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BOUND	By : OokamiKasumi Category: +M to R > Natsume Y?jin-Ch? > Natsume Y?jin-Ch? Views: 1742 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: ‘Natsume Yuujinchou’ characters, terms, and locations property of Midorikawa Yuki. This story was written for the intent of Personal enjoyment. No money was made from this work.

Chapter List
- 1-BOUND
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 18-Eighteen
- 19-Nineteen
- 20-Twenty
- 21-Twenty-One
- 22-Twenty-Two
- 23-Twenty-Three
- 24-Twenty-Four - END
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- 3
- 4
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~ Three ~
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After washing up in the kitchen, I spent the rest of my evening upstairs in my room going over my homework. Somewhere around nine, I rolled out my futon on the floor by the window and set up my blankets and pillows. It was still early, but I was more than ready to go to bed. I was exhausted from walking all the way out to the temple in Eight Fields and I had school in the morning.
Once my bed was made, I went to the small dresser against the wall opposite the door, and dug out my blue flannel pajamas. Yawning, I set my pajamas and my bathrobe over my arm then slid open the bedroom door to go take my shower.
The cat was positioned dead center in the dark wood paneled hallway, right by the stairs with his eyes narrowed and his ears flat back. Clearly, he was furious.
I frowned. "Nyanko-sensei...?"
The cat growled. "What did you do?"
"What?" My brows lifted. "I didn't do anything! I haven't left my room!"
The cat rose on his teeny-tiny feet and stalked toward me. "To the refrigerator, brat. What did you do to the refrigerator?"
"Hm?" Honestly, it took me a second or two to remember the sutra. "Ah..." I lifted my chin in a thoughtful manner. "According to the Fujiwaras, there's been a food thief. Since it wasn't them and it wasn't me, it could only be a spirit. Wouldn't you agree?" I lifted my brow, daring him to admit that it had been him.
The cat's eyes widened then he looked off to the side, clearly dodging my gaze. "A food thief, eh?" He glanced at me then looked away again. "Well, we can't be having that."
I lifted my chin and narrowed my eyes at him. "I will not have the Fujiwaras bothered in any way. I refuse to replay their kindness and generosity with trouble." I then lifted my chin and marched up the hall to the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind me.
I meant what I said. I did not want my interactions with the spirits to bring the Fujiwaras the grief had it brought to so many of the families I'd stayed with before. I would do anything to protect them, even at the cost of my life.
I took my shower quickly then changed into my pajamas and robe. The rooms had individual heaters that were only switched on when a room was in use, so the hallways were rather chilly in the autumn. In winter, I could see my breath. After gathering my clothes, I practically ran up the dark hall to my room and quickly closed the door to keep the heat in.
The cat was not in the hall, or in my room. My guess was that he was off pouting somewhere.
After tossing my dirty clothes in the hamper by the dresser, I made sure my alarm clock was set, then shut off the overhead light and crawled under the heavy down comforters. Warm and drowsy from the shower, and still somewhat exhausted from my long walk, I fell asleep almost instantly.
I slept deeply, but shadowed images and distorted voices haunted my dreams. The silhouettes crowded around me were faceless, but I could tell that they were of the people I had once lived with. The same words I'd heard them say before came from every mouth.
"Liar."
"There are no such things as spirits!"
"Why do you tell such creepy lies?"
"Is this your way of getting attention, you sick little boy?"
"Do you hate living here so much that you have to make up lies about ghosts and monsters?"
"Why can't you just be normal?"
They surrounded me, tall, imposing, and terrible. "We don't want you here any more. No one wants a liar in their house."
I tried to push them away, but they were so much bigger than me. "I'm not a liar! I'm not!"
They pressed even closer, their voices mixing together like a radio stuck between stations until only one word remained clear. "Liar...! Liar...! Liar...!"
I balled my fists. "I don't care if you don't want me! I don't want you either! You don't know anything -- anything at all!" I pulled back my arm to hit them as hard as I could, and...
