To Be Free! (Noragami Fan-Fic)

The Phantom-possessed baby

     I didn't know how I got into this situation, but here I was. In a human house, with Yato and Yukine, taking care of a very odd-looking baby. Akai was, of course, with me. Only he was trying to stay as far away from the baby as possible by running to the corner of the room.
     "Are you ready...Sir?" Yato said in the most creepy way possible before changing the baby's diapers at extreme speed. 'Result of being a low-status Guardian,' I thought in my head.
  'I would say that it's a miracle that they can even handle that lump,' Akai said in my mind. I jolted as I completely forgot that Akai can hear most of my thoughts and talk to me in my head; a perk of being a familiar.
     "Akai, just stop hiding and face your fear of babies," I commanded.
     "Eh? Akai-san is afraid of babies? Why?" Yukine said.
     I laughed as I recalled the memory. "It was a few years ago when we received a job just like this one. I had to go buy more diapers for the baby and I left it with him. However, when I returned, Akai was pinned to the wall with knives stuck into the wall near his body. Apparently, the baby's parents were professional knife throwers. Ever since then, Akai runs away from any baby he sees."
     "It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't left me alone with a baby!" Akai snapped with comical tears running down his face.
"Yato! Yukine! Crystal-san! Akai-san!" Hiyori said coming in from the balcony door. "Sorry to intrude."
"You're out of your body again?" Yukine said as she entered the house.
"I think the question we should be asking is, 'why hasn't Yato fixed her body?'," I said as I washed the dishes that were forgotten in the sink.
     "So, what's the job this time?" Hiyori asked.
     "A babysitting job. His parents never get a chance to sleep because he's always crying," Yato replied, showing Hiyori the gold coin he earned.
     "He seems perfectly behaved to me."
     "For now, at least. His mother is currently snoring it up it the other room so we just have to make sure not to disturb her. She hasn't slept a wink for this whole past week."
     I smiled at the scene before me. Yato seemed like a proud father with Hiyori as his wife and Yukine is the eldest son. It saddens me to know that us as Guardians won't be able to be free to start our own family. Before I knew it, a tear slipped from my eye and the whole room went dark and the curtain suddenly closed up and a Phantom came crashing in from the wall.
     "Tears... of a goddess... Tears... I will tear you to shreds!" The Phantom said in its unsteady voice.
     I realised I was crying and wiped it off and called Akai into his weapon form and pulled back on the string and released. The arrow soared across the room and pricked the Phantom in the eye. Then Yato ran up to it and slashed it in half with the Sekki while accidentally cutting the nearby television into pieces as well as messing up the table when he landed on it.
     "Hey! This is a small room! Be a bit more careful!" I snapped at Yato.
     "Yukine, at times like this you need to draw a Borderline. A line between what gets killed and what survives," Akai said from within his weapon form. But then I noticed something strange happening to the Phantom.
     "It's... healing?" I wondered out loud. Then I heard the baby saying something in gibberish and saw it reaching for the mirror which had a dark version of itself. "The mirror. This Phantom is just an image, created by the kid himself. He probably wanted somebody to play with so he kept reaching out to his reflection," I said and walked around the counter and let Akai revert back into his human form. "His longing brought vulnerability, which summoned a Phantom."
     Yato nodded and jumped off the table. "Unless we do something, it'll eventually possess his mother and take her humanity," Yato said in a stoic tone. "Still, this thought energy seems unusually strong for a baby." I quickly jumped out of the way as the Phantom image tried to hit me. "The right thing to do is to slay the real one in the mirror. Keep the baby's reflection in the mirror, Hiyori!"
     "R-Right!" She replied.
     After Yato stared at the baby's reflection for a few seconds, the Phantom finally revealed itself. "You who would desecrate this land of the rising sun! With my advent, I, the Yato God...lay waste with the Sekki...and expel thy vast defilement! Rend!"
     As the Phantom dispersed, the lights immediately came back on. However...
     "Yato, you're going to clean up this mess, right?" I said, gesturing to the damage left behind from fighting.
     "What are you talking about? At times like this, we scram," he simply said, causing Akai to trip. I followed Yato's line of sight when I saw him staring at something. A mask...

     "What?! No way!" Kofuku said. "You did clean up, I hope?"
     "Of course, as the Guardian of Guardians, I can't let such an irresponsible Guardian do as he pleases. Especially when it involves the people from the Near Shore," I replied as I ate a red bean bun.
     "She ran me ragged..." Yato added as he lay face-flat on the floor.
     "Must've been rough," Daikoku said as he enters and stepped on Yato on the way in. Yato yelped in pain.
     "Show some respect to the working class!" Yato yelled at Daikoku angrily. "Daikoku, I'll have grilled eel today, with eel liver soup!"
     "Stop screwing around," Daikoku jeered back. "Since when are you a part of this household?!"
     I sighed and ignored them as I filled out the paperwork I brought with me while Akai was studying for the test that we missed for the past few weeks and would have to take in the next few days. I ignored everything that was going on, from the time when Yato was saying that he would get a shrine from his own money and that he bought another useless lucky charm to when Hiyori was leaving and she reminded him about the deal she made with him. Suddenly, a start of energy flowed through my body, causing me to drop my pen and Akai felt it as well as he dropped his book. A sigh of exhaustion left my lips as I began to pack up to return to Takamagahara to retire for the night.

We bid our farewells to Yato and the others before leaving. During the walk to the shrine which would bring us to Takamagahara, it was silent and not a single word was spoken between us as we knew what we were thinking through the bond of Familiar and Guardian.
"Crystal, I'm just guessing this, but... did Bishamon get another regalia?" He said, finally breaking the silence.
I nodded in reply. "If she gets any more than she already has, I have a feeling that we will be in grave danger."