In a small, peaceful village, just by the green meadow blooming with lotus flowers, a boy in his school uniform, a black gakuran and similar dark slacks, sat alone silently as he simply enjoyed the cool breeze brushing his face. Nyanko-sensei, a beastly ayakashi in a pig-like shaped lucky cat, was busy getting drunk with the Dog's Circle in the middle of the day as usual.
Hazel eyes fluttered open and close once in a while, staring at the vast blue sky. He was waiting. Waiting for a friend to arrive. So they could go to the festival near a shrine on top of a mountain as promised. Unbelievable, wasn't it? He, an unsociable 'weird' boy who could see things that were not supposed to be real ever since he was a kid, was finally able to live a normal high schooler life.
"Hey, Natsume! Sorry, did you wait long? I had class duty just now! " A dark-haired boy, wearing the same uniform, approached him from behind and he jolted out of shock. That was out of habit of course. The boy was slightly out of breath and he wondered if he ran to get here from school. But the again, why would he? Right?
"Tanuma. What did I tell you about taking me by surprise? I thought you were some yōkai and was about to punch you." The blond replied, showing his ball of fist. His quickened heartbeat slowly calmed down and his muscles relaxed. That was the norm anyway. Countless yōkai had come with their sneak attacks and he'd pummel them face first every single time.
Tanuma sheepishly laughed all the while scratching his right cheek out of the tiny guilt he felt for startling his friend so. "Sorry, I kinda forgot about that. Thanks for not punching me, I guess..?" He then offered a hand to the shorter boy for him to stand up and their hands touched, a brief jolt of electricity experienced by both but they decided not to mention anything, worried that it will ruin their friendship that they tried so hard to protect.
"Thanks." Natsume gladly took the hand into his own and pulled himself up with ease. The electrostatic feeling lingered and somehow, both of them didn't bother retracting their interlinked hands. Only the heat spreading up to their faces was preventing them from getting lost in their own world.
Ten seconds of silence passed and yet neither of them had release the hold on each other hands yet.
'Do I let go of his hand now?
What if he gets mad?
Did I just missed the chance to do so?
What should I say to not make it awkward between us?'
Not long after, the two of them broke into a small laugh at the same time. They were simply not used this. If before, Natsume was dubbed as a liar countless times by kids his age when he was younger while Tanuma was always sickly, laying on the futon for as long as he could remember, but now, both of them were able to leave their lonely pasts behind.
"We're thinking too much of the smallest things, aren't we?" Natsume spoke first with a bashful smile and Tanuma nodded in agreement when he noticed something was amiss. Right, Ponta. Where was he? "Pon- I mean, where's Nyanko-sensei?"
Wow, it's still pretty embarrassing to say it...
"Ah, that good-for-nothing cat is busy getting drunk with the Middle-Class yōkai near your place, Tanuma." Natsume replied, his tone of voice a little annoyed as he lightly shook his head in dismay.
"In broad daylight? But, didn't he like festivals? He goes 'ikayaki is love, ikayaki is life' every time." Commented the taller of the two and the blond instantly laughed at the remark.
"Now that you mentioned it, he did asked me to buy some for him. Maybe I should put some wasabi inside the squid as punishment for not doing his job right." The blond sounded a little too serious his friend was unsure to laugh or not.
"Scary." Grinned Tanuma anyway and Natsume smiled beautifully in response leaving the raven-haired boy mesmerized for a minute or so before he abruptly spoke up again, "Shall we go then? Before it gets too crowded."
"Let's."
And they walked in a comfortable silence accompanied by various crickets' humming once in a while. But they remained wary of any sign of yōkai attacks or mischiefs.
Looking at the frail blond, Tanuma felt strong admiration towards Natsume at how strong he is emotionally. Losing both parents at a young age where he could barely remember his father's face, the harsh treatment of moving between places so that he could not even made friends properly.
He was thankful to the Fujiwara couple for taking the blond in and treating him like a child of their own. And slowly but surely enough, Natsume started to warm up to the Fujiwaras and was able to have friends whom he could play with, whom would care for him during both happy or hard times.
Glancing to his left, Tanuma noticed that the blond was drowning in his own thoughts so he didn't bother starting a conversation but instead, he took that time to secretly stare at his shorter friend whose face had considerably softened over the past few months they had known. He became...cheerier.
'He'll tell me himself. Anything regarding yōkai that's bothering him if there is any, I asked him to keep no secret and Natsume agreed, albeit reluctantly at first.
