A/N: Another reminder that I have this fic already fully posted on my Ao3, under the same name:
Curse of High Field Mountain
...since I sometimes forget I'm crossposting it here -_-' Feedback/Comments appreciated and much loved.^
Morning came to High Field Mountain like a somber gathering for funeral rites. The sun's rays fought their way through both clouds and fog, and in the end lost, leaving the day gray and dreary.
Natori got up from the tattered futon they were given to sleep on. He looked back to see Natsume still sound asleep, Nyanko resting near the boy's head with a little snot bubble inflating and deflating on every breath.
Natori walked toward the windows to see the village in what little light the day had to offer. The view was much clearer than it had been the previous night, at least it seemed one could see further than just the hand held in front of their face. He pulled his night yukata closer to his body- the day just as chilly as the night.
The previous night, Natori had placed several incantation charms around the room. Natsume had inquired about them, never fully understanding Natori's apprehension about matters. Natori had only told him that it was a precaution after the sudden incident with the swarm of birds. They didn't understand the full situation of the mountain, so it was better to be safe. Natsume seemed to have accepted the explanation before drifting off to sleep.
The exorcist plucked a paper from his sleeves and watched it erupt in sacred blue flames. All the papers were connected: the charms were all linked to the single sheet held between his fingers that crumbled to ashes and disappeared into nothingness. He had made the right decision to protect the room.
Natori picked up the eyeglasses that he had left on the small table in the room, perching them upon his face. He walked toward the door next, where one of the charms had been disturbed but had held up like it should. He spared one last glance to Natsume's sleeping figure before exiting the area.
As soon as he stepped out of the room, Natsume's eyes fluttered open.
"What do you think he went to do?" Natsume asked in a sleep tinted voice, sitting up on his own futon. Nyanko stretched his rotund body and wiggled his paws, yawning absurdly.
"Better be to bring food. Food, food, Natsume! He brought us out here to starve!" The cat poked at Natsume's legs before pointing at his stomach as if it was supposed to clearly show that he was indeed starving.
Natsume sighed at his bodyguard's antics, "Well, maybe you could lose a little weight, sensei. "
"What did you say?" Nyanko looked toward him with an accusing glare.
"Nothing. Nothing." Natsume finally stood in search of his bag to rummage through its contents. "We got some food from the village, but you can't have it all . "
Natsume held out a piece of fried fish which Nyanko snatched and ate with gusto.
While Nyanko was eating, the door opened and Natori walked in. Natsume looked up at the man, "Where did you go?"
Natori gave a small smile, "I was just taking a look around. Why don't we go out to the village?"
Natsume looked at him for a long moment, wondering if there was more to his words, but there were other things to focus on. They needed to check around the village, and Natsume was curious to know what they would find, so he didn't question things any further. He nodded, "Alright."
They both got ready, dressed and had something to eat. Outside the fog was not as dense as it had been before, or rather, the absence of darkness took away some of the disadvantages.
The village looked beautiful; there was a quiet, haunting beauty in the way the buildings stood slightly run down with a backdrop of fog hanging everywhere. Natsume's head swivelled from left to right with every new street that they crossed, with every new block telling a story of the village.
Natori seemed to know what he was looking for, head barely turning to take anything in. In fact, when Natsume walked a bit quicker to fall in step, he saw the look of contemplation upon the exorcist's face.
As he stared in the direction, a movement inside a building caught his eye. Natsume gasped, catching both Nyanko's and Natori's attention as they both looked to see what the issue was. The face of an old man stared back at them with shallow, unblinking eyes, and pierced them with its gaze before fading into the darkness of the shop, followed closely by the eyes.
Once the initial surprise wore off, Natori approached the door and knocked. His knuckles rapped against the door, the surface shuddering dangerously with each touch, but no one answered. The man's face no longer emerged and upon listening closely, there was no sound that came from within.
"Maybe we scared him?" Natsume suggested, his eyes squinting into the darkness that even the morning light refused to touch.
Natori rested his fingers on his chin in thought, "It seems they're not used to having people around."
"Where're the others?" Nyanko sniffed, his eyes looking around more intensely.
The question resonated with the two human males; they had been walking along the streets for some time, but aside from the brief glance at the old man's face, they had not seen anyone else. Natsume also recalled that he had not seen the old woman who had offered them a place to stay since the previous night.
"Sasago, Urihime, Hiiragi." Natori's voice rang out into the silence, and soon after the shiki's appeared one after the next according to their names. Natsume watched the exchange, curious to know what they were being summoned for and because he had not seen the first two in some time. The shiki's stood by ready for any command, and their master did not disappoint. "I want you to search the perimeters of the village, report back if you find anything suspicious- human or otherwise."
"Yes!" The first two shiki answered respectfully, before Hiiragi spoke up with her own inquiries. "Master, is it wise to separate?"
"We don't know how big this village actually is. This way, we can all cover more ground individually."
Sasago's covered eyes did not move from the face of her master as she spoke up, "Is that dumb looking pig cat capable of protecting anyone?"
