A/N: This is a submission for the natsumeweek fandom event in tumblr Day 2
Prompt: Celebrations/Get-togethers
Based on leamori's Mother's Day prompt (on tumblr) and inspired by the events on Natsume Yuujinchou Shi Episodes 11-13.
Hope you enjoy reading it^^
"Mother!"
Someone was crying.
"Mother!"
Where was he?
"Mother, where are you?"
He couldn't see anything.
"Mother!"
~ O ~
Natsume opened his eyes to blinding light. It took a while to adjust his eyes and he found himself in the school yard, having lunch with his friends. It was loud. Someone—the girls—Taki and Sasada—were discussing something.
"Should we buy chocolates? Or a cake?" Sasada asked.
"Maybe flowers?" wondered Taki.
"We should make something."
"Breakfast in bed!"
Someone chuckled—Tanuma. "Is it someone's birthday?"
"It's Mother's Day soon, Tanuma-kun!" both Taki and Sasada said as they simultaneously turned their heads toward him.
The sight was funny enough that Natsume laughed under his breath.
The three of them looked at him and Natsume coughed to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry," he said, but couldn't help the smile that stayed on his face.
"What about you, Natsume-kun?" Sasada turned the question to him. "Are you preparing something for Touko-san?"
"Uh…"
Mother's Day was just in a couple of days and he had thought of buying something for Touko-san. Maybe flowers. Touko-san loved flowers. He had looked up nearby flower shops but had never set foot in there. What if he was being an inconvenience to them?
"I don't know," was his answer.
"You should buy something for her, Natsume-kun!" It was Taki this time. "Or maybe you can cook something for her. We'll help you,"—she looked to the other—"won't we?"
"Of course! You can count on us!" Sasada exclaimed, while the other guys just nodded.
Nishimura, who was sitting on the ground said some incomprehensible words, until Sasada glared at him, and it made Natsume laugh.
"Thanks, everyone, but that's okay. I'll come up with something."
"Mother's Day, huh," Nishimura said. "My family never really celebrate it, I guess."
"As for me, I think my sister is already preparing something for our mother," Kitamoto added.
The discussion about Mother's Day went on until lunch break was over and they had to go to class again.
Nishimura had cram school and Kitamoto had something to do after classes were over so Natsume went home with Tanuma that afternoon. Before that, Taki and Sasada had told Natsume that if he wanted their help to prepare for Mother's Day, he should just tell them and they'd be happy to help. Natsume was grateful for the offer but still he didn't immediately accept it.
On their way home, Tanuma asked Natsume, "Are you going to buy flowers for Touko-san?"
"What?"
"I saw you loitering around the flower shop the other day."
"Oh—that was…" Natsume went silent. He bit his lip. "Yeah, I guess."
"Have you bought them?"
"I haven't."
"Why?"
Though Natsume had opened up a lot to Tanuma, sometimes it was still hard talking about his insecurities. When he did, Tanuma was quiet for a while, before he said, "I don't think she'd be bothered by it, though. In fact, I think she'd love it if you gave her those flowers."
Natsume was still unsure.
"Well, you if need my help, just say it."
They separated ways and Natsume walked home alone.
That was when the bushes beside him made suspicious movements and something round and fat jumped at him.
"Natsume~~~"
"AAAAGGHH!"
His fist went up in reflex and he hit something soft.
Nyanko-sensei was on the ground in front of him, knocked out.
"Sensei! Don't scare me like that!"
"Ugh!" Nyanko-sensei got up to his paws and shook his head in a haze.
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"I saw you coming down with that Tanuma boy and decided to scare you."
Natsume gritted his teeth in irritation. "Do you want another punch, huh, Sensei?"
Sensei, however, pretended not to hear him. "Come on, let's go home," he called after Natsume. "But before that, let's visit Nanatsujiya first."
Natsume sighed. "You eat too many manju, Sensei. You're going to get even fatter you know."
But Sensei didn't hear him. Instead, he was musing, "Manju~~ Manju~~ I wanna eat some manju~~" to himself.
Natsume sighed again but resigned himself into following Nyanko-sensei to the manju shop.
~ O ~
"Mother…"
Natsume stopped on his tracks. He pricked his ears. Everything was quiet.
"Hm? What's wrong, Natsume?"
Natsume shook his head. "Nothing."
