Work Text:
That Which Is Seen in the Dark
Madara notices the yokai before Natsume does.
That's becoming less common the stronger Natsume gets—the further invested in the world of spirits and monsters Natsume becomes. But Natsume doesn't notice this one. He's too busy being happy when the yokai approaches them, sitting with his friends Kitamoto and Nishimura as they explain some aspect of human life that neither Natsume nor Madara is familiar with.
Madara hops off Natsume's lap, leaving him in the company of the two humans as he trails the yokai. The spirit is wearing the shape of a dog, but Madara can see beneath the disguise. Though the creature is indeed furry, her true form is something any mortal with a modicum of sanity would run from—a hunter, a killer, a spirit that was crafted specifically to trap and rend prey.
Inugami, Madara decides as he sniffs at the yokai's scent. An old one, too, powerful enough to manifest a form that humans will be able to see and interact with regularly if desired.
The inugami fades back, retreating down a side alley, away from Natsume's sight. Madara follows, though not before checking to make sure he doesn't notice any other yokai in the area. He trusts Natsume to be able to take care of himself more, but they've been burned in the past, and he doesn't want to come back and find something trying to gnaw on his human.
There are no other yokai around, and when Madara follows the inugami into the alley the yokai has shed all pretense of mortality. She stands a respectful distance away, gold eyes studying Madara warily, long furry legs prepared to spring—away from Madara, towards him, it's hard to say.
“Who are you?” It's a rude way to open the conversation, but Madara isn't used to having to be polite, and he doesn't want this yokai to think it can just approach Natsume with impunity. “Why are you following my snack?”
The inugami twists her neck around an amount that would likely make Natsume pale. “Your snack? Do you discuss Natsume Takashi?”
Madara sniffs, shedding the form of the cat to take his own proper shape. “I do. I will not allow anyone to threaten him. He is mine.”
The inugami's head twists the other way, mouth opening along both horizontal and vertical slits to show a forked tongue. “An interesting way to state matters.”
“That's because I'm an interesting guy.” Madara lowers his head, teeth showing in a smile that is also a threat. “You were here for Natsume.”
“Just to see him.” The inugami closes her mouth, eyes moving away from Madara, towards where Natsume is resting with his friends. “I caught his scent and I thought it couldn't possibly be him... but it is. He is so much bigger than he was before.”
Madara allows his lips to slide back over his teeth. “You know Natsume?”
“Yes.” The inugami settles, haunches still tense but no longer ready to leap at a moment's notice. “It must have been many years ago now, though I didn't realize time had passed so swiftly until I saw him again. He was a very small human. I thought I was his friend, but I was wrong.”
“What do you mean by that?” Madara licks his left paw and begins washing his ear, stopping after a moment when he realizes he likely looks ridiculous.
“Do you truly wish to know?” The inugami's head tilts again.
Madara shrugs. “If you don't wish to tell me, I'll just be on my way, with a warning to you to stay away from Natsume.”
The inugami sighs, ears drooping down. “He was a very lonely human child.”
Madara knows that's true. He's considered eating some of Natsume's relatives, given how horribly they treated a young Natsume, but he knows it would cause Natsume more distress than it relieves, and regardless he doesn't believe in being beholden to the past. Better to relish in one's current strength than to dwell on times that are long gone.
“He desperately needed friends.” The inugami whines, and for a moment she sounds like the dog from which part of her name derives. “He wasn't able to tell which of us were a part of the mortal world and which weren't. He tried treating all with kindness indiscriminately, but some yokai and some mortals both make that a... difficult proposition to keep to.”
“Doesn't matter whether it's people or yokai, some individuals are always shit.” Madara huffs out a breath, causing leaves to skitter around the alleyway.
“Indeed.” The inugmai's voice holds just a trace of amusement, though it fades into melancholy swiftly. “He was kind to me. He gave me a part of his lunch. He said I looked like a hungry puppy. It had been a very long time since a mortal was kind to me like that. I... took to following him.”
“That sounds like Natsume.” Madara feels his chest swell with... with what? Pride? Frustration? Some deep, human emotion that he wouldn't have had to deal with before getting involved with Natsume Takashi, but somehow it makes him feel warm and full rather than irritated.
