I will post ch.23 of Broken Reflection, I swear. It's just giving me a lot of trouble right now and I'm hoping writing out some other ideas will give me some inspiration.

"They come without asking, and then they leave just the same. But once you meet them, even if nobody ever knows it, that encounter will change your life for the better."
(Natsume Yuujinchou)

Sakuya yawned widely as he meandered down the path.

Waking up early and walking to school was such a pain. He squinted up at the sun in annoyance. It may not destroy him like the other subclasses, but it was still irritatingly bright to his sensitive eyes.

(But it was worth it, to be able to talk to and hang out with Mahiru. It was always worth it.)

He rolled his shoulders and yawned again.

"Awe man, I wish they hadn't kept me up with that stupid game."

(He didn't know why Tsubaki forced everyone into a game night every once in a while, but it sure was irritating now that he was going back to school. Made waking up in the morning even more difficult.)

He normally refused that nonsense, but he was tricked into this time by serious talk beforehand. Shamrock had received word that Sleepy Ash was in town. So, Tsubaki had talked them through their plans before the meeting dissolved into a game night.

He glanced around, hoping that he'd see Miharu on his way to school and blinked in surprise. He stopped trying to figure out what exactly he was seeing. There was a boy, wearing his schools uniform, seemingly talking to a tree. Or more correctly, the branches above his head.

He titled his head to the side. Well, more like arguing with the branches.

Sakuya scanned the tree, trying to figure out whether he was yelling at a bird or squirrel, but found neither animal. It was a perfectly normal, perfectly empty tree. He watched for a moment as the leaves swayed in the breeze and the guy stomped his foot in annoyance before deciding to leave well enough alone.

Sakuya yawned and continued down the path to his school.

(Hanging around Belkia long enough taught him to leave crazy be, for your own self-preservation.)

His morning started looking up as soon as he saw Mahiru at the gate. He perked up immediately, forgetting how tired he was before.

"Heeellloo, best friend!" He darted forward to warp his arm around the other boy's shoulders, grinning widely as he jumped in surprise.

"Sakuya!" Mahiru sent him a glare. "Don't scare me like that!"

He breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.

(He was always half afraid one of these days the other boy wouldn't remember him. He was so afraid that all his careful practice with adjusting memories would fail him and Mahiru would look at him like a stranger.)

Sakuya laughed. "Did you hear the rumor?"

Brown eyes blinked curiously at him. "What rumor?"

(So, innocent. So, trusting. He never learned, did he?)

"Weellll," he drew out the word trying to think of something quickly. "Did you know? We have a new student! And guess what?"

"What?"

Sakuya leaned in as if whispering an important secret. "I just saw him on my way to school….he was talking to a tree! Our new classmate is crazy!"

"Eh, really?"

He cackled and spun away from Mahiru. "Now guess how much of that is true?"

"Sakuya!"

'Honestly, Mahiru, you should have learned by now.' His grin widened as he darted into the building with Mahiru hot on his heels. 'I'm just a dirty liar.'

But…apparently not today.

He blinked in surprise as the boy from this morning was brought into class several minutes after the bell by a disgruntled principle. Their sensei smiled benignly and ushered the boy to the front of the room.

"Please introduce yourself." She stood back, allowing the boy to make his introductions.

The boy fidgeted for a moment, his eyes roaming the room a couple of times before he finally opened his mouth.

"Natsume Takashi."

Sakuya blinked. He barely heard him and that was with vampiric enhanced hearing. He was sure even their sensei, who stood the closest, didn't hear that. The students glanced at one another. None of them rude enough to laugh, but also a little hesitant to ask the obviously nervous guy to repeat his name.

He leaned back in his chair and waited…

"Um, I'm sorry I don't think I caught that? Could you repeat your name please?" Mahiru had stood up from his seat and was smiled gently at the new arrival, probably in hopes of calming him down.

Right on cue.

Sakuya grinned to himself. There goes Mahiru. Once again doing what no one else wanted to do. He sent a smile towards his friend and received one in return.

The new student started a little bit, and a bit of a blush made its way onto his pale cheeks. He seemed to pause for a moment to gather himself before starting his introduction again at a more audible level for the whole class.

"Um, sorry. My name is Natsume Takashi." He bowed. "It's nice to meet everyone."

'This guy is a mess.' Sakuya thought to himself, laying his head down on his desk as the teacher directed the boy to a seat and began the lesson.

He turned his head as the guy, Natsume, settle down in the seat right next to him on the left. A window seat that had been recently vacated by a girl who moved to a different city. He remembered Mahiru organizing and cooking for a send-off party for her a week or so ago. His cookies were amazing.

(Sakuya had already forgotten the girl's name.)

The guy didn't have a bag and was looking a little rumbled. His blond hair was in disarray and there was a small bruise on his right cheek barely hidden under his bangs. It was almost like he had a fight with someone before coming here. Maybe that's why the principal didn't look very happy. Though he didn't look like much of a fighter. Sakuya sized him up.

Honestly, he looked more like a twig that'd get tossed around if the breeze was too strong.

The boy turned his head abruptly and met Sakuya's eyes. Sakuya blinked in surprise as he met intent brown eyes under a fringe of long bangs.

'Actually, now that I have a good look at them, they're more of a gold than brown.' He thought vaguely. 'How strange.'

Their eye contact didn't last long. The guy turned away just as abruptly as he had looked at him with no expression change to indicate a reason for meeting his gaze. Sakuya shrugged to himself and fell asleep a few minutes after that.

Sooo, yeah. I dunno why I made the connection between these two anime's but as soon as I did the idea wouldn't leave me alone. Honestly, though, I think Natsume would make an awesome eve for Tsubaki. I mean just think about it! They're both so lonely! Not sure how this'll end up. Just have a vague idea about the plot, so we'll see. Let me know what you think!