Rain falls softly. The cat who is the Madara lets himself in through the window and the latch clicks shut behind him. The boy who is Natsume lies with open eyes and drifts through dreams.

.

.

She is small and light and delicate, her bones slender and her hair cropped messily short. A white piece of cloth, soft as silk and light as featherdown, flutters over her face. He remembers the feel of her in his arms and her name echoes- Tsubame-

A mask covers her forehead, cheekbones, and nose. She is not human, nor does she live, a little swallow fallen from a nest-

A mask covers. An ancient village is covered by the water- most of the time-

A mask-if he lifts it, he feels sure he would see her eyes-

.

say that you and I will go on forever, love-

.

Rain falls, heavier now. The cat grumbles slightly as he settles beside the dream-tossed boy, but the night is cold and the cat does not want to leave. "Settle down, Natsume."

The boy stills and smiles. "Nyanko-sensei, you came back."

"It's an awful night out there."

"Yes…" he whispers, the sibilant sighing away into the quiet dripping darkness.

.

.

Natsume Reiko. The name of his grandmother. Oddly enough, when he imagines her, it is not as an old lady or even a grown woman he sees; it is a girl just about his age, demure blue skirt blowing against her legs, blond hair floating around her like an aura. Her eyes are the same golden brown as his own but when she is angry or excited they can look almost green, snapping with her fire. And she was never more fiery than when she was chasing down a youkai-

"Do you want to fight me?"

"Fight you, morsel? Why?"

"Because if you win, you get to eat me. If you lose, you give me your name."

And she always won. Except, perhaps, for the time she didn't.

…it is not so odd that she is a girl in his dreams, because after all she never got a chance to grow old…

.

impermanence is the hardest lesson to learn-

.

"Nyanko-sensei?" Natsume asks softly.

"Yes?"

"How did my grandmother die?"

The cat does not answer.

"She was defeated by a youkai, wasn't she." It is not a question. There is a long pause filled only by the swishing susurration of the raindrops.

"Reiko was always fool-hardy," the cat finally says, in a crusty voice. "Go to sleep and don't bother me anymore."

.

.

The companion of the fertility god Gen, twisted by hate into a black and wailing thing, was not forgotten for one instant by her mate.

The little kitsune still clutches his hat in memory of his mother, even though she is not there to talk to him or guard him from those who would do him harm.

The koto player Asagi was sustained by her friend, who did not rest until he had fulfilled her dying wish.

.

if it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love-

.

Natsume sighs, closes his eyes, and finally sleeps.

The rain falls softly.

.

.

.

one-shot and very short, I know. it's more like blank verse than prose, but I think that suits Natsume Yuujinchou, don't you?