Phantasmogoria

Natsume Yuujinchou

Chapter 20

One Thing After The Other

Moments later Natori had managed to lug Homura back to their room and had him tucked in. Natsume was, as expected, mad at him for unthinkingly giving alcohol to a minor, but forgave him soon enough once he'd stated his reasons. Soon the two of them got sleepy too, and went to bed. Natori had left the veranda sliding door open since the night air was refreshing.

Homura was sleeping soundly when something prodded at his mind to wake up. He refused to give in to it, turning in his futon instead. He had no recollection of what had happened earlier, but he was sure that the last time he was awake was when he was with Natori. They were talking, and… He groaned because his head hurt. What had they been doing together to make his head hurt this badly? And he felt sick to his stomach. It would be best if he refrained from making any sudden movements, he decided.

He was just about to drift back to dreamland when a sudden sound fully woke him up. It sounded like something had swooped in through the veranda. He shot up like a bullet, eyes wide, only to have himself doubled over due to the ringing in his ears and the throbbing in his head. He cursed inwardly.

He heard it again and tried his best to ignore the headache. Homura's eyes darted nervously around the room, and down at his sleeping companions. His futon was nearest to the veranda, and there was Natsume beside him, his blanket already slid off one side, and Natori at the other end. Good. Nothing had apparently happened to them.

He frowned and shuffled to his knees, inching closer to the veranda. It was dark out, but the moon was enough to bathe the room in a soft glow, enabling him to see. He could make out the outlines of trees outside. That was good too. That way he could easily make out anything that was suspended on air against the backdrop.

Homura's eyes squinted, trying to locate the thing that had disturbed his sleep. By then he was quite certain that it was a youkai, he can sense its presence. But he wasn't sure whether it was just a harmless passing spirit or a dangerous one, so he needed to know. It could be targeting him, or Natsume, or Natori. Of course, he didn't want to be endangered, and he could care less for Natori, but he didn't want for something to happen to Natsume. Suddenly his thoughts wandered back home, and Homura wished for both Tanuma and Taki's safety with Suzuya and Kirinosuke's protection as well.

Ah. There it is, Homura thought as he noticed a small batting thing. Only…

It was facing their way and seemed to be staring straight at him.

Small things are not to be looked down upon. Homura ducked with the intentions of throwing himself back into his futon and pretending to be asleep, but hesitated. He should shut the sliding door first, shouldn't he?

He raised his eyes again, slowly, his hand gripping the doorframe. The marks on his arm drew his attention away from outside. He gasped. What if it was the youkai that most probably caused it? Then what should he do? He thought of the youkai he had helped but had gotten eaten. That monster was a dangerous one. His hand wavered.

No. Wait. It was small, wasn't it? Oh, yeah. My head is so foggy I can't even think straight.

He went on to sliding the door slowly. All of a sudden his face was smothered and his hands flew up to the thing on his face, scrabbling at it, trying to get it off.

"Bwah!" He managed to get it away from his face and stared down at it. "Huh?" he couldn't help utter.

In his hands, were a fluffy bird that was obviously a youkai, with a hat and markings on its wings, and a small female youkai who was currently flailing about since her leg was trapped beneath the bird.

What is this.

"Ho… Homura-sama!" her voice sounded out, light and high and tinkling. It was hushed, however, as if she didn't want the other two behind Homura to wake up. "W-What are you doing? Get the bird off me!" she whined.

He did as he was told, picking up the bird and letting it fly away to perch outside on the veranda railing.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The room fell in silence for a while, with them staring at each other. Then the youkai pounced on his face and dug her tiny nails in his cheek, before settling on his shoulder, leaning into his ear.

"Homura-sama! Have you forgotten? ! It's Rie! Rie! I cannot accept the fact that you actually have the drive to forget about me! It's Rie! Geez! It is all because of Homura-sama, that Master has to be your shiki!" she scolded, her hand tucking his hair behind his ear.

"Ri…e…?" he repeated. The name does ring a bell, but he still wasn't sure. But Rie didn't seem to be bad, so he took her in his hands and set her down beside his pillow, and he himself lied down as well.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I'm feeling a little sick right now."

Rie shook her head, her light unruly hair fluffing around her face.

"Mmn." Homura's eyes slipped closed for a while. "So, by Master, you mean Suzuya, right?"

"Yes!"

"And…? Why are you so far away from your 'Master'?"

"Oh! That is because he sent me here. Ah, no. Actually, Kirinosuke-sama has told Master about something, and they had sent me here to check on you."

"Really? What did Kii say?"

"Um… He said that, 'something seems to be off; Homura seems to be hiding something from us'. So I have come here to check. Homura-sama, has something strange happened to you?"

Ah… It must be because of my arm.

"Actually…" He held out his arm for Rie to see.

"Is it something bad?" he asked.

"No. It is left by a youkai that wishes to tell you that something bad is about to happen. But it is quite rare for one to do so. Maybe one took a liking to you?"

"… Something bad is about to happen?"

Rie sat by Homura's side, watching him sleep. He had drifted off minutes earlier, in the middle of a sentence he didn't get to finish. With him no longer conscious, she was free to glower at him all she wanted. She still hadn't really forgiven him for being of higher status than her own master. That would mean that she is two ranks under a petty human! She glared at him some more.

Not only was this human ignorant, but stupid, too. What did he mean, feeling sick. He just looked like he was a little drunk, didn't he? She didn't understand how special he is for her master and Kirinosuke to willingly accompany him every time.