My elbow rapped sharply in the floor. I opened my eyes to moonlight coming through my bedroom window and gasped as though surfacing from under water. I rubbed my eyes and discovered that my face was wet. I had been crying in my sleep.
I sat up in the moonlight, huddling under my blankets and took deep slow breaths to calm my madly beating heart. It's over, that's over. I live with the Fujiwaras now and they like me. I have friends, people that smile at me and are glad to see me. The past is over. None of that matters anymore.
Slowly, the dreams, and the memories they came from cleared away, dissolving back into the recess of my mind. However, they left behind a hollow ache that clenched around my heart and stung my eyes -- a hollow ache that had not gone away even after all this time. A feeling I knew all too well.
Loneliness.
I closed my eyes and sighed. Yes, the past was gone, and the Fujiwaras were very kind, as were so many of the people I had met in this little town. I had learned to reach out to people, to speak to them, and smile at them, but truthfully, I couldn't give my whole heart. I wanted to, very badly, but I had too many secrets -- dangerous secrets I simply couldn't share.
I was alone in a world full of people simply because they couldn't see what I saw. They couldn't know what I knew. They couldn't believe in spirits.
I was the only one of my kind -- and I hated it.
I hated having to hide such a large part of who I was, and who I spent so much of my time with. I hated not being able to just...talk to someone, anyone about what was really going on around me. So many things had happened to me in just this past year and a half, funny things, sad things, frightening things, tender things...and I couldn't share any of it with anyone.
It made me a liar in truth and I hated it, but when strange things appeared before me -- or chased after me, what could I say but, 'nothings wrong, everything's fine, my imagination is acting up again -- it's nothing.'
It...hurt. It hurt so much to hold it all in and keep it to myself and just...deal with it by myself.
I covered my face, and took deep breaths, fighting to hold back the shameful, childish tears that wanted to spill. My thoughts scrambled to focus on something, anything to stop the pain -- and then I found it.
I wasn't alone. There was one I could share both halves of my life, the human half and the spiritual half because he was there with me, for most of it anyway -- Cat, Nyanko-sensei, Madara... In truth, the cat was the closest I had to a best friend even if he still threatened to eat me every now and again, and he made me fight my own battles more often than not. He knew...everything. He might not care, but he knew of my entire life, human and not.
I turned to look for him. "Cat, where'd you...?"
Lying next to my futon was a piece of notebook paper marked with paw prints. A few words were scrawled on it. "Off to get a drink."
"Oh..." I sighed heavily. He'd gone drinking again and probably wouldn't come back until morning. However, the true point was -- he would come back. I might be the only one of my kind, but I wasn't alone -- not completely alone, anyway.
It was enough. My heart settled in my chest and though my eyes stung, the urge to weep faded. The storm was over.
It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't had that awful dream, hadn't felt the aching emptiness around my heart in a while -- a whole month, or was it two? I must be getting...better. It was a pleasant thought and I almost smiled -- almost.
That's when I heard the rustling in the hallway outside my door.
I looked at my door frowning. Who could be out in the hall? The rustling didn't sound like fabric, like a night robe dragging on the floor, and there was no sound of footsteps. In fact, the rustling sounded an awful lot like...paper. Could it be a spirit?
I rose from my bed and walked as silently as I could to the door. I slid the door open a little to peek out in the hall.
In the hall was a huge single sheet of paper cut into the crude and blockish shape of a man. Its head was a simple square with rectangular arms, and no hands. Its entire bottom half was nothing but a rectangle of paper. It was so big the ceiling curled it at the top and bottom, and so wide that it had to turn a little to the side to fit.
From what I could feel off of it, it was definitely some sort of spirit, but I'd never seen one that looked like a sheet of paper before.
Suddenly it stiffened. Its rectangular arms lifted and flew toward my door with a rattle.
"Shit!" I slammed the sliding door closed and held it in place.
The paper slid harshly against the outside of my door, then a corner poked through the seam, quickly followed by more.
