Note: A lot of great stuff came out of the box, even if the logistics of it still don't make too much sense, but it's one of those things that has so much opportunity to expand on. So why not? lol

Prologue

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Because I screamed my pain and fear at the dark, but I whispered my love for you to the night.

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The darkness closed around Yukine like the jaws of an otherworldly beast, its fetid, bone-chilling breath clogging his throat and smothering him. But still he screamed, even while his panicked panting forced all the air back out of his lungs before he could take a breath.

"Help me! Yato, help! Let me out!"

The box seemed to squeeze tighter, and he scrabbled at the walls in vain. He had to escape, escape now. Yato would save him, Yukine knew it, but for now it was just him and the box, his whole world condensed into a tiny, airless pocket pressing in around him.

"Please, help! Yato? Yato!"

He couldn't die in this box again. (Again?)

Jagged hope sliced through the fingers clutching at it so tightly, slipping through them like blood. Slicing, slicing until Yukine's fingertips bled and his nails were torn off from holding on too tightly.

And then, suddenly, light.

The box cracked open and fell away, leaving his wide eyes staring vacantly into light instead of darkness.

"It's alright, you're going to be alright, Yukine."

Arms closed around him. He was tugged into a lap and cradled and words were whispered into his hair.

It had been so black and lonely, with nothing in all the world but him and the box and the dark. His eyes were glassy with incomprehension. Before, there had been nothing at all to see. Now there was everything, but it took a long moment to register.

"Yukine? Yato? Thank goodness you're alright!"

Yukine shook himself slowly out of his daze and blinked sluggishly at Hiyori as she bent over him. "Hi-Hiyori…?"

She smiled, but her eyes were wet. "It's okay, Yukine. Amaterasu pardoned you all. We can all go home."

"Are you alright, Yukine?" Yato asked, his voice strangely husky.

Yukine tilted his head back against the arm supporting it. Yato's face was pinched and pale, his eyes shimmered with pain, and he was badly wounded from the fighting, but he was alive.

"Fine," Yukine rasped. His voice scraped along his throat with the ache of so many screams, even though it was no more than a breath. "I'm fine," he repeated, trying to convince himself. "I knew you were going to save me."

A look of utter devastation crossed Yato's face before being carefully concealed beneath the safety of unassuming concern. Yukine was still too shaken up to even try deciphering that.

"Do you think you can get up?" Yato asked. "I know it's kind of rushing you, but…no one really wants us here. Are you ready to go home?"

There were still gods all around, Yukine realized vaguely. Most of them still considered him and Yato traitors. He didn't understand what had transpired while he was trapped in the tiny stone coffin, but he instinctively knew it was better to get away from potential threats as quickly as possible.

He nodded and tried to stand, but that was when he realized his entire body was shaking. He could still catch glimpses of the hungry darkness slavering at his heels, lurking in his peripheral vision and only disappearing like smoke when he whipped his head around to stare directly at it.

His breath shuddered and he curled back into Yato's lap. Yato smoothed down his hair and pulled him into a hug.

"It's going to be okay," the god mumbled into his ear. "I've got you. You're okay."

Yukine swallowed, nodded, tried again. Yato staggered to his feet behind him, one arm still wrapped around Yukine's back. For once, Yukine didn't shake off the touch. It helped. He had known Yato would come for him. He felt safer with his master there.

It still felt surreal, this riot of light and sound and color when before there had only been black. Everything blended and melded together strangely as Yato steered him away from the heavenly gathering.

The trip back home was hazy and passed in a blur. Kofuku was crying and apologizing for something. Lots of people seemed to be coming back with them, and were trying to explain what had happened while he'd been trapped. Something about a covenant and waging lives and winning a pardon. He didn't quite understand, but he figured he could get the full story later. For now, it was enough to have Hiyori sticking close by his side and Yato guiding him with a warm touch. They helped keep the darkness at bay.

"Stay down here and join the party," Daikoku was telling Yato. "I think we could all use a drink."

Yato's arm tightened around Yukine. "Maybe another time," he said as he slipped into Kofuku's shrine and guided Yukine toward the stairs.

"It's a good time to celebrate being alive," Tenjin said dryly.

