Chapter 2: Secrets

"Bekko."

Hiyori's vision faded and her body went limp. She tried to fight the numbing sensation that enveloped her entire being, but fighting it was pointless. By the time she noticed, it was too late. Her spiritual form was forcefully being pulled from her physical body and she was losing her consciousness. Who was doing this to her and why?

Falling to the ground, she was a phantom, unconscious and weak. The strange boy that did this to her, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. With a quick survey of the surroundings, he darted into the bushes carrying Hiyori along with him. Not long after their disappearance, Yato came running back with some paper towels he went to get to dry off Hiyori's tears, but when he got back he noticed that she was, what appeared to be, passed out. Smiling, thinking she may have been exhausted, he walked over to her, slowly bent down and began patting her face dry. The more he dabbed her cheeks, he started to realize how limp she was.

"Hiyori?"

Yato grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her gently. He didn't get a response so he shook her harder.

"Hiyori? Hiyori?!"

Still nothing. He got up and looked around the area, hoping she had just wandered off somewhere, but when he couldn't find her anywhere or sense her nearby, he started shaking with anger. Something else had to have happened to her if she wasn't anywhere close. Yato clenched his fists and grimaced. His anger began to build rather quickly to where he could feel his blood boil beneath his skin. Whoever did this was going to pay for it and if anything happened to her, no one was going to survive his wrath.

About an hour later, Hiyori started to wake up. Everything was blurry at first and she could hear muffled whispers in the distance. She tried to listen closely to see if she could make anything out, but her head began pounding if she focused to much.

"Ow, where am I?" she whispered.

She began to sit up, but it was more of a struggle than she would have thought. Both her legs and arms were tied up with ropes. The more she tried to move, the more the ropes would cut into her skin. It burned more than the average rope, leaving blight on her body where they touched. They must have put a curse on them to be able to do that. She was eventually able to sit up and she looked around her surroundings. It was hard to see because it was so dark. What she did see was that she was sitting inside of a cage that people would normally put lions or other dangerous animals in. Was she viewed as some kind of threat?

"Hello?!" she called out. The voices that she was barely able to hear stopped in response to her call. She waited for a second before she took in a deep breath to shout louder.

"HEL-!"

"We heard you the first time, no need to blow out our ear drums!" she heard a voice at the end of the cage grunt.

"Who are you? Why did you capture me?"

She heard keys jingle and a quick metal clinking noise. The person behind the voice had entered her cage. She still couldn't make him out because the darkness until he approached her. The man that had approached her had smoothed back hair like the stereotypical guy had in the fifty's. His eyes were a glowing green that pierced through the darkness and straight into her being. He looked to be in his early 20's and was wearing a leather jacket and pants with a white T-shirt underneath.

"Are you a regalia?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No, I'm just like you."

Hiyori was confused for a brief moment until he reached behind his back and pulled out a green tail which was just like hers. She stood there in disbelief seeing that there were other people just like her. When he let go of his tail, it disappeared into him, something she had never seen before.

"How'd you do that?"

He smiled, "You'll find out soon enough, but first, let me answer your first question. My name is Masao."

He reached out his hand in a halberd and cut off the ropes that continued to blight her. Once the ropes were off, he motioned her to follow him. She was hesitant at first, but eventually did as he said. She was brought to a well that was filled with water. Masao cupped his hands into the water and poured the water onto her wrists and ankles. The blight immediately faded away. Hiyori rubbed her wrists with the relief of the pain being gone. There was nothing that could be compared to what blight felt like.

"Sorry for that, we just had to make sure you wouldn't rage out on us, but I'm fairly certain you won't after what we tell you," Masao said sincerely.

He lead her into an open room with dim lighting. She could make out several figures of the room, about 5 of them. Were they also like them? When they made it to the center of the room, she could see everyone more clearly. Three of them still had their tails out, where as two of them did not. They all looked at her with worry, as if they were scared of her. Masao immediately put his arm around her and cleared his throat.

"This is Hiyori. She is also a phantom who is lost. Please welcome her and make her feel accepted. This is a place where phantoms can feel at home and work together to solve our dilemma," he announced.

The other phantoms all got small smiles and replied, "Welcome, Hiyori."

Masao pulled up a chair, allowing Hiyori to sit down. She accepted the offer and noticed that everyone had surrounded her. They were all looking her over her as if they were analyzing who she was. One of them whispered in Masao's ear, which he responded with a shake of his head.

"Hiyori, are you ready to learn what we know?"

"Y-yes," she stuttered.

He gave her a big smile, "Good, let's start from the beginning. Do you know the history of phantoms?"

Hiyori shook her head.

"That's okay. Phantoms have been around ever since the beginning of time. They are created when a living creature dies, but is saved from death's grasp, thus giving us the attachment to both realms. That's what our tails symbolize," he pointed to her tail. "That's the easy part that you probably already know. However, unlike today, people before used to know of phantoms and even respect them as demi-gods. Before, when someone became a phantom, they were idolized just like a god. It was believed that the person who had became a phantom was selected by the heavens to join the gods. In honor of these people, they would aid them in their quest to ascend."

"How did they know if they were phantoms? How did they help them to become gods?"

