Notes:

Whoa! This became a monster of a fic! (When you wanted to make something special for someone bc they were getting their gift late, but you made your gift super late v.v ).

These were the prompts:
1. Found family, just Natsume being happy with the Fujiwara couple.
2. Natsume and his grandmother in kimono/yukata
3. Natsume interacting with his human/ayakashi friends

And I tried my damnedest to fill each one. Full disclaimer, I couldn't squeeze in an instance with Natsume and his grandma wearing a kimono/yukata and I apologize for that v.v

Enjoy!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1:

Natsume wasn't quite sure how to describe the youkai in front of him. Its constantly morphing face with eyes veiled by a mask connected to a nearly transparent body, even to Natsume's trained eyes… existing, but only just barely.

"M̶͜͡y̧͢҉ ͜͝n͢a̴͟͝͠m͡҉̛e̷.̶̡ ̷͘͢͟R͠͞͠ȩ̴̨͞t̴̢͘҉͟u̸̷̢͝r̵̛̛͘͝n̸͝͞ ̵͏̴i̴͟͡͠t͏̨̧͘.̷̷̢̛ "

Natsume's tilted his head in confusion, barely able to make out the youkai's request.

There was a puff of cool air on his cheek when Nyanko sighed from his shoulder. "You know, I don't even know how Reiko got this one's name." When the cat shook his head, his ear tickled the side of Natsume's face.

Golden eyes widened in understanding before Natsume was pulling the Book of Friends out of his bag, much to Nyanko's chagrin.

He opened the Book, focusing on the youkai's constantly changing face and hoping the Book would recognize who he was searching for despite the lack of a fixed image. "You who would protect me, reveal your name." The familiar phrase tumbled from his lips before the Book opened, flipping to the correct page where it stood at attention.

He ripped the erect page from the spine neatly before gently biting the page, trapping it with his teeth, closing his eyes then exhaling.

The name Daido consumed his mind and he found himself bearing witness to one of the youkai's memories. It was almost completely without sound, the noises cutting in and out at random intervals.

As expected, he found his grandmother's face awaiting him. Her smile was gentle if a little sad.

Her mouth moved silently, but the way she spoke was so emphatic it was almost like he could hear her voice. 'I'm glad I met you, Takashi.'

Alarm bells sounded in Natsume's head before the memory abruptly ended.

"T̵͡ha͞ņ̴͞k yo̶͏u̵̸.̢̛͟ ," With that, Daido began to fade from existence and Natsume thoughtlessly reached to stop him.

"Wait!"

The youkai was nearly completely transparent when Natsume's fingers brushed its skin.

His stomach instantly dropped, an inescapable feeling of dread filled him to the brim and the only sound he could hear was the blood rushing to his ears while the earth felt like it was sucked from under his feet. For a sickening moment Natsume wondered if this was how his story was to end. The foolish boy who chased after spirits gone on the last journey.

It felt like a short eternity before the air was knocked out of him, the crunching dead leaves a welcome sound as he landed on the forest floor.

It took him a moment to realize that he was alive and whole. His eyes distantly registered the sight of Daido lumbering away.

By the time he managed to convince his nearly gelatinous legs to keep him upright, the youkai was long gone.

"Damn." Natsume instinctively checked for the Book of Friends, his thoughts constantly switching between lamenting over the missed opportunity to learn about his grandmother and chastising himself for his carelessness. His heart plummeted when he couldn't find it nearby.

He walked in tight circles, shuffling his feet and kicking the leaves hoping the Book would be revealed underneath, his mind tried to recall if Daido had been holding it when the youkai had departed.

He'd turned over his third pile before he thought to ask, "Did you see where it went, Sensei?"

Natsume paused in his search when he failed to hear a reply. His head swiveled back and forth when he realized the Book wasn't the only thing missing, "Sensei?"

His stomach twisted anxiously in his gut, panic mounting faster than it had at the thought of losing the Book.

"Sensei!" He jogged to the edge of the clearing he was in, scared to stray too far from his original spot in case his guardian went looking for him. "Nyanko-sensei!"

The only reply was his own voice echoing back from the distant trees.

He sent one last worried look over his shoulder at the clearing before he ventured into the forest. The Book could wait. He knew better than anyone what lurked in the woods. Without his guardian or the Book, Natsume was a sitting duck.