"Look, let me–"

"It's okay," Yukine mumbled. "You can stay down here for a while. I'll just be upstairs."

Yato eyed him doubtfully. Yukine looked at the floor. He didn't want to be alone, but he didn't want to always hold his master back either.

"I'll stay with him," Hiyori said.

"If you insist…" Yato sighed. "I'll be up in a little while, okay? If you need anything…"

"Okay," Yukine muttered.

He let Hiyori usher him up the stairs with Yato's palpable reluctance at their backs. She fussed over him and tried to distract him with tales of her adventures finding Bishamon while he dragged himself to his futon and collapsed.

"That's good," he mumbled to the ceiling. "I was worried I killed her."

There was a pause before Hiyori asked, "What happened with that?"

"She hit Yato's dad and I panicked." Yukine's fingers tightened in the blanket. "I didn't… I didn't want him to die. But I also…promised him that I wouldn't let him kill anyone again."

There were shadows in the corners of the room even though they'd left the light on. He could swear they were moving, darting to and fro when he wasn't looking directly at them. Creeping closer, hungering to wrap him in their suffocating embrace again.

"It's a heavy burden, isn't it?" Hiyori asked softly. "Being his guidepost? It's a big responsibility."

"I guess…"

Yukine didn't usually think about it like that, but it was true. Mostly he felt good being needed and trusted and relied on. It gave him a purpose and made him feel special, and he basked in Yato's pride and trust. But he also worried sometimes, about messing up and leading Yato astray. When Yato put so much faith in him, it was dangerous to make a mistake. But it hadn't really become an issue until he had lashed out at Bishamon because he was so afraid of losing his god.

"Yato really trusts you a lot," Hiyori said. "Maybe…maybe we should trust him too, don't you think? I mean, he doesn't really want to kill either. Even before he met us, he was only really doing it when his father forced him to. And he listens to you, but he doesn't always follow your lead blindly. You didn't want him to go against the heavens at all, but he did anyway.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is…you can't assume all the responsibility for his actions. And at the same time, he could use your guidance but he isn't entirely hopeless on his own. He still works really hard to help us all out and protect us whether or not you tell him to. He wants to be a good god on his own, whether you tell him to or not. But the reason he finally stood up to his father is because we're supporting him so that he has someone to rely on, right?

"Don't worry so much, Yukine. You have a really important job, but the best thing you and Yato do for each other is just to support and protect each other. Right?"

The shadows were creeping closer again. It was starting to feel like the walls were closing in around him, collapsing down to a tiny, suffocating box.

"You're probably right," he mumbled, although he was having a hard time focusing. "You usually are. Could you…? Could you maybe open the window?"

"Of course."

Wood scraped softly as the window slid open, and a chilly breeze swept into the room. Yukine shivered beneath the covers and turned onto his side so that he could see outside. It was dark outside the window, which he didn't like, but there was a whole world out there. Even if the room was a box, it had an escape hatch. It calmed him a little to stare out at the night and remember that there was a wide-open sky he could run under.

Hiyori padded back over and knelt beside the futon. "How are you feeling, Yukine? Really?"

"Okay," he mumbled.

She eyed him silently before sighing. "I'll stay until Yato comes back," she murmured even though it was late and she should really be headed home.

She smiled a little sadly and hesitantly brushed some of Yukine's hair away from his forehead. Yukine wanted to thank her, tell her that he was glad she was safe and he appreciated everything she did for him, but his brain was still too scrambled to find the proper words so he just nodded.

It took him a long time to calm his nerves and fall asleep, but Hiyori stayed by his side the whole time and he loved her for it.

It was dark beneath his eyelids, and his dreams were black as pitch. They circled around and around and around, ever closer, tightening about him like a shroud. His limbs cracked and scrunched into a tiny, airless space, and his chest exploded with panic as the lid of the box came crashing down.

His eyes flew open and he shot upright with a gasp. He was secure within the circle of light the lamp cast, but the darkness pressed in all around. And he couldn't breathe, couldn't–

"Yukine. It's alright. Look at me."

