Yato was distracted from the conversation he was having at Daikoku's desk when Hiyori brushed past him and dropped a large bag onto his own desk before plopping down disheartenedly in her own desk.
"Hold on a sec sarge," he said. He approached his desk and peered into the bag, realization dawning when he saw his love quilt among other things. "Your mom is coming for another visit, huh?" Hiyori nodded, looking harried.
"I've been scouring my apartment ever since she told me, but I've had to work late every day this week. I just need you to hold onto that stuff until she leaves." Yato peered inside the bag and shifted things around, making mental notes of all the gifts he'd given her that might give her pause.
"What about the throw pillow and the needlepoint in the guestroom?" Hiyori smacked her forehead.
"I forgot."
"What's all this?" Yukine asked, rummaging unceremoniously through the bag. He pulled out a mug reading "Yato loves Hiyori!" that he'd made at Color Me Mine.
"Things that Yato has made for me," Hiyori said tiredly, "or some of the ones that are implicitly romantic." Yukine looked back into the bag, brow furrowed.
"All of this? Is that a quilt?"
"Our love quilt!"
"Why are you giving them back? Turning him down for real this time?"
"No!" Yato said defensively. "Her mother is coming for a visit and she hates me. If she sees all this stuff she'll have a stroke."
"They gave me an extra coffee," Kazuma said, setting it down in front of Yato but picking it back up and giving it to Hiyori when he glimpsed into the bag of gifts. "You need this more."
"Thanks, Kazuma," she said. Yato took Kazuma's coffee from his hand and had a sip of it instead.
"When's she getting in?" Kazuma asked, pulling out a scarf that had Hiyori's and Yato's initials knitted inside a heart at one end. Yato wrinkled his nose at the sight of it.
"I wish you'd just throw that away and let me make you a new one. Look at that sloppy stitch work!" Kazuma took his coffee back, annoyed, as Hiyori snatched the scarf away protectively.
"No way! It's the first thing you ever knitted and that makes it special! Plus, it's very warm!" Yato huffed, half annoyed that the scarf still existed and half pleased Hiyori liked it enough to feel protective of it.
"You made me go to that couples knitting class with you. The scarf must live on as a monument to my suffering," Kazuma said.
"So Yato just… makes stuff for Hiyori obsessively?" Yukine asked.
"Not just Hiyori," Kazuma replied, "he made this shirt for me, it's got my name sewn in the back like I'm a kid or something."
"That's right!" Yato said, turning to look at the shirt better, "I didn't recognize it at first. It's held up well." Kazuma nodded.
"The stitch work looks fine, by the way, you're just nit picking," Kazuma said as he departed. When he sat down Bishamon picked up his coffee and took a drink of it. Kazuma watched her, wide eyed, and then looked back at Yato and shook his head slightly. Yato snickered, hahaha you just drank after me!
"Did you remember to bring the wedding dress Yato sewed for you?" Kofuku called from across the precinct. Hiyori screamed loudly in response and hit her head on the desk, drawing Tenjin's attention. He came out of his office, looking concerned.
"What's wrong, Hiyori?"
"Her mom is coming for a visit and she forgot half the things Yato made for her so her mom is going to have a heart attack," Daikoku interjected. Tenjin grimaced sympathetically.
"Is noone going to explain the wedding dress thing?" Yukine asked.
"Kofuku get the paperwork ready."
"Already on it!"
"No! There won't be a report because Hiyori and I are going to use our lunch break to get the rest of it! I'll drive and we can put it in my car."
"Thank you," Hiyori replied gratefully, taking a deep swig of her coffee like it was whiskey.
"A report? I don't understand," Yukine asked.
"Hiyori's mom filed a harassment report on Yato when she found out what a weirdo he is," Bishamon said.
"It was a whole ordeal," Kiun added, "she can yell really loudly."
"Take an extra hour for lunch to make sure you get it all, I'm not eager to go through that again."
"Alright, all of our equipment is set up, I think we're good to go," Kazuma said, looking around the rundown room with satisfaction.
"Great," Bishamon said, plopping down in front of their surveillance window.
"You're not going to double check?"
