook closely, so we don't need to worry too much about what he says in lecture."
"Not too bad for you, maybe, but I didn't get a single word," Yukine huffed. "I have no idea what I was supposed to learn from that class today."
"Well you're always welcome to my notes, Yukine-kun," she said, nudging against his shoulder playfully as they left the lecture hall. Despite his complaints, he was obviously relieved to be back at school; there was no doubt that Yukine adored his little sister, but both Hiyori and Yato could sense the boy's growing unease as everyone's lives became increasingly centered around the baby. Once summer break was over and Hiyori was well enough to go back to school, they came up with all sorts of excuses to try and convince him that Hiyori needed him to go with her. He'd protested, saying he'd rather stay home with the baby and that he had no interest in going back to the frantic stress of school, but they'd persisted until he gave in; Yukine desperately needed some time away from the constant headache that was the chaos of Yatogami's current household, time where he could be the sole focus of at least one of his parent figures.
"You're the best, Hiyori," Yukine admitted, grinning as he held a door open for her. Hiyori returned his smile, glad to see that he was already feeling less stressed. He stretched his arms over his head, stifling a yawn as he and Hiyori made their way out of the mathematics building and toward their next class. "You know, I never thought I would miss this place, but... it's kinda nice to be back," he noted as they joined the throng of students making their way across campus. "I actually really hated it before, when I had to come by myself. I technically have the same education as everybody else, but what with being dead and stuck as a kid, it's not like I could go around asking people for help when I didn't understand things. And being on this huge campus alone all day... it really sucked. But now..."
"It's relatively nice and quiet?" Hiyori asked pointedly. Yukine immediately looked abashed.
"N-not that I don't miss Amane-"
Hiyori giggled and linked their arms together like she used to with her high school friends. "It's okay, Yukine-kun. I understand completely. You can love someone and still need time away from them... Otherwise we would have invited Yato," she added in a conspiratorial undertone.
"Yato can fuck right off," Yukine grumbled, and Hiyori laughed.
I've missed this so much, she thought, sighing with relief. Yukine might be eternally fourteen years old, and growing further apart from her in age by the day, but he would always be her closest friend no matter how many years came between them. She was glad, too, that he'd relaxed a bit more around her lately. Perhaps it was because she was now nineteen, or so immersed in her roles as a mother and as Yato's significant other, but Yukine seemed to consider their relationship to be more platonic and genuine than ever.
"It's fine to want a bit of peace after everything we've been through this year," Hiyori said, shielding her face as a gust of wind shook the trees above the path. "Even I needed a break."
Yukine grimaced at her, taking the opportunity to pick a stray leaf from her hair. "You deserve one. I just wish you got to sleep more."
Hiyori sighed. "I do too. But it can't be helped. Amane is even more of a night owl than Yato is; she only ever wants to eat while everyone else is trying to sleep."
"It's like she picked the worst, most annoying parts of Yato and decided those were gonna be her defining characteristics on purpose," Yukine grumbled. "One insomniac god is more than enough... but at least that means we don't have to worry about her going hungry while we're at school."
"Mm," Hiyori agreed, though privately she had to admit that that came with its own problems.
Amane ate so much that when she didn't feed for long periods of time, the built up milk made Hiyori's breasts sore and uncomfortably heavy. Worse, she often found the inside of her bra soaked through unless she put in extra padding, which chafed painfully after a few hours. She kept having to excuse herself and hide in the bathroom between classes just to free herself of the damned restrictive garment for a few minutes.
When she admitted that she was in considerable discomfort, her brother, father, and Yato had all insisted she use a pump even if it meant she had to throw the milk out afterwards. Only Hiyori's mother seemed to understand her reluctance to do so; it was irrational, but some stubborn maternal instinct of hers was utterly horrified at the thought of wasting the milk her body was working so hard to make for Amane's sake. Never mind that the child's divinity kept milk flowing for as long as she felt like nursing; making sense of things wasn't exactly high on Hiyori's priority list just now.
No one tells you the hormones don't magically go away when the baby's born, she thought, absently rubbing her chest.
"Something wrong, Hiyori?" Yukine asked, concerned.
"No, just sore as usual," she sighed. Yukine grimaced and patted her arm with genuine sympathy.
"Hang in there, Kaa-san."
Hiyori smiled, heartened by his kindness. While everyone else was busy fussing with Amane, Yukine was the only one who remembered to check in on Hiyori's emotional and physical well-being from time to time. Yato wasn't really the type to notice subtle details... if he were, he would have noticed her feelings for him long before he stumbled his way into their relationship. Yukine, however, could always be counted on to bridge the gaps, and Hiyori wondered if her mother could be persuaded to take Amane for a few hours that weekend; Yukine was long overdue some well-deserved attention, and it would be nice if Hiyori and Yato could take him out for a while, just the three of them, like the old days.
"You think Yato's awake yet?" Yukine asked some ten minutes later as they took their seats for the next class.
Hiyori put down her notebook and checked the time on her phone. It was only 10 am.
"Unlikely," she said, sighing. "He always sleeps in on his days off."
A vein twitched in Yukine's temple. "Jerk, I swear he's giving Amane something to keep her calm."
"Don't say that, Yukine-kun," said Hiyori, alarmed. "He wouldn't do that."
Yukine huffed. "Fine, he wouldn't, but it still pisses me off that he gets more sleep than the rest of us put together. It ain't fair, especially not to you."
"It can't be helped, I'm the only one who can feed her right now," she said automatically, though a particularly grumpy, sleep-deprived voice in the back of her head felt that Yukine had a very good point.
Yes, Amane still woke Yato in the middle of the night when she was hungry or scared, and yes, she still cried, but once she was safe in his arms the wailing turned into sniffles, and a few kisses and gentle murmurs against her downy hair later, she was complacent and easy to handle. On the one hand it made late-night feeding sessions easier on Hiyori, and everyone did sleep better when Yato was on shift, but sometimes it was still hard not to resent him for how effortless he made it look. Worse, there were times when Hiyori suspected that Amane simply liked her father better than her own mother; she never cried if she woke up to find Yato holding her, but if it was Hiyori...
She mentally shook herself. It wasn't right to blame Yato for something neither of them could control. Besides, it wasn't like Amane didn't recognize her mother too; something about Yato just naturally soothed her in a way Hiyori couldn't quite manage.
Well... it's not like I don't understand the effect he can have on people, Hiyori mused, fingering the collar of her blouse as her thoughts wandered in an entirely different direction.
While Yukine had been busy preparing their things that morning, Yato caught Hiyori on her way back from the bath and tugged her into the shadows of the hallway under the stairs to the loft.
"Shh, don't make any noise unless you want Yukine finding us," he'd murmured into her ear, holding her firmly against him, her back pressed against the wall. Hiyori's breath caught, her heart beating rapidly in anticipation as he regarded her hungrily, his sharp eyes glowering with barely-suppressed lust.
"Y-Yato, hold on, w-wait, someone could see us-" she began to protest weakly, the heat of his body and his alluring, heady scent making her go light-headed. Ever since she'd received a clean bill of health, Yato seemed intent on making up for lost time; unfortunately for him (and, frankly, her, though she'd never admit out loud how infectious his libido was... not that Yato hadn't tried, particularly on one occasion when he'd done everything physically possible in a mischievous, salacious attempt to get her to honestly tell him what she wanted and beg him to hurry up and stop teasing her already; Hiyori was rather proud of her ability to lie through her teeth after that one) there never seemed to be any time for more than a few stolen moments of heated kissing before someone inevitably interrupted them.
"I thought you liked it when I had you up against a wall," he murmured, and she could hear the stupid, evil grin in his voice as he kissed her throat, his knee gently nudging her thighs apart.
"I never said tha- ah!" she cried as his teeth nipped her skin. He pulled away with an exaggerated tsk.
"What'd I just say, huh?" he said with the air of a teacher scolding a misbehaving student. "We're not exactly drowning in time here, Hiyori, and I have an entire list to get through before you have to go."
She flushed, but managed to scoff audibly through the strangled lump in her throat.
"You and your lists, you don't have to make a game out of it every single time."
"The hell I don't," he said. "I'll have you know I take my job here very seriously, and I know for a fact that you love playing games with me. Believe me, I keep track of your reactions and you never get as wet when-"
"OH MY GOD, what is WRONG WITH YOU!?" she hissed furiously, her face scarlet. "Do you HAVE to be so crass?!"
