Natsume Yūjin-Chō, Touhou Project 1. It All Started With A Simple Smile

It all started with a simple smile.

Yakumo Yukari, the Sage of Gensokyo, the border of Phantasm, and the Youkai of Boundaries rarely ever does anything else but observe, probably visit here and there and sleep (occasionally). It was always her policy not to get involved in something as demeaning and worthless things as human ministrations and trifling matters like children. Such things are beneath her and honestly, it's more trouble than it looks.

Two things are happening right now: The great mistress of boundaries is outside and a sniffling child is looking at her with wide eyes.

_'__Ahh, it can't be helped. Such troublesome things, these human children are.'_

So like any other normal (she scoffs mentally) person, she responded with a sweet smile that would have fooled any other passerby. Unfortunately, the golden-haired, caramel-eyed boy is anything but any other.

"Y-You're like _them_, right? I'm the only one who can see you..."

With mild-interest, she raised her eyebrow while stepping forward. She noticed that the boy's shoulder stiffened and his doe-like eyes that were close to tears, flashed with something akin to fear. Even though Yukari knew that it was a natural response (especially towards someone like her), it was still _not natural_ since she projected no threatening action. Plus, there's the fact that there is no way this helpless and lost boy would know that she's anywhere near something powerful, such as being an unknown number of years old youkai, considering she is outside the Hakurei Barrier.

_'__Hmm, how interesting.'_

And there goes sticking to observation only.

"Ara? I don't know what you're talking about, little boy. Everyone can see me, as clear as day!" With a little playful twirl of her deep-purple dress and powder-pink parasol, she glanced and waved at the old lady passing by the sunset-colored park they were currently in.

"E-eh? Ah..."After looking towards the old lady's direction, the boy who was filled with fear earlier glanced back at the lady in purple and stuttered to think of something to say. The cheshire cat-like smile still plastered on Yukari made things worst for the embarrassed (and now, slightly panicking) kid.

_'__Oh? I didn't know humans can turn in that shade of red—'_

"I-I'm sorry!" The boy managed to muster out after several stuttering tries as he began to bow deeply. "P-Please don't mind what I said!"

"Oh my, now that you went ahead and told me not to mind it, I _do _mind it after all."

"I-I..."

After he looked up to see the youkai's eerie golden eyes, the brunette was filled with an awful sense of dread overcoming him. With the familiar feeling engulfing him, he ran towards the opposite direction at full speed, not even minding the other remarkable creatures that he passed by which were all unseen under the naked eye. Yukari, still filled with amusement from the encounter a while ago, chuckled. This attracted the attention of other fantastical creatures surrounding the area from the commotion earlier. One by one, they approached the lady in purple with ill intent dancing within their eyes. She took a glance and with a twirl of her parasol, she faced them completely, eyes brimming with disdain and disgust. A glare so prim and proper yet so cold and bitter was directed at each of the youkai present and not one who stood in front of her dare move or make a single noise.

From an outsider's view, it was a show of complete power and dominance. From a person who knew her long enough, it was her way of expressing a childish tantrum.

"Hmpf." A huff that broke the dead silent park prompted the rest of the monsters to flee from the powerful lady. Continuing, she spoke the rest of her thoughts to no one in particular.

"Uncivilized, the lot of them. After refusing my generous offer for them to move to Gensokyo, they had the nerve and gall to even attempt to eat me." Finally deciding enough, she began to head back towards the outside world's abandoned Hakurei Shrine. She paused and knelt down to pick up a piece of abandoned paper with a name written messily over it. The boy from earlier must have dropped it in panic as when he was confronted by the blonde youkai.

_'__I wonder if I scared Chi-Natsu a bit too much?'_ The thought twisted Yukari's smile into a mischievous one, thinking of the strange boy who caught her attention.

This is how Yakumo Yukari and Natsume Takashi met one summer afternoon.

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><p><strong>AN: Yukari calls Natsume, Chi-Natsu, just for the sake of teasing him. Chi-Natsu roughly translates to Little Summer, Natsu in Natsume meaning Summer.**

**Hello! Umm, originally, I was going to do something with Reiko and Yukari but I kinda wanna save it for another time and just focus on motherly!Yukari and child!Natsume for the mean time. If Yukari seems a bit OOC, I apologize for that! I tried my best to give her some sort of whimsical, I do what I want, character yet someone who cares and observes and is really fricking dangerous if trifled with.**


	2. Oh How Fickle Humans Truly Are

Oh how fickle humans truly are.

Yukari noted, once again, after encountering a group of children gathering around a boy whom the rest of the group was hanging around earlier. It looked as if the boy had offended the leader and was now suffering the consequences despite the fact that they were so chummy earlier on.

A snort and hair flip later, she found herself wondering just why she was outside the Hakurei Barrier once again. Her thoughts slowly floated back towards that fateful meeting about a week ago with her so called Chi-Natsu.

Said boy was running full sprint towards the group of bullies and their bullied lackey. Noting the rashness of the action and the determination shown by the brunette, she merely stood off in the distance, gazing with calculating eyes on the actions Natsume chose to do.

Apparently, one of those actions involved tripping and knocking down the aforementioned leader in one fell swoop.

_"__Hey! What was that for?"_

_"__Huh, this guy's got guts!"_

_"__W-wait, isn't he the __**liar**__?"_

The last whisper caught Yukari's lingering attention. Huh, Chi-Natsu being a liar? That's a first.