"Are you implying you haven't triple checked everything? If you say we're good then we're good."
"Good point."
"What would I do without you?" She asked without heart.
"More menial tasks, for certain," he replied, sitting down at the other window. Bishamon snickered.
"Thank you for taking care of everything, Kazuma," she said, grinning.
"You're welcome."
"Tell me again about the case, you probably know the file by heart."
"Did you read it before we came?"
"You know it's so much more enjoyable to have things read to you." Kazuma sighed and pulled out his copy of the case file.
"We're here for four days to try and gather intel and evidence on the Garner Meat Processing Plant."
"Why are we staking out a meat processing place?"
"We traced most of the illegal animal products and byproducts flooding the ninety ninth precinct to this plant. We believe they are the distributor for a much larger, possibly international smuggling ring."
"What kind of animal products are we talking?"
"Meat from endangered animals, ground rhinoceros horn, that sort of thing."
"Gross and terrible."
"Agreed. Viina! Start taking pictures! That's our guy!" Viina sat up quickly and started taking pictures.
"Who is he?" Click click click.
"He's the plant manager. We don't know for sure if the owner is clued into the operations here since he's rarely on site, but the manager is the active liaison between the sellers and the buyers. He can give us his contact who will have all the information we need to find out exactly how big this operation is."
"Who is the guy he's meeting with right now?" Click click click.
"Not sure, he's not in the file. He could be just a random worker in the plant, or maybe someone from the ring." Kazuma grabbed the parabolic microphone and directed it towards the men.
"The police have been sniffing around here, Jason, what the hell? I thought we told you to be careful!" The strange man said.
"We have been being careful! They came by and they didn't get nothing, they left!"
"They were here?"
"Yeah, but I've already talked to all of my guys, the problem wasn't with them! None of them talked!" Jason said, whispering angrily. Click click click.
"So you say, but my boss isn't satisfied. Call all of your customers and be sure they haven't talked. I'll be in contact." The man started to walk away, but stopped and turned back around. "We won't go down because of your stupid mistakes, Jason. You had better hope that we don't find any leaks in your operation." The man got in his car and left. Click click click.
"Send the plate to Yato and have him run it, maybe we'll get a name. And tell him to tell Tenjin to let up on our sources, they know we're looking into them and they might spook."
"Right."
"Okay, two-three-Rebecca-Hiyori-Mickey-Five. Yeah, I'm running it now. Yeah, I'll let him know, I think sarge is in charge of the informants though, so I'll let him know too," Yato said, writing down information as Kazuma relayed it. "Okay, here we go, your guy's name is Gregory Harrison. Looks like he's got a few priors for possession of illegal substances. One was pot, but two of them were for having elephant ivory. Looks like he's one of your bad guys."
"Thanks Yato."
Yato hung up the phone and took his notepad into Tenjin's office.
"Captain, looks like Bishamon and Kazuma have a problem, the suppliers are spooked, they know that the police are looking into Garner and they're thinking of pulling out. Kazuma says we need to relieve all pressure on them and their customers and make them think we gave up."
"Alright, tell Sargent Daikoku I've signed off and to let the downstairs sargent know to reduce uniform presence on their street."
"Sure thing." Yato closed the door and relayed his information to the sargent before sitting back at his desk.
"Did I hear you telling Tenjin that the people supplying Garner know about our investigation?"
"Yeah, you did," Yato said, looking troubled.
"Do you think Bishamon and Kazuma are in danger of being made?"
"Kazuma didn't seem to think it was an issue, but I'm sure he'll be taking extra security measures." Hiyori nodded grimly.
"I wish there was something we could do, just sitting here and waiting is the hardest part." Yato nodded in agreement. "At least you can go out in the field and distract yourself with real police work, I'm stuck here at my desk doing paperwork." Hiyori gave him a sympathetic look.
"How did Take like that apology cake?"
"He said he's not mad anymore, and his mom asked for the recipe." Hiyori smiled.
"Did you give it to her?"
"Of course! Cooking is an art that should be shared!" Yato said. Hiyori giggled, rolling her eyes playfully.