"I can't help it! I am who I am, alright?! Besides, you knew exactly what you were getting into when you fell for me," Yato said, trying to pout but failing terribly thanks to the lascivious grin twitching on his lips. "Now, are you gonna spend the next five minutes complaining about my dirty mouth?" he asked, lowering his voice into a seductive hum against her ear. "'Cause I can think of several other things I'd rather be doing with it..."
"Y-you're s-such a damned pervert!" she protested, but he knew her too well by now not to recognize posturing when he heard it.
"Mhm, sure am," he said laughing quietly at her flustered expression. "But you love me anyway."
"Idiot," she muttered, but he wasted no time in kissing her after that, and Hiyori quickly lost track of the all-too-short minutes right up until Yukine, having learned the hard way that it was better to announce himself loudly before he walked in on something he really didn't want to see, came stomping downstairs. Startled, she pushed Yato away, ignoring his needy whine of complaint as she hastily fixed her skirt and blouse.
"Whatever you pervs are doing down there, you better stop it right the fuck now!" Yukine called grumpily, pausing halfway down the stairway to make sure they had time to get decent. "We have to go if we're gonna catch the train, and Amane still needs to be fed first!"
That had been hours ago, but Hiyori could still pick out Yato's scent, stronger and more intoxicating than usual in his arousal, lingering on her skin and clothes as though he'd left it there on purpose just to distract her. Hiyori had been fighting the urge to tug the blouse up to her nose all morning, wishing she had the courage to tell Yato that he really needed to stop cornering her like that unless he was sure he could follow through; it'd been weeks since they'd had the opportunity to be alone together for more than a handful of minutes, and Hiyori was going to go insane with pent-up frustration at this rate.
"I bet that idiot is just completely knocked out right now, oblivious," Yukine muttered, bringing her back to reality. Hiyori quickly let go of her blouse and made a fuss of turning her textbook to the relevant page as the class settled down around them, her face unnaturally warm.
Gods, when did I become so shameless?! Get a hold of yourself, Hiyori, this is neither the time nor place to think about that kind of thing!
"Mm," she said, not at all sure what she was agreeing to, her voice unnaturally high. Thankfully Yukine wasn't paying too much attention to her as the professor arrived and began writing the lesson plan on the chalkboard.
"Whatever excuses he's got, I'm still pissed at him. I don't care if it's a god thing or whatever he says it is; he should be suffering like the rest of us, the scumbag," he finished, clicking his pen irritably.
Frankly, though she meant to defend Yato, Hiyori didn't trust herself to speak up without giving her less than appropriate thoughts away. Besides, that bitter little voice, the one that wasn't fighting to focus through the haze induced by the god's scent, reminded her that while Yato might be unfairly good at distracting her with his playful lust, there was still plenty to be annoyed with him about. She frowned to herself, remembering all too clearly how Amane had rebuffed her when she'd tried to kiss the baby goodbye, only to nuzzle into Yato's shoulder as soon as he took her off Hiyori's hands.
"Don't worry, she's just sleepy," Yato tried to reassure her when he noticed her hurt expression. "She's not used to being woken this early."
Hiyori had put on her best forced smile and said nothing when he saw her and Yukine off, but it was hard not to be a little jealous of Yato, or to feel that it was supremely unfair of him to be the better-liked parent when he was so distracted and careless. Even when he was trying his best to be cautious, everything he did was so over the top or poorly thought out that sometimes it was better when he wasn't trying.
She tapped her pen listlessly against the desk, barely listening to the lecture at all.
Honestly, she thought, guilt eating at her insides, I'm such a mess. Was I always such a terrible, fickle person? Is it really okay to love someone and still feel so upset at them for things that aren't even their fault?
Hiyori didn't know. She wasn't always sure she liked the person she'd become recently, though she had a feeling most of it was stress. No matter how much she loved him and their family, lately she couldn't help snapping at Yato over everything, or kicking him metaphorically (and sometimes literally) down the stairs when he got extra clingy and annoying.
And then there was the other problem, the one where Hiyori had to constantly fight back the burning desire to drag him off somewhere so she could have her own way with him and see how he liked it when someone was doing their damnedest to get filthy, indecent reactions out of him.
If she'd been thinking a little more clearly, she might've realized that that was exactly the sort of thing Yato would love her to try, but Hiyori always had been a little naive, even without the chaos still raging through her endocrine system.
Four miscarriages and the death of her husband of 19 years made the prospect of losing her last living child far more frightening than Kobayashi Hana could ever prepare for. Despite the competent, self-assured facade that she was so well known for in her career, the truth was that Hana had always been an anxious, no-holds-barred mess. She was nothing like the cool-headed, detached mother she played for Yasumi's sake, which was only a thinly veiled mask modeled after her own father's relatively carefree personality. In fact, if Yasumi had been anything less than Koichi's daughter, Hana very much doubted she could have been convinced not to wrap her up in cellophane and keep her safely home her entire life.
Hana sighed, her heart aching at the thought of her late husband as she sat motionless in traffic on her way to her sister's house.
Kobayashi Koichi had been ignorant of his wife's ability to See, and thus doubly ignorant of his own power to keep specters away, but he'd grown up alongside Hana and her siblings and he knew all too well how easily Hana worried about everything. It was Koichi who had always been her safety net when they were children, and it was Koichi who also helped convince her that it would be unfair to Yasumi to keep her locked up indoors, back before Hana had discovered that their three year old daughter took after her sunny father in more ways than one.
"We can't do that to her, Hana," he'd said when she admitted she was afraid to let Yasumi go to school the following year. "After all that pain and heartache, did we try so hard to have a child just so we could have a cute little doll to keep at home like a prisoner? She's a living person like you and me, she's entitled to experience a normal life like we did."
"But what if something happens to her, where we can't do anything to help her?!" Hana fussed, pacing around the kitchen nervously. Koichi caught her hand as she passed by his chair and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey, breathe, Sunflower," he said, using an old childhood nickname. "Life is like that, you know it is; there's no way to avoid every single danger. Even if we home-school her, or never allow her to play outside, the house could go up in flames, or a devastating earthquake could hit-"
"Is this supposed to make me feel better?!" Hana snapped.
Koichi grinned at her, that same roguish look he'd always used to charm the hell out of anyone unlucky enough to be near him when he got a mischievous idea. He'd been the same age as Mitsuo, three years Hana's elder, but she'd known Koichi and his shit-eating grin quite literally her whole life and she was fully aware of how much of a tease he could be. "Dunno, did it?"
Hana glowered at him, annoyed. "Obviously not, Koichi-kun!"
He made a face, put off by the honorific. "Seriously Hana, I'm older than you, you know, and we've only been married for what, eleven years already? You don't have to treat me like a dumb kid."
"Then don't act like one," she snapped irritably.
Koichi winced, his handsome profile marred by his wrinkled nose. "Yeesh, Hana, you could at least pretend to hold back," he muttered. He tugged her toward him, holding her hands firmly. "My point is," he continued, fully serious now that he was channeling his job. He'd always been a natural therapist, what with his charm and his ability to look at things from multiple perspectives. Long before Hana had been old enough to get an actual therapist, Koichi had always been the one to help her manage her anxiety. "Life is unpredictable. Death is inevitable. I know this is kind of your thing, but you know it ain't healthy to live life looking over your shoulder for every possible thing that could go wrong. Do you really want Yasumi to live like that too?"
"Of course I don't," Hana said, hurt. "I wouldn't wish my anxiety on anyone."
"... I can think of a few people I might wish it on," Koichi said, scowling. He'd fallen out with his family after Yasumi's birth, thanks to the child's mystifying appearance. She didn't resemble Hana or Koichi much at all, and none of her physical traits existed in either of her parents' recent bloodlines. Both Hana and Koichi had brown hair and eyes, and neither of them were as lanky or quite as fair-skinned as their daughter. Her lidded, almond-shaped eyes, though a similar color to her mother's, had a curious quality to them that sometimes made them seem as light as honey or dark as chocolate. With her raven-colored hair and distinct appearance, the only conclusion the Kobayashi family could make was that Hana had committed adultery in her desperation to have a child.
It was utter nonsense, of course, but Hana could understand why Koichi's elder sister and parents thought Yasumi might be someone else's child. The miscarriages had been traumatic for both of them, and though they'd always been close, the couple had had more than a few rough patches thanks to the strain of all the emotional turmoil. The Kobayashis were furious, of course; the thought of Hana deceiving the husband who had stayed by her side faithfully their whole lives was a slap in the face to them, especially since they'd always loved and trusted her. They demanded a paternity test, and while Hana would have done it, Koichi absolutely refused on principle. Ever since then, he'd declined to meet with any of his family members, and they'd kept their distance as well.
"Koichi..."
