Author's note: Ok, I'm really sorry for the half-assed work, I tried my best but honestly I can not write with all the feels in me. I'm sorry if I'm accidentally giving spoilers to someone but ARGH THE GODDAMED LAST CHAPTER! AND IT WAS OMG HAVE YOU GUYS READ IT I MEAN THERE WERE TEARS AND THOSE BOYS LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL IN TEARS AND ARGHHH THE ENDING! I'M CRYING SO MUCH QAQ THIS MANGA, DESPITE SOMETIMES BEING A LITTLE RIDICULOUS, IS THE GREATEST THING I HAVE EVER READ. SO, PLS JUST PROMISE ME, DON'T LEAVE THE FANDOM. PLS. I BEG YOU.

"I look forward to working with you tomorrow, Kise Ryouta-kun." Says a very attractive male, holding out a glass of wine.

"Me too, Natori-san." A blond with an equally handsome face responses, clinking the wine glass with his own glass of juice.

They smile, the professional dazzling smile of course. Then, Natori turns his head to a group of chatting people. He chuckles.

"I just hope the camera crew don't get too drunk, they look like they're not planning to stop any time soon," Natori comments.

"Yeah, and it's getting late." Kise says, checking the clock on his wrist. "It's kind of exciting to have a barbecue at the forest rim, don't you think? A predator can jump out any moment now", he jokes, laughing slightly.

As if on cue, something jumps out of the forest as soon as Kise finishes his sentence. Only it doesn't really 'jump' but 'stumble' out, and it isn't a predator but a boy. He's hugging something round and white. Following him is another boy with light blue hair.

"Natsume?"

"Kurokocchi?"

"Natori-san?/ Kise-kun?"

"Eh?" Four voices utter the same thing with the same tone.

"So, why are you here, Natsume?" Natori asks right after four of them have sit in his room. His voice's calm, but there's a hint of worry in it.

"I came here with my friend for the onsen." Natsume replies. He eyed Nyanko-sensei, who's lying on a mattress on the floor.

"I mean, why are you here," Natori's finger point to the ground, "and came out from the forest?"

"I was…lost."

Natori immediately understands that whatever reason Natsume has, it involves ayakashi.

Feeling a little tensed, Kise leans closer to Kuroko and whispers. "Kurokocchi, what happened?"

Kuroko keeps quiet.

Kise takes that as a 'Now is not the time', so he backs away wordlessly, but Kuroko suddenly grabs his shirt and whispers back. "Kise-kun, is there any vet clinic near here?"

"Eh, vet clinic? Uhmm…I'm sorry but I'm not sure. Maybe if you ask someone from around here…"

Even though Kise and Kuroko keep their voices low, Natori hears their conversation, "It's ok, there's a vet clinic at the base of the mountain. The cat will be alright, don't worry."

Kuroko and Natsume don't seem to be relieved one bit though. Upon seeing that, the exorcist frowns slightly then continues.

"You two should call your friends, or whoever you're staying with. They must be worried sick by now." The actor hands out his phone to Natsume, who accepts it with a small 'thank you'.

Kise also fishes out his phone and gives it to Kuroko.

Kuroko heard two rings before the other line hangs up. He blinks in surprise, and then promptly remember he's using Kise's phone. Mentally sighing, Kuroko presses call again.

Natsume dials Tanuma's number and calls. Expectedly, Tanuma is freaking out.

'Hello?'

"Tanuma, it's m-"

'Natsume?! Are you ok?! Where are you?!'

"I'm fine. I got lost in the wood, but I got out safely. I'm at an inn now, I think it's on top of the mountain."

'You got lost in the wood? Natsume, was it…?'

"Yes, but I'm ok now, don't worry."

'Is Nyanko-sensei with you?'

"…Yes, but he is unconcious…I didn't know what happened…"

Tanuma goes silent for a while before continuing.

'Natsume, I know you are very worried right now, but you must be careful. Without his protection, who knows what can happen.'

"I will, don't worry. It might took some time before I get back, so don't wait for me."

"Ah, about that," Natori cuts in, "why don't you stay here for the night? It's late already, going out now would be dangerous."

'Natsume?'

"Uhm…" Natsume stares at Natori, unsure of what to say.

"It's not good to for the cat to be moved around so much. You should stay."

Natsume considers it for a bit then agrees. "Tanuma, on second thought, I'll return in the morning. Please tell everyone for me."

'Ok, I guess. It's already so late anyway. But who were you talking to?'

"It's Natori-san."

'Natori-san? He's here? Never mind, if you're staying with him, I don't have any complaints.'

"Thanks. I'll be back tomorrow. Bye."

'Ok, bye…'

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Kise is annoying the hell out of Kuroko.

