Phantasmagoria

Natsume Yuujinchou

Chapter 14

Broken Free

Homura, Homura, where are you? ! Natsume screamed in his mind as he and Tanuma tore through the forest path, heading straight towards the river. He felt worried more than ever now, because it had rained last night so if anything, the river would be swollen and, of course, there would be a powerful enough current to drown somebody.

Things had happened too fast for all of them; all of a sudden, Homura had an 'attachment' after just being possessed. Tanuma came to him for help and demanded that they stop avoiding each other already, keeping a sharp eye on Homura. He'd told him that some youkai had probably given Homura a charm that instantly created a bond between human and ayakashi. For some reason he would try to kill himself every once in a while, that was why he needed to be under watchful supervision.

A few days ago Tanuma had slept over at Homura's house, the first day it started. They ended up staying up the whole night, curled up on the sofa. Tanuma honestly couldn't believe how Homura paused while peeling apples and brought the knife dangerously close to his throat; or when he suddenly stopped splashing around in the bath, and when Tanuma slid open the door slowly, found him with his head submerged in the bathwater; or when he pulled out a penknife from out of nowhere and tested it on his wrist. All without realizing anything. All that pulled him out of his 'suicidal state' was a good hit or a shake from Tanuma.

Since then they had taken turns looking after Homura. Natsume had tried to get hold of Suzuya, but he never knew where he lived or how to call him. Nyanko-sensei, on the other hand, blatantly refused, no matter how Natsume tried to persuade him, though somewhere along the way Taki sensed that something was going on and helped a little. Homura politely told her to not hang around much, since Taki would squeeze him hard if he tried anything funny. Or pinch him. Homura didn't like being a human teddy bear.

They had made a little experiment too, since it all started with a charm, Taki suggested throwing it away, and tossed it down the little slope where they were at that moment. Homura immediately lost his footing and fell down, eyes wide and gasping. Natsume retrieved the charm and Homura regained his composure again. Seems that he couldn't be separated from it too far, so Tanuma advised that he keep it close at all times.

Then earlier that day, they had their schedules mixed up, and when Natsume looked for him at Tanuma's house, he wasn't there. Both panicked and searched all over the place, but there were tons of places he could've gone, so Tanuma suggested checking at the river.

Natsume huffed as he tried to keep up with the taller male's pace. Suddenly Tanuma slowed down.

Natsume caught up to him. "What's wrong?" he asked breathlessly.

"… This is pointless. He could've gone anywhere. So I think it's better if we split up." Tanuma paused and looked around. "I'll go that side, okay. You check out the river first. We'll meet up in half an hour, here."

Natsume reluctantly nodded his head, not really wanting to be left alone, but it was the most sensible thing to do. He hung around long enough to see Tanuma skipping over tree roots and rocks, then took a deep breath and went on to the bridge.

He soon arrived and looked around, but found nobody, nor any trace of Homura having been there.

"Oh my," a smooth masculine voice said from behind.

Natsume's eyebrows shot up his forehead as he recognized the voice, and turned around fast. This voice, it's…!

"Hello there, boy. We meet again," Matoba Seiji smiled from where he was leaning against a tree, with an unconscious Homura propped up next to him.

"Matoba…!" Natsume moved a step forward. "Why are you…?"

His smile grew wider as Matoba stood up straight in a more formal way. "No need to look at me that way, boy. It was pure coincidence that I passed through here today. But I guess it was luck on your behalf that I stumbled upon him." He chuckled, and held out his palm for Natsume to see. "I took care of it."

Natsume's eyes widened when he saw what was definitely the charm, torn to pieces. He took a step forward. "If you do that he'll…!"

"—be alright," Matoba finished, lowering his hand and letting the remains of the charm flutter slowly to the ground. "There's nothing left around him. Well, now that you're here and looking like you know this boy, I'll be making my leave now. Having to accompany him here until he wakes up or until somebody comes has unfortunately created a slight disturbance to my plans." He bent down and picked up an umbrella and a bottle of water, then started to walk in Natsume's opposite direction. "If you will excuse me," he said, slightly bowing. "I do hope we meet again. And I suppose meeting Natori Shuuichi won't be such a bothersome matter once in a while either. Help me relay the message to him if you see him, won't you?" With that and a light smile, he left.