“I am strong, as are you.” The inugami inclines her head in a gesture of clear respect. “I was able to make myself look like a normal dog, at least when we were around other humans. Natsume's guardians told him to be rid of me, but he didn't tell me to leave. Not until...”
The inugami sinks to the ground, ears pressing against her head.
Madara leans forward, nudging her with the tip of his muzzle.
“The other children did not understand him, and they filled in their lack of understanding with cruelty.” The inugami closes her eyes. “But I did not understand humans, either. When one of them shoved Natsume, calling him a freak and a liar, I bit him. Harder than I should have, I have come to think in retrospect, but I wanted it to be a lesson that lasted.
“Instead of learning the lesson I wished him to, the child tried to kick me. So I bit him again.” The inugami opens her eyes. “You have tasted human blood.”
It's not a question, but Madara answers it anyway. “Of course I have.”
“Then you know once you start spilling it... I was going to make a lesson of the insolent brat. I was going to ensure he never hurt anyone again, and neither would his friends if they wished to live.” The inugami inhales a whine. “But Natsume got in the way, and when I bit him, too, he punched me in the nose. Bade me to go, said that I was a bad dog and a bad friend. He was crying so much... I do not know if he managed a compulsion or if I was merely startled enough to listen, but I did go. I traveled far and wide, thinking of what had happened, wondering...”
The inugami's eyes turn towards Natsume's location again.
Madara sighs. He knows where this story goes now. He nudges the inugami's head with his own once more. “Wondering where he is and what he's doing. He's doing fine, but I'd be careful bothering him. He's better at telling our world from his now, but he still tries to straddle both, and it still causes him... difficulty.”
“I don't need to talk to him.” The inugami's tail begins to swish, causing more leaves to dart this way and that in a wind that would make mortals shiver. “Just to see him. I am glad that he has crafted a better life for himself. That he has found a better—”
“If you say dog, I'm going to drive you away myself.” Madara shows his teeth.
The inugami laughs. “A better friend. I will not bother him. I will merely watch.”
“Good.” Madara draws in a deep breath and turns back towards the alley opening. “I'll be keeping an eye out, so don't try anything.”
The other yokai doesn't respond. She just pads behind him, following, and when Madara resumes his guise to return to Natsume, he isn't surprised to look back and see a small dog sitting quietly in the alleyway entrance, tail swishing frantically back and forth.
***
The inugami follows them for a week.
Madara almost tells her to go away. He's fairly certain she means no harm, but he doesn't like having someone else so powerful in his territory, following his human from place to place.
Natsume doesn't seem to notice her, at least. He just continues to be Natsume, talking with his friends, helping his aunt and uncle, granting small boons to little yokai who dare to risk Madara's wrath by coming close enough to interact with Natsume.
Madara watches Natsume as much as he watches the yokai. What is it about Natsume that is so special? What is it that draws the yokai to him, that allows him to perform this balancing act that so many others have tried and so very, very few have succeeded at?
Will Natsume fail? Will he end up either dead or Madara's enemy?
It's a silly question, because Madara knows the true answer. Even if Natsume manages to stay like he is, balanced between worlds, he will die. In a span of time that Madara may not have noticed if he weren't staying with Natsume, the human will grow old and perish.
Assuming he's lucky enough to grow old.
It makes Madara irritable to think about, and he tries to shove the thought away. Mortals age. Mortals die. Mortals change.
Yokai don't. Madara doesn't. So why does it seem like he has, lately? Why does he feel emotions that he can't name, dream of things that he shouldn't?
He watches Natsume as Natsume dresses for bed, seeing the various minor scars he has acquired over the year. A small handful, little dots of light puckered skin by Natsume's right elbow, catch his eye. “Hey, Natsume, what are those?”
Natsume blinks, then follows Madara's line of sight and touches the little marks. “Oh, these. It's been a while since I thought about them. I got these from a dog when I was little. Or...” Natsume smiles, but it's the same melancholic expression Madara has seen from him before when he discusses old yokai tales. “I thought it was a dog, but when it bit another child it... changed. Became something terrifying. I'm lucky all I got for my trouble was these.”
