Of the plans that Natori had for his day off, a giant, white youkai in the shape of a strange wolf like creature landing on his balcony was not one of them. Natori's own shiki bristled slightly at the intrusion to their master's peaceful day of rest, however, they did not attack the youkai.

The youkai deposited something on Natori's balcony before disappearing into a puff of white. Natori found himself looking at Natsume's fat cat. The thing that the cat had deposited on Natori's balcony was a small child. Natori didn't know where to start.

"Oi! Brat!" Nyanko-sensei huffed.

Natori was ashamed to admit that he started a bit.

"What do you want?" he sighed, "Why did you bring a child to my balcony? I want no part in a kidnapping."

Nyanko-sensei looked affronted. The cat was distracted from answering when the child hid his face in the cat's fur.

"Listen," Natori shook his head, "I'm sure Natsume is worried about you, so why don't you take the child back to wherever you found him and go home."

"You idiot! This is Natsume," the cat hissed, its tail thrashing.

Natori opened his mouth to object, but then he realized that the young boy had flinched at the name 'Natsume'. Natori crouched down to the child's level. The child raised his head slightly to peer at Natori over the top of the cat's head. Even with a younger face, Natori recognized Natsume's eyes.

"Natsume?" Natori blinked.

"Y-yes?" the child whispered.

Natori groaned.

"What did you do?" Natori asked, though he wasn't sure if the question was directed at Natsume or Nyanko-sensei.

"He helped a Days-Eater. The youkai turned him back into a small kid as thanks," the cat sighed, his tail flicking in irritation, "I'm going to track the stupid youkai down again so you have to watch the kid because I don't know where else to leave him."

"You don't have to watch me. I'm ok," Natsume insisted quietly.

"No, you're going to stay here with him," Nyanko-sensei's ear twitched, "He's safe."

Natsume glanced back at Natori. Before either human could argue with him, Nyanko-sensei leapt out of Natsume's arms and over the balcony railing. Natori frowned.

"But what am I supposed to do with a child?" Natori huffed to the open air.

Natsume flinched back, eyes wide with fear. Natori sighed. He took off his glasses to rub his eyes. This was not how he had intended on spending his day off of work. Ah, well, Natsume needed his help now, so he was happy to do what he could.

Several things were quickly becoming clear. One, Natori had no idea how to entertain a small child, and two, Natsume was terrified of Natori's shikis. He watched them warily, as though he expected them to attack at any moment. Natori finally resorted to sending them away. They did so reluctantly.

"What do you like to do for fun?" Natori asked.

Natsume blinked in confusion like Natori had just asked him the best way to bring about world peace.

"I don't know?" Natsume tested out, "No one ever wants me around."

Natori didn't like that answer at all. He pondered the best response. As he did so, he noticed that Natsume was staring at him intensely. Or, rather, Natsume was staring at Natori's elbow. Natori glanced down. Sure enough, his lizard tattoo was curled up nicely in the junction of his elbow. As thought sensing it was being watched, the lizard scurried to Natori's wrist.

"Do you like him?" Natori asked.

He personally didn't like his lizard companion, but older Natsume always seemed to find it amusing. It turned out that younger Natsume was no different. He nodded with more life than Natori had seen out of the young boy so far. Natori willingly held out his arm so that Natsume could watch the tattoo.

"Does it hurt you?" Natsume mumbled, small face creased in worry.

Natori almost laughed. That was such aNatsumething to ask.

"No… well, it does tickle sometimes," Natori admitted, "But it doesn't hurt."

Natsume continued to watch the tattoo, transfixed.

"Do you have to feed it?" he whispered.

"No?" Natori had never pondered this before.

"It is eating you?" Natsume looked horrified.

Natori let a small smile play on his lips.

"No. It just lives there," Natori assured the young boy.

"Oh. Good."

Natori let Natsume watch his tattoo for a while. Finally Natsume's stomach grumbled loudly. The young boy hurriedly placed his hands over his stomach in embarrassment.

"Hungry?" Natori smiled.

"No. I'm fine," Natsume shook his head.

The smile slipped from Natori's face. He knew that Natsume's young childhood hadn't been pleasant, but this was one of the first times that he had truly experienced the effects firsthand like this.

"Natsume, it's okay to be hungry," he sighed.

Natsume gave him a confused look.

"How about I go and prepare lunch for us, hmm?" Natori offered.

Natsume trailed Natori to the kitchen. Natori yanked open the fridge. He frowned thoughtfully. What did young children eat? His own childhood memories were shoved in the back of his mind and refused to release the answer to such a trivial question. Natori pondered for a moment. Milk? That was at least a starting place. Natori poured Natsume a small glass of milk before tackling the difficult task of deciding what tofeedNatsume.