Masao chuckled, "You know of people known as psychics or having special abilities?"

"Yeah."

"That's how they knew, along with other signs. They were very intelligent in that department due to thousands of years of research. Which is how they were able to figure out how to help phantoms ascend to god level. It's a simple brew, much like a tea. They create the drink from the purple moon lotus, or the flower of the soul. It's extremely rare now, due to it needing very specific conditions to grow and reproduce. Not only that, but it was nearly wiped from existence."

"Why?"

"For two reasons. First, because if a normal human drinks the flower's tea or accidentally eats it, they die. When civilization moved more towards science, it was viewed more as a poison than a spiritual plant, so they tried to get rid of them. Second, because the heavens didn't want phantoms to be able to turn into gods."

"The heavens did this? Why would they do that?! They would be condemning phantoms to forever be connected to both realms!"

"They did it because they viewed phantoms who became gods as a threat to the balance of earth and heaven. It's because the phantoms who became gods still had a connection to earth, due to them being alive in the first place. These phantom-gods would thus take the followers of other gods because the humans knew that they had existed and would believe more in them than the actual gods. With this in mind, they waged war against the phantom-gods, killing all of them and then aided the humans in destroying the plant that aided the process of ascendance."

Hiyori was horrified at the thought that the heavens would murder out of what she considered jealousy. It was terrible in her case because even though she didn't want to become a god, it was still a way out for others that was taken from them. Did the heavens do this just in spite or was there another way to cure them?

"So, if this plant is gone, is there no way to fix this?"

Masao's face grew dim, "There is only one way and it's very dangerous and not preferred due to its risk."

"What is it?"

"You have to die again and be saved from death's grasp, but that's not easy. If you die a second time, your chances of survival are slim at best. Your first death, you have a 50% chance, which is risky on it's own, but a second time, your chance drops to about 10%. Plus, it's never been successfully done, but the good news is, the plant still exists."

"So, basically, risk dying and never coming back or search for this plant and become a god? And if the plant still exists, where would it be and how do we know it's there?"

"Exactly and that's why we need you. The plant was wiped out on earth, but it still exists in heaven. None of us here have that access, but you do. You're very close to Yato aren't you?"

"I only know him because he's supposed to help fix me."

"That's a lie, Hiyori. You're relationship is more than that, otherwise you wouldn't have been crying and him consoling you like he did. You two obviously care for each other more than just a business relationship."

Hiyori's cheeks began to pulse with how much redness appeared on her face, "W-we're just friends!"

Masao's reaction went from chuckling to a full blown laughter, "That's all that matters. You don't have to get so flustered over such a simple question. It'll make everyone think otherwise."

"O-oh... sorry."

He grabbed onto her hand and helped her stand up, "Seriously, Hiyori, if you help us, we'll help you. I can teach you how to be stronger in phantom form so you can protect yourself and other techniques like how to fuse your tail into you so you don't have to worry about it. So, will you help us?"

Masao looked deep into Hiyori's eyes, which made her feel weak. Before she knew it, she was nodding her head yes.

"Great! Now you better get back to your body, you've been out of it too long," he pointed to her tail. "Your connection is beginning to fade. We can't have you dying on us."

"Right."

"Also, before you go. You can't tell anyone about this, not even Yato."

Hiyori's heart stopped for a quick second, "Why is that?"

"Because you'll but all of us, including you and Yato in danger with the heavens. Trust me."

As much as Hiyori hated keeping secrets from Yato, she understood Masao's reasoning. She gave him a nod and then began heading back to her body. At least she was able to sense where her physical form is, otherwise she'd be lost.

"Hiyori! You're okay!" Yato shouted as she began to wake up on her bed.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry about that.."

"What happened to you? I was so worried! I couldn't find you and you were gone for a long time."

"I was-" she stopped herself. What could she say that would make sense. She couldn't tell him where she had actually been. "My phantom form just formed further away from my body this time. I got lost for a while, but I'm okay now."

Yato leaned close to her and stared into her eyes as if he was trying to find the answer within them. She could feel his breath on her lips and she felt her cheeks warm up fast.

"Yato, that's creepy!" she shouted as she shoved him to the floor.

"Ow! That was mean, Hiyori!" Yato pouted as he rubbed his head.

She glared at Yato for him trying to play the pity party on her when she saw her bedroom door fly open. Her shock immediately turned into relief when she saw Yukine standing in to doorway. He was panting from running up the stairs and was tearing up slightly.

"You're ok..." he murmured between his sniffles.

She got up and gave Yukine a hug which he returned tightly, holding his wet face against her shirt. Seeing him cry made her feel bad. She didn't realize how worried they were for her.

"I'm sorry you guys. I won't do tha-"

"Why does he get a hug, but I just get shoved to the ground?!"

"Maybe because you were being creepy!" she retorted.

Yukine pulled away from Hiyori and walked over to Yato giving him a quick knock on the head, "Why are you tormenting her when she just got back?!"

The two of them started bickering as usual causing Hiyori to smile and then start to laugh. She was happy that the two of them were in her life. She didn't know where'd she be with out them. If only she was able to tell them what had actually happened while she was gone...