A/N: my entry for NatsumeWeek 2018 in tumblr. Prompt for Day 1: Natsume's birthday. I had a fun time writing this, especially exploring Natsume's biological parents. I hope you enjoy!
Thanks for reading! Comments and reviews are much appreciated^^
It was Saturday morning and the sun was halfway up in the sky. In his room, Natsume was idly going through his grandmother's box. There was nothing he was searching for specifically, nothing he wanted to do, and Nyanko-sensei hadn't come back from wherever he had gone the night before. Before he knew it, his feet had led him to the closet where he kept the box with everything his family had owned in it.
He opened a book and found the piece of old photograph. The folded picture of his parents he had kept safely hidden in one of the books. Happy smiles before he was born, his mother heavily pregnant with him. The picture pulled at his heart strings and a wistful smile caressed his lips. Was there ever a picture after he was born? He didn't know. This was the only picture he remembered having.
That was when Nyanko-sensei appeared at the open window.
"Sensei!" Natsume reprimanded him. "Where have you been all night?"
"Drinking, Natsume," Nyanko-sensei replied between hiccups. "Drinking." He looked sober enough, though, and he leaped down to the floor. He settled down on the tatami mat, but before he close his eyes, he said, "Oh, right, Natsume, I saw that Natori boy on my way back."
"What?"
But Nyanko-sensei was already fast asleep, and not a moment too soon, Natsume heard Touko-san calling for him from downstairs.
"Takashi-kun! There's someone here to see you!"
What?!
Treading his steps carefully down the stairs, he saw Touko standing by the front door, talking with someone. And that someone had the unmistakable voice of Natori.
He reached the landing and both Touko and Natori looked up. Natori had that smile that clearly said he was up to something but Touko was all happy smiles and Natsume was hesitant to approach them.
"Ah! Takashi-kun!" Touko exclaimed. "Natori-san is here."
"Hello, Natsume," Natori greeted him with a smile. That annoying actor grin that seemed to be able to charm everyone and Natsume cringed.
"Hi," Natsume greeted back, warily going over to where they stand. "What brings you here, Natori-san?"
Natori laughed. "Don't be so cold like that, Natsume! I was just in the neighborhood and I wanted to say hi."
"Huh…"
"My new movie is being filmed not far from here and I decided to walk around the town for a while. And then a thought crossed me. Why not invite you to my set?"
"What?"
"You've never been to one of my sets, right?"
Why would I want to see one of your sets? He wanted to ask, but with Touko-san beaming from ear to ear as if it was the most wonderful news she had ever heard, he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.
"Though maybe you'll have to stay the night there since the filming will take place until night time."
"Oh, uh—"
"That's a splendid idea, Natori-san!" Touko-san exclaimed, hands clapped together, cutting across anything Natsume was about to say. "Where will you be staying?"
What?! Natsume couldn't wipe the surprise from his face at Touko-san's sudden decision.
"We have rented an inn. You don't have anything to worry about, Fujiwara-san." That annoying smile again.
"You'll go, won't you, Takashi-kun?"
"Eh—But—Touko-san—"
"Don't worry about a thing. We can push it until the afternoon." Touko-san was smiling so earnestly Natsume didn't find it in him to say no. She cupped his cheek and there was warmth in her eyes as she said, "It'll be fun."
"Okay," Natsume said at last.
Natori, who was looking at this exchange in somewhat confusion, asked, "Am I intruding upon something?" Natori asked.
And Touko had that joyous beam again as she said to Natori, "No, of course not, Natori-san. Have fun, okay?"
~ O ~
"Why the sudden invitation, Natori-san?"
It was still within the hour since Natori-san came unannounced to the Fujiwara's place and they were now riding a train that would take them to Natori's movie set, a couple hours from there.
"You even took an additional two-hour train ride just to look for Natsume," Nyanko-sensei piped up, popping his head out of Natsume's bag on the seat beside Natsume. "It's fishy."
"I can assure you that my master is not planning any sort of harm to befall Natsume."
A new, disembodied voice that came out of nowhere and then Hiiragi appeared right in the aisle.
"Hiiragi!" Natsume exclaimed.
"Good morning, Natsume," Hiiragi greeted with a dip of her head.
Nyanko-sensei crinkled his nose. "It's still fishy. Don't you remember that time you asked him to go with you to a hot-spring resort and it ended up being another exorcist job? It's bad enough that I have to look after him on a daily basis. An additional threat is not helpful at all."
"Sensei!" Natsume reprimanded him.
"Hmph!"
But Natori just laughed it off. "I understand you being wary, but I promise that it's not a youkai job this time. It really is just a movie set."