"No, I'm not calling them, now or any other time," Koichi insisted stubbornly. "I'm not taking that fucking test and I don't care what they think; you and I know the truth and that's enough." He huffed, shaking his head.
"Fine, I won't say anything else about it," Hana conceded.
"Thanks. But my point is, Hana, the way a person's personality and behavior develops is more dependent on environment than on genes; even if Yasumi isn't an anxious child now, there's a good chance she'll learn the behaviors if we're too overprotective of her. It's important that she's safe, of course, but it's also important that Yasumi learns to be independent too."
"But... she's only three-!"
"She won't be forever, and you and I can't always be around to look out for her. Going to school, getting to play with other kids, learning to get up after being knocked down; it's all important for a child's development. Even if there are dangers, our job is to make sure she's prepared to face them, not to shield her."
"If you think I'm about to let an axe murderer hack at my child-" Hana scoffed.
Koichi broke out into wild laughter. "What- who said anything about axe murderers?! C'mon, Sunflower, at least give me a plausible danger to work with here-"
"Murderers are plausible! Especially if you're a woman-"
"Well, that's true," he admitted, sobering up immediately. "And sure, in a case where you're in a position to protect your kid from something that dangerous, then yeah, shielding them is the right move. But it's impossible to predict those things, and it's unhealthy to avoid living on the off chance something could maybe happen. There's a difference between risk-taking behaviors and not worrying. In the long run, it's still better to teach kids how to look after themselves. You can't control everything."
Hana sighed, tired out. Leave it to a therapist to turn any conversation into a moment of self-reflection.
"I know, I know," she said, wishing he could understand the very real dangers of having the Sight. "I'm just... scared, Koichi."
His expression softened and he tugged her closer, letting her hands rest on his shoulders as he looked up at her and hugged her around the waist. "I know, Hana. I get it. If I thought it were the best thing for her, I would have set up the world's most sophisticated home security system no matter what it cost. Unfortunately, I think I'm allergic to alligators. Or at least, the thought of alligators in my backyard."
Hana laughed. "I don't think an alligator counts as sophisticated."
"It does if they're genetically altered and equipped with weaponry."
"Because that's exactly why people genetically alter animals."
"The people worth knowing do," Koichi said seriously.
Hana couldn't help giggling at his stupid, infectious sense of humor. He grinned, pleased.
"But y'know, not even cyber-gators would keep Yasumi safe from every danger in the world. And besides," he continued, his tone changing, becoming sad and vulnerable, "didn't we name her so she could live as fully and strongly as possible? For the ones we lost, too?"
Hana felt a wave of fresh pain in her chest even as she sat alone in her car over a decade after that conversation. The grief of losing a child wasn't the sort of thing that went away over time. It simply became bearable, a scar that never quite healed and which could be torn open anew at any time.
Every single one of them had been loved, and Hana had prayed her heart out each time she'd realized she was pregnant. Ame-no-Mikoto was supposed to protect her bloodline, so Hana had worn out the mat in front of their altar, had made weekly visits to the main shrine, left innumerable offerings.
Each time, her prayers hadn't been enough, and though Hana knew it wasn't really Ame-no-Mikoto's fault, or any other god's, she still grew increasingly desperate as Koichi started showing signs of wanting to give up before their hearts were broken again.
So Hana had tried something different when Koichi agreed to one last try with their fifth pregnancy. She scoured the family histories, borrowed tomes of folklore from her grandfather, asked about the other gods her family venerated alongside Ame. Several well-known names came up; Tenjin, Inari, Ebisu... but also a few curious outliers that weren't usually part of the set. Of those, it was the one she'd never heard of that she'd ended up focusing on. A god who seemed to be the opposite of Ame in almost every way.
Only her grandfather had any memory of the name she found when she asked about it.
"Ah, that one," he'd noted when she showed him the vague passage. "Yes, I suppose he is known by that name as well, but we don't really use it these days. What about him, Hana-chan?"
"I don't know," she said, chewing on a strand of her hair anxiously as she sat at her grandfather's tea table. "He's mentioned a few times with Ame-no-Mikoto but there's so little information about him, and this passage makes him seem so..."
"Ominous?" her grandfather asked with a small smile, his brown eyes crinkling with fondness. His hair had long gone white, and though he had all the good humor of a much younger man, the family knew he was slowly being consumed by the slow-acting cancer the doctor had pronounced beyond treatment. He wasn't expected to live past the end of the year.
Hana nodded, wondering if someone had thought to record his stories before he passed away.
"'Blade and shadow, steeped in blood, wielded when light and shield are not enough,'" he read aloud. "Yes, I think my father said something about this particular god having a violent past. It's why we call him by title instead of name, actually. It's a little more grandiose, makes it easier to remember."
"Title?"
"Mhm, you actually know this god quite well, Hana-chan. He's enshrined here too, in fact. I'm sure you have a talisman of him at home as well, though, I suppose all the surviving ones are rather old and probably don't have much in the way of detail left..." he trailed off thoughtfully.
"But Ojii-chan, the only gods enshrined here are Ame-no-Mikoto and-"
"Amagiri-no-Mikoto," he finished for her. "Like I said, we use his title instead of his name."
"This is Amagiri-no-Mikoto?!" she asked, shocked. "But Amagiri-no-Mikoto is supposed to be a benevolent deity, he's the one who protects Ame-sama!"
"So he does," her grandfather said with a small shrug.
"But here it says he's also a god of-"
"Calamity, yes. A magatsukami, a powerful god of death and misfortune... but it's not his only quality," he said, pointing at a different passage. "'A blade turned outward is death, but those behind it call it life.' What do you think that's supposed to mean, Hana-chan?"
"I suppose... that someone fighting against a sword sees a tool for killing, while the person wielding the sword considers it his tool for survival?"
"Very good. But there's another meaning you could take from it as well." He paused, coughing into a handkerchief with a horrible wheezing noise. Hana got to her feet immediately but he waved her down. "T-Thank you, dear, but I'm alright," he said weakly.
"You're sure, Jii-chan?"
"Yes, yes, just having you visit is balm enough for an old man's ailments."
She slowly lowered herself to the ground, huffing slightly with the unbalanced weight of her pronounced belly.
"Now, as I was saying," he said, sliding the tea tray toward her so she could pour herself a cup. "The line mentions 'those,' in plural. 'Those behind it,' yes? It could be referring to those who wield swords, of course, but it could also be talking about anyone under the swordsman's protection. In their eyes, the sword that cuts down an enemy is a shield. Isn't that why we have combat gods to begin with?"
Hana turned her tea cup over in her hands.
"Well, I suppose that's one way to see it, yes. But if he's a god of misfortune-"
"He isn't," her grandfather said simply. "Certainly, he might be known as a magatsukami to others, but in our family... well, you should know, Hana-chan. He's our-"
"God of Fortune," Hana said aloud, her voice muffled by the enclosed space in her car. "A god that fights and sheds blood for the sake of protecting the people he loves, and who love him in return."
She closed her eyes with a small smile, remembering Koichi's typical reaction when she'd told him what she wanted to name their child.
"Hold on," he'd said, frowning. "You're telling me you had this insane, one-man-army type god all along, and your family chose the quiet, boring old rain god to dedicate themselves to instead?! What kind of idiot made that choice?!"
"I'm being serious, Koichi!" Hana scolded, annoyed. Koichi had never been particularly devout; he enjoyed folklore on its own, and went with the flow when it came to religious observations, but that was about as seriously as he ever took the Shinto deities.
"So am I! The man cut heaven in half, that's way more interesting that ending a famine-"
"That's not the point, the point is-"
"I know, but still," her husband grumbled, even as he wrote down the different sets of proposed kanji on a piece of paper. "We both wanted a name that carried the meaning of 'a new beginning,' of 'dawn,' so I thought akatsuki would be the better character at first..."
"Yes, but if it's written like this instead, then it's the same meaning, but-"
"Yeah, I like it," Koichi said, circling the chosen version of the name 'Yasumi'. "'Night's End,' but still carrying the blessing of the 'night' character. So she can always find the strength to fight for herself and start anew."
He pulled Hana into a one-armed hug as they studied the characters thoughtfully. "For herself, and for the others too," she added quietly.
"Yeah... for all of them. If this god can lend her the ability do that, then I have no objections to using a character from his name."
Curiously, no matter how hard Hana tried to recall that god's name in the years afterward, neither she nor Koichi could ever remember it. After her grandfather passed away, the written record she'd found seemed to have vanished, leaving only the memory of the character for 'night', and the title her family regularly prayed to. She never really told Yasumi about her namesake either; it seemed to Hana that a god of the night might prefer to keep his secrets.