"Have you ever considered quitting your job to be a kindergarten teacher, all those arts and crafts are a practically your calling."
"No way! There's nothing as good as taking bad guys of the streets. Plus I think if I ever used my scary face on a kid I'd get sued by the parents." Hiyori barked a laugh.
"I'd be booking you for making a kid pee their pants." Yato laughed.
"Nah, the nine nine is where I belong! It's where you are!" Yato said, expecting an eye roll and snide remark instead getting a glowing look that took his breath away. "I-uh," he said, blinking. "Um, sorry."
"Don't apologize, Yato, if I didn't like all your flirting I would have reported you to HR a long time ago."
Yato's mouth gaped open like a fish. Like it?
No, she hadn't meant it like that, of course she hadn't. He shook his head and got to his feet and went out on the roof for some fresh air. It had been a while since he'd reacted to something she'd said like that. What was happening to him? He and Hiyori had found a balance where he could be okay around her, why was he suddenly choking up again? Get a hold of yourself, detective.
"First comes the initial police report, then the investigators reports, then the witness list and statements," Kofuku said, handing Yukine all the documents as she named them, pointing out identifying features so Yukine could recognize them more easily.
"And.. that's all that you put in the middle?"
"Yes!" Kofuku said. "You attach suspect lists and wrap sheets to the inside of the front cover.
"What if they don't have a criminal record?"
"Then you attach any background information that you're given. You won't be the one looking for that, you just assemble the files and distribute them. You still are accessing confidential police information, and leaking this information is a misdemeanor at best. So remember, what you see in the precinct stays in the precinct."
"Right," Yukine replied. Why would he want to talk about stranger's criminal records to people anyway?
"Repeat to me how you assemble police files and then I'll leave you alone to do your work."
"Suspects on the inside of the front cover with their records or backgrounds, and in order, in the middle prongs: Initial police report, report by investigators, then witness lists, and statements."
"Good boy, Yuki! You'll do great here!" Yukine sighed and looked at the large stack of police files he was supposed to be assembling. It was a going to be a long day. At least when his suspension was over he'd just be here after school and on weekends. Until then every day of my life will just be a blur of papercuts and mugshots I guess.
"Viina, what do you- holy shit," Kazuma completely lost sight of whatever it was he had been about to ask when he turned around and looked at Viina, whose long hair was actually down and hanging free for once.
"What?" She asked, wide eyed and oblivious.
"Your hair."
"Oh, that. I forgot you haven't seen it down since the academy, huh?"
"Yeah." His eyes followed her hair all the way from the top of her head, across her shoulders,down her back, past her waist, to where it ended at the back of her calves.
"How in the hell can your neck hold all that up?"
"It's not that heavy." Kazuma raised his eyebrows.
"How much of your weight does your doctor think is hair."
"I've never asked." Kazuma continued to stare, lips parted. "Come on it can't be that much of a shock."
"Viina…" Kazuma said weakly. Just… the thought of all that hair. How much shampoo and conditioner did she use? Did she ever get tangled up in it in her sleep? Did it ever get caught in closing doors? "It's… beautiful.. But… how?" She chuckled at his inability to formulate a complete thought.
"What a surprise, I've never seen you speechless before, if I'd known you'd be this inarticulate I'd have taken my hair down sooner."
"I have to ask about the practicality."
"I know you do."
"What do you spend on shampoo?"
"I use like a bottle a week."
"Holy shit."
"Before you ask, I usually put it in a single braid before sex so it doesn't get in the way." Kazuma spluttered.
"I was certainly not about to ask you that."
"Well now you know," she said, winking, "just in case." She laughed as his face flamed. "Relax, Kazuma, you're too high strung."
"I think you should be less relaxed, Viina." She laughed again.
"Don't be so uptight, Kazuma, it's not good for your health."
"I think you might be bad for my health."
"Maybe that's just what you need," She said suggestively. Kazuma gulped and turned back to the window, face still red as a beet.
"Okay, okay, I have the throw pillow, the needlepoint, the bath set that I made for valentines day, and the knitted socks," Yato said, checking things off on his fingers.