A beat of silence passed as the aforementioned "pig cat" looked around in confusion. "Who are you calling a pig cat you ugly horned ram!"
Natori intervened before his shiki could lunge at Natsume's guard, "You're wasting time."
Without anything more needing to be said Urihime bowed and disappeared first. Sasago's head turned to the fat lump of Nyanko's form perched in Natsume's arms and gave an indignant scoff before she too bowed and vanished.
Hiiragi looked hesitant to go, only because she always lingered longer than the others, but soon she too took her leave.
"Natsume." The boy looked toward Natori at the mention of his name. "Will you be alright on your own?"
Nyanko waved his paws frantically, his round face pinched in annoyance, "What am I? Chopped liver?!" His voice became high in his frustration.
Natori only chuckled at his dilemma for a moment before once more getting serious. He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "This acts as an alert spell. It will let me know if anything happens. It acts as a protection spell as well."
Nyanko scoffed audibly, still turned off by Natori's overprotection and what it implied indirectly about Nyanko's abilities. Natsume took the paper, putting it into his own pocket, "You be careful too, Natori-san."
The older man gave him a small reassuring smile before the two parted ways. Natsume wondered what he would find, what kind of clues would help them better figure out what was happening in the mountain. So far, there was not much aside from the mountain being eternally covered in fog.
" Sensei ," Natsume sighed, his eyes looking up to the sky, "Maybe you can walk for a bit? You're heavy."
Nyanko huffed from his place upon Natsume's head, "Hmph, if I walk you'll just get lost and wander off somewhere, and how will I protect you then, huh?"
Natsume sighed at his bodyguard's words. It was more likely that the cat creature would be the one to get lost or wander off. But a lot more was visible in the morning light, so as long as they stuck close they would not have to worry about that. However, Natsume gave up as Nyanko only seemed to get more comfortable.
"And I can see everything from up here. This is the best place for protection." Nyanko's hands patted Natsume's head twice as he settled further.
Natsume mumbled to himself, "Protection for who? My neck is going to kill me later."
The two wandered around the fog aimlessly, Natsume trying to look into any buildings they passed to see if there was anyone inside. He felt a tickle at his neck, but ignored it. The feeling happened two more times before he swatted at the area.
" Sensei , your fur is tickling my neck. Stay still." He got a light smack at the back of his head in response.
In the next moment he felt a sharp tug at his hair, and grit his teeth in pain. " Sensei !" Natsume plucked the cat from his head, feeling intense relief as the weight left his neck, and all but dropped Nyanko onto the ground. The pair squabbled over the incident with Natsume accusing the cat of harassing him while Nyanko defending that the boy was unjustly picking on him.
When Natsume felt a rough tug at the back of his shirt he pointed an accusing finger at his cat companion. "See! You keep doing that, sensei!" At the end of his sentence he paused for a moment, his eyes locked on Nyanko's widened in realisation mirroring Nyanko's as well. The two turned quickly to see what was there.
Nothing.
A sigh of relief escaped them. The fog had started to mess with their minds after seeing nothing but the gray clouds in every direction that they looked.
Natsume turned back around to continue on his way, but met a giant singular eye- framed by long wispy waves of black hair staring back at him. A scream ripped from his throat and his reflexes kicked in as he pulled his arm back, his hand curled into a tight fist. The entity before them had no time to react before Natsume's fist connected squarely in the centre of its eye, the pupil like a target that he hit on a bullseye.
The spirit reeled in pain and tried to flee, but Nyanko transformed into his true form and pounced, trapping the spirit beneath one of his giant paws.
"Keep squirming and I'll use your hair as floss after I devour the rest of you!"
The spirit squeaked before pleading for its life. Natsume had seen Madara make numerous spirits afraid, but there was something different about the spirit before them now. The amount of fear that resonated off of the spirit was unnerving.
"Please don't take my soul! I'll do better. Spare me!"
Natsume's brows furrowed. Madara leaned forward, his already impressive form looking even more imposing. The spirit looked on the verge of fainting, and Natsume despite himself felt concern.
" Sensei , you don't have to do that."
"This coward will escape if I even twitch."
Natsume walked closer to the two and knelt down beside the spirit, "We just want to talk. Sensei won't actually hurt you." Madara in turn snorted, hot air escaped his nostrils making the fog around them swirl into ghastly apparitions before collecting once more into one opaque mass. Natsume buried a hand into Madara's soft white fur, absently petting his side. The great spirit returned to Nyanko's smaller form and all but purred as he leaned into Natsume's touch. But the moment his weight was off of the spirit, it gathered some of its wits and took off, using the fog as a veil to aid in its escape.
Natsume lowered his head, his hair falling in front of his eyes to cover his expression. Nyanko sent him a cutting side-eye, as Natsume tried his best to ignore it. After a moment, his expression changed- his eyebrows pinched together, and his lips pulled to a slight frown.
"What did he mean by 'don't take my soul'?''
