5000 words for a whole chapter? This is absolutely absurd! On to the chapter!

Chapter 10

Nanase-san strode along the corridor in haste with a bundle of papers in her hands. She had done a lot that day and still had so much to do and it was already seven at dusk. Seriously, even a diligent housewife did not work as hard as her, and she wondered why she chose this profession on the first place.

She would finish a few reports for now and at 7.30 she would go straight away to the master's chamber, waking him up and delivered to him all the reports including the latest one she received. Most of the reports were important, especially the latter and it might be best for them to be delivered right away to the head of the house. But, young master Matoba was cranky and irritable after a nap and no one would dare to intrude into his chamber with a half-ass report, no matter how important it was. Only Nanase-san's wise words would sound highly informative to his ears at that moment.

While walking, the old woman recalled what her servant had told her before. As she had thought, it was really Natori who had been with the boy and it was really his shiki that had been rudely roaming around the household, spying. She saluted him for being able to do it unnoticed for 3 weeks and took the boy away the moment they were about to get hold of him. It was quite fortunate that his shikis was killed by the members of the house, instead of being eaten like most of the conjurers who stood in his master's way, or else the good young Natori would have quite an ugly record in his part. After all, a conjurer with his shiki eaten did not deserve a part in this ruthless field.

Nanase-san felt a little sorry for Natori, though. He had messed up with a wrong guy this time. It's not like she hadn't warned him, and because of that he would pay dearly for his own obstinacy. By now, he had intercepted the association request for Matoba about 5 times already, including the case of the Big-faced youkai which had been devouring the local's livestock, the Mountain-Deity case and many others, which suspiciously taken place in the area where the boy, named Natsume Takashi lived. The chief was so annoyed with it that he couldn't help being curious. Well, she could still remember the kind of face he made when he figured out the reasons behind it. The boy was indeed the barer of a treasure pursued by any other exorcists in the world. No wonder Natori had gone to a great length in hiding him.

Natsume… Natsume Reiko, a name which had been suspiciously passed around by many youkai, a name which was said belong to a very beautiful person who possessed strong power. Nanase-san couldn't tell for sure how true it was, nor there any evidence or record about the said person in the association archive. But, because she was curious, she did the investigation nonetheless and discovered in an unofficial document in a certain shrine about a woman who exterminated a very powerful deity in the north using the power of the book. Her name was not mentioned again in any document or in any part of that particular document except for the 5-lined description. But, that was enough for her to wonder what that power of the book was, and if it was possible to be attained by others, would it not make the household she served strong, stronger that the association even. The Chief liked her idea a lot, and had raised her salary by two digits. Yet, she knew the man had sort of guessed the situation the moment she conveyed that to him.

That was why, when the association requested the Moon Festival case, Matoba had turned down the offer flat. Who would accept such a last minute offer anyway just to get cursed by heavenly-beings. And, besides, the case took place quite closed with the boy's area too, and he would like to confirm the conjurer who would accept the offer, just in case. Indeed, it was him, Natori Shuichi, the man who had gotten in his way too many times now that it became annoying. But, Matoba was careful in dealing with that man. He had quite a reputation too, though not as good as him, and the fact that they were the only two who had inherited their family business at a very young age had everyone talk and gossip who was better between them. It was true that they had not met face to face before, even in idle talk, but Nanase-san seriously thought that her master was the one who would win this competition.

Indeed, Natsume Takashi was safe in Natori's protection at the moment, and on top of that, he had used such an awesome technique that no one on earth could lay a hand on him. But, before long no one could really tell what might happen and she looked forward to what the chief will decide to do. The old woman silently slipped into her small office and worked on the reports.

.

