Beg Thy Lord the Stars Have Not Defied the Laws of Nature

Summary: ''Now we've established I'm Tsukuyomi, can I have my tracksuit back?''

Disclaimer: I don't own Noragami.

Note: My eternal thanks to the Meet Me in the Pit crew! Especially to my darling co-plotter i-w-p-chan for getting me through this, and selrose for bringing Noragami up!

I cannot scream and rage like my brother, I cannot burn those who walk past my gaze, I cannot warm them, for I am cold, and only the stars breathe life into me.

Moonlight falls through the window of the grand suite, trailing over the floor, pooling in front of Yato's bed. Silver light softly caressing his feet where his kimono parts. Glowing blue eyes glint in the dark, irises round as the full moon.

Once upon a time, Yato had a dream. To be a great god, to be revered. To have shinki kiss his feet, asking to be his. To have people flock to his many, many shrines from far and wide. To have duties, requests to do, all day long.

He is Tsukuyomi, and he has all of this.

He has done his duties for months now, day after day, Yukine at his side. Facing the crowds, the people. Granting wishes, everywhere! Rising up, above the masses. A single flick of his finger causes them to run to his side.

Just like this room, it was large, grand and empty.

Their allegiance is worth nothing. They didn't want him when he was Yato- and Yato was always Tsukuyomi, even if the Tsukuyomi of before was not Yato. A name means nothing. A name means everything.

He misses the warmth of Yukine sleeping next to him. He misses the cosiness of close quarters. He missing being only Hiyori's god of fortune, her belief, her worship burning inside of him like a flame, lighting him up.

He hasn't seen Hiyori in two weeks. He longs for the brightness of the sun, the darkness of the night to dance and fight in. This palace, these expectations- they are suffocating him, drowning him in the waves of worship.

Because Yato isn't just used to being forgotten, he's also used to being free. The longing for the great blue sky is so utterly natural- not to have that freedom is killing him.

…Why? Why hasn't he gone to see Hiyori? Why has he let this dream chain him down? Why hasn't he put that arm around Yukine's shoulder? When did he stop living for others?

He had gotten his dream, he had done his job. But just as he always knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, his dream was childish, the reality of it cold and chilling.

He has responsibilities, requests to fulfil, duties to do, but Yato is no saint. He's a sinner with a heart of gold that's large enough for everyone in the whole wide world- as long as they let him go.

So he runs.

Scrambling off the bed, diving into the light of the moon, he shucks off his stuffy kimono. Layer upon layer restricting his movement glides off his skin. He plucks fluffy fluff scarf from between the folds of the kimono- there was no way he was going anywhere without it. He tramples over the luxurious fabric as he runs naked through his room, feet skidding upon the marble tiles, searching for his tracksuit.

There it is, in the other corner of the room shadowed- but it shan't remain in the shadows a second more. Silver spilling off the angles of his body like water as he puts the tracksuit on, he smiles at the moon. His realm is one of light- it is time for him to chase it again.

Cheshire grin spreading, he sneaks through the hallways, flitting from pool of light to pool of light, unable to contain the rush.

The door creaks as he slips into Yukine's room. Jumping onto the bed, he grabs him. Yukine wakes up, red eyes widening, but Yato muffles whatever comes out of his mouth with his hand, throws him over his shoulder and drags him straight out of Takamagahara.

The bridge is for gods- but Yato has enough of ascending, all he wants is to go down like the moon sinking behind the horizon.

He throws them over the edges of the clouds, falling, falling, falling down until they're floating and free. He crows, beaming at Yukine as they fly. Beneath them, Tokyo sprawls out, thousand glowing lights in the darkness.

The way to the house they seek is as familiar to them as the back of their hands. They slip through Hiyori's window and jump onto her bed.

She groans, blinking up at them. ''What are you-''

''Run away with me,'' Yato whispers while she rubs her eyes, still half-asleep, ''Run away with us.''

I'm so far removed from the earth, and while my sister takes up the sky, illuminating the dawn, I share the night with the stars. I can't bear to be alone, you see. A cloud-covered moon is so easily forgotten.

When Hiyori was fifteen, just a few months before she met Yato, she looked at her mother and saw a stranger.

They were watching TV, just the two of them, eating dango.

There's a talent show on and Hiyori is ready to bolt, her cheeks on fire, when a metal pole is set up in the middle of the stage for next act.

But her mother lowers her dango stick, eyes glued to the TV, and Hiyori stays. Dango is her mother's favourite, and it's the only sweet she indulges in. She never puts the stick down before she's done.

The music starts and two women begin to dance- swinging between the two poles, powerful calves and arms working, sweat dripping from their brow. Her mother watches, mesmerized. Her eyes light up when they do a lift, her breath hitches as the music rises, the women seemingly exempted from gravity.

