notes/warnings
+ in which Natume discovers things, and Tanuma continues to be the World's Best Boyfriend without actually officially being anyone's boyfriend.
Part Twelve
"I'm glad you wanted to meet up," Natori enthuses.
"I didn't come here just to see you," Natsume replies, as politely as he can manage. "There's-"
"There's something terrible in the forest," Natori interrupts. "I know. I've heard stories. It isn't often that spirits come begging for my help."
"So we will assist them?" Hiiragi asks. She doesn't usually make such obvious requests. She must be really worried.
Natsume feels bad for her. She's entirely dependent on Natori's whims. If he doesn't want to help her fellow spirits, then she can't help them, either.
"I need to do something about this," Natori tells her. "Otherwise humans will start getting hurt."
"So have you figured out how to beat the sickness-spirits?" Natsume asks, hopefully.
Natori tilts his head.
"Spirits," he asks. "Plural?"
"According to Aoi, there are at least two," Natsume confirms. Damn, why is Natori always so useless?
"That fish spirit is very young," Hiiragi warns. "Do not believe everything she says."
"That's going to be even more complicated, then," Natori says, rubbing his chin. "From what I've heard, this particular spirit is extremely powerful. More importantly, it's so ancient that it can't be trapped. We need to get rid of it – of both of them – completely."
"Wait. We'll have to kill them?"
Natsume doesn't kill. He wants everyone to be happy. He wants everyone to be okay. He doesn't want any more death in the world.
There is enough already.
Natsume touches his phone. He sort of wants to text Tanuma, and just confirm that he's okay. The more precious Tanuma becomes, the more worried Natsume gets.
He's reaching catastrophic levels of worried, now.
Do they really have to kill the sickness-spirits? Is that what it takes, to defend Natsume's precious people? Does Natori have precious people? Is that why he is the way he is?
"There is no other option," Natori says, sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Natsume. I'm sorry to ask for your help, but I cannot defeat these things on my own."
Natsume nods, mutely.
"We need to work together," Natori continues. "We'll need to use my servants and your…teacher-"
"Shut up, creepy guy," Nyanko snarls. "Don't refer to me with such a doubtful tone of voice!"
"- and gather all of the strong spirits who owe you favours," Natori continues, unabashed. "Then we'll have to attack the sickness-spirits, one at a time."
"We're going to convince other spirits to fight to the death?" Natsume asks, horrified. "No. Why don't we use one of your circles to paralyse it?"
He thinks maybe he sees something move, out of the corner of his eye. But when he looks up, the clearing around him is empty.
"My circles won't work on something so old. Neither will my charms. This spirit is ancient. It predates human artefacts."
"Your idea is lousy," Nyanko announces. "The sickness-spirits feed off strength. It's dangerous for either of you to go after them, especially together."
"That's impossible," Natori says, cheerfully. "Did the little girl spirit tell you that as well? Strength is an advantage, not a weakness. You've been working with Natsume long enough that you should know by now."
Something moves again, this time right in Natsume's line of sight. It's green and…large.
"Natori," he says, tensely. "Something is here."
"Huh?" Natori says, following his line of vision. "Natsume. There's nothing there."
"What did it look like?" Nyanko asks, hackles raised.
"It had tentacles," Natsume says. "I think."
"It's found us," Nyanko complains. "You idiot exorcist. You've gone and lead us right into a trap. Such a thing probably can't resist the two of you standing here together."
Natsume sees another flash of movement, and tries to stay perfectly still.
He has the book of friends. He can use it, if he needs to.
If he has time.
"I saw that, too," Natori says. "Hiiragi. Urihime."
"I'll protect you," Hiiragi says, matter-of-factly. "Please stay right here. Guard the humans, pig-cat."
She and Urihime hurry towards the gap in the trees, where Natsume last saw the flash of tentacles and movement.
"This one is green," Natsume murmurs. "The sickness-spirits Hinoe saw were blue and brown."
"Then there must be more than two," Nyanko groans. "Damnit."