Seeing his stunned face was pretty amusing, she admitted. Judging from his expression, however, it wasn't totally clear whether he had been expecting that sort of outcome or not. But he had really looked troubled, looking over his two sleeping companions and asking about the rest, even. Kirinosuke had told her that it is very hard for humans who can see youkai, how they would always face problems with fellow humans who don't understand their situation.

With that in mind she got up and trotted to the other two, observing them. The one in the middle is the famous Natsume Takashi, holder of the Yuujinchou. Very, very famous for always giving help to youkai when they asked for it, and giving back their names his deceased grandmother had collected. To some he may be thought of as a fool, for getting involved with spirits even though he never really wanted to.

Rie still didn't know what to think of this boy. She had only heard rumors from other youkai and from her master and Kirinosuke. But Natsume Takashi is said to be someone very, very kind, he even has a number of youkai friends.

The next is an exorcist. Her master had told her not to get close to him at all, though it was okay to tease him. In truth she had no idea exactly how one could tease somebody when one cannot get close to him.

She whistled, a soft, low tune, so as not to disturb the ones sleeping. The bird she came with fluttered to her side, and she stroked the sweet thing, petting it.

Then, with one last look behind her, she hopped on to the creature and took off to relay her message to her master.

The rest of the trip passed by okay, and it proved to be a very calming weekend. When Homura had woken up after that night, though, he was unclear about a few things he and Rie talked about before he fell asleep. Then he had found out how he had accidentally drunk alcohol. And Natsume and Natori had laughed over Homura's reaction. Then with Natori sending them back to their homes, the trip was over.

A few weeks had passed with nothing much interesting. Homura had helped Natsume out with something youkai-related, settled some things with a few youkai with Suzuya and Kirinosuke, and told some of the interesting stuff to Tanuma.

He knew he wasn't supposed to tell Tanuma much, since Natsume was always trying his best not to involve him, but he kind of understood both teens' feelings. Natsume just doesn't want Tanuma to get hurt because of him and youkai, and left him out at times, but he would always go to his side every other time. Tanuma, on the other hand, wanted to be of more help, only his actions were a bit restricted.

Homura knew he wasn't supposed to step into their relationship, but he can't help feeling sorry for Tanuma. Especially since Natsume was busy these days. So he would accompany him sometimes and tell him some of the interesting, none-too-dangerous adventures, and answer his many questions. As long as, of course, he didn't tell Natsume any of their little talks. Tanuma was happy, so that was all that matters. At least now the three of them seemed a little closer than before.

He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, and dug it out to read the text message. It was from Nishimura, asking him whether he wanted to go for a little walk in the forest. Kitamoto, Natsume and Tanuma are going too.

He got up from the couch and stretched.

"Where are you going?" Kirinosuke asked.

"A walk. With the others," he replied.

"Oh? Well, I sure do hope nothing bad is gonna happen to you on your little 'trip', Homura-kun," Suzuya said, voice dripping with heavy sarcasm.

Yep, Suzuya had been on a tight wire lately. Because of the meanings of the markings on his arm before. They were gone a few days after the marks ended at his wrist, and the two youkai had been on a close lookout for any danger. But they found nothing in the end, that was why Suzuya was in a bad mood.

"Mm, I hope not. But so far nothing's happened, right? Doesn't it mean that it could just be a prank?" he questioned, slipping on his coat.

"Maybe, maybe not," Kii said.

"I'll get going now," Homura said, putting on his shoes.

"Bye."

"Get your bottom back here before dark, get it?" Suzuya reminded him.

Homura sighed. "Fine, Suzuya. Bye."

He sure hoped he had taken Suzuya's words seriously, because what happened to him next, was the worst thing to ever happen to him, aside from Seiji's death.

They were talking and laughing, walking at a leisurely pace. Then his phone rang, and though he hesitated since the person who was calling him was unknown to him, he picked it up anyway.

"Is this Akatsuki Homura?"

"Eh? Ah, yes. This is…?"

The others heard a soft gasp, and turned around to see what the matter was. Homura's eyes were wide with terror, his face deathly pale.

"Homura…?" Kitamoto said cautiously.

Homura's lips trembled; he dropped his cell phone and collapsed to his knees. By then the others knew that something was very wrong.

"Homura, what's wrong?" Natsume asked worriedly. Homura looked like he had just seen the world's most horrifying monster.

"Hello? Hello? Akatsuki Hom—"

Yaaaay~ Finally a chapter in some time~~ It's just that I'm reeeaally busy lately, with school, mainly.

EVEN SO I HAVE NOT DONE MOST OF MY HOMEWORK. XD

AND I HAVE MY MIDYEAR EXAMS IN TWO WEEKS AND I HAVE NOT STUDIED A SINGLE THING FOR MY 10 SUBJECTS. I AM SO GONNA FAIL MY PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. lllorz

So. This chapter has a lot going on, doesn't it? By the way, is that how a hangover is? That. [points to top of page] I don't know so I just wrote how I liked it.

Ooh, ooh, and also, I, milky, have been thrown into the wonderful world of BL~~ -W- I so love NojiKen, his voice is so cute, but I don't know where I could find a listing of drama CDs he'd voiced. I like Sugita Tomokazu too! I was like 'Tanuma! It's Tanuma! I get to listen to Tanuma!' but then when I listened to the freetalks I was like 'woah. His voice is SO different it's actually funny.' But I did like the way he fooled around with Toriumi-san and Takeuchi-san. Now that was funny. They were talking about first kisses and gakuran and more kisses.

Well then, I hope I'll be able to write the next chapter real soon, so… Bye bye for now~