Cora Traut
Midnight Spirit Lantern
An xXxHoLic® Fanfic
Original characters by CLAMP®
WARNING! CONTAINS YAOI/SHONEN AI! (If you don't know what that means, go Google it, and be prepared)
Watanuki frowned in disgust, although he was used to situations like this by now.
"Yuuko, why? WHY? Why does the portal always have to be something weird like this?" Watanuki cried.
"Quit complaining." Said Yuuko, the dimensional witch, harshly.
"Just do it. After all you're just crawling in the shadow of a street post."
Watanuki cried again. Ever since that day, ever since that horrible day, I've been made to do things like this. Crawling behind and in weird places all so that Yuuko could sell my dreams or something. It's horrible! The young high school student glared back at his employer once more, then sighed. Although it was the winter break, Yuuko still had him working. It was supposed to be Watanuki's vacation, but Yuuko wouldn't stand for that, she had to have her sake.
"Hey," a bored voice greeted.
Watanuki spun around, despite the fact he was in the middle of crawling on the snowy ground.
"Hi there!" Mokona said gleefully. It jumped up and down, it's floppy ears perked up.
"Hello. I thought you might have not made it. I'm sorry to have invited you on such short notice." Yuuko said to the newcomer. Her hand was waving back and forth crazily.
"Yeah, sorry. I had club activities and then had to help out at the temple." He said. His voice still sounded bored.
At this point Watanuki was really mad, fuming, almost.
"YUUKOO! You invited HIM? WHYYY?" Watanuki was now fully off the ground and yelling.
Yuuko mumbled something about a spasm attack to Mokona and Doumeki just covered his ears.
"Please just shut up," he said under his breath.
Watanuki rambled on, shouting and waving his arm at Doumeki, who he had a long history of loathing. Although Himiwari-chan wasn't there at the time, Watanuki still hated Doumeki.
Yuuko and Doumeki continued to talk. Mokona, however, was on top of Watanuki's head trying to calm him down. The manju bun- like rabbit then hopped to the top of the post and stayed there.
"HEEYYYY!" it shouted. "THE PORTAL'S GOING TO CLOSE SOON."
Yuuko looked as if she had actually forgotten. "Oh right the portal. Well then, let's get started."
"Don't tell me you actually forgot our sole purpose for being hereeee!" Watanuki shouted at her, but he was ignored.
"Watanuki, if you would do the honors." Yuuko invited.
The furious part-timer reluctantly crawled behind the post. As he entered the shadow on the right, his body disappeared as he came out on the left. The others followed.
In the other world, they had landed in a heap, and Mokona was sitting happily on the, top cherry-like. As they slowly untangled themselves from the pile they were in, Watanuki stayed on the ground. He slowly turned his head.
"Too, heavy. Next, time, I'm not going in, first." He panted, out of breath.
Doumeki, Yuuko and Mokona stood in silence for a little while, looking at Watanuki lying on the ground. There was an awkward silence
Doumeki then walked over to where Watanuki was lying, took his arm, and yanked him up on his feet.
"Hey, Doumeki! What're you doing!" Watanuki shouted, surprised and embarrassed.
"I'm just picking you up, jeez." Doumeki's voice was monotone as always.
"I can get up myself, thank you." Watanuki brushed off his coat, a little self-conscious.
"Yaoi." Mokona and Yuuko whispered to each other in the background.
Watanuki screamed and pointed in Yuuko and Mokona's general direction.
"I CAN HEAR YOU TWOOOO!"
The dimensional witch and black bunny-like creature giggled. Just then, a shadow seemed to envelop the clearing they had fallen into. Watanuki looked around in surprise.
"Wha- what is this?" Watanuki shouted at the blackness.
"Wait, what? What's the big deal?" Doumeki tried to figure out what Watanuki was shouting at.
"Remember," Yuuko told Watanuki, completely calm despite the situation, "Doumeki can't see spirits. Only you, me and Mokona can."
"Right, whatever. Wait, does Mokona even count?" Watanuki pouted.
"Yes, it does. Thanks to Clow. Mokona, do it. Oh, and please send it to Shaoran and the other Mokona. I don't think they'll ever be able you use it, but who cares."
Mokona jumped off Yuuko's shoulder, suspended itself in midair for a moment, and opened its mouth to about the size of its own body. The shadow immediately disappeared into its mouth, and traveled across worlds to wherever the black Mokona was.
"Ga-Puuu!" Mokona then alighted itself on Yuuko's head.
Light had returned to the small clearing. Doumeki still didn't know what had happened, and was looking at Watanuki gasping like an idiot at the hot, bright sun. Doumeki frowned and sighed, and Watanuki turned around to ask what was wrong, but Yuuko interrupted him. About 11 yards away from the high scholars, Yuuko was shouting to get their attention.
