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Chapter 2

(In which Yato fights for his father and Yukine is frankly horrified by the reason.)

Yato threw himself at Bishamon without a second thought, and Yukine stood rooted to the spot in cold panic. Surely Yato wouldn't…? And what did he think he could do to arguably the most powerful of the war gods without even a single weapon? Was he trying to get himself killed?

"Yato, stop!" Bishamon cried. "Stay back."

Yato moved in a blur of motion, almost too fast for the eye to track. Bishamon fired a warning shot that came nowhere close to hitting him and Kuraha lunged forward to intercept him, but he never slowed. The bullet was ignored entirely, and he vaulted over the lion without missing a beat, flipping through the air with mechanical grace and slashing his hand across Bishamon's arm and chest as his boots slammed back into the gravel.

Bishamon cried out in shock and stumbled back a step, her eyes widening as she looked down at the purple streak left across the pale skin of her arm. "You blighted me? How…?"

"Is he hurt?" Hiyori asked, her voice rising in pitch.

Yato could only blight Bishamon if he was blighted, but he didn't move like he was injured. Then again, he was tough and didn't often let injuries slow him down. Yukine craned his neck to try catching a glimpse of his god's hands, but Yato never stopped moving and it was impossible to tell how blighted they were.

Yato took a few more swipes at Bishamon like an animal clawing at an attacker, too fast for Yukine to see clearly what was happening, and she went crashing to the ground.

"Yato!" Yukine started forward, but Hiyori grabbed his arm and held him back.

Her face was white and her eyes round as she called, "Yaboku, stop!"

The frenzy of motion abated for a brief moment as Yato glanced over and cocked his head, face blank and eyes devoid of life. But only for a moment. He turned back on Bishamon.

"I told you, he only follows my orders," his father said.

He sounded delighted at the havoc he was wreaking, but Yukine couldn't tear his eyes away from the train wreck. Yato's momentary distraction had given Bishamon an opening to whip out Kinuha and send the rampaging god flying back. She scrambled to her feet while Kuraha batted Yato hard with his paw to keep him away from her.

"I don't know what's going on with you, but you'd better snap out of it." The whip cracked through the air, and Bishamon set her face in grim lines as the cord wrapped around Yato's arm in a death grip. "I'd rather not fight you right now, but I will if I have to."

Yato twisted his entire body and slammed his boot into Kuraha's side with enough force to send the lion flying through the air to crash to the ground a good distance away. Without missing a beat, he yanked his arm upwards with impossible strength, tension snapping the whip taut, and sank his teeth into the cord above where it was wrapped about his wrist. Everything held still for a moment, and then Bishamon yanked Kinuha away and snapped her back.

"You blighted her too?" she demanded in disbelief. "How…?"

Yukine gaped slack-jawed at the feral display. Since when did Yato bite things like an animal? And how could he possibly blight someone like that?

An uncomfortable feeling pooled in Yukine's stomach at the uncanny resemblance to Hiyori biting Yato at the hospital as she tipped over the line. He didn't know what to make of that, and he didn't have time to think it through when Yato was already lunging forward again.

It all happened so fast that he couldn't see who did what, but the two gods clashed in a flurry of motion that resulted in Yato flying back with a hiss as he clutched at the gash torn across his chest and Bishamon stumbling and almost falling with blight and raw scratches eating up her skin.

"They're going to kill each other," Hiyori whispered from beside Yukine.

Yukine's stomach lurched as he realized she was right. Bishamon had been holding back before, but Yato wasn't backing down and now she was aiming to incapacitate. And Yato… Yato showed no outward expression, but he had been aiming to kill from the beginning.

Bishamon was taking the worst of it because she didn't really want to fight and was already seriously injured from her clash with the heavens, but Yato didn't have his hafuri. It was a toss-up. Yato was making surprisingly short work of his opponent considering he should be essentially defenseless, but Bishamon was dangerous even while injured and she could do serious damage.

Yukine ripped his arm out of Hiyori's white-knuckled grip and lunged at the warring gods, stumbling to a stop between them. Bishamon choked out a curse and pulled back her attack before bringing it down on the shinki's head, but Yato didn't even slow.

Yukine opened his mouth to tell Yato to cut it out and stop right now, but the god slammed him hard in the ribs without even looking at him. Sharp nails stinging like blight bit into his cheeks. Hiyori screamed as Yukine crashed to the ground in a dazed heap. He blinked once, twice, to make the spots clear from his vision, and looked up to see that Yato and Bishamon were already scuffling again.

