Bruised, cut feet hit the ground, attacked by sticks and sharp rocks. The slender feet continued picking themselves up, forcing the body they were attached to to keep moving. The long, pale blonde locks of hair fluttered along behind her as she kept up her sprint through the forest. Not a single sound escaped her as she cut her feet open, the sticks attacking her torso, arms and legs, causing deep cuts along her body. She had to keep moving, no matter how much she wanted to lay down and wait for her inevitable death. They were after her, she had to keep moving. If she was caught, she'd face a fate worse than death. As she kept running, the only sounds she made were light pants. She turned a corner, jumping over a large fallen log, and kept running. Her ankles were throbbing madly as if they'd been stabbed multiple times with a blunt knife, but she kept running. She kept pushing forward. She had to find them. She had to find the person they'd mentioned. She had to find Natsume.
OOOOO
Natsume yawned dozily in class, covering his mouth with his hand so the teacher wouldn't call on him. Natsume had a secret no one else knew about, not even his caregivers knew. The only people who knew about his ability were others who shared the same gift, or similar gifts. Natsume could see the world of demons, or yokai, crystal clearly, unlike other people who had their eyes shut to the other world around them. Natsume had strong spiritual powers, just like his grandmother Reiko, and he'd inherited from her 'The Book of Friends', a strong item with the names of the many demons Reiko had defeated and forced into her service. All one had to do was use the name of a demon in the book to summon them and force them to submit to a task. Natsume didn't want any demons, whether they be good or bad, to be forced to submit to someone who had evil intentions. Therefore he was returning the names of all the demons in the book, so when something finally did happen to him, less would be forced to submit. But because he had the book, all sorts of demons were after him, trying to get their hands on the Book of Friends so they could do all kinds of evil.
However, Natsume had befriended a lot of demons without the use of the Book of Friends. He'd befriended a demon with a large head and funny looking mustache, he'd kind of 'won over' a female demon called Hinoe and kind of 'impressed' a large horse demon called Misuzu. He'd also befriended other demons, such as Benio and another demon that was under the service of an exorcist he'd acquainted, called Hiiragi. Then there was his 'bodyguard', Madara. That damn cat had taken over his entire life and was slowly draining his wallet thin of any money. The cat claimed to be protecting him, but all he did was eat, sleep and drink lots of sake. Natsume had agreed to hand over the Book of Friends when he was finally killed to Madara, but before then, Madara had to protect him. He'd done a fine job so far, sitting and napping whenever Natsume had been attacked, and this caused him to punch Madara before turning to threaten those that were attacking him.
The final bell suddenly rung, catching Natsume's attention as he stopped reminiscing and looked up at the clock on the wall. It was three o'clock, marking the end of school. He sighed, yawning again as he stood, grabbing his bag and heading to grab his jacket off the wall. It was late autumn, early winter, and the weather had gotten chilly. Not enough for snow, but cold enough to cause goose bumps. Natsume wrapped his blue jacket over himself, excusing himself before leaving the classroom. As he wandered down the halls, heading to the gate, his cat was waiting by the gate. This wasn't unusual, but it wasn't common either. The fat cat trotted up to him, its weird expression constantly on its face.
"You're late Natsume" Madara barked at him. If anyone else had heard the cat suddenly talk, they probably would've screamed or fainted, but Natsume was used to this kind of thing. He just sighed, walking out the grounds as Madara jumped up onto his shoulder.
"Buy me some meat buns, I'm hungry" Madara ordered. Natsume completely ignored him, transfixed on where he was walking. Something about today had made him feel lethargic all day, and his mind seemed to wonder off all the time. It wasn't unusual for Natsume to seem aloof, but for him to actually space out on nothing at all was uncommon. He must've been more tired than he thought. He had made it all the way to a few streets away from his home while ignoring Madara's constant whining and complaining when a breeze caught his attention, making him look towards the forest entrance. He hadn't seen some of his demon friends, especially those two middle class demons that had taken to worshipping him. He wondered how they were going. As he thought this, a gust of wind blew at him again, as if pulling him towards and into the forest.
'It's pulling me in? Should I go?' Natsume wondered as the breeze left a trail of leaves fluttering towards the entrance of the forest.
"Hey, Natsume! You listening to me!?" Madara snapped, tilting his head before Natsume suddenly took off into a sprint, making Madara fall onto the ground. He managed to roll back onto his feet, glancing at where Natsume had taken off from, then clicked his teeth together irritably.
"I swear, that boy had no regards for his life" Madara mumbled, before taking off after him.
OOOOO
As the girl kept running, her lungs burning and aching for air, she could hear the sounds of the footsteps of those chasing her. She glanced behind her, gasping for a second before turning to look ahead again. She could hear the twigs snapping under her feet and she knew she was bleeding from several spots. As she made it through the thicket of trees, she didn't even have a chance to stop as she suddenly fell off the top of a cliff, heading straight into the pond below. She didn't even manage a loud gasp or a peep of a scream as she fell headfirst into the water with a loud splash. When she surfaced, she patted her hands against the water weakly, managing to wade to the shore. She weakly pulled herself up, coughing silently before her vision blurred and she fell to a heap on the ground. Her eyes rolled up as her vision blacked out, putting her in a world of silence.
OOOOO
Natsume heard a loud splash as he ran through the trees, causing him to stop and pause, looking at the source of the noise. He began walking in that direction cautiously until he heard voices.