Natsume watched him leave, eyes scanning the area to make sure the leader of the Matoba clan didn't leave anything behind, then when he was sure, practically pounced on Homura, shaking him slightly. In the back of his mind he mildly considered the possibility that what Matoba just did meant owing him a favor, but he quickly dismissed it.

"Homura, Homura!"

"Nn…?" Said teen blinked confusedly, a hand reaching up to massage his temple. "What are we doing here?"

Natsume broke into a relieved smile. "It's okay now! The charm broke. You're free."

"… Ah. Glad to hear that. Killing myself when I don't even realize what I'm doing is a creepy thing." Homura shuddered, sitting up in a more comfortable position. "And being clobbered by you, Tanuma and Taki all at once is downright horrible." Especially when Tanuma slapped my cheeks. Ah, I remember. I was feeling pretty hurt when he did that.

Homura was smiling, but he wasn't so sure he felt 'happy' inside. Relieved, yes, but there was something else nagging at his mind that he couldn't easily ignore. These past few days, he had been trying to kill himself. His hand subconsciously went to his stomach, where that unmistakable scar was engraved. I don't feel the same as that time, though. … Hmm? Does that mean that… I don't want to die anymore at this moment…? Homura's eyes grew wide as he looked up at Natsume who was talking away and at Tanuma, who had just joined them.

… Seiji… His hands tightened into fists. I think… you have to forgive me… for not joining you earlier. I don't think I'd be able to do it now. I met with people with similar situations to mine, and they made me feel I'm no longer alone. Homura's eyes slipped shut for a few seconds, taking in the scene before reopening them. If you were still here then maybe you'd understand a little of what I was going through this whole time, and maybe you'd be great friends with these guys too.

I won't ever forget about Seiji. So Seiji should be a little more patient and wait for me to come join you. A little smile crept to his lips as he felt a strange but welcoming peace fill him up inside. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in months. A kind of feeling he thought he would never be able to get to know again.

Yup. I made friends.

"… Hey guys, after this do you wanna go to—" Homura stopped short when something whizzed past his face and met the bark of the tree he was resting against. All three froze and turned their attention fully to the embedded arrow, with a piece of paper tied around it.

"W-What… was that…?" Tanuma asked nervously. He never got an answer since both Homura and Natsume were pretty shaken up themselves, an involuntary shiver starting to crawl up their spine at the obvious malicious vibes surrounding the foreign object.

With hesitation, Homura pulled out the arrow and placed it beside him—for now, later on he would probably toss it into the river below, surely no one would be able to find such a thing in its depths—and unfolded the piece of paper. The trio instantly leaned in to see what was written, with Natsume dreading the fact that it might be Matoba demanding something in return for helping Homura or even Natori.

"'I know what happened. I'll have you know that I will be back to skewer you on a big dango stick when I return. Reflect on your clumsy idiotic actions for the moment. Note: Be sure to keep some sweets in stock for me or I will pound you into a rice cake too. Well then. Suzuya.'" Homura read, hands shaking with anger as he read and reread the note. His two friends beside him exchanged nervous looks with each other.

"A… Ahahahahaha," Natsume laughed. "See, he's around after all. Though I guess it was intentional that he avoided my calls for help. I guess he just wanted to watch…"

Homura gritted his teeth and crumpled the note furiously into a ball. "Who do you think I am you stupid bird…!" he shouted, not caring whether said tengu heard it or not. "Like hell I'll let you bully me when you didn't even step in to lend a hand! I'll store some bittergourds for you when you 'return' from whatever shitty business you're up to!"

Tanuma winced inwardly at the harsh words Homura was shouting, but he thought it was fair enough. Suzuya was kind of mean not to help even though they had been in so much trouble. He couldn't really say the same about Natsume though, who was frantically trying to calm him down. Disregarding the situation, he started to laugh, and after considerable confused looks, the other two joined as well.

Uhh… It's a lot shorter than usual, but I'm feeling lazy. =w=" And I know this chapter is cheesy but I hope you liked it. D: And I just love Suzuya. I think I like him even better than Homura! Well then, I'm planning out what they look like, and if you're interested in seeing it then just let me know! But please be aware that I only recently figured out how to lineart. And even so it's so messy I'm starting to dread the coloring… And SAI isn't in my computer, it's in my mom's, so I practically gotta beg to use it. Oh well. If it's so hard then I guess I can just ask my friend to scan it to her computer and I'll just upload that on DA. All in all it has to wait until next year when school opens. Or, uh, later than that... [looks away]

Bye bye for now~! ^_^