His best, and safest, course of action would be to return to the Fujiwaras and hope that Nyanko returned soon, hopefully with the Book. He passed a few spirits on his way home, none of them any bigger than a bird.

They skittered away from him when he jogged past, much to his relief.

His ears perked up at the sound of children's voices and he hurried towards them.

When he broke out of the tree line, he discovered a group of six kids playing shadow tag in the space between where the woods began, and civilization ended. He was glad that none of them paid him any mind. Not that it would have mattered too much, since none of them appeared to be familiar faces.

He walked to the sidewalk with a more sedated pace so as not to draw attention to himself, it would look weird if someone his age was seen running out of the woods, right?

His pace from the sidewalk to the house was as close to a jog one could get without actually jogging, and he was surprised no one sent him any looks for his odd behavior.

He felt a wave of renewed energy wash through him when he spied the Fujiwaras' roof. He wasn't too flustered to miss how clean the nameplate was on the wall of their front lawn. He chalked it up to some service cleaning it when his brain supplied the helpful information that everyone's plaque had looked spiffier than usual.

His sense of urgency dimmed a bit now that he was home and he slowed to an actual walk before going through the gate. When he reached the door, a tug revealed he was locked out.

"Touko-san!" he rapped his knuckles on the door, remembering that Touko had made mention of cooking a special dinner for both he and Shigeru that night. She liked to stick close to ensure nothing boiled over or burned. She'd never admit it, but Touko took great pride in her cooking skills, lighting up when she received compliments or requests for specific recipes.

The footsteps he heard approaching the door were much faster than he'd been prepared for. The sound of the lock disengaging was followed by the door sliding open a crack to reveal a dark-haired child. One he'd witnessed from the memory of the youkai that had haunted the Fujiwara residence.

"Shigeru-san?" Natsume heard himself ask with no response.

The boy scanned the front lawn nervously when he didn't immediately see anyone at the door. "Hello?"

Natsume was frozen in place, helplessly watching a much younger version of the man he'd come to think of as a second father step back into the house and warily shut the door.

His hands tangled into his blond hair, knees giving out from under him, making him collapse against the wall and slide to the ground.

He didn't realize his eyes were so wide until they began to sting from the dryness.

It was impossible.

There was no feasible way this was possible… and yet, here he was.

Transported back in time.

It had taken Natsume longer than he'd ever admit to recover after realizing his predicament. It was only after he was able to think past the panic that he realized why he was panicking so much. In the past, he'd had to deal with his problems alone many times, even without the familiarity of home before. But now, he knew what it was like to have support, and without it he felt the loss deeply, making this current crisis incredibly challenging.

He had no idea when he'd developed such a codependency on his friends and family, both human and spirit, but it was clear to him now how much he valued their presence in times of distress. He wondered if it was a blessing, or a curse.

While Natsume was stumbling out of the Fujiwaras' gate, he formed a loose strategy to find his way back home: Find Daido and ask him to send Natsume back home.

He didn't know how he was going to find the spirit, especially without Nyanko's help, but he knew he'd have to somehow manage it.

Just like before he'd moved in with the Fujiwaras.

He'd only been searching the woods for an hour or two before his mind came up with the reason why none of the humans interacted with him. It was likely only his spirit was transported back. He hoped that was the case, because it would soothe the anxiety he had about the Book of Friends and Nyanko's location.

Knowing he was essentially only his spirit made it much easier to talk to the youkai. Well, the ones willing to talk to him. Many of them ran away at the sight of him.

Even tearing a strip of fabric from his t-shirt (which was much harder than he'd first thought it would be, likely because it was part of his essence) and using it as a mask did nothing to soothe whatever fears the other youkai had.

It was late afternoon when he began to lose hope of returning to his own time before nightfall. His first thought was to go home, but when he evaluated how much energy he had left, he found he wasn't drowsy in the slightest. It was his own mind suggesting it was close to bed time with the setting sun, his body was fully prepared to go without sleep.

He wondered if this was how most spirits felt.

"Hey! You there!"

Natsume froze at the familiar voice. One he'd heard in several youkais' memories upon the return of their name.

When he chanced a glance back, he found Reiko standing in her school uniform, a branch resting on her shoulder.

