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It was a quiet and calm day in Hitoyoshi, as most days there tended to be. Where people like his friend Nishimura liked complaining about it, for Kitamoto, it was actually pretty nice. He didn’t have to worry about the people around him getting in more trouble than they could handle. His sister could be the little brat she was inside and the worst she’d get was a scolding, Nishimura could be his true annoying self and get nothing but a playful punch, and Natsume could be well… Natsume.
Though now that Kitamoto was considering it, he realised that Natsume probably could get himself into some actual trouble. Even inside this little town of theirs, Natsume could and has gotten himself into actual trouble before. He had a tendency of fainting and falling right in the places where it was least appropriate for him to do so. Like on top of a bridge. Or a stairwell. Or on a roof. And you might ask what he was doing on a roof… Well, Kitamoto wondered the same, but at this point in his life he has grown wise enough to not ask or think about it too much. That is also why, when he found a bunch of Natsume’s clothes and his bag next to the road, he wasn’t even awfully surprised.
He might not have been surprised, but that didn’t stop a sense of worry starting to form in his gut. Natsume was the last person to be so careless with his belongings, so he moved to put them away. He tried stuffing as many of the clothes into his and Natsume’s bags to keep them safe from the mud on the ground. He was only halfway done with the pair of pants when he spotted a small boy only wearing a too big t-shirt like it was a dress. The boy seemed to be explaining something to… Natsume’s fat cat? It didn’t really matter what he was doing exactly since the boy looked rather nervous or scared, and the Older Brother inside him couldn’t leave a scared child alone. As he started walking closer to them he realised he could make out two voices. It almost looked like one of them was coming from the cat. Confused yet intrigued he decided to wait it out and see if he could figure out what was actually going on here.
“But Tanuki, do you really think the Fujiwara’s will be okay with me returning like this?” the boy asked.
This sentence immediately drew Kitamoto’s attention. The boy was talking about returning to the Fujiwara household. Which meant he must be somehow connected to Natsume or his family. Right up until that point he hadn’t realised what exactly (next to the general oddness of the situation) it was that unsettled him so. But with the Fujiwara’s being mentioned he realised this boy looked exactly like Natsume. He could have been his little brother except for the fact that he knew Natsume didn’t have any siblings.
“It is true that we cannot explain the existence of yokai to them,” the other voice answered, seemingly coming from, yes, from the cat.
“Tanuki, it’s okay, I’ll figure it out for myself, as I cannot trust a yokai I don’t know that well,” the boy responded while starting to get up to run off.
This was what startled Kitamoto out of his thoughts—he might be more confused than he was last time Nishimura was explaining him the entire plot of the last romance movie he had watched. But he knew one thing, and that was not to let a small boy who looked like one of his best friends walk off alone near a river. It didn’t matter exactly who he was, he was a kid and that was all that mattered at this point. So he decided to forget all he heard about yokai and the talking cat and walked up to the kid.
“Hello there! I am Atsushi Kitamoto, I haven’t really seen you around here before and I was wondering if you might be lost,” he said while kneeling down closer to the kid’s level.
“Ooh, uhm, no, I am not lost. I was just on my way to the—” At this point the boy looked over to the cat. “I am on my way to the Fujiwara household.”
If Kitamoto hadn’t known this was a lie, nothing would have seemed off about this to him. This boy lied like it was second nature to him, just like another brown haired boy he knew. Though the boy’s asking might not have given it away, he seemed to have briefly forgotten he was only wearing a too big shirt and no pants, clearly giving him away.
“That is wonderful, I know them very well and even have their phone number! If you can tell me your name we can go to my house and we can get you dressed and warm and let them know they can pick you up at mine. That reminds me, what is your name?” Kitamoto tried to come across as very friendly and soothing, hoping that once they were in his home he could take a few moments to figure out what was going on without involving anyone else. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to bother the Fujiwaras, because they loved to be bothered, but more that he wanted a clear picture about what was going on first.
“I am Takashi Natsume, it’s nice to meet you,” the boy, (maybe-Natsume?) mumbled. If the boy said anything after that Kitamoto didn’t hear it anymore. If it talked like a duck and walked like a duck it probably was a duck. So just for now he decided that this somehow was Natsume, and he had to take him home and keep him safe. All the rest could be figured out later.
After arriving home, Kitamoto immediately started picking out some of his sister’s old clothes that might fit Natsume a little bit better than his current get-up. It was a bit hard to find clothing that wasn’t eye blindingly bright though. His sister tended to wear bright yellows or neon greens. In the end they settled for a soft pastel pink sweater and a pair of light blue pyjama pants. All that was left to do after was to give him a glass of water and some cookies. Once Kitamoto was sure Natsume had everything he needed, he left him for a little while to call the Fujiwara’s.
The call to the Fujiwara’s was pretty quick and easy. He just told them that they spent the day fishing and that Natsume was very tired out and taking a nap at his house since it was closer. The longest part of the call was trying to convince Touko that nothing was wrong and that she didn’t have to rush over, but even that worry was relatively easily settled.
The greater problem was that even in the small time Natsume was here, Kitamoto had no clue how to interact with him. Where most children he knew were loud and rambunctious, little Natsue wasn’t like that. He was quiet and withdrawn, even more so than his adult version. Though at the same time he was louder as well. Where old Natsume startled quietly, little Natsume did it loudly. His entire body jumped and he squealed—it would be adorable if it wasn’t so worrisome.
But that was not the only way he was louder; he was also more likely to speak his mind. A refreshing change. Where the Natsume he knew was only slowly learning how to show his frustration or anger or any other negative emotion, the little one in front of him seemed to not even know how to hide it. It was visible in the way his face fell when the mochi Kitamoto offered him was matcha flavoured (apparently Natsume hated the taste, even though Kitamoto was sure he had seen him eat it before). Or how when he offered to draw something together the boy yelled out “No!” before he seemed to realise it, but was then too shy after to suggest another activity to do.
After a little while of Kitamoto making suggestions and Natsume refusing (even reacting fearfully when he suggested going outside), they ended up just baking some cookies together. This way he didn’t have to force Natsume outside and had something to feed him that he did like. But even this almost ended in disaster when some wind blew in from inside and covered both of them in flour. Natsume stiffened up but quickly relaxed when Kitamoto started laughing. Kitamoto couldn’t help himself, there was something about seeing the boy covered in flour looking at him; it was just such a typical Natsume thing to happen.
After eating their fill of cookies, Natsume did end up wanting to take a nap, which was a relief for Kitamoto. Though he would never hesitate lying for a friend's sake, it did feel good that he technically hadn’t lied to the Fujiwaras about that in the end. Feeling a little drained himself, he decided to maybe take a little nap himself as well, and soon fell asleep right next to his friend.
A few hours later, the Kitamoto family returned home to find two teens sleeping in their living room surrounded by the smell of freshly baked goods.