We made that promise under a large oak tree where I was lying on the grass, recovering from the poisonous miasma by a terrifying evil spirit and when Natsume sat beside me with a worried-to-death expression, and at that time, I felt angry at no one but myself. Because of me, he wore such an expression. Which was why I vowed to never let him, my precious friend, suffered because of me again.'
Too lost in reminiscence, Tanuma failed to realise a danger impeding, sneaking up to both of the unaware boys in absolute silence.
All of a sudden, he felt sick to the stomach along with a stinging headache, the signs when unearthly beings are nearby. The pain caused him to kneel down on one of the steps of the winding stairs leading to the shrine. The dreadful feeling he felt was not for himself but for the blond beside him, "Natsume..!"
Tanuma leaped in front of the shocked Natsume who was already yelling his name loudly with a loud 'DON'T!' and both of them were just about to fall down the stairs had a gust of wind not come or in actuality – Nyanko-sensei in his original form of an enormous white beast, catching them by his mouth. "You're such a handful, Natsume." Boomed Madara (Nyanko's real name) as he slowly hoisted them down on the ground, secluded from other people. "Why is it that I always find you in a dangerous predicament every time, everywhere?"
Unfortunately, his nagging went in one ear, out of the other as Natsume rushed to the unconscious ravenette without even a snappy reply. "Tanuma..! Tanuma, are you okay..?!" He was careful not to shake the boy too much but seeing a slight cut on his face scared him so much. His tears were close to spill out of his trembling honey eyes. And sensei took back his calico cat form, scampering with his stubbly legs towards the two. "I sensed an ayakashi's scent on him." Growled the overweight round cat and Natsume dumbly replied; "A...a large and dark vicious-looking yōkai came flying towards us and Tanuma, he... shielded me without thinking..."
"Rest assure. The perpetrator had already left his body but he may experience some aftereffects which may or may not threaten his life."
"...huh? Tha-that can't be- what's going to happen to Tanuma..?"
"I'm not sure yet. We have to wait and see when he wakes up." Sensei replied truthfully and received a weak nod from the other moments later.
"Tanuma...please wake up. Please!" Natsume pleaded with a shaky voice, a drop of tear fell onto the ravenette's face when the blond looked down at him. He was so scared. Scared that his friends would get hurt just by associating with him only because he could see them. It wasn't fair... It never was but now he understood why his late grandmother; Reiko-san refused any type of relationship until her death.
Just then, closed eyes slowly winced open when the ravenette felt droplets of water on his face only to see his most precious person crying softly whilst calling out to his name repeatedly. Sensei saw this, his eyes turned sharp and calculating as a few too many thoughts ran through his mind.
"Natsu...me..?" Tanuma groaned automatically when he realised his head was throbbing immensely. He felt a hand gripping his own tightly and only then did he noticed Natsume's watery eyes as dark orbs languidly travelled up. "Why are you crying..?"
"Because Tanuma, you..! You suddenly collapsed just now so I thought something had...some-" Natsume started, accidentally choking up his words before coughing a bit, tears streamed down his cheeks continuously. It was very uncharacteristic of him, both thought but the blond couldn't care less, he was just worried to death for his dear friend.
And the ravenette didn't remember how fast he propped himself up to bring the crying blond in his arms. "Shh... Don't cry, I'm alright now. Sorry to have worried you so." Natsume immediately froze in Tanuma's arms but the heat radiated to his body was so warm, his words so soothing and he felt so safe, so he ended up winding his arms around the boy too, hesitant at first but then firm.
They stayed close in each other's embrace for a while longer, until Natsume's tears dried up, his shoulders stopped shaking and both suddenly consumed by a strong feeling of exhaustion. And Nyanko-sensei? He was nowhere to be seen.
They went back to Tanuma's house as it was closer and his dad was out on a business trip leaving just the two of them. That way, they wouldn't risk worrying Touko-san and Shigeru-san as much, covering the fact with a harmless sleepover.
"Oof!" Natsume unconsciously let out a puff of air as he finally laid the half-awake ravenette onto the bed, afterwards slumping down to the wooden floor. Tanuma was heavier than he looked, he monologued internally, catching back his breath. Standing back on his feet, Natsume glanced at the now sleeping boy before heading towards the kitchen to fetch a basin of water and some hand towels.