"Is there anything we can do?" Natsume asks, turning to Natori. "Can we…"
Oh. Oh god, it's here. Right behind Natori. As tall as an oak tree, and covered in writhing flagellae and fangs. Like the worst sort of spirit Natsume has ever seen. Like something out of a nightmare.
"Look out!" he calls, terrified.
Natori turns and gasps. Nyanko starts glowing. The sickness-spirit reaches out for them, too fast, impossibly fast.
Tanuma, Natsume thinks, desperately, and then everything goes black.
Tanuma finds a lampshade at the corner store. He's supposed to be buying rice and carrots, but he's gotten distracted by the novelty merchandise.
Besides, there's no need to hurry. Tanuma knows Natsume isn't coming over tonight. They met up in the hall after school, and Natsume ruffled his hair and said he had things to do and that he wouldn't be able to call.
Tanuma still feels awful from the head-cold, but he feels kind of amazing, too. He feels like maybe things with Natsume are finally, finally becoming okay.
He feels like maybe they'll be together, at least for a little while. Maybe they'll even be best friends. And that's enough. That's plenty. Tanuma doesn't need to be requited. He just wants to be near Natsume for as long as possible.
The lampshade is an ill-looking shade of orange, overlaid with a maroon paisley pattern. It is an absolute eyesore. Tanuma wants to buy it then and there, but he can't. The whole point is that they get the furniture together.
He snaps a photograph of it, instead. To show Natsume, when they meet up at school tomorrow.
Tanuma's life is good.
Natsume wakes up. He's sitting on a hard wooden chair in the middle of a well-lit room. His hands are bound, and he feels surprisingly alive and unmasticated. Natori groans faintly beside him, still coming to. His glasses are sitting on the dresser behind him, out of reach. That green sickness-spirit must have knocked them out cold.
Natsume glances around the room. This doesn't look like the sort of place that a sickness-spirit would bring its prey. This seems like an ordinary human room – a massive ordinary human room – in what is maybe an ordinary human house, and…
…and actually, this room seems kind of suspiciously familiar. And so does the figure standing in the doorway, smirking at him.
"You," Natsume says, angrily. "Let us go. Now."
Matoba smiles indulgently. He's carrying a large portable cage in one hand. A small, spindly green spirit hovers by his side. He's not presently holding any visible weapons, but that doesn't mean that they're safe. Natsume hears Natori curse quietly under his breath. He must be completely awake, then.
This is bad. If Matoba has managed to enslave a sickness-spirit, then he's virtually unstoppable.
"I needed to speak with you," Matoba says, his voice unpleasantly silky. "Neither of you are particularly easy to find, so I took my chance."
"Let him go," Natori says. "I'll talk to you. Leave Natsume out of this."
"That spirit," Natsume says. "How did you defeat it?"
"I didn't need to defeat it," Matoba says, ignoring Natori. "It works for me."
"No," Natsume says, tensing against his bindings. "No, you don't understand. The sickness-spirit is dangerous. You mustn't-"
"It's not what it seems," Natori says softly, eyeing the spindly spirit. His gaze is unfocused, and reminiscent of Tanuma. "That thing is a shape-shifter, isn't it?"
"She's a new servant of mine," Matoba says. "I was using her to try and learn more about the real sickness-spirits. It seems we have the same goal."
"I'm not working with you," Natsume says. Matoba is dangerous. Natsume can't afford to be polite to him. He can't afford to be trapped here, either. He needs to keep investigating on his own, especially now that Natori has proven useless.
"No, that would be disastrous," Matoba agrees. "I brought you here to tell you what I know. That is all."
"I doubt it," Natori says, unhappily. Matoba touches the crown of his head, just briefly, as if he's trying to mollify a small dog.
"What you told Natsume was incorrect," he says, calmly. "These creatures feed on the strength of others. If any of us get near them, they will defeat us easily. Moreover, they will become even more powerful from that encounter."
"Even if that is true, we cannot do nothing," Natori snaps. He's not usually rude to Matoba. He must be really scared.
"There is a trap," Matoba says. "It is ancient and outdated, but it should work on these creatures. The problem is, it requires the presence of two humans to use it. And we'll need to use a third as bait."