Natsume woke up that morning to find Sensei snuggled closed at his chest. It was pretty cold that morning and even Natsume had unconsciously positioned himself like a ball. Thanks to a cozy blanket which covered him, he felt very comfortable indeed to the point of not waking up. He whimpered sleepily to the noise of the birds outside and leaned his face further towards the warmth at his chest. Sensei purred and Natsume smiled slightly. Then, within the cozy sleepiness, Natsume's nose caught a strange smell in the room. What is this pungent stinking smell? Raw fish? Natsume forced his eyes opened and saw a white horny smiling face leaning closed to his own. One huge emotionless eye hovered on top of him unblinking.

"So, you have awakened, Natsume?"

UWAH!

Natsume kept his ears deaf and pretended not to listen as Sensei scolded him. Yes, in shock earlier Natsume had abruptly thrown the sleeping Sensei to Hiiragi's face. Damn that stupid mask! It scared the hell out of him. Why did Hiiragi decide to wear that on the first place when she could choose countless cuter style and design in stores?

"As always, you scream like a girl, Natsume. I thought after all that you had gone through you would grow a bit manly than you used to be," she said as she bent down to collect all the scattered raw fish on the floor. Natsume was a little bit offended by that and the fact that it reminded him of a certain youkai-boy who had called him 'onna-otoko' got him all moody in the morning. But, he saw Sensei's scratch mark on Hiiragi's mask, and instantly he had forgotten all about revenge.

"Hiiragi too should learn not to sneak up on people like that. They have every reason to get scared."

"Is that so? But, I was ordered to sneak up all the time, be it on human or ayakashi," she answered nonchalantly. Natsume truly had no comment for that.

"Nee, Hiiragi. How did you get in here?"

"I just did."

Natori told him that nothing could pass through the barrier unless with his permission. Perhaps, that was it, Natsume thought. "If you are talking about the barrier, I had some spell written on me that allow me to pass. However, the spell can only be used once and it needs to be written all over again." Judging from Hiiragi's tone, Natsume could tell how ridiculously long the spell was. The barrier after all, seemed to be strong and invincible.

"Hey, lizard man's servant, what's up with all the raw fish?" Sensei asked.

"Master, told me to get some for breakfast." Listening to the word 'master' Natsume quickly turned towards the futon at his side. It was empty. In fact, both him and Nyanko-sensei were those who half-occupied it a moment ago and the comfortable haori-cum-blanket was on top of him. Now, Natsume tried to remember where the person had gone to. He heard nothing while he was sleeping (of course) and he didn't know when he had fallen asleep as well. The last thing he remembered, after Minami had given Natori-san another drop of medicines he had spent most of the night looking after the man while he tossed and stirred painfully in his sleep.

"Hiiragi, where is Natori-san?" he asked.

"Master, is outside making some preparation." Without further ado, ignoring Sensei's cheer of happiness of the fish for breakfast, Natsume rushed outside in search of the man. The sun had already risen, but since they were so far away in the woods, it was not as bright as it should be and the cold weather too had the place surrounded in mist. Natsume in his hurry had unconsciously brought along the blue haori that belonged to the man, and he held it closed to him in his arm as if his life depended on it.

And far away, within the silver mist, Natsume caught sight of a black bent figure on the ground. Natori was sort of sitting on his knees while putting the palm of his hand on the wet grass. His long blond hair that fell over his face had Natsume wonder for awhile before remembering that he still had his wig on. The young exorcist, who was wearing glasses now, held a tiny stick with his fingers and made some invisible scribbles on the grass. Natsume watched silently as he worked. Though Natsume was clueless of what he was doing, the high-schooler knew that he seemed to be very skilled in it. He moved from one place to place, indicating that he had accomplished many in a short time. Sometimes, he stopped coughing or gripping his right arm with his good hand. Natsume sighed. He knew there's little he could do for his wound, but he should at least had a good rest for the fever to abate.

Natori realized Natsume's presence and turned to the boy who stood near him. His face bore a serious concentrating expression before it melted away into a cheerful face. His usual bright smile crept across his lips fast.

"Good morning, Natsume. Have you slept well?" he said with his ever-cheerful voice. Natsume admitted that he was still worried of the man's condition but he was glad to hear his usual happy voice.

