Yato felt sunlight on his nose. He rubbed his heated face and turned away.

He pulled the nearest cloth available to him over his head and huddled nearer to the center of the futon.

And felt soft skin and something fancy and lacy pressed against his cheek. He lifted his head and stared up a Hiyori's face. You know, not the bare skin ten inches below it.

Hiyori grabbed the blanket forcefully and covered her chest. Yato, who was sleeping on the blanket, toppled off. He suddenly realized his hand was holding something, something that was unbuttoned and still warm.

"Yato? Yato?! YATO! Give me back my shirt! ! !"


Yukine spooned rice porridge into his mouth calmly and spewed it back out when Yato came tumbling down the stairs.

He coughed and pressed a napkin to his mouth ad Yato face-planted the floor.

Yato lifted up his face and gave Yukine a thumbs-up before he fainted.

And the next time Yato was conscious was fifteen minutes after being pushed down the stairs, when Yukine dumped a bucket of cold water/ice mix over him.


"GAAAH! ! What was that for?!" Yato sprang up, spraying water over Hiyori. He rubbed his face with his scarf. Yukine held up the wet, empty bucket and said to Kofuku, who was in the backround holding up a half-full bag of ice, "Just checkin' ta see if he kicked the bucket or not."

Yato sneezed, sniffed, and crawled towards Yato. "How can the child we made and raised be so cruel to his own guardian?! Yukine is entering his second rebellious stage~!"

"I am not! You're the kid here! I feel like a mom, dragging you around and keeping you focused! ! !"

"Hiyori, I knew this day would come, but why did it come so soon?! If I had more time with my loving child, I'd be happy~!"

"I have never been a loving child! Oi! What world is this guy living in?"

Hiyori crouched down to Yato. "I'm sure this rebellious stage would end soon, like the last one. How time flies. Just a few months ago he was sleeping in the same house and bed as I did."

"OI! WHY ARE YOU PLAYIN' ALONG?! ! ! Let him develop his long-awaited maturity, goddammit!"


"I am very sorry for pushing you down the stairs."

Hiyori lifted her head up from her apologetic stance with her hands clasped over her forehead. "I was just surprised."

Yato nodded, rice sprinkled over his cheeks. His mouth moved a little, and he waved his hands in a gesture of 'it's fine', and then he tried to swallow. He choked and turned blue, collapsing to the floor next to Yukine. Yukine ignored him and instead faced Hiyori. "What happened?"

"I don't know, but he probably thought my clothes was a blanket or something, so he pulled on them... And they came off... And then his head was on my..." *bewbs XP

Yukine's chopsticks snapped. Splinters fell into his rice. Two fires lit up in his eyes and his face tilted towards where Yato was breathing a sigh of relief at having finally got the rice ball down his throat.

"Let's push him down the stairs accidentally a thousand times."


Hiyori's tail swayed lightly behind her as she leaped over the rooftops of buildings, following the shiny black jersey of Yato and the golden hair of Yukine.

She landed on each different rooftop and searched for any noticeable phantoms, but only found a few fuzzy small ones that did nothing but give humans small colds and coughs.

By the time she was done searching out a particularly long street, Yato and Yukine were already gone to where Kofuku had predicted the next pathway to hell would open.

Hiyori hadn't been informed of where exactly that was.

She lifted her nose and sniffed.

Yato was at the park, standing at the top of the fountain.


Yato felt water spray out from under him. He reached and grabbed a handful of water, which he tossed at Yukine. "Yukine-kun! ! Don't you want to play with me?"

Yukine leaned down and dodged the water, picking up a large rock in that motion. Yukine tossed the rock over his shoulder and didn't flinch as Yato toppled backwards into the fountain, even as a giant wave of water came up and soaked him through to the skin.

He took off his shirt and straightened out the now-wet map that Kofuku had given them. He glanced at a small plastic watch on his left wrist. Then he looked up at the sky, where a shadow suddenly flew over him.

He heard a splash as Hiyori crashed into Yato and pushed him back into the fountain, just when Yato was about to climb out.

A few seconds later, Yukine heard her slip while trying to help him out and fall in as well.

He chuckled and folded up the map again. "It's surprising... That there's only one opening today, somewhere around the park... Must be a pretty big one." As he folded up the map, he glanced at his watch again.

The longer hand ticked and covered the shorter one at 12:00 a.m., exactly. And then he felt a quake slide over the ground... Coming from right behind him.

He turned around to where both Yato and Hiyori were both still in the fountain, of which the base was crumbling.

"YATO! HIYORI! ! !"

"Get the hell outta there! ! !"

Yato grabbed Hiyori and jumped out. "Ya don't need to say that twice!" Just as his feet touched the ground, the fountain behind them exploded and a horde of giant human plagues spilled out.

"Damn, those are big!"

"Sekki!" Yukine turned into two straight silver katanas and landed neatly into Yato's hands.

Hiyori jumped backwards, out of their way, followed by two fast-moving slug-like phantoms. She leaped up a streetlight pole. High above the fighting, she watched as Yato and Yukine cleaved and sliced through the giant phantom masses. The hole was smaller now but was still far from closing.

Below her, the slugs were sliced apart by Yukine's blade. In a bright flash, the phantoms disappeared.

It was like watching a light show, watching Yato destroy all of the phantoms. They disappeared faster than they poured through the hole and soon the numbers dwindled and the hole sealed up, dry of any other ayakashi.

Hiyori jumped down from the pole. Yato collapsed into a park bench and Yukine turned back into a human. Yukine swayed on his feet. "Whoa, that was one big bunch," he said. Then his knees buckled and he fell backward.

Hiyori caught him awkwardly and carried him to the bench Yato sat down in. She put him down. She sat down too and sighed. "And here I am thinking I'd tag along to help."

"Yukine's blade was sharper today." Yato said. Hiyori blinked. "Really? Good job!" Yukine was completely beat. He lay in a light doze on the bench, between Yato and Hiyori.

"It's always sharper when Hiyori's around." Yato murmured.

Hiyori smoothed Yukine's hair down. "What was that? Sorry, I didn't hear."

Yato sat up and shook his head. "Waaah! ! Today was supposed to be a fun day at the park! ! !"

Hiyori sat up too. "What?"

"We were supposed to play after killing all the ayakashiii~!"

Hiyori looked at the unconscious Yukine and then at the energetic Yato.

"And the fountain is destroyed tooo~!"

Hiyori stood up. "Well, I guess we could play for a while, just the two of us."

Yato found a small volleyball that someone forgot near the children's playground. "We can use this!"

"Alright! Yato! Serve it!"


Yukine woke up to find a head on each shoulder. Yato and Hiyori snored softly. He looked around. The sun was setting, and the sky was turning a deep shade of orange.

Yato was clutching a volleyball.

Yukine looked at their peaceful, sleeping faces. Especially Yato's stupid drooling one. He almost didn't have the heart to wake them.

Almost.

"Oi! OI! WAKE UP! WE GOTTA GO HOME!"

Yeah, that's right.

He had a home now.