"Please, Amagiri-no-Mikoto-sama," she prayed aloud, her knuckles turning white against the steering wheel as the traffic crawled forward an inch at a time. "Look after my night-bound daughter as if she were your own, and continue to give her the strength she needs to protect herself."
No matter how many years passed, Kirine would never forget the night she met Yato.
She had been an unbound spirit then, constantly on the run from ayakashi that picked out her unique aura and scent. It was in the middle of winter, during a particularly bad storm, that she'd huddled behind another god's shrine, shivering in the cold as she waited for the negative energy to thin out with the rising of the sun. She hadn't eaten or slept in days, and though it hadn't snowed yet, the nights were bitter and painfully dry at that time of year. There was a thick fog on that particular night as well, so she only noticed the visitor to the shrine when he spoke up.
"Yeah, don't worry, it's just a little blight," a man's voice echoed in the darkness. His voice cut through the chilled haze of her exhaustion, but she didn't react beyond letting her ears focus in on the pleasant sound for a little while. Humans couldn't see her, after all.
There was a clacking sound and a splash.
"See? Easy," the voice continued. "Gimme a minute to cleanse the rest and then we can go-"
She sneezed, repressing a tremor, and the voice stopped abruptly.
"I'll be right back," the voice said, a low whisper that her sharp ears easily picked out, though she thought nothing of it.
There was a rustling noise and then someone was brushing the foliage aside to find her sitting on the ground with her head tucked between her knees.
"Hey, are you alright?"
She lifted her head up in a daze, her nose red and chapped, her eyes bleary with hunger, frost clinging to her lashes. She blinked slowly, face to face with a rather breathtaking young man, his beautiful blue eyes wide with concern.
"M-Me?" she croaked in confusion, her voice strained from lack of use and water. "You can... you can see me?!"
His face drained of all color as he stared at her, studying her in silence for a good minute as he took in her threadbare yukata and the cracked sores on her hands and feet. There was a sharp intake of air as he noticed the pink, semi-transparent tail curled around her waist in a desperate attempt to preserve warmth and he tentatively reached for one of her hands, groaning in sympathy at the discolored fingertips.
"How long have you been here?" he asked in a shaky voice.
"I... I d-dunno," she said, coughing slightly at the effort. "T-There are m-monsters out t-there-"
"Why didn't you go inside somewhere?!"
"D-Didn't want t-to int-trude," she said through chattering teeth. "I w-won't d-die, I'm u-used to it," she added at the look on his face. Perhaps it was because she was so tired, but not once did she consider putting up her guard or tugging her fingers out of his reach. He was unbelievably warm, and she'd spent so long wanting to be noticed by someone, anyone, that she welcomed the contact.
The boy covered his mouth with his hand, clearly horrified at her condition. Without another word, he unzipped his tracksuit jacket and threw it over her shoulders with unimaginable gentleness.
"Excuse me," he said quietly as he helped tug her hair out of the way, his hands carefully brushing through the strands as though each were a fragile thread. A powerfully intoxicating scent enveloped her as he moved, warm and inviting, and her breath caught. Her sense of smell had always been strong, but his aroma was much nicer than anything else she'd ever smelled, headier and comforting... even familiar, somehow. She felt a vicious sense of loss as he finished adjusting the jacket and pulled away.
"T-Thank-k y-you," she coughed. His brow knotted with worry.
"Don't try to talk too much, you probably haven't had anything to eat or drink for a while... spirits can't starve or die of dehydration or hypothermia, but you still feel all the pain and discomfort of the symptoms..." he paused, his eyes searching her with something like desperation. "Do... do you know who I am? J-Just nod or shake your head, okay?"
Slowly, she shook her head. For a brief second, she thought she recognized the devastated look in his eyes, but all too suddenly it was gone, replaced only with concern.
"I'm a god," he told her, "Yato... Yatogami?"
"Y-Yatoga..?" she repeated slowly, cocking her head in confusion. He winced.
"It was worth a try," he muttered, ruffling his hair dejectedly. Her nose perked up involuntarily, trying to get closer to the source of the good smell wafting toward her. "I'm not very well known yet. Should've known you wouldn't reme- I mean, know about me." He sighed, a deep sound tinged with regret and pain. He hesitated, biting his lip. "You... how much do you know? About yourself... I mean?"
She shook her head slightly. "I t-think I'm d-dead... but t-that's all."
"Do you know about shinki?" he asked.
Another shake.
The man hesitated, clearly thinking thinking his words through. "Well... it's customary for gods to take in the wandering spirits of the dead to serve as their weapons and attendants. It's a little bit like adopting a family; we take care of our shinki and our shinki help us with our jobs. Being bound to a god also gives shinki the ability to protect themselves from ayakashi and other spiritual threats, and allows you to live as a proper denizen of the Boundary. It's not the same as being alive... but you'll be able to cross into the Near Shore and interact with people and objects again.
"You're... Well, you don't seem to have anywhere to go, and no other gods seem to have claimed you yet, so... I mean, it's not really much of a home, and I only have one other shinki..."
"H-Home...?" she whispered, her voice filled with longing. She didn't really understand what he was talking about, but the thought of belonging somewhere after all that time spent wandering by herself was such a wonderful prospect that she didn't question his motives or story. It was like he'd cast a spell over the chilled air, a promise of safety and warmth. "W-With you?"
His cheeks and nose reddened slightly. "I-If you're okay with me, y-yeah. I'm not popular, or rich, I only have one shrine, and I know it's really not much at all, but... I wonder... if.. if you'd still like to come... with me?"
He looked so vulnerable and full of hope, so sweet and earnest that she couldn't help what little blood she could spare rising to her cheeks, and before she knew it she'd hidden behind the collar of his jacket shyly, too embarrassed to look at him as she gave a tiny, nervous nod, the scent of his clothes making her feel dizzy and more reckless than ever.
He breathed a deep sigh of relief, a small, complicated smile on his lips. "I'll need to give you a name, then."
He raised his fore and middle fingers in a curious gesture and cleared his throat.
"You who have nowhere to go and no way to pass on," he began, his expression serious as his fingers glowed with brilliant light. "I'll grant you a place to belong. My name is Yato. Bearing a posthumous name, I use my life to make you my servant..."
She watched, entranced, her frostbitten hands gripping the jacket tightly as he carefully sketched a series of glowing lines in thin air. The lines came together to become a character, old-fashioned and less rigid than the ones she was familiar with, but distinguishable nonetheless.
"Thy name is Kiri, thy vessel Bou. Come, Boukki!"
There was a flash and she shut her eyes, a strange feeling running over her skin and through her bones for a split second. When it was over, she felt lighter somehow, her senses sharper, and the cold had become bearable. Yato was holding her in his hands, her physical form replaced by an elegant, ceremonial naginata, tasseled and lacquered, her blade sharp and true. But while she felt a rush of gratitude and pride, the god's expression was deeply sad, tears trickling down his cheeks. He looked so beautiful, so heartbroken, she couldn't find anything to say.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he cried, sobbing openly as his grip tightened around her hilt. "I should've been there, I should have..." He trailed off, trying to compose himself.
"Y-Yatogami-sama?" she ventured, worried. Her voice had a strange, echoing quality to it, as though it inhabited an endless, open space.
He shook his head and took several deep breaths, wiping the tears from his face before he spoke.
"S-Sorry, just remembered... No, never mind... it's nothing," he said, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. "R-Revert, Kiri."
Another flash, and Kiri was back in her all too vulnerable spirit body. She shivered violently, colder now after the brief respite. Yato offered her his hands.
"It's okay," he said. For some reason, she felt a little embarrassed as she took his hands. She hadn't really thought about it until after it was over, but Kiri was suddenly struck by the fact that she'd bound herself to a complete stranger. It was almost like she'd agreed to marry him, really. No matter how relieved she'd felt at being seen, or at the thought of having somewhere to call home, she wasn't sure exactly what Yato was expecting from her.
As if he were reading her mind, he took her hands gently and raised them to his lips, and for a panicked second she thought he meant to kiss them. A moment later he breathed on them, cupping the frozen fingers between his palms and sending a spark of warmth tingling through her nerves.
"I know it's a little... intimate," he muttered, blushing. "Just bear with me, you need to warm up a bit. I'm your master now, so it's my responsibility to make sure my shinki are well looked after and provided for."
Kiri swallowed painfully but managed a small nod, the cold thawing slightly as her heart pounded strongly in her ears and sent a flush of warm blood through her veins. Yato inspected her fingers and seemed a little relieved to find color returning to her pale skin. He got to his feet slowly, helping her up.