"Em, I did. How about you, Natori-san? Are you feeling alright?" Natsume asked him. The troubled face Natsume made last night crossed Natori's mind. He hated to lie to him, but he also hated to make him worry as much. Yet, the hurt face Natsume showed him last night was a great reminder not to hide anything from the boy ever again.

"I feel a little better," he said. "Here, have a look." He held out his bandaged arm towards the boy as if to show the improvement. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did last night." True to his word Natsume saw that his fingers were no longer red and that they had pretty much returned to their usual colour. Minami's medicine really did the trick. As he held out his hand it still shook slightly nonetheless, and Natori hastily grabbed the stick he had earlier and made another invisible scribble on the ground. "See, I can use it to make the circles and write the spells," he said almost grinning. Deep within himself, he knew that he had done poorly to soothe the boy's worry, which much to his own dismay. For the first time in his life, he, Natori Shuuichi, had performed the lowest quality of acting.

"Is that so?" Natsume spoke. Right after he did, the kneeling man coughed again. Sighing inwardly, Natsume neared him and put the haori over his shoulders. "It's cold, your fever had just gone down. You should be wearing this," Natsume said and Natori smiled rather sheepishly to the boy.

"Thank you, Natsume." Natsume knelt besides Natori afterwards and looked on the ground, where the exorcist had been scribbling. In truth, there's nothing there. Hiiragi said he's making some preparation. What preparation is it? Natsume wondered silently to himself. It was amazingly quite that morning as compared to yesterday. Natsume guessed that the youkai had given up on him and went away. But, he still doubted that they could wander outside the barrier and came back safely afterwards. Some shikis might still be there waiting for them beyond the bushes. He was truly glad that it was Saturday. Or else it would be too outrageous for him not to turn up in school in the morning after all the hullabaloo that happened yesterday.

Natsume turned back to Natori who was still busy scribbling markings on the grass. Natsume still couldn't see anything, though. Try doing it yourself, you won't be able to draw anything on the grass. Thus, Natsume quietly eyed the act curiously as he talked to his companion. "What is to be done now that we are safely inside this barrier? How long should we wait?"

"Waiting will not solve anything, Natsume. Can you spend your entire life waiting in this training ground? Youkai have quite a long age, you know." Natori glanced at the teenager beside him and saw a rather comical look of despair. "I guess that is a no, then," he said laughing. "Don't worry, after I'm done with this, perhaps, I will go to meet Matoba himself and negotiate things with him."

"Meet him? Will it be safe?" Natsume asked. Judging from what happened yesterday, with all those scary youkai coming to get him, was he not trying to murder them all?

"He might seem ruthless sometimes, but he can be quite reasonable when it comes to human," his words came out rather confidently through his tongue and perfect teeth though in truth, doubt had ironically laced along with them. Perhaps, he needs to prepare a very special curse when he meets him, Natori thought. There was a long pause after that and Natori continued with his work.

"Well, Natori-san, what are you doing by the way?" Obviously, the boy could no longer tolerate his curiosity.

"I'm putting up some reinforcement in case the barrier was broken."

"But, Sensei told me yesterday that it is a strong barrier that no one would be able to break it, especially from outside."

"Hmm… it's true that it is strong, and no one in history was able to break the spell yet. But, just 3% feelings I had, tells me to be extra cautious."

"But, I don't see any markings that you are doing, Natori-san." With that said, Natori stopped and looked at Natsume with slightly widened eyes as if to say you don't? "Don't look at me that way, Natori-san, I feel like a natural disaster."

"Sorry, Natsume!" he later exclaimed laughing. "I guess, I forgot. You won't be able to see them by just looking. Try to concentrate a little. Imagine an invisible thing lying on the ground and command it to appear before your eyes. That's it." The moment Natsume did, he saw the tinkling dews on the grass began to stir, moving and connecting to each other forming a familiar looking circle on the ground. There was another circle next to it and another and another. The circles were drawn in a chain forming another huge circle. "It's a slightly advanced technique, that's why it can't be seen easily. Even the youkai can't see this."

