Warning: There are references to events that happen much later in both series. Spoilers ahead!

Doumeki thought, as soon as he stepped out of the train, that the countryside air was decidedly different from that of Tokyo. The passing wind was crisp and fresh, the late morning sunlight coming down on him almost in a warm welcome of an embrace. It was neither too hot nor too cool out, the perfect weather for a spring day. And it was the start of Golden Week, too. Catching a glimpse of the green mountainside just beyond the train station, he thought of bringing Tsuyuri (Kohane, an inner voice corrected him even as he paid it no mind) or even Kunogi over to this place before the weeklong string of holidays was over. Someday.

"Um, are you Doumeki Shizuka-sensei?"

When he turned to the voice, he saw a mop of dark hair on a sheepish smile. He mentally noted that he was only slightly above eye level with the lanky-looking fellow in front of him, even though he only appeared to be about sixteen years of age. He nodded and greeted, "Yes, I am he. Are you the son of Tanuma-sama?"

The boy's shoulders stiffened. "Yes! My name is Tanuma Kaname. It is a pleasure to meet you," he greeted with a rigid yet practiced bow. Then, scratching the back of his head, he added, "I apologize on behalf of my father that he couldn't come to greet you personally."

"No, that's all right," Doumeki replied. He thought that he may as well drop the formal tone, if it could help relax the poor boy a little. He was a tight ball of nerves, shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm. "He phoned me earlier that there was an emergency in the next town over."

"T-That's right," Tanuma said with a bit of a jolt, though his expression visibly lightened up. "He should be back later by supper to tend to you properly, though."

"Then, I'll be in your care, Tanuma-kun." He received a small yet cheerful smile in return.

Tanuma led the way from the station to the Yatsuhara temple where he was going to stay throughout the duration of his trip. Along the way, the boy pointed out to him the different landmarks that they passed, telling him a short description of each of them and even a bit of history on some. When the temple steps came into view, he began to talk about the history of the temple grounds. His good tour guide was well-prepared, Doumeki mused.

In the middle of their ascent, the boy said, "Oh, thank you for the heigushi that you sent us before. It was right on time for the final blessings of the renovated main hall."

"That's good to hear." Doumeki wasn't able to attend the ritual himself, but he did phone Tanuma's father the day after. He wanted to ask Tanuma how the heigushi was doing, but then he realized that it was probably a strange question to ask. Instead, he remarked, "That heigushi had been looking for a place where its purpose could be fulfilled. I should be thanking you for giving it a place to belong."

The boy's face tinged pink. "Oh… Um, well, no, it was nothi—"

He was interrupted by a sudden rustling of bushes on one side of the temple stairway, followed by a distant cry from the trees. The two of them stopped in their tracks. He heard Tanuma mutter something about it just being a skittering wild animal, but his pensive face said otherwise. The sound of rushed steps was coming closer, and Doumeki strained to see beyond the shadows of the forest. The bushes were by then rustling terribly, until a boy came bursting out onto the temple steps and right into Doumeki.

The impact surprised all three of them, but Doumeki managed to keep himself and the mysterious boy from falling over. The boy in question wasn't even looking at him at that moment. He stared back at the way he came from with wild eyes even as he struggled to regain his breath. He was surely running away from something, but from what? Doumeki followed the boy's gaze to look at the shadowy forest—and stared at the sight.

Right out in the forest opening were two creatures that were obviously not human. The bigger one towered over them all, crouching slightly to remain hidden by the canopy of forest leaves. Its large eyes glared at them, the wide mouth of gritting teeth occupying most of its form. Its body reminded him of black sludge that bubbled and oozed, no semblance of bones whatsoever. The smaller of the two, on the other hand, had a more corvine look with its black wings and scaled talons for feet. It also bore a white mask on its face with the kanji for bird for it. No, perhaps crow was more appropriate.

Youkai. There was nothing else they could be but that. Doumeki hadn't been able to see any of them outside of the shop in a long time. Did Watanuki have something to do with this?

Then, the crow-like youkai spoke in a soft tone that floated through the wind. "… Doumeki… Haruka?"

Doumeki froze. His grandfather's name. How did the youkai know about—?

"Natsume! Doumeki-sensei!"

Tanuma's words shot through him like the breaking of a spell. When he blinked next, the youkai had gone and left the three of them, shaken but otherwise unharmed, on the stairway. Tanuma rushed to his side, but grabbed at the other boy's shoulder first. "Natsume! Are you okay?"