"Your name is Kirine," Yato told her as she stumbled and he hastily caught her. "Careful," he said quietly, squeezing her hands reassuringly. "As my Regalia, you're now an official part of my household, and I permit you to stay by my side longer than kin. That means you and I are family now, okay?"
"M-Mm," she managed, feeling extremely self-conscious.
He smiled at her, a genuine smile, so lovely it seemed to light up his whole being. Kirine's doubts were temporarily forgotten, her defenses utterly destroyed by the innocence of that smile.
"Y-Yato-sama?" she asked.
"Just Yato is okay, Yukine doesn't call me by an honorific either."
"T-Then, Yato...?"
He beamed at the sound of his own name. "Yeah?"
"C-Could we get o-out of the c-cold, p-please?" she begged, hugging herself around the middle, her tail bristling.
"O-Oh, sorry, yes, one second-"
Without warning he bent down and lifted her up into a princess carry, ignoring her cry of shock as he tucked her carefully in against his shoulder and settled her weight between his arms with all the easy grace of someone who had known her intimately for years.
"Wh-What are you d-doing?!" she cried, scrabbling to free herself.
"Ow! No, it's okay, I'm just- YEOWCH! Don't BITE me!"
"Put me DOWN!"
"I'm just lending you my goddamned body heat, for fuck's sake!" he complained, completely dropping the formal language he'd been using as he fought his way through the branches. "Just be patient for a bit, I don't have anything thicker than that jacket right now!"
"Pervert! Kidnapper! Let me go!"
"I'm not! I told you, I'm a god, and I'm just trying to help! You're freezing, Kirine; you can get really bad injuries even if you're already dead!" he insisted. "You wanna lose your fingers and toes to frostbite? Huh?! I didn't fucking think so!" he huffed as she shook her head frantically, horrified by the thought. "Just hang on tight until I can get you something warmer to wear, think of me like a hot water bottle if you want; I promise I'm not gonna do anything to you."
She glared at him suspiciously. "You swear?"
His expression softened. "Yeah, don't you trust me, Kirine?"
"I don't even know you," she muttered into his shirt, thankful for the warmth against her cheek despite her complaints.
"But that's not a no," he said, grinning slightly.
"Hmph," she said, avoiding his eyes. Yato gave a small, dry chuckle.
"Still, I can't believe you bit me," he muttered, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. "That really hurt, y'know."
She didn't deign to reply to that.
They came around onto the paved grounds of the shrine and Yato turned to face a pair of swords left leaning against the railing.
"Revert, Yukki."
There was another flash of light and suddenly a young boy in a woolen hat and a thick white parka stood in front of them.
"What the hell is your fucking problem, Yato?!" he snarled at the sight of his master. "Just leaving me there on my own and ignoring my- Hold on, who-" the boy stopped, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. Kirine raised her head to get a better look at him.
His pretty golden eyes widened with fear and shock as they met hers.
"Yato-?!" he said again, his tone harsh and frightened.
"Not now, Yukine. She's freezing, and I don't think she's eaten in a long time," Yato said without preamble. "I want to get her somewhere warm first..." His voice faltered at the boy's betrayed expression.
"Did... did you name her?" he asked, eyeing her bare ankles and feet.
Kirine felt Yato's hold tighten around her. She had no idea what was happening, but she thought it might be best to stay quiet.
"Yukine... I-I couldn't just leave her... I was surprised, I didn't think-"
"Don't be a fucking idiot," the boy snapped, pulling his hat off to reveal a mess of yellow cowlicks. "We already talked about this, I'm not gonna get mad 'cause you helped her out, dumbass." Without asking, he marched over and tugged it over Kirine's head, surprisingly gentle despite his dissatisfied expression. "Just wear it," he said gruffly. "It's cold as hell to be walking around in only a yukata."
"Th-Thanks," she managed, pure exhaustion settling in now that she was considerably warmer and relatively safe.
"I'm Yukine," he said, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "Yatogami's guidepost and Blessed Regalia. Guess that makes me your senpai," he added as an afterthought.
"I... don't really know... what most of... that means," Kirine admitted with a long yawn. "But I'm K-Kirine, I'll... be in your... care..."
"It's okay, get some rest," Yukine said, glancing up at his master. "Kiri?" he asked in an undertone, eyebrow raised. "What's with you and the weather, anyway?"
"It's pretty, isn't it?" Yato frowned petulantly. "What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, s'long as she likes it," Yukine shrugged. "Let's get her to Kofuku's then," he added with a small sigh. Yato gave him an apologetic grimace.
"Yeah... let's go home."
Kirine's eyes drooped closed as they left the shrine, her worries smoothed away by the balm of Yato's addictive scent.
"Two specials and a side of dumplings, is that right? Anything else?"
"That's all, thanks."
"Coming right up," Yato said, scribbling the order down as he made his way through the crowded restaurant towards the kitchen. His boss hadn't been lying; the place really was packed, and a less experienced waiter might have been overwhelmed by the number of patrons or the lack of space.
Thankfully, Yato was probably the most experienced restaurant worker to have ever lived... though as a god, it was a little demoralizing to admit out loud.
Maybe I should look into a different kind of job... before Amane gets old enough to tell people her old man's a professional waiter, he winced inwardly. He doubted that would go down well with his in-laws.
They're not your in-laws!
Yato grinned, imagining Hiyori's voice. She was so stubborn and dishonest about this sort of thing; in the old days they would have been considered married long before Amane was even a thought in their heads, and though societal norms had changed considerably since, Yato thought Hiyori rather protested a bit too much at the thought of marrying him whenever it came up.
I was a bit uneasy about it before, and she gets all worked up over silly little details, but she doesn't like it when other girls notice me, he thought indulgently with a smile, remembering a surprise visit from her high school friends the other day. Yukine had taken the baby and escaped out the window, but since Yato had been the one to open the door to her parents' house in his usual careless nonchalance, he'd had to stay and play family. Hiyori had tried to keep up the 'he's just a relative' charade, but when her friend Ami started getting too close, she'd snapped and kissed him in front of both their guests, catching Yato completely off guard.
He felt all fluffy and light as he remembered the way she'd stood defensively in front of him, barring access, and straight up told her friends he was off limits because he was her life partner.
Idiot, even in a situation like that she used such a polite, vague term, he chuckled to himself fondly. But still, it was really cute.
"Yato-san, you alright?"
Yato blinked and realized he'd spaced out against the partition into the kitchen, his elbows propped on the windowsill. The new kitchen boy was looking at him with concern over several simmering pots and skillets.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he said, a little warm around the collar as he tugged the notepad from his pocket and teared out the top page. "Sorry, just a little sleep deprived... order's in," he added, pinning the slip of paper up.
"O-On it!" The kitchen boy hurried forward to take it and Yato couldn't help giving him a reassuring smile.
"Relax, kid," he told him. The boy was about Hiyori's age, but something about the young man's earnestness reminded him of Yukine. "Better to take your time and get the order right than to mess it up because you're rushing."
"Y-yeah, thanks, Yato-san."
"You got it," he said, fighting a yawn as he loaded several glasses of iced tea onto a tray. A tiny, mewling sound echoed behind him in a show of solidarity. Yato chuckled, glancing over his shoulder at Amane's sleepy, barely conscious expression.
"Hungry yet?" he asked her, but she let her eyes droop closed again and a small bubble of snot formed on her nose. "Ew, gross," he told her, putting the tray down so he could wipe her face with a handkerchief he kept in his jeans pocket just for that. "Manners, kid, you're in a restaurant, you know."
Amane ignored him, already asleep again. Yato pocketed the handkerchief and glanced at the clock as he retrieved the tray.
So far, everything had worked out fine; Amane had suppressed her aura so thoroughly that most people saw her, mentioned how cute she was, and completely forgot about her in seconds. The only one who was constantly aware of her warm cheek and the tiny clenched hands clinging to the back of his shirt was Yato himself.
A little under an hour to noon, he noted, mentally calculating how long it would take him to get to the university. Because Amane was half-human, he was wary of trying to teleport her, lest she lose her physical body the way Hiyori did. He had no proof that that would actually happen, but he really didn't think now was a good time to test the theory. He'd have to go on foot, which would take a bit under twenty minutes, at most.
Hurry up, Shachou, I still gotta change before I go or Hiyori's gonna lose it. Or worse, Yukine will.
He repressed a shiver and plastered on his best customer service smile as he arrived at the table.