Natori knelt back down and demonstrated how to make the circles. Natsume watched in awe and listened how they were convenient in blocking and exterminating spirits. The boy began to understand why it needed to be performed early in the morning. He just couldn't understand why it was necessary, though. But he knew better not to question the other.

"Well, is there anything for me to do?" Natori stopped and looked up to the boy who was standing in front of him. Natori would love to have Natsume's help. Since Natsume was stronger than him, the preparation might be ready before nightfall. Indeed, the faster the better. But, he preferred to work alone when dealing with some high-level techniques. He needed higher concentration for it and besides, to let Natsume help doing something to destroy a youkai seemed a little inappropriate. If possible he didn't want to hurt Natsume that way.

"It's okay, Natsume, I don't want to trouble you." But, the boy quickly reached for his hand, gripped it firmly with his own and peered straight into the elder's eyes.

"Please, Natori-san, you have done a lot for me. I want to help you."

There's nothing Natori could do to refuse those eyes. Pay a hundred million dollar, present him the coolest car men ever produced, shove him the sexiest girls from the top-model list (or not?), the ever charming yet mysterious Natori would not budge. But, truly, it took only a pair of Natsume's hopeful eyes to have Natori relent, even the sternest of decisions. Then, very slowly and as gentle as he was, he reached out to the boy and caressed his soft silky pale-coloured hair.

"I guess, it was a perfect time to teach you some techniques to repel the youkai. Be prepared, Natsume-kun. It's a tough job to do."

.

Both Natsume and Natori sat in front of the small house gnawing the overcooked/burnt fish for breakfast. Meanwhile, Hiiragi sat not very far away with Nyanko-Sensei irritatingly yelling at her for letting the fish burnt. Hiiragi didn't really care, as long as her master hadn't complained. It is not like she knew how to cook to begin with. Long ago she was a mountain guardian, for God's sake, not some youkai's good natured wife!

Minami was gone since morning saying that she also had some preparation to do. Since everyone was busy to protect what's important to them, she also needed to protect what's important to her. Everyone did curiously wonder what she was doing in the bushes at the back, but they finally decided to leave her to her own scheme. An apothecary she may seem to be, but even a druggist would have good plans sometimes. Two burnt fish no blacker than the others laid by the fire waiting for her return.

Natori chewed his fish and brightly smiled to the bitter taste he felt on his taste buds. He did miss the cooking his maids prepared him back at his place, but at a time like this, one shouldn't be choosy. He also missed the painkiller pills in the cabinet in the kitchen. Were him at home, he would instantly grab a mouthful of them and buried himself under the bed cover for a week. He knew he was exaggerating, but if he were to describe the pain he felt in his right arm in one word, he would simply say HELL. He was just there, dragging himself up, talking, eating and smiling for Natsume's sake. But, on second thought, would human painkillers work on an injury inflicted by ayakashi? Natori wasn't so sure.

Natsume devoured the food like a lion, though he knew Sensei would use 'pig' for a better comparison. The boy was hungry. He hadn't eaten since last night and this morning he had been performing tough spells that Natori taught him over and over. To say it clearly, he was exhausted and needed food to revive himself. Natsume was happy, nonetheless, for he had learnt two important things. One is how to make a barrier and the other is how to break them. Natsume thought that making a barrier is easy as long as it wasn't a forbidden technique that Natori-san had previously preformed. But, to break it was trickier. Natori did teach Natsume how to destroy barriers while a trapped youkai was in it, but with a smile he told the boy that he just knew that Natsume would not use it. Truly, Natsume was too kind-hearted to perform any kind of exorcism.

"Natsume, please eat slowly or you will get chocked," Natori said. Much to Natsume's embarrassment, he apologized and continued to eat at a much slower pace.

"I'm sorry, Natori-san," Natsume said again after awhile.

"It's alright, Natsume. You can just eat like a pig if you really want to."

