I'm back! This is not a continuation of my older pieces, just a stand alone that has been on my mind for a while. Please enjoy
Does not belong to me
...
The day had started out the same as any other one, Natsume had woken up barely on time, his night spent returning names back to many youkai. He had met up with Kitamoto and Nishimura, and even had found some time to spend lunch with Taki and Tanuma. He only ran into two youkai during his school day, and both had left him well enough alone. He smiled and walked back towards his home.
Home.
He never could remember having one before, and now that he had found one, a home, family, friends, he knew he would never let them go. Even if it meant lying to them, or getting hurt to make sure they were safe. He had never had any thing to fight for before, only himself. And for some reason, fighting only for yourself didn't make you strong. He had survived, yes, but only that, surviving was not living. He had never felt more alive.
"Natsume~," a voice called form the thick grass, and a very intoxicated Nyanko-sensei stumbled onto the path next to him.
"Sensei," a wry smile lifted the corner of Natsume's mouth, "was there another party?"
"Hmmph, you don't need a party to drink," drawled Sensei, but he soon lost interest and began to walk besides Natsume.
The silence was comforting, and Natsume took his time to just look at the land around him.
It was strange, thinking back, how safe he felt around Sensei, then again, he had never seemed to get the hang of youkai.
He had been hurt, so much by his ability to see youkai, and the powers that he had that seemed to draw them to him, and yet he felt safe, secure, whenever he was with Sensei. And there where others, to a lesser degree of course, but he felt happy when he was with them.
"Stop being so sentimental," a gruff voice broke through Natsume's wandering thoughts.
"What! What do you mean?"
"Strong emotions, Natsume, I've told you before we can sense them," Nyanko huffed out the statement as if it was common sense.
"Oh, right, sorry" Natsume blushed and tried to clear his mind of all his thoughts, not noticing how Nyanko-sensei peeked up at him.
…
To say Madara had been surprised by Natsume's thoughts would be an understatement. Even Reiko had been far enough away to never get emotionally attached to a youkai, she may have tried but it never seemed to work. Madara shook his head to unruffle his fur, and took another large bite of the fish that Touko had made. One good thing about living with this family was that he always had delicious food. He smiled for a bit but then his mind drifted back to Natsume. Why? Why would he, the great Madara, go so far for just one boy? He had known his grandmother, yes, but what was it about that kid that made him want-need, to protect him?
"No," he grumbled to himself, "I'm just waiting for someone to off him so I can get the book of friends, that's it."
And with that thought sensei loped out the open window to join in the festivities he knew occurred nightly. The sake was calling him.
…
~ Not necessarily in between