"Here y'go," he chirped, all charm as he set down each glass in front of the correct customer. "Your order will be ready in just a little while-"
"Yato-san!"
Yato's entire body froze. He would recognize that high-pitched, delighted voice anywhere, and sure enough, as he turned around, a small child barrelled right toward him, arms open wide, and Yato instinctively bent down to receive him.
"E-Ebisu! What'cha doing here?!" he asked as he lifted the boy up and the young god of fortune gave a childish squeal of laughter, his bright green eyes shining with pure affection. A huge, looming bulk of a man stood stoically to one side watching his master. He gave Yato a small nod of greeting, clearly stifling a yawn of his own. Yato gave him a sympathetic grimace; Kunimi was easily the most exploited shinki in all of Takamagahara... which was really saying something, considering Yato didn't even pay Yukine properly.
At least Yukine could sleep in. Or, he used to be able to anyway.
"To see you, of course," Ebisu said as Yato let him down. "You haven't come by in ages, I was starting to wonder if you'd forgotten all about me... I tried to go to Kofuku-san's place a few times, but you were never there."
Yato gave an unnatural, forced laugh.
"Er, yeah, I've uh, you know, been b-busy..." he coughed, trying to decide the best and most discreet escape route. It wasn't that Ebisu and Kunimi couldn't be trusted; on the contrary, they were some of Yato's most powerful allies, and it wasn't an exaggeration to say that without Ebisu's protection, Heaven would never let him come and go from Takamagahara as he pleased. But Yato, Yukine, and Hiyori had all agreed that only Kofuku, Daikoku, and Nora should be aware of Amane's existence, for her own safety.
"How are Yukine and Iki-san?" Ebisu asked, oblivious to Yato's panic as he backed toward the wall. He could feel the baby's alarm at his sudden spike in anxiety and was thankful she was a god; she grew so still and quiet that even Yato could barely sense her anymore.
"F-Fine, we're all doing fine, no one's been down to bother us about the taboo or anything-" he coughed.
Ebisu grinned. "We've been shooting them down every time they try to bring it up. The Heaven's Guard wouldn't dare antagonize all seven of the Gods of Fortune again, not when even Takemikazuchi-san and Tenjin-san are on our side. Plus they're terrified of you and Kofuku-san anyway."
Yato gave a small sniff of pride despite himself. Kofuku might be almost as reviled as Yato was, but she was not a force to be trifled with. The two of them together were quite capable of destroying a few prefectures by themselves... not that they would ever do such a thing, of course. But Heaven needn't know that.
"Thanks, Ebisu, I'm really counting on you guys," Yato admitted gratefully.
"Of course, Yato-san, it's the least we can do after everything you've done for us. Besides, friends help each other out!" Ebisu said happily, hands held behind his back. "Even when one of them is hiding the fact they've gone and had a secret love-child."
Yato immediately went pale, and froze.
"S-Sorry, I think I misheard-" he said with a panicked fake laugh.
"A secret love-child," Ebisu repeated, blinking up at him innocently. "With Iki Hiyori-"
Without warning, Yato snatched Ebisu up by the waist, tucked him under his arm, and rushed out of the restaurant with only a quick glance at Kunimi to follow. "I need a quick break, be right back!" he shouted at the kitchen boy, not even bothering to wait for a reply.
"You knew?!" Yato gasped a few minutes later, glancing nervously around them as he ushered them into a little alleyway out of sight.
Ebisu gave him a slightly exasperated sort of glance as Kunimi helped him climb up onto a crate, where he sat down and kicked his feet carelessly.
"Did you really think you could hide such a big secret all by yourself, Yato-san?" he asked, pouting. "It's not a coincidence that Heaven's been leaving you alone all this time, you know."
"B-But how?!"
Ebisu shrugged.
"Bishamon-san said she ran into Iki-san at the market once, and noticed that she was buying prenatal vitamins. She'd gained weight, and Yukine was standing guard over her like she was the most precious thing in the world. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together," the young god said.
"B-But gods aren't supposed to be able to have kids!"
"They're also not supposed to be able to defy Heaven and survive punishment," Ebisu said pointedly. "You're always making big things happen, Yato-san. I'm not that surprised that you managed something that's supposed to be impossible. Is that them, by the way? The baby?" he asked, eyes sparkling as he craned his head trying to look over Yato's shoulder.
Yato hesitated but in the end decided there was no point in pretending. With a sigh, he untied the baby wrap and carefully maneuvered Amane into his arms.
"Her name's Iki Amane, she's three months old now," he said, cradling her against his shoulder. Her hands immediately curled around the collar of his shirt, a small whine betraying her fear. "You're okay," Yato murmured against her forehead, tugging the hood down to free her hair. "Daddy has you, Amane."
"Waaaah! She's so pretty!" Ebisu gasped, clambering onto Kunimi's shoulder so he could get closer. Amane squirmed nervously, hiding her face in her father's neck.
"It's okay, that's Ebi-nii and Uncle Kunimi, they're Daddy's friends," he assured her. "They're not going to hurt you."
"So tiny," Kunimi admired, bending down to pat her head. "I've never seen a baby up close before, but she really is very pretty. A fine child."
"Hey, she's not just pretty!" Yato snapped, offended. "She's perfect, an angel, the cutest girl in the whole damned world, okay?!"
"She really is, I love her already-!" Ebisu began excitedly, but as soon as he said that, Yato abruptly pulled Amane away, glaring down at his friend as he turned to shield her from him.
"Don't even think about it," he growled. "You're way too old for her, and I don't care how much money you throw at us, you're not buying her hand in marriage if I have anything to say about it!"
Kunimi gave a snort but straightened his face as soon as Ebisu looked his way suspiciously.
"Did you just laugh at me, Kunimi?"
"No, young master, of course not," the older man said, breaking out into a cold sweat.
"...For your sake, I hope not," Ebisu said in that same deceptively innocent tone. He turned back toward Yato and clasped his hands behind his back like a model well-behaved child. "Sorry, Yato-san, I never meant it like that. Amane-chan is just very cute, I couldn't help myself. I have no ulterior motives, promise."
"Hah?! You sayin' my girl ain't good enough for ya?!" Yato demanded furiously. "How dare you?! How can you look at this beautiful, heartbreaker of a face and-!"
"Oh come on, Yato-san, she's a baby, I just wanna hold her! Please? Pleaaaaase?! Can I?!"
"Hell no," Yato said firmly, refusing to budge. "You can ask again when you learn how to tie your own shoes; Hiyori would kill me if you dropped her. But," he added hastily at the hurt look on Ebisu's face. "I guess... it's okay if you wanna give her a hug... But only 'cause you're a kid, one time only, and not in any other context, misunderstanding, or innuendo, got it?!"
Ebisu sighed with exasperation. "Yato-san, seriously, don't be 'that' father. She'll grow up to hate you, you know."
"Never! You'd never hate Daddy, right Amane?!"
"... Seeing as her mother is a teenage girl, I'd think you'd know better than anyone how little she'll appreciate your overprotective hovering," the young god said drily. "But do whatever you want, Yato-san, it's your family."
Yato opened his mouth to argue but was stopped by the thought of a grown Amane making the same disgusted face as the one Hiyori and Yukine made when he was being a bit too overenthusiastic.
"NOOO!" he cried, falling to his knees, cradling the child desperately. "If she looks at me like that, I'll die! Why would you do that to your Daddy, Amane?! How could you?!"
Ebisu calmly pulled out his phone as the baby started to cry, overwhelmed by her father's emotional whirlwind.
"What was Iki-san's number again, Kunimi?"
Yato immediately stopped wailing, his face pale.
"No, wait! Don't call Hiyori," he begged. "I'm not even supposed to be here-"
"Then... can I hold Amane-chan?"
Yato scowled. Typical Ebisu, blackmailing his way into an advantageous position.
"...No, but you can still get that hug. Come 'ere," he said reluctantly. He held the baby up toward Ebisu, keeping a firm hold around her waist while the boy stepped forward to hug her tightly.
"Ooooh, she's so sweet!" the boy gasped as Amane stopped sniffling and made a happy burbling sound. Yato grinned with satisfaction; Amane's love of skinship was yet another tick on the list of his side of the gene pool, and he'd tease Hiyori about it later, in private, when he had the time to remind her that he'd meant it when he'd told her she'd never get rid of him ever again.
Ebisu turned his starstruck eyes to him, looking almost as happy as the last time the Japanese economy had started to recover following a recession. "Will she be my friend, do you think?!"
"Yeah, I'm sure she'll wanna play with you when she's older," Yato smiled, touched by Ebisu's genuine affection despite his earlier misgivings. He ruffled the boy's hair warmly. "She's a god too, so-"
"She's a WHAT?!"
