Spring came with the fall of sakura petals. With the fresh air of flowers birthing and blossoming, the season often gave a sense of beginning.

"So why am I in this death trap with a dead-looking tree?" A boy with short golden-brown hair and eyes murmured as he stared at the weeping cherry tree, which stood alone amongst the darkness. He had just been dozing off moments ago during the long class introduction that repeatedly haunted the first day of all school years to wake up in a world of emptiness.

"That's mean considering how I live here."

He glanced up to see something he didn't see before, a man with crimson eyes and black and white hair that loomed outwards from the back of his head. The youkai had a calm, confident demeanor as he wore a blue cloak over his black kimono zori and sat on the sturdy branches among the peacefully falling pink petals.

"A youkai?"

"What else?"

"Don't know." Natsume Takashi admitted as he sat amidst the darkness. There were many things that he could see in his dreams. Memories, youkai, pure darkness, real human dreams, etc. It was a power of his that he many times didn't want. "I'm Natsume Takashi. You?"

The man paused for a moment before staring up at what would be the sky if it weren't so pure black, "Nura Rikuo. His youkai side, that is. Since we're like two different people, you can call me Yoru."

"Night..." Natsume translated before smiling, "Classic. Does he know you?"

"You're the first person I ever met."

"Sou."

"You're not surprised or anything." Yoru commented as he took note of the boy's relaxed state. Not once was the boy surprised to be within the vicinity of a youkai or that there were hybrids of human-youkai. Though Yoru appreciated the act, it was quite surprising for a human to accept everything in stride.

"No. I'm not surprised." The boy agreed. "It happens. Say, can you promise me something?"

"Sure. A gift to the first to see me."

Natsume sweat-dropped at the youkai's quite arrogant gait before stating, "Don't tell anyone about me. I don't like people talking behind my back."

The youkai glanced down to examine the boy before smirking, "Sure, why not, shy boy."

"...Natsume... Natsume Takashi!"

"Ittai." The world blurred for a second as the child woke up and took in his surroundings... jumping at the sight of the teacher holding the rolled book that was probably the culprit that smacked him awake. The class laughed while the teacher scolded,

"Just the first day — no, not even, just the first minute and you're already sleeping. Mou!" She promptly whacked his shoulder, "Well. Go on — hurry and introduce yourself already."

He sighed under the homeroom teacher's heated glare before standing up and politely bowing,

"Natsume Takashi. I like kendo and animals. The Ukiyoe Pet Shop has many pets — ittai."

"No advertisements in my room. Next!"

The class snickered again while Natsume smiled sheepishly as he sat down. Kana noted that the guy was pretty popular among the girls already as she sweatdropped at the many hushed (yet not so hushed) whispers of his mysterious charm and handsome-ness. What were they, fangirls? Kana shivered at the very thought. Fangirls were just as scary as youkai. The boy behind Natsume Takashi stood up to loudly introduce, "I'm Nura Rikuo; I like youkai!"

Natsume turned to see a boy with reverse pudding hair. Energetic unlike the lazy youkai that he met in his dream not so long ago, the boy was the day, the sun rising from the Golden Age of the Nura Clan. Despite the immense potential of power within the boy's darkness, Natsume wondered how long it would be until the boy was branded as a liar. Talking about youkai was at times amusing to other humans... but then it became very weird and fearful. People feared the unknown.

…

"6.9 seconds!"

"Damn! I lost again! Aren't you a little bit too fast lately, Nura!" shouted a black-haired boy as he panted heavily from the run. "How can there be so much difference between me and you, dammit?!"

Nura grinned, "Hehe, that's because my grandpa is The Supreme Commander of Youkai!"

"Youkai?! Does that mean he's powerful?"

"Sure he is! He said so, after all!"

"Really—?"

"13.0 seconds — Natsume! At least try, you lazy brat!"

The kids all turned around to see Natsume calmly jog past the finish line, the yellow rays of sunlight further making his jog seem all the more leisurely. It would have been the perfect scene of relaxation if it weren't for the red-faced teacher scolding the boy, who smiled sheepishly through it all,

"Why?"