"So use your employees," Natsume says. "I still don't see-"
"My employees all have strong spiritual ability," Matoba replies. "The operators cannot be strong, or the sickness-spirit will drain their power and multiply before the trap can work. But if they have no power at all, they will not be able to activate the trap."
"So employee people with weak spiritual ability."
Matoba smiles again.
"They are not easy to find, Natsume. Most people with minor ability never recognise it and subsequently ignore it."
"Oh," Natori says, suddenly. "You want to use Natsume's friends?"
Natsume's blood runs cold.
"No," he says, gravely. "Absolutely not."
"If we use you as bait," Matoba says, "and the two of them as operators, we have a very good chance of succeeding. And we cannot risk failure."
"It should be okay," Natori says, soothingly, because he's stupid and he doesn't understand. "You'll have your cat with you. And I'll stay as near as possible, in case things go wrong."
"No," Natsume says, again. "Never. I will never let them get involved in something like this."
Matoba walks right up to his chair, and crouches down beside it. Automatically, Natsume leans as far as possible in the opposite direction.
"I have learned," Matoba says, simply, "that there is no way to protect people from the spirit world. If they want to be involved, they will become involved. Even if you wished for a better life for them."
"Shut up," Natori tells him. "Natsume, your friends will be fine. If we don't get their help now, they'll be in even more danger when this spirit gets stronger, and starts releasing poison into the air."
"Right now, aside from the power-sapping ability, the sickness-spirits only have a single barb each. And although it is lethal, if they use it, they die," Matoba continues. "Do you see? They are reluctant to use their only real weapon. They are not particularly dangerous to weak humans at this time. But they will be, if we allow them to go on living and multiplying."
Lethal barbs. Giant spirits. Poison.
All Natsume wants is for his friends to be okay. All he's ever, ever wanted is for his friends to be okay.
"No," he says. "Please. No."
But he already knows how this will end. He needs to give his beloved friends the best possible chance to survive. And that means…
That means they have to work the trap.
"Think about it, anyway," Matoba says. He places the crate on the floor. Something inside it grumbles unintelligibly. "Here is your servant. His seal will wear off in about ten minutes. I will send someone to you tomorrow to get your final decision."
Natsume nods, wordlessly.
"The forests are presently dangerous to all of us," Matoba adds. "I will not come and rescue either of you a second time. Be careful."
He leaves after that. And somehow, Natsume manages to get up and go home.
This is the worst day of his life.
Natsume does call. At midnight. He sounds upset and confused, and he doesn't even seem to be aware that he's called at an unreasonable time.
"What's wrong?" Tanuma asks, twisting the corner of his sheet around his index finger. "What happened? Can I help?"
"No," Natsume says, predictably. "It's…it's nothing. I'll talk to you and Taki before school tomorrow."
He's actually going to tell them? Things must be either very unusual or very bad. Tanuma wishes he could reach through the phone and hug Natsume. That would be a pretty useful ability to have.
Although he's kind of attached to his current ability, too.
"Okay," Tanuma says, gently. "I'll be there."
For a moment, Natsume is silent. He doesn't speak, and he doesn't hang up.
"Tanuma," he says, pitifully, hesitantly. "Tanuma, can you -"
"There's a dent in one leg," Tanuma says, promptly. "It's been there since the day we got it. We accidentally slammed it against the counter when we were carrying it into the house."
Natsume makes a noise somewhere between a breath and a snicker.
"Is our counter ugly, too?"
"Are you in bed?" Tanuma asks.
"Uh…"
"Go get into bed and I'll tell you."
He's not usually so assertive. But then, Natsume isn't usually so distressed. And he isn't usually awake in the middle of the night.
"Yeah," Natsume says, softly. He sounds like he might be smiling. "Yeah, okay."
tbc
a/n
+ real life continues to be incredibly busy, so updates might be a bit sporadic over the next month or so.
+ thanks for sticking with me, I really appreciate it.
+ I am lucky enough that someone drew some gorgeous fanart inspired by this link is here: seymour-ridmonton(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/NT-deeper-misunderstanding-303933905. Seymour-Ridmonton is seriously amazing.