Title:: Life Anew

Author:: AislinCeivun

Fandom:: Natsume Yuujinchou

Rated:: G

Length:: 1335 words

Genre:: General, Friendship

Disclaimer:: I do not own any of the characters. Credit goes to Midorikawa Yuki.

Warnings:: n/a

Summary:: No matter how much Madara would like to think otherwise, from the moment he met Natsume, he has been living a new life.

A/N::

1. Originally published in May 2013. Underwent a much-needed edit in April, 2020.

2. HUNGARIAN translation is available. Link in my profile.

3. I'm no longer using FFN, but in case anyone's interested, I came back to this fandom with another Madara & Natsume goodness - 10k of it this time! ;) It's called The Cat and His Boy, and you can find it under my AO3 (same username).

Life Anew

.

"Ma-Madara-sama!"

When he heard the thin voice, Madara snapped his head up and turned his sharp golden eyes to the one who disturbed his resting. Enormous as he was in his true form, he always presented a fairly intimidating sight, but the spirit child trembling next to his clawed feet seemed even tinier than usual.

"What do you want?" he snarled at the brat. His voice clang through the forest like a rumble coming from the depth of the earth.

The whelp (a young tree-ayakashi, judging by his appearance) stiffened. "N-n-nothing… I mean…" He swallowed, then started wringing his hands nervously. "Forgive me for disturbing you, Madara-sama, but my… That is, you are lying on my roots, and I, I'm still growing, s-so… if you could continue your rest a little bit further away, I would be i-immensely grateful!" He was stuttering hard, and he squeaked in such a high-pitched voice that Madara, even with his supreme hearing, had difficulties following along. But he got the gist of it.

He looked at the brat, really looked. The ayakashi couldn't have lived more than a human generation; his skin had not started to sport barks yet, and those large moss-green eyes shone with the innocence of youth. When the child registered the instense look Madara was regarding him with, he shyly dropped his gaze to the ground.

Madara huffed. In the old days, he would have just growled at the boy until he ran away. Maybe he'd have lashed out at him with his fangs bared, just to teach him to treat high-level youkai with respect. As a matter of fact, even biting into the child's backside wouldn't have been past his old self.

Something changed him, though. He wasn't sure what was it, but he knew it started when Natsume Takashi accidentally freed him from imprisonment.

The sapling tree spirit let out a surprised yelp when Madara stood up and took a few steps to the left. His long, shaggy tailed fluttered softly behind him; when he lay down again, he leasurely wrapped it around himself.

"T-thank you! Thank you very much!"

Grinning blindingly, the kid bowed several times in front of the older youkai, then ran back to his tree and sat down with his back against its trunk - at the exact place where Madara's hind legs were resting just a moment ago.

"Madara-sama…"

Madara growled as he lifted his head again (What was it now?! He was not moving again, not for anyone's sake!) - but when he caught sight of the one who spoke this time, his golden eyes narrowed. He pointedly turned away.

"Hey, am I not even worth a greeting?"

"What do you want?"

Hinoe chuckled as she walked up to Madara and - ignoring the warning growls aimed at her - sat down beside him on the grass.

"I'm surprised you didn't bite off the little sapling's head," she said easily, like they'd been chatting for hours.

Madara shifted, resting his head on his crossed front legs.

"It would have been a waste of time," he said. "And I'm not even hungry."

"Right, of course. I'm sure." Hinoe flipped her fan and fixed her sharp gaze on Madara. "And I presume Natsume's coming back any minute now?"

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"Oh, nothing." Hinoe's smile was wide and gleeful. Madara instantly hated it. "Except that he's the one who has made such a softie out of you."

That, he could not - would not - ignore.

He whipped his head up and glared at the youkai, pushing his claws out and showing his teeth. "Impudent woman! Shall I show you just how much of a softie I am?!"

"Now, now, Madara," Hinoe said, waving the threat away with utter ease. "Why do you pretend you don't know it yourself? If that tree spirit saw you playing with Natsume as a fat pet-cat, he would never fear you again in his life. Honestly, he would rather try and befriend you, I'd imagine!" Madara could feel his expression darkening. In response, Hinoe's red lips just curled into an even more maddening smirk. "You can be a real sweetheart when you are with him."

Madara saw red. He was not lying by now; he stood on all fours, snarling viciously, his long tail swishing menacingly behind his body.

How dare she…?!

"Don't look at me like that." Hinoe started neatening up her her, as if Madara wasn't mere seconds away from jumping her. "You know I'm right."

"Don't say a word! The only reason I behave like that at home is because-"

"Because that's the easiest way for you to be by Natsume's side," Hinoe cut in. "You think I don't know? I understand you far better than you do yourself, Madara. And for the love of all gods, do stupp huffing at me. On this rare occasion, I didn't mean to just tease you."

Madara narrowed his eyes. "Then what?"

She shrugged. "You have changed, but that's not a bad thing. Natsume may not have known you before, but if he knew the full extent of your transformation… he'd be proud of you, I think."

Proud? Nonsense. Madara didn't care for such childish, human sentiments. He lived for himself, and for himself alone. Even if he sometimes found it amusing to fool around with the most interesting human he'd ever encountered in his life, allowing himself to forget about his grace and superiority for a little while, it was his own decision. It wasn't like he forgot altogether who and what he was.

The sight of Hinoe's oh-so-knowing smirk urged Madara to dig his claws into the ground and growl again, but then a voice cut into the air - a voice Madara could have picked out from a thousand other any time.

"Sensei!"

Madara turned his head, just in time to see Natsume walking down the hillside with careful steps. He was smiling as he waived at him. He held the Book in his hands.

Damnation. His priorities weren't quite right: he should have checked on the Book first and only then on Natsume.

"Hinoe," the boy said in greeting as he reached them. "What are you doing here?"

"Me? Absolutely nothing. In fact, I'm already on my way. Have a nice trip home!"

She had the nerves to wink at Madara before disappearing.

He was so going to poison her sake the next time he saw her.

Natsume frowned, then turned to Madara. "Is everything alright, sensei? Did something happen?"

The ayakashi decided that the foolish woman wasn't worth any more of his thoughts. "What on earth could have happened? I'm more interested in hearing whether you have managed to meddle with my Book again!"

"I gave her name back, yes." Natsume's slender fingers run accross the spine of the book, soft and gentle. "She was grateful."

"You are horrible," Madara grumbled as he bent his legs so that the boy could climb onto his back. Natsume's insignificant weight on top of him was warm and familiar. Madara didn't want to think too much about why that was. "By the time I finally get my hands on the Book of Friends, there will be nothing left in it for me. Next time, I'm really going to let an ayakashi eat you!"

He wouldn't admit it for anything in the world, but when Natsume just laughed at his threat, Madara was shocked to his core.

Did his crude words really hold no credibility at all? Did this human truly feel safe by his side?

Madara always claimed that those who believed him to be harboring any kind of affection for the human boy were deeply mistaken… but when Natsume wrapped his arms around Madara's large neck, a nice, heady feeling blossomed inside his chest, hot and buzzing, as if he'd just taken a sip from the world's finest sake. His eyes drifted closed, and he gave himself a moment to let the strange but comfortable feeling sink in.

"Let's go home, sensei."