"No, I'm not talking about the fish!"

"…?"

Natsume took out the green old book from his school bag and put it on his lap. He laid a hand upon it and softly felt its hard old texture beneath his palm. Natori just looked at him and the book without anything to say.

"This is the book that I really wanted to show you before, but didn't. The Book of Friends, the only thing I have to remind me of Reiko-san, my grandmother." There was an awkward pause as the boy bowed low looking only at the book under his hand. Natori hadn't made any comment making it hard for Natsume to face him. From afar, unknown to the two of them, both Sensei and Hiiragi had stopped quarrelling and watched silently what the human might do.

"May I have a look, Natsume?" Natsume heard Natori said and he found a graceful hand reached out for him. Natsume willingly handed the book to him and the exorcist started to flip over it examining its content. "They are all names," he said in disbelief.

"Yes, they are. Those are the names Reiko-san got after beating all those youkai in a challenge. As a return, they gave their names away to her and she can control them however she liked" Natori looked back to Natsume, both awe and wonder etched on his face. No wonder Matoba wanted it. With this he would be the strongest person among all the exorcists. He could possibly surpass and take over the association.

"If the pages were torn what will happen?"

"The pages connect to the youkai whose name it belonged to. If the page was destroyed so would the spirit. That is why, I've decided to return all the names to their owners. I've never met Reiko-san, I didn't know how she felt, no one is able to tell me who she was, how she's like, what pain she had gone through. No one remembered her. If returning her friends' name would put at end to what she had started, that is the least I can do for her." Natori didn't say anything; he looked silently at the old volume in his hand. "I shouldn't be keeping the secret about The Book of Friends from you, Natori-san. I'm really sorry." There was a certain ring in his voice that made the whole place silently saddened.

"No, it's alright Natsume, I did figure out the secret in the end," the exorcists chuckled trying to ease the accumulating misery in the air.

"But, you didn't hear it from me. In other words, I lied to you. I didn't tell you the truth though I used it a couple of times behind your back when we met. Not telling about it also means that I did not trust you. Yet, you have done so much for me and protected me. I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't apologize, Natsume, you did nothing wrong." Natori handed the book back to the boy and smiled. Natsume took it returning a puzzled look. "The book is a powerful thing and it would be bad if it were to fall on the wrong hands. If I were in your place, I would do the same thing." Natsume slipped the book safely back into his school boy while the other carefully watched him. "And, besides, even knowing myself, Natsume," he continued "I still advise you not to let your guard down especially around people like me." In an instant, the black tiny lizard crossed his face and Natsume could feel all his hair stood along with an unbearable chill. This is the forth time he saw him in an evil aura. Almost he regretted for saying what he had said before.

"And you are talking as if I wasn't here, you sneaky lizard guy! Always as shady as ever." In a breath, Sensei was already standing in front of Natori looking intently at him. In the fortune cat form it was hard to say whether he was snarling or mocking. But the warning was indeed there, serious or not. "I will be watching your back, if I found you messing around with my prey, I will instantly eat you along with that Matoba bastard."

"Talk like that to my master again, and I will not show any mercy, you cat-dumpling." Hiiragi suddenly squeezed in.

"What? What is it, that you had just called me?"

"Cat-dumpling."

"How dare you calling a noble being such as me cat-dumpling, you stupid masked youkai."

"You just called yourself that, cat-dumpling."

Within seconds, both ayakashi was throwing fish bones at each other. Natsume heard Natori's soothing voice telling them not to fight, but he knew the man wasn't that serious to stop the fight anyway. He was laughing instead. So, Natori's expression was back to normal, much to Natsume's relief. He did scare him a while before as if in an instant, a stranger was the one who sat beside him, as if he would really snatch the book away from him. Just in an instant he knew nothing about him at all.

