Sorry for the silence. Drama, threats of cancer, you know, the usual. (Still not sure about the cancer part, need another biopsy, but no, I wasn't making fun.) Also plotting as of late. There might be a hint of yaoi after all. Nothing too major, furthest I'd go in this case is platonic sleeping beside one another physically. Verbally not to the point of confession, just implication. I honestly can't see any of them confessing anything aside from Kantarou, but nobody would take him seriously. xD It'd be like a "yeah, I love you too man..." Anyway, I just wanted to warn you that there might be minor BL, but nothing earthshaking.

Now then, on with the aforementioned plotting!

ALSO: Kantarou's blathering about the sutras and mantras is based of off what I glanced at in a Wikipedia article along with... Well, seeing Kantarou in action, so it's probably inaccurate, but I tried. If someone more knowledgeable about sutras, mantras, etc. please, by all means, correct me. I'd be more than happy to make changes to accommodate accuracy.

"I figured that since Natsume-kun already knows the gist of how it's done, we'll start with the heart sutra and mantra; what was used in the case of Hoichi the Earless." Kantarou explained, holding up a page that he had drawn the symbol on, "The sutra alone is the most basic protection. Drawing it on someone will make whatever you drew on resistant to one attack from a youkai, ayakashi, or demon. Tengu are the exception to this rule due to their nature. For example, some tengu were actually humans transformed into Gods for various reasons."

Naturally curious, armed with this new information, Tanuma asked, "Was Haruka a human then, too? I mean, did you know him?"

Kantarou smiled sadly and shook his head, "That's one of the few things I know for certain about his past. Haruka was never a human. You can tell by the color of his wings, but he's still a tengu. At any rate, he's powerful enough to break right through a seal like that, and he's not the only one, so you have to be careful. Even weaker demons can usually leave a mark, which is why you always recite the mantra when the sutra is complete, rendering an individual virtually undetectable to youkai, ayakashi, demons, and the like unless they bump right into you for several hours."

"There's a mantra?" Natsume wondered, genuinely surprised. He'd assumed that Natori would have taken every precaution during the moon ceremony.

"Of course! Did Natori not teach you about that as well? He should know it by heart, as an exorcist. I don't use it often myself because it's rather ineffective when performed on yourself." When Natusme didn't respond, he continued, "So, first, the sutra. We'll practice on Tanuma-san first to show him how it's done."

"Me? How was this decided? Hey!" Tanuma was suddenly knocked backward by a rotund furball that was always up for annoying the humans. Especially Tanuma, who called him Ponta.

"Don't forget to cover every centimeter!" The lucky cat said, his eyes grinning at the two. It took a while- and a lot of cooperation on Tanuma's part- to finally get him covered in the markings.

"Lucky your father's a priest and knows I'm here; otherwise he's probably be concerned about you being covered in sutras." Kantarou remarked, sitting back when they were done. He'd let Natsume do most of the work, as he was the one who was supposed to be learning, but he'd given input and helped on occasion. "Keep in mind, this won't make you invisible to humans. At all. They'll see the markings on you and think you'd gone crazy with tattoos."

"That's reassuring," Tanuma mumbled, looking down at his body, "It doesn't seem too hard though."

"No, it's memorizing the mantra that's difficult. Especially when you've got hundreds of others that are similar memorized already. And, of course, the writing of the sutra over and over takes quite a bit of time." Kantarou handed Natsume a sheet of paper with the mantra written out on it. "You have to go syllable by syllable and make it sound like a steady chant without saying any wrong or losing your pace, before you run out of time to finish."

"How do you know when-"

"Go!" Kantarou encouraged. He was surprised, in truth. Having humans that actually understood what he was talking about around him, just messing around, was kind of fun. Unfortunately, that fun wouldn't last much longer.

When Narsume finally finished his chant, he asked, "How'd I do? Did it work?"

"I'd say so," Madara mumbled, rubbing his eye with his paw, "I can't see him at all."

Kantarou nodded, "Then it worked!"

"That's an unreliable way of testing it." Both Natsume and Tanuma commented in unison.

Kantarou shrugged, "Like I said, this is basic stuff. Once you get a few mantras memorized, things get much easier and more convenient."

"Convenience isn't the issue, it's more- oh, hello. Are you looking for my father?" Kantarou and Natsume followed Tanuma's gaze to three painfully familiar individuals. Familiar to Kantarou, at least.

"Minamoto..." He growled under his breath, getting to his feet, "You set this up?"

"Set what up? We came here on a rumor about a book, which led to a rumor about you. Where is he?" A man in full military wear asked, stepping closer to the boys.

"This isn't what we came here for. Let's just get the book before this idiot finds it first!" Ibaragi grumbled, stepping up behind him in heels that were by no means suited to forest terrain.

It didn't take long for Natsume to figure out that they were talking about the Book of Friends, and took even less time for Madara to make the same assumption.

"I don't know what book you're talking about," Kantarou bluffed, "I came to aide a priest's son, and I came alone!"

"Lies!" Ibaragi hissed, "Does your mouth ever speak the truth? Where is it? Where is the Book of Friends?"

Kantarou sighed, still doing his best to keep the fact that Haruka was with him a secret. "I told you; I don't know. Are you finished? I'm rather busy-" He was suddenly ensnared in vines and pinned to a tree, barely allowed enough room to breathe.

"Kantarou!" Natsume got up to help, but was pulled back down by Madara. They couldn't risk the book being noticed, no matter what.

Minamoto smirked, "That's more like it. Now then, tell us where the demon-eater is..." As an afterthought, he added, "and where we can find the book."

Once he got close enough, Kantarou spat in his face, causing the vines to tighten around him. Gasping for air, he maintained his story, "Haruka... isn't here... neither is the book... I looked..."

"Lies!" Ibaragi accused. the vines growing ever tighter around him. "You will take us to the book!"

Hello there annoying and versatile antagonists! :p