He was irreversibly bonded with Doumeki Shizuka? What was he supposed to think of that? He had always claimed Doumeki was his greatest rival. That he was annoyed by him, hated him, and would show him up one day. Yet, here he was, bonded through blood with his archrival, living in the same house, and cooking and cleaning for him like it was the most natural thing in the world. What scared him most was that it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Himawari's words from when he had first moved into the Doumeki household came back to him. "You two are such good friends because you fight." Were they really good friends? It was hard to think in terms like that after so many years of adamantly rejecting the idea. But, thinking back on it, everything that had happened between them down to the admittedly one-sided fights pointed towards friendship.
Damn, this was confusing. He hated thinking like this, he hated when his world got turned upside down, and for no better reason than Yuuko had decided to say something creepy, again. This was not the first time, by far, that she had confused his outlook on the world. No, he was beginning to think it was her favorite pastime, next to reading yaoi manga anyway.
In less than a week, she had managed to say a handful of interconnected things specifically designed to mess with his brain. He didn't doubt for a second that she had planned it that way either. First the comment about not granting the wish you asked for, then the comment about Doumeki having some sort of wish, and finally that stupid, stupid, blood comment. He hated his boss.
Watanuki did, however, manage to push the thought from his mind. He just had to concentrate on doing things without over exhorting himself in the process. It wasn't that the wound was bad, just awkward, and really itchy now that it was healing. He couldn't stretch too far in any given direction without it pulling, and he didn't want it to reopen. Those two days out had been hell on his body too. It was like he was recovering from more than a month of being deathly ill, rather than one night. He was too easily tired out, and even he could tell he still looked pale. At least it was improving.
He didn't know if he could call his recovery quick, but given the alternative, he was more than happy with it. Yuuko said by the end of the week he would be in perfect health again. That would have been encouraging if not for her evil smile and that laugh of hers. She acted like she knew something about his recovery that he didn't, and as infuriating as that was, she probably did.
Life, for the most part, was relatively normal. Or, as normal as it could ever be. He was back working at the shop on a daily basis, Doumeki was still walking him everywhere like some sort of God damn babysitter, and the idiot had stopped pulling his shirt up at random times to check the bandages. As normal as his life could ever be.
He would never admit, not even to himself, that he had enjoyed those study sessions while he had been bed ridden, nor would he admit that, while Doumeki's parents and grandmother were wonderful people whom he loved like a family of his own, he had missed the big quiet idiot while he sat there for nearly a week. Really, he only had needed someone to yell at, and since he didn't have to worry about the stony faced archer yelling back, who better?
Too many weird thoughts recently, that was for certain. He was losing his mind. That had to be it; all of this was some elaborate plot to make him lose his mind. It made sense really, and sounded just like something Doumeki and Yuuko would plot about. Though, he wasn't quite sure he could see them plotting together. Those two loved to mess with him though, and he never knew what to expect; admittedly, Doumeki usually stuck to pushing his buttons openly.
He was still musing as he sat on the grass, watching the other boys on the track as they ran. Thanks to his injury, he was exempted from a lot of the stuff that they did in gym class. His eyes lingered on Doumeki, and his thoughts from before made him scowl. He looked away just in time to miss the glance that said archer cast at him.
"Watanuki-kun, I hope you get better soon."
Watanuki jerked to look behind him at Himawari. He smiled as she sat down next to him, dressed in her summer gym clothes. "Himawari chan, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with the girls?"
She nodded. "Yes, but I thought I'd come to see how you were. You haven't been participating in any of the gym stuff. Does your injury still hurt that much?"
It was so like her, he thought, to worry about him like that. "It doesn't really hurt, but I just don't want to reopen--"
"Kunogi!"
"Oops, sorry Watanuki kun, I have to go."
With a sigh, he watched her leave. He didn't even realize that the boys had stopped running until he felt a presence at his back. He didn't even have to guess who it was; he knew it with a bone-deep certainty. And it completely scared him and brought another terrifying thought. Was this a side effect of the whole blood bond thing?!
"What do you want?"
But Doumeki didn't say anything and he could feel the scrutinizing stare for the rest of the day.
It was later, after work, when he was cleaning that he felt that presence at his back again. This time he told himself that he knew it was Doumeki because no one else in the house would stand behind him and not say anything like that.
Slowly he turned around to glare at the other boy. "What? Do you just like to stand behind me and weird me out or something?" He actually made the mental note not to yell inside the house. It wasn't easy, but he was managing a little at a time.
Doumeki stood there in silence for what seemed far too long, and Watanuki couldn't help but fidget, wondering if he had something on his face or a kick me sign on his back. "What?!"
"Something has been bothering you lately," Doumeki stated, calmly, as if he had just come to a conclusion he felt Watanuki should know about.
"Like you and your staring," he bit back, growing more irritated by the second
"That's not what I meant. It's something else."
"What makes you think anything other than your incessant staring has been bothering me?" It was getting very hard not to yell, his voice rising with each sentence. "You think just because I get annoyed with your creepy staring that something is wrong? That's just stupid."
Doumeki removed his fingers from his ear, and Watanuki made an extra note to not yell, though he didn't think it would help. "You've been weird all week, and you've rearranged that book shelf fifteen times today."
Watanuki could feel his cheeks heating. He had not rearranged the bookshelf fifteen times today, had he? "So what? It's not like it's any of your business!" "But what if it is? What does this bond mean? I hope it doesn't mean he can read my thoughts or anything sometimes, like how he can sometimes see what I see. What if he can?! His mind was going a million miles a minute, and he had the feeling Doumeki could tell at least that something odd was going through his mind.
"When something is bothering you, it usually means trouble for me. So it would be easier if you told me now." Doumeki sounded bored, but Watanuki knew otherwise. Doumeki always sounded bored, but when he brought something up it usually meant he cared at least a little. The archer wasn't one to waste too much energy on pointless conversation.
Watanuki sighed, giving up. He might as well tell Doumeki what Yuuko had said, because it was technically his business since they were supposed to be bonded to each other now.
"The other day, Yuuko told me what you had to do to save me. That you gave me some of your blood to cleanse the poison." He paused, trying to think how to word what he wanted to say. "She said it bonded us… forever. That we could twist and warp the bond however we want, but it would never break." He stared at the ground, waiting for the archer's reaction. It probably wasn't going to be pretty.
Silence again, then, "We were bonded before that." Watanuki's head snapped up, blue eyes locking on golden, unable to read what he saw there. "Before we had the eye, now we share blood." Watanuki's eyes widened in realization, Doumeki was right, Yuuko had just failed to point out the fact before wanting to mess with his mind.
"You… you're right." His voice was almost a whisper, and he felt the need to sit down, but couldn't bring himself to move. "But, that just means that I'll always be relying on your for protection, always." It seemed like a horrible thing, to both himself, and to place such a burden unintentionally on Doumeki.
"I know." The answer brought his attention back to the archer. His face was unreadable as always, but it seemed to have softened. "I'll always be able to protected you a little, even when I'm not there." Watanuki felt like he should say something, but Doumeki continued. "I want to protect you."
"Why? Why would you want to have to do that for your entire life?" He was in shock, that was the only word for it. He couldn't even bring himself to yell; he didn't know what he would yell about.
Doumeki seemed to hesitate. It was hard to tell, but that's what the brief pause felt like. "That's my wish." Doumeki turned to leave, leaving Watanuki slack jawed, beet red, and speechless.
This is Oro-chan's story that I helped her out with. Orochimaruhan and I posted on the xxxholic and the doumekiwatanuki livejournal communities. We also don't own xxxholic.