This is real weird, I haven't written fan fiction in like over a year, but what the hell, Natsume's just too perfect to not warrant one.
I shouldn't have been walking home so late.
I should have left school at least an hour before, but I'd wanted to talk to one of the teachers about something, and they got a little more into the explanation than I'd wanted. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the help, but I really only needed to know whether I still had to memorise the quadratic equation for the next exam. I didn't need a complete summary of the entire differentiation topic.
But after the events that followed, I couldn't be more glad they took so long.
Or that I took a shortcut through the forest.
Or that I made any of the decisions that I did that day.
Natsume had protested against me using the shortcut a fair few times, apparently the area was home to a lot of spirits, though I'd never had any trouble. I sensed them on occasion, but none of them were strong enough to cause any real discomfort.
Not until then, at least.
As soon as I set foot in the forest, my head pounded. I'd felt stronger presences before, sure, but none of them were like this. They generally started out strong, but faded gradually. I guess as I got used to them over time.
But this one, no, my head only throbbed more and more until I almost couldn't bear it any more.
In spite of the pain I managed to open my eyes just a little. At the very least I should try and see where the spirit was, to get a better sense of it. And I caught sight of it immediately. Well, at least by my definition of sight, which was a massive shadowy blob among the trees several metres away.
But then I saw him. Standing in front of the blurry mass was Natsume. Completely alone. I stopped registering the pain in my head. I had to help him.
His name, I cried out his name.
He bolted around, and his eyes latched onto mine. Even as far away as I was I could still see his body go rigid at the sight of me.
And then suddenly it wasn't. His whole body went limp. He was on the ground. He wasn't moving. I wasn't moving. I yelled.
But my voice never reached him. A huge gust of wind tore past me before it could. I was almost on the ground with him, but then I noticed the spirit's presence. It was gone. I could focus again. I could move. I don't even remember running to Natsume's side, it all happened so quickly. He was still unconscious, but now that I was closer I could see his chest rising and falling, even if only a little. He was just unconscious. I shook him lightly, called his name again, but he wasn't responding. I looked around, hoping to find someone, anyone who could help. Where was that cat? Wasn't he supposed to protect him from this kind of thing?
And that was when I noticed it. Another presence. I hadn't registered it before because I hadn't felt any headaches, but there was definitely something behind me. And it was huge. Its shadow was much bigger than even the previous spirit's was. All I could make out was a faint white blur. I cautiously shuffled my body between it and Natsume. I didn't sense as much ill will from this spirit, but I wasn't about to take any chances with Natsume like this.
"I don't know who or what you are, but please stay back. He's hurt enough as it is." It didn't move.
"Tanuma…?" It was Natsume. He'd woken up! He was still lying on his back, and could barely keep his eyes open, but he was awake.
"Natsume! Are you alright?" He nodded lightly, before looking behind me at something.
The spirit. I have to get him out of here.
"Please, just let us go peacefully, we don't mean any harm."
"Wait, Tanuma it's-" Before Natsume could even finish the presence vanished into a puff of smoke. Literally.
"Where did it-"
Wait…
"Ponta!?"
"Sensei…" Natsume whined from behind me. "Don't scare Tanuma like that."
"Pssh. It's not my fault the simpleton can't bear witness to my magnificent form." I always forgot the fat cat form wasn't his real body.
I turned back to Natsume. "What happened? Are you sure you're alright?" He tried to prop himself up with his arms, but was clearly struggling, so I pressed my arm to his back and pulled him up myself. He mumbled his thanks, before explaining. If you could call it that.
"I just had some minor spirit trouble, I'll be alright." He flashed one of his signature smiles at me. While trying to keep his eyes open at the same time.
"Minor, yeah. It might've been to begin with, you reckless brat. Until you went and let it completely drain you of all your power." The cat yowled. "It's a miracle even I was any match for it after the meal it had on you." Completely drained?! I'd thought maybe it'd just overwhelmed him, not-
"Then why didn't you stop it earlier if you knew it was so powerful?" Natsume turned his head around to snap back at the cat.
"The thing's a puny small fry when it's empty, I figured it'd probably finish itself off before even you could mess it up." Natsume's sensei turned his head back towards me. "Now if we're done here help the brat up and let's go home. Touko's making fish tonight. Fish." Natsume looked back at me, startled.
"You can't just rope Tanuma into this! We don't even know why he's here!" He stared at me hesitantly. "Though uh, what actually are you doing here? School finished hours ago?"
"I got held up by one of the teachers, so I decided to take the short cut home. Then I sensed that spirit and found you."
