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Shit.
Shit shit shit. He knew he shouldn’t have let Natsume help that yokai. What is he going to do, Natsume’s tiny!
“Hang on Natsume.“ he stepped towards Natsume.
“So you can talk and you know my name?
What exactly are you? A mutant raccoon?”
A mutant raccoon!? The great and powerful Master Kitty-Cat was not a “mutant raccoon!” If anything he was a beautiful gorgeous majestic beast, but not a raccoon!
“I have so many pertinent things I wanna scream at you, but at the same time I don’t even know where I would start!”
“So you’re a kid and you have a case of memory loss.”
“Damn it.”
“Why’d you meddle?”
Natsume backed away “Stay back! I mean it, okay? No monsters allowed!”
Great. Now he’s been downgraded to a monster. No, now is not the time to be mad about what the kid is calling you.
“Stop with the names! I’m “Master” to you! Now calm yourself, boy!”
This was going to be a long day.
~
Natori had just finished a job, it had gone a lot faster than he had expected. Now he was just wandering around trying to pass the time. Natsume lives around here doesn’t he? Maybe he could pop by and see how he’s doing. No. He probably shouldn’t.
Just as he was passing over the bridge he heard it.
“Call me Master Kitty-Cat!”
That was unmistakably the cat. But as he walked over he noticed that the Master was with a kid.
And said kid looked quite a bit like Natsume. Did he have a younger brother?
“Are you babysitting more kids now?”
“Natori? What are you doing here!?”
“Just passing through, but who’s this?”
The Master hesitated before answering.
“It’s Natsume.”
“As in Takashi Natsume?”
“Unfortunately.”
Last time he’d checked Natsume was in his mid to late teens, not a child. What has he gotten himself into this time?
He sighed “What happened?”
“Natsume thought it’d be a bright idea to help The Days Eater out of a pot they had got stuck in.”
“And The Days Eater did as The Days Eater does and ‘gave his gratitude’, so now Natsume’s a kid.”
Well that isn’t good.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose he asked “Where are you going to bring him while we figure this out? You can’t just leave him out here. And we definitely can’t bring him to the Fujiwaras.”
“Maybe we could bring him to your place? Actually scratch that do you even know how to take care of kids? You’d probably only give him milk or something.” Master scoffed.
“Hey! I know how to take care of kids! Probably.”
“Fine. Whatever. We’ll bring him to your place Natori.”
“Um, hello? I probably shouldn’t be following a stranger to their home. Especially if they can talk to the weird raccoon.” Natsume said softly.
He looked so scared.
Natori got down on his knees so he could look Natsume in the eyes.
“I’m Natori, and I’m here to help you. I’m not sure if you remember but we’re friends. If you come with us you’ll be safe from the yokai.”
Natsume gasped “How did you know I could see them?”
“I can see them too. So you can trust me when I say I’ll protect you from the yokai. I won’t let them hurt you.”
He held out his hand to Natsume.
“So will you come with me?”
Natsume nodded taking Natori’s hand “Okay, I’ll go.”
Natsume couldn’t be any older than five. What were they going to do.
~
The train was unsurprisingly crowded, especially for this time of day. There were no open seats available to they had to stand. Natsume had pushed himself up against Natori’s leg while gripping it with as much strength as a five-year-old could muster.
He felt bad for having to put Natsume through this, but the train was the only way they could get back to the apartment. And the Master looked as disinterested as always.
The train jolted causing him to stumble a bit.
“Mister Natori are you okay?!” Natsume looked up, panicked.
“Yes, everything is alright, you don’t have to worry.” He said while ruffling Natsume’s hair.
Natsume didn’t look convinced but went back to looking at his feet.
Natori spent the rest of the train ride with his hand placed on Natsume’s head. “To protect Natsume from yokai.” Definitely not some kind of “parental responsibility” or whatever feeling that was. He didn’t even have kids.
~
Back at Natori’s apartment the three sat on the couch. That was until Hiiragi appeared.
“No! A yokai!” Natsume yelled while ducking under the table.
“No no, wait Natsume! Hiiragi is a nice yokai!” Natori waved his hands around exasperated.
“Natsume? As in-?”
“Yes, that’s our Natsume..” He sighed.
He glanced over at Master to which he just shrugged.
Natori sat down on the floor as Natsume cowered under the table.
“Hey, hey it’ll be okay Natsume. Hiiragi is one of the nice yokai, she’d never hurt you.” He said gently while placing his hand on the floor.
“I can ask her to leave if you’d prefer.”
Natsume nodded his head slightly while taking Natori’s hand.
“Okay, we can do that.”
He turned to Hiiragi “Natsume’s a little spooked right now. Could you go uh- I don’t know get him some milk?”
He heard the Master snort behind him.
She stared at him for a beat “Fine.” She promptly disappeared into thin air.
“I said you’d just give him milk.” The Master laughed
“Shut up.”
He gently guided Natsume back to the couch “Okay, back to business,” he clapped his hands to which he could see caused Natsume to jump. He shot Natsume an apologetic look.
Okay note to self no more clapping.
“Do you have any ideas?” He looked at Master Kitty-Cat. To that he revived a blank stare from the supposed feline.
“Okay, Natsume, are you able to remember anything?”
“Not really, my head just feels empty inside. And I feel lighter in a way too.”
Natsume looked at his hands “It’s like I have the answers, but they’re in a place I can’t reach.”
