Hey all! So, I apologize in advance. I spent a VERY long time on this chapter as it is a very important chapter in the story. I am used to writing novels so trying to keep this shorter and to the point was difficult for me. I hope I was able to capture all the emotions correctly in this chapter. I just finished writing Chapter 17 to stay tuned! This chapter was inspired by the song Lionheart-Gareth Emery and Ashley Wallbridge Ft. Pollyanna. Enjoy!
Kira and Bishamon left Hiyori in the room to talk privately. Hiyori waited until she no longer heard their footsteps before slightly opening the door and peering out into the hallway. She could see Bishamon's lamp glow in the distance and Hiyori could tell she wasn't by the entrance.
"I must be crazy," she whispered to herself. She slid out of the doorway and crouched down to shuffle down the hall. Grabbing the corner of the wall at the end of the hall cautiously, she poked her head out just enough to see if anyone was near the entrance. It was empty. She took her chance.
All at once she was running. The cool night breeze shrouded her and flicked her long hair all about her face. Thoughts raced faster than her feet. She had no idea where Yato even was. Given that Kira was able to find the shrine Hiyori was in, she assumed Yato must have told her where it was and it couldn't have been that far. But what if she was wrong? Kira is a yokai. She could have easily flown the distance or arrived there quickly some other way. Besides not knowing where he was, she also had no idea how she was even going to help. Would she just get in his way?
She shook her head to try to stop the noise and the doubt. All she knew was that Yato and Yukine were in trouble and she couldn't just hide away in some shrine while they fought her battles.
Hiyori stopped to catch her breath at an intersection. The streetlight glared down on her. She looked around not knowing which direction to go. Hiyori panicked. If she were in her half-phantom form she could sniff him out quickly but she knew she'd immediately be ensnared by the demon. She had to try to find him another way. She looked to the left and then the right. There were no signs of him in either direction. She listened for sounds but nothing came to her ears. Falling to her knees alone in the darkness, she screamed into her hands.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!" she shouted over and over again as angry tears welled up in her eyes. When she stopped to take a breath, she noticed a strange warm glow resonating from her. She spread her fingers to peak out and see what it was. She gasped. It was her tie. The golden tie that Yukine couldn't cut. It was attached to her chest and she followed the length of it with her eyes. She couldn't see the end of it in the hollowness of the night but she could see it was leading her straight. Hiyori knew the end of the tie was attached to Yato. If she followed it, it would lead her to him!
Hiyori jogged following the glowing thread. It seemed so far away and yet with each step the fear inside her grew and the uncertainty of what she'd find worried her. What if Yato and Yukine were already dead? She'd be walking right into her own demise. But the idea of running for the rest of her life sounded like a fate worse than death. She couldn't run away anymore. If this was to be her end, she'd rather die fighting than running.
The dark skies above her began to change. To the east, hues of orange and pink broke through the blackness. The sun was starting to come up. In the distance she could hear what sounded like a storm but there were no clouds in the sky to indicate stormy weather. Hiyori knew immediately that had to be them. She looked around and saw a huge dust cloud billowing from behind some buildings. She looked down to see the golden tie fade. This was it. Whatever she found behind those buildings was her fate. It was too late to turn back now. Even if she could, she wouldn't. She mustered the small amount of courage she had inside her and ran to the scene of the battle. The sounds of thunder and lightning grew louder and almost unbearable. She hoped with everything in her that Yato and Yukine were not on the receiving end of those blows.
There was an abandoned parking lot attached to a grassy field. The rising sun flooded the area with light and Hiyori could see huge areas of dirt and concrete that looked like they had been struck with so much force that even pieces of the parking lot had broken away and the ground in the field was torn. They were definitely here but the haze made it difficult for her to find them. She wanted to yell for them but she feared that making her presence known would make the situation worse.
Almost as if in slow motion, she felt herself being pushed violently from behind and suddenly she was rolling on the ground. The sound of what she thought was lightening cracked right behind her before she hit the ground. She didn't see what had even pushed her. When her body finally came to a stop she opened her eyes to see a bloodied and beaten Yato kneeling over her. She felt pain in her legs but couldn't pinpoint exactly where.
