Info

[foxeyed]

"Natsume, he reflects, is like a willow branch—yielding often, but possessing a great underlying strength. Bending, not breaking. Stubborn with a smile." [x] ▷ First Impressions ▶ VISUAL: A pretty average, thin and wimpy teenage boy, with light-colored hair and eyes, dressed often in too-large hand-me-downs given to him by the Fujiwaras. In appearance he seems almost identical to his grandmother at his age; the youkai he meets, who don't distinguish gender based on human norms, frequently mistake him for Reiko herself. Teasing children sometimes called Reiko "fox-eyes" for her amber and almost otherworldy eyes that were very nearly slitted like a cat's; so it is with Natsume, too. ▶ AURAL: Soft-spoken most of the time, with a little bit of dry sass on the side; and yet at moments, when upset, he becomes loud and fervently emotional. Those with spiritual sensitivity may note that Natsume seems to be giving off waves of spiritual energy almost all the time. ▶ OLFACTORY: I don't even know what to do with this question, like, why would you be close enough to smell him. But I suppose on occasion if he's been chased through the woods, he smells like damp earth and grass, or you might detect the faint scent of old paper on his breath because returning a name requires the breath and saliva of someone related to Reiko and apparently that means, like, sticking a whole piece of paper in your mouth (??? yeah). Most youkai, though, simply comment that he smells human and leave it at that. ▶ DEMEANOUR: Quiet, polite, maybe too polite; sometimes he seems like he's faking a cheerful attitude, hiding something from the world. Sometimes he stares at nothing; sometimes he seems lost in thought. And yet, he is constantly kind to anyone who seems to need help, and those who get to know him find that at moments he is a subdued smart-mouth, a fierce defender of the defenseless, both human and youkai, and quietly protective of everyone he cares for. If he's secretive, it's because he knows the Book of Friends makes him a target for youkai and exorcists and he doesn't want his friends endangered by getting involved in his problems.

▷ Background Natsume Takashi is kind of like that kid from The Sixth Sense, sans the ghost of Bruce Willis. He has the rare ability to see youkai, spirits that come in all shapes and sizes and live alongside humans without their knowledge. This ability lands him in more than a little trouble, as when he notices the youkai, they notice him, and many have chased and tormented him since he was young. Natsume's mother died just after he was born; his father died when Natsume was too young to be able to remember his face. After that Natsume was passed around between his relatives' homes, never staying in one place for too long because his relatives found his behavior strange and unnerving. Sometimes he screamed for what seemed to be no reason, or talked about monsters they couldn't see. Some of his foster parents abused or neglected him, which Natsume always forgave, feeling that it was his fault for seeing strange things and acting strangely. Eventually, around the age of fifteen, he moved in with the Fujiwaras, who treated him kindly. Shortly after moving in with the Fujiwaras Natsume discovers the Book of Friends, a notebook inherited from his grandmother containing the names of all the youkai she had ever fought and then bound to her service. He learns from a powerful youkai called Madara, who inhabits a lucky cat figure as his physical vessel, that Reiko also had the ability to see youkai and was very spiritually powerful - just like Natsume. He decides to return the names in the book to their rightful owners, and makes a deal with Madara (nicknamed Nyanko-Sensei in his lucky cat form) that if he dies while returning the names, Madara can have the book. Through this quest, Natsume becomes tangled up in a complex world of youkai, gods, demons, and exorcists, befriending both humans and youkai along the way, as he tries to decide which he cares about more - or if he cares about both equally.