Natsume, age fifteen
She was running again, but at least this time she didn't feel quite so lonely. She just wished she knew what exactly Reiko had done to piss this many ayakashi off that they would chase her so passionately!
Natsume threw out her right arm, and barrier appeared between her and the ayakashi after her.
It wouldn't last long, but it was enough to give her some distance.
Spotting some of her friends, Natsume crashed through the brush.
"Natsume? Were you running from something?" asked Ishimura.
"Just felt like running," lied Natsume smoothly. "Wasn't there a shrine nearby?"
"Yeah, just past the grove," he replied.
"Thanks," said Natsume, and she took off.
"Natsume is strange, sometimes," said Ishimura.
"Yeah, it really looked like he was being chased for a moment there."
Just then, a massive gust of wind blew past.
"Woah, that was pretty strong!"
"Yeah!"
Natsume looked behind her...the ayakashi were gaining. Suddenly one lunged at her, pinning her to a tree.
"Reiko... there you are!" said the one-eyed ayakashi.
"Wait...better rip her tongue out so that she can't say our names!" said the other.
"Let...me...go!" said Natsume, lashing out with her fists. She gasped for much needed air, before making a beeline for the Tori gates she saw nearby.
Her foot caught something, causing her to trip past a rope barrier.
She looked up and saw a smaller shrine. Then she realized she had broken a kekkai and winced.
"Ah... I can move again..."
The shrine blew open, revealing... a maneki neko?
With a blast of power, the 'cat' broke out of the shrine.
"You... you're not Natsume Reiko!"
"Why do all these ayakashi keep asking about my grandmother?" said Natsume frustrated.
"Your grandmother?" said the cat shocked. "She used to live here, some time ago. She was quite a beautiful lady who could see strange things too. The humans didn't really understand her. She was alone. Always alone."
Natsume was quiet. It sounded a lot like she had more in common with Reiko than she ever did Giotto.
"By the way... have you heard of the Book of Friends?"
"That book of scribbles?" said Natsume blinking.
The cat's eyes gleamed as it disappeared.
Natsume waited a bit for the ayakashi to loose track of her... however she wondered why the fake cat was so interested in the odd book of scribbles Reiko had left behind.
"Natsume-chan! What happened to your uniform?" asked Touko in dismay.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Touko. I tripped and fell down a hill," lied Natsume.
Touko was the first person to realize that Natsume was a young girl, not a boy like everyone thought. Then again, she had been caught off guard when Natsume first started her period.
That had been an awkward time for everyone, but at least Touko allowed her to continue to wearing the boy's uniform. Though if her chest kept growing any bigger, then she might not be able to keep up the ruse for much longer.
"I wonder what that fake cat wants with this book of scribbles."
Natsume never did find out why the youkai were always so dead set about obtaining it.
"AH! So you do have the Book! Give it to me!" said the cat, who appeared out of nowhere.
Natsume dodged...only to turn and find the fake cat stuck in the screen.
"Get me out of here! But first give me the book!" said the cat, struggling to free itself.
"Natsume-chan, did you hear something?"
"Sorry aunt Touko, I just tripped a little!"
"Oh dear... you may be having another growth spurt, if you're being clumsy again," said Touko with sympathy.
Natsume turned to the fake cat.
"What do you want with Reiko's scribble book anyway?"
"Idiot! That book holds the power to completely control any youkai who's names have been written in it! Anything that happens to the paper will happen to the youkai as well! Reiko used it to make the ayakashi she bullied her subordinates!" scolded the cat.
"What?!" said Natsume in shock.
"Reiko took out her frustrations with the humans on the ayakashi, forcing them to play against her. If they lost, then she made them write their own names down to control them. That list of names is known as the Book of Friends. Now do you see why you should hand over the book? So long as it's in your possession you're in danger!" said the cat with a gleam in his eyes.
"Is your name written in here?"
"Of course not. Reiko's never beaten me once, but we still ran into each other occasionally. I just think it would be fun to have," said the cat dismissively.
Natsume looked at the book.
On one hand, it had given her no end of trouble. On the other hand, maybe if she gave back the names the youkai would leave her alone finally. After all, they were quite likely angry over having their names stolen and being forced to submit to a human.
There was also the fact that Natsume knew almost nothing of Reiko. She kept to herself and even her grandfather couldn't tell her much of the woman.
"Is there anyway to return the names?" asked Natsume seriously.
The cat gave her an incredulous look.
"Why would you do a foolish thing like that?"
"I want to make amends for what Reiko did. And... I barely knew anything about my grandmother. I have the feeling if I returned the names I would learn more about her and what she was like."
"You're a strange, foolish human," said the cat. He rubbed his face with his paw. "I owe you for freeing me, so consider me your bodyguard...at least until I get bored."
Natsume felt something in the air.
"In that case, how about we come to an agreement?" asked Natsume smiling.
"What sort of agreement, brat?"
"You protect me while I return the names in the book... if I fail to complete that task before I die, then you get the rest. In exchange you protect me as my bodyguard."
The cat looked interested now.
"You would hand over the book when you die?"
"If I die, then there's no reason for it to remain in human hands. Besides, it's not like I'll live that long anyway. A few decades is a blink of an eye for a youkai, isn't it?"