'I should make some rice gruel for him before he wakes up.' He thought, reaching for the apron he always wore whenever they cooked dinnertogether during their occasional sleepovers. The recent one they made was omurice, that tasted quite good considering how clueless they were in the cooking department. Thinking about that memory where he accidentally squirted the ketchup on Tanuma's face brought a warm smile to his face as he began rinsing the rice under the water tap.
Tanuma woke up a few hours later and Natsume readied the gruel he prepared earlier for him to eat.
"How are you feeling right now?" questioned the blond as soon as the ravenette finished the last spoon of the gruel. "And how many times did I tell you not to shield me from them. What if they kill you? You can't even see them clearly, how are you going to even evade them? Don't you know how worried sick I was when I saw you collapsed suddenly? And you-!"
Tanuma laughed aloud all of a sudden at Natsume's continuous nagging, he had muttered all those sentences in one breath, how incredible!
"You're laughing too much!" Straw-coloured eyebrows frowned in annoyance but his face slowly dyed in a pretty tomato red colour from embarrassment.
"Sorry, Natsume. I'll make it up to you in the next festival, okay? How about a plate of takoyaki?" Tanuma said, holding on to the thin wrist of a slightly flushed blond.
"Alright, but I want a candied apple along with that." Came the playful reply, there was mirth in those gleaming caramel eyes.
Ah, he's beautiful.
Mused Tanuma, light pink gradually dusted his slightly pale cheeks. "Beautiful..."
"Huh? W-what did you say?" Natsume stammered as they separated their hands, blinking furiously towards the now turned beet red ravenette as he quickly added, "T-the carps..! I mean, I can see only the reflection but I imagine a very beautiful red for their scales as you said."
The two then brought their attention to the ceiling, a reflection of a pond full with koi fishes swimming about – only there was none. If you look outside the garden there wasn't any, but that was just how it was. An ayakashi pond, invisible to others but not those who could see.
"Yeah, it's indeed beautiful." Natsume finally said, not forgetting that ever so soft smile gracing his pink lips. And the ravenette unconsciously gulped hard at such a sight. Because really, every single thing that Natsume did and said seemed very much adorable and would definitely be the death of him one day.
Without a warning, Tanuma suddenly curled like a ball on top of his bed, screaming in pain as he clutched at his burning chest. He was feeling hot and feverish all over, like he was boiled in flaming lava or scorched under the burning sun for days. Something was not right..! It felt as if something was trying to crawl out of his gut. His first words to the panicking blond was, "R-run, Natsume! Something coming..! Run before it's too late!"
Natsume ignored the warning and moved closer to the spastic ravenette instead, holding him by the waist, rubbing his back with his free hand. "Are you okay? Where does it hurt? I'll call the doctor for you now-!"
"..ah?!" He was cut short when Tanuma pushed him down quite roughly on the creaky bed and locked his arms on each side of his body with an insane amount of force so that he couldn't even free himself. "Tanuma, w-what are you...?" He then gasped when he saw the once blackcurrant eyes drastically turned bloody red. A yōkai was currently possessing him! Or at least, it left something inside to control the unknowing boy?!
"Tanuma? Tanuma, snap out of it, please!" Natsume squirmed further using all of his strength this time but to no avail. A thousand and one thoughts ran through his mind on what the ravenette would do to him if not stopped, given how malicious a yōkai could be.
In seconds, the possessed boy leaned closer, resulting in a little squeak from the frightened blond. He kept inching his face closer until Natsume could feel his hot breath on his own face. Shutting his eyes, he turned his head to the side and avoided any eye contact. His gaze burning and Natsume could feel him piercing straight to his heart. Tanuma – no, the yōkai controlling him was scaring him so, and he unwillingly trembled, wanting to escape but not wanting to hurt his dear friend. "Please... let me go..."
Rustle.
Natsume reopened his eyes in disbelief when he felt something soft touching his lips. Tanuma was...kissing him? Gently, carefully, almost imploringly as to not break him. A drop of tear fell from his eye before he broke down crying without actually knowing why.
"...Natsume..?" Blink. Tanuma's eyes returned to their original colour, meeting with watery caramel ones. Did seeing Natsume crying brought him back to consciousness somehow?
"Tanuma..! Is that really you, Tanuma?"
"Ye-yes, it's me. Did I... Did I do something to you?" The ravenette quietly asked as he pulled away from the blond, fright evident in his eyes.
"No, you didn't." Natsume replied almost immediately. He lied because one; he didn't want to worry his friend and two; he didn't know how to really break it to him. Tanuma had just stole his first kiss, or maybe it was correct to say they both shared their first kiss together.
