"Sensei," Natsume called as he got dressed for the day. "Do you think I made a mistake?"
"Hm? No, casual clothes for someone as unrefined as yourself suits you best." The cat, which was still curled up into a ball with his eyes close, answered back after taking a peek at what the other was doing. "Besides, traditional clothes hinder mobility. I don't understand why those stupid exorcists wear them all the time."
Natsume sighed. "Not that, Sensei, I mean am I making a mistake with this whole situation?"
"What situation exactly?" Nyanko-sensei finally moved from his position, but it was only to yawn and stretch his sleepiness away.
Natsume heaved another sigh. He wasn't sure if his sensei was playing dumb or what. "Nothing, just forget it. Come on, we're going to be late." The boy hurriedly grabbed his bag, walked out the door, and left it open for the cat.
In contrast with the boy, the cat was walking at a rate that would definitely beat a turtle's, but only for a small margin, and without looking at the boy, he said. "If it's about you being here of all places, we've already talked about it a million times, Stupid-Natsume."
He was right. They did talk about this matter plenty of times already. It was a topic even before the day they had moved here. It's just that Natsume couldn't shake off the feeling that he chose the wrong path. Even his sensei didn't like the idea, but despite that, he stuck with him until now.
Because of the incident with the ayakashi that hurt Touko-san, Natsume had reprimanded himself again and again for his carelessness and for his powerlessness. He thought that if only he had took Natori's offer back then of being his apprentice, he could have prevented his foster parents from getting involved.
However, after subtly bringing up the topic with the man, Natsume found out that Natori only knew of how to seal, hurt, and dispose of ayakashi and the boy didn't want that. Despite what they have done, not only to himself but to the people around him, he couldn't bear the idea of hurting them too badly. Remembering how tight and rough his paper seals were whenever he wanted to "summon" him, made him even more adamant about not learning from him. Natori did say that he was mostly self-taught; he may not even be aware that his methods hurt.
This train of thought led the boy to the only other exorcist he could approach-Matoba Seiji. The man may be more merciless and more forceful than Natori, but he knew what Natsume wanted to learn-barriers, charms, and binding. Although he might teach things that the boy would want nothing to do with, all Natsume had to do was not use them.
When Nyanko-sensei was finally out of their room, he stopped a few steps away from Natsume, and with his back facing him, he said, "Being alive means making mistakes." He turned his gaze towards the boy who looked at him disbelievingly. "Is a quote you humans made up for a situation like this, right? A convenient excuse to get out of trouble. This is why humans are nothing but trouble. Hmph." And with that he started walking again.
Natsume smiled. He had a feeling that even though he said those words, his sensei would always remain by his side. Thank you, Nyanko-sensei.
Author's Notes: Yay! An update! It's all thanks to finding the outline I made for this story. Just kidding. This chapter wasn't even on it. I just realized that I had no chapter that explains why Natsume didn't just go to Natori.
I really do think that Natori's "summoning" of Natsume is too rough. If he does that kind of thing to a friend (maybe he meant for it to not hurt him, but didn't have enough control?), then imagine how it'd be like if the target wasn't human.
Matoba, as a more powerful and more knowledgeable exorcist, could probably teach Natsume with how to control his abilities more effectively if he's not being too pushy with his ideals.
What are your thoughts on this, dear readers?
Thank you for reading! :D
4/20/15