The Sky Arcobaleno didn't live that long... not if they remained at their true age anyway. And she was tired of being targeted by ayakashi with no idea why. If making a deal for a book she had always dismissed as scribbles gained her a protector, then she had no problem with it.
The cat was silent, but he seemed to sense the heavy weight of air around them as well.
"Interesting. I agree to your terms," said the cat, holding out a paw. Natsume took it, and the deal was struck.
So you could imagine their surprise when the odd gourd full of ink began to glow brightly.
"This is..." said the cat in shock.
"You know what these are?"
"The divine brush of the gods! The one used by Amaterasu herself to awaken the divine constellations when the demon Orochi attempted to blacken the skies forever! Where did you get your hands on it?!"
"I woke up one morning and it was on my desk. Come to think of it, the box that I got from a very odd priestess disappeared around the same time."
"Box? What box?" said the cat.
"Well there was this minor festival and a priestess who was possessed by something was handing out small boxes. Everyone who opened theirs got a small charm, but she handed me one that felt different. She told me not to open it until I saw her again, and when I did the ribbon that was around it had come off on it's own."
The cat stared at him.
"Are you telling me that Amaterasu, mother of us all and origin of all that is good in this world visited you personally?" said the cat in shock.
"I have no idea which kami it was, just that they told me not to open the box until they allowed it," said Natsume.
Though that would explain why she had been found by the Fujiwara couple by a chance encounter. What were the odds of Touko visiting those relatives right as Natsume was about to be shipped off to a new family?
The cat had a headache.
"Brat, Amaterasu is the only one who can hand out this particular set of divine tools. It's one of the few that can be safely used by humanity, provided they have the divine favor for it. The fact you have had it for a few years now means that you are favored by the Sun kami personally," said the cat.
"How do you know all this?"
"Several hundred years ago, there was a calamity as a human-turned-youkai attempted to swallow up all of Japan. His power was so great that the lone miko that could destroy him once and for all was almost unable to beat him. So Amaterasu donned the same form of a great white wolf with divine markings and sought out one of the youkai that was fighting the creature. In the process the wolf she had possessed mated with the stronger of the two inu-youkai and produced a child. However that child was more ayakashi than divine, and so was unable to join the ranks of the gods directly."
Natsume stared at him.
"You're that child, aren't you?" he guessed.
The cat gave him a flat look.
"If you're that powerful, then how did you end up in that cat statue?"
"I stole some sake from the table that belonged to one of the major kami, and as punishment Amaterasu assisted some random monk in sealing me."
"So...you were put in time out?" said Natsume.
"A demon as great as I am does not get put in time out!" shouted the cat irate.
"You said your mother allowed a monk to seal you. In a shrine where it was unlikely anyone would find you except by accident."
The cat fumed.
"Natsume-chan, I'm going out for groceries! I'll be back in an hour," said Touko from downstairs.
"Okay!" said Natsume. She turned to the annoyed cat. "I never did get your name."
"I am the great Madara-sama! However as a special privilege you may address me as 'sensei'," said the cat.
"Yes, Nyanko-sensei."
Natsume was almost thankful to the two ayakashi that had been chasing her. If not for them, she never would have found the first genuinely loyal friend she could remember.
An hour later...
"Touko-san...can I keep him?" asked Natsume.
"What a huge face for a cat! Of course you can keep him. What are you going to call him?" asked Touko.
In a way she was glad Natsume wanted to keep a stray cat she had found. It was first time the girl had shown any interest in something for herself.
The girl was entirely too selfless, and was always taking on burdens she didn't need to for the silliest of reasons.
"I'm going to call him Nyanko," said Natsume.
Touko smiled, and felt something in her heart lighten at her adopted child finally acting her age.
Nyanko pawed at the odd orange bauble tied to Natsume's waist.
"This is a cursed artifact. Why do you have it?"
"I know. And I took it as a safety net of sorts."
Because the Vongola couldn't really force the Sky Arcobaleno to act as their heir without really pissing off the others. Not even Timoteo wanted to get on the bad side of Reborn, much less the others.
"This thing will kill you. I can sense it siphoning off your power as we speak."
"I did say I wasn't going to live for very long, sensei. I knew before I accepted it that I wouldn't live past thirty, if that."
"You are a strange person. How can you accept your own death so easily?"
"I... I have always been a burden. I just wanted to be useful for once in my life and to help at least one person before the end. If taking on this curse means that someone else will be spared, then I'm fine with that," said Natsume quietly.
Nyanko was silent.
"You are nothing like your grandmother. She never would have accepted such a thing for such ridiculous reasons. She would have fought against it."
"I know how to remove it... I just can't. Not without something even worse befalling me. I would rather die free of that gilded cage than to willing accept that fate," said Natsume, eyes hardened with resolve.
Nyanko gave her an odd look.
"Natsume... you should realize that the burdens you bear are not your own. Only a fool would accept them for no reason like that."
Natsume's self-proclaimed bodyguard had to wonder what caused his charge to develop such a defeated attitude. And wonder what she could accomplish should she ever feel motivated to actually go against the fate she believed had been predetermined for her.