"Why are we here again, huh?! Why are we here again?!" Nyanko-sensei was pounding his paw on the bare concrete as he demanded an answer from Natsume who was sitting calmly in front of him.

"It's a different cell, Sensei." Natsume responds matter-of-factly. It was a different mansion too.

"We're still locked up!"

"It can't be helped, Sensei. I broke the rules and sided with the ayakashi. It's only natural for the exorcists to think of me as strange." Natsume answered. Even the people who sees the same things as I do, think I'm strange.

"That's right, you were the one who broke the rules, not me! Where's my dinner?!" It was clear that he was angered more by the unsatisfactory dinner than their current predicament. Since they moved to the Matoba residence, their meals have always been taken care of by the servants and all of those meals have been quite exquisite but this time around, they were each served with nothing but a bowl of bland soup and a piece of hard bread. "And what was with you earlier, we could've escaped this place by now if it weren't for your meddling!"

"He was about to shoot you." And we have nowhere else to go. I have nowhere else to go.

After Natsume's outburst earlier that day, Matoba has ordered his men to capture him and his cat, a scenario Nyanko-sensei didn't want to be a part of and quickly made a move to escape. It was all so sudden that Natsume didn't have time to react and just let himself be carried off by his bodyguard; however, when he spotted Matoba aiming his bow at their direction, Natsume adamantly requested for his sensei to fly back down.

"Hmph. I could've dodged a measly arrow or two." The cat plopped himself down on the floor and rolled around in boredom. "Natsume… I want squid… I want shrimp…"

"Thank you, Nyanko-sensei." Natsume smiled at his cat. Despite hating the exorcists and loving Touko-san's cooking, you still chose to stay with me.

Nyanko-sensei visibly shivered, caught by surprise by the unexpected turn of events. "What's with you all of a sudden?!"

"Nothing, I just want to thank my bodyguard."

"Hmph. So you finally realize my worth? If you want to thank me, buy me squid, stupid Natsume!" The cat excitedly held out a paw as drool came out from the corner of his mouth."

"Yes, yes. When all of this is over, we can go and eat some." All four of us.

Craaaaaaaaaaaashhh!

A loud crash broke through Natsume's and Nyanko-sensei's momentary peace. The crash was strong enough to tear half the room into shreds and send anything in its way flying against the opposite wall. The two occupants of the cell could've been one of those things flying if they were sitting just a foot to the left from where they currently sat.

"So you were here, Natsume-dono." Behind the dust that still covered the room, a familiar voice was heard and a familiar chime of bells sounded after it.

"Misuzu!"

Author's Notes: Did everyone hear about Natsume Yuujinchou Go? I'm so excited I get a stomach ache whenever I remember it! (Ugh. Another stomach ache.)

To be honest, I'm losing interest on this story but I'll still finish it so I could concentrate on my upcoming one-shots. Natsume Yuujinchou one-shots. ;)

Thank you for reading!

9/1/2016