"And I have the Wedding dress, the underwear which I never wore, and the box full of love letters."
"You kept them?" Yato asked, starting to feel some of that heat rising up to choke him again before he pushed it back.
"Of course! It's not like they were normal letters, Yato, one of them was a handmade pop-up card, one was an origami flower that opened up into a picture you had drawn, it would have been wrong to just throw them away!" She said indignantly. Yato eyed the box, then had a great idea.
"Do you wanna take them all out and rate them?"
"Oh my god so much." She dropped the underwear into the box and draped the wedding dress carefully over a chair before sitting in front of the coffee table and starting to make room for the love letters. Yato knelt beside her and started helping before they both reached for a coffee table book at the same time and met eyes.
"The scrapbooks!" They exclaimed at the same time. Hiyori got to her feet and bolted around the furniture while Yato leapt over obstacles, racing her to the bookshelf.
Yato reached it first, stopping just short of the shelf, waving his arms to keep his balance. Hiyori, however, was wearing only her socks and found herself unable to stop. She slid, flailing her arms and squealing, and collided with Yato, forcing him forward and into the bookshelf. He attempted to catch his balance on one of the shelves, but instead vaulted the books into the air and went crashing to the ground, taking Hiyori and half a dozen books with him.
He landed on the ground and got hit in the face by several books as Hiyori fell gracelessly on top of him, elbow digging into his diaphragm, knocking the breath out of him. Hiyori laughed breathlessly as Yato coughed and wheezed, trying to catch his breath.
"Oh my God I'm so sorry," she laughed, climbing off him and covering her mouth as she tried- and failed- to conceal her laughter at his expense.
"For the record I won, you cheated by trying to kill me." Hiyori laughed again and picked a few of the books out from around his face.
"I acknowledge your victory. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he took several long, painful breaths, trying to catch his breath. "You have very pointy elbows."
"All elbows are pointy!" Hiyori protested. "That's just the way they are!"
"Yeah right! You've had yours filed down into a weapon or something!"
"Where in the hell would I even go to get that done?"
"Like you don't already know!" Hiyori pushed him back down, laughing.
"Whatever! You're so weird!"
"Am not!"
"Are so- hey what's this?" One of the books had that nailed Yato in the face landed with its front cover open. "I don't remember there being an inscription here."
Dear Hiyori, it read, in sloppy handwriting.
You're the most beautiful and wonderful girl in the world!
Hiyori turned narrowed eyes on Yato, who was looking at the inscription curiously. It was certainly his handwriting, but it was terrible, which was unusual for him.
"I...don't remember this." Hiyori blinked. She flipped the front cover closed to see what book it was.
"I've had this book since college, before I knew you. What is this?"
"I don't know," Yato said, taking the book and re opening it to the inscription. "I can tell the handwriting is mine but...was I drunk?"
"Yato oh my God," Hiyori said with dawning horror, "did you get drunk and write love notes in my books?" Yato looked from Hiyori to the bookshelf, horrified. Hiyori had so many books.
"Hiyori… I don't know which books I wrote in."
"Hold on, hold on Hiyori," Kofuku said, barely containing her laughter as she beckoned everyone to her desk. She knocked on the window that separated her from Tenjin and waved him out, putting her phone on speaker. "Okay, go now," she said when everyone was huddled around curiously.
"Tell Tenjin that Yato and I need more time for lunch!" She said, sounding furious. There was a strange thudding sound in the background of her call.
"I already gave you an extra hour, why do you need more time?" Tenjin asked.
"Because apparently at some point Yato got blackout drunk and broke into my apartment and wrote love notes on my books, but he doesn't remember which ones so we have to check all of them!" She said. Another loud thud as Hiyori slammed a book on the ground.
"I already said I was sorry!" Yato cried.
"You are unbelievable! Why would you do something like this?"
"I told you I don't know! I don't even remember doing it! I'm sorry!"
At this point Kofuku was silently laughing so hard her face was turning red and Yukine was worried she might pass out. Daikoku looked like he was regretting ever having known Yato and Kuin was looking absolutely delighted. He had his phone out texting Takemikazuchi about this as they spoke.
