"I know you're there", Natsume said when he finally stopped. He was somewhere in the middle of the woods, a little far from the path he found. There were no people, and no one would be able to hear him if he screamed. If this didn't get the spirit to show itself, he didn't know what would. Maybe by some lucky miracle Nyanko-sensei would find him.

He waited.

The sun lowered and time tortured him. He was growing a little tired, but never loosed the grip on his bag. Natsume couldn't help but feel a little terrified as the dread grew in his stomach. He could feel it, so close, so calm. What was it thinking? This was not the usual spirit Natsume would run into. They usually didn't give their attacks any thought, but this one's intentions were a little unclear, like it had been planning this for a while. Finally Natsume heard a small thump behind him, as if someone jumped from a tree. It had decided. Natsume turned around slowly.

It was tall; almost looked human except for the nasty burns covering it's face. Natsume's eyes widened and couldn't help but gasp. It was the same thing he had seen in his dream, but now it's face was healed and scared. The spirit had red hair and golden eyes which stared calmly at Natsume.

"Hello, Natsume," it said with a strange pleasantness. The spirit gave a sinister smile.

A chill ran up Natsume's spine. He took a step back.

"So you could sense me all along. I was starting to wonder if you lived in the woods, but it seems you realized my intention of finding where you stay."

"What do you want from me?" Natsume questioned. He just wanted to get this over with and go home.

"Why don't I just introduce myself first? I'm sure you're interested in my 'name'. The Natsume Reiko I knew most certainly would have been, Takashi."

Natsume winced, remembering his dream. "You knew my grandmother?"

"And I know you're not her, just her grandson... to my bitter disappointment. I've heard a lot of things about you, Takashi. You most certainly have a reputation for helping spirits in need..." his eyes trailed down to the ground, then he looked back up into Natsume's eyes. Natsume's brows furrowed and his mouth hung open in shock of hearing about his grandmother. "What I want won't be that hard to figure out. It's something everyone wants when someone else has caused them great pain."

"Revenge...", Natsume said, "What did Reiko do to you?"

Hiso's smile fell. He looked darkly at Natsume and took a slow step toward him. "These burns...were caused by her. She made a fool of me, pretended like she cared, then left me at the perfect moment."

Natsume staggered backward. Hiso smiled brightly again; Natsume wouldn't have been able to tell he was talking about the person he hated most.

"Now then", he said clapping his hands together, "my name is Hiso, and I'm going to destroy everything and everyone you have ever loved."

Natsume flinched. He said it with such misplaced cheerfulness. Natsume suddenly felt sick. Everyone you have ever loved...The Fujiwara's, his friends, Nyanko-sensei... Why? Why was this happening to him? One of Natsume's worst fears was becoming more real with every second that Hiso stood in front of him, threatening to hurt people he cared about.

"Although it was a pretty good move to lure me away from your home, I'm still going to find them, and I can kill you right here, right now. So it wasn't very smart of you. Of course I'm not going to kill you, yet, because I want you to feel the pain and loss I have felt. Except it will be worse, since I didn't get to have my revenge on Reiko directly."

Natsume felt himself go pale. "Don't you dare touch them", he said through gritted teeth. Natsume had never been so scared in his entire life, and couldn't help it when he started shaking.

"You'll never be able to be more than a nuisance to your friends and family, don't you get that?"

Natsume curled his hands into fists. "You're wrong." His eyes glared icily at the ayakashi.

"You honestly think they would care if you get hurt by some Ayakashi? If anything they'd hope for it. All you'd ever do is scare them. In they're eyes, you'd be a freak, a burden, some abnormality in their lives that they hope will just go away already!"

"You're wrong", he said in a hushed whisper. His voice was quiet but piercing.

"I'm wrong? Is that all you can say?" Hiso bent backward and started laughing. "Then prove it. Show me how much they care. Go up to Touku-san and tell her what you see everyday. Tell her you've almost been killed several times by them. You honestly think they won't look at you any differently? Do you honestly think they won't give you away like every single goddamn person you've lived with before?! The only reason you've been able to stay with them is because you've contained your secret so well. They don't care about you. They don't love you. And you will never be loved by anyone. I'll personally make sure of that."

"You're wrong! Touku and Shigeru are different. My friends...they...they wouldn't hate me. They would worry, that's why I can't tell them. You don't understand, that's why-"

Suddenly Natsume felt a strong hand wrap around his neck. Hiso pushed him up against a tree and it knocked all the air out of Natsume. He dug his nails into Hiso's hand, but his grip only tightened more around Natsume's neck. He struggled with legs dangling in air. "Believe what you will, but you can't deny how much danger you put them in by staying."

Natsume's vision started going black. His nails started loosening on Hiso's skin, and his legs suddenly stopped kicking. It was like a terrifying nightmare. Where was Nyanko-sensei? This spirit could take the book of friends and kill him. Natsume's eyes fluttered shut. If that was the case, then Natsume couldn't take it anymore. He was going to die, and the fate of all those Ayakashi would be controlled by this psycho. That was NOT going to happen. With the last of his strength, Natsume kicked Hiso in the stomach and grabbed his arm to twist it. Hiso grabbed Natsume's shirt and threw him so he slammed against a nearby tree. He felt the breath being knocked out of him, and landed on the dirt. He groaned and pushed himself up, eyes never leaving Hiso's towering figure.

"I don't know why you're doing this", he started, "I just know you can't kill me yet. I have a lot of debts to pay that my grandmother made, and until I am done repaying those debts, I won't let you hurt me. You're wrong about me, and about all of my friends." He slowly stood up, supporting himself on the tree, and stared defiantly into the ayakashi's eyes.

Hiso smirked. He calmly loomed over Natsume, with a strange look on his face. A small smile played on his lips. Natsume never lost his cold gaze, not even when Hiso grabbed his neck and held him above the ground again.

"That's going to be very hard, you see. I just want to your life to end already. You better hope I'm not wrong about your friends, otherwise..." He gave a small chuckle.

"I'll kill them."

He let go oh the hold he had on Natsume's neck. Natsume fell onto the grass, coughing and gasping for air. Natsume gingerly touched his neck and looked up to see Hiso walking away. "Why?", Natsume choked out, "Why would you want to do this? What have I done to you?"

Hiso stopped walking and turned his head to look at Natsume. "It's not what you did, Natsume. It's what you're grandmother did. But since she's dead, this is the only form of revenge I get. It's really too bad." He turned his head away from Natsume and started walking once more. "I would have liked to see the life fade from her insolent eyes. We'll meet again soon, Natsume. But next time you won't have any exorcist friends coming to save you."

Natsume rose from the ground. "Exorcist friends?" he questioned, looking around. Hiso was gone in a flash, and Natsume almost collapsed again. He gripped his arm. Pain.

Where was his bag? He wasn't sure when it had fallen off of him. Natsume searched the forest floor and spotted it next to the tree Hiso had thrown him against. He sighed in relief, and reached out for it, but suddenly someone stepped out from behind the tree and grabbed it. Natsume gasped and froze when he saw who it was.