There was no trouble when he found her, but it took several hours, lasting until twilight.
She sat peacefully on the edge of a short cliff. The fall would not be lethal as it only lead to an overlook of the town, with a grassy knoll below. Natsume saw that she dressed in a school uniform, but not one that belonged to his school. Her long hair mirrored the color of his, and her pale skin almost glowed. A battered and beaten baseball bat sat beside the girl as she stared over the town, facing away from Natsume. Was this really a youkai?
One-Eye and Ox had burst into his room that morning, yelling about "important news." Something about an imposter. A youkai that wore his face and went around terrorizing others with a wooden bat.
"Hello? Miss?" he spoke up, always wary of others appearances these days. Sometimes youkai blurred the line of human and spirit. She did not reply. "I've been told that there's someone who looks like me running around the woods with a bat. Is that you?"
She ever so slightly glance behind, but Natsume could not see her face. She patted the spot beside her, and spoke one word.
"Sit." An authoritative voice. Deeper than he imagined, but still feminine in it's own way. He was cautious. Natsume moved closer, away from the safe enclosure of the trees and nearer to the short, but still intimidating cliff side.
"Listen to me, boy." And against his better judgment, he did. Natsume sat, legs dangling over the edge, but did not look at her. He looked for what she looked at. A small town bedecked in orange light, with darker, purple and blueish shadows at the bottom of the houses, and a shining sun sinking into an ocean of trees just past it. The farm fields at the edges seemed to glow, each row becoming an impending sand dune of the desert, but more orderly in arrangement.
"I didn't realize what was happening at first. I just woke up. Beat my way through a couple of low-levels because I thought it was just another day." She spoke calmly and evenly, as if recounting the items she bought at the market. "I want to say that everything's changed. There are more buildings, more road... Less farm, less forest... But it's still got that feel of a sleepy little town, with nothing to big to shake it around except for a few special residents."
Natsume glanced at her. She certainly had his face. Just like Nyanko-sensei always said. But there was one major difference. Her eyes were a molten steel; they were the same color as his, but so much harder than his own. He wasn't sure what to say. He had thought about this so many times before – what he'd do if he met her. But now he's just locked in his spot, waiting for her signal.
"But... Are things... different?" Her eyes met his. There was a flicker underneath the heated metal of her iris. Concern. Curiosity. "For you?" It took Natsume a while to gather words.
"It wasn't. Not at first. I can certainly say you handled it with much more finesse than I did," he said simply, ignoring the quick grimace that flashed across her features. "But here? Things are different. There are still youkai interrupting my life, and lots of fake explanations and excuses to be made... But I have people."
Reiko picked at the blades of grass near her. Thin fingers ripped them out like bad teeth and let them fall back to the ground. She stared out across the town again, gazing past the little houses towards the extensive mountains in the distance.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" The boy could almost hear her thoughts. For giving you the sight. For giving you the book. For giving you my burdens. For leaving you. There was silence between them. This was honestly not how he thought this would pan out. "I kind of imagined this going a bit differently. I was thinking there would be more explosive statements. Cockiness. Maybe you swinging the bat at me, thinking I'm a youkai." Natsume smiled at her, and smiled wider, smiled kinder when she rolled her eyes.
"I'm your grandma, I don't think I'm supposed to do that." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Maybe your age is catching up with you." Natsume yelped when Reiko snatched his head under her arm and ground a fist into his cranium. She dug it in hard, making sure to twist her knuckles like a drill.
"Keep talking like that and maybe I will take a swing at you." They both laughed good-heartedly, and although it died quickly, they both wore small smiles.
"You're not much like how Nyanko-sensei said you'd be." He laid back on the grass, hands clasped over his purple parka.
"Newsflash, kid; I'm still kind of processing my death. I'm having a moment." Reiko didn't even ask who Nyanko-sensei was, despite never having heard the named before. She placed her hands behind her to lean back and look at the darkening sky. The atmosphere was painted the various colors of the town – purple, blue, red, orange, yellow. Autumn was cast across the few clouds in the way, splayed across crisp air. "It was like this, before." Natsume's ears perked, and he sat back up.
"Look down this cliff," she said, gesturing lightly to the land before them. "That little hill used to not be there. I think dirt and rocks were added by landscapers at some point." She had a point. The hill did seem a little too perfect. Too soft for it's placement between the cliff and the town. There was a large dip between the hill and the side of the cliff, as if something had been filled in.
"There used to be a big ditch there. I remember exploring it when I was little. It lead into a deep mountainside cave, but I remember my parents scolding me whenever I tried to go in." She lowered her eyelids, still looking placated and peaceful. "I just wanted to get away for a while. I left your father with a classmate who agreed to babysit for me. My parents were already gone by that time."
Natsume frowned. He knew where this was going, and gazed at the dip in the earth morosely. They never did find her.
