Spoilers for chapters 116-123.

Word count: 1,386

Just an introspective on Dômeki and what he may or may not have been thinking throughout the arc.

"WATANUKI!"

…

Watanuki.

Glass.

Blood.

Watanuki's blood.

WATANUKI!

Dômeki acted instinctively, without thought. In one heartbeat, he was beside Watanuki, positioning himself between the fallen boy and the curious onlookers. In another, his phone was in his hand, but before he had punched a single button it rang - too shrilly, too loudly. Dômeki answered automatically; his eyes didn't even register the number that flashed across the screen, so focused were they on Watanuki's face. The pallor – he'd only seen such utter lack of color on corpses.

NOT DEAD.

"Bring him to the shop." Dômeki wasn't surprised to hear Yūko's voice.

"Can you help him?" His calmness was impressive.

"There will be a price." He hadn't expected, however, to hear… pity? Regret?

No time for questions.

"I'll pay it."

"You alone cannot."

"I'll go too." Kunogi was kneeling at Watanuki's side, opposite Dômeki. Without missing a beat – he knew why she was there and shouldn't I have been with them in the first place? - he said to both women, "we'll be there."

Shoving the phone back into his schoolbag, he glared at Watanuki's prone form. He couldn't carry the boy without causing more damage, but there was no other option. There was no one else he'd trust with this no way in hell.

He lifted Watanuki gingerly, cradling him against his body with Watanuki's chest still beating pressing against his own, Watanuki's head resting on his shoulder. He hoped the boy would remain unconscious; he wouldn't want Watanuki waking and seeing his completely undignified position and who knows how he'd react if he knew I was grabbing his ass.

His brain hysterical, his outwardly demeanor calm, Dômeki left the schoolyard hastily, but taking care not to further agitate his precious cargo; Kunogi walked beside him, silent. Up one street, down another, a left here why was the blasted place so far from the school?, past the temple bow's no use now – they were at the fence he'd seen once before. Now, there was a building in what had been an empty plot of land. He charged forward; although he vaguely remembered Yūko once telling him that he couldn't enter the shop, right now there was no stopping him.

---

Perhaps most frightening was Yūko herself. He had never before seen this impassive woman so intense, so concerned. So human. He had never before been so prepared to trust her.

He paid his price unflinchingly, without thinking; Kunogi too acted without hesitation. The two of them waited in the hall, Kunogi pacing back and forth, Dômeki bracing himself against the wall can't pass out, not now. The minutes trudged into an hour, then two, then three. Then, the door opened, Yūko emerged, and Kunogi entered.

"The worst has passed; he'll only need rest." Yūko peered into Dômeki's face, but he could not meet her eyes. Whatever she didn't see, however, made Yūko smile; he didn't try reading it. The two silently listened to Kunogi and Watanuki's conversation he sounds so weak. They listened to Kunogi's attempt at good-bye, they heard Watanuki's promise. When Kunogi returned to the hall, Yūko re-entered the room, and Kunogi shut the door after her.

They looked at one another. All they had in common was the boy in the other room. Dômeki tolerated her presence because she made Watanuki happy; Kunogi invited him on dates because she couldn't see Watanuki safely otherwise. And yet there were no accusations in Dômeki's eyes, nor did Kunogi apologize for being too selfish to cut ties with Watanuki. Dômeki could not begrudge Kunogi's ability to make Watanuki happy; Kunogi could not resent Dômeki's ability to keep Watanuki safe. Kunogi left; Dômeki stayed.

"Dômeki's price was the same amount of blood you lost." Yūko spoke to Watanuki, but looked at the boy in question. Again, Dômeki could not meet her eyes. He was still having trouble accepting that she'd been utterly necessary to Watanuki's survival, that he alone wasn't strong enough to save the boy that I have to share. Besides, his head was spinning from lack of blood and strange new thoughts; he was damned but the witch could tell.

Yūko smiled at her unwilling customer and left him sitting outside the room.

He did not rise until he could be sure that Watanuki had fallen asleep, and not unconscious. Only then did he make his way out of the shop and to his family's temple. Only then did he finally begin thinking.

