Never You Mind

by Fox in the Stars

based on Natsume Yuujinchou
by Midorikawa Yuki and Brain's Base

When Takashi got home after spending a few nights at the temple — keeping Tanuma company while his father was off on a meditation retreat — the Fujiwara house was just the same as ever, its welcome only freshened by a few days away and the smell of the spring air.

Nyanko-sensei came up beside him as he neared the gate. "So you're back, huh?"

"Where were you?" Takashi asked, as long as they were dispensing with pleasantries. "I never saw you after that first evening."

"Well, you didn't run into any trouble, did you? The temple's pretty safe thanks to that clumsy priest, so I thought I'd take a vacation and catch up on some things."

Mostly drinking with the Yatsuhara crowd, Takashi imagined. He hadn't really felt abandoned or unprotected — Sensei seemed to have a sixth sense for trouble and could appear out of nowhere if things got serious — the cat had just been gone long enough to make him wonder.

When he came into the yard, Touko was there hanging laundry, and the clothes wafted a gentle detergent scent into the breeze.

"I'm home," Takashi called.

"Welcome home, Takashi-kun," she greeted. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, we had a really good time."

"Did you two have plenty to eat?"

"Oh yeah, the priest left some things, and we made soba noodles..."

As they talked, Touko came out from behind the clothesline and crouched to offer Sensei her hand, but he "harrumph"ed at her with his nose in the air and stalked off. Touko sighed disappointedly.

"Hey, Sensei, what was that about?" Takashi asked — he'd seen other people say things like that to their pets, so it shouldn't look too weird.

"Never you mind!" came the reply.

Probably he was just having one of his periodic snits about being treated like a cat, and Takashi didn't think any more of it.

—Until dinner. When Touko offered Sensei his bowl and he turned up his nose and walked away from food, it was obvious that something was wrong.

"Nyankichi...?" Touko called after him.

He just stalked out of the kitchen without a word, as if giving her the silent treatment.

"Don't worry," Shigeru told her. "The way he wanders around the neighborhood, you know he's getting food somewhere. If he were a human, I'd think he was just doing it to bother you."

"But..."

"He's acted fine since that time, hasn't he?"

"Did something happen?" Takashi broke in.

"It was the first night you were gone," Touko explained. "I thought Nyankichi had gone with you, but then he started yowling in your room at three a.m., and the next morning he was stumbling around the kitchen with his nose all red..."

"Oh, really?" Takashi asked uncomfortably. If they'd found his room full of saké bottles, surely they would have said something by now...

"When he threw up his breakfast, I didn't know what else to do, but..." Touko paused. "He was a very, very bad boy at the vet. They asked me not to ever bring him back."

Takashi's mouth twisted awkwardly as he didn't know how to feel. Touko was obviously embarrassed, but at the same time, the idea of the scene...

"Hmm, that is a problem if we can't take him in," Shigeru observed, stroking his chin. "We really should have him neutered."

Takashi burst out in helpless laughter.

"When you own a pet, it's a serious thing," Shigeru argued.

"No, sorry," Takashi giggled, "it's just..."

Touko stared at him quizzically. "Oh! He is a boy, isn't he?" she asked. "I always just had a feeling he was, but I've never really checked..."

"I tried to, once, but... I couldn't tell," Shigeru admitted darkly.

Takashi knew he shouldn't laugh, not when that sounded like some nasty scratches, but he couldn't help himself. He could barely even catch his breath. "It's not that," he managed, wiping tears of mirth. "He is a boy but — you don't have to worry about it."

"Oh, so he's fixed already," Touko surmised.

That sent Takashi into another laughing fit that had to slacken before he could talk. "Yeah, something like that." Actually, Sensei's cat body was a clay figurine that didn't have those features to begin with, but close enough.

"Well, he lets you get closer than the rest of us, so I'll take your word for it," Shigeru said. "I suppose it is an awkward thing to talk about..."

Takashi shook his head. "No, it's... Sorry, I don't know why it struck me so funny..."

But now they were smiling at him as if he didn't need to lie and make excuses.

"You know, Takashi-kun," Touko said, "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you laugh like that."

After dinner, Sensei was waiting upstairs in Takashi's room with a pile of junk food that he'd produced from who-knew-where. "What's this? You didn't bring me anything?" he questioned around a mouthful of shrimp chips.

"I didn't think you were hungry," Takashi said, sitting down at his desk.

"I just don't want to take anything from that woman."

"Don't be wasteful. Haven't you got enough there, anyway?"

"What, this? This is—" Sensei pushed the bags away. "This is a different thing."

It was no excuse for home cooking; he was trying not to admit it, but Takashi saw right through him. "You'd better make up with Touko-san then. What did she do, anyway?" he asked, curious to hear it from Sensei's side.

"She— She was disrespectful!"

Takashi's curiosity went unsatisfied, but... Disrespectful? Sensei, if you only knew...

"Hey, what's so funny!? I could hear you all the way up here earlier!"

Takashi just picked up a pencil and turned to his homework with a broad smile.

"Never you mind..."

終
the end