Bad writer's block! Bad writer's block! And, I hadn't expected it to plague me during this festive month. I promised everyone a chapter a day in my previous post and strangely enough it was dragged into one bloody week! And I was unable to think, unable to write, and added up some crappy lines here and there making things worst. Indeed, like there's a stubborn wart forming in my neuro-arteries! I may be a salamander rather than a human to break promises like this! Well, everyone knows salamanders break promises, right? (or not?) But, wait, am I getting bored? It's true that writer's block comes with boredom, but isn't it because I was bored with my novel that I started to write this story on the first place? No… this could end badly, this could end with gore! And, based on my past experience, I may end up killing my characters no matter how important they are! Noo! Help! Help! A characters-killing salamander is on the loose!

Seriously, don't mind my current mental state, this chapter is for you all. Sorry for the delay and happy reading! ^_^

Chapter 9

The moment Natsume had caught Natori's falling form he knew that something was terribly wrong. Of course, with the large amount of spiritual energy he had used before, he could no longer stay conscious. But, the young exorcist's face was slowly losing its colour and his breath was getting laboured. Above all, the thing that got Natsume restless; although the man's eyes were completely closed, there was a pained and uncomfortable expression on his face. Even the tiny black lizard at the bottom of his neck seemed to be writhing in pain.

"Natori-san!" he called again, hoping against all odd for him to wake up. If that would ease his worry, if that would tell him that the man was actually alright, he would very much hope that those chocolate-crimson eyes to open again. Yet, the man in his arm remained as still and as limp as he was before.

Before long, he realized the small petite ayakashi had knelt down by his side, holding Natori's bleeding arm. There was a long ragged wound at the lower part of the arm where the prickle grazed him and she looked at it intently before turning to Natsume again.

"It looks like the youkai's prickle that hit him was poisonous," she said. "It needs to be fixed or he will lose his life. If that happens, that barrier will crumble down and all efforts put in it would be in vain," Indeed, the barrier was made with the pack of blood. If the spell caster was removed, so would the spell. The logic was as simple as that. But, Natsume just couldn't accept that simple fact.

"Please, do you know how to remove the poison?" he asked. Desperation was clearly visible in the pale brown pools of his eyes.

"I'm not interested to save the life of an exorcist." That's what she said and Natsume could feel how his heart was broken to pieces hearing that. "But, if Natsume-sama wills it so, I'm pretty much honoured to do that. Besides, to have those trampling on my house would be troublesome."

.

The fire danced endlessly in the fireplace as Natsume sat staring blankly at it. The crackling sound it made filled the room with an indescribable blunt atmosphere. Natsume didn't know how to describe the feeling he had, he didn't know how to express it either. Hence, he just stayed as quietly as he could, clutching his school bag on his lap with The Book of Friends in it. He was glad that he carried the book along with him wherever he went. If he hadn't, the book must have been stolen from him by now. But, it seemed dangerous too for him to have it here. Wherever he and the book were, they would absolutely come for them, endangering people who were closed to him. Perhaps, it was true that he shouldn't be keeping it on the first place. Sensei once told him, how dangerous it was to human beings. But, it didn't occur to him then that this will happen in the future. Really, he should have buried it in a forgotten place long ago!

Sensei, noticing the boy's pensive mood stayed closed to Natsume's side. He wasn't much of a nurturer, (of course, that one both he and Natsume knew very well), so he had nothing much to say to him. If staying closed was the only thing he could do to sooth the boy, then, that he would do. Natsume put the bag aside and reached out to him for a gentle warm pet on the head. He repeated that gestures many times till Sensei began to softly purr sleepily, leaning towards the touch. Natsume slightly smiled and later continued his blank stare on the flames till a small emotionless feminine voice broke the silence.

"He should be waking up by now," she said, eyes on one corner of the room where Natori's still and lying form were. "I guessed he strained himself a bit for the barrier." Natsume shot his quick gaze on Minami, the female youkai sitting with her back against the wall opposite him before steering towards the sleeping exorcist. A bitter taste of worry rose back to his tongue as he looked at him. He was glad, though, that the small house in the training ground had kept so many things to be used, including an old piece of futon and a pillow. At least, that would provide Natori a little comfort he needed. The blue haori was put over him in replacement of a blanket.