But, he was truthfully glad that Natori-san was there with him. Despite of what he said, he trusted him. He wanted to trust in him. Without him he would be long gone, eaten by some crazy youkai and the book would surely be used to the bad. And Nyanko-Sensei, no matter how many times he told Natsume that he wish him gone so that he would get hold of the book, still he had done a lot to protect him this time. He even stayed closed to him in his weakest moment, like a plank he could hold on to, to keep himself from drowning. Natsume knew, Sensei would not let any harm to fall on him. Hiiragi as well, despite her heartless mask, he knew she would help him to face this. Everyone was actually here to lend him strength and there's no reason for him to be weak now. They may seem untruthful sometimes, hiding their intentions from him, but in truth they really care. It was pretty strange, but just like what Sasada had said yesterday, in truth they are like…

A thin smiling girl suddenly appeared not far away from him. She was wearing a high-school uniform just like him and was looking kindly his way. Natsume saw her lips moved like she was saying something to him. The brown-haired girl smiled and waved at him before she vanished like an apparition. Natsume gasped and smiled afterwards.

Reiko-san, don't worry. I have many important and trustful companions with me. We will not let your book falls into the wrong hands. This I promised you.

In unawares, looking at the people around him, another thin smile crept onto Natsume's lips.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound thundering in the whole place and the ground instantly shook. Natsume automatically grabbed Sensei's small form covering him in an embrace. Natsume's heart began to beat very fast. He could hear it beating against his ribs.

"Master!" Natsume instantly turned alarmed by the panicked voice. Natori had fallen limply in Hiiragi's embrace. She slowly went to her knees supporting his weight. Natsume quickly dashed to their side. Hiiragi was calling for his master over and over but Natori didn't reply and he buried his face closed to her. Only his hands were visibly trembling as he grasped the left side of his chest.

"Natori-san!" Natsume was half-screaming his name now. He watched in horror as Natori showed some difficulty in breathing. Another crashing sound was heard again and this time a violent gust of wind followed. Natsume remembered the wind was quite the same with the one he experienced yesterday. Indeed, when the outer barrier was formed. Sensei quickly turned to his real form shielding the three individuals crouching on the ground. After a few seconds, all was silent.

Natori was coughing and panting all at the same time. The moment he sat up and pulled himself away from Hiiragi, his face was pale in total shock. No matter what had happened to him, it seemed that the torture had just ended. In truth, the moment the loud sound was heard, he felt like his heart had just been plucked out from his chest and his breath had burst out from his lung. For the first time in his life, he thought that he would really die, but the pain instantly ceased when the second crumbling sound was heard.

He squinted and looked away in the distance, trying hard to concentrate. Both Natsume and Hiiragi were frantically asking whether he was fine.

"The barrier," was the only thing he could say while he was still heaving hard. Before they could ask anything else, he hastily got up and sprinted away. Natori didn't care if they were shouting and calling for him. He didn't care if his body hurt with all the running and jumping across the training ground. Those were not important right now. There was one thing he had in mind, one thing he needed to make sure of, one thing he had feared the most. He stopped at the very spot where he performed the spell of the barrier the day before. There were smoke all around and he could smell something burning. On the grassy ground a curved line shone in shades of burning ember and Natori could still felt the heat of the fire which had devoured the barrier. One yellow ofuda that he had nailed to the wall lay on the ground, no longer golden in colour, but grey. The wind blew slightly and its ashes were slowly blown away. Then, there was a sound of light footsteps coming towards him.

Out from the smoke, the black figure appeared. He was wearing a worn coloured kimono which one could hardly tell if he was spirit or human. He was holding a brown kasamochi which hid his face pretty well and his very long black hair fluttered behind him nearly reaching his thigh. But, Natori did not have to see his face to know who that person was.

Sorry for being late. I promised to upload one chapter per day, but this one is too long that it took me 2 days to finish. I knew I had made a lot of grammatical + spelling mistakes in my previous chapters including this one, but I will try my best to avoid them. I'm planning to edit it after I finished this story, well, if I have the time. For now, what do you think about the story? Please review for me! ^_^