Yato went flying back with another bloody gash torn into his chest, his left arm hanging at an odd angle, and air hissed between his teeth like a feral animal's snarl of pain. Bishamon struggled back to her feet, her skin littered with scratches and blight, and her eyes were bright with pain and finality as she summoned Saiki and swept the massive blade out in preparation.

And Hiyori was running at Yukine, but Yato was charging Bishamon again like he wasn't about to get sliced in half and Yukine couldn't take it. He scrambled back to his feet and threw himself between the gods again, throwing his arms out wide like he could somehow stop them with the force of his will.

"Yato, stop!"

"Yukine!" Hiyori and Bishamon cried in unison.

Yato's eyes were so dead that he didn't seem to recognize his hafuri at all, and Yukine flinched back and squeezed his eyes shut to ward off the coming blow because the god still wasn't stopping. Had he been stupid to think that he was somehow special, the only one who could stop the god in his tracks just because Yato had always listened to him before? His heart thundered in his chest, flipping and churning until he felt like he might be sick.

One heartbeat, two.

He cracked one eye open.

Yato's hand, fingers curled under like claws, was hovering just in front of his face, and the other was frozen further back in the air. The god's entire body was tensed and trembling with strain.

"Stu…pid…kid," Yato rasped, every word pried from behind gritted teeth. They were the first words he'd spoken, and that dull look in his eyes was flickering with something bright and familiar. "Bor…der…line."

"What?" Yukine shook his head helplessly. "I can't draw a borderline against you! You're–you're my god! Snap out of it!"

He drew borderlines against enemies, not friends. Not family. Kazuma doing it to Bishamon to protect Yukine from her had been shocking enough. Yukine had stung Yato drawing a borderline against Hiyori at the hospital when she'd started crossing the line and attacked him, and he could only imagine how bad it would be if he drew one against Yato. Shinki didn't draw borderlines between themselves and their masters, and…children didn't draw them between themselves and their parents.

Yato's fingers twitched and his entire body spasmed, and his face contorted in a pained grimace. "Then not…against…me."

Yukine had no idea what to make of that. What else could he draw it against? Against whatever was possessing Yato to be so unlike himself? Something niggled at the back of his mind like a half-formed suspicion struggling towards the light.

A curtain seemed to fall over Yato's eyes, leaving them dark and blank and lifeless once more, and he lashed out at Yukine again. Yukine didn't have time to think things through or come up with a proper solution—he slashed his hand through the air and drew a borderline dripping with desperation. And he stumbled back even though it wouldn't do any good, because he knew that borderline wouldn't hold Yato when he couldn't make himself view the god as an enemy.

Hiyori wailed in an earsplitting keen, and Yukine could feel the movement whistling through the air as she and Bishamon lunged for him. Yato's hand plunged through the borderline up to the wrist and then abruptly stopped its forward momentum. Yukine stared, wide-eyed, as his other hand scrabbled uselessly at the borderline as if he could claw it down.

He stumbled as Bishamon yanked him backwards and Hiyori raced over to latch on to his arm. They went still and gaped at the sight.

"What the hell…?" Bishamon breathed.

Yato ground out a strange hissing sound of frustration and slammed his hand into the borderline again. The barrier of light seemed to tremble, and hairline cracks appeared.

"He's going to break through it!" Hiyori said in alarm. "But how…?"

Yukine shook her and Bishamon off and grabbed the hand poking through the borderline before his mind had time to wail warnings about how stupid this might be. He didn't know what was going on or what he could do about it, but he knew that the borderline wouldn't keep Yato out so that thing on the other side was…was… What?

Yato's hand was clammy instead of warm, but his fingers curled around Yukine's wrist with an iron grip as the shinki tugged at him. The air hissed between Yato's teeth as he lurched forward and slammed into the barrier face-first, but Yukine met resistance after pulling his arm only a couple inches. He had to grab on with his other hand too and throw his entire body back, straining against what felt like an immovable force.

"Help me!" he demanded through gritted teeth as he dug his heels into the ground and pulled with all his might.

"But what will happen if…?" Hiyori didn't finish her thought. She grabbed Yato's forearm and pulled.

