Alright, I'm going to be super-busy in January, so I decided to post this one earlier. Thank you so much, Isame Kuroda-san for the helpful suggestion, though I'm not sure whether the village turns out as it should be. Well, some stories do have a mind of their own and this story is one of them, haha. I hope I will not disappoint you because this chapter is purely written for you XD. And, Kirabook-san, thank you for the review. You have no idea how much it motivates me to complete this one. So, once again, hontou ni, houtou ni arigatou :)
Sorry, if there is little action in this one though, I tend to get carried away in dialogues and please inform me if there are some mistakes, okay?
Alright, on to the chapter!
Chapter 11: Temporary alliance
Natsume hiked through the hilly forest with the help of one sturdy stick in his hand. Seriously, his stomach hurt, being punched and kicked multiple times, but it felt a little better after some salve and poultice he made at home. He still felt the occasional throb every time he landed wrongly on uneven ground though, but his determination was too overwhelming now, he could just travel to wherever he's heading to right now, dead.
Natsume stopped to wipe some sweats on his forehead which had slobbered down his eyes. The sun was merciless and he could feel his throat burnt just to a mere thought of the cool water in the crock back home. He promised himself that he would have some after this. There must be a river or pond somewhere. Standing precariously on the slope, Natsume stole a glance down the hill. There, down there, standing at the foot of the hill, gloomy and in ruins was the Kurokage Jinja.
The cursed old shrine that people forbade to talk about, the mysterious place where even his father had forbidden him to wander off to. The place where people said a dangerous demon was sealed. That stinking place is where Nyanko-Sensei was sealed for 90 years. The frightening place where Natsume had accidentally sought shelter at a few nights ago – for whatever reasons, even Natsume himself had no idea. The place he met that stupid pigcat. The very place where Natsume began to understand about this person called Natsume Reiko. All this, sounded like a great detective story, Natsume thought, and everything will began to connect with each other if he would spend enough time investigating about it. However, everyone was not cooperative enough for him to reach this goal, the villagers, his parents and Nyanko-Sensei alike! Yeah, to think back on it, Nyanko had never told him the truth, about why he was sealed there on the first place.
Well, truthfully, he wasn't about to dwell on it much, no matter how curious. One crazy night spent there was enough truth he could take. He just could not believe that he would come back here so soon. Natsume thumped along uphill and the old lane became steeper and steeper. He was thankful that the lane was actually there on the first place, or it would be difficult from him to climb in his condition. Besides, something about the lanes made him feel better; a sign left in years bygone that it was in fact trodden by real people. Not that Natsume mingled with people much, but it made him feel secured somehow. Well, right above this slope, a few minutes' walk later, lay the old village.
Natsume had just reached the top, heaving for breath when something from the trees above dropped to his feet.
"So, you are alive, Natsume-boy," it spat. Natsume jumped in surprise, dropping his stick and all breath escaped his lung the moment that happened. He was on the verge of screaming out loud when he recognized who was actually standing in front of him. A mold of white flesh with a bit of black and yellow, his bundle of cloth was wound around his body making him look so much like a perfect dorobo-cat (thief-cat) he was, a thick green volume protruded out from it.
"Sensei!"
"I thought when I left you, you will take some time to get up. Besides, you did look half-dead so I decided-"
"SENSEI!"
"Unyuh!"
Nyanko hadn't a chance to finish that sentence when the boy suddenly grabbed him by the collar and screamed. His voice echoed enchantingly in the whole forest below.
"How could you have left me?! Do you know what kind of day it had been? You left me there all by myself to die, didn't you?!" Nyanko steered his eyes towards the boy with slightly ringing ears. Sheesh, he really needs to work on that volume… How can he be so lively when he was half-dead the day before? Besides, what's up with all the bandages? Did he get hurt? But, the boy looked strong enough to thump him and the fact that he made it there on his own two feet was something quite admirable. As expected of Reiko's grandson, Nyanko thought to himself.
But, he knew better than to praise Natsume with his own crooked tongue…
"Well, it didn't cause me any loss if you did, though…"
PANG!
Nyanko lay on the ground with a huge bump on his head barely registering the other's nagging. "You selfish cat, you! I'm taking back the yuujinchou, and I'm not going to cook you breakfast again, Sensei, I hope you know."