"I guess he did," Natsume said much like a regretful statement rather than a response.

"Well, I don't know if this is good news or bad news. Even though, his life is saved he would be in a lot of pain for at least three days," Minami said much too frankly, and turned back to look at the troubled child. Natsume stared back at the emotionless mask in front of him.

"Is that so?" he spoke after a slight pause. The truth was, Natsume felt like crying. Yet, that was not the time for him to cry. Nothing had been solved yet, between him and Matoba and it would be far too hopeless to show weakness at a time like this. Natsume quickly continued patting Sensei and stared back down on the fire. The female youkai noticed the slight change in the boy's expression and wondered if she had most of the share for it.

"You don't have to worry that much. That barrier is a strong one and nothing will come to harm both of you while he recovers," she said soothingly with a sigh. She never spoke to a human with such tone before. If guilt could change a person, it sure had on her.

"Thank you." The female was surprised to see the boy's kind gaze as he raised his face again to meet hers. A sincere smile was slowly forming on his lips. "Thank you for saving his life. I don't know how to repay you." They were caught up in an awkward moment. At least, that was what the female youkai thought. It was really for the first time a human ever thanked her for something she did, good or bad and truthfully, she didn't know how to respond to it. She thanked God for giving youkai a mask, if not the red tint of blush would be visible even under the orange rays of the fire. She could only nod while letting her brown fringe above her forehead to cover half her face. Just like what the rumours said, Natsume-sama was a good person, she thought.

It was at that moment, Natsume had a chance to really have a good look on the youkai. Being troubled by worry and guilt a while ago he almost forgot about the small youkai in front of him. She had small hands, slim waist, small shoulders; a usual build of young girls his age. Her face was small too and her brown pig tails poking out at the bottom of both her ears had given her a cute appearance. She sat politely in front of him like a well-mannered girl and the blue kimono she was wearing really suited her. Still, just like Hiiragi, the mask that covered her face was unsettling. Yet, she looked exactly like an ordinary girl who had just come back from a festival with that mask on.

Natsume smiled again. It's true that she had been using heartless and blunt intonation in conversation before, which Natsume knew resulted from the lack of contacts with human. Yet, despite that, she tried to sooth him from his worry. This youkai was a good-hearted one. If he had met her before, there's no way he would forget her.

"Minami, you seem to know me when we met this afternoon. Have we seen each other before?"

"We haven't. But, I have heard a lot about you from the others. They said that you have a very strong presence with light brown hair. And what's more, you are the owner of the Book of Friends." It might be him, but it might also be Reiko-san that she was talking about. Yet, since gender wasn't significant in the eyes of the ayakashi, it didn't really matter anyway. "I almost didn't recognize you back then, Natsume-sama, since you and the exorcist had the same presence. Exorcists always had that kind of presence though, only yours was kinder." It was the first time for Natsume to be described as such. He didn't know how to react to it nor could he understand it well. Natori-san did have a strange presence when they first met, if that was what she's talking about. At that time, Natsume actually thought that the man he saw among the long fluttering grass was Sensei in disguise. He remembered the exorcist Matoba had a strange aura too. Strange, dark, intimidating, and sinister even, more that a youkai usually felt. It just hadn't crossed his mind how his own presence was in the eyes of others.

"By the way, Minami, you are quite knowledgeable in poison," Natsume asked. "Are you a doctor?"

"You could call me that," she said. "I used to be an apothecary and I made medicines for our kind. It was the first time for me to treat a human, though, and especially an exorcist." There was a certain way she uttered the last word that had Natsume locked his gaze across the dancing flames straight towards her way.

"Do you hate them, Minami?" Natsume asked after a pause, realizing the unusual silence in the atmosphere.

"They do cruel things to my family," she told him without directly answering the question. But, that was enough for Natsume to understand her position, enough for him to notice how alone she was and how angry as a tiny blast of emotion flickered in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Natsume said looking quite apologetically into her eyes. For some reasons, he felt extremely guilty for asking. It's nothing strange for an ayakashi to hate human and what's more the exorcists, but that explained why she was a little disturbed ever since they came, why she seemed reluctant to treat Natori before, and why the cold choice of words she used. And Natsume realized how he had ignorantly asked for her help despite how she felt. Surely, she had every reason to hate them now especially since they got her stuck in a terrible crisis.

