Eyes

Disclaimer: I do not own Natsume Yuujinchou and characters.

-Chapter 3-

The train ride was calm and sincere with not many people entering inside the bus. He saw the country side of the areas he had to pass through. He saw a lot of children playing in the meadow laughing with one another. The ride was rather towards the middle giving him enough time to nap. He closed his eyes to rest while being aware of his surroundings. He listened closely and finally heard the train call out its last stop. He slowly opened his eyes and looked to see the train slowly stop.

"Yokohama station, we have finally arrived at Yokohama station." He began to pick up his belongings as one of the bags fell on the cat.

"Natsume…!" He yells out as Takashi laughed picking up the bag while carrying the cat with him running out of the station.

He jogged out of the station to see large groups of people walking and traveling by bikes. He felt suffocated by the many people that crowded the street. He saw that many people had talked amongst one another. Finally he stopped walking to an empty space among the sidewalk that was not so full of people while he takes a seat. The cat looked up to see his expression before looking around.

"Where are we?" He asks and Takashi swallowed finally catching his breath.

"We are at Yokohama. We are I think several blocks away from my uncle." He explained and the cat nodded getting out of his arms analyzing the area.

Slowly, Takashi stood up and decided to walk some more before he saw a few teenagers talking amongst one another going to another shopping district. Takashi picked up the cat placing him in his arms holding him close before pulling out a map.

"Where is this mysterious person?" Madara, the cat asks while he looked at the map closely taking in the surroundings.

"They said that I will pick them up in my Uncle Sanoji's home. That's around next to Yamate Park which is just around 5 blocks away." He said and followed the direction to where the map was pointing towards.

He finally saw the sign that showed Yamate Park next to it while he looked around the houses next to the park. A few children were among the slides and the playground with their parents talking to one another about some recent gossip. He turns to see a fairly large house that had some metal gates at the entrance. He saw a young boy looking at him before running into the house shouting.

"Papa, Natsume nii-chan finally arrived!" He followed towards the gates hesitant to push the metal gate open.

"Matte…! (1)" He shouts towards the boy before he saw the man's father walked out of the entrance.

The house was a normal family house that was around 2 stories high and had a small flower garden in the front. There were several windows that faced towards the front covered by a few curtains. There was a mound of large brick walls that protected the house while he stopped there seeing the young boy appear next to the older man tugging his pants.

"Papa, he is here!" The boy said and the man nods patting his head turning to see Takashi.

"Takashi-kun, welcome and come inside." He said leaving the door open telling his son that there was some cool lemonade in the kitchen.

He nodded and pushed the gate slightly open before he heard rustling upstairs. The curtain swayed in the wind and he noted that the window was closed. There was someone likely to be watching him from inside the house. He wondered who it was before he began to proceed inside.

"Sorry for intruding." He said bowing his head taking off his shoes at the door step seeing the older man wave his hand smiling at him.

"No problem, please come on in and welcome to my house." He nods and followed the older man towards the living room.

"Take a seat, anywhere." Takashi nodded and walked towards to the large red couch before taking a small spot and sat down.

The house was fully decorated with family pictures and several childish drawings. He turned to look around to see Sanoji taking a seat before he noticed the cat on Takashi's lap.

"Ah is that yours?" He asks and Takashi nodded petting Madara smiling.

"It is my cat that always follows me around." Sanoji nodded and smiled.

"You have a liking towards animals, since when you were here you were terrified of animals." Sanoji pointed out and he nodded.

"I do like animals." He said and Sanoji nodded before he heard his wife calling out.

"Honey, who is here?" He saw his aunt Yui at the entrance before he saw his uncle walking to his wife.

"It's Natsume who is here." He said to his wife who nodded and walked back inside the kitchen before Sanoji takes a seat.

"You were always a quiet, and usually kept to yourself. I can tell that you have opened up a lot and are you comfortable to where you are currently living at?" He asks Takashi who nodded.

"I enjoy it over there." Takashi smiled gently and Sanoji nodded.

"Natsume-kun, you are here to pick her up right?" Yui asks and he saw Sanoji nodding to his wife.

"He is here to pick her up." Yui sighed in relief.

"That is good, here have some snacks." Yui said placing down the snacks and tea on the table.

"Thank you." Takashi said taking a piece of a cracker.

"You are welcome and oh… How much you have grown." She said and he nods to her before she held an awkward smile.

"Nice to see you again, aunty…" He said and Yui nods before walking to kitchen to cook more food.

"That is good that you like where you are living in." Sanoji added after his wife had left.

The small boy he had seen when he had entered ran back to the room going towards the table grabbing a few small toys. He saw that the boy was no older than 5 years of age and he was busy making car sounds with the toys. Sanoji looks down at his son and smiled while he grabs the boy placing him on his lap.

"Takashi-kun, this is my son Hiro. He is around 5 years old." He said introducing the little boy.

Hiro stared at Takashi bowing his head blushing before he hides his face. Takashi would smile at the young boy and tried to reach for him before he saw Hiro ran inside the kitchen right away.

"He is a very shy boy but is always bursting with so much energy." Sanoji said as a whisper was heard inside the kitchen before a cry was let out.

"Hiro-chin, you already have your snack before you ran outside to play! Oh, look at you! You are very dirty. Go wash your hands." Yuri was heard from the outside as Sanoji chuckled excusing himself telling Takashi to enjoy the snacks and beverage on the table.