"Oh, help… help… I'm dying… I'm dying…" Natsume ignored the other's antic and took his bundle off the ground. All the dried potatoes were gone, as expected, but the yuujinchou was kept inside it safe and sound like how he had last seen it. Natsume let out a long relieved sigh knowing that Nyanko had kept his promise at least, by not using it. He really didn't want to doubt the cat – something in his eyes that day had told him that he would never betray him – but youkai is always a youkai. He shouldn't let his guard down, ever again.
Natsume looked up to the sky as he wiped his sweat again. The sun was still shining brightly but there was a sudden smell in the air that said rain wasn't far behind. Natsume was already tired and he felt like resting for awhile, now that Nyanko was here. Yet, he didn't want to be caught up in the rain, so he had to get going. At least, when he reached the village, there would be plenty of shelter to stop by, he thought.
"So, where are we going?" He glanced back as he felt a sudden weight on his back. He had no idea how, but the fat Nyanko had literally jumped up and perched on top of his shoulders like a cute bird. Natsume had to support him with his arm in order to balance that weight.
"I don't remember asking you to come with me." Really, he felt like slamming the stupid cat to the ground just to teach him a lesson. The fact that Nyanko had left him behind wasn't something he could forgive so soon, but he decided to let the cat stay wherever he was despite that. Nyanko was heavy, alright, but wasn't entirely unwelcoming.
"Hmmph, oresama will go wherever oresama wishes. It doesn't mean that I'm coming with you. But, it will be troublesome if someone steal the book from you," the cat said with his usual pompous aura emanating from his big fat body. Natsume, no matter how annoyed, chose to ignore him.
Oresama, he said, oresama my ass.
"I'm heading to the old village. I need to find someone there," he explained briefly.
"Who would be in the right mind to be there? That place, it's haunted, you know." Then, to Natsume's annoyance, Nyanko ended up making a strange sound effect to support his statement. Idiot, you and your kind are the ones who made it that way, I'm sure of it!
"I need to see this twisted guy I met last week. I heard that he has gone to that place."
"Hmmph… Knowing you, I wouldn't be surprised at all," he jabbed again but Natsume was no longer into it and his mind had wandered off somewhere else, to where nothing but some rotten memories would greet him, would keep him company, like a night spent in hell, grotesque massacre littering the ground, spilling hot guts, and deep primal red of blood.
Natsume inwardly cringed.
"That man told me about a dangerous ayakashi which had come to the village, devouring livestock. It had killed more than enough cattle this week and the villagers are getting very angry. I had seen what it did, the carcasses, I mean, and it was horrible," Natsume paused to let his stomach settled and as if Nyanko could read his thoughts, he mercifully remained silent as Natsume struggled to gather himself. "I- I need to find this man. He seems to know a lot about ayakashi and I want to know how to chase it away."
With that, Nyanko snorted like he was amused. "Be careful, boy. Not all ayakashi can be easily chased away." Natsume tried to protest but for some reasons, something told him that the cat wasn't kidding him. He continued to walk ahead listening attentively to what Nyanko had to say. "There are some ayakashi that need to be killed because they are far too dangerous to men and there are also those that need to be sealed away because they are far too dangerous to be killed. I was wondering what you will do, Natsume, if you are destined to face such enemy." Natsume could not help but shudder to the thoughts; he could not answer that no matter how much he wanted to. He was… beyond words, helpless, even if he might be able to see it. There must be something he could do, at least, right? Nyanko, however, answered his silence with an evil all-knowing smirk and another all-too familiar snort. "Last night, I left you in the forest because there was this dark presence nearby. You were out cold, so it would be impossible for it to see you. I on the other hand, well, I could blend my own presence very easily if I choose, I just wanted to know what kind of creature it was."
So, is that why he left? He tried to draw it away from me? I'm not just making some false conclusions here, am I?
"You mean, you saw it, did you, Sensei, you saw that creature and you saw what it did?" This time, it was Nyanko who had gone silent; pondering on things only God knows what. Natsume was about to give up waiting for him when the cat suddenly said, "Natsume, if you decide to get involved any more than this, you are going to get eaten, boy."