_"__Sheesh, if he's so eager for attention so much, let's give him some!"_

_"__Y-Yeah!" _The lackey that was supposed to be beaten up earlier pointed accusingly at the brunette. To Natsume's slow growing horror, the others agreed to the suggestion.

Yukari saw the malevolent glee reflect in the eyes of one of the children. A frown formed on her dainty little face, eyebrows twitching in annoyance at the sudden heel-face turn.

Most of the time, Yukari would ignore (heck, she'd even _encourage_) the petty fights and arguments most humans have. The most that could happen is the obligatory _danmaku_ battle and tea afterwards, nothing permanent or dangerous. In fact, the battle with danmaku is considerably safer than _poker_.

A small whimper drew the attention back from the youkai's musings towards the present situation.

"S-stop!" Natsume cried out as the bullies grabbed his school satchel and dangled it above him. Considering the height difference among the two, Natsume was definitely on the short end of the stick.

"P-Please give it back!" His caramel eyes pleaded, desperation laced on his voice. This response seemed to have amused the rest and proceeded to do the one thing Natsume dreaded.

_"__Why don't you ask one of your monster friends to get it then?"_

Soon, his school satchel was lost within the deep forest below, and the bullies seemed to have had enough amusement for the day. As his doe-like eyes grew close to tears and his knuckles gripped on the iron fencing that separated him from the sea of trees, he stared down into the abyss, hoping and praying that by some miracle, his stuff was unharmed and okay.

_'__I'll bring trouble to my family again...'_

Natsume's eyes continuously scanned the area below, the sunset painting an orange glow on his skin. Nothing seemed to detract him from his self-appointed task at the moment. After a few minutes of silence, the boy's knees finally buckled from frustration and exhaustion.

He didn't notice when a parasol went above him, shielding his body from the sunset's rays.

"Is something wrong, _Chi-Natsu_?"

The boy looked up and stared back at his own warm caramel eyes within sparkling golden ones. Blonde locks of wavy hair gleamed at the angle Natsume was facing; her lips in perpetual smile that Natsume couldn't help but think of as playful and mischievous

What surprised him, however, was his school satchel on the lady's other hand. The purple-dressed lady seemed to have noticed his change in demeanor and that only seemed to have made her smile even wider. Natsume was currently in a dilemma. Should he be grateful? Wary? Heck, should he just grab the satchel and run like the wind? However, his ingrained kindness and need for respect overcame the sense of danger he felt.

"Ahh, is this little thing yours, perhaps?"

"Y-Yes," he reached out to take the satchel and continued, "t-thank you for giving it back."

A sudden thought hit Natsume like a ton of bricks.

_'__W-wait, how did she—'_

"You must be careful next time." She patted his hair, ruffling it a bit. Despite the questions Natsume had, he noted how warm her hand was and how nice it felt. Gripping the satchel as if it would be gone in a minute, he peeked behind the worn out bag, once again staring straight into the youkai's sparkling eyes.

Somehow, Natsume thought that her eyes were also as warm as her action earlier.

Yukari, parasol on one hand and Natsume's head on the other, winked at him. Like last time, Natsume turned into a stuttering mess.

"My, my, Chi-Natsu! You make such cute expressions! Why, I could just eat you up if you try not to be more careful!" Yukari finally stopped the patting and hid her amused chuckle behind her free hand. Natsume couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

"M-Miss—"

"Yukari."

"H-Huh?" Natsume looked at her with confusion.

"My name is Yukari. Yakumo Yukari." She presented Natsume with her free hand. "It is certainly a pleasure to formally meet you, Chi-Natsu."

Natsume pouted at the nickname. Nonetheless, he accepted the hand and lifted himself up.

"I am Natsume Takashi. It's nice to meet you, miss Yakumo." The boy bowed slightly after the formal introduction. He smiled at the lady, no longer feeling scared of her. Yukari thought to herself how cute he looked if he would just smile more.

"Well I do hope you are fine now, Chi-Natsu," Yukari turned before looking back to add, "smile a bit more, dear. It will make your friends happier."

"But I don't have any..."

"Well now you do. Am I not considered your friend?"

"T-That's not it!" Small tinges of red spread on his cheeks as he frantically waved his arms around, denying the accusation thrown at him. "I-I do consider you as a friend... but do you?" Natsume's voice was barely above a whisper, fear evident in his tone.

"Of course."

"T-then, will I meet you again?"

"Certainly."

"When?"

Yukari stepped forward as if contemplating the question.

"Whenever your heart calls for me."

A gust of strong wind came without a warning and left Natsume trying to cover his eyes. When he opened them again, the lady in purple, now he knows as Yakumo Yukari, was gone.

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><p><strong>AN: Second part and we finally got introductions. Natsume still has no idea if she is a youkai or not though because of what happened the last time. Still, Little Natsume finally has a friend yaaaaay!**

**Beta'd by the lovely celestehalcyon! Go read her fics, they're awesome ;u;**

**Note: I'm making Yukari's speech a bit refined and elegant-sounding since head canon is she is really an elegant and playful youkai. This is also to more or less to emphasize just how people in Gensokyo speak a bit differently (probably in accents or small quirks) and that even if she is a youkai, she's still technically alien towards most if not all the outside world youkai. Anyway, motherly!Yukari is coming up soon so stay tuned!**


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Natsume Yūjin-Chō, Touhou Project, Family, Friendship