Chapter Seventeen, Rescue.

He crept silently through the dense forest, carefully maneuvering himself through the thick under bushes. Distantly, if he squinted hard enough, he could see the small cabin that had been his 'home' for the last six months. His body was tense, and got more so the closer he got to the hut. There was a terrible feeling deep in his gut that he couldn't shake off no matter how much he was reassured.

What if her body's not here? What if I get her body but it's too late to save her? What if-

"Stop worrying about it."

Yato clutched the naked blade in his hand tighter. "I can't."

"You have to believe it will be fine," Yukine said.

Yato stopped walking, and took a deep breath. "We will get her body, and safely return Hiyori to her body." He said, eyes closed as he reassured himself. After a few moments of silence, he opened his eyes.

"Let's go."

Yukine hummed a noise of approval, and readied himself for anything as they approached the hut.

The front of the hut had a deck around waist height. It was faded, and it's brown paint was flaking and peeling off. Each of the old stairs groaned with Yato's weight as he climbed them. They let out loud creeks with every step.

Creek.

Creeek.

Creeeek.

Yato stopped for a moment after reaching the top of the stairs and grabbed the doorknob. He turned it and gently pushed the door open. It, too, let out a creek matching the ones from the stairs.

Creeeeeeeek.

In the daylight, the inside of the hut was quite large and spacious, but then, the darkness caused the entrance to seem like a giant black void that had to end. Yato knew better of course. Over the months he spent there, be became familiarized with the layout of the hut, so sneaking about the hut wouldn't be difficult. Cautiously, he took one step forward into the room, prepared for any attacks from the darkness. He stayed still for a moment, and when nothing attacked he kept going.

He walked slowly with one hand stretched out in front of him, feeling around for the wall. It took a few minutes, considering how slowly he was stepping, but eventually he felt his hand bump into the wall. From there, he ran his hand along the wall until he found the handle of a door. He grasped it tightly, and slid the door open.

The next room was darker than the one before. The first one had a few windows, which allowed for moonlight to seep in, but the second room had none. Yato squinted into the darkness, but saw nothing.

"I don't think anyone's here." He whispered to his shinki.

"I'm sure if there was, we'd have been attacked by now," Yukine agreed, "try turning on the light. I think we'd have seen any phantoms lurking around by now."

Yato nodded, and slowly feelt around the wall for the switch. When he found it, he flicked it on. The sudden light ruined his sight temporarily. He blinked a few times and focused in on the room. It looks exactly the same as it did before he escaped; barren except for a small futon in the corner and a dresser a few feet away. The only difference was a few new splatters of blood littering the ceiling.

Yukine took one look and gagged. Yato cringed at the sound, and blocked it out.

There was a door to his left. During his stay, the room had been kept locked with some kind of spell. He'd been unable to open it no matter how much effort he gave. But now, the door was slightly ajar. Curious.

Yato couldn't help but look.

Instead of a room like he'd expected, the door revealed a staircase that led deep into the ground. He could see a dim light flickering by the bottom, like the light of a fire.

Yato crept down the stairs slowly. Every other step he made caused a creek! sound, like the stairs from outside. When he grew near the bottom, he stopped. The smell of smoke was clear now, and there were small clouds of it rising up the staircase. Yato blocked his mouth and nose with his hand, and continued inside.

The room was almost completely empty. It was small, and with little furniture scattered about the room. There was a small wooden table with various things placed upon it in the right corner. On the left wall, there was a fireplace with a small fire cackling in the night.

"That must be where the smoke is coming from." Yukine mumbled.

The light from the fire caused an eerie, almost haunting, glow to light up the area. Most of the small room was lit up, spare a few corners where the light refused to shine. In one of the far corners, Yato could see a small bed frame poking out from the shadows.

"Is it just me, or is there something in that bed?" Yato asked.

Any response Yukine could've had was drowned out by a voice behind them.

"Right you are!"

Yato whipped around in record time to face his father, sword at the ready. His lip curled in disgust at the mere sight of his father. "Where's Hiyori?!" He demanded.

Fujisaki shrugged his shoulders dramatically. "I dunno," he said, "maybe she's in the room." He brought his hand to his mouth and looked as guilty as he possibly could. The whole look screamed "oops". "Guess I shouldn't have told you that. Whoops."

Yato warily stepped backwards to the bed, cautiously keeping an eye on Fujisaki. He silently prayed that the body was indeed Hiyori, and not just some trap to lure him close to a phantom. He prepared for it to be Nora, but then his eyes found that familiar brown hair and purple school outfit.

"Hiyori!" He called out, almost dropping Yukine to the ground in his haste to get over to her body. She appeared fine, but he only observed long enough to see that it was in one piece.

"Revert, Yukine," Yato said as he slid his hands under her body. He lifted up her body with ease, and cradled her close to his chest.

"I'd be careful. Who knows what kind of spell was out on her while she stayed here?" Fujisaki said in a sing-song tone.

Yato glared at his father. "Come over here, Yukine." He said, motioning with his head for the young boy to grab on to him.

Fujisaki began laughing maniacally. "You won't get away so easily!" He snapped his fingers, and not even two seconds later, a swarm of phantoms began flying into the room.

"Yukine!" Yato screamed. The young shinki broke into a run, and the second Yato felt his hand on his arm, he teleported them all away to someplace safe.

***

Chapter seventeen as promised!!! Y'all are probably like, "omg she actually posted on time???? Whaaaa??????" I'm doing that too. It's not often I stick to schedule, whoops. 😬

What were your thoughts on the chapter? Did you like it? Do you think they got off easy? Do you have any predictions? Tell meee!!!

As you've probably noticed, I'm starting to try and describe things a little more to give you guys a visual of what I'm imaging. Before it was just a quick sentence but now I'm actually trying. Hehehehehe.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Make sure to vote and comment, as they help me write knowing I have an audience. I'll see you guys in two weeks! (Hopefully)

Ps Look carefully at the wording of this chapter...