"About how long do you think this will take?"
"At least another hour, we're flipping through all the pages to be safe."
"Hiyori you might want to take the rest of the day," Kiun said, laughing, "Yato is crazy and you might want to do a deep search of your apartment."
"Kiun is right, Yato's obsessive pursuit of you could lead to me being yelled at by your mother, and I have no desire to relive that. Yato can do some unpaid overtime to make up for the lost man hours."
"Hey! I didn't agree to that!" Yato said.
"Well suck it up detective, this is your fault."
"I said I'm sorry!"
"Apologize with overtime!" Tenjin said, then terminated the call.
"Is Hiyori texting you about what's going on with them?" Kazuma asked, looking at his phone, exasperated.
"What an idiot," she said by way of response. So yes.
"I can't figure out when he might have done it, Hiyori had to have been away."
"It must have been during a holiday when she stayed with her family, or maybe during that stakeout she did with me a few years ago? When else- Kazuma, there's activity."
Kazuma sat up and looked out the window, finger on the shutter button of the camera ready to capture photos.
"It's that same guy, Greg. Get the parabolic microphone, we need to hear this."
"So I've asked around, and I found the leak on your end."
"What do you mean?" Jason asked, looking nervous. Greg grabbed a handful of Jason's shirt and slammed Jason against the wall. Click click click. Kazuma took several pictures.
"It seems you've been employing low level two bit thugs to push our products. One of them got picked up by the cops while he was holding some of our merchandise."
"Oh no."
"Don't worry, our people are took care of it. No witness no case." Bishamon and Kazuma glanced at each other grimly. Click click click.
The sounds of Bishamon groaning and then sighing as she woke up brought a fond smile to Kazuma's face. He glanced over at her. Her long hair was pulled back into a single braid and she was wearing one of his shirts because she'd forgotten to pack pajamas. His face warmed slightly at the sight and he turned back to the window as she got to her feet and padded across the room to the table where their food was.
"Mind if I have something from the care package Yato packed for you?"
"Help yourself." She sat down at the table in front of the window and munched on a ham and cheese croissant. "You know you talk in your sleep," Kazuma mentioned.
"What?"
"You talked in your sleep last night."
"What did I say?"
"Die, Idiot." Bishamon laughed.
"Sounds about right."
"You should get some sleep," Bishamon said. "It's my shift now."
"I'll wait until you finish your breakfast, then I want to brief you on what happened on my shift."
"There was movement?" She asked, mouth full of croissant. "Why didn't you wake me?"
"The entire point of the shifts is so one of us could sleep while the other records any activity that might occur. Neither of us will be any good for the investigation if we don't get some sleep. Besides, you push yourself too hard sometimes," He added in a gentler tone.
"Don't worry so much."
"Let me worry a little, otherwise you'll run yourself into the ground."
"Fine. You are approved for mild worry."
"I appreciate that."
"So tell me about the activity."
"I got photos of what appeared to be a shipment of illegal goods, I left the plates in a voicemail for Yato when he gets in today, and the precinct hasn't been able to get into contact with their witness. It's too early to know for sure, but I don't think we'll be hearing from them again."
"How big is their operation exactly that their willing to kill for it?" Bishamon asked.
"It must be big, these guys aren't playing around. I've written my official report on last night, here it is, and all the photos are on the computer for you to review."
"Of course, you always have everything under control."
"Hardly," Kazuma said, thinking of his reaction to her teasing yesterday. "I just like to be prepared."
"Now I've been briefed you should get some rest, Kazuma. I can handle taking some photos alone." He observed her quietly for a moment before nodding and heading for bed.
Kazuma was cute when he slept. She'd never seen him rumpled and tired before, even during their drills at the academy he somehow managed to maintain an ere of composure, not that he'd never lost his cool. When he'd asked her to come with him on the raid of the home Yato had shared with that killer he looked close to insanity. "It has to be us. It can't be the others." But that had been a grim occasion. He'd been grief stricken and guilt ridden. When he held Yato and Hiiro back while she cuffed Rabo might have been the only time she'd seen him cry.
