Natori Shuuichi was many things, but oblivious was not one of them. The woman with the almost eleven year old girl was most certainly not the child's "older sister" as she claimed. If anything, it meant the "woman" was very dangerous indeed because she was able to assume human form so easily and still be seen by anyone.
The child took one look at him and paled. She tugged on the hand of the youkai she was with, and the two promptly left the area.
Considering he couldn't very well leave a child with a youkai and not have it haunt him, he followed them without a second thought.
The child lead the fake woman to a relatively discreet area. Natori frowned.
At first he assumed the child was being lead on by the youkai, but now he wasn't entirely sure. It was almost as if the youkai was humoring the child and allowing itself to be lead by the girl.
"Nyanko-sensei, it's safe to switch back," said the girl firmly.
"Bah. You still owe me takoyaki brat!" said the 'woman', before turning into a particularly pudgy looking fake cat. Said feline easily allowed the girl to pick it up in her arms, which she did with ease.
Natori blinked. What on earth?
The girl turned to face him, and there was something in her eyes that belied her apparent age. No child should ever have that sort of look in their eyes.
It was a tired resignation combined with experience no child should have to go through and a small amount of distrust. Considering she was clearly comfortable with the youkai in her arms and leveling the distrust his way, he had the feeling she more than a few bad experiences with humans.
"If you're trying to convince me that all ayakashi are evil, then I should inform you that I've suffered more at the hands of humans than I have from a simple youkai," she said dryly. "You wouldn't believe the number of half-assed seals I've had to remove because some idiot half-trained exorcist just had to play with a new spell and decided that some poor youkai was the perfect test subject for it."
"That's dangerous. You could very well be unleashing one that eats humans, especially children," he said without thinking.
"Yes, but I ask around to find out who was sealed first before I remove it. It's easier to get them to do minor favors and leave humans alone if you have a reputation for being nice to others," she informed him.
He stared at her. Most children avoided youkai, especially those with the Sight...which she most definitely had if her comment was even remotely true.
"Where are your parents?" he asked finally.
She openly glared at him. He had to hold back a shiver of apprehension...something told him that getting on her bad side was not something that would end well. For him, that is.
"If it's all the same to you," she said curtly, her voice dangerous and implying a great deal of violence was imminent if he didn't change the subject, "I would rather not return to people who would treat me as a freak and a burden simply because of something I can't control."
He openly winced at that. The sheer implications of that statement said far too much of her home life and why she was wandering around with a powerful youkai as her "adult supervision". Clearly she had been alone for a very long time and had begun to distrust humans in general.
And he couldn't in good conscience leave the girl to wander around breaking seals with that sort of gift. Never mind what sort of youkai she could accidentally unleash, there were far too many human predators who would be all too happy to kidnap her.
(The fact he mentally added a certain exorcist he knew did not help his peace of mind. Matoaba wouldn't hesitate to snatch this child up if he knew she had a strong enough gift to break seals, though her distrust in humans would only make things end horribly for all involved.)
Natori thought about trying to use a fake smile, but he had the sneaking suspicion she'd see through it and avoid him even more. Instead he tried a different tactic.
He used blunt logic that was very hard to argue against.
"You do realize that the second people find out you're not in school they're going to start asking questions. Your...friend...is good enough to pass initial inspection but you'd have to keep moving constantly to avoid the authorities. Never mind the headaches of weather changes due to the seasons and what could happen if you suddenly became sick. A youkai would have great difficulty finding medicine that is acceptable for humans."
"Benio has a firm grasp of what a human can tolerate, and I apparently have something of a natural affinity to their medicine," said the girl, holding the 'cat' closer to her.
And by natural affinity she meant that the herbs and treatments worked as they should without any side effects. Benio was rather relieved to discover that she could handle youkai medicine that well, since some humans had some very bad reactions to it. On the other hand it meant she was also susceptible to certain herbs and concoctions, since her body could absorb them properly.
Natori pressed on.
"And what happens if you unleash something that's too strong for you to handle without your cat with you?" he countered. "Or if you anger the wrong exorcist?"
She openly rolled her eyes at the second part.
