A/N Sorry for rather long author's note, but firstly I'd like to thank to everyone who liked my previous stories. This story is kinda plotless, however it doesn't seem bad to me, so read and enjoy. I wanted to write something like stream of consciousness, but I can't say if my try was successful.
If somebody wants to beta this or one of my previous stories, please, just send me a PM.
Natsume arrives on the railway station rather early: it is almost hour till the train's arrival, but neither Natori-san nor Sensei is in sight. The boy sighs and sits down on the bench without a second thought, putting his bag next to him. He leans his back on the bench's one and rests his head against it, setting to observe thoughtlessly clouds, floating across the sky.
Or rather he is not that thoughtless: wind is driving in scuds, making clouds to slide and to shape their forms, which Natsume's mind without any effort compares with familiar ones. Take for example that huge milk-white bird, which falls under the breeze's influence and becomes absolutely unrecognizable, until the moment wind rises again and the fowl's outline resembles a strange fish with a large rudder. The intimate shapes, in turn, bring up a lot of fanciful associations and, as a result, memories.
That weird stain in the sky definitely is a rabbit, the one with so fluffy and pure white fur. It looks just as soft and white as Sensei's hair in his true shape. Natsume could never discern with confidence, like which of the existent animals does his guard looks like, though anyway he was truly grateful for protection the spirit gave to him. Even if Sensei rarely failed to defend him, Natsume valued high that fact that he was still alive.
Unlike him, Reiko was anything but alive. Natsume wondered if she knew herself, how it would end. Did she knew, that Book of Friends she made will become the most desirable thing for those, who are anyhow connected with the world of spirits? How did that strong, but lonely girl he saw in spirits' memories, managed to find a man, with whom she could create a family? And why, for God's sake, there are two Reiko in his memories: his grandmother, the one his distant relatives told him about, and a girl, who helped for those in need, whatever they were human beings or spirits?
These two Reiko are just like two opposites: like day and night, like black and white, like a human and a spirit. And, on contrast, these two halves make a whole, the only one variant of reality: if you put together all the reminiscences about Reiko ever, not a girl, who looked just like Natsume, or a woman, who raised her child and died rather young will be gotten, but that only real and unique Reiko, who was observed by everyone, but was seen by no one.
There are two opposites everywhere you look. Day and night are 24 hours, a lot of seconds and minutes. Seconds and minutes, in turn, are all that time we lack to be completely happy, but added all together they form a small eternity. Natsume always wondered, what does eternity means to spirits.
There are two opposites everywhere you look. Black and white are like stars on the dark sky, just like that little white spots, which were named, and that endless black space, remained nameless. It was sad and unfair, but wasn't the right to give a name to him a great honor, which can not be given to a random someone. This right should be deserved at least by becoming equal to endless space, and how do ordinary mortals can do that? Maybe the one, who get to know its name, would be granted with something valuable and absolutely useless, unless the Earth would be inhabited by gods, not by mere humans and spirits.
There are two opposites everywhere you look. A human and a spirit – are just like Natori-san and his little newt, who exist in the same body and can not be separated, connate for eternity. Natsume always wonders why the exorcist hates spirits that much. Really, why? When you come to think of it, Natori-san then would come to hating himself. Natsume don't even want to know, where such an abhor came from, he is just curious about it sometimes, that's all. That's because if Natori-san has a reason for it, Natsume doesn't want to even have a chance to change his opinion about spirits, even if such an incident is highly unlikely. Even if the man doesn't have a reason for his hatred, Natsume himself will never dislike or pity him just because he doesn't really like rather formal relations between the exorcist and spirits, serving him.
No, he can not treat Natori-san that way; Natsume doesn't know how to treat him at all. Every time he thinks that he solved the riddle named Natori-san, that the exorcist just uses him, that his smiles are false to the core and he himself is a fool, who didn't make a notice of that earlier, Natori-san does something, which completely confuses the boy. Because if that smile is faked, why then his laugh sounds that sincere? If Natori-san saves him just for sake of not loosing a free assistant, who doesn't complain and does what he is told to, then why does he teaches him to deal with spirits, training prospective competitor?
Let alone all that things that confused Natsume even more: accidental brief touches that made Natsume want to stand stock-still to prolong the moments of their skins contact and some pleasant trifles, such as a spare blanket not to be frozen at night and funny stories before going to sleep to smile happily and desperately try not to yawn so that he was not sent to sleep.
Natori-san is like a mass of contradictions: as soon as Natsume finds enough arguments to convince himself, that the man can be trusted, the exorcist surely does something, that makes boy to doubt again. But Natsume wants to trust him, so he seeks more and more reasons to do it.
"Natsume-kun?"
Natsume doesn't hurry to open his eyes as he is more interested on when did he closed them in the first place and why, than that someone, who interrupted his drowse. Was it because of the sun, dazzling awfully, or reminiscences about Reiko? If it was so, he surely closed his eyes merely to try to forget everything he have never known before. Or maybe he, on the contrary, closed them to recall everything, all the petty details and all the occasional moments, when Natori-san seems joyful and carefree, when he seem not to remember about spirits' existence and merely enjoys his life. But sometimes Natsume himself doesn't know if it happened in truth or it was just his imagination.
Natsume makes no move. On the third hand it may seem as if he slept, though he is busy on that moment. The boy is listening to what is going on around and trying to guess who was the one uttering his name. If there were no noise around, he would easily hear quiet breathing and light footfall, growing louder and louder, and make a guess, that someone is going to move closer to him.
Natsume screws up his eyes slightly tighter, when someone stops not that far from him at all, so that the boy even almost feels the warmth of the other's body. He doesn't want to be caught in simulation, even if he didn't mean to pretend to be sleeping, he just doesn't feel like opening his eyes. Mostly it's because in truth the boy knew very well, who exactly was that someone, and just didn't want to fall for the charm of his duality. Because if Natori-san thought, that he was sleeping, Natsume would not have to guess whatever the exorcist's smile is sincere or not.
He feels, that the bench, on which he is sitting, hardly noticeably oscillates, when his old acquaintance someone sits next to him. Someone's hand sinks on Natsume's head and tenderly strokes his soft hair. The boy somehow feels, that now Natori-san is smiling lightly, though he knows, that can not be sure when it comes to everything connected to exorcist.
Natori-san's hand slowly caresses his locks, almost intangibly, as if her master doesn't want to be caught on this act. But why the exorcist is so careful, if he always can hide behind one of those false smiles? Or is it real? That's duality again.
Natsume slowly opens his eyes, looking at Natori-san from under his eyelashes, rather long for a boy. The exorcist notices his glance and rises up from the bench smiling.
"Good morning, Natsume-kun." Says Natori-san. "You have slept, so I decided not to wake you up. So it seems that we missed our train. How about walking around the town, while we will be waiting for the next one?"
Natsume gives him a smile and concurs with the man's proposal, wondering to himself about how easily exorcist pretended that nothing has happened. Or maybe it did was just a dream? A dream and reality also are the different sides of the same coin.
Just like a day and a night, black and white, a human and a spirit.
Duality does is somehow attractive.
The end.
A/N I tried to write a good opening for the story but failed. It's too short to be good!
But I still think that more details on how did Natori found himself meditating (Or was it daydreaming? Whatever.) would be unnecessary. Though I'll consider all proposals, especially that ones which can give me ideas. *dreamy look*