After a moment of hesitation, Bishamon lowered her weapons and joined in. They hung on with grim determination and slowly, ever so slowly, pulled Yato further through the borderline while he clawed at the barrier from the outside in a fit of split personalities. His shoulder breached the barrier and then stuck, and Yukine and the others leaned back and pulled with all their strength.

Nothing happened. And then Yato screamed, a pain-filled wail like his heart was being ripped savagely from his chest. Yukine was so startled that he nearly let go, but that was the moment Yato stumbled through the borderline. The sudden release of tension sent them all falling back, and Yukine slammed into the ground flat on his back with Yato collapsed in a heap sprawled half across his legs and chest.

"Y-Yato?" he squeaked. He struggled to sit up, and had to push himself up with one arm and clutch at Yato with the other as the god began sliding down. "What–?"

He broke off as his eye caught on something above Yato's head. There was an ayakashi battering at the other side of the borderline where Yato had been, greenish-blue with glowing eyes and a vaguely draconic form with an arching neck and serpentine body.

"Where did that come from?" Bishamon demanded.

Yato's breath shivered against Yukine's skin in little gasps. The god slumped over bonelessly, but he was trembling all over and Yukine looked down to see that his eyes were wide and glassy.

"Well, that was interesting," Yato's dad remarked as he strolled over to pat the phantom like a pet dog. He tilted his head, smile widening as he watched Yato through the shimmering barrier. "Not exactly how I expected that to go. Looks like I have some more bugs to fix before you're ready. But you did a surprisingly good job against Bishamon for not having your hafuri."

Yato shuddered and his limbs contracted slightly as if he was trying to curl into himself. Yukine slid his arm behind the god's back and held him tight.

"What is the meaning of this?" Bishamon asked angrily, her face chalk-white as she pulled herself to her feet.

The sorcerer didn't even glance at her, still too busy watching Yato. "We'll have to fix that too. It can't do things reserved for gods like summoning shinki, but it should be able to control your actions to make you do it yourself. So either something went wrong or…you were fighting me and refused to call him." His smile widened as Yato shrank back and curled against Yukine's chest, still shivering head to toe. "Oh, you've still got a little fight left in you, huh? You refused my order to call your hafuri and even broke through for a few seconds… Hm. I have to hand it to you, that's pretty impressive. I'll have to do a little tweaking to make sure you can't do it again, of course."

A brush had appeared from his pocket like magic, and he twirled it between his fingers absently as he talked. Yukine's eyes widened as the sight tugged at his memory.

"You put that inside him?" Hiyori asked, horrified, from where she knelt beside Yukine and Yato.

Yukine stared up at the towering ayakashi in horrified disbelief and scooted back a few centimeters to adjust his balance. He wrapped both arms around Yato and pulled him closer, as if it could keep him away from the phantom. Yato stayed as limp as a ragdoll, but he was watching his father with large, terrified eyes as his body shook itself to pieces and he sucked air in with ragged gasps.

Bishamon actually took a step back before catching herself, disbelief and dismay written across her face. "Impossible."

Yato's father pouted. "I don't see what you're so upset about. It's just the same as always, isn't it?" He arched an eyebrow and an amused smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth. "You let me use you however I want and rebel a little and then coming crawling back so I can use you again. It's really not all that different. It's not like I don't own you either way."

"How dare you?" Yukine asked in outrage.

All he could think about were the people at the hospital who had been turned into puppets with ayakashi. That this jerk had found a way to do it to Yato… Had he not already hurt Yato enough? Yukine wouldn't presume to understand the scope of what had passed between the two over hundreds of years, but he knew enough to know that Yato's dad was bad news and already tortured Yato enough without this latest cruelty.

"You are a heartless bastard," Hiyori seethed, and Yukine blinked at her in surprise. She glared at the sorcerer, hands clenched into fists against the ground. "Just leave him alone already!"

Yato's dad just laughed. "You're cute when you get worked up. Just like my Yaboku. Speaking of which. You know it'll be easier if you just cooperate with me, kid. Bring your hafuri and let's go."

Yato shook his head. In a small, wavering voice, he said, "No."

His father eyed him for a moment and then shrugged. "Have it your way. I suppose it doesn't hurt anything if you take a few days off while I do a little more experimenting. Consider it a vacation. I'll call you when I'm ready for you."

"He's not going back to you," Yukine snarled. Yato felt so small in his arms, in a way he had never felt when he usually seemed a little larger than life. "And we won't let you take him."