Yato gave a start, surprised by the other god's outburst. Ebisu's smile had vanished, his face turning a nasty shade of white.
"Y-Yeah, she's just tamping down her aura right now-"
"Yato-san, what have you done?!"
"What are you talking about, Ebisu? You just told me you knew all about it!" Yato said, confused.
"Yes, that you'd had a child with a human girl!" Ebisu said, aghast. "But we all thought it was a human child!"
"There's not really much of a difference-" Yato began, but Ebisu interrupted him immediately.
"Of course there is! Divinity isn't supposed to be inheritable for anyone but the highest echelons of Heaven! What do you think is going to happen when Amaterasu finds out you- you, Amagiri-no-Mikoto, the most dangerous god to ever openly oppose her rule- has gone and fathered a divine child on a human?!"
"Well, yeah, I knew she'd be pissed, why do you think I've been hiding her-"
"You don't get it, Yato-san!" the younger god groaned. "Amane-chan's existence is a threat to the stability of Heaven! If you can father a god, then that means your power as a deity could be interpreted to be on the same level as even the likes of Izanami and Izanagi themselves. Any gods that might feel resentful toward Her Majesty might use you and Amane-chan as a symbol to rally around, it could start a civil war!"
"B-But I don't wanna go against Amaterasu!" Yato insisted. "I don't like her, but all I want is to live quietly with my family here on Earth, I don't care about politics and the hierarchy of Heaven. And I'm just a minor god anyway, no one in their right mind would think I could really threaten the creation deities-"
"Even if that were true, there's another problem, here on the Near Shore," Ebisu said, covering his face with a groan. "Iki-san has given birth to a god, Yato-san! She is the literal mother of a child of god. What would happen if other humans were to find out?! You know how dangerous mortal fanaticism can get, just look at all the wars people have waged over whose god is more worthy of worship. Some nutcase could even assassinate the Emperor in the name of your daughter-"
"That's ridiculous, there's no way-"
"The Emperor's bloodline is considered sacred because they're descended from the gods. You really think some human somewhere with ulterior motives might not take advantage of faith in Amane-chan's existence to destabilize the mortal government? Don't you know the human realm is practically a dumpster fire these days?! When was the last time you read the news, Yato-san?!"
Yato blushed slightly, avoiding Ebisu's eyes. "T-That's none of your business, Ebi."
"This is serious, Yato-san!"
"I know!" Yato exclaimed, rubbing Amane's back as she made several uneasy sounds, frightened by the loud arguing. "We all knew she'd be a target. Hiyori and Yukine and I have been doing our best to keep her out of danger, we don't want anyone to find out about her. Not gods, or humans. We aren't taking the danger lightly, Ebisu."
Ebisu groaned, massaging the bridge of his nose in a markedly mature fashion. "I'm going to have to talk to the others about this so we can figure out a plan-"
"Don't!" Yato said sharply. "She has to stay as secret as possible, just tell them she's a human if you have to-"
"They're our allies, they have a right-"
"They can't know, it's too dangerous! C'mon Ebi, this is my family. I can't risk even more people finding out about her and Hiyori. It's bad enough this many people know she exists in the first place. I don't want to fight Heaven, but I will if they come after us, and I can't afford not to use lethal force if it comes down to them or us."
Ebisu glanced up at Kunimi for guidance.
"Well... They do say that a secret only stays secret if no one tells, young Master," the shinki noted. The god of fortune sighed.
"Fine, I'll keep this to myself as a favor to you, Yato-san. But promise me you won't tell anyone else, just let them think she's a human for as long as possible. I couldn't even sense her aura after hugging her, so as long as you don't say anything..."
"Y-yeah, I shouldn't have been so careless," Yato admitted, mentally smacking himself for revealing it in the first place. "I'm not planning to bring her out like this again either, it was a stupid mistake-"
His phone chimed with the alarm he'd set earlier.
"Fuck," he muttered, reaching into his pocket to turn it off. "Look, can we discuss this later, somewhere safe? I gotta clock out from the restaurant and take Amane to her mom for feeding..."
Ebisu frowned but nodded. "Yes, we'll come visit you at Kofuku's later. I'll text you."
"Okay," Yato agreed, throwing the blanket over his shoulder. There was no need to wrap Amane again now that they were leaving.
"Just, be careful, will you Yato-san? Yukine and Iki-san too. You're my friends, I don't want to lose any of you."
Yato gave the boy a small smile and a pat. "Yeah, don't worry, Ebi, I won't let any of us get killed."
"Oh come on!" Hana groaned angrily as the traffic inched forward a few seconds and came to another dead stop. "What in the world is going on today?!"
She turned the engine off and swiped her phone on. No calls or messages from Yasumi or Kuriko.
"No news is good news, no news is good news," she muttered to herself, trying to channel one of Koichi's obnoxious mental health quotes. She opened the search bar and started looking for traffic reports, but all she found was a vague mention of an accident under investigation just outside of downtown. An explosion of some kind, though thankfully no one had been hurt.
Well that's a relief at least, she sighed, switching the screen off. She leaned against the car door, wishing she'd taken the long way around. She didn't usually like driving in the city; it was how Koichi had died, trapped in a pileup with no one willing to risk going in to help him out before the ambulances arrived. By the time the paramedics got there, he'd died of blood loss from a completely treatable injury. All he'd needed was a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.
Since the funeral, Hana had made a point of avoiding highways and busy roads. She woke an hour earlier than usual just to have enough time to take the scenic way to work every morning, and she took the train if she had to visit the prison or the courts from there. Part of the issue was her anxiety, fear of getting caught up in an accident and leaving Yasumi to fend for herself. Truthfully, however, Hana just didn't want to be forced to think about her husband's last moments, desperate and alone, unable to free himself from the wreckage and his cries for help ignored. What must he have felt, knowing he was going to die because no one wanted to get involved? He must have laughed at the cruel irony of a therapist abandoned in his time of need, made stupid, inappropriate jokes as he cried angry tears of frustration.
Hana swallowed back the lump in her throat. Yasumi needed her just now; she couldn't let the grief for her husband consume her while their daughter was in trouble. Koichi would have been the first to tell her off for it, she had no doubt.
You're Kobayashi Hana, he would say. All around kick-ass lawyer and Yasumi's favorite mom. Focus on what you can do, Sunflower, not what you can't.
She chuckled slightly. He'd always said strange things like that, and Hana was only mildly surprised that she could so accurately imagine his reaction to a situation as complicated as this one.
"Guess that's what happens when you've known the person you married for thirty-four years," she said aloud, using his informal way of speaking. She touched the window with her fingertips, a familiar melancholy settling over her shoulders. Maybe... Maybe we used up all our allotted happiness too early, huh, Koichi-kun? The gods let us be together since we were children, so maybe it was only natural we couldn't stay that way forever...
There was a loud clanging noise outside and Hana gave a violent start, hitting her temple against the car door.
"What-?!"
She unfastened her seatbelt and pushed the door open, looking around for the source of the noise. A few other people had gotten out of their own cars to stretch their legs, though more were shaking their heads disapprovingly from behind their windshields. No one else seemed to have noticed the noise at all.
Hana frowned; it was possible to hear things from the Far Shore, but metallic clangs were usually noises produced by people. She spotted a few small ayakashi darting under the cars nearby, but nothing more significant that could explain it.
Slowly, she lowered herself back into her seat, reaching for her phone as she started to pull the door closed. She was almost to the shrine now, so if she could just get out of the traffic and take a side street...
Something familiar crossed her peripheral vision and Hana whirled around. Her eyes scanned the side of the road, looking for short, boyish, black hair-
There, half a block down. She'd recognize that messy hair anywhere.
"Yasumi!" She shouted, relieved. Several cars honked at her loudly as she slammed the door closed and hurried through the traffic with her keys in hand. "Yasumi! It's me, it's Mom! Yasu-"
She froze, confused. The face that turned to meet her gaze wasn't her daughter's. The hair was the same, and the shape of the eyes, but it was a man's face, a young man with unnaturally bright blue eyes. He was dressed in deep green shrine attire with a pair of crimson hakama, and he was clutching a terrible wound in his side, his fingers dripping with blood. In one hand he held an elegant wakizashi, its hilt wrapped in tattered bandages, and he had stopped to lean against the railing, his breath strained.
"O-Oh my god, are you okay?!" she asked, running up to see if she could help. He blinked at her, his pain momentarily forgotten in surprise as she addressed him.
"Me?" he asked, nonplussed. "You're talking to me?"
