It was a warm spring day. The weather was a bit overcast, but not bad. That being said, the grey skies made Tanuma feel on edge. He didn't know why exactly, he just felt like something was going to happen.
Unfortunately he was correct.
After helping his club clean up for the day, Tanuma had intended to head home and start on his plan ended up derailed.
In hindsight, he should have expected something like this to happen. Natsume had been acting off all day. Tanuma could never tell when Natsume's behavior was due to youkai related issues and when it was simply his frail health giving him troubles. Today was no exception.
As he was walking to his club, he passed by Natsume's classroom. Natsume was already gone. Nishimura informed Tanuma that Natsume hadn't been feeling very well and that he had left early.
Tunuma nodded and went on his way. He didn't give this information thought for a while. The day was still a pleasant temperature as Tanuma started his walk home. He reached a more isolated section of road when something caught his eye. A flash of white where there should be solid green. Tanuma looked in that direction. He choked.
A body.
Without a second thought he was running down the hill towards them. He suspected he knew who it was and upon getting close he was correct. It was Natsume who was sprawled face down at the bottom of the hill. Tanuma raced over to his friend.
"Natsume?" he called frantically.
Only bird song and the sound of the river greeted Tanuma. Tanuma put a hand on Natsume's back. He discovered that his friend's shirt was soaked through with sweat. Through the thin fabric, Tanuma could feel the heat radiating from Natsume's body. That was concerning. Being as gentle as he could, Tanuma rolled Natsume over.
The white shirt was marred by streaks of green grass stains and dirt. There were abrasions on Natsume's arms and cheeks, making Tanuma suspect that he had collapsed at the top of the bank and rolled the whole way down. Nastume, for his part, was panting, his eyes closed. Tanuma held a hand up to Natsume's forehead. This did nothing other than to confirm what he already knew. Natsume was burning up.
"Natsume? Can you hear me?" Tanuma called once more, gently shaking Natsume's shoulder.
This time, Natsume groaned in response to his name. After a moment, his eyes fluttered open. Tanuma felt immense relief at the reaction.
"Ta…. n'ma?" Natsume's voice held a slur to it.
He seemed very confused. Not a good sign. Tanuma's worry was back with full force.
"That's right," Tanuma tried to smile encouragingly, "What happened?"
Natsume frowned like he wasn't sure at first what Tanuma had asked him.
"Fell?" The answer seemed more like a guess than anything else.
"That does seem like what happened," Tanuma nodded.
Natsume mumbled something incoherent.
"Come on. Let's get you home," Tanuma sighed.
He helped Natsume sit up and then get into a standing position. Natsume's legs were shaky and uncoordinated. Tanuma pulled Natsume's arm over his shoulder to take some of the other teen's weight. Natsume's head lolled to the side as he was unable to fully support it.
"I got you. Let's go," Tanuma encouraged.
"G-go…..go where?" Natstume mumbled deliriously.
"Your house," Tanuma informed him.
This did not get him the reaction he was expecting.
"No, no, no, please," Natsume cried abruptly with sudden clarity.
"What's the matter, Natsume?" Tanuma frowned.
He was worried that Natsume might be in pain from some hidden injury. Indeed, that seemed to be the case as Natsume moaned. His brief wave of strength left him and he started shivering as he leaned a little more on Tanuma.
"Natsume? What's wrong?" Tanuma was really worried now.
"I… I…. can't… can't go home," Natsume whimpered, his eyes beginning to droop once more in exhaustion.
"Why not?" Tanuma paused.
"I can't…. They…. I…." Natsume trailed off into a low, agitated whine.
"Natsume. Why can't you go home?"
"I…They'll…. They'll be mad," Natsume finally managed.
"Who? The Fujiwaras? Or do you have more strange youkai hanging around your house again?" Tanuma demanded.
His question remained unanswered. Natsume sagged against Tanuma murmuring 'worried' and 'mad' with feverish repetition. Tanuma decided they had wasted enough time already. If, by some very strange chance, the Fujiwara house was dangerous when they got there, Tanuma would take Natsume to his own home which was just a little further.
Their progress was slow. Natsume was far from coordinated; his steps dragging and slow. He continued to mumble incoherently and he was leaning heavily on Tanuma. This was by far the worst condition Tanuma had ever seen his friend in. His worry was fueled by their slow pace.
They made it about halfway to Natsume's house before Natsume completely lost consciousness. Tanuma was left staggering as he had to bear the dead weight of Natsume without warning. Natsume wasn't heavy, by any definition of the word, but Tanuma was ill prepared to suddenly be supporting the weight of a whole second person.
He lowered Natsume as gently as he could to the roadside. It was here that Tanuma had a mental crisis. Natsume very much needed to be home resting, but there was no way Tanuma would be able to manage carrying Natsume all the way there on his own. Tanuma cursed himself for not taking his phone to school that morning. He could have used it about now.
He could leave Natsume in favor of finding help, but this option also worried him. Knowing Natsume's luck, that would just be asking for youkai to come around and scoop him up. On the other hand, Tanuma had no idea when the next person passing by would come. It could be five minutes. It could be two hours. Not many people lived this way and those who did wouldn't be coming back from work until closer to dark.
It also would have been helpful if Natsume's fat cat was actually doing it's duty as bodyguard and showed up. Tanuma didn't know what creature it could transform into, but he did know that it was big and could carry Natsume. This unfortunately, did not happen.
Tanuma sat by the roadside feeling lost. He didn't know what to do. Natsume groaned softly. Tanuma felt Natsume's forehead. His fever felt higher, but it was hard to tell if that was really the case or if Tanuma was just imagining things in his anxiety.
In the midst of his worrying, he heard the sound of a car driving by. Tanuma leapt to his feet to flag them down. He was surprised to find a familiar face behind the wheel. It was Shigeru.
"Tanuma-kun?" Shigeru frowned.
"Please...It's Natsume," was all Tanuma had to say for Shigure to quickly get out of the car.
He hung back a little bit as Shigeru checked over his foster son.
"Help me get him into the car," Shigeru told Tanuma.
Tanuma nodded.
With a coordinated effort, they got Natsume into the car. Tanuma sat in the back with Natsume while Shigeru drove.
Tanuma could tell that the older man was worried from the fact that his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly and the fact that he kept looking in the rearview mirror. Natsume seemed aware that he was now in a car. He stirred from where he was slumped against Tanuma, his eyes cracking open once more. He didn't respond though when Tanuma tried to ask him questions.
Thankfully, it wasn't too much longer before they arrived at the Fujiwara residence. Shigeru parked the car before coming around to help Tanuma.
The two of them worked together once more to maneuver Natsume out of the car and up to his room. The stairs proved to be difficult, particularly since Natsume was now aware enough to attempt to push them away in a stubborn show of independence. In the end, they got him up to his futon. Tanuma and Shigeru took a step back. As they stepped back, Touko darted forward next to her ill foster son, armed with a basin of cool water and medicine.
When it became clear that they were neither needed and were in fact a bit in the way, Tanuma and Shigeru left the room. The clock downstairs chimed. Tanuma winced. He was supposed to be home by now. He started towards the front door. Shigeru followed to see him out.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get him all the way home," Tanuma bowed after putting his shoes on.
"Nonsense," Shigeru waved him off, "You got him as far as you could, which is all I could have asked of you. Thank you."
Tanuma gave a small smile and headed on his way. Before the house was fully out of sight, Tanuma glanced over his shoulder once more. He hoped that Natsume would be feeling better soon.
