not even the ghost
Dec. 30th, 2017 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seleniasTitle: not even the ghost
Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou
Characters/pairing: Nanase + Reiko, pretty gen
Prompts: #5 chrysanthemum
Rating: all audiences
Word Count: 985
Notes: For some context, it seems that those in the Natsyuu universe who can see youkai have narrow pupils. This doesn't seem to be noticeable to normal people.
Nanase made sure she was alone when she left the compound. It was only a slight mystery over which Natsume had recently deceased, but she didn’t want to over look anything. She would have to attend the funeral to know for certain.
Investigating the girl over the years had been about as fruitless as everything else. Reiko’s history made her more of a ghost than the storybook character she appeared to be. Both parents dead, passed around between relatives for several years, never staying longer than necessary -- longer than her caretakers would keep her. For a girl who didn’t belong to a clan, it was consistent with the behavior of either a very talented child or a troubled one. The longer the search kept on she couldn’t tell the difference. She was nearing the age where it neithered for them both.
The Matoba head was interested in her reports, but not enough to pursue the girl outright. It was disheartening. Nanase had figured her pursuit looked foolhardy to her superiors. Every year it proved true as information was more costly and less helpful. Evey year the number of exorcists in the business got smaller. Somehow it seemed that everything came down to this. Clan-less folk with talent were climbing out the woodwork. If the Matoba clan didn’t scoop her up, someone else would. So she kept up the search, even when the youkai in Yatsuhara stopped whispering Reiko’s name. And then it sprang up out of nowhere.
Funerals were good times for catching people unawares. She wasn’t worried about being rude. Not after so long.
“You’re going? That’s improper, isn’t it?” Nanase shoved the guest slippers back into the cubbyhole and turned. The genkan was a decent size for the villa. That didn’t make the shadow over her shoulder any less intimidating.
“Hello, Matoba-san,” she greeted. “Are you saying I shouldn’t?” She let her face go flat to match his. They’d played this game too often lately. If he poked into her business she was obligated to return the gesture.
“I’m simply uncertain as to why you think this will help.” Haven’t you tried enough?
“I think we deserve a conclusive answer face-to-face after all our efforts,” she replied carefully. “I’ve reached out numerous times and you have as well. I plan to pay my respects and talk with her. Maybe we’ll find some common ground.”
“Ah. And when will you do that?”
“She’ll have time after the wake. Before the cremation if she spends the night.” She remembered picking her mother’s bones out of the ashes with a pair of chopsticks too large for her hands. The Matoba’s collection of family urns stopped being impressive and simply got creepy. Reiko probably wouldn’t mind much. She might even appreciate it, if her reputation proceeded her.
“Isn’t it strange though? I thought there were no other Natsumes. Did you find out specifically who the funeral is for?”
Nanase straightened her tie and slipped on her black patent shoes, watching the light bounce off from the doorway. “No. I’m not particularly worried about it. I’ll find out, I suppose. I heard recently that she had a daughter.”
Matoba was eerily quiet. “I see. You know the most about all this. Please put us all to rest on this matter for the last time.”
-
It was a bit of a mystery which Natsume had recently deceased. Nanase couldn’t think of names. Reiko’s was the only that had mattered. She brought flowers, as was appropriate of a guest in attendance. Not that she would stay any longer than necessary. She could claim her identity as she pleased but the idea wasn’t to cause a scene.
It was hot. She spotted the priest first, as he was the most elborately dressed. For a wake, she had expected more people. The big gatherings in the clans consisted of family that only ever met in the vicinity, and never elsewhere. It had been a long time since she attended a procession in a funeral home where people who weren’t family lingered around in a muddy space. Not that she’d ever heard a good thing about Reiko. Nobody looked particularly thrilled to see one another, either.
She came in through the open door, the air conditioner drying the sweat on her neck and Nanase signed her name in the guest log and frog marched herself the rest of the way in. The chrysanthemums she’d bought had started to wilt during the train ride to get there, but it hardly mattered. The entire room felt like a casket.
She had to accept it: Matoba’s words stabbed at her. It was either Reiko or her daughter and both were sad.
That girl who she’d caught glimpses of were far removed from this sad place. She only ever got further and further from reach after her family passed her on. Nanase supposed she was the only one who would remember that so thoroughly.
She glanced among the small crowd and felt her jaw tighten, halting just out of speaking range. She’d worn her nicest suit in respect, but that was another meaningless gesture. Reiko wasn’t in attendance among the family, like she’d thought. These people wont to do with their distant relative’s child would find even less meaning in her visit.
But there was the daughter she believed -- a dark haired thing who sat still and silent in a folding metal chair in the front. Her blue dress was clean and crisp and she was evidently being cared for by someone since the passing -- someone that wasn’t her monther. Nanase didn’t envy her. There were no records of Reiko having married.
Nanase bit her lip and walked over, flowers feeling heavy. What she wanted wasn’t here anymore. But if she got a good look at the girl’s eyes though -- if the pupil’s were narrow slits like her own -- she’d know she’d left her better half behind.
Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou
Characters/pairing: Nanase + Reiko, pretty gen
Prompts: #5 chrysanthemum
Rating: all audiences
Word Count: 985
Notes: For some context, it seems that those in the Natsyuu universe who can see youkai have narrow pupils. This doesn't seem to be noticeable to normal people.
- - - -
Nanase made sure she was alone when she left the compound. It was only a slight mystery over which Natsume had recently deceased, but she didn’t want to over look anything. She would have to attend the funeral to know for certain.
Investigating the girl over the years had been about as fruitless as everything else. Reiko’s history made her more of a ghost than the storybook character she appeared to be. Both parents dead, passed around between relatives for several years, never staying longer than necessary -- longer than her caretakers would keep her. For a girl who didn’t belong to a clan, it was consistent with the behavior of either a very talented child or a troubled one. The longer the search kept on she couldn’t tell the difference. She was nearing the age where it neithered for them both.
The Matoba head was interested in her reports, but not enough to pursue the girl outright. It was disheartening. Nanase had figured her pursuit looked foolhardy to her superiors. Every year it proved true as information was more costly and less helpful. Evey year the number of exorcists in the business got smaller. Somehow it seemed that everything came down to this. Clan-less folk with talent were climbing out the woodwork. If the Matoba clan didn’t scoop her up, someone else would. So she kept up the search, even when the youkai in Yatsuhara stopped whispering Reiko’s name. And then it sprang up out of nowhere.
Funerals were good times for catching people unawares. She wasn’t worried about being rude. Not after so long.
“You’re going? That’s improper, isn’t it?” Nanase shoved the guest slippers back into the cubbyhole and turned. The genkan was a decent size for the villa. That didn’t make the shadow over her shoulder any less intimidating.
“Hello, Matoba-san,” she greeted. “Are you saying I shouldn’t?” She let her face go flat to match his. They’d played this game too often lately. If he poked into her business she was obligated to return the gesture.
“I’m simply uncertain as to why you think this will help.” Haven’t you tried enough?
“I think we deserve a conclusive answer face-to-face after all our efforts,” she replied carefully. “I’ve reached out numerous times and you have as well. I plan to pay my respects and talk with her. Maybe we’ll find some common ground.”
“Ah. And when will you do that?”
“She’ll have time after the wake. Before the cremation if she spends the night.” She remembered picking her mother’s bones out of the ashes with a pair of chopsticks too large for her hands. The Matoba’s collection of family urns stopped being impressive and simply got creepy. Reiko probably wouldn’t mind much. She might even appreciate it, if her reputation proceeded her.
“Isn’t it strange though? I thought there were no other Natsumes. Did you find out specifically who the funeral is for?”
Nanase straightened her tie and slipped on her black patent shoes, watching the light bounce off from the doorway. “No. I’m not particularly worried about it. I’ll find out, I suppose. I heard recently that she had a daughter.”
Matoba was eerily quiet. “I see. You know the most about all this. Please put us all to rest on this matter for the last time.”
-
It was a bit of a mystery which Natsume had recently deceased. Nanase couldn’t think of names. Reiko’s was the only that had mattered. She brought flowers, as was appropriate of a guest in attendance. Not that she would stay any longer than necessary. She could claim her identity as she pleased but the idea wasn’t to cause a scene.
It was hot. She spotted the priest first, as he was the most elborately dressed. For a wake, she had expected more people. The big gatherings in the clans consisted of family that only ever met in the vicinity, and never elsewhere. It had been a long time since she attended a procession in a funeral home where people who weren’t family lingered around in a muddy space. Not that she’d ever heard a good thing about Reiko. Nobody looked particularly thrilled to see one another, either.
She came in through the open door, the air conditioner drying the sweat on her neck and Nanase signed her name in the guest log and frog marched herself the rest of the way in. The chrysanthemums she’d bought had started to wilt during the train ride to get there, but it hardly mattered. The entire room felt like a casket.
She had to accept it: Matoba’s words stabbed at her. It was either Reiko or her daughter and both were sad.
That girl who she’d caught glimpses of were far removed from this sad place. She only ever got further and further from reach after her family passed her on. Nanase supposed she was the only one who would remember that so thoroughly.
She glanced among the small crowd and felt her jaw tighten, halting just out of speaking range. She’d worn her nicest suit in respect, but that was another meaningless gesture. Reiko wasn’t in attendance among the family, like she’d thought. These people wont to do with their distant relative’s child would find even less meaning in her visit.
But there was the daughter she believed -- a dark haired thing who sat still and silent in a folding metal chair in the front. Her blue dress was clean and crisp and she was evidently being cared for by someone since the passing -- someone that wasn’t her monther. Nanase didn’t envy her. There were no records of Reiko having married.
Nanase bit her lip and walked over, flowers feeling heavy. What she wanted wasn’t here anymore. But if she got a good look at the girl’s eyes though -- if the pupil’s were narrow slits like her own -- she’d know she’d left her better half behind.
