Title: What Tomorrow Brings.
Series: xxxHolic
Rating: PG (will increase!)
Pairing: DoumekixWatanuki
Warnings: Shonen-ai (obviously), bad grammar (maybe).

Spoilers: Not really…
Word Count: 1616 (so far!)
Summary: There are some things that are just bond to happen, but can Watanuki learn to accept that?
Disclaimer: Only the typos are mine!

There were no coincidences. "Luck" or "bad luck" didn't exist. There was only fate and your fate would get you whether you wanted it or not. You couldn't escape from the path that was meant for you and no matter what you did, the things that had to happen would happen, sooner or later… Ichihara Yuuko knew all this and accepted it somehow.

Watanuki, on the other hand, was such a person so extremely stubborn and unwilling to accept it as things didn't turn out as he thought they should be. Even when she told him there was nothing he could do, he still tried, because he wanted to be able to change things and most of all he wanted to have control over his life, messy as it might be…Yuuko couldn't help but wonder how long time it would take before his point of view began to change, if it ever would.

Of course, in one way Watanuki had to be called admirable for his strong will and heart, he wasn't a person easy to break down. But in the same time, this stubbornness was also his strongest limit, a force that would always hold him back if he didn't learn to conquer it.

She turned her head a little, a tine smirk on her lips, and looked at the door through which her employer had just left. Yeah, Watanuki was truly an interesting person…

-

Darkness was about to fall for real, and the street was slippery after the heavy rainfall earlier in the day. The streets were all empty and almost depressing in their appearance. Feeling a bit crept out by the growing shadows, and by the thought about what might be hiding in them, Watanuki quickened his pace. He was about half way from Yuuko's shop and his home as something suddenly grabbed him by the waist and hoisted him up. He lost grip of his bag as he was turned upside down by the shadowlike creature and it fell into a water pool underneath him.

"Damn you, stupid thing!" he kicked and struggled to free his arms from the tight grip but was too weak to make any real resistance. However, almost accidentally, he managed to kick straight into something that seemed to be the creature's eye. At this, the spirit started to shake as in convulsions, but the luck of having been able to cause it some kind of pain was over soon as it simply lifted him a little higher and tossed him away. His lithe body flew all the way over the street and he landed sprawled over a park bench, forehead hitting the edge of the arm rest so hard that he almost lost consciousness. Sparkles danced before his eyes and blood stared to run down his chin from the fresh wound, only pure fear kept him awake.

With an all-out effort he heaved himself up at his arms only to see the monster coming closer and closer, arms ready to reach out for him, grab him and probably crush him.

"Swoong!" the shining arrow come from the left, the same way as he had come, and made a perfect hit.

Feeling slightly confused, Watanuki turned his head, mitch-matching eyes meeting those of the archer.

"Oi! You okay?" even though he still kept his usual unaffected features, Watanuki could tell by his voice and steady walk towards him that Dōmeki was worried.

"How… how did you know where it was? Did you…?"

Dōmeki shook his head.

"I just shot at the spot you were looking at," he said.

"Oh," still very dazed Watanuki stood, or at least he tried to, the ground seemed to move uncontrollably under his feeth. He was about to fall when Dōmeki grabbed his shoulder and held him steady.

"Seems like you hit your head pretty bad…" despite what he said, the taller boy sounded less worried now, as if he once more had gained control over himself, "guess we should be lucky it wasn't anything more important…"

Watanuki managed to glare and shake the hand of.

"I can stand by myself, thanks!"

"Hmm," by the sound of it the humming could be translated as 'okay, if you want to be such a stubborn idiot, but I'll be ready to pick you up if you fall anyway', "here!"

Dōmeki handed him a small, white piece of cloth. It looked like an oversized handcarechief but Watanuki didn't felt like asking.

"You'll need to stop the bleeding or you will loose a lot of blood."

Muttering something that might have resembled a "thanks", the bespectacled boy accepted the offer and pressed the cloth against the still abundant flew of blood.

"Do you have any bandages at home?" Dōmeki asked.

Watanuki began to shake his head but a pang of pain in his neck made him stop.

"No," he said, "I don't think so, anyway…"

"Well, you better follow me to the temple then, that wound need to be taken care of…"

Watanuki's glare intenced.

