When the Fujiwaras seemed reassured by Tanuma's faith in Kantarou, the four of them (including Madara who's been uncharacteristically quiet throughout all this) left the couple. Once outside, Kantarou exchanged contact information with Tanuma and was carried home by Haruka. "Youko-chan! We're home!" Kantarou called as he attempted unsuccessfully to open the door with his foot.

It wasn't long before the door was slammed open by a very agitated kitsune. "Kan-chan! Where have you been? You said you'd be home by dinner and you've got a manuscript to be writing, and Haruka-chan was supposed to-" She was silenced when she finally noticed that Haruka was carrying Kantarou. "To... Kan-chan! What happened to you?" Youko fretted, hastily moving out of the doorway.

"Sorry, Youko-chan. I got a bit distracted, and then Douji Ibaragi showed up and-"

"Ibaragi? Are you alright? What happened?" Naturally worried about her master, the kitsune came closer to inspect the damage.

Ignoring the fact that the two were having a conversation, Haruka began to carry Kantarou to his room. "I was- hey! Haruka! What are you doing? We're having a conversation here!"

"I'm not a hammock, and you're heavy. You can talk from bed." The tengu mumbled before gingerly setting Kantarou down.

Kantarou pouted for a moment, but knew he couldn't really complain after all that Haruka had done for him that day. "I was helping teach some new friends how to do basic spells, and then Ibaragi, Minamoto, and Watanabe showed up. I got pinned to a tree by vines when I refused to call for Haruka or tell them where the Book of Friends is."

"Book of Friends? You were ranting about that before you left... Did you find it?" Youko questioned, sitting beside her master.

"Sure did!" Kantarou grinned proudly, grabbing the bag Haruka had left beside his bed. Suddenly, something moved within the bag, causing him to recoil, a bit startled... At least until Madara crawled out of it. "Madara-sama! I didn't know you were in there."

"That's the point of hiding," Madara retorted, grooming himself.

"Kan-chan, what's with the tanuki?" Youko asked, staring down at the lucky cat.

"I am not a tanuki!" Madara hissed.

"Madara-sama was sealed in a lucky cat statue, so he usually assumes it's form. He's the bodyguard of the owner of the Book of Friends." Kantarou explained. "I didn't steal it or anything, I'm just keeping watch over it for now."

"Riiiight." Youko rolled her eyes a bit, not believing her master. She doubted he was above stealing something like the Book of Friends.

"Sheesh, why don't you guys ever trust me? I didn't steal it! Ibaragi is holding the owner hostage in exchange for my contract with Haruka." Youko softened up a bit at this, knowing how important Haruka was to Kantarou. "I'm watching over it until we get him back. It'd be bad if it fell into the wrong hands."

"And this moron is obviously incompetent," Haruka added, lifting Madara by the scruff of his neck.

"You're one to talk, demon-eater! Where were you when your master was in danger, hmm? And you're bound to him by a contract! I have nothing of the sort with Natsume!" The proud ayakashi argued.

"I had permission to leave, and he didn't call for me. I don't have to be attached to his hip all of the time. Like I said, Kantarou knows how to take care of himself and knows he'll come if I call for him, so I don't need to babysit him constantly." Haruka responded coldly.

"He's right, it's my own fault for being stubborn and not calling for help, but we'll get Natsume back and everything'll be normal again." Kantarou said with a small smile that quickly turned into a confused frown when Haruka rested his free hand on Kantarou's forehead.

With a sigh, the tengu scolded, "Speaking of stubborn, stop pretending everything's fine. You're burning up from contact with that demonic koi and Ibaragi."

"It's nothing, really!" Kantarou argued, forcing his face to brighten. He didn't want Youko and Haruka to have to worry about any other problems with him. Right now, they needed to be concerned about Natsume.

"Kan-chan! You should have said something!" Youko snapped, leaving the room to get him some water.

With a sigh, the priest closed his eyes, "I'm sorry, Haruka... But I've had about enough of feeling useless, and I don't want to put more pressure on you and Youko-chan to take care of me."

"Haven't I told you? You don't have to put on your brave face for us. It's only more frustrating when we find out later that you were hiding things like this fever from us." Haruka mumbled, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Yeah," Kantarou smiled a bit, his breathing a bit more labored than before. "So you asked Sugino-sama to look for Natsume?"

"He more or less agreed when I mentioned that the Book of Friends was involved. I'm curious to see if his name is in there." The tengu replied, looking down at his master.

"I wouldn't be surprised, if Muu-chan was involved," Kantarou chuckled a bit as he said this, though he regretted it when more pain wracked through his body.

As if he could sense the other's pain, Haruka scolded, "Don't laugh, you'll hurt yourself."

Finally, Youko returned to the room with a basin and glass of water along with a washcloth. "Honestly, Kan-chan, you've got to be the worst patient ever." She remarked, agreeing with Haruka's prior statement as she sat down and wrung the washcloth out over the basin.

Not particularly in the mood for her motherly nags, Kantarou deadpanned, "Youko, go sweep outside."

"Okay!" Youko replied with a smile, though she almost instantly cursed herself for the need to obey when her master called her name. "Haruka, keep an eye on him?" She pleaded from the door, knowing it was unlikely that Kantarou would order him away. When she received a dismissive wave of the hand from her fellow youkai, she decided she didn't have much choice in the matter and went out to sweep as she was told.

But What About Natsume?

"You really think he'll fall for this?" Minamoto wondered aloud, walking around their captive, who had since been tied to a chair in the center of a broad living room, far from any hopes of escape.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Watanabe agreed, watching Raiko pace about.

In an attempt to defend her actions, Ibaragi snapped, "Of course he'll come! He was with the child to begin with, that means there's got to be something special about him that that man wants."

"Hmm..." Minamoto studied Natsume, who was silently struggling with the ropes, though it proved futile. "He does have a significant amount of spiritual energy, but it's so raw... I don't think he could make use of it." He prodded the teen with the sheath of his sword, "Oi, stop struggling. It's useless. Between the spells I cast on it and Ibaragi's abilities, you aren't going anywhere." He tilted his head to the side in a rather cocky manner as he eyed the boy, who finally looked up at him. "What are you called?"

Natsume opened his mouth to respond honestly, when he realized that it would probably be a horrible idea. If they already knew so much about the Book of Friends, they might even know what his grandmother had looked like. According to the reactions of youkai to his face, he was fairly certain they had similar characteristics. "Maeda Rin." He replied, making up a random name that sounded good to him.

Minamoto burst into laughter, "'Rin,' you say? Oh, that is beautiful. Let me guess- were you trying to steal the demon eater?"

"Was I what?" Natsume seemed rather confused by this, naturally. How could he know the former name of a man who couldn't remember it himself? "I don't know what you're talking about. I just met them a few hours before you showed up."

Intrigued, the man asked, "Is that so? Tell me, what relation do you have to the Book of Friends?"

"To the...?" Natsume seemed startled, disturbed, and highly uncomfortable with this new topic, "I don't know what you're talking about." He said, his voice cracking a bit.

"Oh? Perhaps we have stumbled upon something useful after all..." Ibaragi murmured with a sadistic grin as she stepped closer to the captive teen.

Way to keep your mouth shut like a good damsel in distress, Natsume. n.n; Increased character lineup starting in the next chapter with: SO-AND-SO! What, you really think I'd give that away? I have a deep love of cliffhangers, that's all you're getting from me. :p

Oh, oh, and- for those of you who are Tactics fans, I'm starting a new fic that's just Tactics... Wherein Kantarou finds a baby tengu. Nothing more needs to be said. Just picture that and you'll see where I'm going with this. Little youkai fanboy.