"Just do it! This is P.E! Not play time! Now hurry up! You're going to be doing this all over again until you seriously tried your best! No — until you seriously cut down at least half of your time!"

The girls all laughed at the teacher's excessively stern voice before cheering for their school idol of cool, "Ganbatte, Natsume-kun!"

"You can do it~!"

"Kyaaa — he's so cute! To stand up against evil sensei—"

"I'm not evil!"

"Looks so delicately beautiful…" A girl sighed, ignoring the teacher's yell.

Some boys deadpanned at the fans that appeared out of nowhere. Each were unsure of whether to hate Natsume for having all the attention or pity him for getting his first annoying stalkers. Natsume scratched his cheek a bit troubled before walking back to the starting line...

"Hurry up!" The teacher's clipboard made the boy begin jogging a tad bit quicker back and caused even more laughter at his somewhat hurried face. The boy that won second to Nura sweat-dropped,

"As funny as ever without even trying, that Natsume."

The teacher barked, "Start!"

And to all of their amazement, the boy dashed to the starting line with much speed. Wind displaced, sending flying leaves and a small tornado of dirt behind him. Once reaching the finish line, he made an indifferent face and a peace sign of two fingers to the teacher,

"Half, right?"

The teacher stuttered, "6.. p-point 5. P-perfectly half." Before regaining her composure to nag and playfully noogie the boy, "See?! You can do it if you try, you brat! The whole point of these exercises is to..."

No one continued listening as the woman began a full lecture to the boy's chagrin. The girls whispered with awe and excitement; some boys even joining in.

"That was even faster than Nura!"

"Was he even really trying?!"

"That's so cool!"

"Did you see him run? I swear the wind was made for him!" squealed a girl.

Only Kana noticed the smile of the boy break as he heard everything of his fan club. She truly felt sorry for him right away as the guy wasn't the type to like excessive girl attention before turning away and walking towards her childhood friend. Nura's eyes sparkled,

"No way! He's so fast — I'm totally going to beat him one day, Kana!"

"Hai, hai."

…

Fukunaga Rinko sweat-dropped at the large stack of papers, "Do you need help, Takashi?"

"Ah, Rinko. It's alright~"

"Ha..." She nodded at her friend; her red eyes flickering back and forth as the stack unsteadily swayed. But she smiled anyways as she walked by his side to the envy of some human girls she noted to have crushes on her oblivious friend, "So I heard that you were bullying Sato-sensei?" And attracting fangirls.

"Me? Bullying? There's no such thing."

Rinko rolled her eyes, "Uh huh. The poor woman was in tears because of her rebellious student."

"Eh? Really? That's horrible. I should go talk to her then."

The purely confused face said wonders for his ignorance of the influence he had on people with his little actions. Rinko grinned; her friend was like that. Unlike others, she understood that the reason why Takashi slept in class many times was really because of his part time job. The boy lived alone after running away from his last foster family a year ago; the apartment owner (a fellow former runaway) took pity on him and feigned to be his guardian for legal papers.

The reason why he didn't like trying hard in sports was to save energy for kendo and the occasional youkai that he might meet when walking home. The reason why he even did kendo was for the later; the youkai and pretty much trouble in general loved him like addicts.

The reason why he was so quiet was really because he was just that kind of person. He was the silent nice guy that didn't like attracting attention because of his past (something she guiltily researched out of curiosity for her only friend using her family's resources). He disliked attention, too used to the bad kind. Funny enough though, Natsume always attentively watched out for others, helping them whenever they were in trouble whether they asked or not. Like with her and it was because of this that he won their devoted attention.

"Hahaha, do that later. Come on, it's break time; let's eat snacks together~"

"Hai. After I move this though~"

"Dakara, let me help you, Takashi."

"Yadda. I can't bother you with this, Rinko."

Once again, she rolled her eyes because she knew— "And just who bothered you to do this?"

Takashi pulled a troubled look, "They're not bothering me, Rinko. But Kobayashi-sensei, Shiraishi-sensei, and Nana-sensei asked me to help them."

Three teachers. No wonder why the stack was so big. It was a wonder how he didn't drop them all yet. Rinko sighed before smiling as she watched the boy walked down the hall, blind with the mountain before him. As expected of Takashi.

