After that kiss everything changed and nothing changed at all.

There was a different kind of energy flowing between them. They still played, they still bickered, they still were Yato and Hiyori. Nonetheless, there was a new complicity every time their eyes met, flirtatious smiles exchanged when no one was looking; gentle touches every now and then.

Their relationship didn't change but expanded. There was a whole new dimension to explore.

Their next conversation after the kiss was excruciating.

Not because it was awkward, which it also was, but because they were both so bad at communication. Seriously, it was painful. And they were talking feelings, it was meant to be a struggle. Hiyori tended to recur to violence when she stepped on dangerous ground and Yato spurted every idiocy that crossed his mind in order to avoid being exposed. They were such a pair.

Eventually, after a few stumbles, and some bumps in Yato's head, they'd finally made it through.

"Hiyori… you're very important to me."

His voice had been soft when he said it, his eyes trying so hard to stay with hers.

"I-I made a promise... I vowed to make you the happiest girl in the world."

After those words his eyes stopped wavering. He took one of her hands between both of his and continued candidly, "I intend to fulfill that promise."

Hiyori was stunned. He was a god, for heaven's sake! And she… she was just a human girl. There was nothing else she could offer him but her love and support. And she was going to do exactly that: Love and support him for as long as she was capable.

Tears were prickling in her eyes so she throw herself in his arms and hide her face in the soft space between his neck and his shoulder, inhaling that delicious smell of his.

"I love you, Yato" she whispered softly. She knew he heard her 'cause an even softer gasp escaped him and his arms held her tighter.

…

None of them said anything about their incipient romance, but somehow everybody already knew.

Yukine just rolled his eyes whenever he caught them in one of their muted exchanges. Daikoku growled at Yato even more than usual and looked at Hiyori with a weird mixture of pity and endearment. But Kofuku was the worst.

The tiny goddess teased them at every opportunity and, at the same time, she was so invested in the success of their relationship that she went around creating "openings" for them to be alone. She was so obvious that just made it awkward for everyone. They were lucky to have Daikoku, who could control his mistress when she was taking things too far.

Hiyori thought it was mostly embarrassing, but also very funny. Kofuku was having such a great time and Yato's reactions were so endearing. He was both abashed and outraged at Kofuku's advances.

"Dammit, Kofuku! Hiyori will never come back here if you're always so annoying."

"Ohhhhh, Yatty! Are you worried?" she cooed. "Hiyorin could not go a day without you, rest assured."

Hiyori's cheeks were on fire as Kofuku rolled on the floor laughing at Yato, who dropped the beer can and the pastry he had in his hands and proceeded to impersonate a tomato at the goddess's come-back.

Later, when Yato was walking Hiyori home, he brought the outburst up reluctantly, "I'm sorry for Kofuku, you know how she gets, she..." They stopped.

"She's right, though."

They were two houses away from hers. Hiyori, who was walking beside Yato, took his hand and laced their finger together. Standing on her tiptoes, she whispered in his ear, "I couldn't go a day without you."

She could almost feel the quivers running through Yato's body and with a little laugh she pecked him on the lips and ran away to her house leaving Yato there, frozen in the middle of the street.

…

The next day he was waiting for her outside Kofuku and Daikokus's place. His back was against a vending machine; his arms, crossed, and his eyes were fixed on her.

The flutter she felt in her heart every time she saw him was replaced with a tremor that creeped through her whole body, she felt suddenly hot. He looked so handsome standing there, his lean body relaxed but his eyes stucked on hers. Like a big feline measuring his prey.

"H-hi," she said with a shaky breath.

God, those eyes.

She felt weak and stripped in front of that intense gaze. He said something but she couldn't, for the life of hers, tell what was it.

"Hiyori."

She watched his lips move this time, in a futile attempt to decipher what he was saying. It didn't help at all.

"Hiyori, did you understand me?"

She shook her head, both to clear it and as an answer to his question.

Snap out of it!

He offered his hand and after a moment she took it. Softly, he brought her close to him until there was just a little gap between them. His other hand took a lock of her hair and smooth it behind her ear, to later follow the arc of it with his fingertips till the lobe and then drift to the line of her jaw to end in her bottom lip. Hiyori could feel his touch burning her skin. At some point her eyes fluttered closed and she could only manage jittery breaths. He leaned forward and closed the scarce distance between them, his hand settled in her shoulder.

"I said..." he started in a low rasp. Hiyori felt his breath caressing her exposed ear and another round of tremors ran all over her.

He would be the death of me.

His actions were so simple, yet she was so affected.

"Last night you left me there, just like that."

His voice was almost a purr and Hiyori felt herself melt with the sound. She opened her eyes slowly and turned her head to softly stroke his cheek with the tip of her nose.

"What should I have done?" She didn't recognize her own voice. That had sounded downright sexy. Sexy!

Yato abruptly faced her, his mouth gaping and awe in his half lidded eyes that shone with heat. He recovered quickly from the startle and kissed her.

He feels amazing.

Hiyori surrendered to the warm caress of his lips over hers.

Since the first one, they had only shared soft, chaste kisses that always ended too soon. Those felt sweet, reassuring. A soft action that translate as a whispered 'I love you.'

This was overwhelming passion.

Hiyori felt breathless, drowning in a torrid turmoil of sensations.

Yato wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her impossibly closer as she buried her fingers in his hair. This kiss was so heated Hiyori felt her lips burning. He went from lush brushes to soft bites. And she wasn't stepping behind. She tried to give as much as she received. And she knew she was doing alright judging by the muffled groans that died in the back of his throat.

Hiyori felt his tongue teasing her bottom lip and her mouth opened with a quiet moan. After her lips were explored thoroughly, their tongues met. Hesitantly at first but hungrily once they figured out what felt the best. Eventually, he changed their positions and imprisoned her between the vending machine and his body. Hiyori thought her body would combust spontaneously when a not-so-quiet moan found its way out of her. Yato reacted to the sound right away with a low moan of his own.

Hiyori couldn't believe she affected him as much as he did her. She felt suddenly powerful and a smile formed in her lips as he left a trace of kisses all across her jaw to her neck and stayed in the point right below her ear.

The smile was wiped from her lips when she felt him suck on that point.

The shivers danced through her body and a gasp slipped out. It hurt so nicely, she was hoping it left a mark behind.

"Yato..."

He faced her once again and after a beat, pecked her lips, much like she had done the night before.

"Something like that will be more acceptable in the future." He winked with a shit-eating grin on his plump lips. They seemed swollen, not much different as hers felt.

Hiyori covered her face with her hands and bumped his shoulder.

"Idiot."