Sleeping Kazuma, however, was cute. There was a small crease between his brows like he carried some of his cares with him even in his dreams. How very like him. Always calculating, always worrying. If he wasn't careful he'd overload himself and snap like a thread under too much tension. Not while she was around, anyway. She was always trying to get him relax, dragging him along with her when she bent the rules to remind him that if he did something wrong it wasn't the end of the world; he had a propensity for blaming himself. He'd always looked out for her and Yato, and that was a lot of weight for any one person. She and Yato were each a handful on their own, but combined, she sometimes wondered how Kazuma handled it.
By losing lots of sleep to worry, she thought.
That was exactly why she was standing by his bedside now, waiting for the alarm on his phone to count down to zero, when it would wake him up to start their joint attention shift. At least It would have if she weren't going to silence it as soon as it started so Kazuma could get some more sleep. He'd be a little peeved when he eventually woke up, but she was kind of looking forward to being lectured by a sleep rumpled by Kazuma. It would be funny to watch him tell her to be more responsible while he was unaware of the drool dried on his chin.
The phone dinged and she struck like a snake coiled for attack, silencing the alarm. Kazuma grumbled a little and rolled over in his sleep, but did not wake. Bishamon smiled. Mission accomplished. He almost certainly would not thank her for it later, but he'd be better off all the same.
"Mmm. Viina." Bishamon looked over her shoulder. It looked like Kazuma was waking up at last. He'd slept an extra three and a half hours after she'd silenced his alarm. She glanced between the window and Kazuma, watching him rub his eyes then stretch, hair everywhere and pajamas wrinkled. Cute. Also she found it interesting how he said her name as soon as he woke up. She tucked that information away for later.
"Viina," he said again, sounding more awake this time.
"Hey there," she said gently.
"What time is it?" He checked his phone and made an confused noise that was positively adorable. "My alarm didn't go off?"
"It did," Bishamon replied, "I shut it off."
"What?" He asked, expression telling her that he was reserving judgment on her until she explained herself.
"You needed sleep, so I turned off your alarm."
"Viina!" He scolded, judging her guilty. "You should have woken me? What if something had happened?"
"Then I would have gotten pictures of it and you still would have gotten the extra sleep you needed."
"You shouldn't have done that! We had an agreed upon schedule!"
"And I broke it and nothing horrible happened. The sky didn't fall and Yato didn't dance naked through the streets. I just got my sleep, and I happened to believe you needed a little more. Turns out I was right. I'm sitting in front of a window with a camera, not single-handedly raiding a dangerous drug cartel base." Kazuma gave her a stern look, but didn't argue further because she was right. She didn't need him for taking pictures. The only reason this was a two body stakeout was so they could sleep in shifts. Which they had.
"Alright everyone!" Hiyori declared. "My mom is getting in town today and she is coming by the precinct which means: No one will refer to any of Yato's marriage proposals, any of the things he has made for me, the fact that he is still my police partner, or that he has keys to my apartment. He will be working at Kazuma's desk and none of you will act as if any of this is any different. Are we clear?" There was no response.
"The lady asked you if that was clear!" Tenjin said loudly, "This is not a drill! Mrs. Iki is coming to this precinct and I do not intend to sit through another meeting like last time because you punks weren't listening to directions!"
"Yes sir!" The precinct replied.
"My mother is due at five o'clock this evening and her trip is just for the night, tomorrow evening she will head back home."
"Is all this really necessary for a twenty four hour visit?" Yukine asked, looking at the grim expressions on Yato and Tenin's faces.
"Yes!" They both snapped.
"Okay, geeze."
Five O' clock came fast. It seemed the work day dragged on and on when Yato wanted to go home, but when he was dreading the arrival of Hiyori's mother it clipped by at the speed of light. He jumped every time the elevator door opened.
"You have to be over reacting," Yukine said.
"I'm not, she scary when she's mad okay? She went on and on about decency and no-good members of society and how inappropriate it was that I'd asked her daughter to marry me, like yeah I get it! Hiyori yelled at me enough!"
"Like mother like daughter."
"Never make an Iki angry Yukine, just don't. It's bad for your health."
