Doumeki's Grave

By:WhiteGloves

"It's impossibility is possible."

A/U: Without the original 'Doumeki' from the main story line... I feel kinda lost.

It happened that day… when I, Kimihiro Watanuki, opened the shop one rainy afternoon. The sky was gray and the wind was heavy. I let my two assistants do as they please as they wait outside for any customer that wanted a wish. I, on the other hand, remained in a silent stupor inside my room, sitting homely in that comfortable ancient chair and wearing my yukata that used to belong to the previous owner of the shop. I was also smoking the previous owner's favourite pipe which made it more seem like I was her.

That was what I was aiming for. To never forget her.

Silent as I may, I let my thoughts travel around in lost space as how the smoke of my pipe travels in circles inside the room. I had nothing to do… I was just waiting for time end it's eternity…

I did not know what awoke me from my silent trance. I just found myself opening my eyes in instant. And then it became clear as I noticed my line of smoke leading outside the garden. My eyes softened as I felt that familiar aura. It was him.

Gliding my way slowly toward the sliding door, I opened it and found Haruka Doumeki, sitting by the porch. I joined him without prelude and the two of us stared up at the rainy sky.

"You came to visit," I said with a fond look at the great ancestor of one of my friends, "It's been such a long time."

"Was it?" he asked as he turned a look at me with that familiar face I could never forget, "it seemed like it was only yesterday."

I smiled at him in humor.

"How's everything on the other side?" asked I.

"It's the only thing I can never describe in detail."

"Your grandson still not willing to see me?" I brought up the question, like I always do when I chanced a meeting with him… and it was always the same question that would make Haruka make that face.

That painful face.

I never wanted to see that… but it concerns me why he would make such…

"It's been 180 years since his death…" I continued on, my eyes flickering at the memory that felt so nostalgic, "and he never once decided to visit me like you do… not to mention—your great great grandchildren has stopped making one who looks exactly as the two of you since Shizuku. Don't get me wrong—" I added hastily, feeling suddenly guilty for saying so, "but it felt different to have someone who looks exactly like him…"

"Exactly alike… but never the same…" Haruka murmured that caught my attention. I saw him smile sadly on his lap and had to frown to myself.

"Haruka?" I questioned in concern.

"Shizuka won't come," he told me quietly with a gentle look, "he prefers to be on his own… you know him best, don't you?"

I nodded uncertainly. I could feel he was hiding something… he has been like that for 180 years… I felt it the moment he visited me the first night of Shizuka's passing… he was much somber… he was much grievous… like he would not be able to see Shizuka at all…

"Haruka?" I pressed on again as he stood up and I know he was about to go, "is there something you wish to tell me… about your grandson?"

I watch him halt. I watch him think my question for seconds.

Then he looked at me with a little smile.

"Shizuka's decision," he told me, "is his own. Don't dwell too much about it. We 'Doumeki's' are strong. I will be on my way… it's about time for that to happen."

My eyes rounded at his vague message but before I could speak, my companion disappeared and I was left all alone once more. I stared into a space, trying to make out anything out of his words, but I was no wiser.

As I started to gather myself, I heard my assistants hurried footsteps. I craned my neck to them as they slid the sliding doors open with black Mokona bringing up the rear.

"What…?" I started softly but then felt a pang of something powerful pull my spine. I felt my very bones shake at the power and felt my skin go cold. Something was about to happen—and I know it was something terrible. I saw the girls gawk behind me, heard Mokona cry a name—and I knew that right behind me something was making its entrance.

And I turned.

I saw a black hole in front of me—saw deep darkness expose itself to our very eyes. And then it came—

Her head came out first, followed by her slender shoulder. Her hair was as lengthy as I last saw it with not a strand spoiled over. Her expression was slightly contorted, as if the force was making her crumble. And I was there with disbelief still in my eyes, waiting for her to fall in my arms with perspiration on my face.