There was no malice in his voice, no jokes, no taunts, nothing, and Natsume accepted it, accepted the fact that Nyanko had, no matter how he looked, given him a piece of advice either because he truly cared or because it was the truth. It was painful for Natsume to know this, to know that he might not be able to do anything at all to stop it, and to protect the village. Even so, it was still too early to give up now.
"Still, you left me alone there, Sensei! What if the thing decided to eat me then? You idiot yojimbo-cat!"
"Unyuh? If that happened, the yuujinchou will be all mine! Ahahahaha!"
Natsume stood at the entrance of the village with foreboding feelings hijacking his thoughts. He was very determined minutes before, even though Nyanko-sensei had told him those incredibly weird stories, nothing could waver his sense of justice to do something right. Now, however… well, not so much. Natsume stepped forward with a gulp only to be welcomed by a row of flat stones curiously stacked up together like towers. At the end of it was a piece of wood, embedded deep into the ground and festooned with a worn almost rotting shide. Natsume could see the old thread-like strands of the paper streamers flapping wistfully in the wind.
Natsume looked at them silently, wondering what might have happened. This place was deserted for years, and even his father had grown up in the village he had known now. Did they really decide to live at a new place, a new village, just to feel a new wind? Like… like one guy who came home from his farm one day saying "Our crops don't quite work here and it's too cold. Let's go miles down there and build a new village!" Hearing what he said all the other guys in the whole village went "Yeah, you son of a gun! That was the brightest idea ever!"
Well, that sounds very unlikely.
Yet, the trail of history was hard to be understood if it wasn't written down, harder still if it wasn't even spoken of, to be told as lessons to every generation. The pride of the ancestors had clearly been vanquished here along with whatever it was that should be remembered, and even as he stood there watching those rocks he felt like he had missed something incredibly important…
…just how he had felt with Reiko-san.
"So, they tried to appease the dead, at least. What a pointless thing to do," Nyanko nagged as he moved closer to sniff one of the many towers of the stacked rocks. Just as he did, it went tumbling down and both Nyanko and Natsume shrieked on the spot. The boy quickly rushed forward, stacked the sacred rocks back at its original place - though with a little tilt and a bit unbalanced - sighed to himself and without turning back, snatched Nyanko away with him, straight into the heart of the village.
… and yes, straight into hell itself.
Because the village was burnt down, and even if it wasn't, a large fire may have occurred, burning and consuming all of them. Only a few buildings were left standing, though in quite unseemly state. No one would be able to live in such houses any longer, well, if ever the owner survived, that is. Old wooden structures stood in coals, the beams, the gabled roof, the walls, the herb patches were the smear of grey ashes on the ground. Natsume couldn't shoo away the chill clinging onto his skin. The fact that rain clouds had finally appeared, washing the grim surrounding into grey somber moments didn't quite help either.
And Natsume, as he was walking through the ruins, he saw a few children scrambling by.
Their laughter was real, vivid and true. Even when they walked past bickering with each other Natsume could have sworn that he had seen real people, making through their curious daily lives, if it wasn't for their almost transparent appearance, tenuous, faint and ghostlike. And yes, just like the breath of the wind, they walked away and vanished the moment Natsume turned their way to observed them more closely. Just as they did, however, more people appeared, a woman, a man, and the burnt houses that had fallen to the ground, began to rise, began to build themselves anew, forming a calm blissful village.
This is?
Natsume was enthralled by the sight before him, for some strange reasons, and he was beyond words frightened too. Well, who doesn't get scared shitless seeing a ghost? And to see a ghost city sprang back to life was more than just spell binding. He could see the villagers now walking to and fro, husbands sighing, wives shouting. A farmer pulling a chart of vegetables, moved through the path going straight right through him. Natsume shuddered as the cold image smashed onto him like smoke.
What is this vision? A memory?
It looked like one, the way the images slithered in and out like apparitions.
But…
It's better not be the cause for Sensei toppling the rock tower just now… or else…
Natsume gulped, gripping Nyanko a little too tightly in his arm. The scenery changed now, to the sight of a cheerful looking woman in bright coloured tomesode. From afar he could see her walking, smiling and greeting some people along the way until she stopped by to chat with an old man resting at the genkan of his house. She was laughing and he sat listening to her every word, though he clearly looked bored somewhat. As the woman mindlessly continued to chatter, he slightly turned away from her, unexpectedly meeting Natsume's eyes.