Takashi nods taking a small piece of a cracker taking a bite from it while he swallowed. He takes another slowly while he drank some lemonade that Yuri had already set down on the table so that he will be refreshed. He slowly takes a sip while Madara opened his eyes beginning to talk.

"What made you leave such a lively family?" He asks while Takashi was quietly munching on the cracker before he looks down at Madara to answer.

"I was too energetic for them and always had some trouble at school. They always had to come over to my school to apologize along with me running around screaming for endless hours. They began to feel slightly uncomfortable and asked some other member to take me in for they saw it was abnormal for me to scream around them. My aunt could not especially take it anymore and asked my uncle to try to find another place for me to live in."

"They seem to be a well rounded happy family. It is sort of a shame that you leaved such a lively home." Takashi smiled gently setting down the glass of lemonade before he looked towards the pictures.

"I agree with you, sensei. They are such a nice family. They have two older children that are to be in college. One is a boy and the other is to be a girl. I believe Hiro was the new child that was born around here right after I left." He looked towards the other photos having a smile on his face.

Madara huffed and closed his eyes to rest once again in his lap. The door bell rang and sounds of people entering were heard. The sound of something dropping in the door way along with the door slamming closed behind the people.

"Mother…! Father…! I and Haji just arrived from a long day of school! Can I have a fresh glass of lemonade! It was burning hot outside!" A girl screamed shuffling through the house.

"Miya-chan, please be quieter at least. There is someone else that is in the house." A boy said while the girl stopped slamming the screen door of the living room opened.

There a girl stood there in shock with her brother standing right behind her. She had long brunette hair that was tied up along with a casual outfit that she probably worn to school. Her brother had round glasses around his face while he stared on in shock. Silence filled the room while Takashi awkwardly waved his hand in greeting.

"Takashi-chan…?" She whispers softly.

"Miyako-san and Haji-kun…" Takashi said in greeting as Miyako, the girl smiled brightly clapping her hands.

"Wah…! Look Ha-chan, Takashi is here!" Miyako said excited as her brother nodded understanding.

"You have grown quite well, Takashi-kun." Haji said as Takashi nervously chuckled and nodded.

"Same to you and Miyako-san." He said and Miyako nods her head before looking around the living room.

"You have seen my mom and dad?" She asks Takashi who pointed towards the kitchen.

"Come on Ha-chan lets tell them we are here." Miyako dragged Haji with her towards the kitchen before more noise was heard.

"You guys are arguing again!?" Miyako's loud voice was heard at the living room.

Whispers and more undistinguishable sounds were heard from the kitchen. He turns his head to see Sanoji walking out with a nervous smile on his face taking a seat in front of Takashi.

"I am sorry; Takashi-kun is here on business. I am sure you do not have time to hear us making rather loud noises." Sanoji said and Takashi shakes his head smiling.

"It is fine, Sanoji-san. Do not worry." Takashi said and Sanoji nodded before he calls over the family.

"We have said over the phone, there is someone else living here with us currently. They are much like you when you were younger always quiet and shy. We ask that you take her in because we can no longer afford another person living here especially with Hiro being around here. You know how hard it is to take care of people. I heard that the family who took you in are very generous and are willing to allow someone else live with them. I am sure you don't really remember them well at all since you two were separated when you were younger." Sanoji explained and Takashi nodded.

"Where are they?" Takashi asks looking around while Yuri was at her seat in a quiet manner along with Haji and Miyako who were sipping their lemonade.

"Haji and Miyako, can you bring them down here please?" He asks his two older children.

Haji sets down his cup and pulled Miyako up with him before they walked towards the stairs. The sounds of their footsteps were heard along with a door creaking open.

"Dad is calling you down. Can you please come down with us?" Haji asks upstairs while Miyako held the door open.

A slam was heard and Miyako quickly entered the room.

"Please come down!" Miyako shouts out while a squeal was heard before a loud thump rang upstairs.

"Miya-chan…! Be more careful!" Haji said and would gently take the person's hand along with helping Miyako up.

"Hiro-chan seems to be very much alike with his toys." Takashi said making small talk seeing Hiro was busy playing with a toy car.

Yuri sigh setting down her cup on her lap.

"Sanoji-chan would always spoil the poor child with toys." She said and Sanoji laughs nervously before a loud thump was heard at the entrance of the room.

"As always my children are lively." Yuri said before she stood to gather more food from the kitchen to set on the table.

"Here they come." Sanoji said looking at the door as Miyako would open the screen door as Haji was pulling someone shorter than him behind him.

"Oh is that your cat!" Miyako shouts grabbing the cat squeezing its cheeks as Madara would meow out in protest.

"Ah please be more careful Miyako-san." Takashi said while Miyako lets go of Madara as the cat would land on Takashi's lap resting.

Haji would take a seat and Sanoji looked at the door. There stood a person and given by the way they were dressed, the person was a female. Takashi turned his eyes towards the person.

"Ah you can take a seat next to Takashi." Sanoji said and the person nodded before walking closer to Takashi who stared at them in shock.

The said person looked exactly like him as they took a seat.

"Takashi…"

"Ah, yes Sanoji-san." Takashi looked at the older man who pointed at the girl.

"That is your sister, Takashi. Her name is Amene… Amene Natsume."

~End of Chapter 3~

A/N: Good afternoon, here is my next update. Hope you enjoy. Take care and have a good day.

"Wait…!"

R&R