"To the temple? What about your family? Do you even know how late is it?!"

"So," Dōmeki raised an eyebrow, "would you sooner go back to Yuuko's?"

"Well, no," the smaller boy snorted, "she's probably long gone drunk by now…"

"So come then, and you don't need to worry about my family, they are away, visiting relatives."

And so a quite unsteady walk towards the temple began. Watanuki was still feeling dizzy, and his body hurted almost everywhere, but, as expected, he still refused to lean on his friend, who simply tried to stay within reach if the other one should stumble or pass out.

Despite this they managed to reach their goal at last. Dōmeki placed Watanuki on a chair, gathered some first aid material and began to put a bandage around his smaller comrade's head.

"Itai! Dōmeki, you oaf, that hurts!"

"Hmm," this time the humming seemed to mean 'stop whining like a kid, you know very well this has to be done', "the wound isn't that large, but you lost some blood and it's possible that you have a concussion."

He stood and putted the left over bandages away.

"You stay here tonight."

"What!" Watanuki stood, shaking and feeling a bit nauseous, but at least a little more stable than before, "no way!"

The other one almost sighed.

"Give me a good reason to why I should drag you all the way there when we barely got here at first."

Watanuki gave him a look full of pride and determination.

"I never said I wanted your help, did I?"

"You're barely able to stand, and should something else attack you on the way, it would probably kill you at once. Stop being stupid." Dōmeki's voice was just as determined and,

although Watanuki hated to admit it, probably right. He was in no condition to walk all the way home, even without any more attacks. "And besides that, should it be that you do have a concussion you shouldn't be left all alone."

Against his will, Watanuki felt slightly touched by this. Dōmeki was honestly concerned about him, why was a mystery, since Watanuki always pushed this concern away.

"Okay," he said simply, "where can I sleep?"

The archer headed for the door leading out to the hall.

"I will take in another futon to my room," he said, "then I'll be able to keep an eye on you."

Just the thought about spending the night so close to Dōmeki should normally have resulted in one of Watanuki Kimihiro's famous outbreaks. But right now, he was too tired. And, he had to admit, it wasn't all to bad to have someone nearby as long as he felt this strange, he probably really had gotten a concussion… After all, irritating and arrogant as he might be, there was probably no one that Watanuki trusted more than he trusted Dōmeki.

So, he followed his friend to his room and was more than happy to be able to lay down on the extra futon that soon was rolled out on the floor. The pain in his head ceased a bit, leaving him with the strange giddiness. He almost felt like if he was a bit drunk.

"You know," he said and tipped his head a bit so that he could see the other futon, on which Dōmeki was about to lie down, "I really thought that I should die for a while there."

For some reason the thought nearly made him giggle. His taller comrade looked suspiciously at him.

"I think you need some sleep, Watanuki," he said resolute as he lied down and pulled the blanked over himself.

It got quite for a while before he spoke again.

"I won't let you die," he said uncharacteristically hesitant.

Watanuki turned his head towards him again, a puzzled look in his face.

"Why?"

Dōmeki looked straight into the mitch-matched eyes.

"Because I don't let anything kill what's important to me."

Watanuki looked even more perplexed, and then his features almost got soft.

"And I am that? Important?"

Dōmeki nodded, a strange little "almost smile" on his lips.

"Yeah," he said.

The smaller boy closed his eyes with the warmest, most honest, smile that Dōmeki ever seen him give, and to him, whom he had never ever smiled to before.

"I like that," he whispered, a bit slurred but still not to be misstaken, "I like to be important to someone."

Dōmeki smiled too, now when the other one had closed his eyes. Encouraged by Watanuki's suddenly so affectionate tone he reached out his hand and gently stroke the hair away from his chin.

"Sleep well," he said, "sleep well… Kimihiro…"

-

-

-

So, that was Chapter 1! Thanks a lot for reading… I intend to make this story 4-5 chapter long, depending on the feedback… Most possibly the rating will go up on the later chapters…

Anyway, please review! Even if you absolutely hated it, I'd like to know that. I'm not sensitive and I'm very eager to know what you guys think about what I write.

By for now and have a nice day!

Wysty