"Mother…"
Natsume jerked his head to the side. "Did you hear that, Sensei?"
This time, Nyanko-sensei had picked up the quiet cry. It came from the forest on their right, already dark and filled with shadows with the fading light. But after a pause, he resumed his walk toward his destination. "Just forget it."
"Mother…"
"Someone's crying, Sensei."
Nyanko-sensei had stopped again and stared at him. Natsume knew that stare, but he couldn't ignore the voice of the crying child.
"Let's check it out."
Sensei sighed and followed him into the forest.
The forest was dense—the trees grew close and the leaves grew thick and it was a matter of time before the foliage blocked most of the sunlight. The crying continued. It led them deeper into the forest until Natsume found the mouth of small cave on top of a ridge.
"Mother! Mother!" the cry came from inside the cave. "Mother, where are you?"
"It's from there, Sensei," Natsume whispered.
"You should leave it be, Natsume," Nyanko-sensei said.
"Mother!"
Natsume ignored Sensei's warning and climbed up the ridge and peaked inside the cave. He heard sobs and cries coming from inside but it was too dark to see.
"Is someone there?"
The sobs stopped. "Mother?"
"Ah—no—" But before he could say anything, he heard running feet against the stone floor and a little girl appeared—a girl with long dark hair, blue yukata, and wooden slippers.
Natsume's eyes went wide at the sight of her and the girl, having seen Natsume, stopped short.
"You're not my mother," the girl said.
The girl… she looked like a normal human girl, and yet…
"Who are you?" the girl asked, her eyes guarded.
"I'm Natsume," Natsume said. "Natsume Takashi."
"Where is my mother?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't—" Natsume stopped and decided of another approach. He squatted down and looked at the girl with a smile. "Are you lost? Want me to help you look for your mother?"
The girl shuffled backward a few steps. "I want my mother," she said. "Where is my mother?!"
"I'm not going to harm you," Natsume said as calmly as he could. "Come on out. What does your mother look like? I'll help look for her."
"Where is she?!" the girl screamed.
This time Natsume took a step back, as if a force had pushed him away. The girl's scream seemed to move the air itself.
"Mother!"
It was a split second image that made Natsume's eyes widened with fear. The girl's eyes had gone hollow and her thin lips opened wide—so wide it must have swallowed her whole face with it—and there, rows and rows of sharp fanged teeth ready to swallow him.
"Natsume!"
A deep, familiar voice and then bright blue light.
"Be gone, you filth!"
~ o ~
A sunny afternoon—a familiar porch—sitting on someone's lap…
"Takashi, look there. That was your mother's garden. She wanted to plant flowers there."
Another afternoon—another day—a graveyard—a headstone…
"Say hello to your mother, Takashi."
Someone's room—a man patting his head…
"Your mother gave her life to save yours, so you have to be a good boy and wait for me until I get back, okay?"
Morning—a classroom…
"Did you hear? He doesn't have parents."
Mother! Father! Where are you?
Running… Runing… his feet hurt… where was his mother? His father? Where was everyone?
"I made a card for my mother!"
"I'm going to bake cookies with her!"
"My father's taking us out to dinner to celebrate Mother's Day!"
Another afternoon, a photograph in hand…
He could never look at it properly. It was hard. It hurt so much. Why didn't he have a mother? Why was his father gone? Why did he have to live with relatives who could barely stand being around him? Why wasn't he in that picture with them? Why? Why?! WHY?!
~ o ~
"Natsume!"
Natsume opened his eyes with a gasp. It was already dark. Nyanko-sensei was in his youkai form—a magnificent white beast. It took a while before Natsume realized he was lying on Nyanko-sensei's side. It took another while to realize that he was crying. Nyanko-sensei didn't ask, though. He had probably sensed what was troubling his mind. Natsume was grateful for that.
Once he's regained his bearing, Natsume stood up. "Thanks, Sensei."
In a poof, Sensei turned into his maneki-neko form. "Seriously, you're a handful sometimes. Didn't I tell you to leave it alone?"
Natsume looked around. The cave was gone. They were only surrounded by trees and the foliage had opened up to let in some moonlight onto the forest floor. It wasn't as dark as it had been.
"That was a youkai, wasn't it?"
"A weak one, though. Good thing I was with you so you managed to get out of the mess unscathed."