The boy—Natsume blinked at him. "Ah, y-yes, I'm fine… But, um…" He turned slowly to stare at Doumeki whom he was still clinging onto for dear life. With a restrained yelp, he immediately let go and bowed to him profusely. "I-I'm very sorry to have bumped into you! I-I was just—"

"No, it's all right," Doumeki said for the second time that day. This boy was even more rattled than how Tanuma was, though the circumstances were clearly different. He turned to Tanuma, and continued, "If you don't mind, Tanuma-kun, let's continue this in the temple. It'd be safer for us all inside." Inside the temple. Within the safety of the temple wards and the heigushi. And beyond the lingering, dangerous auras of the two youkai.

"Here you go," Tanuma muttered, setting down the teacups on the table carefully. Doumeki thanked him before taking a tentative sip of the hot tea. On another side of the table, Natsume merely nodded his thanks. He just cradled his own steaming cup, looking down intently in his tea, refusing to make any eye contact. The awkward silence hung heavy in the air.

Then, Doumeki spoke. "Your name is Natsume, yes?"

His words jerked the two boys from whatever thoughts they had. "Y-yes! I'm Natsume Takashi," Natsume replied. He averted his eyes as he continued, "I'm sorry to have bumped into you out of nowhere like that earlier."

"Think nothing of it," Doumeki replied, eying him critically. He wasn't one to meddle in another's business, but something about the boy nagged him at the back of his mind. Annoyed him beyond reason… Well, there may be a reason. If he were being honest, it was that reason that annoyed him. "Are you sure you're all right? You're not hurt anywhere?"

"Thank you, but I'm fine, really." That was clearly a lie, but the boy didn't give anything away. And he had the audacity to smile at him. Doumeki clenched his jaw. He wanted to push a little more, ask straight to the point. But not only would it be rude to treat a practical stranger that way, he also knew from experience that it would only backfire. He took a long swig of his tea before setting it down with a drawn out sigh. If only he could take something stronger than tea right now.

He took the time to stare out into the temple gardens. With the afternoon sun still up, Tanuma had left the shoji doors open to bring in the fresh air. Doumeki appreciated the simplicity of the layout of the garden, from the positioning of the rocks to the variety of the plants. The centrepiece must be the small fish pond in the middle. He watched in earnest when a koi dared take a peek above the surface and stared back at him.

The wall clock chimed the hour, and Doumeki heard himself say, "You have a beautiful pond in your garden."

He didn't notice the sudden change in the room until the clock grew silent again. He found Tanuma's mouth gaped open, his eyes wide, as he was in the middle of getting up to go back to the kitchen and fetch them some snacks. He turned to Natsume and found him with an equally frozen expression, the vice grip on his teacup suddenly slackened. Well. That wasn't the kind of reaction he had expected. Did he say something strange? But the pond really was beautiful.

Before Doumeki could even open his mouth, however, a high-pitched whine pierced their ears and they watched a stout white creature pad its way inside from the garden. "So this is where you've been, eh, Natsume? Think you could sneak away and hide the snacks from me, did you—?" The weird creature was forcefully shut up when Natsume grabbed for it and covered its mouth with a hand, the rest of its body in a tight arm lock.

Beside him, Tanuma was chuckling rather forcefully. "T-the animals here in Yatsuhara are rather unique, aren't they? Why, this little one's cry sounded almost like—"

"No," Doumeki decided to interject the coming lie this time, staring at the struggling creature in Natsume's arms. "It was definitely talking just now. Is it a tanuki? Or an enchanted maneki neko? It's too big and round for it to be an ordinary cat or—"

All of a sudden, there was a puff of smoke and a majestic white fox appeared and occupied most of the room with a menacing growl. Vaguely, he heard the two boys cry out in surprise, but paid more attention to the rows of sharp teeth before him. It levelled its golden eyes to Doumeki's face, and snarled, "You insolent human! How dare you insult a great and powerful youkai such as myself!"

Doumeki thought that, like most people, he should be cowering in fear at the sight of an imposing youkai like this. But then, he recognized the red markings on the benevolent creature's face. "Ah. Then, please forgive my impertinence," he said with a deep bow. "If it pleases you, let me offer you the bento I brought with me as a sign of my sincere apology." He had already eaten Kohane's hayaben on the train ride over, and had planned on saving Watanuki's bento for later. Hopefully, it was enough to appease the youkai.

