The Fate Of Hitsuzen

Watanuki didn't know how it happened. He never would. In fact, he would never even remember that day at all. And the days that came before it would vanish almost completely from his mind.

It wasn't even icy out that day. It hadn't snowed all winter. And yet, in the mid morning of that early January day, the car swerved. Watanuki's father lost control of the wheel, his mother screamed. The car jolted and crunched as it hit a tree on the side of the road.

Kimihiro Watanuki didn't know how long he was unconscious for. He awoke coughing as smoke billowed out from the front of the car.

"Mom! Dad!" he screamed. He could just see them through the smoke. They were slumped over in their seats, their arms covered in blood. He could feel now, that he too was bleeding. His glasses had shattered, cutting his face. Most of the small car's windows had also broken, cutting him and his parents.

He screamed again. His hands fumbled with his seatbelt, trying to free himself, but it was stuck. He coughed again. They were going to die . . .

Suddenly, the door beside him wrenched open. Someone was standing there, panting. Watanuki's eyes focused on the person through the smoke without his glasses. The person leaned into the car and pulled out a pocket knife, swiftly severing the seatbelt around Watanuki's waist. The person was the same age as Watanuki, his hair just as dark, and his eyes a brilliant gold.

"Sh-Shizuka?" Watanuki coughed.

Shizuka Doumeki reached into the car and scooped Watanuki up and into his arms. Without a seconed thought, he turned and began running to the other side of the road, away from the smoking car.

"Shizuka!" Kimihiro screamed, "we have to go back! My mom and dad are still in there!" He hit Doumeki's back pleadingly, "Shizuka!"

Doumeki ignored him, "No! It's too-"

He was cut short as the car burst into flames and exploded as the fire reached the fuel tank. The force of the blast sent Doumeki flying, Watanuki slipping form his arms. He crashed into the ground, Watanuki falling not far away from him.

"Kimihiro!" he yelled, trying to get up. He gasped as a sharp pain laced down his right leg. He touched it gingerly, realizing that the way he had landed had probably fractured it.

Watanuki lay unconscious beside him. Doumeki reached over towards the other boy, trying to make sure he was still breathing. His hand fell just short, but he could feel the smaller boy's faint breath on his fingers. Good.

Footsteps sounded near Doumeki, and he looked up to see a little girl about his age. Her long black, curly hair was tied into pigtails, her eyes a dark gray.

Alarm shot through Doumeki as he saw her. This girl . . . There was something wrong with her. Coming from a shrine owning family, it wasn't unusual for him to sense such things. But the darkness surrounding this girl, it was strong, too strong.

The girl whipped out a cell phone, "I'm calling 911!" she exclaimed. As she did so, she reached down towards the unconscious Watanuki.

"Don't touch him!" Doumeki screamed. But it was too late. The girl had lain her hand on Watanuki's head. Doumeki felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding as the world went black around him.

Shizuka Doumeki awoke in a white hospital bed. He could feel by the unusual weight of his leg, that it had been set and cast. His eyes turned to see an identical bed a few yards away across the room. Watanuki was lying in it, his blue eyes staring up at the ceiling, glazed and unseeing.

Doumeki swung himself out of bed and approached Watanuki. The other boy's eyes looked past him, as if seeing something Doumeki couldn't see. "Kimihiro? What's wrong?"

Slowly, Watanuki turned to look at him, "What are they?"

Doumeki's eyes narrowed, "what are what?"

"Floating around us . . ." Watanuki whispered sleepily, "I think they're

spirits . . ."

Panic flared in Doumeki's chest. He reached out and grasped Watanuki's hand in his own, "What's wrong with you?"

Surprise crossed Watanuki's face as Doumeki touched him, "They went away! How did you do that?"

Doumeki felt the panic rise. Something was wrong, "Kimihiro . . . There wasn't anything there . . ."

Suddenly, something passed between them. Like an electric shock passing through their hands. Watanuki snapped his hand out of Doumeki's grip. There was something different in his eyes, something cold.

"Don't touch me, Doumeki."

Shizuka felt his heart shudder, almost stop at these words. Agony pumped through him with every heartbeat. Kimihiro . . . Kimihiro had never called him by his last name before. He realized what the strange look in the smaller boy's eyes was now . . . It was hate.

The door behind him opened, and the girl with curly black pigtails walked in. she paced over towards the bed and leaned down over Watanuki. "How are you doing Watanuki-kun?"

"Himiwari-chan!" Watanuki exclaimed, "I'm much better, thanks!"

As the two continued to talk, Doumeki's eyes fell upon a calendar hanging on the wall. According to the large X's across the numbers, he'd been out for three days.

He turned his attention back to Watanuki. The smaller boy had feelings for this girl, Doumeki could tell. And because of that thought, the world crashed down around him. Watanuki didn't remember the accident, and because of this girl, he was seeing things Doumeki couldn't see. And because of these things . . . Watanuki suddenly hated him . . .

And he, Doumeki, loved Watanuki. He always had. For all of their eight years of life he'd loved him . . . And now . . .

Doumeki felt tears spring to his eyes. Hurriedly, he wiped them away. He couldn't let Watanuki see him cry. He could never let Watanuki see him cry. No matter how much it hurt, he had to keep his feelings inside . . .

. . . From now on . . .

RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE

Yeah . . . So I wrote this like, six months ago. But I liked the idea of it so much that I had to post it. XD

I liked the idea that the way that the three of them are now, specifically Doumeki and Watanuki, started the day Wata-chan's parents "died" and whatnot. Himiwari's bad luck activated Watanuki's powers. And if you have read the xXxHolic novel, "Another Holic" then you know that the hate Kimihiro feels for Doumeki spurns from an invisible sort of barrier the spirits attempted to put between them so that Watanuki will stay away form Dou-chan's spirit repellingness. So because of the sudden hate between them, Doumeki locked away his feelings, becoming the stone faced cutie we know today! See? Get it?