"Your former teachers still ask you to do these things? You might as well get a salary from being an assistant~"

He laughed, cracking into a soft smile, "As long as I'm of help, getting a smile's good enough pay for me."

"Whatever you say~" Just like how the boy unconditionally helped her drive Sunekosuri the cat youkai bully away… Her red eyes gleamed as she remembered, "Ah! I heard that Nura-sama's in your class this year!"

"Oh, the Third? He's not what I expected actually."

"Really? How? What's he like~?! I only saw him afar at the main house." She squealed, "Grandpa Hii told me many stories about the amazing Nurarihyon Commander and Clan~"

"Well…" Natsume pondered, wondering how to begin talking about a boy setting himself up for social suicide in school, "He's..."

…

"…And thus the child-eating, terrifying Youkai were exterminated by the skilled onmyou swordsman. This happened at the local shrine, which is now said to be the Town's Shrine today! The end."

Natsume's eyes hazed as he remembered visiting that shrine before. He really had to watch out for dangerous youkai everywhere. His hands clenched his shinai bag.

"Whoa!" He jumped at the sudden noise amidst the short silence before clapping loudly with the other kids in applause after the youkai tale. "Youkai legends are so scary!"

"They used to come out around here?! I don't like it!"

And many others began chatting as they crowded around the group that did their presentation on local youkai legends. Kiyotsugu grinned haughtily, puffing his chest out in pride as he asked confidently,

"Professor, what grade did we get?"

"Full marks!"

The corner of his lips curled up at the very different treatment. Natsume could have sworn that she gave everyone full marks except for him. Not that he minded, finding it more than amusing as he observed his classmates and teacher.

Shima Jirou, Kiyotsugu's close friend, grinned, "As expected from Kiyotsugu-kun! And me as his friend and partner!"

"Or underling." Natsume mentally noted as the blond always seemed to be under Kiyotsugu as a supporter. Really. It amazed him how elementary school kids like him already established a servant system at such a young age. Or was it the money talking? Though… Shima really wasn't that kind of person that took bribes and chased fanatically after money.

And then it was during his musings in which the incident happened like deja vu.

"W-wait a minute! Wasn't that story just now a little odd?! Youkai are good guys!"

"Eh?"

"Wh... what?" The class gave weird looks to Nura, making his eyes swirl in panic as he added while twirling a finger in circles in the air,

"I-I mean... sure they are really clumsy... But Aotabou is super strong and Yuki Onna's cooking is delicious even if it's always cold. And and…!"

"Huh...? What's this kid going on about?"

"He's always been a little bit weird..."

"What's your problem?! Are you jealous of Kiyotsugu-kun's independent research project?"

"But it's true! I know it 'cause my grandpa is the Supreme Commander of the Youkai!"

"Rikuo-kun!" Kana tried to stop her friend, but Kiyotsugu's voice smothered hers as he sneered, "Oh really? Wouldn't that make your grandfather Nurarihyon then?"

"That's right! You sure know a lot about him! He really is famous!"

"You idiot... The one they call Nurarihyon goes into people's houses, steals their food, and purposely harasses them to cause trouble. He's a real little scoundrel of Youkai. What's wrong with you, talking about him like he's some sort of hero?"

Natsume stifled a chuckle, feeling a bit happy that Rinko wasn't in his class this year. When someone put it that way, it really did make the youkai commander sound like a creep. Rikuo fell quiet as he couldn't dispute with that, not able to remember a time when his grandfather did something different. His clenched fists shook as he tried to defend his family. Natsume stopped in his mirth, recognizing that feeling… that feeling of knowing you're right but being beaten down by everyone as wrong. Kiyotsugu continued, "Haha, but don't worry, everyone! Youkai were just figments of imagination made up by people a long time ago! There's no way they exist nowadays!"

A girl smiled, "Is that right?! Of course, Kiyotsugu-kun would know! It would be really scary if they really existed!"

Another girl sighed in agreement and relief, "That's true..."

Nura shouted, "W-wait! But... but.. in my house..."

"You're so rude, Nura! You're really creeping me out!"

"You are so childish! You should speak with the maturity Kiyotsugu-kun speaks!"

