Author's note: Ever since Kiun talked about how a hafuri vessel committed a grave sin to save its master in chapter 57, I really wanted to write a fic examining that, especially since it's been hinted that Kazuma's going down the same path. Obviously this is all speculative, so I'm just going to call this a canon divergent-AU.

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To be blessed is to be buried. -Noragami, chapter 57

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ix.

The tree at the center of the fallen god's shrine stretched toward the east; twisted branches, gnarled trunk, the tree stands like a silent guardian, watching over the slow decay of the ruins of the shrine.

It had always been Bishamonten's favorite. Nora has watched the countless hours where she would stand, bone-weary and drenched with sweat and blood, silently tracing a path down the cobbled bark with the pads of her fingers. So she was not surprised when she found Bishamonten's hafuri there, leaning heavily against its trunk, clothes in tatters and wheezing for breath. His face was upturned. His mouth opened and closed in a paroxysm of breath. Guppy breathing, gulping smaller and smaller amounts of air.

"Kazuma," she said, and the broken vessel turned. Slowly she placed a palm to the damp skin of his forehead and smiled.

Such is the way of broken tools: to die alone, abandoned after they've been used.

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i.

The line Kazuma drew to kill Tsuguha was sharper and swifter than he could have imagined; unlike killing Ayakashi, the line he drew cleaved through living, breathing flesh, and the spray of arterial blood was so powerful that it reached all the way across the room.

Bishamon dropped heavily, coughing and weakly clutching at the bruises on her neck. Kuraha ran forward and hoisted her against his shoulder.

"Kazuma-san! Why are you leaving? What is the meaning of this?" Kuraha hoisted Bishamon upright and started toward Kazuma down the hall.

Kazuma didn't look at them. "I told you already. Tsuguha turned into an Ayakashi. I did what had to be done," Kazuma said.

"The lady is crying, Kazuma-san! We could have held an ablution - we could have saved her!"

"Do you dare question your exemplar?" Kazuma said. On the floor, Bishamon let out a quiet sob.

"Let me remind you, Kuraha, protecting our master is our foremost priority," Kazuma said, and he turned. "It is regrettable what happened to Tsuguha. But none of this would have happened if our master did not get stung."

"She didn't sting me," Bishamon said. Kazuma and Kuruha turned.

"Tsuguha didn't sting me," Bishamon said, quietly. Her eyes were dull, unfocused. Pieces of tangled hair fell limply over her face. "She was a good girl. She didn't do anything wrong."

Bishamon began to weep. Dully, she slid her hand along the puddles of blood streaking on the floorboards, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists. She gripped the remnants of Tsuguha's pajamas, sobbing helplessly.

It was Kuraha who knelt down to comfort her. Kazuma watched, his mouth pressing into a tighter and tighter line, as Kuraha held her. Quietly Kazuma turned, and a white glare obscured the lens of his glasses. And before Kuraha or Bishamon could see him, he left, leaving swiftly and closing the door.

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ii.

The other shinki gave him a wide berth.

"Veena," Kazuma said, and Bishamon turned to look at him. She was sitting in a chair beside her bed. She had spent the night crying. The curtains were drawn and her eyes were puffy and red. "How is your health?" Kazuma said.

"I'm fine," Bishamon said. She twisted a tissue in her lap, not looking at him.

"The others are grieving," Kazuma said, quietly. He hesitated. "Has it affected you?"

"There's an ache in my chest, but I don't know if it's from me or from my other shinki," Bishamon said. She looked down, a lock of hair falling over her eyes. "You are worried if the others are suspicious of you," Bishamon said. Kazuma offered her a small smile.

"I am not worried. I have accepted that as fact," Kazuma said. Bishamon made a soft noise, then shook her head, dully. "I worry about you, though."

"Worried about my health or worried that I haven't forgiven you?"

"Both," Kazuma said, honestly. Bishamon lifted her eyes and held out her arm toward him.

She hugged him. It was perhaps only one of the handful of times she has willingly touched him like this. The first was after the death of the Ma clan; the second after Kugaha's plot and her clash with Yato. She only ever touched him like this after he's hurt her, and the realization knifed at him, unexpectedly.

They didn't have a body to bury, so Aiha went into Tsuguha's room and picked out the things that Tsuguha treasured most: a newsboy cap and a pair of spare glasses, a book of pressed flowers and her favorite pen. Kazuma watched as Aiha picked up those things reverently, gently laying them out on a sheet of white cloth before wrapping them up with a ball of twine. She and the other shinki went outside, mournfully entering the human realm and burying Tsuguha's things beneath the carving on Suzuha's cherry tree.

Kazuma stayed behind. He knew his presence wasn't welcome.