"Hey, guys! Heloooooo?" She stopped for a second and took a deep breath.
"WATANUKI IF YOU DON'T COME OVER HERE RIGHT NOW I'M NOT GONNA GIVE YOU A PAYCHECK THIS WEEK!" Yuuko screamed at the top of her lungs.
Watanuki spun around, glared, and also took a deep breath.
"YOU AREN'T EVEN GOING TO GIVE ME A PAYCHECK THIS WEEK! IT'S MY VACATION, YOU SAID SO YOURSELF!" Watanuki gasped to regain his breath.
However, he and Doumeki still walked after Yuuko.
"Ow!" Watanuki yelled.
Watanuki had tripped, and Doumeki had almost tripped over him. Yuuko looked back.
"Is that a, lantern?" Yuuko said as she walked over to the round-paper light that her part-timer had tripped on, picking it up.
As she did so a sphere of light engulfed her, and Watanuki (who was still recovering from falling) was caught up as well in the blinding flash. Doumeki was lost, as usual.
"Is, is this..?"Yuuko trailed off as she looked around.
"I think it's a anti-demon light." She confirmed, looking at Watanuki.
"Then shouldn't Doumeki be able to see it too?" Watanuki asked.
"I can," Doumeki said as he walked into the dome of light confidently. "At least, now I can." He looked around.
After a few minutes of silence, all of their eyes drifted on to the lantern. With that they all touched their hands to it, even Mokona, who doesn't even have "hands". At this moment the four travelers were surrounded by midnight.
"What the hell is this?" Watanuki looked up and stared at the blackness that had surrounded them.
"It looks like it never ends. It's weird." Doumeki said calmly.
"Wait, you can see it? The never-ending, creepy, probably-full-of spirits-who-want-to-eat-our-faces-off darkness I mean." Watanuki stared at Doumeki, relieved that they were on the same wavelength and scared at the same time.
"Yeah, I think it's like that time…" Doumeki looked at Watanuki, and Watanuki felt his cheeks growing hot.
"That time we were at that spirit parade, where we had to hold the lantern? It feels like that." Doumeki stared off into the black hole of the distance.
"Wait, you mean that time when we had to keep on holding the lantern, or we'd be spotted?" Watanuki questioned.
They all looked at the lantern, then at themselves, and back at the lantern. Everyone's grip became a little closer and tighter to the soft glowing light. Slowly but surely, as one group, they walked ahead. The only problem was, when you're surrounded by a black hole, you don't really know what direction you're going in.
"Hey Yuuko, long time no see."
Watanuki spun around in the direction of the new voice. Floating before them was the grey elephant-looking spirit, who sold dreams. He had about seven balloons, each holding a dream inside.
"You're that spirit we sold my dream to once, the one Doumeki gave to me." Watanuki then turned his head to look straight at Doumeki, death glare included.
Yuuko then spoke up.
"Excuse me," She said, catching the dream seller's attention. "Do you know how to get out of here?"
The floating merchant looked surprised.
"You can't see it? It's that large fox statue over there." He pointed off into the black distance.
"No, not really." Watanuki replied blankly.
Without realizing it, Watanuki's hand was slowly drifting away from the lantern, and the moment after he spoke up, his hand was no longer touching the paper light.
"Oh now I do! Wait…" Watanuki looked at the lantern, then his hand. He then realized that he wasn't touching it anymore.
"OH MY GOSH! What do I do? I'm going to be spotted!" He started running around in circles, freaking out, while Doumeki, Yuuko and Mokona watched.
Almost simultaneously, the small group that was still clutching the lantern, let go of the spherical light, and the darkness disappeared.
"Wow, that's really a fox statue?" Mokona asked, looking up at the giant fox-like creature wearing a kimono.
"It looks so real." Doumeki added, amazed.
"Yeah, it does." The dream seller piped up. "Only thing is, without that lantern, I don't think you'll be able to last long."
Watanuki, exhausted from running for so long, turned around.
"What?" He said.
"Hmm, if you think about it, it makes sense." Yuuko said, her finger in the air. "The lantern was using our sight as compensation to come to this world."
"Sounds like someone I know." Watanuki muttered.
As all of their eyes trailed up to the statue, the lantern expanded to a black swirling mass, and the travelers were sucked up into it.
For one last time, Watanuki, Doumeki, Yuuko and Mokona caught a glimpse of the giant fox statue.
"Goodbye." Watanuki said.
Back in the other world, Watanuki woke up in his apartment.
"Huh? Why, am I, here?" He then looked at the soft cloth that had been covering him when he slept.
It was Doumeki's jacket. Watanuki smiled.