Minami saw the troubled expression on Natsume's face deepened. She seriously had not meant to trouble him, not after he had kindly and sincerely thanked her before. She was indeed a fool…"Natsume-sama, you shouldn't be sorry. Not all of them are bad, and since he is one of your friends it means…" Before, the youkai could finish, there was a soft moan coming from the sleeping patient.

Both of them turned towards the young exorcist and saw him stirred. He was still sleeping although he appeared to pull his bandaged right arm from his side to his front. In the dim light, Natsume noticed the slight twitch on his brow and the small jerk of the said arm made, constantly, with no sign of stopping.

"So, it begins," Minami said and quickly got to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Natsume asked.

"Maybe I should find some herbs and make something to relieve the pain," she said. "Meanwhile, just stay by his side and inform me if anything happens." Before Natsume could thank her for the second time, she was already gone.

Slowly, leaving the already sleeping Sensei, Natsume made his ways towards Natori and knelt beside him. The arm was still jerky and trembling and Natsume could clearly see where the pain came from. Right then, guilt had actually come down on him in heavy toll. It was really his fault that Natori-san got hurt on the first place. The prickles were aimed at him, and he was the one who was supposed to lie there on the mattress if it wasn't Natori-san who had covered him. He gave a gentle stroke on the bandaged arm in hope to lessen the other's pain. Well, technically, it did none of that but Natsume wouldn't stop trying. Natori's slim long fingers poking out from the bandage were unusually hot and swelling in an angry red colour. Natsume knew the sleeping man was striving to fight the poison inside him, and he just hoped that he could without much agony or suffering. The turn of event had really put Natsume in a disadvantage. Being too kind, too soft, too empathetic and all, worry, guilt, regret, helplessness, hopelessness, all hit him in full force. Natori suddenly let out a low groan again this time along with a sharp painful jerk of the injured arm. Natsume quickly reached for that trembling hand and gave it a little squeeze praying that he would not hear the heart-wrenching sound again. If he did, he thought that everything in him might really break. Amazingly, right after that, Natori's garnet eyes fluttered opened.

"Nats… Natsume?" he said with a slightly hoarse voice and looked up between half-lidded eyes. He blinked a couple of times to fix his bleary sight.

"Natori-san? Thank goodness, you're awake."

"Em, are you alright?" he asked again. That should be my line, Natsume thought but he did not want to start that fight, not right now.

"I'm fine, Natori-san, don't worry about me. How are you feeling?"

"I feel alright. Just a little tired," he said and his voice was getting better. He looked up to the boy kindly and the corner of his lips were softly picking up into a smile. The truth was Natori felt like hell. His entire body felt heavy, sore and aching. He wouldn't be surprised if someone told him that they had just planted needles under his skin. His head was painful too. It hurt so bad as if his eyes would pop out from his face soon enough. And the worst part was his right arm, which he slowly remembered being wounded by a crazy porcupine prickle. That youkai was a poisonous type, and he got hit by it. No wonder he felt like dying. He realized his lower arm was heavily bandaged, though; a sign it was already tended to. Yet, despite all this, it kept throbbing the hell out of him, and messed up his head. That's what actually woke him up on the first place. With Natsume kneeling by his side, with gravely knitted brows, he just didn't have a heart to tell him how he really felt. He wasn't really sure if the boy could see through his lies, however.

"Thank goodness," Natsume said giving Natori's hand another squeeze. He admitted half of the burden left him by just listening to it. Never mind if it was a lie, Natsume knew that the wounded arm was painful after the ordeal and it would be so at least for 3 days, but just having him there, conscious, blinking and speaking was enough for him to feel extremely at ease.

"Who tended the wound?" Natori asked finally with his normal tone and much clearer head. A youkai's poison was not something an amateur could handle, no matter how gifted he or she was. In this case, even Natsume with much stronger spiritual power than him couldn't if he was unlearnt. Even, that cat was out of the question.

"It's Minami, the trespassing youkai that you said this afternoon." Natsume told him.