The sorcerer chuckled, mirth sparkling in his eyes. "You'll be begging me to take him back when the time comes. You might even hand him over yourself."

Yukine's lip curled in derision. "No way."

There was no way he'd ever hand Yato over to that creep. The very idea was unfathomable. The sorcerer was delusional if he thought that might ever happen.

"We'll see." Yato's dad smiled to himself and waved at Yato. "See you soon, kid. Come, Yaboku."

He turned and sauntered off, and the ayakashi followed at his heels like a good dog. Yukine caught a glimpse of Nora still standing in the shadow of the scaffolding, watching the developments with expressionless eyes. She caught his gaze for the briefest of moments and looked away, moving to join her master. Within seconds, they had disappeared from view. Only then did Yukine let his borderline fade.

"Yato? Yato, are you okay?"

Yato twitched and tipped his face up, eyes darting between Yukine and Bishamon. "S-sorry," he whispered through chattering teeth. "I'm s-sorry."

The sting of blight intensified as Yukine realized what Yato was looking at, and he had to resist the urge to touch his cheek. "It's not your fault," he said. "It's okay."

"How is this even possible?" Bishamon asked, pacing back and forth with a pronounced limp as she frowned down at Yato. Kuraha hobbled over and flopped onto the ground beside her. "I know he can control humans with ayakashi using that brush of his, but a god? That shouldn't be possible."

Yukine was as desperate to understand as she was, but one look at Yato assured him that the god was in no state to answer their questions. He made no move to stand, only lay draped over Yukine's lap in a shivering heap. The glassy, haunted sheen to his eyes made it look like he was still trapped somewhere inside his mind with an ayakashi slavering in the periphery. It reminded Yukine of the box, of how he had still been shaken and trapped when he was first rescued. Yato had held him then until he could refocus on the present, Hiyori hovering protectively overhead, and now Yukine felt the urge to do the same.

Yato was always the one who stood strong and picked Yukine up when he fell, and it was alarming to see him so broken. Maybe it was Yukine's turn to be strong for the both of them.

"Are you alright?" Hiyori asked, leaning over to peer down at Yato in worry. "I mean, obviously not, but… How are you feeling?"

"Not…not great," Yato admitted in a weak rasp. His eyes slid shut and he dropped his head against Yukine's chest, but he was still trembling.

"What's wrong?" Yukine demanded.

"Don't…don't know. Feels k-kinda like blight."

"You're blighted? Where?" Yukine craned his neck and searched every inch of visible skin with his eyes, but he didn't see any telltale purple splotches.

"Everywhere," Yato mumbled.

"It could just be a sort of aftershock or lingering aftereffect," Bishamon said, finally drawing to a halt to frown down at them all. "Ayakashi and gods don't mix. Hopefully it will fade now that the phantom isn't…" She trailed off and shook her head as she circled back to the very problem that had her pacing in the first place. "But he shouldn't have been able to do that. It should be impossible."

"We should get you home," Hiyori said, brushing Yato's hair out of his face tenderly and letting her fingers linger there. "I'm sure you'll feel better after getting some rest, and then we can figure this out."

"No," Bishamon said sharply. "It's not safe anymore. The sorcerer said he'd be coming back for him—and Yukine."

"Where else would we go?" Yukine asked impatiently.

She hesitated and pressed her lips together before saying, "You'd be safer in Takamagahara."

"But–"

"You can stay with me until we figure this out."

"With you? No way!" Yukine glared at her and tightened his grip on Yato. "You're still going after his dad, and you just tried to kill him."

She huffed out an exasperated breath. "We have bigger problems right now, and it's in my best interest that he not get possessed again too. In case you hadn't noticed, he was trying to kill me."

"You–"

"She's right," Yato whispered. "We c-can't go to Kofuku's now. And if–if someone attacks you…you fight back. You draw a b-borderline."

Yukine made a guttural sound of frustration in the back of his throat. "I can't just draw a borderline against you."

"O-oh yes, because I would feel s-so much better watching myself kill you," Yato rasped. "When…someone attacks you, you fight back…even if it's me. Especially if it's me."

As much as Yukine would like to protest, he had the feeling that this wasn't a good time to pick a fight. "Well, it won't happen again. We won't let your dad get you again."

Yato's shaking intensified, and Yukine didn't realize he was laughing until the hysterical sound burbled into the air.