“Lucky.” Madara trots over, stretching up on his hind legs to sniff at the scars. They're old, any magic that had been in them long since burned out by Natsume's own power. He settles back down. “You're many things, kid, but you're rarely that.”
“I don't know.” Natsume's smile loses some of its melancholic edge. “I've felt pretty lucky the last few months.”
Madara turns away, but when Natsume reaches out to stroke his fur and scratch behind his ears, he doesn't move away.
He'll tell the yokai to leave tomorrow if she hasn't gotten bored. It'll be better for them all that way.
***
The inugami bows, holding out a bottle of sake. “I was told that you enjoyed this. That it would be considered good payment for the patience you have demonstrated.”
Madara hesitates, caught off guard. He had marched out here to tell the inugami to go away, to stop stalking Natsume. Before he could get a word in, though, she had bowed respectfully and held out the sake, and now it's thrown him off his game. “Who told you that?”
“Two yokai who told me they were a part of your retinue.”
“Damn mid-listers.” Madara eyes the sake, and then sighs. “Drink it with me, why don't you. And then we'll decide where you wish to go.”
The inugami settles down, producing two cups from somewhere in her fur. “I am surprised you tolerated my presence this long. And appreciative.”
“I can be beneficent.” Madara reaches eagerly for his cup, electing to stay in his cat form to minimize the risk of drawing Natsume's attention.
The inugami laughs, though she turns it to a cough. “You are very fond of Natsume.”
“He's going to be my snack.” The words come easily, though he wonders, again, how true they are.
“He's grown into a wonderful human.” The inugami sighs. “If he didn't already have a cat... but I know he does. I won't try to interfere.”
“To interfere with what?”
The voice comes from just outside the doorway to Natsume's house, and Madara freezes, turning to see the human in question staring right at the two of them.
Natsume walks towards them without hesitation, his gaze curious, just a hint of wariness. “Who is this, Nyanko-sensei?”
The inugami bows. “It is an honor to meet you again, Natsume Takashi.”
Natsume studies the inugami, and understanding blooms in his eyes. “You're the dog that's been following us for the last week. And you were the dog...” His hand moves to the scars he has on his elbow.
The inugami bows again. “Yes. It is good to see you well.”
Natsume hesitates, then inclines his head in turn. “The same.”
“I was foolish those many years ago.” The inugami looks Natsume square in the eyes, her ears pressed to her head. “I caused you a great deal of trouble. I am sorry.”
“Apology accepted. I...” Natsume shrugs, looking away. “I should have realized what you were sooner. And I knew better than to be alone with those kids, but I thought...”
“Always you wished to see the best in people. Often they betrayed you.” The inugami rises, standing on her hind legs. “Is that true still?”
Natsume's eyes skitter off the inugami as power gathers around her, locking onto Madara. “No. No it's not.” His voice is soft but melodic. “I've found some good people now. Both human and yokai. I don't need a protector, though I appreciate what you were trying to do.”
“Then I will leave you with your not-protector.” The inugami inclines her head once more to Madara. “And I will wish you a good life, Natsume Takashi. We knew each other only briefly, but the feel of your gentle hand in my fur has never left.”
“And I'll never forget the fact that you protected me.” Natsume's hand lands on Madara's back, though his eyes have found the inugami again. “Be safe.”
“I am the hunter, not the prey.” The inugami gives a brief, eerie bark that echoes off the walls of Natsume's house. “But I will endeavor to be safe. The same to you, Natsume.”
Then she's gone. She doesn't try to collect the sake or the cups. She doesn't try to touch Natsume. She just turns and leaves, bounding away on her canine legs, chill wind blowing in her wake.
Natsume's hand continues to stroke through Madara's fur, his fingers finding just the right places to scratch Madara's ears. “Come in when you're done with your drink?”
“Of course.” Madara laps at the sake in the cup. “Sleep well, Natsume.”
Natsume yawns and gets up, heading inside.
Madara drinks his sake slowly, his eyes studying the stars above them—stars he has watched shift, slowly, a dance that takes centuries to complete.
He will stay with Natsume Takashi for as long as Natsume will have him, and when he's done... when he's alone again...
The yokai are as unchanging as the stars, and Madara wonders what he will look like when his century with the mortal is complete.