Panting, Yato looked at Hiyori wide-eyed. "What are you doing here?!" Hiyori could see his face was covered in blood though she couldn't see if it was his or someone else's.
She tried sitting up. The pain in her legs became worse and she could see that she had a large cut on the back of her calves. Her left leg was worse than the right. She could see her blood pooling and spilling over the wound.. What had cut her? "K-Kira," she managed to say between breaths. "Kira said you were in trouble!"
"My father employed Nora for this fight! She will kill you! She's the reason for the cuts on your legs! You have to go back Hiyori!"
A whoosh and she was flying through the air. Another strike cracked through the air and it made Hiyori cover her ears. Yato had her in his arms but not for long. He landed and put her down quickly. "I can't hardly get close enough to attack him. We've hardly been managing to just dodge his strikes but Yukine isn't going to be able to stand much more. Please Hiyori, you have to leave!"
Before she could even manage to say anything, she felt a grip on her arms like a vice. The pain made her wince and she was pulled swiftly into someone else's arms.
"HIYORI!" she could hear Yato yell from across the field. There was panic written on his face.
Hiyori willed herself to turn and look up at who her captor. She'd never met him before but just seeing his face she knew exactly who he has. Black wavy hair graced his forehead and the sides of his face but his eyes were unmistakable. The same icy, mesmerizing blue as Yato's. Only his eyes held no comfort or easiness as Yato's did. His eyes were merciless. They were cold and filled with hate. Although, the smirk on his face did not make Hiyori believe any of this was a joke and only made her feel more unsettled. She looked at her arms and realized she was entwined in several cords covered in sharp blades. Hiyori figured this must be Nora. She looked back up at Yato who stood motionless across the way with his hand outstretched. Given how beaten Yato looked, Hiyori choked down the reality that there was no way Yato was going to try to get her back. He'd not won up until this point and he wasn't going to win now.
"Do you see the situation you're in, Hiyori Iki?" His father's words were hot in her ear. He pressed his face into the side of hers and sniffed her hair. "I can see why Yato is so attached to you. You are quite beautiful. And your smell," he said grabbing a handful of her hair in his large hand, "it's rather intoxicating."
"DON'T TOUCH HER YOU FILTHY BASTARD!" Yato yelled angrily. But his father only chuckled and pulled Hiyori closer to him.
"You can't keep a morsel like this all to yourself now, Yato. Maybe after I'm done killing you and your divine blessed vessel, I'll have some fun with her before I kill her too!"
Hiyori tried to pull away from him but she knew it was no use. She couldn't stand being so close to him. But as she struggled, Nora's grip on her body grew tighter and blades began to pierce her skin. She let out a yelp.
"Hiyori, don't move! I'm coming to get you!" Yato called out.
"Except, I don't see you getting anyone," his father taunted him. "You know good and well that she's as good as gone now. That's why you're still standing there. You're debating if she's really worth coming for because you know you'll die trying. And the thought of you dying scares you more than anything else."
Hiyori saw Yato's hands clench with rage. Was it because his father was right? Or was it something else? From a distance it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Anger festered in the bottom of her stomach and she thought of anything she could do to hurt his father.
"You know," Hiyori said looking at the ground, "as scared as Yato might be to die, I believe you're even more scared."
His father let out a hearty laugh. "What the hell makes you think that?"
"Because you wouldn't be so desperate to kill us all if you weren't afraid of what might happen if Yato lives."
His face turned to stone and became serious. "That's a big if, sweetheart."
"Yato," Yukine barked, "we should try to attack him now while he's distracted and Nora's busy!"
"I don't know, Yukine. He's too quick!"
"We're not going to have this chance again!" Yukine demanded.
"But what if our attempt fails and he just kills Hiyori?!"
"I don't know what strength is left in me, Yato," Yukine pleaded, "but with what I have I will do my best to make sure nothing happens to her. We have to take our chance now!"
"Alright. Let's do this!" Yato gripped the singular Sekki blade with both bloody hands and while his father wasn't looking, jumped quickly to the right out of his peripheral view and ran up behind him. Yato lifted the blade and swung with all he had left in him. There was contact as the sword sliced diagonally down his father's back cutting deep into his skin. Finally. They'd hurt him.