Natsume instantly gasped to the sudden attention. The old man was just… an apparition. Why was he able to see him? And, looking deeply into the old man's gaze the village around him suddenly burnt. The fire was huge, too immensely huge that Natsume had to make a step back with his hand up shielding his eyes.
The fire burnt them.
It burnt the houses.
It burnt their entire crops.
It burnt the people... alive.
It burnt their curses, their shriek and cries for help.
It burnt everything.
And, even after all that, the flames of rage reigned on, unsurpassed, undistinguished by an unyielding revenge. It came in sigh, in howl, in tears of pain and it smoldered to the night sky, seeking pacification it couldn't get.
"Natsume?" In an instance, the fire vanished and all that remained was the mysterious old man who was still sitting at the entrance of his house. His old grey eyes were still fixed on him, solemn, wistful. He slowly reached out his wrinkly hand then beckoning at him, and just as he did tears ran down his tired eyes, wet, dark and bloody.
"Natsume!" This time all images disappeared and Natsume was snapped back to where he was with a sharp inhale of breath. He was unable to speak no matter how many times he looked at his surroundings. The burnt houses were still there, destroyed, forsaken. Green weeds and vines sprouted out from the broken ruins of what remained of the buildings. There was no sign of people, no raging flames, and even the wild cries and screams he heard before were silent. He soon realized that both his arms hugging the cat to his chest were madly shaking. It was a marvel that Nyanko hadn't pointed it out straight on.
"Did something happened, Natsume? Are you alright?" The cat's voice was firm like an anchor but careful all the same, laced with a little bit of concern.
"I-I…" Natsume stuttered and stopped. He had no idea how to tell Nyanko Sensei what on earth he had seen. Hell! He didn't even know what was going on! In his embrace, the cat looked up, rewarding him with a long unreadable scrutiny.
"Get yourself together, boy," he finally said. "This place is very old and you have a very strong spiritual power. It was easy to get carried away with it." Natsume breathed in and out slowly, closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. He was better now, he thought. He may not understand what the cat was saying but his words soothed him a little. For all this time, Natsume had faced so many youkais and gotten involved in countless unnatural situations. This was the first time someone was actually there to face it with him, well, whatever it may be.
Natsume noticed that the sound had returned though, not in the form of screams this time, but a loud howling noise. Yes, it sounded like people screaming before and he still thought that it was. He stared suspiciously around only to see nothing at all.
"Sensei?"
"Hmm?"
"What was that sound just now?" The cat perked his ears a little only to calm down in a second.
"That howling wind, you mean? Try to walk further along this path and you will know what's going on."
"But…" Despite his own protest, Natsume still followed Nyanko's instruction and walked ahead. Clasping both his bundle and the fat cat in his arm, he walked briskly through the village, ignoring the old calls and memories behind. As soon as the dwellings disappeared, the ground beneath his feet became slightly rocky and uneven. There were no signs of trees, just some drear grass around and the sound, the howling sound he heard before was amplified. Nyanko quickly climbed down and warned Natsume to be careful. The cat moved quite easily on the stones, hopping and jumping until he perched onto a particularly large one at the end. Natsume struggled to follow him. There were too many rocks and the wind was strong, he swore that his battered thin frame would be blown away if he wasn't careful. He reached the cat later stumbling and heaving for breath, looked down to where the cat was looking and blood quickly drained away from his face.
Down below he could see the tidal waves rolling and lashing violently. Each one that emerged rose from within the ocean with thunderous grumble and the crest viciously smashed against the rocky walls, spraying out to pieces like shards of glasses. The wind was literally howling then, hollering in sync with the white waves and deafening his ears. There he stood, staring at the frightening yet alluring sight below him with mouth agape. Seriously, he had no idea that he was standing on a high cliff.
"The sea?" For the first time in life, Natsume saw what people called a sea.