"He was r-right, you know," the god wheezed past his hysterical giggles. "It's really n-not that different. He's n-never going to let me go."

The unnatural sound tied Yukine's insides into knots. There was something not quite right about it, and it made him want to slam his hands over his ears or cover Yato's mouth or something to make it stop.

"Yato?" Hiyori asked in alarm.

"I'm so st-stupid." Yato snickered, but choked on his laughter like a sob. "Every t-time I think he can't possibly do anything else to me…of c-course he finds something worse."

He dissolved back into a fit of laughter that sounded like crying, while Yukine and Hiyori desperately tried to snap him out of it.

"Yato?" Yukine said. "Yato, calm down. It's okay, it's–"

Bishamon swooped in like an eagle for the kill and slammed her fist into the other god's solar plexus. Yato's horrible laughter cut off abruptly and his trembling eased as he somehow went limper than he had already been.

"What the hell?" Yukine cried, glaring at Bishamon and tugging at his unconscious god as if he could possibly get Yato away from her in such a state.

She looked pale and shaken, but her mouth was set in a tight line. "You wanted it to stop too. Anyway, he was totally wired. He'll feel better when he wakes up. Let's hurry up and get back to Takamagahara before the sorcerer changes his mind. We need to cleanse the blight and wrap up all the injuries."

Yukine eyed her mistrustfully, but Hiyori put a hand on his arm.

"You'll be safer there," she said quietly. "And Yato too. If we don't want his father to get him again…"

Yukine swallowed down his paranoia with some difficulty. Yato and Bishamon were both bleeding out from deep gashes and could use some medical attention. And…

Well, Yukine was still all too aware that Bishamon and Kazuma were only halfway allies and fair-weather friends with different end goals in mind, but if this was what it took to keep Yato safe from his father, it was a risk that needed to be taken.

"Oh, is Hiyori still here?" Bishamon asked, striding into the room with Kazuma lagging a step behind her. "It's late—you should head home. And we're eating dinner now if you'd like something to eat, Yukine."

Yukine was perched on a chair by the side of the massive bed, watching Yato's chest rise and fall. Yato didn't look peaceful even in his slumber, brows pinched together and lips twisted into a grimace as he twitched.

Hiyori stirred in the chair she'd dragged over beside Yukine's. "I know. I really should, just…"

She bit her lip and cast another look at Yato. Yukine understood.

"He'll be alright," Bishamon said with some mockery of confidence. "We'll keep an eye on him. Let him rest. Come on, you two."

"No thanks," Yukine muttered.

Bishamon sighed, the heaviness of the sound quite clearly displaying her exhaustion and frustration with Yukine's behavior, and opened her mouth, but it wasn't her voice that split the air.

"You should eat something," Yato said in a weak rasp.

Yukine jumped, the chair rocking slightly beneath him. He had been sitting here for over an hour after cleansing the blight and getting Yato bandaged up and sorting out the logistics of staying in Bishamon's home, and somehow he had still missed when the god woke up anyway.

A pair of bleary blue eyes blinked back at him, still a little too dull but at least recognizable this time. Yato flipped slowly onto his side and pulled his knees up towards his chest, but made no move to sit up.

"You're awake!" Yukine said stupidly. "How are you feeling?"

"…Not any better, honestly."

Yato looked exhausted and grim and haunted, and Yukine wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to someone who had been quite literally possessed by an ayakashi for goodness knew how long to do goodness knew what.

"I'm sorry," Hiyori said quietly. "We'll definitely find a way to stop him."

A wan smile pulled at one corner of Yato's mouth, a pale facsimile of his normal good cheer. "Mhm. You should go home, Hiyori. I'm sure it's late. Your parents will worry, and you shouldn't stay out of your body for too long."

Hiyori hesitated, looking like she desperately wanted to say something else, but nodded.

"Now that you're up, we can bring you dinner too," Bishamon said briskly.

Yato's lips flattened back into a grimace. "No thanks. I'm not hungry. I'd rather just sleep."

She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Whatever you want. We already informed Kofuku and Daikoku that you're staying here. They'll be coming over tomorrow. Get some rest, because we'll be having a meeting to discuss this whole issue and what to do about it."

"Yeah…" If possible, Yato looked even more exhausted and grim at that pronouncement. "Thanks."

She waved him off and averted her gaze. "You did ally with me against the heavens, so it's the least I can do. Just don't go running off in the middle of the night. I'm not going to go hunting you down again."