"Youkai... as if they exist..."

"Ne, don't you agree, Natsume-kun?"

Natsume blinked out of his daze of memories from watching the familiar situation, suddenly added in the conversation by his female classmates. He scratched his cheek,

"Well... it would be interesting if youkai existed. A bit thrilling like a real life haunted house. Besides, they say that every myth has its origin so every youkai legend must have their origins as well. There's got to be a reason why there are so many people believe in them."

Kiyotsugu waved his hand, "Those are just old people of the past..."

"Nope! There are many of this generation that believe in them too~ And there are even monks, religious people, exorcists, and spiritual mediums that make money off of paranormal activities. They wouldn't be able to make money if youkai aren't real or didn't have some kind of basis, you know."

Kiyotsugu frowned, "That's true... Wakatta! I'm going to do more research today! Though I still think that they don't exist at all!"

Natsume hummed while the girls behind him whispered, "As expected of Natsume-kun... to be able to derail even Kiyotsugu-kun..."

His seat partner Kana unsteadily asked, "Isn't that good for you, Rikuo — Rikuo-kun?"

She turned around to see that the boy already ran away, dismayed that people hated him. Natsume frowned as he had belatedly noticed as well. He was too late… but perhaps this was for the better. Especially since he was to be the next Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan and embrace the motto of fear… Brown filled his vision and he stood up, catching her as she fell,

"Ienaga-san?!"

The girl finally fainted, having no need to be strong for her friend who already left the room. She murmured dizzily, "So scary… if youkai really existed…"

They sweat-dropped at the easily scared girl. They almost forgot that out of all of them, it would probably be her who wouldn't want youkai to exist the most. Well, if it wasn't for her friend. Natsume sighed as he carefully placed her back onto her chair so that she now slept on her desk. No matter how much stronger he may have gotten physically, carrying a girl to the infirmary was near impossible for him. Best thing he could do was help her become comfortable in her seat while she remained unconscious. Shima grinned teasingly at the brunette,

"Let's have a test of courage this summer! I heard that there were youkai in the old building~!"

While others laughed at the proposal definitely made to mock Kana, Natsume's head whipped towards the blond boy so fast that he could hear a crack,

"So he wasn't as subordinate as I thought. Amazing… he could… he could actually think for himself."

…

"Oi, what's the meaning of this, Takashi?"

Natsume blinked to find himself back into the world where Yoru resided in with said youkai right in front of his face. He quickly scooted backwards,

"Gah! Don't you have any sense of space — you're too close!"

The youkai waved away his worries with a disinterested hand to stare at him intensely, "Never mind that. What's the meaning of this irrational self-hate I feel?"

"Couldn't it just be that Nura-san figured out that humans don't like youkai, Yoru?"

Wine red eyes paused and then furrowed in confusion, "So? We're supposed to instill fear into humans."

"Well…" Natsume wondered for a while how to describe the more trivial affairs of a human to a youkai that has yet to see the world outside of his isolated realm, "Nura-san's mostly human, grew up with humans, is… sensitive to humans. He wants to be with humans and that's hard with his peers thinking of him as a liar or creep. Until now, he thought that youkai were for good and well, that all changed now that he learned the real side of the youkai clan he has to inherit."

"Sou ka. But this is bad. He's rejecting me."

Natsume sat up next to Yoru under the weeping cherry tree; the youkai troubled for once. Okay, not once as the youkai had asked him to train with him before, having nothing else to do when trapped in his own domain. The boy didn't mind that. It was practice for him too since he really did have to learn kendo for the sake of protecting both humans and youkai important to him.

And because youkai still thought he was Reiko in the Yatsuhara Fields and attacked him more often than not on first approach. Natsume sometimes wondered why his grandmother couldn't have been more compassionate to her future descendents.

"Is that a bad thing?"

Yoru contemplated, "Don't know. I... I don't like it though."

On second thought, the brunet wondered what human would like someone rejecting them anyways. Especially your own self. That gotta hurt.

"Hey. It's only temporary. He'll eventually learn the good points about youkai."

"Really? Like what?"

The brunet fell silent… and silent… and silent, Yoru's expectant face dropping from the reticence. And then he grumbled, jabbing the laughing human in the arm. Natsume couldn't help but roar.