His father yelled in pain and released Hiyori without thinking. Hiyori did not hesitate and hobbled away from the men as they fought. Nora's hold was still strong though and only getting worse. Hiyori would soon run out of breath if she didn't find a way to get Nora off of her. She looked around but couldn't find a solution. Hiyori saw that one of Nora's cords was lying at her feet and not wrapped around her. With great difficulty, Hiyori knelt down one leg at a time and grabbed the loose cord with a large, sharp hook on the end. She put the hook in her right hand that had more freedom and gripped the writhing weapon. With one jab, Hiyori stuck the hook into one of the cords wrapped around her. Nora screamed in agony as her own hook ripped through her. As Hiyori ripped through one cord as a time, Nora finally let go as she was sustaining too many injuries to continue to contain her.
Hiyori limped away as fast as she could. She turned back to see Yato and his father fighting. Without his weapon, his father didn't stand as much of a chance anymore. Even with the Sekki as badly injured as it was, he was still Yato's blessed vessel and he was still strong.
Yato swung his sword frantically. Even though his father wasn't able to strike back anymore, he was still quick and could dodge Yato's attacks. Actually hitting him was not going to be easy. His father jumped backward and ran toward Nora. Yato knew that if he got her back they'd be done for. Yato ran toward Nora as well and intercepted his father just as he was reaching for her, cutting the top of his hand as a warning. Yato pointed the tip of his Sekki right into his father's chest and started pushing him away slowly.
"This ends now," Yato exhaled.
With another one of his infamous smirks, his father replied, "Yes, it does." From inside his shirt, he pulled out something Yato was very familiar with. It was Hiyori's scarf. The same, ruby colored scarf she was wearing when she pushed him out of the way of that bus all those years ago and the same scarf she still wears every day in the winter.
His father held it out in front of Yato and snickered. "Ifrit, I command you to come forth and collect this soul!"
Ifrit. The demon. Now the scarf makes sense. Kira said his father needed something of Hiyori's in order to summon to demon. Being summer, Hiyori wouldn't have noticed it was missing. Oh no.
The earth beneath them all began to quake. Yato ran to Hiyori and stood in front of her. "He's summoning the collect you!"
Hiyori sucked in a breath hard as the ground started to crack and break apart in the middle of the field. Smoke and flames rose from the opening and the demon appeared surrounded by fire. He turned slowly toward Yato and Hiyori.
"I've been summoned to collect the soul of Hiyori Iki," Ifrit's feet landed on the ground with a loud thud. He stood monstrously tall and his shadow in the morning sun nearly covered them both.
Hiyori felt an odd sensation in her fingertips. She lifted them up to see they were red again just like they were before when she'd come home from the hospital. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back. She'd been here before. She'd confronted this demon once before. Her fingertips had brushed his hand and burned. She'd almost surrendered to him. If Kira hadn't come to rescue her, he would have had her. She remembered Yato now. Tears pouring down his face as she almost had given up. That's why he was gone for so long.
"I remember now," Hiyori said shakily. "I remember him."
Yato put his arms around her and pulled her in hard. "I'm not going to let you go this time."
"We can't beat him, Yato," Hiyori cried. "We need a miracle."
"It's time, Hiyori," Ifrit started to levitate and the flames surrounding him turned a dark purple. With his hand stretched out, he pointed to Hiyori with his long, dagger-like claw and the violet flames suddenly engulfed Hiyori and ripped her away from Yato. Her body began to levitate as well and drag her toward the demon. Hiyori screamed in fear and Yato tried to run after her, but another wave of flames entrapped him in his place. He tried punching and kicking the invisible force holding him hostage but to no avail. He felt so useless. He's in the same position he was in before. Except this wasn't a nightmare they could wake from. There are no magic spells or special totems to quell this enemy.
"YATO! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" Yukine called to his master but the world around Yato had fallen silent. Even Hiyori's cries could no longer reach him. All Yato could hear now was his own heart plummeting. He could only watch in horror as the reality of the situation unfolded before him.
