Chapter Text
Kaname knew he was not normal.
From the splitting headaches that randomly assaulted him and the shadows dancing just out of his sight, he could tell that much.
Another thing he knew was that the silver-haired boy who just erupted out of the shrubbery behind his house was probably not normal, either.
"Um, hello?"
He tried to make sound like he had not just been startled out of his wits.
Frozen in place, the said boy stared at him with wide, emerald eyes, which began to squint the more he looked at him. Then, abruptly, he scrambled up, falling back into the bush behind him in his haste, all while trying to maintain as much distance away from Kaname as possible.
"Ah! Wait!"
Before he could say much more, he had already disappeared into the forest, leaving nothing but some disturbed flora in his wake; and something... Shiny on the ground?
Kaname tried to bend over and pick it up, but realised that his headache got worse the closer he got to the object. Gritting his teeth, he bore through the pain, turning it until he got noticed his reflection on its face. A mirror?
His brought it back to his porch, feeling its design with his thumb as he walked. The carvings on its frame were intricate; the back even more so. He worried over the possibility that it was an heirloom of some sort.
Looking up from his place at the table as the boy walked in, his father gently nodded.
"What's that you have in your hand, Kaname?"
"There was a boy near the forest. I think he dropped it."
Kaname wisely chose to eliminate certain details of the events prior.
"Oh, really? You can leave it outside with a note if you'd like. He'd be sure to return once he realises it's not with him."
The younger followed the elder's advice, picking out a piece of paper and pencil, beginning to write.
After what felt like ages of trying to phrase the few sentences he had planned (Perhaps the many weeks of school he had missed due to his condition were finally rearing their heads), he managed to finish the note. He was not proud of it, but it was legible, and that was all that mattered. He carried the fruit of his labour outside along with the mirror, placing the latter on top of the former as a weight on the porch, and returned back indoors for the evening. He hoped the boy would retrieve his belonging soon. Then he would get the chance to talk to him a little, as well.
Evening turned to night, and there was no sign of the mysterious boy. Kaname went to sleep.
In the morning, however, Kaname found that both the mirror and the note were gone, with a small pouch made of leaves in their place. Once opened, the pouch revealed a handful of chestnuts. A mysterious boy, indeed.
A week passed without any meaningful events. Kaname started attending school, his health having gotten significantly (And peculiarly) better after eating the chestnuts in the pouch. The next Friday afternoon, when returning from school with another headache, however, he saw a familiar silver head peeking at his house from behind a tree.
The boy looked about ready to run away again, but stood his ground as Kaname approached. In his hand was the note he had written earlier. The mirror was nowhere to be seen.
He looked at Kaname with the same wide, cat-like eyes, and spoke.
"I... Uh... Thank you very much for giving it back..."
"No problem...?"
The boy shuffled away from the tree just slightly, which was already a good sign that he was not going to bolt the second he had an opportunity to.
"Uh... What... What does this say?"
He held out the folded paper, (Why it was now worn at the edges Kaname could not deduce), and pointed at one of the characters; the kanji for "Mirror".
"You mean Mirror?"
"Y-yes?"
"Here, it's like this."
Kaname wrote out the hiragana of the word on the paper, eyeing the boy to spot any reaction. His lack of knowledge in kanji was enough of a reason to be concerned.
"Ka... Ga... Mi?"
"Yeah, Kagami. The one you dropped."
His face lightened slightly. A welcome change from the prominent fear earlier.
"Oh! That."
Curiosity satiated, he made an action to take the paper back from Kaname's hands, making direct eye contact with him the entire time as if trying to observe his reaction. Kaname let go, confused by his apprehension. The boy bowed.
"Thank you very much."
In a flash of silver, he had turned around and walked away in the direction of the forest.
"W-wait! I'm Tanuma Kaname. What's your name?"
The boy simply smiled.
"Natsume."
And with that, he left; off into the forest once again.
The next morning, Kaname found another pouch of chestnuts outside.