"S-sorry — Ahahahaha — it's just — it's just too funny! Ahahaha — Oh, geez — I mean, a — a good thing about youkai? A—"

"Shut up."

"I — c-c—" Natsume coughed, but still laughed. His hand clawing up the air as he held his gut trying to breathe, "can't gahahahaha!"

…

"See you tomorrow, then, Rinko-sama~"

Rinko pouted as she got into the limousine, "Don't call me that!"

Natsume just grinned as he watched the limo drive away. Grandpa Hii, the giant white snake in the fountain, was a famous land deity that gave good fortune to his blood — her family of merchants. Or at least good fortune in money. Natsume could still remember the day when he became friends with the 'quiet', rich girl in class. Rinko changed so much since then…

He slowly got into the bus, pausing mid step up the stairs at the sight of Kana talking to Nura; Nura not getting on for once. Then, it was a slow ride as he listened to them talk about youkai. Kiyotsugu pointed to him and shouted,

"Ah! Natsume-kun! In my research, I found out that youkai really don't exist—"

Natsume arched a brow at the sight of a youkai with a scythe just behind him when he said that. The many coincidences of life...

"Down! Everyone get down!"

They all reflexively listened to the panic in his usually calm voice; many screamed when the bus swerved as many heavy boulders smashed the end of the bus. The boy sighed in relief, having pushed two girls out of the way of an especially sharp boulder that punctured a hole through the dense metal. The bulky, jagged rock let in dust and little waterfalls of dirt. As Natsume examined closely, he noted the boulder to be cut, man-made, or rather in this case, youkai-made. His eyes narrowed before he called out,

"Is everyone alright?!"

The kids groaned, but all answered. They slowly got up to see pitch darkness and with a flash of Natsume's cellphone (given to him by a nagging Rinko for communication), they all saw the boulders and the strain of the bus's roof. Natsume groaned at the thoroughness of murderers before shouting to all of them,

"This is bad! We have to get out or we'll be smashed! The roof's about to collapse!"

On second thought, that was probably the worse thing to say as screams echoed in the enclosed tunnel and the stomping thuds of running children only hastened the death of the yellow bus. Luckily, the children were faster than the falling roof. Wide innocent eyes stared at the large rocks and yellow sheet of metal that replaced them in their seats. Only Kiyotsugu looked away, only to see a now even greater worry.

"This is bad! We all have to get out or we'll suffocate! We're trapped!"

All noticed that the tunnel had collapsed on both ends with horror. The brunet frowning as they all ran outside and tried futilely to move the boulders. He called out,

"Kiyotsugu! Call the police! Tell them to bring ambulances too!"

The boy nodded, not commenting on the absence of the adult bus driver in the clearing as well as he tapped on his keypad quickly, "Got it! Does anyone have a flashlight — watch your step so you don't trip! And take small breaths — we all have to conserve the air! And don't panic! We'll all definitely be saved!"

Which considerably silenced and calmed the crowds. Natsume sighed in relief. He had to give the guy that. Kiyotsugu definitely knew how to assemble people well given the circumstances. Unfortunately… that still didn't help them under these circumstances. He lightly whacked himself in the head to try thinking again, try remembering what kind of youkai in Ukiyoe would do this...

"No wings… no elements… no urban legends… urban legends… Kiyotsugu's project…—!" Golden brown eyes widened in realization, "It must be one of those child-killing youkai they were talking about earlier!"

He quickly opened his shinai bag and pulled out his bokuto (letting the shinai stay inside); the wooden sword was the shape of a katana, delicately curved. Little runes faintly glowed a wispy blue when the katana seemingly breathed in the heavily fear-tainted air. Shima noticed his movements, jerking back at the sight of the sword.

"What the hell, dude?! Why are you taking out your bokken?!"

"Just in case," Natsume replied nonchalantly as he scanned the area discreetly. Though Gagoze was just the spirit of a lazy temple worker who now kills children, it never hurt to be careful. If fists didn't work, then sword was the way to go.

