Chapter 9.

Kuroda hiccuped and bit his lip. His eyes were welling up with tears, but he refused to let them wet his cheeks because real men didn't cry. He had been extremely foolish to disobey parent's orders not to go to the night festival... he should have never sneaked out of the house while everyone was asleep.

Now, he was lost. The festival was finished and everybody had gone home after an eventful night of festivity. All that was left of the festival was a few buns that probably fell out of one of the baskets of the vendors when they were packing up, however, they disappeared shortly after the stray dogs of the neighborhood devoured them, down to the tiniest morsel.

The crickets were quietly singing their night concerto accompanied by the occasional low hoot of a lonely owl. Besides the crickets and the owl, Kuroda was alone. He stood in the middle of the dirt path lined with cherry blossom trees on both sides. The wind moaned and rushed past the trees, blasting into Kuroda's face and rustling his black kimono. The five year old tried not to gasp and shiver at the chilliness of the wind.

Suddenly, Kuroda's eyes widened and he inhaled sharply-not because of the wind, but because he saw something that resembled nothing he had seen before... looking at him with piercing eyes that glowed an eerily white.

Kuroda didn't even think about how "cowardly" or "unmanly" he was being when he ran away-it was more like his feet had started moving on their own and where eager to evade whatever danger there was lurking not too far behind him. He scrunched his eyes closed and balled his hands into tight fists as he ran even fast.

Go away, go away, goawaygoawaygoaway

Kuroda hoped that closing his eyes would make him wake up from... this nightmare or make the creature disappear, but he was so wrong. Without his sight, his other senses were heightened greatly. He could smell the repulsive stench of the creature... and he could hear the creature growling even clearer.

"Come here... little human... I haven't had a snack for years... STOP RUNNING!" the creature snarled in its deep gravelly low voice, which vibrated the air around it despite the powerful howling wind.

Kuroda tripped over something, causing him to let out a squeak and snap his eyes open. He skinned his palms and scraped his knees in the process of preventing himself from smashing his face against the ground, which would have been ten times more painful. Kuroda quickly recovered and scrabbled to his feet.

His heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he saw a warm, orange light not too far away. The source of the light was from a small hut.

Kuroda's feet ached, and he felt like he wanted to give in to the monster's whispers urging him to become its dinner-however, the light gave him hope, and he pressed on.

"Help! Help!" he yelled at the top of his lungs while waving his hands furiously. The door of the hut slid open and a young man can into view. The young man took half a second to comprehend the situation before sprinting towards Kuroda.

He ran past Kuroda until he was about ten feet away from the monster. He stopped and clapped his hands together with his feet apart shoulder-length.

"I banish thee to thou residence," the air around the man whipped around him like a tornado.

Kuroda stopped running and watched the scene in awe.

The creature screeched as its body slowly disintegrated. The wind carried away the dark dust particles that remained of the creature before it slowly died out. The young man's clothes stopped fluttering about and his tawny hair settled down on his head. The brunette let out a breath and relaxed his arms before walking towards Kuroda.

"Are you alright?" the young man asked, his gentle brown eyes were filled with concern as he knelt down to Kuroda's level. He placed his hand on Kuroda's shoulder.

Kuroda closed his gaping mouth. Reality started to sink in now that his awe had dissipated into the night sky. His feet were sore, his palms and knees were burning in pain, and his lungs ached.

A small sob escaped from Kuroda's lips before he could stop it, and before he knew it, he was bawling his eyes out and clinging onto the young man.


Kuroda groaned and rolled onto his side. He slowly sat up and placed his palm on his closed eye before opening both of his eyes completely. After groggily sitting up and staring into space for a good minute, Kuroda suddenly became aware that he wasn't in his house. He was in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar bed with unfamiliar furniture.

Kuroda could tell that the room was a lot smaller than his bedroom... however he couldn't make out the rest of the objects in the room. He took a while to allow his eyes to adjust to the dark. Finally, he could discern a painting of a bamboo tree on the wall opposite to him and a planter containing a delicate bonsai tree.

Deciding that he did not want to stay in the dark room any longer, Kuroda placed his hands on his kneecaps and grunted as he rose to his feet with great difficulty. His legs threatened to given in to his seemingly heavier weight. Miraculously Kuroda managed to stand upright. He dared to take a step. The moment Kuroda's right foot came in contact with the floor, he felt a sharp, burning pain like he was stepping on knives. Kuroda hissed but continued to stagger towards the door. Once he slid open the door, he grasped the wooden frame of the door and took deep breaths to ameliorate his pain.

He heard the sound of laughter followed by unceasing chatter. Kuroda leaned against the wall for support and struggled to walk towards the source of the sound.

When he was almost at his destination, he saw gentle yellow light washing against the dark wooden floor from the room up ahead, its door open. Now he could hear who was talking and every word of their conversation.

After ten more pathetic, feeble steps, he was in front of the entrance of the room. The young man and his feline-like companion were eating dinner with Tsukishima, who had a carefree smile that graced his face.

"Kuroda!" Tsukishima was the first to notice Kuroda's presence. His smile grew even wider... but the brunette's lips lost its smile when he saw how weary Kuroda was.

"How are you feeling Tsukishima?" Kuroda cracked a small smile.

"I'm doing great! Madara is a great cook, he made all of these dishes for us!" Tsukishima shoveled what remained of his dinner into his mouth.

The man with the white hair snorted and shook his head, "Your friend eats so much-that was his fourth bowl of my cooking."

Kuroda chuckled and pulled out the wooden chair next to Tsukishima and sat in it.

"Thank you both for helping us back there... It's been a while, Nastume and Madara," Kuroda tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Yes it has, hasn't it?" Natsume smiled softly.

Tsukishima blinked and looked at the two men before looking back at Kuroda, "This isn't the first time you've met Natsume and Madara-has it?"

"Of course not," Kuroda drawled and ruffled Tsukishima's hair.

Tsukishima glowered at Kuroda and shoved the older man's hands away.

"Would you like to hear how I met Kuroda?" Natsume's eyes glinted mischievously. He really hadn't aged since Kuroda last saw him... but Kuroda had a sneaking suspicion why.

Tsukishima nodded eagerly.

Kuroda was about to protest, but Natsume had already started speaking... it would be extremely rude to interrupt Natsume after all he had done of Tsukishima and himself. The raven haired man had no choice but to stay silent.

"Let's see... it was the night of the summer festival..."


Author's Note-May 15, 2015

AP exams are finally over! Now I just have to worry about finals... Yay? I'll need to proofread this chapter again (sorry for all the typos and grammatical errors!)...

Disclaimer: I don't own Hybrid Child or Natsume Yuujinchou