He wasn't sure what sort of paradox it would create if she were to talk to him, and he didn't want to find out.

He broke out into a sprint, regretting not watching more space and sci-fi movies on the topic of time travel.

He should have known better.

Running through the forest was a bad idea for anyone, especially for someone accident-prone like him. That fact was driven home by an exposed tree root hidden in a layer of dead leaves.

Natsume discovered that even as a spirit he could still feel pain when he crashed to the forest floor, his "mask" landing softly in front of him a moment later.

He twisted around at the sound of crunching leaves and locked eyes with his grandmother.

Her eyes, nearly identical to his, grew comically wide in surprise. "What the-"

Natsume spared no time scrambling to stand up and continue fleeing, but only made it a few steps before his breath was stolen from a heavy bag slamming into his back. He doubled over into a coughing fit, his back throbbing for a time even after he recovered.

He looked up at the sound of Reiko clearing her throat to find her brandishing the tree branch she held threateningly, the wood slapping into her open palm hard enough to make Natsume fear for his life. "Are you going to try running again? Or are you going to talk to me?"

Natsume looked around nervously. His mouth opening and closing soundlessly while he mustered up the courage to speak his first words to his grandmother.

He took a breath and hoped he wouldn't make himself disappear, "Hello?"

One of Reiko's eyebrows raised skeptically. "A bit late for that, don't you think?"

"I don't… know what to say?"

"That much is obvious. How 'bout I start?" Without waiting for Natsume to agree, she launched into a series of questions. "Who are you? Where're you from? Why are you scaring off all the spirits?"

Natsume debated lying to his grandmother, but now that it was unlikely he was going to cease to exist by him talking to her, he wanted nothing more than to finally get to know the woman he looked so much like.

He swallowed thickly and mustered up the courage to speak under Reiko's watchful gaze. "Natsume Takashi." He introduced. "I was transported back in time by a youkai named Daido. I'm trying-"

"How far back?" Reiko interrupted.

"I… does that matter?"

She looked more solemn than he'd ever remembered seeing her. "It does to me."

"Why?"

Reiko rolled her eyes. "While Natsume is a common family name, I'll admit, there aren't too many with these eyes. You're related to me somehow." She concluded, her head tilted to one side. "Are you… my son?" she guessed.

"Grandson." Natsume corrected gently and Reiko stumbled back a step.

"I'm a grandma?" She seemed frozen in place by the idea. Natsume could see hundreds of questions burning in her mind. He wondered if she'd ask about who she'd marry, what life was like for her and dreaded having no answers to give.

"Tell me, grandson," She began quietly, "Am I a good grandma?"

It was Natsume's turn to freeze, unsure how to answer.

Reiko nodded gravely. "I see." There was a long, awkward pause between them before Reiko continued, "Did you… are you happy? Even with these?" She gestured to their eyes.

Natsume smiled at the fond memories that flitted through his mind about all the friends he'd made thanks to his eyes. "Yeah."

Reiko breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." Her smile morphed into a smirk and she slung her free arm over Natsume's shoulder. "Alright, grandson of mine, let's get you back home."

Having Reiko at his side was far more comforting than Natsume could have imagined, even if she refused to call him by name and only referred to him as 'grandson'. She had a warm aura about her that he couldn't get enough of. He wondered if it were his own feelings towards her causing that, or if she was simply that sort of person.

The youkai, while afraid of Natsume, were much more willing to talk to Reiko than him. Through them, Natsume was able to discover that Daido was an odd spirit. Drifting between time aimlessly and at his whim. Natsume wondered what sort of life the youkai might have lived.

"Why don't you use the Book of Friends to ask for help?" Natsume pondered just before the sun fully set, the moon was already visible between the tops of the trees.

Reiko waved off his question noncommittally. "Nonsense. No need to summon any more troublesome youkai into this."

Natsume wanted to argue that the spirits in the Book, especially certain ones, were extremely helpful. But when he turned to say as much, he found Reiko with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Reiko-san?"

His grandmother turned her focus on him, a serious expression on her face. "Tell me, grandson. Did I have a daughter or a son?"

Natsume stopped walking, sure that Reiko would likely have more questions. "A daughter."

He was proven wrong when Reiko only nodded with a smile before continuing ahead of him, following some unknown path.