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iii.

No one noticed him. Not the students when he entered the school grounds, and not the teachers who walked passed him down the halls. Kazuma searched, focusing his abilities for any hint of a god's aura.

What he found, instead, was Yato hiding in a trashcan.

"It's a scourge," Yato said, when Kazuma approached him. "It corrupts shinki and turns them into Ayakashi. There's nothing you can do to stop it, and if another shinki gets to close, they'll get infected."

"If that's the case, why wouldn't Veena just tell me?" Kazuma said. Yato shook his head.

"Who knows? That stupid woman is used to bottling shit up. She probably didn't want to worry you."

"It is unbelievable, to think your father has such power. But if it is only a shinki's ability, surely it can be overcome?"

"Oi! I told you not to mess with him! If you get hit, you'll get corrupted. Your precious Bishamon will get stung!"

"But Veena said Tsuguha didn't sting her." Kazuma looked at Yato, helplessly. "I'm just endeavoring to understand," Kazuma said. "Veena quarantined Tsuguha because she believed her to be infectious. If that's all there is, why couldn't she tell me? I am a Hafuri vessel. If Veena were to use me, surely I could overcome Mizuchi's curse-"

"You can't," Yato said, and he turned.

"Mizuchi was the Nora I used."

A gust of wind blew, and Kazuma remembered Yato's sword of water, the brilliant flash of white that annihilated his clan. Kazuma's hand tightened into a fist.

"You and Veena both believe I wouldn't win against her, is that it?" Kazuma said. Yato turned. "I bowed my head once, but that was only out of desperation. I would do anything to protect Veena. I would give up my name - my life."

"Your life wouldn't be all you'd be giving up," Yato said. "Don't you realize if you die, Bishamon would be affected, too?

Just get it through your thick skull, Kazuma!" Yato said. "My dad has a ton of shit up his sleeve, if you go up against him you'll lose!"

"I don't think so, Yato," Kazuma said, and he turned.

"I exist only for Veena's sake. There's no way that I could lose."

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iv.

Yukine raged. He threw lines without aim, screaming wildly.

"How could you betray us? How could you threaten Yato?"

A flash, and Kazuma was behind him. His fingers pressed on the pulse of Yukine's neck.

I could kill you if I wanted to.

But Kazuma let him go.

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v.

His master was under fire.

Kuraha leaped forward, Kazuma balancing atop his back and holding his fingers into a halberd. Above him, a shaft of light beamed through parting clouds, and he could see Kiun's lightning forming beside his master.

"Kazuma!" Bishamon's face was stricken. "Kazuma, don't-"

A slash. The boundary line made a single clean slice, striking through Kiun's heart and slashing his master.

"Kazuma-san! The heavens are arming! What do you intend to do?"

"I intend to go forward, Kuraha! I need you to take me closer!"

He could see it. His ability allowed him to grasp everything around him: the ley lines of the world, the best places to slash and cut.

And then above him, the heavens came under slaughter.

(Bishamon was barely aware of it. There was the sound of screaming, startled cries and furious running, and as Bishamon's eyes adjusted to the brightness above her, she saw her hafuri throwing borderlines like whip-thin blades.)

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vi.

She couldn't call his name. There was nothing she could do to stop him.

Once, he stood in an open field, face upturned and looking at the light. Around him, there were bodies, broken and blighted and littering the ground.

What did he feel, then? Bishamon looked up and saw the same face; that same hardness, the same determination. The sky opened up with rain as he drew a line that slashed through Takemikazuchi's chest, and as the thunder rolled it was as if the rain slid down his cheeks like tears.

And Bishamon looked on, her eyes wide, her pale face spattered with horror and blood.

It was no big deal, killing a god.

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vii.

Veena was crying. It took a moment for Kazuma to understand. It was her tears that dripped onto his face, that slid down the blue-veined lines cracking his skin, because for the third time in Kazuma's long life, chouki was evolving.

No matter how corrupt the vessel, if he believes what he's doing is right, he will not blight his master. Slowly, Kazuma reached out a shaking hand, and gently touched the side of Bishamon's face.

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viii.

He was dragged into a rain-soaked field in Takamagahara, forced on his knees by Heaven's decree.

His head was bowed. Roughly, his arms were yanked backward, lashing his wrists around the trunk of an old tree. His body was broken and bleeding in the pale glow of new daylight, and as the they began to seal him, the enchantment licked at the base of the tree like flames.

The heavens descended. Towering like shadows, they began the final chant, degrading and shattering his name.

Kazuma screamed as the sealing flames tore inside him. Bishamon wept. And Nora's mouth twitched into a smile.

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end.