"For your information I can make seals strong enough that even the current generation of the Matoaba clan would have great difficulty breaking them, if at all. If anything the ability and power levels of modern exorcists has gone down considerably from what they were centuries ago."
He'd easily concede that. His own family had more or less lost their ability to even See youkai, and he was the only one with the gift at all. Then his mind latched onto what she just said and he stared.
"Wait, what?"
"I said I can make seals that even the Matoaba would have trouble breaking, if at all," she repeated. "It's rather hilarious to listen to their frustration when I deliberately seal off a youkai they were after or help it escape from their clutches because the stronger ones like me more."
The cat in her arms snickered evilly at that.
That had been hilarious and more than made up for any petty annoyances he got from helping her. Watching those exorcists fail to get whatever demon they were after because of a child was far too amusing!
It was official, he had to make sure this little one was off the streets before Matoaba figured out who was behind his string of bad luck and did something about it.
"What's your name, little one?"
"Natsume Setsuna, though everyone used to call me Takashi."
"Why?" Natori asked. He had to know who on earth would inflict such a masculine name on a girl.
"Grandpa said I was such a tomboy when I went to live with him that I should have a name to reflect it. And no one bothered to check if I was really a boy or not when I was shuffled from house to house. Stupid teachers used to tell me off for using the wrong restrooms all the time," Natsume replied in annoyance.
He bent down so he was closer to eye level with the girl.
"My name is Natori Shuuichi."
"This is Nyanko-sensei. He's my bodyguard," said Natsume, holding up the fake cat.
"Oh? How did you get such a funny looking bodyguard?" asked Natori, smiling gently.
"He knew my great grandmother, and I made a deal with him. He gets to keep something of hers in exchange for being my permanent bodyguard."
"And what was it that he wanted in return?" asked Natori, trying to keep his expression neutral.
"A book. It has a bunch of weird scribbles in it, but apparently it's something she had when she was younger," said Natsume with a straight face.
He still considers it a minor victory that she was at least willing to trust him for the moment.
Natsume had to admit, running into Natori-san this early was not in her plans at all. Neither was the fact that he took one look at her age and decided he wasn't going to let her run around unsupervised anymore.
She almost hadn't recognized him at first. His hair was a bit shorter than she was used to and his face was a bit younger. He couldn't be out of his teens quite yet. There was also the fact she could only see one of his shiki with him, meaning he hadn't found the other one.
His auburn brown hair was still as messy as every, and he hadn't fully grown into the looks that made him such a popular actor.
The only reason she had known it was him was because of the lizard that moved freely under his skin.
Natsume clutched Nyanko-sensei to her a bit tighter. While Natori had been one of her strongest allies before, he had no idea who she was outside of a child who had the same gift he did with a distrust of humans. She couldn't accurately predict how he would behave, since adults were naturally more protective of children.
Before he had humored her because she was old enough to understand what was going on and because he didn't want to lose a potential friend.
Considering she was barely twelve, she would have to prove she was far more mature than she looked if she wanted the same respect.
And that wasn't taking into account the odd pop up that had appeared without warning.
Apprenticeship: Natori Shuuichi-exorcist
Even in modern times the tradition of passing down knowledge of special talent and job skills is an important task. Apprenticeships are still thriving today!
Do you wish to accept Natori Shuuichi as your mentor?
Buffs: +75 boost to all exorcist skills
+50 Rep among Exorcist class
+45 percent boost to 'Acting' skills
Unlock Shikigami skill tree
Debuffs: -25 Rep with youkai for first three years
Loss of freedom from "school work" and "adult supervision"
She wasn't too surprised by the debuffs. But the real question was what were her options available. She could tell that he wasn't about to let her wander around like she had been for four years and if she stayed she'd have to attend the headache that was public school again.
Odds were he'd make her wear the girl's uniform too. Ugh. She still hadn't gotten used to skirts, and that was only because Benio insisted on dressing her up to match her gender, just to try and replicate Reiko!
Natori was doing pretty good, for a guy who had limited to no experience with small children. It probably helped she acted more mature for her age and was decidedly a tomboy despite the outfit she had been tricked into wearing today.
It wasn't her fault she had been raised a boy because of those idiots.
