Title:: Life Anew
Author:: Aislin
Fandom:: Natsume Yuujinchou
Characters:: Madara/Nyanko, Hinoe, Natsume
Rated:: G
Length:: 1500 words
Genre:: General, Friendship
Disclaimer:: I do not own any of the characters. Every credit goes to Midorikawa Yuki.
Warnings:: - (gen)
A/N:: I'm really sorry but this piece is un-beta'd! (Couldn't find anyone within fandom to edit for me T.T") If anyone cares to point out my mistakes, please contact me, and I'll shower you with virtual roses of gratitude! *puppy eyes*
Summary:: No matter how much Madara would like to think otherwise, from the moment he met Natsume, he has been living a new life.
Life Anew
.
"Ma… Madara-sama!"
When he heard the thin voice, Madara snapped his head up and turned his sharp golden eyes to the one who has disturbed his resting. He was well aware that enormous as he was in his natural form, he presented a fairly compelling sight, the spirit child trembling next to his clawed feet however seemed even tinier than usual.
"What do you want?" Madara snarled at the brat, and his voice clanged through the forest like a rumble coming from the deep inside of the earth.
The whelp (a young tree-ayakashi, judging by his appearance) stiffened from fear. "N-n-nothing… I mean…" He swallowed, and then proceeded while starting to wring his hands nervously. "Forgive me for disturbing you, Madara-sama, but my… You're lying on my roots and I, I'm still growing, so if could continue your rest a little bit further away, I would be very-very grateful to you!" He was sputtering the last sentence so fast that his words were slurring together; what's more, he squeaked in such a high-pitched voice that even with his supreme hearing, Madara had a hard time following it.
He looked at the snivelling brat, like, really looked. He couldn't be older than one generation of men: his skin hadn't started turning crusty yet and those large, wet eyes shone with the innocence of youngsters. When the child noticed the intense look the powerful ayakashi was regarding him with, he shyly dropped his eyes to the ground.
Madara sneered. In the old days he would have given the kid a grunt without any second thoughts – maybe he would've even lashed out at him with his fangs bared so as to remind him to treat higher-level ayakashi with respect. As a matter of fact, even biting into the child's backside would not have been past his old self.
He couldn't tell what had changed in him. The one thing he knew for sure was that everything had started when Natsume Takashi accidentally freed him from his long-lasting imprisonment.
The tree-spirit whimpered an almost surprised yelp when Madara stood up with a slow motion and took a few couple of steps to the left side. His long, shaggy tail fluttered softy behind him, and when Madara lay down again, he leisurely wrapped it around himself.
"Thank you! Thank you very much!" whooped the kid excitedly with several grateful bows to the older ayakashi's direction before running back to the young tree and sitting down there with his back to its trunk, smiling – at the exact place where Madara lay just a few moments ago.
"Madara-sama..."
The spirit lifted his head up in annoyance (What is it now?! He won't move again for anybody's sake, he's not so cheap after all!), but when his glare caught the speaking person, his golden eyes narrowed. He turned his head away.
"Hey, I'm not even worth a greeting?"
"What do you want, Hinoe?' Madara barked stolidly with closed eyes, pointedly not casting even one glance at the newcomer.
The ayakashi woman made a small, darkish chuckle, then walked to Madara and – not caring a bit about the indignant growling – sat down beside him on the grass.
"I'm surprised you didn't bite off the kid's head," Hinoe said as easily as if they had been chatting for hours. Madara made a face and pulled his front legs up. Maybe she'll take the hint and go away if he acts in a highly indifferent way. Which he was, by the way. Totally indifferent.
"It would have been an unnecessary waste of time," ha answered coldly. "And I'm not even hungry."
"Right, of course. I am sure of it." Hinoe flipped her fan and pointed her sharp gaze at Madara. "And I presume Natsume must be coming back anytime now."
"What does he have to do with anything?"
"Oh, nothing," she said with a wide and a fairly disconcerting smile. "Except that he's the one who made such a softie out of you."