I could tell there was no way he'd be able to walk home on his own, and I could also tell by the look on his face he was about to insist that he could. "I don't mind walking you home, and you're definitely in no state to walk on your own." He hesitated for a second.
"I- If you really don't mind, thank you."
He put his arm around my neck and I pulled him to his feet. Even then I could feel his legs shaking.
"Are you alright to walk like this?" I asked. He looked up and smiled. "Yes. It's fine."
He was lying.
We'd barely taken a step forward when I felt his arm slide off my shoulder. If I hadn't already been holding onto his waist he probably would have hit the ground again. I was forced into an awkward half crouch trying to keep him as upright as possible.
"Natsume! Natsume can you hear me!" He wasn't responding. I shook his shoulder, tapped his face, nothing was working. I turned to the cat.
"Sensei, do something!" He just huffed.
"At this point waking him up'll probably just drain him more." He waddled towards Natsume, sniffing at him. "Just carry him. Shouldn't be too hard for you, you're clearly less of a bean sprout than he is." I froze.
"M-Me, carry him to the Fujiwara's?" But Natsume's so- hesitant with people. To be carried around by me, he would-
"Wait, if your spirit form is so 'magnificent', couldn't you carry him?" He just frowned.
"So you'd rather he show up unconscious on his doorstep with no explanation, and nothing but his 'cat'?" The Fujiwaras. I'd never even thought about how they must feel whenever he ends up like this. As much as he probably didn't want me carrying him, I feel like not worrying the Fujiwaras is higher on his priorities.
"Besides, the kid hates it when I carry him in my spirit form. Apparently being carried by a majestic beast such as myself is 'horrifying'." An image of a giant Ponta running through the forest carrying Natsume in his mouth like a kitten popped into my head, and if it had been any other situation I probably would have laughed.
"It's alright, I'll carry him."
Getting Natsume onto my back took a lot more effort than I'd thought. Three times I almost sent him flying backwards onto the ground. I'm just glad I managed to catch him each time, I can't imagine what I would have done if I'd knocked him out even more.
By the time I was even half way to the Fujiwaras' the sun was already setting. The town's quiet enough as it is, and by then most of the people who would have been out were at home having dinner with their families, so the streets were mostly deserted. The only sounds were Ponta's little bell ringing as he walked next to me, and Natsume's faint breathing, and I probably wouldn't have even heard that if it wasn't for his head resting right next to my ear. Other than the occasional murmur he's been just as quiet as the town. Even Ponta didn't say a word, just scanned around the streets, looking for all the spirits I couldn't see.
Somewhat surprisingly, Ponta had been right. Carrying Natsume was actually fairly easy. He was lighter than I expected, even after having carried him in that jar at Omibashira. Quite a lot lighter actually. To the point where I was almost concerned. Given how fat Ponta was, the Fujiwaras were definitely feeding him enough, and I'm no expert on weight, but I couldn't help but wonder. Natsume rarely talked about the other families he stayed with, but from what I could gather, not all of them were as nice as the Fujiwaras (despite what Natsume insisted). But they wouldn't have gone as far to not feed him, would they? Natsume probably just didn't want to burden them and tried to eat as little as possible, but then why would he feel the need to do that in the first place?
Or he's probably just naturally scrawny and I'm overthinking things.
I saw the Fujiwara's house just around the corner, and my heart crawled into my throat. They were probably waiting at the dinner table, thinking he's just running a little late. I hated being the one to shatter that. I'd hoped he'd have woken up by now, but he was still completely motionless in my arms. If this spirit had drained as much power as Ponta said it had…
"How long do you think he'll be out for?" I asked the cat.
"Hmm? Oh he won't be conscious again for at least another six hours." I froze.
"And even after he does wake up he'll be pretty catatonic for at least the next few days, that spirit sucked him dry." I hadn't thought- I had no idea what I'd stepped into was that-
"Was it really that serious? Natsume acted like this was just a regular thing."
"The kid passes out from all this spirit biz all the time, but usually it's from straining his own powers, he has at least some control. Having it sucked out by another spirit though? If you hadn't shown up when you did he'd probably be in a coma." A COMA?! My whole body churned.
But then I paused, there was something else about what he'd said.
"Wait, me? What did I do?" If anything I probably just distracted Natsume and made things worse.
"You crying out distracted the spirit. Apparently you have just enough power to draw its attention. It stopped draining the brat for a second, and I was able to attack it." I helped? By just being there, I helped save his life? After the incident at the mansion I thought I was just hindering him but I, I really helped him.
