Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

-NOTES

EDIT. 11/24/12: Sorry, sorry. I changed this story a bit right after uploading it. I felt that it was plotless, so I decided to give a little more meaning to it. I tried my best with my wording of Natsume's feelings - I hope you can understand them. I love Natsume's Book of Friends to death, it's my favorite anime, so I want to do it justice. Please understand.

Midsummer Day's Dream

This is a dream. It is only a dream.

At times Natsume Takashi pondered just how much his life changed when he discovered the Book of Friends.

I'm dreaming, he reminded himself as he climbed a grassy hill, following the voice of both a familiar and unfamiliar person of the past. Because there's no way this could be reality.

He watched dumbly as Natsume Reiko grinned at him on that one summer day and threw a bat to him, which he fumbled to catch in his pale arms. He took a moment to admire the intricate seals wrapped around the wood in order for the material to be able to come in contact of spirits. In other words, to beat them up.

"Takashi!" Reiko called, because Natsume had refused to give her his family name when he had first met her. Even if he had, someone like Reiko would have probably still used his given name just to spite him. "Did you see that? Did you?"

Her laugh was jeering, yet at the same time held the undertone of a lonely soul. Natsume couldn't help but look at the girl with pity. Even amongst the grassy fields, her skirt flying in the breeze and a smile upon her face, Reiko couldn't hide her sadness. Not to him, at least, who had experienced the same feelings during his childhood.

He sighed and tapped the bat on the ground once before carefully laying it down. "Reiko-san, what did you do this time?"

"Don't be a killjoy!" she pouted, poking him on the nose when he got close enough for her to reach. Her grin grew when Natsume instinctively flinched away from her touch.

Natsume scowled at her immaturity before finally examining the field. On it was a small shrine guarded with sacred rope boundaries, preventing the spirit within to escape. But the rope had been severed.

Natsume frowned at the situation. It was...familiar...

"Natsume Reiko, it seems as if you've defeated me. Very well, I shall give you my name," a regal voice addressed his companion.

That voice was very familiar, as well.

Natsume's eyes widened and he bit his lip to prevent himself from saying anything he'd regret later.

Sprawled out before him, his head bowed in surrender and his mouth skillfully painting his name into the Book of Friends in spirit script, was a white-furred spirited. His golden eyes glinted with mischief but wisdom, and the red marking on his head told stories of his origin.

Of all the things I dream of, why this? Natsume groaned internally.

"Ma...dara..." Reiko read off the newly printed paper. "What a weird name. Then again, all you spirits seem to have silly names, right, Takashi?"

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. "If it's so weird to refer to him as Madara, why don't we just call him Nyanko-sensei?"

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

Natsume sweated. "Er...forget I said anything."

"Pwahahaha!" Reiko suddenly spazzed out. She clutched her stomach and fell to the ground, her long hair and school skirt fanning out around her and her mirth exploding in the air. "No, no, that's great! Hey, hey, nice to meet you, Nyanko-sensei! Ahahaha!"

Nyanko-sensei, however, looked far from amused. He leveled Natsume with a demonic glare that really had no effect since Natsume was already used to such looks in his time. "Foolish human, you dare give me such a demeaning name?"

"Ah, but it suits you." Ah, Natsume realized, What am I saying? It seems as if I've lost my mind. Do dreams usually flow like this?

Nyanko-sensei turned to Reiko. "Natsume Reiko, who is this insolent boy?"

Oh, so you're respectful to her, but you still call me a brat even in my dreams, huh? Stupid Nyanko-sensei, Natsume childishly though.

"Beats me," Reiko shrugged, trying to calm down from her fit, "He's just Takashi. He randomly appeared one day and we've been entangled together ever since!"

"Strange, you two look oddly alike." Nyanko-sensei commented, then he ignored the glaringly obvious similar facial features the two Natsumes had and thought past that. Thought of Reiko's rude and aggressive nature. Thought of Natsume's calm and kind eyes. Thought of both of their atmospheres of loneliness. "Oddly alike, yet different, but still alike."

"Oi, what are you blabbering about?" Reiko grunted out as she flipped herself back into a standing position with only her arm strength. "Don't compare me to this brat!"

Natsume blushed. "Likewise, please don't say I'm similar to Reiko-san. I'd rather not be told that I am like her," he chided Nyanko-sensei softly.

"What's that supposed to mean, Takashi?!"

"O-Oh! You're misunderstanding, Reiko-san!" Natsume hurriedly apologized for his poor wording from before. "It's not that I don't want to be like you, it's just that you're my -"

He snapped his mouth shut. That was a close one.

"Y-You're my...idol...?"

Nyanko-sensei snorted at his poor excuse for a save. "That's got to be the most obvious lie I've ever heard."

"Sorry, I'm not a very honest person." Natsume smiled sadly.

And really, he wasn't. But as Reiko scolded him for lying to her and Nyanko-sensei continued to insult him for his incompetence, as the three of them laughed together under the warm sun, Natsume found himself not caring. The three of them smiled that summer day, and not for a single moment was Natsume regretful.

This is my grandmother, who's been ostracized all her life and is just happy to have contact with a human who can understand her. This is my failure of a bodyguard, who distrusts humans after decades of experience.

This is a dream. It is only a dream.

But...I don't want to wake up any time soon. I don't want to leave these two people who are so dear to me alone, even if the times we spend together aren't real. Once upon a time, I was like them, alone with nobody to help me. So I want to help them, as well. I want to be their friend. I want...

The memories of the future, of reality, flooded Natsume's dream. Gradually, the lonely field the three were on welcomed new visitors. A woman in a flowery kimono even though she was in the middle of a forest, a small fox who shyly watched them from behind a tree, a kappa that passed out on the ground due to the heat, a horse spirit with insane eyes but a wise mind, two stupidly loyal spirits paraded in with alcohol in their arms.

More and more spirits came to them, and with those spirits, people as well. Two playing boys rambunctiously ran around in the clear with a bespectacled girl chasing after them, a handsome man with a lizard mark crawling on his face tilted his hat to them and sat down, a shaggy haired boy and a smiling girl appeared beside Natsume and asked him if he was on yet another adventure with the spirits.

Reiko and Madara looked on in amazement at the scene, stunned by how the empty land they had once been in filled with so much life.

Natsume merely smiled. He closed his eyes. All of this existed now; all of this was a part of his life.

I'm so thankful...for what the Book of Friends has given me.

"Natsume, wake up! There's gratin for lunch!" A flying pudgeball landed on his face, disturbing his nap.

Natsume groaned and punched his cat away. "A fat kitty shouldn't lay on its master's head, Nyanko-sensei. You might just suffocate me."

"Idiot! How many times have I told you? I am Madara! Foolish human, you dare give me such a demeaning name?!" Nyanko-sensei fumed.

Natsume let out a quiet laugh. "Ah, but it suits you."

And the summer days continued, as they always would.

End

When I thought of what to write as my first fic, I knew it had to be Natsume's Book of Friends. No questions. It just had to be. No other anime has made me purely feel like it has, and I don't think I did it enough justice in my writing, so I apologize if you felt a little cheated or disappointed by this. I myself felt that what I wrote wasn't enough, so I changed the story right after uploading it, haha. I deeply apologize for that.

Please review and tell me how that was! No matter what the story, any and all reviews shall be taken (even the ones which have to be taken with a bit of salt!). Compliments are ACCEPTED. Constructive criticisms are ACCEPTED. Flames are ACCEPTED...so long as I get to FLAME YOU BACK. Mwahaha. Leave a note, everybody~

- Sitty