Mostly due to the fact that there wasn't much food in the apartment, Natori finally decided on the leftover rice omelet that someone on his movie set had given him yesterday and he had forgotten to eat. With the food reheated, Natori and Natsume sat down to lunch. Natsume ate meticulously small bites. Natori wasn't sure if he was afraid of spilling the rice or if he was afraid that he wasn't allowed to eat much. Alas, his caution was for naught. As they finished eating, Hiiragi peered in the window. Natsume started violently, knocking over the glass of milk in the process. Natori couldn't hold back a sigh.

"Sorry," Natsume gasped, eyes flicking back and forth between Hiiragi and the spilled milk.

Natori motioned for Hiiragi to leave once more. She thankfully did so quickly. One issue solved, one to go.

"It's alright. I'll go grab a towel to clean up, do you want to put the dishes in the kitchen?" Natori offered.

Natsume nodded hurriedly. Leaving Natsume to take care of the dirty dishes, Natori went on a hunt to track down a spare towel. He rummaged through the back of the closet, looking for one.

"He's going to eat you!" something hissed venomously.

Natori recognized it as the voice of a youkai. A heavy feeling of dread settled over him.

"N-no, he's not," Natsume's response was hardly audible.

Natori bolted down the hallway, towel search long forgotten. A youkai was leering at Natsume through the window. Natsume was frozen in the middle of the living room, quivering.

"You know that he's not better than everyone else in your life. He doesn't want you. You're garbage to him. Come outside and we can-"

Natori wasted no time in flicking a talisman with deadly accuracy. It struck the youkai on the forehead. The youkai wailed before disappearing out of sight. Both Natori's sudden appearance and the youkai's reaction had clearly startled little Natsume. He dropped the bowl he had been holding with a crash. It shattered on the floor. The sound of breaking pottery only served to frighten Natsume even more. He dropped to his knees, frantically trying to pick up the shards. Natori rushed over to stop him. Even still, the child had several nasty cuts on his fingers. Natsume flinched back as soon as Natori touched him.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault it broke," Natsume cowered away from Natori, hands above his head as though to ward off a blow.

Natori was taken off guard by the reaction.

"It's alright," Natori promised as gently as he could.

"No. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Natsume's eyes were wide and terrified.

Natori kept his hands open and low to show Natsume that he meant no harm.

"Natsume-" Natori held back a sigh as the little boy stiffened slightly at his name "-it's alright. You didn't mean to break it and I can buy a new one."

Natsume shook his head in denial. After standing up, Natsume bowed deeply to Natori over and over again.

"Please forgive me. It's my fault. I'm sorry," Natsume kept repeating.

"I'm just glad you're not badly hurt," Natori promised, "Can I clean the cut on your fingers?"

Natsume reluctantly held out his hands. They were trembling. Natsume was far too quiet as Natori cleaned the cuts and put band-aids on the worst injuries before being settled on the couch.

"Hey, Natsume," Natori said softly, "You don't have to be afraid."

Natsume blinked at Natori, not truly understanding what the older man was saying.

"Everything will be alright, you'll see," Natori promised.

In a surprising act of trust, Nastume curled up tightly against Natori's side. Children had never been in Natori's life plan, but he felt strangely protective of Natsume. This feeling only intensified as Natori felt the fine tremors that wracked the child's body. He pulled Natsume a bit closer. Nastume hesitantly fisted a little hand in Natori's shirt.

"M'sorry," Natsume mumbled almost feverishly, "M'sorry, m'sorry, m'sorry."

For whatever reason, Natsume seemed to have accepted Natori completely now.

"Peace, Natsume," Natori soothed down the blond hair.

Natsume slowly raised his head to blink at Natori. Natori hated the way they wetly glistened with unshed tears.

"M'sorry?" he offered once more.

"What for?" Natori sighed, deciding to humor the young boy.

"Everything," Natsume sniffled.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Natori promised, "What happened was not your fault."

Natsume looked like he would like to protest. Natori forestalled him by gently massaging the thin shoulders. Natsume started at first, but once he realized what was happening, he leaned into the touch.

It didn't take Natsume long to fall asleep. Natori kept the child tucked firmly against his side. It was nearly dusk when Natori looked up to a familiar cat stride arrogantly into the room.

"I found the youkai," Nyanko-sensei sniffed, "Natsume should be normal by morning."

"That's good to hear," Natori nodded, "I suppose I ought to inform the Fujiwaras that Natsume is here."

He felt reluctant to move Natsume and undoubtedly wake him up in the process.

"Perhaps, but also the brat doesn't get enough sleep," the cat-creature curled up on Natsume's older side.

Natori felt Natsume relax even more.

"Mmmh. Perhaps a little long won't hurt…" Natori smiled gently at Natsume's sleeping form.