"Natsume, I-agh!" Tanuma gripped his chest once more, books toppling down when he bumped shoulder with the bookshelf and yet again, Natsume flew to his aid only to be caught by the ravenette, mind controlled once more.
"Natsume!"
Out of the blue, a loud booming voice echoed from the living room and Madara stormed inside the bedroom carrying a mouldy green pellet in his mouth. "Give this to Tanuma boy! It'll heal him from any impurity residing in him!"
"Sensei..! Alright, I understand..!" Natsume lightly pushed and slipped from Tanuma's grasp to catch the marble-like medicine before forcing it into the slightly opened mouth of the ravenette, whom involuntarily swallowed it. Tanuma immediately fell to the floor, writhing in pain for a few seconds before throwing up a black sludgy stone in which was destroyed seconds later by sensei.
"O-ow...where..?" Dark-coloured eyes winced open from what seemed like the longest nightmare he ever had.
"Tanuma... How are you feeling?" Once again, Natsume was by his side, just finished changing fresh clean towel on his forehead. But this time, Ponta was next to him, napping away with an imaginary bubble formed on his nostril.
"Deja vu..." He whispered whilst chuckling, feeling a lot better now already. Natsume shot a perplexed look only to find the ravenette laughing now but tears streamed down his ample cheeks. "I'm so sorry... And thank you..!" He moved without thinking to embrace the weeping boy and consoled him with a few rubs to the back. "It's okay... It's okay now so don't worry about it, Tanuma." That was when sensei stretched languidly before making his way out of the bedroom as if to not disturb their private conversation – you could say he could easily read the mood and knew when he should go or stay. Natsume nodded his thanks and redirected his attention to the sullen-looking ravenette when an idea popped into mind.
"Tanuma, please look at me."
Tanuma easily obliged as he faced the calm blond and that was when Natsume pulled him closer before stealing a kiss from him – directly on the lips. Pulling back a little, he sweetly smiled, "Payback for earlier."
"Huh..?" Tanuma could only blushed as his system seemed to be failing him after the kiss. Only then did he recalled kissing the blond the first time and he had the audacity to ask if he did something or not? A voice inside him urged to say what he meant to say for a long time now. The kiss definitely gave him a boost of confidence to come clean with his feelings once and for all. Gently hugging the blond, he softly said, "I love you, Natsume. I always have."
A full blown blush, rapid heartbeats and glassy eyes ensued as Natsume shakily returned the hug, kindness and warmth emanated from the other and he welcomed them openly, replying in a shy quiet tone, "Took the words right out of my mouth. I also... I love you too, Tanuma." After finishing his last sentence, the blond shyly hid his face on Tanuma's chest whose heart rate had already skyrocketed by a mile now.
The ravenette then wound his arms around Natsume and situated his chin on the thin shoulder, taking in the blond's calming smell of fresh meadows and the sun. "Remember when you said I shouldn't have shielded you? I'm glad I did and you would always come before myself every time, every single day of our lives because you're precious to me and I wouldn't want anything bad happen to you, do you understand?"
Natsume blinked back tears that threatened to spill out of his amber orbs, Tanuma's every word overwhelmed him so, he felt so needed, so protected and he wanted nothing but to do the same to the ravenette, his most precious person as well. "Thank you, Tanuma. And I shall protect you too." At that moment, he felt his chin being lifted up before the raven-headed boy pulled him into a kiss, deeper and longer than before, leaving both breathless but wanting for more. Slowly, the two slipped down on the bed with the ravenette on top, feeling each other's body and the warmth of their touches, afterwards drowning in a heavenly euphoria until morning.
End
*gakuran – derived from French Army uniforms. The terms gaku means study or student and ran means the West so technically gakuran means Western student uniform
*sensei – used to address someone respectable such as a teacher, doctor etc
*ayakashi – a collective name for yōkai that appear above the surface of some body or water
* yōkai – supernatural monsters that appear above water that are invisible to the naked eye of human with a few exceptions for those with the ability to see them (sort of like having a sixth sense)
*ikayaki – fried squid
*takoyaki – octopus ball
*omurice – omelette fried rice
*koi fish - carps
Been following Natsume Yuujinchou since the first season and I only had the urge and the idea of what to write just recently. I simply love the Tanuma×Natsume pairing the most because it's the purest of all other pairings imo (say, with Natori or Matoba or even with a humanoid Madara for example) The djs are scarce but that's fine since this anime is too pure to be tainted too much lol.