"Do you see anyone else bleeding out in the middle of the street?!" Hana asked, halfway to dialing 119.
"You... you can see me?" he asked again, squinting at her. "Hold on, you look kinda..." He paused, as though someone was speaking to him through an earpiece. "Oh. Oh, that makes sense, I thought I heard someone yelling 'Yasumi'... So you're Kobayashi Hana, then?" he asked, grimacing as he put pressure on his wound.
Hana blanched. "Y-Yes, how did-"
"You can put that away," he said, gesturing at her phone. "Hospitals don't treat people from the Far Shore."
"The- you...!" she trembled, stepping away in terror. She'd never mistaken a spirit for a living being before, how could she have been so careless?! And he was holding a sword, for goodness sake!
"Calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you," the man said gruffly, pushing away from the rail with effort. "You're the one who came running to me, remember? I don't hurt innocent humans."
He limped slightly down the road, scanning the ground for something. Hana knew the safest course of action was probably to run away and get back into her car, but for some reason she couldn't leave him there, bleeding and alone.
That's what happened to Koichi, she thought, setting her teeth.
"W-wait!"
"I'm a little busy, lady," he called back without turning. "You shouldn't be running around in the open either-"
"I said wait!"
He stopped, looking mildly exasperated. "What now?"
"You're bleeding, at least bandage it up-"
"It's okay, I won't die from something like blood loss," he shrugged. "Hurts like a bitch, but I'm a god, I'll live."
"A- A god?!"
For some reason the boy's face flashed with irritation.
"Why does everyone always sound so fucking surprised, goddamnit?! Yes, I'm a god! I've got a damned shrine and everything don't I?!"
Hana thought it might be a bad idea to point out that she had no idea, so she stayed silent.
"Everyone always askin' for a piece of me," he grumbled, setting off along the road again. "Treating me like a damned idiot- Oi, quit laughing!"
Hana jumped. "I-I'm not!"
"Not you," he said, glancing back at her with a resigned sort of expression. "Look, I'm thankful you're tryin' to help, it's not often a human tries to make sure I'm okay. But this place is dangerous right now, so you should get out of here before someone tracks me down, Kobayashi Hana-san."
"B-But-"
"I'll be fine. I just dropped my katana, I'm still in fighting condition," he insisted, even as he groaned and his fingers clawed slightly around his wound. "Go, find your daughter, get her to the shrine; she's probably around here somewhere."
"How did-?"
He studied her for a second, his strange eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Because I have a daughter too," he said quietly. "And I'll do anything to make sure she stays safe."
He turned and left without another word. Hana watched him go, frightened and confused, until he vanished into the shadows ahead.
A barrage of angry honking suddenly reminded her that her car was parked in the middle of moving traffic. It only occurred to her after she'd hurried back and opened the car door that Yasumi had asked her to leave a message if she saw a man in green shrine attire.
It was hard work, trying to navigate through unfamiliar streets in the middle of the night while carrying a teenage girl on her back. Kirine could sense ayakashi lurking in the shadows, watching her as she struggled up the incline with one eye on her phone's navigation system. It wasn't Yasumi's weight that was making things difficult; even though her phone said she was on the right path, Kirine felt oddly disoriented and heavy, and her entire body seemed to be tensed to its limits. Worse, though the ayakashi seemed to be afraid of her for some reason, keeping their distance, something was affecting Kirine's normally peerless senses, dulling her nose and ears so she could no longer search for Yato's presence in the surrounding area.
If only I could at least spot him in the distance somewhere, she thought anxiously, glancing over her shoulder at Yasumi's furrowed brow. The girl was still unconscious, and while Kirine was being careful to avoid open spaces, she couldn't help glancing up at the clouds every once in a while, trying to make out the delegation gathering in Heaven.
She'd noticed it on her way to Yasumi's house after her premonition, though she hadn't realized what it meant until she noticed a few cloaked figures standing together and pointing in the general direction of the place Nora had mentioned over the phone. By the time she'd safely collected the girl and the talisman, the gathering had expanded into a veritable battalion of activity as the countless gods above prepared for a battle. They were easily an army now, though Kirine was certain the Kobayashi house wasn't the only target anymore. This was an execution force, and they seemed to be waiting for the barriers to fall so they could descend and eliminate every member of Ame's bloodline in one swift strike.
How do they even know where all these people are?! she wondered, terrified at the sheer number. Her one small comfort was that they wouldn't readily pick her out from that distance. The only reason she could sense them at all was her own particularly strong affinity to the Far Shore, the same thread that granted her insight into fate. Still, watching the host grow by the minute only made her hurry faster, fighting the horrible discomfort that grew stronger with every step she took toward the shrine.
Fear made her think of Yato again, her heart catching in her throat as she wondered if he and Yukine were okay. Neither of them had ever ignored her calls before, and Kirine couldn't help imagining the worst. She swallowed her nausea, biting the inside of her cheek so hard she tasted blood.
Her relationship with Yato had always been a little strange. From the very beginning, he'd always treated her with familiarity and affection different from the kind he shared with Yukine. He pestered her, followed her around, tried to keep her away from danger even when it made her angry. He had a habit of touching her hands that had taken her a long time to get used to. He hugged her casually no matter how many times she hit him over it, and he always seemed a little jealous when she got along well with people outside their circle of friends.
But he also trusted her implicitly, never doubting her words and promises. He brought her thoughtful gifts and flowers when she was feeling low, insisted on family meals even when she and Yukine were in a bad mood, and though he did cross boundaries sometimes, he never once did anything to make her feel unsafe.
It had taken Kirine a long time to admit she loved him. She'd spent years denying it, convincing herself she only cared about him as a friend and master. In retrospect, she couldn't help cursing her own stubbornness; Yato had obviously loved her from the start, it was only her own propriety that had kept them apart.
What was she supposed to do without him and Yukine? They were her home, her precious family. If they were really dead, how could she possibly go on?
No, they're not dead! she told herself angrily. I'd know, I'd feel it if they were. They're still here, still fighting. They have to be.
"I'll get you to the shrine no matter what," she told Yasumi firmly, adjusting the girl's weight before she slipped off. "Even if I have to crawl there-"
"No, you won't."
Kirine spun around, dropping her phone and readying her fingers to draw a borderline. Two small children stood behind her, their faces blank, wearing very old-fashioned shrine clothes. Kirine hadn't sensed them at all.
"W-Who are you?!" she asked, unsure. She couldn't smell anything from their direction, or sense an aura like that of a god.
"Leave the girl and we'll let you live," the child on the right, a boy, said, his voice bored.
"Let me?!" Kirine bristled, angry. "Excuse me?! I'm a Regalia, I follow orders only from my master-"
Something whipped her across the cheek, and Kirine gasped in pain as blood dripped from an open wound. The other child, the girl, had used a borderline against her so quickly she hadn't even had time to react.
"Drop her, or you'll die too," the girl said coldly. Kirine froze, thinking fast. She was easily a match for two children, even shinki, but Yasumi would significantly slow her down. She'd need to be left somewhere safe before Kirine could fight them off.
"Wounding another god's shinki without provocation is the same as declaring war!" she said, slowly backing away toward the barrier. "My master won't take this lightly!"
The girl's hand moved, but Kirine was ready for her this time. Faster than the eye could follow, Kirine sliced the air in front of her, a powerful borderline bursting forth and cutting off the girl's attack. She was confident very few Regalia could overcome her defenses; Yukine had trained her, and Kirine had gotten quite good at looking down on her opponents.
"I don't know who you are, but I warn you, I won't go down without a fight!" she snarled, letting her ayakashi instincts guide her body language. Protective, dangerous. A mother cat.
"Fine, you were warned," the boy said with an almost casual shrug. "But I'd reconsider if I were you, Kirine." The sound of her own name startled her, her borderline wavering for a moment. A fight between shinki often came down to the advantage of knowing an opponent's name, and Kirine had just lost two to one on that front.
Focus!
"Who are you?! Why do you want Yasumi?!" she asked, trying to buy time.
The girl gave a high, cold laugh, completely out of place with her small frame.
"You don't see the family resemblance?" she said, tugging her own brown hair. "Well, I can't blame you, it's not like we're all that alike. Not all of us were lucky enough to inherit your stupid master's blessing, after all."
Notes:
I've been working on this chapter since July and I've run out of ways to express my screaming frustration in emojis so
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GOD FUCKING DAMN IT THIS CHAPTER WAS HARD *wheezes*
As always, I'd love to hear from you, so please like and review if you enjoyed the update, it helps with the motivation. T T
