Transparent (Takashi Natsume x Reader)

Forest (X)

----Still Natsume's Point of View----

Natori and I eagerly and impatiently waited for Hîragi's return. I wanted to charge head first into that forest to get (Y/N) back, but I knew Natori would never let me.

It seemed like an eternity waiting there for her. I was eager to do something, anything at all. If I could help (Y/N), even just a little, I would do anything.

"Natsume," Natori said, moving his hand to my shoulder. "She'll be fine. I promise, so please calm down a bit," he said.

I looked him in the eyes, realizing my faults. I was being to hard on myself. I knew Natori would do everything in his power to get her back, and Nyanko-Sensei, Hîragi, and I would be there to help. There was absolutely no way she was going to get hurt.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled. "Yeah. You're right. Thank you Natori," I finally decided to say.

He let out a relieved smile. 'I need to get a hold of my self!' "Sir!" Hîragi cried. She came up to us in a quick dash. "What is it? Did you find her?" Natori questioned.

"Yes, I've found her!" she answered. "That's great! Where is she? We've got to go immediately!" I was frantic. I had to do something, and now I could.

"She's deep in the woods past thorn bushes and ditches. There's no way you'll be able to get there by foot," she stated.

"I can navigate around the tough stuff if I have to. I'm going to try," my statement stood tall. No one was going to be a to talk me out of it. Realizing this, Hîragi continued, "There's one more thing, the Yokai is one of the Ninetales."

"Ninetales?" Nyanko-Sensei asked. I jumped at the surprise. I had forgotten he was there. "They usually don't cause any trouble. This one must have a big grudge on humans."

"That's true," said Natori. "I haven't had any problems with them until now. Still, we can't just ignore this. Especially since they have (Y/N)."

"Yeah. We know where she is, so let's go before it gets too late," I suggested.

"Okay, c'mon then. Let's go," Natori said. With that, we set of into the never-ending woods.

Hîragi led the way so we wouldn't get lost. The forest was extremely thick and hard to navigate. If Hîragi wasn't there, we were sure to have gotten lost. I wondered how she could remember the way so easily. To me, every tree and bush looked the same.

We trudged through it. After awhile, I started getting tired. "Natsume, are you alright?" Natori asked. "Ye...ah, I'm...fine," I huffed.

"Let's take a break," Natori suggested in more of an order then an offer. Hîragi stopped walking. "Yes," she said.

"Here, Natsume, you can sit here to catch your breath," Natori gestured to a large log that had fallen over long before we got there. It looked old and there was moss growing out of it, but I was too tired to refuse.

I sat down to relax, trying to even out my breathing. "Hah..." I exhaled. "Hîragi, how much farther do we have to go?" I asked.

"Not too much further, Natsume-Sama. We're getting close," she answered. I gave a sigh of relief. 'Thank goodness!' I thought. "Here," Natori handed me a canteen of water.

"Thanks," I said. After a few minutes of resting, we continued our trudge through the thick woods until Hîragi stopped.

"We are here," she stated. I took a few steps forward, realizing what she was was talking about.

"Whoa..." I gasped. Hidden behind the thorn bushes and trees was what look like a giant cocoon. Said cocoon was tall and transparent with a dark yellow tint. And inside the cocoon, I saw something I could never have imagined.

People. There were people inside of the cocoon. I recognized some of their faces from the missing persons reports. But there was someone I wish wasn't there, (Y/N).

I ran to the cocoon, debating whether or not to touch it. "Natsume, don't get too close. We don't know if it's dangerous," Natori warned. "Besides," he continued. "It looks like she's just sleeping."

"How are we supposed to get them out?" I asked myself aloud. "I don't know," Natori answered. 

"Who are you!?" an unidentified voice said. "Leave! And don't come back, humans!!" ''Humans'? Then this must be the yokai.'

"Are you the yokai that lured these people here?" I asked. "That doesn't concern you," it said.

"Come out!" Natori demanded. "You are one of the strong and noble Nine-Tales, and yet you're afraid of mere humans?"

I was about to yell at Natori to stop, but I realized why he was doing it. It was to get the yokai to reveal itself. That way, we'd know what we were dealing with. Even with that realization, I was still nervous. The way he was going about doing this was crude and we had no way of predicting how the yokai would react. In the end, I decided to trust him. He, at the very least, deserved that much.

There was a flash of smoke and a crackling sound. As the smoke cleared, I could see a figure. In the mist of it all, stood a small girl. She had long straight black hair and wore a ruby red  kimono. I noticed the coco-brown fox ears that stood on top of her head.

'Is she the one who has been causing the disappearances? But she looks so young. What was the reason?' I didn't even have to look over to know that Natori and Hîragi were thinking the same thing.

"Are you the one who kidnapped these people?" Natori voiced his question aloud, eyes cool and collected.

"Is that truly any of your business, hmm, human?" she asked challengingly. "Yes, in fact it is. You see, you have taken a friend of mine. A kind and clever girl. So now, even if I wanted to, I cannot over look this," Natori answered to her challenge, his eyes ablaze with fury.

"..." I wanted to say something, but I couldn't find the right words to voice. What was going to happen? What were we going to do? I had been in similar situations before, but this was by far the most terrifying. Not because Natori had said those things. Not because Nyanko-Sensei wasn't right beside me. Not because we didn't have a plan. But because (Y/N) was there with us. She was unconscious and defenseless. If we were to make a mistake, there was no way she would be able to protect herself. That was what frightened me. And I had no idea why.

----To Be Continued----

Author's note: this was extremely hard for me to write. I don't know how I'm going to do the next chapter. I DON'T KNOW. I'll figure it out of course, but I'm afraid I won't be able to write fast enough for it to come out on time. I will try super hard to get it out but I can't make any promises. So I'm telling you just in case.