Please keep in mind that English is not my native language, I did my best to translate this. Thanks to Ersatz Writer for being my beta!

Natsume looked out from the window of his classroom. He observed, with relative calm, a youkai who was outside beneath a tree, waiting for him. It didn't look friendly. Perhaps he could escape from one of the back doors...

"Natsume?" he heard a familiar voice sound from behind him.

"Ah! Tanuma!" he said, a little nervously. He hadn't expected to meet anyone, much less someone so important to him when there was a youkai haunting him. "What are you doing here?"

"It was my turn to clean the classroom today. I was about to go home when I saw you. Is something wrong?" He looked through the same window and glimpsed a shadow on the ground.

"What does it look like?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"Its appearance..."

Tanuma knew, just by looking at Natsume's face, that he didn't want to answer him. Natsume didn't like it when people got involved in his problems because they could get hurt, but Tanuma didn't care about that. Actually, he wanted to be the one who protected Natsume from the youkais, even when he knew that his power wasn't strong enough for it. Tanuma wanted to be as helpful as possible.

"It's big, with many eyes." Natsume answered without going into details. It was really a scary youkai. He didn't want Tanuma to see it, much less to imagine it.

"I see... Have you thought about how we could get out?"

"Don't worry. The youkai is after me. It won't hurt you if it doesn't see you." He smiled. "You go first, I'll go after you."

"Natsume, do you really think I'm going to leave you here alone?" Tanuma questioned with a frown, and felt upset because the blond was avoiding his help. "I know I can't see them, and that my spiritual power is poor, and that it will probably never be half as strong as yours or Natori's..." He looked down and clenched his fists, feeling incompetent.. "I know I'm useless and sometimes a nuisance," he now looked into Natsume's eyes, "but I want to protect you too! At least let me try." He finished, trembling a little nervously.

He had been wanting to talk about that with Natsume for a while now, but he was always sleepy, tired or spending time with his friends. The brunette didn't want to bother him with silly thoughts. However, now that they were completely alone at school, he couldn't help but say everything at once. (You could say 'he couldn't help but blurt everything out', which might be a better way of phrasing it)

"Tanuma..." Natsume didn't know what to say. His friend's words made him realise that, by trying to make Tanuma safe, he was only shoving him away, and it felt even worse to know that he made him feel bad. "No! You aren't useless! You're not a nuisance either! It's just... this is my problem! It would be wrong to get you involved in this... You're one of the most important people in my life. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me."

He looked at the floor and hid his eyes, ashamed of what he had said, but hoping it would be enough for Tanuma.

"I'm important to you..." the brunette muttered with a relieved smile. Then he took Natsume's hands and looked at him with a serious face. "You are also very important to me, that's why I ask you to trust me... Natsume? Issomething wrong?" He asked, when he realized that the blond was staring him with red cheeks.

Natsume was surprised at the contact, but he did not move back. It was Tanuma after all: the only person allowed to sit next to him at lunch; the only one allowed to touch his shoulders if he wanted to rest, or just to lean on him, and he was also the one who, at that moment, was grabbing his hands so strongly, it was like he didn't want to let him go. Now, one of the hand pulled away, but went to rest on his right cheek. Then, he felt Tanuma's lips on his.

Natsume's eyes opened wide. He instinctively wanted to push Tanuma aside, but managed to restrain himself because of a weird sensation on his mouth. He could feel the warmth of Tanuma's lips better by closing his eyes.

The blond thought it was wrong. It didn't matter how much he wished for that kiss, he knew that Tanuma shouldn't be at his side. If the youkais knew about him, they could used him to get to the Book of Friends through blackmail. What terrified Natsume the most was to think that they could hurt Tanuma, but the brunette didn't plan to give up on him.

What at first was an innocent kiss of support soon became a kiss of passion and desire, not carnal but emotional. It was a kiss that wanted to break the barriers imposed by the disappointments and fears in Natsume's heart; a kiss to let him know that everything would be fine no matter what may happen in the future, because Tanuma will always be there for him, and... then, it suddenly ended.

Something hit Tanuma's shoulder and made him fall to the floor, making Natsume fall with him because they were still holding hands.

"Nyanko-sensei!" Natsume said, annoyed, realising it was his guardian who had been the one who interrupted them.

"Ponta..." Tanume muttered, relieved it was the cat and not some other spirit.

"Can you tell me what the hell is going on here?!" The cat shouted, irritated "Natsume! I was worriend about the Book of Friend because you didn't come home! So I came to get you at school - I even got rid of a yokai - and then I find that you allowing Tanuma to eat you!"

"Eat me?" It took him a few seconds to understand what the cat meant. "Tanuma wasn't eating me! That was...a...a kiss." He murmured with his face completely red and looking away. The brunet did the same.

"A kiss?" Madara repeated, a bit confused. "Oh! You mean that act when two human join in the mouth because they like each other. Uff, I see. You two were so wild that I thought you were trying to eat each other. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding." He said, as he started to walk out of the room, allowing the other two to die of shame after hearing his words. "By the way, Tanuma."

"Y-yes?"

"You should level up that weak spiritual power of yours. I don't want to have to take care of you too."

"Understood!" Tanuma answered, as though he were facing a General.

After Madara left, Tanuma helped Natsume up.

"Natsume, what is the Book of Friends?

"Ah, that's..." Natsume remembered what he had felt during the kiss, he felt so safe. "Tanuma, do you want to come over to my house for dinner?"

The brunette smiled and nodded.

"Of course. Let's get going," he said, and offered a hand to walk together. Natsume gladly accepted.