She's so caught up in it she doesn't even notice Hiyori's staring at her.

The commercial break begins, and the light leaves her mother's eyes. Hiyori wants it back. Who is this woman with wonder in her eyes? She's never seen her mother look like that before. She bites her lip, fidgeting with the edge of her skirt.

"Did you... Did you like it?"

Her mother looks up, absentmindedly. "A wonderful performance, wasn't it? Reminded me of my own lessons."

Hiyori's jaw drops. "You? Pole dancing lessons?"

Her mother tweaks her nose. "I was good at it too, you know," she shakes her head, "but that was before your father."

Something twists in Hiyori's chest. This is the woman she hides her love of boxing from, afraid of her disapproval. She would freak if she knew her daughter was doing something so unladylike. Or would she?

Hiyori isn't sure anymore, so she observes.

Her mother, who took the care of her deceased cousin's child upon her, and fell in love with said cousin's widower. Her mother, only 35, who had her at twenty years old. Her mother, half long, luscious brown hair and a skin smooth and young, soft as a peach.

Her father's hairline is receding, the corners of his eyes crinkle and grey strands glisten in his black hair. The difference a decade makes is astounding.

"Do you regret it?"

The question comes out of nowhere, but her mother knows exactly what Hiyori's talking about, judging by her shocked look. "Your father is the kindest, most caring man in the world, and there are no people I love more than you and your brother anywhere in this universe."

Hiyori's hands tremble as she watches the cold TV light illuminate her mother's features. Grotesque shadows are thrown. "That's not an answer."

Her mother folds her hands around Hiyori's. "I chose this. I chose to raise your brother, I chose your father, I chose to have you. I will never regret those choices, but sometimes I think I wanted too much too fast, was too desperate to be someone and married too young. But it's far too late for that now and I love all of you dearly. I wouldn't choose anything else, knowing it all leads to this. But, Hiyori, if you get the chance? Then run."

She remembers these words when Yato slips through her window, Yukine in tow, and she wakes up from the cursing that ensues. Yato ignores it, however, leaning close (too close) to Hiyori's face.

"Run away with me."

She blinks twice before her sleep-addled brain registers his words.

Luminous blue eyes glow in the night- illuminating Yato's pale, pearl skin and the ink locks falling around it. They fade into the darkness. Yukine is two pinpricks of small irises burning red-yellow behind him.

''Run away with us.''

God, how Hiyori has missed them. It's not like Yato has let his duties as Tsukuyomi get in the way of their friendship, but he did have duties now. Or at least, enough requests, prayers and wishes that he always had something to do. He couldn't just go bother her anymore.

She had visited, and while Yato always made time for her, swept the papers off the table as Yukine ran to get her tea, they had felt the disapproval of the ones around them. She'd never felt quite welcome. And now, now he's here again, offering to whisk her away into the night. Her and Yukine, Yato at their side, and this... This is how it's meant to be.

Her mother also told her not marry a gambler, and to avoid irritable teenage boys with short tempers, but Hiyori likes to think her mother thought run the most important advice. And if she didn't- well, her brother had told her to live her own life, and Hiyori had no intentions of doing anything else.

She laughs giddily at her companions because the moon does not belong to the heavens, nor the earth. The moon belongs to the stars- and only with them, he shall dance.

If the sun doesn't rise, the whole world will notice, but the absence of the moon?

She kisses them sometimes. Her boys, she means. It's not really romantic, but not platonic either, but then again, labels never have done Hiyori any good.

It's safe between them, the three of them draping limbs all over each other, pressing their lips together, sleeping in the same bed. And loving, loving each so much Hiyori thinks she'll combust from sheer love and happiness.

It's not sexual- but whoever said love needed to be?

(Yato has responsibilities, and once upon a time, so did she. They left it all behind and ran. If anyone says they can't, Hiyori will ask them to look her in the eye, and tell her she does not defy the laws of nature as she lifts boulders the size of empires above her head and crushes them to dust.

She is done pretending to be smaller than the grand expanse her being is)

…Mortal, beg thy lord the stars have not defied the laws of nature.

She leaves her bed, she leaves her house, and she dances in the moonlight (because Yato IS the moon), and they run away and never stay and get lost in the sway of the wind. (The moon, oh, the moon, he's always so far away, though in the midst of his stars). And if it turns out that two decades have passed when she looks at the date on a paper one morning, and she hasn't aged a day, then... Well, Hiyori has learned Gods have strange ways, and this is hardly a shock compared to some of the other things she's encountered.

She just watches them, the moon and his first star, and she falls in love all over again. With them, with the world, with freedom, who knows? Hiyori dances in the moonlight, kisses stars goodnight and the wind caresses her as if she's the most precious thing it has ever seen. She's the sky, wide and endless, and the sky loves everything.