Chapter 4

So, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had lots to do (summer school, vacation, etc). So, who else had school start recently? Well, welcome back to hell everyone. I hope that me updating at least cheers some of you up. Id Capitulum Fruor!

She stood there staring at a small, fire-like spirit, uncorrupted. She could sense that much. She hadn't actually meant to find it, but she had.

She called Yato.

"Hey, Hiyori. How can I help you?"

"I just stumbled on an uncorrupted spirit."

He appeared in front of her. "What are you talking about?"

She gestured to the one behind her, which was peering out, interested in what was going on.

He blinked. "He's kind of small, isn't he?"

SLAM!

They turned and looked up at a giant, crab-like Ayakashi standing over them.

"Uh, Hiyori… can your claws cut through that?"

"Uh… Probably not."

The thing charged, and it struck the uncorrupted spirit, which shrieked, a purple haze that Yato had called a blight spreading across it before it began to morph.

"HAUL ASS!"

"Smells nice."

"CRAP! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SO CLOSE TO A STORM!"

"EVERYTHING IS IN A STORM!"

"Smells nice."

"On a side note, I just lost my body!"

"Uh…"

He was slowing down.

She sighed. "RUN! I'll catch up with you!" She dug the claws on her toes into the ground and went into a full reverse, straight above it, and dug in with the claws on her fingers, her fur standing in end.

"PAIN!" The creature announced, leaping around in an attempt to get her off.

Then the second one, this one blue, leapt at her.

She leapt off and kicked it so it fell onto the other one, knocking it off balance, and sending them crashing towards the ground.

She also stubbed her toe.

The green one lunged and bit her arm. She hissed and then slashed its leg off with her foot-claws.

"OWW!" It started flailing around in spastic motions while announcing its pain.

"HIYORI!"

She hissed, a purple rash spreading up her arm. The other one charged, and Yato kicked it in the head with his good leg, sending it flying out of the way. They resumed running.

"I said Id catch up with you!"

"Like hell!"

They hid behind a wall.

"What's this…" She raised her hand, panting, the purple rash itching and aching.

"Be careful." He stepped back. "It'll blight me, too."

"What even is a Blight?"

"It's a kind of defilement." He examined it without touching her arm. "One that spreads. And unless you exorcise or cleanse it, it'll remain and eat away at you. We can handle that later."

Suddenly, Hiyori detected the Ayakashi approaching. "Here they come!"

"Huh?" Yato asked.

"The Ayakashi! They're coming!"

SLAM!

"Oh."

They started running away, Hiyori making sure to remain behind Yato. The other Ayakashi charged and she hit it with a Jungle Savate, sending it knocking into a wall Inwardly her fangirl side started shrieking praises to Tono..

"I can fight for myself! Be more careful!"

"I'm already blighted, so I might as well keep fighting! Besides, you're still hurt and you can't do anything without a divine instrument!"

"Get off my case! It's not my fault that Ayakashi showed up!"

Then he turned, and stopped. "A boy. A kid who looks to be in his teens. A difficult age."

"Smells nice." The green one started to climb the building and Hiyori attacked it, slashing off another leg. It roared in pain and recoiled as the blue one sailed back into the fray.

"Yato!"

"He'll do. Sorry to make you fight, but hold them off!"

Hiyori nodded.

"Smells nice!" The blue one charged, and she lunged, slashing it as deeply as she could in the stomach (not very deeply, thanks to the shell) and grabbed its leg, pulling down to knock them off the direct course they were headed towards Yato on.

It still landed close to Yato, and Hiyori, who landed first, kicked it into a power line before charging the next one and slamming into its head to shut its mouth as it tried to bite down on Yato.

She only paid half attention as he began the ceremony of making a spirit into a regalia. The rest of her attention was directed at the two Ayakashi she was fighting.

Her tails lashed around wildly as she crouched, and they converged on her. She leapt above one and grabbed the chin of the other to go under, shoving off him to kick the next one into an uninhabited playground below them.

"Come, Sekki!"

A beam of light landed in Yato's hand; a sword. The light temporarily blinded Hiyori, almost allowing an Ayakashi to land a blow.

It was a right-handed sword, useful since it was his left that was still in the cast. It was wrapped in what looked like bandages, and looked very, very sharp.

The green Ayakashi got past her and charged.

"YATO!" Before she could get there, the blue one intercepted her.

"Get out of my way!" She slashed, carving into its eyes with her claws, and leapt back before its jaws could shut on her. It howled.

Yato wasn't so lucky.

The green one swallowed him whole.

"YATO!" She screamed.

The blue Ayakashi lunged towards the sound, and she couldn't focus on her companion's fate anymore. She slammed her foot-claws into the top of its head and tore downwards. Then the other was cut apart from the inside. "REND!"

The Ayakashi exploded, and Hiyori finally found her weak point.

Hard skinned on the outside, weak on the inside.

She tore its leg half off and peeled it and the skin away from the wound, and then slashed there with her claws, cutting its side wide open. It fell apart like an open book and died that way.

She watched as the one Yato killed exploded, and a pretty symbol appeared in the air before vanishing.

And for some reason, when hers died, she felt refreshed, stronger, even, as she stood above its evaporating remains.

Then Yato fell out of the air, landed on the telephone poles, and plunged towards the ground.

Hiyori quickly raced over to him, unable to break his fall do to her spreading blight.

He stood up as she leapt over to him, wincing as he put weight on his leg incorrectly. "That could have gone better." He grimaced. "I swear my leg's fine, though. How's your arm?"

She looked at it. "It hasn't gotten much worse since I got it."

"Good, I know a place where we can get rid of that."

They visited the god of learning's shrine. Yato cleansed Hiyori's blight (all the way up her arm and starting on her shoulder at that point).

"You should go find your body. I'll be fine now."

Hiyori nodded. "Your Divine instrument is a person, right?"

He nodded. "When he reverts forms."

"Introduce me to him later, okay?"

"Of course!" He waved at her, and Hiyori ran off.

She leapt over rooftops and across telephone poles, fully able to enjoy herself now that the Ayakashi were dead. She was like a superhero; she rushed across the rooftops and fought monsters that nobody else knew existed, and got back relatively in time for dinner. Of course in this case she'd just left after the meal, but that was hardly relevant.

She bounced off a telephone line and listened to the twang it made, as well as the startles cries of the people below her. She landed on one of the poles and looked back, seeing people muttering to themselves, and laughed sheepishly. "Maybe I should take it easy…"

Her tails flicking behind her, she leapt off again, quickly forgetting her decision to keep the noise to a minimum. She ran over awnings and accidentally knocked over someone's potted plant as she leapt onto their balcony with a sweep of her tails, Face twisting, she kept going, and quickly forgot about it. She carved through a small Ayakashi as she ran, and may have accidentally scratched a window with one of her claws in the process. In the next five minutes, she'd settled onto the roof of her own housetop lightly, having almost completely forgotten about the trail of destruction she'd left behind her.

Everyone, welcome Yukine. He hasn't actually done much yet but we'll get to that. Anyways... Silly Hiyori. I wonder when that trail of destruction will come back to bite her. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I didn't make Hiyori seem OP or anything... If you have any tips, I'd like to hear them. Bonum Die Habeo!(No, I didn't say die as we say it in english, so don't worry)