"Ah, that one." To think that his life was saved by a youkai, how ironic it was. "I should thank her in person after this," Natori said, a statement said much as a self-reminder. Natori then reached inside the fold of his hakama and took out a cell phone. Natsume's eyes widened slightly. If that convenient thing was there all along, would it be better to call the ambulance instead? Or wouldn't it? The young actor shoved the electronic object in front of Natsume's startled face and smiled.

"You haven't called Tohko-san yet, have you? Well, you better do it now, or she will get worried." Natsume quickly accepted the kind offer and dialed her number. In a moment, Tohko-san's voice was heard at the end of the line. Natsume had no words to tell how relieved he was, knowing that she was fine. To have the kind couple gotten involved with youkai was something that he hoped will never happen.

"Takashi-kun? Did something happen? Why aren't you home yet?" she asked.

"Ah, Tohko-san, I'm sorry! Just don't worry. Everything's fine. I'm with Natori-san right now."

"Natori-san?"

"Ah, I had something to ask him and he was here helping me. Maybe I'll be staying at his place tonight." Natsume didn't mean to sound so vague but he hated to lie to her. "I'm sorry for not calling you earlier."

"It's okay, Takashi-kun. As long as I know that you are fine." Natori suddenly reached up his good hand for Natsume. The boy looked down at him with questions written all over his face.

"May I speak to her, Natsume?" he said with another dazzling smile floating on his mouth. With that, Natsume handed the phone to him and he began to speak to her. Natsume didn't know how to really express it, but wasn't him getting all too closed to Tohko-san lately? The face he made while speaking to her too, he could tell how much they enjoy speaking to each other. What are they scheming? Feeling a little left out, Natsume couldn't help to feel a bit jealous.

"Don't worry, Tohko-san…" Natori stopped for a moment as his arm jerked again. Natsume noticed a brief scowl on the actor's face as the trembling hand gripped a fistful heap of the blue haori on top of him, in a poor attempt to hold back the pain. It lasted for a couple of seconds before he started to bitterly smile again. "I understand. I will take a good care of him. I apologize for making you worry so much…" Natori was silent again as he listened to Tohko-san, who seemed to be giving quite a long description on the other side. " Yes… hmmm? The thing that he wanted to ask me?... The guy thing?" A slight glance was instantly shot towards Natsume. Natsume, being so stunned and totally curious, straightened his back a bit, holding up his breath. Besides the meaningful look Natori had given him, he saw a naughty intimidating smile started to form itself, crooking up ever so slightly on Natori's enticing lips. Natsume gulped. He didn't like where the conversation was going. Even he technically wasn't part of it, for the life of him, he didn't like it at all!

"Ah, Tohko-san, that could probably be it."

WHAT IN THE WORLD? This crazy exorcist was purposely giving Tohko-san some weird ideas! If he really was at that age, Natsume Takashi adamantly told himself, there's nothing wrong with his manhood. If there is, he wouldn't be running off to confide him, absolutely NOT THIS PERSON!

Down from Natori's vantage point, he clearly saw how the young adolescent's face heated up and flushed like an erupted volcano. Of all the blushed visage he had seen this one was the most priceless. It took everything for him not to laugh out loud while Tohko-san was still on the line. He even went to a great length pulling up his hand of the swelling arm just to cover his mouth. After that, he passed the phone back to Natsume, while happily, evilly, and painfully giggling.

Natsume took the bloody phone again with an irritating look on his face. For some reasons, Tohko-san, hearing Natsume's voice back on the line started to giggle as well. Natsume silently admitted that he felt like crying over the ruined life he was just thrown into.

"Now, listen, Takashi-kun. Please take care and don't bother your host all that much. Return safely tomorrow."

"Yes, I will. Good night, Tohko-san."

"Good night to both of you. Ah, and don't sleep late. It's nice to study hard but you shouldn't forget to rest as well. Remind your tutor too for me, alright?" Natsume heard a faint click and Tohko-san's voice disappeared. There was a long pause as Natsume pondered on what really happened and smiled to himself. Well, he guessed no great damage was done after all.