Yukine realized Yato had given up inside but he wasn't ready to go out this way. He'd already lost enough, physical and emotionally, to just lay down and let it all go. If he had to die trying, at least he'd die knowing he'd given his all. Yukine stood up. The lone Sekki blade rattled at Yato's feet before erecting on its own and with all of Yukine's might, he pushed his spirit form against the flame-immersed force field with the one full arm and one full leg he had left. The Sekki trembled as it tried to cut through.
Blood mixed with salty tears in Yato's eyes; blurring his vision and stinging awfully but he didn't bother to wipe it away. It didn't even register at first in his peripheral the Sekki trying desperately to pierce the invisible barrier. He turned his head. It took a second for him to comprehend what he was seeing.
"Yuki…ne", he thought to himself. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. Mouths were moving but he couldn't hear anyone or anything. He could feel himself standing idly but he couldn't will his feet or hands to move anymore. All those years of pain and despair that had hardened him seemed so far away from him. He felt like a child. He felt weak, inexperienced, and scared. Yato knew people and their weaknesses. He even knew the weaknesses of most gods. But this foe was beyond him.
And yet, there was Yukine. An actual child. He died a child and a child he will remain forever now. If anyone should be scared and running away, it would be him but no. As unfair as it was, Yukine has seen more warfare in his lifetime, living and dead, than any kid his age should ever see or even most adults. Yato would have understood if he was ready to lay down and surrender but here he was still pursuing.
The knot in Yato's stomach began to unwind. If Yukine was still willing to give the rest of what he had in him, Yato would too. He couldn't abandon everyone now. Yato didn't know if he'd be able to defeat the demon or save anyone. It may still all end in ruin but as long as everyone else was trying, he would try too. He took a deep breath and started to reach for the Sekki when he started to hear voices. They were muffled at first but then they came in like a wave crashing over him.
"YATO! YOU HAVE TO BREAK FREE!" Kira shouted from the other side of the chain-link fence. Matoko was jumping up and down at her feet.
"DON'T GIVE UP YATTY!" Kofuku called out. She was standing next to Kira; Daikoku at her side as well.
"WE'RE HERE FOR YOU!" Bishamon stood armed with all her best shinki, uncluding Kazuma, ready for war.
They were all there. Everyone was not only counting on Yato, but they all believed in him. He didn't know when they had all shown up, but seeing them all there and witnessing Yukine giving his all had given him the courage he needed to keep going. He gripped the handle of the Sekki firmly which startled Yukine a bit.
"Ya-Yato?!" Yukine stammered.
"I'm sorry, Yukine. It took me a while to get myself together."
Yukine only smiled and nodded. He was just happy to see Yato had shaken his petrification.
Yato raised the Sekki above his head and with all his strength, he stabbed the force field and he was actually able to get the tip of the blade outside. He continued to push the sword outward, crying out as the blade inched its way out and finally breaking the barrier. There was an explosion and the flames that had surrounded Yato and the Sekki turned to smoke and ash around them. Once the haze lifted, everyone saw Yato and the Sekki standing there breathing heavily, but not hurt.
Ifrit's eyes widened. Nobody had ever broken his flame barrier before.
Everyone around cheered. Everyone except Hiyori, who was still trapped in her own force field and getting dangerously close to the demon.
"I'm tired of this song and dance, demon," Yato said wiping the blood from his mouth. "It's time for a new track."
He ran toward the demon and jumped up high. His silhouette seemed to dance across the face of the morning sun and he came down hard on top of the barrier holding Hiyori. The Sekki had no trouble this time around breaking through. Another explosion. Hiyori covered her ears. Then she was surrounded by something else. It was warm and smelled familiar. It was Yato.
Hiyori opened her eyes. At first she thought she might have died because all she could see was Yato's face and everything else was white. She was scared initially but she saw the smile on his face. The fear in her subsided. Everything started to come back into view and Yato landed lightly on the ground.
"I told you I wasn't letting you go this time," Yato reassured her.
Hiyori exhaled loudly and smiled back. "Welcome back, Yato."
Yato nodded and put Hiyori down. The smile on the corner of his mouth left as he eyed Ifrit and took up the Sekki once more. He wasn't afraid anymore. With his friends and his blessed vessel at his side, his
Hiyori ran to Kira and the others. The pain in her legs reminded her that she couldn't go very fast and she halted at Kira's feet, collapsing on the ground before her.
