Title: Hold My Hand
Rating: G
Pairing/Character/s:Natsume, Nyanko/Madara
Summary:Humans were weak, meddlesome and insignificant creatures – yet Nyanko isn't about to leave Natsume just yet.
Prompt: 35. Hold My Hand
A/N: has been, of late, making changes that I'm not sure if I can get used to. I'm a creature of habit; I find the new appearance/design of the site in particular is very jarring. I am considering moving some of my works to AO3, including this one, but...I haven't really decided on anything yet. I haven't been writing much, sadly enough.


"Natsume! Natsume!"

The shrill warning from Nyanko jolts the boy to his senses. How long has he been out? Natsume thinks dimly, trying to get to his feet. His head is pounding and his vision is blurry. He blinks rapidly, desperate to clear his vision, but if anything, it just seems to make it worse.

"Out of the way!" He hears a voice – not Nyanko now, but Madara; deep, throaty and ferocious, he assumes that Nyanko must have changed into his real form. There is a hideous snarl, and then silence.

It takes Natsume a heartbeat to realize that he can barely see anything by now, his field of vision a mere smear of grey that is rapidly fading to black.

"N-Nyanko-sensei?" He calls out. His voice wavers on the query, and with that, the last of his vision goes and his knees go weak, giving way under him as he lands on the forest floor in a most undignified manner. "Nyanko-sensei, I can't see anything."

"Tsk." There is a whump beside him. Something nudges him in the side and his hand touches a warm, furry and incredibly round object – this must be Nyanko, he thinks, suddenly comforted by the manekineko's presence. "That stupid ayakashi's poison must have gotten into your eyes. Really, Natsume, don't you think it's about time you stopped trying to dabble with matters that don't concern you? You're just causing more work for me, you know."

"How am I going to get home?" Natsume step-sides Nyanko's pointed remark, like he always does whenever the manekineko voices his disapproval about his involvement with the ayakashi. "I can't see. How long is it going to take for the poison to wear off?"

He really hopes that it isn't going to be permanent.

"It was a low-level weakling – it shouldn't take long," Nyanko says critically. "How dare they touch my prey! The next time I see them, I'm going to give them a whupping they'll never forget."

"Yes, yes," Natsume says wryly. "Before that, though, could you help me get home? I don't want to worry Tohko-san by arriving home late."

"Don't blame me if your blindness hasn't gone away by the time you get home," Nyanko grumbles. Natsume hears a little pop and knows that Nyanko has transformed, and this is confirmed when he hears Madara's deep voice next. "Get on my back – I'll fly you home."

"I can't go home on your back," Natsume says reasonably. "What if Tohko-san sees me flying through the air on nothing? She can't see you when you're in your true spirit form, right?"

There is a grumble from Madara at this, followed by another pop. Natsume is wondering just how Nyanko plans to guide him home in his manekineko form when a hand – an obviously warm, human hand – closes around his own, and he jumps.

"You don't have any complaints like this, do you?" Nyanko says. His voice is that of the girl he sometimes assumes human form of, Natsume realizes. The hand which is holding his seems familiar and safe, and this makes Natsume smile. "You'd better not let go of my hand. Honestly, you're such a troublesome human. I should just eat you now while I can and save myself the trouble of waiting for you to die."

Natsume is used to Nyanko's idle threats by now. If the ayakashi had harboured a malicious intent towards him, he doubts that he would have survived this long. If anything, if it hadn't been for Nyanko, he might not have gotten out of several very tight spots he'd managed to find himself in.

"Thanks, Nyanko-sensei."

"Hmph! I'll be expecting some extra sweet buns from Nanatsujiya tomorrow."

"Aren't you fat enough? You're not going to fit through my window if you keep eating like this, you know."

"What was that?! I'll have you know that my true self doesn't gain an ounce of fat no matter how many sweet buns I eat!"

"Yeah, but in your true form you can only manage to shove your nose through my window…"