Noragami~Stray God

Some days, Yato felt like he was going to die. So few people believed in him anymore, he was surprised that he still existed. He was more known as a myth than anything. Just some scary bedtime story that few parents told their children to keep them in line. If you don't behave, the evil god Yato will come for you. He comes in the middle of the night to slay naughty children who don't obey their parents.

This was a lie, of course. Yato had never killed any children per se, but he had killed. So many mortals had died by his hand that he couldn't count them anymore.

It was detestable really, but that's what a god of calamity did. In those days, lesser gods were desperate. They took any job offered, no matter what it was, or ceased to exist. They had to kill or be killed. It was still sort of like that, only now nobody wanted calamity gods. It was a time of peace, and had been or ages. Jobs were even harder to come by now. He had thought he was struggling before, but now he knew better. Every day he lost wishers, and every day became more of a struggle. He could almost feel himself fading away.

Such was the life of a god of calamity. Who was he to think any differently? He had seen others waste away to nothing. He had heard their desperate pleas for someone-anyone-to remember them, their despairing cries as they realized the truth- they were disappearing and could do nothing about it. Deep down, Yato knew the same would happen to him someday. Whether it be tomorrow or a thousand years from now, he knew that he would eventually fade from existence, and that thought scared him. He was actually surprised that he'd lasted this long. He was unknown and unwanted. Nothing of consequence, reduced to wandering the streets and almost begging for work. Heck, he was even worse off than the very god of poverty! He'd even reformed and changed his title, hiding his former self behind a mask because it was considered unwanted and vile. Still, because he was born out of war and calamity, its essence was threaded through every fiber of his being. He could never make it go away, only suppress it.

Messenger god, hah! Who are you going to fool? Not even his shinki wanted to be around him. He'd lost so many already. Every single one had left him behind, because of what? Because he was homeless, shrineless, a beggar on the streets. A Noragami: a stray god. What shinki would want to follow him when there were better gods out there? Hey Bishamon, I called you better than me, are you happy now?! Of course, there was always Nora the stray, but he refused to use her ever again. As low as he could be, he had lines now that he would not cross, and she was one of them. No, he'd rather fade to nothing than to revive his old life and use her again to cause destruction. But who was he trying to fool? He was a god of calamity. Destroying is what he did. By saying he wouldn't go back, he was destroying himself. Soon, he would fade to nothing, and there wasn't anything he could do about it but grab at straws. He was weak, only a shadow of what he used to be. His followers were gone. He was alone, hanging by a mere thread, but he was also a war god, and war gods did not give up. He would carry on in his measly existence, hoping that one day, a savior would come. A follower who truly believed in him. Until then, all he could do was wait. He would put on his carefree, optimistic mask and pretend nothing was wrong. He would cling to hope, because without it, he was truly nothing.

Alone in the corner of a dark alley, the messenger god Yato sighed heavily, leaning back against a brick wall and closing his eyes, clutching his bottle of savings. Maybe tomorrow would bring better results.

.

.

.

.

.

A/N: I dunno where this came from, but it happened. This is completely anime-verse so no intentional spoilers for the manga exist in this fanfiction. There are slight references to it, but nothing that gives stuff away. I wrote this first chapter before reading much of the manga, so please bear with any inaccuracies that may become glaringly obvious when season two of the anime comes out. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!