Some kids gave him an odd look, but ignored him in favor for their stomachs and the dust particles heavily cloaking the air. They spent a few minutes searching the place in futile hopes for a secret way out before sitting down together. A kid with asthma and some others laid on the ground, moaning about their pain. Natsume sighed, wondering when the hell something was going to happen. Fear was practically dripping from the sky out of heavy concentration, but there had yet to be a sign of the youkai perpetrator.

"Did you really call the police, Kiyotsugu-san?"

Kiyotsugu groaned pitifully from his sprawled position, "I did. Why aren't they here yet? Even my chauffeur's faster than—"

"Kyaa!"

They all jumped at the girlish scream, snapping into defensive poses… but seeing nothing. They relaxed a bit… Kiyotsugu chuckled faintly at what must be a joke, "I-Ienaga-chan? Please don't just randomly scream. T-that's not f-funny—"

"I'm not joking!" The girl whispered, loudly and vehemently, yet still somehow at the volume level of a whisper, "T-there's r-really some p-people over t-there..."

"People?"

They all glanced at her finger… before realizing that she was pointing behind them. With a hard gulp, they all followed her pale gaze to see the youkai. There must have been dozens of them lined up with rusty weapons, cruel smirks, and dusty bandages mummifying their bodies. Their tattered cloaks shifted with a ghostly fashion, making the tattoo-like patterns of their hoods shiver. They stood in the darkness, blending in with the shadows of trapped hell. Rapid thumps echoed in their ears; panic creeping up within the children's frames. They helplessly tried making sense of the situation, tried ignoring their bad feelings, tried acting brave and casual about the abnormals…

"D-don't they look a little... strange...?"

"W-were they there b-before?"

"T-they're floating!"

"They're not! T-they got to be… I know, actors! They must have strings or something — or something…"

Whimpers escaped them as they couldn't think of anything but that. One kid remembered the classroom conversation and desperately turned to the two smartest and 'calmest' of the class. Tears already protruded from his big eyes as he asked,

"K-kiyotsugu-kun… N-natsume-kun… what are they…?"

There was no answer as both boys exchanged looks, offering quite weakly, "Uh… beats me." They both knew what they were, but didn't want to admit it. One out of fear and stubborn pride while the other out of unwillingness. One of the youkai loudly growled,

"Tch. There are so many still alive…"

Kiyotsugu yelped at the implications, now knowing his hypothesis to be right — well, his new hypothesis that youkai existed. He scrambled away, unconsciously shouting, "Wh-who are you?!" while Natsume muttered, "All your targets are still alive actually."

The leader with sharp teeth ignored them to count, "Looks like the tunnel didn't collapse completely… Oh well, I suppose we'll just have to… slaughter everyone~ Children… A whole group of them… hehe… hehehe… heh~" His mangy hair threw back as he laughed, shouting, "Kill them!"

Finally, just as the youkai charged, Kiyotsugu yelled in fear, admitting his wrong while praying to whatever God there was to help them, "Youkai!"

Everyone started moving in panic and fear. The children scrambled off of their butts to the furthest wall away. The youkai glided towards them with coppery gleams of their weapons. Only Natsume stood amidst the center as the sole constant among the flow of fear. He knew enough to understand the concept of youkai. If only the fear of children fueled them — if they really needed to gather fear everyday — then… they really weren't that strong.

"Ichi!"

He shouted, smacking his bokuto into a youkai and sending him crashing into the mob behind him. A smirk lit up his face at the satisfyingly loud thwack. The runes shimmered down in their incandescent blue from the loss of contact. What inefficient mobs… He shook his head at the thought that such a youkai thought himself strong off of harming the harmless. Those truly strong were not those who preyed on the weak.

His sharp eyes caught another one sneaking past the line he made of the ground and about to slash down a trio of kids. Without lifting his feet off the ground, he backstepped deftly and silently. His body was besides the large youkai and arms lifted to thrust upwards. Despite jumping not really in kendo, he made the exception for reality and leaped up to break the youkai's wrists,

"Ni!"

The youkai howled in agony as the scythe dropped from his overhead pose and swung down, slicing his head in a circular twirl. He batted the scythe away before it could twirl again to cut their own heads off. Kana, Shima, and Kiyotsugu stared up at him in awe, now seeing the kendo side of their classmate,

"Natsume-kun..." The youkai mob however were not amused by a human child that already defeated half of their gang in few but efficient moves. They snarled, misty steam coming from their mouths,

"Insolent brat...!"

