.

.

The sun was beginning to rise. At the edge of the courtyard, Kazuma stood looking out into the horizon. Quietly Bishamon walked behind him, stepping next to him.

"Kazuma," Bishamon said. Kazuma turned. He smiled at her and took her hand.

"I assume Yato will release me soon, so that you can properly name me," Kazuma said. Bishamon looked up at him, searchingly.

"Do you remember?" she asked. He tilted his head at her quizzically.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Her grip around his hand tightened.

"I," he hesitated. "I know that Yukine succumbed to the sorcerer's spell, and that I was the only one who could cut his ties."

"Do you remember anything besides that?" Her gaze never left his. He shifted uncomfortably.

"I...I suppose I remember the day of my ablution," Kazuma said. "I'm sorry, Veena," he said, and he smiled ruefully. "But the days after that are kind of a blur. I do remember that there was some reason you couldn't name me," Kazuma said. Bishamon watched his face, blankly. "I assume it has to do with the prohibition from heaven, but I'm sure you've realized already that they never said anything about not giving back my name.

Veena?" Kazuma said, when he saw her face. He looked at her, alarmed. "Veena, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She lowered her head, a tear slipping down the side of her face. Wordlessly she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, pressing her face into his shoulder. "I'm just glad to have my Kazuma back."

Hesitantly he lifted his hand, then gently rested it on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Veena," Kazuma said, softly. "If it's about a God's Greatest Secret, I no longer remember. I have no interest in knowing how I died. The name you've given me is all that matters."

"I'm glad," Bishamon said, softly. She buried her face against his shoulder. "I'm glad to have you back, my Kazuma."

Yato and Yukine watched as Bishamon cried into Kazuma's shoulder. "What is she going to do?" Yukine said. Yato shook his head.

"She can't do anything," Yato said. "If she tells him, she risks exposing a God's Greatest Secret. She can't even tell him she loves him without possibly shattering his name."

"So she's just going to keep it a secret? Just like that?" Yukine said. He looked up at Yato, who clapped Yukine on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Yukine," Yato said. "Kazuma's my bro. He just needs Yato the Love Doctor to help him. He won't risk his name if he's the one to confess his feelings, first."

"I guess," Yukine said. He squinted his eyes and waited for the clouds to pass over.

xXx

.

In Kofuku's attic, it was as if nothing had changed.

Yato released Bishamon's shinki, and his brief stint as the Super Awesome God of Fortune ended. "It doesn't matter. I still got you, Yukine," Yato said, and Yukine rolled his eyes and muttered that he was being freaking annoying again, but if he were honest with himself, Yukine didn't mind.

Yukine remembered everything. He remembered his past; he remembered his real name and how he died.

And while the old Yukine would rail and cry angrily at the fucking shit stain that was his father, the new Yukine no longer cared. Somehow, the pain of his past life seemed infinitely minuscule compared to the mournful cries of other spirits around him. When Kazuma cut his ties, somehow Yukine's spirit transcended the boundaries between space and time, and Yukine could remember everything. Not just his life, but past reincarnations. Not just his reincarnations, but everybody's.

And he saw Kazuma's life, which fit neatly on the edge of his blade, the consequence of two hafuris suffering. The blade cut through that string and Kazuma somehow knew not to cut Yukine's memories. Only his attachment to them, the worldly angst and desire that weighed on him.

"Didja know, Yukine, that Kazuma cut your ties?"

"Yeah," Yukine said. He frowned up at Yato. "You cut ties all the time. What's so different about what he did with me?"

"He didn't just cut your ties, Yukine, he made sure you kept your memories." Yato leaned back with his hands behind his head, thoughtfully. "It's pretty impressive for a first-time blade."

The old Yukine would have felt jealous, or maybe a touch intimidated by Kazuma's feat. But now Yukine just smiled knowingly.

The first time Yato called his name since his Liberation, Yukine zapped into his hands and realized his weapon form had changed. "Y-Yato," Yukine said. "What happened to my bandages?"

"You're not two blades anymore, Yukine," Yato said, and he stared at the hilt of his swords, quietly. "You've been reforged into two swords."

