A/N: I SHOULD be studying for exams (and hopefully, I'm not distracting any readers from any) but this is sort of a celebration of the new release of the manga chapter.

New story/grammar element:

*sound effect*

So here my lovely readers, for you I've updated this. Just don't following my example of prioritizing.

I don't know Natsume Yuujin-chou or any of the characters in it.

The place was big, that's for sure. Just like the outside, the interior was very much decorated in a Japanese-oriental style. The walls were painted in beautiful hues of orange and brown; pillars of mahogany red were evenly arranged around the hallways. The peeking noon's sun shone through many intricately designed windows and lit various ornaments and paintings. It gave the place a blissful and serene feeling. A feeling unfitting for an exorcist to hide out at.

The wooden floor made soft creeks as Natsume and Nyanko-sensei, now back to his lucky-cat form, roamed in the seemingly endless hallways.

"Any luck on picking up a scent?" Natsume asked as he followed the trotting cat.

"Tsk. Figures", Nyanko-sensei sourly remarked, "As you saw with Tanuma's father, the place is brimming with people with spiritual energy. Though it's not as strong as the exorcist meeting you attended, it's enough to mask that man's and jewel's scent"

"Wouldn't the spiritual energy attract youkai rather than repel" Natsume asked.

"Yes and no. While it's true that spiritually inclined people are tasty, these people go through daily rituals of self-renewal and purification that anything like negative emotions of the heart, a youkai's delicacy, are washed away. Also, unlike you who was born with, they had obtained it through the means of practice. Like eating fresh squid vs processed squid. Both are yummy but you prefer the first option"

Leave it to Sensei to tie it in back to food, Natsume thought sarcastically.

"I suppose it's a good thing", Sensei concluded, "It means he'll let his guard down and not put up many traps and barriers. Not to say that there isn't any"

Natsume nodded. I wonder how Tanuma's doing, Natsume thought. He's suppose to be visiting his father's workplace at a Buddhist temple today. Luckily, this place is a bit of a distance from the Yatsuhara. He didn't want Tanuma to be dragged into this mess. As Natsume pondered, he noticed that Nyanko-sensei stopped walking abruptly.

The cat sniffed in the air once, sniffed again but sniveled his nose. He then jolted towards a nearby vase.

"What's wrong, Sensei?" Natsume whispered as he followed him from behind and crouched down.

"I think I can sense the jewel nearby...at the very last room down the hall but", Nyanko–sensei explained as he sniffed before pointing at one direction, "There is also a shiki...*sniff* *sniff*...two other humans, possibly servants...*sniff*...*sniff* *sniff*...and that Matoba kid too"

"You'll take care of the youkai and that jewel, I'll distract him and his servants " Natsume instructed.

"Are you kidding me? I can do all that by myself!", Nyanko-sensei informed before transforming, "There is no way we are sending-"

"You'll make too much of a ruckus and attract unnecessary attention. And you know that once he sees you by yourself, he wouldn't hesitate to kill you", Natsume reminded him as he got up and blocked the beast's path, "Besides, he can't do anything to harm me"

"At least not right away, I won't."

Before either of them could react, Natsume felt something whip right past him. It struck Madara directly before a blue current was released around the creature. Wincing in pain, Madara reverted back into his other medium.

"Damn it" he cursed.

"Sensei!" Natsume yelled as he ran to his mentor's side.

"I expected that spring's guardian or one of his followers to come. Should have guessed it would be you two"

Natsume focused his attention back to the attacker.

Matoba casually leaned against the wall nearby the room he was inside moments ago. Natsume glared at him.

"What? You didn't think I couldn't sense either of your presences." Matoba then motioned towards what is assumed to be his servants inside.

"Natsume, you need to get out of here" Madara quietly warned the boy.

Frantic eyes looked back at his guardian. "Are you crazy?", Natsume quickly whispered as some of Matoba's servants began to file out of that room, "I can't leave you here with-"

"Don't worry, I've got an idea. Stall and avoid getting caught for as long as you can. I'm trying to stick to your plan, for Pete's sakes. Now hurry up and leave"

Rushing footsteps could be heard as their owners approached the two of them.

"Now!"

Giving one last look at his mentor, Natsume dodged an incoming blow from Matoba's servant and headed towards the staircase.

"After him", Natsume heard Matoba ordered before trailing footsteps were clearly heard from behind. Natsume ran faster. I hope you know what you're doing, Sensei.

A/N: Mannnnnn. You don't know how much research I had to do with the temple overall (even though it's a trivial aspect of the story). I somewhat redesigned the layout. I had to make sure nothing I did would contradict standards on designing them. Sure, I enjoyed reading articles and playing "Guess what this Japanese link means" for visuals but it's probably best not to do this around exam time. If you find anything inaccurate about it, please PM me about it.

Also, Nyanko-sensei's explanation about spiritual power this is something I purely made up (and is not meant to be an accurate portrayal of Buddhist philosophy). It's just me attempting to expand on his earlier one in chapter 3 (which was an interesting concept that would have been neat to explore). Just treated as my two cents about it.

Anyways, thanks for dropping by and leave a review when you can.