"Hiyoi!" Kofuku yelped. "How did you end up here?!"
Hiyori took a moment to catch her breath. "I couldn't leave them alone." She looked up at Kira's face which was riddled with concern. "When you said they were in trouble, I couldn't just stay there."
"Normally, I would have called you foolish," Bishamon said firmly, "but thanks to your sneaking off we were actually able to locate all of you."
Kira pulled the same powder from her bag that she had used on Yukine and Yato and applied it to Hiyori's bigger, open wounds. Hiyori sucked in her breath hard trying not to scream in pain.
"How did you manage to find him yourself, Hiyori?" Daikoku asked
Hiyori thought for a second then blushed vividly. She looked up at Kira again. "The tie. It led me to him. I don't know how but it just showed up and pointed the way."
Kira nodded. "That tie is what is going to help you win this battle. But first, we have to find a way to weaken the demon."
Hiyori shuffled her thoughts for a second and remembered Yato's father taking something out of his shirt. "My scarf!" she exclaimed.
"Your what?" Kira was confused.
"You said the demon needed something of mine in order for it to be summoned and collect my soul."
"Yes?" Kira confirmed, still confused.
"His father had my scarf! He must have known I wouldn't be looking for it during the summer time! That's what he used to summon the demon."
"Perfect!" Kira slammed her fist into her hand happily. "If we destroy the scarf, the demon's summoning will be forfeit and he'll take the soul of the person who summoned him!"
Hiyori looked around to find Yato's father. She spotted him on top one of the buildings watching the battle wage below him. She pointed to him. "He's got it."
"If Yato can hold off the demon long enough, we can take the scarf from his father and get rid of it. That will end all of this!" Kira carefully plotted out the attack.
"Except, there's two problems," Hiyori pointed out, "his father is extremely fast and the demon is super strong. There's no way Yato can defeat the demon alone nor catch his father. I've seen it with my own eyes. Even without Nora as his weapon, it's impossible."
"He's not alone." Kira took Hiyori's chin between her thumb and pointer finger and turned her face to the others standing next to her. "You are not alone anymore. We're going to help you."
Hiyori's heart overflowed that tears started falling before she even realized they were coming. Even with Yato and Yukine with her nearly 24/7, she'd felt so alone for so long. Now, looking at all of her friends, she finally felt a small sense of relief. It may not be pretty, but there was finally a chance that they could beat this. All of them. Together.
"Kokki!" Kofuku called first.
"Choki!" followed Bishamon.
Smiling still, Kira transformed into a thick, metal cord. Matoko remained in his pseudo-feline form and hid behind the fence.
"What's the plan?" Hiyori started.
"I'll work on getting Yato's father on the ground and getting the scarf from him," Bishamon said waiving her whip around. "He knows we're stronger than him."
"Daikoku and I will open up a vent once Bishamon gets Yatty's dad," Kofuku continued. "Then, we can send both the demon and Yato's dad into the underworld."
"If what Kira says is true, then destroying the scarf will force the demon to take his dad's soul instead of mine," Hiyori said in a determined tone. "And with the vent open, we can send them both away faster."
"But," Kira warned, "with the vent open we'll have to be careful. Phantoms will start to pour out and we'll all be vulnerable."
"We'll have to open the vent at the last minute and not a second sooner." Bishamon climbed ontop of Kuraha. "Once it's open, we'll have to leave until it closes. We'll come back later to clean up the phantoms." She turned to Kofuku. "You wait for my signal."
Kofuku nodded.
Hiyori turned to Yato and his standoff with the demon. He was barely hanging on but he wasn't down. She had to figure out a way to help. She didn't have any special powers or weapons like everyone else did.
Bishamon started after Yato's father. He was so fast, jumping from rooftop to rooftop then onto the ground, that it almost seemed like he was teleporting. Kuraha roared in frustration as her whip continued to miss. Even with Kazuma's honing skills, Yato's father was still too fast to target. Bishamon could see the scarf coming loose though. As his father was busy dodging her, he wasn't paying attention to the scarf coming free from under his shirt.