Yato cupped Yukine's face in his hands and turned it gently to the side until the shinki found himself staring directly into the god's eyes. They shone bright like stars, lit from within with blue fire and glittering like crystal ice. They seemed to glow with that otherworldly light again, the one that was both ancient and ageless and only ever sparked in the eyes of gods. Yukine found himself entranced, his stuttering breaths calming slowly as the dark was chased away.

"You're okay," Yato was murmuring like a mantra, like he was soothing a spooked animal. "I've got you. Just look at me. Shhh, Yukine. It's okay."

The quiet of night muffled the room, broken only by Yato's crooning and Yukine's ragged breathing and thundering heartbeat. Finally, Yukine let out a shuddering breath and the fear faded enough that he could regain awareness of his surroundings. He was in bed in their room in Kofuku's shrine, not in the box. Yato was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside him, eyes never leaving his face as he leaned in and murmured sweet-nothings into the night.

"I-I'm okay," Yukine rasped finally. "Sorry I woke you."

"You didn't." Yato hesitated and then retracted his hands. Yukine noticed for the first time how pinched and careworn his face was. "I'm going to be right back, okay?"

"What?" Panic seized Yukine, flaring up and embracing him like an old friend. "Where are you going? Don't leave!"

Yato met his gaze levelly, the steady calm half-soothing Yukine's fear despite himself. "It'll just take a minute while I grab something, and then I'll come right back."

"But–!"

"You're a brave kid," Yato said with confidence. "I know you can do it."

Yukine opened his mouth to protest, hesitated, closed it again. He hunched his shoulders and pulled the blanket up to his chin and gave a small nod even though he didn't like it. Yato ruffled his hair before unfolding his legs and pulling himself to his feet with a wince. On his way out the door, he flipped the light on.

Yukine squinted against the harsh light and rocked back and forth as he waited. It wasn't quite as frightening when the light held back the shadows, but the darkness was fresh in his mind and he didn't want to be alone. His gaze darted about wildly, and the thumping in his chest was starting to make him feel ill.

He wanted Yato. But he couldn't always be some scared child who needed his hand held. He couldn't always hold everyone back because of his silly fears. Yato would come back, just like he'd said. He always came when Yukine needed him.

Sure enough, Yato appeared in the doorway mere moments later and shut the door quietly behind him before padding back over to sit cross-legged by the futon. He set the bandages and rag on the floor beside him.

"What are you doing?" Yukine asked in a whisper.

"I noticed earlier…but I didn't want to wake you up. Give me your hand."

Yukine held out his right hand, puzzled, and noticed the dried blood caked at the tips of his fingers and lodged beneath his ragged nails. He noticed for the first time that his fingers were raw and stinging from scratching at the box, the pain that had otherwise been dulled beneath the fear. Yato took the proffered hand in his own, dabbing gently at the blood with the damp cloth and carefully wrapping each fingertip with a bit of gauze.

He worked in silence for a few minutes before asking, "Nightmares?"

Yukine swallowed. "Yeah…"

Another pause. Yato released Yukine's hand and gently took the other to tend its scrapes, not once looking up.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"…Not really. There's not really much to talk about."

This pause was even longer, and Yato's brow creased. "There isn't going to be another box," he said, his voice quiet but firm with certainty.

The tip of Yukine's finger throbbed despite how gently Yato cleaned away the smears of dried blood, and his eyes stung too. "I believe you," he mumbled.

Yato sighed and let go of Yukine's hand, pushing the medical supplies aside before settling back to prop his elbows on his knees and his cheeks on his fists as he studied his shinki with those bright, unreadable eyes.

"You should get some sleep," he said. "You'll feel better once you get some rest."

Yukine studied his bandaged fingers, reluctance slowing every motion like molasses. "I don't know…"

"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. You're safe tonight."

Yukine bit his lip but flopped back over and curled into a ball with his eyes fixed on Yato. "Okay," he whispered.

He didn't want to close his eyes and welcome back the darkness, but the lights were still bright above him and he knew he'd be okay as long as Yato was here. He let his eyes dip halfway shut so that it wasn't as obvious that he was watching Yato the whole time, clutching at him like a security blanket. And if he could feel Yato watching him the whole time too, it made him feel more safe than uncomfortable to have a god standing guard over him.