The Book of Grandchildren ( Natsume Yuujinchou X Nurarihyon no Mago)

[15] Now, my chest takes a step

Waking up with dirt on their face and a headache is totally something both Zen and Natsume would not like to have. In actuality, this is not the first time Natsume ever fell over somewhere high, rolling over the hills, the forest, or jumping down from a two-storage house. Maybe it's because of all of those experiences that he gained the knowledge to fall safely.

The moment Natsume woke up, he almost thought it was all only a nightmare before the headache and pain ache all around his body snapped him back to reality. It's not as painful as the pain he feels in his knee, though.

" Ugh... Where-- That's right, Zen-san! "

He immediately brings all his power to support both of his hands, trying his hardest to get up and find him.

" Zen-san... I need to find him... please..."

Even Natsume had to drain his remaining strength now, plus dealing with the pain in his left knee and a headache simultaneously. Although his headache is slowly dissolving, the pain in his knee and some parts of his body are still in clear pain.

He needs to catch his breath steadily after he manages to sit perfectly. His eyes dart all over his surroundings, searching for Zen's figure. He didn't know what to do anymore if something bad happened to Zen. Now that Natsume also thinks about it, he remembers his last memory was a stranger; an exorcist suddenly struck his power towards Zen carelessly and almost hit Natsume in the process.

And finally, the corner of his eyes caught someone's figure in the middle of haste.

".. That's... Zen-san! "

Natsume shouts in allayed for finding Zen sprawl not so far from him. At least there's no blood visible from where Zen lies. Though Zen is indeed not so far from his current position, Natsume still needs to at least take a few steps if he wants to reach him. But the injury on Natsume's left knee is making things difficult for him.

"...Ugh... it's alright... I can do this much... "

Forcing himself to stand up, he could barely make a few small steps before finally reaching Zen's body.

Perhaps it was the rushing adrenaline that made him able to even stand up, delaying his pain and forgetting... how badly his left knee wound actually.

Zen's face is dirtied a little bit, and his wet clothes are mostly dirty. But overall, Zen's external condition is pretty good, with no visible injury. Now, all he's concerned about is Zen's consciousness.

" Zen-san! Zen-san! Are you alright? Please, wake up! "

Natsume was about to shake his body, but he suddenly remembered something about how to treat people in this kind of situation. He shouldn't shake his body so hard. He taps Zen's cheek a few times to see the man's without any reaction.

" There's no any external injuries... So he should be fine outside, at least. But I still can't decide if his body is fine inside, too. I don't know anything about how to treat a Youkai... Since Zen's body is looking a lot like a human... I hope this will work. "

Natsume got up on his knees. He knows the risk of hurting his injured knee even more. Thus, he changes over half of his weight to his uninjured leg. It's hard, but he did it somehow along the way. Then, the young guy put both hands on one another and pressed Zen's chest. Natsume had never done this chess compression before, and he didn't have a single clue if it would work on a Youkai or not, but he just did it based on the sliver hope of having Zen's body similar to that of a human--since he looks just like one physically. After doing chess compression on the older Youkai a few times, Zen finally comes to consciousness and follows with a stream of water choked out from his mouth.