"They used to call this Yomi-no-kiba, the Hell's Teeth," Nyanko began as he gazed wistfully into the chasm below. "A lot of lives were taken here, some were claimed to be sacred sacrifices to please God-knows-what and some were fools who were just completely doomed. Human really has an interesting idea to form a bloody ritual, you see." Though Nyanko was in his usual sarcastic mood, Natsume failed to feel the same way. In fact, he was curiously saddened…
…because, as he stood there, even before Nyanko had said a word, he was able to see the faint images of people begging and falling. Some had really cried, their voice rusted. Still, they fell, and fell and fell straight into the violent watery grave. The grumbling waves down there had really sounded like their voices now, crying curses, lamenting their fates. Natsume could see how his fate looked like if he lived in those days. Well, he was the son of demon, after all, what kind of ending would suit him if not that? Then, what of Reiko-san? Did she live in those days? Did she grow up here or did she grow up in the current village like his father? Natsume squinted to see more waves coming. It's going to be a mighty long fall if he slipped and if he ever survived it, sharp rocks were going to be the end of him.
"Did… did Reiko-san die here?" he finally asked softly, surprising even himself. For some reasons, he felt like it would be a slightly touchy subject to the cat, the reason why he hesitated on the first place. But, the cat was the only one who could speak of her, he couldn't help but ask. And, for some strange reasons, he knew the cat would, at least, know something about it.
"You said you are searching for a twisted guy around this area. Let's not waste anymore time. This place makes me sick," he said turning away from the sea and hopping down towards the village. A blatant change of subject, but Natsume accepted it, for now.
The place ailed him as well.
The moment they got back to the village the rain clouds had passed and it wasn't so grey like it was before. Still, Natsume thought it would be better if they find Natori-san soon, so that they could quickly leave. Besides, he was getting tired now and all bruises on his body had begun to fret loudly again.
"Natori-san!" he called only to have no answer coming from anyone. "Natori-san, where are you?" He sighed to himself. He really didn't want to stay there any longer. He didn't want to see some images that freaked him out again. But, the man was nowhere to be seen and no matter how many times he scanned the places around him, there's not a single living soul lingering among those ruins.
And, he was very tired…
Natsume stopped and leaned against a still standing wooden post beside a broken down hut. From where he stood, he could clearly see Nyanko Sensei, wriggling his sorry excuse of a bobtail, sniffing here and there. Sometimes he stopped, pricking his ear, and pulled one leg to scratch it just to find that it didn't quite reach. Really, he was a maneki, alright, but he didn't look like something that brings fortunes along with him. Natsume was torn between laughing and pitying him. He was about to laugh at him in the end when the post he's leaning against broke. Natsume was quick to catch himself as it fell to the ground landing on top of…
Natsume stared at the object on the ground right beside the broken post and blanched. Someone had left an ancient looking skeletal arm there and he didn't want to know why. He teleported himself to where Nyanko Sensei was earning the other's curious stare. Natsume pretentiously looked around as if nothing had happened.
Seriously, who would be in the right mind to come over to this place? You are really one twisted guy, Natori-san…
He vowed to himself that he would call him one more time and that's that. If he's not answering, he will head straight home, to bed.
"Natori-san! Natori-san! I know you are here, somewhere! It's me, Natsume!"
The place was silent, even the wind sounded far off now, lulled by the accumulating anticipation in his heart. But, Natsume had waited long enough and he was about to call for Nyanko when suddenly he spoke.
"My, my, my. I know you will eventually come to see me," Natori began with his familiar voice that sent chills down Natsume's spine and the boy turned around. Really, he sounded not far off. "What can I say? I'm truly flattered." Being half under the shade of a crumbling home, with his lichen green kimono, Natsume had entirely missed him with all the rubles. He shifted and the movement gave himself away. Natsume, with his guard unconsciously lowered, snorted to himself. He was not far from him at all.
"Whatever you say…" Natsume griped as the other took the annoying tengai off. This, Natsume mentally recalled, would be their third encounter. The exorcist had, in fact, revealed his identity on their second meeting, but he couldn't shake off the feelings of astonishment every time he showed his face. With the tengai out of the way, Natsume had the luxury to really study his features. Not that he hadn't done it that night, but you will notice things more clearly in broad daylights. Natori-san, though a bit older than him, was quite young still and he would be, what Natsume believed the girl might say, good looking if he wasn't too soiled from his travels. And the eyes, the demon eyes that frightened Natsume to death that night, looked completely normal now under the sunlight. But those were not the things that surprised him.