"YUUKO-SAN!"

And I caught her—no matter how dream like it felt—I caught her—and I was unwilling to let go. I clasped my hands on her back and pulled her down to safety whilst the girls ran to us in a hurry. I tried to rouse her but she was unconscious—then I looked back up at the hole and saw something. I blinked my eyes as I realized what it was before the hole finally closed. I told myself I was seeing things—but I clearly saw a white palm in the middle of the hole.

But my attention then was to keep Yuuko safe and carried her inside. We were all anxious as I set her down her favourite chair and allowed her some space. I kept calling her name, wishing she would respond and open her eyes. I keep wishing a lot of things… but it was a hope to tell myself it wasn't a dream.

Then Yuuko's long eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes weakly. I was beside her in instant with the girls and Mokona around. Relieved washed us all—me most especially. I've never felt so weakened in my whole life except when she disappeared… but right now, before my eyes, she was alive and looking at me. The question how it was possible never crossed me—all I wanted was to have her beside me.

"Watanuki?" she spoke softly upon realizing I was beside her and grasping her hand.

"Yuuko-san…" I cringed as I touched her face, "you're back…"

The word hasn't escaped my lips yet when I felt Yuuko hold my hand back with force that surprised me. I look her in the eye and saw that she was looking at me with deep concern and I was afraid she was going to tell me she needs to go again.

"Watanuki," she started breathlessly with her face so close to mine, "Doumeki—you need to see Doumeki…"

I blinked at her and my expression softened. Clasping her hand which was on top of mine, I told her the truth gently, "Yuuko-san… Shizuka has passed a long time ago…"

Yuuko sat slowly on the chair to face me and when she did, her face has changed its expression. It became more somber. It became more grievous. Just like the one that Haruka had.

"Doumeki's grave," she told me that brought me surprise, "check Doumeki's grave."

I stared at her with my mouth slightly open.

I did not know what power of her words convinced me, but I was out of the shop all of a sudden. My self restriction was over upon her return but as I glance at the outside world it felt like I don't even belong there anymore.

It was a sad tale that Mokona had to come along with me. It was because I have never seen Doumeki's grave.

That sent a pang on my already weary heart.

180 years ago, Shizuka stopped coming to the shop and I know for what reason. He was already weak. Till the last ounce of his power he was there for me, but that year, he seldom came. I was told of his condition by Kohane-chan… that Shizuka probably didn't want me to see him pass… and I had to bear with that till this day. I never saw him since. Not even as a spirit.

I found myself standing at an empty space in the graveyard late that dusk. Beside the empty space were Kohane-chan's and her children. My eyes saddened at finally being able to see their family.

"Where's Doumeki's?" Mokona on my shoulder asked.

I frowned at the question and had to scan the area for Shizuka Doumeki's grave. It wasn't anywhere in sight. Why is that?

"It is as I feared," I heard someone behind me say and had to look around at Yuuko who was standing behind me. She was wearing a coat on top of her white gown with an umbrella at hand. Her eyes were meaningful and sad as if something terrible has just been confirmed. I straightened with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

Yuuko eyed me; the one that says I have to understand no matter what happens and it made me apprehensive. The last time she gave me that look—she was willingly letting herself be taken by the time's shadow. I never wanted to see her like that again.

"Yuuko-san…?" I whispered uncertainly.

"I was never alone…" Yuuko said with eyes straight at my soul, it was unnerving, "someone else was there with me… for a long time we were together… and like me he was also caught up by the shadow of time."

"…what do you mean…?" I gaped at her in confusion, "…who was with you?"

Yuuko's eyes glinted and somehow I knew the answer that made my heart thump against my chest.

"Shizuka Doumeki."

I didn't know what she was talking about but it made me fret. Yuuko looked down the ground with eyes still glinting as she continued in her quiet voice.

"He came out of nowhere as I wait by idly… he told me he made a wish…"

"Wish?"