Which was more than enough to dig up a veritable maelstrom of emotion that Yukine had been trying to suppress since Yato's disappearance. His hands clenched into white-knuckled fists in his lap.

"Don't even think about it," he said sharply. "It's bad enough that you ran off without us last time."

Yato closed his eyes and his sigh whispered through the air. "Can we…not do this right now? I'm not going anywhere."

As much as Yukine didn't want to back down, Yato didn't look like he was in any state to take the lecture he had coming. And Yukine was still too shaken from the day's events to truly want to deliver it. Later.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Go eat something," Yato said. "And… Hey, Bishamon? Do you think you could send a shinki home with Hiyori? She…might be a target for my father."

Yukine swallowed hard and exchanged a wide-eyed look with Hiyori. She couldn't just stay in Takamagahara until things blew over like Yato and Yukine could. She still had to go home to her family and friends, and she would be vulnerable to Yato's dad. And if the sorcerer wanted to force Yato out of hiding, targeting Hiyori would be a good way to do it.

Bishamon shot a look at Kazuma, who frowned and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "It might be a good idea. I think Aiha would be willing to stay with Hiyori for a few days."

Bishamon nodded. "That would be acceptable."

"Thanks," Yato sighed.

"Mhm. Now, Hiyori needs to get home, Yukine needs to eat, and Yato needs to sleep. Come along, you two. We'll talk everything out in the morning after we've rested."

Yukine was reluctant to leave, but Yato shooed him out and Bishamon herded him and Hiyori out of the room after saying their goodbyes. With Hiyori gone and Yato sequestered, Yukine was on his own to face the lions' den. He did his best to keep his head down, which was easier said than done when he attracted plenty of attention from Bishamon's shinki. They all knew he and Yato were here but didn't seem to know exactly what had happened, and he could feel their curious eyes burning into him. He tried to be friendly, but his nerves were frayed and all he really wanted to do was escape.

Kazuma took pity on him and showed him to the room next to Yato's, while lecturing him about the amenities and house rules. Yukine glared at the floor the whole time and waited for him to leave.

Kazuma lingered in the doorway after finishing his spiel. "For what it's worth… I'd rather see Yato alive than dead, and I'll do what I can to keep it that way. And I'm sorry for using spells on you."

Yukine snorted. "But you'll still sever his lifeline, and you would use your spells all over again if you thought it might help Bishamon."

Kazuma was quiet for a few seconds before nodding. "You're right. Protecting Veena is my highest priority, like protecting Yato is yours. Still, that doesn't mean we can't regret the hard decisions we have to make. We don't have to be enemies in this."

Yukine said nothing. He wasn't quite ready to forgive—and definitely not ready to trust again. As long as Kazuma wanted Yato's dad dead, he was as good as an enemy, whether they shared a bed for a day or not.

Kazuma sighed. "Right. Goodnight, Yukine."

He shut the door quietly behind him, and Yukine flopped over on the bed with a sigh. His mind was a mess, racing in circles at a thousand miles an hour as he tried to piece together what exactly had happened to Yato and how they could stop his dad from doing it again. How could he keep Yato alive and still safe from his dad? What had happened, and what was going to happen now?

He couldn't quiet his mind even after crawling under the covers. He lay in bed, staring out at the bright corners of the room—because there was no lamp in here and he wasn't about to go asking Kazuma for one, so he would just leave the light on—and worrying himself in circles.

The room itself was uncomfortable. It was unfamiliar and sterile and…too quiet. Empty. Yukine was used to sleeping with Yato just a few feet away, mumbling in his sleep and breathing steadily. Without that, it felt like something was missing. Maybe, he reflected sourly, that was part of the reason he hadn't been sleeping well lately.

He tossed and turned a while longer before giving up. Tucking a pillow and blanket under his arm, he tiptoed next door and let himself into Yato's room. He held his breath as he took painstaking care to shut the door quietly behind him and creep across the floor in the dark.

Which was something he hadn't taken into consideration. He hesitated, heart thumping madly against his ribcage, wondering if it was worth the empty room to keep the light.

"What are you doing?" Yato asked.

Yukine jumped nearly a foot in the air, his heart leaping into his throat, and snapped his head up to see a pair of bright blue eyes shining in the shadows.

He flushed and dropped his nesting material onto the floorboards. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't. Turn the light on."