What surprised Natsume was that his face was pale and dark circles were cruelly forming under his eyes. The red chocolate orbs were a little blank than usual too, as if the ever cheerful eyes were getting cheerless and losing their sharpness each day. Natsume noticed the white part was getting red itself and the man truly looked exhausted. It seemed like Natori-san had not been sleeping for days. And, his servant was nowhere to be seen.
"You look terrible," he said and the older man seemed a bit offended somehow.
"And you don't look fine yourself. I was there at the gathering. Are you alright?" He must be stupid if he hadn't noticed the bandages. He might as well be heartless if he hadn't asked.
"I'm fine," he answered, too quickly the other raised his eyebrows. Before he could smirk, however, Natsume chose to be straight to the point. Something in him told him that he shouldn't be sidetracked with this man. "I just come to ask you about the demon."… or he will lose his patience.
"And I want to ask you about it too," he said and smiled. Nyanko chose that moment to appear, creeping by Natsume's feet and mewed. Natori looked at him and his smile widened. "Oh, you brought a friend," he said chuckling.
"My new house cat," Natsume introduced ignoring the fact that he had lied.
"Oh, so it is your new house cat…" By that time, both man and cat were already busy indulging in a silent staring contest and Natsume could have sworn that the temperature had tensely dropped while they did. Really, what the hell is wrong with them, Natsume thought. It's not like there are arch enemies or something, or are they...? Unknown to them all, Natori had slipped out some of his paper dolls from his shirt and it came around Nyanko in a sudden, catching and incapacitating him. There was a funny yelp coming from the fortune cat and Natsume looked at the sight before him in horror.
"How rude, you should know better than laying your filthy hands on me, human!" Nyanko was literally hissing then, his bob tail wriggling like mad. Natori pulled the paper strings upwards living the fat cat dangling hopelessly in his hand like a cocoon.
"You are a youkai, aren't you?" He glared at Nyanko accusingly, eyes blazing with something akin to vigilance and Natsume had to interfere. Well, no matter how comical it may look, Natsume didn't want to see anyone getting hurt, just like what happened with One-eye.
"Stop, Natori-san, he's my friend!" Natsume pled and both stared back angrily at him. Boy, he shouldn't have lied back then.
"No, you're not. You're my underling!" Nyanko retorted aggressively and turning to the other he spat "And YOU are a hateful exorcist!"
"Sensei!" Before he knew it, Nyanko had turned into his real form, in a blast of white smoke standing tall like a mountain before everyone else. He snarled and moved forward making a huge swipe towards Natori with one of his paws. Natori's paper doll strings instantly moved in defense, squeezing the said paw, subduing it by inches. He looked straight into the youkai's yellow eyes and smirked. Nyanko wasn't just an ordinary youkai, by just looking at the form itself, he knew. He could simply break his papers if he wished. He could simply hurt him if he was serious and all will not end very well. But, what was he doing here? With Natsume, of all people?
"What do you intend to do to the boy?" he demanded and the creature glared back at him with the same expression, mirroring his own.
"I was about to ask you the same thing, exorcist."
"Maybe I should show you how your kinds are purified."
"What a presumptuous guy. Should I eat him Natsume?"
"I SAID, STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!"
In an instance both youkai and exorcist laid at one side lamenting on a purplish bruise on each of their faces, all skirmish they had before gone. Natsume stood between them slapping his hands together in satisfaction like he was brushing off some dirt. Natsume regretted not seeing it coming, though. Of course a youkai would hate an exorcist and an exorcist would detest youkais as much, they practically existed to kill each other. Yet, he kind of figured out how to stop them, so it didn't really matter anymore. Nyanko was back to his usual cat form whimpering while Natori sat quietly on the ground literally sulking. At least, everything had gone quiet now, just what he needed when he was already so tired. Never mind if he needed to punch both the cat and Natori-san for that, he always felt like doing it for some time now.
"Alright, tell me, what happened?" Natori began, still sounded pretty much surrendered; he was still sitting there rubbing his cheek.
"I was dealing with the youkai that had been chasing after me," Natsume answered and stopped as he pondered on the matter. Natori steered his eyes curiously on him and waited.
"Well, has it settled?"
"It's settled," Natsume quickly replied and shot a look to the older man as if saying I told you I don't need your help. But, if only he could show the face a little longer… "And, thank you for the talisman that you had given me, it kind of helped." His words trailed away as he reached up to clutch the said omamori around his neck. Then, there was a pregnant pause while Sensei's endless remark of 'you should thank me too' rang uselessly in the background.