Then I looked up, and the Fujiwara's door was right in front of me, and Natsume's twice as heavy in my arms. I couldn't bring myself to knock, and only partially because my hands were full holding Natsume's wiry legs. So Ponta knocked at the door instead. I heard faint murmuring from inside as someone came for the door. "Ah, that must be Takashi now." It was Touko. She sounded so happy.
The door opened and she smiled, "Oh! Tanu-" She just stopped, her whole body frozen. Then her face fell, and she cried out. "Takashi!" She rushed towards me, taking his face in her delicate hands. "Oh no, is he alright? What happened?" She stared at me, pleading. Oh no, I should have thought of an explanation beforehand. What do I say?
"I- He's alright, he just-"
"Touko, is something wrong?" It was Shigeru. "Tanu- Takashi!" He rushed over too, though not quite as close as Touko. "Quickly, we should get him to his room, you can explain everything once he's there." I nodded, walking past them through the door, but then I paused, looking at my feet.
"Ah, don't worry about your shoes, it's fine." Touko quickly interrupts. Oh no she's so nice. I hate being the one to make them feel like this.
I followed them up to Natsume's room, and managed to get him off my back onto his futon. The two of them were hovering over him, with Touko gently stroking his hair. And I could no longer put off trying to explain all this. Mentioning him passing out in my arms would probably have freaked them out a bit too much, so I went for something slightly more vague, "I was taking a shortcut home through the forest when I found him like this. It might've been anaemia, or maybe he hit his head, I don't know." The Fujiwaras gasped in unison.
"Poor thing." Touko cooed. "I hope he hasn't hit his head, I couldn't bear to see him in hospital again."
Hospital? What are they- Natsume's never gotten that badly hurt…
…Has he?
I knew I shouldn't pry into Natsume's past, but if something that bad happened to him…
"Hospital?" I asked.
"Ah, didn't Takashi ever tell you anything about how he met us?"
"No, not really. What happened?" Shigeru looked at Touko, who began to speak. She described how she'd run into Natsume, and had arranged with the previous family about taking him in.
"But he went missing before they could tell him. They found him unconscious at the bottom of a cliff, he'd apparently fell and hit his head on the way down." Her voice started to crack. "Poor Takashi had to spend a week in hospital, he was so exhausted."
I knew dealing with spirits was tough, but Natsume had always come out okay. At most he'd be exhausted, and sleep for a day or two but never… I had no idea it got this bad. A week, a whole week in hospital. Lying unconscious in a spirit filled forest for who knows how long. I'd assumed most of the worst spirit stuff started when he moved here and found Ponta, but to think even before meeting his bodyguard he had to deal with this, when he was completely alone…
I looked outside, and suddenly realised how dark it was. My father was probably getting worried now, though at least I wasn't going to show up unconscious on his doorstep.
"I should really get going, it's pretty late." I moved to get up.
"Tanuma no, we couldn't ask you to go back now, not after what's happened." Touko interrupted.
"We couldn't bear it if something happened to you on the way back, it's far too late. You're more than welcome to stay the night here." Shigeru continued.
"It's fine, I wouldn't want to intrude."
"After all you've done for Takashi? Nonsense. And I'm sure he'd like to have a friend here when he wakes up." They both seemed determined to make me stay, and I had to admit I did want to see that Natsume was okay.
"If you really don't mind, I guess. Can I borrow your phone to call my dad first?"
After finally managing to convince my father than yes, I was fine, Natsume was the one who was unconscious, the Fujiwara's insisted I share dinner with them, giving me the meal they'd prepared for Natsume. I felt kind of bad eating it, but he wasn't exactly capable of eating. Though I think Ponta had been hoping they'd give it to him, judging by the glares he was sending me.
They'd set up a spare futon in Natsume's room, and I after watching him for a while, I eventually fell asleep. But it wasn't more than a few hours before I was woken up again. I felt like I'd heard someone say my name, though whether it was a dream or not I still don't know. My eyes were still adjusting to the dark when I heard a faint gasp next to me.
Natsume.
Even in the dark I could see him bolt upright and look around frantically.
"Natsume, you're awake!" For the second time that day, his head shot around and looked straight at mine. I figured he might be surprised to see me in his room, but not this surprised. He looked like he'd seen, well, for lack of a less crude analogy, a ghost. "Are you alright?"
Then he smiled at me, genuinely smiled at me.
"I'm fine," He wasn't lying this time. Then the situation seemed to dawn on him.
"What… happened?" He frowned at me, confused.
"After that spirit drained you I was helping you walk back here, but you passed out on your feet." He visibly winced.
"Sorry… Did Sensei bring me back here?"
