Thank you so much for your patience @kitkatwolfy I was your natsuyuu secret santa! I’m sorry for the wait, there was so much I wanted to do for this AU that I just couldn’t get around to...either way, I still hope you enjoy it <3 if you have an AO3, I’ll be uploading this on there as well so I’d like to gift it to you if possible
@natsume-ss I’d also like to thank you for waiting, I just love pushing deadlines
This is basically an AU where Natsume never went to live with the Fujiwara’s and he’s meeting Tanuma and Taki later on as adults. Natsume’s also managed to get himself in trouble with Matoba, who has found out about the Book of Friends.
Title: For As Long As You’ll Have Me
Rating: G
Pairings: Established Tanuma/Taki, not sure if it comes across that well but the intent was to allude to future Tanuma/Natsume/Taki
Words: 1864
When Tooru opens the shop, she expects it to be a crazy day. Crazy how she’s not sure but, it’s Christmas Eve so it will either be crazy busy or crazy slow. Or perhaps crazy with spiritual energy. Years of working with Tanuma has taught her that youkai, just like humans, love the holidays.
She prepares herself but Tooru doesn’t expect it to be crazy crazy.
(Oh, how mistaken she was.)
Tooru and her boyfriend of a few months (and friend for many years before that) decided to open a shop together. Neither one had known what they wanted to do with their lives but with Tanuma’s spiritual ability and her books left to her by her grandfather in a town as strange as theirs, they decided to open an Onmyōdō shop. Business isn’t booming but it’s steady enough and they tend to catch up a bit more during festivals. They even have a few semi-regular customers, including an exorcist Taki had hired when she was still in school after accidentally crossing a malevolent youkai. To pick up the slack on the spiritual side of pay, however, they also sell hot drinks and a few small pastries.
It’s a strange business they run, but it’s theirs and although they opened it more to buy time to decide what they want than anything, they seem to have inadvertently found exactly what they wanted.
Christmas Eve rolls around as it does every year, although this is only their second one in the shop. Taki goes through her morning routine as usual. She counts the tills, fills the display of sweets, and flips the sign to open. Then she leisurely goes around the shop cleaning and organizing the various books and talismans they sell. Tanuma helps his father at the temple in the mornings so she simply bides her time until then.
It’s around noon and Taki has decided it is going to be a crazy slow day when the bell on the door jingles.
She sets her broom aside and moves back towards the front to greet who she assumes to be her boyfriend only to find a disheveled man about her age instead. His hair is shock white and overgrown, barely covering his pale green eyes that are darting about the room fervently. He is panting heavily and just based on all the dirt on him, he’s been running through the forest.
Concern washes over Tooru like a cold shower.
“Is something wrong?”
He jumps in response and steps aside, out of view of the window.
“Do you have any information on exorcists?” he’s blunt and to the point but he is quite visibly forcing himself to sound pleasant.
Inside her head, alarm bells sound. Very rarely has she had customers straight up ask her for an exorcist. Usually, they buy some charms and if that doesn’t have the desired effect, they ask for the contact information of their semi-regular exorcist customer, Natori Shuuichi. In her two years working at the shop, neither she nor Tanuma has had someone ask so soon or so desperately.
“I can get you in contact with one if you’d like,” she offers, already behind her desk in search of Natori’s card.
The man flinches. “No, no, I just need information. Do you know anything about the Matoba Clan?”
That makes her pause, she’s only heard rumours and vague comments from Natori but…
“I don’t have any records of them, but from what I understand they are a powerful group of exorcists.” she offers. Tooru doesn’t know what trouble this man is in, but those sad and desperate eyes make her want to help him. “Their leader is supposedly quite young but determined and a hard worker. I’ve also heard some unsavoury things about their exorcism methods though.”
He nods but doesn’t look all that affected by the information.
The clang of the bells startles them both as Tanuma enters the shop.
“Sorry I took so long; there are some shady people in town right now so I took the long way around.”
Tanuma’s eyes land on the customer. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”
Again the white-haired man avoids a question and jumps right in with his own. “Where are they? The people in town I mean.”
Tanuma rubs the back of his head, he never did like being put on the spot. “Up the road a block or two? There's maybe three of them that way wearing traditional clothes,”
The customer’s head hits the wall as he leans back and releases a frustrated sigh.
“What’s wrong?” asks Tooru. “If there’s anything we can assist with, we’d be happy to help,”
The man glances around the shop briefly and then he turns back to her. “I, uh, don’t suppose you allow loiterers?” he asks hesitantly. “I won’t be long, I just need to wait for the people in town to leave,”
Tanuma’s eyes widen. “What’d you do to get on their bad side?”
The stranger looks down at the ground. “They want something very important to me,” is all he says.