"I wouldn't say that if I were you," Natori remarked. "It would be the same as licking your own spit." This guy… He could just say, 'you're welcome'…
"And, after that I struggled to find my way home. My mind was too muddled, I couldn't remember a thing before I fell unconscious in the forest," Natsume said angrily trying his best to ignore the man. "Then, I had that dream."
"A dream?"
"I-I don't really know how to say this. But, sometimes other people's memories enter my dreams. Even youkai's memories do and I guess I… I had seen that demon in my dream. It had come pretty close to me, I guess, when it came out hunting, enough for me to catch him in my dreams. That is how I ended up stumbling upon the dead cattle in the woods this morning. " Natori quietly looked at him as if he was thinking.
"How do you know that it is not yours? The dream, I mean. Well, perhaps your brain is just making it all up?" Good point. But, Natsume was quite certain with what he had seen in his nightmare last night.
"No. Mine would be different." Mine would be filled with angry crowds of people screaming curses and accusations. Yet, Natsume decided not to say that aloud and Natori silently made no attempt to prod further on the matter. "I could hear its voice, loud at first, but then it gradually changed to something else, almost like the wailing of a beast. It said that it was hungry." Natsume's eyes glazed over recalling every little detail from it. Good thing that he won't forget a nightmare that significant quite easily. "It was dark, dark black. Some parts furry, some parts scaly, it slithers above the ground, swimming like a fish." Natsume heard what came out from his mouth and knew how ridiculous it sounded. But, that was what he had seen in his nightmare. Both Natori and Nyanko can laugh all they want, jeer at him, and hate him even, just like the villagers.
Instead, it didn't come. Natori clutched his chin in a manner of deep thoughts and Nyanko silently peered at him, not protesting, not taunting, and not saying he was wrong although the cat had seen the creature himself.
"Just as I thought, it was really that youkai all along," Natori sighed, took out a piece of paper and showed it to both of them. On the paper was a doodle drawn in black ink. Looking at it, someone might have believed that it was some drawings children do out of wild imaginations. However, to Natsume, it was really the exact image of what he had seen in his head. To think that someone had drawn it out was… quite surprising.
And, it really was a fish, a huge fish with strange unnamed body parts, like two furry arms extended at both its sides, and two twin barbels that looked more like… giant tentacles?
On second thought, the picture was really badly drawn…
"Hmmph, what a freakishly bad drawing, but, that is the creature you, bastard, are seeking for," Nyanko confirmed. Natori shot him a dirty look before he continued.
"It is rumoured to be the old Yamagami that had turned into a demon. There's nothing could be done when an ayakashi at that level does. It is said that people cleared the mountain he's guarding and was pretty much angry with it. It had been eating animals ever since, cattle and horses, wherever it goes. A group of exorcists had been sent to kill it before, but failed. Then, the demon retreated to this village. What is left to do now is to seal it."
"What a fool! Do you think you, a puny exorcist, can really seal it? The demon has been devouring livestock for now, but in time it will switch to human as it gets stronger. I do believe that it's already heading that way," Nyanko commented.
"But, what else can be done, stupid pigcat? We can't just leave it as it is." Natori and Nyanko began to continue bickering again as Natsume sat quietly thinking to himself. It was true that the ayakashi was huge. He had seen the cattle in the woods and knew pretty well what it could do, to him, to Natori-san and Nyanko-sensei. But, there were no more options and certainly running away wasn't one of them. Well, perhaps, if they could form a plan good enough, maybe they could stop it…
"Okay, how do we seal it?" Natsume suddenly asked and hearing the word 'we' brought a smile to Natori's handsome face.
"I told you that you will eventually join me," he said cheerfully, he might as well be singing then.
"There's no deep meaning to it," Natsume frowned. "I still disagree with your method. But I just don't know what to do." Natori slowly dropped his teasing face but didn't completely shut off his knowing smile.
"My servant and I had been preparing all the things and location of the exorcism for some times now but since we are short of hands, it may take a little while. Besides, in order to seal it properly we may need some things that were pretty hard to get… like its limbs or parts of bodies."
"What?! That would be pretty hard to get!" Natsume could feel his hopes crumbling. But, Natori-san must have thought of a good plan, right? He should have!