The elevator dinged and Yato jumped, his eyes widening in horror as Sayuri Iki stepped off the elevator and into the bullpen.
"Mom!" Hiyori said, smiling, happy, despite all the trouble this visit caused, to see her mother.
"Hiyori dear, how are you?" Sayuri asked.
"I'm great mom."
"How's work?"
"It's good, we're onto something big right now."
"And does that horrible man still work here?" Hiyori glanced over at Kazuma's desk.
"He's not here today."
"Huh?" Yukine asked, glancing from the two Iki women back to where Yato had been six seconds ago, now there was only an empty desk chair, still spinning slightly. Where the hell did he go?
"Let me get my coat and purse and we can go to dinner, there's this really great new place just down the street I wanted to take you too."
"That sounds wonderful," Sayuri replied. Hiyori walked arm in arm with her mother to the elevator and disappeared behind its sliding doors. Yato peeked out from the mens room.
"Is she gone?"
"Man you really need to get ahold of yourself."
"Help me braid my hair," Bishamon said suddenly.
"What?"
"Help me with my hair, I want to put it up but it takes forever."
"Umm," Kazuma replied, not sure if he could do as she asked safely. The number of times he'd thought about running his hands through her hair… now she was asking him to do it and he couldn't be positive he wouldn't do something weird and embarrassing.
"Whatever, you're helping me," she insisted, dragging her chair around in front of him so they both still faced their target.
"But- the stakeout."
"It's quiet and we've got lots of good information on them anyway." She seperated her hair into two large sections and threw one at Kazuma. Deciding he had no choice he reached out and took it carefully. He made a small surprised sound when it touched his fingers.
"What?"
"Sorry, just, it's soft." Bishamon chuckled.
"Yeah, what do you think I spend all that money on conditioner for?"
Kazuma laughed softly and got to work. It had been a long time since she'd taught him to braid, but he caught back on quickly. Even with the two of them it really did take a long time to braid it all. The quiet as they worked felt so intimate Kazuma was almost tempted to say something to break the spell, but he didn't. He even managed to not do anything weird.
"Hold this mirror," she said, pushing a hand held mirror into his hand and starting work coiling and tucking her two braids up so that all her hair was pulled up against her scalp and it's length was hidden again.
"Impressive," Kazuma said involuntarily.
"Thank you," Bishamon replied. She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek as she dragged her chair back to where it belonged. Kazuma spluttered.
Twenty four hours later Kazuma collapsed into a chair at the precincts favorite bar next to Yato.
"I've got so much to tell you," he said.
"Me too," Yato grumbled. They spoke at the same time.
"Something happened with Viina."
"Something happened with Hiyori," the two said at the same time.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's about damn time, you go first!" Yato said, perking up at once.
"While we were on the stakeout she kissed me."
"What?" Yato shouted, drawing the attention of half the bar. Kazuma shushed him frantically. "Relax, the girls went somewhere else tonight, now spill the tea, sis."
"Yukine has got to stop teaching you young people speak," Kazuma said.
"Just tell me!"
"Okay well so it was really weird, she asked me to help her braid her hair-"
"You didn't do anything creepy did you?"
"No!" Kazuma finished telling Yato all about what happened and Yato leaned back, looking smug.
"She's totally messing with you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean she likes you and she knows you like her so she's teasing you because you're so uptight."
"You mean you think she knows?" Kazuma croaked, looking horrified.
"Yes she knows, I'm willing to bet you weren't half as smooth as you think you were. She's just teasing you, stop freaking out so much and just ask her out, she'll say yes." Kazuma looked like he did not love that plan. Yato sighed.
"Okay well what about you, you said something happened with Hiyori?" Deciding to ignore that Kazuma was deflecting, Yato nodded.
"Yeah, I think I'm going crazy. The other day we were talking and I said something about us belonging together like I always do but Hiyori didn't do what she always did. This look she gave me it… it almost looked like she was into me. I got all choked up and flustered like I used too. Crazy right? It's been happening again recently and I need to know if I'm imagining it like I was last time."
"No, Yato, you're not imagining it."