"It was a wish through time exchange…"

"What are you talking about? Who granted him that wish?"

Yuuko eyed me again. "You did."

"I don't remember ever granting one!" I said in defence, wishing that my memory was not betraying me, "I never—I could not…!"

Then like a flash in my mind—a sudden vision of the young Shizuka Doumeki appeared before my eyes, and he said something in the memory that made my eyes widen.

"I wish that your wish be granted. Can you give me that?"

"But I didn't grant that wish!" I told her with clutched fist, knowing that I really didn't. Yuuko closed her eyes and shifted it away.

"You did not refuse but your heart wished for it so much… it turned to a powerful desire… enough to consider his request done." Yuuko told me sadly, "And the person chosen to grant that wish was the one who asked for it…"

I shook my head, feeling it was all too much.

"Yuuko-san…" I said helplessly, wishing that she would stop kidding around, "you can't be serious—"

Her eyes confirmed it before me and I felt my knees buckle as I knelt down the ground.

"Shizuka?" I hissed in apparent lost, not knowing how to really feel as I remember him.

"He told me everything that has happened to you, him and everyone around you as we both tasted the same fate," Yuuko's eyes travelled to the empty grave, "he told me it was his plan all along… but he was unsure if it was going to be granted… when it did, he did not hesitate and entered the portal of time leading to me… and there he also waited for the right time."

I shot her a look of helplessness and found myself asking in a croaked voice—

"W-what was… the payment for this wish? And why did it take so long to be granted in that case?"

Yuuko looked at me again and closed her eyes with a slight crease on her eyebrows.

"To balance the wish… one must give the proper payment… Doumeki wished for me to return in exchange of his life… but I am too powerful to be let alone so the payment needed to be heavier… so in exchange of his life, he needed to take my place… granted he needed to pay equivalent years in the same time and space as I…"

"H-he's been there with you… since the day he died?" I found myself questioning Yuuko who looked away painfully and I understood for the first time why Shizuka Doumeki could not meet me even as a spirit. I remembered Haruka's face back then… so he knew what had happened… Haruka's voice suddenly floated in my ears.

"Shizuka won't come. He prefers to be on his own… you know him best, don't you?"

He knows it… the reason he could not meet his grandson was because of me…yet…

"Shizuka's decision is his own. Don't dwell too much about it. We 'Doumeki's' are strong."

I shut my eyes close, not wanting to hear anymore.

All I wanted was to have Yuuko back… and in exchange was a person whose sacrifice I always take for granted. I dug my fingernails on the ground, feeling a certain turbulent in my chest I could not explain.

Doumeki has been gone for years… yet I could not explain the damage in my heart as I see clearly what he has done. And then I remembered the white palm that seemingly help to push Yuuko to get out of the dark hole… was it Doumeki?

Before I know it—I was digging the soil with my hands. I saw Doumeki's hand… he will be there on the same place as Yuuko… he exchange his life to save her… I could just see the same darkness that held Yuuko back then… now swallowing Doumeki…

And I couldn't do anything about it.

"Watanuki… stop."

Yuuko's voice has that effect on me as I came to my senses. I looked at my hands and saw dirt all over it.

It was useless. Doumeki was already gone. My faithful friend who was always beside me from the beginning... whose dedication was incomparable... and who until his death was the person who was most concerned...

I saw everything he did... I acknowledged them... the only friend I could ever ask for...

Yet lost...

I bit my lip and felt its tremble. So glad was I to feel the rain pouring down my head and body… that way… that way no one could prove that I was crying. How long has it been since his death destroyed me... but for Yuuko I needed to be strong... now this time it was happening again...

I can't be that strong, can I?

"Idiot…" I whispered as I clutched my hands on my lap.

-THE END-

A/N: (Difference makes it unique. Truth makes it convincing. Tragedy makes it hard to believe.)

Thanks for Reading this tragic version!