"Ah. I wasn't expecting to find someone like you today. Sorry about the mess," said Natori in a sheepish manner.
Natsume tried not to smile. It was almost like dealing with Dino-nii, except Natori wasn't nearly as clumsy as the Italian and he didn't need people around him to actually be effective. But their personality (and to some extent their looks) were so similar...
"Bachelors are rarely tidy...especially when they're still teenagers."
Natori blinked, a bit surprised she had made a scarily accurate guess of his age.
"You're a lot more perceptive than people would think, aren't you?"
"Some would say too perceptive," she replied, hugging Nyanko to her chest.
She could still remember the way her 'family' had reacted to the odd guests that kept showing up and getting her into trouble. Right before they had enough and sent her away to a new family only for the process to start all over again.
Natori made very, very sure she saw what he was planning to do before he gently ruffled her hair. It felt nice...she had forgotten what having positive affection from others felt like, outside of Benio's hugs.
Dinner was slightly awkward, but at least she was able to sleep in the guest bedroom.
The next morning was almost as bad, but there was a subtle tension that had lessened, just a little bit.
"So, Exorcist, what are you planning to do to my Natsume?" demanded Nyanko.
"How old are you?" he asked.
"A little over twelve," she replied.
He inwardly winced, and she could guess why. Puberty was never any fun, either for the ones suffering it or for the adults who had to explain what it was.
"In that case you'll still be required to attend compulsory schooling. There's no telling how far behind you've gotten because you moved around a lot."
"I tend to visit the library once school hours are over, since that way the adults aren't likely to think I'm simply skipping," she told him.
"And what do you do during school hours?" he asked, honestly curious.
"Practice what Benio and Hinoe have to teach until I can get it right."
Youkai arts were difficult, but usable if you had the affinity for it. And she definitely did, much to their delight. The fact she actually wanted to learn and wasn't as squeamish as most girls her age was a major bonus.
Natori looked like he had a headache.
Unseen, he didn't notice her click the 'Y' button on the "Apprenticeship" pop up from yesterday and again this morning. Nyanko had found the entire thing almost as annoying as she did. They had also discussed this particular option before bed, so they were in agreement. After all, he would have to deal with being close to an exorcist for an extended period.
So it was entirely unsurprising when Natori offered to train her properly in the exorcist arts, or at least what he knew of them. He was self-taught.
For now it would be on a trial basis to see if they could get along. Natsume had no illusions about that...she was fairly laid back to an extent and she had gotten along rather well with his older self previously. She simply had to adjust for the fact he was a bit younger than she remembered and not an actor yet.
At least she wouldn't be bored.
Natsume "Takashi" Setsuna
Level: 30
Age: 12.3
Gender: Female
Class: Apprentice Exorcist/?
HP: 4500/4500
SP: 2400/2400
FP: 2100/2100
Strength: 74
Dexterity: 50
Speed: 30
Intelligence: 76
Wisdom: 75
Constitution: 40
Charisma: 25
Due to multiple near death experiences, Natsume has removed the seal on her powers. However this comes at the cost of potentially losing her anonymity in the underworld. As such Natsume relies on a very unique and dangerous artifact to hide what she is until she is ready to deal with those that would target her.
Apprentice Exorcist: Grants a boost in learning all the things an exorcist or spiritualist would need to know in dealing with troublesome youkai. Unlocks "Shikigami Skill Tree" at level ten. May cause fluctuations in REP towards Youkai and other spirits.
?: A mysterious artifact that is very well known in the underworld. It comes in a set of seven.
Youkai Arts: Some people have the proper affinity to use spells, incantations and potions made by youkai. Allows one to read and if trained correctly, to write in the Youkai language which appears to be scribbles to those without Sight. May cause user to become susceptible to certain potions and/or spells cast by youkai
Sky Charisma:Throughout history there have always been those that stand out from the rest. People who have a natural ability to gain followers and make big changes in society. Grants +5 boost to Charisma Ranking for every level.
Hyper Intuition: You can see into the future! Not. Certainly seems like it to everyone else. Grants fifty percent boost to Dexterity, Wisdom and Intelligence when active and Boost to "Martial Arts" skill set during combat
Permanent Party Member: Madara/Nyanko-sensei