"Actually, no I carried you." There was that shocked look again. At least what I saw of it before he buried his head in his hands.
"Oh god I'm so sorry, you didn't have to do that, really." I shuffled closer to him.
"Natsume it's alright, I really don't mind." I opened my palms up in front of him. "I don't mind carrying you for a while if it means you get home safe. And you're not even that heavy." He lifted his hands and looked at me, his eyes wide.
"But not if it means you don't get home safe. What if a spirit had tried to take advantage of my weakness and attacked you?" He stiffened again. "That's assuming they didn't already…"
"Nothing attacked me, I was fine. Sensei was with me the entire time."
"But-"
"Natsume, I'm not going to stop trying to help you when you're in trouble. And I know you would've done the exact same thing if you were in my shoes." He paused, hesitating.
"I know that, but I…" He trailed off, sighing. We probably did need to talk about his fears of involving us in this side of his life, but…
"At least you'd try to; you probably wouldn't be able to carry me very far, given how much of a bean sprout you are." Right now probably isn't the best time.
"Hey, I'm not that weak." He snapped back, grinning.
"Though you really should go back to sleep, you must still be pretty exhausted." I said. As much as I was enjoying the late night conversation, I could see his eyes starting to droop. But saying that seemed to freak him out even more.
"I- I don't actually feel that tired, do you mind talking a bit longer?" Something in my expression must have given away my suspicions, because he immediately apologised. "No, you probably want to go to sleep too, don't worry about it." I would have just let him be, but he seemed so hesitant to go back to sleep, and thinking back to how frightened he'd been when he woke up, something in his sleep must have really spooked him.
"No, if you want to talk that's okay." He looked relieved. "Actually, after all that's happened, there was something I was curious about." And the relief was gone.
"I was wondering, what does Ponta look like? His spirit form I mean." I gestured to the fat cat taking up the entirety of the pillow now that Natsume had lifted his head from it. "Because after today all I can picture is a giant pig cat running through the forest, fighting off spirits."
Natsume paused.
And then laughed, hysterically laughed, clearing all the previous tension. "No, he doesn't look quite like that." He replied, still grinning. He laid down on his side, resting his head on his arm instead of the now occupied pillow. "I can try to describe what he looks like."
"He's a very big, menacing wolf spirit." A wolf? I'd been expecting maybe a giant lion, why would a wolf pretend to be a cat?
"With long white fur, especially on his tail." He then gestured to his face. "And he has red markings around his eyes and forehead." A white wolf with red markings, that sounded familiar… Had Nishimura mentioned something about that once?
"And he has a lot of, uh, very sharp teeth." He seemed to grin nervously at the last description, and the image of Ponta carrying him around in his mouth suddenly became a lot less adorable.
"He can fly too, but he doesn't have wings. I'm not too sure how it works, I think it's some kind of spirit thing…"
"I hope I get to see him in person one day." He didn't respond. Had I said something wrong? I wondered, looking back at him. And for the second time that day, my distracting Natsume had sent him to sleep.
And hopefully helped him out, at least a little.
I woke up early the next morning, partly due to nerves, and partly needing to get up in time to pop back home for school supplies. Natsume was sleeping like a log, having reclaimed his pillow from Ponta at some point in the night. He was normally a pretty light sleeper (at least in class anyway), but he didn't even flinch when I got up. The Fujiwaras were already awake, milling about in the kitchen. They were thrilled to find out Natsume had woken up, and that he hadn't suffered any noticeable brain damage (I knew I shouldn't have suggested a head injury…).
They were so thrilled in fact, they insisted I stay for breakfast. I was about to decline when a voice interrupted.
"Good morning!" Touko and Shigeru's heads both whipped around.
"Takashi!" Natsume was standing at the entrance to the kitchen, smiling nervously. Touko immediately rushed over to him, followed closely by Shigeru.
"Ah! What are you doing, you should be resting!" Touko cried, gently pushing Natsume back towards the stairs. He put his hands up in defense.
"I'm fine, I feel much better now." Touko put her hands on his face, ignoring him.
"Oh dear you're so pale. Come on, back to your room." She wasn't wrong, just looking at the contrast between the colour of Touko's hands and his face was enough to see that.
"But I-"
"A day of rest will do you some good, Takashi. We don't want you passing out again." Shigeru continued, as Touko guided the younger boy up the stairs.
"But school I-"
I interrupted this time. "I'll come by this afternoon and give you today's notes." Natsume sighed, finally following Touko's orders. Despite his protests though, he was still smiling, and genuinely. As much as he hates people fussing over him, I think deep down he does appreciate the fact there are people who care about him that much in the first place.