"Really?"
"Really."
And the smile on Natori's face was a soft, genuine smile, unlike the fake shady things he'd had all day that it made the tension on Natsume's shoulders loosened.
"I mean, after knowing how reckless you can be, how could I consciously bring you to someplace dangerous? Not to mention, you attract a lot of youkai everywhere you go."
There was a slight teasing lilt in his voice, and a hint of worry, and Natsume couldn't find the courage to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry," was all he said as he cast his eyes downward.
Natori's eyes softened. "You have nothing to be sorry about," he said gently. "It's just… the inn we're staying at is really nice, and I wanted to bring you along. Someone to talk to, you know." Natori smiled a wistful smile at the passing scenery of plains and forests and mountains, and Natsume was again reminded that he was the only person Natori could talk to about youkai without having the need to put up guards.
And it was the same for him too. Even though he had Tanuma and Taki with whom he could talk, they couldn't see what he saw nor hear what he heard so they couldn't entirely understand him, no matter how hard they might try to do so.
"I know," Natsume replied softly and he could see Natori's smile stretched wider.
~ O ~
The small town where the train stopped was located at the foot of a hill and when they exited the station, Natori pointed to an old, majestic building at the top of the hill. It appeared the building had been an empty mansion a long time ago before some people bought it and renovated into the inn it was today. The movie would be filmed in the town and in that inn specifically and it would take another half hour for them to walk up the hill to the inn. On the way, Natori's phone rang and Natsume could hear an irritated scream at the other end of the line while Natori only laughed apologetically and said he would arrive at the inn soon.
"Are you late, Natori-san?" Natsume asked when Natori hung up his phone.
"Haha… more or less." He didn't elaborate, but they quickened their pace.
On the outside, the inn already looked majestic, but when they finally reached the place, Natsume could feel how this mansion had probably belonged to some prominent people so long ago-the huge wall surrounding the perimeter and the wide courtyard, worn stone steps up the side of the hill toward the rich wooden double-door entrance, and huge ancient trees that seemed to have rooted so deep they would never budge no matter how strong the wind was.
In the courtyard, people were already busy setting up cameras and lighting, shouting orders, running here and there for various tasks.
A man noticed them and separated himself from the group he'd been talking to, immediately running up to them with an irritated look on his face. Apparently that man was Natori's manager, and he gave Natori an earful before he glanced at Natsume and dismissed him entirely, only to tell Natori to quickly join them because they were running late. Natori apologized with a chuckle and promised to come down once he put his things in his room, so he brought Natsume inside the inn and went to the receptionist and got his room key because apparently, Natori had already booked another room beforehand.
The movie crew had their rooms on the East Wing while Natsume's was the first room on the West. Apparently they had rented most of the inn so Natori told Natsume he was probably free to explore.
"Ah, here," Natori handed him an ID card. "Put it around your neck. You'll be able to access most of the place now."
A movie crew identity card.
"Thank you, Natori-san," Natsume said with a bow.
Their room was decent and quite big to have all to themselves. On the second floor, and the window on the other side showed them a beautiful view of a little garden with a cluster of small trees and bushes around a still pond with pebbles and rocks, and beyond that was the wall and the town stretching below.
Nyanko-sensei leaped out of the bag and shook himself free at last. Natsume was standing by the window, taking in the full view of the garden and the inn.
"Natori-san wasn't kidding when he said that this inn was really nice," Natsume mused as Nyanko-sensei hopped onto the sill beside him, standing with perfect balance.
"Sure, and I'll bet the sake they serve here will be delicious!" Nyanko-sensei added.
Natsume leaned against the window sill, eyes gazing down at the little pond on the ground beneath his window. The small garden looked so peaceful. The entire inn felt peaceful. Maybe he could walk around the ground before going down to Natori's movie set.
But in the middle of his reverie, he felt he heard a voice. The voice was so faint, he thought he was imagining it. But he heard it, a female voice, soft and melancholy.
Natsume…
He looked around.
Natsume…
His gaze fell on the pond below.
Natsume…
He saw a flitting shadow over the water and a moment later-
An eye filled his vision, wide and unblinking, and Natsume screamed, leaping away from the window.
"Natsume?" Nyanko-sensei stared at him.
Heart pounding, he stared hard at the window, but nothing was coming at him. He pricked his ear. The voice was gone. Maybe he was imagining it.
But Nyanko-sensei was still staring at him.
"It's nothing, Sensei," he tried to say.
