Hi! I'm bored. I'm sleepy. I'm stuck with my novel and start to write Fanfiction instead. Hope you guys will enjoy this story. Sorry if the characters went OOC and please review. ^_^
Chapter 1
It was really a windy evening and Natsume Takashi's skinny figure was almost blown away. If he were holding an opened umbrella in his hand, he was sure that he would be blown away, like a match on a parachute. But, the fact that he wasn't with an umbrella that day, had put him in great distress. High above the sky, black clouds were advancing and the tumultuous vapours twirled among themselves like wet clothes in a washing machine. That was a sign of a great storm coming and Natsume hastened his pace. By the time he reached the house, small droplets were already falling.
"Tohko-san, I'm home!" Natsume slid the front door opened to find that the house was dark. With the weather like this, it would be normal to see the light on. Maybe Tohko-san wasn't home, he thought, but, something was a little strange. If she wasn't why was the door unlocked? Natsume place his shoes neatly at the entrance and walked inside to search for her.
"Tohko-san?" he called but the old woman was no where to be seen and the entire room was dark. He switched on the lamp in the kitchen revealing an empty and silent atmosphere. It would be quite impossible for her to stay in the dark, well, seriously, if she did, what was she up to? It seemed like Tohko-san had gone out and forgot to lock the door. Natsume sighed and went upstairs to his room. As he reached there, he stopped. The house was dark but his room was bright.
How reckless, Sensei! If Tohko-san sees this while a cat is the only one inside, she will get scared! But, he knew well what Sensei will say. It was getting dark and I am not a cat kind of thing. Natsume got into the room like all in the days work ignoring the big round thing resting on a purple cushion on the floor.
"Sensei, did Tohko-san go out somewhere? She's not around but the door isn't locked." But, as he turned around he was met only with the silence of the room. It was nothing creepy, really, if there's no answer to a question. In fact, Sensei always did that when he was sore or felt like sulking at the corner of the room. But, it was not only silence that he faced then, not that it really mattered but what lied in front of him then was also emptiness.
Yes, the room was empty, no one was around except for a suspicious-looking, round and white thing being placed on the cushion where Sensei always sits. Natsume confusedly blinked. What's that, a rock? Natsume knelt down and put his hand on the thing. It was slightly warm and… light? He lifted the thing up and put it closed to his ears. He heard nothing of course, but the thing looked fragile and as he felt it with his hand, it surface was smooth, almost like an egg shell. If he were to apply a little force between his hands and give it a little squish, he assumed that it might break.
He stared at the egg-like thing long and deep. For some reasons, there was something weird about it. Little that he knew, as he held it within his hands, the unknown thing started to grow very hauntingly interesting and precious even, to him. In truth, he could not stop staring at it and his conscience was getting away. If not because of a blown sticking note that hit his nose, his mind would not be snapped back to reality.
"Ah, what's that?" His heart began to beat very fast and he could not remember why. What he remembered was something had just brushed his nose. He put the thing/egg/rock in his hand back down on its place and searched the room with his eyes. If Natsume was someone who had nothing to do with a Youkai on the first place, he wouldn't have bothered. But, because this is his world, a reality which was given only to him, a slight brush would let his hair stood at all ends. His eyes finally caught sight of a tiny sticking note on the floor.
"Went for a drink – Nyanko," it said. He always goes for a drink even the weather is getting bad. What an unreliable bodyguard, Sensei is! And to think back about it, Sensei is always referring himself as Nyanko lately. What does that mean? Isn't he the one who disapproved the name before? Is he getting too carefree with that? But, wait!
Natsume turned back towards the white round thing on the cushion. He said nothing about the rock. That's weird. What is Sensei up to? And, if Sensei isn't here and Tohko-san's isn't here as well, who switched on the light? Natsume didn't like the feeling he was having but he tried hard to make it go away. He sulkily got up and put his school bag properly on the table. He decided that he would ask Sensei about this after he got back.
CLANG!
Natsume's ever sharp ears caught the noise even with the thunders outside. The kitchen? Perhaps, Tohko-san had come home. With that, Natsume quickly rushed downstairs to see what's going on. Tohko-san had left in a hurry before and forgot to lock the door, he hoped that nothing was wrong.
Once again, Natsume was greeted with darkness. He was positive that he had switched the kitchen lamp on before he went upstairs. Now, by the time he stepped downstairs, the lamp was already switched off. For some reasons, Natsume found this creepy.
Before he could think of anything else, or made any movement, the lamp in the living room flickered on. The hustle bustle and the swishing sound of kimono drapery flapping against each other told him that there was someone in there.
"Tohko-san," Natsume said to himself breathing a sigh of relief. Another thunder stroke outside but Natsume cared less. There's dangerous thunder outside, no wonder Tohko-san switched off the light in the kitchen. To use as little electricity right now would be best, he thought. Natsume moved to the living room and saw the old woman in green kimono kneeling down with her back facing him. She was folding some old newspaper and put them at one side in a pile. Natsume began to smile, seeing how homely her presence brought him. Just now, everything was plain creepy to him, including Sensei's flown sticking note.
"Ah, Tohko-san, I came back just now, but you weren't around." Not waiting for any reply, Natsume folded his legs and sat down comfortably at the coffee table. "Has Shigeru-san back yet?" It was really at that time, Natsume began to regret his action. 1) He should make sure of his listeners before asking a question. 2) He should make sure that everything was alright in the house before he went upstairs right after he found the door was unlocked. 3) He should at least trust his instinct when he felt something was a little off.
Once the old woman in front of him turned, it was not Tohko-san who was sitting there. Natsume may not have a time to think about this, though… and even the writer of the story thought that everything was just plain creepy at the moment…
P/S – I had written the story as far as chapter 4, so I may be updating those pretty soon. Please tell me what you think so that I can improve… hehehe