"…Are you sure?"

"I'd rather have the light than a heart attack."

Yukine winced. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Just turn it on."

He turned the light on and walked over to perch awkwardly on the edge of the bed while Yato squinted against the influx of light and pulled the blanket up as a thin shield.

"Sorry," Yukine mumbled again. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Yato said, tentatively cracking an eye open to gauge the intensity of the light.

Yukine scowled, not impressed by the haggard, haunted cast to the god's face. "Don't lie to me."

"Then why ask?" Yato grumbled. He sighed. "I feel horrible, but it's a sight better than the past week."

"Week?" Yukine asked. "Did he–?" He cut himself off with great difficulty and swallowed down his concerns. "We'll talk tomorrow."

"Yeah…" Yato curled his limbs inward to give the shinki more room and watched him from the pillow without lifting his head. His eyes traced across Yukine's face and down to his bruised ribs. "I'm sorry. Next time, draw a borderline first and ask questions later."

"It's fine," Yukine said, even though the reminder started his ribs aching again like some dark magic. He didn't bother acknowledging the rest, because he didn't feel like trying to explain the impossibility of drawing a proper borderline against Yato again. "You weren't yourself. Your dad is a jerk."

Yato huffed out a single, breathy laugh. "Yeah, he is. It's… It's not because I don't trust you. I just don't want you near my father."

Yukine closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I know. But I'm supposed to protect you too, and… I'm your hafuri. We're supposed to stick together, even when things get tough. Whatever stupid plans you make, you're supposed to include me instead of running off on your own."

Yato was quiet for a long time, but then he sighed in a voice so quiet it was barely there at all, "That's a nice dream."

"Yato?" Yukine chewed on his lip as Yato's eyes slipped shut. He hesitated and then reached out to touch the god's forehead on a hunch, his lips quirking into a frown at the hot skin beneath his fingertips. "You're burning up."

"Your hands are always cold," Yato mumbled, sliding his head further down the pillow to escape the invasive fingers.

Yukine's frown deepened. Yato was always warm, but now his skin was overheated. It could be nothing. Or it could be a side effect of the possession. Either way, Yukine wasn't likely to figure it out tonight.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, even though he wasn't quite sure what he was apologizing for. "I won't let it happen again."

"Well, you're my guidepost, so I'll take your word for it. Now, I'm exhausted and you need to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I'm not…going anywhere."

Yukine let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and a little corner of the snarled mess in his chest untangled. Maybe that was the other half of the reason he couldn't sleep in an empty room.

"I sure hope not," he said as he slid off the bed and began arranging the blankets on the floor. "You'd get totally lost without a guidepost."

"…Something like that. If you're going to stay, at least come on the bed."

Heat splashed across Yukine's cheeks. "But–"

"This thing is huge. You could fit like eight people in here. And an elephant. It would be a crime to sleep on the floor with all this free space."

Yukine might have still refused because crawling into bed with Yato would be as embarrassing as being a scared child sleeping with their parent, but that hint of Yato's normal humor, however subdued, was enough to convince him. It was good to hear even a lackluster attempt after everything.

He gathered up the blanket and pillow before remembering the other elephant in the room. "Oh, the light."

"Just leave it on," Yato said around a yawn.

"But–"

"C'mon. And hush or we'll never sleep."

Yukine felt a little bad about it, but he was grateful to keep the light. He made a nest at the end of the bed and curled up, the mattress dipping slightly beneath him.

"All that space, and you curl up at the foot of the bed like a pet dog," Yato muttered as he pulled the covers over his head to block out the light.

"Whatever."

"Goodnight."

"…Goodnight."

Yukine pulled the blanket tight around him and listened to the sound of Yato's breathing. It took a long time for the god to fall asleep, but not as long as it took Yukine. He lay there cocooned in his own thoughts long after Yato's breathing finally evened out.

It was a hellish space between wakefulness and sleep, that was for sure. He cautiously crawled up the bed and resettled his nest so that he could curl up against Yato's back, not quite touching but close enough.

And eventually, the soothing rhythm of Yato's breathing lulled him to sleep.

Note: Yup, you're right. I took that unexplored idea from "Ricochet" and ran with it. Admittedly, I was glad to sidestep that particular can of worms in that fic, but it was too interesting an idea to pass up entirely. It didn't fit well into that verse, so I made a new one :)