But Nyanko-sensei didn't break his stare. "That Natori boy may not have intended to bring you for an ayakashi job, but this place is old. Keep the Book close, Natsume," and he jumped down from the window and Natsume frowned.
Sure, keep the Book close and you're leaving me to fight on my own.
Once his heart had calmed down, Natsume decided to peer over the window. The pond was as still as he had seen it before. Not a trace of wind nor the eye he'd seen. Maybe he was imagining it.
~ O ~
Leaving his room, Natsume decided to explore the inn. He brought the Book in his waist bag and kept a hand on it all the time, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. The staff were very nice and they left him to explore the rest of the inn. The gardens had been beautiful, and Natsume, curious, went to look for the little pond beneath his window. He found it, but it didn't feel any different from the other parts of the inn. He couldn't see anything, and could hear nothing.
He found Natori and the rest of the movie staff near the courtyard where they first arrived. The filming was underway and Natsume could see some of the inn staff, especially the female ones, had gathered around. He joined them, standing a bit to the side, and spotted Natori at the center of the huge circle with a woman who was probably the lead actress. Watching them… Natsume thought Natori's usual daily act was unbearable. He tried hard not to cringe in front of all these people.
"Natsume."
Hiiragi appeared right beside him so suddenly that it made him jump.
"Don't scare me like that!" Natsume hissed when he realized who it was. He was still being apprehensive from the Eye before and Hiiragi's sudden arrival wasn't helping at all.
"I'm sorry, Natsume."
Natsume sighed. "Do you always accompany Natori even on his official work?"
"Yes," Hiiragi said matter-of-factly. "You never know when a youkai might appear unexpectedly. It's best for someone to stay by his side at all times."
Natsume nodded absently, and he continued to watch Natori. It wasn't long before his attention was fully absorbed by the actors and the crew. It was all really new, how movie crew worked. Take after take, scene after scene.
"Aren't you bored, Natsume?" Hiiragi asked after a while.
"No," Natsume said. "I thought I'd be, but this is actually interesting to see."
"Don't you mean 'entertaining'?" Nyanko-sensei, who had disappeared since they reached their room, now appeared on Natsume's other side. "Anyway, Natsume," he went on, as if he hadn't said a word, "don't forget to tell him to tell the staff to bring two sets of dinner to our room. They're serving steak tonight and I'm not sharing with you!"
Natsume chuckled. "Did you check the kitchen, Sensei?"
"Of course I did!" Nyanko-sensei exclaimed.
"Careful you don't grow fatter, pig-cat," Hiiragi commented.
"Shut up, you one-eyed demon!"
Sparks flew between them and Natsume stepped aside, not really caring anymore what the two of them did to each other.
~ O ~
When Natori had a short break, all the female employees that had gathered around immediately squealed.
"As popular as ever, isn't he?" Nyanko-sensei commented, just as Natori spotted the three of them together and smiled, which made all the girls around squealed even more.
"Natsume!" he called, hand high in the air in a wave.
Both Natsume and Nyanko-sensei narrowed their eyes in irritation.
"Let's leave, Sensei."
"Agreed."
They turned and left, leaving Natori shouting, "Ah—wait!"
~ O ~
Natsume decided to explore the inn some more but in the end, his feet brought him back to the little pond beneath his room. It was near enough the entrance that he could still hear the hustle and bustle of the movie crew and the inn staff in the background. But at the same time, it was far enough that the place was deserted and quiet and peaceful.
The leaves shifted in a gentle wind, and the water surface broke into small ripples.
Natsume didn't know why but he felt a sudden urge to look at his parents' photograph. He fished it from inside his waist bag and the moment the photograph was out—
Natsume…
That voice again. Female and lilting.
Natsume…
The wind grew stronger and the clouds seemed to move to cover the sun.
Natsume…
"Natsume!"
Nyanko-sensei's voice was faint but Natsume's eyes were fixed on the figure who had appeared above the center of the rippling water. A woman, with long silvery hair and a white kimono. A beautiful, serene face. Beside him, Nyanko-sensei had transformed into his true form, growling at the figure with both front paws on either side of Natsume. But the woman figure didn't so much as flinch as her eyes were solely directed toward Natsume.
"You were the one who had called me," Natsume stated.
The woman nodded. "You have her scent."
"My grandmother?"
"Yes."
"My grandmother is dead. I'm her grandson, Na—"
"I know who you are, Natsume Takashi," the woman said. Natsume blinked. This was the first time any youkai had called him by name the first time they saw him. "And I have been looking for you."
The woman seemed to grow and seemed to move. But it was so fast none of them could follow her with their eyes, not even Madara who had stood protectively around Natsume, and in the blink of an eye, the woman's eyes were right before him.