"This is the girl?" one voice asked. Natsume hid in the bushes, peeking out to see five demons huddled up together. He couldn't make out their appearance very well due to the shadows of the trees, but he could sense the evil aura around them. As one of the demons moved aside he caught a glimpse of long, curly light blonde hair, making him gasp loudly. The demons all turned to look in his direction.
"Who's there!?" one exclaimed, making Natsume cover his mouth as he realized what he'd done. Just as the demons begun advancing on where Natsume hid, a giant white wolf demon with a long tail suddenly burst out the trees, growling darkly at all five little demons. The white wolf had gold eyes and a red marking on its forehead.
"Be gone demons, these are my prey!" the wolf snarled. The demons backed up in fright, but one tried to hold his ground.
"T-This girl is rightfully ours! You have no claim!" one stuttered bravely. The wolf stomped his foot, shaking the ground.
"Did I stutter?! I said leave!" he shouted, making all five yelp in fright and scatter off. Natsume watched in awe, before jumping out the bushes and running to the white wolf.
"Thanks nyanko-sensei" Natsume thanked, rushing to the girl's side. He gently flipped her over, gasping at the state she was in. The girl was thin and frail, covered in deep cuts and bruises all over her body. Her clothing which consisted of a light blue shirt and white, knee high skirt, were badly torn, and she looked really weak. Madara changed back into his small cat form, walking over to the two of them.
"Honestly Natsume… You never seem to stay out of trouble do you?" Madara complained, pausing before looking at the ground in Natsume's arms.
"She's human, right?" Natsume asked, being unable to tell for some reason. Madara cocked his head slightly in thought.
"She's definitely human, that much I can tell, but she has a strong demon smell on her too. I'd say either a curse or some kind of gift from a demon" Madara stated. Natsume sighed in relief upon hearing she was human.
"Sensei… I'm taking her home… Can you help clear the way?" Natsume suddenly announced, making Madara jump in disbelief.
"What!? Are you insane!? We don't know what kind of curse it is or power, she could be dangerous!" Madara snapped, hissing at the unconscious girl. Natsume just smiled at him.
"Well, if she's dangerous, you can just restrain her, can't you? You're powerful, much more powerful than a human with powers, right?" Natsume asked, knowing that would make the cat feel all proud. Madara puffed out his chest, smiling boastfully.
"Of course! Come on, let's get this girl home!" Madara stated, beginning to walk ahead. Natsume glanced down at the girl in his arms, noticing her slender face was so ghostly pale. She was the definition of feminine, her body developed in all the right spots and being really beautiful despite her horrible condition. Natsume's cheeks flushed slightly as he held her supportively, standing and beginning to carry her back out the forest. He made sure her head wasn't dangling, instead supporting it against his chest. He smiled as he realized her head was right near his heart, and he couldn't help but hope that she could hear it and it was soothing her. He'd heard that the sound of a heartbeat was calming to babies and children, and he knew couples loved listening and feeling each other's heartbeats as well, so he hoped that his heartbeat could calm the hurt girl and at least give her pleasant dreams. If it eased the slightest bit of her pain, then his embarrassment was worth it.
Natsume tried to avoid the streets, heading into his home through the back entrance, then walked up to the door. His hands were a little full, so he lightly knocked on the door with his feet.
"Hello? Touko-san? It's me, I need your help" Natsume called out, hearing the lady that took care of him rush to the door. When she opened it, she gasped in shock, seeing the girl in his arms.
"Oh my! Takeshi-kun! What happened!? Who is this girl!?" Touko exclaimed, dropping the tea towel she'd been holding. Natsume glanced down at her, his expression looking almost sorrowful.
"I don't know… I think she fell off the cliff in the forest and into the lake. When I found her by the lake shore she was already like this. I think she was being chased" Natsume explained, making Touko gasp. She rushed into the house, ushering Natsume to enter as well with the girl, then she returned with a first aid kit. She motioned for Natsume to take her to his room, and she followed closely behind. Natsume kept hold of the girl as Touko laid out a second futon and got the bed ready for the girl. She nodded her head and Natsume stepped to the bedding, laying the girl gently on the bed.
"Alright, Takeshi-kun, I need you to leave the room now. I can handle the rest. I'll call you back when she's clothed" Touko stated, making Natsume's cheeks heat up as he nodded, exiting the room, dragging Madara out with him.
"Takeshi-kun! Before I start, can I put her in your clothes once I'm done?" Touko asked through the door.
"Sure" Natsume replied, sitting down by the door as he waited for what felt like the most painful thirty minutes he'd gone through in a long time. Finally the door opened and Touko walked out. Natsume jumped to his feet, startling her slightly.
"How is she!?" Natsume asked, sounding almost panicked. Touko blinked in shock before smiling.
"She'll be fine. Her bandaged will need changing occasionally, and she'll need help to do stuff, but don't worry, I can look after her while you're at school. You can do see her now" Touko stated, stepping aside as Natsume walked in quietly, not wanting to accidentally wake her up. Touko smiled gently, watching him.
"I know I said I wanted him to bring a girl home one day, but this wasn't what I imagined" she whispered to herself, sighing and walking down the stairs to the kitchen. Natsume sat down beside where she slept, watched her sleeping face carefully. She didn't look like she was having a nightmare, but he had to be sure, right? He reached out, gently placing a hand on her forehead. He blinked, feeling her calm heartbeat.
"She looks tasty" Madara suddenly stated beside him, making Natsume gasp, tearing his hand away before turning and punching Madara on the head. Madara whined in pain, clutching his head in his paws as Natsume scooted to his desk to work on his homework. This was going to be a long night indeed.