"Kurokocchi, you should spend the night here! We'll have a good bonding time!"

Kuroko, who has finally managed to call Kagami after four tries, promptly ignores the blond. "Kagami-kun, please calm down… I'm fine…I got lost…yes I know…," suddenly he flinches, "I'm sorry coach, I got lost," color slowly drains out of Kuroko's face, "yes… I'm staying at the Ryuujin inn, I think it's on top of the mountain…Yes, I understand…ha-", the other line went dead before he can finish his setence.

"Kurokocchi, will you stay?" Kise asks, his voice dead serious. He really wants Kuroko to stay.

"I'm sorry, Kise-kun, but no. I'll have to leave."

"Eh, really?!" Kise's shoulders slumped.

Kuroko can only stare at him, pitifully.

"Well, should I accompany you back? You get lost easily, it's not safe if you go alone." Kise says, finally stops being miserable.

"Thank you, but no. Kagami-kun is picking me up."

Kise's shoulders slump once more. "Ahh, Seirin really do take good care of you huh?" he laughs.

"I guess they do," Kuroko replies in his ever monotonous voice.

Then, Kuroko sweeps his gaze to Natsume, and then to the cat. Kise follows his gaze A minute passes in silence.

"He looks like he is relaxing," Kise comments.

"He does," Natsume sadly smiles.

For half an hour, they just sit like that, listening to Nyanko-sensei's even breathing.

When Kagami comes to picks Kuroko up along with Hyuuga, the short male gives one last worried glance at Natsume.

Natsume reassures him, "he will be ok, he is...really strong."

"I hope he will... I will be going now, it was nice meeting you again Natsume-kun," then Kuroko turns to Kise and Natori, "I will be leaving now, sorry for the bother."

"Not at all Kurokocchi."

"You're welcome, Kuroko-kun."

After Hyuuga has thanked Natori repeatedly, the Seirin players leave. Shortly after, Kise also excuses himself and goes back to his room.

Only now, when there is just only two of them, can Natsume and Natori talk naturally.

"They are not with you?" Natsume asks.

"They're doing some work, investigating the place actually. There is something weird about this mountain," Natori replies casually.

"Something weird?... Then, does what happened with Nyanko-sensei have anything to do with it?"

"I'm not sure. Did you find him when he was already unconcious or..."

"No. He jumped at us, and then flickers of blue light appeared. He landed into a bush and when I pulled him out, he has already passed out."

Natori places a finger on his chin. "...That is weird. Did you check his body for wounds?"

"I haven't. There aren't any wounds though, I'm sure of it."

"Still, you should check him."

"Maybe I should. I'm sorry," Natsume breathes out, his hands lightly shaking, "I was too scared."

"Why are you apologizing? It's normal to be scared. Calm down and we will see if we can figure out what happened to him."

Natsume nods.

They stare at the object of their conversation, trying to looks through that short but thick fur coat.

Natsume starts petting him, as if doing that could help lessen whatever pain Nyanko-sensei is possibly sufferring. He starts from the fat head, to the round fat body. He pets the cat's fat paws even. Natori watches them, his worry is clearly shown in the pair of honey-colored eyes.

Natsume suddenly stops petting Nyanko-sensei. He raise his hand to his eye level. There seems to be something tangled in his fingers.

"Is sth wrong?," Natori asks.

"Uhm... This thing stucked in his paw." Natsume shows the exorcist his hand.

"A string?" Natori asks, a little confused. He takes the thin string from Natsume. "This thing... I have a weird feeling about this. It's like, I have seen it somewhere. Natsume, what do you think?"

"I don't sense anything," Natsume admits.

"In any case," Natori starts, "we should seal this thing. There might even be an ayakashi in it, we'll never know."

"Can I help?" Natsume asks.

"Sure."

And so they stands up and prepare for the seal.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the mountain.

"Seiji-niisan," two knocks. Silent. And the door opens.

It's rare for Matoba to open the door for anyone, but this is his cute little cousin we're talking about, so Matoba can make an exception.

"Good evening, Seijuro? Come in."

Replies to review: I'm sorry if my replies are half-assed as well I mean I'm in too much feelz now.

Dark Cat Food Lover: haha… I'M SO SORRY I FORGOT TO REPLY TO YOUR REVIEW THE LAST TIME *DO 90 DEGREES BOW* Thank you for supporting my fics. *give you cookies /sorry they're bad, I'm a terrible baker/*

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Note: uhm so… it's currently July 21st 2017 and, I have absolutely no idea why people are still reading this. Tbh, this is the only story on that I want to continue, but even though I remember the plot, I forgot about all the small details, so it might take a while even if I do update this. I went back and fixed some stuff though.