"It was rainy. The fall isn't actually that dangerous, so I didn't think much of it. When I got up, the edge was really slippery, and I fell backwards and hit my head on the way down." She sighed. "Because of it's placement, the water in the knoll would wash things into the cave like a storm drain. I assume the landscapers came in some decades after that."
Natsume wiped at his eyes, not bothering to hide his tears, only to hold back the flow. Reiko blanched even at only his few tears, but nevertheless awkwardly reached out a hand to pat his back.
"I don't know how to do this," she admitted, holding her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay, I -"
"I'm sorry." Natsume pushed the words out of his mouth, not wanting to hear how she might downplay her dying moments. Although she seemed surprised, she only smiled warmly, and brushed a few locks of hair out of his face.
"For what?" He bet that she could hear his thoughts right then. For the rain. For your solitude. For not knowing you. For not finding you.
"Come on, kid, stop crying. I'm not good with babies crying." She pleaded, half out of concern, half out of trying to lighten the situation. It worked.
"I'm not a baby." He sniffled.
"Then don't cry like one." Natsume enveloped her in a hug. "What? Gross, what if you get snot on my shirt?" Reiko complained, but she hugged back anyways, her arms circled across his back, fingers splayed as if to touch as much of him as possible. Physical affection was foreign to her, but she had so much of it. There was never enough for her heir.
"Look there," she said, pointing towards the dip in the knoll. A patch of fat, purple flowers sat lazily on the surface of the dip. Natsume gazed at them. He couldn't see the individual petal from this distance, but he observed the soft, round stacks of blooms roped together to make a bunch of lavender-violetish clumps. They looked like a bed one could sleep in.
"Those are cave flowers. They must have broke through the surface from the cave below." He remarked.
Reiko agreed, only nodding her head.
"Now you know where to find me." It was a grave. But yet, the thought was not so sullen or melancholy. It was refreshing. "Bring me food. I want onigiri!" His grandmother demanded. "No! I want sashimi!" He started laughing, taken aback by her demands. Wasn't it too early to be demanding offerings? Or not early enough. Natsume supposed he was a bit late. "No! No wait! Pour alcohol on my grave like they do in those yakuza movies!" He couldn't stop laughing.
Natsume flung himself onto the ground, clutching at his stomach. Soon, Reiko joined him, her arms folded behind her head and she laughed along. When the laughter died out, the two watched the sky for a while more, watching as the colors turned gray with a change in weather. The girl stood up, and pulled her grandson up when he reached out with a hand.
"I ought to get going. Tohko-san and Shigeru-san will be wondering where I am." He gave her one last hug, tight and full of longing. "May we meet again, Reiko." She pinched him.
"Have some respect! Call me onee-sama."
"How about obaa -" She pinched him again. He yelped. She laughed.
Reiko smiled kindly, and held his face gently. Natsume held the hand on his cheek. He thought that she would've been ice-cold, like most other youkai he's met, but she wasn't. She was warm, kindled fire born in a furnace.
"I'll miss you too, grandma." She didn't say it out loud, but he knew she returned the sentiment.
In the distance, he heard the cry of an old man's voice. Natsume! Stupid Natsume! It called. How the hell am I supposed to guard you when you're scampering around?It was his self-appointed guardian, Nyanko. Reiko seemed to know it was Madara, if Natsume could glean anything from that mysterious smile of hers.
"Get outta here, Takashi." She gave him a light shove towards the safe enclosure of the trees, and away from the short cliff side. "I don't want you to be here when it's raining." He nodded, and took off towards the trees.
The rain came down hard within seconds, soaking him before he even got to the muddy underbrush of the forest. A fat cat barreled into his chest, knocking him down onto the ground.
"Where have you been?" Madara sniped. "Unless you're preparing yourself to get eaten so I can get the Book of Friends, don't go running off!" He suddenly looked up into the air, to where Natsume had came from. The clearing and cliff were completely deserted. Only occupied by a view of the gray and rainy town."Were you with somebody? A youkai?"
"Of sorts."
"What have I told you?" Nyanko scolded him. "Don't go fraternizing with strange youkai! Especially if they want their name! That book's getting thinner by the minute..."
"This one wasn't a stranger at all." Natsume said with new found fondness. He then saw that Nyanko-sensei wasn't listening, and had decided to go off on some tirade again. Something about the Book getting thinner. Something about wanting sake. Something about being overworked. It all blended together. Natsume didn't mind.
"You know what? We'll continue this at home." Stated the cat. "I'm wet, I'm stinky, and there's mud caked between my toe pads. We can find your imposter another day. Let's go." He turned and bound into the bushes, expecting to have Natsume in tow.
Natsume took one last look back at the cliffside where he had sat with Reiko. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and something light and soft had settled within him. There were still so many questions to ask. How did Reiko learn rituals and magic circles? What was his father like as a child? What house did she live in? He supposed that those could be asked another time, if at all. But still, he wondered how she knew his name if he hadn't given it to her.
There was always something mysterious about his grandmother Reiko.
Slowly and softly, Natsume turned towards the forest, and ran after his cat.