nyan nyan ♥ Who: Nyanko-sensei & Greeter When: sometime after Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou, no spoilers Where: from the forest to the lobby What: Nyanko-sensei watches a parade of ayakashi; wakes up in the hotel grounds Rating/Status: PG/Completed thread
Natsume, the boy with the book, had left with his classmates for the weekend on a school field trip, leaving him all alone with nothing to do. Well, close to nothing. Or so he thought, until he found himself in the middle of the forest, alone and booze-less. Even the bratty whats-his-face priest's son did not seem to be lurking around.
So the proud and powerful spirit, once known as Madara, now known as - wince - Nyanko-sensei (better than Nyan-kichi for sure), was nestled in the crook of a mulberry bush, watching the light of the setting sun filter through the leaves of the tallest trees.
A drum beat began off in the distance, followed by a flute and a series of stringed instruments. Nyanko-sensei lifted his head up from the ground and saw off in the distance a band of ayakashi coming down the road, carrying paper lamps to light the way in the coming dusk. Was there a spirit festival tonight? It was winter, but snow had yet to fall. Perhaps they were off to revel in the autumn leaves before they went away.
Nyanko-sensei watched as they passed by his shrub, not seeing him at all. Everyone was in their best yukatas and sandals, gabbing away incessantly as they walked, ayakashi of all shapes and sizes walking down the slightly slanted slope of the path leading to their meeting place.
No one noticed Nyanko-sensei as he was dampening his ayakashi scent rather well that night. He didn't want to celebrate, especially not without any spirits of the alcoholic kind. So, after a few minutes of people watching, he lowered his head and feel asleep, his light low snore barely crossing the air.
He woke up blurry-eyed and dazed. It didn't feel like he had just taken a nap, more like someone had spiked his subconscious with whiskey and rum then shaken it until he couldn't walk straight. Nyanko-sensei got up, shook some leaves out of his fur, clumsily groomed his face and ears, then started walking, wondering how the ground got so level. He started walking until the ground under his feet felt less like dirt and more like plush carpet.
Wait. Carpet? Nyanko-sensei blinked once, twice, a third time and shook his head, clearing his mind of sleepytime cobwebs -- and then he saw it. The fancy gilded walls and banisters. The rare oil paintings on display. The chairs and couches covered in velvet coverings. The teakwood desk standing at attention straight ahead of him. Somehow, Nyanko-sensei had ended up not in the forests of Japan but a classy European hotel.
And he was having none of that.
"What the heck is going on here?" Nyanko-sensei shouted, the fur on his back rising in surprise and anger. What nerve! To go and kidnap a high-powered ayakashi like him -- and he didn't even have the Yuujinchou yet!
Growling as only a very angry spirit in lucky cat form could, Nyanko-sensei hopped and climbed his way on top of the desk and, seeing a bell, rang it several times.