Darkness took him.
~ O ~
Where am I…? Help! Someone!
"Hello." It's a human I have never seen. A curious look in her eyes and a grin on her face. And the human is looking straight at me and she is talking to me. "I'm Reiko. Natsume Reiko."
I had never talked to a human. Heard they were nothing but trouble. But this little one—she had no fear in her eyes. Defiant… and lonely. An unintentional kindness moved me and I wanted to stay by her side. She had saved me, and in return, I wanted to save her. She asked for my name and I gave her. When she left, I followed her. I followed her everywhere and every day even when she tried her best to be rid of me. I vowed to myself I would protect her.
But humans died, and so did she, and I could do nothing to stop it. I thought I had failed her. Yet she left me with her child who could not see us and my vow was renewed and I would stay by her child and give her the life that she deserved.
~ O ~
Natsume stood at the edge of a bright room. Monitors were beeping. People in gowns were moving this way and that. Orders were shouted. And in the center was a table, and a woman, heavily pregnant. Guttural cries escaped the woman's open mouth and beside her was a man who held firmly onto the woman's hands, as though he were a lifeline. As though her life would slip away the moment he let go of her.
A lump formed on his throat. They wore familiar faces he had seen in the photograph, the ones that were long gone from his memories. And Natsume watched as his father whispered things to his mother, tears rolling down one by one as he fought against them and tried to be strong. He watched, as the doctors and nurses tried their best to save the baby. He watched as his mother lost her energy to live by the minute.
And he watched as the woman in white stood at the head of the table, unseen by others, sorrow and grief lining her strained face, watching as the event unfolded before her and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
What happened? He wanted to ask. What had happened?
None of his relatives ever told him. None of his relatives ever cared.
Why are you showing this to me?
When did the tears start flowing? When did he start screaming for his parents who could not hear him?
Before him, the scenery changed, and the doctors were gone, and it was just his mother and his father with a bundle of baby in his mother's arms.
"Takashi," said his mother. "Let's call him 'Takashi.'" His mother hugged his little body. Her breathing was ragged and her chest was heaving. Her face was so ashen, so pale. She had bled a lot. Her life was leaving her.
"I'm sorry, Takashi." Her voice was no more than a whisper. "I'm sorry I won't be able to be there for you." A tear fell down the corner of her eyes. She pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I love you."
~ O ~
Natsume gasped.
Heads turned and then shouts. His name. It took a while but he recognized Natori and Hiiragi and Nyanko-sensei in his immediate line of sight. He recognized the ceiling of his room at the inn, and he realized that he was crying.
"Natori-san?" he said, his voice quiet and sore, as if he had been screaming. "What happened?"
Natori drew a breath of relief as he sat back down. "Thank God!"
"Are you all right, Natsume?" Hiiragi asked as she helped him to a sitting position.
It was still disorienting and his head swam at the sudden movement but from the looks of it, night had probably fallen.
"How long was I out?"
"Eight hours at the least?" Natori said. He brushed his hands through his hair roughly. "Seriously! I took my eyes off of you for a moment and you got in trouble with a youkai! Aren't you supposed to be his guardian, Sensei?!"
"Don't you go blaming me!" Nyanko-sensei growled and it took another moment for Natsume to realize that Sensei was in his true form, forepaw pinning a figure to the floor, those fangs so close he could chop off its head in an instant, and Natsume yelled at him to stop.
"What are you doing, Natsume?" Madara growled at him.
"Just stop it, Sensei! She doesn't mean any harm."
"Doesn't mean any harm, you say?" Natori was now the one who stood up and brought out all of his exorcising equipment. "Hiiragi."
"Yes." Hiiragi was immediately up with her sword drawn.
"Stop!" Natsume shouted, but it took a toll on his body and he swayed, bracing his hands on the floor. Seeing he hadn't fully recovered, the three others backed down, and Nyanko-sensei transformed back into a cat.
Once everyone calmed down, Natsume looked to where the woman youkai was now sitting. She bowed low before them and in a quiet, serene voice, she said, "I'm very sorry for my rough treatment, Natsume-sama. I might have been too emotional. I have been looking for you for years. I am—I was—Reiko-sama's guardian."
"Guardian?" Nyanko-sensei asked with a scoff. "That Reiko would never allow someone to be her guardian."
"You are correct. She never asked me. I was the one who decided to stay."
"And you were also with my mother?" Natsume asked. There must have beens something in his voice that stopped the others from speaking out of turn.
"Yes."
"Why?" They had no contract. She could have just left. Then a thought struck him. "Did Reiko-san use your name?"