"Bishamon," Kazuma alerted, "if we continue to make him dance, the scarf may fall from his grasp altogether and Kuraha can grab it. We don't need to get his father necessarily. Just the scarf."
"Understood," Bishamon put her whip away. "Suuki! Gaiki!" She called. Then she was equipped with her hand guns. "This'll make him dance." She started shooting at his father's feet, intentionally missing any major body parts.
Below, the battle between Yato and the demon raged on. The demon continuously pelted Yato with fire balls. He couldn't get close enough to the demon to do any damage. He just kept dodging the demon's fire. Occasionally he'd get close enough to cut Ifrit's arm or leg but nothing that would put the demon out of the fight.
"We're never going to be able to get close enough to him," Yukine said.
"I know," Yato panted. "I'm just trying to buy time for our friends."
Yukine looked around wearily. He saw Bishamon shooting at Yato's father. Kofuku was waiting on the sidelines with her Kokki. In the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something that looked like a serpent slithering up behind Ifrit. It took him a second to focus and see what it actually was. It was some type of rope or cord that was moving on its own.
With Yukine distracted, he wasn't able to react quick enough to the giant fireball that was hurling at him and Yato. When Yato tried to swing the Sekki, it wouldn't budge.
Hiyori watched, horrified, as Yato was hit with Ifrit's flame. Yato's body was thrown through the air like a doll. He flipped across the field, tumbling over the concrete of the parking lot, then finally landing with a crash against the back of the abandoned building. Hiyori limped as fast as she could to him. She passed the Sekki on her way to him; what was left of the Sekki. The majority of the blade had broken into pieces scattered all around the ground. All she could find in tact was the handle and a shard of the blade still holding on. Yukine wouldn't have survived that. Hiyori felt all of the breath inside of her leave her lungs. All she could do was hope that Yato didn't share the same fate. But as she approached him, he lay motionless on the ground.
"Veena!" Kazuma yelled. He zeroed in on Hiyori's scarf which had finally come away from Yato's father's shirt and began to drift to the ground.
Bishamon hopped off Kuraha. "Kinki!" Kuraha tore across the rooftop and jumped down after the scarf. Yato's father jumped as well to try to retrieve it but Kuraha was milliseconds closer and captured the cloth between his teeth before landing on the ground with a loud thud.
"NO!" Yato's father yelled angrily.
Bishamon turned to give Kofuku the signal, but found her at Hiyori's side instead. Hiyori was sitting on the ground holding something in her lap. "Kuraha!" Bishamon called out quickly. He came to gather Bishamon and they both rushed over to Hiyori and Kofuku. Before them was a distraught Hiyori holding Yato's lifeless body. Yukine was nowhere in sight.
The world around them fell quiet again. Quiet except for a sinister chuckle that began to build behind them. It was Yato's father.
"What a shame," he said mockingly. "Your little plan failed. Nobody can beat Ifrit. The fact that you even tried is adorable." He crossed him bloodied arms around his chest and looked at Hiyori with eyes of stone. "You did me the favor of getting Yato killed. At least now I won't have to do it myself."
Hiyori couldn't believe that person who raised Yato, even if he wasn't a real father, was happy Yato was dead. How sick could a person be?
"Now, it's your turn girl." Yato's father turned to Ifrit. "She's all yours."
Ifrit smirked and eyeballed Hiyori.
Hiyori began to panic. She held Yato's broken body closer to her and said her silent goodbyes. "I'm so sorry, Yato," she whispered. Pressing her face to his, she kissed his cheek. "I love you."
She felt a strange tug on her chest.
"Hiyori!" Kofuku cried.
Hiyori opened her eyes and saw the golden tie. It was glowing fiercely. It was so bright it almost hurt Hiyori's eyes. But how? Yato was dead. The tie should have died with him.
"HIYORI! THE AMULET!" Kira yelled from across the field. She snuck up behind the demon, waiting for the perfect moment, and as soon as he was distracted she tied herself around his legs. Then she slid up and pulled Ifrit's hands behind his back tying them up so he couldn't use them. "IT'S IN HIS POCKET! USE IT!"
The amulet? Hiyori searched Yato's pockets and found his father's amulet. How was she supposed to use this though? She thought about what Kira had told them. The amulet was not the source of his father's power. It was an amplifier. What if…?