The youkai stilled at his words, turning slowly to Doumeki's things left in the corner of the room – a large backpack, a leather briefcase, and a conspicuous-looking box neatly wrapped in furoshiki. There was another great puff of smoke and the fox-youkai was replaced by the fat cat creature. With unexpected speed and dexterity, it dashed for the offered lunch box and deftly unwrapped the cloth. It produced chopsticks out of nowhere, and proceeded to dig in like a starved animal. The other three watched in silence as it devoured the packed lunch, the sound of clinking chopsticks and inhaling of food echoing around the room.

Finally, the cat creature dropped the chopsticks down the now empty lunch box with a heavy sigh, followed by a soft burp. "Ahh," the youkai almost purred, patting its rounder belly. "Thanks for the great meal. If I didn't know any better, that bento could have been prepared just for me." Doumeki wondered about that, but didn't voice it.

At this point, Natsume seemed to have regained his sense of the situation. He turned back to Doumeki in a panicked frown. "I-I'm sorry about my cat's rude behaviour!" Then, he hissed at the cat in question, "You apologize too, sensei!"

But the youkai merely huffed. "Ha! As if I have any reason to. Although," it mused, eying Doumeki with its big black eyes. "I am honestly impressed how well you reacted towards my true form."

He heard Tanuma gasp. "Then, could it be that—Doumeki-sensei, you…?"

"Doumeki-sensei here is able to see spirits, as well," the cat finished the others' thoughts with a smirk. Doumeki simply nodded. It wasn't like he was hiding it from them; it just never came up before in conversation. Also, his ability to see tends to fade these days, thanks to Watanuki's meddling. But today, his sight was as clear as it had been back in high school. Judging from how the first day had gone thus far, he had a feeling that he was going to make further use of his sight for this trip.

Slowly, Natsume, along with the cat-youkai, settled back down around the table while Tanuma finally went to get more snacks for his guests. The cat sank deeper into a spare cushion, glancing at Doumeki with those eyes again. "So, good sensei, what brings you to the countryside this time?"

Doumeki wondered about the "this time", but answered nevertheless, "I came here to meet with a few family acquaintances, and also to tend to an errand of sorts."

"An errand, you say," the youkai murmured, closing its eyes as if in thought. A few minutes passed, and Doumeki thought that he could hear soft snores from the cat. Even Natsume reached out to nudge it awake. A minute passed before it opened its eyes again with a pop of a nose bubble, and looked pointedly towards a bemused Natsume. "Then, it's decided! Natsume here will show you around the countryside after that meeting of yours is finished."

"Eh?!" Tanuma baulked from the hall, almost sending the snacks on the tray flying.

"Nyanko-sensei!" Natsume snapped at the cat. "You can't just decide things like that without—"

"Ah," the youkai went on, sparing the flabbergasted boy by the doorway a sideways glance. "And I suppose the Tanuma child can come with you. He may even be useful, for once."

Natsume scowled (which was a far better expression for him than that plastic smile of his) at the bossy cat to retort when Tanuma interjected, "I don't mind coming along, Natsume. I actually wanted to ask you the same thing later on. Oh!" He spun around to look at Doumeki with a hesitant smile as he hurriedly added, "I-I mean, if you don't mind us giving you a tour around town, Doumeki-sensei."

Doumeki shook his head, showing a small smile. He wasn't exactly sure what just transpired, but it sounded like his trip to the countryside was going to be more occupied (more interesting, his mind suggested, which he easily agreed to) than he initially thought it would be. If anything, they could be of great help for his errand. "Not at all. I am looking forward to it."

A/N: Just about all the crossover fanfics between these two series kept on saying how similar Natsume and Watanuki are. But then I thought of someone else who also shares a few similarities to our beloved baby: Doumeki Shizuka. For one thing, they really don't talk much and prefer to be with their own thoughts. (Between the two, though, I'd like to think that Doumeki talks a lot more.) To be honest, I've been meaning to write this fic long before A Child's Wish. It's just that fleshing this multi-chapter work takes longer than figuring out what to write in a one shot. It's taken me a while, but it's finally here!

Also, here is a list of cultural/special notes that explains some terms used in the chapter:

1. The bird youkai's mask – The kanji used for "crow" and "bird" are in fact the same (Source: Romajidesu), though I think that the kanji is more often used to refer to the word "bird".

2. Hayaben – This literally means "early bento" as it refers to the bento (or lunch box) that you eat early (hayai) because you can't wait until lunch time. It's rather popular among high school students, especially the boys (Source: The Japan Forum), though in Doumeki's case, he's just a bit of a glutton.

3. Furoshiki – It is a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth traditionally used to transport clothes, gifts or other goods like saké bottles. In the modern day, furoshiki is commonly used to wrap and transport bento, even doubling as a table mat for the lunch. (Source: Wikipedia)