Reforged. Yukine rolled the word in his mind like a marble. Once he was a naked blade, which needed further honing, its length heavy and unwieldly and difficult to use. Even when he became a hafuri, not everyone could handle the sharp edges that were tempered only by thin bandages wrapping around the ends like a makeshift hilt. He evolved again, and now he was not just two blades, but two swords, one whose handle fit perfectly in the palms of Yato's (stupidly sweaty) hands.

Apparently there were few hafuri like him. Kazuma told him about the three hafuri who subjugated him, shinki who had evolved past what was considered the highest form. "I never knew how humiliating it was, being forced to speak, until I had it happen to me," Kazuma said. He sat on the porch, staring at his hands, the mark of Bishamon's name showing prominently. "Yukine. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for everything that I put you through."

Yukine shook his head. Before, he raged against Kazuma as yet another person he cared about who betrayed him, but after seeing his memories he understood. Kazuma had been trying the best he could. "It's okay, Kazuma-san," Yukine said, and he smiled. "You already apologized to me before."

"I have?" Kazuma looked at him, startled. Yukine smiled.

"Yeah. Like, five times before, when you were just a ghost."

"Oh." Kazuma smiled and rubbed his neck, self-consciously. "I'm almost afraid to ask. I'm told I did a lot of things when I was a ghost."

Yukine watched him, quietly. When Bishamon renamed him, he didn't turn back into her earring: instead, he slipped into her ear as a single nail. "I suppose this means I'm no longer your hafuri," Kazuma said, but Bishamon hugged him and told him she didn't care.

xXx

.

They were leaving for India in a few weeks. Now that Bishamon didn't have a ghost sucking down her life force, she was once again able to carry her coterie of shinki. "Thank you for releasing us, Yato-sama," Kinuha said, bowing.

"Don't sweat it," Yato said. "I'm not cut out for fancy teams. I work best with just me and Sekki." In front of him, Kuraha's lion form yawned and stretched.

"I will admit, I shall miss being the Yatogami's dragon," Kuraha said. His tail swished, lazily.

"Yo, Edo-san!" Iki Masaomi said. By this time, Hiyori had briefed him fully on the issues with a God's Greatest Secret and the importance of not telling a shinki his real name. "How are you and Bishamon?"

"We're well," Kazuma said, smiling. Hiyori had also briefed Kazuma on their short but frustrating relationship while he was stuck haunting Veena's shrine. "What brings you here, Iki-san?"

"Oh nothing much," Masaomi said. "I was just feelin' kinda bored. Hiyori was tellin' me about everything you guys went through. Like, damn. That's a lot, you know?"

"So I'm told," Kazuma said. Masaomi nodded emphatically.

"Yeah. I mean, I can't even imagine! Like, how much would it suck, finally getting to bang the chick you've been crushing on for centuries, only to freaking forget about it. You know?"

Kazuma started. "Wait, what?"

xXx

.

On the plane to India, Nana looked out of the window and watched the clouds.

Humans were the ones to cultivate things. Her new master had taught her that. Beside her, Aiha was working on another cross stitch while Karuha was kicking Kazuha's seat in front of her. "Karuha, knock it off," Kazuha said. Yugiha fiddled with a bag of peanuts while Kinuha leaned against the window.

In the aisle across from her, Bishamon and Kazuma were both asleep. Kazuma's head was resting on Bishamon's shoulder, and Bishamon's head was tipped against the window. Akiha was supposed to sit next to them, but early in the flight he found an empty row and relocated. When Nana shot him a questioning look, he just smiled and winked, tipping his hat and waving.

A few short months ago, she had been locked away for eternity in a metal box. She never thought she'd get another chance like this. Outside the window, the clouds parted, and Nana could see the vast expanse of ocean beneath her. Blue waters, the shadows of clouds and sunlight dappling the surface, and she thought to herself how amazing this is, the work of humans.

Nothing was permanent. If Nana could escape from that box, then Bishamon could be reinstated into heaven. It might take some time, but she was certain of it.

It was just like Ebisu said - everything could be negotiated.

.

.

end.