"Weakling~" He answered playfully before ending his fun to grab the three's hands and move them further away. He didn't have his grandmother's spiritual power for nothing — and even if he didn't, anyone could have figured when a parade of youkai were coming imminently closer. He just wished— "Shit! That idiot—"

"Idiot? Na—" The kids asked in confusion, but the loud following crash drowned out all sound. Rocks flew everywhere as the Hyakki Yakou destroyed the boulder blockage with an explosive entrance and descended.

He just wished that Yoru would have used his brain and thought of the people inside the tunnel. One mistake and the flying boulders could have hit them. Or even cause the rocks on their side of the tunnel to collapse and kill them.

Natsume sighed as what was done was done. He still pointedly stared up at Yoru who dramatically looking down with the full visage of the moon behind him. His baritone voice musing,

"...Gagoze. What are you doing here?"

Natsume couldn't help but mutter about Yoru's love for drama… Honestly, those red eyes said it all that he knew why Gagoze was there.

He shook his head, sheathing his bokuto back into the kendo bag. Yoru could take care of his own affairs. And Natsume really didn't mind having the spotlight stolen. He wasn't meant to be in it — didn't even like to be in it — anyways. He gazed around to see the others' reactions. The children stared at the parade, some even screaming like Kana at the new scary monsters amongst the dark night sky that darkened with more fear. While many of the boys shouted disbelievingly like Shima at what should have just been storybook monsters — figments of nonexistent imagination. Kiyotsugu cried out as well,

"There must be some mistake! This can't… There's no way… Youkai can't…"

Yoru eyed him before gazing down at the others, stopping the youkai from comforting — but really scaring — the humans.

"I'm glad you're all safe. Kana-chan, you should close your eyes. This is scary."

Instead, Kana's eyes widened from hearing the warmth in his voice, "Who is that?"

Natsume arched a brow. The better question would be how the stalker knew her name. But he chose to silently watch as the entire show carried out with Yoru finally killing the pathetic youkai.

"I will take on the position of the Third! I'll never forgive anyone who is an enemy of humans! Tell the youkai of the world — I'm going to become the lord of all evil spirits! Every single youkai will join the Hyakki Yakou at my back to prowl the night!"

…

"Takashi!"

"Oof." He grunted as he nearly dropped the kibble bag from the impact of the one-eighth-snake girl's impact, "Rinko, I'm working right now."

"Never mind that!" She hurriedly checked him over, "I heard the news — that stupid Gagoze — the entire Nura Clan in uproar — we also had a feast but I left — I was just so worried about you — why didn't you call me — I thought you were dead, baka—"

"Rinko."

She stopped to stare up at him with teary red eyes. Natsume sweatdropped at the stares of the pet store customers and manager as he simply stated, nudging her with a shoulder with arms still holding the bulky bag.

"I'm fine."

"..." She stared and stared before finally letting go of his shirt and asking, "You are?"

"Wouldn't be here otherwise if I weren't."

"...oh. Okay. But I'm still helping you out today!" Before he could protest, she ran to the back room, yelling,

"Tiana-san! I'm helping you today!"

Tiana, the store manager, merely grinned at the sight of her cute worker's face as she called back her confirmation, "Fine with me, Rinko-chan~!" She added cheerfully, "I'll pay extra for both of you — my treat for your safe well being after that horrible tunnel collapse~!"

"Ti—"

"Dame yo, Takashi-kun. You can't change a girl's, much less a woman's, mind."

All the customers laughed at his conflicted face, making him blush before turning away to feed the store puppies their daily meal. He only hoped the next day of school would set things back to normal.

…

To his relief, it did with just the more than occasional chatter about the tunnel. Kiyotsugu himself was bantering on about how youkai was real and how he was researching all about them again. Natsume himself was praised about kendo, which turned him red more often than not.

Though… what amazed him the most was Nura and his change from prankster to gopher — ahem, nice guy. Though even Natsume didn't go buying everyone treats and lunches, making deliveries to kids willing to take advantage.

