Takashi wasn't sure what to think. It had started so innocently. A letter addressed to him, not the family he was staying with.

To Mister Takashi Natsume,

The small shrine between Indian Imports and Daisuke's Donuts,

Ekoda, Tokyo, Japan.

But as nice it was to be thought about, this was scary to the eleven year old boy.

That morning he had left the safety of the Suzuki's home to go to buy tea for Suzuki Aoko-san and coffee and donuts for Suzuki Yuu-san, the family he was staying with. He got the tea fine but a youkai had found him and had chased him through town to this small shine far from where he had started. He didn't want the Suzuki's to worry about but that scary youkai wouldn't leave him alone. It walked around the perimeter of the shrine grounds waiting for him to leave so it could get him.

Holding this letter he wasn't sure what scared him more, the youkai or the fact that the letter was addressed to him at the shrine and not at the Suzuki's.

He stood there holding the letter, it was kind of heavy, alot heavier than a normal letter, the paper was very thick. He looked at the vivid green ink -how expensive did that ink have to be, he'd never seen green ink before- before flipping it over to view the flap. The letter wasn't even sealed with envelope glue, instead it had a thick crimson wax seal with something that looked like a European coat of arms on it.

Part of him wondered if he had family in Europe, and that they had only just tracked him down to his current family and that they wanted to adopt him Was he European? Was that where his light colored hair came from? Part of him wondered if this family was like him, and that's how they knew where he would be to receive this letter. Realizing he'd been thinking like that he squashed that hope -well not the last bit, he hoped they saw the youkai too- before it could get his hopes to high up.

He slipped his thumb under the flap of the envelope and pulled it along the seam until the seal broke. The seal broke down the middle, he frowned a little it was so pretty, he had half wanted to keep at least the seal if his hopes were dashed, it was a pretty crest.

Deciding that he'd just have to keep the damaged seal -wealthy families in Europe had crests so even damaged it had to be valuable- he lifted the flap and looked inside. Two or three pieces of that same thick paper where folded inside. he carefully pulled one of the letters out, stumbling over many of the kanji he read maybe two or three words off of the paper, which was fortunately enough to realize that it was a list of some sort, but what sort he didn't know, he'd have to ask someone to read it for him. He didn't know what it said and he needed to know, but he didn't want to trouble anyone with his reading problems.

He carefully folded the list and placed it back in the envelope and removed the other paper. It looked even fancier than the envelope and had the same crest that was on the wax seal in the top right corner. It was written strangely, in a left to right horizontal format, like english writing and was littered with as much kanji as the list, so sadly enough he couldn't read this letter either. There were a few words written in some of the kana he knew but he couldn't make head or tail of them. "Suparima Maguwamupu" it was so hard to understand, he didn't get it at all. Maybe it was an english or french word that someone had tried to translate and gotten wrong but he couldn't understand what it meant.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, breaking him out of his thoughts. He needed to get to the Suzuki's house before it started raining. They would get worried, if they weren't already, he'd been out here for hours now. A bowling ball of guilt dropped into his stomach as he thought about what he must be putting them through right at this moment. The child they didn't want had been outside for hours without contacting them.

Kicking himself for selfishly not think about them earlier he looked around for the youkai. It had disappeared as if it too didn't want to be caught in the rain. Double checking to make sure it wasn't tricking him and hiding in wait he ran as fast as he could -which was pretty fast because of all of the practice he had running away from youkai- back to the Suzuki's with the groceries. He was very late and he knew he was in a lot of trouble as soon as he took his shoes off at the door.

Both Suzuki-sans were sitting in the dining room waiting for him. They had a letter in their hands, a plain white piece of paper with two stamps and a postage mark. He knew exactly what was going on, so he remained silent as he entered the room. Aoko-san stood and took the groceries from him, simply placing them on the counter instead of taking the time to put them away.

"I'm really sorry for being so late. I saw a girl drop her dog leash and the dog ran off so I helped her find it," he lied easily, bowing his head, he lied so much to so many people it had become natural. "But then I was lost and didn't know where I was so-"

"You can stop there Takashi-kun," Yuu-san interrupted. "Take a seat, Takashi-kun."

Takashi did.

Yuu-san ran a hand through his greying hair before he folded his hands in front of his face. He took a deep breath and let out a deep and tired sigh.

"Look, Takashi-kun. I… I'm not sure how to tell you this… but, you can't stay here."

He knew it. He had predicted this. The first few times it had happened he had gotten angry, but know he knew better. They had tried to care for him, but he'd been too strange. Too jumpy and strange, and because he had failed to keep his problem hidden they were sending him away. He wasn't angry or scared anymore of changes like this, he was only sad and disappointed in himself. Resigned.

"You're a great kid but… things are looking hectic at work. A lot of people are getting laid off. I can't ensure that I wouldn't get fired too, okay, Takashi-kun? We've already arranged for you to live with my second cousin in Kyoto." He slipped Takashi the envelope. A used envelope with an Kyoto address. He recognised the area code have been there once or twice before.

Takashi nodded, resigned.

"Takashi-kun… I'm sorry," it was Aoko-san this time. She didn't look sorry, but that was fine.

He gave her an easy, practiced smile, trying to reassure her.

"It's okay. I understand," he said.

She a small smile back.

"Your train ticket is in that envelope. Your train leaves in two days at eleven, okay?" asked Yuu-san.

"I understand," he told them. "I'll go pack."

He waited a moment to make sure they didn't need him to do anything, when it seemed they didn't want him standing there doing nothing he turned away to go put his things back into his boxes.

The letter, clutched in his hand tightly, forgotten for the moment.