Hiyori held the stone to her chest. The tie streamed through the amulet and began wrapping Yato's entire body in a golden light. Suddenly, he began lifting off of her lap and floating upwards. The light continued to grow around Yato's body. It was warm like the afternoon summer sun. Hiyori stood up and stepped back.
Yato's body stopped in mid-air. He slowly went from being horizontal to being upright. And, as if it was a miracle, his eyes opened. His entire body was golden including his hair and his eyes. He faced the demon with a stoic look. All of his wounds began fading from his body like they never happened. Yato held out his left hand and said, "Sekki." His voiced echoed powerfully. All of the pieces of the Sekki began levitating and floating over to Yato. He grasped the handle of the blade as it mended itself and became whole again. He ran his right hand over the blade and pulled a second blade out. It was Yukine. Yukine was back together. The amulet was amplifying the power in the tie and healing Yato and Yukine.
Yato remained floating there and stared at the restrained demon. "Go back to the darkness," Yato's voice thundered. Ifrit's eyes widened in fear. Yato pointed one of the Sekki blades to the scarf and the golden light extended to the ruby-colored cloth in Kuarah's mouth. It gravitated back to Yato who used the Sekki to cut it to shreds. The ground began to quake beneath Hiyori's feet and the demon growled angrily. Yato turned to his father who stood petrified below him. "You promised the demon a soul." The ground underneath his father started falling away and flames encircled him. "Looks like it's going to be yours."
"NOOOO!" His father's cries echoed as he fell into the abyss. The earth sealed back up, shutting Yato's father in the underworld forever. The demon started turning to ash and dissipating into the air. "You'll never be rid of me, Yato god," Ifrit said with his last breath before he disappeared completely. Yato slowly descended to the ground. He turned to Hiyori and reached out his hand. The light surrounding him extended out and enveloped her as well. The light pulled Hiyori's half-phantom form from her physical body. Yato made a fist with his outstretched hand and the half-demon form dissolved slowly into nothing. Then the light surround Yato began to fade and the tie dimmed into nothing. The amulet that was once being held up with the tie dropped to the ground. Hiyori bent over to pick it up and was met with another hand trying to pick it up as well. She looked up and was met with a face she thought she'd never see again. The blue eyes that had captured her heart and soul, the eyes she had just seen lifeless and cold, were now warm and looking back at her with a spark she hadn't seen in a long time.
She couldn't even manage to say anything. She just dropped against him and sobbed. Tears of sadness. Tears of joy. Tears for everything that had happened. Tears that it was now all over. Yato just held her and smiled.
Everyone else sighed loudly with happiness and hugged eachother. Kira reverted to her normal form and tapped Yato on the shoulder. Both Yato and Hiyori looked at her. She had a worried look on her face that she was trying to hide but it showed. Yato knew what she was wondering.
"Revert, Yukine." The blades jumped up and evaporated, leaving Yukine standing there whole and undamaged. He looked as if he couldn't believe he was still standing there. He looked over at Kira who, for the first time, had a big smile on her face and a single tear streaming down her face.
"I'm alive!" Yukine cried gleefully. Kira stepped over and embraced him. He was taken aback at first but then he wrapped his own arms around her as well.
Hiyori looked up at Yato and smiled. Everyone was there. Everyone was ok. She looked around at all of her friends and their smiling faces. The fight was finally over. The war had been won.
She turned to them all. "Thank you everyone. I don't know how I could have done any of this without all of you. I am grateful for you all more than you'll ever know."
"No," Kira interrupted, "thank you, Hiyori. You were the bravest of us all. While we all ran and hid, you ran to the fight." She walked over to Hiyori and placed both of her hands inside her own. "Your unbreakable bond is your strength. It was strong enough to bring them both back to life. None of us here would have had the power to do that." She handed Hiyori over to Yato, "What you two have is stronger than any magic or spell or weapon on this earth. Don't ever let it go." Kira picked up the amulet and handed it to Yato. "It might be a good idea to hang onto this too."
The late morning sun climbed just over the tops of the trees and beamed down on all of them. For now, Hiyori would enjoy the warmth of the sun and not fear for tomorrow.