This statement was something even Madara could not ignore. He turned to the smirking ayakashi and flashed his burning eyes at her. "Impudent woman! Shall I show you just how much of a softie I am?" he barked, hissing into her face.
"Now, now, Madara," Hinoe said with a wave of her hand like she couldn't care less for the lash-out of the large youkai. "Why do you pretend like you don't know it yourself? Should that tree-brat saw you for even one second while you're out in the garden playing with Natsume as a round fat pet-cat, and trust me, he would never tremble again at the mere sight of you. Honestly, I can imagine he'd rather try to befriend you." At the sight of Madara's darkening look, Hinoe's red lips widened into an even smugger smirk. "You can be a real sweetie when you want to."
Angered shivers made Madara tremble and see red. He was not lying by now: he stood on four legs on the grass, long tail waving menacingly behind his body. That idiotic woman! What was she on about?!
"Don't look at me like that." Hinoe started neatening her hair like she wasn't perfectly aware that the other ayakashi was only seconds away from jumping on her. "You know that I'm right."
"Don't say a word!" Madara forced through his gritted teeth. "The only reason I am like that at his home is because–"
"Because that's the easiest way for you to be by Natsume's side," Hinoe said, cutting into Madara's growled explanation. "You think I don't know it? I understand you far better than you do yourself, Madara. And for the love of heaven, do stop huffing at me! On this rare occasion, teasing you was not my intention.
Madara swished his tale once or twice more, but his snarl slowly eased. "Then what have you meant?"
Hinoe shrugged. "I'm not sure. You have changed… but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Natsume may have not known you before," she said while looking up above her shoulders at the bright green hill near to them, "but if he knew about it now, he'd be proud of you."
Proud? Nonsense. Madara did not need such childish, human sentimentalisms. He lived for himself and himself alone, and even if he found it amusing to fool around with the single interesting human in his life from time to time, forgetting his superiority for a little while, he did so by his own decision. It's not like he was forgetting altogether who he was.
Upon seeing Hinoe's oh-so-knowing smirk, he felt a strong urge to push his claws into the ground and growl, but then a sharp voice cut through the air – a voice which Madara could have picked out from thousand others at any time.
"Sensei! Nyanko-sensei!"
Madara snapped his head up and looked at the direction where the voice emerged from. Natsume was stumbling down the hill with careful steps, waving and smiling brightly at him. He held the Book in his hands.
Catching his thoughts, Madara shook his head in annoyance. The order of his priorities was not quite right; it should have been his first move to check on the Book and then on Natsume…
"Hinoe", the boy said with a bit of surprise when he noticed the woman standing next to Madara. "What are you doing here?"
"Me? Absolutely nothing." Hinoe waved her hand. "I'm already on my way. Have a nice trip home!" She winked at Madara before disappearing.
Fortunately, the gesture went past Natsume. "Is everything alright, sensei?"
Madara decided that the foolish woman certainly did not worth any more of his thoughts. He shook his head at Natsume. "What on earth do you think could have happened? I'm more interested in hearing whether you have managed to plunder my Book again!
"Yes, I gave the ayakashi back her name." Natsume's answer came very softly as he stroked his lean fingers along the spine of the item in his hands. "She was grateful."
Madara let out an irritated huff of air while bending a little so that the boy could climb onto his back. "You're horrible! By the time I finally get my hands on the Book, there will be nothing in it for me. Next time I'm really going to let an ayakashi eat you."
He wouldn't admit it for anything in the world, but when Natsume only laughed at his threat, he was shocked to his core. Did his crude words really hold no credibility at all? Did this human brat honestly felt safe by his side?
Madara has always fiercely claimed that those who believed that he harboured any kind of affection toward the boy were deeply in the wrong, but he had to admit that when Natsume wrapped his arms around his large neck, a positively warm feeling blossomed inside his chest like he'd just took a sip from the world' finest sake. The golden eyes drifted closed for a second to let the strange but comfortable feeling sink in.
"Let's go home, sensei."