Natsume turned back to Natori who had shifted slightly from his previous position. He somehow managed to lie on his side now, facing Natsume. He buried half of his face on the worn pillow panting hard. He surely was in the worst shape that night considering how a simple shifting and turning on the mattress had rendered him breathless. He looked back at Natsume to find him looking rather concernedly at him. He sighed and smiled at the boy.

"Ah, I hate this hair. It makes me uncomfortable," Natori said brushing some long sweet blond stack away from his neck. He shifted again back to his original position with much difficulty. Natsume quickly reached for him to help.

"Well, can't you just remove it," Natsume asked.

"I can't. This synthetic hair was sort of glued to my scalp. We need proper things and procedures to remove it," he said. How awful, Natsume thought. Actors are willing to do outrageous things to get a good film done. Natsume wondered if the wig was actually stapled, would he do it? Seriously, to think that Natori-san had such a troublesome thing on his head, how unfortunate, it looked terribly good on him though. Well, everything looks terribly good on him.

Natori had settled back comfortably again, all quiet, catching his breath. Natsume gave him back his phone while examining the sickly man in silence. Natsume noticed how pale and exhausted he looked and some cold sweat was slowly running down his temple. The boy knew that the man was running in a low ebb, however, despite all this he still managed to laughed and smiled earlier, and joked around and got into some random conversations with Tohko-san. That, Natsume thought, was very admirable.

"You are not going to call your manager, Natori-san? If you don't show up at the set tomorrow…"

"Ah, I don't want to," he answered flatly.

"…?"

"I will absolutely receive a thousand years worth of scolding… well, for running around exposing to the public the spoilers, you know." He had indeed been running around in the school compound wearing the costume of his latest movie, Natsume thought. "But, maybe I should call someone to fetch my car. Is it still there, I wonder," he said again with another naughty smile. Natsume snorted at the joke, but knew too well that it was just an upfront he pulled to hide the pain he felt. Natsume slowly reached for Natori's arms.

"Natori-san… The truth is, the arm hurts, doesn't it?" The arm trembled ever so slightly under his palm. In fact, the tremble had indeed gotten stronger and more frequent than before and the way Natori looked at him as Natsume gazed into his eyes, he couldn't possibly hide the bleary quiver in those red chocolate eyes. The depressing miserable feeling was back, tugging onto Natsume's gut again. He was glad that Natori had awakened, but he felt entirely worst to see him in pain. Natori sighed. Natsume had seen through him again. Of all the people around him, Natsume was the only one he couldn't simply lie to.

"You have done so much for me. So, I hope that you wouldn't hide that from me." A mixture of despair and hopelessness laced through the boy's words. Unintentionally squeezing hard onto the wounded arm, Natsume squinted low and inwardly cursed himself. Natori-san wouldn't be injured if he was strong and able to protect himself. If he hadn't been so helpless, he wouldn't have to bother Natori-san, Nyanko-sensei, Tohko-san and the others just to protect him. If he had been careful in keeping the secret of the Book of Friends, Matoba would not even figure out about it on the first place. Natsume was indeed on the verge of breaking down as the irreplaceable guilt slowly gnawed him. Yet, a gentle hand that suddenly reached up to the side of his face shut him up. Natori looked up to him with his usual kind and gentle smile.

"You shouldn't knit your brow like that, Natsume. That's the last thing I want to see coming from you." His long fingers lingered for awhile, messing Natsume's pale blond fringe. For some reasons, Natsume felt the simple innocent touch from the other reassuring and warm. Much more than he was able to admit, he liked that hand so much, and the gesture he received each time from him was enough to calm him down and make him feel safe, especially at the moment when he had a very strong opponent to face. He truly appreciated it. Hence, before the hand was withdrawn, he caught it with his hand and let it lingered a little while longer upon his cheek, feeling the overwhelming warmth exuding from the soft gentle skin. He put the hand down afterwards and reached out to feel the other's forehead. Natsume sighed.

"Well, seriously, you shouldn't be hiding this from me and should be telling me about this earlier, Natori-san," the boy scolded. "You are having a terrible fever." Natori answered nothing but smiled.

In the end, the plot didn't go anywhere but just for some boring conversation… Seriously, this plague is killing me. I'm sorry,minna, I will try my best next time. If God permits it, if I'm able to finish chapter 10 tonight, I will upload it tomorrow… hehe ^_^