Tooru and Tanuma glance at each other nervously. They’re used to dealing with the supernatural, that is easy territory to navigate; people problems, however, are not their strong suit. They have few close friends and their strange business tends to isolate them from the rest of the community. They may not be as immersed in the world of youkai as people like Natori or the Matoba Clan, but for them, it’s what is familiar.
Regardless how they feel, however, neither one of them has ever been good at turning down someone in need.
“You can stay here,” Tooru reassures, gesturing to one of the tables, “Have a seat, I’ll bring you something to drink,”
The man waves his hands. “I’m fine, thank you,”
“Don’t be stubborn, you look exhausted! I’ll be right back,” with that, she scurries off into the kitchen.
Tooru wastes no time pouring tea for the three of them, as well as piling a plate full of various snacks for good measure. She brings them back out to the tables where the two men sit together awkwardly. Tooru rolls her eyes and walks over to break the ice.
She sets the tray of food and drinks at the table. “I’m Taki Tooru by the way,” she says gently. Tanuma tenses. “And this is Tanuma Kaname, my awkward boyfriend,” she teases because, of course, he forgot to introduce himself.
The white-haired man smiles. “Nice to meet you, I’m Natsume Takashi,”
“Nice to meet you,” they chorus.
Everything is silent for a moment. “So what brings you here? Do you have family you’re celebrating with?” Tanuma asks.
“No,” he’s still smiling but Tooru gets the feeling that it’s not genuine. “I think I have relatives in this town but I’ve never met them. I...got lost,”
“Do you need directions?” Tooru asks. “For after the men leave obviously,”
“Not really, I’ll be fine,”
You got lost but you don’t need directions? she wants to ask. Wants to, but doesn’t. He looks so skittish, Tooru fears poking holes in his story or asking for more details will cause him to run out the door as if he had never been here at all. Despite the fact that he is a total stranger, she isn’t willing to risk scaring him off when he is clearly in danger.
“I see,” is all she says instead.
Silence reigns over the shop once more. The longer it persists, the more anxious she finds herself. How can she get her feelings across to him and let him know how worried she is?
“This is a nice store,” Natsume comments, glancing around at the various books behind him. “What inspired you to open a place like this?”
Beside her, Tanuma looks visibly relieved at the topic change. “My father’s a priest and Ta-Tooru comes from a line of Onmyōji,” he explains.
Natsume smiles and is silent for a moment. It almost looks like he’s physically arguing with himself when he asks, “So can either of you see youkai?” he grimaces at his own question.
One look at his face convinces Tooru not to brush it off. “I saw one back in high school,” she says. “I can’t see them normally but I used a circle that allows people to see them.”
She decides not to mention the fact that the youkai had cursed her and any whose name she spoke. Everything turned out fine--thanks to Natori’s hired talents--and it’s in the past. Considering the anxious nature of the white-haired man, Tooru decides it to be a minor detail that would be best left out.
Tanuma follows her lead and answers honestly, “I can’t see anything clearly, but I can make out shadows. Usually I get headaches from it though.”
And suddenly it feels like it’s actually Christmas Eve. Natsume’s eyes light up brighter than any fairy lights on the block and a small, dorky grin overtakes his previously hesitant smile. The entire shop seems to warm up as if the man before her is the sun itself.
Tooru’s breath is taken away. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see her boyfriend’s jaw drop. He seems just as starstruck as she is.
He seems to notice them staring so Tooru quickly interjects before he can feel too awkward. “What about you, Natsume-san?”
Which is apparently the wrong question to ask. A tense air radiates about him and he has to take a deep breath to settle himself.
“I see strange things that other people can’t,” he says cautiously. “It’s a secret though.”
Tooru nods. Over the years, things like this have lost their shock factor. It’s almost something she’s come to expect what with all the craziness of the life she and Tanuma have built together.
“Are you an exorcist then?” asks Tanuma.
“Oh, you did ask about the Matoba Clan earlier,” the blonde remembers. “Do you work for them?”
Natsume shakes his head. “I’m not an exorcist, I just have bad luck getting involved with them,” he explains, smiling tightly.
Realization dawns on Tooru. “Are the Matobas the people in town who are after you?”
The white-haired man looks down, shielding his eyes with his too-long bangs. “I don’t want to cause any trouble,” he explains. “But I can’t let them get what they’re after.”
Looking at him, Tooru can clearly see how tired he is. He does a good job of hiding it but she can see and she knows Tanuma can too; Natsume is on his last legs. She finds herself wondering how long he’s been running.
“We’ll help you,” Tanuma says earnestly. “You can stay here as long as you need,”
“As long as you want.” Tooru corrects.
He looks up at them both then, wonder shining in his eyes and that soft, infectious smile on his face once more.
Tooru can’t help but smile back, can’t help the bubbly feeling that blossoms in her chest. She feels deep inside her that this is the beginning of something beautiful.
She glances over at her boyfriend, seeing her own smile mirrored on his lips.
“As long as you want,” Tanuma agrees