"I had been dreaming of that voice," Natsume said out loud as Nyanko-sensei led him out of the forest. "I had heard her cries for her mother."
Nyanko-sensei didn't respond for a while. Natsume followed him in silence. Once they'd reached the street again, finally Nyanko-sensei said, "You know that's not true."
Yes, he knew that was not true. Those were his cries for the mother he didn't have, the one in the photograph who was smiling beside his father. It hadn't a complete lie when he told Tanuma that he was afraid Touko-san would find his gift a bother. But that wasn't the real reason either.
Natsume had never celebrated Mother's Day before. He never had the chance. Though Touko-san was his current foster mother, it just felt wrong to celebrate his first Mother's Day with her. He wanted his mother, even though his mother was gone. He had found solace and happiness with the Fujiwaras and he wanted to make them happy, give them something as a thank-you gift for taking care of him this past year.
"That ayakashi had probably feed on your worry and anxiety. It lured you and you fell into its trap." Nyanko-sensei sighed. "How many times have I told you that you don't have to help everyone you meet?"
"Did you come to meet because you knew it would happen?"
Nyanko-sensei's reply was only an irritated grunt.
When they've reached their home, Touko-san and Shigeru-san were immediately at the door. Worry creased their otherwise warm faces and Touko-san immediately pulled Natsume into a bone-crushing hug.
"Where have you been?! It's so late! We were so worried!"
Natsume didn't know how many times he apologized to both Touko-san and Shigeru-san. Apparently they had also called his friends because a moment later, Nishimura, Kitamoto, and Tanuma were at the door, saying they couldn't find him anywhere. When they saw Natsume already home, they were so relieved yet so mad and so worried and Natsume repeatedly apologized to them.
Nishimura only wanted to accept Natsume's apology if he treated him lunch the next day—to which Natsume agreed.
At school the next day, Sasada and Taki immediately rushed to him the moment they saw him, asking him where he'd been and if he'd been all right. Natsume apologized to them again, until Tanuma told him to stop because he had apologized enough to everyone.
When Tanuma and Taki found a moment alone with Natsume, they pestered him of what had really happened, because they knew Natsume wouldn't have disappeared like that if it hadn't involved youkai. Natsume tried to lighten the event… until Nyanko-sensei appeared at the bushes of the school yard.
"What the hell are you doing, Sensei, coming here of all places?!" Natsume yelled at the fat cat after Sensei managed to extract himself from Taki's clutches.
"Making sure you're not doing anymore stupid things," he said. "Seriously, can you believe this guy? A youkai almost managed to get a hold of his mind. If I hadn't—"
Natsume punched Sensei's head before he could go any further. But the damage had been done and Tanuma and Taki both looked at him in fear.
"I'm fine," Natsume tried to reassure his friends. "Sensei said it was weak and he was there so I'm fine."
"Still, though," Tanuma began, not sure of what he wanted to say.
"Please, be careful, Natsume-kun," Taki said. "I wish you'd lean more on us so we could help you."
Both Tanuma and Taki fell silent and Natsume felt bad because he never wanted them to get involved because he didn't want them to get hurt.
"Okay, now you definitely have to buy Touko-san those flowers," Tanuma said.
"What?"
"Do you know how worried she was last night? Mother's Day is tomorrow. Give those flowers to Touko-san. As an apology at the very least.."
"Wait, you were going to buy her flowers, Natsume-kun?" Taki asked.
"Uh, yeah, but—"
"Okay! Let's go buy her flowers! We'll go after school."
"Ta—Taki—"
Tanuma and Taki weren't going to take no for an answer so after school they went with Natsume to the flower shop.
With urgings from both his friends, Natsume woke up very early the next day and managed to surprise Touko-san with a bouquet of flowers on the dining table just before she started making breakfast.
"H—Happy Mother's Day, Touko-san," Natsume stammered, his face getting red all the way to his ears.
Touko-san was speechless. When Natsume dared to look at her, he saw her eyes glistening with tears. She pulled him into a hug—a mother's hug, one Natsume hadn't felt in all his sixteen years of living—and he felt himself crumbling in his foster mother's arms.
Tears pricked his own eyes and sorry after sorry stumbled from his mouth and Touko-san only patted his back and murmured,
"Thank you, Takashi-kun."
~ END ~