After observing the class for a while, he turned to the window side of his desk and dozed off once again under the light…

…

"What's the meaning of this, Takashi?"

Natsume groaned as he prepared himself to push away the youkai from his face… only to collapse on the ground with the youkai sitting on his back,

"What is it this time? And get off of me."

Once again, the youkai ignored him to ask with great confusion, "I made a compromise too! Yet he still won't accept me! Why?"

"Oh please. There are so many things wrong with that compromise, Yoru. Youkai are the enemy of humans. Wasn't the motto of the Nura Clan that youkai exist to bring fear to humans? You're being contradictory. Second, I don't think Nura-san even remembers last night. He was confused when that karasu tengu mentioned it to him. Third… he's too human to accept you. Fourth, get off of me."

Yoru sighed heartfully, "Humans are so troublesome. He should just accept me already — I'm a fourth of him! What's wrong with being the Third?! Ne, ne, you got to help me, Takashi. I can't take this anymore. This is ridiculous!"

"Hai, hai. Deep breath in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Now get off of me."

The youkai pouted, glaring at him accusingly, "You don't care about me!" but got off anyways with a frown, "This is really bad though. Why can't he remember me? We're the same person. We share the same memories."

Natsume sat up before contemplating the words a Buddhist monk once told him, "Humans naturally avert their eyes from bad memories, things they don't want to see or know. Ignorance is bliss. Which was probably why he didn't know that youkai cause trouble for humans until a few days ago when he had lived with them for years. Likewise, he's unconsciously staying ignorant of you."

"How rude and weak of my Day self." Yoru sniffed at his poor fate.

"Hmm... I wonder.. I understand him as a human, but I have to agree with you. Averting, running, avoiding, those kind of things never do anything to get rid of the problem."

Yoru eyed the only person he knew. Last night, he just helped out his Day self, not really talking to the other youkai. Really, the only person he ever met and truly conversed with was this odd human with weird powers. And strong spiritual powers as well.

"Are youkai really that bad, Takashi?"

The youkai wondered as something compelled him to extend his arm to cover the small boy's neck with a large hand. Though they were the same age, he was a tall adult while the boy was small (and feminine though he would never tell the boy who had a major complex about that) even for an eight year old. If he behaved like Gagoze, then he could easily snap the kid's head off. It would be so easy to kill the boy. Youkai killed many — terrorized many all the time and one kid wouldn't make a difference. The boy cooly returned his gaze,

"They are." His grip tightened unconsciously. "But humans are too." And loosened with confusion. "Times are changing; did you know that? Humans are losing the power to see — many of them already are. Only in fear-covered places like these can humans all see youkai. Out there, they can't. I… I was born with a lot of spiritual power. I could never tell the difference between youkai and human. Not unless their physical appearances differ by a lot or I get clues from our surroundings. I was called a liar. Many hated me. Many beated me. I feared both humans and youkai. Youkai are bad, Yoru, but humans are as well. We both have the capability to do bad or good which is why I learned to not care about that. All I really care about is that… that I want to try to be a good person. Which is why even if I fear both, I want to help both."

Yoru wasn't sure if both referred to 'human and youkai' or 'good and bad', but he was sure that it didn't matter. The brat answered his question and his worry. And it was enough. He let go of the kid's throat; the kid frowned as he rubbed it,

"I think that was unnecessary violence, Yoru. Why'd you do it anyways?"

Yoru smirked, "Well, too bad. I'm not telling you." And he paused thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, let's do some more unnecessary violence. Last night's fight was too short."

Two wooden swords materialized, making Natsume groan as the youkai most likely wanted to spar together again.

"You're too bored here."

"Tell that to my human side."

A/N: Yes. It's a let's-butcher-up-Natsume-Takashi-as-a-character-fi c. I honestly think that he was too OOC but whatever. I was going to add Madara when he turns 12 and Yatsuhara Field as side stories. I'm really got to stop writing with all the work I have though. Just had to release this plot bunny though. Complete until I feel like writing beyond Nurarihyon Chapter One (which won't be for a loooong time). Up for adoption to anyone who wants to continue.

First Published September 22 2013

Edited April 22 2014