---

When Watanuki finally returned to school several days later, he very curtly informed Dômeki that he was invited to tea that afternoon – though "commanded" was probably a better choice of words. Dômeki said nothing, inviting upon himself a violent tirade; amused, Dômeki let the shrieks wash over him. Music to his ears.

After school, the two boys walked side by side to Yūko's shop and I am not going to remember how I was holding Watanuki the last time we made this trip. Dômeki would not have admitted it out loud, but as they made their way up one street and down another, as they turned left and passed the temple, he kept sneaking glances at the shorter boy from the corner of his eye. Watanuki was strangely quiet as the two walked, but Dômeki didn't question the other boy, as he was busy with his own thoughts and damn my memory.

Relieved as he had been to see Watanuki acting normally – fancy lunches, loud rants – Dômeki couldn't help wishing for something… something. He watched Watanuki present a bird to Kunogi; he watched Watanuki smile when the girl worried; he watched Watanuki glow from Kunogi's thanks. He'd never been jealous of the attention the girl received from Watanuki nor am I jealous now, but he couldn't help wishing that he too had been allowed to see Watanuki in his room; wishing that he could have sat beside the boy, not in the hall. He couldn't help but wishing that he'd been able to voice his own concern, and that he'd received reassurance. Lunch couldn't really compare to a specially hatched bird - today's bento had tasted rather bitter and that had absolutely nothing to do with being jealous because I'm not.

These thoughts, along with the glances he stole, occupied most of Dômeki's attention along the way. He was approaching the fence for the third time now, and he paid attention to his surroundings on this visit. He noticed the other people strolling along the street and how their eyes simply passed over the shop. He gazed at the magnificent building and thought that he had been happier when he too had seen nothing but empty space. He wondered what it meant, being Yūko's customer; he could imagine people growing dependent on the strength of their wishes, and their ability to pay the price, and he swore he'd never become a repeat customer.

He glanced to his left once more; this time, however, Watanuki was looking back. To cover his confusion stupid heartbeat, Dômeki asked, "So why'd you bring me here?"

Presto.

"Because Yūko told me to!" Watanuki stomped ahead. "I didn't want to!"

As if he'd even hoped.

"You're too loud," he muttered, unable to stop himself. He immediately plugged his ears for the onslaught that was sure to come and when did this become a reflex? but when Watanuki stayed silent, he stared, surprised, at the back of the boy's head. Watanuki never passed up an opportunity to scold Dômeki for his failings; what stopped him now?

"You… it's not a problem for you, is it? The blood. It was quite a lot, wasn't it? Are you alright?"

Did I hear that correctly?

"Yeah."

"… Thank you."

What?

Unable to believe his own ears, Dômeki leaned forward, staring quizzically into Watanuki's face, searching for confirmation. Watanuki squealed and shoved Dômeki away, covering his face with his arm. But he could see Watanuki blushing behind his fingers, and through the ranting and raving he could finally hear the false denials and underlying concern.

"Are you alright?"

"… Thank you."

He'd nearly died several times for much less, but he couldn't help wishing that Watanuki hadn't hidden his face. However, there was always next time. Next time, he'd be prepared.

He wondered what Watanuki was going to make to eat.

A/N:

1. I ended up having a lot of fun with this one. I re-read the relevant chapters at around 8:30pm or so, got the skeletons for each POV jotted down, then tackled Dômeki , since his POV has been floating around in my brain for a little while now. Wrapped up the final edits about 20 minutes ago.
I think I enjoyed writing this because we so rarely get to see what Dômeki thinks. At first, I thought that my characterization was a little OOC, but I figure - do we really know? No, we don't, and who's to say that he isn't thinking along these lines? So that was the fun of it - putting thoughts into Dômeki 's head.

2. Ha, it ended up much longer than I'd originally thought, and the subject ended up changing slightly. I hadn't originally intended to write for the entire arc, but that's what happened. Brainstorming this one spawned ideas for POVs from the other main characters - Watanuki, Yūko, Himawari - so expect two or three more parts; I'm not entirely positive I could write Yūko, but I'll probably take a stab at it. Watanuki's POV will most likely be next.

3. I beta-ed this entirely on my own; if you have any constructive criticism to give, or if you notice any grammatical errors, please comment! Thanks for reading!