Anime One Shots

Natsume Takashi x OC [Natsume Yuujinchou]

I snapped out of my thoughts when I saw movement in my peripheral vision. Looked away from the scenery of the countryside, I looked down at my desk at the furthest edge. My lips twitched when I saw two small paws grabbing the edge of my desk and trembling. A few seconds passed and what appeared to be tails popped up and took support of the desk to help the rest of the tiny body finally climb up onto the desk. I covered my smile by clearing my throat softly as I observed the five tailed brown fox, barely six inches long, sitting in front of me and cleaning its fur with a tiny pink tongue having finally succeeded in climbing up to its destination.

When it had groomed itself enough, it looked up at me with its golden eyes and my eyes softened. I finally let a small smile graze my lips and tentatively reached out to touch it. It hissed for a moment, probably seeing my advances as a threat, but nuzzled its head against my fingers when it realized I would do it no harm.

I suppose anyone else who could see a creature like this would have freaked out but I was used it, having seen these supernatural creatures called Youkai for many years now. That's right – this was the secret that prevented me from being able to be completely honest with anyone, even my parents. After being called a freak for hallucinating things that weren't there and suffering through counseling sessions to 'cure' me for this hallucination, I decided to keep this special ability of mine as a secret.

Anyone else in my shoes would have probably called this as a curse and would have hated the fact that they could see Youkai. However, I couldn't consider it as a curse. I was awed by the appearances of all the Youkai I could see – some were fascinating, some frightening, some cute and cuddly and others what you could call wolves in sheep skin. I had my own set of experiences with Youkai, both good and bad, but not bad enough to make me hate them in any way. They were a part of our world and deserved to live just as much as humans did.

Most of the time, I acted as if I couldn't see them. It was to make sure that I didn't get into unnecessary trouble with them or end up being called a freak by the normal people around me. And since I ignored them, pretending as if I couldn't see them, they too ignored me like I was a fly passing by. But adorable little Youkai like this that cuddled to you with their soft fur tingling your skin were hard to ignore.

I resisted a laugh when I saw that the Youkai had fallen asleep on my desk. It had curled up with its tails wrapped around itself to keep warm. Seeing no need to pay any more attention to it for now, I looked back at the chalkboard to see what Sensei was teaching.

They were stuff that I had already learned in my previous school – an advanced academy that prepared us for international level competitive exams – so I decided to look around at my classmates to at least recognize them by their faces. However, just before I could do so, my gaze was locked with that of a boy's. He had sandy blonde hair and golden eyes which were so wise as if he had just seen a ghost.

I noticed him glance at the Youkai on my desk and I tensed. Could he see it too? Could he see Youkai just like I did? Was he just like me? Or was he just looking at me like I had gone crazy because I was touching 'thin air'?

"Ami chan? Would you please come up to the chalk board and solve this problem?" Sensei spoke up and I tore my gaze away from the boy.

"Okay, Sensei." I responded and stood up from my seat while pulling my hand away from the tiny Youkai that had woken up and was now nuzzling against my hand again. I fell sideways because of the loss of support and I had to resist making a sound at how it adorably purred in displeasure.

When I reached the chalkboard, Sensei handed me a piece of chalk and smiled. "You don't have to feel nervous. Consider this as revision of what you learnt in your previous school, okay?"