Whatever it was, it was definitely after me. Whatever it was, I had to get it out of the house and away from the Fujiwaras! I left the door and bolted for my window. I slid the broad pane sideways, opening it as fast as I could, and jumped out onto the tiled roof. Barefoot and wearing only my pajamas, I raced across the ice-cold roof tiles to get to the fire escape ladder on the right side of the roof -- my exit and entrance to the house when dealing with spirits.
As soon as my bare feet hit the wet grass, I bolted for the woods as fast as I could. Two reasons, mainly. The first being that hopefully I’d run across the cat before that paper thing got me, and the other being that I really didn't need the neighbors reporting to the Fujiwaras that I was running around at night in nothing but my pajamas.
I dodged through the night dark trees without looking back, ignoring the stones and twigs that stabbed into my bare feet, ignoring the burning chill in my throat and lungs, ignoring the branches that whipped against me, ignoring everything, but what was right in front of my eyes. I didn't want to know how close it was -- the loud rustling right behind me let me know that it was far too close.
The ball of my foot landed on a stone that rolled and I tripped. As though in slow motion, I watched the ground rise up to meet me. Suddenly, all I could see was white and all I could hear was loud rustling.
The paper looped around me and jerked me upright, keeping me from hitting the ground, then tightened. The edges were surprisingly sharp. The winding, tightening paper cut through my pajamas and grazed my skin.
Dozen's of fine paper cuts burned all over me. The stupid thing was going to slash me to ribbons! Panicked, I threw out my hands as hard as I could and screamed. "Go away!"
There was a blinding flash and a monstrous ripping sound.
I was thrown forward to the ground, and landed hard. I rose to my knees gasping for breath, my heart pounding so hard it hurt. I was also seeing spots from the flash and my skin stung from all the small cuts. My pajama shirt slid from my shoulders to pool at my knees in pieces. The paper had cut right through it. My pants weren't much better.
A few small pieces of paper fluttered down by my side.
Blinking the spots from my eyes, I stared at the tiny square head and arm on one of the larger pieces. The paper thing had shrunk. I still had no idea what the hell it was -- or had been.
Something moved in the bushes directly before me.
I jerked my head up in wide-eyed panic. What now?
A man stepped out from behind the bushes wearing a cloth sporting hat. Moonlight reflected on the oval lenses of his glasses. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his dark gray coat. It hung open and flapped at his calves. "Are you all right?"
On my hands and knees, wearing only torn pajama pants, and surrounded by shredded paper and clothing, I stared at him. Did he see what happened? No, no way. No one saw the things I did. He most likely only saw some strange kid tearing around in the trees -- in his pajamas. "Uh, yeah." I smiled and the lies just poured from my lips. "I'm fine. It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
The man pulled his hands from his pockets and knelt down to lift a piece of the thing that had chased me. "Did you...?" He held the paper before my eyes. "See this?"
I froze wide-eyed in utter shock. What did he say?
He waved the paper and smiled only inches from my face. "I saw it too."
I stared at him. He...saw it? There was no way...! No one saw what I saw. Was this some kind of trick? "Are you saying --" My eyes narrowed. "You saw...something?"
He rose up on is feet and waved what was left of the paper man. "Yes, I am."
A shadowy mist began to rise from the paper. It formed a cloud right over his head that coalesced into a smiling spirit woman with a blindfold over her eyes and curling horns rising from her dark wavy hair. Her robes were antique in style, but clean and well kept. She chuckled. The paper disappeared.
He smiled and rubbed his empty fingers. "One might say that it was -- a spirit."
"Yeah, right." I rose to my feet not sure if I was facing a human or spirit disguised as one. "Who are you?"
"Don't recognize me? We met this afternoon." He removed his hat and his glasses to reveal sandy blond hair the exact same color as mine, cinnamon eyes and a lovely smile on a very familiar handsome face. "Shuuichi Natori."
I blinked. The actor?
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