"Sure it is. That is why we need to lure it somewhere first and get its limb. Then, we put the limbs at the exorcising location, lure it again and seal it," he explained simply. Oh, a good plan, indeed!
"Surely no one on earth will agree to this!" It was Nyanko who protested this time. But, seriously, what kind of plan that was. No one will finish carrying it out unscathed. Hell, one of them might even end up dead. All the while, Natori kept on smiling as he watched the others' reaction. That Natori-yaro might have lost too much sleep, he had gotten crazy, Nyanko was sure of it.
"Well, if we fail to take the limb, will its fur or scales do?" Natsume asked, he sounded scared now, looked frail even, and with all the bandages picking out from his clothes, wound around his head, his black bluish eye, Natori felt a bit guilty for getting him involved in this. Guiltier, when he himself wasn't able to provide much information they need. He just needed more time to investigate the youkai's weakness, to discover a safer sealing method, but they villagers were completely tight-lipped and ignorant and the ayakashi had gotten too strong. They need to deal with it before tragedy took place. And, that was something he couldn't let happened.
"I really had no idea, Natsume. I'm sorry," he gently answered and saw the boy's face crumbled like the fallen houses around them. Natsume must have felt devastated right then. After all, it was his village. Will someone just stand there doing nothing, knowing the risk that the place he was born, the people he knew will be massacred and destroyed? Natori had silently hoped that the boy would decide to run away instead, so that he, one so very young, didn't have to shoulder this burden.
However, it wasn't the kind of answer Natsume would give. Meeting the boy for the first time that day, seeing him try to help the people hurting him, he just knew Natsume wasn't just a weak and frail human being. As soon as that crossed his mind, he saw new hope kindled in Natsume's pale eyes and it burnt more violently than it was before.
"Alright, we will go and search for it, for now," Natsume voiced up. "Once we know the demon's hiding place, we will make a plan on how to take its limb, body parts, or whatever it is. We REALLY need a proper plan for that, Natori-san. Then, we will discuss how to seal it. Is that good enough?" Natsume saw the surprised look in the other's eyes and wondered.
"Natsume, I know that you will help me," he said smiling, his red eyes practically twinkling. I know that next time you will come to me, thank me and apologize. Then, sooner or later, you will join me.
Before the other could quote the saying though, he spat "But I will not apologize to you, Natori-san. Never!"
So, how was it? Exciting? Boring? Haha…
NEXT CHAPTER: THE MINDLESS HUNT
~Pointless rambling alert. You can skip this part if you don't want to read, thank you. :) ~
Anyway, since this chapter will be the last one for 2014, there is something that I really want to say. Well, as I said before, 2013 was a tough one, 2014 is indeed the toughest year I have been through so far in my whole life. Never mind what crap I was forced to go through, but there's a lot of tragedies this year, either it relates to me or not, but people died, so many of them. Malaysia lost 2 planes this year along with more than 500 lives. There was no one to be blamed, but we Malaysians felt responsible for it somehow, including me. I was… ever since I was small, I had a silly habit of looking up to the sky every time I felt down. By just doing that, a crazy simple thing, I began to smile and laugh. Now, I can't just look up to the sky and feel the same again, without having tears falling from my eyes. Well, that was Malaysian thing, a tiny country we live in (there are countless others happened here that I haven't mentioned), there are other plane crash as well, a capsized ferry filled with children, war in Gaza and more where thousands died, EBOLA, the list goes on…
All I'm asking you guys, right now, as we move on to a whole new year, in 6 days, please promise me that you will take a good care of yourself. Live happily, appreciate your loved ones and even if you are alone, loveless, abandoned and screwed, remember that there will always be a way to fix things. Everyone is pretty much alone and screwed in this world and we survive and reach out to others and care for others in the end. Yes, we cry and bleed, but things happened for a reason and we get slightly stronger than we were before. And, last but not least, be good and don't hate others because if we do bad things, grow hatred and revenge, God will send down things to teach us a lesson and it will be too late by then.
So, that's all for my pointless rambling(a simple reminder for me and you), I didn't get to do this often, so bear with me and thanks for those who tried to read this… Have a nice day, wherever you are, and have a nice prosperous happy exciting year! :D
