Price For A Voice
Title: The Tree Spirit or Price For A Voice
Author: forevernyu
Pairings: The story mainly revolves around Watanuki and Doumeki. Friendship and ... rivalry for now ;D
Summary: Is it possible to put a price on Watanuki's lost voice? This, Doumeki didn't know. Neither did Ichihara Yuuko!
Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, CLAMP does.
AN: Rated T to be safe.
Chapter 1: Escorted
"I'm going home now," Watanuki said with a weary voice. Yuuko-san(1) stopped fiddling with the packet Watanuki had retrieved for her after a long, tiring and not quite safe errand. She looked up at him. "Why don't you stay for the night Watanuki?" she asked.
Watanuki eyed his employer suspiciously
"You just want me to cook you pancakes or something for breakfast, don't you?" he said angrily before he sighing. "Besides, Doumeki's waiting," he added almost inaudibly.
"Being escorted are we, Wa-Ta-Nu-Ki?" Yuuko-san said with her bright teasing smile
"Well, it's all YOUR fault! You had us do an errand until late at night. And you know there are more of them now, a LOT more!"
"Ok then Watanuki, have it your way. Just don't go to Doumeki's tomorrow."
"Going to Doumeki's? Why the hell would I go to that big oaf's home? Hey, are you listening?" he retorted in a mixture of surprise and anger, but Yuuko-san had already turned her attention back to her packet and the almost empty bottle of sake(2) on the table.
"You don't want him to wait, do you? It would cost you twice as many bentos(3)." She directed teasingly at him.
He could feel more than see the smirk on the witch's lips, but she was right.. He hurried out, thinking that the whole sleep-over thing might have been simply for the sake of teasing him. Hopefully.
*********
The walk to Watanuki's apartment was rather quiet; seeing that neither he nor Doumeki said a word. Well, Doumeki never was much of a talker and as for Watanuki, he was just too tired to bother with anything more than walking mechanically, concentrating on each of his steps to avoid tripping over nothing and making a complete fool of himself in front of the archer.
The seer kept chanting 'left, right, left, right' like a mantra but he couldn't help noticing that Doumeki was eying him as if he were about to collapse any minute. He tried to ignore him but each glance added to his rising anger until he snapped.
"What now?"
Doumeki stopped and gazed intently at the pale face, now flushed with anger:
"You should have stayed at the shop," he stated.
"Wha-, I don't remember asking you to come-"
"That's not what I meant," Doumeki interrupted, his pinkie finger now plugged into his left ear to protect it from the seer's loud protests.
Watanuki felt too tired to pursue the argument any further especially since he was the only one getting worked up.
"I'm perfectly fine," he said, his voice back to its normal high. Unfortunately, that didn't last.
"You don't look fine," Doumeki hissed. And Watanuki had no choice but to reply as loudly as he could, "None of your DAMN business!" With that, he stomped off toward his apartment, suddenly energized by the force of his irritation.
Doumeki watched his hasty retreat thinking that if Watanuki had enough energy to shout like that, the boy might be in better health than he had initially thought. Then he followed his friend, easily keeping up with his anger-fueled pace.
*********
When they arrived at the apartment building, Doumeki stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
He watched Watanuki reach the door, then fumble with the keys, waiting to see him back into the safety of his warded room before retreating to his own house. A distinct click told him that the door was finally unlocked and Watanuki looked down to where Doumeki stood.
"Thank you," came the quiet and unexpected expression of gratitude.
"You're welcome," Doumeki managed to reply in his usual monotone. But for some reason Watanuki didn't like it.
"Why- you IDIOT! Will you stop treating like a GIRL! I'll have you know that it's only polite to thank someone who helped you whether you wanted it or not. So don't get any weird ideas, we're still rivals!"
And with that Watanuki stormed into his apartment and slammed the door shut behind him.
Doumeki turned around a smirk visible on his usually expressionless face and he walked back home wondering slyly how high-pitched his self-proclaimed rival's voice could become.
(1) san: Japanese honorific for either men or women (a bit like Mr, Ms, Mrs)
(2) sake: a strong Japanese alcohol
(3) bentos: Japanese are lunch boxes, usually home made
AN: I already started on the next 2-3 chapters, so I will update rather quickly. Please keep reading and don't forget to review. It really makes me happy and it actually helps me type faster!