“The racco- the cat monster said I’m actually in high school but, man that’s just crazy.” He deflated.
Natori looked over to the Master “You said the was The Days Eater’s doing, correct?”
“Correct, and this is the result of Natsume helping them out.”
Natsume looked up “So, I just have to find this yokai and ask him to reverse the spell. Worst he could say is no, and that’s the same as not asking him.”
Master Kitty-Cat crossed his arms “Yes, exactly.”
“Then I should get back to that bridge right now,” Natsume stood up “Thanks for having me!”
“Natsume wait,” Natori stood as well.
“I can’t wait! I want to remember!”
“I can go too-“
“No wait!” The Master jumped in “Natsume doesn’t remember this yokai and we can’t just leave him here alone!”
“You should stay here and look after him. I can get there faster anyways!” Master Kitty-Cat huffed.
Natori sighed “You’re Right. I’ll stay here.”
“I don’t understand why a yokai would volunteer to help me.” Natsume said.
“Because I wanna eat Toko’s dinner!” The Master jumped in the air “And I can’t do that without the older you!”
“You can’t possibly be doing this just to eat ‘Toko’s dinner’” Natori pushed.
“Of course I am! That’s one of the only thing that keeps me attached to this brat!”
As they fought they didn’t notice Natsume watching with a small smile on his face.
~
Natori did not know how to take care of kids. Especially when those kids were Natsume magically turned back into a young child.
So now Natsume was sitting on the couch with a glass of milk in hand, looking like he didn’t know what to do with it.
Natori sighed. Master Kitty-Cat was right he really didn’t know what he was doing.
“Uh Mister Natori?”
“What is it Natsume?”
“You just um, look kind of sad standing over there. Could you maybe come sit with me?”
After a beat he answered “Oh yes, of course, I can do that.” He shuffled over to sit on the couch.
“So Natsume, is there anything you want to do?”
He sat for a few seconds then asked “What’ll happen if he doesn’t come back?”
Oh.
“As long as I’ve known Master Kitty-Cat he has always pulled through in the end. I’m sure he’ll come back for you.” He placed a hand on Natsume’s shoulder “I have an idea, how do you feel about blanket forts?”
“Blanket fort?” Natsume questioned.
“Do you think you could bring that chair over here? I’ll go grab some blankets.”
As he walked to the closet where he kept the extra blankets he was glad he ended up purchasing them. Now with blankets in hand he went back over to Natsume, who had managed to drag the chair over to the coffee table.
Natori set up the fort as Natsume watched in awe. “Okay! Here we are!” Natori said presenting the fort to Natsume.
“What do you think?”
“Um, what do you do with it?”
“You go inside and just kind of sit there I guess. I’m not really sure.” He laughed.
Natori pulled up the side so Natusme could enter “After you.”
Natsume hesitated but crawled in.
They laid on their backs looking up at the bottom of the table.
“This was a cooler idea in my head..” He chuckled.
“I think it’s cool.”
“Well then, I suppose it is cool isn’t it.”
“Yeah.” Natsume yawned.
“Are you feeling tired?”
“A little bit.” He yawned again.
“Why don’t you lay in here for a little nap?”
As he moved to leave Natsume grabbed Natori’s hand “Please don’t leave.” He whispered.
“Alright, I’ll stay right here.”
He covered Natsume in a blanket and laid back down next to him. “I won’t leave, I promise.”
Natsume yawned out an “Okay” while still holding onto Natori’s hand.
And Natori stayed there “To protect Natsume from yokai.” Definitely not because Natsume had his hand in as close to a death grip as a five-year-old could get, even while sleeping. He was there to protect Natsume from yokai, that was all. He didn’t feel the need to protect this kid with his life. He had already decided that he’d never have kids.
So why did he feel like Natsume was his own?
He wondered as he drifted off to sleep as well.
~
He walked into Natori’s apartment ready to brag about how he’d convinced the yokai to reverse “his gratitude” so now Natsume should be back to normal in no time.
What he found instead was a blanket fort with a sleeping Natori and Natsume inside. And Natori looked ridiculous asleep if he did say so himself.
As he walked over to them he “accidentally” woke Natsume. And when he says accidentally he means he announced himself to the sleeping duo hoping to wake them up.
“I am bushed! What is this thing?”
“It’s a blanket fort. I suddenly got pretty sleepy, so we laid down for a nap.”
“He undid the spell on you that must be why. It’ll be gone by the time the sun sets.”
He sighed resting his head on his paws “I could really go for a catnap, too.”
“Know however you plan to pay me back, I expect double now.”
“Deal. And thank you.” Natsume reached out to pet him.
“Master Kitty-Cat, do you consider the two of us to be friends?”
“No, I don’t. We’re just stuck with each other.”
Natsume giggled as he cuddled up to the Master.
Maybe he was being a bit mean to the kid. But he didn’t really have time to think about it now. He needed his beauty sleep.
~
As Natori awoke from his nap he looked over to Natsume. He had turned back to normal while they were asleep. And it looks like the Master made his way back as well.
“They look so peaceful I’d hate to wake them.” He yawned.
“I’m sure the Fujiwaras wouldn’t mind if he stayed the night.”
…
“Should probably call them.”
As he got up to make his way to the phone he glanced back down at the sleeping duo.
He couldn’t help the small smile that grew across his face.