The woman youkai sat up and there was sorrow on her face. The same sorrow Natsume had seen in the memory she had showed him and she slowly shook her head. "She asked me to protect her," the youkai answered. "It was the only thing she had ever asked of me and not once did she use my name." The youkai paused and Natsume waited. "I failed Reiko," she added, her shoulders slumping forward, dejected, "and I thought to myself, I could not fail her daughter. But I did."
"You didn't fail her."
"But I did. Her body had always been weak. I should've—"
"You didn't fail my mother." And it was the firmness in Natsume's voice that stopped the youkai from blaming herself even more. "Humans die. It's the way of our life. You can't stop it. You said my mother had a weak body. She probably couldn't have lived the way she had lived her life if you hadn't been there to protect her. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you." Because he'd seen it, the way the youkai had stood steadfastly beside his mother, the strain in her face as she tried to lend any sort of strength to keep his mother awake long enough for her to give birth.
There were tears in her eyes as the youkai once again bowed and apologized. Apologized that she couldn't save his mother. Couldn't save his father. Couldn't prevent Natsume for being orphaned at such a young age. But Natsume never blamed her. He was the person he was now because all of the things that had happened in his life. And if he were given the chance to go back in time, he would not change a thing.
"Do you want your name back?" Natsume asked.
Natsume had expected her to nod, to ask for it like many other youkai he had come across, but instead, the woman just shook her head and she smiled gently as she said, "Maybe some other time, Natsume-sama. Who knows? You may need my assistance in the coming future."
Natsume chuckled but Nyanko-sensei raised his hackles and was growling threateningly.
"I don't need some foolhardy ayakashi be the boy's guardian. If anything, you should bring me a powerful man-eating youkai so I can be done with all this nonsense."
But the youkai woman only smiled ruefully at that. "Protect him," was all she said, before she bowed, stood up, and faded away.
~ O ~
Natori drew a deep weary sigh. There were dark circles under his eyes as he slumped against the seat of the train back home.
"You didn't get any sleep, Natori-san?" Natsume asked.
"After all that trouble? How could I?" Natori said. He eyed Natsume, who was eating the bento he'd bought at the train station, skeptically.
The moment Natsume left the movie set, Natori had set Hiiragi to follow him, only to have Hiiragi come back thirty minutes later that she couldn't find Natsume anywhere. No Natsume, no pig-cat. How shocked he had been when he received the news.
Natori apologized to his manager, apologized to the director, and immediately sent a search party of all his shiki around the inn and the town below. It was an hour or two later that Natori found them on the little pond beneath Natsume's room, sprawled on the ground, a youkai beside them, and Nyanko-sensei slapping Natsume's face awake. He would have killed the youkai if Nyanko-sensei hadn't stopped him and told him that it would damage Natsume if he severed their bond forcefully.
In the end, they brought Natsume back to his room and waited for him to wake up. After everything was done, however, he ended up sleeping in Natsume's room only to make sure no other youkai tried any funny business on him.
Across from him, Natsume had stopped eating. And instead, he was looking at a piece of paper so intently Natori's guard was immediately up.
"What's that?" he asked warily. After finding out about the Book of Friends, Natori feared there's an even more dangerous secret Natsume was harboring.
A tear slipped out of the corner of his eye and Natsume immediately wiped it away. "It's nothing."
"It's not nothing!" And before Natsume could do anything, Natori immediately took the paper away from Natsume's hands and…
A photograph. Of a boy. Smiling and waving at the camera in what looked like a traditional Japanese room. The boy was so small. Probably three or four years old. And on the other side were words:
Happy birthday, Natsume Takashi-sama. I am sorry to have kept this photograph all this time. I am returning it back to you. May you live your life to the fullest.
And there was no question who this photograph had been from. And there was no question who the boy was. But Natori's mind kept getting stuck in that one phrase.
"Is today your birthday, Natsume?" he asked, deadpan.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see Natsume flinched. "Oh…uh…yeah… I didn't tell you, did I?"
And then it clicked. The reason why Touko-san had been so happy that he was taking Natsume along somewhere. And how she had said they would "push things to the afternoon."
"You were supposed to have a party with your family?"
Natsume looked away, slightly sheepish. "Somewhat."
Natori stared at the photograph for so long he could have burned a hole through it before handing it back to him. Natsume met his gaze and he had the gall to chuckle nervously after not telling him anything about his birthday being that day.
"You look scary, Natori-san."
"Oh, do I?"
Natori decided right then. The moment they got back, he was going to bring Natsume somewhere for a birthday party.
~ END ~