Done for an Ask Natsume blog on Tumblr after drawing a crossover fanart with Natsume dressed as the Medicine Seller from the anime "Mononoke."
Takes place at no real point in the canon storyline, though it's probably somewhere near where the story is at now.
Natsume's Book of Friends and Mononoke aren't mine.
Side Job
Part Two
"I'm home!" Natsume walked into the house and slid his shoes off. Madara trotted in after him. "Sensei! Wipe your paws, you're tracking mud!"
"Takashi?"
Touko's voice came from upstairs. Didn't it sound…weak? He went upstairs to her and Shigeru's bedroom, and then knocked softly on the door.
"I'm home," he repeated, and slid the door open. Touko was lying in bed with a cloth over her head.
"Ah, so you are," she chuckled. "I'm just feeling a little unwell, so when Shigeru gets home, can you tell him that we'll just eat tonight's leftovers for dinner? He went to pick up some rice."
"Sure." Natsume frowned; seeing his aunt lying there like that disconcerted him. She noticed.
"Oh, don't worry! It's probably just a fall cold. It was rather chilly yesterday, after all," she said, chiding him.
"If you insist," he said, still worried. But he smiled, and left the room for his own.
"Something smelled off," Madara said, batting at the feather toy.
Natsume picked it up and dangled the feather over Madara's head. "How so?" he asked.
"Dunno."
"You're pretty useless today, aren't you." Natsume pulled the feather just out of reach when Madara leapt for it, earning a scowl from the cat.
"You're pretty cheeky today aren't you? Maybe I should take a bite out of you!"
"Do that, and I won't share my cookies. The kind you drooled over all last night."
"Keh."
There was a knock on the door downstairs. Natsume went downstairs and answered it for Touko.
"Ah! Takashi, give me a hand, would ya?"
It was Mr. Saitou from the bakery, propping up a sheepish-looking Shigeru, who was pale in the face and sweaty.
"I started feeling a little dizzy, so Akira here helped me home," Shigeru said. Natsume, alarmed, quickly helped Shigeru sit down, and helped him take his shoes off. "Put the rice in the cabinet for me, please. Where's Touko?"
"She wasn't feeling well either," Natsume replied, bowing in thanks and farewell to Mr. Saitou, who wished Shigeru well as he left. "She's in the bedroom lying down."
"Really? How strange." He grunted as he stood up, and swayed a little. Natsume rushed to support him before helping him up the stairs. "Maybe it's both something we ate. We did have fish yesterday…"
They made it to the bedroom, and Touko sat up in surprise at the sight of them.
"What happened?" she asked, making room for Shigeru on the futon.
"I felt dizzy while I was walking home. I was by the bakery, and Mr. Saitou helped me home," he answered. Natsume eased him down on the futon. "What was the date on that fish yesterday?"
"It was today's date, but I bought it fresh from the market yesterday morning. I seem to have a fever myself," Touko said, starting to loosen Shigeru's shirt for him. Natsume took it as his cue to leave the room.
"Call me if you two need anything," he said. They chuckled.
"We will," Shigeru said, smiling.
Before he walked away, Natsume could hear Touko saying, "It's rather nice to have him twitting about us for once. He gets sick a lot more often than we do, so usually it's us fawning over him…"
"Yes, it is, isn't it?"
When Natsume returned to his room, Madara was giving himself a bath.
"Now what's up?" he asked. "Your face looks like a raisin with all those worry wrinkles."
"Uncle Shigeru just came home on the arm of a neighbor. He was feeling dizzy," Natsume explained, sitting at his desk. "Both him and Aunt Touko…"
"It's probably something they ate," Madara said, with a level gaze.
"Hmmm…" Natsume looked out at the red and gold trees outside the window. 'Is it really? Or is it…No. I can't keep blaming youkai for everything.'
A flash of purple caught his eye, and he nearly tipped his chair over to get to his feet.
"Sensei! It's that man!"
Madara hopped up on the desk and took a look, but the strange man from before was gone.
"Natsume, are you getting sick too?" Madara eyed the boy suspiciously.
Natsume hit him on the head and dashed out of his room, briefly pausing by his foster parents' bedroom to tell them he'd be right back. Outside, he ran to where he thought he saw the man, but no one was there.
'Where did he go?' he thought, looking around.
"I smell him! He went this way!" Madara said, running to the left. Natsume chased after him, and sure enough, there was the odd merchant, looking at a tree thoughtfully.
"Hey! What were you doing outside my house?" Natsume asked, voice more than a little sharp.
The merchant looked at him, said nothing for a moment, and then raised his hands in an "I don't know" pose.
"I am lost," he said, in the same slow manner as before.
Natsume groaned and ground his palm into his forehead. His nerves were going to be shot by the time the day ended.